It is common for companies to organize various informal events where workers can come with their partners. One of those...Major Nepali and English broadsheet dailies published form Kathmandu on Sunday have featured stories about various issues and incidents on their front pages. The government decision to increase the public transport fare after the transporters called off their plan to open advance ticket booking for Dashain festival is one of the most discussed topics on the front pages of Kathmandu broadsheet today. Likewise, death of a Nepali national in a shooting incident in the United States and drafting of an amendment to the main opposition Nepali Congress partys statute have also been prioritised.

Few other political, sociocultural and economic issues have been featured on the page of major newspapers today.

Important

Bus ticket booking for Dashain starts after fare hike

Naya Patrika, Rajdhani and The Kathmandu Post report that the government has allowed public transport entrepreneurs to raise the fare by 10 per after the transporters denied opening advance ticket booking for upcoming Dashain festival.

The decision will come into effect from today. Meanwhile, the government also agreed to form another panel to suggest scientific tariff, according to Rajdhani.

Naya Patrika has presented the decision as another example of the governments helplessness in front of the anarchic traders.

Nepali shot dead in US

Republica and The Himalayan Times report that a Nepali immigrant has been killed in a shooting incident at a drug store in Maryland of the United Nations.

The victim has been identified as Brinda Giri, a mother of two children, who had recently moved to the US to try to give her kids a better life.

Three persons were killed as a lady with mental illness opened fire at the Rite Aid facility in northeast Maryland on Thursday morning, according to Republica.

Meanwhile, another Nepali was injured in the incident, adds The Himalayan Times.

Congress to make President stronger

The main opposition party is finalising a proposal that it will table at the upcoming mahasamiti meeting to amend the party statute; and the draft, it passed by the meeting, will give more power to the Party President, according to reports in Annapurna Post, Naya Patrika and Nagarik.

The amendment proposes that seven of nine office bearers of the Central Working Committee, except the President and one General Secretary will be appointed by the President, the reports inform.

Ignored

Controversial contractor wins new contract

The lead story in Kantipur reports that controversial Pappu Construction Company has been assigned to reconstruct the central office building of Nepal Rastra Bank in Baluwatar of Kathmandu. The National Reconstruction Authority is announcing the decision and signing a contract with the company today as it proposed the lowest cost for the project.

On the other hand, the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport is planning to take action against the company accusing it of negligence, according to the report.

West Seti contractor to be selected without competition

After the Chinese contractor, Three Gorges, decided to pull its hand from the West Seti Hydropower Project, the government trying to select the new contractor. However, it is likely to do so without holding a competition, according to Karobar.

The Investment Board Nepal has formed a committee under the command of Prime Minister so that the project can be awarded to any foreign company that can serve interests of the ruling party, claims the report.

Meanwhile, Kantipur reports in a snippet that the government decided to award the 1,200 megawatt Budhigandaki Hydropower Project to China Gezhouba Group Corp again.

Govt transfers Nepal Polices 236 ropani land to Presidents Office

Nepal Samacharpatra reports in its lead story that a recent meeting of the Cabinet has decided to transfer the ownership of 236 ropani land in Maharajgunj of Kathmandu from Nepal Police Training Academy to the Presidents Office, and it has sparked dissatisfaction in the Nepal Police.

Meanwhile, the government is planning to shift the Academy to Panauti of Kavre.

Decision to ban porn sites draws controversy

As the government directed Nepal Telecommunications Authority to ban pornographic contents on the internet, the society has been divided between for and against the decision, Republica reports in its lead story for the day.

While some believe that the ban is a good step taken by the government to address the increasing cases of rape, others think that the ban will have no effect on the increasing trend of rape cases, reads the report.

Interesting

Think tank to advise govt on policy issues

The government has formed a think tank consisting of scholars of various subjects to advise it on policy decisions, according to reports in Annapurna Post and The Kathmandu Post.

The panel led by Chaitanya Mishra has Mira Acharya, Rajendra Dhwaj Joshi, Surendra Labh and Ganesh Gurung as members.

A Cabinet meeting held on Friday evening has named the group as Policy Research Adacemy (Niti Anusandhan Pratishthan).Champaign, IL (61820)

Today

Partly cloudy skies this evening will give way to cloudy skies and rain overnight. Low 52F. Winds SSE at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 90%. Higher wind gusts possible..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies this evening will give way to cloudy skies and rain overnight. Low 52F. Winds SSE at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 90%. Higher wind gusts possible.We have had cases where if the paper is brought to the school prior to the date of writing, there were some breaches and now in order to increase the security of our examinations we have said those papers must be picked on the day on which the examination will be written except in very extreme cases where the distance between the cluster centre and the school is prohibitive in making sure that the exam starts in time, but there are some other security measures that can be put in such cases, he said.In pursuant of the declaration of the cholera outbreak in Harare by the Ministry of Health and Childcare, the ZPCS has introduced a number of measures to control the disease. We have temporarily suspended all cooked food from entering prisons. We have also introduced the screening and close monitor of new admissions into prisons, said Chief Correctional Officer Kaondo.Tomb of the Unknown

Soldier Open to Public

for First Time in 96 Years(Newser)  A Minnesota legislator ended his reelection bid Friday amid accusations he's been inappropriately touching his daughter for years. Republican state Rep. Jim Knoblach denies allegations by his daughter, Laura Knoblach, but MPR News reveals efforts in recent years to both probe and conceal the eight-term representative's alleged behavior. Laura, 23, says her 60-year-old father has touched, kissed, licked, bitten, and pinned her down dozens of times for over a decade, starting when she was nine. Yet a 2017 criminal investigation didn't lead to charges because Knoblach hadn't exposed himself or touched her beneath clothing. "I don't think there's much of a doubt in my mind that [Knoblach] knew what he was doing," says a police officer in St. Cloud, Minn., per the case file. "And that he knew what he was doing was wrong."

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Laura also apparently told friends, family, a youth pastor, and a teacher at her St. Cloud Christian school, with no result. Per the case file, her grandmother emailed Laura to keep quiet about accusations that could damage Knoblach's career and the community: "But you, yourself, will be the greatest loser in the long term," she writes. "You will lose your family." Later disowned by her mother for instigating the police probe, Laura says she considered self-harm and entered a psychiatric facility for two nights. Finally, she went to the press: "Nobody likes whistleblowers," she tells MPR News. "There's still going to be a lot of people who will say, 'Oh, so now dads can't hug their daughters anymore?'" Indeed, Knoblach's lawyer tells the Washington Post that Laura has "exaggerated" his "displays of physical affection." (Read more sexual assault stories.)(Newser)  President Trump is about to hit America's tech giants with federal antitrust probes, if a newly leaked document holds any waterand it may not hold any water at all, the Washington Post reports. Revealed Friday by Bloomberg, the draft executive order would empower federal agencies to investigate Google, Facebook, and other tech companies for anti-competitive behavior and "online platform bias." (See the full document at Business Insider.) But White House aides say don't know who wrote the draft order or even where it originated. "This document is not the result of an official White House policy-making process," explains Lindsay Walters, the deputy White House press secretary, in part.

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Worse, it seems top White House technology advisers first saw the document in an email from Yelp, and two White House aides first saw it when contacted by Luther Lowe, Yelp's senior vice president. So did Lowe write it? "Yelp has been consistently critical of Google for actual bias in search resultsin local search, for their own competitive benefit," says Lowe in a statement that echoes Yelp's ongoing criticism of Google but doesn't address the question. Meanwhile, tech companies have nervously awaited a possible federal crackdown as top Republicans, including Trump, accuse Silicon Valley firms of censoring conservative voices. Jeff Sessions plans to meet state attorneys general about the issue on Sept. 25; maybe we'll know more then. (Read more Silicon Valley stories.)(Newser)  A Georgia boy has been given a multi-million dollar award after a botched circumcision left him disfigured permanently just days after his birth. Per the Atlanta Journal Constitution, the unnamed boy was awarded $31 million by a Clayton County jury on Friday. The boy's family had filed suit against Life Cycle Pediatrics in Riverdale after part of his penis was severed in the October 2013 procedure. The family's attorney argued the boy has a lifetime of anguish to deal with thanks to the error, for which a nurse midwife and physician have been found liable. (Meanwhile, lawmakers in Iceland are poised to ban the practice of circumcision altogether.)(Newser)  A Massachusetts teacher has been charged with putting his toddler into a game machine at a New Hampshire shopping mall and using her to steal prizes, the AP reports. Police in Salem say 34-year-old Anthony Helinski, of Lawrence, Mass., turned himself in Wednesday, five days after witnesses at the Mall at Rockingham Park recorded video of a man encouraging the girl to hand out prizes from within the KeyMaster game. The video then shows the toddler climbing out of the machine.

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Andover Public Schools tells WCVB-TV that Helinski has been placed on leave from his job as a middle school teacher. Helinski is charged with theft, trespassing, and child endangerment. He does not have a listed phone number and it was unclear whether he has an attorney.

(Read more teacher stories.)Home  Just In  Nepal Police arrests 294 cadres of Biplav and CK Raut in four months

Kathmandu, September 23

Nepal Police says it has arrested 294 leaders and cadres of Netra Bikram Chand Biplav-led Communist Party of Nepal and CK Rauts group in the period of four months.

The national police organisation says district police offices across the country arrested them from mid-April to mid-August this year.

Among Biplavs cares, most of the arrests (105) were made in Province 1, according to Nepal Police spokesperson Shailesh Thapa. The least (5) were arrested from Province 2, he adds.

However, all the arrestees belonging to Rauts movement were held from Province 2. Of 31 suspects, 28 were arrested from Dhanusha and three were from Siraha.

While some arrestees were released on bail, but investigation is underway with others, according to Thapa.(Newser)  Dozens of vehicles slowly approached President Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Saturday afternoon, blasting reggaeton and salsa as they drove by. They honked their horns and waved Puerto Rican flags draped from their cars on their way to a rally a few miles away to mark the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Maria. Despite the scorching sun, hundreds showed up in West Palm Beach, with buses full of protesters from as far as Miami and Orlando. A lively crowd carried posters that read "Respeta Mi Gente" (Respect My People) and "Justice for Puerto Rico," reports the AP. A giant blowup balloon of Trump depicted as a baby hovered as crowds waited to take photos in which they gave it the middle finger. Event organizers and anyone with a microphone was constantly telling people to vote in the midterm elections or to register to vote. The event came as CBS notes that Puerto Rico may never fully recover from Maria.

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"We're honoring the lives that were lost," said Marcos Vilar, president of Alianza for Progress. "We are recognizing all the people that were displaced and are living here." Vilar believes that the Trump administration's response has proven that Puerto Ricans are not treated as equal citizens. Nearly 3,000 died as a result of Hurricane Maria, per a study by the Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University. Trump has repeatedly rebuked the death toll. Last week he tweeted that researchers inflated the numbers "like magic," saying "FIFTY TIMES LAST ORIGINAL NUMBER -NO WAY!" Trump was not at Mar-a-Lago during the event. Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson, who was in attendance, called the situation in Puerto Rico "inexcusable" and characterized Trump's comments as offensive. "How much more insults do (Puerto Ricans) have to take after being treated like they have?" he asked.

(Read more Hurricane Maria stories.)Country

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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Kathmandu, September 23

Yet in another controversial decision about an ambitious project, the government of Nepal has initiated a process to assign China Gezhouba Group Company for the construction of 1,200 megawatt Budhigandaki Hydropower Project.

A Cabinet meeting held on Friday night directed the Ministry of Energy to revive the conversation with the company in a bid to give the award back. The government spokesperson Gokul Banskota, however, did not make the decision public, apparently fearing criticisms from the stakeholders.

In November last year, incumbent Prime Minister KP Sharma Olis predecessor Sher Bahadur Deuba-led government had decided to cancel the contract signed with the Chinese company. The government, then, had announced to construct the project on its own.

However, following the parliamentary elections last year, Oli had hinted that he might revive the project for the Chinese company.

It has been learned that the government decided to give the assignment back to Gezhouba after it filed an application requesting to reconsider Deubas decision.

Sources at the Ministry of Energy say the government has called the Chinese company to come to Kathmandu for a negotiation. After that, the government will sign the contract.

Energy Minister Barsha Man Pun was in favour of selecting the contractor through an open competition, but Prime Minister Oli put pressure on him to give back the contract to Gezhouba, according to the source.Bahrain residents are being targeted with sales of counterfeit and dangerous medicines and supplements by unlicensed sellers and in certain cases outright fraudsters, it is learned. Companies, often fictitious ones, as well as individuals are using various means including social media, websites and sometimes even traditional means to convince patients to purchase their medicines via online. However, the purchased medicines are often counterfeit and even dangerous.

The scammers even promote their products on Facebook and other social media platforms through paid promotion to appear legitimate. The low-quality and fake products being sold include antibiotics, antioxidant supplements, and slimming capsules. The unlicensed sellers include fake pharmacies as well as individual sellers. A large portion of the unlicensed products sold on social media and online are products promising to enhance ones sex life and others for body enhancements.

Most sellers of such products contacted by Tribune said they did not have a physical address and some even said that their products do not have a particular name or represent a company. We do not have a physical store and all our dealing are for online customers, we are ready to deliver to any location, the sellers said.

When asked about the companies, which manufacture these products, she said, We import the products, it does not have a brand name and is not from any particular company. Posts about such products are rampant on social media, many of the sellers make exuberant claims such as fast weight loss or quick face whitening effects and others claims that are unrealistic. Fake online pharmacies operate with different tactics from individual sellers.

The fictitious pharmacies offer huge discounts of 50 percent and even 80pc off their medicines. But those who purchase the products never receive the medicines. Just enter coupon code TPS at checkout and receive a 50pc discount. Offer is valid for new customers only, reads a statement on one of the websites. In some cases, fake pharmacies may even resort to extortion impersonating the US Food and Drug Administration.

For the extortion, the customer who has made a purchase from these pharmacies is sent a warning letter threatening legal steps against the buyer. Once a buyer makes the purchase, the sellers themselves contact the buyer pretending to be the FDA with a warning letter stating that they broke the law by purchasing medicines illegally and that they need to pay a fine. The letter looks like it is from the FDA but it is actually just part of an international extortion scam, a source said.

Responding to the scam, the FDA stated: Scam alert: criminals are forging FDA warning letters to target individuals who tried to purchase medicines online or over the phone. These fake warning letters may be linked to an international extortion scam. When contacted on the phone number provided on the website of one of the fake pharmacies, a prerecorded audio message played, Thank you for calling the pharmacy support team.

Unfortunately, your call cannot be completed at the moment. It was an audio message from a lady with an eastern European accent. The same message played on all the phone numbers provided on its website. According to the authorities, purchase and sale of prescription medication without a doctors consultation is prohibited. The Interior Ministry has also warned the public from being duped by the online fraudsters in its latest edition of Al Amn which is its official publication.

The ministry revealed that strong crackdown efforts are underway to ensure these products do not harm the public. Head of the Anti-Crime Department in the Directorate General for Combating Corruption and Economic and Electronic Security Capt. Hayat Abdul Majeed, revealed in quotes released in Al Amn, that such websites are being been shut down as part of the crackdown. Officials are keeping a lookout for such websites and tracking them down in cooperation with other departments in order to find the site admins, to shut them down and take legal action against any violations.

In some cases, the sellers are unaware that such marketing is illegal and hence a warning is followed by an assurance from the website admins that they would not repeat such violations, she said. National Health Regulatory Authority (NHRA) Chief Executive Officer Dr. Mariam Al Jalahma warned of harmful health effects from consumption of these products. She said that sellers often make false promises without any facts to back it up. She said that NHRA routinely checks medicines to verify if they are up to standards and complying with regulations.The Kingdom has outlined its candidacy to the United Nations Human Rights Council. This came as Assistant Foreign Minister, Abdulla Al Doseri, attended the reception hosted by the Permanent Mission of the Kingdom to the United Nations Office in Geneva in partnership with the candidate countries for the membership of the Human Rights Council for the period 2019-2021 for the Asia-Pacific Group, namely India, Fiji, Bangladesh, and the Philippines.

The reception was held at the at the Palais des Nations, to review the Kingdoms record and achievements in the field of progressive human rights and its voluntary pledges to continue the reform approach at all levels, as well as to present the visions and objectives the Kingdom intends to achieve as a member of the Human Rights Council for this period. Speaking on behalf of the Permanent Mission to Geneva, the Deputy Permanent Representative, Counsellor Hussain Makhlooq, affirmed that the candidacy of the Kingdom for the membership of the Human Rights Council reflects the unequivocally accumulated crucial human rights achievements by the Kingdom of Bahrain at the national and international levels.

These achievements are in line with the vision of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, as evidenced by the establishment of The King Hamad Global Centre for Peaceful Co-Existence, in addition to the inauguration of the Princess Sabeeka Global Award for Womens Empowerment as well as the inauguration of the National Referral Mechanism for Victims of Trafficking in Persons and the Flexible Work Permit for foreign workers (Flexi Permit), he highlighted.

In the same context, it was noted that the membership of the Human Rights Council would enable the Kingdom to redouble its efforts to protect and promote human rights at the national and international levels and would undoubtedly contribute, along with the new memberships in the Council, to create a qualitative addition to the work of the Human Rights Council. The joint reception was attended by a number of distinguished ambassadors, permanent representatives and a number of members of diplomatic missions to the United Nations in Geneva.Karachi : Pakistans new premier Imran Khan has vowed to give citizenship to some Afghan refugees and Bengali immigrants, officials confirmed yesterday, granting rights to many who have lived in the country for decades. Pakistan, one of the worlds largest refugee-hosting nations, is home to roughly 1.4 million registered Afghan refugees, some of whom have lived in the country since fleeing the Soviet invasion of 1979. There are also roughly a quarter of a million Bengalis, many of whom arrived during Pakistans civil war in 1971, when East Pakistan broke away to declare independence and become Bangladesh. Khan, who visited Karachi on Sunday, told a fundraising dinner that his government would take steps to grant nationality to those who had been there longest.

The first thing I will do going back (to Islamabad), God willing, is that we will get those people from Bangladesh, who are perhaps living here for more than 40 years and their children have grown older, issued passports and national identity cards, he said, according to footage of the dinner seen by AFP. And those Afghans whose children have grown older here, who were born in Pakistan, they would also be issued the passports and ID cards, he continued. When you are born in America, you get the American passport. It is the practice in every country in the world, so why not here? How cruel it is for them.

However he also noted that Bengali immigrants and Afghan refugees have created an underclass in Karachi that has helped fuel street crime in the megacity of more than 20 million people. Officials confirmed Khans comments Monday and said a draft policy would have to be prepared for cabinet before legislation could be written and debated in parliament. Pakistanis have long viewed Afghan refugees in particular suspiciously, with police accusing them of harassment and extortion. Many say they have overstayed their welcome.

In 2016 a wave of forced repatriations sparked fears of a humanitarian crisis, with Human Rights Watch issuing a scathing report describing Pakistans coercive approach. It accused the government of arbitrary detentions and other violations. The United Nations refugee agency welcomed Khans announcement Monday. We will continue to work closely with the Government of Pakistan on this issue in the coming weeks, spokesman Qaiser Khan Afridi said.China summoned the US ambassador yesterday to lodge an official protest over sanctions imposed by the United States against a Chinese military organisation for buying Russian fighter jets and missiles, state media said. The announcement came a day after China called on the United States to withdraw the sanctions or bear the consequences.

The spat adds to tensions between the two global powers over trade, Chinas treatment of religious groups and the Asian countrys claims to disputed islands in the South China Sea. Vice Foreign Minister Zheng Zeguang summoned Ambassador Terry Branstad and lodged solemn representations over US sanctions against (the) Chinese military, the Peoples Daily said in a brief report online. On Thursday, Washington placed financial sanctions on the Equipment Development Department of the Chinese Defence Ministry, and its top administrator, for its recent purchase of Russian Sukhoi Su-35 fighter jets and S-400 surface-to-air missile systems. Officials said it was the first time a third country has been punished under the CAATSA sanctions legislation for dealing with Russia, and signalled the Trump administrations willingness to risk relations with other countries in its campaign against Moscow. Russia also lashed out at the US sanctions, accusing Washington of playing unfairly and using new measures to squeeze Moscow out of the global arms market.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday that Washingtons continued sanctions hysterics dealt a new blow to US-Russia ties but could not immediately say if Moscow would retaliate, or how. The Chinese military expressed strong indignation and resolute opposition to the sanctions, the defense ministry said Saturday, echoing a foreign ministry statement the previous dayI know a well-placed senior executive who was sent by his multi-national firm to attend a short two-week management course at Harvard in the US.

He is a brilliant young man and a great role model for aspiring Bahrainis. So imagine my surprise when I found that, upon returning, he updated his LinkedIn profile to show that he had studied in that Ivy League American University. Now, technically he had attended a certificate course there but to imply that he had attended this world-famous university for graduate studies is what we can call faking it.

In our present knowledge economy, evidence of skills and intellect is a powerful tool to flaunt in the jobs market. No wonder people are eager to acquire a fake qualification to cheat people and the so-called degree mills are raking in the money since the anonymity of the Internet allows them to conceal many shortcomings.

One so-called distance learning university in an Asian country was recently exposed in the New York Times as having more call-center salespeople than faculty and also professors with degrees issued by the same universitys associate colleges with slightly different names.

In the GCC, where people from all over the world join GCC nationals in the demanding task of building their nation, the entire process of recruitment is peppered with loopholes that allow employees with fake degrees to infiltrate and join the workforce. This not only dilutes the skills at hand but is dangerous. Imagine an engineer who probably did three out of five years of his study and then acquired a fake degree or a doctor with a similar academic history.

Would you trust your roads, your skyscrapers and your surgery to these people? This is why the recent crackdown in Bahrain against fake degrees is commendable. Just like the Kingdom has made a name for itself for the purity of its gold jewelry, thanks to strict rules about quality and scrupulous stamping of every item of jewelry, we must have the strictest watch on educational qualifications. Whether at the workplace when recruiting employees or guiding our youth on where to study and which qualifications are of true value, the Ministry of Education faces a challenge in stamping out fake degrees.

In an environment where companies run numerous checks on potential employees, including their social media personalities, verifying a university degree is easy. IT experts in Bahrain are even recommending that universities in Bahrain adopt the latest blockchain technology to embed their genuine degrees into the Internet where they can be verified.

This will greatly raise the value of Bahraini university degrees because, wherever the graduate from the Kingdom applies for a job, employers will find it easy to check if it is genuine and over time, every step taken to allow users (after all an employer is as much a user of a Bahraini degree certificate as the employee is) to verify it and offer a transparent checking system will enhance its value.

The other move that we should enforce is the strict and rigorous punishment of the person who uses fake degrees or provides one. By signaling zero tolerance of such dishonesty, we shall be increasing the value of Bahrain as a knowledge center and as a workplace that has the highest standards.Home  Just In  Nepal tiger population up by 37 in past five years

Kathmandu, September 23

The government on Sunday made public the report of a recent tiger census. According to the report, there are 235 tigers across the country, which is 37 more than the 2013 count.

According to the report, Chitwan National Park is the biggest habitat for the big cat. It is home to 93 tigers.

Likewise, Bardiya National Park has 87 adult tigers, followed by 21 in Banke National Park, 18 in Parsa National Park, and 16 in Shuklaphanta National Park.

The census had started in November last year and concluded in July this year.

The number of Royal Bengal tigers in Nepal was 198 according to the 2013 census. There were 120 in Chitwan, 50 in Bardiya, 17 in Shuklaphanta, seven in Parsa and four in Banke.

Nepal had made an commitment to double the population of tiger from 2009 to 2022, during the St Petersburg Tiger Summit in 2010. In 2009, the number of tigers here was 121. It means Nepal is seven short to meet the target.The PDP governorship candidate in Osun State Senator Ademola Adeleke has faulted the election results from Ayedaade, Osogbo and two oth...

The PDP governorship candidate in Osun State Senator Ademola Adeleke has faulted the election results from Ayedaade, Osogbo and two other local government areas.PDP supporters have been jubilating since early Sunday morning while the announcement was still going on but the mood changed to that of apprehension following the discovery of errors in some of the resultsThe chairman of the PDP in Osun State, Mr Soji Adagunodo and a younger brother of the PDP candidate, Dele Adeleke, who have expressed dissatisfaction with some of the results are trying to sort out the issue with the INEC officials.The error is not unconnected with an INEC official caught tearing the election result pasted at a polling unit in Ayedaade.Kathmandu, September 23

Nepali Congress lawmaker Radheshyam Adhikari has suggested that the ruling Nepal Communist Party do not file the impeachment motion against Supreme Court Justice Deepak Raj Joshee without any objective ground.

Speaking at a meeting of the National Assembly today, Adhikari, also a senior advocate, said the ruling party could not use the impeachment motion as a threat to make Joshee resign.

The impeachment motion should be based on an objective ground, which the ruling party does not have now, according to him.

Recalling that his party committed a mistake by filing impeachment motion against then Chief Justice Sushila Karki without any substantial ground, he said the NCP should not repeat the error with Joshee now.

You may get some immediate benefits. But, in the long run, not only your party, but the entire state has to face the consequences.Home  Just In  Oli should speak less and listen more, says Madhav Kumar Nepal

US, September 23

Ruling Nepal Communist Partys senior leader and former prime minister Madhav Kumar Nepal suggests his party Chairman and Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli speak less and listen more.

Nepal, who is currently in the United States, said in a conversation with media that Oli needed to deliver results to the public at the earliest; hence he should listen to others more, than speaking his own ideas.

He also complained that the Prime Minister did not consult senior leaders of the party, who already had long experiences of working in the government, about the governments handling.

Nepal, however, defended the government claiming time was not ripe yet to review the governments performance.

He said, I am confident that the government will deliver its results very soon.

In another context, Nepal announced that he will discontinue his political life after reaching the age of 70. Nepal is currently 65.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.Kathmandu, September 23

Nepali Congress General Secretary Shashanka Koirala says his party will elect the next leadership from within the Koirala family. The party is due to elect the new leadership from the 19th general convention after two and half years.

Three leaders from the family are influential in the partys Central Working Committee now. They are the party founder BP Koiralas youngest son Shashanka, and his two cousins Shekhar and Sujata.

We will agree to field one among myself, Shekhar brother and Sujata for the president, the leader told his cadres at a function in Butwal of Rupandehi district on Sunday morning, adding the Koirala familys candidate would win the leadership race thanks of the cadres love and wishes.

Koirala claimed he learned from his recent visits to various parts of the country that most of the party cadres wished that the family would regain the leadership.

In another context, Koirala said the partys mahasamiti meeting scheduled to be held after two months would amend the partys new statute which would also define the partys vision for next 30 years.

He demanded that the party presidents rights be decentralised.

The party cannot afford disputes. We need to move ahead with new strategies, Koirala said, I think the presidents rights should be centralised. The lower levels including provincial and local committees should be made more powerful.

Koirala was hopeful that the party would become the biggest party in the upcoming general elections.Anthony Bourdain and W. Kamau Bell Cruise Kenya in Trailer for Final Season of Parts Unknown zo Zo is a staff writer at Okayplayer where he covers



One last ride with the late Anthony Bourdain

Tonight, CNN will launch the final season of Anthony Bourdains Parts Unknown.

Completed in the months following his death on June 8th at the age of 61, the cap on Bourdains Parts Unknown saga will document his travels abroad in Kenya, Spain, and Indonesia, as well as stateside sojourns to West Texas and Manhattans Lower East Side, across seven episodes.

READ: From Questlove To Yasiin Bey: Remembering Anthony Bourdains Best Hip-Hop Moments

A trailer for the final season was released this week provides an early peak, featuring fellow CNN host W. Kamau Bell at his side for a trip to Nairobi. Safaris, joyrides, and of course, myriad meals, ensue. Much of the clip focuses on Bells reminiscences, reflecting on his time traveling the country with a dear friend, missing him in his absence. The lead episode with Bell will be the last to feature Bourdains full involvement and narration.

Watch the trailer above and tune in tonight at 9pm EST for the premiere.YouTube content of 'Squid Game' outnumbers 'Game of Thrones' The South Korean phenomenon "Squid Game" has outnumbered the longtime TV powerhouse "Game of Thrones" in terms of combined YouTube views of its derivative video content, a U.S. med...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.News and commentary on organized crime, street crime, white collar crime, cyber crime, sex crime, crime fiction, crime prevention, espionage and terrorism.President Rouhani: Iran ready to confront US, 'small mercenary states'

09/23/18

Source: Press TV

President Hassan Rouhani says the United States wants to cause insecurity in Iran with the help of "small mercenary states" in the region, but that the Islamic Republic is ready to confront them. Rouhani's remarks in Tehran Sunday before leaving for New York to attend the UN General Assembly came a day after terrorists attacked a military parade in Ahvaz in southwest Iran, killing 25 people.



Ahvaz Terror Attack

(collage by Iranian daily Sazandegi)

"Americans want Iran to have no security. They want to create chaos and turmoil and set the conditions so that they can return to the country one day and take charge as they did in the old days, but none of these is possible," the president said.



"These are unattainable dreams and America will never achieve any of these goals," Rouhani added.



He touched on Washington's hostile policies toward Iran, including its withdrawal from an international nuclear deal with Tehran under "delusional excuses," putting a nation under strain.



"Our people will resist and the government has prepared itself for this confrontation," he said, adding that everyone will "join hands to put these difficult times behind us with the grace of God."



"The Americans will regret what they did because they made a very wrong choice", the president added.



Source: Iranian daily Farheekhtegan

Rouhani also said the US is provoking regional states against Iran, citing the terrorist attack in Ahvaz, which also left scores of people, including women and children, injured.



"It is entirely clear to us who did it, who they are and where they are affiliated to," he said.



"The sponsor of all these small mercenary countries in the region is America. Americans are provoking them and providing the right conditions for them to commit these crimes," Rouhani added.



Source: Iranian daily Esfahan Emrooz

The president said these acts will have no effect on the will and direction of the Iranian nation which "has stood up and resisted much bigger crimes."



Terrorists opened fire on people watching a military parade held to mark the invasion of Iran by former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein during the 1980s.



The Saudi-backed al-Ahvaziya terror group, which is based in Europe, has claimed responsibility for the assault.



Headline by Iranian daily Jomleh:

"Saudi Arabia's footprint in Ahvaz's bloody incident"

Rouhani said as long as Saddam was alive, the group used to be a mercenary of the former Ba'ath regime, but they switched their fealty to a "southern Persian Gulf state" which has undertaken to provide the terrorists with funds, weapons and political assistance.



Members of the terror group, he said, had lived inside Iraq for years but Iran granted them amnesty after the end of the Iraqi-imposed war in 1988. Nevertheless, "they have never regretted or stopped their crimes," he added.



Source: Iranian daily Mardomsalari

Rouhani described the Saturday attack, especially in a city which "valiantly withstood eight years" of attacks by Saddam's forces, a "big crime" which will not go unpunished.



"Iran's answer to these crimes will be within the framework of law and the country's national interests," he said as he paid tribute to the residents of Ahvaz.



"In the early months of the war, there were days when cannonballs would smash into the streets of Ahvaz and I saw them, but the residents did not evacuate the city and stayed put and resisted," he recounted.



President Rouhani leaving Tehran for New York on Sunday

(photo by Islamic Republic News Agency)

Elsewhere in his remarks, Rouhani hit out at the US for abusing the UN which Trump reportedly plans to use for a series of speeches to push a hard line against Iran.



A year after he shocked his counterparts by threatening to "totally destroy" North Korea in his inaugural UN address, Trump is expected to outline his confrontation with Iran, global trade and his "America first" view of foreign policy.

Trump lawyer calls for 'revolution' in Iran

Speaking in New York on Saturday, his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani claimed that US sanctions were working in Iran and that the coercive measures could lead to a "successful revolution."



"I don't know when we're going to overthrow them," he told a meeting of Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO) terrorist group. "It could be in a few days, months, a couple of years. But it's going to happen."

At the MEK regime change cult's Iran Uprising Summit, Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani proclaims in paid address, "They will be overthrown!" He then celebrates reports of desperate Iranians seeking to sell their organs and begging for food due to US sanctions. pic.twitter.com/AEt6Pl4y5y  Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) September 23, 2018

Giuliani's comments contradicted the Trump administration's pronouncements that it was not seeking a government change in Iran.



Washington has long been supporting the MKO. In 2012, the US State Department removed the group from its list of designated terrorist organizations.



Nevertheless, the anti-Iran grouplet is listed as a terrorist entity by much of the international community. Its members fled Iran in 1986 for Iraq, where it enjoyed the support of the Saddam regime.We're always interested in hearing about news in our community. Let us know what's going on!

Go to formTrumbull County 911's new public safety call-handling solution, Total Response, incorporates emergency call-handling protocols into all calls for service. Realizing that approximately 70% of all 911 calls are not medically related, Trumbull County 911 in Ohio wanted to have a solution that not only helped them meet the Ohio Emergency Medical Dispatch mandate, but exceeded it by incorporating better support for law enforcement and fire service dispatch.

PowerPhone's user-friendly Total Response solution is made to maximize call-handling efficiency and effectiveness with a single protocol database that focuses on the incident. CACH (Computer-Aided Call-Handling) Software is a protocol tool within Total Response that supports live call taking, supervision, retrospective call review, and reporting.

"The use of protocols will immensely help our staff," says Operations Manager Rodger Laird. "The dispatchers will be able to ask the right questions on a constant basis for each incident that the caller is reporting. Over time, the repetitiveness of this process will decrease dispatch times." Laird also predicts efficiencies to reduce the overall time spent on each call and to help with the training of new staff.

"This is something new not only for our dispatchers, but for all residents of Trumbull County," says Director Ernie Cook. "Patient care will now begin with the phone call instead of waiting for an ambulance to arrive."

"Our main goal was to find a product that integrated with our ID Networks CAD. We did not want to have a dispatcher flipping through cards while trying to talk to a caller and entering information at the same time into the CAD," says Laird. "After having demonstrations and on-site visits with other vendors, we selected PowerPhone because it gives us the capability we were looking for."

Laird says Total Response also provides, "a cost-effective way of certifying our dispatchers" in emergency medical, fire service, and law enforcement dispatch. Certification includes a theory component and a foundation component that guides dispatchers through the Total Response call-taking formula preparing them to use the technology and processes. Students also demonstrate their proficiency in a role-playing practicum with a PowerPhone instructor. With this solution, the service provided to the responders and the community will improve.

For more information, visit www.PowerPhone.com.This seasons collection is a sublime infusion of elegance with exoticism  a union of Parisian sophistication and Moroccan traditionalism. The decadent fabrics throughout the new designs are inspired by the traditional Moroccan Arabesque prints with a hint of Art Deco, painted in rich vibrant primary colors.

The tailoring throughout the collection is comprised of classically feminine shapes, including elegant silhouettes, skinny trousers and well cut blazers.

Inspired by her travels, Anne Fontaine has revolutionized the classic white shirt as a staple must-have this season. Throughout the collection you will discover white shirts featuring elements such as blouson sleeves, specialized lace embroidery, ribbon trims, and artisan pleats. Her ability to transform everyday pieces into lively statements, brings uniqueness into her collection. A blend of materials, texture, fine details, and bold colors exemplify Annes inspiration from Morocco this season.

About Anne Fontaine:

Founded in 1994, Anne Fontaine has imposed the white shirt as the main staple of feminine wardrobe. Over the years Anne Fontaine has developed into a full lifestyle brand through a complete wardrobe around the shirt, with a line of accessories, footwear and handbags. Anne Fontaine pieces are currently sold in 60 retail shops around the world and distributed in several hundred multibrands. Along with her commercial activities, Anne has made a commitment to ecological causes of particular focus - the protection of the Brazilian forest, Mata Atlantica in the state of Bahia through the creation of the Anne Fontaine Foundation in 2011.

For more information on Anne Fontaine, please contact Kelly Callahan at 212-343-3150 or email k.callahan@annefontaine.comWelcome Guest! You Are Here:The New Glock 45 Leaked

The new Glock 45 was leaked almost a week ago by the German Caliber magazine operated by All4Shooters.com, a subsidiary of VS Medien GmbH.

RECOIL was tipped off to the leak by Firearm Rack's post covering the leaked Glock 45 that also covered more leaked models like the Gen5 Glock 17 MOS that have been confirmed to be real.

It appears that the October digital issue of Caliber Magazine was uploaded to the digital publishing site Issue on September 17th, 2018. The release date for the new Glock 45 is presumably the rumored launch date of 24th of September.

Inside the front cover of Caliber Magazine's October digital issue, we find an advertisement for the new Glock 45 that we assume was not supposed to be distributed online or on newsstands until the release date.

Blowing the advertisement up a bit further, it is quite clear that the new Glock 45 is an all-black version of the Glock 19X with some slight changes to the design. You remember the 19X that we fixed right?

Since you probably don't read German either, here is a translation of the text in the box.

The G45 in 919, like the G19X, specially developed for military requests, combines the compact closure of a G19 with the full size grip of a G17. The G45 features the features of a Gen5 pistol model and the proven GLOCK Safe Action System. More information can be found at www.glock.com

The new Glock 45 features the same bevel that the rest of the Gen5 Glock lineup incorporates, interestingly it appears that the frame is also beveled. The slide also features what appear to be the same style forward serrations as the summer specials we saw last year.

Glock has also finished the slide in the same nDLC finish found on the rest of the Gen5 lineup. Another feature that we found interesting is the accessory rail appears to be Picittany rail compliant.

Glock also added the Gen5 magazine well and removed the toe that was found on the Glock 19X. The Glock 45 also appears to use the same mag release found on other standard line Gen5 Glocks.

As soon as we receive official word about the pistols that Glock intends to release on 24th of September, expect to see a follow-up post here on RECOIL. While we can't say that this is, in fact, a new model for US consumption, it sure lines up with the release timeline.Wont be surprised if the whole thing is being orchestrated. On August 30, why did he (Rahul) tweet Just wait for a while, some bombs are going to be burst in Paris? And then what happens is in perfect rhythm with what he predicted

IMAGE: In the interview, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said there was no possibility of the Rafale deal being scrapped and that the jets would be coming to India. Photograph: ANI/Twitter

Downplaying the allegations made by the Congress and former French President Francois Hollandes statement that the Indian government played a role in finalising Reliance Defence as Dassault Aviations offset partner, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Sunday said that some statements are made to create controversy and these do not have credibility.

In an exclusive interview to ANI, Jaitley added that circumstances and fact prove these statements wrong.

Let us start with the latest revelation that has come. Former French President Francois Hollande said that the French government had no option but to go with Reliance in the offsets deal with Dassault. What would be your reaction to this?

It is a highly questionable statement for the reason that it goes contrary to all acquisition procedures. It goes contrary to not only what the government of India is saying, but what the French government is saying and what Dassault themselves are saying.

The procedures are, under this contract, the government of India purchased fully built up and weaponised aircrafts from Dassault in a government-to-government agreement. The aircraft are to be manufactured and weaponised in France. They will come straight to the Indian Air Force and will be used by them. Where is the question of Dassault having a partner in India? The partner is for manufacturing or for any other activity relating to these 36 aircraft (when) you require something to be done in India. There is absolutely nothing to be done in India, except that the government of India purchases them for the IAF. So when the former french president uses the word partnership, I am afraid he doesnt seem to remember what the basics of the contract were.

Now let us come to the next part of the statement. After the purchase is made, under the 2005 policy of GoI created by the United Progressive Alliance government, originally they envisaged that if there is a contract worth X, 30 per cent of X is the investment that the Original Equipment Manufacturer/supplier will make in India, which means he will purchase to the extent of 30 per cent from Indian manufacturers.

Not for Rafale or any other particular defence, he can even purchase non-defence items as the investor may require. In this contract, it was raised to 50 per cent. So Dassault has to purchase after the supplies are made, and the supply will start in 2019.

So after 2020, Dassault will have to purchase equivalent to 50 per cent of the contract amount from India. Who they purchase from are not partners in the Rafale deal. They are offset suppliers. Dassault has said they have appointed one dozen offset suppliers or so from India, both in the private and public sectors. Merely because one company happens to be an Offset supplier, how is that a scandal?

Some statements are made to create controversy and such statements do not have credibility. It is also a fact that circumstances and facts prove these statements wrong.

If we go by his (Hollande) statement, his version is that no option was given.

Im afraid, if you look at the second statement he (Hollande) made on the sidelines of a conference in Montreal, which the AFP has released yesterday, he says, Im not aware of any pressure created by the GoI for this company. Only Dassault can tell you. The partners had selected themselves. The French government was not involved. But thats correct. Neither the Indian nor French governments are involved.

It is for the supplier (Dassault) to select the partner, and they have selected not one but a dozen odd partners, therefore, in the second statement he says he was not aware of any pressure that was brought or any suggestions made.

In the second statement, he is contradicting the core of the first statement. Why was the first statement, which is inaccurate and denied by the French government, Dassault and GoI, made? What was the need to make that statement? The only need I can think is he (Hollande) himself is under criticism from some quarters in France, I am not saying there is conflict of interest. For some alleged conflict of interest, the journalist who interviewed him said we are investigating that part, and therefore, it is very easy to get someone off your back and say I didnt do this, somebody else must have suggested it. The interview must be understood in this context, and when the same gentleman gives two versions within a period of 24 hours -- one version is we had no option and the second version is I am not aware if pressure was brought, go ask Dassault. The partners selected themselves, obviously, truth never has two versions.

Now out of these two statements, the Congress is going to believe the earlier one, where he (Hollande) said they had no option.

The Congress can believe anything. Men can believe anything, but you must remember a basic principle of conduct, which for centuries has ruled throughout the world, which is Men may state inaccurate facts, circumstances never lie. What are the circumstances?

In 2012, the UPA government had selected the same Rafale from Dassault. Before the minister could sign it, they decided to abandon it. There are two Reliances in the country today. At that stage, one Reliance entered into a Memorandum of Understanding in 2012 February for Rafale with Dassault. Was it a scandal? Obviously not. Because, anyone would say if you are going to manufacture in India, I would like to be the offset contractor or supplier. Many Indian businesses in the public or private sectors would be. It is not a crime for any company to be party to the contract.

When they came back in 2014, the 2012 Reliance was no longer in defence; the other Reliance was. This time they showed interest, so theres been a background to this. And then, they are not interested in manufacture of Rafale aircraft, because none is going to be manufactured in India under the 2016 contract. Readymade aircraft are going to come in; they are only going to be offset suppliers.

I pity Rahul Gandhis understanding -- how is it a scandal if a dozen Indian companies in the private and public sector say, that if for a Rs 56,000 crore contract, if the offsets are going to be 28,000 crore, I want to be among the 20 people who are going to make offset supplies? Everyone will get Rs 2,000-4,000cr. How is it impropriety?

Talking about the press conference that Rahul Gandhi did on Saturday, where he made a direct attack at the prime minister. What do you have to say?

The UPA government in the 10 years from 2004-2014 was unquestionably the most corrupt government in this country. They went out. Besides the UPA government, there was a whole background in the 1980s where there was serious evidence that money in the Bofors deal went into Swiss accounts. People close to the Gandhi family, Mr Quattrocchi, was one of the beneficiaries of one of the accounts.

Therefore, serious allegations were raised at that stage. Without getting further into that, I think he is in some kind of a revenge mode. We were called corrupt and you brought in evidence. Today, even if there is no evidence, even if it is a government-to-government deal, I have no evidence of any money being paid.

And mind you, I wont be surprised if the whole thing is being orchestrated. On August 30, why did he tweet Just wait for a while, some bombs are going to be burst in Paris? And then what happens is in perfect rhythm with what he predicted. The former French president is contradicted by the French government and Dassault, and the next day he goes and contradicts himself.

What is this allegation? Are you saying Rahul Gandhi and Hollande are linked with each other?

I dont know. But I see a perfect coincidence in the rhythm between his tweet on August 30 and what happens when a statement is made which is found to be inaccurate and, therefore, the next day itself, Hollande goes and starts backtracking it.

So are you saying that the Opposition in both countries are in cahoots with each other?

No, I am not saying this. This is for an industry person like you and others who are working in the field to arrive at their own conclusions.

IMAGE: A Rafale fighter jet flies over the French Air Force base in Mont-de-Marsan, southwestern France. Photograph: Regis Duvignau/Reuters

Let us talk about the level of discourse that it has gone down to. He (Rahul Gandhi) has spoken about the prime minister; before this you called him the Clown Prince. Have we bottomed out or are we going further down?

I would have very much appreciated if not only the quality of discourse, but also the quality of idiom reflects some level of intellect.

We all make criticism, but that criticism, comment and public discourse is intended to raise the quality of public discourse, in terms of quality, content, turn of phrases and the idiom that you use, so that at least somebody appreciates it. If you are bent upon bringing the level of discourse down to vulgarity -- you hug somebody, you wink at somebody, you repeat a lie 300 times -- what do I call that?

More numbers were thrown in this press conference (on Saturday). Before this, he (Rahul Gandhi) had also tweeted saying this was a surgical strike of Rs 1,30,000 crore that the PM had done. This is right after Hollandes statement.

It is a highly objectionable statement. The surgical strike is something India must be proud of. Your patriotism is questionable if you are ashamed of it and refer to it in a derogatory manner.

The surgical strike was when the government of India and the Indian Army had the courage and professionalism to carry out a near perfect operation by crossing the border and destroying the terrorist camps. Is it something for the Congress party to be ashamed of and refer to in a derogatory manner?

What is not compromising the national security of the country and the army says that you need an aircraft with weaponised ability to target from a distance. We need the combat ability of the Indian Air Force to be increased. The IAF has been crying since 2001. You waste 10 years and then abandon the deal. If he wanted to use the word surgical strike, he should have used it then. To expedite something which is in the security requirement of the country can hardly be referred in derogatory manner.

To speak further on numbers, in the presser, Rahul Gandhi said UPA negotiated a Rs 526 crore per jet deal, which had ballooned to approx Rs 1600 crore under the NDA. Finally, what are the numbers Mr Jaitley? If we had gone with this Rs 526 crore per jet deal sanctioned by the UPA, with the add-ons, when you compare it to the 2016-17 deal, what is the price difference?

As I said in an interview last time, if you were in kindergarten, this logic would make sense. Does he not understand what I explained last time? Take the 2007 offer of Rafale. To this you add till 2016 the escalation which was inbuilt into the clause. You add the exchange rate variation.

The NDA deal for a basic aircraft becomes nine per cent cheaper than the 2007 offer. A bare aircraft is only a flying instrument with one pilot. It is of no surgical use. It is only when it is weaponised that it becomes an armed equipment for a surgical use to strike a target.

Fortunately, there is pricing, and for security interest, that pricing cant be disclosed in detail. But I have come as close to this. If you take a weaponised aircraft as of 2007, add the same two things to it again and bring it to 2016 level, 2016 level is 20 per cent cheaper. Now the CAG will go into pricing. They may not eventually disclose it, but about being 9 per cent and 20 per cent cheaper or not, they are looking into it. Congress has submitted a memorandum. The truth will come out.

Talking about the secrecy clause; this too was brought up in the press conference. He (Rahul) met (Emmanuel) Macron (the French president). Anand Sharma, former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh were there.

The French government has contradicted each one of them. Mr Antony and Dr Manmohan Singh, who were privy to the transaction, at least should have not gone off to sleep in that meeting and should have come up and said that we know we signed the secrecy clause.

The clause bears the signatures of AK Antony. (Defence Minister) Nirmala Sitharaman produced it in the Parliament. The French government officially made a statement saying there is a secrecy clause, but I am afraid the Congress heard it otherwise.

Looking back, this happens to be completely vitiated by back and forth allegations.

It is vitiated by falsehood, not by allegations.

Are we in any danger of this agreement being scrapped? Are these jets coming to India?

These jets are coming to India. They will enhance the combat ability of the IAF. By allegations, you dont prove anything. I wrote recently that all Non Performing Assets were created during the Congress period, they just concealed the NPAs. But if you make a false statement saying Mr Modi is responsible even though we created them, falsehood doesnt change the facts.

With constant attacks being made on the prime minister, why isnt he coming clean? Why doesnt he speak on the Rafale deal and end all this criticism once for all?

Let me tell you, those who are to speak have spoken. Merely because somebody can resort to untruths and vulgarity is no reason for the PM to participate in a debate of this kind. The facts which could be put in public domain have been put in public domain. I am putting forward further facts in the public domain through you.

This is going to be an election issue up to 2019.

The election issue is only going to be one in the country -- Do you want Mr Modi to continue or do you want a chaotic combination without a program to be there?

Do you think NDAs anti-corruption image is being tarnished?

That is the strategy, but the strategists must remember that people of India are wiser than them.Breaking a long lull in their activities in Andhra Pradesh, the outlawed Communist Party of India-Maoists on Sunday shot dead a sitting MLA and a former legislator of ruling Telugu Desam Party in Araku area in Visakhapatnam district, police said.

The gunning down of Araku MLA Kidari Sarveswara Rao his predecessor Siveri Soma, both Scheduled Tribes, in Lippitiputta village triggered violence with their irate relatives and local tribals attacking two police stations, blaming the police for failure to ensure protection to the two leaders.

Police, however, claimed the MLA and his predecessor went to the village in Dumbriguda mandal, close to the Odisha border, without prior intimation to them.

State Deputy Chief Minister (Home) N China Rajappa condemned the killings and asked people to be more vigilant.

The daring attack by Maoists came at a time when the state government and the police were considered to have gained an upper hand over the CPI-Maoist with no major incident involving the ultras reported in the past four-and half years.

The Maoists, incidentally were observing their organisations formation week from September 21 to 27.

The two TDP leaders were in the village to take part in a grama darsini (village visit) programme, police said.

A group of Maoists came along with the villagers and blocked the cars of the two. As the personal security officers of the legislator and the ex-legislator got down, they snatched the AK-47 rifles from them and shot Sarveswara Rao and Soma dead, said Visakhapatnam Range Deputy Inspector General of Police Ch Srikanth.

In the violence that followed the killings, protesters set afire a shed in a local police station and damaged furniture and other materials in Araku station.

A police constable was also attacked by the furious mob, police said.

A police spokesman said the situation had been brought under control and reinforcements were being rushed to the area.

The Maoists had been lying low in Andhra Pradesh after the encounter on the Andhra-Odisha Border on October 24, 2016 in which they lost 27 of their activists.

Barring a couple of minor incidents in which a police constable and later a home guard were killed, Maoist activity in Andhra Pradesh had been negligible over the past four-and-a-half years.

Even the Dumbriguda mandal, where Sundays attack occurred, was said to be relatively free from Maoist activity, but the killing of the legislator and the former legislator has come as a blow to the government machinery.

Sarveswara Rao was elected as an MLA from Araku Valley (Scheduled Tribes) constituency as YSR Congress candidate in 2014 and defected to the TDP in 2016. He was subsequently made the Government Whip in the assembly.

Soma represented Araku constituency as TDP legislator from 2009 to 2014.

Recently, posters and letters appeared in the region in name of Maoists warning the Araku MLA and accordingly police placed him on high alert, sources said.

The two were proceeding in separate cars to Lipitiputtu village. While Rao was having two personal security officers as escort, Soma one, all carrying AK-47 rifles and 9-mm pistols, police sources said.

According to an eyewitness account, about 50-60 outlawed Maoists most of them women, lay in wait along with villagers and suddenly surrounded the MLAs car in the front. Around 20 of them were armed.

They snatched the weapons from the PSOs and tied the MLAs hands with a rope. They then ordered three other people travelling with the legislator to get down from the vehicle and took all of them away to a distance, the eyewitness said.

One of the PSOs told television channels that the Maoists, after snatching their weapons, said they would not harm them.

They took us, driver, MLAs PA and two others away to a distance and told us we will not be harmed. They then shot the MLA dead, he said.

The former MLA, who was following in a second car, tried to stop his vehicle and reverse it but another group of Maoists came out of the bushes and surrounded it.

Somas hands were also tied with rope and taken away and shot dead.

The Maoists, suspected to be led by Andhra-Odisha Border Committee Secretary Ramakrishna, engaged Rao in a conversation for more than half an hour before killing him, an eyewitness said.

The MLA was said to be running a stone quarry at Guda, which was objected to by the Maoists on the premise that it caused environmental hazard in the area.

The Maoists fired four bullets at the MLA while Soma received two bullets.

Soma was reportedly held responsible for the recent encounter attempt by the police in which the Maoists had a narrow escape.

China Rajappa said the situation in the state had been under control in the last over four years though the Maoists had a strong presence in neighbouring states like Telangana, Chhattisgarh and Odisha.

There have been no incidents in our state because our (police) force has been strong, Rajappa said.

As Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu is currently flying to New York, officials in the Chief Ministers Office spoke to Visakhapatnam district collector and superintendent of police seeking details of the incident, a CMO communique said.

YSR Congress president Y S Jaganmohan Reddy, state Congress president N Raghuveera Reddy and others condemned the Maoists attack.Bishop Franco Mulakkal, arrested on charges of repeatedly raping and sexually assaulting a nun, was Sunday taken to a guest house at nearby Kuravilangadu by police for reconstruction of the crime scene.

The police vehicle carrying the bishop, who was sent to two-day police custody Saturday by a magistrate court in Pala, reached the St Francis Mission Home at 10.20 am and left the place after completing the procedure at 11.10 am.

In its remand report submitted in the court, police had said the nun was subjected to rape and unnatural sex by the accused at the guest house of St Francis Mission Home 13 times between 2014 and 2016.

The victim and her fellow nuns staying in the home were not present there when Mulakkal was brought.

Official sources said police planned to move an application in the court, seeking permission to subject the bishop to a lie detector as he was still reluctant to make the confessional statement.

The Kerala high court on Saturday had rejected the bail plea of the bishop and sent him to two-day police custody.

His lawyers had moved the application seeking relief, submitting that the clergyman was arrested after a three-day long interrogation by the probe team.

Opposing the plea, police had said his three-day custody was required to conduct his potency test and to recover the laptop, mobile phone and the dress used by the accused.

They said his body fluid and DNA samples were required to be collected as part of the probe.

Recording the submissions, the magistrate granted two-day custody of the bishop to police till 2.30 pm on Monday.

The Roman Catholic Bishop, who was arrested Friday night, was later taken to the Government Medical College Hospital, Kottayam, Saturday to perform these tests.

After completing the procedure at Kuravilangadu convent Sunday, Mulakkal was taken to the Police Club in the town.

He will be produced in the magistrate court in Pala at 2.30 pm on Monday.

In her complaint to the Kottayam police in June, the nun had alleged that Bishop Mulakkal raped her at a guest house in Kuravilangad in May 2014 and later sexually exploited her on several occasions.

The nun had said she had to approach the police as church authorities did not act on her repeated complaints against the clergyman.

However, the bishop has denied the charges.French observers point out that Paris had no choice but to issue a denial given the importance of India's Rafale purchase for France's aerospace industry.

Ajai Shukla reports.

Photograph: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters/ Rediff.com IMAGE: Then US president Barack Obama looks on as Prime Minister Narendra Danodardas Modi and then French president Francois Hollande depart the stage at the Paris climate meet, December 8, 2015.

The government on Saturday, September 22, rebutted former French president Francois Hollande's explosive allegation that New Delhi had nominated Anil Ambani's Reliance Group as the industrial partner in the purchase of 36 Rafale fighters from France.

'The government has stated earlier and again reiterates that it had no role in the selection of Reliance Defence as the offset partner,' said a statement from the ministry of defence.

The rebuttal came even as the opposition Congress intensified its attack on the Narendra Damodardas Modi government, citing Hollande/s claim.

The MoD statement starts by implying that Hollande was motivated by a 'conflict of interest' relating to his personal life.

'(His) reported statement perhaps needs to be seen in its full context where the French media has raised issues of conflict of interest involving persons close to the former president,' the MoD said.

The implied 'conflict of interest' relates to the Reliance Group's investment of Euro 1.6 million in 2016, in a film produced by Hollande's partner, actress Julie Gayet.

Bharatiya Janata Party spokespersons have already taken the line that Hollande had falsely alleged that New Delhi had done Ambani a favour, in order to deflect charges that he had done the favour himself, as a quid pro quo for the financing extended to Gayet.

French journalists indicate this makes further intervention by Hollande almost inevitable.

On Saturday, Hollande's office said the former president stood by his statement to Mediapart.

Late on Friday night, the French government issued its own carefully worded 'denial'.

Without explicitly contradicting Hollande, it stated: 'The French government is in no manner involved in the choice of Indian industrial partners who have been, are being, or will be selected by French companies. In accordance with India's acquisition procedure, French companies have the full freedom to choose the Indian partner companies that they consider to be the most relevant...'

French observers, speaking anonymously, point out that Paris had no choice but to issue a denial given the importance of India's Rafale purchase for France's aerospace industry.

However, they underline its linguistic ambiguity. "The statement says Paris is not involved in selecting the Indian offset partner. This in no way contradicts Hollande's statement that New Delhi selected Ambani," said one observer.

The second part of the French government statement, that 'in accordance with India's acquisition procedure, French companies have the full freedom to choose the Indian partner companies...' is also a bland recitation of the procurement procedure.

"This does not address Hollande's implicit allegation that New Delhi violated its own acquisition procedure," pointed out the observer.

Meanwhile, Dassault, which had refused to comment for the Mediapart report, has also issued a statement contradicting Hollande.

'Dassault Aviation has decided to make a partnership with India's Reliance Group. This is Dassault Aviation's choice...' it said.

The MoD statement unusually cited 'media reports' to argue that the Dassault-Reliance partnership was not related to the 36 Rafale purchase. Instead, it went back to 2012, when Dassault was competing in the tender for 126 medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA).

'It has been reported that a JV (joint venture) between Reliance Defence and Dassault Aviation came into being in February 2017. This is a purely commercial arrangement between two private companies,' the MoD said.

'Incidentally, media reports of February 2012 suggest that Dassault Aviation, within two weeks of being declared the lowest bidder for procurement of 126 aircraft by the previous government, had entered into a pact for partnership with Reliance Industries in defence sector,' the MoD added.

In its statement, Dassault cites Reliance Group's ownership of land abutting a runway in Nagpur as a reason for deciding to partner Anil Ambani.

'Dassault Aviation and Reliance have built a plant in Nagpur for manufacturing parts for Falcon and Rafale aircraft. The Nagpur site was chosen because of the availability of land with direct access to an airport runway, an essential condition of aeronautic activities,' Dassault said.

Reliance Group's involvement in the Rafale controversy relates to its selection as one of Dassault's offset partners.

In all Indian defence procurements worth more than Rs 20 billion, an offset policy requires the overseas vendor to plough back 50 per cent of the contract value into Indian defence production.

Euro 3.9 billion worth of offsets arise from the Euro 7.8 billion contract for 36 Rafale fighters. However, the Reliance Group says it has benefited only from Euro 778 million worth of offsets orders from Dassault.

This latest twist in the Rafale controversy was triggered on Friday when the well-regarded French investigative Web site Mediapart published an interview with Hollande, in which he said: 'It was the Indian government that proposed this group (Reliance), and Dassault which negotiated with Ambani. We did not have a choice, we took the interlocutor who was given to us.'Golden Globe Race skipper and Indian Naval officer, Commander Abhilash Tomy KC, who suffered a back injury at the sea after the yacht he was sailing in got dismasted, is being brought back.

According to the Indian Navy, Commander Tomy is in communication with the Race Control in France through messages, which is relaying messages to JRCC Australia.

Commander Tomy has requested for a stretcher as he is not able to move on his own, the Indian Navy has said.

Commander Tomy is representing India in the Golden Globe Race 2018 on an indigenously built sailing vessel Thuriya. The yacht is in the south Indian Ocean.

The GGR is a race to sail around the globe.

He suffered a back injury on Friday after the yacht was dismasted due to extremely rough weather and sea conditions in the Indian Ocean.

According to a situation report, an Australian Fisheries vessel Osiris, which has a medical officer and one-bed infirmary on board, has left for the location.

A Royal Australian Navy Ship is likely to depart for the location, with an estimated time arrival of four-five days.

A P-8I aircraft will be available from September 23 onwards, while, a civil aircraft is being tasked to be in the area by around 2:30 coordinated universal time.

Commander Abhilash Tomy KC of the Indian Navy, representing India in the Golden Globe Race 2018 on an indigenously built sailing vessel Thuriya was dismasted and suffered a back injury yesterday. He is in the south Indian Ocean, approximately 1900 nautical miles from Perth, Australia and 2700 nm (approx 5020 km on the ground) from Cape Comorin (Kanyakumari), Navy spokesperson Captain DK Sharma had confirmed.

Captain Sharma had informed that rescue efforts, led by Australian defence forces, were underway and the Indian Navy had also dispatched stealth frigate INS Satpura to find the officer.

The Australian Rescue Coordination Centre at Canberra is coordinating the rescue mission in conjunction with many agencies including the Australian Defence Department and the Indian Navy, the spokesperson had said.

All out efforts are being made to rescue Commander Abhilash Tomy. Indian Naval stealth frigate, INS Satpura with a Chetak Helicopter and tanker INS Jyoti mission deployed/operating in the Indian Ocean have been dispatched for the rescue mission, he added.

Commander Tomy, in his last message via satellite phone, had indicated that he was safe on the boat but was immobile due to a back injury.

The naval officer is the only Indian to have circumnavigated the globe non-stop on the legendary sail Yacht INSV Mhadei. He was awarded Kirti Chakra in 2013 by then President of India Pranab Mukherjee.

He is also a recipient of the Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award.Processions carrying idols of Lord Ganesh for immersion began winding their way towards rivers and lakes across Maharashtra on Sunday morning, marking the culmination of the 11-day festival.

IMAGE: The Lalbaugcha Raja makes it way to Girgaum Chowpatty for the immersion. Photograph: Mitesh Bhuvad/PTI Photo

In big cities like Pune and Mumbai, processions carrying huge idols of the elephant-headed God on decorated trucks, accompanied by thousands of devotees and troupes of drummers, are expected to continue well past midnight.

In Mumbai, the famous Lalbaughcha Raja Ganpati, which attracts lakhs of devotees during the festival, was among the early starters for immersion at the sea shore in Dadar.

IMAGE: Devotees carry the idol of Lalbaugcha Raja for immersion on the 11th day of Ganpati festival in Mumbai. Photograph: Mitesh Bhuvad/PTI Photo

The festival, which began on Ganesh Chaturthi on September 13, concludes Sunday on Anant Chaturdashi.

Photograph: Sahil Salvi/ Rediff.com IMAGE: Crowds make their way to Mumbai's Girgaum Chowpatty bid adieu to Mumbai's famous Lalbaughcha Raja Ganpati.

IMAGE: A child poses for photos with an idol of Lord Ganesha to be immersed into river Yamuna. Photograph: Manvender Vashist/PTI Photo

In Mumbai, prime locations for immersion are Girgaum Chowpatty (beach), Juhu, Powai lake and Dadar Chowpatty.

Photograph: Sahil Salvi/ Rediff.com IMAGE: Thousands and thousands of devotees in Mumbai accompany the Ganesh Galli Cha Raja idol to the immersion spot.

In Mumbai, the police have also deployed drones as well as a large network of over 5,000 CCTV cameras to maintain vigil during the immersion.

IMAGE: Devotees hold a baby aloft as others carry an idol of Ganesh before immersing the idol. Photograph: Danish Siddiqui/Reuters

Mumbai police spokesperson DCP Manjunath Singe said that 50,000 police personnel, including those from specialised units like Force One, Quick Response Teams, Anti-Terrorism Cells would be deployed.

IMAGE: A devotee carries an idol of Lord Ganesha to be immersed into river Yamuna on the last day of Ganesh Chaturthi festival, in New Delhi. Photograph: Ravi Choudhary/PTI Photo

In Nashik city, Ganesh mandals decided not to use hi-tech sound amplifying systems and gulal powder (which is sprinkled during the procession) during the immersion.

The immersion procession of over 50 Ganesh mandals began in the morning from Wakadi Barav locality in Nashik. It will culminate on the bank of the river Godavari.

Nashik police commissioner Ravinderkumar Singhal said the procession was expected to go on till midnight.If you want to see Nicolas Cage huffing LSD-laced cocaine and murdering people with a giant axe called The Beast to the sounds of '80s doom metal for two-plus hours, you're going to have to either travel to Galway or Dublin to scratch that particular itch.

Cage's latest film, 'Mandy', is opening in just two cinemas in Ireland - the Lighthouse Cinema here in Dublin, and Palas Cinema over in Galway - and that's pretty much it. Panos Cosmatos' action-horror is currently winning rave reviews on its release in the US, with many people claiming it's Nicolas Cage's best movie in years.

UPDATE (18:49) Lighthouse Cinema were on, and were good enough to inform us that the Triskel Arts Centre in Cork is also showing 'Mandy', so you've no excuse to go see it if you're down south.

.@TriskelCork are also screening it from Oct 21st so that makes three. See this film loud and on the big screen if you can. #MandyMovie https://t.co/p65D6SGFKp  Light House Cinema (@LightHouseD7) September 23, 2018

If this trailer doesn't sell it to you, nothing really will. Our review of 'Mandy' goes live on Thursday.Yemen condemns strongly terrorist attack in Iran [23/September/2018] SANAA, Sept. 23 (Saba)  Spokesman of the National Salvation Government Abdul Salam Jaber condemned strongly the treacherous terrorist attack that targeted a military parade of the Revolutionary Guards in the Islamic Republic of Iran on Saturday morning.



Jaber said in a statement to the Yemeni news agency (Saba) that the Government of the Republic of Yemen expresses its deepest condolences to the government and people of Iran in the victims of this criminal attack, and affirms its solidarity with the Islamic Republic of Iran and its stand alongside security and stability.

"the fingerprints of US terrorism in this attack are not invisible to anyone," Jaber affirmed.

He added that the terrorist forces that targeted the Iranian people are the same forces that targeted and target the Yemeni people in mosques, markets and public and private facilities, and will continue to target all liberals who resist American hegemony over the region unless the Islamic nation and its rulers wake up and unite against America and its agents.



Ahmed Al-Mutawakel



SabaA ruling TDP MLA and a former legislator of his party were on Sunday gunned down by Maoists in Andhra Pradesh's Visakhapatnam district, police said.

In what is believed to be the first major attack on public representatives in a decade, K. Sarveswara Rao, 45, Telugu Desam Party (TDP) MLA from Araku (Reserved-Scheduled Tribe) and his party colleague and former MLA Siveri Soma, 52, were shot dead near Thutangi village, about 125 km from the coastal city of Visakhapatnam, while they were returning from a programme at a village in Araku, a tribal area.



Their car was intercepted by a group of 40-50 Maoists, including women. After snatching weapons from three security guards, they tied them along with the driver to trees. They threatened them with dire consequences if they tried to escape or resist.





Swamy, one of the security guards, later told the media that the Maoists spoke to both the leaders for nearly an hour about their involvement in mining in agency area which is reportedly threatening the livelihood of tribals.



The TDP leaders suggested that the matter could be resolved peacefully. However, an argument ensued and the Maoists opened fire on them from point-blank range, killing them on the spot. Both were shot in the head and chest.



Deputy Inspector General of Police Ch. Srikanth said that the crime occurred between noon and 1 p.m. about 15 km from the Odisha border.



Both Rao and Soma had received threats from Maoists in the past. The public representatives in the region were alerted by the police to be cautious while moving in interior villages in view of the formation week celebrations of the outlawed Communist Party of India-Maoist till September 27.



Rao was elected from Araku on a YSR Congress Party ticket in the 2014 elections by defeating Soma of the TDP. In 2016, Rao switched loyalties to the TDP.



In July this year, tribals had protested against the MLA for allegedly obtaining mining lease in the name of his brother-in-law. They had alleged that quarrying of black stones was damaging the houses of tribals at Guda village.



Deputy Chief Minister N. Chinna Rajappa said that a probe will be conducted to ascertain as to how Maoists managed to attack the two leaders despite the fact that their activities were under control for the last 4-5 years.



The CPI-Maoist was believed to have considerably weakened in its former stronghold on the Andhra-Odisha border in recent years following intensive police operations by both the states.



Following the killings, police went on high alert in Andhra-Odisha border area and public representatives were advised not to visit interior villages.



Senior police officials reviewed the situation. Additional forces including personnel of anti-Maoist force Greyhounds were rushed to the region for combing operations.



Tension prevailed in Araku constituency as relatives and supporters of slain leaders attacked two police stations.



Accusing the police of "failing" to protect the public representatives, the protestors ransacked Araku and Dumbriguda police stations and set afire to the furniture and other articles.



When police tried to disperse the protestors at Dumbriguda, they vent their ire on policemen, injuring one constable. Other policemen ran away to escape from the mob fury.



Some people again staged a protest at the police station with the bodies of Rao and Soma. They claimed that the police had not reached the scene even four hours after the crime.



Senior officials rushed to the spot and pacified the protestors.



Chief Minister and TDP chief N. Chandrababu Naidu expressed shock over the killings. Naidu, who is currently visiting the United States, in a message condemned the killings and conveyed his condolences to the bereaved families.



The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) said that such attacks and killings are a "scar on humanity".



The Chief Minister directed senior Cabinet colleague Kala Venkatrao to rush to the district.LONDON (AP)  Anthony Joshua retained his WBA, IBF, and WBO heavyweight titles with a seventh-round stoppage of Alexander Povetkin at Wembley Stadium.

Joshua, who fought with a suspected broken nose from the second round, sent the Russian to the canvas with a big right midway through the seventh and was unloading a flurry of punches before the referee stepped in to end the fight.

Joshua's record moved to 22-0, with 21 wins coming inside the distance. This was another big test passed by the Briton in front of an estimated 80,000 fans at Wembley  just like 17 months ago when he recovered from getting knocked down against Wladimir Klitschko to win an epic fight.

Joshua, whose phenomenal pulling power sees him pack out stadiums, is booked to return to Wembley on April 13 for his next bout, and the plan is for the opponent to be either WBC titleholder Deontay Wilder or former heavyweight champion Tyson Fury. They confirmed earlier Saturday they will be fighting on Dec. 1, likely in Las Vegas.

Selling the Povetkin fight was harder than usual for Joshua and his promoters, with the Russian boxer aged 39 and conceding around 11 kilograms on the champion. Joshua was 1-10 to win with some British bookmakers.

On a rainy night that forced spectators at ground level to wear plastic ponchos as protection from the wet conditions, Joshua struggled in the early rounds and was rocked by a three-punch combination from Povetkin in the first.

Blood poured from Joshua's right nostril and he might have lost rounds two and three, too, with Povetkin dangerous close in and with his fierce left hook.

"A few years ago," Joshua said, "maybe I wouldn't have won that fight."

Joshua started to pick off Povetkin thereafter by using his longer reach. The challenger was looking for the big punch and it kept Joshua mostly on the back foot.

But Povetkin, who sustained a bad cut over his left eye in round four, began noticeably slowing, and in the seventh round Joshua unleashed a powerful right and then a left hook. With Povetkin open, Joshua followed through with a straight right that took Povetkin down and left him hanging through the ropes.

He beat the count but was being overwhelmed by Joshua when the fight was stopped.

Povetkin, who was the WBA "regular" champion from 2011-13, was getting a shot at a world title for the first time since testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs twice in a seven-month period in 2016.

Coming in the same week as his native Russia was welcomed back into global sporting competition by WADA after a notorious doping scandal, the timing of the fight seemed apt.

And he put up a game fight, one which proved to be Joshua's toughest test since Klitschko. It was the first time Povetkin was stopped inside the distance.What is going on in Samoa today? What is with the Governments obsession for these multi-million-tala projects we know will only end up being white elephants, while many poor people of this country continue to suffer from poverty and untold hardship?

We are talking about the Governments latest grand dream, a questionable multi-million-tala airport at Tiavea. We say questionable because not only is it not necessary, the likelihood of it succeeding is highly unlikely.

If recent projects in the area are anything to go by, all you have to do is look at the deteriorating Satitoa Wharf, which cost taxpayers more than $10 million, to get an idea.

Today, that wharf is an absolute waste of money. More than ten million tala, possibly close to $20 million, was wasted there. Does this country have so much money it can just toss several millions out in the open ocean? Of course not.

So why are we persisting with these so-called projects.

From what we see, there are striking similarities between the Satitoa wharf and the airport being planned at Tiavea. Like the Satitoa wharf, the airport is intended to make travel between the two Samoas quicker and cheaper.

How that is possible is anyones guess.

But lets just consider the logistics and convenience for instance. Who wants to pay $100 tala or more in taxi fare to catch a flight to Pago? And what will become of the Fagalii Airport then? Whats wrong with the Fagalii airport now? Didnt the Government recently spend a lot of money renovating it? So many questions, so few answers.

You see, when certain public officials in positions of power opt to satisfy their whims at the publics expense, the rest suffer, especially the poorest of the poor.

Which is precisely what is happening in Samoa today.

Now isnt it downright cruel that there are children basically living on the streets, families wallowing in poverty in this country and yet our government is continuing to dump millions of tala into projects that hold little promise of creating wealth or improving peoples lives?

Isnt it ironic that there is such an outcry about the Government taxing anything that moves, and hiking taxes left right and centre and yet these projects are being talked up as if they only cost $10 tala? Has anybody asked members of the business community about how tough things are?

Wouldnt it have been better to utilise this money to help businesses and the private sector of Samoa, which is supposed to be the engine of economic growth? What about investing more money on doctors and nurses at the hospital? Or to pay more teachers so that the standard of education can be improved?

Now here is another reason why this project is already questionable.

According to a story in the Sunday Samoan last week, the Government has already awarded a $3.57 million tala contract to a company owned by the son of the Associate Minister of the Ministry of Prime Minister and Cabinet, Peseta Vaifou Tevaga.

Asked about the issue of conflict of interest, Peseta said the company is overseen and operated by his son.

I am not involved in the project of this company, he said.

But then in the very next breath, Peseta tells us everything about the project.

The runway is 1,000 meters long. Its a small Airport similar to the Fagalii Airport, but a longer runway, he said.

We anticipate starting the project with setting the boundaries next week Tuesday with the Tiavea village council and as soon as that is done, we will get to the construction of the runway.

The contract is for the runaway alone and so we are looking at hiring up to 30 people from the village for labor work, while we provide the operators for the machineries and equipment.

Can you see how ironic this is?

But then this is so the Samoa of today, isnt it? Where there is a very fine line between right and wrong, a line that is crossed in many cases, including this one.

By the way, we are not anti-development. We agree that new airports are good for the people, when there is a need and when we can afford it. The problem from where we stand is that, we cannot see how this will work and how it could succeed.

There are no guarantees that in a few years time it will become another Satitoa failure?

That said; now think of the less fortunate and the poor people of Samoa today. Theirs are stories of a perennial struggle to cope with the crippling cost of living and their inability to meet the demands of every Samoan life. Wouldnt it be better if the Government focused on helping them instead of persisting with these failed projects?

What do you think?

Have a restful Sunday Samoa, God bless!The three branches of government  Executive, Legislature and Judiciary  exist to protect peoples rights but there are times when the Judiciary becomes the weakest branch of Government.

The point was made by a United States Court of Appeals Senior Judge and Chief Judge Emeritus, John Clifford Wallace, during an interview with the Sunday Samoan yesterday.

Judge Wallace is in Samoa to attend a conference of Chief Justices from around the Pacific.

He is as one of the speakers.

He will touch base on the importance of having an independent Judiciary and give insights to lawyers and trial judges on how to prepare their money laundering cases.

Every judge wants an independent judiciary and the foundation of that type of government to protect peoples rights is the three branch of Government, each one being independent of the others but being balanced, and unless they are imbalanced, its like a three-legged stool, one leg is short its imbalance and it doesnt protect peoples rights, Judge Wallace said.

That is there are times when an executive has to be called in to check, there are times when the legislature is passed in unconstitutional statutes, so unless the judiciary is independent regardless of whom the President is or who the Legislature is, peoples rights are not protected.

Making reference to a quote by American statesmen and one of its founding fathers Alexander Hamilton, Judge Wallace said the Judiciary could be seen to be the weakest of the three arms of government.

Alexander said more than 200 years ago that the Judiciary is really the weakest branch. The President has the army and the navy, Legislature has the money and the Judiciary doesnt have any of those.

The 89-year-old said the question to ponder upon is how the Judiciary gets its independence.

My view is that the judiciary gets its independence when the people are independent, that is the judiciary has the responsibility to being so effective with the people who rely on the judiciary to protect everybodys rights.

When that happens, the judiciary will then gain its strength because the people generally want it to be independent and to check the other branches of Government and bring politicians and leaders to task.

Judge Wallace said the three branches are important, but they ought to be equal as that is how democracy is protected.

On money laundering, he said there is growing concern by people in the Pacific that it is occurring in the region as well.

Sooner or later, if not already has, the issue of money laundering is going to creep out here, Judge Wallace said.

The bad guys that are doing fraud, crimes, or drugs to make money, they can do anything with that money to lead laundering here that is they cover up that source and its expandable, so its just a way that criminal element takes illegal funds and turn them into funds they can use legally.

There are quite a few countries now with statues that forbid that and I think the Chief Justice was concerned and I know there are other people in the Pacific who are also concerned that before it was in the larger communities, but now its occurring out here.

Judge Wallace said geography doesnt have anything to do with money laundering, its the opportunity to hide their money and the Pacific Islands seem to be an ideal place.

It doesnt have to be a place like the United States, England or Canada; its just getting a bank that you can store your money. It is said that the largest storage of money is in the Caribbean, and they are all small countries.

Judge Wallaces presentation on money laundering is based on preparing judges, and even prosecutors who havent tried money laundering cases.

I will be talking essentially to how trial lawyers, trial judges prepare to try a money laundering case, and give a little background on it, how they would function, and the Chief Justices will take that information and teach their trial judges.

Judge Wallace said the three branches of Government need to work together to address the issue before it becomes a major problem in the region.

The legislature has to pass money laundering statues that are effective and cut off ways that people do money laundering, that means going after the people involved in money laundering.

Second is having the executive that pushes money laundering, that is you have to have the resources to investigate and try those cases and finally you have to have a court system that is effective, prompt in its work and is able to put a stop to money laundering.

All three branches have a part to play in addressing this issue, Judge Wallace said.The Congregational Christian Church of Samoa (C.C.C.S.) at Magiagi celebrated a milestone with the official opening of their Pastors residence yesterday.

The total cost of the project is estimated to be more than $500,000.

In an interview with Sunday Samoan, Church Secretary Tupuivao Dr. Titi Lamese, said they do not owe anything to the banks.

The old building that our pastor was living in was no longer safe. That building was more than 20 years old and so we saw the situation of that building and that was the reason why the church has decided that it was time to have a new home for our pastor, he said.

Most parts of the old building were damaged by cyclones and it had survived many strong tropical cyclones and I think the last one that the building survived from was Cyclone Gita, he said.

Speaking about the project, Tupuivao said the work started in April this year with the dismantling of the old building.

So from April until Saturday the work was done within 22 weeks. It was really fast but we were just working within the timeline that we had set out so everything went according to plan.

An effective fundraising drive in Samoa and Australia enabled the church to raise much needed funding to build the house, according to the church secretary.

Some of the church members had to go to Australia to hold another fundraiser, which we were able to raise $197,000, we had some money gifted to us by some church members, which amounted to close to $24,000 and then the rest of the money which was $300,000 we fundraised by hosting bingos and fiafia nights.

Tupuivao said thanks to a successful fundraising drive, there was no need for the church to get a loan.

So all of that we were able to fund our whole project without a single loan and that is why this project deserves a massive celebration.

So today is not only the official opening of this project but to basically give thanks to the God almighty for His love and most especially for being with us from the start of this project till it is completed, he added.

While there was success in terms of raising funds, Tupuivao revealed that there were many who could not put up with the pressure of the project and left.

Tupuivao said the new building includes two master bedrooms, three other bedrooms and a sitting room.Kasia Renae Cook. Remember that name if you live in Samoa and are of German descent.

She is a remarkable woman, an educated woman, and she is on a mission. No. Not the kind of mission you might be thinking.

Her mission call came from the late Joe Keil months ago after knowing of her expertise in German history in the South Pacific. Heres a brief overview of her story.

Kasia is from the U.S.A.  born and raised in Idaho. For those of you who dont know, Idaho is an important part of the Wild West and is the potato capital of the world! She is a woman who is more comfortable in mountain gear than on the sandy and beautiful beaches of Polynesia.

So, how did she get involved in such an undertaking? If you ask her, she unabashedly gives all the credit for her current status to God, who, in his Heavens, saw the need and the opportunity to use her talents to expand on a topic that has been on the Joe Keils prayer bucket list for many years: a book documenting all the German families who lived in Samoa historically.

Kasia was studying and doing research for her doctorate in Auckland a few years ago on a topic equally far from the desert shes from: German-Tongan descendants around the world. While in the last year of her program she prepared to come to Samoa to do a comparative study and was first introduced to Joe Keil, through a mutual acquaintance in New Zealand.

At that point, Kasias knowledge about Germans in the South Pacific was specifically directed toward Tonga, but her work with Joe and other prominent German-Samoan descendants at that time opened the door to her deeper interest in Samoa, where German involvement played such an important role early in the twentieth century.

After meeting her and hearing of the recent publication of Germans in Tonga, for which Kasias thesis was the epilogue, Joes passion and vision went into high gear. His German DNA spurned and motivated a plan to move forward on the book he had always wanted to write and Kasias coming on the scene was, in Joes mind, the path forward. Kasia, on the other hand, was not too sure about where all of this might be going. Mentally, she had other plans. And she told Joe to contact her in a couple of years when she saw the next major gap in her lifes plan. She would then consider taking on Joes dream project to document the lives and families of the seed stock the German government sent in those earliest days of their occupation.

Joe developed a different agenda and possible time constraints had entered because of uncertain health challenges. He arranged a meeting during the early part of his stay in America for medical treatment, to present his case to Kasia and his sense of urgency.

Events on Kasias side did not happen in her overall plan and it brought her to the realization that helping Joe achieve his objective of a specific history of Germans in Samoa: 1860 - 1914 might move forward. There was the hand shake with Joe  noted for its deliberate firmness and an official contract, and the partnership/professional relationship was launched.

At Joes urgent request before his death, Kasia has been in Samoa for the past two weeksit is her second trip here this year. Her mission here is to gather as much personal information on German families as possible. She prefers to get the information first hand from family documents or witnesses. She reports that her experience has been phenomenal and that the gathering process has been more satisfying than she could ever have imagined. As it turns out, the word gets around via first-had knowledge and via the coconut wireless for which Samoa is so famous. She is now ready for the final drive to get as many stories as possible. And, thats where this story leads.

If you are of German descent and have stories from your family history that you believe have value in the establishment of the German influence in Samoa, we invite you to contact Kasia via the project email: [email protected] or through her very interesting Facebook page: Germans in Samoa.

Dont let your family stories get left out of this highly influential historical research book sponsored by the not-for-profit Samoa Historical and Cultural Trust. Its up to you to provide the information so that it can be preserved and your family history and your posterity will know that you have done your part to bring honor and respect to those who have gone before.The Samoa international Game Fishing Association (S.I.G.F.A) has sounded the alarm about the abuse and misuse of Fishing Aggregating Devices (F.A.D) by some local fishermen.

The alarm was sounded by the President of S.I.G.F.A, Poao Frances Hansell, who is calling on the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries (M.A.F) to investigate the issue. They have provided pictures for evidence.

One F.A.D. has already gone missing.

Earlier this year, the Association, with the support of its partners, deployed six devices around Samoa to attract more fish to Samoas waters.

But Poao said he is disappointed at the lack of awareness in Samoa. He said such devices are critical not only to boost Samoas international game fishing tourism but also to help sustain local food supply and income for Samoans.

S.I.G.F.A believes that education is key and we would like to call a meeting of M.A.F, members of the alia association, the owners and the skippers of the alia.

I dont think that the education process so far goes all the way to the boys on the boats.

S.I.G.F.A member and owner of Troppo Fishing adventures, Greg Hopping, said the F.A.D identified as Kiwi-1 deployed by S.I.G.F.A in Falefa has disappeared.

Last week, Mr. Hopping was on a separate fishing expedition to check on the F.A.D. deployed in Apia, which according to him is the most productive F.A.D in Samoa, when he came across an alia boat moored on the device.

Poao said it has been brought to their attention that this is a common practice.

The thing is people anchor their alias on the F.A.Ds all day and all night especially the one out at Falefa that is now lost, said Poao.

It was donated by the New Zealand High Commission. The other thing is they run their longlines next to the F.A.Ds so when they rock in the bad weather it ruins the main rope.

We are not doing it just for our fishing tournaments, we are doing it to the benefit of all of us. They cost a lot of time and money  now one is lost. We have no money to replace it and we need to have one for next years tournament, at the moment we dont know what to do.

Mr. Hopping says that over the years, S.I.G.F.A members have noticed that local Alias fishing for skip jack and yellow fin to supply the local market have been tying on to the fads which puts pressure on the F.A.Ds.

Probably more than 60 percent of all fish we find at the fish market comes from Apia F.A.D so thats how important that F.A.D is, said Mr. Hopping.

Hopefully we still have it, even though we told those fishermen to untie themselves from the F.A.D doesnt mean that some other alia hasnt gone back there and tied off again. Weve lost one and now we have to concentrate on protecting that one we have in Apia.

The Chief Executive Officer of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Tilafono David Hunter, responded saying they will look to impose the full force of the relevant fisheries laws and regulations to curb these incidences.The Government has moved to fine a local construction company for its failure to meet the deadline in fixing the Apaula Heights road at Lalovaea.

The decision was confirmed by the Minister of Works, Transport and Infrastructure, Papalii Niko Lee Hang, during an interview with the Samoa Observer last week.

He was responding to questions following complaints by residents of Apaula Heights about the condition of their road.

Papalii said all contractors are given a certain timeframe to complete the project.

When they fail to meet their deadlines, there are penalty fees.

The contract says the project should have been completed by August but that did not happen, he said.

The penalty charge started in September.

The Minister did not have information about how much the fine is.

I think it is two percent of the cost of the project and thats a daily charge. So the longer they delay, that is how much money they will pay as a penalty.

The $400,000 tala contract to fix the road was awarded to Ulia Construction in October 2017.

There was an extension filed by Ulia Construction through the L.T.A. and submitted to the Tenders Board which has been approved, said Papalii.

The extension is for additional time.

Papalii added that the weather is a major factor.

Another factor is the location of the road and how steep it is.

He confirmed that there are no variation costs for the project.

The Samoa Observer has been trying to contact the Ulia Construction Office for a comment.

A receptionist who identified herself as Sina assured that the messages would be relayed to Owner and President of the Company, Ututa'aloga Charlie Ulia.

I will relay your message to Ulia and see if he wants to comment or not, she said.

No response was received at press time.

Last week, the Samoa Observer reported that residents of Apaula Heights have become fed up of waiting for their road, which had been badly affected by landslide, to be fixed.

Last year, former L.T.A. Chief Executive Officer, Leasi John Galuvao assured that Apaula Heights Road would be fixed around January this year.

At the time, Leasi confirmed there were numerous complaints lodged directly to their office. However, he explained the specific area is quite a steep hillside on the left where a landslide has taken out most of the road shoulder and pavement.

Fixing it will require some time. The work is not straight forward. It requires proper engineering investigation and designs.BRIDGEWATER, N.J. (AP)  President Donald Trump is poised to redouble his commitment to "America First" on the most global of stages this week.

In the sequel to his stormy U.N. debut, Trump will stress his dedication to the primacy of U.S. interests while competing with Western allies for an advantage on trade and shining a spotlight on the threat that he says Iran poses to the Middle East and beyond.

One year after Trump stood at the rostrum of the U.N. General Assembly and derided North Korea's Kim Jong Un as "Rocket Man," the push to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula is a work in progress, although fears of war have given way to hopes for rapprochement.

Scores of world leaders, even those representing America's closest friends, remain wary of Trump. In the 12 months since his last visit to the U.N., the president has jolted the global status quo by pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal, starting trade conflicts with China and the West and embracing Russia's Vladimir Putin even as the investigation into the U.S. president's ties to Moscow moves closer to the Oval Office.

Long critical of the United Nations, Trump delivered a warning shot ahead of his arrival by declaring that the world body had "not lived up to" its potential.

"It's always been surprising to me that more things aren't resolved," Trump said in a weekend video message, "because you have all of these countries getting together in one location but it doesn't seem to get there. I think it will."

If there is a throughline to the still-evolving Trump doctrine on foreign policy, it is that the president will not subordinate American interests on the world stage, whether for economic, military or political gain.

Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, told reporters in a preview of Trump's visit, that the president's focus "will be very much on the United States," its role and the relations it wants to build.

"He is looking forward to talking about foreign policy successes the United States has had over the past year and where we're going to go from here," she said. "He wants to talk about protecting U.S. sovereignty," while building relationships with nations that "share those values."

In his four-day visit to New York, Trump will deliver major speeches and meet with representatives of a world order that he has so often upended in the past year. Like a year ago, North Korea's nuclear threat will hover over the gathering, though its shadow may appear somewhat less ominous.

The nuclear threat was sure to be on the agenda at Trump's first meeting, a dinner with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Manhattan on Sunday night. Abe stands first among world leaders in cultivating a close relationship with the president through displays of flattery that he has used to advance his efforts to influence the unpredictable American leader.

On Monday afternoon, Trump planned to sit down with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who comes bearing a personal message to Trump from North Korea's Kim after their inter-Korean talks last week. Trump and Moon were expected to sign a new version of the U.S.-South Korean trade agreement, one of Trump's first successes in his effort to renegotiate trade deals on more favorable terms for the U.S.

Even so, some U.S. officials worry that South Korea's eagerness to restore relations with the North could reduce sanctions pressure on Kim's government, hampering efforts to negotiate a nuclear accord.

"We have our eyes wide open," Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday. "There is a long ways to go to get Chairman Kim to live up to the commitment that he made to President Trump and, indeed, to the demands of the world in the U.N. Security Council resolutions to get him to fully denuclearize."

Trump's address to the General Assembly comes Tuesday, and on Wednesday he will for the first time chair the Security Council, with the stated topic of non-proliferation of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. The subject initially was to have been Iran, but that could have allowed Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to attend, creating a potentially awkward situation for the U.S. leader.

Aides say the president will also use the session to discuss North Korea and other proliferation issues. While Trump is not seeking a meeting with Rouhani, he is open to talking with the Iranian leader if Rouhani requests one, administration officials said.

In meetings with European leaders as well as during the Security Council session, Trump plans to try to make the case that global companies are cutting ties with Iran ahead of the reimposition in five weeks of tough sanctions against Tehran. The penalties are a result of Trump's decision to withdraw the U.S. from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

Trump at the time cited Iran's role as a malign force in the region, particularly its support of terrorist groups, but also its involvement in Syria. U.S. officials say their priority for the region now is removing Iranian forces from Syria.

Trump is also expected to deliver a fresh warning to Syria's Bashar al-Assad that the use of chemical weapons against civilians in the major rebel stronghold of Idlib would have serious repercussions. Britain and France are actively planning a military response should Assad use chemical weapons again, according to U.S. officials.

"I think he's got a couple major possibilities really to help illuminate for the American people what America's place in the world," national security adviser John Bolton told Fox News Channel's 'Sunday Morning Futures," previewing Trump's U.N. appearance.

Bolton, like Pompeo, is part of a far more hawkish national security team than the one that surrounded Trump a year ago.

Meetings on the sidelines of the General Assembly often come in rapid succession, a wearying test for even the most experienced foreign policy team. Trump has a robust schedule during his stay in New York, including meetings with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, French President Emmanuel Macron, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and British Prime Minister Theresa May.

But while some world leaders are still reeling from Trump's deference to Putin in their summer Helsinki summit, there will not be an encore in New York: The Russian president is not expected to attend the proceedings.Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.

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Registration Number: 130349 Registration Number: 130349CITY COUNCILS

CARLSBAD

The Carlsbad City Council will meet at 6 p.m. Tuesday in council chambers, 1200 Carlsbad Village Drive, when it will introduce an ordinance changing the speed limit to 30 mph on Estrella de Mar Road from Alga Road to 675 feet north of Beryl Way. The council will also take up the second reading of its ordinance on council compensation, and hear a presentation on the San Diego Airport Development Plan for the Terminal 1 Replacement Project.

ENCINITAS

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The Encinitas City Council will meet at 6 p.m. Wednesday in council chambers, 505 S. Vulcan Ave., when it will hold a public hearing on the formation of Underground Utility District No. 18, Birmingham Drive from Carol View Drive to San Elijo Avenue in Cardiff. The council will also consider authorizing the city manager to work with ENGIE Services U.S. to provide an energy assessment and to identify energy conservation and renewable energy options to bring the citys energy demand to net zero. The council will also review and discuss preliminary results of an analysis to evaluate an increase in the percentage of inclusionary housing citywide, if Measure U is approved by the voters.

SAN MARCOS

The San Marcos City Council will meet at 6 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall, 1 Civic Center Drive, when it will consider amending city code pertaining to animal control, including provisions relating to the animal control authoritys right to declare animal owners to be irresponsible owners if they have received three or more citations for violations relating to animals. A closed session will follow to discuss litigation.

SOLANA BEACH

The Solana Beach City Council will meet in closed session to discuss litigation at 5 p.m. Wednesday in City Council Chambers, 635 S. Highway 101. In regular session at 6 p.m., the council will consider a resolution that would eliminate three roundabouts from further study/consideration for the Lomas Santa Fe Corridor Improvement Project. The council will consider limiting further study to only one roundabout at Lomas Santa Fe and Highland Drive.

VISTA

The Vista City Council will meet at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday in City Council Chambers, 200 Civic Center Drive. The council will hold hearings on its Downtown Specific Plan, and on its Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Report, which goes to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

SCHOOL DISTRICTS

DEL MAR

The Del Mar Union School District board is scheduled to meet in closed session at 4:45 p.m. Wednesday at the district office, 11232 El Camino Real, San Diego, and in regular session at 5:45 p.m.

ESCONDIDO

The Escondido Union School District board will meet in closed session to discuss litigation and property negotiations at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the district office, 2310 Aldergrove Ave. In regular session at 7 p.m., the board will hold a public hearing to review documentation from The Classical Academy charter school and get public input for its five-year charter renewal.

OCEANSIDE

The Oceanside Unified School District board will meet in closed session to discuss litigation and labor negotiations at 5 p.m. Tuesday at the district office, 2111 Mission Ave. In regular session at 6 p.m., the board will consider various contracts with educational services.

VALLEY CENTER

Meet the candidates for the Valley Center-Pauma Unified School District board at a forum at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 1 at Valley Center Primary School, 14249 Fruitvale Road, hosted by Ridgeview Church. There will be a moderated discussion as well as a chance to speak to the candidates. A presentation will be given about Measure SS.

laura.groch@sduniontribune.comA few days after his aunt died by suicide in 2016, Carlsbad resident Jeff Holland went to her apartment and was stunned to find virtually every visible surface covered with Post-It notes and index cards filled with hand-written notes of inspiration and affirmation.

They were everywhere ... on the walls and mirrors, inside cabinets and in mindfulness workbooks, he said. It occurred to me that she must have been struggling with thoughts of depression and anxiety, and it got me thinking about what we could do for other people who struggle with this.

That was the seed for Coping Cards, a box of of 365 laminated wallet-size cards pre-printed with a mix of motivational statements, affirmations and activities that could be used as part of a patients continuing-care program to combat negative thoughts.

Over the past 18 months, he and his wife Jen Holland, a licensed marriage and family therapist, developed Coping Cards, a product he unveiled last week in a monthling Kickstarter campaign.

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His goal is to raise $15,000 for the first printing of the card sets, which would be sold for $25 at medical offices, in stores and on Amazon.com.

Jeff Hollands Coping Cards pack will have 365 cards divided between affirmations, motivational phrases and activities. (Charlie Neuman / San Diego Union-Tribune)

He timed the announcement for September, which is Suicide Prevention Month, and says the card release is a tribute to his aunts memory.

She was a newly retired teacher who lived alone in Kansas City, Mo., and was just 59 years old when she died. Holland said her death took his family by surprise.

We didnt really see any cues or clues that she was considering anything near this drastic, he said. Everybody in the family was shocked.

Holland, 48, works as the head of North American public relations and events for Mitsubishi Motors USA in Cypress. With his demanding work schedule, it had never occurred to him to create a product and Kickstarter campaign. But he wanted to help people like his late aunt who struggled silently and to save families the grief of finding out too late how much their loved one was suffering.

Its a way to honor her and to create more awareness about suicide. The statistics are staggering, he said. Every time I hear the news about a celebrity taking their life its a reminder to me of what my aunt went through and it makes me want to help.

Each year, nearly 45,000 Americans die by suicide, and for every suicide death there are 25 attempts, according to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

Suicides have risen by 25 percent since 1999, and the age group with the highest rate of suicide is adults ages 45 to 54, followed by adults 85 and over, the foundation reported.

The use of hand-written or printed coping notes and cards is not new. Its been used successfully around the world, particularly for people with anxiety issues.

Whats new with Hollands Coping Cards is how the card deck is designed and organized and how it aims to counter suicidal thoughts.

The pack  which he hopes to bring to market later this year  will have one card for every day of the year. The cards are divided into three sets: motivational thoughts, affirmations and activities.

Examples of motivation and affirmation cards include sayings like: Worry will not strip tomorrow of its burdens, it will strip today of its joy and If you want something you dont have you need to change what youre doing. Activity cards include: Relax your face, Go for a drive and Take a 10-minute walk.

The words on the cards and categories were developed by Hollands wife, Jen, and her fellow therapists at a clinic in San Diego. They use tools like these to help their patients deal with the daily responsibilities, pressures and stressors of life.

Self-care is so important yet its often neglected, she said. Coping Cards can be a quick and easy way to spend a few minutes each day focusing on self-care and getting in a positive head space.

Since introducing the Coping Cards campaign, Holland said hes been overwhelmed with positive feedback from his family and friends, as well as therapists who are interested in giving the cards out to clients.

We know a lot of people who have been touched by this, he said. It makes me so proud that Ive done something like this and can hopefully help even random strangers. Its something people need.

The Kickstarter campaign, which runs through Oct. 6, is about 20 percent funded. To learn more, visit kickstarter.com and search for Coping Cards.

pam.kragen@sduniontribune.comFilippis Pizza Grotto in downtown Escondido has been a fixture on Grand Avenue for 46 years. Its owner warned last week that the popular restaurants days may be numbered.

Bobby DePhilippis said if the city allows a proposed condominium project to be built on a city-owned parking lot behind his establishment that is used by most of his customers, it would likely mean the demise of his business.

If you take (the parking lot) away from us, I know my business will fail, DePhilippis, 68, said. Ill have to look for another spot or just close it.

Last week, the City Council voted to enter into a purchase-and-sale agreement with developer Touchstone Communities to sell the parking lot should the six-story, 106-unit condo project known as The Aspire win approval.

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View of the city-owned parking lot behind Filippis Pizza Grotto and other Grand Avenue businesses where a large condo project is planned. In the distance is Escondido Civic Hall. (Charlie Neuman)

David Ferguson, an attorney representing Touchstone, said an appraisal of the land will be made within the next 30 days. A preliminary appraisal came in at about $1.4 million, he said.

DePhilippis and other Grand Avenue business owners say parking is already at a premium in the area and eliminating the parking lot could cause economic calamity.

You cant take parking away and not think about what its going to do to other people, said Jim Crone, owner of two buildings on Grand Avenue. He said Touchstone will do well if the project is built. Hell make money and go back to Newport Beach and have a good time with it  but businesses will crater.

The Aspire project is just one of many residential projects that have either been approved or are in the planning pipeline in the downtown Escondido area. The citys plan is to bring far more residents into the area who in turn will be likely to walk and shop in the historic business district.

The Aspire condominium project would be built where the citys parking lot located behind Grand Avenue and businesses such as Filippis Pizza Grotto and A Delight of France now sits. The 106-unit, six-story complex has not yet been approved. (City of Escondido)

But many business owners are concerned about what is already, and has long been, a parking problem downtown. They say the elimination of the 180-space parking lot across W. Valley Parkway from the California Center for the Performing Arts and the City Hall complex will hurt their businesses because people just wont come by if there isnt somewhere close to park.

On Friday, standing outside the restaurant, DePhilippis estimated that 80 percent of his customers park in the lot behind his business.

Were scared, he said. I think if the people in the city of Escondido knew what was going on, they wouldnt put up with it.

DePhilippis said should the condo project be approved, he will go to court to try and stop the development. He told the council the Escondido store was his first and favorite. He owns five Filippis in all: in Escondido, Poway, Santee, Jamul and Imperial Beach. Other family members are involved with 10 other restaurants in the county and California.

I worked 20 hours a day without taking a day off trying to build the business, he said. Its been a great restaurant for me.

He said if forced to close, 50 people would be out of work.

Members of the council agreed parking is an issue, but said that it will be addressed when the project comes before them. Ferguson said Touchstone has hired a parking consultant to address such issues, which will be aired out during public hearings.

Part of The Aspire project calls for 71 public parking spaces and members of the council said some sort of temporary parking during construction would have to be provided if the project is approved.

There are also long-term plans to increase parking along Grand Avenue, they said.

The council voted 3-1 in favor of the conditional sale of the parking lot with Councilwoman Olga Diaz voting no and councilman John Masson not participating  which played a part in Diazs negative vote.

Massons civil engineering and land survey firm has worked on The Aspire project and Masson & Associates has worked as a consultant for Touchstone in different capacities for decades. He recused himself from the discussion and has done so during all closed session meetings regarding the possible sale of the property.

Diaz said even though Masson did the right thing by not participating, and even though she thinks the condo project could well be a good thing for the city, there is still in her belief a serious conflict of interest. Were she to agree to the sale, she would be partly complicit in what she said, based on her training, is an ethical breach.

When you have an elected official who stands to profit  off of the citys sale of an asset, youre doubling down on the conflict of interest, Diaz said. Its not just him doing business in the city, its him doing business in the city with the city. Thats the issue I have.

Diaz said she was not accusing anybody of wrongdoing.

But we can do better than what were doing with this particular scenario, she said.

Masson was not in the chambers to defend himself, but Mayor Sam Abed did so for him.

Council member Diazs comments will not go unchallenged, he said. According to the city attorney, we have followed the laws of conflict of interest. We have gone beyond the conflict of interest requirements in what is legally right. Hes abstaining. He not on the dais. You keep bringing this trust issue and secrecy up as if we are doing something behind the scene.

On Thursday, Masson said he doesnt understand Diazs concerns since he has always recused himself from matters involving clients.

In terms of somehow me profiting from the sale of the land, I dont know how that could even happen, he said. Whether or not Touchstone buys the land, there is no way for me to profit from that. Im not part of the deal. Im a consultant helping them with their entitlement process. My company is. And I get paid for my consulting services and I have to bid against other consulting engineers to get the work.

Masson said even if his company wasnt working on The Aspire project, he still would have abstained because he has worked with Touchstone for so long.

jharry.jones@sduniontribune.com; 760/529-4931; Twitter: @jharryjonesCITY COUNCILS

CARLSBAD

The Carlsbad City Council met Tuesday and agreed to introduce an ordinance raising council members pay, and directed staff to research whether the measure should go on a special or general ballot for voters to approve. The council also accepted its Climate Action Plan Report.

DEL MAR

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The Del Mar City Council met in closed session Monday to discuss litigation and personnel. In regular session, the council heard a report from the North County Transit District and SANDAG on the citys bluff stabilization efforts and long-term rail plans. The council discussed and approved a plan for using its Measure Q funds, including for its Downtown Streetscape, utility pole undergrounding and the Shores Park Master Plan. The council agreed to proceed with the Downtown Streetscape project and put it out for bid. Law enforcement services were discussed, and the council decided, 3-2, to proceed with hiring a part-time law enforcement manager and starting a one-year pilot program with a private security patrol, contingent on finding funds in the budget.

ENCINITAS

The Encinitas City Council canceled its regularly scheduled meeting for Sept. 19.

ESCONDIDO

The Escondido City Council met in closed session Wednesday to discuss property negotiation. In regular session, the council approved a budget adjustment for a $261,500 loan to the California Center for the Arts, Escondido, for a new sound system in the Concert Hall. The council also approved accepting $1,900 in grant money from the Walmart Foundation to buy six new wildland fire shelters.

OCEANSIDE

The Oceanside City Council met Wednesday in closed session to discuss labor negotiations and litigation. In regular session, an agenda item on the final map of the Rancho Vista subdivision was removed from the agenda. Dr. Amy L. Ramos was appointed to the Citizen Investment Oversight Committee. The council held a hearing and approved amendments to its local Conflict of Interest codes.

POWAY

The Poway City Council met Tuesday and approved on first reading ordinances to amend regulations governing Accessory Dwelling Units and on boarding houses. They will come back for a second reading on Oct. 2. The council held a workshop on the public employees retirement system. Staff was directed to pursue creating a Section 115 trust, and to return with a recommendation on whether to put part of any surplus into such a trust, and to make a separate contribution into the retirement system. A closed session followed to discuss litigation.

SCHOOL DISTRICTS

BONSALL

The Bonsall Unified School District board met in closed session Sept. 13 to discuss labor negotiations. In regular session, the board approved its 2017-18 unaudited actuals financial report. The Bonsall Womans Club gave a presentation and donated $25,000 to the Bonsall Education Foundation toward the restoration of the Old Bonsall Schoolhouse. The board approved job descriptions for system analyst, accounting technician and purchasing technician.

Superintendent David Jones invites the community to a series of Community Collaborative meetings to share the needs and vision of the district with residents and to seek feedback. The first meeting will be at 6 p.m. Thursday at the Vista Valley Country Club. Subsequent meetings are scheduled at 6 p.m. Oct. 2 at Bonsall West Elementary School, Oct. 3 at the Lake Rancho Viejo Clubhouse, and Oct. 9 at the Pala Administration Building. Call (760) 631-5200.

FALLBROOK

The Fallbrook Union High School District board met in closed session Monday to discuss labor negotiations, litigation and personnel. In regular session, the board approved its 2017-18 unaudited actuals year-end financial report, and heard an update on the California Schools Dashboard. The board also received information on an offer by Fortinet Security to give students 40 hours of free online instruction to prepare them for a career in network security. The company would also give students a voucher to take the industry certification test for free.

RAMONA

The Ramona Unified School District board met Sept. 10 and voted 3-2 to approve a resolution starting the transition to a by-trustee-area election system.

SAN MARCOS

The San Marcos Unified School District board met in closed session Tuesday to discuss student discipline. In regular session, the board approved its 2017-2018 unaudited actuals financial report, and approved an update in its conflict of interest code. Amanda Keeton was named assistant principal at Carrillo Elementary School. The board agreed to apply for school bus grant funding from the California Energy Commission to replace old school buses.

SOLANA BEACH

The Solana Beach School District board met in closed session Sept. 13 to discuss litigation. In regular session, the board approved its 2017-18 unaudited actuals financial report, and accepted a $65,356 donation from the Solana Beach Schools Foundation.

VALLEY CENTER

The Valley Center-Pauma Unified School District board met in closed session Sept. 13 to discuss personnel, litigation, labor negotiations and property negotiations. In regular session, the board will hear various reports, including one on intruder response systems, presented by the Sheriffs Department, and on visitor monitoring systems, as well as on financial literacy programs and energy efficiency. Superintendent Ron McCowan announced that the student count is 4,048, or 28 students over the same time last year. The board also received information on revised school policies, and approved a revised policy on environmental safety.

laura.groch@sduniontribune.comThe San Diego Symphony specializes in producing music, not super heroes, but you can expect dizzying feats of derring-do when the orchestra stages its fourth annual month-long festival January.

To be held Jan. 9 to Jan. 27 at an array of venues across San Diego, Hearing the Future will feature more than two dozen performances and events by an unusually eclectic lineup of performers. They range from symphony music director designate Rafael Payare, 38, and a bevy of teenage playwrights to trumpeter Stephanie Richards, 33, and jazz vocal great Sheila Jordan, 90, who has not performed here since 1991.

Each festival program is designed to showcase the power of music and art  whether new, centuries old or somewhere in between  to eloquently convey how different works reflect their time and, often, anticipate the future. The festivals lineup includes classical and chamber music, opera, jazz, dance, theater, cutting-edge forays and visual works by 42 artists from San Diego and Tijuana.

Music does an amazing job giving voice to the concerns that we dont have words for, said Matthew Aucoin, the 28-year-old composer, conductor, pianist, poet, educator and all-around creative wunderkind serving as Hearing the Futures curator.

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On Thursday, 12 days after this article was originally published, Aucoin was named as one of the 2018 MacArthur Foundation fellowship recipients. The prestigious honor  which come with a no-strings-attached award of $625,000, distributed over five years  is commonly known as the genius grant and is given to creative individuals whose work demonstrates originality, insight and potential.

The MacArthur citation hails Aucoin for expanding the potential of vocal and orchestral music to convey emotional, dramatic, and literary meaning. He has announced that he plans to donate a good chunk of his grant money to a charity organization, saying Thursday: Im a big fan of the Against Malaria Foundation. I tend to think for as long as there are people starving anywhere, then we non-starving artists should be low on the totem pole.

Like UC San Diego music professor, percussionist and La Jolla Symphony & Chorus music director Steven Schick  who curated the symphonys 2018 January festival, Its About Time  Aucoin is a polymath and deep thinker who exudes audience-pleasing charisma.

A Harvard University English graduate, the Boston area native won the prestigious Thomas T. Hoopes Prize for his poetry thesis, Aftermusic. He fervently believes great art can offer vital commentary on the tumult and beauty of life, without being didactic  and without using even a single word.

I believe that you can express an atmosphere, or a point of view, for every specific emotion that existed in previous generations, said Aucoin (pronounced oh-COYNE), the Los Angeles Operas composer-in-residence.

But I dont think music needs to offer solutions. Im not a literalist, and I dont tend to like art that thinks that its particularly helpful to act like a loudspeaker in the time square, blaring out particular viewpoints. I think we all have a responsibility, as human beings, to be engaged.  So Im attracted to works of art that have a more slanted or refracted relationship to the events of the day.

Cellist Alisa Weilerstein will perform several concerts in January as part of the San Diego Symphonys Hearing the Future festival. (Photo by Harald Hoffmann / Courtesy of Decca)

Let the music speak for itself

Martha Gilmer, the San Diego Symphonys CEO, concurred.

What you have to do is let the music speak for itself and let the listener take their own interpretation away from it, she said. But we dont ever take a stand and say: This (work) is intended to express this. Thats the joy of music. It doesnt intend  it lets you take away whatever you want from it.

Aucoin and Gilmer both credit Schick, last years January festival curator, for setting the bar higher than ever and for providing invaluable assistance this time around.

Steve is just a goldmine of ideas and is so thoughtful, Aucoin said, speaking from New York.

Our first phone conversation was barely half an hour, but he probably gave me three or four dozen suggestions of people I should talk to, San Diego arts organizations he likes, under-utilized venues, and just everything. So Steves fingerprints are definitely going to be on Hearing the Future.

Aucoin chuckled as he recalled attending the Schick-led Jan. 27 Inuksuit  A Cross-Border Presentation. It was performed by approximately 60 Mexican and American percussionists at Friendship Park and took place simultaneously on both sides of the U.S./Mexico border.

That was an unbelievable concert, which made me think: Well, well never be able to top that! Aucoin said. I wish we could do something in that space again. But, for logistical reasons having to do with folks around the border, it will never happen.

Even so, Aucoin shares Gilmers quest to make the symphonys January festival a borders-leaping event in terms of styles, approaches and artistic mediums. Both also credit the symphonys director of artistic planning, Clement So, for helping make Hearing the Future a reality.

Matt has that same kind of curatorial nature and passion as Steve, she said. Steve is very generous and his generosity in sharing what he learned doing this years festival was key. Matt just ran with it, Clement helped him, and I just shouted: Ole! They have put together such a dynamic and distinct festival that has all the elements.

From the Athenaeum to the Old Globe

Like this years January festival, Hearing the Future will feature a number of collaborations with other area arts organizations. They include the Old Globe; Art of Elan; the Athenaeum Music & Arts Library; Fresh Sound; Malashock Dance; San Diego Dance Theater; the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego; and Sandbox.

The range of spaces were working in and organizations were partnering with is amazing, Aucoin said.

The symphony is involved in everything, but one of the things that is really strong about this festival is that its by the city, and for the city, of San Diego. Well have tentacles all over! That feels really exciting and like its going to present, I hope, a big picture of whats going on in San Diego.

Aucoin, who has composed several acclaimed operas, inspired Gilmer to initially envision Hearing the Future as a festival that would focus on young composers and performers.

With Matt, Rafael Payare and (Mainly Mozart music director) Michael Francis, right away, youre talking about youth, Gilmer noted. Once Matt came on board, and with Clement involved, that idea of youth remained. But Hearing the Future, once we got to that title, allowed the 2019 festival to morph into what it is today.

We recognize, So added, the difference between youth and youthfulness. Of course, a lot of young people are youthful. But so are a lot of artists, whatever their age. Its really about the spirit of seeing what lies ahead in the future and maybe being a little experimental.

And, as we talked more and more to Matt, we saw that its about trying to capture the spirit of the times and the world we live in and come from. Those are the defining features of Hearing the Future, and the recurring theme.

San Diego Symphony presents Hearing the Future

7:30 p.m. Jan. 9: Building the Future: A Conversation about Art and Art-Making in a Changing Cultural Landscape. Festival discussion and preview with curator Matthew Aucoin, San Diego Symphony music director designate Rafael Payare, creative consultant Gerard McBurney, and members of the San Diego Symphony and American Modern Opera Company. Copley Symphony Hall at Jacobs Music Center, 750 B St., downtown. Free. (619) 235-0804. sandiegosymphony.org

Showing through Feb. 3: Being Here with You/Estando Aqui Contigo: 42 Artists from San Diego and Tijuana. Presented by (and held at) the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, Jacobs Building, 1100 Kettner Blvd. Call for ticket prices. (858) 454-3541. mcasd.org

8 p.m. Jan. 10: Payare Conducts Mozart and Tchaikovsky. Rafael Payares inaugural concert as San Diego Symphonys music director designate features Strauss Don Juan, Mussorgskys Pictures from an Exhibition, the overture to Mozarts Don Giovanni, and Tchaikovskys Rococo Variations, featuring cellist Alisa Weilerstein. A benefit for the San Diego Symphonys Learning and Community Engagement programs. Copley Symphony Hall. $35-$120. (619) 235-0804. sandiegosymphony.org

7:30 p.m. Jan. 11: Convolution: A Twisted Journey of Music and Movement. James Beauton and Justin Morrison will perform pieces on marimba, vibraphone, drums, gongs and triangles. Morrisons will do original works showcasing the interaction of dance and music. Sandbox, 325 15th St. Tickets available in October; prices to be announced. (619) 246-1122. jamesbeauton.com

8 p.m. Jan. 11 and 12, 2 p.m. Jan. 13: Payare and Weilerstein. Music Director Designate Rafael Payare makes his Jacobs Masterworks season debut with cellist Weilerstein, his wife, to play Shostakovichs Symphony No. 10 and the San Diego Symphony Orchestras first performance of Brittens Symphony for Cello and Orchestra. Copley Symphony Hall. $20-$100. (619) 235-0804. sandiegosymphony.org

7:30 p.m. Jan. 12, 25 and 26: Plays by Young Writers Festival. Presented by the locally based Playwrights Project, this 34-year-old festival features professional productions of winning scripts from the 2018 California Young Playwrights Contest, written by students 18 and under. The Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre in the Conrad Prebys Theatre Center at The Old Globe, 1363 Old Globe Way. Tickets available in October. $25-$60. (858) 384-2970. playwrightsproject.org

6 p.m. Jan. 13: Were You There. Directed by Zack Winokur, this musical and theatrical work, featuring Davone Tines, draws from words and melodies of African-American spirituals, Walt Whitmans poetry and more, to reflect on lives lost to racial injustice. Sandbox, 325 15th St. $40. (619) 235-0804. sandiegosymphony.org

7:30 p.m. Jan. 15: Chamber Concert: A Brief History of New Music. Featuring Haydns String Quartet in D major, Op. 20, No. 4, Schoenbergs Transfigured Night; John Adams Shaker Loops and festival curator Aucoins Its Own Accord. The Auditorium at TSRI, 10620 John J. Hopkins Drive, La Jolla. $35. (619) 235-0804. sandiegosymphony.org

5 p.m. Jan. 17: The Great Learning. UC San Diego vocal ensemble kallisti, joined by audience members, will perform excerpts from Cornelius Cardews The Great Learning: Paragraph 7 (with words by Confucius), while walking through the exhibition Being Here With You/ Estando Aqui Contigo: 42 Artists From San Diego And Tijuana. Performance times TBA. Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, downtown location. Free. (858) 454-3541. mcasd.org.

8 p.m. Jan. 18: The Young Romantics. Mainly Mozart Musical Director Michael Francis conducts the San Diego Symphony in Mendelssohns Hebrides Overture, Liszts Piano Concerto No. 1 and Berlioz Symphonie fantastique, featuring pianist Rodolfo Leone. Copley Symphony Hall. $20-$100. (619) 235-0804. sandiegosymphony.org

8 p.m. Jan. 19: Beyond the Score  Symphonie Fantastique. This multimedia concert, featuring the symphony and conductor Michael Francis, dramatizes how Hector Berliozs most famous work came to be. Copley Symphony Hall. $20-$100. (619) 235-0804. sandiegosymphony.org

7 p.m. Jan. 19: Making Dance: The Future Starts Now. New dances will be created on the spot by choreographer John Malashock and his troupe, set to music by Hearing the Future curator Aucoin. The Hub at IDEA1, 899 Park Blvd. $20-$25. (619) 260-1622. malashockdance.org

7 p.m. Jan. 23: Young Artists in Harmony. A performance of original compositions by students in Art of Elans Young Artists in Harmony, in partnership with the nationally recognized A Reason To Survive. San Diego Art Institute, 1439 El Prado, Balboa Park. Tickets prices to be announced. (619) 692-2081. artofelan.org/

7:30 p.m. Jan. 24: Jazz vocal concert by Sheila Jordan, 90, with Zion Dyson, 17. Sheila Jordan, a legend in the jazz vocal world, will give her first San Diego are concert in nearly three decades. Local teen singing wiz Tyson, 17, will open. Athenaeum Music & Arts Library, 1008 Wall St, La Jolla. $23-$28. (858) 454-5972. ljathenaeum.org/jazz-at-the-athenaeum

6:30 p.m. Jan. 24, 8 p.m. Jan. 25, 2 p.m. Jan. 27: Matts Playlist: Echoes of the Future. Festival curator Aucoin, with the San Diego Symphony, performs music by Beethoven, Schubert, Stravinsky, Lili Boulanger, himself and others. Copley Symphony Hall. $20-$100. (619) 235-0804. sandiegosymphony.org

7:30 p.m. Jan. 25: Stephanie Richards Take the Neon Lights. Trumpeter Stephanie Richards and her quartet set music to poems by Langston Hughes, Maya Angelou, Allen Ginsberg, and more. Fresh Sound and Festival of New Trumpet West at White Box Live Arts, 2590 Truxtun Road, No. 205, Liberty Station. $10 (students), $20 (general). (619) 987-6214. freshsoundmusic.com

7:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. Jan. 25-Jan. 27: Janus: Dancing the Future San Diego Dance Theater presents a new piece by Jean Isaacs, based on John Adams Shaker Loops, Charles Weidmans Lynchtown and a collaboration by Bang on a Can All-Stars co-founder Robert Black and choreographer/dancer Katie Stevinson-Nollet. Saville Theatre, San Diego City College, 14th St. and C St., downtown. $15-$40. (619) 225-1803. sandiegodancetheater.org

8 p.m. Jan. 26: Generation Next: Hearing the Future of Jazz. Curated by top San Diego trumpeter and Jazz at the Jacobs honcho Gilbert Castellanos and featuring innovative young musicians. Part of the Festival of New Trumpet Music West. $24-$76. (619) 235-0804. sandiegosymphony.org

george.varga@sduniontribune.com

Twitter @georgevarga

UPDATES:

3:35 p.m., Oct. 4: Aucoin was named, on Oct. 4, as a 2018 MacArthur Foundation fellow. The award is often referred to as the genius grant.September 23, 1924 The San Diego Union

The San Diego Union-Tribune will mark its 150th anniversary in 2018 by presenting a significant front page from the archives each day throughout the year.

Tuesday, September 23, 1924

In 1924 Lt. Lowell Smith and Lt. Leslie Arnold touched down in San Diego on the first successful round-the-world flight. Four Army Air Service crews in Douglas World Cruisers began the voyage in Seattle on April 6, but only two aircraft and crews completed the 175-day journey.

Here are the first few paragraphs of the story:

Worlds Greatest Air Adventure Ended Here

SAN DIEGO ACCLAIMS AVIATORS

Circuit of Globe Completed as Birdmen Land at Rockwell Field; Smith and Harding Are Greeted by Parents.

By Howard E. Morin

Circumnavigation of the globe by air, dream of men of vision for nearly a century, became a reality yesterday at 10:34:48 a.m. when Lieut. Lowell H. Smith dropped the wheels of his air cruiser to historic Rockwell field.

Lieut. Eric Nelson, wingmate of Smith on the entire world voyage, brought his ship to the field at 10:34:51, followed by Lieut. Leigh Wade at 10:35 oclock.

From that time until last night San Diego did its best to show the world fliers, back home again at the place where they started their great flight, that the people of this city appreciate the honor the fliers have brought to the nation, and of course to San Diego, by their great achievement. The celebration began at Rockwell field, across the bay, and even though not all of the crowd that meant to be there had got there in time for the aviators arrived earlier than they had been scheduledthat welcome was a big one. It was resumed in the afternoon at the stadium, which was packed with thousands eager to honor the intrepid airmen, and would up with a dinner at Hotel del Coronado last night given by the fellow officers of the world fliers

FORMAL WELCOME

The formal welcome at the stadium was one of the most enthusiastic affairs that San Diego has seen. A full account of it appears elsewhere in this issue of The Union.

The arrival of the airmen at Rockwell field yesterday morning made a scene which those who participated in it will never forget. It was a fine ending to the greatest air adventure of the age.

Amid the crash of the band, the cheers of the spectators and even the roar of the propellers as Lieut. Smith taxied his ship up to the deadline, came a cry of mother love. It came from the lips of Mrs. Jasper Smith, mother of the world flight commander.

I want my boy.

From his seat in the forward cockpit, Smith, his grime-smeared face eagerly scanning the crowds for the sight of those whom he loved best, saw his mother and father waving tiny American flags to attract his attention.

Maj. Shepler W. FitzGerald, commander of Rockwell field sprang on the lower wing section reached through the strut wires and shook Smiths hand.

Let me get down, major, Smith said. I want to get to my mother.

Jumping from the plane, Smith rushed into his mothers arms. My boy! My wonderful boy! she whispered as she kissed the flight commander time and again. Smiths father, reaching the only spot on the army aviators face that was not being smothered with kisses, by his wife, reached his arm around both and planted a resounding smack on his boys right ear. It was more than Lieut. Smith could stand and not give vent to his feelings. The man, noted throughout the American air service for his steel nerve, his stoical demeanor in the face of the greatest danger, wept softly.

Another mother, too wept for joy at the home coming of the globe airmen. She was Mrs Harding, mother of Lieut. Harding, relief pilot of Lieut. Nelson.

BACK TO MOTHER AGAIN

God bless you! said Mrs. Harding as she flung her arms around her boys neck and kissed him. God had brought you back safely to me!

Despite the triple patrol of bluejackets, marines and cavalrymen, Col. Frank Lahm, air officer in charge of the ninth corps area, who flew here from San Francisco purposely to greet the aviators on the conclusion of the world flight, and Maj. FitzGerald had a difficult time fighting their way to the flag-draped reviewing stand. Lieuts. Nelson, Ogden, Harding, Arnold, Wade and Smith, with their relatives and members of the reception committee, finally were grouped together.

View anniversary front pages online at sandiegouniontribune.com/150-years. For more from the Union-Tribune digital archives, go to newslibrary.com/sites/sdub. Searching is free, with registration. A fee is required to view full stories.Baby Leo spent the early hours of Sept. 18, 2017, the way he usually did, snuggled up next to his parents in bed.

Except that morning he didnt wake up.

Toxicology tests showed fatal levels of fentanyl in his bloodstream and stomach.

The likely source, authorities say, was his fathers little blue pills that had apparently been in the bed with the sleeping family that morning.

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Leo Holz, only 10 months old, was among the 81 victims of a fatal fentanyl overdose in San Diego County last year.

The district attorneys office is now seeking to hold his parents  a couple with a history of drug abuse  responsible for the death.

The investigation has not ended there, however.

Last week, federal prosecutors said a San Diego woman who called herself The Drug Llama is also being investigated as the suspected supplier in connection with the death, as well as a second one that same month. She has not been charged.

However, Melissa Scanlan, 31, is facing federal charges in another case in Illinois accusing her of running a dark web drug enterprise in which she allegedly shipped more than 50,000 fentanyl pills throughout the United States, according to court records and prosecutors. She was arrested in San Diego earlier this month.

As the opioid crisis continues to claim tens of thousands of lives nationwide  a death toll fueled by synthetic drugs such as fentanyl  the criminal justice system has responded by aggressively going after the source.

In San Diego County, overdose deaths are now treated as potential homicides, resulting in a handful of prosecutions against suspected drug dealers and, in Leos case, his parents.

Only one overdose has been charged as a murder so far (and the case eventually pleaded down to voluntary manslaughter). The district attorneys office has used other charges to prosecute fatal overdose cases, including child endangerment and drug sales. The office has also referred about 10 cases to the U.S. attorneys office for prosecution under a specific law  distribution resulting in death, officials said. At least four such cases have been filed in the last year.

There is a raging opioid epidemic in this country, and we want dealers to be on notice: Every time we have an overdose death, we are going to come looking for you, U.S. Atty. Adam Braverman said in April upon announcing the latest such indictment.

In that case, a documented Lakeside gang member is accused of selling fentanyl that led to the death of a 25-year-old La Mesa woman in January.

There is no shortage of targets in this line of work. Earlier this month, fentanyl-laced cocaine was making the rounds through the San Diego beach communities of Pacific Beach and Ocean Beach, killing three and sickening two more. The investigation by a task force led by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration is continuing.

The rate of fentanyl overdose deaths looks to be on pace to match last years, with 41 confirmed in the first six months, according to the county medical examiners office.

Baby Leo lived with his parents, Colin Holz and longtime girlfriend Chantil Kalagian, in his grandmothers Point Loma-area condo.

According to the San Diego police arrest warrant, Leos grandmother found the boy awake in his bedroom and placed him in bed with his parents as she routinely did.

Kalagian tried to breastfeed him, then fell asleep with the baby in her arms next to Holz.

About 8:25 a.m., Kalagian woke up to find Leo blue and unresponsive. Holz told her to call 911 and tell first responders that the baby may have ingested some pills he had on the bed, according to the warrant.

The baby was declared dead at Rady Childrens Hospital-San Diego.

When officers asked Holz where his prescriptions were, he became evasive, according to the warrant, and said he didnt know where hed put his pills or the medicine bottle.

As part of the death investigation, officers asked the parents to perform a video re-enactment of the incident  common protocol for a Sudden Infant Death Syndrome case. At no time did the parents mention pills, the warrant states.

A search of the bedroom revealed a small blue pill on the floor near the bed, authorities said. It was stamped with M on one side and 30 on the other  the marks of an oxycodone pill.

Holz later told investigators that he had three blue pills in his shorts pocket and two pills in a bottle when he had been sleeping in the bed with Leo, and that hed lost track of the pills in his pocket, according to the warrant.

He said hed flushed the two pills in the bottle down the toilet at the hospital, the warrant states.

An autopsy found high levels of fentanyl in Leos system, and tests on the blue pill found similar components, authorities said.

Both parents were on probation for prior drug charges. Kalagian about a year and a half earlier discovered she was three months pregnant during a stint in jail on a drug charge, according to the warrant.

Due to negligence, both parents are culpable for the circumstances that led to the death of Baby L., the warrant states.

The parents were charged in May with child endangerment likely to produce great bodily harm or death. They have pleaded not guilty and remain jailed.

They are also being held on probation violations in a number of unrelated cases, including robbery, theft and assault, according to the jail records.

Their defense attorneys declined to comment, citing the ongoing nature of the case.

The child endangerment charge being used in this case can apply to many situations, such as a distracted parent who forgot to lock a gun cabinet, resulting in a child shooting, or a parent who left prescription medication on a counter within reach of a child.

But parents in those situations might get more leniency compared to parents who are already doing something illegal when a child is harmed, including manufacturing methamphetamine at home or leaving drugs out, said Daniel Greenberg, a criminal defense attorney in Riverside who has handled child endangerment cases.

Even if the drug fell out accidentally, the government will probably say the responsibility doesnt lie with the child, it lies with the adult, Greenberg said. If you carry that kind of medication on your person, you better make sure you dont lose those drugs.

As far as where the fentanyl came from, it is not clear what evidence led investigators to Scanlan as a suspect.

She is accused of selling the same kinds of counterfeit oxycodone pills through the dark web, according to Assistant U.S. Atty. Sherri Hobson, who spoke at her detention hearing in San Diego on the Illinois case. Such fentanyl-laced pills are common in the illicit market and have been seized in massive amounts along the Southwest border recently.

Hobson said Scanlan admitted to investigators during an interview last month that she obtained the pills from a Mexican cartel.

Similar pills are believed to be involved in another overdose death about two weeks before Leos.

The 41-year-old woman who lived alone in a second-story apartment in North Park had obtained Mexican blue pills from a dealer in the days before her death, according to her autopsy report.

She apparently took one of them the night of Sept. 5, 2017, and later thanked her dealer in a text message. She said the pill had made her feel better and that she just might actually sleep tonight, according to the medical examiners report. The report does not name the alleged dealer.

The victim had a history of mental illness and suicide attempts, although authorities have ruled her death as accidental. Her toxicology report showed a cocktail of drugs: fentanyl, clonazepam, quetiapine and gabapentin. Some of the drugs were prescribed, some were not.

Hobson said Scanlan is also being investigated in connection with this death but did not provide further details.

Scanlans attorney did not respond to requests for comment.

Davis writes for the San Diego Union Tribune.A brush fire that broke out in the Castaic area Saturday afternoon saw its growth slow down overnight.

The Charlie fire was reported shortly before 3 p.m. in the 31000 block of Charlie Canyon Road, according to the Santa Clarita Valley sheriffs station. It tore through about 3,000 acres by nightfall. By Sunday morning, it had grown to about 3,400 acres, with 10% containment.

Authorities said they ordered evacuations of 20 to 30 homes off San Francisquito Canyon Road. The road is now closed from Camp 14 to Lowridge Place.

Its a very remote area where the homes are kind of spread out, said Los Angeles County Fire Department Inspector Joey Marron.

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Lake Hughes Road is closed from Ridge Route to Dry Gulch Road, he added. A paintball park in the area was also evacuated as a precaution.

Firefighters are hopeful they will be able to get a handle on the blaze with the help of cooler nighttime temperatures, Marron said. Were going to make a stand at the line that we have now, and hopefully be able to hold it right there.

Preventative measures are being taken now. Residents on San Fracisquito Cyn Rd are asked to evacuate. The road is now closed from Camp 14 to Lowridge Place. Evacuation Center: Castaic Sports Complex 31230 Castaic Rd, Castaic #LASD @LACOFD #CharlieFIre pic.twitter.com/yC4v8uJcsx  LA County Sheriff's (@LASDHQ) September 23, 2018

sarah.parvini@latimes.com

For more California news follow me on Twitter: @sarahparvini

UPDATES:

11:55 a.m.: This article was updated with new information on acres burned.

7:10 p.m.: This article was updated with information on evacuations and quotes from a fire official.

This article was originally published at 6:05 p.m.A high-stakes political drama is playing out in Washington, D.C., as the Senate Judiciary Committee attempts to address Christine Blasey Fords allegation that she was sexually assaulted by Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh in the early 1980s, when they were both in high school.

Fords allegations  that Kavanaugh forced himself on her at a party, tried to take off her clothes and covered her mouth when she tried to scream  derailed what was looking like a smooth road toward Kavanaughs confirmation.

But the road is not smooth anymore. And the Washington, D.C., story is hitting many women much closer to home.

Since Ford went public last week as the author of a previously confidential letter sent to Sen. Dianne Feinstein detailing her allegations, updates about when and under what circumstances Ford might testify before the committee and opinions about her veracity and Kavanaughs guilt or innocence have been coming at a breakneck, breaking-news pace.

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But while the headlines are constantly changing, Fords allegations and Kavanaughs denial of them have been met with a series of questions that are as old as the hills, and they never fail to spark fresh pain in the hearts of assault survivors.

Questions like:

Why did she wait so long to say something?

How can her memories be trusted after all these years?

How does she even know it was him?

And: Why should we hold a man accountable for something that may or may not have happened when he was in high school?

With a Supreme Court seat hanging in the balance and midterm elections keeping both parties in a perpetual panic, much of the tweeting, pontificating and speculating is rooted in politics. But for some San Diego women who are survivors of sexual assault and its aftermath, it doesnt feel political.

Its personal.

And it hurts.

I know that a lot of survivors are triggered right now, said Brittany Catton Kirk, who was raped in 2012 and founded the Sunlight Retreats healing weekends for fellow survivors five years later.

They are seeing the comments (about Ford) that some of their friends and families and even strangers are making on social media, and it feels like a setback in terms of the #MeToo movement. People will say to me, Im impressed with the work youre doing, but I still think (Ford) is a complete liar and a total disgrace. Or someone will say, I was raped when I was young, and I moved past it. This didnt define me because Im such a tough gal.

You know, the women who come to our retreats want nothing more than to move on with their lives and put it behind them, so its hard to see such a tough response.

Hard, but not unexpected.

It has been 27 years since Anita Hill testified before the (then) all-male Senate Judiciary Committee that Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas had sexually harassed her when she worked for him. Women who speak up about being abused or harassed are subjected to the same grilling now that Hill was subjected to then.

Grillings like this one from President Trump, who stayed uncharacteristically quiet about Fords allegations for five days before tweeting this on Friday:

I have no doubt that, if the attack on Dr. Ford was as bad as she says, charges would have been immediately filed with local Law Enforcement Authorities by either her or her loving parents. I ask that she bring those filings forward so that we can learn date, time, and place!

Ford did not file charges with local law enforcement after the party. Or ever. Which is what many survivors of sexual assault do.

According to a 2015 Washington Post-Kaiser Family Foundation Survey of current and recent college students, 88 percent of women who experienced unwanted sexual contact did not tell police or university authorities about the incidents.

In the Anonymous Sunlight Retreat for Survivors of Rape Survey that Kirk began posting in 2013, 49 percent of the 133 respondents said they told no one about their rape, and 66 percent said they did not report the rape.

Of the 45 survivors who said they did report the rape, 76 percent said no official action was taken.

In 1981, Cheri  who did not want her last name used  was raped by a stranger. She reported it to the San Diego Police Department, and while it was investigated, her rapist was never caught.

Except for her mother, her best friend and her husband, no one else knew. And when Cheri was sexually harassed in multiple jobs by multiple supervisors years later, she kept it to herself.

So like the women who made the #WhyIDidntReport hashtag go viral hours after Trumps tweet on Friday, Cheri understands why Ford didnt go public with her allegations until she sent the letter to Feinstein in July.

Why would she?

Why would anybody?

It is fear, Cheri said, noting that Ford had to leave her home after she started receiving death threats. It is completely and absolutely fear that you will be shouted down, or that people will say that you are a slut, or that your motives were misguided.

Think about what has happened in the past. When I was growing up, any girl who was raped and went to court, she ended up having her whole life dissected. The saying was that in order for you to be a legitimate witness, you had to have a spotless life.

Like the rise of the #MeToo revolt against sexual harassment, Fords accusations and the sometimes infuriating responses to them have jump-started important conversations about sexual assault and given victims the chance to unite, share their stories and take action.

But the controversy has also revealed that many people do not understand how prevalent sexual assault is, and how hard it is to bring it to light. According to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, one in five women and one in 71 men will be raped at some point in their lives. In the U.S., one in three women and one in six men experienced some form of contact sexual violence in their lifetime.

Sixty-three percent of sexual assaults are not reported to the police. The prevalence of false reporting is between 2 percent and 10 percent.

A few years ago, a former San Diegan I will call the Educator was meeting with a man who was very influential in her field. After a few minutes, he locked the door of his office, pressed himself and his erection against her from behind and grabbed her breasts.

She managed to get away from him then, and also when he followed her into the parking lot. She reported it to two colleagues, both of whom laughed it off. That incident, combined with a traumatic event that had happened shortly before, sent the Educator into a tailspin. She lost her job, she left the state and abandoned the field altogether.

Now, she is watching the Kavanaugh case develop and feeling undermined all over again. She is hoping that some good will come of it. That Ford will be heard and taken seriously. She is keeping her fingers crossed, but she is not holding her breath.

This makes me feel awful, she said when I spoke to her on the phone earlier this week. Here you have someone coming forward and being so discounted before her story was even heard. That has really affected me. This stuff comes up, and it just sets you back. I dont think people realize that.

Twitter: @karla_peterson

karla.peterson@sduniontribune.comBaby Leo spent the early hours of Sept. 18, 2017, the way he usually did, snuggled up next to his parents in bed.

Except this morning he didnt wake up.

Toxicology tests showed fatal levels of fentanyl in his blood stream and in his stomach.

The likely source, authorities say, was his fathers little blue pills that had apparently shared the bed with the sleeping family that morning.

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Leo Holz, only 10 months old, was among the 81 victims to die of a fentanyl overdose in the county last year.

The District Attorneys Office is now seeking to hold his parents  a couple with a history of drug abuse  responsible for the death.

The investigation has not ended there, however.

Last week, federal prosecutors said a San Diego woman who allegedly called herself The Drug Llama is also being investigated in connection with the death, as well as a second that same month, as the suspected supplier. She has not been charged.

However, Melissa Scanlan, 31, is facing federal charges in another case in Illinois accusing her of running a dark web drug enterprise in which she allegedly shipped more than 50,000 fentanyl pills throughout the United States, according to court records and prosecutors. She was arrested in San Diego earlier this month.

As the opioid crisis continues to claim tens of thousands of lives nationwide  a death toll fueled by synthetic versions of the drug such as fentanyl  the criminal justice system has responded by aggressively going after the source.

In San Diego County, overdose deaths are now treated as potential homicides, resulting in a handful of prosecutions against suspected drug dealers and, in Leos case, the parents.

Only one overdose has been charged as a murder so far (and the case eventually pleaded down to voluntary manslaughter.) The District Attorneys Office has used other charges to prosecute fatal overdose cases, including child endangerment and drug sales. The office has also referred about 10 cases to the U.S. Attorneys Office for prosecution under a specific law  distribution resulting in death, officials said. At least four such cases have been filed in the past year.

There is a raging opioid epidemic in this country, and we want dealers to be on notice: Every time we have an overdose death, we are going to come looking for you, U.S. Attorney Adam Braverman said in April upon announcing the latest such indictment.

In that case, a documented Lakeside gang member is accused of selling fentanyl that led to the death of a 25-year-old La Mesa woman in January.

There are no shortage of targets in this line of work. Earlier this month, fentanyl-laced cocaine was making the rounds through Pacific Beach and Ocean Beach, killing three and sickening two more. The investigation by a task force led by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration is continuing.

The rate of fentanyl overdose deaths looks to be on pace to match last years, with 41 confirmed in the first six months, according to the Medical Examiners Office.

Child endangerment

Baby Leo lived with his parents, Colin Holz and longtime girlfriend Chantil Kalagian, in his grandmothers Point Loma-area condo.

According to the San Diego police arrest warrant, Leos grandmother found the boy awake in his bedroom and placed him in bed with his parents as she routinely did.

Kalagian tried to breastfeed him and then fell asleep with the baby in her arms next to Holz.

About 8:25 a.m., Kalagian woke up to find Leo blue and unresponsive. Holz told her to call 911 and tell first responders that the baby may have ingested some pills he had on the bed, according to the warrant.

The baby was declared dead at Rady Childrens Hospital.

When officers tried to ask Holz about the whereabouts of his prescriptions, he became evasive, according to the warrant, and said he didnt know where hed put his pills or the medicine bottle.

As part of the death investigation, officers asked the parents to perform a video re-enactment of the incident  common protocol for a Sudden Infant Death Syndrome case. At no time did the parents mention pills, the warrant states.

A search of the bedroom revealed a small blue pill on the floor near the bed, authorities said. It was stamped with M on one side and 30 on the other  the marks of an oxycodone pill.

Holz later told investigators that he had three blue pills in his shorts pocket and two pills in a bottle when he had been sleeping in the bed with Leo, and that hed lost track of the pills in his pocket, according to the warrant.

He said hed flushed the two pills in the bottle down the toilet at the hospital, the warrant states.

An autopsy found high levels of fentanyl in Leos system, and tests on the blue pill found similar components, authorities said.

Both parents were on probation for prior drug charges. Kalagian about a year and a half prior to the death discovered she was three months pregnant during a stint in jail on a drug charge, according to the warrant.

Due to negligence, both parents are culpable for the circumstances that led to the death of Baby L., the warrant states.

The parents were charged in May with child endangerment likely to produce great bodily harm or death. They have pleaded not guilty and remain jailed.

They are also being held on probation violations in a number of unrelated cases, including robbery, theft, and assault, according to the jail records.

Their defense attorneys declined to comment, citing the ongoing nature of the case.

The child endangerment charge being used in this case can apply to many situations, such as a distracted parent who forgot to lock the gun cabinet, resulting in a child shooting, or a parent who left prescription medication on a counter in reach of a child.

But parents in those situations might get more leniency when compared to parents who are already doing something illegal when a child is harmed, including manufacturing methamphetamine at home or leaving drugs out, said Daniel Greenberg, a criminal defense attorney in Riverside who has handled child endangerment cases.

Even if the drug fell out accidentally, the government will probably say the responsibility doesnt lie with the child, it lies with the adult, Greenberg said. If you carry that kind of medication on your person, you better make sure you dont lose those drugs.

As far as where the fentanyl came from, it is not clear what evidence led investigators to Scanlan as a suspect.

She is accused of selling the same kinds of counterfeit oxycodone pills through the dark web, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Sherri Hobson, who spoke at her detention hearing in San Diego on the Illinois case. Such fentanyl-laced pills are common in the illicit market and have been seized in massive amounts along the Southwest border recently.

Hobson said Scanlan admitted to investigators during an interview last month that she obtained the pills from a Mexican cartel.

Mexican blue

Similar pills are believed to be involved in another overdose death about two weeks before Leos.

The 41-year-old woman who lived alone in a second-story apartment in North Park had obtained Mexican blue pills from a dealer in the days before her death, according to her autopsy report.

She apparently took one of them the night of Sept. 5, 2017, and later thanked her dealer in a text message. She said the pill had made her feel better and that she just might actually sleep tonight, according to the medical examiners report. The report does not name the alleged dealer.

The victim had a history of mental illness and suicide attempts, although authorities have ruled her death as accidental. Her toxicology showed a cocktail of drugs: fentanyl, clonazepam, quetiapine and gabapentin. Some of it was prescribed, some of it not.

Hobson said Scanlan is also being investigated in connection with this death but did not provide further details.

Scanlans attorney did not respond to requests for comment.

kristina.davis@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @kristinadavisYusuf Omer Yusuf, 23, has been jailed for ten years

A shooter who paralysed a man by firing at his throat at point blank range because he 'felt disrespected' has been jailed for ten years.

Yusuf Omer Yusuf, 23, shot the 27-year-old with a semi-automatic handgun at an address in Bruce Grove, Tottenham, in the early hours of February 1.

A minor row had erupted between the two men earlier in the day outside a shop, the Old Bailey heard.

Yusuf, known as 'Shaver', had felt disrespected after the victim said: 'Who are you? I don't know you. Who are you to involve yourself?'

The bullet fractured an upper vertebra in the victim's neck and damaged his spine, leaving him paralysed from the chest down.

Violent crime has soared in London in the last year, with more than 100 murder investigations being launched by police.

Six days after the shooting, Yusuf was arrested on a plane bound for Somalia at Heathrow Airport.

Yusuf, of no fixed address, was convicted of committing grievous bodily harm (GBH) with intent and jailed for ten years following a trial at the Old Bailey.

He also received a nine-year sentence, to run concurrently, for possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life.

During a police interview, Yusuf replied 'no comment' to all questions about the shooting.

Detective Constable Sanjeev Sharma, of the Met's Trident and Area Crime Command, said: 'After a minor dispute, Yusuf armed himself with a gun and aasaulted a man for the trivial fact he felt "disrespected".

'The victim of this shooting was incredibly lucky to survive but has been left with a life-changing injury.

'Deadly weapons such as semi-automatic handguns have no place on the streets of London.

'The Trident team is working relentlessly to bring to justice those responsible for acts of violence such as this.'The California Voting Rights Act of 2001 says that at-large elections are illegal if they hinder the ability of a protected class, including certain racial groups, from electing members of their choice.

In recent years, a few attorneys have used that law to threaten lawsuits to school districts, city councils and other elected bodies across the state. Their expectation: that those elected bodies switch from at-large elections to by-district elections.

Not all school districts in San Diego County have made the switch because not all of them have been threatened with a lawsuit. But in many of the ones that have, it hasnt achieved the results that the law intended.

The switch is meant to give candidates of color a greater chance in getting elected and prevent the power of voters of color from being diluted in an at-large election. The idea has become controversial in San Diego city, where some are calling for San Diego Unified to switch to by-district elections. District officials, however, dont want such a switch yet.

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But a look at whos running for San Diego Countys school boards this November shows that switching to by-district elections often doesnt lead to more diversity.

For a small handful of jurisdictions, there is an issue where Latinos and other groups have not been able to elect their preferred candidates, said Douglas Johnson, president and founder of the National Demographics Corporation, which has been contracted to help more than 100 California jurisdictions switch to by-district elections. The overwhelming majority of these districts are changing simply to avoid six- and seven-figure lawsuits.

Typical of governing bodies across the country, San Diego Countys school boards overall do not match the demographics of the students they are charged with serving. All of San Diego Countys school districts that have by-district elections and that have a majority students of color have a majority of white school board members.

Just changing the election process alone doesnt get more diverse candidates elected. Doing so depends on the ability of community members to register to vote, and also on actual voter turnout.

Johnson suggested that the success of by-district elections depends on how well communities are politically mobilized. Jurisdictions that were more successful in achieving diversity tended to happen in communities where activists were leading a strong push for by-district elections, and already had candidates lined up, he said.

District elections dont always make it easier for school boards to become more diverse because some boards end up with district areas that have small percentages of people of color. Even if a school district has a large percentage of people of color, those communities can be so spread out or divided by district boundaries that they wouldnt benefit as much.

Thats the case with Grossmont Union High School District. The district got a letter threatening legal action in 2015 from a lawyer, John Lemmo, who was defending a charter school network that Grossmont was suing at the same time. So the district paid $150,000 to switch to by-district elections.

Because of the districts demographics and geography, Grossmont ended up with only one district that had a majority of voters of color, said Scott Patterson, Grossmonts deputy superintendent of business services. One Latina board member was elected in 2016, the first year when Grossmont held by-district elections.

Overall, it was a prudent move for the district to move in that direction, Patterson said. We can demonstrate to our population that we have made an intention to make sure all the minority voices are heard.

Officials suggested that it will take some time before the new election systems will produce visible changes.

Well just have to let it play out a little bit, Patterson said.

District or by-trustee elections also depend on having enough participants. Splitting an at-large election into several smaller district races often requires getting more candidates to fill those races.

Often, that doesnt happen. Out of all the by-district school board races in San Diego County for this November, about half are uncontested.

One of the results of moving to district elections is, now theres a smaller voter pool eligible to run for each seat, Johnson said. That has a benefit of making it easier to run, since you dont have to reach out to as many voters, but it has the downside in that there are many fewer people who run.

In 2012, the Escondido Union High School Board decided to switch to by-district elections to avoid being at risk for a lawsuit, according to Superintendent Steve Boyle. About 64 percent of Escondido Union High School District students are Hispanic or Latino, but its school board has no member of color.

The school board has three spots open for Novembers election, but all three races are uncontested, and all of the candidates are incumbents.

It has not led to a more diverse board, but the community has that opportunity, I guess, if it wants to, Boyle said.

Kevin Shenkman, of Malibu, is the lawyer who is almost single-handedly responsible for the statewide wave of jurisdictions switching to by-district elections. He has written dozens of letters threatening legal action to jurisdictions if they do not make the switch. For each letter he writes, state law says he can collect $30,000 for legal fees from the governing body he is threatening.

Shenkman argued that just because a governing body doesnt end up with a district that has a majority of people of color, doesnt mean switching to by-district elections wont make a difference.

When asked how he picks jurisdictions to send a letter to, Shenkman said he wrote each letter because somebody had brought concerns to him about their jurisdiction and voting system.

I dont think its a science, he said.

Kristen Taketa

Email: kristen.taketa@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @Kristen_TaketaTri-City Medical Center stopped admitting new patients to its locked psychiatric ward Saturday morning, taking the first step in a shut-down process that started in May.

Despite pleas from affected community members, local governments and mental health advocates, the Oceanside hospital is moving forward with its plans for the units indefinite suspension on Oct. 2.

The decision, which Tri-Citys board has attributed to financial, staffing and regulatory difficulties, removes the only local option for psychiatric hospitalization in coastal North County, forcing families to drive further to visit loved ones who will now be hospitalized in Escondido or San Diego instead of Oceanside.

Though its no longer admitting new psychiatric patients, Tri-City still must receive all 5150 transports from local law enforcement when they pick up a residents they believe could be a danger to themselves or others. That obligation doesnt end until the unit formally closes in early October.

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But Alfredo Aguirre, director of Behavioral Health Services for San Diego County, said in an email Friday that local law enforcement has been directed to avoid transporting emergency psychiatric patients to Tri-City.

A Tri-City official confirmed the hospital would stop admitting psychiatric patients on Saturday morning, but did not respond to a request for a count of how many people remained in Tri-Citys 18-bed locked unit as of Friday afternoon.

According to county records, Tri-Citys inpatient unit averaged 16 patients per day in 2017.

Its a little unclear exactly how San Diego Countys psychiatric emergency system will absorb the demand currently served by the Tri-City unit.

Aguirre said Friday afternoon that hospitals within the system have a total of 757 beds with an average daily usage of only 645. But that capacity is largely focused in the central and southern parts of the county. Palomar Healths 24-bed unit in downtown Escondido is the only other unit in North County that takes Medicare patients.

Derryl Acosta, a spokesman for Palomar, said Friday afternoon that the inland North County systems behavioral health and crisis stabilization units were full. Aguirre said that Palomar, and the countys psychiatric hospital in San Diegos Midway district, are the two facilities best positioned to pick up Tri-Citys slack.

The county has been renovating an empty 30-bed unit at its San Diego hospital, but that work is not expected to be complete until next week.

So, the question is, where will coastal North County patients be taken after the Tri-City unit closes? Aguirre said hes not worried.

We are confident that our network of designated facilities will be able to absorb this lost capacity at (Tri-City Medical Center), Aguirre said.

Some have already begun finding other workarounds.

The San Diego County Sheriffs Department, which provides law enforcement in Vista, San Marcos and several other North County communities that often transport emergency psychiatric patients to Tri-City, has already started changing its response patterns.

Lt. Dave Schaller, a supervisor in the departments Valley Center substation who has followed the Tri-City situation closely, said deputies have reduced the number of trips they make to Tri-City in recent weeks, heading instead to Palomar or south to the county psychiatric hospital.

Though the drive is much longer to San Diego, Schaller said that the county psych hospital has been much quicker in examining and admitting 5150 patients than North County hospitals have been. At full-service hospitals, he noted, its common for deputies to wait two to three hours before theyre able to transfer mental health patients to hospital custody.

Recently, he said, the county hospital has been able to receive transported psychiatric patients in closer to a half-hour. Even with an 80-minute round trip to San Diego and back, he said, deputies may end up spending less total time on a 5150 transport than they would if they took the same patient to a local hosptials psychiatric ward.

However, he added, its not clear whether those quick turnaround times will continue when Tri-City stops admitting psychiatric patients altogether.

We expect it will impact us. Well have to wait and see just exactly what that impact is, Schaller said.

Representatives of the Oceanside and Carlsbad police departments, which are among the most affected by Tri-Citys decision, did not respond Friday to requests for more information on how they will handle emergency psychiatric transports.

Health Playlist On Now Video: Why aren't Americans getting flu shots? 0:37 On Now Video: Leaders urge public to help extinguish hepatitis outbreak On Now San Diego starts cleansing sidewalks, streets to combat hepatitis A On Now Video: Scripps to shutter its hospice service On Now Video: Scripps La Jolla hospitals nab top local spot in annual hospital rankings On Now Video: Does a parent's Alzheimer's doom their children? On Now Video: Vaccine can prevent human papillomavirus, which can cause cancer 0:31 On Now 23 local doctors have already faced state discipline in 2017 0:48 On Now EpiPen recall expands On Now Kids can add years to your life

paul.sisson@sduniontribune.com

(619) 293-1850

Twitter: @paulsissonFour people in Michigan who investigators say planned to abduct a child in order to rape and kill them have been charged in the ill-fated plot.

David Bailey, 37; Jayme LaPointe, 19; Matthew Toole, 32, and Tooles girlfriend Talia Furman, 32, were all charged with three counts each of conspiracy to commit murder, kidnapping and criminal sexual conduct, Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette said Friday.

Michigan State Police said they uncovered the plot while investigating the group for allegedly sexually abusing their own children and creating sexual material involving the minors, according to USA Today.

During that investigation, authorities found text messages indicating that the group was planning to snatch a child somewhere public, but sans cameras.

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The group was allegedly zeroing in on large public places such as county fairs, store parking lots or parades, and planned to torture and sexually assault the child until the child died, then dispose of the body.

Detective Sgt. Gerald Yott told USA Today that authorities do not believe the group ever executed the plan. He said the four met locally through loose associations and similar sexual proclivities.

All four are currently in custody, and each charge is punishable by up to life in prison.An Indiana school bus driver took mentorship a little too seriously.

Joandrea Dehaven McAtee, 27, was arrested Friday after she allowed three students  11, 13 and 17  to drive the school bus, police said.

One person posted a video online of McAtee hovering over a student, who she said was in middle school, driving the bus.

First, you gotta put your foot on the brake, McAtee can be heard saying.

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According to police, she allowed the students to drive for short distances in rural Valparaiso, Indiana, while other students were on board the bus.

She was arrested Friday morning after parents told a school resource officer.

McAtee was also fired from her job.

Wheels on the bus go round and round, round and round, Boone grove bus driver lets a middle schooler drive, middle schooler drive. pic.twitter.com/IdF4zRkhRG  c a s e y (@_caseyweber) September 21, 2018

We are incredibly disappointed by the actions of our former driver, First Student, which operates buses in the area, said in a statement to ABC News.

There is nothing more important than the safety of the students we transport. Behavior such as this is completely unacceptable and totally at odds with what we stand for as a company. The driver has been terminated. We have a zero-tolerance policy for employees whose actions may harm or put others at risk.

Porter Township School Corporation launched an investigation after parents and students reported McAtees allowances.

Upon receiving information regarding this incident, PTSC administration, First Student (our bus service provider), and the Porter County Sheriffs Department immediately began an investigation. The investigation quickly substantiated the allegations and the driver was relieved of all duties involving Porter Township School Corporation. The Porter Township School Corporation is angered and disappointed in the actions of this driver. The safety of our students is a top priority, the township said in a statement.

This individuals actions are not reflective of the hard work, dedication, and professionalism of our staff, the statement continued. We are thankful for the students and parents who came forward quickly with this information to both PTSC administration and law enforcement allowing us to respond expediently and take the proper steps to insure student safety.

McAtee was charged with felony neglect of a dependent.Irans president on Sunday accused an unnamed U.S.-allied country in the Persian Gulf of being behind a terror attack on a military parade that killed 25 people and wounded 60, further raising regional tensions.

Hassan Rouhanis comments came as Irans Foreign Ministry also summoned Western diplomats over them allegedly providing havens for the Arab separatists who claimed Saturdays attacks in the southwestern city of Ahvaz.

The Iranian moves, as well as promises of revenge by Irans elite Revolutionary Guard, come as the country already faces turmoil in the wake of the American withdraw from Tehrans nuclear deal with world powers. The attack in Ahvaz, which saw women and children flee with uniformed soldiers bloodied, has further shaken the country.

Rouhanis remarks could refer to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates or Bahrain  close U.S. military allies that view Iran as a regional menace over its support for militant groups across the Middle East.

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All of those small mercenary countries that we see in this region are backed by America. It is Americans who instigate them and provide them with necessary means to commit these crimes, Rouhani said before leaving for the U.N. General Assembly in New York.

Gunmen attack Iran military parade in Ahvaz

Iran meanwhile summoned diplomats from Britain, Denmark and the Netherlands early Sunday for allegedly harboring members of the terrorist group that launched the attack. Danish Foreign Minister Anders Samuelsen condemned the attack and stressed that there would be consequences if it turns out that those responsible have connections to Denmark.

The ministry later summoned the UAEs envoy as well over what it called the irresponsible and insulting statements of an Emirati adviser, according to the semi-official ISNA news agency. The UAE did not immediately acknowledge the summons.

Saturdays attack, in which militants disguised as soldiers opened fire on an annual Iranian military parade in Ahvaz, was the deadliest attack in the country in nearly a decade. Women and children scattered along with once-marching Revolutionary Guard soldiers as heavy gunfire rang out, the chaos captured live on state television.

The regions Arab separatists, once only known for nighttime attacks on unguarded oil pipelines, claimed responsibility for the assault, and Iranian officials appeared to believe the claim. The separatists accuse Irans Persian-dominated government of discriminating against its ethnic Arab minority. Khuzestan province also has seen recent protests over Irans nationwide drought, as well as economic protests.

The attack killed at least 25 people and wounded 60, according to the state-run IRNA news agency. It said gunmen wore military uniforms and targeted a riser where military and police commanders were sitting. State TV hours later reported that all four gunmen had been killed.

At least eight of the dead served in the Revolutionary Guard, an elite paramilitary unit that answers only to Irans supreme leader, according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency. The Guard responded to the attack on Sunday, warning it would seek deadly and unforgiving revenge in the near future.

Tensions have been on the rise in Iran since the Trump administration pulled out of the 2015 nuclear accord with Iran in May and began restoring sanctions that were eased under the deal. It also has steadily ramped up pressure on Iran to try to get it to stop what Washington calls its malign activities in the region.

The U.S. government nevertheless strongly condemned Saturdays attack and expressed its sympathy, saying it condemns all acts of terrorism and the loss of any innocent lives.

The attack dominated Iranian newspaper front pages on Sunday. The hard-line daily Kayhan warned that Iranians would demand Saudi Arabia feel the hard slap of the countrys power.

Overnight, an impromptu candle-light vigil in Ahvaz honored the dead and wounded. Iran planned a day of mourning Monday and funerals for those killed.

Among them is 4-year-old Mohammad Taha, who was captured by a photographer being carried away from the attack by a Guardsman in full dress uniform and sash. The photograph, showing the boy bloodied and helpless, shocked Iran.

A doctor interviewed on state television said Mohammad had been up the night before marking Ashoura, a commemoration of the death of the Prophet Muhammads grandson Hussein, one of Shiite Islams most beloved saints. Mourners wear black in honor of his 7th century death in the Battle of Karbala in present-day Iraq.

He was wearing a black shirt when he was martyred, a doctor said, standing next to the boys tiny corpse, now wrapped in a blue body bag.Some schoolkids are inspired by reading and writing, others by music and art.

Harry Gross, a Flatbush laundrymans son, favored lunch and the study of financial margins.

I remember him as a nice little fat boy, Anna Ledwith, his sixth-grade teacher, told a writer. But he was always the little businessman, always with some business interest after school. I felt like he was going to be a big man.

Shlubby little Harry became such a big deal that he singlehandedly toppled the NYPDs hierarchy in a forgotten scandal from the 1950s.

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Harry quit school after Mrs. Ledwiths class, having mastered the calculation of vigorish.

His spent his adolescence sweeping floors in Brooklyn candy stores while dabbling in nickel-and-dime bookmaking out the back door.

By age 24 in 1940, Gross was a heavy-pocketed bookie, a business with risks.

In 1941, a cop approached disapprovingly as Gross was palming cash on a Flatbush streetcorner.

Youre a sucker for working this way, the cop growled. You ought to get an OK.

The OK was procured via police bribes. The cop explained that small contributions might keep him safe in a precinct or division, but bigger boodles would percolate up the chain of command.

Gross recounted the cops lecture: ''He says, I can get you an OK from the division, but youre a sucker if you dont go all the way. We wont bother you, but what about the men from the other commands? So I said I wanted to go all the way.'

Did he ever.

In wartime New York, he built a network of wire-room shops handling thousands of weekly bets on thoroughbreds and prizefights. Gross lorded over 20 rooms in Brooklyn alone, and his web eventually extended across the city and into the suburbs.

He was a prototype sharp-dressed mobster, though his mug and physique were more John Belushi than John Gotti.

Gross hid his family away in affluent Atlantic Beach, L.I. He lived at the opulent Towers Hotel in Brooklyn Heights and conducted business from The Dugout, a smudgy Empire Blvd. saloon in the shadow of Ebbets Field.

Harry Gross home at 13 Putnam Boulevard in Atlantic Beach, Long Island, is pictured in 1951. (Art Edger / New York Daily News)

He was soon pulling in $20 million a yearroughly $300 million today. He tithed $80,000 monthly to an enabling syndicate of 300 dirty cops, from busted-shoe beat-walkers to the suits in Oxfords at headquarters.

Bag men would heave stacks of cash into The Dugout, where a paymaster apportioned the loot and channeled it to bluecoats and brass.

Gross shrugged off the $1 million a year as a business expensea 5% vig for the cops.

New York Daily News front page from September 20, 1950 featured a story about Gross. (NYDN)

He sometimes negotiated bribes right inside stationhouses, including confabs with Capt. Joseph Workman at the 70th Precinct and Capt. Jacob Abowitz at the 71st.

Gross became a police fixer, using his cash influence to finagle transfers and promotions. He was tight with Inspector Frederick Hofsaes, a Brooklyn division boss. He pulled strings to get Hofsaes daughter into Sweet Briar College in Virginia, and he gave the inspector a television set for Christmas 1948.

Word got around, and a year later a dozen cops stood in line. He dished out TVs like holiday turkeys.

The graft racket was an open secret by 1947, and Brooklyn DA Miles McDonald placed a wiretap on The Dugout, mining a trove of evidence.

This included verification of a remarkable financial rescue when a run of hefty payouts threatened to bankrupt the bookie in 1949. Cops fronted $100,000 to get Gross back in the blackand keep the bribes coming. The loan included $15,000 from Capt. Workman and $35,000 from a lowly patrolman, William Campbell.

Amid whispers of impending indictments in June 1950, 30 cops suddenly retired to preserve pensions. With headquarters on tenterhooks, Mayor William ODwyer, the Irish-born ex-cop and noted pal of mobsters, fired a preemptive salvoechoed today by Americas tweeter-in-chiefwhen he declared McDonalds probe a witch hunt.

Harry Gross reads about his arrest in the Daily News at Kings County Court in Brooklyn on September 16, 1950, a day he was arrested. (New York Daily News)

But facing denouement, ODwyer resigned on Aug. 31, 1950. Two weeks later Gross was arrested on 66 counts of gambling and bribery. Twenty-one cops were charged with protecting the bookie from police molestations, detection and interference.

It was a complicated prosecution. Gross agreed to cooperate, then reneged  and briefly went on the lam  when his wife got letters threatening their children.

Deputy sheriff guards Harry Gross following his arrest in 1950. (New York Daily News)

He was persuaded into court, where his testimony led to 10 convictions. More importantly, the scandal lowered the boom on top-floor police brass, including the commissioner, many deputies, and several chiefs, all ODwyers lads.

Complicit or unaware, they were forced to resign. The NYPD was purged of some 250 cops, and all 336 plainclothes officers were busted back into uniform.

ODwyer was handed a controversial ambassadorship to Mexico by President Harry Truman, but he never escaped the stink of the scandal.

Harry Gross served eight years in prison and migrated to Los Angeles after parole, still just 42. He followed the same crooked path there. He was locked up for three years after beating his wifes grandfather to death in 1959 and was subsequently arrested many times for bookmaking.

In March 1986, Gross was cuffed again while paying $100,000 to buy 13 pounds of heroin. His connection proved to be an undercover federal agent.

A month later, he was found dead at home of a slashed-wrist suicide. The former Flatbush boy explained in a note that two prison stretches were enough.For todays Back Story, reporter Peter Rowe discusses his narrative account of the Sept. 25, 1978, midair collision of PSA Flight 182 and a two-seater Cessna over North Park.

Q. You clearly immersed yourself in this story. Why were you so interested?

A. On social media sites a year ago, I noted dozens of heart-rending posts marking the accidents 39th anniversary. I figured the 40th anniversary would be an ideal time to revisit this terrible day in San Diego history.

Q. When did you start working on this story?

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A. About three or four months ago, I brainstormed with my editor, Mark Platte. He issued a challenge: make this more than just another anniversary story.

Q. What was your goal?

A. I wanted to convey the scale of this disaster, which at the time was the deadliest midair collision in U.S. history. If you were here, that day is burned in your memory. For many San Diegans, its a tragic touchstone like President Kennedys assassination or 9/11.

Q. Certainly the numbers  144 dead and 22 homes damaged or destroyed  are sobering. But is that all there is to the tale?

A. Far from it. Researching the accident, I was struck by the numerous factors that came together on that fateful morning. Mistakes and oversights piled up, one after another. Yet three of the four people investigating the accident for the National Transportation Safety Board laid most of the blame on PSA 182s crew.

Q. And that fourth person?

A. He filed a fierce six-page dissent, blasting his colleagues for overlooking or downplaying a host of contributing factors. Within a few years, he was vindicated as the board adopted his findings.

Q. How did you report this story?

A. I tried, but largely failed, to track down people who had shared memories on Facebook and other social media platforms. A more successful strategy was going door-to-door on the streets where the wrecks of the Cessna and PSA 182 crashed.

Q. Did you have any other resources?

A . Merrie Monteagudo, the Union-Tribunes research manager, unearthed two boxes of yellowing newspaper clippings, original reports on the crash and its aftermath. Also valuable: interviews with Stephen Cusick, lead author of Commercial Aviation Safety, the standard textbook in this area.

Q. Why was Cusick so important? Had he witnessed the crash?

A. No, he was not a witness. Cusick is an experienced pilot  he flew for the Navy before heading the general aviation program at Florida Institute of Technology  and an expert on flight safety. He explained how the Swiss Cheese model of accident causation helps explain this terrible day.

Q. Excuse me? Swiss Cheese?

A. Its a theory that most catastrophic failures are the result of many preventable factors, which can be likened to holes in slices of Swiss cheese. Something like this collision occurs when several factors align, like overlapping holes in numerous slices of cheese.

Q. This is a newspaper story, not a book. What didnt make the final cut, which you wish you could have explored?

A. If I could do this over again, I might weave in the history of Pacific Southwest Airlines. Based in San Diego, PSA was a source of hometown pride. The Los Angeles Times once dubbed it practically the unofficial flag carrier airline of California...

Founded here in 1949, PSA was acquired by USAir in 1988. Known for law fares and its chipper motto, The Worlds Friendliest Airline, PSA nonetheless had a turbulent history. While the 1978 disaster was the airlines first crash with any fatalities, it was followed by a 1987 crash near Paso Robles that left 43 dead.

Numerous PSA jets were hijacked, too. A 1972 incident ended with one passenger and two hijackers killed while the jet was on the ground in San Francisco.

As they say, thats another story.San Diego police were looking for a hit-and-run driver who injured a 37-year-old bicyclist in a collision in the Chollas View neighborhood Saturday night.

A witness reported hearing the impact and screeching tires about 7:30 p.m. on 47th Street near Hilltop Drive, police said.

Officers and medics found the injured man and a yellow OFO rental bicycle. The rider was taken to a hospital with major head injuries and a broken jaw. His wounds were not believed to be life-threatening.

The hit-and-run driver was believed to have headed south on 47th Street after the collision. No description of the vehicle or driver was given.

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The street was closed between Hilltop and C Street during the investigation.

pauline.repard@sduniontribune

Twitter: @pdrepardPolice are searching for a man who robbed a Jersey Mikes subway shop in Rancho Bernardo Saturday night, striking an employee with a pistol.

San Diego police said an armed man entered the subway shop on Bernardo Center Drive near Camino del Norte through a rear door shortly before the 11 p.m. as the worker was closing up.

The man took money from the cash register and forced the employee to open a safe, taking an envelope filled with cash.

The man pistol whipped the employee and fled out the back door. As he ran away, he collided with a pillar and fell. He dropped the money envelope but not the gun, according to police. He then ran across the pedestrian bridge at Camino Del Norte and escaped.

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The employee suffered a cut on the head.

Police described the robber as 20 to 30 years old, white, 5 feet 10 inches tall, and 160 pounds. He wore a black hoodie drawn tight around his face, a black bandana, dark pants and black running shoes. Robbery detectives are investigating.

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mike.freeman@sduniontribune.com;

Twitter:@TechDiego

760-529-4973Anywhere other than Southern California, camel races and young women dressed as Arabian queens might raise eyebrows. But here, in Riverside County, practices observed for 72 years have been folded into the tapestry of local norms and traditions.

Inspired by the legendary queen of One Thousand and One Nights, the collection of Middle Eastern folk tales, the Queen Scheherazade Scholarship Pageant has been an annual tradition associated with the Riverside County Fair & National Date Festival since the fairs inception in 1947.

Each year, Riverside County residents aged 17-22 compete for three titles and scholarship awards, including Queen Scheherazade ($3,500), Princess Dunyzade ($3,000) and Princess Jasmine. It is a tolerably modest scholarship pageant, with no swimsuit competition and no association with flashier pageant franchises like Miss America and Miss USA.

To date, there have been 72 Queen Scheherazades, with many former queens citing their experience on the court for developing public speaking skills and confidence.

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We tracked down four former Queen Scheherazades and asked each how winning the Queen Scheherazade Scholarship Pageant impacted their education, career or life.

Anna Acosta, 2011

Serving as Queen Scheherazade reminded me how important it is to give back to the community and to be an active member within. I believe this role left me with a greater sense of civic pride. Today, I am a young working professional that cares for a specialized population. This fall I will be applying to a Neonatal Doctor of Nurse Practitioner Program to continue working toward my career objective.

Madi DiPietro, 2009

What started out as a way to pay for my undergrad tuition at UCLA turned into so much more. The pageant in and of itself was surprisingly hard. I was challenged, but I was consistently awed by the amount of time and effort put into the fair by the fair board, the vendors, everybody! They love what they do and they do it with pride. I feel that I am able to be a better attorney when I take pride in my work and remind myself that I love what I do. The fair taught me that.

Jessica Lundquist (nee Walls), 2007

I had volunteered for a few local non-profits during my high school years and knew I had a passion for being involved in the community but being an ambassador for the fair took my engagement to a whole new level. The public speaking exposure was priceless. Those experiences definitely showed their value once I started making presentations to clients in my career in the financial industry as well as in my community outreach teaching financial literacy seminars.

Jordana Totman, 2012

During my time as queen I was able to meet so many amazing people, like the girls I shared the court with and learn things about the fair that have been an influence on my career path today. During the last weekend of the fair, I had the opportunity to assist in the FFA and 4H auction and watch all the students work with their farm animals. I am currently in veterinary school and plan to work on large animals after graduation.

2019 Pageant deadline

Do you have what it takes to be a Queen Scheherazade?

The pageant committee for the 2019 Queen Scheherazade Scholarship Pageant is now accepting applications, which can be found online at datefest.org/Scholarships. The application must be received (not postmarked) by 5 p.m. PST on Thursday, Oct. 11, 2018.

temecula@sduniontribune.comSix siblings of U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar have urged voters to cast their ballots against the Arizona Republican in November in an unusual political ad sponsored by the rival candidate.

The television ad from Democrat David Brill combines video interviews with Gosar family siblings who ask voters to usher Paul Gosar out of office because he has broken with the familys values. They do not elaborate.

They previously condemned the congressmans false accusation in 2017 that wealthy Democratic donor George Soros was a Nazi collaborator in World War II.

Its intervention time, Tim Gosar says in the ad, endorsing Brill. And intervention time means that you go to vote, and you go to vote Paul out.

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Phone calls Saturday to Paul Gosars offices in Washington and Arizona were not returned.

Gosar is a fourth-term congressman for a sprawling district in northeastern and central Arizona.

In a separate video segment, the siblings urge voters to hold the congressman accountable on healthcare, employment and environmental issues.

Paul Gosars comments about Soros came in a television interview with Vice News in which he also suggested a 2017 white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va., might have been a liberal conspiracy.

In the new ad, the congressmans siblings describe their decision to speak out as saddening, horrible and ultimately a matter of pride for the family from Wyoming.

I think my brother has traded a lot of the values we had at our kitchen table, says Joan Gosar, an engineer.

Pete Gosar, another sibling who ran unsuccessfully for governor of Wyoming in 2014, does not appear in the ad, though he has publicly criticized his brothers views in the past.

The rift in the Gosar clan is not the only sibling feud to wend its way into campaigning this year for Congress, as Democrats seek to retake majority control of the House and Senate from Republicans.

In the race to replace House Speaker Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin, Democratic congressional candidate Randy Bryce is confronting an ad in which his brother endorses the Republican candidate.

That upset Nancy Bryce, their mother, who has denounced the campaign ad in a letter that was recently made public.Christine Blasey Ford has agreed to testify at an open hearing Thursday regarding her sexual assault accusation against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, her lawyers said in a letter Sunday.

Despite actual threats to her safety and her life, Dr. Ford believes it is important for Senators to hear directly from her about the sexual assault committed against her, the letter, from Debra S. Katz, Lisa J. Banks and Michael R. Bromwich, read.

The letter said Ford has agreed to move forward with the hearing despite the fact that the Senate Judiciary Committee has refused to subpoena Mark Judge, an alleged witness to the incident.

Ford, 51, has accused a stumbling drunk Kavanaugh of pinning her to a bed and groping her during a Maryland house party in the early 1980s.

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She says it was only when Judge entered the room and jumped on the bed that the trio tumbled to the floor and she was able to escape.

Judge has said that he has no memory of the incident, and does not remember the party Ford described.

The letter also said the Committee has refused to invite other potential witnesses that would make for a fair hearing.

A number of important procedural and logistical issues remain unresolved, although they will not impede the hearing taking place, Fords legal team wrote, noting that they were mainly referring to the fact that they do not know if it will be senators or staff attorneys asking questions on the Majority side.

The Committee released a statement Sunday afternoon confirming Fords intention to give her testimony.

Christine Blasey Ford will testify Thursday on her allegations that Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her in the early 1980s. (researchgate.net)

The statement said the chairmans staff spoke on the phone with Fords legal team to work through a final agreement, and acknowledged the concerns outlined in the attorneys earlier statement, namely the inviting of potential witnesses.

The Committee determines which witnesses to call, how many witnesses to call, in what order to call them, and who will question them, the statement read. These are non-negotiable.

The open hearing is set for Thursday at 10 a.m.

Fords lawyers said Thursday she was willing to testify and would be prepared to do so under oath so long as the conditions were fair and the senators could ensure her safety, as the Palo Alto University professor and research psychologist has received death threats since taking her claims public last week.

Kavanaugh, 53, has denied all allegations. The committee confirmation vote on his nomination was set for last week, but was postponed indefinitely in light of Fords allegations.

UN Ambassador Nikki Haley said Sunday on CNN that alleged victims of sexual assault, like Ford, deserve to be heard.

The message Im comfortable with is that accusers go through a lot of trauma and some handle it one way and some handle it the other way. Regardless, you never  its not something that we want to do, to blame the accuser or try to second guess the accuser, she said on CNNs State of the Union.

We dont know the situation she was going through 35 years ago. We dont know the circumstances. ... What Ive said often is she deserves respect. She deserves to be heard. Kavanaugh, who has been accused, deserves to be heard. And I think well get all our answers.At 9 a.m. on Monday, Sept. 25, 1978, there was still time.

Time for Kate Fons, a rookie flight attendant aboard San Diego-bound PSA flight 182, to daydream about future trips to exotic locales.

Time for Martin Kazy Jr. and David Boswell to scan the Cessna 172s instruments while practicing landing approaches to Lindbergh Field.

Time for North Parks Verna Huger to check her shopping list before heading to a neighborhood market.

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Time for Vernon Franck, a Seabee, to begin another routine day at the naval amphibious base in Coronado.

Time for PSA 182s captain, James McFeron, to reassure the Lindbergh control tower: Traffic in sight.

There was still time to avoid what would become one of San Diegos most searing tragedies and what would be the worst airplane disaster, to that date, in U.S. history.

There wasnt much time, though. In less than two minutes  at 9:01:47  PSA 182 and the Cessna would collide in midair, at 2,600 feet over North Park.

The impact ripped apart the smaller plane and damaged the jets right wing. Both aircraft fell from the sky, slamming into residential streets, showering residences, cars and pavement with airplane parts, corpses and flames, destroying or damaging 22 homes.

There would be 144 dead: seven San Diegans on the ground, the Cessnas two occupants and all 135 aboard the jet.

It was awful, said Verna Huger, 85, who opened her front door to find a neighboring house ablaze, smoke and ash choking the sky. It was horrible.

Tuesday will be the PSA crashs 40th anniversary. This is ancient history to most San Diegans, as more than half of the countys current population was born after that day. For those who were here, though, the memories remain vivid.

I spent 30 years in the naval reserve and was deployed four times to the Persian Gulf, said Dr. Jerry Wisniew, who worked in the temporary morgue established that day in St. Augustine Highs gym. I saw a lot of trauma, but nothing like what I saw with that airplane crash.

The disaster cast a long shadow. Wrongful death lawsuits tied up local courtrooms for months, as bereaved relatives sued the federal government, Pacific Southwest Airlines and Gibbs Flying Service, the local flight school that operated the ill-fated Cessna and employed Kazy.

And the crash would permanently change aviation in San Diego. A stubborn investigator fought for major revisions to the official National Transportation Safety Board report, leading to new rules governing flights operations here.

Among aviators, theres a grim saying: Aviation regulations are written in blood.

That was never more true than after Sept. 25, 1978, after time ran out.

In the Air: Swiss Cheese

In the doomed jets flight recording, a key exchange takes place in the cockpit roughly a half minute before the collision.

Are we clear of that Cessna? asked First Officer Bob Fox..

Suppose to be, replied Flight Engineer Martin Wahne.

I guess, said Capt. McFeron.

I hope, said Spencer Nelson, an off-duty PSA pilot hitching a ride to San Diego.

In fact, they were rapidly bearing down on the plane. The initial NTSB report focused on PSAs failure to track the Cessna. That was a grievous error, agreed Stephen K. Cusick, who was a naval aviator before becoming a flight safety expert and lead author of the textbook Commercial Aviation Safety.

To Cusick, though, pilot error is too simplistic an explanation.

People think it is binary, either you crash or you land safely and thats it, Cusick said. But its not like that. Its every flight, every flight, where a pilot must use every means to mitigate safety problems, i.e., to close all the holes in the Swiss cheese.

The Swiss Cheese theory of accident avoidance, popularized by British psychologist James Reason, argues that every person and system is fallible. Disaster is avoided by recognizing inherent weaknesses and countering them, sealing the holes in the Swiss cheese.

Catastrophic failures occur when holes in numerous slices overlap. Thats what happened over San Diego 40 years ago, said Cusick, a student of this accident.

The Swiss cheese holes, he said, kept opening up.

PSA 182 originated as an early Sacramento-to-Los Angeles flight, then continued from L.A. to San Diego. On that early fall morning, Santa Ana winds had blown away the usual marine layer. This may have been the first slice of Swiss cheese: the glare in that cloudless sky impeded visibility.

Another slice: Air traffic controllers stressed see and avoid, relying on pilots to visually track other planes and keep a safe distance. Whatever the men in the PSA cockpit thought they saw, it wasnt the Cessna safely passing the jet.

Another slice: Nineteen seconds before the collision, an alarm blared in the San Diego Approach Control Facility at Miramar Naval Air Station, while an instrument panel blinked the letters CA, meaning Conflict Alert. The alarm had been automatically triggered by radar showing the flight paths of PSA 182 and the Cessna converging.

Neither aircraft was warned, though. The system had been commissioned just seven weeks earlier, and already averaged 13 conflict alerts a day  and in every case pilots had taken steps to avoid calamity, without any nudging from the control tower.

Another slice: For unknown reasons, the Cessna veered off its approved course, turning into the path of the descending PSA 182.

Another slice: Almost a minute before the collision, PSAs message to an air traffic controller was unclear.

Was it Think hes passing off to our right, or Think hes passed off to our right? The former would indicate that the airliner could see the smaller plane.

PSA said he had the aircraft in sight, then the controller relaxed and didnt worry about it anymore, Cusick said. There are a lot of blind spots out there  you see something for a moment and then you lose track of it. And the Cessna couldnt see because the PSA was coming down on top of him.

More slices piled up: The Cessna was yellow, hard to see if you were gazing down on roofs and roadways; PSA may have mistaken another small plane for the Cessna; PSAs crew was preparing to land, a busy time aboard an airliner.

Moreover, they were preparing to land in San Diego.

Lindbergh Field is a dangerous airport anyway. Cusick said. Youve got a very steep glide slope coming down the hill. Its very tight.

Four seconds after the moment of collision, the men in the cockpit can be heard realizing that a tragic mistake had been made.

What have we got here?

Its bad..

Huh?

Were hit, man, we are hit.

On the Ground: Inferno at Dwight and Nile

There would be no Capt. Chesley Sully Sullenberger-style heroics, nothing like the Miracle on the Hudson. The Cessna disintegrated on contact with the jet, a Boeing 727-124, which was roughly 90 times heavier than the two-seater.

Steve Howell, covering a nearby press conference for NBC 7/39, trained his camera upwards and caught fragments of the Cessna  and what looked like a body  falling to earth. One of the Cessnas occupants smashed through a roof over the porch of a home on the 3300 block of Polk Street; the other was still in the cockpit when it hit the pavement on Polks 3100 block.

Hans Wendt, then the County of San Diegos chief photographer, was also nearby. He snapped PSA 182 tilted at a sickening 50-degree angle, its right wing in flames. (This iconic photo appeared the next day on the front page of both the San Diego Union and the San Diego Evening Tribune. The Tribs coverage of the accident, pulled together in a few hours, received a Pulitzer Prize for local reporting.)

The PSA pilots chances of pulling out of that lethal dive?

Zero, Cusick said. Because of the way the accident occurred, it messed up his flight control. He lost control.

During the jets 17-second descent, the voices in the cockpit reflect chaos, fear, resignation.

This is it baby.

Bob.

Brace yourself.

Hey, baby.

Ma, I love yah.

Below the stricken airliner, North Park residents were bracing for a hot day. The temperature was already 82 degrees at 9 a.m. when Cheryl Walker delivered her 3-year-old son, Derek, to the day care center in Nancy Stouts home.

Without warning, PSA 182 sliced the roof off a house on Nile Street and exploded onto the intersection of Dwight and Nile.

The force of the impact killed everyone aboard the jet. Three jet engines, landing gear, portions of the wing, body parts and other debris burst from the 727, then fell as a fiery rain on Dwight, Nile and Boundary streets. Some houses caught fire; others, including the one occupied by Nancy Stouts day care center, were ripped by shrapnel.

Stout and her 4-year-old boy, Robert, were killed, as were the Walkers, mother and son.

Huger, whose house is less than a half block from the crash site, was in her backyard. I heard the crash, she said. It sounded like a 2-by-4 board breaking.

Running to her front yard, she saw her neighbors house to the south engulfed in flames. In fact, there were fires all around her home.

Then she heard the sirens.

About 60 percent of the San Diego Fire Departments units raced to the scene. Police arrived in force, too, recovering bodies and nurturing the occasional ray of hope.

On Boundary Street, Officer P.L. Thornton came upon a sedan that had crashed when a body had fallen through its windshield.

The glass just exploded and everything inside was covered with bits of glass and blood, Thornton told a reporter. We thought everybody was dead.

But when the police pulled the torso aside, they found the driver  Mary Fuller of Lakeside  and her infant son. Cut by the glass, they were bleeding but alive.

Preventing more casualties was Vernon Francks job. With three fellow Seabees, he sped from Coronado to North Park and volunteered his services. Stationed at the end of an alley, he was ordered to prevent people from getting closer to the fires.

I remember stopping a woman who was pleading with me that her mothers house was burning, he said. We can see it roaring up, just totally exploding, ripping right behind us and you could feel the heat.

Billowing black clouds rose over North Park, sending a grim alert across the city. Deirdre Kavanagh Bramberg, then a University of San Diego undergraduate, understood that something terrible was unfolding  but did not yet realize she had lost a friend.

The year before, she had befriended another freshman. We were brand new and didnt know what we would be doing, Bramberg said. We did all the good, fun freshman things  we went down into the canyon with the fraternity guys, had kegger parties.

The two coeds talked of their ambitions, how they would change the world. Or perhaps see the world, as Kate Fons decided to leave college and become a PSA stewardess.

She thought she could travel all around the world and have this fabulous life, Bramberg said. She was 18 or 19.

Fons was 20 when she went down aboard PSA 182.

It just didnt seem real, Bramberg said of her friends death. I just thought she was going to come back on another flight.

In the Gym: A Grisly Task

As word of the tragedy spread, many San Diegans tried to help. At the San Diego Blood Bank, more than 1,000 people formed a line around the building, only to find there were no survivors and no need for donated blood. (Even so, 652 people gave blood that day, still an all-time high.)

There was a pressing need at St. Augustine High, though, where the gym was commandeered as an emergency morgue. Dr. Jerry Wisniew, who volunteered as a team physician at the Catholic school, raced over to lend a hand.

The first body bags arrived around 10 a.m., Wisniew remembered, and the charred corpses were still hot. Trying to identify the bodies, he looked for scars, tattoos, earrings. The job was almost impossible. The most obvious clues  drivers licenses, credit cards, articles of clothing  had been destroyed.

Most were naked, Wisniew said. The force of the impact had blown everything off them. And then there was the fire.

With other doctors and nurses, Wisniew worked into the night. As the day wore on, there were fewer bodies and more grisly relics.

This is all I could find, said one apologetic volunteer, handing Wisniew a jaw bone.

Focusing on the work, Wisniew kept his cool until he came home around midnight. Outside, he stripped off his clothes, including his shoes. Inside, taking a shower, he was suddenly overcome by a sense memory of the smell of burned flesh.

I started heaving, he said, for 15, 20 minutes.

The next morning. he tossed the discarded clothes in the garbage.

St. Augustines gym floor, streaked with awful stains, was also ruined. It would be torn up and, like Wisniews clothes, replaced.

In Court: Setting a Price

Jury selection in the first crash-related lawsuit began Nov. 5, 1979, more than 13 months after the disaster. The husband and daughter of Rosalia Lococo, a PSA 182 passenger, sought $750,000 to $1.4 million in damages from Pacific Southwest Airlines and Gibbs Flying Service.

More than 70 similar cases would be heard over the next year, and most were wrapped up as quickly as this one. The four-day trial ended with Frank and Luisa Lococo awarded a fraction of what they had sought: $200,000.

Month after month, trial after trial, judges and juries were asked by bereaved relatives to set a price on the loss of loved ones. The sad calculus took into account the victims ages, professions, earnings potential, dependents and a range of unstated factors.

Pam Colarich, 23, an archeologist at dawn of her career? $150,000.

Lee H. Johnson, 36, a La Jolla developer, whose wife was pregnant with their sixth child when he died? $3 million.

Azmi David Taha, 16, a Vista High school junior? $76,000.

Gary Fox, 25, a UCLA Medical School student en route to interview for an internship? $152,076.

Nellie Jackson, 38, a divorced mother of six on what was planned as her final consulting session with the Southwest Regional Border Commission? $375,000.

Perhaps half of the trials had been concluded by January 1980, when the federal government  the air traffic controllers employer  and PSA agreed to not dispute their liability in this tragedy.

Its unheard of that the U.S. government ever admits liability an air traffic case, said Gerald C. Sterns, an attorney who represented many of the victims relatives.

Perhaps so. But who was really at fault in this disaster?

On the Record: A Dissent

Less than 24 hours after the accident, investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board began scouring the scene.

The team interviewed witnesses, pored over maintenance records, listened to the tapes from PSA 182s cockpit voice recorder, quizzed air traffic controllers, questioned everyone involved in Lindbergh Fields flight operations.

Two months after the accident, the board convened a five-day public hearing in San Diego. Testimony was gathered from Federal Aviation Authority officials, members of the Airline Pilots Association and another group representing small airplane owners, city and county employees and others.

Dated April 20, 1979, the official report found a probable cause of the accident: the failure of the flight crew of Flight 182 to comply with the provisions of maintain visual separation clearance, including the requirement to inform the controller when they no longer had the other aircraft in sight.

The report listed other contributing factors, but the bulk of the blame was placed on the men who had died in PSA 182s cockpit.

The report was adopted by a 3-to-1 vote. Among the tight circle of aviation experts, few were surprised to learn the dissenters identity: Francis H. McAdams.

Then in his 12th year as a board member, McAdams was a tough and occasionally contrary figure. Appointed by President Johnson, the former World War II naval pilot was a lawyer who specialized in aviation-related issues.

In his tenure on the Federal investigative panel, The New York Times reported in 1985, Mr. McAdams built a reputation as its most persistent dissenter.

His six-page dissent on PSA 182 acknowledged that the airliners crew was partially to blame  but so were the inadequacies of the air traffic control system. He blasted the see and avoid system, labelling it outmoded, and slammed the decision to ignore the alarms blaring in Miramars San Diego Approach Control Facility.

The NTSB board majority, McAdams noted, for some unknown reason ignored Cessnas decision to abandon its flight plan and veer into the airliners path. PSA 182 hadnt even been told which direction the Cessna was traveling in, a critical omission the majority did not mention.

Still, the majoritys findings prevailed  until August 1982, when the board was persuaded to adopt McAdams positions in total.

McAdams served on the board until 1983. Two years later, he suffered a fatal heart attack while jogging.

Cusick, recently reviewing the NTSB report, agreed with this dissenter. You cant just say that Flight 182 caused the accident. Theres plenty of blame to go around.

Into the Future: Reforms

Forty years later, San Diego-bound travelers fly through much safer skies.

Aircraft entering the area above San Diego International are now more closely monitored by the air traffic controller, before entering the control zone for a landing.

You need his permission to go in there, Cusick said. He takes responsibility for you, he knows thats you, he knows where you are.

Another critical reform is the TCAS, or Traffic Collision Alert and Avoidance System, first adopted by the FAA in 1981.

Lets say PSA and a Delta jet get too close to one another, Cusick said. The TCAS automatically tells one plane to pull up and go right, the other to drop down and go left.

Still, Cusick could not rule out the possibility of another midair disaster. Humans are still fallible and the Swiss cheese analogy still applies.

But theres no doubt theres been tremendous improvement in aviation safety, Cusick said.

Today, most of the people living around the intersection of Dwight and Nile have no direct knowledge of the PSA 182 crash, having arrived after 1978. In 2001, one of those newcomers bought a charming bungalow on the 3600 block of Nile Street. The buyer thought the neighborhood looked familiar, but it took awhile for the memories to resurface.

This was my first house and thats kind of an emotional thing, said the buyer, a surveyor. I drove over there one evening, just trying to get the vibe of the whole thing, when I noticed the disparity in the architecture.

Thats when it hit Vernon Franck  he had been here before, as a 19-year-old Seabee, surrounded by a horrifying scene of death and destruction.

I was kind of spooked by the whole thing, he said.

While Francks family has outgrown the little bungalow, he still owns the house, which he rents out.

When Im asked where this house is, I say over in North Park, where the plane went down, he said. And people know.

Thank you for reading! On your next view you will be asked to log in to your subscriber account or create an account and subscribepurchase a subscription to continue reading.'Say no to China': Anger mounts in Zambia over Beijing's presence



Lusaka, Sept 23 (AFP) Sep 23, 2018



"China equals Hitler" said the sign held up in the Zambian capital Lusaka by a protester opposed to Beijing's tightening grip on the economy of the southern African nation.

The demonstrator, James Lukuku, who leads a small political party, was picked up by police and spent several hours in a cell reflecting on his one-man protest.

But he is not alone in opposing China's growing presence in President Edgar Lungu's Zambia and in particular its major programme of loans to Lusaka.

In fact his criticism echoes concerns shared by many across swathes of Africa and beyond, where some fear that China's mega-projects risk leaving already fragile economies in even worse shape.

"I want to bring to the attention of the international community the Chinese influence and corruption in Zambia," said Lukuku who wore a white T-shirt emblazoned with the slogan #sayno2China.

China is the main investor in Zambia as it is in several other African countries and with its offers of "unconditional" aid, most public tenders are awarded to Chinese bidders.

In Lusaka and across the country, China is busy constructing airports, roads, factories and police stations with the building boom largely funded by Chinese loans.



- 'These criminal debts' -



"China is about to take everything from Zambia. They have taken over our economy through these criminal debts. This government is contracting debts from China even without parliamentary approval," said Lukuku.

Zambian public debt is officially around $10.6 billion but suspicions have grown in recent months that the government is hiding its indebtedness -- as happened in neighbouring Mozambique, which in 2016 was forced to admit it had kept secret $2 billion of borrowing.

Fearing that Zambia might be in a similar position, the International Monetary Fund at one point delayed talks over a $1.3 billion loan deal.

The slump in the price of copper, Zambia's leading export, has led to fears that Lusaka might even struggle to service its existing debt.

Lukuku and his supporters believe that the state is on the verge of handing control of the Zesco national electricity company, Lusaka airport and the ZNBC state broadcaster to China.

Stung by the criticism that he was selling out to China, Lungu has hit back at critics.

"I implore you to ignore the misleading headlines that seek to malign our relationship with China by mischaracterising our economic cooperation to mean colonialism," Lungu told lawmakers recently.



- 'The dominance of Chinese' -



Finance Minister Margaret Mwanakatwe has also come out to insist that, in the first half of 2018, $342 million was paid in interest to creditors, of which 53 percent were commercial sector -- and only 30 percent of which were Chinese.

But the country's main opposition party has put China's debt dominance at the forefront of its campaign to unseat the government.

Opposition figure Stephen Katuka warned against the "rate Zambia is entertaining Chinese nationals which are displacing Zambians through big financial offers".

Katuka, who is the secretary general of the United Party for National Development, described the replacement of Zambian workers with Chinese labourers -- as is customary on Chinese-run projects -- as "a time bomb".

"If this situation is allowed to degenerate, it may lead to aggression on foreign nationals," he added.

There have been several high profile incidents of Chinese managers allegedly mistreating their Zambian workers.

"In some instances the Chinese are beating Zambians in places of work for simply failing to follow instructions," said Katuka.

Typically reclusive, China's ambassador to Lusaka Lie Jie was drawn into the growing furore to defend Beijing's intentions.

"I feel strange when I hear we want to colonise Africa," he told journalists recently, categorically denying that China was seeking to buy Zambia's publicly-owned companies.

Economist and head of Zambia's Private Sector Development Association Yosuf Dodia told AFP that Chinese investment should be seen as an opportunity not a burden.

"Zambia has been dominated by the West for 100 years... and we are seeing poverty all over the continent," he said.

"The partnership level is around $10 billion -- and that is good. There is no other country that offers those kinds of opportunities."

The benefit of such vast investment is not always felt on the ground, however.

"I am not happy with the dominance of Chinese contractors. In the first place, the money that they get from these contracts is externalised and all that they return here are meagre wages," said Edgar Syakachoma, himself a contractor.

"Let the government also give us the contracts so that they benefit Zambians."France fears damage after Hollande fans controversy over India arms deal



Paris, Sept 23 (AFP) Sep 23, 2018



The French government said Sunday it feared damage to its relations with India after former president Francois Hollande stirred controversy about a major deal to sell fighter jets to New Delhi.

Hollande, who left office in May last year, said Friday during a trip to India that French jet manufacturer Dassault Aviation had been given no choice about its local partner in a 2016 deal with the Indian administration.

The nationalist government of Narendra Modi agreed to buy 36 Rafale jets from Dassault, which announced afterwards it was partnering for the project with billionaire Anil Ambani rather than India's public defence conglomerate HAL.

Hollande's announcement that Dassault "did not have a say in it" added fuel to claims from India's opposition that the New Delhi government had intervened to help Ambani, who is a supporter of Modi and hails from the same state as him.

"I find these remarks made overseas, which concern important international relations between France and India, do not help anyone and above all do not help France," junior foreign minister Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne said Sunday about Hollande.

"Because one is no longer in office, causing damage to a strategic partnership between India and France by making remarks that clearly cause controversy in India is really not appropriate," he said in an interview on Radio J.

Hollande made the comments to defend himself from accusations of a conflict of interest because Ambani's Reliance conglomerate had partially financed a film produced by his girlfriend, Julie Gayet, in 2016.

The choice of Reliance for a highly strategic contract to upgrade India's ageing fleet of fighter jets had caused surprise at the time because the group had no previous experience in the aeronautics industry.

Hollande's comments were front-page news in Indian newspapers on Saturday and it was the top trending topic on Twitter.

Rahul Gandhi, head of the main opposition Congress party, who is seeking to replace Modi and his rightwing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in elections next year, went on the offensive.

"An ex-president of France is calling him (the prime minister of India) a thief. It's a question of the dignity of the office of the prime minister," he told a news conference in New Delhi.

dab-adp/mlrIran adhering to nuclear deal: British PM



Washington, Sept 23 (AFP) Sep 23, 2018



Iran is adhering to its commitments under the Iran nuclear deal and the accord -- repudiated by the United States -- should stay in place, Britain's prime minister said in an interview broadcast on Sunday.

"From what we see, we believe that it is doing that," Theresa May told CBS.

"We believe that that should stay in place. And others, involved in putting that deal together believe that it should stay in place," May said in excerpts of an interview shown on "Face the Nation" that was to air in full Monday on "This Morning."

But there are other issues outside the deal that also need to be dealt with, she said.

"Looking at the issue of ballistic missiles. Looking at -- the way in which -- Iran is acting in the region -- to destabilize the region. We need to address those issues," May said.

May's interview came as world leaders geared up for a week of high-stakes diplomacy at the UN General Assembly, which is set to be dominated by North Korea and Iran.

On Wednesday, President Donald Trump will for the first time chair a Security Council meeting on non-proliferation and weapons of mass destruction that will focus heavily on Iran -- likely triggering a clash with other big powers.

Earlier this year, Trump pulled the US out of the deal it reached with Iran and five other countries in 2015. That accord lifted sanctions against Tehran in exchange for restrictions on its nuclear program.

Now, the US is reimposing those sanctions.

Other parties to the deal have argued that it is working and should stay in place, while the International Atomic Energy Agency has said Iran is complying with the accord.Four years of coalition strikes on Syria kill 3,300 civilians: monitor



Beirut, Sept 23 (AFP) Sep 23, 2018



More than 3,000 civilians have been killed in US-led coalition air strikes against the Islamic State group in Syria since they began four years ago, a monitor said on Sunday.

The Washington-led alliance puts the toll at just over 1,000 civilians in both Syria and neighbouring Iraq, and says it does all it can to prevent civilian deaths.

The coalition began bombing IS targets in Iraq in August 2014 after the jihadist group seized swathes of territory straddling the two countries, proclaiming an Islamic "caliphate".

The coalition extended its strikes to Syria on September 23, 2014.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring group, said on Sunday those Syria strikes had since killed 3,331 civilians.

The monitor relies on a network of sources inside Syria and tracks flight patterns, aircraft involved and ammunition used to determine who carries out raids.

"Among those killed are 826 children and 615 women," said Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman.

The coalition says it takes every possible precaution to prevent civilian deaths.

In its latest civilian casualty report published last month, the coalition said its strikes had unintentionally killed 1,061 civilians in both Iraq and Syria up until July 30, 2018.

It is still assessing a further 216 reports of civilian casualties, some of them in strikes dating back to 2014.

Asked if the coalition could specify how many of the confirmed casualties were in Syria, spokesman Sean Ryan said it "does not breakdown strikes by type, platform, munition, region or nation."

"As far any discrepancy in numbers, the coalition is basing the findings on facts and evidence. We are not claiming to provide exact numbers, but saying it is based on the best available evidence," he told AFP.

Ryan said the coalition remained willing to work with anyone to investigate allegations and asked other monitors to share what metrics they were using to determine casualties.

Rights groups have criticised the coalition for not pursuing investigations of civilian casualties rigorously enough.

In June, Amnesty International said the coalition's bombing raids of IS's de facto Syrian capital Raqa last year may amount to "potential war crimes".

"The artificially low number of civilian casualties the coalition acknowledges stems in part from poor investigation procedures that fail even to involve on-the-ground research," it said at the time.

The coalition's operations have largely wound down, with the jihadists ousted from all but tiny bits of territory in Syria.

More than 360,000 people have been killed across Syria since the conflict broke out in 2011, nearly a third of them civilians, according to the Observatory.Bir-Lehlou , September 23, 2018 (SPS) - President of the Republic, Secretary-General of the POLISARIO Front, Brahim Ghali, has recalled full responsibility of the United Nations for Western Sahara as the last decolonization issue in Africa, in a letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.



In this regard, the President of the Republic demanded urgent intervention of the United Nations to put an end to the dangerous Moroccan practices and to guarantee the security, safety and rights of Sahrawi citizens in the occupied Sahrawi territories.



He called for the strict implementation of the requirements of international law and international humanitarian law in Western Sahara, including speedy empowerment of the Sahrawi people to exercise their inalienable right to self-determination and independence, release of the prisoners of Gdeim Izik and all Sahrawi political prisoners in Moroccan prisons, lifting of the siege imposed on the occupied parts of Western Sahara, and immediate cessation of systematic and intensive looting of its wealth by the Moroccan occupying state.



The letter explained that the objective of the Moroccan occupying state is obvious and constitutes a flagrant violation of international law and international humanitarian law, that is to prevent the Sahrawi citizens from expressing their position, which is in harmony with the requirements of international legitimacy, and thus seeking to impose a fait accompli based on illegal Moroccan military occupation to parts of Sahrawi territories, and to practice the most egregious violations of human rights and looting of natural resources.



It underlined that the Moroccan occupation's repeated resort to these colonial methods does not reflect any sincere intention or goodwill in cooperating with the continuous efforts supervised by the United Nations and led by its Personal Envoy, President Horst Koehler.



It is worth mentioning that the letter of the President of the Republic comes after the brutal attack of the Moroccan repressive forces on Tuesday, against peaceful Sahrawi demonstrations in different neighborhoods and streets in El-Aaiun, the occupied capital of Western Sahara, resulting in a large number of casualties. (SPS)



062/SPS/TRAOver the last decade the increasing costs of the new American F-35 fighter, and delays in delivering it have been scaring off foreign buyers and causing the largest customer, the U.S. Department of Defense to examine more carefully how much it really costs to operate current warplanes. Many foreign buyers developed doubts about the cost and effectiveness of the F-35 versus their current jet fighters (often F-16s). The F-35A costs more (than the F-16, per flight hour) to operate. In 2013 it was 60 percent more, now that is down to 40 percent but it is still a bad sign. For European nations, with static or shrinking defense budgets and growing demands to help with peacekeeping operations, more expensive (to buy and operate) jet fighters just dont fit in.

Initially, the F-35 operating costs were supposed to be the same or lower than other fighters (like the F-16, F-15 or F-18). But then it was noted that F-35 operating costs were creeping upwards. In 2011, after months of contentious disagreement, the U.S. Air Force came around to agreeing with U.S. Navy claims that the F-35 will cost much more to maintain, rather than (as the F-35 promoters assert) less. In 2010 the U.S. Navy, after nervously watching the manufacturing costs of the new F-35C and F-35B (for carrier use) increase, concluded that these aircraft would also be a lot more expensive to maintain. It comes down to this. In 2013, it cost the navy, on average, $19,000 an hour to operate its AV-8 vertical takeoff or F-18C fighter aircraft. The navy calculated that it would cost 63 percent more to operate the F-35C (which will replace the F-18C) and the F-35B (which will replace the AV-8). These costs include buying the aircraft, training and maintaining the pilots, the aircraft, and purchasing expendable items (fuel, spare parts, munitions). The Navy concluded that maintenance alone would be about a third more.

The differences between Air Force and Navy cost estimates came down to different methods of doing maintenance and calculating costs. The two services have, over the decades, developed different ways to use civilian maintenance services and stockpiling spare parts. Most navy warplanes operate from carriers, which is more difficult and expensive than from a land base. In effect, the Navy was forced to become more efficient in order to afford operating expensive warplanes at all. But now the Air Force and Navy have resolved a lot of these differences and agreed that the costs of the "cheaper" F-35 are actually higher.

The U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. Air Force have also had disputes over how much each new F-35 fighter will cost. The air force insisted that per aircraft costs would be lower than they actually turned out to be. For example, the current production order (Lot 11) shows each F-35A (the air force version) costing $89 million each. Currently, about 2,400 F-35s are expected to be sold, most of them the 1,700 F-35As for the U.S. Air Force and 500 to foreign customers. Most of the 540 vertical takeoff F-35Bs on order are for the U.S. Marine Corps and all of the 340 F-35Cs (aircraft carrier version) are for the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. The F-35B costs about $135 million each and the F-35C about $120 million. This is more than the F-35A partly because many more F-35As are being built and the carrier versions have to be ruggedized to handle the harsh treatment received when it makes a carrier landing. The air force would call such an event a hard landing and pull the aircraft out of service for a thorough checkup for damage. The F-35C is built to regularly survive those hard landings, as well as constant exposure to corrosive salt water. The F-35B makes gentler landings and can take off like a helicopter thanks to the special engine exhaust system that puts the propulsive jet exhaust under the aircraft.

In 2001 the U.S. believed 5,100 F-35s would be sold but the rising costs and increasing delays drove that down to 3,100 by 2013 and 2,500 by 2018. Now that some F-35s are actually in service (F-35As and 35Bs) and getting good reviews from users it is hoped sales will increase. Maybe not, because there is a lot still to be discovered about how well the F-35 will do in comparison to the many F-16s, F-15s, F-18s and AV-8s it will replace. The F-35C was supposed to enter service in 2018 but now it looks like 2019 is more likely and that will not have an impact on foreign sales because few, if any, were ever expected.

Currently, the F-35 is, at $382 billion, one of the most expensive defense procurement projects ever. Total development cost is now put at $70 billion, which comes to nearly $30 million per aircraft if only 2,500 are built. Development costs for the new U.S. F-35 fighter-bomber have grown more than a third over the last few years as the aircraft finally entered service. The additional development costs were accompanied by additional delays.

The 31 ton F-35 is mainly defined by the F-35A which is armed with an internal 25mm cannon and four internal air-to-air missiles (or two missiles and two smart bombs) plus four external smart bombs and two missiles. All sensors are carried internally and max weapon load is 6.8 tons. The aircraft is very stealthy when just carrying internal weapons. The F-35B and C do not have the internal cannon and the B model has less internal space for weapons.

Like the F-22, which had production capped at less than 200 aircraft, the capabilities, as superior as they are, may not justify the much higher costs. The F-22 fighter is stealthier than the F-35, especially from the side and rear. The F-22 is more maneuverable and has two engines instead of one in the F-35. Both are stuffed with a lot of new technology. Obviously, the F-35 tech is more recent and more powerful. For example, the stealth coatings in the F-35 are far easier (and cheaper) to maintain than those in the F-22. But time will tell (and soon) just how much cheaper the F-35 is to maintain as an operational aircraft.

Initially, it was believed that most (about 60 percent) of the F-35s built would be used by foreign nations. The rising cost of the F-35 brought with it reluctance to buy as many aircraft as currently planned. The success of smart bombs in Iraq and Afghanistan has also made it clear that fewer aircraft will be needed in the future. In any event, it's likely that F-35s will end up costing more than $100 million each and many current and potential customers realized they could upgrade some of their F-16s and get along just fine until it was clear that the F-35 was effective and affordable. That means the F-35 has to prove it is affordable to maintain. For most modern fighters operations and maintenance are 65 percent of the lifetime cost of the aircraft. Currently, the F-35A is 40 percent more expensive to maintain per flight hour than the F-16s most will replace. The F-35 manufacturer says they can reduce that gap but potential buyers will want to see that in action first. Another deal breaker is the long time it takes to modify the F-35 software and certify non-U.S. weapons for use. This is proving to be another obstacle to foreign sales. So is the U.S. policy of allowing little foreign user access to the source code of the software. Thats a security measure and the only way around it (to help sales) is to make software changes requested by foreign users in a timely and affordable fashion. Same with construction costs, which are said to be falling to under $100 million per F-35A over the next few years but that goal seems out of reach and $110 million is more likely.

The F-35 was designed to have affordable stealth and much more effective sensors and electronics. The F-35 stealth is much less expensive than that in the F-22 and initial combat experience over Lebanon and Syria indicates that the stealth and internal electronic countermeasures are effective. The passive sensors and sensor fusion software of the F-35 also appear to be working as advertised. In the cockpit, the pilot has one large (20 inch diagonal) LCD showing all needed aircraft data with more showing on the pilots JHMDS helmet visor. That is all very well, but as with the very capable F-22 it wasnt performance that limited procurement but excessive cost.A mid-2018 Russian a weapons sales event included several live fire demonstrations. One was curious, for a number of reasons. The demo in question had a Russian wheeled APC (armored personnel carrier) showing how it could destroy tanks protected by ERA (Explosive Reactive Armor) or APS (Active Protection System). The tactic involved the Russian vehicle firing two Kornet EM missiles at the same target. The Kornet EM is a new (since 2013) version which is meant for use mounted on vehicles. This arrangement consists of four Kornets (in their storage/launch tubes) and the operator has the option to rapidly fire two missiles at the same target the fire control system is aiming at. Since Kornet uses a beam riding guidance system (where the operator aims a laser beam at the target and the missile follows that beam to a specific area of the target vehicle) that enables two Kornets to hit the same target in quick succession. Russia touted this as a way to defeat ERA and APS.

What was curious about this demonstration (that used an old 1960s era T-62 as a target) was that it used a target that had neither ERA nor APS. Moreover, a cheaper solution to ERA was introduced decades ago in the form of tandem warheads. In effect, a tandem warhead was two warheads in one with the first detonating the ERA and the second penetrating the regular armor behind the ERA. There are some new ERA systems that are designed to defeat tandem warheads but there have not been a lot of realistic tests. Tandem warheads are available for Kornet, but they are expensive. The Russians were pointing out that in an emergency (where a vehicle equipped with Kornets lacking tandem warheads) the dual firing system to have the same effect. What the double tap (two Kornets on one target) feature was really there for as to defeat vehicles with APS.

Israel, and now the United States, are installing combat proven APS on their tanks and light armored vehicles (including wheeled ones). Russia did not demonstrate the Kornet dual shot technique on an APS equipped tank. There was a good reason for that. Although Russia was one of the pioneers in developing APS they never got their APS systems to work reliably in combat. The Israeli Trophy APS has been successfully used in combat since 2010 and Russia failed to mention that Trophy was designed to handle multiple targetings so two Kornets coming in following the same laser beam would not be a problem. Moreover, current APS designs make greater use of electronic countermeasures (like detecting the use of laser beam riding systems and disrupting the beam.) With all that the vehicle-mounted Kornet system has found export customers because Kornet itself has proved itself in combat and there was demand for a vehicle based version. Thus using two Kornets on the same targeting laser beam to defeat ERA or APS was more of a stunt that a reality.

ATGMs are having a real problem with APS systems because ones like Trophy are quite effective. This year the U.S. Army began upgrading 261 M1 tanks with the Israeli Trophy APS. Trophy has already been tested on the M1, a process that occurred after the Americans noted that Western tanks, like the M1 and Leopard 2 are vulnerable to weapons like Kornet (which Russia will sell to just about anyone). This was demonstrated recently in northwest Syria where Turkey lost at least ten Leopard 2s and older American M60s to Kornet ATGMs.

Israel has been a pioneer in APS development and there are several Israeli firms developing and selling APS gear. The most well-known of these is Trophy but another Israeli firm created the Iron Fist APS, which found a market by evolving into an APS that is lighter, more compact, easier to install and, on paper at least, has more features than Trophy. Thus Iron Fist will be equipping lighter American armored vehicles like the M2. Iron Fist contains heat sensing as well as radar to detect threats and that includes rifle and machine-gun fire. These weapons cannot damage armored vehicles but it is useful for the crew to know where the fire is coming from. A full-size Iron Fist can also jam guidance systems on some missiles and has a lower false-alarm rate. There is also a lightweight version with fewer of the extras but that can be put on much lighter vehicles like trucks. While Iron Fist has not been proven in combat like Trophy the manufacturer says it has worked well in tests and that was enough to encourage the American and Dutch armies to evaluate it on some of their armored vehicles. The Israeli army also selected Iron Fist for its Nemer heavy IFV (Infantry Fighting Vehicle).

The U.S. also planned to install the American developed Iron Curtain APS on Stryker armored vehicles. Iron Curtain began development in 2005 and was part of a Department of Defense effort to catch up in APS development. In mid-2018 the U.S. dropped Iron Curtain because it was not ready for combat while Iron Fist and a lightweight version of Trophy were.

Until now Trophy was the only APS most people heard about, and for good reason. In 2010 the first battalion of Israeli Merkava tanks was equipped with Trophy. Then in 2011 Trophy defeated incoming missiles and rockets in combat for the first time. This included ATGMs like the Kornet E. This is a laser guided missile with a range of 5,000 meters. The launcher has a thermal sight for use at night or in fog. The missile's warhead can penetrate enough modern tank armor to render the side armor of the Israeli Merkava tank vulnerable. The Kornet E missile weighs 8.2 kg (18 pounds) and the launcher 19 kg (42 pounds). A few weeks before the first ATGM intercept Trophy defeated an RPG warhead (an unguided rocket-propelled grenade fired from a metal tube balanced on the shoulder). As it was designed to do, Trophy operated automatically and the crew didn't realize the incoming RPG warhead or missile had been stopped until after it was over. That is how APS is supposed to work and Trophy has proved to be the most reliable and effective APS out there. By 2012 Israel was convinced sufficiently to equip all the Merkava tanks in an armor brigade with the Trophy APS. Now the U.S. Army is planning to eventually equip three brigades with Trophy. More brigades would follow if Trophy proved necessary in future combat situations.

This first combat use doe Trophy was a big deal because APS has been around since the 1980s but demand and sales had been slow until Trophy showed up. The main purpose of APS is to stop ATGMs but on less heavily armored vehicles, stopping RPG type warheads is important as well. The Israeli Trophy APS uses better, more reliable, and more expensive technology than the original Russian Drozd (or its successors, like Arena) APS. This includes an electronic jammer that will defeat some types of ATGMs. For about $300,000 per system, Trophy will protect a vehicle from ATGMs as well as RPGs (which are much more common in combat zones). Israel is the first Western nation to have a lot of their tanks shot up by modern ATGMs and apparently fears the situation will only get worse. Trophy protected several Israeli tanks from ATGM and RPG attacks during the 50 Day War with Hamas in mid-2014.

In 2015 a lightweight (200 kg/440 pound) version of its Trophy APS called Trophy LV was introduced. This is intended for MRAPs (heavily armored trucks), IFVs (Infantry Fighting Vehicles) and other heavy vehicles that are lighter than tanks. The regular Trophy weighs about a ton and is one of several APS models on the market but it is also the one with the most impressive combat record. The Israeli manufacturer of Trophy also partners with American firms to manufacture Trophy and Trophy LV for the U.S. market. Meanwhile, another Israeli firm entered the American market with the similar and more capable Iron First.Long traffic delays in Stratford.

Designers are still working on plans to improve Birmingham Road more than a year after 2.7million of funding was secured for the scheme.

It has been a lengthy and difficult process even to get to this stage, with the Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Project rejecting a bid for funding for the scheme.

That rejection sparked anger in the town, though in June last year Warwickshire County Council agreed to step in and fund the improvement works themselves.

Since that time the council has remained quiet on the project, though when questioned about the project this week a spokesperson said: The Birmingham Road scheme has secured funding from the Department for Transport and Warwickshire County Council are contributing to the funding.

We went out to consultation on initial ideas. Currently we are working up a detailed design, with the majority of the work expected to be delivered during the financial year 2019/2020."

Improvements proposed include a new slip road into Tesco, converting the existing two-lane outbound section to inbound from St Peters Way to Joseph Way, and widening two lanes between the Regal Road roundabout and Hamlet Way.

Stratford MP Nadhim Zahawi, who organised the Stratford Transport Summits to examine Stratfords transport problems, said he is happy with the county councils progress on the scheme and expects it to be completed next year.Four killed in torrential Tunisia rains



Nabeul, Tunisia, Sept 23 (AFP) Sep 23, 2018



Flash floods in Tunisia's Cap Bon peninsula have killed at least four people, authorities said Sunday, as surging waters caused by heavy rains carried away homes, cars and chunks of road.

Saturday's storm caused water levels in some areas to rise as much as 1.7 metres (5.6 feet), as bridges and roads were damaged in record rains that dropped the equivalent of nearly six months of average precipitation.

A 60-year-old man drowned near the town of Takilsa and another man was found dead in Bir Bouregba, close to the town of Hammamet, interior ministry spokesman Sofiene Zaag told AFP.

Two sisters were swept away as they left work at a factory in Bou Argoub, 45 kilometres (28 miles) southeast of the capital, the ministry said.

"They were trying to traverse rising wadi waters to get back home," Amir, a resident of the area, told AFP.

Wadis are river beds that are usually dry but are meant to carry away seasonal rains.



- 'Blocked' wadis exacerbate floods -



"The wadis have been abandoned for decades -- there is no maintenance", he said, adding that the river beds are filled with trees, garbage and rubble.

A man in another area agreed that blocked wadis had exacerbated the flooding.

"It was raining since noon and (in the afternoon) it became torrential", said Moncef Barouni, a resident in the coastal town of Nabeul.

"The wadi in front of our house was blocked by trees and the water flooded over the bridge and onto the road," he told AFP.

In just minutes, "the water swept away the fence, then the boiler room, the summer kitchen and a part of the house," he said.

"I was scared for my life."

The storm dumped 200 millimetres (7.9 inches) of rain on Nabeul and up to 225 millimetres in the city of Beni Khalled, in the peninsula's centre, according to Tunisia's National Institute of Meteorology.

It was the heaviest rainfall since the institute began keeping records in 1995, it said, adding that it had issued a warning about the storms on Friday.

Videos posted to social networks showed surging waters carrying cars and chunks of road in the north of the peninsula.

Tunisian authorities said they had dispatched police, army and rescue teams to the region on Saturday afternoon, in addition to mobilising ambulances and two helicopters.

Prime Minister Youssef Chahed visited affected areas to meet survivors on Sunday, as authorities took preventative measures in the Sahel region further south in case of further rains.

The sun was out Sunday and receding water levels meant most of the area's roads were passable by car, the interior ministry's Zaag said, although the region's telephone networks were still largely out of service.

Traders surveyed damage to their shops and goods, while some schools said lessons would not take place on Monday.

Severe thunderstorms have hit the North African country since the middle of last week, flooding roads and damaging property, sparking anger against the authorities for allegedly failing to maintain drainage systems.Five killed in torrential Tunisia rains



Nabeul, Tunisia, Sept 23 (AFP) Sep 23, 2018



Flash floods in Tunisia's Cap Bon peninsula have killed at least five people, authorities said Sunday, as surging waters caused by heavy rains carried away homes, cars and chunks of road.

Saturday's storm caused water levels in some areas to rise as much as 1.7 metres (5.6 feet), as bridges and roads were damaged in record rains that dropped the equivalent of nearly six months of average precipitation.

In most places, water levels had begun falling quickly, the interior ministry said, adding however that the death toll had risen to five after a teenager was electrocuted Sunday in Bou Argoub, 45 kilometres (28 miles) southeast of Algiers.

Ministry spokesman Sofiene Zaag also said a 60-year-old man had drowned near the town of Takilsa and another man was found dead in Bir Bouregba, close to the town of Hammamet.

Two sisters were swept away as they left work at a factory in Bou Argoub, the ministry said.

"They were trying to cross rising wadi waters to get back home," Amir, a resident of the area, told AFP.

Wadis are river beds that are usually dry but are meant to carry away seasonal rains.



- 'Blocked' wadis exacerbate floods -



"The wadis have been abandoned for decades -- there is no maintenance", he said, adding that the river beds are filled with trees, garbage and rubble.

A man in another area agreed that blocked wadis had exacerbated the flooding.

"It was raining since noon and (in the afternoon) it became torrential", said Moncef Barouni, a resident of the coastal town of Nabeul.

"The wadi in front of our house was blocked by trees and the water flooded over the bridge and onto the road," he told AFP.

In just minutes, "the water swept away the fence, then the boiler room, the summer kitchen and a part of the house," he said.

"I was scared for my life."

The storm dumped 200 millimetres (7.9 inches) of rain on Nabeul and up to 225 millimetres in the city of Beni Khalled, in the peninsula's centre, according to Tunisia's National Institute of Meteorology.

It was the heaviest rainfall since the institute began keeping records in 1995, it said, adding that it had issued a warning about the storms on Friday.

People angry about the situation demonstrated in Cape Bon, with Prime Minister Chahed calling for calm as excavators and pumps were put into action.

Videos posted to social networks showed surging waters carrying cars and chunks of road in the north of the peninsula.

Tunisian authorities said they had dispatched police, army and rescue teams to the region on Saturday afternoon, in addition to mobilising ambulances and two helicopters.

Chahed visited affected areas to meet survivors, as authorities took preventative measures in the Sahel region further south in case of further rains.

"The main thing today is to reopen roads and help those affected. There are regions that are still isolated," he said, quoted by private radio station Mosaique FM.

The sun was out Sunday and receding water levels meant most of the area's roads were passable by car, the interior ministry's Zaag said, although the region's telephone networks were still largely out of service.

Traders surveyed damage to their shops and goods, while some schools said lessons would not take place on Monday.

Severe thunderstorms have hit the North African country since the middle of last week, flooding roads and damaging property, sparking anger against the authorities for allegedly failing to maintain drainage systems..           ,    . -      ,  -  ; ...Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin Keshie Hernitaningtyas (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sun, September 23, 2018 14:09 1144 882ab4bc56dbda08a069b3087741e0d8 1 Lifestyle spa,Four-Seasons-Hotel-Jakarta,Biologique-Recherche,beauty,#beauty,health Free

There are many spa services that offer luxurious beautifying treatments at five-star hotels across Jakarta.

Four Seasons Hotel Jakarta, however, has the advantage of being the only place in the capital city that, since last year, has provided a beauty spa from French skincare brand Biologique Recherche.

Said to be one of the hotel's most popular spa services, the brand offers various beauty treatments, from the Absolute Radiance facial using its signature product Masque VIP O2 and eye-lifting therapy, to dandruff-balancing treatment, contouring and anti-aging therapy, which is available starting at Rp 750,000++ (US$50.45) for a 30- to 120-minute session. Customers can also purchase popular Biologique Recherche products at the hotel.

Read also: Four places to get couple's spa treatments in Jakarta

The hotel announced on Tuesday a new product from Biologique Recherche called La Grande Creme, which boasts the ability to "prevent, fight and reverse all signs of aging", following a 2017 discovery on cellular reprogramming by the Gene Expression Laboratory of San Diego that "not only helps to stop senescence (aging), but also rejuvenate[s] cells and reverse[s] DNA damage".

"Six different action platforms [regenerating, anti-dark spots, firming, anti-wrinkle, structure and volume and protective] in one cream is very rare," said Biologique Recherche research head and dermatologist Stefan Lipp during a presentation at a launch event.

Customers can purchase La Grande Creme (50 milliliters) for Rp 8,715,000++ or add it to their beauty treatment at The Spa at Four Seasons Hotel Jakarta when needed based on their skin analysis result.Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin Liza Yosephine (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sun, September 23, 2018 12:01 1144 882ab4bc56dbda08a069b308774192c0 1 Lifestyle Jakarta-Fashion-Week,fashion,designer,#fashion,Pakistan Free

Pakistan seeks to tap into Indonesias market as it gears up to participate at Jakarta Fashion Week (JFW) for the first time next month.

Pakistani womenswear label Zuria Dor is slated to present a collection on Oct. 20, marking the country's debut at the capital's annual fashion event.

The JFW runway is no stranger to international fashion labels, with last year's event for example, welcoming brands from Australia, the United Kingdom, India, Japan, South Korea and Sweden.

Muhammad Usman, the Pakistan Embassy in Jakartas commercial attache, said the move would also be Pakistans first step toward forging trade relations in fashion between both countries.

Usman said fabrics are already exported from Pakistan to Indonesia, as the materials are suitable for the warm climate of the archipelago. However, he added, there had been little to none trade activities on consumer goods in fashion.

Read also: Jakarta Fashion Week 2018 celebrates diversity in 10th anniversary

Two-way trade between the countries reached US$2.64 billion in 2017, according to Trade Ministry data, tipping in favor of Indonesia. Exports to Pakistan was valued at $2.4 billion last year while Indonesia's imports from Pakistan was valued at $241.1 million.

Usman said trade between the two countries mostly comprised raw materials, with Pakistan's majority imports from Indonesia being palm oil, among others. The South Asian country, meanwhile, exports products such as oranges, rice as well as cotton yarn.

Seeing the untapped potential in consumer, the Pakistan Embassy in Jakarta forged a collaboration with JFW organizers and invited a designer from Pakistan to present a collection, with Zuria Dor chosen for the debut.

"So they'll be bringing in around 30 designs," Usman told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday, adding that it would be an equal mix between traditional Pakistani wear and modern designs.

"Indonesia, particularly Jakarta, has a huge population and a very good-sized middle-income class, which has spending power also. So maybe this will be a good start and hopefully we'll have good exposure. And next year, probably more designers will come. (kes)Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin News Desk (Agence France-Presse) Chicago, United States  Sun, September 23, 2018 13:02 1144 882ab4bc56dbda08a069b3087741b657 2 Art & Culture Abraham-Lincoln,united-states,president Free

It has been a question plaguing the museum dedicated to one of America's greatest presidents: Is the hat real?

The hat in question is of the stovepipe variety that adorned the head of Abraham Lincoln -- recognized for his fashion sense and lauded for ending slavery.

The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Illinois had displayed the chocolate brown, beaver fur hat as one that had in fact been on the 16th US president's head.

It is a prized possession, a big visitor draw, and valued at $6.5 million -- one of only three such Lincoln hats displayed at an American museum.

But it may not be Lincoln's hat after all.

FBI analysts and curators at the national Smithsonian Institution have analyzed the hat at the unpublicized request of the Illinois museum's foundation, an independent organization responsible for fundraising and acquiring objects.

Even DNA testing was done -- comparing samples taken from the hat to Lincoln's blood recovered from the night of his assassination in 1865.

The result: inconclusive.

Read also: Chinese gloat over Obama's turkey named Abe _ not Ah-bay

Historians wrote a report telling the museum it "might want to soften its claim about the hat" given the fact that its origins cannot be definitively authenticated.

The results were not shared with the public until Chicago radio station WBEZ uncovered them this week.

Museum chief Alan Lowe expressed frustration over the foundation's secrecy, but downplayed the DNA test results, saying it would be hard to get a perfect match from an 180-year-old item handled by many people.

"It is important to understand that neither of these initiatives produced new evidence about the hat's origins," Lowe said in a statement.

Thanks to the publicity, the museum will begin a new search for evidence about the hat's past, he added.

"What we learn, no matter what it says about the hat's origins, will be shared with the public."

For now, the hat is stowed away.

The museum will decide how to present it to visitors once the additional research is completed.Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin Marie-Louise Gumuchian and Alicia Powell (Reuters) London and New York, United States  Sun, September 23, 2018 23:00 1144 882ab4bc56dbda08a069b30877424cda 2 Lifestyle fashion,#fashion,supermodel,virtual-reality,artifical-intelligence,CGI,technology Free

The three women gazing into the camera in an advert for French luxury label Balmain look like they could fit in at any high-end shoot, but Shudu, Margot and Zhi are digital models whose rise is dividing the fashion world.

The computer-generated trio at the center of Balmains new campaign is the latest example of fashion brands embracing technology to lure digital-savvy younger clients.

Best known of the three is Shudu, a black digital model created by visual artist Cameron-James Wilson last year. She has her own Instagram account with 145,000 followers which describes her as the worlds first digital supermodel. Modeling shots include her wearing Tiffany jewelry for Vogue Australia.

VIRTUAL ARMY, Introducing the first three members of the new virtual #BALMAINARMY: Margot, Shudu and Zhi. pic.twitter.com/Y9ahW5mlrm  Balmain (@Balmain) August 31, 2018

Responses from the industry during New York and London fashion weeks were mixed, with designer Michael Kors among those critical of computer-generated imagery (CGI) being used in this way.

I am not into a digital model. I am into real people with personalities and opinions, Kors said at his show in New York.

The idea of digital models is something that I hope does not gain popularity.

But British designer Alice Temperley believes using CGI could help cut costs.

I quite like the idea of doing some of that for the commercial and then spending the money on doing events, Temperley said at London Fashion Week.

I think CGI for computer, for website, for selling purposes, for walking backwards and forwards and showing a product on a website is genius, but not necessarily to bring life and flavor into a brand, because thats much more personal.

Shudus creator said the rise of CGI in fashion was inevitable. After all we see CGI being used in almost every other industry, Wilson said in an emailed statement.

3D and fashion were two worlds destined to collide.

Read also: Alibaba introduces AI copywriter

Replacing models?

Virtual influencer Miquela has gained 1.4 million Instagram followers since she was created in 2016. Pictures show her in everyday scenarios wearing designer labels and she promoted Prada clothes on the social media platform during Februarys Milan Fashion Week.

I think its good that things change once in a while, model Gisele Alicea during New York Fashion Week.

But I dont think theyre ever going to replace models. But then again, the world changes all the time. But I would wish that they would use real models, I dont want to lose my job.

Model Ashanti Hildreth said she did not feel threatened.

Virtual reality is going to cost way more than using a real model ... you have to have to pay for someone to edit, she said. With real people, the clothes just look better.

In London, model Aweng Choul said the use of digital models took the humanity away from modeling.

Paying a digital model when you should be paying a real model takes away from reality and what human is, she said.

The new virtual troops reflect the same beautiful diverse mix, strong confidence and eagerness to explore new worlds. Anyone and everyone is always welcome to join the #BALMAINARMY. pic.twitter.com/ZL8y564cwe  Balmain (@Balmain) August 30, 2018

Shudu, Zhi and Margot - who are black, Asian and white respectively - have also re-ignited a debate about diversity in the fashion world, which is frequently criticized for the lack of racially-diverse models on the catwalks.

Where we are at in society right now, I think we need to be uplifting real people and people who deserve the representation that modeling can provide, model Hunter Schafer said.

Shudu creator Wilson said CGI could address the issue.

I think its important to explore diversity across as many media as possible, and the (Balmain) campaign was the start of really embracing that, he said.

This season, several designers have used a wider range of women for shows. Rihannas Savage X Fenty lingerie line show featured models of different sizes and races while Temperley had women of various ages.

Its cool and interesting, but we feel like ... its sort of a form of animation, David Blond, creative director of The Blonds, said of CGI models. Im sure it can be amazing to utilize at some point but for now we prefer humans.Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, September 22 2018

Sri Wahyuni, a biology teacher at state junior high school SMP 226 in South Jakarta was speaking to her class of ninth-graders about genetics. Throughout the lesson, she would occasionally approach a table at the front row to ask a student named Ferdy Agung Prayoga if he was able to keep up.

Wahyuni also recited the main points of the topic to Ferdy several times in a softer voice so other students would not get distracted.

Ferdy is the only student with special needs in a class of 36. He suffers from low vision, which makes it difficult for him to follow the lessons at the same pace as his classmates.

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Linkedin (Agence France-Presse) Beijing  Sun, September 23, 2018 11:38 1144 882ab4bc56dbda08a069b30877417ef2 2 World China,US,US-China,Russia,sukhoi,Sukhoi-jet-fighters Free

China summoned the US ambassador on Saturday to lodge an official protest over sanctions imposed by the United States against a Chinese military organisation for buying Russian fighter jets and missiles, state media said.

The announcement came a day after China called on the United States to withdraw the sanctions or "bear the consequences".

The spat adds to tensions between the two global powers over trade, China's treatment of religious groups and the Asian country's claims to disputed islands in the South China Sea.

Vice Foreign Minister Zheng Zeguang summoned Ambassador Terry Branstad and "lodged solemn representations over US sanctions against (the) Chinese military," the People's Daily said in a brief report online.

On Thursday, Washington placed financial sanctions on the Equipment Development Department of the Chinese Defense Ministry, and its top administrator, for its recent purchase of Russian Sukhoi Su-35 fighter jets and S-400 surface-to-air missile systems.

Officials said it was the first time a third country has been punished under the CAATSA sanctions legislation for dealing with Russia, and signalled the Trump administration's willingness to risk relations with other countries in its campaign against Moscow.

Russia also lashed out at the US sanctions, accusing Washington of playing unfairly and using new measures to squeeze Moscow out of the global arms market.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday that "Washington's continued sanctions hysterics" dealt a new blow to US-Russia ties but could not immediately say if Moscow would retaliate, or how.

The Chinese military expressed "strong indignation and resolute opposition" to the sanctions, the defence ministry said Saturday, echoing a foreign ministry statement the previous day.

Ministry spokesman Wu Qian said the US move was a "a flagrant breach of basic rules of international relations" and "a stark show of hegemonism" that severely damages relations between the two countries and their militaries, according to the official Xinhua news agency.

United in their resentment of America's global influence, China and Russia have sought in recent years to tighten up their ties and this month conducted week-long joint military drills in Moscow's largest ever war games.

US officials said that the US could consider similar action against other countries taking delivery of Russian fighter jets and missiles.

The State Department also placed 33 Russian intelligence and military-linked actors on its sanctions blacklist.

All of them -- defence related firms, officers of the GRU military intelligence agency, and people associated with the Saint Petersburg-based Internet Research Agency disinformation group -- have been on previous US sanctions lists.

A senior US administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, insisted the ultimate target was Russia and not "the defence capabilities" of third countries.

CAATSA, or the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, was passed in 2017 as a tool that gives Washington more ways to target Russia, Iran and North Korea with economic and political sanctions.Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin Karina M. Tehusijarana (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sun, September 23, 2018 13:20 1144 882ab4bc56dbda08a069b3087741b712 1 Politics 2019-elections,campaign,Jokowi-Maruf,Prabowo-Sandiaga Free

The campaign period for the 2019 presidential and legislative elections has officially kicked off, as election participants signed a declaration pledging a "peaceful campaign" at the National Monument (Monas) Park in Central Jakarta on Sunday.

Presidential and vice presidential hopefuls, political party leaders and Jakarta Representatives Council (DPD) candidates attended the event, which was organized by the General Elections Commission (KPU), clad in traditional attire from various parts of Indonesia.

"We, the participants of the 2019 general elections, promise to [] conduct an election campaign that is safe, orderly, peaceful, honorable and free from hoaxes, SARA [ethnic, religious, social or racial] politicization and vote buying," said the declaration read out by the candidates.

President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo wore Balinese clothing, while Gerindra Party chairman Prabowo Subianto wore traditional Central Javan attire. Jokowi's running mate, Ma'ruf Amin, on the other hand, was clad in his typical dress shirt and sarong, while Prabowo's running mate Sandiaga Uno wore a traditional Melayu outfit.

United Development Party (PPP) chairman Romahurmuziy stole the show by dressing up as Gatotkaca, a popular hero from the Mahabharata stories.

Party leaders from both the government camp and the opposition reiterated their commitment to a peaceful and constructive campaign.

"A peaceful campaign is very important, because we have elections every five years. It would not be right for us to fight every five years," National Mandate Party (PAN) chairman Zulkifli Hasan said. "This is a contest between brothers, friends and family members."

Golkar chairman Airlangga Hartarto echoed Zulkifli's sentiment.

"The Golkar Party will always campaign positively," he said. (swd)Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, September 24, 2018 09:04 1144 882ab4bc56dbda08a069b3087741ea7c 1 National rescue,Japan,Guam,stranded,Panama,tanker,manado,fisheries Free

Aldi Novel Adilang, 19, had one of the loneliest jobs in the world: He was a lamp keeper for a floating fish trap, 125 kilometers out at sea, with weekly brief human contact and a walkie-talkie.

After keeping the trap for months, a hard wind on July 14 blew him thousands of kilometers away from home in North Sulawesi to Guam waters. He now had to cope not only with loneliness, but also hunger, thirst and fear.

The young man, however, survived for 49 days, until a Panama-flagged vessel, Arpeggio, rescued him in Guam waters. Before that, more than 10 ships had sailed past Aldi, failing to spot him as he waved for help.

The fish trap Aldi was working on is called rompong in North Sulawesi. Rompong is a fish aggregator device shaped like a modest hut. It floats in the middle of the sea supported by buoys and anchored to the seabed by a long rope. Aldi was contracted by the fish trap owner to light lamps around the rompong with a power generator every night to attract fish for six months. Every week, the owner would send someone to harvest the fish in the trap and give Aldi a weeks worth of supplies: food, gas for cooking, clean water and fuel for the generator.

Aldi Novel Aldilang, 19, has his temperature taken by Japanese port authorities earlier this month. He was rescued after 49 days adrift in Guam waters. (Courtesy of KJRI Osaka/-)

Drinking sea water

The Indonesian consul general in Osaka, Mirza Nurhidayat, who oversaw the return of Aldi after his rescue, said that, since the device was not a boat, it did not have any paddle or engine.

The rope that had kept Aldis floating hut in place had torn, and the strong wind had then blown him far to the north.

The rompong owner has many rompong, maybe 50, spread out in waters north of Manado, Mirza told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.

As Aldi was drifting away, his supply was only enough for several days, so he caught fish to stave off hunger and drank sea water. After he ran out of the cooking gas, he burned the rompongs wooden fences to make a fire for cooking. He drank by sipping water from his clothes that had been wetted by sea water, Mirza said.

Aldi said he had been scared and often cried while adrift, said another diplomat of the consulate in Osaka, Fajar Firdaus.

Every time he saw a large ship, he said, he was hopeful, but more than 10 ships had sailed past him, none of them stopped or saw Aldi, Fajar went on.

Aldi Novel Adilang (right), 19, poses with an Indonesian consular official upon landing in Japan after being stranded for 49 days in Guam waters. (Courtesy of KJRI Osaka/-)

Difficult rescue

On Aug. 31, the bulk carrier Arpeggio sailed past Aldi, who waved his cloth again for help. At first, the ships crew did not see him, so Aldi tuned his radio to a frequency a friend of his had once told him to use in case he is blown away and sees a large ship.

Fortunately, the ships captain caught the signal. Realizing [there was someone pleading for help], he turned around, said Mirza.

But the waves were high that day, so the Arpeggio had difficulty getting close to Aldi. After circling Aldi four times, the ship eventually threw a rope to help him, but the rope did not reach Aldis rompong. Aldi then decided to jump into the sea to grab the rope, while the waves and wind rocked him, Fajar said.

After weeks at sea, Aldi was already very weak and almost lost the rope. But the ships crew managed to catch his hand, Fajar said.

Happy ending

The captain immediately contacted Guams coast guard. Because the ship was heading to Japan, Guams coast guard told the captain to bring Aldi to Tokuyama, Japan.

Aldi Novel Aldilang, 19, (fourth from right) with his family in Manado, North Sulawesi, upon returning home on Sept. 9. (Courtesy of KJRI Osaka/-)

Arpeggios crew immediately gave Aldi a towel and an emergency snack. Afterward, they gave him fresh clothes and food, and the ships cook even cut Aldis hair.

On the same day, Japanese authorities contacted the Indonesian consulate general, said Mirza. His office immediately tried to find Aldis family and prepare the necessary documents for his return to Indonesia. We coordinated with the shipping authorities in Japan, the ships captain, the Japanese coast guard and the immigration authorities, Mirza said.

The Arpeggio docked in Japan on Sept. 6 at 3 p.m.

But Aldi had to be quarantined for health reasons, so he could not land yet. We sent our staffer, Teguh, to accompany him and oversee all the process because of the language barrier.

Japans coastguard had asked for all sorts of details, including the dates, the shape of the rompong, what he had been doing there and so on, Mirza went on.

On Sept. 7, Aldi got the permission to enter Japan, and on Sept. 8 he flew from Japan to Jakarta. Mirza said that, because of the Jebi typhoon in Osaka, his office had to bring Aldi to an airport in Tokyo. The next day, he arrived in Manado.

Now Aldi is back with his family in Wori, Manado, and in good health, Mirza said.

Aldis story is indeed dramatic, and we are thankful to allthe ships captain and the Japanese authoritiesthat have been very helpful in ensuring Aldis return. (sau/evi)Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin Rajes Paul (The Star) Kuala Lumpur  Sun, September 23, 2018 12:46 1144 882ab4bc56dbda08a069b3087741a9af 2 Sports Lee-Chong-Wei,cancer,badminton,Olympic,Malaysia,Taiwan Free

Badminton icon Datuk Lee Chong Wei, who is battling nose cancer, says he is determined to make a return to the court.

While many sportsmen would have given up hope of making a comeback under such circumstances, the 35-year-old wants to go on playing competitively again.

Wait for me. Ill return to the court. Dont forget me yet, Im still here, he said in an encouraging voice message from Taiwan where he is seeking medical treatment.

The three-time Olympic silver medallist and 12-time Malaysian Open champion is expected to come home to Malaysia at the end of the month.

He has been in Taiwan with wife Datin Wong Mew Choo and sons Kingston and Terrance since July.

Ill return soon. Thank you for all the concern and care shown to me during my two-month recovery.

Ill ... say more when I come back.

The Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) confirmed Chong Weis ailment in a statement yesterday.

This followed a false posting on social media, which went viral on Friday, claiming that Chong Wei was suffering from third stage nose cancer.

BAM president Datuk Seri Norza Zakaria asked for Chong Wei to be given space and peace of mind to recover.

Norza, who has been aware of Chong Weis condition from the beginning, said in a statement: In response to recent reports concerning Chong Wei, BAM confirms that the player has been diagnosed with early stage nose cancer.

Chong Wei is now in Taiwan seeking treatment and Im pleased to inform you that he is responding well to treatment and is resting and recuperating among family and close friends.

On behalf of Chong Wei, I would like to thank all Malaysians for your prayers and concern. Your support has been his source of strength and courage.

We urge everyone to respect his privacy and that of his family. BAM is in constant contact with Chong Wei and we will offer any support we can to our legend.

Two months ago, BAM announced that Chong Wei had taken a break from badminton after being diagnosed with a respiratory-related disorder.

He withdrew from two major competitions  the World Championships in Nanjing, China, in August and the Asian Games in Indonesia last month.

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This article appeared on The Star newspaper website, which is a member of Asia News Network and a media partner of The Jakarta PostShare this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin (Agence France-Presse) Ramallah, Palestinian Territories  Sun, September 23, 2018 17:57 1144 882ab4bc56dbda08a069b30877421975 2 World Mahmud-Abbas,Ehud-Olmert,Israel-Palestine-conflict,Israel,Palestine,peace,Middle-East,mahmoud-abbas Free

Mahmud Abbas is the only Palestinian leader capable of striking a peace deal with Israel, former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert said in comments broadcast Saturday after the two men met in Paris.

"The only person among the Palestinian people who is capable of doing it and who proved in the past that he is completely committed to do it is Dr Mahmud Abbas, and that's why I have an immense respect for him," he said.

He was speaking to the official television station of the Abbas-headed Palestinian Authority after their meeting.

US-brokered peace talks have been frozen since 2014, and the Palestinian leadership cut contact with the White House after US President Donald Trump recognised the disputed city of Jerusalem as Israel's capital in December.

Palestinians accuse Trump of blatant bias in favor of Israel and say he is blackmailing them to force them to accept the White House's terms.

Olmert headed the Israeli government from 2006 to 2009, when a bid to agree on a two-state solution collapsed with Israeli officials accusing Abbas of rejecting a plan proposed by Olmert.

"President Abbas never said 'no' to my plan, never," said Olmert.

Olmert's comments prompted a cold reaction from the Israeli government.

Science and Technology Minister Ofir Akunis, a member of current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing Likud party, said Abbas had "humiliated" Olmert.

"He did not even respond to his miserable proposal to create a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital and an (Israeli) withdrawal to the 1967 lines," Akunis said.

Olmert was released from prison in July 2017 after serving 16 months for corruption during his term as mayor of Jerusalem.Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin Kharishar Kahfi (The Jakarta Post) Bandung  Mon, September 24 2018

The eighth Global Land Forum (GLF) kicks off in Bandung, West Java, on Monday, in which representatives from dozens of countries will discuss issues related to agrarian reform.

The triennial conference will provide a forum for around 550 participants  comprising government officials, members of civil society organizations, an intergovernmental body and research institutes  to discuss ways to solve problems related to land-tenurial issues.

The conference  which is organized by the International Land Coalition (ILC), a global consortium of civil society groups, farmers organizations, United Nations agencies, NGOs and research institutes  will run from Monday to Thursday.

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Linkedin News Desk (Bloomberg)  Sun, September 23, 2018 13:31 1144 882ab4bc56dbda08a069b3087741db6f 2 News bullet-train,Train,travel,Hong-Kong,China Free

Still bruised from a typhoon that grounded hundreds of flights, Hong Kongs status as Asias top aviation hub faces a new threat: Chinese bullet trains.

The worlds longest high-speed rail network extends to downtown Hong Kong starting Sunday, providing a direct connection to 44 mainland destinations. With the addition of services from Guangzhou and Shenzhen  the major cities closest to Hong Kong  a daylong train trip to Beijing would be cut to nine hours.

Chinas high-speed network stretches for 25,000 kilometers (15,500 miles) and is a strong competitor for airlines in a market where congested airspace and limited landing slots mean regular flight delays. Since Chinas first bullet-train service connected Beijing to the nearby port city of Tianjin a decade ago, Chinese airlines have lost customers, especially for journeys shorter than 800 kilometers  roughly the distance from Hong Kong to Changsha, the capital of Mao Zedongs home province of Hunan.

The fact that passengers will get off the train in downtown Hong Kong rather than at the airport on an island and then have to take another train ride to the city will prompt many to choose trains, said Yu Zhanfu, a partner at Roland Berger Strategy Consultants in Beijing.

A bullet-train ride can cost less than half the price of a ticket on Cathay to the 11 overlapping destinations, with the biggest savings for routes of less than 800 kilometers. Passengers would also save time on pre-boarding security checks required for flights and travel to and from airports.

With 11 of Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd.s more than 20 China destinations overlapping with high-speed rail, the Hong Kong marquee carrier stands to be the biggest casualty.

Cathay, already under pressure from mainland carriers that are widening their networks and offering cheaper tickets, is set to lose passengers on flights of less than three hours, said Corrine Png, founder of Singapore-based Asia transport research firm Crucial Perspective.

For many passengers, the trains wider seats, increased legroom and freedom to move around translate to greater comfort. Airlines have the advantage of loyalty from customers who collect frequent flyer miles, but even that may not be a big incentive, according to Ivan Zhou, an analyst with BOC International Holdings in Hong Kong.

Read also: Unscheduled departure: China's legal reach extends to Hong Kong rail station

You could possibly get more miles by paying your restaurant bills with a credit card than by flying short haul, Zhou said.

Cathay didnt respond to requests for comment on competition from the new rail link.

Airlines have focused on longer domestic routes where flying has a clear advantage in time, often reducing or canceling services that compete directly with bullet trains. Last December, the start of high-speed train services between western Chinas Chengdu and Xian led carriers to cut daily flights between the two cities to about three from several dozens before.

Cathay and its regional airline, Cathay Dragon, which flies most of the groups mainland routes as well as to to nearby destinations such as Japan and Southeast Asia, may have to modify their networks as the group works toward a profit this year after two straight annual losses.

There is a lot of room for maneuvering of Cathay Dragons network, said Zhou at BOC International.

As well as the air advantage over longer distances, planes and trains continue to compete on popular routes such as Beijing-Shanghai, and flights maintain an advantage to cities not connected directly by a high-speed rail service.

The extended rail service is another sign of Chinas efforts to integrate Hong Kong with the mainland even though the former British colony is governed separately. Earlier this year, state-controlled Cosco Shipping Holdings Co. completed a $6.3 billion acquisition of Orient Overseas International Ltd., Hong Kongs largest container-shipping firm.

The high-speed rail strengthens the economic ties between mainland China and Hong Kong, Roland Bergers Yu said. For a lot of Chinese cities, this is a big breakthrough because it is the first time they have a direct link with Hong Kong, the most important hub in southern China.

Rail also has an advantage for a city where the typhoon season can play havoc with flight schedules. When Typhoon Mangkhut plowed through the city, more than 1,400 flights had to be canceled across the region, according to Flight Aware.

Joyce Leung, a Shanghai-based marketing professional, is willing to give the new high-speed connection from Hong Kong a try, after experiencing first-hand how trains can be a lifesaver when torrential rains led to multiple flight delays during a recent work trip to Beijing.

I wont hesitate to book the bullet train during the rainy season, said Leung before the storm. While a plane ride is still faster for travelling from Hong Kong to Shanghai, the train is a more predictable choice compared to massive flight delays.The trade war between the US and China has sparked concern across the globe, with tensions rising after Donald Trump announced last month that a 10% tariff would be imposed on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods starting 24 September.

The 205-page list of items affected included several art pieces: paintings, drawings and pastels executed entirely by hand, original sculptures, and antiques over 100 years old. The tariff would also apply to all art pieces produced in China, even if they were being sold from within another country.

The proposed tariffs were met with consternation from many corners, with dozens of companies raising their concern during public hearings in Washington in the wake of the announcement. Sothebys, the Asia Week New York association of dealers, and British auction house Christies were among those to complain.

However, US-based dealers can now breathe a sigh of relief, as a new list of affected goods issued this week by the Office of the United States Trade Representative no longer includes art and antiquities.

The agency said of removing these goods that it engaged in a thorough process to rigorously examine the comments and testimony and, as a result, determined to fully or partially remove 297 tariff lines from the original proposed list.

This is good news for the substantial market for Chinese art in the US. Imports of paintings, drawings, pastels and other artworks from China to the US totalled $114.5 million in 2017, according to the US International Trade Commission.

British auction houses will also be relieved, as any Chinese goods sold from Britain to the US stood to be affected by the tax. Christies is among those most affected, having sold almost $40 million worth of Chinese art in the US during New Yorks Asia Week alone this year.Verdict: Powerful, tense, agonising and totally worth a watch.

Directed by the Swedish director Bjorn Runge and adapted from the novel

, written by Meg Wolitzer, this drama is about regret, love (especially the lack of it) and change. It stars Glenn Close as Joan, the selfless wife of acclaimed writer Joe Castleman (Jonathan Pryce), and many critics have described Close's performance as the best in her career.

Joan Castleman is a woman who devoted her whole life to her husbands desire to be published as a writer, compromising her own talent and passion for writing. A call to Joe Castleman confirming his winning of the Nobel prize of Literature is the beginning of a war between this couple, united by their passion for writing and separated by everything else.

The recognition for Close is totally deserved. Joan is a very intense, complex character, full of regret, and Close plays her effortlessly. From the day of the call until the much awaited award night in Stockholm, the audience can see how repressed Joan is - behind her half smile is the potential to grow wings and take off, but she cant. She always feels forced to agree to her husbands demands, to be a decorative piece in ceremonies, to listen to her husband being complimented by the most well-regarded and talented people in the industry.

Increasingly suffocated and exhausted of faking smiles next to her husband, the audience learns Joan's secret

- she has spent her whole life writing the novel her husband is being awarded for, and all the others, while Joe only edited them.

The contrast between selfishness and selflessness are very present in these two characters. The Wife is the kind of drama that is far more than just sad: it portrays a compelling, agonising story of leaving everything behind for love and letting that slowly destroy you.

Closes immense talent is crucial to this film being the success that it is, and all the fervid emotions were there, throughout the tragedy. More than her lines, it's her expressions that determine our understanding of the story. But Jonathan Pryce also deserves appreciation. However hard to be complimentary to his character, it would be unfair not to mention how this actor perfectly portrays a selfish, narcissistic, emotionless man whose desire for achievement and recognition go far beyond his care for any member of his family.

Despite the obvious drama and inexplicable melancholy that the audience feels, this film also has surprisingly funny scenes. It requires a certain amount of wisdom to be able to include more relaxed moments in such a heavy story, and these moments of levity are beautifully included in the piece.

Centring around literature and female empowerment, there are many mentions of the fact that it was, and perhaps it is still a reality today, much harder for women to be self-proclaimed, successful writers. However, this message can be adapted to all walks of life, which makes it incredibly relatable and therefore more touching.

There is another key presence in the film: Nathaniel Bone (Christian Slater), a writer who desperately follows the Castleman family everywhere with the aim of writing Joes biography. Without giving too much away, his presence sparks a truly unpredictable ending.

Despite the simplicity of the story, the emotional complexity of the characters and the outstanding performances of the actors make The Wife stand out as a strikingly powerful film of self-discovery and encouragement.

The Wife releases in UK cinemas on September 28th.

The WifeCreator Phoebe Waller-Bridge and actress Sandra Oh were undeniably robbed of their Emmys for Killing Eve.

Based on the Villanelle novels by Luke Jennings, this series is like Sherlock meets McMafia, but if either of those shows were good and created by women.

MI5 security officer Eve Polastri (Sandra Oh) spots patterns where no one else does  specifically linking a string of high profile assassinations around the world.

Fiona Shaw plays the formidable Carolyn Martens, the senior operative who takes Eve under her wing in order to find the mysterious female killer and uncover the reason behind these killings.

These London office scenes are full of remarkably funny workplace banter, poignant relationship issues, and the occasional day drinking. Contrasted with this are scenes of our assassin, Villanelle (the impeccable Jodie Comer), travelling to beautiful location after beautiful location, dressed in beautiful clothes, and killing people in increasingly fascinating ways.

Eve and Villanelle develop a mutual obsession, and their global game of cat and mouse constantly keeps the audience on our toes regarding who is really chasing whom. A psychopath with little understanding or regard for social convention and interaction, Comer is captivating as Villanelle, mimicing those around her to manipulate people. Youd think it would be hard for Eve to balance out this hypnotic chameleon in terms of maintaining audience interest, but thats why Ohs Emmy nomination was so well deserved.

Eves dogged determination, her refusal to cave to authority figures, her almost bumbling mannerism that gives way to genuine and un-stuttering empathy when the need arises  she is everything a compelling leading woman should be.

In a show with so many murders, the deaths that matter never lose their emotional significance, but theres still so much fun to be had with the genre at large. Killing Eve is the revamp the spy genre so desperately needed  it perfectly marries the glamour and the darkness, without losing a sense of humour.

Sinister Russian agencies and unexpected alliances between officials aside, its the personal more than the political that makes this show the triumph it is. As with legendary connections between heroes and arch-nemeses like Sherlock Holmes and Moriarty, Batman and the Joker, etc., Eve and Villanelle operate on a level of deeper understanding of each other than anyone else around them.

Its unbelievably refreshing to see a show full of complex women with hidden depths and dark pasts, capable of love and like, hatred and murder, out for revenge or following a passion, and being damn good at their jobs. Its important to note that while the show is full of violence, it is never sexualised even slightly. Villanelle may be covered in cuts and bruises, but theyre from fair fights that she generally started. Neither are any of the numerous and multi-faceted women punished for being sexual. The James Bond trope of having a single female character who has sex with the hero then dies horribly has well and truly been left in the dirt, where it should remain.

As an Asian female lead of a genre show, Oh is making history and breaking boundaries, but entirely aside from that, Killing Eve is just a damn good show. The action is brilliantly shot and choreographed, the mystery will keep you guessing right until the fantastic season finale, itll make you laugh and cry and wince and gasp in shock.

We absolutely cannot wait to see what happens in season 2!

Killing Eve is available to watch in full on BBC iPlayer now.Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup.

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A password will be e-mailed to you.SIPHOFANENI  The people have spoken; Gundwane Gamedzes 20 years of reign has come to an end.

This follows a tense voting exercise, which saw Mduduzi Gawuzela Simelane coming out victorious with 4 480 votes, making him the new Siphofaneni Constituency Member of Parliament. Simelanes runner up was his arguably toughest competitor, Gamedze who got 3 332 votes. The votes counting exercise, which lasted for about six hours saw Gawzela, as he is popularly known, breathing a huge sigh of relief as it was unclear as to who would come out victorious between him and Gamedze who was not present during the counting.

More excited were hundreds of Simelanes fans who started celebrating about an hour before the end of counting of votes. It was the popular vosho dance and chanting of his name that was the highlight of the celebrations while counting of votes proceeded. His hit song Thuma mina was unapologetically played in different car radios as voters continued with their celebrations. Like a controllable fire dosed with fuel, Simelanes supporters went wild after the results were officially announced. They took to the streets in jubilation as they chanted his name. In an organised fashion, the supporters jogged from Siphofaneni town centre to the Siphofaneni High School intersection.

As a group of the supporters jogged, they were followed by a convoy of overloaded vehicles. Some of the supporters who were on board the vehicles sat on the roofs of the cars. In what could be interpreted as dicing with danger, the supporters went to the extent of sitting on the moving cars bonnets and danced in excitement.

Notably, a majority of the supporters were the youth, while a few were elderly women. The dare devilish behaviour of the supporters did not end with dancing on moving cars, but it went on to car spinning and drifting. Whistles and screams were heard as different cars took turns spinning and drifting on the public road, bringing traffic to a standstill.



MBABANE  Voters have spoken in the best way they can - through the ballot box.

So loud was the voters power of the ballot box it claimed the scalp of one of the countrys longest-serving legislators, Gundwane Gamedze. He was looking for a fifth consecutive five-year term as Siphofaneni MP, but bit the dust to famous gospel artist Mduduzi Magawugawu Simelane. The only person who has served an equal number of terms as Gamedze is Lobamba Lomdzala MP Marwick Khumalo and two of these five-year terms he served as Lobamba MP before crossing to the other constituency.

The voters clout also sent into abyss two former Cabinet ministers in the likes of Owen Nxumalo and Phiwayinkhosi Mabuza, who headed the Public Service and Housing and Urban Development portfolios, respectively. Nxumalo was looking to retain his position as Manzini South MP, while Mabuza was vying for re-election as Mhlambanyatsi MP. Both Nxumalo and Mabuza were involved in controversies in the portfolios they led; the former accused of blocking a probe into the operations of the Public Service Pension Fund (PSPF) and misleading the nation about the availability of money to award civil servants a salary increment, while the latter was accused of protecting, as well as offering a new contract to Mbabane Municipal Council CEO Gideon Mhlongo, who is wanted out of office. Mabuza is the only member of the last team of Cabinet ministers to publicly advocate for the legalisation of marijuana, much against the collective decision of his colleagues.

The ousting of Nxumalo and Mabuza means that there are only three members of the last team of Cabinet ministers who stand a chance of being reappointed. These are Jabulani Buy Cash Mabuza (ex-minister of Commerce Industry and Trade), Moses Vilakati (ex-minister of Agriculture) and David Cruiser Ngcamphalala (Ex-minister of Sports, Culture and Youth Affairs). The voters have chosen to throw Nxumalo and Mabuza (Phiwayinkhosi) into political obscurity for the next five years, and that is if they will consider making a comeback in 2023. Interestingly, their predecessors have been brought back to replace them and these are Petros Mavimbela, who retains the Mhlambanyatsi MP position he held for two consecutive terms until he was ousted in 2013.



The board of governors of the Opec International Development Fund (OFID) has approved $270 million financing plan for projects supporting sustainable development in many developing countries worldwide.

OFID approved the new funding during the 54th session of the board, which approved the support of public sector projects in five countries worth about $154 million, said a Wam news agency report.

The approvals included seven grants for a number of civil society organisations such as the Arab Organization for Agricultural Development, the Institute for Cooperation in Development Projects, the German Foundation to Fight Hunger and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

OFID approved $42 million for the private sector to help enhance the energy sector in Bangladesh and support a financial institution in Cambodia to expand its lending activities to micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises.

Under OFIDs trade finance operations, $70 million was approved to help boost the garment production industry in Jordan and support international trade activities in Bangladesh and Georgia.

.Bahrain-based Arabian Gulf University (AGU) has invited bids from leading companies for the construction of a multi-million-dollar medical city in the kingdom.



The giant medical city project is being funded through a SR1 billion ($267 million) grant from the late Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and will be built on a one-million-sq-m plot donated by His Majesty King Hamad near Khalifa City at Durrat Al Bahrain.



The medical city will be a multiple-phased mixed-use development comprising a new academic and medical facilities, research centre on-site accommodation and other communal facilities to create a self-sustained campus, stated Tahpi, an international specialist in health facility planning and architecture.



In the first phase, the project will see the development of a 264-bed hospital supported by on-site staff housing and other communal facilities in addition to 15 operating rooms and quality support medical services such as advanced laboratories and a pharmacy, it stated.

AGUs President Dr. Khaled bin Abdulrahman Al Ohaly, said the selection process for the construction companies would be carried out according to several criteria, most notably their previous experiences with regard to the number of projects completed by these companies during the last five years as well as the size of these projects, and whether they included any health project.



"The first and second stages of the project are expected to complete after two years from the beginning of works," remarked Dr Al Ohaly.



As per the project plan, the first stage of the construction of the medical city includes the hospital, the administration building, the staff accommodation, and the parking.



The second phase includes medical school, research centres, physiotherapy centre, mosque, conference centre, shopping centre and other buildings serving the medical city, he added.



It is the new flagship tertiary hospital in the GCC region with excellence in both academic and medical research sciences, according to Tahpi.



Once completed, the medical city complex will boast over 500 beds equipped with hitech facilities besides an academic school, research facility, medical hotel, rehabilitation hospital, on-site accommodation for both students and staff, said the top architect.



Since the project has a major Saudi funding, the tenders will be open to both Saudi and Bahraini contractors, it added.-TradeArabia News ServiceThe Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce (ABCC) has expressed confidence in Brazil's move to enter into a new stage of cooperation with other Arab countries - triangular cooperation.



The triangular cooperation will see Brazilians and Arabs working closely together on strategic and well-meaning projects in third-party countries, said a statement from the organisation.



The statement was made during the recent visit of Ambassador Fernando Abreu, undersecretary general for Africa and the Middle East with the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to the ABCC headquarters in Sao Paulo, Brazil, it said.



Ambassador Abreu, who is set to take office as Brazil's official representative to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the World Food Programme (WFP) and the International Agricultural Development Fund (IADF), revealed that a potential triangular cooperation project with a Gulf country will likely result in more joint undertakings with other Arab countries.



He explained that Brazil can help contribute with technical capabilities and some financial resources while Arab parties can also contribute funds in a mutually agreed country.



In fact, the ambassador noted that Brazil is known to respond to cooperation requests across fields in which it is capable and able--including agriculture, education, healthcare, environment and professional training.



Rubens Hannun, president, ABCC, said: Our organisation welcomes the Brazilian governments plans to enter into triangular cooperation projects with Arab countries, which is an indication of the strong trust and confidence being enjoyed by Brazil and Arab economies.



In line with this, we are also expressing our support to Ambassador Fernando Abreu, who is making the push for this new type of cooperation between Brazil and Arab countries, he said.



We remain steadfast in our commitment to help foster growth for the countries involved while also consolidating for stronger ties, he added.  TradeArabia News ServiceThe upcoming edition of Seatrade Maritime Middle East will introduce a whole new session on smart shipping, focusing on unmanned vessels and autonomous logistics operations that are set to transform the way people and goods are being moved.



The motion titled This House believes that the shipping industry is not ready to embrace smart shipping follows the format of a Parliamentary Debate, on the opening day of the event.



The Seatrade Parliament Debate will bring together five leading figures from the regional shipping industry and from around the world to discuss fundamental questions such as what does the industry seek to achieve through capitalizing on new technologies; how real are the efficiencies they offer and what regulatory framework amendments would be needed prior to implementation.



Three debaters will speak for the motion and three against. This will be followed by a floor debate involving members of the audience and, following a summary of the arguments on both sides, a vote will be taken on the motion.



Chris Hayman, chairman of Seatrade, said: Smart technology holds immense potential to accelerate and enhance the future of the maritime industry. However, despite a range of benefits, the application of these technologies to shipping processes poses several challenges. Keeping pace with these developments, the upcoming Seatrade Parliamentary Debate seeks to examine the readiness of the regional shipping sector in incorporating smart technologies, and ways to navigate its associated challenges.



Jasamin Fichte, managing partner, Fichte & Co will chair the Debate and speakers for the motion will include Khalid Hashim, managing director, Precious Shipping; Ali Shehab Ahmad, deputy CEO, Kuwait Oil Tanker Company (KOTC); and Captain David Stockley, COO, Oman Ship Management Company.



Rene Kofod-Olsen, CEO, Topaz Energy and Marine and Oskar Levander, SVP Concepts and Innovation, Rolls-Royce Marine will be speaking against the motion.



To be held under the patronage of Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, UAE, from October 29 to 31Seatrade Maritime Middle East 2018 will feature more than 150 exhibitors from the sector to attract a huge number of visitors including shipowners, ship operators, ship managers, charterers, superintendents, senior management and other industry professionals involved in the procurement of equipment and delivery of services within the maritime, offshore, oil and gas and ports industries to network and to explore new opportunities.  TradeArabia News ServiceBetty Crocker, a leading brand of dessert mixes from General Mills, created a new Guinness World Records for baking the largest mug cake mosaic as part of the celebrations marking Saudi Arabia's 88th National Day. The largest mug cake mosaic was unveiled yesterday at Al Andalus Mall in Jeddah, measuring 112 sq m with approximately 19,600 Betty Crocker mug cakes. It took 30 bakers almost 8 hours to create the marvellous cake and decorate it by 1900 Betty Crocker cake frosting tubs that represented the Saudi 88th National Day design on top of it before Guinness World Records adjudicator, Ahmed Jamal Jaber, officially confirmed it as the largest mug cake mosaic ever.

The record was achieved in collaboration with Panda Retail Company, a leading grocery retailer in the region.

The record was achieved in collaboration with Panda Retail Company, a leading grocery retailer in the region.Betty Crocker, a leading brand of dessert mixes from General Mills, created a new Guinness World Records for baking the largest mug cake mosaic as part of the celebrations marking Saudi Arabia's 88th National Day.

The record was achieved in collaboration with Panda Retail Company, a leading grocery retailer in the region.

The largest mug cake mosaic was unveiled yesterday at Al Andalus Mall in Jeddah, measuring 112 sq m with approximately 19,600 Betty Crocker mug cakes. It took 30 bakers almost 8 hours to create the marvellous cake and decorate it by 1900 Betty Crocker cake frosting tubs that represented the Saudi 88th National Day design on top of it before Guinness World Records adjudicator, Ahmed Jamal Jaber, officially confirmed it as the largest mug cake mosaic ever.

"We are proud to be able to garner a Guinness World Records title for the second year consecutively, and we would like to congratulate the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques His Majesty King Salman and His Royal Highness Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman and all the people of Saudi Arabia on their 88th National Day. The idea of baking the largest mug cake mosaic marks our appreciation and admiration to the remarkable achievements of the Saudi nation as we are strongly committed to support the dreams and ambitions of the Saudi youth," said Ali Shaikh, commercial director, General Mills in the Middle East.

To conform with Guinness World Records guidelines, the largest mug cake mosaic had to meet specific requirements set by the organisation. The mosaic had to measure 112 sq m or above in order to break the Guinness World Records title. The event was attended by General Mills and Panda executives, as well as by Guinness World Records officials.

After the record was confirmed, the cake was distributed to visitors at Al Andalus Mall and also was delivered to a non-profit organization "Saudi Food Bank" to spread joy and create some festivity for all.

Betty Crocker prides itself in redefining simplicity and ease of baking world renowned desserts. The brand that makes baking easy and quick for everyone in effortlessly simple steps, launched recently a highly innovative mug cake. Available in three indulging flavours - chocolate, blueberry and brownie - Betty Crocker Mug treats satiate diverse palates and require only one minute to be microwaved at the comfort of one's home.

Betty Crocker succeeded last year to set a Guinness World Records title for baking the largest marble cake ever, which measured 16 sq m and weighed 733 kilos, with approximately 15,000 Betty Crocker marble cake mixes. - TradeArabia News Service.  :  ,   ,     

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Akyaka, on Turkeys southern Aegean coast, is a real jewel of a town.

We stumbled across it years ago, intending to visit for the day but ending up camping overnight in a rented tent on the forest campsite.

Since then, wed been full of good intentions to return. But it took until the summer of 2018 to follow up that intention.

A heatwave hit the Fethiye area and we needed some fresher breezes.

A few nights booked at Villa Yonca and we made our escape to Akyaka

A Little About Akyaka

The draw of Akyaka is purely its charm.

If you follow this blog a lot, youll know were big advocates of slow travel  a slower way of life, in general, actually.

Akyaka suits us. Its one of 14 Turkish towns that have been awarded Cittaslow status and the town has carefully guarded this slower way of life since it took up membership in 2011.

According to this 2014 Guardian article, it was the then mayor, Ahmet Calca, who joined the Cittaslow movement so that he could help preserve the towns features and way of life.

A great legacy for Ahmet Calca.

Its quite ironic, then, that with Cittaslow membership, a large increase in tourism has come.

In the summer months, Akyaka is packed to the rafters, mainly with domestic tourists.

All that should be slow and quiet and peaceful becomes a long queue of cars, snaking down Sakartepe and into the town.

BUT, we did say Akyaka carefully guards its slower way of life. And it does so amazingly well.

Even on the super crowded summer weekend we were there, there was still a feeling of calm. And thats what all of us there had come to experience.

So, if youre into parties and clubbing and international restaurants and, dare we say, a daily full English breakfast fix, read no further.

If, however, youre craving a few days in a quiet Turkish town (albeit with a few thousand other Turkish tourists in the summer months), then youre gonna love Akyaka as much as we do.

Things To Do In Akyaka

The town of Akyaka sits in the Gulf of Gokova.

And, if you arrive by dolmus from the east  as we did  you get dropped off on the main road above the town. Literally, right on the main D400 as it starts to climb Sakartepe towards Mugla.

Youll need to climb over the barriers of the central reservation to get to the turn off!

But, all part of the little adventures of travel and all that.

If you want, when you see this view over the valley and down to Akyaka, you can wait for the dolmus to come down from Mugla and pick you up to take you into town.

But its all downhill from here and the walk will only take you about 15 minutes. Were happy trudgers  more often than not  so we took ourselves off down the pathway.

And now, once youve found your accommodation, you can go off to explore what Akyaka has to offer.

It wont take you long to find your accommodation, by the way. Akyaka might be growing but it is far from being a sprawling town.

Spend A Day On Akyaka Beach

Akyaka Beach is where most holidaymakers in the town spend their day. Its a public beach so its free to enter.

Blue flag, compact sand, a calm sea that stays shallow for a good few metres, beds and umbrellas, pedaloes, kayaks. And the pathway that runs along the beach is lined with bars, cafes and restaurants.

Were not massively beachy, so this photo was taken early morning just as we were passing. But you can see the attraction for sun worshippers and those with kids.

Turkish families are camped out here for most of the day.

And, if youre like us and not very beachy, thats great. It means the rest of Akyaka is rather quiet and peaceful and you can revel in slow city living.

So, leave those summer crowds exactly where they are and lets explore a bit more of Akyaka

Wander The Akyaka Architecture

Because Akyakas architecture is what makes the town so famous. And so achingly pretty!

Old Ottoman style dwellings were restored in the 1970s by Nail Cakrhan. And more were built, besides.

Although concrete, rather than timber, is used in many new buildings in Akyaka, today, the style of the buildings mirrors those restored and built by Nail Cakrhan.

He wanted buildings that were in harmony with the environment and cultural background of Turkey.

Part of Akyakas Cittaslow mission statement is about keeping buildings in this style and not allowing the type of high rise apartment blocks that are so common in Turkey.

Of course, there are exceptions around town where the odd out-of-style building seems to have sneaked in. But wandering the streets of Akyaka is just a complete joy.

Narrow, cobbled roads walled on either side. Vibrant magenta bougainvillea and orange trumpet vine climbs and sprawls along the walls.

And behind them, through arched wooden doorways, are courtyards leading to traditional villas with ornate timber ceilings and balconies.

Take your camera!

Take A Forest Walk

If you follow the beach path to the end, itll lead you straight to the forest.

The forest is actually Akyakas ginormous campsite but were doing a separate article on this as its a sight to behold.

A forest walk will get you away from any crowds that might be present.

Its shaded and you will also get some height. This means pleasing vistas across the bay of Akyaka and out across the open Aegean Sea.

Oh, and theres a terraced cafe, too.

Escape To The Bays

If you want to take to the waters of the Gulf of Gokova, in the summer months, you can do daily boat trips from Akyaka. The boats leave from the small harbour next to the beach.

We didnt get time to do a boat trip while we were there  too busy exploring on foot  but they look like a great way to see some of the local well-known islands and bays.

Stops typically include Sedir Adas  also known as Cleopatra Island.

Antony and Cleopatra have certainly left their mark on Turkish history, also featuring in the stories of Hierapolis and in our very own Fethiye. 12 Island Boat Trips often make a stop where Cleopatra is said to have bathed.

Another well known stop on an Akyaka boat trip is Akbuk Koyu.

Many people who summer in Akyaka will drive to Akbuk to spend a quiet day in the bay but the boat trips go here, too.

Other bays that are visited by the boat trips include Lacivert Koy, Zeytinli Koy, Yunus Koyu, Incekum, Kandilli Koyu, Ziraatciler Koyu and Su Alt Magaralar.

Whilst Akbuk Koyu is a favourite amongst some of our friends who know the Akyaka area well, theres another nearby bay where you can also spend the day; Cnar Beach Club.

Were saving a visit to here for another time  early or late season  as its possible to walk from Akyaka.

Cooler weather will definitely be preferable. And, also, this beach seems to be very popular in the height of summer.

We prefer a quieter beach where possible.

Take In Azmak Nehri

Ahh, and this is where beautiful Akyaka really comes into its own.

The Azmak River, know locally as Azmak Nehri or Kadn Azmag, is a shaded green paradise with crystal clear icy cold waters. If youre any thing like us, youll spend a lot of time around here.

Let us show you why

Strolling along the Azmak River is so pleasant. This is where Akyakas slow credentials are really in evidence.

A meandering river. The shade of the trees. A riverside path passing riverside restaurants and picnic spots.

No huge metal bins for people to put their rubbish in. This is pretty Akyaka, remember. Wicker baskets are the way forward here.

It doesnt need us to tell you that litter can blight many a beauty spot.

Signs galore remind picnickers to use the wicker baskets for their rubbish. And, by and large, Azmak Nehri is nature at its best.

For just a few lira you can take a riverboat from Akyaka Beach area and chug along the Azmak Nehri. You can see in the photo above how clear the waters are.

The reeds lining the river create a scene similar to the view on a Dalyan river trip. But the Azmak River is more sheltered and accessible.

The Azmak Nehri is famed for its ducks and geese.

And, while strolling along the river banks, well, how could we not stop off for lunch at one of the riverside restaurants?

You dont need to spend a fortune to do this. There are more expensive places specialising in seafood dishes but there are also cafes, too.

We stopped to enjoy gozleme and balk ekmek. And washed it all down with an icy cold ayran.

Another time, we had lunch in one of the bigger seafood restaurants  a place where you could sit with your feet in the freezing water.

As wed just finished a long walk, this seemed really inviting. The reality, however, is that the waters of the Azmak Nehri are a tad too cold to have your feet paddling about in there for too long.

We soon removed them!

Tip: If you want to dine along the Azmak River at night, enjoying meze and seafood, make sure you reserve a table. The restaurants get very busy.

Did we just say the waters of Azmak Nehri were too cold to sit with your feet in for any length of time?

Hmm, well lots of visitors to Akyaka will disagree with us, there.

Despite signs warning people not to swim in the riverwell, theres always going to be someone who wants to swim in the river.

Mostly, though, people were sitting on the riverbanks and paddling their feet.

And that wasnt enough for some.

Lots of Turkish families enjoy their lazy summer days on the river by placing their deckchairs in the water and sitting right in the river.

If theres a heatwave, its not a bad way to cool down, is it?

Watch The Kitesurfers

Kitesurf Beach is actually right in the mouth of the Gulf of Gokova and is not in Akyaka but Akcapnar.

Just like at Surf Cafe in Cals, if youre not content with watching the kitesurfers and you fancy a go yourself, you can book a bank of lessons in town or arrange some online before you arrive in Akyaka.

We did walk to Akcapnar to spend some time watching the kitesurfers  thats for another article  but you can watch acrobatic proceedings from Akyaka, too.

Get yourself up into that forest to get the views over to the beach and the surfers.

Dine and Drink In The Akyaka Restaurants & Bars

Because Akyaka is a haunt of mainly Turkish visitors, most menus and signs are written in Turkish and staff will happily blabber away to you in Turkish.

Great for us  we get to practice our Turkish  but if you dont know Turkish, we found staff to be young and friendly and many were doing their best to help out the few foreign visitors in town.

Were telling you this because some of the bars  we enjoyed Poison Pub  have offers on their boards outside.

Weve seen online reviews from British tourists complaining that the bars are a bit pricey. And yeah, theyre not cheap.

But, keep an eye on those boards. Special offers like 3 for 2 at certain times of day can help keep your spends reasonable.

As for restaurants in Akyaka, some will concentrate on local produce. Akyaka is a slow city, remember.

A lot of the eateries in the centre of town are small, locally owned cafes, snack bars or restaurants.

No big chains around here. Think pide, kebabs, seafood and traditional Turkish kitchen.

After not being able to find a table along the Azmak River for dinner one night, we ended up in a fantastic little place called Selonik that had just opened along one of the side streets (Karanfil Sokak).

One young woman cooking in the kitchen and another one serving the food. A few tables. That was it.

I hand-write the menu every day, she said, proudly, handing us a decorative notebook with the days food choices.

A lovely meal of traditional dishes from the Turkish kitchen. Good for them.

Other local culinary purchases that can be made in Akyaka are olive oil and other condiments.

A sister restaurant to West Cafe in Gocek, the Akyaka branch is on the site of Olive Farm along the Azmak River.

From here, Gocek, Datca and Bodrum, you can buy locally produced jams, oils, spreads and also beauty products. A celebration of slow products, not just of Akyaka but of the Mugla Province.

And thats the town of Akyaka.

Despite the summer crowds, Cittaslow membership keeps things low key and relaxed. The town is still packed with charm.

If we were to go again  we probably will do one day  well admit to wanting a more relaxed atmosphere, still. If that would be the case for you, too, then spring and autumn are the times to visit.

But, even if you find yourself here in the height of summer, youre still gonna fall in love with the quaint architecture and the unspoiled scenery.

And, if people watching is your favourite pastime, there is ample opportunity for that!

Akyaka  Useful InformationCOVID-19 : Marathwada registers 29 new cases, five more deaths 11 Nov 2021 | 9:06 AM (Repeating, correcting heading)

Aurangabad,Nov 11 (UNI) COVID-19 cases in Marathwada region of Maharashtra state have significantly come down and only 29 new cases and five more deaths were reported during the past 24 hours, health authorities informed on Thursday. see more..

COVID-19 : HP registers 154 new cases and five more deaths 11 Nov 2021 | 8:37 AM Hamirpur (HP), Nov 11(UNI) Five people two each from Kangra and Hamirpur districts and one from Shimla district lost their lives due to the dreaded Corona virus and 154 new positive cases were found in this hill state said a spokesman of the HP Health Department in the latest update. see more..

COVID-19 : Marathwada registers 39 new cases, five more deaths 11 Nov 2021 | 8:30 AM (Repeating, correcting heading)

Aurangabad,Nov 11 (UNI) COVID-19 cases in Marathwada region of Maharashtra state have significantly come down and only 29 new cases and five more deaths were reported during the past 24 hours, health authorities informed on Thursday. see more..

Marathwada registers 39new COVID-19 cases,5 deaths 11 Nov 2021 | 8:28 AM Aurangabad,Nov 11 (UNI) COVID-19 cases in Marathwada region of Maharashtra state have significantly come down and only 29 new cases and five more deaths were reported during the past 24 hours, health authorities informed on Thursday. see more..New Delhi, Sept 23 (UNI) Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman concluded a two-day official bilateral visit to Egypt (20-22 September 2018) at the invitation of the Minister of Defence and Military Production & Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Arab Republic of Egypt.

"Ms Sitharaman and her counterpart, General Mohamed Ahmed Zaki Mohamed, Minister of Defence and Military Production & Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, noted with satisfaction the steadily growing bilateral defence ties between the two nations," an official release stated here on Sunday.

It further stated that both the sides reviewed ongoing bilateral cooperation activities and discussed potential opportunities to further deepen ties and exchanges in the defence sphere.

The Ministers decided to explore deeper cooperation in the fields of defence industry and R&D, including joint production of defence equipment.

"Both sides reaffirmed their intent to enhance cooperation in counter-terrorism, naval cooperation, including cooperation in Maritime Domain Awareness, was identified as an area of potential. India and Egypt would also intensify training interactions between their militaries.

"The two countries are also working towards holding joint exercises. The two Ministers agreed that technical and expert level delegations in relevant fields would be exchanged to follow up on their discussions," release stated.

Ms Sitharaman invited General Mohamed Ahmed Zaki Mohamed to visit India.

The Defence Minister who was accorded a ceremonial Guard of Honour, also laid wreaths at the memorials of the unknown soldier and at the tomb of late President Anwar Al Sadat.

UNI DJK SDR 1733New Delhi, Sept 23 (UNI) Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu said that India considers Bhutan to be part of its own family and added that the partnership between both the countries is anchored on utmost trust, goodwill and mutual understanding at all levels.

Mr Naidu said this while addressing the gathering after inaugurating the Bhutan Week, along with her Majesty the Queen Mother of Bhutan, Sangay Choden, on the occasion of the Golden Jubilee celebrations of the establishment of formal diplomatic relations between India and Bhutan, here on Sunday.

He was given the traditional Bhutanese welcome on his arrival at IGNCA.

It is a celebration of the shared values that we cherish and we feel Bhutan is part of our family, he said.

Calling India & Bhutan equal partners in their endeavor to achieve peace, prosperity and development of our two peoples, the Vice President lauded the contribution of people on the both sides for strengthening India-Bhutan friendship.

The Vice President said that India-Bhutan partnership is multi-faceted and encompasses several areas of cooperation in sectors such as trade and economic ties, infrastructure development, security cooperation and most importantly people to people contacts.

The Vice-President said that Bhutans rich cultural traditions and its unique way of life have charmed and fascinated the people of India over the centuries and added that events such as Bhutan Week would further strengthen the bond between the two culturally rich nations. This event will also enable people of India, including youth, to experience first -hand the rich cultural heritage of Bhutan, its arts and crafts, cuisine, textile and other organic and home-grown agricultural produce, and its enchanting music and dance traditions, he added.

Lauding Bhutan's development model, the Vice President said that Bhutan has managed to combine sustainable development with enhanced quality of living and happiness quotient of its and called it a feat worthy of emulation.

UNI DJK SDR 1748New Delhi, Sep 22 (UNI) On the occasion of the golden jubilee celebrations of establishment of formal diplomatic relations between India and Bhutan, the Queen Mother of Bhutan, Gyalyum Dorji Wangmo Wangchuck, called on President Ram Nath Kovind at the Rashtrapati Bhawan here on Saturday.

Welcoming the Queen Mother, the President said that India and Bhutan share exemplary bilateral partnership. ``Our relations are unique and special and our historical and cultural linkages make us natural friends and partners, he said.

``India has been happy to share its knowledge, experience and resources with Bhutan as per Bhutans priorities, he said, reiterating Indias commitment to consolidating ongoing economic cooperation with Bhutan.

Mr Kovind said that India appreciates the Bhutan governments initiative of organising Bhutan Week, as part of the golden jubilee celebrations of establishment of diplomatic relations between the two neighbours.

The week-long festival will showcase the Bhutanese way of life and rich culture to the people of India and enhance people to people linkages.



UNI GP SHK1935Islamabad, Sep 23 (UNI) Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has reached the United States to participate in the UN General Assembly (UNGA) session where he will present Islamabad's stance on host of issues including Kashmir.

He is also scheduled to attend an important meeting at Pakistani embassy in Washington today, a report in Radio Pakistan said.

Mr Qureshi is accompanied by Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua in his week-long visit to the United States.

The Foreign Minister will also hold talks with the US administration and address the Pakistani community in Washington.

UNI XC SV 0925New Delhi/New York, Sep 23 (UNI) All eyes are now on September 29 UN General Debate in the UNGA to be held in New York when External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will make her speech.

The speech from the Indian external affairs minister will come close on the heels New Delhi calling off the

proposed meeting between her and Pakistani counterpart Shah Mahmood Qureshi citing "evil agenda" of Pakistan.

India on Friday announced cancellation of the meeting - although it was clearly stated as not part of beginning of resumption of stalled talks between two parleys - and maintained - "Any conversation with Pakistan in such an environment would be meaningless".

".....it is obvious that behind Pakistans proposal for talks to make a fresh beginning, the evil agenda of Pakistan stands exposed and the true face of the new Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan has been revealed to the world in his first few months in office," MEA spokesman Raveesh Kumar has said in a rare but strongly worded statement.

India's reactions came after three J&K police personnel were killed and postage stamps glorifying a terrorist and terrorism was issued by the authorities in Pakistan.

Ms Swaraj, who arrived New York to represent India at the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly, is expected to and hold several bilateral and multilateral meetings with other global counterparts.

"Destination UNGA73. India's External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj arrives in New York for High Level Segment of @UN," India's Permanent Representative to the UN Syed Akbaruddin tweeted.

"Setting the stage for a week of hectic diplomacy. EAM Sushma Swaraj arrives in New York to attend the 73rd Session of the United Nations General Assembly and participate in several bilateral, plurilateral and multilateral meetings," wrote MEA spokesman in the micro blogging site.

External Affairs Minister Ms Swaraj address the General Debate in the morning of September 29. Pakistan Foreign Minister Mr Qureshi is also scheduled to address the august gathering the same day.

Pakistan has termed India's decision to cancel the meeting as 'disappointment' and sought to blame Indian government's 'arrogance' for the same.

The General Debate at the UNGA commences on September 25 and global leaders from 193 UN member states are to address the global body.

Among others the US President Donald Trump is slated to address on September 25.

UNI DEVN SHK1922Tanzania ferry tragedy: Guterres offers condolences, support

United Nations, Sep 22 (UNI) United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has extended condolence to the families of the victims and those affected by the Tanzania ferry tragedy that claimed 136 lives.

The United Nations expressed its solidarity with Tanzania during this difficult time and stands ready to support as required, a United Nations statement said.

Mr Guterres has extended his heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims, the Government and people of the United Republic of Tanzania and wished the injured a speedy recovery.Beijing summoned US Ambassador Terry Branstad and "lodged solemn representations over US sanctions", according to Chinese state media AFP/JIM WATSON

The announcement came a day after China called on the United States to withdraw the sanctions or "bear the consequences".

The spat adds to tensions between the two global powers over trade, China's treatment of religious groups and the Asian country's claims to disputed islands in the South China Sea.

Vice Foreign Minister Zheng Zeguang summoned Ambassador Terry Branstad and "lodged solemn representations over US sanctions against (the) Chinese military", the People's Daily said in a brief report online.

On Thursday, Washington placed financial sanctions on the Equipment Development Department of the Chinese Defence Ministry, and its top administrator, for its recent purchase of Russian Sukhoi Su-35 fighter jets and S-400 surface-to-air missile systems.

Officials said it was the first time a third country has been punished under the CAATSA sanctions legislation for dealing with Russia, and signalled the Trump administration's willingness to risk relations with other countries in its campaign against Moscow.

Russia also lashed out at the US sanctions, accusing Washington of playing unfairly and using new measures to squeeze Moscow out of the global arms market.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday that "Washington's continued sanctions hysterics" dealt a new blow to US-Russia ties but could not immediately say if Moscow would retaliate, or how.

The Chinese military expressed "strong indignation and resolute opposition" to the sanctions, the defence ministry said Saturday, echoing a foreign ministry statement the previous day.

Ministry spokesman Wu Qian said the US move was a "a flagrant breach of basic rules of international relations" and "a stark show of hegemonism" that severely damages relations between the two countries and their militaries, according to the official Xinhua news agency.

United in their resentment of America's global influence, China and Russia have sought in recent years to tighten up their ties and this month conducted week-long joint military drills in Moscow's largest ever war games.

US officials said that the US could consider similar action against other countries taking delivery of Russian fighter jets and missiles.

The State Department also placed 33 Russian intelligence and military-linked actors on its sanctions blacklist.

All of them -- defence related firms, officers of the GRU military intelligence agency, and people associated with the Saint Petersburg-based Internet Research Agency disinformation group -- have been on previous US sanctions lists.

A senior US administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, insisted the ultimate target was Russia and not "the defence capabilities" of third countries.

CAATSA, or the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, was passed in 2017 as a tool that gives Washington more ways to target Russia, Iran and North Korea with economic and political sanctions.The rapid growth of online business has slowed the shopping centre real estate market; however, experts say it has also provided a boost for the office rental market.-Photo vntrip.vn

Despite heavy advertising to attract tenants, many commercial centres have still found it hard to attract brick-and-mortar stores. As a result, some shopping centres are being used for office space rather than retail establishments.

Some real estate specialists say the shopping centre slowdown is due to the e-commerce boom.

Pham Hung Thang, a lecturer at the HCM City University of Finance and Marketing, told Dau tu chung khoan (Securities Investment) newspaper Viet Nam had room for more e-commerce development thanks to the high level of internet use among its population.

The number of internet users in the country is expected to reach nearly 60 million in the next four years, and e-commerce is expected to grow at an annual rate of 30 to 50 per cent. The development of smart phones and e-wallet technologies has contributed to this growth.

Experts worry that online purchases will supplant in-person transactions and make it hard for commercial centres to stay in business.

For example, the Pearl Plaza Commercial Centre in HCM City has seen its number of vacancies rise, while none of the fifth floor of Van Hanh Mall is leased.

The office space real estate segment, meanwhile, has benefited from the rise of e-commerce.

According to a report by CBRE Viet Nam, rental prices in HCM City office buildings have continuously increased. Third-quarter prices across the board were higher than in the previous quarter.

A-grade office rent posted a third quarter increase of 7 per cent, representing a 17 per cent annual rise. New buildings are being fully leased very quickly, causing a shortage and driving up prices. B-grade office rent also increased, rising 7.3 per cent over the previous year.

Monthly rent for a-grade office space was US$43 per square metre, while B-grade office space went for $23 per square metre. Office vacancy rates remained below 5 per cent.

Another study by commercial real estate development firm JLL Viet Nam showed most of the new renters are IT companies. The study predicts technology groups will occupy 15 to 25 per cent of total rentable office space within the next decade, representing a huge increase over the 5 to 10 per cent they occupied over the past three years.

Five years ago, HCM City had the third most technology companies of any city in the region, trailing only Manila and Singapore.

Things have changed over the past three years. HCM City has surpassed Bangkok, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Manila and Singapore to attract the most technology firms of any city in the region.

Nowhere is the technology sectors increasing demand for office space more evident than in Viet Nam, said Stephen Wyatt, general manager of JLL Viet Nam. The country is catching up with the rapid development of other regional markets thanks to its young, dynamic, tech-savvy business people.

We have seen a significant increase in demand from technology and co-working companies over the past three years and expect this trend to continue over the next five years," he said.

JLL recently began advertising a 10,000 sq.m e-commerce office space in HCM City, the largest office leasing transaction the city has seen in a decade.

A representative of JLL said the selection criteria for office space were influenced by factors such as potential Government support and convenience for clients.

These elements constitute an ecosystem that is conducive to the development of start-up businesses. In big cities, tech companies are focused on finding office space in prominent buildings, close to public transport and integrated with the city. They want employees to live, work and play nearby.

These companies are often the first to lease the latest buildings.

Technology companies have become an important group of tenants, and investors and developers need to build new office space to keep pace with demand.

Technology companies are always looking for high quality office space to attract talent. Director of market research for JLL South East Asia Regina Lim says developers need to consider the needs of their customers.

Integrating flexible co-working space can boost demand for an office building.

Flexible work space has increased by 40 per cent annually over the past three years and currently accounts for 2 per cent of the areas office space, up from 0.5 per cent in 2015.

Lim says this is because technology groups are always looking for a sustainable business environment and are supported by strong economic and social perspectives.

Over the next decade, e-commerce and flexible co-working space will continue to dominate the market. As e-commerce companies expand, online gaming and e-sports companies could be the next group of tenants to fill offices in Jakarta, Bangkok, Manila and HCM City.Gilles Simon cruised to victory over Radu Albot in the Metz semi-final AFP/JEAN-CHRISTOPHE VERHAEGEN

Simon, who has already reached the final in Metz three times and won twice, cruised to victory over an opponent appearing in his first ATP semi-final.

Simon had two break points in the fourth game of the first set, but Albot saved both. Two games later, Simon broke to love and went on to win the set in 36 minutes.

Simon then broke in the opening game of the second set, and raced to victory, delayed only by a 10-minute final game, which included six deuces before the French veteran broke serve.

In the final he will chase his 14th tour title against either top-seeded Japanese Kei Nishikori or German qualifier Matthias Bachinger.Water monitoring systems allow for better management of aquaculture farms and less manual work.  Photo vietnambiz.vn

Huynh Quoc Khoi from the Bac Lieu Province Agricultural Extension Centre said that hi-tech in aquaculture, such as water monitoring systems or recirculating aquaculture systems, permits easier detection of anomalies and better control of fish farms.

It also requires less manual work and time, and is more environmentally friendly.

Phan Thanh Lam of the Research Institute for Aquaculture No. 2 said that water monitoring systems were especially crucial for shrimp farming, as shrimp are highly susceptible to external factors such as temperature, pH levels and salinity.

Advanced systems allow for continuous monitoring of various variables in the water so farmers can be notified of changes quickly and reduce the chance of disease or death, contributing to sustainable aquaculture.

However, Khoi said that only big farms or companies have been able to make use of such machinery.

"Most households either cannot afford high costs or are not accustomed to advanced technologies. Thus, they remain out of reach for the common farmers, even though there are plenty of machineries available," he added.

He said that there should be more training programmes and conferences to introduce new agricultural technologies to enhance farmers adaptability to technologies.

The Government should also have more policies to provide financial aid so farmers can more easily acquire technologies, while machinery manufacturers should ensure that their products are adaptable to many farming models.

They should also make them as simple to use and cheap to buy as possible.

The conference was part of the 2018 HCM City Animal Husbandry, Agriculture, Forestry and Fishery Processing Technology Fair and Exhibition, which ends on September 23.

Shrimp is one of Viet Nams main aquaculture export. The country has over 700,000 hectares devoted to shrimp farming.The Russian army is performing a major military exercise off the coast of Syria. This is why air and maritime routes have been temporarily closed in this part of the Mediterranean.

This Russian drill follows the destruction of a Russian plane during a joint British-French-Israeli attack on 17 September 2018. The target of this latter tri-state attack was located in the Syrian region of Latakia.

Following this war game, Russia could propose to Syria, the adoption of new rules creating no fly zones and prohibitions on maritime passage.In the evening of 11 June 1957, soldiers arrested Maurice Audin at his home. As well as being a maths assistant at the University of Algiers, he was a militant of the Algerian Communist Party (ACP). After the Front de liberation nationale, unleashed war, the PCA, which supports the movement for independence, breaks up and its leaders are actively hunted for. Maurice Audin is one of those who secretly helps them.

At the time, it is clear to all in Algiers that the men and women arrested in these circumstances do not always return. Yes, some are released, others are interned and still others are put on trial. But that year, in the future capital of Algeria, a number of families lose all trace of a loved one. These disappearances, deplored on all sides during the conflict, soon total thousands.

His disappearance left Josette Audin, alone with three young children. She was detained for several days in her apartment. As soon as her freedom of movement is restored to her, she immediately takes great pains to try to find out where her husband is detained. A military commander delivers then what is going to remain for decades the official version: her husband escaped. This was the standard response made to families looking for information. The complaint for abduction and holding her husband against his will that she filed then, is consigned to the road to nowhere, as were others, in the silence or on account of the lies of key witnesses who obstruct the investigation. The Audin file is closed once and for all in 1962 by a non-lieu, due to the amnesty decrees taken at the end of the war of Algeria, which put at end to any chance of prosecution.

Maurice Audin has never reappeared and obscurity veils the exact circumstances of his disappearance. The official summaries and minutes record that he escaped. However this story suffers from too many contradictions and improbabilities to be credible. Clearly, we have here a set-up, to disguise the fact that he died. All the evidence received during the investigation of the complaint filed by Josette Audin or following testimonies, indicate without a shred of doubt, that he had been tortured.

Several hypotheses have been formulated on the death of Maurice Audin:

 Historian Pierre Vidal-Naquet has defended, on the credibility of a witness, that it was the Intelligence-gathering Officer whose job it was to interrogate Maurice Audin, that killed him.

 Paul Aussaresses and others have declared that a commando under orders had killed the young mathematician.

 Another hypothesis is that Audin died while being subjected to torture.

We dont which of these hypos is grounded in the truth, but we do know that his disappearance had been made possible by a system whose successive governments permitted to develop. This system is known as arrest and detain and gives the forces maintaining order the power to arrest, detain and interrogate all suspects. And why? To ensure that the fight against the enemy gets results.

This system does have a legal foundation: special powers. This law, voted by Parliament in 1956, gave the government a carte blanche to re-establish order in Algeria. It permitted the adoption of a decree authorizing police powers to be delegated to the army. This was implemented by an order of the Prefect, first in Algiers, and then across the whole of Algeria in 1957.

This system has been the unfortunate terrain of acts that were occasionally heinous, including torture, which the Audin affair spewed up. Of course, the law never stopped regarding torture as a criminal act. But torture was allowed to spread its wings and soar unpunished because criminal sanctions have not clipped its wings. And it remained unpunished because the idea behind torture, was that it was a weapon in the fight against not only the FLN, which launched the insurrection in 1954 but also against those who were seen as its allies: those fighting and supporting independence; an arm considered as legitimate in that war, despite having a rotten, illegal core.

In failing to prevent and punish recourse to torture, successive governments have endangered the survival of men and women that the forces maintaining order have seized. However, in the ultimate analysis, it is to them that the responsibility returns of ensuring the safeguarding of human rights and, in first place, the physical integrity of the men and women who are detained under their sovereignty.

It is important that this story is known; that it is looked upon with courage and lucidity.

It stems from pacifying and calming those that it has murdered, whose destinies it has knocked over, both in Algeria and in France. Recognition will not cure their suffering. For each, their suffering will undoubtedly remain irreparable. However, recognition has symbolic value: it will be able, shed the load from those that bend in two, unable to bear the weight of this past. In any event, it is in this spirit that it is thought and today formulated. It flows from the honour of all the people of France, civilians or soldiers, that have disapproved of torture, that have not surrendered or escaped, and who today, as yesterday, refuse to be assimilated with those that established and practised torture.

It flows from the honour of all the soldiers that died for France and more generally for those that lost their life in this conflict.

Finally it springs from the duty to speak the truth, a duty that falls on the French Republic, which in this domain as in others, must lead the way. For it is only through truth, that reconciliation is possible. Freedom, equality or fraternity cannot exist without the exercise of truth.

Failing to seek the truth would leave the Republic incompetent to minimise or excuse crimes and atrocities committed by either side during this conflict. France still carries the scars, a few of which have been badly stitched up.

Also, the task of remembering does not end with this declaration. This recognition aims specifically at encouraging a historical work on all those who disappeared in the War of Algeria, be they French or Algerian, civiliansb or soldiers.

A general derogation, whose contours will be specified by ministerial decrees after available sources have been identified, will open to free consultation on all the sources of the state archives on this matter.

Finally, we call upon those who would have documents or testimonies to turn to the national archives to participate in this effort to find the true history.

Fleshing out this work of truth must open the way to a richer appreciation of our past, greater clarity of the wounds of our history and a new willingness on the part of the people of France and Algeria to come to a reconciliation.

Emmanuel MacronPhoto: Tommaso Boddi/Getty Images

A tweet from the president that criticized Christine Blasey Ford for not going to the police in her teens has inspired a second wave of Twitter revelations from some of the vanguards of the #MeToo movement. Alyssa Milano, who first brought focus to the #MeToo hashtag, kicked things off again by tweeting how she stayed silent about a sexual assault in her teens for decades. I was sexually assaulted twice. Once when I was a teenager. I never filed a police report and it took me 30 years to tell me parents, she wrote. If any survivor of sexual assault would like to add to this please do so in the replies. She followed up with the hashtag #WhyIDidntReport, and soon found herself joined by many fellow survivors.

Hey, @realDonaldTrump, Listen the fuck up.



I was sexually assaulted twice. Once when I was a teenager. I never filed a police report and it took me 30 years to tell me parents.



If any survivor of sexual assault would like to add to this please do so in the replies. #MeToo https://t.co/n0Aymv3vCi  Alyssa Milano (@Alyssa_Milano) September 21, 2018

The first time it happened, I was 7. I told the first adults I came upon. They said Oh, hes a nice old man, thats not what he meant, Ashley Judd wrote in another tweet. So when I was raped at 15, I only told my diary. When an adult read it, she accused me of having sex with an adult man. Miro Sorvino, Padma Lakshmi, and Patricia Arquette also tweeted their stories.

#WhyIDidntReport. The first time it happened, I was 7. I told the first adults I came upon. They said Oh, hes a nice old man, thats not what he meant. So when I was raped at 15, I only told my diary. When an adult read it, she accused me of having sex with an adult man.  ashley judd (@AshleyJudd) September 21, 2018

To people saying Why didnt he/she report it? When something so evil happens to you it takes a long time to process it. In our victim-blaming culture it takes incredible courage to come forward. The victim is treated like the perpetrator.  Padma Lakshmi (@PadmaLakshmi) September 22, 2018

#WhyIDidntReport because the first time I did for a serious sexual assault as a teenager nothing came of it, and later I felt that I wasnt important enough to make a big deal over. I was wrong.  Mira Sorvino (@MiraSorvino) September 22, 2018

I gave up reporting after I called the police at 12 after a man masturbated at me from his car. I gave the cops his license plate number and description. They didnt come to take a report and never contacted me again. They did nothing #WhyIDidntReport  Patricia Arquette (@PattyArquette) September 22, 2018

Because I had never seen a survivor come forward and be treated with dignity, so why would I believe my case would be different? #WhyIDidntReport  Miss Michigan (@MissAmericaMI) September 21, 2018French President Emmanuel Macron and French Culture Minister Francoise Nyssen. Photo: LUDOVIC MARIN/AFP/Getty Images

French culture minister Francoise Nyssen announced on Thursday that the French government would award higher subsidies to French films that hire more women. While the standards for receiving the funds only require hiring all of four whole women into key leadership positions, right now the minister says less than one in six films qualify. The increase is going to be determined using a point system, with one point per female hire into a role such as director or screenwriter. A movie that manages to get eight points, meaning they actually hired eight women, would get the maximum subsidy increase of 15%.

While activists hailed the new incentive as a major step forward in achieving gender parity in film, Francois Ivernel, a former top French film executive, decided to be that guy. I dont know many male producers or directors who want to surround themselves with men, he told The New York Times. Theyre looking for the most competent people in the field. So, dont worry, according to this man, sexism doesnt even exist to begin with.Huntsville Police have arrested Daniel McAuley, a fugitive wanted for two felony charges out of state, after he barricaded himself inside a home. Police tell us the incident was the result of a domestic dispute at a home on Marline Ln. in south Huntsville. The woman who lives at the home was taken hostage by the fugitive but made it out safely.

McAuley is wanted for charges in Nebraska and Kansas, one of those charges is for felony assault. Police evacuted residents around the area and called in K9 and swat. Police say McAuley is now in custody and will face several charges.Daniel McAuley is now in the Madison County jail and has been charged with fugitive for justice.

McAuley is wanted for charges in Nebraska and Kansas, and one of those charges is for a felony assault. Saturday night, he barricaded himself inside of a woman's home on Marline Lane after getting into a domestic dispute and keeping her hostage.

Police presence at Lauderdale Road home Police presence at Lauderdale Road home

Many neighbors told WAAY 31 on Sunday they are glad it's over and thankful no one got hurt.

"He was trying to get this lady to leave. He said, 'get out of here, get out of here, get out of here.' He threw a rock and it hit her SUV and she drove away slowly,'" said LD Gale.

When LD Gale took her late afternoon run, she saw her neighbors down the street arguing. Gale noticed when the woman drove back, she was trying to get in the house.

"The man would barely crack the door, just a little bit so I could see him. He kept yelling again to 'get out of here, get out of here," Gale said.

Gale was out having dinner with her family later Saturday night. When she came back, the roads were blocked off and she saw police officers, the SWAT team and the k-9 team. Gale's son, Bruce Gale captured exlusive video on his cell phone.

"This was very real and very scary. We didn't know if bullets were going to be flying," Gale said.

Huntsville Police told WAAY 31 there was a domestic dispute at the home. The woman who lives there was taken hostage but made it out safely.

Gale said she still can't believe this happened because the neighbors involved seemed quiet.

"I had no idea he had these warrants in these other states. Very very surprised," Gale said.

WAAY 31 is still waiting to hear back from Huntsville Police officials on what will happen next to Daniel McAuley, including whether or not he will be extradited to face his additional felony charges.By WestKyStar & Shawnee College Staff Sep. 22, 2018 | 10:19 PM | Anna, IL

In addition to PAWS volunteers, The Shawnee trucking coordinator along with admissions/recruitment specialist Greg Shepherd made the annual trip utilizing one of Shawnee Community Colleges trucks. The group spent the morning traveling to an undisclosed Amish farm loading the truck and returning to PAWS location in Anna.



PAWS (Pets Are Worth Saving) is a not-for-profit, animal welfare organization founded as a means of dealing with the increasing numbers of dogs and cats in Union County helping to place them in good homes. Donations, fund-raisers and, membership solely fund PAWS. The price for mums is only ten dollars, and they are available for purchase at 139 East Vienna St. Anna, Illinois.





For more information about this program or to adopt a pet, call PAWS Director Karee Sweitzer at 618-833-3647 or visit www.pawspaws.org.



Although Mum is the word when customers ask PAWS volunteers where their beautiful mums come from for the annual fundraiser, the Shawnee College Truck Driving Program Coordinator Wade Ralls knows the route. Shawnee Community Colleges semi made the trip as part of a long-standing tradition again this year on September 20th, loading a 53 trailer front to back with beautiful mums.Advertisement

By West Kentucky Star Staff

Sep. 19, 2018 | PADUCAH

By West Kentucky Star Staff Sep. 19, 2018 | 02:13 PM | PADUCAH

Cold War Patriots, the nations strongest and most sustained voice advocating for worker benefits, will host a reunion and ice cream social for Paducah Gaseous Diffusion and Allied Chemical Plant workers on Tuesday, Oct. 2 from 1-3 pm at the Schroeder Expo Center in Paducah.



The event will feature local celebrity scoopers. The reunion will include Dippin Dots Ice Cream and Swirls Frozen Yogurt, a live DJ, a photo booth, and prize giveaways throughout the afternoon.



This is a new offering from CWP, and one that Chairperson Tim Lerew says has been requested by the organizations members.



We spend a lot of important time at CWP helping keep nuclear weapons workers up-to-date on important topics related to their eligibility for monetary compensation and healthcare benefits through the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act (EEOICPA), says Lerew. But the nuclear weapons industry is a tight-knit group of people, and our members have told us they also want social events like this one to enable them to reconnect with coworkers who became friends by sharing a passion and commitment to serve our country.



Lerew adds that nuclear weapons workers do not need to be a member of the CWP organization in order to attend.



The EEOICPA is administered by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) and offers monetary compensation and healthcare benefits to workers who participated in the nuclear weapons program from 1942 until the present day and became sick because of radiation exposure or other toxic substances. Learn more at https://www.dol.gov/owcp/energy/.



Visit www.coldwarpatriots.org or call 888-903-8989 for more information.Pfizer asks FDA to OK COVID-19 booster shots for all adultsEmail To : Multiple e-mail addresses must be separated with a comma character(maximum 200 characters) Email To is required.

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Since 2016, a young narwhal has been spotted swimming in the St. Lawrence River in Quebec. Somehow this narwhal got very lost  the threatened species makes its home in the Arctic, over 600 miles to the north.In heartwarming, dont-you-wish-all-species-could-be-like-whales news, the lost narwhal is no longer a stranger in a strange land. A pod of about 10 young, male beluga whales has adopted him as one of their own, and the narwhal is fitting right in with them. (Hes believed to be a young male because his tusk hasnt yet grown to its full size of up to almost 9 feet.)This happy discovery was made by researchers from the nonprofit Group for Education and Research on Marine Mammals (GREMM), which is dedicated to scientific research on the whales of the St. Lawrence as well as marine conservation education. The primary mission of GREMM this year is beluga photo-identification. The objectives of this project are manifold, but it notably offers researchers insight into the complex social relationships of St. Lawrence belugas, GREMM wrote on Whales Online. Its a bit like a beluga Facebook.The researchers were using a drone to film beluga whales in July when they realized one of the mammals was actually a narwhal. Photos confirmed the narwhal was the same one theyd observed in the St. Lawrence River over the past two years.It behaves like it was one of the boys, Robert Michaud, president and scientific director of GREMM, told CBC News. The narwhal even blows bubbles just like his adopted family members.This wasnt the first narwhal to become lost. Michaud said some have wandered as far south as New Jersey. Tragically, in their attempts to make new friends by approaching boats, some narwhals have been killed by the propellers.That little narwhal that made a similar trip was very lucky, because he found almost normal buddies, Michaud told CBC News.Due to climate change, GREMM predicts that more narwhals may be seen in the company of beluga whales in the future. We already see this phenomenon in other species such as the polar bear and the grizzly, which have even been observed to interbreed, the group notes on Whales Online. Might we someday observe a narwhal-beluga hybrid in the St. Lawrence?Could such a hybrid already exist? Back in 1993, a skull of what may have been one was discovered in Greenland. Although the skull and its teeth were larger than those of narwhals and belugas, researchers wrote that the characteristics are consistent with the hypothesis that the anomalous whale was a narwhalbeluga hybrid.A narwhal being adopted by a pod of beluga whales shouldnt surprise anyone, said Martin Nweeia, a Harvard University researcher whos studied narwhals for 20 years. I think it shows  the compassion and the openness of other species to welcome another member that may not look or act the same, he told CBC News. And maybe thats a good lesson for everyone.Williamson, WV (25661)

Today

Mostly clear this evening then becoming cloudy after midnight. Low 48F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Mostly clear this evening then becoming cloudy after midnight. Low 48F. Winds light and variable.ILION, NY-- A local firefighter is being honored for 60 years of service to the Mohawk Fire Department.

Dozens of local fire firefighters from several local department celebrated Ken Palmer, who worked as a firefighter for the past six decades.

WKTV General Manager, Steve Mcmurray, was the master of ceremonies of the event at Francesca's Banquet Hall in Ilion. Several local elected leaders were also in attendance.

Palmer has served as the chaplain for Mohawk and Newport Fire Departments. Palmer said he was inspired by his father who was also a firefighter. He spoke about one of this proudest moments as a chaplain.

"I've had the opportunity to travel across the state as chaplain, chief chaplain," he said. "One of my highlights was laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Washington DC, ...that's just one of the privileges as serving my community. I just love the fire service that's it."

Rep. Claudia Tenney, R- New Hartford, presented Palmer with a proclamation to honor him for his work.MOHAWK-The Cedarville Fire Department and several other crews, responded to a trailer fire at 106 Horseshoe Lane in Mohawk around 4 p.m. Sunday. Several crews were also called to help put it out.

Officials with the Cedarville Fire Department told NEWSChannel 2 they saw heavy smoke when they arrived, and it took a little more than an hour to put out.

David Clark, the Captain for the Cedarville Fire Department said he believes he knows where the fire started. "The fire was found to be in the utility room in the washer dryer area and is actually caused by the dryer."

The fire is still under investigation.TORONTO, Sept. 23, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Ontario Energy Association (OEA) is set to host ENERGYCONFERENCE18, with discussion focusing on Ontarios energy policy priorities with a new government mandate. The conference will provide a platform for Hon. Rod Phillips, Ontarios Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks to deliver a speech to Ontarios energy sector and feature speakers and panelists with a diverse range of industry experience.



The conference will be followed by ENERGYGALA18, featuring keynote speaker Hon. Greg Rickford, Ontarios Minister of Energy, Northern Development and Mines/ Minister of Indigenous Affairs. The gala will include the presentation of the OEA ENERGYAWARDS, celebrating OEA members contributions to Ontarios energy sector over the past year.

DATE: Monday, September 24, 2018

TIME:

ENERGYCONFERENCE18 12:00 PM: Hon. Rod Phillips, Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks ENERGYGALA18 7:30 PM: Hon. Greg Rickford, Minister of Energy, Northern Development and Mines/ Minister of Indigenous Affairs LOCATION: Omni King Edward Hotel 37 King Street East, Toronto, ON M5C 1E9 View event details at: https://energyconference18.ca/agenda/

ABOUT THE OEA



The Ontario Energy Association (OEA) is the credible and trusted voice of the energy sector. We earn our reputation by being an integral and influential part of energy policy development and decision making in Ontario. We represent Ontarios energy leaders that span the full diversity of the energy industry.

For more information: Leanne Ryan, Marketing & Communications Associate Vince Brescia, President & CEO Ontario Energy Association Ontario Energy Association 647.463.5244 416.961.8874 leanne@energyontario.ca vince@energyontario.ca









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Sorry, the page you requested was not found. If you're having trouble locating a destination on Womenofchina.cn, try visiting the Womenofchina Home pageWrexham set to gain from appointment of former Flintshire chief officer

This article is old - Published: Sunday, Sep 23rd, 2018

Flintshires loss is Wrexhams gain, its been claimed as a former chief officer moves across the county border to become chief executive.

Councillors in Flintshire have bid a fond farewell to Ian Bancroft, who started his new job in Wrexham at the start of September.

There was unanimous praise for Mr Bancroft at a full council meeting in Mold following his four-year stint, in which he oversaw a number of major organisational changes.

Chief executive Colin Everett said he was already greatly missed by staff and elected members.

He said: In tough times were a close-knit team and Ians certainly been a key player in that.

Its very unusual to have a senior colleague, however able everybody is, where you can say they pretty much delivered everything you asked them to do.

Ian made a tremendous impact with a lot of energy in an area that was very creative.

Ians loss is someones gain, and we perhaps use that term excessively, but the great thing is that Ian is not just still part of the Welsh network, hes part of the north Wales network.

For the last 14 years, Mr Bancroft from Ruabon, has worked in leadership roles at public organisations in Manchester, Merseyside and north east Wales.

He took over the role from Dr Helen Paterson, who left Wrexham Council after six years to take up the position of chief executive at Walsall.

During his first week in Wrexham, he admitted it was a challenging time to take a top local government role, but pledged to lobby for more money on behalf of residents.

He was also commended by leader of Flintshire Councl, Aaron Shotton, who said he helped the county retain several important community facilities at a time when austerity measures hit its finances hard.

He said: More localised to my town is the work Ian did alongside his team in seeing the transfer of Connahs Quay Swimming Pool from a local authority operation to a community-based model.

Ian sat there with me, and I listened to Ian address a very packed civic hall in Connahs Quay, where there were fears for the future of the swimming baths.

From that meeting, to see the skill, the style and the approach that Ian brought to the role in working with communities, I think that is his greatest attribute amongst many that has borne fruit in this authority.

It has enabled us to work with communities to develop models that have protected services.

In response to the comments, Mr Bancroft said he would continue to work closely with Flintshire in his new role.

In recent years, controversial proposals to force a merger between Wrexham and Flintshire councils caused some ructions between the two authorities. However, the plans were abandoned in June by Local Government Secretary Alun Davies, and Mr Bancroft believes there is a will for them to collaborate.

Addressing his former colleagues, he said: Its really bizarre to sit in the guest seats and its very humbling to hear all your kind words.

Can I just say how much Ive enjoyed working in Flintshire and working with you as councillors.

I wish you every success moving forward, and Im sure I will be working with you in many ways in the future.

Its not just a job being a public servant, its a huge responsibility and an honour and a privilege.

Earlier this month Wrexham.com had the chance pose several questions to Mr Bancroft  you can read the interview here.

Liam Randall  BBC Local Democracy Reporter (more here on the LDR scheme).TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTHI) -- Folks shared more than a Coke at the Birthplace of the Coca-Cola Bottle Festival. They swapped collectibles and passed along stories about the famous brand and it's Terre Haute roots.

Jeff Cummins has been collecting bottles since 1974 and is a member of the Coca-Cola Collectors Club. He traveled from Bloomington, Indiana with a small selection of his eight thousand bottles including commemorative items from the 80s and 90s.

Cummins says, "These are really hard to find. I like things like this. Things that aren't common. Things you can't find in the stores."

The Coca-Cola bottle is unique as is it's place in Terre Haute history.

Vigo County Historical Society Executive Director Marylee Hagan explains the story began in 1915 when the Coca-Cola Company had a contest to create what is now the iconic Coke bottle.

"Mr. Root, who had the Root Glass Factory in Terre Haute, sent a team of his folks down to the library to kind of research and get an idea of what they thought the bottle might look like."

The group came across the cocoa pod and noted the stripes down it's sides.

Hagan says, "The Coca-Cola Company wanted a bottle that if you were in the dark or had closed your eyes you would still know just by feeling the bottle that it was a Coca-Cola bottle."

The bottle that won the contest was a little too fat in the middle for production so it was slimmed down to look like what everyone has come to recognize.

And the green tint? Hagan says that comes from Terre Haute sand. If bottles are made elsewhere, chemicals have to be added to the sand to make the green class.

It's a story collectors like Cummins know, too and are sharing through the festival.

The items on display for the festival, like the 40s and 50s ads, will be up at the new history center on Wabash Avenue. It is set to open in March of next year. The center will also feature a working soda shop.URBANA, Ill. (AP) - The University of Illinois plans to conduct a survey to study the drop in African-American student enrollment.

The News-Gazette reports that 475 black students enrolled at the university this fall, down from about 500 last year and almost 550 in 2016. The 2018 number doesn't include 115 multiracial students who also identify as African-American.

University officials plan to survey the more than 700 applicants who declined the school's admission offer this year.

University admissions director Andrew Borst says finances, offers from other universities and the declining pool of Illinois high school students likely contributed to the drop in African-American students.

University officials hope the new Illinois Commitment program will increase enrollment. The program beginning next fall will cover tuition for students from a household with an annual income below $61,000.

Information from: The News-Gazette, http://www.news-gazette.com

Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Cody Wilson, the creator of the world's first fully printed 3D gun, has been arrested in Taiwan after he was accused of sexually assaulting a minor in Texas, the island's state news agency CNA reported.

A warrant for Wilson's arrest was issued earlier this week following allegations that Wilson, 30, had sex with a 16-year-old girl he met on an adult dating site, police said.

Arrests Asia Child abuse Child sexual abuse Continents and regions Crime, law enforcement and corrections Crimes against persons Criminal law Criminal offenses East Asia Firearms Law and legal system Law enforcement Sex and gender issues Sex crimes Sexual assault Society Taiwan Weapons and arms Juvenile crime and justice Assault and battery

Wilson was arrested Friday at a hotel in Taipei, CNA reported citing Taiwan's Central Bureau of Investigation.

His passport already has been nullified and he would have to leave Taiwan, Zhang Wen-Xiu from Taiwan's National Immigration Agency told reporters on Saturday.

Austin Police Cmdr. Troy Officer said Wilson met the girl at a coffee shop on August 15 and later brought her to a hotel and paid her $500 for sex.

The age of consent in Texas is 17.

Wilson is the founder of Defense Distributed, a company that created blueprints of a 3D-printed handgun made of plastic, the same material used in Lego blocks. The company is embroiled in a legal dispute that began in the Obama administration over the distribution of the blueprints.

Shortly after Wilson posted the blueprints online in 2013, the Obama administration ordered him to take them down. Wilson responded with a lawsuit in 2015, claiming First Amendment rights. The Trump administration settled the case in June, and the 3D weapon blueprints were scheduled to be posted online August 1. However, Washington state and other states successfully sued to block the release of the blueprints that day.CORINTH, Miss. (AP)  The U.S. Department of Commerce is awarding $1.5 million to a northeast Mississippi city to improve water service at an industrial park.

The departments Economic Development Administration said Friday that the city of Corinth will use the money to extend a large water main at the Northeast Mississippi Waterfront Industrial Park.

The park is along the Tennessee Tombigbee Waterway in Burnsville, east of Corinth. Federal officials say the improved water service is projected to attract 250 jobs and $158 million in private investment.

The park is owned by the Yellow Creek Port Authority and includes 907 acres (367 hectares) with a barge dock and a planned railroad spur.MARIANNA, Fla. (WTXL) - A 33-year-old Tallahassee man is facing multiple charges after robbing a gas station with a knife and leading law enforcement on a car and foot chase in Marianna.

Charles Jackson was arrested by the Marianna Police Department on Sunday.

On Sunday, at about 12:42 a.m., officers were called to the Big Little Chevron gas station on Penn Avenue and Lafayette Street in response to an armed robbery, where Jackson was armed with a knife.

While en-route, officers learned that Jackson was being followed by a witness.

MPD stated officers were able to cut off Jackson's vehicle and tried to make him stop.

Jackson refused to stop for officers, causing them to pursue him for several minutes before he lost control of his vehicle, running off the road.

Officers stated Jackson then got out of the vehicle and was chased on foot by officers before being apprehended.

Jackson was not injured during the car pursuit or foot chase.

He is being charged with robbery with a deadly weapon, fleeing and eluding law enforcement, resisting officers without violence, violation of state probation, and shoplifting.

Jackson was taken to the Jackson County Correctional Facility.KEMP, Texas, Sept. 23, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Leader in industrial lighting, Larson Electronics LLC, released an explosion proof work light that includes a 20-meter explosion proof cord and an inline transformer that steps down 220V AC to 24V AC or DC. This hazardous location hand lamp is Class 1, Division 1 approved when equipped with a 100-watt bulb and Class 2 Division 1 approved when equipped with a 75-watt bulb, and ideal for hazardous area work where readily available portable lighting is required.

The EPL-220X24V-70MX30M drop light from Larson Electronics comes complete with an explosion proof cord and an inline transformer, allowing operators to utilize this lamp in low voltage operations. The inline transformer that steps down 220V AC to 24V AC or DC. The transformer plugs into standard wall outlets and is encased in a NEMA rated box for protection. Depending on the wattage, this incandescent hand lamp is suitable for use in areas where petrochemical vapors (100 watt) and various dusts (75 watt) are present.

This incandescent drop light is great for industrial applications that need a portable source of low voltage illumination in areas where only high voltage is available, said Rob Bresnahan, CEO of Larson Electronics LLC. The choice of lamp wattage allows operators to choose what works safely in their specific location.

About Larson Electronics LLC: Larson Electronics LLC is a manufacturer of industrial lighting equipment and accessories. The company offers an extensive catalog of industry-grade lighting and power distribution products for the following sectors: manufacturing, construction, food processing, oil and gas, military, marine and automobile. Customers can benefit from the companys hands-on, customized approach to lighting solutions. Larson Electronics provides expedited service for quotes, customer support and shipments.

For further information, please contact:

Rob Bresnahan, President and CEO

Toll-free: 1-800-369-6671

Phone: 214-616-6180

Fax: 903-498-3364

E-mail: sales@larsonelectronics.com

Photos accompanying this announcement are available at

http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/e27f34fe-488c-4710-822a-ab6b6ce7e315

http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/c7995898-7c86-4a59-a5ba-7db1f05e22a1TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - A woman was sent to the hospital with multiple injuries after she was choked and hit in the head with a large bag of rocks in a Tallahassee carjacking.

Courtney Knight, 30, was arrested by the Tallahassee Police Department on Saturday.

On Sept. 17, at about 5:35 a.m., officers were called to Alight West Apartments on West Tennessee Street in response to a carjacking.

When officers arrived on scene, they made contact with the victim near the entrance of the complex. Officers saw the victim covered in blood and crying.

While talking with officers, the victim said she needed an ambulance and stated, "she did this to me, she hit me in the head with a bag of large rocks, here's her ID right here."

The victim then handed officers Knight's ID.

The victim told officers she went to Walmart on West Tennessee Street and while in the parking lot, she was approached by Knight who asked her for a ride.

According to the police report, the victim did not know Knight. Knight told the victim she got into an argument with her boyfriend and needed a ride to an apartment complex off of Tennessee Street.

The victim stated she reluctantly agreed and let Knight get into her car.

Knight gave the victim directions to the apartment complex and asked if the victim wanted to come inside for a moment.

The police report stated, when the victim got out of the car, she was immediately rushed by Knight, who hit her several times in the head with a large bag of rocks, knocking the victim to the ground.

Knight then got on top of the victim and began choking her. The victim stated she felt as if she was going to die and that she could not breathe.

Knight eventually got off of the victim, got into the victim's car, and drove off.

When the victim came to, she found Knight's ID and said the picture on the ID was Knight.

Officers stated the victim had two very large hematomas on her forehead and on the back of her head.

After the victim was taken to the hospital, officers spoke with nursing staff who said the victim received seven staples in her scalp and had a running suture on her forehead where there was a large cut.

Nursing staff also stated she is due to receive additional sutures in the back of her head.

Based on the evidence provided, Knight is being charged with armed carjacking and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon.

Officers learned that Knight has also been charged with several other battery cases, aggravated battery with deadly weapon, and aggravated assault in the past.

She was taken to the Leon County Detention Facility and her bond has been set at $25,000.Source: Xinhua| 2018-09-22 20:47:41|Editor: zh

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Forces loyal to the government of National Reconciliation participate in fighting between warring parties in southern Tripoli, Libya, Sept. 22, 2018. Libyan Ministry of Health on Saturday revealed that Friday's clashes in the capital Tripoli have killed 10 people and injured 59 others, including civilians. (Xinhua)

TRIPOLI, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) -- Libyan Ministry of Health on Saturday revealed that Friday's clashes in the capital Tripoli have killed 10 people and injured 59 others, including civilians.

The Ministry's Wounded Affairs Department said Friday's casualties have increased the death toll of the fighting between warring parties to 106 deaths and 365 injuries since the beginning of the fighting in Aug. 26.

Clashes continued despite the warning from the UN Support Mission in Libya on Thursday against attacks on residential areas. The mission also reminded the warring parties of the signed binding cease-fire agreement and stressed that exposing civilians to harm is prohibited by International Humanitarian Law.

Violent clashes continued in southern Tripoli between forces allied with the UN-backed government and the "7th Brigade" militia from the city of Tarhuna, some 80 km southeast of Tripoli.

Libya has been suffering insecurity and escalating violence since the fall of former leader Muammar Gaddafi's regime in 2011.Source: Xinhua| 2018-09-23 01:08:34|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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BEIJING, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Zheng Zeguang summoned U.S. Ambassador to China Terry Branstad on Friday and lodged solemn representations and protests against the U.S. side's sanctions on Chinese military agency and official pursuant to its domestic law.

The U.S. State Department announced Thursday that it would impose sanctions on the Equipment Development Department of the Central Military Commission of China and the department's director, alleging that China had violated the "Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act."

Zheng pointed out that the United States' action on the ground of military cooperation between China and Russia severely violated basic norms governing the international relations, and that such mean behavior is a blatant hegemonic act.

"The China-Russia military cooperation is normal cooperation between two sovereign states, and the U.S. side has no right to interfere," Zheng said.

He added that the U.S. side's act has severely harmed the state-to-state and mil-to-mil relations and affected the cooperation in international and regional affairs between China and the United States.

"The Chinese side will take every necessary measure to firmly safeguard its national interests. We strongly urge the U.S. side to correct its mistake immediately and withdraw the so-called sanctions," he said. "Otherwise, the U.S. side will have to bear all the consequences."Source: Xinhua| 2018-09-23 01:18:37|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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DAR ES SALAAM, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) -- The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), the world's leading conservation organization, on Saturday urged the government of Tanzania to review its conservation policies to enhance the management of rhino and other endangered species.

Amani Ngusaru, WWF Tanzania Country Director, said the government should also support the recently developed six-year National Rhino Conservation and Management Strategy.

"There should also be verification of the southern sub-population of rhinos in the Selous Game Reserve and develop options for inclusive rhino management plan countrywide," Ngusaru said during the commemoration of the World Rhino Day in the commercial capital Dar es Salaam.

He said WWF Tanzania will provide about 350,000 U.S. dollars support for rhino conservation program in Tanzania in the next two years.

In recent years, Ngusaru said, rhinos have been threatened by poaching, urbanization and pollution, which have left certain rhino species on the brink of extinction while leaving other species severely endangered.

"At the root of the rhino crisis is the myth that rhino horn contains curative properties," he said, adding that World Rhino Day highlighted efforts to debunk the myths and diminish the demand for rhino horn.

World Rhino Day is celebrated on Sept. 22 in support of conservation efforts being undertaken for the conservation of all five species of rhino comprising of black, white, greater one-horned, Sumatran and Javan rhinos.Source: Xinhua| 2018-09-23 01:28:38|Editor: zh

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NEW YORK, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) -- U.S. start-ups should catch the wind to invest and develop in southern China as a wide range of opportunities are in full wing under national sponsorship, a trade official told NYC investors.

"The Greater Bay Area (GBA) is obviously a hotbed of innovation. I think we'll see that it is really becoming one of the world's leading innovation and international financial service hubs," said Stephen Phillips, director-general of Invest Hong Kong.

GBA is an official initiative that aims to create an integrated economic and business hub out of China's Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions (SARs), as well as nine cities in Guangdong Province. Since 1989, Guangdong has topped GDP rankings among China's provincial-level regions.

Growth-stage companies located in Hong Kong and GBA will be supported by a strong network of incubators and accelerators, a pool of experienced angels and venture capitalists, a host of government-backed programs and a welcoming community of start-ups connected through networking events, seminars and associations, Phillips said.

Organized by Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in the United States, the director-general came to New York City to make a special presentation for entrepreneurs of start-ups and other types of companies to capitalize on the opportunities in the shape-taking GBA including Hong Kong.

GBA will be an important junction within the framework of the government-sponsored Belt and Road Initiative, which can provide a new market for many businesses in a long term, said Phillips.

"I think the Belt and Road Initiative is going to move up the economic cycle and open up new possibilities for companies that will power in the future into many different senses," he said.

Invest Hong Kong, the organization that Phillips serves, is a branch of the Hong Kong SAR government and is responsible for facilitating foreign investment.

"What we're seeing is that companies are looking particularly at China, looking at global markets. It isn't just about the U.S. market. The U.S. community is an important part, but there are other markets. The Belt and Road Initiative is opening up new avenues in Asia for companies looking for opportunities in the region," added Phillips.

(Intern Sun Liyuan contributed to the reporting.)Source: Xinhua| 2018-09-23 01:58:41|Editor: zh

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GAZA, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) -- A high-ranking Egyptian security delegation on Saturday met with the Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh and other Hamas leaders at Haniyeh's office in Gaza City, local sources said.

They discussed two issues: a cease-fire in Gaza with Israel and the internal reconciliation between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority led by President Mahmoud Abbas.

The Egyptian delegation, headed by Ahmad Abdul Khaleq in charge of the Palestinian issue in the Egyptian Security Intelligence and another Egyptian diplomat, arrived in the Gaza Strip earlier on Saturday, the sources said on condition of anonymity.

According to the Palestinian Authority Liaison office, the delegation crossed into the Hamas-ruled coastal enclave through the Erez Crossing on the border between northern Gaza and Israel.

The Egyptian delegation will carry Hamas' responses to the two issues to both Israel and the Palestinian Authority, the sources said, without detailing what the responses are.

The Egyptian delegation left Gaza on Saturday afternoon after the talks.

Egypt has been for years the major sponsor between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority to end the 12 years of internal division.

The North African country has also been mediating between the Islamic movement and Israel to reach a possible cease-fire.

However, the Palestinian Authority insists that the internal reconciliation must come before Hamas' truce with Israel.

In October 2017, Egypt brokered a reconciliation agreement between the two Palestinian rivals, in which Hamas agreed to transfer power in Gaza to the Palestinian consensus government.

However, no progress has since been made in implementing the agreement because of their division on security, tax collections and full control on the Gaza Strip and its crossing points.Source: Xinhua| 2018-09-23 02:08:42|Editor: Chengcheng

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BEIJING, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) -- China's Central Military Commission (CMC) on Saturday lodged solemn representations and protests against sanctions imposed by the United States.

Huang Xueping, deputy head of the CMC's office for international military cooperation, summoned the acting defense attache at the U.S. Embassy Saturday evening, according to a CMC press release.

The U.S. State Department announced Thursday that it would impose sanctions on the Equipment Development Department of the CMC and the department's director, alleging that China had violated the "Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act."

Huang said the military cooperation between China and Russia is normal cooperation between sovereign states that goes in line with international law.

He called the U.S. side's unreasonable move "a flagrant breach of basic rules of international relations" and "a stark show of hegemonism" that severely harmed relations between China and the United States as well as the two countries' militaries.

China resolutely opposes the U.S. move and will never accept it, Huang said.

He said China will immediately recall the Chinese navy commander Shen Jinlong who is in the United States attending the 23rd International Seapower Symposium and postpone the second meeting of a communication mechanism for the joint staff departments of China and the United States, scheduled for Sept. 25-27 in Beijing.

China demands the U.S. side to immediately correct its wrongdoing and withdraw the so-called sanctions. "The Chinese military reserves the right to take further countermeasures," Huang said.Chinese President Xi Jinping (L) holds talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Vladivostok, Russia, Sept. 11, 2018. (Xinhua/Xie Huanchi)

MOSCOW, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) -- With closer ties and deepening cooperation, China and Russia have made substantial progress in bilateral trade, which is likely to top 120 billion U.S. dollars this year, Russian Economic Development Minister Maxim Oreshkin has said.

"If we look at the first half of this year, the growth is about 30 percent... Our estimates of the full year indicate that the trade turnover between Russia and China may exceed 120 billion U.S. dollars," Oreshkin told Xinhua on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum held in Russia's Vladivostok last week.

"This, of course, is not the result of some one-off decisions. This is the result of a long-term policy of both Russia and China of establishing mutual relations," he said.

Predictable bilateral relations and concerted efforts to develop trade and economic ties have proved that the figures are the result of years of great work on both sides, he added.

Cooperation between China and Russia has been flourishing in several areas in recent years, including finance, high-speed rail, infrastructure construction, aerospace, agriculture, science and technology, innovation and cross-border electricity, in addition to the traditional energy sector.

Oreshkin highlighted the importance of infrastructure, which is the "key to securing bilateral trade."

For example, he said that Russia and China are working on plans to expand the Baikal-Amur and Trans-Siberian railways in addition to improving routes to facilitate the delivery of goods to Russia from Chinese e-commerce systems.

"Such projects make an additional contribution to the development of bilateral trade," he said.

In particular, Oreshkin hailed the progress made in the synergy between the Belt and Road Initiative and the Eurasian Economic Union.

Concrete agreements in the sphere of goods circulation were reached this year, and work is under way on a document of the Eurasian partnership between China and Russia in services, investments and other spheres.

"We can say that there are already specific documents that further facilitate trade and economic relations between our countries," Oreshkin said.

Regional cooperation has also become a hot topic, especially the collaboration between China and Russia in the development of the Russian Far East, the minister said.

"China is the leader in terms of the volume of investment in the Far East. This means a lot. There is a large number of projects in different areas. There are new enterprises. New investments are coming. The mutual trade turnover is increasing," Oreshkin said.

Cross-border trade and settlements in their national currencies are also growing in the Far East, he added.

In order to further promote bilateral trade, negotiations are currently underway between China and Russia to simplify trade in services.

"We are already going beyond simply discussing barriers. We are already preparing to establish interaction on a systematic basis and on sensitive areas such as e-commerce, for example, and trade in various services. Progress here is very notable," he said.Source: Xinhua| 2018-09-23 04:28:58|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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LONDON, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) -- Britain's national newspapers gave their reaction Saturday to Prime Minister Theresa May's determined fight-back after leaders of European Union countries rebuffed her plans for a post-Brexit trade relationship.

As Fleet Street gave its take on May's response to a bruising two-day meeting with EU leaders in Salzburg, Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said in a radio interview Saturday it was time for people in the EU to step back from the abyss of a no-deal Brexit and instead sit down and to talk about how "sensible, concrete proposals" can be made to work.

Hunt told the BBC's flagship Today program: "What Theresa May is saying is 'don't mistake British politeness for weakness. If you put us in a difficult corner, we will stand our ground, that is the kind of country we are."

The Daily Express chose an almost Churchillian headline, describing a speech made Friday at 10 Downing Street as "May's Finest Hour".

In a front page commentary, the Express said: "Whatever you think of her Brexit plan Mrs. May's didn't deserve to be treated as an outcast with a begging bowl." It said self-serving EU leaders had turned their backs on the prime minister and insulted Britain.

The newspaper added that a Friday night poll of 21,400 of its readers showed 81 percent support for her defiant stance.

The Daily Mail headlined its front page "The May Ultimatum" saying her steely response had come a day after EU leaders had humiliatingly dismissed her Brexit blueprint. It described May's response as a stirring riposte.

The red-top tabloid Sun headlined their main story "Up Eurs!" a play on words at the way May responded in her fight-back. The Sun said May had frozen Brexit talks until Brussels made her a new offer.

The Times report said a defiant May had raised the stakes with a no deal threat to the EU. Their report said the prime minister had taken Britain to the brink of a no-deal Brexit.

The traditionally Labor supporting Daily Mirror ignored May's speech on its front page, but an inside-page report described her Downing Street speech as a piece of posturing" saying her synthetic anger at Brussels was a bid to save her skin ahead of the Conservative Party Conference which starts next weekend in Birmingham.

May is heading for a showdown with her senior ministers at a Cabinet meeting next week, the Daily Telegraph reported Saturday.

It said ministers will call for a "Plan B" alternative to her so-called Chequers Brexit deal, with one source describing the planned Monday meeting as "the crunch point" The newspaper said her cabinet meeting will dominated by Mrs May's Salzburg humiliation.

In its editorial, the Telegraph said: "If the goal of the Salzburg summit was to humiliate the Prime Minister, it was a success. If it was to alter British opinion about Brexit, it was a mistake. The UK does not respond to insult."

It adds: "The next two weeks will now be critical for the future of Brexit... Mrs May has to make it 100 percent clear we won't be bullied into serfdom."

With Ships and Missiles, China Is Ready to Challenge U.S. Navy in Pacific



By Steven Lee Myers





Chinas first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, at sea in April. First launched by the Soviet Union in 1988, it was sold for $20 million to a Chinese investor who said it would become a floating casino, though he was in reality acting on behalf of the Peoples Liberation Army Navy.CreditCreditAgence France-Presse  Getty Images





DALIAN, China  In April, on the 69th anniversary of the founding of Chinas Navy, the countrys first domestically built aircraft carrier stirred from its berth in the port city of Dalian on the Bohai Sea, tethered to tugboats for a test of its seaworthiness.



Chinas first homegrown aircraft carrier just moved a bit, and the United States, Japan and India squirmed, a military news website crowed, referring to the three nations China views as its main rivals.



Not long ago, such boasts would have been dismissed as the bravado of a second-string military. No longer.



A modernization program focused on naval and missile forces has shifted the balance of power in the Pacific in ways the United States and its allies are only beginning to digest.



While China lags in projecting firepower on a global scale, it can now challenge American military supremacy in the places that matter most to it: the waters around Taiwan and in the disputed South China Sea.



That means a growing section of the Pacific Ocean  where the United States has operated unchallenged since the naval battles of World War II  is once again contested territory, with Chinese warships and aircraft regularly bumping up against those of the United States and its allies.



To prevail in these waters, according to officials and analysts who scrutinize Chinese military developments, China does not need a military that can defeat the United States outright but merely one that can make intervention in the region too costly for Washington to contemplate. Many analysts say Beijing has already achieved that goal.



To do so, it has developed anti-access capabilities that use radar, satellites and missiles to neutralize the decisive edge that Americas powerful aircraft carrier strike groups have enjoyed. It is also rapidly expanding its naval forces with the goal of deploying a blue water navy that would allow it to defend its growing interests beyond its coastal waters.



China is now capable of controlling the South China Sea in all scenarios short of war with the United States, the new commander of the United States Indo-Pacific Command, Adm. Philip S. Davidson, acknowledged in written remarks submitted during his Senate confirmation process in March.



He described China as a peer competitor gaining on the United States not by matching its forces weapon by weapon but by building critical asymmetrical capabilities, including with anti-ship missiles and in submarine warfare. There is no guarantee that the United States would win a future conflict with China, he concluded.



Last year, the Chinese Navy became the worlds largest, with more warships and submarines than the United States, and it continues to build new ships at a stunning rate. Though the American fleet remains superior qualitatively, it is spread much thinner.



The task of building a powerful navy has never been as urgent as it is today, President Xi Jinping declared in April as he presided over a naval procession off the southern Chinese island of Hainan that opened exercises involving 48 ships and submarines. The Ministry of National Defense said they were the largest since the Peoples Republic of China was founded in 1949.



Even as the United States wages a trade war against China, Chinese warships and aircraft have picked up the pace of operations in the waters off Japan, Taiwan, and the islands, shoals and reefs it has claimed in the South China Sea over the objections of Vietnam and the Philippines.



When two American warships  the Higgins, a destroyer, and the Antietam, a cruiser  sailed within a few miles of disputed islands in the Paracels in May, Chinese vessels rushed to challenge what Beijing later denounced as a provocative act. China did the same to three Australian ships passing through the South China Sea in April.



Only three years ago, Mr. Xi stood beside President Barack Obama in the Rose Garden and promised not to militarize artificial islands it has built farther south in the Spratlys archipelago. Chinese officials have since acknowledged deploying missiles there, but argue that they are necessary because of American incursions in Chinese Waters.



When Defense Secretary Jim Mattis visited Beijing in June, Mr. Xi bluntly warned him that China would not yield even one inch of territory it claims as its own.









Ballistic missiles designed to strike ships on display at a military parade in Beijing in 2015.CreditPool photo by Andy Wong







Anti-Access/Area Denial



Chinas naval expansion began in 2000 but accelerated sharply after Mr. Xi took command in 2013. He has drastically shifted the militarys focus to naval as well as air and strategic rocket forces, while purging commanders accused of corruption and cutting the traditional land forces.



The Peoples Liberation Army  the bedrock of Communist power since the revolution  has actually shrunk in order to free up resources for a more modern fighting force. Since 2015, the army has cut 300,000 enlisted soldiers and officers, paring the military to two million personnel over all, compared with 1.4 million in the United States.



While every branch of Chinas armed forces lags behind the United States in firepower and experience, China has made significant gains in asymmetrical weaponry to blunt Americas advantages. One focus has been in what American military planners call A2/AD, for anti-access/area denial, or what the Chinese call counter-intervention.



A centerpiece of this strategy is an arsenal of high-speed ballistic missiles designed to strike moving ships. The latest versions, the DF-21D and, since 2016, the DF-26, are popularly known as carrier killers, since they can threaten the most powerful vessels in the American fleet long before they get close to China.



The DF-26, which made its debut in a military parade in Beijing in 2015 and was tested in the Bohai Sea last year, has a range that would allow it to menace ships and bases as far away as Guam, according to the latest Pentagon report on the Chinese military, released this month. These missiles are almost impossible to detect and intercept, and are directed at moving targets by an increasingly sophisticated Chinese network of radar and satellites.



China announced in April that the DF-26 had entered service. State television showed rocket launchers carrying 22 of them, though the number deployed now is unknown. A brigade equipped with them is reported to be based in Henan Province, in central China.



Such missiles pose a particular challenge to American commanders because neutralizing them might require an attack deep inside Chinese territory, which would be a major escalation.



The American Navy has never faced such a threat before, the Congressional Research Office warned in a report in May, adding that some analysts consider the missiles game changing.



The carrier killers have been supplemented by the deployment this year of missiles in the South China Sea. The weaponry includes the new YJ-12B anti-ship cruise missile, which puts most of the waters between the Philippines and Vietnam in range.



While all-out war between China and the United States seems unthinkable, the Chinese military is preparing for a limited military conflict from the sea, according to a 2013 paper in a journal called The Science of Military Strategy.



Lyle Morris, an analyst with the RAND Corporation, said that Chinas deployment of missiles in the disputed Paracel and Spratly Islands will dramatically change how the U.S. military operates across Asia and the Pacific.



The best American response, he added, would be to find new and innovative methods of deploying ships outside their range. Given the longer range of the ballistic missiles, however, that is not possible in most contingencies the American Navy would be likely to face in Asia.











Soldiers with the Peoples Liberation Army Navy patrolling Woody Island in the disputed Paracel archipelago in 2016.CreditReuters





Blue-Water Ambitions



The aircraft carrier that put to sea in April for its first trials is Chinas second, but the first built domestically. It is the most prominent manifestation of a modernization project meant to propel the country into the upper tier of military powers. Only the United States, with 11 nuclear-powered carriers, operates more than one.



A third Chinese carrier is under construction in a port near Shanghai. Analysts believe China will eventually build five or six.



The Chinese military, traditionally focused on repelling a land invasion, increasingly aims to project power into the blue waters of the world to protect Chinas expanding economic and diplomatic interests, from the Pacific to the Atlantic.



The carriers attract the most attention but Chinas naval expansion has been far broader. The Chinese Navy  officially the Peoples Liberation Army Navy  has built more than 100 warships and submarines in the last decade alone, more than the entire naval fleets of all but a handful of nations.



Last year, China also introduced the first of a new class of a heavy cruisers  or super destroyers  that, according to the American Office of Naval Intelligence, are comparable in many respects to most modern Western warships. Two more were launched from dry dock in Dalian in July, the state media reported.



Last year, China counted 317 warships and submarines in active service, compared with 283 in the United States Navy, which has been essentially unrivaled in the open seas since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.



Unlike the Soviet Union, which drained its coffers during the Cold War arms race, military spending in China is a manageable percentage of a growing economy. Beijings defense budget now ranks second only to the United States: $228 billion to $610 billion, according to estimates by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.



The roots of Chinas focus on sea power and area denial can be traced to what many Chinese viewed as humiliation in 1995 and 1996. When Taiwan moved to hold its first democratic elections, China fired missiles near the island, prompting President Bill Clinton to dispatch two aircraft carriers to the region.



We avoided the sea, took it as a moat and a joyful little pond to the Middle Kingdom, a naval analyst, Chen Guoqiang, wrote recently in the official Navy newspaper. So not only did we lose all the advantages of the sea but also our territories became the prey of the imperialist powers.



Chinas naval buildup since then has been remarkable. In 1995, China had only three submarines. It now has nearly 60 and plans to expand to nearly 80, according to a report last month by the United States Congressional Research Service.



As it has in its civilian economy, China has bought or absorbed technologies from the rest of the world, in some cases illicitly. Much of its military hardware is of Soviet origin or modeled on antiquated Soviet designs, but with each new wave of production, analysts say, China is deploying more advanced capabilities.



Chinas first aircraft carrier was originally launched by the Soviet Union in 1988 and left to rust when the nation collapsed three years later. Newly independent Ukraine sold it for $20 million to a Chinese investor who claimed it would become a floating casino, though he was really acting on behalf of Beijing, which refurbished the vessel and named it the Liaoning.



The second aircraft carrier  as yet unnamed  is largely based on the Liaonings designs, but is reported to have enhanced technology. In February, the China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation disclosed that it has plans to build nuclear-powered carriers, which have far greater endurance than ones that require refueling stops.



Chinas military has encountered some growing pains. It is hampered by corruption, which Mr. Xi has vowed to wipe out, and a lack of combat experience. As a fighting force, it remains untested by combat.



In January, it was embarrassed when one of its most advanced submarines was detected as it neared disputed islands known as the Senkaku in Japan and the Diaoyu in China. The attack submarine should never have been spotted.



The second aircraft carrier also appears to have experienced hiccups. Its first sea trials were announced in April and then inexplicably delayed. Not long after the trials went ahead in May, the general manager of China Shipbuilding was placed under investigation for serious violation of laws and discipline, the official Xinhua news agency reported, without elaborating.











Fiery Cross Reef in the South China Sea. The deployment of missiles on three man-made reefs in the disputed Spratly Islands  Subi, Mischief and Fiery Cross  has prompted protests from the White House.CreditDigitalGlobe, via Getty Images





Defending Its Claims



Chinas military advances have nonetheless emboldened the countrys leadership.



The state media declared the carrier Liaoning combat ready in the summer after it moved with six other warships through the Miyako Strait that splits Japans Ryukyu Islands and conducted its first flight operations in the Pacific.



The Liaonings battle group now routinely circles Taiwan. So do Chinese fighter jets and bombers.



Chinas new J-20 stealth fighter conducted its first training mission at sea in May, while its strategic bomber, the H-6, landed for the first time on Woody Island in the Paracels. From the airfield there or from those in the Spratly Islands, the bombers could strike all of Southeast Asia.



The recent Pentagon report noted that H-6 flights in the Pacific were intended to demonstrate the ability to strike American bases in Japan and South Korea, and as far away as Guam.



Competition is the American way of seeing it, said Li Jie, an analyst with the Chinese Naval Research Institute in Beijing. China is simply protecting its rights and its interests in the Pacific.



And Chinas interests are expanding.



In 2017, it opened its first overseas military base in Djibouti, on the Horn of Africa, saying that it will be used to support its participation in multinational antipiracy patrols off Somalia.



It now appears to be planning to acquire access to a network of ports and bases throughout the Indian Ocean. Though ostensibly commercial, these projects have laid the groundwork for a necklace of refueling and resupply arrangements that will facilitate Beijings long-range naval operations, according to a new report by C4ADS, a research organization in Washington.



They soon will be able, for example, to send a squadron of ships to somewhere, say in Africa, and have all the capabilities to make a landing in force to protect Chinese assets, said Vassily Kashin, an expert with the Institute of Far Eastern Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow.



The need was driven home in 2015 when Chinese warships evacuated 629 Chinese and 279 foreigners from Yemen when the countrys civil war raged in Aden, a southern port city.



One of the frigates involved in the rescue, the Linyi, was featured in a patriotic blockbuster film, Operation Red Sea.



The Chinese are going to be more present, Mr. Kashin added, and everyone has to get used to it.











Fighter jets on the Liaoning in the East China Sea in April.CreditAgence France-Presse  Getty Images







Olivia Mitchell Ryan and Claire Fu contributed research.Source: Xinhua| 2018-09-23 05:24:06|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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CHICAGO, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) -- Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) agricultural commodities closed higher over the trading week ending Sept. 21, as higher-than-expected weekly export sales and prospects for U.S. harvest delays sparked a round of short-covering.

The most active corn contract for December delivery rose 5.5 cents weekly, or 1.56 percent, to 3.5725 dollars per bushel. December wheat delivery went up 10.25 cents, or 2 percent, to 5.2175 dollars per bushel. November soybeans added 16.75 cents, or 2.02 percent, to 8.4725 dollars.

The U.S. and world corn markets have digested last week's bearish U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) report, and have begun a demand-driven recovery.

U.S. corn export sales are strong with sales 50 percent above last year. Argentine FOB (free on board) basis has rallied sharply as supplies dwindle and a 30 percent grain export tax is considered.

Elevated interior freight rates hinder Brazilian corn shipments. December futures is nearly unchanged from a year ago, while the funds' net short position reaches over 141,00 contracts.

EU feed operators continue to struggle for supply, while an outright culling of herds will be demanded in Australia. It's very important that USDA's U.S. corn yield is validated by harvest data.

The U.S. and world wheat futures rallied and have broken through a downtrend line that's been in place since early August on the daily charts. World cash markets are rising again, as evidenced by this week's Egyptian tender.

Most importantly, major exporter supplies continue to fall amid recent frost and freeze in Australia, and as little to no rain is offered to the Aussie wheat belt into October.

There are still massive tonnages of demand that needs to be filled and North America is in a supply position to capture the demand. Analysts maintain a bullish outlook and they are becoming confident in a coming boost in U.S. export demand.

Longer term, a close eye needs to be kept on deepening drought in Europe and parts of the Black Sea.

Soybean futures slipped to new contract lows in the first half of the week and rallied in the last half. November soybeans marked the first higher weekly close in since mid-August, and the best weekly close in four weeks.

Rallies were driven by rumors of export sales to Argentina, along with strength in the corn market. Midwest cash markets remain historically weak, and farmers remain very slow sellers at current prices.

The Commitment of Traders report showed that hedgers held a rare net long soybean position-the first since January. Spot soybeans have held in a broad range of 8.10 to 9.10 dollars per bushel since mid-July, and analysts look for this range bound to continue. Analysts expect U.S. farmers to store soybeans and sell the large forward carries.Source: Xinhua| 2018-09-23 06:04:10|Editor: zh

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A worker stands beside a container of Egyptian pavilion exhibits for the China International Import Expo, at Port Said in northeast Egypt Sept. 22, 2018. China's COSCO Company on Saturday started shipping the Egyptian pavilion exhibits for the China International Import Expo that will be held in Shanghai, east China, on Nov. 5-10. (Xinhua/Meng Tao)

PORT SAID, Egypt, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) -- China's COSCO Company started Saturday shipping the Egyptian pavilion for the China International Import Expo that will be held in Shanghai from Nov. 5 to 10.

"The first Egyptian container that will leave the Port Said port at 22:00 pm (2000 GMT) contains handicrafts, cotton textiles, furniture, medical equipment, industrial products, souvenirs, and raw materials," said Mohsen al-Mazahy, chairman of Port Said for Containers & Cargos Company.

The 25-day trip will pass through Singapore port before reaching China directly without stops, al-Mazahy told Xinhua.

"COSCO Shipping (Egypt) is an international transportation service provider recommended by China International Import Expo to transport the exhibits from Egypt to China," Xie Manding, general manager of COSCO said.

"We hope to help Egypt increase shipping exports and expand the scale of trade between China and Egypt," Xie told Xinhua.

COSCO will continue transporting all the exhibits in Egypt in the next few days, he said.

Al-Mazahy said COSCO is scheduled to transfer 13 containers weighing 120 tons from Egypt to the Shanghai Expo, and seven of them will leave on Saturday, while the other six will depart on Sunday.

He stressed that the shipping of Egyptian products to the Chinese fair by COSCO will increase the trade volume between Chinese ports and Port Said.

"COSCO Shipping (Egypt) now is the largest and the only Chinese shipping company in Egypt after the integration of COSCO and China Shipping lines in September 2016," said al-Mazahy, adding that the integration has boosted the value of the new COSCO line in the Egyptian market.

It the Port Said western port in 2017, the number of containers coming from China ranked the first, and the number of containers departing ranked the second, he said.

Meanwhile, China's exports and imports through all Egyptian ports ranked the second in the same year.

From June 2017 to July 2018, Port Said gained 800 million Egyptian pounds (44.72 million U.S. dollars) in revenues from bilateral imports and exports, said al-Mazahy, adding marble, food, phosphate and furniture were the most important exports for China.Source: Xinhua| 2018-09-23 06:24:13|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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HELSINKI, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) -- The vast archipelago off the Finnish southwestern city of Turku became on Saturday the scene of a major investigation into economic criminality.

A force of over one hundred police and coast guard personnel landed on several large island properties. The police presence will continue on Sunday, the police said.

The police refused to name the company, but confirmed large operation and apologized to local inhabitants for the inconvenience caused. The police established road blocks manned with machine guns.

Senior police inspector Markku Ranta-aho told local media that the "a Finnish company under foreign ownership" was suspected of aggravated money laundering and tax evasion.

Local media could easily identify the likely company as police operations could be observed.

There had been earlier media attention on the company. It has purchased real estate and carried out major construction projects, but its properties have been mainly idle and unoccupied.

It has built also large pier facilities. A permit has been given by Finnish authorities for an international helicopter landing pad for flights to and from Russia.

Finnish authorities on Saturday ordered a 20 times 30 kilometers wide no-fly-zone in the outer archipelago to avoid filming from the air.

Finnish media has reported earlier that many of the islands purchased are close to Finnish defense installations and border on key sea lanes.

Military sources told the newspaper Helsingin Sanomat, under the condition of anonymity, that the purchases near strategic locations were a major concern.

The police said late Saturday two persons had been arrested and seven questioned. The police did not give the nationalities, but said there were also foreigners involved.Source: Xinhua| 2018-09-23 06:29:14|Editor: zh

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LISBON, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) -- Hundreds of Portuguese marched in capital Lisbon on Saturday in protest against rising rents and house prices.

The protesters held high placards with words read "We want to live wherever we want," "Right to Housing," and shouted slogans while marching on the streets in downtown Lisbon.

Dozens of protesters also staged similar protest in Porto in the north of the country.

The protesters demand the Portuguese government draft new rules that regulate rents and end the house speculation

Today's meeting "aims to stop the situation of young people being unable to leave their parents' home", who can not find a room to rent, said Lita Rita Silva, from the Habita Association.

According to Rita Silva, today the housing problem is not limited to the city center and has already reached the periphery of the capital, where families live but they are being "cruelly and barbarously evicted."

Created in 2012, the Habita Association has been working with families being evicted from their homes and those who can not find the first dwelling.

Portugal has seen a booming tourism in recent years, causing the rising rents in the center of the cities and eviction of residents living there.Source: Xinhua| 2018-09-23 07:14:21|Editor: zh

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Children write mooncake messages during the Mid-Autumn Moon Family Festival event held at the Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA) in New York, the United States, Sept. 22, 2018. The Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA) in New York hosted its annual Mid-Autumn Moon Family Festival on Saturday, celebrating the upcoming Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival in a fun-filled way. (Xinhua/Wang Ying)

NEW YORK, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) -- The Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA) in New York hosted its annual Mid-Autumn Moon Family Festival on Saturday, celebrating the upcoming Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival in a fun-filled way.

Starting from 12:00 p.m., the four-hour festivity featured a variety of programs, including hands-on arts activities, an exploration on the ingredients necessary for making moon cakes, a taste of traditional moon cakes, interactive storytelling and performances inspired by Chinese folk tales.

Among the activities, a shadow puppet show telling the story of Moon Goddess Chang'e and her husband, archer Hou Yi, was the highlight, according to the organizer.

Naomi Rosen, 12, told Xinhua that the event has helped her learn more about Chinese culture.

The young but ardent fan of Chinese culture traveled more than one hour from the neighboring state of Connecticut in the company of her mother to attend the festivity, after they got the information online.

"Moon cake is one of my favorite food," said Rosen, while proudly showcasing her newly finished calligraphy work, with Chinese characters meaning "Mid-Autumn Festival" on it.

The number of visitors has been increasing in recent years since the museum initiated the celebration in 2009, according to the organizer.

Saturday's activity attracted more than 400 visitors.Source: Xinhua| 2018-09-23 07:19:22|Editor: Yurou

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HOUSTON, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) -- More than 1,200 Chinese and American audiences marveled at the performance of acrobatics and Chinese operas Friday night in Houston, the fourth largest city in the United States.

"Embrace China," namely 2018 China National Day Celebration Multi-Arts Show, was organized by the All-China Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese (AFROC).

Featuring acrobatic performances, traditional Chinese music, Chinese opera and others, the show received cheers and acclamation from the audience.

Before the show, Chinese Consul General in Houston Li Qiangmin addressed the audience that the "Embrace China" art troupe sent the blessings from the homeland to Houston, making the series of National Day-related activities in southern U.S. more colorful.

He expressed the hope that overseas Chinese communities would continue to play a unique role in supporting the reunification of motherland.

Xing Yanzhuang, head of the "Embrace China" art troupe, said that the aim of the show is to spread and promote traditional Chinese culture, as well as to strengthen the ties with overseas Chinese.

AFROC has carried out cultural exchanges and performances in areas where overseas Chinese have concentrated and have received a warm welcome from them, Xing said.| 2018-09-23 07:50:38|Editor: Chengcheng

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Zhou Xiaolin (L) and Zhou Biao shows harvested middle-season rice in Liutian Village of Xinjian District in Nanchang, east China's Jiangxi Province, Sept. 21, 2018. When every harvest season for middle-season rice begins in September, Zhou Xiaolin, a rice grower, and his son Zhou Biao will always offer help to other farmers with the harvest, because few families nearby own multiple farm machineries that suffice the workload. Born in Liutian Village, Zhou Xiaolin used to be a carpenter away from home. In 2005, he returned home to take on rice growing. Two years later, Zhou Xiaolin and Zhou Biao expanded the scale of their rice growing by contracting to take over the village's uncultivated croplands. To meet the increasing production demand, Zhou bought the first farm machine in the village. Currently, Zhou Xiaolin and Zhou Biao have nearly 50 hectares of farmland under cultivation in the village. Altogether they own two combine harvesters, two rice transplanters and a tractor, which have made production even more efficient. An increasing number of rice growers nearby have started to use Zhou Xiaolin's machines and services for a reasonable price. "We benefit from various government subsidies," says Zhou Biao, who has already worked with his father for eight years. "As a rice grower, you will feel the joy of harvest as long as you stick to it." (Xinhua/Peng Zhaozhi)Source: Xinhua| 2018-09-23 13:25:23|Editor: mmm

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Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi (L) shakes hands with Irwin Larocque, secretary-general of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), in Georgetown, Guyana, on Sept. 22, 2018. China is ready to enhance cooperation with the CARICOM in multilateral areas in order to better safeguard the rights and interests of developing countries, Wang Yi said here Saturday. (Xinhua/Fan Xiaolin)

GEORGETOWN, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) -- China is ready to enhance cooperation with the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) in multilateral areas in order to better safeguard the rights and interests of developing countries, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said here Saturday.

China shares CARICOM countries' position that multilateralism should be adhered to and the free trade system be actively upheld, said Wang during his meeting with Irwin Larocque, secretary-general of CARICOM whose secretariat is based in the Guyanese capital.

China attaches importance to CARICOM countries' concerns and legitimate needs regarding climate change, he said, adding that China is willing to continue to push forward the effective implementation of the Paris Agreement and to urge developed nations to fulfill their commitments.

China will, within its means, provide developing countries with assistance within the framework of South-South cooperation, he said.

Wang said that CARICOM, as a bloc of developing countries, is the most important integration organization in the Caribbean region and a banner under which regional countries are united for self-improvement.

Noting that both China and CARICOM member states are developing countries, he said that the two sides share extensive common interests and their cooperation represents a vital part of the broader cooperation between China and Latin America.

China appreciates efforts made by CARICOM countries and its secretary-general to advance the organization's cooperation with China, Wang said, adding that China is ready to make further efforts to build a community of a shared future for China and CARICOM on the basis of their comprehensive cooperative partnership.

Larocque said CARICOM speaks highly of China's important influence and leadership in international affairs such as the combat against climate change, and particularly appreciates China's positive role in promoting South-South cooperation and defending the rights and interests of developing countries, including CARICOM members.

Expressing thanks to China for its invaluable assistance to CARICOM countries hit by hurricanes last year, Larocque said CARICOM is pleased to see China and CARICOM members are constantly making progress in their cooperation in a wide range of areas.

CARICOM endorses the building of a community of a shared future for mankind and is ready to forge closer relations with China and deepen cooperation between the two sides, he said.

CARICOM also stands ready to strengthen coordination and cooperation with China on multilateral agendas and join hands with China to preserve the authority of multilateral institutions represented by the United Nations and the World Trade Organization and safeguard the overall interests of developing countries, he added.

Wang's visit to the CARICOM secretariat is the first made by a Chinese foreign minister.Source: Xinhua| 2018-09-23 13:30:24|Editor: zh

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TEHRAN, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- Iran summoned diplomats from Denmark, the Netherlands and Britain over the attack that claimed 29 lives during a military parade on Saturday in the southwest part of the Islamic republic.

According to Iran's official news agency IRNA, the diplomats from these three countries were summoned for "hosting some members of the terrorist group" that carried out the attack.

"It is not acceptable that the European Union does not blacklist members of these terrorist groups as long as they do not perpetrate a crime on ... European soil," Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi was quoted by IRNA as saying.

Iranian officials have accused the United States and its regional allies of involvement in the attack, for which the Islamic State militant group claimed responsibility later in the day.

"Iran holds regional terror sponsors and their U.S. masters accountable for such attacks," Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted, adding: "Iran will respond swiftly and decisively in defense of Iranian lives."

The attack took place in Iran's southwestern city of Ahvaz earlier Saturday when four armed men targeted a military parade marking the anniversary of the Iran-Iraq war in 1980-1988.Source: Xinhua| 2018-09-23 13:35:26|Editor: xuxin

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People tour Hawaii Volcanoes National Park in Hawaii, the United States, Sept. 22, 2018. Hawaii Volcanoes National Park located in the U.S. Pacific island state of Hawaii reopened Saturday morning after being closed for 134 days due to the eruption of Kilauea volcano. (Xinhua/Chen Bing)

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) -- Hawaii Volcanoes National Park located in the U.S. Pacific island state of Hawaii reopened Saturday morning after being closed for 134 days due to the eruption of Kilauea volcano.

"We are OPEN! Happy Welcome Back day and National Public Lands Day. It's a fee free day," the park wrote in a message posted on its official Facebook page.

Park officials reminded tourists to be patient to find a parking space because most parking lots near the summit are full.

"Tourists all rejoiced at the reopening of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. But some of them were still a little worried about the threat of Kilauea volcano," said Chen Bing, a local tour operator told Xinhua via Wechat.

"Some parts of the park remain off limits due to safety concerns," said Chen, adding that park officials are on duty to help tourists.

Kilauea volcano, one of the youngest and most active volcanoes in the world, had been erupting nearly continuously since early May, prompting the closure of two-thirds of the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. Lava from the volcano has destroyed hundreds of homes in the island and dramatically changed the landscape.

The cumulative expenditure loss to the tourism of Big Island inflicted by the Kilauea volcano eruption may turn out to be as high as approximately 200 million U.S. dollars, according to a study released last month by Mark Kimura, an affiliate faculty member of the Department of Geography and Environmental Science at the University of Hawaii at Hilo.Sport

Mitchells magic powers New Zealand into maiden T20 World Cup final

Chasing 166 for victory, New Zealand were in trouble at 13-2 and 107-4 when Jimmy Neesham turned the semi-final on its head with an 11-ball 27 to help achieve the target with one over to spare in Abu Dhabi.Source: Xinhuanet| 2018-09-23 16:36:49|Editor: Shi Yinglun

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Danish Minister for Environment and Food Jakob Ellemann-Jensen gives an exclusive interview to Xinhuanet in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 19, 2018. (Photo provided by the Royal Danish Embassy in Beijing)

BEIJING, Sept. 23 (Xinhuanet) -- Lifting millions of people out of poverty into a life where they have opportunities and real choices, that's the best thing that has happened to China in the past 40 years, Danish Minister for Environment and Food Jakob Ellemann-Jensen said during an exclusive interview with Xinhuanet.

The Minister spoke highly of China's achievements during the 40 years' reform and opening-up, saying "the development itself has been remarkable."

Asked what changes in China impress him the most, he pointed to China's achievements in poverty alleviation, saying it is probably the biggest effort that a country could do.

On the current bilateral relations, the Minister said Denmark and China have very good bilateral relations and a very strong partnership.

"One thing that is emphasized everywhere is that we are two countries that have a history that go way back."

"Denmark was among the first western countries to recognize the People's Republic of China," he said.

This year marks the 68th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Denmark and China.

It is also the 10th anniversary of China-Denmark comprehensive strategic partnership.

The Minister expects that Denmark and China will enhance cooperation in agriculture and environmental protection.

Denmark has had a substantial growth in agricultural production without risking the environment, he said.

While the agricultural production has increased, the negative effect on the environment declined by 30 percent, he elaborated.

"I hope this would be one of the areas where we could help make a difference in China," the Minister said.Source: Xinhua| 2018-09-23 16:40:58|Editor: xuxin

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TEHRAN, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- Iranian President Hassan Rouhani left Tehran on Sunday to attend the 73rd United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York.

Rouhani will deliver a speech at the UN General Assembly on Sept. 25.

During his four-day stay in New York, Rouhani is scheduled to hold talks with the remaining parties to the Iranian nuclear deal as well as the UN Secretary General.

He will also meet with Iranian expatriates living in the United States, as well as a number of world political officials.

The president, however, has no plan to attend the UN Security Council meeting in New York, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi said earlier.

On Sept. 5, it was announced that Rouhani will not meet U.S. President Donald Trump during the UN meeting despite Trump's readiness for such meeting.

The UN General Assembly comes amid heightened tensions between Tehran and Washington, which pulled out from the landmark 2015 Iranian nuclear deal in May and re-imposed sanctions on the Islamic republic.Source: Xinhua| 2018-09-23 17:31:05|Editor: Xiang Bo

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JERUSALEM, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- The Israeli authorities on Sunday informed residents of a West Bank Bedouin village that they must leave before Oct. 1 when their homes will be demolished.

Israel charges that the village of Al-Khan Al-Ahmar, where some 200 impoverished people live in shanty shacks and tents, was illegally constructed.

But Palestinians in the occupied West Bank say it is virtually impossible for them to obtain building permits from Israel.

On Sunday, the Israeli Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories said in a statement that a circular had been issued to the residents, requiring them to demolish their village "independently" by Oct. 1 or the Israeli authorities will do so.

Earlier in September, the Israeli Supreme Court rejected the villagers' appeal against the forced demolition.

The looming demolition sparked international criticism against Israel. European countries say the demolition constitutes a serious violation of human rights, urging Israel to cancel the decision.The photo taken on Sept. 17, 2018 shows a general view of the Bedouin community of Al-Khan Al-Ahmar, located between the West Bank city of Jericho and Jerusalem. (Xinhua/Mamoun Wazwaz)

JERUSALEM, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- The Israeli authorities on Sunday informed residents of a West Bank Bedouin village that they must leave before Oct. 1 when their homes will be demolished.

Israel charges that the village of Al-Khan Al-Ahmar, where some 200 impoverished people live in shanty shacks and tents, was illegally constructed.

But Palestinians in the occupied West Bank say it is virtually impossible for them to obtain building permits from Israel.

A boy walks to school at the Bedouin community of Al-Khan Al-Ahmar, located between the West Bank city of Jericho and Jerusalem, on Sept. 17, 2018. (Xinhua/Mamoun Wazwaz)

On Sunday, the Israeli Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories said in a statement that a circular had been issued to the residents, requiring them to demolish their village "independently" by Oct. 1 or the Israeli authorities will do so.

Earlier in September, the Israeli Supreme Court rejected the villagers' appeal against the forced demolition.

The looming demolition sparked international criticism against Israel. European countries say the demolition constitutes a serious violation of human rights, urging Israel to cancel the decision.Source: Xinhua| 2018-09-23 17:56:11|Editor: Xiang Bo

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DAR ES SALAAM, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- The death toll of a ferry that capsized in Lake Victoria on Thursday has reached 223 as search and rescue operations were to be halted later in the day, authorities said.

A total of 223 bodies have been recovered between Thursday and Sunday morning, Isack Kamwelwe, minister for Works, Transport and Communications, told Xinhua over phone.

"We are still searching for more bodies before we halt the recovery operations later today," said Kamwelwe, adding that the operations will be halted after the ferry was pulled out of the waters from one of Africa's great lakes.

A team of experts from the Tanzania People's Defense Forces (TPDF) and police force arrived at Ukara Islet, the scene of the accident, on Saturday night to pull out the ferry using state-of-the-art equipment from TPDF, said Kamwelwe.

He said that 199 out of the 223 bodies have been identified by relatives and collected for burial.

"Bodies that will not be identified will be buried today (Sunday) by the government at a ceremony to be officiated by Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa," said Kamwelwe.

One survivor, who was rescued on Saturday morning and identified by Kamwelwe as Alphonce Charahani, a ferry engineer who was among the passengers, was in critical condition and doctors are fighting to save his life.

On Friday, Tanzanian President John Magufuli announced a four-day mourning period for the victims of the ferry accident.

According to sources, the ferry, with a capacity of 101 passengers and 25 tons of cargo, capsized at around 1 p.m. local time (1000) Thursday.

Magufuli also ordered the arrest of safety inspectors from the Surface and Marine Transport Regulatory Authority, the country's transport regulator.

Preliminary investigations showed that the state-owned ferry, overloaded with more than 200 passengers, was being manned by someone who was not the authorized captain of the vessel.

The last major ferry accident on Lake Victoria occurred in 1996 in the same region, killing at least 500 people.Source: Xinhua| 2018-09-23 18:01:13|Editor: Xiang Bo

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RABAT, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- Morocco will launch its second high-resolution Earth observation satellite in November, a local news website reported Sunday.

The new satellite, the Mohammed VI-B, is due to be launched on an Arianespace launch vehicle from the Kourou Space Centre in French Guiana, Le360.ma news site cited official sources as saying.

The satellite has a panchromatic resolution of 50 cm, and is capable of taking more than 500 images a day and updating its data every six hours, the report said.

Apart from its surveillance and security advantages, the satellite is also useful for urban planning, agricultural monitoring, preventing and managing natural disasters, as well as monitoring changes in the environment and desertification.

The first Moroccan Earth observation satellite, the Mohammed VI-A, was successfully launched in late 2017, also by Arianespace.Source: Xinhua| 2018-09-23 18:26:24|Editor: Xiang Bo

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BEIJING, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- More than 470,000 people took China's first unified qualification exam for legal professionals Saturday, according to the Ministry of Justice.

The new exam expands the range of candidates, while the previous national judicial exam was only taken by those aiming to become judges, prosecutors, lawyers and notaries.

Starting this year, people aiming to become legal arbitrators and civil servants whose jobs are to review and deliver administrative penalties or offer legal advice are required to pass the new exam.

Also, it was the first time for all candidates to take the exam Saturday using computers, said the Ministry of Justice.

Eight visually impaired candidates applied for the exam this year, the ministry said, noting that they could take the exam with the help of a screen reading system.

Those who passed the test Saturday will be able to take the second phase of the exam on Oct. 20.Source: Xinhua| 2018-09-23 18:36:26|Editor: xuxin

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PARIS, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- France has strongly condemned the shooting attack on a military parade in the southwestern Iranian city of Ahvaz on Saturday, which killed at least 29 people and wounded scores, including civilians.

"We offer our condolences to the families of the victims as well as to the Iranian people," said Foreign Ministry spokesperson Agnes van der Muhll in a statement issued late on Saturday.

"We are following closely developments in the site in connection with our embassy in Tehran (for eventual French victims)," she added.

On Saturday morning, four armed men attacked a military parade marking the anniversary of the Iran-Iraq war in 1980-1988 in Ahvaz city.

Ahvaz National Resistance, an Iranian ethnic Arab opposition movement, and the Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack.Source: Xinhua| 2018-09-23 18:36:26|Editor: Lu Hui

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Visitors look at a new-generation carbon-fiber metro vehicle by CRRC at the "InnoTrans" railway industry trade fair in Berlin, Germany, on Sept. 18, 2018. (Xinhua/Shan Yuqi)

by Xinhua writers Zhu Sheng, Wang Huijuan

BERLIN, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- Chinese exhibitors have impressed Europeans at recent exhibitions held separately in Germany and Montenegro with sharp-edged and innovative products and services.

"China's role in the world is shifting from a follower to a leader" in industrial innovation, one of the exhibitors said, adding that Chinese manufacturers have become the first ones to apply brand new technologies now rather than only use mature technologies and products as they did in the past.

ACTIVE ATTENDEE

The number of Chinese exhibitors at InnoTrans, the railway industry trade fair, has been growing steadily for years, said Matthias Steckmann, senior vice president of the bi-annual fair, which was held on Sept. 18-21 in Berlin.

Around 180 Chinese exhibitors, with a total exhibiting area of more than 6,000 square meters, attended the fair, Steckmann told Xinhua, saying "This is reflected in the growing importance of China's mobility industry, not just at InnoTrans."

This year, 3,062 exhibitors from 61 countries and regions with more than 400 new products showed up at the Berlin Exhibition Grounds.

"We look forward to the Chinese mobility industry's growing participation in InnoTrans," Steckmann said.

Besides InnoTrans, more than 200 Chinese companies have attended the eight-day 67th IAA Commercial Vehicles starting from Thursday in the German city of Hanover.

The bi-annual trade fair draws 2,174 exhibitors from around 48 countries and regions. In total, exhibitors debut 435 global models for the commercial vehicle sector, a record figure for the IAA, on an area of 282,000 square meters.

With China as the partner country, the 40th Civil Engineering Fair opened on Wednesday at the ground of the Adriatic Fair, together with the 13th Water Supply Systems and Sanitary Technologies Fair and the 6th Energy Fair.

Seven Chinese companies, including the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) and the China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC), participated in these fairs.

Rajko Bujkovic, executive manager of the Adriatic Fair, told Xinhua that in regard to the partner country status, Chinese companies have greater visibility at the fair that represents a "business gate of Montenegro."

EYE-CATCHING HIGH TECH

Chinese companies not only have strong presence at European fairs, but also in European markets.

CRRC Zhuzhou Locomotive (CRRC ZELC), a China-based company in the rail industry, unveiled at InnoTrans the shunting locomotive specially customized for German rail service provider Deutsche Bahn (DB).

The locomotive will be delivered directly to Germany Hamburg depot after the fair.

"This is a typical green product with new technology, new material, new process and new structure," said Sun Yongcai, CEO of CRRC Corporation Limited, at the technology release conference of DB hybrid shunting locomotive.

In Hanover, Faw Jiefang Automotive Co. Ltd Wuxi Diesel Engine Works (FAWDE), a Chinese diesel engine manufacturer, and Stuttgart-based Mahle, one of the largest automotive parts supplier in the world, released the application of Mahle MonoLite piston on FAWDE ALL-WIN 6DM3 Engine, which is the first application of a laser welded steel piston worldwide.

China is an important market for diesel engine globally and the FAWDE is one of the market leaders, as well as an important partner, CEO of Mahle Joerg Stratmann said, on choosing the FAWDE as the first application partner of the new leading technology and product.

"Looking forward, we can really see an exciting future that we can achieve together with our joint forces," Stratmann added.

The CCECC finished the Kolasin-Kos railway rehabilitation project in Montenegro last year.

According to Zhu Tianran, general director of CCECC Montenegro Ltd., the company has strong presence in the international market in the field of railway construction, its core business, and in road construction. The company has also shouldered its social responsibilities in countries where they operate.

In Montenegro, besides providing products and services, Chinese projects also help boost employment in the long run.

Bujkovic explained that due to infrastructure projects such as Bar-Boljare highway, employment of Montenegrin companies as contractors enables them to employ their existing capacities as well as gain fresh know-how. In the meantime, Chinese high-quality products are distributed to the local market by Montenegrin companies.

"The CCECC aims to show its strength and experience, to expand its influence and to attract potential local partners, creating conditions for more participation in infrastructural projects in the Balkan area," Zhu said.

INCREASING COMPETITIVENESS

The technology and competitiveness of China's rail transit enterprises are constantly improving, said Wang Weidong, commercial counselor of the Chinese Embassy in Germany.

"Compared with developed countries, many rail transit products in China have (their) own advantages in technology and cost, and they have very strong competitiveness," Wang said at InnoTrans.

Chinese tech giant Huawei's CloudMetro solution, which recently passed rigorous testing by the European Advanced Networking Test Center (EANTC), shows itself to European visitors in Berlin.

"We evaluated a wide range of functions of Huawei's CloudMetro solution. We can confirm that Huawei's 5G transport series products are getting ready to meet the challenges of metro network cloudification. Huawei's support in the ultra-broadband sector, in slicing, in the evolution from MPLS to next-generation transport, and in the management and analysis functions is really great," said Carsten Rossenhoevel, CTO of EANTC.

On cooperation with Huawei, Soeren Link, mayor of Duisburg, said, "there have been lots of exciting projects during the process of working with Huawei which inspired us in our work. Duisburg already has a tight connection with China. Through the cooperation with Huawei, such partnership with China grows even stronger."

As the exhibition organizer, Bujkovic said that Chinese companies are highly competitive thanks to the technology they are offering, "which is far superior to that used in Montenegro, as well as in the global market."

"The potentials of Chinese companies are immense, while their opportunities are great, as they are already present at the market and additionally represent ongoing projects, which is a great opportunity for them to gain recommendation for future projects," said Bujkovic.

Meanwhile, representatives of Montenegrin companies see Chinese companies as reliable, experienced, competitive and technologically advanced.

Dragan Markovic, official of the public enterprise for coastal zone management, told Xinhua that his company invests millions of euros in infrastructural works and welcomes companies from all sides to compete.

"Chinese companies are already present at this market through the capital infrastructure projects they are engaged in, which are both of immense importance to them as well as their Montenegrin partners. They are also welcome to participate in smaller projects with their technology and know-how," Markovic said.

Momcilo Stojanovic, member of the award jury for the best presentation of the fair, told Xinhua that he saw Chinese companies as "highly professional."

"They are very serious and I am not surprised because of the comprehensive and fast expansion of the Chinese model of economy in Montenegro, Europe and the whole world," he said.

Speaking of the potentials for Chinese companies, he said that China is among the most technologically advanced countries in the world, and that the realization of projects of its companies in Montenegro is impressive.

(Xinhua reporters Zhai Wei, Zhang Yirong, Qiao Jihong, Xu Yang, Shi Zhongyu also contributed to the story)

(Video editors: Lian Zhen, Luo Hui)Source: Xinhua| 2018-09-23 18:41:28|Editor: xuxin

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CAIRO, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- An Egyptian court on Sunday sentenced the Supreme Guide of Muslim Brotherhood Mohamed Badie to life imprisonment over storming a police station in the Upper Egypt's province of Minya in 2013, state-run TV reported.

A total of 64 other members of the Islamic group were also handed life sentence, which is 25 years in jail in Egypt.

The case dates back to August 2013 when the defendants assaulted a police station and killed a policeman, after the army-led ouster of former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in respond to mass protests against his one-year rule.

The other 600 people charged in the same case were sentenced up to 15 years in prison.Source: Xinhua| 2018-09-23 19:11:34|Editor: mmm

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Passengers of train G99 pose for a group photo at Hongqiao Railway Station in Shanghai, east China, Sept. 23, 2018. Train G99, the first high-speed train from Shanghai to Hong Kong, left Hongqiao Station on Sunday for Hong Kong West Kowloon Station. (Xinhua/Chen Fei)

SHENZHEN, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- The Hong Kong section of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link (XRL) opened Sunday.

It now takes 14 to 19 minutes to travel between high-speed train stations of Shenzhen Futian and Hong Kong West Kowloon.

Bullet trains also departed Sunday from Beijing and Shanghai, to Hong Kong. The travel time is about 9 hours from Beijing to Hong Kong. It used to exceed 24 hours.

The length of China's high-speed rail network had totaled 25,000 kilometers by the end of 2017, the longest of its kind in the world.

"The XRL train has slashed my commuting time to one hour from three hours," said Alex Leung, a Hong Kong entrepreneur working in Shenzhen who is considering moving his office closer to Futian high-speed railway station.

Michael Chong is thinking the other way around.

"Quite a few Hong Kong people choose to work in Hong Kong and live in Shenzhen. There is no doubt that the XRL will bring more convenience," he said. "It might be possible for me to rent a spacious flat in Shenzhen again."

Chong, who works for a travel agency in Hong Kong, used to live in Shenzhen but the long commute forced him back to Hong Kong. "The XRL will cut travel time from Hong Kong to many inland tourist attractions, too," he said.

The high-speed trains depart every 10 minutes from stations on the XRL network. Most tickets for the Mid-Autumn Festival and the week-long National Day holiday have sold out since becoming available on Sept. 10.

Chong said that a number of Hong Kong residents had booked his travel agency's travel-inland packages by high-speed train in October.

The Chinese government resumed sovereignty over Hong Kong on July 1, 1997. A grand ceremony was held to mark the 20th anniversary of the return of Hong Kong to the motherland on July 1, 2017.

Last year, 241 million travels passed the Shenzhen port, a daily average of more than 662,000, according to the Shenzhen General Station of Exit and Entry Frontier Inspection.

Most travelers went for business, study, shopping or tourism.Source: Xinhua| 2018-09-23 19:21:37|Editor: xuxin

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ISTANBUL, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday that meeting with his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump during the 73rd United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York next week is not currently on the table.

"If a demand comes from Washington, we will evaluate it," Erdogan said in Istanbul, prior to his departure for New York.

The relationship between the two NATO allies has significantly deteriorated in recent years over a series of rifts, including the continued detention of a U.S. pastor in Turkey.

Meanwhile, Ankara accused Washington of providing arms to the Kurdish militia in Syria.

Erdogan is expected to address the UN assembly on Tuesday.

"In my speech, I will underline humanitarian crises and call for solutions to these problems which have been deeply hurting hearts," the Turkish president said.

"I will, in particular, draw attention to developments in Syria," he said, noting the biggest issue for the future of Syria is the terror swamp expanding in the east of the Euphrates.U.S. President Donald Trump and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan attend the start of the NATO summit in Brussels, Belgium on July 11, 2018. (Reuters File photo)

ISTANBUL, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday that meeting with his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump during the 73rd United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York next week is not currently on the table.

"If a demand comes from Washington, we will evaluate it," Erdogan said in Istanbul, prior to his departure for New York.

The relationship between the two NATO allies has significantly deteriorated in recent years over a series of rifts, including the continued detention of a U.S. pastor in Turkey.

Meanwhile, Ankara accused Washington of providing arms to the Kurdish militia in Syria.

Erdogan is expected to address the UN assembly on Tuesday.

"In my speech, I will underline humanitarian crises and call for solutions to these problems which have been deeply hurting hearts," the Turkish president said.

"I will, in particular, draw attention to developments in Syria," he said, noting the biggest issue for the future of Syria is the terror swamp expanding in the east of the Euphrates.Source: Xinhua| 2018-09-23 19:46:41|Editor: mmm

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NEW DELHI, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- A top commander of banned terrorist outfit "Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM)" was killed in an encounter with Indian security forces in Indian-controlled Kashmir on Sunday.

The militant was killed in a gunfight with the Indian security personnel on Sunday morning in Tral area of Indian-controlled Kashmir's Pulwama district.

His body has been recovered along with a weapon and other incriminating material.

The operation was launched by a joint team of Indian Army, police and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in the area following "credible inputs."Source: Xinhua| 2018-09-23 19:51:42|Editor: xuxin

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KUNDUZ, Afghanistan, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- At least four militants have been killed as security forces targeted Taliban hideouts in the northern Kunduz province on Sunday, army spokesman in the northern region Ghulam Hazrat Karimi said.

The security forces, according to the official, launched cleanup operations against Taliban insurgents in Aqtepa area of Qala-e-Zal district Sunday morning and so far four insurgents have been killed and three others injured.

He added the operations would last until the area is cleared of the insurgents.

Taliban militants who have gained ground and inflicted casualties on security forces in Qala-e-Zal district over the past couple of weeks have not commented on the report.Source: Xinhua| 2018-09-23 19:56:43|Editor: xuxin

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CAIRO, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- An Egyptian court on Sunday sentenced the Supreme Guide of Muslim Brotherhood Mohamed Badie to life imprisonment over storming a police station in the Upper Egypt's province of Minya in 2013, state-run TV reported.

A total of 64 other members of the Islamic group were also handed life sentence, which is 25 years in jail in Egypt.

The case dates back to August 2013 when the defendants assaulted a police station and killed a policeman, after the army-led ouster of former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in respond to mass protests against his one-year rule.

The other 600 people charged in the same case were sentenced up to 15 years in prison.

They were also found guilty of vandalism, attacking public property, possessing arms and joining illegal organizations, the court said.

Badie, spiritual guide of the Muslim Brotherhood, was handed death sentence for ordering the murder of 10 people in Cairo in 2013.

In January 2010, Badie was elected the Muslim Brotherhood's eighth chief since its foundation in 1928 after a bitter dispute between ideologically focused conservatives and reformists.

He also received two other life sentences in cases respectively related to espionage for a foreign country and violence.

Most Muslim Brotherhood's leaders, members and supporters, including Morsi himself, are currently jailed, many of whom have received appealable death and life sentences over various charges ranging from inciting violence and murder to espionage and jailbreak.

Morsi is currently serving a 20-year sentence for inciting deadly clashes between his supporters and opponents in late 2012, and a 25-year jail term for leaking classified documents to Qatar.Source: Xinhua| 2018-09-23 20:06:47|Editor: xuxin

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BEIRUT, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- Lebanese caretaker Energy Minister Cesar Abi Khalil said on Sunday that Germany's Siemens did not submit an offer to the Lebanese government to build power stations in Lebanon.

"We did not refuse an offer by Siemens to build power stations in Lebanon and the company did not submit such an offer as it was reported by the media," he was quoted as saying by Elnashra, an online independent newspaper.

"The only thing that has happened in this area is that Siemens made such a suggestion but it withdrew it later on," the minister added.

Abi Khalil's remarks came following an audio going viral online, which was recorded by lawmaker Yassin Jaber claiming that the government refused an offer by Siemens to build power stations in Lebanon to solve the electricity crisis.

Lack of electricity in Lebanon has been a problem for many years, as the government is incapable of generating the needed amount of power.

Successive governments failed over the years to build power stations to solve the electricity problem in Lebanon.

The government has resorted instead to supplying Lebanon with electricity from Turkish power barges docked off shore which cost more than producing it on land.Source: Xinhua| 2018-09-23 20:16:51|Editor: xuxin

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KAMPALA, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- Uganda's ministry of health on Sunday said there is no confirmed case of Ebola in the country although a case was registered on the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) border.

The ministry in a statement said it has received information from the World Health Organization that a case was registered at Kasenyi village on the shores of Lake Albert, which is shared with Uganda.

"The ministry of health would like to inform the general public that there is no confirmed case of Ebola in Uganda," the statement said.

The ministry warned that there is a high risk of the disease spreading to Uganda since there are population movements on the Lake to Uganda.

The statement said the ministry is working with partners to support districts neighboring DRC to heighten preparedness and readiness to handle any Ebola case that may come into the country.

The ministry said there is ongoing screening of people crossing from DRC for signs and symptoms of Ebola.

The Ebola virus is highly contagious and causes a range of symptoms including fever, vomiting, diarrhea, generalized pain or malaise and in many cases internal and external bleeding.

Mortality rates of Ebola fever, according to WHO, are extremely high, with the human case-fatality rate ranging from 50 percent to 89 percent, depending on viral sub-type.Source: Xinhua| 2018-09-23 20:21:53|Editor: xuxin

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DAR ES SALAAM, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- Tanzanian Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa said on Sunday police have arrested a number of people who were in relation to a ferry disaster killing over 220 people in Lake Victoria.

"Police have arrested a number of people for questioning following the grisly marine accident as investigations continue," said Majaliwa at the national burial of nine victims who were not identified by relatives. About 216 victims have already been identified by relatives and their bodies collected for burial.

The official made the remarks at Ukara Island where the nine were buried that he will soon announce names of members of an investigation team formed by the government.

On Friday, Tanzanian President Magufuli announced a four-day mourning period for the victims of the ferry accident.

According to sources, the ferry, with a capacity of 101 passengers and 25 tonnes of cargo, capsized at around 1 p.m. local time Thursday.

Magufuli also ordered the arrest of safety inspectors from the country's transport regulator, the Surface and Marine Transport Regulatory Authority.

Preliminary investigations showed that the state-owned ferry was overloaded with more than 200 passengers and was being manned by someone who was not the authorized captain of the vessel.

Isack Kamwelwe, the Minister for Works, Transport and Communication, said 225 bodies were recovered from the fateful ferry between Thursday and Sunday morning.

"We are still searching for more bodies before we halt the recovery operation later today," said Kamwelwe, adding that the recovery operation will be halted after the ferry was pulled out of the waters from one of Africa's great lakes.

A team of experts from the Tanzania People's Defence Forces (TPDF) and the police force arrived at Ukara Islet, the scene of the accident, on Saturday night to pull out the ferry using state-of-the-art equipment from TPDF, said Kamwelwe.

One survivor was rescued on Saturday morning from the ferry that capsized in Lake Victoria on Thursday afternoon.

Kamwelwe identified the survivor as Alphonce Charahani, a ferry engineer who was among the passengers, saying he was in critical condition and doctors are fighting to save his life.

The last major ferry accident on Lake Victoria occurred in 1996 in the same region, killing at least 500 people.Source: Xinhua| 2018-09-23 20:31:54|Editor: xuxin

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MAHMUD-E-RAQI, Afghanistan, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- Clashes between Afghan security forces and Taliban fighters have killed eight militants in the eastern Kapisa province on Sunday, a spokesman for the provincial government said.

Government forces backed by warplanes, according to spokesman Qais Qadiri, stormed Taliban positions in Tagab district early Sunday, triggering a gun battle, and the Taliban militants have lost ground after leaving eight bodies behind.

Speaking from the provincial capital Mahmud-e-Raqi, the spokesman said that the operation was continuing in the area without any casualties from the security forces.

Taliban militants are yet to make comment on the clash.Source: Xinhua| 2018-09-23 20:31:54|Editor: xuxin

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ALGIERS, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- The Algerian energy minister on Sunday urged global oil producers and consumers to maintain cooperation and permanent dialogue in pursuit of a stabilized market.

"It is in the interests of oil producers and consumers as well as all actors in the petroleum industry to build on their positive efforts to ensure a smooth transition so as not to destabilize the market," Mustapha Guitouni said in his address to the opening of the 10th OPEC and non-OPEC Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC) in the capital Algiers.

Co-chaired by Saudi Arabia and Russia, the JMMC consists of four OPEC member countries: Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Venezuela, as well as two non-OPEC member countries: Russia and Oman.

The commission is tasked with ensuring the achievement of the objectives of the Declaration of Algiers to reduce the annual oil outputs by 1.8 million barrels to range between 32.5 million to 33 million barrels per day in a bid to boost plunging prices.

The declaration came into effect on Jan. 1, 2017, and is expected to expire by the end of 2018.Muslim Brotherhood's leader Mohamed Badie shouts solgans against the Interior Ministry behind bars during the trial of 738 Brotherhood members for their armed sit-in at Rabaa square, at a court on the outskirts of Cairo, Egypt on May 31, 2016. (Reuters File photo)

CAIRO, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- An Egyptian court on Sunday sentenced the Supreme Guide of Muslim Brotherhood Mohamed Badie to life imprisonment over storming a police station in the Upper Egypt's province of Minya in 2013, state-run TV reported.

A total of 64 other members of the Islamic group were also handed life sentence, which is 25 years in jail in Egypt.

The case dates back to August 2013 when the defendants assaulted a police station and killed a policeman, after the army-led ouster of former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in respond to mass protests against his one-year rule.

The other 600 people charged in the same case were sentenced up to 15 years in prison.

They were also found guilty of vandalism, attacking public property, possessing arms and joining illegal organizations, the court said.

Badie, spiritual guide of the Muslim Brotherhood, was handed death sentence for ordering the murder of 10 people in Cairo in 2013.

In January 2010, Badie was elected the Muslim Brotherhood's eighth chief since its foundation in 1928 after a bitter dispute between ideologically focused conservatives and reformists.

He also received two other life sentences in cases respectively related to espionage for a foreign country and violence.

Most Muslim Brotherhood's leaders, members and supporters, including Morsi himself, are currently jailed, many of whom have received appealable death and life sentences over various charges ranging from inciting violence and murder to espionage and jailbreak.

Morsi is currently serving a 20-year sentence for inciting deadly clashes between his supporters and opponents in late 2012, and a 25-year jail term for leaking classified documents to Qatar.Zambian President Edgar Lungu (R, front) attends the groundbreaking ceremony of the Kafulafuta water supply system project in the Copperbelt Province, Zambia, on Sept. 21, 2018. (Xinhua/Wang Yaomin)

LUSAKA, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- Zambia has launched a massive water project aimed at improving access to clean and safe drinking water to some towns in the Copperbelt Province.

The Kafulafuta water supply system project involves the construction of a dam and other infrastructures for the supply of water to some districts in the province.

It also includes the construction of two pump stations, raw water pipelines to four treatment plants as well as the extension of the pipe network to un-serviced areas and repairing of old leaking pipes.

The multi-purpose dam will hold about 125 million cubic meters of water to benefit about 1 million people.

It will be undertaken by China National Complete Engineering Corporation.

Zambian President Edgar Lungu, who attended the groundbreaking ceremony on Friday, said the launch of the project demonstrates government's desire to increase access to clean water and sanitation in line with the country's Vision 2030.

He further said the project also demonstrates government's commitment to provide universal access to safe and clean drinking water to all people by 2030 in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Water, he said, was vital for the socio-economic development of the country, hence his government's commitment to come up with various interventions to improve water supply.

The Zambian leader said it was painful to see women and girls walking long distances in search of water, adding that the launch of the project will ease the problem of access to water in the affected districts.

Lungu said the project, which will cost 449 million U.S. dollars, will not only increase access to clean water and sanitation but will also create jobs for local people.

About 6,000 jobs will be created during the construction stage of the project, he added.

The Zambian leader thanked China for supporting the project, adding that China has proved to be an all-weather partner in Zambia's development.

Chinese Ambassador to Zambia Li Jie congratulated Zambia for the project, saying water was vital to the socio-economic development of any country.

The Chinese envoy said many Chinese enterprises were implementing a number of livelihood and infrastructure projects in Zambia and thanked the government for the strong and continuous support to the projects and investments implemented by Chinese firms.

According to him, the two countries enjoy a time-honored history of cooperation in the area of public health and hygiene.

"The construction and operation of these livelihood projects will help Zambia alleviate the challenge of insufficient public facilities, elevate the level of Zambia public health services and provide a strong guarantee for the socio-economic development of Zambia," he said.

He said the relation between two countries has blossomed over the years and hoped that the relation will take another level following the holding of the 2018 Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) Beijing summit.Source: Xinhua| 2018-09-23 21:01:59|Editor: xuxin

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NEW DELHI, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- WhatsApp, the famous social media platform in India, has appointed Komal Lahiri as the grievance officer for the country, and also detailed out the process for users to flag their concerns and complaints over fake news, media reported on Sunday.

The appointment assumes significance as the Supreme Court of India agreed last month to examine a petition alleging that WhatsApp does not comply with Indian laws, including the provision for appointing a grievance officer.

The country's apex court had sought a reply on the matter within four weeks.

Only a few days ago, WhatsApp restricted message forwards to five chats at a time, and also removed the quick forward button placed next to media messages to discourage mass forwarding. It has also introduced a 'forward' label to help users identify such messages.

There have been reports in Indian media about spread of fake news by disgruntled elements through Whatsapp messages and forwards which eventually led to communal and political tensions and clashes.

Following such reports, the Indian government had put up a demand on WhatsApp to curb such fake messages which at times triggered mob killings.

According to business news portal livemint.com, the Facebook-owned company has updated its website to reflect the appointment of a 'grievance officer for India,' and mentioned that users can seek help through the mobile app, send an email or write in to Komal Lahiri, who is based out of the U.S.

India is said to be WhatsApp's biggest market with more than 200 million users.Source: Xinhua| 2018-09-23 21:01:59|Editor: xuxin

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ATHENS, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- Greece is about to lift all restrictions to cash withdrawals within the country in the coming days and abolish its capital controls altogether by early 2019 at the latest, according to a report in local newspaper "Kathimerini" (Daily) on Sunday.

The country's finance ministry and central bank are reportedly planning to put an end to limits on cash withdrawals from Greek banks domestically. There currently is a ceiling of 5,000 euros (5,880 U.S. dollars) per month per bank account.

Another immediate intervention will concern the lifting of all restrictions to money transfers abroad, both for individuals and for companies, the report said.

This will be followed by the end of 2018 or early next year at the latest by the complete lifting of the capital controls, barring any unforeseeable circumstances, so as to help the banking system and the economy in general revert to normality, noted Kathimerini.

Deposits have been trickling back into the Greek credit system to reach up to 130.24 billion euros in end-July, up 7.4 percent on a year earlier, according to central bank figures.

Capital controls were introduced in Greece in the summer of 2015 after the government called a referendum regarding the terms of a third bailout agreement with Greece's eurozone peers. The bailout program was concluded last month. (1 euro = 1.176 U.S. dollars)Source: Xinhua| 2018-09-23 21:37:03|Editor: xuxin

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by Xinhua writer Gu Zhenqiu

LONDON, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- No major consensus on Brexit so far and rising voices calling for a second referendum in Britain -- that is the hard reality, which mirrors a political chaos in the United Kingdom and cannot be sidestepped by the ruling Conservative Party and opposition Labour Party when they meet at their separate annual conferences over the country's major political issues.

Brexit creates uncertainty for Britain, and the divorce from the European Union (EU) will certainly be high on the conference agenda of the two main political parties.

Labour's annual conference kicked off on Sunday in the British port city of Liverpool and the Conservative Party is to start its annual gathering on Sept. 30 in Birmingham.

As far as Brexit is concerned, deal or no deal is a big question. At the same time, hard Brexit or soft Brexit, is not a small issue, either.

British Prime Minister Theresa May is being warned by her cabinet colleagues that a shift toward a harder Brexit will hasten the break-up of the United Kingdom, amid a renewed attempt by Brexiteers to secure a clear split from the EU.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn on Sunday said that he will support the idea of a second referendum if his party voted for it at this week's annual party conference. He pledged Saturday to join Tory rebels and shut down May's Chequers deal to force the prime minister into a general election.

Britain is due to leave the EU in March 2019, raising extensive concerns both at home and in mainland European on the country's uncertain political and economic future with its biggest economic and political union realignment in more than four decades. Most people are fearing that Brexit will hurt British economy and send Britons worse off.

May failed to persuade EU leaders to back the Chequers Plan, which was hammered out in early July and attacked by her critics both in cabinet and parliament, at an informal EU summit in Salzburg. Her efforts in the Austrian city were widely seen in Britain as a diplomatic humiliation.

Donald Tusk, the European Council president, surprised the fighting prime minister that her Chequers plan would "not work." The prime minister, after seeing EU leaders turning against her compromise, said: "We are at an impasse." Tusk's rejection of the Chequers plan has created a political problem for the prime minister ahead of the Conservative Party conference.

At home, both leavers and remainers found her Chequers proposal for a soft Brexit unacceptable. Some critics said that the controversial Chequers plan will leave Britain "half in, half out" of the EU.

To the British government's surprise, the Chequers proposal did not bring the Conservative Party together. Instead, it saw most of Tory rebels and Labour members at the parliament even united in a bid to kill the compromise deal.

Those who wanted to terminate the Chequers plan called for Plan B, but nobody can come forward with this kind of new plan. The exit plans are far from consensus, any finalised proposals should be accepted by all political factions in the country.

At the Conservative Party conference last year, almost everything that could go wrong did go wrong for the prime minister.

There will be surely no easy job for the prime minister at the party conference this year as the pressure is being built on her over Brexit. As the clock ticks down toward the exit deadline, more and more British people find Brexit is not as simple and easy as they thought two years ago.

May promised repeatedly that her government will deliver Brexit, but the questions remain almost unchanged over the past two years: what and how?Source: Xinhua| 2018-09-23 21:47:06|Editor: xuxin

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CAPE TOWN, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- President Cyril Ramaphosa will take advantage of the upcoming UN General Assembly to outline the South African government's policy towards the land reform which has sparked a debate at home and abroad, the Presidency said on Sunday.

Ramaphosa is expected to reiterate that the land reform pursued by the South African government is aimed at fostering greater stability, inclusiveness and transformation within the South African economy, the Presidency said as Ramaphosa arrived in New York to attend the 73rd Session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA73).

This year's session will mark Ramaphosa's inaugural participation at the UNGA as Head of State and Government.

Ramaphosa will participate in the annual General Debate which is the occasion for world leaders to gather at UN Headquarters to discuss global issues.

The UNGA73, scheduled for September 25-27, is themed "Making the United Nations relevant to all people: global leadership and shared responsibilities for peaceful equitable and sustainable societies."

Since Ramaphosa took power in February this year, the South African government has accelerated the land reform program, characterized by expropriation of land without compensation, giving rise to concerns at home and abroad.

The AfriForum, a civil group representing South Africa's white farmers, has launched an international campaign to get Ramaphosa to stop the controversial land reform.

In a tweet posted on August 22, U.S. President Donald Trump criticized the South African government for "seizing land from white farmers." Trump said he had asked his Secretary of State Michael Pompeo to closely study the South African land seizures and expropriation, and the large-scale killing of farmers. Trump's remarks sparked a diplomatic spat between the two countries.

There have been speculations that the United States might impose sanctions on South Africa for its land reform.

But some Western countries such as Britain and Belgium have voiced support for South Africa's land reform if it is carried out in a legal and transparent way.

Ramaphosa said earlier his government was ready to discuss its land reform plans with any country.

South Africa has to keep educating those who were interested in the country's affairs, but who might not understand the country's history and processes, said Ramaphosa.

The president has repeatedly said his government would carry out the land reform in light with the Constitution and rule of law, in a way that will strengthen the property rights of all South Africans and is not detrimental to the economy.Source: Xinhua| 2018-09-23 21:57:08|Editor: mmm

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MOSCOW, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- The shopping list of many Chinese families during the upcoming Mid-Autumn Festival and the National Day holidays might possibly include jewelry. This translates as "precious opportunities" for Russian state-owned diamond miner Alrosa.

"We pin high hopes on the Chinese market," said Sergei Ivanov, CEO of Alrosa, which last year did a survey showing that 86 percent of the Chinese respondents planned to buy at least one diamond ornament this year.

Chinese families are ascending the financial ladder and have an increasing desire for jewelry and other high-end products, according to him.

Alrosa, the world's leading diamond miner, has established long-term partnerships with six major Chinese jewelry dealers and its sales revenue grew 18 percent year on year in 2017, Ivanov said.

"We expect more cooperation with Chinese partners as we have high-quality Russian diamonds and excellent cutting expertise," he said, adding that last year Alrosa and Chinese partners experimented with making payments in ruble, which significantly simplified the transaction process.

Russia's largest petrochemicals company SIBUR also sees great potential in cooperation with China, according to its chairman of the management board, Dmitry Konov.

The two countries are highly complementary in oil and gas production and processing, and China needs an increasing amount of oil and gas supply alongside their other by-products, he said.

Konov also noted that China is replacing coal with natural gas and the petrochemical industry is a pillar of China's economy.

"SIBUR is determined to establish long-term partnership with Chinese counterparts as we see broad prospects," he said.

The Belt and Road Initiative proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping will help improve logistics routes in Eurasia and SIBUR has set up factories and a logistics center along the Silk Road Economic Belt, said Konov.

About 90 percent of SIBUR's products are shipped by train and the company keeps a close eye on the railway development, he said, hoping that Russian exports of petrochemicals to China will significantly grow after the transportation infrastructure is overhauled.

Russia's Far East urgently needs construction or modernization of railways, highways and bridges, and Chinese enterprises can actively participate in it, said Zhang Zongyan, president of China Railway Group Limited (CREC).

During the fourth Eastern Economic Forum in Russia's Vladivostok earlier this month, representatives of CREC, the Russian Ministry of Transport, the Ministry for the Development of the Russian Far East, Russian Railways and Vnesheconombank discussed cooperation in infrastructure, logistics and investment.

Zhang said China Railway Eryuan Engineering Group, a subsidiary of CREC, has completed the compiling of all the design documents of the Moscow-Kazan high-speed railway and submitted them to the Russian side for review.

China and Russia are at different stages of infrastructure development with different technologies, expertise and industries. This in turn opens room for added cooperation between enterprises of the two countries, Zhang said.

Chinese and Russian enterprises are also planning to build a cableway for tourists over the Heilongjiang River, known as the Amur River in Russia, which separates Russia's Far East with China's northern Heilongjiang Province.

Vasily Orlov, acting governor of Russia's Amur Region, said he hopes the project will proceed rapidly and he expects a surge in the number of tourists by the completion of the cableway and consequent economic prosperity across the border.

Firms of both countries are gearing up to strengthen cooperation as Xi and Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed their firm determination to promote bilateral ties at a meeting in Vladivostok earlier this month.

"The close cooperation with China is very important for Russia. It is important for us to explore the Chinese market and proactively participate in the Belt and Road Initiative," said Andrei Ostrovsky, deputy director of the Institute of Far Eastern Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

He said Russia, by riding on the Chinese initiative, will be able to better improve its infrastructure, especially in the Far East, which will in turn create better conditions for the bilateral economic and trade cooperation in the long run.Source: Xinhua| 2018-09-23 22:07:09|Editor: xuxin

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MANILA, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- Around 78 percent of Philippine people were satisfied with the current administration's campaign against illegal drugs, a poll released on Sunday said.

A nationwide survey by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) conducted on June 27-30 asked 1,200 Filipinos to respond to their views on the campaign against illegal drugs, finding 78 percent were satisfied while 13 percent were dissatisfied with it.

Nine percent of the respondents said they were undecided on the matter.

The survey institution said these data yielded a net satisfaction rating of 65, which came from the satisfaction rating minus dissatisfaction rating. And the number classified by SWS as "very good."

The latest SWS data showed the satisfaction rating was 3 percent higher from this March's survey with the government's campaign against illegal drugs.

Philippine President Rodrigo Roa Duterte launched the anti-drug crackdown after he took office in June 2016 to wipe out the drug trade in the country.

Data from the Philippine government showed that 4,354 suspects have died in the Duterte administration's war on drugs compared to 147,802 that have been arrested in 102,630 anti-drug operations conducted from July 1, 2016 to June 30, 2018.

Although criticized by some foreign and local politicians, Duterte said he would continue and intensify his administration's war on illegal drugs.Source: Xinhua| 2018-09-23 22:22:12|Editor: mmm

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GUANGZHOU, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- The first high-speed train set off on its maiden trip from China's southern boomtown of Shenzhen to Hong Kong at 6:44 a.m. Sunday.

The bullet train G5711 with 613 seats traveled 19 minutes from Shenzhenbei railway station to Hong Kong's West Kowloon Station. Tickets were booked up weeks ago on the release day.

The trip marks the full opening of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link (XRL), stretching 141 km connecting the three cities. Part of the expansive 25,000-km rail network on the mainland, the XRL also links Hong Kong with 44 mainland destinations.

"It's so fast," said Zhong Fangzhen, onboard the train with her six-year-old son. Zhong said the trip was a gift for her son's birthday.

Two minutes after departure, the train sped up to 177 km per hour. The train is designed to travel at 200 km/h in the 26-km Hong Kong section, and 300 km/h in the Guangzhou-Shenzhen section.

Many passengers on board took out their phones to take pictures and record the trip. Some live broadcast the experience online.

In the past, it took about two hours to travel from Guangzhou to Hong Kong by intercity line. Now, the time is cut to 47 minutes on the XRL.

Zhang Yan, a passenger working at a foreign-funded enterprise in Shenzhen, said she was excited about the new line. Zhang often takes her son to Hong Kong Disneyland in her spare time. With XLR, it only took her family 14 minutes to travel from Shenzhen's Futian station to West Kowloon.

Feng Yan, a high-speed train fan, added the train ticket to his own collection. Over the years, Yan has collected dozens of tickets from various maiden trips made by bullet trains on different lines.

"Now we can take a direct express train to Hong Kong and go through checks of both sides at one place. These new changes make this a unique trip," Feng said.

At West Kowloon Station, passengers took about 10 minutes to go through checks.

In 2017, 241 million travelers passed the Shenzhen port, or a daily average of more than 662,000, according to the Shenzhen General Station of Exit and Entry Frontier Inspection.

"The opening of XRL will facilitate personnel exchange between the mainland and Hong Kong, and enable faster logistics and more convenient trade along the railway routes," said Chen Xiaomei, spokesperson for China Railway Guangzhou Group Co., Ltd.Source: Xinhua| 2018-09-23 22:32:14|Editor: yan

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ADEN, Yemen, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- Unknown gunmen opened fire and shot dead an official of Yemen's Education Ministry in the southern port city of Aden on Sunday, a security official told Xinhua.

The security official, who asked to remain anonymous, said that "masked gunmen assassinated Ramzi Sagheer, Director of a private school and a member of the education department in Aden province."

The source said that the assailants targeted Ramzi with a barrage of bullets fired from silenced weapons while he was leaving his own private school in Mansourah district of Aden.

"Ramzi was an active official in the educational field and participated in many campaigns about the importance of teaching women in Yemen," the security source said.

Members of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) arrived at the scene and launched an investigation.

No claim of responsibility for the assassination incident was immediately made.

However, police sources in Aden blamed militants of the Yemen-based al-Qaida branch (AQAP) and the Islamic State group for being behind such attacks.

Considered Yemen's temporary capital, Aden is where the Saudi-backed government has been based since 2015.

For the past two years, the AQAP and other extremist groups have been active in southern Yemen.

The impoverished Arab country has been locked into a civil war since late 2014, when the Shiite 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 intervened in Yemen in 2015 to support the government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi after Houthi rebels forced him into exile.

The United Nations has listed Yemen as the country of the world's most serious humanitarian crisis, where 7 million Yemenis are on the brink of famine and cholera has caused more than 2,300 deaths.Source: Xinhua| 2018-09-23 22:32:15|Editor: yan

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BEIJING, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- Shi Xiaogang, a farmer in the city of Panjing, northeast China's Liaoning Province, found the arrival of a new festival for hundreds of millions of Chinese farmers like him a real surprise.

In fact, he almost forgot to celebrate the country's first harvest festival, since brisk crab trade had been keeping him busy at his farm in Huangdi village.

"Holidays are my workaholic days, and I almost forgot that today is the harvest festival for farmers," he said.

The festival was created in June to honor the nation's farmers. It falls on the Autumn Equinox each year during the country's most important harvest season.

Shi runs 26 hectares of rice-crab polyculture fields and expects a 30-tonne output of crabs this year. Daily sales are expected to exceed 500 kg for the upcoming mid-Autumn and National Day holidays, and Shi is getting only three hours' sleep.

But he has good reason to celebrate. Off to a bumpy start in 2008, his crab business now enjoys a good market for high-quality farm produce.

Most Chinese farmers joined Shi in marking the first harvest festival which fell on Sunday. Farmers are diligent and optimistic for the future. This year's event is special because 2018 is the start of the government's new rural vitalization strategy.

The strategy was put forward at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) last year to resolve issues concerning agriculture, the countryside and farmers, and the festival is a good way to promote it.

"A good environment should be fostered to support the development of agriculture, rural areas and to care about the wellbeing of farmers," said Vice Premier Hu Chunhua while attending activities in Beijing Sunday to celebrate the festival. Hu also called for a strong synergy to implement the rural vitalization strategy and win the battle against poverty.

China has seen rapid progress in industrialization and urbanization since the country began reform and opening-up drive 40 years ago and become the second largest economy in the world. The country, however, is still a large agricultural country and a developing one, with rural residents accounting for the majority of its population.

With only 7 percent of the world's arable land, China manages to feed 20 percent of the planet's people, thanks to hard-working Chinese farmers like Shi.

The CPC has worked to ensure that agriculture is an absolute priority, as it is an essential foundation for ruling the country, and for the people's security.

In terms of food security, China is doing more to ensure the supply of certain farm produce. For instance, planting of soybean and peanuts expanded by over 666,000 hectares this year to reduce reliance of imports.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs forecasts steady output. China is expected to embrace its 15th bumper harvest in a row this year.

"Annual grain production will remain above 600 million tonnes and the inventory is abundant," said Pan Wenbo, a ministry official. "We have firm control over our own food supply."Source: Xinhua| 2018-09-23 23:07:23|Editor: yan

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ALGIERS, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak on Sunday accused the United States of destabilizing the global oil market, urging for wider cooperation between OPEC and non-OPEC producers to reach long-term stability.

"The sanctions and the trade wars imposed by some powers will have an impact on the global economy and therefore on the oil market," Novak said in his opening notes at the 10th OPEC and non-OPEC Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC) in Algiers.

The Russian minister was referring to the sanctions imposed by the United States on Iran, a key oil producer, while "the trade wars" were referring to the ongoing trade conflict between the United States and China.

Novak also said that when the production cut-off agreement reached in Algiers in 2016 expires at the end of 2018, "it will be necessary to think carefully to expand our cooperation to meet the rising challenges we face today and in the future."

"While oil markets are, for the moment, better off for both consumers and producers, we still have to avoid challenges that affect both parties," he said.

"All market stakeholders, either producers or consumers, are expecting from us to consolidate our solidarity and the approach we have created in order to maintain a long-term global market balance," the minister concluded.

The JMMC, co-chaired by Saudi Arabia and Russia, comprises four OPEC member countries, namely Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Venezuela, and two non-OPEC member countries, namely Russia and Oman.

It aims to ensure the achievement of the objectives of the Declaration of Algiers on reducing oil outputs by 1.8 million barrels a day to adjust production in the range of 32.5 to 33 million barrels per day to boost plunging prices.

Algiers meeting is expected to extend the 2016 agreement to an additional period to maintain prices at the current level.Source: Xinhua| 2018-09-23 23:32:30|Editor: yan

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DUBAI, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- A renowned professor suggested here on Sunday fostering local talents and boosting researches are key to realize the energy innovation in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Donald Sadoway, professor of materials at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, United States, said at the ongoing EmTech Middle East and North Africa conference that to build a power system based on sustainable and clean energy, the UAE shall establish a homegrown pool of experts to develop energy storage solutions which fulfill the Gulf state's needs.

He said the UAE shall pledge for a "research paradigm shift based on cost-informed discovery," which means finding solutions customized for specific needs in a country by its own people, rather than importing research and development from abroad.

Sadoway urged universities and research laboratories to not only look after the best talents and experts, but also "give the newcomers a chance."

"In my faculty, I hire young people with fresh minds and a high degree of motivation," he said.

The UAE, a major oil supplier with 99 percent of domestic energy needs based on oil and gas, aims to increase the share of clean energy from near zero three years ago to 50 percent by 2050.

And 44 percent shall be based on renewable energy, while six percent will be nuclear energy, according to the UAE Ministry of Energy in Abu Dhabi.

Several Western and Asian firms have set up research projects to support local talents and research efforts in the UAE, including Germany's Siemens, U.S. Boeing and China's Huawei.Source: Xinhua| 2018-09-24 00:02:35|Editor: yan

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JERUSALEM, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- The Israeli military on Sunday rejected the findings presented by the Russian Defense Ministry which accused the Jewish state of direct responsibility for downing the Russian plane in Syria.

The Israeli statement was issued a few hours after the Russian Defense Ministry presented its latest findings on the accident in Latakia last Monday, accusing the Israeli military of "criminal negligence."

Chief spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry, Igor Konashenkov, said in a press briefing that Israel provided false information and used the Ilyushin Il-20 reconnaissance aircraft as a "shield" against the Syrian air defense system missiles.

The plane with 15 people on board was mistakenly downed by a Syrian missile, when Israel was conducting an airstrike on Syria's Latakia province at the same time.

"We believe that the Israeli Air Force and those who were making decisions about these actions are fully to blame for the tragedy that happened to the Russian plane," Konashenkov told reporters.

In the Israeli response, issued by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), the military charged that the "IAF (Israel Air Force) did not hide behind any aircraft and the Israeli aircraft were in Israeli airspace at the time of the downing of the Russian plane."

The military said it will not stop its attacks against Iranian targets in Syria. "IDF will continue to operate in accordance with the directives of the Israeli government against Iran's incessant attempts to establish itself in Syria and arm Hezbollah with lethal and accurate weapons," the statement read.

The military also stressed the importance of the continuation of the coordination between the Russian and Israeli armies' moves in Syria.

Israel and Russia have a so-called "deconfliction mechanism" operated over the past years to avoid firing on each other forces in Syria.

An Israeli military delegation led by air force chief Amikam Norkin returned to Israel on Friday, after presenting detailed findings from its probe into the incident, including classified materials, to senior Russian military officers in Moscow. Israel hoped the delegation would convince the Russians that it was not responsible for the accident.

Israel has carried out some 200 airstrikes over the last 18 months, claiming that the attacks were aimed to prevent Iranian weapons convoys and stop Iran from establishing a military foothold in Syria.Source: Xinhua| 2018-09-24 00:47:42|Editor: yan

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ALGIERS, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- Saudi Arabia's Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih on Sunday said no agreement was reached on raising oil production during a meeting here on oil sector.

"There is no agreement to raise production, and oil prices at 80 U.S. dollars per barrel would be better off for both producers and consumers," Falih told reporters on the sidelines of the 10th OPEC and non-OPEC Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC) held in Algiers, capital of Algeria.

Falih said he is confident that the oil supply will be adequate by "taking appropriate actions in the long term."

Algerian Energy Minister Mustapha Guitouni told reporters that increasing oil outputs is not on the agenda of the meeting. Instead, it will be discussed "during the OPEC meeting in December in Vienna."

Suhail Mohamed Al Mazroui, Emirati energy minister and OPEC conference president, said that OPEC "is not a political organization and does not succumb to political pressures," referring to recent statements by the U.S. President Donald Trump who urged the OPEC to raise oil production.

Mazroui stressed that OPEC's top mission is not to push towards raising or lowering oil prices, but to keep a balanced market.

The JMMC, co-chaired by Saudi Arabia and Russia, comprises four OPEC member countries, namely Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Venezuela, and two non-OPEC member countries, Russia and Oman.

It aims to ensure the achievement of the objectives of the Declaration of Algiers on reducing oil outputs by 1.8 million barrels a day to adjust production in the range of 32.5 to 33 million barrels per day to boost plunging prices.

Algiers meeting is expected to extend the 2016 agreement, which was reached in Algiers to cut oil output and will expire at the end of 2018, to an additional period to maintain prices at the current level.Source: Xinhua| 2018-09-24 01:02:46|Editor: yan

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AMMAN, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- Jordan on Sunday launched an investment fund worth 98 million U.S. dollars to support startups.

Prime Minister Omar Razzaz said the fund, which is co-financed by the Central Bank of Jordan and the World Bank, seeks to improve the business climate in Jordan.

"Focusing on supporting entrepreneurs will help realize development in Jordan and create jobs," said the prime minister during an event to launch the fund.

He added that out of the most important 100 companies in the Arab world, 21 are Jordanian companies.

The fund, he said, will help provide necessary funding for the projects and make available necessary credit.

He added that it will help create jobs for Jordanians in light of unemployment in the country.

Central Bank Governor Ziad Fariz said the fund will help enhance financial inclusion in the kingdom.

He added that the central bank will continue to extend such support to small and medium sized projects.Israeli military rejects Russia's accusation that Israel had provided false information and used Russia's Ilyushin Il-20 reconnaissance plane as a "shield" against the Syrian air defense missiles.

The plane was downed during Israeli airstrike on Syria's Latakia province. All the 15 on board died.

Source: Xinhua| 2018-09-24 03:38:09|Editor: yan

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BEIRUT, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- Lebanon's security forces had thwarted the smuggling of Syrian refugees by sea to Cyprus, a security source told Xinhua on Sunday.

The source said the incident happened a few days ago. Members of the network involved in the smuggling were arrested. Owner of one of the boats and 25 Syrian refugees were also arrested off the coast of Tripoli, one of Lebanon's big cities, before moving to Cyprus.

The source added that Lebanese maritime army saw a captain trying to hide his boat on the eve of the operation in one of the sea coves located in the touristic Rabbit Island.

The island is a natural reserve located 5 kilometers off Tripoli where no one is allowed to stay at night.

According to the source, the captain of the boat admitted that he was waiting for Syrian refugees who were planning to escape to Cyprus by sea.

Security forces rushed to arrest refugees, who included children, women and men, at the point of their gathering on the beach near the fish market in Tripoli.

The source said that Cyprus has become the destination of maritime smuggling from Lebanon for Syrian refugees to move to other European countries.

The Lebanese army said on Saturday that they rescued 30 drowning Syrian refugees trying to escape Lebanon illegally off Akkar shore and one syrian baby died.Source: Xinhua| 2018-09-24 04:18:15|Editor: yan

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WASHINGTON, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- A study published on Sunday in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology showed that many patients who underwent a transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) had too small implanted heart valves that lead to inadequate blood flow, thus increasing health risks.

The team led by University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine found that the risk of death and of heart failure readmissions were 19 percent and 12 percent higher, respectively, after one year as compared to patients without severe prosthesis-patient mismatch (PPM).

"Based on these findings, PPM is an important problem in this population, one that deserves greater awareness among operators. And being aware of it is the first step in trying to prevent it," said the study's lead author Howard C. Herrmann, Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine and Surgery at Penn Medicine.

TAVR is an minimally invasive, catheter-based approach for the treatment of aortic stenosis, a narrowing of the heart's aortic valve. It has revolutionized valve replacement options for surgical (open-heart) valve replacement.

Researchers found 12 percent of 62,125 patients who received TAVRs in the United States between 2014 and 2017 experienced severe PPM, while 25 percent had moderate PPM.

PPM is a mismatch of the blood flow dynamics of the prosthetic valve and the amount of blood the heart needs to pump to the rest of the patient's body, according to the researchers.

The researchers identified multiple predictors of PPM, including patients with a smaller valve prosthesis, those who had a larger body surface area, or patients who are female or younger.

"Severe PPM occurs frequently after TAVR procedures, and it results in worse outcomes, even after a short period of one year," Herrmann said.In this file photo taken on June 11, 2018, DPRK's leader Kim Jong Un (R) walks with U.S. President Donald Trump (L) during a break in talks at their historic U.S.-DPRK summit, at the Capella Hotel on Sentosa island in Singapore. (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP)

WASHINGTON, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Sunday that President Donald Trump was prepared to meet the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)'s top leader Kim Jong Un again, hopefully in the "not-too-distant future."

"President Trump very much is prepared to meet with Chairman Kim at the right time, and we hope that' ll happen in the not-too-distant future," the top U.S. diplomat told NBC in a Sunday interview.

The White House revealed over a week ago that it has been coordinating a possible second summit between Trump and Kim after Pyongyang sent a letter to Washington in early September requesting another top-level meeting following the first one in June in Singapore.

"We have to build it out, we have to set up the logistics, we've got to set the right conditions," said Pompeo.

Tension on the Korean Peninsula has been further eased as South Korean President Moon Jae-in paid a historic trip to Pyongyang last week, bonding closer ties with Kim and signing the Pyongyang Declaration on further steps towards the Korean Peninsula's denuclearization.

Welcoming the positive steps on inter-Korean relations, Pompeo announced earlier that he has invited his DPRK counterpart to meet on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York in the following week.

However, differences remain in current DPRK-U.S. talks, including the scale of denuclearization, U.S. sanctions, and whether to issue a war-ending declaration.

The U.S. State Department said on Thursday the denuclearization of Pyongyang has to come first before the U.S. side gives any corresponding reciprocal measures.

The United States so far has largely ignored DPRK's request in the Pyongyang Declaration for "corresponding measures" as the precondition for its further actions on the denuclearization, such as the permanent destruction of its main Yongbyon nuclear facility.Source: Xinhua| 2018-09-24 04:43:20|Editor: yan

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GAZA, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- One Palestinian was killed and 14 injured in Sunday night clashes between Palestinians and Israeli soldiers on the border between eastern Gaza Strip and Israel, medics said.

Gaza Health Ministry Spokesman Ashraf al-Qedra told reporters that Emad Ishteiwi, 21-years-old Gaza citizen, was shot dead by Israeli soldiers' gunfire, adding that 14 others were moderately and lightly injured.

On Sunday night, dozens of protesters managed to pull the barbed wire of the fence between eastern Gaza Strip and Israel, where they also burned tires and released dozens of arson balloons and kites into Israel.

Security officials in Gaza said that an Israeli drone fired a missile at a group of Palestinians who were releasing arson balloons from eastern Gaza into Israel, which caused large fires in various areas close to the borders.

The Gaza-based High Commission of Marches and Breaking the Israeli Siege has established a unit called unity of night confusion, organizing night clashes with Israeli soldiers in eastern Gaza Strip.

The commission, found on March 30, has been organizing several activities, mainly on Fridays, that thousands go to the eastern border of the Gaza Strip with Israel and clash with the Israeli soldiers stationed in the area.

Violence between Israel and the Palestinians had flared in the past two days as an Egyptian Security Intelligence Delegation ended a one-day visit in the Gaza Strip and held talks with leaders of Islamic Hamas movement and other factions.

So far, efforts of the Egyptian mediators to reach a truce had failed due to differences between Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas who is based in the West Bank.Source: Xinhua| 2018-09-24 05:23:27|Editor: yan

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UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Sunday hailed the World Bank/United Nations Famine Action Mechanism (FAM) as an important new tool to help predict and prevent famine.

With the cooperation of humanitarian development organizations, tech companies, academia, the insurance sector and others, this initiative is a successful multi-stakeholder partnership, he told a forum for the launch of the mechanism at UN Headquarters in New York.

"FAM will give a more accurate picture of food security in real time, triggering early action from donors and humanitarian agencies that will save lives and prevent further suffering," he said.

The mechanism will use state-of-the-art technologies, including artificial intelligence and machine learning, to detect correlations between different risks, he noted.

Creating and strengthening partnerships will help donors, affected countries and international organizations to bridge funding gaps along the entire humanitarian cycle, from prevention and preparedness to emergency response, said the UN chief.

"With the Famine Action Mechanism, we are renewing our pledge to zero tolerance for famine and acute food insecurity. We are renewing our pledge to feed everyone in our world and to leave no one behind."Source: Xinhua| 2018-09-24 05:23:27|Editor: yan

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SKOPJE, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- Macedonia will begin the preparatory work for Macedonia's European Union (EU) accession negotiation on Sept. 27, Macedonian Deputy Prime Minister for European Affairs Bujar Osmani announced on Sunday.

During a press conference, Osmani, said he will chair the Macedonian delegation in Brussels, which on Sept. 27 will begin screening for Chapter 23 -- Judiciary and Fundamental rights.

According to Osmani, the Macedonia delegation will count about 40 people from the country's institutions.

A total of 33 delegations from Macedonia will visit Brussels until June 2019, when the screening process of all chapters ends, according to Osmani.

In April this year, Macedonia received a clear recommendation for the start of the EU membership negotiation.

On Sept. 30, Macedonia will hold a referendum on NATO and EU membership bids and on its agreement with Greece on the country's name.

Macedonian citizens will vote in the referendum on the question: "Are you in favor of NATO and EU membership, and accepting the name agreement between Macedonia and Greece?"

Macedonia is formally called the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) by the United Nations. Macedonia is also the name of a northern province in Greece. Athens is worried that the use of the same name by the neighboring state could lead to territorial claims.

The solving of the name row that has existed between two countries is seen as the main obstacle Macedonia has to overcome in order to make progress towards its European Union (EU) and NATO integration.Source: Xinhua| 2018-09-24 05:48:32|Editor: yan

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PRAGUE, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- This year's drought has caused an estimated 11 to 12 billion Czech crowns (from 507 million to 553 million U.S. dollars) in damage to the Czech farmers, according to Czech Agriculture Minister Miroslav Toman.

Toman said on Saturday in Zlin that the compensation that the state is going to pay to the farmers should be between 2 and 3 billion Czech crowns (92 million to 138 million U.S. dollars), according to local media reports.

Toman said that the government is willing to compensate the farmers for what is most important, such as feed crops.

He said the drought obviously was reflected in the increase in food prices.Toamna aceasta decoreaza-ti caminul pentru o atmosfera mai calduroasa si mai confortabila!

Impatimitii decoratiunilor stiu foarte bine faptul ca fiecare sezon vine cu un iz propriu si personal pe care trebuie sa il exploatezi la maximum pentru un plus de confort in propriul camin.... Acesta este [citeste mai departe]Haunted by costly degrees and insurmountable student debt, American college students now spend more time working paid jobs than in lectures, the library, or studying at home.

The vast majority of current students  85 percent  work while enrolled, according to an HSBC survey published Thursday. Students spend an average of 4.2 hours a day working paid jobs, which is more than double the time they spend in the library, nearly two hours more than they spend in class, and 1.4 hours more time than they spend studying at home.

"The economics of the debt crisis have become a major distraction to students' education," said John Hupalo, founder and chief executive officer of Invite Education, an education financial planner. "Students' first priority should be to get value out of their education, not squeezing out hours at a job in order to make money to sustain that education."

The HSBC study was conducted by Ipsos MORI, which surveyed 1,507 students aged 18 to 34 currently enrolled in undergraduate and postgraduate programs and 10,478 parents with at least one child age 23 or younger currently enrolled at a university. The survey sample was drawn from nationally representative online panels in 15 countries and territories from March to April 2018.

The United States spends more per college student than nearly every country in the world, according to a September report from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. And the cost of tuition is at an all-time high, bringing with it the highest rate of student-loan debt in history.

Student loans are now the second-largest category of U.S. household debt, topping nearly $1.4 trillion, according to Bloomberg Intelligence. The burden is even larger for younger Americans with entry-level wages and salaries. Student loans currently make up 40 percent of all millennial debt.

Students tend to rack up personal debt as well, spending an average of $4,321 to pay back credit cards, personal loans, and student debt over the course of their degree. That's nearly $1,000 more than they spend on academic books over the same period, according to the HSBC report.

American students are also responsible for funding a larger portion of their expenses than students elsewhere in the world. American parents fund an average of $17,314 on tuition fees, accommodation, and other bills, but students spend nearly $100,000 while earning a college degree. That leaves a funding gap of more than $80,000.

"The fundamental issue is that families and students don't have a realistic knowledge of the actual cost of an education in advance," Hupalo said.

Nearly three in four American parents rely on their day-to-day income to help fund their child's education, rather than resort to savings or borrowings, the study shows. Only a quarter of parents fund their child's savings from a specific education savings or investment account, which is still slightly ahead of the global average.

But it's not enough. Students still report feeling overwhelming anxiety about their financial situation and, in turn, their academic performances. Six in 10 students said they feel anxious about their finances "frequently" or "all the time," according to a report released last Tuesday by Chegg, an education technology company. And female students were 28 percent more likely than male students to be stressed by financial concerns  a statistic in line with the student debt gap between women and men. (Women and people of color disproportionately bear the burden of student-loan debt).

"There's no silver bullet," Hupalo said. "Despite these statistics, many students are actually handling these responsibilities well. And for some, taking on a bit more paid work could actually reduce their financial burden."It was a chaotic Saturday at Parx, with a horse trying to bite a jockey in the final yards of one race and a controversial disqualification in another before order was restored in the $1 million Pennsylvania Derby that was won by a colt trained by Bob Baffert and ridden by Mike Smith, the most dangerous big-race combination in modern American horse racing history.

Let's start at the end.

McKinzie had not raced in six months, but the colt who was Baffert's Derby horse in January, came right back to the form he displayed early this year when he stalked the early Pa. Derby pace, took over on the far turn and ran away from a challenge by Axelrod in the stretch.

Baffert, of course, won the Derby and the Triple Crown with Justify, one of the great substitutes ever. McKinzie had to miss all those spring and summer races with a hind end injury, but, deliberately, Baffert and his team brought the colt back to his top form and, on the first day of fall, McKinzie won Baffert's third Pa. Derby in five years

There was no controversy with McKinzie's victory, but there was plenty with the disqualification of Monomoy Girl from first place in the $1 million Cotillion, the race prior to the Pa. Derby. The brilliant 3-year-old filly, unbeaten in five starts this year and beaten just once in a nine-race career, held off the late charge of Midnight Bisou, but could not withstand an objection by Smith, Midnight's Bisou's rider.

Monomoy Girl, after an uncomfortable rail run, finally got clear on the far turn and looked for a few seconds like a an easy winner. Just then, Midnight Bisou emerged and was an obvious challenger. The rest of the fillies had long since disappeared. It was down to those two.

Florent Geroux, riding Monomoy Girl, obviously felt Midnight Bisou coming to his inside. He steered his filly over to take away Midnight Bisou's path, smart riding, but something that would draw attention.

When Smith then sent Midnight Bisou outside Monomoy Girl, Geroux again countered by moving his filly farther out into the track.

The margin was a neck. The fillies never made contact.

After the objection, the numbers blinked for several minutes before the stewards disqualified Monomoy Girl and made Midnight Bisou the winner, giving Smith his fourth Cotillion winner and a sweep of the two Grade I stakes.

So, no filly has yet been able to finish in front of Monomoy Girl this year, but she no longer has a perfect 2018.

The $300,000 Gallant Bob Stakes was run just before the Cotillion and it was a reasonably normal race until the final 20 yards. Favored Firenze Fire was obviously going to hold off the upset bid of 17-1 shot Whereshetoldmetogo when, without warning, Whereshetoldmetogo either tried to bite Firenze Fire, the horse's jockey Irad Ortiz or both.

Ortiz thought the horse was after him. Whatever, it was more than a bit crazy and started a wild two hours that were surrounded by a great racing card that lasted until nearly dark.Scott Wagner, the Republican nominee for governor, in January. The Republican Governors Association has not spent money on TV ads in Wagner's race against Democratic Gov. Wolf. Read more

Let's talk about Scott Wagner's campaign, since Gov. Wolf's is inert.

Wagner is working it. Even if it's scattergun. Even if it's imitative of Donald Trump in 2016.

Underdogs, after all, try everything.

For example:

Wagner recently gave a speech in Wilkes-Barre that included parts of a 2016 screed, supposedly penned by an 80-year-old Trump supporter, comparing Muslim refugees and "illegal aliens" to "rabid, messy, mean raccoons" infesting one's basement.

Not necessarily an analogy appreciated by folks fond (or even tolerant) of diversity  especially people of color.

The story suggests that then-candidate Trump's support came from lots of people who wanted the "raccoons" gone and didn't care a bit about attributes or flaws of any person who could get rid of them.

"It's a great story," Wagner told his Wilkes-Barre audience before sharing it. "Interesting perspective."

And although he toned it down by not specifically mentioning immigrants or refugees, he repeated its assertion that "we are being invaded  becoming a nation of victims" in which every "Tom, Ricardo, and Hasid" gets special rights, to the point we can't recognize our country.

Pretty Trumpy, yeah? Hardly a message of inclusion.

But then, last week, Wagner pitched himself to people of color.

In Philly, he offered a plan to help the city, a minority-majority city, the poorest of America's largest cities. He suggested that Democrats such as Wolf haven't helped. And he sought support, asking Philadelphians: "What do you have to lose?"

Where have you heard that before?

Wagner's campaign also aired a TV ad featuring people of color in Philly backing Wagner's candidacy. One man in a Phillies cap says, "Tom Wolf has definitely failed our community."

Two cities, two audiences, two tailored messages.

Wilkes-Barre is in Luzerne County, which is 90 percent white. Philly is 45 percent white. You can do the political calculation.

The Wilkes-Barre speech appeals to the Trump base. And in the basest manner.

The raccoon story dehumanizes people as invading vermin. And Trump has called some immigrants "animals."

Wagner, in a statement responding to reporting by the Harrisburg Patriot-News and the Inquirer and Daily News, said that to him the raccoons represent "problems" facing the state, and that "voters want someone who can solve their problems," namely Wagner.

Come on. Invoking the raccoon story anywhere, in any iteration, is tasteless at best, racist at worst, and either way top-drawer Trumpian.

Wagner declined to talk with me about this.

And as to Wagner asking Philly, "What do you have to lose?" That, too, is from Trump's playbook. It was a staple of his pitch to African American voters during the 2016 campaign.

Wagner, it seems, believes that tactics that worked in Pennsylvania two years ago when Trump used them to carry the state can work for Wagner this year.

He does not believe polls showing Wolf with a double-digit lead. Like Trump, he does not believe media (calls CNN "the Communist News Network"). And he chides state media for obsessing over things he says.

His hope, I assume, is that polls are wrong and history repeats.

And one could argue that just as Wagner's campaign can mirror Trump's, Wolf's campaign is not unlike Hillary Clinton's: a favored candidate with lots of money, playing it safe, assuming the polls are right.

Wagner must be frustrated. Wolf's camp maintains constant fire, claiming Wagner is an embarrassment, unfit for office, "the very worst" of Harrisburg. All while Wolf maintains a low campaign profile and refuses to engage in more than one face-to-face debate, scheduled for Oct. 1.

The result is little evident interest among average voters, and a governor's race so far playing out with all the excitement of Tom Ridge versus Ivan Itkin in 1998.

Except, of course, for the occasional raccoon story.The Rev. Patricia A. Davenport is the first African American woman to be elected bishop in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Read more

When the Rev. Patricia A. Davenport was asked to run for the post of bishop of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, her first thought was not about making history, but rather, "Who in their right mind would want that job?"

A longtime synod official, most recently its director for evangelical mission, she had watched a succession of occupants of the bishop's office down the hall reap the joyous rewards of Christian leadership. But she also saw them struggle to manage the church in a time of transition  of declining membership, shuttered sanctuaries, dwindling finances, and aging clergy, of disaffected youths checking out of institutional religion.

Davenport declined to enter the race.

Yet, there she stood in a Montgomery County pulpit on May 5, feted with thundering applause from her fellow Lutherans. Not only had she been elected to lead the 80,000-member Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod, but she had become the first female African American bishop in the 30-year history of a denomination whose 3.5 million congregants are 96 percent white.

"I looked back on my life journey," Davenport, 63, of East Oak Lane, said during an interview in her office at United Lutheran Seminary in Philadelphia. "Whenever I questioned if this was what I was supposed to be, God was with me every step of the way. He showed up to help me, and has been faithful. So, I said yes."

Nominated at the denomination's annual assembly, she earned 331 of 478 votes cast to succeed the Rev. Claire Schenot Burkat, 66, who served two six-year terms. Davenport will take the helm Aug. 1, with her formal installation on Sept. 22 at New Covenant Church of Philadelphia in Mount Airy.

She made history by mere hours. Another female African American minister, the Rev. Viviane Thomas-Breitfeld, was elected bishop in the South Central Synod of Wisconsin a day later.

"It's huge that our church has come to the point that we can recognize that people of color are gifted and already serving in our church, and to call these two women to be leaders is a huge step forward in our church," said Bishop Elizabeth Eaton, the first woman to lead the entire denomination.

But the church's white European roots are not entirely lost to the past. Only 4 percent of denomination members are minority, according to a 2014 study by the Pew Research Center. Until Davenport and Thomas-Breitfeld take office, 11 of the 65 bishops are women. The denomination's only openly gay bishop is also its first American Indian bishop.

The local synod is one of the most diverse in the ELCA, according to Burkat. Up to 15 percent of its members are minority, and of the 165 active pastors and deacons, an estimated 30 are people of color, 28 are LGBTQIA, and 50 percent are women. In the bishop's race, Davenport bested two African American men, two white women, and two white men.

"We are thrilled with [the results] of the election," Burkat said. Electing an African American woman "may be surprising to the rest of the country, but not to us."

In her evangelical mission work during the last decade, Davenport helped guide congregations and their leaders through the challenge of winning souls in a changing religious landscape. She showed boldness and grace in reaching the increasingly "unchurched and disenfranchised," said the Rev. Nathan Krause, who had asked to submit her name as a candidate.

Davenport plans to continue that mission as bishop. But she will also be keeping a watchful eye, she said, on her seminary alma mater, 325-student Lutheran United, which was rocked by the recent departure of its president. Theresa Latini was discovered to have led a group about 20 years ago that equated homosexuality with "brokenness" and promoted ministries purporting to turn gay men and women straight. Latini long ago renounced those affiliations, but was fired in March.

The seminary also has been roiled recently by complaints of racist actions and language by some administrators and staff. Those will fall under the new bishop's purview as well.

"What are we doing in our seminaries, institutions of higher education, and church-wide organizations to help people understand the microaggressions," Davenport said, "and how they hinder people of color not only from growing within, but also hinder them from just being?"

Born in Annapolis, Md., she moved to North Philadelphia as a child. Her dad, a retired Army cook, and her mother, who worked in the lab at Tasty Baking Co,, provided her with eight siblings  and some early lessons on barriers and how to break them. They were the second black family to move onto their block of North Eighth Street, near Cambria, and the second to join Holy Cross Lutheran Church, two blocks away.

"I remember being there with all the German ladies," Davenport said, "  but they eventually left."

As white residents moved out and black residents moved in, the ethnic makeup of the neighborhood and church changed. Davenport and her family took on leadership roles in the church.

A graduate of Kensington High School for Girls, she studied computer science at Community College of Philadelphia and office skills at the Katherine Gibbs School, then in Philadelphia and now in Norristown. She worked as the church secretary at Holy Cross for nine years, and later landed a job as an administrative assistant in the synod office.

As Davenport assisted denomination leaders, they noticed her ministerial gifts. The Rev. Susan Ericsson took Davenport to lunch to chat with her about considering the ministry.

"She was a dynamic spiritual presence, and she instilled joy and hope as a lay leader," said Ericsson, now pastor of St. Luke's in Devon.

She confessed she had thought about becoming a pastor. After lots of prayer and conversation with her husband, Joel, Davenport entered Lutheran Theological Seminary in Mount Airy, now United Lutheran, in the mid-1990s. She was ordained in 2001, worked in clergy development for the synod, and founded Yeadon's Spirit and Truth Worship Center congregation in 2006. A year later, she earned a master of divinity degree. Months after that, her husband died of a heart attack at 54. They had three children  daughter Shanena, now 43, and sons Joel Jr., 45, and Jamar, 39.

Davenport plans to begin her new post by visiting congregations and ministers to build relationships and exchange ideas. She wants to increase diversity, and find young clergy to replace those who will be retiring. She says she will encourage members and ministers to step outside the church walls to become forces of faith in action in their neighborhoods, especially on issues such as the opioid crisis.

She has shed the gnawing sense of doubt that once made her shy away from her synod's top post.

Her supporters told her to remember her favorite biblical passage, Proverbs 3:5-6: "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths."

"Practice what you preach," they told her.

And she did.Attorney, Gloria Allred, center, along with her clients, Chelan Lasha, left and Lise-Lotte Lublin, right, Bill Cosby accusers, takes questions from reporters during a press conference at the Le Meridien Hotel in Philadelphia Pa. Sunday, September 23, 2018. Read more

Bill Cosby could be ordered this week to essentially spend the rest of his life behind bars.

On Sunday, two women who say they were sexually assaulted by the once-beloved comedian said they think prison would be an appropriate sentence for the man once known as "America's Dad."

"I think he needs to pay for what he's done to everyone," said Chelan Lasha, who testified at Cosby's criminal trial that he sexually assaulted her in 1986. "I have nightmares about it this very day and I want them to go away, just like him."

"He's committed a crime and everyone's responsible for their actions, and at some point he's got to take responsibility," said Lise-Lotte Lublin, who also testified at Cosby's trial, saying he drugged and assaulted her in 1989. "At some point he should acknowledge what he's done and do the time for the crime."

The two women spoke at a Center City news conference organized by their lawyer, Gloria Allred, the day before Cosby, 81, was scheduled to appear in a Montgomery County courtroom for his sentencing hearing. The appearance will be Cosby's first since he was convicted in April of three counts of aggravated indecent assault for drugging and sexually assaulting Andrea Constand at his Cheltenham home in 2004.

Judge Steven T. O'Neill will oversee the proceedings, which are expected to last two days, before imposing a sentence against Cosby. The maximum possible prison term for his crimes is three decades, though state guidelines suggest that any incarceration sentence could be far shorter.

Cosby's prosecution was the first celebrity conviction of the #MeToo era and capped a stunning downfall for the Philadelphia-born entertainer.

>> READ MORE: Was it #MeToo that convicted Bill Cosby?

Lasha, of California, and Lublin, of Nevada, were two of five women who testified at his trial in an effort by prosecutors to bolster the testimony of Constand, the trial's key witness and the sole accuser whose claims resulted in criminal charges. The statute of limitations in most other cases has long since expired, but Lasha and Lublin said Sunday that the pain from their encounters with Cosby remained.

"He ruined my life at 17 years old," said Lasha. "Took away my future  everything about me, and lived his life."

Cosby's sentencing hearing will likely feature argument from prosecutors and Cosby's lawyers, a victim impact statement from Constand, and possibly statements of support for Cosby from his relatives and friends. Cosby will also have the right to address O'Neill before the judge imposes a sentence, but he is not required to speak.

It remained unclear Sunday whether Lasha, Lublin, or other accusers who testified at trial would deliver victim impact statements in court. Both women said they hoped they would be able to take the stand and confront the man who allegedly assaulted them decades ago.

"I've dreamed of this for 32 years and I'm ready," said Lasha, who testified that Cosby drugged and sexually assaulted her in a Las Vegas hotel room when she was 17 and an aspiring model.

Cosby faces a maximum of 10 years in state prison for each of the three counts of which he was convicted, but Pennsylvania's sentencing guidelines call for 22 months to three years for aggravated indecent assault. O'Neill also could structure a sentence so that punishment for each count runs concurrently.

The Montgomery County District Attorney's Office is expected to ask O'Neill to impose a lengthy prison sentence, while Cosby's lawyers are expected to argue that he is in failing health and legally blind, and has complied with bail conditions since his 2015 arrest. Neither side has publicly filed a sentencing recommendation.

Cosby's conviction relates solely to his assault against Constand, a former Temple University employee who said Cosby invited her to his house, gave her three blue pills, and then assaulted her when she was unable to move. Dozens of other women have publicly accused Cosby of similar assaults, and Allred said it was "time for him to face the consequences of his criminal acts."

"Judgment day has finally arrived for this convicted sexual predator who betrayed the trust of so many women," she said.

At trial, Cosby's lawyers frequently cast Constand  who settled a civil lawsuit against him for $3.4 million  as fame-hungry and a "con artist." They sought to cast similar doubt on the other women who testified, and attempted to poke holes in their testimony.

Outside the courtroom, Cosby's defenders, including his wife, have also sought to paint him as the victim of a racist and corrupt criminal justice system, filing ethics complaints against O'Neill and comparing Cosby to civil rights icons, including Nelson Mandela.

Still, Lasha said she believed Cosby "deserved every single year" in prison allowed by law, and that women should not be afraid to report abuse or assault in the face of potential obstacles.

"I waited a long time," she said. "Keep your head up, pray to God, and follow it through."

Staff writer Jeremy Roebuck contributed to this article.A 59-year-old man was killed and two other men were wounded in two separate shootings in Chester on Saturday night, according to police.

In the first case, at 9:03 p.m., police responded to the 400 block of Engle Street and found a man lying in the street with gunshot wounds to the face. The victim, Wayne Aultman, was taken to Crozer Chester Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

Police did not report an arrest or identify any suspects. They said that was Chester's 15th homicide of 2018.

At about 10:22 p.m., police were called to the 1200 block of Thomas Street and found 32-year-old John Flores in the street, suffering from several gunshot wounds. He was taken to Crozer Chester and listed in fair condition, police said.

While investigators were at the hospital, police said, they were told that a man with gunshot injuries to his arm and leg had walked into Riddle Hospital, in Media. Detectives went to interview Emmanuel Murray, who told them he was near Thomas Street when he was shot, according to police. Murray was hospitalized in good condition, police said.

Authorities did not report an arrest or identify suspects in the Thomas Street shooting.Under President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati the Pa. Senate will face a decision on whether to approve opening a window on the state's civil statute of limitations for child sex abuse. Read more

HARRISBURG  On Wednesday, the top Republican in the state Senate and a rank-and-file House member spoke for the first time, face-to-face, behind closed doors in the state Capitol.

Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati (R., Jefferson) and Rep. Mark Rozzi (D., Berks) are the faces of opposing sides in the emotional debate over taking a dramatic step on behalf of sexual-assault victims: temporarily setting aside the state's civil statute of limitations that bars accusers older than 30 from suing over abuse that occurred when they were children.

The meeting, called by Scarnati, appeared to be an attempt to temper a nasty public fight on the issue, one that once led Rozzi, who was abused by a Catholic priest as a teen, to call Scarnati a "hit man" for the church.

The two parted on good terms, but without any agreement, Rozzi said.

Their meeting foreshadows a showdown when legislators return to the Capitol on Monday for a truncated voting session. It also raises the question of whether Scarnati, who has successfully led past efforts to block opening the so-called legal window on the statute of limitations, can hold together what was once an ironclad coalition of like-minded senators.

The pressure of a key election looming in November, combined with relentless headlines surrounding the damning grand jury report on Catholic clergy abuse and its systemic cover-up in Pennsylvania, has magnified the already high stakes.

What appears certain is that the House will pass a bill that will be amended to create a two-year window allowing for the filing of civil suits outside the statute of limitations on child sex abuse. It has deep support among both majority Republicans and Democrats in that chamber, which passed a more expansive measure in 2016. All eyes will then be on Scarnati and his GOP-controlled Senate.

"The battle has always been in the Senate," Rozzi said in an interview after his meeting with Scarnati.

Scarnati has declined repeated requests, over several weeks, for an interview. He did release a statement reiterating his belief that it is unconstitutional to retroactively allow victims to sue for decades-old offenses, but said he continues to support extending the statute of limitations for future victims. He also threw a new element into the debate, endorsing the idea of a victims compensation fund administered by a "neutral third party."

That idea had been privately pushed in recent weeks by lobbyists for the Catholic Church. For years the church had fiercely fought any measure opening the door to a wave of lawsuits in older cases, saying it could bankrupt parishes and force today's parishioners to pay for the sins of the past.

Late Friday, all eight of the state's Roman Catholic bishops announced their support for such a fund, saying it would "provide a resolution to survivors and allow them to avoid difficult and prolonged litigation." But they offered few details on how it would work and how much money would be available.

Critics call such a fund a cop-out  a way for the church to avoid larger payouts in court cases.

The push for a victims compensation fund comes at a time when many in the Capitol believe the tide is turning, even in the Senate, in favor of creating a window.

Much of that pressure has been generated by the grand jury report released last month by state Attorney General Josh Shapiro. The document revealed that more than 300 priests sexually abused more than 1,000 children over seven decades in six of the state's eight Roman Catholic dioceses. Church leaders covered up the crimes for so long that in most cases it was too late to prosecute them, the report found.

Among the remedies pushed by the grand jury: opening a two-year window on the civil statute of limitations.

"We saw these victims; they are marked for life," the grand jurors wrote. "Many of them wind up addicted, or impaired, or dead.  Our proposal would open a limited `window,' offering them a chance, finally, to be heard in court. All we're asking is to give those two years back."

At least nine states, including Delaware, California, and Minnesota, have enacted similarly limited windows over the last 15 years.

Top state officials, including Gov. Wolf, have urged the legislature to approve the concept, as well as three other policy changes recommended by the grand jury. During a conference call with reporters Wednesday, Wolf noted that a victims compensation fund was not among the grand jurors' recommendations.

"I don't support that," he said.

The issue has become political, too. Victims' advocates have taken out ads and planned events in the backyards of several legislators facing reelection this fall, including some of the Senate's highest-ranking members. They are also planning a daylong series of marches and rallies in and around the Capitol on Monday.

Targeted especially hard has been Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman, a Republican from Centre County, who faces a competitive election this year. Corman heads the Senate committee that will be the first in line to decide the fate of a two-year window, should the proposal pass the House this week as expected.

In 2016, Republican senators on the influential Judiciary Committee banded together to oppose a similar measure, arguing that it was unconstitutional. This year, that solid line of Republican opposition is not certain. Several moderate-leaning GOP senators in the Philadelphia suburbs, already facing tough races in a critical election, are viewed as more vulnerable to pressure to vote for a window. Several, including Robert "Tommy" Tomlinson (R., Bucks) and Stewart Greenleaf (R., Montgomery), did not return calls.

Sen. Thomas McGarrigle (R., Delaware) said in a statement that a victims compensation fund may be "a better option than litigation," but did not rule out supporting a window.

Corman, who has been targeted at rallies and on social media, said in an interview last week that he was considering whether to support a limited window. He said he asked the Attorney General's Office for a legal opinion on its constitutionality. (Shapiro has said several times that he believes the measure is constitutional.)

The full Senate has never considered the proposal. If the House passes it, as expected, Corman will face a decision: Kill the measure in his committee, alter it, or allow it to proceed to a vote by the full Senate without major changes.

If the bill comes to that floor vote, senators will be forced to take a stand  and some victim advocates believe the public pressure will work in their favor.

Even some legislators acknowledge the political climate has changed, largely because of the Aug. 14 grand jury report. Lawmakers were not in session most of the summer and thus not forced to examine the issue as a group.

"I think a number of minds are changing," said Senate Minority Leader Jay Costa (D., Allegheny), though he acknowledged it is too early to predict how many in his caucus would vote for a window. He said he supports all of the grand jury recommendations.

Lobbyists and others working on behalf of the church are quietly hoping that the push for a window can be thwarted by the bishops' support for a victims compensation fund.

In New York, five dioceses have hired an outside law firm to oversee victims compensation funds.

The administrator of those funds, Camille Biros of the Law Offices of Kenneth R. Feinberg, said her team has reviewed 1,258 claims from victims, and settled roughly three-quarters of those cases. In assessing the claims and determining payouts, the team seeks documentation from the church and victims, whenever possible, and considers the age of the victim, the type of abuse, and other factors.

"The settlement offers and determinations we've made and accepted are nowhere near what someone in a courtroom could get if they prove their cases," Biros said, but added that the process offers "a speed that a courtroom does not."

The Archdiocese of New York has paid out nearly $60 million over the last two years to 278 victims through its compensation fund, a spokesperson for the archdiocese told media there last month. By contrast, a lawsuit filed by four men against the Diocese of Brooklyn and another entity just resulted in one of the largest court settlements for clergy abuse victims: $27.5 million.

Rozzi said he would consider supporting a victims compensation fund in Pennsylvania if the dioceses committed a significant amount of money and if a two-year window were also established.

He said that he was grateful for the chance to speak with Scarnati in person for the first time, and that their meeting helped humanize the man with whom he has fiercely clashed  from afar  in recent years.

At the end of their discussion, Rozzi said he reached out to shake the senator's hand. Instead, he received a hug.

"At least I can feel there's a heart in there," Rozzi said.Former Trump staffers Jason Miller and A.J. Delgado had a love child following an extramarital affair during the 2016 presidential campaign. Now Delgado claims Miller impregnated a different woman during an affair, and secretly drugged her with an "abortion pill." Read more

Jason Miller, a former Trump staffer who parlayed his time on the president's campaign to land a paid contributor job at CNN, announced on Saturday night he was leaving the network following explosive allegations he impregnated a woman and drugged her with an "abortion pill."

The claims were made in court documents filed on Sept. 14 by A.J. Delgado, also a former Trump staffer, whom Miller impregnated during an extramarital affair that took place during the 2016 presidential campaign. Delgado claims prior to their affair, Miller also impregnated a different woman after meeting her at an Orlando, Fla., strip club in 2012.

According to Delgado, when the woman found out she was pregnant, Miller gave her a smoothie dosed with an abortion pill without her knowledge, leading to the pregnancy's termination. The court documents, filed in Miami-Dade Circuit Court, were first obtained by Splinter.

Miller, who is married with two young daughters, said in a statement posted on Twitter the allegations made by Delgado are "false and defamatory," and said, "none of this is in any way true."

CNN has confirmed that Miller is no longer with the network.

Miller and Delgado have been locked in a legal battle over custody of their son, William. In an August 2017 profile published in the Atlantic, Delgado claims that Miller asked on two separate occasions if "there was any chance I'd terminate the pregnancy." Miller denied that claim.

Miller isn't the only pro-Trump contributor who has run into an issue while working for CNN. Back in August, Paris Dennard was suspended after the Washington Post reported he had been fired from a previous job for alleged sexual harassment. Pennsylvania native and former Reagan White House staffer Jeffrey Lord was fired in August 2017 after using a Nazi reference in a tweet directed at the president of the liberal media watchdog group Media Matters.

These pro-Trump commentators, most of whom signed non-disclosure agreements during their time with the Trump campaign (Miller admitted to signing an NDA), were once described by CNN CEO Jeffrey Zucker as "characters in a drama," with the intention of hitting a viral nerve or making a memorable appearance that can be debated over and over again throughout the day.

CNN's current pro-Trump commentators include former campaign staffers and advisors Bryan Lanza, David Urban, Stephen Moore, Marc Short, and Temple grad James Schultz.

It's not just pro-Trump contributors who have run into trouble. In May 2017, CNN cut ties with comedian Kathy Griffin after she shared a provocative photo of herself holding a bloody, severed head meant to resemble Trump. Griffin had co-anchored the network's New Year's Eve coverage alongside Anderson Cooper since 2007.

CNN also cut ties in June 2017 with Reza Aslan and canceled his documentary series after the vocal Trump critic blasted the president for his response to a June terror attack on London Bridge that killed eight people.Happy Sunday folks, hope you're staying warm and dry despite this dreary weather. The sunny side today: Carson Wentz will start for the Eagles in today's game against the Colts. Looking ahead to this week we have updates on some long-developing stories that take us from Montgomery County down to the nation's capital. Also, check out our latest #CuriousPhilly story on how we're trying to define Philadelphia's neighborhoods. It's not easy, and we want your feedback to help us create a better map of the city.

Reading this online? Sign up here to get this newsletter delivered to your inbox every morning.

 Ray Boyd and Tauhid Chappell (morningnewsletter@philly.com)

The week ahead

Carson Wentz will lead the Eagles on the field against the Indianapolis Colts today at 1 p.m.  his first game back since a grueling knee injury at the end of 2017. Our colleague Zach Berman says Wentz's Type-A personality and work ethic have fueled his big return.

Bill Cosby endured two criminal trials in the nearly three years since he was charged with drugging and assaulting Andrea Constand. Now that he's been found guilty by a jury, a judge will weigh the actor's fate either Monday or Tuesday in Norristown.

Christine Blasey Ford, the woman accusing Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault decades ago, tentatively agreed to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee this Thursday. The details are being ironed out, but it adds another tense chapter to the tumultuous confirmation process of Judge Kavanaugh.

Stemming from the bombshell grand jury report on Catholic clergy abuse and its systemic cover-up in Pennsylvania, Republicans in the state Senate and House met last week to discuss opening a legal window to allow sexual assault accusers older than 30 to sue over abuse that occurred when they were children. The meeting foreshadows a showdown when legislators return to Harrisburg Monday.

Now that fall has officially started, expect a cornucopia of autumn-related events and festivals to pop up in the Philadelphia region. If you're a fan of the roving beer garden series Parks on Tap, it ends next Sunday!

This weeks most popular stories

Behind the story with Brandon Harden

Each week we'll go behind the scenes with one of our reporters to learn how they reported their latest story and the challenges they faced along the way. This week, we caught up with Brandon Harden, who decided to check out a Philly barber shop where community members and law enforcement come together to discuss tough issues.

How did you first hear about the "Blades, Fades, and Engage" town hall and what made you want to report on it?

I received a phone call from a colleague informing me about the monthly town hall meeting. I wanted to report on this story because I thought the concept was super innovative. Here you have a black barbershop, which is a cultural institution for folks of color, and police officers who want to hear from their community members. I thought it made a lot of sense and would make for a compelling story, especially since communities of color have historically had high levels of distrust with law enforcement. I saw this as an opportunity to change the narrative of police vs. community.

What were some of the most talked about issues and were there any that surprised you?

The most talked about issue was over policing, and the inherent bias that exists on both sides of the law. I imagine that the topics change with each session as different people show up to the meetings, but the intention is always the same: bridging the gap between law enforcement and communities of color.

How did the historical significance of the role that barbershops play in the black community influence the event?

Well, most black men get their hair cut at some point, regardless of their occupation. Cops, journalists, actors, chefs, doctors, everyone needs a haircut eventually. Because of this, I think men develop close relationships with their barbers and the shop itself. For some men, their barber is their therapist. For some men, their barber is their mentor. And also, most importantly, black barbers know how to cut black hair. Many men find identity in how their hair is cut; low fade, afro, bald, s-curl, you name it. For black men, the barbershop is so much more than a business. It's a space for fellowship and, in this case, healing.

Did you get a general sense of how community members and police felt after they had a chance to talk about these tough issues?

It was cathartic for sure. After the meeting, there was a sense of peace, a sense of understanding, and a sense of kindness. All of which I think are fundamental elements in reaching one's heightened self. A theme that kept coming up was self-love. Heal the community by healing yourself.

Contact Brandon Harden by email at BHarden@phillynews.com or on Twitter at @brandontrevion.

Through Your Eyes | #OurPhilly

Just your typical, leisurely bike ride, right? Thanks for sharing @chris_bakerevens.

Tag your Instagram posts or tweets with #OurPhilly and we'll pick our favorite each day to feature in this newsletter and give you a shout out!

#CuriousPhilly: Have a question about your community? Ask us!

What have you always wondered about the greater Philadelphia region? Send us a question you'd like answered through Curious Philly, our new question-and-response forum that connects our readers with our journalists. Try us, no question is too big or small.

Our readers' latest question: How does Philadelphia define its neighborhoods?

The answer: It's a very complex question but in all honesty, there are no official boundaries to any neighborhood. We attempted to name several areas, from large down to the lesser-known neighborhoods. Let us know if you agree, and feel free to suggest your own names, too.

What were

Eating: A lot of food at great prices. Center City District Restaurant Week kicks off today. Over 120 restaurants are offering dinner for $35 and our colleague Michael Klein knows some unsung eateries you should check out.

Drinking: A nice cold one for Sheila Modglin. The popular bartender at Philly's Dirty Frank's was critically injured in a February accident. Several bars and restaurants in the area will take part in Dine Out for Sheila next month, offering a percentage of profits for her medical bills.

Watching: The Good Cop, the new Netflix series starring Tony Danza and Josh Groban. Danza recently opened up about the show and his devotion to Philly's Northeast High School.

Listening to: 24K Magic and Motownphilly. Ever since Bruno Mars electrified the Wells Fargo Center with Philly's own Boyz II Men, it's been hard to get those songs out of our heads.

Comment of the week

Another milestone of passage of a Philadelphia all but completely resting in the history books. As the city re-invents itself with great new towers downtown and other memorable sites, the parks and walk ways on old piers and train tracks, a new generation of the ambitious rises with some who will shake things up like Mr Venturi did. I can not forget his BASCO showroom on the Roosevelt Blvd, along with the now equally disappeared Nabisco bakery plant that was across the street. Coming home S on US Rt-1 from Bucks county, and passing between these 2 great landmarks was like coming into home port with the colossus of an Industrial Rhodes on either side. Thank you Inga for your deeply felt writing about the man and his work.   Fernando08, on the passing of prominent local architect Robert Venturi.

Your Daily Dose of | Sculpture

Billy, a beloved and well-worn Rittenhouse statue, was replaced with a new version over the weekend. And his biggest fans got to celebrate with real goats.LAHORE: Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Sunday said that his country's offer of "friendship" to India should not be considered as its weakness and the Indian leadership should shun "arrogance" to hold peace talks.

"I hope the Indian leadership will shun arrogance and hold (peace) talks with Pakistan. Our offer of friendship should not be considered as our weakness. Friendship between Pakistan and India will help overcome poverty," Khan said while addressing the Punjab bureaucracy on Sunday.

Khan warned Pakistan "should not be threatened as it will not tolerate any act of hostility."

"Friendship (between Pakistan and India) is in the benefit of both the countries. We will not take the pressure of any world power," Khan said during his speech.

Remarks from Khan came days after it emerged that he had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seeking resumption of bilateral talks on key issues including on terrorism and Kashmir.

India initially appeared to have agreed for a meeting between Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj and her Pakistani counterpart Shah Mahmood Qureshi on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York this month but later cancelled it on Friday.

New Delhi called off the meeting, citing the "brutal" killing of three policemen in Jammu and Kashmir as well as the release of the postal stamps "glorifying" Kashmiri militant Burhan Wani.

In a stern warning to Pakistan, Army Chief Gen Bipin Rawat Sunday said that surgical strike is a weapon of surprise and must remain so while hinting that the security forces will respond when the appropriate times comes.

''Surgical strike is a weapon of surprise. Let it remain a surprise,'' Army Chief General Bipin Rawat said.

On Sunday, Indian Army Chief Gen Bipin Rawat too backed the Narendra Modi government's decision to call off dialogue with Pakistan, asserting that talks and terror cannot go together.

"The government's policy is very clear cut... You (Pakistan) show us some initiatives so that we feel that you are not encouraging terrorism. But we see that terror activities are continuing and terrorists come from the other side of the border.

"In such an atmosphere, whether talks can be initiated that the government can only decide. I agree to the government's decision that peace talks and terrorism cannot go together," he said.

The Army Chief was reacting to the government's decision to call off the Foreign Minister-level talks with Pakistan on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York.

Reacting to India's cancellation of the meeting, Khan had on Saturday said that India's decision to cancel the foreign minister-level talks in New York was "arrogant" and asserted that he was "disappointed" by the New Delhi's "negative" response.

"Disappointed at the arrogant and negative response by India to my call for the resumption of the peace dialogue. However, all my life I have come across small men occupying big offices who do not have the vision to see the larger picture," the Pakistan PM had tweeted.

Disappointed at the arrogant & negative response by India to my call for resumption of the peace dialogue. However, all my life I have come across small men occupying big offices who do not have the vision to see the larger picture.  Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) September 22, 2018

However, Pakistan's two major opposition parties - Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) - questioned the "haste" shown by Prime Minister Khan in making efforts to mend ties with India and held him responsible for the "diplomatic debacle", saying he should have done his "homework" before approaching for a meeting.

Ties between India and Pakistan nose-dived following a spate of terror attacks on Indian military bases by Pakistan based terror groups since January 2016.

Following the strikes, India announced it will not engage in talks with Pakistan, saying terror and talks cannot go hand-in-hand.

(With PTI Inputs)New Delhi: One of the most popular on-screen couples in the Bhojpuri industry, Khesari Lal Yadav and Kajal Raghwani have set the internetkh on fire with their sizzling dance number in 'Dupatta Aasmani' from the movie Dulhin Ganga Paar Ke. The song has garnered more than 5 lakh views on Youtube since its release.

Check out the video:

Dulhin Ganga Par Ke which released on May 25 is one of the most successful films of the ongoing year. The film marked the acting debut of Khesari's 8-year-old daughter Kriti.

The film got a bumper opening and attracted moviegoers to the theatres in large numbers. The superstar and his leading lady had thanked their fans by sharing a video on Facebook for showering their film with much love and admiration. Their latest release Sangharsh too is a grand success.

Khesari and Kajal have shared screen space in a number of films namely Main Sehra Bandhke Aaunga, Diwanapan, Hum Hai Hindustani, Intqaam, Mehandi Lagake Rakhna. Balam Ji I Love You and Nagdev are in the pipeline.Jammu: Two civilians are believed to have inadvertently crossed the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir and entered the Pakistan controlled side, police said on Sunday.

Bashir Ahmad and Ghulam Rasool, both residents of Sawjian village in Poonch district, left their homes on September 12 for some work along the LoC.

"On Saturday, their families reported to the police that the two had not returned home since then. It is believed that the two might have inadvertently crossed the LoC and gone to the Pakistan side," a police official said.NEW DELHI: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's party - Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) - will contest on 100 seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections with an aim to win at least 25 seats.

Delhi's ruling party is hoping to strengthen its position in case a non-BJP government is formed at the Centre after the crucial polls, two senior AAP leaders said on Sunday.

''In the emerging political scenario, winning 25 Lok Sabha seats will ensure the Aam Aadmi Party is in a comfortable position to strike a bargain with other parties after the general election in 2019, news agency PTI quoted a senior AAP leader as saying.

The AAP leader, whose name was not revealed, said that his party has the potential to win at least 100 seats in the upcoming polls.

The party will leave no stone unturned in ensuring that it wins at least 25 seats, particularly in Delhi, Haryana and Punjab, where it has a strong presence and effective organisational setup.

Kejriwal's party will contest Lok Sabha polls in the three states - Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh - where assembly elections are due later this year, besides focussing on Delhi, Haryana and Punjab.

Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat are other states where it plans to contest on selected Lok Sabha seats, the senior AAP leader said.

It may be recalled that Kejriwal's party currently holds four Lok Sabha seats in Punjab.

Punjab sends 13 MPs to Lok Sabha, our party would work to raise its tally as it is an opposition party in Punjab Assembly, another party leader said.

Kejriwal, who is AAP's national convener, had recently visited Haryana, where state party head Navin Jaihind has been able to strengthen the organisation in several constituencies, he said.

"We will work hard to pose a tough challenge to BJP and Congress on all the 10 seats in Haryana," he said.

The two AAP leaders said that the forthcoming elections will be fought on a mix of local and national issues.

In the run-up to the elections, the AAP leadership has upped the ante against the Narendra Modi government, with Kejriwal targeting the Prime Minister on the political controversy around the purchase of 36 Rafale fighters from France.

Kejriwal had on Saturday demanded that PM Modi call a special session of Parliament to discuss the Rafale deal.

The Delhi CM had on Friday asked the BJP-led central government to come clean on the deal in light of former French president Francois Hollande's purported interview to a French language publication.

In the interview, Hollande is quoted as saying that the Indian government proposed Anil Ambani's Reliance Defence as the offset partner for French aerospace giant Dassault Aviation in the Rs 58,000-crore deal.

The government, however, asserted that it did not have any role in the selection of Reliance Defence as a partner for Dassault Aviation.

AAP central leadership, including Kejriwal, have been saying in public meetings that if AAP had won all seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi in 2014, it would have handled issues such as the ongoing drive to seal illegal commercial establishment in a more effective way.

In 2014, the BJP won all the seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi.

The next year, AAP was voted to power in the national capital after winning 67 Assembly seats out of the total 70.Uttar Pradesh Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Mahendra Nath Pandey on Saturday said the party is making efforts to ensure that the Ram temple is constructed through consensus. He also said the 2019 Lok Sabha elections will be fought on development and governance.

"Ram temple is the centre of faith and devotion for us. It should be constructed as per the law and we are committed to this...The BJP is making efforts so that the Ram temple is constructed through consensus," Pandey said in a statement.

"The people of India know that Lord Ram was born in Ayodhya and they want that a Ram temple should be built there. The feeling of every Indian is the feeling of the BJP," he said.

Speaking about the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, Pandey said misuse of the law will not be tolerated.

He also hit out at the attempts by opposition parties to forge an anti-BJP alliance ahead of the elections next year.

"Attempts are being made to forge an unnatural alliance by the rival political parties. The people have disowned them. The opposition has no issue except opposing Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Who will be their leader is not clear, what will be their agenda is not clear. The country's honour is safe in hands of Prime Minister Narendra Modi."PARIS: The French government said on Sunday that it feared damage to its relations with India after former president Francois Hollande stirred controversy about a major defence deal to sell fighter jets to New Delhi.

Hollande, who left office in May last year, had said last week during a trip to India that French jet manufacturer Dassault Aviation had been given no choice about its local partner in a 2016 deal with the Indian administration.

The government of PM Narendra Modi agreed to buy 36 Rafale jets from Dassault, which announced afterwards it was partnering for the project with billionaire Anil Ambani rather than the public defence conglomerate HAL.

Hollande's announcement that Dassault "did not have a say in it" added fuel to claims from India's Opposition that the Modi government had intervened to help Ambani, who is a supporter of PM Modi and hails from the same state as him.

"I find these remarks made overseas, which concern important international relations between France and India, do not help anyone and above all do not help France," Junior Foreign Minister Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne said on Sunday about Hollande.

"Because one is no longer in office, causing damage to a strategic partnership between India and France by making remarks that clearly cause controversy in India is really not appropriate," he said in an interview on Radio J.

Hollande made the comments to defend himself from accusations of a conflict of interest because Ambani's Reliance conglomerate had partially financed a film produced by his girlfriend, Julie Gayet, in 2016.

The choice of Reliance for a highly strategic contract to upgrade India's ageing fleet of fighter jets had caused a surprise at the time because the group had no previous experience in the aeronautics industry.

Hollande's comments were front-page news in leading newspapers on Saturday and it was also the top trending topic on Twitter.

Rahul Gandhi, head of the main opposition Congress party, which is seeking to oust the Modi government and his ruling party BJP in elections next year, went on the offensive.

"An ex-president of France is calling him (the prime minister of India) a thief. It's a question of the dignity of the office of the prime minister," he told a news conference in New Delhi.

In a no mood to spare the BJP regime at the Centre, Rahul Gandhi on Sunday hit back at PM Modi and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on the Rafale jet deal, saying it's time the two stop lying on the issue and call for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the controversial defence deal.

The Congress chief took to Twitter and asked the Finance Minister and the Prime Minister to "stop lying" on the issue and call for a JPC probe for an "uncorrupted truth" to come out.

The Gandhi scion also accused FM Jaitley of having the ability to spin "2 truths or lies" with "fake self-righteousness" and "indignation to defend the indefensible".

"Mr Jetlie's speciality is his ability to spin '2 truths', or lies, with fake self-righteousness and indignation to defend the indefensible. It's high time he, the RM and our PM stop lying and call a JPC to establish the full, uncorrupted truth about the Rafale Scam (sic)," Rahul Gandhi said in his tweet.

Along with his tweet, the Congress chief also tagged a media report highlighting how former French president Francois Hollande's charges have hit the Narendra Modi government on the Rafale issue.

Joining the Government-Opposition war over the Rafale fighter jet deal, Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav too demanded on Sunday a JPC probe into the controversial defence deal between India and France.

Speaking to news agency ANI, the SP said that without a JPC the truth will not come out as the issue has now become global.

''We demand a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe on Rafale deal. Without a JPC, the truth will not come out, the issue has now become global,'' Akhilesh said.

Later, while ruling out scrapping of the deal, FM Jaitley defended the Prime Minister on the Rafale issue, saying the French government and Dassault Aviation have categorically denied the correctness of the former president's first statement.



He said the French government has stated that the decision with regard to the offset contracts of Dassault Aviation are taken by the company and not the government.

Jaitley, in a television interview, said there appears to be some 'jugalbandi' (connection) between the statements of Hollande and Congress President Rahul Gandhi.

"I am surprised? On August 30, he (Gandhi) tweeted that bombs are going to explode in France (over Rafale deal). How he came to know about that?,'' Jaitley asked.

"Though I do not have any proof of this jugalbandi, this creates suspicion in mind? There is definitely something ... A statement comes (from Hollande), then it is contradicted. But he (Gandhi) predicted this to happen 20 days in advance," he said.

Jaitley added that there is no question of scrapping the Rafale jet fighter deal as it is meant to meet the needs of the country's defence forces.The main opposition parties in Pakistan have blamed Prime Minister Imran Khan-led Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government for the latest fallout with India. According to a report in Pakistan-based Dawn News, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League  Nawaz (PML-N) have said that countrys new prime minister showed haste in making attempts to mend ties with India.

Leaders of the opposition parties have said that Imran Khan and his government failed to do its homework and assess the situation rightly before reaching out to India. They also said that Imran Khans letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, calling for talks, was also a misstep.

PML-N leader Shahbaz Sharif also targeted the Indian government, accusing New Delhi of resorting to threatening posture. Taking to microblogging site Twitter, Sharif said that Pakistans olive branch to India must not be considered weakness.

The bellicose & irresponsible statement by the Indian army chief exposes the Indian designs to the world that should immediately take note of New Delhis threatening posture. Pakistan extending an olive branch to India should never be misconstrued as weakness, said the PML-N chief, citing a statement by Indian Army chief General Bipin Rawat.

He further said, Pakistans unwavering patriotic soldiers stand steadfast to defend with might and fury against unprovoked aggression from any threat. While the nation stands united with their intrepid military and against the cowardly threats.

General Rawat had said that the Indian army needed to take strict action to avenge the barbarism of Pakistan Army.

Notably, Pakistan External Affairs Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi had blamed Modi government for the cancellation of talks with his Indian counterpart Sushma Swaraj, saying New Delhi took the decision because of Indias internal issues.

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan had also reacted strongly over Indias decision, saying small men were occupying big offices in New Delhi. Taking to Twitter, the PTI chief had said, Disappointed at the arrogant & negative response by India to my call for resumption of the peace dialogue. However, all my life I have come across small men occupying big offices who do not have the vision to see the larger picture.The Indian intelligence agencies believe that Pakistan is involved in the recent killings of special police officers in Jammu and Kashmir. According to a report in The Times of India, the intelligence agencies received the information as they intercepted messages of Pakistans ISI.

As per the report, the intercepted messages suggested that there were pinpointed instructions to terrorists to kills the SPOs after abducting them.

A major reason for the cancellation of talks, between External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and her Pakistani counterpart Shah Mehmood Qureshi, by India are the revelations of these intercepted messages from Pakistans ISI, said the report.

The instructions revealed through the intercepted message were so elaborate that the ISI had even mentioned the names of the SPOs who were to be targeted and killed by the terrorists functional in Jammu and Kashmir.

The three SPOs killed by the terrorists were  Nisar Ahmad, Firdous Ahmed and Kulwant Singh.

This comes a day after Pakistan reacted angrily to the cancellation of talks by New Delhi, with countrys foreign minister saying Indias move was triggered because of its internal issues.

Pakistan-based Geo News quoted Qureshi as saying that India cited an issue that took place in July to cancel talks that would have taken place now. The Pakistan foreign minister said that what New Delhi did was not appropriate.

Qureshi further accused India of crushing diplomatic protocol by cancelling the talks scheduled to be held on the sidelines of United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) session in New York.

Pakistan foreign office had also released a statement saying reasons cited by India for cancellation of talks were entirely unconvincing. The statement further claimed that Pakistan military had no role in the killing of Border Security Force (BSF) jawan recently.

The reasons cited by the Indian side for the decision to cancel the Foreign Ministers' meeting, within 24 hours of its public confirmation, are entirely unconvincing. The so-called "disturbing developments" alluded to in the Indian statement predated the Indian agreement to hold the bilateral meeting in New York, read the statement released by the Pakistan government.NEW DELHI: In a no mood to spare the BJP regime at the Centre, Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Sunday hit back at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on the Rafale jet deal, saying it's time the two stop lying on the issue and call for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the controversial defence deal.

The Congress chief took to Twitter and asked the Finance Minister and the Prime Minister to "stop lying" on the issue and call for a JPC probe for an "uncorrupted truth" to come out.

The Gandhi scion also accused FM Jaitley of having the ability to spin "2 truths or lies" with "fake self-righteousness" and "indignation to defend the indefensible".

"Mr Jetlie's speciality is his ability to spin '2 truths', or lies, with fake self-righteousness and indignation to defend the indefensible. It's high time he, the RM and our PM stop lying and call a JPC to establish the full, uncorrupted truth about the Rafale Scam (sic)," Rahul Gandhi said in his tweet.

Mr Jetlies speciality is his ability to spin 2 truths, or lies, with fake self righteousness & indignation to defend the indefensible. Its high time he, the RM & our PM stop lying and call a JPC to establish the full, uncorrupted truth about the #RafaleScam. pic.twitter.com/iQxrV5ooN5  Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) September 23, 2018

Along with his tweet, the Congress chief also tagged a media report highlighting how former French president Francois Hollande's charges have hit the Narendra Modi government on the Rafale issue.

Joining the Government -Opposition war over the Rafale fighter jet deal, Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav too demanded on Sunday a JPC probe into the controversial defence deal between India and France.

Speaking to news agency ANI, the SP said that without a JPC the truth will not come out as the issue has now become global.

''We demand a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe on Rafale deal. Without a JPC, the truth will not come out, the issue has now become global,'' Akhilesh said.

Adding a fresh twist to the Rafale controversy, former French president Hollande last week claimed that the Indian government proposed Reliance Defence's name as the offset partner for Dassault Aviation.

In response, the French Government said that it was in no manner involved in the choice of Indian industrial partners for the Rafale deal, asserting that French firms have the full freedom to select Indian companies for the contract.

While ruling out scrapping the deal, FM Jaitley defended the Prime Minister on the Rafale issue, saying the French government and Dassault Aviation have categorically denied the correctness of the former president's first statement.



He said the French government has stated that the decision with regard to the offset contracts of Dassault Aviation are taken by the company and not the government.

Jaitley, in a television interview, said there appears to be some 'jugalbandi' (connection) between the statements of Hollande and Congress President Rahul Gandhi.

"I am surprised? On August 30, he (Gandhi) tweeted that bombs are going to explode in France (over Rafale deal). How he came to know about that?,'' Jaitley asked.

"Though I do not have any proof of this jugalbandi, but this creates suspicion in mind? There is definitely something ... A statement comes (from Hollande), then it is contradicted. But he (Gandhi) predicted this to happen 20 days in advance," he said.

Jaitley added that there is no question of scrapping the Rafale jet fighter deal as it is meant to meet the needs of the country's defence forces.

"Koi prashna nahi uthta. Ye fauz ki avashaktya hai. Ye desh mei ana chahiye, aur ye ayega. (No question of scrapping the deal. These (jet fighters) are needed by the defence forces. They should come and they will come)," he said when asked whether the government could cancel the deal in view of the forthcoming general elections in 2019.

Earlier in a Facebook post titled 'A Questionable Statement Which Circumstances & Facts Demolish', Jaitley wrote: "The former French President's first statement rhymes with Rahul Gandhi's prediction."

The Minister also accused the Congress party leaders of using vulgar language and said public discourse is not a "laughter challenge".

"I have said how public discourse should be. It is not a laughter challenge. You go and hug someone, then you wink, utter lies 4-6-10 times. Your words should reflect intellect. Vulgarity and abusive language does not suit the world's largest democracy,'' he added.

Jaitley said a controversy is sought to be created on the basis of a statement made by Hollande that the Reliance Defence 'partnership' with Dassault Aviation was due to the suggestion of the Indian government.

"He (Hollande) has, in a subsequent statement, said that he is 'not aware' if Government ever lobbied for Reliance Defence and that 'the partners chose themselves'. Truth cannot have two versions,'' Jaitley said.

Referring to Hollande's remarks, Jaitley said, "The French Government and M/s Dassault Aviation have categorically denied the correctness of the former President's first statement.''

''The French Government has stated that the decision with regard to the offset contracts of Dassault Aviation are taken by the company and not the Government. Dassault Aviation itself has suggested that they have entered into multiple contracts with several public sector and private sector companies with regard to the offset contracts and the decision is entirely theirs," he added.

As per the second statement of Hollande, Dassault and Reliance selected themselves as partners, the Minister said.

"This contradicts his first questionable statement which the French Government and Dassault have denied. The facts contradict the same. His second statement in Montreal, Canada to AFP (news agency) makes the veracity of his first statement even more questionable," he added.

On its part, the Reliance group has also rejected charges against it made by the Congress and said the government was in no way involved in securing its offset contract with Dassault Aviation.

Hollande was the French president when the Rs 58,000 crore deal for buying 36 Rafale jets was signed in 2016.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced the procurement of 36 Rafale fighters after holding talks with then French president Hollande on April 10, 2015 in Paris.Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday challenged BJP president Amit Shah's for a public debate over the latter's comment on Delhi government's performance.

Amit Shah had alleged that Kejriwal has prevented the development of Delhi during his three and a half year rule.

Kejriwal took to twitter and responded in a series of tweets to BJP chief.

Kejriwal said, "Amit Shah Ji, our government has done 10 times more than what Modi Ji has done during the last four years. Look at the anti-people and wrong deeds of Modi Ji, we have not indulged in a single act of this kind. I challenge you, come let us have a public debate at Ramlila Maidan before the people of Delhi."

Later the Delhi government issued a statement refuting the BJP chief's allegations and also quoted Kejriwal's tweets.

Speaking at Purvanchal Mahakumbh rally in Delhi, Shah had said, "Kejriwal's only mantra is to tell lies, and talk forcefully and repeatedly".

In a tweet, Kejriwal sought to know how much money the BJP-led central government provided to Delhi in the 14th Finance Commission.

"Amit Shah Ji, how much money did your government provide to Delhi in the 14th Finance Commission? Merely Rs 325 crore? People of Poorvanchal reside in Delhi also.

"Why did your government not provide money for their development? Why this discrimination against Poorvanchalis living in Delhi?" Kejriwal said.

Shah had also accused the Congress of doing "injustice" to the eastern region of India, including parts of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha and Jharkhand, during its rule at the Centre.

The BJP chief said the Modi government has released Rs 13.80 lakh crore in the past 4.5 years, ensuring development through expressways, hospitals and industries in the area.

But Kejriwal slammed the BJP-led central government over alleged deteriorating policing and sanitation in Delhi, which come under the jurisdiction of the central government and BJP-controlled civic bodies in the capital.

"People of Delhi had given merely two works? policing and sanitation - and you have worsened both. Neither have you been able to keep Delhi clean nor have you been able to perform policing functions properly.

"We were given the responsibility of electricity, water, education and health by the people of Delhi and our performance in these sectors is being lauded the world over," Kejriwal said.

(With PTI inputs)New Delhi: Former French president Francois Hollande's bombshell on the Rafale deal with India has triggered a massive political row. Following allegations and accusations from Congress, the ruling BJP government has also come up with counter attacks.

In the latest instance, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman took to Twitter and launched a scathing attack on Congress president Rahul Gandhi saying, "No wonder today the buzz is #RahulKaPuraKhandanChor"

She said, "The @INCIndia & Shri. @RahulGandhi repeat untruth several times and use brazen & abusive language about @PMOIndia @narendramodi. They betray their sense of desperation in being out-of-power. In our govt there is no corruption. No wonder today the buzz is #RahulKaPuraKhandanChor"

The @INCIndia & Shri. @RahulGandhi repeat untruth several times and use brazen & abusive language about @PMOIndia @narendramodi. They betray their sense of desperation in being out-of-power. In our govt there is no corruption. No wonder today the buzz is #RahulKaPuraKhandanChor https://t.co/o76HiaYtDh  Nirmala Sitharaman (@nsitharaman) September 22, 2018

The claim by the former French president has given fresh ammunition to the Congress party, which has been mounting an attack on the government, demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Hitting out at PM Modi, Rahul Gandhi last week had reiterated that the 'chowkidaar' of the country is a thief and asked why the PM is silent on Hollande's remark.

He further pressed that PM Modi must clear his stand on the Rafale deal as the matter pertains to corruption and is related to the defence forces of the country.

Accusing the PM of giving Anil Ambani the Rafale deal, Rahul had said, "HAL had 70+ years experience. PM Modi himself went to France accompanied by Anil Ambani, stole the contract from HAL and gave it to Reliance."

He also said that Anil Ambani did not make an airplane in his entire life, but PM Modi gave contract to him without asking the Defence Minister.Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday launched the Ayushman Bharat  Pradhan Mantri Jan Aarogya Yojana at an event in Ranchi in Jharkhand. Addressing the gathering at the event in Jharkhand capital, Prime Minister Modi said that the scheme would benefit the poorest people in the country.

"No other country is the world has such large-scale healthcare programme," the Prime Minister said.

"We have brought such big scheme to people in a span of six months. I congratulate my whole team for this remarkable achievement. I believe that this team will work even more strongly now, because now they have the blessings of 50 crore poor people of this country," he added.

According to the Prime Minister, more than 13,000 hospitals have been added as part of the scheme.

"Though we are launching this scheme, but I still pray that no one faces a situation where they need to go to a hospital to avail this scheme. And unfortunately if you face any such situation, this scheme will be there to help you," said the Prime Minister.

He further said that trial for the rollout of the scheme was already being done in parts of the country.

Prime Minister Modi also used the occasion to target the Congress party. "Those who gave the slogan of Garibi Hatao, they did not do anything on ground for the welfare of those people," he said.

Without naming the grand old party, PM Modi said that they did not try to understand the problems and the self-respect of the poor people. "They just tried to lure poor people by making false promises. We identified the real issues and worked on them to ensure the poor get what they really need," said Modi.

The Prime Minister said that the scheme was based on the concept on 'Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas', adding that no discrimination would be done on the basis of caste, community of religion.

A helpline number has been launched for any information on the flagship scheme of the central government. The helpline number is 14555. Besides, information about the scheme is also available at all health centres across the country.

Ayushman Bharat is considered to be the "world's largest government-funded healthcare program" targeting more than 50 crore beneficiaries. It will provide a cover of up to Rs 5 lakh per family per year, for secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation.

Over 10.74 crore vulnerable entitled families (approximately 50 crore beneficiaries) will be eligible for these benefits. The healthcare programme is slated to provide cashless and paperless access to services for the beneficiary at the point of service.

Announcing the scheme on the occasion of the 72nd Independence Day, Prime Minister Modi had said, "Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Abhiyaan will be launched on September 25 this year. It is high time we ensure that the poor of India get proper access to good quality and affordable healthcare".New Delhi: Amid the ongoing row over India-France Rafale deal, Finance Minister on Sunday said that there is no question of the deal being scrapped. The fighter jets are coming to India, he added.

The Finance Minister further said that the aircraft will enhance the combat ability of the Indian Air Force. "These jets are coming to India... They are required for Indian defence. They will enhance the combat ability of the Indian Air Force (IAF)... This is a clean government to government deal. Modi government is the cleanest government in the history while the UPA government of 2004-14 was the most corrupt government...By allegations, you don't prove anything," the minister said.

#WATCH No question of the deal being scrapped.These jets are coming to India. They will enhance the combat ability of the IAF. By allegations, you dont prove anything: FM Arun Jaitley #FMtoANI #Rafaledeal pic.twitter.com/vrC7Kmz80j  ANI (@ANI) September 23, 2018

Rejecting allegations of a scam in the deal, Jaitley said whether the planes are bought at a higher rate or not is a matter for the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) to examine. He asserted, irrespective of the allegations, the Rafale deal will not be cancelled.

"The Rafale deal is clean and there is no question of cancelling it," Jaitley said in an exclusive interview to ANI. He asserted that the present Rafale aircraft are cheaper than what Congress-led UPA government had negotiated and added that all these facts and figures will be placed before the CAG.

"Fortunately, there is pricing, and for security interest, that pricing can't be disclosed in detail. But I have come as close to this. If you take a weaponised aircraft as of 2007, add the same two things to it again and bring it to 2016 level, the 2016 level is 20% cheaper. Now the CAG will go into pricing. They may not eventually disclose it, but about being 9% and 20% cheaper or not, they are looking into it. Congress has submitted a memorandum. The truth will come out," Jaitley said.

"Yeh saare aankdein aaj CAG ke saamne hai. Congress bhi CAG ke paas gayi hai. Hum prateeksha karenge iski. CAG toh aankdon ke specialized organization hai," the Finance Minister added. (All these figures are before CAG. Congress too has gone to CAG. We will wait for this. CAG is a specialised organisation on figures).

(With inputs from ANI)NEW DELHI: In a stern warning to Pakistan, Army Chief Gen Bipin Rawat Sunday said that surgical strike is a weapon of surprise and must remain so while hinting that the security forces will respond when the appropriate times comes.

''Surgical strike is a weapon of surprise. Let it remain a surprise,'' Army Chief General Bipin Rawat said.

Surgical strike is a weapon of surprise. Let it remain a surprise: Army Chief General Bipin Rawat to ANI on being asked 'if Army will carry out another surgical strike'  ANI (@ANI) September 23, 2018

The Army Chief also backed the Narendra Modi government's decision to call off dialogue with Pakistan, asserting that talks and terror cannot go together.

"The government's policy is very clear cut... You (Pakistan) show us some initiatives so that we feel that you are not encouraging terrorism. But we see that terror activities are continuing and terrorists come from the other side of the border.

"In such an atmosphere, whether talks can be initiated that the government can only decide. I agree to the government's decision that peace talks and terrorism cannot go together," he said.

The Army Chief was reacting to the government's decision to call off the Foreign Minister-level talks with Pakistan on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York.

The Centre had on Friday called off a meeting between the Foreign Ministers of India and Pakistan in New York, citing the brutal killings of three policemen in Jammu and Kashmir and Islamabad releasing postage stamps "glorifying" Kashmiri terrorist Burhan Wani.

''Infiltration from across the border persists despite the call for a ceasefire by Pakistan,'' said Rawat stressing that ''this cannot be allowed to continue''.

''They have been carrying out barbaric acts and Pakistan Army is used to doing this. It is not the first time that they have done it,'' the Army Chief said.

They have been carrying out barbaric acts and Pakistan Army is used to doing this. It is not the first time that they have done it: Army Chief General Bipin Rawat to ANI on BSF soldier Narendra Singh's throat slit by Pak troops near International border in Jammu (File pic) pic.twitter.com/ANvJxXTEur  ANI (@ANI) September 23, 2018

Gen Rawat warned that appropriate action has to be taken to deter terrorists from disrupting the peace in the Kashmir Valley.

He was talking at a commemoration ceremony of Haifa Day Centenary at the Teen Murti Haifa Memorial here.

A BSF patrolling party was fired upon by forces from across the Pakistan border on September 20, in which a jawan was killed. The head constable rank jawan was suspected to have been hit by a fatal sniper shot from across the border. His body was recovered in a mutilated condition later.

Gen Rawat further said they will provide security along with other agencies for the Panchayat polls in Jammu and Kashmir to be held in November.

"Today we are also looking at Panchayat elections, we want these elections to go through because with this the power will devolve to people.

"Our job is to ensure that the civil administration there and the election commission is able to carry out their tasks so that people can come out and cast their vote in a free and forthright manner without any fear of any kind of disruption," he said.

Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Jammu and Kashmir Shaleen Kabra had on September 16 announced that Panchayat elections in the state would be held in nine phases, from November 17 to December 11, between 8 am and 2 pm.

With the announcement of the Panchayat elections schedule, the Model Code of Conduct is already in place.

Days after the state Election Commission announced the dates for Panchayat polls in Jammu and Kashmir, miscreants attempted to set ablaze a Panchayat Ghars in several areas of the state.

(With Agency inputs)NEW DELHI: Joining the Government-Opposition war over the Rafale fighter jet deal, Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday demanded a probe by the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the controversial defence deal between India and France.

Speaking to news agency ANI, the SP said that without a JPC the truth will not come out as the issue has now become global.

''We demand a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe on Rafale deal. Without a JPC, the truth will not come out, the issue has now become global,'' Akhilesh said.

We demand a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on #Rafaledeal, without a JPC the truth will not come out, the issue has now become global: Akhilesh Yadav pic.twitter.com/ViJbLAhKO1  ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) September 23, 2018

Adding a fresh twist to the ongoing political war over Rafale deal, former France president Francois Hollande claimed that it was the Indian government which proposed the name of Anil Ambani-led Reliance Defence as its partner in the aircraft deal.

Grabbing the opportunity to the attack the Centre, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi called PM Narendra Modi a thief and corrupt, which evoked a sharp reaction from the ruling BJP.

Replying to Congress party's attack, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley ruled out scrapping the Rafale jet deal.

Jaitley said that former French President Francois Hollande contradicted himself and neither the Indian nor the French government played any role in selection of Reliance as offset partner by Dassault.

The Congress-led Opposition raised fingers at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and demanded resignation of Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

Jaitley, in a television interview, said there appears to be some 'jugalbandi' (connection) between the statements of Hollande and Congress President Rahul Gandhi.

"I am surprised? On August 30, he (Gandhi) tweeted that bombs are going to explode in France (over Rafale deal). How he came to know about that?,'' Jaitley asked.

"Though I do not have any proof of this jugalbandi, but this creates suspicion in mind?There is definitely something ... A statement comes (from Hollande), then it is contradicted. But he (Gandhi) predicted this to happen 20 days in advance," he said.

Jaitley added that there is no question of scrapping the Rafale jet fighter deal as it is meant to meet the needs of the country's defence forces.

"Koi prashna nahi uthta. Ye fauz ki avashaktya hai. Ye desh mei ana chahiye, aur ye ayega. (No question of scrapping the deal. These (jet fighters) are needed by the defence forces. They should come and they will come)," he said when asked whether the government could cancel the deal in view of the forthcoming general elections in 2019.

Earlier in a Facebook post titled 'A Questionable Statement Which Circumstances & Facts Demolish', Jaitley wrote: "The former French President's first statement rhymes with Rahul Gandhi's prediction."

The Minister also accused the Congress party leaders of using vulgar language and said public discourse is not a "laughter challenge".

"I have said how public discourse should be. It is not a laughter challenge. You go and hug someone, then you wink, utter lies 4-6-10 times. Your words should reflect intellect. Vulgarity and abusive language does not suit the world's largest democracy,'' he added.

Jaitley said a controversy is sought to be created on the basis of a statement made by Hollande that the Reliance Defence 'partnership' with Dassault Aviation was due to the suggestion of the Indian government.

"He (Hollande) has, in a subsequent statement, said that he is 'not aware' if Government ever lobbied for Reliance Defence and that 'the partners chose themselves'. Truth cannot have two versions,'' Jaitley said.

Referring to Hollande's remarks, Jaitley said, "The French Government and M/s Dassault Aviation have categorically denied the correctness of the former President's first statement.''

''The French Government has stated that the decision with regard to the offset contracts of Dassault Aviation are taken by the company and not the Government. Dassault Aviation itself has suggested that they have entered into multiple contracts with several public sector and private sector companies with regard to the offset contracts and the decision is entirely theirs," he added.

As per the second statement of Hollande, Dassault and Reliance selected themselves as partners, the Minister said.

"This contradicts his first questionable statement which the French Government and Dassault have denied. The facts contradict the same. His second statement in Montreal, Canada to AFP (news agency) makes the veracity of his first statement even more questionable," he added.

Hollande was the French president when the Rs 58,000 crore deal for buying 36 Rafale jets was signed in 2016.Srinagar: A hardcore terrorist was shot dead in an encounter with security forces in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on Sunday.

According to ANI, the body of an unidentified terrorist was recovered from the encounter site in the Tral area of the district.

Body of a terrorist recovered following an encounter with security forces in Pulwama's Tral. Search operation continues. #JammuAndKashmir (visuals deferred by unspecified time) pic.twitter.com/J5ffrqQXZc  ANI (@ANI) September 23, 2018

The security forces are trying to ascertain the identity of the slain terrorist and the terror group he was affiliated to.

Security forces had launched a massive cordon and search operation (COAS) in Dar Ganie Gund village of Aribal area in the south Kashmir district Sunday morning after receiving specific intelligence inputs about the presence of some terrorists in the area.

The search operation turned into an encounter after the terrorists fired upon the forces triggering a sharp retaliation from them.

The search operation is still underway.SRINAGAR: A top commander of Pakistani origin belonging to the banned terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) was killed in an encounter with security forces in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday.

The slain terrorist was identified as Adnan - one of the top commanders of banned terror outfit JeM in the Kashmir Valley. He was of Pakistani origin.

Slain terrorist's body and a huge quantity of arms, ammunition and incriminating material was also recovered from the site of the encounter.

Body of a terrorist recovered following an encounter with security forces in Pulwama's Tral. Search operation continues. #JammuAndKashmir (visuals deferred by unspecified time) pic.twitter.com/J5ffrqQXZc  ANI (@ANI) September 23, 2018

Security forces had launched a massive Cordon and Search Operation in Dar Ganie Gund village of Aribal area of Tral in south Kashmir district on Sunday morning, after receiving credible inputs about the presence of militants in the area, a J&K Police spokesperson said.

He said during the search operation, the hiding terrorist fired on the search party and the fire was retaliated, leading to an encounter.

"From the incriminating material recovered, it is learnt that the killed terrorist is one of the top commanders of proscribed terror outfit JeM identified as Adnan of Pakistani origin," the spokesperson said, adding that the operation has concluded.

A security force jawan, who got injured in the encounter, was immediately rushed to a hospital.

A civilian, identified as Manzoor Dar from Tral, also sustained injuries in cross-firing, the spokesperson said.

He said Dar was evacuated to a nearby hospital for medical attention and his condition is stated to be stable now.

Police have registered a case and initiated investigation in the matter, he said.

(With Agency inputs)Kottayam: With the arrest of Bishop Franco Mulakkal in the nun rape case, Church authorities have begun to take action against those who supported the 14-day protest by five nuns at Kochi in the matter, a Church official said on Sunday.

"I received a letter from higher-ups in my church that I should not participate in such protests and keep away... I am preparing a reply to the supreme head of our Church, the one person with a lot of compassion for the suffering. I am sure he will know what I did was right," Yuhanon Ramban of the Jacobite Syrian Christian Church told the media here on Sunday.

Ramban is a post given to a priest of a monastic order, similar to a monk. There are instances in churches wherein a Ramban is elevated to a Bishop.

Sister Lucy Kalapurekal of the Syro Malabar Catholic Church also told the media that when she visited her congregation in Wayanad in the morning, she was told to keep away from her church duties.

Lucy said that when she returned from the protest venue at Kochi, their Mother Superior called for her.

"She said that she is sad to say that she has been directed to pass on the information to me that from now on, I have been relieved of all the duties in my church. I have been asked to keep away from duties like assisting in the Holy Communion, taking Bible classes for children and such duties, that I was doing till the other day," said Lucy and added that she wished to know what wrong she did to get this punishment.

Lucy is attached to the St Mary`s Church near Manathavady in Wayanad district but the Parish Vicar K. Stephen denied media reports that Lucy has been proceeded against.

"In the past few days, there have been responses by Lucy in the social media and this has come to the notice of several members of our church and they raised objections and it was conveyed to her," said the Vicar.

Reacting to the development, Sister Anupama, one of the five nuns who led the protest at Kochi in support of the victim, said she is "least surprised at what has happened".

The 14-day protest witnessed people from all walks of life coming together to express support to the five nuns.New Delhi: Comedienne Bharti Singh and her writer husband Haarsh Limbachiyaa have been diagnosed with dengue and the two were reportedly hospitalised on September 22, 2018.

According to a TOI report, both Bharti and Haarsh were down with high fever due to which their platelet count fell.

Bharti and Harsh tied the knot in December 2017. The newly married couple also appeared in many reality shows and are leading a blissful married life.

Rumours were rife that this famous telly couple would enter Bigg Boss 12 house as they attended the Goa Press conference of the show along with the host Salman Khan. But then the duo didn't enter the show and shocked their fans. A source revealed to Indianexpress that Bharti and Harsh were asked to play along with the rumour and were also paid a good amount for doing the same.

We wish Bharti and Haarsh a speedy recovery!New Delhi: The Weekend ka Vaar episode on Sunday started on a very lively and musical note with Bollywoods heartthrob Varun Dhawan making a dhamakedaar entry. The talented actor kick-started the episode with a rap song aptly describing, all the quirks of the Bigg boss house and its many contestants. Varun himself welcomed the most lovable host and dost of the nation ~ Salman Khan.

As always, Salman Khan's Smashing entry began with the duo singing Tamma Tamma with the Bigg Band. The talented actor known for being a big fan of Salman came to promote his upcoming film Sui-Dhaga.

Varun Dhawan also challenged Salman to take the Sui-Dhaga challenge, where Salman sportingly stitched his initials on a scarf. Varun teasingly added that Salman is an eligible bachelor who knows cooking, painting and now even stitching.

Varun went inside the house and met the contestants who were tensed as it was eviction day. His entry in the house cheered everyone up and relaxed what was a tensed atmosphere. While bonding with the contestants, Varun requested Anup and Jasleen to sing a ghazal version of a popular song from his movie, Saturday Saturday while Shivashish and Kriti grooved to their beats. Varun then announced the task for the nominated contestants who were divided into two groups, singles comprised off Srishty, Sreesanth, Dipika and Neha whereas Jodis included Shivashish, Jasleen, Somi and Deepak. The task was called Made in India, and the contestants had to make cushions out of the cotton and stitching material provided.

Later Salman announced that it was time for this seasons first Sultani Akhada between the singles and Jodis. He called the Khan sisters and Dipika- Srishty for a faceoff and declared that the winning Jodi will get a special power.

Will the battle between the jodis and singles get even more intense in the coming weeks? Who will be tough contenders?DUBAI: Iran's Revolutionary Guards vowed on Sunday to exact "deadly and unforgettable" vengeance for a shooting attack on a military parade that killed 25 people, including 12 of their comrades, and Tehran accused Gulf Arab states of backing the gunmen.

Saturday's assault, one of the worst ever against the elite force of the Islamic Republic, struck a blow at its security establishment at a time when the United States and its Gulf allies are working to isolate Tehran.

"Considering (the Guards') full knowledge about the centres of deployment of the criminal terrorists` leaders..., they will face a deadly and unforgettable vengeance in the near future,"

the Guards said in a statement carried by state media.

Four assailants fired on a viewing stand in the southwestern city of Ahvaz where Iranian officials had gathered to watch an annual event marking the start of the Islamic Republic`s 1980-88 war with Iraq. Soldiers crawled about as gunfire crackled. Women and children fled for their lives.

Ahvaz National Resistance, an Iranian ethnic Arab opposition movement which seeks a separate state in oil-rich Khuzestan province, claimed responsibility for the attack.

Islamic State militants also claimed responsibility. Neither claim provided evidence. All four attackers were killed.

There has been a blizzard of furious statements from top Iranian officials, including President Hassan Rouhani, accusing Iran`s adversaries the United States and Gulf kingdoms of provoking the bloodshed and threatening a tough response.

"LOOK IN THE MIRROR"

Nikki Haley, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, rejected Rouhani`s accusations as rhetoric. "He`s got the Iranian people...protesting, every ounce of money that goes into Iran goes into his military, he has oppressed his people for a long time and he needs to look at his own base to figure out where that`s coming from," Haley told CNN.

"He can blame us all he wants. The thing he`s got to do is look in the mirror," she said.

Senior commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) have said the Ahvaz attack was carried out by militants trained by Gulf states and Israel and backed by America. But it is unlikely the IRGC will strike any of these foes directly.

The Guards could put on a show of strength by firing missiles at opposition groups operating in Iraq or Syria that may be linked to the militants who staged the attack.

They are also likely to enforce a tight security policy in Khuzestan province, arresting any perceived domestic opponents including civil rights activists.

Three Arab activists told Reuters that security forces, especially the intelligence branch of the Revolutionary Guards, had detained more activists in Ahvaz.

There are many checkpoints on the streets of Ahvaz, and the security forces are searching cars, said Hossein Bouazar, a member of Ahwazi Centre for Human Rights. Many people are scared. Reuters could not immediately verify this account.

Iran has also been hit by sporadic street protests over economic hardship that have taken on anti-government overtones.

Rouhani engineered Iran`s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers that ushered in a cautious detente with Washington before tensions flared anew with President Donald Trump`s decision in

May to pull out of the accord and reimpose sanctions on Tehran.

The attack on the military parade is likely to give security hardliners like the Guards more political ammunition because they did not endorse the pragmatist Rouhani`s pursuit of the nuclear deal with the West, analysts say.

In New York, Trump`s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani said on Saturday that U.S. sanctions were inflicting economic pain on Iran that could lead to a "successful revolution".

The Trump administration has said that changing Iran`s system of government is not U.S. policy.

REGIONAL STRUGGLE

Shiite Iran is at odds with Western-allied Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia for predominance in the Middle East. The regional superpowers support opposing sides in the civil wars in Yemen and Syria as well as rival political groups in Iraq and Lebanon.

Iran`s Foreign Ministry summoned the United Arab Emirates` charge d`affaires on Sunday over comments made about the bloody fusillade at the military parade, state-run PressTV said.

There was no immediate comment from Saudi Arabia on Rouhani`s allegations.

Iran denies Gulf Arab accusations that it seeks to extend its sway via proxies around the Middle East, calling for states in the oil-producing region to guarantee its security without the interference of the United States and other Western powers.Open source

From the beginning of the day on September 22, the militants shelled the positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Donbas 13 times. No casualties were observed. Colonel Dmytro Hutsuliak, Speaker of the Ministry of Defence claimed this at the briefing, the press office of the Ministry reports.

From the beginning of the day, as of 12 p.m., 13 aimed shelling of the enemy is yet recorded, he claimed.

In Luhansk sector, Russian-occupation forces released five mines from 82mm mortars at the positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine near localities: Shumy, Maiorsk, and Pivdenne. Also, the enemy opened prevocational fires in the direction of Ukrainian defenders by using grenade launchers and other infantry weapons near Pivdenne, and three times in the area of Krymske.

In Donetsk sector, Russian-occupation forces carried out three shelling from infantry weapons and IFV in the direction of the defenders of Hruntove, also carried out provocations near Vodiane, Pisky, and Lebedinske. The Speaker of the Ministry of Defence noted that the Joint Forces units were adequately answering the enemy by not violating the Minsk Agreements.

As a result of the shelling, no casualties were observed. The situation on the front line remains controlled by Ukrainian militaries from the Joint Forces, Hutsuliak point out.Open source

During the current day, militants violated the ceasefire 17 times in the Donbas conflict zone. As a result of the fighting, one Ukrainian military was injured, the press center of the Joint Forces Operation said.



"On the Horlivka direction, the enemy used mortars of 82 caliber three times, firing at Ukrainian strong points in the areas of Shumy, Yuzhne and Mayorske, and in the Novoluhanske area the invaders used prohibited weapons 5 times, firing on the positions of the Joint forces with mortars of 82 mm caliber, and then twice using mortars of 120 and 82 calibers," said in a statement.



It is noted that as a result of military operations, one Ukrainian military man was wounded.



Earlier the border guards of the Krasnopillya border service with the help of a night vision device detained a citizen of the Russian Federation who tried to illegally enter Ukraine crossing the border outside the official crossing point on September 22. This is stated in the message of the State Border Service.



According to it, the detained 25-year-old man, a resident of Moscow, applied to the police with a request for refugee status.



"He explained that he was persecuted by representatives of the Russian special services for his political and religious views in his homeland, and recently he was charged for committing an offense under the article of the Russian Criminal Code for inciting hatred and enmity," reads message.



Since the man was declared wanted in the federal list and due to the risk of being detained by Russian border guards at the checkpoint, he decided to enter Ukraine illegally by crossing the state border on its "green" section.



The State Border Guard Service notes that at present procedural actions are continuing and in the near future, in the established order, the man will be transferred to the competent authorities.

Related: Lack of quality drinking water in occupied CrimeaTwitter Petro Poroshenko

President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko said that Russia pays a high economic price for its aggressive foreign policy. He expressed this conviction in an interview with Rheinische Post.



"Sanctions are the only non-military instrument available to press the aggressor in the current situation, and it's not about punishing Russia. The goal is to keep Putin at the negotiating table, and in this sense sanctions are very effective," Poroshenko said.



He added that without sanctions, Russian President Putin would not be engaged in the Normandy process, designed to find a peaceful solution. "Now Russia is paying a high economic price for its aggressive foreign policy, and Putin's popularity has also suffered because of this," the president believes.



Poroshenko also commented on the discussions among European governments on the possibility of lifting sanctions as soon as possible, in particular, discussions in the Italian government. "To this, Putin made a bid from the very beginning - that the Europeans' united position on this issue will fail, he hoped that after the presidential elections of 2017, France, under the influence of the right-populist National Front, would surrender positions in the issue of sanctions - in vain. Then he hoped for the growth of AdG positions in Germany (the party "Alternative for Germany") and the completion of the Cadence of Angela Merkel, to finally get rid of the sanctions, "he said.



The president stressed that so far Putin's calculations have not worked and Europe has preserved unity. "And for this we are infinitely grateful to our European friends," Poroshenko added.



As reported earlier, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said that he was in favor of a revision of the European sanctions system against Russia.



Earlier, US President Donald Trump signed a decree on tightening sanctions against the Russian Federation due to aggression against Ukraine.



In an interview with Reuters, Trump said he would consider lifting sanctions from Russia if it "takes steps towards Ukraine and Syria." It was also reported that the US imposed new sanctions against the Russian Federation because of the poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter Julia.

Related: Lack of quality drinking water in occupied CrimeaSanctions against the Peoples Republic of China were introduced due to the acquisition of combat aircraft and missile systems from the Russian State company

Open source

Zheng Zeguang, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Peoples Republic of China called Terry Branstad, United States Ambassador to China to express protest at the decision of Washington on the sanctions against the Chinese Department of National Defence Ministry and the head of the Ministry. Reads the official message published by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China.

Related: China refused new trade consultations with U.S.

Sanctions against the Peoples Republic of China were introduced due to the acquisition of combat aircraft and missile systems from the Russian State company Rosoboronexport.

Reportedly, the USA introduced 25-percent duties for goods imported from China. American President Donald Trump accused China of the theft of intellectual property and repeatedly stressed that he doesn't like the deficit in trade with Beijing. Then duties were raised by another $16 billion.Hungarian Government amid the exacerbation of relations with Ukraine didnt fulfill the agreement about the change of scandalous title of Commissioner for Zakarpattia. Vasyl Bondar, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs claimed this, Ukrinform reports.

Bondar having commented the exacerbation of relations of Ukraine and Budapest pointed out that Hungary didnt fulfill the main agreement about the change of conflict title of the official responsible for the help Hungarians in Zakarpattia region.

Related: Hungarian passports in Ukraine's Zakarpattia seven years in use

The agreements, which we reached between the ministers during a telephone conversation are not being fulfilled. Now, we have a question, how to negotiate with the Hungarian side, the Deputy Minister explained.

The message alleges that the Deputy Minister notes the unwillingness of Hungary to cooperate, and sees that Hungary interferes in the internal affairs of Ukraine.

Related: Issuance of Hungarian passports in Zakarpattia challenge for national security - Ukraine's Foreign Minister

Reportedly, earlier, Ukrainian outlet Ukrinform published the video where a number of Ukrainian citizens receive Hungarian passports and take an oath of allegiance to Hungary in the Hungarian Consulate in Berehove. The procedure is followed with the advice of the Hungarian diplomat to not to tell Ukrainian authorities about the receipt of new documents.

Earlier, Hungarian Ambassador in Ukraine Erno Keskeny claimed that Ukrainian Hungarians have an absolute right to receive Hungarian passports when the former head of Zakarpattia Regional State Administration Viktor Baloha claimed that 90 thousand of Zakarpattia residents have Hungarian passports.Reuters

The Polish government criticized the words of the Ukrainian ambassador, Andriy Deshchytsia, about Poland's reaction to the destruction of Ukrainian monuments and the emotional decision of Kyiv to prohibit Poland from conducting exhumation work. This is reported by Dzerkalo Tyzhnya.



As the source in the Polish government said, Andriy Deshchytsia crossed the red line when on the air of the Polish radio station RMF24 he said that Ukraine would agree to Polish exhumation works only after the restoration of the destroyed Ukrainian monuments in Pikulichi near Peremyshl and the Monastery near Verkhrata. At the same time, Deshchytsia admitted that the ban on conducting exhumation work is an emotional decision of Kyiv, taken after the Polish authorities did not react to the destruction of Ukrainian monuments.



"Warsaw is disappointed with Kyiv, its approaches to the policy of historical memory," a source in the Polish government said. "For Warsaw, the statements of Ambassador Deshchytsia are disgusting, it is an assessment not only of the Foreign Ministry, but also of the Polish government."



In Poland, the words of Deshchytsia were perceived as blackmail. "Warsaw will not talk with Kyiv on the conditions of blackmail, first of all with Deputy Prime Minister Pavlo Rosenko, Poland does not trust the Ukrainian side," the source said.



We recall, another round of aggravation of relations between countries occurred after Ukraine abolished the permission of the Polish National Memory Institute to conduct search and exhumation of Poles buried in Ukraine. This happened after the monument of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army in Grushovici (Poland) was demolished in April. After that, the parties usually exchanged mutual accusations.



Related: Lack of quality drinking water in occupied CrimeaOccupation authorities claim that there is no exceeding of the maximum single concentrations of pollutants since September 16

Emergency situation regime of municipal nature, which was introduced on September 14 in Armyansk and other surrounding villages in the north of occupied Crimea because of the exceed the maximum permissible concentration of harmful substances in the air is removed. Vasyl Telizhenko, Head of Administration in Armyansk claimed this, Interfax reports.

As it is reported, children will be brought back to the city on September 24-25.

Related: Crimean Titan factory illegally pumps water from Kherson region free of charge

It is noted that there is no exceeding of the maximum single concentrations of pollutants since September 16, and all works connected with the elimination of the emergency situation have been thoroughly carried out.

As we reported, an unknown substance was discharged in the air in Armyansk, North Crimea. A greasy mud with a yellow shade appeared on metallic objects, roofs, and leaves on the trees.

Later, Sergey Aksyonov, head of the annexed Crimea claimed that the situation with the discharge of the unknown substance in the air goes beyond the norms.

Related: Crimean Titan states on extinguishment of furnaces of enterprise

Moreover, toxic chemicals were detected in the air in the Kherson region, southern Ukraine.

Refat Chubarov, Chairman of the Crimean Tatars Mejlis claimed that the evacuation of the children due to the emission of the unknown substance has begun in Armyansk.

Earlier it was reported that the hit of the shells at the technological tanks during the training of the detachments of the Armed Forces of Russia became the reason for the chemical emission at the plant Crimean Tytan.

Related: Titanium plant in annexed Crimea stops work due to acidic emissions

On September 6, it was reported that the plant on the production of the titanium dioxide, the subsidiary of Titanium investments in Crimean Armyansk will completely stop to work on Sunday, September 9.

Reportedly, 61 Ukrainian border guards were affected by the emission of chemicals. Five of them have been hospitalized. They are in Odessa Clinical Hospital of State Border Guard Service of Ukraine (SBGS), the results of their tests will be known today.The victim hospitalized, his condition assessed as serious

Oleh Mykhailyk, Head of city organization of the party "The Power of People", Odesa public activist was shot in the evening, September 22. His spouse claimed this, Dumskaya reports.

Mykhailyk is in surgery in the City Clinical Hospital 1. The Doctors assess his condition as a serious.

Related: Volunteer gets shot in leg in Odesa

The outlet noted that the victim has repeatedly opposed to the Municipal Administration of Odesa.

Ruslan Forostiak, Adviser Head of the General Directorate of the National Police claimed that the victim sought the assistance of the passing police officers.

His shoulder and chest are injured, currently, he is in a medical facility, Forostiak claimed.

Related: Ex-official shot dead in Sumy, attacker escapes

The investigational group of the Prymorskyi Department is at the scene to establish the circumstances of the incident.

Police officers are taking measures aimed at identification of the attackers. The incident is considered as an assassination attempt, the Police claimed.The police says that he will be in custody for two weeks

Google

A Russian citizen was detained at Oslo airport in Norway on suspicion of "illegal intelligence activities on the territory of the state." This is stated in the message of Reuters referring to the police.



"On Friday, September 21, the Norwegian police detained a Russian citizen on suspicion of illegal intelligence activities," the police told the newspaper. "The man will remain in custody for two weeks due to the existing "risk of destruction of evidence".



It is known that a Russian citizen attended a seminar on digitalization in the Norwegian parliament this week.



Earlier Pavlo Klimkin, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine stressed the solidarity of Ukraine with the UK regarding the investigation of Skripals case. The Minister claimed this on Twitter.

The investigation of Skripals case revealed what it had to reveal. We have always been standing in solidarity with our British friends and partners in opposition to hybrid methods of Russia and will keep supporting their fight! Klimkin said.

As we reported the Crown Prosecution Service of the U.K. called the names of the suspects in the poisoning of the ex-GRU officer Sergey Skripal and his daughter Yulia.

As it was reported Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were poisoned in British Salisbury. Later, Theresa May, British PM, stated that Russia was responsible for that, and the investigation has confirmed the use of the Novichok nerve agent, which is produced in Russia.YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 23, ARMENPRESS. Soon after the voting began for the Yerevan City Council election, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan arrived at the 8/16 electoral district of the Armenian capital to cast his ballot.

This election differs with the fact that the citizen is confident that it is him who will make the election and that his vote will not be rigged, the PM told reporters at the polling station.

Asked to comment on the pre-election campaigning the Prime Minister said: This campaign was a true campaign, and all forces realized that they had to fight for every vote, including the government. We too, as a government, understood that we had to fight for every vote. I believe that from now on passions will be high in Armenia ahead of campaigns because from now on elections in Armenia will be genuine, he said.

Edited and translated by Stepan KocharyanYEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 23, ARMENPRESS. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan will depart to the United States of America on a working visit on September 23rd. The PM will participate in the 73rd session General Assembly of the United Nations in New York City. PM Pashinyan will deliver a speech at the session.

During the visit the Armenian Prime Minister will also have a meeting with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, Pashinyans office said.

Pashinyan is expected to hold bilateral meetings with counterparts from various countries. He will also have a meeting with the local Armenian community and will attend the Armenia! Exhibition at the New York Met.

Edited and translated by Stepan KocharyanYEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 23, ARMENPRESS. Armenian President Armen Sarkissian, who is currently on a working visit to France, took part in the annual Summit of Minds in Chamonix on September 22, the presidents office said.

300 representatives from 28 countries engaged in a multilateral discussion over expanding the possibilities of investment and strategic decision making in the modern world and the role of people in it.

The discussions addressed global economic macro trends, its impacts on investments and economic strategies and other topics.

Armenian President Armen Sarkissian, the keynote speaker at the event, presented his view and approaches on the topics and the events and challenges in the modern world.

Edited and translated by Stepan KocharyanYEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 23, ARMENPRESS. Police Chief of Armenia Valeri Osipyan cast his ballot in the Yerevan City Council election today.

Speaking to reporters after voting, the Police Chief addressed the police search which took place September 22 at an office of the Prosperous Armenia Party.

All actions of the police were within the law, the study is currently underway, we will notify the public afterwards, he said.

He stated that the police are in control of the tactical situation in the country, and that law enforcement agencies are studying any alarm, any report or any post on social media.

He said that several investigations are currently proceedings over suspected vote buying.

He said that at the current moment everything is proceeding as expected in the election.

Edited and translated by Stepan KocharyanYEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 23, ARMENPRESS. National Security Service director Arthur Vanetsyan cast his ballot in the Yerevan City Council election.

Talking to reporters after voting, the intelligence chief said that he expects this election to express the will of the people and that a mayor of Yerevan will be elected by the vote of the people.

No one will have any doubts in this regard, he said.

Edited and translated by Stepan KocharyanYEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 23, ARMENPRESS. Speaker of Parliament of Armenia Ara Babloyan says that it is too early to speak about the early dissolution of parliament.

Asked about a possible dissolution of the legislature, the Speaker noted that working groups are currently set up, which must work in the direction of legislative amendments.

It is still early to speak about the [early] dissolution of [parliament]. Political forces will address this issue in the future, while the process still continues, he said.

Earlier on August 17, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said that constitutional changes should take place ahead of early elections of parliament. According to the PM, the amendments will enable early elections to take place not only in the event of his resignation, but also in the event of a self-dissolution of parliament.

Edited and translated by Stepan KocharyanYEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 23, ARMENPRESS. 201,268 people, or 23,72% of the total number of eligible voters, have cast ballots as of 14:00 in the Yerevan City Council election, the central electoral commission said.

848,343 people are eligible to vote in the election. Polling stations will be open until 20:00.

Edited and translated by Stepan KocharyanYEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 23, ARMENPRESS. A new memorial dedicated to the Armenian Genocide has opened in the largest city of State Idaho, Boise, ARMENPRESS reports, Idaho Press informs.

Boise resident Eleanor Karapetian was among those who attended the blessing of the new Armenian Genocide Memorial Friday at the site of the Idaho Anne Frank Human Rights Memorial in Boise.

A first-generation Armenian, she marked her fathers 109th birthday that evening.

I told him I had a birthday present for him, she said.

The new memorial honors the victims of the 1915 Armenian Genocide as part of the Marilyn Shuler Outdoor Classroom for Human Rights. Members of the Armenian community raised money to build a bench, audio installation and wall engraving in remembrance.

Mark Abajian, prominent leader in the Idaho Armenian community, said the community is very excited and loves the memorial.

For years to come, said Abajian, Idahoans and visitors will have the opportunity to learn about the first genocide of the century.

Father Nektarios Serfes from the Greek Orthodox Church of Boise offered his services to bless the memorial.

Edited and translated by Tigran SirekanyanA Swiss-operated ship has been attacked off the coast of Nigeria, Switzerland's foreign ministry said late Saturday, amid reports that 12 crew members had been kidnapped by pirates. The foreign ministry "has been informed of the attack on Glarus, a vessel sailing under a Swiss flag along the Nigerian coast," it said in a statement sent to AFP. It added that the Swiss Maritime Navigation Office was in contact with the vessel's operator, but provided no further details. According to Swiss media reports, pirates attacked the merchant vessel as it was transporting wheat between Lagos and Port Harcourt and kidnapped 12 of its 19 crew members. The Geneva-based shipping company that operates the Glarus, Massoel Shipping, could not be immediately reached for comment. A vessel "sailing under a Swiss flag along the Nigerian coast" has been attacked, the Swiss foreign ministry said in a statement

A beauty queen has given up her regional crown after being told she was plus-sized and then abused online.

Model Juliana Diaz Rueda, 23, was named Miss Santander and was expected to represent her region at the next Miss Colombia contest.

However, Ms Diaz Rueda claims regional authorities did not support her and her family with costs related to travel, fitness training, accessories and education courses, leaving them severely out of pocket.

She also claims fashion store Leyar sent her a message saying that they are a very professional company that only makes clothes for queens and not plus-sized women.

Model Juliana Diaz Rueda was named Miss Santander and was expected to represent her region at the next Miss Colombia contest but has given up her crown claiming shes online suffered abuse. Source: CEN/Australscope

I am 180 centimetres tall and thin, but not over-thin, she said.

I did not fit into the clothes for the show and I was upset at receiving that message.

However, Leyar published a statement defending the beauty queens claims, saying that she simply did not do what was expected.

It added she displayed lack of commitment and interest in her role.

The 23-year-old claims fashion store Leyar told her it wouldnt make clothes for her because it doesnt make them for plus-size women. Leyar has denied this claim. Source: CEN/Australscope

The model also claims that she has been the target of cyber-bullying about her makeup and choice of outfits, and that it was another factor for leaving her position as Miss Santander.

According to Ms Diaz Rueda, the dream of every young woman is to become a queen but that the experience did not go well due to bad advisors.

I was bullied, she said.

I am not sure about the other girls.

The 23-year-old added it was never her intention to speak bad about a brand or company in Santander, and she only wanted to share her experience.

I would like to thank the time and effort people have placed in me, she said.

It is currently unclear whether Santander officials will replace Ms Diaz Rueda or encourage her to stay and represent the region at the Miss Colombia pageant.

With AustralscopeBy Jorge Pineda

SANTO DOMINGO (Reuters) - Dominican Republic closed most of its ports ahead of Hurricane Maria, but the country's 34,000-barrel-per-day refinery was still running, the government said on Wednesday.

Ports that suspended operations under the "red alert" declared for extreme weather conditions are La Romana, Samana, Arroyo Barril, Puerto Plata and Manzanillo, the Dominican Port Authority said in a statement. Maria was a Category 4 hurricane when it hit Puerto Rico earlier on Wednesday.

The ports of San Souci and Haina, which serve the country's sole refinery, also halted operations on Wednesday, according to operators of those facilities. The port of Caucedo has not declared its status.

State-run refining company Refidomsa last week lifted a force majeure declaration on its fuel deliveries due to Hurricane Harvey, which limited its imports of oil from the U.S. Gulf Coast to be processed at the facility.

The refinery's docks temporarily closed earlier in September due to Hurricane Irma, but they resumed operations days later.

Refidomsa, owned by the island's government and Venezuela's state-run oil firm Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA) [PDVSA.UL], this week issued a "yellow alert" to the industry ahead of Maria, which means it will monitor the storm to decide on further action, the Dominican firm said.

Puerto Rico's Yabucoa terminal operated by Buckeye Partners suspended operations on Tuesday. The company is monitoring the storm to decide whether to close its Bahamas terminal, the largest in the Caribbean.

NuStar Energy has not reopened its terminal on the island of St. Eustatius after Hurricane Irma damaged some tanks.



(Reporting by Jorge Pineda; Writing by Marianna Parraga; Editing by Richard Chang)

Incredible images have emerged of a two-headed snake that was found by a resident in their backyard.

Virginia Wildlife Management and Control, in the US, uploaded photos of the copperhead snake and its two heads to Facebook, labelling the reptile extremely rare.

In one image the snake appears to be shedding its skin.

Many Facebook users were shocked by the photos, with one woman commenting they were super cool.

A rare two-headed copperhead snake has been found in the backyard of a home in the US state of Virginia. Source: Facebook/ Virginia Wildlife Management and Control

Others had questions about which head attacks and which one eats, to which Wildlife Control responded: Both.

Some were just overwhelmed by the thought of a two-headed serpent.

Nope, one head is one too many, one woman wrote.

Both heads eat and bite according to animal control. Source: Facebook/ Virginia Wildlife Management and Control

According to an article published in National Geographic, two-headed snakes lead difficult lives in the wild.

University of Tennessee herpetologist Gordon Burghardt, who has studied two-headed snakes, said the heads often fight over which one will swallow prey, which makes them highly vulnerable to predators.

They also have a great deal of difficulty deciding which direction to go, and if they had to respond to an attack quickly they would just not be capable of it, he said.

The heads also fight in captivity and might try to eat each other.Flash floods in Tunisia's Cap Bon peninsula have killed at least four people, authorities said Sunday, as surging waters caused by heavy rains carried away homes, cars and chunks of road. Among the four dead were two sisters, swept away as they left work at a factory in Bou Argoub, 45 kilometres southeast of the capital, the interior ministry said. A 60-year-old man drowned near the town of Takilsa and another man was found dead in Bir Bouregba, close to the town of Hammamet, ministry spokesman Sofiene Zaag told AFP. Saturday's storm caused water levels in some areas to rise as much as 1.7 metres (5.6 feet), as bridges and roads were damaged in record rains that dropped the equivalent of nearly six months of average precipitation. "It was raining since noon and (in the afternoon) it became torrential. The water flooded over the bridge and onto the road," Moncef Barouni, a resident in the coastal town of Nabeul, told AFP. In just minutes, "the water swept away the fence, then the boiler room, the summer kitchen and a part of the house," he said. "I was scared for my life." The storm dumped 200 millimetres (7.9 inches) of rain on Nabeul and up to 225 millimetres in the city of Beni Khalled, in the peninsula's centre, according to Tunisia's National Institute of Meteorology. It was the heaviest rainfall since the institute began keeping a record in 1995, the institute said, adding that it had issued a warning about the storms on Friday. Videos posted to social networks showed surging waters carrying cars and pieces of road in the north of the peninsula. Tunisian authorities said they had dispatched police, army and rescue teams to the region on Saturday afternoon, in addition to mobilising ambulances and two helicopters. Authorities also took preventative measures in the Sahel region further south in anticipation of further rains, but by Sunday they appeared to have subsided. The sun was out Sunday and receding water levels meant most of the area's roads were passable by car, Zaag said, although the region's telephone networks were still largely out of service. Severe thunderstorms have hit the North African country since the middle of last week, flooding roads and damaging property, sparking anger against the authorities for allegedly failing to maintain drainage systems. The aftermath of deadly flash floods in Tunisia's coastal town of Nabeul is seen on September 23, 2018 Cars are piled up following flash floods in the Tunisian town of Nabeul on September 23, 2018 Flash floods on Saturday in Tunisia's northeastern Cap Bon peninsula collapsed bridges and damaged infrastructureLorenzo Insigne scored a double either side of a Simone Verdi goal as Napoli dominated Torino 3-1 to join Juventus on top of Serie A on Sunday. Carlo Ancelotti's side have 12 points from five games, equal with champions Juventus who can pull ahead again when they travel to promoted Frosinone later on Sunday. Ancelotti's side gave a dominant display in Turin following their uninspiring goalless draw at Red Star Belgrade in the Champions League midweek. Insigne opened after just four minutes in Turin, and played a role in all three goals. The Italian international got the first after poor Torino defending saw Emiliano Moretti clear to Nicolas N'Koulou with the rebound favouring Insigne who finished off under the crossbar. Verdi added the second with a half-volley on 20 minutes, with Torino pulling one back after the break when Andrea Belotti slotted in a penalty. But Insigne restored their two-goal lead after 59 minutes when a Jose Callejon shot bounced off the inside of the far post and into the path of forward. Torino are in 13th position with five points from as many games. Juventus head to Frosinone on Sunday looking to keep their 100 percent record, days after Cristiano Ronaldo was sent off in the Champions League. Frosinone are second from the bottom of the league, with just one point, and are still waiting for their first goal. Inter Milan snatched a late 1-0 win against Sampdoria in Genoa on Saturday to kickstart their campaign as they move up to seventh. AS Roma travel to Bologna looking to build confidence after losing 3-0 in the Champions League at Real Madrid. Eusebio Di Francesco's side have not won since their opening game against Torino in August. Lorenzo Insigne nets a brace as Napoli win 3-1 in Torino to join Juventus on top of Serie A.Israeli authorities issued a notice to residents of a Bedouin village in a strategic spot in the occupied West Bank on Sunday informing them they have until the end of the month to leave. The fate of Khan al-Ahmar has drawn international concern, with European countries calling on Israel not to move ahead with plans to demolish it. Israel's supreme court on September 5 rejected appeals against demolition, allowing authorities to move ahead. Israel says the village was built without the proper permits, though it is extremely difficult for Palestinians to receive such permission in that part of the West Bank. The notice given to the some 200 residents of Khan al-Ahmar on Sunday says they have until the end of the month to demolish the village themselves. "Pursuant to a supreme court ruling, residents of Khan al-Ahmar received a notice today requiring them to demolish all the structures on the site by October 1st, 2018," a statement from the Israeli defence ministry unit that oversees civilian affairs in the West Bank said. It did not say what will happen if they refuse to do so. Village residents vowed not to leave despite the notice. "No one will leave. We will have to be expelled by force," said village spokesman Eid Abu Khamis, adding that a residents' meeting would be held later on the issue. "If the Israeli army comes to demolish, it will only be by force." The village is located in a strategic spot east of Jerusalem, near Israeli settlements and along a road leading to the Dead Sea. There have been warnings that continued settlement building in the area would eventually divide the West Bank in two, dealing a death blow to any remaining hopes of a two-state solution. Israeli authorities have offered alternative sites for Khan al-Ahmar residents, but villagers say the first was near a rubbish dump and the latest close to a sewage treatment plant. A Palestinian protests against the blocking of the road leading to the village of Khan al-Ahmar in the occupied West Bank on September 14, 2018Pointing to a green screen as if presenting a weather forecast, Bilal Abdul Kareem analyses the Turkish-Russian deal over Syria's Idlib, broadcasting in his native English from inside the war-torn country's last rebel stronghold. The 47-year-old American convert to Islam is a long way from where he grew up near the Bronx, watching reruns of "Rocky" and eating at Italian restaurants. Dressed in a charcoal suit jacket, the broad-shouldered and bearded Abdul Kareem stares into the camera and insists: "In this deal, this specific deal, nobody can say the rebels were not winners." For the past six years, he has reported from shrinking rebel territory in Syria's north, filming the aftermath of airstrikes, interviewing hardline fighters, even meeting Al-Qaeda members. His contacts, including in the jihadist-led Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), have granted him extensive access at a time when the risk of abduction makes much of Syria too dangerous for journalists from mainstream news outlets. But it has also prompted allegations that Abdul Kareem is a "jihadist propagandist" and would not have survived in the area had he been an impartial journalist -- particularly given HTS's history of harsh crackdowns against perceived foes. Speaking to AFP from Idlib over Skype, Whatsapp, and Facebook, Abdul Kareem denied the claims and directed accusations of his own: he is suing the US government for allegedly trying to kill him in Syria. As the case drags through US courts, the self-described "bald-headed black guy in the middle of Syria" has remained in Idlib despite fears of a looming regime offensive, continuing to file dispatches for his media upstart, On the Ground News. - CNN to OGN - Born Darrell Lamont Phelps, Abdul Kareem converted to Islam before moving to the Middle East in 2002. He married and had children in Egypt, but declined to disclose their location for security reasons. He arrived in Syria in 2012 from Libya, curious about the rebels battling President Bashar al-Assad's forces in a conflict which at that point was just a year old. Working first with major broadcasters including CNN, he founded OGN in 2015 as editors started to express "doubts" about his political stances, he said. The channel now publishes on YouTube, Twitter, and a Facebook page with more than 86,000 followers. "I have a good working relationship with every group, which doesn't necessarily mean I agree with everything they do or they agree with everything I do," he said. A normal day begins with dawn prayers at 4:30 AM, followed by a routine search of his car for bombs. The rest is up to the news cycle. He could find himself on a motorcycle zipping towards a frontline, lapel mic in hand but without protective gear, or sipping tea with hardcore fighters most Americans would consider unsavoury. "I remember I had these very, very in-depth conversations with different Al-Qaeda members about America, Americans and the democratic system," Abdul Kareem said. He offered unsuccessfully to facilitate a dialogue between Western powers and Idlib's militants, whom he insisted don't have "blood dripping from their fangs and want to eat American children". The US has designated Al-Qaeda and HTS "terrorist organisations". - 'America is not the same' - Around three million people live in Idlib and surrounding rebel territory, including foreigners who have joined the war against the Assad regime. "There are quite a few Americans here. All fighters," Abdul Kareem said. Asked about his future, he recalled escaping second city Aleppo as it fell to the government in 2016. If the same fate awaits Idlib, he said, "I would be one of the last people to leave". Abdul Kareem's 16-year absence from the US has made him miss simple things: speaking English, sugary cereals. But he fears the 2016 election of President Donald Trump has changed the country too much. "It sounds like America is not the same America that I grew up in," he said. His remaining links are with his sister, and a lawsuit he filed last year against Trump and a coterie of US officials, accusing the government of attempting to kill him five times. Once was on a reporting trip. "My car was hit with a drone strike. The car flipped up into the air and landed on its side facing the opposite direction," he said. Abdul Kareem is demanding the government stop targeting him, remove him from any so-called "kill list" and disclose the names of other citizens who may be on it. In the meantime, OGN's cameras keep rolling. "I'm not in America because being here in Syria doing the work that I'm doing and covering the things I'm covering, in my estimation, is the right thing to do," Abdul Kareem said. "People are dying by the droves, and if I can do something to help people see what the real realities are, then what business do I have going back to America right now?" Around three million people live in Idlib and surrounding rebel territory, including foreigners who have joined the war against the Assad regime Speaking to AFP from Idlib over Skype, Whatsapp, and Facebook, Abdul Kareem denied the claims and directed accusations of his own: he is suing the US government for allegedly trying to kill him in Syria A normal day begins with dawn prayers at 4:30 AM, followed by a routine search of his car for bombs. The rest is up to the news cycleThe strongman leader of the Maldives on Monday conceded defeat in the presidential election, easing fears of a fresh political crisis in the archipelago at the centre of a battle for influence between India and China. "The Maldivian people have decided what they want. I have accepted the results from yesterday," President Abdulla Yameen said in a televised address to the Indian Ocean nation a day after the joint opposition candidate unexpectedly triumphed. "Earlier today, I met with Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, who the Maldivian electorate has chosen to be their next president. I have congratulated him," Yameen said. He said he would hand over power when his term ends on November 17 and ensure a smooth transition in the 1,200-island nation, popular with foreign tourists for its white sands and blue lagoons. Solih's victory was a major surprise, with Yameen's main political rivals either in prison or in exile, media coverage of the opposition sparse and monitors and the opposition predicting vote-rigging. There had been concerns Yameen might not accept the result given what happened after the last election in 2013. The Supreme Court annulled that result after Yameen trailed former president Mohamed Nasheed -- giving Yameen time to forge alliances and win a second round of voting that was postponed twice. Results released by the electoral commission showed Yameen on 41.7 percent of the vote, well behind Solih on 58.3 percent -- the only other name on ballot papers. The final official result will take up to a week to be published. Yameen stayed quiet overnight after the outcome became clear. But signs grew Monday that he would throw in the towel, with a foreign ministry statement saying Solih had won and state media showing him claiming victory. Nearly 90 percent of the 262,000 electorate turned out to vote, with some waiting in line for more than five hours. Celebrations broke out across the archipelago on Sunday night, with opposition supporters waving yellow flags of Solih's Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) and dancing in the streets. On Monday the situation was calm. The US State Department, which had warned of "appropriate measures" if the vote was not free and fair, had called on Yameen to "respect the will of the people". Regional superpower India said the result marked "the triumph of democratic forces". But China was yet to comment, with Monday being a public holiday there. Beijing loaned Yameen's government hundreds of millions of dollars for infrastructure projects like the new "China-Maldives Friendship Bridge" from the airport to the capital Male, which opened in August. The loans stoked fears among Western countries and India about China's growing influence under its "Belt and Road Initiative" stretching from Asia into Africa and Europe. - Prisoners released - Solih had the backing of a united opposition trying to oust Yameen but struggled for visibility, with local media fearful of falling foul of heavy-handed decrees and reporting restrictions. In February Yameen imposed a 45-day state of emergency, alarming the international community, in what was seen as an attempt to block a push by his opponents in parliament to impeach him. A crackdown saw former president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom -- the country's longest-serving leader and Yameen's half-brother -- jailed along with the Chief Justice and another Supreme Court justice. Gayoom was among several inmates brought to Male to lodge appeals against their sentences on Monday, after Solih used his victory speech the previous day to call for the release of dissidents incarcerated by Yameen. The High Court is expected to hear their cases on Tuesday. Five other political prisoners detained after the crackdown, including opposition lawmaker and former police chief Abdulla Riyaz, were ordered released. Independent international monitors were barred from Sunday's election and only a handful of foreign media were allowed in to cover the poll. The government had used "vaguely worded laws to silence dissent and to intimidate and imprison critics", some of whom had been assaulted and even murdered, according to Human Rights Watch. The country's new leader pledged on Twitter before the election that he would open investigations into the disappearance of journalist Ahmed Rilwan, missing since 2014, and the fatal stabbing of blogger Yameen Rasheed in 2017. He promised also to repeal anti-defamation legislation and "ensure press freedom". Official results showed opposition Maldives candidate Ibrahim Mohamed Solih (2L)as the clear winner with 58.3 percent, the biggest margin of victory in any election since the advent of democracy in 2008 Map of Maldives and profiles of opposition legislator Ibrahim Mohamed Solih and incumbent leader Abdulla Yameen It was far from certain if Maldives President Abdulla Yameen (C), whose main political rivals were either jailed or in exile, would graciously accept defeat in the poll The US State Department had warned before the election it may take "appropriate measures" if the vote was not free and fair

A newly-married woman has been left devastated after her husband was found dead three days after going missing off a hiking trail in Hawaii.

Jeffanie Kramar and her husband Stephen went honeymooning in Molokai, Hawaii, last week and Mr Kramar went to check out a hiking trail for both of them to enjoy, according to a GoFundMe page.

But after leaving to explore the trail, he never returned.

On September 17, Maui Police issued a missing persons report and appealed to the public to find him.

The body of newly wed man Stephen Kramar has been found days after he went missing on honeymoon with his wife, Jeffanie, in Molokai, Hawaii. Source: Facebook/ Search for Stephen Kramar

The 27-year-old left the Wavecrest Resort on Monday for a hike but never came back, police said.

His wife told NBC News4 her husband was an experienced hiker and she wasnt concerned about him going out alone.

She began to worry, however, after Mr Kramar texted her to let her know he was heading back but never showed.

At 9:30 I called him a few times and it rang so I knew his phone was on, but then around 9:45, 10pm, like, the seventh or eighth attempt of calling him, it went dead, Mrs Kramar said.

It went to voicemail.

Mr Kramar was checking out a hiking trail and never came back. Source: Facebook/ Search for Stephen Kramar

On Friday, local time, the same day the couple were meant to fly home to Maryland, her worst fears were realised: her husband was found dead.

After a number of search efforts involving helicopters, dogs and volunteers, Mr Stephens body was found in a hillside area known as Pia Gulch about 800 metres from where they were staying.

Its not known what caused his death with police set to perform an autopsy.

An update on the GoFundMe page confirmed Mr Kramars death.

So very sad to share this first update confirming that Stephens body was found earlier today. Some family & friends have made it to Hawaii to be with Jeffanie in this time of great difficulty & loss, the update read.

At this time we ask for your continued support and sympathy toward the entire Kramar family as this campaign continues to assist them in bringing Stephen home.The governorship election in southwest Nigeria's Osun state ended in a stalemate on Sunday when the nation's electoral body failed to declare a clear winner. Tensions rose at the INEC's collating centre in Osogbo on Sunday as supporters of the leading parties waited in vain for the official announcement of the results before it was announced a runoff was required. Although 48 candidates from different political parties contested Saturday's election, the leading candidates were Gboyega Oyetola from President Muhammadu Buhari's ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and Ademola Adeleke of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Olusegun Agbaje, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) chief in Osun told reporters the election was inconclusive because "the number of cancelled votes is higher than the margin between the two top candidates." A run off between Oyetola and Adeleke is expected to be held on September 27. An unofficial tally had shown the PDP's flagbearer leading his APC counterpart by some 350 votes, while the voided votes were more than 1,000. Under the country's electoral law, no winner will emerge if the margin of victory is less than cancelled votes. The winner of Saturday's poll was expected to take over from APC Governor Rauf Aregbesola, who is stepping down after two four-year terms, the legal maximum. Adeleke who is nicknamed "the dancing senator" because of his penchant for dancing in the public, is an uncle of Afropop star Davido, whose real name is David Adedeji Adeleke. Davido had joined the political trail to campaign for his uncle, drawing huge crowds as he ditched out some of his popular tunes. The PDP candidate is a scion of the prominent and wealthy Adeleke political dynasty in Ede, some 20 kilometres from Osogbo, the capital. Although there were widespread concerns about vote-buying, intimidation and logistics problems, the vote was generally adjudged free, fair and violence-free by local and foreign observers who monitored the exercise. The governorship election in neighbouring Ekiti in July was characterised by allegations of vote-buying by the leading political parties. Police, however, said three suspects were arrested for an alleged vote-buying in Osun on Saturday and would be prosecuted at the end of investigation. The election is the final major electoral test before Nigerians vote for a new president, parliament, governors and state legislatures in February and March next year. Buhari who came to power in 2015, faces a formidable challenge from an array of opposition candidates from PDP, including former vice president Atiku Abubakar and Senate president Bukola Saraki. The 75-year-old retired general who headed a military regime in the 1980s is under pressure to step down because of failing health after spending several months in London last year treating an undisclosed ailment. He has also come under fire over the management of the economy and growing insecurity problems, including Boko Haram insurgency in the northeast, long-running farmer-herder clashes in the centre and militancy and kidnapping in the south. An electoral officer raises a ballot to count results after the Osun State gubernatorial election, which will go to a runoff in what is seen as a litmus test for President Buhari's popularity as he seeks a second term in FebruaryPope Francis on Sunday paid homage to Holocaust victims who perished in the Vilnius ghetto, 75 years to the day after the Nazis liquidated it, and remembered those who risked and lost their lives to challenge the Soviet regime in Lithuania. "Seventy-five years ago, this nation witnessed the final destruction of the Vilnius Ghetto; this was the climax of the killing of thousands of Jews that had started two years earlier," the pontiff told 100,000 faithful gathered for mass in Kaunas, Lithuania's second city. Pre-war Lithuania was home to a thriving Jewish community of more than 200,000 people known as "Litvaks", with its capital Vilnius a hub of learning known as the "Jerusalem of the North". According to historians, around 195,000 -- nearly the entire Jewish population -- perished at the hands of the Nazis and local collaborators under the 1941-44 German occupation. Today around 3,000 Jews live in the EU and NATO member state which has a population of 2.9 million, the majority of whom are Catholic. - 'Powerful moral message' - Recalling the Holocaust, Francis prayed for divine "discernment" to alert the faithful to any reappearance of "that pernicious attitude, any whiff of it that can taint the heart of generations that did not experience those times and can sometimes be taken in by such siren songs." "In these days, I reserve a special thought for the Jewish community," the pontiff said, calling for "dialogue and the shared commitment for justice and peace". He also laid a bouquet of yellow roses at the foot of the Vilnius ghetto memorial and paid a silent tribute at ceremonies marking the 75th anniversary of its liquidation. Fania Brancovskaja, a 96-year-old ghetto survivor, said she was "grateful" for the pope's "powerful moral message", saying it combats attempts to deny the Holocaust. "It's very important for the Pope to pray for the victims of the Nazis, because there are people in the world who think that the extermination is an invention of the Jews," Brancovskaja, who was the sole survivor of her large Jewish family, told AFP speaking in Russian. Francis will travel to mainly Protestant Latvia on Monday and wind down his Baltic tour in secular Estonia on Tuesday as all three Baltic states mark 100 years of independence this year. - Soviet-era repression - The last century of Baltic history was marked by both the Nazi invasion and then decades of persecution under Soviet occupation during the Cold War. Vilnius estimates that more than 50,000 Lithuanians died under Soviet occupation in camps, prisons, and during deportations between 1944 and 1953. Another 20,000 partisans and supporters were killed in anti-Soviet guerilla warfare. "Kaunas knows about this; Lithuania as a whole can testify to it, still shuddering at the mention of Siberia, or the ghettos of Vilnius and Kaunas, among others," Francis told the faithful. The Argentine pontiff also honoured victims of Soviet-era persecution later on Sunday during a visit to a museum in the former KGB building in Vilnius where regime opponents were tortured and killed. Francis visited the cell of Father Sigitas Tamkevicius, who was arrested by the Soviet regime and imprisoned in 1983 for having founded and edited the Chronicle of the Catholic Church in Lithuania. The pope also lit a candle in front of photographs of martyred priests. Behind the Iron Curtain, the Catholic Church played a key role in the non-violent anti-Soviet resistance, especially in Lithuania, the only Catholic-majority country of the three Baltic states. It was persecuted as a result, with priests and bishops jailed, sent to Siberia or killed. Tamkevicius, who is now a 79-year-old archbishop, was accused of spreading anti-Soviet propaganda and served time in Soviet labour camps, including a spell in Siberia. "If 35 years ago when I was imprisoned in the KGB prison somebody would have told me that the pope himself will visit these dark cells, it would have seemed completely unbelievable," Tamkevicius told local media on Sunday. "We know what it means to stand in front of tanks with only a prayer," Lithuanian Bishop Kestutis Kevalas said at the papal mass earlier in Kaunas. "Today we need encouragement and hope so that we don't lose our way on our road of freedom," he added. Pope Francis lays a bouquet of yellow roses at the foot of the Vilnius ghetto memorial and pays a silent tribute to Holocaust victims Pope Francis leads Sunday mass in Lithuania's second city Kaunas, where he paid tribute to the thousands of Jews killed in the country during World War II Pope Francis writes in the guestbook of a museum in the former KGB building in Vilnius where Soviet regime opponents were tortured and killed Pope Francis waves as he travels among crowds of followers in Kaunas, LithuaniaFisheries Queensland officials dropped baited hooks in the area and killed the three sharks after Hannah Papps, 12, and Justine Barwick, 46, were both bitten in Cid Harbour last week.

Opposition deputy leader Tim Mander said the protection of people comes before the protection of sharks, despite the government saying it would be impossible to determine whether they were responsible for the life-threatening bites.

Two of the three tiger sharks killed by Queensland Fisheries following attacks in Cid Harbour in Queenslands Whitsunday region last week. Source: Instagram/Sailingpopeye

In a statement, Fisheries Queensland said it is unclear if they were responsible for injuries caused to two swimmers this week.

The sharks, measuring 3.3 metres, 2.6 metres and 2 metres, were caught and shot before they were cut open to have the contents of their stomachs examined.

The jaws were then measured before the carcasses were dumped at sea. Fisheries officers will use the data to try and match the sharks to the attacks.

The sharks are to be measured and cut open before being dumped at sea. Source: Instagram/Sailingpopeye

The move has once again sparked debate over shark culling with Shark Conservation Australia writing on Instagram the killings were yet another example of a disgusting knee-jerk reaction.

A very shameful day here in Australia, the group wrote.

Never mind efforts to educate the public on shark encounters; to have signs up about shark safety; have any of the many non-lethal alternatives employed.

Local dive instructor Tony Fontes added: Were not really sure that killing sharks is going to make them go away.

Justine Barwick was bitten by a shark in the Whitsundays. Source: 7 News

Three new drum lines have also been deployed and will remain in place for at least another week, meaning more shark kills are likely.

Australian shark protection group, Oceans Keepers, said there are better and more efficient methods than adding three drum lines to the area.

Drones, sonar technology, eco shark barrier, shark spotters (flag and alarm system to keep watch for surfers and swimmers), magnetic and electronic deterrents are just some of the many alternatives for both people and sharks, the group wrote online.

Victims recovering after attacks

Both victims have now been transferred to hospitals in Brisbane where Hannah is in a critical but stable condition and Ms Barwick was last known to in intensive care, recovering from 18 hours of reconstructive surgery to her injured right leg.

Story continues

We would like to thank everyone who has helped and cared for Hannah, including the police, emergency services and the hospital teams, the girls family said in a statement on Friday.

We ask that everyone, including the media, please respect our familys privacy during this very difficult time so we can focus our energies on Hannahs recovery.

With AAP



Conservation groups have taken aim at the Queensland government after three tiger sharks were killed following two separate attacks in the Whitsundays.As Brazil's general elections approach, a new social network is gaining traction aimed at giving greater visibility to black candidates while highlighting anti-racism initiatives in the country tainted by racial prejudice. Black & Black, which has 100,000 users -- in a population of more than 200 million -- aims to "connect the demands and narratives of the world's black population" and to ensure that "black people get the prominence they deserve." Brazil was the last country in the Americas to abolish slavery in 1888, and after centuries of racial mixing in Brazil, 55 percent of Brazil's population is either black or mixed race, according to the IBGE institute of statistics. But the black community has historically lacked a uniting factor, according to Luana Genot, executive director at ID_BR, a charity that helps black people find work. "The situation is different in the United States, for example, where the legal separation of races contributed to uniting the black community," said Genot. Enter Black & Black, which allows the black community to share news, job offers, cultural activities and services. "Black movements, women who talk about black beauty, black dances, afro religion... We can have different interests, but there's one thing that unites us: the feeling of being black," Celso Athayde, the network's creator, told AFP. Crucially, it's also a space to get stuck into politics, facilitating exchanges with black candidates for October's legislative and gubernatorial elections. Under the government of now-jailed socialist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva from 2003-10, quota measures were introduced to increase the numbers of black people attending university or working in the public sector. Those measures were criticized by conservatives, and notably right-wing presidential front-runner Jair Bolsonaro. - Under-representation - Still, black or mixed race people make up only 20 percent of representatives in the lower chamber of Congress -- although 46 percent of candidates are black or mixed race in the campaign for October's legislative, gubernatorial and state assembly elections being. That doesn't mean they will win a seat, Athayde says. "Blacks are not elected because you need financial resources for that and they don't have them because they're not employers," he said. He added the under-representation of blacks in Congress is due to a lack of policies favoring the community. "If you only have white men (in Congress), they will only think about what interests themselves," he said. The problems aren't confined to politics: of business management positions, non-whites make up just five percent. Athayde says businesses in general are missing an opportunity to tap into a market that offers huge commercial possibilities. According to the Locomotiva Institute pollster, black consumption in 2017 was worth 1.6 trillion reals ($336 billion), around 20 percent of GDP. On Black & Black, businesses selling products specifically for black people can communicate directly with their target market. Athayde hopes to use the platform to mobilize black people to boycott businesses they consider racist. "Right now, no-one's afraid of us. We need to strike a bit of fear and I think this platform is starting to enable us to do that. If blacks unite, things will start to change." A woman signs in to get access to the Black & Black social network app in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Under the government of now-jailed socialist icon Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva from 2003-10, quota measures were introduced to increase the numbers of black people attending university or working in the public sector

Theres been growing support for Australias strawberry farmers in the wake of the fruit contamination crisis, where more than 100 pieces of fruit were found to be sabotaged with needles.

Palm View Strawberry Fields on Queenslands Sunshine Coast was a packed house on Saturday, much to the joy of farmers, with about 500kg of the fruit sold.

Its been pretty horrific, the farms manager Robert Edwards said of the ordeal.

But the last couple of days peoples support has just been unbelievable.

A little boy picks strawberries at Chambers Flat Strawberry Farm in southeast Queensland. It follows widespread contamination of the fruit with needles found across the country. Source: 7 News

Hundreds also lined up at Chambers Flat Strawberry Farm in southeast Queensland to buy fruit to aid the industry following the ongoing crisis.

Were sharing this experience as a family, supporting the farmers and getting some delicious strawberries in the process, one man said.

In Brisbane, Sofitel Brisbane Central unveiled a Strawberry Sunday menu with a number of treats made from the fruit while further north, Bundaberg hosted a strawberry festival.

Bundaberg residents chow down on fruit at a strawberry festival to get behind farmers during the ongoing crisis. Source: 7 News

Nine Queensland farms have also teamed up for an event next weekend: Australias biggest strawberry sale, allowing residents to buy directly from them.

It follows heartbreaking video which emerged earlier this week of a truck from Queenslands Donnybrook Strawberries filmed dumping entire loads of the wasted fruit on the ground.

Consumer confidence returning for strawberry buyers

Shoppers are beginning to buy strawberries again despite the supply chain being cut off.

Sydney Markets Con Kapellos told Sunrise truckloads of strawberries have been given to the Country Womens Association to make jam.

Mr Kapellos added he believes buyers are returning to buying the fruit.

A contaminated strawberry punnet. Source: 7 News

They are starting to regain confidence, (and) were getting a lot of good publicity now, he said.

Obviously with whats happened recently the supply chain has reduced the flow of the strawberries however its coming back now and people are more confident.

Womans hack for checking strawberries for needles

A womans clever hack to check her strawberries for needles has gone viral, with her social media post being viewed and shared an estimated million times.

Adelaide woman Yasmine Lintvelt took to Instagram on Thursday to show people how she was checking the safety of her strawberries with an egg slicer.America's ports are fearful that they will be big losers as the escalating trade fight between Washington and Beijing bites into business. The anxiety is that tit-for-tat tariffs between the two economic superpowers will crimp shipments, denting port revenues. Kurt Nagle, head of the American Association of Port Authorities, called the state of play "concerning," following the latest back-and-forth this week between the United States and China. "The total amount of tariffs and international retaliation affect 10 percent of the total trade in American ports," or about $160 billion in revenues, Nagle said. The various trade wars thus far have had a mixed effect, with some ports seeing sharp declines in some products, even as others report a surge in activity intended to beat the new levies. The mammoth US economy is sustained by about 100 ports around the country that manage the flow of goods inward and outbound at points of embarkation along the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, the Gulf of Mexico and the Great Lakes. In the first six months of 2018, the port of New Orleans saw a drop of 350,000 tons of steel compared with the year-ago period, a big hit for a flagship product that is used in a petroleum-focused region. "It represents between three and five million dollars," said Robert Landry, vice president of the Port of New Orleans. "For us it's very big." Major sources of the steel include Turkey, China and South Korea. All but South Korea were affected by a 25 percent tariff on steel imposed by US President Donald Trump this spring. The New Orleans port also suffered a 10 percent drop in aluminum imports, which was also included in the same tariff action, while retaliatory Chinese tariffs on poultry have hit those exports. - Los Angeles surge - Meanwhile, with new tariffs looming in the US-China standoff, the Port of Los Angeles has seen a surge in some products. "In May, June and July, cargo owners tried to beat the volumes," said Phillip Sanfield, a spokesman for the port, for which China is a key market, accounting last year for about half its trade in total value. But the acceleration earlier this year may not last after the United States this week announced tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods, a move quickly followed by the Chinese rebuttal to impose levies on $60 billion in US goods. Trade war fears are also a source of unease for port workers, particularly in areas like southern California where the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach account for one in nine jobs. There are about three million port workers nationwide. But that angst extends to other regions. "The East Coast ports in New York, New Jersey, Georgia and Virginia will also be very affected," Sanfield said. The trade war has also worried the maritime shipping industry, which deals in $4.6 trillion worth of goods annually, employs 23 million people and pays $320 billion in taxes each year, according to the AAPA. Landry of the New Orleans port said he was "optimistic" of an eventual solution. "I just don't know how long it's gonna take," he said. "We can probably take another six months, but at some point it's going to be very hard to face the situation." Trade conflict so far have had a mixed effect, with some ports seeing sharp declines, even as others report a surgeGirls are the primary victims of humanitarian crises, suffering abuse from forced marriage to denial of schooling and are "14 times more likely to die than boys in a conflict," the Plan International NGO said Sunday. The group will Monday unveil at the United Nations conclusions from three investigations into the fate of youngsters -- ethnic Rohingya from Myanmar in a refugee camp in Bangladesh, a second group in the Chad Basin and a third in South Sudan, "three particularly unstable regions," in the NGO's words. Its research details "forced marriage, kidnappings, violence, sexual abuse, slavery" and a huge lack in education opportunities. In crowded refugee camps in Uganda the group interviewed 249 girls aged 10 to 19 from South Sudan who described "a continuum of violence having become the norm in the home and in the community." "That is not surprising because the conflict in South Sudan has been characterised by rampant cruelty, including levels of extreme violence against women and children," the report said. The NGO added that "one adolescent in four considered suicide at least once" in the year preceding the study. Seventy-seven percent also said they did not have enough food to eat. In Chad Basin, which Plan International described as being caught in one of the world's most serious humanitarian crises, one in three teenagers questioned said they did not feel safe at home, one in five had been beaten in the month preceding the investigation and one in ten had suffered sexual abuse. Of 449 girls the NGO interviewed in Nigeria, Niger and Cameroon, two thirds were separated from their fathers due to conflict and in 30 percent of cases from both parents. Sixty-two percent said they lacked food meaning they had to seek work in the black economy or travel large distances in order to seek firewood or water, in so doing opening themselves up to the further possibility of harassment or violence. Insecurity acted as a brake on educational advancement with many girls afraid of what might befall them on the way to school. Also limiting their schooling were factors such as premature or forced marriages, with many girls being married off as early as 14 or 15. In Niger, three quarters of girls are married before the age of 18. Rohingya girls stuck in a refugee camp over the Bangladeshi border at Cox's Bazar are also deprived of education. Almost two-thirds said they lack schooling due to a multitude of reasons including hunger, beatings, rape, kidnapping and forced prostitution. One in five girls aged between 13 and 15 endured forced marriages, Plan International added. One girl facing marriage to somebody she said she did not know commented "they couldn't do it in Myanmar but they can here". The Plan International NGO interviewed groups of girls in three "unstable regions", including Rohingya such as these seen during Eid Al-Adha festival at a refugee camp in BangladeshAUBURN  On a recent Friday afternoon at the Harriet Tubman National Historical Park, a group of nearly 100 people from Brooklyn visited the grounds of the South Street landmark. They were greeted by a trio of National Park Service rangers, including two  Jessica Bowes and Rufai Shardow  who were assigned to the fledgling park over the summer.

The assignments, while temporary, represented a major milestone since the formal establishment of the Tubman park in January 2017. An implementation agreement, an important legal document that will dictate how Harriet Tubman Home, Inc., and the National Park Service will jointly manage the property, is being finalized. But the National Park Service has found other ways to assist the nonprofit until a formal accord is in place.

Frank Barrows, superintendent of Fort Stanwix National Monument in Rome and project lead of the Tubman park, believes having park rangers assigned to the site for the first time helped enhance the visitor experience and built capacity for Harriet Tubman Home, Inc.

Its really nice that were able to support them to operate the site, he said. It definitely has an impact on the public because were able to do more than just staff the visitor center and provide programs on site because we have the extra staff around.

Bowes and Shardow began their temporary assignment on Memorial Day. They were on loan from other sites within the national park system. Bowes is a museum technician at Fort Stanwix, while Shardow is a park ranger at New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park in Massachusetts. They didnt know each other before the nearly four-month stint in Auburn, but there was common link: Barrows. He is Bowes boss at Fort Stanwix and briefly worked with Shardow at New Bedford.

For Shardow, he wasnt familiar with Auburn and wasnt sure what to expect at this new national park. Bowes, however, has prior experience at the South Street property. As a doctoral student at Syracuse University, she is writing her dissertation about the archaeology of the Tubman park.

When the opportunity came up to help this site informally and formally as a detail, I said yes, please since I know so much about this site, Bowes recalled.

With Bowes expertise about the Tubman property, Shardow felt he could contribute in other ways. He was born and raised in Ghana before he became a U.S. citizen. He served in the U.S. Army for four years, including a tour in Afghanistan. His career with the National Park Service began after enrolling in the agencys Pathways Internship Program. At the time, he believed there were untold stories about African-Americans in the national park system.

One reason Barrows urged Shardow to pursue the temporary post is his expertise about slavery and the Underground Railroad. Theres also the Ghana connection. Its believed that Tubmans grandmother was a slave who was brought to the U.S. from present-day Ghana.

For Shardow, the opportunity to work at the Tubman park held personal significance.

For a woman who was considered illiterate, for a woman who was enslaved, for a woman who was black, to tell that part of her story and what she has achieved, thats what for me stands out, he said. She gave meaning to the Underground Railroad. She gave meaning to what it was all about.

The rangers were present during the busiest time of the year for the Tubman property, and perhaps more so now that its a national historical park. Barrows said the Tubman home averaged more than 100 visitors a day during July and August. There were 3,036 visitors in July and 2,941 in August.

With the rangers on the grounds, the park extended its hours to include Sunday tours. The rangers had a presence at special events in the Auburn area and represented the park at the New York State Fair.

There were three tours a day at the Tubman home. Bowes and Shardow would each do one, and the Rev. Paul Carter  the longtime site manager at the property  would conduct a tour. When they werent leading tours, the rangers would cover the front desk, work in the visitor center and complete daily paperwork.

While one of their main tasks is to educate visitors, there is continuing education required for the rangers. Bowes and Shardow said they continued to ready and study different aspects of Tubmans life to be prepared for any inquiries from visitors.

People ask you a question and you have to be ready for it, Shardow said.

The assignment gave Shardow an opportunity to build on his knowledge of the Underground Railroad and slavery, which is his expertise as a ranger at New Bedford. But the Tubman park came with a bigger audience. There are 200 visitors a week at New Bedford, he estimated. While he was in Auburn, they would see 500 visitors a week.

For Bowes, the Tubman park stint was her first ranger experience. As a museum technician at Fort Stanwix, she primarily works behind the scenes.

Being able to talk about Harriet to the public in a way thats appreciated has been amazing, she said.

Both acknowledged the sometimes emotional part of the job. Bowes recalled a tour when a professor from a nearby college approached her and tearfully thanked her for the presentation. Shardow admitted he thought there might be boring days at this year-old park. Once he saw the number of daily visitors, he was amazed.

It blew my mind, he said. I didnt expect this at all.

For two people who didnt each other before the assignment, Bowes and Shardow grew to become friends and an effective pairing at the park. They call themselves the dream team because of their complementary skills.

They agreed that one reason why they were successful in their brief stint at the park was the community. They praised Auburn officials for their support, and lauded other nonprofit organizations for the assistance they provided.

When we had a question and needed help, everyone was ready, Bowes said. Thats not true for all communities.

Having the rangers on site at the park offered the Auburn area a preview of what to expect when there is a permanent presence at the property. The implementation agreement will go a long way in determining what that presence might be.

After Bowes and Shardows tour ended, Harriet Tubman Home President and CEO Karen Hill hailed the presence of the rangers as a positive for the nonprofit and the park. She said the additional personnel, especially during the busy summer months, was needed.

The rangers that we have they completely have fallen in love with Harriet Tubman, Hill said. Its been a great experience for us and a great experience for them.

Online producer Robert Harding can be reached at (315) 282-2220 or robert.harding@lee.net. Follow him on Twitter @robertharding.

Love 3 Funny 1 Wow 1 Sad 0 Angry 0As this column publishes, the 2018 Great American Beer Festival is winding down in Denver.

Along with a convention floor that sees hundreds of breweries pour for tens of thousands of people, the festival consists of one of the industry's more coveted awards shows. (The fortunes of Auburn's Prison City Pub & Brewery arguably began at the festival, where its Run Like an Apricot sour earned raves on the floor and its Bleek Worden Belgian pale ale won a silver medal at the awards.)

But the festival's awards have drawn scrutiny for their rigid style guidelines and categories. Gold medals have gone unawarded because the submitted beers didn't satisfy those guidelines, and popular new styles have gone unrecognized because the festival doesn't have a category for them. For instance, this is the first year there will be medals for "juicy or hazy" pale ales, some of the most popular styles of craft beer in the country. Indeed, The Chicago Tribune has already reported that this year's Juicy or Hazy IPA category has set a festival submission record with a staggering 414. But until last year, juicy and hazy pale IPAs could only be submitted in the American- and English- IPA categories, where their lack of bitterness and hazy appearance surely disqualified them.

Anyway, I'm not writing to criticize the festival's awards, but to point out the subjectivity at the foundation of the process. Its scientifically credible, sure, but for all that rigidity, tastes still vary from person to person. It can surely be heard on the convention floor of the Great American Beer Festival this weekend: two people sampling the same beer and tasting entirely different flavors. One person's balanced IPA is another's bitter hop bomb. One person's modest pastry stout is another's diabetes in a bottle. And let's not even get started on the Rorschach blots that are sours.

Tastes are what make craft beer a modern-day Tower of Babel. However trained or novice the palates, they're what make craft beer unpredictable.

So as brewery after brewery hauls home medals from Denver this weekend, I just wanted to stop and appreciate the volatile little sensory input that makes craft beer so fun.

What's on tap

Lunkenheimer Craft Brewing Co.

Derric and Kristen Slocum's Weedsport brewery will mark four years in business Oct. 27 with an event that'll feature at least four barrel-aged beers on tap, as well as food from Tonzi's Catering Co. For more information, visit facebook.com/lunkenheimercraftbrewingcompany. Additionally, Lunkenheimer is set to expand to a second location when the Slocums open a tasting room on Sodus Bay. They recently signed a letter of intent, Derric said, and should open in the spring of 2019.

Next Chapter Brewpub: Inside Auburn's newest brewery and its plans AUBURN  Scott and Michelle DeLap have turned the page on their Next Chapter  but they're s

Next Chapter Brewpub

Scott and Michelle DeLap's Genesee Center brewpub, which opened last month, has recently added house-crafted salads, small plates, soups and paninis to its menu of beer by Scott and other local breweries, as well as local wines and ciders. The brewpub is now offering live music at least once a week, too. For more information, visit facebook.com/nextchapterbrew.

Lake Life Editor David Wilcox can be reached at (315) 282-2245 or david.wilcox@lee.net. Follow him on Twitter @drwilcox.

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Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy.One of the programs we offer at the Auburn Unitarian Universalist Society is a free Adult Study Group on the second Tuesday of every month from September through June. At 6 p.m. we gather for a light meal, and at 6:30 p.m. there is a brief vespers observation, followed by the program, which includes a group discussion on the topic of the evening.

This year we will be exploring the significance of the seven principles of Unitarian Universalism, and how we can apply them to our lives today. These principles are guidelines for interacting with one another in fair, tolerant and non-judgmental ways.

The seven principles we strive to affirm and promote are:

1. The inherent worth and dignity of every person.

2. Justice, equity and compassion in human relations.

3. Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations.

4. A free and responsible search for truth and meaning.

5. The right of conscience and use of the democratic process within our congregation and in society at large.

6. The goal of world community with peace, liberty and justice for all.

7. Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.

We at the Auburn Unitarian Universalist Society have set an intention to be more visible in the community by participating in events such as the CNY TomatoFest and Art in the Park, and with our monthly columns in The Citizen, we want to share what Unitarian Universalists believe.

This is our statement of intent: "We are an intentionally diverse congregation, and welcome all men, women and children of every race, religious creed, political conviction and sexual orientation."

And this is our mission statement: The purpose and mission of the Auburn Unitarian Universalist Society is to provide a safe haven for an intentionally diverse community that inspires, nurtures and empowers individuals in their personal and spiritual growth, while supporting and encouraging proactive involvement in local, societal and worldwide issues in accordance with our Unitarian Universalist principles."

Our next Adult Study Group session will be on Tuesday, Oct. 9, and our topic will be the first principle, The inherent worth and dignity of every person. We will cover one principle, in order, every month. We welcome and invite anyone who wishes to participate in this quest for enlightenment and greater understanding of ourselves and each other to join us.

We are located at 607 N. Seward Avenue, Auburn. (Its a bright orangey-red building; you cant miss it!)

If you have any questions, please call me at (315) 635-6762 (home) or (315) 380-0597 (cell), or email me at aives@twcny.rr.com.

Andrea Ives is a board member and Adult Study Group leader with the Auburn Unitarian Universalist Society, which was founded in 1833 and is located at 607 N. Seward Ave., Auburn. Services are held at 10:30 a.m. Sundays. All men, women and children of every race, religious creed, political conviction and sexual orientation are welcome.

Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0With Donald Trump tweeting about "fake news" most mornings, the relationship between the president and the media is a timely subject.

And few are as qualified to talk about that relationship as Dan Abrams. The chief legal affairs anchor for ABC News, founder of Abrams Media (Mediaite, The Mary Sue) and host of "Live PD" on A&E, Abrams will speak at Auburn High School Thursday as this year's guest in the Seward House Museum's Elsa Soderberg Distinguished Speaker Series. Previous speakers in the series have been Pulitzer Prize-winning author Doris Kearns Goodwin, journalist Cokie Roberts, political satirist Mark Russell and director emeritus of the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History Brent Glass.

But Abrams is more than distinguished: His most recent book shares a historical focus with the museum. Released in June, "Lincoln's Last Trial: The Murder Case That Propelled Him to the Presidency" covers an 1859 trial that drew close media attention due to Lincoln's rising profile at the time. Months later, he'd vie with William H. Seward for the Republican presidential nomination.

If you go WHAT: Elsa Soderberg Distinguished Speaker Series: ABC News Chief Legal Analyst Dan Abrams WHEN: 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 27 WHERE: Auburn High School auditorium, 250 Lake Ave., Auburn INFO: For ticket information, visit sewardhouse.org or call (315) 252-1283. For more information about Abrams, or to purchase his book, visit dan-abrams.com.

In a phone interview Tuesday, Abrams said the book documents its subject's media savvy, which the author called one of Lincoln's most underappreciated strengths. Abrams noted that Lincoln frequently penned letters to the editor, and even purchased a German newspaper, Illinois Staatsanzeiger, to help him win the German vote in the 1860 presidential race.

"Lincoln was a pioneer when it came to recognizing the significance of the media and using the media to his advantage," Abrams said.

The media seized upon the 1859 trial because it took place a year after Lincoln's famed debates across Illinois with Stephen Douglas during their race for a U.S. Senate seat. The trail saw Lincoln defending 22-year-old Peachy Quinn Harrison, the son of a close friend and supporter, who was accused of murdering a young man Lincoln once mentored in his law office.

Based on his research, Abrams believes Lincoln took the case both because of his connection to the defendant's family and because he sincerely believed Harrison killed in self-defense. But while that squares with the "saintly views" people often attribute to the former president, Abrams noted that Lincoln also represented railroads and even a slave owner in civil cases.

The trial is the only one of Lincoln's 3,000-plus to be transcribed, Abrams said, and the document wasn't discovered until 1989. He said the transcripts were sent to newspapers daily to use in their reporting. That reporting, Abrams continued, depended on the publication, as they were more politically biased at the time.

Abrams, who covered the OJ Simpson murder trial for Court TV in the mid-'90s, believes transcripts and, today, cameras can help people understand court proceedings. He added that the public should have the right to see its government in action, and called it "inexplicable" that the Supreme Court doesn't allow cameras.

The media, meanwhile, benefits from the existence of court transcripts and cameras because they can back up its coverage, Abrams said.

"In an age of criticism of the media, the best antidote is to let people see for themselves," he said.

The author believes that Lincoln, with his media savvy, would have taken to another modern communication tool: Twitter.

But, Abrams added, Lincoln probably wouldn't use it the same way as the current president.

"I think there's no question Lincoln would have a Twitter account, and I think he would use it judiciously," Abrams said. "I don't think he'd be tweeting at every event at every moment."

Lake Life Editor David Wilcox can be reached at (315) 282-2245 or david.wilcox@lee.net. Follow him on Twitter @drwilcox.

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Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy.ALBANY  In New York state government news, candidates for statewide office are taking their message to the state's leading business advocacy organization.

The Business Council of New York State has invited Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Republican Marc Molinaro as well as contenders for attorney general and comptroller to address its annual conference on Lake George this week.

Meanwhile, Cuomo's opponents are seizing on the recent sentencing of former top aide Joseph Percoco, saying it shows Cuomo isn't up to the task of tackling Albany corruption.

A look at stories making news:

BUSINESS POLITICS: Gov. Andrew Cuomo and his Republican rival, Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro, are the top invitees to the Business Council of New York State's annual conference in Lake George.

Several candidates for state attorney general and state comptroller are expected to speak Monday or Tuesday at the event as well.

The influential organization meets each year at the Sagamore Resort at Bolton Landing. The event takes on a special importance in election years as candidates for legislative and statewide office seek support from state business leaders.

Former Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele, Congressman John Faso and former Congressman Chris Gibson, all Republicans, are also scheduled to speak.

"No other event in the state offers this caliber of programming," said Heather Bricetti, president and chief executive of the Business Council.

HOT PERCOCO: Joseph Percoco isn't running for anything but you can expect to hear his name plenty of times before November.

The former top aide to Gov. Andrew Cuomo  whom the governor once likened to a brother  was sentenced to six years in federal prison on Thursday for a bribery scheme related to state economic development funding.

Cuomo's general election opponents, including Republican Marc Molinaro and independent former Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner, are seizing on the case and Cuomo's defense that he didn't know about the misdeeds as evidence that the governor has failed to deliver on promises to address Albany's chronic corruption problem.

Cuomo tried to turn the tables with a new campaign ad released the same day as Percoco's sentencing. The spot accuses Molinaro of doing favors for a local architecture firm that donated to his campaign and briefly hired his wife. The total of the contributions? Just over $5,500 over several years.

Cuomo, meanwhile, took in more than $500,000 from executives and companies linked to a bid-rigging case involving state economic development funding. The governor has now given away more than $400,000 of the contributions to charity.

BACKUP LIBERAL? Howie Hawkins, Green Party candidate for governor, is wooing voters who cast a ballot for Cynthia Nixon in the recent Democratic primary, saying he can be their "plan B."

Hawkins says he is the natural choice for liberals who had hoped the longtime activist and former "Sex and the City" star would oust Cuomo.

Hawkins placed third in the 2014 gubernatorial election against Cuomo and Republican Rob Astorino. He formally kicked off his 2018 run last week in Syracuse.

Hawkins said he's an "eco-socialist" who will push for single-payer health care, higher taxes on the wealthy, more funding for subways and transit and a "Green New Deal" that does more to encourage renewable energy and eliminate fossil fuel demand.

"The good news is that we largely know how to move to 100 percent clean energy while creating millions of jobs, eliminating needless deaths from air pollution, and lowering energy costs," he said. "All we need is the political will to act and the Greens have that in abundance."

Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0Todays story comes to us from some great old friends, Ed Schmidt and his wife, Karen, of Eastport, formerly of Auburn:

I received a call from my dear friend Ormie on the death of our daughter Kim. We have known each other since we attended Seward grade school and have remained close friends. He wanted me to write an article about Kim, which I was contemplating, and then read the article on Sept. 2 by Joe Brechue concerning the Sept. 8 annual Stand By Me event to raise funds in the fight against cancer, which helped make my decision. In the article it states, no one wants to hear the words you have cancer but it must be devastating to hear your child has cancer.

After reading the article, I decided to write this about our daughter, Kim, who died of kidney cancer on July 18, on the date of our wedding anniversary.

I was diagnosed with kidney cancer in December 2011 and, after an operation, Kim drove from Webster to help me through those difficult times after surgery. Three months later, we received a call that Kim also had kidney cancer. I recovered fully but unfortunately, Kim did not.

Her cancer returned in the summer of 2015 and she underwent major surgery at the Cancer Treatment Center of America in Chicago at the end of 2015. They saved her life and gave her 2 1/2 years more to enjoy time with her family and friends. After that surgery, she was successful with a chemotherapy treatment that she was receiving at Roswell Cancer Center in Buffalo. However, it started to become ineffective and her cancer was too aggressive. This past May, Kim said to her doctor I am not giving up, so dont you give up on me.

The loss of a child is beyond imagination and there are no words to describe the grief, so we would like to tell you a little of Kims beautiful life.

Kim was born in Utica at St. Elizabeth Hospital on Dec. 30, 1964. We then moved back to Auburn, where we lived until 1969, when I was transferred to Long Island.

Kim attended Smithtown East High School and graduated in 1982. From 1982 to 1986 she attended St. Bonaventure University and graduated with a bachelor of arts in social sciences. She then attended Stonybrook University from 1987 to 1989 and received a masters degree in social work.

Kim worked and held various positions with Saint of the Angels, was a supervisor at Catholic Charities and with the Cattaraugus County Department of Health. Lastly, Kim was employed with the Salamanca City School District as a clinical social worker. The school recently made her office a permanent space called Kims Korner, where students can come and take a break if they need to be alone and relieve some stress.

We came to learn from her fellow associates and many friends such wonderful stories and tributes of what Kim did for so many and how she helped them overcome their problems.

Kim left three beautiful children, Michael, Megan and Liam, who will continue to be such an important part of our family and a constant reminder of the love she bestowed on her children.

Ormie, thank you for allowing us to share our memories of our beautiful daughter Kim.

 Ed and Karen Schmidt

Ormie King's column appears Sundays in The Citizen and he can be reached by email at ormie5king@gmail.com.

Love 4 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 2 Angry 0NEW YORK  Authorities in New York City are facing a security and logistical challenge of epic proportions with the coming arrival of President Donald Trump and other world leaders for the United Nations General Assembly.

Though there's been no credible threats against the event, the security concerns are so broad that the New York Police Department has considered how it would stop assassins armed with poison or killer drones.

The NYPD's main line of defense will be thousands of extra police officers flooding the streets as part of a carefully coordinated effort with the Secret Service and other federal and local law enforcement agencies to protect both the United Nations and Trump Tower in midtown Manhattan, said Police Commissioner James O'Neill.

"Since the end of last year's General Assembly, we've been planning how to best protect the various sites and all the people inside them, while also minimizing the impact on New Yorkers," O'Neill said at recent news conference at a command center at police headquarters.

The 73rd Session of the General Assembly began on Sept. 18, but the higher-level meetings start Monday.

The security arsenal features police boats patrolling the East River near the U.N., aviation units overhead and teams of officers trained to respond to chemical, biological and other potential terror threats. About 50 city Department of Sanitation dump trucks filled with sand and 230 concrete barriers will be positioned at intersections and other strategic locations to guard against car or truck attacks like the one last year that killed eight people on a bike path in Lower Manhattan.

Police said other preparations have included consulting with British authorities about the poisoning of a former Russian spy there earlier this year by way of a weapons-grade nerve agent. British officials say the attack was carried out by Russian operatives.

Police have also studied an attack on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro last month using drones rigged with explosives.

Maduro said this past week that he may have to suspend a planned trip to the United Nations because of concerns his opponents would try to kill him if he travels abroad. But the NYPD is expecting more than 200 other world leaders to show up, all needing to move around the city in motorcades with police escorts.

Those foreign dignitaries flying state aircraft into New York's Kennedy Airport will be greeted with strict enforcement of security rules requiring the planes to depart within two hours of touching down. The crackdown comes after the indictment of an airport supervisor on charges he took bribes to let Qatar and other countries park their planes overnight during the gathering.

Trump is expected to arrive for a rare hometown visit and a possible stay at Trump Tower, his longtime home he has rarely visited since becoming president. Outside the skyscraper, police plan to set up a series of barriers and security checkpoints.

Police said they expect more than 60 demonstrations outside the United Nations, foreign consulates and Trump Tower at various times during the week.

The bad news for motorists: Officials say all the activity will cause worse gridlock than the traffic jams during the Thanksgiving Day Parade, the tree-lighting ceremony at Rockefeller Center and the New Year's Eve celebration in Times Square.

Authorities said they hadn't calculated the cost of the security operation. But they said there's been a $20 to $30 million bill for past General Assemblies, and that the federal government covers most of it.

Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 1 Sad 0 Angry 0First, the Democrats claimed that Republicans didn't want to hear from the accuser of Judge Brett Kavanaugh. Then when Republicans said they'd love to hear from her, and would she please show up and testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Democrats suggested that such a request was sexist and cruel - that no hearing could be held without an FBI investigation. Now, in an attempt to look forthcoming without actually coming forth with any credible information, the accuser's lawyers are playing games with the Senate Judiciary Committee.On Thursday night, lawyers for Christine Blasey Ford outlined a series of demands from the Senate Judiciary Committee in order for Ford to testify under oath. Let it first be said that Kavanaugh has denied all charges and will testify on Monday under oath; if he's found to be lying, he'll go to jail for perjury. So this is no game to Kavanaugh.But it's a game for Ford's lawyers. Here were just a few of their demands: No outside counsel questions her; The defense testifies first; Subpoena against Mark Judge.The subpoena against Judge doesn't seem unreasonable - she alleges he was there. The other two conditions are fully unreasonable. Kavanaugh won't have the ability to confront his accuser; not only that, she wants to reverse the entire criminal procedure process by having the defense testify without ever hearing the actual claims against him. That's insane. Finally, prohibiting outside counsel from asking questions is a way of promoting grandstanding by senators, not of reaching the truth. If Kavanaugh can't ask questions, why should Republicans have to be his lawyers, rather than an actual lawyer for Kavanaugh?It should be noted that those who are asked to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee generally don't get to negotiate the terms of their testimony. The Senate Judiciary Committee does indeed have subpoena power. But Ford and her lawyers are obviously making the most of charges of insensitivity to tilt the playing field in her direction, or to avoid having to testify at all. That does undermine her credibility.Legislature must approve any money spent from rainy day fund

The General Assembly could convene a special session to allocate Hurricane Florence recovery money from the state's rainy day fund, although some money is available for use without the legislature's approval.including returning to Raleigh for a third extra session this year, Pat Ryan, spokesman for Senate leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, told Carolina Journal Thursday, Sept. 20.The State Emergency Response and Disaster Relief Fund has $103.7 million, according to the Office of State Controller. That money can be spent even if the legislature is out of session. The Rainy Day Fund has more than $2 billion, most of which is available, but can't be tapped without a vote of the General Assembly. Federal aid also will be flowing into the state quickly.Ryan said.Ryan said. It took about two months for the legislature to receive a concrete funding request after Hurricane Matthew before the legislature met in special session in 2016.House Speaker Tim Moore, R-Cleveland, issued a related news release Thursday.Moore was quoted as saying.Rep. David Lewis, R-Harnett, said:said Joe Coletti, a senior fellow at the John Locke Foundation who researches tax and fiscal policy.Coletti said.House Bill 7 sets the terms for use of the Savings Reserve, the rainy day fund's official name.It authorizes the legislature, by majority vote, to spend up to 7.5 percent of the 2017-18 appropriations, for emergency relief and assistance. That's $1.725 billion this year. The rainy day fund is $2.011 billion.Coletti said.A $250 million withdrawal seems possible given the scale of damage from this storm compared to the $100 million for Matthew in 2016, Coletti said. That would leave 7.36 percent of 2017-18 appropriations in the rainy day fund.After Matthew, the General Assembly replenished the reserve in the next budget and added $263.9 million to it. Money for Matthew relief went to housing, infrastructure, drinking water, redevelopment, federal matching dollars, small business loans through Golden LEAF, and the State Emergency Response and Disaster Relief Fund for future emergencies, Coletti said.The governor can use the emergency and disaster fund, created by GS 166A-19.42, without legislative approval. Money for that fund came from the rainy day fund, the disaster relief fund, and the Clean Water Management Trust Fund.Coletti said Cooper frequently attacked his predecessor, Pat McCrory, in 2016, once criticizing him forAs governor, Cooper proposed setting aside $300 million in 2017 - the legislature passed $363.9 million - and $185 million this year - the legislature passed $221.5 million.Coletti projects the budget should finish the year with an unreserved balance of $648.7 million.Republican lawmakers, who have accused Cooper of dawdling with Hurricane Matthew federal relief money distribution, have been touring flood-ravaged counties. But Ryan doesn't expect the legislature to get involved directly with Hurricane Florence relief operations. Disaster response is an executive function of government at the federal level and state level.The Joint Legislative Committee on Governmental Operations formed a subcommittee in late August to investigate Cooper's handling of Hurricane Matthew relief money. Ryan said with Florence response still in the early stages, it's too early to discuss the subcommittee's role, meeting agendas, and schedules.Ryan said.Why the Issue of Confederate Memorials is of Significant Consequence

Publisher's note: Contributor Diane Rufino presents a post by Mark Creech that supports him many posts regarding the sanctity of public property.



by Reverend Mark Creech, Christian Action League, Aug. 24, 2018



Lately, a lot of emotion has been spent over Confederate monuments in the Tar Heel state.



Silent Sam, the statue on the campus of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, was gleefully pulled from its pedestal by a mob, August 20th. Former alumni, as well as citizens across the state, were outraged at the lawless act and the justifications given for it.



Two days later, August 23rd, the North Carolina Historical Commission rejected Governor Roy Cooper's request to relocate three Confederate monuments on state Capitol grounds. The Commission opted instead to provide contextualization signage and raise funds for constructing and erecting African-American monuments.



Contextualization creates angst for many, while others rail against the Commission's decision to leave the monuments standing. The situation remains a hotbed of passion on both sides.



I have written on this subject a number of times. I cannot say that everyone who is a part of the organization I represent, the Christian Action League, believes as I do on the topic. Nevertheless, I speak because I believe the matter is one of significant import to our state, country, and Western Civilization.



To understand history, it's important that one hears all sides of the story. When memorials such as Confederate monuments are pulled down, it's because only one narrative is being allowed.



Critics of Silent Sam said that the monument sends a message of racism and White Supremacy. They argue it was erected during a period in history when whites wanted to show that they still ruled the south.



Their proof? Julian Carr's speech at the unveiling with its egregious and wrongheaded remarks about what the Confederate soldier meant to the Anglo Saxon race and how he, Carr, personally horsewhipped a black woman after insulting a Southern white lady. Also cited as evidence are the United Daughters of the Confederacy, who spearheaded and funded the monument. Some contend the UDC is a white supremacist organization, an accusation the UDC denies.



Critics of Silent Sam also argue the Confederate soldier was a traitor to his country and a defender of slavery. Memorials to Confederates glorify treason and the subjugation of the black race, they say.



I'm certain some sophisticate will charge that I'm just a backward preacher from the South with a misinformed and misguided allegiance to a terrible group of people. But I can't agree the issue is that simple.



White Supremacy?



Thomas J. Crane, an attorney who represents individuals in employment actions and has appeared in both state and federal court, says the charges of racism against statues like Silent Sam and other Confederate memorials wouldn't succeed in a court of law.



In a most intriguing article titled, "Confederate Monuments and Racism," Crane writes:



"I represent victims of discrimination. Like historians, I am in the business of accusing persons or entities of discrimination. But, if I tried to accuse a person or statue of racist bias based solely on speeches by third parties, I would likely be sanctioned by the court for filing a frivolous lawsuit...There are several alternative explanations for why these statues were erected.



The challenge regarding the Confederate monuments is there is always a legitimate alternative explanation. The United Daughters of the Confederacy was founded expressly to commemorate the deceased Confederate veteran. The Confederate States of America was not the United States of America. That means there was no government effort to mark the passing of these hundreds of thousands of veterans. If the UDC or some organization like the UDC did not raise the funds for these monuments, it would not be done...



Certainly in most communities, the Daughters were part of the white power structure. But, being part of the dominant white society does not mean those Daughters necessarily sought to support Jim Crow laws when they erected those monuments."



Crane is right. There are many other valid reasons for Confederate monuments, which received broad support in the day of their placing.



History shows Confederate veterans were dying at the time and family members wanted to memorialize their fathers, brothers, and husbands before their passing. Others felt that their loved ones who suffered, sacrificed, and died in that great conflict deserved better recognition and more prominence than what they received in a cemetery for the Confederate dead. Reconstruction had also ended, and there was more money available for building and raising these memorials. Moreover, such monuments were seen as reunification symbols, where the Confederate heritage was brought into the larger American context, acknowledged, respected, and tolerated.



One might ask, if the sole purpose of these monuments was to lionize White Supremacy and slavery, why wasn't this stated on the monuments? No such pattern exists.



In the case of Silent Sam, the plaque on the memorial simply read: "To the sons of the University who entered the war of 1861-65 in answer to the call of their country and whose lives taught the lesson of their great commander that duty is the sublimest word in the English language."



Confederates Soldiers Were Traitors?



In my estimation, there is no basis for the indictment that Confederate soldiers were traitors. It's true the war started when Southerners fired on Fort Sumter in South Carolina, but who provoked the conflict is still in dispute by historians.



Lincoln sent a ship to re-provision Fort Sumter, which was a federal fort in Charleston. South Carolina had already seceded from the Union, along with six other states. Certainly, if secession had any meaning, the state couldn't permit a foreign power to maintain a military fort on its own soil. When negotiations broke down between President Lincoln's administration and President Jefferson Davis' administration for the transfer of the fort to South Carolina, Confederates fired on Fort Sumter, which resulted in Union forces surrendering.



Although there were no casualties, Lincoln sent 75,000 troops into the "rebel" states, which resulted in four additional Southern states, including North Carolina, seceding from the Union.



The Southern states also seceded from the Union based on the Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The right for states to legally secede was widely accepted. Even Alexis de Tocqueville, the French political thinker and historian, who visited America to study its system of government, said the Union "was formed by the voluntary agreement of the states; and these, in uniting together, have not forfeited their nationality, nor have they been reduced to the condition of one and the same people. If one of the states chose to withdraw its name from the contract, it would be difficult to disprove its right to do so."



Again, traitors? How can Confederate soldiers be traitors when the states in which they resided had seceded from the Union, as was their Constitutional right, and formed a new country of which they were citizens?



Confederates Soldiers Fought for Slavery?



Neither is it right to contend that Confederate soldiers were all about defending slavery. This is not to say the conflict was never about slavery. Instead, its to argue that the reason they fought was more nuanced.



Thomas E. Woods, an American historian, who is both a Harvard and Columbia University graduate, correctly argues in his book, The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History, that "slavery was far from the only issue on Southerner's minds, particularly since the great majority of Southerners did not even own slaves. For their part, Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson, two of the South's best-known Generals, described slavery as 'a moral and political evil.' Lee had even been an opponent of secession, but fought on the side of Virginia rather than stand by as the federal government engaged upon the mad project of waging war against his state. Recall that Virginia, Tennessee, Arkansas, and North Carolina seceded only after Lincoln had called up 75,000 volunteers to invade the South and prevent its secession. These four states, therefore, certainly did not secede over slavery, but rather over Lincoln's decision to use military force to suppress Southern independence."



Additionally, Civil War historian James McPherson's incredible research, consulted a sizeable number of Union and Southern soldiers' letters and diaries on the way they viewed the war. The results clearly determined that they were concerned about saving the Union, the right of Secession, Constitutionalism, the Founding Fathers, but not slavery.



In other words, Southern politicians might have had slavery on their minds. However, the issue wasn't a primary concern for Confederate soldiers on the battlefield. They weren't putting their lives on the line each day, their bodies being torn and broken by cannonballs, bullets, and bayonets, just so they could enslave, whip, or lynch black people. The notion is preposterous.



Instead, they fought primarily for reasons of patriotism. They fought because they believed their homeland had been invaded. They fought for fear of the federal government enslaving them, and preventing their own self-determination. They fought for their independence. They fought for the commercial freedom of the South. They fought because they had lost family members through acts of brutality by the enemy. They fought because an occupying force was often denying their rights. They fought because they didn't believe they deserved the scourge of their wives eating rats, their children starving, and their property reduced to ashes.



Whether they believed in slavery or not, whether their government was right about it or not, the South was their home, and they would give their lives in defense of it.



Oversimplification and Overreach -



Certainly, these affairs were the larger part of the equation. Therefore, making Confederate monuments primarily about White Supremacy, treason, and slavery is gross oversimplification and overreach.



In the same article referenced earlier, Crane contends that "alleged prejudice must be based on more than mere speculation and tenuous inferences." The case must be proven, and the preponderance of the evidence must reasonably conclude racist intent. The evidence doesn't show this to be the reason for erecting Confederate monuments. Even racial motivations do not necessarily constitute a racial purpose.



With these assertions in mind, I will conclude with these thoughts.



True Tolerance Essential -



America is a place of many cultures, many political opinions, and many values. True tolerance, which respects individuals without necessarily approving of everything they believe or espouse, is essential.



As a white man, I may not be able to fully connect with a monument like the National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Alabama, which is dedicated, in part, to the way people of color are often burdened with presumptions of guilt and police violence. Nevertheless, I can reverence and appreciate my fellow Americans. This same deference should go the other way.



To take down memorials placed in honor of deceased people who forewent their health and happiness, forfeited their honor and substance for the ones they loved in a time of war, is to say such people and the ones for whom they spent their affections don't count. It's to say their ancestors are evil and beyond the recognition of any noticeable or worthy virtues.



Orwellian Ends -



Moreover, pulling down said monuments, more often than not, produces Orwellian ends. If the monuments are taken down, there remains only a one-sided account. There is no way to ponder them and the full significance of their meaning, as well as the lessons they can teach.



Taking down monuments and memorials is a revolutionary tactic of history. Burn the books. Destroy the landmarks. Topple the statues. Flatten the memorials.



In a quote from George Orwell's dystopian novel, 1984, we read, "One could not learn history from architecture any more than one could learn it from books. Statues, inscriptions, memorial stones, the names of streets, anything that might throw light on the past had been systematically altered."



Here's another: "Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered, and the process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped, nothing exist except an endless present in which the Party is always right."



Isn't this what we are witnessing? - an intentional and imposed ignorance.



It's an appropriate question to ask where this will end. What else besides Confederate monuments is next to be removed or hidden away in some rather obscure place? Will it be statues of Washington and Jefferson? What about the U.S. Flag? Could it be the Christian Cross on steeples and buildings? Might it be any reminders of America's heritage or Western Civilization that causes offense, makes people feel unwelcome, or hurts their feelings?



It isn't spurious to question whether the goal or the outcome will be to lose ourselves in the mass mind and the mass will.



While there was cheering at the fall of Silent Sam at UNC, the lawless action of the mob which perpetrated the crime signals a time of future mourning. A time when intolerance is supreme, lack of knowledge predominant, and uniformity enforced.



Yes, this matter is of considerable import to our state, nation, and Western Civilization.



Reference:



Reverend Mark Creech, "Why the Issue of Confederate Memorials is of Significant Consequence," Christian Action League, Aug. 24, 2018. Referenced at: https://christianactionleague.org/news/why-the-issue-of-confederate-memorials-is-of-significant-consequence/

McDonald's workers in ten US cities staged a mass walkout last week, demanding that the company take action on the rampant sexual abuse and harassment in its franchisees' stores; as the workers pointed out, the company surveils and controls their every move on-shift down to the minutest detail, but can't seem to find any way to chase down reports that women are being groped and then fired if they refuse to perform sexual acts on their supervisors.

What's more, the National Labor Relations Board has already held that McDonald's has a duty to look after the workers in its franchisees' stores (and some of the harassment has taken place in stores owned by McDonald's corporate itself).





The walkout was coordinated with Fight For 15, a workers' rights campaign that was started to focus on purely economic issues (a $15 minimum wage) but whose remit is broadening to include all questions of workplace justice, including harassment of low-waged workers.

As an excellent segment on this week's On the Media discusses, the McDonald's walkout is a new phase in the #MeToo story, whose highest-profile beats have focused on the workplace harassment of famous and powerful women, not sub-minimum-wage women working at fast-food restaurants.

The wider focus on workplace justice has hit a nerve: the organizers who coordinated the walkout have found common cause with each other and the workers they inspired and have vowed to stay together. In the meantime, the labor action has highlighted the need for a union of McDonald's workers, which could organize the workers at the world's second-largest employer.



Meanwhile, the ten women who filed the EEOC complaint last May are spearheading the direct action campaign against McDonald's. These women first met each other when they traveled to Chicago for the annual McDonald's shareholder meeting in Spring 2018 to tell their stories. The experience of testifying together was powerful, and they decided to keep in touch. Their newfound bond, the knowledge that they were not alone, that this was not an individual problem but a systemic and collective grievance, moved them to form committees of women workers in each of their ten cities. It was those committees that organized, voted for, and conducted Tuesday's strike. The committees traveled to different stores conducting sexual harassment trainings. It was not difficult to mobilize their colleagues. Complaints to management have been ignored or even mocked, the women workers say. Women often lose their jobs  or are forced to quit  if they press their claims. Since a high percentage of those responsible for the harassment have been store or shift managers who have control over scheduling, wages, hiring, and firing, women workers know that retaliation is likely for those who dare to file complaints. That's why they need a union, workers insist. A union brings more than solidarity. If recognized, as McDonald's has done in Denmark, South Korea, and New Zealand, a McDonald's workers union would bring legal contracts guaranteeing their rights.

#MeToo and McDonald's [Annelise Orleck/Jacobin]- South Africa's Minister of Environmental Affairs passed away on Saturday

- The details of her death have not been released but she passed after a short illness

- Molewa served in her position as minister since 2014

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Environmental Affairs Minister Edna Molewa has passed away on Saturday at the age of 61.

After a brief illnes, Molewa passed away in a hospital in Pretoria. She got ill shortly after her visit to China to attend the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation Summit.

Molewa is mourned by South Africans as she was loved and respected by many.

She was the first female premier for the North West province from 2004 until 2009. Before becoming the Minister of Environmental Affairs in 2014, Molewa served as the Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs since 2010.

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Details around Molewa's passing haven't yet been revealed. Khusela Diko, has confirmed Molewa's death.

Before passing away, Molewa served as chairperson of the ANCWL in North West. According to a report by EWN, condolences have streamed in since the news of Molewa's death was shared.

READ ALSO: ICYMI: Racist rants, president talks about plot and Magashule scrutinised

Do you have news that might interest us? Message us on our Facebook page and we could feature your story.

To stay up to date with the latest news, download our news app on Google Play or iTunes today.

Enjoy the silly Cartoon Comedy: When Adam Met Eva and take a look at what else is new on Briefly South Africa's YouTube channel.

Source: Briefly.co.za- The SAPS informed the public that a document, claiming that people can carry up to 3kg dagga without being arrested, is fake

- The document has been widely shared on social media since the recent ruling that smoking dagga in private is now legal

- The police will be investigating the document and its origin

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A document has been making rounds on social media that claims a person can legally carry up to 3kg dagga.

However, the South African Police Service has distanced itself from this document.

This document clearly states that police officers must stop arresting South Africans who are found in possession of dagga.

Only when the person is found with more than 3kg of dagga, should they be arrested on suspicion of dealing.

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News24 reports that Brigadier Motlafela Mojapelo stated the police cannot confirm the authenticity of the document and it is regarded as fake.

The police will investigate the fake document and find out where it came from.

The document showed up shortly after the Constitutional Court ruled that the private use of dagga is no longer illegal.

Briefly.co.za reported that the court did not rule on how many grams of dagga a person will be allowed to use or carry.

Before the court's ruling, a person with more than 115g of dagga would be suspected of dealing.

READ ALSO: Woman narrowly escapes death as bullet fired at her lodges in bible

Do you have news that might interest us? Message us on our Facebook page and we could feature your story.

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Watch the In My Feelings Drake Dance Challenge: When You Are Tired of It and take a look at what else is happening on Briefly South Africa's YouTube channel.

Source: Briefly.co.zaNews / National

by Simbarashe Sithole

MDC Alliance official Chalton Hwende has sensationally claimed that Vice President Constantino Chiwenga ordered soldiers to be on the street and killed seven suspected opposition supporters."Chiwenga is clearly the one who ordered the army to be in the streets on the 1st of August. We all know this but most are afraid to say it. We must fight for justice for Zimbabweans who were killed; The attempt to frame the MDC Leadership will not work. The World is watching," said Hwende in a tweet.The fatal shooting killed seven and left dozens injured when the soldiers open fire in Harare on 1 August 2018.However, President Emmerson Mnangagwa appointed seven member panel to probe the fatal shooting by one of the soldiers.News / National

by Staff reporter

President Emmerson Mnangagwa has said Zimbabwe has no quarrel with the United States government and its people, and he is pleased with the way relations between the two countries are improving.Zimbabwe's Head of State and Government made these remarks while responding to questions from the floor at the Zimbabwe Investors' Forum, organised by private equity firm, Exotix USA Inc in New York on Friday.The President was at the highly-subscribed Forum together with Finance and Economic Development Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube and Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) Governor Dr John Mangudya.President Mnangagwa is in the United States for the 73rd Ordinary Session of the United Nations General Assembly, where he will this week deliver his maiden speech to the world's largest international organisation since winning the 2018 Presidential elections.At Friday's investment forum, President Mnangagwa was asked why Zimbabwe's opposition appeared to have a strong lobby in Washington and New York, and what his Government was doing to improve relations.The President pointed out that differences between the two countries stemmed from a bilateral dispute between Harare and London, but that ties between thosetwo were normalising and there was no need for America to remain aloof when Zimbabwe was opening up to the world and shedding off its negative perceptions in the international community.He also said Zimbabwe wanted to enter "a new era" of relations with the US.President Mnangagwa said, "With regard to sanctions: Initially the quarrel was not between the people of the United States of America and the people of Zimbabwe. The quarrel was between Zimbabwe and the United Kingdom. It was a bilateral quarrel."But the British were able to internationalise our bilateral quarrel between ourselves and them, which roped in the EU, and then it roped in the Americans through former President (George W) Bush, and in Britian there was Tony Blair."But I'm happy now they have a lady. You know when we got our Independence in 1980, in 1979 there was a very serious war in Zimbabwe against Ian Smith. But there was a change of government in the United Kingdom and Margaret Thatcher came to power. She was the person who ended our war."So each time there is a lady in Britain, things change. This time around, on the 24th of November (2017) when I was inaugurated, within 35 minutes I had a minister from (UK Prime Minister) Theresa May calling on me. Our relations with Britain have improved tremendously and we are now talking."So America is left out in the cold by the British and the EU. But I'm happy that also the German (leader) is a lady. She has sent a minister to come and resuscitate relations between Zimbabwe and Germany. And we are so happy with Germany. The same with France, though he is a man but again, he's very good."He went on: "So the basic point I'm making is, there is no problem, there is no quarrel between the people of Zimbabwe and the people of America. Historically or currently, there is no quarrel. The quarrel is at the level of administration, where Zidera (the US sanctions law on Zimbabwe) was put  you know that history."But just now the signals that are coming from Washington are very positive.''I have no doubt that in no time we should be able to reconcile and move forward, and cooperate with the United States of America."I've no doubt that Zimbabwe again can rise in the community of nations, this is what we are doing: re-engaging with those who had disengaged with us, engaging with those who have never engaged with us. This is the policy we are following now."Perception is very, very critical. It can lead one to believe even in things that are not actually correct on the ground. Yes, the lobby here favours the opposition, but the voter on the ground actually looks at what is being offered."Earlier in his keynote address, President Mnangagwa had said Zimbabwe wanted economic cooperation with the US based on a fresh approach to bilateral issues."Zimbabwe stands ready to enter a new era of relations with the United States of America and pursue economic co-operation and further re-ignite mutually beneficial trade and economic co-operation between our countries and peoples. The onus is on the private sectors of the two countries to complement my Government's efforts," he said.He explained the Second Republic's priorities thus: "Zimbabwe is on a bold course to modernise and industrialise every sphere of the country through a vibrant private sector-led economic recovery."The key tenets of our economic agenda include sweeping and comprehensive economic reforms which foster an investment-friendly environment that promotes and protects private enterprise, improves the ease of doing business, reduces the country risk perception, creates employment, eradicates corruption and enhances public sector accountability, transparency and good governance."My country has a vision to become a middle-income economy, with a per capita income of about US$3 500, increased investment, decent jobs, broad-based economic empowerment, and free from poverty and corruption by 2030."We are fully cognisant that foreign direct investment will play a major role in the attainment of this noble vision, hence we invite investors amongst you to travel this journey with us."He invited American firms to take advantage of special economic zones, saying Government stands ready to facilitate such investments."The enactment of the Zimbabwe Investment and Business Facilitation Bill, and establishment of the One-Stop Shop Investment Centre will also give greater impetus to our commitment to open up the economy "We are resolved to make Zimbabwe an attractive and safe investment destination, where capital feels safe."In addition, I have committed that my administration will ensure policy clarity, consistency, transparency and predictability."News / National

by Stephen Jakes

Zimbabwe's business mogul Dr James Makamba has encouraged the citizens that the time for them to rebuild Zimbabwe according to the vision given by the President Emmerson Mnangagwa.Mnangagwa since he assumed Presidency after the coup in 2017 has been preaching the Zimbabwe is Open for Business manthra with the view of turning Zimbabwe into a medium size economy by 2030. "John F Kennedy once said, "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country".All eyes were on the outcome of the Zimbabwe elections that happened in July of and the subsequent direction government would follow," Makamba said."It's time to build Zimbabwe, all ingredients of realising the President's vision of a medium size economy by 2030 are in place. My friends, let's all do our part in building a better Zimbabwe for; It Is Possible in Zimbabwe."News / National

by Staff reporter

Finance minister Mthuli Ncube says government is drafting reforms that will see Zimbabwe eventually introducing its own currency.Ncube, who is in New York for the United Nations General Assembly, told Bloomberg TV in an interview that bond notes would remain in circulation until "fundamentals are conducive for the introduction of a local currency"."Over time, we will move back to a domestic currency, but that requires certain steps like fiscal consolidation around government expenditure and on the revenue front," he said.The renowned economist and former banker said Zimbabwe needed a stabilisation plan to be implemented within the shortest possible time.Ncube said Zimbabwe was banking on increased tobacco, gold, chrome and platinum exports as it worked on plans for a new currency."There is no time frame, but we need these things to happen sooner than later," he said."We need certain triggers such as that we need to have a full momentary policy committee that is working and be able to move to a market-based allocation of foreign exchange so that those who are exporting are able to have their accounts in foreign currency and keep those as their receipts and build those blocks of reserves."Ncube is the only Cabinet minister who accompanied President Emmerson Mnangagwa, whose delegation also includes Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor John Mangudya.The minister said his vision was to create an investor-friendly environment and challenged African leaders to negotiate for better deals with China.Mangudya also told Bloomberg TV that the new administration had put in place mechanisms to compensate white farmers who lost land during the land reform programme as a way of improving investor confidence.Mnangagwa is pushing for increased foreign direct investment to reverse years of economic decline under former president Robert Mugabe.He also wants to end Zimbabwe's decades of international isolation due to human rights violations and electoral theft.News / National

by Nomusa Garikai

The December 12th Movement has said it will hold a "welcome" rally for President Emmerson Mnangagwa who is in the United States for the United Nations General Assembly."President Mnangagwa and Zanu PF won an overwhelming victory in the recent free and fair elections by the people of Zimbabwe who continue to be uncompromising in their commitment to Zimbabwe's sovereignty and independence," the group said in a statement Friday.Mnangagwa rigged the 30th July 2018 elections. His regime denied 2 to 3 million Zimbabweans in the diaspora the vote with the same callous disregard of their right to a meaningful vote reminiscent of America's deep south blatant denial of blacks their right to vote.Tyrants like Mugabe have spoken against black oppression in America and for that the Movement's members have supported the tyrant to the hilt ignoring the brutal oppression he was inflicting on black Zimbabweans.Of course, the December 12th Movement is out to welcome Mnangagwa they in the hope that he too will follow Mugabe's example and fight in their corner for that is all they care about."The elections were observed by national delegations from around the world. Our observations of many poll sites reflected a well-organized process. Every detail was witnessed and signed by every party," said Attorney Wareham, one of the Movement members."We were there for the duration. The overwhelming majority of international observers declared the elections free and fair."The "overwhelming majority" and yet he could not name even one observer team that said that. Even the AU and SADC teams, known for endorsing dodgy election processes in Zimbabwe and other African countries had to qualify their endorsement this such phrases as "substantially". Some of the teams from the 30 or so nations with a democratic history said the elections were rigged whilst other chose to condemn the elections with their silence."The December 12th Movement maintains our support for ZANU-PF and the people of Zimbabwe and demand an end to the illegal economic sanctions implemented by the United States Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act (ZDERA), and the recent amendment by President Trump which stiffens the undermining of the self-determination of Zimbabwe and land reform in Africa," said Wareham.President Mnangagwa and his junta rigged the elections and, per se, the regime is illegitimate.Wareham may not have voted for any of the recent American governments but even he cannot deny the elections were free, fair and credible and therefore the elected governments were legitimate. Surely a legitimate government is free to decide with whom the nation can do business. Wareham and his follow Movement friends may not agree with ZDERA but that does not make the sanctions illegal since they were imposed by a legitimate regime.ZDERA making perfect sense as to is putting on the pressure on the illegitimate Zanu PF dictatorship to implement the democratic reforms and hold free and fair elections. Every thinking Zimbabwean out there know that the root cause of the country's problems is the failure to hold free, fair and credible elections. All this talk of sanctions as the root cause of the nation's problems is just hogwash!Those nations, notably the British, who have decided to recognise and support this illegitimate Zanu PF regime diplomatically, financially, etc. are not doing the long suffering people of Zimbabwe an favours. The country is in this economic and political hell-on-earth because of 38 years of corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorial rule. The people of Zimbabwe have failed to remove the regime from power all these years because it rigged elections.Zimbabwe is stuck with this vote rigging Zanu PF dictatorship. The only peaceful way to force it out of office is to deny the regime all support after all it is illegitimate.For 38 years Zanu PF has rigged elections and it ever got was a slap on wrist. If Zanu PF is allowed to stay in power to the next elections, in 2023, we can be certain the regime will rig those elections too. This madness must be stopped and stopped now!The Movement member are just as stupid as those Palestinians who supported Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait just because he demanded that Israelis should vacate occupied Arab lands. Of course, the people of Kuwait were furious with the tyrant of Iraq for invading their country and they were equally furious with those Palestinians who chose to ignore the injustice of the invasion for selfish reasons. It is little wonder that many of the selfish Palestinians, who had been welcomed in Kuwait and had lived there for many years, were booted out of the country together with Hussein!The members of December 12th Movement are the shameless faces of the oppressed in the world, not just America, who have willingly become the tyrants and murderers' cheer leaders for thirty pieces of silver!Opinion / Columnist

President Emmerson Mnangagwa, on Wednesday, departed Harare for New York, United States (US), where he is scheduled to attend and address the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) 73rd session for the first time since he took over the reins from Zimbabwe's longest serving former President, Robert Mugabe.The annual UNGA convention is the "chief deliberative, policymaking and representative organ of the United Nations" comprising 192 member states, including Zimbabwe.The thrust of the convention is to provide a unique forum for multilateral discussion of the full spectrum of international issues covered by the Charter of the United Nations of 1945.In his address at the UNGA last year (2017), former President (Mugabe) implored member states, particularly, super powers such as the US to take the issue of climate change seriously and to unite with other member states in tackling the man-aided phenomenon.Nevertheless, President Mnangagwa is likely to set a new tone for Zimbabwe at UNGA.Since November 2017, and the subsequent 30 July 2018 harmonised elections, Zimbabwe's diplomatic offensive has taken a new impetus with more focus being directed at establishing and nurturing mutually beneficial synergies and partnerships with key players in world economics.Using the mantra "Zimbabwe is open for business", President Mnangagwa has been relentless in his efforts to turn around the country's economic misfortunes.This has seen the new dispensation adopting a multipronged approach in order to deal with the various challenges affecting the country, including embarking on a robust re-engagement drive in a bid to lure investors.The UNGA 2018 meeting presents a great opportunity for Zimbabwe to reintegrate with the international community.Often, member states of the UN have used this platform to influence and shape world politics.For instance, issues affecting internal and external relations of member states would be brought before the house.A case in point for Zimbabwe, over the years, has seen the imposition of sanctions, especially by European countries.Although a number of countries have begun to warm up to Zimbabwe under the new dispensation into the Second Republic, some countries like the US continue to stifle prospects for cordial and productive ties.Just last month (August 2018) President Trump extended the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Amendment (ZIDERA) Act, which forbids Zimbabwe to trade with and access loan facilities to pay off the national debt from the US.The Act directs US Executive Directors of International Financial Institutions to oppose the vote against any extension by respective institutions of any loan, credit, or guarantee to the Government of Zimbabwe; or any cancellation or reduction of indebtedness owed by the Government of Zimbabwe to the United States of America or any International Financial Institution.European regional block, the European Union (EU) has also extended its sanctions on Zimbabwe until 20 February 2019, despite the fact that some individual member states in the block such as Germany and the United Kingdom are gradually warming up to Zimbabwe.It remains to be seen if President Mnangagwa would highlight the rather unfortunate and counter-productive position of "big brother", US, and the EU.Perhaps the President would turn a blind eye and deaf ear on the machinations of those that continue to despise Zimbabwe and embrace those amenable to the country's current challenges.Nevertheless, Zimbabwe cannot afford to operate in isolation due to globalisation and it is expected that the 73rd UNGA session would give Zimbabwe the much needed socio-economic and political impetus for the realisation of her vision for the future.Dress Your Body Type: Skinny

How To Stylishly Dress For Your Body Type If You're Skinny

The AskMen editorial team thoroughly researches & reviews the best gear, services and staples for life. AskMen may get paid if you click a link in this article and buy a product or service.

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Regardless of the body type you were given, every man tends to encounter fashion obstacles with his body shape. It's all about making the most of it that's help you look and feel more confident and attractive, both to yourself and to others. And while the big and tall tend to have it the hardest finding garb that works well with their profile, skinny guys have it just have hard.

Skinny body types are sometimes described as ectomorphic. Whether youre tall, of average height or short, this kind of body is characterized by a light build, lean muscle, small joints, long limbs, a flat chest, and small shoulders. Ectomorphs typically also have a fast metabolism and find it difficult to gain weight, no matter what they eat or how many weights they lift.

Expanding on our Dress Your Body Type series, here we take a look at areas ranging from fashion to grooming in which skinny men can focus their efforts on to look their personal best. Youll find a useful list of recommended retailers, along with a checklist that you can print out and take with you on your next shopping venture, so that youll consistently come out of each store with pieces that are just right for you.

Related: Dress for Your Body Type: Tall

The Guide: Dress Your Body Type

Fit

No matter what your body type is, proper-fitting clothes are vital to being a well-dressed man. Several factors come into play that you'll want to be up on before jumping online and loading your virtual cart with seasonal pieces. Here are some of key ones to consider.

Blazers and jackets: With regards to the particular pieces slim men should have hanging in their closets, single-button and two-button jackets are a good choice for smart-casual occasions, while double-breasted blazers is this body type's best friend for dressier events.

With regards to the particular pieces slim men should have hanging in their closets, single-button and two-button jackets are a good choice for smart-casual occasions, while double-breasted blazers is this body type's best friend for dressier events. Fabric type: Skinny guys tend to have lots of fun experimenting with fabrics as they can get away with wearing a wider variety compared to other body types  heavy tweeds, corduroys and anything with a chunky-knit texture are good examples that look fantastic on a slender frame, but would overpower other body types. Check the label on your tops too, avoiding anything that contains elastic as these garments tend to stick too closely to your body rather than gliding over it.

Skinny guys tend to have lots of fun experimenting with fabrics as they can get away with wearing a wider variety compared to other body types  heavy tweeds, corduroys and anything with a chunky-knit texture are good examples that look fantastic on a slender frame, but would overpower other body types. Check the label on your tops too, avoiding anything that contains elastic as these garments tend to stick too closely to your body rather than gliding over it. Layering: Thin men can also enjoy the benefits of layering  namely, that you stay warmer, but look cooler.

Thin men can also enjoy the benefits of layering  namely, that you stay warmer, but look cooler. Outerwear: Toppers that cover your rear should be featured more heavily in your wardrobe than cropped jackets. Crew necks are a better choice than V-necks, and in cold weather, feel free to add turtlenecks into your winter wardrobe as they're warm  and your body type is one of the few (if only) that can get away with wearing them and still look good.

Toppers that cover your rear should be featured more heavily in your wardrobe than cropped jackets. Crew necks are a better choice than V-necks, and in cold weather, feel free to add turtlenecks into your winter wardrobe as they're warm  and your body type is one of the few (if only) that can get away with wearing them and still look good. Slim-fit tops: Favor body-skimming dress shirts and tees that permit some movement in the fabric. Look for Slim Fit models at your mass retailer.

Favor body-skimming dress shirts and tees that permit some movement in the fabric. Look for Slim Fit models at your mass retailer. Straight leg vs. skinny jeans: When it comes to denim, stick with straight-leg or slim-fit boot cut jeans instead. Unless you want to look malnourished or like you're wearing leggings, banish all skinny jeans from your closet  neither of which is attractive in the least.

A frequent mistake made by men with skinny body types is wearing oversize clothing in an effort to bulk up visually, skinny men actually benefit from having their clothes tailored more than any other body type. Hunting down a reputable tailor and taking all recent purchases to him will ensure you're showing off your frame to its best advantage.

Colors And Patterns

If you're on the slim side, there are a few tricks you can use to play up your assets and minimize the things you dont like about your body. First off, you should know that recent research has revealed that vertical stripes actually make people look larger, which flies in the face of conventional fashion wisdom. Opt, therefore, for dress shirts, T-shirts, blazers, and suit pants with a vertically striped pattern. For suits and dress pants, pinstripes are a classic, flattering choice. For patterned tops, such as plaid or windowpane, midsize patterns are much more flattering than smaller ones.

Where color coordination is concerned, wearing all of one or, more specifically, dark colors like black from head to toe will emphasize your skinny body frame, so take advantage of breaking up your outfit when you can with lighter hues here and there such as white, light-gray and pale-blue.

Hair

In addition to the fit, color and pattern of the garments in your wardrobe, there are additional points to consider when dressing a skinny body type. To begin with, impeccable grooming is a surefire way to enhance any man's appearance, be he thin or not. As skinny men tend to have slimmer, angular faces, use this fact to your advantage by asking your barber to give you a great haircut that will show off your prominent cheekbones and jawline.

Fashion Trends

Additionally, much like with their hairstyles, men with slender physiques can pull off an impressive array of fashion trends. Because designers prefer to dress this body type, many clothing lines are designed with your body type in mind, and you can use this knowledge to your advantage by regularly incorporating one or two trendy pieces into your wardrobe each season. If you're not into following fashion, at least consider slipping into some trendy footwear.

The Stores: Shopping For Skinny Men Clothing

Zara

Zara

Slim fits and trendy cuts are what Zara do best. The brand offers everything from activewear to outerwear, though its penchant for attractive suits is what really makes them a standout  designing each piece from smooth, rich fabrics to achieve a formal, premium look. You can keep things neutral with an all-classic black tux or draw attention rocking a print or pastel-colored suit. Dont sleep on Zaras lineup of double-breasted and trench coats either.

Find out more at Zara.com

Topman

Topman

The British fashion brand has become the go-to for skinny types in the US with a variety of clothing options that primarily run slim. Every season welcomes chic new arrivals and trendy styles ranging from street to workwear. You can even pick up suits in ultra-skinny fit.

Find out more at Topman.com

Stitch Fix

Stitch Fix

Life can take up so much of your personal time, forcing you to deal with the same outdated wardrobe youve been rocking for the past few years. That ends now. This clothing subscription service wont just send the best-fitting options to your front door, it also curates each piece based on your personal taste via Style Quiz. Pay for what you want to keep and send what you dont want back to the company. Keep everything and the company awards you a 25% discount.

Find out more at Stitchfix.com

Asos

Asos

Cardigans to t-shirts, Jackets to jeans, Asos has every major clothing category covered for the fashion-forward millennial with a slim figure. Youre looking at over 340 brands to choose from. That doesn't even include the retailers own signature lines, which offer some sleek and funky designs.

Find out more at Asos.com

H&M

The retail giant remains offers a nice selection of slim-fitting tops and bottoms, along with a ton of other items from accessories to shoes to pimp out your without breaking the bank. Sales are constantly taking place, so you can definitely score some sweet denim jeans and dress shirts for super cheap. Stumble upon some cool finds online or walk into any of its hundreds of locations nationwide and try them on for size.

Find out more at H&M.com

Pros And Cons Of Dressing A Skinny Body

A slim frame is significantly easier to dress than a large one simply because clothes hang better on thinner bodies. Another benefit of having a slender physique is that its easy for you to be in style because trendy clothing not only looks good on you, its made readily available to you by the fashion industry. And, if youre into high-end apparel, your size is more frequently available in stores because your body shape is what designers prefer to dress (for both aesthetic and sample/pattern size reasons).

While there are obvious benefits to dressing a skinny body type, there remain, however, a few challenges. Notably, wearing ill-fitting clothes will result in coming off as a boy playing grown-up. A further and rather vexing problem this body type faces is finding clothes that fit at budget-friendly mass retailers, which  in America  frequently size up (offering sizes up to 3XL). To solve this problem, become a fan of European imports like Zara, H&M, and Topman, which are skinny-body type- and budget- friendly.

Checklist: Wardrobe Staples

Double-breasted blazers

Heavy-knit sweaters

Pinstripe suits

Trendy footwear (say, a pair of combat boots)

Crew-neck tees

Straight-leg or slim boot cut jeans

Flat-front trousers

A pair of corduroy pants

Single or double-button blazers

Vertically striped dress shirts

Military-style jackets

A tailor

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Dress for Your Body Type: Short

Dress for Your Body Type: Big

Dress for Your Body Type: Tall

AskMen may get paid if you click a link in this article and buy a product or service. To find out more, please read our complete terms of use.A man is dead and two Halton Region police officers were injured in a shooting in Burlington early Saturday, according to police and Ontario's Special Investigations Unit.

The SIU says it is investigating the shooting, which occurred inside an Esso gas station near Harvester Road and Appleby Line.

Monica Hudon, spokesperson for the SIU, told reporters that the man, 32, died after an exchange of gunfire between himself, four Halton Regional Police officers and one Ontario Provincial Police officer.

CBC

Two officers were wounded in the shooting and taken to hospital.

One of the injured officers did not open fire. The man died at the scene.

Nishan Duraiappah, deputy chief of district operations with Halton Regional Police, said the wounded officers were at a critical care centre in Hamilton in stable, non-life-threatening condition. He wasn't able to comment further on the extent of the officers' injuries due to the SIU investigation.

"They're in good spirits and have a lot of appreciation for the support and communication from the public," he told the media.

Andrew Collins/CBC



Hudon said OPP officers were trying to find a man who had been involved in a collision before the shooting early Saturday. At 5:30 a.m. ET, police received a call about a suspicious man in the gas station bathroom.

She said she didn't have any details about the collision or the vehicle involved, and the OPP has not released any information.

Both the OPP and Halton police responded to the call.

"What I can tell you is the man exited the bathroom, and that is when there was the exchange of gunfire shortly after," Hudon said at the scene.

Hudon said the man's name and hometown will not be released until next of kin are notified.

The man was alone at the time of the shooting.

No risk to public safety anymore, police say

For its part, Halton police said in a news release it wanted to reassure the public that there is no longer a public safety risk.

Story continues

Earlier on Saturday, Const. Ryan Anderson, a spokesperson for Halton police, confirmed that Halton officers were involved in the shooting.

Andrew Collins/CBC

"The SIU has been notified. Beyond that, I cannot say anything else."

There has been a heavy police presence at the station since early Saturday.

The SIU has assigned five investigators and two forensic investigators to the shooting. Investigators are looking for video evidence, she said.

Andrew Collins/CBC

According to Hudon, the SIU will have to determine what exactly transpired, how many shots were fired and the sequence of events. It will review security camera video from the gas station, she added.

"It's all part of our investigation," she said.

The SIU is an arm's-length agency that probes any incidents in which a person is injured or dies during an interaction with police.

The SIU is urging anyone who may have information about the shooting to contact the lead investigator at 1-800-787-8529. People who may have any video evidence are urged to upload it through the SIU website.New Braunfels, TX (78130)

Today

Clear skies this evening. Scattered showers and thunderstorms developing overnight. Low 59F. Winds W at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%..

Tonight

Clear skies this evening. Scattered showers and thunderstorms developing overnight. Low 59F. Winds W at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%.Bengaluru: The Jalahalli police arrested two notorious bike-lifters and recovered 27 stolen two-wheelers from them.

The accused were identified as Niranjan M. alias Ajju (18), a resident of Satyamangala in Tumakuru district, and his associate Nitin Kumar N. (18), a resident of Kora in Tumakuru district. While Niranjan is a PUC dropout, Nitin quit a diploma course midway.

Niranjan was sitting on a bike at BEL Circle when a police patrol team found him behaving suspiciously.

They asked for the bike documents, but he told them that the papers were at home. But soon after, he changed his statement to say that the documents were lost.

As their suspicion grew, the police took him to the Jalahalli police station and interrogated him. That was when he spilled that he stole bikes and also named his associate Nitin, who too was arrested. The police recovered 27 bikes worth `9 lakh from them.

They lifted high-end two-wheelers parked outside houses during night and sold them cheap.

They confessed to stealing bikes in Bengaluru and Tumakuru districts, the police said. While nine cases of bike thefts were detected, the police are trying to trace the owners of the remaining vehicles.

Seven arrested for vehicle theft

The Rajagopal Nagar police arrested seven thieves who were stealing four-wheelers to lead a lavish life.

The police suspect that the crime syndicate is spread across Karnataka and neighbouring states.

The accused were identified as Jeevan, Srinivas, Manjunath, Sagar, Amjad, Noorullah and Praveen.

They hired personal, non-taxi cars available for rent.

Once hired, they would take the driver to an isolated place, make him drink till he lost his senses, dump him and then flee with the car.

The police have recovered 15 cars from the seven accused.Ever since the BJP-led government came to power over four years ago, mediapersons have been fairly obsequious towards ministers and generally refrained from asking difficult questions at official press briefings. This was because word had got around that the BJP leadership and ministers did not take kindly to tough questioning and that this could have serious repercussions. However, there appears to be a perceptible change in recent days.

Mediapersons are no longer hesitant about questioning ministers. For instance, journalists openly told Union agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh at his recent official briefing that it had yielded no news. Similarly, railway minister Piyush Goyal was persistently questioned about spiralling fuel prices when his press conference was on a different subject. Mr Goyal was clearly not amused. More recently, law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad was taken aback when presspersons asked him if it was proper for him to go public about the ordinance banning triple talaq when the President had yet to sign the document. Mr Prasad was left speechless. The minister again looked flustered when a pressperson asked him if the BJP would follow up on its move to ban triple talaq and start giving tickets to Muslims, especially women. Mr Prasad brushed off this question on the ground that it was a political issue. These are admittedly baby steps but can also be seen as a reflection of the changing public mood. At the same time, mindful of the changing ground situation, senior ministers have started holding informal chats with small groups of journalists to get their feedback about issues like the Rafale jet deal.

India was understandably peeved when Nepal pulled out of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) joint-military exercise held in Pune earlier this month. However, it recovered subsequently, stating that this development would not impact relations between the two countries. According to government insiders, Kathmandu had explained that its Army Chief Purna Chandra Thapa could not make it because his presence was required back home for some religious rituals. Though this explanation seems far-fetched, Indian officialdom appeared to be reasonably satisfied with it. However, this does not take away from the fact that after saying no to India, Nepal decided to participate in a joint-military exercise  Sagarmatha Friendship-2  with China. Kathmandu was apparently upset because it felt New Delhi had announced its participation in the military exercises without taking it into confidence. In addition, Kathmandu is convinced that the Modi government is undermining its Prime Minister K.P. Oli as it suspects him to be closer to China.

Shipping and surface transport minister Nitin Gadkari may not hail from Gujarat but he has the necessary genes of a businessman from that state. Owner of a successful group of companies in Nagpur (now managed by his family), Mr Gadkari is constantly alert to a possible business opportunity. This is exactly what happened when the construction on the multi-storey parking facility at the Transport Bhavan was completed recently. Realising there was a business opportunity here, he decided to offer the top floor to a restaurant and initiated the necessary paper work for this project. However, he faced stiff resistance from security agencies who red flagged it as a security risk because the top floor of the parking lot offers a panoramic view of the Parliament House. But Mr Gadkari refused to back off and insisted on going ahead with his brainchild. After prolonged discussions, the security agencies gave in but only when the ministry agreed to introduce several safeguards. Last heard, the tendering had been completed and the contract had been awarded to Sukh Sagar, a Mumbai-based chain of restaurants.

When Congress president Rahul Gandhi chose Kamal Nath to head the partys state unit in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh, it was believed he would work in tandem with senior leader Digvijay Singh. There was great bonhomie between the two leaders soon after Mr Nath took over his new post but relations between the two are learned to have soured. Reports from Bhopal say Mr Nath has now emerged from Mr Singhs shadow and is increasingly depending on senior leader Suresh Pachauri for advice. A short video clip is being circulated in the state as an example of Mr Naths falling out with Mr Singh. The clip shows a reporter asking Mr Singh for his reaction to a survey showing that Mr Nath and Jyotiraditya Scindia are favourite choices for the CMs post. Mr Singh is seen brushing off the journalist, saying, If I had money, I too could have emerged as the number one choice.

H10This plan was disclosed by Crystal Bay's business manager Nguyen Truong Son at a tourism promotion conference recently held by officials of Ninh Thuan province in Ho Chi Minh City.



There are four Crystal Bay's projects which are being promoted, including 766 hectare- Mui Dinh Ecopark, Sunbay Park hotel&resort in Phan Rang city, Ninh Chu Sailing Bay having four 40-storey towers which are 9 kilometers from Phan Rang city and 10 hectare - Bai Co beach tourism.

Mui Dinh Ecopark is the largest - scale project with seven hotels having 7,000 rooms and 500 villas in plan. This project is being developed by the Bangkok - based Chapman Taylor architectural office.

In the past, at a tourism conference in Khanh Hoa province, Son proposed to build a strategic tourism product called "One Holiday - Two Heritage Areas," connecting Van Don in the North with Khanh Hoa - Ninh Thuan in the South Central. Visitors can relax and experience in Bai Tu Long Bay (Ha Long) then fly straight to Cam Ranh.

Crystal Bay and its partners have received approval from Quang Ninh province's officials for 1/500 scale proposal of Van Don Heritage road on an area of 109 hectares, of which the 88-story twin towers are prominent.

The connection plan became feasible after the Van Don airport was under construction and it will reach completion by the end of this year.

Besides Crystal Bay, Hacom Holdings Investment joint stock company has ambition to make a large investment in Ninh Thuan province, including Binh Son marine park, Binh Son - Ninh Chu sea urban area, new South East urban area and Northeast urban area.

Ninh Thuan now has about 1,500 accommodation rooms but only one third is rated. The most outstanding one is Amanoi Resort on Nui Chua mountain with 36 villas with price at tens of millions of dongs per night.As typhoons get stronger, Asia must build better, experts say

A man stands in front of his house, collapsed by storm Son Tinh, in northern Vietnam in July 2018. Vietnam is among countries worst-hit by typhoons in Asia-Pacific. Photo by VnExpress/Giang A Lu

Rapid growth and development are increasing the risk of heavy damage from powerful typhoons in the Asia Pacific, experts said.

They urged governments and the private sector to collaborate on improving urban planning, protecting mangroves and developing "sponge cities" that can absorb water and prevent flooding. "(Cities) need to move from unplanned urbanization to planned urbanization," said Loretta Hieber Girardet, chief of Asia-Pacific at the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction in Bangkok.

"They need to plan urban growth - and that's not happening in Asia to the extent that it needs to happen."

Over the past 40 years, natural disasters have cost Asia-Pacific about $1.3 trillion, according to U.N. estimates, with China, the Philippines, Vietnam and Japan worst-hit by typhoons.

The latest major storm, super-typhoon Mangkhut, left a trail of destruction in both rural and urban areas of the northern Philippines, Hong Kong and southern China this week.

Asia has to deal with an average 29-30 typhoons each year, but fatalities have fallen with better weather forecasting, early warning systems and public awareness campaigns.

However, since the late 1970s, storms making landfall have become 15 percent more intense and their destructive power has increased by about 50 percent, Hieber Girardet said on Friday.

"Exposure is increasing and intensity of the hazard is increasing, and combined - these two - mean that the risk is increasing," she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Urban resilience

This year, more than half Asia-Pacific's population will be urban for the first time in history, and that figure will rise to two-thirds by 2050, the U.N. estimates.

The damage from typhoons can be mitigated through improved urban planning, which would draw upon available data on recurrent natural disasters, mapping, and understanding the risks to cities, experts said.

Both the private and public sectors can build resilience into infrastructure and developments to ensure they are able to withstand the impact and aftermath of typhoons, including flooding, damage to structures and high winds.

The region will need to invest $26 trillion from 2016 to 2030 in infrastructure in order to maintain its economic growth, tackle poverty, and respond to climate change, according to the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

Incorporating resilience into infrastructure projects pushes costs up by only 2 percent to 4 percent, said Hieber Girardet, adding that the increased cost should be seen as an investment in the future.

Technology can also play a role in tackling problems like excess rainfall - as seen in a pilot "sponge city" project in Wuhan, a flood-prone metropolis in central China.

Arcadis, a Dutch engineering and consultancy company, began the decade-long project in 2016, which incorporates sustainable drainage systems into infrastructure development.

These include a type of water-absorbing asphalt, as well as green spaces to help stop water from pooling.

City authorities should also build more parks, bolster flood defences and levies, and develop berms in flood-prone areas, said John Batten, an Arcadis director in Hong Kong.

The berms can have the added benefit of creating green spaces where people can enjoy leisure time, which also pay for themselves as developers are more likely to invest in such areas and boost tax revenues, he added.

"In the old days there would be a bunch of ugly gates or dykes built and they're not places where people want to hang out," Batten said, adding that "now they are landscaped attractions".

It is also important to improve building codes to ensure that structures can withstand strong winds, while banning poster and electronic billboards on the top of buildings.

"Resilience is a lower priority in Asian cities and urbanisation is the higher priority," said Batten.

Early investment

Rural and poor communities, such as subsistence farmers or minorities, are usually worst hit by typhoons.

After fleeing a storm, residents often return to find their homes and livelihoods destroyed, and they fall into debt and poverty due to the costs of rebuilding, experts said.

Typhoon Mangkhut caused about $265 million of damage to the agriculture sector in the Philippines, according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), with at least 281,000 farmers directly affected.

Early warning systems - like text messages or water level markers on rivers and houses - and establishing evacuation routes and drills, can help rural communities and give farmers the option of early harvesting, according to experts.

Where that is not possible, crop insurance schemes will help farmers recovery, they said.

Authorities should prevent developments and illegal settlements in risky areas like hillsides, and they should assist communities in such places to relocate, said Hang Thi Thanh Pham, senior resilience officer at FAO in Bangkok.

Farmers can also diversify their crops to ensure that all is not lost when a typhoon strikes, according to experts.

Natural buffers that defend both rural and urban areas against typhoons - such as wetlands, mangroves and forests - should be protected and maintained, they said.

They can also be incorporated into urban developments, said Steven Goldfinch, a disaster risk specialist at the ADB in Manila.

"As we see more intense storms, obviously it will have a greater impact on those assets that are exposed," said Goldfinch, adding that the long term losses of failing to mitigate risks will outweigh the initial investment.

"You are going to see increases in economic losses," he said.Dog thief arrested upon delivery to restaurants in Vietnam

Phung Minh Tam is seen here with dead dogs he killed with stun guns to sell to restaurants in Hau Giang Province. Photo by The Phong

Police in the southern Hau Giang Province arrested a man with four dogs he allegedly helped gun down on Saturday.

Phung Minh Tam, 33, was caught as he and another person were carrying the dogs they had shot down with stun guns to sell to local restaurants early on Saturday morning.

The pair were spotted with two suspects carrying another three dogs they had killed and stolen. The police arrested Tam but the others managed to flee.

Dog theft is rarely treated as a criminal offense in Vietnam unless the stolen animals are valued at more than VND2 million ($86).

Vietnam consumes an estimated five million dogs a year, second only to Chinas 20 million.

The practice has received widespread criticism as the dogs eaten are usually pets stolen and killed in brutal ways.

Recently, Hanoi has called on residents to stop eating cats and dogs, arguing that the killing and selling of dogs and cats for human consumption have undermined its image in the eyes of international tourists and expats.

The capital city also annnounced plans to ban dog meat from 2021.

Watch the public's mixed reactions to the proposal here:Many moons ago, mooncakes were a dark secret

One experienced mooncake-maker in Hanoi has seen the art and craft wax and wane, and do it again.

Dungs hands move with practiced ease.

He has been doing this for 50 years and the dough is like putty in his hands.



After some kneading he cuts the dough into smaller pieces and uses the mold to shape them. A thin layer of white flour flies into the air every time he taps one piece of dough out of the wooden mold.

Flour is everywhere. On the table. On his apron. On his sweaty, chefs hat.

And from the cloud of dough dust, a moon emerges. A white, sticky rice mooncake is ready to be baked and keep its tryst with the fullest, biggest moon of the year  the 15th day of the eighth lunar month, celebrated as the Mid-Autumn Festival.

About 20 people are busy in the workshop, mixing fillings, shaping dough and baking new batches of cakes. They are focused and dont speak much. The sound of wooden molds being tapped on the table and the sizzling sound when egg is sprayed on the cakes seems to belong to another era.

Outside this workshop, Dungs wife Nhuan is all smiles as she hands over the cakes to customers. The mooncakes are selling like hotcakes.

This activity has been repeated for almost 50 years, and while it is seasonal, it has kept this family in business for three generations, and in so doing, tells different stories about different eras.

They have been through a few decades of war, rations and a subsidized economy. They have experienced the Doi moi reform of 1986 and the market economy that increased their market, too. And now, they are struggling to find their own place in the globalization era, where several traditional values are being challenged.

Believe it or not



Believe it or not, there was a time when mooncakes were illegal.

It was a time when the Americans were dropping bombs on homes in the capital city.

Then, Xuan Dinh was an agricultural suburb of Hanoi, where people cultivated rice and other crops to support the war effort.

Everything was rationed then, including rice and meat. Each person got just 150 grams of meat for the whole month. Dungs parents couldnt afford to raise their five kids on the meager rations then, so they decided to make a living making and selling mooncakes.



His dad had learned to make the cakes when he was 13. He belonged to the first generation of bakers in Xuan Dinh Village.

Dungs childhood memory of the Full Moon Festival during war time has not faded a bit, even 50 years later.

He can still feel the autumn breeze arrive as the harvest season ends, when fruits were ripe and fragrant, when he would bite into a crispy persimmon. The festival was a comparatively plain and simple affair then, but it was unforgettable. There were no proper lanterns back then, so kids in Xuan Dinh strung grapefruit seeds on an iron wire. A more luxurious version was using an iron milk can as the lantern, and only well off families in the village could afford it.

Dung lights up an incense in front of his fathers altar.

Dung was seven years old then. He would go to school in the morning and then get in line to buy rice and meat like every other kid during the subsidy era.

But in the night, things were different. It seemed that his family retired very early, but the couple and their five children would bake batches of mooncakes in the night and sell them to wholesalers.

For this activity done behind closed doors, light emanated from Soviet hurricane lamps and the red hot charcoal oven, casting the shadows of seven people on the wall. The father mixed the filling, the mother shaped the dough and the others did the packaging. Dung gently wrapped oil paper around the cakes. They did their job quietly, no sound escaping their mouths.

If there was something to say, body language and whispers were deployed.

When the packaging was done, the cakes are placed into bigger boxes, which were then put into two big iron barrels on a bicycle and taken to the market at dawn. Dung usually sat at the back of the bicycle so it would like a farmer taking his kid to the city to buy something. Dung would use the time waiting for his father to deliver the cakes in the market to catch up on some sleep. He didnt know where exactly the cakes were delivered, but after each trip to the city, the family had some more food for their dinner.

But we still got exposed, Dung recalled. There was a year when they confiscated our ingredients eight times. Another baker family in the village also got their ingredients seized four times. We earned nothing that year.

Then hiding and concealment was a way of life. Trading was considered an illegal act. If you sold something, you were a smuggler.

I was just a kid then, so when I packed the cakes, I just wanted to eat them all, but my dad would kill me.

Secret ingredients

The traditional fillings for a mooncake include ham, dried sausage, diced sugared lard, lotus seeds, pumpkin seeds, lime leaves and sesame. These were treasures from the field, nourished and harvested by the farmers themselves.

All the ingredients, including the secret fragrant liquor, contributed the rare essence of the field.

To make a high quality, delicious mooncake, the ingredients had to be of high quality too. In April, Dungs mother would cycle all the way to Soc Son, 25 kilometers from the village, just to buy some pumpkins. She would only choose firm, medium ripe ones, ignoring the big round ones that were often sour and watery.

In May, she would get on her bicycle again and this time, cycle 11 kilometers to Dong Anh to choose the best sesame. These ingredients also had to be kept away from the sight of neighbors.

The hardest part, of course, was to buy lard and pork. Dungs dad used to work with traders to buy food stamps in the black market. The pork had to be fresh, marinated, roasted and sun bathed to develop that special flavor, not the tasteless salted shredded meat, Dung said.

But besides these regular ingredients, there was one that made Dungs familys mooncakes stand out from the rest: a special aromatic liquor. The liquor was, and is, made by brewing cinnamon, anise, clove and other secret ingredients that Dung cannot reveal. Brewing started, and still starts on the 16th day of August, every year.

The secret recipe was created by my father. Im just someone who follows it.

Not illegal any more

When the Doi moi reform policy was adopted in 1986, the market-oriented policy lifted many of the difficulties and hardships of the subsidy period.

Dungs family no longer has to smuggle mooncakes to the market. They had their own shop with a really big sign hung outside that boldly said, Sinh Hung.

Manufacturing and trading were unchained, the economy started growing, businesses started blooming. The whole village switched to making mooncakes.

Nhuan has been a part of the family since the 90s  when Xuan Dinh was on top of the mooncake game. In her memory, the month before the Mid-Autumn Festival was always the busiest time. Her day consisted of three activities: eating, babysitting and selling mooncakes. She had to have dinner and sell cakes at the same time, thats how busy it got.

The men in the house brewed the liquor and made the filling because only her husband and her father in-law knew the recipe.

A spark of pride flashes in Dungs eyes when he talks about his family during that time. They were the first in the village to buy a Peugeot bike, a Honda Cub motorbike and a car.

Hit like a truck

Once the 90s passed, mooncakes with a soft-paste filling  an alternative version from China arrived in Vietnam, and it has been a part of the Full Moon Festival here since.

In the 2000s, the line in front of Dungs house was no longer as long as it was in the 90s. Dungs bakery had to slash its budget as also the number of employees. He switched to making confections for the Tet holidays.

But, as far as the mooncakes go, Dung said it is guaranteed that theres something not right with these new versions, because they can last for the whole month.

The traditional filling without using preservatives can only be edible for 7 to 10 days. I will walk on my head if they can prove that these mooncakes with paste fillings are still edible after a month, if no preservatives are used, he asserted.

Eventually, Dung realized he had to follow the trend, because thats what the customers wanted. A part of him worried that the family business would fall behind if he did not adjust to the customers preferences. So he started making new mooncakes with green and red bean fillings, but did not stop making the traditional ones, which he still thinks is more important.

Dung had to follow the trend and make soft-paste filling mooncakes to survive modern days.

Globalization hit mooncake making in Xuan Dinh Village like a hurricane. From more than a 100 shops, there are just 30 now.



Explaining this, Dung said many families didnt have a next generation to maintain the business, or didnt know how to promote themselves in the Internet era, or just simply couldnt take the heat from food inspectors. The market was being flooded by confections made on an industrial scale with a great diversity in flavors.

Amidst this storm, Dung has tried to keep the familys tradition and craftsmanship going into the third generation.

Dung has five children. Four of them already know how to shape and pack the cakes. But Dung is now the only one left with knowledge of the family recipe after his father passed away. He has to hand down the recipe to someone else, before this workshop ends up in the dust, like others in Xuan Dinh.

He has chosen Cuong, the second son, to pass on the secret.

Cuong, whos learned to shape mooncakes since he was 10, is not too enamored of mooncake making, the white flour and smell of cakes sticking to him all day. But he understands that among his siblings, he is the most suited to carry the torch. He is continuing in the footsteps of his father, because he wants to keep the traditional family craft alive.

Dung is determined not to let the craft die, since he feels that his family owes a lot to it. They gave his family everything, from food to fill their empty stomachs during the subsidy days to fame and fortune later.

He believes traditional mooncakes are the best, because they are handmade and carry the heart and soul of the artist that makes them.

He believes traditional mooncakes can survive even in the globalized world, because people have started going back to them in recent years. The line at the bakery is getting longer, just like old times.

My father said a rolling stone gathers no moss, and that a useful trade is a gold mine. I have to keep the art going, Dung said.South Africa is believed to have up to 80 percent of an estimated global population of over 20,000 rhinoceroses. Photo by Reuters

Over 500 rhinos were poached for their horns in South Africa in the first eight months of 2018, a 26 percent fall from 691 in the same period last year.

This maintains a downward trend since 2014, when a record 1,215 rhinos were poached in the country, but the scale of the slaughter suggests demand remains strong in Asian markets where the horn is prized as an ingredient in traditional medicines.

Reasons for the decline include a mobile radar system used to detect poaching activity that had "ensured the decrease of rhino poaching in high density areas by more than eighty percent," the Department of Environmental Affairs said on Friday.

Poaching and drought have also reduced the population so there are fewer rhinos for poachers to target. The Kruger National Park is estimated to have around 5,000 rhinos now, down from around 9,000 in 2014, according to government figures.

Estimates vary but South Africa is believed to have up to 80 percent of an estimated global population of over 20,000 rhinoceroses, making it the center of the poaching crisis. There is an international ban on the trade in rhino horn.

In 2007, only 13 rhinos were illegally killed for their horns in South Africa, but the numbers then surged to meet demand as affluence grew in Asian economies such as Vietnam and China. A total of 1,028 rhinos were poached in 2017 in South Africa.

Initiatives to stem the poaching wave have included plans to relocate and breed new populations on Texas ranches to educational campaigns highlighting the animals' plight.US President Donald Trump has stepped up his attacks on big tech companies. Photo by AFP

President Donald Trump is weighing an executive order that would open federal antitrust and criminal probes into Google, Facebook and other social media firms.

Last month, Trump stepped up his attacks on big tech companies, warning them to be "careful," and slamming what he called "rigged" internet search results.

The U.S. president had complained that Google searches for "Trump news" brought up mostly negative stories about him.

Google strongly rejected any bias claims.

The White House's draft executive order focuses on alleged "bias" at the companies.

"Executive departments and agencies with authorities that could be used to enhance competition among online platforms (agencies) shall... use those authorities to promote competition and ensure that no online platform exercises market power in a way that harms consumers, including through the exercise of bias," read a draft of the report circulated by U.S. media Saturday.

"Not later than 30 days from the date of this order, agencies shall submit to the Director of the National Economic Council an initial list of (1) actions each agency can potentially take to protect competition among online platforms and address online platform bias."

The text also demands that federal agencies investigation any potential "violation of the antitrust laws" by an online platform.

However, The Washington Post cited three White House aides as saying they did not write the draft order and did not know its origins, while a senior official said the document existed but had yet to go through the formal process controlled by the staff secretary.

"Although the White House is concerned about the conduct of online platforms and their impact on society, this document is not the result of an official White House policymaking process," deputy White House spokeswoman Lindsey Waters was quoted as saying.

Google and other internet firms have long faced complaints about search results, which are based on algorithms that can take into account user browsing history, location and other factors.

But technology and media analysts say there is little evidence to suggest Google skews results for political reasons. And if they did, the president would have little recourse under the constitution's free speech protections.Recognizing the One-Year Anniversary of the Ceasefire Declaration Between Armenia and Azerbaijan

They should not be positioned near civilian communities neither in Armenia nor in Artsakh

Humanitarian and human rights protection needed following the 2020 outbreak of hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh

Galaxy Group of Companies expands its activities in Belarus: a new TIME and Pandora store launched

I think its a good moment to invest in Armenia. Head of Markets at Symbiotics Vincent Lehner

Ameriabank has Raised USD 17.5M Tier 2 Capital

UNIGHT TO UNITE. UCOM CELEBRATED ITS REBIRTH

Ameriabank and HSBC Armenia to provide their customers access to each others ATMs without additional fees

Ameriabank. 62.5% Growth in Taxes YOY

Mikayel and Karen Vardanyans have provided 300 million AMD to overcome the infertility in Armenia

UCOM has officially launched the sale of IPHONE 13

Six servicemen were wounded by the attack of the Azerbaijani armed forces in Artsakh, two of them in critical condition

S&P Improved the Outlook on Ameriabank to Positive

Ararat Mirzoyan to visit to Minsk

Foreign Minister of India visits the Memorial of Armenian Genocide

1217 new cases

Google Ad

Global Finance Names Ameriabank the Safest Bank in Armenia

Statement by the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group

At UCOM only: Tv sets at 10% discount + 1 month free UMIX package + 4k tv channel

Ameriabanks Special Offer for New Clients of Hrazdan Branch

"Fall forward": Gurgen Khachatryan, the Co-Founder of the Galaxy Group of Companies, addressed a message to young people in Armenia

UCOM hosted interns of Russian CBOSS corporation for a month

The 20-episode Bloody bet thriller to be broadcast on Ucom's Armenia Premium TV channel

Statement by the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group

UCOM offers affordable gadgets at bigger discount

Foreign Minister of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan will pay a working visit to New York

Governments preventing publication of Haykakan Zhamanak newspaper during state of emergency

UCOM prolongs the unlimited internet offer for the level up 4700 and level up 5500 subscribers

Ucom employees received recognition for their services to the homelandRaffi Hovannisian fulfills his civil duty

Raffi Hovannisian, candidate for mayor of Yerevan, voted at a polling station at N157 school. He told reporters that he has great expectations from the elections. According to him, people have already won, and whoever will be elected as a mayor, it will be the people's victory. Touching upon the cases of distributing election bribes, he said: "The Heritage Party has alerted several times referring to the lists, which we have noticed in different parties." Asked who Raffi Hovannisian meant, he replied: "I do not want to speak out, it is the issue of law enforcement. Perhaps it is not a violation. The Heritage Party has never had access of such lists, if someone has it and it is legal, then everyone should have it." Raffi Hovhannisyan mentioned that he would gladly congratulate the elected person.Valeri Osipyan: It is only Naira Zohrabyan's imagination that we are not aware of the situation (video)

Police Chief Valeri Osipyan voted early Thursday morning in Nubarashen # 10/54 polling station. Referring to the actions of the Police yesterday at the PAP's Ajapnyak electoral headquarters, the Chief of Police said to the journalists: "All the police actions were within the law and we will inform you about the progress." To note, yesterday there were reports of electoral bribes, and when asked whether the election bribe was distributed in that electoral headquarters, Valeri Osipyan said that those facts were being investigated and they would inform later. Naira Zohrabyan, the mayor candidate, said yesterday that these reports of electoral bribes were misinformation, and urged Valeri Osipian to file criminal cases on the article of fake betrayal. In response, the Chief of Police said: "It is only Naira Zohrabyan's imagination that we are not aware of the situation, the police are in charge of the operative situation in Armenia, and any alerts, reports, must be subject to compulsory research."Recognizing the One-Year Anniversary of the Ceasefire Declaration Between Armenia and Azerbaijan

They should not be positioned near civilian communities neither in Armenia nor in Artsakh

Humanitarian and human rights protection needed following the 2020 outbreak of hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh

Galaxy Group of Companies expands its activities in Belarus: a new TIME and Pandora store launched

Google Ad

I think its a good moment to invest in Armenia. Head of Markets at Symbiotics Vincent Lehner

Ameriabank has Raised USD 17.5M Tier 2 Capital

UNIGHT TO UNITE. UCOM CELEBRATED ITS REBIRTH

Ameriabank and HSBC Armenia to provide their customers access to each others ATMs without additional fees

Ameriabank. 62.5% Growth in Taxes YOY

Mikayel and Karen Vardanyans have provided 300 million AMD to overcome the infertility in Armenia

UCOM has officially launched the sale of IPHONE 13

Six servicemen were wounded by the attack of the Azerbaijani armed forces in Artsakh, two of them in critical condition

S&P Improved the Outlook on Ameriabank to Positive

Ararat Mirzoyan to visit to Minsk

Foreign Minister of India visits the Memorial of Armenian Genocide

1217 new cases

Google Ad

Global Finance Names Ameriabank the Safest Bank in Armenia

Statement by the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group

At UCOM only: Tv sets at 10% discount + 1 month free UMIX package + 4k tv channel

Ameriabanks Special Offer for New Clients of Hrazdan Branch

"Fall forward": Gurgen Khachatryan, the Co-Founder of the Galaxy Group of Companies, addressed a message to young people in Armenia

UCOM hosted interns of Russian CBOSS corporation for a month

The 20-episode Bloody bet thriller to be broadcast on Ucom's Armenia Premium TV channel

Statement by the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group

UCOM offers affordable gadgets at bigger discount

Foreign Minister of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan will pay a working visit to New York

Governments preventing publication of Haykakan Zhamanak newspaper during state of emergency

UCOM prolongs the unlimited internet offer for the level up 4700 and level up 5500 subscribers

Ucom employees received recognition for their services to the homelandTehran's leading hard-line daily Kayhan, in the largest banner headline of its front-page on Sunday September 23, promised revenge on Saudi Arabia for Saturday's deadly attack on a military parade in Ahvaz, Southwestern Iran.

The article said that "the people expect officials to give a hard slap to Riyadh in the face to avenge the blood spilled in Ahvaz."

At the same time, the chief of staff of Iranian armed forces, Mohammad Hossein Bagheri directly blamed Saudi Arabia and threatened that if Riyadh does not apologize and "correct its behavior", Iran's armed forces reserve the right to a "crushing blow" anywhere and at any time they see fit.

Meanwhile, an editorial by the daily's editor-in-chief Hossein Shariatmadari, who is appointed by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, threatened American, Israeli, Saudi, and UAE's military and security officials with retaliation.

"Why should their military and security officials anywhere in the world and in any disguise be immune to the fire of revenge when they do not recognize attacks on military personnel, women and children as terrorist operations?" the Kayhan asked, adding "they should fear even their own shadows as Islamic Iran's selfless supporters are present everywhere."

In the same editorial, Kayhan refers to a tweet by Abdulkhaleq Abdulla, who according to Kayhan is the political adviser of UAE's crown prince, in which he allegedly said the attack was not a "terrorist" action.

Hundreds of Iranians lashed out at him for the comment and former IRGC commander Mohsen Rezai, called him "ignorant," adding that "a hard regret is awaiting him."

Abdulla claimed in a later tweet that Rezai has threatened him to death.

Kayhan, linked Al- Ahvaziah, the separatist group that has claimed responsibility for the attack to several countries including Saudi Arabia and Israel, alleging that the group's members have recently visited Tel Aviv and Riyadh as well as several European countries.

In another development, Iranian foreign ministry summoned chief diplomats from several European countries, protesting the separatist group's presence in those countries.

Even during the monarch Iran since mid-1950s Iran always claimed that separatist groups in Khouzestan were linked to Egypts Gamal Abdul Nasser until his death in 1970. During the 1970s and 1980s Iran accused Iraq under Saddam Hussain of funding and harboring ethnic Arab insurgents.

Baghdads support for ethnic Arab separatists in Iran became more elaborate while Iran and Iraq were engaged in their 8-year war in the 1980s. At the time, Iran was harboring Iraqi insurgents who were members of the Supreme Assembly of Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SAIRI).

In recent years, as hostility between Iran and Saudi Arabi grew, both countries accused each other of supporting ethnic-religious dissidents in the Shi'ite-populated Saudi province of Qatif and the Iranian province of Khouzestan where ethnic Arabs live alongside other groups. In their initial reactions after Saturday's attack Iranian leaders pointed fingers at Saudi Arabia without naming the country.

The War on the Media Front

Both Kayhan and IRGC-linked newspaper Javan have harshly criticized a number of foreign media outlets for not characterizing Saturday's attack as "terrorism".

Meanwhile, Iran's ambassador to London, Hamid Baeidinejad, said on his social media pages that he would file a complaint with UK's media watchdog Office of Communications (Ofcom), against Iran International, a TV channel based in London for interviewing the Al  Ahvaziah separatist group's spokesperson.

Baeidinejad called the channel's behavior "shameless" and accused it of "promoting terrorism and violence." The channel cited the ambassador's charges on its Twitter page, but said they interviewed the spokesman only after Iranian media first linked the attack to the group. Baeidinejad replied that he was not convinced and would take the case to Ofcom.

In the meantime, Iranian social media has been bubbling with nationalist sentiments as well as accusations and verbal abuse against media and political figures who failed to condemn the attack or did not characterize it as an act of "terror".

One of the victims of such abusive reaction was former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who was widely criticized for condemning the attack too late, "after 16 hours," some critics noted.

A Blessing in Disguise and Virtual Alliances

As Iran's President, Hassan Rouhani is on his way to New York to take part in the UN General Assembly meeting, the attack and the political dynamics surrounding it, may have strengthened his position during his upcoming meetings with world leaders who would have been in a better position to criticize Iran for its regional activities and missile program if Saturday's attack had not taken place.

He is now going to New York with a case that portrays him as a victim rather than a sponsor of terrorism, and with a stronger justification for Tehran's missile program as a means of preventing or averting such attacks.

The attack also seems to have united foreign-based Iranian opposition groups mainly the advocates of secular democracy such as Prince Reza Pahlavi, the newly founded Revival network and the Constitutionalists to speak in one voice with the Islamic regime in condemning the attack, regardless of their difference with the regime in other areas.

Such an odd alliance is not unprecedented though. During recent years, national solidarity and patriotic sentiments often forged virtual alliances between the regime and opposition forces based abroad every time the Persian Gulf's "Persian" identity was challenged by littoral Arab states such as the UAE and Saudi Arabia.DUBAI, Sept 23 (Reuters) -

President Hassan Rouhani said on Sunday Iran was ready to confront the United States and its Gulf Arab allies, a day after an attack on an Iranian military parade killed 25 people, including 12 members of the elite Revolutionary Guards.

Speaking before leaving Tehran to attend the annual U.N. General Assembly in New York, Rouhani accused U.S.-backed Gulf Arab states of providing financial and military support for anti-government ethnic Arab groups in Iran.

"America is acting like a bully towards the rest of the world...and thinks it can act based on brute force," said Rouhani.

"But our people will resist and the government is ready to confront America. We will overcome this situation (sanctions) and America will regret choosing the wrong path."

Iran's Foreign Ministry on Sunday summoned the United Arab Emirates' charge d'affaires over comments made about the bloodshed in the southwestern city of Ahvaz.

State-run PressTV said the action was taken over comments by an unnamed UAE official, without giving details.

The Gulf Arab state of Qatar, which is at odds with U.S. allies Saudi Arabia and the UAE, condemned the assault on the military parade, which wounded at least 70 people.

It was one of the worst ever attacks against the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp, the sword and shield of Shi'ite clerical rule in Iran since its 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Since pulling out of the big powers' nuclear pact with Iran in May, Trump has reimposed U.S. sanctions meant to isolate Tehran and force it to negotiate tougher curbs on its nuclear and ballistic missile programs. Iran has ruled this out.

"UNREAL FANTASIES"

"America wants to cause chaos and unrest in our country so that it can return to this country, but these are unreal fantasies and they will never achieve their goals," said Rouhani.

Shiite Iran is at odds with Western-allied Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia for predominance in the Middle East.

The regional powers back opposing sides in the conflicts in Yemen and Syria as well as rival political groups in Iraq and Lebanon, with the Guards defending Iranian interests.

"The small puppet countries in the region are backed by America, and the United States is provoking them and giving them the necessary capabilities," said Rouhani.

There was no immediate comment from Saudi Arabia on Rouhani's allegations. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates say that Iran poses a security threat to the Middle East and tries to dominate the region.

Iran denies the accusations and calls for regional states to guarantee the oil-producing region's security without the interference of the United States and other Western powers.

"Iran's answer (to this attack) is forthcoming within the framework of law and our national interests," said Rouhani, adding that the United States would regret its "aggressiveness".

An Iranian ethnic Arab opposition movement called the Ahvaz National Resistance, which seeks a separate state in oil-rich Khuzestan province, claimed responsibility for the attack.

"The Persian Gulf states are providing monetary, military and political support for these groups," said Rouhani.

Islamic State militants also claimed responsibility. Neither claim provided evidence. All four attackers were killed.

"Hopefully we will overcome these sanctions with the least possible costs and make America regret its aggressiveness towards other countries, and particularly Iran," said Rouhani.Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 23

By Anvar Mammadov - Trend:

VTB Bank (Azerbaijan) is ready to participate actively in the projects implemented by the Government of Azerbaijan for entrepreneurs, chairman of the board of the bank, Yevgeny Kirin, said in an interview with Trend.

He noted that the bank is also ready to apply an individual approach to its customers.

"We are interested in providing comprehensive services to our customers, providing a range of services. This approach allows to structure and conclude transactions on the most favorable terms for each party," Kirin said.

The head of VTB (Azerbaijan) noted that lending is still the most common "anchor" product.

"We are ready to offer our customers the loans for a period of up to seven years. We also offer cooperation in partnership with the Russian Export Center Group, whose programs provide the most favorable conditions for the purchase of the products made in Russia," Kirin said.

The VTB Bank (Azerbaijan) has been operating in the country since 2009.

The VTB Group is a Russian financial group that includes more than 20 credit and financial companies operating in all major segments of the financial market.Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 23

By Taleh Mursagulov - Trend:

Azerbaijan has become one of the most powerful players in the energy market, Azerbaijani MP, member of the parliamentary committee on economic policy, industry and entrepreneurship Rufat Guliyev said.

Guliyev was commenting on the speech of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev at the ceremonial meeting of the Azerbaijani parliament on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Azerbaijani parliament.

While delivering speech in the parliament, President Aliyev stressed that Azerbaijan connects the Caspian Sea with the Black Sea and Mediterranean Sea via oil pipelines, while Azerbaijan is connected with Europe via gas pipeline, he added.

As the president stressed the Southern Gas Corridor project, being implemented today, is one of the biggest infrastructure projects in the region, he added. Its total cost is $40 billion. This project completely re-creates an energy map.

The keynote speech of President Aliyev can be described as Azerbaijan always fulfills its tasks, Guliyev added.

"This concerns the Contract of the Century and its prolongation, he said. This also concerns the construction of pipelines, including Trans-Adriatic Pipeline and Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline, our goals to turn Azerbaijan into a transport hub and our foreign economic activity."

At the same time, the development of the non-oil sector is also important for Azerbaijan, he said. "We have taken a course for development of the non-oil sector. Special attention is paid to the formation of both an import-substituting model and an export-oriented one."

Guliyev stressed that Azerbaijans all macroeconomic indicators are growing.

Today, Azerbaijan is a country developing not only its economy, but also actively investing in other countries, such as Turkey, Slovakia, Slovenia, the Czech Republic, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and others, he added.

Speaking about the economic development of Azerbaijan over the past 15 years, Guliyev added that Azerbaijan has greatly left behind many other countries in terms of development.

Azerbaijans economy is successfully developing thanks to its socio-economic development model, he said.

As an example, the MP stressed that even in 2015-2016, during the hard economic processes worldwide, Azerbaijan was able to neutralize external shocks.

This year, GDP growth is projected at two percent, Guliyev added.Baku, Azerbaijan, Sep. 23

By Azad Hasanli - Trend:

In 2018, SOCAR, through its subsidiary SOCAR Georgia Gas, plans to supply 1.8 billion cubic meters of gas to Georgia, which is 28.57 percent more than in the previous year, the company's annual report reads.

In 2017 SOCAR Georgia Gas imported 1.4 billion cubic meters of gas to Georgia and SOCAR Georgia Gas Distribution supplied 194.2 million cubic meters of gas.

SOCAR Georgia Gas has invested $290 million in Georgia since 2008 and provided 250,000 subscribers with gas. SOCAR currently serves 590,000 subscribers throughout Georgia.

As for oil, last year another subsidiary of the Azerbaijani state-owned company SOCAR, Georgia Petroleum delivered 347 million liters of oil. The total investment of this company in Georgia was $196 million.

Investments of SOCAR Georgia Gas and SOCAR Georgia Petroleum accounted for almost a third of all investments of SOCAR in Georgia. Since the beginning of its operation, SOCAR has invested over $1.5 billion in Georgian economy and paid $1.25 billion of taxes.

Presently, SOCAR is the main supplier of natural gas, oil and oil products to Georgia. SOCAR's subsidiary companies are busy expanding and modernizing gas distribution systems in the country, developing a network of petrol stations under the SOCAR brand. SOCAR also owns an oil terminal in the Georgian Black Sea port of Kulevi, through which Azeri oil and oil products are transshipped to world markets.

SOCAR operates 116 filling stations and employs about 4000 in Georgia.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @AzadHasanliBaku, Azerbaijan, Sep. 23

By Huseyn Veliyev - Trend:

Delivery time of goods purchased by Russian and Ukrainian consumers through the electronic trading platform Azexport can be significantly reduced, Azexport told Trend.

Proposals have been sent to the postal and courier services of Russia and Ukraine, according to the company.

"Azerbaijani postal operator Azerpoct is responsible for deliveries on behalf of Azerbaijan. Cooperation of postal operators will allow reducing the delivery time of purchased items to three - four days. Currently, deliveries take about a month," the company said.

According to the current procedures, after the company transfers the ordered item to Azerpoct, it takes 10-15 days for the postal operator to transfer the item to another country. After the order is delivered to another country, it takes five to six days for the local postal operator to deliver the item.

In case, if Azerpoct delivers the item to the country of destination within a day, the total delivery time can be reduced four times.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @h_veliyevIranian Foreign Ministry summoned the ambassadors of the Netherlands and Denmark and British charge d'affaires over Saturday morning terror attack on a military parade in the southwestern Iranian city of Ahvaz, IRNA reported.

The Dutch and Danish ambassadors and British charge d' affaires (who was summoned in the absence of the British ambassador) were informed of Iran's strong protests over their respective countries' hosting of some members of the terrorist group perpetrating the terrorist attack in Ahvaz, Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi said.

Qasemi said that the Danish and Dutch ambassadors were told that the Islamic Republic of Iran had already warned their respective governments against the staying of these terrorists in those countries and called for their arrest and trial.

'It is not acceptable that the European Union does not blacklist members of these terrorist groups as long as they do not perpetrate a crime on the European soil,' Qasemi said.

He said the Dutch and Danish governments are expected to decisively condemn this act of terror and extradite the perpetrators and their accomplices to Iran to stand trial in an fairly manner.

The ambassadors expressed deep regret over the incident and promised to reflect all matters raised at the meeting to their respective governments. They also announced their countries' readiness for cooperation with Iran in identifying the perpetrators and exchange of information on their records, Qasemi said.

Qasemi also said that the British diplomat was told that in the opinion of the Islamic Republic of Iran it was not acceptable at all that the spokesman for the Al-Ahvazi terrorist group was allowed to claim responsibility of the attack through a London-based TV network.

While condemning the terror attack, the British diplomat said upon learning about the terrorist move, the British ambassador who is on a homecoming visit released a statement in condemnation of the terrorist attack and similar position was taken by the British foreign office officials.

He said terrorist moves taking place in any place should be taken seriously and dealt with accordingly because terrorism knows no boundary . He also said he would reflect the Iranian government's protest to London.

At least 25 people were killed and more than 60 others injured during Saturday morning terror attack in Ahvaz, capital of Khuzestan Province, in southwestern Iran.

The terrorists disguised as the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) and Basiji (volunteer) forces opened fire at the authorities and people from behind the stand during the parade,' Governor of Khuzestan Gholam-Reza Shariati said earlier.

The self-proclaimed Saudi-affiliated Al-Ahwaz terrorist group claimed the responsibility for the attack.Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 23

Trend:

President Hassan Rouhani departed the Iranian capital for New York on Sunday to attend the United Nations General Assembly.

Heading a high-ranking delegation, President Rouhani left Tehran on Sunday morning to participate in the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA 73), Tasnim news agency reported on September 23.

The session opened on September 18 and will run until September 30.

Iran and the remaining parties to the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) are expected to hold talks on the sidelines of the event.

Maria Fernanda Espinosa Garces, President-elect of the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA), announced in July 2018 that the theme of the general debate will be, Making the United Nations Relevant to All People: Global Leadership and Shared Responsibilities for Peaceful, Equitable and Sustainable Societies.The Holy Virgin Church of Haygavan (a monastery in antiquity) was also known as the Yotn Khoran Church (Church of the Seven Altars), the Hankoutselo Monastery (Monastery of the Departed), and Otevank. It was located on two large roads leading from the center of the city to Aykesdan. There was a graveyard adjacent to the church, which was built sometime between the 11th and 13th centuries.



The church was built in the style of a three-naved basilica, with a spacious narthex. The ceiling of the central nave consisted of three layers of hazarashen patterns (consecutive layers of squares gradually decreasing in size). The church had an earthen roof, with the customary roof apertures of churches in Van.

The church was called the church of seven altars because aside from the three altars above the main altar, there were another additional three in the underground section, each with its own khackhar (stela)  the blue, green, and red crosses. The locals believed that these khachkars were endowed with miraculous properties. Those who suffered from fevers visited the khachkars, kneeled before them, and washed with the water of the altar basins, in the hopes of being healed.



A school operated right inside the church. The school area was separated from the rest of the church by a wooden barrier.



In the mid-1850, the church had two serving clergymen [8].

read moreBaku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 23

Trend:

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Washington would regret choosing to impose new sanctions on Tehran.

We will overcome this situation (sanctions) and America will regret choosing the wrong path, Rouhani said on Sunday before leaving Tehran for New York to attend the annual UN General Assembly,

Stressing that the US is acting like a bully towards the world, he said, Our people will resist and the government is ready to confront America.

The US has a dream to return to Iran through creating chaos and unrest in Iran, the president said, noting that this will never come true.

He was apparently referring to a recent deadly attack in Irans southwestern city of Ahvaz that killed 25 and injured dozens.Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov announced that he would boycott the upcoming referendum on the bilateral deal with Greece on the countrys renaming, Sputnik reports.

Ivanov has been consistently opposing the deal. Back in June, he refused to sign the bill on the agreement into law, saying that he would not advocate the "damaging" deal, which, according to him, violates Macedonian law. The Macedonian parliament later adopted the agreement by a majority of votes.

"As for me, I already voted 27 years ago  on September 8, 1991 [at the referendum on the country's independence]. I do not backtrack on my decision. Therefore, I will not go to the polls on September 30," Ivanov said, addressing Macedonian diaspora in the US city of Detroit on Saturday, with the video of his speech posted on the president's Facebook page.

According to Ivanov, this agreement not only changes the name of the country, it creates a "new semi-sovereign state  with a new internal and international legal identity."

In presence of US lawmakers Paul Mitchell from the Republican Party and Deborah Ann Dingell from the Democratic Party, who also attended his meeting with the diaspora, Ivanov pointed to the need for anti-corruption fight in the country as a necessary prerequisite for the cession to NATO and the European Union.

"Even with the adoption of the harmful Greek treaty and [relevant] constitutional amendments, membership in NATO and the European Union will not come automatically," the president stressed.

On June 17, Greek and Macedonian foreign ministers signed an agreement on the former Yugoslav Republic's renaming to the Republic of North Macedonia, following a decades-long dispute over the use of "Macedonia," which Greece has been objecting to as this is also the name of one of its regions. FYROM will hold a referendum on the issue on September 30.

The countrys new constitutional name will open the way for Macedonias accession to the European Union and NATO, which has long been blocked by Athens over concerns that the neighboring country might have territorial claims to Greeces own region of the same name.A survivor has been rescued by divers from the wreck of an overcrowded Tanzanian ferry two days after it capsized on Lake Victoria, killing at least 218 people, The Guardian reported.

An engineer was found near the engine of the upturned vessel, Mwanza regional commissioner John Mongella said. The Tanzanian Broadcasting Corporation reported he had shut himself into the engine room. His condition was not immediately clear.

Navy divers resumed the search operation inside the sunken MV Nyerere early on Saturday after hearing sounds that suggested signs of life. They pulled a man out of the overturned ship and he was taken to hospital, a witness said, while bodies continued to float to the surface around the vessel.

Tanzanias president, John Magufuli, has ordered the arrest of the managers of the ferry, which may have been carrying as many as 300 people when it capsized near the dock on the Ukara Island. The precise number was unknown, however, because the ticket-seller had drowned and the machine recording sales had not been found.

During a speech on public television on Friday night, Magufuli referred to negligence and said he had ordered the arrest of all those involved in the management of the ferry. It appears clear that the ferry was overloaded, he said, adding that the arrests had already begun.

The president also declared four days of national mourning.

The works, transport and communication minister, Isack Kamwelwe, said the government was sending sophisticated equipment to aid the rescue. This equipment will increase efficiency in the rescue operation and we will continue with the search until we are satisfied that we have rescued everyone, he told Reuters. At least 40 people were brought to safety on Thursday as dozens of security forces and volunteers wearing gloves and face masks spent the day hauling bodies into wooden boats.

Tanzanian ferries often carry hundreds of passengers and are overcrowded, and there are shifts in weight as passengers move to disembark. The Nyerere was crowded because it was a market day.

Domina Maua, who was among those at the dockside seeking information about survivors on Friday, said she had not heard from either her father or her younger brother who were on the ferry on a trip to buy a school uniform and other supplies for the new school term.

The son of Davita Ngenda, an older woman in Ukara, was among the dead. He had gone with his wife but she has not been found yet. My God, what did I do to deserve this? she said.

The ageing ferry, of which the hull and propellers were all that remained visible, was also carrying cargo, including sacks of maize, bananas and cement, when it capsized about 50 metres from Ukara dock. The cause of the accident was not immediately clear, but overloading is frequently to blame for such incidents.

The countrys opposition, however, accused the government of negligence. We have often raised concerns about the poor condition of this ferry, but the government turned a deaf ear. We have repeatedly denounced this negligence, said John Mnyika, the deputy secretary general of Chadema, the main opposition party.

Mnyika said overloading was another failure of the authorities and criticised inadequate relief efforts as well as delays in the rescue operation.

With a surface area of 70,000 sq km (27,000 sq miles), the oval-shaped Lake Victoria is shared by Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya. Capsizes are not uncommon and the number of deaths is often high because of a shortage of lifejackets and the fact that many people in the region cannot swim.

The deadliest such incident in recent decades was in May 1996, when about 800 people died after their ferry sank on the way to Mwanza in Tanzania. Lake Victorias waters can be rough and boats are frequently poorly maintained, while ferry operators often fail to record the number of passengers on board.

About 20 people were killed in December 2016 when a boat overturned on the lake as it was carrying passengers to mainland Uganda for the Christmas holidays.

In March 2012, only two survivors were found after a boat carrying about 60 people capsized on the lake in Uganda.South Korean President Moon Jae-in headed to the United States on Sunday for a summit with his U.S. counterpart, Donald Trump, where he will likely seek to broker a second U.S.-North Korea summit, Yonhap reports.

Moon's trip comes after his visit last week to North Korea where he held his third bilateral summit with leader Kim Jong-un.

Moon will explain the outcome of the latest inter-Korean summit before the entire world when he addresses the United Nations General Assembly. However, his U.S. trip may be more aimed at explaining the summit outcome directly to the U.S. president.

"President Moon is set to thoroughly explain the outcome of the third inter-Korean summit (in 2018) that was held under the interest of the entire world," said Nam Gwan-pyo, a senior director from the presidential National Security Office.

Moon "will hold in-depth discussions (with Trump) on ways to break the impasse in North Korea-U.S. talks and to improve North Korea-U.S. relations," Nam told reporters earlier.

The Moon-Trump summit is scheduled to be held Monday.Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday that meeting with his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump during the 73rd United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York next week is not currently on the table, Xinhua reports.

"If a demand comes from Washington, we will evaluate it," Erdogan said in Istanbul, prior to his departure for New York.

The relationship between the two NATO allies has significantly deteriorated in recent years over a series of rifts, including the continued detention of a U.S. pastor in Turkey.

Meanwhile, Ankara accused Washington of providing arms to the Kurdish militia in Syria.

Erdogan is expected to address the UN assembly on Tuesday.

"In my speech, I will underline humanitarian crises and call for solutions to these problems which have been deeply hurting hearts," the Turkish president said.

"I will, in particular, draw attention to developments in Syria," he said, noting the biggest issue for the future of Syria is the terror swamp expanding in the east of the Euphrates.The US State Department said on Saturday that Washington would not wait to impose sanctions on any shippers helping to get fuel to North Korea, in an apparent warning to Russia days after the US ambassador to the United Nations accused Moscow of cheating on the measures, Reuters reported.

North Korea continues to employ tactics to evade UN sanctions, Heather Nauert, the State Department spokeswoman, said in a statement, adding that UN member states are required to prohibit ship-to-ship transfers of petroleum fuel to the hermit country.

The United States will not hesitate to impose sanctions on any individual, entity, or vessel supporting North Koreas illicit activities, regardless of nationality, Nauert said.

The 15-member UN Security Council has unanimously boosted sanctions on North Korea since 2006 in a bid to choke funding for Pyongyangs nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

But the United States and Russia have recently shown cracks in the unity of the council over the sanctions.

Washington has evidence of consistent and wide-ranging Russian violations of the sanctions, the US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley said on Monday. Russia was helping North Korea illegally obtain fuel through transfers at sea, had refused to expel a North Korean whom the Security Council blacklisted last year, and had pushed for changes to an independent UN report on sanctions violations to cover up breaches by Russians, she said.

Russia said after Haleys comments that Moscow had not pressured the authors of the UN report and blamed Haley for heightening tensions.

With the warning on fuel shipments, the Trump administration signaled it was keeping pressure on Pyongyang even after saying there has been progress. President Donald Trump this week hailed a summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in, and said there had been tremendous progress with North Korea on several fronts including Pyongyangs denuclearization.

Washington has tracked some 148 cases this year of tankers delivering fuel to North Korea in breach of a UN cap of 500,000 barrels a year. Haley has not said how many of those transfers may have involved Russia.

Both Russia and China have suggested the Security Council discuss easing sanctions after Trump and Kim met in June and Kim pledged to work toward denuclearization.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Friday the United States is working to set up another summit between Trump and Kim after their unprecedented meeting in Singapore, but there is still work to do.US State Secretary Mike Pompeo said in an interview released on Sunday that US President Donald Trump was ready to engage in a constructive dialogue with Iran's representatives and possibly meet them at the UN General Assembly in New York.

"I think the president has been pretty clear about that. He is happy to talk with folks at any time If there is a constructive dialogue to be had, let's get after it," Pompeo told NBC broadcaster, answering a question about Trump's possible meetings with the Iranian leadership in New York.

Earlier in the week, US Permanent Representative to the United Nations Nikki Haley said that Tehran had requested a meeting between Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Trump within the framework of the UN General Assembly, which was then refuted by the Iranian Foreign Ministry.Hayk Marutyan, who heads the Im Kayl (My Step) Alliance ticket in todays Yerevan Municipal Council election, told reporters, after casting his ballot, that if elected Yerevan mayor hed first tackle the garbage problem in the Armenian capital.

Marutyan, who supported Nikol Pashinyans anti-government campaign this spring, said he was ready to cooperate with everyone for the sake of Yerevan.

Marutyan said he could not clearly say what his rating would have been without Pashinyans support, nor did he predict the number of votes he would get.KYODO NEWS - Sep 23, 2018 - 17:04 | All, Japan

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe left for a five-day visit to New York on Sunday where he plans to call for maintaining U.N. sanctions to achieve North Korea's denuclearization.

Abe, fresh from winning another three-year term as head of Japan's ruling party, is scheduled to deliver a speech at the United Nations on Tuesday, covering not only North Korea but the promotion of free and rules-based trade as the world grapples with rising trade friction.

This week, a flurry of diplomatic activity is expected to take place as global leaders gather for the general debate of the General Assembly where they will seek to bring attention to issues of concern to them.

Abe, who has attended the U.N. session every year since 2013, is expected to hold bilateral summit talks on the fringes during his stay to Thursday.

He will meet U.S. President Donald Trump for dinner Sunday and a summit Wednesday.

Japan has been coordinating closely with the United States toward the shared goal of denuclearizing North Korea, and Abe is expected to express support for Trump meeting with Kim Jong Un for a second time.

On trade, however, uncertainty remains over whether Abe can leverage his personal rapport with Trump as the U.S. president seeks a bilateral deal to correct what he sees as imbalanced trade.

Japan's economic revitalization minister Toshimitsu Motegi and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer will meet Monday in New York to lay the groundwork for the Abe-Trump summit.

The threat of higher U.S. tariffs on cars and auto parts imports is a major concern for Japan whose auto industry plays a critical role in its economy.

Japan may accept talks on a bilateral deal on the condition that the United States hold off on imposing additional tariffs on the Japanese auto sector, sources close to the matter said Saturday.

Abe's visit comes after the inter-Korea summit last week kept hopes alive for future progress on North Korea's denuclearization. Kim has pledged to dismantle his country's major nuclear complex if the United States takes reciprocal actions and to close its key missile test site in the presence of international experts.

The week will be replete with high-level meetings aimed at addressing international issues ranging from the Syrian civil war and the Rohingya refugee crisis to U.N. sustainable development goals and climate change.

Japan's Foreign Minister Taro Kono, at one such event in New York, is expected to stress the need for the early return of Rohingya Muslims who have fled Myanmar to neighboring Bangladesh to escape a military crackdown.

The number of such refugees has already topped 700,000, according to U.N. data.

==KyodoKeerithode-Kanamala bypass road, which connects Idukki district to Sabarimala, was damaged in the landslide.Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, accompanied by his daughter, today cast his ballot in the Yerevan Municipal Council election at the 8/16 polling station.

Responding to reporters on the scene, Pashinyan said todays election differs from past elections because citizens are now certain that their votes make a difference and will be duly registered.

As to the campaigning before todays election, in which four political parties and eight blocs are slugging it out for municipal council seats, Pashinyan said its normal for passions to flare during political campaigns in democratic countries.

I believe that from now on, passions will flare in Armenia as well, because there will be real elections, Pashinyan said.

Elections to the 65-seat city council are on a party-list proportional representation system, with the first candidate from the winning party becoming mayor.Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan left for New York today to attend the 73rd session of the UNs General Assembly that opened on September 18.

Earlier in the day, Pashinyan cast his ballot in todays Yerevan Municipal Council election.It turns out that Taron Margaryan, who resigned as Yerevan mayor this past July, didnt vote in todays Yerevan Municipal Council election.

This was the answer given to this reporter by Hakob Sahakyan, president of the 1/19 polling station electoral commission, where Margaryan is registered to vote.

Sahakyan said that the only member of the Margaryan family that did vote was the former mayors 18-year-old son Nahapet.

Taron Margaryan resigned after serving as Yerevans mayor since 2009.

While activists in Yerevan had been calling for Margaryan's resignation, the protests never achieved widespread traction.This is Peter Hitchens's Mail On Sunday column

I have a nightmare. It goes like this. The Government abandons futile negotiations with an arrogant European Union and declares: Very well, we are going it alone! Many cheer at this demonstration of Churchillian toughness.

And then the day comes for our departure, and there is chaos, beca

use all the warnings come true  that without the Single Market almost all of our links with EU countries have no legal basis, and an impossible barrier of bureaucracy grounds planes, traps lorries and closes the Channel Tunnel.

The problem with this nightmare is that it is impossible to be sure that it will not happen at the end of March next year. Nobody really knows. What if it does happen? I will come to that.

Before anyone accuses me of spreading Remainer propaganda, I would like to point out that I have been urging a British departure from the EU since I visited Norway in June 2003. As I wrote here then: Norway is prosperous, happy and free. Its countryside is neat and well husbanded, its towns and cities orderly and comfortable it runs its ow n affairs, trading cheerfully with the EU.

Its fisheries and farms have not been wrecked or bankrupted, as ours have, by Common policies that suit France, Germany or Spain. Its supreme court is in Oslo, not Luxembourg, where ours is. Its monarchy is not menaced by a European president and its flag doesnt have to fly alongside the EUs yellow stars.

Until then I had been vaguely hostile to the EU, but not actively in favour of quitting it.

After Norway, I wanted to leave, though most of those now noisily flourishing Union Jacks and demanding exit at all costs were either silent, bored, or actively in favour of staying. I still dont know whats come over them.

About the same time, I read the superb book, The Great Deception, by Christopher Booker and Richard North, by far the best account of the long story of shame and dishonesty which is Britains involvement in the EU. Both men, like me, want us to leave. I began to notice, after reading it, the pitiful level of knowledge of the subject in our political class, and in our media.

And that disastrous ignorance is still obvious in almost everything anyone says about it from either side. I doubt most people know the difference between the Single Market and the Customs Union. Well, Christopher Booker and Richard North do, and they, like me, are deeply worried that we may be about to walk blithely into national danger. We are in a small but growing group of Leavers who are urging that we follow the Norway option while there is still time.

This might mean postponing the day of our departure, but in general it would be extremely simple. We would stay in the Single Market, so avoiding the threatened chaos at our borders, but leave the Customs Union, so allowing us to trade freely around the world.

WE would get back control of our farms and fishing grounds, dump the Luxembourg court, shake off three-quarters of EU interference in our laws, and significantly reduce our payments to the EU. We could also exploit a loophole allowing us much greater control of immigration than we have now.

Perfect? No. But perhaps best of all, it requires no lengthy negotiation. We stay in the European Economic Area (we already belong to it) and seek to return to the European Free Trade Association. The arrangement can be lifted off the shelf and will work. No crises, no lorries parked for miles on the M20.

Yet so many Leavers are against this. I dont really see why.

For years people have said they were quite happy with a European free trade area (which is what many think they voted for back in 1975)  they just didnt want the political interference.

The Norway option gives us exactly that arrangement.

Do they really think that 40 years of close and intricate integration with the EU can simply be pulled out by the roots overnight? Do they think Britain is so big, so rich and so brilliant at exporting that it can suddenly launch itself out into the world without a backward glance, like a superpower?

What if our brave exit in March goes wrong ? What if the nightmare is real? I can, alas, see it now. The tottering Government, the closed factories and the queues at the shops, the snap Election.

And the new Prime Minister taking a rusty ferry to Ostend and then on to Brussels, there to beg to be allowed back, as smiling Eurocrats explain that, yes, we are welcome to return, but only if we abandon our own currency, our own legal system and become at last what they have always wanted us to be  truly, fully, horribly European.

Wouldnt the Norway option be better than even the chance of that happening?

***

Stupid people keep saying that supporters of railway renationalisation cant remember what British Rail was like. Oh, yes I can.

And if BR had been given the money poured into the pockets of the privatised rail pirates, it would now be running far, far better services than we currently have.

On Friday, I was late for work because it had been windy the night before  and this on a line where privatised operators have had the benefit of more than 1 billion in modernisation. Parts of this have already cost three times what was planned, everything is years behind time and will probably never be finished. Nationalised BR completed a similar scheme only eight weeks late and within 15 million of its predicted budget.

***

I am going to keep saying this. Most of the supposed Islamist terror attacks in Europe (and many of the non-Islamist massacres elsewhere) involve people who have been taking either marijuana, steroids or so-called antidepressants.

The inquest into the Westminster outrage shows clearly that the killer Khalid Masood, a violent criminal, took steroids and suffered from the terrifying roid rage, which apologists for these dangerous drugs claim is a myth.

Other mass killers who took steroids include the very non-Muslim Anders Breivik.

I didn't expect or even want to like the new BBC series Killing Eve, starring Jodie Comer, pictured, as a distractingly beautiful embodiment of pure evil.

The trailers put me off. But the programme itself is an unexpected joy, looking and sounding witty, refusing to treat viewers as idiots, and, actually, a lot better than the overrated Bodyguard.

***

The PM has started to be nice about social housing, or council housing as we used to call it. She says: I want to see social housing that is so good people are proud to call it their home Our friends and neighbours who live in social housing are not second-rate citizens.

Good, though anyone who recalls the council housing of the 1960s and 1970s (I was myself briefly a council tenant in the 1970s) would say that most council house residents were house-proud and often very pleased to have a secure well-maintained place to live.

I am sick of people saying the great sell-off of council homes was a good thing. It flooded the housing market with taxpayers money and sent prices spinning upwards forever. It broke up communities. And it began the expensive, wasteful disaster of housing benefit which, the last time I looked, cost more than the RAF every year.

I dont know if we can ever put this right again, but admitting we made a mistake by breaking up the old council estates would be good.

If you want to comment on Peter Hitchens, click on Comments and scroll downGunmen opened fire at a military parade in Irans southern city of Ahvaz on Saturday, killing at least 29 people in one of the worst militant attacks in the countrys modern history.

Fifty-seven people were wounded, according to the semi-official Fars News agency, which cited a lawmaker. Islamic State militants and an Arab group in the area claimed responsibility for the attack.

Members of Irans Revolutionary Guards and civilians, including a child and a journalist, were among those killed, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported, citing the deputy governor of Khuzestan, Hossein Hosseinzadeh.

The attack took place in the capital of the Khuzestan province, which borders Iraq and is home to a large Sunni population and some of the countrys largest oil fields. Armed groups have engaged in sporadic clashes with security forces in the region. Iran is dominated by Shiite Muslims.

The incident comes at a critical time for Irans ruling elite as they try to contain the fallout from the U.S. decision to abandon the 2015 nuclear deal and re-impose crippling economic sanctions against the country. The Islamic Republic is also engaged in a proxy confrontation with Saudi Arabia and Israel across regional conflicts from Syria to Yemen.

State media and Iranian officials immediately labeled the gunmen as terrorists. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has final say over all state matters, said the attack was a continuation of conspiracies by U.S.-backed regimes in the region. A Revolutionary Guards commander earlier said Saudi Arabia had fueled the attack.

How Did It Unfold?

At around 9 a.m., local time, four armed men who had been watching the parade among the crowds began firing randomly, Brigadier-General Abolfazl Shekarchi, a spokesman for the IRGC, told state TV in a phone interview. Security forces killed three of them at the scene and another died later in the hospital from gunshot wounds, Shekarchi said.

The men had visited the site of the parade days in advance in order to plan their attack, he said without elaboration.

Story continues

Mobile phone footage published by the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency showed members of Irans IRGC and army forces in dress uniform scrambling to the ground while gunfire erupted around them. A male voice can be heard repeatedly urging people to get down. Another piece of footage shows people, including families and children, running from the gunfire while security forces try to duck for cover.

Crushing Response

Ahvaz has been the subject of several attacks by separatist groups over the past 10 years. In November 2012, Irans Ministry of Intelligence said it had arrested several members of a terrorist group operating in Khuzestan that had planned at least three bombings in Ahvaz targeting government offices and banks.

But while violence and bomb attacks are not uncommon on both Irans western and eastern frontiers  bordering Iraq and Afghanistan respectively  audacious and organized assaults that directly target the Islamic Republics security services in city centers are still rare.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani promised a crushing response against Saturdays attack. Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif blamed the killings on regional terror sponsors and their U.S. masters.

Claiming Responsibility

The National Resistance of al-Ahvaz, which describes itself as a general body comprising of a number of smaller groups, said it accepted responsibility for the attack, the BBC reported. It cited an interview with a spokesperson for the Arab Freedom Movement of al-Ahvaz, who added that the operation was part of our legitimate resistance and no ordinary civilian was targeted.

Within hours of this statement, the Islamic State also claimed to be behind the attack and pledged more violence to avenge Sunnis. In June 2017, coordinated assaults claimed by Islamic State on the countrys parliament and the mausoleum of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini killed 17 people.

Irans western border provinces are home to significant Sunni Arab and Kurdish populations. The region, particularly Khuzestan, was badly damaged after Saddam Hussein invaded the area during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s and became the frontline of much of the fighting.

A number of towns in Khuzestan saw some of the most violent clashes between protesters and security forces in the anti-government unrest that broke out late last year.

Sporadic protests attacking the government over water shortages in the city of Khorramshahr south of Ahvaz, also erupted earlier this summer. Ahvaz itself suffers from high levels of air pollution and winters often bring critical levels of haze and dust in the citys air.

Members of Irans Revolutionary Guards and civilians, including a child and a journalist, were among those killed, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported, citing the deputy governor of Khuzestan, Hossein Hosseinzadeh, who said at least 60 people had been injured.

State media and officials immediately described the attackers as terrorists. The attack targeted an annual military parade in Ahvaz, the capital of oil-rich Khuzestan province in Irans southwest. The area, bordering Iraq and the Persian Gulf, is home to a significant Sunni Arab population. Several of Irans largest oil fields are located in the province.

Several semi-official news outlets with reporters at the scene said the attackers were dressed in military fatigues and had approached the parade from a park, behind a temporary stand from where officials had been watching the ceremony.

Several armed men who had been standing in the crowds watching the parade began firing randomly, Brigadier-General Abolfazl Shekarchi, a spokesman for the IRGC, told state TV in a phone interview. Four attackers were involved and three of them have been killed by security forces who were on the scene and another was in custody in hospital after being wounded, Shekarchi said.

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on twitter that Iran would respond swiftly and decisively to the attack, which he blamed on regional terror sponsors and their U.S. masters.

The national resistance of al-Ahvaz, which is a general body that includes a number of groups, accepts responsibility. This operation was part of our legitimate resistance and no ordinary civilian was targeted, the BBC reported, citing an interview with a spokesperson for the Arab Freedom Movement of al-Ahvaz.

In Nov. 2012, the semi-official Iranian Students News agency said the ministry of Intelligence had arrested a number of members of the group for their links to several bomb attacks in Khuzestan, including three in Ahvaz, which targeted government offices and banks. They were accused of being connected to foreign intelligence services, ISNA reported at the time.

The incident comes as the Iranian government tries to parry what it sees as a U.S.-led war on its economy after President Donald Trump withdrew from the nuclear deal and reimposed sanctions. Iran sees Washingtons main Arab ally in the region and a vocal critic of the nuclear deal, Saudi Arabia, as enabling U.S. economic policies against it and trying to foment unrest in the country.

Protests against the government and its handling of the economy that erupted across many provinces late last year also took place in some cities in Khuzestan, where some of the most violent incidents took place.Tourists in Venice, Italy, might need to be a little more careful about where they stop for a rest. The mayor of this vacation hot spot has proposed fining tourists up to 500 (about $588) for sitting in undesignated areas.

According to CNN, Venice has a population of 50,000, but receives more than 30 million tourists per year. In order to maintain quality of life for locals, as well as visitors, the city already has a number of behavioral regulations.

Except in designated areas, sitting in St. Marks Square and specific areas around it results in a fine of 200 ($235). Visitors are also forbidden from swimming in the canals, biking in Venice city center, and walking in only a bathing suit.

The mayors latest proposal will expand the no-sitting rule outside of the areas already identified. According to USA Today, the city council will vote on the proposal this October.

The behavioral regulations are a part of the citys #EnjoyRespectVenezia campaign, which aims to create an atmosphere of sustainable tourism to maintain the citys culture and way of life.FILE PHOTO: Flags of the U.S., Canada and Mexico fly next to each other in Detroit, Michigan, U.S. August 29, 2018. REUTERS/Rebecca Cook/File Photo

By Susan Heavey

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States is getting "very, very close" to having to move forward on its trade deal with Mexico without Canada, White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett said on Friday.

There is just over a week to go before a U.S.-imposed Oct. 1 deadline to publish the text of a deal to update the North American Free Trade Agreement, and the United States and Canada have still not agreed on terms, Hassett told Fox News Channel.

"We're still talking to Canada, and we're getting very, very close to the deadline where we're going to have to move ahead with Mexico all by themselves," said Hassett, who chairs the White House Council of Economic Advisers.

Washington reached a bilateral trade deal with Mexico in late August and is threatening to exclude Canada if need be.

Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland left Washington on Thursday after two days of inconclusive talks with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer.

Asked for a reaction to Hassett's comments, a Freeland spokesman pointed to her repeated comments that Canada "will not be driven by a deadline but by reaching a good deal".

Investor concerns over the future of the 1994 pact, which underscores $1.2 trillion in annual trade, have regularly hurt stock markets in all three countries, whose economies are highly integrated.

A senior White House official on Friday said he hoped Canada would agree to join the U.S.-Mexico trade deal by the end of the month, adding he thought U.S. lawmakers would support a bilateral deal with Mexico if that did not happen.

Story continues

But Canada says it does not believe U.S. President Trump has the power to unilaterally turn NAFTA into a two-nation agreement. U.S. business groups and some senior Democrats say NAFTA must be preserved as a trilateral grouping.

Access to Canada's dairy market, trade dispute settlement panels and U.S. demands for the ability to impose auto tariffs on its northern neighbor remain sticking points. [nL2N1W61OY]

"I'm a little surprised that the Canadians haven't signed up yet," Hassett said.

"I worry that politics in Canada is trumping common sense because there's a very good deal that was designed by Mexico and the U.S. to appeal to Canada. And they're not signing up and it's got everybody over here a little bit puzzled."

Freeland and Lighthizer are due in New York next week for the United Nations General Assembly, but it was unclear if they would meet.

(Additional reporting by David Lawder in Washington and David Ljunggren in Ottawa, writing by David Lawder; editing by Chizu Nomiyama, Bernadette Baum and Susan Thomas)The United States spends about $81 billion a year to protect oil supplies around the world, according to an estimate by Securing America's Future Energy.

SAFE released its study the same day President Donald Trump claimed Middle Eastern countries are hiking oil prices while benefiting from U.S. protection.

Retired military commanders associated with SAFE say the focus on defending oil supplies is diverting budget dollars from other priorities.

The United States military spends about $81 billion a year to protect oil supplies around the world and keep fossil fuels flowing into American gas stations, according to new analysis.

Securing America's Future Energy, a think tank that advocates for reducing U.S. dependence on oil, released the study the same day President Donald Trump claimed that some Middle Eastern countries are pushing up crude prices while benefiting from U.S. military protection.

@realDonaldTrump: We protect the countries of the Middle East, they would not be safe for very long without us, and yet they continue to push for higher and higher oil prices! We will remember. The OPEC monopoly must get prices down now!

The $81 billion price tag is likely "very conservative" and doesn't include the full cost of the 15-year war in Iraq, according to SAFE, whose CEO Robbie Diamond also leads the pro-electric car group the Electrification Coalition.

The estimate pencils out to 16-20 percent of the Defense Department's annual base budget, showing the nation's oil habit has a direct military cost, SAFE said. It also means the government subsidizes the cost of oil to the tune of $11.25 per barrel and the price of transportation fuels like gasoline and diesel by 28 cents a gallon.

Americans "spend somewhere around $3 per gallon, but we're really paying a lot more because of all the operations in the Middle East," said retired General Charles Wald, vice chairman and senior adviser at consulting firm Deloitte and a member of SAFE's Energy Security Leadership Council.

Story continues

U.S. crude oil production is poised to reach 11 million barrels a day and eclipse output from top producer Russia, but the United States still imports roughly 8 million barrels a day.

On Thursday, Trump renewed his call for the 15-nation oil producer group OPEC to tamp down crude prices, which are near four-year highs. Trump suggested that OPEC members like Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Kuwait owe the United States, saying "We protect the countries of the Middle East, they would not be safe for very long without us."

To be sure, government agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration don't factor in the cost of protecting oil supplies when they set fuel policy. The agencies say the cost is actually zero because the Pentagon wouldn't save any money if it stopped defending foreign crude flows. It would simply reallocate those funds elsewhere. A 1992 Congressional Research Service assessment came to a similar conclusion, SAFE notes.

However, SAFE says this approach doesn't account for opportunity cost. In other words, the military could devote budget dollars to other priorities if it wasn't focused on protecting the parts of the world that supply the nation with oil, particularly the Persian Gulf.

"If we can reduce our dependence on oil, we could reduce our presence in the Gulf and use the funds for other critical military priorities, like cybersecurity or hypersonic weapons," said General Duncan McNabb, former commander of the U.S. Transportation Command and a member of SAFE's council.

Defending Persian Gulf oil is a "major distraction" from "existential defense issues," said John Lehman, former Secretary of the Navy under President Ronald Reagan and another member of SAFE's council.

"Our existential threats are what we should be concentrating on. We should concentrate on East Asia and an increasingly revanchist Russia," he said.

SAFE is not the first group to try to put a price on the cost of protecting oil supplies. Its study uses methodology developed by the RAND Corporation in an earlier report and draws on seven earlier studies to come up with an average. Those studies produced estimates ranging from $27 billion in 2004 to $100 billion in 2008.

Retired military commanders stressed that it is very difficult to determine the cost of a specific mission like protecting oil because defense assets serve multiple functions.

"Take the example of an aircraft carrier," said Admiral Dennis C. Blair, co-chair of the SAFE council. "It performs humanitarian operations, demonstrates a show of force, enforces no-fly zones in the Middle East, fights in wars, and lives for 50 years. How do you allocate its cost across those various missions?"

However, the exclusion of Iraq and Afghanistan war costs from most studies means the $81 billion figure likely underestimates the cost of protecting oil, members of SAFE's Energy Security Leadership Council said.

Factoring in in the cost of the Iraq War, the price of protecting oil is closer to $30 per barrel, or 70 cents a gallon, over a 20-year period, a separate analysis found. SAFE said that cost is largely separate from the ongoing cost of $81 billion a year.

"The wars in the Middle East have been related to the balance of power in that region and control over oil states," Lehman said. "You don't want to fall into the trap of the left and say that we only went into Iraq for their oil but depending how you phrase it, the costs can be attributed to the strategic dependence we have on Gulf oil."





More From CNBC

Seven Pakistani soldiers and nine militants have been killed in a firefight in the mountains of North Waziristan near the Afghan border, the military says.

The seven soldiers, who included a captain, were killed in an "intense exchange of fire" after they raided militant hideouts near the Gharlamai and Spera Kunar Algad areas, the Pakistani Army's media wing said in a statement late on September 22.

It said nine militants were also killed in the battle and that the areas were now cleared by the army.

The report, which could not be independently confirmed, said the militants had infiltrated Pakistan by crossing the border from Afghanistan.

North Waziristan has long been a sanctuary for the Pakistani Taliban and other militant groups.

Islamic militants had a substantial number of sanctuaries in North Waziristan until a 2014 Pakistani Army offensive, after which most militants escaped to Afghanistan.

Pakistan has come under pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump, who has accused Islamabad of providing militants a safe haven in the country before and after carrying out attacks on U.S. and other forces in Afghanistan.

Washington has held back hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid, citing Pakistans lack of action against terrorists.

Pakistan rejects allegations it is not doing enough to fight terrorism and that it provides safe havens for militants operating in Afghanistan.

With reporting by AP and AFPYou have permission to edit this article.

Edit CloseColorado Politics senior political reporter

Joey Bunch is the senior correspondent and deputy managing editor of Colorado Politics. His 32-year career includes the last 16 in Colorado. He was part of the Denver Post team that won the Pulitzer Prize in 2013 and he is a two-time finalist.Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily!

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Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.If honey catches more flies than vinegar, just how many voters will ice cream net?

Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, the co-founders of Ben & Jerrys Ice Cream, aim to find out. The pair recently teamed up with MoveOn.Org, a national political nonprofit, to offer their support to seven Democratic congressional candidates. Among them is Stephany Spaulding, who is challenging incumbent U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn in Colorados conservative 5th District.

We need a Democratic majority to check President Trumps unrestrained power, the business partners said on MoveOns website. Also, we need to send progressive champions to Congress who will fix our health care system with Medicare for all, protect clean air and water, and get big money out of politics.

To that end, the delectable duo is soliciting ice cream flavors and corresponding names that not only taste great, but also capture the essence of what each candidate stands for.

Once winning flavors and names have been settled on, theyll make batches of each and raffle them off to support the candidates.

The six candidates listed alongside Spaulding for the contest are:

Jess King, who is running for Pennsylvanias 11th District.

Lauren Underwood, who is running for Illinois 14th District.

Aftab Pureval, who is running for Ohios 1st District.

J.D. Scholten, who is running for Iowas 4th District.

Ammar Campa Najjar, who is running for Californias 50th District.

James Thompson, who is running for Kansas 4th District.

Spaulding faces a significant challenge in her quest to unseat Lamborn, who has held the seat in the Republican stronghold for more than a decade. Although many experts predict a blue wave of voters in the November elections, the last such wave did little for the 5th District. In 2006, Democratic voters unseated a great many Republican incumbents across the country, but Lamborns Democratic opponent, Jay Fawcett, only received 40.4 percent of the vote.

Lamborn has outraised Spaulding three times over. Spaulding has raised $188,007, and Lamborn has raised $568,526, according to campaign finance data filed with the Federal Election Commission.

Lamborn has outspent Spaulding as well. He has now spent $686,615 to Spauldings $108,942, FEC data shows.

Regardless, Spaulding is pressing on.

We are completely surprised and humbled by these iconic figures taking note of our race, Spaulding said in a statement.

Its a sign of the growing momentum and a desire for a different flavor in Congress!

This isnt the first time ice cream has been used to support a political candidate. Before the primaries in the 2016 presidential election, Cohen created Bernies Yearning in support of then-Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders.

Spaulding has also received out-of-state help before. Last month, a group of all-female filmmakers from Los Angeles volunteered for her campaign by filming a campaign ad she could share online and through social media.

Colorados 5th Congressional District includes El Paso, Teller, Chaffee and Fremont counties, as well as portions of Park County.

Flavor suggestions can be submitted online at front.moveon.org/ben-and-jerrys-flavor-picks.

conrad.swanson@gazette.com @conrad_swansonK.T. McFarland served as deputy national security adviser in the first half of 2017.Chef Todd Gray sprinkles his version of manna on a seafood kebab at Manna, Grays restaurant in the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C., in July.A former Colorado Springs resident convicted of sexually assaulting a child in Colorado has confessed to fatally stabbing a woman in Connecticut in 2014.

William Winters Leverett, 27, was charged with murder Sunday in the slaying of Melissa Millan, an insurance executive who was attacked while jogging on a popular trail in Simsbury, a small town northwest of Hartford. Arraignment is set for Monday.

Leverett turned himself in to Simsbury police Wednesday, later leading police to a hiding spot where he kept some of the items hed taken from the scene, The Courant reported, citing law enforcement sources who were not named.

The Connecticut sex offender registry shows Leverett was convicted of sexual assault on a child in Colorado in 2011. The charge applies to sexual contact  not penetration or intrusion  with a child under the age of 15 or if the culprit is at least 4 years older than the victim, according to Colorado laws.

It appears the charge stemmed from a 2009 incident. Leverett pleaded guilty to the assault in 2010 and was fined $438 and placed on probation. But the charge is not shown in Colorado court records, indicating Leverett may have been a juvenile at the time of the crime.

The El Paso County Sheriffs Office declined to release records about Leverett. He has never been arrested in Connecticut.

His mother, Sarah Leverett, broke down in tears at her Colorado Springs home when told Sunday that her son had confessed to the Connecticut killing. She said she hadnt known about her son turning himself in, before declining to say more.

Records show Leverett moved to Simsbury in 2011, following his sex-offense conviction. He first lived less than two miles from where the jogger was killed. As a sex offender, hes required to report his address.

Sources told The Courant the stabbing is believed to be random, shocking the quiet community and stymieing investigators for years.

The Connecticut state police were called in Thursday to assist in investigating the details of Leveretts confession.

Sources said Leverett described what Millan was wearing the night of the attack and then brought detectives to where he had kept items. Its unclear what those items were or where he kept them.

The items were taken to the state police forensic laboratory for DNA testing.

Millan, 54, a senior vice president at Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance, was running along a trail that cuts behind the center of town on Nov. 20, 2014, when she was stabbed in the chest. The weapon wasnt recovered.

There were no witnesses who came forward.

Six months after Millan was found dead, an anonymous donor put forth $40,000 as a reward for information leading to the arrest of the killer. At the time, police said they had no suspects.

The case appeared stalled until Leverett walked through the doors of the Simsbury police headquarters with members of a religious institution. Sources said Leverett told officers that he no longer could live with what he had done.

The Gazettes Kaitlin Durbin contributed to this report.The family of homicide victim Brandon Watkins is preparing to fight the 4th Judicial District Attorneys Offices apparent decision not to filThe Denver Film Society recently announced its first slate of films for the event, which is in its 41st year. The Front Runner will be one oThe Aurora-based VA Medical Center opened five years behind schedule and $1 billion over budget this summer. It provides fewer beds and servicEarthjustice videotaped a turtle being plucked from gray muck along the Cape Fear River near the L.V. Sutton Plant near Wilmington, N.C.Six siblings of a GOP congressman endorsed his opponent. Heres how he responded.President Barack Obama meets with members of the audience as he campaigns in support of Pennsylvania candidates in Philadelphia on Friday. Two months out from Election Day, Democrats are increasingly confident about their prospects to pick up at least one chamber of Congress. But there are potential pitfalls ahead.Some see signs of hope on N. Korea as Trump heads to U.N.BELLEVUE, Wash., Sept. 21, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- 5G Americas, the industry trade association and voice of 5G and LTE for the Americas, today announced that global LTE connections grew by more than one billion connections from June 2017 to June 2018 with a growth rate of 43 percent. With all subscription data provided by Ovum, the LTE market share compared to all other mobile wireless technologies achieved 42.3 percent at the end of the second quarter of 2018 with a global total of 3.6 billion LTE connections.



Latin America and the Caribbean added 82 million new LTE subscriptions with 52 percent growth year over year from June 2017. At the end of the second quarter, there were nearly 241 million LTE connections in the Latin America region on commercial LTE networks across all countries.

North America remains the world region with the largest market share for LTE at 77 percent and 376 million LTE connections.

New LTE deployments continue and as of mid-September, TeleGeography (GlobalComm) reported 609 LTE commercial networks worldwide, while 267 of those operators have already evolved to LTE-Advanced.

Worldwide, LTE is forecast to continue its momentum, reaching over 5.6 billion connections in 2022 at which time LTE market share will stand at 60 percent. 5G is expected to accumulate connections starting in late 2018 and by 2022, it is forecast to have almost 400 million connections worldwide.

2Q 2018 - North America

These are exciting days for North America as the early commercial realization of 5G technology is just around the corner, remarked Chris Pearson, President of 5G Americas. At the same time, the U.S. and Canadian service providers are heavily invested in the innovation roadmap of LTE to deliver tremendous throughput speeds and coverage as the foundation for future 5G networks.

LTE achieved a penetration rate over 103 percent with 376 million connections compared to the population of 365 million in North America. This penetration rate compares to the next two highest regions, Oceania, Eastern and Southeastern Asia at 88 percent and Western Europe at 66 percent.

In addition to having a significantly higher penetration rate, the U.S. and Canada also have the highest market share for LTE in comparison to all mobile wireless technologies with 77 percent versus Oceania, Eastern and Southeastern Asia at 64 percent and 48 percent in Western Europe. Market share represents the percentage of mobile wireless connections that are LTE technology versus all other mobile technologies.

376 million LTE connections for net gain of 52 million new LTE customers from 2Q 2017 to 2Q 2018

LTE is forecast to peak at about 491 million connections at the end of 2021 (including M2M)

31.2 million 5G connections forecast in 2021  5 percent of all North America 5G connections -- growing to 113.9 million 5G connections in 2022

2Q 2018 - Latin America and the Caribbean

LTE continues to make significant progress in the Latin American region adding millions of subscribers each quarter by providing excellent coverage and capacity. Even as the benefits of 5G are studied, operators in the region will continue to progress their networks to LTE Advanced and LTE Advanced Pro, noted Jose Otero, Director of Latin America and the Caribbean for 5G Americas.

LTEs market share increased from 23 percent to nearly 34.6 percent year-over-year at the end of June 2018.

697 million total mobile wireless subscriptions

241 million LTE connections ; 82 million new LTE connections added year-over-year from 2Q 2017

; 82 million new LTE connections added year-over-year from 2Q 2017 LTE is forecast to reach 257.9 million connections the end of 2018 (forecast includes M2M) and a 36 percent share of market

By the end of 2022, LTE is forecast to reach 504 million connections (forecast includes M2M) and a 64 percent share of market with total number of connections reaching 786 million

2Q 2018 - Global

Globally, total mobile connections grew by 6 percent in the year to second quarter of 2018, while LTE connections grew a stronger 43 percent during this time, stated Kristin Paulin, Senior Analyst, Ovum. This substantial LTE foundation leads to the anticipation that soon we will start to see 5G make inroads.

3.6 billion LTE connections out of a total of 8.5 billion total cellular connections worldwide

out of a total of 8.5 billion total cellular connections worldwide 1.1 billion new LTE subscriptions year-over-year from 2Q 2017; 42.3 percent growth

year-over-year from 2Q 2017; 42.3 percent growth LTE connections forecast to reach 5.6 billion by year-end 2022 (forecast includes M2M)

LTE global market share forecast to reach 60.3 percent by year end 2022

5G is forecast to reach 400 million connections by the end of 2022

For more information and to view a variety of statistical charts on the 3GPP family of technologies, visit www.5gamericas.org . Subscriber and forecast data is provided by Ovum , Global LTE and LTE-Advanced deployments data is provided by TeleGeography (GlobalComm) and is also available at 5gamericas.org.

About 5G Americas: The Voice of 5G and LTE for the Americas

5G Americas is an industry trade organization composed of leading telecommunications service providers and manufacturers. The organization's mission is to advocate for and foster the advancement and full capabilities of LTE wireless technologies and their evolution to 5G, throughout the ecosystem's networks, services, applications and wirelessly connected devices in the Americas. 5G Americas is invested in developing a connected wireless community while leading 5G development for all the Americas. 5G Americas is headquartered in Bellevue, Washington. More information is available at www.5gamericas.org or Twitter @5GAmericas.

5G Americas' Board of Governors members include: AT&T, Cable & Wireless, Cisco, CommScope, Ericsson, Intel, Kathrein, Mavenir, Nokia, Qualcomm Incorporated, Samsung, Shaw Communications Inc., Sprint, T-Mobile US, Inc., Telefonica and WOM.As of August 26th, 2021 Yahoo India will no longer be publishing content. Your Yahoo Account Mail and Search experiences will not be affected in any way and will operate as usual. We thank you for your support and readership. For more information on Yahoo India, please visit the FAQWeeds grow around the remains of a house at 3534 Espanola Drive near Dallas Love Field. A Feb. 23 gas explosion there killed 12-year-old Linda Rogers and injured several of her family members. State and federal authorities are still investigating the blast. (Smiley N. Pool / Staff Photographer)

Time Bomb | Part two How Texas lets Atmos Energy off the hook Weeds grow around the remains of a house at 3534 Espanola Drive near Dallas Love Field. A Feb. 23 gas explosion there killed 12-year-old Linda Rogers and injured several of her family members. State and federal authorities are still investigating the blast. (Smiley N. Pool / Staff Photographer) A house had blown up, killing a young girl. Federal investigators combed through the wreckage in northwest Dallas for clues about whether natural gas had caused the fatal February blast and still endangered the neighborhood. State regulators involved with the case shared different concerns, according to text messages obtained by The Dallas Morning News. Text messages Also forgot to mention I got some background on the PHMSA dude. He is apparently always skeptical. To him operators are always guilty until they are proven innocent. Just thought you should know, right or wrong I figured it sometimes helps to understand the mindset Thank you. I got the same impression and was worried that would skew the investigation SOURCE: Text messages between Railroad Commission employees Stephanie Weidman and Jim Collins on Monday, Feb. 26, 2018, obtained via open-records request They worried about the feds asking tough questions of Atmos Energy, the company that operates the natural gas system in North Texas. One federal inspector is apparently always skeptical, the states pipeline safety director texted a colleague. To him, operators are always guilty until they are proven innocent. Putting Atmos Energys interests first is a habit for regulators at the Railroad Commission of Texas. The oddly named agency is supposed to serve as a watchdog for the public and ensure that Atmos Energy and other gas companies operate safely. But The News found that when Atmos is involved in serious accidents  or even minor safety infractions  the state often lets the company off the hook. The state didnt fine Atmos Energy after a man died in a house explosion in Irving. After a young boy was severely burned in his home in Oak Cliff. After a little girls back caught fire in a blast near Fort Worth. The state has cited the companys Mid-Tex division  its largest, and the one that includes Dallas-Fort Worth  for more than 2,000 alleged safety violations in the past decade, documents show. Over that same period, Atmos Mid-Tex has paid less than $250,000 in penalties, according to state records. The whole company reported profits of $2.8 billion over that time.

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Changing findings In some investigations that The News examined, the Railroad Commission appeared to change its official findings to match Atmos Energys explanations. Anatomy of an explosion: Cleburne, 2007 How does an all-electric home explode from leaking gas? The family living at 632 Woodard Ave. in Cleburne didnt realize natural gas was leaking from a nearby pipeline in 2007. Then someone lit a cigarette. Click a point to learn more. Michael Hogue / Staff Artist In 2007, a gas leak in the street caused an explosion at an all-electric home in Cleburne, an hour southwest of Dallas, killing two women and injuring several family members. The family sued. Right before testimony began in the lawsuit, Atmos settled the case for an undisclosed sum. In 2009, the states investigation departed sharply from its report a year earlier, which clearly stated that the blast had been caused by natural gas leaks on Atmos lines. An update to the states report said Atmos probably wasnt to blame: This event appears to be the result of a combination of factors that was not readily foreseeable. The report cites Atmos own investigation, which found insufficient evidence to support that natural gas leaks could have caused such an explosion. When The News requested a copy of state regulators full investigation file from that 2007 explosion, the Railroad Commission sent only four pages of the original report, saying it didnt keep all older investigation records, even in cases in which people died. We obtained a copy through Johnson County court records. The News found several cases in which Atmos said something other than leaking gas near someones house had caused explosions that injured or killed people, and the commission took the companys word. The Railroad Commission told The News its investigations are independent. It is not uncommon in an incident for the initial suspected cause to change or evolve as facts, evidence and information is collected and assessed through the investigative process, the commission said in its statement. One explanation, then another In some investigations The News examined, the Railroad Commission of Texas appeared to change its official findings to match Atmos Energys explanations. The commission maintains its investigations are independent, and findings may change as new information is gathered. Atmos says it is entitled to due process during the states investigations. Select an incident to see how the state described it over time. Cleburne, 2007 Irving, 2010 Dallas, 2011 Cleburne, 2007 In the states investigation report filed in 2008, the cause of the explosion that blew up a Cleburne house, killing two women, was listed as natural gas along the Atmos Energy natural gas main that had migrated natural gas to the residence. View note The state also referred to gas leaking from a compression coupling as the cause of the blast in this 2008 report on the history of problems with those pipe connectors. View note In February 2009, state regulators changed their findings in an update to the incident report. Instead, the cause was labeled as a combination of factors that was not readily foreseeable. It states that although three gas leaks were found and repaired near the home, there is insufficient evidence to support that the gas escaping from those leaks could have caused the explosion. View note The following month in 2009, Johnson County court records show a lawsuit filed by the family against Atmos Energy was settled. Irving, 2010 When a home exploded in Irving in 2010, killing a man and injuring his wife, the cause in the states investigative report initially is quite clear: There was a gas leak found where the blast happened. Atmos found an additional two dozen leaks found in the weeks that followed. View note The state referred the case for enforcement for alleged violations of safety rules. Records show it considered making Atmos replace all steel service lines in Irving. A handwritten note from a staffer appears on the states file in July 2011: Discovered it involves a death. Dont know why it was referred for zero penalty. View note The state updated the investigative report  its unclear when. Though a leaking compression coupling was found, it was tested in a lab by Atmos, and the leak rate was not large enough to have caused the blast. Atmos Energys exhaustive investigation found no other possible source of the gas. The official cause? Undetermined. View note Court records show a lawsuit filed by the family was settled in April 2012. Dallas, 2011 In September 2011, when the Mendez familys home blew up, burning them badly, initial reports show Atmos crews found and repaired a gas leak on a main behind the familys home. View note Dallas firefighters label the cause of the blast as lightning, though weather data doesnt show any recorded lightning strikes at that time in that area. The family sued Atmos for negligence, and a firefighter testified in a May 2012 deposition that Atmos influenced his finding that lightning caused the explosion. View note By April 2013, the state and Atmos have a new explanation: A gas stove leaked, they say, though Dallas fire reports mention no such leaks. The explanation is apparently good enough for state regulators, who dismiss the case. View note Two months earlier, Atmos had settled the Mendezes lawsuit, court records show. Texas has authority to hit Atmos and other companies with stiff fines when they break the rules. But the state rarely does. Since 2008, the state has cited Atmos more than 90 times for not repairing dangerous leaks promptly in Dallas-Fort Worth and other parts of the state. But only three times did those citations result in penalties, state records show. Instead of hitting gas companies in the wallet for safety lapses, the state allows copious time for them to fix their mistakes. Even when Atmos Energy does pay a fine, sometimes the regulator still helps the company, records show. In 2013, when a gas explosion in Lewisville left one man dead and two other people injured, the state fined Atmos $25,000. But in drafting the settlement, Atmos lawyer asked the state to add language that made clear Atmos admitted no wrongdoing. It had a lawsuit pending at the time. Texas complied. The commission says such language is standard for enforcement orders. View note The fire department watered down smoldering ruins in Lewisville where a home exploded, killing a man, after natural gas leaked for several hours in January 2013. (FILE / Special contributor) In several other states, companies that break pipeline safety rules dont get off so easy. Since a devastating transmission pipeline explosion in 2011 near San Francisco, regulators in California have penalized operators far more aggressively for breaking safety rules. For instance, in 2016, the state fined one gas company $2.25 million for not following through on plans to prevent pipeline corrosion. And Washington state levied its largest fine ever  $2.75 million  last year against a gas company for numerous violations that led to a Seattle explosion that injured nine firefighters. Part of what keeps the relationship so friendly between gas companies and the Railroad Commission, critics contend: The companies employees make generous campaign donations to the elected officials who oversee the commission. Since 2006, Atmos Energys political action committee and donors who said they worked for Atmos have given more than $200,000 to past and present members of the Railroad Commission. That works out to about 1 percent of all campaign donations those officials received, according to The News analysis of state campaign finance records. In addition, the companys employees and political action committee have donated about $2 million to other elected state officials and candidates over that same period, campaign finance records show. A 2016 study by three watchdog groups found that railroad commissioners received more than 60 percent of their campaign war chests from the oil and gas industry, the very interests theyre supposed to regulate. All three sitting commissioners told The News that they base their decisions on evidence, expertise and the states best interest. Commissioner Ryan Sitton addressed Atmos Energy specifically. My focus continues to be on ensuring that Atmos is following our rules, industry best practices and that they are doing what is necessary to keep their system safe, he said. Campaign contributions have zero impact on that.The Security Council will convene against the backdrop of the UN General Assembly, which began this week with individual meetings at the international bodys New York headquarters. Anticipating the start of the broader proceedings of the General Assembly, various policymakers and non-government organizations have been lobbying for more wide-ranging international attention for their most important causes. Trump administration officials can certainly be counted among these, as they continue to urge European governments and others to join in exerting pressure on the Iranian regime with the intention of comprehensively changing its behavior.

As part of this effort, the administration is clearly striving to call attention to the persistent threat of Iran-backed terrorism. This issue has already become significantly more visible in recent months following the arrest of several Iranian operatives in the US and multiple European countries. The American arrests were associated with spying on Iranian Resistance activists, and the criminal complaint against the operatives indicated that this spying was likely aimed at facilitating attacks on those activists. The European arrests, meanwhile, were related to specific plots, including a plan to bomb the international rally of the National Council of Resistance of Iran just outside Paris.

Direct references by the White House to such incidents were recently accompanied by the release of the State Departments Country Reports on Terrorism. Fox News pointed out that in addition to reaffirming that the Islamic Republic is the worlds foremost state sponsor of terrorism, those reports specifically pointed to the ongoing collaboration between Iran and Al Qaeda  a relationship that is predicated on their mutual antipathy toward the US and other enemies, in spite of the sectarian differences between the Shiite theocracy and the Sunni terrorist group.

The Fox News report quotes terrorism experts as saying that Al Qaeda maintains a core facilitation pipeline through Iran, a fact that underscores broader concerns about the growth of Iranian proxy and terrorist networks throughout the Middle East. Separate communications from the State Department further emphasized the reality of these concerns when they reiterated that the US is absolutely certain of Iranian backing for the Houthi militant rebels who initiated a civil war in Yemen more than three years ago.

Al Masdar Online points out that this topic arose in the context of Wednesdays speech at the Hudson Institute by Brian Hook, the US special envoy for Iran and the head of the Iran Action Group recently created by the White House. Hook called attention to missiles that have been fired into Saudi Arabia from Yemen and reminded listeners that the US had detailed the evidence of their Iranian manufacture. He then situated the topic in the context of the Trump administrations outreach to European partners, urging them to imagine if [such a missile] was launched at Heathrow Airport.

So far, the Trump administration has largely focused on European security concerns in making the case for more assertive policies regarding the Islamic Republic. But other opponents of the Iranian regime have taken a more multifaceted approach. Various recent statements by the National Council of Resistance of Iran, for instance, have sought to appeal to European sensibilities through reference both to security concerns and the moral imperative to hold Iranian officials accountable for frequent and severe human rights abuses in Iran and surrounding spheres of influence.

At times, these two areas of focus overlap with each other, as was evident in an NCRI commentary published on Thursday, which warned of emerging civilian militias in Iraq that are linked to Iran. Such militias are, or would be, modeled on the Iranian Basij, which is controlled by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. The NCRI emphasized that that organization is largely responsible for the suppression of popular protests throughout much of Irans recent history, and it cautioned that if Irans regional activities remain unchecked they will likely lead to the reproduction of that repressiveness in neighboring societies.

Indeed, the NCRI points to early indicators of a crackdown on social activists in Iraq. But the known arrests pale in comparison to those that have been carried out inside Iran in recent months. An estimated 8,000 peaceful protesters were arrested just at the end of December and beginning of January, when anti-government protests were taking place all across the country.

As the CHRI emphasized in a report on Thursday, this and subsequent crackdowns are indicative of Iranian President Hassan Rouhanis abject failure to follow through on a declared reform agenda. The report explains that Rouhani has repeatedly defended himself against criticism by saying that he has no control over the independent judiciary. But CHRI does not accept this explanation, noting that Rouhani has made no apparent effort to even criticize the judiciarys actions, and that he does enjoy control over the Ministry of Intelligence, which has been another major contributor to the ongoing crackdown on dissent.

With the so-called moderate presidents abysmal human rights record in mind, CHRI urged the attendees at the UN General Assembly to give this particular emphasis in their communications with Iranian delegates, and to directly address the worsening human rights situation. CHRI has promised to underscore this message by display pictures of Iranian political prisoners on a mobile billboard outside the UN headquarters in the week ahead.

Meanwhile, groups affiliated with the National Council of Resistance of Iran can be expected to stage protests outside of the General Assembly when Rouhani is present, just as they have done in previous years.But the article goes on to say that an increase in output by at least some of Irans fellow OPEC member states is virtually the only viable reaction to potential shortfalls arising out of the sanctions situation. Member states such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates would be joined in this endeavor by non-member states like Russia, which has joined the Saudis in recent years to spearhead an effort to stabilize a volatile petroleum market.

The involvement of non-member states may be a complicating factor for Iran, which wields considerable leverage over OPEC simply by virtue of its status as a member state. The Oil Price article explains that policy decisions by the oil cartel must be unanimous. This speaks to the means by which Iran might follow through on its apparent threat to not allow increases. It can prevent OPEC from formalizing such increases simply by blocking a formal plan in meetings of the organization. Yet Oil Price anticipates a de facto increase in output by at least some members anyway, since global markets stand to lose as much as 1.4 million barrels per day of Iranian oil by next year, and those missing barrels have to be made up elsewhere.

The prospective impasse on this issue raises the specter of broader conflict among member states, and it remains to be seen how this conflict might play out. But prior statements and actions by the Islamic Republic have pointed to at least two tactics that it might implemented. In the first place, the Washington Post reported this week upon the latest warnings from the cyber security firm FireEye regarding an uptick in Iranian hacking and phishing attacks in advance of the re-imposition of oil-related US sanctions in November.

The report indicates that these efforts have so far been focused on energy firms throughout the Middle East, and FireEye warns that the attempts to gain access to sensitive information and online systems could be a precursor to disruptive attacks in the event that the Iranian regime deems them necessary to its strategic goals. Furthermore, the regime might very well perceive such necessity if its initial warnings about oil output are not heeded. And of course FireEye also emphasizes the potential for cyberterrorism campaigns to look beyond the initial targets and affect Western interests throughout much of the world.

Tehrans willingness to lash out directly at its enemies in the US and Europe is hardly in question. The countrys leading military and paramilitary figures have recently made a habit of boastful remarks regarding their readiness for open conflict and their confidence in the supposed consequences that foreign adversaries would face as a result of attacks on Iranian assets. In fact, Iranian.com published an article on Friday that began with the observation that the regime made many interesting claims about its military capabilities this month alone.

Among the most boastful of these claims is that of Brigadier General Hossein Salami, the second-in-command of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, who said that the US will be on the losing side if war ever breaks out between the two countries. Other claims highlighted by the Iranain.com article include the claims that Iran has inspired resistance to the US and its allies among other regional countries, that Irans domestic weapons industry has improved to the point of warning off Western adversaries and producing a better version of the S-300 missile defense system purchased from Russia, and that the United Nations Security Council failed in efforts to halt such development.

Also prominent among Irans boastful, militaristic commentary is the claim that has been repeated by a variety of military and political figures including President Hassan Rouhani, that the Islamic Republic would close off the Strait of Hormuz in response to any effort to seriously reducing Irans own oil exports. Well over half of the worlds oil supplies pass through the strait, and a successful blockade of it would be deeply disruptive. And although Irans claims on this and other points can hardly be taken at face value, the threat was underlined on Friday when the Iranian air force carried out military exercises in the immediate area.

The Associated Press noted that Iranian state media specifically described the war games as a warning to enemies, a phrase that is typically used to refer, first and foremost, to the US, the UK, and Israel. The medias threat of a stern response to those enemies is easily connected to the broader Iranian threat against oil exports from fellow OPEC member states, and others. The AP notes that in July, for instance, President Rouhani said the entire regions oil exports would be threatened if US sanctions were re-imposed on Irans oil industry.

The roughly simultaneous military and cyber threats issuing from Iran be motivating further assertive gestures by the White House, which has been pursuing an uncompromising strategy of pressure on the Iranian regime since President Donald Trump took office at the beginning of last year. Trump himself announced earlier in September that the US would be chairing a meeting of the UN Security Council that would focus on Irans malign behavior this coming week, when world leaders will also be in New York for the UN General Assembly. However, the agenda of the meeting was later changed to focus on non-proliferation throughout the globe, for reasons that were not specified.

Now, according to Bloomberg, the president has reversed the change, contradicting his aides by saying that the Security Council will still focus primarily on Iran. If the administration stands by this claim, it could set up a direct connection between Trump and Rouhani, or their surrogates at the UN, since the Security Council is required to provide a seat at the meeting to any government that is directly targeted on its agenda.

It is not clear whether the White House wishes to force such a confrontation or even give Iran an opportunity to defend itself against American criticism in the context of the council meeting, but President Trump has said on multiple occasions that he is prepared to meet with Rouhani directly, and without precondition, to discuss a better alternative to the Iran nuclear deal, from which the US withdrew in May. So far, Iranian officials have rejected the notion of a meeting or the sort of treaty sought by Trump and his foreign policy team.

Although the Security Council meeting may yet have a broader focus, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is scheduled to deliver a speech at the General Assembly that will indeed be focused on Iran and its malign behavior. The speech may elaborate upon non-specific threats that Pompeo delivered in an interview with CNN on Friday. The Secretary of State raised the specter of Iranian attacks on Western assets, which might be carried out either directly or through militant proxies. In any event, Iran will be held accountable for those incidents, he said without going into detail.

In July it was revealed that four Iranian nationals including a high-ranking diplomat working out of Vienna had been arrested in connection with a plot to blow up a rally of Iranian expatriates outside Paris. In March, a terror plot was disrupted in Albania which would have targeted the local residence of more than 2,000 members of the Peoples Mojahedin Organization of Iran. And in September, the US Department of Justice announced the indictment of two Iranian nationals who had been caught spying on behalf of the Islamic Republic, with the probable intention of facilitating attacks on Iranian Resistance figures in the US as well.

The arguably growing danger of Iranian attacks upon Western targets was further underscored in the context of a summit between Iran, Russia, and Turkey on September 7, which the Algemeiner characterized as showcasing the Islamic Republics ambitions to expand its influence both across the region and throughout the world. The Iranian president participated in that summit and far from focusing on political resolutions for the future of the Syrian government, the so-called moderate Rouhani used the opportunity for ideological grandstanding, decrying American influence while praising Irans own.The report notes that the latest figures undermine the notion that the economy would be protected to any significant degree by the refusal of European and other governments to go along with the unilateral American policies that were put into place when President Trump withdrew from the seven-party Iran nuclear agreement in May.

The Trump administration has repeatedly indicated that the goals underlying the re-imposition of nuclear-related sanctions, along with other types of economic and political pressure, are first to bring Iranian oil exports to zero and then to compel a comprehensive change of behavior in the clerical regime. Although the actually nullification of all Iranian oil exports is almost certainly a unattainable benchmark, it speaks to the vast scale encompassed by the White House strategy. And as Bloomberg notes, that strategy has already contributed to a 35 percent reduction in Iranian oil exports since April.

The article characterizes this outcome as effectively crushing the industry on which the Iranian government relies for approximately 80 percent of its tax revenue. Over the long term, this can certainly be expected to deepen the economic crisis that has already helped to fuel nine months of anti-government protests among the citizens of cities and towns throughout the country. This is especially true in light of the fact that the latest figures only represent the early effects of the high-pressure strategy, preceding the actual enactment of sanctions on the Iranian petroleum industry and the international companies doing business with it.

A different package of sanctions was put into place in August, and the follow-up will take place on November 4, by which time it appears the majority of the would-be targets will have already halted their dealings with the Islamic Republic. Many have already done so in spite of statements by the governments to which they are subject, or by the companies themselves, expressing support for the 2015 nuclear deal or even pledging defiance of the US sanctions regime.

A prime example of this phenomenon is the government of India, which Bloomberg highlighted as presenting initial resistance to the White House sanctions plan. This resistance evidently contributed to the low expectations among some international observers with regard to the long-term impact of those sanctions. Yet Indian companies have been steadily moving toward compliance, and on Thursday Reuters reported that Chennai Petroleum announced that its refineries would be among the latest to stop processing Iranian oil altogether. This move involved the cancellation of a one million barrel order that was already in place for the month of October.

Chennais decision was reportedly influenced by earlier compliance decisions by the companys insurers. This is a testament to the interconnected nature of the sanctions regime and the economy that it is seeking to influence, which makes it increasingly likely that the remaining non-compliant holdouts will fall into line after they recognize a growing assortment of potential consequences for their defiant commitments.

Of course, this remains to be seen, and there are even more open questions regarding the effect that broader compliance might have upon Irans own defiance. So far, however, the regimes tone in communication with the US and its allies has been largely consistent. A separate report by Reuters pointed to this phenomenon on Thursday and specifically highlighted remarks that had been posted online by Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, condemning the US for breaking an international agreement via Trumps withdrawal and insisting that the Islamic Republic will not entertain the White Houses newly declared plan to formulate a treaty with Iran limiting its missile program and regional activities, along with its nuclear program.

One question that arises from reports indicating a greater-than-anticipated effect of recently-imposed sanctions is whether Tehrans rejection of Western outreach will continue in the event that there is broader agreement among Western nations regarding a pressure-based strategy and associated policy goals. This question is essential because India is not alone in backing away from previous defiance. And although the European Union remains largely committed to upholding the nuclear deal  even offering 20 million dollars worth of aid to Iran in service of that end  a growing number of cracks are showing in that commitment.

Not least among these is the systematically alignment of Europe-based businesses with the US sanctions regime. Newsweek reported on Thursday that Volkswagen had become the latest such company, having pledged to extricate itself from the Islamic Republic following negotiations with the Trump administration that wrapped up on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Agence France Presse provided relevant context for that decision, noting that German officials and business leaders have been facing daily pressure to comply with the sanctions.

Furthermore, from remarks attributed to American figures such as US Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell, it appears that this pressure consists not only of threats regarding American enforcement mechanisms, but also reminders of the potential consequences of inappropriate European policies, in terms of an expansion in the danger posed by Iranian ballistic missiles and terrorist proxies of the Islamic Republic. In commenting upon the Volkswagen compliance decision, Grenell said the Trump administration is pleased with this decision because Iran diverts its economic resources away from its people to spread violence and instability across the globe.

A day earlier, in a speech to the Hudson Institute, US special envoy for Iran Brian Hook spoke in somewhat more provocative terms, saying that United Nations member states have been ignoring Irans continued ballistic missile development, and that they have been doing so at their peril. The Washington Free Beacon pointed to these remarks as examples of the efforts by Hook and his colleagues to underscore the Iranian threat and urge greater European commitment to addressing it ahead of the UN General Assembly, which gets fully under way in the coming week.

On Wednesday, the US will also chair a meeting of the UN Security Council, which is now set to focus on nonproliferation, though President Trump had previously expressed his intention to focus entirely on issues related to Iran. Despite this change, it is expected that much of the American delegates attention will remain squarely on Iran. And in the wake of recent developments both in the private sector and in foreign policy circles, the ensuing discussions may very well test the limits of international defiance of the administrations strategy for changing the behavior of the Iranian government.The U.S. exit from the Iran nuclear deal gave the MEK new hope in its push for regime change in Iran. The new sanctions, along with the regimes incompetent management, has caused great unrest within the country. This opens the door for regime change coming from inside Iran. American military force would not be necessary.

The MEK wants to install a democracy in Iran. This threat to the regime has resulted in its to countering its opposition all the way to Albania. As well, there was a foiled bomb attempt at the Free Iran Gathering 2018 in Paris this past June, in which an Iranian diplomat was arrested. Two Iranian spies were also arrested and indicted in Washington, D.C., as they attempted to target resistance officials in the United States.

In Albania, Iranian intelligence agents have been recruiting former MEK members for propaganda purposes. They try to tarnish the groups reputation in the eyes of Albanias people.

A tour of the MEKs camp shows that it has everything you would expect in a small city  lodging, food service, assembly halls, administrative buildings. Scores of a new generation of MEK, male and female, are active in keeping the struggle against the regime alive.

The older, original members have their own unique stories to tell. Some had loved ones who had been subjected to violence by the regime. Others had family members who were executed. Most had given up hope of a decent life in Iran, and were committed to bringing regime change for future generations.

The MEK is a committed group of individuals who have given their lives for an idea: a free Iran. They want a better life for the Iranian population. They seek to prevent future generations of Iran from having to go through horrific experiences, such as imprisonment, torture, and executions.

Albania has nothing to fear from this group, who only want to become good citizens of Albania and to build a life in the country. They do not have weapons or military training. Much disinformation has been spread about the MEK, when, in fact, it is the MEK who must be worried about violence.

The Iranian Ministry of Intelligence agents are active in Albania, and the Albanian public should fear them, not the MEK.- TV Personality Divine Lee expressed why she decided to avoid breastfeeding for her child

- She revealed that this is because her baby suffered from a condition in the tongue

- Divine said she respects other moms decisions on what is best for their children

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Television host Divine Lee disclosed the real explanation on why she refuses to breastfeed her child.

KAMI learned that the promising host believes bottle-feeding is the best way for her baby especially after he suffered from a condition in the tongue called tongue-tie.

Divine explained that her childs condition interfered with breastfeeding and it even prevented the baby from latching.

"Yung una it was hard for me... yung anak ko parang siyang bulol so yung tongue niya medyo magkadikit so hindi siya maka-suck, she quipped.

"It's called a lip-tie or tongue-tie. So you have to cut it and it releases para maka-suck siya nang mas maayos," she added.

Because of this, the host expressed that she decided to just pump her breast milk and put it in a bottle just so she can feed her baby properly.

Divine also hinted her high respect to moms who also avoid breastfeeding and are into pumping method instead.

"At first, he was latching, some people are purists kasi na gusto nila latch lang, she stressed.

"But ako, I believe in what is best for my child... Kaya I don't judge people who are on formula, who are just pumping, she added.

In a previous article by , Divine shared to public the reason behind the unusual name of her son.

Divine is a Filipina model, entrepreneur, blogger, and television host. She already gained several recognitions including the Best New TV Personality by Star Awards, Philippine Stars Women of Allure, and Stylebibles Online Personality of the year.

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Imagine that youre walking down streets of the Philippines, thinking of your work, friends, and family. Suddenly a man walking in front of you drops his wallet. He continues walking, without realizing that he has just lost all his money. What would you do in this situation? Social Experiment: How Honest Are People Around You?  on HumanMeter!

Source: Kami.com.phNepal doubles its tiger population, giving hope for saving big cats from extinction

The number of tigers has gone up to 235 in the country, according to the latest tiger census report.Jonathan Bethony uses his experiences in West Africa and other places to bring the ancient art of bread-making to Washington, D.C.

His bakery, Seylou, is different from most bakeries around the country. Bakers there grind whole grains in their own mill. They also buy their grains from local farmers.

Started in Senegal

More than 15 years ago, Bethony visited Senegal to learn West African drumming. During his time living in a small desert village, he became interested in working with local farmers. He wanted to help local people who were struggling to get enough food.

When he came back to the U.S., Bethony began working in restaurants and discovered a love for baking.

Later, Bethony started working for the Washington State Universitys Bread Lab. There, he developed new ways of using many kinds of locally grown wheat, without wasting any of their components.

For Bethony, having his own bakery was the next step in using the skills he had learned and developed over many years. In November, he opened his bakery and called it Seylou, which means eagle in the West African language of Mandinka.

Milling local grains

At Seylou, it is important to use local ingredients. They get all of their grain fresh from local farmers. Bethony uses about 20 different kinds of organic grains in making his bread.

He said, We use several varieties of wheat alone, and about 3 different ryesOur mission here is to use what they call underutilized grains, which is important to grow in the organic system.

Bethony adds that a lot of the soil in the area has been damaged from growing tobacco. He said growing millet helps bring life back to the soil.

Bethony is one of only a small number of bakers around the United States who mill their grains on-site, meaning at the bakery. This has caught the attention of food and environment reporter Sam Fromartz, who has written a book about bread called, "In Search of the Perfect Loaf."

He says knowing how to mill and knowing which grains to use is what gives each kind of bread its individual taste and feel.

Fromartz said, When you start baking with grains from particular farmers, the grains will be different in each farm. So, Jonathan, in a sense, is adjusting each batch of grain that he mills. So, hes kind of mixing and matching and playing with his ingredients

He said that Bethony is part of a developing movement in the American food industry. More bakers are returning to old food ways by trying to bake with whole grains.

Whole grain pastries

One-hundred percent organic whole grain is not only for making bread. Seylou also makes pastries using whole grains.

Bethony said his work is easy because he surrounds himself with like-minded people, like his pastry chef, Charbel Abrache.

But, Bethony said Seylou would not work without the support of his business partner and wife, Jessica Azees.

It's the taste

Seylou's baked products are rich in natural minerals and vitamins, but the taste is what brings people back to the store. This makes Bethony happy, because he wants people to eat food that is healthy for them, but still enjoyable.

When youre going to a pastry shop or a bakery, there is excitementI dont want to take away any of this experience, Bethony said.

Im Phil Dierking.

This story was originally written by Faiza Elmasry for VOANews.com. Phil Dierking adapted the story for Learning English. Mario Ritter was the editor.

Write to us in the Comments Section or on our Facebook page.

_____________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

adjust - v. to change (something) in a minor way so that it works better

bakery - n. a place where bread, cakes, cookies, and other baked foods are made or sold

component - n. one of the parts of something (such as a system or mixture)

ingredient - n. one of the things that are used to make a food, product, etc.

organic - adj. grown or made without the use of artificial chemicals

pastry - n. dough that is used to make pies and other baked goods

mill - n. a machine for grinding grain

tobacco - n. a plant that produces leaves which are smoked in cigarettes, pipes, etc.

wheat - n. a kind of grain that is used to make flour for breads, cookies, etc

particular - adj. used to indicate that one specific person or thing is being referred to and no others

Amanda Greene lives with pain.

Greene says her pain comes from lupus, an autoimmune disease that attacks her organs and tissues.

"If I don't have nerve pain, I might have joint pain. If I'm not having joint pain, I might have headaches."

She tried taking medicine and other treatments, but she suffered an allergic reaction to opioids, a strong pain killer.

Now Amanda Greene is trying something different. It is called virtual reality therapy.

Virtual reality, or VR, is growing in popularity in video gaming and some training programs. The person wears special equipment that covers the eyes. Inside, he or she sees images and hears sounds coming from a computer program. The experience makes people feel as if they are in the picture they are watching.

For Greene, virtual experience helped her feel more at ease and trained her to breathe in a special way. She saw a tree, crystals, and her breath as she was guided to breathe in and out.

"It worked. It works for me."

VR in hospitals and medical centers

Brennan Spiegel is a doctor who treats patients with stomach pain and intestinal problems. He says these disorders are sometimes connected to a persons mental health. VR can help, he explains, by changing the messages in the brain and nervous system.

Spiegel is the director of Health Services Research at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles, California. He heads Cedars-Sinais virtual reality program, where more than 2,500 patients have been treated.

"Virtual reality can reduce pain, can reduce blood pressure, and now we're looking to see can it do really important things, like reduce the need for opioids."

Opioid abuse has led to many deaths across the United States.

But, unlike opioids, Spiegel does not think patients seeking pain relief would become physically dependent on VR therapy. Researchers are looking at possible side effects. For some patients, less than 10 percent, they may feel off-balance and sick to their stomach when wearing the VR headset.

Spiegel said more than 100 hospitals nationwide are using VR to help patients control pain and nervousness. He added that more countries are taking an interest in VR, and doctors are beginning to develop policies on how to use the technology in health care.

Swamy Venuturupalli is a doctor and the founder of Attune Health, a center treating patients with autoimmune diseases. He is studying how visual technology can reduce the pain his patients feel. VR experiences may include swimming with dolphins and meditation exercises in front of a campfire.

Venuturupalli says VR does more than just distract patients who are in pain. It can train them to learn deep breathing exercises. And it can help them with biofeedback, the ability to control things like heartbeat and brain waves with your mind.

VR pharmacy and centers

A business called AppliedVR is testing virtual reality to see how it may help people deal with their pain. Its president, Josh Sackman, says his company is developing programs that will be helpful to patients of different ages, personalities and interests. He says the goal is to create a VR pharmacy to serve them all.

Sackman told VOA he has seen an improvement in the medical worlds understanding of VR over the past three years. And, he says, with patients using VR, you see a physical change in a short time as they go from someone in terrible pain, stressed, to relaxed.

Brennan Spiegel says the aim is not to have the patients stay in their virtual world forever. The idea, he says, is for people to learn in VR that they can control their body, and that the mind matters. And then, people can use those skills when they need it, in the real world.

Im Anne Ball.

Elizabeth Lee reported on this story for VOANews.com. Anne Ball adapted her report for Learning English. George Grow was the editor.

We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section.

___________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

autoimmune -adj. of, relating to, or caused by autoantibodies or T cells that attack molecules, cells, or tissues of the organism producing them

allergic -adj. of or relating to a medical condition that causes someone to become sick after eating, touching, or breathing something that is harmless to most people

therapy -n. the treatment of physical or mental illnesses

crystal -n. a clear hard mineral that is either colorless or very light in color and that is used in making jewelry

meditation -n. the act or process of spending time in quiet thought : the act or process of meditating

distract -v. to cause (someone) to stop thinking about or paying attention to someone or something and to think about or pay attention to someone or something else instead

pharmacy -n. a store or part of a store in which drugs and medicines are prepared and sold

relax -v. to stop feeling nervous or worriedLawmakers in the United States have been debating how to deal with an accusation against a nominee for the Supreme Court. The issue has turned into a political battle between the two major parties.

Observers may ask why a Supreme Court candidate shows such a wide division between Democrats and Republicans. President Donald Trump nominated Brett Kavanaugh in July. Kavanaugh, like past nominees to the court, has promised his court decisions will not be based on politics. And yet, in the 20th century, the nine-member court has followed a trend of partisan division.

From 1969 to 1986, an average of 17 percent of cases were decided by a 5-4 majority. In the following years, that average rose to 20 percent, then 22 percent.

The early years of Supreme Court decisions were decided very differently. From 1801 to 1940, a one-person majority decided only 2 percent of cases.

In other words, Supreme Court justices have been less and less able to agree on decisions. At the same time, one group of justices often shares an opinion, and disagrees with the other justice.

For example, in the last term, which ended in June, the same group of five justices decided 13 cases; the same group of four justices dissented in those cases. The five in the majority are considered conservative. The four in the minority are considered liberal.

This apparent split is one reason Brett Kavanaughs nomination has become such a political battle. Kavanaugh is thought to be a conservative thinker, and many lawmakers believe he will ensure the courts rulings continue to support conservative ideas.

The Divided States?

This partisan divide on the court is part of a larger picture of political division in the U.S.  at least among politicians and the media. Reporter Alan Greenblatt wrote about the issue in Congressional Quarterly magazine in 2004. In the early 2000s, he said, voters were nearly evenly divided between generally conservative and generally liberal groups. So, to win votes, Greenblatt says, politicians became more extreme in their views.

A 2014 report in the New Republic magazine supports Greenblatts idea. It noted that in the second half of the 20th century, lawmakers considered to have views in the middle dropped from about 45 percent to 10 percent.

The decrease in moderate politicians was part of a political plan, Greenblatt says. He claims that in the mid-1990s, lawmakers in the Republican Party sought to make personal attacks on Democrats, stop moderate views, and punish officials who cooperated with the opposing party. The plan worked, Greenblatt says. In many cases, more extreme Republicans gained power. And Democrats began using the same methods, too.

Since that time, partisan divides have become even wider. The split is aided by media reports that promote highly partisan views; a growing industry of workers paid to act in support of laws that favor certain causes or businesses; activist campaign donors; and the practice of redefining an electoral area so similar voters are all together.

But most Americans believe they are in the middle

But in fact, Americans today are not as politically divided as the politicians and media, say researchers from the Pew Research Center. A recent survey found that more than half of Americans consider themselves politically moderate. Even those who identify with a political party believe they are slightly more moderate than the party as a whole.

However, Pew researchers found that Americans see people in the opposing party as having extreme views. In other words, voters see other voters as very partisan, even if each person believes he or she is moderate.]

So what does this have to do with the Supreme Court?

As political culture in the U.S. has become more partisan, many Americans have come to see Supreme Court justices as political, too. When division on the court began to increase in the 1940s, Americans belief that justices would be politically independent began to decrease.

In 1987, the idea that Supreme Court justices could be considered in connection with their political beliefs exploded with the hearings of Robert Bork. Democrats blocked his nomination, partly because they objected to his views on civil rights and abortion.

Bork warned that treating justices as political candidates would reduce the publics trust in the court. But by the beginning of the 21st century, a number of voters wanted justices to decide cases with certain beliefs in mind.

The Gallup research company questioned Americans about that idea in 2005 and 2018. Half of them said that they believed lawmakers could reject a qualified nominee if they disagreed with him or her about hotly disputed issues, such as gun control or abortion.

An opinion writer in the San Francisco Chronicle wrote earlier this year about why the Supreme Court had become such a political battleground. Jonah Goldberg noted that the power of the court has risen sharply in the U.S. government. He says that, in the 20th century, partisans on the left began to use the court to push forward laws and policies that should be made by the president, lawmakers or states.

Partisans on the right answered, he said, by making Supreme Court nominations a campaign issue. In 2016, then-candidate Donald Trump promised voters he would nominate conservative-minded justices to the Supreme Court. That promise, Goldberg says, helped Trump become president.

Im Caty Weaver.

And Im Ashley Thompson.

Kelly Jean Kelly wrote this story for Learning English. Caty Weaver was the editor.

We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments section, and visit our Facebook page.

_____________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

trend -n. a general direction of change : a way of behaving, proceeding, etc., that is developing and becoming more common

partisan -adj. strongly supporting one leader, group, or cause over another

certain -adj. used to refer to something or someone that is not named specifically

practice -n. something that is done often or regularly

abortion -n. a medical procedure used to end a pregnancy and cause the death of the fetusHere is another reason to be optimistic about the country:

In Ethiopia, once among Africas top five countries for child marriage, the practice has dropped by a third in the past decade, the worlds sharpest decline, says the World Bank. The government wants to eradicate child marriage entirely by 2025.

In contrast:

Three out of four girls in Niger are married before they are 18, giving this poor west African country the worlds highest rate of child marriage. The World Bank says it is one of only a very small number to have seen no reduction in recent years; the rate has even risen slightly. The countrys minimum legal age of marriage for girls is 15, but some brides are as young as nine.

That is all from The Economist.NOTICE:

TO BE CLEAR:

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MUGSHOTS.COM IS A NEWS ORGANIZATION. WE POST AND WRITE THOUSANDS OF NEWS STORIES A YEAR, MOST WANTED STORIES, EDITORIALS (UNDER CATEGORIES - BLOG) AND STORIES OF EXONERATIONS. OUR CONTENT REVOLVES AROUND CRIME, ARRESTS AND THE FIRST AMENDMENT. WE BELIEVE IN THE CONSTITUTION AND OUR FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHT TO PUBLISH UNPOPULAR SPEECH. OPEN RECORD LAWS WERE WRITTEN TO PROTECT THE PUBLIC; BY INFORMING THE PUBLIC OF ARRESTS AND TO HOLD LAW ENFORCEMENT ACCOUNTABLE FOR THE HUMANE TREATMENT OF ARRESTEES. MOST OF, IF NOT ALL MUGSHOT LAWS WERE CRAFTED TO PROTECT THE PUBLIC FROM FEES FOR REMOVAL OF ONLINE MUGSHOTS AND TO FURTHER PROTECT THE PRESS FROM THOSE VERY SAME "MUGSHOT LAWS".WE DO NOT ACCEPT PAYMENT FOR REMOVAL OF ARREST INFORMATION AND/OR BOOKING PHOTOGRAPHS. MORE...MTN South Africa and Telkom have held discussions regarding a possible merger, according to a report in the Sunday Times.

The report follows big setbacks at both MTN and Telkom in recent weeks.

The Central Bank of Nigeria has demanded that MTN return $8.2 billion which it says MTN illegally moved out of the country.

Soon after this, the Attorney General of Nigeria made its own demands of the mobile operator, stating that it owed $2 billion in back taxes on foreign imports into the country.

This resulted in MTNs share-price hitting multi-year lows.

At home, Telkom is in the process of offering staff voluntary retrenchment packages.

Telkom said the retrenchments can be attributed to the fact that it has subsidised the South African mobile industry by about R70 billion through asymmetric call termination rates.

Telkom has also seen multiple top executives leave the business in recent months.

Merger

The report added that MTN is also reviewing its operating footprint across Africa and abroad, due to regulatory burdens in many countries.

With MTN and Telkom taking strain, it is no surprise that merger talks are rumoured.

Wayne McCurrie from FNB Wealth and Investments recently stated that the two smallest mobile players  Cell C and Telkom Mobile  face tremendous challenges and will not survive unless they merge. A move to merge with MTN SA may therefore help Telkoms mobile business.

Telkom and MTN also boast large fibre assets locally: Telkom through its Openserve division and MTN with its Supersonic fibre business.

The report noted, however, that a potential deal would need to be approved by the competition authorities and regulatory bodies  which may prove a big hurdle.Research by the SA Institute of Race Relations shows that the ANCs support base could drop by as much as 10% in next years elections.

A report in the City Press, based on this research, said the EFF is polling at 13%, up from 6% it received in the 2014 national elections.

The research, which was conducted between August and September this year, further showed that the ANCs support dropped from 62% to 52%.

The DA, which performed well in the 2016 municipal elections, only showed marginal growth from 22% in the 2014 elections to 23% now.

Gareth van Onselen, head of politics and governance at the SA Institute of Race Relations, described the findings as both fascinating and disturbing.

He said the EFFs gain and the ANCs decline shows the ANCs strategy to adopt certain EFF policies, like land expropriation without compensation, is backfiring spectacularly.

DA launches One South Africa for All campaign

To prepare for the 2019 national elections, the DA has launched its One South Africa for All campaign.

The DA said there have been too many empty promises, crime is rising, corruption is oppressing us and there is no fair access to jobs.

DA leader Mmusi Maimane said his vision is for South Africans from all walks of life coming together because they want change.

We know that despite our differences, there is more that brings us together than keeps us apart, he said.

EFF continues white monopoly capital narrative

The EFF, meanwhile, is continuing its white monopoly capital narrative, promising to fight to restore the dignity of black people.

A war is coming; this country is run by Pravin and Pravin is run by the Stellenbosch Mafias, EFF leader Julius Malema said.

Those people are more dangerous than Zuma. And they control senior Indian journalists and senior white journalists.

He added that the enemy of our revolution is not white people, the enemy is white monopoly capital.

He further called for a united party, with a focus on children who go to schools without shoes, women who have no access to sanitary towels, and the plight of farm workers and security guards.

Now read: The ANC is now fighting with the SABC over job cutsApples iPhone Xs and Xs Max will launch in South Africa on 28 September, and local pricing has been revealed.

According to the official pricing from the iStore, Apples new smartphones range from R21,999 to R31,999  depending on model and storage capacity.

The devices sport the fastest processor in a modern smartphone, along with a bezel-less chassis and cutting-edge camera technology.

However, R20,000-R30,000 is a lot for a smartphone, and you can use this budget to buy impressive hardware.

Many high-end laptops retail for around this price point, boasting unique features and powerful specifications.

We have rounded up some of the best laptops you can buy for the price of a new iPhone Xs or iPhone Xs Max, below.

MSI GS65 Stealth 8RE  R31,999

For the price of the top Apple iPhone Xs Max, you can buy one of the most impressive gaming laptops on the market.

MSIs Stealth 8RE laptop boasts a Full HD 144Hz display, Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 6GB, 512GB SSD, and Intel Core i7-8750H hexa-core processor.

Dell XPS 13 Touch  R30,999

Dells XPS 13 Touch is one of the best professional notebooks available on the market.

With its QHD+ InfinityEdge touch display, 7th-gen Core i7 processor, and 512GB SSD, the XPS 13 Touch is an epic professional machine.

Dell Inspiron G5  R27,999

Dells Inspiron G5 is a bulky but powerful machine, boasting an impressive UHD display and Core i7 hexa-core processor.

This laptop is ideal for hardcore gamers, thanks to its Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 6GB graphics card and 512GB NVMe SSD.

Lenovo Yoga 920  R28,509

The Lenovo 920 is a convertible notebook which packs a serious punch, thanks to its 8th-generation Core i7 processor, 512GB SSD, and 4K display.

Impressive features include the addition of a digital pen and an almost bezel-less 14-inch IPS touch display.

Gigabyte Aero 15  R30,146

Gamers looking for a portable machine with the form factor of an ultrabook will find the Gigabyte Aero 15 ideal.

With its ultra-slim, Nvidia MaxQ design, GeForce GTX 1060 6GB graphics card, and 512GB SSD, the Aero 15 is a powerful and portable device ideal for gamers and professionals alike.The New York Times had a terrific scoop this week: U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley was the latest member of the Trump Administration to be caught spending taxpayer dollars on lavish amenities. In this case, it was a $52,701 set of curtains for her official residence in New York.

Problem is, the story wasnt quite right.

Within days, the paper had placed the following editors note to the very top of the heavily revised story:

An earlier version of this article and headline created an unfair impression about who was responsible for the purchase in question. While Nikki R. Haley is the current ambassador to the United Nations, the decision on leasing the ambassadors residence and purchasing the curtains was made during the Obama administration, according to current and former officials. The article should not have focused on Ms. Haley, nor should a picture of her have been used. The article and headline have now been edited to reflect those concerns, and the picture has been removed.

Conservative commentators and Trump supporters were quick to decry the error, saying it was evidence of bias.

And they were right, but perhaps not for the reasons they thought.

News organizations are biased, but not typically along ideological lines. Rather they are biased in favor of a good story. Conflict, scandal, malfeasance, waste and incompetence are great stories  readers love them and they can result in real change, as corrupt officials are held to account or defective programs and institutions are held up to public scrutiny.

The real problem with the Times story wasnt so much a bias against the Trump administration, but rather a much-less-discussed problem in journalism (and society in general), something often called the meta-narrative.

A meta-narrative is a type of stereotype, or a lens through which the public and journalists see a person or institution. Every individual thing that person or institution does, every development or revelation, gets framed as part of a larger pattern.

You may not have heard of meta-narratives before, but I guarantee youve seen them plenty of times. Think back to the year 2000, for example. Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore was known for self-aggrandizing statements over the years, so suddenly he was tagged as a serial exaggerator and his every utterance was examined for traces of boasting and falsehoods. That left us with the I invented the Internet and I discovered Love Canal incidents. In neither case did he actually claim exactly those things, but thats the lasting impression left in the public mind.

Likewise, his Republican opponent George W. Bush was known to be relatively uninterested in intellectual pursuits, and he also shared in his familys habit of mangling words and syntax, particularly when he was fatigued later in the day on the campaign trail. This led to the notion that he was stupid. Every verbal stumble or misstatement became evidence of this intellectual deficiency, even though Bush in reality is far from stupid.

Other easy examples include Bill Clinton as a compulsive skirtchaser, George H.W. Bush as wimpy, aloof and out of touch with the real world, Jimmy Carter as a cringing pacifist, or Sarah Palin as an intellectual lightweight. Although all of these stereotypes had roots in real actions or words, all of them are to some degree misleading and unfair. Yet they are firmly fixed in the public mind.

The Internet era has only made meta-narratives a more pernicious feature of our lives, as meme-makers crank out shallow jokes or malicious digs that play on a popular perception of some public figure, group, or institution. That creates a self-reinforcing cycle that is difficult to escape from.

In the case of the Times story, the paper succumbed to the meta-narrative that Trumps inner circle is interested in surrounding themselves with luxury at the taxpayer expense. Indeed several cabinet secretaries have faced criticism, even lost their jobs, as a result of profligate travel expenses or buying pricey office furniture. It is easy to see, therefore, how the Times reporters and editors reached the glib  and ultimately unfair  conclusion that Haleys expensive curtains were yet another small piece of evidence to support the larger pattern of the misuse of public resources for private pleasure.

In a sense, the conservative reaction to the Times error itself was part of a meta-narrativethat it is a liberal publication with an ideological axe to grind against the Trump administration. It is a stereotype founded in some real-world events, but it is also a misleading and unfair way to frame the error that the Times made.

This is not to excuse what the Times did in this case, but rather to show how easy it is for reporters  for all of us really  to get caught up in a meta-narrative, and how difficult it can be to see and analyze events for what they really are.

You can reach Sean Scully at 256-2246 or sscully@napanews.com.

Catch the latest in Opinion Get opinion pieces, letters and editorials sent directly to your inbox weekly! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy.President Donald Trump's strategy to discredit the Russia investigation has suffered yet another setback. Once again, we've seen the president and his defenders cry that they have found a smoking gun that will exonerate him, only for it to turn out that what they're holding is a soggy turnip.

At the beginning of the week, Trump issued an order to make public documents relating to the FISA warrant to surveil his former campaign aide Carter Page, as well as text messages sent by a group of FBI and Justice Department officials whom he has decided are his enemies. The order had no law enforcement purpose, no intelligence purpose, no legitimate purpose at all. Trump was using the powers of the presidency to aid his PR effort, to (he plainly hoped) make his critics look bad and thus cast doubt on the entire Russia investigation. It was an obvious abuse of power, but we've gotten so used to Trump abusing his power that it was treated as just another Trumpian story in a week filled with them.

But by week's end, Trump had backed off, Devlin Barrett reported for The Washington Post:

"President Trump on Friday walked back his order earlier this week to declassify information in the ongoing probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election, saying Justice Department officials and others had persuaded him not to do so for the time being.

"The retreat from his declassification decree issued just four days ago underscores the ongoing tensions between the White House and the Justice Department over the probe by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, who is examining whether any Trump associates may have conspired with the Kremlin to interfere in the election.

"In a pair of Friday morning tweets, Trump said: 'I met with the DOJ concerning the declassification of various UNREDACTED documents. They agreed to release them but stated that so doing may have a perceived negative impact on the Russia probe. Also, key Allies' called to ask not to release. Therefore, the Inspector General has been asked to review these documents on an expedited basis. I believe he will move quickly on this (and hopefully other things which he is looking at). In the end I can always declassify if it proves necessary. Speed is very important to me - and everyone!' "

It may seem ridiculous that Trump and his allies are still so obsessed with the supposed injustice of the Carter Page surveillance warrant. After all, as we have long known, "Page had been on the radar of the FBI at least as far back as 2013, when a bureau wiretap caught suspected Russian spies discussing their attempts to recruit him," as The Post's Rosalind S. Helderman reporter Feb. 2.

But if you tune in to one of the president's favorite shows on Fox News, you'll be fed a story that goes like this: The FISA warrant to surveil Page was wrongly obtained because it included information from a dossier prepared by a former British intelligence agent; the entire Russia investigation rested on the surveillance of Page; therefore the entire Russia investigation is corrupt and must be shut down.

Every part of that story is laughably false. The judges who granted the initial warrant to surveil Page and the subsequent warrants to continue the surveillance knew the nature of the information they were using to evaluate the warrant request. The Russia investigation began not with Page but when George Papadopoulos (one of the four former Trump aides who have pleaded guilty to crimes) blabbed to an Australian diplomat in the summer of 2016 that the Trump campaign was getting information about Hillary Clinton from Russia, and that diplomat informed American intelligence. Page is a minor figure in this whole affair; if he had never signed on to the Trump campaign at all, almost nothing about this investigation would change.

Yet the president still seems to believe that if more documents from Page's FISA warrant are publicly revealed, it'll blow the lid off this whole witch hunt. As for the texts from people in the Justice Department Trump doesn't like, who knows what's in them. Trump himself said a couple of days ago that he hadn't read the documents whose release he was demanding, and if that's true, it may offer a clue as to why he's pulling back on their immediate release.

I don't doubt that officials in the Justice Department were profoundly disturbed by the idea of the president unilaterally making public documents pertinent to an ongoing investigation, and urged him not to do so. But it may also be true that one way or another, Trump began to suspect that the documents might not actually provide the smoking gun of an anti-Trump conspiracy he was hoping for.

After all, we've been down this road before. Remember the notorious Nunes memo, prepared by Republican staffers at the behest of House Intelligence Committee chair and Trump lickspittle Rep. Devin Nunes of California ? Republicans and conservative media figures spent weeks demanding the declassification of the memo, saying that when it became public its blockbuster revelations would tear the entire Russia investigation to shreds.

Then it was finally released, and what happened? It was a bunch of absurd, misleading, and tendentious claims that were greeted with derision by almost everyone. It did not blow any lids off anything. When was the last time you heard a Republican use it as evidence of some argument they were making? They never do, because the memo became a source of nothing but shame at their gullibility and incompetence. Nunes was ridiculed mercilessly, the White House was embarrassed, and Robert Mueller's investigation just kept going.

The fact that Trump is not simply declassifying all these new documents tells me that he's afraid this would wind up being the Nunes memo all over again, and there's a good chance he'd be right. So by passing it off to the inspector general, he's effectively saying, "Never mind." It's yet another reminder that the defense of the president against the Russia probe is being carried out by a bunch of clowns led by a fool.

Paul Waldman is an opinion writer for the Plum Line blog. He wrote this for The Washington Post.I have known Geoff since he was a kid growing up on Dean York Lane - his mom a childhood friend and his dad owning a successful business on Main Street. I have been delighted and energized by his passionate belief in the unique character of our town and his understanding of the fragility of that character and the issues of sustainability of the valley that envelopes us.

I have watched his vision and wisdom mature as he has served tirelessly on our city council - diving deeply into the complex issues that confront us and listening carefully to differing ideas and opinions. Indeed it is Geoff's capacity and willingness to listen that in great measure earn him my vote.

In addition is his youthful vision for our town.

Alan Galbraith began his first term as mayor at a time when St. Helena was reeling from a period of mismanagement. Thanks to a new and effective city council (which includes Geoff), Mayor Galbraith's leadership on the sales tax initiative, and the hiring of an extremely competent city manager in Mark Prestwich, the city is not only on an even keel but is looking at a positive financial future.

Geoff has a vision of what that future could be, and he listens to and and learns from ideas about ways forward - a refreshing change from Mr. Galbraith who continues to see the town in the dire straits in which he found it and who continues to support conservative policies and solutions no longer in step with the needs, desires and vision of our citizenry.

I hope you will vote for the future of St. Helena. Vote for Geoff Ellsworth.

Anne Carr

St. HelenaThe new Armenian Genocide Memorial was blessed on Friday, in Boise, Idaho, USA.

The initiative was launched by the members of the Idaho Armenians NGO.

According to Idaho Press, Father Nektarios Serfes from the Greek Orthodox Church of Boise offered his services to bless the memorial.

The event brought together representatives of the local Armenian community, and guests.

In 2004, Idaho became the 33rd US stateof now 47to recognize the Armenian Genocide.Opposition 'Armenia' faction's Gegham Manukyan: Come to Republic Square tomorrow at 11 a.m.

Karabakh President expresses gratitude to Russia's Putin again

Luxembourg legislature calls on govt to not endorse Azerbaijan-European Union relations until Armenian POWs' return

Armenia Security Council Secretary; All to-be-unblocked infrastructures will be under sovereign control of given state

Armenia MOD: Azerbaijani Defense Ministry's statement on 60 Armenian soldiers encircled in Sev Lake is disinformation

Armenia Security Council Secretary: Azerbaijan to set up customs points on Goris-Kapan motorway starting today

Sweden PM resigns

Turkey Parliament approves extension of mandate for Turkish soldiers to be in Azerbaijan

TIME magazine names first Armenian Robin the robot one of the best innovations of the year

Armenia FM meets with French counterpart, issues related to Nagorno-Karabakh conflict discussed

Armenia parliament majority leader meets with US Ambassador

Karabakh President convenes consultation over security issues

Karabakh's parliamentary speaker receives Armenia Parliament Deputy Speaker Ishkhan Saghatelyan

Armenia PM chairs consultation over economic priorities

Armenia Judicial Department chief sues Public Council ex-chairman Styopa Safaryan

Armenia President meets with outgoing UN Resident Coordinator

Armenia defense minister attends session of Council of Ministers of Defense of the CIS in Moscow

Armenia minister states periods for construction of new energy bloc of nuclear power plant before 2036

Zakharova: It is time to implement the programs for launching '3+3' regional mechanism

Russian MFA Spokesperson on work of OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs and their visits to region

NEWS.am daily digest: 10.11.21

Armenia Deputy PM's assistant sacked

Statue of Peacekeeper unveiled in Nagorno-Karabakh

First Orthodox church opened in Nagorno-Karabakh

Armenia police identify man who beat woman on the street

Erdogan: Turkey is engaged in ongoing process in Caucasus

Armenia FM meets with France Senate speaker (PHOTOS)

Dollar goes down in Armenia

Armenia PM appoints deputy provincial governor to Armavir

Artsakh ombudsman: 2 civilians, 9 soldiers killed as result of Azerbaijan criminal actions after war

Azerbaijan plans to spend over $2.5B on defense in 2022

Xi Jinping: China is ready to work with US under condition of mutual respect

Russia hopes old Europe won't allow entanglement in confrontation with Moscow and Minsk

CIS countries' defense ministers discuss improvement of unified air defense system

Azerbaijan trying to include Artsakhs occupied Armenian Shushi in UNESCO Creative Cities Network

Armenia to tax electronic services provided by foreign companies

Possibility of 44-day war inquiry committee work boycotting being discussed, says Armenia opposition MP

Artsakh FM: Azerbaijan, Turkey are taking action to provoke Russia military

Armenia premier receives outgoing UN Resident Coordinator

Russia, France to discuss joint efforts as Co-Chairs of Minsk Group

PACE rapporteurs: Armenia has emerged successfully from serious political crisis

How many Karabakh residents are in Azerbaijan captivity?

January 2 to also be non-working day during Armenia New Year holidays

8 kids hospitalized in Yerevan on suspicion of food poisoning in satisfactory condition

Gyumri man, 32, dies in hospital without regaining consciousness after falling from 4th floor

1 more person dies of coronavirus in Artsakh

Karabakh village man, 72, commits suicide by hanging himself

Parliament factions: Artsakh Armenians living safely in homeland is possible only in case of Artsakh recognition

Natural gas fees to not increase in Armenia on January 1

Water tariff to increase for most Armenia consumers?

9 kids from Yerevan child development center hospitalized on suspicion of food poisoning

Los Angeles City Hall is illuminated in Armenia flag colors

1,675 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Artsakh state minister delivers lectures at Fletcher School, Harvard University

Mayor of Armenias Kasakh village to be arrested

Biden-Xi virtual meeting could take place next week

US concerned about meeting between UAE FM and Syria President

Newspaper: Criminal cases against Armenian ex-military officials making no headway

Newspaper: Armenia parliament opposition calls PM Pashinyan to legislature

Japan ex-nurse who killed 3 patients gets life sentence

Azerbaijanis open fire at tractor in Khachik village of Armenia's Vayots Dzor Province while it was moving

US Department of State condemns violence that caused death of Armenian civilian near Shushi

Polish authorities believe situation on Poland-Belarus border will escalate

UN says it is ready to help solve issues of migrants on Poland-Belarus border

ARF-D representative: If House of Lords adopts Armenian Genocide bill, it will become a law for the government

EU Special Representative: We remember all who were killed and suffered during more than 30 years of conflict

Lavrov discusses Nagorno-Karabakh issue with Paul Gallagher

UK House of Commons adopts Armenian Genocide bill in first reading

OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Personal Representative: Certain changes made in actions after hostilities in 2020

Israeli Members of Knesset submit bill to recognize Armenian Genocide

Russia Ambassador: There won't be deals behind Armenian people's back when communications with Azerbaijan are unblocked

NEWS.am daily digest: 09.11.21

Baku not refuting attack on peaceful civilians in Artsakh, but putting blame on Yerevan

Gor Abrahamyan: Armenia Prosecutor General hasn't applied to Russia's competent authorities for citizenship

Armenia legislature committee approves draft state budget for 2022

Azerbaijani soldier dies after falling down from multi-story parking lot in Turkey

Persons suspected of murder of businessman Hayk Harutyunyan arrested in Moscow

Armenia Deputy PM receives newly appointed UNDP Resident Representative

Armenia is elected UNESCO General Conference 41st session vice-chair (PHOTOS)

Armenia MOD ex-press secretary is appointed expert to parliament committeeYEREVAN.  If there will be any proof of unlawful actions by the police, it will be discussed. But I believe that the police actions were in the manner prescribed by law.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on Sunday told the aforesaid to news reporters, before voting at the snap election for the capital city Yerevan Council of Elders. He noted this commenting on Saturdays search that was conducted at a Yerevan office of the Prosperous Armenia Party.

And when asked by Armenian News-NEWS.am as to whom he meant when he had stated that some forces are opposing the planned snap parliamentary election and they are making secret arrangements with the former ruling Republican Party of Armenia, Pashinyan responded: Those who were saying that they will be against the parliamentary elections, or may be against, or probably will be against, or if so, they will be against. They made their own statements.

Prosperous Armenia Party office being searchedYEREVAN.  This election differs from others, as the voter is confident that he will be the one to choose, and there is no one to steal his vote, Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan told reporters ahead of voting in the election to the Council of Elders.

PM said he is happy with the heated election campaign, as it was real: all political forces, including the authorities, realized that they have to struggle for the vote.

They say passions run high, but this happens in any democratic country. From now on passions would run high during each campaign, because the elections will be real. We have to get used to real elections and real campaigns, he said.

Pashinyan, who came to the polling station with his daughter, added that he would not follow the results of the elections, as he will be on board the plane.

Asked whether the organization of parliamentary elections is threatened amid tension between political forces, PM replied: People are to decide the fate of parliamentary elections.

Armenian PM postponed his visit to the United States to be able to vote in the Yerevan elections. Later in the day, PM is leaving to New York where he will participate in the regular session of the UN General Assembly.Opposition 'Armenia' faction's Gegham Manukyan: Come to Republic Square tomorrow at 11 a.m.

Karabakh President expresses gratitude to Russia's Putin again

Luxembourg legislature calls on govt to not endorse Azerbaijan-European Union relations until Armenian POWs' return

Armenia Security Council Secretary; All to-be-unblocked infrastructures will be under sovereign control of given state

Armenia MOD: Azerbaijani Defense Ministry's statement on 60 Armenian soldiers encircled in Sev Lake is disinformation

Armenia Security Council Secretary: Azerbaijan to set up customs points on Goris-Kapan motorway starting today

Sweden PM resigns

Turkey Parliament approves extension of mandate for Turkish soldiers to be in Azerbaijan

TIME magazine names first Armenian Robin the robot one of the best innovations of the year

Armenia FM meets with French counterpart, issues related to Nagorno-Karabakh conflict discussed

Armenia parliament majority leader meets with US Ambassador

Karabakh President convenes consultation over security issues

Karabakh's parliamentary speaker receives Armenia Parliament Deputy Speaker Ishkhan Saghatelyan

Armenia PM chairs consultation over economic priorities

Armenia Judicial Department chief sues Public Council ex-chairman Styopa Safaryan

Armenia President meets with outgoing UN Resident Coordinator

Armenia defense minister attends session of Council of Ministers of Defense of the CIS in Moscow

Armenia minister states periods for construction of new energy bloc of nuclear power plant before 2036

Zakharova: It is time to implement the programs for launching '3+3' regional mechanism

Russian MFA Spokesperson on work of OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs and their visits to region

NEWS.am daily digest: 10.11.21

Armenia Deputy PM's assistant sacked

Statue of Peacekeeper unveiled in Nagorno-Karabakh

First Orthodox church opened in Nagorno-Karabakh

Armenia police identify man who beat woman on the street

Erdogan: Turkey is engaged in ongoing process in Caucasus

Armenia FM meets with France Senate speaker (PHOTOS)

Dollar goes down in Armenia

Armenia PM appoints deputy provincial governor to Armavir

Artsakh ombudsman: 2 civilians, 9 soldiers killed as result of Azerbaijan criminal actions after war

Azerbaijan plans to spend over $2.5B on defense in 2022

Xi Jinping: China is ready to work with US under condition of mutual respect

Russia hopes old Europe won't allow entanglement in confrontation with Moscow and Minsk

CIS countries' defense ministers discuss improvement of unified air defense system

Azerbaijan trying to include Artsakhs occupied Armenian Shushi in UNESCO Creative Cities Network

Armenia to tax electronic services provided by foreign companies

Possibility of 44-day war inquiry committee work boycotting being discussed, says Armenia opposition MP

Artsakh FM: Azerbaijan, Turkey are taking action to provoke Russia military

Armenia premier receives outgoing UN Resident Coordinator

Russia, France to discuss joint efforts as Co-Chairs of Minsk Group

PACE rapporteurs: Armenia has emerged successfully from serious political crisis

How many Karabakh residents are in Azerbaijan captivity?

January 2 to also be non-working day during Armenia New Year holidays

8 kids hospitalized in Yerevan on suspicion of food poisoning in satisfactory condition

Gyumri man, 32, dies in hospital without regaining consciousness after falling from 4th floor

1 more person dies of coronavirus in Artsakh

Karabakh village man, 72, commits suicide by hanging himself

Parliament factions: Artsakh Armenians living safely in homeland is possible only in case of Artsakh recognition

Natural gas fees to not increase in Armenia on January 1

Water tariff to increase for most Armenia consumers?

9 kids from Yerevan child development center hospitalized on suspicion of food poisoning

Los Angeles City Hall is illuminated in Armenia flag colors

1,675 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Artsakh state minister delivers lectures at Fletcher School, Harvard University

Mayor of Armenias Kasakh village to be arrested

Biden-Xi virtual meeting could take place next week

US concerned about meeting between UAE FM and Syria President

Newspaper: Criminal cases against Armenian ex-military officials making no headway

Newspaper: Armenia parliament opposition calls PM Pashinyan to legislature

Japan ex-nurse who killed 3 patients gets life sentence

Azerbaijanis open fire at tractor in Khachik village of Armenia's Vayots Dzor Province while it was moving

US Department of State condemns violence that caused death of Armenian civilian near Shushi

Polish authorities believe situation on Poland-Belarus border will escalate

UN says it is ready to help solve issues of migrants on Poland-Belarus border

ARF-D representative: If House of Lords adopts Armenian Genocide bill, it will become a law for the government

EU Special Representative: We remember all who were killed and suffered during more than 30 years of conflict

Lavrov discusses Nagorno-Karabakh issue with Paul Gallagher

UK House of Commons adopts Armenian Genocide bill in first reading

OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Personal Representative: Certain changes made in actions after hostilities in 2020

Israeli Members of Knesset submit bill to recognize Armenian Genocide

Russia Ambassador: There won't be deals behind Armenian people's back when communications with Azerbaijan are unblocked

NEWS.am daily digest: 09.11.21

Baku not refuting attack on peaceful civilians in Artsakh, but putting blame on Yerevan

Gor Abrahamyan: Armenia Prosecutor General hasn't applied to Russia's competent authorities for citizenship

Armenia legislature committee approves draft state budget for 2022

Azerbaijani soldier dies after falling down from multi-story parking lot in Turkey

Persons suspected of murder of businessman Hayk Harutyunyan arrested in Moscow

Armenia Deputy PM receives newly appointed UNDP Resident Representative

Armenia is elected UNESCO General Conference 41st session vice-chair (PHOTOS)

Armenia MOD ex-press secretary is appointed expert to parliament committee

Armenia MOD leaves for Moscow

Russian MFA on anniversary of agreements of Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia leaders on ceasefire in Karabakh

Armenia FM to head for Paris

Dollar loses value in Armenia

Turkey attempting to drive wedge between Armenia and Armenian diaspora

Online intimidation of Artsakh people by Azerbaijan special services gains new momentum

9-year-old Armenian boy dies after being run over by car

Kremlin comments on prospect of Russia, Armenia, Azerbaijan leaders meeting over Karabakh

Armenia 2nd President and Karabakh ex-President also bid farewell to Serzh Sargsyan's mother

Armenia former President Kocharyan, ex-deputy PM and now lawmaker Gevorgyan court session pushed back 1 week

Peskov: Karabakh conflict statement signed last year by Russia, Armenia, Azerbaijan is extremely important

Turkey defense minister: Opening of Zangezur corridor does not pose threat to any side

Azerbaijan threatens Armenia defense minister

President pays tribute to martyrs of recent Artsakh war

Saakashvili's supporters holding protest near Justice Ministry building in Tbilisi

Turkey defense minister stubbornly does not see Azerbaijan provocations

Armenian historian: Armenia needs to establish refugee settlement in Yerevan for those displaced from Artsakh

Armenia opposition MP not elected legislature defense committee deputy chair for 11th time

Armenia PM spokesperson resigns

Armenia parliament speaker: We have paid very high price for our mistakesYEREVAN.  All the police actions were within the law, we will inform you about the course, and the facts are being examined.

Armenias Chief of Police Valeri Osipyan on Sunday told the abovementioned to reporters, after voting at the snap election for the capital city Yerevan Council of Elders. He noted this commenting on Saturdays police search at a Yerevan campaign office of the Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP). Osipyan said they are looking into the reports about buying of votes at the said office.

As for PAP mayoral candidate Naira Zohrabyans statement that these reports were a lie and the police were not mastering the situation, the police chief responded: Thats Naira Zohrabyans imagination that we arent mastering [the situation]. Police master the operative situation of all Armenian media.

Osipyan said criminal cases have been filed, and appropriate proceedings are underway in connection with some reports on vote buying.

At the moment, everything is normal, he added. I positively assess the police work.

And at the end, Valeri Osipyan noted that he cast his ballot for an improved, beautiful, and law-abiding Yerevan.

Prosperous Armenia Party office being searchedIve received information from Yerevan, and Im glad that the elections are held in a good mood, overall, and there is no major incident.

Armenias Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated the aforesaid during his Facebook livestream from the Paris international airport, and in connection with Sundays ongoing snap election for the capital city Yerevan Council of Elders.

I hope that we truly will have an exemplary voting, exemplary elections, he added. Of course, there is such statistics that [voter] activeness has dropped, as compared to last years council of elders elections, and it is probably explained by [the fact] that there is no [unlawful] transporting of voters on GAZelles [vans], buses in these elections.

But I hope that () in these elections () our voters will very actively take part because this election is exclusive by [the fact] that it will be your decision as to what will happen as a result of the elections. And in this sense, its a huge intrigue as to what results will be recorded in the elections; and only you know that.

Also, Pashinyan said he is convinced that the election and the subsequent counting of votes will be conducted in a climate of love and solidarity.

The PM once again called on all Yerevan residents to go to election precincts and vote.

In addition, he informed he soon will head from Paris to New York.

But Nikol Pashinyan will return to Armenia on September 29, since from New York he will travel to the Tajik capital city of Dushanbe.NDMC remembered Swami Shradhanand on 158 th birth anniversary

New Delhi, Sun, 22 Feb 2015 NI Wire

On the occasion of the birth anniversary of the Swami Shradhanandji, North Delhi Mayor Yogender Chandolia remembered him.

North Delhi Mayor, Sh. Yogender Chandolia today paid glowing tributes to great freedom fighter and social reformer Swami Shradhanandji on his 158 birth anniversary.

North Delhi Municipal Corporation organized a simple function at his 'Balidan Sthal' near Town Hall, Chandni Chowk, where his statue is installed.

Mayor garlanded the statue of Swami Shradhanandji to mark the occasion and remember his noble work.

Yogender Chandolia said that the life of Swami Shradhanand teaches us to make supreme sacrifice for our country and society.

Swami Ji rendered great services in the field of education by establishing 'Gurukul System'. He always stood by Hindu-Muslim unity and was a true patriot.Or it just means she won't be doing M&Gs? Either way I don't blame her, she's been through.... a lot :(

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She's very outspoken about her upcoming stuff. If she hasn't tweeted about touring then it's more likely not happening.

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doesn't surprise me one bit, hopefully she's taking some time to take care of herself

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well i guess that's a good thing because there's no way in fucking hell that her relationship with pete would survive it.

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Don't blame her one bit. Take care of yourself, girl

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tbh that's fair, she's been through a lot



also i can't see that picture anymore without thinking of the jasmine masters version lmao

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omg i knew that pic was familiar..

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you'll believe jush is a woman you'll believe jush is a woman

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omg same its hard for me to even look @ the original pic

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did anyone see those pics of her hopping around in the rain in her sweats, with her hair in buns?? were those candid or for a shoot?



i'm glad she's taking some time off.





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she was with her friends getting starbucks so I assumed it was candids

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those pics were soo cute

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it was part of her daily pap stroll. daily mail is on her payroll

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whoever is in your icon is freaking GORGEOUS! sorry, i know that's random lol

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Who is in your icon?? She looks like one of the models at Dolce & Gabbana today

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are they new?? they sound cute af

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The new pics that I saw were of her and pete walking around.

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Touring just seems like an exhausting thing, no matter how much you like performing. I feel like Beyonce has been going hard on touring since like 2013.



Also, sweetener is still that pop album. don't @ me

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I love sweetener but if I was in charge I would have cut blazed, the light is coming, god is a woman, and borderline



the album is already quite short so mine would be super short but I think slicing those songs off would have created a short and sweet cohesive album

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I agree with everything except GIAW. I don't get the love for Blazed, it's trash and I wish Pharell was left off the project.

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it could have been a cute ep, or changing the album progression

the light is coming is just unforgivable though

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i was on board until you said you wouldve cut god is a woman </3 but ia i really enjoy this album, it made me a fan

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ia the more I listen to it, the more I love it. Sweetener might be her best album? like I love Dangerous Woman to death, but the best of Sweetener is so evolved for her.

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most artists make their money touring so she must be set up good to not have to bother

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glfjdjds

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if she runs out of funds, her social media mogul brother will help her out.

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she was rich before she was famous lol

her mom gave her a couple thousand dollars allowance a week...like things we will never relate 2 :( sadly

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she's set for life with or without this job, she comes from money.

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After everything shes been through for the last couple of years Im not surprised shes not going to tour. Self care is important

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Good for her. Shes been through a lot over the past couple of years.

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i dont think she'd be touring soon even if mac didnt pass. she's not leaving pete's side anytime soon and he has to be in NY

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Lol exactly



I bet you shes staying because of him unfortunately

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She was tweeting about missing tour all the time before Mac died. She even told fans that it would start 'early' next year. Her team were selling early pas to tickets sales as a bundle for her album.

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IMO it wasnt happening when push came to shove

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they had the tour route finalised and she said tour would start by february, it was planned.

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good



she's obviously not ready



I loved her dangerous woman show (I saw it pre-manchester) and would deff go see her again but I felt a little weird at the idea of buying tickets for this tour because it seemed obvious that she didn't want to do it

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Well I guess her relationship with Pete will last after all.

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can't blame her. though i wonder if pete will leave snl after this season or even the next and then she'll tour when he's free? that seems like something they would do.

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he would be soooo stupid to leave snl tbh



thats his one and only creditable accomplishment because i def dont see him making it outside of the show

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i agree but i wouldn't be surprised if he thinks landing a few acting roles outside of snl means he's gonna be just fine, especially since ariana weirdly seems to be giving him clout.

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LinkSolar and wind farms, stretched across North Africa's Saharan desert and relying solely on existing technologies, could produce enough electricity to power the entire world. (That amount of electricity approximates over 21 terawatt hours.) As an added benefit these combined wind and solar arrays would also increase rain fail in the arid Sahel region thereby slowing the steady southern encroachment of the desert.

This was the conclusion arrived at by academic researchers using supercomputers. Teams at the University of Maryland and University of Illinois modeled their results in a study financed in part by a Chinese government agency. Their results were published in the prestigious journal Science (September 7).

Yes, we know it sounds farfetched. And even perhaps too ridiculous consider. But is it any crazier or more uneconomic than the two biggest nuclear construction projects currently underway in the U.S. and Europe? Spending $25 billion or more to erect bespoke nuclear power generating stations (when a comparable gas fired facility could be built at a relatively small fraction of the cost) shows that regardless of economics, for those that the politicians favor, funds can often be found.

And it is not just new nuclear technologies that should be singled out for economic excesses. Southern Company's recent attempt at building a truly clean coal electric power generating station resulted in the $4 billion Kemper County project in Mississippi. That facility now only burns natural gas rendering large parts of the investment economically irrelevant.

But for sheer scale it is typically nuclear construction that provides the biggest numbers. In this regard consider the proposed $20-$30 billion ITER nuclear fusion project. The point? We already spend huge sums to experiment with and develop increasingly carbon free power sources. From a technological perspective the Sahara wind/solar project is practically "old school". It relies exclusively on so called off the shelf, existing technologies.

The challenge as we see it, apart from financing, would come from the actual construction. Giant construction projects in relatively inhospitable climates almost always pose a challenge. This would be akin to building the Alaska pipeline or putting huge oil rigs in the North Sea or in Arctic waters. Related: Ex GM Boss: Tesla Headed For The Graveyard

A German consortium, DESERTEC, proposed a Saharan solar project in 2009 based on work that goes back to the 1980s. The organization made promising financial projections based on its research. Its shareholders included major Mediterranean infrastructure and electricity firms and State Grid of China.

Wind and solar projects can also produce unintended consequences for the environment as the Illinois and Maryland researchers gently put it. In the Saharan case though, the consequences, more precipitation, might actually be beneficial.

From the perspective of the earth's surface, wind and solar farms change surface roughness and reflectance. This raises local temperatures--the last thing the Sahara needs. However, the temperature boost also increases the likelihood of precipitation, in fact doubling it in this particularly arid region. That would in turn lead to increases in vegetation growth. More vegetative ground cover increases evaporation which, in turn, increases precipitation. Solar farms by themselves could have a similar environmental impact.

Admittedly, the university researchers did not address a whole host of concerns: social, political, business and technological. The challenge of constructing solar and wind farms across the Sahara Desert and then delivering the power to those who need it is a daunting task. But the researchers did interestingly address the impact of the project on climate and concluded it would be beneficial. Thats at least a start.

Would relatively small European and American energy companies rise to a challenge of this magnitude? Or would the Sahara project developers, if there is one, propose this ambitious project to the Chinese as part of their One Belt, One Road Initiative? From a policy perspective China has made no secret of its interest in Africa. It would be ironic if they embarked on an ambitious undertaking like this while domestically the US plays "small ball" and focuses on subsidies for relatively uneconomic coal and nuclear power generating stations to extend their economic lives.

By Leonard Hyman and William Tilles

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:Plunging Canadian prices have been depressing oil producers realized prices and revenues, even though the U.S. benchmark and the international Brent Crude prices have rallied year to date.

But its not only oil sands producers that have been coping with wide price differentials between Canadian crude oil prices and WTI this year.

Canadas shale drillers have also started to face widening differentials between the Canadian benchmark for light oil delivered at Edmonton and WTI, due tounsurprisinglyinsufficient pipeline infrastructure to transport the light oil to the market.

The Edmonton sweet crude discount to WTI slumped to US$16 a barrel earlier this monththe widest spread since Bloomberg began compiling the data in June 2014.

Not that Western Canadian Select (WCS)the benchmark price of oil from Canadas oil sands delivered at Hardisty, Albertahas been doing any better. The WCS discount to WTI has been more than US$20 this year, and even US$30 at one point. This resulted in Canada Natural Resources saying in early August that it was allocating capital to lighter oil drilling and is curtailing heavy oil production as the price of Canadian heavy oil tumbled to a nearly five-year-low relative to the U.S. benchmark price.

Higher oil prices this year have encouraged more Canadian light tight oil and condensate drilling and production, but takeaway capacitythe weakest link of Canadas oil industryis maxed and has already started to affect the realized prices of shale drillers, similar to the widening discount for Midland crude from the Permian in the United States.

To be sure, Canadian shale producers are still making money, even with a wider discount, because WTI is now at $70 a barrel, analysts tell Bloomberg.

Yet, signs have begun to emerge that a glut has started to pile up, as shale and condensate production has been growing when pipeline infrastructure has not.

Combined condensate production in Alberta and British Columbia has surged from around 170,000 bpd in early 2014 to nearly 400,000 bpd in March and 366,000 bpd in May 2018, according to Bloomberg estimates based on National Energy Board (NEB) data.

Yet, shale and condensate drillers expect that the wider Canadian light oil discount to be temporary, Tom Whalen, CEO at the Petroleum Services Association of Canada, told Bloomberg.

Although light oil and condensate prices are currently depressed, due to the infrastructure constraints, analysts see one upside for the Canadian oil industry from the wider light oil discounts. Related: Why Oil Markets Cant Escape OPEC, Russian Influence

While the wide price differential for Canadas heavy oil has prevented oil sands producers from taking full advantage of the international and U.S. WTI oil price increase over the past year, low Canadian condensate prices is helping their finances a bit, because they pay lower prices for the condensate to dilute the bitumen they produce.

Oil sands production has created a market for 500,000 bpd of condensate necessary to dilute the bitumen, Kevin Birn, director on the North American crude oil markets team at IHS Markit, told Bloomberg.

A large part of that condensate currently comes from imports of U.S. condensates. According to Birn, the idea that Canadian condensate could overtake imports from the United States wasnt considered in the past.

If its a battle for market share, its going to come down to U.S. imports being pulled back, Birn said.



Canadian condensates may end up helping oil sands producers with cheaper domestic diluents, but the widened price differential for Edmonton light crude highlights the key factor that has plagued Canadian oil prices this year and that will likely shape the fate of Canadas industry over the next five yearsnot enough pipelines.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:While the Permian has experienced a drilling boom and has received tons of media attention, a lesser-known but still remarkable revival has been underway in the Bakken this year. At the same time, the increased rates of drilling in North Dakota are starting to reveal signs of strain on the basin, as drillers are increasingly forced into less desirable locations.

The Bakken was hit harder than the Permian during the oil market downturn that began in 2014, with rigs and capital diverted away from North Dakota and rerouted to West Texas. Oil production hit a temporary peak in late 2014 at 1.26 million barrels per day (mb/d), declining for much of the next two years.

However, production began to rise again in early 2017 before accelerating this year. In October, the EIA expects Bakken production to hit 1.33 mb/d, a new record high.

In some ways, the Bakken is enjoying a bit of a revival because the Permian has become overcrowded. The pipeline bottleneck, the strain on rigs and equipment, completion services, labor, water and even on road traffic has caused a lot of headaches for shale drillers in West Texas. Some shale executives have decided to shift resources elsewhere, and the Bakken has received a boost as a result.

The Bakken took over as the most profitable place for shale drillers on average this summer, at least temporarily surpassing the Permian. That may not last as the steep discounts for WTI in Midland drags down the profitability of the Permian, a situation that will resolve itself over the next few years as pipelines come online. But the improved outlook for the Bakken is notable nonetheless.

However, despite the resurgence in the Bakken, the basin is starting to suffer from its own strains. Production is still rising, but the crowded field is increasingly pushing shale E&Ps onto the periphery. The result is that the average well in the Bakken is producing less oil at its peak performance, as fringe areas are dragging down the average. Related: Iran Starts Air Force Drills Near The Worlds Crucial Oil Chokepoint

For instance, the majority of wells in the Bakken may soon come from wells with a peak monthly performance of less than 500 bpd, down from the current makeup in which most wells have a peak monthly performance of over 1,000 bpd, according to a report from the North Dakota Pipeline Authority.

S&P Global Platts reported on the findings, noting that absolute decline is not necessarily likely in the near-term, but that the shale industry will have to ramp up drilling activity by two or three-fold to keep growing production. The production decline is inevitable, but the timing is uncertain as to how this is going to play out, Justin Kringstad, director of the North Dakota Pipeline Authority, said in an interview with S&P Global Platts. The big unknown right now is how much new technology is going to impact the fringe areas of the play.

Most existing wells are located in areas with performance above 1,000 bpd, while most of the remaining wells will likely be located in acreage that will have a peak performance below 500 bpd. In other words, over time, as the best acreage is tapped out, companies will be forced to drill in less desirable locations, which means the overall production base deteriorates. S&P Global Platts estimates that moving from the core to the periphery can cut average initial production rates by 80 percent.

The conclusions mirror those of David Hughes of the Post Carbon Institute, who has repeatedly warned that the EIA and mainstream energy forecasters are overestimating how much oil and gas can ultimately be produced from U.S. shale. In a February 2018 report entitled Shale Reality Check, Hughes said that the major shale plays wont live up to the aggressive forecasts. EIA projections of production through 2050 at the play level are highly to extremely optimistic, and are therefore very unlikely to be realized, Hughes concluded. He cited flat-lining in productivity improvements, well interference and dwindling number of sweet spots available as key reasons why production levels will likely disappoint. Related: Iran: We Wont Let OPEC Boost Production

The leading indicators could leave one with an optimistic impression. The rig count in North Dakota is up only slightly this year, while production has climbed quite a bit, suggesting that drillers are producing more oil with each given rig. No surprise there, given the advances in drilling techniques, including longer laterals and more proppant use. In fact, the average rig is estimated to produce around 1,500 barrels per day from a new well in October, double the volume from two and a half years ago.

But that doesnt mean the ultimate recovery of oil and gas reserves will be any higher, only that it might be front loaded. Moreover, declines from legacy production is also more significant, with the region set to lose 68,000 bpd in October compared to a month earlier from these existing wells. That is up from 50,000 bpd month-on-month declines from two years ago. In other words, drillers need to add even more production these days than they used to in order to offset decline. As fringe areas take on a greater role, the industry will have more trouble keeping up with legacy decline.

This could be somewhat of a long-term problem. The North Dakota Pipeline Authority says that an absolute peak in production could still be 15 years away, when the agency expects production to top out at between 1.9 mb/d and 2.3 mb/d.

For now, Bakken drillers are seeing a resurgence and are basking in the limelight as the Permian hits the pause button.

By Nick Cunningham of Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:When the New York Times earlier this month reported that President Trump had met with Venezuelan military officers unhappy with the countrys government to discuss a coup against Nicolas Maduro, some observers of the events in the South American country probably winced. The implications of a U.S. military intervention in Venezuela would be way too severe for comfort. In fact, it might aggravate an already regionally spreading crisis. Besides aggravating the crisis, any more severe blow to Venezuela might well put Washington at further odds with Beijing.

An international relations expert from the University of Kent recently wrote in a story for The Conversation that said, If he makes good on these words, Trumps coercive approach could have severe implications for a crisis that has grown increasingly regional in scope.

Rubrick Biegon noted that this is not the first time Washington has taken such an uncompromising stance towards Caracas, recalling the George W. Bush administrations involvement in an attempted regime change against Hugo Chavez in the early 2000s. The attempt ended up cementing Chavez grip on power, and the likelihood of this repeating now is equally high: Latin Americans, suffice to say, are not the greatest Trump fans in the world, and that goes double for Venezuela.

But there is another danger here as well if the Trump administration decides to go forward with military involvement: relations between the United States and China might be affected as well.

China is the most generous backer of Maduros government. Just this month, Beijing agreed to extend a US$5-billion lifeline to Caracas, with Chinas Foreign Ministry spokesman saying in a statement, The domestic situation is getting better and Venezuelas government is actively promoting economic and financial reform.

This is a pretty strong indication that Beijing would not look kindly to a forced regime change in Venezuela, not while it gets Venezuelan crude at a hefty discount, especially with the Iran sanctions due in less than two months. Related: Canada Boosts Oil Exports To The U.S.

In a certain sense, its all about oil, as are many conflicts. Some observers have argued that Washingtons hostility towards Caracas is motivated by the desire to take control of the worlds largest oil reserves, conveniently located in the States backyard. Indeed, despite numerous reports that President Trump is mulling over the suspension of Venezuelan oil imports, he has not yet made good on his word, partly because of the humanitarian implications of such a move, and partly because Venezuelan crude is still needed.

Meanwhile, China is pursuing its own energy security by expanding its presence in oil fields around the world. Venezuela is a natural focal point for such an expansion. During his visit in Beijing this month, President Maduro said that Venezuela will increase its crude oil exports to China to a million barrels daily, helped by the US$5 billion from China. Whats more, the head of CNPC will soon visit Venezuela to finalize the negotiations for the increased oil exports. At 1 million bpd, these would constitute almost everything that Venezuela is currently producing, which is 1.2 million bpd.

China has already spent US$65 billion on financial help for Caracas over the last ten years. Much of it has been repaid, but Caracas still owes some US$20 billion to its ally. Any attempt by Washington to force a regime change and cut Chinas access to Venezuelan oil would provoke a quick reaction.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:Pope Francis on Sunday paid homage to Holocaust victims who perished in the Vilnius ghetto, 75 years to the day after the Nazis liquidated it, and remembered those who risked and lost their lives to challenge the Soviet regime in Lithuania. "Seventy-five years ago, this nation witnessed the final destruction of the Vilnius Ghetto; this was the climax of the killing of thousands of Jews that had started two years earlier," the pontiff told 100,000 faithful gathered for mass in Kaunas, Lithuania's second city. Pre-war Lithuania was home to a thriving Jewish community of more than 200,000 people known as "Litvaks", with its capital Vilnius a hub of learning known as the "Jerusalem of the North". According to historians, around 195,000 -- nearly the entire Jewish population -- perished at the hands of the Nazis and local collaborators under the 1941-44 German occupation. Today around 3,000 Jews live in the EU and NATO member state which has a population of 2.9 million, the majority of whom are Catholic. - 'Powerful moral message' - Recalling the Holocaust, Francis prayed for divine "discernment" to alert the faithful to any reappearance of "that pernicious attitude, any whiff of it that can taint the heart of generations that did not experience those times and can sometimes be taken in by such siren songs." "In these days, I reserve a special thought for the Jewish community," the pontiff said, calling for "dialogue and the shared commitment for justice and peace". He also laid a bouquet of yellow roses at the foot of the Vilnius ghetto memorial and paid a silent tribute at ceremonies marking the 75th anniversary of its liquidation. Fania Brancovskaja, a 96-year-old ghetto survivor, said she was "grateful" for the pope's "powerful moral message", saying it combats attempts to deny the Holocaust. "It's very important for the Pope to pray for the victims of the Nazis, because there are people in the world who think that the extermination is an invention of the Jews," Brancovskaja, who was the sole survivor of her large Jewish family, told AFP speaking in Russian. Francis will travel to mainly Protestant Latvia on Monday and wind down his Baltic tour in secular Estonia on Tuesday as all three Baltic states mark 100 years of independence this year. - Soviet-era repression - The last century of Baltic history was marked by both the Nazi invasion and then decades of persecution under Soviet occupation during the Cold War. Vilnius estimates that more than 50,000 Lithuanians died under Soviet occupation in camps, prisons, and during deportations between 1944 and 1953. Another 20,000 partisans and supporters were killed in anti-Soviet guerilla warfare. "Kaunas knows about this; Lithuania as a whole can testify to it, still shuddering at the mention of Siberia, or the ghettos of Vilnius and Kaunas, among others," Francis told the faithful. The Argentine pontiff also honoured victims of Soviet-era persecution later on Sunday during a visit to a museum in the former KGB building in Vilnius where regime opponents were tortured and killed. Francis visited the cell of Father Sigitas Tamkevicius, who was arrested by the Soviet regime and imprisoned in 1983 for having founded and edited the Chronicle of the Catholic Church in Lithuania. The pope also lit a candle in front of photographs of martyred priests. Behind the Iron Curtain, the Catholic Church played a key role in the non-violent anti-Soviet resistance, especially in Lithuania, the only Catholic-majority country of the three Baltic states. It was persecuted as a result, with priests and bishops jailed, sent to Siberia or killed. Tamkevicius, who is now a 79-year-old archbishop, was accused of spreading anti-Soviet propaganda and served time in Soviet labour camps, including a spell in Siberia. "If 35 years ago when I was imprisoned in the KGB prison somebody would have told me that the pope himself will visit these dark cells, it would have seemed completely unbelievable," Tamkevicius told local media on Sunday. "We know what it means to stand in front of tanks with only a prayer," Lithuanian Bishop Kestutis Kevalas said at the papal mass earlier in Kaunas. "Today we need encouragement and hope so that we don't lose our way on our road of freedom," he added.In this Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018, photo released by the National Park Service, park rangers hoist a flag on the first day Hawaii Volcanoes National Park reopened after volcanic activity forced the park to close for more than four months in Hawaii. (Janice Wei/National Park Service via AP)

A national park in Hawaii has reopened after being closed for more than four months because of Kilauea volcano's latest eruption, which caused widespread damage to park infrastructure and dramatically changed its landscape.

Hawaii Volcanoes National Park officials said there were no lines or waiting for visitors to catch a glimpse of the volcano that made headlines across the world when it began erupting in May. Admission is free Saturday.

The eruption destroyed hundreds of homes outside the park while changing the popular summit crater inside the park.

The national parknormally the state's most-visited tourist attractionhad been closed for 135 days as volcanic activity caused explosive eruptions, earthquakes and the collapse of the famed Halemaumau crater. Ash clouds shot skyward from the summit crater and blanketed the region in volcanic debris.

Kilauea has been active for decades. But the eruption that began in May has transformed both the park and the rural Big Island coastline that surrounds it.

Outside the park, lava flows consumed entire neighborhoods, filled an ocean bay and created miles of new shoreline with fresh black sand beaches and jagged rocky outcrops. Inside the park, molten rock drained from the summit lava lake and vanished from view as the landscape underwent a monumental change.

In this Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018, photo released by the National Park Service tourists visit Hawaii Volcanoes National Park on the first day the park reopened after volcanic activity forced the park to close for more than four months in Hawaii. (Janice Wei/National Park Service via AP)

The summit crater floor sank 1,500 feet (460 meters), and the overall Kilauea caldera widenedexpanding more than 1 square mile, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. It quadrupled in size as lava drained out of the active vent.

"This eruption was really unprecedented in the historic record," Ingrid Johanson, a research geophysicist at the U.S. Geological Survey's Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. "The changes we've seen at the summit are much more dramatic than anything that's happened in the last 200 years."

The crater looks "completely different," Johanson said. "I think people are going to be really awestruck when they see it."

However, one of the park's biggest drawsthe radiant red light from the lava lake that has been a Kilauea hallmark for over a decadeis completely gone.

This Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018 photo released by the National Park Service shows tourists on the first day the park was reopened after volcanic activity forced Hawaii Volcanoes National Park to close for more than four months in Hawaii. The eruption destroyed hundreds of homes outside the park while changing the popular summit crater inside the park. (Janice Wei/National Park Service via AP)

"There is no glow at all," said Shanelle Saunders, the park's acting spokeswoman. "You can't even see your hand in front your face it's so dark in a lot of these areas. I mean, the stars right now are incredible, but there's actually no flowing lava."

The park will be open 24 hours a day, but visitors should be careful at night because of new cracks in trails and walkways. "Even if people are really familiar with those trails, they may have changed since they've been here," Saunders said.

Public access to the volcano remains limited because of damage to its infrastructure. But visitors can once again hike around some parts of the summit area and see the aftermath of the historic eruption.

"The crater rim trail is open to a certain point," Saunders said. "And from there, they can see down into the crater itself."

In this Saturday, Sept. 22,2018, photo released by the National Park Service shows tourists get directions on the first day Hawaii Volcanoes National Park is reopened after volcanic activity forced the park to close for more than four months in Hawaii. (Janice Wei/National Park Service via AP)

The theme of this year's National Public Lands Day is "resilience and restoration," said Hawaii Volcanoes National Park spokeswoman Jessica Ferracane, who noted that park repair work had been pointing toward a late-September reopening.

"We really wanted to invite visitors back without them having to pay on that first day," Ferracane said. "The theme was so uncanny that we thought it would be a real good fit."

While volcanic activity has slowed significantly in the past month and no lava is reaching the surface at Kilauea, scientists aren't ready to declare the latest eruption over.

"There is still material that could feed into an eruption," Johanson said. "I definitely expect that lava will return one day."

In this May, 9, 2018, file photo, visitors take pictures as Kilauea's summit crater glows red in Volcanoes National Park, Hawaii. The Hawaii Volcanoes National Park will reopen its main gates Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018, welcoming carloads of visitors eager to see Kilauea's new summit crater and the area where a longstanding lava lake once bubbled near the surface. The park has been closed for 135 days as volcanic activity caused explosive eruptions, earthquakes and the collapse of the famed Halemaumau crater. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)

These 2018 images released by the United States Geological Survey, USGS, shows past, left, and present views of Kilauea's summit in Hawaii. At left is a photo taken on Nov. 28, 2008, with a distinct gas plume rising from the vent that had opened within Halemaumau about eight months earlier. At right is a photo taken on August 1, 2018, to approximate the 2008 view for comparison. Hawaii Volcanoes National Park will reopen its main gates Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018, welcoming carloads of visitors eager to see Kilauea's new summit crater and the area where a longstanding lava lake once bubbled near the surface. The park has been closed for 135 days as volcanic activity caused explosive eruptions, earthquakes and the collapse of the famed Halemaumau crater. (USGS via AP)

In this May 10, 2018, file photo, visitors view Kilauea's summit crater outside the Jaggar Museum in Volcanoes National Park, Hawaii. The Hawaii Volcanoes National Park will reopen its main gates Saturday, Sept. 22. The park has been closed for 135 days as volcanic activity caused explosive eruptions, earthquakes and the collapse of the famed Halemaumau crater. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)

This Sept. 1, 2015, file photo shows volcanic gas rising from the lava lake in Kilauea's Halemaumau Crater in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park on Hawaii's Big Island. Hawaii Volcanoes National Park will reopen its main gates Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018, welcoming carloads of visitors eager to see Kilauea's new summit crater and the area where a longstanding lava lake once bubbled near the surface. The park has been closed for 135 days as volcanic activity caused explosive eruptions, earthquakes and the collapse of the famed Halemaumau crater. (AP Photo/Caleb Jones, File)

Explore further Scientists downgrade alert level for Hawaii volcano

 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.Boosting Sino-Nepali tourism

The importance of connectivity cannot be overemphasised in spurring tourism across the bordersSign up for MarketBeat All Access to gain access to MarketBeat's full suite of research tools:

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The Cabinet awarded the Upper Arun Hydropower Project to Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), the state-owned power utility, during a meeting last Friday.Dashain bookings start after nod to fare hike

The annual pre-holiday bookings, which had been stuck in a loop of fallouts between the government and the protesting Federation of Nepalese National Transport Entrepreneurs Association, made headway on Saturday evening after the government decided to increase public transport fares by 10 percent.For Ruby Valley folk, chopper is the only ride to hospital

People of Ruby Valley in the northern part of Dhading are compelled to charter a helicopter whenever someone falls sick for taking them to a hospital.Thank you for reading!

Please log in, or sign up for a new account and purchase a subscription to continue reading.The woman who was killed in a vehicle crash Monday afternoon on Highway 1 south of Lompoc has been identified as 72-year-old Lompoc resident LCALmatters is a public interest journalism venture committed to explaining how California's state Capitol works and why it matters. For more stories by Dan Walters, go to Commentary.An Australian filmmaker freed from jail after receiving a royal pardon in Cambodia returned home Sunday as his family spoke of being "overwhelmed with happiness" at his release. James Ricketson was sentenced to six years' imprisonment last month after being convicted of espionage. He had been in detention since June last year after he flew a drone over an opposition rally. He was given a royal pardon on Friday after strongman premier Hun Sen requested it. The 69-year-old landed in Sydney late Sunday after being deported on Saturday. "The Ricketson family are overwhelmed with happiness to have James home safely in Australia," they said in a statement reported by commercial broadcaster Channel Nine. "James still deeply loves Cambodia and its people and remains committed to helping however he can." The family thanked supporters for campaigning for his release, as well as King Norodom Sihamoni for "bringing this nightmare to an end". They added that the 16-month imprisonment took a huge physical and emotional toll on Ricketson's health. Ricketson's pardon came a few days before Hun Sen -- who has held power for more than 33 years -- was scheduled to travel to New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly. It also followed the freeing of activists and opposition lawmakers in the weeks after July's national election, which critics said was neither free nor fair. Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne thanked her Cambodian counterpart Prak Sokhonn and said the pardon ended a "distressing time" for Ricketson and his family. Ricketson was detained after footage emerged of him using a drone to film a rally of the now-defunct opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP). His six-day trial -- which rights groups slammed as a farce -- showed him to be defiant and combative. It featured a surprise appearance by Hollywood director Peter Weir, who served as a character witness for his friend. The prosecution accused Ricketson of working as a filmmaker in Cambodia as a front for spying activities, but the verdict failed to name which country he was allegedly spying for. The CNRP, the sole legitimate opposition force to Hun Sen's ruling Cambodian People's Party, was dissolved in the lead-up to the controversial election -- clearing the path for his party to take all 125 parliament seats.A new high-speed rail link between Hong Kong and mainland China launched Sunday, a multi-billion-dollar project that critics say gives away part of the city's territory to an increasingly assertive Beijing. Chinese security have been stationed in semi-autonomous Hong Kong for the first time at the harbourfront West Kowloon rail terminus, as part of a new "special port area" that is subject to mainland law. Despite critics' fears over passenger safety in the mainland zones, hundreds gathered at the terminus, with the first train leaving for the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen at 7:00 am (2300 GMT Saturday). "I'm not worried about the (mainland security) issue. They're only here to work, the joint checkpoints are just to make things more convenient and make border-crossing clearance faster," one 39-year-old passenger who gave his name as Mr. Chan told AFP. Travellers cross through immigration and customs into the mainland-controlled portion of the station, which includes the platforms and the trains, even though West Kowloon is miles from the border further north. Under Hong Kong's mini-constitution -- the Basic Law -- China's national laws do not apply to the city apart from in limited areas, including defence. Hong Kong also enjoys rights unseen on the mainland, including freedom of speech, protected by a deal made before the city was handed back to China by Britain in 1997. But there are growing fears those liberties are being eroded. Officials argue joint checkpoints will make journeys easier as passengers need no further clearance after crossing into the mainland. The bullet trains to southern China promise to be far quicker than existing cross-border rail links, and long-haul services will cut journey times to Beijing from 24 hours to nine hours. "This is definitely convenient in terms of time," said one passenger who gave his name as Mr. Kwok and was taking a train to visit his ancestral home in the southern Chinese city of Chaozhou. But he added that tickets were expensive and the purchasing system inefficient, having queued for four hours ahead of Sunday to buy them. A second-class ticket to Shenzhen costs HK$86 ($11), while travelling to Guangzhou costs HK$247 and to Beijing HK$1,237. - 'Imperialist attitude' - Opponents warn that giving away control of land in the heart of Hong Kong is a dangerous precedent as Beijing seeks to tighten its grip on the city following mass pro-democracy protests in 2014 and the emergence of an independence movement. "It's almost like an imperialist attitude on the part of Beijing," pro-democracy lawmaker Claudia Mo told AFP. There are also questions over how Hong Kong citizens will be required to behave in the zones subject to Chinese law, whether they will be punished for using Facebook and Twitter -- banned on the mainland -- or targeted for wearing clothing with political slogans. AFP journalists in the station Sunday could still access social media and websites, even when using a mainland Chinese WiFi provider. On the train, passengers had to switch to a registered Chinese mobile number or WeChat account to access WiFi once they crossed into Shenzhen. There are concerns too over the sharing of personal information with Chinese authorities. However, pro-establishment lawmaker Regina Ip described the fears as "overblown". "(The rail link) provides unprecedented convenience of travel," she said. Travellers on the first service out of Hong Kong grappled with reversible seats that were pointing the wrong way, but the train left promptly, with doors closing at 6:59 am. Mainland passengers arriving on early trains were greeted with "I love Hong Kong" mugs in goodie bags and signs welcoming them to the city. One arrival who gave her name as Mrs. Tian, 64, said it was her first time in Hong Kong. "It was too fast!" she said of the train, adding the journey had been "very comfortable". The special port area was quietly handed over to mainland personnel earlier in September. The hush-hush ceremony took place at midnight and was not announced by the Hong Kong government until it was over. There was no media access.Government declares Ansari a martyr

The government has declared Maulana Khursid Ansari of Sunsari as a martyr. Ansari was shot dead by unidentified persons at Bhutaha Bazaar in Harinagar Rural Municipality-2, Sunsari, on Thursday."China equals Hitler" said the sign held up in the Zambian capital Lusaka by a protester opposed to Beijing's tightening grip on the economy of the southern African nation. The demonstrator, James Lukuku, who leads a small political party, was picked up by police and spent several hours in a cell reflecting on his one-man protest. But he is not alone in opposing China's growing presence in President Edgar Lungu's Zambia and in particular its major programme of loans to Lusaka. In fact his criticism echoes concerns shared by many across swathes of Africa and beyond, where some fear that China's mega-projects risk leaving already fragile economies in even worse shape. "I want to bring to the attention of the international community the Chinese influence and corruption in Zambia," said Lukuku who wore a white T-shirt emblazoned with the slogan #sayno2China. China is the main investor in Zambia as it is in several other African countries and with its offers of "unconditional" aid, most public tenders are awarded to Chinese bidders. In Lusaka and across the country, China is busy constructing airports, roads, factories and police stations with the building boom largely funded by Chinese loans. - 'These criminal debts' - "China is about to take everything from Zambia. They have taken over our economy through these criminal debts. This government is contracting debts from China even without parliamentary approval," said Lukuku. Zambian public debt is officially around $10.6 billion but suspicions have grown in recent months that the government is hiding its indebtedness -- as happened in neighbouring Mozambique, which in 2016 was forced to admit it had kept secret $2 billion of borrowing. Fearing that Zambia might be in a similar position, the International Monetary Fund at one point delayed talks over a $1.3 billion loan deal. The slump in the price of copper, Zambia's leading export, has led to fears that Lusaka might even struggle to service its existing debt. Lukuku and his supporters believe that the state is on the verge of handing control of the Zesco national electricity company, Lusaka airport and the ZNBC state broadcaster to China. Stung by the criticism that he was selling out to China, Lungu has hit back at critics. "I implore you to ignore the misleading headlines that seek to malign our relationship with China by mischaracterising our economic cooperation to mean colonialism," Lungu told lawmakers recently. - 'The dominance of Chinese' - Finance Minister Margaret Mwanakatwe has also come out to insist that, in the first half of 2018, $342 million was paid in interest to creditors, of which 53 percent were commercial sector -- and only 30 percent of which were Chinese. But the country's main opposition party has put China's debt dominance at the forefront of its campaign to unseat the government. Opposition figure Stephen Katuka warned against the "rate Zambia is entertaining Chinese nationals which are displacing Zambians through big financial offers". Katuka, who is the secretary general of the United Party for National Development, described the replacement of Zambian workers with Chinese labourers -- as is customary on Chinese-run projects -- as "a time bomb". "If this situation is allowed to degenerate, it may lead to aggression on foreign nationals," he added. There have been several high profile incidents of Chinese managers allegedly mistreating their Zambian workers. "In some instances the Chinese are beating Zambians in places of work for simply failing to follow instructions," said Katuka. Typically reclusive, China's ambassador to Lusaka Lie Jie was drawn into the growing furore to defend Beijing's intentions. "I feel strange when I hear we want to colonise Africa," he told journalists recently, categorically denying that China was seeking to buy Zambia's publicly-owned companies. Economist and head of Zambia's Private Sector Development Association Yosuf Dodia told AFP that Chinese investment should be seen as an opportunity not a burden. "Zambia has been dominated by the West for 100 years... and we are seeing poverty all over the continent," he said. "The partnership level is around $10 billion -- and that is good. There is no other country that offers those kinds of opportunities." The benefit of such vast investment is not always felt on the ground, however. "I am not happy with the dominance of Chinese contractors. In the first place, the money that they get from these contracts is externalised and all that they return here are meagre wages," said Edgar Syakachoma, himself a contractor. "Let the government also give us the contracts so that they benefit Zambians."MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Two car bombs exploded in Somalia's capital Mogadishu on Saturday, injuring two people, an emergency worker and a police officer said.

It was not clear who had planted the bombs, which detonated in two different cars near a main road in the centre of the city. Islamist group al Shabaab frequently carries out bombings in Mogadishu and other parts of the Horn of Africa country.

"So far we have carried two injured people," Abdikadir Abdirahman, director of AMIN ambulance services, told Reuters.

"It looks like the bombs were planted in the cars by terrorists," Major Ahmed Nur, a police officer, told Reuters.

He said one of the cars was parked and had nobody in it, while the second was moving and the two people inside it had been injured.

On Friday, at least three people were killed in separate attacks in Mogadishu including a female university student shot dead in her class by two men armed with pistols.

Al Shabaab is fighting to topple Somalia's Western-backed central government and establish its own rule based on its own strict interpretation of Islamic sharia law.

The group also wants to drive African Union (AU)-mandated AMISOM peacekeepers out of the country.

(Reporting by Abdi Sheikh and Feisal Omar; Writing by Elias Biryabarema; Editing by Hugh Lawson)International flying rules relaxed for domestic carriers

The Cabinet on Friday gave its approval for temporary relaxation of civil aviation rules, which will enable new and existing domestic carriers to start international operations sooner. The move is aimed at increasing domestic airlines market share in the foreign routes.2018 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming Digest #38

Posted on 23 September 2018 by John Hartz

Call to Acton... Storyline of the Week... Must-Read Analysis... Opinion of the Week... Toon of the Week... Quote of the Week... SkS Spotlights... Video of the Week... Reports of Note... Coming Soon on SkS... Climate Feedback Reviews... SkS Week in Review... Poster of the Week...

Call to Action...

As you may be aware, the US 2018 Mid-term election will be one of the most historically important elections in American history. Thus, we are embarking on an effort to update the SkS resource, Climate Myths from Politicians. If you are aware that a candidate for the US Congress or the US Senate has made a statement, or statements, about man-made climate change, please share those statements with us in the comment thread of this post. Be sure to properly document the source of each statement.

Storyline of the Week...

The Unequal Burden of Climate Change

Hurricane Florence and Super Typhoon Mangkhut laid bare the disproportionate consequences for poor communities.

A street flooded by Super Typhoon Mangkhut in the Philippines. (NOEL CELIS/AFP/Getty Images)

Two massive tropical cyclones made landfall on separate ends of the globe on Friday. But they were, as the Associated Press put it, as different as water and wind.

The wind storm was Super Typhoon Mangkhut. Deemed the strongest cyclone of 2018, it brought 165 mile-per-hour gusts and 20-foot storm surges to the Philippines, and a bit less of both to Hong Kong. The water storm was Hurricane Florence. The slow-moving storm brought only 90 mile-per-hour winds to North and South Carolina, but also torrential rainfall that set a record for both states.

These differences illustrate what one disaster preparedness expert told me last week. Every single storm has its own identity, its own footprint, he said. No two are ever alike. But cyclones identities are not just shaped by wind speeds and rainfall totals. Theyre defined by the communities they target.

The Unequal Burden of Climate Change by Emily Atkin, The New Republic, Sep 18, 2018

Must-Read Analysis...

Three papers have been recently published that lead to the conclusion that human-induced climate change poses a much more urgent and serious threat to life on Earth than many have thought who have been relying primarily on the conclusions of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). This paper first reviews these papers and then examine the ethical questions by the issues discussed in these papers.

New Evidence That Climate Change Poses a Much Greater Threat to Humanity Than Recently Understood Because the IPCC has been Systematically Underestimating Climate Change Risks: An Ethical Analysis by Donald Brown, Ethics & Climate, Widener University, Sep 21, 2018

Opinion of the Week...

Hurricane Florence has drenched eastern North Carolina with more than 30 inches of rain, an all-time record for the state. Last year, Hurricane Harvey stalled over Houston and dumped more than 60 inches of rain, an all-time record for the whole country. Also last year, Hurricane Maria ravaged the island of Puerto Rico and caused, according to an independent study, nearly 3,000 deaths.

Welcome to the new normal.

Tropical cyclones are nothing new, of course. But climate scientists say that global warming should make such storms wetter, slower and more intense  which is exactly what seems to be happening. And if we fail to act, these kinds of devastating weather events will likely become even more frequent and more severe

Climate change is real. Welcome to the new normal., Opinion by Eugene Robinson, Washington Post, My 18, 2018

Toon of the Week...

Quote of the Week...

SAN FRANCISCO  It was a big act, one of the last in the final days of a long political career, and it was about one of his lifes passions: safeguarding the environment.

Jerry Brown, 80, the four-term governor of California who is to retire in January, was the principal organizer and reluctant star of the Global Climate Action Summit, a high-octane gathering of lawmakers, executives and scientists working to beat back global warming.

But even as he sought to rally other politicians to the cause, Governor Browns conference underscored the limits of what politicians can do to avert the most catastrophic effects of climate change  even the politician who leads California, the wealthiest state in the country and the worlds fifth-largest economy.

We can spread it, encourage it. Ill try to do that, he said in an interview in his office in the State Capitol in Sacramento. But at the end of the day, this takes a conversion. Its almost a quasi-religious transformation that has not occurred but must occur. Or the world will pay a very heavy price in life and economic detriment.

Jerry Brown Made Climate Change His Issue. Now, Hes Not Sure How Much Politicians Can Do. by Somini Sengupta, Climate, New York Times, Sep 18, 2018

SkS Spotlights...

The Metcalf Institute for Marine & Environmental Reporting, University of Rhode Island (URI)

Bringing Science to the Conversation

The Metcalf Institute has been fostering informed public conversations about environmental issues by conducting science training for journalists and communication training for scientists for 20 years. Based in the URI College of the Environment and Life Sciences, the Metcalf Institute collaborates with academics, state and federal agencies, non-profits, businesses, community representatives and news organizations nationwide to develop customized programs and resources that improve and expand news coverage of environmental topics. Metcalf has become a global leader in professional development, training 1,800 journalists, scientists, and environmental communicators since our first training in 1999. Our successful training model has a significant multiplier effect, helping millions of news consumers worldwide access high-quality environmental news coverage that relates environmental science to their daily lives, and sparking essential conversations about challenging issues.

Metcalf Institutes Mission

The mission of Metcalf Institute is to expand accurate environmental news coverage through innovative training and resources for journalists, researchers, and other science communicators to engage more people in discourse about science and the environment.

Video of the Week...

Coming Soon on SkS...

Scientists are narrowing in on climate sensitivity (Dana)

(Dana) How Arctic lakes accelerate permafrost carbon losses (Carbon Brief)

(Carbon Brief) Retraction of Florides et al. (2013) (Ari)

(2013) (Ari) Guest Post (John Abraham)

(John Abraham) New research this week (Ari)

(Ari) 2018 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #40 (John Hartz)

(John Hartz) 2018 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming Digest #40 (John Hartz)

Climate Feedback Reviews...

USA Today op-ed ignores evidence to claim climate change had no role in Hurricane Florence

Climate Feedback asked a team of scientists to review the op-ed, Hurricane Florence is not climate change or global warming. It's just the weather. by Roy W Spencer, USA Today, Sep 14, 2018.

Four scientists analyzed the article and estimated its overall scientific credibility to be low to very low.

A majority of reviewers tagged the article as: Biased, Flawed reasoning, Misleading.

Review Summary

This op-ed in USA Today makes the claim that Hurricane Florence has no appreciable contribution from human-caused climate change.

Scientists who reviewed the article found that it ignores the evidence for trends in tropical cyclone behavior, including slower movement speed and more intense rainfall. Additionally, sea level rise raised the storm surge of the landfalling tropical cyclone above the level it would have reached a century ago. The article cherry-picks data in misleading way to claim that recent storms are no different from past tropical cyclones, but does not provide the analysis necessary to support this claim.

Published research on the topic does, in fact, show that climate change affects tropical cyclones like Florence. While it is unpublished and preliminary, an early analysis by researchers at Stony Brook University and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory suggested human-induced warming could have increased Florence precipitation near its maximum by up to 50%, and more extensive research showed it contributed 15%[1] to 20%[2,3] increased rainfall for Hurricane Harvey. This is due to the fact that warmer air can hold more water vapor[4], which increases hurricanes intensity and rainfall.

USA Today op-ed ignores evidence to claim climate change had no role in Hurricane Florence, Edited by Scott Johnson, Climate Feedback, Sep 17, 2018

SkS Week in Review...

Poster of the Week...Locals fear for their safety after Khursid murder

Locals near the Nepal-India border area in Sunsari have been living in constant fear after the murder of Maulana Khursid Ansari at Bhutaha Bazaar in Harinagar Rural Municipality-2.Minutes before a 2:30 p.m. deadline on Saturday, Christine Blasey Ford agreed that she would testify before Congress next week about her claims that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her when the two of them were in high school. Lawyers representing Ford wrote to the Senate Judiciary Committee saying that their client accepts the request to testify but expressed optimism they would be able to negotiate conditions at the hearing.

A few hours later, the Senate Judiciary Committee and Fords lawyers reportedly reached a tentative agreement for her to publicly testify on Thursday in what the New York Times characterized as an apparent breakthrough in halting negotiations. Although there were still lots of details to work out, the concession by Republicans to allow Ford to testify Thursday seemed to be a confirmation that they want the public session to take place. Negotiations between the committee and Fords lawyers are set to continue Sunday.

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Dr. Ford accepts the Committees request to provide her first-hand knowledge of Brett Kavanaughs sexual misconduct next week, Debra Katz and Lisa Banks, wrote in the afternoon message to the committee. We are hopeful that we can reach agreement on details, they added. Can we set up a time for later this afternoon to continue our negotiations? The lawyers also said they were disappointed with the leaks and the bullying that have tainted the process. Blaseys attorneys say she wanted to appear before the committee on Thursday, according to the New York Times, but that is one of many details that still have to be decided.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley had given Ford a deadline of 10 p.m. on Friday to decide whether she would testify. Fords attorney Katz responded with a strongly worded letter criticizing the aggressive and artificial deadlines as an attempt to bully Dr. Ford. Grassley agreed to an extension and proceeded to write a tweet that looked like an apology to Kavanaugh. Judge Kavanaugh I just granted another extension to Dr Ford to decide if she wants to proceed w the statement she made last week to testify to the senate, he wrote.

She shld decide so we can move on I want to hear her. I hope u understand. Its not my normal approach to b indecisive. Grassley also complained that he felt like he was playing 2nd trombone in the judiciary orchestra and Schumer is the conductor.

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Judge Kavanaugh I just granted another extension to Dr Ford to decide if she wants to proceed w the statement she made last week to testify to the senate She shld decide so we can move on I want to hear her. I hope u understand. Its not my normal approach to b indecisive  ChuckGrassley (@ChuckGrassley) September 22, 2018

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Republicans were immediately skeptical about Fords agreement to testify, with some questioning whether the letter amounted to a stalling tactic. Our view of this latest response from Ford through her attorney is still ambiguous. She says shes willing to testify but she says she still wants negotiations, a senior White House official told Politico. Until theres actually an agreement, there isnt. It could be a another delay tactic. Vice President Mike Pence expressed support for Kavanaugh on Saturday, telling a crowd at the Values Voters Summit that Kavanaugh is a man of integrity, with impeccable credentials and a proven judicial philosophy.Six of Rep. Paul Gosars nine siblings are taking a family feud to a whole new level, starring in a series of ads for their brothers Democratic opponent in November, David Brill. In the ads, Tim, David, Grace, Joan, Gaston, and Jennifer Gosar all speak directly to the camera and explain why they think their brother does not have the best interest of Arizonas 4th district. If he actually cared about people in rural Arizona, I bet hed be fighting for Social Security, for better access to health care, Jennifer Gosar says in one ad.

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In another ad, the siblings repudiate their brothers views and make clear they dont share his values. It would be difficult to see my brother as anything but a racist, Grace Gosar says in one of the ads. Joan Gosar, for her part, says at one point that her brother traded a lot of the values we had at our kitchen table.

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Rep. Gosar responded to the ads on Saturday by criticizing his siblings but painting it as nothing more than a family squabble. You cant pick your family. We all have crazy aunts and relatives etc and my family is no different, he wrote on Twitter. I hope they find peace in their hearts and let go all the hate. In another tweet, Gosar also characterized his siblings who spoke up as liberal Democrats who hate President Trump and called them disgruntled Hillary supporters who put political ideology before family.

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You cant pick your family. We all have crazy aunts and relatives etc and my family is no different. I hope they find peace in their hearts and let go all the hate.



To the six angry Democrat Gosarssee you at Mom and Dads house! #AZ04 #MAGA2018  Paul Gosar (@DrPaulGosar) September 22, 2018

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My siblings who chose to film ads against me are all liberal Democrats who hate President Trump. These disgruntled Hillary suppporters are related by blood to me but like leftists everywhere, they put political ideology before family. Stalin would be proud. #Az04 #MAGA2018  Paul Gosar (@DrPaulGosar) September 22, 2018

The tension in the Gosar family became public around a year ago when they wrote a letter to the Kingman Daily Miner distancing themselves from their brother. They spoke up at the time after Gosar suggested in an interview that George Soros may have been a Nazi collaborator, reports the Arizona Republic.It all makes sense once you realize they want to kill us, by Mike Whitney - The Unz Review : 'It is now apparent that these products in ...Kinzua Bridge State Park Complex November Programing



The Kinzua Bridge State Park Complex is excited to offer the following public programs at Kinzua Bridge during the month of November. Dates times and descriptions for each program are provided below. Participants should dress for the weather and plan to be outside.



Kinzua Bridge State Park



Winds of Change: Wind Turbines & Wildlife

Virtual Program

Monday, November 8, 2021 (6:00 p.m.)



In order to mitigate the impacts of global climate change more and more of our energy needs are being met by renewable sources such as wind and solar. While both of these renewable sources of energy produce less emissions they still have impacts on wildlife. Join us for a virtual program exploring how using innovation in turbine design can reduce the impacts on wildlife from wind energy development.

*Please note this is a virtual program delivered via Microsoft Teams and will not be presented physically in the park.



Pre-registration is required, to register visit: https://events.dcnr.pa.gov/event/winds_of_change_wind_turbines_wildlife-_virtual_program



Saturday Morning Bird Walk

Saturday, November 13, 2021 (8:30 a.m.)



Bring your own binoculars to look for birds and plan on hiking around the park and out on the bridge!



Growing Up Wild- Virtual Teacher Workshop

Wednesday, November 17, 2021 (9:00 a.m.)



Virtual professional development opportunity for current and future early childhood educators looking for innovative ways to engage young learners (ages 3-7) with nature. Along with sampling some of the 27 different lessons contained in the curriculum all participants will receive a free curriculum guide for their classrooms and will be eligible to receive 2 Act 48 hours.

*Please note this is a virtual program delivered via Microsoft Teams and will not be presented physically in the park.



Pre-registration is required to register visit:

https://events.dcnr.pa.gov/event/virtual-growing_up_wild_educator_workshop#.YX149Z7MLIU



For more information, please contact Kinzua Bridge State Park Visitor Center and Park Office at (814) 778-5467 or e-mail us at kinzuabridgesp@pa.gov . Visit DCNRs website directly at www.dcnr.state.pa.us or visit DCNR through the PA homepage at www.state.pa.usBay of Plenty

We are looking for STMS' for permanent full-time roles. To be chosen as one of the successful candidates, you will have...



View or Apply on GoodWork.co.nzMalaysia holds 47 Nepalis for visa breach

As many as 47 Nepali migrant workers in Malaysia have been detained in recent raids of its Immigration Department for violation of its visa rules.Man arrested with stolen 7.17 million Indian rupees

Police arrested a man at Bhajani Municipality-3 of Kalali district with seven million of looted Indian rupees on Sunday.Pappu certain to win Nepal Rastra Bank contract

Pappu Construction, currently under government scrutiny for failing to complete a large number of infrastructure projects within the prescribed deadlines, is all set to get another high profile contract.Tax litterbugs more: Minister Pandit

Identify and slap more taxes on litterbugs the Minister for Federal Affairs and General Administration Lal Babu Pandit said on Saturday.Think tank formed to counsel government

The government has formed a five-member think tank to suggest it on various policy issues concerning economic, political, social and administrative reforms.Veep Pun encourges Nepali students in China to excel

Vice President Nanda Bahadur Pun on Saturday encouraged Nepali students enrolled in Sichuan University of Science and Engineering to excel in their studies and do Nepal proud.New business & finance channel will launch at 6am Monday October 1 on both Channel 95 (formerly Extra) and Foxtel channel 601 (formerly SKY News Business).

The joint venture between Nine and Australian News Channel (aka SKY News) will feature business news, personal finance, real estate coverage, luxury and lifestyle programming.

Appearing are business journalists Ticky Fullerton, James Daggar-Nickson, Ingrid Willinge, Leo Shanahan, Leanne Jones and Adam Creighton, plus Real Estate hosts Sophie Hull and James Treble.

Also announced today, Your Money will feature a new primetime business program airing live each weeknight from 6:00pm-8.30pm. Your Money Live hosted by Brooke Corte and Chris Kohler, will take audiences inside the world of wealth, covering everything from the big business stories to personal finance and ways to grow, protect and spend your money. Each weeknight Brooke and Chris will help make sense of the days events, cut through the jargon and present complex finance stories in an entertaining and engaging way.

From 8:30pm each weeknight audiences can tune into bespoke programs, including Money Talks with Peter Switzer (Mondays), Swipe with James Daggar-Nickson for all things technology (Tuesdays), CarAdvice with Paul Maric and Trent Nikolic (Wednesdays), Entrepreneurs with Jack Delosa (Thursdays) and Business Class with James Wilkinson (Fridays).

Weekday programming begins with Business Breakfast at 6:00am with Leanne Jones detailing everything you need to know before the Australian market opens, from the latest Wall Street moves to expectations for the Asian trading day ahead.

Then from 9:00am, Trading Day: The Countdown with James Daggar-Nickson sets-up the local session, featuring experts from the nations top banks and brokerages and all the mornings breaking news.

From 10:00am James hosts Trading Day: The Open providing up-to-the-minute coverage of the corporate and economic news moving Australian markets with in-depth analysis from expert guests and featuring interviews with some of the nations business leaders.

From 11:00am right through to 4:00pm, every minute counts on Trading Day Live. Hosts Ingrid Willinge and Adam Creighton bring you continuing coverage of the local trading session as it unfolds, along with analysis of the big economic news of the day. Theyre joined by some of the countrys top business minds, economists and investors. At 1:00pm share market experts are on hand to answer your questions.

From 4:00pm on Trading Day: The Final Count the Your Money team take a deep-dive into the days big market movers and the corporate stories of the day, getting you across everything you need to know ahead of the US market open.

Business and politics meet each weekday at 5:00pm as award-winning business journalist Ticky Fullerton hosts the flagship business program Ticky. Featuring exclusive top-floor interviews with Australias corporate elite, leading economists, regulators and political figures, along with the best in national and international business news. Business Reporter Leo Shanahan joins Ticky with live breaking business news and exclusives.

Nightly from 11.30pm join the Fox Business Network US team as they break down international market moves alongside industry titans and economic experts.

Saturdays from 8.30am Sophie Hull and James Treble host Auction Day, the only Australian real estate show featuring live auctions from around the country. Auction Day is an essential guide to the nations hottest real estate, with expert advice on buying, selling, investing and improving your property.

Your Money will also launch on yourmoney.com.au, along with Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. Online, Your Money will feature exclusive business, wealth, real estate and lifestyle content, along with all the highlights from the TV channel.

Your Money CEO Kylie Merritt said: We are creating an always-on destination which will deliver great content wherever people want to consume it. Helping Australians make sense of the myriad ways of investing and protecting their wealth is a big responsibility and our team is ready to do just that from October 1.

From Monday October 1

*Times in AEST

 Business Breakfast  Weekdays live at 6:00am

 Trading Day: The Countdown  Weekdays live at 9:00am

 Trading Day: The Open  Weekdays live at 10:00am

 Trading Day Live  Weekdays live from 11:00am

 Trading Day: The Final Count  Weekdays live at 4:00pm

 Ticky Weeknights live at 5:00pm

 Your Money Live  Weeknights live at 6:00pm

 Money Talks with Peter Switzer  Mondays live at 8:30pm

 Swipe with James Daggar-Nickson  Tuesdays live at 8:30pm

 CarAdvice  Wednesdays live at 8:30pm

 Entrepreneurs  Thursdays live at 8:30pm

 Business Class  Fridays live at 8:30pm

 Real Estate  Saturdays live from 8.30am

 FOX Business Live  Monday  Saturday from 11:30pm

Free-to-air channel 95 and Foxtel Channel 601, plus Foxtel Now, 9Now & yourmoney.com.au.The president of Iran has labelled the US a "bully" after an attack on a military parade where at least 29 people were killed.

Hassan Rouhani has accused America of looking to create insecurity in the Islamic Republic, claiming the perpetrators were helped by the US.

Four gunmen opened fire on the crowd on Saturday, killing civilians and 12 members of the country's elite Revolutionary Guards.

Speaking before leaving Tehran to attend the UN General Assembly in New York, Mr Rouhani accused US-backed Gulf Arab states of providing financial and military support for anti-government ethnic Arab groups.

"The small puppet countries in the region are backed by America, and the United States is provoking them and giving them the necessary capabilities," said Mr Rouhani.

He warned the United States will regret its "aggressiveness".

The US responded on Sunday, condemning the atrocity and rejecting any allegation the US would be complicit in a terror attack.

"The United States condemns any terrorist attack anywhere, period. We've always stood by that," Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the UN, told CNN.

"He needs to look at his own base to figure out where that's coming from. He can blame us all he wants. The thing he's got to do is look at the mirror," she continued.

On Sunday, Iran summoned diplomats from Britain, Denmark and the Netherlands over allegedly harbouring "members of the terrorist group" that launched an attack on a military parade in the country's southwest.

Iranian armed forces spokesman Brigadier General Abolfazl Shekarchi earlier said the dead included a young girl and a former serviceman in a wheelchair.

"Of the four terrorists, three were sent to hell at the scene, while the fourth who had been wounded and arrested went to hell moments ago due to his severe wounds," Mr Shekarchi told state television.

It reported 29 dead and 57 wounded in the southwestern city of Ahvaz.

Story continues

Both Islamic State and an Iranian ethnic Arab opposition movement called the Ahvaz National Resistance have claimed responsibility for the attack.

On Sunday evening, Islamic State's Amaq agency posted video of three men in uniform, claiming they were about to carry out the attack.

"The response of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the smallest threat will be crushing", Mr Rouhani said on his official website. "Those who give intelligence and propaganda support to these terrorists must answer for it."

Shortly after the attack, which began half an hour after the parade started at 8.30am local time (6am in the UK), foreign minister Mohammed Javad Zarif blamed the attack on "regional terror sponsors" and their "US masters".

"Iran will respond swiftly and decisively in defence of Iranian lives," he wrote on Twitter.

The attack was one of the worst ever against the Guards, who are the most powerful and notorious military force in the country.

The shooting lasted for about 10 minutes.

Footage in a video being shared on social media showed the crowd dropping to the floor as the rattle of gunfire was heard in the background.

A second video capturing the aftermath of the attack showed a chaotic scene of people fleeing and paramedics trying to help the injured.

Photos shared by a state news agency showed a man in military fatigues with blood running down his back being helped towards a car by a group of men.

A picture of a bloodied rucksack was also shared.

The parade in the southwestern city was being held to mark the anniversary of the start of the eight-year war with Saddam Hussein's Iraq in 1980.

IS attacked Iran's parliament and the shrine of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in Tehran on 7 June 2017. At least 18 people were killed and more than 50 wounded in the attack.

The assault shocked Tehran, which largely has avoided militant attacks in the decades after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, which saw Khomeini topple the Western-backed shah to become Iran's first supreme leader until his death in 1989.Australian filmmaker James Ricketson gestures as he leaves the Municipal Court of Phnom Penh, Cambodia August 16, 2018. REUTERS/Samrang Pring

Thomson Reuters

By Lidia Kelly

MELBOURNE (Reuters) - The family of an Australian filmmaker pardoned by Cambodia after being jailed on espionage charges said on Saturday it was happy the "nightmare" came to an end, while the Australian foreign minister thanked the government in Phnom Penh for his release.

James Ricketson, 69, was freed from Phnom Penh's Prey Sar prison on Friday after a court sentenced him in August to six years in jail for damaging the country's reputation.

He was arrested in June 2017 after being photographed flying a drone above a rally organized by the now-dissolved opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) before communal elections.

"We are just so relieved and excited about this news," Ricketson's son, Jesse, told Reuters in an e-mailed statement.

"It still hasn't really sunk in. It has been a really tough 16 months and I'm just kind of in shock right now. We would like to offer our hugest gratitude to King Norodom Sihamoni for showing us compassion and bringing this nightmare to an end."

Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne also thanked her Cambodian counterpart for the release. "This ends a distressing time for Mr. Ricketson and his family," Payne said in an e-mailed statement.

Jesse Ricketson said the family has been concerned about his father's health as he approaches 70.

"We're not sure how long he could have continued to endure the conditions of the notorious Prey Sar prison," he said.

He added the family expected Ricketson in Australia "very soon", probably on Sunday.

The filmmaker has been visiting Cambodia for more than 20 years, producing documentaries about the country and its people.

His arrest came amid a wider crackdown on freedom of expression by Hun Sen's government and his Cambodian People's Party (CPP). The CPP in July claimed victory following a controversial general election which was largely unopposed.

Story continues

Rights groups said the July 29 vote was neither free nor fair given the absence of a significant challenger to Hun Sen, who has ruled for 33 years.

Payne said on Saturday that the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade would continue to provide Ricketson with consular assistance, but due to "privacy considerations" would not make any further statements on his release.

(Additional reporting by Len Leng in PHNOM PENH and Colin Packham in MELBOURNE; Editing by Nick Macfie)

See Also:Wont let people down: PM Oli

Prime Minister and Nepal Communist Party (NCP) Chairman KP Sharma Oli has said that the ruling coalition would not let peoples trust and confidence in the government waver.NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP)  Cyprus is trying to secure the release of five fishermen who were taken into custody by a Turkish warship as they were fishing off the northern coast of the ethnically divided Mediterranean island nation.

Cyprus government spokesman Prodromos Prodromou said authorities have protested the arrest with the U.N. peacekeeping force stationed in Cyprus. U.N. spokesman Aleem Siddique said the U.N. is trying to "resolve this situation, which is regrettable."

Cyprus Foreign Ministry spokesman Demetris Samuel said the owner of the Cyprus-flagged fishing boat told authorities that a Turkish warship approached his vessel 20 miles (32 kilometers) off the island's northwestern coast on Friday evening.

The one Greek Cypriot and four Egyptian fishermen on board were then arrested and the boat was towed to a harbor in the country's breakaway Turkish Cypriot north.

See Also:DUBAI (Reuters) - Several people were killed when unknown gunmen opened fire during a military parade in the southwestern Iranian city of Ahvaz on Saturday, state television reported.

Iran was holding a number of parades in cities including the capital Tehran and the port of Bandar Abbas on the Gulf to mark the start of the countrys 1980-88 war with Iraq.

"Shooting began by several gunmen from behind the stand during the parade. There are several killed and injured," a correspondent told state television.

State television blamed "takfiri elements", a reference to Islamist militants, for the attack in Ahvaz, the center of Khuzestan province, which has been the site of sporadic protests by Iran's Arab minority.

(Reporting by Dubai newsroom; editing by John Stonestreet)

See Also:By Doina Chiacu

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley on Sunday dismissed Iran's assertion that Washington and its Gulf allies were to blame for a deadly parade attack and said Tehran should look closer to home.

Before leaving for the United Nations on Sunday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani accused other countries including the United States of provoking the shooting attack on a military parade that killed 25 people on Saturday.

Haley dismissed his comments as rhetoric.

"He's got the Iranian people are protesting, every ounce of money that goes into Iran goes into his military, he has oppressed his people for a long time and he needs to look at his own base to figure out where that's coming from," she told CNN's "State of the Union."

"He can blame us all he wants. The thing he's got to do is look at the mirror."

Iran's Revolutionary Guards vowed on Sunday to wreak "deadly and unforgettable" vengeance for the attack, which killed 12 of their comrades.

There has been a blizzard of furious statements from top Iranian officials blaming the United States and Gulf kingdoms for the bloodshed and threatening a tough response.

"America wants to cause chaos and unrest in our country so that it can return to this country, but these are unreal fantasies and they will never achieve their goals," Rouhani said.

Haley was asked about comments made Saturday night after the attack by President Donald Trump's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani. He told an Iranian opposition group that U.S. sanctions on Iran are leading to economic pain that could lead to a "successful revolution."

Giuliani has made similar comments before on Iran, and the State Department has said he does not speak for the administration.

The U.N. ambassador, without mentioning Giuliani, told CNN, "The United States is not looking to do regime change in Iran."

Trump administration policy does not seek a change of government even though it is reimposing sanctions that are crippling Iran's economy after Trump pulled out of the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement. Haley said Washington was trying to counter Iranian malign activities in the region as Tehran continued to test ballistic missiles, support terrorism and sell arms.

(Reporting by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)Theresa Mays aides have secretly begun contingency planning for a snap election in November to save the Brexit talks and her job after EU leaders rebuffed the prime ministers Chequers plan. Two senior members of Mays Downing Street political operation responded to her summit humiliation in Salzburg last week by wargaming an autumn vote to win public backing for a new plan. - The Sunday Times

Industrial heavyweights have turned their back on the Swansea Tidal Power project as the countdown begins on a one-year stay of execution for its embattled developer. Tidal Lagoon Power has lost three of its high-profile backers from the board, including billionaire industrialist Sanjeev Gupta who is pursuing a rival tidal project with Simec Atlantis. - Sunday Telegraph

Europes largest port, Rotterdam, is counting down to Brexit. In about 200 days time, if nothing else happens we will need to supervise all the goods coming in and out of the UK market, says Roel van t Veld, Brexit coordinator at the Dutch customs authority. - Observer

The next recession could put the 2008 financial crash to shame if two experts' predictions about the worldwide debt of $247trn are correct. Expected to hit the United States within the next two years, the impact has been compared to the severe worldwide economic crisis which started 1929 and last until 1939. - Mail on Sunday

Companies will have to hand one-third of the seats on their boards to their workers if Labour wins the next election, under radical plans unveiled today by Jeremy Corbyn. The Labour leader denounced what he called a reckless corporate culture as he outlined plans to give employees a seat at the table that they can use to curb exploitative practices and the pay and perks of bosses. - The Sunday Times

Investors at troubled toymaker Hornby have been urged to rebel against a golden goodbye for its former boss. Shareholder advisory group ISS has recommended that shareholders vote down the remuneration report at next weeks AGM after the troubled AIM-listed toymaker provided no sufficient explanation for Steve Cookes surge in pay last year. - Sunday Telegraph

The head of the powerful Treasury Committee, Nicky Morgan MP, is demanding answers from RBS and Barclays - and compensation for customers - after technical failures left millions of users locked out of their accounts. Royal Bank of Scotland, NatWest and Ulster Bank customers were unable to access online and mobile accounts between 0500 and 1030 BST on Friday morning, in the latest blow for confidence in Britains online banking infrastructure. - Observer

Police are too busy intervening in trivial social media rows than tackling more serious crimes, the new chairman of the Police Federation has claimed. John Apter, who represents 120,000 rank-and-file officers, said the police feel like they can't do the job they signed up to do and were being sent out to deal with social media feuds rather than dealing with more serious crimes. - Mail on Sunday

The US telecoms giant Comcast clinched the hard-fought bidding war for Sky last night in a deal worth 29.7bn. The owner of NBC Universal was declared the victor at 7.07pm after the third round of a winner-takes-all auction against a combination of 21st Century Fox and Disney. - The Sunday Times

Michael Palin had to reshoot scenes for his North Korea documentary because he had his hands in his pockets, which was seen as disrespectful. The Monty Python star irked officials during the first day of filming Michael Palin in North Korea when his hands became obscured as he spoke to camera in front of two statues of the country's former leaders. - Sunday Telegraph

A 15-year-old girl who was severely allergic to sesame died after eating a Pret a Manger sandwich that did not list the ingredient on its packaging, an inquest will hear this week. Natasha Ednan-Laperouse was travelling with her father and a school friend from London to Nice when she collapsed during the British Airways flight in July 2016. - Observer

The rush to claim PPI compensation has turned huge numbers of Britons into fraudsters, one of the countrys most senior bankers claims today. In an extraordinary broadside, Barclays chairman John McFarlane said customers had made an avalanche of dishonest claims for mis-sold payment protection insurance. - Mail on Sunday

The chief executive of AstraZeneca has warned of widespread shortages of medicines if Britain fails to agree a customs deal with the European Union. The Anglo-Swedish pharmaceuticals giant, which makes drugs such as the cholesterol-lowering Crestor, has already increased its stocks in the UK by 20%. - The Sunday Times

This weekend's torrential rain may make the summer heatwave seem long ago, but forecasters have predicted a return of the sun. Britain is set to enjoy an Indian summer, according to the Met Office, with bright, warm weather stretching into the weeks ahead. - Sunday Telegraph

Zimbabwe faces a deepening economic crisis as hopes fade of a new wave of international investment and aid following historic elections in July. The poll, the first after the military takeover that led to the ousting of Robert Mugabe, was won by the ageing autocrats former right hand man, Emmerson Mnangagwa. - Observer

Aldi and Lidl are preparing to dismantle the dominance of Britains biggest supermarkets within three years despite frenzied efforts to stop them. The German discounters are growing so fast that their combined share of the grocery market could eclipse Asda and Sainsburys by 2021. - Mail on SundayIn the Inside the City column for the Sunday Times, Sabah Meddings wrote how Hull-based food producer Cranswick was turning fifth quarter cuts of meat - a pigs ears, trotters and intestines - into lucrative business.

The FTSE 250 firm had sales of 1.5bn last year, on like-for-like growth of 12.7% over the prior year, with its shares proving a top choice for investors.

Meddings noted that someone who bought in to Cranswick in 2011 would have now quadrupled their investment thanks to the companys series of facilities investments and lucrative acquisitions.

But what was keeping it a tantalising play in 2018 was threefold, according to Meddings, citing China, African swine fever, and US president Donald Trump.

Since early August, 22 outbreaks of the highly-infectious African swine fever have been reported in seven different provinces of China.

Given there is no treatment or vaccine for the disease, the only option for small farmers was often to destroy their livestock.

The short-term effects of that was often a weakening in pork prices as the market is flooded by panic selling, though Meddings said those prices were likely to quickly rise as supply died out, which would be of benefit to an outfit like Cranswick.

Trumps trade war with China was also likely to be a benefit to British food producers, with increased tariffs on American pork making European meat more competitive for as long as the trans-Pacific trade spat continued.

Overall pork prices have been falling, currently sitting 14.6p per kilogram lower than they were a year ago, but that had still benefited Cranswick as increased affordability drove volumes.

The company was also reportedly lifted by the sweltering summer in the UK, which drove consumer demand for sausages as they spent long evenings around the barbecue.

Medings noted that the firm was currently trading at a racy forward price-to-earnings ratio of 24.2x, well above its three-year historic average of 19x.

However, she did say that analysts were suspecting that its current strong performance had already been priced in, with its share price plateauing in recent months, closing at 3357p on Friday.

The reasons for caution were also there, with chief executive Adam Couch cashing in 0.28m worth of shares for personal financial planning reasons earlier in the month, and its first quarter revenue growth of 3.2% slower than the last three years - though still ahead of the market as a whole.

If geopolitical events continue to fall in Cranswicks favour - something analysts at Peel Hunt say could have material consequences - there could still be significant upside in the long term, Meddings wrote.

One to watch - hotdog in hand.

Over in the Mail on Sunday, Joanne Hart was looking at video games - once the domain of teenage boys, but now a 90bn global industry, with an average customer age of 35 - and specifically, game developer Sumo Group.

The firm, which floated on AIM last year, has worked with a number of the worlds largest publishers, including Microsoft, Sega and Sony.

Its shares are currently sitting at 164p, with Hart saying in her 'Midas' column they should increase materially in value over coming years.

Some of Sumos work involves producing game titles from scratch for its publisher customers, and sometimes it is contracted to work on particular aspects of a game, such as its design or ensuring its compatibility with a range of platforms and devices.

Its games are varied, with the company having worked on Team Sonic Racing, featuring Segas popular hedgehog character, and puzzle-based title Little Big Planet.

Hart said Sumo is frequently deeply involved in a games development, allowing it to develop close and long-term relationship with customers, with the firm also concentrating on the AAA-game end of the market - the premium segment, where titles can cost millions and take years to turn out.

Crucially for its books, Sumos work means it gets paid incrementally as a game is developed, reportedly often the recipient of monthly instalments.

Sumo Group was launched in 2003 by chief executive Carl Cavers and three of his colleagues, two of whom are still with the business.

Hart said they spotted a gap in the market, having already worked in the sector for a number of years, founding a professional firm to provide reliable creative and technical services to the big-name publishers.

It was bought by an American firm in 2007, but was purchased back by Cavers and his co-founders in 2014, having expanded rapidly since then - revenues have improved to 28m from 16m, and profits have more-than-doubled to 7.5m.

Sumos geographical reach has expanded too, with studios in Brighton, Newcastle and Nottingham as well as its Sheffield headquarters, and offices in Canada and India.

Hart said its first few months as a publicly-traded company had been encouraging, with first-half figures due on Tuesday expected to show robust growth.

Brokers had predicted sales of 37m and profits of 9m for the full year, with room for more improvement next year.

The ongoing shift from selling games on physical media, such as discs, towards digital downloads was also seen as a good thing for Sumo, as it would give it further opportunity to add features and make more money.

Its customers recently started offering the firm royalties too, said Hart, which could be another driver of revenue growth.

The fact that 22% of shares are held by directors and employees was also said to be encouraging, with more than 150 of Sumos 540 staff having a material interest in how the business performs.

Sumo is a well-run business, with loyal customers and high profit margins in a fast-growing market, Hart wrote.

Most of its staff are based in South Yorkshire, which has developed a reputation for creativity and innovation in the video gaming world.

At 164p, the shares are a buy.London police investigated a string of cat mutilations in London, mostly around the Croydon area. For about three years, people believed that a psycho serial cat-killer was on the prowl. However, police now believe that the perpetrator(s) were probably foxes, the BBC reported Friday. According to their report, over 400 reports of mutilations of cats were reported in "London and surrounding counties."

Cat-Killer investigation took three years

The investigation into the "cat-killer," dubbed the "Croydon Cat Killer" took so much time as each case was investigated separately.

Gristly remains of cats were found strewn across yards, in parks, and in the streets. Astonishingly, the investigation laid the crime, which was not a crime, at the feet of many foxes. The Telegraph notes that across the city, it's believed as many as 1000 foxes call it home.

People most often associate foxes with hen houses, hedgerows, and agricultural areas, but apparently, they adapt to city life with ease. Often, the cats may be killed by passing traffic, and then the foxes will scavenge on the carcasses. The finding of the police investigation was not taken lightly. Fox News reported that "animal welfare groups and veterinarians," became involved in assessing the gruesome "murders." The evidence all points to foxes and other small predators as being the likely perpetrators of mangled remains.

London's urban fox population

During the early hours of the morning and in the dark hours, foxes may be encountered in even the best up-market areas. Their occurrence may be on the rise, as the Guardian noted last year, that the urban fox population was burgeoning. Bournemouth reportedly has 23 foxes to every square kilometer (14 sq.

Discuss this news on Eunomia

miles). London came in second with 18 foxes in the same ratio.

While some people fear the fox population is increasing exponentially in the city areas, a founder of The Fox Project, Trevor Williams, believes that the cities continue to creep into fox habitat, forcing them to adapt to a life in the streets. It seems they are very successful at it too.

Some people believe they may present a danger to humans, and in fact, one fox did attack a baby in 2013. However, according to the RSPCA, such incidents are extremely rare.

When he was the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson declared them a menace, but actually, they do control the feral rats and mice in the city. It seems now, that they also tend to clean up the poor cats that die through misfortune, notwithstanding the mangled remains they leave behind.

The green city attracts wildlife

Foxes are not serial murderers of cats as they just clean up the remains of the dead. Interestingly, foxes aren't the only wild animals that adapted to suburban life. Badgers, Bank Voles, and Brown Hares all make the city a place to live in.

This could be attributed to the fact that the London Wildlife Society points out: "London is a green city. 48 percent of it is surfaced in vegetation, rivers and still waters."

For the people of Croydon and London, it looks like the cat mutilations will continue to be a part of everyday life. Nonetheless, while it's a terrible end for the family cat, knowing the urban wildlife is benefitting from the deaths, may be a small consolation.Zonal hospital tense after infants death

Gajendra Narayan Singh Sagarmatha Zonal Hospital in Rajbiraj remained tense throughout the day on Saturday due to protest over the death of a one-and-half-year-old boy.Halloween 2018 is approaching quickly and you know what that means - ghosts, goblins, tricks or treats, and, of course, candy. Lots of candy! Each year, Halloween is catching up retail wise to the biggest holidays celebrated around the world, including Christmas. The money spent to celebrate All Hallows Eve may just blow your mind!

According to CandyStore.com, an estimated $2.6 billion will be spent on Halloween candy. That is a lot of cash being spent on sugary treats. What is more mind-blowing is that the figure does not include costumes, pumpkins, and all other Halloween decor.

The data is in

The candy retail giant has reportedly gathered 11 years of their own sales data, along with several other major candy manufacturers and distributors across the United States to back their findings - thus helping them come up with a map of 2018's Most Popular Halloween Candy in America.

Halloween Candy 2018: Top candy lists in each state!! https://t.co/7gY76K09rR  iHoliday (@Halloweengal801) September 23, 2018

The top 10

The most popular candy ordered by distributors or purchased at stores by consumers across the US for Halloween is Skittles. Right behind the bite-sized treats is M&Ms at No. 2, Snickers is third, Reeces Cups fourth, and Starburst rounding out the top five.

Candy Corn may be at its most popular at Halloween, yet it was only good enough to rank sixth overall on the Halloween top ten.

It seems people either love or hate the tricolored treat, with no room in between!

Hot Tamales is the seventh most popular candy at Halloween, followed by Hersheys chocolate bars at eight, Tootsie Pops at nine, and rounding out the top ten, is Jolly Ranchers. While those candies are the ten most popular, how about sales in your neck of the woods?

Discuss this news on Eunomia

Michiganders love their Candy Corn. According to data, so do the good folks in New Mexico and Nevada. For Texas, it is Reeces Cups, while in Alaska the No. 1 seller is Twix. This information is based on the number of pounds sold in their state.

The top-selling state for candy is California. Statistics indicate that Skittles is the top seller at a whopping 1,620,736 pounds!

In second place is M&Ms at 1,283,715 pounds, followed by Salt Water Taffy in third place coming in at just under 900,000 lbs. That is a lot of sugar being consumed!

No matter where you live, the verdict is in that Americans love their candy, especially during the fall months leading up to Halloween. Be sure to check out the tweet above or head to CandyStore.com to check out the favorites in your home state.The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released findings from a study projecting that the sum of Alzheimers disease and dementia cases in the United States is predicted to double by 2060, according to a September 21 report by USA Today. This is in addition to the already-experienced increase in Alzheimer's deaths in the US.

The total number of people expected to be diagnosed with one of the progressive brain diseases is approximately 13.9 million. ABC 13 Eyewitness News stated that the greatest number of cases projected will affect Hispanic Americans.

The increase is anticipated to occur over the next 42 years. Represented by the increase in dementia is the fact that many more people have increased life spans, living well into their older years, according to the CDC. People are surviving other chronic diseases, ABC 13 noted.

With respect for the future anticipated increase in case diagnoses, the 13.9 million reflects 3.3 percent of the entire projected population for 2060. The expected stats stack against case data from 2014 when five million people, or 1.6 percent of the population in the US, was living with dementia.

The breakdown of people diagnosed over age 65 illustrates that African-Americans rank with the highest prevalence of both Alzheimers and dementia, putting the number at 13.5 percent, according to USA Today.

Hispanics narrowly follow with 12.2 percent. Non-Hispanic whites come in third at 10.3 percent.

Living longer raises the odds of diagnosis

As age and longevity increase, so too do the odds of being diagnosed with one of the diseases. Early diagnosis is essential, based on statements by Kevin Matthews. He is the lead author of the study, which was published on September 20 in Alzheimers & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimers Association.

Caregivers, in addition to patients, need support, Matthews stated, according to USA Today.

Discuss this news on Eunomia

Not only did Matthews lead in authoring the studys findings, but he is also a health geographer with the CDC.

Comedian Tim Conway diagnosed with dementia

As many Blasting News readers may recall from an article that was published on September 5, beloved comedian Tim Conway is among the Americans who are suffering from dementia.

Conway, who is now 84, recently underwent brain surgery and is recovering, according to a September 17 Fox News report.

Conway, known for his roles in "McHales Navy" and the "The Carol Burnett Show," now requires 24-hour care as an effect of medical conditions that elevate the risk of him encountering medical emergencies, according to his daughter, Kelly Conway.

Son says his father is doing better

His son, Tim Conway, Jr., shared some updates about his father on social media. For instance, he posted a video on Twitter on September 21. A caller on the "Tim Conway Jr. Show asked him how his father is doing. He stated that his dad is in a much better condition that he was six months ago.

Caller asked how my dad is doing pic.twitter.com/0PXHNUxmc9  Tim Conway Jr Show (@ConwayShow) September 22, 2018

Fans react to the good news

Fans and followers were happy to see the news about Conways condition improving. Fred Herman (@fredherrman), for example, tweeted, I sincerely love your dad for the constant gifts of pleasure and laughter he has always given to us.

Conways fans have not been reserved in relaying their love for one of the most legendary comedic icons to make his way into millions of homes throughout the world since the days of black-and-white television. Brad Raley, who uses the Twitter handle @Streaksfriend, noted, I grew up watching Tim Conway be the best comedian I have ever seen. Thinking only good thoughts for him and his family.

Be sure to follow Blasting News for updates and for the latest information.Spoiler alerts indicate that things are about to heat up on "General Hospital." When Margaux arrived in Port Charles, she seemed to be just another DA trying to make a name for herself by trying to prosecute Sonny. On Thursday (September 20), it was revealed that the remains which were buried beneath Julian's pub belonged to Joe Scully's attorney. On Friday (September 21), as Jordan was talking to Sonny, Ms. Dawson blurted out that the dead man was her father. She should be removed from the case because of the obvious conflict of interest but Soaps She Knows reports that the new DA will have a theory this week and Celeb Dirty Laundry states she will be out for blood and seek to put Sonny behind bars.

Margaux's theory may be the truth

Spoilers don't say what the theory is that Margaux will come up with, but she is sharp and may figure out the truth. Sonny was an 18-year-old kid, trying to "make his bones" in the mob world, and shot a man he did not know. His dad, Mike, saw him bury the body, dug it up, and put it in the ground underneath Charlie's pub. Sonny has been saying that the only thing that can link him to the crime is the gun, so it's possible the DA may eventually uncover it. Ms. Dawson seemed truly rattled to find out that the dead body belonged to her father, but spoilers state she will do all she can to solve this mystery in Port Charles.

Jordan and Margaux already know that Mike was connected to Charlie, the former owner of the pub, as well as Frank Smith, and other crime lords back in the day.

Because of his Alzheimer's diagnosis, the DA and police commissioner realize they cannot rely on his testimony so they will focus on his son. CDL spoilers tease that Ms. Dawson will be like a dog with a bone and not let go until she has a conviction. Even though her father as not around when she was growing up she will want to avenge the fact that his dead body was hidden for 30 years.

Discuss this news on Eunomia

Margaux may not defeat the Port Charles mobster

CDL teases that Margaux may send Sonny to jail, but "GH" viewers realize this may go the other way. Even if DA Dawson finds the smoking gun, she may not be able to outsmart Mr. Corinthos. The Port Charles crime lord has more people in his corner than she realizes. Last week, Jason was talking to someone he has on the inside, who has access to the evidence room.

Sam and Jason, together, are excellent detectives, and Spinelli is a top-notch computer hacker. Evidence can disappear and witnesses can be bribed or end up missing without a trace.

Whatever theory Soaps She Knows alludes to, be it way off base, or 100 percent correct, Margaux can fail like so many others before her. Even if the DA lands a conviction, Sonny may escape prosecution, or be released early from prison, as has happened in the past. Stay tuned to "General Hospital," weekday afternoons, at 2:00 PM ET on CBS. Be sure to also be on the lookout for additional spoilers related to this intriguing storyline.Southern Charm cast member Craig Conover, of Charleston, South Carolina, is assisting in the recovery efforts of the non-profit organization Triton Relief Group. He joined forces with the charitable organization on September 21, initially transporting supplies by car to North Carolina, People reported. Conover aims to help people in need following Hurricane Florence.

The Bravo star, who is 29, shared a series of videos on his social media. On Friday, Conover posted the videos to his Instagram account. He is depicted in a boat making his way through areas that have been flooded.

The videos are intended to draw support for survivors and needed supplies in areas affected by flooding and additional devastation following Florence.

Star assists people, puppies, and kittens

Not only did the Southern Charm star assist in delivering food, he also stated that the group aided puppy dogs and kittens. According to Bravo, the network home of Southern Charm, Conover additionally purchased incontinence products for adults to people in need. On the lighter side of a serious situation, the reality star also picked up a case of beer for the first responders and all the volunteers, Bravo reported.

Southern Charm's Craig Conover Brings Supplies to Hurricane Florence Victims https://t.co/hHyfAhvZNn  People (@people) September 21, 2018

Conover explained to fans and followers that the goal with the supplies he bought to create care packages for people.

He posted that while he was with the Sheriffs Department near Wilmington, NC, the people in disaster-stricken Burgaw County were not reachable. He was headed there with the officers.

Hurricane Florence death and damage tolls

There were reportedly 42 people who died as a result of Hurricane Florence. Approximately half of the number of victims was killed in vehicles, People stated.

Discuss this news on Eunomia

North Carolina suffered the most loss of life, with 31 killed. In South Carolina, nine people died, while two deaths occurred in Virginia.

In assessing the damage, Governor Roy Cooper of North Carolina described the flooding as an anomaly in that the state had not previously experienced any comparable extreme. He further said that giving an accurate dollar estimate for all the damage was not possible, other than saying the cost would toll in the billions of dollars.

Southern Charm co-stars pitch in to aid people

As well as Conover helping out in the aftermath of Florence, his Southern Charm castmate Danni Baird has was affected on a personal level by the hurricane. Wilmington was hit pretty badly, Bravo stated on September 20. In fact, the area of Wilmington was one of the most severely damaged in the wake.

Baird, who is an artist, graduated college from the University of North Carolina Wilmington. Baird, like Conover is pitching in to help in the recovery process. She is donating half of the money she receives for her new painting "Carolina Lowcountry for Life." The proceeds until the end of October will be directed to helping people affected. She expressed her gratitude to Southern Charm fans for their amazing support.

Additional celebrity cast members who are lending support to aid after the hurricane include Shep Rose.

All of the money garnered from the sales of his T-shirt design entitled Carolinas On My Mind is dedicated to helping hurricane survivors in both North Carolina and South Carolina.

Be sure to follow Blasting News for Southern Charm updates and for the latest information.Benjamin Jumbe.

The army has cautioned those planning to take part in the recruitment of LDUs against presentation of forged documents

This comes two days to start of the recruitment exercise of Local defense Units personnel which will be running upto the 1st October 2018.

The army spokesperson Brig Richard Karemire says presenting forged documents is criminal, and culprits will be liable to prosecution.

Brig Karemire says the recruitment exercise is to be held in Districts of Kampala, Mukono and Wakiso.

Follows directive by president Museveni to recall 24,000 members of the reserve force.Benjamin Jumbe.

Ministry of health has allayed fears that the patient who died of Ebola was in Uganda.

Speaking to KFM, the ministrys spokesperson Emmanuel Ainebyona says the female patient died from the Democratic Republic of Congo in Kasenyi village, Ituri province.

He says the ministry has put in place enough teams in all district borders to ensure public sensitization and screening.

Ainebyona adds that currently no one is allowed to cross into the country through the lake.

Ebola has so far claimed close to 100 people in neighbouring DR Congo.Adam Rutherford in New Statesman:

I have spent much of the last few days destroying my own work. It turns out that obliterating it neatly is almost as difficult as making it. Its publication week of my latest, The Book of Humans, and weve been running various competitions to draw peoples eyes in. I have great fondness for hiding secrets in my books. In one, I encoded a message in the letters of the genetic code  an email address that revealed the instructions for a treasure hunt. For The Book of Humans  surely conceived by me as an epic act of procrastination  I have dug out a hole in the middle of one copy, as if to hide a wad of cash, and inside this book-box Ive stashed a small treasure, something mentioned in the book and of relevance to the story. So far, Ive destroyed two practice copies with a multi-tool trying to carve and glue a neat rectangular box inside 250 pages of human evolution. Ill push the button for this hunt to begin on Twitter this week. Lets see how long it takes people to work out whats in the box.

Schrodingers chat

Im writing these words on a plane to London from Dublin, where a bunch of scientists were celebrating the 75th anniversary of one of the most influential series of lectures of the 20th century. You may have heard of the Nobel-winning physicist Erwin Schrodinger from his thought experiment  no real animals were harmed  in which a cat in a sealed box was simultaneously dead and alive until observed, whereon it chose one of those quantum states. I forget why this is important, because as a mere biologist, I am primarily concerned with organisms that are either alive or dead, but never both.

More here.Third person dies after shooting in Scotland, South Dakota

The Division of Criminal Investigation said the shooting was the result of a "domestic-related altercation."Prev 1 of 3 Next

CORRALES  Swallowed up by dense stands of willows, the young members of the Urban Conservation Corps become muffled, disembodied voices as they dig and chop and prune their way through the bosque in the southern most portion of Corrales.

Traffic hums along on nearby Corrales Road and Alameda Boulevard but the Urban Conservation Corps crew might as well be in the jungles of Bolivia, soon lost to sight despite their bright, white hard hats and vivid blue uniform shirts.

Wheres Seth?

He was with Tyler.

Where?

The crews project on this unseasonably warm September day last week is to rip out ravenna grass, also known as elephant grass, an invasive species first detected in the Middle Rio Grande Valley in the 1990s. Its big grass that can grow to 5 feet tall. When its flower stalks expand it can stretch up to between 8 and 12 feet. Daunting stuff.

Left unchecked, ravenna grass can choke out native species, so the eight-member corps team pushes on through the heat and the tangle, digging, chopping and pruning, leaving piles of uprooted elephant grass in its wake.

Its a humbling job, being out here and giving back to the community, said Andres Delgadillo, 22, of Albuquerque.

Its meaningful work, Carl Sanfilipo, 22, of Albuquerque said. Doing something besides retail, staying active and getting a good work ethic.

Its being outside and using our bodies. Its not being in an office, said Victoria Lawton-Diez, 22, an Oregon transplant who has lived in Albuquerque for a year. We are so pressured at our age. Going to college, getting a corporate job, earning six figures.

Who needs that. Theres elephant grass to trash.

Stepping stone

Only about four years old, the Urban Conservation Corps, headquartered at the Valle de Oro National Wildlife Refuge south of Albuquerque, is a conservation program of the Rocky Mountain Youth Corps. Open to Albuquerque-area young people ages 17 to 25, the corps is involved in various types of habitat restoration work around the state.

The program is a stepping stone to new opportunities for New Mexico youth and that means different things to different people, said Jordan Stone, program manager. They might be applying to graduate school or developing skills that will help them get a job after they are done with us.

The program is funded by grants and by service fees, money paid by agencies, such as the U.S. Forest Service, for work done by the Conservation Corps.

Corps members just starting out get paid a stipend of $760 every two weeks for work seasons that last from two to six months. Corps members who return are looking at promotions and stipends of $1,000 to $1,100 every two weeks. And corps crew members who stick with the program through a season earn an education award, $1,200 to $3,000, paid directly to an education institution.

The Urban Conservation Corps is sometimes described as a program aimed at helping at-risk youth, and Stone said that a majority of the applicants do fit in that category.

But we get a very diverse group, he said. We get college graduates interested in some kind of conservation career.

Diego Estrada, 21, of Estancia, one of the corps crew members working in the Corrales bosque, just earned a degree in psychology from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst.

This is my gap year, he said. Im just trying to find out about myself. I want to join the Peace Corps.

Lawton-Diez is taking a year off from the University of Oregon, where she studied English and American sign language. And Albuquerque native Juliette Conzuelo, 21, has studied environ-mental planning and design at Central New Mexico Community College. She wants to build sustainable housing and farm.

Seth Heitman, 22, of Albuquerque, recently returned from a Rocky Mountain Youth Corps disaster relief mission, repairing hurricane-damaged houses in the Lumberton and Beaumont areas of Texas. Already experienced in painting, plumbing and electrical and drywall work, he was a valuable member of that team, which included Ivan Robles, 21, of Albuquerque, a graduate of the Urban Conservation Corps.

The corps helps you get on your feet, Robles said in a phone interview. You are learning from people in the crew. I was learning from Seth. It (the corps) is something you should think about if you dont want to go to school right away.

Heitman dropped out of high school, got his GED and attended CNM for a while. He said what he likes best about the Urban Conservation Corps is the team building and the educational award, which he intends to use for welding school.

Frozen boots and hope

Stone said of the more than 150 persons who have completed corps programs, 89 percent have gone on to some kind of education or employment. That might mean completing a GED or enrolling in college or finding work in the conservation field. He said one program graduate is a ranger at Valle De Oro, two are working at the Petroglyph National Monument, one is with the city of Albuquerque Parks and Recreation Department and a couple are with the Sandia Ranger District of the Cibola National Forest.

Crew chief Tyler Trainum, 21, of Albuquerque, is in his third season with the Rocky Mountain Youth Corps, his first with the Urban Conservation Corps. He thinks about going into wildland fire fighting or becoming a game warden. But if it had not been for programs such as the Urban Conservation Corps, Trainum is not sure where he would be now.

If I hadnt found this, my prospects in life would be far different, he said.

A few months after graduating from Sandia High School in 2015, Trainum moved in with a cousin in Amarillo, hoping to find a job on an oil rig. What he got into, he said, was drugs and too much alcohol.

I hit rock bottom out there, he said. I moved back to Albuquerque and found a Rocky Mountain (Youth Corps) job on Craigslist. I thought it was a scam. Do you like camping? Do you like adventure?

I was seeking more from my life, kind of ramping it up, looking for more challenges in my life.

He got all that, joining for the March to August 2016 season, working on restoration projects throughout New Mexico, eight days on and six days off.

After that, he joined a back-country chainsaw crew with the Arizona Conservation Corps, working the August to December 2016 season.

It was the happiest and most miserable I have ever been in my life, he said. In the fall, our boots were freezing up. We had to pour boiling water in them.

From May to November 2017, he worked in northwest Montana. And now hes back in New Mexico, sitting on a fallen tree in the Corrales bosque. But the view from there looks promising. He can see a way of life on which he can hang some hope.

I dont like being indoors, he said. I like jobs that are active, have a defined purpose and involves the outdoors.

LEARN MORE

For information about the Urban Conservation Corps, call 505-263-7585 or email info@youthcorps.com.Prev 1 of 4 Next

With each intricate movement, there is a purpose.

The intention may vary, yet dance sparks a conversation without words.

During the third annual Shift Dance Festival, which begins this week, performances by artists from Chicago, Los Angeles and Austin, Texas, will be on the main stage.

The trip to New Mexico will be a little bit of a homecoming for Erica Gionfriddo.

She is the director of the Austin-based ARCOS Dance.

The company will bring its transmedia performance, In the Ether, featuring choreography and performance by Gionfriddo and media by Eliot Gray Fisher, co-directors of the interdisciplinary group originally founded in Santa Fe. It will be performed at 8 p.m. Friday, Sept. 28, at the North Fourth Art Center.

Its like coming home, Gionfriddo says. We have a lot of friends in New Mexico. Eliot is a native Santa Fean and weve been back a few times since moving to Austin in 2014. This will be our first time performing in Albuquerque.

ARCOS Dance got its start in Santa Fe in 2011.

Gionfriddo says In the Ether is an evening-length transmedia dance piece that actively integrates live-streaming video and live performance, posing questions about our relationship with current technology and the ways in which we perform our identities online.

Gionfriddos investigation of these questions began in early 2016, when popular social media platforms introduced live-streaming video features, suddenly giving everyone real-time, intimate windows into millions of moments taking place around the world, from the banal to the heartwarming to devastating.

The whole piece questions how technology shapes our humanity, Gionfriddo says. The average lay person has a performance each time they post. What are the consequences? In this version at the festival, Im using my highly personal experiences with identity in the piece.

In response to the growing research identifying the effects of social media on psychological and emotional development, including its links to anxiety and depression and how it incentivizes sensationalism, Gionfriddo became curious about the technologys implications for dance.

She began creating solo and group works weaving Facebooks live-streaming function as both theatrical mechanism and commentary on the pervasiveness of social media in our daily lives.

In them, dancers manipulate phones as much as their bodies, and what they capture live is simultaneously projected onstage.

I dont think (social media) is going anywhere, Gionfriddo says. Im in a graduate program and this is the subject of a lot of my research. Its fascinating and I dont think non-participation is an option. We can create boundaries of our relationship with it. We need to have more synthesis between the two.

Gionfriddo has worked with the directors of the festival in the past and this is her first time participating.

I enjoy the fact that the festival is commissioning new work and are pushing artists, Gionfriddo says. They are giving each one of us a full evening to present our work. Im inspired by what they are doing.

For lisa nevada, co-director of the festival, one of the biggest challenges is finding a way to present the technology.

With ARCOS, they are heavy on technology and we need to have everything available to have it translate, nevada says. Weve been thinking about it for a long time and we decided to make that leap this year.

With the festival in its third year, nevada says the event continues to push boundaries within dance.

The main stage performances kick off at 8 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 27, with Shift Dance co-directors Jacqueline M. Garcia, nevada, and Kelsey Paschich presenting three new works, including Atuona, a newly commissioned work by Chicago-based artist Jessica Miller Tomlinson. Atuona is an abstract trio for three distinct female dancers, loosely inspired by the work of French post-Impressionist artist Paul Gauguin.

At 8 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 29, Rebecca Lemme/Acts of Matter closes the festival with I/D  an exploration of origin story. The piece looks at the different ways identity is constructed  how assumptions about the places were from and the way we look impact how we are seen by others. The piece looks at how the very act of accepting or rejecting these markers becomes a part of who we are.

What we look for is how relevant their work is, nevada says. Are they connecting to whats happening in the world? Are they interested in sharing with our audiences through public engagement? We look for individuals and companies that are looking to expand that conversation.The FBI is warning that the grandparents scam is alive and well in New Mexico. This is the one where someone claims to have kidnapped a loved one and wants you to pay a ransom.

One particular New Mexico version involves callers demanding a wire payment to Mexico. Their M.O. is to try to keep their would-be victims on the phone so the targets cant verify their loved ones whereabouts or contact law enforcement, the FBI alert says.

In general, those waging these scams are becoming more sophisticated and are starting to use social media rather than just phone calls, the agency says.

In another version, an Albuquerque woman almost lost nearly $9,000 to a scammer who said her son had injured a pregnant woman and was in jail in New Jersey. Not only did the Albuquerque woman clean out her account to send what money she could, she also persuaded her other son to chip in the remaining amount. Following instructions, she said she placed the money in an overnight Fedex delivery package and mailed it.

The two lucked out, though, when the womans husband clicked to the fact that it was a bogus ploy, and Fed Ex agreed to retrieve the package before it was sent.

My emotions had escalated and had taken a major roller coaster ride all day, and now I knew how close I came to being scammed, the woman said in an email. I had no reasoning and good decision-making skills left because I was so wound up tight with emotions.  I was so angry and ready to put these scammers behind bars. So I called the FBI when I got home and filed a complaint.

As for the son who was supposedly stuck in New Jersey, he called later in the day to assure her that he was safe at work.

  

Presbyterian Healthcare Services says some people have received bogus calls seeking payment information for medical equipment such as knee braces.

One person reported the call came from (505) 291-2384  a legitimate Presbyterian number  but a scammer can spoof any Presbyterian extension, so be on the lookout.

Ignore the call, but if you still have questions, contact Presbyterian directly for more information.

  

Would-be service members, beware.

Several companies have entered settlements with the federal government for running online ads and creating fake websites that look like legitimate military recruiting sites, according to the Federal Trade Commission.

The ads and websites, including army.com and airforceenlist.com, looked like official military recruiting channels. But they werent, the FTC says.

The agency says people were tricked into thinking that information they provided would be used solely for recruiting purposes, but instead it was used to collect and sell personal data. One company used the numbers people submitted to follow up with a phone call, pretending to be military reps and pitching post-secondary schools as though the schools were endorsed by the U.S. military. Which they werent, the FTC said.

Advice: double check that the military recruiting sites you land on are official websites of the U.S. Armed Forces.

  

Tip of the day: Your Social Security number has not been suspended. Nor will it ever be.

Callers claiming to be from the government are trying to trick people into providing personal information by telling them their Social Security number has been suspended and they must reactivate it, according to the FTC.

The callers make reference to fraud or some other type of criminal activity as the reason the number has been suspended. Then, they say, you must call the number they provide to clear it up.

Ellen Marks is assistant business editor at the Albuquerque Journal. Contact her at emarks@abqjournal.com or 505-823-3842 if you are aware of what sounds like a scam. To report a scam to law enforcement, contact the New Mexico Consumer Protection Division toll-free at 1-844-255-9210.The public will have a chance Monday to weigh in on one companys plans to reopen a defunct copper mine in southwest New Mexico.

New Mexico Copper Corp. has been working through regulatory processes for eight years since buying the shuttered mine in 2010.

New Mexico Copper Corp. has been working through regulatory processes for eight years, since buying the shuttered mine in 2010.

Mondays public hearing is on the companys groundwater discharge permit filed with the state Environment Department. The mine would generate up to 25.2 million gallons of tailings slurry per day, which will be deposited in a lined storage pond.

I think that weve worked very, very hard over the years in developing our plans, said Jeffrey Smith, chief operating officer for THEMAC Resources Group Ltd., NMCCs parent company. Weve spent a lot of time designing this project to protect the environment.

The site is located around 20 miles from Hillsboro where a briefly operated copper mine from 1982 still sits.

The mine was owned by Quintana Minerals, which went out of business after a steep drop in copper prices in the 1980s.

Today, Smith said coppers future is looking bright, with analysts even predicting shortages.

Smith said the companys $400 million investment would result in 270 to 300 jobs, which they hope to keep local.

Among the recoverable resources at the site are 628 million pounds of copper, 227,000 ounces of gold, 6 million ounces of silver and 16 million pounds of molybdenum.

Allyson Siwik, executive director of the Gila Resources Information Group, said she worries the company has not planned for enough groundwater monitoring wells, which could allow undetected contamination.

The New Mexico Environmental Law Center also has concerns about the project.

At the hearing, we will be presenting detailed technical testimony on the risks that the mine will pose to groundwater, to the environment generally, and to adjacent property is the draft groundwater discharge permit is issued and the mine begins operation, said Charles de Saillan, staff attorney at the center, in a news release.

NMCC is still fighting for adequate water rights  Smith says they need 6,000 acre-feet a year  in court.

Public hearing

What: Public hearing on the Copper Flat Mine projects proposed groundwater discharge permit submitted to New Mexico Environment Department

When: 9 a.m. Monday, Sept. 24

Where: Ralph Edwards Auditorium, 400 W. 4th, Truth or ConsequencesBy Ritah Kemigisa.

The pharmaceutical society of Uganda together with the sickle cell association of Uganda is today holding the sickle cell masters run to raise awareness about the disease in Uganda.

The run that is expected to attract more than 10,000 Ugandans and international revelers seeks to also fundraise for the construction and operationalization of the sickle cell treatment center in Namalere Kawanda.

According to the secretary of the society Samuel Opio, they estimate to collect more than shs 250 million which will be used to commence the construction of the main block of the center and provide free drugs to 1000 sickle cell patients in the country.

Opio adds that during the run a shs 1000 sickle cell fund is also to be launched by the speaker of parliament Rebecca Kadaga.

In Uganda 13% of total population have sickle cell traits while 10% of 25,000 babies born every year have sickle cells majority of whom did before celebrating their fifth birthday.Antonio Gurule was a beautiful 2-year-old boy who was thriving in foster care. His foster parents, who had tended to him since he was 2 months old, welcomed him into their family and tried to adopt him.

They were not successful. Three months ago, Antonio was returned to the custody of his biological mother. On Sept. 3, he was found unresponsive in his crib with blood coming from his nose and a half-dollar sized lump on his head. The Office of the Medical Investigator determined he had died the night before.

Antonios name now joins a list of other children who were failed by New Mexicos child protection system. Jeremiah Valencia. Victoria Martens. Omaree Varela. These children might still be with us today had our childrens services done a better job.

New Mexicos rate of children dying from child abuse and neglect is consistently above the national average. Too many children in our state have experienced abuse and trauma. The annual number of reported child abuse victims climbed from 4,846 in 2009 to a peak of 10,664 in 2015. Although we have made some progress in reducing that number, its still not enough.

Child abuse resulting in death has to stop. We need a complete overhaul of our states child protection practices that takes a comprehensive view of childrens services and includes input from stakeholders if we want to improve child safety in New Mexico.

Real reform requires looking at the entire system and making comprehensive changes. U.S. Rep. and gubernatorial candidate Steve Pearce, R-N.M., has developed such a plan. His strategy includes specific ideas for reforming our Children, Youth and Families Department, overhauling protective custody procedures, and re-examining policies that prematurely remove children from safe foster care environments and return them to unstable family situations. It looks at the child services system from every angle and offers solutions that will make a difference.

Unfortunately, some politicians are so singularly focused on increasing government spending that they advocate throwing more money at already overfunded programs. Their answer is to take money from the states permanent fund to expand home visitation programs. However, providers throughout the state are returning home visitation funds back to the government because of a lack of demand for this service. The home visitation program is voluntary, and the families of the children who would most benefit from this service often refuse to enroll.

Significantly, the permanent fund option ignores the voice of the people on the front lines: the direct service providers and others in the trenches who work these issues every day. Expanding home visitation is a top-down approach advocated by people working in office buildings in Albuquerque and Santa Fe. Its time for us to listen to front-line providers and ask them what will help them protect our children. Being willing to have honest, and potentially uncomfortable, conversations with people at every level of the system is the first step to identifying the problems and fixing them.

As it stands, our states services for child health and well-being are a shattered collection of good intentions and failed policies. Its time to start over and build a functional system that protects our children and allows them to thrive. Steve Pearces plan will help.

Band-aid solutions arent enough. Its time to perform major surgery on our child services system. Like any surgery, there will be some pain involved, and it might take a while to heal. But it will be worth it if we can prevent another childs name from being added to that tragic list of children we have lost.Thanks in large part to a botched investigation by Albuquerque police, whoever raped and murdered 10-year-old Victoria Martens may never be called to account. And the rejection of a plea deal in the case by District Judge Charles Brown last week makes that unthinkable scenario much more likely.

The horror of Victorias death shocked a city that is somewhat immune to violence because there is so much of it. What seemed a quick resolution with the arrest of the girls mother, Michelle Martens; her boyfriend, Fabian Gonzales; and his cousin, Jessica Kelley, began to fall apart months later. It turns out Michelle Martens and Gonzales werent at the apartment when Victoria was killed. They had left her with Kelley  a drug user and drunken driver whose criminal convictions include drug trafficking and dragging a prisoner out of her jail cell to be raped by another inmate while Kelley stood watch.

The office of District Attorney Raul Torrez and Kelleys attorney had worked out a deal in which Kelley agreed to plead guilty to reckless child abuse resulting in death and lesser crimes. Under terms of the deal, she was looking at up to 49 years in prison.

More importantly, she had agreed to cooperate fully with prosecutors  which likely is key if the murderer is to ever be apprehended.

Brown quickly took charge of the hearing and began asking Kelley questions directly.

Kelley told the judge she was high on drugs and let a man in the house she didnt know but who looked nice and was well dressed. She said the man went into the bedroom and killed Victoria.

Kelley was supposed to be caring for the child yet, according to her own testimony, directed a supposed stranger into Victorias room. She did nothing to try to stop him. She didnt slam the front door shut or call 911. And, along with others, she said she then carried out the strangers instructions to get rid of the body  by dismembering and burning the child.

Of course its in Kelleys interest to point a finger at a man she says she allowed into the apartment while proclaiming she had nothing to do with the savage attack on the girl. Yet it is of note that this supposed stranger allegedly threatened to come after Kelley and her kids, none of whom are in her custody. Thats a lot of knowledge for a stranger to have.

Amazingly, Brown said that since Kelley didnt know the supposed stranger she let in and didnt know he was going to murder Victoria  shes not a mind reader, he said,  he found there was insufficient evidence that she was guilty of the most egregious crime to which she had agreed to plead guilty. The fact she was high on meth was irrelevant, he said.

Prosecutors filed an emergency motion Tuesday asking Brown to reconsider.

Its worth noting that on Friday, Brown did let stand the same charge against Fabian Gonzales, saying it was the type of issue a jury should decide.

His decision regarding Kelley isnt a first-of-a-kind from Brown, who has shown a penchant for ruling against prosecutors in high-profile cases. For example:

Brown refused a pretrial detention request for Charles Taylor, instead ordering his release with maximum supervision. So much for maximum supervision  police say that a week later Taylor kicked in a womans door in broad daylight before beating her, tying her up and raping her in her Southeast Heights apartment.

Brown ordered Evonne Jaramillo released on her own recognizance in a case where she was charged with murder in the death of her boyfriends elderly aunt  despite the fact she had failed to appear in court twice for detention and arraignment. Jaramillo and her boyfriend are accused of going to Josephina Ortegas house, where they allegedly zip-tied the 86-year-old woman and placed a plastic bag over her head. She suffocated, and cash and jewelry were reported missing from her house.

Brown ordered house arrest instead of detention pending trial for a defendant accused of beating a girl almost to death with a shovel 10 years ago. The defendant in that case, Justin Hansen, later pleaded guilty to the 2008 attack on then-17-year-old Brittani Marcell, who had to learn how to speak, walk and eat after she emerged from a coma. Hansen later pleaded guilty to second-degree murder.

So in context, Browns unusual and bizarre rejection of Jessica Kelleys plea is in character.

Brown didnt even allow prosecutors to read the allegations against Kelley in open court  and remember her lawyer had agreed to this deal  to support the plea agreement. Rather, he jumped right in and began questioning Kelley himself with softballs of a leading nature: What happened that makes you guilty of recklessly causing or permitting something that resulted in the death of a child? he asked.

How about getting high and guiding a stranger to the bedroom of the little girl you are supposed to be taking care of on her tenth birthday? Does that count?

Not in Browns courtroom. Judicial courage is one thing; judicial arrogance is another. And this is the latter.

We can only hope Browns ruling doesnt guarantee a brutal killer  one who would rape and murder a 10-year-old in cold blood  will never be brought to justice. If thats the case, its one more bad decision Brown  and the rest of us  will have to live with.

Because Victoria Martens cant.

This editorial first appeared in the Albuquerque Journal. It was written by members of the editorial board and is unsigned as it represents the opinion of the newspaper rather than the writers.Copyright  2018 Albuquerque Journal

New Mexicans are near-unanimous in their concern about crime, with 96 percent of voters in a new statewide Journal poll classifying it as a very or somewhat serious problem.

But education is not far behind in their minds, with almost as many residents characterizing it as a pressing issue.

Nearly seven in 10 New Mexicans polled  68 percent  consider the quality of public school education a very serious problem. Another 24 percent defined it as somewhat serious.

And while perceptions about crime vary across political affiliations and geography, voters throughout the state and in both major parties have similar sentiments about education.

Seventy percent of Albuquerque metro voters deemed education quality a very serious problem, as did 68 percent of those in northwestern New Mexico and 71 percent on the states eastside.

Democrats and Republicans rated it equally problematic.

Its across the board, across the demographic groups.  We basically have a broad consensus of very different types of people saying that education is a very serious problem, said Brian Sanderoff, whose Albuquerque firm Research & Polling administered the Journal Poll.

New Mexico typically sits at or near the bottom of most national education rankings.

Though graduation rates have improved, only 71 percent of the states high school students reach the finish line in four years. New Mexico had the countrys second-worst graduation rate in 2016, according to U.S. Department of Education data.

New Mexicans assessment of public education quality has only worsened since 2016, when 63 percent of Journal Poll respondents deemed it a very serious problem.

More New Mexicans also rate crime as a very serious problem  78 percent today, compared with 62 percent two years ago.

Sanderoff said the results are not surprising.

Weve had rising crime rates in the state, not just in Albuquerque, and its something that people talk about and are concerned about, he said.

New Mexicos violent crime rate is 82 percent higher than the national average, according to the FBIs Uniform Crime Reporting data for 2016, the last complete year for which figures are available. New Mexico had 702.5 incidents per 100,000 people, up 7 percent from the year before  an increase driven primarily by crime in Albuquerque.

The state also had the nations highest rate of property crime in 2016, FBI data show.

But opinions about the severity of the crime problem differ by gender, education level, region and political party. More women than men consider it a very serious problem  84 percent, compared with 72 percent  and more Republicans (84 percent) than Democrats (74 percent) do.

Geography is also a factor: 85 percent from the Albuquerque area and 82 percent in northwestern New Mexico rate it very serious, compared with 57 percent in Las Cruces and the southwestern quadrant.

While voters show increasing concern about crime and education, the latest poll reflects improving views of New Mexicos economic health. Just over one-third  35 percent  consider the strength of the states economy a very serious problem, compared with 56 percent of those surveyed in 2016.

While it remains among the nations worst, New Mexicos unemployment rate has dropped to 4.6 percent from 6 percent a year ago.

This years poll introduced a question about homelessness, which more than half of voters statewide (54 percent) called a very serious problem. But far more Albuquerque voters (65 percent) rated it that way than those living in the Las Cruces/southwestern region (41 percent) and eastern New Mexico (29 percent).

About the poll

The Journal Poll is based on a scientific sample of 423 registered voters who cast ballots in the 2014 and 2016 general elections and said they were very likely to vote in this years election.

The poll was conducted Sept. 7-13. The voter sample has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.8 percentage points. The margin of error grows for subsamples.

All interviews were conducted by live, professional interviewers, with multiple callbacks to households that did not initially answer the phone. Both cellphone numbers (64 percent) and landlines (36 percent) of proven general election voters were used.An Albuquerque charter school is in limbo.

After Albuquerque Public Schools decided to withhold approval of La Resolana Leadership Academys contract earlier this year, the school appealed to Public Education Department Secretary-designate Christopher Ruszkowski. The appeal is pending and has kept the school up and running in the meantime.

Ruszkowski is now claiming APS botched the charter contract process and said its taken months to clarify the situation  and theres still no formal decision made on whether the school will stay open.

But APS spokeswoman Monica Armenta said PED has not provided that feedback to the district and couldnt comment until it did.

NMPED is now managing a situation that was squarely the responsibility of the district as the local charter schools authorizer, and is working towards a resolution that respects the students, families, and school faculty, holds APS responsible for its duties, and maintains accountability for a school that is not high-performing at present, Ruszkowski wrote.

Business as normal

Joseph Escobedo, the senior director of the APS Office of Innovation and School Choice, told the Journal the state statute on charter school contracts is unclear on this particular instance with La Resolana, adding he doesnt believe the district has run into this situation before.

Escobedo cited a statute that shows what to do if the authorizer and school disagree on the terms of a contract. But he pointed out that La Resolanas appeal isnt a matter of disagreement on terms; its a matter of non-approval of the entire contract.

Ruszkowski still claimed the APS Board of Education disregarded state statute, due process, and best practices in charter authorizing along the way.

In the meantime, La Resolana, where 68 students are currently enrolled, will still be monitored by the district with monthly site visits at the school, which even without an approved contract is still implementing a corrective action plan.

We are continuing business as normal, Escobedo said about oversight.

Not compliant

APS has found the school is still in noncompliance with some state and federal law on how its running its special education program  the same problem highlighted earlier this year.

Escobedo told the school board at a committee meeting this month that a team reviewed five individual education plans, or IEPs, which are personalized accounts of progress, needs and goals for each student utilizing special education services. There was missing information in some and students werent present for all of the IEP meetings.

The findings from the review demonstrate that IEP documents continue to be missing significant components and continue to be out of compliance with state and federal law, he wrote in a memo to the school in August.

Escobedo also said the school still needs to hire a special education teacher for the program.

Since filing the appeal, La Resolana hired a new director, Pete Vallejo, who told the board he is fully committed to addressing the identified problems.

And while he said its a daunting task, Vallejo said he is working to implement the corrective action plan so the school can move forward.A freight train passing through Socorro. EMRTCs 4th of July Fireworks display. Big trucks rumbling through the area.

Those are just samples of what registers on sensitive earthquake instruments at New Mexico Tech.

Tucked away on a hilltop in the backyard of Techs campus is the Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology Portable Array Seismic Studies of the Continental Lithosphere Instrument Center  IRIS/PASSCAL for short  the largest facility of its kind in the world.

And what kind of facility is that?

Director Bruce Beaudoin, who supervises the care and handling of seismographic instrumentation, described IRIS/PASSCAL as doing something akin to a lending library  for seismographs.

In other words, the seismographs are checked out, at no cost to the users. The only requirement is the data must be publicly available to other researchers.

Its the facility that provides instrumentation for the National Science Foundation, Department of Energy, and other funded seismological experiments around the world. From Alaska to Antarctica to the outer reaches of Inner Mongolia, instruments shipped from PASSCAL can be found measuring earthshaking events virtually all over the world.

We are a National Science Foundation funded facility to support seismic instrumentation, equipment maintenance, software, data archiving, training, logistics, and field installation, Beaudoin said. Our mission is to educate incoming students on how to use the equipment, to provide the resource to principle investigators that go out and do seismic research, and to ensure that the equipment works

Although PASSCAL does not assemble seismometers, its scientists must keep them working perfectly.

We do quality assurance on it before it goes out to the users, Beaudoin said. And then were responsible for ensuring the data get into a public archive in Seattle, the sister facility of ours.

What that means is that any researcher who borrows PASSCALs equipment has two years of restricted access to the data, but after two years the waveforms are a public resource.

Waveforms are the printed wiggles from a seismograph.

The instruments we have, they have two components, he said. A sensor that measures ground motion and that can be down to the micro-meter.

Basically it can pick up an earthquake on the other side of the earth.

The other component is the data logger, which takes the signal coming from the sensor, digitizes it, puts a time stamp on it and stores it, he said. Thats what gets archived.

Instruments that communicate with satellites are sometimes used, especially in Antarctica. They communicate the state of health of a station, such as battery condition, temperature, and then some data transmission, Beaudoin said.

These are primarily in Antarctica.

Because of the remoteness of the stations you have one chance in a year to visit them, he said. If they go offline, you want to know, so when you go to visit youll know what you have to do to fix it.

He said their polar teams get support and funding through the Office of Polar Programs.

The reason we get that funding is because its a harsh environment, Beaudoin said. Our instruments require power. Theres only six months of sunlight down there. We had to engineer a solution for operating through the months of winter. And its extremely cold. The outside temperature is colder than where the instruments can operate, so there has to be special insulation to keep them going.

The polar seismographs must be able to work at minus-55 degrees.

Instruments from PASSCAL have also been planted in Inner Mongolia, Tibet, Greenland, Alaska, northern reaches of Canada, hard places to get to, Beaudoin said. Weve really worked all over the world. Weve supported over 1,300 experiments since 1986. Theyre essentially everywhere.

Staff physicist Dave Thomas said the earthquake instruments loaned out by IRIS/PASSCAL are extremely sensitive.

Some sensors here at PASSCAL are used to constantly measure earthquakes worldwide, and are sensitive enough to record train passages, nearby trucks and cars, and even the 4th of July Fireworks celebration, he said.

PASSCAL currently maintains four seismometers in its facility that can register earthquakes anywhere in the world.

The 2016 Alaska earthquake near Anchorage was a 7.1 magnitude, and took eight minutes to be registered on the seismographs here at PASSCAL, Thomas said. That was 2,700 miles away.

That means the shockwave was traveling 20,000 miles an hour, he said. Through the earth.

To illustrate the sensitivity of PASSCALs instruments, Thomas said trains passing through also register on the seismographs waveforms with a time stamp.Copyright  2018 Albuquerque Journal

A stooped Arthur J. Perrault shuffled into federal court with a cane Friday, handcuffs dangling from his wrist, a security belly chain around his waist. The bearded 80-year-old priest  on American soil for the first time in more than two decades  told a U.S. magistrate judge that hed had a stroke three years ago, was deaf in one ear, had trouble walking and remembering.

Thats a far different picture than the one painted in newly filed court records of a younger Perrault who wore silk underwear, smoked a pipe and showered the altar boys he was grooming with gifts and meals.

Perrault lived two lives during the 20-some years he spent at some of Albuquerques largest Catholic parishes, state and federal records allege.

In his public life, he was beloved by many as a priest and teacher. In secret, federal prosecutors allege, Perrault was a serial child molester who abused numerous victims, according to a motion filed Friday by the U.S. Attorneys Office in New Mexico.

Perrault fled the U.S. in 1992 when news of his horrific criminal conduct became public, the motion states. Now he is in federal custody after his arrest last week on federal charges of aggravated sexual abuse of an 11-year-old in New Mexico.

Repeated molestations of the boy from 1991 to 1992 are alleged to have occurred on federal property while Perrault served as a military chaplain in Albuquerque, according to federal authorities.

Over the past two decades, Perrault taught students at a school in Morocco  which has no extradition treaty with the United States. The Moroccan government, however, expelled the priest and permitted the FBI to remove him from the country for prosecution.

At least 38 of Perraults alleged victims in New Mexico have come forward to recount how, in the words of one man, his touching me changed my life. The mother of one young man contends her son committed suicide after being abused by the priest.

Because of when and where the alleged abuses occurred, and the age of the victims when the abuse occurred, federal authorities were only able to bring criminal charges related to one alleged victim.

There are probably some people who doubted Mr. Perrault would ever be brought back to New Mexico to face a judge after being away for so long, James C. Langenberg, FBI special agent in charge, said Friday. But it is important to prove them wrong for one reason  the victim in this case. The FBI is committed to seeking justice for victims anytime, anywhere.

Langenberg said he wasnt aware of similar sex abuse allegations from Perraults time teaching children in Tangier, Morocco.

Perrault, through his court-appointed attorney, pleaded not guilty to the federal charges, which carry a maximum sentence of life in prison. Magistrate Judge Karen Molzen ordered him held in federal custody pending a detention hearing on Tuesday.

Months and years of abuse

How the FBI and the U.S. Attorneys Office managed to bring federal charges against a fugitive accused of crimes that occurred more than 20 years ago is detailed in a motion to detain Perrault in federal custody pending trial.

With Perrault considered AWOL or having absconded, according to church records, the FBI launched its investigation in 2016 after receiving a tip.

The agency subsequently turned up information that Perrault allegedly sexually abused at least two other victims while serving as a chaplain on Kirtland Air Force Base. They specifically alleged that Perrault molested them on the base, including in his office at the base chapel and inside his car.

A common thread in the FBIs corroborating evidence: alleged victims recalled Perraults pipe smoking and silk underwear.

Although some victims report single acts of abuse, most describe ongoing abuse of several months or years, the U.S. Attorneys Office stated.

There is also evidence in this case that Defendant admitted to sexually abusing one of these other victims. Indeed, investigators have obtained an apology letter to this victims parents blaming his conduct on a cancer diagnosis, which was not true.

Perrault wrote the apology letter in 1971, some 20 years before he allegedly abused the 11-year-old named as the victim in the federal case.

Paraclete ties

More than two decades after Perrault vanished from his post as pastor of St. Bernadette Catholic Church in the Northeast Heights, more than 400 pages of internal archdiocese letters, memos and other documents in civil damages lawsuits were unsealed last year by state District Judge Alan Malott at the request of KOB-TV  over the objections of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe.

The documents show that church officials at the Archdiocese of Hartford, Conn., in 1965 discovered Perraults homosexual approaches to some of the young men with whom he was working. He was ordained a priest just 18 months earlier.

Like other priests before and after, Perrault was sent to a now-closed treatment facility run by the Servants of the Paraclete in Jemez Springs. Back then, his transfer paperwork characterized him as having an emotional disturbance.

After three months of treatment, Perrault was deemed ready to return to work in New Mexico, with one therapist noting he suffered from having grown up as an only child.

He was appointed to teach religion at St. Pius High School, but by the mid-1960s, according to a timeline prepared by one Albuquerque law firm, records show Perrault abused Victim #1 at the Archbishops house.

Court records show several priests and the diocesan leaders were repeatedly alerted to Perraults conduct over the 26 years he lived and worked in Albuquerque.

One priest, told by parishioners at Annunciation Parish in 1980 that Perrault was abusing their children, never reported this to the Archdiocese because he knew that nothing would be done.

But by 1992, after two victims went to Albuquerque police, then-Archbishop Robert Sanchez suspended Perraults faculties with the Archdiocese of Santa Fe due to allegations that presently exist.

For years victims and their parents complained about Perrault, including one victim who contended he was first abused at age 10 as an altar boy at Queen of Heaven parish. Several years later, while on a retreat with Perrault and another priest as chaperones, the same boy reported fondling and mutual oral sex took place, according to one complaint investigated by the archdiocese.

Another boy was scared to come out of his room for three days after he complained about Perrault fondling him and touching him in a sexual way. Perrault found out, he contended in a court record, and said he was going to make my life miserable for telling someone that he had molested me, and that no one would ever believe me, and that I better never tell anyone again.

He said he could make me the problem, not him, because he was a priest, and that all the priests know, and they all can do what they want.

Yet another man provided an account, filed in court, of what occurred when he tried to report Perraults conduct.

Recently, I went to confession for the first time in forever, specifically to tell the story of Fr. Art Perrault molesting me as a teenager in a dorm and me getting in trouble for reporting it. The current priest listened to the story, and then told me that it was I that should do penance, not the Church. I have not been back.Criminal prosecutions involving alleged pedophile priests are rare in New Mexico, but federal authorities found a narrow window of prosecutorial opportunity in their investigation of Arthur Perrault that involved a single alleged victim.

tland Air Force Base, but an 11-year-old altar boy was the only victim who Perrault abused on federal property within the applicable statute of limitations period, according to a motion to detain Perrault filed by the U.S. Attorneys Office.

special agent in charge, said Friday that authorities are looking for individuals who might have additional information about Perraults contact with minors over the years.

mail) or by calling the FBIs Albuquerque Division at 1-800-CALL-FBI, according to the U.S. Attorneys Office.

, Langenberg added, individuals can contact their nearest U.S. embassy.

An FBI investigation found several victims were assaulted on KirFederal prosecutors in New Mexico initially had to rely on the federal statute of limitations in effect in 1991 and 1992, when the altar boy was alleged to have been repeatedly molested by Perrault on federal property, including Kirtland Air Force Base.

Back then, the law permitted such criminal prosecutions until a victim turned 25 years old.

When that law changed in 2003, the former altar boy was still under 25. The newer version allows prosecutions during the lifetime of the child, as long as there is federal jurisdiction.

James Langenberg, FBI Individuals may inquire about the pending charges or provide information about other conduct by Perrault by emailing the U.S. Attorneys Office at usanm-priest@usdoj.gov (link sends eOrEven if the tips from the public dont necessarily relate to a federal crime, Langenberg said, the FBI will pass on the information to other authorities.

This case is not over, he added.

Meanwhile, the New Mexico Attorney Generals Office has been investigating priest cases since March 2016, according to spokesman David Carl. He has said the agency has encountered problems involving the state criminal statute of limitations, but encourages victims and their families to contact the office.BLADENBORO, N.C.  Thousands of coastal residents remained on edge Sunday, told they may need to leave their homes because rivers are still rising more than a week after Hurricane Florence slammed into the Carolinas.

About 6,000 to 8,000 people in Georgetown County, South Carolina, were alerted to be prepared to evacuate ahead of a record event of up to 10 feet (3 meters) of flooding expected from heavy rains dumped by Florence, county spokeswoman Jackie Broach-Akers said. She said flooding is expected to begin Tuesday near parts of the Pee Dee and Waccamaw rivers and that people in potential flood zones should plan to leave their homes Monday.

The countys emergency management director, Sam Hodge, said in a video message posted online that authorities are closely watching river gauges and law enforcement would be going door to door in any threatened areas.

From boots on the ground to technology that we have, we are trying to be able to get the message out, Hodge said in the video feed, advising people they shouldnt await an official order to evacuate should they begin to feel unsafe.

In North Carolina, five river gauges were still at major flood stage and five others were at moderate flood stage, according to National Weather Service. The Cape Fear River was expected to crest and remain at flood stage through the early part of the week, and parts of Interstate 40 are expected to remain underwater for another week or more.

Parts of Interstate 95 had also been expected to be underwater for days, but North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper announced Sunday night that the major highway has been reopened to all traffic, as floodwaters had withdrawn faster than expected.

Floodwaters already receding on one stretch of Interstate 40 left thousands of rotting fish on the pavement for firefighters to clean up. Video showed firefighters blasting the dead fish off the highway with a fire hose in Pender County in eastern North Carolina. The local fire department posted online: We can add washing fish off of the interstate to the long list of interesting things firefighters get to experience.

North Carolina Emergency Management Director Michael Sprayberry said that eastern counties continue to see major flooding, including areas along the Black, Lumber, Neuse and Cape Fear rivers.

Florence continues to bring misery to North Carolina, Cooper said in a statement Sunday evening. He added that crews conducted about 350 rescues over the weekend and that travel remains treacherous in the southeastern area of his state. But he said National Guard members would be shifting next to more door-to-door and air search wellness checks on people in still-flooded areas.

The storm has claimed at least 43 lives since slamming into the coast Sept. 14.

In Washington, Congress is starting to consider almost $1.7 billion in new money to aid recovery efforts from Florence. Lawmakers already are facing a deadline this week to fund the government before the start of the new budget year Oct. 1, and members of Congress are expected to try to act on the disaster relief along with separate legislation to fund the government.

The chairman of the House Appropriations Committee said the money would be available as grants to states to help rebuild housing and public works, as well as assist businesses as they recover from the storm. GOP Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen of New Jersey called that a first round and said lawmakers are ready to act quickly if the federal disaster relief agency also needs more money.

An economic research firm estimated that Florence has caused around $44 billion in damage and lost output, which would make it one of the top 10 costliest U.S. hurricanes. The top disaster, Hurricane Katrina in 2005, cost $192.2 billion in todays dollars, while last years Hurricane Harvey cost $133.5 billion. Moodys Analytics estimates Florence has caused $40 billion in damage and $4 billion in lost economic output, though the company stressed that the estimate is preliminary.

In other developments, at least three wild horse herds survived Florence on North Carolinas Outer Banks, but caretakers were still trying to account for one herd living on a hard-hit barrier island, the News & Observer reported Sunday. Staff members are planning to make trips to the island this week to check on the Shackleford Banks herd.

Elsewhere in North Carolina, state environmental officials also said theyre closely monitoring two sites where Florences floodwaters have inundated coal ash sites .

___

Waggoner and Robertson reported from Raleigh, North Carolina. Also contributing to this report were Associated Press writers Jeffrey Collins in Columbia, South Carolina; Meg Kinnard in Galivants Ferry, South Carolina; Denise Lavoie in Richmond, Virginia; Jay Reeves in Birmingham, Alabama and Michael Biesecker in Washington.

___

For the latest on Hurricane Florence, visit https://www.apnews.com/tag/HurricanesCharter school leaders were relieved last week after learning that funding to help with their building leases would not be altered this year.

The Public School Capital Outlay Council, which is in charge of distributing the lease assistance awards, voted to use the same calculations for the awards as last year, meaning schools will get about the same amount of money barring adjustments for things like enrollment.

Schools had been bracing for an up to 20 percent cut.

Charter school leaders were sent a memo dated April 6 this year from Jonathan Chamblin, the executive director of the Public School Facilities Authority, that said the maximum amount of money schools can get back for rent will be adjusted downward up to 20 percent from prior years.

At a PSCOC meeting Wednesday in the New Mexico State Capitol, the council heard from its staff, which initially put forth several suggestions that adjusted lease assistance awards.

The goal, the staff explained, was to align the awards with the amount of square footage that is actually reimbursable, saying there were errors in schools reported square footage numbers in the past.

The PSFA, which serves as staff to the council, has been verifying those numbers since state statute only allows rent help for classrooms  not other space such as bathrooms or hallways.

Still, there has been some dispute by schools over the accuracy of that square footage assessment.

Matt Pahl, executive director of the New Mexico Coalition for Charter Schools, stressed that schools  especially charters  are providing services that go outside the scope of traditional classroom instruction but that are still crucial for students, using mental health resources as an example.

Pahl, who spoke at the meeting, also said this is the first year theyre facing square footage distinctions.

He said the councils vote now affords charters the opportunity to work with the PSFA, get the reimbursable square footage definition finalized and make sure schools applications are accurate.

While the council ultimately voted to keep the award methodology the same, Chairman David Abbey and member Rachel Gudgel voted no.

Abbey told the Journal his intent was not to cut funding, but he voted no because he was concerned using the same methodology as last year would be based on unreliable numbers.

It was an excellent discussion, and there were certainly valid concerns made, he said.

Abbey said about $15 million will be given for lease assistance awards.

Lease assistance reductions have been under discussion by the council in previous years for varying reasons.Would you like to receive breaking news notifications from The Post and Courier?

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Please enable notifications in your browser and reload the page.When 17-year old Hania recently got married in the remote village of Naga'a Wanas in the Upper Egyptian governorate of Aswan, the union was marked only by the presence of the couple's families and a marriage announcement over the loudspeakers of the village mosques.

The inhabitants of this marginalized village cannot register their marriages, nor can they marry anyone from outside the village for a very simple reason: Most of them do not have identity cards, which means they also do not have access to education and other services.

In the far north of Aswan, Naga'a Wanas is virtually on its own, and most of its inhabitants live on farming and raising livestock.

This village is just one example of many of the villages in Upper Egypt whose residents exist beyond the reach of government services and the mainstream life of the country. As a result, they have created their own private world governed by their own rules.

Whenever Upper Egypt makes the headlines, it is usually because of vendetta violence or disasters. Scenes of ferryboats sinking, trains crashing and other misfortunes are often flashed onto our screens. Yet these tragedies, though serious, should not be allowed to distract from the everyday grievances of the people living in Upper Egypt. But so far, the lack of government services in many remote villages has not grabbed the governments attention.

Belal Soliman is from the village of Naga'a Wanas. He told Al-Monitor that he has no ID card or marriage certificate and so he struggles to get health care for his wife and education for his children.

Soliman was not registered at birth by his parents. His wife's parents did not register their marriage either and Soliman's wife has no ID card. Without an ID, Soliman and his wife do not have access to state medical insurance.

If Soliman wants to take his wife to the clinic, he asks his brother-in-law to accompany them. If I dont take him with me, police at a checkpoint on the way to the clinic will stop me and inquire about my wife, Soliman said. I have no papers to prove my marriage. My brother-in-law will convince the police that the woman accompanying me is actually married to me, he added, explaining that his brother-in-law was a witness to the marriage.

Soliman thought about getting an ID, but the process is complicated. Before he can apply, his parents would have to register their marriage. Transportation to the nearest registration office 50 kilometers (31 miles) away is expensive, and then there are costs for the paperwork.

I cannot afford to pay this money, he complained.

Am Hussein lives in the same village. He told Al-Monitor that he has been married for more than 20 years, but he registered the union only two years ago, just to have access to the government's ration cards and get subsidized food items.

Basma Tolba, founder of a charity association in the village established eight months ago called Al-Khier Charity, said that most of the marginalized villagers do not even know about registration and its benefits.

Although the association provides help with marriage registration, it has managed to register only three marriages. There are thousands of couples in the village whose marriage is not officially documented, Tolba told Al Monitor, adding that the local authorities should send registration officers around to visit remote villagers and help them to register.

The government must launch campaigns to make villagers without IDs aware of the advantages of registration. These people must realize that they are not included in Egypts national census. They exist, but still they are invisible to the government, Tolba stressed.

Poor villagers without IDs are also at a disadvantage in land disputes.

When Am Hussein was involved in one some months ago, he could not take the matter to court. I could not speak out because I had nothing to prove my right to the land, he said. Some of my neighbors knew the land was mine, but the court needs official documents.For several days now, the Trump administration has been imposing all sorts of budget cuts on Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, even canceling the funding of activities intended to bring young Palestinians and Israelis together. Nevertheless, with just a few days until he is scheduled to address the United Nations General Assembly meeting, it looks like Abbas is convinced that he is on the right path and that he is comfortable with it. Abbas is proud of his involvement in the Oslo Accord. He believes that this agreement was of enormous importance, and that it altered the situation throughout the region. He said that if there ever comes a time, when the Palestinians conclude that they can no longer continue with their commitments, the implications will be dire. And now, as then, Abbas cannot understand what Palestinians and Israelis with no interest in peace really hope to achieve. What is their alternative? The total annihilation of the other? Of themselves?

Abbas has a hard time understanding the Israeli governments policy toward the Gaza Strip. It was once agreed that the Palestinians could establish a port along the Gaza coast, as well as an airport. Now there is talk of a port in Cyprus and an airport in Eilat, Israel. Does anyone seriously think that this is a solution to the problems of Gaza? Why are Israeli representatives now pressuring Abbas to pay the salaries of bureaucrats in Gaza, and why are they willing to forego the principle of a single Palestinian armed force and one set of laws for all Palestinians? Whats happening with you, Abbas asks? Historically, that was what you always demanded of us, wasnt it?

The Palestinian president believes in nonviolent resistance. It is his preferred path, and he advocated for it despite the opposition of the first Palestinian President, Yasser Arafat. Abbas opposes the terrorism of knife attacks. Why are the people sending children out to risk their lives in knife attacks unwilling to send their own children out to do the same, he asks. This has led to a discussion of his support for a demilitarized Palestinian state. Abbas does not consider this a compromise, but rather a matter of principle. The last thing that a future Palestinian state will need is tanks and fighter jets. Abbas would rather invest in classrooms and hospitals.

It is important for Abbas to reminisce about his childhood as a Palestinian boy growing up right next to the Jewish neighborhood of Safed in the early 1940s. His fathers business partner was a Jew, and the two men were close friends. As a young boy, he participated in the family weddings of his fathers partner as well as in the celebrations of their Jewish employees. As far as Abbas is concerned, the trauma of 1948, may have forced his family to various places across the Middle East, but it never erased his fond memories of neighborly relations and partnerships. Maybe that's why he believes in peace. He thinks that there is no reason why what happened less than eight decades ago could not happen again in the future. Why cant Jews and Arabs, Israelis and Palestinians, live alongside each other as friends and in peace?

On Sept. 2, Al-Monitor asked Abbas about the possibility of a confederation, at a meeting with Israeli peace activists in his office. The Palestinian president mentioned that the Trump team had asked him whether he would accept a Jordanian-Palestinian confederation. His response  which made the news  was that he would only agree if Israel was the third member of such a partnership. When Al-Monitor asked him what he meant by that, he said that he was misunderstood. His answer was that he would agree to a Jordanian-Palestinian confederation, but also to a tripartite confederation, which also included Israel.

What about a confederation that would include only Israel and a future Palestinian state? Id have to think about that, Abbas said. His response may have been vague, but it seems important. He could have removed the option from the table just as easily.

Abbas spoke about the way he is portrayed as someone who keeps avoiding the moment of truth and about his refusal to enter into dialogue with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He called these allegations totally absurd. He said that at the meeting that took place at Netanyahus home nine years ago, which included Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and President Barack Obamas special envoy George Mitchell, he suggested that they begin by discussing two issues: borders and security. He even brought detailed position papers concerning these two issues. According to Abbas, Netanyahu said that he was only willing to discuss security, and that he was not willing to take the Palestinian position papers.

This was followed, Abbas said, by nine separate attempts to arrange a meeting between him and Netanyahu, including an effort by Russian President Vladimir Putin. He responded positively to each of these proposals, while Netanyahu did not respond to any of them. The last proposal was submitted to him by President of the World Jewish Congress Ron Lauder just a few months ago. He agreed to the meeting, but Netanyahu did not.

People close to Abbas report that he is preparing a very important speech, which he is expected to deliver at the General Assembly session this year. Will he say that despite his support for the Oslo Accord, he has no choice but to withdraw from the agreement and give up the Palestinian Authority? Will he rescind the PLOs recognition of Israel? Will he raise the possibility of resigning after more than 14 years in office, during which time he never ran in another election?

It is hard to say. His speeches are usually very circumspect. He tends not to use them to make headlines. It is very possible that once again, he will only describe the severity of the situation, along with a series of warnings, while avoiding any dramatic conclusions. Still, one thing is clear, sitting in the Muqata headquarters in Ramallah is an 83-year-old man who is in ill-health, who does not control the Gaza Strip, who lost majority support for his party in the Legislative Assembly, who rules by presidential decree and who must maneuver within his own political movement just so that he can administer the West Bank.

Despite all that, the world regards him as the legitimate leader of the Palestinian people, with the power to sign a peace treaty, even if it is limited to the West Bank, at least at this first stage.

Israel will have missed a huge opportunity if the next prime minister fails to take advantage of this fact. While it is true that fulfilling such an agreement would pose a very complex challenge, the very signing of an agreement between the two peoples would result in the implementation of the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative and change the face of the region entirely.RAMALLAH, West Bank  The Palestinian Ministry of Interior in Ramallah this month began accepting licensing requests from potential security companies, and has launched a process to regulate existing ones.

The governments decision to license private security companies is aimed at easing the pressure on the police, because it's impossible to deploy police officers to guard public places such as parks, shopping places, universities, institutions and banks," Abdel Nasser al-Sairafi, head of the licensing committee at the Interior Ministry, told Al-Monitor.

The official gazette in May published information on the new system, which categorizes the nature of services the companies provide, such as guarding and protecting facilities and buildings, individuals, valuables, movable and immovable property and any other services approved by the Interior Ministry.

Companies can request a license from the Interior Ministry after registering at the General Directorate of Companies at the Ministry of Economy. The Interior Ministry will decide within 30 days whether to approve a request. Licenses are valid for two years.

The set of conditions for granting licenses includes: A company must be owned by a Palestinian residing in Palestine and holding at least 51% of the companys capital, owners must have a clean record and obtain a certificate of good conduct from the Interior Ministry, and the business must register as a public ordinary company with the Ministry of Economy and comply with any instructions issued by the Interior Ministry.

Employees also must be of Palestinian nationality, have a certificate of good conduct from the ministry and have no record of felonies or misdemeanors. They cannot be public servants and must take courses in security services provided by a ministry-approved entity. Employees must be at least 18 years old.

Hemaya Security Solutions director general Tariq Kandah told Al-Monitor that before the system was established, security companies operated without any uniform legal parameters for their specific work, but rather observed the Ministry of Economys general laws for companies and licensing.

Work on the new system began in late 2016 with a committee formed within the official Palestinian security services. According to Sairafi, the Interior Ministry consulted with existing security companies and met several times with members of the General Investigation Department in the Palestinian police force in 2017 to discuss establishing a system that defines the firms' work. The results were referred to the Ministry of Interior as a competent authority to form a binding system.

The Ministry of Interior sent a letter in the second half of August to more than 18 security companies, giving them 90 days to start adjusting to the new system, after which they will have one year to meet licensing requirements, Kandah said.

He noted that existing companies aren't necessarily doing anything wrong, but all the firms need to conform in certain categories. For example, security vehicles are currently all different: Some have light panels, others do not; some have sirens; some look like the vehicles of the Palestinian security services. Even uniforms differ and some are very similar to official security attire worn by the police or the presidential guard.

The new system specifies uniform colors and basic designs, types of vehicles and identifying markers.

Kandah believes the system will reflect positively on the nature of security companies' work. Now that the Ministry of Interior is in charge of licensing private security companies, institutions will trust us and hire us to handle their security," he said.

Speaking about private security companies rights to use firearms, Kandah said that these firms  especially those in charge of public places such as shopping centers  don't need weapons, as security guards are only in charge of preserving order. He said only security companies transporting cash require weapons.

The Interior Ministry's Sairafi explained that the ministrys licensing committee will determine the kind of equipment to be issued to private security companies based on the specific type and location of their employees' work.Putin gives Erdogan a win on Idlib

Last week in Sochi, Russian President Vladimir Putin backed off on his support for an all-out assault on Idlib in order to give Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan one last chance to solve Idlib on Erdogans terms.

The Sochi deal indicates that Putin considers it a priority to keep Erdogan on board in the Syrian theater, writes Cengiz Candar. The aim of such a strategy is to invest in the growing tensions between Turkey and the United States over the Kurdish presence to the east of the Euphrates. For Putin, not alienating Erdogan takes priority over launching an offensive to deliver Idlib to Assad.  Erdogan, during the joint press conference in Sochi, as if confirming Putins implicit game plan, drew attention to the areas east of the Euphrates and said terrorist activity is not confined to Idlib. The biggest threat to Syria's future lies in the nests of terror to the east of the Euphrates, he said, naming the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) and the Democratic Union Party (PYD), both US allies in the fight against the Islamic State, as terrorist groups that must be brought down.

Putin understood that Erdogan needed a win. At a summit in Tehran on Sept. 7, the Russian president sarcastically shot down Erdogans call for a cease-fire during a live press conference, an embarrassing loss of face for the Turkish leader. In Sochi, Erdogan almost completely reversed the humiliation he experienced during the Tehran summit, writes Candar. Putin and Erdogan displayed an unusual warmth at the end of their two-hour meeting on Sept. 17 [in Sochi]. The two men smiled, and Erdogan affectionately squeezed Putin's right hand between his own. Following the meeting, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu announced there would be no new military operation against Idlib by Syrian government forces and their allies.

The two agreed that a demilitarized buffer zone will be in place by Oct. 15. The arrangement in Sochi offers little new on how Erdogan  who has been trying, without success, to disarm and isolate the al-Qaeda-linked Hayat Tahrir al-Sham since the beginning of the Astana process in May 2017, when Idlib was designated as one of the four deconfliction zones  will be able to succeed this time.

Following his meeting with Putin, Erdogan said, The opposition will remain where they are, but the [radical] groups that we will determine jointly with Russia won't be allowed to operate. The boundaries of the demilitarized zone will be supervised jointly."

The question, Metin Gurcan writes, is how this comprehensive plan will be implemented in one month. Less than two weeks ago, at a meeting in Tehran, Putin had objected to Erdogan's call for a cease-fire, saying, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham [HTS] and other radicals aren't at the [negotiating] table. We cannot give guarantees on their behalf. In return for the one month it gained at Sochi, Ankara is giving those guarantees on behalf of radical groups in Idlib. Perhaps Moscow has realized it couldn't cope with a humanitarian tragedy at Idlib and wants to guarantee the security of its military presence in northern Syria, notably Khmeimim air base, with Ankaras assurances.

Now the most argued critical issue is, how can Ankara assure Moscow that Idlib radicals will agree to a demilitarized zone and removal of their heavy weapons? adds Gurcan. One likely answer is that Ankara will rely on its military power and its substantial influence on the armed opposition groups to convince them.

As we have reported in this column the past two weeks, HTS and its Salafi brothers-in-arms, which control 60% of Idlib, have nowhere to go. Idlib is now a terrorist enclave on a par with Mosul or Raqqa prior to the US-led coalition operations that liberated those cities from the Islamic State. HTS is unlikely to disarm and demobilize to join the Turkish-backed National Liberation Front, except as a temporary tactic to live to fight another day for Islamic law in Syria. In the meantime, HTS and the Salafi armed gangs are already employing their tried and true tactics of using the people of Idlib as human shields, as well as detaining and torturing "traitors" to undermine accommodation by civilians and moderate opposition groups.

There are also restraints on Ankara's military capabilities at Idlib, most notably the absence of air superiority, writes Gurcan. The Sochi summit didn't refer to air superiority, which shows the limits of Moscows confidence in Ankara. Moscow supports Ankaras efforts for de-militarization, but doesnt favor the idea of a no-fly zone and wants to hold on to Russia's dominance in the air over Idlib. Russias monopoly also means that, should clashes escalate around Idlib and Turkish troops are caught in the middle, Ankara will have to rely on Moscow for air evacuation and close-air support for those troops.

The Idlib operation, instead of being a high-paced, short-term operation, will drag on for eight to 10 months at a low tempo with occasional targeted attacks while negotiations continue, Gurcan concludes. Ankara now faces two important risks. The first risk is the security of Turkish troops serving around Idlib. The second, and probably more important, risk is the possibility that armed radical groups that resent Ankaras mediation efforts will punish Turkey by launching terror attacks in Turkey. No doubt Ankara will be on high alert for such an eventuality.

Did Syria help nab Reyhanli terrorist?

Fehim Tastekin speculates that amid the military buildup at the Syrian border, the resurfacing of the Reyhanli file makes one question whether the Turkish people are being psychologically prepared for a possible adventure in Idlib.

While moving military reinforcements to the Syrian border amid lingering tensions over Idlib, Turkey conducted an intriguing intelligence operation, Tastekin reports. On Sept. 12, Ankara announced that Yusuf Nazik, the accused mastermind of a 2013 twin car bombing in Reyhanli that claimed 53 lives, had been captured in the Syrian province of Latakia and brought to Turkey by the National Intelligence Organization (MIT). Public broadcaster TRT initially claimed that Nazik, a Turkish national, had been captured in a joint operation with Syrian intelligence. The channel removed the claim from its ensuing bulletins, while the state-run Anatolia news agency emphasized that the operation was accomplished entirely with national resources.

Does Erdogan have Ocalan option in Syria?

Amberin Zaman reports on the potential role imprisoned Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan might play in Erdogans plans for Syria.

Syria, writes Zaman, is the immediate incentive for the [Turkish] government to seek Ocalans cooperation. With a showdown looming in Idlib  might Turkey feel compelled to co-opt the Kurds before the Syrian strongman does? The YPG has hinted that it might help the regime tackle al-Qaeda-backed militants in Idlib in exchange for the regime helping it drive Turkey and its Free Syrian Army [FSA] allies out of Afrin.

Turkey captured the Kurdish-dominated enclave of Afrin with Russias blessings in March, Zaman explains, dealing a severe blow to the retreating YPGs morale and prestige. The group is waging a low-intensity counter-insurgency in Afrin amid allegations that the Turkish army is overseeing ethnic cleansing and abuse of local Kurds by its proxies. The YPGs victims are mainly FSA rebels, however, which can only sharpen the Kurdish-Arab divide. As ever, the Syrian regime benefits the most.

Turkey gains as well, and pressure remains its favored approach, Zaman continues. It may be no coincidence that Erdogan is threatening to revive the death penalty, which was slapped on Ocalan at the end of his courtroom trial but later commuted in line with Turkeys now-stalled bid to join the European Union. Some wonder whether the intent is to strong-arm Ocalan and the PKK into getting the YPG to submit to Turkeys will, a tactic attempted (unsuccessfully) during the last round of peace talks. In practice, this means a full withdrawal of all PKK fighters from Turkey and leaving their weapons behind. The other Turkish hope is for the YPG to disavow the PKK  even as Ankara insists, with some merit, that they are one and the same  and to share power with Turkey-backed Syrian Kurds in the Iraqi Kurdistan-based Kurdistan National Council.ALEPPO, Syria  A Twitter account created by Hala, a six-year-old Syrian girl who lives with her mother in the opposition-controlled northwestern city of Idlib, has made waves online. Hala tweets in both Arabic and English in an attempt to reach followers all over the world and shed light on the suffering of the children in Idlib and all around Syria.

Since the account was created Aug. 1, Hala has garnered over 1,650 followers after thousands watched her videos online. Her account went viral specifically after an Aug. 29 press conference where Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova accused Western and American media of being behind the Twitter account.

We cannot rule out the possibility of this account posting footage in an attempt to prove that the regime forces used chemical weapons against civilians. We have seen such attempts in the past, Zakharova said.

On Aug. 25, Russia accused Syrian opposition factions of preparing to launch a chemical attack in Idlib, and then blame it on the regime. Western forces would have a pretext to strike government positions in Syria, the Russian Defense Ministry spokesman, Yevgenyevich Konashenkov, said, adding that the plan is being carried out with British intelligence.

Zakharova claimed that Halas account is an example of the carefully conceived and traditional approach the West adopts in creating propaganda when it comes to Syria. She said that Hala is following in the footsteps of Bana Alabed, whose Twitter account had received broad acclaim for tweeting in English about the military operation the regime and Russia launched against Aleppo in late 2016.

The US State Department's e-communication team denied Zakharova's allegations and said on its official Twitter account, The Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman claimed propaganda was taking place on Twitter. She said that Western media outlets were among the accounts followers, but none of the outlets she mentioned can be seen following it, adding that her claim is a mere Russian propaganda.

Maha Mohammad, Halas mother, told Al-Monitor that her daughters account has nothing to do with any media or political body, be it locally or internationally. She explained that she is the one running her daughters account, without any help.

The purpose of my childs account is to shed light on the deplorable situation of children living in Idlib and their fear of an unknown future. I tell Hala what to say in her videos and I film everything on my phone. We sometimes walk around Idlib, visit destroyed neighborhoods and monuments and take pictures with wounded children, Mohammad said.

I hope Halas account can draw attention to the massacres and repeated violations committed against children, women and the elderly in opposition-controlled areas. I hope the international community can prevent a possible massacre against civilians, should the regime and Russia act on their threat to wage a war against us, she noted.

Between Sept. 6 and Sept. 13, Russian and Syrian warplanes bombed opposition-controlled areas of Idlibs southern countryside and Hamas northern countryside. The strikes killed and wounded dozens of civilians, while thousands have fled their homes heading to areas in northern Aleppo.

Mohammad noted, I have faith in Hala and her ability to draw the attention of humanitarian and international organizations through her Arabic and English videos so everyone realizes how children are the victims of this long war. I want children to smile again, go to school, play and walk around freely and safely. We want warplanes to stop killing children. This needs to stop immediately.

She added, Despite Halas young age, she is well-aware of everything she says. She asks me to let her go out and talk about children, how they are deprived of attending school and how they lack safety. I think Halas voice is able to reach people from around the world and urge the international community to save the children. Hala will continue tweeting every single day to convey the humanitarian situation in Idlib and call on protecting children and restoring their rights. She will not stop until a solution is reached to protect people and prevent massacres, one way or another.

Mohammad, 27, is studying counseling psychology at the University of Idlib and lives with her daughter in a small apartment in the city. They have not heard from Halas father for almost three years now. No one knows of his whereabouts or which party in the conflict could have taken him.

We have no idea where her father is exactly. We lost contact years ago. Hala needs her father, like many children in Syria who have lost their fathers. We do not want any more children losing their parents, she said.

Capt. Abdul Salam Abdul Razzaq from the National Liberation Front affiliated with the Free Syrian Army, told Al-Monitor, The Russian allegations over who is running Halas account are a pre-emptive step aimed at questioning the credibility of the footage that would come out of Syria, in the event of an invasion of Idlib. The regime and Russia want to continue killing Syrians without anyone talking to the world about it to convey the peoples suffering. Russia wants to lie and wants people to believe it.

Abdul Razzaq added, Russia and the Syrian regime fear that Hala could attract international media attention, as did Alabed a couple of years ago when she was tweeting about the military campaign launched by the regime and Russian forces against Aleppo in 2016. This worries Russia; it does not want anyone to document its crimes. It would be even worse if a child is documenting, since the world will sympathize with her more.

Alabeds Twitter account documented the suffering of civilians trapped in the eastern districts of Aleppo. She had over 340,000 followers and major international media outlets quoted her tweets. In late 2016, when she arrived in Turkey with her family after escaping the eastern neighborhoods of Aleppo before the regime took over, Alabed met Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who ended up granting her and her family Turkish citizenship.A veteran Selma police officer was shot early this morning in what authorities described was an ambush.

The shooting happened about 3:30 a.m. in downtown Selma. Chief Spencer Collier said the officer, who previously worked for the Dallas County Sheriff's Office, had just left a homicide scene that had happened two hours earlier.

He drove along Broad Street in downtown Selma and then turned on to Furniss Avenue. "He received multiple gunshots from multiple-caliber weapons'' Collier said.

The officer, whose name has not been released, was struck twice in the chest. The bullets penetrated his vest. "By the grace of God, it looks like he is going to be OK,'' Collier said.

The chief requested the State Bureau of Investigation take over the probe.

The shooting of the officer was the third time in six weeks Selma police have been ambushed with gunfire. Earlier this month, two Selma police investigators were fired on at a public housing community Monday night in an apparent ambush but were not injured.

The gunfire in that incident erupted about 10 p.m. at George Washington Carver Homes. The suspect or suspects fired six to eight shots. One patrol car was struck.

"The cowards stepped out from housing units in the horseshoe of GWC after luring officers on a fake call,'' Collier said following that incident. "Officers have been ambushed multiple times at this location."

"The cowards, and they are nothing but cowards, shoot from several blocks away and then flee into a housing complex or a waiting car,'' the chief said. "We are in contact with supporting law enforcement and we are in the planning stages of an operation that will overwhelm these punks that have the false bravado of men."

Collier has been in a battle in recent months to try to buy better body armor, among other equipment, for officer with asset forfeiture funds but said the requests were denied by the city's financial authorities.

"The failure to provide our officers with proper body armor is an officer safety concern and a liability for the city,'' Collier said in a previous statement. "The funding is there, but an arbitrary decision made by someone that knows nothing about law enforcement is asinine. I want the families of our officers to know what is transpiring. It will be me going to a grieving wife or mother should something happen to one of our officers, not someone in finance."A man wanted on felony charges in Nebraska and Kansas was taken into police custody in north Alabama after a two-hour standoff late Saturday.

Huntsville police arrested Daniel McAuley at a home on the 2500 block of Marline Lane Southwest, Lt. Michael Johnson said.

Officers were called around 7:30 p.m. to a possible domestic-violence assault on a woman. While investigating, police learned McAuley was inside the home and refusing to come outside. The suspect was taken into custody around 9:30 p.m.

Police said McAuley is wanted in two states on felony charges, including assault.

SWAT officers and negotiators were on the scene.

Further details weren't immediately released.Nine Alabama sheriffs have sent the state signed affidavits stating that they will use state jail food funds only to feed state inmates.

Gov. Kay Ivey updated the affidavits - which county sheriffs must sign to receive the state inmate-feeding money - last month to include an "oath" that they will not use the funds for any other purpose.

The move was an attempt to put an end to some sheriffs' longstanding practice of pocketing "excess" state money they receive to feed state inmates in their county jails but do not use for that purpose. The practice has been a major point of controversy in Alabama since AL.com reported in March that Etowah County Sheriff Todd Entrekin had pocketed more than $750,000 worth of inmate-feeding funds over the previous three years and proceeded to purchase a $740,000 beach house in September 2017.

Morgan County Sheriff Ana Franklin ran into trouble in federal court over a dispute that involved, among other things, her using the jail food fund to invest in a crooked car lot.

Advocates and other observers initially expressed concern about whether sheriffs would try to resist the move. But the office of state Comptroller Kathleen Baxter had already received nine signed affidavits by Friday afternoon. The sheriffs reported the number of state inmates housed in their county jails in August and requested reimbursement by the state at a rate of $1.75 per inmate per day.

So far, the sheriffs of Bullock, Cherokee, Chilton, Clay, Covington, DeKalb, Escambia, Shelby and Sumter counties have complied with Ivey's new policy.

The sheriffs of Alabama's 57 other counties have yet to send the state affidavits for the cost of feeding state inmates in August.

That is not unusual, though, according to Baxter, who said that sheriffs can submit the affidavits as often as they like, as long as the state receives them by the end of each fiscal year.

"The sheriffs will request reimbursement whenever they want to," Baxter told AL.com Friday. "So the sheriffs could wait an entire year to request their reimbursement, or they could do it monthly or they could do it quarterly. They don't have to do it every month ... If they want the money they'll have to fill out the forms."

Sheriff's offices in a number of counties, including Jefferson and Montgomery, have long turned any money allocated to feed inmate that is not used for that purpose over to their respective county governments.

Last month, Ivey announced that as of Sept. 1 the affidavits would include new language stating that sheriffs take an "oath" that the state funds will only be spent only on "food for prisoners in the county jail" and "preparing food, serving food and other service incident to the feeding of prisoners." The previous version of the affidavit did not include language that restricted what the money could be spent on.

Ivey applauded the nine sheriffs for signing and submitting the new affidavit forms.

"It is great to see that sheriffs are supporting my decision and ensuring that public funds are being used for public purposes," she said in a Friday statement. "We must do what is right by the people of Alabama and be good stewards of tax payer dollars."

The affidavit only applies to funds sheriffs use to feed state inmates in their county jails. As such, it does not apply to funds provided to sheriffs by federal, county or municipal governments to feed any of their inmates housed in the jails.This is an opinion column.

Kids in Texas are busy. I get it.

They're too busy to study the likes of Helen Keller, the Alabama icon who showed the world not only what a deaf and blind person can accomplish with grit and tenacity and devoted instruction, but that disabled people should be treated as people before anything else.

She changed expectations, and broadened horizons for everyone with a physical challenge.

Pretty good lessons.

But Texas kids are busy. There's so much to learn and only so much brainpower to do it. So Texas Board of Education officials recommended dropping Keller from its curriculum. A note from the recommending group said Keller "does not best represent the concept of citizenship. Military and first responders are best represented."

Does not best represent the concept of citizenship.

Right.

Helen Keller grew up in an age when those with her challenges were dismissed and marginalized. But she overcame those obstacles to achieve successes that define the American Dream. She earned an unprecedented college education, wrote books, traveled the world and received the presidential medal of freedom.

And - oh yeah, this might be a problem - she came to fight for the rights of women and workers and peace. She spoke against those who would profit from warfare, and came to call herself a socialist.

Which makes it easy for a place like Texas to turn a jaundiced eye toward her. Heck, you don't even hear that part of the Helen Keller story in the museum at her Alabama childhood home at Ivy Green. Alabama, too, would rather see Keller forever as that child at the water well, a picture of drive and determination rather than a woman who grew up to have deep thoughts and troubling politics and beliefs that do not best represent state leadership's concept of ... citizenship.

Which too often does not include independent thought.

It's amazing that Alabama put Keller on its state quarter, when you get down to it. Probably because the schools taught Helen Keller in perpertual childhood and ignored the complications of her adult life.

Texas will tell you its decision was not political, that there's only so much time in the year and they have to make hard decisions.

So it's not just Keller. Texas first graders won't learn about Francis Scott Key, who wrote the National Anthem, and second graders won't study John Hancock. How long does it take to explain that he signed the Declaration of Independence really big?

They won't get W.E.B. Dubois, who founded the NAACP, or the Navajo Code Talkers, who kept the Marines safely talking in World War II.

They do have time to study Amelia Earhart, according to the recommendations. And she's most famous because she failed.

But third graders won't get Keller or Christopher Columbus, both of whom unquestionably changed the world, both of whom rarely have their full stories told, both of whom can be ... complicated.

And that's the problem.

In an age and a place where preserving history - particularly the romantic notion of Confederate history - has become a battle cry, it seems pretty clear that history in Texas is in the eye of the beholder. The blind eye of the beholder.

Texas schools would choose to ignore those whose stories are complex, or unpopular, or do not best represent their concept of citizenship.

Which is not history at all. It's just big, blind spin.

Everything is bigger in Texas, of course. Including the BS.A U.S. Navy ship was christened Saturday at a Mobile shipyard in front of naval guests and community leaders.

Austal USA hosted the christening of Littoral Combat Ship 22, the U.S.S. Kansas City, at its manufacturing facility Saturday. The ship is the 17th Independence-class LCS the company has under contract with the Navy.

Austal USA President Craig Perciavalle said in a press release, "Today marks a significant milestone with the christening of this amazing warship." He said, "Our talented shipbuilding team is proud to provide our Navy with an extraordinarily capable vessel that will honor Kansas City as she becomes an integral part of the U.S. naval fleet protecting our nation."

The Independence-variant LCS is a "high-speed, agile, shallow draft, focused-mission surface combatant designed to conduct Surface Warfare, Anti-Submarine Warfare, and Mine Countermeasures missions in the littoral region. With its open architecture design, the LCS can support modular weapons, sensor systems and a variety of manned and unmanned vehicles to capture and sustain littoral maritime supremacy," the press release stated.

A group of employees, state and company officials, naval guests, civic leaders, and community members attended the ceremony beneath the hull of the ship in Austal USA's final assembly bay.

The ship's sponsor is Tracy Davidson, wife of Admiral Philip S. Davidson, Commander United States Indo-Pacific Command. Perciavalle said the company is "honored" to have Davidson as the ship's sponsor.

"No one other than an Admiral's wife, especially one so active in the Navy community, would be better suited for this important role to the ship and her crew," he said.

Tracy is a Missouri native and attended Southern Methodist University, the press release stated. She is currently living in her 22nd house since marrying her husband. She is active in the Navy community and has volunteered with family readiness groups, been an Ombudsman, served on support group boards, and mentored the Command Leadership Class. Her recent positions in military support groups include the Advisor to the Tidewater Officer Spouses Association, Tidewater Collection, Surface Officers Spouses, and Continuum of Resource Education.

Earlier this week, Austal USA received Navy contracts for two more LCS ships, which is a significant extension to the shipyard's biggest program.

Austal recently delivered LCS 18, the future USS Charleston, to the Navy in August. LCS 20, the Cincinnati, was christened in May. Several other ships are in various stages of construction, and a keel-laying ceremony is to be held in December for LCS 26, the future USS Mobile.Sunday, September 23, 2018

The North Carolina State Bar has filed charges against an attorney alleging misconduct in his dealings with two exonerated defendants.

The complaint allege violations of Rule 1.1 to multiple violations of Rule 8.4 (b), (c), and (d) with many stops along the way such as Rules 1.5(a) (excessive fees), 1.6(a) (breaching confidentiality), 1.16(a)(improper financial penalty on withdrawal), 1.8(a)&(e) (improper business transaction with client ), 3.3(a) (false statement to tribunal), Rule 5.4(a) (sharing fees with non-lawyers), 5.5(f)(taking direction from "consultant advisors") and 7.1(a).

The Marshall Project reported on the Bar's investigation

The North Carolina State Bar is investigating a Florida lawyer for his treatment of two mentally disabled clients who spent 31 years in prison before being declared innocent.

Henry McCollum and his half-brother, Leon Brown, were exonerated in 2014 after serving decades in prison for the notorious rape and murder of an 11-year-old girl. They received $750,000 each from the state in compensation.

After they were freed, lawyer Patrick Megaro pocketed a third of each award despite having done virtually no work on the exonerations or pardons the men received in 2015. He approved loans at 42 percent interest for the brothers and a $20,000 payment to two women, self-described advocates for the brothers who brought Megaro the case.

McCollum went broke and began borrowing more money at 39 percent with the lawyers approval.

The Marshall Project detailed the brothers plight in a story in The New York Times.

McCollums court-appointed guardian removed Megaro from the case earlier this week. High-powered Washington, D.C., law firm Hogan Lovells, where U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts once practiced, now will be representing him for free in his lawsuits against the police agencies who allegedly wronged him.

We are honored to be representing Henry in this important case, said Cate Stetson, a partner in the firm. We hope to bring him some measure of justice for the wrongs hes suffered.

Megaro did not respond to requests for comment. He is still representing Brown, McCollums half-brother. Duane Gilliam, a Fayetteville, N.C., lawyer who is Browns legal guardian, did not return phone calls inquiring about Megaros status.

The state bar is looking into at least two complaints against Megaro in connection with the McCollum case, said lawyer Ken Rose, who represented McCollum for 20 years when he was on death row. Rose said he filed a complaint earlier this year and was told the bar was already probing the Florida lawyer.

The president of North Carolina Advocates for Justice, an association of criminal defense and plaintiff lawyers, also asked the bar to investigate. This is not Megaros first run-in with the bar, which reprimanded him in 2015 for making false and misleading statements about legal services provided through an out-of-state law firm not licensed in North Carolina.

The bar also has a third case pending: An Alamance County woman filed a complaint saying Megaro did nothing after she paid him thousand of dollars to appeal her divorce case. The judge dismissed the appeal after ruling that Megaro blatantly disregarded court rules.

The link takes the reader to an in depth background story.

The Death Penalty Information Center had this report with links to additional articles. (Mike Frisch)

https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/legal_profession/2018/09/the-north-carolina-state-bar-has-filed-charges-against-an-attorney-alleging-misconduct-in-his-dealings-with-two-exonerated-de.htmlCentre in Korea providing busy, stressed out and frazzled Koreans a chance at tranquility and self-reflection.

Hongcheon, South Korea  Jong Hwa-nam was looking up holiday destinations for her summer break when she came across a week-long meditation programme offered by Prison Inside Me.

Instead of going on a vacation, the 50-year-old signed up for a programme because she felt it was for me.

Strangely, I always had this animosity and distrust of people. They were unpleasant feelings, Jong told Al Jazeera at the centre in Hongcheon, about 100km from the capital Seoul.

After self-reflection here, I came to the conclusion that animosity and distrust can easily be eradicated, and that we are the same people, pursuing the same values.

Prison Inside Me was launched in 2008 by Kwon Yong-seok, a former prosecutor who used to work 100 hours a week who could not stop working even though he was very tired.

I was exhausted physically and mentally but I wasnt brave enough to quit my job. I didnt know what to do with my life, said Kwon.

Then I thought about being in solitary confinement for a week. Deciding where I should go next would become a bit clearer with no cigarettes, drinks, human relations, a boss and stressful work. And thats how I came up with the idea of Prison Inside Me.

More than 2,000 people have checked into Prison Inside Me over the years. Programmes range from 24-hour stays to week-long ones. Patrons have included office workers, students, corporate bosses and stay-at-home mothers.

They spend their time in one of the 28 cells. There are spiritual group activities and a guidebook. But most of the time spent at the centre is in confinement in a room with a diary, yoga mat and a panic button.

Each patron is assigned one of the 28 cells at the centre [Kwon Moon/Al Jazeera]

South Koreas working habit

In 2017, the average South Korean spent around 2,024 hours working, the third-highest among members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

It was the most overworked nation in Asia with 300 more hours on average than the US.

In order to improve work-life balance, South Korea cut its working hours from 68 to 52 a week in July this year.

The hours were inhumanely long, according to the countrys gender equality minister. President Moon Jae-in said the move to cut down working hours was to give Koreans a right to rest.

Heavy workload and office stress are the biggest reasons why patrons pay to spend time at Prison Inside Me. Kwon himself founded it because he wanted a getaway from his hectic job and routine.

However, there are some who want a break from their daily lives and time to self-reflect.

I didnt think I was growing in life and I was worried about my familys future, said 37-year-old Jong Hyup-lee, a computer programmer.

I wanted to empty out such concerns from my system. I came here to get rid of these stuffy feelings. After spending a week here, I realised all these concerns were delusions and I was able to free myself from them and own my life.

At the centre, people have to turn in their mobile phones and other belongings before changing into a uniform. They are then assigned one of the 28 cells, which measure only 6sq metres, where they will spend most of their time.

The doors, with narrow glass panes, are painted grey to give them a prison look and are locked from the outside. But the clients are shown how to open them from the inside if they need to.

Meals are served through a slot in the doors.

You are literally confined there which is the whole concept of the programme, said Noh Jihyang, Kwons wife and cofounder of Prison Inside Me.

But participants say they felt the greatest happiness and freedom here. Most of them were initially resistant because they were told it is jail. But after staying inside, they said it is not the small cell that is the prison, but rather the outside world.

Instead of going on a vacation, Jong decided to spend time at Prison Inside Me [Kwon Moon/Al Jazeera]





Opposition to new law

The new regulation to reduce the number of working hours is set to cost Korean businesses an additional 12 trillion won ($11bn) if the same levels of production are to be maintained, according to the Korean Economic Research Institute.

While the change has been welcomed by the ruling party, it is facing stiff opposition from the business community with some analysts arguing it will not a make a difference.

Only one in 10 workers will be able to enjoy the benefits of the change. For most small businesses, it means rising labour costs and worsening profitability while their workers will have to accept lower pay for reduced working hours, Kim Tae-gi, a professor of economics at Dankook University, was quoted as saying by the Financial Times.

Kwon reckons the change in law will help Korean society and is happy giving people the opportunity to experience solitude and meditation with experts nearby for help if needed.

He acknowledges, however, that the experiences gained in the short stay were something people needed to implement into their daily lives.

I dont think 24 or 48 hours of staying here is enough time to change a persons life, said Kwon.

However, I think it gives a chance and an opportunity to start that change. The value and experience of spending time alone affects their life afterwards. Some have even described it as the greatest gift theyve given themselves.

Additional reporting and video by Kwon MoonUS grants some waivers for spouses, others on case-by-case basis. But those applying say process is long and uncertain.

Istanbul, Turkey  American Kathryn Balleh sang the country classic Jolene at a rooftop bar in Istanbul, while her Syrian husband Bashar Balleh strummed the guitar.

She closed her eyes as she hummed the tune about a woman worried that Jolene may steal the man she cares for.

The song transferred Kathryn to another place.

Im begging you, please dont take my man, she sang, a hint of melancholy in her voice.

Although Kathryn wasnt worried about another person swooping and stealing Bashars heart, the song resonated in a different way.

In June, the US Supreme Court upheld the Trump administrations travel ban, barring nationals of six Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States.

The ban put Kathryn and Bashars plans for moving to the US on hold, instantly thrusting them into the process of navigating the US immigration system, in hopes of obtaining a waiver for Bashar. But according to immigration lawyers and other advocates, the process remains long, unclear and uncertain.

No one wants to hire me because Im Syrian

Kathryn and Bashar met at a jam session two months before the election of US President Donald Trump.

{articleGUID}

Bashar, a self-taught musician, joined the band, Country for Syria, which Kathryns roommate started. Their love was nearly instant.

Their relationship moved relatively quickly, partially because they knew that without a legal commitment they may be separated.

Im Syrian and I cant really go anywhere, and shes American and the situation in Turkey was bad, Bashar said, referring to the strained US-Turkey relations that began last year.

I thought maybe Kathryn would have to leave, he added.

Nearly two years later, Istanbul remains a temporary sanctuary for the Ballehs, as well as the band, albeit one fraught with political instability and a challenging environment for Syrians.

Turkey is home to nearly 3.5 million registered Syrian refugees, most of whom are granted temporary protection status. On paper, it means access to housing, healthcare and the labour market. However the reality for many Syrians, even the select few who are legal residents in Turkey like Bashar, is quite different.

Im applying, applying, applying [for jobs]. Nobody is getting back to me because Im Syrian, Bashar said.

Bashar applied for a spousal visa in March 2017 [Sara Nasser/Al Jazeera]

According to the 26-year-old, the jobs Syrians can get are low-paying and require 12 hours of work a day. He has a heart condition so physical labour jobs are not an option.

Bashar arrived in Istanbul in December 2014, leaving his family behind in the Syrian port city of Latakia. He started work as a musician at a restaurant for a boss who relished tormenting him being Syrian. He would turn on the TV, the news. He would say, Look, Bashar al-Assad is killing them. They all deserve to die, haha. And I cant say anything, he recalls.

Bashar eventually quit. After months of not being able to find work, he made two attempts to go to Europe.

During his first attempt, the boat Bashar was travelling in was attacked by individuals he assumes were pirates. The boat was rescued by the Turkish coastguard. On his second attempt, Bashar was kidnapped before the boat disembarked. When the police arrived, Bashar managed to escape from both the police and his kidnappers.

Despite his harrowing ordeal, Bashar and Kathryn remain optimistic. They recognise their situation is one of relative privilege, when compared with the thousands of Syrians who have no possible option of going to the US.

Unclear waiver process

Under the third and most current version of the travel ban, the US said it would allow for case-by-base waivers for those who meet certain requirements, including being a spouse of a US citizen.

{articleGUID}

Additionally, the presidential proclamation, lists a number of vague guidelines, including that an applicant must demonstrate that he or she does not pose a threat to public safety and national security, would be caused undue hardship if not allowed entry to the US and that his or her admittance is in the nations interest.

Bashar applied for a spousal visa in March 2017, hoping to receive a waiver. He has an interview with consulate officials at the US embassy in Istanbul this week.

According to a lawyer from the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP), there is no established clear procedure for how people can provide evidence that they qualify for a waiver.

Were in the process of preparing what immigration attorneys are informally calling waiver packets now, said an IRAP lawyer, who spoke to Al Jazeera on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the cases involved.

Some embassies have allowed people to physically make a submission at the interview with a packet, some have accepted them by email  some have said they dont accept any outside evidence  it has been really inconsistent at different locations.

The couple said the process for providing evidence for a waiver has been confusing and unclear [Sara Nasser/Al Jazeera]

A major component of the Trump administrations defence of the travel ban was that it offered a wide-ranging waiver process for individuals on a case-by-base basis. But the administration came under fire again in June after reports surfaced that just two percent of more than 27,000 visa applications of individuals from countries covered in the ban were granted waivers from December 8, 2017, through April 30 of this year. The reports added that 4,200 were still awaiting a determination on the waiver.

A spokesperson for the State Department told Al Jazeera that 1,428 applicants have been cleared for a waiver as of August 15, 2018.

The spokesperson emphasised that there is no separate application for the waiver, adding that individuals should apply for the visa and disclose during the interview any information that would fulfil the waivers requirements.

But David Leopold, an immigration lawyer who represents several Syrians navigating the US immigration system, said that the US government is failing to provide any clarity on the process for how waivers are granted, which could be by design.

{articleGUID}

I think that it was done on purpose because they dont really want to let these families come together, says Leopold. I dont think this administration values folks from countries that are not white and European  I think theres a huge racial component to this, a huge anti-Muslim component.

In July, more than two dozen families, representing five countries affected by the ban, filed a lawsuit against the US government over its implementation of the ban and the process for obtaining waivers. According to the complaint, the plaintiffs have had their application denied or stalled despite meeting the criteria listed in the presidential proclamation.

For now, the potential of a waiver remains the Ballehs only hope of moving to the United States as a couple. If they are denied or the process takes too long, however, Kathryn said they will consider going to live with Bashars family in Syria.

Yes, its in a war, and yes, the economy is not in a good position, she says, but whats more important in this world than being around people you love.Iran seeks to increase pressure on the US in Syria and portray its military presence there as an occupation.

In early September, the Trump administration finally announced what various officials had been suggesting over the past months: that US troops will stay indefinitely in Syria. US President Donald Trump signed off on this reversal in policy after previously declaring that he wanted to pull US soldiers out of the country.

Just two weeks earlier, during a visit to Israel, Trumps national security adviser John Bolton demanded that Iran withdraws its forces from Syria. Tehran responded by sending Iranian Defence Minister Amir Hatami to Damascus where he signed a military cooperation agreement which effectively ensured Irans continued defence role in Syria and which made it clear that it did not intend on leaving anytime soon.

Facing mounting pressure by the US and Israel, Iran is not only refusing to withdraw, but in fact, intends to consolidate its position in the Middle East. In Syria, Irans ultimate goal is to push back against the US, curb its influence and make its military presence there costlier. To do so, it is focusing its efforts on northern Syria, where it is trying to establish new realities on the ground with the help of Russia and Turkey.

It seeks to do so by encircling the area east of the Euphrates River currently under the control of US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and portray the US forces there as a destabilising factor which is frustrating efforts at a peaceful resolution of the Syrian conflict. Iran wants to frame the situation as a US occupation which is preventing the area east of the Euphrates from joining the rest of the liberated Syrian territories. Tehran hopes that promoting such a narrative would bring the international community to perceive the US as an occupier in Syria and increase pressure on Washington to withdraw.

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But there is one major challenge Iran faces in fulfilling its plan: Idlib province, the last stronghold of the Syrian armed opposition. That is why Iran is working with the Syrian government to gain control of the province, either through diplomatic or military means, which would leave the SDF-held territories as the last barrier to peace.

It was this strategy that Iran was pursuing at the September 7 summit with Russia and Turkey in Tehran. The Iranian government was hoping for a consensus to be reached with Russia and Turkey to move against the armed opposition and force it to accept a reconciliation deal, similar to the ones concluded in the Damascus suburb of Eastern Ghouta and in the southern provinces of Deraa and Quneitra.

Once that was accomplished, the next target would be the SDF-controlled area, where the interests of Russia, Turkey and Iran could conveniently align.

Ankara sees the SDF, a majority Kurdish force, as a branch of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which it considers a terrorist organisation and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly reiterated that securing the Turkey-Syria border against terrorists is one of his highest priorities.

Although the three countries failed to agree on a plan for Idlib at the Tehran summit, the Turkish presidents comments that Turkey is extremely annoyed by the United States continuing to support terrorist organisations were welcomed by Tehran. For his part, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said that the final step to resolve the Syrian crisis would be in eastern Euphrates [where] it is mainly Americas illegal interventions that are causing the problems  one of our demands are for American forces to get out of Syria immediately.

Ten days later, Russia and Turkey reached an agreement in Sochi to establish a demilitarised zone in Idlib and work on eliminating terrorist groups in the area. Although at a first glance the deal runs against the Iranian interest, Tehran expressed support for it. It most probably sees it as a temporary settlement to help resolve persisting differences with Turkey over a permanent solution for Idlib.

{articleGUID}

The Sochi agreement and the announced demilitarised zone will delay the offensive on Idlib only temporarily. Iran will likely pick up its effort to reach a solution, either diplomatically or militarily, in the coming weeks and months.

Although there are a number of major disagreements between Iran, Russia and Turkey, what is important in the end is that they are all opposing the current US policies in Syria. All three countries have suffered from US sanctions and all have serious trust issues with the Trump administration. Emphasising this common ground, Irans Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier in September that the US is containable and that Iran and Russia should continue close cooperation towards this goal.

Despite recent reports about tensions in Iranian-Russian relations, Iran is not concerned about Russias posture towards its presence in Syria as they share common geopolitical concerns about the US. Likewise, Moscow has greatly benefited from its partnership with Iran, increasing its strategic depth and credibility in the Middle East.

Apart from the diplomatic effort in the international arena and through the Astana process, Tehran also has a number of options on the ground to increase pressure on the US in northeast Syria. Together with its allies, it can exploit differences among Kurdish groups in Syria to bog down the US troops in a complex security situation similar to the one in post-2003 Iraq; they can incite anti-US sentiments among the Arab population in those territories; and they can push radical elements out of Idlib into SDF-held areas, where US forces will have to face them.

Whichever strategy Iran chooses to pursue, the US will likely feel the pressure on the ground soon enough. That could end up being an effective deterrent against US plans of opening additional fronts against Iran in the Middle East.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial stance.Senior advisers to British PM tell the Sunday Times newspaper they are planning election to save faltering Brexit talks.

British Prime Minister Theresa May is planning an early general election in November to save her leadership and to prevent the collapse of talks with European leaders over Britains exit from the bloc, according to a report by the Sunday Times newspaper.

The report comes just days after EU leaders rejected the Conservative party leaders preferred plan for leaving the EU, the so-called Chequers agreement.

Under the plan, the United Kingdom would enter into a free trade area with the European Union, which would have common rules and standards in several major industries, and maintain customs duties regulations but end freedom of movement between EU member states and the UK.





EU leaders dismissed the proposals as unworkable at a meeting they attended with May in Salzburg earlier this week.

The Sunday Times spoke to two senior aides to May, who said they were planning to announce a new general election to secure public backing for a new negotiating platform with the EU.

Citing a member of her inner circle, the newspaper also said that May was planning to step down from her role next summer.

The prime minister has found herself politically boxed in by the EU abroad and at home by both opponents of Brexit who want a second referendum and hard Brexiteers in her own party who want a clean break with the EU.

Her previous attempt at securing public support for her Brexit negotiating strategy fell flat when the Conservatives lost their majority in the 2017 election.

Opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn added to the pressure on May by calling for a new vote.

If this government cant deliver, then I simply say to Theresa May, the best way to settle this is by having a general election, he told the Labour Party conference this weekend.

Senior members of Labour back a new referendum on leaving the EU, and Corbyn has hinted recently that he would back calls if a majority of Labour members wanted a new vote.

The UK has until March to secure a deal on the terms of its exit from the EU. Not doing so will result in a no deal Brexit, in which the UK leaves the bloc without an agreement and reverts to World Trade Organisation rules on trade with the EU.

That could lead to a significant rise in prices and declining growth, according to economists.Activists lash out at a White House plan to deny green cards to immigrants who receive benefits.

Rights groups in the United States have slammed a plan by the Trump administration to deny green cards to immigrants who receive public benefits such as food stamps.

On Saturday, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) listed a wide range of benefits which, if claimed, could disqualify US immigrants seeking visas or green cards, or prevent immigrants already in the US from changing their legal status.





People applying for green cards already have to prove that they will not become a burden on the state, and are penalised for claiming cash benefits.

The new rules would extend those measures to non-cash benefits, such as food stamps and housing vouchers, which are considered heavily weighed negative factors in obtaining legal permanent status.

This proposed rule will implement a law passed by Congress intended to promote immigrant self-sufficiency and protect finite resources by ensuring that they are not likely to become burdens on American taxpayers, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said in a statement issued on Saturday.

Immigration rights groups condemned the proposal.

Marielena Hincapie, executive director of the National Immigration Law Centre, called the plan another cruel step by the Trump administration.

How you contribute to your community  and not what you look like or the contents of your wallet  should be what matters most, she said in a statement.

This proposed rule does the opposite and makes clear that the Trump administration continues to prioritise money over family unity by ensuring that only the wealthiest can afford to build a future in this country.

In a tweet, the American Civil Liberties Union said the move constituted a new attempt to kick and keep immigrants out of our country and attack people with disabilities.

This move by the Trump administration is a new attempt to kick and keep immigrants out of our country and attack people with disabilities, including people with HIV and those who are enrolled in the Medicaid program.https://t.co/SsKkQNC9Qu  ACLU (@ACLU) September 23, 2018

The Legal Aid Society echoed concerns that the rule could create a situation where immigrants forgo much-needed assistance for fears of negatively impacting their applications.

If adopted, the rule will create a nationwide health crisis impacting millions, and deter families from seeking vital medical care when they need it the most, Attorney-in-Charge Adriene Holder said in a statement.

This proposal is radical and dangerous, and wholly against our values and principles as a nation founded by immigrants.

This heartless proposal again reveals the Trump Administrations deep disdain towards immigrants and their children, especially immigrants of color,  @AdrieneHolder re: the Trump Administrations proposed changes to #PublicCharge. pic.twitter.com/NzRtvlm8iE  The Legal Aid Society (@LegalAidNYC) September 23, 2018

The DHS estimated the rule would affect just over 382,200 immigrants applying to adjust their status to lawful permanent residents each year.At least 16 people, including 12 civilians, killed in a raid in the eastern city of Beni  home to humanitarian workers.

At least 16 people have been killed and eight others injured in a rebel attack in the Democratic Republic of Congos restive eastern city of Beni, according to witnesses.

Twelve of the dead were civilians and the rest government soldiers, witnesses told the AFP news agency on Sunday. The attack on late Saturday also left five civilians injured, according to a doctor at a local hospital.

The Beni region is under siege from the Allied Defence Forces (ADF), a Ugandan rebel group that has operated in the region since 1995, which has been blamed for hundreds of civilian deaths over the past four years.

Foreign humanitarian workers have been stationed in Beni, in the North Kivu province near the border with Uganda, since early August to deal with a new Ebola outbreak in the region.

The surprise attack happened in the streets of Beni city, the doctor told AFP. Four of the dead were killed while travelling in a taxi.

According to several witness accounts, the attack started around 16:30-17:00 GMT.

Heavy and light-calibre gunfire was heard for several hours until after midnight local time. It was not known whether the army counterattacked.

The rebels attacked areas near the centre of the trading settlement of several hundred thousand inhabitants.

The ADF group is responsible for the deaths of more than 1,500 people and 800 kidnappings since 2014, according to local civil society organisations.

North Kivu, one of the most populated areas of the DRC, is home to a number of armed groups that kill or abduct civilians.US exhibition brings to light historic bombing of black church

A black church in Birmingham was bombed 55 years ago, killing four children and triggering violence around the US.The Indian government has launched one of the worlds largest publicly funded health insurance scheme, set to cover some 500 million poor people.

The Ayushman Bharat programme, dubbed Modicare after Prime Minister Narendra Modi promised health cover worth 500,000 rupees ($6,900) to every poor family to treat serious ailments.

At the occasion of its official rollout in Ranchi, capital of the eastern state of Jharkhand, on Sunday, Modi claimed that a government scheme at such a grand scale is not being carried out anywhere in the world.

The prime minister said the scheme will transform India into a medical hub in the future and called it a big step towards providing good quality and accessible healthcare to the poor of India.

Over 100 million families will benefit, Modi said.

Today is a historic day for India! We are launching the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY), which is a big step towards providing good quality and accessible healthcare to the poor of India. Over 10 crore families will benefit from this scheme.  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) September 23, 2018

The programme, which was first announced as part of the yearly budget in February, is expected to cost the central and 29 state governments $1.6bn a year in total.

Expenditures will be shared by the central and state governments at a 60 to 40 ratio in most states and funding will be increased gradually according to the demand.

On Sunday, Modi handed medical cards out at the launch in Ranchi, calling it a historic day for the country.

The government is aiming is set up 50,000 wellness centres across the country over the next four years, he said.

The scheme will not have any distinguished plans on the basis of sect or caste. There will be no discrimination based on any race or any fraternity, said Modi.





India spends just 1.5 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) on healthcare compared to a global average of six percent.

The countrys overburdened public health system is plagued by a shortage of hospitals and doctors and most people use private clinics and hospitals if they can afford to.

But a private consultation can cost 1,000 rupees ($15), a huge sum for millions living on less than two dollars a day.

More than 60 percent of the average familys spending goes on medicines and healthcare, the government estimates.

There has been a lot of concern regarding the human resources, but I think within 10 to 15 years, our health sector would become a world class health sector, Ilias Ali, a doctor based in the northeastern city of Guwahati, told Al Jazeera.

Experts have praised the latest programme but say it should have included primary day-to-day healthcare instead of just secondary and tertiary care for more serious and long-term treatment.

Modicare does not extend to primary healthcare, which, we believe, is the weakest link in the provision of public health in India, Rajiv Lall and Vivek Dehejia of the IDFC Institute think-tank said in a column for the Mint newspaper.

The crucial point is that poorly delivered primary care inevitably increases the burden on health and finance at the secondary and tertiary levels down the line, they said.Iranian officials have blamed Gulf states and the United States for Saturdays attack on a military parade that killed 29 people, and accused them of backing the Arab separatist al-Ahvaziya armed group, which claimed responsibility for the killings.

President Hassan Rouhani vowed to deliver a crushing response, while Irans Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei linked the attack with the United States and its allies in the region.

This crime is a continuation of the plots of the regional states that are puppets of the United States, and their goal is to create insecurity in our dear country, Khamenei said in a statement.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said regional terror sponsors were responsible for the attack, adding he held their US masters accountable.

Terrorists recruited, trained, armed & paid by a foreign regime have attacked Ahvaz, Zarif said in a tweet, adding: Iran holds regional terror sponsors and their US masters accountable for such attacks.

While he and other senior Iranian officials have not directly named the states, their comments are believed to be directed at Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Israel, which all have hostile relations with Iran and have promised to counter its influence in the region, including inside the country.

The attack in Ahvaz came as the country marked the anniversary of the start of its 1980-1988 war with Saddam Husseins Iraq.

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Four gunmen dressed in military uniform sprayed bullets into a crowd of marching soldiers, bystanders and government officials watching from a nearby stand.

At least 29 people were killed, including women and children who had come to watch the parade.

Attackers trained by two Gulf states

These terrorists were trained and organised by two  Gulf countries, Iranian military spokesman Abolfazl Shekarchi told the official news agency IRNA.

They are not from Daesh [an Arabic acronym for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant] or other groups fighting [Irans] Islamic system  but they are linked to America and [Israels intelligence agency] Mossad.

According to the Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA), the al-Ahvaziya armed group claimed responsibility for the attack





Little is known about the group, but Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) spokesman Ramezan Sharif told ISNA it is funded by Saudi Arabia.

In a statement to the Iran International news site, a spokesman for the group was quoted as saying the attack on Saturday was in response to the repression of Ahvazi Arabs.

We do not have a choice but to carry out a resistance.

Yacoub Hor al-Tostari, a spokesman for the al-Ahvaziya group, an umbrella organisation of all the provinces armed movements, said the Ahvaz National Resistance carried out the attack.

The attack undermined the Iranian government on the day it wants to give a message to the world that it is powerful and in control, al-Tostari told the Associated Press news agency.

To bolster his claim, he gave details about one of the attackers that the AP could not immediately verify.

Abdulkhaleq Abdulla, an adviser to Emirati Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed, justified the attack writing on Twitter: attacking a military target is not a terrorist act and moving the battle deeper inside Iran is a declared option.

Attacks of this kind, he said, will increase during the next phase.

10            .                  .  Abdulkhaleq Abdulla (@Abdulkhaleq_UAE) September 22, 2018

Translation: 10 Soldiers killed in an attack on a military parade in the city of Ahvaz in southwestern Iran. The attack was on a military target and wasnt a terrorist attack. Moving the battle deeper inside Iran is a declared option and will increase during the next phase.

F ight inside Iran

Mostafa Koshcheshm, a Tehran-based political commentator and journalist, told Al Jazeera that the al-Ahvaziya movement had been nurtured, supported, and trained by Saudi Arabia.

Its been operating for the past several years, they are looking to cut off and separate Irans energy-rich province of Khuzestan from Iran, which is exactly what Saddam Hussein wanted to do, said Koshcheshm.

They call themselves Arab nationalists but we know they have very intimate ties to the Mujahedin-e-Khalq, he said referring to an Iranian exiled dissident group accused of killing thousands of Iranian civilians and officials.

Ahvazi Arabs are a small minority in mainly ethnic Persian Iran but sit on top of the bulk of the countrys 137 billion barrels of oil.

They are divided over whether they want independence or devolution of power within a democratic, federal Iran, but at their most ambitious, some Ahvazi groups want an independent state stretching beyond the borders of Khuzestan, which sits at the head of the strategic Gulf waterway and shares a border with Iraq.

In an interview with Saudi-owned TV channel MBC last year, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman said that the kingdom would take the fight inside Iran.

We wont wait for the battle to be in Saudi Arabia, he said. Instead, we will work so that the battle is for them in Iran.

Iran summons ambassadors

Within hours of Saturdays attack, Iran summoned diplomats from Denmark, the Netherlands, and the UK, with IRNA reporting that they were informed of Irans strong protests over their respective countries hosting of some members of the terrorist group.

Bahram Qasemi called on Denmark and the Netherlands to extradite the perpetrators and their accomplices to stand trial, IRNA said.

It is not acceptable that the European Union does not blacklist members of these terrorist groups as long as they do not perpetrate a crime on  European soil, Qasemi was quoted as saying.

Khuzestan, a province bordering Iraq that has a large ethnic Arab community, has seen separatist violence in the past which Iran has blamed on its regional rivals.

It was a major battleground of the 1980s war with Iraq and the province saw unrest in 2005 and 2011 but has since been largely quiet.

Kurdish rebels frequently attack military patrols on the border further north, but attacks on government targets in major cities are rare.

On June 7, 2017, in Tehran, 17 people were killed and dozens wounded in simultaneous attacks on the parliament and on the tomb of revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the first inside Iran claimed by ISIL.A deadly and unforgiving revenge for attack that killed 29 people, says Iranian elite force as UAE denies involvement.

Irans Revolutionary Guard has vowed to revenge the attack on a military parade that killed 29 people, including the four attackers, and wounded 70 others.

The Iranian elite force, in a statement on Sunday, said that those behind Saturdays attack will face a deadly and unforgiving revenge in the near future.

Iranian officials blamed two Gulf states and the United States for the attack, accusing them of backing the Arab separatist al-Ahvaziya armed group which claimed responsibility for the attack.

President Hassan Rouhani vowed to deliver a crushing response, while Irans Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei linked the attack with the US and its allies in the region.

The countrys foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, said regional terror sponsors were responsible for the attack, adding he held their US masters accountable.

While Iranian officials have not directly named the Gulf states, their comments are believed to be directed at Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Israel, which all have hostile relations with Iran and have promised to counter its influence in the region, including inside the country.

These terrorists  were trained and organised by two  Gulf countries, Iranian military spokesperson Abolfazl Shekarchi told the official news agency IRNA.

They are not from Daesh (an Arabic acronym for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) or other groups fighting [Irans] Islamic system  but are linked to America and [Israels intelligence agency] Mossad.

The UAE has denied Iranian allegations alluding to its involvement in training troops that claimed the attack in southwestern Iran.

The formal incitement against the UAE from within Iran is unfortunate, and has escalated after the Ahvaz attack, UAEs Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash said in a tweet.

The UAEs historical position against terrorism and violence is clear and Tehrans allegations are baseless.

The US condemned the attack, with its UN envoy saying it took place because Rouhani has oppressed his people for a long time.

The attack in Ahvaz came as the country marked the anniversary of the start of its 1980-1988 war with Iraq. Four gunmen dressed in military uniform sprayed bullets into a crowd of marching soldiers, bystanders and government officials watching from a nearby stand.

Al Jazeeras Zein Basravi, reporting from the capital Tehran, said the attack for many Iranian communities was very personal.

What we are hearing from the revolutionary guards is that they will carry out a swift and violent response, and that is something unique, he said.





Little is known about the al-Ahvaziya group, but Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) spokesperson Ramezan Sharif told ISNA it was funded by Saudi Arabia.

F ight inside Iran

Mostafa Koshcheshm, a Tehran-based political commentator and journalist, told Al Jazeera that the al-Ahvaziya movement had been nurtured, supported, and trained by Saudi Arabia.

Its been operating for the past several years. They are looking to cut off and separate Irans energy-rich province of Khuzestan from Iran, which is exactly what Saddam Hussein wanted to do, said Koshcheshm.

They call themselves Arab nationalists but we know they have very intimate ties to the Mujahedin-e-Khalq, he said referring to an Iranian exiled dissident group accused of killing thousands of Iranian civilians and officials.

Ahvazi Arabs are a small minority in mainly ethnic Persian Iran but sit on top of the bulk of the countrys 137 billion barrels of oil.

They are divided over whether they want independence or devolution of power within a democratic, federal Iran, but at their most ambitious, some Ahvazi groups want an independent state stretching beyond the borders of Khuzestan, which sits at the head of the strategic Gulf waterway and shares a border with Iraq.

In an interview with Saudi-owned TV channel MBC last year, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said that the kingdom would take the fight inside Iran.

We wont wait for the battle to be in Saudi Arabia, he said. Instead, we will work so that the battle is for them in Iran.

Iran summons ambassadors

Within hours of Saturdays attack, Iran summoned diplomats from Denmark, the Netherlands, and the UK, with IRNA reporting they were informed of Irans strong protests over their respective countries hosting of some members of the terrorist group.

Irans Foreign Ministry spokesperson Bahram Qasemi called on Denmark and the Netherlands to extradite the perpetrators and their accomplices to stand trial, IRNA reported.

It is not acceptable that the European Union does not blacklist members of these terrorist groups as long as they do not perpetrate a crime on  European soil, Qasemi was quoted as saying.Maldivian presidential challenger Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has beaten incumbent Abdulla Yameen according to provisional results, the countrys Elections Commission says.

The Maldives government has acknowledged the oppositions victory after the vote on Sunday, a surprise defeat for President Abdulla Yameen who was widely expected to win.

Results released by the Elections Commission on Monday morning showed Solih had secured 58.3 percent of the popular vote as opposed to the incumbent, President Yameen, who garnered less than 42 percent of the votes.

We have won this election with a comfortable majority, Solih told reporters in Male.

This is a moment of happiness. This is a moment of hope. This is a moment of history. We will establish a just and peaceful society in the Maldives. I will be a president for all Maldives.

I would like to call upon President Abdulla Yameen and ask him to respect the will of the people and to immediately begin the smooth transition of power.

Our quick count results indicate that Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has won the 2018 Presidential Election by a decisive margin. We call on all stakeholders to maintain an environment conducive for a peaceful transfer of power. #MVElection2018 pic.twitter.com/cfTRDALpNl  Transparency MV (@TransparencyMV) September 23, 2018

The US Department of State has congratulated voters for raising their democratic voices and urged the countrys leaders to respect the outcome.

We urge calm and respect for the will of the people as the election process concludes, the state department wrote in a Tweet.

Celebrations broke out across the tropical archipelago with opposition supporters carrying the yellow flags of Solihs Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) and dancing in the streets. There was no response from Yameen after results were announced.

Sundays election, considered a referendum on democracy in the troubled island nation, saw Solih run against incumbent President Yameen who sought re-election with a pledge to boost the Maldives economy after a first five-year term marred by allegations of rights abuses and corruption.

Mivaguthu MDP Haruge sarahadhdhu pic.twitter.com/8Og7vNnNXG  MDP Secretariat (@MDPSecretariat) September 23, 2018

More than 250,000 people in the Maldives, out of a population of 350,000, were eligible to vote in Sundays election. Voting was also taking place in Malaysia and Sri Lanka.

Following Solihs speech, jubilant supporters celebrated on social media as well as the streets of Male.

Hundreds gathered in front of the oppositions campaign office despite heavy rain, congratulating each other and exchanging hugs.

Aishath Sheeza, 50, who said she was arrested several times for protesting against Yameens government, was euphoric.

I have suffered in jail. I have been detained and beaten unjustly, said Sheeza. I feel so much tonight. I just want to celebrate.

Turbulent year

Watching results on national television in the Maldivian capital, Male, Dhahau Naseem said she was ecstatic.

Perhaps there is no way out for Yameen this time, said Naseem who was scared of being optimistic about positive results ahead of the election.

This was given Yameens refusal to tolerate any dissent in the past, according to Naseem who was referring to the presidents declaration of a state of emergency in defiance of a Supreme Court ruling in February, which ordered the release of jailed dissidents.

The emergency decree was Yameens second in five years. Within hours of the declaration, security forces arrested two out of the five top court judges on charges of plotting a coup.

Yameens half-brother, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, who ruled the island nation for 30 years, was also arrested.

The three were later jailed on charges of obstructing justice.Officials added three hours to voting time in presidential election following extraordinary turnout.

Male, Maldives  Counting is underway in the Maldives following a contentious presidential election seen as a test of democracy on the troubled island nation.

Ahmed Akram, spokesperson for the countrys election commission, said polling at most ballot boxes in the country closed at 7pm (15:00 GMT) on Sunday after the elections commission extended voting time by three hours because of extraordinary high turnout.

Earlier, voters in the Indian Ocean island nation complained of long delays as they queued in snaking lines across the country to cast their ballots. Some reported waiting periods of more than eight hours.

The vote, seen as a referendum on democracy, will decide whether the countrys President Abdulla Yameen will win a second five-year term.

Voting has been extended for three hours across all polling stations, in and outside the country, because people are still queued up to vote, said Ahmed Akram, deputy head of the national electoral body.

There are long queues because of an extraordinary high turnout.

Polling in the Maldives started at 8am local time (3:00 GMT) and will now close at 7pm (14:00 GMT), he said.

Sundays vote pits Yameen, who has presided over a wide-ranging crackdown on dissent, against opposition figure and long-time Member of Parliament, Ibrahim Mohamed Solih.

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On some islands, dozens of people had started queuing up outside voting stations overnight.

Azka Adil, a 20-year-old athlete from the Maldivian capital, Male, who is voting for the first time, said she was nervous and scared because the vote might be rigged.

But I am definitely voting, she said.

More than a quarter million people, out of a population of nearly 350,000, are eligible to vote in the island nation, which has been in turmoil since its first democratically elected leader, Mohamed Nasheed, was forced out of office in 2012.

Todays elections are regarded as a test for democracy in the island nation [Sharif Ali/Al Jazeera]

Ahmed Ibrahim, a 28-year-old government employee who is voting for Yameen, said he was choosing strong economic policies.

Earlier in the day, Ahmed Shareef, president of the elections commission, told Al Jazeera voting was proceeding in a calm and orderly manner. He said he expected a turnout rate of more than 90 percent at ballot boxes in Male, which is home to more than one third of the countrys population.

Both Yameen and Solih cast their ballots soon after polling stations opened.

Stark choices

Yameen, who assumed power in 2013 after a disputed election, has jailed or forced into exile nearly all of his political rivals, banned protests, suspended parliament and declared two states of emergency in just five years.

Faced with widespread international criticism, he pulled the Maldives out of the Commonwealth in 2016 and fostered closer ties with China and Saudi Arabia, who have funded the countrys infrastructure boom.

Defending the Maldives Islamic faith and sovereignty and boosting the countrys economy were cornerstones of Yameens election campaign.

At a final rally in Male on Saturday, Yameen said the choice on Sunday was between Islam and infidelity.

Opposition candidate Ibrahim Mohamed Solih voted soon after polling stations opened [Sharif Ali/Al Jazeera]

Solih, the opposition candidate, has vowed to restore democracy and release jailed dissidents, who include Yameens half-brother, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.

The vote was the last chance for democracy, he told a crowd of yellow-clad supporters.

Without credible polls, it is unclear who will win and observers say they do not expect the vote to be free or fair.

The government has denied entry to most foreign election monitors and journalists. Only a handful were let in.

Tense and uncertain

Mariyam Shiuna, executive director of Transparency Maldives, an election-monitoring group, said the atmosphere is tense and uncertain in the country especially after a police raid on the oppositions headquarters on the eve of the election.

Officers claim they were looking for evidence of vote-buying, a move the opposition condemned as an attempt to disrupt the election.

Despite the fear, Shiuna said the huge turnout at rival rallies in Male on the final day of campaigning showed people are keen to cast their ballots and have their say.

Yet, there is an eeriness to this election because anything is possible and the general feeling is that neither party will accept the results if they lose, which will lead to further chaos, she said, urging the international community to monitor events in the Maldives closely.

President Abdulla Yameen casts his vote at a polling station [Eranga Jayawardena/The Associated Press]

Ahmed Nihan, the leader of the ruling Progressive Party of the Maldives, said he was confident of a win for Yameen, after a long and tireless campaign.

Eva Abdulla, an opposition politician, urged voters to exercise their right to vote.

Be alert, vote early and then get ready to protect that vote, she said.

In the run-up to the vote, the opposition had accused the elections commission, headed by a Yameen ally, of rigging the vote, by changing vote-counting rules and appointing alleged ruling party activists to administer the vote.

The commission has dismissed the allegations as an attempt to undermine confidence in the election.

More than 2,000 local monitors are expected to observe the vote, while the European Union said it did not send observers because the country failed to meet basic conditions for monitoring.

The US has threatened to take action against officials if the vote is not free and fair and the EU said it was prepared to impose sanctions, including travel bans and freezing assets, if the situation does not improve.

Results are expected by midnight on Sunday (19:00 GMT).

Isha Afeef reported from Male. Zaheena Rasheed reported and wrote from Colombo, Sri Lanka.Nepals efforts to increase its tigers are part of a 13-country plan to double the number of tigers worldwide.

Nepal is set to become the first country to double its tiger population as part of the World Wildlife Foundations (WWF) Tx2 programme which aims to double the number of tigers all over the world.

Nepals tiger population has risen to 235 from the baseline population of 121 counted in 2009, the WWF said in a statement released on Sunday to commemorate National Conservation Day.

There are nine subspecies of tigers, three of which are extinct [Sue Ogrocki/AP Photo]

With four years remaining before the 2022 deadline, Nepal looks set to achieve its goal.

Bishwa Nath Oli, Nepali forests and environment secretary, said: Protecting tigers is a top priority of the government, and the growing numbers signalled a successful implementation of conservation efforts.

Nepal conducted a national tiger survey between November 2017 and April 2018.

The Tx2 programme aims to double the worlds tiger population by 2022, the year of the tiger in the Chinese calendar.

This significant increase in Nepals tiger population is proof that when we work together, we can save the planets wildlife  even species facing extinction, said Leonardo DiCaprio, WWF-US board member and chairman of the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation, which has funded tiger conservation since 2010.

Declining population

Thirteen countries with tiger ranges agreed to the plan, which hinges on encouraging trans-boundary collaboration to achieve increased protection and maintain habitats for the endangered creatures.

{articleGUID}

According to the WWFs Tx2 website, there may have been as many as 100,000 tigers roaming the world a century ago.

Numerous factors, including poaching and habitat loss, led to the decline in numbers.

By 2010, as few as 3,200 tigers were left, the WWF website says.

In 2016, of the 13 countries with tiger ranges, India had the largest population with 2226. Russia and Indonesia had 433 and 371 tigers respectively.

China had fewer than five and Vietnam fewer than seven tigers in 2016.Philippines landslide: Anger over quarry operations in area

Three days since a massive landslide slammed into a village in the central Philippines, families of victims are desperate for assistance.Northeastern canton of St Gallen bans face veils in what critics call an Islamophobic move.

The Swiss region of St Gallen has voted in favour of a burqa ban, prohibiting all face-covering garments in public spaces, a decision that a local Islamic organisation has termed Islamophobic.

In a referendum on Sunday in the northeastern canton of St Gallen, nearly 67 percent of voters approved the ban, the second region in Switzerland to do so after Ticino two years ago.

Three other Swiss cantons  Zurich, Solothurn and Glarus  have rejected introducing such bans in recent years.

The referendum was held after local parties, Green Party and Young Socialists, demanded a vote following the passage of a law in St Gallen parliament last year.

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That law stated that any person who renders themselves unrecognisable by covering their face in a public space, and thus endangers public security or social and religious peace will be fined.

Drafted following an uproar in the canton over a girl who wore a face veil to school, the law, critics said, does not define when a woman wearing veil constitutes a danger.

They also warn of arbitrary sanctions.

The Islamic Central Council of Switzerland slammed the ban as Islamophobic.

Other opponents argued the ban was useless since very few women wear burqas or other face-covering veils in St Gallen.

National referendum

Last year, the Swiss government opposed a nationwide burqa ban, saying it should be up to the regions to determine if such measures were appropriate.

A national referendum on the issue is expected next year after the right-wing Swiss Peoples Party gathered 100,000 signatures required to put any subject to vote under Switzerlands famous direct democratic system.

{articleGUID}

In 2009, Switzerland banned the construction of minarets at mosques in a similar referendum, attracting worldwide attention.

Earlier this year, a survey by two Swiss papers found that an emphatic 76 percent of respondents favoured a ban on face veils, while 20 percent opposed it.

Several other European countries including Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, France and the Netherlands have introduced full or partial bans on face veils and head coverings in recent years.A referendum in Switzerlands northeastern St Gallen region is considering introducing a burqa ban that would prohibit all face-covering garments in public spaces in the area.

Voters will go to the polls over the proposed law on Sunday and the region is expected to follow the example of the southern canton of Ticino, where a law was introduced two years ago targeting face veils and other items of clothing that hide the face.

A text stipulating that any person who renders themselves unrecognisable by covering their face in a public space, and thus endangers public security or social and religious peace will be fined was adopted by legislators in St Gallen late last year.

The text, first drafted following an uproar in the canton over a girl who wore a face veil to school, is problematic, according to Fredy Fassler, a socialist in charge of security and justice in St Gallen.

It does not define when a woman wearing a face veil constitutes a danger, and critics worry the sanctions will be unpredictable and arbitrary, he told the daily newspaper, Le Temps.

The law passed the regional parliament with support from populist parties.

{articleGUID}

Now the issue is going up for public approval after the Green Party and Young Socialists demanded a referendum.

Switzerlands government last year opposed an initiative aimed at creating a nationwide burqa ban, saying it should be up to the regions to determine if such measures are appropriate.

Early this year two local papers conducted a survey that found that 76 percent were in favour of effectively banning the face veil, compared with 20 percent against and three percent with no view on the issue, according to local reports.

In 2009 the country approved a ban on the construction of minarets at mosques, attracting worldwide attention.At least four killed as torrential rains lash the north African country, flooding roads and damaging property.

Torrential rains and flooding in northeastern Tunisia have left at least four people dead, including two sisters, according to the countrys interior ministry.

A 60-year-old man drowned near the town of Takilsa, 60km east of the capital, Tunis, and another man was found dead in Bir Bouregba, close to the town of Hammamet, ministry spokesman Sofiene Zaag told AFP news agency on Sunday.

In Bou Argoub, 45km southeast of the capital, two sisters were swept away by flash floods as they left the factory where they worked, Zaag said.

All four died on Saturday.

Severe thunderstorms have hit the North African country since the middle of last week, flooding roads and damaging property.

People gather at the site of a collapsed bridge in the Tunisian coastal town of Nabeul [Fethi Belaid/AFP]

The destruction has sparked anger among citizens against the authorities for allegedly failing to maintain drainage systems.

Some areas on Saturday received as much as 197mm of rainfall, half the countrys annual precipitation, Zaag said.

Videos posted on social media showed surging waters sweeping away cars and pieces of road in the north of the Cap Bon peninsula.

https://twitter.com/tetovanews/status/1043630285387120640?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Authorities took preventive measures in the Sahel region further south in anticipation of more rains, but by Sunday the floods appeared to have subsided.

The sun was out on Sunday and receding water levels meant most of the areas roads were passable by car, Zaag said, although the regions telephone networks were still largely out of service.Username: Password: or Register Thread Rating: 1 Vote(s) - 1 Average

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Mercenaries Leading Assault on Yemen Port City Were Trained by IDF in Israel Archangel

Michael

User ID: 441975

09-21-2018 06:45 PM



Posts: 14,103









Post: #1 Mercenaries Leading Assault on Yemen Port City Were Trained by IDF in Israel

Advertisement [ ] Mercenaries Leading Assault on Yemen Port City Were Trained by IDF in Israel [/size]





Published: September 21, 2018

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Source: Mint Press News  by Whitney Webb



TEL AVIV  A new report from the Emirati news website Al-Khaleej Online has revealed that many of the mercenaries leading the assault against the Yemeni port city of Hodeida were trained in Israel by Israeli soldiers, shedding light on Israels covert role in the war in Yemen.



According to U.S. officials close to the House Intelligence Committee with knowledge of the operation, hundreds of mercenaries from various nationalities that fight on behalf of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in Yemen had recently received instance combat training at training camps in the Negev desert that were created through a secret agreement was reached between the UAE and Israel. Mercenaries at the camp were trained under the personal supervision of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).



The camps creation was spearheaded by UAE Security Adviser Mohammed Dahlan, who has personally overseen the recent hiring of a fresh force of foreign mercenaries, the majority of whom are Colombian or Nepalese, to fight on the UAEs behalf in Yemen.



Dahlan, a Palestinian, was a central figure in the U.S.-backed plot funded by the United Arab Emirates to arm and train militias to overthrow Hamas after they won Gaza elections in 2007. Dahlan has since lived in exile in the UAE where he has developed a close relationship to the Emirati royal family and now serves as one of their advisers. Dahlan also has close tiesto Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman.



The report noted that Dahlan had personally visited the training camps in Israel on more than one occasion in order to supervise the training received by mercenaries from the IDF. Al-Khaleejs sources also stated that Dahlan had chosen the Negev desert as the site for the camps due to the similarities the region shares with Yemen in terms of its climate, environment and tribal structure.



These mercenaries, trained at IDF-led camps in Israel and funded by the UAE, are now leading the renewed assault on the Yemeni port of Hodeida, which began earlier this week on Tuesday. The UAE/Saudi Arabia coalition had previously launched an assault in Hodeida in June but that effort failed to make headway despite the coalitions superior firepower. The new assault was launched after the coalition recently succeeded in cutting off the main road between Hodeida and the Yemeni capital of Sanaa.



Over 90% of Yemens food is imported through Hodeida, prompting the UN and several NGOs to warn that any disruption to food and fuel supplies coming through the Hodeida port could cause starvation on an unprecedented scale as the countrys humanitarian crisis  a direct consequence of the coalitions actions  is now more dire than ever.

An Open Secret: Israels Covert Involvement in Yemens War



Notably, the revelation of the Israel-based UAE mercenary training camps is not the first indication of covert Israeli involvement in the Yemen conflict. Indeed, when the war first began in 2015, the coalition led by Saudi Arabia and the UAEwere known to use Israeli-made weapons.



In addition, paperwork seized by the Saudi Embassy in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa that same year revealed that the U.S. was seeking to build a military base near Yemens Bab al-Mandab strait in order to ensure the security of Israel, suggesting a strong motive for the U.S. and Israels support for the coalition.



More recently, rumors about new Israel-Saudi weapons deals, including alleged plans to sell Saudi Arabia the Iron Dome missile defense system, have received press attention, suggesting that the covert sale of Israeli weapons to the Saudi-led coalition continues to the present.



Al-Khaleej Online had previously reported that Israel had covertly sold weapons and ammunition to the Saudis, including internationally prohibited weapons that have since been used in the coalitions brutal bombing campaign in Yemen that consistently targets civilian infrastructure. Just last month, 43% of the coalitions targets were civilian structures, despite the fact that the U.S. now directly aids the coalition in choosing its strike targets as part of an alleged effort to reduce civilian casualties in the war.



While Israeli involvement in the war in Yemen has thus far been covert, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated last month that he would consider sending Israeli troops to Yemen to fight on behalf of the Saudi-led coalition if the Yemeni resistance gained control over the strategic Bab al-Mandab strait, which serves as a chokepoint on Saudi oil exports and other important Red Sea commerce.



Given Israels support for countries involved in genocidal wars in the past and its own treatment of Palestinians, it is unlikely that Israels government would feel constrained by any moral dilemmas if it chose to formally join the coalitions war in Yemen despite the humanitarian crisis that war has provoked.



The humanitarian crisis in Yemen, considered the worst in the world, has brought 17.8 million Yemenis to the brink of starvation including 5.2 million children. In addition, 66,000 children in Yemen die annually from preventable diseases due to the coalitions blockade of Yemen which has also allowed the worst cholera outbreak in history to proliferate.



Despite the huge death toll that has resulted from the coalition blockade and airstrikes, the mastermind of the conflict, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, has vowed to continue to target Yemeni civilians, including women and children, in order to leave a big impact on the consciousness of Yemenis [for] generations.



Top Photo | UAE has hired Colombian soldiers to fight its war in Yemen.

Published: September 21, 2018

Share | Print This Published: September 21, 2018Share | Print ThisSource: Mint Press News  by Whitney WebbTEL AVIV  A new report from the Emirati news website Al-Khaleej Online has revealed that many of the mercenaries leading the assault against the Yemeni port city of Hodeida were trained in Israel by Israeli soldiers, shedding light on Israels covert role in the war in Yemen.According to U.S. officials close to the House Intelligence Committee with knowledge of the operation, hundreds of mercenaries from various nationalities that fight on behalf of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in Yemen had recently received instance combat training at training camps in the Negev desert that were created through a secret agreement was reached between the UAE and Israel. Mercenaries at the camp were trained under the personal supervision of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).The camps creation was spearheaded by UAE Security Adviser Mohammed Dahlan, who has personally overseen the recent hiring of a fresh force of foreign mercenaries, the majority of whom are Colombian or Nepalese, to fight on the UAEs behalf in Yemen.Dahlan, a Palestinian, was a central figure in the U.S.-backed plot funded by the United Arab Emirates to arm and train militias to overthrow Hamas after they won Gaza elections in 2007. Dahlan has since lived in exile in the UAE where he has developed a close relationship to the Emirati royal family and now serves as one of their advisers. Dahlan also has close tiesto Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman.The report noted that Dahlan had personally visited the training camps in Israel on more than one occasion in order to supervise the training received by mercenaries from the IDF. Al-Khaleejs sources also stated that Dahlan had chosen the Negev desert as the site for the camps due to the similarities the region shares with Yemen in terms of its climate, environment and tribal structure.These mercenaries, trained at IDF-led camps in Israel and funded by the UAE, are now leading the renewed assault on the Yemeni port of Hodeida, which began earlier this week on Tuesday. The UAE/Saudi Arabia coalition had previously launched an assault in Hodeida in June but that effort failed to make headway despite the coalitions superior firepower. The new assault was launched after the coalition recently succeeded in cutting off the main road between Hodeida and the Yemeni capital of Sanaa.Over 90% of Yemens food is imported through Hodeida, prompting the UN and several NGOs to warn that any disruption to food and fuel supplies coming through the Hodeida port could cause starvation on an unprecedented scale as the countrys humanitarian crisis  a direct consequence of the coalitions actions  is now more dire than ever.An Open Secret: Israels Covert Involvement in Yemens WarNotably, the revelation of the Israel-based UAE mercenary training camps is not the first indication of covert Israeli involvement in the Yemen conflict. Indeed, when the war first began in 2015, the coalition led by Saudi Arabia and the UAEwere known to use Israeli-made weapons.In addition, paperwork seized by the Saudi Embassy in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa that same year revealed that the U.S. was seeking to build a military base near Yemens Bab al-Mandab strait in order to ensure the security of Israel, suggesting a strong motive for the U.S. and Israels support for the coalition.More recently, rumors about new Israel-Saudi weapons deals, including alleged plans to sell Saudi Arabia the Iron Dome missile defense system, have received press attention, suggesting that the covert sale of Israeli weapons to the Saudi-led coalition continues to the present.Al-Khaleej Online had previously reported that Israel had covertly sold weapons and ammunition to the Saudis, including internationally prohibited weapons that have since been used in the coalitions brutal bombing campaign in Yemen that consistently targets civilian infrastructure. Just last month, 43% of the coalitions targets were civilian structures, despite the fact that the U.S. now directly aids the coalition in choosing its strike targets as part of an alleged effort to reduce civilian casualties in the war.While Israeli involvement in the war in Yemen has thus far been covert, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated last month that he would consider sending Israeli troops to Yemen to fight on behalf of the Saudi-led coalition if the Yemeni resistance gained control over the strategic Bab al-Mandab strait, which serves as a chokepoint on Saudi oil exports and other important Red Sea commerce.Given Israels support for countries involved in genocidal wars in the past and its own treatment of Palestinians, it is unlikely that Israels government would feel constrained by any moral dilemmas if it chose to formally join the coalitions war in Yemen despite the humanitarian crisis that war has provoked.The humanitarian crisis in Yemen, considered the worst in the world, has brought 17.8 million Yemenis to the brink of starvation including 5.2 million children. In addition, 66,000 children in Yemen die annually from preventable diseases due to the coalitions blockade of Yemen which has also allowed the worst cholera outbreak in history to proliferate.Despite the huge death toll that has resulted from the coalition blockade and airstrikes, the mastermind of the conflict, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, has vowed to continue to target Yemeni civilians, including women and children, in order to leave a big impact on the consciousness of Yemenis [for] generations.Top Photo | UAE has hired Colombian soldiers to fight its war in Yemen.Published: September 21, 2018Share | Print This LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 460895

09-21-2018 06:49 PM











Post: #2 RE: Mercenaries Leading Assault on Yemen Port City Were Trained by IDF in Israel

Archangel Wrote: (09-21-2018 06:45 PM) [ ] Mercenaries Leading Assault on Yemen Port City Were Trained by IDF in Israel [/size]





Published: September 21, 2018

Share | Print This





Source: Mint Press News  by Whitney Webb



TEL AVIV  A new report from the Emirati news website Al-Khaleej Online has revealed that many of the mercenaries leading the assault against the Yemeni port city of Hodeida were trained in Israel by Israeli soldiers, shedding light on Israels covert role in the war in Yemen.



According to U.S. officials close to the House Intelligence Committee with knowledge of the operation, hundreds of mercenaries from various nationalities that fight on behalf of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in Yemen had recently received instance combat training at training camps in the Negev desert that were created through a secret agreement was reached between the UAE and Israel. Mercenaries at the camp were trained under the personal supervision of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).



The camps creation was spearheaded by UAE Security Adviser Mohammed Dahlan, who has personally overseen the recent hiring of a fresh force of foreign mercenaries, the majority of whom are Colombian or Nepalese, to fight on the UAEs behalf in Yemen.



Dahlan, a Palestinian, was a central figure in the U.S.-backed plot funded by the United Arab Emirates to arm and train militias to overthrow Hamas after they won Gaza elections in 2007. Dahlan has since lived in exile in the UAE where he has developed a close relationship to the Emirati royal family and now serves as one of their advisers. Dahlan also has close tiesto Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman.



The report noted that Dahlan had personally visited the training camps in Israel on more than one occasion in order to supervise the training received by mercenaries from the IDF. Al-Khaleejs sources also stated that Dahlan had chosen the Negev desert as the site for the camps due to the similarities the region shares with Yemen in terms of its climate, environment and tribal structure.



These mercenaries, trained at IDF-led camps in Israel and funded by the UAE, are now leading the renewed assault on the Yemeni port of Hodeida, which began earlier this week on Tuesday. The UAE/Saudi Arabia coalition had previously launched an assault in Hodeida in June but that effort failed to make headway despite the coalitions superior firepower. The new assault was launched after the coalition recently succeeded in cutting off the main road between Hodeida and the Yemeni capital of Sanaa.



Over 90% of Yemens food is imported through Hodeida, prompting the UN and several NGOs to warn that any disruption to food and fuel supplies coming through the Hodeida port could cause starvation on an unprecedented scale as the countrys humanitarian crisis  a direct consequence of the coalitions actions  is now more dire than ever.

An Open Secret: Israels Covert Involvement in Yemens War



Notably, the revelation of the Israel-based UAE mercenary training camps is not the first indication of covert Israeli involvement in the Yemen conflict. Indeed, when the war first began in 2015, the coalition led by Saudi Arabia and the UAEwere known to use Israeli-made weapons.



In addition, paperwork seized by the Saudi Embassy in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa that same year revealed that the U.S. was seeking to build a military base near Yemens Bab al-Mandab strait in order to ensure the security of Israel, suggesting a strong motive for the U.S. and Israels support for the coalition.



More recently, rumors about new Israel-Saudi weapons deals, including alleged plans to sell Saudi Arabia the Iron Dome missile defense system, have received press attention, suggesting that the covert sale of Israeli weapons to the Saudi-led coalition continues to the present.



Al-Khaleej Online had previously reported that Israel had covertly sold weapons and ammunition to the Saudis, including internationally prohibited weapons that have since been used in the coalitions brutal bombing campaign in Yemen that consistently targets civilian infrastructure. Just last month, 43% of the coalitions targets were civilian structures, despite the fact that the U.S. now directly aids the coalition in choosing its strike targets as part of an alleged effort to reduce civilian casualties in the war.



While Israeli involvement in the war in Yemen has thus far been covert, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated last month that he would consider sending Israeli troops to Yemen to fight on behalf of the Saudi-led coalition if the Yemeni resistance gained control over the strategic Bab al-Mandab strait, which serves as a chokepoint on Saudi oil exports and other important Red Sea commerce.



Given Israels support for countries involved in genocidal wars in the past and its own treatment of Palestinians, it is unlikely that Israels government would feel constrained by any moral dilemmas if it chose to formally join the coalitions war in Yemen despite the humanitarian crisis that war has provoked.



The humanitarian crisis in Yemen, considered the worst in the world, has brought 17.8 million Yemenis to the brink of starvation including 5.2 million children. In addition, 66,000 children in Yemen die annually from preventable diseases due to the coalitions blockade of Yemen which has also allowed the worst cholera outbreak in history to proliferate.



Despite the huge death toll that has resulted from the coalition blockade and airstrikes, the mastermind of the conflict, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, has vowed to continue to target Yemeni civilians, including women and children, in order to leave a big impact on the consciousness of Yemenis [for] generations.



Top Photo | UAE has hired Colombian soldiers to fight its war in Yemen.

Published: September 21, 2018

Share | Print This IDEAS

Trumps Dirty War in Yemen

The president is aiding Saudi Arabia in an unlawful, unpopular, inhumane bombing campaign at odds with the foreign policy that he promised Americans. IDEASTrumps Dirty War in YemenThe president is aiding Saudi Arabia in an unlawful, unpopular, inhumane bombing campaign at odds with the foreign policy that he promised Americans. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 460895

09-21-2018 06:50 PM











Post: #3 RE: Mercenaries Leading Assault on Yemen Port City Were Trained by IDF in Israel

Sunni Saudi Arabia bombing Shia in Yemen will lead to an all out assault on Saudi Arabia by Iran. Archangel

Michael

User ID: 441975

09-21-2018 06:53 PM



Posts: 14,103









Post: #4 RE: Mercenaries Leading Assault on Yemen Port City Were Trained by IDF in Israel

LoP Guest Wrote: (09-21-2018 06:50 PM) Donmeh Crytpo Jew ran Saudi Arabia bombing Shia in Yemen will lead to an all out assault on Saudi Arabia by Iran.

Fixed it for you....



. Fixed it for you.... LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 463552

09-21-2018 08:15 PM











Post: #5 RE: Mercenaries Leading Assault on Yemen Port City Were Trained by IDF in Israel

Yeah Saudis and Israelis only pretend to be enemies. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 463552

09-21-2018 08:16 PM











Post: #6 RE: Mercenaries Leading Assault on Yemen Port City Were Trained by IDF in Israel

LoP Guest Wrote: (09-21-2018 06:50 PM) Sunni Saudi Arabia bombing Shia in Yemen will lead to an all out assault on Saudi Arabia by Iran.

Yazidi not Shia. A religion that pre-dates Islam. Yazidi not Shia. A religion that pre-dates Islam. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 459078

09-21-2018 08:21 PM











Post: #7 RE: Mercenaries Leading Assault on Yemen Port City Were Trained by IDF in Israel

It's more profitable to goto Cape Town and fight for gold instead of oil. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 459078

09-21-2018 08:26 PM











Post: #8 RE: Mercenaries Leading Assault on Yemen Port City Were Trained by IDF in Israel

Krav Maga, come at me bro. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 463546

09-21-2018 08:50 PM











Post: #9 RE: Mercenaries Leading Assault on Yemen Port City Were Trained by IDF in Israel

Has ISIS attacked ISISreal, yet?



No?



How many times has ISIS attacked, say Belgium or some place NOT bordering ISISrael?



None?



Some coincidence given how far they will travel to blow up infidels.

Maybe they have some reason to think ISISrael is not infidel with their wahabist beleifs?> LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 463546

09-21-2018 09:08 PM











Post: #10 RE: Mercenaries Leading Assault on Yemen Port City Were Trained by IDF in Israel

LoP Guest Wrote: (09-21-2018 08:15 PM) Yeah Saudis and Israelis only pretend to be enemies.

SOMEONE ELSE finally gets it SOMEONE ELSE finally gets it general mishka

lop guest

User ID: 441771

09-21-2018 09:11 PM











Post: #11 RE: Mercenaries Leading Assault on Yemen Port City Were Trained by IDF in Israel

LoP Guest Wrote: (09-21-2018 08:15 PM) Yeah Saudis and Israelis only pretend to be enemies.

Whats the old saying? The enemy of my enemy is my friend



I don't doubt for a minute Israel and Saudis despise each other, but they will carve up the Shia before addressing their mutual grievences Whats the old saying? The enemy of my enemy is my friendI don't doubt for a minute Israel and Saudis despise each other, but they will carve up the Shia before addressing their mutual grievences Archangel

Michael

User ID: 441975

09-21-2018 09:24 PM



Posts: 14,103









Post: #12 RE: Mercenaries Leading Assault on Yemen Port City Were Trained by IDF in Israel

LoP Guest Wrote: (09-21-2018 08:50 PM) Has ISIS attacked ISISreal, yet?



No?



How many times has ISIS attacked, say Belgium or some place NOT bordering ISISrael?



None?



Some coincidence given how far they will travel to blow up infidels.

Maybe they have some reason to think ISISrael is not infidel with their wahabist beleifs?>

Israel's war on Europe is well known. It is Israel who flooded Europe and all predominately White Nations with a sea of darker races, to destroy the Culture of those lands.







. Israel's war on Europe is well known. It is Israel who flooded Europe and all predominately White Nations with a sea of darker races, to destroy the Culture of those lands.















Some 20,000 people marched in Bern on Saturday demanding wage equality between the genders.

Around 20,000 people marched through the streets of the Swiss capital, Bern, to demand wage equality, organisers said, warning that women are prepared to go on strike if Swiss parliamentarians do not fix the pay gap.

In a statement, Switzerlands largest union, Unia, which helped to organise Saturdays protest, said women were sick of sexism and discrimination and sick of wage inequality.

The union, which is made up of over 40 organisations, said more than 20,000 people showed up to protest.

Protesters carried posters that read Equality now and Same work, different salary, the AFP news agency reported.

On social media, activists used the hashtag #Enough18 to bring attention to their cause.

Switzerlands parliament is debating an amendment on Monday that is aimed at imposing more oversight over wage distribution at large companies.

Really good turn out at the feminist march for equality  and also good gender balance. Probably about 40% men #Enough18 https://t.co/gI95d7THaM pic.twitter.com/JPMKZHylLP  Walton Pantland (@Leischa) September 22, 2018

Gender equality has been a part of the Swiss constitution since 1981. However, women still earn 20 percent less on average than men  a scandalous percentage, Unia said.

Corrine Scharer, a member of Unias board of directors said: Even if you take into account all of the regular excuses and you only compare women and men in the exact same position with the same professional experience, the fact remains that a woman in Switzerland is cheated out of ($313k) over the course of a career, just because she is a woman.

A change for equality

The Swiss government has asked legislators to introduce oversight into how salaries are set in a bid to shrink the pay gap in the country.

Bern has asked that any company with more than 50 employees be required to provide wage equality details to an independent entity for verification every four years.

In May 2017, the upper chamber of the Swiss parliament gave the green light to a less-detailed version of the initiative, saying the bill should apply only to companies with more than 100 employees  affecting less than one percent of employees in the country.

The lower house is set to debate the bill on Monday but Unia and other activist groups have called for a strengthened version of the law. They, for instance, want women who face discrimination to be entitled to compensation as well as fines for companies that allow a pay gap to persist.

It's been almost 40 years that salary equality is written in the Swiss Constitution, and there's nothing to show for it! Today 20'000 say#gnueg18 #enough18 #basta18 !!! pic.twitter.com/E7UcpGiYIM  Luca C Malatesta (@_geoLuca) September 22, 2018

If these demands are not met, Unia said it and other organisations would call for a womens strike in 2019, to ensure that womens rights to equality finally materialise.About the show

A weekly programme that examines and dissects the worlds media, how they operate and the stories they cover. Watch The Listening Post every Saturday at 0830GMTThe account in the New York Times . which first reported that Rosenstein had offered to wear a wire to record his conversations with the President and suggested the 25 th Amendment might be pursued, strikes me at first glance as Andrew McCabes last-ditch attempt to fling poo on others when he seemed to be under threat of criminal prosecution. (It was troubling to me that, in violation of any good journalism practice, they ran it without contacting Rosenstein for his response.) In part I was reluctant to fully credit it because whatever you or I think of him, he always seemed too prudent to have spoken so intemperately to a group of what is now reported to have been seven or eight other people. A DoJ spokeswoman confirmed that he did make some remarks along that line, but in sarcastic response to aggressive anti-Trump comments by other participants in the discussion.

There were two compelling stories this week: The Kavanaugh confirmation to the Supreme Court and the dueling tales respecting Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. The latter was brilliantly handled by this sites owner, Thomas Lifson, and I have little to add to his recitation of the events though I urge you to read it for a concise analysis of what was reported this week.

Now every single person who Ford says were witnesses denies it without reservation. The fourth is Leland Keyser, a lifetime friend of Ford's who said she never ever was at a party where Kavanaugh was present. She is a PGA golfer and was Bob Beckel's first wife. As Instapundit says: forget these continuing negotiations with her lawyer--just take the vote.

This is the crowd that really abuses women -- arguing that they should always be believed (except when its Ted Kennedy, Chris Dodd, Bill Clinton, Keith Ellison, or any one of their many party cohorts accused of sexual misconduct.) I cant imagine government by harpies without due process for men will draw many men to their party, nor any wives, girlfriends, or mothers of sons who pay attention to this travesty of justice.

If any of this scenario sounds familiar it may be because Ricky Seidman , who advised Anita Hill to testify against Clarence Thomas in 1991, is advising Ford, and in July -- about the same time Ford sent her letter to Feinstein -- of this year said Over the coming days and weeks there will be a strategy that will emerge, and I think its possible that that strategy might ultimately defeat the nominee. Or that one of McCabes lawyers, Michael Bromwich, has joined her team.

Most of us have had the experience of arguing with a person like this. Give an inch? They take a mile. Make concessions? They want more. They are the poor suffering victims. They dont like your tone of voice. They dont like the expression on your face. If you try to be calm, youre cold. If you try to be sympathetic, youre condescending. Nothing you do is okay, and everything they do is okay.

Theres no acknowledgment, of course, of the fact that Ford set this entire thing in motion, that she has had nearly two months (or more) to prepare and 36 years before that, that she is the one who blindsided Kavanaugh and the Republicans in the Senate rather than the other way around, that they have already given her many extensions, and that Kavanaughs family has also experienced incredible stress and death threats as a result of her accusations.

Note the words that echo the idea of big strong men hurting the little woman: the deadline itself is aggressive and the purpose is to bully her. Christina Ford (Dr. to you) is no longer 15 years old, but the letter implies that thats her approximate mental and emotional age.

Like me, New Neo, who has a masters degree in marriage and family counseling and experience in such things, is having none of that .

The Friday deadline for her to decide passed and the Chairman of the Judiciary committee has given her lawyers more time to confirm that she will testify. Late Saturday afternoon they responded with a non-answer saying she wants to but the terms and conditions still need to be negotiated and she wants to do so on Wednesday though the hearing is set for Monday. The Senate rules, arcane as they may be, give a deadline of Thursday for the vote out of committee or the nomination dies and there will be insufficient time to consider another before the term ends. I think shes a reluctant witness whose lawyers have continued to encourage her testimony by suggesting their ridiculous demands can be met and she can just go up there, tell her story without effective cross examination after she hears Kavanaughs defense and can tailor her testimony accordingly. One of their demands is that only senators question her. Doubtless this is not only because they know the chair wants Beth Wilkinson, an outstanding defamation lawyer, to do the questioning. What they want, in this age of group rights -- and demons -- is to be able to argue that this poor traumatized woman was further harmed by a group of old white male bullies.

It has been reported that while her lawyers are still insisting on ever-changing absurd procedures which violate the committee rules and any notion of fair play, and postponing the hearing date for specious reasons (while she reportedly plans to appear Sunday night on 60 Minutes). I wonder who will do the softball interview, with so many-- both Les Moonves and Jeff Fager, not to mention former 60 Minutes mainstay Charlie Rose -- out at CBS for documented sexual misconduct?

All week the press has been playing a Latin-style novella, which in English might have been titled Edge of the Rim of the Cusp. The main character is an obviously highly neurotic woman who claims that more than three decades before she was assaulted by the nominee in a home she cant remember, on a date she cant recall either, and that she was so traumatized by the boozy encounter she didnt recall it until engaged in marital counseling in 2012. Dianne Feinstein, who waited until the conclusion of the hearings to spring this tale, still refuses to hand over the letter by Ford so we dont know all thats in there, though Fords statements now about the incident do not match the portion of the marital counselors record of that session made public.

In sum, the rocks are being turned over, and I wouldnt want to be the worms that have been hidden underneath them.

These issues will not be going away soon. The House Judiciary Committee announced this week that they plan to subpoena the McCabe memos which formed the substance of the NYTs story. President Trump, moreover, has indicated that hell hold back on declassifying the McCabe memos hidden away inside the FBI and Special Counsels files -- hidden from Congressional investigators and the DoJs Inspector General Michael Horowitz -- until Horowitz has a chance to review them in his ongoing probe of FISA abuse by the DoJ and FBI. If Horowitz fails to do so, the President will declassify them himself.

"But second, he has a conflict now because the Times reports that his goal is to be 'vindicated,' [ed: for Comeys firing] and the way he can be 'vindicated' is by putting all the blame on President Trump," Dershowitz added in the interview.

"Because he has a conflict of interest," said Dershowitz, who is also an opinion contributor for The Hill. "He has two conflicts of interest: First, he wrote the memo... authorizing the firing of Comey. You can't both investigate obstruction of justice and be part of the obstruction of justice."

...what [Trump] could do very plausibly is have his lawyers go to court and make a motion to recuse Rosenstein from any involvement in any case involving the president."

And Professor Alan Dershowitz says that the President should force Rosenstein to recuse himself -- in a court proceeding, if necessary -- and offers up compelling reasons why:

It should begin with the firing of Rod Rosenstein. It should end with a presentment to a grand jury for potential criminal indictments.

Those who abused their positions of power to subvert the rule of law and undermine the democratic process should be held accountable.

They misappropriated that document to launch the Trump-Russia investigation without probable cause. They then exploited the same dossier to wiretap a Trump campaign associate, Carter Page. In the process, they concealed vital evidence and deceived FISA judges, perpetrating a fraud on the court.

They conjured a false case based on a fabricated dossier paid for by Hillary Clintons campaign and composed by a British spy who was fired for lying.

The special counsel probe has been compromised and contaminated by Rosensteins actions, Muellers refusal to disqualify himself, the misconduct of former FBI agent Peter Strzok, and the obvious bias of lead prosecutor Andrew Weissmann. From the moment Trump was sworn in as president, saboteurs at the FBI and Justice Department have worked furiously to undo the election results and frame Trump for colluding with Russia to win the 2016 presidential election.

Rosenstein has been in charge of the Mueller probe. Yet, it is clear that he harbors an extreme bias against Trump. How can anyone now view the investigation as fair, objective and neutral? It is not. It never has been.

Gregg Jarrett, whos been covering carefully the work of the special counsel, has even stronger reasons than remarks in the NYTs article why Rosenstein should be replaced:

Whether or not the statements were made sarcastically, there are lots of reasons why Rosenstein should be removed, or at a minimum, oversight of Mueller taken away from his portfolio and handed to someone else.

In this regard, he makes some telling points that Rosensteins reputation for fair, competent work may well have been overblown.

5) "Oh and you'll love this one. So when Jim Jordon asked me under oath why I signed the FISA warrant without verifying what was in it I actually told him that's not how the program works. I told him I don't actually have to read it to know what's in it. Nancy Pelosi couldn't a said it any stupider, but the Media bought it. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha."

4) "So even though the Law actually spells out that I had to write out the specifics of what my good buddy Bobby Mueller was supposed to be investigating, that idiot Judge Ellis actually thought I would have done that, so I told him my instructions to Bobby were too super secret for him to see. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha."

3) "So just for kicks I wrote this Memo telling Trump why Comey should be fired and that dummy actually believed I was serious. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha,

2) "Hey, maybe I could wear a wire when I talk with Trump and he'll say something so nutty we can get him institutionalized in the nut House. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, just kidding."

1) "It'd be a real shame if someone had to subpoena you House Intel staffers to testify under Oath. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, just kidding."

My online friend Daddy is not buying that, and offers up his own barbed reasons why:

There were two compelling stories this week: The Kavanaugh confirmation to the Supreme Court and the dueling tales respecting Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. The latter was brilliantly handled by this sites owner, Thomas Lifson, and I have little to add to his recitation of the events though I urge you to read it for a concise analysis of what was reported this week.

The account in the New York Times. which first reported that Rosenstein had offered to wear a wire to record his conversations with the President and suggested the 25thAmendment might be pursued, strikes me at first glance as Andrew McCabes last-ditch attempt to fling poo on others when he seemed to be under threat of criminal prosecution. (It was troubling to me that, in violation of any good journalism practice, they ran it without contacting Rosenstein for his response.) In part I was reluctant to fully credit it because whatever you or I think of him, he always seemed too prudent to have spoken so intemperately to a group of what is now reported to have been seven or eight other people. A DoJ spokeswoman confirmed that he did make some remarks along that line, but in sarcastic response to aggressive anti-Trump comments by other participants in the discussion.

My online friend Daddy is not buying that, and offers up his own barbed reasons why:

Maybe we ought to do "Rod Rosenstein's best jokes." 1) "It'd be a real shame if someone had to subpoena you House Intel staffers to testify under Oath. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, just kidding." 2) "Hey, maybe I could wear a wire when I talk with Trump and he'll say something so nutty we can get him institutionalized in the nut House. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, just kidding." 3) "So just for kicks I wrote this Memo telling Trump why Comey should be fired and that dummy actually believed I was serious. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, 4) "So even though the Law actually spells out that I had to write out the specifics of what my good buddy Bobby Mueller was supposed to be investigating, that idiot Judge Ellis actually thought I would have done that, so I told him my instructions to Bobby were too super secret for him to see. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha." 5) "Oh and you'll love this one. So when Jim Jordon asked me under oath why I signed the FISA warrant without verifying what was in it I actually told him that's not how the program works. I told him I don't actually have to read it to know what's in it. Nancy Pelosi couldn't a said it any stupider, but the Media bought it. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha." 6) Uranium One? What's Uranium On? Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha."

In this regard, he makes some telling points that Rosensteins reputation for fair, competent work may well have been overblown.

Whether or not the statements were made sarcastically, there are lots of reasons why Rosenstein should be removed, or at a minimum, oversight of Mueller taken away from his portfolio and handed to someone else.

Gregg Jarrett, whos been covering carefully the work of the special counsel, has even stronger reasons than remarks in the NYTs article why Rosenstein should be replaced:

Rosenstein has been in charge of the Mueller probe. Yet, it is clear that he harbors an extreme bias against Trump. How can anyone now view the investigation as fair, objective and neutral? It is not. It never has been. The special counsel probe has been compromised and contaminated by Rosensteins actions, Muellers refusal to disqualify himself, the misconduct of former FBI agent Peter Strzok, and the obvious bias of lead prosecutor Andrew Weissmann. From the moment Trump was sworn in as president, saboteurs at the FBI and Justice Department have worked furiously to undo the election results and frame Trump for colluding with Russia to win the 2016 presidential election. They conjured a false case based on a fabricated dossier paid for by Hillary Clintons campaign and composed by a British spy who was fired for lying. They misappropriated that document to launch the Trump-Russia investigation without probable cause. They then exploited the same dossier to wiretap a Trump campaign associate, Carter Page. In the process, they concealed vital evidence and deceived FISA judges, perpetrating a fraud on the court. Those who abused their positions of power to subvert the rule of law and undermine the democratic process should be held accountable. It should begin with the firing of Rod Rosenstein. It should end with a presentment to a grand jury for potential criminal indictments.

And Professor Alan Dershowitz says that the President should force Rosenstein to recuse himself -- in a court proceeding, if necessary -- and offers up compelling reasons why:

...what [Trump] could do very plausibly is have his lawyers go to court and make a motion to recuse Rosenstein from any involvement in any case involving the president." "Because he has a conflict of interest," said Dershowitz, who is also an opinion contributor for The Hill. "He has two conflicts of interest: First, he wrote the memo... authorizing the firing of Comey. You can't both investigate obstruction of justice and be part of the obstruction of justice." "But second, he has a conflict now because the Times reports that his goal is to be 'vindicated,' [ed: for Comeys firing] and the way he can be 'vindicated' is by putting all the blame on President Trump," Dershowitz added in the interview.

These issues will not be going away soon. The House Judiciary Committee announced this week that they plan to subpoena the McCabe memos which formed the substance of the NYTs story. President Trump, moreover, has indicated that hell hold back on declassifying the McCabe memos hidden away inside the FBI and Special Counsels files -- hidden from Congressional investigators and the DoJs Inspector General Michael Horowitz -- until Horowitz has a chance to review them in his ongoing probe of FISA abuse by the DoJ and FBI. If Horowitz fails to do so, the President will declassify them himself.

In sum, the rocks are being turned over, and I wouldnt want to be the worms that have been hidden underneath them.

Christine Ford

All week the press has been playing a Latin-style novella, which in English might have been titled Edge of the Rim of the Cusp. The main character is an obviously highly neurotic woman who claims that more than three decades before she was assaulted by the nominee in a home she cant remember, on a date she cant recall either, and that she was so traumatized by the boozy encounter she didnt recall it until engaged in marital counseling in 2012. Dianne Feinstein, who waited until the conclusion of the hearings to spring this tale, still refuses to hand over the letter by Ford so we dont know all thats in there, though Fords statements now about the incident do not match the portion of the marital counselors record of that session made public.

It has been reported that while her lawyers are still insisting on ever-changing absurd procedures which violate the committee rules and any notion of fair play, and postponing the hearing date for specious reasons (while she reportedly plans to appear Sunday night on 60 Minutes). I wonder who will do the softball interview, with so many-- both Les Moonves and Jeff Fager, not to mention former 60 Minutes mainstay Charlie Rose -- out at CBS for documented sexual misconduct?

The Friday deadline for her to decide passed and the Chairman of the Judiciary committee has given her lawyers more time to confirm that she will testify. Late Saturday afternoon they responded with a non-answer saying she wants to but the terms and conditions still need to be negotiated and she wants to do so on Wednesday though the hearing is set for Monday. The Senate rules, arcane as they may be, give a deadline of Thursday for the vote out of committee or the nomination dies and there will be insufficient time to consider another before the term ends. I think shes a reluctant witness whose lawyers have continued to encourage her testimony by suggesting their ridiculous demands can be met and she can just go up there, tell her story without effective cross examination after she hears Kavanaughs defense and can tailor her testimony accordingly. One of their demands is that only senators question her. Doubtless this is not only because they know the chair wants Beth Wilkinson, an outstanding defamation lawyer, to do the questioning. What they want, in this age of group rights -- and demons -- is to be able to argue that this poor traumatized woman was further harmed by a group of old white male bullies.

Like me, New Neo, who has a masters degree in marriage and family counseling and experience in such things, is having none of that.

Note the words that echo the idea of big strong men hurting the little woman: the deadline itself is aggressive and the purpose is to bully her. Christina Ford (Dr. to you) is no longer 15 years old, but the letter implies that thats her approximate mental and emotional age. Theres no acknowledgment, of course, of the fact that Ford set this entire thing in motion, that she has had nearly two months (or more) to prepare and 36 years before that, that she is the one who blindsided Kavanaugh and the Republicans in the Senate rather than the other way around, that they have already given her many extensions, and that Kavanaughs family has also experienced incredible stress and death threats as a result of her accusations. Most of us have had the experience of arguing with a person like this. Give an inch? They take a mile. Make concessions? They want more. They are the poor suffering victims. They dont like your tone of voice. They dont like the expression on your face. If you try to be calm, youre cold. If you try to be sympathetic, youre condescending. Nothing you do is okay, and everything they do is okay.

If any of this scenario sounds familiar it may be because Ricky Seidman, who advised Anita Hill to testify against Clarence Thomas in 1991, is advising Ford, and in July -- about the same time Ford sent her letter to Feinstein -- of this year said Over the coming days and weeks there will be a strategy that will emerge, and I think its possible that that strategy might ultimately defeat the nominee. Or that one of McCabes lawyers, Michael Bromwich, has joined her team.

This is the crowd that really abuses women -- arguing that they should always be believed (except when its Ted Kennedy, Chris Dodd, Bill Clinton, Keith Ellison, or any one of their many party cohorts accused of sexual misconduct.) I cant imagine government by harpies without due process for men will draw many men to their party, nor any wives, girlfriends, or mothers of sons who pay attention to this travesty of justice.

Update from Clarice Feldman:

Now every single person who Ford says were witnesses denies it without reservation. The fourth is Leland Keyser, a lifetime friend of Ford's who said she never ever was at a party where Kavanaugh was present. She is a PGA golfer and was Bob Beckel's first wife. As Instapundit says: forget these continuing negotiations with her lawyer--just take the vote.Parents of boys must understand the brave new world Democrats are attempting to usher in and the legitimate threats it poses to their sons' futures  their reputations, college and career prospects, and general welfare.

The circus that Democrats are putting on for all the world to witness is a display of partisanship that should disgust even the casual observer, regardless of party. Shockingly, as disgusting as their blatant disregard for the integrity of the Supreme Court confirmation process is, it's not even close to the clear and present danger that their immediate presumption of guilt for Judge Kavanaugh poses to our nation's boys and young men.

Democrats' instantaneous presumption of guilt for Judge Kavanaugh is setting a new standard for sexual assault allegations wherein they should be accepted simply for having been made. Moreover, the allegations are to be believed, despite lacking any semblance of credible evidence, solely for having been made by a woman.

Consider Democratic senator Hirono from Hawaii's recent comments: "Not only do women like Dr. Ford, who bravely come forward, need to be heard, but they need to be believed."

Statements like that of Sen. Hirono, of which there have been a plethora, undermine the very nature of our nation's judicial system and rule of law by placing the burden to disprove the allegations on the accused and, thus, rendering him guilty should he be unable to persuade the mob in the court of public opinion.

Parents, set aside the partisanship and the hyper-polarization that exist in our modern discourse and consider for a moment if this were your son.

A girl comes forward accusing your son of sexual assault. The case she lays out contains minimal evidence with fuzzy, uncorroborated details and zero recollection at all of many foundational material facts. Two of the only three people the girl claims are in a position to corroborate the allegation issue patent denials, and the only person with whom the incident was disclosed prior to a public accusation against your son contradicts key facts of the allegation. The accuser has a demonstrable history during that period of her life of underage intoxication, and your son unequivocally denies that the situation ever occurred. When the authorities offer to hear her testimony, she issues a list of demands designed to obscure your son's quest for the truth and unfairly prejudice the investigation significantly in her favor. To compound matters, failure by your son to disprove these allegations will result in him losing everything  his reputation, friends, college admission prospects, scholarships, and career opportunities, along with an infinite amount of additional harm.

Parents, does this sound right to you? Does this sound like blind justice that presumes innocence until proven guilty? Does this sound like a society that you want your sons to be forced to navigate as they live their lives?

It certainly isn't the world I want my three boys to grow up in, yet if the Democrats are allowed to continue establishing this precedent while they pursue an unconstitutional obstructionism of Judge Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation process, that's exactly the world our boys will be forced to grow up in.

Parents, if there was ever a time to get off the sidelines  to pull our heads out of the sand that's been shoveled around them by the mainstream media  the time is now.

Democrats are presently claiming that even the mere questioning of the facts of Christine Ford's accusation is somehow a sexist attack on her by a misogynistic patriarchal society.

As a society  as parents  we cannot allow this kind of mob rule to prevail, for doing so will radically alter and significantly darken the future for our children by instituting a new de facto American legal standard based on the presumption of guilt.

Make no mistake: should we permit such a legal standard to be established, it is only a matter of time before that standard shifts to universal applicability, regardless of sex and accusation.

All parents have a moral and parental imperative to speak out against this assault on our children and demand that the Democrats cease with this kangaroo court.

With Christine Ford's eleventh-hour acceptance of the Senate's request for testimony, she should be held to the same process and standard as would be afforded to any other individual testifying before a Senate committee.

Should Ford continue her antics of delays, half-truths, and non-recollections, Senator Grassley should immediately regard her as nothing more than a partisan actor intended to defame an honorable man and call for a vote on Judge Kavanaugh based on the undeniable merits of his legal career and overwhelming evidence of his exceptional moral character in both his professional life and his personal life.

Parents, it's time to make your voices heard. Your children's future depends on it.

Image: Chris Schmich via Flickr.Time to Designate the Palestinian Authority a Terrorist Organization

Fatah, the ruling party of the Palestinian Authority (P.A.) and the largest faction of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), routinely incites terrorism in all forms of its media, propagandizes Palestinian students to commit acts of terrorism, devotes a large portion of its finances to pay terrorists and their families, and names many of its schools and roads after terrorists who have murdered civilians. President Trump and Congress have rightly demanded a halt to Fatah's activities promoting terrorism, including the P.A. halting all payments to terrorists and their families, but to no avail. To enable peace between Israel and the Palestinians, the U.S. must therefore immediately issue an ultimatum to Mahmoud Abbas and the P.A.: either cease funding, incitement, and indoctrination to terrorism in all forms, forthwith, or be designated as a foreign terrorist organization, with all the ramifications that pertain to that designation. On March 21, 2016, a 21-year-old Palestinian terrorist murdered U.S. Army veteran Taylor Force and wounded ten other people in Tel Aviv. Instead of condemning this heinous and cold-blooded murder of a U.S. veteran, Fatah posted a statement online hailing the murderer as a hero and a "martyr" and suggested that such attacks will continue.Dubbed the greatest deliberative body, the U.S. Senate has now become a cross between the Jerry Springer show and a teenage mean-girls slumber party. Rather than taking direction from the U.S. Constitution, the Senate now is a government version of the television reality show Big Brother. In this show, a group of contestants live together, isolated from the outside world, conspiring, harassing, and bullying each other in order to be the last shrew standing, taking home the grand prize.

The Ringling Brothers, Barnum & Bailey Circus closed its tents last year after a hundred-plus year run. The new circus, replacing the last generation of clowns and freaks, is called the United States Senate.

The Constitution clearly spells out the role of the Senate in selecting Supreme Court justices. Article 2 dictates that the president "shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint ... Judges of the Supreme Court..."

Advice and consent means that Senators can provide input, question nominees about their future role as a Supreme Court Justice, then vote to approve the nomination. Typically, presidents are given deference to make nominations, and as long as such nominees are not clearly unqualified, to confirm these nominees to the court.

Nominees are usually confirmed without much fanfare, even those who are ideologically out of the mainstream, such as Ruth Bader Ginsburg, confirmed 96-3. Barack Obamas two nominees were confirmed, but by a closer margin, Elena Kagan 63-37 and Sonia Sotomayor 68-31.

Enter Donald Trump and advice and consent yields to blatant partisanship. His first Supreme Court nominee, Neil Gorsuch, squeaked by 54-45. Trumps current nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, is the star attraction in the newest reality show, not featuring housewives, but instead, The Real Obnoxious Senators of Washington, D.C.

The current antics with Kavanaugh and the out-of-the-blue accusations of a drunken grope session dating back to high school are more appropriate for an episode of Big Brother rather than the Senate Judiciary Committee. But that wont stop Democrat Senators from using the opportunity to virtue signal to their base, fundraise, and make complete asses of themselves.

When the smears against Judge Kavanaugh arent adequate to derail his confirmation, there is always the tried and true tactic of the left  the opinion poll.

MSNBC, already having determined that Kavanaugh is guilty as charged, published a poll aimed at squishy Republican Senators, giving them an excuse to vote against Kavanaughs confirmation, joining the monolithic Democrat opposition to smear and ruin the most highly qualified nominee in a generation.

The polls purpose is to say that Americans hate Kavanaugh, just as other polls say the same about President Trump. Lets take a closer look at the actual poll.

It is an NBC News/Wall Street Journal survey of 900 registered voters. Not likely voters, who are only a small fraction of registered voters, many of whom will not turn out to vote, especially in non-presidential elections. What did these registered voters say when asked to rate your feelings toward Judge Kavanaugh?

Twenty-seven percent had a positive impression of Brett Kavanaugh while 30 percent had a negative impression of him. Within the margin of error for the poll. Over a quarter of those surveyed had no idea who he even was.

Most Americans never heard of Brett Kavanaugh until his Supreme Court nomination. Circuit court judges are hardly household names. Once nominated, Kavanaugh received a barrage of negative press. After all, he was nominated by President Trump who himself receives over 90 percent negative media coverage.

The Hill declared, Brett Kavanaugh is a threat to women, workers, and the environment.

The New York Times warned, The Kavanaugh Accusation Is Dangerous for the Pro-Life Movement.

Fortune cautions, Why Brett Kavanaugh Is a Huge Threat to Minority Rights.

I could not find any headlines warning of Kavanaughs threat to children and pets but Im sure they are out there. But you get the point. Just like coverage of Trump, Kavanaugh news is all negative all the time.

Other than political and news junkies, such as American Thinker readers, few know who Kavanaugh is and if they only get their news from CNN or NBC, they would have heard nothing other than that Kavanaugh is a reprobate pig on par with Donald Trump. Of course, they would have a negative impression of him.

When this sample of registered voters was asked if they support or oppose Kavanaughs nomination, he has 34 percent support. This is higher than Neil Gorsuch, Elena Kagan, and Sam Alito before their confirmations, but dont expect MSNBC to be tweeting that factoid. Interestingly no recent Supreme Court nominee reached 50 percent support on the eve of their confirmation.

For most nominees, a significant percent of those polled did not know enough about the nominee to have an opinion, nearly half for some nominees. Thanks to Senator Dianne Feinstein and the media, thats not a problem for Judge Kavanaugh.

Then there is the poll sample. As with most of these polls, they oversample Democrats. In this particular poll, Democrats represent 44 percent while Republicans only 36 percent, an 8-point difference and certainly enough to flip the 3-point differential in positive-negative feelings about Kavanaugh.

This is just another example of many recent polls whose sole purpose is not to reflect opinion, but to shape it. Polls are another weapon in the Democrat playbook against Republicans and their agenda, whether winning the midterms or filling a Supreme Court vacancy.

This poll is not aimed at voters, however, but instead at the supposed 'moderates,' the Jeff Flakes and Bob Corkers of the Senate. If NBC convinces them that the public hates Kavanaugh, this provides them a fig leaf of cover to vote against his nomination. As the vote will be on party lines, a couple of GOP defections torpedo the nomination.

Which in turn will depress GOP midterm turnout. If Republicans cant confirm an eminently qualified jurist to the Supreme Court, bumbling through the gauntlet of Democrat dirty tricks and changing goalposts, then why bother returning them to majority status in Congress?

That is what is really on the line here. Not Kavanaugh, but the midterms. If Democrats win the Senate, Gorsuch will be Trumps last nominee, even if he serves two terms. Who will stop them? Paul Ryan? Mitch McConnell?

Democrats are laying tripwires for Republicans to bungle the nomination, piss off their base, and scuttle their chances of keeping control of Congress. These polls are just another trap. I hope the GOP Senators are paying attention.

Brian C. Joondeph, MD, MPS, a Denver based physician and writer. Follow him on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.Wendy Martinez was allegedly stabbed 7 times by 23 year old Anthony Crawford. Video of the aftermath of the attack (now unavailable) showed Crawford fleeing the scene.

Washington, D.C. police are investigating the savage stabbing death of a white jogger by a black man as a potential hate crime.

Inside Edition:

Investigators mentioned that Martinez's murder might have been racially motivated because Crawford does not like white people, according to WUSA9. Police said the attack was unprovoked, and did not appear to be a robbery. Crawford did not cooperate with police, authorities said. Video footage captured Martinez, who was newly-engaged, stumbling into a Chinese take-out restaurant on Tuesday, covered in blood. She then collapsed. Police said shed been stabbed 7 times, including in the neck, face and head. A bloody knife and blood-covered t-shirt were discovered several blocks away from the stabbing, police said. Authorities also released footage of the suspect fleeing the scene. "This is one of those types of unsettling incidents that sometimes happens in a large city, but this seems like a singular incident," Chief of Police Peter Newsham said during a press conference.

Sorry, chief, but that's a load of crap. If the races were reversed, you wouldn't have called the murder "unsettling" that "sometimes" happened or referred to the death of the young woman as a "singular incident."

WUSA:

It was a picture-perfect night to be outdoors, with temperatures in the 70s and clear skies. As Martinez approached the intersection, people across the street were outside on a restaurant patio, enjoying dinner. It was then that Martinez was stabbed in what police believe was "more than likely" a random attack. It was an "unprovoked attack" and there is no information to suggest that it was a robbery. It was concluded that Martinez was stabbed seven times, twice in the head and once in the face around the right side of the neck near the carotid artery. Martinez's stab wounds were very serious, and she made her way into a nearby Chinese restaurant after the attack. Surveillance video from the restaurant, which we are not showing due to its graphic nature, shows the woman coming inside the restaurant covered in blood. She appears to be talking to the customers inside before she collapses. DC Police Chief Peter Newsham said a nurse in close proximity attempted life-saving efforts before emergency crews arrived. Martinez was transported to the hospital where she was pronounced dead at 8:23 p.m. A medical examiner determined her death was caused by multiple stab wounds. Crawford was arrested Wednesday night and charged with first-degree murder while armed in connection with the stabbing. Police said he did not cooperate with investigators, however, they are confident they have the right person.

It's being reported that Crawford may have been high on K2 - synthetic marijuana. The substance can make people violent and unpredictable. Add racial hatred to that mix and Crawford's "unprovoked" outburst seems less so.

If it had been a black woman targeted by a white male - especially in DC - the hate crime aspect of the incident would have been national news. A pretty young woman, engaged to be married, brutally attacked while out for a jog, murdered by a crazed racist - this is a tragedy regardless of the victim's color. However, that this story has flown below the radar points to the continuing double standard in the media when it comes to reporting black on white crime.

And no, it's not "racist" to point that out.

Martinez will be buried in the wedding dress she never got to wear.UPDATE

Live video captures the moment of #Ahvaz terrorist shooting https://t.co/qKmmEkyclu#IranMilitaryParade pic.twitter.com/KmpfvnbOGx

An Arab separatist group claimed responsibility for the attack. CNN reports that "Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif also blamed "a foreign regime" backed by the United States."

"Terrorists recruited, trained, armed & paid by a foreign regime have attacked Ahvaz," Zarif said in a tweet, adding: "Iran holds regional terror sponsors and their US masters accountable for such attacks." Earlier, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani used the occasion of the military parades to compare US President Donald Trump to the former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, Press TV reported. Speaking at a military rally in Tehran, he said Trump will fail in the "economic and psychological war" he's launched against Iran, just as Hussein failed in his eight-year war against the Islamic Republic. "Iran will neither abandon its defensive weapons nor will reduce its defense capabilities," Rouhani said. "Rather it will increase its defense power day by day. The fact that they are angry at our missiles shows that these are the most influential weapons Iran has." Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Hezbollah, two of Iran's closest allies, issued statements condemning the attack, with Assad referencing outside involvement and Hezbollah echoing allegations of US blame. "We are with you with all the power we have" to stand against these terrorist acts, Assad said in a cable to Rouhani extending condolences, the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency reported. "We hope that the backers, financers and proponents of terrorism will understand that this danger threatens mankind as a whole." Hezbollah in a statement said "satanic and malignant hands are behind this terrorist action," and accused the United States and its allies of conducting the attack "directly or by proxy." The attack is intended to undermine Iran's security and stability and as "punishment for ... its rejection of American dependency politics," the statement claimed.

All signs point to Arab separatists carrying out the attack, including an interview on Saudi TV with an Arab activist representing the Arab Struggle Movement to Liberate Ahvaz, who gave details about the attackers. Not wanting to be left out of the media coverage, Islamic State also claimed responsibility.

The US strongly condemned the attack as well.

If the terrorist attack was carried out by the separatists it would represent a quantum leap in their capabilities. Previously, their attacks were on oil pipelines in the dead of night. This was an assault in broad daylight. Perhaps more significantly, it was a suicide attack. Surely the gunmen, dressed in military uniforms, could not have hoped to escape a venue where there was a massive police and army presence.

In fact, the attack bears a greater resemblance to something ISIS would have done. So why would the Iranian government blame Arab separatists with so little proof?

The region where the attack occurred has seen many large demonstrations over the last 6 months. The protests were not only for equality for Arabs, but they were also demonstrations against regime economic policies. The Iranian government may be seeking an excuse to crack down on dissidents in the region in order to deal with the constant unrest.

In the past, including a similar attack in June, 2017, Tehran used the cover of a terrorist attack to oppress dissident voices across the country. It is believed that the 2017 attack was carried out by ISIS. In the case of the Ahvaz attack, it was clearly in the government's best interests to blame Arab separatists.

Terrorism is never right, no matter who gets hit. In this case, many civilians were killed and wounded. It is the bane of the 21st century and should be opposed wherever it happens.Der Spiegels online English-language website has not yet published a translation of its new cover story, but via the website Rorate Caeli , we get a partial translation from the Catholic Herald :

You might think that the enthusiastic support Pope Francis has offered for environmentalism, open borders, and the normalization of homosexual behavior would buy him support from liberal media. But Der Spiegel, the most important weekly magazine in Europe, has turned against the Roman Catholic Prelate with a cover story that proclaims (auf Deutsch) the Ninth Commandment: Thou shalt not lie, with a subhead: The Pope and the Catholic Church in their greatest crisis.

The report most notably includes an interview with an abuse survivor from Argentina who says she was one of a group of victims who wrote to Francis shortly after his election, but never received a reply. The woman, Julieta Anazco, says she was sexually abused by a priest when she was seven years old. She said that in 2013, shortly after Pope Francis was elected, she and 13 other victims wrote to him to describing what had happened. They sent the letter by recorded delivery and, three weeks later, received a confirmation of receipt. However, they never received a reply. The accused priest was subsequently transferred to a nursing home where he continues to celebrate Mass. During Bergoglios time as cardinal, many of the abuse victims in Buenos Aires had turned to him for help; nobody was permitted access to him, the magazine says, adding that there are currently 62 trials in process against Argentine priests. The number of their victims could be in the thousands. A legal defender for Argentine abuse survivors, Juan Pablo Gallego, says that Pope Francis is now in exile in Rome  has found his refuge there, so to speak. Gallego adds that in Argentina Francis faces the suspicion that he protected for years rapists and abusers of children. He cites the example of Fr Julio Cesar Grassi, who is now in prison for raping teenage boys. Francis had been Grassis confessor and ordered a legal report to defend Grassi against the charges. Gallego says that in 2006 he had a conversation with the then Cardinal Bergoglio. He was withdrawn and mistrusting, he said no word about the fact that the Church paid Grassis lawyers. The current image of an open, sympathetic Pope Francis does not fit the man whom I sat in front of at the time.

Hat tip: Mark Wauck:

Monica Showalter adds:

Thomas is right. The loss of the big German establishment magazine does signal a sea change.

One, the charges themselves are of the same kind that Cardinal Carlo Maria Vigano laid out - coverup - yet are coming from a very different source on another continent. Vigano was an insider, he knew what the diplomatic correspondence said, he knew who was under sanction and who was in and out. These charges from Buenos Aires are from ordinary lay people, people who are not insiders, but people who who were trying to send information. It signals a pattern. Pope Francis's Vatican apologists likely can't call these types of charges political.

Here is another element worth looking at. In Chile, next door to Argentina, Pope Francis found himself in a lot of hot water after he first dismissed allegations of coverups against Chile's cardinals as the work of liars, and then was met with an outcry. He backtracked, apologized, and had the whole Chilean clerical leadership resign. It sounds very similar to how he ran things in Argentina, because his response was the same. But he'd have a harder time still dismissing the entire Argentine leadership for the same thing, given that he likely had a role in appointing them.

Here is the second element suggesting a sea change: German money pretty much finances the Catholic Church in Latin America. That's the word of a Vatican linked source I have. It explains why the Church is so incredibly leftwing in that area, and socialist liberation theology runs rampant. It's basically eurotrash-thinking grafted onto a New World virgin culture, as some such as Alvaro Vargas Llosa have observed in other contexts, the Germans stamping their romantic worldview onto parts afar, there's nothing inherently leftwing about Latin America except for that German money influence artificially inflating it. With the German influence strong in the Latin American church, what does it say that Der Spiegel is pointing the finger now?

Update: More on the still-untranslated Speigel article via Lifesite News:Username: Password: or Register Thread Rating: 0 Vote(s) - 0 Average

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Former Google CEO Predicts the Internet will split in two & One Part Will be Led LoP Guest

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Post: #1 Former Google CEO Predicts the Internet will split in two & One Part Will be Led

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China is rapidly taking over Africa and they are now moving in on Venezuela.



***************************************************



Speaking at a private event hosted by Village Global VC yesterday night, tech luminary and former Google CEO Eric Schmidt predicted that the internet will bifurcate into Chinese-led and US-led versions within the next decade.



Under Sundar Pichai's leadership, Google has explored the potential to launch a censored version of its search engine in China, stirring up controversy internally and outside the company.







Eric Schmidt, who has been the CEO of Google and executive chairman of its parent company, Alphabet, predicts that within the next decade there will be two distinct internets: one led by the U.S. and the other by China.



Schmidt shared his thoughts at a private event in San Francisco on Wednesday night convened by investment firm Village Global VC. The firm enlists tech luminaries  including Schmidt, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates and Diane Green  as limited partners, then invests their money into early-stage tech ventures.



At the event, economist Tyler Cowen asked about the possibility of the internet fragmenting into different sub-internets with different regulations and limited access between them in coming years. "What's the chance, say, 10 to 15 years, we have just three to four separate internets?"







"I think the most likely scenario now is not a splintering, but rather a bifurcation into a Chinese-led internet and a non-Chinese internet led by America.



If you look at China, and I was just there, the scale of the companies that are being built, the services being built, the wealth that is being created is phenomenal. Chinese Internet is a greater percentage of the GDP of China, which is a big number, than the same percentage of the US, which is also a big number.



If you think of China as like 'Oh yeah, they're good with the Internet,' you're missing the point. Globalization means that they get to play too. I think you're going to see fantastic leadership in products and services from China. There's a real danger that along with those products and services comes a different leadership regime from government, with censorship, controls, etc.





https://www.cnbc.com/2018/09/20/eric-sch...china.html Who`s gonna keep the deep web?China is rapidly taking over Africa and they are now moving in on Venezuela.***************************************************Speaking at a private event hosted by Village Global VC yesterday night, tech luminary and former Google CEO Eric Schmidt predicted that the internet will bifurcate into Chinese-led and US-led versions within the next decade.Under Sundar Pichai's leadership, Google has explored the potential to launch a censored version of its search engine in China, stirring up controversy internally and outside the company.Eric Schmidt, who has been the CEO of Google and executive chairman of its parent company, Alphabet, predicts that within the next decade there will be two distinct internets: one led by the U.S. and the other by China.Schmidt shared his thoughts at a private event in San Francisco on Wednesday night convened by investment firm Village Global VC. The firm enlists tech luminaries  including Schmidt, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates and Diane Green  as limited partners, then invests their money into early-stage tech ventures.At the event, economist Tyler Cowen asked about the possibility of the internet fragmenting into different sub-internets with different regulations and limited access between them in coming years. "What's the chance, say, 10 to 15 years, we have just three to four separate internets?""I think the most likely scenario now is not a splintering, but rather a bifurcation into a Chinese-led internet and a non-Chinese internet led by America.If you look at China, and I was just there, the scale of the companies that are being built, the services being built, the wealth that is being created is phenomenal. Chinese Internet is a greater percentage of the GDP of China, which is a big number, than the same percentage of the US, which is also a big number.If you think of China as like 'Oh yeah, they're good with the Internet,' you're missing the point. Globalization means that they get to play too. I think you're going to see fantastic leadership in products and services from China. There's a real danger that along with those products and services comes a different leadership regime from government, with censorship, controls, etc.















What the heck has gotten into Pope Francis? When he's not letting a leftist pervert like Cardinal Theodore McCarrick pick out the archbishops, he's letting the communists of Beijing.

Pope Francis on Saturday endorsed the legitimacy of seven Chinese bishops, appointed by Beijing without the Vatican's approval. The decision is part of a historic accord between the Catholic Church and China over the nomination of bishops, which is normally a papal prerogative. The issue has strained ties between the two for decades.

His betrayal of the Catholic Church in China is simply mind-blowing.

In a bid to establish diplomatic relations with China, he agreed to allow the Chinese state, run by atheistic communists, to choose the archbishops to lead the Catholic Church over there in a move that undercuts the underground Catholic Church over there, which has rejected this phony leadership for their faith.

It might not have been a complete capitulation -- he reportedly may have reserved the right to veto any of the Beijing-picked candidates, so I suppose we won't be getting an obvious comrade in a Mao suit spouting slogans. But we will probably get quite a few less obvious ones, Chinese internal intelligence agency informants, and people who subtly undermine the Church teachings itself because of their alignment to the regime.

It's an astonishing betrayal of the millions of Catholics inside China who have carefully carried the torch as the Christian martyrs of ancient Rome once did, underground, risking their lives. They threw such people into the lion's dens back then. Today, they throw them into the lao gai, or Chinese gulags. Yet they are all saints.

And they play an important role to Catholics in free countries. Essentially: If they can walk 20 miles to mass, and hide out from the secret police to bring the sacraments, who am I to miss mass or not perform some act of charity? This is what Catholics think when they consider the underground Church in China.

So to see them abandoned like this, after all their sacrifices to live the faith, only to see Pope Francis allow their enemy to appoint their leaders and lead their church, is horrifying. Can you imagine what they must be saying to each other?

Could there be any greater means of shrinking the Church after an act like that? As Pope John Paul has noted, the Church's fruits in Asia have always been rather meager given the strength of the other faiths. China of course is different, given its communist embrace of enforced atheism, making it rather ripe for converts. Yet the Chinese Church got it all thrown in their faces. It rather resembles Pope Francis's acts in Cuba, where he made common cause with the Castroites, to establish diplomatic relations, and presumably to get some Church schools and masses going, yet also unleashed a huge wave of repression on Cuba's dissidents, particularly the Ladies in White, who have been beaten by Cuba's goons as they walked to mass and went into the churches.

The, uh, 'social justice' teachings of the Church don't seem to apply in these cases, because the Church leadership has been dead silent.

And that is what this comes down to: leadership. Who picks the bishops picks the Church leadership. Putting Beijing's men in pretty well puts some in line to become cardinals, which in turn puts them in line to voting for the next pope. The implications of that are staggering.

What's more, it's part of a pattern. The pope has been roundly criticized for abandoning the Uniate Catholics of Ukraine in the interest of good relations with Moscow, and the persecuted Christians of the Middle East in the interest of good relations with the European ruling class, which favors Muslim immigration to Europe. Tha abandonment of China's Christians, who have carried the torch in silence for so long is extremely hard to stomach. There have been many complaints from Venezuela, too, about the Pope's failure to condemn the socialist starvation policies of Nicolas Maduro, in the interest of good relations with the Chavista government. In all cases, the pope has chosen the state over the people.

Quite an irony from the man who up until now has been called 'the people's pope.'

Image credit: Yoshi Canopus, via Wikimedia Commons // CC BY-SA 3.0The malevolent lynching of Kavanaugh

The left's smear campaign against Judge Brett Kavanaugh has descended into the worst kind of buffoonery. It was clearly planned many months in advance and orchestrated by a bevy of Democrats from Dianne Feintstein to Ford's lawyer, Debra Katz, and Rickie Seidmon, a vicious veteran strategist of the Bork Senate Judiciary hearings. Blasey-Ford has surrounded herself with Alinskyite leftists for whom no dirty trick is too low in service of taking out an opponent. That so many members of Congress are willing to participate in this wholesale destruction of a good and qualified man over a 36-year-old fact-free accusation is appalling.

This is the saddest commentary on the state of American politics today -- along with the outpouring of evidence that higher-ups in the Obama administration, in conjunction with the DOJ, NSA, and FBI, actually did conspire to destroy Trump, both before and after his election, simply because they do not like him and cannot accept his victory over the most corrupt candidate for the office of the presidency ever is beyond sad; it is lethal for the United States. The left is killing America and it is purposeful. Trump is trying to save the nation and doing a damn good job of it, a shockingly good job. So the left hates him even more for exposing the lies of their contrary agenda. As for Christine Blasey-Ford, her scrubbed but still available captioned high-school year-book photos reveal a private girls' school that reveled in underage drinking, partying, and promiscuity, even the preying on of younger boys. It may be a leap, but the evidence implies Blasey was a party animal without the boundaries to which lesser privileged teens would have been bound. While a girl's or a woman's life style, no matter how promiscuous, is never an excuse for abuse, let alone attempted rape, her behavior is very much relevant when she makes accusations for which she herself may have been responsible, especially if she was drunk. That she is using this 36-year-old foggy recovered memory to take down one of the most qualified persons ever nominated to the Supreme Court is reprehensible. She knows it. Every member of the Democratic Party knows it. They all know Kavanaugh is a good and decent man and that he is extraordinarily qualified to be a Justice. What roils them is his devotion to the Constitution and his prodigious knowledge of it and all its ramifications. But to them, the left, their loss is an excuse to act out in the most craven, vicious manner. They have all been schooled in the Alinskyite method so embraced by Obama. If the same tactics were ever to be employed against them, the mainstream media would suffer a major meltdown. Not until Trump has any Republican fought back against the left with the tactics of their own template -- and they are stunned. How dare he use their long-perfected strategies against them. Oh, the horror! There is a profound difference between the American left and right in 2018. The left, since their electoral loss, has been distraught, angry, and insane. After two years, they are still unable to accept the results of the election. They accuse Trump of all manner of crimes, not one of which he is guilty. He is not guilty of collusion with Russia nor is he guilty of a single impeachable crime. And yet the loathsome Maxine Waters calls for his impeachment seemingly on a daily basis and her party does nothing to temper her hysteria. The right, on the other hand, is annoyingly compliant and submissive to the left. But we must consider the left's reliance on the judiciary. They have successfully and destructively transformed American culture through the courts, never by electoral victory. Roe v. Wade, same-sex marriage -- all the social issues victories of the left have been court-mandated, and have gone against public opinion. When public opinion has gone against the left, they turn to the courts. Californias Prop. 8, the legalization of gay marriage, was voted down by California voters but overturned by the Ninth Circuit. As Mark Levin has often remarked, SCOTUS is the left's Politburo. It is how they impose their love of authoritarianism on us all. Everything today's left stands for is antithetical to everything the Founders envisioned, and for what they spent years devising the greatest politicaldocument ever written. What the left is doing to Kavanagh, the notion that a 36 year-old accusation without any details - time, place, persons - is a viable allegation worthy of attention is ludicrous in the extreme. The screaming members of Congress and the media are making utter fools of themselves by pretending this is important enough to take Kavanaugh down. Very few, if any, sentient women truly believe Blasey Ford. She may have endured an unpleasant incident with a drunk boy, but she likely has no idea who he was. That the Democrats have latched onto her pathetic tale is indicative of their vacuity. Our left no longer values decency over indecency, good over evil. They only value the opportunity to destroy their ideological opponents by any means necessary. We are indeed engaged in a cultural and political civil war. The left has achieved victories repeatedly even when Republicans have been in the majority. Democrats fight dirty. Republicans capitulate, over and over again. They cower and fear the negative press that is the rule in the odious mainstream media. But who on this planet with an intact mind automatically believes anything the NYT or the WaPo publishes? Current events junkies know to ignore them; they are merely arms of the DNC, calculated promoters of leftist propaganda. If the specious claims of Blasey Ford succeed in derailing Kavanaugh, we are done as a democratic republic. The Left will have won. They have already won on university campuses. If this amazing nominee to the Court is destroyed, it means the entire country is at the mercy of the totalitarian pols and blinkered, mind-numbed academics. Republicans in Congress: DO NOT LET HIS HAPPEN. They will use this victory over you to forever alter the character of this nation.Why do American Jews vote for Democrats?

For all those who have wondered how American Jews could support the Democrats, let me explain. It has to do with history and psychology. First, let's remember that humans are entirely emotional creatures. We make almost all of our decisions based on emotions and then use logic and reason to justify our emotional choices. Jews, being human, do the same thing.

When the Jews began immigrating to America by the millions between 1880 and 1920, they were escaping the pogroms (anti-Jewish riots that included arsons, rapes, and murders) in Russia and Poland (then part of Russia). They arrived in New York City with just about nothing and found themselves living in the impoverished and violent slums of New York's 5-Points and Lower East Side neighborhoods. The only jobs they could get were in the garment industry's sweat shops, where they toiled for 12 or 14 hours a day for only pennies. Life was miserable, and there was no way to escape. But then, on March 25, 1911, something happened that changed everything. The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory caught on fire while it was filled with impoverished Jewish workers, almost all of whom were women. Those workers were unable to leave the building because the emergency exits had been locked to prevent the workers from stepping outside for a smoke. One hundred forty-six garment workers died that day due to fire or smoke or jumping through windows several stories high down to the cold, hard pavement. The Jewish community in NYC then exploded in outrage. New York was overwhelmed by demonstrations demanding reforms. The Jewish community joined the movement to unionize New York's garment industry, a movement that was strongly supported by the Democrats but resisted by the Republicans. The decision to do that was, of course, totally emotional. And those strong emotions became part of the American Jewish psyche. Democrats were presumed to be for the little guy, and Republicans were assumed to be rich, white men. The Jewish community (other than the Orthodox) and the Democrats became joined at the hip. The majority of Jewish families taught its kids to vote Democrat for justice for the little guy. Voting Democrat became a part of Jewish culture in America. That Jewish emotional attachment to the Democrats has continued for generations even though most American Jews today have never heard of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire. As time went by and the community became less religious, "progressive" politics replaced Judaism and God. Their new gods (idols, really) became Democrat leaders, and their new religion became progressivism. Emotionally, the community is still right where it was back in 1911, despite the fact that America has changed and the Democrats have really changed. Most of the Jewish community is now so identified with progressivism that 70 percent of American Jews now vote for Democrats. To do that, they have to deny the Democrats' Jew-hate and Israel-hate, and so they do. Like all humans, they see what they want to see and ignore that which they don't want to see. That's why, if you ask a Jewish Democrat how he feels about the Jew-hate in the Democratic Party, he will probably scream insults at you but never touch the subject you brought up. (That's happened to me numerous times.) These Jews just can't let anything disturb the comfortable delusion that they inherited from their parents and grandparents that the Democrats are for the little guy, especially the Jews. But times have changed, and they are wrong. Today, the big issue is the survival of Israel, and it is the Republicans, not the Democrats, who are on our side. Nonetheless, due to the long historical and psychological connection between American Jews and the Democrats, it's likely to be a long time before that link is broken. Pete Cohon is a retired attorney living in Tel Aviv, Israel.Ive read it. Some of its embarrassing for the Department of Justice  some of its embarrassing for the FBI. Embarrassment is not a reason to classify something, said Gowdy. A lot of it should be embarrassing to John Brennan, and maybe therein lies why he is so adamant that this information not be released.

House Rep. Trey Gowdy, who must be seeing some things on the House Intelligence Committee as a member, told Fox News about a little noted elephant in the room surrounding the outcry over President Trump declassifying documents :

The elephant in the room is embarrassment. The Fox News report noted that Brennan, a former CIA director under the Obama administration, who opposed the declassification, was also one of the loudest opponents of President Trump's original order (since backtracked, apparently to assuage allies) to declassify documents surrounding the origins of the investigation of Donald Trump. Brennan even went so far as to tell officials to resign rather than let such a thing happen, cloaking himself in the cloak of a necessity to protect America's secrets, with his mouth still going strong with the dagger. He had been big on yelling that President Trump is a 'traitor,' something he himself has backtracked on, given that it proved it wasn't going to do the government much good to allow him to keep his security clearance. The wildly loudmouthed former CIA director lost it, anyway.

Now Gowdy, a South Carolina Republican, who's regrettably leaving Congress, and has nothing to worry about concerning the swamp leverage or retribution, is pretty well letting the cat out of the bag -- that the documents expose Brennan as a complete idiot. He's a dolt, and his dirty underwear could very easily be on display with a Trump declassification. Washington is a status-oriented place, and the exposure of Brennan as a complete fool would cut into his cocktail party invitations. Life's tough for a swamp creature when he becomes a figure of fun.

No wonder he's yelling so loudly.

Gowdy says that while Trump has withheld declassifying for now, it doesn't mean he won't do it in the future.

That should give Brennan something to think about, awaiting that day when the president should act.Lunaticoutpost.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program , anaffiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.Amazon, the Amazon logo, MYHABIT, and the MYHABIT logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates.Don't be a pest to the forum.No profanity in thread-titles or usernamesNo excessive profanity in postsNo Racism, Antisemitism + HateNo calls for violence against anyone..This website exists for fun and discussion only. The reader is responsible for discerning the validity, factuality or implications of information posted here, be it fictional or based on real events. The content of posts on this site, including but not limited to links to other web sites, are the expressed opinion of the original poster and are in no way representative of or endorsed by the owners or administration of this website. The posts on this website are the opinion of the specific author and are not statements of advice, opinion, or factual information on behalf of the owner or administration of LunaticOutPost.Com. The owners or administration of this website can't be hold responsible for content hosted on sites that posters link to in; including, but not limited to, posts, signatures, private messages and such. This site may contain content not suitable for minors and if you feel you might be offended by such content, you should log off immediately.This site may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Users may make such material available in an effort to advance awareness and understanding of issues relating to civil rights, economics, individual rights, international affairs, liberty, science & technology, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material. The material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.In accordance with industry accepted best practices we ask that users limit their copy / paste of copyrighted material to the relevant portions of the article you wish to discuss (no more than 50% of the source material) provide a link back to the original articleIf you are a legal copyright holder or a designated agent for such and you believe a post on this website falls outside the boundaries of "Fair Use" and legitimately infringes on yours or your clients copyright please contact [email protected] This website is owned by :Marco ZwaneveldDrijfriemstraat 522516 XR The HagueNetherlands.I will not rent, sell, share or otherwise disclose your personal information to any third party.We might contact you from time to time regarding your purchases or the services (like forums and announcement lists) you have subscribed to.Some of the 3rd party advertisers on lunaticoutpost.com may use cookiesto track peformance and/or to serve relevant ads.If you wish to read more and/or opt out of such cookies, please visit: http://www.networkadvertising.org/choices/Username: Password: or Register Thread Rating: 4 Vote(s) - 3 Average

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Page: 1 2 Iran fires 20 rockets at Israel LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 443824

09-23-2018 02:34 PM











Post: #1 Iran fires 20 rockets at Israel

Advertisement





Israel says more than 20 rockets were fired from Syria into the Golan Heights by Iranian forces last night, in a dramatic escalation of tensions between the two nations.



Israeli forces responded in kind and the two regional enemies exchanged fire for hours during a volatile night CNN reported.



Forces belonging to the Iranian Quds Force fired approximately 20 projectiles  towards the forward line of IDF positions in the Golan Heights said Israel Defence Forces spokesman Lt Col Jonathan Conricus.



There have been no immediate reports of casualties in the Golan Heights, and a damage assessment is still under way.



Syrian state TV reports that an Israeli strike subsequently hit an ammunition depot and a radar site on its territory, and claimed that dozens more missiles had been intercepted. Israel has warned Russia and Syria not to intervene in its response.





https://www.dha.com.tr/english/iran-fire...er-1578802 We are on the brink of WWIII.Israel says more than 20 rockets were fired from Syria into the Golan Heights by Iranian forces last night, in a dramatic escalation of tensions between the two nations.Israeli forces responded in kind and the two regional enemies exchanged fire for hours during a volatile night CNN reported.Forces belonging to the Iranian Quds Force fired approximately 20 projectiles  towards the forward line of IDF positions in the Golan Heights said Israel Defence Forces spokesman Lt Col Jonathan Conricus.There have been no immediate reports of casualties in the Golan Heights, and a damage assessment is still under way.Syrian state TV reports that an Israeli strike subsequently hit an ammunition depot and a radar site on its territory, and claimed that dozens more missiles had been intercepted. Israel has warned Russia and Syria not to intervene in its response. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 463871

09-23-2018 02:49 PM











Post: #2 RE: Iran fires 20 rockets at Israel

And the usa took them all out. The Ghost Of LOP

Registered User

User ID: 210285

09-23-2018 02:52 PM



Posts: 42,308









Post: #3 RE: Iran fires 20 rockets at Israel

I googled it and went to RT

did not see any sources on this I am so confused !!! LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 463873

09-23-2018 02:52 PM











Post: #4 RE: Iran fires 20 rockets at Israel

If those disgustingly ugly people, (inside and out), keep pulling that Tigers tail................................. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 459236

09-23-2018 03:00 PM











Post: #5 RE: Iran fires 20 rockets at Israel

Iran did this, Iran did that, Iran is evil, Iran must be destroyed, Iran, Iran...



Israel, the USA, UK, Saudi Arab and the reptilian satanic axis sent half the Middle East back to stone ages with their jew proxy wars, I find appalling how people STILL listening to JIDF shill propaganda. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 443824

09-23-2018 03:03 PM











Post: #6 RE: Iran fires 20 rockets at Israel

The Ghost Of LOP Wrote: (09-23-2018 02:52 PM) I googled it and went to RT

did not see any sources on this

http://www.newsnow.co.uk/h/World+News/Syria





It was also on CNN yesterday. It was also on CNN yesterday. fnord

lop guest

User ID: 337000

09-23-2018 03:24 PM











Post: #7 RE: Iran fires 20 rockets at Israel

Armn'gettum All Wrote: (09-23-2018 02:39 PM) good, let's hope all the jews, christians, and muslims are exterminated



abrahamites are a plague upon the face of the earth

Kinda looks that way, don't it. Kinda looks that way, don't it. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 421592

09-23-2018 03:33 PM











Post: #8 RE: Iran fires 20 rockets at Israel

LoP Guest Wrote: (09-23-2018 02:34 PM) We are on the brink of WWIII.





Israel says more than 20 rockets were fired from Syria into the Golan Heights by Iranian forces last night, in a dramatic escalation of tensions between the two nations.



Israeli forces responded in kind and the two regional enemies exchanged fire for hours during a volatile night CNN reported.



Forces belonging to the Iranian Quds Force fired approximately 20 projectiles  towards the forward line of IDF positions in the Golan Heights said Israel Defence Forces spokesman Lt Col Jonathan Conricus.



There have been no immediate reports of casualties in the Golan Heights, and a damage assessment is still under way.



Syrian state TV reports that an Israeli strike subsequently hit an ammunition depot and a radar site on its territory, and claimed that dozens more missiles had been intercepted. Israel has warned Russia and Syria not to intervene in its response.





https://www.dha.com.tr/english/iran-fire...er-1578802

article dated 10.05.2018 12:52 article dated 10.05.2018 12:52 Flic Vange

Registered User

User ID: 400136

09-23-2018 03:57 PM



Posts: 1,778









Post: #9 RE: Iran fires 20 rockets at Israel

Quote: Israel says Exactly...they speak with forked tongue!!! Exactly...they speak with forked tongue!!! Voltaire: I detest your views but I would give my life to protect your rights to express them.



https://globalcrypto.exchange/i/R0NYMTYxMDUyMDY0OQ==



Bitcoin-bc1qq9r87uasrxv59hz92zy9t47r96aezdfuqnujfx

Bitcoin-bc1qq9r87uasrxv59hz92zy9t47r96aezdfuqnujfx LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 441717

09-23-2018 04:04 PM











Post: #10 RE: Iran fires 20 rockets at Israel

Israel at Defcon 99 now! LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 463881

09-23-2018 04:08 PM











Post: #11 RE: Iran fires 20 rockets at Israel

LoP Guest Wrote: (09-23-2018 02:34 PM) We are on the brink of WWIII.





Israel says more than 20 rockets were fired from Syria into the Golan Heights by Iranian forces last night, in a dramatic escalation of tensions between the two nations.



Israeli forces responded in kind and the two regional enemies exchanged fire for hours during a volatile night CNN reported.



Forces belonging to the Iranian Quds Force fired approximately 20 projectiles  towards the forward line of IDF positions in the Golan Heights said Israel Defence Forces spokesman Lt Col Jonathan Conricus.



There have been no immediate reports of casualties in the Golan Heights, and a damage assessment is still under way.



Syrian state TV reports that an Israeli strike subsequently hit an ammunition depot and a radar site on its territory, and claimed that dozens more missiles had been intercepted. Israel has warned Russia and Syria not to intervene in its response.





https://www.dha.com.tr/english/iran-fire...er-1578802

Israel says.....



NormalIsSubjective



User ID: 461465

09-23-2018 06:24 PM



Posts: 21,664









Post: #12 RE: Iran fires 20 rockets at Israel

LoP Guest Wrote: (09-23-2018 03:03 PM) The Ghost Of LOP Wrote: (09-23-2018 02:52 PM) I googled it and went to RT

did not see any sources on this

http://www.newsnow.co.uk/h/World+News/Syria





It was also on CNN yesterday.



Lots of links on that page.



Can you point to the relevant one? Lots of links on that page.Can you point to the relevant one? LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 463863

09-23-2018 06:27 PM











Post: #13 RE: Iran fires 20 rockets at Israel

Yeah, the Israel side always claim they destroy everything in counter-attacks. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 463547

09-23-2018 06:27 PM











Post: #14 RE: Iran fires 20 rockets at Israel

They don't have 20 missiles...20 infedels yes LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 463863

09-23-2018 06:29 PM











Post: #15 RE: Iran fires 20 rockets at Israel

Valuable intel was gain by Iran by how israel responded. Advertisement

















Do it yourself if you can We accept  in principle  that private equity can deliver (somewhat) excess returns over most other asset classes. But there are a lot of qualifications attached to that, and most of them are very relevant to whether and how pension funds should invest in private equity.Alongside the debut of the Ranger Raptor, Ford Philippines also revealed the refreshed Ranger. The new Ranger features Fords next-generation powertrain, is equipped with the latest features, and now has an updated styling giving the pickup truck a more modern look. More so, the updated Ranger is already available at Ford dealerships nationwide with prices starting at Php 1,029,000.

The biggest update to come with the 2019 Ranger is the new range of powertrain options. The 3.2-liter diesel engine of the out going model has been dropped and in its place are two new motors: a 2.0-liter Bi-Turbo diesel which produces 213PS and 500Nm torque and a 2.0-liter turbo engine that outputs 180PS and 420Nm. The two new motors are then mated to a 10-speed automatic transmission. For those wondering, yes, the 2.0-liter Bi-Turbo diesel found here is the same engine found on the Ranger Raptor. The proven Duratorq 2.2-liter has been retained and continues to produce 160PS and 385 Nm torque.The House and Senate could vote next week on a compromise FAA Reauthorization bill that was released on Saturday. The proposed bill eliminates the most contentious clause (allowing states to regulate rest and meal breaks for truck drivers) and has a few other changes that the House and Senate members reviewing it believe will pass both chambers. The goal is to pass the bill and send it to President Donald Trump for signature before the Sept. 30 expiration of the current short-term funding extension. Elimination of another clause concerning oversight of airline ticket change fees has prompted some opposition, however.

According to analysis by The Wall Street Journal, the bills passed by both chambers included a measure allowing Congress to keep an eye on the fees that airlines charge for flight changes. They vary among airlines who charge what they believe the market will bear. They generated more than $3 billion in revenue last year and the airline lobby group Airlines For America (A4A) lobbied hard to keep that money flowing, arguing it was fundamental to the business. Some legislators have been vocal in their support of oversight and Sen. Edward J. Markey, D-Mass., said in a statement hes not happy with the clause being dropped. Congress had the opportunity to return fairness to change and cancellation fees, he said in a statement. Instead, through an opaque negotiating process, the airlines have managed to kill this important consumer protection provision. No one should have to pay a $200 change fee on a ticket that costs nearly that much.

The new bill retains measures to expand drone use and study the return of supersonic flight over the continental U.S. by civilian aircraft. It will also instruct the FAA to start planning an air traffic control network for drones. Flight attendants will get longer mandatory rest periods between work days, too.

The bill is being lauded by the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA), which is most happy that five years of reliable funding will be in place to deal with controller shortages throughout the system. Our nation must have an FAA that is authorized for the long term as part of providing a stable, predictable funding stream for the National Airspace System (NAS), said NATCA President Paul Rinaldi in a statement. Todays news from Capitol Hill is a major step in that direction.Facebook rolled out its new dating vertical, called Facebook Dating, in Colombia on Thursday.

Why it matters: Its potential is huge  Facebook says 200 million users identify as single on their profiles, per Recode.

The details:

CEO Mark Zuckerberg wants the dating service to be for meaningful relationships, not hookups, and a majority of Facebook users polled said they would be interested in such a service.

The system is centered around an algorithm-powered home screen of suggested romantic matches based on everything Facebook knows about users that other apps dont, per TechCrunch.

Users 18 and older will be able to create dating profiles and, once those reach a critical mass, find some matches, according to Wired.

There wont be any swiping to match with profiles, unlike Tinder and Bumble.

The service doesnt require downloading an additional application to your phone.

Facebook restricts potential matches to people located less than 100 kilometers (62 miles) away.

The company plans to expand the service to other countries, including the U.S., in the future.

Yes, but privacy concerns still loom over Facebook following the Cambridge Analytica scandal, and the company will need to manipulate its data to run this service.

The bottom line: Facebook's service is currently free, but there is a potential market for subscriptions. Tinder, a subscription-based dating app that launched in 2012, will make more than $800 million in revenue in 2018, per Recode.Google CEO Sundar Pichai sent a company-wide email Friday, which Axios obtained, denying any effort to politically bias the company's search results and emphasizing that Google needs to remain politically neutral.

Why it matters: The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that Google staffers had looked for ways to adjust search results in the wake of President Trump's first travel ban in 2017  reinforcing conservatives' ire over what they have charged is censorship by Google-owned YouTube and anti-conservative bias in search results.

What they're saying: "Its important to me that our internal culture continues to reinforce our mission to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful. Recent news stories reference an internal email to suggest that we would compromise the integrity of our search results for a political end," Pichai's e-mail read. "This is absolutely false. We do not bias our products to favor any political agenda. The trust our users place in us is our greatest asset and we must always protect it. If any Googler ever undermines that trust, we will hold them accountable."

There's no evidence that Google has ever built political bias into its search algorithms. After the Journal story reporting the 2017 internal discussions about adjusting search results, Google emphasized that none of the ideas discussed were ever implemented.

What's next: The Department of Justice has a meeting scheduled for next week with state attorneys general to weigh potential action against Google and other major online platforms.

The full email:

Hi Googlers,

Recently there have been some news stories about how we approach our workin particular, how we present our Search results. We feel privileged to be building a product that provides instant access to information for everyone, everywherewhether youre a PhD from MIT, or a student on the other side of the world using a computer for the first time. We have billions of people relying on us for accurate information and we feel a deep sense of responsibility to deliver the highest quality results.

Its important to me that our internal culture continues to reinforce our mission to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful. Recent news stories reference an internal email to suggest that we would compromise the integrity of our Search results for a political end. This is absolutely false. We do not bias our products to favor any political agenda. The trust our users place in us is our greatest asset and we must always protect it. If any Googler ever undermines that trust, we will hold them accountable.

As we advance our mission, we must stay grounded in our valuesthe first of which is to Respect the User. Not just one user ... everyone. We build products for people of every background and belief, and we have strong policies to ensure that our products remain free of bias. As we head into election season in the U.S., its worth reaffirming that commitment. While we will stay true to our long-held principles, Google itself is and must continue to be non-partisan.

Our second value is to Respect the Opportunity. Working at Google comes with tremendous responsibilitynot only to do the right thing, but to accomplish things that matter. The decisions you make have the potential to affect many people and each decision (big and small) defines what Google is. We have a long-term incentive to make the right decisions to ensure our products work for everyone.

Our third value is to Respect Each Other. We are a global company with more than 80,000 employees across nearly 60 countries who hold a wide range of political views. But we all have something very important in common: we joined Google to build products that improve the lives of as many people as possible. Google isn't a place where we can resolve all of our individual differences. It's a place where we come together in spite of our differences to pursue our mission.

We need to make sure that our culture continues to reinforce that purpose. I look forward to working with all of you to that end.

 Sundar PichaiIranian President Hassan Rouhani said Sunday that his "government is ready to confront America" over sanctions stemming from President Trump's withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal, and that "America will regret choosing the wrong path, reports Reuters.

The big picture: The comments come one day after gunmen opened fire and killed 25 people during a military parade, an attack Rouhani blamed on rebels that receive support from U.S. regional allies. Rouhani will visit New York this week for the annual United Nations General Assembly, where Trump will also be in attendance.California scooped up just under $1 billion from nearly 9,000 tax returns filed in 94301 (Palo Alto, home of Stanford and the "birthplace of Silicon Valley") in 2016  more revenue than from any other ZIP Code in California, the L.A. Times' Melanie Mason reports.

Why it matters: As Democrat Gavin Newsom and Republican John Cox campaign for governor, taxes paid "in Palo Altos 94301 and a handful of other affluent ZIP Codes ... will determine whether promises to build more houses, overhaul healthcare or invest in schools can actually be kept. ... Economists and politicians have long said that Californias volatile revenue base leaves the state at risk for a painful budgetary reckoning when the economy slumps."The Trump administration is planning to launch a major, "administration-wide," broadside against China, according to two sources briefed on the sensitive internal discussions. These sources, who weren't authorized to discuss the plans with the media, told me the effort is expected to launch in the next few weeks.

What we're hearing: The broadside against China  which is planned to be both rhetorical and substantive  will be "administration-wide," including the White House (led by senior officials on the National Security Council), Treasury, Commerce and Defense. "We're not just going to let Russia be the bogeyman," one White House official told me. "It's Russia and China."

The White House plans to unveil new information about China's hostile actions against America's public and private sectors, and to act on it.

Administration officials will call out China for its "malign activity" in cyberattacks, election interference and industrial warfare (e.g., intellectual property theft), an administration source told me.

The administration has marshaled tons of data to support its charges against China. "We are going to show how the Chinese have infiltrated the U.S. and what we are doing to counter it," the source said.

Behind the scenes: "The push is coming from the national security apparatus," the source added. "Cyber theft has been appearing more often in the PDBs [President's Daily Brief]."

The unknowns: Neither administration official explained why the administration is pursuing this now. China has been an aggressor on trade and cyber issues for years, and the Trump administration has started a trade war with the country. At the same time, Trump has maintained cheery rhetoric toward President Xi Jinping in hopes of cooperating on some issues.Generation Z students, classified as being between the ages of 14 and 23, believe that YouTube is a bigger contributor to their education than textbooks, according to a study by Pearson Education.

Why it matters: Education in America is shifting from more traditional methods of learning through text and lesson plans to more technological methods such as YouTube videos and other virtual platforms.

Methodology: The study polled nearly 2,500 people ranging from 14 to 40 years old and asked them about their preferred education methods.

By the numbers: YouTube was the preferred education method for Gen. Z students, but was less prevalent among Millennials.

59% of Gen. Z students preferred to learn from YouTube, while only 55% of Millennials preferred it.

60% of Millennials said they preferred to learn from textbooks, while 47% of Gen. Z students preferred the same.

The big picture: YouTube launched in 2005  meaning most of Gen Z grew up with it. 85% of teenagers say they use YouTube more than any other social platform, according to Pew research.

It also provides quick, to-the-point answers for questions they may have as well as the option to rewind, writes Lauraine Genota of Ed Week.

YouTube is changing the way educators think as some school districts even have their own YouTube channels accessible for both teachers and students.

Yes, but: While YouTube is packed with information and tutorials, it can also be a dangerous place for students with misinformation running rampant.Username: Password: or Register Thread Rating: 9 Vote(s) - 5 Average

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Page: 1 2 3 Cahokia: An Ancient Civilization in the United States PuddyCat

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Post: #1 Cahokia: An Ancient Civilization in the United States

Advertisement I pulled the video from Silversides thread for one of the sites he visited during his holiday trip to Mexico



http://lunaticoutpost.com/thread-64475.html









Quote: Video description:



Roger Kennedy describes the Ancient Civilization of Cahokia. Cahokia is near St. Louis in the center of the United States. This ancient Native American Civilization was discovered in 1981 and was found to be the largest remains of an ancient civilization within the United States. Larger than the pyramids at Giza.

[ ] The United States oldest great civilization: Cahokia? [/size]



When we studied Native American history in school, we learned about many tribes. Chances are you dont remember learning of Cahokia, a long-extinct civilization originally near what is now Collinsville, Illinois. First established around AD 600 and inhabited by a unique indigenous people, Cahokia was a civilization comprised of about 50 communities over 2,200 acres.



They built 120 earth mounds  some over ten stories tall  in the largest prehistoric earthen construction site north of Mexico. The Cahokians were advanced people who did not appear to be related to any major known Native American tribes. By 1250, Cahokias population rivaled Paris and London; at its peak in 1300, Cahokia numbered an estimated 40,000 people. It wasnt until 1800 that a modern U.S. city would finally surpass that number.



After 1300, the population declined for unknown reasons and the city would lie vacant for another century.







What makes Cahokia so fascinating is how little we know about it. Despite being advanced for a Native American people, they did not leave written records. Instead we have symbols on pottery, stone, and wood.



Since we have no Rosetta stone, much of the original city  including its name  is still unknown. The Cahokia name was actually given to the area in the late 1600s, named for the Native Americans that settled nearby many centuries later.









[ ]Cahokia Mounds[/size]



The most striking feature of Cahokia is the earthen mounds. Experts believe thousands of workers moved an estimated 55 million cubic feet of earth over a span of several decades. The workers didnt have complex technology or building techniques, so these werent exactly the pyramids of Egypt.



Laborers carried earth up each mound by hand in woven baskets, making multiple trips each day.







The largest is called Monks Mound and is assumed to have been the center of the Grand Plaza of Cahokia  the plaza itself occupying 40 acres. Monks Mound is 92 feet (28 m) high, 951 ft (290 m) long, 836 ft (255 m) wide, and covers 14 acres.



The top of Monks Mound had a large, flat reinforced area which historians believe was home to a massive 5,000 square-foot temple about 50 feet tall. This temple was thought to have been the residence of the paramount chief and was said to be visible from anywhere in Cahokia.











Of the 120 earthen mounds the Cahokians constructed, only 80 remain today. Unfortunately farming and industrialization of the area has taken its toll: an estimated 40 mounds have been leveled or razed over the last 200 years for various reasons.



Of the 40 since-razed mounds, 29 have been located by archaeologists.







[ ]Woodhenge[/size]



The second most significant feature of Cahokia was the Woodhenge. Not as well-known as the English Woodhenge (2 miles from Stonehenge), the America version seemed to serve the same purpose. Archaeologists who discovered the Woodhenge noted the wood posts symbolized the earth and the four cardinal directions, with a pattern that seemed to follow the sun.



The Woodhenge was discovered adjacent to Monks Mound, and some time later another Woodhenge was discovered by Mound 72.



Cahokias Woodhenge













[ ]Mass Grave[/size]



Mound 72 might just be the most significant archaeological discovery at the site. During an excavation, human remains were discovered: a man in his 40s experts believe might have been an important Cahokian chief.



Below his burial site experts found more than 250 other skeletons, sixty percent of which are believed to have been sacrificial killings or ritual executions. This was estimated due to countless bodies missing hands and skulls, more than fifty 21 year-old women found in neatly-separated layers, and finally a mass burial grave with over 40 men and women who appear to have been violently killed.



In fact evidence supports some were alive when they were buried, attempting to claw their way out of the mass of dead bodies.



Excavations around Mound 34 have discovered an ancient Cahokia copper workshop. This is significant because prior to this discovery, experts did not definitively know how early copper technology starting appearing around the United States.





700 years after Cahokia and the land still appears exhausted



[ ]Decline[/size]



Perhaps the most mysterious part of Cahokia was how it came to end; historians simply dont know. The primary hypotheses are erosion from over-hunting and deforestation, invasion from outside tribes, disease, or abandonment due to political collapse.



The civilization was thought to have prospered for nearly 800 years, and given how primitive farming techniques were at the time its no surprise the land was eventually exhausted. Trees would have been sparse and pollutants from centuries of crude copper operations would contaminate the surrounding soil, making any crops poisonous even before harvest.



Defeat through invasion was possible but less likely considering little has been found of battle, and no mass civilian graves have been discovered  something likely to be found had the entire population been killed during a siege.



Archaeologists in Cahokia







We may never know what happened to Cahokia, but given its important place in North Americas history it is important we dont forget it.



Cahokia is one of only twenty-one UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the United States, and is the largest archaeological site in the country.



And to think so few have ever heard of it.



https://sometimes-interesting.com/2011/1...n-cahokia/ Politics only interests me because it transforms

people into dribbling nincompoops (The World Is Mad)







https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izsjRpcgfmk



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8oFzHx29PDo [ ][/size]When we studied Native American history in school, we learned about many tribes. Chances are you dont remember learning of Cahokia, a long-extinct civilization originally near what is now Collinsville, Illinois. First established around AD 600 and inhabited by a unique indigenous people, Cahokia was a civilization comprised of about 50 communities over 2,200 acres.They built 120 earth mounds  some over ten stories tall  in the largest prehistoric earthen construction site north of Mexico. The Cahokians were advanced people who did not appear to be related to any major known Native American tribes. By 1250, Cahokias population rivaled Paris and London; at its peak in 1300, Cahokia numbered an estimated 40,000 people. It wasnt until 1800 that a modern U.S. city would finally surpass that number.After 1300, the population declined for unknown reasons and the city would lie vacant for another century.What makes Cahokia so fascinating is how little we know about it. Despite being advanced for a Native American people, they did not leave written records. Instead we have symbols on pottery, stone, and wood.Since we have no Rosetta stone, much of the original city  including its name  is still unknown. The Cahokia name was actually given to the area in the late 1600s, named for the Native Americans that settled nearby many centuries later.The most striking feature of Cahokia is the earthen mounds. Experts believe thousands of workers moved an estimated 55 million cubic feet of earth over a span of several decades. The workers didnt have complex technology or building techniques, so these werent exactly the pyramids of Egypt.Laborers carried earth up each mound by hand in woven baskets, making multiple trips each day.The largest is called Monks Mound and is assumed to have been the center of the Grand Plaza of Cahokia  the plaza itself occupying 40 acres. Monks Mound is 92 feet (28 m) high, 951 ft (290 m) long, 836 ft (255 m) wide, and covers 14 acres.The top of Monks Mound had a large, flat reinforced area which historians believe was home to a massive 5,000 square-foot temple about 50 feet tall. This temple was thought to have been the residence of the paramount chief and was said to be visible from anywhere in Cahokia.Of the 120 earthen mounds the Cahokians constructed, only 80 remain today. Unfortunately farming and industrialization of the area has taken its toll: an estimated 40 mounds have been leveled or razed over the last 200 years for various reasons.Of the 40 since-razed mounds, 29 have been located by archaeologists.The second most significant feature of Cahokia was the Woodhenge. Not as well-known as the English Woodhenge (2 miles from Stonehenge), the America version seemed to serve the same purpose. Archaeologists who discovered the Woodhenge noted the wood posts symbolized the earth and the four cardinal directions, with a pattern that seemed to follow the sun.The Woodhenge was discovered adjacent to Monks Mound, and some time later another Woodhenge was discovered by Mound 72.Mound 72 might just be the most significant archaeological discovery at the site. During an excavation, human remains were discovered: a man in his 40s experts believe might have been an important Cahokian chief.Below his burial site experts found more than 250 other skeletons, sixty percent of which are believed to have been sacrificial killings or ritual executions. This was estimated due to countless bodies missing hands and skulls, more than fifty 21 year-old women found in neatly-separated layers, and finally a mass burial grave with over 40 men and women who appear to have been violently killed.In fact evidence supports some were alive when they were buried, attempting to claw their way out of the mass of dead bodies.Excavations around Mound 34 have discovered an ancient Cahokia copper workshop. This is significant because prior to this discovery, experts did not definitively know how early copper technology starting appearing around the United States.Perhaps the most mysterious part of Cahokia was how it came to end; historians simply dont know. The primary hypotheses are erosion from over-hunting and deforestation, invasion from outside tribes, disease, or abandonment due to political collapse.The civilization was thought to have prospered for nearly 800 years, and given how primitive farming techniques were at the time its no surprise the land was eventually exhausted. Trees would have been sparse and pollutants from centuries of crude copper operations would contaminate the surrounding soil, making any crops poisonous even before harvest.Defeat through invasion was possible but less likely considering little has been found of battle, and no mass civilian graves have been discovered  something likely to be found had the entire population been killed during a siege.We may never know what happened to Cahokia, but given its important place in North Americas history it is important we dont forget it.Cahokia is one of only twenty-one UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the United States, and is the largest archaeological site in the country.And to think so few have ever heard of it. LoP Guest

lop guest

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Post: #2 RE: Cahokia: An Ancient Civilization in the United States

Civilizations rise and fall all the time, due to hygiene limits.



Infact, the West, has been the only civilization to hit that limit, reap the consequences and survive(Black Death).



Most of the time, population growth triggers a hygiene, or lack thereof, extinction event, that leads to the permanent destruction of that society. singing spider

terrarising the 'hood

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09-24-2018 05:21 PM



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Post: #3 RE: Cahokia: An Ancient Civilization in the United States

LoP Guest Wrote: (09-24-2018 05:10 PM) Civilizations rise and fall all the time, due to hygiene limits.



Infact, the West, has been the only civilization to hit that limit, reap the consequences and survive(Black Death).



Most of the time, population growth triggers a hygiene, or lack thereof, extinction event, that leads to the permanent destruction of that society.

in case of Cahokia copper seems to be the culprit in case of Cahokia copper seems to be the culprit

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=92i5m3tV5XY



nobody starts at point zero LoP Guest

lop guest

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Post: #4 RE: Cahokia: An Ancient Civilization in the United States

1300 AD is not that "ancient." Columbus would arrive only a couple hundred years later so the rest of the world was much more advanced than just dirt mounds. Europe was already beginning to build seagoing ships and using steel and gunpowder. Lakeofmarch

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Post: #5 RE: Cahokia: An Ancient Civilization in the United States





As for primitiveness.. the mass ritual murder is certainly not a nice-to-have, but other parts of this and other civilizations have been systematically hidden by the Smithsonian and a variety of other agencies. There is a clear mandate to make North America seem like an empty continent, just waiting for white settlers to flood in at their discretion, but many, many others actually lived there before and would be living there still, if they hadn't been, you know, murdered and run off. I would like to see people more appreciative of that fact, at least, and understanding that the whole of U.S. civ is built on top of ancient graveyards, and that that explains a lot, re: Wetigo, Land of the Dead. As for primitiveness.. the mass ritual murder is certainly not a nice-to-have, but other parts of this and other civilizations have been systematically hidden by the Smithsonian and a variety of other agencies. There is a clear mandate to make North America seem like an empty continent, just waiting for white settlers to flood in at their discretion, but many, many others actually lived there before and would be living there still, if they hadn't been, you know, murdered and run off. I would like to see people more appreciative of that fact, at least, and understanding that the whole of U.S. civ is built on top of ancient graveyards, and that that explains a lot, re: Wetigo, Land of the Dead.



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The Great Tao is universal like a flood. How can it be turned?terebess.hu/english/tao/wu.html - NS "Snow Crash",CC "Eagle's Gift" - secretsun.blogspot.comSon Calenda/Fudo Myoo - Axte Incal, Axtuce Mun - het-report.nlabsolutoracle.com-NO8DO- (This post was last modified: 09-24-2018 07:12 PM by Lakeofmarch .) PuddyCat

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Post: #6 RE: Cahokia: An Ancient Civilization in the United States

Lakeofmarch Wrote: (09-24-2018 07:11 PM)



As for primitiveness.. the mass ritual murder is certainly not a nice-to-have, but other parts of this and other civilizations have been systematically hidden by the Smithsonian and a variety of other agencies. There is a clear mandate to make North America seem like an empty continent, just waiting for white settlers to flood in at their discretion, but many, many others actually lived there before and would be living there still, if they hadn't been, you know, murdered and run off. I would like to see people more appreciative of that fact, at least, and understanding that the whole of U.S. civ is built on top of ancient graveyards, and that that explains a lot, re: Wetigo, Land of the Dead.

The Smithsonian museum is reported to be hiding many artifacts covering many areas deemed heresy to the established archeological communities. The Smithsonian museum is reported to be hiding many artifacts covering many areas deemed heresy to the established archeological communities. Politics only interests me because it transforms

people into dribbling nincompoops (The World Is Mad)







https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izsjRpcgfmk



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8oFzHx29PDo Rover

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Post: #7 RE: Cahokia: An Ancient Civilization in the United States

LoP Guest Wrote: (09-24-2018 06:18 PM) 1300 AD is not that "ancient." Columbus would arrive only a couple hundred years later so the rest of the world was much more advanced than just dirt mounds. Europe was already beginning to build seagoing ships and using steel and gunpowder.

I believe the common custom is to use the word ancient to describe events which happened before the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 475 AD. I believe the common custom is to use the word ancient to describe events which happened before the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 475 AD. (This post was last modified: 09-24-2018 07:31 PM by Rover .) LoP Guest

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Post: #8 RE: Cahokia: An Ancient Civilization in the United States

the drought on the mississippi of 2011ish would mean its prone to drought.odds are they had one back then and traveled south.odds are they were the same mound builders in texas and the state of mississippi.which would put them as caddoins.caddoins dissappeared from ne texas in the late 1700s,one tribe interbred into the white settlers and the rest were murdered in a false flag in my locale. PuddyCat

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Post: #9 RE: Cahokia: An Ancient Civilization in the United States

New Evidence May Solve Mystery of America's Huge Ancient City [/size]







Mississippi floods shaped the rise and fall of the prehistoric metropolis known as Cahokia.



Researchers have long debated the reasons behind the rapid rise and swift disappearance of Cahokia, a sprawling, ancient city-state near the modern city of St. Louis. Now an analysis of sediment cores reveals that the citys ups and downs correspond to the timing of Mississippi River megafloods, according to a recent study.



http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2015/04/29/1501904112



Archaeological data show that agricultural settlements first appeared in the area around A.D. 400. Around A.D. 1050 there was a veritable boom at Cahokia, which became a major political and cultural center with a population in the tens of thousands. But by 1350a span of only three centuriesCahokia was gone. (Discover Cahokia.)



To uncover clues to the citys fate, a research team led by University of Wisconsin-Madison geographers Samuel Munoz and Jack Williams performed laser diffraction particle size analysis on sediment samples from Horseshoe Lake, an oxbow lake near Cahokia. The samples yielded evidence of eight separate flood events over the past 2,000 years.



https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015...ssissippi/ [ ][/size]Mississippi floods shaped the rise and fall of the prehistoric metropolis known as Cahokia.Researchers have long debated the reasons behind the rapid rise and swift disappearance of Cahokia, a sprawling, ancient city-state near the modern city of St. Louis. Now an analysis of sediment cores reveals that the citys ups and downs correspond to the timing of Mississippi River megafloods, according to a recent study.Archaeological data show that agricultural settlements first appeared in the area around A.D. 400. Around A.D. 1050 there was a veritable boom at Cahokia, which became a major political and cultural center with a population in the tens of thousands. But by 1350a span of only three centuriesCahokia was gone. (Discover Cahokia.)To uncover clues to the citys fate, a research team led by University of Wisconsin-Madison geographers Samuel Munoz and Jack Williams performed laser diffraction particle size analysis on sediment samples from Horseshoe Lake, an oxbow lake near Cahokia. The samples yielded evidence of eight separate flood events over the past 2,000 years. Politics only interests me because it transforms

people into dribbling nincompoops (The World Is Mad)







https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izsjRpcgfmk



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8oFzHx29PDo ~*~

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Post: #10 RE: Cahokia: An Ancient Civilization in the United States

Cahokia is across the river from St. Louis. The view from on top of the mounds towards St. Louis across the river is breathtaking. Honestly, you can feel some intense energy up there. I think it was earth energy and it was some of the most powerful I'd felt in my entire life. Anyone that gets a chance to visit should. PuddyCat

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Post: #11 RE: Cahokia: An Ancient Civilization in the United States

LunaBaby Wrote: (09-24-2018 09:30 PM) Cahokia is across the river from St. Louis. The view from on top of the mounds towards St. Louis across the river is breathtaking. Honestly, you can feel some intense energy up there. I think it was earth energy and it was some of the most powerful I'd felt in my entire life. Anyone that gets a chance to visit should.

I wish I could go and see for myself



I can say I've been to Stonehenge a few times during my trucking days.



I wish I could go and see for myselfI can say I've been to Stonehenge a few times during my trucking days. Politics only interests me because it transforms

people into dribbling nincompoops (The World Is Mad)







https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izsjRpcgfmk



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8oFzHx29PDo LoP Guest

lop guest

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Post: #12 RE: Cahokia: An Ancient Civilization in the United States

I've read that they grew the three sisters (corn-squash-beans) crop, which allowed them to feed a large population. The bow was also a new innovation, which helped them hunt and be better at warfare. Flic Vange

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Post: #13 RE: Cahokia: An Ancient Civilization in the United States





Some interesting snippets here, not all about Cahokia though. Voltaire: I detest your views but I would give my life to protect your rights to express them.



https://globalcrypto.exchange/i/R0NYMTYxMDUyMDY0OQ==



Bitcoin-bc1qq9r87uasrxv59hz92zy9t47r96aezdfuqnujfx

Bitcoin-bc1qq9r87uasrxv59hz92zy9t47r96aezdfuqnujfx (This post was last modified: 09-25-2018 12:26 AM by Flic Vange .) Walter Kovacs

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Post: #14 RE: Cahokia: An Ancient Civilization in the United States

Randy-Lal Wrote: (09-24-2018 11:46 PM) Some interesting snippets here, not all about Cahokia though.

link to image: https://i.imgur.com/OuRKS2c.jpg

link to image: https://i.imgur.com/lZr16Af.png

Well! It sounds like "Mr. Baldwin" is a very clever man... Well! It sounds like "Mr. Baldwin" is a very clever man... ~*~

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Post: #15 RE: Cahokia: An Ancient Civilization in the United States

[email protected] Wrote: (09-24-2018 09:42 PM) LunaBaby Wrote: (09-24-2018 09:30 PM) Cahokia is across the river from St. Louis. The view from on top of the mounds towards St. Louis across the river is breathtaking. Honestly, you can feel some intense energy up there. I think it was earth energy and it was some of the most powerful I'd felt in my entire life. Anyone that gets a chance to visit should.

I wish I could go and see for myself



I can say I've been to Stonehenge a few times during my trucking days.





I bet Stonehenge is intense to. You guys got all the coolest energy stuff. A lot of ours is of the natural variety such as the Grand Canyon, Monument Valley, The Great Divide, etc. I bet Stonehenge is intense to. You guys got all the coolest energy stuff. A lot of ours is of the natural variety such as the Grand Canyon, Monument Valley, The Great Divide, etc. Advertisement

















Voters in Yerevan cast ballots on Sunday in snap local elections seen as the first major test of Armenias new government headed by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian.

Twelve parties and blocs are vying for 65 seats in the municipal council that will elect a new mayor of the Armenian capital. The vote threshold for being represented in the council is set 6 percent for parties and 8 percent for blocs.

Pashinians My Step alliance is widely regarded as the election favorite because of the popularity of the 43-year-old premier, who swept to power in May in a wave of mass protests that brought down the countrys previous government. Its mayoral candidate, Hayk Marutian, is a 40-year-old television comedian.

Pashinian actively participated in My Steps election campaign, lambasting its rivals and portraying the mayoral race as a referendum on his political future. The premier said on Thursday that a landslide victory in the vote is critical for the success of his plans to force fresh parliamentary elections in the coming months.

My Steps main challengers are the Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK) of businessman Gagik Tsarukian and the Luys alliance comprising two other parties. All three parties have ministerial posts in the current government. They have denounced Pashinians public allegations that at least some of them tried to secretly collaborate with the former ruling Republican Party (HHK).

Pashinian dismissed this criticism when he spoke to reporters after casting a ballot at a polling station in Yerevan. One should get used to real elections and a real campaign, he said.

Pashinian also warned against attempts to buy votes or resort to other irregularities. The election will be truly democratic, he said.

The BHKs mayoral candidate, Naira Zohrabian, cast doubt on those assurances, however, accusing law-enforcement authorities of systematically harassing her supporters during the two-week campaign. She said that the Armenian police detained 300 BHK activists on suspicion of handing out vote bribes but failed to find any evidence of the illegal practice.

On Saturday, the police searched one of the BHKs campaign offices in Yerevan on the same grounds. Nobody was detained as a result. Zohrabian condemned the raid as illegal counterpropaganda against her party.

Also criticizing Pashinian was Mikael Manukian, the mayoral candidate of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun), another party represented in the government. Isnt such an intensive participation of the prime minister in the elections an abuse of administrative levers? he told reporters.

Manukian acknowledged at the same time that he and his party were not subjected to smear campaigns or government pressure during the mayoral race.By Trend

In 2018, SOCAR, through its subsidiary SOCAR Georgia Gas, plans to supply 1.8 billion cubic meters of gas to Georgia, which is 28.57 percent more than in the previous year, the company's annual report reads.

In 2017 SOCAR Georgia Gas imported 1.4 billion cubic meters of gas to Georgia and SOCAR Georgia Gas Distribution supplied 194.2 million cubic meters of gas.

SOCAR Georgia Gas has invested $290 million in Georgia since 2008 and provided 250,000 subscribers with gas. SOCAR currently serves 590,000 subscribers throughout Georgia.

As for oil, last year another subsidiary of the Azerbaijani state-owned company SOCAR, Georgia Petroleum delivered 347 million liters of oil. The total investment of this company in Georgia was $196 million.

Investments of SOCAR Georgia Gas and SOCAR Georgia Petroleum accounted for almost a third of all investments of SOCAR in Georgia. Since the beginning of its operation, SOCAR has invested over $1.5 billion in Georgian economy and paid $1.25 billion of taxes.

Presently, SOCAR is the main supplier of natural gas, oil and oil products to Georgia. SOCAR's subsidiary companies are busy expanding and modernizing gas distribution systems in the country, developing a network of petrol stations under the SOCAR brand. SOCAR also owns an oil terminal in the Georgian Black Sea port of Kulevi, through which Azeri oil and oil products are transshipped to world markets.

SOCAR operates 116 filling stations and employs about 4000 in Georgia.By Trend

VTB Bank (Azerbaijan) is ready to participate actively in the projects implemented by the Government of Azerbaijan for entrepreneurs, chairman of the board of the bank, Yevgeny Kirin, said in an interview with Trend.

He noted that the bank is also ready to apply an individual approach to its customers.

"We are interested in providing comprehensive services to our customers, providing a range of services. This approach allows to structure and conclude transactions on the most favorable terms for each party," Kirin said.

The head of VTB (Azerbaijan) noted that lending is still the most common "anchor" product.

"We are ready to offer our customers the loans for a period of up to seven years. We also offer cooperation in partnership with the Russian Export Center Group, whose programs provide the most favorable conditions for the purchase of the products made in Russia," Kirin said.

The VTB Bank (Azerbaijan) has been operating in the country since 2009.

The VTB Group is a Russian financial group that includes more than 20 credit and financial companies operating in all major segments of the financial market.By Trend

Azerbaijan has become one of the most powerful players in the energy market, Azerbaijani MP, member of the parliamentary committee on economic policy, industry and entrepreneurship Rufat Guliyev said.

Guliyev was commenting on the speech of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev at the ceremonial meeting of the Azerbaijani parliament on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Azerbaijani parliament.

While delivering speech in the parliament, President Aliyev stressed that Azerbaijan connects the Caspian Sea with the Black Sea and Mediterranean Sea via oil pipelines, while Azerbaijan is connected with Europe via gas pipeline, he added.

As the president stressed the Southern Gas Corridor project, being implemented today, is one of the biggest infrastructure projects in the region, he added. Its total cost is $40 billion. This project completely re-creates an energy map.

The keynote speech of President Aliyev can be described as Azerbaijan always fulfills its tasks, Guliyev added.

"This concerns the Contract of the Century and its prolongation, he said. This also concerns the construction of pipelines, including Trans-Adriatic Pipeline and Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline, our goals to turn Azerbaijan into a transport hub and our foreign economic activity."

At the same time, the development of the non-oil sector is also important for Azerbaijan, he said. "We have taken a course for development of the non-oil sector. Special attention is paid to the formation of both an import-substituting model and an export-oriented one."

Guliyev stressed that Azerbaijans all macroeconomic indicators are growing.

Today, Azerbaijan is a country developing not only its economy, but also actively investing in other countries, such as Turkey, Slovakia, Slovenia, the Czech Republic, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and others, he added.

Speaking about the economic development of Azerbaijan over the past 15 years, Guliyev added that Azerbaijan has greatly left behind many other countries in terms of development.

Azerbaijans economy is successfully developing thanks to its socio-economic development model, he said.

As an example, the MP stressed that even in 2015-2016, during the hard economic processes worldwide, Azerbaijan was able to neutralize external shocks.

This year, GDP growth is projected at two percent, Guliyev added.By Trend

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has sent a letter of condolence to his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani.

We were deeply saddened by the news of a terrorist attack that caused casualties and injuries in your country.

We feel deeply outraged over this horrible incident, condemn terrorism and deem it necessary to resolutely fight against it in all its forms and manifestations, Ilham Aliyev said in his letter.

On my own behalf and on behalf of the people of Azerbaijan, I extend my deepest condolences to you, families and loved ones of those who were killed and the whole people of Iran, and wish those injured the soonest possible recovery. May Allah rest the souls of the dead in peace!By Trend

President Hassan Rouhani departed the Iranian capital for New York on Sunday to attend the United Nations General Assembly.

Heading a high-ranking delegation, President Rouhani left Tehran on Sunday morning to participate in the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA 73), Tasnim news agency reported on September 23.

The session opened on September 18 and will run until September 30.

Iran and the remaining parties to the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) are expected to hold talks on the sidelines of the event.

Maria Fernanda Espinosa Garces, President-elect of the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA), announced in July 2018 that the theme of the general debate will be, Making the United Nations Relevant to All People: Global Leadership and Shared Responsibilities for Peaceful, Equitable and Sustainable Societies.By Trend

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday that meeting with his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump during the 73rd United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York next week is not currently on the table, Xinhua reports.

"If a demand comes from Washington, we will evaluate it," Erdogan said in Istanbul, prior to his departure for New York.

The relationship between the two NATO allies has significantly deteriorated in recent years over a series of rifts, including the continued detention of a U.S. pastor in Turkey.

Meanwhile, Ankara accused Washington of providing arms to the Kurdish militia in Syria.

Erdogan is expected to address the UN assembly on Tuesday.

"In my speech, I will underline humanitarian crises and call for solutions to these problems which have been deeply hurting hearts," the Turkish president said.

"I will, in particular, draw attention to developments in Syria," he said, noting the biggest issue for the future of Syria is the terror swamp expanding in the east of the Euphrates.An advocacy group expressed concern over the likelihood of property sequestration in the power distribution controversy in Iloilo City. The Anti-Corruption Movement Inc., led by founding chairman Leon Peralta, was referring to the events at the House of Representatives in connection with the power franchise issue in Iloilo. The group criticized the House committee on legislative franchises committee led by Palawan Rep. Franz Alvarez for allegedly hastily approving More Mineral Corp's franchise filed only in August this year. We are airing this sentiment not on the basis of unfounded charges or as a figment of crazy imagination, but on the grounds of indisputable facts surrounding this controversy, or scandal as you please, the ATM said. It said that while the House committee approved the application of the new player, it withheld any action on the application for franchise renewal filed by the existing power distributor Panay Electric Co. Inc. in July last year.Peco has been supplying power to Iloilo City and a number of adjacent towns in Panay Island for 95 years. Peralta said MMC, on the other hand, was basically a mining company that had to start from scratch as a power distribution utility. He said Peco was a full-fledged electric distributor operating and maintaining a P2-billion infrastructure including transmission lines, transformer towers, a fleet of service vehicles, sufficient manpower, etc. But more important, it has the technical know-how in discharging its duties and responsibilities as a public utility, Peralta said.AREA 5 RACE

KHSD board Vice President Bryan Batey is running unopposed in seeking another term this year. He has been on the board since 1994, making him the longest-running trustee on the current board. Batey has not responded to requests for comment.Albany

David Gunn had just been released from the hospital after trying to kill himself when he met the fallen beauty who changed his life.

It was a downtown Albany townhome painted ivory, abandoned years ago but with its elegant bones and tall glass windows intact. Gunn, 30, climbed the wooden stoop and turned the doorknob. The door was unlocked.

"Like most abandoned buildings are in Albany," Gunn noted.

The two-story walkup had no electricity or running water. But inside was a wonderland of grace notes: arched doorways, bookcase built-ins, hardwood floors. A huge black A surrounded by an O adorned one wall, the symbol created by 1890s anarchists then made famous by 1970s punk rockers. Since 2016, three to eight self-described anarchists have lived here. They have about two dozen Capital Region supporters who are welcome to drop by and plan protests and vigils.

No county or city official has noticed the squatters. The building gave Gunn a home, true love and a community of friends.

"Anarchist" sounds as quaint and antique as "duel of honor" or "gargoyle sculptor." Here's what it means to Gunn and his friends who are also vehemently vegan: shun all governments, champion the working class, barter and forage rather than use money.

"It's not putting it too strongly to say anarchy saved my life," said Gunn, who has no family. "It gave me purpose. Anarchy showed me that feeling you have nothing to lose can be liberating and positive."

The anarchists don't know who owns the house in a historic neighborhood where Gilded Age barons built second and third city homes. The street's residents are hardworking poor. Gunn's friends acquired enough DIY skills (plumbing, welding, carpentry, baking) to help out their hardworking, low income neighbors and avoid the dreaded soul crushing capitalist bosses. Their dazzling achievement is the bi-monthly Really Free Free Market featuring thousands of donated items from fresh bread and furniture to clothing and toys. The last market drew 20 volunteers and hundreds of attendees.

Given their distrust of government and off-the-grid life, the anarchists resemble wilderness survivalists prepped for America's apocalypse. But instead of hunting, fishing and hiding in an isolated cabin, the anarchists live downtown and dumpster dive after dark and reap unopened boxes of oatmeal, sealed bottles of juice, pallets of sweet potatoes and purple plums.

"Survivalists don't want to be around people. Anarchists are social; we love our neighbors," Gunn said. "We're not nihilists. If the government collapses, we can survive living the way we do. But we'll also help other people, too."

A hunt for shelter, food, love

Garrett McCluskey, 30, is a dreamer. The former electrician brings a battery-powered sound system to local parks so he can play vintage jazz music as a public service. A gifted musician, McCluskey agonizes over charging even modest fees for voice and guitar lessons he teaches. He believes making music should be a free pleasure for everyone.

He bedazzled half the squat's parlor wall with color prints of bosomy nude ladies, 1940s-era pinups. One seems to be carved from gold. The beauties are McCluskey's vision board inspiring his search for true love. His acoustic and electric guitars are propped nearby.

"I would love to have a girlfriend I could sing to," he nodded toward his nearby acoustic and electric guitars, "A companion on adventures  but this lifestyle is definitely not for everyone. We believe all species, animals and humans, are equal. Animals are our friends. It would be almost impossible to fall in love with a non-vegan who's eating my friends."

A lot of friends, female and male, hang out at the squat but can't endure living there.

When McCluskey's housemates had enough money, they called National Grid claiming to be the new building owners. The power came on. There has been no electricity for months. McCluskey and Gunn say they would never endanger the building by starting a fire indoors. They used microwaves in a nearby gas station mini-mart to heat hot water battles for their sleeping bags then wore all their clothes to avoid frostbite. Kind friends with apartments invited them to couch surf when the cold was severe.

Firefighters have never marked the house with the big red X sign that designates a building as structurally unsafe to enter.

"But just because an abandoned house doesn't have the red X doesn't mean it's structurally sound," said city of Albany neighborhood stabilization coordinator Samuel Wells. "Very few abandoned buildings are ready to be inhabited without a lot of work. If a home goes years without basic maintenance, it deteriorates in hazardous ways that might not be visible."

Wells said abandoned house should never be unlocked because thieves can get in and steal the copper wiring and fixtures.

The anarchists insist they would not harm their home although they can be overly confident in their maintenance skills. One former housemate tried to give the flat free running water by removing the pipes' meter with a blowtorch.

They now have what is dubbed the "zero gravity toilet." McCluskey fills a five-gallon bucket, lugs it upstairs then pours it into the bowl to push excrement down into the sewer line.

"The zero gravity toilet is a dealbreaker for a lot of women when it comes to moving in," McCluskey sighed.

On a recent summery afternoon, he shared juicy watermelon and mangoes with anarchist buddies Gunn and University at Albany pre-med major Tobi Warwick  and their girlfriends.

Gunn met sweetheart Alyssa Gallagher at a tofu cooking class. She had an apartment and a job at Capital Roots, a nonprofit that gets fresh produce to low income families. Yet she loved Gunn enough to move into the squat.

"Dave has unique, interesting ideas; he makes an impact on the community," Gallagher said. "I don't mind dumpster diving. The food is normally in clean, tied bags, not just thrown loose into a dumpster."

The group searches dumpsters by groceries, bakeries and restaurants. Only one fish market dumpster was too smelly for anyone to dive. Usually, they find so much clean, edible, healthy food, McCluskey arranges excess food on the stoop in neat mini-mart rows, with a sign inviting passersby to help themselves.

"But I won't go anywhere near that zero gravity toilet," Gallagher said, laughing. "I got a gym membership so Dave and I can use the showers and bathrooms there."

That free market

It may seem odd for guys without conventional day jobs to champion the working class. McCluskey's most recent foray into the work world was his vegan stand-up comedy act.

He was banned from the Albany comedy club the same night he debuted. McCluskey played a video onstage of a pig slaughterhouse.

"Mmmmm bacon. Laughter is one letter from slaughter. Are we laughing yet?" he said as mutilated pigs shrieked onscreen and horrified audience members groaned and shouted for him to stop.

Asked now if he thought the act was funny, McCluskey ponders over the question with earnest sweetness.

"I think I can be funny and that I'm fun. But maybe that was more confrontational than comic," McCluskey replied.

The free market is the anarchists' true workplace. It inspired Warwick, 22, to join Gunn's group. He has an apartment and an Albany Medical Center job.

"He's such a loyal guy that when we planned a protest of the center's treatment of animals, Tobi came and stood with us in his blue scrubs," McCluskey said.

Warwick also allows his address to be displayed on social media promoting the Really Free Free Market so Albany residents can drop off donations at his apartment.

"The market was a transforming experience for me; I wanted to make a commitment to the group's ideals after that," Warwick said. "All ages, including children, all races were at the last market. A man who needed size 10 shoes for a job interview wept when he found a pair."

The anarchists had no idea what a pair of grab bars for handicapped bathtubs were. But a man who uses a wheelchair was thrilled to get them. It reminded Warwick of how a prosaic item can be life altering for someone who can't earn enough money to buy it no matter how hard they work.

Creating their own world

University at Albany sociology professor Richard Lachmann sees an appreciation of anarchy as a sensible reaction to being stuck in a gig economy. His upcoming book about American workers is "First Class Passengers on a Sinking Ship: Elite Politics and the Decline of Great Powers." It's a title the anarchists would relish.

"Millennials are in an economy with a lot of available jobs but mostly they're lousy jobs with no security, no advancement," Lachmann said. "Off-the-grid communities, rural and urban, pop up more often in uncertain economic times."

Historically, anarchists' prickly personalities and unwillingness to compromise made it difficult for them to submit to adjustments most workers make almost without thinking in order to get along with bosses and fit into corporate cultures.

"But if you're young and all the corporate world offers you is endless hopping between unfulfilling jobs, the rewards for those compromises seem less worthwhile," Lachmann said. "It's a risky move to try to create your own world. But if the world you're in now is unattractive and unstable, the risk seems worth taking."

Gunn candidly discusses how his mental health struggles make relationships with traditional workplaces problematic. After his suicide attempt, he said state health officials diagnosed him with depression and post traumatic stress disorder. Gunn says he sees a therapist and gets a disability check too small to live on.

"Honestly, I probably wouldn't fit into a lot of workplaces," Gunn said. "But I've found a way to be a meaningful part of the world."

Editor's note: This story has been updated. The building's stoop is wooden; an earlier version incorrectly identified the material from which it is made.Eseyas Tesfay was last seen in Belfast.

Police have issued an appeal for information on the whereabouts of missing 21-year-old Eriteran national Eseyas Tesfay.

Eseyas was last seen in the Malone Road area of Belfast on Friday September 14 at around 10:30am.

He is described as being around 63 tall, black, with black hair shaved at the sides with afro on top. He would normally wear a green and black hooded top, dark trousers and carries a black backpack.

Officers would ask Eseyas, or anyone who knows his whereabouts, to contact them at Lisburn Road on 101 quoting reference number 887 18/09/18.The Trade Department, through the Philippine International Trading Corp., is asking for a tax expenditure subsidy to reduce the cost of importing 150,000 metric tons of rice. PITC president and chief executive Dave Almarinez said the 3 million bags of imported rice would be sold directly to C, D and E consumers at P27 per kilogram. The attached corporation will present today a proposal to import tariff-free rice from either Vietnam or Thailand to the National Food Authority Board. Out-quota imported rice is currently slapped with 35 percent tariff. The biggest factor is the tariff so we are asking for a TES to lower the cost of importation, Almarinez said over the weekend. The agency will also utilize the existing facilities of NFA to further reduce cost. A previous agreement with the NFA authorized members of the Philippine Amagalmated Supermarkets Association Inc. to retail NFA rice inside the groceries. The Trade Department offered to flood the market with affordable rice by opening new channels other the accredited NFA rice retailers.The department said it was expecting the shipment to arrive before end-October this year ahead of the NFA rice imports, which would arrive in November. We will augment supply. We will not be competing against NFA. Our goal is to arrest the prices and make it stable, stop rice price manipulation and hoarding, Almarinez said. The charter of PITC allows both government to government trading and private business transactions. The proposed rice importation will be conducted by selected distributors and retailers of the Trade Department. This is forward selling. We are not buying for stocking purposes. We have a concrete channel of distribution direct to retailers, Almarinez said.Sinn Fein President Mary Lou McDonald asked unionists to open a conversation about "defining a new Ireland" during a speech in Belfast on Saturday.

The party leader delivered a speech during Sinn Fein Lord Mayor of Belfast Deidre Hargey's Installation Dinner at Belfast City Hall.

Read More

During the wide-ranging speech Mrs McDonald discussed a number of issues including Brexit, same-sex marriage and Irish unity.

She also paid tribute to the women, from both the unionist and nationalist community, who helped shape Belfast's history.

The Dublin Central TD said that a "joyous revolution" had taken place in the Republic of Ireland with the introduction of marriage equality and the repealing of the Eighth Amendment.

She said that she respected that people valued the union and wanted to hear more about it.

Mrs McDonald told the audience that a united Ireland didn't mean "bolting the north onto the south".

"It is an opportunity to define a New Ireland - an Ireland that is inclusive and equal," she said.

"An Ireland that shares prosperity and offers equal opportunity.

"Its is about taking the best of all parts of our island, north, south, east and west, to create a sum greater than its parts."

"I want to discuss the future and whats best for all our people. So lets have the conversation.

"Lets be open to ideas and discussions and let us plan for the future together."

The Sinn Fein President also praised Belfast City Council's stance on same-sex marriage and warned that it was only a matter of time before it was introduced.

"I am glad that this Council supports Pride and marriage equality, and be in no doubt - we will win marriage equality for all the citizens," she said.

Mrs McDonald said that the immediate challenge facing Ireland was Brexit.

She told the audience that the backstop must be retained and that "the position of the British government or the DUP does not represent the views of the majority of people nor the interests of the economy.

"Both the Tory party and the DUP should respect the vote of the majority in the north to remain with the European Union with all that entails."The Shadow Secretary of State has warned that a no-deal Brexit would give credence to those who wish to return to violence in Northern Ireland.

Tony Lloyd was speaking to BBC NI's Sunday Politics programme ahead of the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool.

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He said that if the United Kingdom exits the European Union without an agreement it would be "disastrous for Northern Ireland" and could see a return to the way borders were operated during the Troubles with armed checkpoints.

When challenged that he was scaremongering, Mr Lloyd pointing to comments from PSNI Chief Constable George Hamilton who said that the Irish border would be a target for paramilitaries in the event of a hard Brexit.

The veteran Labour MP said it was important that the Good Friday Agreement was protected and that the progress made during the peace process was not lost.

Mr Lloyd also rejected calls for a second Brexit referendum saying that he would prefer a general election to be called.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said that he would support a people's vote if party supporters backed the move.Primark has confirmed that they have identified two potential locations for a new store in Belfast, after their previous premises was destroyed by a fire last month.

A company spokesperson said that group are currently involved in talks about buying Fountain House in Donegall Place.

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The property is currently occupied by a New Look store but building owner M&G Property Portfolio are understood to be willing to sell the building for close to 15m.

As New Look are only renting the building they could be forced to vacate in the event it is sold, following a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) the company have agreed to reduce their rental costs.

Primark is also exploring the possibility of trading from Commonwealth House in Castle Street, situated next to Bank Buildings.

The retail giant bought the building with plans to use it to extend its city centre store.

Following the devastating fire at Bank Buildings, it has always been Primarks intention to be back up and trading in Belfast as soon as possible, whilst also doing everything we can to support the wider business community in the City," a Primark spokesperson said.

"We have been working hard to identify suitable premises and can confirm that we are currently involved in commercial discussions in relation to Fountain House, Donegall Place.

"We are also still assessing the possibility of trading from Commonwealth House, Castle Street. We will share further details as soon as possible.

Belfast's historic bank buildings were ravaged in the August 28 fire which destroyed the roof and multiple floors.

Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close Firefighters deal with a major blaze at Primark in Belfast on August 28th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Firefighters deal with a major blaze at Primark in Belfast on August 28th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Firefighters deal with a major blaze at Primark in Belfast on August 28th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Compsite showing the fire from 11:06 am to 4:35 pm Firefighters deal with a major blaze at Primark in Belfast on August 28th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Firefighters deal with a major blaze at Primark in Belfast on August 28th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Firefighters deal with a major blaze at Primark in Belfast on August 28th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Firefighters deal with a major blaze at Primark in Belfast on August 28th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Firefighters deal with a major blaze at Primark in Belfast on August 28th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Firefighters deal with a major blaze at Primark in Belfast on August 28th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Firefighters deal with a major blaze at Primark in Belfast on August 28th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Firefighters deal with a major blaze at Primark in Belfast on August 28th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Firefighters deal with a major blaze at Primark in Belfast on August 28th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Firefighters deal with a major blaze at Primark in Belfast on August 28th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Firefighters deal with a major blaze at Primark in Belfast on August 28th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Firefighters deal with a major blaze at Primark in Belfast on August 28th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Firefighters deal with a major blaze at Primark in Belfast on August 28th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Firefighters deal with a major blaze at Primark in Belfast on August 28th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Firefighters deal with a major blaze at Primark in Belfast on August 28th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Firefighters deal with a major blaze at Primark in Belfast on August 28th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Firefighters deal with a major blaze at Primark in Belfast on August 28th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Firefighters deal with a major blaze at Primark in Belfast on August 28th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Firefighters deal with a major blaze at Primark in Belfast on August 28th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Firefighters deal with a major blaze at Primark in Belfast on August 28th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Firefighters deal with a major blaze at Primark in Belfast on August 28th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph The Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service are attending an incident in Belfast city centre. The Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service are attending an incident in Belfast city centre. Firefighters deal with a major blaze at Primark in Belfast on August 28th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Firefighters deal with a major blaze at Primark in Belfast on August 28th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Firefighters deal with a major blaze at Primark in Belfast on August 28th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Firefighters deal with a major blaze at Primark in Belfast on August 28th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph / Facebook

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Whatsapp Firefighters deal with a major blaze at Primark in Belfast on August 28th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph)

Nobody was hurt in the fire and 1,500 people were safely evacuated from the building.

Attempts to save the facade of the building are ongoing and a cordon around the area is set to remain in place for four months.

The devastating blaze in the heart of the city has forced 14 businesses to shut within the safety exclusion zone as work continues on determining what to do with the gutted shell of the building.

Primark have committed 500k to help Belfast's city centre economy while Belfast City Council pledged 1.25m.

Staff returned to work at other Primark stores in Northern Ireland on Monday September 17.Sinn Fein MLA Phillip McGuigan has said that the shooting of a teenager in Ballymoney on Sunday was "quite clearly carried out by loyalist paramilitaries".

The teenager was shot four times in a "brutal" paramilitary style attack in Ballymoney in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Police are investigating after the incident in the Moneycannon Road area.

It was reported that an 18-year-old man had been shot four times, once in each arm and leg, at around 3.30am by unknown intruders.

The injured man has been taken to hospital for treatment to his injuries.

Mr McGuigan said there can be no justification for such attacks.

In fact this is just the latest of many attacks, resulting in death and serious injuries, close to Ballymoney, carried out by loyalists. There needs to be firm action by the PSNI to halt these attacks and bring those responsible to justice, the North Antrim MLA said.

Our enquiries are at a very early stage into what was a brutal attack on a young man in his home by dangerous and violent individuals, and I would ask anyone with any information which could assist us to apprehend those responsible to contact detectives at Coleraine on 101 quoting reference number 324 23/09/18," Inspector Vince Redmond said

"Alternatively, information can also be provide to the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 which is 100% anonymous and gives people the power to speak up and stop crime.

Alliance Party MLA Stewart Dickson said "there can be no acceptance for such attacks".

"Paramilitary assaults and coercive control must always be challenged, the East Antrim MLA said.

Those with knowledge behind this and other similar brutal and vile attacks need to come forward and provide information to the police. This scourge on our society must be addressed. Far too often, those responsible for such attacks escape justice and there is a sense of impunity to their actions."Doctors from around the world have written an open letter to express concern about Irelands first community air ambulance.

A total of 22 Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS) experts from the US, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Norway have raised issues that the life-saving service will not be doctor-led as most services are across the world.

The countrys first charity air ambulance landed in Kerry on Friday and will officially enter full-time daylight hours next month.

Expand Close The air ambulance is expected to respond to up to 500 calls per year (Don MacMonagle/PA) Press Association Images / Facebook

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Whatsapp The air ambulance is expected to respond to up to 500 calls per year (Don MacMonagle/PA)

The service will cost two million euro to run annually and is to be funded through community and donor contributions.

It will have an advanced paramedic and an emergency medical technician (EMT) leading the medical care.

The air ambulance is expected to respond to up to 500 calls per year and bring the population of a 10,000 square mile area within 20 minutes of critical medical care.

Irish Community Rapid Response (ICRR)  a charity dedicated to pre-hospital care  is running the service in co-operation with the HSE National Ambulance Service.

It will be tasked through the National Ambulance Service 999/112 call system and is supported by the HSE and Department of Health.

The international flying doctors have expressed concern that the service is paramedic-led.

Expand Close ICRR CEO John Kearney, left, and pilot captain John Murray (Don MacMonagle/PA) Press Association Images / Facebook

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In a five-page open letter, they said: This is not up to the standard expected of a HEMS and will not be able to provide advanced pre-hospital medical and trauma care to the critically ill and injured patients it is tasked to.

It will not be a flying ED (emergency department) or ICU.

The letter stated that a doctor-led service would improve clinical outcomes, decrease morbidity and mortality.

It added: This model brings the ER resuscitation room and intensive care unit to the patient.

Recently the UK National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published a benchmark guideline entitled, Major trauma: assessment and initial management.

The life and limb-saving pre-hospital interventions listed in this guideline cannot be provided outside of a physician-staffed model in Ireland.

Examples include and are not limited to pre-hospital blood transfusion to a bleeding patient, general anaesthetic in severe head injury and advanced trauma resuscitation including surgical eye, life and limb-saving interventions.

Expand Close The international flying doctors have expressed concern that the service is paramedic-led (Don MacMonagle/PA) Press Association Images / Facebook

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It called for the HSE to enhance the current HEMS resources, saying it is imperative that the correct model is in place.

Among the signatories were Scotlands lead consultant in retrieval medicine, Stephen Hearns and the clinical director of trauma at Royal London Hospital, Anne Weaver.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Health said: With regard to the content of the open letter, it should be noted that from the outset, any new air ambulance service will operate as an extension of the existing Emergency Aeromedical Service (EAS).

The EAS, based in Athlone, has been successfully operating for many years in partnership with the Irish Air Corps with the crewing model of an Advanced Paramedic and an Emergency Medical Technician.

The spectrum of patients dealt with by our EAS differs from aeromedical services in other countries who have physician led crews. Our EAS deals with less trauma, and more acute medicine (STEMI heart attacks and stroke in particular).

Last year the National Ambulance Service (NAS) analysed EAS activity and found that 92% of our patients needs were met within the Advanced Paramedic scope of practice.

Since then, the NAS medical director has extended the scope of practice of EAS advanced paramedics by privileging them for ketamine use for sedation (over and above the Clinical Practice Guideline for analgesia).

As our aeromedical service evolves, we will continue to review how we can provide the best possible level of care for patients.

That might include physician crewing, or it might include further expanding the competencies of EAS advanced paramedics or introducing specialist critical care paramedics.Labour will include a commitment to opposing a second independence referendum in its next manifesto, Scottish leader Richard Leonard has said.

Mr Leonard will tell delegates at the party conference in Liverpool on Monday that Scotland does not need another vote on independence, but the election of a Labour government.

It comes after Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said he did not support another referendum but would decide at the time.

In an interview with the BBC, Mr Leonard would not confirm whether or not he had discussed his manifesto announcement with Mr Corbyn.

Expand Close Richard Leonard (right) would not confirm whether he has Jeremy Corbyns agreement on the announcement (Jane Barlow/PA) PA Archive/PA Images / Facebook

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Whatsapp Richard Leonard (right) would not confirm whether he has Jeremy Corbyns agreement on the announcement (Jane Barlow/PA)

Mr Leonard told the BBC Sunday Politics show: We want to be absolutely clear to the people of Scotland that there is no case for a second independence referendum, we just had a referendum in 2014, we think that settled the will of the people of Scotland and I dont think there is any support for a second independence referendum which is why we are going to categorically in our manifesto in the lead up to the general election, which may come as soon as later this year, state our opposition to the holding of a second independence referendum.

Asked whether he has spoken to Mr Corbyn and got his agreement that a future Labour government will not authorise a second independence referendum, he replied: I speak to Jeremy Corbyn on a regular basis.

We will be drawing up our manifesto because there is every prospect of there being an early general election and what Im saying to you is that as somebody who will be a party to the drafting of that manifesto I will stand resolute on the question that there should not be a second independence referendum and I am expecting to get the support of the whole of the Labour party on that question.

The independence referendum in September 2014 was held after the Scottish and UK governments signed the Edinburgh Agreement, allowing the vote to take place and committing both sides to respect the result.

Richard Leonard wrongly states there is no case for independence referendum, completely ignoring that there is a mandate for a referendum from the Scottish people who returned a majority of MSPs to the Scottish Parliament. Time to accept reality & the democratic right of Scotland  Ian Blackford (@Ianblackford_MP) September 23, 2018

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon welcomed Mr Leonards announcement as good news for the SNP.

She tweeted: Scottish Labours determination to remain alienated from swathes of its previous support as it attempts to out Tory the Tories on #Indy shows no sign of abating. Which can only be good news for @theSNP.

In his speech to conference Mr Leonard is expected to say: We dont need another independence referendum to change Scotland, as far as I am concerned  weve just had one.

The majority of people do not want one, and as we meet here this week with the prospect of a general election, I can make clear today that the next Labour manifesto will oppose another independence referendum.

Mr Corbyn said in a BBC interview last week that he did not support another referendum but was not ruling out giving consent for a vote if he were to become prime minister.

Asked what he would do if First Minister Nicola Sturgeon were to seek the power to hold another vote, he told the broadcaster: We would obviously decide at the time.

He said: We dont want another referendum, we dont think another referendum is a good idea, and well be very clear on why we dont think its a good idea.

Scottish Conservative deputy leader Jackson Carlaw said: So long as Jeremy Corbyn is Labours candidate for Prime Minister, no-one should believe a word the party says on independence.

Only a few days ago, Corbyn said he wanted to hand the keys to another divisive referendum to the SNP.

Richard Leonard was too scared to stand up to Jeremy Corbyn on anti-Semitism, and hell be far too weak to do so on separation.Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn (centre) attends a vigil in Liverpool for the people caught up in the war in Yemen, during the partys annual conference (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

A Labour government would go to the United Nations tomorrow to present a resolution to end the war in Yemen, Jeremy Corbyn said at a vigil for those affected by the brutal conflict.

He criticised the Governments role in arming Saudi Arabia as he and several senior shadow ministers joined members of Liverpools Yemeni community on Sunday evening.

The Labour leader said that the Government must stop arms sales to Saudi Arabia to help bring an end to violence and suffering.

He told a crowd of around 50 people the humanitarian disaster in the country was a human-made condition brought about by the bombardment of the people of Yemen by Saudi forces and, Im sad to say, some of those weapons are provided by Britain.

A child dying of cholera, people being killed in schools, people being killed at wedding parties, that is abominable and unnecessary and utterly wrong in the 21st century.Jeremy Corbyn

He said that the UN had been set up to bring wars to a conclusion by a political process, adding: The members of the security council have a very special responsibility in this. We cannot run away and we cannot hide.

If it were a Labour government Emily (Thornberry, the shadow foreign secretary) would be at the UN tomorrow presenting a resolution on how we would bring about an end to that conflict.

This Government has failed, failed in its duty to resent a resolution to the UN that can bring about an end to this conflict.

Yemens civil war has been raging since March 2015 and earlier this month the UK expressed serious concern over the loss of life in recent weeks.

It came after the Government received severe opposition criticism for selling arms to the Saudi-led coalition fighting Iran-aligned Houthi rebels in the Middle East state.

An air strike by the Saudi-led coalition that killed dozens of people in Yemen in August was branded an apparent war crime by Human Rights Watch.

At least 51 people, including 40 children, were killed and 79 others, including 56 children, were wounded in the air strike which hit a bus in a busy market.

Expand Close Mr Corbyn said a Labour government would go to the UN tomorrow to seek a resolution to bring the war in Yemen to an end (Stefan Rousseau/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook

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Whatsapp Mr Corbyn said a Labour government would go to the UN tomorrow to seek a resolution to bring the war in Yemen to an end (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

Mr Corbyn praised the aid work of the Department for International Development (DfID) in the country, but said that it doesnt seem to add up that we provide aid to the victims while providing weapons that are used for the bombing in the first place.

He went on: A child dying of cholera, people being killed in schools, people being killed at wedding parties, that is abominable and unnecessary and utterly wrong in the 21st century.

Mr Corbyn was joined at the vigil by Ms Thornberry, local MP Stephen Twigg, who chairs the International Development Committee, and Fabian Hamilton, the shadow minister for peace and disarmament.

The comedian and Labour activist Eddie Izzard, who was born in Aden in Yemens south, also spoke.Leaders of German chancellor Angela Merkels governing coalition have reached a deal to resolve a standoff over the future of the countrys intelligence chief.

The dispute has further dented the image of their fractious six-month-old alliance.

The centre-left Social Democrats have insisted that Hans-Georg Maassen be removed as head of the BfV spy agency for appearing to downplay recent violence against migrants, but conservative Interior Minister Horst Seehofer has stood by him.

Expand Close German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Horst Seehofer, Chairman of the German Christian Social Union and Andrea Nahles, chairwoman of the German Social Democrats (Michael Sohn/AP) AP/PA Images / Facebook

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Whatsapp German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Horst Seehofer, Chairman of the German Christian Social Union and Andrea Nahles, chairwoman of the German Social Democrats (Michael Sohn/AP)

Last week, coalition leaders agreed to replace Mr Maassen as head of the BfV but give him a new job as a deputy interior minister, a promotion with a hefty pay increase.

The move prompted a backlash from furious Social Democrats, prompting party leader Andrea Nahles to call for the deals renegotiation.

On Sunday, coalition leaders agreed instead to make Mr Maassen a special adviser at the interior ministry with responsibility for European and international issues, Mr Seehofer said.

He will remain at his current pay level.

I think it is a very good signal that we took the criticism of our decision on Tuesday evening seriously and were able to correct itAndrea Nahles

In addition, a deputy interior minister and expert on construction issues, Social Democrat Gunther Adler, will now keep his job rather than making way for Mr Maassen.

Ms Nahles will have to sell the new compromise to her partys leadership on Monday.

I think it is a very good signal that we took the criticism of our decision on Tuesday evening seriously and were able to correct it, Ms Nahles told reporters.

She declared that overall, the foundation has been laid for us to return to substantive work.

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The dispute has clouded the governments future at a time when the three parties face major challenges in upcoming state elections, in Mr Seehofers home state of Bavaria on October 14 and in neighbouring Hesse on October 28.

The infighting appears to be weighing down their support, which has not recovered since a national election a year ago in which all three coalition parties lost ground and the far-right Alternative for Germany entered parliament.

The coalition of Ms Merkels Christian Democratic Union, Mr Seehofers Bavaria-only Christian Social Union and the Social Democrats took office in March after Ms Nahles party decided reluctantly to join up.

It has already been through one crisis that threatened its survival, when Ms Merkel and Mr Seehofer, a conservative ally, but a longtime critic of her initially welcoming approach to refugees in 2015, faced off in June over whether to turn back some migrants at the German-Austrian border.

Responding to violent right-wing protests following the killing of a German man, allegedly by migrants, in the eastern city of Chemnitz, Mr Maassen said his agency had no reliable evidence that foreigners were being hunted down in the streets, a term Ms Merkel had used.

Expand Close Hans-Georg Maassen has been supported by Germanys interior minister Horst Seehofer (Bernd von Jutrczenka/dpa via AP) AP/PA Images / Facebook

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Whatsapp Hans-Georg Maassen has been supported by Germanys interior minister Horst Seehofer (Bernd von Jutrczenka/dpa via AP)

A video posted by a left-wing group showed protesters chasing down and attacking a foreigner but Mr Maassen questioned its authenticity.

Mr Seehofer, Mr Maassens boss, has insisted that Mr Maassen is a highly competent employee who has not violated any rules and said he will not outright dismiss him.

He accused the Social Democrats of running a campaign against Mr Maassen.

Mr Seehofer, who leads the CSU, became interior minister after giving up his previous job as Bavarian governor following last years national election.

There is widespread speculation that a poor election performance in Bavaria next month could threaten his political future.Pope Francis has paid tribute to Lithuanians who suffered and died during Soviet and Nazi occupations on the day the country remembers the near-extermination of its Jewish community during the Holocaust.

Francis began his second day in the Baltics in Lithuanias second city, Kaunas, where an estimated 3,000 Jews survived out of a community of 37,000 during the 1941-1944 Nazi occupation.

During Mass in the lush Santakos Park under a brilliant autumn sun, Francis honoured both Jewish victims of Nazi-era executions and the Lithuanians who were deported to Siberian gulags or were tortured and oppressed at home during five decades of Soviet occupation.

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Earlier generations still bear the scars of the period of the occupation, anguish at those who were deported, uncertainty about those who never returned, shame for those who were informers and traitors, Francis told the crowd.

Kaunas knows about this. Lithuania as a whole can testify to it, still shuddering at the mention of Siberia, or the ghettos of Vilnius and Kaunas, among others.

He denounced those who get caught up in debating who was more virtuous in the past and fail to address the tasks of the present  an apparently veiled reference to historic revisionism that is afflicting much of Eastern Europe as it comes to terms with the Holocaust.

The issue is acute in Lithuania, where ordinary Lithuanians executed Jews alongside the Nazi occupiers, wiping out the Jewish population of the capital of Vilnius that was known for centuries as the the Jerusalem of the North because of its importance to Jewish thought and politics.

Francis is to continue the remembrance with a visit to a museum in Vilnius that is dedicated to Soviet atrocities as well as a prayer in the Vilnius Ghetto, which 75 years ago was finally destroyed and its remaining Jewish residents executed or sent off to concentration camps.

Each year, the September 23 anniversary of the destruction of the Vilnius Ghetto is commemorated with readings of the names of Jews who were executed by Nazis as well as by complicit Lithuanian partisans in the nearby Ponary forest.

Francis is travelling to Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia to mark their 100th anniversaries of independence and to encourage the faith in the Baltics, which saw five decades of Soviet-imposed religious repression and state-sponsored atheism.

Lithuania is 80% Catholic; Lutherans and Russian Orthodox count more followers in Latvia and Estonia, where Francis visits on Monday and Tuesday.

The Baltic countries declared their independence in 1918 but were annexed into the Soviet Union in 1940 in a secret agreement with Nazi Germany. The Vatican and many Western countries refused to recognise the annexation. Except for the 1941-1944 Nazi occupation, the Baltic countries remained part of the Soviet Union until its collapse in the early 1990s.Geothermal power producer Energy Development Corp. warned over the weekend that removing the incentives currently enjoyed by the renewable energy industry will slow down investments in the sector. EDC president Richard Tantoco said lifting the incentives under the Tax Reform for Attracting Better and High-quality Opportunities or Trabaho bill, the second tranche of the governments tax reform program, would be a misguided policy. I think its a misguided policy to remove the incentives from renewable energy just as we need to transition into clean energy...If you remove the fiscal incentives, the impact on renewable energy is like youre taxing it 10 times of coal which is what we need to begin to transition out of, Tantoco said. He said the Trabaho bill would create uncertainty on the entire renewable energy industry. Its a major uncertainty because people are looking at their numbers and then they dont know whether theyre gonna have 10 percent income tax or 30. They dont know if theyre gonna be able to import without duties or with duties, he said. Tantoco said the proposed bill could limited the renewable energy growth in the country. Definitely today with the specter of the bill hanging over the industrys head, we will see investments slow down, he said. EDC is the countrys biggest geothermal company. It also owns a 150-megawatt wind power project in Burgos, Ilocos Norte and is investing in solar projects around the country. Tantoco said the non-fiscal incentives promoted by the Department of Energy such as the renewable portfolio standards would not be enough to compensate for the loss of the fiscal incentives.RPS is not very aggressive because when you think about it, utilities have to buy a certain percentage of renewable. But if they dont, theres no penalty. In other markets like Chile, theres a very clear system that effectively prices hit. Were taking small steps in the right direction[but] I think they could go a lot quicker, Tantoco said. EDC chairman Federico Lopez said the Trabaho bill could change the industrys landscape. Lopez said some locators in the economic zones owned by the Lopez Group already put their expansion plans on hold. You know they always got this opportunity to go, put it up in Vietnam and other places which is whats happeningRE also is the same thing. People probably will wait and see whether and if these incentives because the impact of incentives being taken out is huge, he said. You have to realize that many of those companies are constantly looking at where to put their manufacturing, operationsWhen you have a possibility of a trade war thats going on, many are looking at the possibility of moving their operations from China, he said. He said the Philippines, having a young and dynamic workforce, should be one of the beneficiaries of the trade war between US and China but if we do this, they wont come in. Were missing out on [on this opportunity]. To me that is a golden opportunity [lost] especially if we do that in the incentives. You cant have a shotgun approach, Lopez said.Pope Francis has warned against the rebirth of anti-Semitic attitudes that fuelled the Holocaust.

Francis made the comments as he marked the annual remembrance for Lithuanias centuries-old Jewish community that was nearly wiped out during the Second World War.

The pope began his second day in the Baltics in Lithuanias second city, Kaunas, where an estimated 3,000 Jews survived out of a community of 37,000 during the 1941-1944 Nazi occupation.

Earlier generations still bear the scars of the period of the occupation, anguish at those who were deported, uncertainty about those who never returned, shame for those who were informers and traitorsPope Francis

During Mass in Santakos Park, Francis honoured both Jewish victims of the Nazis and the Lithuanians who were deported to Siberian gulags or were tortured, killed and oppressed at home during five decades of Soviet occupation.

Earlier generations still bear the scars of the period of the occupation, anguish at those who were deported, uncertainty about those who never returned, shame for those who were informers and traitors, Francis told the crowd, which was estimated by the local church to number 100,000.

Kaunas knows about this. Lithuania as a whole can testify to it, still shuddering at the mention of Siberia, or the ghettos of Vilnius and Kaunas, among others.

He denounced those who get caught up in debating who was more virtuous in the past and fail to address the tasks of the present  an apparent reference to historic revisionism that is afflicting parts of Eastern Europe as it comes to terms with wartime-era crimes.

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Francis recalled that Sunday marked the 75th anniversary of the final destruction of the Ghetto in the capital Vilnius, which had been known for centuries as the Jerusalem of the North for its importance to Jewish thought and politics.

Each year, the September 23 anniversary is commemorated with readings of the names of Jews who were killed by Nazis or Lithuanian partisans or were deported to concentration camps.

The pope warned against the temptation that can dwell in every human heart to want to be superior or dominant to others. And he prayed for the gift of discernment to detect in time any new seeds of that pernicious attitude, any whiff of it that can taint the heart of generations that did not experience those times and can sometimes be taken in by such siren songs.

Across Europe, far-right, xenophobic and neo-fascist political movements are making gains, including in Lithuania.

Francis noted that he would pray later in the day at a plaque in the Ghetto itself and called for dialogue and the shared commitment for justice and peace.Cost was seen as one of the main reasons why the laws to protect farmers were rejected (Ben Birchall/PA)

Swiss voters have rejected two proposals aimed at protecting farmers and ensuring food from both domestic and foreign producers is healthier, more environmentally sound and animal-friendly.

Projections for public broadcaster SRF showed voters rejecting the Fair-Food Initiative, which would have required the government to promote environmentally sound, animal-friendly and fairly produced food, and could have involved requiring Swiss inspectors to travel abroad to conduct compliance checks.

A separate Food Sovereignty proposal aimed to underpin farmers salaries and ensure imported food meets Swiss standards has also been rejected by voters.

Proposals need a majority of both voters and cantons (states) to pass, and returns by early afternoon showed that more than half of the cantons had rejected both initiatives.

Cost concerns, government opposition and other factors appear to have dented public support for the proposals. The government argued that the Fair-Food Initiative could limit choice, raise prices and jeopardise Swiss commercial agreements with trading partners.

Voters did, however, appear set to approve a third measure that would require the Swiss government to do more to improve bicycle lanes and other infrastructure across the Alpine country.

Switzerlands form of direct democracy gives voters a say several times a year on matters of public interest both national and local.

In a regional Swiss referendum, voters in the northeastern canton of St Gallen voted by a two-to-one margin to ban people from covering their faces in public if that endangers public security or religious or social peace.

The measure, widely described as a burka ban, follows a similar restriction already in Ticino, in Switzerlands Italian-speaking south.If anyone has news, please give me a call at 843-565-3125 or send e-mail to jmhood@homesc.com by Wednesday afternoon.Plus, Bill's Message of the Day, the truth about kids and the COVID-19 vaccine.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesFrom left TPBs Vanessa Suatengco, Fidelis Carino, and DFAs Leo Herrera-Lim

Department of Tourism secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat

The recently concluded Philippine Travel Exchange held at the Marriott Grand Ballroom strengthened the countrys travel and trade opportunities with the international market.PHITEX is the biggest government-hosted trade event in the country. I am sure each of our prospective buyers will love every moment of their stay here in the country especially when they get to experience Filipino hospitality, said tourism secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat, who led the officials who welcomed foreign delegates to the event. Joining Romulo-Puyat was Tourism Promotions Board officer-in-charge Arnold Gonzales. Lending them a hand were DoT spokesperson Benito Bengzon Jr., DoT regional director for CAR Venus Tan, DoT assistant secretary Verna Buensuceso, Department of Foreign Affairs assistant secretary Leo Herrera-Lim, Department of Transportation assistant secretary Mark Steven Pastor, and Pacific Asia Travel AssociationPhilippine chapter secretary general Dakila Gonzales. Our valuable guests are in for a great experience to discover why it is more fun in the Philippines and why they should include the country in their respective markets tour packages, said Gonzales.Over 200 international buyers from 30 countries, together with more than 220 local sellers, converged at the events venue. Aside from business-to-business sessions, the international buyers were also entertained with amazing cultural performances by the Sindaw Philippines Performing Arts Guild and Princess Rivera Virtudazo. They were also treated to Filipino cuisine prepared by renowned chefs.TPB further impressed the foreign delegates with special tours in Laguna, Tagaytay, Iloilo, Bacolod, Bicol, Ilocos, Dumaguete, Siquijor, Palawan, and Davao.The National Bureau of Investigation has filed before the Mandaluyong Prosecutors Office a complaint for syndicated and large-scale illegal recruitment against officials of a shipping companytwo Italian nationals and three Filipinosfor illegally recruiting applicants. In a nine-page complaint, the NBI accused True Alliance Shipping Corp. incorporators Henry James Avecilla, Judith Cabrera, and Lucky Philip Cabrera, along with Italians Sergio Constantini and Maurizio Caselli, of syndicated and large-scale illegal recruitment. The complaint signed by NBI National Capital Region director Cesar Bacani was filed before the Mandaluyong City Prosecutor Bernabe Augustus Solis. The case arose from the complaint affidavit filed by Capt. Leopoldo Arcilla, Sr., president and general manager of Eagle Clarc Shipping Philippines, Inc., accusing True Alliance and Oceanus Maritime Crewing Services Inc. of falsification of documents. The complainant alleged that True Alliance and Oceanus, together with Leonides Rico, Victor Dumagoso, Cyrus Walawala and Dianne R. Paredes, former employees of Eagle Clarc, conspired and confederated with one another in committing acts constitutive of illegal recruitment when it furnishes or publishes any false notice or information or document in relation to recruitment or employment and gives any false notice, testimony information or document or commit any act of misrepresentation for the purpose of securing a license or authority under the Labor Code, read the NBI complaint.Also implicated into the case are Mama Shipping SARL and Marine Partners Monaco which tapped the services of Oceanus as their agent in the Philippines and enticed the employees of Eagle Clarc to transfer. The operation of the said shipping business in the Philippines was under the command of its principal ownerGrimaldi and Giuseppe Bottiglieri Shipping Company of Italy. The respondents were also charged with falsification of public documents and use of falsified documents after it was discovered that Caselli was out of the Philippines when the notary was made. To recall, based on the travel records of Mr. Caselli, he was not in the Philippines when the Articles of Incorporation was allegedly signed and notarized. The same document was presented before the Securities and Exchange Commission. On the other hand, Ms. Cabrera categorically stated in her affidavit that True Alliance passed the POEA (Philippine Overseas Employment Administration) evaluation of documents. However manning license was not granted only because one of the incorporators failed to appear on the scheduled panel interview with POEA. Apparently, the falsified Articles of Incorporation was submitted by True Alliance in its attempt to be granted a license to operate, the NBI said. The NBI filed the charges of syndicated illegal recruitment since three or more persons conspired in the commission of the offense and the crime of large-scale illegal recruitment was committed since three or more persons became victims of the said criminal charge.Sonam Kapoor & Anand Ahuja Gave Power Couple Vibes With Their Bossy Outfits At Milan Fashion Week Bollywood Wardrobe Devika Tripathi

Sonam Kapoor at Milan Fashion Week:           | Boldsky

Last time, it was Priyanka Chopra, who attended the 50th-anniversary celebration of Ralph Lauren during New York Fashion Week. She was accompanied by her beau Nick Jonas for the celebratory occasion. And now the latest Indian celebrity invited to grace an international fashion show was none other than Sonam Kapoor-Ahuja. The actress attended the Giorgio Armani's fashion show at Milan Fashion Week with her husband, Anand Ahuja.

Sitting next to Cate Blanchett, Sonam and Anand looked like a power couple as they were dressed to the nines in their smart outfits. They both sported minimally done ensembles, which were tailored to perfection and highlighted by crisp cuts and structural silhouettes. Sonam's outfit of the day consisted of a black-hued bodice, which was marked by a deep angular neckline.

She paired her top with a razor-sharp edged skirt that was enhanced by comfort quotient and functionality. It was a grey-hued skirt and was a sartorial delight with an interesting outline. The quarter-sleeved jacket complemented her attire and added an incredible dimension. It gave her look a boss lady touch.

Sonam accessorised her look with pink and red chic danglers. Her makeup was dewy and marked by a red lip shade, while her side-swept sleek tresses rounded off her look. Anand wore a grey-hued tuxedo and paired it with a striped tie and black-coloured formal shoes.

We loved their outfits and thought they made a grand entry. How did you find their looks? Feel free to share opinions in the comment section.For overseas Filipinos workers, mobile money is the cheapest way to send cash home, but the remittance market is still dominated by banks charging highest fees, Rep. Aniceto Bertiz III of CTS-OFW party-list said on Sunday. Citing the World Banks latest remittance prices worldwide report, he said cash transfers via mobile operators cost a global average of only 3.20 percent of the amount sent in the second quarter of 2018, down from 3.29 percent in the same period in 2017. In contrast, remittances coursed through banks cost a global average of 10.41 percent of the amount forwarded in the second quarter of this year, down from 10.99 percent in the same period last year, he said. Remittances by means of money transfer operators cost a global average of 6.15 percent of the amount conveyed, down from 6.23 percent last year, he said. He cited remittances passing through postal offices cost a global average of 6.81 percent of the amount dispatched, down from 6.85 percent last year. We have to push for the use of mobile technologies to make it cheaper and faster for OFWs to send money home, he said.He acknowledged the development of mobile money or mobile wallets has been slowed down by lack of harmonized regulations between countries. Remittance markets are still dominated by banks that charge the highest transfer fees, he lamented. In our case, OFWs still rely heavily on banks to send their money home, so we have to put more pressure on banks to reduce transfer charges, Bertiz said. While we recognize that Philippine banks correspond with foreign partners that also collect high fees, our banks here can do their share in bringing down charges, primarily through innovation and new technologies, he added. Overseas Filipinos sent home a total of $33 billion ( P1.7 trillion) in 2017, the third highest remittances worldwide, according to the World Bank.Opposition Senator Antonio Trillanes IV said Sunday the filing of a new libel case against him by resigned Davao City Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte over the smuggling of P6.4 billion worth of shabu last year would be his opportunity to subpoena the bank accounts of the Presidents son. I welcome the filing of the libel case because it will be an opportunity to call Polong as a hostile witness, said Trillanes, a staunch critic of President Rodrigo Duterte and his family. Trillanes, who remains holed up in the Senate after the President revoked the amnesty granted him, said this would also be an opportunity to compel the former vice mayor with a tattoo on his back to prove that he is not a member of a Chinese triad drug syndicate. The young Duterte has repeatedly declined the challenge of Trillanes to prove that he does not have a tattoo on his body. He had earlier attended the Senate Blue Ribbon committee hearing on the multi-billion-peso drug smuggling case to deny the accusations of Trillanes about his alleged involvement in smuggling shabu. Last week, the young Duterte filed the libel case against Trillanes before the Davao City Prosecutors Office.In his complaint-affidavit, the former vice mayor said his brother-in-law, lawyer Manases Carpio, said sometime in September last year about a teleradio video clip phone patch interview of Trillanes with Leo Lastimosa of DYAB Cebu. Watching it, I was aghast to hear the respondent maliciously accused me and my brother-in-law, Attorney Manases Carpio, of supposed rampant and widespread corruption and extortion. Admittedly, this was based on sheer information fed to him, the identity of whom he did not identify nor disclose, said the former vice mayor. The presidential son said Trillanes accused him and Carpio of extortion against Uber over its franchise and against similar companies purportedly in conspiracy with LTRFB RD 7 Director Ahmed Cuison. According to Duterte, the senators tagging and wild accusations against him and his brother-in-law of widespread shakedown and rampant corruption and extortion on radio, based on double, if not multiple, hearsay information he claimed to have received, was downright libelous, defamatory and pure black propaganda. Trillanes lawyer Rey Robles said they will seek the dismissal of the libel complaints filed by Duterte and Carpio.Rep. Maria Carmen Zamora said Sunday the P2.5-billion confidential and intelligence funds of President Rodrigo Duterte in next years national budget will not be used against the opposition. Zamora, vice chairman of the House committee on appropriations and the main plenary sponsor of the proposed P3.757-trillion General Appropriations Bill, said the P1.25 billion for confidential and intelligence expenses were intended for President Dutertes war on drugs, criminality and corruption. As we are all aware, the Presidents priority is the fight against illegal drugs and corruption, Zamora said about the Office of the Presidents budget, which is 12.32 percent higher than its 2018 budget. He is very serious with these concerns, and this justifies the [confidential and intelligence] funds. The retention of the P2.5-billion confidential and intelligence funds under the Office of the Presidents P6.773-billion budget in 2019 coincided with the second quarter 2018 Social Weather Stations survey showing almost eight out of 10 Filipinos were satisfied with the Presidents war on drugs or 78 percent, while 13 percent were dissatisfied and nine percent were undecided. It is evident that the President is successful in dealing with this for the past years. But more interventions are needed. There is still a need to strengthen and intensify his campaign, Zamora said.Under the 2018 and 2017 General Appropriations Acts, Congress allocated P2.5 billion each year, which is 400 percent higher than the confidential and intelligence funds in 2016, or P250 million each. In a manifestation during the plenary debate, Rep. Tom Villarin raised concern that the allocated funds for the oversight management on national security would be used against the opposition. Theres this thinking, feeling that going to the elections of 2019, there would definitely be attempts to silence the opposition or to put a gag on all those who are opposing the present administration, he said. He said the fund was subject to the scrutiny of Congress, and requested the Office of the President to provide a breakdown on how the program budget would be used. Zamora said the funds for the oversight management on national security was different from the confidential and intelligence funds.Malacanang said Sunday it is open to issuing an Executive Order forming a national task force to quell the communist insurgency . Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque said the Palace agreed that ending the communist insurgency entailed a whole-of-government approach. READ: Reds downplay Duterte's creation of task force Roque made the remark after the military asked President Rodrigo Duterte to issue an EO creating the task force. The Armed Forces of the Philippines, which requested the creation of a national inter-agency task force, may wish to coordinate and submit its formal recommendation to the Office of the President, through the Office of the Executive Secretary, for the drafting of an executive order in this regard, Roque said. In an interview with ANC on Friday night, AFP chief of staff Gen. Carlito Galvez Jr. proposed creating the inter-agency body through the Presidents issuance of an Executive Order. It will work on a different component and different line of efforts, Galvez said. The military is able to ward off the communist rebels, but it says the struggle in the political scene also needs to be addressed as the Left taps its allies to provide support on its political maneuvers. They are very potent on the parliamentary struggle because they want to infiltrate government agencies and also our political system. The problem that we have is the component of the civilian agencies, Galvez said. He said the civilian agencies were not integrated to combat the Communist Party of the Philippines-New Peoples Army as they lacked awareness of the real situation.Galvez said they were also working on stopping the communists from recruiting new members. We have to stop the recruitment that is mostly happening in the schools, Galvez said. The NPA will brainwash them to become extremists. Meanwhile, CPP founding chairman Jose Maria Sison said the militarys recommendation was aimed at receiving a higher budget. What kind of a national task force does the AFP ask? They already have deployed 98 maneuver battalions in the entire Philippines to threaten and kill the people. Maybe the AFP needs a higher appropriation, Sison said. National Democratic Front of the Philippines consultant Rey Casambre echoed Sison, saying the proposed task force will not end the insurgency. The task force being formed aims to end the insurgency by inducing mass surrenders through military means and psywar, but without the basic social, economic and political reforms that would not resolve the roots of the armed conflict, Casambre said. It has been tried many times before, and it has never worked. There is no way it can work now.Labour Party leader Brendan Howlin has said that he hopes that there will be a second referendum in the UK on Brexit.

It comes as Mr Howlin prepares to attend the three-day British Labour Party Conference in Liverpool where MPs, MEPs, union leaders and activists will attempt to put pressure on the party to throw its weight behind a so-called People's Vote.

The party's leader, Jeremy Corbyn, has said he would be prepared to back a second referendum on the European Union if activists at his party conference forced a change in Labour policy.

Mr Howlin said: I warmly welcome statements by Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn and Deputy Leader, Tom Watson, that they would acquiesce if a majority of Labour members voted in favour of a second referendum on the UKs future relationship with the European Union.

Lets face it, two years ago, few people knew much about how the EUs customs union or single market operate, never mind the more obscure agreements underpinning air transport or radioactive materials often used in our medical devices.

In any democracy, people should always have the right to deliberate and vote again when they have gained access to new information or had a chance to understand more clearly the implications of a decision.

A recent poll found 86% of Labour members in the UK think voters should have the final say on the outcome of Brexit negotiations, and 90% would now vote to remain in the EU.

Mr Howlin said: British workers certainly never voted to be poorer. And recent opinion polls suggest that there has been a major shift in peoples views, with the vast majority of Labour members in favour of a second vote, and indeed in favour of remaining inside the European Union.

From an Irish perspective, there is no such thing as a good Brexit, only damage limitation, as Irelands economy is so closely bound up with the UKs."

"Also, a hardened border in Northern Ireland would profoundly disrupt social and economic wellbeing there.

Ireland would warmly welcome an outcome where the British people voted to remain in the EU, and I am confident that other European countries would likewise welcome such a vote.Update - 7.25pm: Two men will appear at in court tomorrow morning charged in connection with the seizure of 1.7m in Wexford and Dublin yesterday.

A third man and a woman, who were also arrested in connection with the seizure, have been released without charge and a file will be prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Earlier: Woman arrested in connection with 1.7m cash seizure in Wexford

Gardai have arrested a 39-year-old woman in connection with a cash seizure in Wexford yesterday.

The woman is detained in Wexford Garda station under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act 1984.

This brings the total number of arrests to five. One man has been released pending a file to the Director of Public Prosecutions and four remain in custody.

The current total of 1.7m was seized yesterday in relation to the three searches.

Earlier: One of four men being questioned in relation to the seizure of 1.2m in cash has been released.

A file on the matter is being sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions.

The other three men remain in custody in Wexford Garda Station.

The cash seizure was made during searches in Dublin and Wexford by Gardai targeting organised crime.

Earlier Gardai are continuing to question four men arrested after the seizure of 1.2m in cash.

Yesterday's seizure was a result of three searches in Dublin and Wexford by Gardai targeting organised crime.

Three men aged 29, 38 and 47 were arrested during the first search and a 44-year-old man was detained during the third search.Today marks a seminal moment in the history of the Irish newspaper industry as the first day of Journalism Matters Week commences.

Journalism Matters Week will see every local and national newspaper in the country collectively publishing editorials which celebrate the value of an independent press.

It is a coordinated effort, led by NewsBrands Ireland and Local Ireland, the representative bodies for the local and national newspapers, and is designed to highlight the vital role the press plays in a vibrant democracy.

The initiative also calls on the government to support Irish journalism and a number of measures being sought by the newspaper industry to ensure its future.

The #JournalismMatters campaign calls on the Government to use Budget 2019 to deliver on a five-point-plan for the industry:

Apply a 5% VAT rate to newspapers and digital products in Budget 2019, ahead of ultimately reducing to 0% once EU laws allow

Reform Irelands draconian defamation laws to ensure that the stories that need to be told, are told

Appoint a Minister for Media  a single member of the Cabinet should have oversight for all aspects of our complex media landscape

Establish a News Publishers Media Fund  to drive innovation and investment

Invest in a training support scheme for all journalists

What is the Journalism Matters video series?

The Journalism Matters video series created by NewsBrands Ireland features 15 examples of outstanding public interest journalism which have affected real change in society.

These examples range from recent investigative journalism which uncovered wrongdoing or illegal activity, to campaigning journalism which achieved tangible results, to the reporting of issues or stories which change the public discourse and narrative.

The Journalism Matters video series reflects on the news reporting of deeper issues that serve to prevent problems from developing or that shines a new light on old issues.

Chairman of NewsBrands Ireland, Vincent Crowley said:

The future of Irish journalism is at a crossroads and government inaction now is simply not an option.

Without the supports and investment, and clarity on VAT rates, the sector will not be able to thrive and invest, but will falter and publications will be forced to close or at best scale back on the good, independent journalism that has been a bedrock of Irish democracy.

"The forthcoming budget gives this government the opportunity to send a strong message that it appreciates a vibrant news media industry in this country and is seeking ways to protect it for future generations.

President of Local Ireland, Frank Mulrennan said:

"Aside from the loss to democratic life in our society, the losses will be big in many communities  jobs will go, not just in the newspaper titles, but many of the supporting ones in newsagents and other indirect jobs.

"Without strong and healthy local newspapers politicians will be challenged in maintaining engagement with the electorate because local newspapers reach at least 1.5 million people across Ireland each week.

- Digital DeskA teenager is recovering in hospital after being shot four times in Co Antrim.

The 18-year-old man was shot in each arm and leg in the early hours of Sunday, in what police have described as a paramilitary-style attack.

His injuries are not believed to be life-threatening at this stage.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said the "brutal" attack took place at a house in the Moneycannon Road area of Ballymoney.

PSNI Inspector Vince Redmond said the man is being treated in hospital for his injuries.

"We received a report that an 18-year-old man had been shot four times, once in each arm and leg, at around 3.30am this morning by unknown intruders," he said.

"The injured man has since been taken to hospital for treatment to his injuries."

Inspector Redmond has urged anyone with information about the attack to contact police.

"Our enquiries are at a very early stage into what was a brutal attack on a young man in his home by dangerous and violent individuals, and I would ask anyone with any information which could assist us to apprehend those responsible to contact detectives at Coleraine on 101 quoting reference number 324 23/09/18," he added.

That call was echoed by Ulster Unionist councillor Darryl Wilson.

Mr Wilson said: "If you were in the area or noticed any suspicious activity please contact the PSNI."

- PACristiano Ronaldo and Federico Bernardeschi scored late goals as Juventus continued their 100% start to the Serie A season with an unconvincing 2-0 win at Frosinone.

Ronaldo, who was sent off in Wednesday's Champions League win in Valencia, looked set to endure another frustrating evening until he scuffed home a left-footed effort with nine minutes remaining.

The Portuguese forward squandered a series of chances at Stadio Benito Stirpe before putting the champions on course for a fifth league win from five this term with his third goal for his new club.

Substitute Bernardeschi added a second in injury-time after Juve broke away on the counter-attack.

Lowly Frosinone, who have registered just one point following promotion, produced a dogged display, but rarely ventured forward as their search for a first goal of the campaign continued.

Second-placed Napoli remain three points adrift of Juve after Lorenzo Insigne's brace helped them to a 3-1 victory at Torino.

Italy forward Insigne lashed home the early opener for Carlo Ancelotti's side before forward Simone Verdi volleyed in a Dries Mertens cross to double the advantage with his first goal for the club.

Andrea Belotti's penalty, following a foul by Sebastiano Luperto, halved the deficit, but Insigne quickly restored the two-goal advantage by scoring a rebound after Jose Callejon's attempt came back off a post.

Roma's winless run stretched to five games in all competitions after they squandered numerous chances during the 2-0 defeat at Bologna.

Eusebio Di Francesco's team, beaten 3-0 at Real Madrid in the Champions League in midweek, fell behind nine minutes before the break when Federico Mattiello fired in from the edge of the box.

The visitors, who had 20 attempts at goal, fell further behind just before the hour mark after Federico Santander found the bottom left corner from distance.

At Stadio Olimpico, Ciro Immobile scored twice as Lazio continued their resurgence with a resounding 4-1 success over Genoa.

The hosts, who have won three in a row after losing their opening two games, were two goals ahead at the break thanks to Felipe Caicedo and Italy striker Immobile.

Serie A top scorer Krzysztof Piatek halved the deficit early in the second period with his fifth strike of the campaign, but Sergej Milinkovic-Savic restored the two-goal advantage before Immobile added his second late on.

Elsewhere, AC Milan were held to a 2-2 draw at home to Atalanta after conceding an injury-time equaliser at San Siro.

Goals from Gonzalo Higuain and Giacomo Bonaventura, either side of Alejandro Gomez's leveller, looked to have given the seven-time European champions victory until Emiliano Rigoni struck a minute into added time.

In Sunday's other game, bottom club Chievo, who have been deducted three points for false accounting, lost 2-0 at home to Udinese following second-half strikes from Rodrigo De Paul and Kevin Lasagna.Itogon, BenguetAuthorities in the Cordilleras will conduct forced evacuations from landslide-prone areas in the entire region, after the weather bureau announced that a new storm threatens Northern Luzon. Cordillera Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council chairman and Office of Civil Defense Cordillera Regional Director Ruben Carandang said the council has been put on red alert since reports indicated that tropical storm Trami would enter the Philippine area of responsibility on Sunday. The storm, which will be called Paeng when it enters the country, is expected to make landfall by Tuesday. He said even residents who do not want to leave will be evacuated, after Typhoon Ompong left 95 people dead, most of them killed in landslides. This is a lesson learned, Carandang said. Maybe there will be no more hard-headed people who will refuse to vacate their areas. Police and barangay officials would enforce evacuations once an area is declared a very dangerous area by the Mines and Geosciences Bureau. In earlier briefings, Itogon Mayor Victorio Palangdan said residents had repeatedly been urged to evacuate, but the people refused to go. We will rely on PAGASA because they have a system, a threshold based on the amount of rainfall that will increase the possibility of landslide. PAGASA and MGB will be very important in our contingency plan, Carandang said. Police Regional Office Cordillera Regional Director, Chief Supt. Rolando Nana said people in highly vulnerable areas would be forced to be moved out. Let us help each other in evacuating people to safe ground. We are calling on our residents to cooperate and not be hard-headed when they are told to evacuate, Nana said in Filipino.As of 6 pm Friday, the CDRRMC has recorded 59 deaths due to Ompong, with 42 others still missing in the whole town of Itogon, Benguet. Liza Soccoro Manzano, supervising science research specialist of the MGB Geohazard Assessment team, said the area in Ucab where the landslide took place and other areas, which was used as the incident command post for the operation at ground zero, is highly dangerous. On the site, cracks on rip-raps protecting the sides of the mountain, which were not present during the first days of the operation, have become more visible day by day. One crack, for instance, is now about two inches wide with several other cracks becoming visible. With Trami expected to be felt in the locality, she said there should be no person in the area to prevent a repeat of the incident here. She said even vehicles were prevented from going to the area, saying the vibration and weight contribute to susceptibility of the mountain to erosion, adding that nobody should be allowed entry. Manzano said the amount of rainfall that Trami brings may aggravate the situation. Meanwhile, Brig. Gen. Leopoldo Imbang, commander of the 503rd Brigade covering the Cordillera, said there are only 30 persons in the search, rescue and retrieval operation. They are aided by five canine dogs and four backhoes doing the digging. Imbang said the bunk house, the one used as a chapel where the residents allegedly sought refuge before Ompong made a landfall, had been removed. However, only six bodies were recovered.A beach in Greece has turned into an arachnophobes worst nightmare as hoards of spiders weaved thousands of cobwebs along the shoreline.

The spider's webs are currently covering an area stretching almost 1000 feet.Jeremy Corbyn would be prepared to back a second referendum on the European Union if activists at his party conference forced a change in Labour policy.

But the Labour leader insisted he was not calling for a public vote and believed a general election would be a better way to resolve the political crisis over the nature of the UK's departure from the EU.

His comments came as a poll found 86% of Labour members think voters should have the final say on the outcome of Brexit negotiations, and 90% would now vote to remain in the EU.

As Labour's conference officially begins in Liverpool on Sunday, a march of MPs, MEPs, union leaders and activists will attempt to put pressure on the party to throw its weight behind a so-called People's Vote.

More than 100 constituency parties have submitted motions calling for the issue to be put to a vote.

Many activists believe that with Theresa May's plans in disarray following the rejection of her Chequers proposals by EU leaders in Salzburg, the time is now right for Labour to call for a fresh ballot.

Mr Corbyn told the Sunday Mirror: "What comes out of conference I will adhere to.

"But I'm not calling for a second referendum. I hope we will agree that the best way of resolving this is a General Election.

"But I was elected to empower the members of the party.

"So if conference makes a decision I will not walk away from it and I will act accordingly."

There was a similar message from deputy Labour leader Tom Watson, who told The Observer: "Jeremy and I were elected in 2015 to give the Labour Party back to its members.

"So if the people's party decide they want the people to have a final say on the deal, we have to respect the view of our members and we will go out and argue for it."

However, speaking to BBC Breakfast, shadow housing and communities minister Andrew Gwynne stopped short of repeating his bosses' support for a people's vote if it is the wish of party members.

"Of course we're a democratic party, but before we get that we want a general election, because this government has made a complete fist of Brexit, they haven't been able to negotiate a deal," he said.

"Ultimately we are not in control of this process right now. We want to be in control of that process. We want to negotiate a Labour Brexit."

A YouGov survey of more than 1,000 Labour members for The Observer found 86% support a referendum on the outcome of Brexit talks, against just 8% who oppose it.

Even in the North and Midlands, where many Labour constituencies voted Leave in 2016, there was overwhelming support - 86% and 88% respectively - for a second vote.

Some 81% believe their standard of living would get worse after Brexit and 89% said it would be bad for jobs.

Tory chairman Brandon Lewis said: "The last pretence that Labour ever respected the democratic decision of the British people is rapidly disappearing."

As Labour's gathering began:

- The party announced plans for a 560 million tax on holiday homes in England to fund measures to tackle homelessness and inequality

- Mr Corbyn said his government would require businesses employing more than 250 people to reserve one-third of seats on boards for representatives of their workforce

- Delegates will vote on changes to the way the party elects its leader

At Labour's women's conference on Saturday, the party faced a fresh row after a frontbencher praised the Militant-dominated council which ran Liverpool in the 1980s.

Dawn Butler hailed the example of left-wing former councillors who set an illegal budget in 1985 in protest at cuts to central government funding.

Her comments were criticised by senior peers and fellow MPs in a further indication of the divisions within the Parliamentary Labour Party.

Ms Butler said: "We are in Liverpool, where over 30 years ago the council stood up to Thatcher and said better to break the law than break the poor."

The comments revived memories of the party's battles of the 1980s, when then leader Neil Kinnock denounced "the grotesque chaos of a Labour council - a Labour council - hiring taxis to scuttle round a city handing out redundancy notices to its own workers".

His intervention was a key moment in the drive to break the far-left Militant group's hold over parts of the party, which ended with the expulsion of figures including Liverpool council's deputy leader Derek Hatton.

Shadow equalities minister Ms Butler's comments were criticised by fellow Labour frontbencher Baroness Thornton.

She said she was "surprised" Ms Butler praised a council that "issued redundancy notices to their own public sector employees, and failed to protect services too".

Fellow Lords frontbencher Lord Kennedy retweeted Lady Thornton, adding: "Well said."

Ms Butler's remarks were "far from what we should be standing for as a party", one Labour MP told the Press Association.

A Labour spokesman said: "The point Dawn was making was that like the Thatcher government of the 1980s, this Tory Government has prioritised tax cuts for the rich while cutting services like women's refuges that save lives and keep women safe."

- PaSenior racing officials and national gaming giant Tabcorp are growing increasingly concerned about the decline of tote betting, and are "brainstorming" ways to boost its appeal to punters, according to the head of Racing Victoria.

Tabcorp, which holds the exclusive licence to run retail and tote betting in Victoria, is the joint-venture partner of the state racing industry and its biggest source of funding.

Racing Victoria's accounts for the past financial year reveal a 6 per cent slump in revenue from pari-mutuel betting turnover, which had "sustained the industry for decades".

Racing Victoria CEO Giles Thompson. Credit:Rob Gunstone

Racing officials said they believed the decline was driven by shifting punter preferences.If you happened to be wandering the streets of San Francisco the week before last, you might have spotted a slightly unusual looking Toyota Highlander on the streets.

Zoox, the $3 billion autonomous vehicle startup co-founded by a Melbourne designer and backed by some heavyweight Australian investors, had some of its 'test mules' transporting VIPs from a high-profile climate summit to their hotel.

Tim Kentley-Klay, and Jesse Levinson, of Zoox. Credit:Shaughn and John

The initiative offered some prominent exposure for Zoox in the worlds epicentre of innovation. Only a few months ago, the secretive company was still in stealth mode and unknown to all but a few Silicon Valley insiders.

Zoox shot to prominence in Australia and beyond last month when local tech mogul Mike Cannon-Brookes of Atlassian tipped $100 million of his own money into the company and joined its board.The days of the old, sad coin laundry are in the past and a new cohort of entrepreneurs are upping the ante with state-of-the-art laundromats.

With a more transient population and the unreliability of cheap white goods, people are coming back to laundromats, director of Soap Bar Launderette, Constance Bernard, says.

Soap Bar Launderette founders Ben Shaw and Constance Bernard.

Over the past five years of running the Melbourne business, competition has intensified; the number of other operators within a 5-kilometre radius has tripled, Bernard says.

Making laundry a social eventAustralias restaurant lobby is working with the workplace watchdog to tackle what industry leaders now concede is a widespread and even epidemic underpayment problem in the nations eateries.

Restaurant & Catering Australia chief executive Juliana Payne said it was now clear the underpayment problem was wider than isolated cases.

Restaurant & Catering Association CEO Juliana Payne. Credit:James Alcock

Were working with the Fair Work Ombudsman to try and figure this out. To identify why this ... keeps happening and what we can do to solve it.

Australias biggest high-end restaurant business, Rockpool Dining Group, fronted by Neil Perry, is among the businesses that have been exposed for underpaying their workforce.Stan has stitched up a deal to acquire a new comedy from UK studio All3Media, The Bisexual. The series, a six-part comedy, is one of All3Media's major titles at this year's upcoming television market Mipcom. Written and directed by and starring Desiree Akhavan, the series is described as "a raw, funny, unapologetic take on bisexuality and the comic misconceptions surrounding it." All3Media has already locked in deals with the UK's Channel 4 and the streaming platform Hulu in the US. The series also stars Maxine Peake, John Dagliesh, Brian Gleeson and Eva Birthistle. Stan will launch the series later this year.

Complaint ruling challenged

A group of Aboriginal elders say they have lodged a complaint with the Australian Human Rights Commission over Sunrise's infamous segment on Indigenous adoption. It follows Sunrise host Samantha Armytage wrongly claiming that at-risk Indigenous children could only be adopted by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families, and that they're being left where they are "even if they're being neglected in their own families". The show's guest panellist Prue MacSween then used the discussion to suggest there needed to be a second Stolen Generation for children's "wellbeing". The segment earned the Seven Network a slap on the wrist earlier this month, with the television watchdog ruling that the discussion breached the commercial TV industry's code of practice. The watchdog said Sunrise had broadcast a factual inaccuracy and also incited contempt or ridicule on the basis of someone's race. Seven's director of news, Craig McPherson, hit back at the ruling, arguing it was based off "political correctness" and was a form of "censorship". The company has vowed to fight the claims in court.

With Broede CarmodyA multi-year fight has begun over the Berejiklian government's plan to raise the Warragamba Dam wall amid claims opponents are risking hundreds of thousands of residents to floods. Critics point to evidence of unnecessary haste as reservoir levels sink.

The government last week introduced an amendment bill into the upper house to permit the flooding of more than 3000 hectares of the Blue Mountains World Heritage area should the wall be raised the proposed 14 metres, and Sydney's main reservoir then fill up.

The bill is the start of a "logical sequence" to be followed by an Environmental Impact Statement expected by mid-next year. A business case will also be needed for a project that in 2015 was estimated to cost $670 million, with construction then expected to be finished by 2024.

Warragamba Dam at almost 98 per cent full in June 2016. The government wants to lift the wall by 14 metres to add flood mitigation to the dam's role. Credit:Edwina Pickles

Labor, the Greens and environmental groups have condemned the bill's winding back of protection in the national park that would destroy dozens of Aboriginal sites and 65 kilometres of wild rivers in the region even with temporary inundation.DRUG SUSPECT. The body of an alleged drug dealer lies on the ground after he was killed by an unidentified assailant in Manila on March 23, 2018. Police said on March 22 they had shot dead 13 drug suspects, just days after President Rodrigo Duterte moved to take the country out of the International Criminal Court over its inquiry into his deadly drug war. AFP FILE PHOTO

Eight out of 10 Filipinos said they are satisfied with President Rodrigo Dutertes campaign against illegal drugs, an independent pollster said Sunday.In its second-quarter survey, the Social Weather Stations found that 78 percent of those polled were satisfied, while 13 percent were dissatisfied with the Duterte administrations war on drugs. The latest survey result recorded a net satisfaction rating of +65, classified by SWS as very good. It was one point above the very good +64 net satisfaction rating in March 2018. Net satisfaction was lowest in the Visayas, which experienced a 12-point drop from the very good +69 in March 2018, to +57 in June 2018. Net satisfaction was highest in Mindanao, increasing by three points from the excellent +81 in March to +84 this June. In Metro Manila, net satisfaction rose two points, from the very good +65 in March, to +67 in June. It also increased by five points in Balance Luzon, from the very good +53 in March, to +58 in June. The Palace on Sunday welcomed the latest SWS survey, saying the results speak of the publics support for the campaign, which has drawn heavy criticism from human rights groups.This is a testament that the drug war continues to enjoy the broad support of our people, notwithstanding the efforts of the detractors and critics of the administration to politicize the issue or discredit the campaigns success, said Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque in a statement Sunday afternoon. Filipinos aspire for a crime-free society which can be realized by stopping the spread of criminality and fighting the scourge of drugs, he added. At the same time, Roque said the President did not order the arrest of loiterers, as loitering did not constitute a crime. The SWS survey was conducted from June 27-30 and used face-to-face interviews of 1,200 adults from Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao, with a sampling error margins of 3% for national percentages and 6% each for Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. The result came days after the activist International Peoples Tribunal convicted Duterte of crimes for gross human rights abuses covering his deadly war on drugs and the implementation of martial law in Mindanao, among other things. The Palace has already labeled the court as a sham proceeding that must be ignored.Macquarie Capital's head of equities Patrick Hodgens had one of Australia's most successful stock picking teams running Macquarie Groups Pure Alpha Fund, but eventually that success became a problem.

When funds do well, competitors start stealing your staff and offering equity (in the business), Mr Hodgens said.

Macquarie could not allow Mr Hogdens and his equities colleague, James Miller, to offer equity in the funds business to help keep the successful stock picking team together, so the entire team resigned en masse in November last year. They set up Firetrail early this year when non-compete clauses had expired.

Macquarie's former head of equities, Patrick Hodgens, has set up Firetrial with former team members at Macquarie. Credit:Picasa

Mr Hodgens and Mr Miller transplanted that Macquarie team and have replicated the investment strategy model at Firetrail. The duo have also successfully brought over almost all of the institutional investors who were with the original Macquarie fund.Canberra fishers are concerned native fingerlings - baby fish - need to be urgently restocked in a drained pond in Tuggeranong.

The dam at Upper Stranger Pond, which sits between Isabella Drive and Drakeford Drive, was drained without authorisation earlier this month.

Thousands of native Australian fish were introduced to the pond in January to replenish their numbers after the water was cleared of introduced carp.

Glen Malam is concerned about the unauthorised draining at Upper Stranger Pond. Credit:Jamila Toderas

A spokesman for the City Services directorate, which oversees Canberra's drains and dams, confirmed it had been drained by a contractor before it had been drained again without authorisation.A researcher has called on the ACT government to investigate systemic underperformance in student NAPLAN results, saying the controversial national test remains the best tool to measure any intervention into the problem.

Speaking before an ACT inquiry into standardised testing this month, policy analyst and law professor Andrew Macintosh at the Australian National University said the ACT education directorate had known about Canberra's comparatively poor academic performance for more than two years but failed to act.

NAPLAN testing in the ACT is under the microscope this month. Credit:Fairfax

His analysis, published last month with co-author Debra Wilkinson, found Canberra students were up to 16 months behind their peers from similar socioeconomic groups in some categories, with the worse results emerging in high school.

Between 50 and 75 per cent of secondary students were at least six months behind those from similar backgrounds in writing and numeracy.Do we really need a royal commission to tell us whats wrong with aged care?

Not in this city. From what I am told, in Canberra its pretty good. Pockets could be better of course, including some of the reputable facilities run by churches.

And there is at least one common complaint: that too many staff dont speak English well. It can be a barrier to developing good relationships with residents.

The other challenge, wherever you live, is the need to keep an eye on the centre to make sure its service doesnt worsen.Everyone's favourite former solicitor-general has a new gig.

After resigning over a nasty dispute with his boss, former attorney-general George Brandis, Justin Gleeson, SC, went on to exact revenge by having Barnaby Joyce punted from Parliament for being a secret Kiwi.

Former solicitor-general Justin Gleeson, SC, has been drafted in to help the Federal Court decide whether Westpac really has broken responsible lending laws. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

Then, he failed to save Labor's Katy "In through the Ecuador" Gallagher from her own dual citizenship woes (British, not South American).

Now he's been appointed by the Federal Court to work out whether a $35 million settlement between Westpac and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission is fair.Last week, NSW Education Minister Rob Stokes accused some universities of a venal ploy to generate income by packing lecture theatres with under-achievers studying to be teachers.

The facts just dont support this.

Trainee teachers will find it even harder to get work under the NSW goverment plans. Credit:Rick Wilking

Between 2010 and 2016, the number of students commencing Initial Teacher Education (ITE) courses at NSW universities dropped by more than 20 per cent.

And the fall in enrolments comes at a time when demand for teachers is rising fast.A child predator who used Facebook and Snapchat to lure a 16-year-old girl from Lindfield to fly to Los Angeles so he could sexually abuse her has been sentenced to 35 years jail in the United States.

Sean Price, 40, from Queens, New York, started sending daily messages to the girl on Facebook in 2016. He coaxed the teenager to leave without her parents knowledge and, in March 2017, paid for her flights.

Sean Price lured a 16-year-old Sydney girl to the US for sex.

A few weeks later she flew on a return-trip ticket from Sydney to Los Angeles where Price was waiting for her. They rented a car and drove across the US to Prices home in Jamaica, Queens.

Price admitted they had sex during the cross-country trip and while they were in New York.A "gender realignment" is shifting work patterns across Australia and in Sydney, where 25,000 fewer women worked at two or more jobs in 2016 than in 2012. Meanwhile, there were 3000 more men moonlighting in Sydney over the same period, new ABS data reveals.

People holding multiple jobs earned $8215 less on average than those in one role, with a median total income of $39,813 in 2016. Those working multiple jobs were most likely to toil in the healthcare and social assistance sector or the administrative and support services industry.

Professor John Buchanan, head of business analytics at the University of Sydney business school said men aged from 21 to about 40 are suffering more in the job market than other groups with the "hollowing out of the standard model of employment", reflected in this and other jobs data.

"There is a gender realignment and we've been seeing this for the past 30 years," Professor Buchanan said. "Downmarket men are being treated more like women and upmarket women are being treated more like men."Baiting and killing sharks after two life-threatening attacks in the Whitsundays gives swimmers a false sense of security and won't prevent more attacks, environmentalists say.

Fisheries Queensland dropped baited hooks into the waters where Justine Barwick, 46, from Tasmania, and Hannah Papps, 12, from Melbourne, were bitten less than 24 hours apart last week.

Justine Barwick (top right) and Hannah Papps were both attacked by sharks after Whitsunday Island attacks.

Sea Shepherd Australia and Humane Society International said human safety was paramount but killing four tiger sharks in Cid Harbour in response to the attacks was not the answer.

"Public support for these shark control methods is dropping off," HSI marine campaigner Lawrence Chlebeck said.Movie World visitors can experience the panoramic views of the Gold Coast from the top of the tallest Hypercoaster in the Southern Hemisphere, without the rollercoaster ride.

The DC Rivals HyperCoaster Lift Climb opened on Sunday and offers 360-degree views from 61 metres above the ground.

However, there's a catch - guests have to climb 282 stairs.

The DC Rivals HyperCoaster Lift Climb opened at Movie World on the Gold Coast on Sunday.

The adventure climb is offered at 8am on selected days. Groups of eight climbers are taken to the top of the ride by a theme park guide and light refreshments and morning tea are included.Lest we are accused of bias, this column will start by giving the government side on the proposed P3.757-trillion national budget for 2019. First, Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno claimed the government budget is pork barrel-free. He also defended the cuts in education and health services. Diokno riposted this question: Why should the Department of Education get more money when it underspent its allocation last year? We leave DepEd Secretary Leonor Briones and Health Secretary Francisco Duque to answer Dioknos assertion. This is a gray area best left to the fund managers. Like lawyers who have different interpretations of the law, the officials managing government funds (our tax money, really) have divergent views on how government should allocate the national budget. Briones is formerly National Treasurer while Diokno was also Budget secretary under President Joseph Estrada who was convicted of plunder and then pardoned right away like his crime never happened. Now our two cents worth on the gargantuan national appropriation that seems to be rising every year together with the cost of living and prime commodities: Diokno says there will be no insertion in the budget, hence it is pork barrel-free. He also raises the point that the President has the veto power on line allocations. Oh yeah? Leave it to the resourceful congressmen to lobby with the President to set aside funds for public works projects in their respective congressional districts. Actually there is an estimated P52-billion realigned pork barrel funds parked within the budget which the President can disburse at his discretion. Next year is the mid-term elections for senators, congressmen and local officials. How can a sitting president not allocate funds for the ruling partys candidates? Not to do so would be courting defeat. That is plain and simple realpolitik Consider the huge slashes in the DepEd and DoH budgets and compare the increase of the Palace Communications Office of Secretary Martin Andanar and Asec Mocha Uson which increased from P1.3 billion to P1.5 billion. Where are the governments spending priorities? Opposition Liberal Party Senators Paulo Bam Aquino, Risa Hontiveros and Minority Floor Leader Franklin Drilon expressed concern that basic services for health and education will suffer the most. Cuts in the budget of DepEd and DoH would mean fewer classrooms and health centers. Schools and classrooms destroyed by Typhoon Ompong will be hard pressed for money for repair and reconstruction.The senators noted the biggest chunk of the budget has been allocated to the Department of Public Works and Highways. The government for sure will justify this huge expenditure as essential to its Build Build Build infrastructure program to ease the monster traffic in Metro Manila There are certain quarters questioning the alleged involvement of the family and relatives of Christopher Bong Go, Special Assistant to the President. Go denied the allegation and stated he would be ready to face a Senate investigation on the matter. Go is running for the Senate under the PDP-Laban-Hugpong coalition party of the Dutertes. The Senate probe plus the bicameral hearing on the budget should be very interesting. Remember the controversial Dengvaxia dengue vaccine project? This was immediately paid for by the previous Noynoy Aquino administration. In the same way, take note that 2019 is also an election year and candidates need campaign funds. So, elementary my dear Juan, we dont have to be economists to know the implication and exigency of why the DPWH is getting the bulk of the budget. Under existing practice, the congressmen can still name and propose public works projects in their respective districts to receive funding from the President. Pork barrel free as claimed by Diokno is pure hogwash. Speaking of the senatorial slates, there are those who are seen as sure winners and those who are merely there NOT for the fun of it but for the funds of it. Campaign funds, that is. A popular practice in this country is to tap big business and political backers for campaign funds. These political bets can make money whether they lose or later on drop out of the race with a lot of pesos still left in their pockets. Smart. Leading the race according to the latest Pulse Asia survey are women candidates headed by Senator Grace, Poe, Ilocos Norte Gov. Imee Marcos, Davao City Mayor Sarah Duterte and Taguig Rep. Pia Cayateno. Who says the women in this country are disenfranchised? So far we have had two women presidents in Cory Aquino and Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, the present Speaker of the House of Representatives.A New Zealand shopping chain has withdrawn a brand of Australian strawberries from sale after needles were found in the fruit sold at an Auckland supermarket.

Countdown supermarkets have pulled the Western Australia-sourced Choice strawberries from shelves after the discovery and is in contact with both New Zealand and Australian authorities.

Strawberries have been beset by a number of sabotage attempts involving needles in the past few weeks. Credit:AAP

The Choice brand strawberries were sold across New Zealand during the week and have now been withdrawn in the latest blow for Australian strawberry farmers struggling to cope with millions of dollars of damage done to their industry.

"At Countdown we take food safety very seriously and we have withdrawn any remaining Choice strawberries from sale from Countdown, SuperValue and FreshChoice supermarkets while we investigate this with our suppliers," a statement from the supermarket chain issued on Sunday afternoon said.School chaplains are being encouraged to promote a Christian theology course to students, despite being strictly forbidden from proselytising in schools.

Under the $243.8 million national school chaplaincy program, introduced by the Howard government and continued by successive Liberal and Labor governments, schools can apply for up to $20,000 per year to engage a school chaplain to provide pastoral care to students.

A chaplain at Glenroy Primary School.

The scheme is opposed by secular groups and the education union who say taxpayers should not be funding religious officers in secular schools. As a way of appeasing these groups, the rules state that chaplains must not advocate religious teachings or try to convert students.

But Generate Ministries, the largest provider of school chaplains in NSW, has begun offering a "faith building" course to students and told them their chaplain is one way of accessing the program.The Morrison government has given Catholic schools more than 10 times the amount of money needed to maintain "affordable choice" for parents, according to analysis by the Grattan Institute.

Meanwhile, federal Education Minister Dan Tehan has signalled there is room to compromise as he attempts to fend off a major stoush with the NSW Liberal government over school funding.

The Morrison government has committed an extra $4.6 billion to private schools over 10 years. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

The $4.6 billion injection into private schools announced last week included a $1.2 billion "choice and affordability" fund designed to help Catholic and independent schools keep fees low.

About $718 million is expected to flow to the Catholic sector, with much of that money earmarked for keeping fees low at inner-city primary schools where government funding will decrease under the new "direct income" method of assessing school wealth.In recent years, China  the second largest contributor to peacekeeping and to third highest budget donor  has become more willing to deploy its veto. China's efforts to defend its interests in the crisis over North Korea, Russia's recalcitrance on Syria, and Saudi Arabia's proxy war in Yemen are efforts to reshape UN diplomacy. And that's to say nothing of the growing assertiveness of regional powers old and new such as India and Ethiopia. This competition is taking place on a new strategic landscape. Cyberspace has opened up a virtual arena for everything from espionage to political interference. Criminal syndicates that traffic in weapons, minerals, drugs and migrants have stoked violence and corruption in fragile states. Jihadist groups have made conflicts more violent and harder to resolve. The number of civil wars has almost tripled in the past decade. Even as the UN successfully ends some peacekeeping missions, such complicating factors will make others harder to wind down. The average age of the 14 missions now in place, involving some 103,000 personnel, is 26 years. And then there's Donald Trump. His US administration poses the greatest challenge of all. Trump has ended US support for the UN Population Fund and backed away from the Paris accord on climate change, the UN-led Global Compact on Migration, UNESCO, and the UN Human Rights Council. He also dumped the Iran nuclear agreement that Security Council members fashioned and UN agencies had monitored. Congress restored many of his cuts to US support, but this month Trump terminated aid to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.

US President Donald Trump's isolationist agenda poses a risk to the future of the United Nations. Credit:AP The US has legitimate complaints. As the UN's biggest funder, it is right to demand accountability. In 2017, its obligatory contribution of 22 per cent of the regular UN budget amounted to $US611 million. In all, the US provides about $US10 billion in assessed and voluntary support for UN agencies. Under the current formula, some 30-odd of the world's poorest countries pony up a mere $US25,000 a year  a fraction of what might pay for their presidential limousines. Plagued by corruption There's no denying that the UN has been plagued by corruption and mismanagement. Its bodies often seem to devote more effort to debating Israel's sins, real or imagined, than the crimes of egregious offenders. And biting the US hand that feeds them comes far too naturally to many of the General Assembly's members. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks at a Security Council meeting on September 10. The United States' UN Ambassador Nikki Haley is pictured on the right. Credit:United Nations/Manuel Elias via AP

Productive engagement is the answer. US Ambassador Nikki Haley was right, for instance, to shine a light on UN peacekeeping operations. But the US administration is increasingly inclined toward unproductive disengagement. Consider the US decision to withdraw from the Human Rights Council. The US had curbed the council's anti-Israel bias, supported investigations into human rights abuses in numerous countries, brought attention to discrimination against gay and transgender people, and broke up anti-Western voting blocs. The argument that by withdrawing from the council, the US denies it legitimacy is beside the point. By the same logic, you might as well walk away from the General Assembly. After all, Freedom House rates more than half the world's nations "not free" or only "partly free," and says that trends are heading in the wrong direction. If you support human rights and political freedom, this is a bad time to admit defeat. Members of Australia's UN contingent patrol the Namibian countryside in 1989 during efforts to help the country transition to independence. Credit:Fairfax Media Haley has proposed linking US aid to votes in the General Assembly. Sheba Crocker, a vice-president at CARE USA, says that would be "counterproductive, with potentially disastrous unintended consequences."

Foreign aid amplifies US soft power and yields votes in the UN system. Issuing public threats can make it harder to do deals behind closed doors. Jeffrey Feltman, a former US diplomat who served as the UN's undersecretary-general for political affairs from 2012 to 2018, sees a darker motive behind the anti-UN bluster: "Instead of trying to find common ground, they're intentionally throwing things down to try to antagonise the UN, to try to show how unreasonable they think the organisation is." A US retreat from the UN would be UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres's worst nightmare. A former prime minister of Portugal and UN High Commissioner for Refugees, he's liked by UN critics and defenders alike. He's cultivated ties with Haley, and done his best to stay out of range of Trump's tweets. His proposals for UN reform are bolder than those of his two predecessors and dovetail in many areas with US priorities, including tackling bureaucratic inefficiencies. Corporal Greg Scanlon and Sergeant Paul Goodridge were part of a 40-strong Australian Army contingent that provided communications to nearly 3000 UN soldiers from over 30 countries in Western Sahara in 1991. Credit:Fairfax Media But this congruence of interest seems unlikely to keep Trump's pugilistic instincts in check. Guterres appears to recognise this. His latest idea for taming those impulses is to warn that the US withdrawal from the UN is creating a vacuum that China is moving to fill.

You might wonder, would that be so bad? China is stepping up in UN peacekeeping, providing relatively well-trained and well-resourced troops. Last year, it moved with new speed in the Security Council to support sanctions on North Korea for its nuclear and missile programs. It has championed the fight against climate change, a cause that has amplified its influence. Its financial role in the UN is growing, and with that is coming greater interest in how the money is spent. That could bolster institutional reform. But while it's one thing for China to put more peacekeepers in the field, it's another for China to push in UN budget deliberations for fewer human rights observers in peacekeeping missions. The last thing the UN needs is a stronger illiberal axis, led by China and an increasingly disruptive Russia. Illiberalism is on the rise in many parts of the world  including, for instance, in the European Union, where until recently one would not have expected it to pose a threat. If Guterres hopes to keep such forces at bay, he needs to do what he can to keep the US engaged. That gives him little choice but to appease his US tormentors by making a more visible effort to trim the bureaucracy and cut red tape. He could also push for a new formula that increases the contributions of its least well-off members and gets them more invested in the UN's effectiveness. Increasing the scrutiny of UN peacekeeping missions, winding down the failures and holding national detachments more accountable are also on the cards. The good news is that Trump's posture has few admirers. In many cases, other Western countries have stepped in to increase their role. In 2019, Germany will join the council, along with Indonesia and South Africa. It says it expects to play a more prominent role and will work with France to preserve multilateralism. The best way to preserve multilateralism is to show that it can deliver results. For all the flaws of the United Nations as an institution, that task remains the responsibility of its members. Last year, they joined forces at the Security Council to meet the threat posed by North Korea to peace and security, pushing it to the negotiating table  exactly the kind of situation that the UN was designed to handle.What probably could be the greatest act pulled by Gina Lopez was in convincing the world she was one honest environmental crusader. Even President Rodrigo Duterte was somehow convinced about the image she was trying to project when he appointed her as secretary of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. For this, she was eventually rejected by the Commission on Appointments. My first encounter with Lopez was about seven years ago when she guested in a fiesta celebration in Looc in Romblon to personally campaign against mining. Being a Lopez gracing a small-town fiesta, she imemediately enjoyed a cult following in that part of the country who echoed her calls for a strictly no-mining operation in their once-sleepy village. Even then, I already had some reservations about her real agenda. She was a staunch advocate against any form of mining operation, and yet she was ferried by a chopper powered by fossil fuel mined form several hundreds of meters below the earths surface. She was adorned by sparkling diamonds sourced from mine pits thousands of miles from the country. She was in constant communication with her peers outside of that small island from Romblon courtesy of the latest model of a mobile phone that time, the parts of which are products of different mine sites. What a way to call for a total ban on mining. Her acts after that betrayed her environmental masquerade. In 2012, in a news forum in a restaurant in Quezon City, she openly defended former President Noynoy Aquino who was then being accused by indigenous people of selling their future to investors on the issue of mining even as his records speak otherwise. Please dont say I said President Aquino is also grossly irresponsible over the mining industry, I remember Lopez telling me when I asked her then over Aquinos responsibility on the indigenous peoples concern. Aquino, that time, was accused by the Kalipunan ng mga Katutubong Mamamayan ng Pilipinas of taking the side of foreign investors with regard to the mining industry. Aquinos record to protect the countrys mining industry has been proven dismal. Under his administration, the Mines and Geosciences Bureau has endorsed for approval a total of 530 applications covering about five million hectares of prospective mineral lands. In 2011, a high-profile delegation from the Chamber of Mines of the Philippines, accompanied Aquino to China to seal up to $3 billion in mining investments and mineral-supply contracts with Chinese firms during his state visit to China next week. I am just not sure whether those granted by Aquino mining permits were among those ordered closed by Lopez during her short stint as Environment and Natural Resources Secretary.In 2013, when Gina was busy touring the country for her environmental crusade, she opted to keep her silence when her familys firms got involved in some environmental disaster. She kept mum on the Lopez-owned First Philippine Holdings which is responsible for the West Towers oil pipeline leak that has gone on for years without being investigated. And then there is the case of the Lopez-controlled Energy Development Corps geothermal production field in Kananga, Leyte which figured in another disaster where at least 15 workers of the EDC and First Balfour, also a Lopez firm, who were erecting a protective structure for the steel pipes, were killed. There were heavy rains and landslides but the bodies were charred beyond recognition. To date,there has been no explanation to date on why the bodies were burned. But more than the charred bodies, reports say that tests had shown the toxicity level of the chemical boron, which sources in the DENR then said, had already spread to a nearby river. The tests conducted by [DENR] showed that the toxic boron has already spread down to the river, which clearly presents a big environmental problem, if not a hazardous one to the health of the villagers, according to a DENR source. Where was Gina when all these were happening? She kept on harping against the negative environmental impact of mining operations in the country, but was surprisingly quiet when it comes to environmental disasters caused by her family owned companies. And at the time Gina was at the helm of the DENR, she did not even question the environmental, sewerage and sanitation fees which were allowed to be charged to consumers of her family-owned water concessionare, Maynilad, and Manila Water from rate rebasing 2002 up to 2016 from 10 percent to 20 percent which would amount to somewhere between P32 billion and P38 billion, despite not meeting the international standards as called for in their Concession Agreement. Up to now, Maynilad has yet to install a single meter of sewer pipe a sewerage treatment plan or initiate reforestation project in the Sierra Madre Watershed. And now, from nowhere, Gina resurfaces, blaming this time, legitimate mining operators for the Itogon mining disaster which no less than the local government officials in that area blame on gold buyers from the black market who commissions these illegal small-scale mining operators. Ironically, Gina could have acted to put a stop to these illegal mining operations when she was still the DENR secretary. But she did not, she was more focused on collecting millions of pesos from legitimate mining firms to fund her own NGO and maybe at the same time protect her own familys business interest. Gina has gone a long way from her Ananda Marga days, from the day she ran away from the rehabilitation facilities of the DARE Foundation in 1975 where she had been committed to by her mother for alleged illegal substance abuse. She can dream and act all she wants, but she cannot convince us she is a no-nonsense environmental champion.In Turbulent Times Doris Kearns Goodwin Simon & Schuster 473 pages; $30 The story of Theodore Roosevelt is the story of a small boy who read about great men and decided he wanted to be like them. In her new book, Leadership: In Turbulent Times, the acclaimed presidential biographer Doris Kearns Goodwin quotes this line from The Boys Life of Theodore Roosevelt, a 1918 volume by Hermann Hagedorn, one of Roosevelts earliest (and most sycophantic) biographers. By regaling young readers with stirring tales of the beloved presidents ...An pilot has come under the lens of the airline's flight safety department for allegedly making a steep 10,000 feet descend while flying from to earlier this month, sources said.

The incident happened on September 15 when an A320 plane was flying to

An industry source said that the pilot descended from 35,000 feet after a "brake hot" warning to 25,000 feet.

Apparently, the descend was done to cool off the brakes but at 35,000 feet the temperature is extremely low and the warning would have been wrong, the source added.

After sometime the plane climbed to 35,000 feet.

An source said the flight safety department has called the pilot on October 1 to seek more details about the incident. The pilot himself had reported the matter to the airline, the source added.

An spokesperson declined to comment on the incident citing pending investigation.In its efforts to rescue Commander Abhilash Tomy, who currently lies injured in his sailing vessel in the south of Indian Ocean, Sunday said the officer would be rescued French vessel Osiris in the next 16 hours.

Tomy, representing India in the Golden Globe Race 2018 (GGR) on an indigenously built sailing vessel 'Thuriya', was dismasted and suffered a back injury on Friday.

He is in the south Indian Ocean, approximately 1900 nautical miles from Perth, Australia and about 2700 nautical miles from Cape Comorin.

All out efforts are being made to rescue Tomy and the Australian Rescue Coordination Centre at Canberra is coordinating the rescue mission in conjunction with many agencies including the Australian Defence Department and the Indian Navy, the Navy said in a statement.

"Spoke to VCNS VAdm Ajit Kumar P, AVSM, VSM regarding the condition of injured navy officer @abhilashtomy. The Rescue Mission is being coordinated with the The injured officer shall be picked up in the next 16 hrs by a French vessel Osiris," the tweeted.

The Navy said its P-8I aircraft has sighted the SV Thuriya at 7.50 AM on Sunday.

The sources said the capability of the P8i has been a "humongous force multiplier" who has given it and the Australian MRCC a huge input into the state of Thuriya for planning purposes.

An Indian Naval defence attache' in Australia is camping in regional Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC), the navy sources said.

"Continuous watch over the boat is being maintained by and RAAF (Royal Australian Air Force) aircraft till rescue is completed.

"Indian Naval stealth frigate, INS Satpura with a Chetak Helicopter and tanker INS Jyoti operating in the Indian Ocean have been dispatched for the rescue mission. The officer in his last text message has indicated that he is safe on the boat; however is immobile due to back injury," the statement added.The mobile revolution has touched around a billion people in India, but it seems that primarily men have benefitted from it as women make for a meagre 17.4 per cent of mobile subscribers in the country. As on March 31 last year, there were over 990 million mobile subscriptions in the country, of which only 172.42 million were women, according to data from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT).

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Digital EditorMaking it mandatory for e-commerce players operating in the country to store user data exclusively in India will impact their business, according to industry experts.

An initial draft policy discussed at a meeting of a high-level think-tank set up to formulate a e-commerce policy has suggested that all e-commerce companies will have to store user data exclusively in India in view of security and privacy concerns.

Pratibha Jain, Partner, Nishit Desai Associates said that would not help in resolving privacy concerns.

"Whether I keep a copy in India or offshore as long as the service provider signs a confidentiality agreement which is enforceable expeditiously... the only thing that then matters to me is the economics.

"As long as companies agree to provide access to the government, location of storage should not be a concern. On the other hand, enforcing may increase the cost of business for start-ups," she said.

Jain added that any policy should have three mantras -- job creation, promoting exports and consumer protection.

Another expert from the industry, who did not wish to be named, shared similar views and said that several budding entrepreneurs are venturing into e-commerce field and to help them grow, the government should not make it mandatory to store user data in the country.

However, some experts stated that the government should not allow firms to store data outside country as there are security related concerns.

Professor Biswajit Dhar of Jawaharlal Nehru University said that is important for India and that cannot be shared with anyone.

"User data should be stored in India. The data movement is tracked by multinational firms and from that they are making commercial gains. The government has to take stand on this important issue and framing of the e-commerce policy would help in taking a strong stand in the issue in the WTO," he added.

Several members, particularly the developed countries in the World Trade Organisation (WTO), are demanding discussions on liberalising e-commerce trade and for that India needs to first formulate a domestic policy for the fast-growing sector.

A high-level committee has been constituted recently by the government to take a look at all the issues concerning this sector, including definition, payment systems and logistics related matters.An aircraft has located the vessel of Indian Naval officer Abhilash Tomy, who was badly injured while participating in the Golden Globe Race, "rolling excessively" in the South Indian Ocean, a Defence spokesman said Sunday.

He said all efforts are being made to rescue Commander Tomy who had suffered a back injury Friday after his yacht was hit by a vicious storm with 14-metre-high waves mid-way across south



#IndianNavy P8i launched from Port Louis at 0200h this morning establishes visual contact with Thuriya & has landed back. Thuriya mast broken & hanging on the side.

Sea state 4/5(waves 10-12ft) with Heavy clouding & rains in area. @ggr2018official @DefenceMinIndia pic.twitter.com/vZrmGYTJPP  SpokespersonNavy (@indiannavy) September 23, 2018

"INS Satpura and INS Jyoti are heading at top speed to reach Tomy", the spokesman said.

He said the situation was being monitored at Naval Headquarters in New Delhi, as well as by the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre at Melbourne,

frigate HMAS Ballarat is on the way to reach Tomy, he said.

The Indian Navy's P8I aircraft, which flew from in the early hours Sunday, has located the "mast broken rolling excessively", he said.

"Commander Tomy responded by ping on EPIRB as the aircraft was flying over him," the spokesman said here.

Quoting Captain Chandrahas Vivek, of the aircraft which flew from this morning, the spokesman said the aircraft established visual contact with the yacht and has landed back at Port Louis Mauritius.

The position was relayed to JRCC and the War room in through INMARSAT, he said.

The aircraft remained for two hours on the task in the area and landed at Mauritius.

He said heavy rains have been reported from the area.

Tomy can only be rescued by naval ships, he said.

He had Sunday managed to get in touch with race organisers in through messages and had requested for a stretcher as he could not move on his own. He was representing in the Golden Globe Race 2018 (GGR) on an indigenously-built sailing vessel 'S V Thuraya'.

Tomy, who became the first Indian to circumnavigate the globe in 2013, is the only Indian participating in the race that involves a gruelling 30,000-mile solo circumnavigation of the globe.

His vessel is in the south Indian Ocean, about 1,900 nautical miles from Perth in

Tomy's vessel was dismasted in extremely rough weather and sea conditions, with wind speeds of 130 kmph. He was in third position in the race and has sailed over 10,500 nautical miles in the last 84 days, since the race started on July 1.

A report from on Friday night had said 70 knot winds and 14-metre-high waves have left the yachts of Tomy and Ireland's Gregor McGuckin dismasted, and twice knocked down the yacht of second-placed Dutchman Mark Slats.

Both McGuckin and Slats had reported that they are okay, but 39-year-old Tomy, making his second solo circumnavigation, has been injured, it had said.

It had also said other entrants were asked to make towards Tomy's position if possible, and added that the weather was extreme.

The nearest yacht was McGuckin's 'Biscay 36 Hanley Energy Endurance', some 90 miles to the southwest of Tomy's 'Thuriya', but she too was dismasted in the same storm.Dear Reader,

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Digital EditorThe government is working on a proposal to launch a 'health television channel' with a view to promoting on a mission mode, making it a people's movement, NITI Aayog member V K Paul said.

The health TV channel, which is under active consideration of the government, will supplement the ambitious healthcare scheme (PMJAY), earlier named as

"It is (health television channel) under active consideration. It will be exclusively dedicated to and it is a good idea.

"It will help in spreading the message of healthcare, create a Jan Andolan (people movement) around these very important issues," Paul told PTI.

The NITI Aayog member is also the chief architect of the (PMJAY).

The exploratory work to launch the health TV channel is currently on, he said, adding," it should have a good creativity, good technology, good platform and should be sustainable."



The government's plan to launch the health television channel assumes significance as 27 states and Union Territories are ready to join the ambitious healthcare scheme after its launch on Sunday by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Over 15,000 hospitals, both public and private, across the country have expressed their willingness to be empanelled for the scheme which aims to provide 107.4-million poor families health insurance.

The healthcare channel would be the second channel launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for niche subjects.

Modi in May 2015 had launched DD Kisan, India's first television channel dedicated to farmers.Mining has been in the news again. At least 45 people perished in a mining town in Benguet when heavy rains brought by Typhoon Ompong last week caused a massive landslide that destroyed an old three-story building, a former mining bunkhouse. Authorities in Itogon said many miners and their families had trooped to the structure at the height of the typhoon, ignoring warnings to evacuate. They were consequently buried. Department of Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Roy Cimatu had since ordered the suspension of all small-scale mining operations in the entire Cordillera region, and subsequent closures would be done in phases, including the cancellation of all temporary permits. The first phase is to stop [this illegal mining]. The second stage will be to relocate them [small-scale miners] out of these very dangerous areas, he said. In the wake of the suspensions and closures, the government is reportedly considering setting up two Minahang Bayan, or community mines, outside the landslide-affected areas toward the end of the year. A Minahang Bayan centralizes the processing of mined outputs within a designated area, effectively regulating small-scale mining activities and ensuring that such tragedies never happen again. We are legitimizing small-scale mining in the country. Establishing it would allow them to know where they should only operate. But once declared, they will have to comply with environmental standards and they should just sell their gold output to the central bank, said DENR Undersecretary Analiza Teh. Aside from compliance to safety regulations, a Minahang Bayan also guarantees against environmental degradation and enables the government to collect proper taxes from such operations. There are about 20 Minahang Bayan all over the country, many in Cordillera, Bicol, Compostela Valley, and Zamboanga, while over 100 applications remain pending with the DENR. We cannot just ignore the small-scale miners. They have been there, we just have to fix them. But they should also help us through self-policing and self-discipline, Teh added. The problem in the coverage of such events is the glaring lack of distinction between such small-scale, often illegal, operations and the legitimate, highly regulated large-scale mining. Because areas like Benguet are associated with mining and the fatalities include miners and their families, anti-mining groups will simply blame mining per se. This glosses over the fact, for instance, that large-scale mines are in no way associated with the tragedy in Itogon. And precisely because they are squarely within the fold of state regulation, such operations also contribute the most to the Philippine economy. Reports said the total Philippine metallic mineral production value grew by 4 percent year-on-year in June from P52.42 billion in 2017 to P54.57. As a sector, mining contributed some P53 billion to the economy in the first half of the year alone, while mineral exports reached $1.1 billion. In terms of jobs created, some 215,000 Filipinos were employed in the industry. Mining companies also paid some P644.4 million in royalties and other charges to the government, with a further P292.6 million in extra taxes, fees, and charges to host local government units. As high as they are, these figures dont include yet the staggering P16.42 billion that the industry has committed for social development programs across nearly 1,000 barangays all over the country, surely to benefit hundreds of thousands of people in areas like education, livelihood, and health.But, even if the industry is evidently doing a lot, enforcement is critical, Cimatu stressed. He explained: Reinventing mining entails improving the MGB monitoring of operations and compliance of mining companies to mining and environmental laws, rules, and regulations. Enforcing fines, penalties, suspension and closure to demonstrate no-nonsense putting into force compliance and promoting deterrence for commission of violations is imperative. Fair enough. And perhaps the suspension of small-scale mining operations in Cordillera will enable a healthier, more sober discussion about the direction of mining in the Philippines as a whole insofar as they reveal systematic problems. The negative image of the mining sector, coupled with policy inconsistencies, prevents the industry from fully accelerating, especially considering the vast untapped mineral wealth underground. A reinvigorated mining industry will invigorate Industry, which could jumpstart development in the countryside via infrastructure, employment, taxes, and exports. But this would only be possible if the policy environment is conducive to the kind of large-scale investments that mining demands. On the issue of taxation, for instance, the proposed rates in the second package of the governments tax program are too prohibitive to the point of ruin, endangering billions of existing and potential investments. While the mining sector is not averse to a revised tax structure, it has to remain sensible and competitive to attract quality investments from the worlds major players. After all, it is important to remember that our minerals are competing with the rest of the worlds, and many countries have in place sophisticated and attractive tax structures. We are talking about billions of pesos in lost investments, lost taxes, particularly employment and social development that is critical, said Chamber of Mines of the Philippines chairman and Nickel Asia Corp. president and CEO Gerard Brimo. And with such investments come knowledge and technologies that could tap the countrys resources in the most efficient and ecologically sound manner possible. In the absence of such quality investment, mineral-rich areas like Benguet run the risk of continuing to fall prey to more illegal operations that are destructive to the environment and unsafe, not to mention the billions of revenues that gold smugglers will hijack from government. Thus, any measure that will virtually halt any momentum for the industry will only perpetuate the cycle that we see at play in Itogon. In many ways, this marks a crossroads in the way that government has managed the sector. There is really no choice but to strictly enforce our mining laws. The capacity of the regulating agencies must be strengthened with adequate technologies resources and talent. The fact that small-scale mining produces more than half the countrys annual mineral output should be main focus of regulation.Opec is dying. President Donald Trump will probably rejoice. But he may not like what takes its place any better.

For a while, in its youth, the group burned so very bright, helping members wrest control over their oil industries and stand up to foreign producers  and their governments. But now, like every star, it is about to implode. When a star runs out of hydrogen fuel its core contracts and heats up, while the outer layers expand. It will then go one of two ways  either collapsing into insignificance to become a black dwarf, or exploding as a ...Turns out, a protein that lingers too long on the membrane may compromise the connections, or synapses, between cells in the brain.

In a new study, Rockefeller scientist Mary E. Hatten and research associate Hourinaz Behesti demonstrated that the protein ASTN2 helps move proteins away from the membrane in a timely fashion. The researchers also propose a mechanism by which ASTN2 defects lead to neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism and intellectual disabilities.

Hatten, the Frederick P. Rose Professor, has demonstrated that the protein ASTN2 acts as such a trafficker during cell migration in early development.

Specifically, the protein appears to be disproportionally expressed in the cerebellum- a brain region that some researchers suspect may govern complex aspects of cognition, in addition to its more-established role in regulating movement.

The researchers used a special microscopy technique to determine where ASTN2 is expressed in the mouse cerebellum. They found that it appears primarily in components of neurons responsible for moving proteins around, and they identified a collection of molecules that attach to ASTN2. These "binding partners" included proteins involved in synapse formation and protein trafficking.

"Our data suggest that people who have mutations in ASTN2 make less of the protein, which leads to slower or weaker synapses," says Behesti. The researchers propose that without sufficient ASTN2, proteins accumulate on the cell surface, which hinders neuronal connections and communication.

This research supports a broader view that the disruption of surface protein composition may underlie a number of neurodevelopmental disorders. It also points to the cerebellum as a potentially fruitful research subject for understanding these conditions.

The full findings are present in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Two political leaders, including sitting Telegu Desam Party (TDP) Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) Kidari Sarveswara Rao, were shot dead by Naxals in Dumbriguda Mandal of Andhra Pradesh's Visakhapatnam district on Sunday.

The other person who fell in prey to the ultras was former TDP MLA Siveri Soma.

Rao and Soma were shot dead while they were on their way to participate in Gramadarsini program in the interior village called in Dubriguda mandal, police said.

Speaking to ANI, Srikanth, Deputy inspector general of police, said, "Around 20 Maoists accompanied by few villagers attacked the two leaders and snatched away weapons from their personal security officers. As per the preliminary investigation, both the TDP leaders died on the spot. Now, we are trying to send their bodies to Visakhapatnam."

"We have very few facts related to the incident right now, which is why we are not able to ascertain the reason behind the attack", the official added.

Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu who is on tour to USA, is informed about the incident and wiill hold an emergency meeting on law and order situation in the state once he lands in New York airport. Officials from the chief minister's office are in tough with the police.

Condemning the attack, state Home Minister and Deputy Chief Minister N Chinarajappa said , "Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu will hold an emergency meeting on law and order situation in the state". He also added that the state government has issued orders to the police department to conduct a thorough investigation into the matter.

Chinarajappa also said that this is the first attack by the Naxals in the area over the last 4.5 years. "Though naxalites are there in our neighbouring states of Chattisgarh, Odisha and Telangana; since last four and half years they are under control. Our police has been strong and controlled the Naxals efficiently. No single such incident took place in these four and half years. We are feeling very bad. How so many Naxals came from other states, how they fired, we have ordered an inquiry. People should also be careful, as everybody has freedom in democracy. We condemn this ghastly attack, " he said.

Chinarajappa has left for the spot from Kakinada in East Godavari district. Additional Director General (Law and Order) of Police Harish Gupta is also headed for the incident spot from state Police Head Quarters in Mangalagiri, Guntur district.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Riding on the back of right-hand batsman Shoaib Malik's crucial contribution of 78 runs, Pakistan set a target of 238 runs for India to chase in their second Super Four clash of the ongoing Asia Cup at Dubai International Stadium here on Sunday.

Pakistan made a slow start to their innings as they lost their opening wicket in the form of Imam-ul-Haq at the score of 24. Another opener Fakhar Zaman, along with Babar Azam, built a partnership of 31 runs before latter moved back to pavilion following an excellent run out by Indian all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja.

However, skipper Sarfraz Ahmed and veteran batsman Shoaib Malik played impressive knocks of 44 and 78 runs, respectively to keep the Pakistan scoreboard ticking.

Indian pacer Jasprit Bumrah gave the team a crucial breakthrough as he dismissed Malik to put his side on the driving seat.

While Asif Ali added 30 runs to the Pakistan scorecard, low order players Shadab Khan and Mohammad Nawaz managed to add just 25 runs together.

For India, Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav scalped three wickets each in the match to restrict Pakistan to a score of 237 runs in their stipulated 50 overs.

The Men in Blue, who clinched an eight-wicket win over their arch-rivals Pakistan in their Group A match, are looking to dominate the latter once again and book their place in the finals of the ongoing prestigious tournament.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Bollywood stars Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif are heading to Abu Dhabi for the third schedule of their upcoming film 'Bharat'.

Director Ali Abbas Zafar took to Twitter and shared a few glimpses from the next destination, writing, "All set for Abu Dhabi, next destination Team @Bharat_TheFilm"

The location looks quite fascinating and to keep the excitement of fans growing, the team has been actively sharing behind the scenes pictures and glimpses from the sets of the film.

The cast had recently wrapped up the Malta schedule last month and shared some amazing pictures from the location, while the first schedule of the romantic thriller was wrapped up in Mumbai.

'Bharat' is Zafar's third collaboration with Salman after the 2016 film 'Sultan' and the recent 'Tiger Zinda Hai'.

The 'Dabangg' star will be seen sporting five different looks spanning over 60 years, including a crucial part which will showcase the actor in his late 20s, looking much leaner and younger.

After Priyanka Chopra decided to walk out of the film, Katrina was roped in to play the lead, opposite the 'Wanted' star. The film also stars Tabu and Disha Patani in pivotal roles.

It is slated to hit the big screens on June 5, next year.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Amid escalating trade tensions, China summoned American ambassador Terry Branstad and recalled its naval chief from the United States to protest against sanctions slapped by the US on Chinese entities for arms purchases from Russia.

Besides postponing a three-day bilateral military dialogue in Beijing, China also warned of further action if the US does not withdraw the sanctions, South China Morning Post reported.

The Chinese government asked the US to review its decision and "immediately correct its mistake, revoke the sanctions."

On Thursday, the United States announced that it sanctioned the Equipment Development Department (EDD) of China's Central Military Commission (CMC) and its Director Li Shangfu for buying Russia's S-400 air defence systems and aircraft in violation of the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA).

Soon after, the Chinese Defense Ministry, while protesting against the imposition of sanctions, issued a statement expressing their "indignation and strong disagreement" to the same.

"[The Chinese military leadership] has already made a representation and expressed protest to the US side," the ministry said in a statement.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Bashing Senate President Tito Sotto is once more in fashion. Before he was chosen by his peers to lead them as their president, Tito Sen, as most Senate beat reporters fondly call the regular guy, was excoriated for his inappropriate remark when then DSWD Secretary Judy Taguiwalo faced the Commission on Appointments. Asking about the single mothers civil status, he made a salitang kanto remark about being ahna-ano ka. He has since apologized for the unfortunate comment, but many feminists raked him over the coals. I was told by Senate old-timers that Tito Sen was already being groomed by many senators to replace then-Senate President Koko Pimentel, but the coup had to be put in the back burner after that remark got a lot of media flak. Now comes his suggestion to change the last line of Lupang Hinirang, the national anthem, from the defeatist ang mamatay ng dahil sa iyo. He proposes ang ipaglaban kalayaan mo. Instead of debating the pros and cons of Sottos suggestion, netizens and some in mainstream media chided him with the standard line that with all the problems facing the nation these days, why bother with what to many of them amounts to something trivial. Malayo sa bituka yan, someone said. Intindihin ng mga senador ang presyo ng bilihin at kakulangan ng kita. For many whose politics is politica del estomago, nothing else matters. Nothing as lofty as placing the national spirit right, or history being placed in its proper context. Jose Palmas Filipinas from which lyrical poem that starts with Tierra adorada Julian Felipe set the lilting music of our Lupang Hinirang, translated later in 1956 into the Tagalog Bayang magiliw, perlas ng silanganan, also ends with Es una gloria para tus hijos, Cuando te ofenden, por ti morir. Even in the original Spanish version, death is the offering to country. It is as if the race has a common death wish. Defeatist, the Senate President opines. Indeed, it remains a puzzlement to me why we celebrate defeats, and we commemorate the deaths, rather than the birth dates of our heroes. One can only surmise that it is part of the religio-cultural upbringing from the Roman Catholic frailes and todays bishops, who extol martyrdom for God or religion as the ultimate good. April 9 is the Fall of Bataan. Defeat, where thousands died. We remember our national hero, Jose Rizal not on his June 19 natal day, but on Dec. 30, when the Spaniards executed him at Bagumbayan. Even Ninoy Aquino is remembered on that dastardly day when he was shot at the tarmac of the Manila International Airport, Aug. 21, rather than Nov. 27. The value-concept of death, of martyrdom is the celebratory theme of our history.We do not, however, commemorate the day when Bonifacio was executed, likely because he was murdered by his fellow Philippine revolutionaries, and so we celebrate his Nov. 30 birth anniversary. Only when the story of Heneral Antonio Luna became a cinematic hit did Filipinos realize that the revolution failed because of the greed for power of some of its leaders. The revolution was devoured by the revolutionaries in the altar of their own ambitions, as Apolinario Mabini, its resident wise man, the Sublime Paralytic, decried. In our pantheon of heroes, we tend to forget Sumoroy of Samar who fought the Spaniards, or Francisco Dagohoy who persisted long in the Bohol Revolt, or Diego Silang of Ilocos, and the Moros who never surrendered to Spain, nor America. Senator Sotto is right in reexamining those core values that we enshrine in our tragic history. Why the tragedy of death instead of the celebration of life, of a lifetime of dedication for the good of country and fellowmen? Take Americas Star Spangled Banner, which ends in the famous lines Oer the land of the free and the home of the brave. Francis Scott Key extols bravery and glorifies victory in his lyrics. But not death. La Marsellaise, the French national hymn, is probably a bit more gory, describing how the sons of France would destroy their enemies and repel invaders, over and over again, for the liberty for the motherland, but does not extol martyrdom or death. Nearer to home, Malaysias anthem follows the British tradition of glorifying their monarch, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, as repetitively as God Save the Queen (or King when Elizabeth II is eventually replaced by either Prince Charles or Prince William). And although the Thais sing about sacrificing every drop of blood, the message is defiant, against all invaders, and proud of their history of never being colonized by a foreign imperialist. Modern Singapores anthem, Majulah Singapura or Onwards Singapore, is all about a common goal of happiness for all, unity and continued success. All very positive, all uplifting. Japans Kimi Ga Yo is a very solemn rendition of a poem that simply, and repetitively says: May Japans reign last for ten thousand years, until the pebbles grow into boulders lush with moss. A paean to eternal greatness. Lupang Hinirang is truly such a beautiful anthem, in its lilting melody and poetic lyrics that describe the beauty of our country and how wonderful life is in its lush mountains and blue seas, and extols the courage of a people who will not be oppressed, yet sadly ends with the expression of willingness to die for country. Much like Rizals own death wish: Morir es descansar. Resignation rather than defiance. Tito Sotto makes sense. So does Senator Dick Gordons long-standing advocacy for a ninth ray in the sun emblazoned in our flag, to give recognition to the valiant Moros who persisted in the fight against invaders. And if it must take a referendum to alter an historical oversight, and convert death wish to a defiant and glorious struggle for freedom, then let us debate, and not litter the arguments with non sequiturs.It is a serious issue related to sovereignty and security of India and head of government, Prime Minister Narendra Modi must speak and come clean on it, said Communist Party of India (CPI) leader D Raja while reacting on the statements made by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in an exclusive interview with ANI on Rafale deal.

"It is a serious issue which is related to the sovereignty and security of the country. It is an issue between two countries- India and France. The head of government, Prime Minister must speak out and come clean and tell people about what exactly happened," he said.

In his interview with ANI, Jaitley had also indicated that there could be a possible link between Congress President Rahul Gandhi's accusations against the NDA government and former French president Francois Hollande's statement on Rafale deal, while alleging that the entire episode could be orchestrated.

Commenting on this, Raja said, "What Rahul Gandhi has tweeted, he is competent and capable of defending and explaining it. Now there are questions in the public domain. People are asking questions on Rafale deal. Why the public sector, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) was sidelined and denied the opportunity and why the government opted for a private company known for its closeness with people in power. This government will have to explain and when I say government, it's Prime Minister as he is the head of the government. Why PM is keeping quiet and why he hasn't uttered a word on the issue. There is a demand in parliament that a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) to look in the issue which was also reiterated by our party. Why it was not accepted by BJP and the government in the last session of Parliament. In winter session of Parliament will the government agree to it?"

Raja further cornered Jaitley on his remark stating that Rahul Gandhi is bent upon bringing the level of discourse down to vulgarity. The CPI leader urged the Finance Minister to put a check on the kind of language Bharatiya Janata Party leaders use against the Congress president. He said the name calling was initiated by the BJP, as it was their leader who called Rahul Gandhi, 'pappu' in the beginning.

Raja said, "Finance minister should give this advice to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokespersons, the BJP minister and other leaders. It is they who lowered down the level of public discourse. They are taking it to such a low level, which finally turns out to be abuses, slanders, instead of discussing the real issues of the country and people. In case of Rahul Gandhi, who called him Pappu for the first time, he also raised this issue in parliament. It is BJP who used such a word. He is president of Congress and how can they call him so. Even Finance minister went to the extent of calling him a clown prince. FM should also think over all these things and instead of making general preaching, he must advise his party men not to resort to such slanders, let them discuss the real issues.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)India is commemorating hundred years of the liberation of Israel's Haifa by the Indian troops in 1918.

The centenary celebrations will culminate with a grand function in Delhi today. The Battle of Haifa is also being commemorated in Israel and Jaipur.

September 23 is commemorated every year as Haifa Day by the Indian Army to pay its respects to the Indian Cavalry Regiments, Mysore and Jodhpur Lancers, that helped liberate Hafia in Israel after a cavalry action by the 15th Imperial Service Cavalry Brigade.

Army chief General Bipin Rawat, who took part in the centenary celebrations to commemorate the day in Jaipur on September 22, said that Indian Army has potential to deal with any situation.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Former Indian batsman Sunil Gavaskar is in all praises for Rohit Sharma's captaincy acumen.

Rohit was named as the captain of the Indian team for the ongoing Asia Cup, after the selectors had decided to rest current skipper Virat Kohli, in a bid to keep him fit for the upcoming series with West Indies and Australia.

The 69-year-old 'Little Master' said he was admired by Rohit's captaincy style ever since he first led the Mumbai Indians franchise team to victory in the cash-rich Indian Premier League in 2013.

"The first time he led Mumbai Indians to an IPL win, that was his first season as a captain and he impressed straight away with his knowledge of what to do next more than what to plan," ICC quoted Gavaskar as saying.

Rohit's captaincy has not affected his form, as he has led India to victories in three matches in the Asia Cup so far. He has also struck two half-centuries in those matches, which also includes an unbeaten 83 against Bangladesh.

Gavaskar added, "Every time he has got an opportunity to captain India, he has shown his acumen. He has shown how patient he can be, and then as a batsman, the added responsibility only makes him better."

The 31-year-old opener is not new to the role of captaincy. He led India to 2-1 and 3-0 victories over Sri Lanka in One-Day Internationals and Twenty20 Internationals in December last year, followed by a win against the same opponent and Bangladesh in the Nidahas Trophy in March this year.

Gavaskar also lauded all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja's roaring comeback to the ODI side after a spirited performance against Bangladesh in their match on Friday.

"I think Ravindra Jadeja merits his place because I believe he is a better bowler, batsman, and fielder (than Axar Patel, who Jadeja replaced)," Gavaskar said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)After notching up a convincing nine-wicket win over Pakistan in the ongoing Asia Cup in their Super Four fixture at the Dubai International Stadium, Indian leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal said that defeating their arch-rivals back to back will boost the confidence of his side ahead of the finals.

"It is good to defeat Pakistan back to back. This will boost our confidence for the finals. Once we are in the stadium there is no pressure. The audience is very excited about India vs Pakistan match," Chahal said while addressing a press conference here.

India dominated arch-rivals Pakistan once again and booked their place in the finals of the ongoing Asia Cup after it registered a nine-wicket victory over Pakistan.

India's stand-in skipper Rohit Sharma and opener Shikhar Dhawan stitched together an impressive 210-run partnership at the top as their side notched up a convincing win over Pakistan with 63 balls to spare.

The 210-run partnership between the two was the best opening stand by India against Pakistan. It was also India's biggest win in terms of wickets against Pakistan in One-Day Internationals.

Chasing a target of 238 runs, both Sharma (111) and Dhawan (114) notched up a century each to impose their dominance over Pakistan from the onset of the innings.

Sharma scored his 19th ODI ton off 106 balls while Dhawan smashed his 15th century off 95 balls. Dhawan's brilliant innings ended on 114 off 100 balls, while Sharma remained unbeaten on 111 off 119 balls.

When Sharma reached 94, he became the ninth Indian batsman to score 7000 runs in ODIs.

Dhawan, who produced an impressive performance with the bat, was adjudged Man of the Match.

The Men in Blue had earlier clinched an eight-wicket win over Pakistan in their Group A match.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Ministry of Minority Affairs will organise mushairas across the country to celebrate the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. The first event will take place on 6th October in the capital.

The mushairas will be based on the teachings and principles of the Father of the Nation. Famous Urdu poets like Gulzar, Wasim Barelvi, Manzar Bhopali (amongst others) have been invited to perform on this theme.

Stemming from the central government's initiative to spread Gandhi's legacy amongst the people, the Ministry has said that such events will strengthen social harmony and brotherhood in the society while effectively disseminating Bapu's message.

A committee, which is chaired by President Ram Nath Kovind and focuses on the central government's initiative, has also been created. The committee's mandate is to chalk out the plan of action for the commemoration of Gandhi's 150th Birth Anniversary.

Apart from New Delhi, the Ministry of Minority Affairs plans on holding these mushairas in Mumbai, Lucknow, Chandigarh, Ahmedabad, Bangaluru and Ranchi.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Hollywood actors including Sophia Bush, Busy Philipps, and Chelsea Handler have asked Ivanka Trump to support Christina Blasey Ford, who has accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct.

Using the hashtag #DearIvanka, the Hollywood stars took to social media to post a message to the eldest daughter of President Trump.

Busy Philipps shared a picture of #DearIvanka on her Instagram page and captioned it as, "You don't follow me on social media. But as a public servant, you work for me. You've proclaimed yourself a feminist and a champion of women's rights. Right now, you have an opportunity to fight for women and survivors. Use your access to demand that Professor Ford's request for a full, fair, trauma-informed investigation by the FBI be held. Use your access to make sure another abuser is not seated on the Supreme Court."

'One Tree Hill' actor Sophia Bush, shared the same #DearIvanka and wrote on Instagram, "I figured after the last one of these calls for you to take action, you'd unfollow me. But you're still following me!! So, let me use this opportunity to call you in. Rather than feeling called out, try to see this as an invitation to merge your words and your actions. Girl. You can do it."

Earlier this month, Ford, a professor at Palo Alto University in California, had alleged that Kavanaugh had assaulted her during a party in the 1980s when they were both in high school. She had accused him of groping her and even attempted to remove her clothes. According to a report by the Washington Post, Kavanaugh covered Ford's mouth with his hand to stifle her screams.

United States President Donald Trump, in July, nominated the appeal court judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Not just diabetes, even chronic bowel inflammation can be treated effectively by injecting insulin into the rectum.

In a new study between departments at the University of Copenhagen and Roskilde University, researchers examined the effect of the treatment in a series of tests on mice with chronic colitis of the type Colitis Ulcerosa, among others.

The cause of these bowel disorders is unknown, but they cause patients great discomfort and can involve bloody diarrhea, anaemia, stomach ache, and weight loss.

Co-inventor of the treatment, Jrgen Olsen said, "Our new treatment with insulin on mice shows great potential against chronic bowel inflammation in humans like Colitis Ulcerosa, which causes a lot of people great discomfort. Existing treatments attack the bowel's immune system, dampening it; instead, our method strengthens the bowel cells' own defence. It appears to work equally well, and it can probably be used in combination with existing treatments."

The researchers have studied the effect of insulin treatment in various ways. First, they have shown that the amount of inflammation, expressed as the level of the marker Cox2, drops by 50 per cent compared to the saltwater control treatment.

Second, the researchers have measured the body weight of the mice - we know that people suffering from colitis typically lose a lot of weight because they do not eat much. As this marker is relatively crude, some studies of the existing treatment have shown no effect at all.

The insulin works because it activates a gene inside the bowel cells, which, according to other studies, has an antioxidant effect and thus may be able to protect the bowel cells from inflammation. This makes the new treatment different from existing medication, which instead of strengthening the bowel's defence weakens the immune system's attack on the bowel. And therefore the researchers hope the new treatment can be combined with the existing.

The full findings are present in the Journal of Crohn's and Colitis.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)After being coerced by Naxals to to leave their homes, villagers in Gurabanda fear to return due to persistant threats by the ultras.

Scores of farmers left their village after they were threatened, their houses were demolished and farmlands were captured by Naxals.

"Naxals demolished my house in 2004, they even tried to kill me. To save my family I moved out of that village and now we do not have any permanent place to live in. We have our own farmland still we work on others," said a man displaced from his village.

When asked if the Naxals consider themselves as supporters of villagers, one of the locals said that "They killed 65-70 people, how do we believe that they wouldn't kill us?"

The police have however, refuted the presence of Naxals in the area. "There are no Naxal in that area, but if villagers are afraid they can come to us and we will help. The villagers can easily move back to their homes," the police said.

Even the Member of Parliament from the constituency, Bidyut Baran Mahato, said that the area was under red zone, but now the situation is better. He added that roads have been constructed in the area for betterment of transportation services.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)South Korean President Moon Jae-in is set to embark on a visit to the United States on Sunday to brief his counterpart Donald Trump over the recent inter-Korean summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Pyongyang.

Apart from discussing the matter with Trump, President Moon is also scheduled to explain the outcome of the inter-Korean summit at the 73rd session of the United Nations General Assembly, Yonhap News Agency reported.

"President Moon is set to thoroughly explain the outcome of the third inter-Korean summit (in 2018) that was held under the interest of the entire world," said Nam Gwan-pyo, a senior director from the presidential National Security Office.

He added that the South Korean President "will hold in-depth discussions (with Trump) on ways to break the impasse in North Korea-US talks and to improve their relations."

On September 18, President Moon visited in Pyongyang, which was the first trip by a South Korean head of state. The visit was largely aimed at brokering the stalled talks between North Korea and the United States over the former's progress of denuclearisation and to discuss steps to further improve inter-Korean ties.

The two Koreas signed a joint military agreement and a joint statement to cease hostilities and working for peace on the peninsula. The two sides also agreed to take "additional steps" to achieve the process of denuclearisation.

Kim and President Moon reaffirmed to establish a peace treaty to replace the current armistice agreement to end the 1950-53 Korean War. The two Koreas are technically at war in the absence of any peace pact.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Pakistan on Saturday said that it believes in peace and co-existence, soon after India's Chief of Army Staff General Bipin Rawat's warned Pakistan that its actions will be retaliated in a similar manner.

"We are on positive trajectory of peace and stability after having gone through efforts over the last two decades. We understand value of peace and shall not allow it to be reversed. We believe in coexistence and peace, however, any misadventure shall be effectively responded," Geo TV quoted Director General (DG) of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Major General Asif Ghafoor, as saying.

Ghafoor further said that Pakistan is fully prepared for a war.

"War is never a solution to any problem. Pakistan has always positively responded to all peace initiatives. A war takes place when either side is unprepared for it. We are always ready and prepared for war," he noted.

A day after India called-off the proposed India-Pakistan Foreign Minister-level talks on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, General Bipin Rawat said that it is time to give it back to Pakistan in the same coin.

"I think our government's policy has been quite clear and concise. We have made no bones about the fact that talks and terrorism can't go hand in hand. Pakistan needs to curb the menace of terrorism. We need to take stern action to avenge the barbarism that terrorists and the Pakistan Army have been carrying out. Yes, it is time to give it back to them in the same coin, not resorting to similar kind of barbarism. But I think the other side must also feel the same pain," he added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)LAST week, the sidekick of a clearly unqualified assistant secretary of communication got into trouble again, this time for creating a bomb scare on his social media page on the eve of the 46th anniversary of the declaration of martial law. On Sept. 20, Andrew Olivarwho appears to be an appendage of Communications Assistant Secretary Mocha Usonwarned readers on Facebook not to join rallies on the 46th anniversary of martial law because of a supposed bomb threat.

Its really scary to join rallies on EDSA because word is spreading that there might be another bombing like the one in Plaza Miranda, he wrote in Filipino, referring to a 1971 bomb attack in Quiapo, Manila, in which nine people were killed and scores injured during a Liberal Party rally. If I were you, I wouldnt go, he added. Olivar later deleted the post when some Internet users said he could be jailed under a 1980 presidential decree that penalizes anyone who spreads false rumors about bomb attacks, an offense for which he could be imprisoned for five years. Under the threat of a police investigation, Olivar and Uson met with Metro Manila police chief Director Guillermo Eleazar Saturday, then held a press conference with him to apologize for his mistake. Uson, who has not been known for her wisdom, said she went with Olivar to support her friend. Eleazar, for his part, said the police would investigate the case, but had to wave off accusations of giving Uson and Olivarwho appeared with him at the press conferencespecial treatment.This is not the first time Olivarand by extension, his patron, Usonembarrassed the administration. On Sept. 15, less than a week earlier, he drew fire for making nonsensical gestures to mimic sign language and imitating the sounds of the hearing-impaired on a video posted on Usons Facebook page. Uson was seen in the same video laughing. Before this, Olivar made a mockery of President Rodrigo Dutertes advocacy, by doing a lascivious dance, again on Usons Facebook page, that used a womans breasts and vagina as mnenomic devices for federalism. Again, Uson seemed to be delighted by her friends antics. Enough is enough. It is bad enough that we, as taxpayers, must pay Usons substantial salary and put up with her incompetence, her intellectual dishonesty and complete lack of civility. Must we really also shoulder the salary of her trained monkey? At least one, but better the two of them, ought to be fired outright.Indian Army Chief General Bipin Rawat on Sunday said that Pakistan has been carrying out "barbaric acts" of terrorism in Kashmir, adding that the Pakistan Army is used for the same.

On the issue of Border Security Force (BSF) soldier Narendra Singh's throat slit by Pakistan troops near the International border in Jammu, General Rawat came down heavily as he told ANI, "We are fully aware that Pakistan wants terrorism to continue in Kashmir. They have been carrying out barbaric acts and Pakistan Army is used for doing this. It is not the first time that they have done it. If you look at the Kargil operations, similar acts had been committed against our personnel; Major Kalia is a case in point."

"But every time we question them for their activities, they say these are terrorists who come from our own territory, that these are our own people. This kind of lies and misperceptions are always propagated by Pakistan. I think the world at large has understood the truth and that's why they are facing flak," the Indian Army Chief added.

He further stated that Pakistan "has been trying to motivate and radicalise the youth in Kashmir by giving them the hope of Azadi," adding that most youth are misguided easily as they don't understand what Azadi they are looking for.

"Pakistan has decided to bleed India with thousand cuts. It's the policy of Pakistan. The creation of Bangladesh, which happened with the help of India, was a very humiliating defeat for them, and they feel that this is one way of avenging that defeat. They are avenging this defeat by causing casualties to our security forces and creating mayhem amongst the people. The mayhem that they had created in Bangladesh, they want to create a similar mayhem in Kashmir. But they are trying to involve the locals, unlike what they had done in Bangladesh," General Rawat said.

Addressing the peace talks between India and Pakistan, General Rawat believes that there is disharmony between the civil and military authorities of Pakistan.

"When Imran Khan came to power, he tried to send some messages of peace. But whether the entire establishment in Pakistan wants this peace is what we have to ascertain. There seems to be some kind of a variation in what is being uttered and what we are seeing on the ground. I think there is a disharmony between the two," said the Army Chief.

When asked to comment on the Indian and Pakistani Army performing military exercise together at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), General Rawat stated, "It is not that the Indian and Pakistan armies went together. We are now carrying out training with various armies of the world. Most armies want to train us because of our professionalism."

The Army Chief stated that the Indian Army was sought after for joint drills in the international stage, saying, "With any kind of joint training that is carried out in a multinational environment, most countries want India to participate, like recently we did in Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) and in the SCO. It is just to learn from each other's experience and at the same time, we can also showcase the kind of professionalism that we have in our Army."

The Army Chief further hailed the courage of the Indian Army on the occasion of the centenarian celebration of the liberation of Haifa in Israel by Indian troops in 1918, known as Hafia day.

"The courage of our soldiers is unparallel in history. Haifa is just one such incident," General Rawat stated.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Pakistani Christians living in Europe and the United Kingdom gathered in front of Palais Wilson, the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva, and demanded justice and equal rights for the minorities in Pakistan.

Holding placards which read "Save Pakistani Christians", "Stop Human Rights Violations against Christians in Pakistan" and "Abolish Blasphemy Laws in Pakistan", they shouted slogans against the Pakistan government to demand justice for Asia Bibi, a victim of Blasphemy law.

They also carried out a protest march from Palais Wilson to Broken Chair in front of Palace of Nations, to make people aware about the persecution of Christians and other minorities in Pakistan by the state and non-state actors.

The event was held during the ongoing 39th Session of the UN Human Rights Council.

Advocate Qamar Shams, President of the International Christian Council, said, "The situation is quite serious and is going from bad to worse because it's happening all the time. Hardly a day passes when you don't hear a new case of persecution. And persecution in different ways - it's not persecution of blasphemy laws - it is social persecution, it is economic persecution and at the moment what the condition in Pakistan is of the minorities and particularly the Christians that they have been made to believe that they are not equal human beings. They are not equal citizens, they don't have equal rights, they don't have equal opportunities in jobs and government official positions, in the army, in navy and in the air force."

"Lately, there were ads in the newspapers which said that the job of a sweeper is specifically for Christians and only Christians need to apply. At the moment they (Christians) have been made mentally upset and convinced to believe that they are inferior and meant to do dirty jobs," said Shams.

Anjum Iqbal, a Pakistani Christian based in Amsterdam, who joined the protest, said: "We are in minority and demand equal rights. There are several other issues which members of our community are facing in Pakistan. The major issue is injustice, which should not happen to any Christian, a Hindu or a person of some other religion. We demand equal rights".

Talking about the forced marriages and religious conversion of Christian women, he added, "There are many Christian girls, who have been kidnapped and forcibly converted to Islam. If she agrees to live with a Muslim then she will be alive, if she denies their demand, she gets killed. This is a major issue Christian girls have been facing."

The cause of Pakistani Christians was supported by the Members of European Parliament who have asked Pakistan to protect the rights of the minorities in the country.

Tomas Zdechovsky, Member of the European Parliament, said: "The situation is very critical and we have to open the issue of Pakistani Christians with the government. It is an unacceptable situation and we will do our maximum to change the situation".

"If the Pakistan government does not agree to a dialogue, we have to take action. But first, it should be a dialogue with the new Pakistani government and if it will not happen then the government has to take responsibility for that."

Henri Malosse, former President of European Economic and Social Committee, said: "Today, Pakistan is benefitting from European Trade policy. Pakistan is benefiting from what we call GSP+ (Generalised System of Preferences), the trade preferences which allow Pakistan to supply goods free of any duty - textile and other products. But, it has a condition to protect human rights and protection of minorities. And as you hear today, Pakistan government is not respecting this condition because of discrimination, slavery, blasphemy law. So we will ask political groups to stop this trade preference as long as Pakistan is not respecting the human rights and minority rights in its own country".

Gyorgy Holvenyi, a Member of European Parliament, while talking about the misuse of blasphemy law against minorities in Pakistan, said: "We have done a kind of resolution that declares that blasphemy law is against the religious minorities. The majority tries to blame Christians and other minorities, this is unacceptable. If Pakistan wants close relations with Europe, they have to take the consequences. European Parliamentarians shouldn't be lecturing the Pakistan government; they have to do their own homework".

A film and a poster campaign were also launched in Geneva to make people aware about the condition of Christians in Pakistan.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)After visiting Nepal in August for the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) summit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be visiting the Himalayan nation once again, this time in November.

"Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be coming to Nepal again in the end week of the November. The probable date for his visit which will be a state visit, in fact, is expected to take place on November 28 and 29. There might be some changes over the date regarding a day before or after," a high-level official from the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu told ANI.

This will be Prime Minister Modi's fourth visit to Nepal after he came to power in 2014.

"During his visit, Prime Minister Modi will also be visiting Lumbini, the birthplace of Lord Gautam Buddha. High-level meetings and engagements will be continued as done before," the official added.

During his second state visit, Prime Minister Modi was scheduled to visit Janakpur, Muktinath and Lumbini but it was put off citing various security reasons.

However, during his third visit to the country, the Prime Minister had visited the pilgrimage sites.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute- led by Juergen Hahn, professor and head of biomedical engineering- are continuing to make remarkable progress with their research focused on Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).

A recent paper authored by Hahn and Jill James from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences discusses the work on predicting with approximately 90 percent accuracy whether a pregnant mother has a 1.7 percent or a tenfold increased risk of having a child diagnosed with ASD.

Currently, there is no test for pregnant mothers that can predict the probability of having a child that will be diagnosed with ASD. Recent estimates indicate that if a mother has previously had a child with ASD, the risk of having a second child with ASD is approximately 18.7 percent, whereas the risk of ASD in the general population is approximately 1.7 percent.

In this study, metabolites of the folate-dependent transmethylation and transsulfuration biochemical pathways of pregnant mothers were measured to determine whether or not the risk of having a child with autism could be predicted by her metabolic profile.

Pregnant mothers who have had a child with autism before were separated into two groups based on the diagnosis of their child whether the child had autism or not. Then these mothers were compared to a group of control mothers who have not had a child with autism before.

The researchers concluded that while it is not possible to determine during a pregnancy if a child will be diagnosed with ASD by age 3, they did find that differences in the plasma metabolites are indicative of the relative risk for having a child with ASD.

This new research follows an earlier study published in 2017, which developed an algorithm based on levels of metabolites found in a blood sample that can accurately predict whether a child is on the autism spectrum.

The full findings are present in the journal- Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Supreme Court has set aside Odisha High Court order granting bail to top billionaire businessman, Mahimananda Mishra, an accused in a murder case.

A two-judge bench of the Apex Court, headed by Justice L. Nageswara Rao and also comprising Justice Mohan M. Shantanagoudar, on Tuesday allowed the Special Leave Petition (SLP) filed by the Odisha government challenging the state High Court's order which had granted bail to accused Mishra.

The top court bench said in its order, "Since the accused is an influential person in terms of money and muscle power, there is a reasonable apprehension that he might tamper with or adversely influence the investigation, which is still going on, or he might intimidate witnesses before or during the trial."

A senior advocate R. Basant appeared for the victim, Mahendra Swain, and strongly opposed the bail of Mishra on the ground that if the accused would be given bail, he might tamper with evidence and influence the witnesses in the case.

According to the prosecution, there was a business rivalry between accused Mishra and the deceased, Swain, which caused the murder of the latter.

"The murder was committed at the behest of certain people including accused Mishra, who had also given death threats to the deceased directly and through the brother of the deceased," the prosecution also claimed.

Ordering for the forthwith arrest of the accused, Mishra, the apex court, in its order, said "The High Court was not justified in going into the evidence on record in such a depth which amounts to ascertaining the probability of the accused. On the other hand, the High Court has failed to appreciate several criminal factors that indicate that it was highly inappropriate to grant bail in favour of the accused."

Ranjeet Kumar, the Senior Supreme Court lawyer and the former Solicitor General (SG) appearing for the accused Mishra, argued that though the businessman was released on bail in May 2018, absolutely no allegations are forthcoming by the police against the accused after that. There are also no allegations against him since he was granted bail by the High Court.

Kumar further submitted that there was also no allegation of abscondence against the respondent. Merely on the apprehension of the police, without any prima facie proof, the liberty of the respondent cannot be curtailed. He further submitted that any additional condition may be imposed on the respondent by this Court.

It was strongly opposed by the prosecution that the accused should not be enlarged on bail.

It is to be noted that as per industrial and other data, Mishra is believed to be the second largest billionaire businessman of Odisha.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Fostering robust partnerships and seeking a collective and collaborative approach towards green, accessible, functional and liveable housing will be what experts from GRIHA Council and UNSW Sydneys School of Built will focus on at the 10th Griha Summit being held here December 10-12.

Ahead of the summit, for which GRIHA Council has for the first time partnered with a foreign institution, the University of New South Wales, Sydney, a curtain raiser was held at the UNSW India Centre, attended by Professor Helen Lochhead, Dean, UNSW School of Built and Sanjay Seth, Senior Director - Sustainable Habitat Programme, The TERI and Chief Executive Officer, GRIHA Council and representatives from business and industry, NGOs, the UN Human Settlements Programme and think tanks.

Eminent Indian architect, Professor B.V. Doshi, who is the first Indian to be awarded the Pritzker Architecture Award, will be felicitated during the summit including a video interview with him and UNSW's Pritzker prize winner Professor Glenn Murcutt. Doshi is also expected to address one of the plenary sessions, Seth announced.

Seth said the partnership with UNSW is the "first time that GRIHA is being co-created with international partnership.

"It is a coming together of two institutes of repute, and both will be deliberating on issues critical in the developmental agenda of the government of India," Seth noted.

"Much of the habitat has to be put in place, and the next decade will see much more happening," he said, adding that the partnership would be very important in the pursuit of excellence in the setting up of the development agenda.

Professor Helen Lochhead, Dean School of Built at UNSW and President of the Australian Architect's Association, said UNSW was happy to be collaborating with GRIHA. She termed it a partnership that would see both sides collaborating in education and research and that GRIHA was just the start of a long-term and collaborative association.

She said the UNSW School of Built Environment is rated among the top in Australia, and is ranked 23 globally in the QS ranking. "We focus on green, functional, liveable and sustainable architecture, and also make sure we work in collaboration with industry and research policies," said Lochhead.

She said the opportunity to work with Griha and Teri would be a way to help "bring real change in the world we live in".

The GRIHA Summit will discuss sustainable building policies, tools and techniques and exhibitions showcasing sustainable building materials, construction practices and technologies. The December 11-12 plenary sessions would see important issues being discussed with equal participation of experts from both institutes.

Noted Indian-Australian materials scientist from UNSW, Veena Sahajwalla, and Professor Deo Prasad, who deals with zero carbon, would be addressing the sessions. UNSW President and Vice Chancellor Ian Jacobs will also be participating at GRIHA.

Health, smart cities, smart transport, waste management, innovations, energy efficiency, would be among 16 thematic tracks in the sessions.

Participants expressed hope that raising public awareness on environmental and sustainability issues could be an integral objective of the Summit along with a strong implementation programme that has the support of all stakeholders.

Amit Dasgupta, India country director UNSW, said that the co-creation of GRIHA by TERI and UNSW was a reflection of UNSW's India Strategy where cutting edge research could be collaboratively used to build a sustainable, green and liveable habitats. "Our job today is to focus on how we might partner with government, business & industry, NGOs and other stake-holders so that we might transform lives for the better."

The Narendra Modi government has embarked on a programme to provide housing for all by 2022 that includes rehabilitation of slum dwellers, promotion of affordable housing and subsidy for beneficiary-led individual house construction.

According to estimates, half of India's population would reside in urban areas by 2030 and India is expected to add the largest number of urban dwellers by 2050.

--IANS

ps/prs

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)An Indian Air Force chopper rescued 19 people on Saturday in Himachal Pradesh as they were stuck in a flashflood triggered by continuous heavy rain, officials said.

On the direction of Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur, the chopper from the Indian Air Force was requisitioned to rescue the stranded people at Dobi in Kullu district, a government spokesperson told IANS. He said all of them were rescued safely.

He said while presiding over an emergency meeting to take stock of the situation arisen due to the heavy rains, particularly in Kullu, Chamba, Kinnaur and Lahaul-Spiti districts, the Chief Minister directed the officers to take all precautionary measures to minimize loss to life and property.

Thakur said the Public Works Department must ensure roads were cleared of landslides or debris at the earliest. Strict vigils should be kept on rising water level of the Chamera and Pandoh dams and early warning would be provided to authorities.

It was informed at the meeting that 120 persons stranded at Koksar in the Lahaul Valley have been rescued. Similarly, 23 persons have been rescued from Marhi and 23 from Rohtang area in Kullu district.

The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) also rescued 14 persons from Kullu district. A total of 60 sheep and goats died due to landslide in Chamba district.

Meanwhile, as a precaution the Deputy Commissioners of Kullu, Chamba, Kinnaur and Mandi districts decided to close all educational institutions in their respective district for Monday due to heavy rains.

The southwest monsoon remained aggressive in the state with most of the areas experiencing heavy to extremely heavy rains, causing landslides in some areas and blocking the highways. All the major rivers and their tributaries were in spate, officials said.

The water level in the Beas river also rose abnormally touching the Chandigarh-Manali National Highway 21 near the Hanogi temple in Mandi district.

While picturesque tourist town Manali recorded the highest rainfall in the state at 127 mm, it was 125 mm in Dharamsala, 124 mm in Una and 90 mm in Dalhousie.

State capital Shimla saw 47 mm rain.

The highway that connects Manali with Leh in Jammu and Kashmir has been closed for traffic owing to heavy snow, officials said.

The Manali-Leh highway is crucial to the movement of the armed forces and their supplies and wares to forward areas in Ladakh.

An official of the local Met office said there are chances of heavy rainfall at some places in the state till Monday and thereafter the intensity of rains will start receding.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Noted Assamese actor Adil Hussain has urged the government to release Rs 5 crore for the promotion of Rima Das' Assamese film "Village Rockstars" ahead of the Oscars, where it will represent India in the Best Foreign Language film category.

On Saturday, the Film Federation of India (FFI) announced the independent film as the chosen one to vie with movies from several other countries to make the cut as a nominee in the highly competitive Academy Awards category.

FFI's selection committee chairman S.V. Rajendra Singh Babu, a veteran film producer, said there is an acute lack of funds to carry out the required promotional processes effectively, which is why many Indian movies haven't made it to the final round, barring three -- "Mother India" (1957), "Salaam Bombay!" (1988) and "Lagaan" (2001).

Adil was "flummoxed" with the statement.

"The governments have so much money to promote themselves putting posters all across! After selecting 'Village Rockstars', jury says there's acute lack of funds to promote film at Oscars," tweeted the actor, whose Norwegian film "What Will People Say" is Norway's official entry to the Oscars this year.

Adil drew the attention of the Assam government, Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, his office and of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to the matter, hoping they "will immediately release Rs 5 crore for the promotion of 'Village Rockstars', since all other countries have already started their campaigns in the US".

As Rajendra Singh Babu rightly pointed out, "It is impossible for independent and small producers to promote their film all by themselves. It is important that they receive funds to do so. It is important we follow these processes to reach all the Academy members and critics."

Adil's tweets got reaction.

Actor Annup Sonii expressed disappointment, and wrote: "For the smallest achievement they have big funds but for this... 'Acute lack of funds'. Eventually it will come down to the filmmaker asking for favours or donations... Sad... Very sad."

Actress Renuka Shahane questioned: "Why don't we from the film fraternity join hands and create a fundraiser for our Oscar entry? Let's not depend on the government. It is important that we support this gem of a film onwards to the Oscars."

When a Twitter user pointed out that "filthy rich, big stars and producers" from the industry "can afford your Oscar thingy", Renuka retorted: "What do you mean 'Our Oscar thingy'?

"It should be a matter of pride for the entire country that a young girl with no background or training in filmmaking makes an incredible film like 'Village Rockstars' that compels the jury to select it for the Oscars. Let's not be myopic."

On Adil's plea to the government, another user commented that the taxpayers' money should not be used for Oscars.

"Is it some kind of national service? Why should we care about an American award? Why can't film industry fund these expenses?" the user questioned.

To that, Adil wrote: "Government can use taxpayers' money to promote India's image as a supporter of high quality art. That's what all civilised governments do! 'Village Rockstars' is an independent film. It's not a mainstream run-of-the-mill film.

"Government's responsibility is to support fine art of any discipline."

Set in Das' own village of Chhaygaon in Assam, "Village Rockstars" is the story of "poor but amazing children" who live a fun-filled life.

The film also won the Best Feature film Award at the 65th National Film Awards.

As for Das, she is hoping for the best as far as funds are concerned to put her film on the Oscars map.

"'Village Rockstars' is a film about dreams and hope. It has transcended so many barriers right from the time of its inception and I am hopeful this time too it will."

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and TDP chief N. Chandrababu Naidu on Sunday expressed shock over the killing of his party MLA and a former legislator by Maoists in Visakhapatnam district earlier in the day.

Naidu, who is currently visiting the United States, sent a message condemning the killings, and conveyed his condolences to the bereaved families.

The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) said that such attacks and killings are a "scar on humanity".

K. Sarveswara Rao, 45, TDP MLA from Araku (Reserved-Scheduled Tribe) and his party colleague and former MLA Siveri Soma, 52, were gunned down by Maoists near Thutangi village, about 125 km from the coastal city of Visakhapatnam.

As relatives and supporters of the slain leaders attacked two police stations to protest against the alleged police failure to protect them, Naidu appealed to the people to maintain calm.

The Chief Minister directed senior Cabinet colleague Kala Venkatrao to rush to the district.

--IANS

ms/tsb/sed

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Hashmatullah Shahidi's 71 went in vain as Afghanistan lost a thrilling contest to Bangladesh by three runs in a Super Four tie of Asia Cup 2018 here on Sunday.

Opting to bat first, Bangladesh rode on Mahmudullah's 74 and Imrul Kayes's 72 to put an average 250-tun target before minnows Afghanistan.

In reply, Afghanistan lost wickets at regular intervals despite a brilliant opening by Mohammad Shahzad (53).

After his fall, Shahidi showed a terrific fight to put things in control but lacked support from the other end as no other batsman was able to show any resistance and Afghanistan eventually lost by three runs.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Situation remained tense at Islampur in Bengal's North Dinajpur district even on Sunday, three days after the alleged killing of two youths during a clash between agitating students and the police over the recruitment of new teachers at a local school.

A BJP delegation, comprising of state party leaders Mukul Roy, Locket Chhatterjee and Pratap Banerjee, met the family members of the deceased at Islampur's Daribhit village on Sunday and demanded those involved in the killings to be immediately found out and punished.

The saffron outfit has called for a 12-hour shutdown across the state on September 26, claiming the two youths were shot dead by police during the clash and demanded a CBI probe into the matter.

"The police brutally killed the youths and now the state government and its ministers are trying to cover up facts. The locals are clearly saying that police opened fire on the agitating students when the situation went out of hand. The police personnel responsible for the deaths must be identified and punished," said state BJP women wing president Locket Chatterjee.

Earlier in the day, the locals stopped the police from entering the village and held a protest before local MLA Kanhaiyalal Agarwal and Goalpokhar legislator Gulam Rabbani, demanding a CBI probe.

"We want CBI investigation. We want to know why my son was killed. We have no faith in the state police any more. They are trying to hide facts," said the father of Rajesh Sarkar, one of the deceased youth.

The state ruling party Trinamool Congress, however, blames the BJP and RSS for the clash and deaths accusing them of "indulging in of killing." It the party will do everything to fail the shutdown called by the saffron outfit.

"The BJP's attempt to create a political unrest will fail. We will hold protest meetings and rallies throughout the state against the BJP's bandh call," said Trinamool Congress Secretary General Partha Cahtterjee.

One of the youths was allegedly shot dead during the clash outside Daribhit High School premises on Thursday while the other youth, also hit by a bullet that afternoon, died in the North Bengal Medical College and Hospital on Friday.

Both the deceased were former students of the school where the clash took place.

According to the police and the local sources, the situation got heated up last Wednesday over the recruitment of three teachers of Urdu and Sanskrit languages in the school while the students had been demanding teachers in literature and science subjects.

The new teachers were stopped from entering the school by the agitating students on Thursday afternoon, who later blocked the road and clashed with the police when they arrived on the spot.

Villagers claimed that the two youths were killed in police firing, whereas the police maintained no bullets were fired by them and claimed that miscreants armed with guns, bombs and sticks attacked them outside the school.

North Dinajpur Superintendent of Police Sumit Kumar had said members of the mob were carrying bombs and arms, and that 14 policemen were injured in the clash.

Seven people, including some BJP supporters, have been detained.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who is currently on a 12-day tour to Europe, said the state government will not allow any shutdown to take place and accused the BJP and the Rashtriya Swyamsevak Sangh of engineering unrest by murdering people.

--IANS

mgr/prs

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Cheaper cement imports from Pakistan are hurting the domestic industry, which is already reeling under the impact of low demand and high GST, cement producers in Punjab and Kerala claim.

There's been no customs duty on cement imports from Pakistan since 2007, making it competitive in comparison to the Indian product, especially in the states bordering Pakistan.

"Pakistani cement is almost 10-15 per cent cheaper than Indian cement," Shailendra Chouksey, president of Cement Manufacturers Associations told IANS.

Data from the Directorate General of Foreign Trade's website showed that total imports of portland cement during 2017-18 (April-March) was 16.82 lakh metric tonne. Out of the total imports, industry sources say, 76 per cent -- around 12.72 lakh tonne -- was imported from Pakistan.

In Punjab, the market rate of portland cement is Rs 280-300 per bag (1 bag 50 kg), while the Pakistani import is sold at Rs 240-250 per bag, traders said.

Although market players across the country have not been affected much so far due to the high imports, industry in states bordering Pakistan and the coastal state of Kerala have been severely hit, industry sources said. Imports to Kerala come from Karachi via sea.

Cement producers say the domestic industry is self-sufficient and any further imports only renders a significant amount of the domestic produce futile.

"A major concern is that Indian capacity is already very underutilised. We are hardly utilising 65 per cent of the Indian capacity. The remaining 35 per cent remains unutilised," Chouksey said.

Cement imports from Pakistan for the period December 2017 and March 2018 have witnessed growth of 24 per cent on a year-on-year basis at 4.55 lakh tonnes, up from 3.68 lakh tonnes.

"Domestic cement industry which has invested in anticipation of growth in demand, but is losing revenue of Rs 500 crore to Pakistani cement imports," an official working with a cement major told IANS.

While cement imports from Pakistan, market players say, have been unabated, exports from India to Pakistan stands no chance as it attracts 11 per cent customs duty.

Although cement manufacturers have have sought the imposition of 11 per cent Basic Customs Duty on the imports, as imposed by Pakistan, the government's reaction has not been "favourable", the stakeholders said.

Apart from cheaper imports, the Indian cement producers have to deal with a high rate of Goods and Services Tax in the country, at 28 per cent.

"We were very hopeful that this 28 per cent will get reduced to 18 per cent. Cement is a very essential commodity," Chouksey, who is also a wholetime director with JK Lakshmi Cement, said.

The industry hopes that the two-day GST Council meet scheduled on September 28-29 may announce the much required relief.

(Rituraj Baruah can be contacted at rituraj.b@ians.in)

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The political dogfight over the Rafale deal peaked on Sunday with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley seeking to discredit former France President Francois Hollande's revelation about choice of the offset partner and even found a link to his claim to Congress President Rahul Gandhi.

Hitting back, the Congress accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of violating the oath of secrecy by revealing details of the pact to his industrialist crony and reiterated its demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the intergovernmental deal with France to purchase 36 Rafale jets.

A day after Gandhi and the Congress came out all guns blazing against Modi, Jaitley cited conflicting media reports on Hollande's claims and questioned the veracity of the former French President's remarks that the Modi government had asked them to chose a private firm as the offset partner in the Rafale deal.

"Truth cannot have two versions," wrote Jaitley in his blogpost citing Hollande's initial claim to a French website that "Reliance Defence partnership with Dassault Aviation was entered at the suggestion of the Indian Government" and his subsequent statement to news agency AFP that "he is not aware if government ever lobbied for Reliance Defence".

"The accuracy of the statements made by the individuals may be questioned but circumstances never lie," said Jaitley, adding that "there is no 'partnership', as suggested by the former President.

"His (Hollande) second statement in Montreal, Canada, to AFP makes the veracity of his first statement even more questionable," said Jaitley maintaining that it was "erroneous for anybody to suggest that there is a partnership in the supply of the 36 Rafale aircraft".

Jaitley also pointed to a link between Hollande's claim and a tweet by Gandhi on April 30 saying "It's (Rafale) also going to drop some big bunker buster bombs in the next couple of weeks."

"The former French President's first statement rhymes with Rahul Gandhi's prediction," wrote Jaitley asserting Gandhi's tweet was "no coincidence".

The Congress which has been gunning for the Modi regime, lost no time in dismissing Jaitley's assertions as "lies" and demanded the Prime Minister to answer its questions rather than hiding behind his ministers' defences.

Gandhi in his reply said Jaitley's specialty was to "spin lies" and "defend the indefensible".

"It's high time he, the RM (Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman) and our Prime Minister stop lying and call a JPC to establish the full, uncorrupted truth about the Rafale scam," he said.

Intensifying the attack senior Congress leader Anand Sharma charged Modi with revealing the details of the intergovernmental deal to industrialist who subsequently became an offset partner instead of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited.

"The question to the Prime Minister is: how did this information come out that he would go go to France and reverse the deal?" said Sharma referring to Modi's April 2015 announcement of the deal to purchase 36 jets instead of 126 being negotiated during the erstwhile UPA regime.

"Then Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar had said that the Rafale deal was not on the agenda during Modi's visit to France. Even the Cabinet Committee on Security, the Indian Air Force, the Cabinet or the Foreign Secretary were not aware.

"Modi violated his oath of secrecy. Only he and none else could have revealed to the private company that he would reverse the deal," said Sharma while pointing to the incorporation of Reliance Defence Limited just days before Modi visited France in April 2015.

"It's a conspiracy, only one (Modi) person with knowledge about the new deal -- without telling anyone in the Cabinet, or the Ambassador etc -- revealed the details to the industrialist and asked him to form a company," added Sharma.

--IANS

and/prs

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Delhi government will organise alumni meetings in all its schools to reconnect and collaborate with its former students, Minister Manish Sisodia said on Sunday.

He made the announcement after attending an alumni meet at a Delhi government school in Shakti Nagar, where students who passed out from the school after 1961 participated.

The participants included IAS and IRS officers, engineers, social workers, and businessmen among others, the Delhi government said in a statement.

The alumni shared their work experiences with their juniors and also promised every possible contribution for the improvement of the school.

"The old boys who passed in 1961 onwards were so happy to be back in school. Also inaugurated the RO system and smart class arranged by the alumni," Sisodia tweeted.

With the intention to bring the alumni closer to their schools, there will be an 'Alumni Section' on the school website where the alumni can register and stay updated about their schools, the statement said.

Schools will also take an initiative to reach out to old alumni and register their details to fortify a new bond between the school and them, it said.

As part of this initiative, the Minister has instructed his department that the schools should invite the alumni as special guests on occasions like the Republic Day and the Independence Day, it added.

Sisodia also instructed the Department to connect the officers working in the Delhi government -- many of whom are alumni of Delhi government schools.

It is believed that the students presently studying in the schools will be inspired by this exercise and the old students will be able to contribute their time, resources and wisdom on how the school system can be improved, the statement added.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Dutch firm Flytxt, which specialises in Artificial Intelligence (AI), data analytics and marketing automation, has announced expanding its R&D facility at the Technopark campus here by further investing Rs 2.5 billion.

Speaking to IANS, Flytxt Group CEO Vinod Vasudevan said that even though they are headquartered in Amsterdam, the nerve centre of the company is its Technopark campus.

"The entire R&D (Research and Development) activity takes place here... We are going to increase our staff strength from 300 to 500 shortly and it will touch 1,000 in the next five years," said Vasudevan, a PhD from IIT.

Flytxt was formed in 2008 after a group of European investors wanted to invest their money in some business and Vasudevan was roped in from Mumbai.

Their client list of Flytxt includes telecom operators such as Vodafone, Airtel, MTN Group, Viettel, America Movil, Zain.

"Today our software solutions are mostly from the telecom sector as 70 worldwide use our products. The fresh investments is being done to enter retail banking,airlines, hospitality industry and digital wallet segments, which too have a huge customer data," said Vasudevan.

Apart from engaging in their own work, Flytxt conducts regular workshops in AI, machine learning and data analytics across campuses in and outside.

" did miss the first bus when it delayed its entry into the IT industry due to opposition towards computers. Now here is the chance to see that they do not miss the bus in the automation segment. The need of the hour is to see that engineering curriculum should undergo an overhaul to meet the future demands," added Vasudevan, who operates from Flytxt's Dubai office.An Egyptian court on Sunday sentenced the Supreme Guide of Muslim Brotherhood Mohamed Badie to life imprisonment over storming a police station in the Upper Egypt's province of Minya in 2013, the media reported.

A total of 64 other members of the Islamic group were also handed life sentence, which is 25 years in jail in Egypt.

The case dates back to August 2013 when the defendants assaulted a police station and killed a policeman, after the army-led ouster of former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in response to mass protests against his one-year rule.

The other 600 people charged in the same case were sentenced up to 15 years in prison.

They were also found guilty of vandalism, attacking public property, possessing arms and joining illegal organisations, the court said.

Badie, spiritual guide of the Muslim Brotherhood, was handed death sentence for ordering the murder of 10 people in Cairo in 2013.

In January 2010, Badie was elected the Muslim Brotherhood's eighth chief since its foundation in 1928 after a bitter dispute between ideologically focused conservatives and reformists.

He also received two other life sentences in cases related to espionage for a foreign country and violence.

Most Muslim Brotherhood's leaders, members and supporters, including Morsi himself, are currently jailed, many of whom have received appealable death and life sentences over various charges ranging from inciting violence and murder to espionage and jailbreak.

Morsi is currently serving a 20-year sentence for inciting deadly clashes between his supporters and opponents in late 2012, and a 25-year jail term for leaking classified documents to Qatar.

--IANS

ahm/sed

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Filmmaker and screenwriter Kalpana Lajmi, niece of the legendary Guru Dutt and acclaimed for making women-oriented films like "Rudaali", "Ek Pal, "Daman" and "Chingaari", died here on Sunday following a multiple organ failure at the age of 64.

"Extremely sorry to inform you that Kalpana Lajmi passed away this morning at 4.30 a.m.," the filmmaker's spokesperson Parul Chawla told IANS on Sunday.

Lajmi breathed her last at the Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani hospital here, where she was admitted in the intensive care unit since Tuesday due to kidney-related issues, the spokesperson added.

President Ram Nath Kovind and Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal paid condolences, as did a slew of well-known names like Hansal Mehta, Nandita Das, Soni Razdan and Raveena Tandon from the film industry.

"Sorry to hear of the passing of Kalpana Lajmi, a filmmaker of rare sensitivity. The repertoire of her work, from depicting strong and resilient women to cinematic renditions of Assamese life, was remarkable. Condolences to her family and well-wishers," read a post from the official President of India Twitter handle.

Her contribution to Indian cinema will be remembered forever, said Sonowal.

Lajmi's cremation took place on Sunday afternoon at the Oshiwara crematorium. Mahesh Bhatt, Soni Razdan, Shabana Azmi and Shyam Benegal were among those who were present.

Soni, who was her close friend, said: "Our dear beloved friend Kalpana Lajmi has gone to a better place. RIP my darling Kalpana. I shall miss you so terribly."

Lajmi had been undergoing dialysis for a couple of years, and true to her indomitable spirit, had said in an interview last year: "My kidneys have failed, but I haven't."

She had forayed into filmdom as an assistant director under renowned filmmaker Shyam Benegal, following which she made her directorial debut with a documentary film "D.G. Movie Pioneer" based on Bengali filmmaker Dhiren Ganguly in 1978.

Her feature film debut came with "Ek Pal". She also directed the TV serial "Lohit Kinaare" (1988) for Doordarshan and 26 episodes of a serial "Dawn", on the freedom movement of India.

Lajmi's last film as a director was "Chingaari", based on the novel "The Prostitute and the Postman" by the late Bhupen Hazarika, her long-time companion.

She also penned a book, "Bhupen Hazarika: As I Knew Him", on Hazarika. It was launched on September 8 by Benegal and Lajmi's mother, painter Lalita Lajmi.

The filmmaker, who was hospitalised at that time too, could not attend the event as her doctors had refused to allow her a long commute.

Known for fearless filmmaking with women in strong roles, Lajmi's 1993 Dimple Kapadia-starrer "Rudaali" was even chosen as India's official entry to the 66th Academy Awards.

Actress Raveena Tandon, who played the lead role as a battered wife in "Daman", mourned Lajmi's demise.

"You will be missed Kalpanaji. Was not your time to go... But may your heart now be at peace. Those days while shooting 'Daman' will be a treasured memory. Om Shanti."

Actor Viveck Vaswani was shattered at the news of the death of his friend and colleague, while Nandita recounted how she had promised to meet Lajmi in the coming week after the release of her film "Manto".

"No greater pain than losing one's child, so my deepest condolences to Lalitaji," Nandita wrote.

Lyricist and censor board chief Prasoon Joshi described Lajmi as "a seeker looking for more questions than just answers". Actor Ranvir Shorey remembered her as "a warm and affectionate human being who made a huge contribution to socially relevant cinema in India".

Mehta, who had worked with Lajmi as an editor when she made "Darmiyaan", wrote: "Will always remember her with fondness and respect for being a fearless woman and a powerhouse of a person in a male dominated industry. Rest in Peace dear Kalpana."

Actress Huma Qureshi said she was "deeply saddened" by the news.

--IANS

qn-rb/sed

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Five persons were injured in a group clash in south Delhi, following which cross cases were registered against both parties, police said on Sunday.

Police said Shahnawaz, 22, and his brothers Sufian, 21, and Kadim, 30, had a clash with his neighbours Santosh and his brothers Krishna Parsad and Ajit in Gandhi Camp at Srinawaspuri area on Saturday night, following which all these persons were injured.

According to Deputy Commissioner of Police Chinmoy Biswal, Police Control Room (PCR) received a call regarding a fight between the two groups around 11.40 p.m. "Police reached the spot and found Shahnawaz, Sufian and Kadim confined by Santosh and his brothers in their house," Biswal said.

"They had injuries on their heads and other body parts. They were medically examined and a case registered against Santosh and his brothers," the officer said.

Around 1 p.m. police again rushed to the spot after a call about another fight between the two groups.

"Police found that brothers of Santosh and Shahnawaz created nuisance and fought with each other. Santosh and his brothers attacked the other group with sticks and sharp-edged tools," he said, adding that Shahnawaz and his brothers also threw stones at Santosh's house.

Police registered cross cases against both the groups.

--IANS

sp/tsb/sed

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani cancelled his visit to New York to attend the UN General Assembly (UNGA) meeting after his American counterpart Donald Trump declined to meet him, a media report said Sunday.

However, government officials rejected the claim as baseless.

Earlier, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Abdullah Abdullah left for the US to attend the 73rd UNGA meeting.

The CEO, heading a high-level delegation, would take part in the assembly on behalf of the unity government and express Kabul's views on different issues, a statement from his office said.

Abdullah will underline the need for countering terrorism and narcotics, and for enhancing regional and international cooperation with Afghanistan in this regard. The CEO would explain Afghanistan's preparations for the parliamentary and district council elections.

A reliable source at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA), wishing anonymity, told Pajhwok Afghan News that it was expected that President Donald Trump and President Ashraf Ghani would meet on the sidelines of the UNGA meeting in New York.

He said a delegation in this regard recently visited the US, but President Trump declined the request and said that Ghani could meet Vice President Mike Pence.

National Security Council spokesman Qader Shah said he was unaware of the development while the Presidential Palace rejected the claim of the MoFA source.

Deputy Presidential spokesman Shah Hussain Murtazavi rejected the president was intending to attend the UNGA meeting and said the CEO would participate in the meeting.

He said the country's situation demanded that the President should remain at home and not participate in multinational conferences.

MoFA spokesman Sifatullah Ahmadi also termed the claim of meeting cancellation as baseless.

--IANS

ahm/sed

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Amid a talented pool of tech entrepreneurs and start-ups in India live millions of women and under-represented communities, chasing opportunities to enter the new digital world, and the onus is right on the tech giants to skill them and bridge the digital divide, says a top Amazon Web Services (AWS) executive.

According to Teresa Carlson, Vice President, Worldwide Public Sector at AWS -- online retail giant Amazon's Cloud business arm -- the time is now ripe for tech companies to approach talented youth in rural India, skill and connect them to the digital mainstream in order to achieve "inclusive innovation".

"India is unique. You have this highly educated population of tech entrepreneurs and start-ups and then you go into villages which are like a different world altogether.

"You got to access the talent pool there, make sure that you skill them so that they have the capabilities and opportunities to take advantage of this whole new world," said Carlson, who is viewed as one of the most powerful women in the global tech scene.

For her, healthcare and education are the two sectors that need big tech intervention.

"I think for India, we have to create new mechanisms to educate people in emerging technologies like Cloud computing. We did the same in Kenya with the non-profit Digital Divide Data (DDD) and trained 30-60 people (including women) in Cloud computing as a stepping stone to more advanced IT careers and saw positive results," Carlson told IANS during her second visit to India last week.

Today, the DDD and AWS graduates are earning five times more than their peers.

"We put them through an intensive six-month training. We put them to work at the Kenyan National Museum and now we have them working in other vocations. They are now in jobs that pay about $85,000 a year. That is more than they would make in three lifetimes in Africa," Carlson noted.

She knows that this training model works and now she wants to scale it up for countries like India.

In the US, Northern Virginia Community College, in collaboration with the "AWS Educate" programme, has launched a Cloud computing specialisation as part of its Information Systems Technology (IST) Associate of Applied Science degree that started this autumn.

The class has already started and during the AWS education summit recently, it launched the same programme with Los Angeles community colleges.

"I spoke to some of your government officials, including in the National Skills Development Corporation (NSDC), in the last couple of days and asked them why don't we do the same here for vocational training in Cloud computing," informed Carlson.

AWS "EdStart" programme is helping entrepreneurs in India build the next generation of online learning, analytics and campus management solutions on the AWS Cloud. The programme is designed to enable EdTech start-ups move faster with specially-tailored benefits.

AWS "Edstart" members in India include start-ups like doubtbox, Classplus, Quizizz, NEETprep.com, examly, StudyBoard, Bloombench, Multibhashi, proctor, I&WE and bookbhook.com <http://bookbhook.com>, among others.

Carlson, who started her career as a speech and language pathologist, also looks at the Indian health care scenario with hope in her eyes.

"When I was here on my first visit two years ago, one of the things that struck me personally the most was the number of start-ups with virtual healthcare applications running on AWS," she recalled.

The start-ups were working in the field of mapping the cornea to identify heart disease.

"I thought about that a lot over two years and, in these years, the number of both the companies and tools available to take healthcare to the next level in India is kind of off the charts," said Carlson.

To help accelerate the discovery of new, targeted treatments for patients, Accenture and Merck (known as MSD), in collaboration with AWS, this month decided to launch a Cloud-based informatics research platform.

"This is an example of how Cloud computing is truly allowing for innovations at speed and at scale that we did not even think about years ago. This is where I think India is just going to be at much advantage, owing to the growing healthcare start-ups," added Carlson.

"We have to ensure that you have policies that allow these things to get moving on Cloud because what you don't want is 80 per cent of your IT budget to be spent on maintenance of the systems," Carlson emphasised.

She recalled an incident when she took Amazon Cloud computing and its benefits to the US government in 2010 and an official asked her: "Are you here to sell books?"

"Policymakers in India definitely have a clear idea of what Cloud is. Everybody knows what Cloud computing is now. The world has changed quickly so that is a good thing," she said.

(Nishant Arora can be contacted at nishant.a@ians.in)

--IANS

na/gb/vm/sac

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Lelectricite est devenue, de nos jours, un besoin dune importance majeure, et cela, dans tous les domaines dactivite. Que ce soit dans les maisons ou []Hindu intellectuals and academicians on Sunday demanded the removal of government control over temples.

"We demand equal rights to Hindus on par with others in the matters of running educational institutions without undue interference of state, removal of government control of Hindu temples... and preserving and promoting Hindu heritage and culture," Bharat Gupt, a retired Delhi University professor, read from a draft, created by Hindutva leaders from 17 states.

The group, under the banner of Srijan Samaaj, also demanded passage of Union Minister Satyapal Singh's Private Member's Bill 226 in the forthcoming Parliament Session. The Bill seeks to amend Articles 26 to 30 of the Constitution that would meet its demands.

Tapan Ghosh, a Hindutva leader from Bengal, and Surendranath Chandranath, who has written on subjects relating to Hindu culture and concerns, were among those who presented a "charter of key Hindu Demands" at an event organised at the Press Club of India here.

On behalf of the panel, Ghosh said the Narendra Modi-led central government has not done enough for the Hindus.

"We are not happy with Modi. He speaks about Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas (development for all) but there is no inclusion of Hindus in that. They are still not getting their dues like the minorities," he told IANS.

The group complained about foreign funds coming to Indian entities.

"This money often drives the vested interests of these agencies in India and often ends up subverting Indian society and fuelling conflict and separatism," the draft said.

The charter also said that in order to prevent "repeat of genocidal religious persecution as suffered by the Kashmiri Hindus", J&K should be divided into three states -- Kashmir, Ladakh and Jammu.

Another demand was to ban the export of beef. "This has not only skyrocketed the prices of meat/beef but has also led to growth of meat or beef mafia."

"With about 14 lakh tons of meat/beef exported during 2017-18, India has achieved the shameful distinction of the largest meat/beef exporter in the world, quite contrary to Article 48 of the Constitution," it said.

--IANS

mg/mag/sed

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday launched the 'Ayushman Bharat - Pradhan Mantri Jan Aarogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY)' here, hailing it as the "worlds biggest state-run healthcare scheme".

Launching the scheme, Modi said the intended beneficiaries outnumber the total population of the European Union or that of the USA, Canada and Mexico put together.

Modi said that the scheme, which targets more than 50 crore people, will be a subject for research for medical and social scientists and a model for the world to follow. He had announced AB-PMJAY in his Independence Day speech.

Without taking names, Modi used the occasion to target the Congress for "using schemes for the sake of vote-bank politics".

"Since long, we have been hearing the slogan of 'gareebi hatao' (abolish poverty) but they only indulged in of poverty, of vote bank. They were only giving out freebies to the poor instead of empowering them.

"Previous governments' schemes were guided by vote bank, with the beneficiaries selected on the basis of potential vote bank for them. But we strive for the empowerment of the poor. We believe in inclusive growth. The scheme is not aimed at benefiting a particular region or community or caste. It is for all, for the poorest of poor. The poor don't want freebies, they have self-respect and seek empowerment. We work for their empowerment," he added.

Modi also laid the foundation stone of medical colleges at Chaibasa and Koderma in Ranchi, and distributed e-card, a unique helath identity card, to the beneficiaries of PMJAY.

Jharkhand Governor Draupadi Murmu, Chief Minister Raghubar Das and Union Ministers J.P. Nadda and Jayant Sinha were present on the occasion.

The scheme will provide a cover of up to Rs 5 lakh per family per year, for secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation through a network of Empanelled Health Care Providers (EHCP).

The EHCP network will provide cashless and paperless access to services for the beneficiaries at both public and private hospitals.

The services will include 1,350 procedures covering pre- and post-hospitalisation, diagnostics and medicines.

Ayushman Bharat has two components -- creation of 150,000 health and wellness centres which will provide Comprehensive Primary Health Care (CPHC) and the PMJAY which provides health protection cover to poor and vulnerable families for secondary and tertiary care.

The first Health and Wellness Centre was launched by Modi at Jangla, Chhattisgarh on April 14.

PMJAY primarily targets the poor, deprived rural families and identified occupational category of urban workers' families as per the latest Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC) data for both rural and urban areas as well as the active families under the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY).

The objectives of the scheme are to reduce out of pocket hospitalisation expenses, fulfil unmet needs and improve access of identified families to quality inpatient care and surgeries.

The scheme allows states enough flexibility in terms of packages, procedures, scheme design, entitlements as well as other guidelines while ensuring that key benefits of portability and fraud detection are ensured at a national level.

States have the option to use an existing trust/society or set up a new trust/society to implement the scheme as State Health Agency and will be free to choose the modalities for implementation.

It can implement the Scheme through an insurance company or directly through the trust/society/implementation support agency or a mixed approach.

Pilot launch of the scheme has already been done in around 22 states and Union Territories. About 30 states and union territories have signed a Memorandum of Understanding and started working on implementating the mission.

--IANS

and/tsb/sed

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The slugfest over the Rafale deal continued on Sunday with Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley citing conflicting media reports on Francois Hollande's claims regarding a private firm becoming an as offset partner in the jet deal at the instance of Modi government and asserting that there was "no partnership as suggested by the former French President".

Riding on Hollande's remark to French website Mediapart that that the Indian government had proposed choosing a private firm as an offset partner, the opposition has been gunning for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) regime with Congress president Rahul Gandhi even claiming that the former French President had called Prime Minister Narendra Modi a "thief".

While both the Defence Ministry and Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad have maintained that the Indian government had no role in the choice of the offset partner, Jaitley took to social media to reiterate the assertions and pointed to Hollande's "contrasting remarks".

"A controversy is sought to be created on the basis of a statement made by Hollande, that the Reliance Defence 'partnership' with Dassault Aviation was entered at the suggestion of the Indian GOvernment.

"In a subsequent statement the former President has sought to suggest that Reliance Defence emerged on the scene after the agreement with the Indian Government was entered into. He has, in a subsequent statement, said that he is 'not aware' if government ever lobbied for Reliance Defence and that athe partners chose themselves'. Truth cannot have two versions," wrote Jaitley in a blogpost.

Jaitley also cited the French government and Dassault Aviation (makers of the Rafale jets) of having "categorically denied the correctness of Hollande's first statement" (made to Mediapart)

"The French government has stated that the decision with regard to the offset contracts of Dassault Aviation are taken by the company and not the Government. Dassault Aviation itself has suggested that they have entered into multiple contracts with several public sector and private sector companies with regard to the offset contracts and the decision is entirely theirs," he said.

"Without commenting on the correctness or otherwise of a controversy in the French media, it may be mentioned that the former French President Hollande, is countering statement made against him with regard to a conflict of interest in his dealing with the Reliance Defence.

"The accuracy of the statements made by the individuals may be questioned but circumstances never lie," said Jaitley, addin that "there is no 'partnership', as suggested by the former President with regard to the 36 Rafale aircraft".

Contending that it was a "government to government agreement" with no manufacturing is to be done in India, Jaitley said it was "erroneous for anybody to suggest that there is a partnership in the supply of the 36 Rafale aircraft".

Citing a media report that quoted Hollande as saying that "France did not choose Reliance in any way", Jaitley said: "His (Hollande) second statement in Montreal, Canada, to AFP makes the veracity of his first statement even more questionable".

"One Reliance Group was a part of this deal since 2012. It dropped out of defence production. The other Reliance Group was already in defence. They are not partners in the Rafale deal. They have no contract with either the government of India or of France. They were not selected as one of the many offset partners by any government.

"'The partners (Dassault and Reliance) selected themselves' as former President Hollande now says. This contradicts his first questionable statement which the French government and Dassault have denied. The facts contradict the same," he said.

The AFP report claims Hollande as saying that he was "unaware" about if India had put pressure on Reliance and Dassault to work together and said "only Dassault can comment on this".

Jaitley reiterated that neither the French or the Indian Government has any say in selecting the offset partner and targeted Gandhi over the issue.

"The former French President's first statement rhymes with Rahul Gandhi's prediction.

The Congress Party's official handle on 31.8.2018 had carried the tweet of one of its leader "It is evident that Anil Ambani bribed President Hollande through his actor-partner to get the Dassault partnership".

"For the Congress Party to allege that a former President had been bribed by an Indian business group and then use him as a primary witness, particularly when he is facing criticism for an alleged conflict of interest within his own country.

"Rahul Gandhi has made an absurd suggestion that the interest of Indian soldiers has been compromised with. By whom? The UPA which delayed the acquisition which would have added to the Military's combat ability or the NDA which expedited the same at a lower cost," he added.

Notwithstanding the contradictory report by the AFP, an India media house (NDTV) has reported that Hollande's office has reiterated that the former French President stands by his statement that the Indian government proposed Reliance Defence as the India partner for the 36 Rafale jet deal.

--IANS

and/vsc/ksk

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A top commander of the Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) terror outfit was killed on Sunday in a gunfight with the security forces in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama District, polce said.

Adnan was killed in Aripal of Tral area after the security forces surrounded the village in the wake of a tip-off about the presence of the militants in the area, according to a police officer.

"As the cordon was tightened, the militant opened fire. The house in which the militant was hiding was destroyed during the shootout," the officer added.

After a brief exchange of fire, Adnan was shot dead.

--IANS

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(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Actress Kriti Kharbanda, who was seen on the big screen in "Yamla Pagla Deewana : Phir Se", will now share the frame with actor Ranveer Singh -- but for an ad commercial.

Kriti will feature with Ranveer in an advertisement commercial for paint brand Kansai Nerolac. They shot for the commercial recently at a suburban studio.

"It's an honour to be part of such a prestigious brand that has existed for decades now and considered as the leader in their segment. It was a great opportunity to share the screen space with Ranveer and I had a whale of a time shooting with him for the commercial," Kriti said in a statement issued on her behalf.

The actress has earlier been seen in films like "Shaadi Mein Zaroor Aana" and Guest in London". Her next movie is Sajid Nadiadwala's multi-starrer comedy franchise movie "Housefull 4".

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Intensifying its attack over the raging Rafale controversy, the Congress on Sunday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of violating the oath of secrecy by revealing details of the new deal to an industrialist who subsequently became an offset partner instead of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited.

Hours after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley again came out in defence of the deal for purchasing 36 French fighter jets, Congress Spokesperson Anand Sharma demanded that the Prime Minister respond to the allegations directed at him.

"The question to the Prime Minister is -- how this information came out that he will go go to France and reverse the deal?" said Sharma referring to Modi's April 2015 announcement of an intergovernmental deal to purchase 36 jets instead of 126 being negotiated during the erstwhile UPA regime.

"Then Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar had said that the Rafale deal was not on the agenda during Modi's visit to France. Nobody knew as to Modi's visit to France and the announcement of a new deal. Even the Cabinet Committee on Security, the Indian Air Force, the Cabinet or the Foreign Secretary were not aware about the decision.

"Direct allegations are against the Prime Minister that he violated his oath of secrecy. Only he and none else could have revealed to the private company that he will reverse the deal," said Sharma while pointing to the incorporation of Reliance Defence Limited just days before Modi visited France in April 2015.

"It's a conspiracy, only one (Modi) person with knowledge about the new deal -- without telling anyone in the Cabinet, or the Ambassador etc -- revealed the details to the industrialist and asked him to form a company," alleged Sharma.

Sharma said that there will be global ramifications of the "scam of the century".

"We had warned the Prime Minister that this scam will have global ramifications. It will not be limited to geographical boundaries of India but resonate in the world capitals, and that is what is happening," said Sharma.

The Congress leader was referring to French media reports on former France President Francois Hollande's claims regarding a private Indian firm becoming an offset partner in the intergovernmental deal for the fighter jets.

"Why is the Prime Minister silent? He speaks on every subject, he is the main campaigner for the BJP and the government. So when the allegations are against him, it's he who should answer, and not others on his behalf," said Sharma.

The Congress leader dismissed as "repeated lies" the latest defences and justifications given by Jaitley and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on the matter.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Just over a week after commitments by investors, business communities and governments to step up actions at the Global Climate Action Summit, another two global dialogues both in New York next week, were the line to push actions towards bolder solutions to tackle climate change, experts said on Sunday.

The opening ceremony of Climate Week New York City, 10th in series, on Monday, attracts CEOs, government ministers, governors, mayors and investors from around the world, while the second One Planet Summit on September 26 will be a crucial step for raising ambitions and accelerating the protection of planet from carbon emissions.

"This year we expect our distinguished speakers to include senior leadership of the UN, global CEOs and national leaders," a spokesperson for Climate Week New York City told IANS on Sunday.

Businesses, cities and states are coming together over this period to step up climate leadership, and will be calling on their peers and governments to do the same - to put the world on-track to achieve the Paris Agreement.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern; Costa Rica President Carlos Alvarado Quesada; Marshall Islands President Hilda Heine; Peru President Martin Vizcarra; and Haiti President Jovenel Moise will attend the opening ceremony of the Climate Week New York City that concludes on September 30.

As well as Brad Smith, President and CLO of Microsoft; Jens Birgersson CEO of Rockwool Group; Jake Yamashita CEO of Ricoh; Francesco Starace CEO of ENEL; Stephen Badger Chairman of Mars; Alexandra Liftman Global Environmental Executive of Bank of America; Paul Coster of JP Morgan; and Fleming Voetmann, Vice President of ICA, will also be present.

One Planet Summit will be co-hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim and UN Special Envoy for Climate Action Michael R. Bloomberg.

The summit will be held on September 26, following the second annual Bloomberg Global Business Forum and alongside the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly.

"Climate action requires a collective response. Discipline and ambition are essential. We are going through challenging times, but solutions are everywhere, all over the world. We must act together to foster innovation, boost transformative projects, gather public and private investments, and deliver on our promises for the next generations," Macron said in a statement.

Bloomberg, who is the founder of Bloomberg LP and Bloomberg Philanthropies, added: "Since last year's summit, we've taken important steps forward to reduce carbon emissions and improve people's lives, by cleaning the air, growing the economy, and creating jobs. This year's summit is a chance to accelerate that progress and spread the health and economic benefits of climate action to more people around the world."

Launched on December 12, 2017, in Paris, the inaugural One Planet Summit gathered more than 4,000 participants to accelerate the implementation of the Paris Agreement and to engage public and private actors in the fight against climate change.

Three years after the historic signing of the Paris Climate Change Agreement, the just concluded Global Climate Action Summit and the upcoming Climate Week New York City and One Planet Summit will confirm the commitment of public and private actors to climate action.

Both climate summits are lined up in run up to the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that will publish a special report on global warming of 1.5 degrees Celsius for policymakers in October.

At the Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco, 29 philanthropic communities announced $4 billion over five years to combat climate change, the largest-ever philanthropic investment focused on climate change mitigation.

Likewise, an alliance of more than 60 state/regional, city governments and multinational businesses has committed to a 100 per cent zero emission targets through the ZEV (zero emission vehicle) Challenge.

Mahindra and Mahindra, India's leading manufacturer of utility vehicles and part of the $20.7 billion Mahindra Group, has announced its commitment to become a carbon neutral company by 2040.

So is big emitters like India's Dalmia Cement that has committed to set science-based emissions reduction targets. The company aims to be carbon negative by 2040.

Almost 400 global companies along with health care providers, cities, states and regions now have 100 per cent renewable energy targets.

This includes nearly 150 major global companies such as Tata Motors and Sony that have joined the RE100 initiative: collective annual revenues of these companies total well over $2.75 trillion and their annual electricity demand is higher than that of Poland, the venue of UN Climate Change's Conference or COP24 to be held from December 2 to 14.

(Vishal Gulati can be contacted at vishal.g@ians.in)

--IANS

vg/ksk

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Former Muzaffarpur Mayor Samir Kumar and his driver were shot dead on Sunday night by unidentified assailants in the Bihar town, police said.

Samir and his driver, who was not identified immediately, were fatally shot by motorcycle-borne criminals armed with an AK-47 assault rifle.

The criminals hailed the former Mayor's SUV to a stop at the Banaras Chowk in Muzaffarpur. As they stopped, the assailants fired dozens of bullets at Samir and his driver and fled, a police official said.

The crime has created panic in Muzaffarpur. Police has registered a case.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Demanding a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe, senior Supreme Court advocate Prashant Bhushan on Sunday said here the Rafale fighter aircraft deal as India's largest defence scam.

Bhushan said the deal compromised the national security as the number of fighter aircraft contract had been reduced to 36 from originally planned 126.

Speaking to reporters here, Bhushan said the central government should order a JPC probe into the deal.

He said the deal compromised the national security and also denied Hindustan Aeronatics Ltd (HAL) a chance to acquire technology to manufacture fighter aircraft.

Bhushan also charged that the central government by-passed the set procedure in the purchase of defence equipment.

According to him, the Defence Ministry, IAF and the Ministry of External Affairs were kept in the dark about the deal.

--IANS

vj/prs

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Sunday attacked Rahul Gandhi saying that the Congress President and Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan were using the same language to target Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the controversial Rafale jet deal.

"Rahul Gandhi is using the same language like Imran Khan about Modi," the Minister told the media here.

Prasad reiterated that for the first time in independent India, the President of a national party has used abusive language against the Prime Minister.

"Gandhi's statement was irresponsible and far from the truth. He should stop playing with national security. Rahul is helping Pakistan by repeatedly asking about the cost of Rafale aircraft."

Prasad's remarks come a day after Gandhi termed Modi a "thief" and "corrupt," citing the Rafale deal.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Bollywood star Ranbir Kapoor, along with his father Rishi Kapoor and uncles Randhir and Rajiv, kept to tradition and celebrated Ganpati Visarjan with full enthusiasm amidst a sea of fans at the iconic RK Studios, which has been put up for sale.

The Kapoor family always steps out and celebrates the Ganpati festival at the studio in Chembur with gusto. And this year was no different, even if it may be the last at the venue, as the sounds of the 'dhol' and 'tashe' enhanced the festive fervour.

Ranbir, who was dressed in a white shirt and blue denims, came back to Mumbai from Bulgaria where he was shooting "Brahmastra" to be a part of the festivities. He walked along with Rajiv, who was clad in a red t-shirt, as part of a procession to immerse the Ganpati idol which was brought in on Ganesh Chaturthi on September 13.

The security arrangements ensured all went smooth. They played intruments, and Randhir, Ranbir and Rajiv even broke a coconut each before the procession.

While Ranbir looked a little troubled by the heat and humidity in Mumbai, he seemed to be comfortable amid the fans surrounding him. He smiled at his fans and waved out to them, much to their delight.

Last year, there was news that Rishi and Randhir had misbehaved with mediapersons and pushed them away. But this year, RK Studios' Ganesh festivities went off peacefully.

In August, Rishi, on behalf of the family, announced that they have collectively decided to sell the sprawling studio, built by his late legendary father Raj Kapoor.

They took the decision as it was not economically viable to rebuild it after it was gutted in a fire last year.

R.K. Studio, the headquarters of the film production company R.K. Films, has been home to shoot of films like "Jis Desh Me Ganga Behti Hain" (1960), "Mera Naam Joker" (1970), "Bobby" (1973), the debut film for Rishi Kapoor and Dimple Kapadia, "Satyam Shivam Sundaram" (1978), "Prem Rog" (1982) and "Ram Teri Ganga Maili" (1985), which was the founder-actor's last film before his death in June 1988.

--IANS

iv/rb/sed

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The domestic equity market's movement in the coming week will be driven by the rupee's movementas well as futures and options expiry, besides the message from the Finance Minister's meeting with the heads of public sector banks (PSBs).

Market analysts feel the indices could offer some relief in the upcoming week, after largely bearish trade last week.

Movement in the rupee would be a factor in the market, they said. On Tuesday, the Indian rupee touched a new low of 72.91 per US dollar, although it recovered somewhat later.

Concerns over the US-China trade war would also impact the global and domestic market sentiments. On Friday, China cancelled talks with the US after the latter imposed more tariffs on Chinese imports.

According to reports, a White House official has said the US is optimistic about finding a way forward in the ongoing trade dispute with China.

"Global headwinds are also subsiding slowly. Hence, the market may shake off its earlier losses to witness new highs," said Prateek Jain, Director of Hem Securities.

He, however, added: "Amidst the global optimism, the market could witness a little volatility as traders adjust their positions on account of monthly derivatives expiry, which is scheduled to take place on Thursday, September 27.

"Further, there will be some buzz from the banking sector, as investors will keep an eye on the meeting of the Finance Ministry and top management of the public sector banks on September 25."

Technically, for the Nifty50 on the National Stock Exchange (NSE), 11,050 points would be a major support level while immediate resistance level would be 11,250 points, said Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research at HDFC Securities.

In the week gone by, the Indian equity market slumped over three per cent due to a depreciating rupee along with high oil and credit risk concerns.

On a weekly basis, the Sensex of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) closed at 36,841.60 points, lower by 1,249.04 points or 3.28 per cent from the previous week.

Similarly, the wider Nifty50 on Friday closed at 11,143.10 points, down 372.1 points or 3.23 per cent from the previous week's close.

In terms of investments, provisional figures from the stock exchanges showed that foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold scrips worth Rs 2,674.12 crore, while the domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought Rs 1,782.63 crore worth of stocks in the truncated week.

According to National Securities Depository (NSDL) figures, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) divested Rs 2,231.37 crore, or $306.04 million, in the equities segment during the week ended September 21.

On the currency front, the Indian rupee closed at 72.20 a US dollar on Friday, depreciating 35 paise from the previous week's close of 71.85.

(Rituraj Baruaah can be contacted at rituraj.b@ians.in)

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Congress on Sunday alleged that top BJP leaders including President Amit Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi had "no courage" to ask ailing Manohar Parrikar to step down as Chief Minister of Goa, because Parrikar, a former Defence Minister, had a lot of information about the Rafale deal.

Goa Congress President Girish Chodankar made the charge soon after Shah tweeted, that the ailing Parrikar, who is being treated for advanced pancreatic cancer at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences for a week now, would continue as Chief Minister of Goa.

"Parrikar must be having a lot of information about the Rafale deal, because he was the Defence Minister that time. Parrikar is refusing to resign and they have no courage to ask for his resignation, because of the Rafale deal, because it is a huge scam, where PM is directly involved.

"I think Parrikar is using them now (and saying) if you ask for my resignation, I will expose you in the Rafale deal. They (Shah and Modi) are being blackmailed," Chodankar alleged at a press conference at the party's state headquarters in Panaji.

Earlier in the day, Shah in a tweet finally lent a bit of clarity to the ongoing leadership crisis arising from Parrikar's recurring hospitalization for nearly seven months now in hospitals in Goa, Mumbai, New York and now Delhi.

"After discussions with the core team of the Goa state BJP, a decision has been taken that Chief Minister of Goa Manohar Parrikar will continue as a leader. Changes in the state government ministerial portfolios will happen soon," Shah said in his tweet.

Chodankar, however, has claimed, that the decision to continue with an ailing CM, who has been admitted to the Delhi hospital for a week now, only shows the "pure arrogance" of the party.

--IANS

maya/ahm/sed

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A ruling TDP MLA and a former legislator of his party were shot dead on Sunday by Maoists in Andhra Pradesh's Visakhapatnam district, police said.

K. Sarveswara Rao, 45, Telugu Desam Party (TDP) MLA from Araku (Reserved-Scheduled Tribe) and his party colleague and former MLA Siveri Soma, 52, were attacked near Thutangi village, about 125 km from the coastal city of Visakhapatnam, while they were returning from a programme at a village in Araku, a tribal area.

They were intercepted by a large group of armed Maoists, including women, while they were returning in two vehicles.

After ordering others to leave, they began talking to the MLA and the former MLA about the mining in agency areas. They later pumped bullets into the two leaders, killing them on the spot. Both were shot in the head and chest.

Senior police officials rushed to the spot. Police said both Rao and Soma had received threats from Maoists in the past.

Following the killings, police was put on high alert. Public representatives were advised to take precautions while visiting their respective constituencies.

Rao was elected from Araku on a YSR Congress Party ticket in the 2014 elections by defeating Soma of the TDP. In 2016, Rao switched loyalties to the TDP.

In July this year, tribals had protested against the MLA for allegedly obtaining mining lease in the name of his brother-in-law. They had alleged that quarrying of black stones was damaging the houses of tribals at Guda village.

--IANS

ms/tsb/sed

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A ruling TDP MLA and a former legislator of his party were on Sunday gunned down by Maoists in Andhra Pradesh's Visakhapatnam district, police said.

In what is believed to be the first major attack on public representatives in a decade, K. Sarveswara Rao, 45, Telugu Desam Party (TDP) MLA from Araku (Reserved-Scheduled Tribe) and his party colleague and former MLA Siveri Soma, 52, were shot dead near Thutangi village, about 125 km from the coastal city of Visakhapatnam, while they were returning from a programme at a village in Araku, a tribal area.

Their car was intercepted by a group of 40-50 Maoists, including women. After snatching weapons from three security guards, they tied them along with the driver to trees. They threatened them with dire consequences if they tried to escape or resist.

Swamy, one of the security guards, later told the media that the Maoists spoke to both the leaders for nearly an hour about their involvement in mining in agency area which is reportedly threatening the livelihood of tribals.

The TDP leaders suggested that the matter could be resolved peacefully. However, an argument ensued and the Maoists opened fire on them from point-blank range, killing them on the spot. Both were shot in the head and chest.

Deputy Inspector General of Police Ch. Srikanth said that the crime occurred between noon and 1 p.m. about 15 km from the Odisha border.

Both Rao and Soma had received threats from Maoists in the past. The public representatives in the region were alerted by the police to be cautious while moving in interior villages in view of the formation week celebrations of the outlawed Communist Party of India-Maoist till September 27.

Rao was elected from Araku on a YSR Congress Party ticket in the 2014 elections by defeating Soma of the TDP. In 2016, Rao switched loyalties to the TDP.

In July this year, tribals had protested against the MLA for allegedly obtaining mining lease in the name of his brother-in-law. They had alleged that quarrying of black stones was damaging the houses of tribals at Guda village.

Deputy Chief Minister N. Chinna Rajappa said that a probe will be conducted to ascertain as to how Maoists managed to attack the two leaders despite the fact that their activities were under control for the last 4-5 years.

The CPI-Maoist was believed to have considerably weakened in its former stronghold on the Andhra-Odisha border in recent years following intensive police operations by both the states.

Following the killings, police went on high alert in Andhra-Odisha border area and public representatives were advised not to visit interior villages.

Senior police officials reviewed the situation. Additional forces including personnel of anti-Maoist force Greyhounds were rushed to the region for combing operations.

Tension prevailed in Araku constituency as relatives and supporters of slain leaders attacked two police stations.

Accusing the police of "failing" to protect the public representatives, the protestors ransacked Araku and Dumbriguda police stations and set afire to the furniture and other articles.

When police tried to disperse the protestors at Dumbriguda, they vent their ire on policemen, injuring one constable. Other policemen ran away to escape from the mob fury.

Some people again staged a protest at the police station with the bodies of Rao and Soma. They claimed that the police had not reached the scene even four hours after the crime.

Senior officials rushed to the spot and pacified the protestors.

Chief Minister and TDP chief N. Chandrababu Naidu expressed shock over the killings. Naidu, who is currently visiting the United States, in a message condemned the killings and conveyed his condolences to the bereaved families.

The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) said that such attacks and killings are a "scar on humanity".

The Chief Minister directed senior Cabinet colleague Kala Venkatrao to rush to the district.

--IANS

ms/tsb/sed

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Three youths were arrested and two firearms and ammunition were seized from them on Sunday in southern Tripura's Sabroom, a town along the India-Bangladesh border, police said.

"The three were intercepted while travelling in a car in Sabroom. Two 9-mm pistols, seven cartridges and four loaded magazines were seized from them," Sub-Divisional Police Officer Sabyasachi Debnath told IANS from Sabroom, 135 km south of Agartala.

All three are residents of western Tripura's Bishalgarh, another trading city along the Bangladesh border.

The official said that senior police and intelligence officials are now interrogating the youths on their motives and backgrounds.

--IANS

sc/tsb/sed

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Two men have been arrested for allegedly stealing Rs 70 lakh from a private firm in Model Town here, police said on Sunday.

The two accused have been identified as Dhan Singh Bisht (38), who was employed by the owner of the firm, and his friend Yakub Hasan (37), they said.

According to the police, on August 27, the owner of Reema Polychem Private Limited in Azadpur had sent Bisht to collect a payment of Rs 70 lakh from a client.

"After collecting the cash, Bisht contacted Hasan. The two went to Almora in Hasan's car. After dropping Bisht there, Hasan returned to Delhi with Rs four lakh as an initial settlement. Hasan's car has been seized," Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime) Rajiv Ranjan said.

The police said Bisht had ferried a large amount for his employer earlier also and once some men tried to rob him.

"That time, Bisht was carrying Rs 80 lakh. He sustained injuries in his neck and received 14 surgical stitches. Instead of giving a good reward, his employer had given him a T-shirt. This made Bisht unhappy and he along with Hasan hatched a plan to run away with the employer's money," the officer said.

After running away with Rs 70 lakh on August 27, Bisht returned Delhi on September 10 and invested Rs 12 lakh in a plot in Burari. He bought a new mobile phone and hid in a lavishly furnished rented house, police said.

Following the arrests, Rs 54.10 lakh has been recovered from the accused, they said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Two minor girls drowned in a pond at Nilagiri in Odisha's Balasore district Sunday.

The incident took place when the girls were taking bath in the pond and one of them slipped into the water, police said.

The other girl also met with the same fate while trying to save her friend.

Villagers and fire brigade personnel fished out the two girls from the pond and rushed them to nearby Nilagiri hospital where they were declared brought dead, doctors said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Four persons were killed in two separate road accidents here, police said on Sunday.

Two men were killed when their car rammed into an electric pole on Sunday morning, they said.

Another man, who was injured in the accident, has been admitted to a hospital, police said.

All of them were in the age group of 20-22 years, they said.

In another incident on Saturday, two persons were killed when their motorcycle was hit by a truck, police said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Pakistan's security forces raided militant hideouts leading to a fierce gun battle that killed seven soldiers and nine terrorists in the country's restive northwestern tribal region along the Afghan border.

The operation was carried out in the Gharlamai and Spera Kunar Algad areas of North Waziristan district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, the Pakistan Army said in a statement.

Seven Pakistani soldiers, including an officer, and nine terrorists were killed on Saturday in the exchange of fire along the Afghan border, the statement said.

The terrorists had crossed over from Afghanistan and were hiding in the area, it said.

However, it remained unclear to which militant group the slain terrorists belonged to.

North Waziristan has long been a sanctuary for Pakistani Taliban and other militant groups.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)After an agreement with France, could ink a pact with for sharing of expertise on ISRO's ambitious human space mission project 'Gaganyaan' during Russian Vladimir Putin's visit to next month, official sources said.

Besides 'Gaganyaan', the two sides are currently engaged in talks to establish ground stations for Glonass, the global positioning system of Russia, and NaVIC, India's home-grown GPS in the other country, the sources added.

The subject to share expertise on 'Gaganyaan' came up during External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj's visit to this month, a source said.

Significantly, and signed a memorandum of understanding earlier this month to share French expertise on the human mission project announced by Prime Minister in his address this year.

The human mission project envisages sending three Indians to space by 2022.

India's first and - so far - the only astronaut Rakesh Sharma visited the outer space in 1984 on a spacecraft of the erstwhile Soviet Union.

In an MoU signed between and in May 2015, the and ROSCOSMOS, the Russian space agency, had agreed to work on joint activities in areas of mutual interest, including satellite navigation, launch vehicle development, critical technologies for human spaceflight programme.

is one of the three countries - the other two being and the US - that share robust cooperation in all three strategic sectors of defence, nuclear and space with India.

Indo-Russian space collaboration dates back to four decades. In 2015, the two sides marked the 40th anniversary of the launch of India's first satellite 'Aryabhatt' on a Russian (then USSR) launch vehicle 'Soyuz'.

In 2007, India and Russia signed a framework agreement on cooperation in the peaceful uses of outer space, including satellite launches, Glonass navigation system, remote sensing and other societal applications of outer space.Expelled DMK leaderM K Alagiri today said he would take a decision on contesting the byelection to Tiruvarur assembly constituency, represented by his father and late party supremo M Karunanidhi, after consulting his supporters.

Alagiri, who visited Karunanidhi's ancestral house in Thirukuvalai near here, about 300 km from Chennai, however, ruled out floating his own party.

"If my followers ask me to contest from Tiruvarur in the by-election (whenever it is held), I will consider contesting," the Madurai-based Alagiri told reporters.

Karunanidhi died on August 7 after prolonged illness.

Besides Tiruvarur, Tiruparankundram assembly constituency in Madurai district is also vacant following the death of the sitting member.

Alagiri, who has of late been keen on re-joining the DMK from which he was expelled in 2014, said he was following the policies of his father.

He described as 'rumour' reports that BJP was behind him and that he had links with superstar Rajinikanth.

Alagiri, who has claimed that loyal party workers were with him, had organised a rally in Chennai earlier this month to press for his re-induction, but the DMK has been keeping mum on his overtures.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has urged the Centre for expeditious resolution of the issue of opening up of the Kartarpur Sahib corridor for preparedness of 550th birth anniversary of Sikhism's founder Guru Nanak Dev.

Singh said that being a bilateral issue, this needed an active engagement of both India and Pakistan for its resolution.

He said he had personally met the prime minister and the external affairs minister and requested them to take up the issue with Pakistan.

Speaking with reporters on Sunday after the ruling Congress swept the zila parishad and panchayat samiti polls, Singh said that he had even raised the issue during his visit to the neighbouring country during his previous stint as Punjab chief minister (2002-07).

"The issue is of enormous religious significance for the Sikh sangat," he added.

Singh recalled that his grandfather, late Maharaja Bhupinder Singh, of the erstwhile Patiala State, had donated Rs 1.35 lakh to save the historic gurudwara of Sri Kartarpur Sahib from ravage by the Ravi river waters during the 1920s.

The chief minister, in response to a question, said his government was fully geared to commemorate the 550th birth anniversary celebrations of the first Sikh Guru.

The executive committee set up to monitor the progress of the commemoration of this mega event had already finalised the development works to be executed in the historic towns of Sultanpur Lodhi and Dera Baba Nanak.

Further, he said that on his request, the Centre had formed a national committee chaired by the Union Home Minister.

Earlier on Tuesday, Punjab Cabinet Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu claimed that External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has assured him of writing to the Pakistan government on opening up of the Kartarpur Sahib corridor.

Describing the Kartarpur Sahib Gurdwara as Sikhs' "own Mecca", Sidhu had said it is the responsibility of the Indian government to make a formal request for opening of the Kartarpur corridor.

Sidhu, who had gone to Pakistan in August to attend the oath taking ceremony of his friend Imran Khan as Pakistan's prime Minister, had said the neighbouring country had already shown a "positive intent" in this regard.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)BJP president Amit Shah is slated to attend a meeting of the party's women's wing at Puri on Monday with an aim to galvanise the cadres for the upcoming Assembly polls, a senior leader said on Sunday.

BJP Mahila Morcha National president Vijaya Rahatkar said Shah would inaugurate and address the three-day national executive meet of the women's wing in the pilgrim town.

Shah would interact with office bearers of the Mahila Morcha on a number of issues during the meet which is set to prepare a roadmap for women empowerment in the country, particularly in Odisha, Rahatkar said.

The BJP chief has on several occasions said Odisha has been a priority state for them and also set a target for the party to win over 120 of 147 assembly seats in the Odisha poll due next year.

Shah's tour comes two days after the Odisha visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday when he launched several projects including inauguration of a new airport in Jharsuguda and commencement of work for the country's first coal gasification based fertiliser plant at Talcher.

Rahatkar dubbed the BJD government in Odisha as "anti-women" accusing it of having failed to protect the women and children from rape and other crimes.

She said this issues would be discussed at the national executive committee meeting.

On strengthening of BJP Mahila Morcha in Odisha ahead of the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections, Rahatkar said at least five BJP women workers will be engaged in each booth.

Meanwhile, Shah alleged that Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has deprived the people of the state of the benefits of the 'Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana' - Ayushman Bharat' because of his political differences.

"Poor people of Odisha are unable to benefit from the scheme because of the BJD's narrow mindset. You will have to answer the people for petty BJP workers will visit every house to make people aware of your anti-poor and their rights," he tweeted on Sunday.

During his last visit to the state on July 1, Shah had advised BJP leaders workers to strengthen the party base at the grassroots.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Army Chief Gen. Bipin Rawat Sunday backed the government's decision to call off dialogue with Pakistan, asserting that talks and terror cannot go together.

The government had on Friday called off a meeting between the foreign ministers of India and Pakistan in New York, citing the brutal killings of three policemen in Jammu and Kashmir and Islamabad releasing postage stamps "glorifying" Kashmiri militant Burhan Wani.

Infiltration from across the border persists despite the call for a ceasefire by Pakistan, said Rawat stressing that this cannot be allowed to continue and appropriate action has to be taken to deter terrorists from disrupting the peace in the Valley.

He was talking at a commemoration ceremony of Haifa Day Centernary at the Teen Murti Haifa Memorial here.

He backed the government's decision to call off the talks between External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and her Pakistani counterpart on sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

"The government's policy is very clear cut... You (Pakistan) show us some initiatives so that we feel that you are not encouraging terrorism. But we see that terror activities are continuing and terrorists come from the other side of the border.

"In such an atmosphere, whether talks can be initiated that the government can only decide. I agree to the government's decision that peace talks and terrorism cannot go together," he said.

A BSF patrolling party was fired upon by forces from across the Pakistan border on September 20, in which a jawan was killed. The head constable rank jawan was suspected to have been hit by a fatal sniper shot from across the border. His body was recovered in a mutilated condition later.

Rawat further said they will provide security along with other agencies for the Panchayat polls in Jammu and Kashmir to be held in November.

"Today we are also looking at Panchayat elections, we want these elections to go through because with this the power will devolve to people.

"Our job is to ensure that the civil administration there and the election commission is able to carry out their tasks so that people can come out and cast their vote in a free and forthright manner without any fear of any kind of disruption," he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)President Donald Trump is poised to redouble his commitment to "America First" on the most global of stages this week.

In the sequel to his stormy UN debut, Trump will stress his dedication to the primacy of US interests while competing with Western allies for an advantage on trade and shining a spotlight on the threat that he says Iran poses to the Middle East and beyond.

One year after Trump stood at the rostrum of the U.N. General Assembly and derided North Korea's Kim Jong Un as "Rocket Man," the push to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula is a work in progress, although fears of war have given way to hopes for rapprochement.

Scores of world leaders, even those representing America's closest friends, remain wary of Trump. In the 12 months since his last visit to the U.N., the president has jolted the global status quo by pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal, starting trade conflicts with China and the West and embracing Russia's Vladimir Putin even as the investigation into the U.S. president's ties to Moscow moves closer to the Oval Office.

Long critical of the United Nations, Trump delivered a warning shot ahead of his arrival by declaring that the world body had "not lived up to" its potential.

"It's always been surprising to me that more things aren't resolved," Trump said in a weekend video message, "because you have all of these countries getting together in one location but it doesn't seem to get there. I think it will."



If there is a throughline to the still-evolving Trump doctrine on foreign policy, it is that the president will not subordinate American interests on the world stage, whether for economic, military or political gain.

Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, told reporters in a preview of Trump's visit, that the president's focus "will be very much on the United States," its role and the relations it wants to build.

"He is looking forward to talking about foreign policy successes the United States has had over the past year and where we're going to go from here," she said. "He wants to talk about protecting U.S. sovereignty," while building relationships with nations that "share those values."



In his four-day visit to New York, Trump will deliver major speeches and met with representatives of a world order that he has so often upended in the past year. Like a year ago, North Korea's nuclear threat will hover over the gathering, though its shadow may appear somewhat less ominous.

The nuclear threat was sure to be on the agenda at Trump's first meeting, a dinner with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Manhattan on Sunday night. Abe stands first among world leaders in cultivating a close relationship with the president through displays of flattery that he has used to advance his efforts to influence the unpredictable American leader.

On Monday afternoon, Trump planned to sit down with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who comes bearing a personal message to Trump from North Korea's Kim after their inter-Korean talks last week. Trump and Moon were expected to sign a new version of the U.S.-South Korean trade agreement, one of Trump's first successes in his effort to renegotiate trade deals on more favorable terms for the U.S.

Even so, some U.S. officials worry that South Korea's eagerness to restore relations with the North could reduce sanctions pressure on Kim's government, hampering efforts to negotiate a nuclear accord.

"We have our eyes wide open," Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday. "There is a long ways to go to get Chairman Kim to live up to the commitment that he made to President Trump and, indeed, to the demands of the world in the U.N. Security Council resolutions to get him to fully denuclearize."



Trump's address to the General Assembly comes Tuesday, and on Wednesday he will for the first time chair the Security Council, with the stated topic of non-proliferation of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. The subject initially was to have been Iran, but that could have allowed Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to attend, creating a potentially awkward situation for the US leader.

Aides say the president will also use the session to discuss North Korea and other proliferation issues. While Trump is not seeking a meeting with Rouhani, he is open to talking with the Iranian leader if Rouhani requests one, administration officials said.

In meetings with European leaders as well as during the Security Council session, Trump plans to try to make the case that global companies are cutting ties with Iran ahead of the reimposition in five weeks of tough sanctions against Tehran. The penalties are a result of Trump's decision to withdraw the U.S. from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

Trump at the time cited Iran's role as a malign force in the region, particularly its support of terrorist groups, but also its involvement in Syria. U.S. officials say their priority for the region now is removing Iranian forces from Syria.

Trump is also expected to deliver a fresh warning to Syria's Bashar al-Assad that the use of chemical weapons against civilians in the major rebel stronghold of Idlib would have serious repercussions. Britain and France are actively planning a military response should Assad use chemical weapons again, according to U.S. officials.

"I think he's got a couple major possibilities really to help illuminate for the American people what America's place in the world," national security adviser John Bolton told Fox Channel's 'Sunday Morning Futures," previewing Trump's U.N. appearance.

Bolton, like Pompeo, is part of a far more hawkish national security team than the one that surrounded Trump a year ago.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)It will take at least one year to complete the integration of Monsanto India into the Bayer Group, a senior official of German pharma and chemical major has said.

In June this year, Bayer completed the USD 63 billion mega deal to acquire US-based Monsanto to create the world's biggest agro-chemical and seed company. The acquisition of Monsanto has been completed globally but it is still in process in India.

"We just started three weeks ago to integrate the two companies. The integration of two companies in India will take some time. Since the two companies are listed entities, it is going to take legally quiet some time. I would say, from a legal entity point of view, one year," Bayer Crop Science division president Liam Condon told PTI in an interview.

The integration of the staff personnel of the two listed companies will start immediately with teams getting together and sharing knowledge and information about customers, he said.

But the full integration and seamless operation as one company would take couple of years in India, he said adding that for its customers it would start working as one team sooner.

Condon is also a member of the board of management of Bayer AG.

Already, a business restructuring sub-committee has been constituted to evaluate the proposal relating to the integration of the Monsanto India and Bayer's Indian subsidiary Bayer CropScience Ltd.

In India, both entities have presence in production and sale of vegetable seeds, cotton seeds as well as in production and sale of non-selective herbicides.

Monsanto has been selling genetically modified (GM) cotton seeds in India for more than a decade through its joint venture Mahyco Monsanto Biotech that has sub-licensed Bt cotton seed technology to various domestic seed companies.

However, the company is now involved in a legal case where it has appealed against the Indian government's decision to fix cotton price along with trait value (royalty) under the Cotton Seed Price Control Order.

Separately, it is fighting a legal case with Indian firm Nuziveedu Seeds over patent right of its technology.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Puducherry Lt Governor Kiran Bedi launched the Centre's Ayushman Bharat-National Health Protection Mission (AB-NHPM), here Sunday by distributing ID cards to beneficiaries.

Health Secretary V Candavelou noted that 1.3 lakh families have been identified under the scheme, which aims to provide a cover of Rs 5 lakh per family.

The beneficiaries would be entitled to health care in any of the empanelled hospitals, an official release said.

The beneficiaries would also have the freedom of portability to get treated from any of the approved hospitals within and outside the State.

The authentication of the beneficiary would be done at designated centres on the basis of the Aadhar number and biometric scanning.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi Sunday rolled out the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana-Ayushman Bharat from Ranchi in Jharkhand and termed it a "game-changer initiative to serve the poor.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Uttar Pradesh government has refuted suggestions that it released Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad from custody under the NSA for the sake of Dalit votes, saying he was allowed to walk free as normalcy has now returned to Saharanpur.

"The government had sought a confidential report and found that the situation has normalised, and he was released," UP Law Minister Brijesh Pathak told PTI here.

Azad was detained under the stringent National Security Act (NSA) after the 2017 Saharanpur violence between the Dalit and the Thakur communities.

The UP government ordered his release on September 13, revoking the earlier order which would have kept him in detention till November 1.

Today, the situation is normal in Saharanpur and the adjoining districts, Pathak said in an interview.

He said the state government's decision to release Azad should not be viewed from the point of elections.

"When someone is booked under the NSA, it is not for life. It is first imposed for three months and if the district administration feels it necessary, then it is extended for the next three more months and so on, he said.

The NSA is an immediate measure that is slapped on a person who poses a threat to society, to law and order or can trigger fear," he said



The Dalit leader was arrested in June 2017 in connection with the May 5 clashes in which one person was killed and 16 others injured in Saharanpur's Shabbirpur village.

On November 2, 2017, the Allahabad High Court granted bail to him. But a day before his expected release, he was booked under the NSA, effectively extending his detention.

On his release, Chandrashekhar Azad, who is also known as Ravan', claimed that the Bharatiya Janata Party feared his detention might dent its Dalit vote bank ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha election.

"I am out and the BJP is going to face the ire of the Dalit samaj. This time, the BJP will be out of power, he told reporters.

Azad said if a mahagathbandhan', or a grand alliance of opposition parties, comes about in UP ahead of the 2019 election, he will definitely' support it.

If the mahagathbandhan happens, the BJP will be reduced to single digits, he said.

In the Lok Sabha bypolls, the BJP lost Gorakhpur and Phulpur and tasted defeat in Kairana, Azad had reminded.

Commenting on the possible emergence of an anti-BJP alliance for the 2019 elections, the minister said, "We take each and every election very seriously.

The gathbandhan will hardly have an impact on the BJP's poll prospects as their 'niti' (policy) and 'niyat' (intention) and their manner of working has been seen by the people of Uttar Pradesh, be it the SP, the BSP, the Congress or even the RLD," he said.

"People have not forgotten the anarchy unleashed during the five years of SP rule from 2012 to 2017, Pathak said, adding the state government then worked like an unguided missile".

If there is any alliance, we will challenge them in a befitting manner. The people are with the BJP," he said.

Asked to comment on a remark by Akhilesh Yadav, in which the Samajwadi Party chief suggested he was willing to take "two step back" in a deal with Bahujan Samaj Party leader Mayawati, Pathak said, "Both of them are sinking.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Cultural icon Bhupen Hazarika always felt that he and Kalpana Lajmi should celebrate their love story as it was special and unique given the conservative construct of society, the filmmaker wrote in her memoir.

Lajmi, who was suffering from kidney ailment, passed away early Sunday morning at a hospital in Mumbai at the age of 64. She was Hazarika's companion for nearly 40 years. Hazarika predeceased her in 2011.

Lajmi was just 17 when she met Hazarika for the first time. He was 45 then.

My eyes sparkled with love at first sight and I saw their reflection in his eyes just when the light of his life was about to be extinguished - 40 years later, she wrote in her just-released autobiography Bhupen Hazarika: As I Knew Him, co-authored with Sunanda Shyamal Mitra.

Our lives, from youth to old age, were a continuous journey of mutual passion and love. We stepped into various chapters of our lives, sliding in and out of relationships with men and women, making memories along the way. We cherished some of them, but there were some we wished we could forget, she wrote in the book, published by HarperCollins India.

So why was she attracted to Hazarika?



When I met the 45-year-old Bhupen, I instantly thought of the dhumuha', which, in Assamese, means a short tempestuous storm that swirls across the riverine civilization bordering the Brahmaputra. Bhupen epitomised that storm.

The dhumuha is eternal and comes year after year to sweep everything and everyone away in its wake. Bhupen's personality at 45 was like the dhumuha: charismatic, wild, passionate, talented, with an unmatched intellect; and yet which, like the whirlwind, loved, empathised, and uplifted, especially his region, the north-east, to integrate it into a brotherhood with India.

What was the idea behind the book?



My love story with Bhupen Hazarika was unique. Forty years of an eventful, personal, tumultuous journey with Bhupen, marked by important socio-cultural and political events that deeply impacted our personalities, are what I want to talk about. Our nation's influence on Bhupen and his artistic conscience and, in turn, Bhupen's complete devotion to his art and uplift of the underprivileged and plea for regional recognition went hand in hand.

I slowly realised I was always in love with Bhupen and Bhupen was always in love with the nation. I was always in love with his artistic genius and he was always in love with his native soil. I was always in love with his innocence whereas he was, till his last breath, torn with anguish, angst and inexplicable pain for the condition of his fellow beings, not only in eastern India but also in India and Bangladesh.

Lajmi, daughter of well-known painter Lalitha Lajmi and niece of Guru Dutt, directed six critically acclaimed films Ek Pal (1986), Rudaali (1993), Darmiyaan (1997), Daman (2001), Kyun (2003) and Chingaari (2006) and a documentary called D.G. Movie Pioneer based on Bengali filmmaker Dhiren Ganguly. Hazarika composed music in all the films.

She also directed the TV serial Lohit Kinaare (1988) for Doordarshan and 26 episodes of Dawn, a serial on the freedom movement of India.

According to Lajmi, she kept herself busy in loving Bhupen and looking after him till his demise, allowing him to indulge in his dreams and fond memories of his native soil.

That was probably the most difficult period of my life. The loneliness that engulfed me, my depleting finances, the creativity that eluded me - it was as if my life breath was slowly being sucked out.

Hazarika died on November 5, 2011.

Almost immediately after his passing away, the winds changed. The world welcomed and acknowledged me finally, bestowing upon me the honour, respect and pride as Bhupen's companion. Somewhere down the ages, I too would be remembered, something that I had not asked for, but was given because Bhupen gave me in death what he could not in life: his acceptance and the status of his wife and consort, Lajmi wrote.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Bishop Franco Mulakkal, arrested on charges of repeatedly raping and sexually assaulting a nun, was Sunday taken to a guest house at nearby Kuravilangadu by police for reconstruction of the crime scene.

The police vehicle carrying the bishop, who was sent to two-day police custody Saturday by a magistrate court in Pala, reached the St Francis Mission Home at 10.20 am and left the place after completing the procedure at 11.10 am.

In its remand report submitted in the court, police had said the nun was subjected to rape and unnatural sex by the accused at the guest house of St Francis Mission Home 13 times between 2014 and 2016.

The victim and her fellow nuns staying in the home were not present there when Mulakkal was brought.

Official sources said police planned to move an application in the court, seeking permission to subject the bishop to a lie detector as he was still reluctant to make the confessional statement.

The Kerala High Court Saturday had rejected the bail plea of the bishop and sent him to two-day police custody.

His lawyers had moved the application seeking relief, submitting that the clergyman was arrested after a three-day long interrogation by the probe team.

Opposing the plea, police had said his three-day custody was required to conduct his potency test and to recover the laptop, mobile phone and the dress used by the accused.

They said his body fluid and DNA samples were required to be collected as part of the probe.

Recording the submissions, the magistrate granted two-day custody of the bishop to police till 2.30 pm on Monday.

The Roman Catholic Bishop, who was arrested Friday night, was later taken to the Government Medical College Hospital, Kottayam, Saturday to perform these tests.

After completing the procedure at Kuravilangadu convent Sunday, Mulakkal was taken to the Police Club in the town.

He will be produced in the magistrate court in Pala at 2.30 pm on Monday.

In her complaint to the Kottayam police in June, the nun had alleged that Bishop Mulakkal raped her at a guest house in Kuravilangad in May 2014 and later sexually exploited her on several occasions.

The nun had said she had to approach the police as church authorities did not act on her repeated complaints against the clergyman.

However, the bishop has denied the charges.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)BJP chief Sunday said his party will seek to identify illegal immigrants living in the country if it comes to power after the polls and alleged and Chief Minister care for them for vote bank politics.

He said at a rally here that illegal infiltrators are also causing trouble in the national capital, and likened them to termites, action against whom should not worry any patriot.

"After forming government in 2019, the BJP will undertake a nationwide identification of illegal infiltrators living in the country," he said.

Shah said Gandhi and Kejriwal complain when action is taken against them and asserted the will repeat its 2014 feat and win all seven seats in the city.

Following the ongoing National Register of Citizens (NRC) process in Assam, there has been increasing demand from many BJP leaders that an exercise should be undertaken in the rest of the country to identify illegal immigrants.

"The illegal infiltrators are acting like termites in this country. They are also causing problems in Action against them should not worry any patriot.

"But, whenever we take action Rahul Baba and Kejriwal start complaining. They care for illegal infiltrators because of vote bank politics," Shah said at Purvanchal Mahakumbh organised by unit of the party at Ramleela Ground here.

The BJP chief asked Gandhi and Kejriwal to clear the stand of their respective parties on the issue of illegal immigrants living in the country.

Sharpening his attack on Kejriwal, Shah charged the leader with "preventing" the development of Delhi in his three and a half years of rule.

"Kejriwal's only mantra is to tell lies, and talk forcefully and repeatedly," Shah alleged.

He said the Centre had given Rs 50,000 crore to the in past four and a half years years and alleged there was "anger" among people against dispensation in the city.

Attacking efforts of opposition parties to forge a Mahagathbandhan against ruling National Democratic Alliance(NDA) led by the BJP, Shah said his party was ready to take the challenge.

"This Mahagathbandhan has no policy or leader. Rahul wants to lead the bandwagon but leaders like Sharad Pawar, Mamta Banerjee, Mayawati and Akhilesh Yadav are against it," he claimed.

Lauding Purvanchali people for their contribution in the development of the country under the Modi government, the BJP chief said his party will not take rest till the eastern part of the country is as developed as the western part of it.

Accusing the of doing "injustice" to the eastern region, including parts of UP, Bihar, Odisha and Jharkhand, Shah said the had released 13.80 lakh crore and ensured development through expressways, hospitals and industries in the area.

"I have come here to give you account of the work done by for Purvanchal. Development of the region is our priority," he said.

Purvanchal Mahagathbandhan is first in the series of four mega rallies planned by Delhi BJP in Delhi in the run up to the elections, said Delhi BJP chief

In his address, Tiwari also raised the issue of "illegal" Bangladeshis and Rohingyas in the national capital and charged Kejriwal government with "settling" them in the city for votes.

Several senior leaders, including Union minister Harsh Vardhan, BJP general secretary(organisation) Ram Lal, Shahnawaz Hussain, party MPs Meenakshi Lekhi, Udit Raj, Parvesh Verma, among others attended the rally.A British Muslim has been detained in Syria on suspicion of being a member of the Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist network.

Anwar Miah, who claims to be a pharmacist from Birmingham, was reportedly seized by Kurdish forces near the Iraqi border, according to UK media reports. Footage showing him wearing a blindfold and being questioned by his captors has been uploaded to social media by an account aligning itself with the anti-ISIS YPG (Kurdish People's Protection Units) and Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

"I'm a doctor. The area was controlled by Daesh (ISIS) I can't do anything about that. But I came to work with the people," he said, when asked by his captors why he joined ISIS.

"I'm a qualified pharmacist from the UK. I've been working in the hospitals since I came," he added.

He said he left the UK for Syria in 2014 and had been living in the so-called ISIS caliphate for the last four years.

Since his capture last month, Miah has been held in a prison in northern Syrian guarded by US special forces. His arrest adds further to the number of British citizens held by the SDF in northern Syria.

Alexanda Kotey and El Shafee Elsheikh, suspected of being members of a notoriously brutal four-man cell of British fighters dubbed 'The Beatles', were arrested trying to escape over the Syrian border with Turkey earlier this year. Their fate has yet to be decided as the SDF refuses to try foreign suspects in Syria and the UK has stripped both men of their citizenship.

As many as a dozen Britons are thought to still be inside Syria, most fighting for jihadist groups in Idlib, the militants' final stronghold.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)An Egyptian court on Sunday sentenced 66 people to life in prison, including Muslim Brotherhood chief Mohammed Badie, over an August 2013 attack on a police station in Minya.

Death sentences were meted out to 183 people over the deadly attack on the police station in the southern province, before a retrial was ordered. On Sunday, around 700 people were tried again in this case, defence lawyer Abdel Moneim Abdel Maqsood told AFP.

Sixty-six of the 700 were sentenced to life imprisonment, which is 25 years in Egypt, 288 were acquitted, six have died since the first trial and the rest were sentenced to between three and 15 years in prison.

Badie, 75, was on Sunday convicted of inciting his supporters to violence in the Minya case following the ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in July 2013.

Badie, on trial in 35 cases related to the Brotherhood, has been sentenced to death in several of them but the verdicts have been overturned by the court of cassation. He got life sentences in more than five cases. Hundreds of people have been killed and thousands arrested since the military ousted Morsi.

Elected after the 2011 uprising against president Hosni Mubarak, Morsi served as president for a year before being toppled after mass protests against his divisive rule.

His successor was former military chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, whose regime has been accused of a campaign of repression to wipe out dissent. The government has rejected the allegations, saying its priority is to reform the economy and fight "terrorism", and accusing its detractors of seeking to harm Egypt's interests.

On September 8, a Cairo court sentenced 75 people to death, including other leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood.

The verdicts drew condemnation from human rights groups.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Miscreants shot dead a businessman near Tajpur bus stand in Bihar's Samastipur district on Sunday, police said.

The incident happened under the jurisdiction of Tajpur police station at 10am, the police said, adding, Shah was on his way to open his grocery shop located near Tajpur bus stand, when a group of miscreants ambushed him and started indiscriminate firing.

The businessman died while he was being taken to Sadar hospital, the Superintendent of Police (SP) of Samastipur district, Dipak Ranjan, said.

The deceased has been identified as Sunil Shah (35), the SP said.

The businessman, was the resident of Bathua village under the jurisdiction of Pusa police station of the district, a police officer said.

The miscreants fled the scene after the incident, the SP said, adding, an investigation has been initiated.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Canada's former defence minister Jason Kenney has said his country has not given up on India's potential as a partner for free trade, even when the US and Europe have cancelled their negotiations with it.

Kenney, who was a minister in the previous Harper government, also supported cooperation between the two countries on intelligence-sharing, including financial transactions, to combat terrorism.

"I have to express a certain frustration with the extremely slow pace of negotiations on the Foreign Investment Protection and Promotion Agreement (FIPA) and the Canada-India Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) of the Harper government, of which I was a member, which had launched these negotiations," he told PTI.

He said FEPA was launched in 2009, CEPA in 2011 and "here we are years later with no promotion. We still have to make progress. It is frustrating".

The former defence minister, who is now the leader of opposition United Conservative Party in Alberta state of Canada, said he was the "biggest Indofile" in Canadian and wished India moved to the next level of economic cooperation and achieved its economic potential in the world.

He said at some point of time, India is going to have to make its decision about whether it wants to take the next step to that level of market openness.

"We will be at the front of the queue, when Europe and the US have cancelled their free trade negotiations with India," he said.

"We have not given up. Canada has not given up on India's potential partner at that next level. I hope India at some point feels the confidence to move to that level with these agreements," Kenney said.

Asked about Canada's cooperation on efforts to combat terror funding, he favoured more cooperation and intelligence-sharing between the two countries.

"When I first came to India 11 years ago, I met the then National Security Adviser, M K Narayanan, to discuss cooperation on national security and one of the issues discussed was the cooperation on tracking dark money supporting extremism," he said.

He said there is a fair degree of cooperation between the Indian and Canadian intelligence agencies in this regard.

"We are countries that have both been inflicted by terrorism and both believe in the rule of law and have been targeted by terrorists because of these democratic values. So, it is imperative that the two countries cooperate on intelligence-sharing, including the financial transactions," he said.

Kenney is on a week-long visit to promote economic and cultural ties in India, including Punjab, from where a large part of his Alberta state electorate hail from.

He said though he understands that India is undertaking ambitious reforms and it cannot undertake everything at once, "but I understand that there are certain industries that feel the need for continued protection, but ultimately if India really wants to achieve its economic potential, it is going to have to be more open in a rules based system to foreign investment".

"That means that countries like Canada are going to expect protection for its investors through a feedback and greater market access through a free trade agreement," he said.

Alberta is rich in oil and seeks to cooperate with India on fulfilling its needs from there.

The Canadian leader has met Union ministers Sushma Swaraj, Radha Mohan Singh, Harsimrat Badal, Nitin Gadkari and among others, besides Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh during his visit.

He also met a number of MPs from some parties, including the Shiromani Akali Dal, Congress, AAP, RJD, at a meeting hosted by Congress MP Pratap Singh Bajwa.

He said he is a strong supporter of a "united India" and is against those aiding separatist movement and extremism.

"I have been a huge supporter of a united India and an opponent of those who seek to exploit the emotions of some to allow a kind of festering of separatist movement and other forms of extremism. Canada has been touched by different kinds of extremism emanating from South Asian terrorism, including Tamil Tigers extremism and the jihadi terrorists," Kenney said.

His comments came in the wake of some leaders of the ruling Liberal Party of Canada extending their support to Sikh separatists, who comprise a part of Canada's electorate.

The Punjab chief minister had alleged that some ministers of the Justin Trudeau government, including Defence Minister Harjit Singh Sajjan, had links with Punjab separatists.

Kenney also said that he would not tolerate glorification of people responsible for violent terrorism, including the Kanishka bombing, and urged Canadian politicians to maintain distance from anything seen as endorsing or glorifying the use of violence for political ends.

He, however, did not criticise Prime Minister Trudeau for coming in support of separatist elements of Punjab, saying he respects the convention of not attacking the head of the government when outside of Canada.

"I stand in total solidarity with the views of Indian leaders in the security of this great democracy," he told a gathering of parliamentarians here.

He was accompanied by a delegation of his party that comprised Alberta state legislators Indian-born Prasad Panda and Devin Dreeshen.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)China has solved over 33,000 cases involving guns and explosives since the launch of a nation-wide campaign against such crimes in February, official media said on Sunday.

Over 1.4 lakh illegal guns and a large number of explosives confiscated or turned over to the police were destroyed on Thursday in 146 cities, including Chongqing, Qiqihar, Nanjing, Wuhan, Guangzhou and Kunming, the state-run Xinhua reported.

During the first seven months of the two-year campaign, the police caught 288 gangs involved in guns and explosives, busted 421 criminal dens and arrested a large number of suspects. Over 33,000 cases were solved, said the report.

The number of gun and explosives crimes from January to August dropped 30.5 per cent and 36.1 per cent year on year respectively.

Sun Lijun, deputy minister of public security, said that though the crackdown on guns and explosives crimes have been effective but severe challenges still remain.

The campaign aims to raise public awareness of the illegal possession of guns and explosives and its threat to public security.

Possession of guns by private individuals is illegal in China. The country has long maintained high pressure on gun and explosives crime.

Sun urged all police departments to maintain high pressure against such crimes, the report said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Undeterred by the BSP's recent alliance in Chhattisgarh and declaration of seats for Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Raj Babbar said Sunday his party is "optimistic" of a grand alliance in the state for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

He told PTI the people want the opposition to contest the general elections in Uttar Pradesh together.

"In the present scenario, irrespective of the party and pressures they might be having from their voters, we have to unitedly contest the Lok Sabha polls," Babbar said.

"In the Lok Sabha elections in UP, I'm optimistic of a grand alliance...Lok Sabha elections are at the national level and there are only two forces. I'm not saying that there are only two parties but there are only two ideologies. One is of Gandhiji on which the Congress runs and other is of the RSS which is in search of credibility," he said.

Babbar claimed the RSS was searching for credibility since 1924 and it had no identity.

"They are having a majority government but still Hindus and Muslims are being made to realise their differences. They (BJP) said they got a big majority and have reduced everyone (all other parties) to zero. But, can they bring destroy our ideology completely," he asked.

Referring to a three-day conclave held by the RSS at Vigyan Bhavan in Delhi, the Congress leader alleged the Sangh misused the government and for the first time Vigyan Bhavan was used for a non-government programme.

"It's a big lie that they did not take anything from the BJP but only gave advice," he said.

Replying to a question, he claimed Congress president Rahul Gandhi was not invited for the recent RSS event.

The Congress leader said, "A threat is being posed to all of us (by the BJP). We have to face it unitedly."



On being asked to comment on open criticism of the Congress by BSP chief Mayawati on petrol and diesel prices and other issues, Babbar said, "The BSP is a party, it might have an opinion. It also ran government in the state. If state government wants it can reduce petrol/diesel prices."



Last week, Mayawati had held both the previous UPA government and the BJP responsible for the rise in petrol and diesel prices, taking the Congress by surprise.

"We will never say what our government did and what was done during the BSP or the SP regime. We don't want to answer allegations and make counter allegations. At this juncture, we should not point fingers at each other as people have a lot of expectations from us. We have to fulfil them unitedly," he said.

The actor-turned-politician said it was easy for him to respond but in such a situation he did not want to do it and said many time silence was also a response.

On Congress' preparations for the 2019 polls, he said, "Our party is mass-base party and we are there for them at the time of their need. We will contest polls with full strength."



On the issue of triple talaq, Babbar attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said, "The PM should also tell what would the government in case of those who left their wives and also did not even give them 'guzara bhatta' (subsistence allowance).

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Congress's newly-formed 'Civic and Social Outreach Cell' will provide a platform to "dissenting voices" of activists and NGOs ahead of 2019 elections, senior leader Madhusudan Mistry said here Sunday.

The party may incorporate some of the issues flagged by civil society groups in its manifesto and even consider giving tickets to activists, he said.

On September 17, Congress president Rahul Gandhi appointed Mistry, a Rajya Sabha member from Gujarat, as the chairman of the cell.

The cell's aim is to reach out to civil society groups, activists and NGOs to ensure that their voices are not suppressed by the government, he said.

It would soon start deliberations with activists and NGOs from various states including Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Odisha, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh to understand their problems, Mistry told reporters here.

"Attempts are being made to suppress dissenting voices of activists and social organisations working for farmers and other weaker sections. The cell has been created to enable them put forward their views without fear," said Mistry.

"Ahead of 2019 elections, we have planned to meet all such social organisations to understand their causes and problems. We may also include their issues in the poll manifesto. The party can also consider giving tickets to some of the activists," he said.

Referring to denial of permission by the Gujarat government to Patidar quota agitation leader Hardik Patel to stage a hunger strike in a public place here, Mistry said the ruling BJP is misusing power.

The biggest challenge before the country now is to safeguard the voices of activists and NGOs, he said.

"Unfortunately, the BJP has been trying to suppress all such people's initiatives to remain in power. Our aim is to provide them a safe environment and a platform to express their views freely," the veteran party leader added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A delegation of top Congress leaders will meet the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) on Monday to seek an independent probe into the alleged corruption in the Rafale fighter jets deal, the party said.

Last week, the Congress had met the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG). It had requested the apex auditor to prepare a report on the alleged irregularities in the deal and present it in Parliament.

It will make a similar request to the CVC, besides demanding registration of a case of corruption in the matter, the party said on Sunday.

The Congress has launched an offensive against the BJP government over the Rafale deal alleging corruption and violation of rules by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and demanded answers from him.

It has also accused the prime minister, finance minister and defence minister of "lying on the issue".

The Rafale controversy took a turn last week after former French president Francois Hollande claimed that the Indian government proposed Reliance Defence's name as the offset partner for Dassault Aviation.

Modi had announced the procurement of 36 Rafale fighters after holding talks with the then French president Hollande on April 10, 2015, in Paris.

In response, the French government said it was in no manner involved in the choice of Indian industrial partners for the Rafale deal, asserting that French firms have the full freedom to select Indian companies for the contract.

The Reliance group has rejected charges levelled against it by the Congress and said the government was in no way involved in securing its offset contract with Dassault Aviation.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A CRPF jawan allegedly committed suicide on Sunday at the Jaimati Pathar camp in Sonitpur district, police said.

According to police, the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jawan allegedly fired from his INSAS rifle inside the camp under Tezpur police station Sunday morning and died on the spot.

The jawan has been identified as Digambar Madhab (40), who hailed from Mumbai.

Police said the reason behind his suicide was not immediately known and an investigation is on.

Madhab's body has been sent to his home after conducting post-mortem at the Tezpur Kanaklata Civil Hospital.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Over 250 teachers from Jammu and Kashmir will stage a sit-in at Jantar Mantar here on Monday to bring the Centre's attention on their demand seeking benefits of the 7th pay commission.

Agitating under the banner of Teachers Joint Action Committee (TJAC), the protesters began an indefinite hunger chain strike in Jammu on August 30 and Kashmir on September 3 demanding benefits of the pay commission be given to the 41,000 teachers who were regularised after five years of service.

We are going for a sit-in protest in Delhi tomorrow... Our protest has failed to attract the attention of the (Jammu and Kashmir) Governor (Satya Pal Singh), Kuldeep Singh, provincial president of TJAC, an amalgam of various teachers' organisations, said.

Over 250 teachers would stage the protest in Delhi to "wake up" the Union government and catch its attention, Singh added.

The protest in Delhi is part of the programme chalked out by us and if our demand is not met, we will be forced to close down all schools across the state. We do not want the students to suffer but we have no other alternative, he said further.

Braving incessant rains, scores of teachers staged a protest demonstration at the Exhibition Crossing here and urged the Governor to consider their demand without any further delay.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The death toll of children from diphtheria at a municipal hospital in north-west Delhi has risen to 18, even as the area's mayor has set up a panel to look into it, officials said Sunday.

Twelve deaths were reported at the Maharishi Valmiki Infectious Diseases Hospital on September 20 and another one at LNJP Hospital.

"A total of 18 children have died at the civic hospital so far, 17 of the patients were from outside Delhi and only one belonged to Delhi," a senior NDMC official said.

He quoted the figures from the information obtained from the medical superintendent of the hospital.

The hospital in north-west Delhi is governed by the North Delhi Municipal Corporation.

"From September 6-23, there have been 147 admissions, out of which 122 belonged to Uttar Pradesh, 11 from Haryana and 14 from Delhi for diphtheria cases. 18 of them have died till date," he said.

Meanwhile, North Delhi Mayor Adesh Gupta has set up a panel to look into the death cases and sought a report, sources said.

The report is likely to be submitted to him in three days, they said, adding that the panel is headed by an additional commissioner of the NDMC.

Medical Superintendent Sunil Kumar Gupta on September 20 had said that the patients belonged to age group of up to 9 years.

Gupta had claimed that the hospital had all the required treatment facilities to handle such cases.

"The patients admitted at advanced stage could not respond to the treatment and hence could not survive," he had said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Delhi High Court has said encroachment on forest land cannot be protected while refusing to direct the authorities not to demolish a five-decade-old temple, built on a forest land, in the capital.

The court said it was clear from the averments made in the petition that the temple was constructed by encroachment and there was no reason to prohibit the forest department from recovering the land or demolishing the structure.

"The assertion that the structure is an ancient temple is also inconsistent with the averments in the petition to the effect that the same was built in 1965.

"In this view, this court finds no reason to interdict the forest department for recovering the said land or demolishing any structure thereon. It is now well settled that encroachments on forest land are not to be protected," Justice Vibhu Bakhru said while dismissing the petition filed by those managing the temple 'baba mohan ram ki kholi pracheen mandir'.

The petitioner claimed that the temple was built by his father in 1965 and he and his children are now looking after the day-to-day affairs of the structure.

He said they are apprehending that the forest department would demolish the temple, which is located near Jonapur village in south Delhi and the authorities be restrained from doing so.

The man claimed that the authorities had acquired uncultivated surplus land in Jonapur village and other villages as notified in a 1996 notification but the temple, spread over an area of two acres, was not acquired as it was built up.

The court noted that undisputedly the temple was situated amongst forest lands.

When the court asked the man's counsel as to what right did they have to occupy this land, he responded that it was gaon sabha land and the petitioner could be evicted by following due process.

"Concededly, the petitioner has no right to the land/property in question," the court noted.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Finance Minister Arun Jaitley Sunday said former French President Francois Hollande contradicted his own statement with regard to the Rafale deal and that neither the Indian nor the French government played any role in selection of Reliance as offset partner by Dassault.

A political controversy has erupted over Hollande's statement that the Indian government wanted the Anil Ambani-led Reliance Defence to be chosen as offset partner of Dassault, the manufacturer of the Rafale fighter jets.

"The French Government and M/s Dassault Aviation have categorically denied the correctness of the former President's first statement.

"The French Government has stated that the decision with regard to the offset contracts of Dassault Aviation are taken by the company and not the Government," Jaitley said in a Facebook post.

"Dassault Aviation itself has suggested that they have entered into multiple contracts with several public sector and private sector companies with regard to the offset contracts and the decision is entirely theirs," he added.

The partners (Dassault and Reliance) selected themselves as former President Hollande now says, Jaitley said in the post titled 'A Questionable Statement Which Circumstances & Facts Demolish'.

"This contradicts his first questionable statement which the French Government and Dassault have denied. The facts contradict the same. His second statement in Montreal, Canada to AFP ( agency) makes the veracity of his first statement even more questionable," the minister said.

AFP reported that Hollande told it on the sidelines of a meeting in Canada Friday that France "did not choose Reliance in any way". When asked whether India had put pressure on Reliance and Dassault to work together, Hollande said he was unaware and "only Dassault can comment on this".

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)BJP president Amit Shah Sunday said the Delhi's AAP government's move to stay out of the Ayushman Bharat scheme was a reflection of its "narrow" mentality.

He said BJP workers in Delhi will go to every household and inform people about the AAP's government's decision to opt out of the scheme.

"Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's move to keep people away from the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana due to political selfishness and hatred is sad and condemnable. Poor people will not be able to take benefit of this due to AAP's narrow mentality. You have to answer people for this kind of politics," Shah tweeted.

Kejriwal claimed that Ayushman Bharat, the healthcare scheme launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday, is a public relation exercise which will prove to be another "jumla" (rhetoric).

The AAP termed the scheme "another white elephant in the making" and alleged that it covers only six lakh out of 50 lakh families in Delhi.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Russia throws doubt on joint lunar space station with U.S.: RIA, Reuters

"Moscow may abandon a project to build a space station in lunar orbit in partnership with U.S. space agency NASA because it does not want a "second fiddle role," a Russian official said on Saturday. Russia agreed last year to work with the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) on plans for the moon-orbiting Deep Space Gateway, which will serve as a staging post for future missions. But the head of Russian space agency Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin, said Russia might exit the joint programme and instead propose its own lunar orbit space station project. "The Russian Federation cannot afford to play the second fiddle role in it," he was quoted as saying by the RIA news agency, without much further elaboration."

Keith's note: Russia's space program is broke, so its not surprising that they are admitting the obvious - in a way that makes it look like someone else is at fault. As for playing "second fiddle" Roscosmos simply does not have the funds to play first fiddle, so good luck with that Dmitry.Seven men arrested in connection with a job racket promising employment to youths with the ONGC confessed to having duped at least 20 people of Rs 20 million in last two years, the police said Sunday.

Last week, police arrested the seven, two Ministry of Rural Development employees among them, for allegedly cheating unemployed youths on the pretext of getting them in Oil and Natural Gas Corporation as Assistant Managers.

During interrogation, they told the police that they were running a job racket for last two years and had duped 20 people so far by promising them in ONGC, a senior police officer said.

The accused had collected Rs 1-1.1 million from each of them and so far have earned Rs 20 million, said Bhisham Singh, the Deputy Commissioner of Police (crime).

With the news of fake job racket being widely publicised, more people are coming forward to register their complaints, police said, adding that three more persons have come to Delhi from Hyderabad to register their complaints as they were also allegedly duped by the accused who had promised to get them

The matter came to light after the two people approached ONGC with their offer letters following which an internal inquiry was ordered by the ONGC, the officer added.

The job interviews were conducted at a high security zone in Krishi Bhawan as two of the accused were employed with the Ministry of Rural Development, police said.

The victims even received interview letters from official email accounts of the ONGC, they added.

The accused were identified as Jagdish Raj (58), Sandeep Kumar (31), Wasim (28), Ankit Gupta (32), Vishal Goel (27), Suman Saurabh (32) and Kishore Kunal (32), police said.

Jagdish Raj, an employee in ministry of Rural Development, used to arrange the office of any officer who would be on leave and his other associate, Sandeep Kumar, used to ensure the entry of victims to the office while other accused conducted posed as officers and conducted interviews, the officer said.

Police said one of the accused was also involved in a previous fake job racket.

Further investigation is underway.Critically-acclaimed director-writer Kalpana Lajmi was cremated Sunday in the presence of family, friends and loved ones.

Lajmi, who was suffering from chronic kidney disease and liver failure, passed away Sunday morning. She was 64.

Her younger brother, Dev Lajmi performed the last rites at Oshiwara Crematorium amidst a gathering of close friends and family members, including mother Lalita Lajmi.

From the Hindi film industry, actors Shabana Azmi, Soni Razdan and director Shyam Benegal, who is also Lajmi's uncle, paid their last respects to the filmmaker.

Razdan, who was among the first ones to arrive, got emotional when the pyre was lit.

A wreath was sent by Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal to pay respects to Lajmi.

Lajmi debuted as an assistant director under renowned film director Shyam Benegal, who was also her uncle. She went on to work as an assistant costume designer in Benegal's "Bhumika: The Role" (1977), starring Smita Patil, Amol Palekar and Naseeruddin Shah, among others.

Lajmi made her directorial debut with the documentary, "D.G. Movie Pioneer" in 1978.

Known for making fiery films with women at the core of her stories, her filmography boasts of movies like "Ek Pal", "Rudaali", "Daman", "Darmiyaan" and "Chingaari" (2006), her last directorial.

"Rudaali" (1993) featuring Dimple Kapadia in the lead was India's official entry for Best Foreign Language film at the 66th Academy Awards. It also went on to win three National Film Awards, including Best Actress for Kapadia, Best Art Direction for Samir Chanda and Best Costume Design for Simple Kapadia.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)From understanding the craft of acting to the importance of body language and on-screen chemistry, Kajol learnt the basics of her profession one film at a time over her two decade-long career.

In an interview with PTI, ahead of her upcoming film "Helicopter Eela", Kajol, one of the most spontaneous actors in the industry, talks learning the ropes of acting on set.

The actor lists down three films -- her 1992 debut "Bekhudi", "Udhar Ki Zindagi" (1994) and "Dushman" (1998) as her favourites.

While the first two films may not have been blockbusters, but they helped her grow as an artiste.

"All the films are completely different from 'Bekhudi' to Udhar Ki Zindagi' to 'Dushman' to 'Kuch Kuch Hota Hai'. There was no connect but that's what drove me to take up these films as I learnt something new every time as an actor," Kajol says.

"Bekhudi", directed by Rahul Rawail, marked Kajol's entry in films and the actor credits the movie for teaching her the basic essentials of filmmaking - from facing the camera to gaining technical knowledge.

"I learnt so much on that film. Rahul uncle was one of the best teachers in that aspect as far as the nuances were concerned.

"It was one of the first films in which I worked with screenwriter and fashion photographer Gautam Rajadhyaksha and make-up artiste Mickey Contractor, they were amazing with me."



The film also has a special place in her heart as her real-life mother Tanuja played her on-screen mom.

Talking about "Udhar Ki Zindagi", Kajol says the film was so intense that she suffered from a burnout in "a weird way".

"... I remember having a conversation during 'Baazigar' with Shah Rukh Khan and he told me, I should learn how to act and I was like, 'I am doing so fabulously well'. He told me I need to burn out as an actor, I felt, he talks nonsense sometimes.

"But when I was shooting for 'Udhar Ki Zindagi', I was like, 'I can't do films that are so heavy, it sucks so much out of you'. I did not want to do that anymore."



Kajol remembers discussing with Tanuja that she wanted to do lighter films and not be part of emotionally draining movies.

"... I (told her) that I want to do films with three songs, three scenes, etc. So I signed up films like 'Hulchul' and 'Gundaraj', among others."



But after taking up a series of light-hearted films, Kajol changed her mind and featured in hard-hitting film like "Dushman". The actor says she had initially rejected the project.

"I had said 'no' to it because I did not want to do a film with a rape scene in it. I didn't want to enact that. I felt it would be difficult for me. I am not comfortable with somebody doing that to me on-screen, even for a shot or whatever," Kajol adds.

But director Tanuja Chandra and producer Pooja Bhatt assured her that they will shoot the scene aesthetically and use a body double.

"They told me they just need one close-up shot and that they will manage it. They lived up to their promise. When you watch the film, you can't make out. They handled it so well. I am glad I did the film."



The 1998 psychological thriller was well received by critics and it was the seventh highest grossing Hindi film of the that year.

It was "Dushman" that helped Kajol master the art of body language, she says.

"There were two sisters, so you have comparisons against yourself. You had to be better than yourself in a weird way. We had to work towards that, but it was a fabulous learning experience.

"There were so many parts in the film where there were no dialogues. There were lengthy scenes but at the same time, a lot was established without saying too much. Everything was done in a subtle way."



Kajol says with Karan Johar's directorial debut "Kuch Kuch Hota Hai", she realised the importance of chemistry between co-stars.

"What I realised is that when you have fun off-screen, it translates on screen. Your off screen equation is conveyed on screen. There is some relatability that comes on screen... You don't know what is it that attracts people," the actor, who featured opposite long-time friend Shah Rukh, says.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The former mayor of Muzaffarpur town and his driver were shot dead here in the district on Sunday, police said.

The deceased have been identified as Samir Kumar (50) and his driver Rohit Kumar (40), the Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) of Muzaffarpur Town, Mukul Ranjan, said.

Kumar was the mayor of Muzaffarpur Municipal Corporation between 2002 to 2007.

The incident happened around 7 pm near the fire brigade office under the jurisdiction of Muzaffarpur Town police station, Ranjan said.

Asked whether an AK-47 was used to kill the two, the DSP said, "We have inspected the spot. I cannot say whether an AK-47 was used in the murder but it is clear that some sophisticated gun was used."



"A total 17 to 18 rounds were fired by the miscreants," the DSP said.

The forensic science laboratory team would reach the spot to collect forensic evidence/samples from the site, he said.

Ranjan also said that an investigation has been initiated, adding, the killers would be arrested soon.

The bodies of the deceased were sent to Sri Krishna Medical College and Hospital (SKMCH), Muzaffarpur for post-mortem examination, he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Four people were arrested and sent to judicial custody on Sunday for their involvement in a case of moral policing in Karimganj district, where a woman was allegedly stripped and assaulted by villagers.

"We had picked up 19 people on suspicion. After interrogation, we have arrested four villagers. They were produced before a court on Sunday and sent to judicial custody," Karimganj Superintendent of Police Gaurav Upadhyay told PTI.

The police has identified the remaining culprits who are at large, he added.

"To nab the culprits, we are carrying out raids at different places. Our investigation is on. We want to send out a strong message that no such incidents will be tolerated in the society," Upadhyay said.

The incident took place on September 10 in a very remote tribal village near Nagra outpost, under the jurisdiction of Bazaricherra police station, along the Assam-Mizoram border in Karimganj.

The incident came to light after the videos of the attack went viral on social media, following which police registered a case on September 21.

The victim did not approach the police but filed a case in the court of the Karimganj chief judicial magistrate on September 20.

Upadhyay had earlier said that the villagers, including women, had attacked her.

The attackers allegedly stripped the woman and rubbed chilly powder on her private parts.

The SP had earlier said that the woman was allegedly involved in some anti-social activities and also sold illicit liquor.

"The villagers had warned her. Even police party had warned her earlier," Upadhyay said.

"We will be able to tell what led to the attack only after investigation is completed," he said.

"Even if she was doing something illegal, no one has the right to take law into their hands," Upadhyay added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Overseas investors have pulled out a massive Rs 153.65 billion ($2.1 billion) from the capital so far in September, after putting in funds during the previous two months, on widening coupled with global trade tensions.

The latest outflow comes following a net infusion of close to Rs 52 billion in the capital markets, both equity and debt, last month and Rs 23 billion in July.

Prior to that, overseas investors had pulled out over Rs 610 billion during April-June.

According to the latest depository data, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) withdrew a net sum of Rs 68.32 billion from equities during September 3-21 and Rs 85.33 billion from the debt market, taking the total to Rs 153.65 billion (USD 2.1 billion).

Himanshu Srivastava, Senior Research Analyst at Morningstar, attributed the outflow to widening due to a surge in oil prices, depreciating rupee, concerns over the government's ability to meet fiscal deficit targets and lower-than-expected GST collection.



"All these factors deteriorated the country's macro environment. It has also cast a doubt on the sustainability of the economic growth which is closely watched by the FPIs. This coupled with expensive valuation triggered a sell-off from FPIs in September," he noted.

Additionally, given the global trade tensions, there has also been risk-aversion among which explains their cautious stance towards emerging like India, which are considered to be riskier than their developed counterparts, he added.

So far this year, FPIs have pulled out over Rs 92 billion from equities and Rs 465.10 billion from the debtThe French said Sunday it feared damage to its relations with after former stirred controversy about a major deal to sell fighter jets to New

Hollande, who left office in May last year, said Friday during a trip to that French jet manufacturer had been given no choice about its local partner in a 2016 deal with the Indian administration.

The nationalist of Narendra Modi agreed to buy 36 Rafale jets from Dassault, which announced afterwards it was partnering for the project with billionaire rather than India's public defence conglomerate

Hollande's announcement that Dassault "did not have a say in it" added fuel to claims from India's opposition that the New had intervened to help Ambani, who is a supporter of Modi and hails from the same state as him.

"I find these remarks made overseas, which concern important international relations between and India, do not help anyone and above all do not help France," junior foreign minister Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne said Sunday about Hollande.

"Because one is no longer in office, causing damage to a strategic partnership between and by making remarks that clearly cause controversy in India is really not appropriate," he said in an interview on Radio J.

Hollande made the comments to defend himself from accusations of a conflict of interest because Ambani's Reliance conglomerate had partially financed a film produced by his girlfriend, Julie Gayet, in 2016.

The choice of Reliance for a highly strategic contract to upgrade India's ageing fleet of fighter jets had caused surprise at the time because the group had no previous experience in the aeronautics industry.

Hollande's comments were front-page news in Indian newspapers on Saturday and it was the top trending topic on

Rahul Gandhi, head of the main opposition party, who is seeking to replace Modi and his rightwing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in elections next year, went on the offensive.

"An ex- of is calling him (the prime minister of India) a thief. It's a question of the dignity of the office of the prime minister," he told a news conference in NewProcessions carrying idols of Lord Ganesh for immersion began winding their way towards rivers and lakes across Maharashtra Sunday morning, marking the culmination of the 11-day festival.

In big cities like Pune and Mumbai, processions carrying huge idols of the elephant-headed God on decorated trucks, accompanied by thousands of devotees and troupes of drummers, are expected to continue well past midnight.

While public Ganesh mandals prefer to take the idols for immersion to sea shores or rivers, families which install smaller idols are increasingly conducting 'viasarjan' at homes in buckets of water.

With a view to avoid pollution of natural water bodies, many civic bodies have also set up artificial ponds for immersion.

In Mumbai, the famous Lalbaughcha Raja Ganpati, which attracts lakhs of devotees during the festival, was among the early starters for immersion at the sea shore in Dadar.

The festival, which began on Ganesh Chaturthi on September 13, concludes Sunday on 'Anant Chaturdashi'.

Public celebration of Ganesh festival dates back over a century, when it was first encouraged by Bal Gangadhar Tilak in order to promote nationalist sentiment during the colonial rule.

In Mumbai, prime locations for immersion are Girgaum Chowpatty (beach), Juhu, Powai lake and Dadar Chowpatty.

In Pune, the top five Ganesh mandals set out for immersion in the morning.

In Nashik city of North Maharashtra, Ganesh mandals decided not to use hi-tech sound amplifying systems and 'gulal' powder (which is sprinkled during the procession) during the immersion.

The immersion procession of over 50 Ganesh mandals began in the morning from Wakadi Barav locality in Nashik. It will culminate on the bank of the river Godavari.

Nashik police commissioner Ravinderkumar Singhal said the procession was expected to go on till midnight.

Besides, devotees in other districts of the state like Solapur, Kolhapur, Aurangabad, Nanded, Jalgaon, Amravati, and Nagpur also bid aideu to their favourite God.

The Bombay High Court had Friday refused to lift the ban imposed by the state government on the use of hi-tech sound-amplifying systems such as DJ and Dolby sound during Ganpati immersion and the coming Navratri festival.

This year, the Ganesh festival also became a public outreach opportunity for politicians, who are eyeing blessings of both Lord Ganesh and his devotees ahead of an election year.

As both the Lok Sabha and Maharashtra polls are due in 2019, political leaders in Mumbai, especially ticket- aspirants, made it a point to visit people in their constituencies who have installed Ganesh idols at home, apart from going to several pandals.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Andhra Pradesh and Telangana Governor E S L Narasimhan Sunday expressed his shock and sorrow at the killing of a sitting MLA and a former legislator by Maoists in Visakhapatnam district.

In a condolence message, the Governor conveyed his condolences to the families of Araku MLA Kidari Sarveswara Rao and former MLA Siveri Soma, who were shot dead by CPI (Maoists) in Lippitiputta village under Dambriguda mandal in Andhra Pradesh Sunday.

He instructed officials to take necessary precautions for the safety of the people.

In the first major strike in several years in Andhra Pradesh, the outlawed CPI (Maoists) shot dead TDP leaders Rao and Soma, both Scheduled Tribes, when they went to take part in a 'grama darsini' (village visit) programme.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Senior Congress leader Manish Tewari Sunday accused the Union government of creating a "smokescreen" around the Rs 58,000 crore Rafale fighter jet deal with French firm Dassault Aviation.

Tewari hurled the allegation hours after Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley ruled out scrapping of the Rafale deal, saying the jet fighters are needed by the defence forces and that even French Francois Hollande has subsequently contradicted his purported initial statement on the deal. Reacting to Jaitely's statements on television, Tewari said If at all, anybody needs to answer on Rafale transactions, it is Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi or former Defence Minister Manohar Parikkar or current Defence Minister (Nirmala Sitharaman) who is seized of the issue."



"But they are trying to create a smokescreen and cloud the issue," said Tewari, also a former Union minister.

He also said the government needs to explain how the price of aircraft went up from Rs 590-odd crore to Rs 1,690 crore.

"Then there is the issue of offset (partner), where Hollande has clearly and unequivocally come out and said they did not have a choice so far as offset partner is concerned and that this was a diktat from the Government of India. So, on these issues there has to be a clarification," Tewari said. Speaking in the wake of the controversy arising out of former French President Francois Hollande's purported statement that the Indian government proposed Anil Ambni-led Reliance Defence as the offset partner for Dassault Aviation and France did not have a choice in it, Jaitley said Hollande has subsequently contradicted his initial statement on the deal. Both the French government and Dassault, besides the Anil Ambani- led Reliance Defence, too have denied the Hollande's initial statement. Hollande was the French president when deal for buying 36 Rafale jets was signed in 2016.

Tewari alleged the contract from Indian side was in violation of all established norms, procedures and conventions which have been laid down for big ticket defence acquisition".

Attacking Jaitley, Tewari said, "The minister by the standards of his usually very stretched logic has ended up saying something on Sunday morning, which is nothing less than bizarre."



"He has stated that there is collusion between the two opposition leaders in France and in India, Hollande and Rahul Gandhi. Nothing will be farther from the truth and the statement is absolutely laughable, he said.

Alleging a "cover up" in the case, Tewari said "it is high time Prime Minister and his various ministers come clean and tell the nation as to what exactly are the facts of this particular ) transaction."



He reiterated that a joint parliamentary committee must be set up to probe into the Rafale affair "so that the truth can come out in its entirety.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Gujarat Forest department has formed 64 teams to screen and shift sick lions to rescue centres after carcasses of 11 big cats were found the state's Gir forest, a senior official said on Sunday.

The carcasses of 11 lions, including cubs, were found between September 11 and 19. Nine of those were recovered from Dalkhaniya range and two from the Jashadhar range of Gir forest.

A team comprising top officials and experts from the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NCTA) and Dehradun-based Wildlife Institute of India (WII), probing the death since arriving here on Saturday, has stated in its preliminary report that the deaths were mainly due to infighting, and infection caused by resultant injuries.

Additional Chief Secretary (Forest) Rajiv Gupta told reporters Sunday in Junagadh that viscera samples of the 11 lion carcasses had been sent to Pune-based National Institute of Virology (NIV) to find out the exact cause of death.

"After analysing the reports from NIV, we will devise a long-term strategy to save lions" he said, adding the Central team had concluded that the deaths were not due to "unnatural" causes, such as intentional poisoning by humans.

He informed reporters that NTCA-WII team would remain in the state for a few more days to thoroughly probe the case.

Gupta said 64 teams, having 270 personnel, had been formed to screen lions in Gir forest.

"Each team has a forester, two beat guards and one tracker. Veterinary doctors will assist these teams in identifying and rescuing sick lions and treat them at our rescue centres. We have also planned to vaccinate cattle near Gir area" the additional chief secretary (forest) said.

He said these teams would work under the supervision of Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (PCCF), Wildlife, Akshay Saxena.

The state government had on Friday claimed that three lion cubs were killed by a male lion to establish dominance and two lionesses and an adult lion died from respiratory and hepatic (relating to the liver) failure.

The post-mortem reports of five other lions, including two cubs and one lioness, were awaited, the forest department had said on Friday.

According to a 2015 census, Gir is home to 523 lions, including 109 male, 201 female, 73 sub-adults and 140 cubs.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Lauding the roll out of the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY)-Ayushman Bharat, health bodies and experts Sunday said it will bring the much-needed "revolutionary" change to healthcare in India.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi Sunday rolled out the scheme which aims to provide coverage of Rs 5 lakh per family annually, benefiting more than 50 crore people for secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation through a network of empanelled health care providers.

Prathap C Reddy, Chairman, Apollo Hospitals congratulated the prime minister on the launch of this "historic" initiative, saying, "While we all work together to ensure the success of this scheme, there are areas that need focus and fine tuning".

"Ensuring the robustness of the IT backbone, weeding out potential fraud, ensuring coverage to only identified beneficiaries and ensuring more adoption by the private sector, who are rightly worried about the pricing and reimbursements, must remain paramount moving forward.

"I believe this scheme is for the greater public good and we must all strive to ensure its success," Reddy said.

Modi while rolling out the scheme on Sunday termed it a "game-changer initiative to serve the poor".

Healthcare Federation of India (NATHEALTH) maintained that rolling out of the Centre's flagship scheme is a testimony of cohesive collaborations between all stakeholders of the Indian Healthcare sector and a much needy state today witnessed fulfilment of a national commitment.

NATHEALTH President Daljit Singh said the prime minister gifted the nation a health insurance scheme which will benefit 50 crore people across the country and also laid foundation stones for new medical colleges in Koderma and Chaibasa and construction of Tertiary Care Cancer Centre in Ranchi.

"These initiatives will transform the healthcare infrastructure of Jharkhand. The roll out of the scheme was slated to be on September 25 as per August 15 announcement, however, implementing it two days prior to the set schedule and selection of state to kick it off manifest the confidence of the government and its agencies in the readiness of the scheme.

"Effective implementation certainly needs meticulous planning and efficient management on the part of the government; NATHEALTH is keen to partner with the government to drive this," said Singh.

According to NATHEALTH, patient safety and appropriateness or quality of care should be the core principles around which the prime minister's Jan AarogyaYojna's processes.

People and technology have to be created in order to drive genuine improvements in care delivery and eventually for improved health outcomes for the beneficiaries...improved health of the Nation, the body said.

"Jharkhand and several other states in the country desperately need adequate healthcare infrastructure and insurance coverage. It is very encouraging to note that Jharkhand's 85 per cent population will be covered under the PMJAY.

"Private providers and other stakeholders such as health insurers responded very positively to the scheme and the success should be ensured in terms of quality and affordability," said Anjan Bose, Secretary General, NATHEALTH.

Modi on Sunday said the health scheme would come into effect from today (Sunday).

"PMJAY-Ayushman Bharat is the biggest government-sponsored healthcare scheme in the world. The number of beneficiaries is almost equal to the population of Canada, Mexico and the US taken together," Modi said.

Anuj Gulati, MD and CEO, Religare Health Insurance said, "'Ayushman Bharat' will bring in the much needed "revolutionary" change to healthcare in India."



"We wholeheartedly welcome this laudable development and congratulate the Prime Minister. The National Health Protection Scheme (NHPS) will surely transform the entire healthcare ecosystem. A healthy nation is what will make our country prosperous. Gulati said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Against the backdrop of a recent study which said that India accounted for 37 per cent of global suicide among women, health experts asked the government to work on a national policy to prevent suicide, and encourage women to come out and talk about their problems.

The Global Burden of Disease study 1990-2016, published in the Lancet Public Health Journal recently, said India accounted for 37 per cent of global suicide among women and 34 per cent of men in 2016.

Experts say suicide is one of the biggest killers globally.

"The important point which we should emphasize on is that suicide is a preventable condition. Out of so many mental ailments, depression is the most common problems and it observed more in women than men. Women manages the entire system of the house, but tend to ignore their health," said Dr. Samir Parikh, Director of Department of Mental Health and Behavioural Sciences.

"We need to identify and sensitize them (women) to be more responsible towards their own health first. India also needs to work on a national suicidal health policy to make the situation better," he said.

According to the study, 63 per cent of all suicides reported in India were in the 15-39 age group.

Another expert pointed out that the very core of empowerment of women lies in the roots of freedom, self-respect, access to basic health and most importantly economic sustainability.

"Successful implementation of social entrepreneurship initiatives and self-help groups with women as major stakeholders can be the stimulator in the process of change.

"It is time we recognize the central role a woman plays in welfare of a family, of a society, and of the whole country, and give her an equal chance," said Seema Kumar, GM, Programmes, Smile Foundation.

Anna Chandy, Chairperson - Board of Trustees, The Live Love Laugh Foundation, pointed out that women in India not only face discrimination but also lack concern and empathy.

She said women are often blamed for almost everything that goes wrong and the diverse roles they play often takes a toll on them.

"Women are expected to be perfect wives, care providers, employers, and employees with no room for error or physical or emotional exhaustion. Society also lacks awareness on post-natal depression and menopause related issues," Chandy said, while pointing out that this is compounded when many women neglect their basic needs including rest, exercise, and sleep.

"All this calls for raising awareness on the issues faced by women and how their family should become the first point of care. Women should be encouraged to come out and talk about what is bothering them.

"Suicide is not the solution and it is not wrong to ask for help. Women should be provided the care and support they need and lead the lives they want to," Chandy said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Ruling out scrapping of the Rafale jet deal, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley Sunday said former French President Francois Hollande contradicted himself and neither the Indian nor the French government played any role in selection of Reliance as offset partner by Dassault.

A political controversy has erupted over Hollande's statement that the Indian government wanted the Anil Ambani-led Reliance Defence to be chosen as offset partner of Dassault, the manufacturer of the fighter jets.

The opposition Congress party has raised fingers at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and demanded resignation of Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

Jaitley, in a television interview, said there appears to be some 'jugalbandi' (connection) between the statements of Hollande and Congress President Rahul Gandhi.

"I am surprisedOn August 30, he (Gandhi) tweeted that bombs are going to explode in France (over Rafale deal). How he came to know about that?



"Though I do not have any proof of this jugalbandi, but this creates suspicion in mindThere is definitely something ... a statement comes (from Hollande), then it is contradicted. But he (Gandhi) predicted this to happen 20 days in advance," he said.

Jaitley added that there is no question of scrapping the Rafale jet fighter deal as it is meant to meet the needs of the country's defence forces.

"Koi prashna nahi uthta. Ye fauz ki avashaktya hai. Ye desh mei ana chahiye, aur ye ayega. (No question of scrapping the deal. These (jet fighters) are needed by the defence forces. They should come and they will come)," he said when asked whether the government could cancel the deal in view of the forthcoming general elections in 2019.

Earlier in a Facebook post, Jaitley wrote: "The former French President's first statement rhymes with Rahul Gandhi's prediction."



The minister also accused the Congress party leaders of using vulgar language and said public discourse is not a "laughter challenge".

"I have said how public discourse should be. It is not a laughter challenge. You go and hug someone, then you wink, utter lies 4-6-10 times. Your words should reflect intellect. Vulgarity and abusive language does not suit the world's largest democracy, he added.

Jaitley said a controversy is sought to be created on the basis of a statement made by Hollande that the Reliance Defence 'partnership' with Dassault Aviation was due to the suggestion of the Indian government.

"He (Hollande) has, in a subsequent statement, said that he is 'not aware' if Government ever lobbied for Reliance Defence and that 'the partners chose themselves'. Truth cannot have two versions, the minister said.

Referring to Hollande's remarks, Jaitley said: "The French Government and M/s Dassault Aviation have categorically denied the correctness of the former President's first statement.

"The French Government has stated that the decision with regard to the offset contracts of Dassault Aviation are taken by the company and not the Government. Dassault Aviation itself has suggested that they have entered into multiple contracts with several public sector and private sector companies with regard to the offset contracts and the decision is entirely theirs."



As per the second statement of Hollande, Dassault and Reliance selected themselves as partners, the minister said.

"This contradicts his first questionable statement which the French Government and Dassault have denied. The facts contradict the same. His second statement in Montreal, Canada to AFP ( agency) makes the veracity of his first statement even more questionable," he added.

Hollande was the French president when the Rs 58,000 crore deal for buying 36 Rafale jets was signed in 2016.

Hollande's comments gave fresh ammunition to the opposition, with Rahul Gandhi making one of his sharpest attacks on Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the issue, alleging the remarks showed there was "clear-cut corruption" in the deal and he must clarify whether the former French president was "lying".

"Now, what the ex-president of France is saying is that the prime minister of India is a 'thief'. That is what this (Hollande's) statement is saying," Gandhi told a press conference Saturday while asking Modi to come clean on the matter.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)"EastEnders" actor Danniella Westbrook says she was initially afraid to talk about her cancer diagnosis after having seen her friend, "Big Brother" star Jade Goody's deterioration.

The 44-year-old actor, who is battling womb cancer, initially turned to cocaine to help her cope with the diagnosis.

Westbrook said she collapsed in pain while in the UK and was taken to hospital by Kerry Katona, and it was when she flew to Spain that she had the devastating

She admitted she turned to cocaine at first because she wanted to "numb everything and get drunk", but now she is focused on fighting the disease.

"After what happened with Jade I was frightened to talk to anyone about my cancer at first. She was my friend and what happened was so awful. I've tried to commit suicide before but getting this diagnosis has made me realise I don't want to die.

"I want to live and sort out my health. I know I have to fight, I know I have to get up and battle it," the actor told The Mirror.

Westbrook said the future looks "hopeful" as the doctors believe cancer is "containable".

She will undergo a full hysterectomy in three weeks' time.

The actor, best known for playing Sam Mitchell in "EastEnders", previously sparked concern among fans after posting a string of messages referring to fighting cancer.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.): The immersion of Lord Ganesha idols in Hussain Sagar lake, at other places in the city and in different districts began Sunday amid tight security.

Thousands of devotees marched towards the Tank Bund here following the Ganesha idols on decorated vehicles for the final procession, which marks the conclusion of the 11-day long festival.

Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu also participated in the immersion event at Tank Bund here, offered prayers and performed 'aarati'.

The immersion of the famous 57 foot Khairatabad Ganesh idol, the tallest in the city, was done in Hussain Sagar lake at around 1 PM.

Over 12,000 idols were immersed in Hussain Sagar by afternoon and thousands in other areas, officials of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) said.

The civic body has also built artificial ponds near major lakes and tanks.

Elaborate security arrangements have been made for the peaceful conduct of Ganesh immersion processions here and across the state, Director General of Police M Mahendar Reddy said adding "we are alert".

The state Command Control at the police headquarters here has been connected with major towns CCTVs of procession routes to enable monitoring on a real-time basis.

Besides this, the idols have been geo tagged.

The DGP asked people not to believe in social media rumours or spread false and requested them to cooperate with the police.

"Immersion of Ganesha idols is going on peacefully. Devotees are coming in large numbers. Police, GHMC and officials from other departments have made arrangements for smooth conduct of the event," GHMC Commissioner Dana Kishore said.

Hyderabad Police Commissioner Anjani Kumar said over 17,000 police personnel have been deployed in the city for the final procession Sunday and it was being monitored through 2.5 lakh surveillance cameras.

The police commissioner said the procession was likely to culminte by late Sunday or early Monday.

Police have identified 310 hyper-sensitive and 605 sensitive places in the city.

Hyderabad Police has already put in force traffic restrictions on the main procession route.

Bhagawanta Rao, a senior representative of Bhagyanagar Ganesh Utsav Samiti, the body overseeing Ganpati celebrations here, said lakhs of devotees are participating in the final procession.

The famous Balapur laddu was auctioned for Rs 16.60 lakh fetching Rs one lakh more than last year.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)US-based chocolate maker Mars sees India as a key 'accelerate' market and is ramping up its distribution network in the country to tap the high growth potential, a senior company official said.

The company, which has brands such as Snickers, Mars, Bounty, M&M, Double Mint, Boomer, Orbit, Galaxy and Twix in India, also plans to introduce one more brand in the next six to eight weeks to enhance its presence here.

"India is a key 'accelerate' market in Mars Wrigley Confectionery Asia, Australia, Middle East and Africa (AMEA)," Mars Wrigley Confectionery General Manager - India Andrew Leakey told PTI.

The company is investing to strengthen its distribution network and is building a sustainable supply chain here to expand its reach beyond metros and some key cities. The company has "stronger growth ambitions" and is taking "a long term view" on the Indian market, he said.

Presently, Mars Wrigley products are distributed through around 3,00,000 outlets and it is eyeing to take the number to over 5,00,000.

"With our continued focus on growth in the India market through our expanding distribution network, flexibility to scale as per demand, ongoing efforts to build sustainable supply chain and strong market potential, we anticipate one-fourth of our growth contribution for AMEA region, coming from India, over the next few years," he said.

However, he declined to share revenue or other financial details.

Last year, Mars Inc integrated its Mars Chocolate and Wrigley segments in India, creating Mars Wrigley Confectionery (MWC) to tap high growth potential here.

"We are taking a long term view over the business in India and the company is less concerned about the immediate paybacks," he said.

Leakey said the company looks to introduce "products which are more relevant to the Indian market".

The company has an innovation centre in Bengaluru which is helping it to localise some of the flavours here.

Asked about growth, he said, "Confectionary market is growing with CAGR of 9 per cent in last 5 years and we are growing double than that and we would continue to grow at that rate."



To expand its reach in the mass market, Mars has introduced a small Rs 10 pack of Snickers as in India around 80 per cent chocolates are sold in the Rs 10 price segment, he added.

"Since we have launched it, we have doubled our distribution of Snickers," he said.

Mars has manufacturing plants in Pune, Baddi (Himachal Pradesh), Hyderabad and Bengaluru and has plans to expand capacity when the demand increases.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Indian Naval officer Abhilash Tomy, badly injured while participating in the Golden Globe Race, "rolling excessively" in the South Indian Ocean, has been located and expected to be rescued by a French vessel Monday, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and the Navy said Sunday.

Commander Tomy, whose vessel was located by an Indian Navy aircraft earlier, shall be picked up in the next 16 hours by French vessel Osiris, Sitharaman said in a tweet at 7 pm.

The Minister also said she had spoken to vice-chief of Naval Staff Vice Admiral Ajit Kumar P regarding the condition of the injured navy officer.

"...The Rescue Mission is being coordinated with the Australian Navy. The injured officer shall be picked up in the next 16 hrs by a French vessel Osiris," Sitharaman said.

A defence spokesman said Tomy would to be brought on board Australian Naval ship HMAS Ballarat, which has already left Perth to rescue him.

Indian Naval Defence Attache' in Australia has been camping in the regional Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) monitoring the rescue mission, he said.

Earlier in the day, the spokesman said all efforts were being made to rescue Commander Tomy who had suffered a back injury Friday after his yacht was hit by a vicious storm with 14-metre-high waves mid-way across south Indian Ocean.

"INS Satpura and INS Jyoti are heading at top speed to reach Tomy", the spokesman said.

However, INS Satpura was expected to reach the location only by Friday.

He said the situation was being monitored at Naval Headquarters in New Delhi, as well as by the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre at Melbourne, Australia.

The Indian Navy's P8I aircraft, which flew from Mauritius in the early hours Sunday, has located the "mast broken boat rolling excessively", he said.

"Commander Tomy responded by ping on EPIRB as the aircraft was flying over him," the spokesman said here.

The spokesman said the capability of IAF's P8i aircraft had been a humongous force multiplier which had given a huge input into the state of yacht Thuriya for planning purposes.

Quoting Captain Chandrahas Vivek, pilot of the aircraft which flew from Mauritius this morning, the spokesman said the aircraft established visual contact with the yacht and has landed back at Port Louis Mauritius.

The position was relayed to JRCC Australia and the War room in New Delhi through INMARSAT, he said.

The aircraft remained for two hours on the task in the area and landed at Mauritius.

He said heavy rains have been reported from the area.

Tomy can only be rescued by naval ships, he said.

He had Sunday managed to get in touch with race organisers in France through messages and had requested for a stretcher as he could not move on his own. He was representing India in the Golden Globe Race 2018 (GGR) on an indigenously-built sailing vessel 'S V Thuraya'.

Tomy, who became the first Indian to circumnavigate the globe in 2013, is the only Indian participating in the race that involves a gruelling 30,000-mile solo circumnavigation of the globe.

His vessel is in the south Indian Ocean, about 1,900 nautical miles from Perth in Australia.

Tomy's vessel was dismasted in extremely rough weather and sea conditions, with wind speeds of 130 kmph. He was in third position in the race and has sailed over 10,500 nautical miles in the last 84 days, since the race started on July 1.

A report from France on Friday night had said 70 knot winds and 14-metre-high waves have left the yachts of Tomy and Ireland's Gregor McGuckin dismasted, and twice knocked down the yacht of second-placed Dutchman Mark Slats.

Both McGuckin and Slats had reported that they are okay, but 39-year-old Tomy, making his second solo circumnavigation, has been injured, it had said.

It had also said other entrants were asked to make towards Tomy's position if possible, and added that the weather was extreme.

The nearest yacht was McGuckin's 'Biscay 36 Hanley Energy Endurance', some 90 miles to the southwest of Tomy's 'Thuriya', but she too was dismasted in the same storm.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A serving Indian Police Service officer's wife will contest the upcoming Rajasthan Assembly election as an Independent candidate from Jhalrapatan constituency, currently represented by Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje.

Mukul Choudhary, wife of 2009-batch Rajasthan-cadre IPS officer Pankaj Choudhary, said her decision to contest against Raje was the democratic way to fight the "injustice" being faced by the people under the BJP dispensation.

"I will contest the election from Jhalrapatan, which is my birth place, on the issue of corruption and misrule as an Independent candidate. The entire state is suffering under the rule of the chief minister. Corruption is rampant and crime rate is increasing. I have been working on the ground against these issues," she told PTI on Sunday.

Chaudhary alleged that her husband was exploited and served charge sheets and faced frequent transfers for doing honest work. "Honest officers are being exploited and my husband is just a small part of it. I am the daughter of Jhalrapatan first, and wife of an honest IPS officer after that."



The woman's husband is posted as the superintendent of police of the state crime records bureau (SCRB) in Jaipur, while her mother, Shashi Dutta, was the law minister in former chief minister Bhairon Singh Shekhawat's government in 1993.

"My motivation to contest the election is corruption, misrule and miseries of people," said Chaudhary, a mother of two, adding that she chose Jhalrapatan in Jhalawar district as the constituency because Raje contests from there.

"My husband fights against crime and corruption... I too shall do the same, but in a different way. People in the chief minister's own constituency are unsatisfied with her. There is no development works and people are still lacking basic amenities," she pointed out.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Iranian media say nine men convicted of raping a woman have been hanged.

The Arman daily reported Sunday that the men broke into the woman's villa in the southern Fars province and raped her, without specifying when the crime took place. They were hanged Saturday after the Supreme Court reaffirmed their sentence earlier this month.

Arman quoted Ali Alghasimehr, the provincial chief justice, as saying that the woman withdrew her complaint but that authorities carried out the punishment anyway.

Rights groups say Iran is one of the world's leading executioners, and have repeatedly called on it to abolish the death penalty.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Sunday pointed blame at Arab separatists for a deadly attack on a military parade and accused an unnamed US-backed Gulf state of supporting them.

Tehran also summoned diplomats from Denmark, the Netherlands and Britain for allegedly hosting members of the group suspected of links to Saturday's attack that killed at least 29 people.

Four militants attacked a parade commemorating the start of the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war in the southwestern city of Ahvaz, capital of the border province of Khuzestan.

Officials and an eyewitness said the gunmen were clad in Iranian military uniforms and had sprayed the crowd with gunfire using weapons they had stashed in a nearby park.

The Islamic State (IS) jihadist group claimed responsibility for the rare assault.

But Iranian authorities see an Arab separatist movement, the Ahwazi Democratic Popular Front (ADPF) or Al-Ahwazi, as the main suspect. "One of the countries in the south of the Persian Gulf took care of their financial, weaponry and political needs," said President Rouhani.

"All these little mercenary countries we see in this region are backed by America. It is the Americans who incite them."



The United States condemned the attack, with its UN envoy saying it had happened because Rouhani has "oppressed his people for a long time". "He needs to look at his own base to figure out where that's coming from. I think the Iranian people have had enough," said Nikki Haley.

London-based opposition channel Iran International TV aired an interview Saturday with Yaqoub Hor Altostari, presented as a spokesman for ADPF, indirectly claiming responsibility for the attack and calling it "resistance against legitimate targets".

But in a statement on its website, the group denied any involvement, accusing Iranian authorities of ordering the attack to distract from Tehran's support for "militias in the region".

Iran summoned diplomats from Denmark, the Netherlands and Britain to complain about them "hosting some members of the terrorist group" and "double standards in fighting terrorism," the foreign ministry said.

The British charge d'affaires "was told that it is not acceptable that the spokesman for the mercenary Al-Ahwazi group be allowed to claim responsiblity for this terrorist act through a London-based TV network," said ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi.

Britain said its diplomat had extended the country's condolences to Tehran and that Iranian officials were planning to lodge a formal complaint with the United Kingdom's media watchdog, Ofcom.

Ghasemi also said Iran expected the Danish and Dutch governments to "hand over the perpetrators of this attack and anyone related to them to Iran for a fair trial".

Denmark said there would be consequences if any such links were established, while the Netherlands said it had heard the Iranian version of events and offered its condolences.

Iran also warned the United Arab Emirates over "offensive remarks" attributed to a UAE "political adviser" following the attack.

Oman, Kuwait and Qatar issued condemnations of the attack, while Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain had yet to react on Sunday.

State media gave a toll of 29 dead and 57 wounded in the attack, including women and children who were spectators at the parade. Their funerals will be held on Monday, it said.

Three attackers were also killed and the fourth died later of his injuries, the armed forces said.

IS had claimed the attack via its propaganda mouthpiece Amaq, and that the attack was in response to Iranian involvement in conflicts across the region.

The Revolutionary Guards accused Shiite-dominated Iran's Sunni arch-rival Saudi Arabia of funding the attackers, while Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei also blamed Iran's pro-US rivals.

"A deadly and unforgettable revenge will be exacted... in the near future," it said.

Khuzestan, which has a large ethnic Sunni Arab community, was a major battleground of the 1980s war with Iraq and it saw unrest in 2005 and 2011, but has since been largely quiet.

Kurdish rebels frequently attack military patrols on the border further north, but attacks on government targets in major cities are rare. On June 7, 2017 in Tehran, 17 people were killed and dozens wounded in simultaneous attacks on the parliament and on the tomb of revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini -- the first inside Iran claimed by IS.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Militants disguised as soldiers opened fire on an annual Iranian military parade in the country's oil-rich southwest, killing at least 25 people and wounding over 60 in the deadliest terror attack to strike the country in nearly a decade.

Women and children scattered along with once-marching Revolutionary Guard soldiers as heavy gunfire rang out Saturday at the parade in Ahvaz, the chaos captured live on state television.

The region's Arab separatists, once only known for nighttime attacks on unguarded oil pipelines, claimed responsibility for the brazen assault and Iranian officials appeared to believe the claim.

Iran summoned diplomats from Britain, Denmark and the Netherlands early Sunday for allegedly harbouring "members of the terrorist group" that launched the attack.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif blamed regional countries and their "US masters" for funding and arming the separatists, issuing a stark warning as regional tensions remain high in the wake of the US withdraw from the Iranian nuclear deal.

"Iran will respond swiftly and decisively in defense of Iranian lives," Zarif wrote on Twitter.

The attack came as rows of Revolutionary Guardsmen marched down Ahvaz's Quds, or Jerusalem, Boulevard. It was one of many around the country marking the start of Iran's long 1980s war with Iraq, commemorations known as the "Sacred Defense Week."



Journalists and onlookers turned to look toward the first shots, then the rows of marchers broke as soldiers and civilians sought cover under sustained gunfire.

Iranian soldiers used their bodies at time to shield civilians in the melee, with one Guardsman in full dress uniform and sash carrying away a bloodied boy.

"Oh God! Go, go, go! Lie down! Lie down!" one man screamed as a woman fled with her baby.

In the aftermath, paramedics tended to the wounded as soldiers, some bloodied, helped their comrades to ambulances.

Video obtained by The Associated Press of the aftermath showed bodies of soldiers, some appearing lifeless, laying on the ground in pools of blood. One had a blanket covering him. A man screamed in grief.

The attack killed at least 25 people and wounded over 60, according to the state-run IRNA agency.

It said gunmen wore military uniforms and targeted a riser where military and police commanders were sitting. At least eight of the dead served in the Revolutionary Guard, an elite paramilitary unit that answers only to Iran's supreme leader, according to the semi-official Tasnim agency.

"We suddenly realized that some armed people wearing fake military outfits started attacking the comrades from behind (the stage) and then opened fire on women and children," an unnamed wounded soldier told state TV.

"They were just aimlessly shooting around and did not have a specific target."



State TV hours later reported that all four gunmen had been killed, with three dying during the attack and one later succumbing to his wounds at a hospital.

President Hassan Rouhani ordered Iran's Intelligence Ministry to immediately investigate the attack.

"The president stressed that the response of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the slightest threat would be harsh, but those who support the terrorists should be accountable," IRNA reported.

Meanwhile, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei described the attack as exposing "the atrocity and viciousness of the enemies of the Iranian nation."



"Their crime is a continuation of the conspiracies by the US-backed regimes in the region which have aimed at creating insecurity in our dear country," Khamenei said in a statement.

"However, to their dismay, the Iranian nation will persist on the noble and prideful path they have taken and will like before overcome all animosities."



Tensions have been on the rise between Iran and the U.S. The Trump administration in May pulled out of the 2015 nuclear accord with Iran, and since then has re-imposed sanctions that were eased under the deal.

It also has steadily ramped up pressure on Iran to try to get it to stop what Washington calls "malign activities" in the region.

Despite that, the U.S. government strongly condemned the attack and expressed its sympathy, saying that "the United States condemns all acts of terrorism and the loss of any innocent lives."



Initially, authorities described the assailants as "takfiri gunmen," a term previously used to describe the Islamic State group.

Iran has been deeply involved in the fight against IS in Iraq and has aided embattled Syrian President Bashar Assad in his country's long war.

But later, state media and government officials seemed to come to the consensus that Arab separatists in the region were responsible.

The separatists accuse Iran's Persian-dominated government of discriminating against its ethnic Arab minority, though an Ahvazi Arab, Gen. Ali Shamkhani, serves as the secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council. Khuzestan province also has seen recent protests over Iran's nationwide drought, as well as economic protests.

Iran has blamed its Mideast archrival, the Sunni kingdom of Saudi Arabia, for funding Arab separatists' activity.

State media in Saudi Arabia did not immediately acknowledge the attack, though a Saudi-linked, Farsi-language satellite channel based in the United Kingdom immediately carried an interview with an Ahvazi activist claiming Saturday's attack.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Iran on Sunday called on its OPEC partners not to bow to "threats" from US President Donald Trump, as the oil cartel prepared to meet to discuss output levels.

"I hope the outcome of this meeting will not be affected by President Trump's threats," Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh told SHANA, his ministry's agency.

Ahead of Sunday's meeting in Algiers of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, Trump tweeted that "the OPEC monopoly must get prices down now!" by raising output.

Middle East states "would not be safe for very long" without the United States, the president also wrote Thursday.

Zanganeh fired back, saying the claim that "America safeguards the security and survival of producing countries" was the "biggest insult to American allies in the region".

"OPEC is an organisation independent of America and will hopefully stay so," he said.

However, the Algiers meeting of OPEC and non-OPEC ministers is expected to offer an increase in output to "offset Iran's production cut", said Zanganeh.

Output from Iran has hit its lowest level since July 2016, according to the International Energy Agency, as top buyers India and China distance themselves from Tehran.

Trump has called for OPEC members, primarily US ally Saudi Arabia, to raise production, and warned importers to stop buying oil from Iran or face American sanctions.

The US in May withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran and reimposed sanctions on the Iranian economy, with a US embargo due to hit Iran's oil industry on November 4.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Iranian President Hassan Rouhani vowed a "crushing" response after assailants sprayed a crowd with gunfire, shooting dead at least 29 people, including women and children, Saturday at a military parade near the Iraqi border.

The Islamic State (IS) group claimed responsibility for the rare assault in the southwestern city of Ahvaz, while Iranian officials blamed "a foreign regime" backed by the US.

A local journalist who witnessed the attack said shots rang out for 10 to 15 minutes and that at least one of the assailants, armed with a Kalashnikov assault rifle, wore the uniform of Iran's Revolutionary Guards.

"We realised it was a terrorist attack as bodyguards (of officials) started shooting," Behrad Ghasemi told AFP. "Everything went haywire and soldiers started running. The terrorists had no particular target and didn't really seem to care as they shot anyone they could with rapid gunfire."



Ahvaz lies in Khuzestan, a province bordering Iraq that has a large ethnic Arab community and has seen separatist violence in the past that Iran has blamed on its regional rivals.

Iran summoned diplomats from Denmark, the Netherlands and Britain over their "hosting of some members of the terrorist group" which carried out the attack, state media said Sunday.

"It is not acceptable that the European Union does not blacklist members of these terrorist groups as long as they do not perpetrate a crime on... European soil," official agency IRNA quoted foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi as saying.

After addressing a similar parade in Tehran to commemorate the start of the 1980-1988 war with Iraq, Rouhani warned that "the response of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the smallest threat will be crushing".

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said the attack was carried out by "terrorists recruited, trained, armed & paid by a foreign regime".

"Iran holds regional terror sponsors and their US masters accountable for such attacks," he wrote on Twitter.

IS claimed the attack via its propaganda mouthpiece Amaq and, according to intelligence monitor SITE, said the attack was in response to Iranian involvement in conflicts across the region.

State television gave a toll of 29 dead and 57 wounded, while IRNA said those killed included women and children who were spectators at the parade.

Three attackers were killed at the scene and the fourth died later of his injuries, said armed forces spokesman Brigadier General Abolfazl Shekarchi.

The Revolutionary Guards accused Shiite-dominated Iran's Sunni arch-rival Saudi Arabia of funding the attackers, while Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei also blamed Iran's pro-US rivals.

Tehran-backed Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah condemned the "terrorist" attack, saying that "repulsive Satanic hands" were behind it.

"This operation was a continuation of the other forms of war the United States and its allies are waging, directly or indirectly," it said.

In a message to Russia's close regional ally, President Vladimir Putin said he was "appalled by this bloody crime", while Syria, another ally, neighbouring Turkey and France also expressed condolences.

Khuzestan was a major battleground of the 1980s war with Iraq and the province saw unrest in 2005 and 2011, but has since been largely quiet.

Kurdish rebels frequently attack military patrols on the border further north, but attacks on regime targets in major cities are rare.

On June 7, 2017 in Tehran, 17 people were killed and dozens wounded in simultaneous attacks on the parliament and on the tomb of revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini -- the first inside Iran claimed by IS.

In April, 26 alleged members of the Sunni extremist group went on trial in connection with the attacks.

The attack in Ahvaz came as Rouhani and other dignitaries attended the main anniversary parade in Tehran.

In a keynote speech, he vowed to boost Iran's ballistic missile capabilities, despite Western concerns that were cited by his US counterpart Donald Trump in May when he abandoned a landmark nuclear deal with Tehran.

"We will never decrease our defensive capabilities... we will increase them day by day," Rouhani said.

"The fact that the missiles anger (the West) shows they are our most effective weapons."



The United States reimposed crippling sanctions on Iran last month, and another round of even harsher sanctions targeting Iran's vital oil sector is set to go back into effect on November 5.

Washington has said it is ready to open talks on a new agreement to replace the July 2015 accord, but Tehran has repeatedly said it cannot negotiate under pressure from sanctions.

Rouhani leaves Sunday for New York to attend next week's United Nations General Assembly along with Trump, but Iran has repeatedly ruled out any meeting.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A district BJP leader on Sunday courted controversy after he asked people to take action against security forces in North Dinajpur, where two students died in a clash with police over teachers' recruitment in a high school.

Addressing villagers, North Dinajpur BJP president Shankar Chakraborty suggested putting up barricades to prevent entry of police personnel in the area.

"If there is any police action, retaliate. No compromise with them. Do not cooperate with them," he said at a public rally here.

Chakraborty also threatened to pitch for the transfer of Superintendent of Police Sumit Kumar from the district, if he "remained inactive" and failed to take action against the culprits of the incident, which took place on Thursday.

Locals have alleged that the two, who were former students of the school, were killed in police firing but Kumar had said the police did not open fire.

The SP had, however, admitted that the students had received bullet injuries and said the police were investigating who had opened fire.

The parents of the two students have said their cremation would be done only after a CBI probe is ordered into the incident.

The BJP has called a 12-hour shutdown in West Bengal on September 26 to protest the death of the students.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)President Donald Trump's policy with China is not simply about economy or trade, it is a question of power, his National Security Advisor John Bolton said Sunday.

Bolton in an interview to Fox said that China is still trying to figure out what the president is up to.

"I think they're still trying to figure out what the president's up to, although there's no doubt, in some of the tariffs that they have imposed, they have targeted the president's supporters in Congress to see if they can change the majority," Bolton said.

"I think a lot of people don't understand exactly what's at stake here. I think the president will address this. This is not just an economic issue. This is not just talking about tariffs and the terms of trade. This is a question of power, Bolton said.

The intellectual property has a major impact on China's economic capacity, and, therefore, on its military capacity, he argued.

I think the president correctly understands, when China gets economic power by stealing from the US and others, it's time to call a stop to it, said the top national security advisor.

Bolton agreed that China is applying its economic power toward its military complex by creating islands in the South China Sea and then setting military bases there.

They (China) talk in the Middle East about creating facts on the ground in the Israel-Palestinian issue. China's creating the ground in the South China Sea and putting more facts on top of it. It's very dangerous, very aggressive, something that the administration has confronted, he said.

I think all of this goes to what will be the major theme of the 21st century, which is how China and the United States get along, Bolton said.

Trump has been ramping up pressure on China to reduce the USD 336 billion trade deficit in the USD 710.4 billion bilateral trade slapping three rounds of sanctions.

On Tuesday, Trump slapped 10 per cent tariffs on USD 200 billion worth of Chinese imports and the duties which will rise to whopping 25 per cent at the end of the year.

China has retaliated by hitting USD 60 billion in US products and the world's two largest economies have already imposed tariffs of USD 50 billion on each other.

The Trump administration has also punished a unit of China's defense ministry for buying fighter jets and missiles from Russia in defiance of sanctions on Moscow.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Hitting back at BJP chief Amit Shah, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal Sunday challenged him for a public debate comparing the performance of the Modi government and the AAP dispensation in the national capital.

Kejriwal was responding to Shah's allegations made at a public meeting at Ramila Maidan earlier in the day. Shah had charged Kejriwal with "preventing" the development of Delhi during his three-and-a-half-year rule.

In a series of tweets in Hindi, Kejriwal said, "Amit Shah Ji, our government has done 10 times more than what Modi Ji has done during the last four years. Look at the anti-people and wrong deeds of Modi Ji, we have not indulged in a single act of this kind.

"I challenge you, come let us have a public debate at Ramlila Maidan before the people of Delhi."



Later the Delhi government issued a statement refuting the BJP chief's allegations and also quoted Kejriwal's tweets.

Shah had said, "Kejriwal's only mantra is to tell lies, and talk forcefully and repeatedly".

In a tweet, Kejriwal sought to know how much money the BJP-led central government provided to Delhi in the 14th Finance Commission.

"Amit Shah Ji, how much money did your government provide to Delhi in the 14th Finance Commission? Merely Rs 325 crore? People of Poorvanchal reside in Delhi also.

"Why did your government not provide money for their development? Why this discrimination against Poorvanchalis living in Delhi?" Kejriwal said.

Shah had also accused the Congress of doing "injustice" to the eastern region of India, including parts of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha and Jharkhand, during its rule at the Centre.

The BJP chief said the Modi government has released Rs 13.80 lakh crore in the past 4.5 years, ensuring development through expressways, hospitals and industries in the area.

But Kejriwal slammed the BJP-led central government over alleged deteriorating policing and sanitation in Delhi, which come under the jurisdiction of central government and BJP-controlled civic bodies in the capital.

"People of Delhi had given merely two works policing and sanitation - and you have worsened both. Neither have you been able to keep Delhi clean nor have you been able to perform policing functions properly.

"We were given the responsibility of electricity, water, education and health by the people of Delhi and our performance in these sectors is being lauded the world over," Kejriwal said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A Jacobite Priest has been warned of disciplinary action and a Catholic nun restrained from church duties in a fallout of their participation in protests in Kochi demanding the arrest of rape accused Bishop Franco Mulakkal.

Sister Lucy Kalapura, who returned to her parish in Wayand Sunday morning from Kochi, claimed she was informed orally by the Mother Superior that she should keep away from holding catechism classes, conducting prayers and other activities related to the Syro Malabar catholic church.

"No written orders were given to me. I was only informed orally by the Mother Superior not to participate in any church-related activities," the sister told PTI.

However, in a statement Father Stephen Kottakkal, vicar of the St Mary's church Karakkamala in Wayanad, said Sister Lucy had been asked to keep away from duties in view of certain concerns expressed by the parishioners.

He denied the church had initiated any retaliatory measure against Sister Lucy for participating in the nuns protest in Kochi.

"The believers had informed us that they had some difficulties in sister Lucy participating in the church activities relating to Holy mass and taking classes for their children," he said.

The vicar said he had only 'conveyed' the general feeling of the parishioners with regard to certain posts of sister Lucy in the social media which they felt were not in consonance with the church beliefs. Many of them had informed him the same, he said.

The Franciscean Clarist Congregation St Mary's province Mananthavady, to which sister Lucy belongs, said she faced disciplinary action for various other reasons.

However, no explanation had been sought or action taken so far against her in connection with the nun's issue.

Sister Lucy, however, maintained the restraint order against her was only for participating in the protests at Kochi.

The priest, Bar Yuhanon Ramban, belonging to a dayara in Ernakulam district, said Sunday he had received a 'warning' letter from his church headquarters in Damascus in Syria for supporting thenuns' protest.

The letter also said he had campaigned for the implementation of Church Act, he told PTI.

According to the letter, his involvement and public speeches supporting the Catholic nuns were seemingly more than the envisaged living style of church priests.

It further said his activities had caused 'disgrace' to the status of Monasticism and warned that disciplinary measures would be taken if he continued with such deeds.

The priest alleged that some local bishops had conspired against him and sent wrong information to the church higher-ups in Syria and based on which they had issued the warning letter.

He has written a letter to the Patriarch of Antioch, Mor Ignatius Aphrem II, the head of the Universal Syrian Orthodox Church, explaining his stand.

Indulekha Joseph, one of the leaders of the Kerala Catholic Church Reformation movement, alleged the action against sister Lucy was an attempt to silence the voices of protest against any form of unjust activities within the church.

Social activist Swami Agnivesh condemned the action against sister Lucy and the Jacobite priest for supporting the five nuns.

The nuns had protested for 13 days, demanding the arrest of the bishop who was accused of repeatedly raping a fellow nun.

The bishop, arrested on Friday after three days of intense grilling by Kerala police, is now in police custody.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Sunday visited village Thana Kalan in Sonipat district to express condolences to the family members of martyr Narender Singh.

On the occasion, Khattar announced that the state government will provide a government job to a family member of the Border Security Force (BSF) jawan who was killed by Pakistani troops on September 18.

"Martyr Narender Singh sacrificed his life for the country and today we are with the family in their hour of grief. It is our responsibility to take care of the family," said Khattar.

"The country is proud of Narender Singh," he added.

An ex-gratia amount of Rs 50 lakh was given to the family. Apart from this, the OBC bank will provide a financial aid of Rs 2.21 lakh to them, said the chief minister.

Khattar further said a government school in the village would be named after Singh and a memorial will also be set up as a tribute to Singh.

Pakistani troops had slit the throat of the BSF jawan after fatally shooting him along the international border (IB) near Jammu.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The requested page is currently unavailable on this server.

Back to [RTHK News Homepage]The Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) has distributed 1,750 honeybee boxes among 175 tribal people in Gujarat's Valsad district as part of the agency's ambitious 'Honey Mission' project being monitored by its chairman Vinai Kumar Saxena.

The boxes were distributed among tribal people in the remotest Soldhara, Famaswada, Motaponda, Vaghai, Nisrana and Kagsala villages of Valsad district on Saturday.

While distributing the honeybee boxes, Saxena, in a statement, said besides production of 30,000 kilograms of high-quality honey from these bee boxes in this area (Valsad) having abundant flora and fauna, beekeeping would open many job avenues for the unemployed youth and aspiring entrepreneurs.

On September 18, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had in Varanasi said the nation is all set to make record production of honey while distributing 500 bee boxes among 50 farmers there.

The next day, KVIC distributed 500 bee boxes among widows of tiger attack victims, Scheduled Cast and Scheduled tribes and unemployed people in Bali island of the Sundarbans in West Bengal.

Saxena said, "Being the nodal agency of Prime Minister Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP), the KVIC would provide loans for setting up units of processing, packaging and labeling etc for the honey."



The development initiatives taken by KVIC in Valsad have given a ray of hope for tribal people there and they are willing to be the part of development, he said, adding beekeeping will enhance the flora and fauna of the Valsad area through cross-pollination.

The KVIC chairman also said the commission had decided to distribute at least 7000 bee boxes among farmers in Gujarat by the end of this year.

"So far, we have distributed nearly 3,000 bee boxes among the SC/ST villagers of Valsad, Navsari, Tapi, Dahod and Narmada districts, besides 1,750 among general category villagers in Banaskantha, Patan and Bhuj/Kutch districts, under our 'Honey Mission' project in Gujarat," Saxena said.

He said following the prime minister's call for 'Sweet Revolution' on December 10, 2016, at a function of Banas Dairy, the KVIC came in an action mode with its 'Honey Mission' with a target of distributing 1,30,000 bee boxes across the nation before November this year.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Utility vehicles major & (M&M) plans to drive in multiple versions of its entry-level models KUV100 and TUV300, catering to different sets of customers, a senior company official said.

Looking at the two brands as "long term and strategic", the company is investing in new technologies, including making the products confirm to BS-VI emission norms.

Besides an updated version of TUV300 next year, is gearing up to introduce an electric version of KUV100 as well.

The company also plans to launch a diesel version of KUV100, mated with an automated manual transmission (AMT), in the current fiscal.

"We always said that we want to be full range SUV player and both these products (TUV300 and KUV100) are very important for us," Chief of Sales and Marketing (Automotive Division) Veejay Ram Nakra told PTI.

Elaborating on the importance of the two products, he said that besides making them BS-VI compliant, the company is also investing to make them meet all safety regulations which come into force from October 2019.

Commenting on TUV300 range, Nakra said a facelift of the model would be introduced next year.

"We are investing substantially not only on the styling part but there would also be change in terms of technology and engineering to make it a better product," Nakra added.

The company sells around 3,000 units of the model per month and with seven-seater TUV300 Plus coming in, the Mumbai-based company is now eyeing monthly sales of around 4,000, he added.

Commenting on KUV100, Nakra said the company has long-term plans for the model.

"It is just not going to be an entry-level model from us but also going to have an electric version going ahead," Nakra said.

When asked if the company is planning to bring in electric variants for all its SUVs going ahead, he added: "There has to be an economics to the platform for the electric version in terms of range, price for customer."



"The moment you look at larger heavier SUVs it becomes difficult from economics point of view...but for now KUV is the first SUV on electric that we will offer to the market," Nakra said.

With BS-VI norms coming in, the company is also looking at entire strategy for drivetrains for all its products in terms of fuel options, he added.Processions carrying idols of Lord Ganesh for immersion began winding their way towards rivers and lakes across Maharashtra Sunday morning, marking the culmination of the 11-day festival.

In big cities like Pune and Mumbai, processions carrying huge idols of the elephant-headed God on decorated trucks, accompanied by thousands of devotees and troupes of drummers, are expected to continue well past midnight.

As many as 11 people drowned in various parts of the state during immersion of Ganesh idols till 10pm Sunday, said police.

As per the Director General of Police's Control Room, Raigad and Jalna reported three drownings each while Satara and Bhandara witnessed two drownings each and one person died in Pimpri Chinchwad.

Mumbai did not report any such incident till late evening Sunday, the control room official added.

The immersion processions were marred by unruly incidents in cities like Nashik, Pune and Kolhapur, mostly due to arguments over the use of sound amplifying systems, police said.

While public Ganesh mandals prefer to take the idols for immersion to sea shores or rivers, families which install smaller idols are increasingly conducting 'viasarjan' at homes in buckets of water.

With a view to avoid pollution of natural water bodies, many civic bodies have also set up artificial ponds for immersion.

In Mumbai, the famous Lalbaughcha Raja Ganpati, which attracts lakhs of devotees during the festival, was among the early starters for immersion at Girgaum Chowpatty.

The festival, which began on Ganesh Chaturthi on September 13, concluded Sunday on 'Anant Chaturdashi'.

Public celebration of Ganesh festival dates back over a century, when it was first encouraged by Bal Gangadhar Tilak in order to promote nationalist sentiment during the colonial rule.

In Mumbai, prime locations for immersion are Girgaum Chowpatty (beach), Juhu, Powai lake and Dadar Chowpatty.

Among the thousands who thronged the beachfront at Girgaum were 300 foreign nationals who watched the immersions from special enclosure after having booked tickets for it online through MTDC, said BJP corporator Atul shah.

In Pune, the top five Ganesh mandals set out for immersion in the morning.

Thousands of devotees thronged the streets in Pune as the five 'Manache Ganpati' who traditionally take precedence in the procession were immersed Sunday.

Ganesh idols of Kasba, Tambdi Jogeshwari, Guruji Talim, Tulshibaug and Kesariwada Ganesh Mandals were immersed after grand processions by 7.15 PM.

In Nashik city of North Maharashtra, Ganesh mandals decided not to use hi-tech sound amplifying systems and 'gulal' powder (which is sprinkled during the procession) during the immersion.

The immersion procession of over 50 Ganesh mandals began in the morning from Wakadi Barav locality in Nashik. It will culminate on the bank of the river Godavari.

Nashik police commissioner Ravinderkumar Singhal said the procession was expected to go on till midnight.

Besides, devotees in other districts of the state like Solapur, Kolhapur, Aurangabad, Nanded, Jalgaon, Amravati, and Nagpur also bid aideu to their favourite God.

The Bombay High Court had Friday refused to lift the ban imposed by the state government on the use of hi-tech sound-amplifying systems such as DJ and Dolby sound during Ganpati immersion and the coming Navratri festival.

A mild lathicharge had to be resorted to after some people participating in these processions got into arguments with police when the latter stopped them from playing prohibited high-tech sound amplifying systems, said a Kolhapur police official.

Kolhapur mayor Shobha Bondre alleged that police personnel accompanying Kolhapur Superintendent of Police Abhinav Deshmukh spoke rudely to her while she was part of one of the processions in the city.

"The police personnel with Kolhapur SP Abhinav Deshmukh used very rude language. This is unacceptable as I was participating in the procession as the mayor of the city," she alleged.

Similar incidents were also reported from Nashik and Pune and police had to resort to mild baton charge to control the situation, officials said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has declared victory in the Maldives' presidential election Sunday, following a controversial campaign observers said was rigged in favour of strongman President Abdulla Yameen.

Solih had the backing of a united opposition trying to oust Yameen but struggled for visibility with the electorate, with local media fearful of falling afoul of heavy-handed decrees and reporting restrictions.

"I call on Yameen to respect the will of the people and bring about a peaceful, smooth transfer of power," Solih said on television, shortly after interim results from the country's election commission gave him an unassailable 58 per cent of the popular vote.

He also urged the incumbent to immediately release scores of political prisoners.

Yameen, who was widely tipped to retain power, had jailed or forced into exile almost all of his main rivals.

Before the polls opened, police raided the campaign headquarters of the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) and searched the building for several hours in a bid to stop what they called "illegal activities". There were no arrests.

Mohamed Nasheed, the head of Solih's Maldivian Democratic Party, said the vote would "bring the country back to the democratic path".

Yameen would have no option but to concede defeat, said Nasheed, who was elected president of a newly-democratic Maldives in 2008 but currently lives in exile.

"He will not have people around him who will support him to fight on and stay," he told AFP.

The poll is being closely watched by regional rivals India and China, who are jostling to influence Indian Ocean nations. The European Union and United States, meanwhile, have threatened sanctions if the vote is not free and fair.

Many voters across the Indian Ocean archipelago said they stood in line for over five hours to cast their ballots, while expatriate Maldivians voted in neighbouring Sri Lanka and India.

The Election Commission said balloting was extended by three hours until 7:00 pm (1400 GMT) because of technical glitches suffered by tablet computers containing electoral rolls, with officials using manual systems to verify voters' identities.

An election official said the deadline was also extended due to a heavy voter turnout.

Yameen voted minutes after polling booths opened in the capital Male, where opposition campaign efforts had been frustrated by a media crackdown and police harassment.

Local observers said the balloting itself went off peacefully and most of the delays were due to technical issues.

Some 2,62,000 people in the archipelago -- famed for its white beaches and blue lagoons -- were eligible to vote in an election from which independent international monitors have been barred.

Only a handful of foreign media were allowed in to cover the poll.

The Asian Network for Free Elections, a foreign monitoring group that was denied access to the Maldives, said the campaign had been heavily tilted in favour of 59-year-old Yameen.

The government has used "vaguely worded laws to silence dissent and intimidate and imprison critics", some of whom have been assaulted and even murdered, according to Human Rights Watch.

Before the election, there were warnings that Yameen could try to hold on to power at all costs.

In February, he declared a state of emergency, suspended the constitution and ordered troops to storm the Supreme Court and arrest judges and other rivals to stave off impeachment.

Yameen told supporters on the eve of the election he had overcome "huge obstacles" since controversially winning power in a contested run-off in 2013, but had handled the challenges "with resilience".

The crackdown attracted international censure and fears the Maldives was slipping back into one-man rule just a decade after transitioning to democracy.

India, long influential in Maldives' affairs -- it sent troops and warships in 1988 to stop a coup attempt -- expressed hopes the election would represent a return to democratic norms.

In recent years, Yameen has drifted closer to China, India's chief regional rival, taking hundreds of millions of dollars from Beijing for major infrastructure projects.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)People in the Maldives vote Sunday in elections that international monitors and the opposition fear will be rigged to ensure that China-friendly strongman Abdulla Yameen remains in power.

Yameen has imprisoned or forced into exile all his main rivals.

He has borrowed hundreds of millions of dollars from China to build up infrastructure, alarming the nation's longtime backer, India.

The European Union (EU) is ready to slap travel bans and asset freezes on individuals "if the situation does not improve", while the US has warned it would "consider appropriate measures" against those undermining democracy in the country of 1,200 islands.

Some 2,60,000 people in the archipelago famed for its white beaches and blue lagoons can vote in an election from which independent international monitors have been barred.

Only a handful of foreign media have been allowed in.

Foreign poll monitoring group the Asian Network for Free Elections said the campaign was heavily tilted in favour of the 59-year-old Yameen, who was seen before his rise to power as an unremarkable civil servant.

The group said it did not expect a fair contest.

"In the absence of any scrutiny (of the elections) or pressure (on the government), sombre events surely loom ahead for the people of Maldives," the monitors said on the eve of the vote.

In February, Yameen alarmed the international community by imposing a state of emergency, suspending the constitution and sending troops to stop members of parliament who were trying to impeach him.

The chief justice and a judge of the Supreme Court were jailed, along with Yameen's half-brother Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, president for 30 years until 2008 and the man who helped Yameen come to power in 2013.

The UN said the arrest of judges was an "outright assault on democracy".

Mohamed Nasheed, the Maldives' first democratically elected president from 2008-12 but now in exile, called Friday for the international community to reject the election result.

"Mathematically, it is not possible for Yameen to win because all opposition parties are united against him. But the results they will announce will be different to what is actually in the ballot boxes," Nasheed said from Sri Lanka.

Nasheed was forced to withdraw from the presidential race after the Maldives election commission disqualified him because of a 2015 terrorism conviction.

The United Nations said the conviction and 13-year jail sentence were politically motivated. Yameen's government has refused to abide by a UN ruling which ordered restitution and compensation to Nasheed.

A relatively unknown opposition politician, Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, 54, is backed by Nasheed to try to beat Yameen. There are no other candidates.

However, Solih has struggled for visibility with the electorate because the media is fearful of falling foul of heavy-handed decrees and reporting restrictions.

The government has used "vaguely worded laws to silence dissent and to intimidate and imprison critics", some of whom have been assaulted and even murdered, according to Human Rights Watch.

"The election campaign reporting is severely restricted by the defamation law. This is not fair reporting, but we have no choice," one local journalist told AFP, preferring to remain anonymous for fear of repercussions.

On Saturday, police briefly raided the campaign headquarters of the opposition, the opposition said.

"We are very worried about the situation. But we have trust in our people," Solih told reporters in Colombo during a visit to canvass support from the Maldivian community living in Sri Lanka.

Eligible voters in neighbouring Sri Lanka and India, along with those in Malaysia, are entitled to vote on Sunday. The results are expected by midday Monday.

A candidate must secure 50 per cent of the votes to win outright, failing which there would be a run-off three days later.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A man was killed Sunday after a car driver allegedly went on a stabbing spree following an altercation with people taking a Ganesh idol for immersion, police said.

The incident happened in Sayan town near here, and the attack left five people injured, one of whom later died, they said, adding that the accused was arrested.

"Car driver Chaitanya Rawal was unable to move his car due to the procession. He had an argument with the people in the immersion procession. Matters escalated and he stabbed five people. One of them, Dhaval Patel, died from the stab wounds," an official said.

"Police nabbed Rawal from the spot and brought him to Sayan police station. But a mob gathered at the station demanding that the accused driver be handed over to them. We dispersed the mob," Inspector General (Surat Range) Rajkumar Pandian said.

He said the four injured people were admitted to a local hospital and the process of charging the arrested accused for murder was underway.

Officials said the mob torched Rawal's car and also pelted stones at police personnel stationed in the Sayan chowky, injuring one.

Meanwhile, stones were pelted in a tussle between two communities in Pipli village of Anand district. An altercation broke out after locals carrying a Ganesh idol allegedly burst crackers outside a religious place, police said.

Stone pelting lasted for about 15 minutes but no one was injured, the official added.

Elsewhere in Ahmedabad city, a minor scuffle took place between residents in Madhavpura, an official said, adding that it was brought under control immediately.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Breaking a long lull in their activities in Andhra Pradesh, the outlawed CPI (Maoists) Sunday shot dead a sitting MLA and a former legislator of ruling Telugu Desam Party in Araku area in Visakhapatnam district, police said.

The gunning down of Araku MLA Kidari Sarveswara Rao his predecessor Siveri Soma, both Scheduled Tribes, in Lippitiputta village triggered violence with their irate relatives and local tribals attacking two police stations, blaming the police for 'failure' to ensure protection to the two leaders.

Police, however, claimed the MLA and his predecessor went to the village in Dumbriguda mandal, close to the Odisha border, without prior intimation to them.

State Deputy Chief Minister (Home) N China Rajappa condemned the killings and asked people to be more vigilant.

The daring attack by Maoists came at a time when the state government and the police were considered to have gained an upper hand over the CPI (Maoist) with no major incident involving the ultras reported in the past four-and half years.

The Maoists, incidentally were observing their organisations formation week from September 21 to 27.

The two TDP leaders were in the village to take part in a 'grama darsini' (village visit) programme, police said.

"A group of Maoists came along with the villagers and blocked the cars of the two. As the personal security officers of the legislator and the ex-legislator got down, they snatched the AK-47 rifles from them and shot Sarveswara Rao and Soma dead," Visakhapatnam Range Deputy Inspector General of Police Ch Srikanth told PTI.

In the violence that followed the killings, protesters set afire a shed in a local police station and damaged furniture and and other materials in Araku station, information received here said.

A police constable was also attacked by the furious mob, police said.

A police spokesman here said the situation had been brought under control and reinforcements were being rushed to the area.

The Maoists had been lying low in Andhra Pradesh after the encounter on the Andhra-Odisha Border on October 24, 2016 in which they lost 27 of their activists.

Barring a couple of minor incidents in which a police constable and later a home guard were killed, Maoist activity in Andhra Pradesh had been negligible over the past four-and a half years.

Even the Dumbriguda mandal, where Sundays attack occurred, was said to be relatively free from Maoist activity, but the killing of the legislator and the former legislator has come as a blow to the government machinery.

Sarveswara Rao was elected as an MLA from Araku Valley (Scheduled Tribes) constituency as YSR Congress candidate in 2014 and defected to the TDP in 2016. He was subsequently made the Government Whip in the Assembly.

Soma represented Araku constituency as TDP legislator from 2009 to 2014.

Recently, posters and letters appeared in the region in name of Maoists warning the Araku MLA and accordingly police placed him on high alert, sources said.

The two were proceeding in separate cars to Lipitiputtu village. While Rao was having two personal security officers (PSOs) as escort, Soma one, all carrying AK-47 rifles and 9-mm pistols, police sources said.

According to an eyewitness account, about 50-60 outlawed Maoists most of them women, lay in wait along with villagers and suddenly surrounded the MLAs car in the front. Around 20 of them were armed.

They snatched the weapons from the PSOs and tied the MLAs hands with a rope. They then ordered three other people travelling with the legislator to get down from the vehicle and took all of them away to a distance, the eyewitness said.

One of the PSOs told television channels that the Maoists, after snatching their weapons, said they would not harm them.

They took us (PSOs), driver, MLAs PA and two others away to a distance and told us we will not be harmed. They then shot the MLA dead, he said.

The former MLA, who was following in a second car, tried to stop his vehicle and reverse it but another group of Maoists came out of the bushes and surrounded it.

Soma's hands were also tied with rope and taken away and shot dead.

The Maoists, suspected to be led by Andhra-Odisha Border Committee Secretary Ramakrishna, engaged Rao in a conversation for more than half an hour before killing him, an eyewitness said.

The MLA was said to be running a stone quarry at Guda, which was objected to by the Maoists on the premise that it caused environmental hazard in the area.

The Maoists fired four bullets at the MLA while Soma received two bullets.

Soma was reportedly held responsible for the recent encounter attempt by the police in which the Maoists had a narrow escape.

China Rajappa said the situation in the state had been under control in the last over four years though the Maoists had "a strong presence" in neighbouring states like Telangana, Chhattisgarh and Odisha.

There have been no incidents in our state because our (police) force has been strong, Rajappa said.

As Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu is currently flying to New York, officials in the Chief Minister's Office spoke to Visakhapatnam district collector and superintendent of police seeking details of the incident, a CMO communique said.

YSR Congress president Y S Jaganmohan Reddy, state Congress president N Raghuveera Reddy and others condemned the Maoists attack.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Tech giants Microsoft, and are joining forces with organisations to help identify and head off famines in developing nations using data analysis and artificial intelligence, a new initiative unveiled Sunday.

Rather than waiting to respond to a after many lives already have been lost, the tech firms "will use the predictive power of data to trigger funding" to take action before it becomes a crisis, the and United Nations announced in a joint statement.

"The fact that millions of people -- many of them children -- still suffer from severe malnutrition and in the 21st century is a global tragedy," Group President Jim Yong Kim said in a statement.

"We are forming an unprecedented global coalition to say, 'no more.'" Last year more than 20 million people faced conditions in Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen, while 124 million people currently live in crisis levels of food insecurity, requiring urgent humanitarian assistance for their survival, the agencies said. Over half of them live in areas affected by conflict.

The Famine Action Mechanism (FAM) will provide early warning signs to identify food crises that could become famines, and trigger pre-arranged funding plans to allow early intervention.

"If we can better predict when and where future famines will occur, we can save lives by responding earlier and more effectively," President Brad Smith said in a statement.

Google, and Web Services and other firms are providing expertise to develop a suite of analytical models called "Artemis" that uses AI and machine learning to estimate and forecast worsening food security crises in real-time. These forecasts will help guide and promote decision makers to respond earlier.

" and machine learning hold huge promise for forecasting and detecting early signs of food shortages, like crop failures, droughts, natural disasters, and conflicts," Smith said.

The FAM will initially be rolled out in a small group of vulnerable countries building up to ultimately provide global coverage. On October 13, leaders dedicated to this initiative will gather as part of the IMF- Annual Meetings in Bali, Indonesia to discuss further implementation.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A militant was killed in an encounter with security forces in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district Sunday, police said.

The body of the unidentified militant was recovered from the encounter site in the Tral area of the district, a police official said.

He said the identity of the slain militant and the group he was affiliated to is being ascertained.

Security forces launched a cordon and search operation in Dar Ganie Gund village of Aribal area in the south Kashmir district Sunday morning after receiving specific intelligence inputs about the presence of militants in the area, the official said.

He said the search operation turned into an encounter after the militants fired upon the forces who retaliated.

The search operation is on, the official said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Senior Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala Sunday accused the Modi government of failing to give a "befitting response" to repeated ceasefire violations by Pakistan.

Addressing a 'Shaheed Samman Samaroh' here, organised by Rao Arjun Singh, the grandson of former Haryana chief minister Rao Birender Singh, Surjewala criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "stoic silence" on the mutilation of Indian soldiers.

"Pakistan is attacking our soldiers and has violated the ceasefire three thousand times in last 52 months but Modi government has failed to give a befitting response," Surjewala said.

He claimed that during the same period, as many as 411 soldiers were martyred in Jammu and Kashmir and 256 civilians lost their lives in terrorist attacks.

Targeting Modi over the killing of Border Security Force (BSF) jawan Narender Singh by Pakistani troops, Surjewala said, "Narender Singh was tortured, tormented and murdered by Pakistan but the prime minister has not uttered even a word on it".

Singh's throat was slit by Pakistani troops after he was fatally shot along the international border (IB) near Jammu on September 18.

The Congress leader described Ahirwal as the land of heroes and said brave soldiers from the region have always made supreme sacrifices to protect the frontiers of the nation as serving in the army was a proud tradition.

Paying rich tributes to Rao Tularam who hailed from Ahirwal and played a key role in the 1857 rebellion against the British empire, Surjewala said the king of Rewari fought for the motherland.

On the occasion, family members of martyrs and freedom fighters of the region were also honoured.

Surjewala further attacked the Union government on the issue of rising fuel prices.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Despite the bonhomie between the BJP and the BJD at the central level, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's corruption charges against the Naveen Patnaik government has surprised the ruling BJD in Odisha, party leaders said Sunday.

At a public meeting in Jharsuguda Saturday, Modi slammed the BJD government claiming that percentage commission culture and delay in taking decisions have become identity of the state administration resulting in its "tardy" development.

Ahead of the Assembly election due next year with the general poll, the Prime Minister also called for a 'big change' to give pace to development in the state.

"After extending so much support, we never expected that the Prime Minister himself could make such wild allegations against our government," said a senior BJD leader close to Patnaik.

The BJD has supported NDA candidates in both the Presidential poll in June last year and the election of the Rajya Sabha deputy Chairman last month. This apart, despite claiming about maintaining equal distance to both the Congress and the BJP, the BJD's 20 MPs stayed away from Lok Sabha when no-confidence motion was moved against the Modi government in July this year.

"The BJD has all along been supportive to the BJP led government at the Centre even in the face of criticism from the Congress," the BJD leader said on condition of anonymity.

Modi's wild charges against the Odisha government have diminished his stature and lowered his image, BJD spokesperson P K Deb said.

While state BJP leaders have been attacking the BJD government, such remarks were not expected from the Prime Minister during an official visit, another BJD leader said.

Patnaik, considered as soft spoken and suave, was also forced to open his mouth following the Prime Minister's allegations, a BJD leader said.

The chief minister, also the BJD president, generally does not react to allegations made by his rivals, but he was surprised and hit back.

Only a week ago, the leader said, the Chief Minister's Office here had received a letter from BJP president Amit Shah praising Patnaik for showing humanitarian attitude after the demise of former Prime Minister A B Vajpayee.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Congress said Sunday Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah did not dare seek Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar's resignation as he had information on the Rafale deal he could use to blackmail them.

Goa Pradesh Congress Committee president Girish Chodankar levelled the charge after the BJP announced that Parrikar will continue as chief minister, ending days of speculation over a leadership change.

I am sure Manohar Parrikar must be having a lot of information about the Rafale deal as he was the Union defence minister at that time, Chodankar told reporters here.

Parrikar is admitted at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi with a pancreatic ailment, and the Congress has been pitching for a floor test in the Goa Legislative Assembly.

Chodankar claimed Modi and Shah lacked the courage to ask Parrikar to resign from the post because of the Rafale fighter deal.

He repeated the Congress allegation that the deal for 36 French aircraft was a huge scam which also involved Modi.

The Bharatiya Janata Party had sent three central observers last weekend to take stock of the political situation after Parrikar was admitted at AIIMS.

Chodankar said the Congress prayed for Parrikar's speedy recovery but claimed the state administration had collapsed as the ailing CM has not been able to find time for it for the last seven months.

He said besides Parrikar, two other ministers are admitted in hospital.

If this continued, Goa itself will end up in the ICU, he said.

In the 40-member state assembly, the Parrikar government has the support of 23 MLAs.

The BJP has 14 MLAs against 16 of the Congress, and Parrikar's appeal was a key reason it secured support from a cross-section of legislators following last year elections.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)'Mushairas' based on the themes of Mahatma Gandhi teachings will be organised across the country as part of the 150th birth anniversary celebrations of the father of the nation, the Minority Affairs Ministry said Sunday.

The first such 'mushaira' or Urdu poetry symposium will be held on October 6, at the Ambedkar International Centre here, Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said.

Renowned Urdu poets will be performing various programmes based on the themes of Mahatma Gandhi's message of harmony, national integrity, democratic values, non-violence and global peace, he was quoted as saying in a statement.

Noted Urdu poets such as Gulzar, Wasim Barelvi, Rajesh Reddy and Mansoor Osmani are among the bevy of poets invited to perform in the programmes to be organised by the ministry in New Delhi, Mumbai, Lucknow, Chandigarh, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Ranchi and other cities.

Naqvi said these programmes will not only spread the message and principles of Mahatma Gandhi, but they will also strengthen social harmony and brotherhood in the society.

A national committee had been formed in June under the chairmanship of President Ram Nath Kovind for commemorating the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.

Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, former prime minister Manmohan Singh, Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, and chief ministers of all the states, are among those who are part of the committee.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A group of Muslim women on Sunday met Union Law and Justice Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad to thank him and the Narendra Modi government for bringing an ordinance to make the practice of instant triple talaq a penal offence.

The women who gathered at the minister's residence here from various areas of Patna also greeted the minister with roses as a mark of their gratitude.

"I thank the minister and the government for bringing the ordinance. It will help us lodge a case if a husband deserts his wife through triple talaq. We are happy we got freedom," Reshma Khatoon, one of the women who called on Prasad, told PTI.

The Union cabinet had on September 19 cleared an ordinance to make the practice of instant triple talaq a penal offence, citing compelling necessity for the move as the practice, annulled by the Supreme Court, continued unabated.

"Men used to divorce their wives in a fit of rage. Such a practise cannot be allowed in a civilised society. Now with the ordinance in place, we can hope for some relief in future," said Ayesha Khatoon, another woman.

She added, "Men would try to mend their ways with the fear of the law. They would be afraid of going to jail after pronouncing instant triple talaq."



Prasad told the women that the intention of the government was not to break families but to ensure "honour and justice" to women who have suffered a lot because of the practice.

Congress has blocked the passage of the bill on triple talaq despite the government's repeated requests to pass it in the upper house, he said.

"We repeatedly appealed to Sonia Gandhi for passage of the bill but she did not stand for the rights of Muslim women who have been suffering a lot. She (Sonia Gandhi) supported the bill in Lok Sabha but opposed it in the Rajya Sabha. This is for votebank politics," said Prasad.

"I am the law minister of Narendra Modi government and not that of Rajiv Gandhi government...I am solidly behind my Muslim women sisters on the issue of instant triple talaq both inside and outside the Supreme Court," the minister said.

When Prasad asked whether the women were happy with the government's decision, they all replied in affirmative.

"I am happy to see happiness on their faces," Prasad said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A 'super-Earth' discovered orbiting a star 16 light years away from us, could be the Star Trek's famed planet Vulcan -- home of the beloved character of Spock from the popular TV series.

The discovery was made using the Dharma Endowment Foundation Telescope (DEFT), a 50-inch telescope located atop Mt Lemmon in southern Arizona, US.

The planet is the first 'super-Earth' detected by the Dharma Survey.

Star Trek creators associated planet Vulcan with a real star, called 40 Eridani A. Scientists from University of Florida (UF) and Tennessee State University (TSU) in the US have now found that the star indeed hosts at least one planet.

"The new planet is a 'super-Earth' orbiting the star HD 26965, which is only 16 light years from Earth, making it the closest super-Earth orbiting another Sun-like star," said Jian Ge, an astronomer at UF, who led the study.

"The planet is roughly twice the size of Earth and orbits its star with a 42-day period just inside the star's optimal habitable zone," Ge.

"This star can be seen with the naked eye, unlike the host stars of most of the known planets discovered to date. Now anyone can see 40 Eridani on a clear night and be proud to point out Spock's home," said Bo Ma, first author of the study published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

The orange-tinted HD 26965 is only slightly cooler and slightly less massive than our Sun, is approximately the same age as our Sun, and has a 10.1-year magnetic cycle nearly identical to the Sun's 11.6-year sunspot cycle, researchers said.

"HD 26965 may be an ideal host star for an advanced civilisation," said Matthew Muterspaugh from TSU.

"Star Trek fans may know the star HD 26965 by its alternative moniker, 40 Eridani A," said Gregory Henry, from TSU.

In a letter published in the periodical 'Sky and Telescope' in July 1991, Gene Roddenberry, the creator of Star Trek, along with scientists of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics confirmed the identification of 40 Eridani A as Vulcan's host star.

The 40 Eridani star system is composed of three stars. Vulcan orbits the primary star, and the two companion stars 'would gleam brilliantly in the Vulcan sky,' they wrote in their 1991 letter.

"Vulcan is the home planet of Science Officer Mr. Spock in the original 'Star Trek' Sci-Fi series," said Henry.

"Spock served on the starship Enterprise, whose mission was to seek out strange new worlds, a mission shared by the Dharma Planet Survey," he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)An expert committee, set up by the NGT to decide on Vedanta's plea challenging closure of its copper plant, Sunday inspected the unit here and held a public hearing.

The hearing was marked by some tense moments as a group of people attempted to assault another group which sought re-opening of the unit.

However, police intervened and restored order.

After the session, the committee headed by former Meghalaya High Court Tarun Agrawal, said majority of the representations were for the closure of the unit.

"We will study the representations and take further course of action," Agarwal told reporters.

Earlier in the day, the three-member panel set up by (NGT) inspected the Copper unit, which was closed by the government on May 28 on environmental grounds in the wake of protests by locals.

The committee members were accompanied by District Collector Sandeep Nanduri and Superintendent of Police Murali Ramba.

The expert committee checked the quality of water at T Kumaragiri tank and visited A Kumarattiyapuram village andheld discussions with its residents on the impact of copper plant onthe environment.

A large posse of police personnel were deployed around the plant during the inspection.A Pakistani origin militant, one of the top commanders of the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) outfit, was Sunday killed in an encounter with security forces in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir, police said.

Security forces launched a cordon and search operation in Dar Ganie Gund, village of Aribal area of Tral in south Kashmir district this morning, after receiving credible inputs about the presence of militants in the area, a police spokesperson said.

He said during the search operation, the hiding militant fired on the search party and the fire was retaliated, leading to an encounter.

Huge quantity of arms, ammunition and incriminating material was recovered from the site of the encounter, he said.

"From the incriminating material recovered, it is learnt that the killed terrorist is one of the top commanders of proscribed terror outfit JeM identified as Adnan of Pakistani origin," the spokesperson said, adding that the operation has concluded.

A security force jawan was also injured in the encounter and has been admitted to a hospital.

A civilian, identified as Manzoor Dar from Tral, sustained injuries in cross-firing, the spokesperson said.

He said Dar was evacuated to a nearby hospital for medical attention and his condition is stated to be stable now.

Police have registered a case and initiated investigation in the matter, he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Pakistan's two major opposition parties have questioned the "haste" shown by Prime Minister Imran Khan in making efforts to mend ties with India and held him responsible for the "diplomatic debacle", saying he should have done his "homework" before approaching for a meeting.

Khan had written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seeking to re-start bilateral talks on key issues "challenging the relationship" including on terrorism and Kashmir.

India initially agreed to a meeting between Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj and her Pakistani counterpart Shah Mahmood Qureshi on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York this month.

However, New Delhi on Friday called off the meeting, citing the "brutal" killing of three policemen in Jammu and Kashmir as well as the release of the postal stamps "glorifying" Kashmiri militant Burhan Wani.

Dawn reported that two major opposition parties -- the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) -- have held the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government responsible for the latest "diplomatic debacle" following New Delhi's refusal to hold the meeting.

Former foreign minister and PML-N lawmaker Khawaja Mohammad Asif criticised Khan for stating in the letter that "Pakistan remains ready to discuss terrorism" and said it seemed the government was "not prepared" from the day one.

"Too much keenness being shown by the prime minister showed weakness on our part. Giving them (India) too much reflects haste on our part to mend fences with India," Asif was quoted as saying by Dawn

Asif said he was not against normalisation of relations between India and Pakistan but "dignity must be maintained".

He regretted that Khan wrote a letter in which he "talked about terrorism" without realising that the US and India had recently issued a joint statement after the visit of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to New Delhi and Islamabad which was "dead against" Pakistan.

"They (the US and India) raised all kinds of allegations against Pakistan and you are talking about terrorism (in the letter). This is a sign of weakness (on our part)," Asif said.

He also criticised Prime Minister Modi, alleging that "he is playing to the gallery" as part of poll campaign.

PPP Vice-President and former envoy to the US Sherry Rehman said that the Imran Khan government should have done its homework before approaching India for a meeting, especially after the initial response.

"Right now, however the Indian Govt and Army chief response is both immature and irresponsible. What are they threatening Pakistan about?



"They have crossed all diplomatic norms and protocols to emerge as a belligerent nuclear power that is only looking to externalise its own extremisms," Rehman said on her official social media page on Twitter.

Ties between India and Pakistan nose-dived following a spate of terror attacks on Indian military bases by Pakistan based terror groups since January 2016. Following the strikes, India announced it will not engage in talks with Pakistan, saying terror and talks cannot go hand-in-hand.

Amid heightened tension with Pakistan over Uri terror attack in which 18 soldiers were killed, India had pulled out of the SAARC Summit to be held in Islamabad in November, 2016. The summit was called off after Bangladesh, Bhutan and Afghanistan also declined to participate in the meet.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das Sunday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been emphasising on all-round development of villages and agriculture for a strong economy.

To make a strong India and a strong economy, the prime minister is laying stress on all-round development of villages and agriculture, Das said here.

Speaking at the launch of Prime Minister's Jan Arogya Yojana -- Ayushman Bharat, Das said that for years the farmers have been demanding hike in minimum support price (MSP) but no government had paid heed to it.

"But the Modi government took the historic step by increasing 1.5 times the MSP rate," Das said.

He said that for the past 70 years, only vote bank have surrounded the tribals, dalits, and backward castes in the state but it was the Modi government which showed genuine concern about them and allocated more funds.

Lauding Modi for taking the name of tribal icon Birsa Munda during his Independence Day speech, Das said the prime minister announced setting up of Birsa Munda Memorial and Museum and Rs 25 crore has been approved for it.

He said that inspired by Modi, Jharkhand had sent 26 farmers to Israel for training, who would train other farmers in the state. A fresh batch would also be sent to the Jewish state in October.

Das said a Global Summit on Agriculture and Food Processing will be held in Jharkhand in November in which farmers would get acquainted with new technology.

The chief minister said the state government has introduced a scheme wherein women are required to pay only Re 1 as registration fee for purchase of land or house. More than one lakh women have taken benefit of the scheme so far.

"The prime minister has increased the wages of Anganwadi Sevikas, Sahaikas and Sahiya (rural health workers) and their wages will increase from Rs 4,400 to 5,900, from Rs 3,000 to 4,250 and from Rs 100 to Rs 2,000, respectively, and will be implemented from October," Das said.

He said that Modi is committed to develop every backward district and 13 of Jharkhand's districts are among the 115 aspirational districts for which the Centre is giving Rs 33 crore for development.

He also said that Modis liking for Jharkhand could be seen as it was the seventh visit of the prime minister to the state in the last 3.5 years.

On medical colleges, he said that during the last four years, five new medical colleges were sanctioned for Jharkhand --- the foundation stones for two were laid Sunday for Koderma and Chaibasa -- and the number of MBBS seats too have increased from 350 to 1,200, he added.

Das said it was the Modi government which gifted an airport and All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) to Deoghar.

"The security forces are in the last phase of wiping out rooting and naxalism from the state," he said.

Since the Modi government intends to end corruption, the opposition is "scared" of the developmental works the Modi government, he said.

The opposition is unable to understand how to face the Modi governments developmental works which was why the entire corrupt opposition is setting up 'Mahagathbandhan' (grand alliance) and engaged in misinformation.

"The Modi regime is stain-free and there are no middlemen or corrupt people," Das said adding that Jharkhand government too has been spotless.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)BJP spokesperson Aman Sinha Sunday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has always emphasised that the country cannot progress unless the Purvanchal region is developed and he has given the region, including Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand, schemes worth about Rs 100,000 crores.

Sinha, a senior advocate who also belongs to the Purvanchal region, said at a rally here that the fact that Modi chose a seat from Purvanchal to contest elections when he could have won from anywhere in the country reflects his affection for the area.

BJP President Amit Shah has ensured that developmental plans of the prime minister on Purvanchal were ably implemented, he said.

He added that on Sunday Modi launched the world's biggest healthcare scheme Ayushman Bharat Yogna in Ranchi but the Kejriwal government has refused to implement it in Delhi, depriving ordinary people in the national capital from getting a health cover of nearly Rs 5 lakh.

"In contrast, the AAP government of Delhi has started discriminating between citizens of the country even in giving medical care. If someone goes to hospital after an accident or due to a medical ailment, the Delhi government will first ask what area he belongs to, see his identification.

"If he belongs to UP, Bihar, Haryana, Rajasthan or any other state, he shall be denied medical treatment, medical tests and medicines. Such a discriminatory practice denying people their basic human rights shall not be acceptable to BJP. If need be, we shall challenge this in court and get this discriminatory practice set aside," Sinha said at Purvanchal Mahakumbh organised by Delhi unit of the party at Ramleela Ground here.

Shah, who was also present at the rally, said his party will seek to identify illegal immigrants living in the country if it comes to power after the Lok Sabha polls and alleged Congress president Rahul Gandhi and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal care for such people for vote bank politics.

Several senior leaders, including Union minister Harsh Vardhan, BJP general secretary(organisation) Ram Lal, Shahnawaz Hussain, Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari, party MPs Meenakshi Lekhi, Udit Raj, Parvesh Verma, among others attended the rally.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The CPI today urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to "come clean" on the Rafale deal and explain why a private firm was selected as an offset partner for a French aerospace firm instead of the state-run HAL.

Insisting that Modi was "instrumental" in clinching the deal, CPI National Secretary D Raja said he owed an explanation and his 'silence' led to strong apprehensions that the government was hiding something.

Modi had announced the procurement of a batch of 36 Rafale jets after holding talks with then French president Francois Hollande on April 10, 2015 in Paris.

"The Prime Minister has to talk. He was directly involved in the deal. The fundamental question is why HAL (Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd) was left out and they chose Reliance Defence," Raja told PTI.

These were genuine questions to which people seek an answer, he said, adding Modi should respond, rather than Finance Minister Arun Jaitley or Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

"Instead of the Finance Minister or Defence Minister trying to defend the government, the Prime Minister has to come clean and explain to the people," he said.

"The way the Prime Minister is keeping silent is leading to strong apprehensions that the government is hiding something," he said, and reiterated the demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the matter.

Congress has accused the government of choosing Reliance Defence over HAL to benefit the private firm though it did not have any experience in the aerospace sector.

Hollande's reported comments that New Delhi had proposed Reliance Defence as the Indian partner for the contract has escalated into a major political row, even as the French government said it had no say in the choice of the Indian industrial partner for the multi-billion dollar deal.

However, Dassault Aviation refuted Hollande's claims and said that it was their decision to partner with Reliance.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday evening arrived here on a two-day visit to Sikkim during which he would inaugurate the state's lone airport Monday.

The prime minister reached here in an MI-8 chopper from Bagdogra and was received by Governor Ganga Prasad, Chief Minister Pawan Chamling and others at Libing Army Helipad.

He was given a gun salute by the Army there.

During the two-day visit, Modi would inaugurate the Pakyong greenfield airport, around 33 km from Gangtok on Monday.

He will also address the people at the St Xavier's School at Pakyong after inaugurating the airport.

From the Army helipad, the prime minister's entourage travelled around 5km to the Raj Bhawan where he will stay for the night.

A large number of people carrying colourful flags gathered at both sides of the road amidst rain to get a glimpse of the prime minister who also waived them back from his vehicle.

Later at Raj Bhawan, the prime minister met BJP leaders and representatives of various social organisations.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Prime Minister Narendra Modi will Sunday roll out the Centre's flagship Ayushman Bharat-National Health Protection Mission (AB-NHPM) from here.

The ambitious scheme, renamed the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Abhiyan (PMJAY), aims to provide a coverage of Rs 5 lakh per family annually, benefiting more than 10.74 crore poor families for secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation through a network of empanelled health care providers.

"The prime minister will launch the scheme on September 23, but it will become operational from September 25 on the birth anniversary of Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay," Niti Aayog member V K Paul, the chief architect of the scheme, had said.

Billed as the world's largest government healthcare programme, it will be funded with 60 per cent contribution coming from the Centre and remaining from the states.

The scheme will target poor, deprived rural families and identified occupational category of urban workers' families, 8.03 crore in rural and 2.33 crore in urban areas, as per the latest Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC) data.

It will cover around 50 crore people and there is no cap on family size and age in the scheme ensuring that nobody is left out.

Over 8,735 hospitals, both public and private, have been empanelled for the scheme, and as many as 31 states and union territories have signed MoUs with the Centre and will implement the programme.

Telangana, Odisha, Delhi, Kerala and Punjab are not among the states which have opted for the scheme.

Union Health Minister J P Nadda, who recently visited the Jharkhand capital, had said that money would not go to any person. It would go from institution to institution with the Centres contribution being 60 per cent and the states 40 per cent.

The prime minister will also lay foundation stones for medical colleges in Chaibasa and Koderma.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Continuing its attack on the BJP-led Centre over the Rafale deal, the Congress Sunday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of violating the oath of confidentiality by leaking information to Reliance Defence chief Anil Ambani about the purchase of 36 fighter jets from France.

Anand Sharma, deputy leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha, demanded that the prime minister respond to the charges made against him in connection with the controversial deal instead of fielding his ministers.

"My direct charge is that the prime minister violated the oath of confidentiality. Only he could have told Anil Ambani that HAL will be out and he will strike a deal to buy 36 jets and 'you (Ambani) go and talk to Dassault Aviation (the makers of Rafale jet)," Sharma told reporters at a conference.

The Rafale controversy took a turn last week after former French President Francois Hollande claimed that the Indian government proposed Reliance Defence's name as the offset partner for Dassault Aviation.

In response, the French government said it was in no manner involved in the choice of Indian industrial partners for the Rafale deal, asserting that French firms have the full freedom to select Indian companies for the contract.

"We don't want to hear from the defence minister, finance minister. The one who is supposed to speak is quiet (maun vratt). The prime minister has to respond to these questions," Sharma said.

The Reliance group has rejected charges against it made by the Congress and said the government was in no way involved in securing its offset contract with Dassault Aviation.

Prime Minister Modi had announced the procurement of 36 Rafale fighters after holding talks with then French president Hollande on April 10, 2015 in Paris.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Stepping up its attack on the Rafale issue, the Congress Sunday alleged Prime Minister Narendra Modi "violated" the oath of confidentiality, with Rahul Gandhi asking him and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to "stop lying".

The Congress president said it is time the finance minister and the prime minister call for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe for an "uncorrupted truth" to come out in the Rafale deal.

Congress senior spokesperson Anand Sharma accused the prime minister of having "betrayed" the country and demanded that he respond to the charges made in connection with the deal instead of fielding his ministers.

"My direct charge is that the prime minister violated the oath of confidentiality. Only he could have told Anil Ambani that HAL will be out and he will strike a deal to buy 36 jets and you (Ambani) go and talk to Dassault Aviation (the makers of Rafale jet)," Sharma told reporters at a conference.

"Why is the prime minister, who speaks on every issue, quiet. The one who is supposed to speak is quiet (maun vratt). When the charges are directly against him, no one can speak on his behalf," the deputy leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha said.

Attacking the government on the issue, Gandhi accused Jaitley of having the ability to spin "2 truths or lies" with "fake self-righteousness" and "indignation to defend the indefensible".

"Mr Jetlie's speciality is his ability to spin '2 truths', or lies, with fake self righteousness and indignation to defend the indefensible. It's high time he, the RM and our PM stop lying and call a JPC to establish the full, uncorrupted truth about the Rafale Scam (sic)," Gandhi tweeted.

He also tagged a media report highlighting how former French president Francois Hollande's charges have hit the Modi government on the Rafale issue.

In a press conference, Sharma threatened of criminal cases after a thorough probe into the entire deal if the Congress came to power, claiming that Modi will not be the prime minister in 2019 election.

Sharma said the question is how could have the Government of France or former French President Francois Hollande or the Dassault company decided that HAL will be out.

The deputy leader of Congress in the Rajya Sabha said, it is clear that the finance minister, defence minister, law minister have joined in a competition "to lie to defend our prime minister who is directly complicit" and there cannot be any other explanation.

"My message to Shri Narendra Modi is very clear. He cannot escape and all those within the country and outside will try to cover-up this scam of the century will stand exposed," he said.

Sharma said since the Government of France and its former president had no say, why is the Modi government contesting and insulting the former French president.

The Congress leader accused the prime minister of taking an "unauthorised action" without a mandate from the Cabinet Committee on Security in ordering the 36 aircraft off the shelf.

"So, who is to answer this question, nobody else, but Shri Narendra Modi," he said, demanding answers from him.

He also said that since the earlier contract was live and the global tender was alive, how could he have unilaterally cancelled the same.

The Rafale controversy took a turn last week after former French president Hollande claimed that the Indian government proposed Reliance Defence's name as the offset partner for Dassault Aviation.

In response, the French government said it was in no manner involved in the choice of Indian industrial partners for the Rafale deal, asserting that French firms have the full freedom to select Indian companies for the contract.

Jaitley earlier defended the prime minister on the Rafale issue, saying the French government and Dassault Aviation have categorically denied the correctness of the former president's first statement.

He said the French government has stated that the decision with regard to the offset contracts of Dassault Aviation are taken by the company and not the government.

The Reliance group has rejected charges against it made by the Congress and said the government was in no way involved in securing its offset contract with Dassault Aviation.

Elaborating his charges, Sharma said in 2007, a Request for Proposal (RFP) was published for a global tender. In 2012, the Rafale jet was selected as L1 (lowest bidder) and Price Negotiations Committee and CNC (Contract Negotiating Committee) after conducting talks, had finalised the contract to buy 126 jets.

"The two governments had signed on the contract. Only the aspect of life cycle cost was pending. Even before Modi became the prime minister, this deal had been finalised. According to the annual report of Dassault Aviation, on March 13, 2014 it had signed a work share agreement with the HAL," Sharma said.

He further added that on March 25, 2014, Eric Trappier, the CEO of Dassault Aviation, had said in the presence of the then IAF chief and then HAL chairman that the two sides have finalised their contract and only the signing formality was left.

Prime Minister Modi had announced the procurement of 36 Rafale fighters after holding talks with then French president Hollande on April 10, 2015 in Paris.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Tamil Nadu government Sunday launched the Centre's ambitious health insurance project as an integrated initiative of the Chief Minister's Comprehensive Health Insurance Scheme (CMCHIS) in the state.

"In Tamil Nadu, the integrated scheme of CMCHIS with Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY) was launched by Health Minister C Vijayabaskar," an official release said.

It recalled that the CMCHIS was launched by the late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa in 2012.

It is a fully state-funded scheme for providing cashless treatment in secondary and tertiary care hospitals for the poor and the underpreviliged, the release said.

The release said Tamil Nadu government has announced that the state insurance scheme "will be suitably dovetailed" with the National Health Protection Scheme, launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Ranchi in Jharkhand Sunday.

The state government had earlier signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for this purpose, it added.

The launch here was marked by the issuance of e-card and pre-authorisation approval for cashless treatment to 10 beneficiaries.

While 1.57 crore families were covered under CMCHIS, around 77 lakh poor families will benefit under the Central scheme, it said.

"As most of them are already included and being beneficiaries of CMCHIS, Tamil Nadu government has decided to implement the PMJAY scheme in association with it and to cover all the existing beneficiaries of 1.57 crore under the scheme to the same extent of Rs five lakh to ensure uniform benefit to all," it said.

Under the state scheme, the sum assured for each family was Rs.1 lakh every year for a total period of four years and for a total value of Rs. 4 lakh. In the case of certain procedures, the ceiling would be higher.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.): A case has been registered against Malayalam actor Joy Mathew and 24 others for taking out a march in a prohibited area here in support of the nuns who had held a sit in protest in Kochi, demandingthe arrest of Bishop Franco Mulakkal, accused of raping a nun.

The march was taken out on September 12 in the recently renovated 'Mittayi Thiravu' (sweet street), despite a prohibitory order being in force in the area.

Despite being told not to take out the march, the actor and the others flouted rules and did so, police said Sunday.

The case was registered under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including unlawful assembly, breach of peace, rioting and obstructing public way, police said.

Reacting to the development, Joy Mathew said he had taken out the march to express solidarity with the protesting nuns.

"This is an attempt to scare me for supporting the nuns', he said.

The actor said he was not told by police about the prohibitory order in the area.

"We took out a silent march with placards', he told television channels.

Joy Mathew is best known for playing the lead role in John Abraham's 1986 film 'Amma Ariyan', which was voted as one of the Top 10 Indian films by the British Film Institute.

Some of his other films are 'Annyaum Rasoolam', 'Shutter', 'Amen' and 'Honey Bee'.

The nun, in her complaint to Kottayam police in June, had alleged that Bishop Mulakkal raped her at a guest house in Kuravilangad in May 2014 and later sexually exploited her on several occasions.

The nun had said she had to approach the police as church authorities did not act on her repeated complaints against the clergyman.

However, the bishop has denied the charges.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Police stations in the country will soon have special kits to collect blood and semen samples, besides other evidence, to carry out immediate investigation into sexual assault cases, officials said Sunday.

The Sexual Assault Evidence Collection Kits (SAECK) or 'rape investigation kits' are designed to carry out immediate medico-legal investigation and aid in furnishing evidence in sexual assault and rape cases.

The Home Ministry, as part of a pilot project, will initially procure 3,960 SAECK and to begin with, and 100 such kits will be given to each state and union territory, a ministry official said.

The likely cost budgeted for the procurement of the 3,960 kits is Rs 79.20 lakh, while another Rs 4.91 crore will be spent in providing training to police personnel and medical staff of local hospitals.

Police and medical officers will be given training on how to use the kits in the event of any sexual assault and rape case happening in their area of jurisdiction.

Each of these kits comprises essential items that will aid in furnishing evidence such as blood and semen samples in sexual assault and rape cases, the official said.

The kit has a set of test tubes and bottles, which mention about contents and specifications.

These kits also contain instructions on collection of evidence from the crime scene. The SAECKs would be sent to the closest laboratory and within two months the results would be out.

"We are planning to keep at least three 'rape kits' in each of the police stations in the country, and when the full project is implemented the number will go up gradually," another official said.

There are around 15,640 police stations in 29 states and seven union territories in the country.

The 'rape investigation kits' will be procured by the respective states with financial support under the central government's 'Nirbhaya Fund', which was named after the 2012 Delhi gang-rape victim.

The cost of the project would be shared between the central government (from the Nirbhaya Fund) and respective states in the ratio of 60:40.

The kits are expected to help the law enforcement agencies to ensure effective investigation in a timely manner for better prosecution and convictions in sexual assault cases.

The first lot of such kits was procured by the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D) and it has already started imparting forensic training to some police officers, the official said.

Incidents of crime against women rose from 3,29,243 in 2015 to 3,38,954 in 2016.

In 2015, as many as 34,651 cases of rape were registered in the country. The figure increased to 38,947 in 2016, according to the data of the National Crime Records Bureau.

The data for 2017 is yet to be published.

The Directorate of Forensic Sciences (DFSS), a wing of the Home Ministry, has issued two guidelines -- one for investigators and prosecutors for collection, storage and transportation of forensic evidence in sexual assault cases; and the second for medical officers dealing with sexual assault cases.

The Delhi-based Lok Narayan Jai Prakash National Institute of Criminology and Forensic Sciences (LNJP NIC&FS) would be undertaking training of medical officers from states and union territories on medico-legal procedures, including evidence collection and handling of forensic material in sexual assault cases.

This is likely to cost Rs1.38 crore and is also being funded from the 'Nirbhaya Fund'.

The Bureau of Police Research & Development (BPR&D) is undertaking training of officers during the financial years of 2018-19 and 2019-20 on collection, storage and transportation of forensic evidence in cases of sexual assault, which includes training on standardised SAECK.

The BPR&D would also undertake training of trainers, and training of investigators and prosecutors from states and union territories.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Secretary of State Mike Pompeo vowed that the United States would emerge victorious in an intensifying trade war with China, a day before Washington imposes USD 200 billion worth of tariffs.

"We are going to win it," Pompeo said in an interview on Fox broadcast Sunday.

"We're going to get an outcome which forces China to behave in a way that if you want to be a power -- a global power -- transparency, rule of law, you don't steal intellectual property," he said.

Pompeo said that President Donald Trump "very much likes" his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping but said he would press policies that "the American workers deserve."



Even before Trump's election, the United States has complained vigorously that China has been unfair to US businesses and has stolen technology by forcing firms to reveal secrets as a condition to operate in the fast-growing Asian economy.

But Trump has taken an increasingly hard line on trade around the world, with USD 200 billion in tariffs on Chinese exports set to take effect on Monday.

China has retaliated by hitting USD 60 billion in US products and the world's two largest economies have already imposed tariffs of USD 50 billion on each other.

In a first, the Trump administration has also punished a unit of China's defense ministry for buying fighter jets and missiles from Russia in defiance of sanctions on Moscow.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Pope Francis paid tribute Sunday to Lithuanians who suffered and died during Soviet and Nazi occupations on the day the country remembers the near-extermination of its centuries-old Jewish community during the Holocaust.

Francis began his second day in the Baltics in Lithuania's second city, Kaunas, where an estimated 3,000 Jews survived out of a community of 37,000 during the 1941-1944 Nazi occupation.

During Mass in the lush Santakos Park under a brilliant autumn sun, Francis honored both Jewish victims of Nazi-era executions and the Lithuanians who were deported to Siberian gulags or were tortured and oppressed at home during five decades of Soviet occupation.

"Earlier generations still bear the scars of the period of the occupation, anguish at those who were deported, uncertainty about those who never returned, shame for those who were informers and traitors," Francis told the crowd.

"Kaunas knows about this. Lithuania as a whole can testify to it, still shuddering at the mention of Siberia, or the ghettos of Vilnius and Kaunas, among others." He denounced those who get caught up in debating who was more virtuous in the past and fail to address the tasks of the present an apparently veiled reference to historic revisionism that is afflicting much of Eastern Europe as it comes to terms with the Holocaust.

The issue is acute in Lithuania, where ordinary Lithuanians executed Jews alongside the Nazi occupiers, wiping out the Jewish population of the capital of Vilnius that was known for centuries as the "the Jerusalem of the North" because of its importance to Jewish thought and politics.

Francis is to continue the remembrance with a visit to a museum in Vilnius that is dedicated to Soviet atrocities as well as a prayer in the Vilnius Ghetto, which 75 years ago Sunday was finally destroyed and its remaining Jewish residents executed or sent off to concentration camps.

Each year, the Sept. 23 anniversary of the destruction of the Vilnius Ghetto is commemorated with readings of the names of Jews who were executed by Nazis as well as by complicit Lithuanian partisans in the nearby Ponary forest.

Francis is travelling to Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia to mark their 100th anniversaries of independence and to encourage the faith in the Baltics, which saw five decades of Soviet-imposed religious repression and state-sponsored atheism. Lithuania is 80 percent Catholic; Lutherans and Russian Orthodox count more followers in Latvia and Estonia, where Francis visits on Monday and Tuesday.

The Baltic countries declared their independence in 1918 but were annexed into the Soviet Union in 1940 in a secret agreement with Nazi Germany. The Vatican and many Western countries refused to recognize the annexation. Except for the 1941-1944 Nazi occupation, the Baltic countries remained part of the Soviet Union until its collapse in the early 1990s.

Until Francis' schedule was changed three weeks ago, there was no event for him to acknowledge the slaughter of some 90 percent of Lithuania's 250,000 Jews at the hands of Nazi occupiers and complicit Lithuanians. At the last minute, the Vatican added in a visit to the Ghetto.

The issue of Lithuanian complicity in Nazi war crimes is sensitive here, and Jewish activists accuse some Lithuanians of engaging in historical revisionism by trying to equate the extermination of Jews with the deportations and executions of other Lithuanians during Soviet occupation.

Jewish activists have been campaigning to remove street signs named for heroes who fought the Soviets because of their roles in the executions of Jews.

Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite didn't refer to the complicity of Lithuanians in her remarks Saturday to the pope, but rather spoke of the "lessons of mercy" showed by other citizens during the Holocaust.

"In a country brutalized by both Nazi and Stalinist crimes, many people stood up to rescue Jews because they saw humanity as the ultimate good," she said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A 22-year-old man lost almost half of his tongue after his pregnant wife deliberately bit it off while kissing him, the police said Sunday.

The incident was reported from outer Delhi's Ranhola on Saturday night.

Locals said that the woman was not happy as she felt her husband was not good-looking.

However, the couple had compatibility issues and had regular fights, the police said, adding the husband is a street artiste.

He had an altercation with his 22-year-old pregnant wife and they later patched up. And the next time she kissed him she bit almost half of his tongue off, they added.

The police were informed by the victim's father about the incident.

The man underwent a surgery at Safdarjung Hospital but doctors said it is difficult to say whether he will be able to talk again, according to the police.

The woman has been detained and a case has been registered under section 326 of the IPC, which pertains to voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons or means, punishable with life imprisonment, the police said.

The woman is eight months pregnant and has been detained, they added.

The couple got married on November 20, 2016.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A day after former Union minister Jaswant Singh's son quit the Bharatiya Janata Party, Rajasthan Congress chief Sachin Pilot said on Sunday that Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje should introspect why its leaders are leaving the party.

"The list of BJP leaders leaving the party is getting longer and longer. The chief minister should introspect why this is happening," Pilot told PTI.

Though this is their internal matter, the state Congress president said their leaders are disgruntled.

On Saturday, Manvendra Singh announced his decision to quit the party, citing self-respect. Speculations are rife that the legislator from Sheo constituency in Barmer district may join the Congress, but nothing is decided yet.

"I am no longer with the BJP and have decided to quit the party on the issue of 'swabhiman' (self-respect), Manvendra had said, adding that the problem started during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections -- when Jaswant was denied a party ticket.

When asked whether he would join the Congress, Manvendra said he would go to the masses and take appropriate decision after getting their feedback.

Senior leader Ghanshyam Tiwari has also quit the BJP over the differences with the chief minister and formed his own party.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP), an ally of the BJP in Goa, has come out in support of the Sanatan Sanstha, claiming it was not involved in the killings of rationalists and activists.

MGP president Dipak Dhavalikar claimed there are some people who want to project the right-wing outfit as a "wrong-doer", even as he condemned such killings.

Police suspect involvement of activists linked to the Sanatan Sanstha in the killings of rationalists Narendra Dabholkar, Govind Pansare, M M Kalburgi and Gauri Lankesh.

However, the outfit, which has its headquarters at Ramnathi village in North Goa district, has denied any involvement in these cases.

"As the sanstha is doing good work, there are some people who want to project them as wrong-doers. This tirade against the sanstha will continue," Dhavalikar, who is a minister in the BJP-led state government, told PTI Saturday.

The Sanatan Sanstha teaches spirituality which is very important in today's world, he said.

"I am giving them a clean chit. They are not involved in the killing of any rationalist, writer or thinker, which they have been accused of," Dhavalikar said.

Such killings should not happen, but just because one member of a family could be involved in some wrong doing, "you can't label the entire family as evil", he said.

"You should visit the Sanatan Sanstha, see its work, and then only make comments on it. It is doing good work, which is essential for our country," said the leader of Goa's oldest regional party.

Dhavalikar said he would comment on the allegations against the outfit only when the accused persons, who have been arrested in connection with the killings of various rationalists, are tried by court and the verdict is out.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Russian Defense Ministry on Sunday again blamed Israel for the downing of a Russian plane by Syrian government forces and said Israel appeared "ungrateful" for Moscow's efforts to rein in Iran-backed fighters in Syria.

Syrian government forces mistook the Russian Il-20 reconnaissance plane for an Israeli jet and shot it down Monday, killing all 15 people aboard.

While the Russian military initially blamed the plane's loss on Israel, President Vladimir Putin later attributed it to "a chain of tragic, fatal circumstances." The Russian Defense Ministry on Sunday presented its latest findings on the Il-20's downing, laying the blame squarely on Israel.

"We believe that the Israeli Air Force and those who were making decisions about these actions are fully to blame for the tragedy that happened to the Russian Il-20 plane," Maj Gen Igor Konashenkov said in a statement.

For several years, Israel and Russia have maintained a special hotline to prevent their air forces from clashing in the skies over Syria. Russia has provided key air support to President Bashar Assad's forces since 2015, while Israel has carried out dozens of strikes against Iran-linked forces. Israeli military officials have previously praised the hotline's effectiveness.

But Konashenkov on Sunday accused Israel of using the hotline to mislead Russia about its plans. He said the Russians were unable to get the Il-20 to a safe place because an Israeli duty officer had misled them, telling them of an Israeli operation in northern Syria while the jets were actually in Latakia, in the country's west.

Konashenkov said an Israeli fighter jet flying over Syria's Mediterranean coast shortly before the downing deliberately used the Russian plane as a shield, reflecting "either lack of professionalism or criminal negligence."



He also complained that the Israelis over the years have waited until the last minute to notify Russia of their operations, endangering Russian aircraft.

He described Israel's actions as "a highly ungrateful response to everything that Russia has done for the State of Israel recently."



He referred to efforts by Russia to rein in Iran-backed forces in Syria, including a deal struck in July to keep such fighters 85 kilometers (53 miles) from the Israel-occupied Golan Heights.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Japanese automaker Toyota and German luxury carmaker Mercedes-Benz are considering price hike in India in the wake of the weakening rupee.

The value of rupee, hovering over 72 against the US dollar, has sparked concerns among auto companies.

"Currently, we are absorbing the high costs. However, if it is difficult to absorb in the coming days due to further depreciation, we will have to pass on a part of this cost to the customers by increasing the price," Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) Deputy Managing Director N Raja told PTI.

TKM is a joint venture between the Japanese auto major and Kirloskar group.

Raja said the company is still dependent on imports for certain specific components although it has over the years substantially increased local content in its products.

TKM sells a range of products in the country, from locally-manufactured hatchback Etios Liva to imported premium SUV Land Cruiser.

When asked if the company would also look at enhancing exports as one of the measures to balance increase in import costs, Raja said: "We cannot specifically comment on our future export plans."



He, however, noted that the company would continue to export the Etios series to countries such as South Africa and Indonesia.

"Having said that, Toyota is a global player with multi- production base in many countries, thus limiting our export space," he said.

For India to be a true global player competing with the developed nations, harmonisation or adoption of global standards is a must, he added.

"Not only will it give India an export advantage but will also give a tremendous boost to both vehicle OEMs as well as supply chain to export globally," Raja said.

TKM exported around 10 per cent of the total production volume in 2017-18.

Mercedes-Benz India Vice President, Sales & Marketing, Michael Jopp also believes that the sagging rupee is a concern for the company.

"We have already implemented some price hikes based on development which happened over the last 2-3 months. The last few weeks have seen some more depreciation which again is a concern. At this point of time, we are observing but in case it continues further, price hikes are inevitable," he said.

Jopp however did not divulge on the time frame for price hike.

The company has already increased prices up to 4 per cent from this month to offset adverse impacts of rising input costs and upward forex movement.

Earlier this month, Honda Cars India said it may have to go for yet another price hike due to the falling rupee.

The Indian currency was caught in a free fall in the past few sessions and tagged among the worst performing currencies in Asia.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)BJP leader Babu Singh Raghuvanshi said Sunday the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act was amended to "protect the country and Hindu society".

"Our government at the Centre was not under any pressure to amend the Act. We brought amendments to protect the country and Hindu society," said Raghuvanshi, chairman of Madhya Pradesh Small Scale Industry Corporation.

"Had the amendments not been brought, foreign forces would have fomented violence in the country," he told reporters.

Asked about the claim that the Act is sometimes misused, he said, "Tell me which law is not misused. Should all laws be nullified then?"



"We respect the feelings of upper caste Hindus. That is why Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has said the amended Act will not be allowed to be misused," Raghuvanshi said.

The BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh has witnessed protests by upper caste organisations against recent amendments in the SC-ST Act.

The Supreme Court earlier this year inserted certain safeguards in the provisions related to immediate arrest under the SC-ST Act, but the Union government, under pressure from Dalit leaders, brought in amendments to override the apex court's ruling.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Security cover for all public representatives in Andhra Pradesh has been stepped up Sunday after the outlawed CPI (Maosit) ultras gunned down Araku Valley MLA Kidari Sarveswara Rao and former MLA Siveri Soma even as Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu expressed shock over the incident.

Soon after landing in New York City this evening, the Chief Minister spoke to top government officials here and enquired about the incident, a communiqu from the CMO said.

Terming the killing of the legislator and his predecessor as a "blot on humanity", the Chief Minister extended sympathies to the bereaved families.

State Chief Secretary Dinesh Kumar reviewed the situation with top police officials and directed them to ensure adequate security to all public representatives, particularly those taking part in the grama darsini (village visit) programme.

Police surveillance and combing operations have been intensified in the Agency area where Maoists have their presence.

On the other hand, Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Harish Kumar Gupta said situation in Araku valley was under control after the violence that broke out in the evening following the killing of the TDP leaders.

Tribal villagers vandalised the Araku and Dumbriguda police stations in the Agency area blaming the police for the killing of their MLA and ex-MLA.

A thatched roof shed in the Dumbriguda police station was set afire while the furniture was also damaged.

Several seized two-wheelers lying in the police station were also burnt even as the protestors also attacked the police personnel on duty.

A constable was injured in the mob violence, police sources said.

Unable to face the furious mob, police personnel had to run for cover.

Visakhapatnam Rural Superintendent of Police Rahul Dev Sharma, who reached Araku late in the evening, faced the villagers' ire.

The villagers demanded that the Dumbriguda police station sub-inspector be placed under suspension for having failed to provide adequate security to the MLA.

Additional police forces were rushed to Araku to restore peace even as arrangements were made in the valley for the post-mortem of the deceased.

Meanwhile, a release from the state police headquarters here said all public representatives have been requested not to visit interior areas without informing the police.

"Public representatives are requested to provide necessary advance information to the respective district Superintendent of Police and take adequate security cover," the release added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)In the first major strike in many years in Andhra Pradesh, the outlawed CPI (Maoists) Sunday shot dead a sitting MLA and a former MLA, both from the ruling TDP, in Araku area in Visakhapatnam district, police said.

The incident occurred at Lippitiputta village under Dambriguda mandal when Araku (ST) MLA Kidari Sarveswara Rao and former MLA Siveri Soma went to take part in a 'grama darsini' (village visit) programme, they said.

Sarveswara Rao won as the YSR Congress candidate in 2014, but he later defected to the TDP.

"A group of Maoists came along with the villagers and blocked the MLA's car. As the personal security officers of the legislator and the ex-legislator got down, they snatched the AK-47 rifles from them and shot Sarveswara Rao and Soma dead," Visakhapatnam Range Deputy Inspector General of Police Ch Srikanth told PTI.

He said the exact number of Maoists involved in the attack and the reasons for shooting down the legislator were being ascertained.

Police sources, however, suspect that a group of about 50-60 outlaws led by Maoists Andhra-Odisha Border Committee secretary Ramakrishna could be involved in the deadly attack.

They reportedly engaged the MLA in a conversation for some time before shooting him dead, the sources added.

As Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu is currently flying to New York, officials in the Chief Minister's Office spoke to Visakhapatnam district collector and superintendent of police seeking details of the incident, a CMO communiqu said.

Deputy Chief Minister (Home) N China Rajappa and DGP (in charge) Harish Kumar Gupta were rushing to the spot, it said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)When US President Donald Trump demanded to know why his Supreme Court nominee's sexual assault accuser did not come forward sooner, he sought to cast doubt over her claims.

His argument? If her story were true, Christine Blasey Ford would have spoken out back in the 1980s, when she says Brett Kavanaugh pinned her down and muffled her cries as he tried to pull off her clothes at a high school party.

Nonsense, replied his detractors, from women in his own party to thousands of ordinary women who flooded the internet to tell the stories of trauma, under a viral hashtag: #WhyIDidntReport.

"Because I was 18" and "I was scared" and "I didn't want to be defined by someone else's violent criminal act," Gretchen Whitmer, who is running for governor of the US state of Michigan, tweeted using the hashtag.

According to Department of Justice figures from 2016, 77.1 per cent of people claiming to be victims of sexual assault did not report the matter to the police.

A study carried out by the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN) on alleged assault cases between 2005 and 2010 found that 20 per cent of victims who did not report their cases cited "fear of reprisal" while two per cent believed the police could not do anything to help.

Ford, a California professor, initially made the accusation in a confidential letter and only came out publicly because she felt her "civic responsibility" was "outweighing my anguish and terror about retaliation," she told The Washington Post.

But Republicans have alleged the last-minute allegation was a deliberate bid to prevent conservative Kavanaugh's appointment before crucial mid-term elections in November.

After days of relative restraint, Trump -- himself the subject of groping and other sexual harassment allegations by multiple women -- launched an all-out attack on Ford's credibility.

"I have no doubt that, if the attack on Dr. Ford was as bad as she says, charges would have been immediately filed," he tweeted Friday.

The US women's movement, simmering since worldwide anti-Trump marches the day after his inauguration, has already mobilized against Kavanaugh's conservative stances on abortion and birth control -- and is firmly behind Ford.

The Women's March organisers and other groups coordinated protesters to disrupt Kavanaugh's confirmation hearings, which began in early September.

Ford's lawyers allege she has received death threats since her identity became public, and one crowdfunding effort to cover her security costs raised more than USD 200,000 in three days.

Nearly 1,200 women who attended her all-girls high school signed a public letter of support.

But the president's skepticism unleashed a fresh wave of social media outrage, echoing that of last year's #MeToo movement.

A phrase of solidarity through empathy first used by activist Tarana Burke in 2006, #MeToo spread virally as a hashtag when a flood of allegations against Hollywood movie mogul Harvey Weinstein forced a global reckoning on sexual misconduct in the workplace and beyond.

This time, it was solidarity through attempted education, as sexual assault survivors furiously hit back at Trump and Ford's other detractors with the reasons why they, like Ford, kept their trauma to themselves for so long.

Within the #WhyIDidntReport tweets, themes jumped out: fears of not being believed, or of repercussions for speaking out; feelings of shame or embarrassment.

And for all the stories shared, there were no doubt countless others still left untold.

"Because I didn't want people to think I made it up for attention. Because I didn't want my boyfriend to look at me differently. Because I just wanted to make it go away. Because I was ashamed. #WhyIDidntReport," wrote Andi Hoyt, whose Twitter profile identifies her as a law student.

"I was 8 and he was the 'cool guy' in the neighborhood. I didn't tell anyone until I was 17. Also, guys can't be sexually assaulted #WhyIDidntReport," tweeted Andy McNeese.

In an op-ed for The Washington Post, late president Ronald Reagan's daughter, Patti Davis, said she told nobody "for decades" about her rape by a music executive.

Davis also addressed accusations that Ford's story lacks key details.

Your memory "blacks out other parts of the story that really don't matter much," she wrote.

It "snaps photos of the details that will haunt you forever, that will change your life and live under your skin".

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Tanzania is expecting a 6-10 per cent growth in tourist footfalls from India this year mainly aided by promotions and direct air connectivity between both the nations expected to begin from November.

The east African nation had hosted 69,000 travellers from India in 2017.

"With our promotional activities like roadshows in India since the past 10-12 months, we are hoping to witness a 6-10 per cent growth in tourist footfalls this year. We also feel that the direct flights from Mumbai to Dar Es Salaam, expected to begin from November, will further boost tourism from India," Tanzania Tourist Board managing director Devota Mdachi told PTI.

The country almost doubled its tourist arrivals in the past decade, from seven lakh in 2007 to hosting over 13 lakhs tourists in 2017.

"We expect this number to reach over two million tourists by 2020," she said.

Tanzania is initially targeting travellers from big Indian cities, and is planning to gradually penetrate tier II and III cities as well.

"This year we are holding roadshows in Delhi, Mumbai and Ahmedabad. However, from next year, we will promote in many more cities, including the tier II and III towns," she added.

Currently, India is the fifth biggest source market for Tanzania, and Mdachi said it has the potential to climb to the number 2 or 3 position in the next two years.

The US is the top source market for Tanzania, followed by the UK, Italy and Germany.

Mdachi said the east African country is looking to tap all the age groups in segments including family, independent travellers, especially women, honeymoon, MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and events) and Bollywood.

Besides 16 national parks, the nation also has seven UNESCO World Heritage sites, including Kilimanjaro National Park, Kilwa Kisiwani Ruins, Kondoa Rock Art Sites, Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Selous Game Reserve, Serengeti National Park and Stone Town, Zanzibar.

"We are positioning ourselves as a destination which suits every pocket, offering wildlife, beach, culture, history, food as well as street safety," she said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Iran on Sunday warned the United Arab Emirates over "offensive remarks" attributed to a UAE "political advisor" on the weekend's deadly attack on an Iranian military parade.

The Emirati charge d'affaires was summoned to the foreign ministry over the advisor's "blatant support" for Saturday's attack in the city of Ahvaz that killed 29 people, said the ministry's spokesman Bahram Ghasemi.

"The summoning was over offensive remarks of a (UAE) political advisor," he said in a statement.

"The charge d'affaires was warned that blatant support of terrorist acts by those linked to Emirati authorities will have repercussions for the UAE government," said Ghasemi.

The ministry did not disclose the advisor's name or the controversial comments.

Officials say 29 people were killed in the attack by four gunmen on a military parade in Ahvaz, capital of Khuzestan province bordering Iraq.

Iran blames the attack on an Arab separatist movement supported by a US-backed Gulf state.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharma Sunday expressed concern over incidents of attacks on scribes, saying he favours bringing a law to ensure security of journalists in the state.

There have been incidents in which journalists were attacked by anti-social elements and this needs to be checked. There is a need to safeguard scribes, he told PTI.

Last year in Uttar Pradesh a young journalist, working for a Hindi daily, was shot dead by unidentified assailants in Billhaur, 60 km from Kanpur, and in April, a TV journalist was shot at by unidentified assailants outside his house in Ghaziabad leaving him seriously injured.

"On a personal level I am concerned about the incidents of attacks on journalists while on duty and they need to be extended security so as to ensure that they carry out their duties in a fair manner, without any fear," the deputy chief minister said.

Showing keen interest in the landmark Maharashtra Media Persons and Media Institutions (Prevention of Violence and Damage or Loss to Property) Act, 2017, Sharma said this can be a way out for those facing risk in the line of duty.

"But, this is a policy matter and I will take it up with the chief minister (Yogi Adityanath) first," he said.

Besides ,it will also help prevent people, who take advantage of their position and resort to wrong practices, demeaning the noble profession of journalism, Sharma said.

Last year on April 7, the Maharashtra assembly passed the first ever journalist protection law in the country, making attacks on scribes and media houses in the state a non-bailable offense.

Introduced by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, the Act was passed by the state assembly without debate and any incident of violence against media persons or damage or loss of property of media persons or media institutions is now punishable in Maharashtra.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Nepal's Tiger population has gone up to 235 from 198 in 2013 as the country plans to increase the number of wild cats to 250 by 2022, according to a latest tiger census report unveiled here on Sunday.

The Chitwan National Park has the highest number of adult tigers at 93 followed by 87 in Bardiya National Park, said the new census report.

The number of tigers in the Bankey National Park has also reached 21 followed by 18 in Parsa National Park and 16 in Shuklaphanta National Park.

Nepal is likely to attain the goal of doubling tiger population by 2022 to 250 assuming 2009 as the base year, when 125 tigers roared in various Nepal forest.

"We need to work hard and intensify our conservation efforts of we are to achieve the target of 250 tiger population by 2022, remarked Ghana Shyam Gurung, country representative of World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Nepal.

While most of the national parks have witnessed a surge in tiger population, number in Chitwan National Park has gone down from 120 in 2013 to 93 in 2018, the Himalayan Times quoted the report as saying.

However, officials at Chitwan National Park said that although technical figures show a decline, population of the big cat has not dropped, the report said.

"Frequent sightings of tigers around human settlements and inside park premises and decline in smuggling point to the fact that Chitwan National Park has a dense population of the wild predator," Chief Conservation Officer Bed Kumar Dhakal was quoted as saying by the paper.

In 2010, during the international Tiger Summit held in St Petersburg, thirteen tiger range countries including Nepal and India committed to the most ambitious and visionary species conservation goal ever set: TX2 - to double wild tiger numbers by 2022.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Trump administration is working diligently to achieve its goal of denuclearisation in North Korea, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Sunday.

Pompeo, the point person of Trump administration's North Korea policy, said the US has not given any concession to North Korea.

Everybody's got their own idea of what a concession might be. Some thought it was a concession for President Trump to go to Singapore. I certainly didn't think so, he told Fox

President Trump doesn't. But what we've made clear is the economic sanctions, the driving force to achieve the outcome we're looking for, will not be released and the UN Security Council will not reduce those sanctions until such time as we have achieved that final denuclearisation, he said.

"The administration position has not changed one jot from the time we entered this discussion. We are working diligently to achieve many of the outcomes that you describe. We have had extended conversations about this, Pompeo said.

I don't want to get into the details of the negotiations that are underway, but we've talked about particular facilities, particular weapon systems. Those conversations are underway, and we are hopeful that we can deliver this outcome for the world, he said.

The Trump administration, he said, has achieved a lot on North Korea.

"We have now achieved the ceasing of missile testing, the ceasing of nuclear testing, we have gotten the remains of 55 Americans, we're in deep discussions about how to proceed with respect to denuclearisation, he said.

The South Korean President travelled to Pyongyang for the third time last week and made progress," he said.

"We're continuing to make progress. These are all the right steps forward. It's the right path, he said.

We've made clear to the world that the economic sanctions, the pressure that has caused Chairman Kim to come as far as he has come to date, will remain in effect until denuclearisation occurs. So we're hard at it.

"President Trump has given me the task to use our entire diplomatic team to achieve the outcome that the world has demanded through UN Security Council resolutions. We'll talk a lot about that in the week ahead in New York, Pompeo said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Britain's Labour Party kicked off its annual conference on Sunday hoping to prove it was ready to unseat the embattled Conservative government despite its own splits on Brexit and rows over anti-Semitism.

Leader Jeremy Corbyn has a golden opportunity to capitalise on Prime Minister Theresa May's weakness after European Union leaders rejected her Brexit plans on Thursday.

But he must first ensure that his party's internal tensions take a back seat to bolster his image as a prime-minister-in-waiting.

"The sheer levels of animosity that exists between Corbyn and his opponents is quite remarkable," Anand Menon, political professor at King's College London, told AFP ahead of the four-day event in Liverpool.

Brexit is one of the fault lines, dividing even normal allies.

Most of Corbyn's MPs and his younger supporters are in favour of the EU, but many voters in the party's working-class heartlands back Brexit.

Corbyn has so far tried to avoid the divisive subject, instead sticking to promoting a domestic social agenda that helped him upset the odds at last year's general election and strip May of her parliamentary majority.

But with Brexit negotiations rapidly heading nowhere as the March 29 deadline looms, party members look set to force a debate and a vote on the conference floor pushing for a second referendum.

Corbyn said on Sunday he would "adhere" to whatever came out of conference, although he would prefer to hold a general election instead.

"This government doesn't look very strong," he told the BBC. "We could well be looking towards a general election and you know what? We are ready for it." Pro-EU supporters are due to hold a large march as the conference opens on Sunday, calling for a second vote.

Corbyn will likely stick to his tried-and-tested method when he delivers his keynote speech on Wednesday, according to experts, prioritising efforts to bring down the government rather than trying to stop Brexit.

Corbyn said on Sunday he voted to "remain and reform the EU" in the 2016 referendum on Brtain's EU membership.

Another potential issue hampering Corbyn's designs on power is the anti-Semitism row that has dogged the party since he took over in 2015.

He recently admitted the party had a "real problem" with the issue, leading veteran MP Frank Field to quit last month. Field said the leadership was becoming "a force for anti-Semitism in British politics".

The National Executive Committee (NEC), the party's ruling body, agreed this month to adopt in full an international definition of anti-Semitism for its code of conduct, but only after fierce opposition from those in the party who believe it will limit criticism of Israel.

"I will die fighting racism in any form," Corbyn said when asked directly by the BBC whether he was an anti-Semite.

When pressed on his views on Israel, Corbyn added: "It's right that people should be able to discuss the establishment of the state of Israel but recognise the existence of the state of Israel, and not prevent that type of debate."



Labour's polling numbers have remained relatively stable throughout the scandal, although the chaos in the Tory party could mask any impact it has had, said Steven Fielding, professor at University of Nottingham.

But the row continues to reverberate through the party.

"There is a lot of resentment, a lot of bitterness which I don't think will be very easily dispelled and there may be some Labour MPs who eventually leave on the basis of anti-Semitism issues," Fielding said.

A group of Labour campaigners will hold a rally on Sunday to protest Corbyn's handling of the scandal.

"If they want this conference to work they are going to have to deal with anti-Semitism, rather than pretending that they have dealt with it already," said Menon.

The scandal has deepened the divisions between Corbyn's far-left supporters and the more centrist faction of MPs who held power in the party after Tony Blair took charge in 1994.

These centrist MPs now find themselves on the sidelines and battling for their political lives in the face of aggressive attempts by Corbyn's supporters to de-select them, another issue that could raise tensions during conference.

"The leadership might try and persuade Momentum activists not to make it (de-selection) a central plank of conference but the language is getting very, very abrasive," noted Menon.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The head of the UN agency says schools are ground zero in the fight against anti-Semitism and extremist violence and she will push world leaders meeting in New York this week to invest more in teaching tolerance.

"No one is born a violent extremist," Azoulay said in an interview with The Associated Press ahead of the U.N. General Assembly, which opens Monday.

" is the best rampart against discrimination and racism." Azoulay's own organisation the first U.N. body to admit Palestine as a member has long been riven by sectarian anger, divisions she has worked to mend since taking the helm last year of the Paris-based United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation.

At the UN, she will co-host a meeting on fighting anti-Semitism and other discrimination through teaching about different religions and cultures. "It will exhort the member states to mobilise to promote as a lever of prevention of racism and discrimination, and by extension, violent extremism," she said.

UNESCO has drawn up made-to-measure guides for educators in different countries, notably addressing anti-Semitism and anti-Muslim attitudes.

But the U.N. body can't force governments to use them, and it is especially difficult in poor countries to ensure uniform teaching messages. Diplomats at UNESCO praise Azoulay's efforts to overcome Arab-Israeli tensions within UNESCO, and some say her Moroccan-Jewish heritage helped her earn respect on both sides, though she doesn't bring it up publicly.

She says she's just trying to clear the air so that UNESCO can get more work done. "Since I took office, we have committed to an effort to mediate the political tensions that weighed on the good work of the institution," she said.

The Palestinian membership vote in 2011 gutted UNESCO's finances and led to U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to quit.

In some ways, Azoulay is the antithesis of Trump. She courts both Israelis and Palestinians, wants more public spending on education and culture, and says countries should set aside self-interest and work together to solve the world's problems.

The UN General Assembly "shows with great strength the relevance of multilateralism. We need more than ever to address the challenges of tomorrow's world together.

Multilateralism is an opportunity to build a better world in the face of the challenges that each state, however powerful it is, cannot resolve alone." Azoulay will also work this week to persuade world leaders to get more girls to go to school and stay there, co-hosting an event with Canada, Britain and France called "Leave No Girls Behind."



Some 17 million girls around the world are expected to never enter school, and millions more drop out early.

UNESCO worked with other agencies to publish a guide this year for schools and governments on sexual education, and has worked to fight discrimination against LGBT students.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The United States on Sunday condemned the deadly attack on a military parade in Iran but said the country's clerical rulers needed to look at reasons for unrest.

"The United States condemns any terrorist attack anywhere, period. We've always stood by that," Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the United Nations, told CNN.

But she said of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani: "He has oppressed his people for a long time." "He needs to look at his own base to figure out where that's coming from. I think the Iranian people have had enough and that's where all of this is coming from."



At least 29 people were killed when suspected Arab separatists in southwestern Iran opened fire Saturday on a parade commemorating the start of the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war.

Iran pinned the blame on an unnamed US-backed Gulf state for allegedly supporting the militants.

The attack, which is rare for Iran, was claimed by the Islamic State group, which is made up of Sunni Muslim extremists staunchly opposed to the Shiite clerical state in Iran.

US President Donald Trump's administration has piled pressure on Iran, with national security adviser John Bolton and other officials in the past calling for supporting anti-government forces within the country. Haley, however, repeated the administration position: "We're not looking to do a regime change in Iran or anywhere.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Value fashion and lifestyle products retailer V-Mart Retail, which primarily operates in smaller towns, is evaluating a omni-channel (offline and online retail) strategy to expand business and reach its customers.

The company is also looking at investing Rs 100 crore next fiscal to open new stores and setting up a new warehouse.

V-Mart primarily operates in tier II, tier III and tier IV cities and follows a cluster-based model approach to expand and has a set a target to invest Rs 300 crore to double store count and treble its turnover to Rs 3,500 crore in the next five years.

"We are considering an omni-channel strategy and plan to get into online retail to reach our customers. It may happen by end of next year," V-Mart Retail chairman and managing director Lalit Agarwal told PTI.

It currently operates about 185 outlets in over a dozen states in India. The company plans to add more than 200 stores in the next five years to create a network of 400 outlets.

In 2017-18, the company had reported a revenue of over Rs 1,200 crore.

The company also plans to invest Rs 100 crore next fiscal to open new stores and set up a new warehouse in the country.

"We are looking at setting up a new warehouse to service our stores. It will come up in Uttar Pradesh or Bihar," Agarwal said.

About 75 per cent of V-Mart's stores are located in just four states -- Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand and Bihar.

V-Mart, at present, has a distribution centre located near Gurgaon to service all its stores.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A city-based doctor has announced that he would perform ankle surgeries at his hospital free of cost for patients belonging to the Below Poverty Line (BPL) category.

Dr Rajiv Shah of Sunshine Global Hospital, who is also past president of the Indian Foot and Ankle Council, said many patients can not afford this surgery as it is costly.

He said he was inspired to offer the surgery free of cost by the Ayushman Bharat insurance scheme of the government.

The surgery involves correcting the position of the 'Talus' bone in the ankle, he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Palo Alto-based IT firm VMware sees India as one of its fastest growing markets in Asia Pacific region and expects business in the country to surpass its overall growth rate of 15 per cent in terms of order bookings.

"We have been growing 15 per cent a year in terms of bookings. We expect India to grow much faster than that. We are talking 5-10 year journey. There is big growth opportunity in India," Rajiv Ramaswami, Chief Operating Officer, Products and Cloud Services at VMware, told PTI.

VMware deals in virtualisation technology which reduced need of building or deploying physical infrastructure required for businesses. It even works on technology that reduces need of several electronic hardware like desktop CPUs, mobile antennas etc deployed for technical operation of companies.

Ramaswami said virtualisation is less than 50 per cent in India, somewhere in the range of 30-40 per cent, while in the US it is probably 80 per cent and hence there is a lot of growth opportunity in the country.

He said that many customers of VMware have built their own cloud computing infrastructure and are further deploying its technology to scale up their operations like Bharti Airtel and SBI.

"There are some which are fairly advanced and very modern. BookMyShow is customer of ours that I would say is very modern but that is minority. Some public sector firms are hardly even virtualised. They are looking (to) build modern infrastructure," Ramaswami said.

He said that the concept of public cloud adoption, data centres shared by other users, is fairy at young stage in India.

VMware India Managing Director Arun Kumar Parameswaran said India has enough appetite for growth with most of them looking to shift their manual operations to automation and with technology price dropping to level that is consumable in the country.

"Among verticals, biggest opportunity I see is government. If we see next three years, government will clearly stand out as the largest spender and also because of scale. We continue to see financial services sector to be close second," Parameswaran said.

He said that even large Indian IT companies today ask for signing visitor registers which need to change with automation.

"In last 12 months, we have seen most of the action. Smart city project of the government, smart grids, government cloud, oil and steel public sector units are all are going to drive growth...," Parameswaran said.

He said companies in India are under pressure to adopt automation to enhance customer experience like expansion of online banking services, virtual showrooms are being developed by automobile companies etc which will drive adoption of virtualisation.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Delhi High Court has asked the AAP government by when it can shift students from one of its schools, the building of which is 99 years old and in a dilapidated state, saying it was concerned with the safety of the children.

A bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice V K Rao asked the Delhi government to file a status report indicating by when the students would be accommodated in other schools and the time frame for repairing or reconstructing the building.

The court, however, made it clear that the structure in question should not be used for anything else in its present condition as it could cave in any time according to an affidavit submitted by the Delhi government.

The directions from the bench came on a PIL by NGO Social Jurist which has alleged that Rajputana Rifles Heroes Memorial Senior Secondary School in Delhi Cantonment, taken over by the Delhi government in 1975 and getting 100 per cent aid from it, was in a horrible condition.

The Directorate of (DoE) of the Delhi government had earlier told the court that a joint inspection of the building in question had revealed that it was constructed in 1919 and has outlived its useful life and was unsuitable for habitation.

Advocate Ashok Agarwal, appearing for the NGO, had earlier said around 450 students are studying in the school and they have been unjustly deprived of adequate physical infrastructure and academic faculty to educate them.

The plea has said though the school is open for all, it mainly caters to the children of servants of military officials who are not in a position to educate their kids in private school.

It has alleged that the school lacks basic amenities, including potable drinking water, functional toilets, science and computer labs, clean classrooms and proper boundary wall and several posts of teaching staff are lying vacant.

The petition has sought direction that the existing building of the school be demolished and rebuilt as a state-of -the-art school.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The White House has doubted the sexual assault allegation by a California professor against Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh at a house party attended by four others, arguing that they have denied any knowledge of the incident or having attended the party.

Ford had alleged that Kavanaugh had sexually assaulted her at a house party some 36 years ago in suburban Washington, a charge denied by Justice Kavanaugh.

"One week ago, Dr Christine Blasey Ford claimed she was assaulted at a house party attended by four others. Since then, all four of these individuals have provided statements to the Senate Judiciary Committee denying any knowledge of the incident or even having attended such a party," White House spokesperson Kerri Kupec said in a late-night statement on Saturday.

The statement came after Ford accepted a request from the Senate Judiciary Committee to testify on her allegations against Justice Kavanaugh. The confirmation of Kavanaugh as a Supreme Court judge now hinges on this hearing.

The Senate Judiciary Committee and lawyers of Ford have agreed to a hearing on Thursday, according to media reports.

On September 16, the Washington Post reported on Dr Ford's allegation of sexual assault taking place at a party attended by Judge Kavanaugh and three other individuals.

The next day, Judge Kavanaugh issued a statement, saying: "This is a completely false allegation." He urged the Committee to allow him to testify publicly, and in an interview with Committee Counsel, repeated his categorical denial.

A day later, one of the witness, Mark Judge issued a statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee, saying: "I have no memory of the alleged incident. I do not recall the party described.", the statement said.

On September 19, another witness, Patrick "PJ" Smyth issued a statement to the Committee, stating "I have no knowledge of the party in question; nor do I have any knowledge of the allegations of improper conduct she has levelled against Brett Kavanaugh."



According to the White House, on Saturday, Leland Keyser, another witness, issued a statement to the Committee through her counsel, stating "Ms Keyser does not know Mr Kavanaugh and she has no recollection of ever being at a party or gathering where he was present, with, or without, Dr Ford."



"Brett Kavanaugh has been clear from the beginning -- he categorically and unequivocally denies this allegation and is eager to testify publicly to defend his integrity and clear his good name," Kupec said.

"On Monday, Brett Kavanaugh met with Committee counsels to answer questions subject to criminal penalties and offered to testify publicly Tuesday morning. Since then, we have heard about different dates, conditions, and ever changing schedules, but today we appear no closer to a fair hearing.

"But one thing has remained consistent: Brett Kavanaugh remains ready, willing and eager to testify as soon as possible," the White House spokesperson said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A 40-year-old woman has been arrested from south Delhi for allegedly running a racket selling children, police said on Sunday.

The woman, Kavita, is suspected to be the kingpin of the racket selling babies to childless couples at prices ranging between Rs 2lakh and Rs 5 lakh, they said.

The accused was held three days ago and a court has sent her to police remand, police said, adding two babies have been recovered after her arrest.

The racket came to the notice of Delhi Police last month, following which two police personnel met one of the accused posing as a childless couple. The accused was arrested and four children were rescued from him.

One of the four children died at the hospital later. It was later revealed that the baby belonged to a minor girl who had become pregnant after being allegedly raped in outer Delhi, police said.

More arrests were made but Kavita was on the run. She was finally arrested after she came to her house in south Delhi, they said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)By Ahmad Ghaddar and Olesya AstakhovaALGIERS (Reuters) - OPEC and its allies reduced oil output in August as a drop in Iranian supply due to U.S. sanctions derailed their attempts to raise production to agreed levels, delegates said on Saturday as the energy producers prepared to hold talks in Algiers.The development further raises pressure on the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to boost supply amid calls from U.S. President Donald Trump to lower oil prices.On Friday, a source familiar with the discussions told Reuters OPEC and its allies led by Russia were considering the ...OPEC's leader Saudi Arabia and its biggest oil-producer ally outside the group, Russia, ruled out on Sunday any immediate, additional increase in crude output, effectively rebuffing US President Donald Trump's calls for action to cool the market. "I do not influence prices," Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih told reporters in Algiers ahead of a meeting of OPEC and non-OPEC energy ministers. Benchmark Brent oil reached $80 a barrel this month, prompting Trump to reiterate on Thursday his demand that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries lower ...NEW DELHI (Reuters) - The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) are closely monitoring developments in financial markets and are ready to take appropriate steps if needed, a central bank statement said on Sunday.The statement comes after the Indian stocks, forex and bonds market turned volatile on Friday on worries over weak balance sheets of India's non-banking finance companies.The rupee, Asia's worst performing currency this year against the U.S. dollar, has lost about 12 percent of its value against the U.S. currency so far, ...Rebutting allegations surrounding the Rafale deal, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has said the deal is clean and will not be cancelled. In an interview to ANI, Jaitley said that it is for the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) to examine whether the planes were bought at a higher price or not. He asserted that the Rafale fighter jets are being purchased at a cheaper rate than what has been negotiated by the UPA government and all these facts and figures will be placed before CAG for consideration.

"Fortunately, there is pricing, and for security interest, that pricing can't be disclosed in detail. But I have come as close to this. If you take a weaponised aircraft as of 2007, add the same two things to it again and bring it to 2016 level, the 2016 level is 20 per cent cheaper. Now the CAG will go into pricing. They may not eventually disclose it, but about being 9 per cent and 20 per cent cheaper or not, they are looking into it. Congress has submitted a memorandum. The truth will come out," Jailtey said during the ANI interview.

During the interview, Jaitley raised fingers on how Hollande's comment came only days after Rahul Gandhi's cryptic tweet which warned of some big revelation regarding the Rafale deal in coming weeks.

"I think he (Rahul Gandhi) is in some kind of a revenge mode. I won't be surprised if the whole thing is being orchestrated. On August 30, why did he (Rahul) tweet "Just wait for a while, some bombs are going to be burst in Paris"? And then what happens is in perfect rhythm with what he predicted," Jaitley said.

Jaitley connected Hollande's statement on September 21 stating that the French government was asked to choose Anil Ambani's Reliance Defence for the Rafale deal with a tweet by Congress president Rahul Gandhi which warned of 'some big bunker buster bombs in the next couple of weeks' regarding the deal.

Rahul Gandhi had tweeted on August 31: "Globalised corruption. This #Rafale aircraft really does fly far and fast! It's also going to drop some big bunker buster bombs in the next couple of weeks. Modi Ji please tell Anil, there is a big problem in France," the Congress president had said in the tweet.

On September 21, Hollande told French journal Mediapart that the Reliance Defence was proposed as Offset partner by the Indian government and the French government had no say in it. However, Hollande backtracked soon after and told international news agency AFP in Canada that he did not know whether Dassault was pressurised by the Indian government to work with Reliance and "only Dassault can comment on this".

Meanwhile, Dassault Aviation and the French government refuted Hollande's claims that the Rafale making company was forced by the Indian government to work with Reliance Defence as an Offset partner in the contract. While Dassault has said that its association with Reliance Defence is in accordance to the Make in India policy, both Indian and French governments have said that the aviation company has selected Anil Ambani's company of its own accord.

"The offset contract ensures investment by the original equipment supplier i.e. Dassault Aviation, in India, in as much as they make purchases from Indian companies to the extent of fifty percent (in this case). The choice of the offset partner under the 2005 offset policy is of M/s Dassault Aviation and they have selected several public and private sector companies to make the supplies." Jaitley said.

Edited by Vivek Punj

Also Read: Rafale deal: Rahul Gandhi says PM Modi must clarify stand on Hollande's remarks on Anil Ambani's Reliance DefenceThe Reserve Bank of India has called the shareholders of Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services for a meeting next week as the company continues to default on its payment obligations. The central bank will meet IL&FS meeting on September 28 to talk about the recent set of defaults by IL&FS and its subsidiaries, said a Bloomberg report. The meeting will be chaired by a RBI deputy governor, the report further added.

Along with the defaults by IL&FS, the agenda for the meeting will also include discussion on a capital infusion plan, the report said. The shareholders will take up the capital infusion plan at the annual general meeting of IL&FS scheduled a day after the meeting on September 29.

LIC is the largest shareholder in IL&FS with 25.34 per cent stake in the company, followed by Japan's Orix Corporate, which has 23.54 per cent stake in the beleaguered company. The State Bank of India has 6.42 per cent stake in IL&FS.

The RBI has already initiated a special audit of IL&FS after it failed to repay inter-corporate deposits worth Rs 450 crore to Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI). The infrastructure development and finance company has continued to default on its debt obligations through September. The company informed the regulators on Friday earlier this week that it has defaulted on Letter of Credit (LC) obligations to IDBI Bank.

In a separate notification on the same day, the company informed that Ramesh C Bawa, the MD and CEO of its financial services IL&FS Financial Services (IFIN) has resigned with immediate effect. Along with Bawa, four independent directors Renu Challu, Shhubhalakshmi Panse, Uday Ved and SS Kohli, and non-executive director Vibhav Kapoor have also stepped down from the board of IFIN.

IL&FS Transportation Networks (ITNL), another subsidiary of IL&FS Limited, has re-designated its Chief Financial Officer Dilip Bhatia and awarded him the responsibility of asset monetisation.

"We hereby inform that considering the strategic priority of monetisation of the Company's project assets and generating liquidity, the Board of Directors at its meeting held today re-designated Mr Dilip Bhatia, as Chief Strategy Officer responsible for divestment of assets and other strategic initiatives on a dedicated basis," the company said in a stock exchange filing.

Edited by Vivek PunjThe White House has drafted an executive order for President Donald Trump that would instruct law enforcement agencies to initiate probe into business practices of Facebook, Google, Twitter and other social media platforms. According to a Bloomberg report, the draft is still in a nascent stage and hasn't been run past other government agencies.

The draft order instructs anti-trust authorities in the United States to thoroughly investigate whether any online platform has acted in violation of anti-trust laws, the report said. The document also instructs other government agencies to recommend actions within a month to protect competition among online platforms and address online platform bias.

The draft order directs federal agencies to take actions in line with the existing laws. This might amount to acknowledging concerns that the draft order could be in conflict with the First Amendment or threaten the traditional independence of US law enforcement, the report said

While the order does not name any specific company, it will establish Trump's hostility towards social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and such, whom he had openly accused of curbing conservative opinions and news sources online.

Social media companies have maintained in the past that there are no conscious efforts to silence conservative voices online, but political figures from both left and right factions have been wrongly penalised in their efforts to enforce prohibitions against online harassment.

The draft executive order came to light when Attorney General Jeff Sessions was preparing for a meeting with state attorney generals who were already looking into the tech companies' business practices. This meeting on September 25 will help Sessions assess if there is a federal case to be made against the companies, the Bloomberg report said while quoting two individuals familiar with the matter.

Edited by Vivek Punj with agencies' inputnews, latest-news

On Friday, filmmaker James Ricketson was facing another six years in Cambodia's notorious Prey Sar prison in a cramped, lice-ridden cell where inmates have to take turns to lie down. Tonight, he walked through the bright lights of Sydney Airport a free man. Ricketson landed safely, aboard a Thai Airways flight, in Sydney just before 8pm, physically and emotionally exhausted, after spending the previous day in immigration detention. As Ricketson, 69, emerged to face the waiting media, he wore a big smile. My 15 minutes of fame! he exclaimed as he pushed his baggage trolley in front. Its fantastic to be back in Australia. 48 hours ago I was in a maximum security cell, so this is all a bit of a culture shock," he said. Mr Ricketson thanked his family for their support over the past 15 months of his ordeal. "Theyve supported me enormously the last 15 months. Without their help I dont think Id be here." The documentary filmmaker, found guilty of espionage last month in a court case widely criticised as a sham, has had a dramatic reversal of fortunes in the 48 hours since receiving a royal pardon. Ricketson reserved a special thanks for his son Jesse and partner Alex for moving to Cambodia to help secure his release. "I appreciate that enormously because thats a huge sacrifice and an indication in action of the love that they have for me." The ordeal began in June 2017, when Ricketson was arrested for flying a drone over an opposition rally, taking photographs of the heavy security presence. Having lived and worked in Cambodia for 22 years, Ricketson's work largely focused on the underprivileged, including documenting the lives of children who scavenged on a large rubbish dump on the outskirts of Phnom Penh. He was an outspoken critic of the so-called Cambodia solution, a controversial scheme under which Australia resettled four refugees. Ricketson spent a year in pre-trial detention, and his trial in August was widely criticised by observers and human rights advocates as unjust. Ricketson said his love for Cambodia was undiminished, pledging to return as soon as his health allowed. "My relationship with Cambodia has been a 20-year love affair and the last 15, almost 16 months has been like a lovers' quarrel," he said. "I'll be going back as soon as I can but I'll need to recover, obviously. I need to spend some time with myself and some time with my family." "I dont love Cambodia any less now as a result of what has happened. In fact if anything I love it more." Asked what he was most looking forward to doing, he was unequivocal: A swim in the ocean! Daughter Roxanne Holmes said it was wonderful to have her father home. "Were all really elated, excited," she said. She told Fairfax Media immediately after the pardon was announced that it came "out of the blue" but the family was incredibly grateful for the support they had received, including more than 107,000 people who signed the Change.org petition. "But the first thing he will want to do is to have some space, get some medical treatment," she had said. Ricketson confessed to being exhausted. "I dont want to wind up saying the wrong things in a state of being in tiredness and shock." Asked whether he was frustrated by the Australian government's handling of his case, Mr Ricketson was cagey. Let me just say there is room for improvement, but Ill leave it at that. I really need to go home and go to bed. "I do have a good story to tell, but now at the airport is definitely not the right time to tell it. Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director of Human Rights Watch, said "the 14 months of hell" Ricketson endured should not be forgotten in light of the pardon. No one should overlook the bogus criminal charge of espionage and how the Cambodian government cruelly used him as a pawn to give substance to their fantasy political conspiracy of a so-called colour revolution," Mr Robertson said in a statement. "Apparently now that Prime Minister Hun Sen has destroyed the political opposition and garnered all the seats in Parliament, he gave the green light to let Ricketson go. This very welcome release does not erase the shameful procession of farcical questions and evidence that a Cambodian kangaroo court used to convict Ricketson nor the reputational damage this case has brought to the Cambodian judiciary. "I hope that after he is reunited with his family, he will give a full reporting about all that has happened to him, and the injustices he suffered at the hands of the Cambodian government and judiciary. Obviously, we wish him all the best and hope he makes a full recovery from this long and unjust ordeal." Australian journalist Alan Parkhouse first encountered Ricketson seven years ago when he was the editor-in-chief of the Phnom Penh Post, and has covered the court case extensively. "I'm very pleased James has been released," Parkhouse said. "But it's wrong that he was even arrested in the first place. And it's a travesty he had to spend so long in such difficult conditions as Prey Sar prison. Many people in Cambodia wonder if there was an ulterior motive for his arrest. He was never a spy and liking or even supporting the former opposition party is not a crime."

/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/silverstone-ct-migration/7f4bb145-ae05-4d36-8eec-93ee35cfa0a6/r0_195_3753_2315_w1200_h678_fmax.jpgOur Promise: Welcome to Care2, the world's largest community for good. Here, you'll find over 45 million like-minded people working towards progress, kindness, and lasting impact.

Care2 Stands Against: bigots, racists, bullies, science deniers, misogynists, gun lobbyists, xenophobes, the willfully ignorant, animal abusers, frackers, and other mean people. If you find yourself aligning with any of those folks, you can move along, nothing to see here.

Care2 Stands With: humanitarians, animal lovers, feminists, rabble-rousers, nature-buffs, creatives, the naturally curious, and people who really love to do the right thing.

You are our people. You Care. We Care2.Photo: The Canadian Press

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Sunday he has confidence in the ability of the Spanish government and its people to resolve the Catalan secession crisis in a way that respects freedom of expression.

Trudeau made the comment in Montreal on Sunday, where he hosted a series of meetings with his Spanish counterpart, Pedro Sanchez.

Speaking at joint news conference, Trudeau was asked whether he supports the right of the northeastern Spanish province to vote in a referendum on independence, as the people of Quebec have done twice, in 1980 and 1995.

"Obviously I recognize this is a delicate internal matter and I have confidence in the Spanish people and all different governments to move forward with a way that is respectful with freedom of expression, of values, human rights, the rule of law and the Spanish constitution," Trudeau said.

Trudeau added in French that he believed "all levels of government" were working towards a solution, and that the discussion wasn't one that came up in his discussions with Sanchez.

Thousands of Catalan pro-independence activists protested in Barcelona last week to mark the anniversary of demonstrations that fired up the regions secessionist drive.

More protests are planned to mark the anniversary of the Oct. 1 Catalan referendum and a subsequent failed declaration of independence after the referendum was declared illegal by the Spanish government.

In the wake of last October's failed referendum, Quebec's political parties unanimously adopted a motion condemning what they called the "authoritarianism" of the Spanish government's actions in Catalonia.

And while Trudeau told reporters that "Canada recognizes one united Spain," some prominent nationalists called on Canada to recognize an independent Catalonia.

Earlier on Sunday, Trudeau and Sanchez attended a military welcome and held a bilateral meeting that touched on gender equality, security, migration, and the trading relationship between the two countries, Trudeau said.

Sanchez added that the meeting was important in the context of this week's United Nations General Assembly in New York in order to "give a common message ... in order to strengthen multilateral organizations such as the United Nations."

Their day was set to conclude with a moderated armchair discussion as part of the Canada 2020 Global Progress Summit.

It was the second formal meeting for Trudeau and Sanchez, who first met at the NATO summit in Belgium in July, shortly after Sanchez was sworn in as prime minister.

Sanchez said it was the first time since 2002 that a Spanish prime minister has made an official trip to Canada.Mr James Ricketson, 69, was sentenced in late August following his arrest in June past year after he flew a drone over a rally held by the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), which was effectively banned months later.

Hun Sen has been prime minister for 33 years and won re-election in July in a vote decried by rights group and western countries as fixed, considering Hun Sen had the only credible opposition party dissolved by the courts last year.

Australian filmmaker James Ricketson shouts inside a prison truck as he leaves the Municipal Court of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, August 31, 2018.

A spokesman for immigration police says James Ricketson will be deported on Saturday a day after being released from prison. The recent releases come as he prepares to attend this month's U.N. General Assembly session in NY, where he intends to defend his mandate as legitimate.

His arrest was part of a wider crackdown on dissent by the increasingly authoritarian government.

The decree was signed by Say Chhum, a leading member of the ruling Cambodian People's Party, while King Norodom Sihamoni is on a visit to China. He had been detained without bail since June past year in harsh conditions. The filmmaker has always insisted that he was making an unbiased documentary on the election.

His lawyer, Kong Sam Onn, said legal papers required for his release had been issued and his client could be bound for Australia shortly.

Ricketson had said during his trial that he wished to re-establish a project that he had launched before his arrest to buy some land to resettle several poor Cambodian families who have been living at a garbage dump.Boy band BTS' global status as K-pop superstars has reached another milestone after it was announced they will speak at a launching of a new initiative by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) to be held during the duration of the 73rd Session of the UN General Assembly in New York City.

BTS had previously partnered with UNICEF to launch a global campaign dubbed "Love Myself", an initiative that calls for an end to violence against children and teenagers, last November, as an extension of its mainstay "Love Yourself" narrative.

We might be used to seeing them on stage singing, but K-Pop stars BTS are getting ready for a slightly different audience.

The source said the K-pop boy band will attend the ceremonial event for "Generation Unlimited", which is a new UNICEF global partnership aimed at teens and young adults aged between ten and 24.

They will attend an event for a project called "Generation Unlimited" by UNICEF which is "dedicated to increasing opportunities and investments for children and young people" and give a three-minute speech in English on September 24. In fact, with the donations BTS, and their CEO, Bang Si-hyuk, have contributed, and also the money ARMYs have raised, BTS' #LoveMyself campaign has successfully raised over $1 million for UNICEF.

As of June this year, the Love Myself campaign has raised over US$1 million. Additionally, BTS has also pledged to donate part of the profit from their Love Yourself series as well as from the sales of the campaign merchandise.

The Korean boy group has been very vocal about several social issues.

The first lady of South Korea Kim Jong Sook is scheduled to attend as well. The assembly of the UN's 192-member nations has begun on September 18.

BTS are now in North America for their Love Yourself world tour.Depending on how closely you follow the British royal family, you may know that Queen Elizabeth II has some bizarre powers as the United Kingdoms monarch, such as eating swans and stealing children. Luckily, theres no evidence that she exercises either of those powers. But does she have any sway in the British political process?

Under the British Constitution, Queen Elizabeth II has quite a few powers and privileges. Ahead, discover some of the things that the queen has the power to do.

She can open and close Parliament sessions

Royal Central reports that many of Queen Elizabeth IIs political powers are largely ceremonial. One easy example is her ability to summon and prorogue Parliament, essentially opening and closing Parliamentary sessions. Readers Digest points out that Parliament (not the royal family) is the United Kingdoms highest governing body. The queen has to officially open the session every May to begin the Parliamentary year.

That involves a ceremony where Queen Elizabeth II leads a procession through the Royal Gallery at the Palace of Westminster and then gives a formal address to both Houses of Parliament. In fact, its the only event where the House of Lords, the House of Commons, and the queen gather together. Readers Digest notes that the queen also technically has the power to fire everyone in the House of Commons and hold an election  but shes never used this power, and the last time a monarch did was in 1830.

Queen Elizabeth II has to sign off on new laws

Another of Queen Elizabeth IIs ceremonial  but important  political powers is the Royal Assent. Parliament makes laws, but the queen must sign off on proposed bills before they can go into effect. By giving the Royal Assent, she approves the proposed law. She technically also can reject bills. But the last monarch to do that was Queen Anne, who in 1708 vetoed a measure that would have restored the Scottish militia.

Royal Central reports that the queen also has the power to create secondary legislation. She can create Orders-in-Council and Letters Patent, which regulate matters relating to the crown, such as titles and precedence. The queen famously signed off on the 2013 Succession to the Crown Act, which discarded the centuries-old system of male-preference primogeniture to ensure that female heirs  like Princess Charlotte  wont lose their places in the line of succession to younger brothers, as happened to Princess Anne.

She can appoint Ministers to the Crown, and pardon criminals

Readers Digest reports that Queen Elizabeth II also has the power to appoint Ministers to the Crown. While most government officials in the United Kingdom have to be voted into office, the queen can select advisors and cabinet officials herself. Royal Central notes that the queen is also responsible for appointing the Prime Minister after a general election or a resignation.

Other interesting political powers Queen Elizabeth II has? The sovereign retains the power to declare war against other nations. However, as Royal Central notes, the Prime Minister and Parliament usually do this, in practice. And the last monarch to declare war was King George VI, Elizabeths father, who declared war on Nazi Germany in 1939. The queen can also grant a royal pardon to anyone convicted of a crime, and in 2013, she granted a posthumous pardon to World War II codebreaker Alan Turing. And under British law, the queen cannot be prosecuted and is free from civil action.

The queen is technically responsible for issuing passports and commanding the British military

Queen Elizabeth II also has powers that ministers exercise for her. For instance, Readers Digest reports that anyone with a British passport technically has it thanks to the queen. Each one is issued in her name, even though other people do the work for her.

The queen is also the Commander-in-Chief of the United Kingdoms military, and all British soldiers have to swear an oath to her before they officially join. With the power to command the army, though, comes the power to delegate that duty as well, Readers Digest explains. The Queen can assign the position of Commander-in-Chief to another government official, most commonly the Prime Minister or the Secretary of State for Defence.

Queen Elizabeth II can bestow honors on individuals

Royal Central reports that One of the main prerogative powers that are still used personally by The Queen these days is the power to grant honours. As all honours derive from the Crown, The Queen has the final say on knighthoods, peerages and the like.

She can create peerages for people, either life peerages or hereditary ones (though she hasnt done the latter in decades). The queen can also create orders of knighthood. And she can grant any citizen honours ranging from the Royal Victorian Order to the Order of the Garter, or making someone a Knight or Dame.

Read more: This Is the Real Reason Why Queen Elizabeth II Didnt Expect to Be Queen

Check out The Cheat Sheet on Facebook!In honor of veterans: Here is how Pueblo honors its military heroesCol Wu Qian, a spokesman for the ministry of national defence said that the military cooperation between China and Russian Federation is within the normal range of cooperation between sovereign states in accordance with worldwide laws, and the USA has no right to interfere.

Three days before the sanctions were announced, Trump announced 10 per cent tariffs on US$200 billion worth of Chinese products, which will take effect on Monday, significantly widening the scope of a trade war.

It added that China's military reserved the right to take further countermeasures, without giving further details. Under the sanctions law, China's Equipment Development Department, along with its chief Li Shangfu, will be prohibited from accessing the USA financial system and any assets they hold in the U.S. will be frozen.

The purchase violated a 2017 law meant to punish the government of President Vladimir Putin for interfering in USA elections and other activities.

U.S. State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said in a statement that China's Equipment Development Department and director Li Shangfu made a "significant transaction" involving the purchase of Su-35 combat aircraft in 2017 and S-400 surface-to-air missile system-related equipment in 2018.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that while there was no confirmed meeting between the United States and China, the two countries "remain in touch".

"We strongly urge the U.S. to immediately correct this mistake and rescind the sanctions, or else the USA will bear the consequences", Geng warned.

The missile system will strengthen India's air defence system and once procured could be used along the India-China border, sources say.

Russia has deployed S-400s in Syria, according to official Russian news media, and USA officials have been discussing the interest other nations, particularly North Atlantic Treaty Organisation ally Turkey, have expressed in buying the system.

Trump also warned China against any retaliation, saying if Beijing retaliated this time then the United States would impose further tariffs on another Dollars 267 billion worth of products virtually covering nearly all Chinese exports to the U.S. totalling about USD 522.9 billion. "We hope it will be paid attention to because. our goal is to prevent these types of transactions", he added.

According to reports, the US government on Friday said that purchase of military platforms like the Triumf from Russian Federation would be considered as a "significant transaction" and could impose sanctions as US President Donald Trump signed an executive order to the effect.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said Friday that Beijing has lodged stern complaints with Washington over the sanctions and demands they be revoked.

Friday, the Russian government warned that the new sanctions - the 60th round against Moscow since 2011 - could lead to trouble for the United States.Pastors in China Prepare to Lose Their Lives for Preaching the Gospel, Defying Communist Crackdown Christian Post Contributor | 23 September, 2018 by Stoyan Zaimov

In the face of an ongoing Communist crackdown, pastors in China have vowed to continue preaching the Gospel, even if it costs them their lives.

Aaron Ma, a representative of Open Doors' Ministry in China, told The Christian Post in an email on Thursday that the watchdog group has so far heard of one case of Bible burning in the country.

"In this case, the authority confiscated belongings of the churches (including Bibles) and burnt them all," Ma said.

The incident, where Communist Party officials burned Bibles and crosses in Henan, was captured on video and shared online earlier this month by activists, including ChinaAid President Bob Fu, whose group monitors the persecution of believers in China.

Concern has also risen over instances where state officials have been forcing some Christians to sign papers rejecting their faith.

Ma relayed information from local Chinese pastors who revealed that the people pressured to sign such papers are secondary school students.

"They are tempted [and] threatened not to admit their Christian faith in order to avoid trouble. Their Christian faith is being challenged and tested," the Open Doors representative explained.

As for how much weight such renunciation papers carry, and whether the believers who sign them are indeed considered to have left Christianity, he said:

"Whether they would leave the Christian faith would depend on how their pastors, and brothers and sisters in churches guide and encourage them to re-build their faith."

Ma noted that the circumstances leading to the increasing crackdown on churches in recent years has been building for decades. While the country has had different religious regulations to manage religious activities, since the Open Policy on economic development in the 1980s, enforcement of such regulation had been loosened.

This allowed for churches to bloom throughout several provinces after the 2000s, with only larger unregistered churches with close overseas connections experiencing sporadic crackdowns.

President Xi Jinping, and especially the revised religious regulations that took effect in February, have changed things.

Ma said the regulations have led to more cases of shutting down churches, confiscation of church property, and the growing threat of landlords refusing to lease premises for church meetings.

"Along with the enforcement of revised religious regulation in February 2018 and increasing pressure of banning church meetings in unregistered religious venues, more and more local churches are preparing to divide into small groups for church meetings (depending on the region, some from 200 to less than 100, some from 100 to 30, some from 30 to 10), or even revert back to house meetings," he added.

Ma explained that, generally speaking, Chinese Christians, with the exception of civil servants, can profess their faith openly, but noted that it depends on the region and how much the religious restrictions are enforced.

Ma said that Chinese Christians have "different kinds of fear."

"For example, pastors may fear their believers may not be able to stand strong under this wave of persecution," he continued.

"Youth Christians and their parents under the threat of being tempted to renounce faith on paper probably fear about their future (before this wave of persecution, youth Christians face a lot of struggles under this materialistic society)."

He suggested that churches can keep a low profile and avoid involving foreign parties in a significant way in their ministries in order to escape attracting the attention of authorities.

"Open Doors mobilizes our supporters to pray that Chinese churches would have wisdom and strength to deal with the difficult situation," Ma added.

Recently, some very notable churches, including Zion, the largest unofficial Protestant house of worship in Beijing, have been shut down and accused by authorities of holding "illegal promotional materials."

The crackdown, which for years has also seen the removal of church rooftop crosses, now appears to be moving to the digital world. China Christian Daily reported on draft guidelines issued on Sept. 10 by the State Administration for Religious Affairs, which are set to be the country's first regulation on religious messaging services.

The draft, which claims it's supposed to suppress extremists and combat criminal activities, would place regulations on religious doctrines, knowledge, and other activities spread online.

The regulations would ban religious bodies from preaching outside of their own network platforms, or from streaming videos of worshiping. What is more, the draft places a ban on people using religion to criticize the Communist Party and the socialist system.

Tenzin Dorjee, chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, separately told CP in an email Monday that under Xi's "clenching fist," the government is targeting religious believers, including Christians, like never before.

He pointed to various instances of Communist officials sentencing members of unregistered church groups to prison and accusing them of belonging to "evil cults." He also criticized the ongoing demolition of church buildings, such as the Golden Lampstand Church in Shanxi Province.

"At a time when faith is flourishing in China, Beijing is cracking down on religious believers, approving only those individuals and groups who agree to a rigid, socialist version of religion tightly controlled by the atheist government," Dorjee said.

"Anyone who runs afoul of Beijing by choosing to follow their own conscience is at risk of discrimination, harassment, detention or enforced disappearances, imprisonment, and even torture. No one is safe from Beijing's wrath," he added.

Other religious minorities have faced intense persecution as well, including nearly 1 million or so Uighur Muslims who are reportedly held in state "re-education camps" against their will.

Read more about Christians in China on The Christian Post.Email Whatsapp Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment

Almost 50 years ago, a great spiritual awakening known as "The Jesus Movement" swept across America. Time magazine called it the "Jesus Revolution", which is interesting, considering it was during the time of a sexual revolution as well. Moral standards were replaced with "free love", and sexual promiscuity was wildly rampant. And let's not forget about the drug revolution that took over the country as well.

The Beatles led the charge on this, starting with their early hit "I want to hold your hand", and then on to "I'd love to turn you on". Things got even darker in America, especially in 1968. Civil Rights leader, Martin Luther King, Jr., was assassinated in April, and just two months later, Presidential hopeful Robert F. Kennedy was shot and killed. He was the brother of President John Kennedy, was shot and killed in Dallas in 1964.

The country was reeling.

God decided to send a Jesus Revolution, and let me tell youit changed America dramatically, and in many ways, it saved an entire generation. It seems to me it's time for another spiritual revival. As believers, we want God to heal our land and change our nation for the better, but as we look at the problems in our country, it's sometimes easier to just point at someone else. We say that the problems in our country are because of the White House or Hollywood, but God says the source of the problems is actually His house, the church.

God lays out His prescription in 2 Chronicles 7:14: "If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land." Notice God says, "If My people who are called by My name..."

He doesn't say a thing about secular culture. He talks to His own peoplethat's you and me. We don't have time to point fingers when we're picking up our crosses and following after Him.

There's no doubt that America needs another spiritual awakening, but the church needs a revival just as bad. We often use the words revival and awakening interchangeably, but there is a distinction. An awakening is when a nation comes alive spirituallywhen it sees its need for God and turns to Him. A revival is when God's people come back to life again. Revival simply means to restore. It's time for the church to wake up and shine its light into a dark world.

"Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you." Ephesians 5:14

As C. S. Lewis once pointed out, "A moderately bad man knows he is not very good: a thoroughly bad man thinks he is all right. You understand sleep when you are awake, not while you are sleeping." In other words, if you think you're a great person with no problems, you are knocked out asleep and don't even realize it.

Revival is a choice to wake up, it's an intentional decision to get back to the Christian life as it was meant to be lived. Revival is being in the bloom of first love for a lifetime, walking closely with the Lord. You can't always have those initial emotions you had as a new believer, no more than you can have the same butterflies in your stomach you had when you first met your husband or wife to be. That is unrealistic, but here's the thing: your love can grow deeper, stronger and bolder, it just takes intentionality.

That is how we ought to be as followers of Jesus. We need the faith of the Christians of the first century that turned the world upside down. Revival is nothing more or less than a new obedience to God. Or as it has been described, "long obedience in the same direction."

Only God can send an awakening to America, but I believe whole-heartedly that revival can happen right here, right now. May it start with you and me.

Back in the days of the Jesus Movement, we used to do mass baptisms at Pirate's Cove beach in Southern California.

Thousands showed up and hundreds would be baptized.

Major news outlets showed up an did feature stories on this phenomena.

We just held a baptism in September of this year and we baptized over 550 people. It seems to me, if we want to see revival again, we should do 'revival-like' things.

Greg Laurie is the Pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship in Southern California and is also the Evangelist for the Harvest Crusades. Over 500,000 people have made professions of faith at these large-scale evangelistic events. Laurie is also the author of the newly released book, "Jesus Revolution" that he wrote with NY Times best-selling author, Ellen Vaughn.Email Whatsapp Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment

Recently, I learned the term "himpathy." This term is used to describe what happens when men rally around men who have been accused of something. They support them simply because they are men and they have put themselves in the shoes of the accused.

You know what I call it? The Old Boys' Club, the idea that men stick together no matter what. It's good in theory, but the reality is this band of brothers has created decades of pain and destruction. It led to the #MeToo and #ChurchToo movements.

After months of victims coming forward and sharing their stories, we declared change and vowed to do better. Then, just as we seemed to be making progress we have gone and taken two steps back. The sad fact is, when many men hear about sexual-assault allegations like the ones against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, they respond as if they are personally under attack.

In all the media coverage since the allegation against Kavanaugh became public, one quote grabbed my attention. Politico quotes a lawyer "close to the White House" as saying, "If somebody can be brought down by accusations like this, then you, me, every man certainly should be worried. We can all be accused of something."

What an awful thing to say about the state of relationships between men and women in this country! Men that feel this way lack the ability to sympathize with victims of sexual harassment.

But what if their wives or daughters were the victims? I am willing to bet they would look at the situation much differently.

The Bible tells us that as men we are to cherish, respect and love women as Christ loved the Church. But the way some of us are treating women is far from respectful. We have stopped viewing them as who they really are: a child of God, made in his image just like we were. Not only that, they are supposed to be our partners.

The Bible offers a blueprint for how men and women should work together in the story of Deborah and Barak in the Book of Judges. Deborah, a prophet and judge of Israel, calls on Barak to defeat the Canaanites. He agrees  on the condition that she come with him into battle. She consents, and together they win the battle and secure 40 years of peace for Israel.

If we really want to lead, then the smartest thing we could do is invite passionate and wise women into the battles we face. And equally important to note  you don't lose strength and attractiveness, you gain it!

The Old Boys' Club is not going to help us stop sexual harassment or inappropriate behavior; it got us into this problem and will only make it worse.Sept. 8

At 9:31 a.m., an officer was dispatched to the West U PD Lobby, in regard to a walk-in report of a theft.

Sept. 9

At 3:41 a.m., an officer observed a vehicle traveling northbound in the 5900 block of Buffalo Speedway at a high rate of speed. A traffic stop was conducted in the 3100 block of Quenby and after further investigation; the driver was arrested for suspicion of Driving While Intoxicated with open container.

At 8:53 a.m., an officer was dispatched to the West U PD Lobby, in regard to a report of found property.

An officer was dispatched to the Harris County Inmate Processing Center facility to pick up a prisoner in custody with outstanding West University Place warrants. The prisoner (Adrianne Sells-Carrillo) was transferred to the West University Jail facility and booked without incident.

Sept. 11

At 4:21 p.m., an officer was dispatched to the West U PD Lobby in reference to a theft that had already occurred.

Sept. 12

An officer observed a vehicle traveling southbound in the 6400 block of Weslayan with expired registration. A traffic stop was conducted and after further investigation, the driver was arrested for Driving While License Invalid.

At 9:16 a.m., an officer was dispatched to the 2900 block of Plumb in regard to a report of criminal mischief that had already occurred.

An Officer was dispatched to the West U PD Lobby to speak with a complainant in regards to a fraud report.

Sept. 13

At 3:05 a.m., officers were dispatched to a car alarm sounding in the 2600 block of Centenary. The reportee advised he noticed a vehicle in the roadway in front of his house with two males running away. Several minutes later, a vehicle matching that description was observed in the 2700 block of Pemberton and Annapolis. A traffic stop was conducted and one of the vehicles occupants exited and fled the scene on foot. The driver and one other occupant who remained in the vehicle were found to be in possession of stolen property resulting from the burglaries. The driver (Deaundre Thomas) was ultimately arrested for Fraudulent Use or Possession of Identifying Information. The passenger was arrested for open warrants.

Sept. 14

An Officer was dispatched to the 5300 block of Kirby in reference to a vehicle burglary that had already occurred.Willis ISDs Lynn Lucas Middle School Choir Director Victoria Best experienced a flood of emotion at the 9th Annual Woodforest Charity Run at Heritage Place Park in downtown Conroe on Saturday morning.

Last year, she reached her limits and was unable to run the entire 5K race. But she set a goal for herself.

This year, she finished first in the 20-29 age division at the event held by Woodforest National Bank and the City of Conroe.

Ive been training since July, Best said as she described the moment she realized she was going to reach her goal. I had such adrenaline. I almost started crying as I crossed the finish line.

Best celebrated her personal victory as one of at least 300 participants who helped Woodforest Bank achieve a turnout the banks regional president Patricia Brown said was slightly dampened by the rainy weather this year. Despite the challenge, Brown was happy to announce the event was successful.

Its always an honor and pleasure to be a part of this run and this community, Brown said. And the biggest piece of this would be the ability to partner with the city of Conroe and our sponsors. We were able to raise and give back over $100,000. This is like a record run for us on sponsorship money.

The funds will go toward The Woodforest Charity Foundation which has given back more than $350,000 since its start to dozens of local nonprofit programs, including Montgomery County Youth Services, the Montgomery County Food Bank, Habitat for Humanity and Angel Reach.

The Woodforest Charity Run is made up of two certified runs sanctioned by the USA Track and Field. It was held on Simonton Street in front of Heritage Place Park with a route through scenic downtown Conroe. The charity run also included the popular Barkley Shoe Dash for children ages 5-12, who begin their race with one shoe, dash 50 yards to retrieve and put on their other shoe from a pile of competing runners shoes, then dash 50 yards back across the finish line.

Emme Robins, 5, of Conroe participated with her entire family for the first time in the 5K race where they shared they enjoyed running the route around downtown Conroe, spotted a cat and even ran beside a train as it chugged along and blew its whistle.

My favorite part was running with mom, Robins said with a big smile.

Each year, the event pays tribute to late Woodforest employee Robert Hall of Harris County who often worked in Conroe and sang the national anthem for the run each year before he succumbed to his medical condition about five years ago at age 49. A different group of students is chosen each year for the Robert Hall of Fame from schools where Woodforest is involved or provides educational programs, such as financial literacy classes

We love the Robert Hall of Fame, Brown said. He was a big part of our run  He was a giving person and one of the things that we love about the Robert Hall of Fame is that we are able to identify young people in this community that can benefit with the Robert Hall of Fame.

To honor his generosity and spirit this year, Woodforest chose Conroe ISDs Travis Intermediate Girls on the Run Club, a mentoring program that teachers the students through running to have a healthy lifestyle, discipline, and about hard work and teamwork as they build life skills to overcome obstacles. Woodforest presented the Girls on the Run Club with 15 pairs of new shoes and covered all 13 of the participating girls entry fees.

You can do it, dont think you cant run, never give up, said Lilliana Mabry, 10, who wants to be a designer, possibly for shoes, one day. I was happy that we already made it there (to the finish line). But it was a lot of work, you had to practice to get better at running. Because at first, I didnt like running, but when I saw Girls on the Run it looked fun, so I got in it and then I liked it.

But its a lot of running, she laughed.

mellsworth@hcnonline.comFacebook's new Dating feature is being marketed as an alternative to Tinder.

Your available pool automatically filters out people you are already friends with on Facebook so you don't have to worry about accidentally messaging a family member or something. Instead, you tap on the profile of people you would like to connect with, and Facebook has put a limit on browsing up to 100 profiles per day.

Facebook doesn't seem to be talking about this test through any of its official channels just yet, but it did sit down with The Verge to let us know what's going on.

The user will then opt in, verify their city using their phone's location services, and decide whether to add details like a free-form bio, workplace, education, religion, height, and if they have children. The featured, christened for now as "Facebook dating" is starting to roll out in Colombia.

The user will now filter the distance you want to find a match in, or choose based on a multitude of other selection options. Facebook requires you to acknowledge some aspect of the person's profile - either a photo or an answer to one of their questions - in order to send them a message.

Although built within Facebook's app, the dating service is kept largely apart from it. While it doesn't involve downloading any kind of separate app, the dating profiles are separate from a user's main profile page.

For now though, users outside Colombia will have to wait to meet their match on Facebook. Other than that, you can message pretty much anyone.

"Catfishing" originated as a term for the process of luring people into false relationships, however, it has also come to encompass people giving out false information about themselves more generally.

This is probably the most valuable tool for catching out a catfish and can be done via Google.

The search engine will search to see if the image has been used elsewhere.

In other words, you can expect to find exactly zero swiping.

The service will compete against the likes of Tinder, Bumble, and OkCupid. Users will be able to create profiles, and once it has generated enough profiles to start pairing up love-seekers, the feature will be off to the races and eventually available in North America.

In this day and age, it's unusual for someone to have nothing on Google. If there's nothing, that should raise alarm bells.

Anyone that asks for money online or via an app is likely to be a fraud.The Austin man known as an advocate for 3-D printed guns was released on bond from the Harris County Jail Sunday evening after he was extradited from Taiwan to face sexual assault charges in Texas.

Cody Wilson was arrested at a restaurant in Taipei City late Friday, according to Taiwanese media.The 30-year-old was being held in the Harris County jail on $150,000 bail, pending transfer to Travis County for prosecution.

"We are glad that Cody is back in Texas again where we can work with him on his case. That's our focus right now, representing our client and preparing his defense," attorney Samy Khalil said in a statement late Sunday.

LOOPHOLE: Texas man sells plans for 3-D printer guns, despite court order

The so-called crypto-anarchist and owner of Defense Distributed was wanted on charges of sexual assaulting a child after he allegedly exchanged naked pictures with a 16-year-old he met on SugarDaddyMeet.com, then took her to an Austin hotel and paid her $500 for sex.

Afterward, authorities say, he dropped her off at a Whataburger.

The girl told a counselor at the Center for Child Protection in August about the alleged assault, and the counselor reported it to police. But one of the victim's friends apparently tipped off Wilson, who boarded a flight to Taiwan and skipped out on the return ticket.

Wilson catapulted into the national spotlight in 2013 when he made the first fully 3D-printed gun and posted the blueprints online, downloadable for free. The guns have no serial numbers, can evade some some metal detectors and are designed for do-it-yourselfers to make at home.

But the U.S. State Department shut him down, and Wilson fired back with a First Amendment lawsuit.

Nineteen state attorneys general then jumped in and filed suit to stop Wilson from freely posting the plans, and a federal judge ultimately barred Wilson from doing so. He later announced he would still sell the controversial plans directly to anyone who wanted order them.

ON THE RUN: 3-D printed gun advocate fled to Taiwan after tip of arrest

"Anyone who wants these files is going to get them," Wilson said at a news conference in Austin over the summer. "That will never be interrupted. The free exchange of these ideas will never be interrupted."

It's not immediately clear when Wilson might be transferred to Travis County. If convicted, he could face 20 years in prison and would be unable to own a gun legally.Asian-American professionals discussed Saturday how the community is increasingly targeted in economic espionage investigations with attorneys, educators and the Houston branch of the FBI.

The daylong forum, held at the Crowne Plaza near Sugar Land, addressed the communitys concerns of being disproportionately targeted for federal investigations of economic espionage, or when an individual steals trade secrets to make money.

If you are an ethnic Chinese in the technology industry, there is more opportunity for you to be flagged, Nelson Dong, partner and head of Dorsey & Whitneys National Security Law Group, told the crowd of more than 100. You have to be thoughtful because in this environment, these are not normal times.

There are 136 cases and 187 defendants of economic espionage, according to Andrew Kim, visiting scholar at South Texas College of Law. Up until 2008, 72 percent of defendants had Western-sounding names, and 17 percent had Chinese names. But since 2009, more than half of people accused of espionage had Chinese names.

Thats not random. Theres something going on here, Kim said.

Experts said Asian-Americans are disproportionately falsely accused of economic espionage; 22 percent were never proven guilty of the crime  double the rate of those with Western names.

Panelists brought up the story of Sherry Chen, a former hydrologist at the National Weather Service in Ohio who was falsely accused of spying and arrested in 2014, whose story was recently reported on CBS 60 Minutes. A few months after her arrest, the charges against her were dropped. But she was fired from her job for not being trustworthy, and three years and a judicial order later, she still has not been reinstated to her position.

Despite the forums focus on racial profiling in these investigations, Special Agent Michael Morgan said otherwise.

We conduct our investigations based on threat, which is defined by vulnerabilities it brings, he repeated. Its not based on ethnicity or the individual.

Although the local impact of economic espionage of Asian communities is unclear, the concern among audience members was evident. Most of the questions posed were about steps they can take to avoid being scrutinized by the FBI, whether they can participate in talent programs, whether its dangerous to work or do research for companies in the U.S. and abroad, and even how to go about reporting other people.

massarah.mikati@chron.comThe tragedy that unfolded off a Florida highway Thursday night started with an act of compassion, when Dhimitri Andoni stopped his car on the shoulder of Interstate 275 in St. Petersburg. The 22-year-old had seen a vehicle swerve and become stranded on the median, and he wanted to help.

Soon afterward, the stranded vehicle returned to the highway, and Andoni walked back to his own car, a four-door 2015 Hyundai, according to Florida Highway Patrol spokesman Steve Gaskins.

It was then that a 1996 Ford F-150 truck came hurtling down the highway and struck Andoni - apparently killing him, authorities said.

Video footage showed the driver of that second vehicle, 30-year-old Dana Thomas Byrd, getting out of his truck and checking to see whether the man he had struck was dead, Gaskins said.

Byrd then took Andoni's Hyundai and drove off, leaving his truck behind along the median, Gaskins said.

"Byrd stopped after the impact happened," Gaskins told The Washington Post. "He figures out that (Andoni is) dead, gets into his car and drives off. It couldn't be any more of a weird situation than that."

It's unclear why no one stopped to help Andoni after he was hit around 9 p.m. or whether any passersby witnessed what had happened. Hours later, Andoni's father used GPS to track down the Hyundai - which had been abandoned at an office building about two miles north of the crash site - and reported his son as missing, authorities said.

Inside the Hyundai, Byrd had apparently left behind his wallet, Gaskins said. In addition, the entire incident was captured on a GoPro camera that had been functioning as a dash cam inside Andoni's car, he said.

"We have a GoPro video of basically the victim pulling over to help, getting struck, the guy stealing his car, dropping it off, the whole nine yards," he said.

According to Gaskins, around 3:40 a.m. Friday, a road ranger with the Florida Department of Transportation tagged Byrd's abandoned pickup.

It wasn't until 12:30 p.m. Friday, however, that another road ranger discovered Andoni's body in the median, still near the abandoned truck, he said.

On Friday night, troopers arrested Byrd at his home in St. Petersburg, about three miles west of where the Hyundai had been abandoned. Byrd has been charged with grand theft auto and leaving the scene of a crash involving a death. He is being held at the Pinellas County Jail on a $100,000 bond.

Records from the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office show Byrd has been arrested in that county 16 other times since 2005, for offenses including "criminal mischief to a place of worship," retail theft, trespassing, neglect of a child and driving under the influence.

Authorities are looking to question the driver Andoni originally stopped to help. They are also asking anyone with information about the incident to contact Crime Stoppers at 813-558-1800.State television gave a toll of 29 dead and 57 wounded, while IRNA said those killed included women and children who were spectators at the parade.

"Iran holds regional terror sponsors and their U.S. masters accountable for such attacks", he wrote on his Twitter account.

Zarif vowed Iran would "respond swiftly and decisively in defence of Iranian lives".

Iran declared Monday to be a day of national mourning in which a funeral ceremony will be held for the victims of the attack in Ahvaz.

After addressing a similar parade in Tehran to commemorate the start of the 1980-1988 war with Iraq, Rouhani warned that "the response of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the smallest threat will be crushing".

Journalists and onlookers turned to look toward the first shots, then the rows of marchers broke as soldiers and civilians sought cover under sustained gunfire.

"Oh God! Go go go!"

"Get on the ground!" one man yells.

In the aftermath, paramedics tended to the wounded as soldiers, some bloodied in their dress uniforms, helped their comrades to ambulances.

A video on state television's website showed confused soldiers. One had a blanket covering him.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp (IRGC) have been the sword and shield of Shi'ite clerical rule since Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution.

The attack took place on a day when military parades were being staged across the country to mark the anniversary of Iran's eight-year war with Iraq in the 1980s.

Brigadier-General Abolfazl Shekarchi, an Iranian military spokesman, told Fars news agency four armed men carried out the attack. Standing in front of the stand, one asked: "Where did they come from?"

A regional Guard commander in Khuzestan, Hassan Shahvarpour, said three of the assailants were killed in clashes with security forces on the scene, state television reported. Iran has been deeply involved in the fight against Isis in Iraq and has aided embattled Syrian President Bashar Assad in his country's long war. The separatists, however, previously only conducted pipeline bombings at night or hit-and-run attacks.

The terror outfit, which is backed by Saudi Arabia, has a record of carrying out sabotage acts in Iran's Khuzestan province, which encompasses Ahvaz and some other Arab-dominated towns.

Ahvaz is the capital of Iran's oil-rich Khuzestan Province.

Tehran regularly accuses Saudi Arabia and the United States of supporting anti-Iranian "terrorists".

Patriotic Arab Democratic Movement in Ahwaz later rejected IRNA's report that it had claimed responsibility for the attack.

Qassemi said Iran expected the two European countries to extradite the "criminal perpetrators" of the terrorist act in Ahvaz.

In April 26 alleged members of the Sunni extremist group went on trial in connection with the attacks.

ISIL likewise claimed responsibility for Saturday's carnage, although some raised doubts about its involvement.

However, Iran faced a bloody assault a year ago from the Isis group and Arab separatists in the region have attacked oil pipelines there in the past. The militants have made a string of false claims in the wake of major defeats in Iraq and Syria.

Iran has ballistic missiles with a range of up to 3,500 kilometres (2,200 miles), enough to reach both Israel and U.S. bases in the Middle East. United Nations inspectors say Iran is still complying with the deal, which saw it limit its nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions.

"Iran will neither abandon its defensive weapons nor will reduce its defense capabilities", Rouhani said.

Tehran has blamed the attack on "regional terror sponsors and their USA masters".

He also said in the clash, the security forces managed to kill two of the terrorists and arrest the other two.

In that assault, suicide bombers stormed the parliament and mausoleum of Islamic Republic founder Ayatollah Khomeini. At least 18 people were killed and more than 50 wounded. The assault shocked Tehran, which has seen few militant attacks in the decades after the tumult surrounding the Islamic Revolution.

But attacks on regime targets inside major cities are far rarer.Hilary Duff, the beloved star from Lizzie McGuire, is now a mom and a total boss who calls the shots on all of her collaboration deals. After her Disney days, the actor has boldly spread her entrepreneurial wings and expanded her brand to include a vast array of business opportunities.

Related: Empowered Women Unite: 25 Must-Follow Instagram Accounts

One of her most recent collaborations is with GlassesUSA.com, an online retailer of prescription eyewear. When Duff first learned that the company was interested in working with her, she was excited for the challenge. She was yearning for a creative outlet and designing a collection felt like the perfect fit. She also loved that the brand was open to giving her complete freedom to design a collection.

After a few conversations, Duff and GlassesUSA.com decided to create the Muse x Hilary Duff Eyewear Collection, beautifully designed eyewear that was both affordable and comfortable. Demonstrating her commitment to womens empowerment, Duff chose to name each pair in the collection after a powerful woman in history.

The collection first launched in January, and its success led to the Bold Capsule, a limited-edition collection of Muse x Hilary Duff that launched on September 5.

Designing a collection with a well-known brand is a dream for many bloggers and creative business owners. So, I asked Duff about what advice she could share with other entrepreneurs on how to make this dream a reality.

How did the conversations begin with GlassesUSA.com? Did they approach you or vice-versa?

Duff: This was a totally unexpected partnership. I have regular conversations with my team about ideas I have and the direction I want to take my brand. I am approached a lot about various opportunities, and my team does an incredible job of vetting them.

With this, GlassesUSA.com reached out to do a one-off Instagram post wearing their glasses. Im a total sunglass junkie and I loved their brand, so I said sure! After that post, the relationship organically grew into a collaboration where they asked me to design a capsule collection.

The one-off post was a great way to test the waters to see if we were a good fit for each other and if felt authentic to me to explore a deeper partnership.

Related: Bluemercury Founder Marla Beck on Why You Should Do the Things That Terrify You

You exude such poise and having your "feet firmly on the ground" in your interviews. Youve shared that checking in with yourself is very important in order to discover yourself. What does it mean, to you, to check in with yourself?

Im still on the path of discovering myself. What has helped me is to write things down. Whether its business, personal, reflections on parenting, it helps me to discover whats really going on inside. From there, I lean in to what feels good, even if it feels uncomfortable. Being uncomfortable leads to bold opportunities, and bold opportunities are where dreams come alive.

You've had an outstanding career with incredible longevity. What are one or two key business decisions you've made, that have enabled you to have a successful, long career?

You know, I got really lucky with Lizzie McGuire. I booked that opportunity at a really young age, and it established a great platform for me -- and a chance to build a career based on authenticity, because I was so much like Lizzie. People loved her and, in turn, loved me. Since then, Ive continued to be honest, relatable and approachable. Im an open book, and that has really helped me navigate business relationships, because I only do projects that are authentic to me. Because of that, I also take my time with decisions. I dont rush into anything that doesnt feel right.

The other decision I have made is to take breaks and reflect. I took a big break before and after my first pregnancy, and that space allowed me to reevaluate what was no longer working for me. I broke away from my team of 10 years. After having someone else make all of my business decisions, do all of my negotiating, it was time for me to grow up and be an entrepreneur. I surrounded myself with new people and made more decisions for my business.

Related: How Jamie Kern Lima Negotiated a $1.2-Billion Deal for IT Cosmetics

What are one or two business lessons you have learned with your GlassesUSA.com partnership?

You know when GlassesUSA.com approached me, I was very intimidated. Heres this big machine that wants to work with me, and I thought, What do I have to offer? But, then I checked in with myself and realized that I absolutely have something to offer. I have a lot of value to bring the table.

I know what women around the age of 30 want to wear, how they feel, their dreams, desires and goals. Not only am I one of those women, but a lot of my followers are those women and have grown up with me from my Lizzie McGuire days. That knowledge and expertise I have is valuable to a company seeking to connect with this group of women. Thats the biggest lesson Ive learned from this partnership. The importance of knowing your worth and sticking to it.

How do you feel your Muse x Hilary Duff collection and featuring women leaders/pioneers fits into today's culture?

It is so important. I am inspired by women who have paved the way for us by doing something bold, something uncomfortable and have fought to make their dream a reality. Wearing something with their name on it gives me confidence to continue to pursue my dreams and I hope it does the same for others.

What is your recommendation to an up-and-coming blogger who wishes to create partnerships with brands? How do you balance the desire to grow your business with being authentic?

Well, if I am completely honest, I have to say that Im a little envious of bloggers. Because they have created a space for themselves where their readers actively seek them out for their authenticity. With that said, my one piece of advice is to keep doing what youre doing and focus on knowing your worth. You and your work is valuable. Your message matters and brands are eager to work with you, just as you are.

Related:

Hilary Duff Explains Why Taking a Break Can Be the Key to Your Career

Mark Wahlberg Reveals His Grueling Daily Schedule and It Is Bonkers

This Former Computer Scientist Pivoted to Film/TV and Built an Emmy-Nominated Production Company. Here's How.



Copyright 2018 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reservedA nondescript office in Riga's communist-era Institute of Mathematics and Computer Science may be Latvia's last line of defense against threats to next month's general election.

There, the nation's 29-strong CERT cyber-security group is bracing for its biggest test to date: repelling attempts by Russia to sway the voting process. Having studied meddling in the U.S. and fellow European Union members like Germany, the team is schooling state employees on suspicious emails and website links that could be phishing attempts, all the while receiving "threat feeds" from NATO and allied countries.

Elsewhere, the government is working with Facebook Inc. and Twitter Inc. to stem the spread of fake news. Ballots at the Oct. 6 vote will be scanned electronically and can be counted by hand, should concerns arise at any precinct, adding an extra layer of security.

"The awareness that something could happen is clearly much higher" than during the last election, Varis Teivans, CERT's deputy head, said in an interview in a secure room containing some basic furniture but no computers. "It's clear our big neighbor, Russia, has carried out offensive cyber operations against the Baltic states."

Latvia has particular grounds to be wary: at a quarter, ethnic Russians are a bigger chunk of the population than in Estonia or Lithuania, making the country an attractive target for Putin to try to sow discord inside the EU. On top of that, a political party catering to the Russian minority may have its best shot at taking power for more than a decade.

The Baltic region on the EU's easternmost fringe has felt military pressure ever since President Vladimir Putin swiped Crimea from Ukraine in 2014. But more high-tech threats emerged there long before Russian hackers were accused of aiding Donald Trump's path to the White House.

Estonia suffered what's widely believed to be the first large-scale Russian cyber assault in 2007 amid a row over relocating a Soviet-era monument in its capital, Tallinn. A massive denial-of-service attack ensued, crippling government, banking and media websites.

The interference didn't stop there. Estonian prosecutors recently unearthed a scheme in which Russia secretly bankrolled three supposedly independent news websites, dictating stories containing Kremlin talking points, Buzzfeed News reported in August. One was allegedly instructed to play up tensions in the U.S. or the EU, as well as the Ukraine conflict.

"Our adversary is reactive and opportunistic," Liisa Past, a former chief research officer at Estonia's Information Security Authority, said by phone. "Its goal isn't so much tampering with the result of elections as de-legitimizing the process, raising questions and doubts, much like we saw with the U.S. presidential elections."

Lithuania is also on alert. It's banned state institutions and companies from using software made by Russian anti-virus maker Kaspersky Labs, citing national security, and has even warned citizens against installing a taxi app from Moscow-based Yandex NV.

Latvian Prime Minister Maris Kucinskis said during an EU summit last week that coordination is necessary to fight misinformation and cyber attacks. Visiting another part of eastern Europe that's worried about Russian interference, Defense Secretary James Mattis said the U.S. plans to expand cooperation with Macedonia "to thwart malicious cyber activity that threatens both our democracies."

Latvian institutions "have been paying attention to the elections, preparing for a while to strengthen protections against external interference," said Kaspars Ozolins, deputy director of the state chancellery. "It's clear that no country wants to tolerate someone from outside trying to influence the mood of the electorate."

Of most concern to him is the possibility of compromising information -- either stolen or fabricated -- being released on the eve of the vote when there's little time to react. Latvia has good relations with the biggest social-media platforms, which can help to quickly remove obvious disinformation, he said.

Russia, whose internet trolls also targeted the U.K.'s Brexit referendum, vehemently denies interfering abroad. The Kremlin declined to comment.

Latvia's jumped the gun before, suggesting the Kremlin contributed to a spate of banking scandals that hurt the country's reputation early this year. That allegation was never proved.

This time, there are clear signs of increased activity on the eve of the election, according to Cert, which reported the highest number of threatened unique IP addresses in at least a year in August. Latvia's most-popular news portal, Delfi, said this month that it repelled the biggest-ever DDoS attack on its infrastructure during a debate between candidates for prime minister.

Can potential aggressors succeed? Maybe, but Latvia's readiness to fight them off is dramatically better now, according to Teivans.

"If we compare this to the last 10 years, there's has been a constant and exponential improvement," he said.

- - -

Bloomberg's Ilya Arkhipov and Ott Ummelas contributed.Iran summoned diplomats from Denmark, the Netherlands and Britain over an attack on an army parade which killed at least 29 people near the Iraqi border, state-run media said on Sunday.

Little is known about the al-Ahvaziya group, but Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) spokesperson Ramezan Sharif told ISNA it was "funded by Saudi Arabia".

Women and children scattered with Revolutionary Guard soldiers as heavy gunfire rang out at the parade in Ahvaz, the chaos captured live on state television.

In response to a question whether terrorists are affiliated with a particular anti-revolutionary group, he said "these terrorists are neither from ISIL terrorist group nor are they affiliated with anti-revolutionary ones; they have been trained in two Persian Gulf littoral states, with the help of USA and Mossad, and enter the Islamic Republic". Iran has been deeply involved in the fight against IS in Iraq and has aided Syrian President Bashar Assad in his country's long civil war.

Earlier Foreign Minister Javad Zarif blamed "terrorists paid by a foreign regime", adding that "Iran holds regional terror sponsors and their United States masters accountable".

The attack came four months after President Donald Trump withdrew from the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal, against the advice of the global community and the wishes of 63 percent of the American public.

He blamed regional countries and their "US masters" for the attack, adding that Iran would respond "swiftly and decisively".

"Terrorists recruited, trained, armed & paid by a foreign regime have attacked Ahvaz".

An Arab opposition movement called the Ahvaz National Resistance and Islamic State (IS) militants have both claimed responsibility for the attack. State media in Saudi Arabia did not immediately acknowledge the attack.

"They are not from Daesh or other groups fighting (Iran's) Islamic system. but they are linked to America and (Israel's intelligence agency) Mossad".

Iran has intervened in the wars in Syria and Iraq and plays an influential role in Yemen, but this was a rare attack on its own soil. Security forces killed three of them at the scene and another died later in the hospital from gunshot wounds, Shekarchi said.

Police said that five people were arrested at the scene of the attacks and dozens more arrests were reported in the following months - many along the borders with Iraq and Turkey. Security forces are reportedly now in control of the situation.

Speaking before leaving Tehran to attend the annual UN General Assembly in New York, Mr Rouhani accused US-backed Gulf Arab states of providing financial and military support for anti-government ethnic Arab groups in Iran. We want to keep our journalism open and accessible and be able to keep providing you with news and analyses from the frontlines of Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish World.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani promised a "crushing response" against Saturday's attack.

Attacks on the military are rare in Iran.

Since then, the U.S. has brought sanctions back into place, despite opposition from European Union partners, China and Russian Federation, and warned that anyone trading with Iran would also be punished.

"That there was a deafening silence from Saudi Arabia and its gulf allies in the hours after the assault is for Tehran further evidence of their culpability", Vaez says.

The Trump administration has said that changing Iran's system of government is not USA policy.

Protests against the government and its handling of the economy that erupted across many provinces late previous year also took place in some cities in Khuzestan, where some of the most violent incidents took place.It's easier than ever to get straighter teeth. Orthodontists think that's a big problem.

Where metal braces installed in a doctor's office were once the only way to correct misaligned teeth, a new method that uses removable clear aligners can eliminate a visit to an orthodontist and save patients thousands of dollars. That's what led Deniece Hudson, who always dreamed of having straighter teeth, to a startup called SmileDirectClub.

Hudson, a 24-year-old Georgia Southern University graduate, visited one of the company's retail outlets in an Atlanta strip mall in February to have her teeth scanned. That experience would turn out to be her only in-person interaction with a medical professional during a nine-month journey through the growing field of tele-orthodontics.

From the scans, SmileDirectClub used 3D printers to create 24 trays of transparent plastic braces, which were delivered by mail with instructions on when to switch trays. Dentists monitored her progress by looking at selfies she sent over the internet. The only thing she ever learned about the physicians treating her was their last names.

"I trusted the company enough to not actually give me someone who didn't know what they were doing," Hudson said.

The program cost $2,170, compared with the $5,000 to $8,000 for a traditional orthodontist using the industry-leading Invisalign system created by Align Technology Inc. With one month to go in her program, Hudson says she's satisfied with the results.

"I used to be so nervous, but now I'm always smiling," she said.

Hudson may be grinning, but a growing number of orthodontists aren't. Instead, they're warning consumers about the possible dangers of undergoing a complex medical procedure without the in-person supervision of a dental professional. The main orthodonists' trade association has filed complaints against SmileDirectClub with 36 state dental boards and attorneys general, alleging regulatory and statutory violations.

"I don't think the diagnosis can happen with three clicks," said Hera Kim-Berman, a clinical assistant professor at the University of Michigan's department of orthodontics and pediatric dentistry and the program director of orthodontic graduate training. "These companies treat them as consumers, as clients, and that's really the major difference."

About 300 million people worldwide with teeth misalignment could benefit from straightening yet are unlikely to seek treatment through a traditional doctor's office, according to a February securities filing by Align. The global orthodontics market, which includes traditional braces, is projected to increase to $2.6 billion by 2023, from $1.5 billion in 2016, according to Allied Market Research.

SmileDirectClub, which is closely held, is the most prominent of a growing batch of startups seeking to capture that market. Since launching in 2014, the company says it has treated more than 250,000 patients with custom-made aligners. It declined to disclose sales figures.

Two key factors are driving growth of the tele-orthodontics business. More sophisticated 3D printing now allows companies to use digital scanning to create custom-made clear plastic aligners and retainers, which are replacing the uncomfortable metal braces used by orthodontists for decades. And last October, Invisalign lost its exclusivity on 40 patents that kept it as the leading clear-aligner brand, opening the door for newcomers like SmileDirectClub.

"There's more to treating a smile than just moving visible portions of the teeth"

"A lot of our customers at one point had braces, they forgot to wear their retainers, their teeth shifted a little bit," said SmileDirectClub co-founder Alex Fenkell. "And before SmileDirectClub, they were looking at $5,000 to address something that they've already invested in; it just wasn't making sense to them."

The American Association of Orthodontists, which represents about 19,000 members in the U.S. and abroad, this year issued a consumer alert warning people of direct-to-patient orthodontic companies like SmileDirectClub, Candid Co. and SmileLove. Consumers should think twice before opting for a procedure "without an in-person, pre-treatment evaluation or ongoing in-person supervision from a medical professional," the group said.

"There's more to treating a smile than just moving visible portions of the teeth," said AAO associate general counsel Sean Murphy. "If you want to increase access to care, you have to make sure it's in the best interest of patient health and safety."

SmileDirectClub says that while customers have the luxury of never having to physically visit a doctor's office, they're never left alone during the process. The company currently partners with 225 licensed dentists and orthodontists across all 50 states -- each of whom has had at least four years of Invisalign practice -- to review a customer's teeth scans or imprints.

"It's a shame because it's a typical knee-jerk reaction from an established institution," Jeffrey Sulitzer, chief clinical officer at SmileDirectClub and a licensed dentist, said in response to the AAO backlash. "We're increasing access to care and driving patients into general dentists offices and orthodontist offices just because we're increasing awareness of oral care."

Clear aligners are the largest and fastest-growing category in the global invisible orthodontics market, which includes products made by Align, 3M Co. and ClearCorrect. Within the category, Invisalign captures more than 80 percent of the market, having served more than 5.8 million patients to date. It makes more than 332,000 unique aligners every day.

Align shares have jumped more than fivefold in the past three years, spurred by a doubling in sales, and the company was among the best performers in the S&P 500 Index in 2017.

But key patents that protected Invisalign's design and manufacturing expired in October 2017, and many of Align's remaining related patents will expire by 2019. The company has been fighting to maintain its market dominance, filing patent lawsuits and trade complaints against smaller rivals, including SmileDirectClub.

A 2015 suit against SmileDirectClub -- then known as SmileCareClub -- cited infringement on 14 patents related to manufacturing and sales. Align also claimed the company's "do-it-at-home system" lacked critical oversight and entirely eliminated the doctor's role in treatment.

Less than a year later, San Jose, California-based Align dropped the suit as part of a $46.7 million deal that gave it a 17 percent stake in SmileDirectClub and made it a third-party supplier of a portion of its braces. It has since boosted the stake to 19 percent with an additional $12.8 million investment.

Meanwhile in Georgia, Hudson is preparing to finish her treatment with SmileDirectClub on Oct. 10. Although she was aware of some negative reviews left by customers ahead of her teeth-straightening adventure, she's happy she chose to look past the doubt surrounding teleorthodontics.

"I know a lot of people are skeptical about SmileDirectClub," she said, "but it worked for me."Countdown is warning customers to cut up strawberries before eating them after needles were found in fruit bought in an Auckland supermarket.

A spokeswoman for the Queensland Police Service, which has been heading the national investigation into sabotage reports, could not confirm if police had been contacted over the new report.

Wellington: The Australian strawberry scare has spread to New Zealand with a supermarket chain announcing Sunday that needles were found in a box of the fruit sourced from the neighbouring country.

It added that the brand of strawberries affected by this withdrawal "have not previously had any issues of this nature reported and had not been withdrawn from sale in Australia".

This comes after a massive recall across the Tasman, where the product was pulled from the shelves of a number of supermarkets after the discovery of strawberries spiked with needles across six regions in Australia.

Australian strawberries are exported to NZ from April to September and local strawberries began appearing on shelves this week in their place.

Countdown would continue to stock New Zealand strawberries.

The needles were found in a sample of Choice brand strawberries sold at a Countdown supermarket in Auckland.

"There have been no reports of any illness or injury in New Zealand".

According to the Herald, the strawberries were sold nationwide last week.

Contaminated strawberries were found across five states with the West Australian government offering a $100,000 reward for information.

More than a dozen instances of strawberry contamination have been reported in WA, while more than 100 reports of tampered fruit are being investigated by police across Australia.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said laws would be drafted with the intent to pass them through Parliament this week.DA'ANLIU, China - The new rule was taped onto doorways around town: Officials were limiting what a groom-to-be could pay for a bride.

The going rate was about $38,000, or five times the average annual salary in this village about a four-hour drive north of Beijing. Now, families were told to keep it below $2,900.

Anything more and they would risk being accused of human trafficking.

The "bride price" - cash, and possibly a house or other goodies to the bride-to-be's parents - has been part of the marriage pact in most of China for centuries. The costs, though, are swelling as China copes with one of the biggest demographic imbalances in history.

One part of it has been long known: How China's former one-child policy left a glut of boys - preferred by most Chinese families. Girls were sometimes aborted, killed after birth or simply left in a bureaucratic limbo as not registered with authorities before the one-child rule was eased in 2016.

There are an estimated 30 million or so more men then women in China - giving it one of the most lopsided ratios in the world.

But China's economic expansion in the past decade has taken a further gender bite out of rural areas.

Many teenage girls leave to pursue education or better-paying work in cities. Most do not come back to places like Da'anliu, a small village where most people make money harvesting pears or working in a handful of small factories.

So officials in Da'anliu and other villages have taken matters into their own hands on one thing they can control: the bride price.

They want local marriages and the local children they could produce. Yet the high cost of dowries stands in the way.

The twist, however, is that the well-meaning efforts can split villages.

The controls are good if you have a son. Not so good for families with a daughter.

Ask Liang, a pear farmer in Da'anliu. He has one daughter. When it comes time for her to marry, "I will ask whatever amount I want," he said. "It's not fair otherwise."

It wasn't really about the money, he claimed. He planned to give the bride price to his daughter anyway, once she started her family. It was the principle of the thing for Liang, who asked that only the one name be used in his discussion of a sensitive family issue.

"It's the market," he said. "I'm allowed to charge what the market will bear for my pears. Why not my daughter?"

"In the rural areas, the amount of bride price may equal up to dozens time of the annual net income," Quanbao Jiang, a professor of demography at Xi'an Jiaotong University, wrote in an email.

That has the effect of draining resources and limiting a family's ability to care for the elderly or the young. Is also has left men from impoverished areas without any hope of finding a mate.

The Da'anliu Communist Party secretary, Liang Huabin, has seen the way families scrimp and save and panic over the bride price. They say "it's tough to manage," he said, especially since the pear harvest has been bad the past few years.

He was not sure what to do about it until one of his constituents sent him a picture of a bride price limit instituted in a village in China's southern Hunan region. He decided to try something similar.

Liang knows the village cannot do much to enforce the rule. But he hopes people will eventually adjust their thinking. "It will be difficult to really have an impact immediately," he said. "But gradually it will sink in."

He has two young granddaughters, he said. When it comes time for them to marry, "I'll encourage their parents to ask for a reasonable price," he said.

He acknowledged there is little else he can do.

Licun Tan, 39, should be thrilled about Liang's effort.

Licun runs a small bodega out of her home. She has a 16-year-old son, who she will try to marry off in a couple of years after he graduates from high school and works a bit.

She's already stressed about saving for the bride price. She opened a second store to bring in extra money. And her husband works, too. But she's not sure it will be enough.

At the same time, she can't imagine abiding by a limit. There simply aren't enough women around.

"The rule is the rule, but who will follow it?" she said. "If I followed it, the result would be no girls to marry."

Wang Feng, a sociologist who studies Chinese demography at the University of California at Irvine, said there is incredible social pressure for families to help arrange perceived "good marriages" for their sons.

People would find ways around any regulation - even limits on bride price.

"It's trying to cure a symptom, not the root issue," he said.

---

The Washington Post's Yang Liu contributed to this report.In this series, The Gambit, Entrepreneur associate editor Hayden Field explores extraordinary risk, speaking with successful people about how they overcame unusual obstacles to found a company or switched industries entirely in a "career 180."

Mark Greene started his path to the Air Force during a time of peace, but when the 22-year-old graduated, he was sent almost immediately to Afghanistan.

I was the class that graduated right after the towers came down, Greene said. It was a really strange time to start a career as a military pilot.

The new fighter pilot had just completed a training program in Mississippi, and he began his first day as a second lieutenant -- outranking 85 percent of the military. Greene said he remembers 19-year-old Marines being shot by snipers or running from roadside bombs, and from the air, it was Greenes job to listen to what was happening on the ground and then respond accordingly.

Image credit: Alec Lloyd

[There was] really no air battle in these fights -- it was more protecting people on the ground, he said.

Whenever he returned home, Greene would hear news reports mention dead Americans in Mosul and other cities. He could imagine those places. It was difficult to come home, but Greene said it was also tough to go back. By 2008, he was spending as many as 220 days a year overseas.

In the following years, Greene went on to fly about 170 combat missions. However he felt about the war itself, he enjoyed the mission aspect of his job: responding to the needs of struggling U.S. soldiers.

Later, hed apply that same mission-oriented thinking to something else entirely: creating new financial tools for struggling consumers across America.

Image credit: Alec Lloyd

Greene is the director of SafetyNet, an innovation lab thats part of CUNA Mutual Group, a nationwide insurance company. The innovation labs ultimate goal is what sets it apart: Listen to the needs of millions of Americans struggling through financial hardship -- people that banks and credit unions may not view as first-priority customers -- and create entirely new financial tools for them. Heres his story.

The Itch

Greenes family is staggering in number. His father is the youngest of 14 siblings, while his mother is the youngest of five -- yielding hundreds (yes, hundreds) of cousins. Relatives of all ages riddle Greenes childhood memories. His family members future trajectories would vary as much as their personalities -- some found great success, others struggled with personal finance and still others, as he put it, ended up on the wrong side of law.

Greenes parents didnt often discuss money, but he remembers seeing them struggle -- there were hints, he said, that the family wasnt necessarily on secure financial footing. One memory in particular sticks with Greene, and it would go on to shape how he thinks about service and gratitude. When, at age 10 or 11, he had his heart set on the newest pair of Nike shoes, his father presented him with a pair by a brand Greene had never heard of. He recalls that his reaction -- upset and ungrateful -- hurt his father deeply.

Thats something that affected me my whole life, Greene said. He recalled thinking, I have to change this. From that point forward, he had a renewed resolve to help people struggling in any difficult situation.

The Detour

After the financial crisis hit in 2008, the government decided to consolidate military bases, and Greenes squadron was discontinued. He had a choice: Either relocate to Germany or do something else. Greene decided to apply to law school with the goal of eventually prosecuting war crimes -- after all, hed learned about law by studying the laws of war as a pilot. At the same time, one weekend a month, he flew training missions for the Air National Guard.

Greenes first class in law school, Contracts 1, changed his career trajectory. One day in class, he read about a costly dispute that could have been avoided if the defendants had organized their business differently from the get-go. Since Greene had been trained as an engineer, he was naturally interested in how things are built and put together. Because of that, he said, learning about the structure of businesses blew [his] mind.

Image credit: SafetyNet

Studying how a contract is written kind of changes the way you think about how everything is structured, he said. That was the first moment where I saw the power of business.

The class didnt only teach Greene about long-term business structure -- it also taught him that companies could effectively boost their efficiency by listening to direct feedback from consumers. Through his time in the military, Greene had learned that on the government side, that feedback loop -- connecting directly to the people -- was exceedingly convoluted.

The idea of listening to customers to inform a businesss foundation would come into play sooner than Greene realized. Post-graduation, he snagged a job at Merrill Lynch in Madison, Wis., but his affluent client base -- and a report on the states racial disparity -- sparked new resolve in Greene. He felt he could be doing much more to help a larger cross-section of consumers on the ground.

The Leap

One day in 2016, Greene met with Dan Kaiser, an executive at CUNA Mutual Group. Kaiser wanted to talk through ideas about different financial solutions Greene wished existed. Kaiser was helping to develop an innovation lab, he said, to focus on solutions for consumers personal finance issues, and it was being kept largely under wraps. The project was spurred by a Federal Reserve report citing figures that close to half of Americans would be unable to come up with $400 in an emergency -- and that a greater number of individuals than that didnt have $1,000 in savings.

After ordering coffee, the men talked about how insurance could be flipped on its head to help struggling people with immediate cash flow needs or insure their savings accounts. But Greene didnt realize he was interviewing for a job until he received a game-changing phone call that same week. Were building a team, he recalled hearing from an executive on the other end. Greene accepted the offer and joined the innovation lab as soon as it launched.

On Greenes first day as director of SafetyNet, he said he met the team and read the mission statement on the wall: Improve the financial well-being of millions of hard-working people by developing innovative financial solutions that help individuals manage unexpected cash flow, bill payment and savings challenges.

Members of the team were tasked with thinking of creative ways to solve enduring financial problems, and Greene soon discovered he would embark on a nine-month venture to talk with 7,000 consumers in states including Texas, North Carolina, Wisconsin and Illinois about the tools they wished they had to take control of their money. Greene said he didnt believe the statistics that Trunzo had cited in their coffee meeting until his eight-person team began speaking with consumers across the country.

The Breaking Point

On April 11, 2016, Greene sat in a Hilton hotel in Madison, Wis. He was waiting to speak with a woman named Chelsea about her money struggles as part of SafetyNets new venture. Chelsea had called earlier in the day to cancel the interview, but she eventually changed her mind and finally walked into the Hilton around 5:30 p.m.

Greene listened as Chelsea explained how hopeless she felt -- that she avoided almost all contact with her financial institutions, including opening mail, and that managing her money paycheck to paycheck had become almost a traumatic experience. She said the money that she owed family members had driven a rift between them, and though she wished she could take control of her financial life, she didnt know where to begin.

Image credit: SafetyNet

Chelsea shivered as she talked, and as she unloaded more and more of her story, she became more emotional. Her pain was so great that Greene felt like he was speaking with a victim of domestic violence. All he could think to do was offer her a glass of water -- and listen.

I left that conversation with the feeling that that relationship that she had with her finances and financial institution was abusive, he said. When he imagined Chelsea representing millions of people in the U.S., Greene said he knew he had to work to change the way people interact with the financial institutions that should be serving them.

The photos of the consumers Greene and his team spoke with ended up in neat rows on the wall of SafetyNets primary meeting room. Every time the team meets to discuss an issue, theyre under the watchful eye of the people who were honest enough to share their money woes with a company they believed may be able to help them.

The Next Step

After 7,000 conversations with consumers, Greene started brainstorming solutions he and his team could build -- including layoff insurance for people without emergency savings.

This year, Greenes team is building 25 different products to meet the needs of financially strapped Americans, including an employer-match savings account product, a type of insurance aiming to protect people from eviction, a new type of peer-to-peer lending platform and even pet insurance. The conversation Greene had with Chelsea in April 2016 inspired SafetyNet to develop a new type of budgeting app, and Chelsea is currently beta testing it.

By the end of 2017, SafetyNet was growing at a rate of more than 8 percent week over week -- primarily via word of mouth, Greene said, and without using insurance agents. The company now operates in 10 states.

What we want to be, Greene said, "is a company that understands our consumers better than anyone."

Related:

This Military Pilot Pivoted From Fighting Wars to Creating Financial Tools for Struggling Americans

From Totally Broke to Multimillionaire: How Jen Sincero Pivoted from Rock Star to Bestselling Self-Help Author and Success Coach

How the Founder of Pressed Juicery Turned $30,000 Into a Projected $75 Million Company



Copyright 2018 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reservedIran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said he held a USA ally in the region responsible.

Despite the Trump administration's touchy relations with Iran, the US government strongly deplored the attack, saying that "the United States condemns all acts of terrorism and the loss of any innocent lives".

The attackers disguised themselves as members of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, and proceeded to open fire on the marchers and others in attendance. In it, paramedics could be seen helping someone in military fatigues laying on the ground.

The semi-official ISNA news agency published photographs of the attack's aftermath, with bloodied troops in dress uniforms helping each other walk away. Gunfire rang out in the background.

"The president stressed that the response of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the slightest threat would be harsh, but those who support the terrorists should be accountable", IRNA reported. "People have been killed but we have no figures yet".

"First we thought it's part of the parade, but after about 10 seconds we realized it was a terrorist attack as bodyguards (of officials) started shooting", he told AFP.

Zarif on Twitter said that the gunmen were "terrorists recruited, trained, armed & paid by a foreign regime".

He did not immediately elaborate.

In 2015, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch both protested an Iranian crackdown against Ahvazi Arabs, as the regime undertook a large-scale campaign of arbitrary arrests in Khuzestan Province, where Ahvazis live and where most of Iran's oil and gas reserves are located.

People of Ahvaz who are majority Sunni Arabs have very strong tribal ties to their cousins on the other side of the water divide which is Shat Al Arab, and are severely persecuted and discriminated by Tehran.

The Revolutionary Guards accused Shiite-dominated Iran's Sunni arch-rival Saudi Arabia of funding the attackers.

Reports of how the attack unfolded remained unclear immediately afterward. The state TV reporter said the gunfire came from a park behind a riser.

Photos shared by a state news agency showed a man in military fatigues with blood running down his back being helped towards a auto by a group of men.

State television gave a casualty toll of 29 dead and 57 wounded, while official news agency IRNA said those killed included women and children among spectators at the rally.

Attacks by Kurish rebels on military patrols along the border in mainly ethnic Kurdish areas further north are relatively common.

Initially, authorities described the assailants as "takfiri gunmen", a term previously used to describe the Islamic State group. The Guard also has vast holdings in Iran's economy.

At least 18 people were killed and more than 50 wounded in the 2017 attack that saw gunmen carrying Kalashnikov assault rifles and explosives storm the parliament complex where a legislative session had been in progress, starting an hours-long siege.Vatican City

The Vatican and China said Saturday they had signed a "provisional agreement" over the appointment of bishops, a breakthrough on an issue that stymied diplomatic relations for decades and aggravated a split among Chinese Catholics.

The deal resolved one of the major sticking points in recent years, with the Vatican agreeing to accept seven bishops who were previously named by Beijing without the pope's consent.

The development comes nearly seven decades after the Holy See and Beijing severed official relations. Beijing's long-held insistence that it must approve bishop appointments in China had clashed with absolute papal authority to pick bishops.

With the status of the seven bishops now reconciled, the Vatican said all bishops in China are now in communion with Rome  even though the Catholic community in China is still split between Catholics who belong to the official Chinese church and those in the underground church who remain loyal to the pope.

"Pope Francis hopes that, with these decisions, a new process may begin that will allow the wounds of the past to be overcome, leading to the full communion of all Chinese Catholics," a Vatican statement said.

Some Chinese Catholics have opposed such a deal, notably Hong Kong Cardinal Joseph Zen, who previously called it a sell-out of Chinese Catholics who refused to join the state Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association and who paid the price of remaining faithful to Rome during years of persecution.

Zen didn't reply Saturday to an AP request for comment. But on his blog, the cardinal criticized the lack of specifics in the accord, including no mention of the status of several underground bishops named by the pope.

"What is the message this communique conveys to the faithful in China? 'Trust us! Accept the agreement!,'" he wrote. That, he said, was tantamount to the Chinese government telling Catholics to "Obey us! We are in agreement with your pope!'"

Vatican spokesman Greg Burke, speaking in Vilnius, Lithuania, where Pope Francis was visiting, indicated the accord would serve as a blueprint for future appointments of bishops, who lead the faithful in their dioceses.

Burke told reporters the aim of the accord "is not political but pastoral, allowing the faithful to have bishops who are in communion with Rome but at the same time recognized by Chinese authorities."

The Vatican's No. 2 official indicated that the pope and Chinese authorities would jointly approve new bishop appointments.

"What is required now is unity, is trust, and a new impetus: to have good pastors, recognized by the Successor of Peter (Pope Francis) and by the legitimate civil authorities," said Cardinal Pietro Parolin.

A Vatican official earlier this year said the deal allows the pope to effectively veto future bishop names proposed by Beijing. That official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because diplomatic negotiations were involved, had described it as the best arrangement the Holy See could achieve for now.

The deal's provisional nature left open the possibility of improvements down the line.

The Vatican described the provisional agreement as "the fruit of a gradual and reciprocal rapprochement" following a "long process of careful negotiation."

While the agreement could help pave the way for formal diplomatic ties and possibly an eventual papal trip to China, it was also sure to anger Catholics who vigorously advocated for the Vatican to maintain a hard line on caring for the 12 million faithful in China. The accord was signed in Beijing during a meeting between China's deputy minister for foreign affairs, Wang Chao, and the Vatican undersecretary for state relations, Monsignor Antoine Camilleri.

In Beijing, the Foreign Ministry said "China and the Vatican will continue to maintain communications and push forward the process of improving relations between the two sides."

Yet even as China professed the desire for better relations with the Holy See, the deal was signed against a backdrop of a Chinese crackdown on religions.

In one glaring case of pro-Vatican Catholics in China, Bishop Guo Xijin, head of an underground diocese, was whisked away in March by government agents in the southern village of Saiqi. It wasn't immediately clear how the new accord affected him and others opposing Chinese authorities.

"The question now is: What is going to happen to the bishops who are under house arrest?" said the Rev. Bernardo Cervellera, a Vatican-China expert and chief editor of the missionary news agency Asia News.

Cervellera noted that Shanghai's underground bishop and others were under house arrest and some priests were imprisoned. He said about a year ago, about 10 priests were in prison in Hebei province near Beijing, but he didn't know their current situation.

The Vatican "had to start a dialogue from a weak position, because China is very powerful and therefore dictated the rules of this dialogue," Cervellera said.

Under President Xi Jinping, China's most powerful leader since Mao Zedong, faithful are seeing their freedoms shrink even as the country experiences a religious revival. Experts and activists contend that as Xi is consolidating power, he is waging the most systematic suppression of Christianity since the Chinese constitution allowed for religious freedom in 1982.

Xi is trying to infuse all of the religions in China with "Chinese characteristics" such as loyalty to the Communist Party.

As part of this drive, Islamic crescents and domes have been stripped from mosques and a campaign is underway to "re-educate" tens of thousands of Uighur Muslims. Tibetan children have been moved from Buddhist temples to schools and banned from religious activities during summer holidays, state-run media have reported.

This spring, a five-year plan regarding Christians was introduced, along with new rules on religious affairs. Over the last few months, local governments across China have shut down hundreds of private Christian "house churches."

The Vatican spokesman indicated there was still some ways to go for better relations between the Catholic Church and China.

"This is not the end of a process. It's the beginning," Burke said. "This has been about dialogue, patient listening on both sides even when people come from very different standpoints."Tourists were warned to keep out of the water in the Whitsunday Islands on Australia's Great Barrier Reef after two swimmers were critically hurt in shark attacks on consecutive days.

Her attack followed Tasmanian tourist Justine Barwick , also transported from Mackay Base Hospital after being bitten by a shark the day before.

QAS is en route to Cid Harbour in the #Whitsundays after a patient has reportedly been bitten on the leg by a shark.

Papps was originally thought to be from New Zealand, however a statement from the RACQ CQ Rescue Helicopter Service earlier today said she was in fact from Melbourne, Victoria.

A water police vessel ferried the girl from the boat she was on to Whitsunday Island so she could be loaded into the waiting helicopter.

The girl was given pain relief and three pints of blood on the flight to hospital.

Hannah is in a critical but stable condition in Lady Cilento Children's Hospital in Brisbane.

Just over an hour later Queensland Ambulance Service said the child was conscious and being treated for a serious upper-leg injury.

The 12-year-old had very large wounds and first-aiders did a wonderful job, Ms Eastwick said.

It is understood the first shark victim, Justine Barwick, 46, of Tasmania, was pulled aboard Topaz, while the 12-year-old girl had been on Miss Devereux with her father and sister.

She was then transferred via the helicopter to a nearby hospital.

"Her status at the moment could be called critical until further information is released", Queensland Ambulance Service Mackay operations manager Tracey Eastwick said.

RACQ CQ rescue crewman Ben McCauley said the shark had taken a "huge chunk" from the inside of Barwick's leg.

Fisheries Queensland shark control programme manager Jeff Krause said he had never seen anything like this happen in such a close geographical area.

"We don't normally go out and search for any sharks that may have been involved in a shark attack", Krause said, adding: "It is possible that there's more than one shark involved in these unfortunate events".

No species has been identified as being responsible, but tiger sharks are among those being targeted on the lines.

"Fisheries Queensland has organised for the Queensland Shark Control Program contractor based at Mackay to deploy three shark control drumlines in the area tomorrow morning", the department said in a statement.The dispute has increased tensions between Washington and Beijing, amid a brewing trade war between the two world powers.

USA officials said the imposition of penalties against China was the first time a third-party country was punished under the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, the sanctions law passed in 2017.

The U.S. on Thursday imposed sanctions on China's Equipment Development Department and director Li Shangfu "for engaging in significant transactions with Rosoboronexport, Russia's main arms export entity".

China's Deputy Foreign Minister Zheng Zeguang summoned Ambassador Terry Branstad and "lodged solemn representations" in relation to the sanctions, state media reported.

The Defence Ministry said the USA had no right to interfere in Chinese military cooperation with Russian Federation.

The mobile S-400 batteries, which include radars, a control system, and missiles with a range of up to 250 miles (402 km), was first deployed in Russian Federation in 2007 and is considered Moscow's most effective defence against aircraft, missiles and drones.

"We strongly urge the U.S.to immediately correct the mistakes and withdraw the so-called sanctions", he said Friday, "otherwise the USA must bear the consequences".

Raed Ben Khalid Qarmali made his comment when asked if Saudi Arabia is going ahead with its plan to purchase the system, just one day after America imposed sanctions on China for a similar deal with the Russians.

"These related actions are severe violations of the basic norms of global relations", he stressed, adding that the sanctions severely damage bilateral diplomatic and military ties.

China has also cancelled trade talks which had been scheduled to take place this week in Washington.

For its part, China retaliated by slapping tariffs on Dollars 60 billion worth of U.S. exports to China.

The move followed Trump's decision to slap tariffs on United States dollars 200 billion worth of Chinese exports to US.

Trump has been putting pressure on China to reduce the trade deficit totalling United States dollars 335.4 billion in 2017.

"It would be self-deprecating if China sent someone to the USA right now, because the situation has totally changed", Shi said, adding there is no indication that talks will resume as neither side is showing any sign of softening in their words or deeds.Yes, you can transfer your domain to any registrar or hosting company once you have purchased it. Since domain transfers are a manual process, it can take up to 5 days to transfer the domain.

Domains purchased with payment plans are not eligible to transfer until all payments have been made. Please remember that our 30-day money back guarantee is void once a domain has been transferred.

For transfer instructions to GoDaddy, please click here.President Donald Trump is willing to meet with Iran's Hassan Rouhani when world leaders gather at the United Nations this week, said the top US diplomat, who also said that Russian Federation hasn't been helpful to USA foreign policy objectives.

World leaders have been heading to NY for the 73rd United Nations General Assembly.

That doesn't necessarily mean Trump will be unwelcome at the United Nations, analysts say - just maneuvered around. "I think they've sort of figured out how to deal with the president".

Trump honored Macron earlier this year with what was the first official state visit invitation extended during his presidency and has been the only such visit since.

TRT World's Frank Ucciardo has more on what is on the agenda during the summit.

But despite the unpredictable nature of Trump, some diplomats aren't expecting a reality television performance in the Security Council, where almost every member is likely to be represented by their prime minister or president except Russian Federation and China, which are expected to send ministers.

"Certainly, if Rouhani requested a meeting, that would be for the president to decide whether he wants to do that", Haley told reporters.

Both Abe and Macron are among a list of world leaders confirmed by the White House to have bilateral meetings with the president in NY.

Trump is planning to meet privately with the leaders of South Korea, Egypt, France, Israel, Japan, and Britain. U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley said there are no plans to adopt a resolution at Wednesday's meeting.

"All of these things that we felt like were mandating things on the United States, those aren't things we want to be involved in", she said, citing the Paris climate agreement Trump pulled out of in 2017 and global talks on a migration pact that Washington quit before they started.

Those bilateral meetings are in addition to the center-stage events at the gathering.

Trump will deliver his address to the General Assembly on Tuesday, which Haley says the president will use to tout his foreign policy successes over the a year ago and the way forward. "He wants to talk about protecting USA sovereignty", and "we want to continue to build relationships" with other countries that "share those values".

Trump's envoy to the United Nations on Thursday said that it would be the most watched meeting of the 15-member body.

"I repeat it once again that the Islamic Republic of Iran has never requested a meeting with Donald Trump", he further stressed.

"We broadened the topic", Haley said of the decision.

They are many other cases of dual citizens from the United Kingdom, the USA and other countries who have been arrested on espionage charges. The administration thought it'd be valuable to expand that. The missiles he was talking about were nearly certainly supplied by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. "It will be interesting to see leaders' different takes". That was until Friday, when the president tweeted that he would concentrate on Iran."This is a moment of happiness, a moment of hope, a moment of history", Solih told an audience of journalists and members of his campaign team.

"This is a journey that has ended at the ballot box because the people willed it", Solih, popularly known as Ibu, told reporters in Male.

"The message is loud and clear", he said on Sunday. The provisional results for the remaining 9 per cent of the vote have yet to be announced.

Yameen had been expected to cement his grip on power amid criticism over the fairness of the vote on the islands best known as a luxury holiday destination.

However, terming the poll "the most flawless election" in the Maldives, Ahmed Akram, Commissioner and spokesperson at the Maldives Elections Commission said that the voter turnout was likely to be 85% or more, hours before the total votes polled was declared.

The ruling party said it was too early to declare a victor.

A Maldivian woman casts her vote at a polling station during presidential election voting day in Male, Maldives, Sunday, Sept. 23, 2018.

Mr Yameen, who was widely tipped to retain power, had jailed or forced into exile nearly all of his main rivals.

Voters in the Maldives have thrown out the incumbent president, Abdulla Yameen, in an extraordinary rebuke to a leader who jailed political opponents and judges and drew his country closer to China during a tumultuous five-year term.

Gayoom has been criticized for cracking down on freedoms.

Yameen voted minutes after polling booths opened in the capital Male, where opposition campaign efforts had been frustrated by a media crackdown and police harassment.

Mohamed Shareef Hussain, Maldives envoy to Colombo, said the Election Commission had not assigned enough staff, causing delays.

Police stormed the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) office in Male during the afternoon without a warrant and carried out a search, the party said in a statement.

"In view of events in Maldives", the country's British ambassador, James Dauris, tweeted Saturday, "it's easy to understand why so many people are concerned about what might happen on Election Day".

Maldivian authorities allowed only select global observers and media to visit Male on poll day, denying visas to others that the Elections Commission had earlier accredited.

Rohana Hettiarachchi, a member of the Asian Network for Free Elections (ANFREL), which was named as an election monitor, said his organisation could not take part.

"Our four members were invited and the Election Commission published our name in the global monitors list".

"It's a worry for us here in Australia that we've got another country that is slipping down quite rapidly the slope towards quite a brutal dictatorship".

"Our quick count results indicate that Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has won the 2018 presidential election by a decisive margin", it said in a statement. "We call on all stakeholders to maintain an environment conducive for a peaceful transfer of power", the group said.

Mohamed Nasheed, who was elected president of a newly-democratic Maldives in 2008 but who now lives in exile, urged the global community to reject the results of a flawed election.

But in 2013, Mr Nasheed was ousted by Mr Yameen and forced into exile.

The government has used "vaguely worded laws to silence dissent and to intimidate and imprison critics", some of whom have been assaulted and even murdered, according to Human Rights Watch.Former Austin resident Cody Wilson is showing why his support for 3D guns is unjustified. Wilson has apparently fled to Taiwan to avoid prosecution for charges that he had sex with a 16-year-old girl. If he is convicted, he would be a perfect example of the kind of person who might produce a 3D gun because he couldnt buy one legally.

Wilsons recent court battles over 3D guns have centered over his lofty claims that he should have the freedom of expression to sell (or give away) plans for 3D guns over the internet. His case is stalled for now  and wont get any better with developments like this  but it shouldnt distract anyone from the obvious dangers of 3D guns that could be produced by anyone, anywhere.Detective Avis Beery, who's been working the case for more than a decade, tells the Washington Post that the rapist's typical M.O. was to sneak into women's houses (said to usually be Asian women) while they were sleeping, overpower them, and bind them before assaulting them.

Back in 2007 a woman came forward - as one of the survivors of the NorCal rapist attacks.

Authorities say a 58-year-old California man has been arrested in the decades-old NorCal Rapist case.

"I can't say enough about the importance of that", Beery said. It was not known if Waller had ever been fingerprinted, but it was a DNA test submitted to a genealogy website that led to his arrest.

Sacramento District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert said Waller has been charged in Sacramento County - where two of his attacks allegedly occurred - with 12 counts of forcible sexual assault with allegations he used a gun and enhancements which if he is convicted will carry a life sentence. A man broke into her home in Rohnert Park when she was 21 years old.

Waller has worked as a safety specialist in the UC Berkeley Office of Environment, Health and Safety for 25 years and is a resident of Benicia, as first reported by the Sacramento Bee.

According to investigators Waller is believed to have raped 10 victims in six different northern California counties.

In total, the NorCal Rapist is thought to have assaulted at least 10 women, authorities said. Waller is alleged to have started his string of violent crimes in Rohnert Park, California, in June 1991.

1996: Martinez, victim 39.

Schubert said that the unifying thread in the cases was the suspect's DNA. UCPD continues to work in cooperation with the Sacramento Police Department. He would enter homes late at night, sometimes waking victims before physically overcoming them.

Just like in the recent Golden State Killer arrest, investigators used GEDmatch, a free, online genealogy database, to search for family members of the suspect and begin building a family tree. If you have any information that you think might relate to this case, please call the Sacramento PD tip line: (916) 808-1773.

Waller is now in custody in Sacramento, and is on investigative leave, according to a campuswide message sent by UCPD Chief Margo Bennett and Sharon Inkelas, special faculty adviser to the chancellor on sexual violence and sexual harassment.

UCPD officials were made aware of Waller's impending arrest earlier this week and learned of the charges this morning.

So far, Waller has declined our request for a jailhouse interview.If Supreme Court Justice William Brennan were posthumously discovered to have aggressively groped a girl once in high school, should that fact discredit his landmark opinions expanding press freedom, legal protections for criminal defendants, and voting and welfare rights? Would it have been better for the country, from a liberal perspective, if Brennans judicial career had been derailed from the start? What about Justice John Marshall Harlan, whose groundbreaking 1896 dissent from the majority opinion in Plessy v. Ferguson declared that the Constitution was color-blind and rejected state-sponsored segregation? If Harlan had once jumped on a girl as a 17-year-old, should that one-time outbreak of boorish adolescent male hormones efface his contributions as a public thinker?

The Democratic response to the allegation that three and a half decades ago, Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh assaulted a girl during a pool party bears many hallmarks of campus culture, from the admonition that survivors should always be believed to the claim that the veracity of the accusation matters less than the history of white-male privilege. But the most significant import from academic feminism is the idea that a long-ago, never-repeated incident of adolescent sexual misbehavior (assuming that the assault happened as described, which Kavanaugh has categorically denied) should trump a lifetime record of serious legal thought and government service. (Now, a new allegation, reported by The New Yorker, that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted a Yale classmate at a partythough the New York Times regarded the evidence as too flimsy to publishhas ramped up outrage to the point that feminists are demanding that the Ford hearings they had called for be cancelled.) The feminist nostrum that the personal is political is being weaponized to subordinate the public realm of ideas to the private realm of sexual relationsall, ironically, in the service of a highly political end: preventing a judicial conservative from being seated on the high court. The domain of Eros and the domain of public action are, however, in most cases distinct. If it turned out that James Madison had groped his domestics, it would be absurd to discard the constitutional separation of powers on that ground. Madisons political insights are more important to civilization than any hypothetical chauvinist indiscretions.

(The ongoing eclipse of political and diplomatic history follows a similar impulse: supplanting what is seen as a too-male realm of ideas and action in favor of the history of identity-based, marginalized groups, defined above all by race and sex, whose direct contributions to the evolution of political thought was until recently modest at best.)

But the demand to derail the Kavanaugh nomination is particularly absurd when the alleged incident (lacking any corroborating specificity of time and place) is balanced against Kavanaughs subsequent relations with women. If the alleged assault had even one precedent or repeat occurrence, we would have heard about it by now. Instead, this incident, again assuming for the sake of argument that it happened, was an aberration; not a trivial one, but nonetheless unique. Since then, Kavanaugh has had an unblemished record of treating women with respect. He was the first judge on the D.C. Circuit to have an all-female class of clerks, and over the course of his 12 years on the federal bench, most of his clerks have been women. Working for a judge is an intense experience that includes late nights editing draft opinions, an environment that invites erotic complications. Yet Kavanaughs female clerks have been unanimous in testifying to his character.

His legal peers share that judgment. After his nomination, the dean of the Yale law school (from which Kavanaugh graduated) lauded his principles. Ever since I joined the faculty, announced Heather Gerken, I have admired him for serving as a teacher and mentor to our students and for hiring a diverse set of clerks, in all respects, during his time on the court. Abbe Gluck, a Yale professor of health law, also noted Kavanaughs respect for diversity: Brett Kavanaugh is a true intellectuala leading thinker and writer on the subjects of statutory interpretation and federal courts; an incomparable mentorsomeone who picks law clerks of all backgrounds and viewpoints; and a fair-minded jurist who believes in the rule of law.

The most salient fact about this alleged episode will never register on elite consciousness: the sexual free-for-all environment, which may or may not have given rise to an assault by Kavanaugh. The sexual revolution declared that the traditional restraints on the male libidonorms of male chivalry and gentlemanliness and of female modesty and prudencewere patriarchal and oppressive. Men should stop protecting women and putting them on a pedestal. Males and females were assumed to desire easy sex with equal fervor, and to be able to walk away from a one-night stand with equal complacency. With regard to students, adults should remain nonjudgmental and as far out of the picture as possible. Chaperones were relegated to the relic pile, as fusty as a mothballed corset. Starting in the 1970s, affluent parents often absented themselves from their teenagers parties, leaving the house liquor cabinet unattended. Popular culture became hyper-sexualized.

The results were not pretty: the male libido, free to act as boorishly as it wanted; females getting drunk to reduce their innate sexual inhibitions, unprotected by any default assumptions against casual premarital sex. Whether a 17-year-old Brett Kavanaugh took advantage of this putative sexual liberation, many other teenagers have, and in so doing, merely followed the new script for sexual relations.

Those derided Victorian values of chivalric paternalism are now being reimported covertly on college campuses, however, where male students are deemed responsible for female well-being during drunken hook-ups, even if the male and female student are both equally inebriated. The #MeToo movement is going further, turning a drunken pat on the butt in a suburban kitchen into a criminal offense and a squeeze on the knee under a dinner table grounds for banishment. A panelist on The View complained that the white men on the Senate Judiciary Committee were not protecting women. One might have thought that the committees role was to protect the constitutional balance of power.

Ironically, Hillary Clinton had it right when she called her husbands affair with a White House intern a lapse, notwithstanding that it represented an abuse of workplace hierarchies. She was right to complain that the anti-Clinton feeding frenzy was using the criminal justice system to achieve political ends. Hillary and her feminist peers had a better grip then on the relative importance of the private and the public than Bill Clintons right-wing persecutors.

Today, of course, Clinton and her supporters are singing a different tune. Kavanaughs feminist opponents have yet to articulate the limits of the principle being advanced here. If his Supreme Court nomination is scuttled, is he fit to return to the D.C. bench? If not, what about serving in a law firm? How far does this go? The late Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals judge Stephen Reinhardt (for whom I clerked), arguably the most liberal judge in the country, was appalled by the treatment of his fellow Ninth Circuit jurist Alex Kozinski, driven off the bench last year by feminists for his juvenile sexual repartee. Reinhardt acknowledged Kozinskis warped sense of humor and lack of sensitivity. But those failings have nothing to do with being a good judge, Reinhardt told me. It was a tragedy, Reinhardt said, that privileged law clerks would bring down someone who was fundamentally so good and decent and one of the best judges we have.

That worldly sense of perspective has been turned upside-down in the #MeToo era. It is feminist narcissism to put an uncharacteristic instance of adolescent, never-repeated sexual aggression ahead of a lifetime of achievement in the law. The priorities look like a revenge attack on a civilization deemed too male.

Photo by Alex Wong/Getty ImagesCLEVELAND, Ohio -- The New York Times and Andrew McCabe, long disparaged by President Trump, have now given him justification to fire Deputy Attorney Rod Rosenstein.

The paper has reported that in the aftermath of the firing of FBI Director James Comey, in May 2017, an unnerved Rod Rosenstein had discussed secretly recording the President and getting Cabinet members to invoke the 25th Amendment, beginning a process that would remove Trump from office.

Contemporaneous meeting notes taken by then acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe, were the basis of the report.

"He has no knowledge of how any member of the media obtained those memos," McCabe's lawyer Michael Bromwich told CNN. "When he was interviewed by the special counsel more than a year ago, he gave all of his memos - classified and unclassified - to the special counsel's office. A set of memos remained at the FBI at the time of his departure in late January 2018."

Like James Comey had done, McCabe "drafted memos to memorialize significant discussions he had with high level officials and preserved them so he would have an accurate, contemporaneous record of those discussions," said Bromwich.

Rosenstein quickly denied the NYT report in a statement.

"The New York Time's story is inaccurate and factually incorrect. I will not further comment on a story based on anonymous sources who are obviously biased against the Department and are advancing their own personal agenda. But let me be clear about this: based on my personal dealings with the President, there is no basis to invoke the 25th Amendment."

Despite saying he would "not further comment" Rosenstein did, reportedly at urging of White House advisers to make a firmer statement.

"I never pursued or authorized recording the President and any suggestion that I have ever advocated for the removal of the President is absolutely false," Rosenstein said in his second statement.

In addition to Rosenstein, people in the meeting, those who have worked with Rosenstein and other Journalists have questioned the New York Times reporting.

Sarcastic or Sincere?

Some in the meeting have said Rosenstein was being sarcastic, others thought he was being serious.

People who have worked with and known Rosenstein said the report's description of his demeanor doesn't match their experience with him. They also say suggesting the President be recorded would be out of character for the way Rosenstein operates.

Journalists debating whether the story was under-reported or over-reported seem to agree it wasn't well reported.

In addition to the NYT being criticized for not seriously considering Rosenstein was being sarcastic, some feel the paper's reporters may have gotten played by forces loyal to Comey and McCabe with axes to grind against Rosenstein and forces wanting to further induce Trump to fire Rosenstein, inflaming a Constitutional crises that would ultimately engulf Trump.

Now a question of when Rosenstein will be fired, not if.

At a rally in Missouri, Trump said that at the FBI and Justice Department "there's a lingering stench...we're going to get rid of that, too."

It's likely no longer a question of if Trump will fire Rosenstein, but when. I would think the President would wait until the Kavanaugh-Blasey issue is resolved. But he may also want to fire Rosenstein now to distract from the Blasey controversy. It would be like Trump to fire Rosenstein on the day Blasey testifies, if she ever does.

As it stands right now, the Trump dubbed 'Fake News' New York Times has produced great news for Trump. The NYT providing a good reason to fire Rosenstein, and other Journalists criticizing the paper is Trump's idea of "Winning again."RICHMOND HEIGHTS, Ohio -- A man died Friday and five other residents were hurt in a fire at a Richmond Heights apartment complex, the Richmond Heights Fire Department said.

The fire started about 4:10 p.m. Friday on the third floor of the Loganberry Ridge Apartments in the 26000 block of Whiteway Road, Chief Marc Neumann said. A smoke detector on the third floor activated and crews arrived at the scene within 6 minutes.

Firefighters were met with thick clouds of heavy smoke that forced residents on to their balconies, Neumann said. The property management company told the fire department 60 units were rented out in the 72-unit apartment building.

Firefighters rescued about a dozen residents by ladder, but not everyone made it out safely. As crews made their way in to the building with hose lines, they also saw a resident on the third floor, Neumann said. He was carried out by firefighters and brought to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead, Neumann said.

Five other residents were treated at the hospital for minor injuries, Neumann said. No firefighters were injured as a result of the fire.

The fire started in an elevator car on the third floor. It's cause remains under investigation. It is not yet clear whether the fire started inside the elevator car or shaft, Neumann said.

"The fire is suspicious," Neumann said. "We just don't know what caused it. It could have been caused by a mechanical failure in the elevator, it could have been caused by something else in the surrounding hall. It's just undetermined at this point in time."

The State Fire Marshal's Office is leading the investigation with help from the Hillcrest Fire Investigation Unit and the Richmond Heights Police Department.

Fire crews on the scene included Highland Heights, Lyndhurst, Mayfield Heights, Mayfield Village, South Euclid, Willoughby Hills, Beachwood, Pepper Pike, Shaker Heights, Euclid and Willowick.

The American Red Cross and the Cuyahoga County Emergency Management Agency are assisting those residents who have been displaced.

This was the second fire that broke out on the third floor of a large apartment complex in suburban Cleveland this week. A massive fire broke out Thursday at the Chandlers Lane Condominiums in Olmsted Falls that hospitalized one resident and two firefighters.

"When you look at these apartments, the major difference between these two apartments is the ones in Olmsted Falls, as reported, are wood-frame construction, with great systems in there, but these (in Richmond Heights) are brick and mortar construction," Neumann said.

"Wood-frame construction, when it goes, it goes fast," Neumann added. "Brick buildings withstand a lot more, but they also withhold a lot of heat, as well, so you have oven-like conditions. In a brick and mortar, the survivability is generally better, but not in this case. This is a very, very sad and unfortunate incident."Amending the Ohio Constitution to recast this state's drug laws is like using a chainsaw for surgery: It's anything but precise. And once it's embedded in the state's constitution, a do-over is all but impossible.

That, however, is what Issue 1, on Ohio's November ballot, would do. True, there are sound arguments for reshaping Ohio's drug-crime laws to emphasize treatment and recovery and de-emphasize imprisonment - if Ohio would indeed provide substantial recovery services. Finding those resources should be a priority for elected officeholders, and the taxpayers, and an issue on the campaign trail this fall.

But it's the legislature that should address such an important but politically volatile and complicated matter as making sure state sentencing law and Ohio's general approach to drug crimes appropriately emphasize treatment over incarceration. Putting this issue on the ballot as a constitutional amendment subject to emotional voting, not careful review, is dangerous and wrong -- which is why virtually all state judicial and law enforcement groups oppose Issue 1.

Supporters of Issue 1, in their official arguments in favor of it, say that using the Ohio Constitution to require "misdemeanors instead of felonies for low-level drug possession" along with treatment, community service or local jailing rather than state prison time would improve public safety, save taxpayers "tens of millions of dollars ... and direct the saving to addiction treatment and victims of crime."

As an ideal, that's appealing. But that's not what the small print would do. As just one example: Including fentanyl in the drugs that would be subject to misdemeanor charging ignores how even tiny amounts of this lethal opioid that is so frequently purveyed by drug dealers can kill.

Voters with long memories will recall arguments in support of closing the state's network of mental hospitals: The savings supposedly would provide former inpatients with plentiful services better delivered in "the community."

Deinstitutionalization instead became a factor in homelessness. Services never matched promises.

Issue 1 supporters say, with some justice, that the General Assembly's increasing tendency to duck tough issues, and to dither over those issues it does tackle, is also an argument for Issue 1. But adding an amendment of almost 2,000 words to the Ohio Constitution, an amendment few Ohioans will find the time to read or have the knowledge to interpret, is a recipe for unforeseen consequences and endless litigation.

Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O'Connor is among those speaking out against Issue 1. O'Connor, once Summit County's prosecuting attorney, warned last month that Issue 1 "may be well-intentioned in design, but its passage would gravely endanger Ohioans. It would be devastating in effect," including by reducing to misdemeanors a range of drug offenses that are felonies now.

"Who wouldn't want to set up their drug distribution business in Ohio knowing that possessing 19 grams of fentanyl or lethal amounts of other drugs would result only in a first-class misdemeanor with mandatory probation?" O'Connor said in her Aug. 30 statement.

And by taking jail time "off the table," Issue 1 would deny Ohio courts needed leverage in persuading drug offenders to get treatment, she said, imperiling the effectiveness of the state's widely lauded drug courts to continue to do just what Issue 1 seeks to do, which is to emphasize treatment over incarceration.

O'Connor isn't the only judge arguing against Issue 1. Also speaking out against the proposed constitutional amendment are associations of Ohio's judges -- judges who sometimes seem reticent to give anyone the time of day because it might suggest they favor one time zone over another.

Cleveland.com reported in August that a philanthropy linked to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, pediatrician Priscilla Chan, is among those backing Issue 1. The Chan Zuckerberg Advocacy, of Palo Alto, California, has donated $1 million to the Issue 1 campaign, as has the Washington-based Open Society Policy Center, part of "a family of offices and foundations created by philanthropist George Soros."

As legally required, Issue 1's opening words are, "Be it resolved by the people of the state of Ohio ..."

If Ohio required truth-in-packaging for ballot issues, Issue 1 might accurately open this way: "Be it enacted by a few rich people in California, the District of Columbia, and other places outside Ohio, who think they know better how to run Ohio than Ohioans do ..."

Ohioans should vote No on Issue 1.

Early voting for the Nov. 6 election begins Oct. 10.

About our editorials: Editorials express the view of the editorial board of cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer -- the senior leadership and editorial-writing staff. As is traditional, editorials are unsigned and intended to be seen as the voice of the news organization.

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* Use the comments to share your thoughts. Then, stay informed when readers reply to your comments by using the "Follow" option at the top of the comments, & look for updates via the small blue bell in the lower right as you look at more stories on cleveland.com.The succession crisis in Algeria continues to spill ink after former French Ambassador Bernard Bajolet claimed that ailing President Bouteflika is artificially maintained alive.

This statement comes as voices with vested interest in the regime are calling for a fifth term for President Bouteflika whose public appearances are a thing of the past.

Bajolet who served as chief French external intelligence agency (DGSE) delivered a scathing criticism of the Algerian regime at an interview with Le Figaro, saying that the Algerian President is artificially maintained alive.

President Bouteflika, with all the respect I feel for him, is kept alive artificially. And nothing will change in this transition period, he said.

Prominent Algerian politicians and intellectuals expressed outcry as the Algerian regime prepares a fifth term for Bouteflika who is now confined to a wheelchair.

The President who recently underwent medical checkups in Switzerland amid a cholera outbreak in his country is seriously ill and his voice is barely intelligible.

Bouteflika has been frail since suffering a stroke in 2013, which weakened his mobility and forced him to work from his residence in Zeralda, west of Algiers.

Analysts deem that maintaining a sick President whose physical and mental capacities are shrouded in uncertainty is indicative of a power struggle within the countrys regime.

The contending clans within the regime seem not in agreement over Bouteflikas successor. Therefore, they maintain the ailing 80-year old President as a time buying measure in a sign that bodes ill for the countrys future.

Bouteflikas health also casts a shadow on the opacity of a regime, where power is generally presumed to reside among groups of military leaders, intelligence officials, businessmen, and politicians collectively known as Le Pouvoir.

Regime opacity and the secrecy shrouding the successor to Bouteflika have also been hampering Algeria from carrying out economic reforms to wean their economy from dependence on hydrocarbons

Uncertainty over Bouteflikas succession adds to Algerias explosive mix: ailing economy, dwindling oil revenues, widespread corruption, fragile social cohesion and lingering terrorist threat, which make the country a powder keg waiting to explode.Loyalty programs, half-off sales and even free coffee. These are some of the measures airport executives are considering to encourage travelers to park in their lots and garages, as ride-hailing apps like Uber and Lyft have surged in popularity.

Parking is an important source of revenue for airports, sometimes second only to the fees airports collect from airlines, such as for terminal rent and landing fees. Airports are now scrambling to protect this key income stream as more travelers opt to leave their cars at home and take an Uber or Lyft to the airport.

Software consultant Allen Mederos said on business trips longer than two nights, he'll take an Uber from his Fort Worth home to the Dallas-Forth Worth International Airport, about 45 minutes away. The trip costs him $40, while the lot is $24 a day.

"I definitely use it more frequently," said Mederos, of Uber. "It's cost-benefit."

Airports throughout the U.S. are taking a cue from airlines, launching or developing loyalty programs of their own. They include free parking after they use an airport lot for a certain number of days. Some airports are also trying to make airport parking more convenient, such as by allowing drivers to reserve a spot close to terminals.

John Ackerman, who heads global strategy and development at Dallas Fort-Worth International Airport says he uses Uber and Lyft "all over the world" but is trying to make the airport's lots more attractive. Parking's share of revenue at the American Airlines' hometown hub slipped from 32.4 percent of its overall income in the 12 months ended last September from 34 percent a year earlier, it said.

In April, DFW started allowing travelers to reserve a specific parking spot online and pay ahead of time through the website or airport's app. It also introduced a dynamic pricing model, which rises and falls with demand.

Sometimes parking, which is $24 a day in the main lot, can be half-off when demand is low. The airport increased parking fees, however, in 2016, raising the full-day rate by $2.

"Just like an airline seat or hotel room [that goes unsold] it's perishable," said Ackerman, adding that the airport is even considering perks like a free Starbucks coffee for loyal travelers who opt to park at the airport.

Miami International Airport is considering a similar loyalty program it hopes to launch by the end of the year, a spokesman said.

Strong passenger growth is helping airports make up for the shift to ride-hailing apps, as a greater number of travelers fly. Close to 896 million passengers boarded planes in the U.S. in the 12 months ended in June, up more than 3.9 percent from the year-earlier period, according to the Department of Transportation.

"There are a number of things that could mask the underlying issue, such as traffic growth," said Darren Perry, a managing director at firm L.E.K. Consulting, specializing in aviation and infrastructure.

Some airports are already seeing an impact. Denver International Airport reported that parking revenue fell more than 1 percent to $1.76 billion in 2017, while ground transportation revenue, which includes fees collected from Uber, Lyft and from ride-hailing apps, rose 29 percent to $12.4 million in the same period.

"One day parking revenues could really dry up and we could see an even greater focus on other non-aeronautical" revenue, said Stephen Freibrun, a principal at consulting firm ICF. He said that include include more food and beverage concessions.

Other airports are planning for continued growth of Uber, Lyft and other ride-hailing platforms. Pittsburgh International Airport is just starting a roughly $1 billion renovation of its facilities, a plan that originally included around 5,000 parking garage spots, in addition to the some 2,000 spaces it currently has. Executives later decided to reduce that to roughly 3,500, said Christina Cassotis, CEO of the Allegheny County Airport Authority, which runs the airport.

"We're scaling back," she said in an interview.

So far, the sheer increase in air travelers is keeping parking revenues aloft, according to Moody's Investor Services, which rates airport's credit worthiness.

But ground transportation revenue, which includes both parking and fees paid by Uber and Lyft and other ride-hailing platforms, decreased to $8.65 per passenger in fiscal 2017 from $9.04 two years earlier, Moody's said in a report in April.

That decline and the rise of ride-sharing platforms aren't enough to hurt airports' borrowing costs, said Moody's airport analyst Earl Heffintrayer. The issue, however, is more acute at smaller airports that don't have the passenger volume as their larger counterparts, but the revenue from car rentals and parking is "on a downward trend," broadly he saidThey say life imitates art, which is why Budsies has no problem making a name for itself in the toy industry. This South Florida-based company lets customers turn their original artwork into a plush toy.

Alex Furmansky, Founder and CEO of Budsies, pitched the heartwarming concept to the panel on "Shark Tank,"

He told the sharks: "Children have the most amazing minds. Their imagination inspires them to create the most fantastic artwork. So, rather than let their artwork take over our fridge, or get lost in piles in attics or basements gone forever  how can we treasure it?" he asked.

"Imagine if we could magically transform your child's artwork into something real? Something tangible. Something...huggable," he added.

On the show, Furmansky asked for $100,000 in exchange for a 5 percent stake in his company. While the outcome wasn't exactly what they were expecting, Furmansky walked away feeling confident in his decision.

Furmansky said the awareness and recognition of his product, thanks to being on "Shark Tank", is unparalleled. Being on the show has helped his business secure everything from partnerships to even a great office lease. His landlord is even proud to have a "Shark Tank" company in his complex.

The future of Budsies looks exceptionally bright, as the company has been on a high growth trajectory for the last 5 years with plans to expand. "At this point, we've produced nearly 70,000 unique designs and established ourselves as the #1 custom plush company worldwide," Furmansky said.

Above all, Furmansky said that he's most proud of his incredible team in Boynton Beach, Florida.

"Everyone is sharp, hungry for growth, and aligned with our mission." He added: "In fact, we are wrapping up our 2018 Budsies Pals Program...where over 50 strong children facing tough struggles will receive free Budsies to bring them strength and comfort."

Don't miss Furmansky pitch Budsies on "Shark Tank" tonight at 9P ET on CNBC.



Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh appears before the Senate Judiciary Committee during his Supreme Court confirmation hearing in the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill September 4, 2018 in Washington, DC.

The Senate Judiciary Committee will on Thursday hear the testimony of Christine Blasey Ford, a California professor who has accused U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of a decades-old incident of sexual assault.

Following protracted negotiations over whether and how Ford would appear before Senate representatives, the details came as her lawyers announced on Saturday she had agreed in principle, even as they blasted the committee leadership for "bullying" their client.

As a result of Ford's testimony, a planned committee vote on Kavanaugh's nomination has been postponed, according to a statement from the office of Judiciary Committee Chair, Iowa's Charles Grassley.

Ford's agreement brings an end to a stalemate that lasted for more than a week, and overshadowed President Donald Trump's second selection for a high court vacancy. Meanwhile, a polarizing public debate  fueled largely by the "Me Too" movement of sexual harassment survivors  has converged with the politics surrounding the Supreme Court's delicate ideological balance.

"We committed to moving forward with an open hearing on Thursday, Sept 27 at 10:00 am," wrote Ford's lawyers, in a statement. "Despite actual threats to her safety and her life, Dr. Ford believes it is important for Senators to hear directly from her about the sexual assault committed against her."

The Senate's oversight body and Ford's legal representatives had been locked in a standoff about the contours of her appearance before the committee. Indeed, several key details remained unresolved on Sunday, as Ford's lawyers raised questions about whether other witnesses would be asked to appear, or who on the GOP side will be grilling Ford.

"We were told no decision has been made on this important issue, even though various senators have been dismissive of her account, and should have to shoulder their responsibility to ask her questions," Ford's representatives said. "We look forward to hearing back from the majority staff as soon as possible on these important matters."Alexander Novak, Russia's energy minister, left, speaks as Khalid Al-Falih, Saudi Arabia's energy and industry minister, listens during a news conference following the 173rd Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) meeting in Vienna, Austria, on Thursday, Nov. 30, 2017.

OPEC's leader Saudi Arabia and its biggest oil-producer ally outside the group, Russia, ruled out on Sunday any immediate, additional increase in crude output, effectively rebuffing U.S. President Donald

Trump's calls for action to cool the market.

"I do not influence prices," Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih told reporters in Algiers ahead of a meeting of OPEC and non-OPEC energy ministers.

Benchmark Brent oil reached $80 a barrel this month, prompting Trump to reiterate on Thursday his demand that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries lower prices.

The price rally mainly stemmed from a decline in oil exports from OPEC member Iran due to fresh U.S. sanctions.

"We protect the countries of the Middle East, they would not be safe for very long without us, and yet they continue to push for higher and higher oil prices! We will remember. The OPEC monopoly must get prices down now!" Trump wrote on Twitter.

Tweet

Falih said Saudi Arabia had spare capacity to increase oil output but no such move was needed at the moment.

"My information is that the markets are adequately supplied. I don't know of any refiner in the world who is looking for oil and is not able to get it," Falih said.

Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said no immediate output increase was necessary, although he believed a trade war between China and the United States as well as U.S. sanctions on Iran were creating new challenges for oil markets.

Trump's statement was not his first criticism of OPEC.

Higher gasoline prices for U.S. consumers could create a political headache for Republican Trump before mid-term congressional elections in November.

Iran, OPEC's third-largest producer, has accused Trump of orchestrating the oil price rally by imposing sanctions on Tehran and accused its regional arch-rival Saudi Arabia of bowing to U.S. pressure.

On Sunday, Iranian oil minister Bijan Zanganeh said Trump's tweet "was the biggest insult to Washington's allies in the Middle East".A worker rotates a gas turbine during assembly at the Siemens gas turbine factory on January 8, 2010 in Berlin, Germany.

German engineering group Siemens is working on a deal worth up to 9 billion euros ($10.6 billion) to supply energy generation technology to Iraq, business daily Handelsblatt reported, citing government and industry sources.

Siemens Chief Executive Joe Kaeser has traveled to Iraq to secure a memorandum of understanding with the country on Sunday, the paper said, adding the deal also involved power transmission technology.

The Iraqi government has not made a decision whether to accept Siemens' offer, which has also been supported by German Chancellor Angela Merkel this week, Handelsblatt said.

"We had submitted our roadmap document for repowering Iraq to Prime Minister Haider Jawad Al-Abadi in February," a Siemens spokesman said in emailed comments, adding the group has had a series of meetings and positive government feedback since then.

"Through our proposal, we aim to add 11 gigawatts of power generation capacity in four years, create thousands of jobs in the country, and support anti-corruption, skills development and education among Iraqis," the spokesman said.

He did not elaborate on the volume of the potential contract.

In 2015, Siemens signed an 8 billion euro ($9.4 billion) deal with Egypt to supply gas and wind power plants to add 16.4 gigawatts of capacity to the country's power grid, marking the group's single biggest order.Tanger-Med, one of the largest ports in the Mediterranean, took part on September 20-22 in the third Meeting of the African Economic Zones held by The African Free Zones Organization (AFZO).

Themed Economic Zones and Free Zones contribution to sustainable economic development in Africa, the event brought together representatives of 30 African countries as well as international experts.

The participants discussed best practices and models for the successful development of special economic zones as well as the challenges and roles of economic and free zones in terms of FDI attractiveness, investment and financing strategy and regional integration of the zones.

The African Free Zones Organization (AFZO) is an association founded upon the initiative of Tanger-Med in 2015. It includes the main African economic zones, free zones and institutions in charge of the development, management and promotion of economic zones and free zones in Africa.

It currently has 29 members representing 18 African countries: Gabon, Nigeria, Togo, Ghana, Cote dIvoire, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Senegal, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Chad, Sudan, Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, Zambia and Botswana.NTU, IIT Madras to offer joint PhD programme as part of research collaboration efforts

The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Madras has joined hands with the Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore, to offer a joint PhD programme. Infosys co-founder, Kris Gopalakrishnan, an alumnus of IIT Madras, has agreed to sponsor five IIT Madras students annually for travel to and stay at NTU (up to 18 months) as part of this programme.

The MoU will not only strengthen IIT Madras collaborations with NTU, but will also enable the exchange of an equal number of scholars from IIT Madras to NTU. Photo courtesy: ntu.edu.sg

R Nagarajan, Alumni Community Chair Professor, IIT Madras, in a press release issued by the institute said, NTU is sending a delegation of faculty for a Research Collaboration Workshop at IIT Madras. A reciprocal workshop is planned at NTU in early 2019. Both institutions will attempt to get five PhD candidates enrolled in the joint programme during 2019. IIT Madras alumni in Singapore will continue to meet regularly, and look for ways to give back to IIT Madras and to India.

The MoU will not only strengthen IIT Madras collaborations with NTU, but will also enable the exchange of an equal number of scholars from IIT Madras to NTU. An alumni meeting held on June 2 also served to strengthen the bond between alumni and their alma mater.

Gopalakrishnan said, I strongly believe in international collaboration in research so that diverse perspectives can be brought to solve global challenges. NTU and IIT Madras are research leaders in many complementary areas and I am sure that this collaboration will help advance research in both institutes.Rees-Mogg: The Prime Ministers fine words dont make a bad plan good

This glorious, widely praised performance showed the Prime Minister at her best. Polite and conciliatory though she is in normal times, when treated rudely there is an inner steel. Not that this should blind people to the problems with her Chequers plan. Her stirring speech does not make a bad plan good, but it does show that she has the willpower to deliver something better. The EU is blind to have turned down the Chequers proposal  it offers Europe almost all it wants, but in its greed it asks for more. As proposed it would leave the UK a vassal state, chained to rules it could not alter and denied the liberty it voted for. That, in its overbearing arrogance, the EU has rejected this has saved the United Kingdom from a bad deal, but a good solution has always been partly on offer.  Jacob Rees-Mogg, Mail on Sunday

>Yesterday:

Downing Street advisers consider November election

Theresa Mays aides have secretly begun contingency planning for a snap election in November to save the Brexit talks and her job after EU leaders rebuffed the prime ministers Chequers plan. Two senior members of Mays Downing Street political operation responded to her summit humiliation in Salzburg last week by war-gaming an autumn vote to win public backing for a new plan. In a telephone conversation on Thursday evening one of them said to another Tory strategist: What are you doing in November  because I think we are going to need an election. With Mays position in peril, The Sunday Times can also reveal that another member of her inner circle has told cabinet ministers she is likely to stand down next summer  a move designed to stop them resigning now to replace her.  Sunday Times

Mitchell: Now Chequers has been rebuffed, its time to properly develop the Canada proposal

The Chequers proposals were welcomed at least, in answering the European Unions increasingly frustrated question what do you Brits actually want?. It was put together by the Civil Service and imposed, humiliatingly, on the Cabinet (if you dont like it you can walk home) as the least worst common denominator. The Prime Minister shows courage in stubbornly defending it as the only practical solution. But it is far from clear that the House of Commons will accept it. Increasingly attractive to colleagues is The Canada plus plus scheme championed by the former Brexit secretary. This proposal must at least be worked up so that the pluses are properly fleshed out.  Andrew Mitchell, Sunday Telegraph

>Today: ToryDiary: Is May pivoting to Canada?

Corbyn: I will back a second referendum if Party members vote for one

Jeremy Corbyn has said he would support another Brexit referendum  if Labour members at the annual party conference call for it. The Labour leader said that he would prefer to have a general election to settle the issue, but admitted he could not ignore calls for a second referendum if party members demand it. It comes after Tom Watson also in a newspaper interview the party should not ignore party members if they make their voices for another referendum heard loud enough. Speaking to the Mirror, Corbyn said: What comes out of conference I will adhere to. But Im not calling for a second referendum. I hope we will agree that the best way of resolving this is a General Election.  Mail on Sunday

Defence cuts risk repeating the mistakes of the Falklands, former commanders warn

Guards regiments suffer a manpower crisis  Sunday Times

64,000 members of the Armed Forces estimated to be at risk of harm from alcohol  The Sun on Sunday

Inside the RAF drone base which vaporises ISIS terrorists from afar  Mail on Sunday

Why are so many of my generation so unpatriotic?  Charlotte Gill, Mail on Sunday

Sunday Telegraph: The Conservatives have surrendered in the battle of ideas

Britain is repeating mistakes made before the Falklands War as defence cuts leave warships vulnerable to being destroyed by sea-skimming missiles, it was claimed this weekend. The Royal Navy last week retired the last of its 13 Sea King Mk7 helicopters, which have powerful radar designed to give ships early warning of an attack. A replacement radar system called Crowsnest, to be fitted to up to 10 of the navys Merlin helicopters, will not be operational for another 18 months. Former commanders and military experts warned this weekend that the lack of an airborne early warning system is among capability gaps that leave the navy exposed to a resurgent Russia and China. They drew a parallel with 1978, four years before the Falklands conflict, when the Fairey Gannet, an early warning aircraft, was taken out of service.  Sunday Times

We are all for fairness and paying to the Exchequer what one is obliged to, but the Tories are wrong to indulge in the politics of envy and the munificent welfare state. Whatever happened to public sector reform? Much of it remains inefficient and wasteful. The Conservatives have played Labours game by rolling out an unfunded commitment to a 20 billion budget boost for the NHS. Labour, predictably, has promised just enough extra to appear more compassionate. When the Right embraces socialist economics, it triggers a bidding war that the Tories can never win because Labour will always go further  and at this weeks conference it will promise voters the moon. Its time the Conservatives replied with a different, compelling message.  Sunday Telegraph Leader

>Today: Liz Truss on Comment: As Labours Conference opens, think long and hard about the damage they would wreak on jobs, wages and tax

No holograms or fuzzy felt letters, in safety-first plan for Tory conference

The Prime Minister should tear up a 39 billion cheque on the stage  Quentin Letts, Sunday Telegraph

Labour urges Hancock to give the NHS 500 million to avoid a winter crisis

Jeremy Wright, the culture secretary, has axed plans to give his speech to the Conservative Party conference as a hologram. The idea was hatched by his predecessor at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, Matt Hancock, before he was promoted to health secretary. Wright, a reputed technophobe, initially considered the idea but has now ruled it out amid fears it could so easily become an embarrassing fiasco. A Conservative Party insider said: Last year we couldnt even manage to keep letters in place on a backdrop behind the prime minister as she gave her speech to conference, so there was absolutely no bloody way we were going to allow a relatively new minister appearing as a hologram to take centre stage. It had disaster written all over it.  Sunday Times

The NHS needs an urgent 500million bailout to head off a winter beds crisis, it was claimed last night. Labour warned of cancelled ops and patients stuck on trolleys without a fresh cash booster. Health Secretary Matt Hancock was urged to take his head out of the sand and face up to the looming problem. Last year the government gave hospitals a 355million winter pressure fund  but critics say it came too late to protect patients from bed shortages, longer waiting times and ambulance queues. More than 22,800 operations were postponed during a one-month freeze on non-urgent procedures in January. NHS chiefs also ordered commissioners to relax the rules banning mixed-sex wards. This resulted in 18,000 breaches in the past year.  The Sun on Sunday

Major and five former Health Secretaries under pressure to give evidence in infected blood inquiry  Sunday Times

Hancock urges better support for NHS staff who witness traumatic events  Sunday Telegraph

Politically correct health chiefs are hiding obesity crisis among ethnic minority children  Mail on Sunday

Suicide of NHS chief facing fraud scandal  Sunday Times

Labour frontbencher praises the actions of Militant in Liverpool

A member of Jeremy Corbyns shadow cabinet provoked criticism last night after she praised a Militant-led council for setting an illegal budget in the 1980s. Dawn Butler, the shadow women and equalities minister, quoted the factions slogan better to break the law than break the poor in a speech to the Labour Party conference in Liverpool yesterday. In 1985, Liverpools Labour council, which was run by the partys far-left Militant wing, defied local government spending cuts imposed by the Conservative government. Their tactics were condemned by Labours leader at the time, Neil Kinnock, who accused the council of inflicting grotesque chaos on the city and being forced to sack their own workers after running out of money Last night a source close to Kinnock said: Dawns remarks are so far from what we should be standing for as a party that Ive decided Id rather not dignify them with a comment.  Sunday Times

Opinion

Editorials

We have all been warned  Sunday Times Leader

When will Labour moderates realise it is wrong to campaign for these Marxist clowns to win power?  The Sun on Sunday Says

>Yesterday: Jack Brereton on Comment: It isnt too late to save the railway from the disaster of re-nationalisation

Teenager shot dead in Londons 108th murder this year

Police have launched a murder investigation after a teenager was gunned down in east London. The 19-year-old victim was shot at 11pm on Saturday on Vallentin Road, E17 in Walthamstow. Police said the man was bundled into a car by his friends after being shot and rushed to hospital in north-east London. The man was pronounced dead at 11.38. He is the 108th murder victim in London so far in 2018.  Mail on SundayPro-EU campaigners pressing for the Labour Party to support a second referendum are up against two factors (aside, that is, from it being a fundamentally awful idea, and there being no time left to hold one): the opposition of the leadership, and the strategy of deliberate ambiguity.

The first is tricky. Theyre asking Jeremy Corbyn, who spent years as a vocal Eurosceptic, and people like Len McCluskey, whose view expressed today is Weve had a Peoples Vote, they voted to leave, to change or ignore their views. Thats hard but not impossible. For all the hype about Corbyns supposedly immovable dedication to unchanging beliefs, in recent months he has become visibly more willing to flex, duck and weave in order to preserve both his hide and his project. If the pressure seems to become threatening, and conversely if the change in policy appears to be an opportunity, then the Man Of Principle may be willing to switch his line without any qualms.

The second poses different problems. First by accident and then by design, Corbyns strategists have developed ambiguity into a productive strategy that has become a hallmark of his leadership. In their battle to hold together an often disparate and fractious Party and electoral coalition, they prefer to handle difficult issues by implying that they agree with and will deliver for all sides. That way those who want to believe are able to, and they can plough on with some vaguely plausible smokescreen to cover them from criticism. Thats particularly the case on Brexit, where Labour has worked hard to persuade voters from opposite positions to believe they agree with both of them.

For obvious reasons, a firm commitment to a second referendum  a sore losers vote, in effect  would be a threat to that strategy. A lot of voters loathe the idea, particularly if its a route to ignore the original referendum and stay in the EU. Its seen as a repeat of the EUs bad old habit of making people vote again and again until Brussels gets its way, which offends not just Eurosceptics but a wider range of peoples sense of fairness. Backing such a scam could cost a lot of votes, in crucial seats.

Nonetheless, under pressure from Tom Watson among others, it seems that Labours position is creeping closer to just such a crunch. Corbyn himself has now said he will respect the decision of Party members at his conference. There is great excitement among those who failed to accept the result of one referendum that they might now get to take part in a second.

Does that mean such a commitment from Labour is genuinely in the offing? Notnecessarily. As explained over on LabourList, any motion that actually comes to a vote will be the product of what is called compositing  agreeing between the 125 different people and organisations who have tabled various competing Brexit motions on something that supposedly is a workable meld of their ideas. That leaves plenty of opportunity for further ambiguity; be it naming another referendum as one of a range of possible further options, or hedging it about with rules, tests and hypotheticals (not unlike Gordon Browns tests on joining the Euro, which mercifully helped to prevent us entering the Single Currency).

Implying support for a second referendum, while maintaining deniability about actually supporting one, would be a tightrope walk. But theyve tiptoed across this chasm on a high-wire thus far already, so it wouldnt be a new experience.As long-term readers will recall, the Conservative Party has had a few different interpretations of the term open primary. At the most comprehensive end was the selection of Sarah Wollaston in Totnes by a full postal vote of the constituency, and at the most restrictive were some peculiar efforts by local associations a few years ago to refer to normal selection meetings by the term. Over time, however, the standard definition appears to have settled around the concept of an open meeting, at which any registered voter from the constituency can attend and have their say, but at which they must vote in person.

Crewe and Nantwich

The first selection of this Parliament on those rules takes place tomorrow, Monday, in Crewe and Nantwich. Having been gained for the Conservatives by Edward Timpson in the 2008 by-election, the seat became a hyper-marginal in 2017, when Labours Laura Smith unseated Timpson by 48 votes.

There are two candidates in the final for the Conservative nomination:

Robert Largan. A chartered accountant at Marks and Spencer, Largan grew up in Bury and contested Bury South for the Conservatives in 2017. He served as a Hammersmith and Fulham councillor from 2014-17, and worked in Parliament for Greg Hands MP, before returning to the North West.

Dr Kieran Mullan. A doctor by profession, Mullan currently works in Accident & Emergency, and in health policy for the National Clinical Audit Commissioner. He contested Wolverhampton South East for the Conservatives in 2017, and Birmingham Hodge Hill in 2015. In addition to his work and political commitments, he is also a volunteer special constable. He has written for ConservativeHome, most recently on the Gosport hospital scandal.

Warwick and Leamington

Meanwhile, congratulations to Cllr Jack Rankin on his victory in Friday nights selection meeting in Warwick and Leamington. Here is a re-cap of the new candidates sketch bio:

Cllr Jack Rankin: Rankin is Cabinet Member for Economic Development in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, and contested Ashton-under-Lyne in last years General Election. Since securing a Masters degree in Mathematics and Physics, he has worked for Centrica in a variety of roles involving analysis of the energy sector. Rankin is also Deputy Chairman of Windsor Conservative Association.

Forthcoming selections

Were expecting a series of other target seat selections to take place over the next fortnight, and ConservativeHome will endeavour in the interests of transparency and democracy to report on them as closely as possible. As ever, any tips on timings, shortlists and so on from readers are gratefully received.Liz Truss is Chief Secretary to the Treasury, and is MP for South West Norfolk.

Ten years on from the crash, its easy to forget how far weve come since Labours days in government. For people just going to work and getting on with their lives, it isnt obvious that there are more people in work now than ever before, and that our unemployment rate is among the lowest in the developed world.

Theres still more to do: thats why were continuing to support business, invest in world-class infrastructure and boost skills as part of our modern Industrial Strategy. It will deliver the high-paid jobs crucial to boosting living standards and growing the economy.

Having a job, a decent wage and fair taxes is something everyone expects when we put in the work  politicians shouldnt expect to be thanked when things are going well. But we should all remember what it was like in 2008  when everybody felt the squeeze from the financial crisis, which was made much worse by Labours flagrant spending and debt-fuelled economy from the mid-2000s.

Thats why it irks me to see Jeremy Corbyn and his acolytes shout about how terrible Britain is. They ignore the fact that there are jobs for people that need them, that taxes have been held down so people have more at the end of the month, and that the economy is bigger than its ever been.

When Labour left office, Britain was piling on debt at the highest rate since World War Two. Now our debt is starting to fall. When you hear Labour chanting about spending cuts, remember that it was Labours policies that got us into the mess, and Conservative policies that brought back the jobs. Now Labour want to go back to that: a spending and debt rampage that John McDonnell has been dreaming about for 30 years. It doesnt take a psychic to work out what would happen  weve been there before.

But it gets much worse. Labours last manifesto was heavy on spending other peoples money  half a trillion in fact, that McDonnell himself said was mediocre and just the first step. But their plans for our economy go much further than that. They resent individual success so much that he wants to destroy our economic system altogether  no matter the cost. Thats why McDonnell called business the real enemy, and welcomed the financial crash that cost half a million people their jobs, saying Ive been waiting for this for a generation.

Its not just about more spending and debt. They want to bring down the system of free enterprise and exchange which Britain invented and has prospered so much from, and replace it with a committee of Corbyn, McDonnell and Diane Abbott telling us all how we should live our lives. Corbyns shadow Education Secretary, Angela Rayner, got it right when she said its sh*t or bust  a big gamble with our economy, with ordinary peoples livelihoods as chips on the poker board. In normal times, it would be baffling to hear the Labour party planning such total economic self-destruction. But these are not normal times.

Brexit gives Britain a massive opportunity to succeed as a free trading nation where if you work hard and play by the rules you can succeed. I dont agree with the doomsayers who think Britains best days are behind us. Our open, tolerant, free-thinking attitude means new ideas thrive, people arent afraid of breaking the mould and starting businesses which make nearly everything we do cheaper and better. This attitude will only become greater as we leave the EU and shirk the barriers it puts up to the outside world.

But there is one big threat to Britains post-Brexit success looming on the horizon  Jeremy Corbyn and his big gamble with our economy. If hes allowed into Downing Street just at the moment that were entering the world stage as an independent nation, I have no doubt those opportunities right there for the taking will be missed. Instead of being able to sign new trade deals, well become more closed as trade barriers go up and ever more regulations and taxes are slapped on business.

Margret Thatcher said it best about Labours constant war on winners: they would rather the poor were poorer, if the rich were less rich. Britain would become a place where business is frowned upon, much to the joy of a smirking McDonnell. The poor would be poorer, true, but the rich will be non-existent  and thats the greater prize for them.

So when you look at the difference between the Conservatives and Labour, theres a lot at stake. Its not just about levels of tax and spending. It is about whether we want to take the opportunities now open to us, or miss them because of some obsession with bringing down business and limiting peoples success.

Not everyone voted for Brexit  I didnt at the time. But its not hard to see a bright future for Britain, if we choose to look for it. I want our country to be a success, and believe were on the right path. But with the economy shackled by Corbyn, the whole thing will have been for nought. Its time to look forward, not back, to a future with all the confidence of a nation unleashed.We are analyzing the site. Please wait a few seconds..100%

Website vietafashion.com uses latest and advanced technologies like: Boostrap. It supports HTTPS and GZIP compression. The main html page has a size of 249899 bytes (244.04 kb uncompressed) and 33781 bytes (32.99 kb compressed).

This CoolSocial report was updated on 2021-10-06, you can refresh this analysis whenever you want.Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images

With Christine Fords accusations against Brett Kavanaugh dominating the news, the Supreme Court nominees standing with the American people has slipped from its already shaky position into rarely charted territory, according to multiple recent polls.

A Fox News poll released on Sunday found that 40 percent of Americans want to see Kavanaugh confirmed, compared to 50 percent who dont  the worst numbers for the poll going back to 2005.

BREAKING: Record number of voters now oppose #Kavanaugh nomination:



The number favoring Kavanaughs confirmation dropped 12 points among independents & 11 points among suburban women@FoxNews #Poll DETAILS: https://t.co/vG0zbma11e pic.twitter.com/gzOYdGaTBm  Fox News Poll (@foxnewspoll) September 23, 2018

The same poll found that more people believed Christine Fords version of events than Kavanaughs.

NEW: @foxnewspoll shows 36% of voters believe Christine Blasey Ford in her accusations against Judge Brett Kavanaugh. #KavanaughConfirmationHearing pic.twitter.com/t7IguUixjs  FoxNewsSunday (@FoxNewsSunday) September 23, 2018

Predictably, the poll was split along gender and party lines: Democrats overwhelmingly believe Ford; Republicans overwhelmingly believe Kavanaugh. Women believed her by 10 points; men by only one.

Another poll released this week, this one conducted by NBC and The Wall Street Journal, also found Kavanaughs numbers sinking. Thirty-eight percent of Americans were opposed to Kavanaughs confirmation, with 34 percent in favor. (Demographic splits were similar to the Fox survey.)

New NBC News/WSJ poll: Support for Kavanaugh's nomination has dropped from already historically low to negative over the past few months: pic.twitter.com/GvKSSWE28Q  Maddow Blog (@MaddowBlog) September 21, 2018

Like the Fox survey, the NBC/WSJ poll dates back to 2005. Again, Kavanaughs numbers are the worst it has recorded  including the numbers for Harriet Miers, whose nomination was ultimately withdrawn.

And a USA Today/Ipsos Public Affairs poll released this week found that 40 percent of Americans dont want Kavanaugh to be confirmed, compared to 31 percent who do  numbers USA Today characterizes as an unprecedented level of disapproval for a nominee to the nations high court.

According to CNNs Harry Enten, polling averages show that Kavanaugh is the least-liked nominee since Robert Bork in 1987.

It is unusual for any Supreme Court nominee, even for those who hold broadly unpopular opinions, to be polling in negative territory. But even before the Ford allegations became public, Kavanaugh was viewed coolly by the public. His initial unpopularity can probably be attributed to the outsize role he would play on the role if confirmed. Whereas President Trumps first nominee, Neil Gorsuch, was taking over Antonin Scalias spot on the court (thanks to ruthless GOP maneuvering), Kavanaugh would be supplanting sometimes swing voter Anthony Kennedy, thus realigning the courts balance rightward and putting Roe v. Wade in serious danger.

Kavanaughs dismal numbers are unlikely to be the most important factor in the calculations of two key Republican senators, Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins, who could make or break his nomination. But the fact that Americans tend to believe Fords accusation has thrown a wrench into the plans of some Republicans, like Missouris Josh Hawley, to make the midterm elections a referendum on his nomination. Given the nominees poor standing, particularly among women, red state Democrats have much less to fear than they once did by opposing his nomination.BRIDGEPORT  City officials often promote know your numbers health campaigns that encourage residents to get blood sugar and pressure screenings.

That same slogan could be applied to a new 2020 U.S. Census push by City Council members and state Rep. Christopher Rosario. They want Bridgeport to be as prepared as possible to get an accurate count of residents  particularly immigrants who are suspicious of or fear Republican President Donald Trumps administration.

If Connecticuts largest city, on paper, loses residents because of a lack of participation in the census, it could have a major impact on Bridgeports health in terms of cuts to federal aid and other services. And an under-count could, similarly, hurt the entire state, which lost a congressional district in 2003 following the 2000 national census.

This is not just an issue that affects Bridgeport, Hartford, New Haven, said Councilwoman Maria Zambrano Viggiano. I dont see this as a city or urban center problem. I see this as a statewide problem.

On Monday the councils Miscellaneous Matters committee will take up a pair of 2020 census-related resolutions sponsored by Zambrano Viggiano and 11 other members of the all-Democrat legislative branch.

One calls for the creation of a so-called complete count committee to do census outreach  something the U.S. Census Bureau has encouraged communities to get done over the coming months ahead of the spring 2020 national count.

I envision it would include our school district, local nonprofits, organizations which work with immigrant communities, public health, the faith community, Zambrano Viggiano said. People are more likely to fill out the census if it comes from somebody they trust.

While elected officials always fret about a loss of population at census time, there is heightened concern about depressed participation because of Trumps hardline approach to undocumented immigrants and, more specifically, the inclusion of a new citizenship question on the 2020 census.

The U.S. Census Bureau says on its website that the question helps government and communities enforce laws, regulations, and policies against discrimination based on national origin. And the bureau is legally bound to strict confidentially requirements. Individual records are not shared with anyone, including federal agencies and law enforcement entities ... Not the IRS, not the FBI, not the CIA, and not with any other government agency.

But critics see a political agenda.

Adding citizenship as a census question would break from decades of precedent and create a chilling effect on participation in immigrant communities, state Attorney General George Jepsen said in April, when Connecticut joined one of several pending lawsuits to block the question.

The census is the foundation of how government resources are allocated, Secretary of the State Denise Merrill said at the time. If people dont participate it hurts all of us.

Bridgeport is supposed to be an immigrant-friendly city. Local lawmakers last year even implemented a municipal ID program open to all residents, but something that had been sought by immigrant advocates.

But people are fearful because they dont trust people in Washington, Rosario said. We have our work cut out for us to deal with our community and let them know its (the census) important. We need to work with the census and get this done.

Rosario added, On the surface it may seem like a Latino issue, but it effects all communities if our community is under-counted.

Zambrano Viggiano added a practical economic reason for a correct count: Businesses want to go to areas where population is going up, not down.

The councils Miscellaneous Matters Committee on Monday will also consider a related resolution opposing adding the citizenship question to the census.

Both of the census-related resolutions have enough sponsors  a dozen each  to pass the full-20 person City Council.

Less certain is whether the city or state will find any money in already tight budgets to support the efforts of a complete-count committee.

It will require some resources we may not have had in the past, said Zambrano Viggiano, a co-chair of the councils Budget Committee.

Rosario, who is running for re-election, pledged to seek state dollars for the effort.U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley quickly became one of the administration's most visible faces and the leading advocate of a worldview in which President Donald Trump's "America First" slogan did not mean "America alone."

When Trump makes his second presidential appearance at the United Nations this week, Haley will still be a central figure, and their close rapport is likely to be apparent. She is among a select few Cabinet aides who speak frequently and directly with the president, a sore spot for some White House officials.

But Haley's public role has narrowed as Trump's national security Cabinet was shuffled over the past year and advisers who advanced more nationalist agendas on trade, immigration and international engagement gained favor.

A pair of incidents in which Haley announced policies or plans that were quickly changed also raised questions about her footing in the administration as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and national security adviser John Bolton took over from more passive and ideologically moderate aides. In both cases, several senior officials said she was unfairly scapegoated.

At the same time, Haley's influence at the United Nations has been blunted by Trump policy decisions that many other nations opposed, including recognizing Jerusalem as the Israeli capital, cutting aid to Palestinians and announcing a U.S. withdrawal from the U.N. Human Rights Council.

Haley supports those positions, along with Trump's theme that American largesse will not be wasted on those who are undeserving or ungrateful. But she has lost on other policy debates, including a further reduction in the number of refugees who can be resettled in the United States, which was announced last week.

"The goal that we all have as an administration is, how we can make the American people proud, and what actions we can show that really live up to that," Haley said as she previewed Trump's U.N. visit, which begins Monday.

Trump's address Tuesday is focused on American sovereignty and foreign aid, aides said. His adviser Stephen Miller, considered the architect of the administration's strictest immigration policies and a sometime opponent of Haley's, is a principal author of the president's U.N. speech.

"He'll also lay down a marker that while the United States is generous, we're going to be generous to those that share our values, generous to those who want to work with us, and not those that try to stop the United States or say they hate America," Haley said at a news conference Thursday at the United Nations.

By chance, the United States holds the rotating chairmanship of the U.N. Security Council this month, meaning Haley can call sessions on themes of special interest. She has used the platform to hold debates about crumbling democracy in Venezuela, the political crisis in Nicaragua and North Korea's evasion of U.N. sanctions, all topics in line with administration priorities.

The chairmanship also means that Trump and Pompeo can each take a turn with the gavel during the annual U.N. gathering next week.

Pompeo, a Trump favorite, is making his debut at the U.N. General Assembly with an agenda focused on North Korea. Pompeo will chair a Security Council session where he will lay out Trump's hopes for a peaceful dismantlement of North Korea's nuclear weapons and warn countries that bust U.N. sanctions on the country.

Haley was a more prominent player on North Korea during the first year of the Trump administration, when the focus was on rallying international support for tougher international sanctions and Rex Tillerson was secretary of state. She has been less visible through the swift turn to summit diplomacy this year, where Pompeo has been the negotiator. She did not attend Trump's historic summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in June, but only because there is no role for the U.N. ambassador at such an event, according to several administration officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal decision-making.

Bolton has shaken up the staff at the National Security Council and cut back on the kind of high-level meetings Haley regularly attends. Former U.S. officials say Bolton will be tempted to dictate how Haley does her job given his granular and deeply critical understanding of the world body stemming from his time as a U.N. ambassador.

"Haley's influence was at its peak in the Rex Tillerson era, since his withdrawn nature allowed her to take the stage and be the voice of U.S. foreign policy," said Molly Montgomery, a career U.S. diplomat who worked in Vice President Mike Pence's office before leaving government earlier this year. "Naturally, she's less prominent now because Pompeo is so much more engaged with foreign governments and the press."

On esoteric issues involving the United Nations, such as peacekeeping missions in Africa, Haley was given broad autonomy by former national security adviser H.R. McMaster, who had little interest in micromanaging U.S. policy at the United Nations.

"Now Bolton has exerted himself more on U.N. matters than his predecessor, given his interest in the body and his own experience in New York during the George W. Bush administration," Montgomery said.

White House officials say Bolton and Haley's relationship is strong, and his interest in the United Nations hasn't come at Haley's expense. But longtime aides of Bolton say tensions between the two are inevitable.

"Bolton has a very aggressive approach to the U.N. and inside the U.S. government is very practiced at pulling bureaucratic strings and operating in front of cameras and behind the scenes," said Matthew Waxman, a former George W. Bush administration official.

"Bolton runs an imperial NSC," added Mark Groombridge, a former adviser to Bolton at the State Department and United Nations. "Of course he's going to want to exert influence over Ambassador Haley."

National Security Council spokesman Garrett Marquis said Bolton is "successfully coordinating across government to implement the president's agenda."

Before he took the White House job, Bolton was a critic of a decision by Democratic presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama to make the U.N. job a Cabinet-level position. He argued that it inflated the importance of the United Nations in U.S. decision-making and created an untenable power structure with two Cabinet secretaries in one department.

Haley insisted on Cabinet rank to take the job, and Trump agreed. Bolton has never made it an issue, one senior administration official said.

"He has in no way treated her as less than a full Cabinet member," the official said. "In some ways she thinks Bolton's approach is preferable. There were probably too many meetings previously, and it functions better now."

Bolton, like Pompeo, has Trump's confidence in ways his predecessors did not. That generally makes the process of determining and overseeing national security policy smoother, several officials said, but it does not prevent events one described as "miscommunication" and another as a "goof."

One awkward incident came this month when Haley said the president would chair a Security Council session on Iran, but other U.S. officials later said the agenda would be broadened to nonproliferation. The change followed an internal debate about whether the Iran focus would provoke a public rift with allies Britain and France over the Iran nuclear deal Trump disavowed earlier this year, and invite trouble by placing Trump and an Iranian representative at the same table.

Haley formally announced the switch Thursday and called it sensible, but by then several days had passed when it was unclear whether she had gotten ahead of the White House or was behind and out of the loop.

It was Trump who had wanted to focus on Iran, said two U.S. officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to offer a behind-the-scenes view. Trump tweeted Friday that he would chair a session "on Iran," and a senior administration official said that should be interpreted as confirmation that the president still prefers that focus.

"The Iran topic was discussed thoroughly throughout the national security team before it was announced. After it was announced, there was a reconsideration about whether that was the best course," the official said. "She was part of that reconsideration, just as she was part of the initial discussion of the topic. She agreed to the expansion of the topic and thought the new approach was the better way to go."

Exactly how the Trump administration plans to engage with Iran remains unclear. On Sunday, Pompeo said there were no plans for a meeting between Trump and Iran's president, Hassan Rouhani, in New York this week -- but coyly suggested a tete-a-tete with the country's supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei could be "an important and interesting conversation."

The decision to change the focus of the Security Council meeting had echoes of another miscommunication, in April, about a week after Bolton took over. Haley announced on television new sanctions on Russia that Trump vetoed hours later. The White House did little to dispel the perception that Haley had misspoken, and one White House official publicly said she had suffered "momentary confusion." But Haley shot back in a defiant statement saying, "With all due respect, I don't get confused," and the White House backed off.

"The idea that she would freelance is absurd at every possible level," the senior official said. "She operates within the team structure every day. The best proof of that is the dozens of engagements she has at the U.N. that go off flawlessly."

Despite the early hiccup, Marquis insisted that NSC staff and Haley's office are "working hand-in-glove" to prepare for the U.N. General Assembly this week, and State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said Bolton, Haley and Pompeo work together "seamlessly."

The friction between the camera-ready Haley and the secretive, media-shy Tillerson was obvious, and their two staffs often tussled over policy matters.

Haley was widely seen to be filling the public void left by Tillerson, fueling speculation she was auditioning for the higher post. She denied it emphatically, telling reporters at last year's U.N. General Assembly that she had no designs on Tillerson's job.

Not long afterward, Tillerson lost an internal debate when Trump announced Dec. 6 that the U.S. Embassy in Israel would be moved from Tel Aviv to the contested city of Jerusalem. The decision outraged Palestinians, who said it prejudged their claim to East Jerusalem, and opened a diplomatic gulf at the United Nations.

A lopsided 128-to-9 U.N. vote to criticize the U.S. move included 35 abstentions, which Haley and the White House framed as a victory. The largely symbolic vote followed a warning from Haley about U.S. funding for the world body.

"When we make generous contributions to the U.N., we also have a legitimate expectation that our goodwill is recognized and respected," she said. "When a nation is singled out for an attack in this organization, that nation is disrespected. What's more, that nation is asked to pay for the privilege of being disrespected."

A former Haley staffer said the U.N. ambassador expected a difficult vote at the Security Council, but "did not anticipate" a vote at the U.N. General Assembly. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid antagonizing the ambassador. The ensuing vote saw many key U.S. allies side against the United States, including Britain, France, Germany and Japan, in a rare rebuke of U.S. policy.

Regardless of the vote outcome, Haley's unapologetic defense of Israel cemented her support among a pro-Israel donor class that could prove useful if she pursues higher political office.

"She scored points with the people she wanted to score points with, especially the AIPAC crowd," the former official said, referring to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the most powerful pro-Israel lobbying organization.

Though Haley could walk away from the Trump administration at any time claiming experience with some of the weightiest foreign policy issues of the day, she appears less prone to an early exit than others, said a senior administration official who has dealt with Haley and her staff from the beginning.

"I do get the rumors of who's on the up and who's on the down, and Nikki's name just hasn't come up lately," the official said.Our oldest friend, Anne Dunleavey  and by oldest I mean of longest standing  grew up in Bridgeport and was, in fact, the person who introduced her neighbor, the former Sharon Tierney, now Mrs. Daly, to me.

Oh, Lord, weve been through a lot over the last 50 or so years. Weddings, funerals, and many of lifes other ups and downs.

Anne became very successful in the interior design business and is married to a wonderful man, Gerry Eisenman, a former states attorney, now retired.

They have a nice little condominium pied a terre in Palm Beach, Fla., and a home on Skidaway Island in Georgia, just off the coast of Savannah.

For the summer, they have been living in Bridgeport in the beautiful house they own in Black Rock. The house is for sale, and has been for some time.

So our relationship is in yet another phase: Anne and Gerry are now residents of Georgia, part of the flight from Connecticut.

They are but two of many successful people who are tired of the crush of taxes, not only in Bridgeport, but in Connecticut, tired of congested roads, crumbling bridges and living under the weight of looming billion dollar state deficits and suffocating pension and health benefits mounting in Hartford.

Older people are moving out, Eisenman said, and young people are not coming in. So now you have people stuck with houses they cant sell.

The taxes, the economics are just not working, he said.

The examples are endless.

But heres another one: John M. Fabrizi, Bridgeports mayor from 2003-2007, a guy who bleeds Bridgeport, is now a resident of Florida.

It was economic, he explained matter-of-factly the other day.

We had a lengthy phone chat. He was in his house in Bridgeport, laid up with a little back issue. He said he planned to leave shortly for Del Ray Beach, his and wife Marys new home.

Ive lived here all my life, he said. It was a very difficult decision, but the driving force was economics.

Fabrizi is 61 and has been retired since he was 57. A teacher and school administrator before he became mayor, he has a nice pension.

Being out of Connecticut for six months and a day spares him the taxes on that pension, Connecticuts personal income tax, car tax, real estate tax and so on. Same with Anne and Gerry.

My property tax is less than $1,000, Fabrizi said, and were saving about $3,000 on motor vehicle taxes.

And were lucky, he said, we are people who have the opportunity to do this. A lot of people dont have the opportunity.

This is the Connecticut that either Democrat Ned Lamont, Republican Bob Stefanowski or independent petition candidate Oz Griebel are going to take over in January.

Their task is going to be not only to address the nuts and bolts  pensions, transportation infrastructure, taxes, the public education system, and on, and on  but also the pessimism about the state that is pervasive both outside its boundaries and within.

Its only one mans opinion, but as Fabrizi said, The state looks like it will take at least a decade to get out of this  not years  a decade.

Union contracts are certainly one of the challenges the new governor will face.

I cant blame the unions, Fabrizi said. Theyre fighting for their people, and the politicians want the unions to get elected. But the agreements in place now are not in sync with the times.

New folks have to get something like a 401(k), he said.

Fabrizi recalled a time as mayor. I think we had to cut something like $10 million out of the city budget to give taxpayers something like a $60 break.

The new governor has to get Connecticut not only solvent, but attractive to young people and businesses. Right now, its disastrous in Connecticut.

When people with money are moving out, he said, thats not a good thing.

Mrs. Daly and I had dinner the other night with Anne and Gerry at Ola Latin Kitchen, 694 Brooklawn Avenue in Bridgeport.

It was a parting dinner. They were leaving Saturday for Georgia.

Youre welcome any time in Savannah, they reminded as we went our separate ways.Kavanaugh will testify along with Ford on Thursday morning. Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images

With Christine Blasey Ford set to testify this Thursday before the Senate Judiciary Committee, its time to move on to the next looming question surrounding Brett Kavanaughs nomination: will her words actually make a difference to any Republican senators?

The possibility that they will may have taken a hit Saturday night.

A possible witness who Ford said was at the party where Kavanaugh allegedly assaulted her said she has no recollection of attending it. CNN reported on Saturday that the Senate Judiciary Committee had reached out to Leland Ingham Keyser, an old friend of Fords, this week. In a statement provided to the committee, her lawyer said, Simply put, Ms. Keyser does not know Mr. Kavanaugh and she has no recollection of ever being at a party or gathering where he was present, with, or without, Dr. Ford.

Keyser did tell the Washington Post that she believed her friends account.

In a statement, Fords lawyer Debra Katz said, Its not surprising that Ms. Keyser has no recollection of the evening as they did not discuss it. Its also unremarkable that Ms. Keyser does not remember attending a specific gathering 30 years ago at which nothing of consequence happened to her. Dr. Ford of course will never forget this gathering because of what happened to her there.

Patrick J. Smyth, another former classmate who said he was identified as also attending the party, also told the Judiciary Committee this week that he did not recall it. I have no knowledge of the party in question; nor do I have any knowledge of the allegations of improper conduct she has leveled against Brett Kavanaugh, his lawyer wrote in a letter, which also included a ringing endorsement of Kavanaughs nomination.

Ford has said five people were at the gathering, and four of them claim not to remember it: Keyser, Smith, Kavanaugh, and his friend Mark Judge, who Ford has said was in the room when the alleged assault took place.

It is hardly surprising that anyone would fail to remember a single, unexceptional evening from 36 years ago. By all accounts, Christine Ford is a credible witness, and a Fox News poll released on Sunday show that the American people believe her story over Kavanaughs. (A recent HuffPost poll shows a slightly different result.) But all that may matter little to a Republican Party whose leadership clearly wants to do a minimum amount of due diligence, then push through their nominee as quickly as possible.

Republicans refused to authorize an FBI investigation of the alleged incident  which could have wrapped up within days  before Fords testimony. And, in a measure of how half-baked its measures are, the GOP has shown no interest in hearing testimony from Judge, Kavanaughs close high-school friend who Ford has said was jumping on the bed as Kavanaugh was assaulting her, which allowed her to escape. Judge wrote a book in which he described a culture of heavy drinking during his younger years; Ford has said both he and Kavanaugh were stumbling drunk when the assault took place.

This means that, barring any more major surprises, an awful lot will come down to Fords testimony itself. Democratic senator Patty Murray said Sunday on Meet the Press that this is exactly what the GOP wants.Masks in Pa. schools: Court tosses Wolf mandate, but he vows appeal

A state judge Wednesday sided with opponents of Pennsylvania's order to require masks in schools, saying it was not issued properly by the Gov. Tom Wolf's administration in September.In happier times. Photo: Paul Morigi/WireImage

In another spot, the Gosar clan discusses how difficult (but necessary) it is for them to join forces against their brother.

The Gosar siblings defend their honor and endorse Dr. David Brill for Congress.



For more information visit. https://t.co/oyr0evBUdT#Vote4Brill pic.twitter.com/erTnYaZ9Uy  Brill for Congress (@Brill4Congress) September 21, 2018

The ads, not surprisingly, drew an enormous amount of media attention. Gosar was pretty much forced to respond in some way, which he did on Saturday  by citing Joseph Stalin, naturally.

My siblings who chose to film ads against me are all liberal Democrats who hate President Trump. These disgruntled Hillary suppporters are related by blood to me but like leftists everywhere, they put political ideology before family. Stalin would be proud. #Az04 #MAGA2018  Paul Gosar (@DrPaulGosar) September 22, 2018

He then followed up with a slightly more conciliatory message:

You cant pick your family. We all have crazy aunts and relatives etc and my family is no different. I hope they find peace in their hearts and let go all the hate.



To the six angry Democrat Gosarssee you at Mom and Dads house! #AZ04 #MAGA2018  Paul Gosar (@DrPaulGosar) September 22, 2018

Gosar, a hard-right, conspiracy theory-friendly lawmaker with a long list of outrageous statements and actions to his name since his 2010 election (samples: he theorized that the violence in Charlottesville was a George Soros-baked false-flag operation and wanted Capitol police to arrest undocumented immigrants brought to this years State of the Union address) is is in little danger of losing his seat. In 2016, he won with 71 percent of the vote, and his mostly rural district is considered solid Republican by the Cook Political Report.

At the least, though, Gosars siblings have brought attention to their wayward brothers extremism  and perhaps, just perhaps, even embarrassed him a little.WEST BRADFORD  The Pennsylvania State Police, Troop J Embreeville, will conduct a free car seat check on Tuesday.

Parents and caregivers will be informed if the child is in the appropriate seat and a certified car seat technician will check to ensure that the car seats are properly installed.

The free event will take place from 2 to 8 p.m. Tuesday at the West Bradford Fire Company substation at 1385 Campus Drive. The station is located near the intersection of Marshallton Thorndale and Poorhouse roads.

Appointments are not required but are preferred. Appointments can be arranged by contacting Trooper Kelly MacIntyre at 610-486-6181. The program protects children by encouraging safe transportation.

Motor vehicle crashes are a leading killer of children ages 1 to 13. State police said using age and size appropriate child restraints is the best way to reduce these deaths.

State police also remind parents that anyone who transports a child under 4 years of age in a vehicle must fasten the child securely in an approved child safety seat. Children 4 years of age or older but under 8 years of age must be secured with both the vehicles safety seat belt system and an appropriately fitting child booster seat.

For more information on car seat safety, visit www.psp.state.pa.us.Since the Salisbury poisonings, something has become horribly clear to me: Britain has lost its patriotism. Im not talking about all of Britain, but my generation  the much-discussed millennials.

Among people my own age (Im 29) there has been barely a squeak of outrage over Russian agents poisoning people on British soil.

In fact, in 2018 its rare to hear any millennial talk about Britain unless theyre being sniffy about it. If you want to gain kudos at the dinner parties I go to, just say something like Britains broken, and everyone will probably clap.

Since the Salisbury poisonings it has become horribly clear Britain has lost its patriotism. Pictured is the scene of Sergei Skripal's home

Mr Skripal, right, and daughter Yulia, left, were poisoned by Novichok earlier this year

Alexander Petrov (left) and Ruslan Boshirov (right) are suspected of carrying out the poisoning

Ive actually heard several millennials say our country is as bad as Russia, almost causing me to spit out my avocado toast.

There are alarming numbers of young people who think Britain, capitalism and everything else associated with Western culture absolutely stinks.

Many now flirt with politics that threaten our country, with Marxist ideas increasing in popularity.

Some think its time to give Communism another try. I say, like Elizabeth Taylor with marriage, it was doomed after the first go.

These ideological delusions are why few care that Jeremy Corbyn barely batted an eyelid over Salisbury, nor that his first instinct was to doubt British intelligence.

They love him because he promotes and perpetuates the millennial mindset of hating Britain, as well as mistrust over anything the Government says.

In January, a group of university students stormed into a Winston Churchill-themed cafe in London, shouting and telling the owners to change their offensive branding. The owner said at the time: As far as I am concerned, if you cannot celebrate Britain and great Britons you are just erasing history.

Never mind that Churchill saved us from Hitler, these young people despise everything, and anyone, representing Britishness.

Of course, millennials arent the first generation to be unpatriotic.

Back in the 1970s, punks called the monarchy a fascist regime. And in 1933, students at the Oxford Union famously voted that this House will in no circumstances fight for its King and Country.

But, when it came down to it, previous generations have been prepared to stick up for British values, even taking up arms when necessary.

This would not happen nowadays, not least because millennials would be useless fighters, more interested in playing Pokemon Go on their iPhones.

Come World War Three, youll find them all hiding on Jezzas allotment. Part of me understands why my age group doesnt like Britain very much, not least because I graduated two years after the financial crisis.

Its hard to feel passionate about a country where you cant even dream of buying a home. We millennials definitely deserve our own violin orchestra at times.

But we are also products of modern universities, dominated by Left-wing professors encouraging suspicion about Western values.

PHILOSOPHY BEATS SELFIES Tess Holliday, the size 24 American model, has had a busy month. To start with, she became the first plus-size model to go on the front of Cosmo magazine, right. Then she posted an underwear selfie, gaining even more publicity. Her critics say shes overweight. For me, thats not the issue  its this whole body positivity obsession thats the problem. The body positivity movement is meant to empower women but it is utterly contradictory The body positivity movement is meant to empower women to bare their bodies, warts and all. But it is utterly contradictory, in that it actually reinforces the idea that we are defined by our bodies. Were not  were much more than that. I wish young girls would spend as much time thinking about philosophy as they do taking selfies. Advertisement

On Twitter, there is a page highlighting what sort of topics degree students now study, most of which inspire warped thinking. One, for instance, examines the role of milk as a symbol of and tool for white dominance and superiority. Another examines ecosexuality (no, I havent got a clue either).

There are countless other bizarre courses. Imagine how detached from reality these are making the young become.

To make matters more toxic, student teaching hours have decreased rapidly, so lots of the nations youngsters have hours on end to nurture their many grievances.

But, sorry snowflakes, its time to quit the self-pitying paranoia, and get with the real world.

There are so many advantages to living in Britain, which is why half the planet wants to move here.

We can kiss who we want, write what we like, and spout our political opinions without being thrown into jail. Thats in contrast to Russia, where Pussy Riot protesters  mainly made up of women around my age  have been locked up. Earlier this month, one of the groups male activists was allegedly poisoned.

Because weve been so cossetted, never having to face the hardships or horrors of previous generations, we millennials have lost sight of our luck. I just wish more would realise this. And that its not a nationalistic thing. Being British is simple. It probably means you like tea. And complaining. And youre not very good at dancing.

But generally, what unites us are liberal values, with a large dollop of common sense.

Its time patriotism had a revival.

Its time it was cool to say Im British  and proud.

Is Boris's girl a turn off? Never!

Labour MP Lisa Nandy has warned that the media coverage of Carrie Symonds, Boris Johnsons friend, might stop young women wanting to go into politics. I rather think the opposite.

Carrie Symonds, pictured, will not stop young women going into politics

Carrie is young, glamorous and political. Those words dont often go together.

At a time when so many complain about the male and stale parliamentary line-up, Carrie will inspire, not repel.

My secret crush...on Philip May

A shocking confession: whenever someone asks who my dream man is, I secretly think Philip May.

Granted, hes not Brad Pitt but dare I say Philip is the perfect feminist husband.

Whatever horrors the world throws at her, Theresa can depend on him to hold her hand and smile as if Sunshine, Lollipops And Rainbows was playing in the background.

When he gave her that hug after last years Tory conference  the one with the lost voice and collapsing set  I melted. Forget bad boys, we all need a Phil.

There's a real sexist edge to much of the vitriol aimed at Mrs May  most of it on Twitter from people who Im sure think of themselves as right-on and supportive of women.

But theyre not as bad as Donald Tusk, who posted a photo of himself offering Mrs May a cake, with the caption: A piece of cake, perhaps? Sorry, no cherries.

Would he have done this to a bloke? Never. Tut tut, Tusk!

At the Emmys last week, US director Glenn Weiss proposed to his girlfriend.

What a refreshing change from celebrities banging on about Trump and climate change.

Director Glenn Weiss pictured proposing to his girlfriend at the Emmys last week

The Howard League for Penal Reform has suggested making sentencing more lenient for under-25s because they are still maturing. Tough.

Im sick of moped crime in my area  if youngsters have to grow up in prison, thats their problem.

Tens of thousands of students are graduating from British universities without basic maths skills, according to the OECDs education director.

Jeremy Corbyn will be delighted  itll make his dire economic plans much easier to sell.Bodyguard viewers were left on the edges of their seats in the 'gripping' finale of BBC One's Bodyguard - as the plot delivered a 'bombshell' twist.

Fans watched in horror as it was revealed it was David Budd's own boss Chief Superintendent Lorraine Craddock who played a key role in Julia Montague's death, before the final twist was revealed.

It was a double blow for Budd as the true identity of the female train bomber from the first episode, Nadia, who he believed he had saved, as the bombmaker who attempted to murder his own children, a twist that made one viewer joke they'd 'fainted 15 times' during the big reveal.

'Omg. Now that's what you call a twist in the story!' one tweeted.

Another wrote: 'What a bombshell! Not one single person could have guessed who the bomber was.'

'I have never been so on edge in my life,' a third posted.

Viewers watched as Craddock had been delivering information to Luke Akins, an organised crime boss against the RIPA-18 bill led by the home secretary, which enabled him to execute the bomb attack in which she perished in the third episode.

Fan theories had also been rife that the Home Secretary wasn't actually dead, especially as viewers weren't shown her demise on screen - but they were left 'fuming' that she had been killed after all.

David Budd finally discovered the truth about the conspiracy to murder Julia Montague during the dramatic conclusion of BBC's Bodyguard

Budd's boss Chief Superintendent Lorraine Craddock had been working with organised crime boss Luke Akins to stop the home secretary from bringing in a bill that would monitor their activity

Viewers were in for a shock when they learned that the mastermind behind the bombs was actually Nadia. She revealed her role in the terrorist attacks blaming Budd for being so easily duped that she was an 'oppressed weak woman'

Fan theories had also been rife that the Home Secretary wasn't actually dead, especially as viewers weren't shown her demise on screen - but they were left disappointed she didn't turn up in the finale

Budd had been captured by Akins and strapped with a suicide vest and had his hand taped to a dead man's switch - but had to convince the police that he had been set up

Bodyguard fans took to social media to vent their shock and surprise after the show's finale delivered plot twists and turns - with many saying they had been on the edge of their seats

LURED INTO A BOMB TRAP

Richard Madden's Budd had been hot on the heels of crime boss Luke Akin, after learning that he had supplied his former army comrade Andrew Apstead with the weapons used in the first assassination attempt of Julia Montague, played by Keeley Hawes.

He was lured into a trap set up by Montague's former PR advisor Chanel Dyson and ended up being punched unconscious and kidnapped - waking up with a suicide vest strapped to his chest with a dead man's switch taped to his thumb.

Meanwhile SO15 officers DCI Deepak Sharma and DS Lousie Rayburn were left seething when they learned of Budd's connection to Apstead and were out for his blood.

They caught up with Budd in the middle of London and he tried in vain to convince his fellow officers that he had been set up, with his estranged wife Vicky making a strong case for innocence.

He was able to give vital information that proved he'd been set up, using the blank bullets from his gun that Akins had switched out and left fingerprints on - with Vicky confirming that her ex had tried to take his own life.

Budd had a set a booby trap for the security service knowing that the cagey boss Stephen Hunter-Dunn was monitoring their radio contact - and his suspect Richard Longcross was doused in a painful liquid.

The police protection officer's wife Vicky was called in to help diffuse the situation but David managed to persuade her that he was telling the truth - she confirmed that he had attempted suicide

It was an extremely tense moment for viewers as Budd had to deactivate the bomb. He was talked through which wires to cut by the specialist unit leaving those watching on the edge of their seat

With everyone standing back, Budd took his chance as soon as the wires were cut and the bomb deactivated he made a run for it - to try and figure out the truth

It was enough to convince Commander Anne Sampson and DCI Sharma to help Budd and he was given the chance to deactivate the bomb.

Eventually in what some viewers called one of the most tense scenes they'd ever seen, Budd removed his thumb from the switch and cut the wires.

But many fans were unhappy with how the events unfolded, saying it was 'unbelievable'.

They said there was 'no way' the Metropolitan Police would let a man armed with explosives to be let through the streets of London - and they mocked the fact officers believed he would try to blow himself up because he 'was suicidal'.

Budd had been contacted by Julia's former PR advisor Chanel Dyson and used her for information to find her boss Akins who she had been working for

Budd stumbled upon Akins having a heated discussion with Craddock outside her home, he disarmed his accomplice and turned the gun on the crime boss

Craddock tried to diffuse the situation after Akins confirmed he had murdered Julia Montague, enlisting the help of a terrorist organisation to plant the bomb, because it was 'just business'

SOLVING THE FINAL PIECES OF THE PUZZLE

But the police protection officer fooled everyone and made a run for it as soon as the bomb was deactivated.

He eluded the police and made his way to Chanel to persuade to tell him more information on her boss Akin, who she had been working for, and was the man many viewers had believed was her angry boyfriend from the first episode.

Meanwhile a scene including Commander Anne Sampson, the Head of the Metropolitan Polices Counter Terrorism Unit, led viewers to believe that she could be part of the conspiracy but ultimately proved to be Budd's ally.

Commander Anne Sampson (left) the Head of the Metropolitan Polices Counter Terrorism Unit, led viewers to believe that she could be part of the conspiracy but ultimately proved to be Budd's ally

Budd watched on as his boss was questioned over her involvement in the conspiracy, bringing all the pieces of the puzzle together

Craddock explained how she had placed Budd as Julia's police protection officer so that he could act as the 'perfect fall guy' for the entire plot to kill the home secretary

The Chief Superintendent broke down in tears as she confessed to her part in the conspiracy revealing that she was corrupt

She desperately tried to get the security service to take responsibility for their part in the conspiracy but they were able to avoid any form of punishment.

Right up until the final credits, viewers were holding out hope that Julia would reappear.

They were shocked when the hit show drew to a close with no mention of the Home Secretary.

THE MOLE IN THE POLICE

There had long being a belief from the beginning that there was a leak from within the police force and it was revealed to be Chief Superintendent Lorraine Craddock with.

She was caught redhanded talking to Akin and she was taken into custody after Budd told her it was all over.

Akin confessed there and then he was the man behind Julia's death uttering '...It was business' to an angry Budd.

Craddock wept as she explained in a police interview: 'For some years I have disclosed information on sensitive police operations that might threaten his criminal activities.'

She admitted she had handed over Julia's itinerary to Akin on the day of the first assassination attempt by Apstead and the fatal bombing at the college.

It was all to stop Julia transferring powers to the security service which would give them an upper hand over organised crime like Akin.

The officer then revealed she had appointed Budd so he could be made the 'perfect fall guy' for the entire operation.

After spending the majority of the episode trying to convince his police colleagues he was innocent, they finally apprehended the right criminals - including the initial train bomber Nadia

Nadia explained how she preyed on Budd's emotionally vulnerable state and used information that he had given her about his children to attack their school

After the entire saga was wrapped up Budd was told there was one thing left for him to do - go to therapy and seek treatment for his mental health

BOMB MASTERMIND

But she denied any involvement in the attempted attack on Budd's children's school and he suddenly realised there was only one person who had know that information.

Nadia, the female suicide bomber from the first episode, who had been helping the police with their inquiries admitted she had given them false information and led the on a wild goose chase.

He thought so little of me he showed me pictures. To him I was just a weak woman, I remembered everything he told me about his children, their names, their ages. From prison I was able to inform my organisation...' she said.

She revealed she had built all the bombs, including the one Budd had been strapped into and explained that she had enlisted 'non believers and criminals' to plant the bomb at the college that killed Julia on the request of Akins.

The entire Bodyguard boxset is available on BBC iPlayerBeijing also postponed a three-day bilateral military dialogue in Beijing, expected to begin on Tuesday, and warned of possible further measures if Washington does not withdraw the sanctions, according to reports by China's state broadcaster CCTV.

China summoned America's ambassador and recalled its naval chief from the USA on Saturday to protest sanctions Washington slapped on Chinese entities for procuring military equipment from Russian Federation, the latest escalation in tensions between the two countries playing out on multiple fronts.

The US state department said on Thursday that it would immediately impose sanctions on the equipment development department of the Chinese military and its director, Li Shangfu, for engaging in "significant transactions" with Russia's main arms exporter.

"The U.S. has seriously violated the basic norms of worldwide relations and disturbed the relationships between China and the U.S", Beijing Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said.

U.S. officials said it was the first time a third country has been punished under the CAATSA sanctions legislation for dealing with Russian Federation, signalling Donald Trump's administration will risk relations with other countries in its campaign against Moscow.

The Chinese foreign ministry summoned the USA ambassador to protest against USA sanctions on the equipment development department of the Chinese military and its director, the official media reported on Saturday.

However, a politician in Moscow said the sanctions would not affect Russian sales of military weapons to other countries. "It would not be bad if they remembered about the concept of global stability, which they are unthinkingly undermining by whipping up tensions in Russia-U.S. relations".

Siblings attack their congressman brother in political ad | Campaign Trail

The ad seems like a run-of-the-mill spot, with six Arizonans knocking Gosar's bonafides and calling for voters to support Brill. Six of Gosar's siblings appeared in a political ad Friday, condemning their brother and endorsing his Democratic opponent Dr.

However, officials tracking the developments on the deal say there has been an understanding between the two countries and the USA law should not come in the way of the deal.

Arms exports are an important source of revenue for the country and a year ago Russian Federation sold more than $14 billion worth of arms overseas.

United States officials said the imposition of penalties against China was the first time a third-party country was punished under the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, the sanctions law passed in 2017.

The missile system will strengthen India's air defence system and once procured could be used along the India-China border, sources say.

China's EDD and its director Li Shangfu became targets after taking delivery over the past year of the jets and missiles from Rosoboronexport, Russia's main arms exporter already on the United States blacklist for its support of Bashar al-Assad's regime in Syria.

Meanwhile, an outraged China reportedly cancelled a planned visit by Chinese vice-premier Liu He to the United States to discuss a way out to end the ongoing trade war between the two countries.

The move followed Trump's decision to slap tariffs on Dollars 200 billion worth of Chinese exports to US.When most people hit the hay, they do so on simple cotton sheets.

But what would you do if you were told that there might be another fabric that could promise you an elusive perfect eight-hour sleep?

Bed Threads' linen bedding, created by Sydney-based Genevieve Rosen-Biller, claims to offer just that, and the line has been so successful that initial stock sold out within the first three weeks of launching.

Genevieve spoke to FEMAIL about why linen is such a good fabric to sleep on, and shared her tips for people with a business idea they want to develop.

Sydney-based Genevieve Rosen-Biller (pictured) came up with the idea for linen bed sheets when she found herself struggling to find some for her apartment

'After two years of research and product development I launched Bed Threads in 2017 and we sold out our first round of stock in three weeks,' she said (pictured: her bedding)

According to the 28-year-old, she came up with the idea for Bed Threads out of a need of her own.

'In 2014, I was moving into a new apartment and really wanted some linen bedding,' Genevieve told Daily Mail Australia.

'After looking at what was on the market, I realised everything was way over my budget and everything was inconveniently sold as separates.'

Frustrated, Genevieve wondered whether she should just create something herself.

'After two years of research and product development I launched Bed Threads in 2017 and we sold out our first round of stock in three weeks,' she said.

To this day, the company remains the only retailer in Australia selling luxurious 100 per cent French flax linen bedding sets for an affordable price.

There are countless benefits to sleeping on linen, including the fact that it's a natural temperature regulator, and keeps you cool in summer and warm in winter

Genevieve (pictured) also said linen has moisture-wicking properties and is quick drying

So why should we all be sleeping on linen?

'Aside from making your bed look like it belongs on a high-end homewares photo shoot, 100 per cent French flax linen has loads of benefits,' Genevieve said.

'It's a natural temperature regulator, which means it keeps you snuggly in winter and cool in summer.

'Our temperature levels play a large part in how quickly we fall asleep, so this feature can impact your sleep quality positively.

'Linen also has moisture-wicking properties and is quick-drying. Plus, it's biodegradable and recyclable - and unlike other fabrics, it becomes softer with age.'

The great thing about linen is that it gets better with age, and doesn't crisp up (pictured)

Speaking about her tips for other entrepreneurs, Genevieve said it helped that she launched on social media six months before actually selling any products.

'It might sound like an unnecessary thing to do, but getting in early on social media contributed to our success,' she said.

'It allowed us to share with our followers what our brand was about, both aesthetically and in terms of our unique offering.

'We were able to foster a connection with our followers and create demand for our products.'

'Great things don't take two seconds to create and they require time and passion to sustain, so be prepared for the journey and just persist!,' Genevieve said

The 28-year-old also said that learning that good things take time is important:

'We're living in a culture where we perceive businesses to have achieved "overnight success" when in reality its taken them years to get to where they are,' she said.

'If you're starting a business or a side hustle, it's important to keep this in mind and be prepared for it to take time for things to come together.

'I conceived the concept for Bed Threads in 2014 and didn't launch until August 2017. We recently released two hand-poured, Australian-made luxury candles and it took over 30 iterations to perfect the scents.

'Great things don't take two seconds to create and they require time and passion to sustain, so be prepared for the journey and just persist!

'If you have noticed a genuine need or gap for something - regardless of the field - do your research and due diligence and remember that if you need it, someone else probably does, too.'

For more information about Bed Threads, click here.The Duchess of Sussex dreamed of releasing her own cookbook years before the launch of her Grenfell Tower charity project, it has emerged.

Self-confessed foodie Meghan, 37, once had plans to publish a collection of recipes under her now defunct lifestyle brand The Tig.

In a 2015 interview, which resurfaced online this week, Meghan said she had a 'big vision' for the brand including a 'Tig cookbook' and 'travel collaboration'.

Self-confessed foodie: The Duchess of Sussex, 37, previously spoke of her intention to release a collection of recipes under the umbrella of her now defunct lifestyle website The Tig. Pictured, Meghan with a 'Ms Tig' handbag, in a nod to the brand she founded in 2014

Continued passion: The Duchess chose to support Grenfell charity cookbook, Together, as her first solo project since joining the royal family. Meghan worked with the women from Hubb to create Together: Our Community Cookbook, pictured, released on Thursday

The Duchess founded The Tig - named after one of her favourite wines, Tignanello - in 2014 and billed the platform as a 'hub for the discerning palate' that specialised in style, food, and travel.

Posts included recipes, playlists and helpful tips, as well as interviews with high-profile friends including Serena Williams.

Speaking to Bay Street Bull in 2015, Meghan, then best-known for her role in US legal drama Suits, said of the website: 'There is a vision, and its a big one. I see it evolving into an international brand with many different iterations.

Dedicated: The duchess wrote the foreword to the new book (pictured) produced by cooks from the Hubb Community Kitchen, an initiative based near the site of Grenfell Tower

Hands-on: Images published in the book show Meghan cooking alongside volunteers and their families who rallied to support each other - and fellow survivors - in the wake of the disaster

'Its a timely question because those are conversations that are happening right now. But I just want to grow the team and certainly see it become even more impactful.

'Who knows, I wouldnt be surprised if you saw a Tig cookbook or travel collaboration down the road. The opportunities are endless.'

Meghan shut down the passion project shortly before she announced her engagement to Prince Harry in 2017.

However she has been able to carry her love of cooking into her life as a duchess, selecting the Grenfell Tower charity cookbook, Together, as her first solo project as a royal.

Proud: The Duchess of Sussex officially launched the book at Kensington Palace on Thursday, where she was joined by her mother Doria Ragland and husband Prince Harry , 34.

The duchess wrote the foreword to the new book produced by cooks from the Hubb Community Kitchen, an initiative based near the site of the West London tower.

Meghan said she 'immediately felt connected' to the kitchen at the Al Manaar cultural centre when she first visited in January and has since made other secret trips to the centre to meet volunteers and learn more about their work.

Images published in the book show Meghan cooking alongside volunteers and their families who rallied to support each other - and fellow survivors - in the wake of the disaster that claimed 72 lives.

The Duchess of Sussex officially launched the book at Kensington Palace on Thursday, where she was joined by her mother Doria Ragland and husband Prince Harry, 34.A mother-of-three who gained 60lbs after being diagnosed with a kidney disease has received a stunning ambush makeover in celebration of her 60th birthday.

Tammy Perry, 60, from Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania, was overcome with emotion when she was plucked from the Today show plaza on Thursday and offered well-deserved makeover.

After struggling with both her health and her weight, the mom hoped that getting a new look would help her feel more like herself again.

Scroll down for video

Then and wow! Tammy Perry, 60, from Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania, was chosen for an ambush makeover on the Today show Thursday

Hard times: The mother-of-three had gained 60lbs after being diagnosed with a kidney disease, and she admitted she hadn't felt like herself in a long time

'It has been a rough two years, and I just want to look in the mirror and see me. I haven't seen me in so long,' she told Today fashion expert Jill Martin.

'This is the best birthday present ever,' she added.

Even though she had yet to check out her makeover in the mirror, Tammy was all smiles as she strut on stage sporting a new 'do and a colorful top.

The mom was joined by her friend Jen, who couldn't help but gush about her dramatic transformation.

'Oh darling, you are so beautiful,' she told her friend.

Impressed: Tammy's best friend Jen gushed that she is 'so beautiful'

Debut: Tammy was all smiles as she strut on stage sporting a new 'do and a colorful top

Stunning: Celebrity hairstylist Louis Licari explained that he took Tammy's over-processed brown hair and dyed it a warm shade to bring back its shine

Tammy was almost at a loss for words when she turned around and saw the results of her makeover for the first time.

Celebrity hairstylist Louis Licari explained that he took Tammy's over-processed brown hair and dyed it a warm shade to bring back its shine.

'Tammy, you can see the real you now,' he told her. 'You look so beautiful.'

Jill was just as happy that Tammy was able to get primped and pampered, explaining that she was one of their most deserving ambush makeover recipients to date.

The stylist dressed the mom in an an asymmetrical top featuring a blue and purple watercolor pattern and maroon jeans. Jill topped off the colorful look with a long necklace and statement earrings.

Before and after: Heidi Prescott, 50, from Erie, Pennsylvania, also received an ambush makeover on Thursday morning's show

Surprise: The mother-of-two was visiting New York City for the first time and never imagined she would end up getting a new look

Speechless: Her sister Tiffany was stunned when she saw her transformation for the first time

'I can't believe you are 60 by the way,' Today anchor Hoda Kotb told Tammy. 'You look awesome.'

Heidi Prescott, 50, from Erie, Pennsylvania, also received an ambush makeover on Thursday morning's show.

The mother-of-two was visiting New York City for the first time and never imagined she would end up getting a new look.

'We just got here two minutes ago and walked up and here we are,' she told Jill. 'I'm amazed. I am super nervous but super excited.'

When Heidi stepped on stage, she was sporting a short new 'do and ladylike cocktail dress.

Amazed: 'Oh my gosh. This is not me. I love it,' Heidi gushed when she looked in the mirror and saw her new look for the first time

Beautiful: Louis explained that Heidi's asymmetrical 'do reshaped her face. He also re-highlighted her hair to make her the perfect shade of blonde

Her sister Tiffany was stunned when she saw her transformation for the first time, and Heidi was just as pleased when she looked in the mirror.

'Oh my gosh. This is not me,' she gushed. 'I love it.'

Heidi admitted that her hair has never been this short before, but the new cut completely transformed her look.

Louis explained that the asymmetrical 'do reshaped her face. He also re-highlighted her hair to make her the perfect shade of blonde.

The mom looked ready for a night out in the Big Apple in her A-line frock, heels, and dangly earrings.

'We both loved it,' Jill said of the dress, which happened to be the first one Heidi had tried on.Red Dela Cruz will largely remain anonymous as she goes about her day job at a data company in the suburbs of Sydney this week.

Last Friday night, however, she had the world at her feet.

It's a life of extremes the 25-year-old has become accustomed to, ever since she won the first UFC Octagon Girl Search in Asia back in 2015 - the switching between nights where millions follow her every move to days where her feet are planted firmly on terra firma.

Such is Dela Cruz's popularity around the region  and beyond, with 2.5million Facebook followers - that she was named Ring Girl of the Year at the inaugural Asia MMA Awards in Hong Kong on September 14.

Today she's back home, and she's back to the nine to five.

Red Dela Cruz will largely remain anonymous as she goes about her day job at a data company in the suburbs of Sydney this week

It's a life of extremes the 25-year-old has become accustomed to, ever since she won the first UFC Octagon Girl Search in Asia back in 2015

'When I am working I stay quiet, no make-up, work hard,' Dela Cruz told Daily Mail Australia

'When I am working I stay quiet, no make-up, work hard,' Dela Cruz told Daily Mail Australia.

'I get to live these two very different lives and I know how lucky I am. Back home in Sydney I can live really quiet, normal. Then with the UFC it's bright lights and very exciting.

'Growing up in the Philippines my mum told me she had dreamed of being a model or a beauty queen. Now, I am living that dream. I followed this path for myself but also to make her proud.

'Now, when young girls ask me for advice, I tell them dream of the impossible. It might just happen.'

'I get to live these two very different lives and I know how lucky I am. Back home in Sydney I can live really quiet, normal. Then with the UFC it's bright lights and very exciting,' she said

Dela Cruz's workmates at the Sydney data company can hardly believe the tales of her travels and how a fellow workmate is also a global superstar

Dela Cruz's workmates at the Sydney data company can hardly believe the tales of her travels and how a fellow workmate is also a global superstar.

'They think it is an awesome job,' she said.

Sometimes I can't barely believe it but I have such a great life.

'You get to travel the world, meet new people and big stars as well.'

It's also a world away for her upbringing.

Dela Cruz grew up in Iba, capital of the Zambales province in the Philippines, before heading to Manila to study for a degree in tourism management.

While living in the Philippine capital she also picked up part-time modelling work  enough to see her regularly named among FHM magazine's lists of the world's sexiest women - before her fitness trainer gave her the nod about auditions for the UFC.

Dela Cruz grew up in Iba, capital of the Zambales province in the Philippines, before heading to Manila to study for a degree in tourism management

'I was already a huge UFC fan before and of UFC rings girls such as Arianny Celeste, who is such a huge superstar,' Dela Cruz said

Dela Cruz admits to being wary when the UFC announced it was holding its first search for Octagon girls in the region, a move prompted by the rising global popularity of mixed martial arts and by the inroads the Las Vegas-based organisation has started to make across the Asia Pacific.

'I was already a huge UFC fan before and of UFC rings girls such as Arianny Celeste, who is such a huge superstar,' Dela Cruz said.

'There were just so many applications that I never really thought I was a chance. But I made it to the top 20, then the top 10, then the top five. My head was spinning but when it went then to a fans vote I won, and here I am.

'Sometimes I can't barely believe it but I have such a great life.'

'Sometimes I can't barely believe it but I have such a great life,' she said

Contract secured, Dela Cruz quickly built up a loyal fanbase, and a social media presence that allows her millions of followers to travel with her across the globe as her career with the UFC develops.

Anyone who has been beside the UFC Octagon during one of the organisation's recent fight cards - such as the UFC 221 event held in Perth back in February - can attest to Dela Cruz's popularity. When she appears, the place goes nuts.

'At first when I got up there it was nerve-wracking,' she said.

'There are just so many people and you can get nervous under the bright lights. But the buzz is unbelievable.

It was Dela Cruz's heart that led her to Australia two and a half years ago  to be with partner Sydney businessman Joey Bacic, 'the love of my life'

'When I get fan mail from young girls asking me for advice I say "work towards your goals, never give up, and always keep your feet on the ground",' she said

'Hearing people call out to you and just being part of the whole show is so much fun. They go mad when I wave or blow kisses - even though I can't really see them because of the lights. But I feel like a superstar.'

It was Dela Cruz's heart that led her to Australia two and a half years ago  to be with partner Sydney businessman Joey Bacic, 'the love of my life'.

I feel like a superstar.

And she has carved a life for herself far away from the cage, working full-time and looking into returning to school to study finance.

'Moving to Australia was always a dream for me,' Dela Cruz said.

'There are so many more opportunities. The lifestyle in Australia suits me as it is so laid back, the people are so friendly. I think it's important in life that you work hard to chase your dreams.

'When I get fan mail from young girls asking me for advice I say "work towards your goals, never give up, and always keep your feet on the ground".'Robert Peston has revealed women are 'predatory' towards him because he's on TV.

The broadcaster, 58, also admitted he felt 'desperately guilty' at first after finding love again with fellow journalist Charlotte Edwardes, 45, following the death of his wife Sian Busby in 2012.

He explained how he was drawn to Charlotte because she was 'not remotely interested in me as a widower or because of what I do for a living'.

In fact, he described how she 'didnt have a f****** clue' who he was 'because she was having babies at the height of the financial crisis'.

Robert Peston (pictured with girlfriend Charlotte Edwardes last October) has revealed how women are 'predatory' towards him following his wife's death. He is now in a relationship with fellow journalist Charlotte Edwardes, 45 (left)

Speaking to the Sunday Times Magazine, the ITV political editor revealed how women can be 'stalky' because he's on TV, and due to widower status.

'Women are predatory towards me,' he explained. 'I think there is a stalky thing that happens, and I think women [presenters] talk about it more than men normally, but there is definitely a stalky thing that happens for men as well, and you have to be slightly careful.'

Peston first went public with girlfriend Charlotte, who is Diary Editor at the London Evening Standard, in September last year.

Discussing their relationship, he said: 'So the interesting thing about Charlotte was that Im absolutely confident that, of all the women Ive encountered over the last few years, she is the one whos not remotely interested in me as a widower or because of what I do for a living.'

Peston, 58, admitted he felt 'desperately guilty' at first after finding love again, following the death of his wife Sian Busby (left in 2006) from lung cancer in 2012

The broadcaster, who rose to fame as business editor of the BBC, revealed that Charlotte had no idea about his fame when they met again at a Christmas party, having briefly worked together in the past.

'He said: You want to be seen for yourself, and the good thing about Charlotte was, weirdly, that because she was having babies at the height of the financial crisis, she didnt have a f****** clue who I was when we met again.'

Peston revealed new girlfriend Charlotte had no idea about his fame when they met again at a Christmas party, having briefly worked together in the past

However, Peston admitted he felt 'desperately guilty', and spokes about the subject at length with a grief counsellor.

The broadcaster has previously spoken about how he thought he might never find love again after his wife Sian died from lung cancer at the age of 51 in 2012.

Speaking candidly about her death in an interview with the Mail On Sunday, he said: 'She died in my arms  it was by far and away the worst thing thats ever happened to me.

But there was no question in my mind that one had to get on, particularly since [the couples son] Max was just 15.

Peston also has a stepson Simon, from his marriage to writer Sian.

The couple were married for 14 years before her death from lung cancer.While for most of us the summer holidays ended weeks ago, however, Her Majesty the Queen is still out of office.

The monarch is currently enjoying the last of her break at Balmoral in Scotland and is expected to return to Buckingham Palace in October as she has done so in previous years.

And as her vacation draws to a close the Queen enjoyed a hunting trip with friends on Saturday - and visited an old friend on the way.

The 92-year-old royal could be seen feeding her horses on the way back from having lunch at Glen Clova with the Royal Shooting Party.

The Queen was spotted paying a visit to the royal stables in Balmoral on Saturday where she fed a chestnut horse handful of treats

The shooting party was today made up of just five people, including the Queen, who accompanied the royal to the stables.

With the cold weather setting in Her Majesty was sure to wrap up warm dressed in a grey anorak and wearing a silk head scarf to keep out the wind chill.

She could also be seen wearing a pair of sunglasses as she made gave the chestnut horse a handful of treats.

Following the visit to to the stables the Queen gave her chauffeur the day off, jumping behind the wheel of her Range Rover to continue the hunt.

This is expected to be the Queen's last week at Balmoral, having arrived in August and expected to leave in early October. Pictured: The Queen admiring another of her horses

Joined by her shooting party, the Queen headed out on a hunt in the grounds of Balmoral, where she gave the chauffeur the day off, driving her Range Rover herself

Elsewhere Prince Philip was also heading out on a drive, though didn't appear to be part of the hunting party

Prince Philip, who had a hip replaced in June, is reported to have been enjoying hunting and fishing during the annual summer stay at Balmoral

Elsewhere on the estate her husband Prince Philip was spotted heading out for a drive in his Land Rover, though didn't appear to be part of the shooting trip.

Prince Philip, who had a hip replaced in June, is reported to have been enjoying hunting and fishing during the annual summer stay at Balmoral, which he wasn't initially expected to attend following surgery in June.

Alongside deer stalking, the Queen's husband is reported to have been catching fish in the pretty River Dee, which runs through the estate.

Her Majesty was last seen at Crathie Kirk chapel in Balmoral several weeks ago while attending Sunday Service.

The royals have been enjoying quality time together in the Queen's favourite holiday residence, with picnics and barbecues in the grounds.

Last year the Queen departed for Balmoral in mid July and did not end her annual Highland summer holiday until the first week in October.

With the gold weather setting in Her Majesty wrapped up warm in a grey anorak and kept out the wind chill with a silk head scarf

The Queen, well known for her love of horses, keeps several on the land of her Scottish residence in Balmoral

Her Majesty's last official public engagements were on July 13 and 14, when she welcomed overseas visitors - most notably President Donald Trump - to Windsor Castle.

The Queen famously enjoys a more low-key existence while staying at the Scottish retreat - with her former royal protection officer Richard Griffin recently revealing that she had a conversation with unsuspecting American tourists visiting the estate while dressed in tweeds and a scarf.

Balmoral, which was bought by Prince Albert for 32,000 in 1852, is said to be the Queen's favourite home.Pippa Middleton has displayed her growing baby bump in a chic polka dot jumpsuit as she unveiled a new sculpture at a school for deaf children.

The Duchess of Cambridge's younger sister, 35, looked chic in a navy polka dot jumpsuit as she visited the Mary Hare School for Deaf Children in Newbury, Berkshire, near her family home.

Pippa - who is believed to be expecting her first child with husband James Matthews next month - unveiled a limited edition bronze sculpture created by Sophie Ryder to raise money to build new facilities at the school, where she is an ambassador.

She and Sophie visited the school to show the children the artwork earlier this month, while a private party was held in London on Thursday night to celebrate the launch.

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Pippa Middleton displayed her growing baby bump as she visited a school in the Mary Hare School for Deaf Children in Newbury, Berkshire

Pippa, who is due to give birth to her first child in October, has unveiled a new sculpture with artist Sophie Ryder to raise funds for the school. The pair visited the Mary Hare School for Deaf Children earlier this month (above)

Only 50 sculptures - priced at 6,000 - are being produced, with each numbered bronze supplied with a certificate of authenticity signed by both Sophie and Pippa.

Pippa approached artist Sophie earlier this year for her help in raising funds for the pupils at Mary Hare School, which is near her family home in Bucklebury.

Sophie, who previously ran a week of workshops at the school, agreed to create an exclusive piece of sculpture to raise money to build new primary facilities.

Speaking about the project, Pippa said: 'Mary Hare School is a wonderful place, and I am constantly inspired by its staff, and especially by its children.

Pippa, who is an ambassador for the Mary Hare School for Deaf Children, looked chic in a polka dot jumpsuit as she visited the school

Pippa and artist Sophie Ryder posed for a picture with children at the school, as they showed them the new limited edition sculpture

'I am proud and honoured to be its Ambassador, and I am delighted to be launching this initiative to raise crucial funds for its new primary school.'

The launch of the fundraising project comes just weeks before Pippa - who is in her third trimester - is due to give birth to her first child.

Earlier this month, she and husband James, 43, were seen visiting their new nephew for the first time, following the birth of Spencer Matthews and Vogue Williams' first child.

Pippa appears to have taken her pregnancy in her stride, revealing how she has been keeping up her fitness throughout.

Pippa (pictured posing with the sculpture) approached artist Sophie earlier this year for her help in raising funds for the pupils at Mary Hare School, which is near her family home

Pippa (pictured with artist Sophie) described the school as a 'wonderful place' and said she is 'constantly inspired by its staff, and especially by its children'

Earlier this month, Pippa explained how she had been turning to ballet-inspired barre classes to help with her movement.

Writing in her column for Waitrose Weekend, she said: 'Having the agility to bend down is not what it was.

'I feel far from a ballerina, but I'm equally determined not to break into a penguin-style waddle and plod around with bad posture.

'So with this in mind, I've continued to embrace barre-inspired workouts throughout pregnancy  a form of exercise taken from ballet which involves the small, isolated movements that develop flattering muscle tone or so I hope.'

The launch of the fundraising project comes just weeks before Pippa (pictured with Sophie) is due to give birth to her first childA middle-class couple are selling their home and its contents - to take their children on an open-ended journey around the world.

Natalie and William Goodacre, both 30, of Lincoln, are taking their two daughters, aged seven and eight, on an adventure through 20 different countries.

They plan to spend up to a month in each country as they travel from Dubai, India and Sri Lanka, through south east Asia to Australia, New Zealand and finishing in Fiji.

The couple will be using the money from the sale of their house and their possessions to fund the trip as well as currently saving and working until they leave in January next year.

Natalie and William Goodacre have sold their house (pictured here) and its contents in order to take their two daughters Ava (left) and Bonnie on a round-the-world trip

Daughters Bonnie, seven, and Ava, eight, are currently home schooled and do not follow the traditional curriculum.

And Natalie, who co-runs a magazine for home educating parents, believes the trip will be 'an education like no other' for her children.

She said: 'We have an open ticket. We hope to travel for at least a year but who knows what may happen. It may be less, it may be more.

'We want to immerse ourselves in the cultures, sample the food, visit temples and landmarks.

The two girls are currently home schooled and their parents say that the trip will be an education like no other

They said that they are determined not to return to the 'nine to five' trap and plan to document their travels with a blog. Pictured: William and Bonnie doing some sketching

The parents are planning to visit 20 countries while they are away, and say that they want to travel for around a year but that the timescale is not rigid

'The children love anything to do with nature and animals, so lots of hiking and snorkelling, and studying the local wildlife.

'We hope to do some charity work, and visit local schools with the children so they can play with the children there and experience the different cultures first hand.'

The couple, who have been married for six years, believe travelling the world is the best form of education for their children.

Natalie and William, who works as an academic support assistant for pupils with autism, both have strong beliefs on positive parenting and express they have no intention of ever returning to a 'nine till five trap'.

The family also plan to document their journey and experience on a blog.

Natalie said: 'They'll (the two girls) be learning as we travel, their maths will be the currency exchanges, travel timetables, paying for things and budgeting.

Natalie says that the girls will be able to develop their math skills by using different currencies as they move from place to place

Natalie says that her children will also benefit from immersing themselves in different cultures and that she hopes that they will be able to test their language skills

'We are taking Kindles so our kids can read books and listen to audio books.

'They will learn languages as we travel and communicate, and gain cultural understanding from all of the different religions and the temples we will visit.

'And tons of world history and geography just from being in the countries.

'We believe that children are like sponges, they are extremely capable of learning and absorbing a vast amount of information just from being immersed in stimulating environments.

'It is our belief that there isn't a need for formal education until much later in life.

'People have been concerned about the future for our girls when it comes to GCSEs and university.

'But I have to remind them that the girls are seven and eight years old. We feel at this age they will learn far more from our travels and gain vast life experience.

The couple, who travelled together when they were both 19 before having children, feel life is too short to not experience what the world has to offer.

'School could never replicate the education and opportunities to learn we are giving them. There is plenty of time to worry about formal qualifications when they are older.'

The parents, who travelled together when they were both 19 before having children, feel life is too short to not experience what the world has to offer.

Natalie adds: 'It has always been a huge dream of ours to travel the world. It is something we love.

'We have lost some very important people close to us and it has hammered home the fact that life is very short and you have to make the most of your time now, as you never know what is around the corner for you.'

But the family say they are excited for what is yet to come.

Natalie said: 'The children are very excited. Ava wants to be a 'scuba diving archaeologist' when she grows up and is so happy she is going to be snorkelling with sea turtles and sharks.

'Bonnie says that she is really excited to see the giant gold Buddha and the elephants, and lots and lots of monkeys.

'Life is an adventure that we want to make the most of, and we want to show our girls the world, all of it the good, the bad and the beautiful.'She has spent over six weeks enjoying her summer break at Balmoral and the Queen is has arrived at Crathie Kirk for what could be the final Sunday service of the summer.

The monarch arrived at the chapel on the Balmoral estate in Scotland this morning accompanied by her nephew David Armstrong-Jones in the rear of the car.

This is the first time that the son of the late Princess Margaret has visited Balmoral this year and he appeared to be in high spirits as he chatted with his aunt. His wife Serena Stanhope is believed to have also been in the car.

The Queen looked elegant in a magenta ensemble as she arrived at Crathie Kirk this morning for the Sunday Service

The Queen, 92, looked typically elegant in a magenta pink ensemble consisting of a wool jacket with large brass buttons and a coordinating hat decorated with felt flowers.

Following along behind was Prince Charles who was accompanied by Camilla in another car.

The couple have been regular visitors to Balmoral throughout the past few weeks, squeezing in visits among their public engagements.

Joining Her Majesty in the car was the son of the late Princess Margaret and the Queen's nephew, David Armstrong Jones

Following on behind was Prince Charles and Camilla who made a statement in a red felt hat decorated with pheasant feathers

The Prince of Wales looked especially dapper this afternoon in a blazer and forest green tie as he made the short drive from Balmoral to the chapel

The Prince of Wales looked particularly smart today in a blazer and forest green tie while the Duchess of Cornwall made a statement in a red wool hat decorated with pheasant feathers.

This could very well be the Queen's last visit to Crathie Kirk before she returns to London, expected to arrive back at Buckingham Palace next week.

She was last spotted on Saturday where she took part in a hunting trip, and paid a visit to the stables in order to feed her horses.

The Queen was spotted paying a visit to the royal stables in Balmoral on Saturday where she fed a chestnut horse handful of treats

This is expected to be the Queen's last week at Balmoral, having arrived in August and expected to leave in early October. Pictured: The Queen admiring another of her horses

As her vacation draws to a close the Queen enjoyed a hunting trip with friends on Saturday.

The 92-year-old royal could be seen feeding her horses on the way back from having lunch at Glen Clova with the Royal Shooting Party.

The shooting party was today made up of just five people, including the Queen, who accompanied the royal to the stables.

With the cold weather setting in Her Majesty was sure to wrap up warm dressed in a grey anorak and wearing a silk head scarf to keep out the wind chill.

With the cold weather setting in Her Majesty wrapped up warm in a grey anorak and kept out the wind chill with a silk head scarf

Joined by her shooting party, the Queen headed out on a hunt in the grounds of Balmoral, where she gave the chauffeur the day off, driving her Range Rover herself

Elsewhere Prince Philip was also heading out on a drive, though didn't appear to be part of the hunting party

Following the visit to to the stables the Queen gave her chauffeur the day off, jumping behind the wheel of her Range Rover to continue the hunt.

Elsewhere on the estate her husband Prince Philip was spotted heading out for a drive in his Land Rover, though didn't appear to be part of the shooting trip.

Prince Philip, who had a hip replaced in June, is reported to have been enjoying hunting and fishing during the annual summer stay.

The royals have been enjoying quality time together in the Queen's favourite holiday residence, with picnics and barbecues in the grounds.

This could may well be the Queen's last visit to Crathie Kirk for this year as she is expected to return to Buckingham Palace next week

Last year the Queen departed for Balmoral in mid July and did not end her annual Highland summer holiday until the first week in October.

Her Majesty's last official public engagements were on July 13 and 14, when she welcomed overseas visitors - most notably President Donald Trump - to Windsor Castle.

The Queen famously enjoys a more low-key existence while staying at the Scottish retreat - with her former royal protection officer Richard Griffin recently revealing that she had a conversation with unsuspecting American tourists visiting the estate while dressed in tweeds and a scarf.

Balmoral, which was bought by Prince Albert for 32,000 in 1852, is said to be the Queen's favourite home.Brighten up the darkening evenings with splashes of hot orange in your wardrobe. From burnt amber knits to tangerine silks, the High Street is full of fiery tones.

High-end designers, such as the French fashion house Hermes and Italian brand Moschino, featured the spicy hue in their latest collections.

Why not team a tailored orange blazer with boyfriend jeans? Or, for the more adventurous, try teaming printed trousers with bright backless mules for a Seventies look. A word of warning: this colour is not for the faint-hearted!

Striking: Model Jourdan Dunn (pictured) in Versace at The British Fashion AwardsThe al-Ahvaziya terror group, whose recruits are believed to be scattered in several European countries, including in the Netherlands and in Denmark, claimed responsibility for the attack in Ahvaz.

In this photo provided by the Iranian Students' News Agency, ISNA, a Revolutionary Guard member carries a wounded boy after a shooting during a military parade marking the 38th anniversary of Iraq's 1980 invasion of Iran, in the southwestern city of Ahvaz, Iran, Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018.

Gunmen disguised as soldiers opened fire at an annual Iranian military parade on Saturday, with the death toll reaching 29 in the bloodiest attack the Islamic Republic has seen in years. Suspicion immediately fell on the region's Arab separatists, who previously only attacked unguarded oil pipelines under the cover of darkness.

Semi-official news outlets with reporters at the scene said the attackers were dressed in military fatigues and had approached the parade from a park, behind a temporary reviewing stand from where officials had been watching the ceremony.

Armed forces spokesman Brigadier General Abolfazl Shekarchi said that the dead included a young girl and a former serviceman in a wheelchair.

State television showed images of the immediate aftermath.

"Most of the martyrs were from the Guards", said Ali Hossein Hossein Zadeh, deputy to the Khuzestan provincial governor, referring to the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, or IRGC.

Iran blamed the U.S. and its allies in the region, including Saudi Arabia, for an attack in Ahvaz that killed 25 and wounded dozens. "The attack will strengthen the IRGC's position inside Iran and in the region", Tehran-based political analyst Hamid Farahvashian said.

Zarif vowed Iran would "respond swiftly and decisively in defence of Iranian lives".

This incident is another proof of the need for "uncompromising war on any manifestations of terrorism", Putin said.

6m Attack on military parade in Iran

The Guards play a big role in Iran's regional interests and have a vast stake worth billions of dollars in Iran's economy. The semiofficial Fars news agency said two gunmen on a motorcycle wearing khaki uniforms carried out the attack.

The parade in the southwestern city was being held to mark the anniversary of the start of the eight-year war with Saddam Hussein's Iraq in 1980.

A number of towns in Khuzestan saw some of the most violent clashes between protesters and security forces in the anti-government unrest that broke out late past year.

But attacks on regime targets inside major cities are far rarer.

Two of the gunmen are under arrest, while two others were shot dead, IRNA reported.

"Shooting began by several gunmen from behind the stand during the parade".

Hardliners like the IRGC have gained standing at the expense of pragmatists in Iran's multi-tiered leadership since president Donald Trump decided in May to pull the United States out of the 2015 worldwide nuclear deal with Tehran and reimpose sanctions in moves to isolate the Islamic Republic.

"We hope that all the perpetrators will bear the punishment they deserve", he said. "The fact that they are angry at our missiles shows that these are the most influential weapons Iran has".

In Tehran, Rouhani watched a military parade that included ballistic missiles capable of reaching Israel and US military bases in the Mideast.

The United States reimposed crippling sanctions on Iran last month, and a new round of even harsher sanctions targeting Iran's vital oil sector is set to go back into effect on November 5.Here goes: I am a man who likes housework. There, Ive said it. As rare as a unicorn. One life lesson Ive learned in middle age is that it is perfectly possible to do the washing-up and be a man who watches the Premier League. They are not mutually exclusive.

I do have an advantage: Im a neat freak. I get genuine happiness from tidiness. I follow my wife all day straightening the cushions. It drives her mad, but I also like doing the tidying. Marie Kondo can teach me nothing.

There are few things in life more satisfying than running a Karcher condensation vacuum over steamed-up windows. Dont get me going on ironing. The joy of a crisp pleat. Preferably on a Sunday night in front of Antiques Roadshow. I know how to live.

I write and make TV programmes about architecture and design, so the home is important to me. But Im not alone. There are more of us out there than you might think.

Tom Dyckhoff, pictured with his wife Claire, says he's proof husbands can love housework. He says he gets genuine happiness from tidiness, and that few things in life are more satisfying than running a Karcher condensation vacuum over steamed-up windows

Last week, an Oxford University study found that men prefer doing household chores to going out to work. The universitys Centre for Time Use Research asked more than 4,000 people to rate the activities they did all day, from commuting to putting the bins out. On average, it found that men rated housework higher than their paid job. For women, it was the exact reverse.

Men tend to see housework as an escape from the drudgery of work; women find the opposite. Admittedly, this is like choosing between the devil and the deep blue sea. Which would you prefer: scrubbing the rim of the loo or inputting data for ten hours next to sweaty Geoffrey, before standing on a train with your face in an armpit?

The studys Dr Pierre Walthery observed that the results may be because women tend to do the drearier chores, while men tend to do household jobs they slightly enjoy.

In our home, I do the cooking and washing-up every night. My wife Claire, who works in PR, packs the school bags. I water the plants, she changes the oil in the car. I work full-time, while she works part-time, so does more of the childcare (we have two children under six). She bakes cakes. I do not. We both put the washing on. We both take the rubbish out.

I wont say we dont sometimes argue about who exactly is going to cobble together a Despicable Me-themed costume for school the next day, when the chore is sprung upon us at 7pm, but we parcel out the jobs as best we can.

All very smug. But I dont know any other way. Its hardwired into me. In the Seventies, I grew up in a home with two older sisters and a mum who was definitely not going to scrub the floor while I sat watching Hong Kong Phooey with my nose in a packet of Monster Munch.

Mum loved being at home, and she made sure we all felt the same. While feminism was emerging in the Sixties, she did a most unfeminist thing for the time: she gave up a place at university and then a promising legal career because she wanted to be a homemaker.

As a child, I never understood it. As Ive got older, though  and the joy of employment fades after 25 years at work  I understand it a little more.

Shed divvy up the housework among us for pocket money.

Tom says that his love of housework is 'hardwired' into him after his mother would get him to complete chores for pocket money. Both his parents taught him the skills needed to run a household - his mother had him cooking as soon as he could walk, and his father taught him how to put up shelves and wire plugs

I cleaned the doorknobs, emptied the bins, wiped the tables down after meals and took the plates to the kitchen. She got us all cooking as soon as we could walk. We all did the washing-up.

Dad taught us how to wire plugs, pot plants and put up shelves. Looking back, we basically had training in running a house.

No, Mum was not a feminist, but in a way she was. And, lets face it, doing housework is deeply political  for men and women.

In The Second Sex, Simone de Beauvoir called housework Sisyphean. In Greek mythology, King Sisyphus was punished by having to haul a boulder up a mountain only for it to tumble back down again, for all eternity. De Beauvoir thought the same about housework. It never ends.

We wake up. The home is tidy. One hour later, the place, emptied for work, school or nursery, is transformed  there are ketchup streaks on the kitchen table and handprints smeared on windows, and a tornado appears to have passed through, redistributing every single book and toy to the furthest corners of the flat.

We come home. We tidy, we clean, we go to bed. Repeat. I accept the endlessness of housework, just like I accept I have to floss and vaguely attempt exercise. I like flossing and exercising because you feel better having done it.

Tom says that in 2018, men and women aren't so easily stereotyped, so the important thing is to divvy up the household chores fairly - even if that means women are putting up shelves, and men are putting on their Marigolds

But I actually enjoy housework. I get into the zone like a zen master.

The world may be in chaos, but at least my magazines are in a neat pile on the coffee table.

I have a weakness for Mary Berrys Household Tips And Tricks: Your Guide To Happiness In The Home. Who but my surrogate mum Mary will tell me how often to turn my mattress (answer: every six months)? But, as weve established, Im a bit weird. When I flat-shared in my 20s, my room was the only one not carpeted in underpants and old pizzas. Thats when the neat-freak name stuck.

Uptight? No, just prematurely middle-aged (OK, maybe a little uptight.) In my heart, I knew messy or dirty homes make us more unhappy. A report from the University of California, Los Angeles found a relationship between high levels of cortisol, the stress hormone, and the clutter and disarray of our homes.

Only heres the rub: men generally feel that stress far less than women. Women get more anxious as dishes increasingly pile up in the sink. Men want the house tidy(ish), they just dont want to do the tidying. Much of this is because of learned habits.

Gone are the days when it was drummed into a woman from an early age that she will look after the home; and into a man that he wont. For years, if a woman was depicted in film or TV in a messy home  Bridget Jones, for example  her life was in crisis.

She was supposedly less of a woman. She was judged. If a man was depicted in a messy home, he was just being a man. He was excused. Men were not allowed to have an interest in the home. They were not men if they did. Women were expected to. They were not women if they didnt.

In 2018, though, men and women arent so easily stereotyped. Married or cohabiting, we need to divvy up the labour. The secret of every relationship is compromise. Decide among yourselves, but do it fairly and honestly. Women, feel free to put up shelves and put out the rubbish. Men, if you truly prefer housework to work, put on your Marigolds  and pick up your own damn pants. Who knows, you might even enjoy it.BBC news presenter Mishal Husain was buying cake decorations in the supermarket for her sons first birthday when she received a call. Her boss wanted her to go to Pakistan to cover a terrible earthquake.

One voice in my head told me I should go, that my son was too little to know what a birthday was, recalls Mishal, now 45. It was countered by another: What will I say when he asks why his mother isnt in his first birthday pictures? 

She didnt get on that plane. Though today  12 years later  she tells me: I look back now and think I probably should have gone. Because he was fine. Later, it becomes much harder to say to your older children: I wont be there for your birthday, because they understand what it means.

Babies dont know the day of the week. But that was how I felt at the time. It was probably the first time I felt work and life were pulling me in opposite directions.

Mishal Husain, 45, (pictured) is one of the 500 most influential people in Britain. The BBC presenter revealed how she has been able to overcome nerves and feelings of vulnerability throughout her 20-year career

Its a touching insight into the life of this high-profile mother of three.

Voted one of the 500 most influential people in Britain, Mishal can seem slightly head-girl-turned-ice-queen at times, especially when she holds politicians and prime ministers to account.

When we meet at her publishers office, she looks immaculate, dressed in a Chanel-esque jacket and black trousers, yet seemingly without make-up.

Her list of accomplishments  she is the first Muslim presenter of Today, Radio 4s flagship news programme; she was one of the main faces of the BBCs Olympics coverage in 2012; and, last November, was handpicked by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle to conduct their first joint TV interview (with only 24 hours notice)  can make her success feel exceptional, beyond the reach of most women.

So when she admits that, beneath her calm, measured tones, which reassure listeners even when a shocking news story is breaking, that she lives on her nerves, its both surprising and reassuring.

She almost didnt apply for the Today job when she was approached, even though shed been working in broadcast news for 17 years.

She went home and told her lawyer husband, Meekal, that it was a nice idea, but I couldnt imagine going for it. Her husband looked incredulous.

What would she say, he asked, if one of their three boys (Rafael, now 13, and twins, Musa and Zaki, 12) responded to a prospective new challenge by saying: Great opportunity, but will it be too hard? It pushed her to go for the job. Then, for three years, she fretted over almost every shift.

It took me three years to feel more at ease. I only say more at ease because Im never going to want to relax in the job. Its a very privileged position, it carries immense responsibility and comes with loads of scrutiny, so its never one that you want to feel too comfortable in.

Mishal (pictured with husband of 15 years Meekal at a fundraising ball) revealed it took her three years to ease into her current presenter role. She recalls having anxiety dreams that she's overslept

Now she realises how important it was that she didnt give up. If I had stopped doing it, for whatever reason, within that time, my abiding memory would have been: It never quite felt like it was for me. 

Since then, she has won many awards, including Broadcaster of the Year in 2015, but, as she reveals in a new book  part memoir, part handbook for working women  she still has nerves before doing a big interview.

Sometimes, she has anxiety dreams that shes overslept and has to present the show from her bed  which is just a bizarre, bizarre thought.

Her candour is refreshing when so many of us feel like imposters in our own lives, about to be exposed at any moment. She says thats why she wrote her book.

Id go into schools and constantly be asked: Do you get nervous? or even told: You must never get nervous. If young people are thinking that, its problematic  if you think only a certain kind of person is going to do that job, that automatically eliminates most people. So I wanted to be honest about how nerves remain a part of my working life.

In her book, she gathers together expert advice and practical skills, for women of all ages  on everything from how to use your voice, to body language and negotiating at work. Shes had to look at body language herself, as Im small, I dont have a commanding physical presence.

In a 20-year career, she has met many remarkable women, including Pakistani schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai (who survived being shot by the Taliban), so she could call on their experiences.

But, arguably, the most interesting insights in the book are from her own life. As she writes: Ive been flashed at and groped in public places and know how vulnerable it can make a girl or an adult woman feel.

Mishal (pictured with her sons (from left) Zaki, Rafael and Musa) who earns between 220,000 and 229,999 a year says she's heartened by how much female broadcasters have supported each other during the BBC pay discrimination conversations

Early on in her career, she was told, dismissively: Stick to what youre good at. She was also slightly puzzled when another boss told her all broadcasters need to cultivate a sense of authority if they want to progress.

What was this magic authority she was supposed to develop?

Now, 15 years later, Mishal understands you can demonstrate knowledge  and build your credentials  without being accused of showing off.

Today, when she receives a compliment about an interview shes done, or when a manager asks if she can take on a new role, she doesnt play down her skills. What would happen, she wonders, if she was hiring a nanny and they said: I think I can look after your sons. It would hardly inspire confidence. It made me think 100 per cent differently.

When news of the BBCs gender and race pay discrimination broke last year, Mishal was at the heart of the BBC women support group.

(On the Today show, Mishal earns between 220,000 and 229,999 a year, compared with co-presenter John Humphryss 290,000, after taking two voluntary pay cuts said to be at least 110,000.) Shes heartened by how much female broadcasters have supported each other. There are many circles of trust that have sprung up. I talked to someone in financial services the other day who said: I just dont think in my workplace thered be enough like-minded colleagues to share information in the way you have. 

Now I would say to my younger self: Dont try to do everything'

Mishal knows first-hand how hard the modern workplace can be for women bringing up children or caring for elderly parents. At 33, having worked her way up in broadcasting to the BBC newsroom, she found herself with three children under 20 months.

A self-confessed perfectionist, it nearly broke her. When my children were very little, the idea that we would have people round for dinner and that I would cook a meal for anyone other than our immediate family felt absolutely bonkers, she tells me.

She discovered she was pregnant with her twins only eight months after returning to work after her first son, Rafael.

In a daze, she called her husband. I said: Please come home, theres something I have to tell you face to face, she recalled at the time.

He had a hellish journey on the Tube thinking theyd discovered a serious problem. When I told him it was twins, he was so relieved.

Hed actually always wanted three children and he would have had a tough job persuading me.

Of course, when you put it in perspective, its a happy thing, but I was in a state of shock for the next two weeks.

Mishal (pictured on the set of BBC World News) says her family dynamic can be quite fraught with both she and her husband having demanding professional lives

She took six months maternity leave with the twins, as she had for Rafael, and admits she wouldnt have coped without the help of her mother or Meekal (I married a decent human being who pulls his weight at home, she writes in the book), as well as a series of amazing nannies. Honestly, I just felt grateful every day that I had someone to whom I could hand over three very small children.

In retrospect, she was micro-managing wildly. She laughs about it now. I was working myself into a state. Now I would say to my younger self: Dont try to do everything.  Shes fascinated by how other working mothers cope. Am I missing something? Is there a better way of doing it? One trick she recommends is to say to bosses: I cant do it now, but please keep asking me. When youve worked so hard, you dont want them to write you off, she advises.

With her job, does it help that she married her best friend? She has known Meekal since they were children. Their mothers had been friends for more than 40 years.

They got together in 2002, when she was 29, and married just over a year later.

But, you know, relationships are such a lottery. Everyone starts off thinking: Ive done the right thing, and you dont know what life is going to deal you.

So I feel incredibly fortunate . . . Mishal laughs, engagingly.

She comes from a traditional family, where the mother stayed at home, but in one generation, the family dynamic is now completely different. She says: It has its own complications, because often were running in different directions. I have an early shift, hes travelling. It can be quite fraught when youre juggling two parents who both have demanding professional lives.

With a name like mine, my career would only have been possible in Britain

Mishal gets up in a whirlwind at 3.15am to present the Today breakfast programme  Im out of the house in half-an-hour  and admits its tough on her marriage.

My husband does occasionally complain, she smiles. For the past five years, I had this thing called a Jawbone, which buzzes on your wrist to wake you up.

But one night, it stopped working, so I had to set the alarm clock, which was fairly disastrous on the relationship front. Ive now found something else that makes a noise and flashes white light.

When she started writing her book, in 2016, it was about the skills that have helped her get on. But, that autumn, her surgeon father, who had been diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer, was dying, and the book became far more personal. Despite the pain, she writes movingly of the strange and beautiful symmetry of that time, helping to lift him as he would have lifted her up as a child. It was there every time I arrived at my parents home in the early hours in those final weeks, to take over from my mother, who would have been up with him in the night.

Mishal (pictured on BBC News 24) claims her father was worried that her beliefs about what she could achieve in life would've been altered if she stayed in Saudi

A decade before, it was my newborn babies she would have been handing back into my arms after looking after them overnight.

Losing her father made her think about how her parents had shaped her. I owe so much to the decisions they took on my education when I was 12. It was a big financial commitment, it changed our family life, she tells me today.

Her own mother gave up her career as a TV producer to come to the UK to marry her father.

In 1975, when Mishal was two, they relocated to the United Arab Emirates where her father, an NHS doctor, was setting up a urology department in Abu Dhabi. (He had wanted her to be a doctor, but when she sat in on an operation, she fainted.)

Aged 12, Mishal was sent to Cobham Hall boarding school in Kent. Her parents, by this time, were living in Saudi Arabia, where secondary school options for girls were limited.

Years later, she says in the book, her father told her he had worried that if shed stayed in Saudi and had to wear an abaya (the regions floor-length black cloak) in public, it might fundamentally alter my belief about what I could achieve in life.

Today, she employs her insight into Islamic issues at work, but doesnt wear the hijab.

Earlier this month, in a wider conversation about anti-Muslim prejudice, she observed: Had my parents moved from Pakistan to any other European country, I dont think, as the daughter of Muslim immigrants, I could have had a comparable career.

With a name like mine, my career would only have been possible in Britain.

Mishal (pictured) hopes her new book will be relevant to anyone from a minority background with concerns that they're going to face more barriers than other people

It created a media storm, but she sticks by her belief. Its not that people havent been successful in other, different fields, but I havent yet seen the example of someone who is first generation in another European country doing this kind of [job]. It would be great to know that theyre out there, I just havent come across them.

That is going to change, and is changing, but I think in terms of the position Im very fortunate to be in right now, theres something very special about Britain that has made that possible.

She really hopes that her book, although written from her perspective as a woman in the workplace, will have a resonance, and a relevance, for anyone from a minority background, or who feels that their face might not fit, or that theyre going to face more barriers than other people.

Like many children of immigrants who risked a great deal to come to this country, Mishal has always felt driven to do something substantial with her life.

There is a pressure to be the good girl. And she is. But beneath it lies a dry sense of humour: The other morning on Today, I said the cheap whiff instead of the Chief Whip, she confesses. I thought: I cant really have said that. Then I went on Twitter and, sure enough, Id said it!

What are the secrets of Mishals success? EMBRACE NERVES Nerves are always a part of what I do. They give me the jolt I need that focuses my energies and helps me deliver the best work I can. Now that I recognise nerves as such, I am better able to deal with them  when I feel a frisson of anxiety, I see it as part of a process that aids performance. GIVE A SUPER SPEECH Many of us suffer from doubts about speaking in public. Start by making yourself as comfortable as you can with what youre going to say. The words should be as close as possible to your normal way of speaking. Read it aloud, then customise  remind yourself when you need to pause, add a greater stress, or vary the pace. You can write these instructions to yourself into the text, put words in capitals, or separate out some lines so they stand alone. THINK BODY LANGUAGE Non-verbal communication is more important than most of us appreciate. Instead of crossing your arms or shrinking yourself down, consider open, neutral postures. Psyching-up gestures can help before you walk into a room or out onto the stage  or, in my case, before going on air  stretching, moving around, whatever gets the blood flowing and gets you in the zone. ALWAYS PREPARE Any high-stakes moment  a job interview, appraisal or pitch meeting  will always benefit from detailed thought in advance. Work out what you want to get across and then boil it down to just two or three points. That way, the key messages are simple enough to be kept in the forefront of your mind and are more likely to be remembered by the other party. Make sure your first point is a strong one that sets the right tone and frames the conversation that will follow. Plot your points on paper ahead of time and work out any obvious follow-up questions. Advance planning will give you more control and confidence. LOVE YOUR OWN VOICE As the voice coach Elspeth Morrison told me, concentrate on diction and emphasis, rather than timbre. Emphasis is not usually on nouns, she explains. In normal conversation, the emphasis tends to be on adjectives and words such as: could, should, maybe. Consider the overall message of what you want to say, rather than focusing on your voice. BE RESILIENT Workplace criticism can be uncomfortable, but its important to take on feedback without becoming anxious. Learn from what happened, then look to the future. Asking questions directly of ourselves can help (What do I need to take away from this?) because, otherwise, its all too easy to dwell on the setback. Once the salient points are noted, try to actively set your mind to something else, rather than remaining preoccupied with the past. Advertisement

Mishal Husains book The Skills: From First Job To Dream Job  What Every Woman Needs To Know (4th Estate, 16.99) is out now.An apple a day was enough to keep the doctor away, or so the saying went. But if the latest health food craze to sweep the supermarket aisles is anything to go by, the answer might actually lie in a cold cup of sparkling, fermented tea.

Originating in China more than 2,000 years ago, kombucha is a 'living drink' made from a blend of water, tea, cane sugar and a special live culture called a 'scoby', or a 'symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast' to give it its full name.

The 'scoby' starts the fermentation process in the blend, converting the sugar to alcohol and activating the friendly bacteria, which in turn consume the alcohol. The result is a lightly sparkling fermented tea full of acids, enzymes and live probiotics and a trace of alcohol.

Reported health benefits range from boosting immunity by promoting a healthy gut, where about 80 per cent of our immune system is found, to helping liver function, improving the body's cardiovascular system and even managing diabetes.

Helen McGinn gave her verdict on a selection of the latest Kombuchas as the 'living drink' becomes the latest health craze. She says Kombucha Kat Original (pictured) is ideal to try if your new to the fermented drink

Which would be all well and good if it were delicious. The reality is it might be trendy, but its tart, often vinegary character can leave a bitter  some might say disgusting  taste.

But there's no escaping kombucha now it's broken out of niche health food shops and on to the shelves of Waitrose and M&S. So if you're going to join the healthy drink brigade, which kombuchas won't make you wince?

Here, the Mail's drinks expert braves a selection of the best 'booch' to be found on the shelves

Kombucha Kat Original

330ml, 3.49, Ocado

Brewed in small batches from organic green tea, this one looks like it's going to sort out your gut before you've even pulled the ring on its medicinal-looking bottle. Only lightly sparkling, its neutral in taste with fresh apple flavours and just a slight, reassuringly acidic feel to it.

Definitely less tart than most, it's a good one to try if you're new to kombucha and don't fancy the full-on mouth-puckering experience of some. This one would also make a great base for cocktails on less healthy days. 3/5

Los Bros Organic Passion Fruit Kombucha

330ml, 2.34, Planet Organic

Helen says Los Bros Organic Passion Fruit Kombucha (pictured) tastes like weak cider but their passion fruit version stands out for its balance of sharpness and fruit

This fabulously packaged kombucha brand boasts the usual credentials  low in sugar, gluten-free, vegan-friendly  and is brewed over three weeks in small batches.

The Original mix is fairly simple with a sour tang, a bit like flat, weak cider, but things get more interesting once flavours are introduced.

The Passion fruit one is a standout favourite, balancing a natural sharpness with the sweetness of the fruit perfectly. 4/5

Profusion Organic Kombucha Turmeric, Lemon & Ginger

330ml, 2.79, Ocado

Helen was unimpressed with Profusion Organic Kombucha Turmeric, Lemon & Ginger (pictured) and says it left her feeling flat rather than energised

This one looks more like an energy drink with its bright colour and vivid label, but it definitely left me feeling flat rather than energised.

The big appeal of kombucha lies in the balance of sweet and sour. This offering tastes too sweet and lacks natural flavour. Not so mighty 'booch', sadly. 1/5

Wonder Drink Asian Pear & Ginger Kombucha

250ml, 1.50, M&S

Wonder Drink Asian Pear & Ginger Kombucha (pictured) is available exclusively at M&S. Helen says it smells great and feels healthy

Launched in the U.S. in 1999, this Oregon-based brand is available exclusively in M&S. A blend of black and oolong tea, with pear flavouring and ginger extract, this is 100 per cent organic, suitable for vegans and gluten and alcohol-free.

It smells great with lots of pear aromas and a whiff of tea. The vinegar twang comes after, but the ginger flavour kicks in, too, along with bubbles, and it feels like a really healthy mouthful. I love that it comes in a can, not a plastic bottle, too. 5/5

Equinox Original Kombucha

275ml, 1.80, waitrose.com

Helen praised the packaging of Equinox Original Kombucha (pictured) and says it is very palatable due to its fresh flavours

Started by friends who discovered 'booch' travelling in Asia, Equinox is organic and brewed in Yorkshire.

Flavours will soon include Pink Grapefruit and Guava, but their Original is definitely worth trying. It smells a bit like weak apple cider (in a good way), with a hint of sweetness balancing the tartness.

There's a whiff of fermentation to it, but it's very palatable thanks to fresh flavours and a gentle bubble. I love the flower power-inspired packaging. Peace out. 5/5

No. 1 Kombucha Ginger & Turmeric

275ml, 1.95, Sainsbury's

Helen says No. 1 Kombucha Ginger & Turmeric (pictured) feels like it's doing your gut some good and is easy to drink

Easy to drink with punchy ginger aromas and fresh flavours, this is naturally sweetened with white grape juice and holds its flavour.

More polished than most; there's no harsh vinegar taste at all. But  and this is the important bit  it still feels like it's doing your gut some good. Kicks some of the other brands into touch.3/5

Thorncroft Kombucha Cordial

330ml, 3.05, Ocado

Helen says you only need to use a small amount of Thorncroft Kombucha Cordial (pictured) and it can be blended to suit your taste

As a cordial, this one needs to be diluted with water, but that means you can adjust it to suit your taste  which is more like a rosehip-flavoured fruit cordial than kombucha.

So if you want the reported benefits without the fermented tea taste, this is a good way to get gut-boosting goodies into your system.

It's very sweet, so you only have to use a tiny bit (the serving suggestion is to dilute it 1:10). 3/5Dragons, battleaxes, despots  they are all harsh but, in some cases, fair words to describe the modern medical receptionist. Today, more than ever, the front-of-house staff at your local GP surgery or clinic represent the front line in deciding how we are treated for everything from everyday ailments to serious problems and even emergencies.

These staff, who are not medics, now get four hours of training that qualifies them to decide whether or not you see a doctor, or need another kind of help, under the 2016 Care Navigation scheme.

And, given the daily battle for appointments, theyve been instructed to get tough.

GP receptionists are receiving four hours of training to decide whether or not a patient should be allowed to see the doctor or diverted to a practice nurse or the local pharmacist

Some 10,600 practices across the have signed up to the 2016 Care Navigation scheme

Launched to ease pressure on GPs, the scheme currently has 10,600 UK practices signed up. Receptionists are trained by private companies, organisations or NHS Trusts who follow a competency framework developed by Health Education England and the health and social care regulator, the Care Quality Commission checks standards are upheld.

One in four patients are now being triaged by a receptionist, so they do not see a doctor but instead get an appointment with a practice nurse, or are told to visit their pharmacist or even dentist instead.

But the changes have not been entirely welcomed. Rachel Power, chief executive of the Patients Association, says many people feel their traditional route to a GP is seemingly gone.

And a recent survey from Cancer Research UK found that 40 per cent of respondents disliked talking about medical matters with receptionists, with the charity warning that many with serious illnesses could be put off visiting their GP.

Doctors have reservations too. Its better to avoid duplication by matching a patient with the right person, like a nurse or a pharmacist, says Fiona Cornish, a Cambridge-based GP. But it shouldnt be an excuse to fob off someone who needs to be seen by a doctor.

Yet British Medical Association research shows the scheme has already freed up time that doctors can spend with patients  about 80 million saved appointments each year. So how should patients navigate their way around a receptionist for the best possible outcome?

Be specific about your health problem to ensure it gets picked up immediately. Passing blood in your stools is a red flag that puts you top of the priority list, for instance, says Kirsteen Atkinson, a GP receptionist for more than a decade.

However, patients should not feel pressured to divulge details, says Myra Upton, president of the Association of Medical Secretaries, Practice Managers, Administrators and Receptionists (AMSPAR). And training is supposed to make receptionists aware of many patients reluctance to talk about problems, and they follow guidelines to avoid causing embarrassment.

At Dr Cornishs practice, receptionists follow an approved text to give patients an opt-out. She says: Typically, this would be, So that we can direct you to the right person, can you give me some ideas of your symptoms or is it personal? 

Myra Upton adds: Receptionists will get the gist if you say its an intimate issue, and theres always the option to write it down and pass over a note.

GPs should deal with chronic conditions with an unclear cause such as severe headaches. Nurses, on the other hand, usually handle anything needing antibiotics. If you tell the receptionist you have a sore throat, a minor earache or a possible urinary tract infection, youll usually be told that a nurse will deal with you, says Dr Cornish.

You could be told to see a pharmacist if you have typical symptoms of a cold and want to get a prescription for flu medication or paracetamol. These are no longer available on the NHS.

If you still want to see a doctor, thats your right but you may have to wait for an appointment, says Myra Upton.

If symptoms worsen or change in the interim, its best to call again to explain. Alternatively, you can call the 24-hour 111 NHS helpline.

Under the 2009 NHS Constitution, GP practices must try to fulfil a patients request to see a specific doctor. But in reality they can refuse if there are reasonable grounds. Surgeries also have a duty of care to provide an appropriate service, according to Dr Cornish.

That means accepting the receptionists decision in most cases.

Dr Cornish points out that receptionists should always refer to a GP if unsure. Anyone abusing staff may get a written warning or be removed from the surgery list. But, according to the NHS Constitution, NHS staff must also treat you with dignity and respect your rights.

Many GP surgeries now provide online services and apps. Patient 2Practice and Patient Access are among those schemes the NHS offers  check your surgery website. They enable patients to book appointments, order prescriptions, view medical records and ask a doctor health questions. Most are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and are password-protected so personal details are safe.

A GP receptionist will tell you to call 999 in a crisis. However, doctors will see non-life-threatening urgent appointments, either by allocating a specific number of slots or via a walk-in clinic.

GPs will also pay a home visit to people who insist it is an emergency but cannot leave their property. But beware exaggerating symptoms as this could damage your relationship with your doctor.

Receptionists assess if you need an appointment then put you in contact with a nurse or doctor or call you an ambulance immediately.

If you feel the matter cannot wait, but its not an emergency, going private is another option via an online service.

Before you call the GP, have background details ready such as when your symptoms first appeared.

Be proactive in contacting your surgery if you have a medication review coming up, or a screening such as a smear test.

Get written consent from a partner to deal with prescriptions, appointments and routine medical matters. Receptionists will not be able to give you your husbands blood results, for example, without signed consent, says Myra Upton.

Receptionists can organise repeat prescriptions to be verified by the doctor, but not usually over the phone. Check if you can download apps such as dimec.me which allow you to order repeat prescriptions. They can also give results over the phone if you verify your identity.

Surgeries are often busiest when the phone lines first open in the morning. Phones buzz continuously as patients are often queuing for on-the-day emergency appointments, says Kirsteen Atkinson. Her advice is to leave inquiries until later in the day if possible.

Receptionists make most of the 250 million patient appointments with GPs each year, so it pays to build good relationships with them. We are a much-maligned group of hard-working people, says Atkinson. We want to help but we cant always give the patient what they want.Controversial Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary held a secret meeting with his counterpart at British Airways owner IAG, sparking rumours he may be scouting for a heavy hitter to take over his job, a new book reveals.

The meeting with Willie Walsh at a London restaurant in July was quickly followed by speculation at Ryanair's head office that O'Leary was on the brink of stepping down as chief executive at the end of his current five-year deal next year.

Last week the billionaire boss  known as much for his colourful language as his business acumen  cast doubt on his future at a public meeting.

Rendezvous: Ryanair's Michael O'Leary, left, and BA chief Willie Walsh

He told shareholders he was 'not sure whether I want to sign up for another five years' at the low-cost airline he joined soon after it was founded in 1984.

His apparent weariness comes after a summer of battling unions, facing another barrage of passenger ire and a pilot rostering debacle a year ago that led to the cancellation of thousands of flights.

The revelations suggest O'Leary has been mulling his departure for some time.

The book by Matt Cooper  only finalised in recent weeks  said O'Leary 'raised the idea of Walsh ditching IAG to return home to Ireland and Ryanair'.

And last week O'Leary indicated he was reviewing his options. Speaking after the annual shareholder meeting in which almost 30 per cent of shareholders tried to oust his chairman for 22 years, David Bonderman, O'Leary said: 'I have no idea when I'll have had enough. I like working for this company. I don't do it for the pay I get.

'But as long as it remains interesting and fun and challenging, I see no reason not to continue to try to lead it and lead it forward positively.

'I'm very happy to go on to a rolling 12-month contract. I own 4 per cent of the company. It's not like I'm going to go anywhere. They want me to sign up another contract for a period of years.

'I'm not sure whether I want to sign up for another five years. That would take me to 62.

'I'm not sure Mrs O'Leary would be very happy if I agree to sign up for another five years.'

Cooper's book tracks O'Leary's change of attitude towards passengers since 2014. He built his career amid alehouse expletives and wisecracks that should have been enough to make most customers steer clear  were it not for the promise of ever lower prices.

'What part of no refunds do you not understand?' he once said. 'We don't fall over ourselves if they say, 'My granny fell ill.' You are not getting a refund, so **** off.'

Ryanair declined to comment.

Michael O'Leary: Turbulent Times For The Man Who Made Ryanair, by Matt Cooper, is out on Thursday.A controversial group set up by a fraudster to sue the Royal Bank of Scotland is facing a police probe following a 12-month Mail on Sunday investigation.

The Ministry of Justice is preparing to hand the City of London Police a dossier on the RBoS Shareholders Action Group, co-founded by businessman Gerard Walsh.

This paper has revealed he was named as a fraudster in Jersey Royal Court in 2014. The group was set up to sue RBS on behalf of 7,000 small investors who felt duped into buying shares in a doomed 2008 rights issue.

Probe: The action group was set up to sue RBS on behalf of 7,000 small investors

The investors won 200million compensation from RBS in 2017 but most of it has yet to be paid out. In April, a court was told Walsh is claiming 3.75million for himself.

Several small investors have asked the City of London Polices Action Fraud unit to probe the group. The MoJ intervention piles pressure on the force to act.

The action group declined to comment, and instead pointed to a separate complaint it had made to the Solicitors Regulation Authority.TV presenter Noel Edmonds is spearheading a campaign against malpractice by lenders

TV presenter Noel Edmonds is demanding that banks should be forced to attach health warnings to their advertising.

Edmonds, who is spearheading a campaign against malpractice by lenders, is backing calls by MPs for action in the wake of scandals involving banking mistreatment.

Kevin Hollinrake, a Tory MP who co-chairs the All Party Parliamentary Group on Fair Business Banking, has written to the Advertising Standards Authority suggesting that the caution would help to protect business customers.

Edmonds has emerged as a champion of small businesses that have suffered financially at the hands of bankers.

He told The Mail on Sunday: There needs to be some kind of warning to the public that there is little or no regulation of business banking in the UK.

The former Deal Or No Deal presenter is launching a legal action next month against Lloyds Banking Group over the treatment of his Unique Group by HBOS bankers.

Edmonds lawyers also filed a complaint this summer to the ASA over Lloyds black horse ad campaign, which features the slogan By Your Side.From the upper echelons of the banking industry, John McFarlane has seen the fortunes of his profession wax and wane over decades.

As the six-month countdown to Brexit begins, the 71-year-old Barclays chairman is optimistic the Square Mile will not wither and die as the UK is cut loose from the European Union.

But the straight-talking Scot says years of being beaten down by Government-sanctioned regulation in the aftermath of the financial crisis have left our banks lagging competitors in the US  and therefore vulnerable to foreign invasions and takeovers.

Fighting talk: Barclays chairman John McFarlane

To demonstrate his point, he grabs his iPad from a table in his uncluttered Canary Wharf office in London and begins testing me on where UK banks come in a global list ranked by stock market value.

HSBC is eighth, then Lloyds in 30th. RBS and Barclays are somewhere in the 50s. JP Morgan is worth $380billion (290million); Lloyds Bank is valued at $55billion.

Whats that? Seven times the value? Its pocket money [to a US bank attempting a takeover], says McFarlane, who is stocky, with a shock of white hair, in shirtsleeves, maroon tie and sips black coffee while we talk.

'In 2005 there were four British banks in the top 20 and there is one now. We in the UK will be on the receiving end of consolidation if nothing changes.

Barclays, the bank he has overseen for three years now, is a case in point. Since it was linked to an unlikely merger with the Asia-focused Standard Chartered in spring, a power struggle has emerged at the very top of the organisation.

McFarlane plays down the idea of a grand merger but, crucially, the lenders lowly share price has increased the influence of an American activist investor who is thought to want its investment banking arm scaled back.

Edward Bramson, whose investment vehicle Sherborne has amassed a 5.4 per cent stake in Barclays, is thought keen to release some of the 26billion of capital tied up in that side of the business.

Yet by contrast, McFarlanes chief executive, Jes Staley, is keen to push in the other direction and capitalise on the banks strong foothold serving international corporate clients on both sides of the Atlantic.

There is growing anticipation that a shake-up is on the way. McFarlane has been widely expected to step down in time for the companys annual general meeting next year and couldnt be clearer: The future of Barclays is still to fight for.

Somewhat ominously, the Dumfries-born City grandee has earned the nickname Mack the Knife for deftly dispensing with chief executives and swathes of staff when the going gets tough.

He switched to banking from carmaker Ford almost 40 years ago, and 18 years at Citibank led to executive roles at Standard Chartered, based in Hong Kong and London, where he tackled strategy and handled the investigation into a bribery scandal, followed by a decade Down Under, where he revived Australia and New Zealand Banking Group.

He arrived back in London on a high in 2008, first as a non-executive director at Royal Bank of Scotland (the view in the City is that he might have chaired RBS had it not fallen into taxpayer hands), then chairing Aviva and now Barclays.

We have turned it round': McFarlane says of Barclays

Three years ago, he made an internal rallying cry for a strategy that would double the share price from 260p. On Friday, the shares closed at 176.5p.

Its clearly the cause of great frustration for McFarlane  particularly given that in August, half-year pre-tax profits were up 20 per cent at 3.7billion when legal and conduct costs were excluded.

We have turned it round  and curiously the value has gone down, McFarlane says. He thinks shareholder nervousness could point beyond Brexit and right to the banks core strategy  and specifically the future of the investment arm.

There must be something else in shareholders minds [other than Brexit], he says. There is probably an aversion to our significant position in wholesale banking that might be contributing to it.

The percentage of fraudulent claims for PPI compensation is enormous

Somewhat surprisingly against that backdrop, relations with Edward Bramson and Sherborne appear cordial: The nice thing is he likes me for some strange reason, McFarlane says.

Then he adds, intriguingly: He wants me to stay. There was some report in the newspaper that said Sherborne wanted me to go. He immediately came back and said that it is the opposite. He thinks I might be part of the solution.

Could McFarlane stay on beyond next years AGM? Could he even grant Bramson a board seat  just as Rolls-Royce did for its activist investor ValueAct?

That is hard, McFarlane says, without explicitly ruling out the idea. I think if you own 19.9 per cent of a company you think, well hold on Five per cent? Some borrowed? We have not discussed it actually.

John McFarlane grows his own olives

No wonder rumours of tension between McFarlane and JP Morgan veteran Staley persist.

McFarlane stood by his chief executive through a whistleblowing row that could have cost him his job  Staley was fined and reprimanded by the regulator for attempting to unmask the employee involved.

But Staley could be forgiven for remaining anxious over his future. We get on fine. He is strong-minded and I am strong-minded. We talk frankly about things. For the moment, I have backed him, says McFarlane.

McFarlanes biggest concern, he says, is the UK Governments lack of support for the banking industry as a whole. It must decide what the country should excel at, he says. If banks remain important beyond Brexit, it should get behind the industry a decade after the Lloyds and RBS bailouts. They need to do something to assist in the strategic advancement of UK Inc, he says firmly.

It is an arresting  and in some ways controversial  view given that the 2008 crash, excessive pay and mis-selling scandals are still fresh in the memory. McFarlane says lenders have largely cleaned up their act  yet badly lag their rivals in the US largely due to hefty fines, conduct costs, heavier capital requirements and tax.

In the past six years, McFarlane says Barclays made 9billion after penalties and fines, which sunk to a 1 billion loss following 10billion of taxes and levies. If banks get into trouble, society is safer now. But are banks safer? They are less profitable.

John McFarlane, 71: Family man with a love of olive oil McFarlanes son-in-law is broadcaster Richard Bacon Marital status: Married with three daughters. McFarlanes son-in-law is broadcaster Richard Bacon, right, who is recovering after a health scare in July that saw him put into a coma. Hobbies: Enjoys watching drama and science fiction films. Was once in a skiffle band called The Sekrets and his star turn was to perform The House Of The Rising Sun by 1960s rock band The Animals. Grows olives which are pressed to make the familys own olive oil at a holiday retreat in Provence.

The scandal of payment protection insurance is a particular niggle. Not that the banks shouldnt refund where appropriate, but, with the final total expected to hit 50 billion, the compensation process has been massively abused, he claims. It is almost inconceivable to think that 50billion was mis-sold, he says.

He thinks the claims management firms lack adequate regulation. This is stimulation of the economy by buying flat-screen televisions. The percentage of fraudulent claims is enormous. We have turned portions of Britain into fraudsters.

He adds: It was in Governments interests: consumer spending rose and it weakened the banks. So the Government is complicit here in the decline of the City.

For the moment I have backed Jes Staley. We talk and get on fine

With a fearsome reputation, it is no surprise that McFarlane is a prime mover in trying to preserve London as a global financial services hub after Brexit.

As chairman of TheCityUK, a broad Square Mile lobbying outfit, he has hosted dinners with Theresa May and the Chancellor Philip Hammond to press home the industrys points.

Lenders have given up on keeping passporting rights which let them serve clients across the EU from a base in the capital. So-called mutual recognition, a plan drawn up by TheCityUK and adopted by the Government whereby the UK and EU would accept each others rules in exchange for broad two-way market access, has also failed to catch fire.

Banks are left pinning their hopes on enhanced equivalence, by which the UK can gain EU access as long as it can prove it is following the same laws. It sounds fine, except as it stands equivalence rules give the EU a 30-day notice period for cutting off access  far from ideal for banks such as Barclays that want certainty before putting billions to work.

McFarlane is realistic that mutual recognition was going nowhere. Since it was dropped, talks have become much more constructive and they made some progress.

The UK is playing the financial stability card strongly, suggesting its deep capital markets are not easily replicable elsewhere.

However, there are almost daily announcements of jobs leaching on to the Continent as contingency plans are enacted. For its part, Barclays is beefing up operations in Dublin and Frankfurt.

Logic says that this is in everyones interests to solve and therefore it will be solved, says McFarlane. He can only hope that Britains biggest banks will prosper on the global stage once again. And it would cap an illustrious career if he could leave Barclays on a high  whenever that may be.Westminster's business watchdog is preparing to turn up the heat on company boards and City investors who allow fat cat bosses to reward themselves with huge pay packets.

In an interview with The Mail on Sunday, Rachel Reeves, chairwoman of Parliament's Business Select Committee, blasted the prevalence of 'high pay cheques for mediocre performance' among Britain's listed companies.

She said the committee was preparing to ramp up its inquiry into executive pay  first launched in March  when Parliament returns next month.

Action: Rachel Reeves will target bosses and institutional investors

As well as targeting chief executives who have enjoyed 'large and controversial pay packets', the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee is also planning to probe big institutional investors  who Reeves said 'should be doing a better job of ensuring companies are well run'.

The committee will also be examining the actions of the company pay committees which are responsible for setting chief executive salaries and bonuses.

The investigation is likely to involve a number of key players in the pay scandal being called into Westminster for questioning.

Reeves singled out housebuilding firm Persimmon for particular criticism and invited chief executive Jeff Fairburn  who was controversially paid a 45million bonus this year on top of pay and other perks  to appear before her committee.

She said: 'If Jeff Fairburn would like to come and give evidence to our committee and explain why he deserves 45million we would make a big slot available to him.'

Fairburn's bumper bonus was awarded after Persimmon's share price soared largely because of the Government's Help to Buy scheme. The scandal was revealed by this newspaper as part of our Fat Cat Files investigation.

Over the past year, we have repeatedly exposed the largesse among senior executives.

Persimmon has already come under scrutiny by the committee, but chose to send the chairwoman of its pay committee, Marion Sears, to give evidence rather than Fairburn.

Reeves blasted Sears for telling the committee that Fairburn's salary was 675,000 rather than disclosing the total of his overall package  including his 45million bonus  when initially asked how much he was paid.

'Myself and other members of the committee aren't idiots,' said Reeves. 'I don't know whether she expected us to say, 'Thank you very much for your answer... now let's move on to the next person on the panel'.

'That is trying to pull the wool over our eyes and to manipulate the evidence.'

Reeves added: 'They're clearly ashamed of that 45million package and it was a totally botched pay deal.' During her first year heading the committee, Reeves also clashed with the bosses of Carillion, the outsourcer which spectacularly collapsed earlier this year.

Over the past year, we have repeatedly exposed the largesse among senior executives

The Mail on Sunday revealed in January that Carillion's chief executive Richard Howson had been paid 6million for his work since 2012, much to Reeves's ire.

The Labour MP was also critical of the company's pay committee chairwoman Alison Horner after she explained to the committee that Howson's salary had been increased in recent years because he was paid below the market average.

'If everybody's going to try to bring their chief executive up to the average... you're constantly ratcheting up pay,' Reeves said. 'And also, what's the point of having a chair of a remuneration committee or a remuneration committee if you've got an algorithm that tells you what the pay of a chief executive should be?

'It seems to me that the pay of any chief executive or senior person in an organisation should be linked to their performance. And if a performance at a company is deteriorating, it doesn't seem to be right that their pay is going up.'

Reeves is also scathing of City investors who do not hold companies to account by voting against excessive pay at shareholder meetings.

'I would like to see investors playing a proactive role,' she said. 'They are the owners of companies on behalf of all of us, as are pension funds. They should be doing a better job of ensuring that companies are well run.

'Because when I'm saving for my pension, I want to make sure that that money is well invested and not going to pay a chief executive a multi-million pound salary that he doesn't always deserve.'

She added: 'Far too often you've got investors who say we're a passive investor, we hold stocks because we're a tracker fund, we're not choosing stocks, they're just part of the bundle.'

Jeff Fairburn was paid a 45million bonus this year on top of pay and other perks

The business committee will also be examining what companies are doing to address investor revolts against pay.

Last year, Theresa May's Government launched a public list of companies whose pay plans are rejected by at least 20 per cent of investors.

The Mail on Sunday revealed earlier this month that several companies  including WPP, AstraZeneca and Old Mutual  have appeared on the list twice, suggesting that this may not be acting as a deterrent.

'If you went to work every day, did ten hours a day for the rest of your life, you would never get anywhere near the sorts of figures that [former WPP chief executive] Martin Sorrell and Jeff Fairburn earn,' she said.

'We're becoming a country of... it's not two halves, it's one per cent and the other 99 per cent. And they live very different lives and inhabit quite different universes in some ways.

'I don't think that's healthy for a country.'Advertisement

Guatemalan authorities were warned to evacuate citizens from the danger zone surrounding a volcano more than seven hours before it erupted - it has emerged.

Local newspaper El Periodico revealed that from 6:00 am on Sunday, the National Institute of Seismology alerted the National Coordinator for Disaster Reduction about the impending eruption of Guatemala's Fuego volcano.

During the following seven hours, until the moment of the eruption, the National Institute issued two further warnings which were not heeded.

According to the newspaper it was not until 1.45 pm, nearly eight hours later, that the Disaster Reduction Coordinator finally raised the level of alert and urged sounded the alarm for evacuations to take place.

Nearly 200 people are missing and at least 75 have been killed since the volcano began erupting over the weekend, officials said today.

Fears of a fresh blowup are rife as explosions continued to boom around the 3,763-meter (12,346-foot) volcano on Wednesday afternoon.

Nearly 200 people are missing and at least 75 have been killed since Guatemala's Fuego volcano (pictured) began erupting over the weekend

A large plume of ash rose into the sky from the mountain on Tuesday afternoon and hot volcanic material began descending its south side

Rescue workers run for cover as the Volcano of Fire blows more clouds of ash in the El Rodeo hamlet of Escuintla, Guatemala

Officials said the known number of dead was 75, though that toll was expected to rise.

Terrified Guatemalans living near the Volcano of Fire fled with their children and few possessions when fresh flows of super-heated debris were announced late on Tuesday.

Those living nearby were taking no chances after authorities gave villagers little time to evacuate before a deadly eruption over the weekend. Bodies of those who did not manage to escape have been discovered, covered in ash and resembling statues.

Seven communities in already devastated areas were evacuated as the volcano's activity increased, with rescue operations halted.

In the city of Escuintla, near the summit, panicked locals rushed to their cars to escape.

Traffic came to a standstill on choked roads and those without vehicles walked, even in central Escuintla, which was not under an evacuation order.

Businesses shut as owners fled, memories still fresh of Sunday's blast, which left at least 75 people dead and 192 missing, and reduced a once verdant area to a moonscape of ash.

Mirna Priz wept as she sat on a rock at a crossroads, with a suitcase in front of her and her 11-year-old son, Allen, and their terrier mix Cara Sucia by her side.

A soldier rescues a girl from a hole in an area affected by the eruption of Fuego volcano in Escuintla, Guatemala

A dead cow lays in the disaster zone near the Volcan de Fuego, or 'Volcano of Fire,' in Escuintla, Guatemala, on Tuesday

Rescue workers take a break amid volcanic ash blanketing the disaster zone near the Volcan de Fuego in Guatemala

'You feel powerless,' she said. 'I don't know where I'm going to go. To leave my things, everything I have.'

But after seeing what happened on Sunday, she was afraid to stay. By Tuesday, the images of Sunday's destruction were familiar to everyone.

What was once a collection of green canyons, hillsides and farms was reduced to grey devastation by fast-moving avalanches of super-heated muck that roared into the tightly knit villages on the mountain's flanks.

A large plume of ash rose into the sky from the mountain on Tuesday afternoon and hot volcanic material began descending its south side.

The country's seismology and vulcanology institute said the smoke billowing from the volcano's top could produce a 'curtain' of ash that could reach 20,000 feet (6,000 metres) above sea level, posing a danger to air traffic.

It prompted an evacuation of everyone authorities could find before the police, the military and rescuers were ordered to stand down.

Evacuees pile onto the back of a truck to leave an area affected by the eruption of Fuego volcano in Escuintla, Guatemala

Businesses shut as owners fled, memories still fresh of Sunday's blast, which left at least 75 people dead and 192 missing

Traffic came to a standstill on choked roads and those without vehicles walked, even in central Escuintla, which was not under an evacuation order

Displaced people take a break as they leave an area affected by the eruption of Fuego volcano in Escuintla, Guatemala

Rescuers, police and journalists hurried to leave the area as a siren wailed and loudspeakers blared: 'Evacuate!'

Residents evacuate after a new flow of searing hot volcanic material moved down the slopes of the Volcano of Fire

Those living nearby were taking no chances after authorities gave them little time to evacuate before a deadly eruption over the weekend

When the panic set off by the new evacuations became clear, disaster officials in Guatemala called for calm

Many walked along the side of the highway because traffic had stalled on the only road out of the disaster area

Rescuers, police and journalists hurried to leave the area as a siren wailed and loudspeakers blared: 'Evacuate!'

Among those fleeing was retiree Pantaleon Garcia, who was able to load his grandchildren into the back of a pickup with a jug of water and some food. They were heading to the homes of relatives in another town.

'You have to be prepared, for the children,' he said.

When the panic set off by the new evacuations became clear, disaster officials called for calm.

In the community of Magnolia, which was under the new evacuation order, residents fled carrying bags of clothing and even small dogs in their arms.

Many walked along the side of the highway because traffic had stalled on the only road out.

A total of 192 people remain missing since the weekend eruptions, disaster relief agency chief Sergio Cabanas told reporters.

A firefighter carries a dog at an area affected by the eruption in the community of San Miguel Los Lotes in Escuintla

View of the damage caused by the eruption of the Fuego Volcano in village of San Miguel Los Lotes, in Escuintla

Firefighters work in the disaster zone blanketed in volcanic ash near the Volcano of Fire in the El Rodeo hamlet of Escuintla

Lilian Hernandez cries as she is comforted by her husband at the Mormon church that has been enabled as a shelter near Escuintla, Guatemala. She lost 36 family members in all, missing and presumed dead in the town of San Miguel Los Lotes

The search for bodies in mountain villages destroyed by the eruption was progressing slowly, officials said earlier, given the nature of the terrain and the way the volcano released large amounts of boiling mud, rock and ash down the mountain.

'We will continue until we find the last victim, though we do not know how many there are. We will probe the area as many times as necessary,' Cabanas told AFP.

However, the prospects of finding any more survivors was poor, he said.

'If you are trapped in a pyroclastic flow, it's hard to come out of it alive,' he said, adding that people who may have been caught in the flow may never be found.

Two days after the eruption, the terrain was still too hot in many places for rescue crews to search for bodies or - increasingly unlikely with each passing day - survivors.

A spokesman for Guatemala's firefighters said that once it reaches 72 hours after the eruption, there will be little chance of finding anyone alive.

Volunteers are seen preparing food rations after Fuego volcano erupted in Alotenango, Guatemala, sparking new evacuations

Firefighters carry a man on a stretcher near an area affected by the eruption of Fuego volcano in Escuintla, Guatemala

This aerial view shows the disaster zone near the Volcan de Fuego, or 'Volcano of Fire,' in Escuintla, Guatemala

The fiery volcanic eruption in south-central Guatemala killed scores as rescuers struggled to reach people where homes and roads were charred and blanketed with ash

Volcanic ash blankets homes and trees near the Volcan de Fuego, or 'Volcano of Fire,' where rescue workers gather in the El Rodeo hamlet of Escuintla

Rescue workers can be seen searching in El Rodeo, one of the hamlets in the disaster area near the Volcan de Fuego

Dead cows lie amid volcanic ash in the disaster zone near the Volcan de Fuego in the El Rodeo hamlet of Escuintla

Among the latest of the 75 fatalities reported by the National Institute of Forensic Sciences was a 42-year-old woman who died in hospital having lost both legs and an arm in the eruption.

The previous toll was given as 73. Some 46 people were injured, around half of whom are in serious condition, officials said.

The 3,763-meter (12,346-foot) volcano erupted early Sunday, spewing out towering plumes of ash and a hail of fiery rock fragments with scalding mud.

Authorities said more than 1.7 million people had been affected by the disaster, including more than 3,000 ordered evacuated, many living in shelters in Escuintla, Sacatepequez and Chimaltenango since Sunday's eruption.

The speed of the eruption took locals by surprise, and could be explained by it producing pyroclastic flows, sudden emissions of gas and rock fragments, rather than lava, said volcanologist David Rothery of Britain's Open University.

President Jimmy Morales, who has declared three days of national mourning, has visited the disaster zone.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was deeply saddened by the 'tragic loss of life and the significant damage caused by the eruption,' and said the UN was ready to assist national rescue and relief efforts.

Firefighters hold rescued animals at an area affected by the eruption of the Fuego volcano in the community of San Miguel Los Lotes in Escuintla

A firefighter holds a rescued hen and a dog at an area affected by the eruption of the Fuego volcano in San Miguel Los Lotes

Firefighters enter the rescue area near Volcan de Fuego in Escuintla, Guatemala. People of the villages skirting Guatemala's Volcano of Fire began mourning the few dead who could be identified after an eruption killed dozens

First responders continue searching for survivors in El Rodeo, Guatemala, where the death toll continues to rise after the violent eruption on SundayGen. Amikam Norkin, offered Russian Air Force commander Lt. Gen. Andrey Yudin their view of what transpired, including the information Israel had prior to its airstrike and the main findings of the IDF inquiry into the incident.

The Israeli military said its jets had targeted a Syrian site that was in the process of transferring weapons to Iran-backed Hizballah militants.

An Israel Defense Forces delegation traveled Thursday to Moscow in an attempt to ease the tensions caused by the incident.

"Both sides emphasized the importance of the states' interests and the continued implementation of the deconfliction system", the statement said.

Israeli planes were "not anywhere near the Russian plane", he added.

The report said Russian Federation demanded Israel conduct a new investigation into the incident.

"I told him that we have the right of self-defense", Netanyahu said on September 20, adding that "there is also very great importance to maintaining the security coordination between Israel and Russian Federation". "They fired quite recklessly and irresponsibly and unprofessionally into the air long after our planes were no longer there", the official said.

Hezbollah has "accurate missiles that if used in any future war will change the entire equation", Nasrallah said.

Russian Federation rebukes Israel for irresponsible and unfriendly actions downing plane

When asked by a reporter if the incident is comparable to Turkey's downing of a Russian jet in Syria in 2015. The downing of the plane could change that.

Israel blamed the incident on Syrian recklessness, while the Russian embassy in Israel said the Air Force's actions were "irresponsible and unfriendly" and exposed the downed plane to danger.

A report on Lebanese TV station Al Mayadeen, which is close to the Syrian government and Hezbollah, said that Russian Federation "rejected" the Israeli presentation.

The Russian military made no comment after Thursday's meetings with the Israeli delegation.

The measure is slated to go into effect on September 26, upon the completion of the large-scale naval exercise Moscow is now carrying out on the eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea, the al-Mayadeen news outlet reported.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Russian President Vladimir to express sorrow over the deaths of crew member, blaming Syria and offering to send Norkin with detailed information.

"We definitely gave a warning time much longer than one minute, we acted in accordance with the standard operating procedures that are in place with the Russian military, this time as we have done before". We want to keep our journalism open and accessible and be able to keep providing you with news and analyses from the frontlines of Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish World.

Satellite imagery showed the building had been completely destroyed.Supermarkets have banned strawberries from their shelves unless farmers install metal detectors in their production lines to prevent needle contamination.

Farmers claimed Coles, Woolworths, and Aldi instituted the policy in line with the Agriculture Department's new requirement for export licences.

Growers must now run their fruit through metal detectors or x-ray machines, which cost at least $30,000, or have almost nowhere to sell their crop.

New rules force growers to prove their fruit has been cleared through a metal detector or x-ray machine, like this one at Pinata Farms in Queensland, or be banned from exporting

Gavin Scurr, owner of Pinata Farms in Wamuran, Queensland, said the supermarkets told him and others of the new requirement last week.

However, he said the expensive demand may not half the contamination crisis as the needles could be put in at centralised packing centres - as police suspect.

'That doesnt stop it happening in the supply chain and none of it has been proven to have happened on farms,' he told Daily Mail Australia.

'Fruit might be clean when it leaves the farms but the worrying thing about this that it could happen further down the line.'

Pinata owner Gavin Scurr said earlier in the crisis that demand quickly fell by more than half and brought the industry 'to its knees'

When test strips of metal were placed in a punnet the system automatically shunted it off the conveyor for closer inspection

'We have worked with our suppliers to implement additional control measures to ensure strawberries are inspected before they are sent to supermarkets,' Coles said.

Aldi only said: 'Customers can be assured that all brands Aldi will stock are cleared by the Food Authorities managing the matter'.

Woolworths has not yet responded to requests for comment.

The Agriculture Department earlier said it would no longer issue a permit unless growers installed the devices at their farms.

'For strawberry export permits to be approved, exporters will be required to provide assurance to the department that their consignment is free from metal contaminants,' the department said.

However, metal detectors and x-ray machines may do nothing to stop the contamination crisis as police believe it wasn't done at farms (Pinata Farms conveyor pictured)

Pinata Farm's Reannan Schultz with a tray of strawberries picked at the height of the scare. No contamination has been found in the farm's stock

'These measures apply to fresh strawberry exports to all markets, and will remain in place until the risk of metal contaminants has been appropriately managed.'

Needles or other sharp metal has been found in seven brands so far in dozens of cases around the country, creating a panic that has wiped out sales.

Pinata Farm already has an x-ray machine in use and demonstrated it last week to reassure customers.

Operations manager Joe Schwarer showed how punnets of strawberries passed through the x-ray on a conveyor belt.

Needles or other sharp metal has been found in seven brands so far in dozens of cases around the country, creating a panic that has wiped out sales

When test strips of metal were placed in a punnet the system automatically shunted it off the conveyor for closer inspection.

'Every punnet goes through there... a siren goes off and it goes into a bin that can only be opened by our quality control staff,' he said.

One of the affected farms, Donnybrook Berries north of Brisbane, pledged to install metal detectors after the scare saw their stock banned from supermarkets.

The small family farm was forced to dump millions of strawberries, worth many thousands of dollars, in a ditch on the weekend.

Stephanie Chheang, whose mother and stepfather run Donnybrook Berries, shared a heartbreaking video of harvested fruit being dumped from a loader

They along with Berry Obsession, Berry Licious, Delightful Strawberries, Love Berries, Oasis, and Mal's Black Label remained banned from supermarkets.

New Zealand removed all Australian strawberries from sale indefinitely and some buyers in Britain and Russia also cut the whole country off.

Coles and Aldi last week pulled all strawberries from their shelves, except Western Australia, as a precaution.

They on Monday then began returning fruit from unaffected brands to its shelves after consultation with growers and food safety authorities.A five-year-old girl who takes medical marijuana to treat her seizures has been allowed to keep bringing the drug to her California school, a judge has ruled.

Brooke Adams, of Santa Rosa, suffers from a rare form of epilepsy that - when left untreated - can lead to seizures that last at least half an hour.

Her parents, Jana and Jonathan, say things began to change after she was prescribed new medication, a pill with medical cannabis oil.

But the Rincon Valley Union School District in Santa Rosa sought to ban it from school grounds because it contains the active ingredient in marijuana.

On Friday, however, Judge Charles Marson sided with the Adams family, reported The Santa Rosa Press-Democrat.

A judge has ruled that Brooke Adams, five (left and right), who takes medical marijuana to treat her seizures has been allowed to keep bringing the drug to her California school. She suffers from a severe, genetic form of epilepsy known as Dravet syndrome

Symptoms associated with Dravet syndrome include prolonged and frequent seizures, delays in speech and language, sleeping issues and chronic infections. Pictured: Brooke with her mother, Jana, at their home in July 2018

Brooke suffers from what is known as Dravet syndrome - a genetic, severe form of epilepsy that appears during the first year of life, according to the National Center for Advancing Translational Diseases.

The condition is rare, affecting one in about 15,700 children, 80 percent of whom have a mutation in their SCN1A gene.

Common symptoms associated with Dravet include prolonged and frequent seizures, trouble with balance, delays in speech and language, sleeping issues and chronic infections.

According to the Dravet Syndrome Foundation, patients face a 15 to 20 per cent mortality rate due to SUDEP (Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy) and seizure-related incidents such as drowning and infections.

There is no cure for Dravet, but treatments work to reduce the number of seizures and medications fall under the classification of first-line or second-line.

Brooke was diagnosed with the syndrome when she was just an infant.

Her father, Jonathan, told KGNS that her seizures would last at least half an hour and leave her parents so scared that they would call paramedics.

Doctors tried treating her with several different anti-seizure drugs, but they proved to be mostly ineffective.

When Brooke was one year old, her parents obtained a medical marijuana card and that's when they say her symptoms dramatically improved.

They say her seizures began happening less frequently and, when they did occur, were for shorter periods of time.

Currently, Brooke receives daily doses of cannabidiol (CBD) oil applied to her gums and emergency tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) oil when needed.

'With the emergency THC medicine, she pretty much just like, takes a nap, and she's back to normal,' Jonathan told NBC Bay Area.

Brooke was diagnosed with Dravet syndrome when she was just an infant and her parents say she used to have seizures that lasted at least half an hour. Pictured: Brooke suffering a seizure

Her parents said both the duration and the frequency of her seizures shortened after she began taking medical marijuana. Pictured: Brooke suffering a seizure

Currently, Brooke receives daily doses of cannabidiol (CBD) oil applied to her gums and emergency tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) oil when needed

Both THC and CBD, two of marijuana's main compounds, attach to receptors and block the transmission of pain signals; but how it works in epilepsy is not entirely understood.

Back in June, the FDA approved the use of an oral CBD solution called Epidiolex to treat Dravet syndrome and LennoxGastaut syndrome, another rare form of epilepsy, in patients aged two and older.

But despite medical marijuana being legal in California, state law does not allow it within 1,000 feet of a school.

There is a bill that has been introduced in the state legislature that would allow children to take medicinal cannabis at school.

This law put the Adams family and the Rincon Valley Union School District head-to-head in a heated dispute.

In July, Judge Marson issued a temporary order that permitted Brooke to start kindergarten at Village Elementary School in August while the district's objections were considered.

So far, a nurse who accompanies Brooke to school has had to apply the oil three times to treat seizures.

Despite medical marijuana being legal in California, state law does not allow it within 1,000 feet of a school. This law put the Adams family and the Rincon Valley Union School District head-to-head in a heated dispute. Pictured, left and right: Brooke

Judge Marson's temporary order permitted Brooke to start kindergarten at Village Elementary School in August while the district's objections were considered. Pictured: Brooke being administered the oil

So far, a nurse who accompanies Brooke to school has had to apply the oil three times to treat seizure. Pictured: Brooke plays with her toys with her mother, Jana, in July 2018

On Friday, Judge Marson made the order permanent.

'I was so overwhelmed with emotion and joy that we don't have to fight anymore after a battle of over two years,' Brooke's mother, Jana, told The Press-Democrat.

'She can just go to school like any other child and we don't have to keep pushing to get what she needs.'

The family's attorney, Joe Rogoway, said he hopes the ruling opens the door for other students who say they need to use a cannabis-based drug on campus for medical reasons.

District officials said they were reviewing the decision and haven't decided whether to appeal.

Assistant Superintendent Cathy Myhers said the district is relieved to have legal guidance on the issue.

'We are pleased with the decision and guidance,' Myhers said. 'We are happy to have a decision that supports our ability to educate and serve this student in our public schools.'A man who escaped from a Louisiana prison in 2003 has finally been captured after 15 years on the run.

Lonnie Payne, now 44, had been living in Cancun, Mexico, when authorities tracked him down and arrested him this week.

He is currently being held at a jail in Conroe, Texas, while he waits to be transported back to his former home at East Feliciana Parish Prison in Clinton, Louisiana.

Lonnie Payne, a burglary convict who escaped a Louisiana prison in 2003, has been captured in Mexico after 15 years on the run, authorities say. The now 44-year-old fugitive is pictured left after his capture this week and right in 2003 before his escape at age 29

Payne was serving a 12-year sentence for burglary when the then-29-year-old made his escape after trimming the grass between two security fences.

At the time authorities said he'd left a gate on the inner fence unlocked so he could sneak out, scale the outer eight-foot fence and flee on foot.

It remains unclear how authorities located Payne, but Criminal Deputy Greg Phares said he should be returned to Louisiana as early as Monday.Boris Johnson's was given a nickname comparing him to a Muppet by a former Tory aide at the centre of a row in British politics.

Carrie Symonds, 30, called Boris 'Bozzie Bear' - after Fozzie, the big, fluffy-haired Muppet, according to reports..

Symonds was called 'otter' by Mr Johnson after she secured a conservation role.

Carrie Symonds, 30, called Boris 'Bozzie Bear' - after Fozzie, the big, fluffy-haired Muppet

An announcement was made that Boris Johnson's 25-year marriage had come to an end earlier this month

Weeks prior to news of their blossoming friendship broke, Mr Johnson wrote an article eulogizing their smell.

On the weekend that news of the blossoming friendship broke, Ms Symonds tweeted a picture of an otter, with the caption: 'Otters have the thickest fur of all animals.'

A friend told The Sun: 'Boris and Carrie are very much still in touch, and hoping to meet up once the furore around their friendship dies down.

'He calls her his little otter - hence her tweet when she knew she was going to be named in the media.

'It was their little in-joke. In return, she affectionately calls Boris "Bozzie the Bear".'

Three weeks before it was revealed Johnson's 25-year marriage was finished, he penned an article praising otters and their 'thrilling musky fishy aroma'.

On the weekend that news of her friendship with Johnson broke, Carrie Symonds tweeted an image of an otter

Carrie Symonds was unknown to most of the public before her close friendship with Johnson came under the spotlight when he announced he and his wife were divorcing last week

There were rumours that Johnson was 'clearing the decks' of potentially damaging stories before launching a leadership battle

Carrie Symonds was unknown to most of the public before her close friendship with Johnson came under the spotlight when he announced he and his wife were divorcing last week.

The reports - coupled with a strong attack by Boris on Theresa May's Brexit plans - led to rumours in Whitehall that the former Foreign Secretary was 'clearing the decks' of potentially damaging stories before launching a leadership battle.

Symonds has not commented on the claims she and Boris had become close and has not been seen since details of their friendship were first published.Jeremy Corbyn fears Boris Johnsons burka remarks chime with many Northern Labour voters and could rob him of power, party insiders claimed last night.

They said Mr Johnsons remarks, in which he said the veils made women look like letter boxes, sparked concern in the Labour leaders office because they appealed to Brexit-backing, white, working-class voters already suspicious of him.

And if Mr Johnson became Tory leader, that could cost Labour vital seats in the North and Midlands that it must hold to have any chance of ousting the Tories.

Last month, the former Foreign Secretary sparked outrage with the comments about the burka  the Muslim Council of Britain accused him of pandering to the far-Right.

Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn delivers a speech at a Labour Party Conference. He is said to be concerned over 'Boris burka and Brexit'

But a senior Labour source said yesterday that the twin threat of Boris burka and Brexit worried Mr Corbyns inner circle, admitting: There was genuine concern in the Leader of the Oppositions office over this.

It is no secret that despite Corbyns appeal in London, we have a problem with traditional working-class voters, mostly in the North and Midlands, who voted Brexit and are socially conservative.

Theyre already suspicious that we might sell out on Brexit for a second referendum.

And sadly, that sort of inflammatory language from Boris does chime with some of the voters we just cant afford to lose.

Boris Johnson leaving his Oxfordshire home after leaving job as foreign secretary

Labours concern is said to focus on 20 seats where it has a slender majority of under 5,000 and where many voted for Brexit in 2016.

That includes Dudley North, where MP Ian Austin has a wafer-thin majority of 22 but which registered a 71.4 per cent vote for Brexit.

In Crewe and Nantwich, Laura Smith is just 48 votes ahead of the Tories in a seat which voted 60.3 per cent Leave.

Even arch-Corbyn loyalist Chris Williamson could be at risk. He has a majority of just 2,015 in Derby North, where 54.3 per cent of voters backed Brexit.The lawyer representing the woman who accuses Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of trying to rape her in the 1980s once vowed to 'resist' President Donald Trump, footage of the protest she attended has revealed.

Attorney Debra Katz, who represents Christine Blasey Ford, was interviewed on camera while attended the February 2017 rally in Washington DC to protest the confirmation of Jeff Sessions as attorney general.

'We are going to fight back,' she told a Good Morning America reporter. 'We are going to resist. We will not be silenced.'

Katz did not immediately respond to a message on Saturday seeking comment about the remarks from DailyMail.com.

'We are going to fight back,' Katz said in the above segment covering an anti-Trump rally in February 2017. 'We are going to resist. We will not be silenced.'

Christine Blasey Ford accuses Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of trying to rape her in the 1980s. It is still unclear whether or when Ford will testify in a Senate hearing

It is not the only time that Katz, who specializes in sexual harassment lawsuits, has associated herself with the anti-Trump 'resistance'.

'The resistance is not going away, says Katz, and she is committed to being part of it,' wrote a profiler for the University of Wisconsin Law School alumni magazine, the Gargoyle, in August.

'When I go to a march on behalf of Dreamers, I hear young people making connections between DACA and Islamophobia,' Katz told the magazine.

'I hope that energy continues, to retake our democracy that is truly at risk now,' she continued.

'To see students marching, protesting, and to see the response to Parkland, it all gives me hope.'

Katz, along with her partner in law Lisa Banks, were also scheduled to headline a fundraiser for Democrat Senator Tammy Baldwin next month, until CNN contacted them and they pulled out.

Attorney Debra Katz is seen at a press conference announcing a lawsuit in 2015. She represent's Brett Kavanaugh's accuser and has been active in the 'resistance' to Trump

Katz and Banks have been thrust into the headlines this week as they have engaged in high-profile negotiations with the Senate Judiciary Committee over Ford's willingness to testify.

On Saturday, after days of delays, Ford's attorneys said that she wanted to appear next week, but insisted on more negotiations over the timing and the terms of her testimony.

Republicans made it clear they viewed Ford's offer as a way to delay voting on Trump's pick for the court.

A senior official at the White House told the AP that the letter amounted to 'an ask to continue 'negotiations' without committing to anything. It's a clever way to push off the vote Monday without committing to appear Wednesday.'

Ford has claimed that Kavanaugh drunkenly pinned her on a bed in a suburban Maryland home while they were both in high school, muffling her screams as he tried to remove her clothes before she ran away.

Kavanaugh has strenuously denied the allegation, and offered to testify before the Judiciary Committee on the matter at any time.The spectre of a return of Labours Militant tendency was raised yesterday after a close adviser to Jeremy Corbyn appeared to praise a hard-Left council which broke the law.

Shadow Equalities Minister Dawn Butler angered Labour moderates by hailing the example of former Militant councillors in Liverpool, who set an illegal budget in 1985.

That act was famously condemned by then party leader Neil Kinnock, who denounced the grotesque chaos of a Labour authority having to hire taxis to scuttle around a city handing out redundancy notices to its own workers.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is greeted on stage by Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities Dawn Butler MP at Labour's National Women's Conference in Liverpool

But addressing Labours womens conference in Liverpool yesterday, Ms Butler appeared to salute the Militant defiance as she condemned current Conservative cutbacks.

Ms Butler said: Local councils have seen nearly 50 per cent of their funding cut  I want to give a shout out to all the councillors fighting every day against these Tory cuts.

She added: We are in Liverpool, where over 30 years ago, the council stood up to Thatcher and said, Better to break the law than break the poor. 

Labour last night tried to minimise the damage by saying: The point Dawn was making was that, like the Thatcher Government of the 1980s, this Tory Government has prioritised tax cuts for the rich.

Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities Dawn Butler MP defended Labours Militant tendency movement of the 1980s

Labour officials also stressed that both Mr Corbyn, and the Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell, have urged Labour authorities not to resort to Militant-style, illegal budgets.

However, Ms Butler is one of Mr Corbyns closest advisers, helping to prepare him each week for Prime Ministers Questions.

Tory chairman Brandon Lewis said: Labour has learnt nothing from the past and would take the country back to bankruptcy, job losses and worse public services.A newly-released report into sexual assault within the US armed forces shows hundreds of sexual assaults occurred at a small number of bases in just one year, and young, single, junior members are the most at risk.

The study, ordered by the Pentagon, showed six bases had me than 500 reports of sexual assault each over the year 2014 from both men and women.

Younger, less-educated, unmarried and junior ranking service members are considered more likely than their peers to be at risk of assault.

But the study says a service member's risk of being sexually assaulted depends largely on their assignment to 'a particular unit, command, and installation'.

A study into sexual assault within the armed forces uncovered hundreds of assaults took place at a small number of bases over the course of a year, and revealed young, single, junior personnel were most at risk of assault

Women stationed on a navy ship were considered to be one of the most at-risk groups for sexual assault.

'Of the 15 highest-risk installations for Navy women, 13 are ships or clusters of ships, including eight of the ten aircraft carriers,' the study read.

The make-up of a crew could also contribute to the likelihood of sexual assault.

'An installation with large populations of younger, less-educated, unmarried, and more-junior-ranking service members would be expected to have a higher rate of sexual assaults than would the Pentagon, for instance, because these population characteristics are strongly correlated with sexual assault risk,' the study said.

While the Army, Marine Corps and Navy all reported hundreds of incidents at individual bases over the course of 2014, the Air Force had significantly less reports of sexual assault occurring on one particular base.

The Ramstein Air Base in Germany had the highest level of reporting, with 76 assaults reported over 12 months.

The 119-page study was commissioned by the Pentagon, and should have been released years ago, but its results were contested, causing a lengthy delay.

At Fort Hood, 885 reports of sexual assault were made in 2014. The base is the one of the largest military bases in the world

Onboard the USS George Washington (pictured), 181 sexual assaults were reported in 12 months

An updated conclusion acknowledges the possibility its findings are now out of date and inaccurate, but says any major change would not have occurred so quickly.

'Could it not be the case, for instance, that some of the installations with the highest total or installation-specific risk in FY 2014 are now among the safest environments for service members to work, perhaps because the command climate has changed or a cohort of predators has moved on,' the study asked.

'In some cases, this is certainly possible. But we suspect that the broad patterns we observe across installations and commands may reflect structural characteristics of risk that are not likely to change rapidly.'

In April, CNN reported 5,277 service members had reported sexual assault in 2017 - a 10 per cent increase on reports made the year before.

Service Woman's Action Network CEO Lydia C. Watts says while it is good service personnel are taking action and reporting any assault committed against them, the military was still unequipped to handle the situation.

Last year, only 281 people were convicted of sexual assault, despite the thousands of reports made.

'An increase in reporting is only good if it leads to justice. It hasn't,' she said.

'Despite the increase in reporting, actual convictions from sexual assault reports have decreased over the last three years.

'The military is encouraging victims to come forward, and when they do, it hangs them out to dry.'This commanding image of the Queen has a familiar look to it.

But although it bears an uncanny resemblance to the portrait on British stamps, it was taken almost 50 years after the iconic image was first adopted by Royal Mail.

Photographer Greg Brennan captured the picture as the Monarch travelled to the State Opening of Parliament in 2015.

Double take: The new photograph has an uncanny resemblance to the image used on stamps

Royal Mail first class stamp showing the Queens head - on sale from the Royal Mail website

A personal letter from The Queen's personal aide, Mr Edward Young, to Mr Greg Brennan

Titled Stamp of Approval, it has become the latest addition to the Royal Photographic Collection, with The Queen requesting a large-scale copy after Mr Brennan sent the picture to Buckingham Palace.

The Queens Private Secretary expressed her appreciation for the impressive image.

In a letter sent to Greg Brennan, Edward Young said that the Queen asked him to thank Mr Brennan for sending the image to Buckingham Palace.

Queen Elizabeth II delivers the Queen's Speech in the House of Lords during the State Opening of Parliament in 2015

Her Majesty the Queen delivers her speech to the House of Lords at the State Opening of Parliament flanked y her husband Prince Philip

Mr Young added: 'It was most thoughtful of you to send a copy of this impressive image to The Queen.

'I wonder whether you would be able to send a signed exhibition-size print of the photograph, which I could then pass to the Royal Photographic Collection for posterity?'

Before signing off the letter, Mr Young said: 'This letter comes to you with Her Majesty's good wishes.'Zaharie Ahmad Shah (pictured) was the pilot of the doomed flight

DID THE PILOT HIJACK HIS OWN PLANE?

Pilot Zaharie Ahmad Shah planned mass murder because of personal problems, locking his co-pilot out of the cockpit, closing down all communications, depressurising the main cabin and then disabling the aircraft so that it continued flying on auto-pilot until it ran out of fuel.

That was the popular theory in the weeks after the plane's disappearance.

His personal problems, rumours in Kuala Lumpur said, included a split with his wife Fizah Khan, and his fury that a relative, opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, had been given a five-year jail sentence for sodomy shortly before he boarded the plane for the flight to Beijing.

But the pilot's wife angrily denied any personal problems and other family members and his friends said he was a devoted family man and loved his job.

This theory was also the conclusion of the first independent study into the disaster by the New Zealand-based air accident investigator, Ewan Wilson.

Wilson, the founder of Kiwi Airlines and a commercial pilot himself, arrived at the shocking conclusion after considering 'every conceivable alternative scenario'.

However, he has not been able to provide any conclusive evidence to support his theory.

The claims are made in the book 'Goodnight Malaysian 370', which Wilson co-wrote with the New Zealand broadsheet journalist, Geoff Taylor.

It's also been rumoured that Zaharie used a flight simulator at his home to plot a path to a remote island.

However, officials in Kuala Lumpur declared that Malaysian police and the FBI's technical experts had found nothing to suggest he was planning to hijack the flight after closely examining his flight simulator.

And there are also theories that t he tragic disappearance may have been a heroic act of sacrifice by the pilot.

Australian aviation enthusiast Michael Gilbert believes the doomed plane caught fire mid-flight, forcing the pilot to plot a course away from heavily populated areas.

IF NOT THE PILOT, WAS THE CO-PILOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE MYSTERY?

Co-pilot Fariq Abdul Hamid, 27, again for personal problems, was suspected by rumour-spreaders to have overpowered the pilot and disabled the aircraft, flying it to its doom with crew and passengers unable to get through the locked cockpit door.

Theorists have put forward the suggestion that he was having relationship problems and this was his dramatic way of taking his own life.

But he was engaged to be married to Captain Nadira Ramli, 26, a fellow pilot from another airline, and loved his job. There are no known reasons for him to have taken any fatal action.

There have been a series of outlandish theories about the disappearance of the plane

Others have suggested that because he was known to have occasionally invited young women into the cockpit during a flight, he had done so this time and something had gone wrong.

Young Jonti Roos said in March that she spent an entire flight in 2011 in the cockpit being entertained by Hamid, who was smoking.

Interest in the co-pilot was renewed when it was revealed he was the last person to communicate from the cockpit after the communication system was cut off.

DID THE RUSSIANS STEAL MH370 AND FLY THE JET TO KAZAKHSTAN

An expert has claimed the missing Malaysia Airlines flight 370 was hijacked on the orders of Vladimir Putin and secretly landed in Kazakhstan.

Jeff Wise, a U.S. science writer who spearheaded CNN's coverage of the Boeing 777-200E, has based his outlandish theory on pings that the plane gave off for seven hours after it went missing, that were recorded by British telecommunications company Inmarsat.

Wise believes that hijackers 'spoofed' the plane's navigation data to make it seem like it went in another direction, but flew it to the Baikonur Cosmodrome, which is leased from Kazakhstan by Russia.

However, Wise admits in New York Magazine that he does not know why Vladimir Putin would want to steal a plane full of people and that his idea is somewhat 'crazy'.

Wise also noted there were three Russian men onboard the flight, two of them Ukrainian passport holders.

Aviation disaster experts analysed satellite data and discovered - like the data recorded by Inmarsat - that the plane flew on for hours after losing contact.

Careful examination of the evidence has revealed that MH370 made three turns after the last radio call, first a turn to the left, then two more, taking the plane west, then south towards Antarctica.

MH370 WAS USED BY TERRORISTS FOR A SUICIDE ATTACK ON THE CHINESE NAVY

This extraordinary claim came from 41-year-old British yachtsman Katherine Tee, from Liverpool, whose initial account of seeing what she thought was a burning plane in the night sky made headlines around the world.

On arrival in Thailand's Phuket after sailing across the Indian Ocean from Cochin, southern India with her husband, she said: 'I could see the outline of the plane - it looked longer than planes usually do.There was what appeared to be black smoke streaming from behind.'

Ms Tee's general description of the time and place was vague and she lost all credibility when she later stated on her blog that she believed MH370 was a kamikaze plane that was aimed at a flotilla of Chinese ships and it was shot down before it could smash into the vessels.

Without solid proof of the satellite data, she wrote on her blog, Saucy Sailoress, the plane she saw was flying at low altitude towards the military convoy she and her husband had seen on recent nights. She added that internet research showed a Chinese flotilla was in the area at the time.

While the debris proved the plane went down in the Indian Ocean, the location of the main underwater wreckage  and its crucial black box data recorders  remains stubbornly elusive.

THE JET LANDED ON THE WATER AND WAS SEEN FLOATING ON THE ANDAMAN SEA

On a flight from Jeddah to Kuala Lumpur that crossed over the Andaman Sea on March 8, Malaysian woman Raja Dalelah, 53, saw what she believed was a plane sitting on the water's surface.

She didn't know about the search that had been started for MH370. She alerted a stewardess who told her to go back to sleep.

'I was shocked to see what looked like the tail and wing of an aircraft on the water,' she said.

It was only when she told her friends on landing in Kuala Lumpur what she had seen that she learned of the missing jet. She had seen the object at about 2.30pm Malaysian time.

She said she had been able to identify several ships and islands before noticing the silver object that she said was a plane.

But her story was laughed off by pilots who said it would have been impossible to have seen part of an aircraft in the water from 35,000ft or seven miles.

Ms Raja filed an official report with police the same day and has kept to her story.

'I know what I saw,' she said.

THE AIRCRAFT SUFFERED A CATASTROPHIC SYSTEMS FAILURE AND CRASH-LANDED ON THE OCEAN

A catastrophic event such as a fire disabling much of the equipment resulted in the pilots turning the plane back towards the Malaysian peninsula in the hope of landing at the nearest airport.

Satellite data, believable or not, suggests the aircraft did make a turn and theorists say there would be no reason for the pilots to change course unless confronted with an emergency.

A fire in a similar Boeing 777 jet parked at Cairo airport in 2011 was found to have been caused by a problem with the first officer's oxygen mask supply tubing.

Stewarts Law, which has litigated in a series of recent air disasters, believes the plane crashed after a fire - similar to the blaze on the Cairo airport runway - broke out in the cockpit.

After an investigation into the Cairo blaze, Egypt's Aircraft Accident Investigation Central Directorate (EAAICD) released their final report which revealed that the fire originated near the first officer's oxygen mask supply tubing.

The cause of the fire could not be conclusively determined, but investigators pinpointed a problem with the cockpit hose used to provide oxygen for the crew in the event of decompression.

Following the 2011 fire, US aircraft owners were instructed to replace the system - it was estimated to cost $2,596 (1,573) per aircraft. It was not known whether Malaysia Airlines had carried out the change.

If either pilot wanted to crash the plane, why turn it around? So the turn-around suggests they were trying to land as soon as possible because of an emergency.

THE US SHOT DOWN THE AIRCRAFT FEARING A TERROR ATTACK ON DIEGO GARCIA

The Boeing 777 was shot down by the Americans who feared the aircraft had been hijacked and was about to be used to attack the U.S. military base on Diego Garcia atoll in the Indian Ocean. So conspiracy theorists claim.

And former French airline director Marc Dugain said he had been warned by British intelligence that he was taking risks by investigating this angle.

There is no way of checking whether Dugain received such a warning or why he believes the Americans shot down the plane.

But adding to the theory that the aircraft was flown to Diego Garcia, either by the pilot Zaharie or a hijacker, was the claim that on the pilot's home flight simulator was a 'practice' flight to the island.

Professor Glees said: 'The Americans would have no interest in doing anything of the kind and not telling the world.

'In theory, they might wish to shoot down a plane they thought was attacking them but they wouldn't just fire missiles, they'd investigate it first with fighters and would quickly realise that even if it had to be shot down, the world would need to know.'Last year, Ecuador attempted to deputize WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange as one of its own diplomats and send him to Russian Federation, according to a Friday report by Reuters.

Assange appeared to be readying for his new job title, and had even written a letter on December 4 renouncing his request for political asylum from Ecuador in order to become a diplomat. The Australian national had sought asylum from Ecuador over fears of further extradition to the U.S. for sedition and espionage for leaking secretive documents on Wikileaks.

The aborted effort suggests Ecuadorean President Lenin Moreno had engaged Moscow to resolve the situation of Assange, who has been holed up in the Ecuadorean embassy for six years to avoid arrest by British authorities on charges of skipping bail.

Were Assange to leave the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where he has lived since 2012, he would nearly certainly be arrested by British authorities.

United Kingdom newspaper the Guardian reported that Russian diplomats held secret talks in 2017 with people close to Assange to hatch a plan to help Assange escape the UK. The Ecuadorean foreign ministry could not be reached for comment.

"As regards the idea that "the Kremlin was willing to offer support" to a secret plan by "allowing Assange to travel to Russia", we are puzzled by the sensational attitude of the authors", the Russian embassy added.

US President Donald Trump faces an investigation into whether his campaign colluded with Russian Federation to win that election. However, Assange has denied receiving the stolen emails from Russian Federation.

Elizabeth Smart: Kidnapping accomplices apology fell short

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Williams said there was "no credible evidence" that his client still posed a danger to anyone. Since Barzee's release was announced, Smart has voiced concern that her captor has not been rehabilitated and is still risky .

Sources told the Guardian newspaper that Russian diplomats held secret talks with people close to Assange with the goal of smuggling him out in a diplomatic auto, potentially to Russia.

The plan was ultimately abandoned as it was too risky.

The "special designation" status awarded by the Ecuadorian president would allow Assange to hold diplomatic posts overseas even if the whistleblower is not career diplomat.

Despite widespread speculation over the summer that he may soon be kicked out of the Ecuadorian embassy by Moreno as part of an effort to establish closer ties with the US, Assange's asylum status seems to be safe for now, his lawyer told RT on Thursday.

Details emerged about the incident through a letter from the Ecuadorian Foreign Ministry to a legislator. Ecuador granted Assange citizenship last December.

The Ecuadorian President has said Mr Assange can not remain in asylum for life.The governor of the Cayman Islands has been removed from his role after a three-month investigation by the Foreign Office into bullying claims.

Anwar Choudhury was suspended in June amid allegations that he ill-treated his domestic and office staff.

The Foreign Office said he will be recalled to London but refused to disclose the findings of its inquiry.

The Foreign Office said in a statement: Following an investigation into a number of allegations, Mr Choudhury will not return to the Cayman Islands as governor, but will return to another diplomatic posting in London.

The governor of the Cayman Islands has been removed from his role after a three-month investigation by the Foreign Office into bullying claims. Anwar Choudhury was suspended in June amid allegations he ill-treated his domestic and office staff. Sources also revealed he was accused of misbehaviour towards his wife Momina (above with him), who is 16 years his junior

In June, The Mail on Sunday reported that the complaints against Mr Choudhury, 59, related to his alleged ill-treatment of domestic and office staff.

He had only taken up the post in March.

Sources also revealed that he was accused of misbehaviour towards his wife Momina, who is 16 years his junior.

Last night, Mr Choudhury did not respond to questions, despite being contacted through the Foreign Office.

Previously, he was UK ambassador to Peru and the British High Commissioner to his native Bangladesh, where he narrowly avoided being killed in a terrorist attack.A Queens woman who contacted police three times to report her ex-boyfriend's obsessive behavior has been killed by the man in a tragic murder-suicide.

Regan Smith, 31, had filed three complaints against her ex-boyfriend, 47-year-old boyfriend Nelson Giron, in the weeks leading up to her death Friday, according to NYPD.

Two of those complaints came in the days before she was gunned down in her Queens apartment before Giron killed himself - leaving officials upset at how their domestic violence unit handled her complaints.

'She was scared of him,' Stephanie Mino, a friend of Smith's, told the Daily News. 'They (police) did nothing and now she's gone.'

Regan Smith, 31, was killed Friday in her Queens, New York, apartment by ex-boyfriend Nelson Giron

Smith had filed three complaints against Giron in the weeks before her murder

Courtesy of WPIX11

According to Mino, the ex-boyfriend had come to Smith's apartment twice and pounded on the door so hard that it was left badly damaged.

In the hours leading up to her murder, Giron had called Smith multiple times.

He then showed up to Smith's apartment early Friday, shot her in the head, wounded her current boyfriend who was inside and killed himself.

Smith's boyfriend, Yonkers Police Officer Hewett DePass, 43, was off-duty at the time of the attack.

DePass was shot in the shoulder and stabbed twice.

Police report that Giron used DePass' gun to kill himself and Smith.

The victim had filed her first complaint on September 10 after she suspected her car was keyed by her ex-boyfriend.

A week later, she filed another complaint against Giron after her new boyfriend's car was also keyed.

She then reported that her apartment door was damaged after Giron repeatedly banged on it.

Giron shot her in the head and stabbed her new boyfriend twice before turning the gun on himself

Giron has been known to the police, arrested at least three time in New York.

The most recent arrest came after he was found stashing 95 pounds of marijuana in a home in the Bronx along with four others who were transporting drugs from Florida.

He was also arrested in 2014 after being pulled over with more than $100,000 in cash and steroids inside the car.

Smith had moved to New York from Iowa 10 years ago, according to a GoFundMe page that was set up to cover funeral costs.

She will be buried in her home state.Barnaby Joyce has been spotted with two of his daughters for the first time since the politician's highly-publicised affair tore his family apart.

The former Deputy Prime Minister's daughters Bridgette, 21, Julia, 20, Caroline, 18, and Odette, 15, were reportedly 'disgusted' by his $150,000 tell-all television interview with new partner Vikki Campion in June.

But the rocky relationships seems to be on the mend, with Mr Joyce and two of his four daughters seen at a Canberra steakhouse grabbing a bite to eat last week, The Daily Telegraph reported.

Mr Joyce admitted to 'living a lie' by continuing his public relationship with his wife while secretly being involved with Ms Campion (Barnaby Joyce is pictured with his estranged wife Natalie, and their four daughters in 2015)

Odette Joyce, Bridgette Joyce, Natalie Joyce, Caroline Joyce and Jules Joyce (pictured) were reportedly 'disgusted' by a tell all interview involving Barnaby Joyce and his new partner Vikki Campion

When news of the affair with his former press secretary broke in February Mr Joyce lost his cabinet position and stepped down as leader of the Nationals.

Ms Campion left Mr Joyce's office in April to work for northern Australian minister Matt Canavan.

The telling interview with the Seven Network earlier this year saw Mr Joyce and Ms Campion talk openly about their newborn son Sebastian, affair, abortion pressures and relationship struggles.

The interview reportedly created a further rift within the family that was torn apart over the affair.

But the public dinner last week has signaled a turning of the tide and there might be a chance the girls will be among the congregation for baby Sebastian's christening, which is happening today.

Barnaby Joyce appears to be mending his rocky relationship with his daughters ahead of the christening for his son Sebastian (pictured with mum Vikki Campion)

The much-talked about baby, who was born on April 16, weighing 3.8kg, will be christened in Armidale.

Mr Joyce's daughters have remained silent over the dispute but Mr Joyce has said he expects it will take a long time to repair his relationship with his daughters.

His estranged wife Natalie Joyce told The Guardian in February the affair had been devastating on many fronts for the family.

'For my girls, who are affected by the family breakdown, and for me as a wife of 24 years, who placed my own career on hold to support Barnaby through his political life.'

Barnaby Joyce was spotted at dinner with two of his daughters last week, ahead of his son Sebastian's (pictured) christening on Sunday

'Naturally we also feel deceived and hurt by the actions of Barnaby and the staff member involved,' she said.

Mr Joyce was labelled a hypocrite by Greens MP Adam Bandt for opposing equal marriage on the basis of family values.

'Im no fan of Barnaby, and hes a hypocrite for opposing equal marriage on the basis of family values and putting the LGBTI community through the wringer while leading a different life himself, but this isnt about him, its about her,' he has said.The rush to claim PPI compensation has turned huge numbers of Britons into fraudsters, one of the countrys most senior bankers claims today.

In an extraordinary broadside, Barclays chairman John McFarlane said customers had made an avalanche of dishonest claims for mis-sold payment protection insurance.

It was inconceivable that all the claims that had helped fuel a flat-screen television buying spree were legitimate, he said.

Barclays chairman John McFarlane (pictured) said it was 'inconceivable' that the all of the PPI compensation claims which had fueled a 'flat-screen television 'buying spree were legitimate

McFarlane, 71, accused the Government of being complicit in the decline of banks by allowing a compensation culture to develop in Britain since the PPI scandal came to light in the early 2000s.

He said: The percentage of fraudulent claims is enormous. We have turned portions of Britain into fraudsters. It was in the Governments interests [for customers to receive PPI compensation]: consumer spending rose and it weakened the banks, so the Government is complicit here in the decline of the City. He added: This is stimulation of the economy by buying flat-screen televisions.

McFarlanes comments, made in an interview with The Mail on Sunday, are among the most outspoken remarks on the PPI scandal by a senior banker.

Banks have already been forced to pay 30billion of compensation to customers for mis-sold the insurance, and payouts are expected to surge again as a deadline for claims looms in August next year.

The total amount of PPI sold has been estimated at 50billion  80billion when interest is included. It was sold to cover customers if they were unable to meet the repayments on loans or credit cards.

In some cases, people were not told this cover had been added to loan or credit card contracts. In other instances, they were sold PPI even though they would never have been eligible to claim on the policy, or despite having protection already.

McFarlane  nicknamed Mack the Knife for his ruthless cuts  said that, while banks should refund where appropriate, the compensation process had been abused. It is almost inconceivable to think that 50 billion was mis-sold, he said. McFarlane said claims firms had not been regulated and that Britains banks are weaker as a result.

Earlier this month, FCA chief executive Andrew Bailey (pictured) said: We are still dealing with the major loss of public confidence in the financial system

Barclays profits dropped 29 per cent to 1.7billion for the first six months of the year. It was hit by a new 400million PPI charge and a 1.4billion settlement with US authorities over the sale of mortgage-backed securities in the lead-up to the financial crisis.

According to the Financial Conduct Authority, about 60 million PPI policies were sold over three decades, since prompting almost 20 million complaints. Banks have been repeatedly fined for failing to properly deal with complaints and more than 60 per cent of PPI cases that are referred to the Financial Ombudsman are decided in favour of the consumer.

McFarlanes comments are the latest sign of an increasing break down of trust between banks and their customers. Earlier this month, FCA chief executive Andrew Bailey said: We are still dealing with the major loss of public confidence in the financial system.Tens of thousands of black and Asian children are being put at risk by politically correct health chiefs who are deliberately ignoring an obesity crisis affecting ethnic minorities.

Bombshell figures unearthed by The Mail on Sunday reveal almost twice as many black and Asian children are obese when they leave primary school than their white counterparts.

But officials from Public Health England (PHE), the Government body responsible for improving the nations health, have admitted that despite being aware of the shocking statistics, they have chosen to take no specific action.

Shock statistics show British black and Asian youngsters up to TWICE as likely to leave school overweight... but PC officials are too scared to act

Earlier this year, PHE published a landmark report into childhood obesity but it made no mention of the epidemic other than in an appendix  despite the obesity crisis among ethnic-minority children rising at an alarming rate over the past ten years.

Last night critics accused health bosses of putting political sensitivities ahead of the need for urgent action  and demanded PHE get to grips with the obesity time bomb.

Conservative MP Andrew Selous, chair of the influential All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Obesity, said: Now is the time for PHE to raise its game, go in with some focus and target the specific ethnicities where obesity is high in children. By failing to deal with this crisis, PHE is guilty of false compassion.

Labour MP Keith Vaz, chair of the APPG on Diabetes, said: I fear that officials at PHE are too timid to tackle this obesity crisis. Because of political sensitivities, we have avoided highlighting this critical issue.

According to the new statistics, which appear in the Department for Healths own assessment of their landmark report into childhood obesity, 17.7 per cent of white British children are obese by the time they leave primary school  lower than the England-wide average of 20 per cent.

The rate of obesity almost doubles among black children  29.9 per cent of black Caribbean children and 29.8 per cent of black African children are obese by the age of 11. As many as 26.4 per cent of Pakistani children are obese when they leave primary school as are 28.4 per cent of Bangladeshi children.

Keith Vaz (pictured) said: 'I fear that officials at PHE are too timid to tackle this obesity crisis. Because of political sensitivities, we have avoided highlighting this critical issue.

Experts warn that over 50 life-threatening illnesses can be caused by obesity, including heart disease, strokes, and cancer. And obesity is a particularly pressing problem for Asian people who are up to six times more likely to get type 2 diabetes.

According to Professor Wasim Hanif, one of Britains leading diabetes experts, epigenetics  or changes in gene behaviour that the environment causes  is a key factor in explaining the gulf. He said that black and Asian children have origins in parts of the world where historically there have been shortages of food. Because of this genetic heritage, their bodies are more likely to store fat. He said: If you give a white kid and an Asian kid the same food, the Asian kid will pile on more weight.

He added that black and Asian people also have lesser levels of brown fat, which turns calories into heat, so they pile on more weight as a result.

Yet despite the overwhelming evidence, health officials have conceded there are no schemes to bridge the growing gulf and that current efforts may not even help. According to the PHE report, Childhood obesity policies are implemented in a way that does not differentiate by race. It continues: The reasons for differences in obesity prevalence across ethnicities are various and it is difficult to state how different groups will benefit from the policies If causes are genetic or specific to lifestyles that are adopted by some socioeconomic groups, then these may not be impacted equally by these policies.

The decision not to lead a targeted campaign is at odds with the numerous health schemes aimed specifically at black and ethnic-minority communities.

Last year, PHE launched a prostate cancer campaign specifically targeting black men who are at greater risk of having the disease.

The scale of Britains child obesity crisis comes as services to tackle childhood obesity face cuts of more than 5 million this year  despite a Government pledge to halve the problem by 2030.

A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care, of which PHE is an executive agency, said: Were taking targeted action, working with councils to address local inequalities and ethnic disparities in their areas.An X-Men star who vanished in China was embroiled in a legal battle over claims she was the mistress of one of the Communist Partys most powerful men, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.

Fan Bingbing, 37, has not been seen in public for nearly three months since being accused online of pocketing illegal multi-million pound payments during an investigation into corruption in Chinas movie industry.

Although Chinese officials have remained silent over her whereabouts, a report appeared briefly on a state-run newspaper website saying that the actress had been brought under control and was about to receive legal judgment.

Fan Bingbing (pictured) in her role as Blink in X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)

Fans disappearance has generated huge speculation in China. She is the countrys most famous movie star, with 63 million followers on social media and an estimated 75 million fortune.

In a new twist, publicly available court papers seen by The Mail on Sunday reveal that at the time of her disappearance in June the actress was pursuing a lawsuit in the US over allegations that she had had an affair with Chinas Vice President Wang Qishan.

Wang  labelled Chinas most feared man  is President Xi Jinpings right-hand man and led his anti-corruption campaign, which saw thousands of officials detained and jailed, many of them political rivals of Xi.

The lawsuit, signed by Fan, was filed in respect of online videos posted by exiled billionaire Guo Wengui last year claiming that 70-year-old Wang had a long-term affair with her involving liaisons in a luxury Beijing hotel suite.

In the catalogue of allegations, Guo  who fled China over corruption allegations in 2014 and is seeking political asylum in the US  claimed Fan used her relationship with Wang to pocket bribes in return for getting permission for property deals.

Fans lawsuit against Guo describes his claims as unsupported, wild, and defamatory. It declares: Ms Fan has never had any sexual relationship or adulterous affair with Mr Wang, nor has she ever participated in any bribery scheme.

Wang Qishan (pictured), Vice President of China, is President Xi Jinpings right-hand man

Chinese newspapers have reported that Fan is under investigation for allegedly pocketing an illegal 5.9 million tax-free fee on top of her 1.2 million official salary for just four days work on a movie after the contracts were leaked online.

In a phone call to The Mail on Sunday, Guo dismissed the contract allegations as a smokescreen and said Fans downfall was triggered by Communist Party in-fighting.

Firstly, someone is trying to use Fan Bingbing to get to Wang Qishan, he said. Secondly, somebody wants to shut Fan up.

Guo said Fan was being detained in a hotel adjoining a military airport in Beijing which is used for interrogations. She has been permitted to go home to get her personal stuff and then go back to prison, he said.

Guo, 51, was one of Chinas richest men and has made a string of unverifiable corruption allegations against the countrys leaders since arriving in the US.

Fans LA-based lawyer Andrew Brettler said he had not heard from Fan or her representatives in China since April. Since then Ive just been reading the same rumours as you, he added.A report by Hertfordshire Constabulary and endorsed by its Chief Constable Charlie Hall (pictured) raised concerns about a 'vicious cycle' of crime that potentially 'implicitly encourage' some offenders as the reward outweighed the risk of a jail sentence

Theives are being encouraged to pursue lives of crime because the courts wont send them to jail, according to police chiefs.

An official report seen by The Mail on Sunday reveals concerns about a vicious cycle which has seen judges and magistrates increasingly reluctant to lock up crooks due to overcrowding in the prison system.

The warning features in a report by Hertfordshire Constabulary and is endorsed by Charlie Hall, its Chief Constable.

The Force Management Statement, published last week, says: There is strong evidence that the general lack of prison capacity is having an effect on remand decisions/sentencing, potentially leading to a vicious cycle of lower (even medium) level offending not being curtailed and, potentially, even implicitly encouraged (the risk versus reward equation being skewed towards the latter).

There are multiple examples of this, particularly for lower level acquisitive crime by repeat, high-volume offenders for shoplifting and vehicle crime.

In another section setting out future risks, the report warns: Lack of credible court sentencing options for acquisitive criminals and the focus on prison sentences greater than one year will not provide respite to the public with regards to, in particular, acquisitive criminals whose offending often make up large crime volumes (motor vehicle / shoplifting / burglary).

Hertfordshire recorded an 11.8 per cent year-on-year rise in crime in 2017-18, including a 6.5 per cent increase in shoplifting, a 32.6 per cent increase in house burglaries and 40.8 per cent more car thefts.

Just five per cent of car thefts and the same proportion of burglaries led to a criminal justice outcome  including convictions and out-of-court punishments  and only 38.6 per cent of shop thefts were cleared up.

Hertfordshire police declined to comment but the report will deepen fears about a lawless Wild West Britain where crimes are going unpunished.

Hertfordshire recorded an 11.8 per cent year-on-year rise in crime in 2017-18, including a 6.5 per cent increase in shoplifting (stock picture)

Earlier this month, the MoS revealed the concerns of Merseyside Police about a secret Government policy to avoid locking up dangerous criminals to keep the prison population down.

Figures from the Ministry of Justice support Hertfordshires assessment that few shoplifters are jailed despite the maximum sentence of seven years available to judges. Of those dealt with in court, barely one in five was jailed in 2016.

Retailers believe shoplifters are exploiting laws that allow those who steal goods worth less than 200 to be dealt with in a magistrates court, where the maximum prison term is six months.

The Hertfordshire report also warns that crime levels may rise if Brexit hits the economy.

There is some evidence to suggest, in the wake of global financial instability (including the unknown impact of Brexit) that any substantial price rises would increase burglary, theft and theft of fuel from petrol stations, it says.

Harry Fletcher, of the Victims Rights Campaign, said: If criminals think they will get caught, they wont commit crime, but were getting to a point where there is virtually no deterrent.

This shocking report shows that criminals are being given the green light and this is another insult to victims.The key to getting a good deal is to convey that you intend to play dirty and make it hard for the other side to cause trouble, writes Anne Robinson

I wouldn't like to be in Theresa Mays shoes  even her pointy leopard-print ones  this weekend. Who would?

What she faced in Salzburg on Thursday was the equivalent of staring down a cul-de-sac to find wild horses charging towards you.

Does it surprise me? Not in the least.

Anyone whose bread and butter depends on shrewd negotiating, be it a fee for a television programme or the price for 1,000 acres, has been looking on in despair at Britains tactics for months.

The first, second and third rule of getting what you want out of any deal is to appear like an immoveable object, to convey that you intend to play dirty and make it hard for the other side to cause trouble.

But, most crucially, prepare for the worst possible outcome. Britains preparations for a no-deal Brexit have been pitiful.

So we saw a doubtful Prime Minister going into a battle without a single weapon in her handbag.

She caved into EU demands and came up with the Chequers deal  the detail of which most of us have long since forgotten.

It was inevitable that Britain was going to be humiliated. How can you succeed when you look as if you wish none of this was happening?

So where do we go from here? Certainly not to a second referendum.

In fact, I might well slap the next Remainer who tells me that we need a second vote before we can leave the EU.

And make no mistake, the pressure to ignore the result of the 2016 referendum is going to continue.

Theresa May might have said that she will not consider a second vote, but I wouldnt bet on it.

I wouldn't like to be in Theresa Mays shoes  even her pointy leopard-print ones  this weekend

I am sick of Remainers believing they occupy the moral high ground while treating Brexiteers with the sort of hysterical anger and grief youd expect if youd just run over their dog.

Im sick of them demanding to know why I want to give up our role in Europe. For this they deserve another slap.

The last time I checked, the European Union wasnt the same as Europe. Thats precisely why I voted to leave. Nothing has happened since to make me change my mind.

The idea that the decision should be revisited beggars belief, the equivalent of two sportsmen agreeing to toss a coin, then one of them disliking the outcome and insisting on a second chance.

In other words, the exact opposite of democracy and precisely what you would expect from the EU, an institution with three presidents, none of them elected.

In any other circumstances, Remainers would regard such a ploy as despotic. What if we treated a General Election in the same way?

The politicians Ive most admired have had one thing in common  they were all democrats. They might have violently disagreed with each other.

They might have been of the Right or Left. But they were happy for their differences to be settled in Parliament.

Its a worrying idea that a sizeable minority of voters want to side with politicians who distrust Parliament.

If we advised Americans that the Supreme Court would be much better overruled by a foreign power that controls taxes, they would think we were nuts.

Or if they were still listening, they might politely point out that Australia doesnt run on those lines. Nor does Latin America, Africa or countries in South East Asia.

And if the outcome of a second referendum was the same as the first, would Remainers want us to keep going till they got the result they want?

Theresa May might have said that she will not consider a second vote, but I wouldnt bet on it

As it happens I am not a great fan of referendums. But occasionally they serve a purpose. In the 2016 referendum, people at least knew what they were being asked to decide.

The exact wording on the ballot paper was: Should the United Kingdom remain a member of the European Union or leave the European Union?

In the leaflet the Government sent to every British household  at a cost to taxpayers of 9 million  there was the solemn, unambiguous pledge: This is your decision. The Government will implement what you decide.

As far as I am aware, nobody canvassed with the argument that it was only about seeing which way the wind was blowing. Voters believed the verdict would be accepted; a done deal.

Those thrilled by the current stalemate will crow yet again that leaving the EU is difficult and dangerous.

Yes, its difficult to face dramatically altering our political status. Whoever thought it wouldnt be?

You cant belong to something for more than 40 years and not expect disruption.

But to stay simply because thats what weve always done is the cry of the ageing retainer who is terrified of change.

When you look at the deal weve lived with for so long, you dont need a magnifying glass to examine the small print.

You just have to be astonished weve gone along with the pressure to integrate on an alarming scale.

Only within the EU has the political power of individual countries been surrendered in the mistaken belief that there is no other way to have a voice on the world stage.

Who in their right mind thinks a system that denies any country the right to control its borders, decide taxes, frame regulations or its trading relationships, has any merit?

I dont want a system of government run by unelected civil servants. I dont want a system whereby laws are imposed on member states and to hell with national Parliaments.

As for Brexit looking dangerous  how can it be worse than being leg-ironed to the EU?

If we leave properly and are free to trade, there is nothing to prevent this country making itself a far more attractive place for investment.

Britain is suffering not because of Brexit but because of the uncertainties caused by the incompetence in handling our departure.

On Friday, to her credit and for the first time I can recall, Theresa May looked and sounded statesman-like.

But was it just a ploy to get through the looming Conservative Conference? Is she really prepared to ditch the Chequers deal and try something else?

I dont know. But what I do know is that, like every move connected with her EU negotiations, it was far too late.

I dont like catcalling a decent woman doing her best. But in these negotiations, Theresa Mays best hasnt been good enough.A primary school teacher who was caught in the same paedophile sting as A Current Affair reporter Ben McCormack has been jailed.

Mathew Paul Reale pleaded guilty to 12 charges including nine counts of distributing child exploitation and producing child exploitation material, WAtoday reported.

The 30-year-old was sentenced to four years in prison on Friday at the Western Australia District Court, where the judge described his offences as 'horrific and disturbing'.

Mathew Paul Real (pictured) pleaded guilty to 12 charges including nine counts of disturbing child exploitation and producing child exploitation material

The 30-year-old was sentenced to four years' jail on Friday at the Western Australia District Court, where the judge described his offences as 'horrific and disturbing'

The court heard Reale's computer and other electronic devices contained 34,953 images and 2,599 videos of children being sexually assaulted, gagged, and restrained.

The police search revealed several messages between Reale and other paedophiles where he spoke about abducting, raping and drugging children, as well as babysitting children with plans to abuse and film the ordeal.

The court heard none of the children Reale came in contact with were the subject of any abuse, but he did send a photo of one student in a school uniform to the other paedophiles in the group, the publication reported.

Reales defence lawyer Abigail Rogers told the court that her client struggles to comprehend how hes got down to this level.

He accepts that role playing was abhorrent, she said on Friday.

Prosecutor Katrin Robinson told the court that Reale would have known what he was doing due to the seriousness of the matter.

It was ongoinghe has a deviant sexual interest in children, she said.

Judge Kathleen Glancy said despite Reale not directly abusing the children, he had still encouraged others to engage in serious and vile matters.

You are part of a group of people who did hurt children, she said.

You present a high risk to children in the community.

Prosecutor Katrin Robinson told the court that Reale would have known what he was doing due to the seriousness of the matter

Reales sentence was backdated to February last year which now makes him eligible for parole after serving two years.

Reale had previously exchanged text messages with McCormack where they discussed the drugging and raping of children.

Last year, Daily Mail Australia exclusively revealed former bank and hotel worker Leon Mario Berger, 36, was one of two Perth men the TV reporter spoke with about his child sex fantasies.

In May, Judge Patrick Brian O'Neal sentenced Berger after he pleaded guilty to possessing child exploitation material, including photos and video.

The court heard Berger was charged as a result of a police investigation into the 'boy lover' Nine Network journalist. They were arrested on the same day in April 2017.

Berger sent perverted messages to the journalist and Catholic primary school teacher Mathew Paul Reale. He received vile images from the latter, who he had a 'crush' on, and also had a video in his possession.

'I would do it with babies if I could', Berger said, according to depraved messages that were read to the court in February.

Reale had previously exchanged text messages with McCormack (pictured) where they discussed the drugging and raping of children.

Last year, Daily Mail Australia exclusively revealed former bank and hotel worker Leon Mario Berger (pictured), 36, was one of two Perth men the TV reporter spoke with about his child sex fantasies.

Berger first met Reale - who is awaiting sentencing on a long list of offences - by using the paedophile Tribe website. The pair later met up and had a sexual relationship.

Judge O'Neal said the material found in Berger's possession was 'especially graphic and disturbing (and) particularly depraved'.

He said it was 'difficult to avoid a sensation of revulsion' at how he characterised his child sex offending.

'It is confronting in the extreme,' he said. 'I don't accept the excuse you have offered. I don't accept you were a passive recipient'.

Handing down his jail sentence, the judge said he accepted Berger had remorse, but 'a great part of that is about feeling sorry for yourself.

The judge did not suspend the jail sentence, pointing out he had declined to treat his paedophilic disorder.

Berger will be eligible for parole in October.

McCormack (pictured) described himself as a 'proud b (boy) lover' in messages, which were mostly exchanged with Reale.

The punishment is more severe than that faced by McCormack in a separate court. The reporter was charged for possessing child pornography text messages, but no photographs or video.

His career in tatters, McCormack was given a three year, $1000 good behaviour bond by NSW District Court Judge Paul Conlon last December.

McCormack described himself as a 'proud b (boy) lover' in messages, which were mostly exchanged with Reale. He has since moved and is trying to move on with his life, sources said.A wealthy Conservative donor has threatened to pull the plug on funding the party if Theresa May fails to deliver Brexit.

City financier Jeremy Hosking, who pumped 1.5million into the Leave campaign and has donated more than 375,000 to the Tories since 2015, said he has carried out private polling which showed overwhelming support for setting up a new party aimed at delivering promises made during the 2016 referendum campaign.

In a major intervention in the Brexit debate, Hosking claimed Leave voters were 'being heated up like laboratory frogs' - partly due to Theresa May's Chequers plan.

Jeremy Hosking said he has carried out polling which shows support for a party that could deliver a Brexit deal which voters were promised in 2016

Hosking has donated more than 300,000 to the Conservative party since 2015

Hosking said his pressure group Brexit Express was behind a survey which prompted fierce public reaction earlier this month. The survey was accused of asking 'leading questions' on whether Tory MPs should be deselected for not following the 'will of the people'.

He told the Telegraph: 'Brexit Express has had enough. We must find some way of hopping out of the bubbling water. This is why we have been sponsoring opinion polls in both Tory and Labour constituencies.

'This polling shows there is clear support for a Brexit party that will deliver what the electorate thought it would be getting.

'The centre-Left talk but never quite act on setting up a new pro-Europe electoral alternative, bizarrely convinced that repeating an action will produce a different result. Einstein's definition of madness.'

Hosking's polling found that across 13 constituencies, 53 per cent of respondents would consider voting for a new party with the sole objective of getting Labour and the Tories to 'conclude Brexit as quickly and as fully as possible'.

He added: 'The latest manifestation is Chequers, a "Big Business" Brexit tying us up in EU knots. The obvious question for Eurosceptics to ask is whether the current fiasco is accidental or premeditated?

Hosking said that Theresa May's Chequers deal has left Leave voters were 'being heated up like laboratory frogs'

'Normally the odds favour cock-up over conspiracy ... The more plausible thesis by a distance is a deliberate attempt by the British Establishment to render a real exit from the EU impossible.'

The EUs shock rejection of Theresa Mays Chequers plan threw Downing Street into a tailspin earlier this week, and two senior No 10 advisers have even advocating for calling another snap General Election.

The powerful aides have argued in the wake of the Salzburg humiliation that the only way to make the Commons arithmetic work could be to ditch Chequers, and please the Brexit wing of the Tory Party by swinging behind the Canada model: leaving the Single Market and Customs Union completely, before striking a free-trade deal with Brussels.

With her partys most militant wing now behind her, Mrs May could then go to the country in November and win a majority sufficient to push through the deal  over the objections of pro-Remain MPs  when it was put to the Commons vote.Jeremy Clarkson's punch-up with a Top Gear producer led to his departure from the BBC and a huge blow to the Corporations most lucrative show.

But The Mail on Sunday can reveal that co-presenter Richard Hammond ended up seriously injuring a director in another incident just months later  though this time there was no malice involved.

Hammond  nicknamed Hamster  was involved in a play fight at a high-spirited party in Namibia that left the director on The Grand Tour, the motoring show on Amazon fronted by Clarkson, Hammond and James May, with a broken rib.

Richard Hammond behind the wheel on The Grand Tour, the motoring show on Amazon he co-presents with Jeremy Clarkson and James May

Last night, a spokesman for Chump Productions said: There was a fairly raucous wrap party after we had finished a gruelling shoot.

'Play fighting did indeed ensue among the crew, including Richard, and a member of the crew did indeed suffer from a broken rib.

'It remained play fighting throughout and did not get nasty. Chump did not pay any medical expenses because the event happened post-shooting.

The firm said the injured assistant director still works on The Grand Tour and there was no bad feeling, malice or grievance as a result of the incident in 2016.

When BBC Director-General Tony Hall said Clarksons contract would not be renewed, he, Hammond and May (pictured) all jumped ship to Amazon

The same cannot be said of Clarksons bust-up in 2015, when he punched Top Gear producer Oisin Tymon in a Yorkshire hotel because no hot food was available after filming.

When BBC Director-General Tony Hall said Clarksons contract would not be renewed, he, Hammond and May all jumped ship to Amazon where they signed a multi-million-pound deal for Grand Tour.

It has become one of the most popular shows on Amazon Prime while the new incarnation of Top Gear on the BBC, presented first by Chris Evans and then by Matt Le Blanc, has struggled.A 90-year-old man who survived the Holocaust and a battle with terminal cancer was killed after he was hit by a car on Thursday night.

Nissen Krakinowski was heading to the Congregation Beit Hillel synagogue in Brooklyn on Thursday night to say a prayer for his daughter, who had recently died, when he was struck by a car, The Yeshiva World reported.

He suffered a head injury and died soon after in hospital.

Nissen Krakinowski, 90, was hit by a car and killed in Brooklyn on Thursday night

The man had been crossing the road to reach his synagogue, where he intended to pray for his recently deceased daughter

Krakinowski was hit by a 29-year-old woman driving a light blue Jaguar, while trying to cross the road outside of the marked pedestrian area.

Police say the woman stayed on scene, and has not been arrested, though an investigation is ongoing.

Krakinowski, who had no living relatives at the time of his death, was sent to the Dachau concentration camp after Nazi Germany overtook his childhood neighborhood of Kaunas, Lithuania.

He was separated from his family, the Spokesman Review reported after he addressed crowds in Spokane in June this year, and had only his brother to help him get through the horrors of his teenage years.

During his time in the camp, Krakinowski and his brother survived on pieces of moldy bread, and he was the victim of violent guards.

Krakinowski survived the Holocaust and terminal cancer. He died soon after reaching hospital on Thursday. So far, no charges have been laid on the driver

Krakinowski told the crowd he was hit in the head with a metal object, causing him to bleed.

His injuries were so severe, the guard who attacked him believed he was dead, he said.

He was put to work in the camp, and was forced to carry paper bags of concrete, that would 'dissolve and stick to his body' when it began to rain.

'Time was very hard to describe,' he said. 'Every day was like a year.'A Briton who claims to be a doctor has been captured in Syria suspected of fighting for the fanatical terrorist group Islamic State.

Video footage of the man, who speaks with a Birmingham accent, emerged last night on a Twitter account linked to Kurdish militia.

The footage showed him blindfolded being interrogated by Kurdish fighters on a pick-up truck. The man said he was called Anwar Miah and had been in Syria for the last four years.

Suspect: The interrogated Briton on footage tweeted by members of a Kurdish militia

Asked if he was part of Islamic State, also known as Daesh, he said: I came here to work with the general people and work in general hospitals.Ive been working in hospitals since I came here.

I have been working in areas controlled by Daesh, but I have worked with the general people. They were controlled by Daesh but I was working with the general people. I am a doctor, I am a qualified pharmacist, I studied medicine and pharmacy.

He was arrested in the city of Deir ez-Zour one month ago, the Kurdish military Twitter channel International Volunteers Report said.

The footage included a caption in French, Jen fais quoi?, meaning What do I do with this?

Terrorism experts last night said the video raised troubling questions about how many British extremists were still hiding in Syria and Iraq despite the terror group losing its strongholds of Raqqa and Mosul.

Shiraz Maher of Kings College London said: The broader question is, how many foreigners got away and survived the fall of Mosul or Raqqa? Where are they today? What are they doing? The idea that were coming to the end of this conflict is rebuked by incidents like this.

Around 1 month ago a #YPG #SDF patrol arrested this ISIS terrorist from the city of #Birmingham #UK in #DeirEzzor near #Hajin. He claim he's only a doctor (Yeah right lol) and that he worked in #ISIS territory for the last 4 years.#TwitterKurds pic.twitter.com/BA9Myxpc4q  International Volunteers Report (@VolunteerReport) September 22, 2018

Mr Maher, director at the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence, said: If this man went to Syria just under four years ago, he went just after the Islamic State Caliphate was declared.

He would have had to give bayah [oath of allegiance] to IS, just like you do in a UK citizenship ceremony, so it would make him part of Daesh.

Miah may have come into contact with other British jihadis. The security services say around 900 Britons have travelled to Syria since 2011, including the executioner Jihadi John killed by an air strike in 2015.Security fears: Mr Murray has been banned from Ukraine because he's a 'national security risk'

The row over the alleged links between a key Jeremy Corbyn aide and the Kremlin deepened last night as new evidence emerged of his associations with Stalinist activists accused of spreading propaganda for Vladimir Putin.

Former communist Andrew Murray has shared a platform with key members of the Borotba group who have been accused of being agents of influence for Moscow.

Last weekend, The Mail on Sunday revealed that Mr Murray had been barred from entering Ukraine on the grounds of national security.

In response, the adviser claimed his name was being blackened by deep state British spies working to prevent a Corbyn government.

His theory provoked derision from Labour deputy leader Tom Watson, who described his account as a bit John Le Carre, and called on him to provide evidence otherwise its just fake news.

Officers with the Ukrainian state security service, the SBU, said they had banned Mr Murray for three years because they believe him to be part of President Putins global propaganda network  something he denies.

This newspaper has now obtained evidence that Mr Murray  who has failed to receive security clearance for a Commons pass despite working for Mr Corbyn for a year  campaigned with activists identified in a cache of leaked emails as Putin propagandists. The so-called Kremlin leaks listed a network of activists around the world and their importance to Moscow, including members of Borotba, a Stalinist group which supported Russian-backed separatism in Ukraine.

When Mr Murray addressed a meeting of the Solidarity With The Antifascist Resistance In Ukraine (SARU) group at the Marx Memorial Library in London in November 2014, Borotbas leader Alexey Albu spoke to the group on a video link. Mr Albu is described in the leaked papers as high-profile non-state effective personnel.

At a meeting in London in November 2014, Mr Murray was on stage and Borotbas leader Alexey Albu (pictured) spoke to the audience via a video link

And when Mr Murray spoke at another SARU meeting in June 2015, he was joined on video link by another Borotba leader, Viktor Shapinov, who is listed in the emails as personnel of medium efficiency. A third member of Borotba, Sergei Kirichuk, who also spoke at the same 2014 SARU meeting as Mr Murray, via Skype, was listed as state personnel in the files. A spokesman for Mr Murray, who was chairman of the Stop The War campaign group before Mr Corbyn took on the role, said: Andrew has never heard of these people and has no connection with Borotba.

The leaked emails from Kremlin aide Vladislav Surkov  who has been dubbed Putins Rasputin  were revealed by a network of Ukrainian hackers in 2016. The Kremlin has dismissed material as fabricated, despite a number of individuals named in the messages confirming they were genuine.

According to the leaks, Surkov instructed his network to downplay suggestions of Russian involvement in the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines MH17 plane over Ukraine in 2014, which investigators concluded had been hit by a Russian missile, killing all 298 people on board. At the SARU event in 2014, Mr Murray did just that.

There is no suggestion that Mr Murray was aware of the Surkov instruction, and he says he has been a frequent critic of Putin.May's beastly brekkie tease

Theresa May does occasionally have fun on foreign trips despite the her nightmare in Salzburg this week, says Black Dog

Hard to believe in the wake of her Brexit nightmare in Salzburg but Theresa May does occasionally have fun on foreign trips.

Ex No 10 communications boss Katie Perrior reveals how, on one overseas outing, the Prime Minister discovered Perrior had mocked a particularly boring ambassador behind his back, saying: I bet hes an animal in bed.

The next day, the PM invited him to breakfast, put him next to me and every time I turned round to pass the milk, Theresa May went grrrr!

Launching his music-themed memoirs, Alan Johnson, one-time hope of Labour moderates, couldnt resist a sharp dig at arch-Lefties now running the show.

Recalling how Bono once described Tony Blair and Gordon Brown as the Lennon and McCartney of politics, Beatles fan Johnson sniped: So that means Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell must be Peters And Lee. Ouch!

By way of debunking claims Michael Foot was a paid Soviet informer, the late Labour leaders great nephew Tom reveals how, after Foot died in 2010, he found a locked safe in his house.

We smashed it up and I fished out an envelope, recalls Tom. Finally, the elusive KGB file? No, only a note with the safes combination code. Not a single rouble.

Bodyguard Amber is aiming for the top

Ex-Home Secretary Amber Rudd (pictured) is a fan of BBC drama Bodyguard but a friend said the 'only role she'd want on the show is Keeley Hawes boss - the PM'

Ex-Home Secretary Amber Rudd is a big fan of the TV drama Bodyguard  about an, er, attractive Home Secretary played by Keeley Hawes who gets entangled in romance and outlandish bomb plots.

But reports that Rudd, left, wants to play the role of the bodyguard in a second series are wide of the mark. Says a friend: Theres only one role Amber wants and thats Keeleys boss  the PM.

Jacob Rees-Moggs nanny Veronica is the toast of Tory Eurosceptics after revealing in last weeks MoS that she favours an Out! Out! Out! hard Brexit.

Says Jacob admiringly of the woman who used to change his nappies: She is far more Right wing than I am. A thought to make even the coolest minds boggle.

Gove is taken to tusk

Elephant-hugger Michael Gove should beware  big-time casino cheats are cheering his efforts to curb ivory trading.

The Environment Secretary was warned by Tory peer Lord James that if casinos cant use traditional ivory roulette balls, theyll have to resort to using artificial ones with a steel interior  and as these can be manipulated by the use of magnets, they can give easy distortion for fraud.

Bleary-eyed Momentum activists complaining of an early start to a political education session on the eve of Labours Liverpool conference yesterday got short shrift from Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell.

He quipped: Who said you could sleep? This is a slackening in the revolutionary potential of our movement, people going to bed these days.A millionaire toy tycoon is demanding answers after his daughter, 15, died of a severe allergic reaction to a Pret a Manger sandwich while on a flight from London to Nice.

Natasha Ednan-Laperouse bought the artichoke, olive and tapenade baguette from a shop at Heathrow Terminal 5 before collapsing on the British Airways flight.

The Fulham schoolgirl was careful to check the food she bought for allergens, but on this occasion the sesame seeds had been baked into the bread.

She only realised that something was wrong when red welts started to appear on her skin and her father administered to first of two EpiPens she carried in case of an emergency.

But despite the shot, she began to hyperventilate and was given another unsuccessful dose before going into cardiac arrest and dying on a Nice hospital.

An inquest will take place this week in London and will hear evidence from the family, the manager of the Pret and the head of safety at the UK-based food chain.

Natasha Ednan-Laperouse, 15 (pictured), died of a severe allergic reaction after she bought the artichoke, olive and tapenade baguette from a shop at Heathrow Terminal 5

She had bought the artichoke, olive and tapenade baguette from a Pret a Manger branch at Heathrow Terminal 5

Nadim Ednan-Laperouse, a millionaire toy tycoon, is demanding answers after his daughter's death. Here he is with wife Tanya and son Alex

According to the Observer, her father Nadim, who founded Wow Toys, said: As a family now of three, my wife, son and I are still trying to adjust to life without our beloved girl.

Its a daily battle and the pain is indescribable. Everything we say and do is a reminder that she isnt with us; her empty bedroom, school uniform hanging in her wardrobe, her holiday bag packed for her holiday in Nice has never been unpacked. We cant bear to.

The inquest is expected to examine product labelling laws and investigate whether they need to be tightened.

The sesame seeds are believed to have been baked into the bread, rather than have been spread over the crust.

Natasha had carefully checked the baguette and only realised something was wrong when red welts started to appear on her skin

The schoolgirl, of Fulham, was given two doses of drugs by her father via an EpiPen but could not be saved and died in hospital in Nice

On this occasion, the sesame seeds had been baked into the bread of the baguette and Natasha didn't spot them when checking her food

The inquest into her death is expected to examine product labelling laws and investigate whether they need to be tightened

Nadim Ednan-Laperouse started WOW toys, and has recent recipient of an MBE for his service to industry

The inquest will hear from British Airways staff after the Fulham schoolgirl died on the flight from London to Nice

Sesame is one of 14 allergens that EY laws say must be listed in pre-packaged food made off premises.

But loopholes mean companies including Pret do not have to list the information on food prepared on the same day in an on-site kitchen.

Instead, signs on shelves and tills at Pret warn customers of potential allergies or encourage them to speak to staff.

It is understood the case could trigger civil actions should the coroner find problems with the allergy information.

The inquest will also hear from British Airways staff over their actions to save Miss Ednan-Laperouse and what training and equipment was provided for such a situation.

A spokesman for Pret said: 'We were deeply saddened to hear about Natashas tragic death, and our heartfelt thoughts are with her family and friends. We take food allergies and how allergen information is provided to our customers extremely seriously. We will continue to do all that we can to assist the Coroners inquest.'

The company added that it provides an Allergen Guide in shops showing those contained in its products.Forensic officers were seen combing a murder scene for evidence after a shooting last night saw a 19-year-old man killed.

Police have launched a murder investigation after the teenager was gunned down in east London.

The 19-year-old victim was shot at 11pm on Saturday on Vallentin Road, E17 in Walthamstow.

Police said the man was bundled into a car by his friends after being shot and rushed to hospital in north-east London.

Forensic officers were present at the murder scene on Sunday as they searched for clues from the shooting

Vallentin Road in Walthamstow, east London, remained cordoned off as they hunted for evidence

The police know the identity of the man, who bundled into a car and rushed to a nearby hospital following the shooting

The man was later pronounced dead at 11.38 and is the 108th murder victim in London so far in 2018.

Scotland Yard said they know the identity of the victim but are awaiting a formal identification to release any further details.

The man's next of kin have been informed of his death.

A resident, who lives in a flat overlooking the street, said he woke up to find police cars and uniformed officers had taped off both ends of Vallentin Road.

The resident of the inner-city district, who asked not to be named, told the Press Association: 'It is just sad.

'A shooting is horrible. I feel saddened for the family but I guess this sort of thing can happen anywhere now these days.'

The man's next of kin have been informed of his death - although police are yet to release information about his identity

Detectives are also now appealing for anyone with information about the shooting to come forward

The victim was shot and fatally wounded on Vallentin Road, E17 at 11pm last night

A post-mortem to determine the exact cause of death will be held in the near future.

No arrests have yet been made.

Detectives are now appealing for anyone with information about the shooting to come forward.

Police said: 'The victim - a 19-year-old man - was driven by friends to a north-east London hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 11.38pm.

'Officers believe they know his identity, but await formal identification and confirmation that next of kin have been informed.

'A post-mortem examination will be arranged in due course.'

Anyone with information about the murder or who witnessed what happened is asked to contact the Metropolitan Police on 101 quoting CAD7639sep22.

The victim is the 108th person to be murdered in London so far this year

Buses were diverted from Vallentin Road following last night's murder

People can also pass on information to Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or by visiting their website.

It comes less than 24 hours after a 20-year-old man was killed in a 'senseless' stabbing at a house party in north-east London.

Two other people, a 17-year-old boy and a 24-year-old man, were also seriously injured in the incident, although their injuries were not life-threatening.Investigators are seeking security footage to trace the white Dallas police officer's movements the night she killed her black neighbor in his own apartment earlier this month.

The Dallas County District Attorney's Office have requested three warrants for security footage that monitors the townhouses near the apartment where Officer Amber Guyger, 30, shot and killed 26-year-old Botham Jean. Two of the warrants are requesting doorbell footage.

Officials are specifically seeking footage recorded from 8am the day the shooting took place until midnight in order to trace Guyger's steps leading up to the Jean's death.

Guyger claims she mistakenly walked into Jean's apartment thinking it was her own on the night of September 6, when she was approached by Jean and fatally shot him.

Investigators have requested three warrants for security footage that monitor townhouses near where Botham Jean (right) was killed this month by Officer Amber Guyger

Since Guyger's arrest, a series of discrepancies have emerged in her story, while a search warrant contradicted her claims  saying that she had banged on Jean's apartment door at Southside Flats and shot Jean after he opened up

The four-year police veteran was returning home from a shift while in uniform around 10pm when she said she walked into the wrong apartment and thought she was being burglarized when she saw Jean.

She drew her weapon and fired, killing Jean, an employee of accounting firm PricewaterhouseCooper.

Guyger called police to report the shooting and was arrested three days later on manslaughter charges.

A search warrant claims the Dallas cop was trying to open the door with a set of keys when he confronted her and she shot him, a bombshell revelation which significantly undermines her claim she found him sitting inside in the dark.

Dallas County District Attorney Faith Johnson said a grand jury will decide the ultimate charge against Guyger and that she has not ruled out pursuing a murder indictment.

Protesters marched outside the Dallas Cowboys' stadium last week to demand the Guyger be fired and charged with murder.

Allison Jean, the mother of 26-year-old Botham Jean, said she wants to see the toxicology report for the off-duty officer

Protesters are demanding that Dallas police officer Amber Guyger be fired and charged with murder instead of manslaughter for Jean's death

Some of the demonstrators rolled empty coffins as they marched outside AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, ahead of Sunday's Cowboys game to protest recent fatal police shootings.

Dallas Police Chief Renee Hall issued a statement Friday explaining why no disciplinary action has been taken against Guyger.

'There is one overriding reason that I have not taken any administrative or employment action against Officer Amber Guyger. I don't want to interfere with the on-going criminal investigation into her actions,' she said.

The victim's mother Allison Jean said she wants to see the toxicology report for the off-duty officer to determine if any drugs were in her system at the time of the shooting.

Earlier, authorities released a video showing Guyger being booked into jail after she was arrested.

The video shows Guyger in handcuffs and dressed in an orange jail uniform on Sunday at the Kaufman county jail. She takes a seat in front of a desk and later leans her head down, bringing her hands to her face.The top Yale professor accused of telling students that it is 'no accident' Judge Brett Kavanaugh's female clerks all 'look like models' has denied claims she groomed them in a statement to the Ivy League school's law community.

Amy Chua, 55, author of the 2011 controversial parenting book Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, says what was alleged by multiple former students is '100 percent false' and 'outrageous'.

She hit back in an email on Saturday clarifying that although she did advise on dress code, it was to both genders.

Amy Chua, 55, (pictured 2016) called claims she groomed Brett Kavanaugh's female clerks '100 percent false' and 'outrageous'

Chua (pictured 2011) says she told those interviewing to avoid 'inappropriate clothing' but not to dress 'too casually' when meeting Kavanaugh

Christine Blasey Ford's allegations that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her and tried to rip off her swimsuit at a party when she was 15 have left him fighting for his Supreme Court nomination

NBC News reports Chua says she told 'students, male and female, to dress professionally  not too casually  and to avoid inappropriate clothing. I remind them that they are interviewing with a member of the judiciary.'

Chua - who publicly supported Trump's Supreme Court pick as a 'mentor to women' in July - added that she told students to focus on the academic side of things rather than physical appearance.

'I always tell students to prep insanely hard  that substance is the most important thing,' she wrote. 'I advise them to read every opinion, including dissents, the judge has ever written as well as important recent cases from the circuit and Supreme Court.'

Chua (left) author of the 2011 controversial parenting book Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother allegedly advised female students what to wear as well and her husband Professor Jed Rubenfeld, (right) said the judge only hires woman with a 'certain look'

Former students came forward to The Guardian and Huffington Post, saying Chua would advise female students on how to look and to dress 'outgoing' for their interview with Kavanaugh in the hopes of working for him as a law clerk.

These latest allegations come one week after an allegation against Kavanaugh surfaced by Christine Blasey Ford claiming the judge forcibly held her down and groped her in high school. Kavanaugh denies these allegations.

Multiple unnamed students allege Chua would suggest they send her photos of what they were going to wear to interviews with Kavanaugh

Former students, who spoke under the condition of anonymity, told the Guardian Chua's husband Professor Jed Rubenfeld, also provided unsettling advice to law hopefuls.

'He told me, ''You should know that Judge Kavanaugh hires women with a certain look,'' one woman said. 'He did not say what the look was and I did not ask.'

The same student said Chua suggested she send her photos of outfit options and said she should dress in an 'outgoing' way for the interview with the judge.

'She advised me to be and dress ''outgoing,''' the Yale alum said. 'She strongly urged me to send her pictures of what I was thinking of wearing so she could evaluate. I did not.'

It was last year at an informal catch up, that Chua allegedly told students it was 'no accident' that Kavanaugh's female clerks all 'look like models'.

The student said they pointed out that Chua's own daughter is a clerk for Kavanaugh.

However, the source said Chua shot down any assumptions her daughter would be subjected to inappropriate behavior.

One student told the Huffington Post that she had 'mixed feelings' regarding the advice from Chua.

'On the one hand, it's a yellow flag; on the other hand, phew, I hadn't heard anything else,' she said.

A student said it's possible the couple were giving suggestions based off of observations of Kavanaugh and not direct orders.

'I have no reason to believe he was saying, ''Send me the pretty ones'', but rather that he was reporting back and saying, ''I really like so and so,'' and the way he described them led them to form certain conclusions,' the woman said.

Chua has canceled all of her Yale courses this year and is reportedly in the hospital with an undisclosed illness.

In an emailed statement to the Guardian, Chua wrote: 'For the more than 10 years I've known him, Judge Kavanaugh's first and only litmus test in hiring has been excellence. He hires only the most qualified clerks, and they have been diverse as well as exceptionally talented and capable.'

Her husband is reportedly being investigated by Yale University - however the university has neither confirmed or denied the investigation.

A Yale official said: 'I can assure you that we take allegations of faculty misconduct very seriously.'The little boy, probably 18 months old, screamed as his mother handed him to the nurse to be weighed. He was about 14lb.

The measurement of his upper arm confirmed the diagnosis: severe acute malnutrition.

Welcome to the former British colony of Yemen, and a health clinic in the capital Sanaa supported by the International Rescue Committee (IRC), the global relief charity Ive been president of since 2013.

A Yemeni woman carries an ill child as they wait to travel abroad via a UN-sponsored humanitarian air bridge at the Health Ministry headquarters in the capital Sanaa on September 18

The country is suffering the worlds worst humanitarian crisis. The UN World Food Programme feeds eight million people every month.

Half the population has no access to clean drinking water.

Last year saw the largest cholera outbreak in recorded history. And 22 million people, over 80 per cent of the population, need humanitarian aid.

Shamefully, this crisis is man-made. Its the result of a brutal civil war, in which Britain is heavily implicated, but which far too few people know about.

My visit to Yemen this week convinced me the world needs an urgent wake-up call.

Yemen matters for reasons beyond the morality tale that people are dying for no good reason.

In its suffering and chaos, the only winners are Al Qaeda and Islamic State, who are gaining ground.

The great danger is that, as more people die, Yemen becomes the new Afghanistan, a terrorist breeding ground that threatens life and limb way beyond its borders.

The proximate cause of the war is a rebellion four years ago by troops belonging to an Islamic tribe called the Houthis.

They stormed the capital, drove out the government and established their rule over more than 70 per cent of the population. Now they are dug in.

The Houthis draw their support from a conservative sect of the Shia branch of Islam. They are a longstanding part of Yemeni society but, in recent years, have gained Iranian backing.

Missiles have been fired from Yemen into neighbouring Saudi Arabia  and the Trump Administration has pointed the finger at Iranian technology.

In retaliation to the Houthi coup, a coalition, led by Saudi Arabia and supported by the UK and US, was formed to drive them back.

It has the support of a UN Security Council Resolution, passed in 2015 at a time when the Obama administration was determined to balance its pursuit of a nuclear deal with Iran with support for Saudi Arabia.

The UN resolution offers a carte blanche to wage war, but no roadmap to win peace. Little wonder that the situation in Yemen threatens to spiral out of control.

The coalition has mounted more than 18,000 bombing raids to drive out the Houthis. America is the major arms supplier, but Britain is there too.

Although more than 7,500 civilians have been directly killed in the fighting, and the UN has denounced widespread and systematic attacks on civilian targets, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo recently gave the all clear for more arms sales.

But you cannot bomb your way to victory in a civil war. Surely that lesson was learnt in Vietnam.

A child supporter of Yemen's Shiite Huthi rebels waves a flag as others march in Sanaa during a rally commemorating the fourth anniversary of their takeover of the capital and marking the day of Ashura on September 20

The current focus of the military effort, and the humanitarian crisis, is the port city of Hodeidah, on the Red Sea.

A wide-ranging alliance, including supporters of exiled President Hadi, has been driving up from the South.

Everyone fears a siege of the city, where 300,000 people still live, or an all-out assault. The UN Special Envoy has said such an attack would cut off peace talks at the knees.

I tried to visit Hodeidah, but could only get as close as Bajil, a bustling town 30 miles away, because of the fighting.

But I met International Rescue Committee staff who had escaped the conflict, and families displaced by fighting.

They told me about missiles destroying hospitals, land mines threatening civilians, a climate of fear stalking the city.

And not just any city. Up to 80 per cent of Yemens humanitarian and commercial supplies are meant to flow through Hodeidahs port.

The UN calculates that only a fraction of the needed supplies are getting through.

Food prices are skyrocketing; I saw queues half a mile long at petrol stations because of the fuel shortage.

The humanitarian consequences of this war are clear. Families traumatised, infrastructure smashed, the economy shredded.

But the political consequences of a war that no one is winning are to push a sustainable peace further away.

Far from weakening Iranian influence, experienced Yemen watchers like former CIA analyst Bruce Riedel of the Brookings Institution in Washington are convinced the Iranians have a stronger foothold than when the war began.

Meanwhile, the threat from extremist groups is growing. Al Qaeda of the Arabian Peninsula is indigenous to Yemen. It is a real threat. Islamic State is incubating there too.

Nothing comes to mind as strongly as the old adage: When in a hole, stop digging. We should all be imploring Theresa May and Jeremy Hunt, as they head to New York for the UN General Assembly this week, to get a grip.

The UK holds the pen at the United Nations, which means we are in charge of the process to draft and agree UN Resolutions.

Yemeni farmers work in a vegetable field on the outskirts of Sanaa, the country's capital city

At the moment there is inertia where there needs to be action.

Yemens war needs a new approach. And Britain should provide it. Dont let anyone tell you that nothing can be done.

Step one is a ceasefire. Freeze current positions. Stop the killing. It is bold but necessary.

Four years of war have delivered nothing but misery, so we should try a period of peace. That would allow a massive injection of vital humanitarian relief.

The key is that the ports, above all Hodeidah, start operating at full capacity. The priorities are food, supplies and medicines.

The best solution would be for the UN to take over Hodeidahs administration from the Houthis.

Then a massive issue: Yemeni doctors, nurses and teachers are not being paid because of the war.

At the International Rescue Committee clinic in Sanaa the staff were desperate: they could not support their own families, but were expected to help others. It is criminal for soldiers to be paid but not vital life-saving staff.

The IRC has 800 people working in Yemen (and they are paid with aid money). They are doing amazing work to deliver healthcare, promote employment, and fix water and sanitation.

But you cannot run a country on the back of humanitarian aid. Yemen needs to revive its economy.

Opening Hodeidah would allow commercial traffic to flow. Sanaa airport needs to be opened, too, if the economy is to get off its knees.

A ceasefire would also allow the experienced (British) UN Special Envoy, Martin Griffiths, to broker the peace. There are multiple fronts to Yemens conflict, but two players are key.

Saudi Arabia wants an end to rocket attacks from over the border. They want a legitimate, stable and unified government restored. Fair enough.

The Houthis want a share in political power, reflecting their 25 per cent of the population. Also fair enough.

Yemens lesson, like that of Afghanistan and Iraq, is that there is no winner when each side insists that winner takes all.

One of the people I met in Yemen talked about the death channel into which the country has been plunged.

It is a chilling phrase, but it captures the cycle of violence, poverty and crisis that is consuming soldiers and civilians alike. Yemen needs to be hauled out of its death channel. Instead of sponsoring the conflict, outside powers need to get on with stopping it.

I wish I could report that America was going to lead this effort. But it wont. President Trump says his sole interest is defeating extremism.

But despite the fact that the current strategy is fuelling extremism, there is going to be no leadership from him. He has abandoned Americas role as the diplomatic motor.

Supporters of Brexit, including the Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary, say that it liberates Britain to play a global role. Well, here is their chance.

It should not be called brave to break with a failing strategy. It should be called leadership.

That is what the world needs to see this week.Imran Khan to chair Punjab cabinet meeting today

LAHORE: Prime Minister Imran Khan will chair a Punjab cabinet meeting and call upon provincial ministers today regarding implementation of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insafs (PTI) 100-day agenda.



PM Imran will arrive in Lahore on one-day visit from Islamabad and will conduct a Punjab cabinet meeting at 3pm today where he will be briefed on various matters.



He will also meet Punjab Chief Minister, Local Government Minister Aleem Khan and Punjab Health Minister Dr Yasmeen Rashid. Aleem Khan will brief the PM regarding the 100-day agenda. National Commission for Police Reforms (NCPR) chief Nasir Khan Durrani will also meet with PM Khan.Advertisement

A powerful tornado that carved a path through parts of Canada's capital snapped trees, tossed cars and obliterated dozens of homes leaving what the city's mayor said resembled 'a war scene.'

At least two twisters ripped through the outskirts of Ontario on Friday, striking Dunrobin in Ottawa before crossing the Quebec border and striking Gatineau.

The storm left at least 40 homes flattened or destroyed in Dunrobin alone, and another 215 buildings and 1,686 housing units damaged in Gatineau.

Officials in Gatineau said that 200 people there had received housing assistance through the Red Cross.

Damage from a tornado is seen in Dunrobin, Ontario, Canada. west of Ottawa on Saturday the day after the storm

A pig wanders on the lawn of Christine Earle's property as her son Aidan and family friend Brandon Bates, right, clean up damage caused by a tornado at her farm in Dunrobin, Ontario, west of Ottawa, on Saturday

People collect personal effects from damaged homes following a tornado in Dunrobin, Ontario west of Ottawa on Friday

Residents salvage belongings on Friday after a devastating tornado hit the community of Dunrobin west of Ottawa

The radar map shows where the most severe part of the storm hit and its rough trajectory along the outskirts of Ottawa

Five people were hospitalized in Ottowa, with two in critical condition, one in serious condition and two listed as stable, the CBC reported. There were reports of injuries in Quebec as well, however there have been no reports of fatalities.

On Saturday, more than 150,000 customers were still without power following the tornado, and officials warned that it could take days to restore power to those areas hardest hit.

'It looked like it was something from a movie scene or a war scene,' Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson told reporters Saturday describing what he saw in the area of Dunrobin, where some 60 buildings were wiped out or partially destroyed.

'Literally, it looks like some bomb was dropped from the air,' Watson said. 'It's in the top two or three traumatic events that have affected our city.'

Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson, center, takes part in a briefing as paramedic gives an update on Friday night. 'Literally, it looks like some bomb was dropped from the air,' Watson said. 'It's in the top two or three traumatic events that have affected our city.'

People collect personal effects from damaged homes following a tornado in Dunrobin, Ontario west of Ottawa on Friday

Damage from a tornado is seen in Dunrobin, Ontario west of Ottawa on Friday. The area was his by severe storms

A young couple surveys the damage to their home following a tornado in Dunrobin, Ontario west of Ottawa on Friday

People collect personal effects from damaged homes following a tornado in Dunrobin, Ontario west of Ottawa on Friday

The decimated remains of a home are seen after a tornado in Dunrobin, Ontario west of Ottawa on Friday

A dormer that was torn from a home's roof by a tornado is seen in Dunrobin, Ontario, Canada west of Ottawa, on Saturday

Much of Dunrobin, a semi-rural community about 22 miles west of downtown Ottawa, remained cordoned off by police.

Personal items were strewn everywhere - a baby blanket, a life jacket, mattresses, lawn mowers, a fridge, a kitchen sink lying on the grass and even a love seat wrapped around a telephone pole.

Meteorologist Simon Legault said there was evidence of powerful winds between 112-137 miles per hour.

Environment Canada said on Saturday the tornado that hit Dunrobin was likely an EF-3, meaning it had wind speeds of up to 164mph.

The second tornado was classified as a high end EF-2 with wind speeds of up 137mph and it hit the neighborhood of Arlington Woods in Ottawa.

Damage from a tornado is seen in Gatineau, Quebec, Canada on Saturday. The storm damaged 215 building in the area

Damage from a tornado is seen in Gatineau, Quebec, Canada on Saturday. The storm tore roofs off of homes, overturned cars and felled power lines

Destroyed buildings and cars are seen in Mont-Bleu, Gatineau, Quebec, close to Ottawa after a tornado ripped through

Destroyed buildings and cars are seen in Mont-Bleu, Gatineau, Quebec, close to Ottawa after a tornado

The tornado aftermath is seen in Mont-Bleu, Gatineau, Quebec, close to Ottawa after a tornado passed through

People walk past debris in a Gatineau, Quebec on Saturday after a tornado passed through the town near Ottawa

Christine Earle, her sons, Iain, left, Aidan, right, and friend Brandon Bates look at branches and building material swept into her pool by a tornado at her farm in Dunrobin, Ontario, west of Ottawa on Saturday

Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard broke off campaigning ahead of an October 1 provincial election to travel to Gatineau.

Residents on both sides of the Ottowa River were left stunned as they attempted to pick up the pieces.

'We have lost absolutely everything,' Ottawa resident Todd Nicholson told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. He was not home when the tornado struck.

'I have got a beer fridge that's sitting in my garage - that is the only thing that is untouched - but everything else has gone,' Nicholson said.John Howard has told an exclusive men's-only club there should be more women in Parliament but setting gender quotas is 'patronising'.

The Former Prime Minister has said the Liberal party should recruit more women in their parliamentary ranks.

At his book launch, the former leader told his male-only audience he doesn't believe in quotas for female politicians, the Age reported.

John Howard (pictured) has told an exclusive men's only club there should be more women in Parliament and that the current ratio is 'patronising'

John Howard: 'But in the end, you've always got to make a judgement based on merit,'

'Having said that, I would like to see more women in the House of Representatives on our side of politics,' Mr Howard said.

'But in the end, you've always got to make a judgement based on merit,' he added.

In his speech at the Tattersall's Club in Brisbane, Mr Howard said there were more Liberal women in his Parliament in 1996 than there are now.

'I would like to see it come back to that sort of level or even more,' he said.

However, the former prime minister told his fellow party members, 'I'm sure the women amongst us would agree with me overwhelmingly that, in the end, it's all about merit.'

Since the latest Liberal Party Spill, several women have stepped forward accusing key members of the party of bullying and harassment.

Federal NSW MP Ann Sudmalis is quitting at the next election after she claims she was bullied by NSW state Liberal MP Gareth Ward.

She is the the third party member in the lower house to reveal she is quitting since last month.

'My decision has been made after six-and-a-half years of holding my pledge to be a team player in the face of NSW Liberal Party bullying, intimidation, leaking and undermining at a local level,' Ms Sudmalis said on Monday, the West Australian reported.

Victorian Liberal Julia Banks is also leaving the lower house at the next election over her own claims of bullying within the party.

There are currently 13 coalition women in the lower house, but that could drop to as low as six at the next election.

The Tattersall's Club (pictured) is a regular haunt for Liberal Party events after the conservative group hosted their International Women's Day lunch there in 2015

If it drops to five, there will be an equal member of women in House of Representatives as men named Andrew.

Despite the drop in female representatives, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he was confident there was no bullying in the Liberal Party.

'We have that process within the parliamentary party,' Mr Morrison told reporters in Canberra.

'I want to be confident the party organisation under their responsibilities is doing the same thing, because that's where Ann's complaint has gone to.'

Australia's former Prime Minister has said the Liberal party should recruit more women in their parliamentary ranks

The Tattersall's Club is a regular haunt for Liberal Party events after the conservative group hosted their International Women's Day lunch there in 2015.

In 2016, Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and Deputy Premier Jackie Trad were the first Liberal members to not be invited in to the exclusive club because of the club's rules

The club was founded in 1865 and is reluctant to change their deep-rooted rule on allowing women onto the premises.

On Thursday, the Tattersall's asked all members to consider granting women a full membership and access to the premises.

The club has changed membership policies in the past regarding race and religion but are yet to let women in.A male bank director who wears wigs and dresses to work on some days and mens suits on others has sparked controversy by accepting an award for top female executives.

Married father-of-two Philip Bunce describes himself as gender-fluid and non-binary  meaning neither male nor female  and decides each day whether to dress as a man or a woman and whether to call himself Philip or Pippa.

He even has a security badge featuring both his male and female identities for when he arrives at the offices of top investment bank Credit Suisse.

This weekend, however, he finds himself at the centre of a storm after being included in a list of Britains top 100 female executives compiled for the Champions of Women in Business awards.

Bunce was ranked Number 32 in the list, organised by the Financial Times and diversity campaign Involve, and material released to announce the awards shows him in both his male and female guises.

Philip or Pippa Bunce named in list of top 100 of Britain's female executives

The commendation pays tribute to Bunce as a key proponent for many of Credit Suisses gender focused initiatives and as an advocate for a more diverse gender workforce where there is the parity, equal representation and equality across all 3 genders.

But Gwen Rhys, founder of the Women in the City organisation which celebrates female talent, questioned the inclusion of Bunce in the female section.

This person may well be a champion of diversity, but I am curious as to why the category that they have been put into is that of females, she said.

Dr Sarah Rutherford, a diversity consultant and former bank director, said: He never claims to be a woman. Credit Suisse perhaps had good intentions but it was wholly inappropriate to put him on the female list.

Former Credit Suisse employee Caroline Farrow wrote on social media: Had a woman gone to work in Credit Suisse wearing a shocking pink lace dress & towering heels, a manager would have had a word.

Karen Ingala Smith, who runs a charity for domestic abuse victims, wrote: If Philip Bunce wants to wear a frock and lippie to work once a week, then good for him.

There is no good reason why he shouldnt. But that does not make him a woman and certainly not female. Shame on @FT for listing him as one of the Top 100 Female Executives.

And university lecturer Dr Sophie Allen said: Someone with integrity who was offered this award would have refused it in favour of a woman who had genuinely had to deal with discrimination throughout her life to excel in her career. But rather than standing in solidarity with other women, @pippabunce is insulting them.

Married father-of-two Philip Bunce describes himself as gender-fluid and non-binary

Credit Suisse announced the accolade for Bunce on social media, saying: Congratulations to Pips Bunce on being listed as one of the Top 100 Female Executives in the 2018 FT & HERoes Champions of Women in Business list! In response to the award, Bunce said: I am truly honoured and humbled by this award and am proud of the progress we are making towards all forms of gender diversity and equality.

In a previous interview about his gender fluid lives, he said: I like to be Phil one day and Pippa another, using different forms of dress and make-up to do so. I do it at home and at work. I am straight, have been married for more than 20 years and have two children.

Last night he declined to comment, but in response to earlier criticism he described his detractors on a now deleted tweet as sad terfs  a derogatory acronym standing for trans-exclusionary radical feminists, suggesting they were transphobic.

Suki Sandhu, founder of the awards, said: We are very clear that nominations to the lists are open to everyone including those who identify as trans and non-binary. We believe that nobody has the right to tell an individual how to define their own gender identity, and that includes us.

Credit Suisse, which employs Bunce as a technology director, said: We are very proud to be an inclusive employer which celebrates all aspects of diversity.The father-of-two who confessed to killing his pregnant wife in a rage reportedly made the startling admission after having a heart-to-heart conversation with his father.

Chris Watts, 33, had shifted his story multiple times to police after the disappearance of his wife Shan'ann, 34, and their two young daughters on August 13.

He originally denied knowing where his family was, telling authorities he and his wife were involved in a 'civil' and 'emotional' conversation ahead of their disappearance.

However, when confronted with evidence that he was having an affair, People reports that Watts told officers he 'would tell the truth after speaking with his dad'.

After the two spoke, he confessed to killing Shan'ann but still insisted she killed the pair's children.

Chris Watts admitted to strangling his wife 'in a fit of rage' after requesting to speak with his father. Watts is seen in a Greeley, Colorado courtroom on August 21 sitting alongside his attorneys

His pregnant wife and daughters were reported missing on August 13 and their bodies were found

He then told police he'd take the bodies of his wife and daughters to an oil field where he worked.

Watts was arrested and charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of Shan'ann, Celeste, three, and Bella, four - at their home in Frederick, Colorado.

He told police that he and his wife argued 'emotionally' about separating on the morning of their disappearance and that his wife strangled both of their children to death.

Watts claims he then strangled Shan'ann in a fit of rage.

He said that after he told his wife he wanted to separate, he watched as she strangled Celeste while Bella was 'blue', her lifeless body in a bed nearby.

This confession came after investigators learned he was allegedly having an affair with a co-worker.

He denied the affair but an investigation confirmed otherwise. Once Watts was confronted with this information, he made the request to speak to his father who was at the police station at the time.

He then confessed 'the truth' of what happened.

Watts was arrested and charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of his 34-year-old wife, Shanann Watts, and their two daughters - Celeste, three, and Bella, four - at their home in Frederick, Colorado

Watts is checked on every hour to make sure he is still alive and not taken his own life

But investigators say Watts is lying.

'The theory that she [Shan'ann] did it doesn't hold any water,' a source close to the investigation told People.

'There is absolutely no evidence that she killed her children.'

Meanwhile, Watts' lawyers are asking the court to investigate whether prosecutors have leaked damaging information about their client to the press. Prosecutors have denied the accusation.

Watts is also charged with tampering with evidence for allegedly burying his wife in a shallow grave 35 miles from home and dumping his two daughters into a tank filled with crude oil.

Prosecutors in the case are asking the judge not to reveal the autopsy report before his murder trial begins.

The confessed killer is now apparently severely depressed after being kept in isolation after more than a month in jail.

A source at the Weld County Jail in Colorado confirmed that the 33-year-old murder defendant is now on suicide watch.

'He's not doing well at all,' a source told People. 'The gravity of the situation has hit him like a ton of bricks. Depression is setting in, and he's despondent.'Australian doctors are risking long-term jail-time after admitting they're inducing early deaths for terminally ill patients.

West Australian based GP Alida Lancee has been under investigation for more than two years after she said she hastened the death of an elderly woman dying from emphysema.

In July, Dr Lancee was cleared by a board of authorities, who said she provided appropriate care to the patient and did not bring about an early death.

But on Sunday, Dr Lancee says they've been looking at the wrong patient, and will re-open the case by identifying the real one on Channel Nine's 60 Minutes.

Dr Alida Lancee (pictured) is prepared to face criminal conviction for her belief in euthanasia

Dr Lancee has been a prolific advocate for euthanasia reform.

'Right now, behind closed doors in Australia, hundreds of people are begging for help,' she says.

But by identifying the patient she claims to have helped die prematurely, she believes she will face a murder charge.

'I hastened this lady's death, currently this is called murder,' she told The West Australian.

'I am prepared to face a criminal charge to expose the problems with the current legal framework that doctors work under when they care for the dying.'

Dr Frank Kotai (pictured) supports Dr Lancee, saying he has assisted in the death of six patients

Another doctor, Dr Rodney Syme (pictured) told 60 minutes he has assisted in 300 deaths

Following the two-year-long police investigation, Dr Lancee was labelled 'Dr Death'.

But she says she isn't without supporters within the industry.

Not many doctors are willing to do it, and so she's quite unique,' Dr Frank Kotai says, who claims he has assisted in the deaths of six of his terminally ill patients.

Another doctor, Dr Rodney Syme told 60 minutes he has assisted in 300 deaths.

The trio hope telling their stories will lead to nation-wide reform for euthanasia laws.

Dr Lancee (pictured), labelled 'Dr Death' following a police investigation, hopes voluntary assisted dying will be legalised Australia-wide after legislation was reformed in Victoria

Dr Syme is the vice-president of Dying With Dignity Victoria, lobbying for voluntary assisted dying for more than 30 years.

The organisation played an instrumental role in euthanasia legislation reform in Victoria.

New laws will be introduced in June 2019, making Victoria the only Australian state in which it is legal for doctors to assist terminal patients end their lives.

The most recent data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows that men over the age of 85 have the highest suicide rate in Australia.A married American diplomat told investigators he got a lot of punishment for doing nothing before they determined he sexually assaulted a 22-year-old drunk woman at his overseas residence in Mexico, DailyMail.com can exclusively reveal.

The Treasury Department Financial Attache, who worked at the US Embassy in Mexico City, was thrown out of the country after the woman accused him of forcing her to perform oral sex in a bathroom at his party on New Years Eve, 2014.

DailyMail.com obtained a transcript and a redacted photo from his interview with Treasury Department special agents after he was removed from Mexico through a Freedom of Information Act request.

Even though the allegations against him were substantiated, the Treasury Department has protected his identity and has rejected constant requests to name him.

During the interview, the attache admitted there was sexual contact between him and the victim during the interview with investigators.

He also admitted cheating on his wife, rejected claims from people at the party that he was drunker than theyd ever seen him before and insists that at no point the victim pulled away or gave any indication she was being coerced into performing the sex act on him.

The official also denied that he said he was 'as hard as Lenin's statue' during his midnight toast.

A married American diplomat told investigators he got a lot of punishment for doing nothing before they determined he sexually assaulted a 22-year-old drunk woman at a at his overseas residence in Mexico, DailyMail.com can exclusively reveal. Even though the allegations against him were substantiated, his identity has been protected by the US Government

He rejected the victims allegations that she was too scared to resist his advance and she couldnt get away as he was forcing her head down.

The alleged victim was on vacation and visiting a relative who worked at the Mexico City embassy at the time of the attack.

He told the agents their encounter was consensual and she never said stop.

In a bid to make sure no one who knew his wife saw him, he moved into a quieter part of the apartment, he said in the interview.

Initially, after the woman made the allegations, the unnamed official considered filing a libel or slander case against the girl because of her allegations.

But he told investigators didnt want to pursue legal action. He did, however, reveal that he believed his career was ruined as a result of the accusations.

The punishment is already done This (case) has been a career ender with the U.S. government. It cost me another job, he told the interviewers.

Im really worried now that I cant actually apply to any jobs based on my profession because people at banks can just call back to Treasury and be like hey, we got this great resume. What do you know.

So like my past couple of weeks (after the alleged attack) have been figuring out like I have to go back to school.

At no point during this four or five, six minutes did she say like hey, calm down, or like whoa, youre hurting me or I dont want to do this.

He reiterated that he rejected the allegations made against him, and revealed that his outlook for working for the US government ever again looked bleak.

I was never pushed away, I was never - like there wasnt even like a hint. Like a slight hint of like Im not comfortable here,  he added.

I may be done. Like I may never be able to serve in the U.S. government again.

'I may never be able to work for financial industry again because of this. Its over right. Like I got a lot of punishment for doing nothing.

Despite his denials and protests, the senior diplomat was removed from his overseas post and left the Treasury Department before he could be fired for his conduct.

Treasury Department officials told DailyMail.com that releasing the identity of the attache would not be in the public interest, despite the ongoing scandal of men in positions of power sexually abusing and harassing women.

The report of the investigation that was previously obtained by DailyMail.com, stated that the Treasury Department's Office of the Inspector General substantiated the womans allegation and he was banned from working for the US government.

The probe, that was run by current OIG head Eric Thorson at the time, concluded he likely did commit the sexual assault, but he was too drunk to notice her rejecting his advances.

Initially, the documents did not reveal where the encounter took place.

But new files obtained by DailyMail.com that were included in the investigation confirmed he was working in Mexico City.

DailyMail.com can also confirm, through a number of sources that he is now working for a high-flying financial firm and has recently had a child with his wife.

He told investigators he had lost one job at a bank as a result of the allegations, but was offered the lucrative position a short time later.

At the start of the interview he told the special agents, who have not been named, that at his New Years Eve party in 2014 he had been flirting with the woman throughout the night.

He also admitted to the agents that the woman did not know he was married, but other people at the party did.

The interviewers asked the staffer to recount how he remembers the evening and pressed him for the details.

They asked him what happened when he first met the girl in question and what led to their tryst in the bathroom.

He said: I spoke to her about the fact that she had graduated from college and that she had a job lined up for her at a gym or a swim school, or something like that. That she liked dogs a lot.

We had spent the entire night being quite flirtatious with each other, he added.

She tried tried to kiss me on the lips. Then I just sort of turned my face away to the cheek so that she - there were tons of times that we talked about going to the gym and working out and she on several occasions (she) put her hand in my shirt to say things like wow, you really work out, or something like that right.

She wanted to go find a pool, or go to the gym with me, things like that. We had talked about getting together the week after (the party).

Or even the couple of days after the party. So yes, it was quite a bit of flirting.

He told the agents that at one point a college friend noticed how he was interacting with the woman and spoke to him.

The diplomat said his friend accused him of being 'a little flirtatious', and urged him 'to tone it down a little bit.

The Treasury Department Financial Attache, who worked at the US Embassy in Mexico City (above), was thrown out of the country after the woman accused him of forcing her to perform oral sex in a bathroom at a party on New Years Eve, 2014

At midnight, he said the woman tried to kiss him, but he turned his head away because they were in a crowded room and he didnt want anyone else to see, according to the transcript.

They were being friendly throughout the evening until they decided to move to what was known as the maids quarters of his apartment, he said.

He told investigators the area is basically a storage closet and a bathroom connected to it.

It would have been completely out of sight of everyone. (We) made out there. I touched her, she touched me. And then we made our way into the bathroom.

We made out and she put her hands on you know, everywhere on my body'.

He said he then 'fingered' her.

She sat on the bathroom. Took my pants off, performed oral sex. And after I finished, she left first and then I followed after her.

One of the special agents asks whether he heard the woman crying or gasping for air' when they were in the bathroom.

The punishment is already done This has been a career-ender with the U.S. government. It cost me another job. I may never be able to work for financial industry again because of this. So a punishment like done. Its over right. Like I got a lot of punishment for doing nothing

No. No, absolutely not, he responded.

Did she ever say stop?

No. (she) Never moved my hands away, never pulled away, never tried to stand up.

'Never said stop, never yelled, never - she did nothing like that.

When he left the bathroom he said a friend came up to him and told him she had suspicions about what had just happened.

He told investigators that he said to her: This makes me sound like a real scumbag.

Then he insisted to the friend that nothing happened.

He told the agents: One of the reasons its kind of been stressful is I sort of thought to myself like did I actually do something wrong?

It wasnt until later that in January 2014 that he was being investigated for his actions.

I was out with some folks that were visiting from the Treasury, he said in the interview

We had a long day of work and then we went to dinner and then to a few bars. And she (the victim) emailed me at midnight.

He described it as a very like flirtatious email that said something like you never called me back to go to the gym. Were you afraid Id like kick you butt or something like that.

She then called him.

This phone call like now that Ive done like a little bit of like research on line like was like clearly like a call set up by the diplomatic security agents,  he said.

I have absolutely no doubt about that. So Im sure everything that they told her to write was fabricated in this email.

But at least from the vantage point of where I stood was, it was a super flirtatious email. She said she was out with some friends and that if she wanted to get together.

He asked to meet up with her later that night, but she said it would be better to talk on the phone.

She called around 2:45 or maybe 3:00 am. Said she was out at a club with some friends visiting from the States. And then she basically said like Oh, you really hurt me that night that we hooked up. And I didnt realize that you were married.

All I wanted to do was get off the phone with her, so I apologized a few times. And then that was it. And so that was the only other contact I had with her.

Jack Lew (left) was Treasury Secretary at the time of the investigation. He was appointed by President Obama. DailyMail.com have tried to contact him for a comment on the story, but he has not yet responded. Steve Mnuchin (right) is the current Treasury Secretary. Officials in his department have also refused to name the diplomat

He said that the background on the call was completely silent, even though she claimed she was at a club.

Her constant demand for an apology also made him concerned that it was a set up by investigators.

Then he told her dont talk to people about that. Dont tell people that we hooked up. Its no one elses business.

Trying to quickly end the conversation, the diplomat then apologized to her.

I was just like look Im sorry if I hurt you. I cant remember the exact words that I used.

The special agents kept probing about the attaches marriage and how the allegations had impacted their relationship.

He said: One of the things that makes me like most uncomfortable in this questioning is the way that I handle my sexual relationship with my (wife) and like how we deal with like having contact outside of our marriage is like very private to us.

After the call the fallout from the investigation began. The Treasury staffer told investigators a bank rescinded their offer after a guy leaked details of his case.

He said: At the beginning of this, I had no idea what the charges even were, I had no idea how serious it was.

I didnt know I was leaving the country, I didnt know there was going to be a criminal prosecution.

Diplomatic Security Agents then flew to the country where he was working, and asked him for a guest list to the party to help with their investigation.

A short time after that he was forced to leave Mexico, Treasury officials determined that he sexually assaulted the woman, but by then he had already left the government.

The U.S. Department of Justice, Criminal Division, Rights and Special Prosecutions Section, declined to prosecute the case, citing the exacting standard of proof in criminal court.

However, according to the report, officials in the Treasury Department decided against criminal proceedings' citing the 'exacting standard of proof in criminal court and the availability of administrative actions'.'

It is not known whether or how the Treasury punished the attache.

Jack Lew was Treasury Secretary at the time of the investigation. He was appointed by President Obama.

DailyMail.com have tried to contact him for a comment on the story, but he has not yet responded.

The woman told department investigators that a few hours after the attack she texted a friend describing what had happened.

On January 3, 2014, she told her brother about the alleged attack. He then reported to his supervisor and sparked a series of interviews.

On January 6, 2014, she had a medical examination, but doctors found no bruises, scratch marks, lacerations, bite marks of any other signs of trauma.

DSS Special Agents subsequently conducted interviews with the complainant, the attache, 14 people who went to the party, and the medical professionals who examined the woman.

Eight people at the party said they didnt notice any unusual contact between with the woman and the attache, but six said the attache was they were either drunk or very drunk.

The Treasury Department confirmed to DailyMail.com that the attache no longer works with them, and left after the investigation into his conduct concluded.

The attache joined the Treasury in 2009. He was promoted to salary bracket GS-13 - meaning he earned between $74,584 and $96,958, in December, 2012.

An investigation by the Treasurys Official of the Inspector General, that was run by current head Eric Thorson at the time, concluded he likely did commit the sexual assault, but he was too drunk to notice her rejecting his advances

Only officials employed to a rank of GS-14 and GS-15 earn higher salaries as civil servants.

Before he started his work at the embassy he worked for the Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence.Their aim is to monitor any international economic developments that would be benefit the US.

There are approximately 18 financial Attache stationed in major financial capitals and high-risk jurisdictions around the world.

In Afghanistan and Iraq, they are focused on restructuring efforts after the war and the collapse of their governments.

It is the same agency that is part of the investigation into Maria Butina, the gun rights activist arrested in the US accused of acting as a foreign agent on behalf of Russia.

In January 2013, while Jack Lew was Treasury Secretary, he was transferred from the Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence and named a Financial Attache.

In December, 2017, it was revealed that The Treasury Department paid $174,000 over five years to settle sexual harassment cases, many involving members of Congress.

It is not known if officials in the Treasury paid anything to settle sexual harassment claims involving its own staff.

This isnt the first time a government department has protected the identity of a high-ranking overseas official accused of misconduct while stationed abroad.

In January 2016, DailyMail.com uncovered that a US consulate employee had a child taken from his care because officials feared the minor was in danger following systematic abuse and neglect.

A document exposed how the International Trade Administration staff member allegedly subjected the minor to shocking care while working abroad and living in a house owned by the government

An investigation found the child was routinely underfed and encouraged to take their clothes off in the consulate residence so the man could allegedly take pictures of them naked.

At the time the unidentified employee also allegedly harassed female colleagues during his posting and used a government email address to meet women online.

Daily Mail Online obtained the damning document after submitting a Freedom of Information request to the Department of Commerce's Office of the Inspector General.

The report revealed the employee had shared custody of the child.

According to the report, he would routinely forget to pick up the child from other consulate employees houses, left the minor at home alone and would only give them one apple to take for their school lunch.

He also, according to the document, took baths with the child, encouraging them to take their clothes off and would then take pictures of them while they were in a bath.Former Deputy Prime Minister Julie Bishop has come out swinging in an explosive television interview saying Australian politics is the laughing stock of the world.

A sneak peek of the 60 Minutes interview with the former foreign minister, which will go to air on Sunday night, sees Ms Bishop unleash a tirade against former colleagues.

In the first major interview since the leadership spill, the former frontbencher says she still gets calls asking why she is no longer the foreign minister and what happened to the prime minister.

Julie Bishop will reveal all in an explosive 60 Minutes interview on Sunday night

'There have been some rather unkind comments about Australia being the Italy of the South Pacific and the coup capital of the world,' she told the program.

She also called for more substance and less theatre in parliament during the interview.

Ms Bishop threw her name in the ring to be part in a three-way battle for the leadership role after Malcolm Turnbull stepped down last month.

She was eliminated on the first ballot with 11 votes out of 85.

The battle came down between Scott Morrison and Peter Dutton with Morrison having the numbers to become Australia's 30th prime minister.

Josh Frydenberg then had the numbers to become Australia's new deputy leader.

Once widely tipped to become Australia's second female prime minister, Ms Bishop announced her resignation from the ministry two days later the leadership spill.

'We seem to have lowered the bar for the reasons that one can remove a Prime Minister from office.'

'We seem to have lowered the bar for the reasons that one can remove a Prime Minister from office,' Julie Bishop, pictured with new prime minister Scott Morrison said

'Yes, I've had many calls asking why I'm no longer the foreign minister and what happened to the prime minister,' she revealed

When asked if the consequences have been great, she replied: 'Yes, they have.'

When asked what she thought of the 'suits' in the Liberal Party, Ms Bishop replied: 'Well, you can go through it person by person.'

It comes after she took aim at the behaviour of parliamentary colleagues earlier this month, saying she has witnessed 'appalling' behaviour she never would have accepted while running a major law firm 20 years ago.

The 60 Minutes interview with Ms Bishop airs this Sunday at 8.30pm on Channel 9.Social media users are baffled after a swimsuit priced at $380 sold out despite buyers being advised against wearing the item in a pool.

In a description on the website for Selfridges department store that stocks the 'Sparkling swimsuit with a Gucci logo' in the UK, the designer brand admits low down on the e-commerce page that wearers shouldn't take a dip in the bathing suit.

Instead they should think of the item as of more of tight top free of seam lines around the waist.

A Gucci swimsuit priced at $380 sold out despite buyers being advised against wearing the item in a pool

Creative Director Alessandro Michele recommends saving the bathing suit for pairing with 'skirts, denim and anything high-rise' but called 'escapades to the seaside' in it 'criminal'

The Gucci website explained that the nylon fabric is not compatible with chlorine

'Creative Director Alessandro Michele is an ideas man, but with an archive like Gucci's, how could you resist the temptation to revisit some old favorites?' the text reads.

'This swimsuit is printed loud and proud with the reclaimed vintage Gucci logo complete with sparkle and slight fading for authenticity. Saving yours for escapades to the seaside is criminal  wear it with skirts, denim and anything high-rise.'

Made of ivory sparkling Lycra, 80 percent nylon and 20 percent elastane, the self-tie halter all-in-one is off limits for refreshing dips in resort swimming pools because it's not best compatible with the chemical element that helps keep public pools sanitary.

'Due to the nature of this particular fabric, this swimsuit should not come into contact with chlorine,' Gucci's own website warns too.

Many bikini briefs are made from nylon and Lycra blends but polyester is known to be the best fabric for holding color and therefore lasts longer on a swimsuit.

But it hasn't stopped designer fans buying the item as it has sold out online despite critique

The vintage style has been popular on social media but many have bashed the designer brand

The Italian brand's advisory has gotten social media users riled up with some using the opportunity to make jokes.

EggOnYourFaceBook tweeted: 'I guess this is how 'shallow' people have become.'

Tolulope was disappointed in fans of the brand for purchasing the swimwear: 'Gucci is straight wild'n with this bulls**t ya can't tell me they Not. Look at the description ..'to get the best from this item we advise that you do not wear to swim' BUT it's a swim suit ... and it's sold out .. y'all dumb buying this for clout.'

Twitter users joked about the expensive swimsuit that buyers cannot swim in

Many addressed the brand directly for suggesting the item not be immersed in water

Social media users have been talking about it for weeks but it hasn't affected its success

Earlier this month social media influencer and comedian White Yardie made light of the situation in a video where he said the brand is taking advantage of people after he saw the price quoted as $490.

'That's supposed to make you swim under water without holding your breath,' he said in a video rant.

'$490 you're supposed swim in it beat every swimmer in the world. You're supposed to be the Olympic champion of the world.

'Not even sharks are supposed to bite you in that. That's supposed to shark-proof. Sharks are supposed to see you and be scared of you.

'That better teach me to swim I can't swim. If you cannot swim and buy that, that's supposed to help you to swim.'A man is fighting for life and two others are recovering in hospital after their Saturday nights out came to a violent and bloody end.

South Australian Police have arrested seven people over two separate alleged brawls within four hours of each other in the Adelaide CBD.

A man, 29, is in a critical condition with serious head injuries following an alleged altercation with a group of men in the heart of Adelaide's nightclub strip near the intersection of Hindley and Morphett streets just after 2am on Sunday.

Police at the scene in Adelaide's North Terrace where a man was allegedly stabbed. His injuries aren't considered life-threatening

A 21-year-old man was arrested and charged with aggravated assault causing serious harm.

He was refused bail and was due to appear in Adelaide Magistrates Court on Sunday.

Investigations are continuing and police have not ruled out further arrests.

The critically injured man was allegedly assaulted at the same intersection where a young man Jack Hanley, 22, died after a brawl broke out between more than a dozen people in December last year.

Six people were charged with aggravated affray after a man was allegedly stabbed during a brawl earlier in the night at the intersection of Pulteney Street and North Terrace.

A man 23, was allegedly stabbed in the lower abdomen during the scuffle.

He was taken to the hospital for treatment for non life-threatening injuries.

'Investigations are continuing to ascertain how the man sustained the injury,' a police statement said.

A second man was also taken to hospital after he allegedly punched during the altercation.

The alleged stabbing was one of two violent incidents in the Adelaide CBD in the space of four hours

Two men were taken to hospital with life theatening injuries after an alleged altercation in North terrace (pictured)

Police interviewed a number of people in relation to the incident.

Five men aged 21-23 and a woman, 28, were arrested and charged with aggravated affray.

They were bailed to appear in Adelaide Magistrates Court on November 14.

Anyone who may have witnessed either of the two alleged incidents is asked to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

Another reveller claimed he was attacked by a group of unknown men at the intersection of Hindley and Morphett streets at about 3.30am on Sunday in an unrelated incident.

He hasn't reported the incident to police.

'I walked down and four or five jumped me, punched, kicked (me),' he told The Adelaide Advertiser.

'I just didn't see it coming. I was on the ground but I got back up.'

He called for harsher penalties.

'There's just not enough police presence,' he told the publication.

Adelaide radio broadcaster Leon Byner has also called for more to be done.

'Hindley street with its continuing brawls is becoming a city strip where you can go a kilometre either way and never leave a crime scene. Response so far? Widening footpaths and restricting traffic. A procession of drug and alcohol infused revellers face courts. Throw the book,' he tweeted on Sunday.A fourth member of the group Dr Christine Blasey Ford claimed to be with at the party where she was allegedly assaulted by Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh has denied any knowledge of the attack.

On Saturday night, Leland Ingham Keyser, who CNN describes as a 'lifelong friend' of Ford, issued a statement denying any recollection of the party itself or Kavanaugh.

'Simply put, Ms Keyser does not know Mr Kavanaugh and she has no recollection of ever being at a party or gathering where he was present, with, or without, Dr Ford,' her attorney, Howard J. Walsh, said in a statement sent to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Keyser separately clarified to the Washington Post she believes Ford, but does not have any personal knowledge of the assault.

Christine Blasey Ford (pictured) has alleged Brett Kavanaugh, who has been nominated as a justice of the Supreme Court, sexually assaulted her while the pair were high school students

Christine Blasey (now Ford) says Kavanaugh pulled her into a bedroom, held her down, put a hand over her mouth and tried to rip her swimsuit off. The pair are pictured in their high school yearbooks

Three other people, two of whom are Kavanaugh and his friend Mark Judge, have also denied any knowledge of the alleged assault.

The third, Patrick J Smyth, issued a statement on Wednesday denying any knowledge of the party, and going on to praise Kavanaugh as a 'person of great integrity'.

'I am issuing this statement today to make it clear to all involved that I have no knowledge of the party in question; nor do I have any knowledge of the allegations of improper conduct she has leveled against Brett Kavanaugh,' Smyth declared.

'Personally speaking, I have known Brett Kavanaugh since high school and I know him to be a person of great integrity, a great friend, and I have never witnessed any improper conduct by Brett Kavanaugh towards women.

'To safeguard my own privacy and anonymity, I respectfully request that the Committee accept this statement in response to any inquiry the Committee may have.'

Leland Ingham Keyser, pictured left and right, released a statement through her lawyer claiming she has no recollection of the party in question nor of Kavanaugh

Mark Judge has denied any recollection of the event, issuing a statement through his lawyer, Barbara Van Gelder.

'Brett Kavanaugh and I were friends in high school but I do not recall the party described in Dr. Ford's letter. More to the point, I never saw Brett act in the manner Dr. Ford describes,' it read.

Patrick J Smyth (left) and Mark Judge (right) have both denied any knowledge of the sexual assault. In a statement, Smyth denied knowledge and praised the SCOTUS nominee's 'great integrity'. Judge, who was reportedly in the room when Ford was assaulted, has denied any recollection of the incident

While the denials may signal good news for Kavanaugh, who is in the midst of congressional hearings to find out if he will be appointed to the Supreme Court bench, Ford's lawyer has said she wouldn't expect Keyser to remember the incident.

Debra Katz told CNN her client took decades to share her allegations with her husband, and even longer to share them publicly.

'It's not surprising Ms Keyser has no recollection of the evening as they did not discuss it,' Katz said in a statement.

'It's also unremarkable that Ms. Keyser does not remember attending a specific gathering 30 years ago at which nothing of consequence happened to her.

'Dr. Ford of course will never forget this gathering because of what happened to her there.'

Sources claim Kavanaugh has been practicing facing senators regarding the allegations by having aides question him from all angles.

Aides told the Washington Post the judge had been careful in his answers to avoid appearing like he was trying to discredit Ford, and had made sure he vocally spoke against sexual assault.

Kavanaugh, who has been practicing for the congressional committee's line of questioning, will testify about the alleged assault on Thursday, as will Ford

Kavanaugh reportedly grew angry though when questions became more personal, prying into his sexual preferences and alcohol consumption.

He passed on multiple questions, labelling them 'too personal', but a senior White House official claimed he had struck the right note, suggesting his appearance will be carefully orchestrated to present a likable, clean version of himself.

While Kavanaugh is eager to testify and clear his name, an associate told the Post he is becoming 'incredibly frustrated' by continued stories about his family.

Ford's complaint centers around an incident that took place at a high school party in the 1980s, where she alleges Kavanaugh and Judge, his friend, followed her upstairs when she went to the bathroom and pushed her into a bedroom.

There, she alleges the Supreme Court nominee held her down, covered her mouth, groped her and tried to rip off her swimsuit .

'I thought he might inadvertently kill me,' she told the Washington Post.

Her escape came only when Judge, who was in the room with them, jumped on top of the pair, she says.

Kavanaugh denies the allegations and has said he would testify to clear his name.

Ford and Kavanaugh are expected to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday.leave water reservoirs for future generations instead of debt for every newborn: CJP

CHITRAL: Supreme Court Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar on Saturday said no compromise or laxitywas possible on the conservation of water in the country when it was fast running out.



Its our duty to leave a legacy of large water reservoirs for future generations instead of Rs170,000 debt for every newborn, he told a district bar association function here. The chief justice highlighted the importance of water conservation.



Without naming the Diamer-Bhasha and Mohmand dams for which donations are being collected at the national level, he asked the people to rise to the occasion and do their best for the successful execution of the two projects.



It is the passion of patriotism that works. The day it is awakened, all issues and problems faced by the country will peter out and we will be able to break free from the yoke of foreign debt, which has risked our security, he said.



The chief justice said if the people showed integrity and uprightness, the nations growing issues would be resolved.



He said when the people renounced corruption and began despising corrupt people, the nations journey of progress and prosperity would begin. We should begin this from ourselves and at our homes, he said.



The chief justice said the enemy knew that it couldnt subdue Pakistanis by force and therefore, it in a bid to weaken the country took to the ruse of creating schism in the nation on flimsy grounds.



The patriotic people are aware of all such evil designs of the enemy and are trying to foil them, he said, adding that it was heartening and inspiring to see the high degree of patriotism among the people of Chitral.



Emphasising cordial relations between the bar and the bench, he said as a judge, he had never differentiated between the two as the ultimate end of both was to dispense justice to the people.



He said the bar and the bench were like two organs of the body.



The chief justice came hard on the successive governments over poor road infrastructure in Chitral district and said he was highly disappointed to see the area even without basic facilities of life.



In this century, the Chitral roads can be used by mules only. Such a situation is tantamount to denying local residents the basic rights promised by the Constitution, he said, adding that he was going to take action on the matter.



The chief justice said equal opportunities of development were the constitutional right of all citizens and keeping a certain area backward and subjecting it to discrimination was intolerable.



Saying there seems to be no valid reason for the Lowari tunnels closure for motorists and commuters, he asked the National Highway Authority chairman to explain his position on the matter.



The chief justice gave the government three month to address the shortage of medical specialists, doctors, medicines and equipment at the DHQ hospital, which he earlier visited.



Acting on the request of lawyers, he directed the Peshawar High Court chief justice to ensure regular hearing into cases by the Chitral Circuit Bench.Two graduates of a well-known criminal justice college have come forward with allegations that professors themselves walked on the wrong side of the law.

Naomi Haber, 24, and Claudia Cojocaru, 39, spoke out in an interview with the New York Post on Saturday, sharing their claims of rampant misconduct at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in Manhattan.

The New York State inspector general and the Manhattan district attorney's office are investigating the allegations, which date back to 2014, though the probe is in the early stages, a spokesman for the inspector general said.

Four professors have been put on administrative leave in the wake of the allegations: Anthony Marcus, the former anthropology chair; Richard 'Ric' Curtis, an expert on illegal drug markets; Barry Spunt, a former chair of the sociology department; and Leonardo Dominguez, an epidemiologist and adjunct professor.

John Jay graduates Naomi Haber, 24, and Claudia Cojocaru, 39, allege rampant misconduct among professors at the criminal college in Manhattan

Richard 'Ric' Curtis, an expert on illegal drug markets, was allegedly the ringleader, presiding over a world of drug use and sex in a secluded annex building known as 'The Swamp'

In the interview, and in a formal complaints filed with the school's Title IX office in May, the two women accuse the professors of various degrees of misconduct.

Perhaps the most heinous allegation is Haber's that Anthony Marcus, the former chair of the anthropology department, violently raped her at at academic conference in Washington DC when she was a 21-year-old sophomore.

'He put his hands around my throat, choked me with both hands and forced himself inside me without warning,' she wrote in her complaint. 'The only thing I could do was to go numb and detach myself from my body.'

The women allege that the ringleader of the misconduct was Curtis, 64, a respected anthropology professor who's been at the school 30 years, who they say held court over a world of drug use and sex in a secluded annex building known as 'The Swamp'.

Haber grew up in a Hasidic Jewish community in upstate New York, and says that Curtis took advantage of her sheltered upbringing.

Also placed on leave were (left to right): Leonardo Dominguez, Barry Spunt, Anthony Marcus

'Ric was magnetic and introduced me to a world of deviance that I had no idea existed,' wrote Haber, who has cut ties with her religious community. 'Ric was an expert at sniffing out those vulnerabilities, so he was aware of how impressionable I was.'

Haber claims that Curtis tried to entice her to have sex with academic colleagues, including a professor he was trying to recruit to teach at John Jay.

Both Haber and Cojocaru say that Curtis, an expert in illegal drugs and especially heroin, often used and sold drugs from his office in 'The Swamp'.

Cojocaru said Curtis groped her while at another professor's party in Brooklyn.

Haber said in her complaint that Dominguez, 27, an adjunct professor, tried to have sex with her and 'continuously' harassed her 'even though I asked him to stop on many occasions.

'We'd be sitting on Ric's couch, and [Dominguez] would try and put his hands on my legs and on my butt,' she wrote. 'He would also stick his hands down my pants to see what underwear I was wearing and to feel my 'warm vagina.'

Leo Dominguez is seen interviewing heroin users in the Bronx as part of his academic work in 2017. He is one of the John Jay professor placed on leave over misconduct allegations

A Romanian native, Cojocaru says she was the victim of sex trafficking and became a permanent resident in 2011 through the Violence Against Women Act. She is now a John Jay adjunct professor teaching a Sex and Culture course.

She filed a complaint against Spunt, 70, contending that the associate sociology professor 'placed his hand on my buttocks without my consent, groping me.

'He made inappropriate comments about my unwillingness to sit on Ric's lap to show 'gratitude' about being 'helped' by Dr. Curtis.'

Spunt's attorney Carmen Jack Giordano told the Post that Cojocaru's accusations were 'vicious and defamatory'. He claimed the accusations were in retribution for Cojocaru's failure to get into John Jay's PhD program.

Curtis' attorney Robert Herbst also accused Cojocaru of making up her complaints because she was rejected from the PhD program.

Herbst told the Post that Curtis 'has never before been the subject of complaints of misconduct of any kind at John Jay. Because he works with, studies, and teaches about people involved in the sex and drug trade, he is more vulnerable than most to false allegations of the kind that Ms. Cojocaru and Ms. Haber have hatched here.'

Professor Marcus's lawyer, Scott Simpson, told the New York Times that his client 'adamantly denied the allegations.'

A lawyer for Professor Dominguez could not be reached for comment.

A John Jay spokesman said that the school takes 'any allegations of misconduct seriously, and we are cooperating with law enforcement authorities.

'The safety of all members of the John Jay community is of utmost importance to us, and we expect every member of our community to live up to our standards of conduct,' the spokesman added.Contentious couple Barnaby Joyce and his secret lover Vikki Campion are looking to put their controversies behind them.

The former Deputy Prime Minister was spotted with Ms Campion at their son's christening on Sunday morning.

With Mr Joyce beaming and Ms Campion lovingly holding their son Sebastian out the front of Saints Mary & Joseph Catholic Cathedral in the northern NSW town of Armidale, an outsider would think they were the perfect couple.

But the missing piece to the puzzle was Mr Joyce's daughters, who were not in attendance for their stepbrother's big day.

Barnaby Joyce and Vikki Campion have held their son, Sebastian's, christening on Sunday

Sebastian (pictured) was born in April, only two months after Mr Joyce's affair become public

Mr Joyce and his daughters have had a rocky relationship since the ex-National Party leader's highly-publicised affair tore his family apart.

The Joyce girls, Bridgette, 21, Julia, 20, Caroline, 18, and Odette, 15, were reportedly 'disgusted' by his $150,000 tell-all television interview with Ms Campion in June.

But, before Sunday morning, their relationships appeared to be on the mend, with Mr Joyce and two of his four daughters seen at a Canberra steakhouse grabbing a bite to eat last week, The Daily Telegraph reported.

Sebastian was born on April 16 after the couple's relationship went public in February, but have tried to keep their son out of the public eye since.

Ms Campion left Mr Joyce's office in April, just before Sebastian's birth, to work for northern Australian minister Matt Canavan

Barnaby Joyce was spotted at dinner with two of his daughters last week, ahead of his son Sebastian's (pictured with mother Vikki Campion) christening on Sunday

In April, Mr Joyce has said there were 'peculiar circumstances' surrounding the birth of his son, but his main focus is now being the 'best dad' he can be.

Following the affair, ex-Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull introduced a ban on MPs having romantic or sexual relationships with their staffers.

When news of the affair with his former press secretary broke in February Mr Joyce lost his cabinet position and stepped down as leader of the Nationals.

Ms Campion left Mr Joyce's office in April to work for northern Australian minister Matt Canavan.

The telling interview with the Seven Network earlier this year saw Mr Joyce and Ms Campion talk openly about their newborn son Sebastian, affair, abortion pressures and relationship struggles.

The interview reportedly created a further rift within the family that was torn apart over the affair.

Barnaby was spotted last week dining with two of his daughters sparking rumours they may be attending the christening but their absence from today's festivites doesn't bode well for the former Deputy Prime Minister.

Barnaby Joyce appeared to be mending his rocky relationship with his daughters before the christening for his son Sebastian (pictured with mum Vikki Campion and son Sebastian)

Mr Joyce has said there were 'peculiar circumstances' surrounding the birth of his son, but his main focus is now being the 'best dad' he can be

Mr Joyce admitted to 'living a lie' by continuing his public relationship with his wife while secretly being involved with Ms Campion (Barnaby Joyce is pictured with his estranged wife Natalie, and their four daughters in 2015)

The much-talked about baby, who was born on April 16, weighing 3.8kg, will be christened in Armidale.

Mr Joyce's daughters have remained silent over the dispute but Mr Joyce has said he expects it will take a long time to repair his relationship with his daughters.

His estranged wife Natalie Joyce told The Guardian in February the affair had been devastating on many fronts for the family.

'For my girls, who are affected by the family breakdown, and for me as a wife of 24 years, who placed my own career on hold to support Barnaby through his political life.'

'I'm going to try and do the very best job I possibly can and make sure that Seb has the very best dad he can possibly get,' Mr Joyce said

'Naturally we also feel deceived and hurt by the actions of Barnaby and the staff member involved,' she said.

Mr Joyce was labelled a hypocrite by Greens MP Adam Bandt for opposing equal marriage on the basis of family values.

'Im no fan of Barnaby, and hes a hypocrite for opposing equal marriage on the basis of family values and putting the LGBTI community through the wringer while leading a different life himself, but this isnt about him, its about her,' he has said.Advertisement

Toxic gray muck containing arsenic and other heavy metals transformed the look of the Cape Fear River in North Carolina on Saturday, after Hurricane Florence flooding overflowed into an old coal ash dump.

As flooding predictions near the L.V. Sutton Power Station say water levels will rise throughout the weekend, a Duke Energy spokeswoman said she doesn't believe the breach of the dam that turned the water near the Wilmington power plant gray is a threat.

Paige Sheehan wasn't concerned about water levels but she admitted to Associated Press she can't rule out that the contaminated water containing 'coal combustion byproducts' is escaping via Sutton Lake.

Drone video provided by the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality showed light gray material flowing out of a flooded coal ash dump toward the Cape Fear River at Duke Energy's L.V. Sutton Power Station in Wilmington

A photo provided by Earthjustice, an environmental advocacy group, showed gray muck floating on top of the Cape Fear River after floodwaters breached a dam at the electricity generating plant on Friday and overtopped a coal ash dump

The dam breach has potentially spilled toxic materials into the river near where people go boating and fishing

Striking drone images from Friday show water swirling with matter including mercury and lead which is formed into after coal ash as a byproduct of generating electricity.

Sutton Lake used to be the cooling pond for a coal-fired plant Duke closed in 2013 and replaced with a new generating station running off natural gas.

That power plant was shut down overnight and all employees safely evacuated.

The gray H2O is something inspectors with the state Department of Environmental Quality were concerned about when they traveled to the plant by boat on Sunday to collect water quality samples.

'When the environment is conducive, we will put people on the ground to verify the amount of potential coal ash that could have left and entered those flood waters,' Environmental Secretary Mike Regan said.

The river is believed to have become contaminated when the plant's 1,100-acre (445-hectare) reservoir overtook one of three large coal ash dumps lining the lakeshore and contaminated the river with approximately 400,000 cubic yards (305,820 cubic meters) of ash.

The river (pictured Friday) showed swirling gray matter had possibly escaped from Sutton Lake a former cooling point for a coal-fired plant

Duke Energy characterized the disgusting matter as lightweight coal combustion byproducts

In a video provided to The Associated Press by Earthjustice, a turtle is plucked from gray muck along the Cape Fear River

On Friday, Duke security blocked access to Sutton Lake Road which leads to a public dock where many people go boating and fishing.

Duke would not allow the Associated Press to cross the barricade, saying the lake situation 'continues to change' and is 'not safe.'

Hurricane Florence has soaked the area in more than 30 inches (75 centimeters) of rain from former and the rising Cape Fear River is expected to reached its peak level of flooding Sunday.

It will remain at flood stage until early next week.

Earthjustice, an environmental advocacy group with a boat in the river, provided The Associated Press with images Friday showing wide gray slicks in the water.

'Any big spill like this raises concerns about the impacts on the estuary ecosystem in the lower Cape Fear River,' said Pete Harrison, a staff attorney with environmental advocacy group Earthjustice warned after a team member pulled a turtle from the muck. 'This is Duke's third coal ash spill in the aftermath of Hurricane Florence, and it looks like it's the biggest yet.'

The ash is left over when coal is burned to generate electricity leaving an array of components, including mercury, lead, arsenic and other toxic heavy metals

The inundated basin at the plant contains 400,000 cubic yards of ash and has contaminated other areas

The L.V. Sutton Plant near Wilmington was shut down and the evacuation of employees it was confirmed

Floodwaters continue to overtop an earthen dike at the north side of Sutton Lake, a 1,100-acre (445-hectare) reservoir at the L.V. Sutton Power Station (pictured Friday)

The Environmental Protection Agency - located in the Emergency Operations Center in Raleigh, about 150 miles (240 kilometers) northwest of the Sutton plant - offered to help North Carolina officials with the incident but their services were declined.

According to regional administrator Trey Glenn dozens of staff are scattered throughout the impacted region checking on toxic waste sites and oil storage facilities.

Last weekend a rupture was reported at another coal ash landfill in the area that spilled enough material to fill 180 dump trucks.

In 2014, a drainage pipe collapsed under a waste pit at an old plant in Eden triggering a massive spill that coated miles of the Dan River in gray sludge.

The Sutton 1971 coal ash basin has been affecting the area over the past week (pictured is Wilmington on Wednesday)

Flooding has taken over the area near Cape Fear River but a Duke rep says is does not threaten the wellbeing of locals

An image taken Wednesday shows the road being flooded by Hurricane Florence water

Hurricane Florence water (seen from Fayettevilla North Carolina Wednesday) is expected to crest this weekend

A road leading to a reservoir where residents go fishing was closed and reporters were not allowed to cross due to danger

A home on Rivercliff Road was surrounded by water Wednesday after the flooding from Hurricane Florence

Greensboro Fire Department boated across the floodwaters on Wednesday in an effort to save residents

Duke later agreed to plead guilty to nine Clean Water Act violations and pay $102million in fines and restitution for illegally discharging pollution from ash dumps at five North Carolina power plants. It plans to close all its ash dumps by 2029.

At the separate Duke plant near Goldsboro, three old coal-ash dumps capped with soil and trees were underwater Thursday after the Neuse River flooded.

Staff from the environmental group Waterkeeper Alliance visited the flooded dumps at the H.F. Lee Power Plant by boat Wednesday, took photographs and collected samples of gray sludge washing into the floodwaters.

State environmental regulators visited the site Thursday, but said they could not make a full assessment because of high water levels.

A man name Augustine Dieudomme was pictured looking out to the floodwaters near his apartment on Tuesday

Russell Maloy was pictured walking over the railway bridge near his home Tuesday to check water levels

Cape Fear River (pictured Monday) was said to be at record height after Hurricane Florence

Duke spokeswoman Sheehan said any coal ash release at the Goldsboro site appeared 'minimal.'

Meanwhile, South Carolina's state-owned utility said floodwaters had also entered a coal ash dump at its closed Grainger plant near Conway.

Santee Cooper spokeswoman Mollie Gore said no significant environmental impact is expected because nearly all the ash has been removed from the basin and water pumped in to prevent the dike from breaking.

The company had placed a 2 -foot (72-centimeter) high inflatable berm around the top of a second pond that has more coal ash in it.

Gore estimates 200,000 tons (181 million kilograms) of ash are in a corner of the pond furthest from the rising Waccamaw River.

River forecasts project the Waccamaw will reach a new historic flood level this weekend, eclipsing a record height set by Hurricane Matthew in 2016.The furious family of an elderly woman who was allegedly sexually assaulted in her nursing home are demanding her accused attacker be removed from the facility.

Sean James Mulcahy, 62, was charged with sexually assaulting a woman in her 80s at Bupa Aged Care in Woodend, Victoria on June 29.

He was ordered to remain at least 10 metres from his alleged victim at all times but her family says he should have to leave the facility.

An elderly woman is being forced to live with a man who allegedly sexually assaulted her in her nursing home in Victoria

He has been issued a protection order preventing him from going within 10 metres of the woman, the Herald Sun reported.

He has denied the assault.

The woman's son is furious at how the incident has been handled.

'We want him removed from the nursing home,' he said.

He said management only contacted his family about the incident this month and have yet to apologise.

Dr Melanie Lamden has told police Mulcahy displays narcissistic traits of being manipulative and self-serving.

She told police she did not think Mulcahy should be in the facility or any other facility with highly vulnerable residents.

A Bupa spokesman said there was a staff member who would supervise Mulcahy at all times.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced the royal commission into aged care last week

An agency had been searching for different accommodation for Mulcahy.

He said there was a requirement to provide security of tenure, which means a resident cannot be moved easily without arranging appropriate alternate accommodation.

Safety and wellbeing of their residents was their utmost priority, he said.

The aged-care complaints commission is investigating.

Shine Lawyers national abuse law manager Lisa Flynn said people are already reluctant to place family members in nursing homes over fear of inadequate support.

A Bupa spokesman said there was a staff member who would supervise the man accused of sexual assault at all times

She said these types of allegations are what forced the government to launch an investigation into the care of elderly.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced the royal commission into aged care last week.

'I think we should brace ourselves for some pretty bruising information about the way our loved ones, some of them have experienced some real mistreatment' Morrison told reporters last week.

'I think that's going to be tough for us to deal with, but you can't walk past it.'Legislation which will allow the police to read through your private messages has been put forward by the coalition.

On Thursday, Peter Dutton announced the introduction of the Telecommunications and Other Legislation Amendment (Assistance and Access) Bill 2018 which aims to weaken encryption laws to help law enforcement.

The technology sector, Labor and the Greens were left dumbfounded by how quickly the serious legislation was introduced to the House of Representatives.

Peter Dutton announced the introduction of the Telecommunications and Other Legislation Amendment (Assistance and Access) Bill 2018 which aims to weaken encryption laws to help law enforcement.

If the bill is passed, tech companies will have to remove encrypted protection on users devices, this will give authorities access to our protected online information.

This means enforcement agencies will be able to install software on a device, provide access to devices, and help agencies build their own systems on the devices.

An excerpt of the draft reads that 'encrypted devices and applications are eroding the ability of our law enforcement and security agencies'.

Since the legislation was put forward, Twitter, Facebook, Amazon, and Google have fought back on the legislation claiming it poses a risk to public and personal safety of users.

Digital Industry Group (DIGI) managing director Nicole Buskiewicz said the new bill could create a vulnerability for everyday consumers.

As a spokesperson for the companies, Ms Buskiewicz said the new laws would make it 'easier for bad actors to commit crimes against individuals, organisations or communities'.

The Home Affairs Minister has been accused rushing the serious legislation after it was introduced just 10 days after submissions closed

'The proposal for companies to facilitate technical vulnerabilities is of particular concern as it doesn't just create a vulnerability for law enforcement to exploit, it becomes a vulnerability for all,' she told Buzzfeed.

The Home Affairs Minister has been accused rushing the serious legislation after it was introduced just 10 days after submissions closed.

Greens Senator Jordon Steele-John said there wasn't enough time to deliberate the legislation and it should be reconsidered.

'It makes a mockery of our right to privacy, leaves us more vulnerable to cyber espionage and permanently weakens existing protections we all rely on to stay safe and secure online,' he said.

More than 14,000 submissions of concern about the legislation have been received.

On Friday, some of the submissions were published including messages of concerns from Australian Human Rights Commission, the privacy commissioner, Telstra and Optus.

According to Dutton, amendments to the legislation had been made in response to the consultation, but he is yet to specify what has been changed.Barbara Fall, 35, was employed as a maternity support worker at Burnley General Teaching Hospital in June 2016

A Polish NHS midwife has been suspended without delivering a single baby because she cannot understand English.

Barbara Fall, 35, was employed as a maternity support worker at Burnley General Teaching Hospital in June 2016.

She was promoted to midwife but failed to pass a transition period because she couldn't communicate with patients and was demoted.

Mrs Fall resigned and then took her bosses to a tribunal, complaining of constructive dismissal - but her case was panned by a Nursing & Midwifery Council panel which banned her from working as a midwife for 12 months.

If Mrs Fall improves her English to an acceptable level in this time, she will be allowed to work again.

Critics have slammed the NHS for wasting taxpayers' money on training someone who can't talk to patients.

Conservative MP Phil Davies told the Sunday Express: 'It is a complete farce. The fact the tribunal hearing had to be conducted in Polish says everything about the case.

'It has been a colossal waste of taxpayers' money and shows how crucial it is to have a robust English language test. Anyone who cannot pass it should not be working in the NHS.'

MP Andrew Bridgen added: 'The lesson to learn is that people working in the NHS should pass the English test before we start investing in further training.'

Mrs Fall was promoted to midwife but failed to pass a transition period because she couldn't communicate with patients and was demoted

Mrs Fall took the International English Language Testing System for nurses in January. She scored four out of ten for understanding, five in reading and writing and seven - the minimum required - in speaking only.

The test did not apply to EU nationals when she first applied to work in the UK.

East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust said in a statement: 'Patient safety is, and always will be, our priority.

'A good command of the English language is essential for safe, personal and effective care. In this case, the person never worked here unsupervised as a midwife. She carried out the role of a support worker while she sought to improve her English.'Sir Geoff Palmer has called for reparations after a report shows Glasgow University benefited from proceeds of slavery

Scotland's first black professor has called for reparations to be made after a groundbreaking report shows how Glasgow University benefited from the proceeds of slavery.

Sir Geoff Palmer said it posed 'uncomfortable questions' for British society as a whole and that institutions who profited on the slave trade to make amends.

The report which was published last week by Glasgow University and is based on more than two years of research, revealed that the institution gained almost 200million in today's money.

Glasgow University has now launched a wide-ranging, ambitious 'reparative justice programme' after the recent discovery.

The university was actually the forefront of the movement in the 19th century to abolish slavery even though it benefited from the slave trade in Africa and Caribbean in the 18th and 19th centuries.

The Russel Group university is working to establish ties with the University of the West Indies, as well as creating a centre for the study of slavery and memorial or tribute to those who were enslaved.

Glasgow university has now launched a wide-ranging, ambitious 'reparative justice programme' after the recent discovery

The report's findings, though, carry profound implications far beyond the cloistered spaces of this 546-year-old university.

The unrelenting and forensic detail of the study also raises questions about how the wealth of the city of Glasgow and other parts of Scotland was derived.

'Some Scots have told me they're mystified why no one told them any of this, but who did they think made the tobacco?' Palmer, professor emeritus at the school of life sciences at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh told The Observer.

Scottish slave-master, Robert Cunninghame Graham, features prominently in the report for benefiting from the slave trade

'We can have all the equality laws and anti-racism legislation we like, but if no other institutions, firms or organisations which also benefited from slavery declare this and seek to make amends, then it's all meaningless.

'If they all were to follow the example of Glasgow University, then that would be real race relations  If what Glasgow University is doing in reaching out to these communities as a means of reparation were to be replicated, it would make a real difference.'

Merchant City, a chic neighbourhood near Glasgow's city centre, had many of its building built on the tobacco trade, which profited from the most appalling acts of inhumanity, some of which are described in grim detail in the report.

The evil of slavery has been stitched into the very fabric of Glasgow for almost 200 years: Buchanan Street, Glassford Street and Ingram Street are named after some of the most notorious exploiters of the slave market, while Jamaica, Tobago and Virginia are similarly commemorated.

One of the most notorious Scottish slave-masters who figures prominently in the Glasgow University report is Robert Cunninghame Graham, who on his return to Scotland after two decades as a slaver became a politician, poet and, eventually, rector of Glasgow University.

The report also looks at the family connections to the slave trade of the great Scottish engineer James Watt and the Coats family , whose cotton fortune, which contributed to the prosperity of Paisley, was built on slavery.

This, in turn, raises the question of how many other grand Scottish families and companies derive much of their present-day wealth from historical human trafficking, and whether or not they may be willing to acknowledge this and make reparations.Theresa May pictured braving the rain at church in Maidenhead today

Theresa May pleaded with Tories to 'hold your nerve' today amid claims No10 aides plotted a snap election following her humiliation by EU leaders.

The Prime Minister warned that failure to stick together in the face of attacks from Brussels and opposition parties could mean Brexit is 'thwarted'.

The appeal for unity came as Jeremy Corbyn declared for the first time that he is willing to support a second referendum on any deal with the EU.

The extent of the panic caused in Downing Street by EU leaders' brutal knifing of Mrs May's Chequers plan in Salzburg last week has been underlined by suggestions that some advisers 'war gamed' holding an election.

Two powerful aides are said to have argued that the only way to 'make the Commons arithmetic work' could be to ditch Chequers, and please the Brexit wing of the Tory Party by swinging behind the 'Canada model' for a looser free trade agreement.

The plan would then involve Mrs May going to the country in November in a bid to win a majority for the package.

The thinking has been encouraged by the latest polling which indicates a slump in support for Mr Corbyn among those who voted Labour at the 2017 Election.

Mrs May (pictured at church in in her constituency with husband Philip today) is struggling to hold her party together while thrashing out a deal with the EU

The appeal for Tory unity came as Jeremy Corbyn (pictured at a Labour conference rally last night) declared for the first time that he is willing to support a second referendum on any deal with the EU

Jacob Rees-Mogg (left) and Boris Johnson (right) are among the senior Tories demanding Mrs May ditches her Chequers plan for Brexit

As she attempted to cool tensions today, Mrs May issued a statement saying Conservatives needed to come together in a spirit of national unity and 'do what is right for Britain'.

'Now is the time for cool heads. And it is a time to hold our nerve,' she said.

'I have said many times that these negotiations would be tough, and they were always bound to be toughest in the final straight.

'But what's also clear is that many in Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the SNP are trying to thwart Brexit at every step and seeking to exploit this moment for political gain.

'Some are now openly advocating a second referendum and extending article 50 to delay Brexit, sending us right back to square one. Others are talking directly to the EU to actively undermine the UK's negotiating position.

Tory donor threatens to fund 'hard Brexit' party in protest at Chequers A prominent Tory donor is threatening to fund a new 'hard Brexit' party in protest at Theresa May's Chequers plan. City Financial Jeremy Hosking, who donated 1.5million to the Leave campaign and has given 375,000 to the Conservatives since 2015, told the Sunday Telegraph there was 'clear support' for a new political group. He told the newspaper that Brexit voters are 'being heated up slowly like laboratory frogs' under the PM's blueprint. As a result there is a 'gap in the political market' and Mr Hosking said he 'intends to help fill it'. Advertisement

'But I say, this is the moment to put our country first. This is the moment to set aside our differences and come together in national unity.

'This is the moment to do what is right for Britain.'

A Downing Street spokesman said: 'It is categorically untrue that No10 is planning a snap election.'

Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab also dismissed claims about a snap general election 'for the birds'.

'It's not going to happen,' he told BBC1's The Andrew Marr Show.

Mr Raab said the Government would keep negotiating with the EU on the basis of the Chequers proposals.

'This is a bump in the road. We will hold our nerve, we will keep our cool and we will keep negotiating in good faith,' he said.

'What we are not going to do is be dictated to. The UK is one of the biggest economies in Europe, if not in the world.

'We have come up with a serious set of proposals. We are not just going to flit from plan to plan like some sort of diplomatic butterfly. We are going to be resolute about this.'

Pro-EU former Cabinet minister Nicky Morgan said she believed Chequers might well be 'dead' - but warned that a leadership challenge to Mrs May would not be in the interests of the Conservative Party or the country.

'Having a leadership election now would not be in the country's interest. There are particularly a lot of the hard Brexiteers who want to bring the Prime Minister down,' she told Sky News' Sophy Ridge On Sunday.

'This is not a move that would help the country in order to get to the best position after Brexit which does least damage to the economy. That is what we as Conservatives should be focused on.

'Europe has always been a big faultline in our party. But the majority of the parliamentary party and, I think, the membership want us to focus on getting a good deal that supports the economy and then moving on.'

With time running out, the EU's chief negotiator Michel Barnier has said the 'moment of truth' will come at next month's EU summit in Brussels, when it should become clear whether the two sides can reach an agreement.

Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt urged EU leaders yesterday to 'step back from the abyss' of a no-deal Brexit and to engage with Mrs May's Chequers plan.

Mrs May was humiliated by Eu leaders who dismissed her Chequers plan at a summit in Salzburg last week (pictured)

He said the Prime Minister was in earnest when she warned she would walk away from the negotiations rather than accept a 'bad deal'.

But he also pointedly refused to rule out switching to a Canada-style model.

'What Theresa May is saying is 'Don't mistake British politeness for weakness. If you put us in a difficult corner we will stand our ground.

'That is the kind of country we are,' he said.

Asked about a Canada-style plan, he said he was 'not dismissing anything', but warned it would not address the issue of the Irish border in the same way Chequers did.

Meanwhile, a prominent Tory donor is threatening to fund a new 'hard Brexit' party in protest at Theresa May's Chequers plan.

City Financial Jeremy Hosking, who donated 1.5million to the Leave campaign and has given 375,000 to the Conservatives since 2015, told the Sunday Telegraph there was 'clear support' for a new political group.

He told the newspaper that Brexit voters are 'being heated up slowly like laboratory frogs' under the PM's blueprint.

As a result there is a 'gap in the political market' and Mr Hosking said he 'intends to help fill it'.

Mrs May (pictured delivering a statement in No10 on Friday) has pleaded with Tories to 'hold your nerve' on Brexit

Corbyn claims he WILL support another Brexit referendum if Labour demands it at the annual conference

Jeremy Corbyn has said he would support another Brexit referendum - if Labour members at the annual party conference call for it.

The Labour leader said that he would prefer to have a general election to settle the issue, but admitted he could not ignore calls for a second referendum if party members demand it.

It comes after Tom Watson also in a newspaper interview the party should not ignore party members if they make their voices for another referendum heard loud enough.

Jeremy Corbyn addressed thousands of supporters at a rally in Liverpool today

Speaking to the Sunday Mirror, Corbyn said: 'What comes out of conference I will adhere to. But I'm not calling for a second referendum. I hope we will agree that the best way of resolving this is a General Election.

'But I was elected to empower the members of the party. So if conference makes a decision I will not walk away from it and I will act accordingly.'

His remarks come as a poll published by the Observer found 86 per cent of party members think there should be a vote on the outcome of Brexit negotiations.

It also found that 90 per cent of Labour members would vote to remain in the EU.

Mr Watson told The Observer: 'Jeremy and I were elected in 2015 to give the Labour Party back to its members.

'So if the people's party decide they want the people to have a final say on the deal, we have to respect the view of our members and we will go out and argue for it.'A British botanist posted to Papua New Guinea to pursue a dream role in the south Pacific nation has said he was forced to flee after his attempts to counter cheating and corruption were met with jail threats.

Professor John Warren, 56, and his wife Cathryn had left Wales to settle in the exotic island nation two years ago as the new vice-chancellor of the country's University of Natural Resources and Environment.

But attempts to rid the institution of cheating, culminated in threats over lengthy court cases and instructions to 'get out of there' - forcing the professor to resign and immediately go into hiding and flee under the cover of night to Australia.

Professor John Warren, 56, (left) and his wife Cathryn (right) said they were forced to flee Papua New Guinea after attempts to counter cheating and corruption were met with jail threats

It's the second time an expatriate vice-chancellor in PNG has left the country over reported legal threats.

The botanist said he had tried to crack down on cheating, improve academic standards and appoint staff based on merit rather than tribal allegiances but university staff opposed the changes.

'Most staff didn't understand that to pass a degree, you have to get 50 per cent overall,' he told The Sunday Telegraph.

'They couldn't calculate percentages and there were a huge number of errors. There was no standard marking criteria.'

Professor Warren, originally from South Yorkshire, resigned from his post at Aberystwyth University to take up the position of VC at the University of Natural Resources and Environment.

While there, he tried to introduce simple procedures, like using spreadsheets to calculate marks.

But he alleges university staff had no interest in the students or academic standards and told him to 'just concentrate on getting money in and we'll run the university'.

Professor Warren left Wales to settle in the exotic island nation two years ago as the new vice-chancellor of the country's University of Natural Resources and Environment

He alleged the university's council and chancellor Kenneth Sumbuk did not agree with a decision he made in appointing a candidate to a new pro vice-chancellor role.

'He came to the university two weeks before a council meeting and threatened me, and was very intimidating,' Professor Warren told The Australian.

A council meeting held soon after this incident went on for 14 hours and Professor Warren said the chancellor overturned nearly every administrative decision Professor Warren had made.

'My position became untenable and I handed in my notice after that meeting,' he said. 'Shortly after that I got wind of a court order being served on me.'

Professor Warren explained that because Papua New Guinea has tough libel laws, once a court order is served 'you can't leave the country because immigration will stop you'.

Fearing malicious legal action and with advice from the British High Commission to 'just get out of there' he resigned and spent 48 hours hiding in a friend's house before flying to Australia and eventually home to Wales

Fearing malicious legal action and with advice from the British High Commission to 'just get out of there' he resigned and spent 48 hours hiding in a friend's house before flying to Australia and eventually home to Wales.

However, Professor Sumbuk has denied these threats, instead accusing his vice-chancellor of illegitimately removing the university's registrar, bursar and accountant, one of whom then decided to take legal action.

'The University of Natural Resources council did not want to remove John Warren because he is a white man or an Englishman,' he told The Australian. 'He was about to be sacked because he was an incompetent vice-chancellor.'

Albert Schram, the Dutch vice-chancellor of Papua New Guinea's University of Technology, also alleged he had made attempts to tackle fraud which led to claims from his colleagues that he faked his doctorate.

He fled the island in May after being released on bail.

But Professor Sumbuk said the two cases were very different and involved different universities, different councils and different chancellors.

Professor Warren said he has decided to retire from academia and hoped to run a sheep and pig farm in Wales.A one-legged Australian performer claims she was denied entry to two of Paris' top tourist attractions due to safety concerns, with one officer telling her it would be 'like letting a blind person fly a plane'.

Ms Roya Hosini, a Melbourne entertainer now living in Brussels, travels the world performing as Roya the Destroya, using her crutches to spin in the air.

During a trip to Paris, France, last year, Ms Hosini said she was stunned when she was denied entry from the Eiffel Tower.

'They said it was narrow and not safe and in case of an emergency...[I might be] blocking the traffic because I'd be going too slow,' she told the ABC on Sunday.

One-legged Australian performer Roya Hosini (pictured) was denied entry to the Eiffel Tower and the catacombs due to safety concerns

But this month, Ms Hosini said she was also barred from entering France's famous catacombs due to similar safety concerns.

'They're just so fixed on the rules and it's so ridiculous because it's not like humans come in exact shape, size, ability,' she added.

She was also told by one of the catacomb guards that letting her in would be like 'letting a blind person fly a plane'.

When she tried to speak with the manager over the phone, she said that he hung up on her instead, according to the ABC.

A spokesperson for the catacombs told the ABC that the walking tour did not allow people with disabilities, including those with reduced mobility.

Nonetheless, they apologised for the incident and said they would take the necessary measures to ensure it would not happen again.

Ms Roya Hosini, a Melbourne performer now living in Brussels, travels the world as a performer and is better known as Roya the Destroya

'They're just so fixed on the rules and it's so ridiculous because it's not like humans come in exact shape, size, ability,' Ms Hosini said

'We do not tolerate this kind of behaviour; on the contrary, we try to welcome everybody in our sites,' the spokesperson said.

The Eiffel Tower has yet to comment on the matter.

While Ms Hosini said she understood the reasons behind the safety concerns, she also said people with disabilities should be given consideration.

The catacombs of Paris are a network of tunnels that contain the remains of over six million French citizens.

The tourist attraction's walking route is around two kilometres long. Visitors will descend at least 130 steps to reach the catacombs and climb around 83 steps back up to street level.

The Eiffel Tower has 108 stories but visitors can climb the steps only up until the first platform. Elevators allow access to the second platform and the tower's top level.Opening of Kartarpura is in the interest of people of Indian Punjab: Fawad Chaudhry 23 September, 2018



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Hand Wash and Toiletries in Pakistan And the Role of DUPAS in Reshaping the Industry

Woke Bingo Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry Saturday said India showed negative approach by cancelling the scheduled meeting between the foreign ministers of India and Pakistan.



In an interview with a private television, he said Pakistan extended the hand for negotiations but India withdrew which exposed the true face of India at the international level and highlighted the positive image of Pakistan. The world was watching and the internal differences of India have come into the open, he said, adding, The world is saying that Pakistan is extending the hand of peace while India is rejecting it. We will live in peace and we will say to those in India who favour peace that they should look at the role of their government and condemn its thinking.



Fawad said Pakistan was standing on the right side of history and it was ready to open the border at Kartarpura. He pointed out that on the matter of Kartarpura border, debate had started between Indian Punjab and New Delhi. Opening of Kartarpura is in the interest of people of Indian Punjab. We are fully prepared and wanted that border should be opened to facilitate Sikhs crossing the border for their religious worship. We have set a procedure in this regard and completed the arrangements.



He said DGMOs of India and Pakistan remained in contact and India had been unofficially informed about the matter. Now India has to move forward and we want that when Sikhs come to Pakistan on the 450th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak, they should be provided facilities through Kartarpura border.



He said before taking oath, Prime Minister Imran Khan in his first speech said that if they will take one step forward. We will move two steps forward. In this backdrop, Prime Minister Imran Khan had stressed that foreign ministers of Pakistan and India should hold a meeting.



The minister said after the visit of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to Pakistan, Washington had changed its thinking. We are fighting for the last 70 years. Millions of people sacrificed their lives for the dignity of Pakistani flag. For us, nothing is ahead of respect and honour of our country.



Fawad said Imran Khan talked to Turkey, India, Saudi Arabia and other countries at state level while Nawaz Sharif had connection with billionaires like Jindal. When you hold your personal interest above the national interest, it creates problems.



The minister said CPEC was a project of communication and setting up of special economic zones. Industries would be set up and millions of people would get jobs under the initiative. We want that the benefits of CPEC reach the public. Saudi Arabia is also ready to invest in CPEC. We welcome the Saudi investment in Pakistan.



He said on one occasion, Shah Abdullah of Saudi Arabia interfered in the matter of Nawaz Sharif but Imran Khan was not the man who would do deals. No one will even ask Imran Khan to do a deal. Nawaz Sharif is not that important that he will talk about him.



He said Avenfield apartment case was a case of two plus two. You have to tell whether you had money or not. Your accounts are showing that there was no money. If there was no money how you bought those apartments? He said he did not understand the reason for suspension of sentence of Nawaz Sharif. In our country, a thief of cycle gets the punishment but one who steals a plane is saved. Our law is like a web of spider in which a small bee gets stuck while bigger bees break the web and get out of it.



Fawad said a procedure was set with Britain to bring the accused back. Ishaq Dar will be brought back to the country and his red warrants have been issued. Dar, Hassan and Hussain Nawaz will soon be in the grip of law. Britain recently took action against a Pakistani and soon progress would be made on the recent declaration between Pakistan and Britain. We are also signing an agreement with Switzerland and after that we will have access to the Swiss banks, he said.



Fawad said the prime minister had said that the matter of Afghans and Bengalis living in Pakistan should be seen in the context of humanity. The children are born here and it is their third generation. We have kept them limited to their camps. They do not have schools and employment and they have no role in the economy and society of Pakistan. They should be made part of the system.Labour has today vowed to force companies to put workers on their boards if Jeremy Corbyn is elected Prime Minister.

The party wants employees to be handed a third of seats on the committees so they can have a 'real say' in how companies are run.

The radical policy comes as it emerged that a key adviser to the Labour leader has called for a 'Soviet Britain' to be created and for the party to work with Communists.

Andrew Murray - who quit the Communist Party two years ago - has written a book tearing into past Labour governments and calling for the country to be 'imbued with a fierce revolutionary spirit'.

The comments are contained in a dossier being circulated among Corbyn critics in the Labour Party, whose party conference starts in Liverpool today.

In the book, called The Communist Party of Great Britain: A Historical Analysis to 1941 and published in 1995, Mr Murray called for the Labour party to embrace revolutionary politics.

Jeremy Corbyn (pictured at a rally in Liverpool last night) wants employees to be handed a third of seats on company boards so they can have a 'real say' in how companies are run

He wrote: 'For the Labour Party, the exclusion of the revolutionary trend in the movement paved the way for the unchallenged domination of the right wing and locked the party ever more firmly into class collaboration and reformism.

Bid to make deselection of Labour moderates to be voted on by party conference Proposals to make it easier to deselect Labour MPs could be passed by the party today amid fears the hard-left wants to purge the organisation of moderates. Labour's National Executive Committee (NEC) has backed controversial moves to slash barriers to ousting MPs. And they are expected to be voted through by party delegates at their conference in Liverpool today. Under the proposals, MPs will face open selection battles if a third of local branches or affiliated unions demand one - cutting it from the current 50 per cent threshold. And plans to make it easier for a Corbynista to take over as leader are also expected to be passed today. Under them, anyone wanting to stand to be leader would have to get the backing of 5 per cent of constituency parties or trade union members. The move would hand the 500,000 Labour Party members far more power and almost certainly ensure that the left get onto the ballot. A Labour source said: 'The proposal agreed unanimously by the NEC reforms the existing reselection process, giving members and trade union affiliates a greater say in who represents them, but doesn't move to automatic open selections.' The moves come after several Labour moderate MPs have faced no confidence votes from their local parties after they spoke out against Mr Corbyn's over anti-Semitism. Joan Ryan, Gavin Shuker and Chris Leslie have all blamed the hard-left who have flooded into the party after they were hit by the votes. Advertisement

'In that sense, the decision to reject communist affiliation paved the way for the whole miserable litany of Labour-led disasters from 1931 to 1979.'

A Labour moderate told The Sunday Times that it is outrageous that someone with such views holds a seat at Mr Corbyn's top table.

The MP said: 'This is a senior adviser to Jeremy Corbyn calling every Labour government a disaster up to 1979 and he feels the same about the one that followed as well.

'That is his attitude to the Attlee government, which created the NHS and a huge house-building programme.

'The idea that people like this should be advising a Labour leader is frightening.'

It comes as Labour unveils a radical policy to force firms to put workers on their boards as part of a major programme to overhaul how the economy is run.

Under the left-wing plans, the worker board members would be elected by all employees and paid.

But they would also have to be members of trade unions - meaning that workers who did not pay their union subs would be banned from standing.

Under Labour's plans, all companies with a workforce of 250 or more, whether public or private, would be required by law to reserve at least one third of places at the boardroom table for employee representatives, with a minimum of two.

Mr Corbyn said Theresa May had U-turned on her promise to put workers onto boards, watering down a pledge made in her 2016 leadership election campaign so that firms can instead nominate a non-executive director to represent employees.

The Labour leader said: 'Workers are Britain's real wealth creators. They deserve a seat at the table.

'In workplaces across the country, working hours have got longer, productivity has nosedived, pay has fallen and insecurity has risen.

'Businesses have been allowed to get away with such exploitative practices because the balance of power has shifted against workers. That has allowed a reckless corporate culture to fester which is damaging Britain's economy.

'Labour will turn the tide and give workers more control and a real say at work. By ensuring businesses reserve a third of board seats for workers, we'll help transform our broken economic model, as part of our plans to rebuild Britain for the many not the few.'

Paddy Lillis, general secretary of shopworkers union Usdaw, welcomed the move.

He said: 'We believe that workers on boards will help ensure that staff are valued by the business, receive a proper living wage and job security.'

Andrew Murray - who quit the Communist Party two years ago - (pictured in 2015) has written a book tearing into past Labour governments and calling for the country to be 'imbued with a fierce revolutionary spirit'

'Too many workers feel undervalued by their employer, a Labour Government will tackle that by giving them a proper say in how the company is run.'

The announcement forms part of an effort by Labour to use its Liverpool conference to make a direct pitch to working class communities, which it says have been held back by years of austerity and neglect.

Party sources pointed to research showing that the UK has the lowest average business investment of any G7 nation as a share of GDP.

Labour blamed governance structures which give legal priority to shareholder interests over those of other stakeholders. Mr Corbyn believes this is fuelling a short-termist corporate culture, holding back economic growth.

Mr Murray said that he has changed his views since he penned the book - but admitted that he is still a Marxist.

He said: 'The opinions I held then are not in all respects those I hold today. I am no longer a member of the Communist Party. I am still, I hope, a Marxist.'Labour could lose nearly one million votes at the next General Election as Britons desert the party over the anti-Semitism crisis, a poll today reveals.

Jeremy Corbyn's party has been plunged into turmoil over the crisis and has been branded 'institutionally racist' by one of its own MPs.

And the Labour leader was accused of being an 'anti-Semite' by ex chief Rabbi Lord Sacks after MailOnline exclusive published a video in which he said British Zionists have no sense of English irony.

A survey published today shows voters are so angry over the crisis that they could withhold their votes over the issue - potentially costing Labour the next election.

The figures, revealed in a YouGov poll, found that 12 per cent of potential Labour voters said they might not back the party because of the scandal - amounting to nearly 500,000 people.

While among 7 per cent of Labour waverers said the crisis could change how they act at the ballot box - amounting to around 300,000 people.

Labour could lose nearly one million votes at the next General Election as Britons desert the party over the anti-Semitism crisis, a poll today reveals

And among self-styled 'solid' Labour voters, 2 per cent said the scandal could make them much less likely to back the party - amounting to 100,000 votes.

The Tories only narrowly beat Labour to No 10 by 758,224 votes - meaning that the anti-Semitism crisis could cost the Mr Corbyn the next election.

Euan Philipps, of Labour Against Antisemitism, the campaign group that commissioned the poll, said: 'This poll delivers a damning judgement on a Labour leader who has lost the moral authority to lead.

Bid to make deselection of Labour moderates to be voted on by party conference Proposals to make it easier to deselect Labour MPs could be passed by the party today amid fears the hard-left wants to purge the organisation of moderates. Labour's National Executive Committee (NEC) has backed controversial moves to slash barriers to ousting MPs. And they are expected to be voted through by party delegates at their conference in Liverpool today. Under the proposals, MPs will face open selection battles if a third of local branches or affiliated unions demand one - cutting it from the current 50 per cent threshold. And plans to make it easier for a Corbynista to take over as leader are also expected to be passed today. Under them, anyone wanting to stand to be leader would have to get the backing of 5 per cent of constituency parties or trade union members. The move would hand the 500,000 Labour Party members far more power and almost certainly ensure that the left get onto the ballot. A Labour source said: 'The proposal agreed unanimously by the NEC reforms the existing reselection process, giving members and trade union affiliates a greater say in who represents them, but doesn't move to automatic open selections.' The moves come after several Labour moderate MPs have faced no confidence votes from their local parties after they spoke out against Mr Corbyn's over anti-Semitism. Joan Ryan, Gavin Shuker and Chris Leslie have all blamed the hard-left who have flooded into the party after they were hit by the votes. Advertisement

'Jeremy Corbyn's foolish and misguided decision to spend an entire summer baiting the British Jewish community appears to have backfired drastically, and turned thousands of vital swing voters away from the Labour Party.'

He added: 'Labour party members must now ask themselves how much they wish to remain loyal to Corbyn, how much they want to risk further tarnishing the party's already sullied reputation for fighting racism, and how much they want a Labour government?

'Because while Mr Corbyn remains leader the prospect of a Labour government remains increasingly far away.'

The survey was revealed on the day where Labour Party delegates at conference in Liverpool are expected to pass a radical shake-up of party rules to make it easier to oust MPs.

Under the plans, already backed by party's National Executive Committee (NEC), MPs will face open selection battles if a third of local branches or affiliated unions demand one - cutting it from the current 50 per cent threshold.

Critics have warned that the plan would make it easier for hard-left entryists to purge the party of MPs that have criticised Mr Corbyn's handling of the anti-Semitism crisis.

Labour MPs who are Jewish or who have spoken out against the anti-Semitism crisis have faced a wave of abuse and threats of deselection from the hard-left.

Joan Ryan, a Labour MP and chair of the Labour Friends of Israel Group, and Gavin Shuker have both lost confidence votes - and blamed hard-left the for attempts to purge them from the party.

The poll of more than 5,000 people, carried out between September 10 and 13, is the largest yet carried out about the political fall-out of the anti-Semitism scandal.

It comes as it was revealed that a Labour MP critical of Mr Corbyn is in secret negotiations to receive a 24-hour armed guard after being subjected to chilling death threats.

The backbencher has been in talks with Commons security advisers about being given unprecedented police protection on a par with the Home Secretary.

If agreed, it will be the first time that a rank-and-file MP on mainland Britain has been granted such security.

One senior Commons source said: This is an extremely serious threat. I would say that this MP needs this protection more than the Northern Ireland Secretary does  which is a sign of the times.

Several prominent Jewish figures have revealed they are planning to flee Britain if Mr Corbyn is elected PM as they fear they are no longer welcome in the country.

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.

Under Jeremy Corbyn (pictured at the party conference in Liverpool today) , Labour has been plunged into turmoil over the anti-Semitism crisis and has been branded 'institutionally racist' by one of its own MPs

He told the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire Show last month: '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.

Labour said it is 'fully committed to the support, defence and celebration of the Jewish community and its organisations.

'We are taking action against anti-Semitism, standing in solidarity with Jewish communities, and rebuilding trust'.A five-year-old girl has been left fighting for her little life after it took doctors two years to diagnose her with cancer.

Myla Carte was taken to hospital ten times before family were told the heartbreaking news she had a stage four Wilms tumour which is cancer in the kidneys.

Her parents say Myla started suffering stomach cramps and would violently vomit in 2016 which they now believe were the first signs of cancer.

But her symptoms were always dismissed by doctors who said the tot had a viral infection and advised giving her Calpol.

However, parents Lyndsey and Trevor Carte knew something was wrong and refused to give up on their daughter who would often scream out in agony.

More than two years later, Myla was diagnosed with the cancer which doctors said was 'one of the biggest' they had seen in a five-year-old.

Myla Carte, 5, is fighting for her life after it took doctors two years to diagnose her cancer

Myla had six weeks of chemotherapy to shrink the tumour, which was 1.4 litres in volume, before going under knife on August 9 this year.

Doctors have told her parents they believe Myla has a 60 per cent chance of survival - lower than it would have been had it been picked up earlier.

Her mum Lyndsey, 37, said: 'She would have had an 85 per cent chance of survival if they had found it sooner because it was left and it has now spread.

'It's heartbreaking, I just wish I could turn back time and pushed the doctors more.

'I was mad at first when Myla was finally diagnosed but I'm just concentrating on getting her better now.'

Myla was taken to hospital ten times suffering from severe stomach cramps and vomiting but doctors told her mother, Lyndsey, to give the youngster Calpol

Myla's parents want to make sure that no other youngsters have to wait as long as their daughter before they start treatment for the condition.

Her father, Trevor Carte, 39, from Skellow near Doncaster, South Yorkshire, added: 'It has absolutely devastated us as a family.

'She is really weak and can't walk at the moment, and she's lost her hair. She's lost half a stone.

'It could have been a totally different story if they had found it early. We don't want this to happen to anyone else.'

Myla was taken to hospital for the second time at Christmas 2017 when doctors initially checked her for possible appendicitis.

Then revisited the doctors at end of May this year because she was screaming in agony.

Myla has since had her kidney removed where a 1.4 litre tumour was growing and is undergoing 34 weeks of chemotherapy

She was transferred to the children's observation unit at Doncaster Royal Infirmary for tests where they concluded she had and gave her antibiotics.

Lyndsey rang the next day to say she thought the antibiotics were making her sick, and she returned to the hospital again two days later.

That was when doctors felt something in her abdomen, which was found to be a tumour.

Myla was sent to Sheffield Children's Hospital for more tests, where a scan revealed a tumour which doctors told her they thought had been there for two years.

Housewife Lyndsey, who has two other daughters Maicie, aged eight, and Madie, aged four, added: 'Doctors said that it was viral and the last time we went they said it was a water infection.

Lyndsey says Myla is weak at the moment and has lost half a stone since starting her chemotherapy (left Myla before the treatment, right Myla with sisters Maicie, 8, and Madie, 4

'They examined her stomach but a virus was all they said. You put your trust in doctors - what else can you do?

'I didn't take her to see the doctors everytime, it was only when I could not control her pain and sickness otherwise I would never have left hospital..'

Doctors operated and removed a kidney which had the large tumour on it. There were also tumours in her lung and stomach which are also being treated.

Myla has now started chemotherapy and will undergo treatment for 34 weeks.

The couple have not yet made any official complaints.

Doctors say, Myla (pictured with her family) she has a 60 per cent chance of survival but her mother says this could have been 85 per cent if they had diagnosed it sooner

Sue Bushell, Business Manager, Great North Medical Group, which runs Carcroft Health Centre, said: 'Our senior partner has investigated this for me, and has confirmed that we acted on this immediately when the problem was brought to our attention.'

Mr Sewa Singh, Medical Director at Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals, said: 'Our thoughts and best wishes go out to Myla and her family during this very difficult time.

'We would invite Myla's family to get in touch with our Patient Experience Team if they are concerned about any aspects of her care at Doncaster Royal Infirmary.'Backlash is growing after a fourth tiger shark was captured and killed in waters where a woman and young girl were attacked in the space of less than 24 hours earlier this week.

Tasmanian woman Justine Barwick, 46, is recovering in hospital after she was a mauled by a shark in Cid Harbour near Hamilton Island in Queensland's Whitsundays region on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Melbourne youngster Hannah Papps remains in a critical condition clinging to life after she was bitten in Cid Harbour less than 24 hours later on Thursday.

Backlash is growing after a fourth tiger shark was captured and killed in waters where a woman and young girl were attacked in the space of less than 24 hours earlier this week

The 3.7 metre tiger shark killed on Sunday was caught in a drumline.

'This shark, like the others, would pose a serious threat to people swimming in the Cid Harbour waters,' a Queensland Fisheries spokesman told Daily Mail Australia.

'The shark has been humanely euthanised and will be taken further out to sea for disposal.'

The three drumlines deployed last week will remain in place over the coming days.

'The intention is to remove large dangerous sharks from the area and reduce the risk to people,'the spokesman said.

'Clearly there are a significant number of active sharks in local waters and people are urged not to swim.'

While officials remain uncertain whether any of the four sharks killed was behind either of two recent tourist attacks, locals believe the killing is unnecessary.

'I think it's terrible. How do they know those sharks are the ones who bit the people?' Glenn Dray told 9 News.

A woman who lives on a boat in Cid Harbour said two sharks were shot within minutes of each other on Saturday follwong the attacks

Erin Graystone added: 'I just find it horrible and disgusting that these creatures are getting shot for us being in their territory.'

It comes after people took to social media to give their views on the baiting and killing of sharks in the aftermath of the attack.

'Why? You possibly got the wrong sharks. It's their playground not ours,' one user wrote.

'And how did they know they were the 'guilty' ones,' another added.

'That'll send a clear message through the shark community,' another Facebook user wrote.

A woman who lives on a boat in Cid Harbour said the first two sharks were shot within minutes of each other on Saturday.

'Five shots were used on second shark. Minutes after first shark,' she told The Courier Mail.

'Sharks are everywhere. We always catch them.'

Human safety is paramount, but the killing of four sharks in response to the attacks isn't the answer, according to animal rights groups.

'Public support for these shark control methods is dropping off,' Humane Society International marine campaigner Lawrence Chlebeck said.

'We acknowledge the need for the use of technology and reducing these sorts of incidences ... but drumlines have been in the water since 1962, that's 60 years ago now.

Meanwhile, Melbourne youngster Hannah Papps remains in a critical condition clinging to life after she was bitten in Cid Harbour less than 24 hours later on Thursday

'The technology is there and we've moved on.'

The state government insists killing the sharks is in the interest of public safety despite admitting it will never know if they caused the injuries.

The Liberal National Party agrees it's the right move.

'I think the action that is being taken at the moment is appropriate, we need to find this killer shark,' LNP deputy leader Tim Mander said on Sunday.

But Mr Chlebeck and Sea Shepherd's Jonathan Clark say personal shark deterrent devices, aerial spotters, drone surveys, public education and alert systems play a bigger role in preventing attacks.

'Stop the nonsense about speaking of 'effectiveness' only in terms of their ability to kill sharks,' Mr Clark said.

'That bit is easy and it's lazy policy. Making beaches actually safer is much harder and unrelated to their ability to kill sharks.'

Meanwhile, Mrs Barwick, 46, has since opened her eyes and blinked after spending three days fighting for her life in hospital.

She underwent 18 hours of intensive surgery after she was attacked by a shark on Wednesday afternoon, and it wasn't until she heard her husband Craig speak almost a week later that she showed signs of life.

Justine Barwick (pictured) has miraculously opened her eyes after hearing her husbands voice, following 18 hours of intensive surgery

The moment before Justine Barwick, who is in the dinghy, is rescued and rushed to hospital

Mrs Barwick was originally taken by helicopter to Mackay Base Hospital in Queensland, however she has since been transferred to the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital.

There she received the surgery on her right leg, which was left severely injured in a shark attack at the Whitsundays. Her surgery finished at 1am on Friday, the Daily Telegraph reported.

A group of passers-by found Mrs Barwick with life-threatening bites to her upper right leg on Wednesday night.

The 12-year-old girl mauled by a shark and showed incredible strength when she gave emergency workers a smile and thumbs up after the attack has been revealed as Hannah Papps (pictured)

Hannah Papps,12, was attacked less than 24 hours later in the same stretch of water close to Cid Harbour. The Melbourne schoolgirl remains in a stable but critical condition in hospital.

The shark tore a large piece of flesh from Hannah's upper thigh.

Her rescuers told the Herald Sun about the moment they loaded her into the air craft and she gave them a smile and a thumbs up.

RACQ Central Queensland helicopter crewman Ben McCauley said it was always difficult for everyone when the victim of an incident was a child but she showed strength beyond her years.

'We would like to thank everyone who has helped and cared for Hannah, including the police, emergency services and the hospital teams,' her family said in a statement.

'We ask that everyone, including the media, please respect our family's privacy during this very difficult time so we can focus our energies on Hannah's recovery.'

A baited drumline is a favoured technique for luring and killing sharks by using a large hook with bait

Two Tiger sharks have already been caught and killed in Cid Bay both were caught on baited drumlines (pictured)Dangerous flammable cladding linked to the Grenfell Tower disaster will be removed from buildings across Australia - and residents could be forced to foot the bill.

The NSW State government this month banned numerous flammable cladding types following the 2017 Grenfell Tower fire disaster in London, which claimed the lives of 72 people.

The type of cladding found in the tower, aluminium composite panelling (ACP) with a polyethylene core, is among those targeted to be removed from buildings in Australia.

Each state and territory will enforce their own rules on dealing with the life-threatening issue, however, in NSW, residents may be forced to pay huge bills for the work, or face fines and even jail if they do not comply.

Properties across Australia could soon have to update dangerous flammable cladding in buildings after the 2017 Grenfell tower fire disaster in the UK (pictured)

The NSW government this month enforced the ban on new buildings higher than two storeys and also moved to ban the cladding types retrospectively - meaning current owners will need to take on the task.

Strata Community Association NSW branch president Chris Duggan said that strata residents who moved into buildings unaware of the financial cost associated with the cladding would have to pay for the work.

'It's going to require those buildings to determine the most effective response - it's a costly and lengthy exercise,' Mr Duggan told 9News.

'It's a very difficult to pin a figure on this. If you imagine a high-rise building it's feasible that that could be a multi-million-dollar job.'

Penalties for non-compliance in NSW include a maximum fine of $1.1 million for corporations, with $110,000 added each day that dangerous cladding is identified and not removed.

For individuals, the fine is $220,000 with $44,000 each day or a two-year jail period.

'In terms of the prevalence of aluminium cladding on strata buildings, this is a massive issue and I don't think we've got a good understanding of the extent of cladding on buildings,' Mr Duggan said.A prominent Tory donor today threatened to fund a new 'hard Brexit' party in protest at Theresa May's Chequers plan.

City Financial Jeremy Hosking turned up the pressure on the PM as she struggles to keep the Tories united over her blueprint for future relations with the EU.

Mrs May has issued a desperate pea for Conservatives to stay united on Brexit, amid claims her aides have been 'war gaming' holding another snap election to break the political deadlock.

City Financial Jeremy Hosking (pictured during the referendum campaign in 2016) turned up the pressure on the PM as she struggles to keep the Tories united over her blueprint for future relations with the EU

But Mr Hosking - said to have donated 1.5million to the Leave campaign and given 375,000 to the Conservatives since 2015 - told the Sunday Telegraph that Eurosceptic voters were 'being heated up slowly like laboratory frogs' under the PM's blueprint.

As a result there is a 'gap in the political market' and he said he 'intends to help fill it'.

Over the summer Mr Hosking commissioned research into 12 Tory-held constituencies with Remainer MPs, along with Mrs May's Maidenhead seat.

The poll found 53 per cent of respondents said they would consider voting for a new political party created with the sole aim of pressuring the main parties 'to conclude Brexit as quickly and as fully as possible'.

Mr Hosking confirmed today that that Brexit Express, his pressure group, was behind the survey.

He wrote: 'Brexit Express has had enough. We must find some way of hopping out of the bubbling water.

'This is why we have been sponsoring opinion polls in both Tory and Labour constituencies.

'This polling shows there is clear support for a Brexit party that will deliver what the electorate thought it would be getting.

Theresa May (pictured at church in Maidenhead with husband Philip today) has issued a desperate pea for Conservatives to stay united on Brexit

'The centre-Left talk but never quite act on setting up a new pro-Europe electoral alternative, bizarrely convinced that repeating an action will produce a different result. Einstein's definition of madness.'

Mr Hosking said Chequers was the 'latest manifestation' up the existing political establishment tying the UK up 'in knots'.

'The obvious question for Eurosceptics to ask is whether the current fiasco is accidental or premeditated?' he wrote.

'Normally the odds favour cock-up over conspiracy The more plausible thesis by a distance is a deliberate attempt by the British Establishment to render a real exit from the EU impossible.'A motorist returned from holiday to find his car had been moved onto double yellow lines that were painted while he was away - and then given four parking tickets.

Stunned Martin Dodridge, 51, left his Reliant Robin parked safely in the road near his home when he left for a two-week break in South Africa.

Friends informed him that his car had been moved while workers for Cornwall Council contractor Cormac painted double yellow lines along the road.

Martin Dodridge, 51, (pictured) returned from holiday to find four parking tickets on his car which had been moved onto double yellow lines that were painted while he was away

Mr Dodridge had left his Reliant Robin parked safely in the road (above) near his home when he left for a two-week holiday. Friends informed him that his car had been moved while workers for Cornwall Council contractor Cormac painted double yellow lines along the road

The three-wheeled vehicle was then placed back onto the newly-painted lines - and traffic wardens slapped four tickets on the car before Martin returned home.

The welder, of Penryn, Cornwall, is furious that he was not contacted despite his vehicle being emblazoned with his business name and number.

He says a sign requesting vehicles to be moved was only installed two days before the work began, by which time he had left the country.

'I'm blown away,' he said. 'When you tell people, they can't believe it - they're shocked.

'I left my car perfectly safe and got back on Wednesday and it's moved with tickets on it.

'I'm totally shocked but there's a kind of funny side to it.

The welder is furious that he was not contacted despite his vehicle being emblazoned with his business name and number (pictured) and claims a sign requesting vehicles to be moved was only installed two days before the work began, by which time he had left the country

'The police didn't want to know because there was no damage so they said it was a civil matter.

'I called and reported it to the council and was told that someone would ring me back, the head of the department, regarding moving the vehicle.

'They also gave me a reference number and told me to go on their website to the complaints section. I've done that but I haven't heard back from anyone and it was two days ago.'

Martin's brother, Tony Gibbs, 53, of Helston, Cornwall, was around while he was on holiday and equally stunned by the bizarre turn of events.

He said: 'He went away for two weeks and it happened almost the day after he left.

'I got a message from him in South Africa saying someone let him know that they had painted yellow lines where his van was.

'He was parked perfectly legally because there were no lines.

'They came along, painted the lines and looks as if they dragged the car or literally lifted it up, continued painting the lines and then lifted the car over the top of the lines.

Martin's brother, Tony Gibbs, said: 'They came along, painted the lines and looks as if they dragged the car or literally lifted it up, continued painting the lines and then lifted the car over the top of the lines'

'They left it further down the hill on top of the lines. I left a note saying 'owner is away on holiday with the keys' and they put three or four parking tickets on it.

'It's crazy, isn't it?

'There are now lines running about 20 yards in the road where there were none in the road at all.

'There was no notification or sings saying about it beforehand.

'They should not have moved his car.

'The irony is they painted lines up to the vehicle and moved it down the hill on top of the lines and carried on painting in front of it.

'His name, contact, email and mobile number are on the side of his van and nobody thought to contact him, even to say 'can you move your van?'.

'It's mental.'

Cormac is an arms-length contractor wholly owned by Cornwall Council, which is responsible for on-street parking enforcement.

A spokesman for CORMAC said: 'We do not have authority to move vehicles without the owner's permission. If our lining works are obstructed, we complete as much as we possibly can and return at a later date to address any gaps in the lining created by parked cars. In this instance, we returned on two separate occasions. On the second occasion the car in question had been moved, allowing us to complete the job.'

A spokesman for Cornwall Council said: 'We are currently looking into the events leading up to Mr Dodridge being issued the penalty charges. We'll carry out this investigation as quickly as possible and if it is found that Mr Dodridge was not at fault, the penalty charges will not be enforced.'A brave Sydney swimmer has shared his close-up encounter with three great white sharks in incredible slow-motion footage.

Beach-goers were warned to stay vigilant of sharks after a whale carcass was spotted in waters off Wattamolla beach near Cronulla - but oceanographer Kurt Kiggins and his brother Jai were not daunted by the prospect.

Mr Kiggins, 26, said as soon as he heard on Saturday morning that there were sharks feeding on the carcass, he and his brother rushed to the beach.

Scroll down for video

A brave Sydney swimmer has shared his close-up encounter with three great white sharks in incredible slow-motion footage

Beach-goers were warned to stay vigilant of sharks after a whale carcass was spotted in waters off Wattamolla beach near Cronulla on Tuesday

NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service have advised visitors not to swim, snorkel or dive in the shark-infested waters (pictured shark feeding on the whale carcass)

Mr Kiggins, 26, said as soon as he heard on Saturday morning there were sharks feeding on the carcass (pictured) him and his brother drove as fast as they could to the beach

Kurt Kiggins told Daily Mail Australia he ventured into the dangerous waters despite people on the beach telling him to stay on the shore

Mr Kiggins told Daily Mail Australia on Sunday he ventured into the dangerous waters despite people at the beach telling him to stay on the shore.

He said: 'People and friends on the beach were saying please don't go in - but it's a once in a lifetime opportunity.

The 12-year-old girl mauled by a shark and showed incredible strength when she gave emergency workers a smile and thumbs up after the attack has been revealed as Hannah Papps (pictured)

'There were three great whites right there as soon as we got into the water.'

But Shaun Elwood of the National Parks and Wildlife Service warned against such behaviour in an interview with Channel 9.

He said: 'Look it's stupid. New South Wales Police and NSW Maritime really discourage doing anything like that.'

NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service have advised visitors not to swim, snorkel or dive in the shark-infested waters.

Swimming with blood-hungry sharks is the least of Kurt's fears though - he is more worried about getting close and personal though with the razor-sharp bills of the blue marlin.

Earlier this month, he shared a photo of him with the sword-shaped fish swimming next to his boat in the Azores.

On Friday, a 12-year-old girl was mauled by a shark in Cid Harbour off Queensland's northeast coast.

Tasmanian woman Justine Barwick was also attacked by a shark in the same harbour two days earlier and underwent 18 hours of intensive surgery.

The second attack came just 24 hours after a Tasmanian woman Justine Barwick (pictured) had been attacked by a shark nearbyThe American schoolteacher who made headlines around the world for her secret affair with a 12-year-old student still insists today she had no idea what she did was a crime.

Mary Kay Letourneaou, then 34, was still married to the father of her first four children when she began a relationship with 12-year-old student Vili Fualaau during summer school.

In 1997, she pleaded guilty to two counts of felony second-degree rape of a child and was sentenced seven years in prison.

Scroll down for video

Mary Kay Letourneau, (pictured right) then 34, was still married to the father of her first four children when she began a relationship with 12-year-old student Vili Fualaau (pictured left) during summer school

The former teacher, then 34, said Vili Fualaau, then 12, was 'the boss' in their relationship (pictured at the time)

Their daughters Audrey, 21 and Georgia, 19, opened up for the first time about what it was like growing up in their unconventional family

Letourneau insists to this day that she didn't know she was committing was a crime.

'If someone had told me, if anyone had told me, there is a specific law that says this is a crime,' she told Channel Seven's Sunday Night.

'I did not know. I've said this over and over again. Had I'd known, if anyone knows my personality. Just the idea, this would count as a crime.'

Letourneau and Fualaau married in 2005 after her release from prison and share two daughters.

Audrey, 21, was born after Letourneau's initial arrest, while Georgia, 19, was born behind bars.

During the Sunday Night interview, Letourneau became defensive when pressured to admit by journalist Matt Doran to admit she 'should have known better'.

The now 56-year-old then repeatedly asked her husband to admit he 'was the boss' and pursued her, despite being 22 years his senior.

'Flaw me, I did the best I could,' Letourneau said.

The couple's daughters opened up for the first time about what it was like growing up in their unconventional family.

'It doesn't feel different because it wasn't brought to our attention. We grew up with it, so we adapted,' Audrey said.

'It doesn't feel different because it wasn't brought to our attention. We grew up with it. so we adapted,' the couple's daughter, Audrey (left), said

Letourneau (pictured) hopes to use paralegal skills to remove her name from the sex offenders' registry

Today, Letourneau works as a paralegal at the same court where she faced trial 21 years ago.

She hopes use her new skills in her fight to remove her name from the sex offenders' registry.

Fualaau filed for separation from Letourneau in 2017, but later withdrew the request, despite admitting to Sunday Night there are problems within their marriage.

The now 35-year-old said he had thought about leaving the relationship.

But, Letourneau says she's still madly in love with her husband.

'Anyone that's married knows that it's a labour in love,' she said.

Fualaau filed for separation in 2017, which was later withdrawn and admitted there's still problems and has doubts about their relationship (pictured is the couple together)Pakistan extending olive branch to India should never be misconstrued as weakness: Shehbaz Sharif

Responding to Indian army chief Bipin Rawats threatening statement, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif Saturday said that the bellicose and irresponsible statement only exposes the Indian designs to the world.



In a tweet on his official Twitter account, the PML-N president termed the Indian army chiefs statement irresponsible and called upon the world to immediately take note of New Delhis threatening posture. Pakistan extending an olive branch to India should never be misconstrued as a weakness, he said.



The former Punjab chief minister warned India by saying that Pakistans unwavering patriotic soldiers stand steadfast with might and fury against any unprovoked aggression. The nation stands united with its intrepid military and against the cowardly threats, he added.Advertisement

A monumental tapestry that cost a king's ransom when Henry VIII commissioned it in the 16th century has been discovered in Spain. It was long ago assumed to have been destroyed.

As a masterpiece woven with gold and silver thread, it was the ultimate show of wealth. In the 1530s, the Tudor monarch gave it pride of place at Hampton Court, his seat of power.

Almost 20 ft wide, it was part of a now-lost set of nine tapestries depicting the life of Saint Paul.

A monumental tapestry commissioned Henry VIII in the 1530s has been discovered in Spain. The tapestry shows Saint Paul burning heathen books - preceding the king's own destruction of monasteries

It was the Tudor monarch's ultimate show of wealth and had pride of place at Hampton Court, his seat of power. It's Biblical subject also had a strong political narrative, commissioned around the time of the Act of Supremacy

For Henry VIII, its Biblical subject also had a strong political narrative. Commissioned around the time of the Act of Supremacy, its main scene of a dramatic bonfire with Saint Paul directing the burning of heathen books is interpreted as a religious antecedent for the king's own destruction of the monasteries.

Henry VIII (above) was so passionate about tapestries that he boasted 2,500 examples, but a tiny percentage of them have survived, and this one is among the greatest

Research by leading tapestry experts Simon Franses and Thomas P Campbell have confirmed that this was one of Henry VIII's prized possessions, although its supreme quality alone suggests that it could only have been a royal commission.

While Franses described it as 'one of the most sumptuous and important Renaissance tapestries', Campbell called it 'the Holy Grail of Tudor tapestry'.

Henry VIII was so passionate about tapestries that he boasted 2,500 examples, but a tiny percentage of them have survived, and this one is among the greatest.

Franses said that it eclipses even comparable examples at Hampton Court, the Abraham tapestries, which are 'tame Biblical tapestries' against this 'dynamic, energetic piece'.

'There's nothing to touch it in the Victoria & Albert, the Royal Collection or the National Trust,' he said.

The St Paul tapestries were listed as at Hampton Court at his death in 1547 and, in the 1670s, Charles II reused them in his redecoration of Windsor Castle, where they were last recorded in 1770, before they apparently disappeared without trace.

It has now emerged that a Spanish dealer bought this example in the 1960s, selling it on to a Barcelona collector.

It was eventually sold again, to an unidentified buyer in Madrid, who has now sent it to Britain to be cleaned and conserved.

It will receive its first public exhibition next month, as part of a loan exhibition at S Franses, leading specialists in historic tapestry and textile art, in St James's London.

Franses said: 'The tapestry provided Henry VIII with powerful and unequivocal Biblical authority from one of Christ's Apostles for destruction of anything seen as heathen or ungodly.

Saint Paul (left) directs the burning of heathen books in the tapestry's main scene of a dramatic bonfire. It was commissioned by the kind during a period of the dissolution and destruction of the monasteries and a series of proclamations on the destruction of 'heretical books'

'This is the period of the sacking of the monasteries with widespread destruction. Around 1530, there were also specifically a series of proclamations on the destruction of 'heretical books'.

'Here he's basically saying 'I've got religious authority to do this'. He is a political figure and needs to justify and provide authority for the less palatable things that he's doing.'

Campbell, former director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and an expert on renaissance tapestry, spoke of 'a feeling of reverence' when he was first shown this 'great work of art'.

He had spent years studying over archival material relating to the lost set in researching his 2007 book Henry VIII and the Art of Majesty. The tapestry was known from a preparatory drawing in Ghent and a fragment of the full cartoon in New York.

He said: 'Henry had this huge tapestry collection that has almost entirely disappeared  This just transports you back in time.'

The Act of Supremacy and the Dissolution of the Monasteries The Act of Supremacy The Act of Supremacy, established in 1534, was an important English act of Parliament that recognised Henry VIII as the 'Supreme Head of the Church of England.' Prior to 1534, the supreme head of the English Church was the Pope of the Roman Catholic Church. Henry VIII introduced the Act primarily because he needed a male heir to the throne and had been unable to produce an heir with his wife, Catherine of Aragon. He had not tried for years to obtain an annulment of his marriage but The Pope had refused. According to the church at the time, a validly contracted marriage is indivisible until death. With the Act enforced, it declared the king 'the only supreme head on Earth of the Church of England' and that he would therefore enjoy 'all honours, dignities, preeminences, jurisdictions, privileges, authorities, immunities, profits, and commodities to the said dignity.' The act also required an oath of loyalty from English subjects that recognized his marriage to Anne Boleyn. Significantly, the Act marked the beginning of the English Reformation and was repealed in 1554. The Dissolution of the Monasteries Shortly after, Henry dissolved and disbanded monasteries throughout England, Wales and Ireland. By the 1530s, at a time of increasing tensions between the Pope in Rome and King Henry VIII, monasteries were seen as corrupt and out of touch with the common people of England and Wales. After detaching England, Wales and Ireland from the authority of the Roman Catholic Church, Henry's next step was to disband the monasteries. He did this partly to reform the church but also to strip the monasteries of their huge wealth. A set of administrative and legal processes between 1536 and 1541 saw the king appropriate their income, dispose of their assets, and provide for their former personnel and functions. Advertisement

It was designed for the king by Pieter Coecke van Aelst, and woven in Brussels. Its size and extraordinary detail suggest that such a tapestry would have taken eight of the greatest weavers up to 24 months to create.

From documentary evidence, Campbell calculated that the ten Abraham tapestries alone cost as much as one of Henry VIII's biggest, fully-rigged battleships, and would have required teams of weavers within a huge industry: 'It was like the Hollywood of the day.'

But he said that, in the 18th and early 19th centuries, paintings started to eclipse tapestries, and many disappeared: 'We don't know what happened. My fear is that a lot were taken down and entrepreneurial royal servants tried to unravel the gold thread from them. Some got given away.

Tapestry experts say this was one of Henry VIII's prized possessions and 'one of the most sumptuous and important Renaissance tapestries'. A Spanish dealer bought this example in the 1960s, selling it on to a Barcelona collector

'Not only is [this] the only surviving piece of one of the most expensive and iconographically-important tapestry sets in Henry's collection, but the subject  has such resonance in the history of the country.'

He added: 'People have been so misled about the role of the figurative arts at Henry's court because art historians have framed the story so much in terms of painting and portrait miniatures. You have Holbein and one or two others. But there's been this assumption that the Tudor court was a backwater. Nothing could be less true. Henry's palaces were hung with the most brightly-coloured, richly-woven tapestries with the most up-to-date designs of the day  Tapestries were part of propaganda because [they] were so expensive. They were part of royal magnificence.'

In 2013, the Spanish owner suspected a possible link to Hampton Court and tried in vain to secure an export licence. Now research has confirmed the link.

Franses hopes that Spain will grant an export licence as such a masterpiece deserves to be in a British public collection. He hopes that the UK can acquire it for far less than its value of more than 5m, if it were to come on the open market.

The loan exhibition, titled Henry VIII: the unseen tapestries, will be at the S Franses gallery from October 1 to 19.Shania Houghton, 14, has been missing for the last three days

A teenage girl has been missing for three days after she was last seen carrying two kittens in Essex.

Shania Houghton, 14, was last seen on Southend High Street at around 5.30pm on Thursday carrying the aminals.

She was wearing black trousers, black and white shoes and had carried a large bag.

Essex police have launched a second appeal to the public, to help find the 'vulnerable' young girl.

Shania, who has been deemed 'vulnerable', is known to visit East London areas, particularly Stratford, Walthamstow, Leyton and Hackney.

Police officers have said she also visited areas closer to central London including Islington.

A spokeswoman for Essex Police said: 'We understand that we have already asked for help to find Shania earlier this month, but she is a vulnerable young person and we are concerned for her safety.

'She is known to visit areas in East London, in particular Stratford, Walthamstow, Leyton, Ilford and Hackney, as well as more central areas of London such as Islington.'

Anyone with information is asked to contact Southend Police Station on 101.A Jewish Labour MP was given police protection as she attended her party's conference - after receiving a torrent of online abuse over the Jeremy Corbyn anti-Semitism row.

Luciana Berger was accompanied by two police officers as she arrived at the conference in Liverpool today.

She was joined by half a dozen other Labour MPs who came together to tear into Jeremy Corbyn for failing to tackle the anti-Semitism crisis - as they demanded he finally 'drain the swamp' of racists.

Luciana Berger (pictured today at Labour Party conference in Liverpool today where she was accompanied by police protection) said that Jeremy Corbyn must finally 'drain the swamp' of racists in his party

Luciana Berger, pictured speaking at the fringe event, warned that there are many Jews in Britain today who do not feel safe because of the anti-Semitism crisis

Ms Berger said the party must finally root out the racism - warning that 'enough is enough' and Mr Corbyn must take action.

They spoke out hours after the Labour leader appeared on TV where he refused to say sorry as he was confronted with a litany of examples of alleged anti-Semitism.

In a highly charged fringe meeting in Liverpool today, a string of Labour MPs and Jewish leaders stood up to denounce the party leadership for allowing the racism to fester.

Ms Berger told the packed crowd that Jews are experiencing a growing wave of attacks and abuse - and warned 'there are Jews in this country who do not feel safe'.

Mr Corbyn was also pressed on his intervention in a decision to remove a mural (pictured) depicting a group of 'hook-nosed' men around a Monopoly board, from a wall in east London

She said: 'This year, more than ever, we have experienced attacks from the left - from people who claim they share our values, who wear the same rosette as us.'

She added: 'What maters now is draining the swamp. We need to see the Labour Party step up the investigations into complaints of anti-Semitism and get a faster, fairer, more transparent system of internal party justice.

'The party's new general secretary said this is her top priority and it would be dealt with by July. We are now in September and there is still that backlog.'

She also took a swipe at the 'utterly shameful' bid by Mr Corbyn to water down the definition of anti-Semitism used by the party to discipline its members.

Labour MP Stella Creasy told the Jewish Labour Movement event that the racism must be confronted and urgently rooted out.

She said: 'Nazism doesn't turn up fully formed wearing black shiny boots and black shirts and goosestepping.

Corbyn says he will back EU referendum if activists want one Labour plunged into fresh chaos over Brexit today as Jeremy Corbyn said he is ready to endorse another referendum - but a union crony warned that staying the EU should not be an option in any vote. The leader said his preference is to have a general election, but he would 'obviously' comply if party activists demand one. The concession came as MPs joined anti-Brexit protests at the gathering in Liverpool, and deputy leader Tom Watson urged a debate on the issue on the conference floor. But Unite chief Len McCluskey, a key supporter of Mr Corbyn, waded in to the row by insisting even if there is another national vote it should merely be between any package the government negotiates and no deal. He said the public had already settled the fundamental question of whether Britain should leave the bloc in 2016. The manoeuvring lays bare the depth of divisions within Labour over how to handle Brexit - and whether it should happen at all. Advertisement

'It appears every single day, slowly but surely as the debate is turned. It builds up bit by bit, it gains little by little, it paints itself as the victim - punching up.

'It paints its victims as its enemies, as traitors, as the other - dual loyalties. It rejects those norms and conventions on anti-Semitism that we have worked so hard to defend.'

Labour MP Ian Austin told the rally: 'Let's have no more of this offensive nonsense that people like me are only complaining about these issues to undermine Jeremy Corbyn, that it has been weaponised to undermine him.'

He added: 'The truth about Jeremy is that he is much angrier with the people complaining about anti-Semitism than he is with the people responsible for it.'

Mr Corbyn has got to 'stop thinking he is the victim in all of this and he has got to properly explain and apologise for his role and responsibility in the development of this crisis', the Dudley MP said.

Labour MP Wes Streeting told the rally: 'We know that anti-Semites in the Labour Party are small in number ... the really troubling thing about anti-Semitism in our party is the bystanders who chose to look the other way and continue to do so now.

'And, worse still, the people who through their words and their actions actively create the conditions in which anti-Semitism can be allowed to fester: Yes, Len McCluskey, I'm talking about you describing anti-Semitism as mood music.

'And yes, Mark Serwotka, I'm telling you as a general secretary with Jewish members that your remarks the other week at the TUC Congress have no place in the Labour Party and no place in the labour movement.'

And Rosie Duffield, a Labour MP who was threatened with a motion of censure after joining a rally against anti-Semitism in Parliament Square earlier this year, suggested those behind anti-Semitic abuse should be sent on an education trip to Auschwitz.

They unleashed their fury hours after Mr Corbyn appeared on the BBC's Andrew Marr Show in which he was confronted by a series of allegations of anti-Semitism.

In the bruising interview as Labour conference kicked off in Liverpool, Marr challenged Mr Corbyn on how he had failed to 'notice' that a mural he defended was an anti-Semitic trope.

He was also braced on his jibe about some 'British Zionists' not understanding 'English irony', and his attendance at a ceremony in Tunisia honouring terrorists linked to the Munich massacre.

But pressed to apologise to the Jewish community, Mr Corbyn merely insisted that he was 'anti-racist' and said Labour was 'welcoming' to all communities.

In a bruising interview as Labour conference kicked off in Liverpool, the BBC's Andrew Marr challenged Mr Corbyn (pictured) over anti-Semitism in the party

Mr Corbyn said he had been 'hurt' that veteran Labour MP Margaret Hodge and former chief Rabbi Lord Sacks had branded him personally an anti-Semite.

Invited by Marr to look down the lens of the camera and personally apologise to the Jewish community for the anti-Semitism crisis, Mr Corbyn replied: 'I'll simply say this  I am an anti-racist and will die an anti-racist.

'Anti-Semitism is a scourge in any society and I will oppose it all my life and I will continue to oppose it all my life.'

He insisted that under his leadership rules against anti-Semitism have been toughened up.

Mr Corbyn smiled for the cameras as he arrived for the first day of the Labour conference in Liverpool today

He added: 'The party must be and is a safe and welcoming place for all communities.'

Mr Corbyn was confronted by a video uncovered by MailOnline when he said some British Zionists had 'no sense of English irony'.

Corbyn warns the rich they are on 'borrowed time' as he rails against austerity Jeremy Corbyn tonight warned the rich that they are on 'borrowed time' because a Labour Government is coming. In a fiery speech to hundreds of activists, he said the poor had ended up paying for the 2008 financial meltdown through austerity while the rich got richer. But he warned that things would change if he is elected to Downing Street. His words, at a meeting of Momentum's World Transformed event, was greeted with wild applause from the hundreds who had packed into the room in Liverpool to see him. He told the audience in Liverpool: 'Challenging neoliberal economics is fundamental to what we believe in.' Mr Corbyn added: 'Austerity has been meted out on the poorest and most vulnerable people in our society. 'They are the ones who paid the price of the banking crisis of 2008, all the time the very richest in our society have had tax breaks, giveaways and tax havens. 'I tell you what: they are on borrowed time because a Labour government is coming.' The Labour leader said that he and his supporters received a massive confidence boost after they denied Theresa May an overall majority. And he railed against homelessness, climate change and poverty. The Labour leader was given a rock star welcome when he arrived at the Momentum conference event tonight. The crowd leapt to their feet as he arrived and burst into a rendition of the Corbynista anthem 'Ooooh Jeremy Corbyn' as he took to the stage. Advertisement

He defended himself, saying that he was simply defending the Palestinian ambassador Manuel Hassassian against 'very, very abusive' protesters at the meeting.

He said: 'I was upset on his behalfabout the way he had been treated. I felt I should say something in his support.'

Asked if he accepted that it was anti-Semitic, Mr Corbyn said: 'Well, it was not intended to be anti-Semitic in any way, and I have no intention  and am opposed in every way to anti-Semitism because I can see where it leads to.

'I can see where it leads to now, in Poland, in Hungary, in central Europe, I can see where it led to in the past.

'We have to oppose racism in every form, and I do.'

Mr Corbyn was also pressed on his intervention in a decision to remove a mural, which depicts a group of 'hook-nosed' men around a Monopoly board, from a wall in east London.

When the artist complained on Facebook that it was being painted over, Mr Corbyn replied: 'Why?', before going on to condemn previous destruction of controversial political art.

Jewish groups condemned the image, saying it contained 'vile anti-Semitic tropes' such as the idea that Jewish people controlled the world.

Mr Corbyn said today: 'I was worried about the idea of murals being taken down and my thoughts were about thatthe mural was taken down and I was perhaps too hasty in my judgement on that. It has been taken down and I am glad it has.'

Marr responded: 'I would have thought it would take about one second to look at that and say that that is an anti-Semitic trope there.'

But as he pointed out that the mural was packed full of standard anti-Semitic symbols, the Labour leader said: 'It also has other symbols in it as well doesn't it? Like the Freemasons.'

He added: 'I was concerned about the idea of takin down public murals, I am pleased to say it was taken down.'

Asked directly if he now thinks it is anti-Semitic, Mr Corbyn said: 'I think it should not have been put up.'

In one particularly uncomfortable exchange, Marr said: 'Jeremy Corbyn, are you an anti-Semite?'

Mr Corbyn replied: 'No. Absolutely not. I have spent my whole life opposing racism in any form and I will die fighting racism in any form.'

But Marr said: 'It is extraordinary I even had to ask that question.'

Mr Corbyn said he had been 'hurt' that veteran Labour MP Margaret Hodge and former chief Rabbi Lord Sacks had branded him personally an anti-Semite

Anti-Brexit protesters gathered in Liverpool today to demand a 'People's Vote' on any package the government manages to negotiateA man has been accused of fraud over the Grenfell fire is the fourteenth person to be charged with cashing in on the tragedy.

Moses Etienne, 48, will appear in court accused of obtaining food and accommodation following the tragic blaze in June 2017 that killed 71 people.

A Scotland Yard spokesman said: 'A man has been charged with fraud relating to the Grenfell Tower fire.

Moses Etienne, 48, is the 14th person to be charged with Grenfell Tower fraud after he claimed to be a resident and received food and accommodation meant for the survivors

'Moses Ettienne, 48, of no fixed abode will appear in custody at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Monday, 24 September.

'He is charged with one count of fraud by false representation relating to a claim he resided in Grenfell Tower at the time of the fire.

'He was arrested on Saturday, 22 September and is alleged to have fraudulently obtained food and accommodation.'The former National Crime Agency international corruption boss says he was ordered to stop an investigation into Russian money laundering.

Jon Benton, the international corruption unit boss, said a senior official from the Foreign Office told him to stop his investigation.

The claims undermine recent Government lines that say the UK is tackling Vladimir Putin's cronies who stash their wealth here.

Mr Benton headed up the special corruption unit from its inception in 2015 before retiring last year.

He claims he was given a 37-page dossier about London-based money laundering by Russian crime syndicates linked to the Kremlin.

Jon Benton said senior official from Foreign Office told him to stop investigation into Russia

He added that it was given to him by Bill Browder, a British financier whose lawyer was beaten and tortured in a Moscow jail for exposing Russian corruption.

Browder had led a 10-year campaign against Vladimir Putin's regime after Sergei Magnitsky was detained for exposing the corruption and theft from Browder's business.

Mr Benton told The Sunday Telegraph: 'Bill Browder had brought this to my attention. I went away and checked our systems to see what we could find to corroborate what Mr Browder was saying.

'After about eight to 10 weeks, we had a reasonable package that was good to go. It showed money laundering into the UK and quite enough to start a full money laundering investigation. We were pretty sure it was Russian money.

Bill Browder had led a 10-year campaign against Vladimir Putin's regime after lawyer's death

'I was pretty sure it was the proceeds of the fraud and the corruption committed against Bill Browder.'

But a more senior official at the National Crime Agency with links to the Foreign Office, according to Mr Benton, then took him to one side and asked him tostop the investigation.

'I was approached and taken for a coffee and basically told Bill Browder is a pain in the neck and to leave it,' recalled Mr Benton.

The Telegraph also reported that a short after the first meeting, the same official again took him to one side at the NCA and told him: 'This guy Bill Browder is a real pain. We are not carrying on with the investigation.'

Mr Benton said: 'At that point I said: 'what do you mean' and he said 'it is closed and we are dealing with it. You are not to launch a money laundering investigation'.'

He added that he thought it was odd that the senior official was getting involved in the matter because he didn't usually interfere with 'operational matters.'

The former crime boss said he doesn't know the motivation behind the NCA pulling the plug on the investigation.

Mr Browder's dossier had alleged that $30 million (23 million) of 'illicit funds' had been laundered through the UK, most of it through Lithuanian accounts.

Browder went on record in Parliament in naming a businessman, Dmitry Klyuev, as the head of the organised crime syndicate.

He said the 48-year-old planned the theft of $230 million (176 million) from Hermitage Capital, his investment fund that was based in Moscow but is now run out of London.

Russian tax officials colluded in the theft and high-ranking Russian police officers and ministers also benefited, according to Browder's dossier.

Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky was killed in prison. He had exposed Russian corruption

He began a 10-year justice campaign for justice after Sergei Magnitsky, who was investigating the alleged fraud, was killed in jail in Matrosskaya Tishina Prison in 2009.

The US congress passed the Magnitsky Act in 2012. The act imposed sanctions on several Russian officials, but Mr Browder has accused the British Government of not acting even after relations with Russia hit a new low after the Salisbury poisonings.

The fraud investigated by Magnitsky has led to criminal investigations around Europe and last week it emerged that Danske Bank, Denmark's largest bank, had laundered 178 billion.

Mr Browder had first alleged connections between the Danske bank and Russian organised syndicates years before.

Last night, following Mr Benton's claims, Mr Browder told The Telegraph: 'It now appears as if there was a deliberate attempt at the highest ranks of the British Government to shut down the money laundering investigation in the UK.

'There needs to be an inquiry in the UK. For some reason the British Government didn't want to take action against Russian gangsters in this country.'

An NCA spokesman said in a statement: 'The NCA is aware of the allegations made by Mr Browder and has carried out inquiries and assessment.

'The barriers to a criminal investigation are high and a full investigation is most effective where the major criminals can be brought to justice.

'In the NCA's judgment this in not in the UK  so the NCA has offered, and continues to offer, assistance to foreign partners investigating Mr Browder's allegations.'

Dmitry Klyuev, the businessman with a previous conviction for fraud, has denied any involvement in the tax fraud using stolen Hermitage documents.

He has dismissed claims of the existence of the Klyuev crime gang as a 'fabrication and a lie'



A man has allegedly confessed to stabbing a mother-of-two to death while she was jogging in 2014.

Melissa Millan, 54, an insurance executive, was jogging along Iron Horse Boulevard in Simsbury, Connecticut around 8pm in November of that year.

She was found stabbed to death in the chest on the side of the road the next day.

For four years there were no suspects named and no arrests made - until a man walked into the Simsbury Police Department on Thursday night saying he wanted to confess to the murder, according to the Hartford Courant.

Mother-of-two Melissa Millan, 54 (left and right) was stabbed to death as she was jogging along Iron Horse Boulevard in Simsbury, Connecticut, in November 2014. A man allegedly confessed to police on Thursday night that he was responsible for the murder

According to a report from the police department, the man lived near the crime scene (pictured) and is a registered sex offender in another state

The male suspect allegedly was accompanied by several members of his church and said he could no longer live with himself.

Police are now corroborating the man's confession to see if it matches evidence collected at the scene.

According to a report from the police department obtained by the Courant, the man lived near the crime scene and is a registered sex offender in another state.

The Courant reported that detectives interviewed the man from Thursday night into Friday morning but he has not been charged nor does he have a record in Connecticut.

The newspaper has not named the suspect because he has not been charged.

Law enforcement sources reportedly told the Courant that his attack on Millan appeared to have been committed at random.

Millan went jogging on November 20 on Iron Horse Boulevard, a popular bike trail in Simsbury, when she was attacked with a knife.

She was found the following morning by a passing driver, who called police.

Millan (left and right) was a senior vice president at MassMutual Financial Group, a life insurance company. She was divorced from her husband, William Hodkin, and had two children, who were ages 15 and 12 at the time

Police are now corroborating the man's confession to see if it matches evidence collected at the scene. Pictured: Police vehicle at the Simsbury Police Department

Six months after her murder, an anonymous person offered a reward of $40,000 for anyone with information about her killer, according to the Courant.

Last November, Police Chief Peter Ingvertsen said at a press conference that detectives had partnered with the Cold Case Unit in hopes of closing the case.

Millan was divorced from her husband, William Hodkin, and had two children, who were ages 15 and 12 at the time.

She was a senior vice president at MassMutual Financial Group, a life insurance company.

The company released a statement to NBC Connecticut that read: 'Melissa Millan was an incredible person and outstanding leader, and we were fortunate to have her as a part of our MassMutual family for more than a decade.

'We are encouraged to learn that there are developments in her case, and continue to keep Melissa and her family in our thoughts.'Advertisement

Summer is well as truly over as London drivers struggle through flash floods and lashing rain on the first day of autumn- but the sun will make a comeback this week.

Londoners were pictured driving on flooded roads today, while elsewhere in the south of England people huddle under umbrellas.

The north of England and Scotland have also received some scattered showers with chilly winds, but have mostly seen brighter and sunnier weather, with maximum temperatures of 53F.

Fortunately the persistent rain is set to move eastwards by this afternoon and it will turn dry and sunny but will continue to feel cool due to the strengthening wind.

A woman on her phone as rain falls in the capital today. Fortunately the persistent rain is set to move eastwards by this afternoon and it will turn dry and sunny but will continue to feel cool due to the strengthening wind

Londoners and people in the south of England have been hit by heavy downpours and flooded roads on the first day of autumn

The hot summer months look like they are finally coming to a close as Londoners took their umbrellas out the cupboard and used them to fend off the driving rain this morning

Driving experienced some challenging driving conditions today (pictured). Fortunately the persistent rain is set to move eastwards by this afternoon and it will turn dry and sunny but will continue to feel cool due to the strengthening wind

Later tonight there will be long clear spells throughout most of the country and the wind will become less biting, with possible frost descending on some areas of the country as it gets colder

Later tonight there will be long clear spells throughout most of the country and the wind will become less biting, with possible frost descending on some areas of the country as it gets colder.

Workers will hopefully wake up to a mostly sunny Monday, with some clouds building up in the afternoon.

There will be showers for Scotland, Northern Ireland and northern England throughout the day.

Two friends share a joke and shelter under an umbrella as the rain falls in London this morning. The weather outlook for the week suggests the sun will soon be making a welcome return

Splash: The heavy rain today caused some roads in London and the south of the country to experience some minor flooding

The first signs of autumn appearing at the Tu-Hwnt-I'r Bont tea room in Llanrwst on the banks of the River Cowny in Wales

The moody, miserable weather has fallen on the first day autumn with heavy rain and clouds plaguing the UK skies.

But the Met Office said more settled weather is predicted during the week with temperatures rising to almost 70F, but chilly nights are expected with widespread frosts.

Met Office forecaster Becky Mitchell said: 'We've got high pressure building and that means dry weather and a good amount of sunshine in the south [next week].

'In the south the temperatures will be about average for the time of year, maybe a bit higher, but there will be quite widespread frosts overnight.

'Further north it will start off fine and gradually get colder during the week.'

The Met Office said more settled weather is predicted during the week with temperatures rising to almost 70F, but chilly nights are expected with widespread frosts

The rainy windy weather this weekend comes after blustery winds and heavy rain caused severe disruption for commuters after Storm Bronagh blew in with gusts of up to 76mph.

Bronagh brought heavy rain as it swept across the country a day after two people were killed during severe weather.

Sheffield saw nearly half a months rain fall in 24 hours, and images posted on social media showed flooding on a number of roads and at the citys train station overnight.A paranormal investigator has claimed crashes on the M6 are caused by ghosts.

Mike Brooker, who describes himself as an international psychic medium, says drivers have reported seeing phantom lorries, vanishing hitchhikers and Roman soldiers between junctions 16 and 19 in Cheshire.

He said there is a 'real negative energy' on that part of the motorway which he has dubbed Britain's Bermuda Triangle.

Mike Brooker, who describes himself as an international psychic medium, says the M6 is haunted

Emergency services deal with a multi-vehicle motorway crash on the M6 near Sandbach, Cheshire

Mr Brooker said he has been investigating crashes there since his school friends were killed in a horror smash in 1976.

He told The Daily Star Sunday: 'I know people who have lost their lives and families who have been affected by accidents on this stretch of motorway.

'There appear to be two principal answers. One is that the motorway was built on a Roman burial site and the other is that it was the site of the slaughter of a Scottish army.

'It is clear something is very wrong to cause so many accidents on what is to all intents and purposes a fairly straight stretch.'

Mike Brooker (pictured) describes himself as an international psychic medium

Mr Brooker said there is a 'real negative energy'between junctions 16 and 19 of the motorway which he has dubbed Britain's Bermuda Triangle. Pictured: The M6

A 2006 survey named the M6 as Britain's most haunted road.

'We assumed Britain's spookiest road would turn out to be a dark lane near an ancient battlefield,' said Tony Simmons, sightings coordinator for the survey.

'But, when you think about it, these findings make sense. The M6 is one of Britain's longest roads and it travels through many counties - and therefore an immense amount of history.'

Between January and August 2017 there were more 70 serious accidents between junctions 16 and 19.Three police officers have been assaulted after a brawl broke out at a wedding.

A 27-year-old woman has been charged with two counts of assault after police were allegedly kicked and scratched by the aggravated wedding guest just after midnight on Saturday.

Police rushed to The Grand Royale on South Street in Granville, Sydney's west, after receiving reports of drunk guests fighting in the street.

Three police officers were assaulted after a wedding reception spiraled out of the control resulting in a brawl spilling out onto the streets

Grand Royale (pictured) calls itself 'the most gorgeous wedding venue in Sydney'

When police arrived, they found a group of people arguing outside of the venue, which calls 'the most gorgeous wedding venue in Sydney'.

As police attempted to break the vicious brawl up, guests turned their aggression onto officers.

A 17-year-old girl was taken away in an ambulance, but was arrested shortly after for allegedly punching a police officer from behind.

A 27-year-old woman has been charged with two counts of assault and a 17-year-old girl is being seriously questioned after the brawl dispersed (stock image)

The 27-year-old, who reportedly kicked a male senior constable and scratched the face of another senior constable, was arrested and led away onsite.

She is set to appear in court at a later date.

As the crowd settled, several people were treated for intoxication, with some vomiting while leaning against the building, police said.Jeremy Corbyn risked fresh fury from Labour moderates today as he said it was 'understandable' for councils to set illegal budgets.

The Labour leader made the remarks as he defended a frontbencher who praised the actions of the Militant-dominated authority in Liverpool in the 1980s.

Shadow equalities minister Dawn Butler said the authority had stood up to Margaret Thatcher, saying it was 'better to break the law than break the poor'.

The extraordinary endorsement sparked outrage from party colleagues who said the remarks were 'another nail in Labour's coffin'.

But Mr Corbyn today insisted that there was nothing wrong with her views.

Jeremy Corbyn today insisted that there was nothing wrong with Dawn Butler praising the 1980s Labour council in Liverpool

Shadow equalities minister Dawn Butler hailed the Militant-dominated authority that set an illegal budget in 1985 in protest at government cuts

'I think what she was doing was expressing support for the determination of the people of Liverpool,' he told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show.

'The politics and the legalities of the whole thing have moved on and indeed what we need is proper funding of local government.'

In an interview kicking off Labour conference in Liverpool, Mr Corbyn added that he understood why councils set illegal budgets.

'I understand it, absolutely understand it. I represent an inner city area in Islington and we were very angry in the 1980s at the way our council expenditure was cut,' he said.

He added that he was 'very angry now when I see local authorities trying their best to deliver good quality services' in the face of reduced funds.

Speaking to Labour's Women's Conference yesterday, Ms Butler praised councillors who were fighting against cuts imposed by Theresa May's government.

'Local councils have seen nearly 50 per cent of their funding cut - I want to give a shout out to all the councillors fighting every day against these Tory cuts,' she said.

And she added: 'Conference, we are in Liverpool where over 30 years ago the council stood up to Thatcher and said, better to break the law than break the poor.'

Former leader Neil Kinnock's conference speech in 1985, when he denounced the Liverpool councillors, is seen as the turning point when moderates wrestled control from the union-controlled hard-Left.

Kinnock told the party faithful that he would not tolerate the 'grotesque chaos of a Labour council - a Labour council - hiring taxis to scuttle round a city handing out redundancy notices to its own workers'.

The Militant group's hold over parts of the party was broken soon afterwards, culminating in the expulsion of figures including Liverpool council's deputy leader Derek Hatton.

However, since Mr Corbyn took charge of Labour in 2015 the Left has reasserted its power.

Former minister Chris Leslie told MailOnline that Ms Butler's remarks were 'astonishing'.

'I can only assume these remarks come from ignorance about the disastrous policies of the Trotskyist Militant tendency - whose mismanagement led to the issuing of thousands of redundancy notices to their own local council workers,' the MP said.

In an interview kicking off Labour conference in Liverpool, Mr Corbyn said he understood why councils set illegal budgets

Mr Corbyn took to the stage in Liverpool today as Labour's autumn gathering got under way

'That type of hard leftism should have no place in a modern Labour Party - and it's certainly not something to be proud of.'

Another livid MP said: 'Another nail in the coffin of the party. And a clear signal that the hard Left are rampant.'

John Woodcock MP, who recently quit the party in protest at its lurch to the Left, said: 'A current member of the Labour shadow cabinet praising the misery Militant brought to Liverpool.

'A powerful demonstration of just how fundamentally my former party has changed.'

Conservative chairman Brandon Lewis said: 'This is the sorry state of Labour today: Shadow Cabinet members praising the hard-left militants of the 1980s.

'Militant controlled Liverpool of the 1980's boasted it was better to 'break the law, than break the poor' but ran out of money and was forced to sack its own workers.

'As Neil Kinnock said himself at the time: 'You can't play politics with people's jobs and people's homes and people's services.

'Labour has learnt nothing from the past and would take the country back to bankruptcy, job losses and worse public services.'

Derek Hatton, who was deputy leader of Liverpool council when it was run by the hard-left Militant group. He was later expelled from the Labour party

Former Labour leader Neil Kinnock is pictured at the 1985 party conference in Bournemouth where he condemned Militant in a defining moment in Labour history

Labour peer Baroness Thornton slammed Ms Butler's praise for the rebel councillors in a series of tweets.

'Great to be at Women's conference, but am surprised that @DawnButlerBrent has just praised a Liverpool Council in the past - that of Derek Hatton - who issued redundancy notices to their own public sector employees, and failed to protect services too!' said Lady Thornton.

'And @DawnButlerBrent Derek Hatton's Militant colleagues were misogynistic bullies. We should not be praising them at @UKLabour Women's Conference.'

Mr Corbyn and shadow chancellor John McDonnell wrote to all Labour council leaders in 2015 calling on them to resist calls to set illegal budgets.

A Labour spokesman said: 'The point Dawn was making was that like the Thatcher government of the 1980s, this Tory Government has prioritised tax cuts for the rich while cutting services like women's refuges that save lives and keep women safe.

'Labour will invest in our communities to rebuild Britain for the many not the few.'Shah Mehmood Qureshi to meet Michael Pompeo in USA

WASHINGTON: The United States and Pakistan will resume their effort to reset a once close relationship on Oct 2, when Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi is scheduled to meet US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo in the US capital.



Mr Qureshi has reached Washington on a 10-day official visit to the US that includes talks with the Trump administration and the new Pakistani governments first interaction with the United Nations.



The visit caught international attention earlier this week when India accepted a Pakistani proposal for a meeting between their foreign ministers in New York and even the US State Department welcomed the move, calling it terrific news.



India, however, ended the short-lived excitement by abruptly calling off the meeting, although the State Department still urges the Indians and Pakistanis  to sit down and have a conversation together that could lead to a good, strong bilateral relationship in the future.



For Pakistan, however, Qureshi-Pompeo meeting was always more important, as they seek to rebuild their relationship with a power that for decades was a close ally.



It was during Mr Pompeos first visit to Islamabad earlier this month that the two sides agreed to reset their ties on more pragmatic grounds, instead of seeking the revival of a blanket relationship that disappointed both.



Both sides, however, have their own interpretations of the so-called pragmatic expectations.



The United States sees this as end to all cross-border attacks into Afghanistan, cessation of terrorist attacks into India and preventing extremist groups from collecting funds inside Pakistan.



Unless Pakistan does that, there will be no resumption of the security assistance that was suspended in January this year. A news item in a US newspaper, The Washington Times, however, claimed that the Trump administration is divided over whether to resume the aid now.



Although played up in the Pakistani media, the news item also hinted that Washington expects the new Pakistani government to take steps that could lead to the resumption of aid. This, in plain language, means no security aid until cross-border attacks stop.



Pakistan too has its own expectations and top on this agenda are:



Revival of the once close relationship, US support for Pakistans efforts for a bailout package from the IMF, and also to help prevent the international financial watchdog, FATF, from putting Islamabad on its black list. Pakistan is already on the grey list.A column that Senator Cory Booker wrote for a Stanford university newspaper 26 years ago in which he admitted to groping a female's breast when he was a teenager has resurfaced.

The decades-old column re-emerged this week given the controversy surrounding President Trump's U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and the allegations from a woman that he sexually assaulted her in high school.

Booker, a possible White House contender, has been among those calling for an FBI investigation into the assault claims that Christine Blasey Ford leveled against Kavanaugh.

Some conservatives have claimed the incident Booker wrote of in 1992 is proof of the New Jersey Democrat's hypocrisy.

A column that Senator Cory Booker wrote for a Stanford university newspaper 26 years ago in which he admitted to groping a female's breast when he was a teenager has resurfaced

When he was a student at Stanford University, Booker admitted to grabbing a girl's breast when he was 15 while they kissed at a New Year's Eve party.

In the article, titled 'So much for stealing second', Booker wrote that the girl pushed his hand away when he groped her.

'As the ball dropped, I leaned over to hug a friend and she met me instead with an overwhelming kiss,' he wrote.

'As we fumbled upon the bed... I slowly reached for her breast. After having my hand pushed away once, I reached my 'mark.' Our groping ended soon and while no 'relationship' ensued, a friendship did.

'The next week in school she told me that she was drunk that night and didn't really know what she was doing. While she liked me a lot, she said she just wanted to be friends.'

When he was a student at Stanford University, Booker admitted to grabbing a girl's breast when he was 15 while they kissed at a New Year's Eve party

Booker has been among those calling for an FBI investigation into the assault claims that Christine Blasey Ford leveled against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh

The point of Booker writing the column in 1992 was to show how that situation changed him and his attitude.

The Stanford column, which also surfaced during Booker's 2013 campaign, has been used this week by conservatives to show that the Democrat has a 'double standards' in regards to sexual misconduct.

Booker's spokeswoman, Kristin Lynch, said the column was being used for 'disingenuous right-wing attacks... in partisan outlets for the past five years'.

'These attacks ring hollow to anyone who reads the entirety of the column, which is in fact a direct criticism of a culture that encourages young men to take advantage of women  written at a time when so candidly discussing these issues was rare  and speaks to the impact Senator Booker's experience working to help rape and sexual assault survivors as a college peer counselor had on him,' Lynch said.

It comes as tensions have been running on overdrive since Ford, a 51-year-old college professor in California, went public with her allegation that Kavanaugh assaulted her when they were at a house party in high school.

Kavanaugh, 53, an appellate court judge, denied the allegation and said he wanted to testify as soon as possible to clear his name.Nearly $18million-worth of cocaine was found in a shipment of bananas donated to the Texas prison system.

Ports of America in Freeport offered two pallets of the bananas to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice because the shipment hadn't been claimed and the fruit was already ripe.

Two sergeants with the Wayne Scott Unit - a prison facility south of Houston - were unloading the bananas when they noticed one box that felt heavier than the others.

Upon opening the box, the officers found a bundle of white powder hidden beneath the bunches of bananas.

Two prison guards discovered $18million-worth of cocaine hidden inside a shipment of bananas donated to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice

The two pallets of bananas were delivered to the TDCJ because they hadn't been claimed at Ports of America in Freeport and the fruit had already ripened, officials say

A thorough search of all 45 boxes in the shipment unearthed a shocking 540 packages of the powder, which US Customs agents confirmed was cocaine.

The street value for that quantity is estimated at some $17,820,000.

US Customs and DEA agents are investigating the incident to determine where the cocaine came from and who the shipment was meant for.

The TDCJ posted about the shocking discovery on its Facebook page, writing: 'Sometimes, life gives you lemons. Sometimes, it gives you bananas. And sometimes, it gives you something you'd never expect!'

'What a find by the boys in grey!'

DailyMail.com has reached out to TDCJ for additional details.

The sergeants came across the cocaine after noticing one box was heavier than the othersFormer Deputy Prime Minister Julie Bishop has attacked the 'vicious behaviour' and insult-throwing of Australian politicians on Question Time - while adding she would welcome a more even gender split in Canberra.

In an explosive interview on 60 Minutes on Sunday night, Ms Bishop came out swinging - accusing Australian politics of being the laughing stock of the world.

Ms Bishop also said she would welcome a 50/50 gender split in Canberra when asked about the amount of 'blue suits' in parliament.

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The 62-year-old said she thought Australia's recent labelling as the Italy of the south pacific and the coup capital of the world were unkind, but slammed Question Time for giving politicians a bad name.

She said: 'I think Question Time does more damage to the reputation of the political class than any other issue.

'There's far too much throwing of insults and vicious behaviour, name-calling and the like.'

When asked if she thought an even gender balance within Parliament would make a difference in politics, Ms Bishop said she believed it would.

She added the nature of debate in the cabinet changed significantly after five other women joined her.

In an explosive interview on 60 Minutes on Sunday night, Ms Bishop came out swinging - accusing Australian politics of being the laughing stock of the world and Question Time of 'damaging' politicians' reputation

The former foreign minister also repeated her calls for a target to recruit more women into the Liberal party.

She said she believed concrete gender targets in parliament were 'an appropriate mechanism', saying she had seen it work elsewhere.

In the first major interview since the leadership spill, the former frontbencher says she still gets calls asking why she is no longer the foreign minister and what happened to the prime minister.

Speaking to 60 Minutes, MP Rebekah Sharkie (pictured) - the member for the Mayo division in South Australia - said she struggled to get her voice heard amid the raucous din of other politicians

Speaking to 60 Minutes, MP Rebekah Sharkie - the member for the Mayo division in South Australia - also said she struggled to get her voice heard amid the raucous din of other politicians.

She said: 'I've heard it described as theatre - the only ones who are enjoying it though are the ones on the stage.'

Ms Bishop threw her name in the ring to be part in a three-way battle for the leadership role after Malcolm Turnbull stepped down last month.

She was eliminated on the first ballot with 11 votes out of 85.

The battle came down between Scott Morrison and Peter Dutton with Morrison having the numbers to become Australia's 30th prime minister.

Josh Frydenberg then had the numbers to become Australia's new deputy leader.

Once widely tipped to become Australia's second female prime minister, Ms Bishop announced her resignation from the ministry two days later the leadership spill.

'We seem to have lowered the bar for the reasons that one can remove a Prime Minister from office.'

Ms Bishop also said she would welcome a 50/50 gender split in Canberra when asked about the amount of 'blue suits' in parliament (pictured)

Ms Bishop (pictured with new PM Scott Morrison) threw her name in the ring to be part in a three-way battle for the leadership role after Malcolm Turnbull stepped down last month

She (pictured with Malcolm Turnbull) was eliminated on the first ballot with 11 votes out of 85 - and the battle came down between Scott Morrison and Peter Dutton with Morrison eventually having the numbers to become Australia's 30th Prime Minister

When asked if the consequences have been great, she replied: 'Yes, they have.'

When asked what she thought of the 'suits' in the Liberal Party, Ms Bishop replied: 'Well, you can go through it person by person.'

The interview comes after she took aim at the behaviour of parliamentary colleagues earlier this month, saying she has witnessed 'appalling' behaviour she never would have accepted while running a major law firm 20 years ago.A former aide to New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio was fired after she was arrested for being found with a loaded gun near the scene of a shooting.

The mayor's office stated that Reagan Stevens, 42, was fired from her role as a deputy director for the Mayors Office of Criminal Justice back in July, reported the New York Post.

Police found Stevens sitting in the back of a double-parked SUV in Jamaica, Queens, on April 7 around 10.25pm near where an NYPD 'ShotSpotter' device had detected five gunshots.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio aide Reagan Stevens, 42 (pictured), was fired from her role back in July after she was arrested for being found with a loaded gun in April

Police found her in the backseat of a car with two other men in the front in Jamaica, Queens, near the scene of a shooting (pictured). Officers found a nine-mm gun, with the serial number scratched off and loaded with two rounds of ammunition in the glove compartment

Police said they smell marijuana coming from the 2002 Infiniti and saw Stevens sitting in the backseat with two other men in the front.

Officers found a 9mm gun, with the serial number scratched off and loaded with two rounds of ammunition, in the glove compartment. A shell casing was also found on the floor.

A gravity knife was found in the waistband of driver Caesar Forbes, 25, according to a criminal complaint.

Montel Hughes, 24, who was sitting in the passenger seat, was also found with a gravity knife as well as five Ziploc bags of marijuana.

In the trunk, police recovered a paintball gun and carbon dioxide cartridges.

All three were arrested and charged with two counts of weapon possession.

Forbes has no criminal record while Hughes has nine prior arrests with charges including robbery, weapons, trespassing and harassment.

Stevens was arrested in 2015 on suspicion of driving illegally, but the record on that charge has been sealed.

At the time of the arrest, the Office of Criminal Justice told the New York Daily News that Stevens was suspended without pay from her job.

'We take these allegations very seriously,' the statement read.

Stevens's mother, Deborah Stevens Modica, has served as a judge on the bench of the Queens Criminal Court for more than 20 years while her stepfather, Salvatore Modica, is an acting Queens Supreme Court justice.

The 42-year-old was the deputy director of youth and strategic initiatives at the Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice.

Stevens worked on gun control laws for Mayor de Blasio (pictured, September 2017), who is notoriously pro-strict gun control.

She primarily worked on implementing a 2007 law that raises the age at which teens can be charged as adults for non-violent crimes from 16 to 18.

City records indicated that her annual salary for her former job was approximately $90,000.

De Blasio is notoriously pro-strict gun control. Just last month he joined a student walkout in Brooklyn, telling students: 'You are making so clear to this whole country that you are sick of the violence, you're sick of the madness, you're sick of the slaughter and you won't stand for it.'

Prior to her job at the Mayor's Office, Stevens the deputy director of the Action Plan of the Task Force on Behavioral Health and the Criminal Justice System, according to the Daily News.

She also previously worked for the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office.Proposals to make it easier to deselect Labour MPs could be passed by the party today amid fears the hard-left wants to purge the organisation of moderates.

Labour's National Executive Committee (NEC) has backed controversial moves to slash barriers to ousting MPs.

And they are expected to be voted through by party delegates at their conference in Liverpool today.

Under the proposals, MPs will face open selection battles if a third of local branches or affiliated unions demand one - cutting it from the current 50 per cent threshold.

Ahead of the crunch vote union baton Len McCluskey claimed on the conference fringe critics of Jeremy Corbyn were 'almost asking to be de-selected'.

Jeremy Corbyn (left) and his deputy Tom Watson at Labour conference in Liverpool today

And plans to make it easier for a Corbynista to take over as leader are also expected to be passed today.

Under them, anyone wanting to stand to be leader would have to get the backing of 5 per cent of constituency parties or trade union members.

The move would hand the 500,000 Labour Party members far more power and almost certainly ensure that the left get onto the ballot.

A Labour source said: 'The proposal agreed unanimously by the NEC reforms the existing reselection process, giving members and trade union affiliates a greater say in who represents them, but doesn't move to automatic open selections.'

The moves come after several Labour moderate MPs have faced no confidence votes from their local parties after they spoke out against Mr Corbyn's over anti-Semitism.

Joan Ryan, Gavin Shuker and Chris Leslie have all blamed the hard-left who have flooded into the party after they were hit by the votes.

But Mr McCluskey, the powerful leader of the Unite union, said critics of Mr Corbyn only had themselves to blame.

Len McCluskey (pictured today at Labour conference), the powerful leader of the Unite union, said critics of Mr Corbyn only had themselves to blame

Speaking at an event on the fringes of the conference, he said: 'There are certain MPs who are almost asking to be de-selected.

'They really don't want to be part of this exciting transformation that is taking place.'

In a sign of the depth of animosity between the hard-Left and Labour centrists, Mr Corbyn today sided with a shadow minister who praised the 1980s Militant-dominated council in Liverpool.

Shadow equalities minister Dawn Butler said the authority had stood up to Margaret Thatcher's cuts, saying it was 'better to break the law than break the poor'.

The extraordinary endorsement sparked outrage from party colleagues who said the remarks were 'another nail in Labour's coffin'.

But Mr Corbyn today insisted that there was nothing wrong with her views.

In a sign of the depth of animosity between the hard-Left and Labour centrists, Mr Corbyn used a BBC interview today (pictured) to side with a shadow minister who praised the 1980s Militant-dominated council in Liverpool

'I think what she was doing was expressing support for the determination of the people of Liverpool,' he told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show.

'The politics and the legalities of the whole thing have moved on and indeed what we need is proper funding of local government.'

In an interview kicking off Labour conference in Liverpool, Mr Corbyn added that he understood why councils set illegal budgets.

'I understand it, absolutely understand it. I represent an inner city area in Islington and we were very angry in the 1980s at the way our council expenditure was cut,' he said.

He added that he was 'very angry now when I see local authorities trying their best to deliver good quality services' in the face of reduced funds.Delta Airlines will deploy facial recognition technology to replace passports and tickets at Atlanta Airport in a move which could speed up travel for passengers.

The biometric identification system will be phased in on October 15 at check-in kiosks, baggage-drop counters and security checkpoints for international flights in Terminal F of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Delta announced.

The airline's Chief Operating Officer Gil West said the biometrics will be rolled out to other domestic and international airport terminals if customers take to the technology at the world's busiest airport and it helps to reduce boarding times.

Delta Airlines will introduce its first biometric terminal (pictured) at Atlanta Airport which will eliminate the need for tickets and require passport information to speed up air travel

It is hoped the technology will reduce boarding times and eliminate long queues (pictured)

The service is optional for now and to use it, customers will enter their passport information during online check-in.

Then at each transition point at the airport, passengers will approach the kiosks with cameras to scan their faces and wait for a green check mark before proceeding to the next spot.

Passengers flying with Delta partners Aeromexico, Air France KLM, and Virgin Atlantic Airways are also eligible to use the service, the US carrier said.

Airlines and security agencies are experimenting with fingerprint scans and facial-recognition technology to streamline the traveling experience for passengers.

According to Delta, facial recognition can save up to nine minutes of time during boarding.

Mr West added: 'Launching the first biometric terminal in the U.S. at the world's busiest airport means we're bringing the future of flying to customers traveling around the globe.

'Customers have an expectation that experiences along their journey are easy and happen seamlessly  that's what we're aiming for by launching this technology across airport touch points'.

Delta said the biometric updates will fully roll out to the terminal 'later this year,' though it added that the process will be 'optional.'

Delta's Chief Operating officer Gil West (pictured) said the process will be optional

'If customers do not want to participate, they just proceed normally, as they've always done, through the airport,' Delta said in a statement.

Upon rollout, the biometric option will be available only for passengers checking in at Atlanta for nonstop flights to an international destination.

In June, the Transportation Security Administration started using fingerprint scans at the Denver and Atlanta airports to identify passengers and their flying itineraries in lieu of official identification papers and boarding passes.

However privacy advocates worry that the face-as-security key may one day be the norm and not just when taking to the skies.

Civil liberty groups are concerned it will erode Americans privacy and question how data will be stored and who can access it.

Adam Schwartz, a senior staff attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation told Fast Company: 'The cornerstone for us is consent, and not just for the initial collection but also consent for what they're doing with it'.Iran's President Hassan Rouhani has said an unnamed US-allied country in the Persian Gulf was behind an attack on a military parade that killed 25 people and wounded around 70.

The attack killed at least 25 people and wounded around 70, which was claimed by an Arab separatist group.

He could have been referring to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates or Bahrain  close US military allies that view Iran as a regional menace over its support for militant groups across the Middle East.

Soldiers and a Shiite Muslim cleric (R) seeking cover at the scene of the attack in Ahvaz

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani delivers a speech during the annual military parade

'All of those small mercenary countries that we see in this region are backed by America. It is Americans who instigate them and provide them with necessary means to commit these crimes,' Mr Rouhani said.

Saturday's attack, in which militants disguised as soldiers opened fire on an annual Iranian military parade in the oil-rich southwest, was the deadliest in the country in nearly a decade.

Women and children scattered along with once-marching Revolutionary Guard soldiers as heavy gunfire rang out in Ahvaz.

Injured soldiers lying on the ground at the scene of the attack on the military parade

Civilians try to take shelter in a shooting that killed at least 25 people in southwestern Iran

The region's Arab separatists, once only known for nighttime attacks on unguarded oil pipelines, claimed responsibility for the assault, and Iranian officials appeared to believe the claim.

Iran summoned diplomats from Britain, Denmark and the Netherlands early on Sunday for allegedly harbouring 'members of the terrorist group' that launched the attack.

Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi later said the UAE ambassador would be summoned over 'partial statements' in support of the group behind the attack.

A member of Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) carrying an injured child in Ahvaz

An Iranian soldier carrying an injured comrade at the scene of the attack yesterday

Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif had earlier blamed regional countries and their 'US masters' for funding and arming the separatists, issuing a stark warning as regional tensions remain high in the wake of the US withdrawal from the Iranian nuclear deal.

'Iran will respond swiftly and decisively in defence of Iranian lives,' Mr Zarif wrote on Twitter.

The parade was one of many around the country marking the start of Iran's long 1980s war with Iraq, commemorations known as the 'Sacred Defence Week'.

Soldiers at the scene of an attack on a military parade that was marking the anniversary of the outbreak of its devastating 1980-1988 war with Saddam Hussein's Iraq

At least eight troops were killed yesterday in the attack in the province of Khuzestan

People and soldiers lying on the ground for cover at the scene of yesterday's attack

The attack killed at least 25 people and wounded around 70, according to the state-run IRNA news agency.

At least eight of the dead served in the Revolutionary Guard, an elite paramilitary unit that answers only to Iran's supreme leader, according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency. State TV hours later reported that all four gunmen had been killed.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei described the attack as exposing 'the atrocity and viciousness of the enemies of the Iranian nation.'

'Their crime is a continuation of the conspiracies by the US-backed regimes in the region which have aimed at creating insecurity in our dear country,' he said.An Australian doctor has risked long-term jail time after revealing the name of a terminally ill patient she helped to die.

Perth-based GP, Alida Lancee, was under investigation for more than two years after admitting to expediting the death of an elderly woman dying from emphysema.

In July, Dr Lancee was cleared by a board of authorities, who said she provided appropriate care to the patient and did not bring about an early death.

But on Sunday, the mother-of-four said authorities had been looking at the wrong patient, and re-opened the case by identifying the name of the woman she aided on Channel Nine's 60 Minutes.

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Dr Alida Lancee (pictured) is prepared to face a criminal conviction for her belief in euthanasia

She told 60 minutes she helped Mavis Scott, 80, who was suffering from end-stage lung disease.

Dr Lancee said: 'She told me 'I just want to die' and 'please help me'.'

The Perth GP said she then gave Ms Scott an injection that would have undoubtedly have expedited her death - although she would have died within days.

Bravely facing the Channel Nine cameras, Dr Lancee said it was up to the courts to decide whether she should go to jail for her actions.

She told 60 minutes she helped Mavis Scott, 80, (pictured) who was suffering from end-stage lung disease

Her decision to name Mavis has taken its toll on her family - with one of her daughters bursting into tears during the interview

She said: 'If you think I'm a murderer deal with me as you see fit - and then see what the people of Australia have to say about that.'

Her decision to name Mavis has taken its toll on her family - with one of her four daughters bursting into tears during the interview.

Dr Lancee has been a prolific advocate for euthanasia reform, but has now put her reputation and freedom on the line by revealing the details of her role in the death of one of her patients.

She said: 'Right now, behind closed doors in Australia, hundreds of people are begging for help.'

Another doctor, Dr Rodney Syme told 60 Minutes he has assisted in 300 deaths by sourcing and supplying the drug Nembutal.

The barbiturate, which he referred to as the 'green dream', is illegal to possess or import in Australia unless a doctor obtains permission through the Special Access Scheme administered by the national drug regulator.

'I am prepared to face a criminal charge to expose the problems with the current legal framework that doctors work under when they care for the dying,' he said.

Dr Syme is the vice-president of Dying With Dignity Victoria, lobbying for voluntary assisted dying for more than 30 years.

The organisation played an instrumental role in euthanasia legislation reform in Victoria.

Dr Rodney Syme (pictured) admitted on 60 Minutes to sourcing and supplying the drug Nembutal - a drug which is illegal to possess or import in Australia unless a doctor obtains permission from the national drug regulator

Following the two-year-long police investigation into Dr Lancee, she was dubbed 'Dr Death'.

But she says she isn't without supporters within the industry.

'Not many doctors are willing to do it, and so she's quite unique,' Dr Frank Kotai, who claimed he has assisted in the deaths of six of his terminally ill patients, told the program.

Dr Lancee, Dr Kotai and Dr Syme said they hope telling their stories will lead to nation-wide reform for euthanasia laws.

New laws will be introduced in June 2019, making Victoria the only Australian state in which it is legal for doctors to assist terminal patients end their lives.

The most recent data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows that men over the age of 85 have the highest suicide rate in Australia.A grieving mother has released a photo of her celebrity bodyguard son on his deathbed after he was knifed by thugs with a machete.

Ricky Hayden, who guarded Peter Crouch and Abbey Clancy's wedding, was stabbed in the leg on his doorstep in Romford, Essex when he tried to stop his brother's scooter from being stolen.

The 27-year-old was airlifted to hospital where doctors could not save his life despite amputating his leg.

Two years later, his mother Suzanne Hedges, 51, has shared a moving picture of his final moments to raise awareness of knife crime.

Ricky Hayden (pictured on his deathbed), who guarded Peter Crouch and Abbey Clancy's wedding, was stabbed in the leg on his doorstep when he tried to stop his brother's scooter from being stolen

Two years after the 27-year-old's death, his mother Suzanne Hedges, 51, shared the moving picture of him to raise awareness of knife crime

Mrs Hedges says: 'My son was taken away from me, he had no choice in that.' Pictured: Mr Hayden (left) at Peter Crouch's wedding

Mrs Hedges, a former teaching assistant, said: 'Two years later it's still affecting us just as badly as the day it happened. I relive the night it happened constantly.

'My son was taken away from me, he had no choice in that and neither did I - and that's still what I find most hard to deal with.'

Mr Hayden's killer, Tommy Roome, from Romford, Essex was last year cleared of murder but found guilty of manslaughter and jailed for 14 years.

Mrs Hedges has now recalled the heart-breaking moment she arrived at hospital to find her son on his deathbed.

She said: 'When I went to hold his hand I noticed he had slices all over his hands and the tip of his fingers and some toes on his remaining leg were missing.

'They were clearly defensive wounds and it broke my heart to think of what he went through trying to save himself from that knife.

Mrs Hedges is now campaigning to end knife crime and is asking shops to sell knives more responsibly.

'People say that if kids want to carry knives they'll get their hands on them at home or any way possible, but I think it's important to make it as hard as possible for them to buy them,' she said.

Mr Hayden fought for his life for four minutes and 11 seconds after the life support machine was switched off

'We've been working with companies like Wilko, Poundland, Sainsbury's and trying to educate them about safer ways they can stock these products.

'We've made progress, but I sometimes do worry about how slow it is.

'Yes, it's a long battle but if I stop one youth from being murdered I'll be happy because that family won't have to go through what we have.

'Sometimes I do have low moments when I think that the problem is getting worse rather than better.

'The police only have so much power. Even with 1,000 more police on the streets we have to help as parents and be responsible.'

On the day of the attack, September 13, 2016, Mr Hayden had gone to investigate when he spotted two youths eyeing up his little brother Perry's scooter outside their house.

He rushed outside in just his boxer shorts, and was joined by Perry, 21, and their father, Paul, 55, as he confronted the two boys.

Roome then pulled out a machete during the clash, stabbing bare-footed Mr Hayden in the thigh.

Ms Hedges was staying with her mother, Irene Hedges, 75, near the family home when she received a call at 1.30am, roughly seven minutes after her son was stabbed.

Despite previously wanting to keep Mr Hayden's final moments private, Ms Hedges has now decided to share one last image from his death bed. Pictured: My Hayden

On arrival Ms Hedges was asked for permission to amputate his leg which was the only way doctors could try and save his life

She said: 'By the time we got there Mr Hayden had already been airlifted to hospital.

'I wasn't allowed to go into our house, but as I got close I could and I just saw this huge pool of blood running down the road from our drive way.

'I've not been back there since, even though there is a lovely memorial bench that his friends donated, I just can't bear seeing the place, where in my eyes, he lost his life.'

Ms Hedges and her mother rushed to be by Mr Hayden's side at The Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel.

Mr Hayden's killer, Tommy Roome, 20, from Romford, Essex was last year cleared of murder but found guilty of manslaughter and jailed for 14 years

On arrival she was asked for permission to amputate his leg which was the only way doctors could try and save his life.

She said: 'The wound was so deep, it was 16cm, caused by a huge, machete-like knife.

'Of course I said 'yes' I just wanted him alive but I kept thinking 'what the hell is he going to do with just one leg?'

'He was such an active guy, he had two jobs. My son was a fit and healthy young man.

'At no point did I ever think that I'd walk out of there without him.

'It never occurred to me that he might die, it simply didn't cross my mind.

'After the operation Ricky was still critical and we couldn't see him, the wait was pure torture.

'When we were finally allowed to it was amazing, he looked like my son, he had no visual marks on his face.

'He looked like Ricky, just asleep. But I never got to see my boy consciousness again.'

After a matter of hours Ms Hedges was told to gather family as there was nothing more they could do.

She watched Mr Hayden fight for life for four minutes and 11 seconds after the life support machine was switched off.

Despite previously wanting to keep Mr Hayden's final moments private, Ms Hedges has now decided to share one last image from his death bed.

Ms Hedges said: 'It makes your whole world change, losing a child, no matter what age they are.

'I didn't ask for this situation I was just thrust into this nightmare.

One of the ways that Ms Hedges (pictured) and her family have helped to deal with the grief is by throwing themselves into campaigning and raising awareness about knife crime

'I'm now on anti-depressants, sleeping pills and I've had to give up my job, home and totally lost all confidence in myself.

'Recently we had to put down Ricky's dog Roxy, she was there that night and was totally traumatised by it all, she was never the same again.

'Losing her too it was like another stab in the heart.

'The anger inside kicked in again, not only have you killed my son but you've ruined all our lives, even the dog's.

'I have to admit that as a family we are very bitter.

'We're all broken and we can't help but be angry.'

Mr Hayden's attackers were arrested and tried at the Old Bailey, London.

While one of the boys was found not guilty, Tommy Roome, then 20, was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 14 years in prison.

But Ms Hedges feels the outcome and sentence are 'grossly unfair' considering the seriousness of the crime.

One of the ways that Ms Hedges and her family have helped to deal with the grief is by throwing themselves into campaigning and raising awareness about knife crime.

As well as holding demonstrations and attending and speaking at residents and community meetings, the Haydens have been lobbying UK shops that stock knives to do so more responsibly

As well as holding demonstrations and attending and speaking at residents and community meetings, they have been lobbying UK shops that stock knives to do so more responsibly.

Ms Hedges is currently planning to go into schools to speak about her experiences in order to highlight to young people just how devastating knife crime can be.

'Day after day the reality of our situation as a family is very bleak now Ricky's gone,' she said.

'Aside from the sleeping pills and anti-depressants I take I've even got phobia of my own phone from replaying the night I got that call.

'I can hear the ring tone going round in my head when I lie in bed at night.

'Two years later it's still affecting us just as badly as the day it happened.

'Nothing will ever bring my son back, but if I can stop one mother having to endure the heartbreak I have then I'll do everything in my power- in my darling Ricky's memory.'A Florida man who stole $600 worth of cigarettes from a convenience store has been sentenced to 20 years in state prison.

A jury in Pensacola convicted 48-year-old Robert Spellman of burglary and grand theft in August.

Authorities say he went into the Circle K in the 200 block of West Cervantes Street and took 10 cartons of cigarettes from a locked manager's office in the stock room on December 28.

With Robert Spellman's (pictured left) 14 previous felony convictions the judge threw the book at him, sentencing him to 20-years in prison (right, Circle K he stole from)

Spellman stole $600 worth of cigarettes and was sentenced to 20-years in prison (file image)

He was sentenced Friday.

The Pensacola News Journal reports that Spellman had 14 felony and 31 misdemeanor convictions prior to the cigarette theft, which qualified him as a habitual felony offender.

That led to the lengthy 20-year prison sentence imposed Friday by an Escambia County judge.Advertisement

Nearly all rivers and waterways in North and South Carolina will crest on Sunday, but officials warn most will remain at dangerous flood levels through the next several days.

It's been a week and a half since Hurricane Florence made landfall on the East Coast, causing catastrophic flood damage across hundreds of miles and leaving at least 43 people dead.

The National Weather Service has now warned that floodwaters in the hardest-hit areas could take weeks to recede.

Swaths of rivers near the Atlantic coast will not crest for days to come, such as the lower Cape Fear River near Wilmington, North Carolina, according to Bob Oravec, a meteorologist with the NWS's Weather Prediction Center in College Park Maryland.

'This isn't over,' Oravec said early Sunday. 'Large sections of rivers near the coast won't start cresting until at least early in the week, maybe later.'

'All that water is going to take a good while to recede. Damage can still be done. It'll be a slow drop.'

As floodwaters begin to recede across areas of North and South Carolina ravaged by Hurricane Florence, officials warn conditions will remain dangerous for at least the next several days. Pictured: Brittons Neck, South Carolina resident Brian Terry surveys the flooding around his home on Saturday

Nearly all rivers and waterways in North and South Carolina are expected to crest by Sunday. Pictured: A boat navigates floodwaters Saturday in Brittons Neck, South Carolina, as residents wait for the Little Pee Dee River to crest

Hundreds of roads across areas of the Carolinas ravaged by Hurricane Florence remain closed more than a week after the storm made landfall, dumping up to three feet of rain in some areas

 Slide me  This combination of photos shows street in Fayetteville, North Carolina, overwhelmed by several feet of floodwaters one week ago September 16 (left) and then again just three days later on September 19 after the flooding had receded almost entirely

 Slide me  A farm in Wallace, North Carolina, is pictured before Hurricane Florence hit (left) and after catastrophic flooding overwhelmed the area on Thursday (right)

North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper spoke of the 'treacherous' floodwaters on Saturday, warning that nine of the state's river gauges are at major flood stage and four others are at moderate flood stage.

Cooper said the flooding continues to make travel dangerous in hard-hit areas, urging residents to avoid driving east of Interstate 95 and south of US-70.

The governor also cautioned residents to be on the lookout for future flood warnings and evacuation orders.

Meanwhile, remnants of the once mighty storm, brought heavy rains northwest up the Ohio Valley, prompting flood watches and warnings from Texas to Virginia and Maryland, at least through Monday, the weather service said.

Officials in towns and cities in both North and South Carolina were filling sandbags and finalizing evacuation plans, eyeing some rivers that are swollen by heavy rainfall on Saturday.

In Conway, South Carolina, where President Donald Trump visited this week, images posted by the city on Saturday showed water lapping at homes in an area where residents were being evacuated.

In Lee's Landing in Horry County, some residents used boats to get to safety as the Waccamaw River spilled into neighborhoods, a local CBS affiliate reported.

'If you can get out, get out,' Joseph Tanner, the county's fire rescue chief, said in an interview with WBTW News 13.

Dozens of homes are seen surrounded by floodwaters in Pender County, North Carolina, on Saturday

Candi Cisson, left, and dozens of other residents of Brittons Neck, South Carolina, have been trapped in their homes as floodwaters continued to rise over the weekend

An officer with the South Carolina State Highway Patrol marks the water on state road 22 near Conway as the Waccamaw River swelled past record levels on Saturday

Flooding from Sutton Lake has washed away part of a roadway in Wilmington, one of the hardest-hit communities

Pictured: Luis Gomez rescues baby chicks from dangerous flooding in Longs, South Carolina, on Friday

Residents of Longs were warned floodwaters would continue to rise through the weekend before beginning to recede

More than two dozen flood gauges in North and South Carolina showed flooding on Saturday, the NWS said.

About 5,000 people across North Carolina have been rescued by boat or helicopter since the storm made landfall, twice as many as in Hurricane Matthew two years ago, according to state officials. Thousands of people remained in shelters.

Nearly 550 roads remained closed, the state's department of transportation said, warning motorists not to travel in 17 southeastern counties worst-hit by Florence.

Duke Energy Corp said on Friday that breaches in a cooling lake dam forced it to shut down its natural gas-fired L.V. Sutton plant in North Carolina. The utility said it could not rule out the possibility that coal ash from a dump adjacent to the plant, which formerly burned coal, might be flowing into the nearby Cape Fear River.

 Slide me  In this combination of photos, Cape Fear River flows through Fayetteville ahead of the storm on September 15 (left) and after the massive amounts of rainfall on September 19

 Slide me  Henderson Field Airport in Wallace is seen before and after severe flooding hit North Carolina

Coal ash can contaminate water and harm fish and wildlife.

The company is testing the water for possible contamination, Duke officials said in a release Saturday.

'The company is bringing in additional construction material from across the state to repair the breach as soon as the floodwaters recede,' the release said.

The flooding from Florence has also caused 21 hog 'lagoons,' which store manure from pig farms, to overflow in North Carolina, possibly contaminating standing water, according to state officials. North Carolina is one of the leading hog-producing states in the country.

Several sewer systems in the region also have released untreated or partly treated sewage and storm water into waterways over the last week, local media reported.

Experts say flooding at hog farms in North Carolina could spread harmful bacteria to surrounding areas

Last week two farms reported that their lagoons had breached, two others said that they had structural damage and another thirteen said that there was hog waste flowing away

 Slide me  A flooded chicken farm, in the aftermath of Hurricane Florence, is seen in this satellite image over the area surrounding Wallace, North Carolina taken on Thursday

Dramatic before and after satellite images show the extent to which entire areas of North Carolina were inundated with flooding caused by Florence.

DigitalGlobe, the company that provides high-resolution satellite imagery, snapped photos of the flood-ravaged area surrounding Wallace, North Carolina.

Wallace is a town that lies about 35 miles northeast of Wilmington.

The images show just how extensive was the damage wrought by floods to farmland, homes, and other local businesses.

North Carolina Gov Cooper earlier in the week acknowledged that the damage in his state will add up to billions of dollars, but said they are not yet in a position to make a more accurate estimate.

South Carolina Gov Henry McMaster estimated damage from the flood in his state at $1.2billion in a letter that says the flooding will be the worst disaster in the state's modern history.

McMaster asked Congressional leaders to hurry federal aid.

 Slide me  DigitalGlobe, the company that provides high-resolution satellite imagery, snapped photos of the flood-ravaged area surrounding Wallace, North Carolina

 Slide me  A closeup of flooded homes and roads near the River Landing Country Club, in the aftermath of Hurricane Florence, is seen in this satellite image over the area in Wallace

 Slide me  Wilmington, North Carolina, a coastal city that was hit particularly hard by Hurricane Florence, is pictured left on September 14 and right on September 19 as water began to recedeA giant and 'highly hazardous' volcano in Iceland is showing signs that it could erupt on a scale that dwarfs the explosion that disrupted worldwide air travel eight years ago.

Scientists have warned that Katla, a close neighbour to Eyjafjallajokull that erupted in 2010, is showing clear signs it's going to blow for the first time since 1918 and it's not a matter of if, but when.

Katla's cone is hidden beneath a glacier on a 5,000ft peak, making monitoring its activity difficult but Icelandic and British scientists have found by airborne measurement techniques that Katla is releasing carbon dioxide on a 'huge' scale.

A satellite image of Katla Volcano situated on the south coast of Iceland near Eyjafjallajokull

Katla is a close neighbour of Eyjafjallajokull that erupted in 2010 causing air travel chaos

Iceland and volcanoes Iceland's most active volcano, Hekla There are over a hundred volcanoes on the central plateau which have not erupted in the past thousand years and between 30 and 40 that are active, meaning that they have erupted within last few centuries. On average, Iceland experiences a major volcanic event once every 5 years. Since the Middle Ages, a third of all the lava that has covered the earth's surface has erupted in Iceland. However, according to a recent geological hypothesis, this estimate does not include submarine eruptions, which are much more extensive than those on the land surface. The most famous and active volcano in Iceland is mount Hekla, which has erupted 18 times since 1104, the last time in 2000. Other active volcanoes, measured in terms of the number of eruptions besides Hekla, are Grimsvotn, Katla, Askja and Krafla. Katla, has erupted about 20 times since the settlement of Iceland. Iceland.is Advertisement

This sort of activity indicates its magma chambers are filling and could signal a huge eruption.

Sarah Barsotti, co-ordinator for volcanic hazards at the Icelandic Meteorological Office, told The Sunday Times: 'There is no way of telling when it will erupt, just that it will.'

The translation of Katla is 'kettle' or 'boiler' and its 'overdue' eruption is likely to overshadow the eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano in 2010, which led to thousands of passengers being stranded as the ash plume from the volcano halted air traffic across all of Europe, with a domino effect across the world.

Barsotti said the impact of the eruption on air travel 'depends on the intensity of the eruption and the direction of the winds at the time'.

Evgenia Ilyinskaya, a research fellow in the Institute of Geophysics and Tectonics at Leeds University, said an eruption is overdue with Katla having previously erupted every 50 years on average pre-1918 when it last blew its top completely.

Ilyinskaya and her fellow scientists  whose report in to the volcano was published last week in the journal Geophysical Research Letters  found that Katla was releasing between 12 and 24 kilotons of carbon dioxide every day.

Only two other volcanoes in the world are known to emit more.

'Through high-precision airborne measurements and atmospheric dispersion modelling, we show that Katla, a highly hazardous subglacial volcano which last erupted 100 years ago, is one of the largest volcanic sources of CO2 on Earth, releasing up to 5% of total global volcanic emissions,' they wrote.

Katla, the 1512 m volcano in southern Iceland, is ready to erupt fully for the first time since 1918

Katla's cone is hidden beneath glacier on 5,000ft peak, making monitoring its activity difficult

Ilyinskaya told The Sunday Times that the CO2 emissions from Katla were 'huge'. Because the magna would meet a 3,000ft-thick icecap, built up since it last erupted, even a small eruption was likely to cause a larger ash plume than Eyjafjallajokull's in 2010, she added.

Ilyinskaya added that emissions increase well before eruptions, sometimes a matter of years, and we know this from studies on other huge volcanoes in Hawaii and Alaska.

Last week she told the Icelandic national broadcasting service that the volume of CO2 indicated significant activity that could not be explained by normal geothermal activity.

Katla is a close neighbour to Eyjafjallajokull that erupted devastatingly in 2010

The eruption caused enormous disruption to air travel across western and northern Europe

Iceland sits on the edge of two tectonic plates and so has a large amount of eruptions

She said: 'There must also be a magma build-up to release this quantity of gas.

'This is a clear sign we need to keep a close eye on Katla. She isn't just doing nothing, and these findings confirm that there is something going on.'

Ilyinskaya and her team said that more studies were needed to confirm whether the amount of magma was increasing over time.A frustrated Brett Kavanaugh was refusing to answering some questions on his private life during mock practice sessions for his upcoming Senate testimony, it was revealed, as Democrats are preparing to grill him about the drinking and partying culture of his prep school days.

Kavanaugh, who was accused by Christine Blasey Ford of sexually attacking her when they were teenagers at a high school party in the 1980s, bristled when asked about his private life.

Questions about his drinking habits and his sexual proclivities saw President Donald Trump's nominee to the Supreme Court get visibly frustrated, sources told The Washington Post.

Brett Kavanugh reportedly refused to answer some questions on his private life in practice sessions for Senate testimony

Christine Ford's lawyer said she is willing to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee

He declined to answer some of the questions altogether, saying they were too personal.

'I'm not going to answer that,' Kavanaugh said at one point, The Post reported.

But a senior White House official told the paper the questions were designed to go over the line and Kavanaugh struck the right tone in his responses.

Kavanaugh joined White House aides playing the role of senators on the Senate Judiciary Committee in mock sessions in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building designed to prepare him for this week's high-stakes showdown that could make or break his Supreme Court nomination.

His hours of practice are designed to prepare him for tough questioning from Democrats about his days at Georgetown Prep, a private all-male Washington D.C. high school he attended.

On Tuesday, Kavanaugh was reported to have spent more than two hours practicing his responses with aides, where he condemned sexual assault while trying to avoid placing blame on Ford.

The eyes of the public will be on him and his answers as will the eyes of Republican senators.

Kavanaugh has complained about the stories focusing on his family and has grown 'incredibly frustrated,' The Post reported, but he is not looking to withdraw his nomination.

And a show down is being set as Ford has agreed to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee with a date tentatively set for Thursday at 10 a.m.

Republicans going into the hearing have to consider the optics: all 11 members of the judiciary panel are white males, leaving the GOP to considering having some female staffers on the committee pose questions to Ford as they try to avoid a spectra reminiscent of what Anita Hill faced in her testimony against Clarence Thomas in his 1991 confirmation hearing.

Republican senators in particular have a delicate balancing act - wanting to confirm Trump's conservative candidate to the Supreme Court while not angering female voters ahead of the upcoming midterm election.

'She will be treated respectfully but she will be challenged. As will Judge Kavanaugh,' Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, a member of the Judiciary panel, told 'Fox News Sunday.'

He also said he wouldn't ruin Kavanaugh's life over an allegation.

'What am I supposed to do? Go ahead and ruin this guy's life based on an accusation?' he said. 'I don't know when it happened, I don't know where it happened. And everybody named in regard to being there said it didn't happen. I'm just being honest. Unless there's something more, no I'm not going to ruin Judge Kavanaugh's life over this.'

Democrats, meanwhile, have been pushing for extra witnesses to testify along with Ford to help her comfort level and her credibility.

However, if only Ford and Kavanaugh testify they are considering letting witnesses - such as trauma experts - speak at news conferences.

Democrats have also been researching Kavanaugh's prep school days and plan to ask him about the culture of drinking and partying described in his friend Mark Judge's books.

Ford said Judge was in the room when the attack happened, which he has denied and also has declined to testify.

'I would be wanting to hear what kind of environment it was in high school. Apparently there was a lot of drinking and partying going on,' Democratic Sen. Mazie Hirono, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said on CNN's 'State of the Union' Sunday morning.

'We have before us a nominee that is under a cloud. There's not even a modicum of investigation. And so we are left basically with he-said, she-said. This happens a lot in the context of sexual assault. We know this,' she said.

'I put his denial in the context of everything that I know about him in terms of how he approaches his cases,' she noted.

Democratic Sen. Patty Murray said Hill got an FBI investigation before she testified.

'I have said many times, that the Anita Hill hearing was a disaster, but they did have an FBI investigation. They did have other witnesses. There were other ways to judge this. The Senate republicans have predetermined the outcome of that this will be a he says, she says by taking that away,' she said on NBC's 'Meet the Press.'

Negotiations on testimony are expected to continue over Sunday, with Ford's team and the panel still not able to agree on crucial details of the hearing.

Christine Blasey (now Ford) and Brett Kavanaugh in their respective high school year books

Patrick J Smyth (left) and Mark Judge (right) have both denied any knowledge of the sexual assault. In a statement, Smyth denied knowledge and praised the SCOTUS nominee's 'great integrity'. Judge, who was reportedly in the room when Ford was assaulted, has denied any recollection of the incident

While all parties have agreed on only using pool cameras, keeping Ford and Kavanaugh separate and providing police security for the renowned psychologist, there is still no consensus on whether alleged witness Mark Judge will be subpoenaed.

Ford described to The Washington Post in detail how, when she was a student at the all female Holton Arms she was at a teenage party in the 1980s, when Kavanaugh and his high school classmate followed her upstairs when she went to the bathroom and pushed her into a bedroom.

She alleged Kavanaugh held her down, tried to rip off her swimsuit, and put his hand over her mouth when she tried to scream.

She said she escaped when his friend, Mark Judge, jumped on top of them.

'I thought he might inadvertently kill me,' Ford told the newspaper.

Kavanaugh has repeatedly and strongly denied the allegation.

Democratic Sen. Mazie Hirono said she wants to ask Kavanaugh about his school's partying culture

Kavanugh has spent hours practicing questions with White House aides.

'This is a completely false allegation. I have never done anything like what the accuser describesto her or to anyone,' Kavanaugh said in a statement provided by the White House.

Kavanaugh said he 'had no idea' who made the allegation until Ford identified herself Sunday in a bombshell Washington Post interview.

'Because this never happened, I had no idea who was making this accusation until she identified herself yesterday,' he noted.

Judge, a classmate of Kavanaugh's at Georgetown Prep, has written several books about his experiences at the elite Catholic high school near Washington, D.C.

Judge does not mention witnessing - or taking part in - any sexual assaults in his autobiographical books Wasted and God and Man at Georgetown Prep, which describe his struggles with alcoholism and eventual recovery.

But he does detail the hard-partying exploits of his classmates and friends  a group that included Kavanaugh - often in houses where parents were absent, matching the circumstances described by Ford of her alleged attack.

'[Georgetown] Prep was a school positively swimming in alcohol, and my class partied with gusto  often right under the noses of our teachers,' wrote Judge in his 2005 book God and Man at Georgetown Prep.

'Senior year, my class of eighty decided that by the end of the year we would drink a hundred kegs of beer,' wrote Judge. 'I'm sorry to say that we succeeded.'

Kavanaugh is not named in the books and in both the author uses pseudonyms, in the first book even calling Georgetown Prep 'Loyola', a reference to St. Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the Jesuit order of Catholic priests who ran the school.

Judge declined to testify before the Senate panel and said he doesn't remember the incident in question.

'I have no memory of this alleged incident,' he wrote in a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee sent via his attorney last week.

'I do not recall the party described in Dr. Ford's letter,' added Judge, who wrote a book about his high school days describing heavy partying, drinking, and teenage sex.

He also defended longtime pal Kavanaugh, saying: 'I never saw Brett act in the manner Dr. Ford described.'

Ford has named four other people allegedly at the party but all have said they don't remember it.

On Saturday night, Leland Ingham Keyser, who CNN describes as a 'lifelong friend' of Ford, issued a statement denying any recollection of the party itself or Kavanaugh.

'Simply put, Ms Keyser does not know Mr Kavanaugh and she has no recollection of ever being at a party or gathering where he was present, with, or without, Dr Ford,' her attorney, Howard J. Walsh, said in a statement sent to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Keyser separately clarified to the Washington Post she believes Ford, but does not have any personal knowledge of the assault.

Three other people, two of whom are Kavanaugh and his friend Mark Judge, have also denied any knowledge of the alleged assault.

The third, Patrick J Smyth, issued a statement on Wednesday denying any knowledge of the party, and going on to praise Kavanaugh as a 'person of great integrity'.

'I am issuing this statement today to make it clear to all involved that I have no knowledge of the party in question; nor do I have any knowledge of the allegations of improper conduct she has leveled against Brett Kavanaugh,' Smyth declared.

The White House, which has said repeatedly Kavanaugh denies the allegation and is prepared to testify at any time, released a statement pointing out the denials from the others alleged to be at the party.

'One week ago, Dr. Christine Ford claimed she was assaulted at a house party attended by four others. Since then, all four of these individuals have provided statements to the Senate Judiciary Committee denying any knowledge of the incident or even having attended such a party,' White House spokesperson Kerri Kupec said in a statement late Saturday night.

But Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin said it was no surprise others didn't remember the night in question.

'It's no surprise, if another person was in the room or not in the room, but in the house that night and had no occurrence like the  the one that was stated by Dr. Ford, there's no reason why they wouldn't even remember that party scene 36 years ago,' he said on ABC's 'This Week' on Sunday.Australian filmmaker James Ricketson has landed on home soil but has promised he will return to Cambodia just days after being granted a royal pardon.

Ricketson, 69, landed in Sydney on Sunday night just 48 hours after his 15-month stint in a Phnom Penh prison, where he was held on accusations of spying, ended with clemency from Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni.

'I'll be going back as soon as I can but I'll need to recover obviously,' he said.

Australian filmmaker James Ricketson (pictured) has landed on home soil but has promised he will return to Cambodia just days after being granted a royal pardon

His (pictured) arrival comes after he recently received a royal pardon for his ordeal

Despite the 'distressing time' spent in Cambodia, Mr Ricketson (pictured with his daughter, left) plans to return to the country as soon as he is able to

'I need to spend some time with myself and some time with my family.

'But yeah, I'll be going back.'

The filmmaker was sentenced on August 31 to six years jail for espionage in a trial that was widely criticised by human rights activists and politicians in Australia.

He was arrested at a political rally in June 2017.

The Ricketson family on Sunday expressed their gratitude to supporters and friends who helped his release.

'I'll be going back as soon as I can but I'll need to recover obviously,' he said as he made his way through Sydney airport to much fanfare (pictured)

'Right now our primary focus is on James' welfare - 16 months in prison will have taken a huge toll on him physically and emotionally, and we want him to be able to rest and recuperate,' they said in a statement on Sunday.

'James still deeply loves Cambodia and its people and remains committed to helping however he can.'

The family will hold a press conference in Sydney on Monday.

Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne said the pardon meant the end of a distressing time for the filmmaker and his family.

The filmmaker was sentenced on August 31 to six years jail for espionage in a trial that was widely criticised by human rights activists and politicians in AustraliaA teenager has been charged with the murder of her mother and sister in what police believe was a failed murder-suicide bid.

Rosa Aminta Maldonado, 44, and her daughter Rosa Lee Maldonado, 19, were found dead of apparent stab wounds inside their home in Lester, Limestown County at around 1am on Thursday.

Emergency responders also found a girl, 15, inside the residence, who they say was stabbing herself in the head and neck in an apparent suicide attempt.

She has since been charged with two counts of capital murder in Limestone County, WHNT19 reported.

Officials claimed that because she is a minor, no other details will be released.

Rosa Aminta Maldonado (left) and her daughter Rosa Lee (right) were brutally stabbed to death inside their apartment in Lester, Alabama on Thursday night

Rosa Aminta Maldonado (left)and daughter Rosa Lee (right) were discovered by emergency responders with stabwounds while her younger daughter was also found in the apartment

Limestone County Sheriff's Public Information Officer Stephen Young told The News Courier of Athens said: 'Preliminary evidence indicates (the 15-year-old) stabbed and killed her sister and mother in a domestic altercation at the residence, eventually using a knife on herself as well in a suicide attempt'.

Sheriff Mike Blakely said the emergency call which was understood to be made by one of the deceased women was 'one of the worst' he listened to in his 47 years of law enforcement.

He said: 'You've got two individuals in the process of being murdered, screaming, asking for help and asking the assailant to please stop.

'Someone who speaks fluent Spanish is helping us dissect some of the Spanish that was spoken in the tape'.

Blakely said investigators are anxious to talk with the younger teen's friends to establish a motive.

'We'll be talking to some people in the school where she attended. 'We will be talking with some other family members who live in this area.'

The family had moved to Alabama from Albion, New York, it is understood.

In a cruel twist Maldonado was struck by tragedy years earlier when her other daughter Katherine Sanchez was raped and killed by her brother-in-law, Carlos Cardenas, in January.

Rosa Lee Maldonado graduated from Charles D'Amico High School, also known as Albion High School in 2017.

Albion Central School District Superintendent Michael S Bonnewell said the district has made grief counselors available after learning of the killings.

Rosa Aminta Maldonado's eldest daughter Katherine Sanchez, 15, (pictured) was brutally raped and killed by her brother-in-law Carlos Cardenas in January

He told the Rochester Democrat: 'We have a full complement of folks available, counselors and psychologists for both our kids and staff who have a need

'Many of our teachers had both of the children in their classes'.

He said Rosa Lee was a good student who teachers remember as being polite and pleasant.

Carlos Cardenas was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of Katherine Sanchez

'She had a great smile, just beautiful, one of the recollections I heard most often about her was about her support and care for her friends.

'One teacher commented to the effect that when you were her friend, you were well cared for, and I think that's one of the greatest losses of this, the world needs people like that'.

This is not the first time that the Maldonado family has been struck by tragedy.

In January 2011, Rosa Aminta Moldonado's daughter, then 15-year-old Katherine Sanchez, was raped and killed by her brother-in-law, Carlos Cardenas, 21, of Albion.

Cardenas, at the time a Mexican national living illegally in the United States, buried the girl in an apple orchard where he worked in Ridgeway, New York.

He was married to Moldonado's older daughter, Kimberly Cardenas.

Carlos Cardenas is currently serving a sentence of 25 years to life in prison after pleading guilty to second-degree murder in connection with Katherine's death.

He faces possible deportation proceedings when his sentence is complete.

Rosa Lee (pictured), who graduated from Albion High School in 2017, was described as polite and pleasant by her teachers who saw a lot of potential in her from a very early age

Esmeralda Martinez, one of Maldonado's sisters, said Maldonado graduated from high school last year and always had a smile on her face.

She told the Daily News: 'A couple years ago one of her older sisters, Katherine (Sanchez), also passed away in a tragic accident,' she said. 'So it does hurt that it happened a second time because our other sister was 15.

'She was also so young. So it hurts us to know that we lost her at such a young age. We're blessed to have the happy memories we did have with her'.As tonight's season finale of Bodyguard got underway, millions of fans were eager to know who killed Home Secretary Julia Montague - and find out if she was actually dead.

Enthusiasts of the drama have been taking to Twitter as the episode unfolds to share their reactions.

Mid-way through, many fans were still holding out hope that Julia was still alive - while others said they were 'praying' David Bugg wasn't secretly behind her death.

Bodyguard enthusiasts have taken to Twitter to share their reactions to tonight's finale

Viewers were split when David, who'd had a suicide vest forcibly strapped to his chest, was confronted by the police.

He was lured into a trap set up by Montague's former PR advisor and ended up being kidnapped - waking up with a suicide vest strapped to his chest with a dead man's switch taped to his thumb.

Some mocked the reaction of the officers, questioning why the lead character would beat himself up and wear the vest - even if he was 'suicidal'.

Many believed it was 'unrealistic' that a man wearing an explosive device would be allowed to walk through the streets of London.

Others said they'd cry if Richard Madden's character didn't make it out of the scene alive.

A nail-biting scene ensued when David had to cut the wires of his vest while a bomb disposal unit coached him through it.

Social media users said their heart rate was going through the roof as the scene unfolded.

Others, though, said the events were 'ridiculous'.

Earlier today Bodyguard fans had posted their weird yet somewhat bizarre theories ahead of tonight's finale.

As the much talked about drama that has gripped the nation came to a conclusion fans had a stab at their predictions for tonight, including one theory that it was all just a dream.

The BBC drama that stars Keeley Hawes and Richard Madden has steadily climbed since its first episode, with the final episode predicted to be watched by millions, but the question remained as to who killed Home Secretary Julia Montague?

As the hit BBC drama Bodyguard comes to its conclusion tonight the internet has been taken by a plethora of theories

Bodyguard enthusiasts took a stab and who they thought was behind the assassination of Keeley Hawes' character Julia Montague

The weird and wacky theories even received a response from the actress herself. She posted on Twitter: 'Is Julia Montague alive?'

The whodunnit thriller, created by Jed Mercurio, has attracted more than 11 million viewers since it took to our screens and today's finale is set to be watched by one of the largest TV audiences for a drama series for a decade.

Some of the theories as to what will be revealed include some viewers suggesting officer David Budd being reminiscent to that of Edward Norton's character in Fight Club and others proposing the idea it was simply all a dream.

One Twitter user suggested the controversial Home Secretary Julia Montague, played by Keeley Hawes, is still alive and simply awaiting her 'Romeo'.

@Alex_Goldsmith posted: 'This is just a nuance of Romeo and Juliet isn't it. She's not really dead. He (tried to) kill himself. Last name Montague...cracked it #bodyguard.'

Also thrown into the theory mix was the Fight Club-esque idea that officer Budd actually has Dissociative Identity Disorder and that another version of him killed Julia Montague.

@nickmward wrote: 'So here is theory - he is behind it. He is doing a 'fight club' and an unconscious side of him is participating in a plot against her.

One Twitter user wrote: 'So here is theory - he is behind it. He is doing a 'fight club' and an unconscious side of him is participating in a plot against her'

On BBC Three's Twitter page one suggestion was that 'Julia is alive and she was living in that little hole in Dave's wall'

While another suggestion was that officer Budd, played by Richard Madden, was a supernatural ghost the whole time

@simonfeilder suggested: 'Budd wakes up on the train. What a rotten dream. Gets off. Shakes hands with Mr Glass. FIN.'

The whodunnit drama created by Jed Mercurio has attracted more than 11 million viewers since it took to our screens

'It is why he looked in the brief case and did nothing and it is him that put blanks in his own gun. She however is not dead!'

Questioning the slightly confusing theory that Julia Montague may still be lurking somewhere in the darkness, Keeley Hawes asked on Twitter: 'Is Julia Montague still alive?'

Another Bodyguard enthusiast even suggested the entire drama was simply a figment of officer David Budd's imagination.

@simonfeilder posted: 'My theory for the finale: Budd wakes up on the train. What a rotten dream. Gets off. Shakes hands with Mr Glass. FIN.'

One user on Twitter said 'Julia is still alive and living in that little hole in Dave's wall' while another said 'Bruce Willis was a ghost the whole time'.

Just when the internet discussion couldn't get any stranger, retired detective inspector Hamish Brown was posted on the BBC Breakfast Twitter feed describing the Bodyguard clues he is looking for ahead of the final.Archaeologists have found the remains of 60 human burials at the site of a Roman cemetery in Lincolnshire.

Men, women and children have been discovered and one grave even included a leg of lamb for the deceased to take with them to the afterlife.

Grave goods found by Lincoln-based Allen Archaeology also include pots, bracelets and bangles.

Archaeologists have found the remains of 60 human burials at a Roman site in Lincolshire

The bodies were buried with bracelets, bangles, pots and a leg of lamb to take to the after life

The burials are believed to date from the second to the fourth century AD and some were in coffins and others wrapped in shrouds.

Three Roman villas or farmsteads have previously been found near the dig site off North Street, Winterton, which is just outside Scunthorpe.

It was Roman tradition to place burial grounds outside of towns and villages to avoid pollution.

The Romans founded a settlement nearby called Ad Abum, at modern-day Winteringham on the south bank of the River Humber.

The burials are believed to date from the second to the fourth century AD and some were in coffins and others wrapped in shrouds

It was Roman tradition to place burial grounds outside of towns and villages to avoid pollution

This was where the Roman Road between London and Lincoln, Ermine Street, ended.

Travellers in Roman times would have crossed the river at low tide or by ferry to Brough for the road to York and as far north as Hadrian's Wall.

The cemetery site is set to be developed as 135 homes by house-builder Keigar Homes, pending planning permission.

Natasha Powers, senior manager at Allen Archaeology, said: 'In the previous phases of work, we did the geophysical survey and a trench evaluation in 2014/15.

'We could not tell the extent of the cemetery. We found it seemed larger than we expected.

The cemetery site is set to be developed as 135 homes by house-builder Keigar Homes, pending planning permission

'We know some of the burials were in coffins. One of the skeletons was buried with a whole leg of lamb.

'We have men, women and children out of these graves. We have found a little pot and some bracelets and bangles.

We have two different types of burial rites - a lot of substantial coffin burials and people in shrouds.

'Does this represent different dates, personal choice or different groups of people? We think it is date-related as the rites have changed.

'It's very organised burials in rows, it's an enclosed area and it's clearly a cemetery.'

The Romans founded a settlement nearby called Ad Abum, at modern-day Winteringham on the south bank of the River Humber

The team will be on site for a few more weeks. Finds will be fully analysed and a report produced.

Ms Powers added: 'Where the people buried here related and where had they come from? We have a chance to look at some of the population of the area in Roman times and we now have some information on what would have been growing in the fields around here.'The last remaining daughter behind the iconic New York deli Russ & Daughters has died aged 97.

Anne Russ Federman, who started working at her father Joel Russ' deli at the age of 14 along with her two sisters, passed away from heart failure on Thursday at her home in Pembroke Pines, Florida.

She was the last survivor of the four namesakes behind the Lower East Side Manhattan eatery that her father opened more than a century ago.

Russ & Daughters' legacy has now been passed to Anne's grandchildren Niki Russ Federman and Josh Russ Tupper, the fourth generation to own and run the store famous for lox, herring and other Jewish delicacies.

Anne Russ Federman, the last remaining daughter behind the iconic New York deli Russ & Daughters, passed away aged 97 at her Florida home on Thursday. She is pictured (right) with her father, the store's founder Joel Russ, and her two sisters Hattie (left) and Ida (second right)

Russ & Daughters was founded in 1914 and moved to the location is still occupies today in 1920, the year before Anne was born. Anne, the youngest of the three daughters, began working in the shop as a teenager and Joel brought the sisters on as partners in 1933

Anne, considered a celebrity in New York's culinary community, is pictured (right) with her sister Hattie in the 2013 documentary Sturgeon Queens

Anne was born on June 11, 1921, a year after her father's store moved to its now-permanent location on Houston Street and some six years after it first opened.

She was the youngest of daughter of Joel and Bella Russ, both Jewish immigrants from what is now Poland.

Russ had gotten his start in the food industry in the early 1900s when he began peddling mushrooms and herring from a street cart in Manhattan before opening a storefront under the name Russ's Cut Rate Appetizers in 1914.

Anne was barely a teenager when Joel enlisted her and her older sisters Ida and Hattie as his partners in the business, seeing as he had no sons.

An obituary in the New York Times describes how working in the store on the weekends meant Anne's teenage social life suffered - in part because she usually smelled of fish.

However, the store ultimately provided Anne with something far more important than a social life: her husband.

According to the obituary, Anne was working behind the counter one day when a regular customer came in and asked which of the three daughters was not yet married, offering up her son, whom she called: 'the sheikh of Brooklyn'.

Anne agreed to meet the woman's son, Herbert Federman, and they got married after she graduated from high school in 1940.

Anne is pictured (right) behind the store counter serving customers at age 16 or 17 in 1939

A 1975 photograph shows Anne greeting a customer years after her father passed away in 1961

All three daughters inherited their father's strong work ethic, but avoided what has been described as his lack of interpersonal skills.

'My father had no patience,' Anne told the Times in 2000. 'If a customer said a word to him that wasn't right, he would chase her out of the store.'

The 2013 book Russ & Daughters: The House That Herring Built, written by Anne's son Mark Federman, says the sisters were warm and caring to all customers who came into the store, almost to an unusual degree.

Joel Russ, a Jewish immigrant from what is now Poland, got his start in the food industry selling appetizers out of a street cart. He opened a storefront in 1914

Calvin Trillin wrote in the book's foreword: 'At Russ & Daughters a particularly adorable two-year-old didn't get the quick smile and cursory "Isn't she dear" that you might hear from, say, the proprietor of an English tearoom.

'The daughters of Joel Russ, The Founder, were running the place then, along with their husbands, and they were people who had fully absorbed the profound teaching of Willy Loman's wife: "Attention must be paid."'

He continued: 'Am I just imagining it, or did one of them, while emerging from behind the counter to get within cheek-pinching range of one of my daughters, sometimes say to her colleagues: "How can you stand there and slice fish with a face like that in the store?"'

Joel passed away in 1961, and soon years later Anne and her sisters retired to Florida.

Her middle sister Ida died aged 86 in 2001 and eldest sister Hattie died in 2014 at age 101.

Anne herself is survived by her son, Mark, who retired from the store in 2009, and two daughters, Tara Federman and Hope Gottlieb, as well as by seven grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.

Russ & Daughters is famous for its traditional Jewish delicacies including lox and herring

The shop now has two sister locations in Manhattan along with a thriving catering businessThe 25th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution deals with presidential authority in the event of death or removal from office, and was ratified in 1967, in the wake of John F Kennedy's assassination.

What does the 25th Amendment say?

It is in four sections, all dealing with the president leaving office during his or her elected term.

The first section states that the vice president takes over the Oval Office if the president dies or resigns  or is removed  something which the original Constitution did not clearly state.

Presidents of course can be removed by impeachment, a feature of the constitution from the start. They can also be removed through the 25th Amendment - of which more below.

Section II states that if the vice president dies, or resigns  or is fired  both the House and Senate have to confirm a new vice president. Until 1967, presidents could change vice presidents mid-term on their own if they got the vice president to agree to resign - not something that actually happened, but which was possible in principle.

Section III makes clear that a president can temporarily delegate his powers to the vice president, and later reclaim them when he - or she - is capable of serving. This is most often invoked if a president is under the influence of surgical anesthetic for a short period of time.

Section IV is the amendment's most controversial part: it describes how the president can be removed from office if he is incapacitated and does not leave on his own.

The vice president and 'a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide' must write to both the president pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House, saying that 'the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.'

The term principal officers of the executive departments would normally mean the cabinet secretaries.

So at least eight of the president's 15 most senior Cabinet members together with the vice president must agree that a president should be removed before any plan can move forward.

Notifying the House Speaker and the Senate president pro tempore is the act that immediately elevates the vice president to an 'acting president' role.

The deposed president can contest the claim, giving the leaders of the bloodless coup four days to re-assert their claims to the House and Senate.

Congress then has two days to convene  unless it is already in session  and another 21 days to vote on whether the president is incapable of serving. A two-thirds majority in both houses is required to make that determination.

As soon as there is a vote with a two-thirds majority, the president loses his powers and is removed, and the vice president stops acting and is sworn in as president.

But if 21 days of debate and votes ends without a two-thirds majority, the president gets back his powers.

What could happen to trigger the 25th Amendment?

Vice President Mike Pence and eight of the 15 'principal' Cabinet members would have to agree to notify Congress that President Donald Trump was incapable of running the country.

That group is made up of the Secretary of State, Treasury Secretary, Secretary of Defense, Attorney General, Interior Secretary, Agriculture Secretary, Commerce Secretary, Labor Secretary, Health and Human Services Secretary, Transportation Secretary, Energy Secretary , Education Secretary, Veterans Affairs Secretary and Homeland Security Secretary.

Their formal notification would go to the House Speaker and, in the senate, to the 'president pro tempore', the Senate's most senior member. As soon as the letter is sent, Pence would become 'acting president.'

Alternatively, Congress could set up its own mechanism to decide if he is fit for office - maybe a commission, or a joint committee. Pence would still have to agree with its conclusion and then write formally to the Speaker and president pro tempore.

Or another possibility is that the pool of 'principal officers' is considered to be bigger than the 15 and a majority of that group call Trump incapable.

What if Trump does not agree?

If Trump claims he is capable of holding office, he would write to the House Speaker and the president pro tempore of the Senate within four days, setting up three weeks of intense debate in both houses of Congress.

Trump would be removed from office if both two-thirds majorities in both the House and Senate agreed with Pence and his cabal.

If either of both chambers fell short of that mark, Trump would retain his powers and likely embark on a wholesale housecleaning, firing Pence and replacing disloyal Cabinet members.

Are there any loopholes?

The 25th Amendment allows Congress to appoint its own panel to evaluate the president instead of relying on the Cabinet  the men and women who work most closely with Trump  to decide on a course of action.

It specifies that some 'other body as Congress may by law provide' could play that role, but Pence would still need to agree with any finding that the president is incapable of discharging his duties.

That commission could hypothetically include anyone from presidential historians to psychiatrists, entrusted to assess the president's fitness for office.

Another loophole is that it does not spell out that the Cabinet is needed to agree, but says that the 'principal officers' of the departments are needed. That term is undefined in the constitution. In some departments legislation appears to name not just the secretary but deputies and even undersecretaries as 'principal officers', so many more people could be called in to the assessment of Trump's fitness.

But Trump's cabinet has a swathe of 'acting' cabinet officer - and it is unclear if they could therefore take part in removing him.

Could Trump fire Pence if he rebelled?

No. The vice president can resign or be impeached and removed - but he does not serve at the pleasure of the president.

Is there any precedent for this?

No. Only Section III, the voluntary surrender of presidential powers, has ever been used - and only very briefly.

In December 1978, President Jimmy Carter thought about invoking Section III when he was contemplating a surgical procedure to remove hemorrhoids.

Presidents Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush both voluntarily relinquished their powers while undergoing procedures under anesthetic.

Section IV has also never been invoked, although there have been claims that Ronald Reagan's chief of staff Donald Regan told his successor, Howard Baker, in 1987 that he should be prepared to invoke it because Reagan was inattentive and inept.

The PBS documentary 'American Experience' recounts how Baker and his team watched Reagan closely for signs of incapacity during their first meeting and decided he was in perfect command of himself.Voters in St Gallen today approved a ban on facial coverings such as the burka by a two-thirds majority, becoming the second Swiss canton to do so.

Full-face coverings such as niqabs and burqas are a polarising issue across Europe, with some arguing that they symbolise discrimination against women and should be outlawed.

Under the Swiss system of direct democracy, voters in the north eastern canton demanded tightening the law to punish those who cover their faces in public and thus 'threaten or endanger public security or religious or social peace'.

Voters in St Gallen approved a ban on facial coverings, becoming the second Swiss canton to do so. Austria, France, Belgium and Bulgaria have similar laws (stock image)

The regional government, which had opposed the measure, now has to implement the result of the vote, which drew turnout of around 36 per cent.

Switzerland's largest Islamic organisation, the Islamic Central Council, recommended women continue to cover their faces. It said it would closely monitor the implementation of the ban and consider legal action if necessary.

The Swiss federal government in June opposed a grassroots campaign for a nationwide ban on facial coverings.

The canton voted to tighten the law to punish those who cover their faces and thus 'threaten or endanger public security or religious or social peace' (pictured: protesters in France)

The Swiss cabinet said individual cantons should decide on the matter, but it will nevertheless go to a nationwide vote after activists last year collected more than the required 100,000 signatures to trigger a referendum.

Two-thirds of Switzerland's 8.5 million residents identify as Christians, but its Muslim population has risen to 5 percent, largely because of immigrants from former Yugoslavia.

One Swiss canton, Italian-speaking Ticino, already has a similar ban, while two others have rejected it.

Several European countries have already adopted bans, but to varying degrees.

At least half of Germany's 16 states have bans on teachers and public servants wearing full-face veils.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel proposed banning full-face veils 'wherever it is legally possible' in 2016, but no national legislation has yet been passed.

In 2004 Denmark banned most religious symbols, including the hijab, in public schools, but six years later an act of parliament was passed banning the wearing of face-covering headgear, including burkas, in public places.

The ban on wearing facial coverings in public is a controversial issue but many European countries have already adopted it to varying degrees

Those caught flouting the rules face a 150 euro (135) fine, while anyone who forces another person to wear a face covering can be fined 30,000 euros (27,000) and sentenced to a year in prison.

In 2010 the Belgian parliament passed a bill banning any clothing that would obscure the wearer's identity in public places. Two Muslim women challenged the law in 2017 but the European Court of Human Rights upheld the ban.

Bulgaria banned wearing clothing that 'partially or completely covers the face' in public places such as government offices, educational institutions, and places of public recreation in September 2016.

In 2017 the Austrian parliament adopted a legal ban of wearing face-coverings in public spaces.

Earlier this year the Netherlands outlawed face-coverings in public places, including schools, hospitals and public transport, but the ban does not affect the hijab, which only covers the hair, and does not apply in public streets.The Auditor-General, Mr Daniel Yao Domelevo, has taken aim at the appointment of boards for sensitive state institutions such as the Audit Service.



He advocated the abolition of such boards since they were a recipe for tension and institutional drawback.



He said even countries with better corporate governance reputations had no boards for offices such as the Auditor-General, and in the case of others they only operated advisory boards.



Sierra Leone, they borrowed our law and when they sent it to Sierra Leone, they made the board advisory. If you go to Kenya, it is an advisory board. If you go to many countries, they don't have it. Go to the US, Britain and find out," he said.



In a no-holds-barred speech at the 3rd Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu?Memorial Lectures at the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre in Accra last Thursday, Mr Domelevo also spoke against the appointment of heads of former public institutions as board chairmen of such establishments.



He explained that the board chairmen tended to undermine incumbent leadership, which could stifle institutional and national progress.



The lectures, instituted in memory of the late former Finance Minister in the Kufuor adminstration, was on the theme: Protecting the public purse - Keeping the gate shut before the horse bolts.



Mr Domelevo said some of the board chairmen saw their appointments as an opportunity to impose themselves on management.



The practice of bringing back former public servants to their old positions or bringing former chief executives as board members leave much to be desired because clearly there will be conflict. If they bring you back years later as a board member or board chairman, you can easily undermine who is there and so we have to take a second look at this. And some of the board members, even if they are appointed, they think its their second coming of Christ; they will not be leaving, the Auditor-General said.



Mr Domelevo is currently embroiled in disagreement with a former Auditor-General and current board chairman of the Audit Service, Prof. Edward Dua Agyeman.



He has gone ahead to petition President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo over allegations of interference by the board chairman.



people in public service



Mr Domelevo criticised the continuous engagement of old people in the public sector.



He said it was counterproductive for old people, some of them over 70 years of age, to be occupying positions in the public service when they were supposed to be on retirement.



He rejected suggestions that the retirement age should be increased, explaining that it would compound the unemployment situation in the country.



Our Constitution said when you are 60 years go home so others can also come and work. People are over 70 and are still around. When I ask them to go home they are fighting me. Change the law if you think the retiring age should be 80. The disturbing part is that our graduates are on the streets and we think we must remain in office, he said.



He was equally concerned about how some workers who were due for retirement sometimes forged their birth certificates to make them remain young and relevant on the job market.



At times you would see some public servants and you wonder how many times they would be 60 years. They falsify birth certificates so as to remain young. It is only when they die that you know their true age. The man retires at 60, he dies next year and he is 82. That is what is happening in our country.



Until we have changed the law, I will continue disturbing them. We are doing a payroll audit and at the end of it you will see my report on over-aged people. I promise that I will activate Article 187 Clause 7(a) on them and disallow their existence on the payroll, he said to loud applause from the gathering.



Corruption



The oft-spoken canker of corruption would not escape the radar of the Auditor-General who argued that although corruption could be found in developed countries; they made sure that offenders were prosecuted, unlike in developing countries such as Ghana.



In the developed countries when youre caught youre finished; there are consequences. In Ghana or Africa when youre caught you can even bluff them; they say and so what because he knows nothing will happen, he said.



Insisting that he would never shut his mouth on corruption because he was not a coward, the Auditor-General said he was ready to lose his job by standing up for the truth.



As for me I will say it; if that means to go home, Im ready to go home this evening, he said.

Source: Graphic.com









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Featured VideoHousing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson defended the sexual assault allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh by bringing up his own experience of being falsely named in a paternity claim.

At the Value Voters Summit in Washington, DC on Friday, Carson, 67, said sexual predators are 'abominable' but added that there are 'two sides to every story'.

The former neurosurgeon, who was appointed to President Donald Trump's Cabinet in March 2017, then told the story of a woman who claimed he was the father of her son and demanded child support.

Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson (pictured, Friday) defended the sexual assault allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh by bringing up his own experience of being falsely named in a paternity claim

The former neurosurgeon told the story of how a woman in Florida claimed he had fathered a son with her, but he said he wasn't intimidated because he 'knew that the only woman I had ever slept with in my entire life was my wife'. Pictured: Carson with his wife, August 2018

He says while he was operating at Johns Hopkins University Hospital, he received a call from the university attorneys saying they were attaching his wages to a child support claim.

'I said: "I have three children and I support them very well",' he told the crowd of his conversation with the attorneys.

'They said: "No, there is a woman in Florida. She says you are the father of her son. And she knows where you went to high school, college, medical school, internship, residency, even has a picture of you in scrubs".'

However, Carson, said he knew that the allegations were false because of his so-called 'secret weapon'.

'I knew that the only woman I had ever slept with in my entire life was my wife,' he said.

Carson and his wife Candy met in 1971 as students at Yale University.

They married in 1975 and have three sons Rhoeyce, Benjamin Junior, and Murray, as well as several grandchildren.

Carson has told the story of the false claim several times, dating as far back as 2003, according to Mediaite, especially in a lengthy Washington Times op-ed in 2014.

The attorneys asked him to provide a blood sample so DNA testing could be performed, but Carson refused.

'I said: "Are you kidding me? You people, as incompetent as you are, want me to send you a sample of my blood? It'll be at a murder scene and I'll be in jail for the rest of my life".'

Carson also told the crowd on Friday that he believed Kavanaugh's opponents had become 'desperate'.

Kavanaugh, 53, currently serves as a judge on the powerful US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

He was nominated to the Supreme Court by President Trump in July, but has seen his confirmation process disrupted by an allegation from a California professor that he sexually assaulted her while they were in high school.

Kavanaugh, 53 (pictured, September 2018), has been accused by Dr Christine Blasey Ford of attempting to force himself onto her when they were teenagers in Maryland in the 1980s

After days of negotiations, Ford (pictured) has agreed to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee this week, as has Kavanaugh

President Trump accused Ford of exaggerating what happened and accusing Democratic lawyers and operatives of plotting to ruin Kavanaugh

Dr Christine Blasey Ford says a drunken Kavanaugh attempted to force himself onto her when they were teenagers in Maryland in the 1980s - allegations Kavanaugh has denied.

After days of negotiations, she has agreed to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee this week, as has Kavanaugh.

The accusations were first reported to two Democratic lawmakers in July, but only became public this month, just as Kavanaugh's confirmation seemed all but assured.

A few hours before Carson spoke on Friday, President Trump attacked Ford directly by accusing her of exaggerating what happened and accusing Democratic lawyers and operatives of plotting to ruin Kavanaugh.

He tweeted: 'I have no doubt that, if the attack on Dr. Ford was as bad as she says, charges would have been immediately filed with local Law Enforcement Authorities by either her or her loving parents.

'I ask that she bring those filings forward so that we can learn date, time, and place!'Married men earn more than any other demographic with an average salary of over $86,000, a study reveals.

Research from the St. Louis Fed shows that married men significantly out-earn single men as well as both married and single women.

Their earnings exceed $86,000 per year by their peak earning years, while all the other groups barely graze $50,000 per year, according to the report.

For women, marriage offers only a small wage benefit, which disappears once they enter their late fifties and sixties.

Married men earn more than any other demographic with average yearly earnings of $80,000

Married women earn an estimated $50,000 a year while single earn $45,000 at the age of 47

Unmarried men and women enjoy similar annual earnings - although they take home far less than married men.

At their income peak at age 47, married men earn an average of $86,502 per year, the report found.

By comparison, single men who are 47 earn $49,288, not far the $45,672 earned by single women of the same age.

Married women who are 47, meanwhile, earn almost $51,000.

Experts claimed the findings do not mean that men are paid more because they are married, even if it seems like the most logical explanation.

Guillaume Vandenbroucke, a research officer with the Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis, explained: 'It might be that men with higher wages are more likely to marry.

'Men often marry later than women, so there are relatively few married men in their 20s.

'This explains why the difference in wages is less pronounced earlier in life: The average male worker in his 20s is more likely single than married'.

The findings reinforce earlier research about how gender, marriage and children impact earnings.

The marriage premium for men extends across racial groups, with black men earning at least $12,500 more than their single peers, according to a 2014 paper from the American Enterprise Institute.

Education, income and marriage may be tied up in the question of why marriage delivers higher income for men.

College-educated Americans are much more likely to be married than those with only high school diplomas, creating not only a marriage gap, but an income gap.

Americans without a four-year college degree now earn less than they did in 1979, according to research from the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute.

College-educated workers, meanwhile, enjoyed wage gains of about 16 per cent over that time.

Americans with graduate degrees saw their income rise 30 per cent.

Wages tend to increase over time for both men and women, at least up until the age of 50, Men and women acquire more experience the longer they work and, therefore, become more valuable and productive.

After 50, they either slow down and learn fewer new skills, economists say, or they are competing with younger, less expensive but equally skilled, employees for the same jobs.

Earlier in life, the salary difference between men and women is 'noticeably less pronounced,' Vandenbroucke wrote.

'It is tempting to ascribe this latter point to the fact that younger women are more likely to get married, have children, and eventually withdraw from the labor force,' he added.

'Once out of the labor force, these women would not accumulate human capital, and, subsequently, they would lose ground relative to men. This would explain why the difference in wages grows with age'.

Sexism could play a role in married men's higher wages.

Male hiring managers may be more likely to pay men more and if they're older, they too may be married and believe that a man who has a wife and family may deserve more money.Democrats are holding the lead heading into November's midterm election, a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll found, with a majority of respondents saying they want to see a change in the direction of the country.

Democrats have a 12-point lead on the congressional ballot, the poll revealed with 52 percent saying they want Democrats to control Congress and 40 percent wanting Republicans in charge.

That's a four-point boost from August, when the poll found Democrats had an eight point lead.

However, the poll found almost 60 percent - including one-third of GOP voters - want a change in the country than the way it's been going under President Donald Trump.

A majority of voters said they want a change in direction from the way President Donald Trump has been leading the country

Democrats have a 12-point lead on the congressional ballot and, if they retake the House of Representatives, they could put Nancy Pelosi back in the speaker's office

That could be the most alarming sign for the president, who has expressed confidence Republican will keep control of Congress.

In past 'wave' elections, the call for change has been a harbinger of a change in power.

'Americans are hitting the brake in a midterm, and trying to send the signal that they're not satisfied,' Republican pollster Bill McInturff, who conducted the survey with Democratic pollsters at Hart Research Associates, told NBC News.

He also pointed to some warning signs for Republicans: Democrats lead among moderates and independents by more than 30 points; Republicans are losing women ages 50 and older by nearly 20 points; and the GOP is behind among voters living in competitive congressional districts by 12 points.

More and more independent political prognosticators are predicting Democrats could retake control of the House of Representatives, which could result in Nancy Pelosi returning to the speaker's office.

And some Senate Republicans have been sounding alarm bells about that chamber, with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell warning earlier this month that the November midterm election will be 'very challenging' for the GOP.

GOP voters are, however, closing the enthusiasm gap: 61 percent of Republican voters are expressing a high interest in the election, which nearly matches the 65 percent of Democrats who say the same.

'Donald Trump has defied political gravity,' Peter Hart, the Democratic pollster who worked on the poll, told The Wall Street Journal. 'He's created a very loyal base.'

For the first time, the poll measured those likely to vote, where Democrats had an eight point advantage.

The electoral landscape remains 'very precarious' for the GOP, McInturff told CNBC: 'The ways in which you can create a Congressional Republican majority are hard to see.'

The NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll was conducted Sept. 16-19 and included 900 registered voters. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.27 percent.Advertisement

A procession of druids celebrated the autumn equinox today with a service to mark the arrival of the harvest.

The equinox, which normally occurs between September 22 and 24, is a brief event when the sun passes over the equator, marking equal periods of day and night.

Members of the Druid Order believe this time to be the 'start of the Druid year, when day and night are equal'.

On the day of the equinox the Earth's axis is perpendicular to the sun's rays.

The Druid Order held their traditional annual ceremony, which dates back to 1792, today at 1pm in Primrose Hill, north west London, near Chalk Farm Tube station.

Members of the Druid Order take part in a ceremony to celebrate the autumn equinox on Primrose Hill in London today. Pictured: The 'circle of companions' with the cornucopia, containing organic apple cider, being handed to the Chief (left). One companion (second left) appears to film the ceremony on his mobile phone

The sword-bearer (far left) leads the procession up Primrose Hill. Druids believe the equinox, which normally falls between September 22 and 24, to be 'the harvest festival, when the power of heaven is infused into the fruits of the earth'

At the end of the ceremony companions join together in a meditation. 'You see the full reality, what you made of your dreams, projects and plans, the actual reality, the truth that gives understanding and wisdom', the Druid Order website states.

This Tibetan horn 'kicks off the proceedings' when it is blown four times - four notes representing the four seasons

Susan Winter, a Scribe of the Druid Order, became involved with the philosophy in the early 1980s when she was a teenager.

She said: 'We go to Primrose Hill every year for the autumn equinox and we are at the top of the hill at midday, which is 1pm.

'We head off up the hill in procession at about 12:45 and we have a ceremony at the top of the hill which lasts about an hour.

'We get robed up in white robes, which is traditional for us, and we go up to the top of the hill and then we make a circle of companions and then we invite Ceridwen, in her representation of the Earth Mother, into the circle because this is the harvest time of year.

'The Lady, Ceridwen, approaches the Chief and we welcome her into the circle and then we give thanks for the harvest.

'Someone called the Presider goes around the circle and pours cider round to give thanks to the harvest.

'The lady then gives a basket of fruit to the Presider and he goes round and places the fruit on the ground.

'Then we have a talk and a meditation about the theme of the harvest and then we call for peace to the four quarters.

'Then we have a druid prayer and then that's about it.'

The role of Ceridwen, a Celtic representation of the Earth Mother, varies every year. She is accompanied by two maids who carry the baskets of fruit.

Initiated members of the Order, which accepts people of all religions and no religion, refer to each other as 'companions'

The group has gone by many names, including The Ancient Druid Order and An Druidh Uileach Braithreachas

Modern druidry started in 1717 but its roots can be traced back to the megalithic stone-builders in the UK

Julius Caesar described druids during his governorship of Gaul (modern day France): 'Any individual or community that refuses to abide by their decision is excluded from the sacrifices, which is held to be the most serious punishment possible'

Caesar goes on to say that the Druid religion was founded in Britain, and any faithful student travels to the island to learn. Pictured: The Presider (with cornucopia) offering organic cider to the companions to give thanks to the harvest

'There's a heritage of Druidry which can be traced back to the megalithic stone-builders in the UK but modern Druidry traces from 1717,' Ms Winter said.

'Last year we celebrated 300 years of druids coming out into the upon.

'It was the age of the Enlightenment, and it was possible in 1717 to hold druid meetings in public, so that was the first time that Druid meetings became celebrated in public.'

The event was called the Founding of the Mother Grove, hosted at the Apple Tree Tavern during the autumn equinox of 1717.

'Our Druid order traces its heritage back to that time with the Mother Grove,' Ms Winter said.

'In 1792 was the first recorded ceremony in Primrose Hill for the autumn equinox.'

The Druid Order owns a house in south London where companions discuss philosophy and self-improvement

'The interest in Druidism is very much growing at the moment, we're getting a lot of new inquiries, a lot of new members, it does seem to be providing something for the current time,' said Susan Winter, Scribe of the Druid Order

The organisation owns a house in south London which hosts weekly classes where people discuss philosophy and religion.

'We don't call ourselves a religion we call ourselves a philosophical educational group, we study meditation we study different forms of self-development,' Ms Winter said.

'We have lots of people from lots of different religions as part of our group; we call ourselves universalist, so we are welcome to people of any religion or no religion.

'We have Christians, we have a Vicar as one of our members, for example.'

'The interest in Druidism is very much growing at the moment, we're getting a lot of new inquiries, a lot of new members, it does seem to be providing something for the current time.

'I think that people are really dissatisfied with a sort of materialist, consumerist society - we've reached peak stuff, people are looking for something a little more satisfying in life.

'An organisation that does base itself on the cycles of nature, people are thinking could offer a solution to the environmental problems that are surrounding us as well.'Support for Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation to the Supreme Court is falling, a new poll finds, as he and his accuser Christine Blasey Ford prepare to tell their sides of the story to the world.

Only 40 per cent of voters would confirm Kavanaugh, a new Fox News poll found, while 50 per cent oppose him.

Last month, 45 per cent would vote to confirm while 46 percent would not.

Overall, the 50 per cent opposition to Kavanaugh is the highest opposition to a Supreme Court nominee in Fox polls going back 13 years.

Before his nomination, the previous high was when 39 per cent opposed Neil Gorsuch, President Donald Trump's first Supreme Court nominee, in March 2017.

Ford (left) is expected to testify against Kavanaugh (right) on Thursday of next week, before the Senate holds vote to determine whether he will be seated on the Supreme Court

The poll found more believe Ford over Kavanaugh as the two prepare to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee this week on Ford's allegation that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her when they were at a high school party in the 1980s.

Kavanaugh has repeatedly denied the allegation.

But more voters believe Fords claims than his denials by a 6-point margin, 36 per cent to 30 per cent the poll found.

The poll also found, however, that about one-third, 34 per cent, are unsure who is telling the truth.

Women believe Ford by 10 points while men believe her by one point.

The biggest degree of separation is among political party: Democrats believe her by a 59 per cent to 9 percent margin. Its the reverse among Republican with 60 per cent believing him, 14 percent believing her.

Since August, support for Kavanaghs confirmation dropped 12 points among independents, 11 points among suburban women, and 10 points among voters under age 45, according to Fox News.

Ford, meanwhile, has agreed to testify about her sexual assault claims against Kavanaugh next week, her lawyers have revealed.

In a 15-minute phone call between the Senate Judiciary Committee and Ford's attorneys on Saturday night, a source claimed to Politico the panel tentatively agreed to a Thursday hearing in private, despite publicly trying to rush the confirmation of Kavanaugh along.

Negotiations are expected to continue over the weekend, with Ford's team and the panel still not able to agree on crucial details of the hearing.

While all parties have agreed on only using pool cameras, keeping Ford and Kavanaugh separate and providing police security for the renowned psychologist, there is still no consensus on whether alleged witness Mark Judge will be subpoenaed.

Ford's complaint centers around an incident that took place at a high school party in the 1980s, where she alleges Kavanaugh and Judge, his friend, followed her upstairs when she went to the bathroom and pushed her into a bedroom.

There, she alleges the Supreme Court nominee held her down, covered her mouth, groped her and tried to rip off her swimsuit .

'I thought he might inadvertently kill me,' she told the Washington Post.

Her escape came only when Judge, who was in the room with them, jumped on top of the pair, she says.

Kavanaugh denies the allegations and has said he would testify to clear his name. Judge has denied any recollection of the event.

News of Ford's decision to testify at all came just as the Senate Judiciary Committee's extension ran out at 2.30pm EST Saturday.

A statement from Ford's lawyers, posted on Twitter by Washington Post reporter Emma Brown, said: 'Dr Ford accepts the Committee's request to provide her first-hand knowledge of Brett Kavanaugh's sexual misconduct next week.

'Although many aspects of the proposal you provided via email, on September 21, 2018, at 2:33 pm, are fundamentally inconsistent with the Committee's promise of a fair, impartial investigation into her allegations, and we are disappointed with the leaks and the bullying that have tainted the process, we are hopeful that we can reach an agreement.'

The statement is signed by attorney's Debra Katz and Lisa Banks.

Dr Christine Blasey Ford has agreed to testify about her sexual assault claims against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, the accusers lawyers have revealed

The White House also released a statement in response to the announcement on Saturday night.

They said the Kavanaugh is looking forward to testifying so he can clear his 'good name'.

'Brett Kavanaugh has been clear from the beginninghe categorically and unequivocally denies this allegation and is eager to testify publicly to defend his integrity and clear his good name.

'On Monday, Brett Kavanaugh met with Committee counsels to answer questions subject to criminal penalties and offered to testify publicly Tuesday morning.

'Since then, we have heard about different dates, conditions, and ever changing schedules, but today we appear no closer to a fair hearing. But one thing has remained consistent: Brett Kavanaugh remains ready, willing and eager to testify as soon as possible.'

Committee Chairman Senator Chuck Grassley reluctantly granted Ford an extension Friday night, writing in a string of tweets: 'With all the extensions we give Dr Ford to decide if she still wants to testify to the Senate I feel like Im playing 2nd trombone in the judiciary orchestra and [Senator Chuck] Schumer is the conductor.'

This came after Grassley rejected Ford's key concessions under which she would testify and then gave her until 10pm Friday night to come to a 'reasonable resolution'.

He said if Ford and her lawyers failed to reach a decision his Republican-run panel would vote on sending Kavanaugh's nomination for Supreme Court Justice by Monday.

But before the 10pm deadline, Ford's lawyer said her client wants another day to consider terms for testifying about her allegations that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her when they were teens.

Attorney Debra Katz called Friday's deadline 'arbitrary', saying 'its sole purpose is to bully Dr Ford and deprive her of the ability to make a considered decision that has life-altering implications for her and her family.'

Now a 53-year-old California psychology professor, Ford says an inebriated Kavanaugh pinned her on a bed, muffled her cries and tried removing her clothes when they were teens in the 80s

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Chuck Grassley gave Dr Christine Blasey Ford an extension to decide if she wants to testify against Judge Kavanaugh

Senator Chuck Grassley tweeted to Brett Kavanaugh that he is granted Dr Ford an extension

Earlier Friday he gave Dr Ford until 10pm Friday to decide

He appeared reluctant to grant the extension to decide if she wants to testify against Brett Kavanaugh

Meanwhile, Ford's family has expressed their continued support of the accuser.

During an appearance on Good Morning America, Ford's sister-in-law Deborah Ford Peters spoke out on why she wants her story to be heard.

'I assume that she was very concerned about Judge Kavanaugh being considered for the Supreme Court,' Peters said.

'I think she doesn't want her story misrepresented, in the way that it leaked, but she also strongly believes that story needs to be heard by the American public, that they need to know what this man did in his youth so that he can be held responsible.'

Peters insisted that Ford is telling the truth about the alleged encounter with Kavanaugh 36 years ago, saying she's sure she has the right guy.

'I can't imagine any reason that it would be a mistaken identity,' she said on GMA. 'Specifically working with people who have been through traumas, the details of the traumas are often etched in their minds forever.'

She added: 'I feel very proud and kind of impressed and amazed that she has the courage to come out and face whatever consequence she has to face. But she's a strong person. She's showing us she's capable of doing it.'

Peters' comments came days after several members of Ford's family wrote a public letter of support, telling senators 'her honesty is above reproach'.

Disney star Bridgit Mendler, Ford's niece, posted the letter on her Twitter page with a note praising her 'Aunt Chrissy'.

'Dr Christine Blasey Ford, or Aunt Chrissy as I know her is the person who patiently helped me with my college application, she was the first to give me a hug when I saw my family on vacation. Please remember her humanity. This is a message from our family,' Mendler wrote.

Deborah Ford Peters spoke in support of her sister-in-law Christine Blasey Ford on Good Morning America Friday

Earlier this week several members of Ford's family wrote a public letter of support, telling senators 'her honesty is above reproach'. Disney star Bridgit Mendler, Ford's niece, posted the letter on her Twitter page with a note praising her 'Aunt Chrissy'

For days the public has been anxiously waiting for Ford to decide if she wanted to relive her alleged trauma in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee as Grassley imposed several deadlines.

In Friday's tweet storm he wrote: 'Five times now we [have] granted extension for Dr Ford to decide if she wants to proceed [with] her desire stated one [week] ago that she wants to tell senate her story Dr Ford if u changed ur mind say so so we can move on I want to hear ur testimony. Come to us or we to u.'

In a follow-up tweet, Grassley wrote: 'Judge Kavanaugh, I just granted another extension to Dr Ford to decide if she wants to proceed w the statement she made last week to testify to the senate She [should] decide so we can move on I want to hear her. I hope u understand. Its not my normal approach to [be] indecisive.'

The latter tweet confused some Twitter users, who speculated the tweet was meant to be a direct text.

Ford met with the FBI for several hours about death threats she has received and wants to consider her response until at least Saturday.

Grassley had said if no agreement is reached the panel may vote Monday on Kavanaughs nomination.

He turned down Ford's request that only senators, not attorneys, be allowed to ask questions.

He also rejected her proposal that she testify after Kavanaugh, a position lawyers consider advantageous because it gives them a chance to rebut accusations.

'We are unwilling to accommodate your unreasonable demands,' Grassley said earlier Friday.

Grassley sent Ford's attorneys a proposal earlier Friday offering a Wednesday hearing - Ford preferred Thursday - and said: 'It is not fair to him or to his family to allow this situation to continue without a resolution and without an opportunity for him to clear his name.'

In this Sept. 4, 2018, file photo Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh stands with Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley R-Iowa, during his confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill

Grassley said he was rebuffing Ford's proposals that she testify after Kavanaugh and that only senators, not outside counsel, be allowed to ask questions.

The committee's 11 Republicans - all men - have been seeking an outside female attorney to interrogate Ford, mindful of the election-season impression that could be left by men trying to pick apart a woman's assertion of a sexual attack.

He also refused to call additional witnesses.

Ford wants an appearance by Mark Judge, a Kavanaugh friend who Ford asserts was at the high school party and in the bedroom where Kavanaugh's assault occurred. Ford eventually escaped.

Grassley said he'd consented to several other Ford demands, including that she be provided security and that Kavanaugh not be in the hearing room when she testifies.

Friday was the latest in a string of tumultuous days for Kavanaugh, whose ascension to the Supreme Court seemed a sure bet until Ford emerged last weekend and provided details of the alleged assault.

Kavanaugh, a District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals judge, has repeatedly denied the accusation.

News of Ford's decision to testify broke just hours after Senate Judiciary Committee press adviser Garrett Ventry announced his resignation amid reports that he was fired from a previous political job for sexually harassing a female coworker.

Ventry denied any past 'allegations of misconduct' in a statement to NBC News Saturday.

When asked about the allegations against the committee aide, spokesman Taylor Foy responded in a statement: 'While [Ventry] strongly denies allegations of wrongdoing, he decided to resign to avoid causing any distraction from the work of the committee.'

NBC reports that Republicans familiar with the situation were concerned that Ventry could not lead an effective communications response to the Ford allegations because of his history.

However, insiders have remained quiet following the news of his resignation.

North Carolina House Majority Leader John Bell, who fired Ventry from his role of social media adviser in 2017, told NBC: 'Mr Ventry did work in my office and he's no longer there, he moved on.'

Sources say Ventry was booted from Bell's office after a female coworker accused him of sexual harassment.

He was also found to have embellished parts of his resume, according to NBC.Advertisement

These incredible images show Turkey's equivalent of Navy Seals undergoing military training underwater.

They show trainee officers and members of the specialist operation unit of the Turkish Navy known as 'Underwater Offence' (Su Alti Taarruz or SAT) carrying out their training in the Beykoz district of Istanbul this week.

The training period of the Turkish Naval Special Forces, lasts 50 weeks - including two weeks of Special Ops training.

Based in the Foca Naval Base on Turkey's Aegean coast, commandos of the unit are capable of executing sneak attacks, raiding and sabotage to an opponent's floating and shore targets. They can also penetrate enemy perimeters via the sea, air, land and underwater.

Their equipment includes a number of different firearms - including machine guns, assault rifles and a H&K MP5A3 submachine gun that can be used underwater.

SAT missions include acquiring military intelligence, special reconnaissance, direct action, counter-terrorism and visit, board, search and seizure operations.

The first SAT units were established in 1963 and they are trained and organised in a way that is similar to US Navy Seals  who have close training relationship with them.

Trainee officers and members of the 'Underwater Offence' (SAT), the special operation unit of the Turkish Navy are seen during their military training at Beykoz district of Istanbul, Turkey on September 18

Commandos of 'Underwater Offence Group Command' are capable of executing sneak attack, raiding and sabotage to opponent's floating and shore targets

Based in the Foca Naval Base on Turkey's Aegean coast, the unit's officers can also penetrate enemy perimeters via the sea, air, land and underwater

SAT missions include acquiring military intelligence, special reconnaissance, direct action, counter-terrorism and visit, board, search and seizure operations

The first SAT units were established in 1963 and they are trained and organised in a way that is similar to US Navy Seals  who have close training relationship with them

An armed member of the special operation unit is seen training in uniform in the water in the Beykoz district of IstanbulAn Oregon woman has been arrested for the 39th time after she reportedly stole an ambulance and led police on a high speed chase.

When looking into Christy Lynn Woods' most recent arrest, media outlets came across her extensive rap sheet, which details some 114 charges - the majority of them for disorderly conduct, trespassing, criminal mischief, harassment and violating parole.

Fourteen of those charges are related to the 37-year-old Roseburg resident's ambulance joyride last Sunday, according to jail records obtained by DailyMail.com.

Woods is wearing a cheeky smile in her newest mug shot, one of at least 34 she's posed for in her 39 recorded brushes with Douglas County law enforcement since 2011.

Christy Lynn Woods has been charged with stealing an ambulance in Roseburg, Oregon. Jail records indicate the 37-year-old has been arrested 39 times in Oregon since 2011. Woods is pictured left in her most recent mugshot last week and right in the first one in November 2011

According to an arrest affidavit, Woods hopped into the unattended emergency vehicle last Sunday while paramedics were busy performing CPR on an unconscious woman.

She then proceeded to speed through downtown Roseburg and jump onto Interstate 5, where police chased her for nearly 30 miles at up to 85 miles per hour.

The Oregonian reports that at one point during the chase, Woods struck a police vehicle that was traveling in front of her, totaling the car and leaving State Police Sgt Ken Terry with minor injuries.

Authorities eventually brought the ambulance to a halt with a police spike strip, at which point Woods was taken into custody.

The affidavit details several unprovoked musings by Woods as she was taken to Douglas County Corrections center, including: 'Why would they leave it unlocked?' and 'F**k, I'm going to prison.'

Woods was ultimately booked on 14 charges, including assault, interfering with paramedics, criminal mischief and reckless driving.

According to Douglas County public jail records, Woods has faced some 114 charges across the 39 times she has been arrested. Above are some of her most entertaining mugshots

According to Douglas County public data, Woods was arrested for the first time on December 6, 2011, although there are no charges listed under that record.

About a year and a half later she was arrested in June 2013 on a 'menacing' charge, and she finished out that year with a string of five arrests over a three week period from November 22 to December 10.

A total of 16 charges, most for disorderly conduct and criminal trespassing, are listed under those arrests.

Woods was arrested again four times during the first half of 2014, including for an alleged robbery in April of that year.

The next arrest recorded is listed as a July 2015 parole violation. Woods does not appear to have been arrested any additional times that year.

F**k, I'm going to prison. - Christy Lynn Woods following her 39th recorded arrest last Sunday

However, she got back on law enforcement's radar early in 2016 with two arrests in Janaury, one of them for alleged methamphetamine possession, followed by arrests in May, June, July, August, November and December.

In total, there are nine arrests and 25 charges recorded for 2016.

Woods appears to have been arrested 10 more times in 2017, including once for driving while intoxicated. Nine of those arrests included parole violation charges.

As noted earlier, Woods has racked up an impressive eight arrests already this year, and in February was convicted of second-degree disorderly conduct after she attacked bar patrons with an alcohol bottle before screaming slurs at and kicking a police officer.

Her latest arrest following the ambulance incident will likely carry her strictest sentence yet.

A specific court date for those charges has not been set as of one week after Woods being booked.A former OpenTable employee has been charged with one count of wire fraud after making hundreds of bogus reservations at Chicago restaurants.

According to the Chicago Sun-Times, Steven Addison, 30, made more than 300 reservations at at least 45 Chicago restaurants using rival booking service Reserve.

Prosecutors said in court records that Addison allegedly booked around 1,200 seats in all - often during peak hours, making the no-shows especially costly - in an attempt to hurt Reserve's reputation.

Addison, of Chicago, allegedly made the reservations between November 2017 and February 2018.

Former OpenTable employee Steven Addison, 30, has been charged with one count of wire fraud after making hundreds of bogus reservations at Chicago restaurants

Court records state that Addison 'intended to demonstrate to Chicago restaurants that Reserve had a purportedly inferior reservation system' and 'committed these acts on his own accord and did not personally profit from the scheme'.

Eater Chicago referred to Addison as a former OpenTable employee despite the company only being described a 'Company A' in documents.

However, the description of 'an online restaurant reservation service with headquarters in San Francisco, California' fits that of OpenTable.

The court records allege that Addison discovered that reservations could be made on Reserve using fake names, emails and telephone numbers.

He then made more than 300 reservations with more than 1,200 seats under names including 'Hans Gruber', 'Richard Ashcroft' and 'Jimmy Smits'.

He would also make several reservations at different restaurants in Chicago under the same name and at the same date and time.

In one instance, on November 25, 2017, Addison booked a table for four people at six different restaurants for 6pm.

Court documents also state that he made 'multiple fake reservations on potentially busy days when he knew restaurants would suffer more losses'.

This includes 22 fake bookings on New Year's Eve in 2017 and 24 bogus reservations on Valentine's Day in 2018.

OpenTable states that it didn't know about the fake bookings and that Addison, whom they referred to as a 'rogue employee', was identified and fired back in March.

'On behalf of OpenTable, I extend our sincerest apologies to the restaurant community in Chicago and to Reserve for this disgraceful, unsanctioned behavior,' OpenTable CEO Christa Quarles wrote in a public apology.

A press release from the district attorney's office didn't reveal the name of Addison's attorney, but he is expected to be arraigned on Tuesday morning.

Court records state that Addison 'intended to demonstrate to Chicago restaurants that Reserve had a purportedly inferior reservation system'. OpenTable CEO Christa Quarles issued a public apology back in March (pictured)

A statement from Reserve CEO Greg Hong read: 'When the FBI requested data that's in our possession, we provided it.

'Otherwise, Reserve moved on from the matter many months ago so that we could focus on what's most important to us: serving our restaurant partners the best we can.'

Peter de Castro, co-owner of the restaurant Tavern at the Park, told the Chicago Sun-Times that his restaurant was down five percent in December and two percent in February due to the no-show reservations.

He told the newspaper he declined an offer made by OpenTable to reimburse him for lost revenue and tips.

'What incentive did this 'rogue' employee have?' de Castro said in an interview in March.

'He wasn't in sales, he didn't get bonuses. It just doesn't make sense that this employee would do this out of spite.'A school bus driver in Indiana was arrested after she was filmed allowing children as young as 11 drive the bus.

Joandrea Dehaven McAtee, 27, was detained on Friday and charged with felony neglect of a dependent.

Police claimed that McAtee allowed three students who were 11, 13 and 17, to drive the school bus for short distances Thursday in rural Valparaiso, Indiana.

A person can be charged with neglect of a dependent if a decision 'places the dependent in a situation that endangers the dependent's life or health,' according to Indiana state law.

Joandrea Dehaven McAtee (pictured) was arrested for letting children drive her school bus

There were other students on the bus at the time, some of whom recorded the incident, ABC News reported.

'First, what you gotta do, is put your foot on the brake,' the driver, identified by authorities as McAtee, is heard saying in one video.

The student who filmed the video said it was a middle schooler who was driving.

WPTV claimed that a parent complaint to a school resource officer at Boone Grove High School prompted an investigation. School officials were quickly able to substantiate the claim.

McAtee was immediately fired by First Student, the company which operates buses in Porter Township, after the video and allegations surfaced.

In a statement to ABC News, First Student said: 'We are incredibly disappointed by the actions of our former driver.

'There is nothing more important than the safety of the students we transport.

'Behavior such as this is completely unacceptable and totally at odds with what we stand for as a company.

'The driver has been terminated. We have a zero-tolerance policy for employees whose actions may harm or put others at risk'.

McAtee (pictured) could be heard instructing one child how to brake in footage

McAtee was previously arrested in Indiana for speeding in her own vehicle in New Chicago, in February 2017 for driving 54 mph in a 35 mph zone, court records show.

She was found guilty and paid the resulting fine.

Porter Township School Corporation said students and parents both reported the conduct to the school administration and its investigation 'quickly substantiated' that McAtee allowed students to drive the bus.

An investigation by the company the driver worked for confirmed she had allowed a number of children to drive the bus

'Upon receiving information regarding this incident, PTSC administration, First Student and the Porter County Sheriff's Department immediately began an investigation,' the township said in a statement.

'The investigation quickly substantiated the allegations and the driver was relieved of all duties involving Porter Township School Corporation.

'The Porter Township School Corporation is angered and disappointed in the actions of this driver. The safety of our students is a top priority'.

The corporation said McAtee's actions are not reflective of the hard work, dedication, and professionalism of its staff.

It added: ' We are thankful for the students and parents who came forward quickly with this information to both PTSC administration and law enforcement allowing us to respond expediently and take the proper steps to insure student safety'.Labour only adopted the international definition of anti-Semitism to 'ease' attacks on Jeremy Corbyn, union baron Len McCluskey admitted tonight.

Speaking on the fringe of Labour's conference in Liverpool, the Unite leader compared the summer-long fight over anti-Semitism to the 'Charge of the Light Brigade' and claimed it was a battle on 'our enemy's territory'.

Mr McClukey insisted Mr Corbyn would be proved 'right' after spending the summer insisting the definitions underpinning the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's (IHRA) definition of anti-Semitism needed to be put in proper context.

The Labour leader insisted party activists had to be free to criticise Israel and stand up for the right of Palestinians.

Labour only adopted the international definition of anti-Semitism to 'ease' attacks on Jeremy Corbyn, union baron Len McCluskey (left at tonight's meeting) admitted tonight

Comparing the row to the 'Charge of the Light Brigade', Mr McCluskey told a meeting (pictured) of around 300 people that it was an argument on the 'enemy's territory'

The row over the internationally accepted definition of racism against Jews prompted Jewish newspapers to make an unprecedented warning that Mr Corbyn represented an 'existential threat' to the Jewish community.

Ex-chief rabbi Jonathan Sacks compared the Labour leader to Enoch Powell when the storm escalated after a 2013 speech where Mr Corbyn claimed British Zionists failed to understand 'English irony'.

Mr McCluskey's remarks at the Palestine Solidarity Campaign fringe risk reviving the row Labour has been desperate to calm after it destroyed the party's summer campaigns.

Comparing the row to the 'Charge of the Light Brigade', Mr McCluskey told a room of around 300 people that it was an argument on the 'enemy's territory'.

And he said it was 'important to make sure the attacks on Jeremy Corbyn were eased'.

Labour leader (pictured tonight in Liverpool) insisted party activists had to be free to criticise Israel and stand up for the right of Palestinians

He told the meeting: 'The debate about the examples, the IHRA definition - I know this caused concerns amongst comrades on the left.

'The truth is that we were getting sucked in almost like the Charge of the Light Brigade - cannons to the right and left and in front of us, sucked in to a debate on our enemy's territory.

'It was important to make certain that the attacks on Jeremy were eased so that we could continue the fight.

'Jeremy Corbyn's demand or belief that those examples needed to be contextualised or clarified - time will come when people will say Jeremy Corbyn was right.

'If anybody believes for one moment that those examples are going to silence us from supporting the Palestinian cause or calling Israel what it is, an apartheid state, they are very much mistaken.'

Mr McCluskey insisted that Mr Corbyn would be 'proved right' in his reluctance to adopt the definition in full.

But he insisted Labour would continue to condemn the 'right wing' Israeli government led by Benjamin Netanyahu.President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, left Ghana on Friday, 21st September, 2018, to participate in the inauguration ceremony of the President-elect of the Republic of Mali, H.E. Ibrahim Boubacar Keita.



President Akufo-Addo will, after the inauguration ceremony, leave Mali on Saturday, 22nd September, 2018, to lead Ghanas delegation to the 73rd Session of the United Nations General Assembly.



Whilst there, the President, as co-Chair of the Advocacy Group of Eminent Persons for the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), will participate in a series of SDGs events, and also deliver a speech at the High Level event on the United Nations Youth Strategy.



He will also receive the 2018 Outstanding Leaders Award from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in recognition of his leadership and commitment to championing trade and investment as the means of helping grow Ghanas economy.



President Akufo-Addo will also hold bilateral talks with some colleague Heads of State, as well as with some CEOs of important global enterprises, and, on Wednesday, 26th September, 2018, address the General Assembly.



He was accompanied by the First Lady, Mrs Rebecca Akufo-Addo; Minister for Foreign Affairs, Hon. Shirley Ayorkor Botchway, MP; and officials from the Presidency and Foreign Ministry.



President Akufo-Addo will return to Ghana on Sunday, 30th September, 2018, and in his absence the Vice President, Alhaji Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, shall, in accordance with Article 60(8) of the Constitution, act in his stead.









Source: http://presidency.gov.gh









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Featured VideoJeremy Corbyn tonight warned the rich that they are on 'borrowed time' because a Labour Government is coming.

In a fiery speech to hundreds of activists, he said the poor had ended up paying the price for the 2008 financial meltdown through austerity while the rich got richer.

He railed against neo-liberalism and austerity, and said that if he is elected to No10 he will usher in major change.

He told the audience in Liverpool: 'Challenging neoliberal economics is fundamental to what we believe in.'

Mr Corbyn added: 'Austerity has been meted out on the poorest and most vulnerable people in our society.

'They are the ones who paid the price of the banking crisis of 2008, all the time the very richest in our society have had tax breaks, giveaways and tax havens.

'I tell you what: they are on borrowed time because a Labour government is coming.'

Jeremy Corbyn (pictured tonight at the Momentum rally in Liverpool) warned the rich that they are on 'borrowed time' because a Labour Government is coming

In a fiery speech to hundreds of activists, Jeremy Corbyn (pictured at the rally in Liverpool) said the poor had ended up paying the price for the 2008 financial meltdown through austerity while the rich got richer

His words were greeted with wild applause and cheers from the many hundreds of activists who had turned up to hear him speak at Momentum's World Transformed Event.

In the 20-minute address, Mr Corbyn told the activists that he is ready and waiting to campaign in another General Election and urged them to get involved.

He hit out at the growing numbers of rough sleepers on Britain's streets, climate change and poverty.

The Labour leader said he and his supporters received a massive boost after they defied expectations to deny Theresa May an overall majority at last year's snap election.

And he said this had left him more optimistic and determined to win next time an election is called.

He was given a rock star welcome when he arrived at the Momentum conference event tonight.

The crowd leapt to their feet as he arrived and burst into a rendition of the Corbynista anthem 'Ooooh Jeremy Corbyn' as he took to the stage.

His radical rhetoric comes after his party has laid out plans to shake-up the way the economy is run.

Earlier today he unveiled plans to force companies to put workers on their boards in a move he said would help democratise workplaces.

And he announced that if he makes it to No10 owners of second homes face swingeing new taxes of more than 3,000 per property.

The Labour leader said his party would effectively double council tax on holiday homes and other additional properties.

Jeremy Corbyn (pictured at the speech after delivering his speech tonight in Liverpool) was greeted with wild applause and cheers from the many hundreds of activists who had turned up to hear him speak at Momentum's World Transformed Event

The policy would raise 560million to be ploughed into affordable homes, Mr Corbyn said.

Under the plan, the sum will be based on the value of the property and equivalent to double the current rate of council tax.

Mr Corbyn said: 'People do have second homes, particularly business-related second homes in central London.

'Our proposal is that we would increase the tax on them in order to give money to be spent on new housing across the whole country.'

Labour are in Liverpool for their annual party conference, but the event threatens to be overshadowed by the anti-Semitism crisis which continues to dog the party.Several subway passengers received medical treatment after being exposed to pepper spray by two men who were having a fight on the packed train.

Around 20 people were doused with pepper spray on Saturday night when a man pressed the button on a pepper spray can and aimed it at another man he was fighting with.

The irritant was discharged on a number two train near the Beverly Road station in East Flatbush, according to police.

Passengers on the train - including children - were coughing and choking while others had to be stretchered away to hospital.

Emergency medical technicians treated six people at the scene and took the others to local hospitals.

Responders arrive at Beverly Road Station (pictured) after pepper spray was fired off on a train

Twenty passengers on a Brooklyn subway train were hit with pepper spray Saturday night when a man sprayed it at another passenger following a disturbance

Some were given oxygen masks to counteract the irritant that they were exposed to.

'All of this was over a stupid fight, a passenger said.

It is unclear if any of the people had direct contact with the irritant; the FDNY said none of the injuries were serious.

The incident caused delays in both directions on the two line Saturday night, according to the Metropolitan Transportation Agency.

The two people involved in the argument ran away and have not been caught, police said.

It comes a number of months after a similar incident on a subway train when a man fired off a pepper spray canister after becoming at being asked to free up seats.

In April, commuters found David Dennis, 24, taking up a number of seats on the Manhattan-bound A train pulling into the High Street station around 8.15 am on Thursday in New York.

Six passengers received medical treatment at the scene and took a number of other people to hospital

One of the affected passengers is taken to hospital after being subdued by pepperspray

When they asked Dennis to sit up and make room for other riders, he whipped out a can of pepper spray and blasted one female passenger, who was standing, in the face.

All of the passengers were ushered off the train, which the NYPD ordered held in the station for the next 90 minutes while police carried out an investigation.

Other passengers were also given oxygen masks to counteract the irritant they had being exposed to.Rev. Paul Kalchik was removed from Chicago's Resurrection Catholic Church on Saturday - 10 days after he burned the rainbow flag in what he called an exorcism ceremony

The archbishop of Chicago has removed a priest as head of a North Side church after he burned a rainbow banner, angering the LGBT community.

Rev. Paul Kalchik was removed from the Resurrection Catholic Church on Saturday - 10 days after he burned the rainbow flag in what he called an exorcism ceremony.

Cardinal Blase Cupich announced Rev. Kalchik's removal in a recent letter to parishioners and staff at the church, the Chicago Tribune reports.

Cupich said he acted 'out of concern' for Kalchik and parishioners.

He said the 56-year-old priest needed 'time away from the parish to receive pastoral support'.

Kalchik said on Friday that he is not anti-gay and that he was 'about as much of a gay basher as Mother Teresa'.

An archdiocese spokeswoman revealed on Saturday that the priest's removal wasn't 'directly due' to banner's destruction and had been 'in the works'.

Kalchik made headlines earlier this month when he announced he would burn a rainbow pride flag that was once prominently displayed at the church.

In a church bulletin, he said it would occur in front of the church on September 29, to coincide with the Feast of Saint Michael, Gabriel and Raphael.

Kalchik, who joined the church 11 years ago, said the flag was 'unfortunately hanging in our sanctuary during the ceremony first Mass as Resurrection parish.'

Kalchik, who joined the church 11 years ago, said the flag was 'unfortunately hanging in our sanctuary during the ceremony first Mass as Resurrection parish', which is pictured above in 1991

Rev. Paul Kalchik has been with the Resurrection Catholic Church for 11 years

In the announcement, he described the 'US church homosexual scandal' as a 'sequel to the story of Sodom and Gomorrah.'

But when the Archdiocese of Chicago became aware of Kalchik's plans, it told him he couldn't go ahead with it.

Nevertheless, Kalchik and some parishioners went ahead and burned the flag.

He said the flag was cut into seven pieces and burned in the same fire pit that was used for the Easter vigil mass.

'We did so in a private way, a quiet way, so as not to bring the ire of the gay community down upon this parish,' Kalchik added.

'It's our full right to destroy it, and we did so privately because the archdiocese was breathing on our back.'

Kalchik described the flag as 'a sacrilege' because it featured a cross and rainbow intertwined.Advertisement

From diagrams of grand scale evacuations, to letters of surrender and troops in action, this fascinating collection of documents bring the drama of the Second World War to life.

The documents, supplied by the Imperial War Museum and published in a new book, detail the key moments of the war - from the first declaration to the final truce.

One black and white photograph captures ships holding position off beaches at Dunkirk while smoke billows from burning oil storage tanks that were deliberately ignited in order to prevent them falling into the hands of the invading Germans.

Another image depicts Prime Minister Winston Churchill making a radio announcement from 10 Downing street in 1942 wearing a siren suit.

One fascinating document shows the sketch of the evacuation plan drawn by Captain F K Theobald for the British Expeditionary Forces to escape from Dunkirk in May 1940 - where boats are drawn out in the perfectly executed diagram.

One image shows rescued troops wearing steel Brodie helmets and huddled together on board the destroyer HMS Vanquisher on its voyage back to British soil from Dunkirk.

The damage of buildings on a street in Warsaw, Poland after bombs were dropped while it was besieged by Germans in 1939 is captured in another black and white photograph.

The collection of captivating documents are featured in The War on Paper: 20 Documents That Defined the Second World War.

The signing of the surrender of all German forces in northwestern Europe at Luneburg Heath, 4 May 1945. Montgomery (seated, centre right) looks over the terms of surrender, watched by Admiral von Friedeburg (middle) and Rear Admiral Gerhard Wagner (left)

Ships holding position off beaches at Dunkirk while smoke billows from burning oil storage tanks that were deliberately ignited by the fleeing allies in order to prevent them falling into the hands of the invading Germans

Prime Minister Winston Churchill making a radio announcement from 10 Downing street in 1942 wearing a siren suit

Sketch of the evacuation plan drawn Captain F K Theobald, of the 5th Battalion Royal West Kent Regiment, for the British Expeditionary Force to escape from Dunkirk in May 1940

Rescued troops wearing steel Brodie helmets huddled together on board the destroyer HMS Vanquisher on the way back to Britain from Dunkirk

The damage of buildings on a street in Warsaw, Poland after bomb were dropped while it was besieged by Germans in 1939 is captured in another black and white photograph

The Anglo-German Declaration from September 1938, stating both countries' desire not to go to war and signed by British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and German Chancellor Adolf Hitler

Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain holding aloft the AngloGerman Declaration to the cheering crowd, who greeted him on arrival at Heston Airport on 30 September 1938

The first page from 'Fuhrer Directive Number 1 for the Conduct of the War', dated to August 1939, issued to the Naval High Command, Adolf Hitler's order for the Nazi invasion of PolandAn obsessed interior designer turned her ex-boyfriends life into a living nightmare after accusing him of breaking a love contract.

Lina Tantash, 43, embarked on a sinister and sustained campaign against Jarlath Rice, bombarding him with messages, ordering hundreds of pounds of pizza to his office and hiring a private detective to probe his life.

She accused Mr Rice of breaching a 21-clause deal in which she loaned him money in return for him providing the intimacy missing from her life.

Lina Tantash embarked on a sinister and sustained campaign against Jarlath Rice

But Tantash now faces jail after being convicted of stalking at Brighton Magistrates Court.

The highly intelligent university-educated project manager believed she was locked in a ten-year relationship with the 50-year-old Irish filmmaker. But Mr Rice told police he was desperate when he signed two detailed quasi-legal documents in an attempt to escape her clutches.

The conditions included agreeing to marry her within a year, not to change his phone numbers and to always answer her calls or call her back within 15 minutes.

The extraordinary saga began in 2007 when Tantash and Mr Rice had a fling in Dublin. Over the following years Mr Rice fought to escape her attentions, eventually moving to Brighton to work as a college tutor.

Tantash, then a project manager at prestigious Trinity College Dublin, soon followed, taking up a new role in London.

Her campaign of harassment then stepped up a gear as she suspected Mr Rice was in a new relationship with a colleague.

Tantash accused Mr Rice (pictured) of breaching a 21-clause deal in which she loaned him money in return for him providing the intimacy missing from her life

Mr Rice and the woman received thousands of calls, and Tantash, who describes herself online as a creative design manager, was recorded telling her love rival she looked like a horse and quizzing a third colleague about their relationship.

She also sent abusive emails from anonymous accounts. In one she told the woman she had disgusting, frizzy hair, skin like curdled yoghurt and buck teeth and that she hoped she had a heartbroken, horrid end.

Tantash was accused of ordering unwanted pizzas and taxis and hiring a private detective.

Prosecuting, Dominic Dudkowski said Mr Rice was at his wits end when he signed the contracts linked to 50,000 Tantash claimed she had lent the filmmaker. He said some was compensation after she caused problems with a contract.

In her defence, Tantash said she came from a stable, upper middle class family but that love was missing from her life. She claimed to have paid Mr Rices sizeable debts and supported his career in return for a romantic commitment.

But District Judge Amanda Kelly convicted her of stalking and warned her she faces jail.

Miss Tantash became utterly obsessed with Mr Rice, she said. She embarked upon a sinister and sustained campaign of stalking behaviour that became a living nightmare for him.

Tantash, of Croydon, was convicted of stalking Mr Rice and the woman from July 2015 to February this year. She will be sentenced next month.Bob Hamilton asked cabin crew to waive his 17 drinks bill after being denied a seat with extra legroom that he had paid 20 for

Ryanair has vowed to be nicer to its passengers.

But one man has discovered the budget airline still has a mean streak.

After being denied a seat with extra legroom that he had paid 20 for, Bob Hamilton asked cabin crew to waive his 17 drinks bill to make up for it.

But the airline staff instead summoned the police when the plane landed to force him to pay up.

At 6ft 2ins, Mr Hamilton, 64, said he always chose a seat with extra legroom. But when he boarded a flight from London Stansted to Malaga, he found someone was sitting in his seat.

He asked the cabin crew why the man could not move to a vacant seat.

A crew member told him the man was a Ryanair employee and Mr Hamilton would have to find somewhere else to sit due to safety reasons.

Mr Hamilton, a retired former oil broker who splits his time between Peterborough and holiday homes in Marbella and Budapest, reluctantly agreed and found a seat towards the rear of the plane.

Bob Hamilton, 64, said he always chooses a seat with extra legroom and paid 20 for one on a flight from London Stansted to Malaga - but wasn't allowed to use it by staff (file photo)

Shortly after take-off, he ordered two small cans of beer and two miniature plastic bottles of wine, at a cost of 17.

But his suggestion that the bill be waived in return for the 20 he paid for an extra-legroom seat that he didnt get was rejected, and he was told he would have to claim his 20 back online.

Mr Hamilton refused to pay, and on landing at Malaga, he was met by two Spanish police officers. He said: The police officers were very pleasant and were laughing about it. In the end, one of the crew came out to the air bridge with a card machine and I was forced to pay up.

On his return to the UK, Mr Hamilton tried to get his 20 refund. Ryanair twice refused, according to Mr Hamilton, before eventually buckling and paying up.

A Ryanair spokesperson said:

This customer (in seat 17F) was asked to move to seat 16A (an over wing exit seat of equivalent value) as there was a minor technical issue with the over wing seat which was occupied by an additional cabin crew staff member in line with procedures. This customer refused and took a different available seat (22A). He subsequently became disruptive during the flight and refused to follow cabin crew instructions so was met by police on arrival. Ryanair will not tolerate unruly, disruptive or unlawful behaviour at any time and the safety and comfort of our customers, crew and aircraft is our number one priority. This customer was refunded the cost of his reserved seat.

But Mr Hamilton said: This response is absolutely false. I was never offered 16A. Of course I would have taken it. It would have been just the same on the other side. I was only given the seat at the back. I was not disruptive whatsoever during the flight. Absolutely, I was extremely calm and polite. Otherwise I am sure the police would have detained me.A Canada man who holds the world record for highest number of elections lost - 95 - has decided to run for mayor of his town.

Over the last four decades, John Turmel has competed in dozens and dozens of elections for a variety of local, regional and national offices in the Canadian government - and has yet to win a single one.

However, a long losing streak hasn't stopped him from entering the race for mayor in Brantford, a small city with some 99,000 residents in southern Ontario.

John Turmel, a failed Canadian politician who holds the Guinness World Record for highest number of elections lost - 95 - is running for mayor of Brantford, Ontario, next month

The now-67-year-old ran in his first election, for Ottawa parliament, in 1979. His platform advocated for the legalization of gambling, drugs and prostitution

Turmel's political ambitions began back in 1979 when he decided to run for Ottawa parliament in response to a police crackdown on his underground blackjack tournaments.

'I kept getting busted,' he told the Guardian. 'So I ran for parliament in 1979 to legalize gambling and stop busting me.'

Keeping with the same theme, Turmel also added legalizing drugs and prostitution ot his platform.

'I was called the champion of the gamblers, hookers and dope smokers,' he bragged.

In that first race, Turmel came out with 193 total votes, a meager nine percent of the ballots cast.

However, that failure would later spawn into what Turmel views as one of his biggest life achievements - four decades of losses worthy of a Guinness World Record title.

Turmel was heavily defeated in his first election, winning only nine percent of the vote

Four decades later, Turmel has entered his 96th race, running against six other candidates

Speaking from his in-home mayoral campaign office, Turmel claimed he doesn't feel bad about having been defeated on so many occasions.

He told the Guardian that for him, those races were about spreading ideas, not just about winning or losing.

At the center of his platform today are 'time banks', which Turmel describes as interest-free barter arrangements that allow people to create an alternative currency by providing goods and services.

He refers to the idea as 'a gentle kind of capitalism'.

'People with no money can basically create their own tokens by monetizing their own time,' he said.

Turmel typically runs as an independent, advocating for socialist programs like 'time banks'

Turmel's construction hat with the words 'Turmel the Engineer' has become a staple of his campaign wardrobe

Over the years Turmel has shifted his campaign strategy from going door-to-door to a more combative approach that involves crashing debates and, on several occasions, being removed from the premises by police.

He spends very little money on campaigning, and says any money he does spend comes from his gambling activities.

'I live three blocks from the biggest poker game in the country which has allowed me to finance all my activities,' he said.

The serial candidate typically runs as an independent, and his vote tallies have fluctuated considerably from race to race, the lowest being 11 and highest 4,500.

On October 22, Turmel will face off against six other candidates for the office of Brantford mayor.

Less than a month ahead of the election, the Guardian asked Turmel whether he felt all of his loses to date were worth it, to which the candidate responded defensively: 'Who cares?

'I'm doing my duty. I just show up, do my best  which is my duty  sit back and see what happens.'

His added: 'I have no regrets. For a guy with no resources, doing it all with my winnings from mainly illegal games, what have I got to be ashamed of?'A Jewish Labour MP was forced to rely on police protection at her partys conference yesterday  as a colleague warned the anti-Semitism crisis could fuel the rise of Nazism in Britain.

Luciana Berger was accompanied by two police officers as she attended an anti-Semitism rally in Liverpool. Moderate Labour MPs lined up at the fringe event to demand that Jeremy Corbyn and senior union leaders take serious action to drain the swamp in the party.

It came after the Labour leader refused to apologise for a series of controversial statements he has made about Jews and for his failure to clamp down on anti-Semitism.

Luciana Berger (pictured) leaves a meeting organised by the Jewish Labour Movement and heads back towards the Labour Party Conference centre in Liverpool on September 23

Miss Berger was seen arriving and leaving the conference building with two Merseyside Police officers, one of whom was wearing a yellow Taser stun gun on his body armour (left)

On another day of shame for Labour:

One MP said the party should pay for anti-Semites to visit Auschwitz to teach them about the evils of the Holocaust;

Another accused union leader Len McCluskey of playing with fire for suggesting anti-Semitism in Labour was just mood music;

A YouGov poll found Labours anti-Semitism crisis could cost the party almost a million votes at the next election;

Another Labour conference fringe event heard claims that Israel is a racist state;

Mr McCluskey said Labour only adopted the international definition of anti-Semitism to ease attacks on Mr Corbyn.

Stella Creasy, the Labour MP for Walthamstow in East London, warned that unless the issue of anti-Semitism in the Labour ranks was properly tackled by the leadership, racism will fester.

Nazism doesnt turn up fully formed wearing black shiny boots and black shirts and goose-stepping, she told the rally.

Stella Creasy (pictured) warned that unless the issue of anti-Semitism in the Labour Party was addressed then racism will fester

It builds bit by bit, it gains little by little, it paints itself as the victim  it paints its victims as the enemies, as traitors, the other, with dual loyalty.

It rejects those norms and conventions on anti-Semitism that we have worked so hard to defend. That is the threat that we face if we do not confront this.

Ian Austin, a Labour MP facing the threat of disciplinary action for standing up to the party leadership, added: The truth about Jeremy is that hes much angrier about people complaining of anti-Semitism than he is with the people responsible for it.

Jeremy has got to stop thinking hes the victim in this and hes got to properly apologise for his role and responsibility in the development of this crisis.

The protection afforded to Jewish Labour Movement chairman Miss Berger is particularly shocking as she is the MP for Liverpool Wavertree, meaning it was felt she needed a police escort in her home city.

She was seen arriving and leaving the conference building with two Merseyside Police officers. One officer was wearing a yellow Taser stun gun on his body armour.

Addressing the meeting, Miss Berger said the Jewish community was facing a barrage of hate and was under attack, adding: There are Jews in this country who do not feel safe.

Miss Berger said that Jeremy Corbyn must finally 'drain the swamp' of racists in his party

We expect attacks that come from the far Right... but this year more than ever we have experienced attacks from the Left.

She accused Mr Corbyn of trying to sabotage the internationally recognised International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of anti-Semitism.

She added: Despite a last-minute and what I believe to be utterly shameful attempt to sabotage the IHRA definition and examples, Labour has at last adopted it, albeit with that unnecessary caveat.

What matters now is draining the swamp. We need to see the Labour Party step up the investigations into complaints of anti-Semitism and get a faster, fairer, more transparent system of internal party justice.

Canterbury MP Rosie Duffield, who recently faced a vote of censure in her constituency for attending a rally against anti-Semitism, said she had been sent pictures of dead Palestinians in the post, and been accused of being in the pay of Israel.

Others had denied the existence of the gas chambers, she said. She called on Labour to send people who held such views to visit Auschwitz so they could see the truth.

Mr Corbyn appeared on the BBC's Andrew Marr Show yesterday and faced allegations of anti-Semitism made against him. When asked to apologise he merely insisted he was 'anti-racist'

Louise Ellman, the MP for Liverpool Riverside, criticised the sinister interventions of union leaders such as Mr McCluskey  who said the anti-Semitism allegations were mood music  and Mark Serwotka, who suggested Israel may be behind them.

Labour MP Wes Streeting said the union leaders comments were sickening, adding: Im staying [in the party] to drive out the racists.

Appearing on the BBCs Andrew Marr Show yesterday, Mr Corbyn was confronted by a series of allegations of anti-Semitism made against him. Pressed to apologise, he merely insisted that he was anti-racist and that Labour was welcoming to all communities.

At a fringe event last night, the chairman of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign  whose patron is Mr Corbyn  said Israel was a racist state.

Hugh Lanning said: If you pass racist laws, if you operate in a racist way, there is nothing racist in calling you a racist state.

It came as Mr McCluskey said: The debate about the examples, the IHRA definition... we were getting sucked in almost like the Charge of the Light Brigade  cannons to the right and left and in front of us, sucked in to a debate on our enemys territory.

It was important to make certain that the attacks on Jeremy were eased so that we could continue the fight.

Mr McCluskey said Mr Corbyn would be proved right in his reluctance to adopt the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism in full.Are Britain's Armed Forces fit for purpose? An explosive new book dares to ask the question. On Saturday, in the first part of our exclusive serialisation, the authors, Lord Ashcroft and Isabel Oakeshott, revealed how spending cuts have left us perilously exposed in the face of renewed Russian aggression. In today's extract, they highlight a new threat  political correctness.

At Army Headquarters in Andover, General Sir Nick Carter, then Chief of the General Staff, sat down with the executive committee of the Army Board to discuss a pressing issue. Why, despite its illustrious pedigree, was the British Army in the middle of its worst manpower crisis for decades?

Was it the dilapidated accommodation that senior MPs publicly labelled 'disgraceful'? The modest pay, which General Carter once privately admitted to junior officers was 'crap' and had fallen every year in real terms since 2010?

Could they blame Capita, the company which had made such a mess of its lucrative contract to boost recruitment that many would-be soldiers just gave up in disgust?

What about the cost-cutting canning of overseas training exercises in Canada and Belize, a career highlight for many soldiers? Replacing these foreign adventures with Xbox-style simulations hardly made the job more attractive.

Softer side: Images from the Army's recent recruitment campaign, This Is Belonging

The bright sparks on the board scratched their heads and hit on another explanation: the Army's image, which they concluded did not appeal to a generation of young people with diverse religious backgrounds, gender identities and sexualities.

Old advertisements, like those from 1976, in which a soldier says 'I wondered if I'd ever get through those first few weeks... I ached in places I didn't know I could ache', were deemed unfit for the modern world in which some youngsters are less physically fit and emotionally robust than others.

As usual the Army was strapped for cash but, digging deep, the board found just under 2 million to commission a campaign that would emphasise 'belonging and team-building'.

Inside the Ministry of Defence, everyone involved seemed happy with the finished product: a series of touchy-feely videos to pump out on social media which stressed that, in the modern Army, it was 'OK to cry' and there was 'always someone to talk to'.

Those with wobbly bellies instead of six-packs were assured they didn't have 'to be a Superman to join the Army'.

Had the board left it at that, they would probably have got away with it. But they went further, ditching the 'Be the Best' slogan that had served the Army well since 1993. It was dismissed it as 'dated, elitist and non-inclusive'.

When Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson, who had been in post for just under two months, heard about the plan, all hell broke loose. It would not happen on his watch.

He demanded the slogan stay  but the damage had been done. Questions were being raised about the culture in the Armed Forces today and the suggestion that a sense of belonging was more important than the ultimate mission  to engage and destroy the Queen's enemies.

Do I have to be a superhero to join the Army? New radio, TV and online adverts seek to address concerns potential soldiers might have before signing up

One tattooed, no-nonsense army sergeant took to Twitter to suggest his men were being misrepresented: 'Not much crying going on.'

The thinking behind the controversial recruitment campaign was well-intentioned, just like the edict to hoist the rainbow-coloured LGBT flag on parade grounds to mark Gay Pride month.

This made some in the Armed Forces  to whom flags are neither political nor decorative, but symbols of 'life or death' allegiance  deeply uncomfortable. There was a backlash on several military bases.

A Royal Marine said: 'This was an issue, not because anyone has a problem with gay soldiers in the military, but because we felt we were being asked to make a political statement.

'To soldiers, flags are sacred. The feeling was that top brass were using them to virtue-signal.'

Yet all these efforts to re-brand the Armed Forces were a logical response to a real problem. Despite years of making people redundant, the Army, Navy and RAF all face a recruitment crisis.

In the past year, 12,360 people joined the UK regular Armed Forces, but 15,170 left. The Royal Navy and the RAF are running 10 per cent short of their annual recruitment targets, while the Army has a deficit of 31 per cent. This is partly a peacetime problem. Wars help recruitment, appealing to patriots, thrill-seekers and adventurers. The Armed Forces did not have a problem attracting personnel during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

Now unemployment is at a record low; society is ageing; more young people go to university and ethnic minority groups are wary of joining the military. No wonder top brass are trying to cast the widest possible net. The question is whether they might be compromising the UK's ability to win wars.

Another question the Army's recruitment advert seeks to answer is 'What if I get emotional in the Army?'

Training is designed to be tough. Pushing a bayonet into another human being doesn't come naturally. Recruits are put through physical hell, crawling through dirt and ditches, hauling themselves along the ground in a press-up position and sprinting back and forth.

During bayonet training, they are marshalled into lines in front of straw-filled bags and ordered to charge and stab with all their might, chanting 'Kill! Kill! Kill!'

The instructors' language is inevitably fruity. This is what transforms polite young men and women from civilians to soldiers.

Far from being traumatised, many cadets cite exercises in which they are pushed to their physical and mental limits as highlights of their training. They relish the challenge and believe few of those who join up expect  or want  to be treated like civilian workers.

'If you don't like the heat, get out of the fire. The Army is NOT the place for you,' says one Sandhurst cadet bluntly.

In this attitude, surprisingly, young members of the Forces appear to be increasingly at odds with their elders. They are quietly contemptuous of what they see as an obsession with political correctness on the part of politicians and the chain of command.

One disgruntled soldier pointed to a blog by a civil servant on the Ministry of Defence's website which said straight colleagues should all take a training course on LGBT issues to 'explore your conscious and unconscious biases and make you think about how your behaviour and use of language can make others feel less included'.

The soldier considered it unnecessary and ridiculous.

The application of politically correct edicts has given rise to a worrying narrative, both inside and outside the military, that the British Armed Forces are 'going soft'.

At all levels, but particularly in lower ranks, there are mounting concerns over the tension between wise and necessary reforms to ensure the military is an employer fit for the 21st century, and training recruits to survive in battle.

As one put it: 'There are no effing safe spaces in Afghanistan. You think the Taliban would care about hurting our feelings?'

The depth of frustration among ordinary serving personnel about these changes, and the extent to which they believe such preoccupations are literally weakening the British Armed Forces, has found voice on Army message boards.

As one contributor pointed out, if a commanding officer ordered his men to switch off their radios on the battlefield to allow a Muslim comrade to pray (as per a scene in one of the new recruitment ads), they would all be at risk, since the radio communication systems deliver instructions and warnings of incoming enemy fire.

There is particular disquiet among ordinary servicemen and women at what they see as a fixation with LGBT rights.

'When I'm asked how I want to be described, I feel like saying I'm transgender, so that I can get promoted. Perhaps I should say I identify as a goldfish. It's become ridiculous,' according to one young serviceman.

The adverts are part of a campaign to encourage recruits from different backgrounds, genders, sexualities and faiths

For the Ministry of Defence and defence chiefs, all this is a very difficult balance. The shocking death of four trainees at Deepcut Barracks in Surrey between 1995 and 2002, amid claims of systematic bullying, rightly led to much soul-searching about the welfare of young recruits.

An independent review concluded that the Army failed in its duty of care. This had a lasting impact on the culture at military bases  for the better.

However, a 'zero-tolerance' approach to bullying has had a significant impact on the nature and level of aggression considered acceptable during training exercises. Privately, young officers and soldiers frequently express concerns about how this might play out on the battlefield.

It would be easier to dismiss suggestions that the Armed Forces are 'going soft' were it not for the extraordinary number of serving personnel who are officially classified as unfit to send to war.

In January this year, a total of 27,071 full-time trained members of the Armed Forces, including 17,054 members of the Army, were medically downgraded, around half of whom were classified as 'non-deployable' on operations.

A GP who works full-time at one Army base estimated that a quarter of men and women at her base fell into these categories and described 'many' as overweight.

This is partly a societal problem and is having a real impact on the size of the talent pool from which the military can draw. The Army is having to turn away 'large numbers' of potential recruits because they are not 'medically or physically up to it'.

Concerns about fitness standards are not confined to the British military. In 2017, an internal memo from Special Forces instructors at Fort Bragg in the United States claimed there are now almost 'no fitness barriers' to earning the coveted Green Beret.

They complained that would-be recruits no longer had to be able to march 12 miles in three hours with a full pack, or climb a 15ft rope, the standard that every Green Beret was expected to reach in the past.

Of course, it is possible to go too far the other way. Russian boot camp has long been notorious for its brutality. Trainees are subjected to prolonged periods of physical and psychological abuse by their superiors, who instil 'discipline' in young recruits through indiscriminate beatings and starvation.

It is unclear how well a new generation of British troops could compete with enemy forces trained in this way. 'The Russians come out of training made of steel,' suspects one Sandhurst cadet. 'If it came to a war, they'd walk all over us.'

n Adapted from White Flag? An Examination Of The UK's Defence Capability, by Michael Ashcroft & Isabel Oakeshott, published by Biteback Publishing on October 2 at 20.

 MAA Publishing Ltd 2018. To order a copy for 16 (offer valid until October 9, 2018, P&P free), visit mailshop.co.uk/books or call 0844 571 0640.Support for Labor leader Bill Shorten has plunged in the latest Newspoll, with Scott Morrison extending his lead as the preferred prime minister.

Voters have continued to warm to Mr Morrison a month after he seized the nation's top job following the Liberal Party's brutal leadership spill.

Mr Morrison's latest approval rating is the best result for a prime minister since February 2016.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison (pictured) has extended his lead over Bill Shorten as the nation's preferred prime minister

He increased his lead as the preferred prime minister to 13 points over Mr Shorten - 45 to 32 per cent.

Mr Shorten's approval fell five points while Mr Morrison's rose three points compared to the previous Newspoll.

The prime minister also came out in front on the question of which leader voters considered more authentic.

In a bad sign for Mr Shorten, 21 per cent of Labor voters also chose Mr Morrison.

Labor leader Bill Shorten (pictured) has seen his support among voters slide in the latest Newspoll, with even 21 per cent of Labor voters favouring Mr Morrison

But while Mr Morrison is more favoured by voters, his party is not.

The Coalition lost its 41st Newspoll in a row - but there are signs of a revival in its fortunes.

Their primary vote rose two points to 36 per cent just weeks after the leadership spill.

Labor's primary vote dropped three points to 39 per cent but on a two-party preferred basis, it continues to lead the coalition 54 to 46.

The poll of 1675 voters was conducted nationally for The Australian.In the last 18 months, the Akufo-Addo led administration has put in place an efficient machinery that has transformed the fundamentals of Ghanas economy, the Ashanti Regional chairman of the New Patriotic Party, Mr. Bernard Antwi-Boasiako, has said.



The above statement by the NPP scribe was a direct response to people questioning President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo ability to change Ghana in 18 months as promised before the 2016 general elections.



Controversial musician Kwame A Plus has led the charge in firing President Akufo-Addo, wondering if he lied when he promised to change Ghana in 18 months.



However Mr. Bernard Antwi-Boasiako popularly known as Chairman Wontumi, has noted that within the first 18 months period of President Akufo-Addo, he has worked and improved Ghana than the granted tenure former president Mahama spent as head of state.



Without free education, the future of children of school going age in Ghana would be at risk; but we have a president in Nana Addo who within 18 months, has introduced free SHS to make the future of our children brighter again. John Mahama couldnt do this when he was president.



He continued that within President Akufo-Addos short stay in government, he has been able to make it possible for about 8,000 teachers to be recruited to the teach the increasing number of beneficiaries of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) governments flagship free Senior High School (SHS) programme in the country



Aside this, Chairman Wontumi added that the Planting for Food and Jobs programme of the NPP administration has created more jobs for Ghanaians.



According to him, maize and rice production have increased significantly in the country since President Akufo-Addo assumed office, adding that the railway system is also experiencing massive improvement.



Within this same 18 months, Chairman Wontumi observed that the NPP government has introduced the National Builders Corps (NaBCO) programme to solve unemployment quagmire and that the peace-keeping allowance had been increased from US$3 to US$3.5.



The strength of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), according to Chairman Wontumi, has also been revived under the Akufo-Addo led government within 18 months. The scheme, he added was being strangled by debt under former president Mahama.



Chairman Wontumi noted that of the GH1.2 billion debt we inherited, the equivalent of $300 million, we have paid, in the last 15 months, GH1 billion, the equivalent of $250 million.



On electricity tarrif, Chairman Wontumi noted that the President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, announced in January this year, the non-residential tariff rate is being reduced by an average of 14%. For barbers, it is being reduced by 18%; for hairdressers and beauticians, 15.7%, and for tailors, 9.8%.



He ended by noting that unlike former president Mahama, President Akufo-Addo respects Ghanaians and the works he has started within his short stay in power proves that he would do whatever it takes to make here an enjoyable home.

Source: Peacefmonline.com









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Featured VideoA man has died after a sailing boat capsized in choppy seas off a Sydney beach this morning.

A 24-year-old woman who swam to shore from the 8.7m capsized sailing boat, alerted emergency services of the capsized vessel at Boat Harbour, near Kurnell, about 5am on Monday.

Water police and an ambulance helicopter desperately worked to search for the man, whose body was tragically found at 5.48am near Wanda Beach.

A man has died after a sailing boat (pictured) capsized off Sydneys south this morning

Emergency services were alerted after a woman swam to shore alerting them

The body of a 72-year-old man was sighted and he was winched to shore by the NSW Ambulance helicopter but couldnt be revived.

The woman has been treated at the scene by NSW Ambulance paramedics and is now in Sutherland Hospital under observation.

The man had plans to sail the yacht back to Queensland, after picking it up on Sunday, from its previous owner, ABC News reported.

The a Van de Stadt 29, was named C.C. Rider, and was built in the 1970s.

It left was docked at a wharf at Greenwell Point.

An inquiry is now underway by officers from Sutherland Police Area Command and Marine Area Command.

Its unknown if either of those on board were wearing lifejackets.Police closed off a major road in Knightsbridge in central London amid fears a man and woman found unconscious inside a property had been poisoned.

The area around a residential address in South Lodge, near Hyde Park Barracks, was locked down after officers were called to the scene by London Ambulance Service at 8.25pm.

The pair, who are believed to be suffering the effects of a drugs overdose, were taken to hospital.

Police closed off a major road in Knightsbridge in central London amid fears a man and woman found unconscious inside a property had been poisoned

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said their conditions are not believed to be serious.

The A315 Knightsbridge was closed between Scotch Corner and Ennismore Gardens due to the police incident just after 9pm. The road was re-opened at around 10.45pm.

Video posted on social media showed ambulances on the street near Westminster Synagogue and forensics teams in hazmat suits sparking panic and speculation online.

It comes a week after a Russian model was taken to hospital with her husband after a nerve agent scare at a Salisbury restaurant

Forensics teams in hazmat suits were spotted at the scene near Westminster Synagogue

A man and a woman were taken to hospital after being found unconscious at the property

Police locked down the area in Knightsbridge in central London just after 9pm on Sunday

Anna Shapiro and her husband Alex King were taken to hospital after apparently becoming ill at the Prezzo Italian restaurant on Sunday.

Emergency services declared a major incident and the restaurant and surrounding area were sealed off, in scenes reminiscent of the nerve agent poisoning of Russian ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in March.

Ms Shapiro, who was born in Russia, later told a newspaper she feared she and her husband had been the victims of poisoning.

The pair tested negative for Novichok and have since been discharged from hospital.

She later denied being involved in a hoax and her fears were genuine.

The property in South Lodge is located near Hyde Park Barracks in Knightsbridge, LondonA volcanic explosion so colossal it unleashes gouts of toxic ash into the atmosphere capable of poisoning more than 200,000 people to death.

Europes temperatures plummeting for years, crop failures, mass hypothermia, transport chaos as Europes commercial flights are grounded for weeks, if not months. Swathes of land flooded by melted ice, farmland poisoned and villages wiped out.

A hyperbolic doomsday scenario? No, say scientists. Its all too real a prospect.

Katla: Experts fear that if it erupts, its effects would dwarf those of Eyjafjallajokull, its neighbour which exploded in 2010, leading to the cancellation of more than 100,000 flights

One of the worries is that this geological time bomb is long overdue. Historical records show that Katla erupts once every 60 years on average, and has now been dormant for a century

Because deep beneath a glacier in Iceland, a cataclysmic giant is stirring. Known in local lore as the evil sorceress, she is gearing up to unleash her deadly wrath on the whole of northern Europe, according to experts.

They fear that if the Katla volcano erupts, its devastating effects would dwarf those of its near neighbour Eyjafjallajokull, which exploded in 2010, releasing an ash cloud that led to the cancellation of more than 100,000 flights. It was the largest commercial air-traffic shutdown since World War II as millions were stranded across Northern Europe between mid-April and mid-May.

These cataclysmic predictions are based on a similar eruption from the Laki volcanic system, 30 miles north-west of Katla, in 1783.

That explosion killed a fifth of Icelands population and created an ash cloud that obscured the suns rays across the Northern Hemisphere for months, sending temperatures plummeting by 3c.

Beneath a glacier, a cataclysmic giant is stirring. Known in local lore as the evil sorceress, she is gearing up to unleash her deadly wrath on the whole of northern Europe, experts warn

Prevailing winds brought millions of tonnes of lethal sulphur dioxide and sulphuric acid swirling almost 1,000 miles across the ocean to land on Britain. In the UK, an estimated 23,000 people died from poisoning and extreme cold. Local newspapers reported how poisonous ash precipitated fog so thick that boats stayed in port, unable to navigate, and the sun was coloured like it has been soaked in blood.

The Hertfordshire poet William Cowper wrote of farmers struggling to gather harvests: The labourers having been almost every day carried out of the field incapable of work and many die.

All told, it was one of the greatest natural disasters to befall our country in the past 300 years.

The last time Katla erupted was 100 years ago, when it threw five times more ash into the sky than Eyjafjallajokull did in 2010  so much that it extended Icelands south coast by three miles.

The glacial melt also unleashed a torrent of water, mud and icebergs that was claimed to be similar in volume to the Amazon river. Astonishingly, no one was killed, one spot of comfort when were considering the disaster that could be on its way shortly.

One of the worries is that this geological timebomb is long overdue. Historical records show that Katla erupts once every 60 years on average, and has now been dormant for a century.

Towering ash plume from Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull crater during it's eruption, spewing tephra and cloud of ashes that drift toward continental Europe on May 8 2010 near Reykjavik, Iceland

To put the length of Katlas current slumber into context, its the longest the volcano has gone without erupting since the Vikings settled in Iceland at the end of the ninth century.

So why are we worrying about this now? Because local monitoring experts warn that it is displaying ominous activity, pouring carbon dioxide gas into the atmosphere on a huge scale, a classic precursor to eruption because it signals the build up of magma within the volcano.

Deep underground the rumblings have already begun.

Last July, a flood of water burst from the ice on top of Katla, washing away a bridge.

This indicated that a powerful pulse of heat had struck the base of the 3,000ft-thick Myrdalsjokull glacier that sits on top of the volcanos crater. Since then, scientific monitoring equipment has shown erratic geological movements and strong bursts of earthquake activity.

Katla will eject a much larger ash plume than its neighbour Eyjafjallajokull, scientists say

All point to the fact that, deep beneath the ground, massive flows of molten rock are indeed growing stronger. And, right now, we are approaching the most perilous period of the year.

In Iceland, autumn is the peak time for earthquake activity  and along with it the highest risk of eruptions. The build up of power inside Katla is massively intensified by the presence of the glacier on its crater, which acts much like the lid on a giant pressure cooker.

As a result, when the volcano erupts scientists say it will eject a much larger ash plume than Eyjafjallajokull  even if the eruptions actual strength is only comparatively small.

This is because high-pressure explosions cause the ejected magma to break up into very fine ash particles, so light in weight that they create vast toxic clouds that can remain airborne for weeks or months.

This is the major problem for aeroplanes. When it is sucked into a jet engine, ash is initially heated to a temperature so high that it turns into molten glass. When the molten glass reaches the back of the engine, it cools and solidifies on the turbine blades, jamming the engine and causing the plane to plunge from the sky.

Yet despite having recently witnessed at first hand the destruction and misery wrought by Eyjafjallajokull, it is Katla that the people of Iceland fear most.

Eyjafjallajokull's eruption caused disruption to air travel across western and northern Europe

Her legend stretches back more than eight centuries, and the story goes that the original Katla was an ill-tempered and cruel housekeeper in the employ of a local monastery, where even the abbot was terrified of her supernatural powers.

One day, a young shepherd boy made the fatal mistake of disobeying her. In a rage, she drowned him in a vat of acid and it took months for the boys sad remains to be discovered.

When this evil sorceress was summoned to face justice, she ran away, helped by a pair of magical breeches that enabled her to run far and fast without feeling tired.

Iceland and volcanoes Iceland's most active volcano, Hekla There are over a hundred volcanoes on the central plateau which have not erupted in the past thousand years and between 30 and 40 that are active, meaning that they have erupted within last few centuries. On average, Iceland experiences a major volcanic event once every 5 years. Since the Middle Ages, a third of all the lava that has covered the earth's surface has erupted in Iceland. However, according to a recent geological hypothesis, this estimate does not include submarine eruptions, which are much more extensive than those on the land surface. The most famous and active volcano in Iceland is mount Hekla, which has erupted 18 times since 1104, the last time in 2000. Other active volcanoes, measured in terms of the number of eruptions besides Hekla, are Grimsvotn, Katla, Askja and Krafla. Katla, has erupted about 20 times since the settlement of Iceland. Iceland.is Advertisement

Upon reaching the top of the mountain she plunged herself into the Myrdalsjokull glacier, which caused it to erupt, destroying the monastery and all its inhabitants.

The legend warns that one day Katla will return  to wreak further vengeance.

Such fear is anything but mythical for those who live in the volcanos shadow.

It ought to be a worry, too, for the many sightseers and hikers who typically travel to the area to walk on the glacier or to marvel at the surrounding plains, one of Icelands main tourist attractions.

Last year, safety authorities warned that people may have as little as 15 minutes to escape to safety when an eruption comes.

But even that may not be enough. The authorities plan to send emergency text messages to all mobile phones in the affected area if an eruption is imminent, telling residents and travellers to evacuate or move to safety.

However, a practice drill last year found that mobile reception is sparse and that many travellers near the glacier would never receive the message. They would surely be among Katlas first victims, caught in the tsunami of melted glacial ice roaring down the sides of the volcano.

The ever-present peril does not seem to worry all the locals, however. In the village of Vik, which sits in the shadow of Katlas 5,000ft peak, the hotel manager Palmi Kristjansson is actually looking forward to seeing it erupt.

Ive heard people talk about Katla erupting all my life. It will be big I would like to see it.

I want to live it, he told reporters last year. I know thats a stupid thing to say because many people will experience damage. But its just normal life for us. We dont worry.

Such fatalism is admirable when faced with a titanic force of nature. After all, what can anyone do to assuage Katlas fury  other than try to find travel insurance that covers volcanic disruption?

We have no choice but to hope that, after a whole century of snoozing, the evil Icelandic sorceress decides merely to rouse briefly, belch gently  and then turn over for another century of peaceful slumber.

Whether that will be enough to satisfy her, we can only wait and see.A ferocious blaze has torn through a historic pub east of Melbourne as firefighters battle to save the building.

More than 50 firefighters are at The Ranges Hotel in Main Street, Gembrook battling the blaze which is believed to have started about 6am.

The roof has since collapsed at the back half of the building, and as of 7.45am the front of the pub was still covered in flames.

A ferocious blaze has torn through a historic pub east of Melbourne as firefighters battle to save the building

More than 50 firefighters are at The Ranges Hotel in Main Street, Gembrook battling the blaze which is believed to have started about 6am

An investigation will begin once the fire has been extinguished and investigators can gain entry.

The pub is described as an 'iconic, rustic Australian pub , set in the beautiful hills of Gembrook.'

It was built in 1896, and is the only pub in the town.

A warning message has been distributed about smoke being visible, but there is no immediate threat to the community.

An investigation will begin once the fire has been extinguished and investigators can gain entryA 49-year-old woman has been punched in the face while taking an afternoon walk through a popular walking track.

The woman was grabbed on the arm by a mystery assailant in the Pelican Waters Nature Reserve, in Brisbane's north, on Saturday afternoon.

She managed to break his grip, punching the man in the face, before being punched in return.

The woman ran from the man, hiding in a bush.

The attack occurred in the Pelican Waters Nature Reserve, after a man followed a 49-year-old woman up the track to the green marker

Police say she used her mobile to call for help while the man searched for her.

After unsuccessfully searching, the man fled the area.

It's understood he followed the woman up the track, after she says she spotted him earlier loitering on a black bicycle.

The man is described as aged in his late 20s to early 30s, about 175cm tall with a medium build and dark complexion, possibly European or Middle Eastern.

He had dark curly hair on top, cut short on both sides and at the back.

Following the attack, police are urging anyone in the area to remain vigilant and report any suspicious people on the track.A former Labour justice secretary has called for the legalisation of all drugs, including cocaine and ecstasy, and an end to the Governments pernicious war on drugs.

Ex-Lord Chancellor Lord Falconer said heroin should be available on prescription as he publicly challenged Jeremy Corbyn to live up to his radical image by scrapping Britains tough anti-drugs laws.

He claimed the ban on such drugs was responsible for killing tens of thousands of British people and was an attack on the working class.

Sparking criticism from anti-drugs campaigners, Lord Falconer said Labour should legalise and regulate the supply of drugs to protect people from the cruel consequences of a wrong policy.

Former Labour justice secretary Lord Falconer has called for the legalisation of all drugs, including cocaine and ecstasy. Here he is pictured during his time as Lord Chancellor

He said last night: I know my suggestions will provoke strong protests, but many scientists, doctors, politicians and police officers are coming round to this view.

The peer added: It is better to sell mild and medically safe versions of drugs that give a high than ones sold by gangsters that kill thousands.

Conservative MP Andrew Bridgen said: This idea is dangerously irresponsible.

It is an example of Labours shameful refusal to tackle serious social problems and would lead to even more lives being ruined by drugs.

Lord Falconer, 66, who was head of the judiciary in Tony Blairs government, also issued a scathing attack on the former prime minister.

He derided Mr Blairs famous slogan, tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime, as a cynical cliche.

It was the ultimate political soundbite, authoritarian and liberal at the same time but was a betrayal of Labour supporters, who were the biggest victims of drug addiction, he said.

Lord Falconer, whose call for the legalisation of drugs was timed to coincide with the Labour Party conference in Liverpool this week, said it was a ploy by Mr Blair to keep Labours critics at bay, but made it impossible for the party to acknowledge the damage done by criminalising drugs.

We criminalised generations caught up in drugs, betraying people who should have been able to look to Labour for a way out of their abandoned hell, he said.

Conservative MP Andrew Bridgen slammed the idea and said: This idea is dangerously irresponsible'

Lord Falconer is the most senior political figure to call for all drugs to be legalised. In an extraordinary U-turn, he said he regretted his role in the jailing of drugs offenders as Lord Chancellor and Justice Secretary between 2003 and 2007.

The Labour peer, Mr Blairs former flatmate and a key member of his Downing Street inner circle, issued a frank mea culpa.

Writing on the website UnHerd, he said: I am sorry for supporting the war on drugs.

We can see with shocking clarity that it has been a tragic disaster. I am not the only politician who has pushed this doomed policy.

Yet my responsibility was more than most since I was in charge of the justice system that put prohibition into action.

He urged Mr Corbyn to pledge to legalise drugs in Labours next election manifesto and reject the tough anti-drugs laws supported by both main parties for 50 years.

Lord Falconer argued that recent disclosures concerning the way in which thousands of children were being exploited to deal drugs by so-called county-lines gangs  urban dealers who swamp rural communities with drugs  was further evidence that the current laws were not working.

I am sorry for supporting the war on drugs. We can see with shocking clarity that it has been a tragic disaster. I am not the only politician who has pushed this doomed policy.

Britain should go further than Portugal, he said, where drug use was decriminalised in 2001. Similar drugs law reforms were taking place in Canada, South Africa and some US states.

The Labour grandee added that there was no reason why this cannot be done here for all other drugs, with different rules for some substances. For example, heroin would only be available on prescription, with support from a doctor.

Lord Falconer, the most senior Blair minister to have served in Mr Corbyns shadow cabinet, in which he was justice spokesman until June 2016, said: I have changed my mind and am now of the view Labour cannot achieve its goals for the poor if drugs prohibition remains in place.

Labour should call for an end to the drug war and commit to the legal regulation of drug production and supply in its next manifesto. We have a radical leader. We abandoned whole generations to the scourge of drug addiction and need to listen to police chiefs pushing for saner policies and take back control of drug supply from violent gangsters.

Mr Corbyn signed a motion calling for cannabis to be decriminalised in 2000, but has not backed the move since becoming Labour leader.

Sir Vince Cables Lib Dems support a regulated cannabis market, claiming it would earn 1billion for taxpayers and avoid wasting police time.

But Prime Minister Theresa May has indicated that she has no intention of relaxing anti-drugs legislation.

Under existing laws, anyone caught possessing cannabis can be jailed for up to five years, although many argue that this is not enforced.

Some police forces have been accused of refusing to enforce anti-cannabis laws, and the Chief Constable of Durham came under fire for saying he no longer arrested all heroin dealers.Police are hunting a man who sexually assaulted a woman in a mosh pit at Listen Out music festival over the weekend.

Detectives say that a man with ginger hair tied up in a bun grabbed the victim by the waist and pulled her towards him.

He then grabbed her around the neck and sexually assaulted her before she managed to elbow him in the face and leave the area at the festival in St Kilda, Melbourne.

Detectives say that a man with ginger hair tied up in a bun grabbed the victim by the neck and sexually assaulted her. Police have released a facial composite of the man to help identify him

The incident happened at around 8pm at the main stage of the music festival.

The victim had been in the mosh pit when the man approached and started dancing behind her.

When she left the mosh pit, the victim located her friends and called police.

Police have described the offender as a white male with ginger-coloured hair and have released a facial composite in a bid to track him down.

Anyone with information has been urged to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

The incident happened at around 8pm at the main stage of Listen Out music festival in St KildaA thug with a mutt tattooed on the side of his face kept his girlfriend on a leash at night to stop her from escaping during two weeks of terror.

Every night Mongrel Mob member Thomas Coffin, 37, would loop a cord around his girlfriends neck, ankles and wrists. He would then tie her to himself, a court has heard.

The pair had been together for three years and had a two-year-old son together, but that didnt stop Coffin from erupting into a jealous rage, Stuff reported.

Mongrel Mob member Thomas Coffin (pictured) would loop a cord around his girlfriends neck, ankles and wrists. He would then tie her to himself

The 20-year-old's two-week horror began on March 19 last year. They were at a friends home in Te Kuiti, New Zealand, when Coffin grabbed her phone and began searching through it because of his jealous over a previous relationship.

It is not clear if there was anything on the phone that caused him to explode, but he then punched his girlfriend in the face.

He grabbed her by her hair, punching and kicking her as he dragged her to a bedroom.

He viciously beat his girlfriend for 45 minutes. That night, while she was sleeping in the living room with their young son, he kicked her several times.

After giving his girlfriend two black eyes, a bloody face and a bruised body he decided she needed to be tied up while they slept.

She was whipped with a belt and at one stage he forced her to say she was 'a s***' while he recorded it on his cellphone.

He would point a sawn-off .22 rifle at her multiples times a day. During the ordeal she had a bullet fired at her, it narrowly missed her, skimming past her shoulder, while she was sitting out the front of the house.

Before aiming he asked if she wanted to die today.

He threatened to shoot her and kill her family if she went to the police or tried to run away.

In the early hours one morning she finally freed herself by running with her son to a police station.

Police searched for months for Coffin before he was eventually arrested.

He was sentenced to seven years and nine months behind bars in the Hamilton District Court on Friday on multiple charges including kidnapping, assault with a weapon, male assaults female and injuring with intent to injure.The Act of Supremacy

The Act of Supremacy, established in 1534, was an important English act of Parliament that recognised Henry VIII as the 'Supreme Head of the Church of England.'

Prior to 1534, the supreme head of the English Church was the Pope of the Roman Catholic Church.

Henry VIII introduced the Act primarily because he needed a male heir to the throne and had been unable to produce an heir with his wife, Catherine of Aragon. He had not tried for years to obtain an annulment of his marriage but The Pope had refused.

According to the church at the time, a validly contracted marriage is indivisible until death.

With the Act enforced, it declared the king 'the only supreme head on Earth of the Church of England' and that he would therefore enjoy 'all honours, dignities, preeminences, jurisdictions, privileges, authorities, immunities, profits, and commodities to the said dignity.'

The act also required an oath of loyalty from English subjects that recognized his marriage to Anne Boleyn.

Significantly, the Act marked the beginning of the English Reformation and was repealed in 1554.

The Dissolution of the Monasteries

Shortly after, Henry dissolved and disbanded monasteries throughout England, Wales and Ireland.

By the 1530s, at a time of increasing tensions between the Pope in Rome and King Henry VIII, monasteries were seen as corrupt and out of touch with the common people of England and Wales.

After detaching England, Wales and Ireland from the authority of the Roman Catholic Church, Henry's next step was to disband the monasteries.

He did this partly to reform the church but also to strip the monasteries of their huge wealth.

A set of administrative and legal processes between 1536 and 1541 saw the king appropriate their income, dispose of their assets, and provide for their former personnel and functions.Songwriters might insist that it only takes a minute to fall in love  but scientists have found that it actually happens a lot faster than that.

New research has discovered that it takes less than a third of a second  faster than the blink of an eye  for anyone to size up the attractiveness of a potential partner.

Neuroscientists say people identify someones gender after 244 milliseconds, then give a verdict on their attractiveness just 59 milliseconds later.

New research has discovered that it takes less than a third of a second  faster than the blink of an eye  for anyone to size up the attractiveness of a potential partner. (Posed by models)

The research was inspired by social media  and might come as no surprise to anyone who has rapidly scrolled through countless profile pictures on dating apps such as Tinder.

Neuroscientists say people identify someones gender after 244 milliseconds, then give a verdict on their attractiveness just 59 milliseconds later. (Posed by models)

One theory is that we have evolved to spot attractiveness quickly to increase the chances of selecting a suitable mate, with good looks associated with higher intelligence and better health.

A team of psychologists, led by Professor Claus-Christian Carbon at the University of Bamberg in Germany, monitored the brain activity of 25 undergraduates as they viewed 100 portraits and registered their gender and whether they were attractive.

Prof Carbon said the speed with which assessments are made once someones sex has been determined suggests that people are strongly guided by gender stereotypes of what is considered attractive.

Although it might be regarded as highly unfair, facial attractiveness is a door-opener in everyday life, he adds.

Attractive adults are perceived as more intelligent, and physically attractive people overall show a higher satisfaction with life and happiness.

His teams research has just been published in the journal Neuroscience Letters.Our factory is a professional, experienced producer, exporter of silver coal in. Our silver coal have been sold to Dubai, Jeddah, Aqaba, US, Australia , etc market for high quality, most competitive price ,larger capacity and professional service since 2004.



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The cookie tin-shaped robots successfully reached the Ryugu asteroid yesterday, a day after they were released from the Hayabusa2 probe, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency confirmed.

The stunning photos show the craggy surface of the asteroid and were beamed back 180 million miles to Earth by the probe.

Scroll down for video

This stunning picture of the asteroid's surface was taken by one of the rovers as it jumped on it

Rover-1B's took this shot of the asteroid's craggy surface following its three-and-half year journey

The rovers are being used by Japan's space agency to search for clues of the origins of the solar system.

The rover mission is the world's first moving, robotic observation of an asteroid surface, according to the agency.

'Each of the rovers is operating normally and has started surveying Ryugu's surface,' JAXA said in a statement.

Taking advantage of the asteroid's low gravity, the rovers will jump around on the surface.

They will soar as high as 15 metres (49 feet) and stay in the air for as long as 15 minutes - in order to survey the asteroid's physical features.

'I am so proud that we have established a new method of space exploration for small celestial bodies,' said JAXA project manager Yuichi Tsuda.

The agency tried but failed in 2005 to land a rover on another asteroid in a similar mission.

Hayabusa2 will next month deploy an 'impactor' that will explode above the asteroid, shooting a two-kilo (four-pound) copper object to blast a small crater into the surface.

From this crater, the probe will collect 'fresh' materials unexposed to millennia of wind and radiation.

The space agency hopes this will provide answers to some fundamental questions about life and the universe, including whether elements from space helped give rise to life on Earth.

The craggy surface of the asteroid. The misty area at the top of the photo is caused due to the reflection of sunlight

This photo was captured by Rover-1A immediately after it separated from the spacecraft. Hayabusa2 is seen at the top and Ryugu's surface is below. The blur in the photo is caused by the rover spinning

Researchers and employees at the control room in Sagamihara which is managing the Hayabusa2 mission

The exploring rovers are collecting mineral samples that may shed light on the origin of the solar system. The rovers are using the low gravity environment to hop on the asteroid's surface

The dice-shaped Ryugu asteroid seen from an observation position some 12 miles above it

The probe will also release a French-German landing vehicle named the Mobile Asteroid Surface Scout (MASCOT) for surface observation.

Hayabusa2, about the size of a large fridge and equipped with solar panels, is the successor to JAXA's first asteroid explorer, Hayabusa - Japanese for falcon.

That probe returned from a smaller, potato-shaped, asteroid in 2010 with dust samples despite various setbacks during its epic seven-year odyssey and was hailed as a scientific triumph.

The Hayabusa2 mission was launched in December 2014 and will return to Earth with its samples in 2020.Iceland is an extraordinary place. Towering waterfalls, mountains, ice, fire, and landscapes that look as if they belong on another planet. Its no wonder more of us are going to experience it for ourselves.

Such an astonishing country deserves a special tour  and thats exactly what you will find on this one-off itinerary with our partners Intrepid Travel next spring.

Not only will you take in the great sights, from the capital Reykjavik to mighty waterfalls and geysers, you will also meet one of Britains greatest mountaineers and adventurers: the brilliant Sir Chris Bonington.

Rugged beauty: A waterfall tumbles over a cliff in southern Iceland

An inspiring figure, Sir Chris will join you on the tour and accompany you on a glacier walk on Vatnajokull, Europes biggest ice cap. As well as exploring Icelands beautiful and dramatic scenery, you will hear Chris talk about the incredible peaks and troughs of his adventurous career in some of the most precarious places on Earth. And dont worry, you wont need crampons for this journey: this is an accessible, soft adventure that will give you lasting memories of an amazing destination.

OUR SPECIAL GUEST You will be joined by Sir Chris (above) The first British climber to ascend the Vinson Massif, the highest mountain in Antarctica, Sir Chris Bonington, right, is one of Britains most accomplished mountaineers. He was the first Briton to conquer the north face of the Eiger and led the first successful ascent of Everests south-west face in 1975. He has presented documentaries and written many books, including his autobiography, Ascent, which was published last October. He is still active in the mountains, climbing with the same enthusiasm he had when he began at the age of 16. Advertisement

Five reasons to book

Discover Reykjavik

Explore the northernmost capital on Earth, which is also one of the worlds quirkiest cities. The arts scene is thriving, as is its cafe and bar culture, and the city enjoys a spectacular setting between forbidding mountains and the steely grey seas of the North Atlantic. You will have time to admire the citys creative flair and striking contemporary architecture, as well as to enjoy its excellent restaurants.

Sir Chris Bonington talks

For a man who has achieved so much, Chris is remarkably down to earth and engaging. Hear the extraordinary story of his lifes adventures in some of the worlds most extreme places  and put your own questions to him in a private talk and Q&A. You will also receive a complimentary copy of Chriss superb autobiography, Ascent.

Glacier walk

Join Chris on a hike on Vatnajokull  your chance to see the largest ice cap in Europe up close. This is part of a vast, beautiful area of wilderness that is protected under Icelandic law. You do not need any special experience to go on the walk.

The Golden Circle

Travel around the so-called Golden Circle, Icelands classic sightseeing route. Your first stop is Thingvellir National Park, the site of Icelands first parliament, where the American and Eurasian tectonic plates are gradually pulling the land apart. Then you will stop at the renowned Geysir geothermal area, where you will see the Strokkur geyser shoot water 100ft into the air, before witnessing the spellbinding beauty and power of Gullfoss Waterfall.

Secret Lagoon

You will have a chance to soak up  quite literally  Icelands geothermal power with a visit to the Secret Lagoon, unspoiled thermal baths about 90 minutes outside of Reykjavik, where you can relax in waters that stay at a constant 38C-40C throughout the year, then have a drink in the bar afterwards.For the last few weeks weve seen Richard Madden covered in cuts and bruises in TVs Bodyguard.

But yesterday he pulled off a polished look as he and model girlfriend Ellie Bamber took a stroll during Milan Fashion Week.

Richard may be a star at home, but he clearly doesnt cut it with Milans fashionistas  the photographer who took this picture labelled it Ellie Bamber and boyfriend!

Richard Madden, left, strolled through Milan with model girlfriend Ellie Bamber, however local photographers did not recognise Britain's latest heart-throb

Richard Madden, pictured, shot to fame for his role in the BBC drama The Bodyguard

The Rolling Stones may be known for their excesses but it seems drummer Charlie Watts now celebrates with a nice cuppa.

Peter Rhys Evans, the consultant who saved Charlies life when he had throat cancer, tells me that he shared a pot of tea with the star at his Devon home.

Charlie gave the surgeon a signed drum, which later fetched 17,000 for the Oracle cancer charity.

New TV reality show Absolutely Ascot promises to show us a bunch of local rich kids living the high life.

But while one of its stars, Samson Lee Smith, may be shown driving around in a top-of-the-range Mercedes, his regular mode of transport is more mundane  its a dustcart.

The 21-year-old works for Slough Council as a dustman and a show source admits: His real life is very different to the one that viewers will see. He works in all sorts of conditions, including the snow.Some keen DIY fans got a surprise last week when they were asked to pipe down over a fence by Amanda Holden.

The Britains Got Talent judge clambered up a step ladder in her high heels to ask a neighbour to stop drilling so that she could film a piece for an upcoming project.

It may have seemed like diva-ish behaviour but Amanda also turned on the charm, thanking them for their co-operation.

Amanda Holden climbed up a step ladder wearing high heels during the week to ask her neighbour if he would stop drilling as she was filming a piece to camera at her home

The noise promptly stopped after the Britain's Got Talent judge turned on the charm

Bride-to-be Princess Eugenie has taken a leaf out of the Duchess of Sussexs book  and popped on a pinny to help make some bagels for a good cause.

The 28-year-old, who will marry Jack Brooksbank next month, jetted out to Belgrade for the UN Trust Fund To End Violence Against Women.

There, she visited the bagel shop, which focuses on business and skills training for women. On Thursday, the Duchess of Sussex  joined by her mother Doria Ragland  launched a charity cookbook to help the victims of the Grenfell fire.

Princess Eugenie, third left, took time out from planning her wedding to fly to Belgrade for the UN Trust Fund to End Violence Against Women

Davina's really mixing it up

Davina McCalls mid-life crisis shows no sign of abating.

Not content with sharing snaps of her enviable six-pack, the TV presenter and mother of three now reveals she wants to become a DJ.

Davina, 50, told me at Red magazines 20th birthday party: Id like to learn how to mix. Ive tried before, but I used to mix things like Red Hot Chili Peppers with Rage Against The Machine.Janel Parrish has revealed her father-in-law, Buck Long, was killed by a drunk driver, just weeks before she was set to marry his son, Chris.

The actress, 29, shared the heartbreaking news with her fans in an emotional message posted to her Instagram account on Saturday.

Buck died at age 74 on August 26, just weeks before Janel married his son in Hawaii on September 8.

'Love you Buck': Janel Parrish has revealed her father-in-law, Buck Long, was killed by a drunk driver, just weeks before she was set to marry his son, Chris

'A few weeks ago, we got the awful news that my now father in law was tragically killed by a drunk driver on his beloved Sunday motorcycle ride,' Janel began in the emotional post.

'Words can't explain the feeling of losing someone to something so senseless... something that could have been prevented. Please read about his life, and if you're moved by his story, help donate to MADD to help make sure this doesn't happen to anyone else. Link in my bio. Love you Buck.'

In the post, Janel included a snap of Buck appearing to give a toast to Janel and his son.

Another photo was of Buck taking a break from his motorcycle ride out in the great outdoors.

Hitting the road: Another photo was of Buck taking a break from his motorcycle ride out in the great outdoors

Buck was killed after he was allegedly struck by an 18-year-old intoxicated driver during his Sunday morning motorcycle ride, according to MADD.

The suspect was apprehended by police after authorities found the driver in a ravine.

Janel married Chris in Hawaii just weeks later.

The actress revealed in an exclusive statement to Us Weekly: 'Marrying my dream man in my home of Hawaii surrounded by family and friends was a dream.'Last month she revealed that she completed the final step to remove skin cancer from her nose.

And Melanie Griffith looked to be in great spirits on Saturday, as she spent a day out in LA with a male pal.

The twosome grabbed groceries and enjoyed a healthy lunch at Mauro's Cafe in West Hollywood

Happy days: Melanie Griffith, 61, looked to be in great spirits on Saturday, as she spent a day out in LA with a male pal

Melanie kept it casual in a black T-shirt tucked into a pair of cropped mom jeans.

The 61-year-old continued her casual look with a set of furry slides and a small black purse.

The talented blonde kept her hair pulled back in an effortless updo, and brought out her eyes with dramatic lashes.

Their day: The twosome grabbed groceries and enjoyed a healthy lunch at Mauro's Cafe in West Hollywood

Her look: Melanie kept it casual in a black T-shirt tucked into a pair of cropped mom jeans

During her weekend outing, the twosome spent the day stocking up on groceries, and later winded down with a healthy lunch.

The twosome looked to be in deep conversation, and Melanie paid close attention to her friend as he talked.

The lighthearted outing came just one month after Melanie completed dermabrasion to remove skin cancer from her nose.

Beauty routine: The talented blonde kept her hair pulled back in an effortless updo, and brought out her eyes with dramatic lashes

The mother-of-two took to Instagram on August 25 to share a photo of the bandages she received following the procedure.

'Bandaged again after having dermabrasion, the final step to fix the now removed basil cell skin cancer. If any of you have it, get it fixed,' she began.

'If you lay in the sun, are exposed to lots of sun, be CAREFUL. Use sun screen. Get checked out by your Dermatolgist. If you dont have one, get one, or go to your nearest clinic and ask to be tested for it. More info to come!'

Moving forward: The lighthearted outing came just one month after Melanie completed dermabrasion to remove skin cancer from her nose

From 1996-2015, Melanie was married to Antonio Banderas.

During an interview with ET, the Spanish actor was asked about her skin cancer ordeal, and he sweetly replied:

Melanie is my dear friend and she just texted me. She was really sorry that I didn't win. So we're going to see each other this week because she's still my family and my kids. I will love that woman until the day I die.'

The two share daughter Stella, 21, while Melanie has two children; Dakota Johnson, 28, and Alexander Bauer, 33, from previous relationships.Jamie Luner will not face any charges in connection to an alleged sexual assault of a 16-year old boy nearly 20-years ago.

The L.A. County District Attorney's Office declined to file charges against the Melrose Place alum after Anthony Oliver filed a police report earlier this year.

Oliver claimed Luner drugged him at a house party and had someone else film them as she preformed oral sex on him back in 1998, at the height of her fame.

Vindicated: Actress Jamie Luner will not face any charged in connection to a sexual assault from 1998

According to TMZ, the Los Angeles Country District Attorney cited several reasons to not move forward with the case.

Those reasons included Oliver's credibility problems, a lack of corroborating evidence, and the amount of time it took for the alleged incident to be reported.

According to TMZ Oliver was flagged by the court system for filing at least 22 lawsuits over the past several years.

He insisted that those suits were actually filed by his brother, not him.

The 47-year old actress was accused of sexually assaulting a then 16-year old boy at the height of her fame when she was 26

Oliver told TMZ in April about how he came to meet the actress at a party at her Studio City home after being invited along with his brother.

He claims she gave him drugs and alcohol and then led him to a private room in her home with a third, unnamed person. That is where he claims she performed oral sex on him while the other person filmed them.

Oliver, who is now 36, said he decided to come forward this year because he had been undergoing treatment for alcoholism and a therapist encouraged him to report the incident.

No charges: The L.A. District Attorney cited credibility problems with the accuser, a lack of corroborating evidence, and the amount of time it took for the alleged incident to be reported

The now 47-year old Luner emphatically denied all of the allegations.

This is the second win for her in as many months.

Just last month a judge threw out Oliver's $250million lawsuit against the actress due to a statute of limitations that required the suit to be filed within eight years after he turned 18, or within three years of discovering a repressed memory.

Luner played the role of Lexi Sterling on the hit nighttime drama Melrose Place from 1997 to 1999.She recently reinvented herself with the release of her debut album Off The record under the moniker Ember.

But Courtney Stodden, 24, was unmistakable as she got ready to get things off her chest on Friday.

The cover girl - who became a household name after marrying actor Doug Hutchison, 58, when she was only 16 years old in 2011 - flashed her ample cleavage as she arrived to record her podcast in Burbank, California.

Taking the plunge: Courtney Stodden, 24, was unmistakable as she got ready to get things off her chest on Friday

The glamour girl left very little to the imagination, as she broke the golden rule of cleavage OR legs, choosing instead to flaunt both in a pink print one piece.

Her platinum locks were worn loose, in Californian beach waves, framing her face.

She didn't appear to have been shy with her make-up, as she heavily defined her eyes and added a mocha lip colour.

Revealing: The cover girl - who became a household name after marrying actor Doug Hutchison, 58, when she was only 16 years old in 2011 - flashed her ample cleavage as she arrived to record her podcast in Burbank, California

She made sure she had the energy for her podcast appearance, supping on a drink which appeared to be an iced coffee, as she arrived at the Afterbuzz Network studios.

On the podcast, she called out Lindsay Lohen for dismissing victims of sexual assault.

'She put her foot in her mouth and now she has athlete's face....I'm sorry but when she came out and said the women of the MeToo movement are weak...and later apologised for saying something like that!,' she told host Jeff Graham.

Leggy display: The glamour girl left very little to the imagination, as she broke the golden rule of cleavage OR legs, choosing instead to flaunt both in a pink print one piece

Well-tressed: Her platinum locks were worn loose, in Californian beach waves, framing her face

She continued: 'Dude, Lindsay, she deep-throated that foot. You do not go out and say sexual [abuse] survivors - these victims - are weak. You can't say that. I am so passionate because I am a part of the MeToo movement. I've been sexually assaulted twice.'

She previously appeared on The Tomorrow Show, which is hosted by Afterbuzz founder Keven Undergaro, and her outspoken appearance has gained her a podcast of her own.

Keven co-owns the network with wife Maria Menounos - the couple married in a surprise ceremony live on Fox last New Year's Eve.

Outspoken: On the podcast, she called out Lindsay Lohen for dismissing victims of sexual assault

Courtney released her debut album Off The Record last month.

One of the songs on the album is Sixteen, which is about her experience marrying Doug Hutchison when she was 16 and he was 50-years-old.

They separated in 2013 briefly before they reconciled; they celebrated their fifth wedding anniversary in May 2016.

Snuggie bear: Courtney released her debut album Off The Record last month and shared this picture with her dog today

She suffered a miscarriage two months later that same year.

By February 2017, she confirmed her split with Doug; the songstress filed for divorce on March 6, 2018.

They have a 34-year age gap.

The former lovebirds met when she signed up for an acting workshop taught by Doug.

The pinup talked to TooFab about the meaning behind it all: 'Obviously, it was inspired by my controversial marriage and the age I was and the effect it had on me behind closed doors,' said the star.

Prior to their marriage, Courtney won Miss Teen Washington USA before kicking off her modeling career.She's had a rough year so far but Abby Lee Miller felt the love on her birthday.

The Dance Moms star turned 52 on Friday amid her brave and fierce battle with cancer.

And since then she has been sharing all of the amazing birthday wishes that have been flowing in on her Instagram story.

Happy birthday: Abby Lee Miller turned 52 on Friday; b-day well wishes have been flowing in from family, friends and fans

Many of the well-wishes came from fans or kids who have worked with the reality star at the Abby Lee Dance Company.

'Happy birthday Miss Abby,' was a common caption quote.

One young girl wrote: 'Happy birthday to @therealabbylee, a strong and inspirational woman! The one that taught me treating myself is always worth it an you can never have too much jewelry.'

And in another sweet comment a boy wrote, 'Happy birthday to the most amazing woman, mom, Love you.'

Feeling the love: The Dance Moms star has shared a slew of birthday well wishes on her Instagram story

Sweet: Many of the well-wishes came from kids who have worked with the reality star at the Abby Lee Dance Company

Lovin' the kids: Abby is a dance instructor and choreographer

Working it: Abby is the founder of the Abby Lee Dance Company and appeared on the reality series Dance Moms for seven seasons

Abby was able to get out and celebrate at a nightclub on Wednesday night.

At one point, while sitting in her wheelchair, she stopped and chatted with a photographer and flashed her familiar two-thumbs up and big-beaming smile.

When asked how she was feeling Abby said: 'Good, I'm okay. There are good hours and bad hours.'

The star has been wearing a wig recently after she lost her hair due to the rigorous cancer treatments.

A fighter: Abby was diagnosed with with Burkitt Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in April, but has consistently flashed her big beaming smile during courageous battle

Fighting the good fight: Abby has endured two emergency surgeries and at least five rounds of chemotherapy in five months

It's been a long and tough road to recovery for the Pittsburgh native. She has endured two emergency surgeries and at least five rounds of chemotherapy since being diagnosed with Burkitt Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in April.

According to The National Institutes of Health, Burkitt's starts in immune cells, spreads very rapidly and is typically associated with the fastest growing human tumor.

Just last month, she announced she was dealing with a low white blood cell count and a 103 degree fever.

Miller was transferred from a prison to a halfway house in California in March after spending over eight and a half months in federal prison for concealing bankruptcy assets and not reporting an international monetary transaction.

Great attitude: Abby flashed her familiar thumbs-up during a physical therapy session in AugustShe arrived in Australia with her three-month-old son Enrique Santiago last week.

And on Wednesday, Hollywood star Eva Longoria was spotted cuddling up to the adorable bub on Queensland's Gold Coast.

The 43-year-old showered her baby with love before performing a series of impressive stretching exercises.

Yummy mummy! Activewear-clad Eva Longoria, 43, cuddled up to her three-month-old newborn son Santiago while performing a series of stretches

Pair: Eva arrived in Australia with her three-month-old son Enrique Santiago (pictured here) last week

Up in the air! On Wednesday, the Hollywood star showered her baby with love in a park on Queensland's Gold Coast

Eva was seen lifting Santiago to her face as she lovingly looked into his eyes and displayed her motherly affection by hugging and kissing the newborn.

The Desperate Housewives actress looked stylish in a black activewear ensemble consisting of leggings and a long sleeve top, cut out on each side of the hip.

Ready for a day of multi-tasking, Eva brightened up the attire with a pair of pastel pink and blue sneakers.

Attire: The actress looked stylish in a black activewear ensemble consisting of leggings and a long sleeve top, cut out on each side of the hip

Comfort! Ready for a day of multi-tasking, Eva brightened up the attire with a pair of pastel pink and blue sneakers

Work it! The new mother wore a trendy black cap and aviator sunglasses

Kisses! Eva planted a kiss on Santiago's cheek while performing a lunge

Make-up free, the doting mother wore a trendy black cap, aviator sunglasses and pulled her brunette tresses back in a low ponytail.

Eva knelt down in a lunge while holding Santiago in her arms - later putting him back in his pram.

Having two free hands, she glanced at her phone while pushing out her bodacious booty for a squat.

Locks: She pulled her brunette tresses back in a low ponytail

She's in awe! Eva was seen lifting Santiago to her face as she lovingly looked into his eyes

Doting mummy! She displayed her motherly affection by hugging and kissing the newborn

Curious baby! Santiago was seen staring at the greenery in pure delight

Smiles all around: After performing her impressive lunges, Eva put Santiago back in his pram

The inseparable duo then went for a stroll amid a stunning nature backdrop, basking in the sunny daylight.

Eva is in Australia to film the live-action Dora The Explorer movie on the Gold Coast.

She brought another traveller along for the ride - her three-month old son Santiago, who she shares with husband Jose Baston.

Training: She then pushed out her bodacious booty for a squat

Legs up! Having two free hands, she glanced at her phone while stretching out her legs

A good day for it! The inseparable duo then went for a stroll amid a stunning nature backdrop, basking in the sunny daylight

Down Under: Eva is in Australia to film the live-action Dora The Explorer movie on the Gold Coast

She previously described the child, who was born in Los Angeles in June, as a 'beautiful blessing'.

During a recent appearance on British talk show Lorraine, Eva spoke candidly about getting back into shape after her pregnancy.

'[Santiago] was fully cooked, so I just kept getting bigger and bigger,' she said.

'It's definitely going to take some effort to get back to the way I was.'

'Beautiful blessing,' Eva said while she previously described her child, who was born in Los Angeles in June

Goals: During a recent appearance on British talk show Lorraine, Eva spoke candidly about getting back into shape after her pregnancyTammin Sursok has hit back at social media posts portraying 'pretty' pregnancies and opened up about how tough it has been for her while expecting baby number two.

The pregnant 35-year-old shared an image of herself looking relaxed and carefree as she lounged about and smiled at the camera.

But the image's caption on the Pretty Little Liars star's photo told a more candid story.

'I would cry for hours': Tammin Sursok speaks candidly about her 'tough' time carrying baby number two... as hits out against social media posts featuring 'pretty' pregnancies (Pictured: Tammin's pregnancy announcement with daughter Phoenix)

'Pregnancy. Sure looks pretty doesn't it?! Well definitely on Instagram with the perfect, curated images. But, it's not,' Tammin, who is expecting her second child with husband Sean McEwen, wrote.

'The first four months of this pregnancy were so tough that I would cry for hours because I physically couldn't move. It felt like food poisoning that never left me.

'I threw up in hand bags and trash cans and coffee cups - I'm sure everyone though I was hungover, constantly.'

Not the whole story? The 35-year-old shared an image of herself looking carefree but revealed in the caption (pictured) that her pregnancy has been anything but picture-perfect

Expanding the brood: Tammin is currently 22 weeks into her second pregnancy after having Phoenix four years ago (Pictured: Tammin, husband Sean McEwen and daughter Phoenix)

Being honest: After hitting back at the 'pretty' pregnancy posts, Tammin spoke about the gruelling second pregnancy (Pictured as Jenna Marshall on Pretty Little Liars with Lucy Hale, who played Aria Montgomery)

Tammin added that she thought the craziest part about being pregnant is how women still get up and go about their life.

The former Home And Away actress shot a movie during the first 22 weeks of her pregnancy, working 14-hour days.

She said: 'Here is to all the women and mums out there who endure, get up, show up, sacrifice their minds and their bodies and still love their families relentlessly.

Keep on moving: Tammin said the craziest part about being pregnant is how women still get up and go about their life

Guessed it! In July, a fan asked the Pretty Little Liars star whether she would ever 'have another baby' during an Instagram Q&A, to which Tammin responded: 'Working on it'

'Mummas/women out there - I see you, I feel you. We are so damn powerful.'

This will be Tammin's second child for Tammin and Sean, who tied the knot in 2011 after four years of dating.

The former Home And Away star announced her pregnancy earlier this month.

In July, a fan asked the Pretty Little Liars star whether she would ever 'have another baby' during an Instagram Q&A.

At the time, Tammin hinted at what was coming with a coy response.

Replying with a winking emoji, she simply wrote: 'Working on it'.They're two of Hollywood's most talked about mothers.

So it was only fitting that April Love Geary and Ali Landry attended the Step2 7th Annual Celebrity Red Carpet Event in Culver City on Saturday.

The pair both kept it casual for the day event, with the 22-year-old expectant mother hiding her small bump in her form-fitting ensemble.

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Mama's day out! April Love Geary hid her burgeoning baby bump while joining Ali Landry at the Baby2Baby event in Culver City on Saturday

April's dress reached to just below knees and was held together with buttons on one side.

The 5ft 11in model opted not to add to her already statuesque frame with a pair of flat black slides.

Robin Thicke's girlfriend had her brunette locks styled out into loose waves and sported a natural makeup look. Sponsors at the event included Step2, Diono, Munchkin, Nuna, Cybex, UPPAbaby, Babyganics, and OXO Tot.

Stunner: April's dress reached to just below knees and was held together with buttons on one side

Hot mama! Actress Ali Landry, 45, was quite the dotting mother when she stepped out on the carpet on Saturday afternoon

Actress Ali Landry, 45, was quite the dotting mother when she stepped out on the carpet on Saturday afternoon.

She opted for a flowing ensemble that drew attention to her ample cleavage and toned physique.

The mom-of-three had her brunette tresses out and over one shoulder while accessorizing with a straw hat.

Her mini's: Ali was also seen with her three children, Estela Ines, 11, Marcelo Alejandro, six, and Valentin Francesco, five

Gorgeous: The mom-of-three had her brunette tresses out and over one shoulder while accessorizing with a straw hat

Her makeup was also simple for the daytime event with a sweep of blush and brush of mascara.

Ali was also seen with her three children, Estela Ines, 11, Marcelo Alejandro, six, and Valentin Francesco, five.

Blogger, TV personality and former Bachelorette Ali Fedotowsky, 34, was also seen at the kids event.

Blogger, TV personality and former Bachelorette Ali Fedotowsky, 34, was also seen at the kids event with husband Kevin Manno and kids Molly, two, and Riley, three-months

Appearing alongside her husband Kevin Manno, 35, and kids Molly, two, and Riley, three-months, the beauty showcased her incredible post-baby physique in a casual T-shirt and jeans.

Taking to social media, the family-of-four seemed to be enjoying the day outside, with the couples daughter having fun on the play equipment.

Little Women stars Traci Harrison and Terra Jole were also at the event with their kids.

Fun for all! Little Women stars Traci Harrison and Terra Jole were also at the event with their kids

Gorgeous: CNN's Lisa Ling took some time out from her show This Is Life With Lisa Ling to take her two daughters Jett, five, and Ray, two, to the annual Baby2Baby event

The reality star's were both dressed in blue dresses and brought their kids along for the fun day.

CNN's Lisa Ling took some time out from her show This Is Life With Lisa Ling to take her two daughters Jett, five, and Ray, two, to the annual Baby2Baby event.

She stunned in a white T-shirt with long denim skirt while Ray was seen riding in an orange play car.

The mentalist's Robin Tunney and Full/Fuller House's Marla Sokoloff were also spotted with their kids.They co-launched their athleisure brand Love Your Form in 2016.

And it seems that footy WAG Phoebe Burgess may have parted ways with former best friend Kristen King, according to The Sunday Telegraph's Confidential.

The publication reported the 29-year-old and Kristen, who is married to former Rabbitohs Matt King, have reportedly stopped interacting with their joint brand, Love Your Form.

Taking another hit! Heavily pregnant Phoebe Burgess (left) appears to have parted ways with best friend Kristen King (right) as they 'shut down athleisure brand Love Your Form'...following Sam Burgess' 'sexting' scandal

Kristen and Phoebe met as a result of both their husbands playing rugby league.

In early 2017, the blossoming friendship began when top Pilates instructor Kristen was credited by Phoebe for transforming her figure.

'I first discovered what I call "the power of Pilates" through having a chronic back injury,' Phoebe told Daily Mail Australia last year.

'Kristen took me on and changed my body, not only from the outside but how I saw my body and interpreted my strengths and weaknesses.'

Parting ways: Phoebe and Kristen, who is married to former Rabbitohs Matt King, have reportedly appeared to have stopped interacting with their joint brand, Love Your Form

'It strengthened me from the inside out, helped me carry my beautiful big baby girl and achieve a natural delivery (which I was told, with my back, would be unlikely),' Phoebe concluded.

Having unfollowed each other from social media accounts, Phoebe and Kristen have reportedly shut down their joint brand, Love Your Form.

The business' Instagram profile has not been updated since January this year.

And the alleged friendship break-up comes after Phoebe's husband, Sam Burgess, was reportedly involved in a 'sexting' scandal when a woman claimed several Rabbitohs players exposed themselves to her via Facebook in May.

Scandal: The friendship break-up comes after Phoebe's husband, Sam Burgess (left) was reportedly involved in a 'sexting' scandal when a woman alleged several Rabbitohs players exposed themselves to her via Facebook in May

Sam has stated he was pursuing legal action against the defamatory claims by hiring celebrity lawyer, Chris Murphy, after being cleared of all accusations by the NRL.

Two players, not Burgess, were believed to have exposed themselves to the woman, who complained to the club via an anonymous email over a period of three months between May and August.

Phoebe emerged for the first time following the scandal on Saturday for an outing with her 18-month-old daughter, Poppy, whom she shares with Sam.

The pair are currently expecting the arrival of their second child as Phoebe reaches her 27th week of pregnancy.

Day out: Phoebe emerged for the first time following the scandal on Saturday for an outing with her 18-month-old daughter, Poppy (pictured here), whom she shares with SamTaraji P. Henson is using her star power, hard work and determination to help stamp out the stigma surrounding mental health issues in the African-American community.

The 48-year old actress celebrated the launch of her nonprofit organization -The Boris Lawrence Henson Foundation - which was named in honor of her father, with a fundraising event at a swanky Beverly Hills home on Saturday.

And the Empire star shined from pride in a red 1960's retro mini skirt dress as she prepared to greet selected guests.

Star on a mission: Taraji P. Henson launched her nonprofit organization --The Boris Lawrence Henson Foundation -- with a fundraising event in Beverly Hills on Saturday

Henson owned the red number that seemed to pop even more with its black and white trim.

She matched it perfectly with a pair of white open toe heels and a minimum of accessories that included a bracelet and her amazing engagement ring.

Her black tresses were styled in a bob cut with major body and a part down the middle.

Actress Jenifer Lewis also shined at the event as she stood next to her friend in an all-white ensemble that dispelled the myth that you can't wear white after Labor Day.

Owning it: The Empire star shined from pride in a red 1960's retro mini skirt dress

Paying tribute: The Boris Lawrence Henson Foundation was named in honor of her late father who struggled with mental health issues after he returned from serving in the Vietnam War

The Taraji's Boutique of Hope event provided invited guests a chance to enjoy a few hours of shopping in rooms at the home that featured select designer brands.

Those guests also received access to an online auction with special items donated by some of her celebrity friends.

But on this day, the fabulous fashion was only a means to a very important end for Henson and her foundation.

'I named the organization after my father because of his complete and unconditional love for me; his unabashed, unashamed ability to tell the truth, even if it hurt; and his strength to push through his own battles with mental health issues, Henson said to People.

For a great cause: The Taraji's Boutique of Hope fundraising event provided invited guests a chance to enjoy a few hours of shopping in rooms at the home that featured select designer brands

Taraji's father died in 2006 at the age of 58 after battling liver cancer.

'My dad fought in the Vietnam War for our country, returned broken, and received little to no physical or emotional support,' the Empire star wrote in her 2016 memoir Around the Way Girl.

'I stand now in his absence, committed to offering support to African Americans who face trauma daily, simply because they are black.'

Stand by me: Actress Jenifer Lewis also shined in an all-white ensemble at the charity event

Angel in white: Lewis, 61, has starred in films like Beaches, Poetic Justice and The Preacher's Wife

'BLHF is breaking the silence by speaking out and encouraging others to share their challenges with mental illness and get the help they need,' said Tracie Jenkins, executive director for the foundation.

'African-Americans have regarded such communication as a sign of weakness and our vision is to change that perception.'

All of the funds raised for the foundation will help provide resources to help increase mental health support in urban schools.

It will also partner with school districts help to provide mental health therapists, social workers and counselors to African-American children in need and other nonprofit organizations that offer mental health wellness programs as well.Bachelor In Paradise stars Megan Marx and Jake Ellis were busted holding hands at the Comedy All Stars event on the Gold Coast last week.

The pair announcing their shock split in Augusta and the former flames reportedly kept their distance in front of guests at the event.

However, Megan and Jake were later caught putting on a very chummy display out the back of the venue.

Thought you were broken up? Megan Marx (right) and Jake Ellis (left) busted holding hands despite announcing they'd called it quits...amid rumours they're set to return for Bachelor in Paradise's season two

The pair were seen with their fingers firmly intertwined as they departed the Glitter Strip affair together on Wednesday September 19.

Perhaps in an attempt to keep a low-profile, Jake, 31, was spotted casting his eyes towards the ground while he gripped his former lady love's hand.

Meanwhile, Megan, 29, clad in a military-green trench coat and a pair of combat boots appeared to be on the look-out for clued-up fans who might bust their secret mission.

Moments before the former reality TV lovebirds reportedly jumped into a cab together, they were pictured conversing with a blonde woman.

Low-profile: Moments before the former reality TV lovebirds reportedly jumped into a cab together they were pictured conversing with a mystery blonde woman

The pair appeared to share a few laughs with the woman as she puffed away on a cigarette.

Earlier, Jake was seen standing alongside the unidentified woman as he tapped away on his mobile device moments before Megan joined him.

Donning a retro denim jacket and a pair of black skinny jeans, Jake was spotted excitedly running towards the blonde.

Jake and the woman appeared to engage in a rather lively conversation as he waited for his ex-girlfriend.

LOL: The pair appeared to share a few laughs with the woman as she puffed away on a cigarette

Close encounter: The former flames who reportedly kept their distance in front of other guests at the event were later caught putting on a very chummy display out the back of the venue. Megan (left) and Jake (right) pictured alongside a blonde woman

Diversion? Moments before Megan Marx and Jake Ellis were busted holding hands the pair were spotted chatting with a fan

An onlooker at the comedy event told News Corp on Sunday that the couple made a point of not standing anywhere near each other in the venue in front of guests.

However as soon as they left the building they were holding hands - and jumped into a cab together.

'I was watching them all night and they made sure not to be seen together,' the onlooker said.

'Then Jake walked out of the venue and texted someone, then minutes later Megan appeared. After checking no one was watching, they held hands and jumped in their car together.'

Who are you texting? Earlier, Jake (pictured) was seen standing alongside the unidentified woman as he tapped away on his mobile device moments before Megan joined him.

Enthusiastic: Jake walked enthusiastically towards the blonde woman, who was seen lighting up a cigarette

This is the third time the reality stars have been spotted spending time together in public - fuelling more speculation the pair are attempting to mend their relationship.

But Megan told Daily Mail Australia on Sunday the pair are 'not back together.'

'Jake and I are not back together. I'm leaving the Gold Coast on Friday - so unfortunately reigniting a romance is not going to happen,' Megan said.

Getaway vehicle? Jake was spotted walking towards a vehicle shortly after he departed the Comedy All Stars event on the Gold Coast last week

Clad in a retro denim jacket and a pair of black skinny jeans, Jake was spotted excitedly running towards the blonde

Earlier this month, the couple were spotted at the Pacific Fair Shopping Centre on the Gold Coast together.

The reality stars tried to keep a low-profile, keeping a watchful eye out for any paparazzi, while spending an afternoon shopping.

Meanwhile, prior to their shopping trip, the former flames were caught in the background of Ryan Gallagher's Instagram Story while out partying.

The numerous sightings come amid rumours both Jake and Megan are set to return for season two of Bachelor in Paradise.

Some fans on social media have become suspicious of the pair's split which seemed perfectly timed with the casting of the Fiji-based reality TV series.

The ex-lovers' carefully worded breakup announcement has led some to believe that they may be gunning for a 'reunion' story-line on season two of Paradise.Rebecca Gibney, 53, who suffered from depression during her 30s, has opened up about her darkest hour.

Speaking to this week's Sunday Telegraph, the New Zealand-born actress revealed she contemplated suicide during her mental health battle.

'I suffered severe depression in my 30s and contemplated taking my life,' Rebecca said.

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'Inside I was dying': Rebecca Gibney (pictured), 53, revealed to The Daily Telegraph, she 'contemplated taking her life' in her 30s... as the actress speaks about the darkest moments of her depression battle Pictured in April 2014

'No one knew how I was feeling. On the surface I had the perfect life - great job, wonderful family and friends, but inside I was dying,' she explained.

Rebecca delved deeper into her battle and revealed she experienced 'hourly panic attacks' during the height of her condition.

'Daily panic attacks became hourly panic attacks and pretty soon I was making excuses to friends so I didn't have to leave my apartment,' Rebecca said.

The talented star told the publication a close friend suggested she seek professional help from a psychologist and revealed the advice 'literally saved her.'

'Daily panic attacks became hourly panic attacks': Rebecca delved deeper into her battle and revealed she experienced 'hourly panic attacks' during the height of her condition. Pictured on Australian drama, The Killing Field

Rebecca said after two years of therapy she was able to overcome the severe panic attacks and depression she has fought since her early teens.

She also urged people who are struggling with their mental health to start a conversation and reach out for help.

Now Rebecca has joined a slew of other Australian celebrities to feature in a new campaign aimed at raising awareness about mental health called Imperfectly Perfect.

'I couldn't talk about it because I didn't know what was happening to me': In April 2014, Rebecca (pictured) revealed that she 'contemplated hospitalisation' because her mental illness became so severe

In April 2014, Rebecca revealed that she 'contemplated hospitalisation' because her mental illness became so severe.

'I couldn't talk about it because I didn't know what was happening to me,' the Packed To The Rafters Matriarch told the Sun Herald.

'I contemplated hospitalisation, but I didn't want people to find out.

' I felt like I was in the bottom of a pit. Every time I tried to claw my way out, I'd slip back down,' she revealed in 2014.

The actress suffered a major breakdown after wrapping up a promotional tour for her film Halifax f.p. at age 30.

Battling agoraphobia, she was unable to board her plane without five Valium, an experience which prompted her to seek psychiatric help.

Private heartache: Rebecca Gibney has revealed that she struggled with depression and anxiety, pictured at the AACTA Awards in Sydney February 2014

Rebecca recalled that at the height of her illness she suffered from 15 panic attacks a day.

She credits extensive and continued professional advice for her recovery.

In the six months following the breakdown, the actress saw a psychiatrist twice a week and later made weekly visits in the year and a half there after.

'I'm lucky. I'm through it, but it doesn't mean I don't have down days. I just know how to deal with it now.'

If you or someone you know needs support, contact on Lifeline on 13 11 14 or at www.lifeline.org.auShe's known for wearing skintight attire that hugs every single one of her curves.

And Nadia Bartel showed off her most famous silhouette yet - her burgeoning baby bump - in a sizzling red dress on Saturday.

Taking to Instagram, the 32-year-old blogger and WAG shared a jaw-dropping photo of her outfit ahead of hosting the Brownlow Medal Red Carpet for Channel Seven.

Red hot! Footy WAG Nadia Bartel exuded glamour and flaunted her burgeoning baby bump in a vivacious figure-hugging crimson number

Nadia looked simply sensational in the strapless crimson ensemble, which featured a quirky strap across her nape.

As Nadia flaunted her lithe physique, the silhouette of the dress enhanced the beauty's baby bump, ending just below her knees.

The stunner elongated her trim pins and polished up her look with a pair of nude patent pumps.

Yummy mummy! Taking to Instagram, the 32-year-old blogger and WAG shared a jaw-dropping photo of her outfit ahead of hosting the Brownlow Medal Red Carpet for Channel Seven

Channelling Old Hollywood glamour, the WAG styled her flaxen tresses in loose, tousled waves.

'Earlier this week at @crownhotels so excited to be hosting the Brownlow Medal Red Carpet for @channel7,' she captioned the post.

'Tune in at 7:30pm this Monday! (I might be wearing sneakers under my long dress but I'll be there,' she comically added.

Gorgeous: Channeling Old Hollywood glamour, the blonde styled her flaxen tresses in loose, tousled waves

Nadia is due to give birth to her second child any day now.

She is already a mother to two-year-old son Aston, whom she shares with AFL star Jimmy Bartel.

Jimmy and Nadia have been married for four years, having tied the knot in February 2014.

Almost there! Nadia is due to give birth to her second child any day nowJennifer Aniston reunited with her longtime pal and fellow Friends alum Courteney Cox on Friday night.

The actresses were all smiles as they were spotted leaving celeb favorite Italian eatery Giorgio Baldi restaurant in Santa Monica.

In an attempt to make a low-key exit Jennifer and Courteney were seen leaving out the back of the restaurant with another girlfriend.

Longtime pals: Jennifer Aniston and Courteney Cox had dinner at Giorgio Baldi in Santa Monica on Friday night

Jennifer, 49, wore a chic dark blouse while Courteney, 54, was seen in a striped top and leather jacket.

She showed off her slender figure in some light jeans and was seen carrying a stylish black handbag with chain handle.

The outing came after Jennifer's ex husband Justin Theroux broke his silence on their split earlier this year.

The couple, who were together for five years, announced their separation in February, with their confirmation statement insisting the decision was 'mutual and lovingly made' however Justin has remained silent on the issue so far.

Girls' night: The duo were seen making a low key exit out of the back of the restaurant

Dinner date: Courteney, 54, wore a striped top and leather jacket while Jen, 49, opted for a dark blouse

Brunette beauty: The Friends alum looked casual yet stylish in fitted jeans

Speaking to The New York Times, he has now candidly broken ground on the split, which he insists was totally friendly - while he discussed the 'gentle yet heartbreaking' nature of the demise of their two-year long marriage.

Jennifer and Justin became engaged in August 2012, and they married in a surprise ceremony at their LA home on August 5, 2015.

Despite garnering huge numbers of fans as a couple, they shocked the world when they released the statement stating that they would have handled their separation privately, but they wanted to counter speculation and 'convey the truth directly.'

Echoing the sentiment, Justin admitted in his new interview that he did not feel that he 'owed' the public an explanation for why they had parted ways.

Feeling reflective, the actor said: 'The good news is that was probably the most  Im choosing my words really carefully  it was kind of the most gentle separation, in that there was no animosity...

Moving on: Justin Theroux has broken his silence on his split from Jennifer earlier this year (pictured in 2016)

That was then: The couple, who were together for five years, announced their split in February, with their confirmation statement insisting the decision was 'mutual and lovingly made' however Justin has remained silent on the issue so far (pictured in 2016)

'In a weird way, just sort of navigating the inevitable perception of it is the exhausting part... Again, neither one of us is dead, neither one of us is looking to throw hatchets at each other...

'Its more like, its amicable. Its boring, but, you know, we respected each other enough that it was as painless as it could be. It was heartbreaking only in the sense that the friendship would not be the same, as far as just the day to day...

'But the friendship is shifting and changing, you know, so that part is something that were both very proud of'.

Earlier this month, Jennifer - 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.

That was then: Speaking to The New York Times , he has now candidly broken ground on the split, which he insists was totally friendly - while he discussed the 'gentle yet heartbreaking nature of the demise of their two-year long marriage (pictured in April last year)

'It's pretty crazy,' Aniston told the magazine, '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.'She's the former Home and Away star who scored a role on hit series, The Royals.

And since portraying Princess Eleanor on the show, actress Alexandra Park seems to have acquired a knack for the royal way of life.

Speaking to Nine's The Fix on Sunday, the 29-year-old claimed she was 'technically' more of a princess and royal than Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex who tied the knot with Prince Harry in May.

'Technically, I am more of a princess': Former Home and Away actress Alexandra Park (right) claimed she is 'MORE of a royal than' Meghan Markle (left)

Off with her head! Since portraying Princess Eleanor on The Royals, actress Alexandra Park seems to have acquired a knack for royalty

'I am more of a royal than [Meghan] is. Technically, I am more of a princess,' she proudly said, referring to her role as a princess on the show.

But upon being asked whether she had any tips to share with Meghan on living the palace life, Alexandra said she would not dare to offer any advice.

'I wouldn't have a clue what to say! I guess, "Keep the fashion coming because that's good for me." She always looks incredible. Effortlessly chic at all times,' the brunette gushed.

'I am more of a royal than [Meghan] is. Technically, I am more of a princess,' she proudly said while speaking to Nine The Fix on Sunday

Lips are sealed! Upon being asked whether she had any tips to share with Meghan on living the palace life, Alexandra said she would not dare to offer any advice

After being asked on whether she would give up her acting career similarly to Meghan, Alexandra offered a candid response.

'I don't think so...There's what you're meant to do in life and then there's love. It's a tricky one, but I don't think that I could,' she said.

The Sydney-sider kicked off her career by starring as Claudia Hammond in hit soap Home and Away.

Breakthrough: The Sydney-sider kicked off her career by starring as Claudia Hammond in hit soap Home and Away

During her four years in Summer Bay, Alexandra was also featured in an episode of Packed to the Rafters in 2011.

The stunner has also made appearances in Arc, TV series Wonderland and 12 Feet Deep.

Since 2015, Alexandra has been focusing on her breakthrough role in racy E! original series, The Royals.Lena Dunham was in good spirits as she stepped out in Los Angeles on Saturday, shortly after chronicling her battle with endometriosis and chronic pain management.

The actress sported a generously cut monochrome dress while dining out at local restaurant Jon & Vinnys, where she was joined by a male friend.

With an off-the-shoulder detail, the dress ensured Lena, 32, caught the eye as she made her way out of the popular Italian eaterie following a lunch date.

Here she comes: Lena Dunham caught the eye as she stepped out in Los Angeles on Saturday, shortly after chronicling her battle with endometriosis and chronic pain management

The Girls star teamed her dress with a pair of white Reebok running shoes, while a black leather handbag proved to be her only visible accessory.

Idling on the sidewalk, Lena looked relaxed as she chatted to her male friend, who sported a casual shirt and jeans.

Thea actress appeared to be in good spirits on the outing, despite recently being admitted to hospital.

In good company: The actress sported a generously cut monochrome dress while dining out at local restaurant Jon & Vinnys, where she was joined by a male friend

On Thursday the actress shared a Polaroid taken from her stay at the hospital, where she sat on the edge of her bed while waiting to be discharged.

'Thank you Georgie for capturing that chronic illness isn't pretty,' Lena wrote in the photo, thanking her photographer, Georgie Wileman.

The photo was taken as part of the hashtag, This Is Endometriosis, which sees women chronicle their daily battle with the disorder on social media.

Hard to miss: With an off-the-shoulder detail, the dress ensured Lena, 32, caught the eye as she made her way out of the popular Italian eaterie following a lunch date

It has been nearly a year since the Emmy nominee underwent a radical hysterectomy after suffering severely from endometriosis, and the star has been an open book about her experience with the condition on social media.

Georgie provided more details about the shoot on her Instagram, complimenting the actress on her 'strength and bravery.'

She wrote: 'I worked with the wonderful Lena for THIS IS ENDOMETRIOSIS yesterday. We took this polaroid before we started shooting. Visiting the hospital I've lain in countless times was challenging, but when I saw this girls face, my hands stopped shaking. The love and connection between two people that are living the same fight is hard to put into words.

'@lenadunham was waiting to be discharged after yet another hospital stay, a painful regularity for those with endometriosis. Like all those I meet with this disease, Lena's strength and bravery ached my heart.'

Don't mind me: Idling on the sidewalk, Lena looked relaxed as she chatted to her male friend, who sported a casual shirt and jeansAbout Me Scott Because prophetic scriptures are found throughout the bible, it is obvious that a comprehensive, systematic approach would be useful, if not necessary, for the understanding of prophecy. Past prophecies have been fulfilled in a literal manner, as confirmed by the dating of these writings and historical records of confirmation. These past prophecies also serve as a model of how to interpret future prophecies. A literal view of prophecy clearly indicates a certain sequence of events will occur within a single generation, concluding with the Tribulation and Second Advent and these events will be obvious. The prophetic signs appear to be present in this generation and we believe these signs are revealed in the news from around the world. View my complete profileShe's Hollywood royalty currently starring as a witch opposite Jack Black in The House with a Clock in Its Walls.

But on Saturday night, Cate Blanchett took a break from her busy filming schedule to dazzle at the launch of the Pomellato fine jewellery line in Milan.

The Oscar-winning actress, 49, showed she's still got it in a floor length leopard print catsuit.

On Saturday night, Cate Blanchett , 49, took a break from her busy filming schedule to dazzle at the launch of the Pomellato fine jewellery line in Milan

The Aussie-born mother-of-three stunned in the reflective gold and black animal print.

She showed off her hourglass body with a wide leg trouser and cinched in waist, emphasised by a chunky belt.

An open shirt collar revealed a chunky gold necklace, but she wore to jewellery elsewhere.

The Blue Jasmine star couldn't hold back that big beaming smile as she strutted like a true movie star on the red carpet.

Still got it: She showed off her hourglass body with a wide leg trouser and cinched in waist, emphasised by a chunky belt

Friends in high places: The Blue Jasmine star couldn't hold back that big beaming smile as she strutted like a true movie star on the red carpet with the brand's boss Stephane Gerschel

The Ocean's Eight star's chin-length blonde tresses were lightly waved and a smokey eye and dash of highlighter finished off the look.

Also at the party, was Cate' Mogwli co-star Freida Pinto.

The Slumdog Millionaire star, 33, looked the height of chic in a little black dress with gold embellishments.

Fashion forward: The Slumdog Millionaire star, 33, looked the height of chic in a little black dress with gold embellishments

Style queen: Letting her raven tresses loose, the philanthropist opted for a red matte lip and dark eye

Boss: Fashion forward Freida poses with Sabina Belli, the CEO of Pomellato Balera

Letting her raven tresses loose, the philanthropist opted for a red matte lip and dark eye.

And the two actresses were among an array of stars at the party.

Italian designer and Instagram sensation Chiara Ferragni gave a leggy display in a hot pink sequined playsuit.

Caroline Daur, a fashion blogger, wore a high-necked black dress with chunky belt and large silver jewellery.

Italian designer and Instagram sensation Chiara Ferragni gave a leggy display in a hot pink sequined playsuit and Caroline Daur, a fashion blogger, wore a high-necked black dress with chunky belt and large silver jewellery

Aussie beauty Cate recently revealed her teenage kids are embarrassed by her.

She is a mother to four kids: Dashiell John, 16, Roman Robert, 14, Ignatius Martin, 10, and adopted daughter Edith, three, with husband Andrew Upton, 52.

Speaking on the Ellen show, Cate said: 'They've seen some of them,' said the two-time Academy Award winner, 'but it's not like a Saturday Night occurrence where I say, "Let's sit down and watch mummy's movies."'

Ellen remarked that it must be really cool to have an A-list actress for a mom, to which Cate replied, 'Not really, I'm deeply uncool in my household - but they love the movie!'He's the Love Island Australia winner, who's known for posting endless shirtless selfies.

And Grant Crapp was at it again on Sunday, while flaunting his muscular body on Instagram.

The 23-year-old flexed his washboard abs and bulging tattooed biceps, on a Gold Coast beach in Queensland.

That's no dad bod! Love Island Australia's Grant Crapp flaunts his washboard abs and bulging tattooed biceps, on a Gold Coast beach, Queensland, on Sunday

He wore small swimming trunks and a pair of sunglasses, and added the caption: '#Dadbod'.

Grant also revealed a date for his highly anticipated UK and Ireland tour in the comments section of the post.

He told one excited fan, 'I reckon I'll be in Scotland around 24th OCT.'

'I hope the jungle has this food': He recently shared a shirtless selfie and referenced to 'the jungle' - but did not specifically mention the show. Fans instantly began to speculate, including one who said, 'I'm a celebrity get me out of here??? is this your next adventure perhaps'

International tour: Last month, Grant announced that he's heading to the UK and Ireland after it was revealed that Love Island Australia was a hit with UK audiences

The reality star recently revealed his impending trip to UK and Ireland, to capitalise on his Love Island Australia fame.

He hinted he will appear on the UK version of I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Outta Here! UK.

In an Instagram post on Wednesday, the Canberra electrician shared a shirtless selfie and made reference to 'the jungle' - but did not specifically mention the show.

'Do you think you could out eat me #ihopethejunglehasthisfood,' he captioned the shot, which showed him eyeing a table of food.

In the comments section, suspicious fans instantly began to speculate, including one who said, 'I'm a celebrity get me out of here??? is this your next adventure perhaps.'

Coming soon: The eighteenth season of I'm A Celebrity UK is expected to begin in November and is usually filmed in Murwillumbah, New South Wales

Daily Mail Australia has reached out to ITV for comment.

The eighteenth season of I'm A Celebrity UK is expected to begin in November and is usually filmed in Murwillumbah, New South Wales.

Last month, Grant announced that he's heading to the UK and Ireland after it was revealed that Love Island Australia was a hit with UK audiences.

Grant was crowned winner of Love Island Australia in July, along with model Tayla Damir and they shared the $50,000 prize money.

The pair split just days after returning to Australia after it was revealed that Grant had a secret girlfriend.Former EastEnders star Rita Simons is said to be one of the stars in line to enter the jungle in the upcoming series of I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!

The 41-year-old actress, best known for playing fiery Queen Vic barmaid Roxy Mitchell, is in talks with ITV bosses to enter the Aussie camp nearly two years after her character was killed off the long-running BBC soap opera.

A source told the Sun: 'It will be a massive coup for ITV to secure her.'

New role? Former EastEnders star Rita Simons is said to be one of the stars in line to enter the jungle in the upcoming series of I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!

The niece of billionaire Apprentice star Lord Sugar recently revealed has a variety of anxiety and behavioural disorders, which have left her with a crippling sleep condition.

Rita blamed her insomnia and OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder) and ADHD anxiety (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder).

The Sun source added: 'Obviously it will be hard for Rita to live in the jungle with her health problems but she's hoping that some time away from her hectic lifestyle will help and that it will also provide a career boost and hopefully lead to her landing another big TV part.'

Previously: Rita left Albert Square with Samantha Womack, who played her on-screen sister Ronnie, on New Year's Eve last year

Rita left Albert Square with Samantha Womack, who played her on-screen sister Ronnie, on New Year's Eve last year.

The dramatic story line saw the nieces of Dame Barbara Windsor's character Peggy Mitchell drown in a swimming pool in a shock exit that left fans reeling.

In almost two years since she left the soap, the former EastEnders star has worked on Legally Blonde The Musical.

Speaking earlier this year about leaving the iconic soap, Rita told the Late Show 'I was ready to leave, definitely wasn't ready to die.

'So when I was told we were dying  now I'm gonna swear  that was a right f**king kick in the b*****ks.'

An ITV spokesperson told the Sun: 'Any names suggested are just speculation at this stage.'She has spent the summer flying all over the world and soaking up the sun.

And Lady Victoria Hervey kept up the trend on Saturday as she left very little to the imagine at Milan Fashion Week.

The stunning socialite, 41, showed off her statuesque figure at the amFAR gala in a barely there dress.

Sheer: Lady Victoria Hervey, 41, showed off her statuesque figure at the amFAR gala in a barely there dress in Milan on Saturday

Perky posterior: The star made sure all eyes were on her as she flaunted her ample assets in Milan

Despite just days ago being spotted off the coast of Monaco on a superyacht, Victoria ensured she didn't miss the hottest party in Milan.

The six-foot tall model paraded her lithe limbs under a black and cream netted dress.

Wearing just a cream thong, the aristocrat went braless with fabric flowers hiding her modesty.

She added to her height with a pair of simple black stilettos and a red nail polish to make the look pop.

Jet setter: Despite just days ago being spotted off the coast of Monaco on a superyacht, Victoria ensured she didn't miss the hottest party in Milan

Her golden locks were elegantly coiffed into a light curl, stopping at her shoulder.

She finished off the pristine look with a pale pink lip and smokey eye.

Victoria made sure all eyes were on her from every angle as her very perky posterior was on show.

Every inch the star: Her golden locks were elegantly coiffed into a light curl, stopping at her shoulder

Nearly nude: Wearing just a cream thong, the aristocrat went braless with fabric flowers hiding her modesty

Victoria has been making the most of her jet-set summer by flying off to the hottest destinations including Mykonos, Cannes and Italy so far.

Although she has been travelling all over the world, she recently discussed her future plans to settle down and become a mum after realising her dream for a baby.

She revealed to The Mail On Sunday that she started freezing her eggs in a fertility clinic  which cost her 11,000  after letting years of partying slip away.She joined the Hadid sisters to walk to Robert Cavalli earlier this week.

And on Sunday Joan Smalls wowed again in Fifa's show in Milan.

The stunning model, 30, turned heads in a white one-shoulder swimsuit and see-through poncho.

Joan Smalls, 30, turned heads in a white one-shoulder swimsuit and perspex poncho on the catwalk for Fila in Milan on Sunday

The Puerto Rican beauty wore her raven tresses slicked back and covered with a pure white visor cap.

Joan proved her model prowess as she sashayed down the runway with ease, and switched up her look for her second catwalk look.

All eyes were on the statuesque beauty, as she later changed into an all black ensemble from the collections SS19 range.

Stunning: The Puerto Rican beauty wore her raven tresses slicked back and covered with a pure white visor cap

Strike a pose: The natural beauty's make-up was kept to a minimum with a nude lip and highlighter emphasising her striking cheekbones

The Set It Up star wore skintight biker shorts and a off-the-shoulder swimsuit while carrying a jet black bag down the runway.

The natural beauty's make-up was kept to a minimum with a nude lip and highlighter emphasising her striking cheekbones.

Aside from her modelling and budding film career, the Interamerican University of Puerto Rico grad also launched an affordable Smart & Sexy swimwear and lingerie line at Walmart.

Switch it up: Joan proved her model prowess as she sashayed down the runway with ease, and switched up her look for her second catwalk look

Keeping busy: The star modelled two looks for the Fila show as Milan Fashion Week came to an end

Leading the way: The star lead the line-up of dozen of gorgeous models in Milan

Multitalented: Aside from her modelling and budding film career, the Interamerican University of Puerto Rico grad also launched an affordable Smart & Sexy swimwear and lingerie line at Walmart

'There was a Walmart in my town and that's where we would shop. There's some history there,' the March For Our Lives activist told WWD.

'I know that being on the beach can sometimes be intimidating. How do you attain that? Not everybody's built like me, and I understand it.

'I know my mother always had problems shopping for the right swimwear that kept her [DD cup assets] in place while she was swimming and being active and at the same time look good.'

As for her love life, Smalls appears to have split with her longtime boyfriend - Modellounge founder Bernard Smith - as the couple haven't been photographed for over a year.

Leggy: Joan changed into a sports chic Fendi look later in the day as she headed out in Milan; she added Tony Bianco Kiki HeelsShe triumphantly returned to the catwalk for the first time in 26-years in June on behalf of Italian fashion house Dolce & Gabbana.

And Monica Bellucci continued to support the brand on Sunday by paying a visit to one of its upmarket stores in Milan.

The model and actress, 53, looked typically chic in a black trouser suit as she browsed the store before making her way back onto the street.

Here she comes: Monica Bellucci caught the eye as she visited a Dolce and Gabbana store in Milan on Sunday

Monica added to her look with a pair of heavily tinted sunglasses, while a tasteful black leather handbag rounded things off.

The former Bond girl has enjoyed a modelling renaissance over recent months after taking to the Dolce & Gabbana catwalk for the fist time since 1992 in June.

'I had no idea when I was 25 that at 50 I would still be working. It is a great discovery for me,' Monica told the Telegraph last year.

Stylish: The model and actress, 53, looked typically chic in a black trouser suit as she browsed the store before making her way back onto the street

Finishing touches: Monica added to her look with a pair of heavily tinted sunglasses, while a tasteful black leather handbag rounded things off

The Italian star added that she also does Pilates and swims, gets acupuncture and facial massages, and lives by certain maxims like 'It is not a matter of age, it is a matter of energy,' 'The body gets older but the soul younger,' and 'You can be old at just 20.'

Monica also admitted that ago has prompted a subtle shift in the way she is treated in Hollywood.

'When you are beautiful and you do something that is very strong, people say you are courageous, but they don't say you are good. Now I am older, they say, "You are good."'

Popular: The former Bond girl has enjoyed a modelling renaissance over recent months after taking to the Dolce & Gabbana catwalk for the fist time since 1992 in June

Yet she also acknowledged that attitudes toward aging women have changed.

'Sophia Loren, Lollobrigida, Silvana Mangano, could exist as icons after 40 but not as actresses,' she said.

And I think today it is completely different,' she said, citing Charlotte Rampling, Judi Dench, and Helen Mirren. 'Women look at themselves in a different way today and because of that we are watched in a different way.'Advertisement

She recently starred in the hit series The Bodyguard which has gripped the nation, leaving viewers desperate to find out the real fate of her character Julia Montague, with many suspecting she is still alive after being caught up in an explosion.

However Keeley Hawes looked worlds away from her role as the Home Secretary as she strolled along the stoney shores in a structured pink dress while filming the fourth and final series of The Durrells in Corfu.

The actress, 42, was recently spotted up to her co-star Alexis Georgoulis during a lavish dinner in Kalami, however she appeared to be filming scenes without him on this occasion.

Pink lady: Keeley Hawes looked worlds away from her role as the Home Secretary as she strolled along the sandy shores in a structured pink dress while filming the fourth and final series of The Durrells in Corfu

Keeley's 1930's number was enhanced with button detailing along the neckline and waist band, it also included a slight pleat at the front of the frock.

The star paired her period look with a pair of Birkenstock-style sandals, while toting a rectangular raffia bag as she boarded a rib at the shore.

She also donned a floppy straw hat with floral applique, her locks were coiffed into a style typical of the era, set perfectly in elegant waves, while adding a vibrant slick of red lipstick.

Chic: The actress, 42, was recently spotted up to her co-star Alexis Georgoulis during a lavish dinner in Kalami, however she appeared to be filming scenes without him on this occasion

Details: Keeley's 1930's number was enhanced with button detailing along the neckline and waist band, it also included a slight pleat at the front of the frock

Beaming: The star paired her period look with a pair of Birkenstock-style sandals, while toting a rectangular raffia bag as she boarded a rib at the shore

Keeley, who appeared occupied chatting away on her phone, made her way down to the water to no doubt board the boat to another filming location.

She appeared in high spirits as she spoke to members of the crew, who looked laden with hair and make-up products in case any touch ups were needed.

Despite the declining temperatures back on home soil it looked to be gloriously sunny in Corfu, as the cast basked in the warmer climes.

Off they go! The crew and cast boarded a large rib at the shore, possibly to travel to a different filming location for the upcoming series

Elegant: Keeley, who appeared occupied chatting away on her phone, made her way down to the water to no doubt board the boat to another filming location

Taking direction: She also donned a floppy straw hat with floral applique, her locks were coiffed into a style typical of the era, set perfectly in elegant waves, while adding a vibrant slick of red lipstick

Keeley, who plays a widowed mother who moves her children to the Greek island, admitted that she and the cast of The Durrells are now recognised by Corfu's residents after filming three series on the island.

Speaking of the stir filming has caused to locals, Hawes said: 'People are always very pleased to see us.

'And now the series has been going for a few years, when people see the production trucks, they know exactly what it is. There's lots of shouts of, 'Oh Mrs Durrell, Mrs Durrell!'

Sunny day: Despite the declining temperatures back on home soil it looked to be gloriously sunny in Corfu, as the cast basked in the warmer climes

Boating: Keeley could be seen sat at the back of the little boat next to a member of the crew

Larking about: She seemed happy to have a joke around with the crew who were filming the scenes

'It's just very nice. Always a really positive thing.' She added: 'Sometimes people have been looking for us.'

'I went to Corfu Airport to go home for the weekend and was queuing to get on the plane when a lady came up to me with her little girl and said, 'We've been searching for you for 10 days and now we've found you!'

The comedy-drama adaptation of writer and naturalist Gerald Durrell's childhood memoir My Family And Other Animals, and its two sequels, sees Hawes play Gerald's mother Louisa.

Make-up team: Crew: She appeared in high spirits as she spoke to members of the crew, who looked laden with hair and make-up products in case any touch ups were needed

She is not the only star of the programme to have noticed an increase in attention on Corfu.

The programme has become loved by audiences for its comforting, family-friendly viewing, but Hawes said the new series addresses fascism and dictatorship in its setting of 1930s Greece.

Hawes said: 'It deals with all of these issues ahead of the Second World War. And we're still dealing with them today. It does resonate.'

Lush: Keeley, who plays a widowed mother who moves her children to the Greek island, admitted that she and the cast of The Durrells are now recognised by Corfu's residents after filming three series on the island

Happy to be here: Speaking of the stir filming has caused to locals, Hawes said: 'People are always very pleased to see us

Known by name: 'And now the series has been going for a few years, when people see the production trucks, they know exactly what it is. There's lots of shouts of, 'Oh Mrs Durrell, Mrs Durrell!'

'The Durrells is not mushy in anyway, ever. The cute stuff is always cut with very sharp humour and observation, so it's never twee.'

She added: 'The Durrells were immigrants to Corfu and were completely welcomed. They had a wonderful time in a period where things were about to become very messy.

'It was a very well-timed thing for them to do. For Gerry to have that childhood and that moment.'

Positive: 'It's just very nice. Always a really positive thing.' She added: 'Sometimes people have been looking for us.'

'We've found you': 'I went to Corfu Airport to go home for the weekend and was queuing to get on the plane when a lady came up to me with her little girl and said, 'We've been searching for you for 10 days and now we've found you!'

Real life: The comedy-drama adaptation of writer and naturalist Gerald Durrell's childhood memoir My Family And Other Animals, and its two sequels, sees Hawes play Gerald's mother Louisa

Meanwhile, Keeley's apparent death in Sunday night's penultimate episode of Bodyguard left fans in uproar.

Dedicated followers are now convinced she's still alive after Julia Montague made a brief appearance in a teaser clip from the finale.

The BBC One series has achieved consolidated viewing figures of 10.4 million for its first episode. This is the highest launch figure for any new drama across all UK channels since 2006, the corporation said.

Increased attention: She is not the only star of the programme to have noticed an increase in attention on Corfu

Much-loved: The programme has become loved by audiences for its comforting, family-friendly viewing, but Hawes said the new series addresses fascism and dictatorship in its setting of 1930s Greece

Hawes said: 'It deals with all of these issues ahead of the Second World War. And we're still dealing with them today. It does resonate.'

Humour: 'The Durrells is not mushy in anyway, ever. The cute stuff is always cut with very sharp humour and observation, so it's never twee.'

She added: 'The Durrells were immigrants to Corfu and were completely welcomed. They had a wonderful time in a period where things were about to become very messy

Returning: 'It was a very well-timed thing for them to do. For Gerry to have that childhood and that moment.' The Durrells returns on March 18 at 8pm on ITV'

In uproar: Meanwhile, Keeley's apparent death in Sunday night's penultimate episode of Bodyguard left fans in uproar

Teaser: Dedicated followers are now convinced she's still alive after Julia Montague made a brief appearance in a teaser clip from the finale

Record breaker: The BBC One series has achieved consolidated viewing figures of 10.4 million for its first episode. This is the highest launch figure for any new drama across all UK channels since 2006, the corporation said

Hot: Keeley dabbed at her face in the sweltering heat accompanied by a make-up artist and other members of the crew

Back on dry land: The team left the jetty after hopping off the boat and headed back to land

Stunning location: Keeley chatted on her phone while standing on the pier

Milling around: Members of the cast and crew alike chatted in the sun between scenes

Bad service? Keeley appeared to be struggling with her phone call as strolled along the beachShe gave birth to her first child Santiago Enrique in June.

And Eva Longoria showed she's every inch the yummy mummy landing in Paris with her baby son on Sunday.

The Golden Globe winning actress, 43, travelled in style wearing an all black ensemble, dark shades and a sun hat.

Eva Longoria, 43, showed she's every inch the yummy mummy landing in Paris with her son on Sunday

Where are we mummy? Three-month old Santiago has travelled with Eva while she's been filming Dora the Explorer

The former Desperate Housewives star looked smitten with her three-month old son as she strolled thought the French capital.

The new mum carried a baby blanket in one arm and pushed the stroller with the other.

Opting for comfort, the L'Oreal model, wore black leggings and a skin-tight black t-shirt, emphasising her enviable curves.

Keeping it cool: The new mum carried a baby blanket in one arm and pushed the stroller with the other

Black leather boots, a matching fedora and sunglasses topped off the star's look.

Appearing make-up free, the natural beauty who landed from Australia where she was filming Dora the Explorer, looked radiant as she strolled through arrivals.

She shares three month old son Santiago with husband Jose Baston.

Star power: Appearing make-up free, the natural beauty who landed from Australia where she was filming Dora the Explorer, looked radiant as she strolled through arrivals

She previously described the child, who was born in Los Angeles in June, as a 'beautiful blessing'.

During a recent appearance on Lorraine, Eva spoke candidly about getting back into shape after her pregnancy.

'[Santiago] was fully cooked, so I just kept getting bigger and bigger,' she said.

'It's definitely going to take some effort to get back to the way I was.'She known for her age-defying beauty and youthful looks.

And Eva Herzigova made sure all eyes were on her as she stunned in striking black ruffles at Dolce & Gabbana Milan Fashion Week showcase.

The Czech supermodel, 45, looked half her age as she strutted down the runway as the week came to a close.

Chic: Eva Herzigova, 45, made sure all eyes were on her as she stunned in striking black ruffles at Dolce & Gabbana Milan Fashion Week showcase

Her trademark blonde tresses were elegantly tied back into a low bun and a giant red rose was planted in her up do.

A statement piece comprising of a vast and voluminous black gown with a train and dramatic shoulders showed of her enviably tiny midriff.

Light make-up highlighted her natural beauty, as extravagant gold earrings tumbled down to the nape of her neck.

A pale pink lip showed off her killer pout, with just a lick of black mascara and blusher to emphasise her model good looks.

Veteran model: A statement piece comprising of a vast and voluminous black gown with a train and dramatic shoulders showed of her enviably tiny midriff

Huge ruffles swamped her enviable chest, stopping halfway down her ample bosom to show an elegant black bra underneath a sheer fabric.

Her washboard abs were clearly on show through the black lace, before the oversized ruffles began again swamping the models lithe limbs.

With decades of modelling experience under her belt ever since she won the 1989 beauty contest in Prague, it was no surprise Eva demanded the attention with her enticing display.

Strike a pose: Huge ruffles swamped her enviable chest, stopping halfway down her ample bosom to show an elegant black bra underneath a sheer fabric

Earlier this year, she appeared in high spirits as she was christened in an intimate ceremony during her her eldest child's First Communion service in Liguria, Italy.

Eva and her son George were surrounded by their loved ones as they took to the altar for their religious ceremonies.

A Christening serves as a symbol of purification and admission to the Christian Church, while Communion is an act which involves eating bread and wine to reenact the Last Supper.

Age-defying: The Czech supermodel, 45, looked half her age as she strutted down the runway as the week came to a close

In an interview with Hello!, Eva shared details on her thoughts on motherhood saying: 'I breathe for my boys and there are times when my husband reminds me to be a bit more selfish and to think of myself as well.'

The star of the iconic 1994 Wonderbra 'Hello Boys' campaign swore of marriage after a turbulent divorce from Bon Jovi drummer Tico Torres.

But the blonde beauty announced her engagement to the father of her three children, Gregorio Marsiaj, last March, after a 16 year romance.

Superstars: The Dolce & Gabana show was a who's who of the modelling world with models such as Emily Ratajkowski and Ashley Graham walking

The Dolce & Gabana show was a who's who of the modelling world.

The Italian designers chose modern day fashion greats, including Emily Ratajkowski, Ashley Graham and Princess Diana's niece Lady Kitty Spencer, to rub shoulders with a host of fashion legends, including 53-year-old Monica Bellucci and 49-year-old Helena Christensen, to model all the hottest looks of the coming season.

D&G as a brand has been open in recent years in its quest to have a more inclusive catwalk than others, so frequently turn their back on the recycled models of fashion week in favour of edgier choices.He naturally has a lot more time on his hands now after announcing his retirement from surfing earlier this year.

And it looks like the 3x World Champion, who was born in Penrith, New South Wales, may have found a second calling in life as smouldering fashion model.

The 37-year-old was back by the water once again during a recent shoot for GQ Style, but this time he swapped his surfboard for a stylist it seems.

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Retirement looks good on you! Aussie surf legend Mick Fanning poses in a beach shoot for GQ Style... after revealing dreams of starting a family

Mick, nicknamed White Lightening, stuck to what he knows best for the edgy photoshoot, which is featured in the upcoming issue of the magazine.

In one of the photographs, Mick kept it simple in a singlet by leading Australian surf brand Rip Curl.

His playful scowl and gentle stubble is sure to send pulses races.

Another photo showed the star glancing into the distance with a pensive look across his face, as the setting sun casts a warm glow across him.

In the magazine, Mick shared the 10 commandments that have helped him become not only the greatest surfer this country has ever produced but a true Aussie icon.

Hot stuff: The 37-year-old was back by the water once again during a recent shoot, but this time he swapped his surfboard for a stylist it seems

Mick announced his retirement from surfing in February.

In a statement at the time, the Tweed Heads resident said: 'It's been something I've been doing for 17 years, and even before that through QS and Juniors, and I feel that I just can't give it 100 per cent anymore.'

'I'm just not enjoying it as much as I was in the past.'

'I still love surfing, and I'm still super excited by it, but I feel that's there's other paths for me to take at this stage in my life.'

'I'm just not enjoying it as much as I was in the past': Mick announced his retirement from surfing in February after 17 years out on the water

Since then, Mick recently opened up to the Daily Telegraph about his hopes of starting a family and becoming a father.

'One day I am going to have kids and I'm going to have grandkids,' he told the publication.

'For them not to be able to go and see bears or rhinos is pretty heartbreaking.'

'One day I am going to have kids and I'm going to have grandkids,' earlier this month he opened up about his hopes of starting a family, but feared certain endangered animals may not be around then for them to see

'As humans we keep killing off these incredible creatures and that gives me heartache.'

'If we can save these animals and people can still see them, that is the goal for me.'

Mick's interview was promoting his work saving endangered bears and rhinos with organisation Wild Ark.Danniella Westbrook has been pictured for the first time since she bravely revealed she is battling womb cancer.

The former EastEnders star, 44, cut a casual figure as she was spotted making a phone call while walking around London on Sunday afternoon.

Danniella wore a pair of jeans, a red hoodie, an oversized blue bomber jacket and a pair of white trainers.

Heartbreaking news: Danniella Westbrook has been pictured for the first time since she bravely revealed she is battling womb cancer

The actress appeared to go make-up free as she tucked her hair into a a grey baker boy hat.

Danniella's appearance comes after she bravely revealed she is battling womb cancer and admitted that she is terrified by the thought of dying.

The 44-year-old soap star said she has been thinking about her late friend Jade Goody - who died of cervical cancer in 2009.

The former EastEnders actress is set to have a hysterectomy in three weeks time as she battles the disease.

Brave revelation: The former EastEnders star, 44, cut a casual figure as she was spotted making a phone call while walking around London on Sunday afternoon

Casual Sunday: Danniella wore a pair of jeans, a red hoodie, an oversized blue bomber jacket and a pair of white trainers

Speaking to The Mirror, she explained: 'I've always said I am not scared of dying. But when the doctor said, "You have cancer", straight away my thoughts turned to Jade and that I don't want to die.'

Jade died in 2009, aged 27, after a short battle with cervical cancer that promoted a surge in women having cervical screenings.

Danniella, who has two children, added: 'Getting this diagnosis has made me realise I don't want to die. I want to live and sort out my health.

'I know I have to fight, I know I have to get up and battle it.'

Low profile: The actress appeared to go make-up free as she tucked her hair into a a grey baker boy hat

Upsetting news: Danniella has revealed she is battling womb cancer (pictured at the UK Glamour Awards in London on Thursday)

Late friend: The 44-year-old actress admitted she has been thinking about her late friend Jade Goody - who died of cervical cancer in 2009 (pictured together in 2005)

The star, whose mother also battled the disease and is now cancer-free, revealed that doctors initially misdiagnosed her illness after finding a tangerine-sized clot in her womb, mistakenly believing she was pregnant.

After collapsing in the UK, Danniella was rushed to the hospital by her best friend Kerry Katona, but didn't receive the cancer diagnosis until she had returned home to Spain.

In July, Danniella took to Twitter to reveal that Kerry had come to her rescue as her 'blood was burning'.

Misdiagnosed: The star revealed that doctors initially misdiagnosed her illness after finding a tangerine-sized clot in her womb, mistakenly believing she was pregnant

The former Celebrity Big Brother star said at the time that she was being treated for two blood infections, which she claimed were a result of dental implants that she had during the filming of Celebrity Botched Up Bodies.

She wrote: 'Thanks my darling @kerrykatona did a 2 &1/2 hour journey to get to me &get meto the hospital. I had pjs on was so weak.

'Was both in tears thought I was gonna die my blood was burning & no one was listening 2 me. Kez took me In & made them listen. I trust her with my life'.

Explaining why she posted about the ordeal, the former EastEnder's star said she wanted to be clear about why she was in hospital.

'Thank you all 4 ur kindness,I tweeted b4 people who took pictures of me being brought in sold them & false allegations were made.

'I had 2 blood infections &wrong medication. I just wish @BotchedTV @UnitedSmileCtrs would take responsibility 4 this & put it right'.

In November 2016, it was reported that Danniella was suing the makers of Celebrity Botched Up Bodies, with the star claiming dental implants she had fitted on the show left her with blood poisoning.

Best friend: After collapsing in the UK, Danniella was rushed to the hospital by her best friend Kerry Katona, but didn't receive the cancer diagnosis until she had returned home to Spain

Last month, Danniella took to Twitter to confess she had made 'some bad choices' as a result of discovering 'bad news' about her health, later confirming that she began using cocaine again after learning of her diagnoses.

In a candid message, the reality star, who previously admitted to first experimenting drugs at 14, revealed she has a 'tendency to run back to what I know in times of struggle and hardship.'

Revealing details of her 'addiction' with her keen fans, the Celebrity Big Brother star admitted: 'Human beings make mistakes...Its insane but its addiction (sic).'

'I hate it & I hate myself after but tbh its a illness that twists ur soul. But its 1 I battle and wont let get the better of me', she continued.

Hospitalised: In July, Danniella took to Twitter to reveal that Kerry had come to her rescue as her 'blood was burning' whilst she battled with two blood infections

Confessing that she jetted off to her holiday hotspot of Spain for time away from her stresses, Danniella went on: 'Always x I have had bad news of late about my health and i did what I always do and buried my head for a few weeks in Spain.. made some bad choices because the news has rocked me .. x.'

As a young actress in the spotlight, Danniella famously snorted so much cocaine that she damaged her nasal septum in 2001, leading her to have restorative surgery.

She had been off drugs for more than a decade but first turned to them once again thanks to a turbulent relationship with 25-year-old cage fighter Tom Richards.

She admitted it was difficult having to deal with her problems in the media spotlight, especially as she has met people who have sold stories about her for their own financial gain.

Speaking on This Morning in 2016, Danniella admitted: 'Myself and my kids have been through a tough time with my ex partner... I have made a lot of mistakes. I relapsed because I wanted to after I was clean for 13 years.

'We all battle with our demons but mine are in the public eye,' she concluded.Advertisement

She's the Brazilian bombshell who made her name as a Victoria's Secret Angel.

And Alessandra Ambrosio made sure all eyes were on her as she attended the Green Carpet Fashion Awards 2018 in Milan, Italy, on Sunday night.

The supermodel, 37, joined the likes of Cindy Crawford, Sara Sampaio and Colin Firth's wife Livia Giuggioli at the star-studded event during Milan Fashion Week.

Stylish trio: Alessandra Ambrosio made sure all eyes were on her as she attended the Green Carpet Fashion Awards 2018 in Milan, Italy, on Sunday night

Alessandra set pulses racing as she showed off her ample assets in a black patterned plunging ruffled gown, which cinched in at the waist with a black velvet belt.

The mother-of-two styled her brunette locks into a glossy tousled ponytail, as she left the front strands loose for a relaxed look.

She added a slick of glamorous make-up, which included winged eyeliner, sun-kissed bronzer and a pink lip gloss.

Star-studded: The supermodel, 37, joined the likes of Cindy Crawford, Sara Sampaio and Colin Firth's wife Livia Giuggioli at the star-studded event during Milan Fashion Week

Hot stuff: Alessandra set pulses racing as she showed off her ample assets in a black patterned plunging ruffled gown, which cinched in at the waist with a black velvet belt

Yummy mummy: The mother-of-two styled her brunette locks into a glossy tousled ponytail, as she left the front strands loose for a relaxed look

Cindy, 52, looked age-defying in a satin green dress, which had a black embroidered corset top and a wrap skirt with a daring front slit.

She accessorised the ensemble with matching coloured barely-there heeled sandals, dangly diamond earrings and a mirrored clutch bag.

The supermodel styled her brunette locks into a blow-dried sweptback hairdo, as she added a smokey eye shadow and pink lipstick.

Age-defying: The supermodel styled her brunette locks into a blow-dried sweptback hairdo, as she added a smokey eye shadow and pink lipstick

Flawless: Cindy, 52, looked age-defying in a satin green dress, which had a black embroidered corset top and a wrap skirt with a daring front slit

Stunning: Cindy wore a glamorous palette of make-up to accentuate her pretty features

Wow! The model posed up a storm at the venue as she walked through the picturesque building

Having fun: Cindy even posed for photos with police officers at the venue, who were dressed to impress in their uniforms

Gal pals: Cindy could be seen posing for photos with Livia Firth for photos

Dinner: Cindy spent the evening sat with Hari Nef (left), who wore Gucci, and Marco Bizzarri who looked dapper in a suit

Pretty in pink: Sara looked pretty in pink as she showed off her enviable figure in a candy floss coloured plunging and cut-out evening gown, with a dramatic chiffon train at the back

Stunning: The Victoria's Secret Angel, 27, styled her brunette locks into a ballerina-styled high bun, with the front strands left loose

Work it: She added a slick of make-up, which included a smokey pink eye shadow, blusher and a nude lipstick

Strike a pose: The Portuguese model knew how to work her best angles as she posed up a storm on the green carpet with designer Alberta Ferretti

Sara looked pretty in pink as she showed off her enviable figure in a candy floss coloured plunging and cut-out evening gown, with a dramatic chiffon train at the back.

The Victoria's Secret Angel, 27, styled her brunette locks into a ballerina-styled high bun, with the front strands left loose.

She added a slick of make-up, which included a smokey pink eye shadow, blusher and a nude lipstick.

Chic: Colin Firth's wife Livia Giuggioli looked effortlessly elegant in a loose-fitting blue chiffon evening gown, with slightly flared sleeves and a cinched in waist

Enjoying the evening: Caroline Scheufele and Livia Firth spent time together at the event

Handsome: Colin Firth looked dapper in a black tuxedo with a crisp white shirt underneath and a black bow tie

Together: Livia and Colin posed for looked glamorous alongside Carlo Capasa (left) and Stefania Rocca (centre right)

Strike a pose: Also in attendance was Emily Ratajkowski who took inspiration from her wedding outfit as she rocked a mustard yellow coloured satin shirt and shorts combination, which had a cut-out to show off her washboard abs

Details: The model, 27, accessorised her look with a pair of white square heeled sandals, a tiny bottle green clutch bag and oversized gold disk earrings

Smile: Emily styled her raven locks into a sleek high bun with her front strands left loose, she added a slick of minimal make-up and a nude lip gloss

Busy bee: The Gone Girl actress has been spotted at several shows during Milan Fashion Week and even walked the catwalk for Versace earlier this week

Colin Firth's wife Livia Giuggioli looked effortlessly elegant in a loose-fitting blue chiffon evening gown, with slightly flared sleeves and a cinched in waist.

She accessorised her look with a silver clutch bag, diamond earrings and metallic barely-there heeled sandals.

Also in attendance was Emily Ratajkowski who took inspiration from her wedding outfit as she rocked a mustard yellow coloured satin shirt and shorts combination, which had a cut-out to show off her washboard abs.

Work it: Stella Maxwell also walked the green carpet as she showcased her slender figure in a strapless white denim and silver sequined patterned jumpsuit, with stripes on the leg

Elegant: Cate Blanchett looked effortlessly chic in a cropped white culotte jumpsuit, she added a matching coloured jacket with a red and blue pattern on it

Stylish: The actress, 49, added height to her frame with a pair of red stilettos and a pair of diamond earrings

Glamorous footwear: Cate channelled her inner Dorothy as she stepped out in dark red heels

Chatting away: Cate and Colin talked away as they sat together during the evening's dinner

Together: Cate posed with Australian woolgrowers Richard Weatherly, Jenny Weatherly, Vanessa Dunbabin and Matt Dunbabi

The model, 27, accessorised her look with a pair of white square heeled sandals, a tiny bottle green clutch bag and oversized gold disk earrings.

Emily styled her raven locks into a sleek high bun with her front strands left loose, she added a slick of minimal make-up.

Stella Maxwell also walked the green carpet as she showcased her slender figure in a strapless white denim and silver sequined patterned jumpsuit, with stripes on the leg.

Supermodel stardom: Elle Macpherson looked chic in a black blazer and trouser combination

Runs in the family: The supermodel, 54, attended the event with her son Flynn Busson, 20, who wore a blue tuxedo

Talented: Elle was crowned as the winner of The Wellness Award at the Green Carpet Fashion Awards

Stunning: Julianne Moore looked sensational in a bold lilac halterneck dress with matching coloured shoes

Gorgeous couple: The Still Alice star, 57, attended the fashion event with her husband Bart Freundlich, 48

Hollywood's finest: Julianne and Cate looked glamorous as they posed side-by-side

Star-studded: Vogue editor Anna Wintour also attended the event as she wore a green sequined and beaded dress

Having a good time: Anna spent time with Francesco Carrozzini at the event

The Victoria's Secret Angel model, 28, who is dating actress Kristen Stewart, kept her accessories minimal as she added height to her frame with a pair of black heels.

Stella styled her blonde locks into a sweptback hairdo, she added a slick of glamorous make-up to complete her look.

Cate Blanchett looked effortlessly chic in a cropped white culotte jumpsuit, she added a matching coloured jacket with a red and blue heart pattern on it.

Blonde beauty: Lady Victoria Harvey put on a leggy display in a blue multi-patterned dress with a daring slit at the front

Details: The socialite, 41, accessorised her look with a metallic clutch bag and diamond barely-there heeled sandals

Chic: Olivia Palermo looked sensational in a black high-neck sheer chiffon gown, with a ruffled neckline, camisole underneath and ribbon waist tie

Stylish duo: The business woman, 32, was joined by her husband, Johannes Huebl, who looked dapper in a navy blue coloured tuxedo with a blue bow tie

She added height to her frame with a pair of red stilettos and a pair of diamond earrings.

The actress, 49, styled her cropped blonde locks into a curly tousled hairdo as she added a touch of make-up.

Olivia Palermo looked sensational in a black high-neck sheer chiffon gown, with a ruffled neckline, camisole underneath and ribbon waist tie.

Flamboyant style: Paloma Faith was also in attendance as she wore a nude sheer plisse dress, which had dramatic cut-out cape arms and a high-neck

Strike a pose: She completed her look with a pair of oversized retro-looking glasses, a curly hairdo and a slick of red lipstick

Ethereal: Petra Nemcova put on a leggy display in a black and white silk dress with kimono-style sleeves and a daring slit at the front

Stylish: Calu Rivero, Amy Jackson and Stefania Spampinato were also in attendance

Work it: Doina Ciobanu, 24, showed off her toned figure in a backless beige halterneck dress with a detailed hem

Elegant: Isabeli Fontana looked elegant in a striped frayed dress as she walked the green carpet

The business woman, 32, was joined by her husband, Johannes Huebl, who looked dapper in a navy blue coloured tuxedo with a blue bow tie.

Paloma Faith was also in attendance as she wore a nude sheer plisse dress, which had dramatic cut-out cape arms and a high-neck.

She completed her look with a pair of oversized retro-looking glasses, a curly hairdo and a slick of red lipstick.

Chic: Caroline Vreeland and Francesca Versace were also in attendance at the star-studded event

Talented: Donatella Versace was crowned the winner of the The CNMI in Recognition for Sustainability award

Statement: Anna Dello Russo made a bold fashion statement in a black bandeau top and high-waisted hotpants with a black lace cage dress over the top

Stylish: Kat Graham wore a black and white patterned sequinned dress with cut-outs on the torso

Loved-up couple: Jeremy Irvine arrived at the event with his girlfriend Jodie SpencerShe knows how to turn heads.

And Brigitte Nielsen was at it again Saturday night as she attended the 49th Anniversary Gala Vanguard Awards honoring LGBT advocacy in Los Angeles on Saturday night.

Not only was the star wowing with her low-cut dress, but she couldn't help but shower her husband Mattia Dessi with kisses as the couple put on a loved-up display on the red carpet.

Stunning! Brigitte Nielsen turned heads as she attended the 49th Anniversary Gala Vanguard Awards honoring LGBT advocacy in Los Angeles on Saturday night

The twosome shared a sweet kiss while posing for pictures.

Brigitte dazzled in her sparkling dark number, which clung to her figure and skimmed the floor.

She carried pretty silver clutch with an array of fringe.

Mattia looked sharp in a silver jacket, midnight blue tie, and crisp black button-down shirt.

Pucker up! Not only was the star wowing with her low-cut dress, but she couldn't help but shower her husband with kisses as the couple put on a loved-up display on the red carpet

Wow: Brigitte dazzled in her sparkling dark number, which clung to her figure and skimmed the floor

It takes two! Nielsen cosied up to her other half as they enjoyed a date night out

The couple are proud parents after welcoming their first child together over the summer.

The 6ft 1in beauty - who has four adult sons - gave birth to a baby girl back in June.

The Rocky star conceived her youngest child through in vitro fertilization, having had the foresight when she was 40 to have her eggs frozen.

The five-times married actress and model shares son, Julian Winding, 34, with her first husband, Kasper Winding, she also has 28-year-old Killian Gastineau with ex-fiance Mark Gastineau and has two sons with fourth husband Raoul Meyer - Douglas Aaron, 25, and 23-year-old Raoul, Jr.

Recently, the star showed off the newborn in a social media photo; she wrote in the caption: 'She is my rainbow'.

Look who's here! Nielsen flashed a smile while striking a pose with Ricky Martin

Tons of fun! The former Surreal Life star shared the spotlight with Tara Reid and Kelly RipaShe's been walking the runway at some of the biggest shows during Fashion Week.

But on Sunday, Emily Ratajkowski, 27, appeared to have turned the streets of Milan into her own catwalk, as she left Dolce & Gabbana's Spring Summer 2019 exhibition in Italy.

The 27-year-old beauty coordinated her apparel in a two-piece brown outfit, which she had paired with a see-through bag of the same color.

Mayhem in Europe: Emily Ratajkowski appeared to have turned the streets of Milan into her own catwalk as she left Dolce & Gabbana's Spring Summer 2019 exhibition in Italy

While exiting the venue, Emily was also seen wearing a pair of nude open-toed heels, which correlated effortlessly with her sophisticated ensemble, finalizing her look with oval sunglasses and dangle earrings.

Emily had just walked the runway minutes before making her departure.

And given that she's a social media fanatic, the Winchester native didn't hesitate to make it known that one of her biggest dreams had just been fulfilled.

'DOLCE & GABBANA thank you @dolcegabbana for this beautiful look! An Italian dream,' the Gone Girl actress gushed to her 19.6 million followers.

Simple yet stunning: The 27-year-old beauty coordinated her apparel in a two-piece brown outfit, which she had paired with a transparent bag of the same color

Model pal: During the public outing, Ratajkowski was joined by Stella Maxwell

During the public outing, Ratajkowski was joined by fellow model Stella Maxwell.

The Victoria's Secret Angel's apparel was quite the contrast as she donned her all-black attire consisting of a leather jacket, striped black pants, and a pair of Adidas sneakers.

Maxwell added a stylish printed 'She brings the Rain' shirt to her ensemble with an accompanied bag over her shoulder.

A day prior, Emily had graced the runway to present Versace's new Spring Summer line, which had proven to be another stellar moment for the model.

'(sparkle emoji) VERSACE (sparkle emoji) an absolute dream! Thank you to the incredible @donatella_versace and the whole @versace team for this moment.'

Her ensemble: While exiting the venue, Emily was also seen wearing a pair of nude open-toed heels, which correlated effortlessly with her sophisticated attire

Though she's accumulated an impressive following on social media, Emily admits that sharing photos of herself can be tiresome at times.

In a candid interview with Pop Sugar, Emily notes how people often criticize her for flaunting her ample assets, which has apparently given the impression that she's self-obsessed when it comes to her looks.

In response, however, Emily begs to differ.

Keeping her composure: The British model appeared cool as fans rushed to her side

Booming career: Since her breakout role as Andie Fitzgerald in 2014's Gone Girl, Ratajkowski has landed quite a handful of acting roles in Hollywood

'It's literally just my body. For women, it's such a huge part of our identity,' she told the publication in July. 'I'm a human, and no one out there is perfect. You're not going to love yourself every f****** day  that's too much.'

'I definitely have those issues and deal with it where I look in the mirror and I'm just like, "Oh, God. Not today. Please, not today." Finding a way to kind of get past that and love yourself and give yourself a break. I love that I am imperfect.'

Aside from her booming modeling career, Emily is also making a name for herself in the world of film and television.

Tired yet? She had just walked the runway for Dolce & Gabbana, but Emily appeared far from tired as she left the event in Milan, Italy

Since her breakout role as Andie Fitzgerald in 2014's Gone Girl, Ratajkowski has landed quite a handful of acting roles in Hollywood.

She's expected to star alongside Lisa Kudrow and YouTube personality Lilly Singh in the upcoming NBC comedy Bright Futures.

According to Deadline, Ratajkowski will play girl-next-door type Sarah, a woman who can 'just as easily bro out with the guys as she can be the girliest girl.'

The pilot is not expected to premiere until 2019.

An official release date has yet to be announced by the network.So now we know the terrible truth. Julia Montague (Keeley Hawes) really is dead. She wasnt resting. She wasnt just stunned. She is no more, she has ceased to be, she has expired and gone to meet her maker.

In last nights finale of Bodyguard (BBC One), millions of viewers anxiously watched for a resurrection scene featuring the Home Secretary. Would she appear in the shower, soaping herself with the conceit that it was all a dream, just like Bobby Ewing in Dallas? Could she have been faking her own death in a complicated attempt to flush out those who were trying to kill her? Or was she being kept captive against her will, by any number of bad guys (and gals) who wanted her out of the way?

Sadly, none of the above. Tough, brilliant, uncompromising, scheming Julia was a marvellous character, her strengths and weaknesses laid bare in another great performance from Miss Hawes. The flick of an eyelid, the tremor of her hand, the way her power heels rang through the corridors of Westminster? All pitch perfect. We wanted much, much more of her  but tragically she really did die in the bomb blast in episode three.

Jan Moir reviews the finale of the BBC's Bodyguard and sadly admits that it seems as if Julia Montague really is dead

Bodyguard writer and creator Jed Mercurio took a huge risk in killing off Julia, thus snuffing out the sexual tension and emotional dynamic at the heart of this six-part series.

The relationship between Lavender (Montagues security code name) and her bodyguard David Budd (Richard Madden) was the only sparky reprieve in what became an increasingly complex and dark thriller. Did this drama ever really recover from her demise? Perhaps not. How I kept yearning for Julia to jump out from behind the sofa, her cut-glass voice delivering another withering put-down before she crashed back into bed with her darling Budd.

Post-Julia, it all roared into a straightforward whodunnit, albeit one that played with audience preconceptions about gender and race, testing bias and prejudice with every twist and turn.

Early in the series, Mercurio was criticised in some liberal quarters for using so-called Islamophobic stereotypes in a key scene that featured Nadia (Anjli Mohindra) as a terrified would-be suicide bomber. It was also wrong, apparently, to depict a Muslim woman as a submissive drone, controlled by her husband.

It certainly was. Nadia finally revealed herself to be the chief bomb maker, a vortex of evil fed up of being dismissed as a passive wife. I built all the bombs. You all saw me as a poor oppressed Muslim woman. I am an engineer. I am the bomb maker, she crowed while in custody, a terrible expression of triumph and glee spreading across her face.

The relationship between Lavender (Montagues security code name) and her bodyguard David Budd (Richard Madden) was the only sparky reprieve in what became an increasingly complex and dark thriller

Elsewhere there was police corruption (of course), political dirty tricks (natch) and a plotline that was largely powered by the actions of key female characters.

Six questions that still need to be answered How did organised crime boss Luke Aitkens manage to buy a bomb from Nadia when she had been in police custody since episode one, long before the first failed attempt on Julias life?

Why did Aitkenss henchmen remove the bullets from David Budds secret ex-Army gun and replace them with blanks? If they were so worried he would shoot them in a confrontation, why not just steal his gun?

Was it just a coincidence that failed sniper Andy Apsted and Budd were ex-Army friends? Chief Superintendent Lorraine Craddock said that Budd was a fall guy from the beginning. Did she know that the men both served in Helmand? What led Aitkens to Apsted, and then to provide him with a gun, a security pass and information that led to an attempt on the ministers life?

Security services goon Richard Longcross told Julia the kompromat on the tablet was encrypted, and would disappear. How did it remain there, over six weeks after her death?

What was the score with Chanel Dyson, the coffee-throwing ex-SpAd who led Budd into a terrible trap? Was she Aitkenss lover?

Who was Julia Montague? Was she a power-mad politician keen to get to the top? Or did she merely want a bad man expunged from office, and ultimately what was best for the country? Advertisement

Although she had spent much of the last five weeks hovering around like a copshop Countess Dracula, her chalky face set in grim folds and her accent inexplicable  Geordieshire? Leedspool?  the heroine of the hour turned out to be Met Commander Anne Sampson (Gina McKee).

A woman was murdered. A crime was committed. My officers will investigate, she barked, as the sinister chap from Security Services and the creepy cove from the Home Office scuffed their shoes like schoolboys.

The inside man turned out to be an inside woman, when Budds boss Chief Superintendent Lorraine Craddock (Pippa Haywood) was revealed to be in the long-time pay of organised crime bosses, siphoning out operational information in return for hard cash.

What on earth had she done with all that money? Surely there are only so many boxy beige M&S blazers a woman can buy?

Meanwhile, terrible things were happening to Budd. He was always covered in questionable bloodstains, which appeared to have been shot at close range by a toddler armed with a squeezy tomato ketchup bottle.

And the poor bloke spent about an hour of this special 75-minute episode strapped inside a suicide vest, stretching credulity to the limit when he clambered out of a London dungeon and on to the citys streets. For this scene he seemed to have applied a fresh raspberry jam face pack and had thoughtfully thrown a makeshift cape over his bombs.

There is a fine line between great drama and absurdity, and there were moments when Bodyguard and its bloodied Caped Crusader nearly fell into total farce. Yet it never did.

The tense scenes managed to be both gripping and touching as this wounded man struggled on with his quest for the truth. Who had killed his beloved Lavender?

When Budd finally confronted her killer he howled. He roared. He almost turned green and burst out of his shirt. No wonder Sampson sent him to Occupational Health to sort out his problems.

Somehow, there was a happy end for Sergeant Budd, when he drove off into the sunset with his wife at his side

My name is David, I need some help, he told the shrink. He sure does! He had an affair with the Home Secretary, he has been affected by PTSD, no end of baddies want him dead and no one believes he is telling the truth.

Yet somehow, there was a happy end for Sergeant Budd, when he drove off into the sunset with his wife at his side. And despite the lashings of tomato sauce and the weird women, that was the most unbelievable thing of all.

Still confused? Your guide to who the baddies were

In the end, Bodyguard seethed with three major  but separate  conspiracies and at least one red herring plot writes Jan Moir.

First, there was the Jihadi Conspiracy, in which master bomber Nadia plotted to take revenge on Sergeant David Budd by blowing up the school his children attended.

Why? Because he had stopped her attacking a train in episode one, proving that no good deed goes unpunished. She also supplied organised crime boss Luke Aitkens (Matt Stokoe) with the bomb that killed Home Secretary Julia Montague, although that was the extent of their collaboration.

Then there was the Organised Crime Conspiracy, in which Aitkens was attempting to kill Montague because her beefed up surveillance RIPA-18 plans meant increased security into criminal communications, therefore curtailing his illegal activities. He bribed Chief Superintendent Lorraine Craddock into revealing the Home Secretarys itinerary, resulting in the security breaches that eventually killed her.

Nadia finally revealed herself to be the chief bomb maker, a vortex of evil fed up of being dismissed as a passive wife

He also wanted Montague dead because RIPA-18 would hand more powers to the Security Services. He wanted them to stay within the police, who he could manipulate through his long-term mole, Craddock. For some years I disclosed sensitive information on police operations that might threaten his criminal activities, she admitted in custody.

Finally there was the Security Services Conspiracy, led by the organisations director general Stephen Hunter-Dunn  partly in league with Montague herself. The Services were plotting to get rid of the Prime Minister and install Montague at No 10, because her RIPA-18 would give them greater powers. She was ambitious for the top job and appeared to have struck a deal for them to give her the kompromat  damaging information about the Prime Minister including claims of sex assault, drug addiction and financial impropriety. In exchange, she would give them more control over criminal and counter-terror activities.

There was also a Home Office plot to discredit Montague  but they did not appear to want to kill her. Or did they? In one telling exchange, Met Commander Anne Sampson confronted Hunter-Dunn and Home Office No 2, Mike Travis, over the kompromat.

You both have so much to lose that you never wanted its existence to be revealed because it would show the hand of the Security Services in a failed coup. And despite your convincing assurances that the Home Offices role in Julias death was purely accidental, I wonder if the public will be equally convinced? she said.

In the end, Aitkens, Craddock and Nadia were charged with conspiracy to murder. Sergeant David Budd emerged as the hero of the hour, as we always knew he would.Bodyguard finished by going back to the beginning, and revealing the real significance of the scene that started the six weeks of sensational television half the country has been following: the incident on the train.

This was only appropriate because Jed Mercurios final tally of culprits reached almost Murder On The Orient Express proportions with a list comprising: Prime Minister John Vosler, MI5 Director-General Stephen Hunter-Dunn, his sinister sidekick Richard Longcross, Chief Whip Roger Penhaligon, acting Home Secretary Mike Travis, his special advisor Rob Macdonald, Julia Montagues former PR Chanel Sam Dyson, Chief Supt. Lorraine Craddock, criminal Luke Aitken, ex-soldier Andy Apstead, and the would-be suicide bomber from the scene on the train, Nadia.

It meant that viewers could feel vindicated, virtually whichever character they had plumped for as their prime suspect.

Intense: After five weeks of intense episodes, and sparking numerous questions and theories, Bodyguard wowed fans with its intense finale

Line Of Duty fans who had expected SO-15 would have a corrupt insider (in the vein of D.I. Dot Cotton) admittedly were wrong. PC Tom Fenton remained sitting mostly in the background while DCI Sharma and DS Louise Rayburn were not too good to be true, or too nice to be trustworthy, after all but the hero and the heroine that ensured DS Budds survival and everyone elses demise.

As for Commander Anne Sampson, even DCI Sharma, seemed to suspect.

Luke Aitken was a significant player in organised crime, he reminded her. And as you know has always successfully avoided criminal charges.

As I know...? she repeated pointedly.

Yes. Clearly.

Dramatic: The episode was sure to leave viewers at the edge of their seats as they watched when David was strapped into a suicide vest whilst unconscious

The way she told DS Budd that Julia Montagues RIPA 18 bill would be kicked into the long grass (as she wanted all along) suggested she was complicit too. She had leaked the Compromat to make sure of it and had been the Met commander whod insisted that Montague was as very dangerous politician who must be STOPPED.

As two of Mercurios favourite actresses it still wouldnt be that surprising if Gina McKee and Keeley Hawes returned for Series 2.

(Yes, I know we didnt see any evidence that Julia Montague was alive but we didnt see any that she was dead either  not even her tombstone.)

Mercurio didnt quite go to the full Agatha Christie.

Wow: David confronted the organised crime boss Luke Aitken to find out who killed Julia

Hunter-Dunn, Longcross, Penhaligon, Travis, and Macdonald all targeted Budd to either protect or exploit the PMs role in not one, not two, but three hugely incriminating, juicy, scandals.

The final five people on Mercurios list were involved in the assassination attempts.

The denouement Jed Mercurio had come up with sounded more like a piece of stand-up comedy than a convincing criminal conspiracy.

A Jihadi terrorist, a gangster, a police chief superintendent, and a PR girl called Chanel walk into a bar...And blow up the Home Secretary.

Hey, it could happen  on Bodyguard at least.

To be honest it was a low blow by Mercurio, a cheap con.

Whilst viewers had probably formulated their own private theories about the type of character(s) behind the bombings, Mercurios denouement involved an unholy alliance - a kind of supergroup between four seemingly disparate worlds: organised crime (Luke Aitken), the police (Chief Supt. Lorraine Craddock), the government (PR Chanel Dyson), and international terrorism (Nadia).

Unexpected: Chief Supt. Lorraine Craddock was involved in Julia's death as she gave Luke Aitken's details about her itinerary

Mercurio also asked us to believe that the motive for blowing Montague up was to stop a piece of legislation. (She had been campaigning to extend State surveillance and transfer responsibility for combating major illegal enterprises to the security services  far harder to bribe and corrupt than the police protecting his empire.)

It was just good for business. Nothing personal, Aitken shrugged, eventually confessing to Budd.

Its unlikely a single viewer could have seen this coming. Mercurio hadnt given us a fighting chance, resorting to another Agatha Christie tactic: burying the perpetrator(s) deep in the background.

Luke Aitken hadnt been identified or hardly appeared until the fifth (penultimate) programme and Chanel didnt feature at all in Episodes 2-3-4. There were no clues to suggest Lorraine Craddocks guilt and Nadia had been portrayed solely as a witness or informant co-operating with the investigation into the bombings. Cheating basically.

No one had any idea Nadia was the bombmaker  not even David Budd, who made the connection with his kids school  so what chance did we have?

Shock: No one had any idea Nadia was the bombmaker  not even David Budd, who made the connection with his kids school  so what chance did we have?

Besides a terrorist working with a criminal like Aitken (even for money to fund their activities, which was Nadias justification), the plausibility of Mercurios thesis surely had other flaws.

Nadias bomb-making capabilities were impressive. She supplied Aitken with the bomb that killed Julia Montague, the belt attached to David Budd, and the devices used by the suicide bombers targeting the school despite being in prison since the end of the first episode  seemingly by deploying a Blue Peter-style motto: heres some I made earlier. Surely quite difficult/hazardous with such sophisticated explosives?

Aitken was fairly useless for a significant figure in organised crime. He didnt spot Budd following him, even though he was in Chanels car (which he was surely familiar). Budd brought Aitken in, by easily jumping his henchman and using the thugs gun.

The governments vetting process hadnt discovered Chanels association with Luke Aitken, even though he picked her up outside the office after she was sacked.

Conveniently, one of Aitkens men had left his prints on the blanks he put in Budds pistol. Nadias bomb equipment had her prints and DNA.

DS Louise Rayburn possibly had a point when she shouted the glorious phrase: its been a stream of b******t from the start! but it didnt seemed to matter that much.

If Bodyguard was Mercurios audition for a Bond film it had certainly been a gripping, stylish, one.

An extended 75-minute finale ensured it was 25% more nerve-wracking, brilliant, and bonkers.

Here are just 12 of the highlights:

1. Richard Longcross being blinded (temporarily, sadly), and then arrested prompting his boss at MI5 Stephen Hunter-Dunn to shout f**k !

2-0 to David Budd.

2. The sight of a Scotsman (Budd) staggering down a street in London - his face covered in blood and wearing a suicide vest covered with a tabard made of tarpaulin  trying to stop female pedestrian by pleading: Madam dont be alarmed! I just need to use your phone!

Amazingly, someone let him too.

3. The subtle shift of expressions on Nadias face as she revealed SHE was the bomb-maker

David Budd showed me pictures of his children (on the train)! she scoffed. You all saw me as a poor oppressed Muslim woman. I am an engineer. I am a Jihadi.

4. Chief Supt. Craddock turning round to reveal SHE was Aitkens corrupt protector at the Met.

We can never trust anyone called Lynn Craddock again.

5. Chanel Dyson coolly frisking Budd without the high-level bodyguard appearing to notice

Impressive: Chanel Dyson proved her worth as she coolly frisked Budd without the high-level bodyguard appearing to notice

We can never trust anyone called Chanel again either (especially if her name is actually Sam).

Im just trying to figure you out Budd tried flirting when he met Chanel for a drink in the hope she would lead him to Aitken.

Well depending on who you talk to, Im either deceptively deep or deceptively shallow Chanel purred, obviously gloriously untroubled by which of them people believed - or what they thought in general.

Either way youre deceptive Budd observed  just before Chanel delivered him into Aitkens clutches (and suicide vest).

6. Scene-stealing bomb disposal expert Daniel Chung talking David Budd through what felt like several hours wearing the suicide vest by telling him things like: David, Ive completed my examination of the device. I need to confer with my colleagues. Please maintain pressure on the Dead Mans Switch.

Certainly a thought...

Great character: Bomb disposal expert Daniel Chung was a scene-stealer thanks to Chike Chan's impressive performance

7. As if the threat of being blown to smithereens if he released the Dead Mans Switch wasnt bad enough, Budd spent half the show begging the police marksmen not to shoot him and insisting he wasnt a suicide bomber.

But, as DCI Sharma from SO-15 observed, Budd had recently tried to commit suicide and now was wearing a suicide vest made out of explosives.

Thats not the point! argued Budd who wanted Sharma to focus on the fact hed tried to shoot himself with a blank bullet (albeit inadvertently).

8. The bromance between David Budd and DCI Sharma

How do you know Ill keep my side of the bargain? Sharma shouted, as they negotiated to keep armed officers from taking him out (not for dinner).

Ive been a soldier. Ive been a copper. You get to spot a bloke whose word is his bond Budd assured him, although whether he really was a good judge of character is debatable.

9. Vicky Budd running through the (slightly under-staffed/non-existent) police cordon to prevent her husband being a target, proudly standing next to David (and his suicide belt), and declaring: I believe youre innocent. This gives you a chance to prove it! So romantic...

Stepping in: Vicky Budd ran through the police cordon to prevent her husband being a target, proudly standing next to David as guns were trained on him

10. Vicky Budds glamorous new hairdo

Ordinarily perhaps David Budd should have been suspicious and in fact, earlier during the siege did ask her, a propos of nothing: how are things with your boyfriend. You deserve to be happy.

As usual she never revealed any details and he didnt pursue it. We never did find out who her mystery man was - the one big question the finale didnt answer. Presumably it was Tom Fenton. Lets hope it wasnt Luke Aitken.

11. Im David and I need some help! Budd sobbed to the therapist in his first Occupational Health session - something various characters (mostly women) had been telling him all series.

Seeking help: At the end of the episode, David was seen going to someone in Occupational Therapy to talk with someone and ask for help

12. David and Vicky not only enjoyed an implausibly happy ending but practically drove off into the sunset  with their children, in a scene worthy of The Walton.

Now that David was learning to get in touch with his emotions he was obviously a changed man. No more fits of rage or kinky sex with the Home Secretary (Julia Montague not her replacement Mike Travis). In the final scene it was his day with his kids.

Theres room for one more, he hinted.

Yeah OK, smiled Vicky.

Who knew Jed Mercurio was such a big softie?Karl Stefanovic's boss has fired a warning shot at the embattled Today show host in the wake of rumours he could face the sack as ratings plunge.

Channel Nine chief executive Hugh Marks revealed that while Stefanovic's job is safe for now, everyone on the show - 'especially Karl' - needed to lift their game.

'Clearly, it's been a tough and challenging year for Karl and Today,' Marks said.

Scroll down for video

Karl Stefanovic's boss has thrown his support behind embattled Today show host Karl Stefanovic (left), but says the entire team needs to lift its game

'No doubt the constant publicity surrounding issues with his personal life have had an impact on Karl, his colleagues and on the show. We can't hide from that,' Marks said.

'And as a result we know there's a lot of hard work to be done to win back the audience.'

Marks' extraordinary comment comes after claims Stefanovic is set to be 'axed from the Today show' in a matter of days and will be 'replaced in the New Year.'

The reports of a change in host coincide with the Today show losing its battle in the ratings to rival breakfast program, Seven's Sunrise.

Stefanovic is currently contracted until the end of 2020, but the Sunday Telegraph reported on Sunday he could be replaced by early 2019.

'Top-level sources at Channel 9's Willoughby studios say the embattled Today host is officially "gone",' the newspaper stated while referencing an alleged insider.

Nine chief executive Hugh Marks (pictured) says he backs Stefanovic to win back the Today show's dwindling audience

The show's ratings began diving when Stefanovic quickly moved on from estranged wife Cassandra Thorburn and became engaged to 34-year-old Jasmine Yarbrough (left)

The Sunday Telegraph report also claimed that Today executive producer Mark Calvert could also face the chop as part of an 'engine room makeover'.

However, Marks said he would back Stefanovic and co-host Georgie Gardner to recover their dwindling audience - but warned everyone on the show needed to work hard to win the audience over.

Stefanovic, 44, also broke his silence on Sunday night, posting a message on Instagram praising his fiancee Jasmine Yarbrough, 34, and his family and friends, saying they are 'all that matter'.

'It's all that matters really': Karl Stefanovic breaks his silence and thanks his family and fiancee Jasmine Yarbrough following reports he will be 'axed from the Today show'. Pictured L-R: Peter Stefanovic, Jasmine Yarbrough, Karl Stefanovic and horse trainer Chris Waller

He shared a photo which showed him clutching a beer bottle and posing alongside Jasmine, brother Peter Stefanovic and friend and prominent horse trainer Chris Waller.

'I'm incredibly grateful for the family and friends I have in this world. It's all that matters really. I'm so proud of them,' he wrote.

He did not directly address rumours that he is facing the axe at Channel Nine.

Concerned followers asked for clarity on his future at Today, however their questions went unanswered in the comments section of the post.

'The Today show just can't function the same without you Karl,' one fan wrote.

Today Extra host David Campbell, 45, is believed to be 'top of the list' of possible replacements for Karl.

Channel Nine sources say Karl is officially 'gone' amid the latest ratings disaster and will be 'replaced in the New Year' ... but the show's executive producer insists he's a 'bloody great broadcaster' and is staying

The publication also claimed that Today executive producer Mark Calvert could also face the chop as part of an 'engine room makeover' (Pictured: Karl with current Today co-host Georgie Gardner)

The break up of Stefanovic's 21-year marriage to journalist Cassandra Thorburn and his whirlwind and very public relationship with Jasmine Yarbrough, 34, has been a big factor in seeing the show's audience collapse.

Data showed that Today viewers first started switching off in September 2016, the month Karl was first pictured without his wedding ring.

Since then ratings have been mostly declining, with Today recently seeing their 'worst figures in 12 years'.

It is believed the decision has come in the wake of Today's ratings dive - and that Karl's controversial personal life has been a leading factor in the audience drop off. Pictured: Karl with estranged wife Cassandra Thorburn, 47 (pictured in 2012)

Media experts say Stefanovic's public image was discredited when he quickly became engaged to new girlfriend, Jasmine Yarbrough (pictured)

Media analyst Steve Allen told the publication that the show's popularity has dived, especially among women, as they 'basically now think [Karl] is an a***hole'.

However, all may not be over for Karl just yet.

Despite the newspaper's sensational claims, executive producer Mark Calvert is standing by the controversial presenter.

He refuted the claims that Karl's career is on a knife edge, describing him as a 'bloody great broadcaster', while stating, 'we are the first to acknowledge our ratings are not as good right now as we would like.'

Karl's manager is also said to have denied the accusations to the newspaper that Karl would soon be losing his job on Today.

The Today show's average viewership has fallen more than 15 per cent in the first 34 weeks of the year, with about 240,000 viewers tuning in from metropolitan areas.

Sunrise has fared slightly better, pulling in about 266,000 viewers.

Though Marks pointed out that the Today show actually performed better in the three biggest markets, Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Today and Karl's rep for comment.Bodyguard viewers were left reeling as the explosive series came to a hurtling conclusion - revealing the masterminds behind the entire conspiracy.

And Jed Mercurio has revealed that the series could potentially continue for several more seasons, saying there could be as many as four to come.

Speaking to The Sun, he said: 'It's probably fair to say we would probably approach any thoughts of a second series with the idea that it would create an opportunity for a third or fourth.'

More to come: Bodyguard creator Jed Mercurio said the show could have as many as FOUR SEASONS after intense finale aired on Sunday

He also explained that he wrote the series intending there to only be one season, and that's why all the loose ends were tied up by the end.

Jed revealed: 'If the ratings hadn't been quite so high, then possibly everybody involved including the BBC would have said, 'Well that was a nice little series but we're just going to leave it at that and there won't be any more'.

'So you are a hostage to fortune in that sense. And we do feel very privileged and fortunate that there's been such a response that it gives us that opportunity to at least think about doing more.'

Unexpected success: He also explained that he wrote the series intending there to only be one season, and that's why all the loose ends were tied by the end

Even if he wants to do more with Bodyguard though, Jed was quick to admit that it wouldn't happen until he has finished filming Line Of Duty series five.

The writer even revealed that he wouldn't start working on a new series of the intense BBC drama until mid 2019, as he is currently working in Belfast on Line Of Duty until Christmas.

He admitted he wasn't even 'going to speculate on that' because various factors like the script, production schedule, and 'a whole bunch of things' would come into play.

Waiting game: Jed was quick to admit that he wouldn't start working on a second season of Bodyguard until he finishes filming Line Of Duty series five

There were red herrings throughout the nail-biting finale, but the shock twist revealed David Budd's own boss Chief Superintendent Lorraine Craddock played a key role in Julia Montague's death.

She had been delivering information to Luke Aikens, an organised crime boss against the RIPA-18 bill lead by the home secretary, which enabled him to execute the bomb attack in which she perished in the third episode.

It was a double blow for Budd as the true identity of the female train bomber from the first episode, Nadia, who he believed he had saved, was the bombmaker who attempted to murder his own children.

She chillingly uttered in the final scenes: 'I built the device. I built all the bombs. You all saw me as a bored, oppressed Muslim woman. I am an engineer, I am a Jihadi.'

Fan theories had also been rife that the Home Secretary wasn't actually dead, especially as viewers weren't shown her demise on screen - but they were left disappointed when she didn't turn up in the finale.

Getting answers: David Budd finally discovered the truth about the conspiracy to murder Julia Montague during the dramatic conclusion of BBC's Bodyguard

Surprise: Budd's boss Chief Superintendent Lorraine Craddock had been working with organised crime boss Luke Akins to stop the home secretary from bringing in the RIPA bill

Shock: Viewers were in for a shock when they learned that the mastermind behind the bombs was actually Nadia

Is she alive? Fan theories had also been rife that the Home Secretary wasn't actually dead, especially as viewers weren't shown her demise on screen

Intense scenes: Budd had been captured by Akins and strapped with a suicide vest and had his hand taped to a dead man's switch - but had to convince the police that he had been set up

Wow! Fans took to Twitter to express their joy at the show's finale

LURED INTO A BOMB TRAP

Richard Madden's Budd had been hot on the heels of crime boss Luke Akin, after learning that he had supplied his former army comrade Andrew Apstead with the weapons used in the first assassination attempt of Julia Montague, played by Keeley Hawes.

He was lured into a trap set up by Montague's former PR advisor Chanel Dyson and ended up being punched unconscious and kidnapped - waking up with a suicide vest strapped to his chest with a dead man's switch taped to his thumb.

Meanwhile SO15 officers DCI Deepak Sharma and DS Lousie Rayburn were left seething when they learned of Budd's connection to Apstead and were out for his blood.

They caught up with Budd in the middle of London and he tried in vain to convince his fellow officers that he had been set up, with his estranged wife Vicky making a strong case for innocence.

He was able to give vital information that proved he'd been set up, using the blank bullets from his gun that Akins had switched out and left fingerprints on - with Vicky confirming that her ex had tried to take his own life.

Budd had a set a booby trap for the security service knowing that the cagey boss Stephen Hunter-Dunn was monitoring their radio contact - and his suspect Richard Longcross was doused in a painful liquid.

Helping hand: The police protection officer's wife Vicky was called in to help diffuse the situation but David managed to persuade her that he was telling the truth - she confirmed that he had attempted suicide

On the edge of our seats: It was an extremely tense moment for viewers as Budd had to deactivate the bomb. He was talked through which wires to cut by the specialist unit leaving those watching on the edge of their seat

Running off: With everyone standing back, Budd took his chance as soon as the wires were cut and the bomb deactivated he made a run for it - to try and figure out the truth

It was enough to convince Commander Anne Sampson and DCI Sharma to help Budd and he was given the chance to deactivate the bomb.

Eventually in what some viewers called one of the most tense scenes they'd ever seen, Budd removed his thumb from the switch and cut the wires.

But many fans were unhappy with how the events unfolded, saying it was 'unbelievable'.

They said there was 'no way' the Metropolitan Police would let a man armed with explosives to be let through the streets of London - and they mocked the fact officers believed he would try to blow himself up because he 'was suicidal'.

Tricking him: Budd had been contacted by Julia's former PR advisor Chanel Dyson and used her for information to find her boss Akins who she had been working for

Behind it: Budd stumbled upon Akins having a heated discussion with Craddock outside her home, he disarmed his accomplice and turned the gun on the crime boss

Explaining herself: Craddock tried to diffuse the situation after Akins confirmed he had murdered Julia Montague, enlisting the help of a terrorist organisation to plant the bomb, because it was 'just business'

SOLVING THE FINAL PIECES OF THE PUZZLE

But the police protection officer fooled everyone and made a run for it as soon as the bomb was deactivated.

He eluded the police and made his way to Chanel to persuade to tell him more information on her boss Akin, who she had been working for, and was the man many viewers had believed was her angry boyfriend from the first episode.

Meanwhile a scene including Commander Anne Sampson, the Head of the Metropolitan Police's Counter Terrorism Unit, led viewers to believe that she could be part of the conspiracy but ultimately proved to be Budd's ally.

Commander Anne Sampson (left) the Head of the Metropolitan Police's Counter Terrorism Unit, led viewers to believe that she could be part of the conspiracy but ultimately proved to be Budd's ally

Finding out the truth: Budd watched on as his boss was questioned over her involvement in the conspiracy, bringing all the pieces of the puzzle together

Reveal: Craddock explained how she had placed Budd as Julia's police protection officer so that he could act as the 'perfect fall guy' for the entire plot to kill the home secretary

Feeling guilty: The Chief Superintendent broke down in tears as she confessed to her part in the conspiracy revealing that she was corrupt

She desperately tried to get the security service to take responsibility for their part in the conspiracy but they were able to avoid any form of punishment.

Right up until the final credits, viewers were holding out hope that Julia would reappear.

They were shocked when the hit show drew to a close with no mention of the Home Secretary.

THE MOLE IN THE POLICE

There had long being a belief from the beginning that there was a leak from within the police force and it was revealed to be Chief Superintendent Lorraine Craddock with.

She was caught redhanded talking to Akin and she was taken into custody after Budd told her it was all over.

Akin confessed there and then he was the man behind Julia's death uttering '...It was business' to an angry Budd.

Craddock wept as she explained in a police interview: 'For some years I have disclosed information on sensitive police operations that might threaten his criminal activities.'

She admitted she had handed over Julia's itinerary to Akin on the day of the first assassination attempt by Apstead and the fatal bombing at the college.

It was all to stop Julia transferring powers to the security service which would give them an upper hand over organised crime like Akin.

The officer then revealed she had appointed Budd so he could be made the 'perfect fall guy' for the entire operation.

Proving his innocence: After spending the majority of the episode trying to convince his police colleagues he was innocent, they finally apprehended the right criminals

Manipulating him: Nadia explained how she preyed on Budd's emotionally vulnerable state and used information that he had given her about his children to attack their school

Seeking help: After the entire saga was wrapped up Budd was told there was one thing left for him to do - go to therapy and seek treatment for his mental health

BOMB MASTERMIND

But she denied any involvement in the attempted attack on Budd's children's school and he suddenly realised there was only one person who had know that information.

Nadia, the female suicide bomber from the first episode, who had been helping the police with their inquiries admitted she had given them false information and led the on a wild goose chase.

'He thought so little of me he showed me pictures. To him I was just a weak woman, I remembered everything he told me about his children, their names, their ages. From prison I was able to inform my organisation...' she said.

She revealed she had built all the bombs, including the one Budd had been strapped into and explained that she had enlisted 'non believers and criminals' to plant the bomb at the college that killed Julia on the request of Akins.

The entire Bodyguard boxset is available on BBC iPlayerAnother touching tribute to fallen rapper Mac Miller.

Travis Scott honored the Pittsburgh MC by dropping some freestyle bars during his set at the Life is Beautiful Festival in Las Vegas on Saturday.

'This is superstar boy / Malcolm that's my boy / Mac Miller I love you, always be my boy,' he rhymed with an auto-tune effect to the delight of the crowd.

Respect! Travis Scott paid tribute to fallen rapper Mac Miller during his set in Las Vegas on Saturday

Fallen star: Miller died from an apparent drug overdose September 7

The Texas MC added: 'From that 412, yeah / from that 41210, yeah / It's the superstar boy, superstar boy, Mac Miller you know why we love you f***ing boy.'

After the tribute, he then transitioned into a version of Love Galore.

Scott is just the latest artist to publicly pay tribute to the chart-topping rapper who died from an apparent drug overdose at his Los Angeles home September 7.

Among some of the others, according to XXL, are J.Cole, 24 Hours, Childish Gambino and Macklemore.

Freestyle: 'This is superstar boy / Malcolm that's my boy / Mac Miller I love you, always be my boy,' the 26-year old rhymed with an auto-tune effect

According to TMZ, Scott and Miller never collaborated on a song together.

Both did release new albums on the same day last month.

Since his untimely death, Miller's latest release - Swimming - jumped from number 71 to six on the Billboard 200 charts. Overall, Miller's streaming numbers have increased by a 970 percent this past week, resulting in seven of his albums returning to the charts, according to Billboard.

Scott's new album Astroworld hit number one on the Billboard 200 albums charts right after it's release in August.

The 26-year old started dating reality star/entrepreneur Kylie Jenner in 2017; they share a seven-month old daughter together.

Surging: Since his death, Miller had seven albums return to the charts, according to Billboard

Chart topper: Scott's new album hit number one of the Billboard 200 albums chartAustralians who owe money to the federal government will be banned from leaving the country until they repay the funds in a move to claw back $800 million in debt.

Travels bans have been issued over the past decade to parents who did not make child support payments and in June were extended to former welfare recipients who have refused to repay the finance.

Human Services Minister Michael Keenan says 20 orders have been issued, with his department looking to ramp up efforts to recoup funds owed by more than 150,000 people who no longer receive welfare.

"If you received a payment you were not entitled to, you have an obligation to repay the money you owe and we will use every tool at our disposal to ensure it is recovered," Mr Keenan said in a statement on Saturday.

He insists people currently receiving welfare or making repayments will not be targeted by the measure, but former recipients who refuse to pay back their debt would also be charged interest.

The rate of repayment will be measured against an individual's circumstances and those in hardship can defer their returns, Mr Keenan added.A man who posed as an Uber driver and allegedly sexually assaulted two women while driving them from nights out in Brisbane has appeared in court.

The 41-year-old was arrested during a raid on his Carindale home on Friday after a 25-year-old and a 23-year-old told police he had picked them up in Fortitude Valley and assaulted them on separate evenings in September.

He appeared in the Brisbane Magistrates Court on Saturday charged with one count of deprivation of liberty and three counts of assault.

Court documents show he approached one of the women in an SUV on Wickham Street about 3.40am on September 8 and told her he was an Uber driver.

During the trip the woman opened the Uber application on her phone to realise the ride hadn't registered but believed he was a registered driver and arranged to pay him in cash.

The pulled up not far from her house where he exposed himself and sexually assaulted her.

He picked up the second woman and her friend about 4.50am on September 16, verbally confirming he had been booked by another friend who had already gone home.

After dropping the first woman home, he exposed himself, grabbing hold of the woman's arm and continuing to drive closer to her home when she tried to flee.

Both women told police they had been locked inside the vehicle and feared for their safety because he was much bigger than them.

CCTV footage has backed up their statements to police.

"The defendant has committed these offences the past two weekends in a row ... (we) are concerned that he will continue driving around the Fortitude Valley and City areas in the early hours of the morning on weekends preying on vulnerable women," the documents say.

He did not apply for bail and is due to appear in the Brisbane Magistrates Court on November 14.A one-month-old meerkitten is back in expert care after if vanished from Perth Zoo following its first steps outside the nest box

Staff discovered the animal was missing during evening zoo rounds on Wednesday and are investigating whether the newborn was possibly stolen or taken by a predatory bird.

WA Police on Saturday said they found the meerkitten during a search of a Beverley home on Friday night, and a man and woman have been questioned by police.

The meerkitten had dedicated staff monitoring it throughout the day of its disappearance and was last seen 30 minutes before evening checks.

The mother, Bamba, was brought to Perth from Werribee Open Range Zoo in Victoria and it is suspected Perth Zoo-born male Runako may have been the father.US President Donald Trump says "key allies" have asked him not to release classified FBI documents related to the probe into Russian influence in the 2016 presidential election, raising speculation the Australian government could be exposed.

Former Australian high commissioner to the UK Alexander Downer has become a reluctant player in the controversy for his London drinks session with former Trump foreign relations aide George Papadopoulos.

Papadopoulos, sentenced to 14 days' jail for lying to the FBI, has repeatedly targeted Downer in Twitter tirades in recent days, claiming the former Australian foreign affairs minister recorded their meeting at the Kensington Wine Rooms in May, 2016, and was acting as a spy.

Downer has strongly rejected this.

"Alexander Downer will go down in history as a stooge for (Hillary) Clinton who single-handedly caused irreparable damage between the USA-Australia," Papadopoulos wrote on Twitter on Friday.

"Congrats, buddy."

On Monday Trump ordered documents related to the FBI's Russian investigation, including text messages from FBI figures Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, be declassified and released publicly.

However, on Friday the president pulled back.

"I met with the DOJ (Department of Justice) concerning the declassification of various UNREDACTED documents," Trump announced on Twitter.

"They agreed to release them but stated that so doing may have a perceived negative impact on the Russia probe.

"Also, key Allies' called to ask not to release."

The May, 2016, drinks between Papadopoulos and Downer in London has been credited as the spark that started the FBI probe into Russian influence into the November, 2016, presidential election.

Papadopoulos, according to the New York Times, told Downer over gin and tonics at the Kensington Wine Rooms he was told Russia had political dirt on Trump's presidential rival, Hillary Clinton.

Downer later told The Australian newspaper Papadopoulos mentioned at the drinks "the Russians might use material that they have on Hillary Clinton in the lead-up to the election, which may be damaging".

Downer said he passed the highly-sensitive information back to Canberra "the following day or a day or two".

How the information was then transferred to the FBI or US intelligence agencies is not clear.

Papadopoulos, however, says he has no memory of saying it to Downer.

He has called out Australia and Britain for setting him up.

He repeated it after Trump's statement on Friday.

"After reports are finally out that the British and Australian governments were actively spying and trying to sabotage the Trump campaign, those two governments called the president to ask for him not to declassify any FISA documents," Papadopoulos wrote on Twitter.

"Strange."Australian filmmaker and convicted spy James Ricketson has been pardoned, and will be leaving Cambodia on Saturday, headed back to Australia.

Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni, issued the Royal Pardon on Friday evening.

"He will be deported today," an immigration spokesman told AAP.

Ricketson, 69, was jailed for six years on August 31 for espionage in a trial that was widely criticised by human rights activists and politicians in Australia.

He had denied the charges but dropped his appeal, with his family announcing they would seek a royal pardon.

His lawyer, Kong Sam Onn, said his client could be bound for Australia shortly.

He said Ricketson had been released from jail on Friday evening and is at his son Jesse's house in Phnom Penh.

The filmmaker was convicted on August 31 for espionage and crimes endangering Cambodian national security under Article 446 of the National Penal Code after flying a drone over a political rally organised by the now banned Cambodian National Rescue Party (CNRP).

He was sentenced to six years behind bars.Australian filmmaker James Ricketson is expected to arrive in Australia late on Sunday after being pardoned by Cambodia's king.

Ricketson, 69, was sentenced to jail for six years on August 31 for espionage in a trial that was widely criticised by human rights activists and politicians in Australia.

He had denied the charges but dropped his appeal to seek a royal pardon, which was granted by Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni on Friday evening.

The filmmaker had also been accused of endangering Cambodian national security after flying a drone over a political rally organised by the now banned Cambodian National Rescue Party.

Upon news of his release, Ricketson's family expressed their relief, including son Jesse who thanked the king for "showing us compassion and bringing this nightmare to an end".

"It still hasn't really sunk in. It has been a really tough 16 months and I'm just kind of in shock right now," Jesse said.

Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne said the pardon meant the end of a distressing time for the filmmaker and his family.

"I thank my counterpart, Cambodian Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn, for his government's positive consideration of Mr Ricketson's petition," Ms Payne said.A plane has been dispatched from Perth to remote waters in the southern Indian Ocean where an Indian sailor is said to be badly injured, organisers of a yacht race say.

Solo skipper Abhilash Tomy sent a satellite text message that was received on Saturday, saying: "ACTIVATED EPIRB. CANT WALK. MIGHT NEED STRETCHER", Golden Globe Race organisers said in a statement.

A subsequent message read: "CAN MOVE TOES. FEEL NUMB. CAN'T EAT OR DRINK. TOUGH 2 REACH GRAB BAG".

Race organisers said an executive jet from Perth would reach the area of Tomy's yacht, about 3000km southwest of the city, by mid-morning on Sunday.

The crew would try to make radio contact with the 39-year-old naval officer and assess the damage.

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority is coordinating the rescue, after Tomy's yacht was damaged in a storm during the round-the-world race.

An AMSA spokesman told AAP they'd arranged for a nearby French fisheries patrol vessel to go to the scene.

Race organisers said a search and rescue plane and a Perth-based Navy frigate will also help in the rescue.

An Indian Navy stealth frigate, operating in the Indian Ocean, has also been diverted for the rescue mission along with an Indian tanker and military plane, according to race organisers.

Other racing yachts may be able to check on the yacht in the meantime.

Tomy became the first Indian to circumnavigate the globe when he achieved the feat in 2013, his website says.A 40-year-old man has been charged with trafficking cocaine at a music festival in Melbourne, among others who caught Victoria Police attention over the weekend.

The Keilor Park man has been released pending summons while 29 others have been arrested and fined after sniffer dogs found them in the crowd of about 18,000 at the Listen Out festival in St Kilda on Saturday.

Another five males, aged 12 to 17, were arrested after an assault on Flinders Street while police officers visited more than 22 pubs and clubs as part of operations to patrol the city.India's opposition Congress party has accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of favouring a private conglomerate over a public company in the aircraft deal

Former French president Francois Hollande has fuelled controversy over India's multi-billion-dollar 2016 purchase of 36 Rafale fighter jets, saying that France was given no choice on the Indian partner for manufacturer Dassault.

His comments on Friday stoked debate over a subject which has gained significant traction in India in recent weeks, since the opposition Congress party accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of favouring a private conglomerate over a public company in the aircraft deal.

The party alleges Modi gave preferential treatment to industrialist Anil Ambani, the billionaire chairman of Reliance Group, to the detriment of state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL).

Officials in India and France say Dassault had freely chosen to partner with Reliance, despite Ambani having no previous experience in the aeronautics sector.

"We did not have a say in that," Hollande told investigative website Mediapart. "It was the Indian government that proposed this service group (Reliance), and Dassault who negotiated with Ambani.

"We did not have a choice, we took the interlocutor who was given to us," added Hollande, who was president of France from 2012-2017.

French firm Dassault had spent years negotiating a deal for 126 fighter jets to be manufactured in India with HAL, but talks had stalled.

The former French leader denied any conflict of interest with Reliance Group, which partially financed a film by his girlfriend Julie Gayet in 2016

On taking office, the Modi government cancelled the negotiations and decided to directly purchase 36 jets made in France.

Hollande denied any conflict of interest with Reliance, which partially financed a film produced by his girlfriend Julie Gayet in 2016.

"That is why, moreover, this group (Reliance) did not have to give me any thanks for anything. I could not even imagine that there was any connection to a film by Julie Gayet."

Speaking to AFP on the sidelines of a meeting in Canada on Friday, the former French leader insisted that France "did not choose Reliance in any way".

When asked whether India had put pressure on Reliance and Dassault to work together, Hollande said he was unaware and "only Dassault can comment on this".

- 'The PM has betrayed India' -

Contacted by AFP, France's embassy in New Delhi did not comment.

India's defence ministry wrote on Twitter that neither the Indian nor French government "had any say in the commercial decision".

Under the Rafale deal, France must spend amounts totalling around half the eight billion euros ($9.4 bn) paid by the Indian government

The French foreign ministry later issued a statement saying that "the sole obligations of the French government were to assure delivery and the quality of the equipment".

Paris was "in no way involved in the choice of Indian industrial partners," it added.

For its part, Dassault Aviation said in a statement Friday that the contract was "a government-to-government agreement".

Congress President Rahul Gandhi, who has led the opposition's focus on the deal, wrote: "Thanks to Francois Hollande, we now know he (Modi) personally delivered a deal worth billions of dollars to a bankrupt Anil Ambani."

"The PM has betrayed India. He has dishonoured the blood of our soldiers," Gandhi added.

Foreign manufacturers obtaining arms contracts in India are obliged to reinvest a portion of the sums collected in India.

Dassault has invested more than 100 million euros in its joint venture with Reliance

Under the Rafale deal, France must spend amounts totalling around half the eight billion euros ($9.4 bn) paid by the Indian government.

Dassault has invested more than 100 million euros in its joint venture with Reliance.

India -- the world's largest defence importer -- has been investing tens of billions in updating its Soviet-era military hardware to counter long-standing territorial disputes with its nuclear-armed neighbours, including a strengthening China.

It intends to use compensations payments such as in the Rafale deal to create a local defence industry.US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo denounced abuses against Muslim Uighurs in China, saying hundreds of thousands are being held in re-education camps

The United States on Friday denounced China's treatment of its Uighur Muslims in unusually strong terms, adding to a growing list of disputes in increasingly turbulent relations between the two powers.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo voiced alarm after a United Nations report described the mass internment of Uighurs under the pretext of preventing extremism in the western Xinjiang region where the minority group is concentrated.

"Hundreds of thousands and possibly millions of Uighurs are held against their will in so-called re-education camps where they're forced to endure severe political indoctrination and other awful abuses," Pompeo said in a speech on the state of religious freedom around the world.

"Their religious beliefs are decimated," Pompeo said.

In a letter to Pompeo and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, both Republican and Democratic members of Congress late last month called for sanctions on Chinese officials implicated in the internment of Uighurs.

Pompeo did not say whether the United States would take punitive measures.

Even so, the remarks were striking for their tone, with President Donald Trump's administration putting human rights on the back seat in relations with allies such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

Chinese Christians are being forced to worship in house churches, like this one in Puyang, in central Henan province, because of the crackdown by Beijing

The Trump administration itself has faced criticism at home and abroad for its stance on Muslims, with the president as a candidate calling for a complete ban on Muslims entering the United States and, soon after taking office, barring entry to citizens of several Muslim-majority countries.

Pompeo also expressed concern about the fate of Christians in China, who he said had been targeted in a government crackdown.

The government, he said, has been "closing churches, burning Bibles and ordering followers to sign papers renouncing their faith."

- China defends treatment -

In an interview earlier in the week, Pompeo had described China as a greater threat to the United States than Russia, saying that Beijing was a "non-transparent government."

"It treats our intellectual property horribly, it treats its religious minorities horribly," he told Fox News.

Uighur Muslims are subject to tough security conditions in China's Xinjiang region, as shown here in June 2017, when police patrolled Muslims leaving the Id Kah Mosque in the old town of Kashgar

China has rejected the findings of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said last month that the report was "based on so-called information that is yet to be verified and has no factual basis."

Hua added that China was doing what was needed to combat extremism and terrorism on its western frontier.

Uighurs have long complained of systematic discrimination in the region, which activists call East Turkestan, with tensions especially rife in areas that have seen large-scale migration from China's dominant Han ethnicity.

The Uyghur Human Rights Project, an advocacy group that uses an alternative spelling for the minority group's name, has estimated that an entire 10 percent of the population has been detained as part of an indoctrination campaign.

- Rising disputes -

China-US trade in goods

The fresh focus on human rights comes as trade disputes mount between the world's two largest economies.

The two countries will launch new tariffs on Monday, with Washington targeting $200 billion in Chinese exports and Beijing hitting $60 billion worth of American products.

The two sides have already imposed tariffs on $50 billion in goods from each country.

Trump in his first year appeared to relish a chummy rapport with Chinese President Xi Jinping, whom he invited to his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. But relations have wobbled as Trump takes an increasingly hard line to protect domestic industry.

Moving a step further, the United States said Thursday it was placing financial sanctions on the Equipment Development Department of China's defense ministry as well as its top administrator for violating sanctions on Russia by buying Sukhoi Su-35 fighter jets and S-400 surface-to-air missiles.

Russia and China both lashed out at the move, with Beijing urging the United States to withdraw the sanctions or "bear the consequences."A two-year-old Yemeni boy suffering from malnutrition is weighed at a hospital on September 19, 2018

International aid agencies are losing the fight against famine in Yemen, where 3.5 million people may soon be added to the eight million Yemenis already facing starvation, the UN aid chief warned Friday.

A sharp drop in the value of Yemen's currency that has sent fuel prices spiraling compounded with renewed fighting has led to a worsening of what the United Nations already considers the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

"We are losing the fight against famine," Mark Lowcock, the under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, told the Security Council.

"We are already seeing pockets of famine-like-conditions -- including cases where people are eating leaves because they have no other form of sustenance," he said.

The council was meeting at Britain's request to discuss the worsening crisis in Yemen, where a Saudi-led coalition is fighting Iran-aligned rebels who control the capital Sanaa.

Lowcock said the situation had deteriorated "in an alarming way in recent weeks" and that the crisis may be approaching "a tipping point, beyond which it will be impossible to prevent massive loss of life."

The stark warning came ahead of next week's gathering of world leaders at the United Nations for the annual debate on global issues that will feature meetings on Yemen.

After a lull in fighting, Saudi-backed government forces this week launched a series of attacks on rebel-held Hodeida, the Red Sea port city that also serves as the entry point for humanitarian aid deliveries.

The fight for Hodeida, which the Huthis seized in 2014, was put on hold for 11 weeks as the United Nations struggled to bring warring parties to peace talks in Geneva.

But the talks collapsed earlier this month after the northern Yemeni rebels refused to attend.

Three quarters of Yemen's population -- or 22 million people -- are in need of humanitarian aid, including eight million who need food relief to survive, according to UN figures.

The Yemeni rial has lost 30 percent of its value over the past month, driving a sharp increase in the cost of food, almost of all of which is imported.

Lowcock called for council support for immediate measures to stabilize the economy, support the exchange rate and keep all ports and main roads open.

"The lifeline through which the aid operation runs now hangs by a thread," he said.

The Saudi-led alliance intervened in the Yemen conflict in 2015 in a bid to bolster embattled Yemeni President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi, whose government is recognized by the UN, in his war against the Huthi rebels.

Nearly 10,000 people have been killed in the war.Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein raised the possibility of legally removing US President Donald Trump from office last year, according to secret memos

Donald Trump faced a new challenge to his authority Friday after US media reported that his deputy attorney general had discussed ways to force him from office on grounds of incompetence, just months into his presidency.

In the latest bombshell to rock the troubled administration, The New York Times and The Washington Post reported that Rod Rosenstein in May 2017 had suggested secretly recording Trump for evidence of White House dysfunction -- and using that to formally remove him from power.

Coming on the heels of an explosive book by respected White House chronicler Bob Woodward, the reports added to mounting evidence indicating that numerous people in Trump's own government have serious doubts about his fitness for office -- and have actively worked to undermine him.

As the number two Justice Department official, Rosenstein oversees the probe into whether Trump's 2016 election campaign colluded with Russians in defeating Democrat Hillary Clinton.

The Time and Post reports were both based on secret memos by a former FBI director -- which some speculated may have been leaked in order to undermine Rosenstein, and in turn the Russia special prosecutor Robert Mueller.

Rosenstein branded the reports "inaccurate and factually incorrect."

"I never pursued or authorized recording the president and any suggestion that I have ever advocated for the removal of the president is absolutely false," he added.

And the Justice Department released a statement by a former senior official -- who would not be identified -- saying that he was "in the room" at the time and that Rosenstein was only joking.

"The statement was sarcastic and was never discussed with any intention of recording a conversation with the president," said the former official.

Trump's son Donald Trump Jr held up the reports as evidence of disloyalty among the president's entourage.

"Who are we kidding at this point?" he tweeted, above a link to the Times article. "No one is shocked that these guys would do anything in their power to undermine @realdonaldtrump."

Trump's Republican ally Mike Huckabee meanwhile urged Attorney General Jeff Sessions to fire Rosenstein -- or for Trump to fire them both if he refuses.

Washington was convulsed this month by the release of Woodward's book on the inner workings of the White House -- which he described as mired in a perpetual "nervous breakdown" with staff battling to control an unstable president.

Compounding Woodward's account, The New York Times went on to publish an op-ed by an anonymous senior official -- whose identity remains a mystery -- claiming that select administration staff members are so alarmed by the president's "erratic" and "amoral" behavior that they actively sabotage his most extreme policy efforts.

"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 writer said.

- Mueller probe threatened? -

The latest reports were based on private memos written by then-interim FBI director Andrew McCabe, summarizing discussions with Rosenstein.

According to the Times, Rosenstein was unhappy about being "used" by Trump in the firing of Comey, as well as concerned about other turmoil in the White House under the new president

Because Rosenstein oversees the Russia probe, there was immediate speculation that the memos may have been leaked in order to damage Rosenstein, and by extension Mueller -- more than to hurt Trump.

Rosenstein appointed Mueller in May 2017 as the special counsel for the Russia investigation.

After securing convictions of seven people associated with Trump, Mueller's probe increasingly threatens the White House and the president himself.

Trump has repeatedly pressured Rosenstein and Sessions to shut down what he calls an illegal "witch hunt."

The president did not respond specifically to the shock news reports, but at a political rally in Missouri late Friday he referred to "what's being exposed at the Department of Justice and the FBI."

"You have some real bad ones. You see what's happening at the FBI - they're all gone, they're all gone," he said.

"There's a lingering stench and we're going to get rid of that too," Trump finished.

Chuck Schumer, the top Democrat in the Senate, immediately sought to pre-empt any attempt to fire Rosenstein.

"This story must not be used as a pretext for the corrupt purpose of firing Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein in order (to) install an official who will allow the president to interfere with the Special Counsel's investigation," Schumer said.

The Times said Rosenstein made the comments in a particularly chaotic period, in the weeks right after he was appointed deputy attorney general.

Rosenstein's alleged allusion to the 25th amendment of the US Constitution, which provides for removing a president if they are judged unfit for office, came just after Trump fired FBI director James Comey -- invoking a memo written by Rosenstein.

According to the Times, Rosenstein was unhappy about being "used" by Trump in the firing of Comey, as well as concerned about other turmoil in the White House under the new president.Visitors on the opening day of The Met Breuer, an expansion of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in 2016

New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art made a surprise announcement Friday it would reboot stalled renovations of its modern and contemporary wing, and temporarily turn over the building housing the works to the nearby Frick Collection.

In 2014, the Met had announced it would rebuild its southwest wing that runs along Fifth Avenue at an estimated cost of $600 million -- but its deteriorating financial situation forced the museum to rein in its plans.

Despite pulling in record crowds, the storied institution -- one of the world's largest art museums with collections spanning the globe from antiquity onward -- was forced to cut costs by curbing hiring, announcing voluntary buyouts and postponing the renovation project by several years.

Thomas Campbell, who had led the Met since 2009, then stepped down in 2017, with some accusing him of trying to do too much too soon.

The exterior of the Breuer building, once home to the Whitney Museum

During his tenure, the museum had opened a modern and contemporary art annex, the Met Breuer, in the Madison Avenue building formerly home to the Whitney Museum of American Art.

Critics admonished the move, saying the Met was dividing its resources in an already financially strapped time.

Under the new arrangement, the Met will essentially sublease the building to another mainstay of the Upper East Side, the Frick Collection, as that museum renovates its own building, a Gilded Age mansion.

Letting the Frick finish off the last several years of the building's eight-year lease would allow the Met to save some $18 million, according to The New York Times.

A spokeswoman for the Frick told AFP its own construction would take an estimated two years.

The Met's lease for the Breuer building will expire in 2023. It remains unclear what will happen next to the concrete, inverted pyramid-shaped museum opened in 1966.

A spokesman for the Whitney, which still owns the modernist building designed by Bauhaus-trained architect Marcel Breuer, declined to comment on what might next be in store for the space.Mexican President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador greets supporters in Guadalajara, Mexico

Mexican President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Friday that his country will seek a bilateral trade deal with Canada if negotiations fall through for a new North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

The United States and Canada are holding a flurry of talks aimed at keeping NAFTA a three-country deal, after the US and Mexico reached their own deal that President Donald Trump says may or may not end up including Ottawa.

But the latest round of negotiations ended Thursday with no signs of a compromise to bring Canada into the deal.

Mexico has repeatedly said it wants the updated version of the 25-year-old NAFTA to remain a three-country deal -- a stance reiterated by Lopez Obrador, who takes office on December 1.

But if all else fails, "we'd have to keep the deal (with the United States) and try to reach a similar one with Canada," he said in the northern state of Sonora.

"Obviously we can't cut ties with either."

The anti-establishment leftist, who won Mexico's July elections in a landslide, said he has had good relations so far with the Trump administration.

"I hope with all my heart it stays that way," he said.

"We're neighbors. We can't be distant neighbors. We have to achieve a relationship of respect and cooperation."

US-Mexican relations have been strained over Trump's anti-Mexican insults, his insistence on overhauling the "terrible" NAFTA deal, and his vows to make Mexico pay for a wall on the border.

But despite their ideological differences, Lopez Obrador and Trump have hit it off.

The leftist leader known as "AMLO" has notably wooed the Republican billionaire with talk of stemming the flow of migration to the United States by promoting economic development in Mexico.

Lopez Obrador, 64, posted a video on Twitter from the border fence between Sonora and the US state of Arizona in which he vowed to keep would-be migrants on the Mexican side by launching an economic development corridor in the border region from January 1.

His plan, which would notably double the minimum wage and slash taxes along the border, would act as a "curtain," rather than a wall, to keep would-be migrants in Mexico, he said.Australian filmmaker James Ricketson, 69, had been sentenced to jail in Cambodia for 'espionage and collecting harmful information'

An Australian filmmaker who received a royal pardon from Cambodia will be deported Saturday, immigration officials said, a day after he was released from a six-year sentence in a case Human Rights Watch has called "a ludicrous charade".

James Ricketson, 69, was given jail time three weeks ago for "espionage and collecting harmful information that could affect national defence" by a Phnom Penh court.

He was then issued a royal pardon on Friday, after strongman premier Hun Sen requested it from the Cambodian king.

"We will deport him today," Keo Vanthan, spokesman for the immigration department, told AFP. "We are looking for a flight for him."

Ricketson's lawyer Kong Sam Onn confirmed this, adding that the Australian's visa to stay in Cambodia had expired.

The embattled filmmaker had been in prison since last June, after footage emerged of him using a drone to film a rally of the now-defunct opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP).

His six-day trial -- which rights groups have slammed as a farce -- showed him to be defiant and combative, and featured a surprise appearance by Hollywood director Peter Weir who served as a character witness for his friend.

The prosecution accused Ricketson of working as a filmmaker in Cambodia as a front for spying activities, but the verdict failed to name which country he was allegedly spying for.

His truncated prison term came after a series of activists and opposition lawmakers were freed in the weeks following July's national election, which critics have said was neither free nor fair.

The CNRP, which had served as the sole legitimate opposition force to Hun Sen's ruling Cambodian People's Party, was dissolved in the lead-up to the controversial poll, clearing the path for the CPP to take all 125 parliament seats.

This effectively rendered Cambodia a one-party state, which the international community has decried as a death knell to democracy.

After the poll Hun Sen -- who has been in power for more than three decades -- returned to a pattern of easing up on dissent.

Ricketson's pardon comes just days before Hun Sen is scheduled to travel to New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly.Pakistan's Imran Khan hit back at New Delhi after an Indian foreign ministry statement accusing his country of an "evil agenda"

India's decision to cancel rare talks with Islamabad was disappointing and "arrogant", Imran Khan said Saturday, after New Delhi accused Pakistan's prime minister of harbouring an "evil agenda".

India pulled the plug on a meeting between its foreign minister and her Pakistani counterpart, set for next week on the sidelines of a major UN conference, just one day after saying it would go ahead.

The foreign ministry in New Delhi blamed the about-face on recent actions that had revealed Pakistan's "evil agenda" and the "true face" of Khan, who hit back on Twitter Saturday.

"Disappointed at the arrogant & negative response by India to my call for resumption of the peace dialogue," he wrote.

"However, all my life I have come across small men occupying big offices who do not have the vision to see the larger picture."

New Delhi said it cancelled the talks after the "latest brutal killings of our security personnel by Pakistan-based entities" and the recent release of a series of Pakistani postage stamps "glorifying a terrorist and terrorism".

India did not specify which killings it was referring to in its statement, but earlier this week, an Indian border guard in the disputed territory of Kashmir was killed and his body mutilated.

Three policemen were then found dead on Friday after being abducted in Indian-administered Kashmir.

The two countries' militaries exchanged barbs Saturday over the killings.

Indian media quoted army chief Bipin Rawat calling for "stern action to avenge the barbarism that terrorists and the Pakistan Army have been carrying out".

In response Pakistan's military spokesman said his country was "ready for war".

"We are a nuclear nation and we are ready for war but in the interest of the people of Pakistan and the neighbours and the region we want to walk the path of peace," Major General Asif Ghafoor told private television channel Dunya News.

"The statement from the Indian army chief is irresponsible," he added.

Pakistan also recently issued postage stamps of Burhan Wani, a charismatic Kashmiri militant commander killed by Indian troops in July 2016, whose death sparked a wave of violent protests in the territory.

India has long accused Pakistan of arming rebel groups in Kashmir, a Himalayan territory divided between the two countries but claimed in full by both.

In a statement from its foreign office, Pakistan said Friday it had "nothing to do with" the deaths, accusing India of spreading "motivated and malicious propaganda".

The meeting in New York between Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj and Pakistan's Shah Mehmood Qureshi -- on the sidelines of the annual UN General Assembly debate -- was only confirmed on Thursday.

It came after Khan wrote to his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi calling for a resumption of talks between the nuclear-armed foes.

High-level talks between India and Pakistan are rare. Indian media said the meeting would have been the first in nearly three years.Opposition leader Jean Ping's headquarters were attacked after the vote

Gabon on Saturday hailed as "brave" a decision by the International Criminal Court not to open a formal probe into claims of violence after a disputed presidential poll in a country ruled by the same family for nearly 50 years.

The re-election of President Ali Bongo in August 2016 by just a few thousand votes led opposition leader Jean Ping to accuse the administration of electoral fraud.

Ali Bongo took power in 2009 after the death of his father Omar who took the helm of the oil-rich West African nation in 1967.

Violence broke out after the 2016 vote and opposition figures say that dozens were killed. The official toll was only four dead.

"The Gabonese government is happy with this fair and brave decision of the ICC which conforms to the version of events it gave to the court," government spokesman Guy-Bertrand Mapangou told AFP on Saturday.

He said Gabon "reiterates its faith" in The Hague-based institution which is facing a US threat of prosecution if its judges charge Americans with war crimes in Afghanistan.

The ICC announced its decision late Friday. It had sent a fact finding mission to Gabon last year following a suit filed by the opposition and 15 non-governmental organisations to investigate alleged crimes against humanity.

The government also filed a counter-suit alleging "incitement to hatred and violence" by the opposition.

Ping's headquarters were bombed after the vote and the opposition also claimed that widespread rights abuses were committed by armed militias who took to the streets.

The ICC however said that Friday's decision "by no means diminishes the seriousness of the violent acts and human rights violations that appear to have occurred in Gabon in the course of the post-election crisis".The scandal has sparked angry protests by clergy over police inaction

An Indian bishop accused of raping a nun was refused bail Saturday, and ordered to remain in police custody to face questioning in a case that has triggered outrage among clergy.

Bishop Franco Mulakkal was arrested in southern Kerala state on Friday after Pope Francis relieved him from duty over the scandal that has sparked days of angry protests by clergy over police inaction.

Mulakkal, who heads the Roman Catholic diocese of Jalandhar in the northern state of Punjab, is accused of raping the nun 13 times between 2014 and 2016.

The nun, who has not been named, first accused Mulakkal in June but police only started formal questioning this month as fury over the case mounted.

Police asked for more time on Saturday to question the 52-year-old, who has denied the accusations.

In its submission to the court in Kerala, police said Mulakkal had illegally confined the victim in a guesthouse and subjected her "to rape and unnatural sex 13 times in the same room," the Times of India newspaper reported.

Mulakkal has called the scandal a conspiracy by those opposed to the Roman Catholic Church.

The Catholics Bishops' Conference of India has said Mulakkal's arrest was a "sad moment for all of us".

"As said before we expect the law to take its course and for the truth to emerge. At his moment our prayer is for healing," it said in a statement Friday.

Sexual abuse by clergy and the failure of Church officials to take action has been one of the biggest scandals facing Roman Catholicism globally in recent years.

Recently five priests from Kerala, home to India's largest Christian population, were arrested after sexual assault allegations.There are an estimated 12 million Catholics in China

The Vatican on Saturday announced an historic accord with China on who appoints bishops in the Communist country, paving the way for rapprochement between the Catholic Church and the world's most populous country.

Shortly after the deal was unveiled, Pope Francis recognised seven clergy appointed by Beijing, which has not had ties with the Vatican since 1951.

China immediately said it was hopeful of better relations, while Taiwan insisted its ties with the Vatican were safe.

There are an estimated 12 million Catholics in China, divided between a government-run association whose clergy are chosen by the Communist Party and an unofficial church which swears allegiance to the Vatican.

The Holy See is one of only 17 countries that recognise Taiwain, officially known as the Republic of China, instead of diplomatic ties with Beijing.

Pope Francis has sought to improve relations with China since he took office in 2013, but previous attempts foundered over Beijing's insistence that the Vatican give up recognition of its rival and promise not to interfere in domestic religious issues.

Saturday's breakthrough came as churches have been destroyed in some Chinese regions in recent months, and there has been a clampdown on Bible sales. Crosses have been removed from church tops, printed religious materials and holy items confiscated, and church-run kindergartens closed.

The agreement with China "concerns the nomination of Bishops, a question of great importance for the life of the Church," the Vatican said in a statement as Pope Francis began a visit to the Baltic states.

The deal "creates the conditions for greater collaboration at the bilateral level," it added.

Following the announcement, the pontiff recognised seven bishops who had been ordained in China without the approval of the Holy See, his office announced.

Many churchgoers attending Saturday mass were unaware of the agreement

"Pope Francis hopes that, with these decisions, a new process may begin that will allow the wounds of the past to be overcome, leading to the full communion of all Chinese Catholics," a statement said.

The pope also posthumously recognised an eighth bishop who "had expressed the desire to be reconciled with the Apostolic See" before he died last year, it said.

China said the "provisional" agreement was signed in Beijing by vice foreign minister Wang Chao and a Vatican delegation headed by the under-secretary for relations with states, Antoine Camilleri.

The two sides, it added, "will continue to maintain communication and push forward the improvement of bilateral relations".

The Vatican cut ties with Beijing two years after the founding of the communist People's Republic.

- 'Strategic, naive' -

The Taiwanese foreign ministry insisted Taipei would not lose its only diplomatic ally in Europe over the agreement, and said it hoped the Holy See would ensure that Catholics on the mainland "receive due protection and not be subject to repression".

Taiwan's top China policy-making body, the Mainland Affairs Council, noted that religious communities in China still "suffer greatly" and urged Beijing to refrain from "interference and persecution."

Analysts warn Beijing could use the accord to further crack down on Catholic faithful.

Jonathan Sullivan, director of the China Policy Institute at the University of Nottingham, described the accord as "a strategic move on China's part; and a naive one on the Vatican's".

Sullivan said China's Communist party will frame the deal as the Vatican's seal of approval to the state-run Catholic Church at a time Christian believers are facing a severe crackdown.

"Ultimately, the Party would like to subsume all forms of worship under state organs that make it easier to manage and ensure that everyone's primary loyalty is to the state," Sullivan told AFP.

A priest from an underground church in China's northern Hebei province said some of his flock had reservations.

Churches have been demolished in some aprts of China

"For the church members and priests, there are some that accept, and some that cannot completely understand (the situation), because they remain suspicious of the Communist Party and Chinese government. They doubt their sincerity," the priest said on condition of anonymity.

Churchgoers in Beijing and Shanghai at Saturday evening services were generally unaware that a deal had been struck.

"Whatever this means for the church is up to God. As a follower of the church, we pray for the best," said one, who gave her name only as Magdalene.

burs/ach/mlr/Iranian soldiers and a Shiite Muslim cleric take cover during a gun attack on a military parade in the southwestern city of Ahvaz that has been claimed by the Sunni extremists of the Islamic State group

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for a deadly shooting at a military parade in southwestern Iran on Saturday, its propaganda agency Amaq said.

Citing a security source, Amaq said: "Islamic State fighters attacked a gathering of Iranian forces in the city of Ahvaz in southern Iran".

The statement was posted on Amaq accounts on on messaging application Telegram.

At least 24 people were killed in the attack, including a young girl as well as troops, Iran's state media reported.

Three of the attackers died at the scene while a fourth was arrested and later succumbed to his wounds, armed forces spokesman Brigadier General Abolfazl Shekarchi said.

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said earlier he held a US ally in the region responsible.

"Terrorists recruited, trained, armed & paid by a foreign regime have attacked Ahvaz," Zarif said in a tweet, adding: "Iran holds regional terror sponsors and their US masters accountable for such attacks".

Ahvaz lies in Khuzestan, a province bordering Iraq that has a large ethnic Arab community and has seen separatist violence in the past, which Iran has blamed on its regional rivals.Democratic Alliance leader Mmusi Maima kicks off an 'ambitious' election campaign

South Africa's largest opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA) on Saturday launched its campaign ahead of highly contested elections due next year.

DA leader Mmusi Maimane told several thousands of supporters dressed in the party colour blue at an open space in a poor section of Johannesburgs CBD, that the campaign "will be our most ambitious election campaign yet".

He took a jibe at the ruling ANC which has governed the country since the dawn of democracy in 1994 saying it had let down South Africans while it allowed corruption to fester.

"Every promise this government has made has turned out to be an empty promise. After two decades of freedom, our people are still no closer to being free.

"The South Africa I see today looks nothing like the vision of the South Africa I saw in 1994. It doesn't look anywhere near and it looks like we are moving away from it."

"What was a dream is fast becoming a nightmare," he told cheering supporters.

He promised to "fix this government, I want to fix South Africa".

"Only one party takes clean, corruption-free government seriously, and that is the DA," he said.

The DA, which has already reduced the ANCs election majority during the 2016 local government vote, will seek to erode its support further at the general election due between May and August of next year.

Support for the ruling party dipped during the rule of scandal-marred ex-president Jacob Zuma which saw it lose control of the economic hub Johannesburg and the capital Pretoria in municipal polls two years ago.

Zuma's successor Cyril Ramaphosa has vowed to fight corruption and is on a drive to tackle soaring unemployment, which currently stands at about 28 percent.

Under its first black leader Maimane, the DA party climbed to 24 percent in the 2016 local vote.

For long it has been considered a middle class white party, but its black membership has grown considerably since Maimane took over in 2015.

The party has faced several crises in recent months including a bruising public spat between the leadership and the mayor of Cape Town Patricia De Lille, controversial tweets by former leader Helen Zille and the breakdown of a coalition partnership.Russian Sukhoi Su-34 fighter-bombers fly over Red Square during the Victory Day military parade in Moscow on May 9, 2018

China summoned the US ambassador on Saturday to lodge an official protest over sanctions imposed by the United States against a Chinese military organisation for buying Russian fighter jets and missiles, state media said.

The announcement came a day after China called on the United States to withdraw the sanctions or "bear the consequences".

The spat adds to tensions between the two global powers over trade, China's treatment of religious groups and the Asian country's claims to disputed islands in the South China Sea.

Vice Foreign Minister Zheng Zeguang summoned Ambassador Terry Branstad and "lodged solemn representations over US sanctions against (the) Chinese military," the People's Daily said in a brief report online.

On Thursday, Washington placed financial sanctions on the Equipment Development Department of the Chinese Defence Ministry, and its top administrator, for its recent purchase of Russian Sukhoi Su-35 fighter jets and S-400 surface-to-air missile systems.

Officials said it was the first time a third country has been punished under the CAATSA sanctions legislation for dealing with Russia, and signalled the Trump administration's willingness to risk relations with other countries in its campaign against Moscow.

Russia also lashed out at the US sanctions, accusing Washington of playing unfairly and using new measures to squeeze Moscow out of the global arms market.Modi has been dubbed a "traitor" by Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi over alleged corruption in a 2016 Franco-Indian defence deal

India's Narendra Modi was under fire Saturday after French ex-president Francois Hollande added fresh fuel to corruption allegations in a bilateral defence deal, with the prime minister branded a traitor by his chief political opponent.

French defence firm Dassault picked Reliance Group, run by Indian billionaire Anil Ambani, as its main local partner in the multi-billion-dollar 2016 deal to buy 36 Rafale jets, instead of the state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL).

This has long been controversial because unlike HAL, Reliance had no previous experience in the aeronautics sector.

Hollande, president from 2012-17, was quoted on Friday by investigative website Mediapart as saying that France was given no choice on Dassault's Indian partner.

"We did not have a say in that," Hollande was quoted as saying. "It was the Indian government that proposed this service group (Reliance), and Dassault who negotiated with Ambani.

"We did not have a choice, we took the interlocutor who was given to us."

- Front page -

The comments were front-page news in Indian newspapers on Saturday and was the top trending topic on Twitter.

Rahul Gandhi, head of the main opposition Congress party, who is seeking to replace Modi and his rightwing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in elections next year, went on the offensive.

"An ex-president of France is calling him (the prime minister of India) a thief. It's a question of the dignity of the office of the prime minister," he told a news conference in New Delhi.

"The PM has betrayed India. He has dishonoured the blood of our soldiers," Gandhi, scion of India's Gandhi-Nehru political dynasty, added on Twitter.

Ravi Shankar Prasad, a close Modi ally and minister, hit back at Gandhi, accusing him playing into the hands of India's rivals Pakistan and China.

"Never before in the history of independent India has a party president used such words for a PM," he told a news conference on Saturday.

"We can't expect anything else from Rahul Gandhi. He has no quality or ability."

India's defence ministry tweeted on Friday that neither the Indian nor French government "had any say in the commercial decision".

On Saturday the ministry issued a fuller statement, saying no rules were broken.

"The government of India has no role in the selection of Indian offset partner," it said.

Foreign manufacturers securing arms contracts in India -- the world's biggest defence importer -- are obliged to reinvest a portion of the sums collected in India under the offset rule to encourage local defence manufacturing.

The defence ministry also cited a statement from Dassault saying it had signed partnership agreements with several companies and was negotiating with around 100 other companies.

Under the Rafale deal, France must spend amounts totalling around half the eight billion euros ($9.4 billion) paid by the Indian government.

Dassault has invested more than 100 million euros in its joint venture with Reliance.

Hollande also denied any conflict of interest with Reliance, which partially financed a film by his partner Julie Gayet in 2016.

"That is why, moreover, this group (Reliance) did not have to give me any thanks for anything. I could not even imagine that there was any connection to a film by Julie Gayet," Hollande said.Across China there was a mixed reaction to what some call a compromise by the Holy See and a betrayal of Vatican loyalists

Chinese Catholics have mixed feelings about the Vatican's landmark deal with Beijing: Some in the unofficial "underground" church remain suspicious of the government while others "pray for the best".

As parishioners in the capital's Catholic cathedral gathered to celebrate mass on Saturday evening, still others in the pews were unaware of the historic deal aimed at resolving a decades-old dispute over who gets to name bishops.

After the provisional agreement was announced by both sides, the Vatican said Pope Francis recognised seven clergy appointed by the Chinese Communist government -- a move that could lead to a rapprochement for the first time since diplomatic ties were severed in 1951.

Yet across the country, there was a mixed reaction to what some call a compromise by the Holy See and a betrayal of Vatican loyalists.

Catholics recognise the pope as the head of the church, with the appointment of bishops requiring a nod from the Holy See -- while China's officially atheist government does not tolerate any other power centre and insists on appointing its own bishops.

This split the country's roughly 12 million Catholics between the state-sanctioned church -- which includes the government in its Prayer of The Faithful during mass -- and the underground church which sees the Vatican as the ultimate authority.

- 'Stay apart' -

At the official South Cathedral in the heart of Beijing, worshippers seemed unaware of the landmark agreement

At the official South Cathedral in the heart of Beijing, worshippers seemed unaware of the landmark agreement.

Mass celebrated the baptism of 80 new believers, with bishop Joseph Li -- sanctioned by both the Vatican and Beijing -- delivering a homily touching on the theme of loyalty and faith.

After being told the news by an AFP reporter, many were nonchalant.

"Whatever this means for the church is up to God. As a follower of the church, we pray for the best," said a churchgoer who gave her name only as Magdalene.

Others hoped that government and religion could have their separate spaces.

"Our religion should worship God and support the government's sovereignty, but our church should stay apart from the government," Paul Yu told AFP after mass.

There were similar scenes in Shanghai where worshippers said they had not heard of the deal.

- 'Spies' -

But those with links to the unofficial church say it appears the Vatican is making concessions to China in hope of better relations, which could be a futile effort because Beijing is unlikely to go along with it in the long term.

"Maybe this agreement solves the problem of the seven bishops," said a priest with ties to the underground church.

"But in terms of choosing bishops in the future, it does not resolve the fundamental problem... and it cannot help improve the situation of the church."

Those with links to the unofficial church say it appears the Vatican is making concessions to China in hope of better relations

While the clergy is appointed by the Communist Party, the Vatican has previously accepted several bishops appointed by the government.

A priest from an underground church in the central Hebei province said the congregation has always been loyal to the Vatican and will continue to be.

"There are some church members and priests that accept this turn in events, and some that cannot completely come to terms (with the situation), because they remain suspicious of the Communist Party," said the priest, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

"They doubt the government's sincerity," he said, noting that some members of his church work for the authorities as "spies".An attack early on September 22, 2018, killed at least 29 and wounded scores of people

The Islamic State group claimed a deadly gun assault against a military parade in the city of Ahvaz in southwestern Iran on Saturday, its second major attack in the Islamic Republic in 15 months.

Compared to regional peers, Iran has suffered only sporadic attacks in recent years.

But a number of groups represent a threat to the Shiite powerhouse, including Kurdish separatists and Sunni extremists.

Tehran regularly accuses Saudi Arabia and the US of supporting anti-Iranian "terrorists".

- The Islamic State group -

An attack early on September 22 in Ahvaz kills at least 29 and wounds scores of people, according to Arabic language state TV al-Alam.

Women and children are among the dead, as people gathered to mark the anniversary of the start of the 1980-1988 war with Iraq.

The deadly gun assault is claimed by IS on its propaganda agency Amaq, but Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif blames "terrorists recruited, trained, armed & paid by a foreign regime". He holds the US accountable.

Ahvaz lies in Khuzestan, a province bordering Iraq that has a large ethnic Arab community and has seen separatist violence in the past.

IS claimed its first attack in Iran on June 7, 2017, when gunmen and suicide bombers hit the parliament in Tehran and the shrine of revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, killing 17 people and injuring dozens.

In a video released in March 2017, the jihadists threatened to retaliate against Iran for its military and logistical support to the Syrian and Iraqi governments, as Damascus and Baghdad battled IS insurgencies.

The jihadists said they wanted to conquer Iran to "return it to the Sunni Muslim nation" and to provoke a Shiite bloodbath.

- Jundallah (Soldiers of God) -

This extremist Sunni group began a bloody rebellion against the Islamic republic in 2000.

An image grab taken from footage broadcast by Iran's state-run Arabic-language Al-Alam TV on December 15, 2010, shows damage at the site where a suicide bomber blew himself up during a Shiite celebration of Ashura in Chabahar, southeastern Iran

It draws on support from the Baluch ethnic group, which has a major presence in Sistan-Baluchistan province, bordering Pakistan and Afghanistan. The group has rear bases in both countries.

Tehran has long alleged Jundallah received training from the American, British and Israeli intelligence services. It also accuses Pakistan of supporting the group.

- December 15, 2010: Jundallah claims a suicide attack against Shiites celebrating Ashura in Chabahar in southeastern Iran. 34 are killed and more than 80 wounded.

- July 15, 2010: Twin suicide bombings in a crowded Shiite mosque in Zahedan, capital of Sistan-Baluchistan, kill at least 28 people and wound more than 250. The attacks, targeting members of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards, are claimed by Jundallah.

- October 18, 2009: Jundallah kill 42 people including several Revolutionary Guard officers in Pishin, a city close to the Pakistan border. The suicide attack targets a meeting between commanders and tribal leaders called to enhance co-operation between Sunnis and Shiites.

- May 28, 2009: 25 people are killed and 125 wounded in a suicide bombing at the Amir al-Momenin Shiite mosque in Zahedan. The attack is blamed on Jundallah.

- February 14, 2007: A car bomb attack against a bus in Sistan-Baluchistan kills 13 and wounds 29.

- Kurdish rebels -

Iranian Kurds (pictured October 2010) carry the flag-drapped bodies of victims of a bomb atttack that tore through an Iranian military parade on September 22, 2010, killing 12 people in the ethnically Kurdish northwestern town of Mahabad

Iranian authorities have blamed "counter-revolutionary" groups based in northeastern Iraq for several attacks, particularly the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran and the Party of Free Life of Kurdistan.

- July 20, 2018: at least 10 Revolutionary Guards are killed in an attack led by insurgents against a base in the village of Dari, in the Marivan district of Iran's northwestern Kurdistan region. The attack is not claimed.

- September 22, 2010: 12 people are killed and 81 wounded by a bomb explosion during a military parade in Mahabad, a city with a large Kurdish population in Western Azerbaijan province, bordering Iraq and Turkey.

Most of the victims are women and children watching a parade commemorating the 30th anniversary of the outbreak of the Iran-Iraq war. Iran blames "counter-revolutionary elements".

After the attacks in Tehran on June 7, 2017, Iran ramped up anti-militant operations across the country, targeting northwestern regions, the Iraqi borderlands and the Kurdish minority.Seven Pakistani soldiers were killed in Spera Kunar Algad area of North Waziristan near the Afghan border (pictured October 2017)

Seven Pakistani soldiers were killed in an exchange of fire with militants in the country's northwest near the Afghan border on Saturday, the military said.

The militants had infiltrated from across the Afghan border, and an officer was among the Pakistani soldiers killed, according to a statement issued by the military.

Nine militants were also killed in the exchange of fire, it said.

Violence in Pakistan has declined in recent years following a series of military operations along the northwestern border with Afghanistan, but militant groups are still able to carry out deadly attacks.

Saturday's incident occurred in Spera Kunar Algad area of North Waziristan near the Afghan border.

There have been a number of fatal assaults in recent months in the northwest as well as in the southwestern Balochistan province.

Pakistan's army launched its operation in mid-2014 to wipe out militant bases in the area and end the near decade-long insurgency that has cost thousands of lives.

The operation was intensified after the Taliban massacred more than 150 people, the majority of them children, at a school in the northwestern city of Peshawar in December 2014.

In 2016, the Pakistani army claimed to have cleared the last militant stronghold in the country's northwest after a three-month long operation.Ricketson speaks to the media upon arriving at Sydney International airport

An Australian filmmaker freed from jail after receiving a royal pardon in Cambodia returned home Sunday as his family spoke of being "overwhelmed with happiness" at his release.

James Ricketson was sentenced to six years' imprisonment last month after being convicted of espionage. He had been in detention since June last year after he flew a drone over an opposition rally.

He was given a royal pardon on Friday after strongman premier Hun Sen requested it.

The 69-year-old landed in Sydney late Sunday after being deported on Saturday.

"The Ricketson family are overwhelmed with happiness to have James home safely in Australia," they said in a statement reported by commercial broadcaster Channel Nine.

"James still deeply loves Cambodia and its people and remains committed to helping however he can."

The family thanked supporters for campaigning for his release, as well as King Norodom Sihamoni for "bringing this nightmare to an end".

They added that the 16-month imprisonment took a huge physical and emotional toll on Ricketson's health.

Ricketson's pardon came a few days before Hun Sen -- who has held power for more than 33 years -- was scheduled to travel to New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly.

It also followed the freeing of activists and opposition lawmakers in the weeks after July's national election, which critics said was neither free nor fair.

Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne thanked her Cambodian counterpart Prak Sokhonn and said the pardon ended a "distressing time" for Ricketson and his family.

Ricketson was detained after footage emerged of him using a drone to film a rally of the now-defunct opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP).

His six-day trial -- which rights groups slammed as a farce -- showed him to be defiant and combative. It featured a surprise appearance by Hollywood director Peter Weir, who served as a character witness for his friend.

The prosecution accused Ricketson of working as a filmmaker in Cambodia as a front for spying activities, but the verdict failed to name which country he was allegedly spying for.

The CNRP, the sole legitimate opposition force to Hun Sen's ruling Cambodian People's Party, was dissolved in the lead-up to the controversial election -- clearing the path for his party to take all 125 parliament seats.The aftermath of deadly flash floods in Tunisia's coastal town of Nabeul is seen on September 23, 2018

Flash floods in Tunisia's Cap Bon peninsula have killed at least five people, authorities said Sunday, as surging waters caused by heavy rains carried away homes, cars and chunks of road.

Saturday's storm caused water levels in some areas to rise as much as 1.7 metres (5.6 feet), as bridges and roads were damaged in record rains that dropped the equivalent of nearly six months of average precipitation.

In most places, water levels had begun falling quickly, the interior ministry said, adding however that the death toll had risen to five after a teenager was electrocuted Sunday in Bou Argoub, 45 kilometres (28 miles) southeast of Algiers.

Ministry spokesman Sofiene Zaag also said a 60-year-old man had drowned near the town of Takilsa and another man was found dead in Bir Bouregba, close to the town of Hammamet.

Two sisters were swept away as they left work at a factory in Bou Argoub, the ministry said.

"They were trying to cross rising wadi waters to get back home," Amir, a resident of the area, told AFP.

Wadis are river beds that are usually dry but are meant to carry away seasonal rains.

- 'Blocked' wadis exacerbate floods -

"The wadis have been abandoned for decades -- there is no maintenance", he said, adding that the river beds are filled with trees, garbage and rubble.

A man in another area agreed that blocked wadis had exacerbated the flooding.

Cars are piled up following flash floods in the Tunisian town of Nabeul on September 23, 2018

"It was raining since noon and (in the afternoon) it became torrential", said Moncef Barouni, a resident of the coastal town of Nabeul.

"The wadi in front of our house was blocked by trees and the water flooded over the bridge and onto the road," he told AFP.

In just minutes, "the water swept away the fence, then the boiler room, the summer kitchen and a part of the house," he said.

"I was scared for my life."

The storm dumped 200 millimetres (7.9 inches) of rain on Nabeul and up to 225 millimetres in the city of Beni Khalled, in the peninsula's centre, according to Tunisia's National Institute of Meteorology.

It was the heaviest rainfall since the institute began keeping records in 1995, it said, adding that it had issued a warning about the storms on Friday.

People angry about the situation demonstrated in Cape Bon, with Prime Minister Chahed calling for calm as excavators and pumps were put into action.

Videos posted to social networks showed surging waters carrying cars and chunks of road in the north of the peninsula.

Tunisian authorities said they had dispatched police, army and rescue teams to the region on Saturday afternoon, in addition to mobilising ambulances and two helicopters.

Chahed visited affected areas to meet survivors, as authorities took preventative measures in the Sahel region further south in case of further rains.

"The main thing today is to reopen roads and help those affected. There are regions that are still isolated," he said, quoted by private radio station Mosaique FM.

Residents of the Tunisian coastal region of Nabeul gather at the site of collapsed bridge following deadly flash flooding in the town of Bir Challouf

The sun was out Sunday and receding water levels meant most of the area's roads were passable by car, the interior ministry's Zaag said, although the region's telephone networks were still largely out of service.

Traders surveyed damage to their shops and goods, while some schools said lessons would not take place on Monday.

Severe thunderstorms have hit the North African country since the middle of last week, flooding roads and damaging property, sparking anger against the authorities for allegedly failing to maintain drainage systems.The Plan International NGO interviewed groups of girls in three "unstable regions", including Rohingya such as these seen during Eid Al-Adha festival at a refugee camp in Bangladesh

Girls are the primary victims of humanitarian crises, suffering abuse from forced marriage to denial of schooling and are "14 times more likely to die than boys in a conflict," the Plan International NGO said Sunday.

The group will Monday unveil at the United Nations conclusions from three investigations into the fate of youngsters -- ethnic Rohingya from Myanmar in a refugee camp in Bangladesh, a second group in the Chad Basin and a third in South Sudan, "three particularly unstable regions," in the NGO's words.

Its research details "forced marriage, kidnappings, violence, sexual abuse, slavery" and a huge lack in education opportunities.

In crowded refugee camps in Uganda the group interviewed 249 girls aged 10 to 19 from South Sudan who described "a continuum of violence having become the norm in the home and in the community."

"That is not surprising because the conflict in South Sudan has been characterised by rampant cruelty, including levels of extreme violence against women and children," the report said. The NGO added that "one adolescent in four considered suicide at least once" in the year preceding the study.

Seventy-seven percent also said they did not have enough food to eat.

In Chad Basin, which Plan International described as being caught in one of the world's most serious humanitarian crises, one in three teenagers questioned said they did not feel safe at home, one in five had been beaten in the month preceding the investigation and one in ten had suffered sexual abuse.

Of 449 girls the NGO interviewed in Nigeria, Niger and Cameroon, two thirds were separated from their fathers due to conflict and in 30 percent of cases from both parents.

Sixty-two percent said they lacked food meaning they had to seek work in the black economy or travel large distances in order to seek firewood or water, in so doing opening themselves up to the further possibility of harassment or violence.

Insecurity acted as a brake on educational advancement with many girls afraid of what might befall them on the way to school.

Also limiting their schooling were factors such as premature or forced marriages, with many girls being married off as early as 14 or 15. In Niger, three quarters of girls are married before the age of 18.

Rohingya girls stuck in a refugee camp over the Bangladeshi border at Cox's Bazar are also deprived of education. Almost two-thirds said they lack schooling due to a multitude of reasons including hunger, beatings, rape, kidnapping and forced prostitution.

One in five girls aged between 13 and 15 endured forced marriages, Plan International added.

One girl facing marriage to somebody she said she did not know commented "they couldn't do it in Myanmar but they can here".MEXICO CITY (AP) - Federal officials declared emergencies in three northern states Friday as heavy rains from a tropical depression caused flooding that killed at least three people.

The Interior Department initially declared a state of emergency for 11 municipalities in Sinaloa state, where the deaths were reported. Later in the day, it extended the declaration to 11 municipalities in Sonora state, which borders the U.S. state of Arizona, and two in Durango states.

Government officials issued a warning Friday night urging people to stay alert. It also warned that intense storms were possible in the states of Jalisco, Michoacan and Guerrero farther south and said the northern states of Coahuila, Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas could see strong storms.

The tropical depression moved into the area early Thursday and dumped as much as 14 inches (35.9 centimeters) of rain in just 24 hours, overflowing storm drains.

Images in local and social media showed streets in Sinaloa turned into raging rivers, swamping cars. The newspaper El Universal posted video of an SUV being swept along in Guamuchil as passengers scrambled to get onto its roof.

Soldiers deployed in heavy trucks to pick up stranded residents and carry them to safety. The Sinaloa state government said more than 2,000 people had evacuated and 13 shelters were set up.

In a statement early Friday, Sinaloa state Attorney General Juan Jose Rios Estavillo said one person drowned and two were killed by electrocution. Three women were missing in Culiacan, the state capital, after presumably being swept away.NEW YORK (AP) - A federal appeals panel seems poised to reinstate a defamation lawsuit Sarah Palin brought against The New York Times after hearing oral arguments Friday.

A three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan found it unusual that a judge tossed the lawsuit last year after hearing testimony from a single witness.

The onetime Republican vice presidential nominee sued over an editorial titled "America's Lethal Politics." The editorial was published in June 2017 after a gunman opened fire on Republican lawmakers in Virginia, wounding U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise.

The Times' editorial was corrected twice when readers complained that it appeared to blame a political action committee belonging to Palin for "political incitement" after it distributed a map depicting Democratic lawmakers beneath crosshairs before the 2011 shooting of Democratic U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords in Arizona.

The editorial originally was published online late in the evening. The newspaper issued corrections online the next morning and in print editions the day after that to remove those references and note the map showed electoral districts, not people, in crosshairs.

U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff tossed out the lawsuit last year after conducting a hearing in which he heard testimony from James Bennet, the Times' editorial page editor. Bennet said he thought the editorial was accurate when he approved its publication but later learned otherwise.

Circuit Judge Denny Chin said he agreed that the hearing was unusual.

District Judge John F. Keenan, assigned temporarily to the appeals court, said it was "tremendously unusual to have a hearing like this."

Circuit Judge John M. Walker Jr. said Rakoff heard the testimony of the editorial page editor of the Times and "then he decides the position of The New York Times is more plausible than the other side."

The appeals panel did not immediately rule.ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) - A fugitive priest who fled the U.S. decades ago amid allegations of child sex abuse has been returned to New Mexico to face charges after being arrested in Morocco last year, federal officials said Friday.

Arthur J. Perrault, 80, a former Catholic priest in the Archdiocese of Santa Fe and a former Air Force chaplain, has been charged in a federal indictment with seven counts of aggravated sexual abuse and abusive sexual contact between 1991 and 1992 at Kirtland Air Force Base and Santa Fe National Cemetery.

Perrault, a one-time pastor at St. Bernadette parish in Albuquerque, is one of many priests who were sent to New Mexico in the 1960s from around the country for treatment involving pedophilia.

FILE -This 1989 file photo shows Father Arthur Perrault in Albuquerque, N.M. Perrault, a fugitive priest who fled the U.S. decades ago amid allegations of child sex abuse has been returned to New Mexico to face charges after being arrested in Morocco last year, federal officials said Friday, Sept. 21, 2018. (The Albuquerque Journal via AP, File)

Victims, lawyers and church documents show the priests were later assigned to parishes and schools across New Mexico - especially in small Native American and Hispanic communities.

At a court appearance Friday, Perrault pleaded not guilty to all seven counts against him. His attorney couldn't immediately be reached for comment.

"The FBI and our partners were determined to make sure he faced justice - no matter how long it took and how far we had to go to get him," said James Langenberg, FBI special agent in charge of the Albuquerque office.

Perrault vanished in 1992, just days before an attorney filed two lawsuits against the archdiocese alleging Perrault had sexually assaulted seven children at his parish.

The FBI said Perrault first fled to Canada and then to Tangier, Morocco, where he worked until last year at an English-language school for children.

The FBI did not provide further details on how he was located and arrested by Moroccan authorities.

Church records released last year by a New Mexico judge show Perrault is also accused in state lawsuits of sexually abusing at least 38 boys in other incidents.

The federal charges involve a boy who was younger than 12 at the time of the alleged abuse on the air base and at the cemetery - both federal jurisdictions.

"This is a great day for survivors of clergy abuse everywhere," said Brad Hall, an attorney who has represented more than 100 victims of Catholic clergy abuse in New Mexico.

Records show Perrault was sent in 1965 to Servants of the Paraclete - a religious order that ran a treatment center for pedophile priests in Jemez Springs, New Mexico - after he was accused of molesting young men while serving in Connecticut.

A year later, he was recommended for a teaching post at St. Pius X High School in Albuquerque by a psychologist under contract with Servants of the Paraclete.

Langenberg said the FBI's investigation began in 2016 and led to the indictment last year.

"There were some people who doubted Mr. Perrault would ever be back to New Mexico after being away for so long," Langenberg said. "It was important to prove them wrong for one reason - the victim in this case."PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Barack Obama turned his political attention Friday to Pennsylvania - a state Donald Trump won in 2016.

The former president campaigned in Philadelphia with two leading Democrats running for re-election, Gov. Tom Wolf and U.S. Sen. Bob Casey.

At a campaign rally at the Dell Music Center in Philadelphia, Obama implored Pennsylvanians to vote in November because the election was more consequential than any he could remember.

Former President Barack Obama speaks as he campaigns in support of Pennsylvania candidates in Philadelphia, Friday, Sept. 21, 2018. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

"This time, it really is different. This time, the stakes really are higher," Obama said. "The consequences of any of us sitting on the sidelines are far more dangerous."

During the speech Obama made no mention of his successor in the White House by name, but urged voters of all parties - not just Democrats - to vote to restore honesty, decency and lawfulness to government.

In the Nov. 6 contests, Democrats are trying to oust Republicans in four U.S. House districts and more than a dozen state legislative seats in the Philadelphia area alone. Obama twice carried Pennsylvania in his presidential races, and Democrats hope the state can help them retake control of Congress from the GOP.

Casey's Republican opponent, Rep. Lou Barletta, told The Associated Press that Obama's visit will stir up GOP voters in an election year when their party faces an uphill battle to retain its Capitol Hill majorities. Obama will "energize those blue-collar Democrats who worried about their jobs under Obama and went out to vote for Donald Trump," Barletta said.

"On President Obama's watch, we had our slowest economic recovery since World War II and Democrats lost more than 1,000 seats," said Michael Ahrens, a spokesman for the Republican National Committee. "If he wants to help energize Republicans this election too, we're happy to have him."

Democrats in other states where Obama has campaigned recently say his stops have drawn big crowds, giving the party a chance to organize, update voter contact lists, motivate new donors and boost volunteerism. Obama planned a fundraiser after the Philadelphia rally.

Obama's trip is the latest in a string of appearances before the midterm elections. While his full schedule is taking shape, aides said he is considering how best to help candidates throughout the country.

Obama has endorsed more than 80 Democrats in more than a dozen states. A second round of endorsements is expected this fall.PHOENIX (AP) - Arizona residents and Guatemalan immigrants in the U.S. illegally were among eight people killed earlier this week in a head-on crash on a highway near the historic prison town of Florence, authorities said Friday.

The Arizona Department of Public Safety released the names of some of the people killed in the collision late Wednesday on State Route 79 involving an SUV and a Buick sedan about 120 miles (193 kilometers) north of the Mexico border.

Officials have not said whether the SUV was being used for a smuggling operation. But court records show the driver and passenger of the vehicle were previously convicted of immigrant smuggling charges.

Federal court records show 45-year-old Rodney Palimo pleaded guilty in March 2008 to a misdemeanor count of aiding and abetting an alien. He was initially charged with a felony count of transporting an immigrant in the U.S. without permission.

His passenger, 43-year-old Kathleen Palimo, in 2004 pleaded guilty to a felony count of transporting aliens in the county illegally.

The Palimos, from Sells, both died in the crash along with four of another seven men in the vehicle identified by state troopers as Guatemalans.

Guatemala's Foreign Ministry said in a statement from Guatemala City that the country's Tucson consulate was investigating the nationalities and identities of those killed. It said two of the dead men carried Guatemalan identity documents and a third had no papers. It made no mention of a fourth possible Guatemalan fatality.

The ministry said it was in contact with the relatives of the Guatemalan victims identified thus far.

Reports by both U.S. and Guatemalan officials agreed that another three men believed to be Guatemalans were hospitalized with injures. The ministry said its consulate in Phoenix was checking on the injured, one of whom had been identified as a Guatemalan citizen and released from the hospital.

It did not provide information on the conditions of the other two.

Also killed in the accident were the driver of the Buick, 41-year-old Angel Meza and his passenger, 33-year-old Nicole Vidal. Both were from the city of Eloy.

Authorities have said the Buick veered into the opposite lane of traffic, striking the SUV.

Arizona has been the scene of a number of fatal crashes involving immigrants while they were being smuggled, including one near the border nearly a decade ago in which 10 people died after an SUV rolled over on a highway.

Large numbers of Central American migrants, the majority of them Guatemalans, in recent months have been regularly turning up in remote desert areas of Arizona near the border with Mexico.

U.S. Border Patrol agents on Sept. 16 found two groups of Central American migrants in the desert within hours of each other west of the U.S. port of entry in Lukeville. Together, those two groups comprised 193 people, including 11 unaccompanied children.

Other large groups of Central Americans were found in the same general area on Sept. 1 and Aug. 17.

___

Associated Press writers Astrid Galvan in Phoenix and Sonia Perez D. in Guatemala City contributed to this report.HENDERSON, Nev. (AP) - Police in the Las Vegas-area city of Henderson say they are investigating as a murder-suicide the apparent shooting deaths of a man, a woman and two boys, ages 15 and 5, whose bodies were found in a burning home.

The names of the dead were not immediately made public by the Clark County coroner.

Henderson police Lt. Kirk Moore said Friday they were found Thursday evening after officers arriving to neighbors' reports of gunshots found the house on fire.

Firefighters quickly doused flames and discovered the bodies. Moore said it did not appear that fire caused the deaths.

The relationship between the four was not disclosed. Moore told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that it looked like the 27-year-old man killed the 35-year-old woman, the two children and then himself.

The modest two-story home is in a residential tract off Interstate 11 in southeastern Henderson, a suburban city of about 300,000 people some 15 miles (24 kilometers) southeast of downtown Las Vegas.ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) - The Latest on the arrest of a fugitive priest from New Mexico on child sexual abuse charges (all times local):

3:50 p.m.

A fugitive priest suspected of child abuse decades ago in New Mexico has pleaded not guilty to seven counts of abuse.

Arthur Perrault entered his plea Friday in U.S. District Court in Albuquerque following his arrest in Morocco and return to the U.S.

The 80-year-old Perrault is facing charges of criminal aggravated sexual abuse and abusive sexual contact in incidents that federal authorities say happened at Kirtland Air Force Base and Santa Fe National Cemetery in the 1990s.

Perrault vanished in 1992, just days before an attorney filed two lawsuits against the archdiocese alleging Perrault had sexually assaulted seven children.

___

12:15 p.m.

The FBI says a fugitive priest suspected of child abuse decades ago in New Mexico was taken into custody by U.S. agents in Morocco.

FBI Special Agent in Charge James Langenberg said Friday in Albuquerque that two agents flew to Morocco and took custody of 80-year-old Arthur Perrault on Thursday.

Officials say Perrault had been held by Moroccan authorities for about a year after the FBI determined he was in that country. He was later transferred to U.S. custody.

An arrest warrant filed in U.S. District Court in Albuquerque says Perrault was formally arrested in New York within hours after his return to the U.S.

He is facing charges of criminal aggravated sexual abuse and abusive sexual contact in incidents that federal authorities say happened at Kirtland Air Force Base and Santa Fe National Cemetery. It was unclear if he has a lawyer.

___

10:45 a.m.

A fugitive priest suspected of child abuse decades ago in New Mexico has been arrested.

Court documents show 80-year-old Arthur J. Perrault was arrested Thursday in New York, and has been charged with criminal aggravated sexual abuse and abusive sexual contact in assaults that federal authorities say happened at Kirtland Airforce Base and Santa Fe National Cemetery.

He is scheduled for a first federal court appearance Friday in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Perrault had been a chaplain at the base in Albuquerque.

He vanished in 1992, just days before an attorney filed two lawsuits against the archdiocese alleging Perrault had sexually assaulted seven children at his parish.

Perrault turned up last year in Morocco, working at an English-language school for children, where he was subsequently fired.SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) - The Latest on President Donald Trump (all times local):

8 p.m.

President Donald Trump says he won't rush into any deal with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

President Donald Trump speaks at a spending bill signing ceremony at VA Southern Nevada Healthcare System, Friday, Sept. 21, 2018, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Trump tells a rally Friday in Springfield, Missouri, that he received a "beautiful letter" two days ago from Kim. But he's not saying what the letter said.

The president and Kim met in June in Singapore to discuss denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula.

Trump says he has a "very good" relationship with Kim. He notes that North Korea has returned Americans being held there, as well as remains of American service members who went missing during the Korean War.

The president also notes that North Korea has not conducted any ballistic missile or nuclear weapons tests in months.

Trump says, "Let's see what happens," adding "I'm in no rush."

__

6:45 p.m.

President Donald Trump has taken the stage at a campaign rally in Missouri.

It's his second rally in as many nights.

Trump opened by telling the cheering crowd of thousands in Springfield that "our country is respected again."

He says that's because "we are finally putting America first."

The president is in Missouri to campaign for state attorney general Josh Hawley, who is challenging incumbent Democratic U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill. Trump has been campaigning aggressively to help the Senate expand its narrow 51-49 majority in the Senate.

Trump campaigned in Las Vegas on Thursday night to help Sen. Dean Heller, the only Republican seeking re-election in a state that Democrat Hillary Clinton won in 2016.

__

2:55 p.m.

President Donald Trump has signed legislation to fund the Energy Department, veterans' programs and the legislative branch, including Congress and the Capitol police.

Trump signed the measures Friday during an event at the VA Southern Nevada Healthcare System, where he stressed his efforts to improve veterans' care.

Congress last week approved the $147 billion package as part of an effort by congressional leaders to head off a government shutdown that Trump has threatened he might force over funding for his border wall.

The bill includes money for veterans' health care, military infrastructure, the electrical grid and nuclear weapons programs.

It also provides a $1.1 billion increase to pay for efforts to give veterans more freedom to see doctors outside the troubled VA system. And it will require Senate candidates to file electronic campaign finance reports.

__

1 a.m.

President Donald Trump is in Las Vegas stumping for Republican Sen. Dean Heller, who is in the fight of his career to keep his seat.

Trump is praising Heller as "a champion" of workers, veterans and families and says he has "no better friend."

Heller, who once said he "vehemently" opposed Trump, has now allied himself with the president.

Trump says, "We started off slow, but we ended up strong."

Heller is in a tight race with Democratic Rep. Jacky Rosen, a first-term congresswoman who stands to benefit from a wave of anti-Trump activism.

Trump is mocking Rosen as "Wacky Jacky."

Trump saved Heller from a costly primary earlier this year when he persuaded Danny Tarkanian to drop out of the Senate race and instead seek a House

President Donald Trump gives a thumbs-up as he arrives at McCarran International Airport for a campaign rally, Thursday, Sept. 20, 2018, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)WASHINGTON (AP) - Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein discussed secretly recording President Donald Trump last year as law enforcement agencies grew increasingly unnerved about chaos in the White House, according to people familiar with the exchange. One person who was present at the time said Rosenstein was just being sarcastic.

Trump spoke later Friday of a "lingering stench" at the Justice Department, though he didn't name names. But the reports add fuel to Trump's longstanding claims that his law enforcement agencies are biased against him and determined to undermine his presidency.

Rosenstein's comments were first reported Friday by The New York Times. The Times also said Rosenstein raised the idea of using the 25th Amendment to remove Trump as unfit for office.

FILE - In this July 13, 2018, file photo, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein speaks during a news conference at the Department of Justice in Washington. Rosenstein is denying a report in The New York Times that he suggested last year that he secretly record President Donald Trump in the White House to expose the chaos in the administration. Rosenstein says the story is "inaccurate and factually incorrect." (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

Rosenstein issued a swift denial.

"I never pursued or authorized recording the President and any suggestion that I have ever advocated for the removal of the President is absolutely false," he said.

The reports create even greater uncertainty for Rosenstein in his position at a time when Trump has lambasted Justice Department leadership and publicly humiliated both him and Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

It's also the latest revelation that could affect Robert Mueller, the special counsel investigating possible coordination between Russia and Trump's presidential campaign in 2016. Sessions recused from that issue soon after he took office, to Trump's dismay, and Rosenstein later appointed Mueller. With all that hanging in the air, Trump has resisted calls from conservative commentators to fire both Sessions and Rosenstein and appoint someone who would ride herd more closely on Mueller or dismiss him.

The reported conversation about possibly secretly recording the president took place at a tense May 2017 meeting during the tumultuous period that followed Trump's firing of FBI Director James Comey, a decision that upset many rank-and-file agents and that the White House said was based on the Justice Department's recommendation.

Among the participants was Andrew McCabe, the FBI official who was temporarily elevated to director after Comey's firing and who documented conversations with senior officials, including Rosenstein, in memos that have been provided to Mueller as part of his investigation.

The interactions lay bare the conflicts that roiled the FBI and Justice Department early in the Trump administration after Rosenstein, just weeks into his job, wrote a memo critical of Comey's handling of the Hillary Clinton email server investigation that the White House used as justification for firing the FBI director.

Friday's news reports threatened to cloud Rosenstein's fate at the Justice Department, with some conservatives calling for him to be fired immediately. Any dismissal could affect Mueller's Russia probe given that Rosenstein still oversees Mueller's work.

Trump told a campaign rally in Missouri that the department has some "great people" but also "some real bad ones." He said the bad ones are gone, "but there's a lingering stench and we're going to get rid of that, too." It was unclear to whom he was referring.

It was difficult amid the conflicting accounts to discern the precise context of Rosenstein's comments and how they were intended.

The Justice Department, for instance, released an email from one attendee who said Rosenstein's "statement was sarcastic and was never discussed with any intention of recording a conversation with the president."

Rosenstein called the Times story "inaccurate and factually incorrect."

One of the people briefed on the conversation in question, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the confidential nature of the interaction, said it occurred during a moment of frustration between McCabe and Rosenstein.

Rosenstein was rankled by the revelation that Comey had kept memos about his interactions with the president; McCabe wanted a more aggressive approach toward the White House, the person said.

At that point, Rosenstein said to McCabe something to the effect of, "What do you want, you want me to wear a wire?" according to the person. Rosenstein was asked in the meeting if he was serious, and he said yes, but he did not mean for the wire comment to be taken seriously as a tactic to investigate Trump, the person said.

The person also said that a memo from McCabe describes Rosenstein as referencing the 25th Amendment to the Constitution, which says that a president can be declared "unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office" upon a majority vote of the vice president and the Cabinet.

But the person said notes and recollections from other attendees at the meeting, including former FBI lawyer Lisa Page, do not include the 25th Amendment reference.

McCabe's lawyer, Michael Bromwich, said in a statement that McCabe had drafted memos to "memorialize significant discussions he had with high level officials and preserved them so he would have an accurate, contemporaneous record of those discussions." He did not address the content of the memos.

Rosenstein has been a target of Trump's ire since appointing Mueller as special counsel last year. He chose Mueller one week after he laid the groundwork for the firing of Comey by writing a sharply critical memo of his performance. The White House initially cited that memo as justification for Comey's firing, though Trump later said said he was thinking about "this Russia thing" when he made the move.

As deputy attorney general, Rosenstein oversees Mueller's work and has made two public announcements of indictments brought by the special counsel - one against Russians accused of hacking into Democratic email accounts, the other against Russians accused of running a social media troll farm to sway public opinion.

The news elicited a quick response from members of Congress.

Rep. Mark Meadows, a North Carolina Republican who chairs the conservative Freedom Caucus, said in a tweet that "if this story is true, it underscores a gravely troubling culture at FBI/DOJ and the need for FULL transparency."

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said the Times story "must not be used as a pretext for the corrupt purpose of firing Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein in order to install an official who will allow the president to interfere with the special counsel's investigation."

___

Associated Press writer Jonathan Lemire in Springfield, Missouri, contributed to this report.WASHINGTON (AP) - Journalist Alice Allison Dunnigan triumphed over sexism and racism to become the first black woman accredited to cover the White House.

In recognition of her achievements, the Newseum unveiled a statue in her honor on Friday.

The bronze life-size statue will remain in the Newseum, just steps away from the National Mall and the White House, until December. The statue, based on a photo of Dunnigan standing on the steps of the U.S. Capitol, depicts her in hat and pearls, a folded newspaper in her hands.

In this image provided by Emory University, Alice Allison Dunnigan, right, interviews screenwriters Arthur Arthur, left, and Virginia Kellogg. Dunnigan triumphed over sexism and racism to become the first black woman accredited to cover the White House and in recognition of her achievements, the Newseum unveiled a statue in her honor on Friday, Sept. 21, 2018. (Emory University Rare Book Library via AP)

Members of Dunnigan's family, friends, colleagues and admirers gasped with joy as the statue was revealed, with some crying. The statue by Amanda Matthews will be moved to the West Kentucky African American Heritage Center in Dunnigan's hometown of Russellville, Kentucky, in December.

"Monuments inform us of our past, but they also lead us toward our future," Matthews said just before the statue was unveiled. "Alice Dunnigan envisioned a future of equality and she dedicated her life to that vision as a teacher, a journalist, an editor and a champion for civil rights and women. She is why we're all here today, to continue to support that vision."

Dunnigan was trained as a teacher but wanted to be a journalist. After working at The Chicago Defender, she became the Washington bureau chief for the Associated Negro Press, where she wrote about government and politics for 112 African-American newspapers. She then made history when she received White House press credentials in 1947 and became part of the White House traveling press corps covering President Harry Truman's re-election campaign in 1948.

Dunnigan would go on to cover Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy before taking a job in the Kennedy and then the Johnson administration. She died in 1983 in Washington, D.C., at age 77.

Dunnigan faced both racism and sexism during her career in Washington.

For example, she was kept from covering an Eisenhower speech in 1953 because it was in a whites-only theater. Later, Dunnigan was made to sit with servants to cover the funeral of Ohio Sen. Robert Taft.

In addition to the indignity of racism, Dunnigan was often paid less than her male colleagues in the black press and forced to justify herself in situations where male reporters were welcomed.

"Race and sex were twin strikes against me. I'm not sure which was the hardest to break down," Dunnigan has been quoted as saying.

But she didn't let any of that stop her, friends and relatives did. She was the first black member of the Women's National Press Club, and the first black woman to belong to the House of Representatives and Senate press galleries and the State Department press corps.

"If she was here, she would say we've made great inroads in the '40s and then came the '60s and we're now where we are," said her granddaughter Soraya Dunnigan Brandon, 58, of Durham, North Carolina. "But the same issues are still there, so I think she would say that we have to keep working."

___

Jesse J. Holland covers race and ethnicity for The Associated Press. Contact him at jholland@ap.org, on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/jessejholland or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/jessejholland. You can read his stories at AP at http://bit.ly/storiesbyjessejholland.

The sculpture of Alice Allison Dunnigan is seen during a ceremony at the Newseum, Friday, Sept. 21, 2018, in Washington. Dunnigan triumphed over sexism and racism to become the first black woman accredited to cover the White House. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) - A mission to rebuild the depleted wolf population at Isle Royale National Park is getting underway in Michigan and Minnesota, as specialists prepare to trap six to eight of the predators on the mainland and fly them to the Lake Superior archipelago, officials said Friday.

The initial relocation this fall is part of a three-year plan to place 20 to 30 gray wolves in the island wilderness, where since the late 1940s the species has helped preserve ecological balance by keeping the moose herd in check.

Inbreeding, disease and accidental deaths caused a sharp drop-off of wolves in recent years, leading the National Park Service to plan a rescue as a warming climate prevented formation of winter ice bridges that previously enabled natural migration to the island. Only two wolves remain.

This 2017 photo provided by biologist Rolf Peterson of Michigan Technological University shows the last two surviving wolves at Isle Royale National Park in Michigan. The National Park Service plans to relocate additional wolves to the Lake Superior park in coming years to rebuild the predator species' depleted population. (Rolf Peterson/Michigan Technological University via AP)

Wolves targeted for movement to Isle Royale will be taken from populations in Michigan's Upper Peninsula and the Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa reservation in northeastern Minnesota, park Superintendent Phyllis Green said. Officials also hope to get wolves from the Canadian province of Ontario in the future, she said.

"We're looking forward to a safe and successful translocation," Green said in a phone conference with reporters from the park headquarters in Houghton, Michigan.

The operation will involve about 30 scientists, pilots and technicians from federal, state and tribal agencies. They'll have a delicate task of selecting healthy, genetically diverse wolves, preparing them for the journey and transporting them safely to the park, which lies about 14 miles (22.5 kilometers) off the Minnesota coast and 60 miles (96.5 kilometers) from the Upper Peninsula.

Mainland wolves will be caught in leg traps, anesthetized and examined for suitability. Preferred are those aged 1 to 5 years - ideal for reproduction - with clear eyes and strong canine teeth needed for killing and eating moose, said Mark Romanski, the park's natural resources chief. Disqualifying flaws could include bone fractures, missing limbs, heartworm and mange. Equal numbers of males and females will be sought.

Park service veterinarian Michelle Verant will conduct blood and feces tests to make sure a candidate is free of diseases that could lower survival prospects and infect the island's population. Those chosen for relocation will be vaccinated, de-wormed and treated for prevention of fleas, ticks and lice.

Isle Royale has no airport, so the wolves will be flown aboard floatplanes that can land on the water and taxi to shoreline docks. In some cases, boats may be needed to get them from aircraft to land.

It will be stressful for the wolves, and officials acknowledged there are risks. But mortality rates have become extremely low over the years as scientists have refined techniques for capturing and moving wolves, Romanski said.

The wolves will be placed in different sections of the park, which is 45 miles (72.4 kilometers) long and includes one large island and hundreds of smaller ones. The animals will be fitted with radio collars, enabling scientists to trace their movements, life spans, pack formation and success with hunting and mating.

The newcomers will be placed well away from the territory occupied by the two survivors.

The wolf restoration, a departure from the usual federal policy of non-interference with natural systems in designated wilderness areas, is intended to prevent a runaway moose herd from overeating the island's trees and shrubs.

"It's possible that moose could do a lot of long-term damage to the forest," said John Vucetich of Michigan Technological University, one of the scientists who have observed wolf-moose dynamics at Isle Royale since the 1950s.LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) - Striking employees at Four Roses will return to work next week after the Kentucky bourbon maker and union officials reached a tentative agreement Friday to end a two-week walkout, a union leader said.

More than 50 hourly employees walked off their jobs Sept. 7 over a dispute dealing mainly with sick leave policy.

In a bargaining session Friday, negotiators agreed to language giving workers the option to keep current sick leave policy or sign up for a short-term disability plan, said Jeff Royalty, president of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 10d.

Royalty said he was pleased with the deal and predicted no lingering impact when workers return to their jobs as soon as Monday.

"There's no animosity between none of the guys here and the company," he said in a phone interview. "It was just a business thing. And you kind of have to leave it at that and go back to making bourbon."

News outlets reported Four Roses issued a statement Friday saying the agreement had "unanimous union board endorsement." The company "looks forward to beginning full production again soon."

Striking workers had picketed outside the Four Roses distilling operation near Lawrenceburg and at a separate bottling and maturation facility in central Kentucky.

They had objected to a company proposal to change sick leave policy for incoming employees. The tentative deal will let workers choose between keeping the current sick leave policy or to sign up for a short-term disability plan, Royalty said.

"They will have a choice of which sick leave policy works best for their family," he said. "It will be a one-time choice."

The labor dispute comes amid a production boom among Kentucky's bourbon producers. Two years ago, union workers at Jim Beam walked off the job for several days to demand the hiring of more full-time staff to keep up with the industry giant's growing production needs.

Kentucky is home to about 95 percent of the world's bourbon production.DALLAS (AP) - An undercover Fort Worth police officer fatally shot while pursuing robbery suspects has been remembered as a devoted family man and colleague.

The funeral for 40-year-old Garrett Hull was Friday in Fort Worth. Chad Mills, a former partner, says Hull "was an example in the right way of what an officer should be on and off duty."

Mills says that while on duty, Hull was "a protector" of citizens and the police department. Mills says while off duty, Hull "lived by faith, family and friends."

Other speakers included Police Chief Joel Fitzgerald, who posthumously promoted Hull to corporal and retired his badge number.

Hull is survived by a wife and two daughters.

Another officer shot and killed the suspect who gunned down Hull on Sept. 14. Two other suspects face capital murder charges.PRATTVILLE, Ala. (AP) - A 13-year-old boy was found naked and chained at an Alabama home and three of his relatives have been arrested on child abuse charges, authorities said Friday.

The chained boy was discovered Thursday afternoon after deputies responded to an anonymous call of possible child abuse, Autauga County Sheriff Joe Sedinger told news outlets.

The child was naked with chains padlocked around his ankles. The chains were attached to a door, preventing the boy's normal movement. He estimated that the boy had been chained up for several hours.

Sedinger called the case "disturbing."

"I mean, we've never had anything like this in Autauga County," he told the Montgomery Advertiser. "We've had child abuse cases, physical abuse cases that were bad. But nothing like this where a child was left chained up for an extended period of time."

However, he said the boy was speaking with deputies and did not seem withdrawn. He described the teen as fun-loving and sweet.

Records show the boy's mother, stepfather and grandmother have all been arrested on charges of torture/willful abuse of a child under 18. It's unclear if they have lawyers who could comment.

Investigators believe the child had been restrained as punishment.

Two other children were turned over to the Department of Human Resources.WASHINGTON (AP) - The nation's immigration court judges are anxious and stressed by a quota system implemented by Attorney General Jeff Sessions that pushes them to close 700 cases per year as a way to get rid of an immense backlog, the head of the judges' union said Friday.

It means judges would have an average of about 2  hours to complete cases - an impossible ask for complicated asylum matters that can include hundreds of pages of documents and hours of testimony, Judge Ashley Tabaddor said.

"This is an unprecedented act, which compromises the integrity of the court and undermines the decisional independence of immigration judges," she said in a speech at the National Press Club, in her capacity as head of the union. Tabaddor said the backlog of some 750,000 cases was created in part by government bureaucracy and a neglected immigration court system.

Ashley Tabaddor, a federal immigration judge in Los Angeles who serves as the President of the National Association of Immigration Judges, listens as she is introduced to speak at the National Press Club in Washington, Friday, Sept. 21, 2018, on the pressures on judges and the federal immigration court system. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

"Now, the same backlog is being used as a political tool to advance the current law enforcement policies," she said.

Curbing immigration is a signature issue for the Trump administration and the jobs of the nation's more than 300 immigration judges are in a continued spotlight.

They decide whether someone has a legal basis to remain in the country while the government tries to deport them, including those seeking asylum. Tabaddor presides in Los Angeles, where she oversees some 2,000 cases, including many involving juveniles.

The judges are employees of the Justice Department's Executive Office for Immigration Review, which is overseen by the attorney general - unlike the criminal and civil justice systems where judges operate independently.

Immigration court judges have repeatedly asked for independence, and Tabaddor brought it up again Friday, calling the current structure a serious design flaw.

A Justice Department spokesman said the union has repeatedly tried to block common-sense reforms that would make the judges' jobs better, and the proper home for the courts is where they are right now, under DOJ.

Earlier this year, the Justice Department sent a memo to immigration judges telling them they would need to clear at least 700 cases a year in order to receive a "satisfactory" rating on their performance evaluations. Sessions has pushed for faster rulings and issued a directive that prevents judges from administratively closing cases in an effort to decrease the backlog by 50 percent by 2020.

This month, he appointed 44 new judges, the largest class of immigration judges in U.S. history, and has pledged to hire more. He said in a speech to the judges that he wouldn't apologize for asking them to perform "at a high level, efficiently and effectively."

Tabaddor wouldn't say whether the quotas were also putting pressure on judges to deport more people - not just decide cases faster.

"There's certainly no question they're under pressure to complete more cases faster," she said. "I think I would just say listen to the attorney general's remarks and you can decide what messaging is going to be sent."

Earlier this summer, Sessions tightened the restrictions on the types of cases that can qualify someone for asylum, making it harder for Central Americans who say they're fleeing the threat of gangs, drug smugglers or domestic violence to pass even the first hurdle for securing U.S. protection.

Immigration lawyers say that's meant more asylum seekers failing interviews with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to establish credible fear of harm in their home countries. They also say that immigration judges are overwhelmingly signing off on those recommendations during appeals, effectively ending what could have been a yearslong asylum process almost before it's begun.

President Donald Trump hasn't been behind the move to bolster the roster of judges. "We shouldn't be hiring judges by the thousands, as our ridiculous immigration laws demand, we should be changing our laws, building the Wall, hire Border Agents and Ice," he said in a tweet in June, referring to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Ashley Tabaddor, a federal immigration judge in Los Angeles who serves as the President of the National Association of Immigration Judges, speaks at the National Press Club in Washington, Friday, Sept. 21, 2018, on the pressures on judges and the federal immigration court system. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)NEW YORK (AP) - Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross's intent and credibility are so central to how a citizenship question landed on the 2020 census that he can be questioned under oath about it, a judge said Friday, calling the government's spirited opposition to a deposition "surprising, if not unsettling."

U.S. District Judge Jesse M. Furman said he disagreed with government lawyers' claims that the legal "hurdle is exceptionally high" because Ross is a member of President Donald Trump's cabinet but he said even if a high standard did apply, he'd reach the same conclusion.

Furman said the deposition, which will be limited to four hours, was necessary "because Secretary Ross was personally and directly involved in the decision, and the unusual process leading to it, to an unusual degree."

The judge said a deposition was also necessary because government lawyers and Ross himself "have placed the credibility of Secretary Ross squarely at issue in these cases."

"There is something surprising, if not unsettling, about defendants' aggressive efforts to shield Secretary Ross from having to answer questions about his conduct in adding the citizenship question to the census questionnaire," Furman said.

The ruling came in response to two lawsuits by plaintiffs including over a dozen states and big cities who maintain Ross acted improperly. They claim the citizenship question will discourage immigrants from participating, diluting political representation and federal dollars for states that tend to vote Democratic.

The judge noted that Ross claimed in March when the decision to add the citizenship question was announced that he considered adding it after a request to do so last December from the Justice Department.

"The record developed thus far, however, casts grave doubt on those claims," the judge wrote.

Furman said Ross has admitted he began considering whether to add a citizenship question shortly after his appointment in February 2017 and consulted with various other government officials before demanding to know as early as May 2017 why no action had been taken on his request.

The judge said Ross has testified under oath that he was unaware of discussions between him and anyone in the White Houses over the citizenship question.

"But there is now reason to believe that Steve Bannon, then a senior adviser in the White House, was among the 'other government officials' whom Secretary Ross consulted about the citizenship question," Furman said.

"In short, it is indisputable - and in other (perhaps less guarded) moments, defendants themselves have not disputed - that the intent and credibility of Secretary Ross himself are not merely relevant, but central, to plaintiffs claims in this case," he said.

The judge also said aggressive efforts to shield Ross from answering questions were "surprising, if not unsettling."

Furman says it wasn't a close call as to whether Ross must be deposed. He said the public interest weighs heavily in favor of requiring Ross to answer questions.

Kate Bailey, a Justice Department lawyer, has said the government will immediately appeal any requirement that Ross answer questions.

A Justice Department spokesman declined comment Friday.

Amy Spitalnick, a spokeswoman for New York Attorney General Barbara D. Underwood, said: "We look forward to getting to the bottom of this as we continue our suit to ensure a full and fair Census."HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - Pennsylvania's Roman Catholic dioceses said late Friday they are willing to set up a victims' compensation fund as they face the prospect that state lawmakers will give victims of decades-old child sexual abuse another chance to sue the church.

The Pennsylvania Catholic Conference issued the statement for the dioceses saying they were discussing a possible fund. They warned that if a window opens for litigation of old cases, it could force the dioceses into bankruptcy and prevent them from helping victims or performing social services.

No diocese that has sought bankruptcy protection has ever stopped operating. Victims' lawyers say seeking bankruptcy is a strategic way to limit liability in lawsuits.

A nearly 900-page state grand jury report released Aug. 14 said more than 300 Roman Catholic priests had abused at least 1,000 children over the past seven decades in six Pennsylvania dioceses. It also accused senior church officials, including the man who is now archbishop of Washington, D.C., of systematically covering up complaints.

The dioceses' announcement comes ahead of a Monday rally at the Capitol to press lawmakers to approve a grand jury's recommendations, including creating a two-year window for victims to file civil lawsuits after the statute of limitations on their cases runs out.

"We believe such a program will expedite the process for survivors to present their cases to experienced, compassionate experts who will determine an outcome for each case in a swift, efficient manner. In doing so, the panel will provide a resolution to survivors and allow them to avoid difficult and prolonged litigation," the bishops wrote in the statement.

Amy Hill, a spokeswoman for the conference, said that the fund is just an idea at this point, details are still being discussed and no amount of money had been determined. She said the bishops were still talking about what kinds of compensation might be offered.

Both civil lawsuits and victims' compensation funds may deliver money to victims who have suffered for years from the memories of their abuse as children, although there are crucial differences.

Lawyers who help settle child sexual abuse cases say the courts generally promise a bigger payout, while dioceses face the possibility that a judge can order them to divulge records of child sexual abuse complaints and how they handled them. Plaintiffs also can extract court-approved agreements from dioceses to add procedures or training to better protect children going forward. Some of the money goes to lawyers' fees, and the church's defenders say that motivates civil lawyers.

A victim's compensation fund protects diocesan records from court-ordered scrutiny but delivers a faster payout to victims.

Gov. Tom Wolf and Attorney General Josh Shapiro are expected to attend the rally Monday, the first day that state lawmakers are back in voting session since the grand jury produced a report that has shaken the church, spawned investigations in other states and drawn a strong response from Pope Francis.

The state House of Representatives appears poised to pass a two-year window provision. Similar action has happened over the years in several other states, including California, Minnesota and Delaware, according to the Philadelphia-based research organization Child USA. But the Catholic Church and insurers have opposed similar measures in the past, and its fate in the Senate is uncertain.

The Senate in 2016 blocked similar legislation passed by the House.SAN DIEGO (AP) - A Navy SEAL is being held in a military brig while authorities investigate the stabbing death of an Islamic State combatant while he was subdued in Iraq last year.

The Navy Times reported Friday the unidentified SEAL based in California was being held in the brig at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego, though he has not been charged with a crime. Such confinement is allowed in the military justice system.

Naval Special Warfare spokeswoman Cmdr. Tamara Lawrence confirmed to The Associated Press that a Naval Special Warfare unit member is under investigation but declined to give details.

The Naval Criminal Investigative Service is leading the investigation.

The Navy Times said its report was based on interviews with seven Navy officials.TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - Authorities say a Florida woman jumped from a moving Uber car after the driver refused to let her out.

News outlets report that 30-year-old Destiny Green was arrested Wednesday and charged with kidnapping and false imprisonment.

The passenger told police she had been out drinking with friends in Tallahassee and ordered the Uber around 3 a.m. At some point, the passenger asked to be let out, and Green refused. Green told the woman she was taking her to a hospital, despite the woman asking to be let out at each stoplight.

The woman told police she eventually got the window down and jumped out. She called 911, and officers found her with bloody knees and hands.

Police located Green at her home later Wednesday.

Green was being held without bail. Jail records didn't list an attorney.KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - A 46-year-old woman who set a fire that resulted in the deaths of two Kansas City firefighters has been sentenced to 74 years in prison.

Thu Hong Nguyen was sentenced Friday for second-degree murder, arson and assault. She was convicted in July of setting a fire to her nail salon in October 2015.

Firefighters Larry Leggio and John Mesh died when a wall near the salon collapsed on them. Two other firefighters were seriously wounded.

Ngyuen's sentencing was briefly delayed Friday when she began having breathing problems during victim impact statements. Emergency responders came to the courthouse to treat her and the sentencing eventually was completed.

Prosecutors say Nguyen had a history of burning businesses for insurance money. Nguyen was convicted of arson for a 2013 fire at a previous nail salon.NEW YORK (AP) - Shame. Guilt. Embarrassment. Denial. Disgust.

And fear - of losing a job, friends, colleagues, privacy, safety, even one's life.

There are myriad reasons why survivors of sexual assault wait years to come forward - if at all. Indeed, about 7 out of 10 people who experience sexual assault never report it, according to Justice Department statistics.

FILE - In this Sept. 6, 2018 file photo, President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington for the third day of his confirmation hearing to replace retired Justice Anthony Kennedy. Abandoning his previous restraint, Trump challenged the credibility of the woman accusing his Supreme Court nominee of sexual assault on Friday, Sept. 21 declaring that if the alleged attack was so terrible she would have reported it to law enforcement. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

So survivors responded with fury Friday to President Donald Trump's remarks challenging the veracity of Christine Blasey Ford, the accuser of Judge Brett Kavanaugh. The president said she would surely have reported the assault to police "immediately" if the attack was "as bad as she says."

On Twitter, the hashtag "WhyIDidn'tReport" was trending, with survivors coming forward with their own reasons.

"Because he was a member of our family," one user wrote. "Because he threatened to kill me," wrote another. "He was supposed to be my friend, but he beat me when I said no," wrote yet another.

One of the most searing came from Ashley Judd, the actress who was an early Harvey Weinstein accuser.

"The first time it happened, I was 7," she wrote. "I told the first adults I came upon. They said, 'Oh, he's a nice old man, that's not what he meant.' So when I was raped at 15, I only told my diary. When an adult read it, she accused me of having sex with an adult man."

And actress Alyssa Milano, whose tweet last year launched the #MeToo hashtag, wrote that she had been assaulted twice, once as a teenager, yet "I never filed a police report and it took me 30 years to tell my parents."

On Facebook, Kathy Gosnell, a retired newspaper copy editor in DeKalb, Illinois, was inspired by Ford's revelation to finally share with a group of Facebook colleagues - a day before Trump's tweet - that she had been drugged and raped, she said, by a colleague more than three decades earlier.

"It's time to say something," Gosnell, now 73, wrote on Facebook. "In the early 1980s, I was drugged, beaten and raped by one of our colleagues at the L.A. Times. ... Never again did I say his name or speak to him."

In an interview, Gosnell said the man is now deceased and she still has no desire to say his name. He had invited her to dinner, she said, then gave her a drink, and that was the last she remembered until she woke up hours later in his bed, naked and bruised around her arms, chest and neck. She went home, "took seven or eight showers" and told no one until 15 months ago, when she told her daughter.

"I wanted to keep my job," Gosnell said. "And I was afraid I would be ridiculed by colleagues, who might have said, 'But he's a great guy!'" (The newspaper did not immediately respond to an email asking for comment.)

Gosnell said she's furious at the treatment of Ford, especially Trump's tweet. "Of course I understand why she didn't report. She must have known what would happen to her. And look what's happening to her now."

Scott Berkowitz, president of the anti-sexual violence organization RAINN, said reasons for not reporting assaults include fear of retaliation, fear of the perpetrator attacking again, social pressure from peer groups and simple shame.

"The president is misguided about standard behavior following a sexual assault," Berkowitz said of Trump's tweet.

There's also, Berkowitz added, a guilt factor: "People are often blaming themselves, even though they are clearly not at fault."

The same reasons are only exacerbated when victims are in their teens, he said, adding that 54 percent of those under 18 who call the National Sexual Assault Hotline say they have not told a single other person.

Ford and Kavanaugh were high school students - she 15, he 17 - when she alleges the assault occurred. And that, Berkowitz pointed out, was decades ago, when the environment was even less welcoming than it is today for reporting an assault.

Katie Cogan, a trauma psychotherapist in the Washington, D.C., area, said teenagers especially "almost never tell anyone (about an assault), and if they do it's usually years later. They think it's their fault or try to convince themselves it was no big deal."

Cogan said she received a number of calls on Friday morning, following Trump's tweet, from patients expressing distress over the comments and feeling anew that "they will never be believed."

Lea Grover was 14 and a freshman in high school when, she said, she was raped at a basement party that she had agreed to attend to accompany a friend, who never showed up. She said her assailant fed her alcohol for several hours until she was extremely drunk, then led her into a utility closet where he assaulted her.

She had been saying "no" all evening, but finally agreed to go into another room with him, she said, thinking she could grab someone on the way and escape. But she didn't have that chance.

She was "paralyzed with fear," she recalled. "I didn't think I had anywhere to go or any other option" but to submit.

She didn't report it - "I was utterly convinced it was my fault because I had gone to a party where I didn't know anyone," she said. Soon after, she attempted to take her own life, she said.

Years later, as an adult, she suffered another assault, and she did report that one, though she did not ultimately press charges. Last year she wrote an article about the fear involved in coming forward, titled "Don't Tell Me Not to Speak Up When I Can't Even Say His Name."

Asked her response to Trump's remarks, Grover, now 34 and a writer who works with survivors of gender-based violence, noted that her assault in high school was so bad that she was still unable to discuss it with her parents until 15 years later - when she began speaking publicly about it.

Coming forward was - and still is - painful for both them and for her, she said. "Only someone incapable of human empathy wouldn't understand that."

RETRANSMISSION TO CORRECT DATE - FILE - In this Sept. 20, 2018 file photo, President Donald Trump waves as he walks to Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House, in Washington. President Trump challenged the woman accusing his Supreme Court nominee of sexual assault by name, Friday, Sept. 21, 2018, saying that if the alleged attack was that "bad" then she would have filed charges. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)A white high-school student has been accused of putting a noose around a black student's neck in northeast Louisiana.

A teacher at West Ouachita High School saw the incident and immediately took the white student to administrators at the school in West Monroe, Ouachita (WASH-uh-taw) Parish Schools Superintendent Don Coker said.

Coker said the student was disciplined, but student privacy laws forbid him to release details.

Deputy Glenn Springfield, a spokesman for the Ouachita Parish Sheriff's Office, said a juvenile student at the school was arrested on a hate crime battery charge. Springfield said he could not give or confirm other details because both students are juveniles and the case is now with the district attorney's office.

"We don't tolerate any of this. We will never tolerate any of this," Coker said. He added, "This was during Homecoming Week. I don't know if he was trying to make a practical joke or it was truly a hate crime. I know it was handled extremely quickly and very well by our school."

District Attorney Robert S. Tew was out of his office Friday and unavailable for comment.UNITED NATIONS (AP) - The U.N. humanitarian chief warned Friday that the fight against famine is being lost in Yemen, which is already facing the world's worst humanitarian crisis with 75 percent of its 29 million people in need of assistance.

Mark Lowcock called the situation "bleak" and told the Security Council it "has deteriorated in an alarming way in recent weeks."

"We may now be approaching a tipping point, beyond which it will be impossible to prevent massive loss of life as a result of widespread famine across the country," he said. "We are already seeing pockets of famine-like conditions, including cases where people are eating leaves."

In this Aug. 25, 2018 photo, severely malnourished infant Zahra is changed by her mother, right, in the village of al-Mashradah, Aslam, Hajjah, Yemen. Yemen's civil war has wrecked the impoverished country's already fragile ability to feed its population. Around 2.9 million women and children are acutely malnourished; another 400,000 children are fighting for their lives only a step away from starvation. (AP Photo/Hammadi Issa)

Lowcock said two recent developments threaten to overwhelm the aid operation - a "dramatic economic collapse" that has reduced the value of Yemen's currency by some 30 percent, and intensified fighting around the Red Sea port of Hodeida, which is key to deliveries of food, medicine and other vital supplies.

The conflict in Yemen, the Arab world's poorest country, began with the 2014 takeover of the capital, Sanaa, by Houthi Shiite rebels, which toppled the internationally recognized government. A Saudi-led coalition allied with the government has been fighting the Houthis since 2015.

Civilians have borne the brunt of the conflict, which has killed over 10,000 people and sparked a cholera epidemic.

Lowcock said that during the first six months of this year, the United Nations and humanitarian groups provided assistance to more than 8 million of the most vulnerable Yemenis who don't know where their next meal will come. That is a dramatic expansion from 2017, when food was reaching 3 million people a month.

Because almost all Yemenis rely on imported food, Lowcock said, the currency depreciation "translates directly into a sharp increase in the price of food for some 10 million Yemenis" who aren't getting enough food but aren't part of the aid operation. There has also been an "unprecedented increases" in the price of fuel, he said.

In addition, Lowcock said, intensified fighting in recent weeks around Hodeida is "choking the lifeline" for getting aid to those in need.

Fighting in recent days has cut the main road from Hodeida to Sanaa, which is the principal conduit for both commercial importers and aid groups for moving supplies, he said. Other routes are heavily damaged, he said.

Lowcock said armed groups have occupied humanitarian facilities, and attacks have resulted in dozens of deaths and serious damage to public health and water facilities as well as other aid infrastructure.

"We estimate that an additional 3.5 million people may soon be added to the 8 million already severely food insecure," he said.

Lowcock said the U.N. continues to push to scale up its aid operation, but "humanitarian organizations simply cannot look after the needs of all 29 million Yemenis. That is untenable."

He urged the Security Council to press for immediate measures to stabilize Yemen's economy and support the exchange rate, including ensuring liquidity for the central bank and implementing longstanding commitments to pay salaries of teachers, doctors, health workers and other public service employees throughout the country.

Lowcock also urged that ports be kept open, warning that "the lifeline through which the aid operation runs now hangs by a thread."

He called for protection of civilians, schools, hospitals and other civilian infrastructure, the establishment of "an air bridge" for medical evacuations and serious negotiations on "a positive path towards peace."OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - About 500 refugees have been relocated from a Nebraska apartment complex after units were deemed unlivable.

The Omaha World-Herald reports the Myanmar refugees were living at the Yale Park Apartments in north Omaha, including about 175 school-age children and dozens of toddlers and babies.

City inspectors evacuated the apartments Thursday, citing of a myriad of problems ranging from unsafe electrical circuits and natural gas leaks to units infested with mice, bedbugs, lice and maggots.

In this Sept. 20, 2018 photo,Eh Htoo, holds her three-week-old baby while a city inspector, left examines her kitchen at the Yale Park Apartments in Omaha, Neb. Social service agencies are scrambling to help up to 500 refugees who may have to find new places to live because of the squalid conditions in their Nebraska apartment complex. (Kent Sievers /Omaha World-Herald via AP)

The refugees are now being housed at community centers where they can sleep, shower and eat.

Joanie Poore is with Heartland Family Service. She says the refugees will likely stay in the centers for several days until moving to other housing with help from donors and charities.

The apartment complex's owner has 30 days to make repairs. He says the units are safe.

___

Information from: Omaha World-Herald, http://www.omaha.comLOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) - The Latest on an agreement to settle a strike at bourbon maker Four Roses (all times local):

7:30 p.m.

Four Roses says it's looking forward to returning to full production soon after the bourbon maker reached a tentative agreement with union officials to end a two-week walkout.

News outlets report the company said in a statement Friday that the agreement had unanimous union board endorsement.

Union leader Jeff Royalty said striking workers will return to work next week.

More than 50 hourly employees walked off the job Sept. 7 over a dispute dealing mainly with sick leave policy.

Royalty says there will be no lingering animosity among striking workers, and says they'll be ready to go back to work making bourbon on Monday. Royalty is president of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 10d.

___

4:35 p.m.

A union leader says striking workers at Four Roses will return to work next week after the Kentucky bourbon maker and union officials reached a tentative agreement to end a two-week walkout.

More than 50 hourly employees walked off the job Sept. 7 over a dispute dealing mainly with sick leave policy.

Union leader Jeff Royalty said Friday that the two sides agreed to language giving workers the option to keep current sick leave policy or sign up for a short-term disability plan.

Royalty says there will be no lingering animosity among striking workers, and says they'll be ready to go back to work making bourbon on Monday. Royalty is president of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 10d.

Four Roses did not immediately comment on the deal.HENDERSON, Nev. (AP) - The Latest on the apparent shooting deaths of four people found dead in a burning home in the Las Vegas-area city of Henderson (all times local):

4:45 p.m.

Police say a 27-year-old man, a 35-year-old woman and two boys, ages 15 and 5, are dead in an apparent shooting murder-suicide at a home found burning in the Las Vegas-area city of Henderson.

The Clark County coroner didn't immediately release the names of the people who police Lt. Kirk Moore said were found Thursday evening after officers arriving to neighbors' reports of gunshots found the house on fire.

Firefighters quickly doused flames and discovered the bodies.

Moore said it did not appear that fire caused the deaths.

He did not disclose the relationship between the four. He told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that it appeared the man killed the woman, the two children and then himself.

The modest two-story home is in a residential tract in Henderson, a suburban city of about 300,000 people some 15 miles (24 kilometers) southeast of downtown Las Vegas.

____

11:15 a.m.

Authorities say four people were found dead in a burning house in an apparent murder-suicide during a family argument in a Las Vegas suburb.

Henderson police Lt. Kirk Moore told the Las Vegas Review-Journal on Friday that it appears a man killed a woman and two children and then himself.

Officers went to the house Thursday night after reports of shots fired. When they arrived, the house was on fire.

Moore says investigators weren't immediately sure if the fire at the home was intentional.

The names and ages of the dead were not immediately made public.

Henderson is a city of about 300,000 people located 15 miles southeast (24 kilometers) of downtown Las Vegas.JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - Journalism faculty members at the University of Mississippi on Friday asked a donor to voluntarily remove his name from the journalism school following a social media post criticized by Ole Miss Chancellor Jeffrey Vitter for an "unjustified racial overtone."

In a statement, faculty members asked that Ed Meek within three days request to have his name removed from School of Journalism and New Media, saying he had "violated the fundamental values of the school and the university."

"We invite Dr. Ed Meek to be part of a conversation about charting a path forward that speaks to our core values and should guide our future relationships with all constituents," said the faculty statement , published on the journalism school's website.

Meek wrote a Facebook post Wednesday with photos of two black women in short dresses, suggesting they exemplify problems that could economically harm Oxford, where the university is located. Vitter condemned the post within hours.

"The photos in his post suggest an unjustified racial overtone that is highly offensive," Vitter wrote in a comment under Meek's post, which has since been removed.

One of the women pictured wrote that the post "reeks of racist ideology as well as misogyny."

Vitter on Friday wrote in an open letter that removing Meek's name would have to start with the journalism school's faculty, move through a series of faculty and administrative committees, and ultimately be recommended by Vitter to state College Board trustees.

"This process is, by design, thoughtful and intentional," Vitter wrote.

Journalism Dean Will Norton Jr. said faculty didn't vote to start that process Friday. Norton said he's trying to reach Meek and that school leadership may prepare a report for faculty. A vote could be held if faculty meet again after the deadline. Norton said no such meeting is scheduled but added "that doesn't mean there won't be one." Norton said "there are all kinds of subtleties" involved in the situation. Meek has been silent since he posted an apology he later deleted.

In an editorial, the school's student newspaper on Friday called for Ole Miss to remove Meek's name from the school and "entirely cut ties" with him.

"His name and the division it has come to represent do not align with our values," The Daily Mississippian wrote . "This change is absolutely necessary to uphold everything we stand for - as journalists, as students, as individuals. Students should not have to attend a school whose name makes them feel discriminated against."

Meek led Ole Miss public relations for 37 years starting in 1964. The School of Journalism and New Media was named for him after he and his wife donated $5.3 million in 2009

Vitter also wrote that the university would consider new ways to "address concerns around university and community climate."

Meek's post came following months of debate in Oxford over whether and how to control underage drinking and crowds around the town's iconic downtown square. Aldermen voted earlier this month to require businesses serving alcohol to install cameras and other systems to verify identification. The debate prompted allegations of racism aimed at a concert hall that saw shots fired at a party that welcomed an African-American audience last spring, as well as claims that it was unnecessary surveillance.

A report of a fight prompted a crowd to run out of the same downtown music venue Saturday.

___

Follow Jeff Amy on Twitter at http://twitter.com/jeffamy . Read his work at https://www.apnews.com/search/By%20Jeff%20Amy .FRESNO, Calif. (AP) - Republican U.S. Rep. Devin Nunes of California was criticized Friday by his Democratic rival in the November election after a photograph on social media showed the congressman next to a supporter making a hand gesture that some consider racist.

In a photo taken at a Tuesday campaign event, a man standing beside the congressman is making an A-OK sign with his hand, a gesture the Southern Poverty Law Center says is used by white supremacists in some cases to signal their beliefs.

Ben Bergquam, the man in the photo, said in a video that only those on the political left see the gesture as offensive and it signifies support for those "willing to fight" for the country.

FILE - In this Wednesday, March 22, 2017, file photo, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., pauses while meeting with reporters outside the White House in Washington following a meeting with President Donald Trump. Nunes is being criticized by his rival in the November 2018 election after a photo on social media showed Nunes next to a supporter making a hand gesture that some consider racist. Nunes' campaign did not immediately respond for a request for comment. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)

Nunes' Democratic rival in the 22nd District in Central California, Andrew Janz, said the photo shows Nunes is attracting far-right support.

The newspaper said Bergquam is a self-identified member of the Proud Boys, which the Southern Poverty Law Center classifies as a hate group.

The organization describes itself as a fraternal group whose members are "Western chauvinists who refuse to apologize for creating the modern world."

The Fresno Bee reported the photo has been removed from the web.

Nunes' campaign did not immediately respond for a request for comment.

The Anti-Defamation League has written extensively on the gesture in question, declaring it a hoax used by far-right groups to rile up those on the other side of the political aisle, the newspaper said.

In the video, Bergquam's said the gesture signifies either "you're fine" or support for "those who are willing to stand up and put their lives on the line for this country if called upon."WASHINGTON (AP) - A high-stakes standoff between Republicans and the woman accusing Brett Kavanaugh of a three-decade-old sexual attack stretched into the weekend after the Senate Judiciary Committee chairman said his panel would vote Monday on Kavanaugh's Supreme Court nomination without a deal on her conditions for testifying.

Nearly two hours after a deadline set by Chairman Chuck Grassley expired Friday night, the Iowa Republican tweeted that he'd "just granted another extension" for Christine Blasey Ford to agree to terms for telling his panel and a captivated nation about her allegation. He provided no details of the extension, and participants from both sides didn't immediately return messages requesting clarification.

"She shld decide so we can move on I want to hear her. I hope u understand," he wrote just before midnight in a comment directed at Kavanaugh.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, walks through a tunnel towards the Dirksen Senate Building on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2018. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Earlier, Grassley had rejected proposals by Ford's attorneys that only senators interrogate Ford and that she appear after Kavanaugh should she appear. Ford lawyer Debra Katz requested another day to decide and said Grassley's deadline's "sole purpose is to bully Dr. Ford and deprive her of the ability to make a considered decision that has life-altering implications for her and her family."

In backing away from his deadline, Grassley underscored the sensitivity with which Senate Republicans have tried handling Ford. Less than seven weeks before elections in which Democrats could capture congressional control, moderate female voters will be pivotal in many races and the #MeToo movement has elevated the political potency of how women alleging abuse are treated.

The late-night brinkmanship between Grassley and Ford left in question whether she would appear before the GOP-run committee and describe her allegation to millions of voters. Now a 51-year-old California psychology professor, Ford says an inebriated Kavanaugh pinned her on a bed, muffled her cries and tried removing her clothes when both were teenagers in the 1980s.

Kavanaugh, a District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals judge, has repeatedly denied the accusation.

Grassley's move capped a tumultuous day President Donald Trump began with an incendiary tweet of his own, stating that if the long-ago incident was "as bad as she says," she or "her loving parents" surely would have reported it to law enforcement.

The Judiciary committee's 11 Republicans - all men - have been seeking an outside female attorney to interrogate Ford, mindful of the election-season impression that could be left by men trying to pick apart a woman's assertion of a sexual attack.

He also rejected her proposal that she testify after Kavanaugh, a position lawyers consider advantageous because it gives them a chance to rebut accusations.

"We are unwilling to accommodate your unreasonable demands," Grassley said in a written statement.

Grassley's stance underscored a desire by Trump and GOP leaders to usher Kavanaugh, 51, onto the high court by the Oct. 1 start of its new session and before the November elections.

Trump's searing tweet reproaching Ford defied the Senate Republican strategy, and the advice of White House aides, of not disparaging her while firmly defending his nominee and the tight timetable for confirming him.

It brought blistering rejoinders from Democrats and a mix of silence and sighs of regret from his own party. Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, who hasn't declared support for Kavanaugh, called the remark "appalling."

It was also the latest provocation - from a man who's faced a litany of sexual misconduct allegations himself - of moderate female voters whose support Republicans will need to fend off Democrats in the approaching midterm elections.

At a campaign rally in Missouri later Friday, Trump didn't mention Ford but said Kavanaugh was born to be on the Supreme Court and "it's going to happen."

The Judiciary panel's top Democrat expressed fury at Grassley's negotiating position with Ford and maintained Democrats' effort to build the battle into a larger election-year question about the treatment of women.

"Bullying a survivor of attempted rape in order to confirm a nominee - particularly at a time when she's receiving death threats - is an extreme abuse of power," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California.

Female interrogators "are sensitive to the particulars of Dr. Ford's allegations" and would "generate the most insightful testimony and will help de-politicize the hearing," said a letter Grassley's staff sent Ford's lawyers.

Grassley said he'd schedule a hearing for Wednesday, not Thursday, as Ford prefers.

He also rebuffed other Ford requests, including calling additional witnesses. Ford wants an appearance by Mark Judge, a Kavanaugh friend who Ford asserts was at the high school party and in the bedroom where Kavanaugh's assault occurred. Ford eventually escaped.

Grassley consented to other Ford demands, including that she be provided security and that Kavanaugh not be in the hearing room when she testifies.

Ford's request for security comes after her lawyers said she has relocated her family due to death threats. She planned to meet with FBI agents in the San Francisco area to discuss those threats, said a person close to her who would describe her plans only anonymously.

The GOP letter to Ford's lawyers said Kavanaugh and his family have received death threats too, "And they're getting worse each day."

Kavanaugh had seemed to gain momentum among Republican senators this week, with growing numbers saying it was approaching time to vote and those who'd voiced concern about Ford's charges stopping short of expressing opposition to Kavanaugh. But with the slender 51-49 GOP majority and the unpredictability of how Ford and Kavanaugh would come across to millions of American voters should she agree to testify, his approval remains in question.

Minutes after Trump's tweet Friday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell played verbal hardball of his own, drawing a standing ovation when he assured a gathering of evangelical activists that the conservative Kavanaugh would soon be a justice.

"We're going to plow right through and do our jobs," he said at the Values Voter Summit.

Trump's tweet infuriated many who've long argued that women are frequently overwhelmed, confused and ashamed by sexual attacks and keep silent or even bury the memory without confiding with anyone. Using a combination of Justice Department statistics and Census Bureau surveys, the government says fewer than 1 in 4 rapes and sexual assaults were reported to police in 2016.

Ford has said she never mentioned the alleged incident to anyone until 2012, when she revealed it during a marriage counseling session with her husband.

___

AP reporters Mary Clare Jalonick, Eric Tucker, Ken Thomas, Jill Colvin and Zeke Miller contributed.

President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally, Friday, Sept. 21, 2018, in Springfield, Mo. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

FILE - In this Sept. 4, 2018, file photo Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh is surrounded by photographers as he stands with Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley R-Iowa, during his confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington. Senate Republicans are moving ahead with Kavnaugh but it's not at all clear if confirming the conservative judge will provide the mid-term election boost once envisioned or saddle the GOP with political fallout from Christine Blasey Ford's allegations of sexual assault for years to come.(Jim Bourg/Pool Photo via AP, File)

U.S. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), speaks to the media on Friday, Sept. 21, 2018, in Portland, Maine. Collins said she's "appalled" by President Donald Trump's tweet criticizing Christine Blasey, accuser of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. (AP Photo/Patrick Whittle)

FILE - In this Sept. 6, 2018, file photo, after more than an hour of delay over procedural questions, President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh waits to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee for the third day of his confirmation hearing, on Capitol Hill in Washington. Christine Blasey Ford, the woman accusing Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct when they were teenagers has come forward to The Washington Post. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)UNITED NATIONS (AP) - The U.N. Security Council unanimously approved a resolution Friday to support tougher U.N. action against peacekeepers who fail to protect civilians, including by sending them home and refusing to pay their governments.

U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley said after the adoption of the U.S.-sponsored resolution that the council had responded to Secretary-General Antonio Guterres' challenge "to step up and strengthen peacekeeping."

"The actions we take today will make the United Nations a better, more effective instrument of peace and security," she said. "This resolution mandates a timely and transparent reporting process for performance failures. It creates real accountability measures for when these failures occur."

The United Nations, which deploys 96,000 peacekeepers in 14 far-flung missions from the Mideast to Africa to Haiti, has come under sharp criticism in recent years for sexual abuse by its troops and failures to protect civilians.

The United States is the largest contributor to peacekeeping, but deploys only 50 officers to U.N. missions.

Haley has been trying to cut the peacekeeping budget, which this year is $7.3 billion, and she announced in March that the Trump administration was reducing its 28.5 percent assessment to 25 percent.

Some countries that contribute troops to U.N. missions privately expressed unhappiness at the initial U.S. draft resolution. Russia and China said earlier this month that the views of troop contributors needed to be taken into account, and Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said Friday he almost voted against the measure.

Haley said the U.S. rejected "business as usual" for the resolution and did engage major troop contributing countries.

The resolution honors "the heroic work of tens of thousands of United Nations uniformed and civilian peacekeeping personnel" and underscores that the U.N. "should not let the performance failures of a few tarnish the achievements of the whole."

But it also expresses "deep concern about the serious and continuous allegations and underreporting of sexual exploitation and abuse by United Nations peacekeepers." It further takes aim at "continued instances of underperformance," including inaction by U.N. soldiers against imminent threats to civilians they are mandated to protect.

The council reaffirmed support for the development of a comprehensive policy with clear standards on peacekeeping performance and "well-defined benchmarks to ensure accountability for underperformance and incentives and recognition for outstanding performance."

It said "a range of responses proportionate to the identified performance failures" are needed. These should include "transparent public reporting," repatriating or replacing military units, and withholding financial payments to governments of uniformed personnel, the council said. For civilian members of U.N. missions, the measures for performance failures should include revoking or changing duties, dismissing them or not renewing contracts, it said.WASHINGTON (AP) - The head of the federal disaster response agency used government vehicles without proper authorization, but will not lose his job over it, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said Friday.

Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator William "Brock" Long had been under investigation by the Homeland Security Department's watchdog over possibly misusing government vehicles to travel to his home in Hickory, North Carolina. Word leaked of the investigation just as Hurricane Florence was poised to make landfall earlier this month.

Nielsen said in a statement Friday that there had been a longstanding practice to transport FEMA administrators in government vehicles to ensure they could remain connected during a crisis. But despite this practice, use of government vehicles for home-to-work travel was not officially authorized, and that practice was eliminated in April.

President Donald Trump shakes hands with FEMA Administrator Brock Long as Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen watches after visiting areas in North Carolina and South Carolina impacted by Hurricane Florence, Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2018, at Myrtle Beach International Airport in Myrtle Beach, S.C. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Nielsen said the report by Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General also found Long used government vehicles for non-official reasons.

She said they spoke about the problems and Long agreed to reimburse the government, though it wasn't clear how much money that might be. She said she directed the department to review policy on home-to-work transportation problems, assess communication requirements at FEMA so officials can be best connected during disasters, and to review of and training regarding proper use of government vehicles.

"We had a productive conversation where we discussed my expectations regarding the agency's use of government vehicles going forward," Nielsen said in a statement. "The administrator acknowledged that mistakes were made, and he took personal responsibility."

The inspector general's report has not been made public. The House Oversight Committee is also looking into the allegations and has asked Long to turn over to the committee all documents related to the trips by Oct. 1, including whether his staff was put up in hotels paid for by taxpayer dollars.

The inspector general's office has turned the review over to federal prosecutors to determine whether any criminal charges are warranted, according to a person familiar with the probe. It's not uncommon for an inspector general to refer cases so federal prosecutors can determine whether charges are warranted, and it doesn't mean he'll be charged with a crime. The person was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter and requested anonymity.

In the days after Florence struck, Long said he was not focused on the investigation, and instead was working to help the region get back on its feet after the devastation. More than 40 have died and rising floodwaters cut off roads and drowned livestock.

In a statement Friday, Long said he accepted full responsibility.

"The secretary and I are taking corrective action to prevent such mistakes from happening in the future," he said. "I remain committed to the critical mission of FEMA - helping people before, during and after disasters."

He has been head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency since June 2017, presiding over a particularly grueling hurricane season that included Irma, Harvey and Maria, plus wildfires in California. The response to Maria has been heavily criticized and Long has said FEMA learned lessons on how to better prepare for this year's storms.

Other Trump administration officials have lost their jobs over ethics issues related to travel, but they involved more outsized allegations. The former head of the Environmental Protection Agency, Scott Pruitt, resigned in July after allegations of massive security spending, first-class flights and a sweetheart condo lease.

___

Associated Press writer Michael Balsamo contributed to this report.MEXICO CITY (AP) - A reporter for the newspaper El Heraldo de Chiapas in southern Mexico was shot to death Friday as he left his home to work on a story, the publication said.

El Heraldo said journalist Mario Gomez, 35, was attacked by two men outside his home in Yajalon, a town in a jungle area of Chiapas state near the border with Guatemala.

Gomez is at least the 10th news worker to be killed in Mexico this year.

The newspaper said Gomez had worked for it for almost a decade covering all kinds of events in the region. The area was at the epicenter of the 1994 Zapatista uprising and political violence and conflicts over land are frequent.

In a statement, El Heraldo demanded that authorities conduct "a thorough investigation to find those responsible."

The Chiapas state prosecutor's office issued a statement Friday night condemning the killing and pledging to "exhaust all lines of investigation." It did not provide any details of the shooting.SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) - President Donald Trump issued an ominous warning about the Justice Department and the FBI on Friday, promising further firings to get rid of a "lingering stench" following reports that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein discussed secretly recording the president.

Trump, speaking at a rally in Missouri, did not explicitly mention the Rosenstein furor, which was first reported by The New York Times and confirmed by The Associated Press.

But Trump lashed out against what he sees as anti-Trump bias in the Justice Department, touting the firings he has orchestrated, unnerving many in federal law enforcement and sparking fears about the future of the special counsel's Russia probe, which Rosenstein oversees.

President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally, Friday, Sept. 21, 2018, in Springfield, Mo. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

"You've seen what happened in the FBI and the Department of Justice. The bad ones, they're all gone. They're all gone," Trump said. "But there is a lingering stench and we're going to get rid of that, too."

One person present during Rosenstein's remarks said he was being sarcastic. The Times also said he raised the idea of using the 25th Amendment to remove Trump as unfit for office. Rosenstein said the story is "inaccurate and factually incorrect."

It was the latest storm to buffet the White House, which this week was battered by a number of potentially damaging stories. Beyond the speculation about Rosenstein, it was revealed that Trump's former fixer, Michael Cohen, is cooperating with special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation. The president also backed off his plan to declassify documents related to the ongoing probe, and the fate of his Supreme Court nominee remained uncertain.

Negotiations continued Friday about a possible appearance by Christine Blasey Ford, the woman who accused Judge Brett Kavanaugh, Trump's nominee, of sexual assault at a high school party more than three decades ago. Trump made the future of Kavanaugh and the federal judiciary a centerpiece of his rally in Springfield, which was designed to support the state's Republican Senate candidate, Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley, in his race against Democratic incumbent Claire McCaskill.

"I don't know who she is with but she is not with the state of Missouri," Trump said. "(Kavanaugh) is a fantastic man, a fantastic man. She won't vote for him."

But Trump, who used Twitter earlier Friday to cast doubt on Ford's claim, preached optimism on Kavanaugh, saying "he was born for the U.S. Supreme Court" and reassuring the crowd that "it's going to happen. It's going to happen."

He added: "We have to fight for him, not worry about the other side. And by the way, women are for that more than anybody would understand."

When Hawley praised Trump's judicial picks, the crowd began chanting Kavanaugh's name. And the president, drawing energy from a packed, raucous crowd, dished out plenty of red meat, pledging to build his signature border wall, telegraphing that he is willing to escalate trade conflicts with both China and Western allies and suggesting he was "willing to wait" to make a peace deal with North Korea. He also took a swipe at Sen. John McCain, who died away last month, for sinking the GOP health care bill, though he did not mention the late war hero by name.

Trump also repeatedly laced into the Democratic Party.

"They aren't just extreme," he said. "They are frankly dangerous and they are crazy."

The reports about Rosenstein created even greater uncertainty for the deputy attorney general tenure at a time when Trump has lambasted Justice Department leadership and publicly humiliated both Rosenstein and Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

More broadly, it's the latest revelation that could affect Mueller, the special counsel investigating possible coordination between Russia and Trump's presidential campaign in 2016. Sessions recused himself from that issue soon after he took office, to Trump's dismay, and Rosenstein then appointed Mueller. With all that hanging in the air, Trump has resisted calls from conservative commentators to fire both Sessions and Rosenstein and appoint someone who would ride herd more closely on Mueller or dismiss him.

A number of key FBI officials, including director James Comey and deputy director Andrew McCabe, have been fired since Trump took office.

Republicans view the McCaskill-Hawley contest as one of their best chances of flipping a seat in the Senate, where the GOP has a slim 51-49 majority, and polls show it's a toss-up. Democrats are hoping the enthusiasm that's put the GOP-led House in play will spill over to the Senate, though the map there is much tougher. McCaskill is among 10 Democratic incumbents seeking re-election in states Trump won - some by wider margins than Missouri.

Hawley, the state's 38-year-old first-term attorney general, was on Friday repeatedly called a "star" by Trump, who carried Missouri by 19 percentage points in 2016.

Trump's rally for Hawley came a day after he held one for the Republican incumbent senator widely considered to be the most vulnerable, Dean Heller of Nevada. With the chances of Republicans keeping control of the House of Representatives looking increasingly dismal, the White House has fixated on keeping the Senate as a bulwark against any Democratic effort to impeach and then remove Trump from office.

Earlier Friday, Trump visited a Las Vegas-area veterans facility to sign a spending bill that includes nearly $100 billion for veterans care and military construction, though he has continued to warn in recent days that he may be willing to shut down the federal government over spending for border security, including his long-promised wall.

___

Associated Press writer Darlene Superville in Washington contributed to this report.

___

Follow Lemire at http://twitter.com/@JonLemire

President Donald Trump arrives to speak during a campaign rally, Friday, Sept. 21, 2018, in Springfield, Mo. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)WASHINGTON (AP) - Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein raised the idea of using the 25th Amendment to remove President Donald Trump from office, The New York Times reported Friday. Rosenstein has denied making the suggestion.

Removing a president between elections is meant to be tough. Here's how the 25th Amendment to the Constitution works:

It came into effect in 1967 as a way to clarify the Constitution's lines of succession after a crisis like President John F. Kennedy's 1963 assassination. It wasn't intended to replace unpopular or incompetent presidents but to set a clear process of continuity if a president is disabled, temporarily or permanently, or otherwise unable to fulfill duties.

Its use has been noncontroversial, guiding Gerald Ford from the vice presidency to the presidency when Richard Nixon stepped down and Ford's successor as vice president, for example.

It enabled a vice president and a majority of the Cabinet to sideline a president temporarily. For that to stick and a vice president to finish out a president's term, it would require a two-thirds majority vote in both chambers of Congress.

A massive loss of confidence in the president from Trump's aides and fellow Republicans in Congress would be required.NEW YORK (AP) - President Donald Trump's former lawyer, Michael Cohen, paid an unannounced visit Friday to the federal courthouse in New York where he pleaded guilty a month ago.

Cohen, 51, left the building about 1:30 p.m. Friday, declining to say why he was there. It wasn't known what time he'd arrived.

He also shook his head in response to a request to comment on discussions he's had with special counsel Robert Mueller.

FILE - In this Aug. 21, 2018 file photo, Michael Cohen, former personal lawyer to President Donald Trump, leaves federal court after reaching a plea agreement in New York. On Thursday, Sept. 20, 2018, via Twitter, Cohen praised himself for providing "critical information" in the special counsel's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle, File)

Mueller is investigating Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

On Thursday, Cohen and one of his lawyers confirmed in a tweet that he had met with Mueller and provided "critical information."

Cohen is awaiting a December sentencing after pleading guilty to tax fraud, bank fraud and campaign finance violations.

During his plea, Cohen said Trump directed him to arrange a $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels and a $150,000 payment through a media company to Playboy playmate Karen McDougal to influence the 2016 election.

As part of his plea, Cohen agreed not to challenge any sentence of less than five years and three months in prison. Even without a cooperation agreement, he might still be able to win a measure of leniency at sentencing by cooperating with authorities in New York and Washington.

Cohen was not scheduled for any courtroom appearances Friday, but individuals awaiting sentencing sometimes meet with Probation Department officers who prepare a pre-sentence report that will include a recommendation on what his sentence should be.

Cohen, wearing a suit and tie, was accompanied by one of his lawyers. He traded pleasantries with journalists and warned a photographer to be careful not to injure himself as he snapped pictures with moving traffic nearby.

Cohen said he planned to spend the weekend with his family.

Nicholas Biase, a spokesman for Manhattan prosecutors, said he could not confirm Cohen's purpose for a courthouse visit. He said it was possible Cohen was making a regularly scheduled visit with a representative from the probation office.

For more than a decade, Cohen was Trump's personal lawyer and also worked for the Trump Organization.

Michael Cohen, President Trump's former lawyer, waits for his ride after making an unannounced visit to the federal courthouse in New York, Friday, Sept. 21, 2018. Cohen left the building, declining to say why he was there as well as refusing to talk about any discussions he's had with special counsel Robert Mueller. (AP Photo/Larry Neumeister)

Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump's former lawyer, checks his cellphone while waiting for a ride outside the federal courthouse in New York, Friday, Sept. 21, 2018. Cohen made an unannounced visit and left the building at around 1:30 p.m., declining to say why he was there as well as refusing to talk about any discussions he's had with special counsel Robert Mueller. (AP Photo/Larry Neumeister)PHNOM PEHN, Cambodia (AP) - An Australian filmmaker was awaiting deportation from Cambodia on Saturday after receiving a royal pardon for his conviction on spying charges for flying a drone over a political rally.

A spokesman for immigration police said that James Ricketson will be deported on Saturday morning, a day after being released from prison.

"We are now checking a flight for him," Gen. Keo Vanthan told The Associated Press.

FILE - In this Aug. 29, 2018, file photo, Australian filmmaker James Ricketson, right, is helped off a prisoner truck upon his arrival at Phnom Penh Municipal Court in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Cambodia has pardoned Ricketson Friday, Sept. 21, 2018, after being sentenced last month to six years in jail on an espionage charge in a trial that was widely criticized as unfair (AP Photo/Heng Sinith, File)

Ricketson, 69, was sentenced to six years in a trial his sympathizers described as farcical because prosecutors never specified whom he was spying for and failed to present evidence that he possessed or transmitted any secrets. He had been detained without bail since June last year in harsh conditions.

He was arrested after flying a drone to photograph a rally of the Cambodian National Rescue Party - the only credible opposition party that was later dissolved by the courts at the instigation of Prime Minister Hun Sen's government.

His pardon is the latest in a series of releases of political prisoners after the ruling party's landslide victory in a July election that critics and observers said was deeply flawed.

Ricketson repeatedly insisted he had no political agenda and his work making documentary films was journalistic in nature.

His Aug. 31 conviction was met with only lukewarm public concern from Australia's prime minister and foreign minister. Their public stance was criticized, but also led to speculation that an understanding might have been reached with Cambodian authorities for Ricketson's early release.

Ricketson's lawyer, Kong Sam Onn, said Friday that his client would go first to Phnom Penh and then travel to Australia.

"James will go back to his home country after he is released, but later he will be back to Cambodia because the pardon letter doesn't bar him from re-entering Cambodia," he said. However, there is no official statement guaranteeing he will be readmitted.

Ricketson had said during his trial that he wished to re-establish a project that he had launched before his arrest to buy some land to resettle several poor Cambodian families who have been living at a garbage dump. He and several character witnesses had testified that he provided financial assistance to several poverty stricken Cambodians.BLADENBORO, N.C. (AP) - Travel remained dangerous Saturday in southeastern North Carolina, where the governor warned of "treacherous" floodwaters more than a week after Hurricane Florence made landfall, and urged residents to stay alert for flood warnings and evacuation orders.

Gov. Roy Cooper said nine of the state's river gauges are at major flood stage and four others are at moderate stage, while parts of Interstates 95 and 40 will remain underwater for another week or more. Emergency management officials said residents whose homes were damaged or destroyed will begin moving into hotel rooms next week.

"Hurricane Florence has deeply wounded our state, wounds that will not fade soon as the flood waters finally recede," Cooper said.

Flooding from Sutton Lake has washed away part of U.S. 421 in New Hanover County just south of the Pender County line in Wilmington, N.C., Friday, Sept. 21, 2018. (Matt Born /The Star-News via AP)

South Carolina also has ordered more evacuations as rivers continue to rise in the aftermath of a storm that has claimed at least 43 lives since slamming into the coast more than a week ago.

The small farming community of Nichols, South Carolina, about 40 miles (65 kilometers) from the coast, was completely inundated by water, Mayor Lawson Batter said Saturday. He called the situation "worse than Matthew," the 2016 hurricane that destroyed almost 90 percent of the town's 261 homes. Battle said flooding from Florence has wiped out the 150 or so homes rebuilt afterward.

"It's just a mess," said Battle, who was awaiting a visit from Gov. Henry McMaster. "We will try everything we can to come back ... but we need to have federal and state help."

Benetta White and David Lloyd were among 100 people rescued with helicopters, boats and high-wheeled military vehicles during a six-hour operation in southeastern North Carolina's Bladen County that lasted into Friday morning - their second evacuation in a week. White and Lloyd, who live in the North Carolina town of Kelly, were given little time Thursday night to evacuate when the Cape Fear River came rushing onto their property. By the time they loaded their van, they had to slog through waist-high, foul-smelling water to get to a neighbor's pickup.

From there, they went to the town's fire department and were taken by an Army truck to a shelter at a Bladen County high school.

"We had to evacuate again, all over again, and got trapped in a bunch of water and almost lost our lives," said White.

In Wilmington, where Hurricane Florence made landfall and which had been cut off by floodwaters, officials said they'd identified three safe routes into town. They encouraged people to avoid travel in areas where the risk of flooding remains.

North Carolina Emergency Management Director Michael Sprayberry said Saturday that eastern counties continue to see major flooding, including areas along the Black, Lumber, Neuse and Cape Fear rivers. The Cape Fear river is expected to crest Sunday and remain at flood stage through early next week.

He said residents who register with the Federal Emergency Management Agency can begin moving into hotels Monday. The program initially will be open to residents in nine counties, then will be expanded. A FEMA coordinator said about 69,000 people from North Carolina already have registered for assistance.

North Carolina environmental officials said they're closely monitoring two sites where Florence's floodwaters have inundated coal ash sites .

The state is using drones to get photos and video of a dam breach at the L.V. Sutton Power Station in Wilmington, where gray muck has been seen flowing into the Cape Fear River, and at the H.F. Lee Power Plant near Goldsboro, said Michael Regan, secretary of the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality.

He said Saturday that the video and photos show sand and "potential coal ash" leaving the Sutton site, and the DEQ will put people on the ground when it is safe. He said that DEQ staff has seen that coal ash left the basin and entered flood waters at the H.F. Lee plant, and is trying to determine "how much of that, if any" has entered into the Neuse River.

In Conway, South Carolina, water from the Waccamaw river began flowing into a Santee Cooper ash pond. The company said in a statement that the overtopping occurred Saturday morning, but no significant environmental impact was expected because nearly all of the ash had been excavated from the pond.

The National Weather Service confirmed Saturday that 10 tornadoes spawned by Hurricane Florence touched down Monday in Virginia, the strongest of which leveled a flooring company in Chesterfied and killed one worker.

An economic research firm estimated that Hurricane Florence has caused around $44 billion in damage and lost output, which would make it one of the top 10 costliest U.S. hurricanes. The top disaster, Hurricane Katrina in 2005, cost $192.2 billion in today's dollars, while last year's Hurricane Harvey cost $133.5 billion

Moody's Analytics estimates Florence has caused $40 billion in damage and $4 billion in lost economic output, though the company stressed that the estimate is preliminary and could go higher or lower.

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster has estimated damage from the flood in his state at $1.2 billion. He asked congressional leaders to hurry federal aid.

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Waggoner and Robertson reported from Raleigh, North Carolina. Also contributing to this report were Associated Press writers Jeffrey Collins in Columbia, South Carolina; Dee-Ann Durbin in Detroit; Chevel Johnson in New Orleans; Meg Kinnard in Galivants Ferry, South Carolina; Denise Lavoie in Richmond, Virginia; Jay Reeves in Birmingham, Alabama; Michael Biesecker in Washington and Tammy Webber in Chicago.

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For the latest on Hurricane Florence, visit https://www.apnews.com/tag/Hurricanes

A road is flooded from Hurricane Florence in the Avondale community in Hampstead, N.C., Friday, Sept. 21, 2018. (Matt Born /The Star-News via AP)

Benetta White and David Lloyd sit after escaping their flooded yard to escape Hurricane Florence's latest life-threatening punch in Bladenboro, N.C., Friday, Sept. 21, 2018. This was their second evacuation in a week. They were among 100 people rescued with helicopters, boats and high-wheeled military vehicles during a six-hour rescue operation in southeastern North Carolina's Bladen County that lasted into Friday morning. (AP Photo/Alan Suderman)

A sign commemorating the rebuilding of the town of Nichols, which was flooded two years earlier from Hurricane Matthew, stands in floodwaters in the aftermath of Hurricane Florence in Nichols, S.C., Friday, Sept. 21, 2018. Virtually the entire town is once again flooded and inaccessible except by boat. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

A swift recuse boat motors through floodwaters in the aftermath of Hurricane Florence in Nichols, S.C., Friday, Sept. 21, 2018. Virtually the entire town is flooded and inaccessible except by boat, just two years after it was flooded by Hurricane Matthew. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

FILE- In this Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2018 file photo, part of the Starlite Motel is washed away in the aftermath of flooding from Hurricane Florence in Spring Lake, N.C. Florence washed away half the rooms at the Starlite Motel ripping away the livelihood of a family that bought it in recent months. (AP Photo/David Goldman, File.)

Volunteer Johnnie Evans brings a wagon of water to cleanup crews helping with the grisly task of removing storm damaged belongings, spoiled food and soaked furniture at Trent Court Apartments in New Bern, N.C., Sept. 21, 2018. Hurricane Florence brought storm surges which overflowed from the Trent River and forced many residents of Trent Court to evacuate. (Gray Whitley / Sun Journal via AP)

Professional disaster recovery services work to cleanup storm damages at the New Bern Grande Marina Yacht Club in New Bern, N.C., Sept. 21, 2018. Hurricane Florence brought destructive flooding to areas in the waterfront business district. (Gray Whitley / Sun Journal via AP)AP source: Kavanaugh, Ford agree to testify on Thursday

WASHINGTON (AP) - Negotiators reached a tentative agreement Saturday for the Senate Judiciary Committee to hear testimony Thursday from Christine Blasey Ford, the woman accusing Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault from decades ago, according to two people briefed on the matter.

Lawyers for Ford and bipartisan representatives of the committee came to the tentative agreement after a short phone call, said one of the people, who was not authorized to speak publicly and requested anonymity. The person said Kavanaugh would also appear.

Some details of the hearing, such as the order of their appearance, remained in negotiation. Talks were expected to continue Sunday.

The tentative accord could bring to a close days of high-stakes brinkmanship that have roiled Washington ahead of midterm elections and threated to jeopardize Kavanaugh's confirmation to the court.

Tensions have been running on overdrive since Ford, a 51-year-old college professor in California, went public with her allegation that Kavanaugh assaulted her when they were at a house party in high school. Kavanaugh, 53, an appellate court judge, denied the allegation and said he wanted to testify as soon as possible to clear his name.

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Travel still dangerous in flooded areas of North Carolina

BLADENBORO, N.C. (AP) - Travel remained dangerous Saturday in southeastern North Carolina, where the governor warned of "treacherous" floodwaters more than a week after Hurricane Florence made landfall, and urged residents to stay alert for flood warnings and evacuation orders.

Gov. Roy Cooper said nine of the state's river gauges are at major flood stage and four others are at moderate stage, while parts of Interstates 95 and 40 will remain underwater for another week or more. Emergency management officials said residents whose homes were damaged or destroyed will begin moving into hotel rooms next week.

"Hurricane Florence has deeply wounded our state, wounds that will not fade soon as the flood waters finally recede," Cooper said.

South Carolina also has ordered more evacuations as rivers continue to rise in the aftermath of a storm that has claimed at least 43 lives since slamming into the coast more than a week ago.

The small farming community of Nichols, South Carolina, about 40 miles (65 kilometers) from the coast, was completely inundated by water, Mayor Lawson Batter said Saturday. He called the situation "worse than Matthew," the 2016 hurricane that destroyed almost 90 percent of the town's 261 homes. Battle said flooding from Florence has wiped out the 150 or so homes rebuilt afterward.

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US seeks to curtail green cards for immigrants on public aid

SAN DIEGO (AP) - The Trump administration on Saturday proposed rules that could deny green cards to immigrants if they use Medicaid, food stamps, housing vouchers and other forms of public assistance.

Federal law already requires those seeking green cards and to prove they will not be a burden - or "public charge" - but the new rules detail a broad range of programs that could disqualify them.

The Department of Homeland Security said current and past receipt of certain public benefits above thresholds would be considered "a heavily weighed negative factor" in granting green cards as well as temporary stays.

The proposal "will clearly define long-standing law to ensure that those seeking to enter and remain in the United States either temporarily or permanently can support themselves financially and will not be reliant on public benefits," the department said.

The 447-page proposal published on the department's website will appear in the Federal Register "in the coming weeks," triggering a 60-day public comment period before it takes effect.

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Militants attack Iran military parade, killing at least 25

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Militants disguised as soldiers opened fire Saturday on an annual Iranian military parade in the country's oil-rich southwest, killing at least 25 people and wounding over 60 in the deadliest terror attack to strike the country in nearly a decade.

Women and children scattered along with once-marching Revolutionary Guard soldiers as heavy gunfire rang out at the parade in Ahvaz, the chaos captured live on state television.

The region's Arab separatists, once only known for nighttime attacks on unguarded oil pipelines, claimed responsibility for the brazen assault.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif blamed regional countries and their "U.S. masters" for funding and arming the separatists, issuing a stark warning as regional tensions remain high in the wake of the U.S. withdraw from the Iranian nuclear deal.

"Iran will respond swiftly and decisively in defense of Iranian lives," Zarif wrote on Twitter.

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World leaders gather at UN under threat from unilateralism

UNITED NATIONS (AP) - With rising unilateralism challenging its very existence, the United Nations convenes its annual meeting of world leaders Monday and will try once more to tackle problems together as a community of nations, addressing threats ranging from Mideast conflicts to the effects of global warming - and also encouraging the glimmer of hope over the nuclear standoff in North Korea.

This year, 133 world leaders have signed up to attend the General Assembly session, a significant increase from last year's 114. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called the expected large turnout "eloquent proof of the confidence of the international community in the United Nations," though other U.N. officials and diplomats said it's in response to growing concerns about an increasingly turbulent world.

The seven-year-old conflict in Syria and the three-year war in Yemen that has sparked the world's worst humanitarian crisis and is now seriously threatening large-scale famine will certainly be in the spotlight, along with meetings on other Mideast and African hot spots. So will Iran, which faces escalating hostile rhetoric from the Trump administration over its activities supporting international terrorism, which Tehran vehemently denies.

Guterres said last week that one of his overriding concerns in an increasingly globalized world is the threat to having the U.N.'s 193 member nations work together, which is the foundation of the United Nations.

"Multilateralism is under attack from many different directions precisely when we need it most," the U.N. chief told reporters Thursday. "In different areas and for different reasons, the trust of people in their political establishments, the trust of states among each other, the trust of many people in international organizations has been eroded and ... multilateralism has been in the fire."

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Hundreds mark Hurricane Maria anniversary near Trump resort

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) - Dozens of vehicles slowly approached President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Saturday afternoon, blasting reggaeton and salsa as they drove by. They honked their horns and waved Puerto Rican flags draped from their car windows and trunks. They were on their way to a rally a few miles away to mark the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Maria.

Despite the scorching hot sun, hundreds of activists showed up at the Meyer Amphitheater in West Palm Beach. Buses full of protesters came from as far as Miami and Orlando. The crowd was lively. People spread out on the grass and walked around carrying posters that read "Respeta Mi Gente" (Respect My People) and "Justice for Puerto Rico." To one side of the stage, a giant blowup balloon of Trump depicted as a baby had been inflated. Crowds waited in line to take photographs in which they gave the orange balloon the middle finger.

Event organizers encouraged those in attendance to vote in the midterm elections in November. Anyone with a microphone was constantly telling people to vote, to register to vote, and to spread awareness about voting.

"We're honoring the lives that were lost," said Marcos Vilar, the president and executive director of Alianza for Progress, one of the event organizers. "We are recognizing all the people that were displaced and are living here in South Florida, central Florida and throughout the state."

Vilar believes that although Puerto Ricans are citizens, the current administration's response to the aftermath of Hurricane Maria has proven that Puerto Ricans are not treated equally.

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Vatican, China make breakthrough deal on bishop appointments

VATICAN CITY (AP) - The Vatican and China said Saturday they had signed a "provisional agreement" over the appointment of bishops, a breakthrough on an issue that stymied diplomatic relations for decades and aggravated a split among Chinese Catholics.

The deal resolved one of the major sticking points in recent years, with the Vatican agreeing to accept seven bishops who were previously named by Beijing without the pope's consent.

The development comes nearly seven decades after the Holy See and Beijing severed official relations. Beijing's long-held insistence that it must approve bishop appointments in China had clashed with absolute papal authority to pick bishops.

With the status of the seven bishops now reconciled, the Vatican said all bishops in China are now in communion with Rome - even though the Catholic community in China is still split between Catholics who belong to the official Chinese church and those in the underground church who remain loyal to the pope.

"Pope Francis hopes that, with these decisions, a new process may begin that will allow the wounds of the past to be overcome, leading to the full communion of all Chinese Catholics," a Vatican statement said.

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Congress takes aim at shrinking seats, legroom on airplanes

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Federal Aviation Administration would be required to set new minimum requirements for seats on airplanes under legislation to be considered in the House this week, possibly giving passengers a break from ever-shrinking legroom and cramped quarters.

The regulation of seat width and legroom is part of a five-year extension of federal aviation programs announced early Saturday by Republican and Democratic leaders of the House and Senate committees that oversee the nation's air travel.

Congress faces a Sept. 30 deadline to keep FAA programs running. The Senate will also need to take up the bill this week or both chambers will need to pass a short-term extension.

The bill would prohibit the involuntary bumping of passengers who have already boarded a plane. But in a nod to the power of the commercial airliners, lawmakers declined to include language that would have prohibited airlines from imposing fees deemed "not reasonable and proportional."

Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida said lawmakers from both chambers agreed it was time to take action on "ever-shrinking seats."

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No. 5 Oklahoma escapes with 28-21 OT win over Army

NORMAN, Okla. (AP) - Kyler Murray threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to CeeDee Lamb in overtime, and Parnell Motley intercepted Kelvin Hopkins' fourth-down pass to help No. 5 Oklahoma escape with a 28-21 victory over Army on Saturday night.

Kenneth Murray had a school-record 28 tackles for the Sooners (4-0).

Army had the ball for 44:41 and ran 87 plays to Oklahoma's 40.

Oklahoma led 21-14 at halftime after Army had 16-play, 75-yard touchdown drives on its first two possessions. Murray passed for 123 yards and two touchdows and ran for 40 yards and another score before the break.

Hopkins ran for 55 yards in the first half, including a nifty 5-yard touchdown run. Army (2-2) ran 39 times for 183 yards in the first half and had the ball for 22:01 of the 30 minutes. Oklahoma only had the ball for 20 plays in the first half.

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Tiger Woods with 3-shot lead and 1 round away from winning

ATLANTA (AP) - Tiger Woods made it look and sound as if he had never been gone.

More than turning back time, every hole seemed like the one before Saturday at the Tour Championship. A tee shot striped down the middle of the fairway. The clean strike of an iron as he held his pose. A sonic boom of the cheers from around the green. Another birdie.

"I got off to an ideal start," Woods said. "And the next thing you know, I was off and running."

With the most dynamic golf he has played all year, Woods built a five-shot lead in seven holes before he cooled from there, settled for a 5-under 65 that gave him a three-shot lead over Rory McIlroy and Justin Rose and an ideal chance to end this comeback season with a moment that has defined his career.

Winning.HONG KONG (AP) - Hong Kong on Saturday opened a new high-speed rail link to inland China that will vastly decrease travel times but also raises concerns about Beijing's creeping influence over the semi-autonomous Chinese region.

Costing upward of $10 billion and taking more than eight years to build, the system aims to transport more than 80,000 passengers daily between the Asian financial center of 7 million people and the neighboring manufacturing hub of Guangdong province.

The train travels the 26 kilometers (16 miles) through Hong Kong to Shenzhen across the border in China in just 14 minutes, down from about 1 hour currently. The through-train to Guangdong's capital Guangzhou will take just over half an hour, about 90 minutes faster than current service.

A man uses an automated immigration clearance machine for departing passengers in the Hong Kong Port Area at West Kowloon Station, which houses the terminal for the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link (XRL) in Hong Kong, Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018. (Giulia Marchi/Pool Photo via AP)

Once across the border, passengers can link up with Chinese sprawling nationwide high-speed rail network serving more than 44 destinations, including Shanghai, Beijing and the western city of Xi'an.

Passengers will clear Chinese immigration at the line's newly built West Kowloon terminus, the source of major legal controversy when it was revealed that mainland Chinese law would apply within roughly one-quarter of the station's area.

Some opposition lawmakers argued the move would be a violation of the Basic Law, Hong Kong's mini-constitution under which it retained its own legal system and civil liberties after reverting from British to Chinese rule in 1997. That guarantees Hong Kong the right to maintain rights such as freedom of speech and assembly - which are routinely violated on the mainland - until 2047. Legal matters related to defense, foreign affairs and national security fall under Beijing purview.

However, Beijing's tight control over the city's politics and a continuing crackdown on politicians calling for greater economy and democratic reforms have spurred worries about an erosion of Hong Kong's remaining autonomy.

The Hong Kong legislature's passage in June of the plan to allow Chinese law to apply at the railway terminus was a significant moment for the opposition, coming four years after mass street protests demanding reforms fizzled out amid Beijing's intransigence. Pro-democracy legislators have been expelled and charges brought against more than 100 protesters.

Supporters of the provision, including the territory's Beijing-backed Chief Executive Carrie Lam, defended it as promoting speed and convenience.

Frank Chan, Hong Kong's transport and housing secretary, front row right, Carrie Lam, Hong Kong's chief executive, front row third right, Ma Xingrui, governor of Guangdong Province, front row fourth right, Frederick Ma, chairman of MTR Corp., front row fourth left, and guests arrive to the borderline into China during a tour in the Hong Kong Port Area at West Kowloon Station, which houses the terminal for the XRL in Hong Kong, Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018. (Giulia Marchi/Pool Photo via AP)

An attendant, right, stands next to an entrance of a Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link (XRL) Vibrant Express train bound for Guangzhou Nan Station in the Mainland Port Area at West Kowloon Station, which houses the terminal for the XRL in Hong Kong, Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018. (Giulia Marchi/Pool Photo via AP)

Carrie Lam, Hong Kong's chief executive, center right, and Ma Xingrui, governor of Guangdong Province, center left, walk during a tour in the Hong Kong Port Area at West Kowloon Station, which houses the terminal for the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link (XRL) in Hong Kong, Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018. (Giulia Marchi/Pool Photo via AP)

Carrie Lam, Hong Kong's chief executive, listens in front of automated immigration clearance machines for departing passengers during a tour in the Hong Kong Port Area at West Kowloon Station which houses the terminal for the XRL in Hong Kong, Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018. (Giulia Marchi/Pool Photo via AP)

Ma Xingrui, governor of Guangdong Province, front row left, and Carrie Lam, Hong Kong's chief executive, front row second left, stand next to a Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link (XRL) Vibrant Express train bound for Guangzhou Nan Station waits in the Mainland Port Area at West Kowloon Station, which houses the terminal for the XRL in Hong Kong, Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018. (Giulia Marchi/Pool Photo via AP)

A Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link (XRL) Vibrant Express train bound for Guangzhou Nan Station waits in the Mainland Port Area at West Kowloon Station, which houses the terminal for the XRL in Hong Kong, Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018. (Giulia Marchi/Pool Photo via AP)

A protester removes a banner after a protest outside the Western Kowloon Station against the opening ceremony of the Hong Kong Express Rail Link in Hong Kong, Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018. Hong Kong has opened a new high-speed rail link to inland China that will vastly decrease travel times but which also raises concerns about Beijing's creeping influence over the semi-autonomous Chinese region. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu)

A protester dresses as People's Liberation Army (PLA) during a protest outside the Western Kowloon Station against the opening ceremony of the Hong Kong Express Rail Link in Hong Kong, Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018. Hong Kong has opened a new high-speed rail link to inland China that will vastly decrease travel times but which also raises concerns about Beijing's creeping influence over the semi-autonomous Chinese region. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu)

Protesters dress as People's Liberation Army (PLA) during a protest outside the Western Kowloon Station against the opening ceremony of the Hong Kong Express Rail Link in Hong Kong, Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018. Hong Kong has opened a new high-speed rail link to inland China that will vastly decrease travel times but which also raises concerns about Beijing's creeping influence over the semi-autonomous Chinese region. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu)

A woman waves a British flag outside the Western Kowloon Station during a protest against the opening ceremony of the Hong Kong Express Rail Link in Hong Kong, Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018. Hong Kong has opened a new high-speed rail link to inland China that will vastly decrease travel times but which also raises concerns about Beijing's creeping influence over the semi-autonomous Chinese region. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu)

Police officers stand guard outside the Western Kowloon Station during a protest against the opening ceremony of the Hong Kong Express Rail Link in Hong Kong, Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018. Hong Kong has opened a new high-speed rail link to inland China that will vastly decrease travel times but which also raises concerns about Beijing's creeping influence over the semi-autonomous Chinese region. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu)

A woman waves a British flag outside the Western Kowloon Station during a protest against the opening ceremony of the Hong Kong Express Rail Link in Hong Kong, Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018. Hong Kong has opened a new high-speed rail link to inland China that will vastly decrease travel times but which also raises concerns about Beijing's creeping influence over the semi-autonomous Chinese region. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu)

Police officers stand guard outside the Western Kowloon Station during a protest against the opening ceremony of the Hong Kong Express Rail Link in Hong Kong, Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018. Hong Kong has opened a new high-speed rail link to inland China that will vastly decrease travel times but which also raises concerns about Beijing's creeping influence over the semi-autonomous Chinese region. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu)WILMINGTON, N.C. (AP) - Gray muck is flowing into the Cape Fear River from the site of a dam breach at a Wilmington power plant where an old coal ash dump had been covered over by Florence's floodwaters.

Forecasters predicted the water will continue to rise through the weekend at the L.V. Sutton Power Station. Duke Energy spokeswoman Paige Sheehan said the utility doesn't believe the breach poses a significant threat of increased flooding to nearby communities.

Sheehan said the company can't rule out that ash might be escaping the flooded dump and flowing through the lake into the river.

CORRECTS TO GRAY MATERIAL, NOT GRAY FLUIDS - In this image made from Friday Sept. 21, 2018 drone video provided by the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality, light gray material flows out of a flooded coal ash dump toward the Cape Fear River at Duke Energy's L.V. Sutton Power Station in Wilmington, N.C. Floodwaters from Hurricane Florence breached a dam at the plant's 1,100 reservoir on Saturday, Sept 22, 2018, flooding a dump containing 400,000 cubic yards (305,820 cubic meters) of coal ash. The gray ash left over when coal is burned to generate electricity contains mercury, lead, arsenic and other toxic heavy metals. (N.C. Department of Environmental Quality via AP)

Inspectors with the state Department of Environmental Quality travelled to the plant by boat on Sunday to collect water quality samples. Environmental Secretary Mike Regan said aerial video of the site show "potential coal ash" flowing into the river.

"When the environment is conducive, we will put people on the ground to verify the amount of potential coal ash that could have left and entered those flood waters," Regan said.

Floodwaters breached several points early Friday in the earthen dam at Sutton Lake, the plant's 1,100-acre (445-hectare) reservoir. Lake water then flooded one of three large coal ash dumps lining the lakeshore.

The ash left over when coal is burned to generate electricity contains mercury, lead, arsenic and other toxic heavy metals. Duke said Friday the plant's inundated basin contains about 400,000 cubic yards (305,820 cubic meters) of ash.

The area received more than 30 inches (75 centimeters) of rain from former Hurricane Florence, with the Cape Fear River still rising and expected to crest Sunday and remain at flood stage through early next week.

Gray material the company characterized as "coal combustion byproducts" could be seen floating in the lake and river.

Earthjustice, an environmental advocacy group with a boat in the river, provided The Associated Press with images Friday showing wide gray slicks in the water. A team member plucked a turtle from the muck and rinsed it off.

"Any big spill like this raises concerns about the impacts on the estuary ecosystem in the lower Cape Fear River," said Pete Harrison, a staff attorney with Earthjustice on the boat. "This is Duke's third coal ash spill in the aftermath of Hurricane Florence, and it looks like it's the biggest yet."

Environmental Protection Agency regional administrator Trey Glenn said Friday his staff was monitoring the situation at Sutton from the state Emergency Operations Center in Raleigh, about 150 miles (240 kilometers) northwest of the Sutton plant. He said dozens of EPA staff were scattered throughout the region impacted by Florence, checking on toxic waste sites and oil storage facilities.

He said EPA has offered to help North Carolina officials respond to the Sutton incident.

"As of this evening, North Carolina has not requested additional support," he said.

Security personnel for Duke blocked access Friday to Sutton Lake Road, leading to a public dock on the reservoir, a popular boating and fishing site.

Duke denied a request for an Associated Press reporter to cross the barricade, saying the lake situation "continues to change" and is "not safe."

Sutton Lake is the former cooling pond for a coal-fired plant Duke retired in 2013 and replaced with a new generating station running off natural gas. Duke said that power plant was shut down overnight and all employees safely evacuated.

The breach at the Wilmington site is separate from last weekend's reported rupture at a nearby coal ash landfill, which spilled enough material to fill 180 dump trucks.

Duke's ash waste management has faced intense scrutiny since a drainage pipe collapsed under a waste pit at an old plant in Eden in 2014, triggering a massive spill that coated miles of the Dan River in gray sludge. The utility later agreed to plead guilty to nine Clean Water Act violations and pay $102 million in fines and restitution for illegally discharging pollution from ash dumps at five North Carolina power plants. It plans to close all its ash dumps by 2029.

At the separate Duke plant near Goldsboro, three old coal-ash dumps capped with soil and trees were underwater Thursday after the Neuse River flooded.

Staff from the environmental group Waterkeeper Alliance visited the flooded dumps at the H.F. Lee Power Plant by boat Wednesday, took photographs and collected samples of gray sludge washing into the floodwaters.

State environmental regulators visited the site Thursday, but said they could not make a full assessment because of high water levels. The Duke spokeswoman Sheehan said any coal ash release at the Goldsboro site appeared "minimal."

Meanwhile, South Carolina's state-owned utility said floodwaters had also entered a coal ash dump at its closed Grainger plant near Conway.

Santee Cooper spokeswoman Mollie Gore said no significant environmental impact is expected because nearly all the ash has been removed from the basin and water pumped in to prevent the dike from breaking.

The company had placed a 2 -foot (72-centimeter) high inflatable berm around the top of a second pond that has more coal ash in it. She estimates 200,000 tons (181 million kilograms) of ash are in a corner of the pond furthest from the rising Waccamaw River.

River forecasts project the Waccamaw will reach a new historic flood level this weekend, eclipsing a record height set by Hurricane Matthew in 2016.

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Associated Press reporters Jeffrey Collins in Columbia, South Carolina, and Denise Lavoie in Richmond, Virginia, contributed to this story.

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Biesecker reported from Washington. Follow him at http://twitter.com/mbieseck

In this screen grab from a Sept. 21, 2018, video provided to The Associated Press by Earthjustice, an environmental advocacy group, a turtle is plucked from gray muck along the Cape Fear River near the L.V. Sutton Plant near Wilmington, N.C. Floodwaters breached a dam at the electricity generating plant on Friday and overtopped a coal ash dump, potentially spilling toxic materials into the river. (Peter Harrison/Earthjustice via AP)

In this Sept. 21, 2018, photo provided by Earthjustice, an environmental advocacy group, gray muck floats on top of the Cape Fear River near the L.V. Sutton Plant near Wilmington, N.C. Floodwaters breached a dam at the electricity generating plant on Friday and overtopped a coal ash dump, potentially spilling toxic materials into the river. (Peter Harrison/Earthjustice via AP)

In this Sept. 21, 2018, photo released by Duke Energy, the L.V. Sutton Plant near Wilmington, N.C., is inundated by flood waters from the nearby Cape Fear River, triggering a shutdown and the evacuation of employees. Floodwaters also breached a dam at the electricity generating plant on Friday and overtopped a coal ash dump, potentially spilling toxic materials into the river. (Duke Energy via AP)

In this Sept. 21, 2018, photo provided by Earthjustice, an environmental advocacy group, gray muck floats on top of the Cape Fear River near the L.V. Sutton Plant near Wilmington, N.C. Floodwaters breached a dam at the electricity generating plant on Friday and overtopped a coal ash dump, potentially spilling toxic materials into the river. (Peter Harrison/Earthjustice via AP)

In this Sept. 21, 2018, photo provided by Earthjustice, an environmental advocacy group, gray muck floats on top of the Cape Fear River near the L.V. Sutton Plant near Wilmington, N.C. Floodwaters breached a dam at the electricity generating plant on Friday and overtopped a coal ash dump, potentially spilling toxic materials into the river. (Peter Harrison/Earthjustice via AP)

In this photo released Friday, Sept. 21, 2018, by Duke Energy, Gray material that Duke Energy characterized as lightweight coal combustion byproducts could be seen Friday floating on the top of the lake, near Wilmington, N.C. The ash left over when coal is burned to generate electricity coal ash contains an array of components, including mercury, lead, arsenic and other toxic heavy metals. The inundated basin contains at the plant 400,000 cubic yards of ash.(Duke Energy via AP)ABERDEEN, Md. (AP) - Law enforcement officials said Friday they might never know the motive for a female shooter's violent rampage that killed three people and wounded three at a sprawling Maryland warehouse before she turned the gun on herself. It's little consolation for grieving relatives and others trying to find answers.

The suspect, 26-year-old Snochia Moseley of Baltimore County, had been diagnosed with some kind of mental illness in 2016 but had legally purchased the handgun she carried in the deadly Thursday morning attack, Harford County Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler told reporters a day after the violence. But he said what ultimately triggered the workplace shooting is still a mystery and may remain so.

"Frankly, when someone does something like this, such violence against other human beings, we're never going to make sense of it or understand it fully," the sheriff said at a Friday press conference.

Ambulance leave the industrial park where several people had been shot, according with police reports in Aberdeen, Md, in Thursday, Sept. 20, 2018. Authorities say multiple people have been shot in northeast Maryland in what the FBI is describing as an "active shooter situation." (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Law enforcement officials said the particulars of Moseley's mental illness history would not have flagged her from purchasing a gun in Maryland, where buyers cannot pass a background check if they were either involuntarily committed for any period of time or voluntarily admitted to a psychiatric facility for at least 30 consecutive days.

A family friend of one of the victims killed in the shooting at the drugstore distribution center in Aberdeen, Maryland, said the immigrant family from Nepal was utterly wracked with despair and confounded as to how a person with a history of mental illness had a gun in the first place.

"They cannot understand how this could happen. In Nepal, there are very few homicides. They are asking: 'How did this person access a gun?" said Harry Bhandari, a community leader and candidate for state delegate who has known 41-year-old Brindra Giri's family for about 10 years.

Giri, a mother of two, had only recently moved to the U.S. from her homeland of Nepal to join her husband, an employee of a local liquor store. Authorities on Friday identified her as one of the three people killed when Moseley, a temp employee, opened fired at the Rite Aid facility.

The county sheriff told reporters that Moseley had become increasingly agitated in recent weeks, and relatives had been concerned for her well-being. She used a 9 mm Glock that she legally purchased in March to fire a total of 13 rounds Thursday morning and died after shooting herself in the head.

Gahler identified the three people Moseley fatally shot as Giri; Hayleen Reyes, a 41-year-old woman from Baltimore; and Sunday Aguda, a 45-year-old man from Baltimore County. He identified the wounded survivors as Hassan Mitchell, a 19-year-old man from Harford County; Wilfredo Villegas, a 45-year-old man from Montgomery County; and Acharya Purna, a 45-year-old man from New York.

Moseley had been hired for the holiday season and had been working there for less than two weeks, according to Gahler. She entered the building at 6:30 a.m. As people lined up to come in the building, Gahler said she cut in line and words were exchanged, but it was a "little incident." She left around 7:21 a.m. Moseley, who had worked security jobs in the past, drove to her White Marsh home and got a handgun, pepper spray and handcuffs. She arrived back at the parking lot around 8:35 a.m. and entered the front door around 8:52 a.m.

She pulled a hooded shirt over her head and began shooting, striking and killing Aguda outside the building, according to Gahler. Inside, where there were about 65 people, she fatally shot Giri and Reyes and also shot Mitchell, Villegas and Purna, who survived.

She shot herself twice before police arrived, he said - once with a grazing wound and then with the fatal shot. She was already down when officers arrived and an officer moved her from the scene, not knowing that she was the shooter.

When asked how Moseley could legally buy a gun after being diagnosed with a mental illness, officials said it had not been determined that she had a "propensity for violence to self or others."

The shooting sent survivors screaming and running in all directions. Bhandari said Giri was trampled in the chaos before getting shot. When the shooter shot herself, others helped the wounded before authorities arrived.

The attack came nearly three months after a man with a shotgun attacked a newspaper office in Annapolis, Maryland, killing five staff members. Authorities accused Jarrod W. Ramos of attacking The Capital Gazette because of a longstanding grudge against the paper. It came less than a year after a fatal workplace shooting less than 10 miles (16 kilometers) from the warehouse, in which five were shot, three fatally.

The Maryland attack also came on the heels of workplace shootings this week in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.

Harford County Executive Barry Glassman said that, unfortunately, shootings like this are "becoming a too-often occurrence" in the nation.

___

Associated Press writers Sarah Rankin Richmond, Virginia, and Sarah Brumfield in Washington contributed to this report. .

Authorities respond to a shooting in Harford County, Md., Thursday, Sept. 20, 2018. Authorities say multiple people have been shot in northeast Maryland in what the FBI is describing as an "active shooter situation." (Jerry Jackson /The Baltimore Sun via AP)

Authorities respond to a shooting in Harford County, Md., Thursday, Sept. 20, 2018. Authorities say multiple people have been shot in northeast Maryland in what the FBI is describing as an "active shooter situation." (Jerry Jackson /The Baltimore Sun via AP)

Shirley Pollack, of Perryville, Md. reacts to what authorities have called a shooting with multiple victims in Perryman, Md. on Thursday, Sept. 20, 2018. Authorities say multiple people have been shot in northeast Maryland in what the FBI is describing as an "active shooter situation." Pollack,was concerned about her son who worked near the scene of the shooting. (AP Photo/Steve Ruark)

FBI agents walks at the industrial business park, where several people had been shot, according with police reports in Harford County, Md., in Thursday, Sept. 20, 2018. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Aberdeen police officers blocks the entrance of industrial complex where several people had been shot, in Harford County, Md, Thursday, Sept. 20, 2018. Authorities say multiple people have been shot in northeast Maryland in what the FBI is describing as an "active shooter situation." (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

ATF police officers patrol the industrial business park, where several people had been shot, according with police reports in Aberdeen, Md, in Thursday, Sept. 20, 2018. Authorities say multiple people have been shot in northeast Maryland in what the FBI is describing as an "active shooter situation." (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Maryland police officers patrol the industrial business park, where several people had been shot, according with police reports in Aberdeen, Md, in Thursday, Sept. 20, 2018. Authorities say multiple people have been shot in northeast Maryland in what the FBI is describing as an "active shooter situation." (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Law enforcement officials gather near the scene where a shooting took place in Aberdeen, Md., on Thursday, Sept. 20, 2018. (AP Photo/Steve Ruark)

A Harford County Sheriff's vehicle blocks an entrance at the industrial business park, where several people had been shot, according with police reports in Aberdeen, Md, in Thursday, Sept. 20, 2018. Authorities say multiple people have been shot in northeast Maryland in what the FBI is describing as an "active shooter situation." (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Law enforcement officials walk near the scene where a shooting took place in Aberdeen, Md., on Thursday, Sept. 20, 2018. (AP Photo/Steve Ruark)

Tim Buffaloe, a chaplain from DayStar Advanced Response Ministerial Operations, talks to a bus driver who said he arrived to transport crime witnesses near the perimeter of a scene where a shooting took place in Aberdeen, Md. on Thursday, Sept. 20, 2018. (AP Photo/Steve Ruark)

Maryland State Police stand near the perimeter of a scene where a shooting took place in Aberdeen, Md. on Thursday, Sept. 20, 2018. (AP Photo/Steve Ruark)

JoWanda Strickland- Lucas, of Aberdeen, Md., speaks to Maryland State Police near the perimeter of a scene where a shooting took place in Aberdeen, Md. on Thursday, Sept. 20, 2018. (AP Photo/Steve Ruark)

Maryland state police block the road that connects the industrial business park, where several people had been shot, in Harford County, Md, Thursday, Sept. 20, 2018. Authorities say multiple people have been shot in northeast Maryland in what the FBI is describing as an "active shooter situation." (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

A Maryland State Police officer speaks with a motorist near the scene of a shooting in Perryman, Md. on Thursday, Sept. 20, 2018. Authorities say multiple people have been shot in northeast Maryland in what the FBI is describing as an "active shooter situation." (AP Photo/Steve Ruark)

ATF police officer with a sniffing dog walks out the industrial complex in Harford County, Md., Thursday, Sept. 20, 2018. Authorities say multiple people have been shot in northeast Maryland in what the FBI is describing as an "active shooter situation." (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Two secretaries-general and diplomats from the world that Kofi Annan served for nearly 45 years paid tribute to him at the United Nations Friday, but the most moving words were from his wife and son who urged people everywhere to continue his fight for a fairer and peaceful planet.

The ceremony in the General Assembly hall where the U.N.'s 193 member nations meet began with traditional music and drums from Annan's native Ghana, and a silent tribute to the world body's seventh secretary-general who died on Aug. 18 in Bern, Switzerland at age 80.

Annan's widow, Nane, recalled sitting in the General Assembly hall the day he was elected secretary-general in December 1996.

FILE - In this Oct. 14, 2010, file photo, former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan speaks at the World Food Prize Symposium in Des Moines, Iowa. Two secretaries-general and diplomats from the world that Kofi Annan served for nearly 45 years paid tribute to him at the United Nations, but the most moving words were from his wife and son who urged people everywhere to continue his fight for a fairer and peaceful planet. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File)

"The office of secretary-general is based on persuasive powers, and did he ever use his persuasive powers to the fullest," she said. "His whole being (was) intent on finding solutions to challenges at hand, thinking outside the box, the rebel on the 38th floor" where the U.N. chief's office is located.

Her voice cracking, Mrs. Annan said: "He died too soon, leaving us heartbroken and bereft, but he lived exactly as he wanted - to the fullest, packing in so many lifetimes in those 80 years of his."

"I was lucky," she said of her 35-year marriage. "He had this glowing aura of radiant warmth and joy of life which you literally could see, and left his impact on people near and far."

Nane said retirement was never for Annan.

"How could there be? There was still so much to do, so many challenges to think of," she said. "His legacy will live on in his foundation and in all of us."

Kojo Annan said in an emotional tribute that his father's death had raised many "existential" questions and he realized that being a global citizen isn't about stamps on your passport or where you live - it's "about completely embracing the common humanity of all of the world's citizens. It's about seeing potential in anyone, and helping build a world where anything is possible for that someone."

He recalled that Edmund Burke's words - "the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing" - became his father's "code."

"It's why he always felt at home here, surrounded by and working with you - the dedicated men and women of the U.N. and the member states who shared that code," Kojo Annan said.

"If my father were here he'd implore you to keep fighting the good fight, to beat back the forces of inequality, disease, injustice and strife, and he'd implore me to do the same," he said. "My father's passing has made it absolutely clear that I need to follow in his footsteps, not as secretary-general or as a politician, but as a humanitarian, doing my little bit wherever I am and however I can for humanity."

"We can all do our little bit for a fairer, more peaceful world," Kojo Annan said. "We all make peace personal in honor of daddy."

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who was chosen by then secretary-general Annan to be the U.N.'s refugee chief in 2005, recalled that Annan described the United Nations as the "last best hope of humanity."

"Throughout his tenure Kofi Annan urged us never to be bystanders in life. He summoned us all to act against bias, brutality and bloodshed," Guterres said. "He was a multilateralist through and through, a true U.N.-blue believer in a rules-based global order. And, I must say, his loss cuts even deeper because we have never needed that faith and inspiration more."

Former secretary-general Ban Ki-moon, who succeeded Annan in 2007, said "the international community was continually astounded by Kofi Annan's razor-sharp intellect, moved by his vibrant compassion, and encouraged by his driving idealism."

Ban said he struggled to put in words how much Annan helped him personally, "and how well he served humanity."

But he said "I am confident history will show as the years pass that Kofi Annan was a monumental leader."

Annan's former chief of staff Iqbal Riza recalled the highs of Annan's first term as secretary-general culminating with sharing the Nobel Peace Prize with the U.N. - and the lows in his second term including the Iraq war and allegations of corruption in the U.N. oil-for-food program which helped Iraqi civilians cope with U.N. sanctions.

Riza, a Pakistani diplomat, said Annan - "the consummate U.N. insider" - was his first friend when he joined the organization in 1978.

"I sensed his special qualities - exceptional intelligence and acumen, an inner courteousness, a quiet self-assurance and slightly impish sense of humor," he said. "Later, other attributes emerged - a deep commitment to the goals of the U.N., a strikingly wide circle of friends outside the U.N., a dazzling memory and natural charisma."WASHINGTON (AP) - Negotiators reached a tentative agreement Saturday for the Senate Judiciary Committee to hear testimony Thursday from Christine Blasey Ford, the woman accusing Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault from decades ago, according to two people briefed on the matter.

Lawyers for Ford and bipartisan representatives of the committee came to the tentative agreement after a short phone call, said one of the people, who was not authorized to speak publicly and requested anonymity. The person said Kavanaugh would also appear.

Some details of the hearing, such as the order of their appearance, remained in negotiation. Talks were expected to continue Sunday.

FILE - In this Sept. 5, 2018, file photo, Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, for the second day of his confirmation hearing to replace retired Justice Anthony Kennedy. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)

The tentative accord could bring to a close days of high-stakes brinkmanship that have roiled Washington ahead of midterm elections and threated to jeopardize Kavanaugh's confirmation to the court.

Tensions have been running on overdrive since Ford, a 51-year-old college professor in California, went public with her allegation that Kavanaugh assaulted her when they were at a house party in high school. Kavanaugh, 53, an appellate court judge, denied the allegation and said he wanted to testify as soon as possible to clear his name.

Ford initially indicated she wanted to tell her story to the committee, but talks dragged on as her lawyers negotiated terms of her appearance.

Republicans grew frustrated as Ford's lawyers insisted on a hearing next Thursday rather than Monday or even Wednesday and made other requests, some of which the committee chairman, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, rejected. Democrats, against the backdrop of the #MeToo movement, countered that Ford should be shown respect and given accommodation to tell her story.

As the talks continued, Grassley countered that he would end the standoff by scheduling a Monday vote on whether to recommend Kavanaugh's nomination to the full Senate. Meanwhile, Republicans viewed Ford's requests as a way to delay voting on President Donald Trump's nominee.

The White House views Ford's potential testimony with trepidation, nervous that an emotional performance might not just damage Kavanaugh's chances but could further energize female voters to turn out against Republicans in November.

Moreover, the West Wing aides who had urged Trump to remain muted in his response to the accusations worried about how the president might react if she ended up partaking in an hourslong, televised hearing. In a single tweet Friday, Trump broke his silence to cast doubt on Ford's story in ways Republicans had been carefully trying to avoid.

Trump mused to confidants that the "fake" attacks against his nominee were meant to undermine his presidency, according to a White House official and a Republican close to the White House. Both spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss private conversations.

Other Republicans had scoffed at Ford's willingness to tell her story. "When?" tweeted the No. 2 GOP Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, a member of the committee.

Ford attorneys Debra Katz and Lisa Banks had said that many aspects of Grassley's latest offer were "fundamentally inconsistent" with the committee's promise of a "fair, impartial investigation." They said they remained disappointed by the "bullying" that "tainted the process."

Patience among Republicans was running thin. The GOP has faced enormous pressure from its base of conservative leaders and voters to swiftly approve Kavanaugh, who would become the second of Trump's nominees to sit on the nation's highest court.

Grassley had set a Friday night deadline for Ford to agree to the committee's latest terms for her appearance. Grassley said that if she missed that deadline, he would scrap the hearing and his committee would vote on sending Kavanaugh's nomination to the full Senate.

Ford's lawyers asked for another day. In a tweet aimed at Kavanaugh shortly before midnight, Grassley said he was giving them additional time.

"She shld decide so we can move on. I want to hear her. I hope u understand. It's not my normal approach to b indecisive," Grassley wrote.

In backing away from deadlines and demands, Grassley underscored the sensitivity with which Senate Republicans have tried handling Ford.

Katz had called Grassley's original deadline "arbitrary" and said its "sole purpose is to bully Dr. Ford and deprive her of the ability to make a considered decision that has life-altering implications for her and her family."

On Friday, Grassley had rejected concessions Ford wanted if she is tell her story publicly before the committee.

Grassley turned down Ford's request that only senators, not attorneys, be allowed to ask questions. The committee's 11 Republicans - all men - have been seeking an outside female attorney to interrogate Ford, mindful of the election-season impression that could be left by men trying to pick apart a woman's assertion of a sexual attack.

He also rejected her proposal that she testify after Kavanaugh, a position lawyers consider advantageous because it gives them a chance to rebut accusations.

Grassley's stance reflected a desire by Trump and GOP leaders to usher Kavanaugh onto the high court by the Oct. 1 start of its new session and before the November elections. Democrats are mounting a robust drive to grab congressional control.

Ford has said an inebriated Kavanaugh pinned her on a bed, muffled her cries and tried removing her clothes. Trump ended a week of constraint and sarcastically assailed Ford on Friday, tweeting that if the episode was "as bad as she says," she or "her loving parents" surely would have reported it to law enforcement.

Trump's searing reproach defied the Senate Republican strategy, and the advice of White House aides, of not disparaging Ford while firmly defending his nominee and the tight timetable for confirming him.

The president's tweet brought blistering rejoinders from Democrats and a mix of silence and sighs of regret from his own party. Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, who hasn't declared support for Kavanaugh, called the remark "appalling."

Grassley has rebuffed other Ford requests, including calling additional witnesses. Ford wants an appearance by Mark Judge, a Kavanaugh friend who Ford asserts was at the high school party and in the room where the incident occurred.

Grassley consented to other Ford demands, including that she be provided security and that Kavanaugh not be in the hearing room when she testifies. Her request for security comes after her lawyers said she has relocated her family due to death threats.

Meanwhile, the lawyer for a woman who Ford has said attended the 1980s party at which Kavanaugh allegedly molested her has told Senate Republicans that the woman doesn't remember being at any party Kavanaugh attended.

Attorney Howard Walsh emailed Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans late Saturday that Leland Keyser "does not know Mr. Kavanaugh and she has no recollection" of ever attending a gathering with Kavanaugh, "with or without Dr. Ford."

That denial seemed to be a setback for Ford supporters' efforts to corroborate her story.

In a statement, Ford attorney Debra Katz wrote that Ford did not discuss the alleged assault with Keyser. She also called it "unremarkable" that Keyser didn't recall a party "30 years ago at which nothing of consequence happened to her."

The Washington Post reported Saturday that Ford told them Keyser was at that high school party.

On Tuesday, a GOP investigator for the Senate Judiciary Committee wrote Keyser that she had been "identified" as attending that party and wanted to talk to her.

Committee spokesman Taylor Ford said Saturday night that the panel learned Keyser's name "through its investigation" into Ford's claim, but did not specify how.

___

Lemire reported from Bridgewater, New Jersey.

Vice President Mike Pence speaks at the 2018 Values Voter Summit in Washington, Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally, Friday, Sept. 21, 2018, in Springfield, Mo. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

U.S. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), speaks to the media on Friday, Sept. 21, 2018, in Portland, Maine. Collins said she's "appalled" by President Donald Trump's tweet criticizing Christine Blasey, accuser of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. (AP Photo/Patrick Whittle)SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) - President Donald Trump has issued an ominous warning about the Justice Department and the FBI, promising more firings to rid a "lingering stench" after reports that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein discussed secretly recording Trump.

Trump, at a political rally Friday night in Missouri, did not explicitly mention the Rosenstein furor, first reported by The New York Times and confirmed by The Associated Press.

But the president lashed out against what he perceives as anti-Trump bias in the Justice Department and cited the firings he already has orchestrated. The dismissals have unnerved many in federal law enforcement and raised fears about the future of the special counsel's Russia investigation, which Rosenstein oversees.

President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally, Friday, Sept. 21, 2018, in Springfield, Mo. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

"You've seen what happened in the FBI and the Department of Justice. The bad ones, they're all gone. They're all gone," Trump said. "But there is a lingering stench and we're going to get rid of that, too."

One person present during Rosenstein's remarks said the second-ranking official was being sarcastic. The Times also said Rosenstein raised the idea of using the 25th Amendment to remove Trump as unfit for office. Rosenstein said the story is "inaccurate and factually incorrect."

It was the latest storm to buffet the White House.

Trump's former fixer, Michael Cohen, is cooperating with special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation. Trump has backed off his plan to declassify documents related to that probe, and the fate of his Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, remains uncertain.

Negotiations are continuing with the Senate Judiciary Committee about a possible appearance by Christine Blasey Ford, who has accused Kavanaugh of sexual assault at a high school party more than three decades ago.

Trump made the future of Kavanaugh and the federal judiciary a centerpiece of his rally in Springfield, which was designed to support Missouri's attorney general, Josh Hawley, in his race against Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill.

"I don't know who she is with but she is not with the state of Missouri," Trump said. "(Kavanaugh) is a fantastic man, a fantastic man. She won't vote for him."

But Trump, who used Twitter earlier Friday to cast doubt on Ford's claim, preached optimism on Kavanaugh, saying "he was born for the U.S. Supreme Court" and reassuring the crowd that "it's going to happen. It's going to happen."

He added: "We have to fight for him, not worry about the other side. And by the way, women are for that more than anybody would understand."

When Hawley praised Trump's judicial picks, the crowd began chanting Kavanaugh's name.

The reports about Rosenstein created even greater uncertainty about his future at a time when Trump has lambasted Justice Department leadership and publicly humiliated both Rosenstein and Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

More broadly, it's the latest revelation that could affect Mueller, who is investigating possible coordination between Russia and Trump's presidential campaign in 2016.

To Trump's dismay, Sessions stepped aside from that issue soon after he took office, and it was Rosenstein who then appointed Mueller. Trump has resisted calls from conservative commentators to fire both Sessions and Rosenstein and appoint someone who would ride herd more closely on Mueller or dismiss him.

A number of key FBI officials, including Director James Comey and his deputy, Andrew McCabe, have been fired since Trump took office.

Republicans view the McCaskill-Hawley contest as one of their best chances of flipping a seat in the Senate, where the GOP has a slim 51-49 edge. Polls show the race is a toss-up.

Democrats are hoping the enthusiasm that's put the GOP-led House in play will spill over to the Senate, though the political map there is much tougher. McCaskill is among 10 Democratic incumbents seeking re-election in states Trump won - some by wider margins than in Missouri.

On Thursday, Trump was in Nevada to campaign for Sen. Dean Heller, among the GOP incumbents considered to be the most vulnerable in the Nov. 6 election.

With the chances of Republicans keeping control of the House looking increasingly difficult, the White House has fixated on keeping the Senate as a bulwark against any Democratic effort to impeach and then remove Trump from office.

___

Associated Press writer Darlene Superville in Washington contributed to this report.

___

Follow Lemire at http://twitter.com/@JonLemire

President Donald Trump arrives to speak during a campaign rally, Friday, Sept. 21, 2018, in Springfield, Mo. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)WASHINGTON (AP) - President Donald Trump went there.

Republicans for days have been trying, with some success, not to blame the accuser in the high-stakes he-said-she-said roiling the Supreme Court nomination of Brett Kavanaugh. They calibrated their comments to avoid openly antagonizing Christine Blasey Ford, and by extension the women voters ahead of the November election.

But in a single tweet, Trump appears to have upended that strategy.

President Donald Trump speaks at a spending bill signing ceremony at VA Southern Nevada Healthcare System, Friday, Sept. 21, 2018, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

"I have no doubt that, if the attack on Dr. Ford was as bad as she says, charges would have been immediately filed with local Law Enforcement Authorities by either her or her loving parents," the president tweeted.

"Judge Brett Kavanaugh is a fine man," he added, "with an impeccable reputation, who is under assault by radical left wing politicians."

Attacking Ford, as Trump did, hardened the standoff between Ford and Senate Republicans into a risky, and now direct, confrontation. With the midterm election just 46 days away, the GOP can't afford to lose more women voters than they already have in the Trump era, particularly in crucial suburban districts that could decide control of the House.

Yet even before Trump's outburst, the party discipline on Kavanaugh's accuser was cracking

Stoking outrage, a prominent conservative floated an unsubstantiated theory on Twitter that someone else had actually committed the assault. Republicans quickly tried to distance themselves from the tweets.

Nevada GOP Sen. Dean Heller, who is facing a difficult re-election race, told supporters on a conference call the accusations were a "hiccup" and that Kavanaugh would be confirmed, according to a report in the Nevada Independent.

In South Carolina, GOP Rep. Ralph Norman opened an election debate at the Kiwanis Club making light of the allegations with a joke.

"Did y'all hear this latest late-breaking news from the Kavanaugh hearings?" he said, according to the Post and Courier. "Ruth Bader Ginsburg came out that she was groped by Abraham Lincoln."

Mississippi Republican Chris McDaniel, a Senate candidate, dismissed the "made-up" scandal. "All of the sudden, that disqualifies this man?" he said on the "Focal Point" show on American Family Radio. "No, not a chance."

The party has been down this road before. Since even before the election, Trump has been fending off allegations of his own behavior - including a recording from years ago saying that, as a famous person, he could grope women with impunity - and lawsuits. And Trump backed Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore despite allegations of sexual impropriety with younger women.

Kavanaugh's nomination was supposed to be a centerpiece of the GOP's argument for keeping control of the Senate. It would be a major accomplishment, showing conservatives and Christian evangelicals why they supported Trump for president in the first place.

But that was before Kavanaugh's confirmation was transformed into a do-over of the 1991 Clarence Thomas hearings, which launched the Year of the Woman in 1992. Law professor Anita Hill accused Thomas, then a Supreme Court nominee, of sexual harassment. Thomas denied the allegation and was confirmed to the high court.

Following in Hill's footsteps, Ford went public in The Washington Post on Sunday with her accusation that Kavanaugh groped her and muffled her cries as he tried to pull off her clothes during a party in high school.

Kavanaugh, the Yale-educated appellate court judge who worked in the George W. Bush White House, denies the claim and said he wants to testify "as soon as possible, so that I can clear my name."

Ford initially appeared reluctant to follow through on her offer to testify. Republicans seemed relieved that she might not show and began to talk of how they might soon have to move on.

But now Ford says she's willing to testify publicly next week. Her attorneys are in negotiations with Republicans about how and under what conditions.

Steve Schmidt, a veteran political strategist who left the Republican Party this year, said Ford testifying before the Judiciary Committee is "the worst conceivable outcome" for the GOP, because all 11 Republicans on the panel are men.

The hearing will appear in "1000s of campaign ads" and further "sever" the GOP's relationship with college-educated suburban women, Schmidt said. "For a generation of American women, it will cause PTSD because of the Anita Hill hearings."

Republicans are mindful of mistakes made during the Hill hearings and do not want to repeat them. Their solution: hiring a female attorney to question Ford. That would save them from the optics of 11 Republican men - it's an all-male line up on the GOP side of the Judiciary Committee - questioning a woman about the details of a sexual assault. The Republicans are reaching out to potential hires now.

Democrats face their own complications, as senators from Trump-won states - Heidi Heitkamp in North Dakota, Joe Donnelly in Indiana and Joe Manchin in West Virginia - have yet to decide how they'll vote. Before the assault allegation, supporting Kavanaugh had offered them a chance to side with Trump, who remains popular in many of the red states, while showing independence from their own party.

"This was always going to be a difficult vote for red-state Democrats, and it's only become harder," said Alex Conant, a GOP strategist.

"Now it's the biggest story in the country and everybody is looking to see how the Democrats in Trump-country vote."

Strategists from both parties said they were awaiting fresh polling on Kavanaugh that could provide better insight on how voters were viewing the situation.

But for Republicans, particularly in the Senate, it appeared that the only outcome potentially worse than confirming Kavanaugh was not confirming him at all.

"We're supposed to listen, but we're also supposed to get results," said Sen. Mike Rounds of South Dakota. "Judge Kavanaugh clearly is supported to be the next member of the United States Supreme Court, and we'll move forward with this process and allow the votes to be counted."

__

Lisa Mascaro has covered Congress since 2010. She has also traveled the country covering congressional races and presidential politics.

Follow her on Twitter at https://twitter.com/lisamascaroWASHINGTON (AP) - Combat won out over caution.

White House aides and congressional allies worked all week to keep President Donald Trump from unloading on the woman who has accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct.

But as Kavanaugh's nomination hung in the balance, Trump couldn't contain his frustration any longer and unleashed a direct Twitter attack on the credibility of Christine Blasey Ford, who says Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her decades ago during a high school party.

FILE - In this Sept. 5, 2018, file photo, Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington. Combat won out over caution. White House aides and congressional allies worked all week to keep President Donald Trump from unloading on the woman who has accused Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Friday's tweet landed with a splat in the noxious brew of gender and politics that has taken over a high-stakes confirmation battle playing out against the backdrop of the #MeToo movement. In keeping with Trump's natural instinct to fight back when under attack, as well as his long pattern of defending powerful men against the claims of women, the president's tweet reflected growing anger over all the focus on Ford's accusation.

Trump initially believed he could support his nominee without wading into the specific allegations against Kavanaugh since they did not involve him. But that began to change as Trump watched ongoing coverage of the accusations, particularly on Air Force One TVs tuned into Fox News on his long flight Thursday from Washington to Las Vegas, according to a White House official and a Republican close to the White House. Both spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss private conversations.

Trump began to view the allegations as a scheme to undermine his pick and told one confidant that he doubted Ford's credibility. The "fake" attack on Kavanaugh reminded him of the broadsides launched against him during his presidency and the claims of sexual misconduct that dogged him at the end of his campaign.

Increasingly convinced the accusations were a Democratic plot being advanced by the media, Trump tweeted that if the attack was really so bad, "charges would have been immediately filed with local Law Enforcement Authorities by either her or her loving parents."

With that, he blew right past the advice of aides, who had counseled Trump to avoid attacking Ford directly, warning that it could backfire and damage Kavanaugh's chances and hurt vulnerable Republicans in the midterm elections.

As is often the case with the president's tweets, this one seemed to catch many off guard. Shortly before Trump's tweet, White House counselor Kellyanne Conway told reporters at the White House there was "no reason" to attack Ford. Asked if she had been advising Trump to avoid criticism, Conway said: "The president doesn't need anybody to tell him. He does the right thing."

Trump's refusal to hold back has a history.

In 2015, he tweeted: "When somebody challenges you unfairly, fight back - be brutal, be tough - don't take it. It is always important to WIN!"

Throughout his presidency, Trump has taken an aggressive posture, picking fights with his perceived enemies. He has complained loudly over the Russia probe and special counsel Robert Mueller. He carps constantly about what he sees as unfair coverage by the news media. He has targeted a number of potential 2020 Democratic opponents and continues to lambast former President Barack Obama. He also has gone after congressional Republicans at times and lacerated his own attorney general, Jeff Sessions.

It was just that sort of Twitter-driven ire that congressional Republicans and White House aides guiding the Kavanaugh confirmation had hoped to avoid. Since the allegation first surfaced, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley and White House Counsel Don McGahn have kept in constant contact with one another, people familiar with their conversations said. The lawmakers told the top White House lawyer early on that Trump's reaction was a wild card that could undermine their attempts to confirm Kavanaugh in such a highly charged political and cultural moment.

Beyond those early conversations, congressional Republicans left it up to the White House to explain the stakes to the president. White House aides relayed the congressional concerns to Trump, as Conway and other officials walked a tight rope in defending Kavanaugh while also remaining sympathetic toward his accuser. When Trump first spoke out Monday, he largely stuck to the talking points that his aides had prepared.

His fairly tame response - allowing that there might be a need for a brief delay on the committee vote on Kavanaugh's nomination - had some White House aides believing they had gotten through. But it didn't last.

Trump traveled to Nevada on Thursday without McGahn or chief of staff John Kelly for a rally and a bill signing, joined by press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders and aides Dan Scavino, Stephen Miller and Johnny DeStefano. He launched his tweets just before sunrise Friday from his gold-hued high-rise hotel off the Vegas Strip in the hours before a political fundraiser.

His combative tone sent White House and congressional aides rushing to try to contain the fallout with wavering GOP lawmakers whom they feared would bend over backward to distance themselves from Trump's barbs. And aides worried that the president could unleash further attacks in future appearances.

Trump has long defended powerful men against claims from women and has faced numerous accusations himself.

His campaign was nearly derailed in October 2016 when a video from TV's "Access Hollywood" emerged that captured him boasting about groping women. After a reluctant apology, Trump returned to denying any wrongdoing, dismissing the claims of more than a dozen women who accused of him of sexual misconduct, and mocking some of them for not being attractive enough for him to seduce.

Even as the #MeToo movement gained steam, giving a voice to women who said they were abused by powerful men, the White House has steadily denied accusations against the president and his allies.

Trump backed longtime friend Roger Ailes, the Fox News executive accused of misconduct by more than two dozen women, and later hired Ailes' onetime aide Bill Shine to be his White House communications director. He publicly defended Rob Porter, an aide who resigned after his two ex-wives accused him of spousal abuse. And he backed Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore despite accusations that Moore pursued relationships with underage women. All three men denied the allegations.

___

Lemire reported from Las Vegas.WASHINGTON (AP) - The fight for the House majority is over.

At least that's the sense from a growing number of Democrats who are increasingly confident in their quest to seize control of at least one chamber of Congress six weeks before Election Day.

The surging optimism among Democrats, usually shared in private, has begun to spill into the open as President Donald Trump's approval ratings sink and the Republican Party struggles under the weight of the president's self-imposed political crises and erratic behavior.

FILE - In this Sept. 13, 2018, file photo, former President Barack Obama shakes hands with members of the audience as he campaigns in support of Ohio gubernatorial candidate Richard Cordray in Cleveland. (AP Photo/David Dermer, File)

"I do believe Democrats will win back the House of Representatives," said New Mexico Rep. Ben Ray Lujan, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. "Our candidates are in a strong position."

Democratic confidence is particularly strong among campaign operatives who work closely with women, a critical voting bloc that has turned away from Trump's GOP in the suburban and exurban districts where the House majority will be won or lost this fall. Polls suggest women are turbocharged and eager to punish Trump's party as the voting season begins.

"I have all intentions of this institution delivering the U.S. House back for the Democrats," said Stephanie Schriock, president of EMILY'S List, an organization that supports female Democrats. "We have the candidates in place to do that and then some."

But with the shock of Trump's 2016 victory still fresh, some Democrats are painfully aware that significant factors could emerge in the 45 days before the election that could derail their presumptive success. They're contending with massive spending by GOP super PACs, competing in gerrymandered congressional districts and are increasingly worried about some key candidates.

That's leaving some top Democrats warning their party of the dangers of overconfidence.

"This is no time for confidence. This is no time for braggadociousness or bluster," New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker told The Associated Press in a recent interview.

Booker, a potential 2020 Democratic presidential contender, reminded his party of Hillary Clinton's stunning loss in the last presidential contest: "If there's any complacency, if there's any resting on their laurels, we need to go back to how people felt in the early days of November 2016."

That's a tough message to push at a time when even Republican campaign professionals publicly and privately acknowledge that conventional metrics for predicting election outcomes favor Democrats.

At this point in President Barack Obama's first term, Gallup reported the Democrat's approval rating at least five points higher than Trump's current 38 percent approval. Obama's party would go on to lose 63 House seats in 2010.

On top of Trump's low approval, Republicans this year have also been saddled by more than 40 House retirements, ceding the power of incumbency in several competitive races. And there are continued signs that the Democratic base is far more energized in the early years of the Trump era than the GOP.

"I would never tell a politician to be confident because of how the world changes," said Republican strategist Rick Tyler. "But by applying those metrics, Democrats should pick up 80 seats."

Former Democratic National Committee Chair Donna Brazile turned heads in a recent interview with ABC when she predicted a Democratic takeover in the Senate. Democrats need to pick up just two seats to claim the Senate majority, but most of the competitive Senate contests this year takes place in a Republican-leaning state.

"We're confident," Brazile said. "Not overconfident, but confident that we can run the tables in the Senate."

Money could complicate Democrats' plans.

While Democratic House candidates are outraising their GOP competitors in many cases, Republicans are expected to win the larger spending battle largely because of their reliance on Super PACs that can raise unlimited sums of money.

Schriock said EMILY'S List expects to spend $37 million to influence the election, outpacing its investment in the last presidential contest. On the other side, the Congressional Leadership Fund, a super PAC allied with House Speaker Paul Ryan, expects to spend roughly $100 million.

Already, the Republican powerhouse has committed more than $70 million to shape the House landscape, primarily by running attack ads to put Democratic candidates on defense as the midterm season moves into its final weeks.

In Minnesota, which began early voting on Friday , Ryan's super PAC is dumping $8 million into an advertising campaign targeting two congressional districts. They include the 8th district, where 32-year-old former Democratic state Rep. Joe Radinovich faced charges that "he's spent his life running from the law" in a recent ad that cites multiple traffic violations.

Radinovich's campaign called the claims "egregious" and "disgraceful," saying it falsely portrayed unpaid parking tickets as crimes and misrepresents a marijuana-related citation that the Democrat received as a teen.

Fair or not, the Republican attacks are jeopardizing an open seat in a Democratic-leaning state.

It's not the only one.

Democrats are struggling for traction in a series of contests that should be prime pickup opportunities - on paper, at least. Polling suggests several vulnerable Republicans in swing districts are performing better than expected, a list that includes Reps. Carlos Curbelo of Florida, Will Hurd of Texas, and John Katko of New York.

And in Florida's 27th district, a heavily Hispanic open seat in Miami, former Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala is locked in a surprisingly close contest with Republican Maria Elvira Salazar, a well-known Hispanic television reporter.

But don't relay those concerns to the people who lined up for hours outside Philadelphia's Dell Music Center on Friday to see Obama rally Democratic voters in a pivotal swing state.

Della Jamison, a 65-year-old Democrat from North Philadelphia, was exuberant about her party's chances when asked. In Pennsylvania alone, Democrats envision flipping a half dozen House seats.

"We are on the battlefield, baby," Jamison said. "It's already done."

___

Peoples reported from New York. AP Congressional Correspondent Lisa Mascaro contributed to this report.VATICAN CITY (AP) - The Vatican and China said Saturday they had signed a "provisional agreement" over the appointment of bishops, a breakthrough on an issue that stymied diplomatic relations for decades and aggravated a split among Chinese Catholics.

The deal resolved one of the major sticking points in recent years, with the Vatican agreeing to accept seven bishops who were previously named by Beijing without the pope's consent.

The development comes nearly seven decades after the Holy See and Beijing severed official relations. Beijing's long-held insistence that it must approve bishop appointments in China had clashed with absolute papal authority to pick bishops.

FILE - In this Saturday, March 31, 2018, file photo, Chinese acolytes pray during a Holy Saturday Mass on the evening before Easter at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, a government-sanctioned Catholic church in Beijing. On Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018, the Vatican announced it had signed a "provisional agreement" with China on the appointment of bishops, a breakthrough on an issue that for decades fueled tensions between the Holy See and Beijing and thwarted efforts toward diplomatic relations. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)

With the status of the seven bishops now reconciled, the Vatican said all bishops in China are now in communion with Rome - even though the Catholic community in China is still split between Catholics who belong to the official Chinese church and those in the underground church who remain loyal to the pope.

"Pope Francis hopes that, with these decisions, a new process may begin that will allow the wounds of the past to be overcome, leading to the full communion of all Chinese Catholics," a Vatican statement said.

Some Chinese Catholics have opposed such a deal, notably Hong Kong Cardinal Joseph Zen, who previously called it a sell-out of Chinese Catholics who refused to join the state Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association and who paid the price of remaining faithful to Rome during years of persecution.

Zen didn't reply Saturday to an AP request for comment. But on his blog, the cardinal criticized the lack of specifics in the accord, including no mention of the status of several underground bishops named by the pope.

"What is the message this communique conveys to the faithful in China? 'Trust us! Accept the agreement!,'" he wrote. That, he said, was tantamount to the Chinese government telling Catholics to "Obey us! We are in agreement with your pope!'"

Vatican spokesman Greg Burke, speaking in Vilnius, Lithuania, where Pope Francis was visiting, indicated the accord would serve as a blueprint for future appointments of bishops, who lead the faithful in their dioceses.

Burke told reporters the aim of the accord "is not political but pastoral, allowing the faithful to have bishops who are in communion with Rome but at the same time recognized by Chinese authorities."

The Vatican's No. 2 official indicated that the pope and Chinese authorities would jointly approve new bishop appointments.

"What is required now is unity, is trust, and a new impetus: to have good pastors, recognized by the Successor of Peter (Pope Francis) and by the legitimate civil authorities," said Cardinal Pietro Parolin.

A Vatican official earlier this year said the deal allows the pope to effectively veto future bishop names proposed by Beijing. That official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because diplomatic negotiations were involved, had described it as the best arrangement the Holy See could achieve for now.

The deal's provisional nature left open the possibility of improvements down the line.

The Vatican described the provisional agreement as "the fruit of a gradual and reciprocal rapprochement" following a "long process of careful negotiation."

While the agreement could help pave the way for formal diplomatic ties and possibly an eventual papal trip to China, it was also sure to anger Catholics who vigorously advocated for the Vatican to maintain a hard line on caring for the 12 million faithful in China. The accord was signed in Beijing during a meeting between China's deputy minister for foreign affairs, Wang Chao, and the Vatican undersecretary for state relations, Monsignor Antoine Camilleri.

In Beijing, the Foreign Ministry said "China and the Vatican will continue to maintain communications and push forward the process of improving relations between the two sides."

Yet even as China professed the desire for better relations with the Holy See, the deal was signed against a backdrop of a Chinese crackdown on religions.

In one glaring case of pro-Vatican Catholics in China, Bishop Guo Xijin, head of an underground diocese, was whisked away in March by government agents in the southern village of Saiqi. It wasn't immediately clear how the new accord affected him and others opposing Chinese authorities.

"The question now is: What is going to happen to the bishops who are under house arrest?" said the Rev. Bernardo Cervellera, a Vatican-China expert and chief editor of the missionary news agency Asia News.

Cervellera noted that Shanghai's underground bishop and others were under house arrest and some priests were imprisoned. He said about a year ago, about 10 priests were in prison in Hebei province near Beijing, but he didn't know their current situation.

The Vatican "had to start a dialogue from a weak position, because China is very powerful and therefore dictated the rules of this dialogue," Cervellera told the AP.

Under President Xi Jinping, China's most powerful leader since Mao Zedong, faithful are seeing their freedoms shrink even as the country experiences a religious revival. Experts and activists contend that as Xi is consolidating power, he is waging the most systematic suppression of Christianity since the Chinese constitution allowed for religious freedom in 1982.

Xi is trying to infuse all of the religions in China with "Chinese characteristics" such as loyalty to the Communist Party.

As part of this drive, Islamic crescents and domes have been stripped from mosques and a campaign is underway to "re-educate" tens of thousands of Uighur Muslims. Tibetan children have been moved from Buddhist temples to schools and banned from religious activities during summer holidays, state-run media have reported.

This spring, a 5-year plan regarding Christians was introduced, along with new rules on religious affairs. Over the last few months, local governments across China have shut down hundreds of private Christian "house churches."

The Vatican spokesman indicated there was still some ways to go for better relations between the Catholic Church and China.

"This is not the end of a process. It's the beginning," Burke said. "This has been about dialogue, patient listening on both sides even when people come from very different standpoints."

In Beijing, Zhang Ye, a 31-year-old Catholic leaving church after a Saturday evening Mass, said the Vatican couldn't afford to ignore the importance of China and the growing number of believers in the country.

"My biggest wish is that we can have more communication and interactions with Vatican," he said.

Bridging different points of view has characterized much of Francis' five-year papacy, and led to the Vatican helping improve relations between another communist nation, Cuba, and the United States.

In Taiwan, the reaction focused on the plight of ordinary Catholics.

"As the world watches China increasingly tightening control over religious practices, Taiwan trusts that the Holy See has made appropriate arrangements to ensure that Catholic adherents in China will receive due protection and not be subject to repression," Taiwan's Foreign Ministry said.

___

Nicole Winfield in Vilnius, Lithuania; Xun Hou, Wayne Zhange and Gillian Wong in Beijing; Johnson Lai in Taipei and Paolo Santalucia in Rome contributed.

FILE - In this April 18, 2018 file photo, Pope Francis meets a group of faithful from China at the end of his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square, at the Vatican. On Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018, the Vatican announced it had signed a "provisional agreement" with China on the appointment of bishops, a breakthrough on an issue that for decades fueled tensions between the Holy See and Beijing and thwarted efforts toward diplomatic relations. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, file)NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) - It was a stunning discovery. As rescue divers probed a capsized Tanzanian ferry two days after the disaster and the death toll soared past 200, a man was found in an air pocket, alive.

He was an engineer, regional commissioner John Mongella told reporters. As the badly overloaded ferry overturned on Thursday in the final stretch before reaching shore, the man shut himself into the engine room, the Tanzanian Broadcasting Corporation reported.

Video footage showed the man, barefoot and head lolling, carried quickly along a busy street by medical workers and military personnel as a siren wailed. His condition was not immediately known.

A woman cries beside the body of her sister, a victim of the MV Nyerere passenger ferry, as she awaits transportation for burial on Ukara Island, Tanzania Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018. The death toll soared past 200 on Saturday while officials said a survivor was found inside the capsized ferry and search efforts were ending to focus on identifying bodies, two days after the Lake Victoria disaster. (AP Photo/Andrew Kasuku)

No further survivors were likely. Search efforts were ending so the focus could turn to identifying the dead, Tanzania's defense chief Venance Mabeyo told reporters at the scene.

Mass graves were dug, and colorfully painted coffins arrived. Hundreds of family members and others waited quietly on the shore.

One woman dropped to her knees in the sand next to the covered body of her sister and wept.

"We have found him after three days and now we are transporting his body to Kamasi for burial," said Temeni Katebarira, the brother of one victim.

Earlier in the day, workers continued to haul bodies from the water. Abandoned shoes were scattered on the sand.

"From morning till now we have retrieved more than 58 bodies. This includes both children and adults," said TropistaTemi, a Red Cross volunteer. "Because of the congestion we have not been able to do full totaling. Later, we will do a full tally."

But the total number of deaths might never be known. No one is sure how many people were on the overcrowded ferry, which officials said had a capacity of 101. It tipped as people returning from a busy market day with their goods prepared to disembark, while horrified fishermen and others watched.

Officials on Friday said at least 40 people had been rescued.

President John Magufuli has ordered the arrests of those responsible. He said the ferry captain already had been detained after leaving the steering to someone who wasn't properly trained, The Citizen newspaper reported.

"This is a great disaster for our nation," Magufuli told the nation in a televised address late Friday, announcing four days of national mourning.

Pope Francis, the United Nations secretary-general, Russian President Vladimir Putin and a number of African leaders have expressed shock and sorrow.

The MV Nyerere, named for the former president who led the East African nation to independence, was traveling between the islands of Ukara and Ukerewe when it sank, according to the government agency in charge of servicing the vessels.

Accidents are often reported on the large freshwater lake surrounded by Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda. Some of the deadliest have occurred in Tanzania, where aging passenger ferries often carry hundreds of passengers and well beyond capacity.

In 1996, more than 800 people died when passenger and cargo ferry MV Bukoba sank on Lake Victoria. And nearly 200 people died in 2011 when the MV Spice Islander I sank off Tanzania's Indian Ocean coast near Zanzibar.

___

Follow Africa news at https://twitter.com/AP_Africa

Men carry a coffin for one of the victims of the MV Nyerere passenger ferry on Ukara Island, Tanzania Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018. The death toll soared past 200 on Saturday while officials said a survivor was found inside the capsized ferry and search efforts were ending to focus on identifying bodies, two days after the Lake Victoria disaster. (AP Photo)

Coffins for the victims of the MV Nyerere passenger ferry are transported by another ferry to Ukara Island, Tanzania Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018. The death toll soared past 200 on Saturday while officials said a survivor was found inside the capsized ferry and search efforts were ending to focus on identifying bodies, two days after the Lake Victoria disaster. (AP Photo)

Rescue divers work alongside the capsized MV Nyerere passenger ferry on Ukara Island, Tanzania Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018. The death toll soared past 200 on Saturday while officials said a survivor was found inside the capsized ferry and search efforts were ending to focus on identifying bodies, two days after the Lake Victoria disaster. (AP Photo)

Rescue divers stand on top of the capsized MV Nyerere passenger ferry on Ukara Island, Tanzania Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018. The death toll soared past 200 on Saturday while officials said a survivor was found inside the capsized ferry and search efforts were ending to focus on identifying bodies, two days after the Lake Victoria disaster. (AP Photo)

Passengers travel on a ferry carrying coffins for the victims of the MV Nyerere passenger ferry, near Ukara Island, Tanzania Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018. The death toll soared past 200 on Saturday while officials said a survivor was found inside the capsized ferry and search efforts were ending to focus on identifying bodies, two days after the Lake Victoria disaster. (AP Photo)

Red Cross workers carry away the body of one of the victims of the MV Nyerere passenger ferry, on Ukara Island, Tanzania Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018. The death toll soared past 200 on Saturday while officials said a survivor was found inside the capsized ferry and search efforts were ending to focus on identifying bodies, two days after the Lake Victoria disaster. (AP Photo)

Residents and relatives of the victims of the MV Nyerere passenger ferry wait for news and observe rescue efforts on Ukara Island, Tanzania Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018. The death toll soared past 200 on Saturday while officials said a survivor was found inside the capsized ferry and search efforts were ending to focus on identifying bodies, two days after the Lake Victoria disaster. (AP Photo)

Residents and relatives of victims of the MV Nyerere passenger ferry stand by an empty coffin waiting to be used to transport the bodies of victims, on Ukara Island, Tanzania Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018. The death toll soared past 200 on Saturday while officials said a survivor was found inside the capsized ferry and search efforts were ending to focus on identifying bodies, two days after the Lake Victoria disaster. (AP Photo/Andrew Kasuku)

Relatives carry coffins to be used for the victims of the MV Nyerere passenger ferry on Ukara Island, Tanzania Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018. The death toll soared past 200 on Saturday while officials said a survivor was found inside the capsized ferry and search efforts were ending to focus on identifying bodies, two days after the Lake Victoria disaster. (AP Photo/Andrew Kasuku)

Residents and relatives of the victims of the MV Nyerere passenger ferry wait on the shore for news and observe rescue efforts on Ukara Island, Tanzania Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018. The death toll soared past 200 on Saturday while officials said a survivor was found inside the capsized ferry and search efforts were ending to focus on identifying bodies, two days after the Lake Victoria disaster. (AP Photo/Andrew Kasuku)

A rescue diver, right, searches in the water for bodies of the victims of the capsized MV Nyerere passenger ferry on Ukara Island, Tanzania Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018. The death toll soared past 200 on Saturday while officials said a survivor was found inside the capsized ferry and search efforts were ending to focus on identifying bodies, two days after the Lake Victoria disaster. (AP Photo/Andrew Kasuku)

Rescue divers stand on top of the capsized MV Nyerere passenger ferry on Ukara Island, Tanzania Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018. The death toll soared past 200 on Saturday while officials said a survivor was found inside the capsized ferry and search efforts were ending to focus on identifying bodies, two days after the Lake Victoria disaster. (AP Photo/Andrew Kasuku)

The retrieved body of a victim of the MV Nyerere passenger ferry lies at the scene on Ukara Island, Tanzania Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018. The death toll soared past 200 on Saturday while officials said a survivor was found inside the capsized ferry and search efforts were ending to focus on identifying bodies, two days after the Lake Victoria disaster. (AP Photo/Andrew Kasuku)

Women mourn beside the body of a relative, a victim of the MV Nyerere passenger ferry, as they await transportation for burial on Ukara Island, Tanzania Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018. The death toll soared past 200 on Saturday while officials said a survivor was found inside the capsized ferry and search efforts were ending to focus on identifying bodies, two days after the Lake Victoria disaster. (AP Photo/Andrew Kasuku)

Relatives carry coffins to be used for the victims of the MV Nyerere passenger ferry on Ukara Island, Tanzania Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018. The death toll soared past 200 on Saturday while officials said a survivor was found inside the capsized ferry and search efforts were ending to focus on identifying bodies, two days after the Lake Victoria disaster. (AP Photo/Andrew Kasuku)

EDS NOTE: RETRANSMISSION NAI111 OF FRIDAY, SEPT. 21, 2018, FOR IMPROVED QUALITY. Rescuers retrieve a dead body from the water near Ukara Island in Lake Victoria, Tanzania, Friday, Sept. 21, 2018. The death toll rose above 100 after the passenger ferry MV Nyerere capsized on Lake Victoria, Tanzania state radio reported Friday, while a second day of rescue efforts raced the setting sun. (AP Photo)

The upturned passenger ferry MV Nyerere floats in the water near Ukara Island in Lake Victoria, Tanzania Friday, Sept. 21, 2018. The death toll rose above 100 after the passenger ferry MV Nyerere capsized on Lake Victoria, Tanzania state radio reported Friday, while a second day of rescue efforts raced the setting sun. (AP Photo)

Rescuers retrieve a body from the water near Ukara Island in Lake Victoria, Tanzania Friday, Sept. 21, 2018. The death toll rose above 100 after the passenger ferry MV Nyerere capsized on Lake Victoria, Tanzania state radio reported Friday, while a second day of rescue efforts raced the setting sun. (AP Photo)

Rescuers retrieve a body from the water near Ukara Island in Lake Victoria, Tanzania Friday, Sept. 21, 2018. The death toll rose above 100 after the passenger ferry MV Nyerere capsized on Lake Victoria, Tanzania state radio reported Friday, while a second day of rescue efforts raced the setting sun. (AP Photo)

Rescuers retrieve a body from the water near Ukara Island in Lake Victoria, Tanzania Friday, Sept. 21, 2018. The death toll rose above 100 after the passenger ferry MV Nyerere capsized on Lake Victoria, Tanzania state radio reported Friday, while a second day of rescue efforts raced the setting sun. (AP Photo)

Rescuers retrieve a body from the water near Ukara Island in Lake Victoria, Tanzania Friday, Sept. 21, 2018. The death toll rose above 100 after the passenger ferry MV Nyerere capsized on Lake Victoria, Tanzania state radio reported Friday, while a second day of rescue efforts raced the setting sun. (AP Photo)NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) - The Latest on capsized Tanzanian ferry (all times local):

9:45 p.m.

Video footage of the survivor found in a capsized Tanzanian ferry two days after the deadly disaster shows him carried quickly along a busy street by health workers and military personnel as a siren wails.

The retrieved body of a victim of the MV Nyerere passenger ferry lies at the scene on Ukara Island, Tanzania Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018. The death toll soared past 200 on Saturday while officials said a survivor was found inside the capsized ferry and search efforts were ending to focus on identifying bodies, two days after the Lake Victoria disaster. (AP Photo/Andrew Kasuku)

Officials and state media say the man was an engineer who shut himself into the engine room as the badly overloaded ferry tipped over on the final stretch before reaching shore.

The video shows the man barefoot and unmoving. Bystanders watch in surprise.

Officials say the death toll in Thursday's capsizing on Lake Victoria has reached 209 people. Search and rescue efforts are ending as work shifts to identifying bodies.

___

2:05 p.m.

A Tanzanian official says a survivor has been found in a capsized ferry two days after the deadly disaster on Lake Victoria.

Mwanza regional commissioner John Mongella tells reporters that the engineer was found near the engine of the vessel.

Only the ferry's underside has been exposed since the capsizing on Thursday afternoon that killed 167 people. The death toll is likely to rise.

___

1:40 p.m.

A Tanzanian official says the death toll from a capsized ferry on Lake Victoria has risen to 167 while wooden coffins have arrived at the scene.

The government's Chief Secretary John Kijazi spoke to reporters after the country's president ordered the arrests of those responsible for the disaster.

The badly overloaded ferry capsized in the final stretch before shore on Thursday afternoon as people returning from a busy market day shifted and prepared to disembark.

Families of victims are preparing to claim the bodies of their loved ones as search efforts around the ferry's exposed underside continue.

No one knows how many people were on board the ferry, which had a capacity of 101. Search efforts continue.

The East African nation has a history of deadly maritime disasters.

Rescue divers stand on top of the capsized MV Nyerere passenger ferry on Ukara Island, Tanzania Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018. The death toll soared past 200 on Saturday while officials said a survivor was found inside the capsized ferry and search efforts were ending to focus on identifying bodies, two days after the Lake Victoria disaster. (AP Photo/Andrew Kasuku)

A rescue diver, right, searches in the water for bodies of the victims of the capsized MV Nyerere passenger ferry on Ukara Island, Tanzania Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018. The death toll soared past 200 on Saturday while officials said a survivor was found inside the capsized ferry and search efforts were ending to focus on identifying bodies, two days after the Lake Victoria disaster. (AP Photo/Andrew Kasuku)

Residents and relatives of the victims of the MV Nyerere passenger ferry wait on the shore for news and observe rescue efforts on Ukara Island, Tanzania Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018. The death toll soared past 200 on Saturday while officials said a survivor was found inside the capsized ferry and search efforts were ending to focus on identifying bodies, two days after the Lake Victoria disaster. (AP Photo/Andrew Kasuku)

The upturned passenger ferry MV Nyerere floats in the water near Ukara Island in Lake Victoria, Tanzania Friday, Sept. 21, 2018. The death toll rose above 100 after the passenger ferry MV Nyerere capsized on Lake Victoria, Tanzania state radio reported Friday, while a second day of rescue efforts raced the setting sun. (AP Photo)MOSCOW (AP) - For yet another weekend, thousands rallied across Russia on Saturday to protest the government's plan to raise the eligibility age for retirement pensions by five years.

Several thousand people attended a Moscow rally organized by the Communist Party and other leftist groups, which was authorized by city officials. Communist Party chief Gennady Zyuganov called for rolling back the proposed changes, arguing that the government should redistribute resources to avoid raising the pension age.

"They keep reaching into your pockets," he told protesters, who waved red flags.

Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov, center, attends a rally organized by the Communist Party and other leftist groups agains raising the pension age in Moscow, Russia, Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018. Thousands rallied across Russia on Saturday to protest the government's plan to raise the eligibility age for retirement pensions by five years. (Sergei Sergeyev, Russian Communist Party Press Service via AP)

The government's plan to lift the retirement age to 65 for men and 60 for women has irked a wide range of Russians from all political factions. Older Russians fear they won't live long enough to collect significant benefits while younger generations are worried that keeping people in the workforce longer will limit their own employment opportunities. The proposal has also dented President Vladimir Putin's popularity.

Dmitry Orlov, who came to Moscow from his home city of Kostroma to join the rally, denounced the Russian government's move as a "robbery."

"It can't be that our country doesn't have money for its people, the people who spend their whole lives working and paying deductions for their pensions," he said.

Similar protests were also held Saturday in many cities across Russia's 11 time zones, most of them sanctioned by authorities.

Several hundred demonstrators rallied against the pension age hike in Sevastopol in Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula that Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014.

"This is a very serious issue for me, because it touches upon my life, my children, my parents who haven't retired yet," said Olga Konitskaya, 30, a protester in Sevastopol.

The demonstrations went on peacefully, unlike a wave of unauthorized pension protests earlier this month organized by opposition leader Alexei Navalny that led to the detention of over 1,000 people across Russia.

Navalny, the anti-corruption activist who is Putin's most visible foe, had called for protests against the pension age hike before he was sentenced to 30 days in jail for organizing a January protest over a different issue. He is set to be released from custody Monday.

Putin has responded to the protests by offering some concessions, but argued that the age hike is necessary because rising life expectancies in Russia could exhaust the nation's pension resources if the eligibility age remains the same.

The Kremlin-controlled lower house, the State Duma has given only a preliminary approval to the pension changes bill and is yet to hold a decisive second reading.

__

Iuliia Subbotovska in Moscow contributed to this report.MALE, Maldives (AP) - Police in the Maldives raided the main campaign office of the opposition presidential candidate on Saturday, the eve of an election viewed as a referendum on whether democracy will survive in the country.

Police said they had obtained a warrant to search the office based on police intelligence that it may have been used to coordinate vote-buying, opposition spokesman Shauna Aminath told The Associated Press, adding that a senior campaign official had been named as a suspect.

The opposition's presidential candidate, Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, was not in the office at the time of the raid, Aminath said.

Maldivian policemen stand guard in front of the building housing the election office of the opposition presidential candidate in Male, Maldives, Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018. Maldives police say they have raided the main campaign office of opposition presidential candidate on eve of election. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

While police searched the opposition campaign office, journalists in the capital were summoned away to the elections office to pick up mandatory election-coverage permits.

The move is a sign of a government crackdown against the opposition that has raised more fears that Sunday's election may be rigged to favor President Yameen Abdul Gayoom's party.

Responding to the raid, Hamid Abdul Gafoor, a spokesman for former president Mohamed Nasheed, said Gayoom was trying "to muzzle his way" to victory.

The European Union said Friday that it was not sending election observers because the Maldives had failed to meet the basic conditions for monitoring. The White House has threatened to impose sanctions on Maldives officials if the elections are not free and fair.

Earlier Saturday, the Indian Ocean archipelago nation's election chief, Ahmed Shareef, said all measures had been taken to ensure a fair vote.

"So far, we have facilitated whatever the opposition candidate requested, within the regulations and laws permitting us," Shareef told reporters. "I don't think he could give any concrete reason to call it unfair."

Still, opposition activists voiced their concerns.

"There is no democracy in the Maldives - democracy has vanished under President Yameen," said Adam Ahmed, a 58-year-old opposition activist. He said a second term for the incumbent could mean an end to an "already withering" democracy, as many voters wanted to see a change of government.

Beyond the postcard image the Maldives has of luxury resorts and white sand beaches, the 400,000 citizens of the former British protectorate have struggled to maintain the democratic system established in 2008.

The Maldives' third multiparty presidential election is being held five years after Yameen began consolidating power, rolling back press and individual freedoms, asserting control over independent governmental institutions and jailing or forcing major political rivals into exile.

Yameen has jailed two former presidents, including his half-brother, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, the Maldives' former strongman, his former vice president, two Supreme Court justices, two former defense ministers and many others after trials criticized for a lack of due process.

As protests culminating in violent confrontations with police and mass arrests have grown, opposition parties - many of them Yameen's own former political partners - formed an alliance in exile with the aim of unseating him.

Supporters of the opposition candidate and the president gathered Saturday at their respective campaign offices in Male, the capital, for final campaign rallies, as pink and green campaign banners hung across the city's streets.

"I don't agree with the policies of this government and also some corrupt activities," said 19-year-old Scifulla Waheed, who is looking to vote for the first time on Sunday. "It is high time that we should rise to change the government."

Waheed, who believes Yameen has weekend democracy in the Maldives, said a free and fair election "will change this regime."

Yameen's supporters were also vocal.

"Under President Yameen, everything has improved," said Latheef, who gave only one name. "If the opposition comes into power, the economy will be in doldrums and we will have to face hardships."

A Maldivian policeman stands guard in front of the building housing the election office of the opposition presidential candidate in Male, Maldives, Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018. Maldives police say they have raided the main campaign office of opposition presidential candidate on eve of election. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

Maldivian policemen stand guard in front of the building housing the election office of the opposition presidential candidate in Male, Maldives, Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018. Maldives police say they have raided the main campaign office of opposition presidential candidate on eve of election. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

Maldives' opposition presidential candidate Ibrahim Mohamed Solih walks in a street march with supporters in Male, Maldives, Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018. Solih, the only contender in Sunday's election against incumbent President Yameen Abdul Gayoom, is backed by former President Mohamed Nasheed who is now living in exile in neighboring Sri Lanka. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

Maldives' opposition presidential candidate Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, center, waves as he walks in a street march with supporters in Male, Maldives, Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018. Solih, the only contender in Sunday's election against incumbent President Yameen Abdul Gayoom, is backed by former President Mohamed Nasheed who is now living in exile in neighboring Sri Lanka. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

Election campaign material of Maldivian President Yameen Abdul Gayoom decorate a road in Male, Maldives, Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018. Yameen's only contender in Sunday's election is longtime lawmaker Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, backed by former President Mohamed Nasheed who is now living in exile in neighboring Sri Lanka. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

Supporters of Maldivian President Yameen Abdul Gayoom participate in a street parade in Male, Maldives, Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018. The country will hold its third-ever multiparty presidential election on Sunday. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

Supporters of Maldivian President Yameen Abdul Gayoom participate in a street parade in Male, Maldives, Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018. The country will hold its third-ever multiparty presidential election on Sunday. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

Supporters of Maldivian President Yameen Abdul Gayoom participate in a street parade in Male, Maldives, Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018. The country will hold its third-ever multiparty presidential election on Sunday. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

A supporter of Maldives' opposition presidential candidate Ibrahim Mohamed Solih displays a victory symbol in Male, Maldives, Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018. Solih, the only contender in Sunday's election against incumbent President Yameen Abdul Gayoom, is backed by former President Mohamed Nasheed who is now living in exile in neighboring Sri Lanka. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

Maldivian election officers gather at the election commissioner's office center in Male, Maldives, Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018. The country will hold its third-ever multiparty presidential election on Sunday. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

Supporters of Maldivian president Yameen Abdul Gayoom cheer as they take part in a street parade in Male, Maldives, Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

Maldives' opposition presidential candidate Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, center, jumps as he walks in a street march with supporters in Male, Maldives, Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018. Solih, the only contender in Sunday's election against incumbent President Yameen Abdul Gayoom, is backed by former President Mohamed Nasheed who is now living in exile in neighboring Sri Lanka. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

A Maldivian election worker prepares poll material at the election commissioner's office center in Male, Maldives, Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018. The country will hold its third-ever multiparty presidential election on Sunday. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)CAIRO (AP) - Egypt's highest appeals court on Saturday rejected a motion by former president Hosni Mubarak and his two sons to overturn their conviction on corruption charges.

The ruling by the Court of Cassation, Egypt's final recourse for appeals in criminal cases, dashed any hope that Gamal, Mubarak's younger son and one-time heir apparent, could run for public office. A senior newspaper editor and confidant of Egypt's current president had recently suggested that banker-turned-politician Gamal may have been contemplating the move.

The Mubarak trio was sentenced to three years each for embezzling funds meant for maintenance of presidential palaces but which they spent on upgrading or building private residences. The sons were released in 2015 for time served, while their father was freed last year. They repaid the funds, a total of 125 million pounds (about $7 million).

FILE - In this Saturday, Sept. 14, 2013 file photo, former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, seated, and his two sons Gamal Mubarak, left, and Alaa Mubarak, right, attend a hearing in a courtroom at the Police Academy, Cairo, Egypt. Egypt's highest appeals court has rejected a motion by Mubarak and his two sons to overturn their conviction on corruption charges. Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018 ruling by the Court of Cessation, Egypt's final recourse for appeals in criminal cases, dashed any hope that Gamal, Mubarak's younger son and one-time heir apparent, could run for public office. (AP Photo/Ahmed Omar, File)

Mubarak's sons are currently on trial for insider trading. They are free on bail after a judge on Thursday overturned a surprise Sept. 15 ruling to detain them. The case's next hearing is on Oct. 20.

The rejection of their appeal Saturday and Gamal Mubarak's subsequent ineligibility to run for office came in the wake of recent comments by the chief editor of state-run Al-Akhbar publications, Yasser Rizq, who suggested that frequent public appearances by the younger Mubarak could be a prelude to a future presidential run.

Rizq first warned Gamal Mubarak against harboring presidential ambitions in an article published in May. He repeated the warning in a television interview aired earlier this week.

"His real crime is insulting the dignity of the Egyptian people," Rizq said, alluding to Gamal's one-time intention to succeed his father. It violated the constitution and amounted to the toppling of republican rule, he explained. He said it was not improbable that he would strike a political deal with the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood to secure the group's return to politics in exchange for its support in a presidential bid in 2022, when President Abdel-Fattah El-Sissi's second term ends.

Preventing Gamal from succeeding his father was among the main drivers of a 2011 uprising that ended Mubarak's 29-year rule, as well as the military's support for it. The years that followed saw Mubarak regime heavyweights tried on corruption or abuse of power charges. Most have since walked free, while second-string regime loyalists found their way back to public life under el-Sissi.

El-Sissi led the military's 2013 ouster of Egypt's first freely elected president - the Brotherhood's Mohammed Morsi - and has since overseen a massive crackdown on his supporters, jailing thousands of them along with secular activists behind the 2011 uprising.

Egypt's constitution prohibits el-Sissi from running for a third term in office, but his supporters have raised the specter of amending the 2014 charter to allow him to do so or extend the duration of his term. He won a second, four-year term in office this year in an election in which his only opponent was a little-known politician viewed as among his staunchest supporters.

Riza's attack on Gamal Mubarak mirrors past campaigns by the pro-government media against potential challengers to el-Sissi, which have included personal attacks and unsubstantiated accusations. His suggestion that Gamal might strike a deal with the Brotherhood to rise to power carries a thinly-veiled threat given the country's political climate where suspicion of links to the group has provided authorities with grounds to imprison critics, including some with established secular credentials.

Gamal wielded vast influence in Egypt during the final years of Mubarak's rule through his top job at the then-ruling National Democratic Party and the support of Mubarak's inner circle. Had he succeeded his father, he would have been Egypt's first president that didn't hail from the military since a 1952 military coup that toppled the monarchy.WASHINGTON (AP) - North Korea's Kim Jong Un is "little rocket man" no more. President Donald Trump isn't a "mentally deranged U.S. dotard."

In the year since Trump's searing, debut U.N. speech fueled fears of nuclear conflict with North Korea, the two leaders have turned from threats to flattery.

And there's fresh hope that the U.S. president's abrupt shift from coercion to negotiation can yield results in getting Kim to halt, if not abandon, his nuclear weapons program.

FILE - This combination of two file photos shows U.S. President Donald Trump, left, speaking in the State Dining Room of the White House, in Washington on Feb. 26, 2018, and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attending in the party congress in Pyongyang, North Korea on May 9, 2016. Kim Jong Un is "Little Rocket Man" no more. In the year since Donald Trump's searing, debut UN speech fueled fears of nuclear conflict with North Korea, the two leaders have turned from threats to flattery. But as the U.S. president readies his second address to the world body, likely in Kim's absence, he'll have to address the elephant in the room _ North Korea's continuing reluctance to disarm. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, Wong Maye-E, File)

Trump will address world leaders at the United Nations on Tuesday on the back of an upbeat summit between South and North Korea, where Kim promised to dismantle a major rocket launch site and the North's main nuclear complex at Nyongbyon if it gets some incentive from Washington.

North Korea remains a long, long way from relinquishing its nuclear arsenal, and the U.S. has been adding to, not easing, sanctions. Yet the past 12 months have seen a remarkable change in atmosphere between the adversaries that has surprised even the former U.S. envoy on North Korea.

"If someone had told me last year that North Korea will stop nuclear tests, will stop missile tests and that they will release the remaining American prisoners and that they would be even considering dismantling Nyongbyon, I would have taken that in a heartbeat," said Joseph Yun, who resigned in March and has since left the U.S. foreign service.

Since Trump and Kim held the first summit between U.S. and North Korean leaders in Singapore in June, Trump has missed no chance to praise "Chairman Kim," and Kim has expressed "trust and confidence" in the American president he once branded "senile."

But progress has been slow toward the vague goal they agreed upon - denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, which has eluded U.S. presidents for the past quarter-century. The U.S. wants to achieve that by January 2021, when Trump completes his first term in office.

Although Kim won't be going to New York next week, meetings there could prove critical in deciding whether a second Trump-Kim summit will take place any time soon.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has invited his North Korean counterpart Ri Yong Ho for a meeting in New York, and Trump will be consulting with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, fresh from his third summit with Kim this year. It was at that meeting in Pyongyang that the North Korean leader made his tantalizing offers to close key facilities of his weapons programs that have revived prospects for U.S.-North Korea talks.

Yun, who spoke to reporters Friday at the United States Institute for Peace in Washington, said the U.S. goal of achieving denuclearization in just two years is unrealistic, but the offer to close Nyongbyon, where the North has plutonium, uranium and nuclear reprocessing facilities, is significant and offers a way forward.

That's a far cry from last September. After Trump's thunderous speech, Yun's first thought was on the need to avoid a war. The president vowed to "totally destroy North Korea" if the U.S. was forced to defend itself or its allies against the North's nukes. "Rocket man is on a suicide mission for himself and his regime," the president said.

His blunt talk triggered an extraordinary, almost surreal, exchange of insults. Kim issued a harshly worded statement from Pyongyang, dubbing the thin-skinned Trump a "mentally deranged U.S. dotard." A day later, the North's top diplomat warned it could test explode a hydrogen bomb over the Pacific Ocean.

Tensions have eased hugely since then, and cracks have emerged in the international consensus on pressuring North Korea economically to get it to disarm.

The U.S. accuses Russia of allowing illicit oil sales to North Korea. Trump has also criticized China, which has fraternal ties with the North and is embroiled in a trade war with the U.S., for conducting more trade with its old ally. Sanctions could even become a sore point with South Korea. Moon is eager to restart economic cooperation with North Korea to cement improved relations on the divided peninsula.

All that will increase pressure on Washington to compromise with Pyongyang - providing the incentives Kim seeks, even if the weapons capabilities he's amassed violate international law. He's likely eying a declaration on formally ending the Korean War as a marker of reduced U.S. "hostility" and sanctions relief.

That could prove politically unpalatable in Washington just as it looks for Kim to follow through on the denuclearization pledge he made in Singapore.

Frank Aum, a former senior Pentagon adviser on North Korea, warned tensions could spike again if the U.S. does not see progress by year's end, when the U.S. would typically need to start planning large-scale military drills with South Korea that North Korea views as war preparations. Trump decided to cancel drills this summer as a concession to Kim.

"Things can flip pretty quickly," Aum said. "We've seen it going from bad to good and it could fairly quickly go back to the bad again."JOHANNESBURG (AP) - A U.S. military airstrike has killed 18 al-Shabab extremists after U.S. and local forces on the ground came under attack in southern Somalia, the U.S. Africa Command said Saturday.

No U.S. or Somali forces were killed or injured in the attack, an AFRICOM spokesman, Nate Herring, told The Associated Press. The airstrike was carried out Friday in self-defense after extremists were "observed maneuvering on a combined patrol," while the U.S. also responded with "indirect fire," the spokesman said.

The confrontation occurred about 50 kilometers (31 miles) northwest of the port city of Kismayo, the U.S. Africa Command statement said. Two other al-Shabab extremists were killed by Somali forces "with small arms fire during the engagement," it said.

The operation was Somali-led, the AFRICOM spokesman said. There was no immediate comment from Somali authorities.

The U.S. has carried out more than 20 airstrikes this year against the al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab, the deadliest Islamic extremist group in sub-Saharan Africa.

U.S. military involvement in Somalia has grown since President Donald Trump early in his term approved expanded operations against al-Shabab. Dozens of drone strikes followed. Late last year the military also carried out its first airstrike against a small presence of fighters linked to the Islamic State in northern Somalia.

Since the expanded operations, two U.S. military personnel have been killed in Somalia.

A service member was killed in May 2017 during an operation about 40 miles (64 kilometers) west of Mogadishu. And in June, one U.S. special operations soldier was killed and four U.S. service members wounded in an "enemy attack" as troops with Somali and Kenyan forces came under mortar and small-arms fire in Jubaland.

The U.S. currently has about 500 military personnel in the Horn of Africa nation.

Al-Shabab, which seeks to establish an Islamic state in Somalia, was pushed out of Mogadishu in recent years but continues to control rural areas in the south and central regions. Its fighters continue to attack the bases of a multinational African Union force that remains largely responsible for security as Somalia's fragile central government tries to recover from decades of chaos.

In the next few years Somali forces are expected to take over responsibility for the country's security as the AU force withdraws. Concerns about their readiness remain high, and the U.N. Security Council recently voted to delay the handover's target date to December 2021.

___

Follow Africa news at https://twitter.com/AP_AfricaCHICAGO (AP) - Prosecutors are set to dismiss convictions against 18 more people that resulted from investigations by a corrupt Chicago police sergeant and his crew of tactical officers.

The exonerations will take place Monday and will bring to 42 the total number of overturned convictions linked to then-Sgt. Ronald Watts since 2016, the Chicago Tribune reported .

The latest reversals all involve drug cases brought between 2003 and 2008, court records show. The defendants received sentences ranging from probation to four years in prison, so any that were locked up were released long ago.

Robert Foley, a spokesman for Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx, confirmed that the cases would be thrown out but declined to comment further until then.

The new cases set for dismissal include one in which the defendant alleged that Watts had framed him for narcotics possession because his brother had failed to pay $5,000 in protection money.

Many such allegations that Watts and his crew extorted drug dealers and residents swirled around them for years, despite complaints to the police department and statements made during court hearings.

Watts' and another officer were arrested in 2012 when they shook down a drug courier who turned out to be an FBI informant. Both pleaded guilty and were sentenced to federal prison. Watts, who received a 22-month term, was released in 2015 and later moved to Las Vegas, records show.

Joshua Tepfer, who represented 12 of the men whose cases will be dismissed Monday, said the fact that Watts was allowed to operate for so long even though his corruption was an "open secret" among police leadership illustrates a "total failure of the system."

"My clients told everyone about it, and no one believed them," said Tepfer, an attorney for the Exoneration Project at the University of Chicago Law School. "They told police investigators, they told judges, defense attorneys and prosecutors. Their complaints were dismissed and ignored."

Men whose convictions were dismissed have filed at least 23 wrongful conviction federal lawsuits against Watts and the city. Those cases are pending, and the new dismissals will likely lead to more lawsuits.

Chicago's troubled police force has been involved in series of scandals in recent decades and misconduct settlements, verdicts and legal fees that have cost the city more than $700 million in the last 15 or so years.

___

Information from: Chicago Tribune, http://www.chicagotribune.comMOSCOW (AP) - Russia's space agency chief said Saturday that it wouldn't accept a second-tier role in a NASA-led plan to build an outpost near the moon, but Roscosmos spokesman quickly clarified that Russia is still staying in the project.

Roscosmos chief Dmitry Rogozin was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying that Russia wouldn't be reduced to a junior partner in the NASA-led project to build the lunar orbital platform called the Gateway in the 2020s.

"I believe that Russia can't afford itself to participate in other countries' project on second-tier roles," Rogozin said when asked about the Gateway during a meeting with young space engineers, according to Tass.

FILE In this file photo taken on Wednesday, April 11, 2018, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin smiles before Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev's annual report on country's economic and social development in the State Duma, the Lower House of the Russian Parliament, in Moscow, Russia. Rogozin said Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018 that Russia wouldn't accept a second-tier role in a NASA-led plan to build an outpost near the moon, but his spokesman quickly clarified that Russia is staying in the project. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin, File)

He noted that Russia was working to develop heavy-lift rockets that would allow it to build its own orbital platform near the moon, possibly in cooperation with some BRICS countries - a grouping that includes Brazil, China, India and South Africa along with Russia.

A few hours later, Roscosmos spokesman Vladimir Ustimenko clarified that Rogozin didn't mean to say Russia was bailing out of the NASA-led project.

"Russia hasn't refused to take part in the project of the lunar orbital station together with the United States," Ustimenko was quoted by Tass as saying. He added "we stand for equal, partnership-style cooperation."

Earlier this month, Rogozin has raised some consternation by saying that an air leak spotted at the International Space Station was a drill hole that happened during manufacturing or in orbit. He didn't say if he suspected any of the current crew of three Americans, two Russians and a German aboard the station.

Rogozin, who until May served as a deputy prime minister in charge of military and space, long had been known for his brash style and anti-Western rhetoric. He has failed to stem a decline of the Russian space industries, which have been dogged by launch failures and other problems.JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) - Democrats looking to regain a foothold in state capitols largely led by Republicans had anticipated flipping control of up to a dozen legislative chambers during the last presidential election. It didn't work out that way.

As Republicans remain in overwhelming control of state legislatures, Democrats are doubling their spending for this year's state House and Senate elections. It's a renewed and increasingly urgent attempt to put a dent in the Republican ranks before it's too late to influence the next round of redistricting, which is set to occur after the 2020 Census.

"To us, the next decade is on the ballot in November," said Kelly Ward, executive director of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, which is being aided by former President Barack Obama and led by his former attorney general, Eric Holder.

FILE - In this Nov. 4, 2014 file photo, Republican Mark Tweedie, center, is congratulated by campaign treasurer Tim Devanney victory in the Connecticut House 13th District race in Manchester, Conn. Rep. Tweedie has been making the case for change of the Democratically controlled General Assembly as he challenges Democratic Sen. Steve Cassano in the November 2018 general election, in a potentially pivotal race for control of the chamber. (David Butler II/Hartford Courant via AP, File)

Voters will be deciding more than 6,000 state legislative races in a November midterm election held in the pervasive shadow of President Donald Trump and high-profile contests for the U.S. Senate and House, as well as 36 governorships.

Of particular importance are more than 800 races spread across about two dozen states where voters will be electing state lawmakers to four-year terms in which the winners could play a role in approving new congressional or state legislative districts.

State legislatures, which form the grassroots of the political parties, appear to have a greater percentage of Democrats on this year's general election ballots than at any point since at least 1992, according to research by the national Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee and Saint Louis University political scientist Steve Rogers, who focuses on state legislative elections.

"I would attribute it to Trump," Rogers said. "When the president is less popular, members of the opposition party are much more likely to run."

Republicans remain hopeful they can rebuff a potential blue wave. In many states, candidates will be running in districts drawn by Republicans after the 2010 Census with boundaries shown by statistical analyses to benefit Republicans.

___

Partisan control is at stake in more than a dozen closely divided state legislative chambers.

All told, national Democratic and Republican groups are targeting chambers in half the states. That includes some where they want to cut into the opposing party's dominance to deny veto-proof supermajorities or position themselves for a takeover attempt in 2020, the final election before redistricting.

In many states, new districts will be drawn by state lawmakers and approved or vetoed by governors. In other places, governors or legislative leaders will appoint special panels to do the task. If one party controls the redistricting process, it can draw maps that give it an advantage for the decade to come.

Republicans generally won the last redistricting battle.

During the 2010 elections, the Republican State Leadership Committee spent about $30 million to help flip control of 21 state legislative chambers just in time for redistricting. Under those subsequent maps, Republicans posted a net gain of more than 950 state legislative seats during Obama's presidency.

The GOP now controls two-thirds of the 99 legislative chambers across the country. It has full control of both chambers and the governor's office in three times as many states as Democrats.

Since Trump's election, Democrats have regained a net of 36 state legislative seats through general elections in Virginia and New Jersey and special elections elsewhere. That's a reversal of less than 4 percent of the Republicans' gains, a modest amount that nonetheless has been touted by Democrats eager to highlight momentum.

The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee has doubled its spending from 2015-16 to a planned $35 million this election cycle. Its goal is to flip between eight and 10 Republican-run chambers. It notes that a gain of just 17 total seats could reverse eight state Senate chambers - in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Maine, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New York and Wisconsin.

___

One of the Democrats' top targets is in the Denver suburbs, where state Rep. Faith Winter is challenging Republican Sen. Beth Martinez Humenik in a district that Democrat Hillary Clinton won by 5 percentage points over Trump two years ago.

Winter said she has no particular beef with Martinez Humenik; the two even have co-sponsored bills. But Winter said legislation related to affordable housing and climate change would stand a better chance if the Democratic-led House weren't paired with a Republican-run Senate.

"I believe that Colorado would be better off - and our voters would be better off - with Democratic leadership in the Senate," said Winter, one of 39 candidates endorsed by Obama in six states that are important to the Democrats' redistricting strategy.

Martinez Humenik has emphasized her willingness to work across the political aisle as she tries to hold on to a seat that swung control of the chamber to Republicans during the 2014 election. Her campaign website declares: "Focused on Results, not Political Parties."

"I'm hopeful that what is going on in Washington, D.C., does not affect us here at the state level," she said.

Both parties also have targeted the Wisconsin Senate, where Democrats picked up two seats in special elections this year to narrow the Republican advantage to 18-15.

One of November's key races pits Democrat Kriss Marion, who gained attention by successfully suing for the right to sell homemade cookies without state regulation, against Republican Sen. Howard Marklein. The rural southwestern Wisconsin district swung from Obama in 2012 to Trump in 2016.

Marklein notes that he fared better as an Assembly candidate than the GOP presidential nominee in 2012 and better in 2014 than Republican Gov. Scott Walker, who is heading the ballot again this year.

"My guess is my hard work is going to result in me outperforming the top of the ticket again," Marklein said.

But Marion got more votes than Marklein in the August primaries, when both were unopposed.

"The momentum is certainly with us and with turnover," said Marion, adding: "We have to win this seat if we're going to flip the Senate."

___

Wisconsin is one of five states - along with Minnesota, Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania - targeted by the Republican State Leadership Committee as essential to protect in its redistricting strategy because they have sent 18 more Republicans to Congress than Democrats. In Pennsylvania, Democrats have one-quarter more registered voters than Republicans statewide, yet Republicans won 13 of the state's 18 congressional seats in three straight elections before the state Supreme Court ordered new political maps for this year's elections, citing unconstitutional partisan gerrymandering by GOP lawmakers.

The Republican State Leadership Committee plans to spend as much as $50 million on state legislative and down-ballot statewide races during the 2017-18 election cycle. That's up from about $38 million each of the past two election cycles.

"The fact that Republicans have had so much success doesn't have to do with our lines, it has to do with running better candidates who go out and govern in a way that's having a positive impact in their states," said Matt Walter, president of the Republican State Leadership Committee.

Though generally on the defensive, Republicans also have hopes of flipping some legislative chambers. Among their targets is the Connecticut Senate, where a Democratic lieutenant governor currently has tie-breaking power over an 18-18 partisan split. The outcome could come down to who is more unpopular - Trump or outgoing Democratic Gov. Dannel Malloy, who has presided over a strained budget and sluggish state economy.

Republican state Rep. Mark Tweedie has been making the case for change as he challenges Democratic Sen. Steve Cassano in a potentially pivotal race for control of the chamber.

"The Republicans need to take the majority in the House, the Senate and the governor in order to turn this state around," Tweedie said.

But Cassano thinks Trump, whom he describes as "an embarrassment," could have a greater influence on the election without Cassano even having to make the president a campaign issue.

"If I'm going door-to-door or I'm going to a meeting ... people mention Trump," Cassano said. "I have a simple response: 'Make sure you vote.'"

___

Follow David A. Lieb at: http://twitter.com/DavidALieb

FILE - In this Nov. 30, 2011 file photo, Connecticut State Sen. Steve Cassano speaks on a panel at the Legislative Office Building in Hartford, Conn. Cassano, a Democrat, is being challenged in the November 2018 general election by Republican Rep. Mark Tweedie in a potentially pivotal race for control of the Connecticut General Assembly. (Michael McAndrews/Hartford Courant via AP, File)

FILE In this Friday, March 2, 2018 file photo, Colorado State Rep. Faith Winter, D-Westminster, is hugged after delivering remarks during a debate in the chamber whether to expel State Rep. Steve Lebsock, D-Thornton, over sexual misconduct allegations made by Winter and other peers in the State Capitol in Denver. In the Denver suburbs, Winter is challenging Republican Sen. Beth Martinez Humenik in a district that Democrat Hillary Clinton won by 5 percentage points over Trump two years ago. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)

FILE - In this Thursday, Feb. 8, 2018 file photo, Republican Colorado State Sen. Beth Martinez Humenik speaks at a news conference about legislation being introduced in committee at the State Capitol that would extend benefits for families of state employees who die in the line of duty from less than a month to 12 months. In the Denver suburbs, state Democratic Rep. Faith Winter is challenging Martinez Humenik in a district that Democrat Hillary Clinton won by 5 percentage points over Trump two years ago. (John Leyba/The Denver Post via AP, File)

In this Sept. 12, 2018 photo, Democrat Kriss Marion, right, speaks with Richard Nachreiner as she knocks on doors in Reedsburg, Wis. Marion is one of three female Democrats running for the state Senate. She faces Republican Sen. Howard Marklein in the November election. (AP Photo/Todd Richmond)MALE, Maldives (AP) - The Latest on the Maldives' presidential election (all times local):

11:10 p.m.

An opposition party spokesman in the Maldives says police obtained a warrant to search the main campaign office of the party's presidential candidate based on police intelligence that the office was being used to coordinate vote-buying.

Maldives' opposition presidential candidate Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, center, waves as he walks in a street march with supporters in Male, Maldives, Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018. Solih, the only contender in Sunday's election against incumbent President Yameen Abdul Gayoom, is backed by former President Mohamed Nasheed who is now living in exile in neighboring Sri Lanka. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

Spokesman Shauna Aminath says police obtained the 14-hour warrant Saturday to search the office for documents or other evidence of bribery ahead of Sunday's Maldives election, which is widely seen as a referendum on the country's democracy.

Aminath says the warrant also names senior opposition campaign team member Ahmed Shahid as a suspect. Several calls to Shahid went unanswered.

A spokesman for former president Mohamed Nasheed said from Colombo, the capital of neighboring Sri Lanka, that the raid showed that the election would be unfair.

___

10:05 p.m.

A spokesman for the former president of the Maldives says a police raid of the opposition presidential candidate's main campaign office Saturday in Male supports opposition claims that the vote will be rigged.

In Colombo, the capital of neighboring Sri Lanka, Hamid Abdul Gafoor, a spokesman for former president Mohamed Nasheed, said incumbent President Yameen Abdul Gayoom "wants to muzzle his way" to victory on Sunday.

The Maldives' third multiparty presidential elections since becoming a democracy a decade ago is seen as a referendum on whether democracy will survive in the country.

___

7:45 p.m.

Police in the Maldives say they have raided the main campaign office of the opposition presidential candidate on the eve of an election that is seen as a referendum on whether democracy will survive in the country.

Police spokesman Ahmed Shifan says police raided Ibrahim Mohamed Solih's campaign office late Saturday. He did not give any other details.

The move is a sign of a crackdown against the opposition by the government that has raised fears that Sunday's election may be rigged to favor President Yameen Abdul Gayoom's party.

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5:10 p.m.

Opposition supporters in the Maldives are demanding that officials ensure a free and fair presidential election, as the country prepares to vote in an election seen as a referendum on whether democracy will stay.

The archipelago nation's election chief, Ahmed Shareef, said Saturday that all measures have been taken to hold Sunday's election in a free and fair manner and without violence.

Still, opposition activists voiced fears that the polls may be rigged to favor President Yameen Abdul Gayoom's party.

Beyond the postcard image the Maldives has of luxury resorts and white sand beaches, the 400,000 citizens of the former British protectorate have struggled to maintain the democratic system established in 2008.

A Maldivian election worker prepares poll material at the election commissioner's office center in Male, Maldives, Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018. The country will hold its third-ever multiparty presidential election on Sunday. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

A Maldivian election worker prepares poll material at the election commissioner's office center in Male, Maldives, Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018. The country will hold its third-ever multiparty presidential election on Sunday. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)NEW YORK (AP) - Authorities in New York City are facing a security and logistical challenge of epic proportions with the coming arrival of President Donald Trump and other world leaders for the United Nations General Assembly.

Though there's been no credible threats against the event, the security concerns are so broad that the New York Police Department has considered how it would stop assassins armed with poison or killer drones.

The NYPD's main line of defense will be thousands of extra police officers flooding the streets as part of a carefully coordinated effort with the Secret Service and other federal and local law enforcement agencies to protect both the United Nations and Trump Tower in midtown Manhattan, said Police Commissioner James O'Neill.

FILE- In this Sept. 17, 2017 file photo, a security team near Trump Tower looks towards high floors of nearby buildings shortly before the arrival of President Donald Trump in New York. Authorities in New York City are facing an epic security and logistical challenge with the upcoming arrival of President Donald Trump and other world leaders for the 73rd session of the United Nations General Assembly. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)

"Since the end of last year's General Assembly, we've been planning how to best protect the various sites and all the people inside them, while also minimizing the impact on New Yorkers," O'Neill said at recent news conference at a command center at police headquarters.

The 73rd Session of the General Assembly began on Sept. 18, but the higher-level meetings start Monday.

The security arsenal features police boats patrolling the East River near the U.N., aviation units overhead and teams of officers trained to respond to chemical, biological and other potential terror threats. About 50 city Department of Sanitation dump trucks filled with sand and 230 concrete barriers will be positioned at intersections and other strategic locations to guard against car or truck attacks like the one last year that killed eight people on a bike path in Lower Manhattan.

Police said other preparations have included consulting with British authorities about the poisoning of a former Russian spy there earlier this year by way of a weapons-grade nerve agent. British officials say the attack was carried out by Russian operatives.

Police have also studied an attack on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro last month using drones rigged with explosives.

Maduro said this past week that he may have to suspend a planned trip to the United Nations because of concerns his opponents would try to kill him if he travels abroad. But the NYPD is expecting more than 200 other world leaders to show up, all needing to move around the city in motorcades with police escorts.

Those foreign dignitaries flying state aircraft into New York's Kennedy Airport will be greeted with strict enforcement of security rules requiring the planes to depart within two hours of touching down. The crackdown comes after the indictment of an airport supervisor on charges he took bribes to let Qatar and other countries park their planes overnight during the gathering.

Trump is expected to arrive for a rare hometown visit and a possible stay at Trump Tower, his longtime home he has rarely visited since becoming president. Outside the skyscraper, police plan to set up a series of barriers and security checkpoints.

Police said they expect more than 60 demonstrations outside the United Nations, foreign consulates and Trump Tower at various times during the week.

The bad news for motorists: Officials say all the activity will cause worse gridlock than the traffic jams during the Thanksgiving Day Parade, the tree-lighting ceremony at Rockefeller Center and the New Year's Eve celebration in Times Square.

Authorities said they hadn't calculated the cost of the security operation. But they said there's been a $20 to $30 million bill for past General Assemblies, and that the federal government covers most of it.

___

Associated Press writer Michael Sisak contributed to this report.

FILE- In this Sept. 17, 2017 file photo, dump trucks full of sand are lined up along 5th Ave. in front of Trump Tower in New York. Authorities in New York City are facing an epic security and logistical challenge with the upcoming arrival of President Donald Trump and other world leaders for the 73rd session of the United Nations General Assembly. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle, File)

FILE- In this Sept. 17, 2017 file photo, dump trucks full of sand are lined up along 5th Ave. in front of Trump Tower in New York. Authorities in New York City are facing an epic security and logistical challenge with the upcoming arrival of President Donald Trump and other world leaders for the 73rd session of the United Nations General Assembly. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle, File)

FILE- In this Sept. 17, 2017 file photo, security agents and members of the New York police department stand on a closed street near a hotel after the arrival of Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to attend the United Nations General Assembly in the coming week. Authorities in New York City are facing an epic security and logistical challenge with the upcoming arrival of President Donald Trump and other world leaders for the 73rd session of the United Nations General Assembly. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle, File)

FILE- In this Sept. 22, 2013 file photo, a group of kayakers passes by as a Coast Guard vessel is anchored in New York's East River in front of United Nations headquarters. Patrolling the East River near the U.N. building will be part of the precautions that authorities in New York City will take with the upcoming arrival of President Donald Trump and other world leaders for the United Nations General Assembly. (AP Photo/Jason DeCrow, File)A total of 6,066 state legislative seats will be on general election ballots around the country this year, and nearly two dozen more will be decided in November special elections to fill vacancies.

Here's a look at the current partisan composition of state House and Senate chambers, as well as some of the most closely contested battles between Democrats and Republicans hoping to defend or expand their legislative majorities. Nebraska is not included in these tallies because it has only one legislative chamber, which is officially nonpartisan.

___

HOUSE/ASSEMBLY CONTROL

Democrats: 18 states

Republicans: 31 states

Note: The Alaska House has more Republican members but is controlled by a Democratic-led coalition.

___

SENATE CONTROL

Democrats: 14 states

Republicans: 35 states

Note: The Connecticut Senate has a partisan tie, but a Democratic lieutenant governor can cast tie-breaking votes and thus tip control to Democrats. The New York Senate has more Democrats than Republicans but has been controlled by a Republican-led coalition.

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CONTROLLING BOTH CHAMBERS

Democrats: 14

Republicans: 30

Split: 5

___

TRIFECTA

Democrats: 8

Republicans: 25

Split: 16

Note: Trifecta control means one party controls both legislative chambers as well as the governor's office. Split control means a different party controls at least one of those institutions.

___

TOP ELECTION BATTLES

- Alaska House: Republicans are looking to take back what seemed to already be theirs. The GOP won more seats in the 2016 election, but Democrats have control due to a coalition that includes two independent representatives and several breakaway Republicans.

- Arizona Senate: Republicans hold a 17-13 majority in a chamber that Democrats are trying to flip.

- Colorado Senate: Republicans hold an 18-16 majority with one independent in a chamber that's had close margins for several elections.

- Connecticut Senate: An 18-18 partisan tie makes each race potentially pivotal for chamber control.

- Delaware Senate: Democrats hold a slim 11-10 majority, although the state has traditionally leaned their way.

- Florida Senate: Democrats would need to gain five seats to win control of this 40-member chamber. It's on their target list but could be a stretch.

- Maine Legislature: Both chambers are in play. Republicans are up 18-17 in the Senate while Democrats hold a relatively slim House majority.

- Minnesota Senate: Republicans run the chamber, but it's currently split 33-33. Control will be at stake in a special election to fill a vacancy for a previously Republican-held seat.

- New Hampshire Legislature: Republicans hold a 14-10 Senate majority. Their lead is larger in the House, but with 400 members, the chamber is known for large electoral swings.

- Nevada Senate: Democrats narrowly flipped control of this chamber in 2016 and now hold a 10-8 majority over Republicans with one independent senator and two vacancies. Republicans are looking to flip it back.

- New York Senate: Although Democrats have more lawmakers, Republicans lead the chamber because of an alliance with a breakaway Democrat. The Democrats hope to win outright control.

- Washington Legislature: Democrats have tight majorities in both chambers, 26-23 in the Senate and 50-48 in the House.

- Wisconsin Senate: Democrats gained two seats in special elections earlier this year to cut the Republican majority to 18-15. That's raised Democratic hopes of flipping control.BLADENBORO, N.C. (AP) - The Latest on the effects of Hurricane Florence (all times local):

10:50 a.m.

Weather forecasters say Tropical Storm Kirk has formed in the eastern Atlantic and is moving rapidly westward.

A sign commemorating the rebuilding of the town of Nichols, which was flooded two years earlier from Hurricane Matthew, stands in floodwaters in the aftermath of Hurricane Florence in Nichols, S.C., Friday, Sept. 21, 2018. Virtually the entire town is once again flooded and inaccessible except by boat. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

In an 11 a.m. update, the National Hurricane Center said Kirk was 450 miles (724 kilometers) south of the Cabo Verde Islands, moving west at 14 mph (22.5 kph) with maximum sustained winds near 40 mph (64 kph). Tropical-storm-force winds extend outward from the center up to 35 miles (56 kilometers) to the northwest.

Forecasters say it currently poses no threats to land.

___

12:01 a.m.

A North Carolina town inundated by river water after a levee breached is among the latest towns to feel the life-threatening punch of Hurricane Florence.

Benetta White and David Lloyd slogged through waist-deep water to escape when Cape Fear River water came pouring into their yard late Thursday. They got in a friend's pickup and were eventually driven out on a military vehicle.

They were among 100 people evacuated with helicopters, boats and high-wheeled military vehicles during a six-hour rescue operation in southeastern North Carolina's Bladen County that lasted into Friday morning.

Officials in North and South Carolina warn that the flooding danger is far from over, with South Carolina ordering evacuations there as rivers rise. At least 43 people have died since the hurricane slammed into the coast more than a week ago.

A swift recuse boat motors through floodwaters in the aftermath of Hurricane Florence in Nichols, S.C., Friday, Sept. 21, 2018. Virtually the entire town is flooded and inaccessible except by boat, just two years after it was flooded by Hurricane Matthew. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Department of Natural Resources agent James Mills ducks around a street sign as he patrols with fellow agent Cody Britt through floodwaters in the aftermath of Hurricane Florence in Nichols, S.C., Friday, Sept. 21, 2018. Virtually the entire town is flooded and inaccessible except by boat, just two years after it was flooded by Hurricane Matthew. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

A stool sits in the middle of a roadway in floodwaters in the aftermath of Hurricane Florence in Nichols, S.C., Friday, Sept. 21, 2018. Virtually the entire town is flooded and inaccessible except by boat, just two years after it was flooded by Hurricane Matthew. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Volunteer Johnnie Evans brings a wagon of water to cleanup crews helping with the grisly task of removing storm damaged belongings, spoiled food and soaked furniture at Trent Court Apartments in New Bern, N.C., Sept. 21, 2018. Hurricane Florence brought storm surges which overflowed from the Trent River and forced many residents of Trent Court to evacuate. (Gray Whitley / Sun Journal via AP)

Professional disaster recovery services work to cleanup storm damages at the New Bern Grande Marina Yacht Club in New Bern, N.C., Sept. 21, 2018. Hurricane Florence brought destructive flooding to areas in the waterfront business district. (Gray Whitley / Sun Journal via AP)COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - The billionaire CEO of the Ohio-based company behind Victoria's Secret and Bath & Body Works is no longer a Republican.

L Brands founder Leslie Wexner said at a Sept. 13 gathering on civility that he's become an independent. The Columbus Dispatch reports Wexner said he "won't support this nonsense in the Republican Party."

One of the country's top political donors, Wexner said he'd been a Republican since his college days at Ohio State University.

Wexner proclaimed last year he'd "just had it" after Republican President Donald Trump said there was blame on "both sides" for deadly violence at an August 2017 white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. He vowed to demand civility from politicians seeking his support.

Wexner's decision followed a stop in Columbus by former Democratic President Barack Obama.

___

Information from: The Columbus Dispatch, http://www.dispatch.comRALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - The Latest on the aftermath of Hurricane Florence (all times local):

11 p.m.

Forecasters say Tropical Storm Kirk is continuing to move west across the eastern Atlantic but does not currently pose any threat to land.

A road is flooded from Hurricane Florence in the Avondale community in Hampstead, N.C., Friday, Sept. 21, 2018. (Matt Born /The Star-News via AP)

In a Saturday night update, the National Hurricane Center said Kirk was 425 miles (680 kilometers) south-southwest of the Cabo Verde Islands, moving west at 16 mph (26 kph) with maximum sustained winds near 40 mph (65 kph).

Forecasters expect some strengthening through Sunday.

There are no coastal watches or warnings in effect.

___

4:10 p.m.

A North Carolina soldier returned home after helping with the Hurricane Florence relief effort to find his home had been robbed.

Multiple media outlets report that National Guardsman Luis Ocampo was working in storm-battered New Bern for 10 days and found his Charlotte home ransacked when he returned Friday.

Ocampo said he found everything of value had been stolen, including a large TV, gaming system and a laptop with Ocampo's schoolwork on it. He said food was also stolen from his refrigerator.

Ocampo said his girlfriend and son were staying with family, but had checked on the house Thursday night. By the next morning, his place had been ransacked.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg police have confirmed they are investigating.

A GoFundMe page for Ocampo had raised nearly $15,000 in one day.

___

3:40 p.m.

North Carolina officials say they have identified three safe alternate routes which motorists can use to access the city of Wilmington, which was virtually cut off by floodwaters from Hurricane Florence.

The N.C. Department of Transportation recommends these routes: from the south, take U.S. 17; from the north, take Interstate 40 East to N.C. 24 East (Exit 373), then U.S. 17 South; and from Fayetteville, take N.C. 87 to U.S. 701 South to N.C. 211 East to U.S. 74 East.

Transportation officials say motorists can also use Interstate 40 to Exit 373 and N.C. 24 to reach Jacksonville.

Officials are still recommending that people avoid any unnecessary travel in hard-hit counties, where the risk of flooding remains. These counties include: Bladen, Brunswick, Columbus, Duplin, Jones, Lenoir, Pender, Robeson, Sampson, Scotland and southeastern Wayne County.

___

2:25 p.m.

A South Carolina mayor says damage from Florence to his town tops the devastation wrought when Hurricane Matthew dumped a foot (30 centimeters) of rain on the area two years ago.

Mayor Lawson Battle said Saturday that Nichols is completely inundated by water. He describes the situation as "worse than Matthew." Nichols is about 40 miles (65 kilometers) inland from the coast.

Battle says Gov. Henry McMaster was scheduled to fly into the town later Saturday to assess the situation. He says he hopes the visit will trigger serious talk about quickly getting federal and state funds to the area to help it rebuild.

The small farming community lost almost 90 percent of its 261 homes when Matthew hit in 2016. Battle says flooding from Florence has wiped out the 150 or so homes that rebuilt after.

___

1:40 p.m.

An economic research firm estimates Hurricane Florence has caused around $44 billion in damage and lost output.

Moody's Analytics says that would put the storm on par with California's Northridge earthquake in 1994, which caused $45.2 billion in current dollars.

Moody's estimates Florence has caused $40 billion in damage and $4 billion in lost economic output. The company stressed that the estimate is preliminary and could go higher or lower.

If that total is accurate, Moody's said it would put Florence among the top ten costliest U.S. hurricanes.

The top disaster, Hurricane Katrina in 2005, cost $192.2 billion in today's dollars, while last year's Hurricane Harvey cost $133.5 billion.

___

12:45 p.m.

Water from the Waccamaw River has started to flow into a Santee Cooper ash pond in Conway, South Carolina.

The company says the overtopping of Grainger ash pond No. 1 occurred about 9 a.m. Saturday along the intake canal wall of the dike.

Company spokeswoman Mollie Gore says no significant environmental impact is currently expected because they had already excavated nearly all of the ash from the pond. That effort began in 2014 and was on track to be finished in both ash ponds onsite within a few months. An estimated 200,000 tons (181,437 metric tons) remains in ash pond No. 2 in a corner farthest away from the river.

Gore says the second pond at the site has additional protection from the rising river, provided by an AquaDam, silt fencing and floating environmental containment boom that was placed during the past week.

River forecasts project the Waccamaw will reach a new historic flood level due to Hurricane Florence, eclipsing one set by Hurricane Matthew in 2016.

___

12:32 p.m.

North Carolina environmental officials say they are monitoring two sites where Florence's floodwaters have inundated coal ash sites.

Michael Regan is secretary of the state Department of Environmental Quality. He said during a news briefing Saturday that the state is using drones to get photos and videos from the site of a dam breach at the L.V. Sutton Power Station in Wilmington and at the H.F. Lee Power Plant near Goldsboro.

Regan said the video and photos show sand and "potential coal ash" leaving the Sutton site. He said when it is safe to do so, the DEQ plans to put people on the ground to verify "the amount of potential coal ash that could have left and entered those flood waters."

Gray muck has been seeing flowing into the Cape Fear River near the site.

Regan said that at the H.F. Lee plant, DEQ employees have seen that coal ash has left the basin and entered floodwaters. He said the DEQ is trying to ascertain how much, if any has entered the Neuse River.

Environmentalists are concerned because the ash left over when coal is burned to generate electricity contains mercury, lead, arsenic and other toxic heavy metals.

__

11:50 a.m.

North Carolina emergency officials say residents whose homes were damaged or destroyed by Hurricane Florence will begin moving into hotel rooms next week as a transitional housing program begins.

Emergency Management Director Michael Sprayberry said during a news briefing Saturday that residents who register with the Federal Emergency Management Agency will be able to begin the process Monday.

The program will be available to residents in nine counties initially and then will be expanded to other counties.

Sprayberry said the state's eastern counties are continuing to see major flooding, including certain locations along the Black, Lumber, Neuse and Cape Fear rivers.

A FEMA coordinator said about 69,000 people from North Carolina have already registered with FEMA for assistance.

___

11:15 a.m.

North Carolina's governor says "treacherous" floodwaters are still threatening the state more than a week after Hurricane Florence made landfill there.

Gov. Roy Cooper said Saturday that nine of the state's river gauges are at major flood stage and four others are at moderate flood stage. He urged residents of southeastern North Carolina to stay alert for flood warnings and evacuation orders.

Cooper said the flooding continues to make travel dangerous in hard-hit areas. He urged people to avoid driving east of Interstate 95 and south of US-70.

Cooper said certain areas of Interstates 95 and 40 are still underwater. Emergency officials don't expect the water on those highways to recede fully for another week or more.

At least 43 people have died since the hurricane slammed into the coast more than a week ago.

___

10:50 a.m.

Weather forecasters say Tropical Storm Kirk has formed in the eastern Atlantic and is moving rapidly westward.

In an 11 a.m. update, the National Hurricane Center said Kirk was 450 miles (724 kilometers) south of the Cabo Verde Islands, moving west at 14 mph (22.5 kph) with maximum sustained winds near 40 mph (64 kph). Tropical-storm-force winds extend outward from the center up to 35 miles (56 kilometers) to the northwest.

Forecasters say it currently poses no threats to land.

___

12:03 a.m.

A North Carolina town inundated by river water after a levee breached is among the latest towns to feel the life-threatening punch of Hurricane Florence.

Benetta White and David Lloyd slogged through waist-deep water to escape when Cape Fear River water came pouring into their yard late Thursday. They got in a friend's pickup and were eventually driven out on a military vehicle.

They were among 100 people evacuated with helicopters, boats and high-wheeled military vehicles during a six-hour rescue operation in southeastern North Carolina's Bladen County that lasted into Friday morning.

Officials in North and South Carolina warn that the flooding danger is far from over, with South Carolina ordering evacuations there as rivers rise. At least 43 people have died since the hurricane slammed into the coast more than a week ago.

Flooding from Sutton Lake has washed away part of U.S. 421 in New Hanover County just south of the Pender County line in Wilmington, N.C., Friday, Sept. 21, 2018. (Matt Born /The Star-News via AP)

Chris Lutterlo stands in front of a flooded area from Hurricane Florence on NC hwy. 210 in Hampstead, N.C., Friday, Sept. 21, 2018. (Matt Born /The Star-News via AP)

A sign commemorating the rebuilding of the town of Nichols, which was flooded two years earlier from Hurricane Matthew, stands in floodwaters in the aftermath of Hurricane Florence in Nichols, S.C., Friday, Sept. 21, 2018. Virtually the entire town is once again flooded and inaccessible except by boat. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

A swift recuse boat motors through floodwaters in the aftermath of Hurricane Florence in Nichols, S.C., Friday, Sept. 21, 2018. Virtually the entire town is flooded and inaccessible except by boat, just two years after it was flooded by Hurricane Matthew. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Department of Natural Resources agent James Mills ducks around a street sign as he patrols with fellow agent Cody Britt through floodwaters in the aftermath of Hurricane Florence in Nichols, S.C., Friday, Sept. 21, 2018. Virtually the entire town is flooded and inaccessible except by boat, just two years after it was flooded by Hurricane Matthew. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

A stool sits in the middle of a roadway in floodwaters in the aftermath of Hurricane Florence in Nichols, S.C., Friday, Sept. 21, 2018. Virtually the entire town is flooded and inaccessible except by boat, just two years after it was flooded by Hurricane Matthew. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Volunteer Johnnie Evans brings a wagon of water to cleanup crews helping with the grisly task of removing storm damaged belongings, spoiled food and soaked furniture at Trent Court Apartments in New Bern, N.C., Sept. 21, 2018. Hurricane Florence brought storm surges which overflowed from the Trent River and forced many residents of Trent Court to evacuate. (Gray Whitley / Sun Journal via AP)

Professional disaster recovery services work to cleanup storm damages at the New Bern Grande Marina Yacht Club in New Bern, N.C., Sept. 21, 2018. Hurricane Florence brought destructive flooding to areas in the waterfront business district. (Gray Whitley / Sun Journal via AP)JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - Was it Quinton or Eric?

That's likely to be the choice again facing Mississippi jurors this week in the trial of Quinton Tellis, accused of setting 19-year-old Jessica Chambers on fire in her car in December 2014, only to see the dying woman stagger down a rural backroad and be found by firefighters.

The horrific circumstances surrounding the former high school cheerleader's death focused national attention on the victim's hometown of Courtland, a hamlet about 60 miles (100 kilometers) south of Memphis, Tennessee. In a trial last year, jurors couldn't agree whether Tellis was guilty of capital murder. The 29-year-old Tellis faces life in prison without parole if convicted.

FILE - In this Oct. 12, 2017 photograph, Quinton Tellis, center, stands with his defense attorneys Darla Palmer, left, and Alton Peterson, right, near the remains of Jessica Chambers car in Batesville, Miss. Tellis was charged with burning 19-year-old Jessica Chambers to death. The trial ended in a mistrial, but Tells is to be retried in Chambers' burning death, starting Tuesday, Sept. 25. (Brad Vest/The Commercial Appeal via AP, Pool, FILE)

He faces another murder indictment in Louisiana, in the torture death of Meing-Chen Hsiao, a 34-year-old Taiwanese graduate student at the University of Louisiana at Monroe. No trial date has been set in that case.

The Mississippi case is freighted with racial overtones because Tellis is black, while Chambers was white.

Chambers had burns on more than 90 percent of her body and one of the firefighters who found her described her as looking like a "zombie." The defense continues to focus on testimony by firefighters and other first responders who say they heard a badly injured Chambers tell them that "Eric" or maybe "Derek" had attacked her before she was whisked away to a Memphis, Tennessee, hospital where she died hours later.

"If we had one person saying she said 'Quinton set me on fire,' we wouldn't be having a trial," defense attorney Alton Peterson told The Associated Press. "But we had nine who said Eric did and we're having a second trial."

Witnesses for the government suggested in the first trial that Chambers, who had burns down her throat, was so injured and in shock that she may not have been able to properly pronounce words. A speech pathologist may be called in the second trial to emphasize that point.

Prosecutors point to cellphone records that show Chambers and Tellis were together twice on the day she was burned. The second time, prosecutors say Chambers picked up Tellis about two-and-a-half hours before she was found burned and they went to a fast food outlet.

Tellis originally told investigators he wasn't with Chambers on the evening of Dec. 6, but two years later changed his story and admitted he was.

Citing statements Tellis made to investigators, Panola County District Attorney John Champion said Tellis and Chambers had sex in her car later that evening. Champion said he believes Tellis suffocated Chambers and thought he had killed her. The defense, though denies that Tellis and Chambers had sex.

The prosecution's theory is likely to be much the same in the second trial.

"We're going to stick to what we believe is our strongest case and we put that on last time," Champion said.

But there's one new wrinkle. Prosecutors have subpoenaed a woman named Sherry Flowers as a witness. Peterson said she's expected to testify that she gave a man a ride the night of Chambers' death. This could fill in a crucial gap linking Tellis to the crime scene. In the first trial, prosecutors had claimed Tellis traveled on foot from the place where he left Chambers to his sister's house, got his sister's car, collected a can of gasoline at his own house, and then returned to set the car and an unconscious Chambers on fire.

Defense attorneys, though, question whether Flowers can identify Tellis as the man she transported.

"She indicates she's seen his face somewhere, but can't remember where," Peterson said.

Peterson also said the defense is likely to do more to challenge prosecution witnesses on cellphone locations and on whether Tellis' DNA was found on Chambers keychain in a ditch between the crime scene and the sister's house.

Jurors are scheduled to be selected Monday in the college town of Starkville and brought to the Panola County courthouse in Batesville for the trial. Jurors will be sequestered, and both sides expect the trial will run at least into the next weekend. Peterson said the second trial could be longer than the first and that the defense could call first responder witnesses that the prosecution doesn't call, in order to drive home the Eric question.

"Our position remains the same," Peterson said. "He didn't commit this crime, someone else did, and she told them who did it. They just didn't do a good job of finding him."

___

Follow Jeff Amy on Twitter at http://twitter.com/jeffamy . Read his work at https://www.apnews.com/search/By%20Jeff%20Amy .

FILE - In this Oct. 16, 2017 photo, Quinton Tellis, sits during his trial in Batesville, Miss. A second trial is set to begin Tuesday, Sept. 25, 2018 on charges that Tellis set Jessica Chambers on fire, leading to her death. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis, Pool, File)

FILE - In this Oct. 15, 2017, file photo, Panola County District Attorney John Champion holds an enlargement of a selfie taken by the late Jessica Chambers, during delivering closing arguments to the jury, in Batesville, Miss., in the capital murder of Quinton Tellis. A second trial is set to begin Tuesday, Sept. 25, 2018 on charges that Tellis set Chambers on fire, leading to her death. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis, Pool, File)ROME (AP) - Former Trump strategist Steve Bannon declared Saturday that far-right "patriots" are the "new elite" of Europe as he brought his push for a trans-national, anti-European Union drive to Italy.

The ex-aide to U.S. President Donald Trump addressed a forum in Rome organized by a small far-right Italian opposition party.

Bannon was asked if there should be a new "elite" in growing, far-right populist movements.

Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini blows a kiss to a supporter as he arrives at the Brothers of Italy political meeting in Rome, Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

His reply? The "new elite in this populist movement are the patriots" in society.

He heaped praised on populist leaders, pitting sovereignty movements against Brussels-based European Union influence on the continent.

Among the models he cited was one in Italy's six-month-old populist government, which includes hard-line Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, who leads the right-wing, anti-migrant League party.

Salvini, who addressed the forum earlier Saturday, said the far-right political spectrum includes "the true defenders of European values."

The Italian, who is also a deputy premier, said the European Parliament elections in May across the continent offer right-wingers "the occasion to send a force into government in Europe that's not socialist."

Bannon, in his comments, encouraged Italy's populists to push their sovereignty-focused agenda to counter EU policies. He is working to help form a united trans-national front to push politics in Europe far to the right.

British parents Tom Evans and Kate James were honored at the forum for their unsuccessful legal battle to keep their toddler son, Alfie Evans, on life support in a British hospital. Far-right figures had focused on the case as an example of the wishes of one family against a "socialist" state.

The 23-year-month-old child died in April after British judges agreed with doctors that more treatment was futile. He had a degenerative neurological disease that left him with almost no brain function. Pope Francis was among those championing the cause of the parents.

Tom Evans told the forum that a foundation has been set up to help people in a difficult stage of life like Alfie's parents had endured, the Italian news agency ANSA reported.

The political event was organized by the Brothers of Italy party, whose political roots come from a descendent of a neo-fascist party.

Sardinia's far-right governor, Paolo Truzzo, a Brothers of Italy leader, gave the award to the father, who recounted the drama of his son and who thanked, among others, the pope and the party's leader, Giorgia Meloni, for their support.

Italian Interior minister Matteo Salvini, right, is welcomed by Georgia Meloni, Brothers of Italy party's leader, at the party's political meeting in Rome, Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Italian Interior minister Matteo Salvini, right, is welcomed by Georgia Meloni, Brothers of Italy party's leader, at the party's event meeting in Rome, Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Italian Interior minister Matteo Salvini talks at a Brothers of Italy party meeting in Rome, Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Steve Bannon, right, and Giorgia Meloni, leader of the Fratelli d'Italia (Brothers of Italy) party, hold a jersey reading in Italian " Europe against everybody ", at a forum in Rome, Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018. Former Trump strategist Steve Bannon declared Saturday that far-right "patriots" are the "new elite" of Europe as he brought his push for a trans-national, anti-European Union drive to Italy. The ex-aide to U.S. President Donald Trump addressed a forum in Rome organized by a small far-right Italian opposition party. Bannon was asked if there should be a new "elite" in growing, far-right populist movements. His reply? The "new elite in this populist movement are the patriots" in society. (Massimo Percossi/ANSA via AP)

Steve Bannon addresses a forum in Rome, Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018. Former Trump strategist Steve Bannon declared Saturday that far-right "patriots" are the "new elite" of Europe as he brought his push for a trans-national, anti-European Union drive to Italy. The ex-aide to U.S. President Donald Trump addressed a forum in Rome organized by a small far-right Italian opposition party. Bannon was asked if there should be a new "elite" in growing, far-right populist movements. His reply? The "new elite in this populist movement are the patriots" in society. (Massimo Percossi/ANSA via AP)

Steve Bannon addresses a forum in Rome, Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018. Former Trump strategist Steve Bannon declared Saturday that far-right "patriots" are the "new elite" of Europe as he brought his push for a trans-national, anti-European Union drive to Italy. The ex-aide to U.S. President Donald Trump addressed a forum in Rome organized by a small far-right Italian opposition party. Bannon was asked if there should be a new "elite" in growing, far-right populist movements. His reply? The "new elite in this populist movement are the patriots" in society. (Massimo Percossi/ANSA via AP)

Steve Bannon, right, is flanked by Giorgia Meloni, leader of the Fratelli d'Italia (Brothers of Italy) party, as he addresses a forum in Rome, Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018. Former Trump strategist Steve Bannon declared Saturday that far-right "patriots" are the "new elite" of Europe as he brought his push for a trans-national, anti-European Union drive to Italy. The ex-aide to U.S. President Donald Trump addressed a forum in Rome organized by a small far-right Italian opposition party. Bannon was asked if there should be a new "elite" in growing, far-right populist movements. His reply? The "new elite in this populist movement are the patriots" in society. (Massimo Percossi/ANSA via AP)

Steve Bannon arrives to address a forum in Rome, Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018. Former Trump strategist Steve Bannon declared Saturday that far-right "patriots" are the "new elite" of Europe as he brought his push for a trans-national, anti-European Union drive to Italy. The ex-aide to U.S. President Donald Trump addressed a forum in Rome organized by a small far-right Italian opposition party. Bannon was asked if there should be a new "elite" in growing, far-right populist movements. His reply? The "new elite in this populist movement are the patriots" in society. (Massimo Percossi/ANSA via AP)

Tom Evans and Kate James, parents of Alfie Evans, attend the Atreju political meeting, the Youth Festival of the Fdi-Fratelli D'Italia party (Brothers of Italy), in Rome, Saturday, Sept.22, 2018. (Claudio Peri/ANSA via AP)SOUTHWEST HARBOR, Maine (AP) - State health inspectors are investigating a Maine lobster restaurant that tried to mellow out lobsters with marijuana.

The Portland Press Herald reports Charlotte's Legendary Lobster Pound in Southwest Harbor remains open but has stopped allowing customers to request meat from lobsters sedated with marijuana. Owner Charlotte Gill is a state-licensed medical marijuana caregiver.

Gill said Friday she had started offering "smoked" lobster meat recently and hopes to resume sales by mid-October.

Maine Department of Health and Human Services spokeswoman Emily Spencer wouldn't say whether the state had asked Gill to halt such sales.

It's unknown whether pot smoke actually calms lobsters or has any effect on their meat.CINCINNATI (AP) - The last surviving Doolittle Tokyo Raider is still telling his World War II stories, and he enjoys hearing new ones that have been passed down to younger generations.

Retired Lt. Col. Dick Cole recently celebrated his 103rd birthday. And he's getting ready to attend another air show, this one in Hillsboro, Oregon, starting Sept. 28. The Comfort, Texas, resident attended one in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, this summer.

Youngsters tell him about their great-grandfathers' World War II memories.

FILE - In this April 18, 2015, file photo, two members of the Doolittle Tokyo Raiders, retired U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Richard "Dick" Cole, seated front, and retired Staff Sgt. David Thatcher, seated left, pose for photos after the presentation of a Congressional Gold Medal honoring the Doolittle Tokyo Raiders at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio. The last surviving Doolittle Tokyo Raider is still telling his World War II stories, and he enjoys hearing new ones passed down to younger generations. (AP Photo/Gary Landers, File)

"It's fun," Cole, originally from Dayton, Ohio, said by telephone Thursday. "You meet a lot of people and shake a lot of hands. I like to talk to kids.

"I enjoy it, and I think they do, too, because they keep coming back."

He was mission commander Jimmy Doolittle's co-pilot in the 1942 bombing attack less than five months after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The bold raid on Japan is credited with lifting U.S. spirits and helping turn the tide of the war in the Pacific.

"I think the main thing was that you had to go in with a positive attitude," Cole said of the against-the-odds mission. "I really didn't worry about it. It was our job, and we knew what to expect."

The 80 Raiders were four years ago honored with the Congressional Gold Medal for their "outstanding heroism, valor, skill and service to the United States."

Three Raiders died trying to reach China after the attack, and eight were captured by Japanese soldiers. Three were executed, and a fourth died in captivity. Cole parachuted, and he and other Raiders were helped to safety by Chinese partisans.

Cole has attended Raider-related events over the years, including funeral services in Missoula, Montana, in 2016 for retired Staff Sgt. David Thatcher, the 79th Raider to die. He also participated in 75th anniversary events in 2017.

Cole said since he was older than many of the other Raiders, he didn't expect to be the last.

"I figured that Mother Nature and the good man upstairs would pick the time, and I wouldn't have any control over it."

He chuckled when asked what it's like to be 103:

"A little bit slower than when you're 102."

___

Follow Dan Sewell at http://www.twitter.com/dansewellOver the past decade 47 dogs have died across the U.S. during grooming, or within days of showing signs of ill health after grooming, at the nation's leading pet retailer, a New Jersey news organization reports, though what the numbers mean is uncertain.

NJ.com said that its count is based on reports by PetSmart customers in 14 states, and said it is not definitive because there is little public accounting of such deaths, and no state requires all individual groomers to be licensed.

PetSmart does millions of groomings a year, so the deaths cited represent only a tiny fraction of the pets it works with.

And because of a lack of data, NJ.com said it was impossible to determine if the rate of deaths during or immediately after grooming at PetSmart is higher or lower than at other groomers.

PetSmart, which has more than 1,600 stores in the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico, would not disclose the number of deaths it is aware of. But it said "any assertion that there is a systemic problem is false and fabricated."

"At PetSmart, nothing is more important than the safety of the pets in our care," their statement said. "That is why we have set the highest grooming safety standards in the industry."

NJ.com set out to find out how many dogs have died during or shortly after grooming following the December death of Scruffles, an English bulldog groomed at a PetSmart in Flemington, New Jersey. The case generated wide interest on social media.

During the news organization's review, PetSmart announced it would improve dog screenings before groomings, install cameras in grooming areas and review its training procedures. The company also said it intends to hold an open house at all of its grooming salons Sunday.

NJ.com said it could not determine what, if any, connection there is between the groomings and the dog deaths. Nor could it determine whether the timing of any of the deaths was coincidence.

The pets that died represented at least 25 breeds. But the news organization did find that many were brachycephalic dogs, those with short noses and flat faces that are prone to breathing problems, particularly in hot or stressful situations.

The news organization said in its report Thursday that the causes of death can be hard to prove. It also said nondisclosure agreements struck in some deaths have led to a lack of transparency, as have confidentiality agreements signed when grieving pet owners have taken their cases to court and reached settlements.

The company maintains millions of loyal customers. Sue Conti, 69, of Carteret, New Jersey, said Gizmo - her pint-sized Maltese, which is about 15 years old - has been groomed its entire life at the PetSmart in Woodbridge. She said she always has been "very pleased."

That wasn't the case for Nick Pomilio, 72, of Philadelphia, who said he took his English bulldog, Capone, for a grooming at PetSmart in February 2017. When Capone emerged, Pomilio told nj.com he couldn't walk and employees loaded the dog into a shopping cart and wheeled him to the car. Pomilio said he started to drive home but turned around less than five minutes later when he realized the dog had stopped breathing.

He raced back to the store for help, he said, but it was too late - Capone was dead.

Groomers and veterinarians say groomings anywhere can present a number of dangers to dogs if safety measures are not followed. They include overheating - sometimes the result of drying cages - intense stress and rough handling.

Little research, however, has been done on the issue, though a Brazilian study documented 94 dogs that died during grooming, bathing, and other pet services from 2004 to 2009.

Dog deaths during grooming are uncommon, Perry Habecker, a staff pathologist at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine, told NJ.com.

"But if you talk to groomers," he said, "it's the biggest fear in their background."ROME (AP) - Italian parents have more time before having to produce proof to schools that their children have received 10 mandatory vaccinations.

The Italian Senate has extended until March a requirement that families provide vaccination documentation so their children can attend nursery school or kindergarten.

The certification requirement was supposed to have kicked in before the school year started in September. But legislation approved Thursday and backed by Italy's populist government extended that deadline.

FILE - In this Friday, Feb. 23, 2018 file photo, doctor Roberto Ieraci vaccinates a child in Rome. Italian parents have more time before having to produce proof their children kids received 10 mandatory vaccinations. Earlier in the week, the Senate passed legislation extending till March a requirement that families provide vaccination documentation so their children can attend nursery school or kindergarten. The certification requirement was supposed to have kicked in before the September start of school. But the populist government wanted to extend the deadline. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, File)

Italy's health minister, Dr. Giulia Grillo, from the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement, says she'll have her child vaccinated. But Grillo insists that improved vaccination compliance be achieved by education, not obligation.

Italy reported nearly 5,000 cases of measles in 2017, a nearly six-fold increase that has been blamed on the country's highly politicized debate over vaccines.ISLAMABAD (AP) - Pakistan's military says security forces have raided militant hideouts setting off a shootout that left seven soldiers and nine militants dead.

In a statement Saturday, the military said the operation was carried out in the Gharlamai and Spera Kunar Algad areas of North Waziristan near the border with Afghanistan.

The military said an army captain was among those killed. The military provided no details about the militants killed.

North Waziristan has long been a sanctuary for the Pakistani Taliban and other militant groups. Pakistan has carried out a number of military operations there in recent years and claims to have eliminated militant safe havens, but attacks persist.PHOENIX (AP) - Six siblings of U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar have urged voters to cast their ballots against the Arizona Republican in November in an unusual political ad sponsored by the rival candidate.

The television ad from Democrat David Brill combines video interviews with Gosar-family siblings who ask voters to usher Paul Gosar out of office because he has broken with the family's values. They do not elaborate.

They previously condemned the congressman's false accusation in 2017 that wealthy Democratic donor George Soros was a Nazi collaborator in World War II.

In this image made from a political ad posted on YouTube on Friday, Sept. 21, 2018 by the campaign for David Brill, Democratic candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives from Arizona, Jennifer Gosar talks about her brother, U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar. In the video, she and five other siblings urged voters to cast their ballots against their brother in November 2018. (Brill For Congress via AP)

"It's intervention time," Tim Gosar says in the ad, endorsing Brill. "And intervention time means that you go to vote, and you go to vote Paul out."

Gosar is a fourth-term congressman for a sprawling district in northwestern and central Arizona.

He fired back at his brothers and sisters in a series of twitter posts , calling them disgruntled supporters of Hillary Clinton from out of state who put ideology before family.

"My siblings who chose to film ads against me are all liberal Democrats who hate President Trump," Gosar said. "Stalin would be proud."

In a separate video segment, the siblings urge voters to hold the congressman accountable on health care, employment and environmental issues.

Paul Gosar's comments about Soros came in a television interview with Vice News in which he also suggested a 2017 white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, might have been a liberal conspiracy.

In the new ad, the congressman's siblings describe their decision to speak out as saddening, horrible and ultimately a matter of pride for the family from Wyoming.

"I think my brother has traded a lot of the values we had at our kitchen table," says Joan Gosar, an engineer.

Pete Gosar, another sibling who ran unsuccessfully as a candidate for governor of Wyoming in 2014, doesn't appear in the ad, though he has publicly criticized his brother's views in the past.

The rift in the Gosar clan is not the only sibling feud to wend its way into campaigning this year for Congress, as Democrats seek to retake majority control of the House and Senate from Republicans.

In the race to replace House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, Democratic congressional candidate Randy Bryce is confronting an ad in which his brother endorses the Republican candidate.

That upset Nancy Bryce, their mother, who has denounced the campaign ad in a letter recently made public.ATHENS, Greece (AP) - The publisher and editor in chief of a Greek newspaper have been detained over an article that alleges mishandling of European Union funds meant to improve conditions in migrant hotspots across the country.

The journalists were detained following a complaint by Defense Minister Panos Kammenos, whose ministry is handling the EU funding. The article published Friday alleged some of the recipients of EU funding were businessmen connected to Kammenos.

Panayiotis Lampsias, editor-in-chief of daily "Fileleftheros" (Liberal) told the Associated Press that "we are at the Exarchia police precinct, where we will spend the night and probably be sent to a prosecutor" on Sunday.

Opposition parties have condemned the detention. Conservative New Democracy party accused the defense minister of "thuggery" and said the real issue was the mishandling of funds.SAN SEBASTIAN, Spain (AP) - Actor Danny DeVito has been honored with a lifetime achievement award at Spain's most prestigious film festival in the northern coastal city of San Sebastian.

DeVito, 73, received the award from the San Sebastian International Film Festival during Saturday's gala. The American comic film star is promoting the animated children's film "Smallfoot" at the festival.

DeVito won an Emmy and a Golden Globe for his role in the 1970-80's TV sitcom series "Taxi." Other career highlights include leading roles in the hit 1980s comedies "Throw Momma from the Train" and "Twins" and scores of endearing supporting parts.

FILE - In this Sunday, March 25, 2012 file photo, Danny DeVito arrives for the Jameson Empire Awards at a central London venue. Actor Danny DeVito has been honored with a lifetime achievement award at Spain's most prestigious film festival in the northern coastal city of San Sebastian on Saturday Sept. 22, 2018. (AP Photo/Jonathan Short, File)

He also shared an Oscar nomination for best picture as a producer of "Erin Brockovich" in 2000.

He currently stars in the TV series "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia."BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) - The Latest on Republican Senate candidate Kevin Cramer's comments on an allegation against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh (all times local):

2:20 p.m.

Republican Senate candidate Kevin Cramer of North Dakota is seeking to clarify comments he made about a sexual assault accusation against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.

FILE - In this Sept. 4, 2018, file photo, Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh is sworn-in before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, file)

Cramer said during a Friday radio interview that the Kavanaugh accusation is "even more absurd" than Anita Hill's 1991 sexual harassment allegation against Clarence Thomas because Kavanaugh and his accuser were teenagers.

He issued a statement Saturday saying he wasn't implying that sexual assault is less serious when committed by teenagers. Cramer says the point of his answer was that the current allegation was "even more absurd" during a question about the accusations against Thomas and Kavanaugh.

Cramer says it's difficult not to be skeptical due to the history and timing of the accusation against Kavanaugh, but that any such allegation "should be taken seriously." But he says absent major evidence brought forward immediately, the confirmation process should move forward.

Cramer is challenging Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, among the most vulnerable Democrats seeking re-election.

___

10:58 a.m.

North Dakota Republican Senate candidate Kevin Cramer says a sexual assault accusation against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh is "even more absurd" than Anita Hill's 1991 sexual harassment allegation against Clarence Thomas.

Cramer says that's because unlike Hill and Thomas, Kavanaugh and his accuser were teenagers who "evidently were drunk" when the alleged assault occurred at a high school party. Cramer, a U.S. representative, made the comments to a North Dakota radio station Friday, saying the incident was "supposedly an attempt or something that never went anywhere," according to a recording published by Talking Points Memo.

Christine Blasey Ford says Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her in the 1980s. Kavanaugh denies it.

Cramer is challenging Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, among the most vulnerable Democrats seeking re-election. Cramer's campaign didn't immediately return a telephone message.

Heitkamp says Cramer's comments are "disturbing" and don't reflect North Dakota's values.

Hill, who had worked for Thomas, accused Thomas of sexual harassment during his 1991 Supreme Court confirmation hearings. Thomas denied it and was confirmed.DALLAS (AP) - A storm system dumped record amounts of rain in parts of Oklahoma and caused flooding in Texas, including in the Dallas area, where floodwaters swept a man from a bridge to his death near the University of Texas' campus in nearby Arlington.

"(A) witness ... stated that the victim was swept under a bridge by rushing waters," shortly before midnight Friday, according to Arlington Fire Department Lt. Mike Joiner.

The man's body was found a few hours later. His name hasn't been released.

A car drives through standing water on Sylvan Avenue in Dallas, Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018. A storm system has dumped record amounts of rain in parts of Oklahoma and caused flooding in Texas, including in the Dallas area, where floodwaters swept a man from a bridge to his death. (Carly Geraci/The Dallas Morning News via AP)

The Dallas Fire Department said at least 15 people were rescued from the rising waters at about 7 a.m. Saturday, including five Dallas police officers and a motorist. The officers became trapped while trying to rescue the motorist.

Up to 45 homes in Everman, south of Fort Worth, were damaged by floodwaters as some residents were forced to scramble onto roofs to escape rising water.

"We had residents stranded up on top of their homes. People begging for help, screaming for help," Everman police Chief Craig Spencer told KXAS-TV.

Austin fire officials said some 60 people attending a wedding reception were rescued from rising waters that surrounded the venue early Saturday. Some at the reception were forced to climb trees to avoid the water, officials said.

In the Central Texas city of Killeen, patients were evacuated to other medical care facilities when a lightning strike knocked out power to Metroplex Hospital. Thirty-four patients were transported and there were no reports of injuries, according to a hospital statement.

A record 14 inches (35.56 centimeters) of rain fell Friday at the Oklahoma Climatological Survey's site in Fittstown, about 75 miles (120 kilometers) southeast of Oklahoma City, and more than 2 additional inches fell before noon Saturday, said National Weather Service meteorologist Forrest Mitchell in Norman. The previous record of just less than 7 inches was set in July 1997, according to Mesonet records.

The downpours and threat of more rain has also forced cancellation of events from the Dallas area to northeastern Arkansas, including balloon festival in Plano to the Northeast Arkansas District Fair in Jonesboro, 390 miles (628 kilometers) away, where the already wet grounds were expected to be inundated by additional rain.

The weather service has said a zone of low-pressure over West Texas, tropical moisture off the Gulf of Mexico and an approaching cold front combined to produce the heavy rain that was moving into Arkansas, prompting flash flood watches until Sunday morning.

Light rain continued Saturday in southeastern Oklahoma and northeastern Texas while the leading edge of the storm moved into southwestern Arkansas, according to the weather service.

"In southwest Arkansas, another 3-4 inches" was expected as the slow moving storm tracked northeastward, according to meteorologist Tabitha Clarke with the weather service in Little Rock. "Already in southwest Arkansas, 3-5 inches" had accumulated.

___

AP reporter David Warren reported from Dallas.

Water floods out of the banks of White Rock Creek onto the Flagpole Hill Trail in Dallas, Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018. A storm system has dumped record amounts of rain in parts of Oklahoma and caused flooding in Texas, including in the Dallas area, where floodwaters swept a man from a bridge to his death. (Brian Elledge/The Dallas Morning News via AP)

Water floods out of the banks of White Rock Creek onto the Flagpole Hill Trail in Dallas, Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018. A storm system has dumped record amounts of rain in parts of Oklahoma and caused flooding in Texas, including in the Dallas area, where floodwaters swept a man from a bridge to his death. (Brian Elledge/The Dallas Morning News via AP)

Marco Medrano, from City of Dallas Public Works Department, puts out a barrier to close off Goforth Road after heavy rains left water flooding out of the banks of White Rock Creek in Dallas, Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018. A storm system has dumped record amounts of rain in parts of Oklahoma and caused flooding in Texas, including in the Dallas area, where floodwaters swept a man from a bridge to his death. (Brian Elledge/The Dallas Morning News via AP)OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) - A powerful tornado that carved a path through parts of Canada's capital snapped trees, tossed cars and obliterated dozens of homes leaving what the city's mayor on Saturday said resembled "a war scene."

More than 150,000 customers were still without power following the tornado, which churned through pockets of Ottawa's west and south ends, as well as densely populated sections of the neighboring Quebec city of Gatineau late Friday.

Authorities said dozens of people suffered injuries, however there were no reports of fatalities. The Ottawa Hospital tweeted that two people were in critical condition, one was in serious condition and two others were stable. Officials set up shelters for those who couldn't return home and they said crisis counselling would be available.

A dormer that was torn from a home's roof by a tornado is seen in Dunrobin, Ontario, Canada west of Ottawa, on Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018. The storm tore roofs off of homes, overturned cars and felled power lines. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press via AP)

"It looked like it was something from a movie scene or a war scene," Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson told reporters Saturday describing what he saw in the area of Dunrobin, where some 60 buildings were wiped out or partially destroyed. "Literally, it looks like some bomb was dropped from the air."

Much of Dunrobin, a semi-rural community about 22 miles (35 kilometers) west of downtown Ottawa, remained cordoned off by police.

Personal items were strewn everywhere - a baby blanket, a life jacket, mattresses, lawn mowers, a fridge, a kitchen sink lying on the grass and even a love seat wrapped around a telephone pole.

Meteorologist Simon Legault said there was evidence of powerful winds between 112-137 miles per hour (180-220 kilometers per hour).

Residents leave with some of their belongings from a Gatineau, Quebec, Canada neighborhood on Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018. A tornado on Friday afternoon tore roofs off of homes, overturned cars and felled power lines in the Ottawa community of Dunrobin and in Gatineau. (Fred Chartrand/The Canadian Press via AP)

Damage from a tornado is seen in Gatineau, Quebec, Canada on Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018. The storm tore roofs off of homes, overturned cars and felled power lines. (Sean Kilpatrick /The Canadian Press via AP)

People walk past debris in a Gatineau, Quebec, Canada neighborhood on Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018. A tornado on Friday afternoon tore roofs off of homes, overturned cars and felled power lines in the Ottawa community of Dunrobin and in Gatineau. (Fred Chartrand/The Canadian Press via AP)

Damage from a tornado is seen in Dunrobin, Ontario, Canada. west of Ottawa on Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018. The storm tore roofs off of homes, overturned cars and felled power lines. (Sean Kilpatrick /The Canadian Press via AP)

Residents board buses after apartment buildings had roofs torn off and windows blown out after a tornado caused extensive damage to a Gatineau, Quebec neighborhood forcing hundreds of families to evacuate their homes on Friday, Sept. 21, 2018. A tornado damaged cars in Gatineau, Quebec, and houses in a community west of Ottawa on Friday afternoon as much of southern Ontario saw severe thunderstorms and high wind gusts, Environment Canada said. (Fred Chartrand/The Canadian Press via AP)

Damage from a tornado is seen in Dunrobin, Ontario west of Ottawa on Friday, Sept. 21, 2018. A tornado damaged cars in Gatineau, Quebec, and houses in a community west of Ottawa on Friday afternoon as much of southern Ontario saw severe thunderstorms and high wind gusts, Environment Canada said. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press via AP)

People collect personal effects from damaged homes following a tornado in Dunrobin, Ontario west of Ottawa on Friday, Sept. 21, 2018. A tornado damaged cars in Gatineau, Quebec, and houses in a community west of Ottawa on Friday afternoon as much of southern Ontario saw severe thunderstorms and high wind gusts, Environment Canada said. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press via AP)WASHINGTON (AP) - The Federal Aviation Administration would be required to set new minimum requirements for seats on airplanes under legislation to be considered in the House this week, possibly giving passengers a break from ever-shrinking legroom and cramped quarters.

The regulation of seat width and legroom is part of a five-year extension of federal aviation programs announced early Saturday by Republican and Democratic leaders of the House and Senate committees that oversee the nation's air travel.

Congress faces a Sept. 30 deadline to keep FAA programs running. The Senate will also need to take up the bill this week or both chambers will need to pass a short-term extension.

FILE - In this Jan. 26, 2016, file photo, economy class seating is shown on a new United Airlines Boeing 787-9 undergoing final configuration and maintenance work at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in Seattle. The Federal Aviation Administration would be required to set new minimum requirements for seats on airplanes under legislation to be considered in the House this week. The regulation of seat width and legroom is part of a five-year extension of federal aviation programs agreed to early Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018, by Republican and Democratic leaders of the House and Senate committees that oversee the nation's air travel. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File)

The bill would prohibit the involuntary bumping of passengers who have already boarded a plane. But in a nod to the power of the commercial airliners, lawmakers declined to include language that would have prohibited airlines from imposing fees deemed "not reasonable and proportional."

Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida said lawmakers from both chambers agreed it was time to take action on "ever-shrinking seats."

"Relief could soon be on the way for weary airline passengers facing smaller and smaller seats," Nelson said.

In July, the FAA rejected the idea of setting minimum standards for airlines seats and legroom as a safety measure. But Congress appears determined to require the FAA to do so.

The room between rows - measured from a point on one seat to the same point on the seat in the next row - has been shrinking for many years as airlines squeeze more seats onto their planes. It was once commonly 34 or 35 inches, and is now less than 30 inches on some planes.

Lawmakers also included several provisions to address concerns about increased airport noise levels caused by new flight paths. The bill would require the FAA to study the potential health impacts of flight noise and the feasibility of amending existing departure procedures.

The bill would also mandate that flight attendants get a minimum of 10 hours of rest between their work shifts and require airlines to communicate better with customers during mass flight cancellations and groundings.

Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, said he expects the House and Senate to move quickly to send the bill to the president's desk.UNITED NATIONS (AP) - With rising unilateralism challenging its very existence, the United Nations convenes its annual meeting of world leaders Monday and will try once more to tackle problems together as a community of nations, addressing threats ranging from Mideast conflicts to the effects of global warming - and also encouraging the glimmer of hope over the nuclear standoff in North Korea.

This year, 133 world leaders have signed up to attend the General Assembly session, a significant increase from last year's 114. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called the expected large turnout "eloquent proof of the confidence of the international community in the United Nations," though other U.N. officials and diplomats said it's in response to growing concerns about an increasingly turbulent world.

The seven-year-old conflict in Syria and the three-year war in Yemen that has sparked the world's worst humanitarian crisis and is now seriously threatening large-scale famine will certainly be in the spotlight, along with meetings on other Mideast and African hot spots. So will Iran, which faces escalating hostile rhetoric from the Trump administration over its activities supporting international terrorism, which Tehran vehemently denies.

FILE - In this Sept. 19, 2017 file photo, United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres addresses the 72nd meeting of the United Nations General Assembly, at U.N. headquarters. This year, 133 world leaders have signed up to attend the General Assembly session, a significant increase from the 114 leaders last year. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called the expected large turnout "eloquent proof of the confidence of the international community in the United Nations" though other U.N. officials and diplomats say it's because of growing concerns about an increasingly turbulent world. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)

Guterres said last week that one of his overriding concerns in an increasingly globalized world is the threat to having the U.N.'s 193 member nations work together, which is the foundation of the United Nations.

"Multilateralism is under attack from many different directions precisely when we need it most," the U.N. chief told reporters Thursday. "In different areas and for different reasons, the trust of people in their political establishments, the trust of states among each other, the trust of many people in international organizations has been eroded and ... multilateralism has been in the fire."

Guterres challenged diplomats at last week's opening of the 73rd session of the General Assembly by saying: "At a time of fragmentation and polarization, the world needs this assembly to show the value of international cooperation."

Whether it will be able to remains in question.

At this year's gathering of presidents, prime ministers, monarchs and minsters, populist leaders will include U.S. President Donald Trump, President Andrzej Duda of Poland and Premier Giuseppe Conte of Italy along with the foreign ministers of Hungary and Austria.

U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley told reporters that Trump, who champions an "America First" policy, wants to talk about "protecting U.S. sovereignty," and she reiterated Washington's opposition to the 2015 Paris climate agreement on curbing global warming and a newly agreed international compact aimed at regulating migration.

"We really value sovereignty of the country," Haley said. "It is not saying multilateralism can't work, but it's saying sovereignty is a priority over all of that, and we always have to make sure we're doing that - and there are many countries that agree with us."

Before stepping down as U.N. humanitarian chief Aug. 31, Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein expressed serious concern that populism, intolerance and oppression are "becoming fashionable again."

"It all builds, because once you start down the path of intolerance, it's very difficult to stop it, unless at the end of the day you have conflict," he said.

French President Emmanuel Macron is expected to be a key voice joining Guterres in the coming week in speaking out against this trend and supporting multilateralism as key to promoting peace.

The week's activities kick off with a peace summit Monday morning honoring the 100th birthday this year of South African anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela. A statue of Mandela will be unveiled at U.N. headquarters and leaders are expected to adopt a declaration recognizing the years 2019-2028 as the Nelson Mandela Decade of Peace.

Trump is hosting an event Monday on "The World Drug Problem" and Haley said 124 countries have signed a global call to action. Activists on drug policy note it was never negotiated, and one group, the Harm Reduction Coalition, called it "an instance of heavy-handed U.S. 'with us or against us' diplomacy."

The increasingly strident U.S. rhetoric against Iran is expected to be a feature in U.S. speeches. Haley said that "every dangerous spot in the world - Iran seems to have its fingerprints in it," which Tehran denies.

Trump pulled the United States out of the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement in May and the foreign ministers of the five remaining powers who support the deal - Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany - are expected to meet privately Monday evening with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.

The General Assembly's "General Debate," as the ministerial session is called, officially opens Tuesday with Guterres' report on the state of the world, to be followed soon after by speeches from Trump, Macron and late in the morning by President Hassan Rouhani of Iran.

The U.S. holds the rotating presidency of the U.N. Security Council in September and has scheduled two ministerial meetings, the first on Wednesday presided over by Trump. It was initially to focus on Iran but has now been broadened to the topic of "nonproliferation" of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons.

"I'm sure that is going to be the most watched Security Council meeting ever," Haley told reporters.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will preside over the second meeting Thursday on North Korea, an issue the Security Council was united on in imposing increasingly tough sanctions. But that unity now appears to be at risk over enforcement of sanctions and the broader issues of how to achieve denuclearization of the Korean peninsula and when sanctions should be lifted against North Korea.

Guterres welcomed the recent "positive meeting" in Pyongyang between the leaders of North and South Korea but warned that "there will not be success in intra-Korean negotiations if simultaneously there is not success in the American and North Korean" negotiations to rid the Korean Peninsula of nuclear weapons.

U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the United Nations has received 342 requests for meetings during the high-level week.

They includes sessions on conflicts in Syria, Libya, Yemen, Mali and Central African Republic as well as the plight of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, aid for Palestinians, education for girls, modern slavery, environmental threats, efforts to end poverty, and the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights.

Asked what are the big issues, Russia's U.N. ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, told The Associated Press: "All of them are big issues - nonproliferation, cooperation, the world peace architecture - it's every year, but this year it's maybe more topical than ever."

Uruguayan Ambassador Elbio Rosselli said the biggest issue for his country is multilateralism.

"It's a vow that all of us ought to keep reinforcing particularly at this conjuncture where so many undercurrents and contrary views are surfacing on different scenarios," he told AP. "The validity of this institution is more than ever necessary, and for that we need the recommitment of all states."

FILE - In this Sept. 19, 2017 file photo, U.S. President Donald Trump addresses the 72nd session of the United Nations General Assembly, at U.N. headquarters. Trump will be joined by other populist leaders at the 73rd General Assembly, including Poland's President Andrej Duda and Italy's Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte along with the foreign ministers of Hungary and Austria. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)

FILE - In this Sept. 19, 2017 file photo, President Emmanuel Macron of France addresses the 72nd session of the United Nations General Assembly, at U.N. headquarters. Macron is expected to be a key voice joining secretary-general Guterres in speaking out against the current trend of rising populism in the world and supporting multilateralism as key to promoting peace. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)

FILE- In this Sept. 22, 2017 file photo, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein listens as he attends a meeting called "Sustaining Peace Through the Strengthening of Human Rights in International Law," during the United Nations General Assembly at the U.N. headquarters. Before stepping down as U.N. humanitarian chief on Aug. 31, 2018, al-Hussein expressed serious concern that populism, intolerance and oppression are "becoming fashionable again." (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews, File)

FILE - In this Sept. 21, 2017 file photo, U.S. United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley address the United Nations Security Council, during the U.N. General Assembly, at U.N. headquarters. Haley has told reporters that Trump, who champions an "America First" policy, wants to talk about "protecting U.S. sovereignty," and she reiterated that the United States opposes the 2015 Paris climate agreement to curb global warming a newly agreed international compact aimed at regulating migration. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews, File)ROME (AP) - Spain's maritime rescue service said Sunday it rescued more than 400 people from 15 small boats, most of them off the country's southern coast, while humanitarian groups lamented that the sole private rescue boat operating near the deadly central Mediterranean human trafficking route risked being put out of action by Italy's anti-migrant leaders.

While the Spaniards pulled 447 people to safety on Saturday in the western part of the sea, two humanitarian groups which operate the last private rescue vessel in the central Mediterranean, considered the deadliest route for trafficked migrants, said Panama had yanked the ship's registration following Italian complaints.

Panama's maritime authority said in a statement that it has begun procedures to remove the registration of Aquarius 2 after Italy complained the boat's captain failed to follow orders. It said Italy contends that the captain of Aquarius 2 defied instructions to return migrants to Libya that it had rescued from unseaworthy vessels launched by Libyan-based traffickers.

FILE - In a Aug. 15, 2018 file photo, the Aquarius rescue ship enters the harbor of Senglea, Malta. Spain's maritime rescue service said Sunday, Sept. 23, 2018 that it rescued more than 400 people from 15 small boats, most of them off the country's southern coast, while humanitarian groups lamented that the sole private rescue boat operating near the deadly central Mediterranean human trafficking route risked being put out of action by Italy's anti-migrant leaders. (AP Photo/Rene Rossignaud, File)

But SOS Mediterranee and Doctors Without Borders, the humanitarian groups jointly operating Aquarius 2, say violence-wracked Libya doesn't meet international standards for safe harbor. On Sunday, they asked European governments to reassure Panama that Italy's contentions are unfounded or issue a new flag so Aquarius 2 can keep operating.

Right-wing Interior Minister Matteo Salvini won't let private rescue boats dock in Italy.

In a statement Sunday, the two non-governmental organizations alleged that Italy had forced the Panamanians to revoke the registration "under blatant economic and political pressure from the Italian government," which has vowed to stop arrivals in Italian ports of migrants saved by private rescue boats.

Italy's right-wing, anti-migrant interior minister, Matteo Salvini, denied that allegation in a tweet Sunday night, saying "no pressure at all on Panama for the Aquarius 2. I don't even know Panama's area code."

The Panama Maritime Authority said it was acting after the "principal complaint came from Italian authorities" about the ship's captain. It also noted that maritime authorities in Gibraltar over the summer took Aquarius 2 off its registry and had requested that it suspend its operations.

The two humanitarian groups in response said they "demand that European governments allow the Aquarius to continue its mission, by affirming to the Panamanian authorities that threats made by the Italian government are unfounded, or by immediately issuing a new flag under which the vessel can sail."

Nearly 300 migrants have died in waters separating Spain and Africa so far in 2018, according to the United Nations, and over 1,600 have died this year trying to cross the Mediterranean, as departures in smugglers boats from Libya's coast to Italy have sharply declined this year compared to previous years, after the Italian authorities began cracking down on the rescue boats.

But U.N. refugee agency officials say the central route from Libya is by far the deadliest for migrants smuggled by sea.

A recent spike in migrant arrivals in Spain has strained public services, and the Spanish government has faced further pressure since Italy refused to let humanitarian boats dock with migrants they have rescued from the sea.

Aquarius 2 was carrying 58 migrants it rescued in the last few days, and where they would be taken was unclear Sunday night.

The U.N. refugee agency says largely lawless Libya, bloodied by a recent surge in fighting among militias, isn't a safe harbor. Migrants returned there are brought back to detention centers, where food is scarce and beatings and sexual assault are common.

International maritime law stipulates that those rescued at sea are brought to the nearest safe harbor.

Italy, which has trained and equipped the Libyan coast guard, says that human trafficking will be discouraged by returning those rescued at sea to Libya.

The Mediterranean island of Malta has also come down hard on private rescue boats, blocking the vessels in their harbors and launching prosecutors' probes of their crew.

In other actions against migrants, Macedonian police said they have detained 120 migrants, in two separate cases, who illegally entered Macedonia from Greece as the number of illegal crossings has significantly risen in recent months.

Police said Sunday that a border police patrol discovered 37 migrants in southern Macedonia, near the frontier with Greece. They were detained, but police gave no more details about their nationality.

In a second case, 83 migrants, 11 of them minors, and most of them Pakistanis (76), were discovered packed in a truck coming from Greece. The truck driver was detained and the migrants transferred to the reception center in the southern town of Gevgelija.

Macedonian police say they have turned back about 6,600 migrants attempting to cross the border in the first half of 2018.

___

Joseph Wilson in Barcelona, Spain, and Konstantin Testorides in Skopje, Macedonia, contributed to this report.ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) - A meeting of OPEC and its allies ended without any decision to further increase oil output despite President Donald Trump's call for lower prices.

Members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries met on Sunday in Algiers with non-members including Russia.

The committee said in a statement that it was satisfied "regarding the current oil market outlook, with an overall healthy balance between supply and demand."

Khalid Al-Falih, Minister of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources of Saudi Arabia, right, and Mohammed Sanusi Barkindo, OPEC Secretary-General, left, speak during OPEC's 10th meeting of the Joint Ministerial Committee to monitor the oil production reduction agreement of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC, and non-OPEC members, in Algiers, Algeria, Sunday, Sept. 23, 2018. (AP Photo/Anis Belghoul)

It also urged "countries with spare capacity to work with customers to meet their demand during the remaining month of 2018."

Trump has been calling publicly for OPEC to help lower prices by producing more.

"We protect the countries of the Middle East, they would not be safe for very long without us, and yet they continue to push for higher and higher oil prices!" he tweeted on Thursday.

The price rise is notably caused by a recent drop in Iran's supply because of U.S. sanctions.

OPEC and Russia have capped production since January 2017 to bolster prices. Output fell below those targets this year, and in June the same countries agreed to boost the oil supply.

Saudi Arabia Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih told reporters that participating countries have provided over the last three months "a lot of supply to offset decreases" in Iran, Venezuela and Mexico. "Markets are quite balanced today, there's plenty of supply to meet any customer that needs it."

Also Sunday, OPEC released its World Oil Outlook 2040 report.

The cartel says that China and India will drive growth in energy demand through 2040, and that oil will continue to remain the biggest source of energy despite a global push for cleaner resources. Oil demand is forecast to increase by 14.5 million barrels a day to a total of 111.7 million barrels in 2040, driven by an expanding middle class and economic growth in developing countries.

The U.S., which isn't an OPEC member and has in recent years seen a renewed boom in shale oil, will continue to grow as a crude producer, peaking in the late 2020s. That suggests OPEC's power to influence the market will be tempered by U.S. production for about another decade.

Venezuelan Oil Minister, Major General Manuel Quevedo, attends OPEC's 10th meeting of the Joint Ministerial Committee to monitor the oil production reduction agreement of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC, and non-OPEC members, in Algiers, Algeria, Sunday, Sept. 23, 2018. The meeting of OPEC and its allies ended Sunday without any decision to further increase oil output, despite President Donald Trump's call for lower prices.(AP Photo/Anis Belghoul)

Iran's Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) governor Hossein Kazempour Ardebili, centre, attends OPEC's 10th meeting of the Joint Ministerial Committee to monitor the oil production reduction agreement of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC, and non-OPEC members, in Algiers, Algeria, Sunday, Sept. 23, 2018. The meeting of OPEC and its allies ended Sunday without any decision to further increase oil output, despite President Donald Trump's call for lower prices. (AP Photo/Anis Belghoul)

Mohammed Sanusi Barkindo, OPEC Secretary-General attends OPEC's 10th meeting of the Joint Ministerial Committee to monitor the oil production reduction agreement of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC, and non-OPEC members, in Algiers, Algeria, Sunday, Sept. 23, 2018. The meeting of OPEC and its allies ended Sunday without any decision to further increase oil output, despite President Donald Trump's call for lower prices.(AP Photo/Anis Belghoul)

Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak, right, attends OPEC's 10th meeting of the Joint Ministerial Committee to monitor the oil production reduction agreement of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC, and non-OPEC members, in Algiers, Algeria, Sunday, Sept. 23, 2018. The meeting of OPEC and its allies ended Sunday without any decision to further increase oil output, despite President Donald Trump's call for lower prices. (AP Photo/Anis Belghoul)

Iran's Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) governor Hossein Kazempour Ardebili, center, speaks to journalists during OPEC's 10th meeting of the Joint Ministerial Committee to monitor the oil production reduction agreement of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC, and non-OPEC members, in Algiers, Algeria, Sunday, Sept. 23, 2018. The meeting of OPEC and its allies ended Sunday without any decision to further increase oil output, despite President Donald Trump's call for lower prices. (AP Photo/Anis Belghoul)

Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak attends OPEC's 10th meeting of the Joint Ministerial Committee to monitor the oil production reduction agreement of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC, and non-OPEC members, in Algiers, Algeria, Sunday, Sept. 23, 2018. The meeting of OPEC and its allies ended without any decision to further increase oil output, despite President Donald Trump's call for lower prices. (AP Photo/Anis Belghoul)

Khalid Al-Falih, Minister of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources of Saudi Arabia speaks to journalists during OPEC's 10th meeting of the Joint Ministerial Committee to monitor the oil production reduction agreement of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC, and non-OPEC members, in Algiers, Algeria, Sunday, Sept. 23, 2018. (AP Photo/Anis Belghoul)

Khalid Al-Falih Minister of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources of Saudi Arabia, center, speaks during OPEC's 10th meeting of the Joint Ministerial Committee to monitor the oil production reduction agreement of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC, and non-OPEC members, in Algiers, Algeria, Sunday, Sept. 23, 2018. (AP Photo/Anis Belghoul)Children who display sudden and severe personality and behavioural changes following a common illness such as strep throat could be suffering from neurological conditions rather than mental health issues, a charity has warned.

Paediatric Acute-onset Neuropsychiatric Syndrome (PANS) and Paediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcal Infections (PANDAS) occurs when an infection triggers a misdirected immune response, resulting in brain inflammation.

This can lead the child to exhibit symptoms including anxiety, aggressive behaviour, depression and the onset of obsessive-compulsive disorder.

William Hewlett, who developed PANDAS at seven-years-old after catching chicken pox (PA/PANS PANDAS UK).

The conditions were first recognised in the United States in 1998 where it is estimated as many as one in 200 children could be affected, with the figure believed to be similar in the UK.

The charity PANS PANDAS UK said a failure to understand the condition in the UK means that children are regularly wrongly referred to Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS).

Treatments to address the underlying infection which causes the symptoms typically include a simple course of antibiotics.

Maya Humphries, from the West Midlands, has suffered from strep infections since she was a baby, but at the age of seven, following another bout of the infection, her family noticed a change in her behaviour overnight.

Her symptoms included Tourettes, hallucinations, suicidal thoughts and separation anxiety, along with restricted eating and a fear of being sick.

The charity said GPs did not know how treat her and tried looking at each symptom in isolation, suggesting she had anorexia because she was not eating, and anxiety because she did not want to be left alone.

Frustrated with the lack of progress after four months, Maya and her family resorted to sitting in Birmingham Childrens Hospital until they agreed to give her an appointment with a neurologist.

She was found to have both PANS and PANDAS and her symptoms were settled with a course of long-term antibiotics.

However because of the delay in diagnosis and treatment Maya, now 10, still battles with the illness.

The charity has also helped William Hewlett, from Romsey, Hampshire, who developed PANDAS at seven-years-old after catching chicken pox.

His symptoms developed suddenly and included violent outbursts, hallucinations, not recognising his parents, avoiding food and trouble sleeping.

His frustrated family finally came to understand what was wrong with him after someone on a Facebook support group suggested they look into PANDAS.

They went on to request a prescription for antibiotics, and they saw drastic improvements within 24 hours.

Two private consultants have since diagnosed William, now eight, as having PANDAS but as no one on the NHS has come to the same conclusion, they are unable to pursue long-term treatment and so his family are now relying on homeopathy to manage his symptoms.

More than 200 medical professionals and families affected by the condition are expected to attend the first annual PANS PANDAS conference, which has been organised by the charity at Imperial College London on Saturday.

They will join the charity in calling for NHS England to support families affected by the condition and discuss options for raising awareness in the UK.

It said the World Health Organisation (WHO) has now acknowledged PANDAS but awareness needs to be raised in the UK too.

Chairwoman Georgia Tuckey said: Parents with children who have PANS or PANDAS regularly find themselves confused, helpless and desperate for someone to support their child.

With better education in the medical community we can support these families faster and get their children on the long road to recovery quicker.

Dr Andrew Curran, consultant paediatric neurologist at Alder Hey Childrens Hospital in Liverpool, said: It is essential that doctors should be alerted to the possibility of psychiatric and neurological disorder triggered by infections.

With this knowledge an array of treatment options become available that can be transformative of a young persons and their familys lives.

Vicky Burford, whose teenage boy has PANS, said: It was devastating to see our lovely son suddenly change.

None of the diagnoses we were given seemed to fit his unique and strange combination of symptoms. Our son was disappearing before our eyes.

My family suffered for two full years before getting appropriate treatment.

No family deserves this, and we want to make sure that no other parent or child experiences the same nightmare.Labour is promising to put equality centre stage as it kicks off an annual conference expected to be dominated by squabbles over Brexit and the future of the party.

As activists gather in Liverpool, shadow women and equalities secretary Dawn Butler will unveil plans for a Labour government to establish a standalone department for women and equalities with a minister at the Cabinet table.

The move comes as Jeremy Corbyn seeks to put behind him a difficult summer dominated by a bitter row over anti-Semitism within the party ranks, with accusations that he has been too slow to deal with the issue.

But while the leadership is hoping it can shift the focus on to expected high-profile policy announcements on housing and business, Brexit and party infighting are likely to make the headlines.

Jeremy Corbyn faces pressure to back the Peoples Vote campaign (John Stillwell/PA)

Mr Corbyn will come under intense pressure to back the Peoples Vote campaign for a fresh Brexit referendum, as party members, campaigners and activists are joined by MP David Lammy and GMB union general-secretary Tim Roache for a march in the city on Sunday demonstrating support for a vote on the final deal.

So far the Labour leader has resisted such calls, preferring to press for a general election if  as many MPs expect  Theresa May is unable to get a Brexit deal through Parliament.

Meanwhile, the partys National Executive Committee (NEC) will meet on Saturday, the day before the main conference begins, to discuss changes to leadership election rules, which left-wing activists claim could keep supporters of Mr Corbyn off the ballot.

At the same time, the grassroots activists group which helped propel Mr Corbyn to the leadership is pushing for another rule change which could make it easier to de-select sitting MPs.

It is likely to revive fears among critics of Mr Corbyn of a left-wing purge of the moderates  including some of his fiercest critics in the row over anti-Semitism.

At the Labour Womens Conference on Saturday ahead of the main conference, Ms Butler will say equality should no longer be considered an afterthought.

She will say: So far we have seen seven different ministers for equality tagged on to four different departments and a budget thats nearly been halved.

This proves the Tories are not taking equalities seriously. By establishing a Department for Women and Equalities, Labour will ensure equalities is the common thread running through its government.

The next Labour government will put equality centre stage.

She will also announce plans to introduce a requirement for all employers to have a domestic abuse policy and provide 10 days paid leave for victims, if Labour win power.

Employers have a duty of care to employees experiencing domestic abuse and should put in place a range of workplace policies to help victims, Ms Butler is expected to say.

This crucial time will allow women to leave their abusive partners safely, get the help, protection and support they need, knowing their livelihood is secure.

These 10 days could literally help save the lives of those women.

And Ms Butler will call for a localised approach to tackling domestic abuse, with a national oversight mechanism to set quality standards for refuge provision and support.

Labours conference, running under the slogan Rebuilding Britain, for the many, not the few, will start on Sunday and close on Wednesday with a major speech by Mr Corbyn.

On Saturday the BBC reported that shadow chancellor John McDonnell had suggested the rail industry could be renationalised within five years by finding ways to end private contracts early.

Asked if it would be possible for all of the franchises to be brought back under public control during the first term of a Labour government, he said: I think thats possible.

And if you look at whats happened over time a number of these franchises have been handed back anyway.

Mr McDonnell is reportedly considering how a Public Ownership Unit could be created in the Treasury to develop legal and financial plans for renationalsing certain private industries.

We will have new structures of government, he said.

Ill be ready on day one going into government to be able to bring forward the legislation, to implement the policy.

On Thursday the Government announced a sweeping review of Britains railways following a series of high-profile failures, including the botched timetable change and the collapse of Virgins East Coast mainline franchise.EU leaders have insisted a Brexit deal is still possible following the bitter fall-out from Theresa Mays appearance at the Salzburg summit.

The Prime Minister warned she was prepared to walk away from the negotiations after her Chequers plan was brusquely rebuffed by leaders of the remaining 27 member states.

The strength of the reaction to her treatment in the UK  where it was widely seen as a humiliation  appeared to catch Brussels by surprise.

In a conciliatory statement on Friday, European Council president Donald Tusk said the leaders assembled in Austria had treated her proposals with all seriousness and regarded them as a step in the right direction.

However he suggested they had been taken aback by the surprisingly tough and in fact uncompromising approach she had adopted when she addressed them over dinner on Wednesday.

While understanding the logic of the negotiations, I remain convinced that a compromise, good for all, is still possible. I say these words as a close friend of the UK and a true admirer of PM May, he said.

Earlier Irish premier Leo Varadkar, who reportedly clashed with Mrs May in Salzburg over the issue of the border with Northern Ireland, acknowledged negotiations had hit a rocky patch but said they would keep working for a deal.

The Prime Minister won backing from many Tory MPs for her tough, televised statement on Friday in which she denounced her treatment by the other 27 leaders and demanded the UK was treated with respect.

(PA)

With barely controlled anger, she warned that she would never accept any agreement on the Irish border issue which led to the break up of my country and made clear she would walk away rather than accept a bad deal.

Her intervention appeared to have won her some breathing space ahead of the Tory Party conference in Birmingham.

But while Brexiteer MPs lauded her for standing up to the EU there were also fresh calls to abandon her Chequers plan  which many Tories believe would keep Britain too close to the EU  for a simple Canada-style free trade deal.

However any respite may be short-lived as former Brexit secretary David Davis  who quit over Chequers and is promising to publish his own plan for leaving  is due to appear at a Leave Means Leave rally in Bolton on Saturday along with former Ukip leader Nigel Farage.

Former Ukip leader Nigel Farage and David Davis are expected to be at an event in Bolton on Saturday (PA file)

Meanwhile The Daily Telegraph reported that senior ministers will use a Cabinet meeting on Monday to push Mrs May to drop Chequers and come up with a Plan B alternative.

Home Secretary Sajid Javid, Work and Pensions Secretary Esther McVey and International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt were said to be among those pressing for a change of direction.

Ms Mordaunt said on Friday she believed voters still want a deal but (were) content to go without one.

For Labour, Jeremy Corbyn said Mrs May had shown herself incapable of delivering a good Brexit deal, and shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer accused her of being in denial.

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Vince Cable said the Chequers plan was dead as a dodo, killed in London by Tory fundamentalists, while Green MP Caroline Lucas said Mrs Mays response pathetic, painful and petulant.The US Senate Judiciary chairman has rejected key conditions that Supreme Court pick Brett Kavanaughs accuser wants if she is to testify about her claim of sexual assault.

Senator Chuck Grassley said his panel would vote on Monday on Mr Kavanaughs Supreme Court nomination without an agreement.

Mr Grassley said he was giving lawyers for Christine Blasey Ford until 10pm on Friday to come to a reasonable resolution or his Republican-run panel would vote on sending Mr Kavanaughs nomination to the full Senate.

Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh has denied the accusation (Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP)

We are unwilling to accommodate your unreasonable demands, Mr Grassley wrote.

There was no immediate public response from Ms Fords lawyers.

Judiciary Committee Continues Effort to Accommodate Testimony from Dr. Ford Next Weekhttps://t.co/4lh70YHNoI  Senate Judiciary Republicans (@SenJudiciaryGOP) September 21, 2018

That silence and Mr Grassleys offer, which did not rule out further compromise, left uncertain whether Ms Ford would appear and tell politicians about her allegation that an inebriated Mr Kavanaugh trapped her on a bed and tried removing her clothes when both were teenagers in the 1980s.

Mr Kavanaugh, a 53-year-old District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals judge, has repeatedly denied the accusation.

Mr Grassley sent Ms Fords lawyers a proposal earlier on Friday offering a Wednesday hearing  Ms Ford preferred Thursday  and said, It is not fair to him or to his family to allow this situation to continue without a resolution and without an opportunity for him to clear his name.

Mr Grassley said he was rebuffing Ms Fords proposals that she testify after Mr Kavanaugh and that only senators, not outside counsel, be allowed to ask questions.

The committees 11 Republicans  all men  have been seeking an outside female lawyer to interrogate Ms Ford.

He also refused to call additional witnesses. Ms Ford wants an appearance by Mark Judge, a Kavanaugh friend who Ms Ford asserts was at the high school party and in the bedroom where the alleged assault occurred.

Mr Grassley said he had consented to several other demands, including that Ms Ford be provided security and that Mr Kavanaugh not be in the hearing room when she testifies.Theresa Mays defiant challenge to EU leaders over their rejection of her Brexit blueprint leads most papers on Saturday.

The Prime Minister demanded that Britain is shown respect in the negotiations and warned that an impasse over the Irish border and trade had to be overcome.

The Times says the PM has taken the UK to the brink of no-deal by dismissing the EUs offer as a bad deal.

What the papers say - September 22

Tomorrow's front page: Defiant May raises stakes with no-deal threat to EU #tomorrowspaperstoday pic.twitter.com/AlKaMTnbkx  The Times (@thetimes) September 21, 2018

The PM froze talks until EU leaders make a new offer and insisted the ball is in their court, The Sun reports.

Tomorrow's front page: Furious PM freezes talks with Brussels https://t.co/vVul4XxdJ6 pic.twitter.com/pqBlON4ipb  The Sun (@TheSun) September 21, 2018

The Daily Mail describes Mrs Mays response as steely after she was humiliated by her European counterparts in Salzburg.

The Daily Express calls the 27 other leaders self-serving and reports that a poll showed 81% of readers backed her stance.

However the Daily Telegraph reports that the PM is facing a showdown with her Cabinet, who will call for a Plan B.

The Financial Times says the pound suffered its biggest one-day fall in 15 months as Mrs May gave her speech in Downing Street, reporting that hopes of a favourable Brexit outcome have been punctured.

Just published: front page of FT Weekend, UK edition, Saturday 22 September https://t.co/okchaxFe2g pic.twitter.com/cmCZRpVbma  Financial Times (@FinancialTimes) September 21, 2018

The i says Brexiteer MPs were placated by her tough stance, but still plan on staging a mutiny over her so-called Chequers plan in the Commons.

And The Guardian says that, despite the heated rhetoric, EU officials are drawing up a counter-proposal which is likely to be put forward in early October.

Saturdays GUARDIAN:  I have treated the EU with nothing but respect. The UK expects the same  #bbcpapers #tomorrowspaperstoday pic.twitter.com/4hcQKWs8Qn  Allie Hodgkins-Brown (@AllieHBNews) September 21, 2018

In other news, the Daily Mirror leads with the story of an acid attack victim who says she was talked out of suicide by Strictly star Katie Piper.

And The Independent reports on plans to train the public to be able to give first aid in the event of a terror attack.The Duchess of Cornwall is to attend the premiere of a classical work by royal composer Paul Mealor in Edinburgh on Saturday.

Requiem: The Souls of The Righteous will be performed at St Marys Cathedral by the National Youth Choir of Scotland and Royal Scottish National Orchestra.

Camilla is chancellor of the University of Aberdeen, which is hosting the sell-out concert.

Camilla will attend the sell-out concert in Edinburgh (Kirsty OConnor/PA)

We are honoured that @aberdeenuni Chancellor HRH The Duchess of Rothesay will be attending the premiere of Professor Paul Mealor's new work "Requiem: The Souls of The Righteous" at St Marys Cathedral in Edinburgh on September 22nd. https://t.co/nOpMjx11qj @ClarenceHouse pic.twitter.com/L15lJQvrkc  University of Aberdeen (@aberdeenuni) September 21, 2018

The universitys Professor Mealor composed the 40-minute requiem to mark the centenary of the end of the First World War.

Set to words by poet Dr Grahame Davies, it will be recorded by Classic FM and broadcast on Remembrance Sunday.

Funds raised from the concert will be donated to osteoarthritis research at the University of Aberdeen.

Professor Mealor said: In this centenary year, it is important that we do remember the impact not only of the war but how it has shaped our relationship with peace.The high-stakes brinkmanship over whether Brett Kavanaughs accuser would testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee has come to a momentary standstill as chairman Chuck Grassley gave Christine Blasey Ford more time to decide on the terms of her appearance.

The Republican-led committee insisted that if Ms Ford missed a Friday night deadline to respond to the panels latest offer it would hold a vote on Monday on recommending Mr Kavanaughs Supreme Court nomination for the full Senate to consider.

Nearly two hours after the deadline set by Mr Grassley expired on Friday night, the Iowa Republican tweeted that he had just granted another extension for Christine Blasey Ford to agree to terms for telling his panel about her allegation.

He provided no details of the extension, and participants from both sides did not immediately return messages requesting clarification.

She shld decide so we can move on I want to hear her. I hope u understand, he wrote just before midnight in a comment directed at Mr Kavanaugh.

Judge Kavanaugh I just granted another extension to Dr Ford to decide if she wants to proceed w the statement she made last week to testify to the senate She shld decide so we can move on I want to hear her. I hope u understand. Its not my normal approach to b indecisive  ChuckGrassley (@ChuckGrassley) September 22, 2018

Earlier, Mr Grassley had rejected proposals by Ms Fords lawyers that only senators interrogate Ms Ford and that she appear after Mr Kavanaugh should she appear.

Ms Fords lawyer Debra Katz requested another day to decide and said Mr Grassleys deadlines sole purpose is to bully Dr Ford and deprive her of the ability to make a considered decision that has life-altering implications for her and her family.

In backing away from his deadline, Mr Grassley underscored the sensitivity with which Senate Republicans have tried handling Ms Ford.

The late-night brinkmanship between Mr Grassley and Ms Ford left in question whether she would appear before the Republican-run committee and describe her allegation to millions of voters.

Now a 51-year-old California psychology professor, Ms Ford says an inebriated Mr Kavanaugh pinned her on a bed, muffled her cries and tried removing her clothes when both were teenagers in the 1980s.

Mr Kavanaugh, a District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals judge, has repeatedly denied the accusation.

Mr Grassleys move capped a tumultuous day President Donald Trump began with an incendiary tweet of his own, stating that if the long-ago incident was as bad as she says, she or her loving parents surely would have reported it to law enforcement.

Republican Senator Susan Collins, who has not declared support for Mr Kavanaugh, called the remark appalling.

The Judiciary committees 11 Republicans  all men  have been seeking an outside female lawyer to interrogate Ms Ford.

Mr Grassley also rejected her proposal that she testify after Mr Kavanaugh.

We are unwilling to accommodate your unreasonable demands, Mr Grassley said in a written statement.

Mr Grassleys stance underscored a desire by Mr Trump and Republican leaders to usher Mr Kavanaugh, 51, on to the high court by the October 1 start of its new session and before the November elections.

At a campaign rally in Missouri later on Friday, Mr Trump did not mention Ms Ford but said Mr Kavanaugh was born to be on the Supreme Court and its going to happen.

The Judiciary panels top Democrat expressed fury at Mr Grassleys negotiating position with Ms Ford and maintained Democrats effort to build the battle into a larger election-year question about the treatment of women.

Judiciary Committee Continues Effort to Accommodate Testimony from Dr. Ford Next Weekhttps://t.co/4lh70YHNoI  Senate Judiciary Republicans (@SenJudiciaryGOP) September 21, 2018

Mr Grassley said he would schedule a hearing for Wednesday, not Thursday, as Ms Ford prefers.

He also rebuffed other requests, including calling additional witnesses.

Mr Grassley consented to other demands, including that Ms Ford be provided security and that Mr Kavanaugh not be in the hearing room when she testifies.

Ms Fords request for security comes after her lawyers said she has relocated her family due to death threats. She planned to meet with FBI agents in the San Francisco area to discuss those threats, said a person close to her.

The letter to Ms Fords lawyers said Mr Kavanaugh and his family have received death threats too, And theyre getting worse each day.Researchers believe they are close to identifying Captain James Cooks HMS Endeavour among a group of wrecks off the US east coast.

One of historys most famous ships is thought to lie off Rhode Island with the remains of 12 other vessels scuttled during the American War of Independence.

Marine archaeologists have been analysing the wrecks for 25 years and, after a long process of elimination, announced their latest findings on Friday.

This is the first time weve been really willing to say we think were closing in on having the Endeavour, Kathy Abbass, director of the Rhode Island Marine Archaeology Project, told a press conference.

The team plan on taking measurements, testing timber samples from the wreck and excavating at the site to establish how shes built and what shes built of.

Their results will then be compared with historical records in the hope of establishing Endeavours resting place once and for all.

Dr Abbass said: This is science. Its not a documentary. Its not something that will be over in 50 minutes. And weve got a lot more work to do.

HMS Endeavour is famed for carrying then-Lieutenant Cook on his first voyage of discovery to Australia 250 years ago.

Initially a humble collier, the ship was acquired by the Navy in 1768.

After a refit as a research ship she embarked in August of that year in search of the hypothesised continent of Terra Australis Incognita.

In October 1769 she reached New Zealand and spent six months mapping the North Islands coastline before Lt Cook went ashore and formally proclaimed British sovereignty in March 1770.

The Endeavour then sailed for Terra Australis and arrived in what is now known as Botany Bay in New South Wales on April 29.

After sailing along the continents east coast she came close to oblivion after running aground on the Great Barrier Reef, and HMS Endeavour and her crew set sail back for Britain, arriving back in Dover in July 1771.

While Lt Cook returned a hero, HMS Endeavour slipped into relative obscurity and was refitted as a naval transport.

She was renamed the Lord Sandwich after passing into commercial ownership, although the ship returned to naval service after the outbreak of the American War of Independence.

According to records at the National Maritime Museum, the Lord Sandwich was one of five ships sunk in Newport Harbour on August 3 1778 in a bid to stop French ships entering the area.

Captain Cook died in Hawaii only a few months later, likely unaware of the fate of his previous ship.

The 250th anniversary of his claiming of Australia will be marked in 2020.

Peter Dexter, chairman of the Australian National Maritime Museum, said it would be fabulous if the wreck was authenticated as HMS Endeavour in time for the anniversary.

The legacy of Captain Cooks voyage to Australia remains a controversial topic Down Under and the potential discovery of the ship is likely to stir the debate over how his arrival is commemorated.

Dr Abbass said: The Endeavour is considered to be the founding vessel for European Australians. The indigenous populations in Australia are not so happy about it, but thats a political debate that we dont get in to.Gunmen attacked a military parade in the south-west Iranian city of Ahvaz on Saturday, killing at least eight Revolutionary Guard members, the semi-official Tasnim news agency says.

The state-run IRNA news agency said a woman and a child were also among the wounded.

Earlier reports described the assailants as Takifiri gunmen, a term previously used to describe the Islamic State group.

Iranian armed forces members and civilians take shelter in the aftermath of the shooting (Behrad Ghasemi/ISNA/AP))

The semi-official Fars news agency, which is close to the elite Revolutionary Guard, said two gunmen on a motorcycle wearing khaki uniforms carried out the attack.

Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Twitter blamed regional countries and their US masters for the attack and warned that Iran will respond swiftly and decisively in defence of Iranian lives.

Zarif added that the gunmen were terrorists recruited, trained, armed & paid by a foreign regime.

Terrorists recruited, trained, armed & paid by a foreign regime have attacked Ahvaz. Children and journos among casualties. Iran holds regional terror sponsors and their US masters accountable for such attacks. Iran will respond swiftly and decisively in defense of Iranian lives. pic.twitter.com/WG1J1wgVD9  Javad Zarif (@JZarif) September 22, 2018

State television showed images of the immediate aftermath.

In it, paramedics could be seen helping someone in military fatigues lying on the ground.

Other armed security personnel shouted at each other in front of what appeared to be a viewing stand for the parade.

The semi-official ISNA news agency published photographs of the attacks aftermath, with bloodied troops in dress uniform helping each other walk away.

The attack struck on Ahvazs Quds, or Jerusalem Boulevard.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

Saturdays attack came after a co-ordinated June 7, 2017 Islamic State group assault on parliament and the shrine of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in Tehran.

That attack had at that point been the only one by the Sunni extremists inside of Shiite Iran, which has been deeply involved in the wars in Iraq and Syria where the militants once held vast territory.

At least 18 people were killed and more than 50 wounded in the 2017 attack that saw gunmen carrying Kalashnikov assault rifles and explosives storm the parliament complex where a legislative session had been in progress, starting an hours-long siege.

Meanwhile, gunmen and suicide bombers also struck outside Khomeinis mausoleum on Tehrans southern outskirts.

Khomeini led the 1979 Islamic Revolution that toppled the Western-backed shah to become Irans first supreme leader until his death in 1989.

Ahvaz is the capital of Irans oil-rich Khuzestan province. The province in the past has seen Arab separatists attack oil pipelines.

The assault shocked Tehran, which largely has avoided militant attacks in the decades after the tumult surrounding the Islamic Revolution.A Labour government could re-nationalise the entire railway system within the first five years of taking office, shadow chancellor John McDonnell has said.

As delegates were gathering in Liverpool for the partys annual conference, Mr McDonnell said they were already looking at the detail as to how it could be achieved.

Labours 2017 general election manifesto pledged to bring back the private railway companies into public ownership as the current franchises expire.

However, in an interview with the BBC Radio 4 Today programme, Mr McDonnell suggested they could take advantage of break clauses in the contracts to act earlier.

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell (Steve Parsons/PA)

Asked whether they could all be publicly owned in the first term of the Labour government, he said: I think thats possible. Thats why were working through the detail now of how that can be done.

If you look at whats happened over time a number of these franchises have been handed back anyway.

I think we are in a situation now where I think that is certainly possible. We want to get to within the first term of a Labour government an integrated railway system.

Under his plans, Labour would establish a public ownership unit within the Treasury and develop legal and financial plans to renationalise industries such as water.

We will have new structures of government. Ill be ready on day one going into government to be able to bring forward the legislation, to implement the policy, he said.

The unit would also advise on compensation to shareholders and help decide which private finance initiatives (PFIs) should be taken back into public hands.

In some cases, he suggested, no compensation may be needed.

We will abide by the legal advice that is provided to us. If the legal advice that is provided to us is we are not obliged to provide compensation to some, then we will follow that advice, he said.

There might be some factors in relation to some operations of PFIs in particular that could be brought forward that says actually there is no compensatory arrangements needed here.

Chancellor Philip Hammond said Mr McDonnells plans would mean a 176 billion borrowing binge in the first year of a Labour government.

Ideological re-nationalisation would lead to less choice and poorer services. It would put politicians in day to day control of our vital services, meaning nowhere for people to turn when things go wrong, he said.

Labour arent fit to govern and working people would pay the price if they ever got the chance.A fresh strike in the train guards dispute was being solidly supported on Saturday, causing more disruption to services.

Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union on Arriva Rail North (Northern) walked out for 24 hours, with further stoppages planned in the coming weeks.

Only a third of services were running because of the strike, which went ahead after the collapse of talks earlier this week

Only a third of services were running because of the strike (Martin Rickett/PA)

RMT general secretary Mick Cash said: RMT members are standing solid, determined and united again this morning on Northern Rail in the continuing fight for safety, security and access on our trains and are angry and frustrated that the company collapsed this weeks Acas talks rather than work out a deal.

This is the 28th day of strike action in the Northern Rail dispute and our members remain absolutely resolute in the campaign for a safe, secure and accessible railway for all.

It is scandalous that while other train operators have been prepared to engage seriously with RMT on the crucial issue of a guaranteed second safety-critical member of staff on their services, ARN have treated us with contempt and made a mockery of the talks process.

Its about time that German-owned ARN, part of the giant state Deutsche Bahn outfit, stopped treating their frontline, safety critical staff like dirt and started talking seriously and positively with the union on the issue of the guard guarantee.

RMT will not allow safety, security and access on our railways to be compromised in the drive for private profit.

We thank the public for their continuing support and understanding that this dispute is all about safety and passenger service.

Richard Allan, deputy managing director at Northern, said: Northern invited RMT to Acas talks and agreed to discuss the three options RMT had suggested beforehand on the role of the on-board member of staff.

Northern was prepared to talk about the RMTs options.

However, RMT unilaterally changed the basis of what they were prepared to talk about.

This is despite the fact that they have reached agreements on similar terms elsewhere in the industry.

RMT then called yet more strike action which will only cause further unnecessary difficulty for customers.

Northern remains ready to talk about the options and calls on RMT to cancel strike action and return to the talks.

Northern is getting on with the important job of modernising local rail for customers with new trains, better stations and more services.

It remains willing to involve RMT in that positive future for colleagues and customers. But progress can only be achieved through talking.Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt has urged EU leaders to step back from the abyss of a no-deal Brexit and engage with Theresa Mays Chequers plan.

Following the angry clashes at the Salzburg summit, Mr Hunt said it was counterproductive to insult Britains referendum vote and to say the only way the UK could legally leave was by breaking up your country.

What we need to be doing in a situation like this is bringing people together, he told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme.

This is a time for people in the EU to step back from the abyss, to sit down and to talk to us about how we can make these sensible, concrete proposals actually work.

Theresa May has warned she could walk away from the Brexit talks (Jack Taylor/PA)

After EU leaders meeting in Austria on Thursday warned a key element of the Chequers plan would not work, Mr Hunt called them to engage with Britain in a spirit of politeness and decency to find an agreed solution.

However, he did not rule out the prospect that the Government could now seek a simple, Canada-style free trade agreement  favoured by many Tory MPs  rather than continuing with the more ambitious Chequers proposals.

I am not dismissing anything, he said, adding however that a Canada-style agreement would not address the issue of the Irish border.

Mr Hunt made clear the Governments anger at the way Mrs May had been treated in Salzburg, with European Council President Donald Tusk posting a mocking tweet with a picture of him offering Mrs May a cake with the caption Sorry, no cherries  a reference to EU accusations of British cherry picking  while French President Emmanuel Macron called Brexit campaigners liars.

He underlined the Prime Ministers warning in a televised address on Friday that she was ready to walk away from the negotiations rather than accept a bad deal.

What Theresa May is saying is Dont mistake British politeness for weakness. If you put us in a difficult corner we will stand our ground. That is the kind of country we are, Mr Hunt said.

Insulting her on social media, getting to these stand-offs where you are calling people liars and so on is not the way we are going to get a solution to this difficult situation.

If we are going to work seriously towards a solution then we need to avoid revving up the situation, making it worse by appealing to audiences on social media.

In particular Mr Hunt made clear Britain could not accept the EUs backstop plan for the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic to avoid the return of a hard border in the event that there was no agreement on new customs arrangements.

He said the proposal, which would effectively see Northern Ireland remain in the single market requiring customs checks on goods moving to and from the British mainland, would effectively mean the break-up of the UK.

While a no-deal break would lead to disruption on both sides of the Channel  with an estimated 1 million jobs lost across the EU  Mr Hunt said he was confident Britain would flourish whatever the outcome of the negotiations.

It would be bumpy, it would be difficult, but we would find a way to survive and prosper as a country. We have had far bigger challenges in our history but it is not our desired outcome, he said.

Donald Tusk has said a Brexit deal is still possible (Rick Findler/PA)

In her televised address, Mrs May demanded EU leaders show the same respect that she had always shown to them and warned them not to make demands they knew Britain could not accept.

In a statement on Friday, Mr Tusk denied claims that the EU leaders in Salzburg had dismissed her Chequers plan out of hand, saying that the British side had known for many weeks about the EU concerns.

While he suggested that the leaders had been taken aback by her surprisingly tough and in fact uncompromising stance at the meeting, he said he believed a deal was still possible.

While understanding the logic of the negotiations, I remain convinced that a compromise, good for all, is still possible. I say these words as a close friend of the UK and a true admirer of PM May, he said.Gunmen attacked an annual Iranian military parade on Saturday in the countrys oil-rich southwest, killing at least eight members of the countrys elite Revolutionary Guard, local media reported.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the assault in Ahvaz, which saw gunfire spray into a crowd of marching guardsmen, bystanders and government officials watching from a nearby platform.

However, Iran faced a bloody assault last year from the Islamic State group and Arab separatists in the region have attacked oil pipelines there in the past.

Irans state-run IRNA news agency said 25 people were dead.

Terrorists recruited, trained, armed & paid by a foreign regime have attacked Ahvaz. Children and journos among casualties. Iran holds regional terror sponsors and their US masters accountable for such attacks. Iran will respond swiftly and decisively in defense of Iranian lives. pic.twitter.com/WG1J1wgVD9  Javad Zarif (@JZarif) September 22, 2018

Irans Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif immediately blamed the attack on regional countries and their US masters, further raising regional tensions as Tehrans nuclear deal with world powers is in jeopardy after President Donald Trump withdrew America from the accord.

Iran will respond swiftly and decisively in defense of Iranian lives, he wrote on Twitter.

State television aired footage of the aftermath of the assault on Ahvazs Quds, or Jerusalem Boulevard, which like many other places around the country saw an annual parade marking the start of Irans long 1980s war with Iraq.

The images included paramedics trying to help one person in military fatigues as other armed security personnel shouted at each other.

The semi-official ISNA news agency published photographs of the attacks aftermath, with bloodied troops in dress uniform helping each other walk away.

The semi-official Tasnim news agency said at least eight members of the Guard had been killed.

Khuzestan governor Gholamreza Shariati told IRNA that two gunmen were killed and another two were arrested.

Who carried out the assault also remained in question.

State television immediately described the assailants as takfiri gunmen, a term previously used to describe the Islamic State group.

Iran has been deeply involved in the fight against IS in Iraq and has aided Syrian president Bashar Assad in his countrys long war.

Among those involved are members of the Revolutionary Guard, a paramilitary force answerable only to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The Guard also has vast holdings in Irans economy.

Meanwhile, Guard spokesman General Ramazan Sharif told ISNA that an Arab separatist group carried out the attack, without elaborating.

However, those groups in the past previously have only attacked unguarded oil pipelines at night.

Saturdays attack comes after a coordinated June 7, 2017 Islamic State group assault on parliament and the shrine of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in Tehran. At least 18 people were killed and more than 50 wounded.

Khomeini led the 1979 Islamic Revolution that toppled the Western-backed shah to become Irans first supreme leader until his death in 1989.

The assault shocked Tehran, which largely has avoided militant attacks in the decades after the tumult surrounding the Islamic Revolution.US President Donald Trump has issued an ominous warning about the Justice Department and the FBI, promising further firings to get rid of a lingering stench following reports that deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein discussed secretly recording him.

Trump, speaking at a rally in Missouri on Friday, did not explicitly mention the Rosenstein furore, which was first reported by The New York Times and confirmed by The Associated Press.

But Trump lashed out against what he sees as anti-Trump bias in the Justice Department, touting the firings he has orchestrated, unnerving many in federal law enforcement and sparking fears about the future of the special counsels Russia probe, which Rosenstein oversees.

Youve seen what happened in the FBI and the Department of Justice. The bad ones, theyre all gone. Theyre all gone, Trump said.

But there is a lingering stench and were going to get rid of that, too.

One person present during Rosensteins remarks said he was being sarcastic.

The Times also said he raised the idea of using the 25th Amendment to remove Trump as unfit for office.

Rosenstein said the story is inaccurate and factually incorrect.

It was the latest storm to buffet the White House, which this week was battered by a number of potentially damaging stories.

Beyond the speculation about Rosenstein, it was revealed that Trumps former fixer, Michael Cohen, is co-operating with special counsel Robert Muellers investigation.

Deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein says the story is `inaccurate and factually incorrect (Evan Vucci/AP)

The president also backed off his plan to declassify documents related to the ongoing probe, and the fate of his Supreme Court nominee remained uncertain.

Negotiations continued about a possible appearance by Christine Blasey Ford, the woman who accused Judge Brett Kavanaugh, Trumps nominee, of sexual assault at a high school party more than three decades ago.

Trump made the future of Kavanaugh and the federal judiciary a centrepiece of his rally in Springfield, which was designed to support the states Republican Senate candidate, Missouri attorney general Josh Hawley, in his race against Democratic incumbent Claire McCaskill.

Supporters cheered as Donald Trump arrived to speak in Missouri (Evan Vucci/AP)

I dont know who she is with but she is not with the state of Missouri, Trump said.

(Kavanaugh) is a fantastic man, a fantastic man. She wont vote for him.

But Trump, who used Twitter earlier Friday to cast doubt on Fords claim, preached optimism on Kavanaugh, saying he was born for the US Supreme Court and reassuring the crowd that its going to happen. Its going to happen.

He added: We have to fight for him, not worry about the other side. And by the way, women are for that more than anybody would understand.

When Hawley praised Trumps judicial picks, the crowd began chanting Kavanaughs name.

And the president, drawing energy from a packed, raucous crowd, dished out plenty of red meat, pledging to build his signature border wall, telegraphing that he is willing to escalate trade conflicts with both China and Western allies and suggesting he was willing to wait to make a peace deal with North Korea.An Irish Wolfhound emerged as one of the stars of the show during the first military presentation of colours to take place in Belfast in living memory.

Brian Boru X proudly led the men of the 1st and 2nd Battalions of the Royal Irish Regiment on parade at Titanic Slipways on Saturday as they received their colours from the Duke of York.

The two-year-old hound was then in hot demand by scores of fans eager to meet him and get their photograph taken with him.

His handler, Wolfhound Major Robert Moore (30) from Belfast said the regiments mascot is always star of the show wherever they go.

Speaking to Press Association during rehearsals ahead of the event, Major Moore said: Hes the star of the show, once everyone sees the mascot, everyone says, oh, theres the mascot, lets go.

Everyone wants their picture taken with him, everyone wants to speak to him, everyone wants to pet him, and hes just the same, he wants to introduce himself to everyone else. Hes more than happy to give a lick to a couple of people.

Just like the men must undertake hours of polishing to ensure their dress uniform is spic and span, Brian Boru X also requires significant preparation.

As part of that he enjoyed a bath the night before the event.

Major Moore has had Brian Boru since he was just six months old, and knows him by his pet name Conri, which means Wolf King in Irish.

I have had him in schools, doing stuff with kids, so he is used to it now (being around a lot of people), it helped having him so young, he said.

The job came up and I fancied a change.

So I did a couple of courses that you have to do to work with military working dogs, took ownership of Conri here, then it was all about getting him ready for parade and engagements we do, PR work, recruitment events

Brian Boru X joined the regiment in May 2016, and was warmly welcomed as mascot after two years without one.

He was born on January 11, 2016 at Nutstown Irish Wolfhounds, north of Dublin.

His first appearance with the regiment was at Old Soldiers Day on June 4, 2016, the second anniversary of the death of his predecessor, Brian Boru IX (Finn).

When on parade, Brian Boru has an official uniform. This consists of a piper green coat trimmed with silver lace and displaying the Regimental badge on either flank.

Royal Irish Mascot Brian Boru X (Conri). Photo Credit to be Robbie Hodgson.

Attached to the coat is a silver braid lead, which goes over the neck, shoulders, and hangs down over the dogs chest.

A sterling silver breast plate brooch is worn at the neck of the coat. This brooch was designed and made in 2016 to Regimental specification by Graham Harron, a silversmith in Killyleagh, Co Down.

To complete the ceremonial dress, the dog has a choice of dark brown leather collars, one displaying the Regimental cap badge while the other has the name engraved on a silver plate.Kyle Walker has admitted he was hurt by Mauricio Pochettinos criticism of him, and revealed he left Tottenham because the Argentine told him he was not part of his plans.

The England international joined Manchester City in a 45million deal in July 2017, and has since won the Premier League title and Carabao Cup.

Tottenham boss Pochettino claimed in a book published last year that Walker wanted to leave the north London club.

Kyle Walker was a Tottenham player for eight years before leaving in 2017 (Adam Davy/PA)

He also accused the defender of an alarming lack of respect to Spurs after insisting that he forced through the move to Pep Guardiolas side.

But Walker, 28, has refuted Pochettinos claim, and taken aim at his former manager for making details of their conversation public.

I was hurt a lot by that, Walker said in an interview with the Daily Mail. He said his door was always open and I thought it was a private meeting we had. So I kept quiet but then he went and wrote about it or his version of it.

If he was going to do that he might as well have called a press conference and told everyone. He told me I wasnt in his plans. He told one side of the story, but its a side of a story I dont agree with.

He said he had a witness in there, but he didnt tell the correct story, no way. Up until now I have never said my part. I have stayed quiet and showed a level of respect to Tottenham and I always will.

People dont know the ins and outs of everything and it is about time I told people what happened from my side.

Walker, who is set to line up for City against Cardiff on Saturday following their surprise midweek defeat at home to Lyon in the Champions League, defended his decision to leave Spurs.

I have had a few people calling me a snake and stuff, he added. It hurts because I gave everything to that club. And everything I am now I owe to that club.

I have justified why I wanted to come to Manchester City because I have won trophies and improved.Cristiano Ronaldo has been backed to put his Champions League red card behind him when Juventus face Frosinone in Serie A on Sunday.

Ronaldo was sent off on his European debut for the Old Lady after appearing to put his hand on the head of Valencia defender Jeison Murillo, provoking an emotional response from the disconsolate Portugal forward.

Juventus went on to win 2-0 but they will not find out until UEFA examines the incident on September 27 whether they will be without their summer signing from Real Madrid for more than one match.

Cristiano Ronaldo was sent off against Valencia in midweek (Joe Giddens/PA)

He is available for Sundays trip to Frosinone, however, with team-mate Alex Sandro convinced he has already recovered from the setback.

Cristiano looks really fired up, Sandro told Sky Sport Italia.

Hes a highly experienced player and he knows that what happened in Spain is in the past now. Hes already looking forward.

Cristiano has brought lots of qualities to the team. Im getting to know him, learning the sort of runs he makes and how he likes to receive the ball.

I think in time Ill be able to provide him with a fair few assists.

Brazil left-back Sandro, part of possibly the meanest defence in Europe, insists concentration is the key to toppling Frosinone.

Its all in the head. We have to stay focused on the task at hand  thats the only way forward if we want to secure another win in the league, he said.

I think this could be an excellent season both for me personally and as a team. I have a good feeling but I know I have to keep improving.

Juventus are missing Douglas Costa for their third match in seven days due to suspension and injury.

Costa had already been banned for four Serie A matches after spitting at Sassuolo striker Federico Di Francesco, but the Brazilian winger also suffered ankle and groin problems against Valencia that will keep him out for a month.

Frosinone sit second from bottom in the Serie A table after three defeats and a draw in their four matches so far.

Quoted by the clubs official Twitter account, boss Moreno Longo said: There is only one way, that of working and improving.

We have analysed the errors but we need the strength to overcome the negative situations.A member of Jeremy Corbyns shadow cabinet has spoken approvingly at Labours conference in Liverpool of the Militant-dominated council which ran the city in the 1980s.

Shadow equalities minister Dawn Butler hailed the example of former councillors who set an illegal budget in 1985 in protest at cuts to central government funding.

The tactic was condemned in dramatic scenes at that years party conference, where then leader Neil Kinnock denounced the grotesque chaos of a Labour council  a Labour council  hiring taxis to scuttle round a city handing out redundancy notices to its own workers.

His intervention was a key moment in the drive to break the far-left Militant groups hold over parts of the party, which ended with the expulsion of figures including Liverpool councils deputy leader Derek Hatton.

Speaking to Labours Womens Conference in Liverpool, Ms Butler praised councillors who were fighting against cuts imposed by Theresa Mays Government.

Local councils have seen nearly 50% of their funding cut  I want to give a shout out to all the councillors fighting every day against these Tory cuts, she said.

And she added: Conference, we are in Liverpool where over 30 years ago the council stood up to Thatcher and said, better to break the law than break the poor.

Mr Corbyn and shadow chancellor John McDonnell wrote to all Labour council leaders in 2015 calling on them to resist calls to set illegal budgets.

Labour peer Baroness Thornton criticised Ms Butlers praise for the rebel councillors in a series of tweets.

Great to be at Womens conference, but am surprised that @DawnButlerBrent has just praised a Liverpool Council in the past that of Derek Hatton who issued redundancy notices to their own public sector employees, and failed to protect services too!  Glenys Thornton (@GlenysThornton) September 22, 2018

Great to be at Womens conference, but am surprised that @DawnButlerBrent has just praised a Liverpool Council in the past  that of Derek Hatton  who issued redundancy notices to their own public sector employees, and failed to protect services too! said Lady Thornton.

And @DawnButlerBrent Derek Hattons Militant colleagues were misogynistic bullies. We should not be praising them at @UKLabour Womens Conference.

A Labour spokesman said: The point Dawn was making was that like the Thatcher government of the 1980s, this Tory Government has prioritised tax cuts for the rich while cutting services like womens refuges that save lives and keep women safe.

Labour will invest in our communities to rebuild Britain for the many not the few.

Conservative chairman Brandon Lewis said: This is the sorry state of Labour today: Shadow cabinet members praising the hard-left militants of the 1980s.

Labour has learnt nothing from the past and would take the country back to bankruptcy, job losses and worse public services.Thousands turned out at Titanic Slipways to watch the first public presentation of military colours to the Royal Irish Regiment to take place in Northern Ireland.

Senior personnel have described the moment as a special one that will be remembered for a long time.

The Duke of York, Colonel in Chief of the regiment, described its history as proud and honourable as he presented the new colours to the 1st and 2nd battalions.

Colours are presented to regiments every 25 years, and represent both their history and their future.

This is the first time the event has taken place in public in Northern Ireland.

The Duke of York presents new colours to the Royal Irish Regiment (Rebecca Black/PA)

The new colours were consecrated by the Chaplain General to Her Majestys Land Forces, the Reverend David Coulter, before being presented and paraded through the ranks in Belfast during the ceremony.

The Duke of York gave a short address to the regiment and spectators.

Today, I would like to wish every single member of this fantastic regiment every good fortune as they clear the way for so much that is important not only to Her Majesty but also to the United Kingdom, he said.

Royal Irish were very proud to receive their colours today in Belfast for the first time #Colours18 pic.twitter.com/VpbE9LHpZM  Rebecca Black (@RBlackPA) September 22, 2018

I wish you every continued success as you go about your duties and I now charge you to protect and follow the colours as they are intended.

The prince concluded by saying the Royal Irish motto, Faugh a Ballagh, which means clear the way.

Royal Irish Regiment receive their new colours at Titanic Slipways in Belfast. Rebecca Black/PA

The audience included a number of former members, including Ulster Unionist Party MLAs Doug Beattie and Andy Allen who praised the event.

Brigadier (Retired) Joe OSullivan, Honorary Colonel of The Royal Irish Regiment described it as an historic moment.

Todays Presentation of Colours ceremony marked another historic moment for the regiment that will be remembered by all involved for a long time to come, he said.

I am extremely proud of the commitment, determination and professionalism shown by all on parade today.

Brigadier Mike Murdoch, Deputy Colonel of the Royal Irish Regiment, said the event was a tremendous honour.

Brigadier Mike Murdoch, Deputy Colonel of the Royal Irish Regiment. Rebecca Black/PA

He was parade commander on Saturday.

I think it is just fantastic that the home of the Titanic is where the home of this regiment come together, and today we are standing beside this slipway receiving our colours, in our home, the home of the Titanic, what a fantastic event, he told the Press Association.

For us to receive our new colours in Northern Ireland as an Irish infantry regiment is a tremendous honour.

We have never been able to receive our colours before in Northern Ireland, and we recruit from the island of Ireland, so today we will have soldiers from Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and across the UK on parade, but we are at home in our regimental home, receiving our colours from the Duke of York today.

Sergeant Brian Collins from Connaught said a lot of planning and preparation had gone into the event.

Sergeant Brian Collins of the Royal Irish Regiment. Rebecca Black/PA

There was a lot of planning involved in this, starting from picking the arena and now here we are with the final touches, down to having the threads in the uniforms all sorted, he said.

This is something the guys have been looking forward to, particularly the guys from Northern Ireland, its the first time they get the opportunity to have a parade here in Northern Ireland.The Prince of Wales has attended a consecration service and presented a new military standard to the Queens Own Yeomanry.

Around 130 members of the regiment took part in a parade on the lawn at Bramham Park House, Wetherby, on Saturday.

Charles, wearing his ceremonial frock coat and sword, presented a new Guidon military standard to the commanding officer and regiment.

Charles presented a new Guidon military standard to the regiment (Owen Humphreys/PA)

The Guidon that has been marched off parade today represents over two centuries of volunteer service to the crown at home and abroad  service which has continued to this day, he said in a speech.

I acknowledge with immense gratitude and undying admiration the truly exceptional contribution that your officers, soldiers and families provide so selflessly to the defence of the realm.

You set us an outstanding example that I, for one, do not take for granted.

The event took place at Bramham Park in Wetherby, West Yorkshire (Owen Humphreys/PA)

Warrant Officer Second Class David William, who marched the old standard off and the new one on, said it was an honour.

He added: It was a wonderful opportunity to meet the prince, he joked about the fact that the weather has improved.

Charles has been the Royal Honorary Colonel of the Queens Own Yeomanry since 2000.Jeremy Corbyn laid a wreath to victims of the Hillsborough tragedy during a visit to Anfield.

The Labour leader laid the floral tribute before watching Liverpools match against Southampton.

Mr Corbyn, in Liverpool for Labours party conference, also visited a foodbank outside the stadium.

The Labour leader chatted with supporters and campaigners during his visit  and one affixed a sticker with the crest of Liverpools arch-rivals Everton on Mr Corbyns lapel.

The sticker prompted one Reds fan to joke: Jeremy, youve got a bit of bird shite on your lapel.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn poses with Liverpool fans outside Anfield (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

Mr Corbyn attended the match with local MP Dan Carden.

The Labour leader said: Despite being a lifelong Arsenal fan, I couldnt say no when Walton MP, Dan Carden, invited me to see Liverpool play.

Liverpool fans are united in their fight for social justice.

Ive long admired the incredible campaigning work done by the Hillsborough Justice Campaign.

Today, before the match, I had the opportunity to meet the Fans Supporting Foodbanks, supporters who are doing all they can to fight hunger and come together for the greater good of their community on match day.A rower has been rescued off the coast of Lands End after attempting a solo trip across the Atlantic in a homemade boat.

Duncan Hutchison set off from New York in May on his 3,500-mile journey to Lochinver, north-west Scotland.

He was carrying out the journey in a 23ft wooden rowing boat and has raised more than 18,000 for charity WaterAid.

Mr Hutchison was rescued around 863 miles off the Cornish coast on Saturday by a merchant tanker, which is now taking him back to New York.

Duncan Hutchison (Family handout/PA)

A post on his Facebook page said there had been a technical fault on the boat which had left him with no electronics.

It said: He will be devastated, especially with a technical problem rather than a physical or structural issue of the boat.

Although hes totally dedicated to completing the challenge, today marked 100 days at sea, hes acted responsibly in the best interests of support services, surrounding boats and himself.

Calling this in was probably the toughest thing Duncans ever had to do, but is testament to his selfless and professional approach throughout the journey.

The Maritime and Coastguard Agency said Mr Hutchison reported that he was in difficulties at around 1am and was battling two-and-a-half metre waves.

A spokesman said: HM Coastguard broadcast alerts to vessels in the area and the man was picked up by a merchant tanker who diverted to the scene.

His 23ft wooden rowing boat is now being towed by that vessel.

Duty commander Mark Rodaway said he was picked up safe and well.

Well continue to keep in touch with him via the tanker crew while they progress their passage back towards New York, he added.

Were grateful to the tanker for responding and rescuing this rower.The Irish Foreign Affairs Minister has expressed concern about the implications of the UK Conservative Party supply and confidence deal with the DUP on Brexit.

Simon Coveney said no party should have a veto over the future of the Irish border after the UK leaves the European Union.

He was speaking after DUP leader Arlene Foster praised Prime Minister Theresa May on Friday for standing firm against the EU.

Simon Coveney questioned the Tory Government supply and confidence agreement with the DUP (PA)

Mrs May issued a tough statement following the summit in Salzburg where European leaders rejected her Chequers deal.

The EU should be clear: I will not overturn the result of the referendum. Nor will I break up my country. pic.twitter.com/fYhIgGWV1Q  Theresa May (@theresa_may) September 21, 2018

Speaking from Downing Street, Mrs May insisted the backstop proposal from Brussels to keep Northern Ireland in the EU customs area unless a better solution can be found is unacceptable to Britain because it would create a customs border down the Irish Sea.

Her new alternative would preserve the integrity of the UK while delivering on a commitment not to establish fresh regulatory barriers with the rest of the UK without the agreement of the Executive and Assembly in Belfast, she said.

Speaking on RTEs Marian Finucane show on Saturday, Mr Coveney questioned the UKs Conservative Government supply and confidence agreement with the DUP.

The two parties entered into the parliamentary voting pact in 2017 following a Westminster election which left the Conservatives scrambling to secure a majority.

Mr Coveney made a pointed comment about this, emphasising the Irish Government listens to all the political parties in Northern Ireland.

We dont have a confidence and supply agreement with any one party in Northern Ireland  we listen to all of them, including the DUP and the UUP and the Alliance, and the SDLP and Sinn Fein, he said.

I think the DUP would accept that Northern Ireland is different.

Mr Coveney also expressed concern the so-called backstop has turned into a green versus orange issue, adding it is important to de-dramatise the situation and turn attention to the practicalities of trade and movement of goods and people.

He also emphasised that Ireland is not seeking to undermine the constitutional integrity of the UK, and accused Sinn Fein of spreading fear among the unionist community by previously calling for a border poll.

Mr Coveney has called for an intensification of talks between the UK and EU Brexit teams.

On Friday, Mrs Foster also repeated her warning that her party will veto any attempt to undermine the economic or constitutional integrity of the United Kingdom.

She said: Our red line from day one of these negotiations has been that there can be no border between Northern Ireland and Great Britain.

We continue our intensive work with the Government to ensure that we leave the EU in a manner which protects the constitutional and economic integrity of the United Kingdom and enables us to take back control of our laws, borders and money.

Sinn Fein president Mary-Lou McDonald also took issue with the DUP position and said they should respect that the majority of people in Northern Ireland voted to remain within the EU.

The backstop, as agreed in December, was to secure the interests of our economy, our people and our agreements.

It is a common-sense solution to the British Brexit. It would deliver for all our people north and south, she said.

It is clear the DUP has a reckless disregard for the economy, agreements, livelihoods and jobs of the North.

They do not represent the views of the majority of people nor the interests of the economy.

Both the Tory Party and the DUP should respect the vote of the majority in the North to remain within the European Union with all that entails.

The DUP cannot veto the vote of the people in the North to remain.

It is time for the DUP and British Government to get real. There will be no withdrawal agreement without a backdrop that protects the interests of all Ireland.Nigel Farage has branded the EU gangsters as he kicked off a campaign to block a Brexit betrayal.

The former Ukip leader, sharing a platform with former Tory Brexit secretary David Davis and Labour Brexiteer MP Kate Hoey, also said it is time the UKs own politicians began to feel the heat over attempts, he claimed, to overturn the referendum vote.

Mr Farage was speaking before 1,000 cheering supporters at the first Leave Means Leave rally in Bolton.

The crowd, waving mini Union Jack flags, heard all three speakers implore them to stick with Brexit as mentions of EU leaders Donald Tusk and Michel Barnier, former prime minister Tony Blair and the BBC were loudly booed.

And to cheers and applause, the gangsters and bully boys of the EU were told to read some history books about how Britain reacts when we are up against it.

Mr Farage said out-of-touch career politicians do not want to respect the referendum vote to leave the EU and a renewed, cross-party campaign was needed to stay on course for Brexit and counter the negative narrative in the media.

Kate Hoey, Nigel Farage and David Davis at a Leave Means Leave rally (Peter Byrne/PA)

He said of the EU: They are a bunch of gangsters. We will explain a free trade deal is possible, if thats what the gangsters in Brussels want.

If they dont, that is fine, if they dont we will leave with no deal. No deal, no problem.

I think its about time that our elected politicians began to feel the heat over the extent of the betrayal.

Mr Farage told supporters to queue up outside the constituency offices of MPs to tell them to deliver Brexit.

He continued: It is my first day back on the political stage. Today is the re-launch, today is the rebirth of the peoples army that gave us Brexit.

Mr Farage said Prime Minister Theresa Mays Chequers plan for Brexit was dead following the debacle in Salzburg when EU leaders told her it was unworkable.

Nigel Farage at a Wetherspoons pub in Bolton (Martin Rickett/PA)

He said the plan was Brexit in name only and while not Mrs Mays biggest fan, he berated the EU on how she was treated.

Mr Farage added: I will be damned if we should allow foreign, unelected bureaucrats to treat our Prime Minister like that.

The UK Governments plan for Brexit was agreed by the Cabinet at the Prime Ministers country residence, Chequers, on July 6.

It includes an end to the free movement of people, a free trade area for goods under a common rulebook and a facilitated customs arrangement which aims to maintain easy trade in goods between the UK and the EU whilst allowing Britain to develop an independent trade policy with the rest of the world.

The plans prompted Mr Davis to resign from the Cabinet.

Mr Davis said the plan was a fudge but told the rally he viewed the treatment of Mrs May with contempt and said bad manners and discourtesy are not the hallmarks of great men.

Bolton did the business, what a great crowd. No deal, no problem! pic.twitter.com/HgFNpwlrnw  Nigel Farage (@Nigel_Farage) September 22, 2018

He continued: And if you think you can bully our country, all I can suggest is that you read some history books.

Mr Davis claimed the EU was willing to accept a free trade deal with the UK, on the lines agreed with Canada; no freedom of movement, no tariffs and no court oversight.

He added: We are standing on the brink of an historic change. All we need is the courage to reclaim our birthright.

To govern our own country, to make our own laws and to determine our own destiny.

Ms Hoey, who is facing deselection from her local constituency party, said: My country comes before my party.

She said she was angry and would not let the referendum result be stolen by a second Peoples Vote amid the patronising voices of the mainly London establishment.

Ms Hoey added: Weve had the vote, we dont want another vote, we dont need another vote, we just want to leave.

The MP for Vauxhall, London, said Brussels had never negotiated Brexit in good faith.

She added: They underestimate how strong we are when we are up against it.

The rally at the University of Bolton Stadium is the first in a number of events across the country organised by Leave Means Leave, the pressure group campaigning for a clean, swift exit from the EU.

There will be a major rally in Birmingham on September 30, ahead of the Conservative Party conference in the city, with more events planned in Torquay, Bournemouth, Gateshead and Harrogate during October.A Labour frontbencher has triggered a row by praising the Militant-dominated council which ran Liverpool in the 1980s.

As party activists gathered in the city, Dawn Butler hailed the example of left-wing former councillors who set an illegal budget in 1985 in protest at cuts to central government funding.

Her comments were criticised by senior peers and fellow MPs in a further indication of the divisions within the Parliamentary Labour Party.

Dawn Butler has come under fire from within her own party over her comments (PA)

Ms Butler said: We are in Liverpool where over 30 years ago the council stood up to Thatcher and said, better to break the law than break the poor.

Her comments at Labours womens conference revived memories of the partys battles of the 1980s, when then leader Neil Kinnock denounced the grotesque chaos of a Labour council  a Labour council  hiring taxis to scuttle round a city handing out redundancy notices to its own workers.

His intervention was a key moment in the drive to break the far-left Militant groups hold over parts of the party, which ended with the expulsion of figures including Liverpool councils deputy leader Derek Hatton.

Shadow equalities minister Ms Butlers comments were criticised by fellow Labour frontbencher Baroness Thornton.

She said she was surprised Ms Butler praised a council that issued redundancy notices to their own public sector employees, and failed to protect services too.

Fellow Lords frontbencher Lord Kennedy retweeted Lady Thornton, adding: Well said.

Ms Butlers remarks were far from what we should be standing for as a party, one Labour MP told the Press Association.

A Labour spokesman said: The point Dawn was making was that like the Thatcher government of the 1980s, this Tory Government has prioritised tax cuts for the rich while cutting services like womens refuges that save lives and keep women safe.

Ms Butlers comments came on the eve of Labours main autumn gathering where there is set to be a fresh row over Brexit policy.

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell indicated Labour would resist grassroots pressure to commit to a second referendum, warning of the risk that a re-run vote could stoke far-right populism and xenophobia.

The shadow chancellor also suggested the rail industry could be renationalised within five years under a Labour government.

He told BBC Radio 4s Today programme it would be possible to bring all franchises back under public control during a single term in office, amid reports he is planning a Public Ownership Unit within the Treasury to deal with renationalisations.

But at The World Transformed politics and arts festival running in parallel with the Labour conference, Mr McDonnell warned the establishment would attempt to resist the partys radical policies.

Pressure on Labour to change course over Brexit will see activists take to the streets of Liverpool for a march and rally demanding a so-called Peoples Vote.

More than 100 constituency parties and trade union branches have submitted bids for the referendum issue to be put to a vote in Liverpool.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has resisted such calls, preferring to press for a general election if  as many MPs expect  Theresa May is unable to get a Brexit deal through Parliament.

And Mr McDonnell signalled the partys position in that event would be unchanged from last years snap election.

We would be in the same situation there, where we would be saying were accepting that original vote, this is the sort of deal that we want, he told The Guardian.

The debate around the next manifesto will go on, but I really worry about another referendum.

Im desperately trying to avoid any rise of xenophobia that happened last time around, Im desperately trying to avoid giving any opportunity to Ukip or the far-right. I think theres the real risk of that.

Were not ruling out a peoples vote, but theres a real risk, and I think people need to take that into account when were arguing for one.

But former foreign secretary David Miliband told Today: Its an absolute dereliction of duty in my view for the Labour Party leadership not to embrace the fundamental principle that since the Brexit that people were sold two years ago is not available, its essential that the Brexit deal the Prime Minister does is put to people.

Meanwhile, Mr Corbyn was given a rousing reception at the womens conference, where he told delegates: The Tories may talk about equality, they may say their Government delivers for all, but the lived experience of women in Britain tells a different story.

Labour is the party of equality, the party of women, the party committed to measuring all our policies on their impact on women in society.

But he acknowledged shortcomings in Labours handling of allegations of sexual harassment and abuse in the party, admitting: We have not always met necessarily the highest standards, which rightly are demanded of us.Renowned composer Paul Mealor said it was a great honour to have the Duchess of Cornwall attend the world premiere of his latest work, a tribute to the fallen of the First World War.

Professor Mealor composed Requiem: The Souls Of The Righteous to mark the centenary of the end of the war, and will conduct the piece at New Yorks Carnegie Hall on Remembrance Sunday.

It was performed for the first time by the National Youth Choir of Scotland and Royal Scottish National Orchestra in Edinburgh on Saturday, where the duchess joined an audience at St Marys Cathedral.

Camilla, known as the Duchess of Rothesay in Scotland, is chancellor of the University of Aberdeen, where Prof Mealor has taught since 2003.

The composer, whose work Ubi Caritas was performed at the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, said of the Requiem: Its a big piece and its a big subject.

How do you tackle war now, in the 21st century, how do you mark the centenary in a way that is not offensive, that doesnt glorify war?

The librettist and I, we decided to write a piece that is in essence about peace, for both sides of the conflict, and about reconciliation and the sacrifice that people made so that we can all live in peace.

Its a great honour that the Duchess of Rothesay has joined us for the premiere. She is a huge supporter of music and of the university, and always adds a wonderful light to events like this because she is always so very easy to talk to and very interested in what people are doing.

Of course, shes disturbing her holiday to come and see it, which is a great honour for all of us.

The duchess is chancellor of Aberdeen University, hosts of the concert (Ian Rutherford/PA)

The 40-minute composition blends the traditional mass for the dead with new poems by Dr Grahame Davies, and features tolling bells and lilting strings throughout.

Conducted on Saturday by Christopher Bell, artistic director of the National Youth Choir of Scotland, it was recorded by Classic FM and will be broadcast on Remembrance Sunday.

Prof Mealor dedicated the new work to former Aberdeen vice-principal Professor Derek Ogston and Margaret Carlaw, who funded the composition and performance, and to all those who lost their lives in the Great War.

Funds raised from the sell-out concert will be donated to osteoarthritis research at the University of Aberdeen.

Professor Cosimo de Bari, professor of translational medicine and head of the Arthritis and Regenerative Medicine Laboratory, said: We are delighted the duchess could attend.

She provides enormous support for initiatives in osteoarthritis.A woman who accuses US Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault has accepted a Senate Judiciary Committees request for her to tell her story.

But lawyers for Christine Blasey Ford said in a letter to the committees Republican majority that they want to continue discussing the terms of her appearance.

The letter says Ms Ford accepts the committees request that in the coming week she will provide her first-hand knowledge of Brett Kavanaughs sexual misconduct.

Brett Kavanaugh is Donald Trumps Supreme Court nominee (AP)

The lawyers said they are hopeful of reaching a deal on the details of her appearance soon. It is understood the day she will give evidence, and whether she will do so in public, remain up for discussion.

The committee has pencilled in a possible vote to decide whether to recommend Mr Kavanaughs nomination to the full Senate for Monday.

A senior official at the White House said the letter amounts to an ask to continue negotiations without committing to anything.

He added: Its a clever way to push off the vote Monday without committing to appear Wednesday..

Ms Ford, a 51-year-old California psychology professor, claims an inebriated Mr Kavanaugh pinned her on a bed, muffled her cries and tried removing her clothes when they were both teenagers in the 1980s.

Mr Kavanaugh, a District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals judge, has repeatedly denied the accusation.

President Donald Trump, who nominated Mr Kavanaugh for the Supreme Court, has waded into the issue, claiming that if the alleged attack was that bad, she would have filed charges at the time.

He tweeted on Friday: I have no doubt that, if the attack on Dr. Ford was as bad as she says, charges would have been immediately filed with local Law Enforcement Authorities by either her or her loving parents. I ask that she bring those filings forward so that we can learn date, time, and place!

On Saturday, vice-president Mike Pence described Mr Kavanaugh as a man of integrity with impeccable credentials.

He said the judges record and career deserve the respect of every member of the United States Senate.

He made no reference to Ms Ford, but he said he is confident Mr Kavanaugh will soon join the high court.It was only recently that the Supreme Court of India restored the safeguard duty of 25 per cent for all imported solar cells and panels. There were uncertainties in the market for the last few months regarding this. Earlier this year the Directorate General of Trade Restrictions (DGTR) had suggested a 70 per cent safeguard duty to all imported panels. The idea behind the safeguard duty is to, of course, safeguard and promote domestic manufacturers.

Though India is one of the most attractive solar markets  with an ambitious target of 100gigawatts (GW) by 2022  it has failed to promote domestic manufacturing; with the market being is largely dependent on imported panels. Almost 90 per cent of the panels in India come from China.

Indias solar industry has failed to bring along its domestic manufacturers to the forefront as the market expands. Indias annual manufacturing capacity for solar cells is only around three gigawatts, compared with the average requirement of 20GW. There is simply not enough supply to cater to the sudden demand in the market.

Indias solar industry has failed to bring along its domestic manufacturers to the forefront as the market expands. (Photo: Reuters)

There are several reasons for the decline of the domestic solar manufacturing industry in India. And the main reason is the cheap panels coming from China.

Most Indian manufacturers didnt have the scalability to compete with Chinese companies. Even though the Chinese panels that are dumped into Indian market are often criticised for being of subpar quality, its worth noting that the quality of most panel manufacturers in India has been subpar as well, which also results in them being unable to handle the competition from outside manufacturers.

It is also true that the market has witnessed a sudden expansion.

The solar boom started in 2015, right after the Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced Indias massive targets. Suddenly the Indian market became attractive to outside players. The domestic manufacturers could never meet these requirements. In addition, the price-sensitive market led to cheaper panels coming from countries like China.

What the government should have done, instead, was to first strengthen domestic manufacturing and then at a later stage expand the market to make sure the domestic supply could locally cater to the increasing demand. With the sudden expansion and heavy competition, it had become difficult to domestic manufacturers to survive and many faced financial collapse.

On January 5, 2018, the Director General of Safeguards (DGS) of Customs and Central Excise proposed a 70 per cent safeguard duty, based on an application filed by five cell and module makers from India on Dec 5, 2017. Though the 70 per cent safeguard duty was not implemented, it did create confusion amongst the developers. Indias solar industry was backed by low priced panels from China, which resulted in record low tariffs. The confusion in the market led to a slowdown with many developers backing out from participating in tenders.

When the government implemented the safeguard duty of 25 per cent, it was challenged by ACME Solar in the Odisha High Court and had managed to get a stay. But the recent Supreme Court ruling restored the safeguard duty of 25 per cent.

Even though the reason behind this safeguard duty is to promote domestic manufacturers, many experts suggest that it may backfire for the industry. The safeguard duty has been implemented for a period of two years, and will be gradually decreased every six months or so. Right now, however, India does not have enough manufacturing capacity to cater to the market requirements. No new players would invest in manufacturing plants because of the safeguard duty of two years, and after the two-year mark, the willingness of potential manufacturers to invest remains uncertain.

This would work if there was an already existing domestic manufacturing industry  these two years, then, would have given them enough leverage to build up their capacity and be ready for global competition.

he safeguard duty can be counterproductive in achieving Indias 100GW solar target for 2022. (Photo: Reuters)

Sadly, this is not the case with India, barring a few manufacturers.

Another issue with regard to the details of the safeguard duty, is that according to the circular, products manufactured in special economic zones (SEZs) are considered imported and they too have to bear 25 per cent safeguard duty. A major chunk of manufacturing units are located in SEZs and thus cannot fail to reap the benefits of this move. Instead, they too are burdened with an additional 25 per cent safeguard duty which ultimately hampers the domestic manufacturing industry.

The disadvantages of the safeguard duty can be observed in the market. Many developers are unwilling to participate in tenders. In the last few tenders, India has had historic record low tariffs. Recent developments in the duty and GST have increased the cost for developers and this has raised the bidding tariffs. But the Distribution Companies (DISCOMs) and even the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) are retendering and renegotiating with the developers over the increased bid  it is a tug-of-war over tariff and many developers find it tough to provide for earlier tariffs.

The safeguard duty is also counterproductive in achieving Indias 100GW solar target for 2022.

The latest forecast by Bridge to India, a renewable energy consultant, shows that there will be around 49 per cent slowdown in solar installation for next year. The duties will benefit only a fraction of the production capacity in India and will make many under-construction projects unviable.

This will be a heavy burden on the developers and will affect many jobs.

One of the arguments made by those supporting the safeguard duty is that there will be more jobs created by the local manufacturing sector. But many experts believe this is exaggerated and a major chunk of the job creation happens at the project-development phase and afterwards.

Even the jobs created by manufacturing sector will be under threat if the government does not exempt manufacturers within the SEZs. Mundra solar, one of the companies who filed the application for safeguard duty is inside SEZs, in effect too will have to pay 25 per cent safeguard duty.

There will be heavy losses which have to be borne by developers for the under-construction projects, most of which were earlier bids with lower tariff.

A 25 per cent safeguard duty will lead to a 15 per cent rise in capital cost and a subsequent increase in tariff by Rs 0.40 per unit as per Bridge to India.

Though it is true that Chinese manufacturers benefit the most from Indias solar boom, a safeguard duty may now be counterproductive even for them and will hinder growth. Many developers have raised their concerns.

Already the solar industry is witnessing a tough period because of the price wars; where many small developers are not able to compete with big players who bid aggressively. With the added burden of safeguard duty, most of these small developers will find it difficult to exist in the market and may face bankruptcy and financial collapse.

Also read: Pakistan's cheesonomics: Economic Advisory Council needs to stop thinking outside the boxOn Thursday, September 20, the Indian government announced that the Indian and Pakistani foreign ministers would meet in New York and hold talks on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

The next day, Friday, the proposed talks were abruptly called off.

What happened?

Here is an 'account':

September 20.

Pakistans Prime Minister Imran Khan talks on telephone to Prime Minister Modi and says:

Hello Ji, Modi Ji. Can you hear me? (Photo: Agency)

"Modiji, thank you for congratulating me on becoming the Prime Minister of Pakistan. I want peace and good relations between our countries. I suggest our foreign ministers meet in New York where both are going for the UN General Assembly session, and discuss issues of mutual concerns there."

Yes, I can hear you. (And understand you very well). (Photo: Reuters)

Modi (Aside): This Smart Alec wants to pull a fast one on me by showing his 'peaceful designs' to the whole world. If I don't accept his proposal, he will tell the whole world that while he wants peace, I dont. But I will show him who can outsmart whom. I will tell Sushma to go, but will ask her to tell Qureshi right at the beginning of their meeting in New York that terrorism and talks can't go on together. So, Pakistan has to first stop inciting and instigating terrorism in Kashmir and arrest Hafiz Saeed and other terrorists, etc., before there can be any talks. And I will tell her that immediately after this meeting (which should last only a minute or so), she should hold a press conference announcing the same thing, adding that 9/11 happened right here. That way the world will see that while we want peace, Pakistan wants terrorism.

Modi to Imran: Excellent idea, Prime Minister. I agree, and my foreign ministry will announce the proposed meeting of the foreign ministers immediately.

Modi telephones Raveesh Kumar, a relatively middle-ranking officer in the Indian Foreign Service, and the spokesperson of the ministry of external affairs, and orders him to make the announcement immediately, which he does.

On hearing the announcement, officials of Pakistan's foreign ministry rush to Imran Khan's house in glee and congratulate him. "Kaptaan" they say, "That was an unplayable Yorker that you bowled. Now we have the bounder where we wanted him."

He tried to bowl us a Yorker. (Photo: YouTube)

Later, the same night a group of senior IFS officers barge into Modi's bedroom and tell him, "Prime Minister, have you gone bananas? How could you order such an announcement without even consulting us? Now you have ruined years of our hard work!"

The meeting had MEA in a spin. (Photo: PTI file)

Modi: But what wrong did I do?

An IFS official: Don't you understand even now? By your goof-up, we have fallen into a trap. It was the UN resolution of 1948 calling for a plebiscite in Kashmir which Nehru accepted. Now Qureshi will tell Sushma that since she is in New York and near the UN, India should honour its agreement for a plebiscite, and he will add that a recent UN report has indicted India for human rights violations in Kashmir. The international community will support him.

Modi scratches his head, then says, "What should we do now?"

IFS official: Make another announcement early morning tomorrow calling off the proposed meeting.

Modi: Ok. One of you take down this statement to be issued tomorrow morning: The Indian government has just learnt that Imran Khan is a very wicked man  which was not known to us till last evening when we agreed to a meeting of our foreign ministers. Now that it is known, the meeting is called off.

IFS official: Prime Minster, we can't use such language. It has to be in civilised, sophisticated and diplomatic language.

Modi: Then, what should it be?

IFS official: I have come prepared with a draft:

"Now it is obvious that behind its proposal for talks to make a fresh beginning, the evil agenda of Pakistan stands exposed, and the true face of the new Prime Minister of Pakistan has been revealed to the world. Any conversation with Pakistan in such an environment would be meaningless."

Modi: Very well. Issue that statement first thing in the morning.

But finally, he got stumped. (Photo: Reuters)

The next day, the announcement is made  and Pakistan condemns India for not wanting peace.

While India blamed the 'brutal killing' of some members of its security forces by 'Pak-based entities' and 'glorification of terrorists' for cancelling the talks, the Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan tweeted: "All my life I have come across small men occupying big offices who do not have the vision to see the larger picture".

Disappointed at the arrogant & negative response by India to my call for resumption of the peace dialogue. However, all my life I have come across small men occupying big offices who do not have the vision to see the larger picture.  Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) September 22, 2018

To which I commented on Twitter:

"A small man called a small man a small man."

Also read: Why India is correct in rejecting Pakistan PM Imran Khan's offer for dialogueAnd once again, India has cancelled a meeting with Pakistan.

Indias Ministry of External Affairs issued a press release in words most unsavoury, unheard of in a formal, official statement of any ministry of foreign affairs.

While many in the jingoistic Indian media, political realm and Twitter terrain applauded the slap given to Pakistan, and many in Pakistan are glad to see India expose its nefarious agenda of maintaining the status quo of hostility with Pakistan, the rational and the peace-seekers are merely shaking their head.

Uh-oh, here we go again.

A "tight slap", or a proof of intentions? MEA cancelling meeting with Pakistan not good for either nation. (Photo: PTI)

Nothing changes, and not because Pakistan is bad, harbours plans of Indias destruction, wishes for mayhem through proxy warfare in Kashmir  officially and colloquially known in Pakistan as the Indian-occupied Kashmir  and wants a state of war with India. After the September 21 cancellation of the scheduled meeting of Pakistans Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Indias External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on the sidelines of UNGA, I had only one thought: India did not and India does not wish to have peace with Pakistan. Period.

Being a patriotic Pakistani who is a staunch proponent of formation of a good relationship with India, divesting it of negativity of mistrust, malevolence, insistence to have stakes in the three-pronged paradigm of Kashmirs reality (pro-India, pro-Pakistan, pro-self-rule), I say with dismay and an acute sense of disappointment that India does not wish to have a peaceful  forget about a good  relationship with Pakistan.

It is pointless to go into the long list of grievances on both sides, more raucously uttered by the Indian side  the size of the media, loud, jingoistic anchors and relentlessness of anti-Pakistan narrative being pushed non-stop since at least 2014 (that's when I started paying attention to the Indian media) ensures that India stands as the victim, the nice guy, the peace-seeker, the non-aggressive one.

It is Pakistan that is evil.

So much for assumed pragmatism of a country with its aspiration to become the next big global power versus the reality of petulance shown in its official stance vis-a-vis Pakistan, worded in language that suits the sensibility of a sulking teenager, or the incoherent rage of a villain in a James Bond movie.

Im not a foreign policy expert, or a politician, I dont work for a think tank, or a media house, and I dont have anything to gain with my unswerving stance to see peace between Pakistan and India. I write, and I try to present the reality of issues that are mostly shown with partisanship, agenda-driven tilts and self-serving narratives. Today I merely wish to, through my article, present a few facts.

Facts matter, before reality is overwhelmed by hyperbole and bombast. Here are two statements, the first one from Indias MEA, and the other a response from Pakistans Foreign office.

India: It is obvious that behind Pakistans proposal for talks to make a fresh beginning, the evil agenda of Pakistan stands exposed and the true face of the new Prime Minister Imran Khan has been revealed to the world in his first few months in office.

Pakistan: [Imran Khan] had clearly stated that if India took one step forward, Pakistan would take two. In the same spirit, PM Khan in his reply letter endorsed PM Modis call for constructive engagement and proposed the meeting of the two foreign ministers in New York to discuss a way forward on bilateral and SAARC-related matters.

A proponet of peace: Imran Khan wants dialogue. (Photo: Reuters)

Imran Khan has been in power for just one month, not a "few months" as announced by the Indian MEA in its statement, ergo revealing of his true face is based on a non-factual premise.

Pakistans supposed evil agenda is that of peace, in the words of its prime minister, Chief of the Army Staff (COAS), foreign minister and president.

On the accusations levelled by the MEA that have been used as pretexts to cancel the meeting, the Pakistan Foreign Office issued statements.

On the alleged killing of a BSF soldier, the Pakistan Foreign Office said: When the allegations of Pakistans involvement first appeared, Pakistan Rangers clearly conveyed to BSF through official channels that Pakistan had nothing to do with it. Pakistan Rangers also extended help in efforts to locate the soldiers body.

The second issue of stamps issued by Pakistan to express its solidarity for Kashmiris, Islamabad clarified that the postage stamps mentioned in the Indian statement were issued before the July 25 elections, following which Prime Minister Imran Khan assumed office.

And that, The stamps highlight the gross and systematic human rights violations in Indian Occupied Kashmir, which were also extensively documented in a comprehensive report issued by the UNHC for Human Rights as late as June 2018.

September 21, 2018: Dr Arif Alvi, the President of Pakistan, tweeted: "Sad to see India backing off from FM level talks. Mutual reservations could have been placed on the table. Kashmiris face only disappointment on the International DayOf Peace. PM Imran Khans outstanding peace overture negated in their usual belligerent manner."

September 20, 2018: after the announcement of the meeting in New York, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq of Kashmir tweeted: "Welcome Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan's positive response of resolving issues including Kashmir through constructive & meaningful dialogue. People of J&K always support every initiative of lasting peace, whose assured way is through resolution of the Kashmir Dispute as per universal principles of justice and humanity. Hope Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi reciprocates the spirit."

August 19, 2018: General Qamar Bajwa, Chief of Army Staff Pakistan, after his now stuff-of-legends hug to Indias Navjot Singh Sidhu, said: Navjot, we want peace. When you celebrate the 550th birthday of Baba Nanak, we'll open the Kartarpur-Sahib Corridor. We'll even think of doing better things.

Is "Hug-plomacy" all India can offer? (Photo: Indiatoday.in)

July 26, 2018: in his first address to the nation after his, at that point, unofficial electoral victory, Imran Khan said:

I think itll be very good for all of us if we have good relations with India. We need to have trade ties, and the more we trade, both countries will benefit. The unfortunate truth is that Kashmir is a core issue, and the situation in Kashmir, and what the people of Kashmir have seen in the last 30 years, they have really suffered. Pakistan and Indias leadership should sit at a table and try to fix this problem. Its not going anywhere. We are at square one right now [with India]. If Indias leadership is ready, we are ready to improve ties with India. If you take one step, we will take two steps forward. I say this with conviction that this will be the most important thing for the subcontinent: both countries to have friendship.

September 22, 2018: Naeem-ul-Haq, the Special Assistant to Prime Minister Khan, tweeted: In December 2015, at a meeting in New Delhi, Imran Khan told [Narendra] Modi that attempts will be made to sabotage the peace process between India and Pakistan, and it is important not to succumb to them. And today Modi has done exactly that and more, by attacking PM Imran Khan in a very rude and malicious statement.

Imran Khan during his first visit as the Prime Minister of Pakistan to Saudi Arabia in an interview to Saudi media, spoke about the need to resolve the Saudi-Yemen issue through dialogue. I feel that every conflict has a political solution. I am not a believer in a military solution.

Pakistans support of the cause of Kashmiris  notwithstanding its open and non-so-open nature in the past  is moral, diplomatic and non-aggressive.

Statements of pro-freedom leaders  like Mirwaiz  applauding Pakistans desire to have dialogue with India on all outstanding issues, the most important one being that of Kashmir, is testament to that.

Pakistan, in its present scenario of economic instability and myriad issues, does not and will not show any tacit or public endorsement of any narrative that would be detrimental to its short- and long-term rehabilitation  internally, regionally and internationally.

Prime Minister Khans two-decade-long stance of non-aggression, insistence on having dialogue to resolve issues, condemnation of war, condemnation of drone attacks, and rehabilitation of displaced people is proof of his pro-peace ideals and politics.

Pakistan under the leadership of Imran Khan wishes to have peace in the region, and that will never be more than a dream if the conflict in Afghanistan and Kashmir continues. Pakistan has much to gain from dividends of peace, having suffered incalculable human and material losses, a consequence of being embroiled in internal and external wars. Pakistan has nothing to gain from war with India, especially through proxy fighting in Kashmir. And no one is better suited to lead that Pakistan than the pro-peace, pro-dialogue, and anti-war Prime Minister of Pakistan: Imran Khan.

Pro-peace, pro-dialogue, and anti-war. Then why does India hate Imran Khan? (Photo: Reuters)

A country the size and stature of India must behave the way it wishes to be perceived regionally and globally.

Amidst the explosive scandal of Rafale, India is allegedly indulging in the wag the dog tactic trying to tackle the crisis at home. Instead of throwing a hissy fit after allegations  that the Pakistan government has repeatedly and categorically denied  the Indian government should have gone ahead with the meeting, presented its lists of grievances to Pakistan in an official meeting, and demanded an investigation.

Pakistan, in the same meeting, could have presented its complaints and its deep reservations on the issue of human rights violations in Kashmir.

Issues are solved between parties that talk, not when a big country sulks and cancels meetings and summits, increases the wires on border and issues non-stop maliciously-worded statements against its smaller neighbour.

Dialogue between two sovereign states is not Aman Ki Asha, or an empty pappi-jhappi of peaceniks  dialogue is the way forward. One has to keep talking, despite issues, despite mistrust and despite pushbacks.

That is how real stakes are formed.

Things move forward. Bilateral interests are identified. People-to-people interaction is strengthened. Bilateral trade is increased.

Financial stakes are a great modifier, even in times of hostility. Look at China and the US. Or China and India. Dialogue initiates, continues and propels the narrative of peace forward, finding tangible solutions and long-term practical steps.

It was evident on September 22, 2018, who between Pakistan and India does not want peace.

NB: On checking my Twitter timeline after finishing this article, I saw Prime Minister Khans tweet to India, and this is my response:

I stand with Prime Minister Imran Khan. His real face: he is pro-peace, pro-dialogue, anti-terrorism, anti-war. Yes, India is a big country with leaders who seem to have a small vision and a small heart. After directly insulting our Prime Minister, what you've shown, India, is smallness of everything.

Also read: Why India is correct in rejecting Pakistan PM Imran Khan's offer for dialogueIndia and Egypt have decided to ramp up their defence and security ties which will include boosting counter-terror cooperation and carrying out joint exercises by their militaries, officials said.

The decisions were taken during talks between Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and her Egyptian counterpart General Mohamed Ahmed Zaki Mohamed in Cairo.

She was on a two-day visit to Egypt from September 20-22. Officials said Sitharaman and Mohamed also deliberated on expanding naval cooperation between the two countries and explored possibilities of joint production of defence equipment.

They said both the sides are working towards holding joint exercises between their militaries. They reviewed ongoing bilateral cooperation activities and discussed potential opportunities to further deepen ties and exchanges in the defence sphere, the Defence Ministry said.

It said the Ministers decided to explore deeper cooperation in the fields of defence industry including joint production of military equipment.

Both sides reaffirmed their intent to enhance cooperation in counter-terrorism. Naval cooperation, including cooperation in maritime domain awareness, was identified as an area of potential, it said.

The Ministry said India and Egypt would also intensify training interactions between their militaries.Blog Archive November 2021 (29) October 2021 (67) September 2021 (59) August 2021 (56) July 2021 (57) June 2021 (66) May 2021 (63) April 2021 (75) March 2021 (73) February 2021 (61) January 2021 (69) December 2020 (62) November 2020 (62) October 2020 (70) September 2020 (51) August 2020 (52) July 2020 (60) June 2020 (57) May 2020 (79) April 2020 (56) March 2020 (52) February 2020 (50) January 2020 (69) December 2019 (58) November 2019 (64) October 2019 (44) September 2019 (49) August 2019 (71) July 2019 (71) June 2019 (71) May 2019 (67) April 2019 (74) March 2019 (85) February 2019 (64) January 2019 (73) December 2018 (66) November 2018 (81) October 2018 (87) September 2018 (66) August 2018 (76) July 2018 (84) June 2018 (86) May 2018 (64) April 2018 (83) March 2018 (78) February 2018 (69) January 2018 (69) December 2017 (82) November 2017 (87) October 2017 (89) September 2017 (77) August 2017 (75) July 2017 (76) June 2017 (90) May 2017 (86) April 2017 (59) March 2017 (61) February 2017 (82) January 2017 (92) December 2016 (90) November 2016 (80) October 2016 (75) September 2016 (95) August 2016 (104) July 2016 (93) June 2016 (96) May 2016 (98) April 2016 (99) March 2016 (113) February 2016 (82) January 2016 (98) December 2015 (113) November 2015 (94) October 2015 (93) September 2015 (98) August 2015 (97) July 2015 (105) June 2015 (103) May 2015 (95) April 2015 (100) March 2015 (102) February 2015 (93) January 2015 (114) December 2014 (110) November 2014 (103) October 2014 (105) September 2014 (96) August 2014 (96) July 2014 (112) June 2014 (119) May 2014 (109) April 2014 (116) March 2014 (117) February 2014 (109) January 2014 (116) December 2013 (117) November 2013 (121) October 2013 (125) September 2013 (93) August 2013 (115) July 2013 (110) June 2013 (102) May 2013 (115) April 2013 (113) March 2013 (119) February 2013 (108) January 2013 (119) December 2012 (132) November 2012 (115) October 2012 (121) September 2012 (115) August 2012 (124) July 2012 (102) June 2012 (121) May 2012 (121) April 2012 (127) March 2012 (130) February 2012 (112) January 2012 (131) December 2011 (129) November 2011 (118) October 2011 (118) September 2011 (110) August 2011 (138) July 2011 (146) June 2011 (139) May 2011 (144) April 2011 (127) March 2011 (140) February 2011 (116) January 2011 (134) December 2010 (133) November 2010 (136) October 2010 (148) September 2010 (128) August 2010 (155) July 2010 (129) June 2010 (138) May 2010 (152) April 2010 (161) March 2010 (119) February 2010 (149) January 2010 (155) December 2009 (177) November 2009 (171) October 2009 (176) September 2009 (159) August 2009 (156) July 2009 (170) June 2009 (157) May 2009 (185) April 2009 (179) March 2009 (183) February 2009 (170) January 2009 (181) December 2008 (189) November 2008 (183) October 2008 (164) September 2008 (164) August 2008 (177) July 2008 (179) June 2008 (170) May 2008 (191) April 2008 (175) March 2008 (195) February 2008 (162) January 2008 (188) December 2007 (187) November 2007 (189) October 2007 (194) September 2007 (156) August 2007 (194) July 2007 (163) June 2007 (176) May 2007 (190) April 2007 (177) March 2007 (192) February 2007 (165) January 2007 (170) December 2006 (182) November 2006 (177) October 2006 (185) September 2006 (180) August 2006 (156) July 2006 (160) June 2006 (177) May 2006 (173) April 2006 (157) March 2006 (158) February 2006 (146) January 2006 (144) December 2005 (135) November 2005 (138) October 2005 (128) September 2005 (141) August 2005 (136) July 2005 (133) June 2005 (119) May 2005 (143) April 2005 (52)Maoists gunned down a ruling Telugu Desam Party (TDP) MLA and his associate on Sunday afternoon when they were visiting interior village in tribal area of Araku in Visakhapatnam district in Telengana, police officials said.

More than 50 armed Maoists targeted MLA Kadiri Sarveshwar Rao and former MLA Siveru Soma at around 1 pm at Nimitiputtu village under Dumbriguda mandal of Visakhapatnam district.

The place is just 15 kms from Odisha border and the assailants escaped across the border. Rao was elected to the State Assembly in 2014 from Araku constituency on the Opposition YSR Congress party ticket but later switched to the ruling TDP and became the Government whip in the Assembly. He was survived by wife and two sons.

The Maoists opened fire from point-blank range first at former MLA Soma and then at the MLA, killing both of them on the spot, DIG Visakhapatnam range Ch Srikant told the reporters.

Earlier, the Maoists overpowered the two gunmen, snatched their weapons and tied them to a tree. Initially, there was discussion between the Maoists and the MLA over his mining activities in the area. The Maoists said the mining activity is damaging the forests and the environment and demanded that it should be stopped forthwith.

According to the witnesses, the MLA told them that if there is any problem it could be sorted out through talks but he will not bow to any threats. Soon after, the Maoists opened fire killing both the leaders on the spot. Later both the bodies were shifted to King George Hospital Visakhapatnam for post-mortem. Police have sounded a red alert in Andhra Pradesh and neighbouring Telangana. Authorities have asked Ministers and elected representatives not to travel in the rural areas without informing police.

We have launched a combing operation to nab the culprits. A probe is underway into the circumstances in which the attack took place, Srikant said. Police officials suspect that the attack was led by Ramakrishna, secretary, Andhra Odisha Border committee of CPI Maoist. Ramakrishn who earlier headed Andhra State Committee had narrowly escaped police dragnet in 2005 and was largely based in Chhattisgarh and Odisha since then.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, who is in the United State on an official visit, condemned the attack. In a statement issued through his office Naidu said, All democratic forces should strongly condemn the dastardly act. He recalled the services Sarveshwara Rao and S Soma had rendered for the tribal people.

Leader of Opposition and YSR Congress president YS Jaganmohan Reddy also condemned the Maoist attack.

It is after a lull of several years that the armed Maoists have carried out such a major attack in Andhra Pradesh and killed a lawmaker.

The CPI Maoists were on the run from the erstwhile united Andhra Pradesh since late 2004 when the much- touted peace talks between the armed ultras and the then Congress party Government in the State broke down and police launched a massive crackdown killing dozens of their top leaders and armed members in various operations.

The latest incident is reminiscent of killing of Congress party lawmaker Narsi Reddy and 8 others in a major attack in Narayanpet town of Mehbubnagar district on August 15, 2005.

Since the State was bifurcated and Telangana was formed the Maoists were trying to regroup and return to the region and resumed their activities in the tribal and forest areas adjoining Odisha and Chhattisgarh.

Police suspect that the Maoist attacked the MLA as their demand to stop the bauxite mining in the tribal areas of Visakhapatnam were ignored by the State Government. The local tribal and the Maoists were agitating for a long time to stop the mining as it was destroying the environment.

Maoists had put posters in the tribal area warning the MLA against supporting the mining companies and declared that he was on their hit list.

It was a pre planned attack and somebody had tipped off the Maoists in advance about the visit of the MLA to the area, a police official said.

Rumours were rife in the tribal area for last two months that the movement of Maoists had increased and they were planning to carry a major attack.Launching a scathing attack on the Congress leadership, Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya said that the Congress was one of the most corrupt parties that had fleeced people for political gains and diverted government money for personal benefit.

If you do not believe me ask anyone on the street which is the most corrupt party in India and they will say that it is Congress, the Deputy Chief Minister said while addressing a Gujjar convention here on Sunday.

He said that while on the one hand people knew that Congress was corrupt, on the other, they believed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was an honest man who was working hard for the welfare of the people.

The policies of the Union government are meant for the benefit of the poor and downtrodden and the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh is implementing those policies in letter and spirit, Maurya said.

It is a fact that Congress is projecting Rahul Gandhi as prime ministerial candidate only because he has been born in Gandhi family. Had he been born in a simple family he would not have got ticket or won election. On the other hand, in the Bharatiya Janata Party, even a chai walas son can climb to the post of prime minister, he said.

Maurya praised the contribution of the members of the Gujjar samaj in making the country strong. Our party respects these people. On October 21, the Prime Minister will unveil the tallest statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel in the country, he said.

Maurya also attacked Samajwadi Party national president Akhilesh Yadav, saying that he had betrayed not only his family members but also the people of the state. How can a party which has already surrendered to Bahujan Samaj Party face the BJP. This shows the said party does not have a vision or policy, he said. National president of BJP Backward Cell and senior minister in the Yogi Adityanath government, Dara Singh Chauhan, also spoke on this occasion.Uttarakhand has a great literary tradition and many writers who are known all over the world belong to this Himalayan region. These names include Sumitranandan Pant, Gaura Pant Shivani, Shailesh Matiyani, Shekhar Joshi and Manohar Shyam Joshi. It is a matter of great pride for the mountain State that one of our countrys well-known literary sons, Shekhar Joshi, was born here. Joshi was born in Almora in September 1932. Along with Shailesh Matiyani, known as the Premchand of Uttarakhand, Joshi gained great popularity and is counted among the major writers of the Nai Kahani.

Joshi has a rare insight into the culture, traditions and lifestyles of people of Uttarakhand. Matiyani and Joshi together created a composite image of the Kumaoni ethos for the rest of the country. In the year 2012, Shekhar Joshi was honoured with the prestigious Shrilal Shukla literary award. This award, instituted in the memory of Hindi writer Shrilal Shukla, is given to writers for highlighting life in the rural areas of the country in their literary works. Shukla passed away on October 28, 2011. His best known work Raag Darbaari has been translated into several languages. It brought him the Sahitya Akademi award in 1969. Shekhar Joshi is known to most readers through his crisp and realistic short stories including the famous stories Dajyu and Kosi Ka Ghatwar. He uses not a single extra word in his writings and can be compared to Ernest Hemingway, the great American author.

The writings of Joshi, who is now settled in Allahabad, are rooted in Kumaon and can be described as modern in many ways-in their themes, treatment of the subject and the use of language.

Joshi is associated with the growth and evolution of the Nai Kahani in Hindi. He chose themes like industrial and urban labour. His widely acclaimed story, Dajyu (Big Brother) has been been made into a Childrens film by Children Film Society of India. Kosi Ka Ghatwar  (The Miller of Kosi) and many other stories have been translated into English, Russian, Czech, Polish and Japanese.

Dajyu is an extremely simple sounding tale but touches serious social and emotional issues. Madan is a young boy working at a tea shop in a town. A person who has come from the hills of Almora to town to work there comes to the cafe to have tea and meets the boy. Soon, an affinity develops between Jagdish Babu and Madan after they discover that they belong to neighbouring villages in Almora. The boy, alone in the town, gets emotionally attached to the man and addresses him as Dajyu (elder brother) .

Here is an excerpt from the English translation:

Within a few days, the gap of unfamiliarity between Madan and Jagdish Babu had disappeared. As soon as the gentleman sat down, Madan would call out-Greetings, Dajyu! Dajyu, its very cold today. Dajyu, will it snow here too? Dajyu, you didnt eat much yesterday.

Then from some direction would come a cry of Boy! Madan would be there even before the echo of the call could be heard.

Anything for you, Dajyu? he would call out repeating the word Dajyu with eagerness and affection of a mother embracing her son after a long separation.

After some time, Jagdish Babus loneliness disappeared. Now, not only the market-place and the cafe, but the city itself seemed like home to him.

However, the ego of Jagdish Babu cannot accept this manner of addressing for very long. This repetition of the word Dajyu aroused thebourgeois temperament in Jagdish Babu. The thin thread of intimacy could not stand the strong pull of ego. Shall I bring tea, Dajyu?

No tea. But whats this Dajyu, Dajyu you keep shouting all the time? Have you no respect for a persons prestige?

The boys feelings are badly hurt and he begins to maintain a distance from the man. It is actually that simple a story. But the use of words and symbols together evokes emotions among the readers. The element of pathos is very strong in Dajyu. The innocence of the boy and how the words of the adult kill it is the thrust of the story.

In his story Scenario, the beauty of the Himalayas is brought out by word-pictures and seen from the eyes of Ravi, a young documentary film maker who is visiting the mountains to make a film on the Himalayas.

Joshis rare insight into the culture of the Uttarakhand Himalayas has made him stand out among litterateurs. From his works, one gets an in-depth understanding of the culture of this picturesque mountainous region.A lawyer loses licence to enter bar if found engaged in any other money making activity than legal practice. So stringent are rules for lawyers. The objective is to keep lawyers focused on law and such other knowledge and skills to give best service to clients.

Similarly, the temple servitors in India are expected to render service to the deities on an exclusive mode, meaning their sole job is to remain glued to the deities and earn whatever wage comes their way. The logic is simple: their concentration does not become diluted and the deities are not neglected in any manner.

In the ancient times when monarchs established temples, servitors from specific caste-communities were handpicked if they did not volunteer to offer services due to fear of no-wage' or 'low-wage' systems in place. Big temples were popular from the day deities were installed and, therefore, devotees thronged in big numbers even in those days of primitive transport facilities.

The Jagannath Temple in Puri began big on every front. The founder monarchs organised devotee comfort by involving willing servitors to take property and extend hospitality to the poorest of the poor pilgrims from far and wide.

Even in those days, the Jagannath Temple had huge meals of countless food items offered to the deities everyday and part of it was given to the servitors by way of wages.

For centuries on end, the servitors were a sacrificing, volunteer lot without greed or guile to make money not due to them. Because of all these tough arrangements, the successors were not willing to become servitors. The monarch, therefore, recommended a hereditary servitor system so that at least one or two from the initially chosen clan could become a servitor ensuring temple rituals to continue without hindrance. Most servitors remained perpetually impoverished.

Now, everything has changed. The invariably famous Jagannath Temple has become a fashionable shrine mainly because of the novo rich servitors who are only mushroom and nothing bigger or better as Prabhupada of ISKCON preached and publicised the Jagannath culture across the world very successfully.

Televisions started airing the Car Festival and the servitors became visible, some of the smart ones, particularly the non-Brahmin ones capitalising visibility to attain star status. No one knows who or how the erroneous message of 'hereditary rights came to be discussed among the public.

The temple has a few robustly designed 'Records of events placed chronologically as well as of rites and rituals'. But unfortunately, someone has erroneously titled the document in the fashion of Record of Rights'. So, cunningly some vested interests have popularised the grossly wrong message that any male born into a servitor family becomes a servitor after the 21st day of existence.

By this make-believe culture, now the number of principal servitors including the Daita communitys has far exceeded the required critical number of approximately 95 per day.

There are nearly 119 categories of servitors, most of whom do not claim hereditary right at all. The Brahmin caste and Daita servitors only get their male children inducted as servitors. Interestingly, the Daita community is not even endogamous as the Brahmin class servitors are.

The number of the assortment of servitors is now nearing 20,000, which means utter chaos and cutthroat competition to flourish and show off. No wonder, on some lean days, there are more servitors than devotees in the temple premises. Hence, their unruly and uncivil behaviour and conduct, the latest PIL at the Supreme Court and the visit of an Amicus Curiae.

Very interestingly, Gopal Subramanium, the Amicus Curiae chanted such Jagannath hymns in chaste Sanskrit that the Shankaracharya, the Gajapati King and the talkative servitors were left gaping in utter awe and confusion put together.

The Puri District Judge had made twelve strong recommendations, which have been gladly accepted by the apex court. The temple administration and all others involved have agreed to all except the hereditary rights abolition suggestion.

The friend of the court, dressed like a pure priest, made it clear that the worthy members only shall be inducted into service on the basis of knowledge and skills, thereby reducing the number of servitors to a decent one so that managing them would be easy.

The left-out ones shall be packed off with a respectable compensation package. They can merrily go back to their hotels, shops and services with the government and corporate agencies.

The exceptionally learned Amicus Curiae made it amply clear that the clan shall not be ignored, but the mad number will be curtailed drastically. Each clan will have to nominate members with knowledge and skills to compete and pass tests to become servitors with fat salaries.

But double games shall not be tolerated as the attention of such servitors shall remain focussed on the private business and profit activities as is normal by human nature. The servitors will have to remain on job exclusively.

The way the friend of the court has talked and explained, there is no scope for confusion anymore.

He has also categorically made it clear that violation of any reformed rule may result in dismissal of servitors.

People who are revelling over the joyous development have started believing that Mahaprabhu, the Lord Jagannath, is taking care Himself as He knows by now that enough is enough and things need instant fixing!To start Agriculture College at Garhwa, a team of Birsa Agriculture University led by Vice Chancellor Dr Parvinder Kaushal inspected college buildings of college campus near Krishi Vigyan Kendra on Sunday. After inspection talking to the reporters the VC said that to start agriculture college 22 buildings have been constructed here. But anti social elements have damaged several parts of the building. They also stole water taps, wiring, sanitation pipe, light, electric wiring etc from the building. Due to which it will not be possible to start college immediately.

Unless the faculty staff gets their salary, furnishing, electricity, water and boundary arrangements in the building, till the arrangement of security, the university will not be started. The VC also expressed the possibility that arrangements of basic infrastructure in the building will be started in collaboration with the contractors along with the people here. He further said that maybe course will start from the next session. He informed that on the instructions of Jharkhand government, students here have been admitted in the college.PWhile Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana-Ayushman Bharat in Ranchi, here in Uttarakhand, the Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat distributed golden cards to identified beneficiaries for free medical health cover under the scheme here on Sunday. While the Chief Minister distributed the cards to 37 beneficiaries in Dehradun, a total of 300 such cards were distributed across the State on the occasion. At the function held in the Gandhi centenary eye hospital, the Chief Minister also launched the malaria eradication action plan and announced that an ICU unit will soon be established at the Government Doon medical college hospital apart from which a 300 bed maternity hospital will also be opened in Dehradun shortly.

It is pertinent to mention here that based on the 2011 census, for the Ayushman Bharat health scheme, 5,37,652 beneficiaries have been identified in the State of Uttarakhand. Under the scheme, the beneficiaries will be entitled to free of cost medical treatment amounting to Rs 5lakh per family, per year in any of the hospitals listed under the scheme in Uttarakhand and anywhere in India. Arogya Mitra have been appointed in every such hospital. They will help the beneficiaries in making their bio-metric golden card. In Uttarakhand, all the seven medical colleges have been registered for assistance under the Ayushman scheme. Along with these, 27 Government hospitals and 26 private hospitals have also been registered so far for facilitating free treatment under the health scheme. Further, expanding the Ayushman Bharat Yojana, the Uttarakhand State Government is also undertaking the Atal Ayushman Uttarakhand Yojana, with the first stage of this scheme starting with the launch of Ayushman Bharat on Sunday.

Under the Atal Ayushman Uttarakhand Yojana, State Government employees, pension holders and their dependents will also receive the medical cover facility provided under Ayushman Bharat. The Atal Ayushman Uttarakhand Yojana will cover about 22 lakh families in the State.

On the occasion, the Chief Minister also inaugurated the malaria eradication action plan 2018-22. Under this action plan, the State has set a target to bring down to zero the number of malaria afflicted persons in all the districts by 2020. The health department has set a target to eradicate malaria from the State by 2022.

Rawat, further, announced that that an ICU will be started soon in the Government Doon medical college hospital. He, further, said that the State Government will soon start a 300 bed maternity hospital. Stating that ensuring convenient and quality health care to every citizen is a top priority of the State Government, he averred that the Government is working consistently to bring about the desired level of improvement in the health services.

He, further, assured that 139 new ambulances will be added to the 108 emergency ambulance service by January. The Government is committed to strengthening of medical facilities in the rural and remote areas of the State, he stressed.

In addition to this, air ambulance facility too will be started shortly in the State to facilitate timely emergency health facility. The Government of India has allocated funds for this task, added Rawat.

He, further, announced that 100 additional beds will be provided in the Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya hospital in Dehradun. He spoke about the various steps taken by the State Government in the last year and a half for improvement in health facilities. However, such efforts should not remain limited to Governmental works as voluntary organisations and citizens can also do their bit towards improvement in the health facilities.

He also expressed satisfaction at the fact that the State Government had also received proposals for investment in the health sector ahead of the Investors Summit to be held next month.

Cabinet Minister Yashpal Arya, Ministers of State Rekha Arya, Dhan Singh Rawat, MP Mala Rajya Lakshmi Shah, MLAs Harbans Kapur, Khajan Das, Umesh Sharma Kau and health secretary Nitesh Jha among others were present on the occasion.As Prime Minister Narendra Modi pressed the button to lay foundation of two medical colleges besides opening worlds largest health insurance scheme-- Ayushman Bharat-- from Prabhat Tara Ground in Ranchi on Sunday afternoon, Chief Minister Raghubar Das was quick to underline the latters intimacy with Jharkhand.

Counting the Prime Ministers as many as seven visits of the State after coming to the helm, the Chief Minister thanked him and termed Jharkhand fortunate for the gesture.

It is indeed good fortune of Jharkhand that the world largest scheme is going to be launched from here. The Prime Minister has been kind enough to us. Jharkhand has been gifted with AIIMS and airport at Deoghar, reopening of Sindri plant, Patratu thermal, bridge over Ganga and port at Sahibgunj and many more. Now Jharkhand has left its bitter past behind, said the CM in the presence of the PM, Governor Droupadi Murmu, Union Ministers JP Nadda, Sudarshan Bhagat, Jayant Sinha along with officials, MPs and MLAs and larger number of Sahiyas, ANMs and BJP workers. Raghubar Das on the occasion counted the achievements under his Government and claimed that naxal activities had taken a back seat.

Since the new Government came to power naxal activities have come close to an end, corruption is nowhere and the State has clocked second place in terms of GSDP growth. MBBS seats would go to 1200 with five new medical colleges coming up. We have been able to provide more than one lakh Government jobs to youths, largely locals. One lakh sakhi mandals have come up. Over one lakh women have become owner of property due to Re 1 registry scheme. We are heading with PM Modis vision Sabka Sath-Sabka Vikas, said the CM.

The CM on the occasion named schemes lunched by the Modi Government meant to provide electricity, LPG connections, health, housing and skill development for the masses of the country and the State highlighting the indiscriminative vision. Raghubar Das also used the presence of the Prime Minister to rap parties in the Opposition camps and termed them power hungry and those working with negative agenda.

Modiji is the first Prime Minister who recalled contributions of Birsa Munda from the ramparts of the Lal Quila. He has also promised Rs 25 crore for building a museum after the Dharti Aba. He formed Backward Class Commission. But the Opposition parties are after him since they have understood very well that it is impossible to counter Modi on the development plank, said Das.Even after being differently able, all are putting extra efforts for making other divyangs self-reliant, is not only appreciable but also motivating for one and all, said Rajnandgaon Member of Parliament Abhishek Singh.

He was addressing the concluding session of two-day workshop as chief guest organised at local Maheshwari Bhawan, Rajnandgaon. The work was attended by differently able (blind) officers from different parts of country. The differently able were given tips on career and other success in life.

Singh said that will power in self is a thinking which can make the impossible thing possible. The CRC which has been established at Rajnandgaon is working in direction of developing self-reliance among the differently able. Abhishek appreciated the work of Social Welfare Board chairman Shobha Soni and Sanskar Shradhanjalis Satish Bhatter.

All India Blind Federation vice president Inderjeet Singh, Rakesh Kumar working with Ministry of Home, Government of India, Punjab National Bank, New Delhi Branch manager Harshmander Negi among others addressed the gathering. The officials shared their life experience that even after being blind how they have crossed the entire barrier to achieve success in life. Around 140 differently able of state participated in the event.A day after Samajwadi Secular Morcha convenor Shivpal Singh Yadav announced to oppose all family members expect Mulayam Singh Yadav in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the Samajwadi Party patriarch on Sunday demonstrated that he stood with his son Akhilesh Yadav by joining his political rally at Jantar Mantar in the national capital on Sunday.

Mulayams decision to share the dais with his son Akhilesh after a long time came as a big blow to the Shivpal who has been claiming that his newly-formed Samajwadi Secular Morcha has the blessings of Netaji (Mulayam). Barely a day earlier, Shivpal Yadav, the estranged uncle of SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, had announced to oppose all the family members except Mulayam Singh Yadav in the coming Lok Sabha polls.

I give my blessings to this young and energetic Samajwadi Party. I am very happy to see that so many youngsters have come here to join the cycle rally of the party, Mulayam said in the presence of Akhilesh and party general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav.

Mulayam disclosed that Akhilesh had urged him to come to this function on the conclusion of the SP cycle yatra.

He asked youths to be disciplined and called on girls to actively participate in nation-building.

Attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Mulayam said that SP had never ditched the youths and had fulfilled all the promises it had made.

SP president Akhilesh Yadav also attacked the Bharatiya Janata Party for its policies like demonetisation and implementation of the Goods and Services Tax.

When contacted for his comment on the developments in Delhi, Shivpal refused to say anything. He, however, claimed that Netaji was supporting him with his heart and he was fighting for the restoration of his honour.

Dont go by where Netaji is going. He will be with the SSM at the crucial stage when it will be required, he commented.

On Saturday, Shivpal had said that the Samajwadi Secular Morcha, would not support any candidate barring Netaji in the 2019 Lok Sabha election even if the candidate was from the family.

We are busy expanding our base and more people and leaders are willing to join the SSM. Our new political party will play a significant role in the 2019 Lok Sabha election. We will play a prominent role in strengthening the secular bloc against the Bharatiya Janata Party, Shivpal had said on Saturday.

He added that the time for patch-up or any understanding with SP leadership was over.

I waited for two years before taking this decision, he added.

After breaking away from his nephew-led Samajwadi Party, Shivpal has begun from the scratch. From convincing disgruntled samajwadis to join his party to launching social media campaigns for bringing more youths into the fold, Yadav has been busy in strengthening his party.

According to sources, preparations to make the presence of SSM felt in UP politics are going on in full swing and leaders from all over the state are visiting Shivpal at his house in Lucknow everyday.

Shivpal said he would fight for social justice through his SSM.



Guwahati, Sep 23 : Assam police have cracked down on the Hizbul Mujahideen module in the state by arresting eight suspected Hizbul Mujahideen terrorists and detained three more people after the Uttar Pradesh police had arrested an Assam origin Hizbul terrorist.





After the arrest of Qamar-uz-Zaman, a suspected terrorist of Hizbul Mujahideen who hails from Hojais Jamunamukh area by the Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) at Kanpur on September 13, the Assam police have arrested four of its operatives from different locations of the state.





According to the reports, police had arrested a suspected Hizbul terrorist identified as Abhimanyu Chouhan from Mosoka No  1 under Kheroni police station in Karbi Anglong district yesterday.





Earlier, Hojai district police had arrested seven suspected terrorists including Qamar-uz-Zamans ender brother Saiful Islam alias Liton.





Qamar-uz-Zaman is the same person whose photograph was appeared in the social media with an AK-47 rifle as a Hizbul ultra.





A top official of Assam police said that, the Kashmiri separatist terrorist group had planned explosions in Assam and to conduct recruitment drive in Assam and send at least 12 Assamese youths to Pakistan and Afghanistan for arms training.





We have so far arrested eight persons including Qamar-uz-Zamans childhood friend 39-year-old Shahnawaz Alam, his elder brother Saiful Islam. The terrorist group also tried to set up base camps in Assam and Meghalaya and procurement arms from Nagaland based arms dealer, separatist groups. A Jammu and Kashmir origin leader of Hizbul Mujahideen came to Assam few months back and holding several meetings with some people and a religious preacher. The Hizbul Mujahideen leader had visited several areas of Assam and Meghalaya, the top Assam cop said.





On the other, Assam police had detained three persons from lower Assams Barpeta district last night for their alleged links with arrested Hizbul terrorist Qamar-uz-Zaman and they were identified as Nasir-uz-Zaman, Shahjahan Ali and Hemanta Deka.





Meanwhile, Assam DGP Kuladhar Saikia said that, lots of information has come out during interrogation.





We are exchanging our information and getting intelligence inputs from them (UP Police) and verifying it. We have cross-checked the people who have been arrested. We are looking different angles including funding, arms dealing etc, the Assam DGP said.





On the other hand, while the Hojai district police continuing to bust Hizbul Mujahideen module, hundreds of muslim community people on Saturday had took part in a protest rally against terrorism at Nilbagan area in Hojai district.





The muslim people had shouted against the terrorism and urged all muslim community people in the state to come out against the terrorism.



Not far away from the next general elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed the schemes launched by the incumbent NDA dispensation at the Centre for their role played in empowering the poor without any prejudice. He named some like Ujjawala, PMAY, Saubhagya, Swachcch Bharat Mission while adding the latest Ayushman Bharat he launched on Sunday from Jharkhand.

The Prime Minister opening his address in local dialect Nagpuri and remembering the land of great sons of the soil remained critical of the previous regimes, particularly of the Congress while alleging those of discriminatory in implementing welfare measures.

All the schemes we have launched have been empowering to the poor. For the first time any Government is treating the poor not as vote bank based on their caste, religion and regional identity. For the last 40-50 years, the Governments have been using public funds to garner vote bank. We have shunned the path and I dont want the country to return to that again, said the Prime Minister after inaugurating the universal health insurance scheme hailed critically as Modicare.

With the rollout of the Centres flagship scheme which has been renamed as PM Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY), the Narendra Modi-led NDA Government aims to provide healthcare facilities to over 10 crore families covering urban and rural poor.

All NDA Chief Ministers launched the scheme from their respective States.

The scheme will become operational from September 25 on the birth anniversary of Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay, Niti Aayog member VK Paul said.

The ambitious scheme offers an insurance cover of Rs 5 lakh, which will cover 10 crore poor families or almost 50 crore persons. In his Independence Day speech, Modi had announced that while the scheme would initially cover 10 crore poor families as per the socio-economic census of 2011, it will in the coming days also benefit the lower middleclass, middle-class and upper-middle class by way of jobs in the medical sector as new hospitals will open in Tier-II and Tier-III cities. The scheme can be a big game-changer for Modi as it comes about half a year before the next Lok Sabha elections.

The scheme is targeted at poor, deprived rural families and identified occupational categories of urban workers families. So, if we were to go by the Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC) 2011 data, 8.03 crore families in rural and 2.33 crore in urban areas will be entitled to be covered under these scheme, i.e., it will cover around 50 crore people. To ensure that nobody is left out (especially women, children and the elderly), there will be no cap on the family size and age. The scheme will be cashless and paperless at public hospitals and empanelled private hospitals.

Ayushman Bharat may cost the exchequer around Rs 5,000 crore this year because of the time taken to rollout the scheme. The scheme will cost Rs 10,000 crore when it is rolled out across India next year. While this year there are likely to be 8 crore beneficiaries, the target is to cover 10 crore by FY 20.

According to international rating agency Moodys, Ayushman Bharat is credit positive for insurance companies as it will aide in higher premium growth. The launch of universal health coverage is credit positive for the countrys insurers because it will help grow health premiums and provide insurers with cross-selling and servicing opportunities, Moodys said in a report last month.

The PM also laid foundation stone for two medical colleges at Koderma and Chaibasa, and opened 10 health and wellness centres in Ranchi, Bokaro and Jamshedpur in the presence of about 1 lakh people coming from different parts of the State, including large number of ANMs and para-medicos.

Reiterating the mantra of his Government Sabka Sath-Sabka Vikas, the PM counted some of the features of the public medical insurance scheme which does not need registration of any kind to get treatment and insurance cover and is almost universal in nature.

Ayushman Bharat is not for people from any particular caste, region or religion. 50 crore people, more than entire population of the European Union or adding of the US, Canada and Mexico would get this. Over 1,300 diseases have been covered. Not only Government but private hospitals have also been brought in. Persons already affected from any disease can also get free treatment. No discrimination can be done with the residents of other States. It shows our commitment to Sabka Sath-Sabka Vikas, said the PM predicting that the model would be a subject of study for the rest of the world and economists.

He further added the Government is working in holistic manner to improve healthcare scenario in the country which was about improved sanitation, quality of drinking water, housing for all and by bringing in more medical facilities in different parts of the country.

Modi on the occasion praised the efforts put in by the team of officials in descending the scheme miraculously on ground within six months of the announcement made in the 2018-19 Budget and also a sign of good governance and commitment. 57 lakh families from Jharkhand are to be brought into the net of Rs 5 lakh yearly health insurance.

The country is progressing rapidly to become Swasthya Bharat. 2500 new hospitals, most of those in tier-II and tier-III cities would be coming up in the next 3-4 years. Jobs are being created in the form of call centers, para-medics, druggists and startups are coming up in the health sector in big number. We are working in direction of readying one lakh more doctors in 4-5 years to revolutionalise the health sector, he said referring to Jharkhand which is about to take MBBS seats from existing 350 to 1,200 with five new medical colleges and AIIMS coming up.

The PM nevertheless wished may no one need medical attention of any kind while referring to financial drain the illness causes to poor families. I pray that no one goes to hospital because I feel the pain of the poor who have to spent major chunk of their savings on treatment. But if that happens, here comes the Ayushman Bharat. Now any poor person can get medical facilities as good as affluent peoples have been getting till now. I grabbed this as opportunity to serve the daridranarayan, said Modi, criticising the Garibi Hatao slogans as hollow.

Also present on the occasion was Union Health Minister JP Nadda who said that the scheme would bring systemic changes into healthcare sector in the country. India with this has taken a big leap and the entire world is watching with great interest. The scheme has been designed completely as IT-based and digital and without any need of paper work. We are also working on a series of health and wellness centres that would prevent lifestyle diseases and others at primary stages, said the Minister. The PM on the occasion also declared open 10 such centres in Jharkhand.

PM_4 : A beneficiary of the Ayushman Bharat, Manju Devi, receives Pradhan Mantri Jan Ayog Yojna card from Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the launch of the scheme at Prabhat Tara ground in Ranchi on Sunday. Governor Droupadi Murmu, Chief Minister Raghubar Das, Union Health Minister Jagat Prakash Nadda are also seen in the pictureThe National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has sought an action-taken-report (ATR) from the Khordha district Superintendent of Police, over the suspicious murder of a woman in a Bhubaneswar hotel near the Mancheswar police station.

The order of the NHRC came pursuant to the petition and subsequent submissions by civil rights lawyer Radhakanta Tripathy. He pointed out that in the last week of August; Laxmipriya Biswal of Kaimatia in Jatni was brutally murdered at a hotel, barely a few metres from the Mancheswar PS.

Biswal had married a resident of Gada Khordha about 15 years ago and the couple has two children. However, they were living separately since 2012. Biswal was staying in a rented house under the Khandagiri PS.

Biswal came to the hotel along with a man identified as Aditya Mohapatra of Puri district and the duo claimed that they were husband and wife.

Biswal and Mohapatra had furnished their Aadhaar cards as identity proof to the hotel authorities and checked into a room.

The hotel staff asked Mohapatra to clear the bills at about 7 pm. He said that his wife was in the room and he was going to an ATM kiosk to withdraw money.

After some hours, the hotel staff attempted to call Mohapatra, but his mobile phone was switched off.

Then they went to the room and called Biswal. When she did not respond, they broke open the door of the room and found her lying on the ground.

On being informed, Mancheswar police rushed to the spot and seized the body. While the victim had sustained injuries on her face and head, police seized an iron rod and her mobile phone from the spot.

Tripathy requested the NHRC to investigate the case and direct the State to ensure arrest of the accused and payment of compensation of Rs 5 lakh to the kin of the victim.The Prabhat Tara Maidan in Dhurwa locality of State Capital is all set to host Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who would be launching the Ayushman Bharat health scheme in the country, said to be worlds biggest health insurance scheme, alongwith and several other projects meant for the State on September 23.

During the programme, PM would hand over Golden Card to five beneficiaries under the Ayushman Bharat programme. He would lay the foundation stone of medical college at Koderma and Chaibasa involving a total cost of Rs 600 crore. He would also launch 11 wellness centers in the state. People from various parts of the state including Ranchi, Koderma and Chaibasa would be also linked to the programme.

According to the itinerary the PM would arrive at Birsa Munda International airport on an IAF helicopter at 11:30 AM. He would board another helicopter at the airport and reach a helipad near the Prabhat Tara ground and then proceed towards the venue in a carcade. He would return Birsa Munda airport and then head towards Bagdogra in West Bengal.

Sources however informed that preparations have also been made for movement of PM by road from the Birsa Munda ground to the Prabhat Tara ground in case of any disruption.

Officials, however, mentioned that timing of the PM visit which has already been altered once may undergo further changes in the last moments.

We have addressed all possible aspects including crowd management to ensure smooth conduct of the programme. Hectic preparations which were on for the past one week and it would continue on Saturday night as well, said Ranchi Deputy Commissioner Rai Mahimapat Ray.

Meanwhile, various Central and State security agencies held security rehearsals throughout the day to ensure watertight security system during the programme.

The administration has created eight zones for ensuring security at the Birsa Munda airport, helipad and the Prabhat Tara ground. The main venues of the PM visit have been taken over by the special protection group.

Elaborate orders have been passed for the magistrates and the policemen of each zone. For instance police force armed with wireless sets would be stationed at around one dozens places around the airport.

The police would also carry out patrolling around the airport during the visit. Unauthorised person would not be allowed entry in the prohibited areas.

The seating place at the Prabhat Tara ground has been divided into six sectors which would be under charge of several magistrates and police force. No one would be allowed to enter the venue without undergoing metal detector test and frisking.Amethi is set to accord a traditional welcome to Congress president Rahul Gandhi, who will be on a two-day visit to his parliamentary constituency after his recent visit to Kailash Mansarovar. A senior Congress leader said in Lucknow on Saturday that there was a tradition in Poorvanchal and Awadh to felicitate people once they return from pilgrimage.

Amethi is like home for Rahul Gandhi and Kailash Mansarovar Yatra is the most pious Hindu pilgrimage and hence he deserves a special welcome, he said. This will be Gandhis first visit to Amethi after his Kailash Mansarovar Yatra. UP Congress MLC and leader of the Upper House Deepak Singh confirmed that Gandhi would reach Amethi on Monday and after attending several programmes, he would leave for New Delhi on Tuesday evening. During his stay, the Amethi MP will attend the district vigilance committee meeting to review developmental works. Besides, he will also attend several farmers chaupals and inspect development works done under MPLAD, Singh said. Sources also said that Rahul Gandhi might also attend prabhat pheri, an ambitious programme of the party, which would kickstart on Tuesday and culminate on Gandhi Jayanti on October 2. During prabhat pheris, Congressmen will stroll through villages chanting Ram Dhun (Raghupati Raghav Rajaram....) and spread the message of love and harmony and non-violence as preached by Mahatma Gandhi. Later, the Congress workers will also take a vow on not allowing anyone to divide the country on caste or communal lines and spread hatred.The postponement clouds are yet again seems to be hovering over the upcoming student union poll of the States biggest university  Ranchi University (RU) which was expected to take place in September.

Considering the recent course of development, RU VC Dr. Ramesh Kumar Pandey during the meeting with the leaders of student unions on September 17 had proposed to conduct the election during Durga Puja (DP) holidays.

However, amid much discussions and brainstorming, the representatives of the student union groups have opposed the decision of the university citing different reasons.

The members of different student unions have unanimously stated that in an attempt to somehow complete the process of conducting the poll, the university in haste wants to carry out the election during DP holidays.

Members of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), National Students Union of India (NSUI), Adivasi Chhatra Sangh (ACS), Jharkhand Chhatra Morcha (JCM), All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU), Jharkhand Chhatra Vikash Morcha (JCVM) have opposed the decision of RU VC registering their disapproval during the meeting in the presence of Pro (VC) Dr. Kamini Kumar and other senior officials of the university.

Following the guidelines of Lyngdoh Committee recommendations, every university must complete the process of conducting students election soon after the completion of admission process for the new academic session.

We welcome the initiative of RU VC but our student union group is against the decision of conducting poll during the DP holidays as there are high chances of low voters percentage turnout, if the poll is conducted during holidays. Also, this year, the results of student union poll will have direct impact on the results of the upcoming Lok Sabha and State Assembly election slated in 2019, said, RU Postgraduate (PG) students union president, Tanuj Khatri.

On the other hand, clarifying the varsitys stance, the university officials opined that preparation of electoral roll, delay in completion of admission procedure after the introduction of Chancellor Portal  the online medium of getting the enrollment done including semester examination have left no other option with RU other than to conduct the election during the DP holidays.

The intension of the university personnel is in the favour of the students only. The RU VC wants to utilize the holidays so that examination is not delayed in the wake of election. Also, considering the semester exams in December, the poll cannot be deferred till that time, said RU Officer (PR), Dr. Prakash Kumar Jha.

Earlier in 2017, the issue of electoral roll preparations had gained much criticism from the students after it was revealed that approximately, 67,000 students then will be unable to cast their votes in the students poll and consequently the poll was cancelled in December.

As of now, the RU Dean Students Welfare (DSW) has received the electoral roll from maximum colleges which are likely to participate in the election yet considering the results of part  2, the final compilation of electoral roll will take some more time. Things are in pipeline. If not in DP holidays than in November, the university will try to conduct the students poll, Jha further added.

According to the previous records, over 2 lakh students participate in the students union election covering 16 constituent colleges of RU.

To make certain the active participation of students in students union poll, during the meeting, the student union leaders have urged to the RU VC to ensure the participation of all affiliated and minority institutions in the upcoming student union poll in 2018.With Lok Sabha Elections 2019 round the corner, the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) held a public rally on Sunday. The rally was chaired by the BJP chief Amit Shah who targeted the Congress President Rahul Gandhi and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

Directly pointing the Congress and the ruling Party of the National Capital, Shah said, The party will work hard to identify illegal immigrants living in the country once it will come to power after the next Lok Sabha Elections. He further alleged that the Congress President Gandhi and the Delhi CM Kejriwal is care for them for vote bank politics.

Besides the Party Chief, the Purvanachali Mahakumbh rally also witnessed several other senior political leaders from the party such as Union minister Harsh Vardhan, BJP general secretary(organisation) Ram Lal, Shahnawaz Hussain, party MPs Meenakshi Lekhi, Udit Raj, Parvesh Verma and others.

Illegal infiltrators are also causing trouble in the national capital, and likened them to termites, action against who should not worry any patriot. After forming government in 2019, the BJP will undertake a nationwide identification of illegal infiltrators living in the country, he said.

Shah also added that his party will repeat its 2014 feet and win all seven Lok Sabha seats in the city.

Following the ongoing National Register of Citizens (NRC) process in Assam, there has been increasing demand from many BJP leaders that an exercise should be undertaken in the rest of the country to identify illegal immigrants.

The illegal infiltrators are acting like termites in this country. They are also causing problems in Delhi. Action against them should not worry any patriot. But, whenever we take action Rahul Baba and Kejriwal start complaining. They care for illegal infiltrators because of vote bank politics, Shah said while addressing the Purvanchal Mahakumbh.

The BJP president further asked the Gandhi and Kejriwal to clear their stand of their respective parties on the issue of illegal immigrants living in the country.

Shah further alleged that AAP leaders are preventing the development of Delhi in its three and a half years of rule. Kejriwals only mantra is to tell lies, and talk forcefully and repeatedly.

Further targeting the Delhi CM, he said the Centre had given Rs 50,000 crore to the Delhi government in past four and a half years and alleged there was anger among people against AAP dispensation in the city.

We are ready to take the challenge of the opposition parties for their idea of Maha Gath bandan for the upcoming polls. This Mahagathbandhan has no policy or leader. Rahul wants to lead the bandwagon but leaders like Sharad Pawar, Mamta Banerjee, Mayawati and Akhilesh Yadav are against it, he claimed.

Lauding Purvanchali people for their contribution in the development of the country under the Modi government, the BJP chief said his party will not take rest till the eastern part of the country is as developed as the western part of it.

Accusing the Congress of doing injustice to the eastern region, including parts of UP, Bihar, Odisha and Jharkhand, Shah said the Modi Government had released 13.80 lakh crore and ensured development through expressways, hospitals and industries in the area.Congress leader and former Cabinet Minister Tilak Raj Behar and two others were injured in a road accident. The accident is reported to have taken place at about 4 AM. According to sources, the former Minister along with his gunner and driver was going in his vehicle from Rudrapur for some personal work in the morning.

A roadways bus hit the Innova the Congress leader was in near Rampur. The driver and gunner accompanying Behar are reported to have sustained serious injury while the former Minister too was left injured in the mishap. Those who witnessed the mishap, transported the three injured persons to the nearest hospital. From there, after primary treatment, the politician was referred to a private hospital in Rudrapur.

As soon as news of the former Minister sustaining injury in the mishap spread, a number of people started arriving at the hospital to check his condition.

Meanwhile, the driver of the Congress leader has lodged a complaint against the bus driver at the Rampur police station.With the strike of sanitation workers of East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) entering twelfth day on Sunday, serious garbage disposal and health crisis have arisen in trans-Yamuna region of the national Capital. The workers, despite assurance and repeated meeting with EDMC officials, were adamant on their demands, threatening to halt sanitation services for days to come if their dues were not paid to them. The sanitation employees are demanding regular payment of salaries, clearance of dues and regularisation of sanitation workers.

The president of MCD Swachhata Karmchari Union, Sanjay Gahlot, said the sanitation workers would not return to work until they get a permanent solution to the crisis.

Gahlot said that sanitation workers are forced to work in inhuman condition without any safety equipment and salary, he said. Most of the workers are associated with the corporations on contracts basis and never paid on time by the civic bodies. Despite repeated meeting with officials and Mayor, no solution has been chalked out. We have not been paid for the last eight months, Gehlot said.

We have been requesting EDMC and the Delhi Government for a permanent solution to delays in payment of salaries to all the employees, including sanitation workers, but there is no result yet, he said.

The workers claimed to intensify their protests by targeting offices and residences of councillors, MLAs and other stakeholders in coming days.

We do not want people to suffer. Thousands of people are suffering due to our strike which has been forced on us due to lack of any permanent solution to the issue of payment of salaries and other dues in time hence the need of the hour is that all the stakeholders must arrive at a solution instead of indulging in politics over the issue, he said.

EDMC mayor Bipin Bihari blamed the Delhi Government for the strike. The corporation is not able to pay its employees and workers since it has not received any funds from the Delhi Government, Bihari said.

Blaming the State Government, he said that the Corporation is not able to pay its employees and workers since it has not received any funds from the Delhi Government. He also informed about the order of Supreme Court in which Delhi Government has been directed to pay the due funds within 2 weeks.Fredrick 'Pahadi' Wilson was a man of the mountains. A soldier of fortune, after deserting the British armies, he sought refuge in the mountains of Uttarkashi. There, he began his business of lumbering, supplying the timber hungry railway industry with the Himalayan woods. Wilson would soon acquire the epithets of Pahadi (highlander) and Raja of Harsil, minting his own coins, marrying two women from Mukhba village and fathering three sons that would run through the family fortunes as quickly as they were acquired. Let us trace Wilson's life through some sights in the mountains connected with this enigmatic character.

One can begin to retrace Pahadi Wilson's journey from the heart of Dehradun at Saint Thomas Church. The church, which stands with beautiful Gothic architecture on the Rajpur Road, once witnessed one of the most important events of Wilsons life. Wilson first married Raimatta and then Gulabi, both from Mukhba village in Uttarkashi, in the 1840s. While respected for his wealth, Wilson wanted more social recognition and he sought to legalise his marriage with the Mukhba girl, Gulabi, according to English custom. It is at this Church in 1874 that Gulabi was baptised in a private ceremony and took on the name Ruth. However, neither she nor her husband ever used this name, sticking always to Gulabi. The next year, in 1875, Gulabi and Frederick Wilson got married here with the bride being listed as a spinster of forty-four years and the groom as a fifty-seven year old gentleman.

Close by is Astley Hall, a property reminiscent of the power of Frederick Wilson. A two storied building, Astley Hall has remained a bustling shopping complex. Wilson acquired it in 1847 from Miss Elspeth Astley, the spinster daughter of a retired colonel. Behind it was a palatial bungalow, a perfect residence for the Wilsons.

Wilson moved his family from Harsil to the bungalow near Astley Hall during the revolt of 1857 in order to ensure their security. Gulabi moved from Harsil with two of her three sons. It was also at Astley Hall that Wilson kept receiving important news about the progress of the revolt leaders like Nana Saheb, from local informers.

One may drive for about 30 kilometres to Mussoorie, the hill station founded in 1823 by Major Frederick Young, a close friend of Wilson. It is at the Himalayan Club in Kulri that Wilson often spent time with fellow soldiers over drinks and food, always living with the fear of being identified as a deserter. It was on one such night that the three FredericksFrederick Wilson, District Superintendent Frederick O Wells and Major Frederick Youngwere sharing a conversation at the Himalaya Club, that Wilson falsely introduced himself as the nephew of one Reverend Wilson of Calcutta. O Wells recalled that the reverend had no descendents. Suspicious, O'Wells stalked him to the Camels Back Road, and soon both got into a scuffle where O Wells was accidentally pushed down a deep gorge, and died. The deserter had also become a murderer. It was after this that Wilson escaped from Mussoorie to Uttarkashi via Suwakholi and Chamba. Later, when Wilson had to bring his wife, Raimatta, to a doctor at Landour, he had to travel incognito in the guise of a native villager with side-whiskers and kohl, to avoid getting caught.

A walk up the steep path on ones right from Kulri transports one to the serenity of Landour. It was at Landour that Wilson purchased a house for his second wife Gulabi, naming it Ivanhoe. The house still stands at Landour. Rokeby Manor was also his residence for a significant period. Purchased in the 1850s, Rokeby Manor was named after Sir Walter Scotts romantic poem. In 1859, Pahadi Wilson suffered his first attack of gout and retired to Rokeby for a few months with his family. His youngest son, Henry, preferred Rokeby to all his other homes since he could sit in silence besides his father and gaze at the fireplace. Henry was baptised at the Saint Pauls Church close to Rokeby and a huge celebration followed. It was also at this church that Wilsons second son Charlie, married an English woman named Clara, with whom he had one daughter. He was the only son of Wilson to have married and it is believed that Wilson wanted him to rather marry a local girl.

A two-hour drive from Landour takes one to Suwakholi, a stopover en route Dhanaulti. It was this route that Wilson used to travel between Dehradun, Mussoorie and Uttarkashi. The drive from Suwakholi to Uttarkashi is about 90 kilometres and takes one through breathtaking forests. Wilson built a guesthouse at Uttarkashi and Bhatwari, both of which do not survive today. He introduced cash economy to this region minting his own coins, which intrigued the local people. It was at Harsil, about 70 kms from Uttarkashi, and neighbouring Mukhba that Wilson spent most of his life. While on a hunting expedition here, the priests at the Someshwar temple of Mukhba wished to know his intentions. Not very convinced, the chief priest Kamlesh Semwal kept a strict eye on him.

When Wilson requested to be led till Nelong and Gangotri to catch two Russian spies that he suspected might have used the same route, Mukhba appointed Mungetu Chand to do the job. Mungetu and he struck a friendship and subsequently, he married Mungetus 13-year-old daughter Raimatta Chand. Raimatta and Wilson lost three of their babies in her womb and Raimatta was soon declared medically unfit to bear a child. It is for this reason that she lived separately from her husband and did not accompany him like his second wife Gulabi. A visit to the Raimatta House at Mukhba is a journey into her life. It is said that Wilson loved his first wife and gifted her a copy of the Holy Bible in Urdu, which until today lies in the custody of Prem Chand and his successors, the descendents of the Chand family. Adorned with a long wooden corridor Raimatta's is one of the biggest, gable-roofed houses in Mukhba. It is decorated with splendid arches very typical of architecture in the mountains.

Wilsons second wife Gulabi was Mungetus sister and Raimattas aunt who was made to marry Wilson to bear him children. The couple soon became inseparable partners, in life as in business also and Gulabi learnt not only English from Major Young but also English customs. It is said that her palanquin was one of the richest in Mussoorie and would be an object of envy whenever she arrived from Harsil.

It had been Wilsons dream to build a house for himself at Harsil and by the end of 1843, his forest mansion was ready. It had ten gables and a covered veranda supported by ten handsomely sculpted lotus columns running the entire length of the front facade. The massive double entrances, each four feet in width, were made from a single Deodar. The ground floor, in keeping with practice in the mountains, contained storerooms while the first floor contained living quarters. A tiled cookhouse was a part of the mansion, the first in Tanganore. Wilson later added a granary, bakery and water mill for grinding grain. The post office at Harsil reminds one of the times in which the Raja ruled over this area.

One can drive from Harsil for a distance of 11 kms to reach Lanka, the last stop before the turn to Nelong Valley. In a gorge beneath Lanka, Jadganga, a rapid flowing river that descends from the mountains bordering Tibet, joins the Bhagirathi.

It was while camping in the nearby Bhaironghati that Wilson realised the need for a bridge to cross the gorge. He got a bridge constructed here.

In 1844, a rupture in the Nelong glacier caused one of the bridges built by him near Jadganga to collapse. He then decided to build the bridge spanning the top of the Jadganga Gorge. It was when he achieved the construction of this bridge, that the headman of Mukhba gave him the epithet, Pahadi.

However, within the passing of a generation, the family had squandered the benefit of Pahadi Wilson's meteoric rise.

(The writer is an anthropologist, author, traveler & activist who also runs a public walking group called Been There, Doon That?)China on Saturday summoned the US ambassador to lodge an official protest over sanctions imposed by Washington on a Chinese military unit for purchasing advanced fighter jets and missile systems from Russia, according to a media report.

Also, China has cancelled a reported move to send Vice-Premier Liu He to Washington for talks to end the escalating trade war between the worlds two largest economies, following imposition of tariffs on Chinese goods by the Trump administration.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry summoned the US ambassador to protest against US sanctions on the equipment development department of the Chinese military and its director, the official media reported on Saturday.

The US State Department said on Thursday that it would immediately impose sanctions on the equipment development department of the Chinese military and its director, Li Shangfu, for engaging in significant transactions with Russias main arms exporter.

The US said the purchases of Russian Sukhoi Su-35 fighter jets and S-400 surface-to-air missiles by Chinas Equipment Development Department (EDD) of Ministry of Defence has violated US sanctions on Russia.

It was the first time the Trump administration targeted a third country with its Countering Americas Adversaries Through Sanctions Act of 2017 (CAATSA), designed to punish Russia for its seizure of Crimea and other activities.

While the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, Geng Shuang on Friday expressed outrage and asked Washington to revoke the decision or face consequences, Chinas military today expressed indignation over the move.

The Chinese military expressed strong indignation and opposition to US sanctions on the equipment development department of the Chinese military and its director, the state-run China Daily quoted a military spokesman as saying.

Col Wu Qian, a spokesman for the Ministry of National Defence said that the military cooperation between China and Russia is within the normal range of cooperation between sovereign states in accordance with international laws, and the US has no right to interfere.

The US move has trampled on the basic norms of international relations in a full embodiment of hegemonism, seriously damaging relations between the two countries and their armies, he said.

The Chinese military urged the US to correct its mistake and withdraw sanctions, or bear the consequences, Wu said.Kathmandu, Nepal: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be visiting Nepal once again in coming November. His purposed visit to Nepal is taken importantly in the political as well as diplomatic level.





Though the exact date of the visit is yet to be fixed it is likely that Indian PM Oli will visit Nepal at the end of November, claims a source at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA).





However, the source at MoFA is clueless about the issue of purpose of the visit. To be held Indian Prime Minister Modi's visit will be the fourth visit to Nepal after he came to power in 2014.





Though neither the Nepal government nor the Indian government have made clear about the purpose of the visit, to be held visit would termed as of a goodwill visit, claims the source preferring anonymity.



In a first, the CRPF has inducted five Mahila companies (500combatants) for anti-terrorist operations in Jammu & Kashmir and will help in containing women stone-pelters and areas gheraoed by women during cordon and search operations by the security forces.

The companies operate from a base at Bemina in Srinagar and dispatched to locations based on operational requirements. The women personnel are equipped with assault rifles like AK-47 for operations in the hinterland and 9 mm pistol for close combat in urban settings besides bullet-proof vests.

As part of pre-induction training, the companies were initially deployed in guard duties at various places including the Srinagar airport. The women personnel have also been exposed to riot control and mob control. The companies have been trained in counter-insurgency and anti-terrorist operations for operational requirement in the Valley.

The CRPF has already deployed Mahila companies for anti-Naxal operations in Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand.

A senior CRPF officer handling training in the paramilitary said, The decision to put trained women on the ground in the Valley was taken as part of tactical requirements as the separatist groups and terror- sympathizing outfits often bring women to the fore to disrupt cordon and search operations and often engaged for throwing stones on the security forces. In such a situation, our boys (jawans) are at receiving end and the terrorists escape after taking advantage of the disturbance. The Mahila companies will now take care of the stone-pelting women and those disrupting anti-terrorist operations.

The separatist and terrorist groups often made a huge issue when protesting women were injured even inadvertently by security forces during operations or for controlling violent stone-throwing mobs. The human rights groups also used to make a huge issue out of such lawful operations by the security forces against the ultras who were readily backed by local women and children, a source said.

The CRPF has deployed over 60 battalions (60,000 personnel) in Jammu and Kashmir for law and order and anti-terrorist operations in the insurgency-hit State.

Earlier, the Indo-Tibetan Border Police that guards the Indo-China border had deployed five companies for combat operations in the high-altitude frontier.Militants shot dead at least 29 people including women and children in an attack on Saturday on an Iranian military parade claimed by the Islamic State group, as Tehran accused a US ally in the region of the assault.

The attack in the southwestern city of Ahvaz came as the country marked the anniversary of the start of its 1980-1988 war with Saddam Husseins Iraq and prompted President Hassan Rouhani to warn of a crushing response.

The response of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the smallest threat will be crushing, Rouhani said on his official website. Those who give intelligence and propaganda support to these terrorists must answer for it. Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said in a tweet that the attack near the Iraqi border was carried out by terrorists recruited, trained, armed & paid by a foreign regime.

Iran holds regional terror sponsors and their US masters accountable for such attacks, he wrote. IS jihadists said via their propaganda mouthpiece Amaq that Islamic State fighters attacked a gathering of Iranian forces in Ahvaz.

The city lies in Khuzestan, a province bordering Iraq that has a large ethnic Arab community and has seen separatist violence in the past that Iran has blamed on its regional rivals.

State television gave a casualty toll of 29 dead and 57 wounded, while official news agency IRNA said those killed included women and children among spectators at the rally. Many of the wounded were in critical condition.

Armed forces spokesman Brigadier General Abolfazl Shekarchi said the dead included a young girl and a former serviceman in a wheelchair.

Of the four terrorists, three were sent to hell at the scene, while the fourth who had been wounded and arrested went to hell moments ago due to his severe wounds, Shekarchi told state television.

Khuzestan deputy governor Ali-Hossein Hosseinzadeh told the semi-official ISNA news agency that eight to nine troops were among those killed, as well as a journalist.

Zarif did not specify which regional government he held responsible for the shooting, but Irans elite Revolutionary Guards said the attackers were funded by Sunni arch-rival Saudi Arabia.

Those who opened fire on civilians and the armed forces have links to the Ahvazi movement, Guards spokesman Ramezan Sharif told ISNA.

They are funded by Saudi Arabia and attempted to cast a shadow over the Iranian armed forces. Zarif vowed Iran would respond swiftly and decisively in defence of Iranian lives.

In a message of condolence to Russias close regional ally, President Vladimir Putin said he was appalled by this bloody crime.

This event once again reminds us about the necessity of an uncompromising battle against terrorism in all of its manifestations. Khuzestan was a major battleground of the 1980s war with Iraq and the attack on the anniversary parade in Ahvaz had significant symbolic value.

The province saw unrest in 2005 and 2011 but has since seen been largely quiet. Attacks by Kurdish rebels on military patrols along the border further north are relatively common. But attacks on regime targets inside major cities are far rarer.

On June 7, 2017, 17 people were killed and dozens wounded in simultaneous attacks in Tehran on the parliament building and on the tomb of revolutionary leader Ruhollah Khomeini -- the first inside Iran claimed by the Sunni Muslim extremists of the Islamic State group. In April, 26 alleged IS jihadists went on trial on charges connected with that twin attack.

The attack in Ahvaz came as President Rouhani was among dignitaries at the main anniversary parade in Tehran.

In a keynote speech, Rouhani vowed to boost Irans ballistic missile capabilities despite Western concerns that were cited by his US counterpart Donald Trump in May when he abandoned a landmark nuclear deal with Tehran.

We will never decrease our defensive capabilities... We will increase them day by day, Rouhani said at a military parade. The fact that the missiles anger you shows they are our most effective weapons, he said, referring to the West.

Iran has ballistic missiles with a range of up to 3,500 kilometres, enough to reach both Israel and US bases in the Middle East.

The United States reimposed crippling sanctions on Iran last month, and a new round of even harsher sanctions targeting Irans vital oil sector is set to go back into effect on November 5.

Washington has said it is ready to open talks on a new agreement to replace the July 2015 accord, but Tehran has said repeatedly it cannot negotiate under the pressure of the sanctions.

Trump and Rouhani will both be in New York next week for the United Nations General Assembly. But Iran has repeatedly ruled out any meeting.A US district court has sentenced a Pakistani-origin businessman to three years of probation for procuring and unlawfully exporting material and equipment to Pakistan for its military.

Imran Khan of North Haven in Connecticut was sentenced in Bridgeport to three years of probation, the first six monhs of which the 44-year-old Khan must serve in home confinement for violating US export law. Khan has also been ordered to perform 100 hours of community service and pay a $3,000 fine. First six months of the three-year probation is in home confinement, John Durham, US Attorney for the District of Connecticut, said Friday.

According to court documents and statements made in court, from at least 2012 to December 2016, Khan and two of his family members engaged in a scheme to purchase goods that were controlled under the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) and to export those goods without a license to Pakistan, in violation of the EAR. American Consumer News, LLC dba MarketBeat 2010-2021. All rights reserved.

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 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.Africa Energy Corp. operates as an oil and gas exploration and production company in South Africa and Namibia. It holds a 90% interest in the Exploration Right for Block 2B offshore that covers an area of 3,062 square kilometers located in the west coast of South Africa; 43.85% interest in the Petroleum Exploration License 37 covering an area of 17,295 square kilometers located in the northern Namibian offshore region; and 49% interest in the Exploration Right for Block 11B/12B covering an area of approximately 19,000 square kilometers located in the Outeniqua Basin off the southern coast of South Africa. The company was formerly known as Horn Petroleum Corporation and changed its name to Africa Energy Corp. in March 2015. Africa Energy Corp. was incorporated in 2010 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada.

Read MoreDHX Media Ltd. develops, produces, distributes, broadcasts, and licenses television and film programs for conventional and specialty terrestrial and cable/satellite television broadcasters worldwide. The company operates through three segments: Content Business, DHX Television, and Consumer Products Represented. It focuses on children's, youth, and family productions; offers animation programs; and provides production services. The company also sells initial broadcast rights; the packages of programs; and reuse rights to existing series to individual broadcasters and other content exhibitors, as well as pre-sells series in development. In addition, the company holds broadcast licenses for Family Channel, Family Jr., Telemagino, and Family CHRGD television channels; and exploits the company's own and third party brands in toys, games, apparel, publishing, and other categories. Further, it licenses its brands, such as Peanuts, Strawberry Shortcake, Teletubbies, Yo Gabba Gabba!, Caillou, Johnny Test, In the Night Garden, and Twirlywoos, as well as music publishing and retransmission rights, and live tours. The company was formerly known as The Halifax Film Company Limited and changed its name to DHX Media Ltd. in March 2006. DHX Media Ltd. was incorporated in 2004 and is headquartered in Halifax, Canada.

Read More24 minutes ago

China's leader Xi warns against 'Cold War' in Asia-Pacific

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP)  Chinese President Xi Jinping warned Thursday against letting tensions in the Asian-Pacific region cause a relapse into a Cold War mentality. His remarks on the sidelines of the annual summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum came weeks after the U.S., Britain and Australia announced a new security alliance in the region which would see Australia build nuclear submarines.

Read ArticleLincoln National Corp. is a holding company, which operates multiple insurance and retirement businesses through its subsidiary companies. It provides advice and solutions that help empower people to take charge of their financial lives with confidence and optimism. The company operates through the following segments: Annuities, Retirement Plan Services, Life Insurance, Group Protection, and Other Operations. The Annuities segment provides tax-deferred investment growth and lifetime income opportunities for its clients by offering fixed and variable annuities. The Retirement Plan Services segment includes employers with retirement plan products and services, primarily in the defined contribution retirement plan marketplaces. The Life Insurance segment focuses on the creation and protection of wealth for its clients by providing life insurance products, including term insurance, both single and survivorship versions of universal life insurance, variable universal life insurance, and indexed universal life insurance products. The Group Protection segment offers group non-medical insurance products, which includes term life, disability, dental, vision and accident and critical illness

Read MoreSaga plc provides general insurance, package and cruise holidays, and personal finance products and services in the United Kingdom. The company operates in three segments: Insurance, Travel, and Other Businesses and Central Costs. It offers car, home, health, travel, landlord, boat, motorhome, caravan, pet, and personal accident, breakdown cover, building, content, renter, holiday, and holiday home insurance. The company also operates and delivers package tours and cruise holiday products; and provides equity release and care funding advice, savings accounts, credit cards, and wealth management services, as well as shares ISA and share dealing services. In addition, it offers mailing house services; retirement benefit schemes; and publishes Saga Magazine, as well as repairs automotive vehicles. The company was formerly known as Saga Limited and changed its name to Saga plc in May 2014. Saga plc was founded in 1950 and is headquartered in Folkestone, the United Kingdom.

Read MoreThe following companies are subsidiares of Quest Diagnostics: AmeriPath, AmeriPath Cincinnati Inc. (OH), AmeriPath Cleveland Inc. (OH), AmeriPath Consolidated Labs Inc. (FL), AmeriPath Florida LLC (DE), AmeriPath Hospital Services Florida LLC (DE), AmeriPath Inc. (DE), AmeriPath Indianapolis PC (IN), AmeriPath Kentucky Inc. (KY), AmeriPath Lubbock 5.01(A) Corporation (TX), AmeriPath New York LLC (DE), AmeriPath Texas Inc. (DE), AmeriPath Tucson Inc. (AZ), American Medical Laboratories, American Medical Laboratories Incorporated (DE), Associated Clinical Laboratories L.P. (PA), Associated Clinical Laboratories of Pennsylvania L.L.C. (PA), Athena Diagnostics, Athena Diagnostics Inc. (DE), Blueprint Genetics, Blueprint Genetics FZ-LLC (UAE), Blueprint Genetics Inc. (DE), Blueprint Genetics Oy (Finland), California Laboratory Associates, Cape Cod Healthcare - Business, Celera, ClearPoint Diagnostic, Clearpoint Diagnostic Laboratories LLC (TX), Cleveland HeartLab, Cleveland HeartLab Inc. (DE), Clinical Laboratory Partners, Colorado Pathology Consultants P.C. (CO), ConVerge Diagnostic Services, Consolidated DermPath Inc. (DE), DFW 5.01(a) Corporation (TX), DGXWMT JV LLC (DE), Dermatopathology of Wisconsin S.C. (WI), Diagnostic Laboratory of Oklahoma LLC (OK), Diagnostic Pathology Services Inc. (OK), Diagnostic Reference Services Inc. (MD), ExamOne Canada Inc. (New Brunswick), ExamOne LLC (DE), ExamOne World Wide Inc. (PA), ExamOne World Wide of NJ Inc. (NJ), Focus Diagnostics, HemoCue, Hoffman M.D. Associated Pathologists Chartered (NV), Institute for Dermatopathology Inc. (PA), Isabella Street Urban Renewal LLC (NJ), Kailash B. Sharma M.D. Inc. (GA), Kilpatrick Pathology P.A. (NC), LabOne, LabOne LLC (MO), LabOne of Ohio Inc. (DE), Laboratorio de Analisis Biomedicos S.A. (Mexico), Lancet Labs, MACL, Med Fusion LLC (TX), Med fusion, MedPlus, Mid America Clinical Laboratories LLC (IN), Nomad Massachusetts Inc. (MA), Nuclear Medicine and Pathology Associates (GA), Ocmulgee Medical Pathology Association Inc. (GA), Pathology Building Partnership (MD) (gen. ptnrshp.), PeaceHealth Laboratories, PhenoPath Laboratories, PhenoPath Laboratories PLLC (WA), Q Squared Solutions Holdings LLC (DE), Q Squared Solutions Holdings Limited (UK), Quest Diagnostics (Shanghai) Co. Ltd. (China), Quest Diagnostics Brasil Holdings Ltd. (UK), Quest Diagnostics Clinical Laboratories, Quest Diagnostics Clinical Laboratories Inc. (DE), Quest Diagnostics Domestic Holder LLC (DE), Quest Diagnostics HTAS India Private Limited (India), Quest Diagnostics Health & Wellness LLC (DE), Quest Diagnostics Holdings Incorporated (DE), Quest Diagnostics Holdings Ltd. (UK), Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (MD), Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NV), Quest Diagnostics India Private Limited (India), Quest Diagnostics Infectious Disease Inc. (DE), Quest Diagnostics International Holdings Limited (UK), Quest Diagnostics International LLC (DE), Quest Diagnostics Investments LLC (DE), Quest Diagnostics Ireland Limited (Ireland), Quest Diagnostics LLC (CT), Quest Diagnostics LLC (IL), Quest Diagnostics LLC (MA), Quest Diagnostics Massachusetts LLC (MA), Quest Diagnostics Mexico Holding Company Trust (Mexico), Quest Diagnostics Mexico S de RL de CV (Mexico), Quest Diagnostics Nichols Institute (CA), Quest Diagnostics Nichols Institute Inc. (VA), Quest Diagnostics Receivables Inc. (DE), Quest Diagnostics Subsidiary Holdings Ltd. (UK), Quest Diagnostics TB LLC (DE), Quest Diagnostics Terracotta LLC (DE), Quest Diagnostics Venture LLC (PA), Quest Diagnostics Ventures LLC (DE), Quest Diagnostics do Brasil Ltda. (Brazil), Quest Diagnostics of Pennsylvania Inc. (DE), Quest Diagnostics of Puerto Rico Inc. (PR), Quest HealthConnect LLC (CA), ReproSource, Reprosource Fertility Diagnostics Inc. (MA), Solstas Lab Partners, Sonora Quest Laboratories LLC (AZ), Specialty Laboratories Inc. (CA), Summit Health, UMass Memorial Medical Center - Anatomic Pathology Outreach Laboratory Business, Unilab Corporation, and Unilab Corporation (DE).Zalando SE operates as an online fashion and lifestyle retailer. It offers a range of products, including shoes, apparel, accessories, and beauty products for women, men, and children, as well as free delivery and returns services. The company also sells its products through its Zalando Lounge; and brick-and-mortar stores in Berlin, Frankfurt, Cologne, Leipzig, Hamburg, Hanover, MAnster, Stuttgart, Mannheim, and Ulm. It serves in Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxemburg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. The company has a strategic partnership with Sephora SAS to create the online prestige beauty destination. Zalando SE was founded in 2008 and is headquartered in Berlin, Germany.

Read MoreTC Energy Corporation operates as an energy infrastructure company in North America. It operates through Canadian Natural Gas Pipelines, U.S. Natural Gas Pipelines, Mexico Natural Gas Pipelines, Liquids Pipelines, and Power and Storage segments. The company builds and operates 93,400 km network of natural gas pipelines, which transports natural gas from supply basins to local distribution companies, power generation plants, industrial facilities, interconnecting pipelines, LNG export terminals, and other businesses. It also has regulated natural gas storage facilities with a total working gas capacity of 535 billion cubic feet. In addition, it has approximately 4,900 km liquids pipeline system that connects Alberta crude oil supplies to refining markets in Illinois, Oklahoma, Texas, and the U.S. Gulf Coast. Further, the company owns or has interests in seven power generation facilities with a combined capacity of approximately 4,200 megawatts that are powered by natural gas and nuclear fuel sources located in Alberta, Ontario, QuAbec, and New Brunswick; and owns and operates approximately 118 billion cubic feet of non-regulated natural gas storage capacity in Alberta. The company was formerly known as TransCanada Corporation and changed its name to TC Energy Corporation in May 2019. TC Energy Corporation was incorporated in 1951 and is headquartered in Calgary, Canada.

Read MoreMedtronic Plc is a medical technology company, which engages in the development, manufacture, distribution, and sale of device-based medical therapies and services. It operates through the following segments: Cardiac and Vascular Group; Minimally Invasive Technologies Group; Restorative Therapies Group; and Diabetes Group. The Cardiac and Vascular Group segment consists of products for the diagnosis, treatment, and management of cardiac rhythm disorders and cardiovascular disease. The Minimally Invasive Technologies Group segment focuses on respiratory system, gastrointestinal tract, renal system, lungs, pelvic region, kidneys, and obesity diseases. The Restorative Therapies Group segment comprises of neurostimulation therapies and drug delivery systems for the treatment of chronic pain, as well as areas of the spine and brain, along with pelvic health and conditions of the ear, nose, and throat. The Diabetes Group segment offers insulin pumps, coninuous glucose monitoring systems, and insulin pump consumables. The company was founded in 1949 and is headquartered in Dublin, Ireland.

Read MoreThe following companies are subsidiares of Carnival Co. &: 1972 Productions Inc., 6348 Equipment LLC, A.C.N. 098 290 834 Pty. Ltd., A.J. Juneau Dock LLC, AIDA Kundencenter GmbH, Adventure Island Ltd., Air-Sea Holiday GmbH, Alaska Hotel Properties LLC, Barcelona Cruise Terminal SLU, Bay Island Cruise Port S.A., Belize Cruise Terminal Limited, CC U.S. Ventures Inc., CCL Gifts LLC, CSSC Carnival Italy Cruise Investment S.r.L, Carnival (UK) Limited, Carnival Bahamas FC Limited, Carnival Bahamas Holdings Limited, Carnival Corporation & plc Asia Pte. Ltd., Carnival Corporation Hong Kong Limited, Carnival Corporation Korea Ltd., Carnival Corporation Ports Group Japan KK, Carnival Finance LLC, Carnival Grand Bahama Investment Limited, Carnival Investments Limited, Carnival Japan Inc., Carnival License Holdings Limited, Carnival Maritime GmbH, Carnival North America LLC, Carnival Port Holdings Limited, Carnival Ports Inc., Carnival Support Services India Private Limited, Carnival Technical Services (UK) Limited, Carnival Technical Services Finland Limited, Carnival Technical Services GmbH, Carnival Technical Services Inc., Carnival Vanuatu Limited, Costa Crociere PTE Ltd., Costa Crociere S.p.A., Costa Cruceros S.A., Costa Cruise Lines Inc., Costa Cruise Lines UK Limited, Costa Cruises Shipping Services (Shanghai) Company Limited, Costa Cruises Travel Agency (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Costa Cruzeiros Agencia Maritima e Turismo Ltda., Costa Group Digital & Strategic Services GmbH, Costa International B.V., Costa Kreuzfahrten GmbH, Cozumel Cruise Terminal S.A. de C.V., Creative Travel Lab Ltd., Cruise Ships Catering & Services International N.V., Cruise Terminal Services S.A. de C.V., Cruiseport Curacao C.V., D.R. Cruise Port Ltd., Ecospray Technologies S.r.L., F.P.M. SAS, F.P.P. SAS, Fleet Maritime Services (Bermuda) Limited, Fleet Maritime Services Holdings (Bermuda) Limited, Fleet Maritime Services International Limited, GXI LLC, Gibs Inc., Global Experience Innovators Inc., Global Fine Arts Inc., Global Shipping Service (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Grand Cruise Shipping Unipessoal LdA, Grand Turk Cruise Center Ltd., HAL Antillen N.V., HAL Beheer B.V., HAL Cruises Limited, HAL Maritime Ltd., HAL Nederland N.V., HAL Properties Limited, HAL Services B.V., HSE Hamburg School of Entertainment GmbH, Holding Division Iberocruceros SLU, Holland America Line Inc., Holland America Line N.V., Holland America Line Paymaster of Washington LLC, Holland America Line U.S.A. Inc., Ibero Cruzeiros Ltda., Iberocruceros SLU, Information Assistance Corporation, International Cruise Services S.A. de C.V., International Leisure Travel Inc., International Maritime Recruitment Agency S.A. de C.V., Milestone N.V., Navitrans S.R.L., Ocean Bahamas Innovation Ltd., Ocean Medallion Fulfillment Ltd., Operadora Catalina S.r.L., P&O Princess American Holdings, P&O Princess Cruises International Limited, P&O Princess Cruises Pension Trustee Limited, P&O Properties (California) Inc., P&O Travel Limited, Prestige Cruises Management S.A.M., Prestige Cruises N.V., Princess Bermuda Holdings Ltd., Princess Cays Ltd., Princess Cruise Corporation Inc., Princess Cruise Lines Ltd., Princess Cruises and Tours Inc., Princess U.S. Holdings Inc., RCT Maintenance & Related Services S.A., RCT Pilots & Related Services S.A., RCT Security & Related Services S.A., Roatan Cruise Terminal S.A. de C.V., Royal Hyway Tours Inc., Santa Cruz Terminal S.L., SeaVacations Limited, SeaVacations UK Limited, Seabourn Cruise Line Limited, Shanghai Coast Cruise Consulting Co. Lda, Ship Care (Bahamas) Limited, Sitmar Cruises Inc., Spanish Cruise Services N.V., Sunshine Shipping Corporation Ltd., T&T International Inc., Tour Alaska LLC, Transnational Services Corporation, Trident Insurance Company Ltd., Westmark Hotels Inc., Westmark Hotels of Canada Ltd., Westours Motor Coaches LLC, Wind Surf Limited, and World Leading Cruise Management (Shanghai) Co. Ltd..The following companies are subsidiares of Fidelity National Information Services: 11601 Roosevelt Boulevard Realty LLC, AFSF II AIV Investors D-LP, AGES Participacoes Ltda., AKC Insurance Company LLC, Advanced Portfolio Technologies Ltd., Alphakinetic Ltd., Armed Forces Financial Network LLC, AssetExchange, Automated Securities Clearance LLC, Best Payment Solutions Inc., Bibit Spain S.L., Bitpay Payments KK, C&E Holdings Luxembourg S.a.r.l., CPRS Holdings Inc., Canadian Envoy Technology Services Ltd., Capco, Central Credit Services Limited, Certegy Canada Company, Certegy Card Services B.V., Certegy Dutch Holdings B.V., Certegy France Limited, Certegy SAS, Certegy UK Holdings B.V., Chex Systems Inc., Clear2Pay, Clear2Pay (Shenzhen) Company Limited, Clear2Pay APAC Pte. Ltd., Clear2Pay APAC Pty Ltd., Clear2Pay BV, Clear2Pay Belgium BV, Clear2Pay China Limited, Clear2Pay France SAS, Clear2Pay Germany GmbH, Clear2Pay Limited, Clear2Pay Nanjing Co. Limited, Clear2Pay Nederland BV, Clear2Pay Poland Sp. z o.o., Clear2Pay Scotland Holdings Limited, Clear2Pay Scotland Limited, Clear2Pay Spain S.l., ClearTwoPay Chile SpA, Complete Payment Recovery Services Inc., Compliance Coach, Credit Management Solutions, Decalog (UK) Limited, Decalog N.V., Envoy Services Bulgaria Limited, Envoy Services Ltd. (Asia) SDn BHD, Envoy Services Pty Ltd., Envoy Services South Africa (Pty) Limited, F.I.S. Systems (Middle East) Limited, FIS (Switzerland) SA, FIS (Tunisia) I SARL, FIS (Tunisia) II SARL, FIS Ambit Holdings Pty Ltd, FIS Apex (International) Limited, FIS Apex (UK) Limited, FIS Asia Pacific Inc., FIS AsiaPacRim Holdings Ltd., FIS Australasia Pty Ltd., FIS AvantGard LLC, FIS Banking Solutions UK Limited, FIS Bilgisayar Hizmetleri Ticaret Limited Sirketi, FIS Brokerage & Securities Services LLC, FIS Business Integration (UK) Limited, FIS Capital Markets UK Limited, FIS Capital Markets US LLC, FIS Card Services (Caribbean) Ltd., FIS Card Services (Thailand) Co. Ltd., FIS Consulting Services (Ireland) Limited, FIS Consulting Services (UK) Limited, FIS Denmark ApS, FIS Derivatives Utility Services (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., FIS Derivatives Utility Services (UK) Limited, FIS Derivatives Utility Services LLC, FIS Energy Solutions Limited, FIS Financial Solutions Canada Inc., FIS Financial Systems (France) SAS, FIS Foundation Inc., FIS GCS LLC, FIS Global Business Solutions India Private Ltd., FIS Global Execution Services (Ireland) Limited, FIS Global Execution Services Limited, FIS Global Holdings S.a.r.l, FIS Global Recovery Services India Private Limited, FIS Global Solutions Philippines Inc., FIS Global Trading (Deutschland) GmbH, FIS Global Trading (Hong Kong) Limited, FIS Global Trading (Iberica) S.L. Unipersonal, FIS Global Trading (Nederland) B.V., FIS Global Trading (Portugal) Unipessoal Lda, FIS Global Trading (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., FIS Global Trading (Suisse) SA, FIS Global Trading (UK) Limited, FIS Healthcare Trustee Limited, FIS Holdings (Germany) GmbH i.L., FIS Holdings Limited, FIS Holdings Mauritius, FIS Insurance Services Limited, FIS International Subsidiaries Holdings Inc., FIS Investment Systems (UK) Limited, FIS Investment Ventures LLC, FIS Investor Services LLC, FIS Japan KK, FIS Kingstar Cayman Islands Limited, FIS Korea Ltd., FIS Management Services LLC, FIS Management Services Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., FIS Pakistan (Private) Limited, FIS Payment Solutions & Services India Private Limited, FIS Payments (Ireland) Limited, FIS Payments (UK) Limited, FIS Pensions Limited, FIS Romania SRL, FIS SG (Italia) S.r.l., FIS SG International Holdings LLC, FIS SG Systems Philippines Inc., FIS Sherwood Systems Limited, FIS Solutions (India) Private Limited, FIS Solutions LLC, FIS Solutions Software (India) Private Limited, FIS Systeme GmbH, FIS Systems (Hong Kong) Limited, FIS Systems (Luxembourg) S.A., FIS Systems (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., FIS Systems (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., FIS Systems Canada Inc., FIS Systems International LLC, FIS Systems Kenya Limited, FIS Systems Limited, FIS Systems NZ Limited, FIS Systems Pty Ltd, FIS Systems South Africa (Pty) Limited, FIS Systems de Colombia S.A.S., FIS Technology (Beijing) Co. Limited, FIS Technology Services (Poland) Sp. z o.o., FIS Technology Services (Tunisia) SARL, FIS Technology Services Singapore Pte. Ltd., FIS Treasury Systems (Europe) Limited, FIS Treasury Systems (UK) Limited, FIS UK Holdings Limited, FIS Vietnam LLC, FIS Worldpay (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, FIS Worldpay Jersey Limited, FIS-SG Holding Corp., FNIS Istanbul Danismanlik Limited Sirketi, FV General Partner LLC, Fidelity Holding Ltda., Fidelity Information Services (Hong Kong) Limited, Fidelity Information Services (Iberia) S.L.U., Fidelity Information Services (Israel) Ltd., Fidelity Information Services (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd., Fidelity Information Services (Thailand) Limited, Fidelity Information Services Front Arena AB, Fidelity Information Services GmbH, Fidelity Information Services Holdings B.V., Fidelity Information Services India Private Limited, Fidelity Information Services International Holdings Inc., Fidelity Information Services LLC, Fidelity Information Services Limited, Fidelity Information Services Operations GmbH, Fidelity Information Services SARL, Fidelity Information Services Slovakia s.r.o., Fidelity Information Services de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Fidelity International Resource Management Inc., Fidelity National Card Services Inc., Fidelity National Global Card Services Inc., Fidelity National Information Services (Netherlands) B.V., Fidelity National Information Services C.V., Fidelity National Information Services Inc., Fidelity National Participacoes e Servicos de Informatica Ltda., Fidelity National Servicos de Tratamento de Documentos e Informatica Ltda., Fidelity National Servicos e Contact Center Ltda., Fidelity Participacoes e Servicos Ltda., Financial Insurance Marketing Group Inc., GL Settle Limited, GL Trade (South Africa) (Proprietary) Limited, GL Trade CMS (Thailand) Limited, GL Trade Software DOO, GL Trade Solutions CMS (Thailand) Limited, Glesia S.r.l., GoCart LLC, Information Services Luxembourg S.a.r.l., Integrity Treasury Solutions Europe Limited, Integrity Treasury Solutions Inc., Integrity Treasury Solutions Limited, Integrity Treasury Solutions Pty Limited, Link2Gov Corp., Memento, Metavante Corporation, Metavante Payment Services LLC, Metavante Technologies Inc, Metavante Technologies Limited, Minorca Corporation NV, Monis Management Limited, Monis Software Limited, NYCE Payments Network LLC, Oshap Software Industries Ltd., Oshap Technologies Ltd., PT FIS Systems Indonesia, PT Fidelity Information Services Indonesia, Panther Holdco 2 Inc., Panther Holdco Inc., Payment Brasil Holdings Ltda., Payment Chile S.A., Payment Trust Limited, Paymetric Inc., Pazien Inc., People's United Merchant Services LLC, Platform Securities Holdings Limited, Platform Securities International Limited, Platform Securities International Nominees Limited, Platform Securities LLP, Platform Securities Nominees Limited, Platform Securities Services Limited, Reech Capital Limited, Reliance Financial Corporation, Reliance Integrated Solutions LLC, Reliance Trust Company, Rocket Partners Holdings LLC, Sanchez Computer Associates Pty Limited, Secondco Limited, Ship Holdco Limited, Ship Luxco 2 S.a.r.l., Ship Luxco 3 S.a.r.l., Ship Midco Limited, Solutions Plus Consulting Services Limited, SunGard, SunGard Data Systems Beijing Co. Ltd., SunGard Global Services (Tunisia) III, SunGard Global Trading (Australia) Pty. Ltd., SunGard India Sales Private Limited, TP Technologies N.V., Tayvin 346 Limited, Transax Limited, Trax BV, Valuelink Information Services Limited, Valutec Card Solutions LLC, Virtus Fund Services, Virtus Group LP, Virtus LP Holdings LLC, Virtus Partners Fund Services Cayman Ltd., Virtus Partners Fund Services Holdings Company, Virtus Partners Fund Services Ireland Limited, Virtus Partners Fund Services Luxembourg S.a.r.l., Virtus Partners Ireland Ltd., Virtus Partners Ltd., Virtus Trade Settlement LLC, WebTone Technologies, Worldpay, Worldpay (HK) Limited, Worldpay (NZ) Limited, Worldpay (UK) Limited, Worldpay AP Ltd., Worldpay Argentina SRL, Worldpay B.V., Worldpay Canada Corporation, Worldpay Cayman Holdings Limited, Worldpay Company LLC, Worldpay Do Brasil Processamento De Pagamentos Ltda., Worldpay Finance Limited, Worldpay Gaming Solutions LLC, Worldpay Governance Limited, Worldpay Group Limited, Worldpay Holdings (Barbados) SRL, Worldpay Holdings Brasil Participacoes Ltda., Worldpay ISO Inc., Worldpay India Private Limited, Worldpay Integrated Payments Canada LLC, Worldpay Integrated Payments LLC., Worldpay Integrated Payments Solutions Inc., Worldpay International Group Limited, Worldpay International Holdings Limited, Worldpay International Limited, Worldpay International Payments Limited, Worldpay International Solutions Limited, Worldpay K.K., Worldpay LLC, Worldpay Latin America Limited, Worldpay Limited, Worldpay Marketing Consulting (Shanghai) Co. Limited, Worldpay Payments (Barbados) SRL, Worldpay Processing Services SRL, Worldpay Pte Ltd., Worldpay Pty Ltd., Worldpay S.a.r.l., Worldpay Services Company, Worldpay Services SRL, Worldpay Solutions SRL, Worldpay Technology Bucharest S.R.L., Worldpay Treasury Solutions SRL, Worldpay US Inc., Worldpay eCommerce LLC, Worldpay eCommerce Limited, Xpede, YES-Secure.com Limited, YESpay International Limited, Zenmonics Inc., Zenmonics Software Private Limited, eFunds Corporation, eFunds Holdings Limited, eFunds International Limited, i DLX International B.V., and mFoundry Inc..Vedanta Ltd. is a natural resource company, which engages in the exploration, extraction, and processing of minerals, oil, and gas properties. It operates through the following segments: Copper, Aluminum, Iron Ore, Power, and Oil & Gas. The Copper segment focuses in custom smelting and also include a copper smelter, a refinery, a phosphoric acid plant, a sulphuric acid plant, a copper rod plant, and three captive power plants. The Aluminum segment comprises refinery and a captive power plant at Lanjigarh and a smelter, a thermal coal based captive power facility at Jharsuguda both situated in the State of Odisha in India. The Iron Ore segment explores, mines, and processes iron ore, pig iron, and metallurgical coke. The Power segment consists 600 MW thermal coal-based commercial power facility at Jharsuguda in the State of Odisha in Eastern India. The Oil and Gas segment involves in the exploration and development and production of oil and gas. The company was founded by Dwarka Prasad Agarwal on June 25, 1965 and is headquartered in Mumbai, India.

Read MoreBank of America Corp. is a bank and financial holding company, which engages in the provision of banking and nonbank financial services. It operates through the following segments: Consumer Banking, Global Wealth and Investment Management, Global Banking, Global Markets, and All Other. The Consumer Banking segment offers credit, banking, and investment products and services to consumers and small businesses. The Global Wealth and Investment Management provides client experience through a network of financial advisors focused on to meet their needs through a full set of investment management, brokerage, banking, and retirement products. The Global Banking segment deals with lending-related products and services, integrated working capital management and treasury solutions to clients, and underwriting and advisory services. The Global Markets segment includes sales and trading services, as well as research, to institutional clients across fixed-income, credit, currency, commodity, and equity businesses. The All Other segment consists of asset and liability management activities, equity investments, non-core mortgage loans and servicing activities, the net impact of periodic revisions

Read MoreThe following companies are subsidiares of Hyatt Hotels: CHANCELLOR STREET CONDOMINIUM ASSOCIATION INC., GLENDALE HOTEL PROPERTIES L.L.C., HT-SEATTLE HOLDINGS LLC, 1379919 ALBERTA INC., 319168 ONTARIO LIMITED, 3385434 CANADA INC., ADMINISTRACION DE PERSONAL ANDARES S. DE R.L. DE C.V., AIC HOLDING CO., AIRPORT PLAZA ASSOCIATES LIMITED PARTNERSHIP, AIRPORT PLAZA HOTEL LLC, AIRPORT PLAZA OFFICE BUILDING LIMITED PARTNERSHIP, AMERISUITES FRANCHISING L.L.C., ARANCIA LIMITED, ARUBA BEACHFRONT RESORTS LIMITED PARTNERSHIP, ARUBA BEACHFRONT RESORTS N.V., ASIA HOSPITALITY INC., ASIA HOSPITALITY INVESTORS B.V., ASIAN HOTEL N.V., ATRIUM HOTEL L.L.C., AUSTIN RESORT BEVERAGE LLC, AmeriSuites Hotel, BAKU HOTEL COMPANY - AZERI, BAKU HOTEL COMPANY - CAYMAN, BASTROP MARKETING L.L.C., BAY II INVESTOR INC., BELLEVUE ASSOCIATES, BH PLAZA LLC, BRE/AMERISUITES PROPERTIES L.L.C., BRE/AMERISUITES TXNC GP L.L.C., BRE/AMERISUITES TXNC PROPERTIES L.P., BURVAN HOTEL ASSOCIATES, CAL-HARBOR SO. PIER URBAN RENEWAL ASSOCIATES L.P., CELAYA RESORTS S. DE R.L. DE C.V., CHESAPEAKE COMMUNITIES LLC, CHESAPEAKE RESORT LLC, CIUDAD DEL CARMEN DIAMANTE RESORT S. DE R.L. DE C.V, COAST BEACH L.L.C., COMPAGNIE HOTELIERE DE LAGON BLEU, CPM SEATTLE HOTELS L.L.C., CRW INVESTMENT LLC, CTR INTEREST HOLDCO INC., DALLAS REGENCY LLC, DENVER DOWNTOWN HOTEL PARTNERS LLC, DESARROLLADORA HOTELERA ACUEDUCTO S. DE R.L. DE C.V., DH BEVERAGE LLC, DIAMANTE RESORT LA PAZ S. DE R.L. DE C.V., DISTRICT HOTEL PARTNERS LLC, EXHALE ENTERPRISES GIFT SERVICES COMPANY, EXHALE ENTERPRISES II L.L.C., EXHALE ENTERPRISES III INC., EXHALE ENTERPRISES IV L.L.C., EXHALE ENTERPRISES L.L.C., EXHALE ENTERPRISES V L.L.C., EXHALE ENTERPRISES VIII INC., EXHALE ENTERPRISES X INC., EXHALE ENTERPRISES XII L.L.C., EXHALE ENTERPRISES XIV L.L.C., EXHALE ENTERPRISES XIX L.L.C., EXHALE ENTERPRISES XV L.L.C., EXHALE ENTERPRISES XV TCI LTD., EXHALE ENTERPRISES XVI L.L.C., EXHALE ENTERPRISES XVII L.L.C., EXHALE ENTERPRISES XVIII L.L.C., EXHALE ENTERPRISES XX L.L.C., EXHALE ENTERPRISES XXI INC., EXHALE ENTERPRISES XXIV L.L.C., EXHALE ENTERPRISES XXV L.L.C., EXHALE ENTERPRISES XXVI L.L.C., EXHALE ENTERPRISES XXVII L.L.C., EXHALE ENTERPRISES XXVIII L.L.C., EXHALE ENTERPRISES XXXI L.L.C., EXHALE ENTERPRISES XXXII L.L.C., EXHALE ENTERPRISES XXXIII INC., FAN PIER L.L.C., FAR EAST HOTELS INC., G.E.H. PROPERTIES LIMITED, GAINEY DRIVE ASSOCIATES, GALAXY AEROSPACE COMPANY LLC, GHE HOLDINGS LIMITED, GRAND HYATT BERLIN GMBH, GRAND HYATT DFW BEVERAGE LLC, GRAND HYATT SAN ANTONIO L.L.C., GRAND HYATT SF L.L.C., GRAND RIVERWALK BEVERAGE LLC, GRAND TORONTO CORP., GRAND TORONTO VENTURE L.P., GREENWICH HOTEL LIMITED PARTNERSHIP, H.E. ATLANTA CENTENNIAL PARK HOLDINGS L.L.C., H.E. AUSTIN L.L.C., H.E. BERMUDA L.L.C., H.E. CAP CANA L.L.C., H.E. DRISKILL LLC, H.E. GRAND CYPRESS L.L.C., H.E. IRVINE L.L.C., H.E. KANSAS CITY L.L.C., H.E. LENOX L.L.C., H.E. NASHVILLE L.L.C., H.E. NEWPORT L.L.C., H.E. ORLANDO L.L.C., H.E. PHILADELPHIA HC HOLDINGS L.L.C., H.E. PHILADELPHIA HC HOTEL L.L.C., H.E. PHILADELPHIA HC PARKING L.L.C., H.E. PHILADELPHIA HC RETAIL L.L.C., H.E. PHILADELPHIA SANSOM L.L.C., H.E. PORTLAND HC L.L.C., H.E. PORTLAND L.L.C., H.E. PROPERTIES HOLDING L.L.C., H.E. PROPERTIES L.L.C., H.E. SAN ANTONIO I L.L.C., H.E. SAN ANTONIO L.L.C., H.E. TUCSON HOLDINGS L.L.C., H.E. TUCSON JV HOLDINGS L.L.C., H.E. TUCSON JV L.L.C., H.E. TUCSON OWNER L.L.C., HAPP INVESTOR LTD., HARBORSIDE HOTEL LLC, HARBORSIDE LAND LLC, HC PORTLAND JV HOLDINGS L.L.C., HC ROYAL PALMS L.L.C., HCV CINCINNATI HOTEL L.L.C., HE ORLANDO HOTEL LLC, HGP (TRAVEL) LIMITED, HH NASHVILLE HOLDINGS L.L.C., HH NASHVILLE JV HOLDINGS L.L.C., HH PORTLAND L.L.C., HHMA BURLINGTON BEVERAGE L.L.C., HI HOLDINGS (SWITZERLAND) GMBH, HI HOLDINGS BAJA B.V., HI HOLDINGS BRAZIL S.A.R.L., HI HOLDINGS CELAYA B.V., HI HOLDINGS CIUDAD DEL CARMEN B.V., HI HOLDINGS CYPRUS LIMITED, HI HOLDINGS CYPRUS-INDIA LIMITED, HI HOLDINGS GUADALAJARA B.V., HI HOLDINGS HP CABO B.V., HI HOLDINGS HP TIJUANA HOTEL B.V., HI HOLDINGS KYOTO CO., HI HOLDINGS LA PAZ B.V., HI HOLDINGS LATIN AMERICA B.V., HI HOLDINGS NETHERLANDS B.V., HI HOLDINGS PLAYA B.V., HI HOLDINGS RIO S.A.R.L., HI HOLDINGS RIVIERA MAYA B.V., HI HOLDINGS VIENNA S.A.R.L., HI HOLDINGS ZURICH S.A.R.L., HI HOTEL ADVISORY SERVICES GMBH, HI HOTEL INVESTORS CYPRUS LIMITED, HIHCL AMSTERDAM B.V., HIHCL HP AMSTERDAM AIRPORT B.V., HIHCL HR AMSTERDAM B.V., HILP HOTEL SERVICE PROVIDER LLC, HOTEL AM BELVEDERE HOLDING GMBH, HOTEL AM BELVEDERE HOLDING GMBH & CO KG, HOTEL INVESTMENTS HOLDING CO LLC, HOTEL INVESTMENTS L.L.C., HOTEL INVESTORS I INC., HOTEL INVESTORS II INC., HOTEL PROJECT SYSTEMS PTE LTD, HOTEL SERVICES CIUDAD DEL CARMEN S. DE R.L. DE C.V., HOTELS CS CELAYA S. DE R.L. DE C.V., HP ATLANTA CENTENNIAL PARK JV LLC, HP AUSTIN L.L.C., HP BEVERAGE DALLAS DFW AIRPORT LLC, HP BEVERAGE SUGAR LAND LLC, HP BOSTON HOLDINGS L.L.C., HP GLENDALE JV HOLDINGS L.L.C., HP GLENDALE L.L.C., HP INDIA HOLDINGS LIMITED, HP LAS VEGAS BEVERAGE L.L.C., HP M STREET L.L.C., HP ROUTE 46 TEXAS LLC, HP SAN FRANCISCO L.L.C., HP SAN JUAN L.L.C., HP TEN TEXAS LLC, HPHH ATLANTA L.L.C., HPHH DENVER L.L.C., HPHH SAN JOSE JV HOLDINGS L.L.C., HPHH SAN JOSE L.L.C., HQ CHESAPEAKE LLC, HR LOST PINES RESORT LLC, HR MC HOTEL COMPANY S. DE R.L. DE C.V., HR MC SERVICES II S. DE R.L. DE C.V., HR MC SERVICES S. DE R.L. DE C.V., HRHC LLC, HT- WAILEA LLC, HT-AVENDRA GROUP HOLDINGS L.L.C., HT-AVENDRA L.L.C., HT-CHESAPEAKE COMMUNITIES INC., HT-CHESAPEAKE RESORT INC., HT-HOTEL EQUITIES INC., HT-HUNTINGTON BEACH INC., HT-JERSEY PIER INC., HT-JERSEY PIER L.P., HT-JERSEY PIER LLC, HT-LONG BEACH L.L.C., HT-MIAMI BEACH L.L.C., HT-PARK 57 INC., HT-SEATTLE LLC, HT-SIERRA L.L.C., HT-VANCOUVER INC., HTLB L.L.C., HTS - NS L.L.C., HTS - NY L.L.C., HTS-ASPEN L.L.C., HTS-BC INC., HTS-INVESTMENT L L.C., HTSF L.L.C., HTW BEVERAGE LLC, HY LONG BEACH HOTEL LLC, HYATT (BARBADOS) CORPORATION, HYATT (JAPAN) CO. LTD., HYATT (THAILAND) LIMITED, HYATT ARUBA N.V., HYATT ASIA PACIFIC HOLDINGS LIMITED, HYATT AUSTRALIA HOTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LIMITED, HYATT AUSTRIA GMBH, HYATT BEACH FRONT N.V., HYATT BORNEO MANAGEMENT SERVICES LIMITED, HYATT BRITANNIA CORPORATION LTD., HYATT CC OFFICE CORP., HYATT CHAIN SERVICES LIMITED, HYATT CRYSTAL CITY LLC., HYATT CURACAO N.V., HYATT DISASTER RELIEF FUND, HYATT DO BRASIL PARTICIPACOES LTDA, HYATT EQUITIES L.L.C., HYATT FOREIGN EMPLOYMENT SERVICES INC., HYATT FRANCHISING CANADA CORP., HYATT FRANCHISING L.L.C., HYATT FRANCHISING LATIN AMERICA L.L.C., HYATT FULFILLMENT OF MARYLAND INC., HYATT GLOBAL SERVICES INC., HYATT GTLD L.L.C., HYATT HOC INC., HYATT HOLDINGS (UK) LIMITED, HYATT HOSPITALITY SERVICES L.L.C., HYATT HOTEL MANAGEMENT LIMITED, HYATT HOTELS CONSULTANCY SERVICES ASIA PACIFIC LIMITED, HYATT HOTELS CORPORATION OF KANSAS, HYATT HOTELS CORPORATION OF MARYLAND, HYATT HOTELS FOUNDATION, HYATT HOTELS MANAGEMENT CORPORATION, HYATT HOTELS OF CANADA INC., HYATT HOTELS OF FLORIDA INC., HYATT HOTELS OF PUERTO RICO INC., HYATT HOUSE CANADA INC., HYATT HOUSE FRANCHISING L.L.C., HYATT HOUSE HOTEL HOLDING COMPANY L.L.C., HYATT INDIA CONSULTANCY PRIVATE LIMITED, HYATT INTERNATIONAL (ASIA) LIMITED, HYATT INTERNATIONAL (EUROPE AFRICA MIDDLE EAST) LLC, HYATT INTERNATIONAL - JAPAN LIMITED, HYATT INTERNATIONAL - SOUTHWEST ASIA LIMITED, HYATT INTERNATIONAL -ASIA PACIFIC LIMITED, HYATT INTERNATIONAL -SEA (PTE) LIMITED, HYATT INTERNATIONAL CORPORATION, HYATT INTERNATIONAL HOLDINGS CO., HYATT INTERNATIONAL HOTEL MANAGEMENT (BEIJING) CO. LTD., HYATT INTERNATIONAL MILAN L.L.C., HYATT INTERNATIONAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT (BEIJING) CO. LTD., HYATT INTERNATIONAL TECHNICAL SERVICES INC., HYATT JV HOLDINGS L.L.C., HYATT LACSA SERVICES INC., HYATT LOUISIANA L.L.C., HYATT MAINZ GMBH, HYATT MARKETING SERVICES INC., HYATT MARKETING SERVICES NIGERIA COMPANY LIMITED, HYATT MINNEAPOLIS LLC, HYATT MINORITY INVESTMENTS INC., HYATT MSS L.L.C., HYATT NORTH AMERICA MANAGEMENT SERVICES INC., HYATT OF AUSTRALIA LIMITED, HYATT OF BAJA S. DE R.L. DE C.V., HYATT OF CHINA LIMITED, HYATT OF FRANCE S.A.R.L., HYATT OF GUAM LIMITED, HYATT OF ITALY S.R.L., HYATT OF LATIN AMERICA AND CARIBBEAN L.L.C., HYATT OF LATIN AMERICA S.A. DE C.V., HYATT OF MACAU LIMITED, HYATT OF MEXICO S.A. DE C.V., HYATT OF PHILIPPINES LIMITED, HYATT PARTNERSHIP INTERESTS L.L.C., HYATT PLACE ANNE ARUNDEL BEVERAGE INC., HYATT PLACE CANADA CORPORATION, HYATT PLACE FRANCHISING L.L.C., HYATT PLACE OF MARYLAND INC., HYATT REGENCY COLOGNE GMBH, HYATT REGENCY CORPORATION PTY. LIMITED, HYATT SERVICES AUSTRALIA PTY LIMITED, HYATT SERVICES CANADA INC., HYATT SERVICES CARIBBEAN L.L.C., HYATT SERVICES GMBH, HYATT SERVICES INDIA PRIVATE LIMITED, HYATT SHARED SERVICE CENTER L.L.C., HYATT TRINIDAD LIMITED, HYCANADA INC., HYCARD INC., HYSTAR L.L.C., Hyatt Corporation, INFORMATION SERVICES LIMITED, INTERNATIONAL RESERVATIONS LIMITED, JOINT VENTURE ITALKYR CLOSED JOINT STOCK COMPANY, JUNIPER HOTELS PRIVATE LIMITED, KSA MANAGEMENT INC., KYOTO HOLDING CO., LHR-PARTNERS LTD., LORING PARK ASSOCIATES LIMITED PARTNERSHIP, LOST PINES BEVERAGE LLC, MACAE PARTNERS S.A.R.L., MAHIMA HOLDINGS PRIVATE LIMITED, MARION RESERVATION CENTER L.L.C., MEXICO CITY HOTEL INVESTMENTS B.V., MILAN HOTEL INVESTMENTS B.V., MIRAVAL ARIZONA GUARANTOR LLC, MIRAVAL GROUP LLC, MIRAVAL RESORT ARIZONA HOLDINGS LLC, MIRAVAL RESORT ARIZONA LLC, MIRAVAL RESORT ARIZONA OPERATING CO. INC., MIRAVAL RESORT TUCSON LLC, MONROE MR HOLDINGS I LLC, MONROE MR HOLDINGS II LLC, MONROE MR HOLDINGS III LLC, MONROE MR HOLDINGS LLC, MONROE MR HOLDINGS TRUST, MRG ATX BEVERAGE HOLDINGS LLC, MRG ATX HOLDINGS II LLC, MRG ATX HOLDINGS LLC, MRG ATX INVESTMENT LLC, MRG ATX MANAGEMENT I LLC, MRG ATX MANAGEMENT II LLC, MRG ATX OPERATIONS LLC, MRG CRW HOLDINGS LLC, MRG CRW MANAGEMENT I LLC, MRG CRW MANAGEMENT II LLC, MRG CRW OPERATIONS LLC, MUNICH OPCO GMBH, Miraval Resort, OASIS LUXURY RENTALS INCORPORATED, PARIS HOTEL COMPANY B.V., PARK HYATT HAMBURG GMBH, PARK HYATT HOTEL GMBH, PARK HYATT WATER TOWER ASSOCIATES L.L.C., PH NEW YORK L.L.C., PHMC RESIDENCIAS S. DE R.L. DE C.V., POLK SMITH REGENCY LLC, PT HYATT INDONESIA, PVD INVESTMENT COMPANY S.A.R.L., Peabody Hotels & Resort, RCG PROPERTIES LLC, REGENCY BEVERAGE COMPANY LLC, REGENCY RIVERWALK BEVERAGE LLC, RESERVATIONS CENTER L.L.C., RIO JV PARTNERS PARTICIPACOES LTDA., RIO PRETO PARTNERS HOTEIS LTDA., RIO PRETO PARTNERS S.A.R.L., ROSEMONT PROJECT MANAGEMENT L.L.C., ROUTE 46 MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATES CORP., RUNWAY HOLDING L.L.C., RUNWAY L.L.C., SAO PAULO INVESTMENT COMPANY INC., SAO PAULO INVESTORS LIMITED, SASIH, SDI EQUITIES INVESTOR L.L.C., SDI INC., SDI SECURITIES 11 LLC, SDI SECURITIES 6 LLC, SELECT HOTELS GROUP L.L.C., SELECT JV HOLDINGS L.L.C., SEOUL MIRAMAR CORPORATION, SERVICIOS DE HOTELERIA SAN JOSE S. DE R.L. DE C.V., SERVICIOS HOTELEROS LA PAZ S. DE R.L. DE C.V., SETTLEMENT INVESTORS INC., SHG PUERTO RICO INC., SIERRA HEALTHSTYLES LLC, SJC DESARROLLOS S. DE R.L. DE C.V., SKS CORP. N.V., SMC HOTELS B.V., SOROCABA PARTNERS HOTEIS LTDA, SOROCABA PARTNERS S.A.R.L., STANHOPE L.L.C., STARHILL LORING PARK L.L.C., SUGAR LAND/HP LLC, THE GREAT EASTERN HOTEL COMPANY LIMITED, THE GREAT EASTERN HOTEL HOLDING COMPANY LIMITED, TIJUANA PARTNERS S. DE R.L. DE C.V., TR MANAGEMENT INVESTMENT LLC, TUCSON VILLAS HOLDINGS LLC, TUCSON VILLAS LLC, TWO SEAS HOLDINGS LIMITED, Two Roads Hospitality, WAILEA HOTEL & BEACH RESORT L.L.C., WAILEA HOTEL HOLDINGS L.L.C., WAILEA MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION L.L.C., WAILEA RESORT VILLAS HOLDINGS L.L.C., WAILEA RESORT VILLAS L.L.C., WEST END RESIDENCES L.L.C., XENIA ASSURANCE COMPANY INC., XENIA ASSURANCE COMPANY OF ILLINOIS, ZURICH ESCHERWIESE HOTEL GMBH, and ZURICH HOTEL INVESTMENTS B.V..The following companies are subsidiares of InterContinental Hotels Group: 2250 Blake Street Hotel LLC, 24th Street Operator Sub LLC, 36th Street IHG Sub LLC, 426 Main Ave LLC, 46 Nevins Street Associates LLC, Allegro Management LLC, Alpha Kimball Hotel LLC, American Commonwealth Assurance Co. Ltd., Asia Pacific Holdings Limited, BHMC Canada Inc., BHR Holdings B.V., BHR Luxembourg SARL, BHR Pacific Holdings Inc., BHTC Canada Inc., BOC Barclay Sub LLC, Barclay Operating Corp., Bristol Oakbrook Tenant Company, Cafe Biarritz, Cambridge Lodging LLC, Capital Lodging LLC, Compania Inter-Continental De Hoteles El Salvador SA, Crowne Plaza Amsterdam (Management) B.V., Crowne Plaza LLC, Cumberland Akers Hotel LLC, Dunwoody Operations Inc., EVEN Real Estate Holding LLC, Edinburgh IC Limited, General Innkeeping Acceptance Corporation, Guangzhou SC Hotels Services Ltd., H.I. (Ireland) Limited, H.I. Soaltee Management Company Ltd, HC International Holdings Inc., HH France Holdings SAS, HH Hotels (EMEA) B.V., HH Hotels (Romania) SRL, HI Sugarloaf LLC, HIM (Aruba) NV, Hale International Ltd., Hoft Properties LLC, Holiday Hospitality Franchising LLC, Holiday Inn Mexicana S.A. de C.V., Holiday Inns (China) Ltd, Holiday Inns (Chongqing) Inc., Holiday Inns (Courtalin) Holdings SAS, Holiday Inns (Courtalin) SAS, Holiday Inns (England) Ltd., Holiday Inns (Germany) LLC, Holiday Inns (Guangzhou) Inc., Holiday Inns (Jamaica) Inc., Holiday Inns (Malaysia) Ltd., Holiday Inns (Middle East) Ltd., Holiday Inns (Philippines) Inc., Holiday Inns (Saudi Arabia) Inc., Holiday Inns (South East Asia) Inc., Holiday Inns (Thailand) Ltd., Holiday Inns (UK) Inc., Holiday Inns Crowne Plaza (Hong Kong) Inc., Holiday Inns Holdings (Australia) Pty Ltd, Holiday Inns Inc., Holiday Inns Investment (Nepal) Ltd., Holiday Inns of America (UK) Ltd., Holiday Inns of Belgium N.V., Holiday Pacific Equity Corporation, Holiday Pacific LLC, Holiday Pacific Partners LP, Hotel Inter-Continental London Limited, Hotel InterContinental London (Holdings) Limited, Hoteles Y Turismo HIH SRL, IC Hotelbetriebsfuhrungs GmbH, IC Hotels Management (Portugal) Unipessoal Lda, IC International Hotels Limited Liability Company, IHC (Thailand) Limited, IHC Buckhead LLC, IHC Edinburgh (Holdings), IHC Hopkins (Holdings) Corp., IHC Hotel Limited, IHC Inter-Continental (Holdings) Corp., IHC London (Holdings), IHC M-H (Holdings) Corp., IHC May Fair (Holdings) Limited, IHC May Fair Hotel Limited, IHC Overseas (U.K.) Limited, IHC UK (Holdings) Limited, IHC United States (Holdings) Corp., IHC Willard (Holdings) Corp., IHG (Australasia) Limited, IHG (Marseille) SAS, IHG (Thailand) Limited, IHG ANA Hotels Group Japan LLC, IHG ANA Hotels Holdings Co. Ltd., IHG Bangkok Ltd, IHG Brasil Administracao de Hoteis e Servicos Ltda, IHG Commission Services SRL, IHG Community Development LLC, IHG Cyprus Limited, IHG ECS (Barbados) SRL, IHG Franchising Brasil Ltda, IHG Franchising DR Corporation, IHG Franchising LLC, IHG Hotels (New Zealand) Limited, IHG Hotels Limited, IHG Hotels Management (Australia) Pty Limited, IHG Hotels Nigeria Limited, IHG Hotels South Africa (Pty) Ltd, IHG International Partnership, IHG Istanbul Otel Yonetim Limited Sirketi, IHG Japan (Management) LLC, IHG Japan (Osaka) LLC, IHG Management (Maryland) LLC, IHG Management (Netherlands) B.V., IHG Management MD Barclay Sub LLC, IHG Management SL d.o.o, IHG Management d.o.o. Beograd, IHG Orchard Street Member LLC, IHG PS Nominees Limited, IHG Systems Pty Ltd, IHG Szalloda Budapest Szolgaltato Kft., IHG de Argentina SA, IND East Village SD Holdings LLC, Inter-Continental D.C. Operating Corp., Inter-Continental Florida Investment Corp., Inter-Continental Florida Partner Corp., Inter-Continental Hospitality Corporation, Inter-Continental Hoteleira Limitada, Inter-Continental Hotels (Montreal) Operating Corp., Inter-Continental Hotels (Montreal) Owning Corp., Inter-Continental Hotels (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., Inter-Continental Hotels Corporation, Inter-Continental Hotels Corporation de Venezuela C.A., Inter-Continental Hotels of San Francisco Inc., Inter-Continental IOHC (Mauritius) Limited, Inter-Continental Management (Australia) Pty Limited, InterContinental (Branston) 1 Limited, InterContinental (PB) 1, InterContinental (PB) 2, InterContinental (PB) 3 Limited, InterContinental Berlin Service Company GmbH, InterContinental Brasil Administracao de Hoteis Ltda, InterContinental Gestion Hotelera S.L., InterContinental Hotel Berlin GmbH, InterContinental Hotel Dusseldorf GmbH (Germany), InterContinental Hotels (Puerto Rico) Inc., InterContinental Hotels Group (Asia Pacific) Pte Ltd, InterContinental Hotels Group (Australia) Pty Limited, InterContinental Hotels Group (Canada) Inc., InterContinental Hotels Group (Espana) SA, InterContinental Hotels Group (Greater China) Limited, InterContinental Hotels Group (India) Pvt. Ltd, InterContinental Hotels Group (Japan) Inc., InterContinental Hotels Group (New Zealand) Limited, InterContinental Hotels Group (Shanghai) Ltd., InterContinental Hotels Group Customer Services Ltd., InterContinental Hotels Group Healthcare Trustee Limited, InterContinental Hotels Group Operating Corp., InterContinental Hotels Group Resources Inc., InterContinental Hotels Group Services Company, InterContinental Hotels Group do Brasil Limitada, InterContinental Hotels Italia S.r.L., InterContinental Hotels Limited, InterContinental Hotels Management GmbH, InterContinental Hotels Nevada Corporation, InterContinental Management AM LLC, InterContinental Management Bulgaria EOOD, InterContinental Management France SAS, InterContinental Management Poland sp. z.o.o, InterContinental Overseas Holding Corporation, Intercontinental Hotels Corporation Limited, KG Benefits LLC, KG Gift Card Inc., KG Liability LLC, KG Technology LLC, KHP Washington Operator LLC, KHRG 11th Avenue Hotel LLC, KHRG 851 LLC, KHRG Aertson LLC, KHRG Alexandria LLC, KHRG Alexis LLC, KHRG Allegro LLC, KHRG Argyle LLC, KHRG Austin Beverage Company LLC, KHRG Baltimore LLC, KHRG Born LLC, KHRG Boston Hotel LLC, KHRG Canary LLC, KHRG Cayman Employer Ltd., KHRG Cayman LLC, KHRG DC 1731 LLC, KHRG DC 2505 LLC, KHRG Donovan LLC, KHRG Employer LLC, KHRG Goleta LLC, KHRG Gray LLC, KHRG Gray U2 LLC, KHRG Hillcrest LLC, KHRG Huntington Beach LLC, KHRG King Street LLC, KHRG La Peer LLC, KHRG Miami Beach LLC, KHRG Muse LLC, KHRG NPC LLC, KHRG Onyx LLC, KHRG Palladian LLC, KHRG Palomar Phoenix LLC, KHRG Philly Monaco LLC, KHRG Pittsburgh LLC, KHRG Reynolds LLC, KHRG Riverplace LLC, KHRG SFD LLC, KHRG Sacramento LLC, KHRG Savannah LLC, KHRG Schofield LLC, KHRG Sedona LLC, KHRG State Street LLC, KHRG Sutter LLC, KHRG Sutter Union LLC, KHRG Taconic LLC, KHRG Tariff LLC, KHRG Texas Hospitality LLC, KHRG Texas Operations LLC, KHRG Tryon LLC, KHRG VZ Austin LLC, KHRG Vero Beach LLC, KHRG Vintage Park LLC, KHRG WPB LLC, KHRG Wabash LLC, KHRG Westwood LLC, KHRG Wilshire LLC, KHRG Zamora LLC, Kimpton Hollywood Licenses LLC, Kimpton Hotel & Restaurant Group, Kimpton Hotel & Restaurant Group LLC, Kimpton Phoenix Licenses Holdings LLC, Kimpton Sedona Licenses LLC, Louisiana Acquisitions Corp., MH Lodging LLC, Mercer Fairview Holdings LLC, PML Services LLC, PT SC Hotels & Resorts Indonesia, Pollstrong Limited, Powell Pine Inc., Priscilla Holiday of Texas Inc., RM Lodging LLC, Regent Hotels and Resorts, Resort Services International (Cayo Largo) L.P., SBS Maryland Beverage Company LLC, SC Cellars Limited, SC Hotels International Services Inc., SC Leisure Group Limited, SC NAS 2 Limited, SC Quest Limited, SC Reservations (Philippines) Inc., SCH Insurance Company, SCIH Branston 3, SF MH Acquisition LLC, SPHC Group Pty Ltd., SPHC Management Ltd., Semiramis for training of Hotel Personnel and Hotel Management SAE, Six Continents Corporate Services, Six Continents Holdings Limited, Six Continents Hotels Inc., Six Continents Hotels International Limited, Six Continents Hotels de Colombia SA, Six Continents International Holdings B.V., Six Continents Investments Limited, Six Continents Limited, Six Continents Overseas Holdings Limited, Six Continents Restaurants Limited, SixCo North America Inc., Solamar Lodging LLC, Southern Pacific Hotel Corporation (BVI) Ltd., Southern Pacific Hotels Properties Limited, Universal de Hoteles SA, White Shield Insurance Company Limited, and World Trade Centre Montreal Hotel Corporation.JPMorgan Diversified Return Europe Equity ETF's stock was trading at $47.9848 on March 11th, 2020 when Coronavirus (COVID-19) reached pandemic status according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Since then, JPEU shares have increased by 10.1% and is now trading at $52.8523.

View which stocks have been most impacted by COVID-19.The following companies are subsidiares of Quaker Chemical: AC Products Inc., Applied Surface Concepts Holdings Ltd. , Binol AB, Binol Biosafe OY, Commonwealth Oil Corporation, DA Stuart India Private Limited, DA Stuart Shanghai Co, ECLI Products LLC, EFHCO LLC, Engineered Custom Lubricants, Engineered Custom Lubricants GmbH, Epmar Corporation, G.W. Smith and Sons, GH Holdings Inc., GHG Lubricants Holdings Limited, GHGL London Ltd., GHI Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd., Global Houghton Ltd., Houghton (Shanghai) Specialty Industrial Fluids Co. Ltd, Houghton Argentina S.A., Houghton Asia Pacific Co. Limited, Houghton Australia Pty. Ltd., Houghton Benelux BV, Houghton CZ s.r.o, Houghton Canada Inc., Houghton Denmark AS, Houghton Deutschland GmbH, Houghton Europe BV, Houghton Holdings Limited, Houghton Iberica S.A. , Houghton International, Houghton International Inc., Houghton Italia S.p.A., Houghton Japan Co. Ltd., Houghton Kimya Sanayi AS, Houghton Magyarorszag Kft, Houghton Mexico S.A. de C.V., Houghton Oil (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd., Houghton Polska Sp. Zo.o., Houghton Romania S.R.L., Houghton S.A.S., Houghton Sverige AB, Houghton Taiwan Co. Limited, Houghton Technical Corp., Houghton Ukraine ToV, Houghton do Brazil Ltda., Houghton plc, Internationale Metall Impragnier GmbH, Lubricor Inc, Lubricor Inc., Lubricor Mexicana S.A. de C.V., Lubricor USA Inc., MIH Acquisition Company LLC, MX Systems International Ltd, Maldaner GmbH, NP Coil Dexter Industries, New Houghton Brazil Inc., Norman Hay Engineering Ltd., QH Chemical Limited, QH Europe BV, QH Holdings Limited, QH International Limited, Quaker (Thailand) Ltd., Quaker Australia Holdings Pty. Limited, Quaker Chemical (Australasia) Pty. Limited, Quaker Chemical (China) Co. Ltd., Quaker Chemical B.V., Quaker Chemical CV, Quaker Chemical Canada Holdings Inc., Quaker Chemical Canada Limited, Quaker Chemical Europe B.V., Quaker Chemical Holdings South Africa (Pty) Limited, Quaker Chemical India Private Limited, Quaker Chemical Industria e Comercio Ltda., Quaker Chemical Investment Management (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Quaker Chemical Limited, Quaker Chemical MEA FZE, Quaker Chemical Operacoes Ltda., Quaker Chemical Participacoes Ltda., Quaker Chemical S.A., Quaker Chemical S.r.l., Quaker Chemical Services EURL, Quaker Chemical South Africa (Pty.) Limited, Quaker China Holdings B.V., Quaker Denmark ApS, Quaker Houghton (Finco) Ltd., Quaker Houghton Holdings Limited, Quaker Houghton Holdings Ltd., Quaker Houghton International LP, Quaker Houghton Ltd., Quaker International Holdings LLC, Quaker Italia S.r.l., Quaker Russia B.V., Quaker Sales Europe BV, Quaker Shanghai Trading Company Limited, Quaker Spain Holding SLU, Quaker Specialty Chemicals (UK) Limited, SB Decking Inc., SIFCO Applied Surface Concepts (UK) Ltd, SIFCO Applied Surface Concepts LLC, SIFCO Concepts Sarl, SIFCO Concepts Sweden, Sterr & Eder Industrieservice GmbH, Summit Lubricants Inc, Summit Lubricants Inc., Surface Technology (Coventry) Ltd, Surface Technology (Dalian) Co Ltd, Surface Technology (East Kilbride) Ltd., Surface Technology (Leeds) Ltd, Surface Technology Aberdeen Ltd, Surface Technology Australia, Surface Technology Holdings Ltd., TecniQuimia Mexicana, Tecniquimia Mexicana S.A. de C.V., Thai Houghton 1993 Co. Ltd., Ultraseal Asia Limited, Ultraseal Chongqing Limited, Ultraseal Germany GmbH, Ultraseal International Group Ltd, Ultraseal Machinery Dongguan Ltd, Ultraseal Shanghai Limited, Ultraseal USA Inc., Unitek Servicios De Asesoria Especializad S.A de C.V., Verkol S.A.U., Verkol SAU, Wallover Enterprises Inc., Wallover Oil Company Incorporated, Wallover Oil Hamilton Inc., and Wuhan Quaker Technology Co. Ltd.The following companies are subsidiares of Valero Energy: AIR BP-PBF DEL PERU SAC, BELFAST STORAGE LTD, CANADIAN ULTRAMAR COMPANY, COLONNADE TEXAS INSURANCE COMPANY LLC, COLONNADE VERMONT INSURANCE COMPANY, DIAMOND ALTERNATIVE ENERGY LLC, DIAMOND ALTERNATIVE ENERGY OF CANADA INC., DIAMOND GREEN DIESEL HOLDINGS LLC, DIAMOND GREEN DIESEL LLC, DIAMOND K RANCH LLC, DIAMOND OMEGA COMPANY L.L.C., DIAMOND SHAMROCK REFINING COMPANY L.P., DIAMOND UNIT INVESTMENTS L.L.C., DSRM NATIONAL BANK, ENTERPRISE CLAIMS MANAGEMENT INC., GCP LOGISTICS COMPANY LLC, GOLDEN EAGLE ASSURANCE LIMITED, HAMMOND MAINLINE PIPELINE LLC, HUNTWAY REFINING COMPANY, MAINLINE PIPELINES LIMITED, MAPLE ETHANOL LTD., MICHIGAN REDEVELOPMENT GP LLC, MICHIGAN REDEVELOPMENT L.P., MRP PROPERTIES COMPANY LLC, NECHES RIVER HOLDING CORP., NORCO METHANOL LLC, OCEANIC TANKERS AGENCY LIMITED, PARKWAY PIPELINE LLC, PENTA TANKS TERMINALS S.A., PI DOCK FACILITIES LLC, PICKARD PLACE CONDOMINIUM ASSOCIATION, PORT ARTHUR COKER COMPANY L.P., PREMCOR USA INC., PROPERTY RESTORATION L.P., PURE BIOFUELS DEL PERU S.A.C., PURE BIOFUELS HOLDINGS L.P., Parkway Pipeline, Premcor, Pure Biofuels Del Peru, SABINE RIVER HOLDING CORP., SABINE RIVER LLC, SAINT BERNARD PROPERTIES COMPANY LLC, SUNBELT REFINING COMPANY L.P., THE PREMCOR PIPELINE CO., THE PREMCOR REFINING GROUP INC., THE SHAMROCK PIPE LINE CORPORATION, TRANSPORT MARITIME ST. LAURENT INC., ULTRAMAR ACCEPTANCE INC., ULTRAMAR ENERGY INC., ULTRAMAR INC., Ultramar Diamond Shamrock, V-TEX LOGISTICS LLC, VALERO (BARBADOS) SRL, VALERO (PERU) HOLDINGS GP LLC, VALERO (PERU) HOLDINGS LIMITED, VALERO ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES DE MEXICO S.A. DE C.V., VALERO ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES DE MEXICO S.A. DE C.V., VALERO ARUBA ACQUISITION COMPANY I LTD., VALERO ARUBA FINANCE INTERNATIONAL LTD., VALERO ARUBA HOLDING COMPANY N.V., VALERO ARUBA HOLDINGS INTERNATIONAL LTD., VALERO ARUBA MAINTENANCE/OPERATIONS COMPANY N.V., VALERO BROWNSVILLE TERMINAL LLC, VALERO CANADA FINANCE INC., VALERO CANADA L.P., VALERO CAPITAL CORPORATION, VALERO CARIBBEAN SERVICES COMPANY, VALERO COKER CORPORATION ARUBA N.V., VALERO CUSTOMS & TRADE SERVICES INC., VALERO EAST BAY LLC, VALERO ENERGY (IRELAND) LIMITED, VALERO ENERGY ARUBA II COMPANY, VALERO ENERGY INC., VALERO ENERGY LTD, VALERO ENERGY PARTNERS GP LLC, VALERO ENERGY PARTNERS LP, VALERO ENERGY UK LTD, VALERO ENTERPRISES INC., VALERO EQUITY SERVICES LTD, VALERO FINANCE L.P. I, VALERO FINANCE L.P. II, VALERO FINANCE L.P. III, VALERO FOREST CONTRIBUTION LLC, VALERO GRAIN MARKETING LLC, VALERO H2 PIPELINE COMPANY LLC, VALERO HOLDCO UK LTD, VALERO HOLDINGS INC., VALERO INTERNATIONAL HOLDINGS INC., VALERO LIVE OAK LLC, VALERO LOGISTICS UK LTD, VALERO MARKETING AND SUPPLY (PANAMA) LLC, VALERO MARKETING AND SUPPLY COMPANY, VALERO MARKETING AND SUPPLY DE MEXICO S.A. DE C.V., VALERO MARKETING AND SUPPLY DE MEXICO S.A. DE C.V., VALERO MARKETING AND SUPPY INTERNATIONAL LTD., VALERO MARKETING IRELAND LIMITED, VALERO MKS LOGISTICS L.L.C., VALERO NEDERLAND COOPERATIEF U.A., VALERO NEDERLAND COOPERATIEF U.A., VALERO NEW AMSTERDAM B.V., VALERO OMEGA COMPANY L.L.C., VALERO OPERATIONAL SERVICES DE MEXICO S.A. DE C.V., VALERO OPERATIONAL SERVICES DE MEXICO S.A. DE C.V., VALERO OPERATIONS SUPPORT LTD, VALERO PARTNERS CCTS LLC, VALERO PARTNERS CORPUS EAST LLC, VALERO PARTNERS CORPUS WEST LLC, VALERO PARTNERS EP LLC, VALERO PARTNERS HOUSTON LLC, VALERO PARTNERS LOUISIANA LLC, VALERO PARTNERS LUCAS LLC, VALERO PARTNERS MCKEE LLC, VALERO PARTNERS MEMPHIS LLC, VALERO PARTNERS MERAUX LLC, VALERO PARTNERS NORTH TEXAS LLC, VALERO PARTNERS OPERATING CO. LLC, VALERO PARTNERS PAPS LLC, VALERO PARTNERS PORT ARTHUR LLC, VALERO PARTNERS SOUTH TEXAS LLC, VALERO PARTNERS TEXAS CITY LLC, VALERO PARTNERS THREE RIVERS LLC, VALERO PARTNERS WEST MEMPHIS LLC, VALERO PARTNERS WEST TEXAS LLC, VALERO PARTNERS WYNNEWOOD LLC, VALERO PAYMENT SERVICES COMPANY, VALERO PEMBROKESHIRE LLC, VALERO PEMBROKESHIRE OIL TERMINAL LTD, VALERO PLAINS COMPANY LLC, VALERO POWER MARKETING LLC, VALERO RAIL OPERATIONS DE MEXICO S.A. DE C.V., VALERO RAIL OPERATIONS DE MEXICO S.A. DE C.V., VALERO RAIL PARTNERS LLC, VALERO REFINING AND MARKETING COMPANY, VALERO REFINING COMPANY-ARUBA N.V., VALERO REFINING COMPANY-CALIFORNIA, VALERO REFINING COMPANY-OKLAHOMA, VALERO REFINING COMPANY-TENNESSEE L.L.C., VALERO REFINING-MERAUX LLC, VALERO REFINING-NEW ORLEANS L.L.C., VALERO REFINING-TEXAS L.P., VALERO RENEWABLE FUELS COMPANY LLC, VALERO SECURITY SYSTEMS INC., VALERO SERVICES INC., VALERO SKELLYTOWN PIPELINE LLC, VALERO TEJAS COMPANY LLC, VALERO TERMINAL HOLDCO LTD, VALERO TERMINALING AND DISTRIBUTION COMPANY, VALERO TERMINALING AND DISTRIBUTION DE MEXICO S.A. DE C.V., VALERO TEXAS POWER MARKETING INC., VALERO ULTRAMAR HOLDINGS INC., VALERO UNIT INVESTMENTS L.L.C., VALERO WEST WALES LLC, VRG PROPERTIES COMPANY, VTD PROPERTIES COMPANY, WARSHALL COMPANY LLC, and ZELIG COMMERCIAL INC..Mettler-Toledo International, Inc. is a supplier of precision instruments and services. The firm manufactures weighing instruments for use in laboratory, industrial, packaging, logistics, and food retailing applications. It also manufactures several related analytical instruments and provides automated chemistry solutions used in drug and chemical compound discovery and development; and also, metal detection and other end-of-line inspection systems used in production and packaging and provides solutions for use in certain process analytics applications. Its operations are conducted by the following segments: U. S. Operations, Swiss Operations, Western European Operations, Chinese Operations and Other. The U.S. Operations segment represents certain of the company's marketing and producing organizations located in the United States. The Swiss Operations segment includes marketing and producing organizations located in Switzerland, as well as extensive R&D operations that are responsible for the development, production, and marketing of precision instruments, including weighing, analytical, and measurement technologies for use in a variety of industrial and laboratory applications. Th

Read MoreMexico Equity & Income Fund Inc. is a closed ended balanced mutual fund launched and managed by Pichardo Asset Management, S.A. de C.V. The fund invests in the fixed income and public equity markets of Mexico. It also invests some portion in the convertible securities. The fund invests in the stocks of companies operating across diversified sectors. It benchmarks the performance of its portfolio against the Mexbol and MSCI Mexico Index. Mexico Equity & Income Fund Inc. was formed on May 24, 1990 and is domiciled in the United States.

Read More1 Wall Street equities research analysts have issued "buy," "hold," and "sell" ratings for Premier Oil in the last twelve months. There are currently 1 hold rating for the stock. The consensus among Wall Street equities research analysts is that investors should "hold" Premier Oil stock. A hold rating indicates that analysts believe investors should maintain any existing positions they have in PMO, but not buy additional shares or sell existing shares.

View analyst ratings for Premier Oil or view top-rated stocks.The following companies are subsidiares of Xylem: Aanderaa Data Instruments AS, Beijing United Gas Meters Co. Ltd., Bellingham & Stanley Ltd., Bombas Flygt de Venezuela S.A., CMS Research Corporation, EmNet LLC, FARADYNE Motors LLC, Faradyne Motors (Suzhou) Co. Ltd., Flow Control LLC, Flowtronex PSI LLC, Fluid Handling LLC, Godwin Holdings Ltd., Goulds Water Technology Philippines Inc, Grindex AB, Grindex Pumps LLC, HYPACK Inc, Heartland Pump Rental & Sales Inc., IMT b.v., Jabsco Marine Italia s.r.l., Jabsco S. de R.L. De C.V., Lowara UK Ltd, Lowara Vogel Polska SP ZOO, Lowara s.r.l., MJK Automation ApS, MultiTrode Inc., Multitrode Pty Ltd, Nova Analytics Europe LLC, O.I. Corporation, PCI Membrane Systems Inc., Pension Trustee Management Ltd, Pims Pumps, Portacel Inc., Pure Technologies, SELC Electronics Ltd, SELC Group Ltd., SELC Ireland Ltd, Safe Sea Services FZC, Sensus, Sensus (UK Holdings) Ltd., Sensus Australia Pty Ltd, Sensus Canada Inc., Sensus Chile SA, Sensus Espana SA, Sensus France Holdings SAS, Sensus France SAS, Sensus GmbH Hannover, Sensus GmbH Ludwigshafen, Sensus Italia SRL, Sensus Japan Kabushiki Kaisha, Sensus Manufacturing (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Sensus Maroc S.A.., Sensus Metering Systems (Fuzhou) Co. Ltd., Sensus Metering Systems (LuxCo 1) S.A R.L., Sensus Metering Systems (LuxCo 2) S.A R.L., Sensus Metering Systems (LuxCo 3) S.A R.L., Sensus Metering Systems (LuxCo 4) S.A R.L., Sensus Metering Systems (LuxCo 5) S.A R.L, Sensus Metering Systems IP Holdings Inc., Sensus Polska sp. zoo, Sensus Precision Die Casting (Yangzhou) Co. Ltd., Sensus SPA, Sensus Services Deutschland GmbH, Sensus Slovensko a.s., Sensus South Africa (Proprietary) Ltd., Sensus Spectrum LLC, Sensus UK Systems Limited, Sensus USA Inc., Sensus de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Sensus metrologicke sluzby s.r.o._Slovakia, Sensus Ceska republika spol. s r.o., Sentec Limited, Smith-Blair Inc., Texas Turbine LLC, Tideland Signal Corporation, Tideland Signal EMEA B.V., Tideland Signal LLC, Tideland Signal Limited, Tirinstal Investments Ltd, UGI Global Limited, Valor Water Analytics, Visenti Pte. Ltd, Water Asset Management Inc., Water Process Limited, Watercompany, Xylem (China) Company Limited, Xylem (Hong Kong) Limited, Xylem (Nanjing) Co. Ltd, Xylem Analytics (Beijing) Co. Ltd, Xylem Analytics Australia Pty Ltd., Xylem Analytics France S.A.S., Xylem Analytics Germany GmbH, Xylem Analytics IP Management GmbH, Xylem Analytics IP Management SCS, Xylem Analytics LLC, Xylem Analytics UK LTD, Xylem Australia Holdings PTY LTD, Xylem Brasil Solucoes para Agua Ltda, Xylem Canada Company, Xylem Delaware Inc., Xylem Denmark Holdings ApS, Xylem Dewatering Solutions Inc., Xylem Dewatering Solutions UK Ltd, Xylem Europe GmbH, Xylem Financing S.a.r.l, Xylem Germany GmbH, Xylem Global S.a.r.l, Xylem Holdings S.a.r.l., Xylem IP Holdings LLC, Xylem IP Management S.a.r.l, Xylem IP UK S.a.r.l., Xylem Industriebeteiligungen GmbH, Xylem Industries S.a.r.l., Xylem International S.a.r.l., Xylem Lowara Limited, Xylem Luxembourg S.a r.l., Xylem Management GmbH, Xylem Manufacturing Austria GmbH, Xylem Manufacturing Middle East Region FZCO, Xylem Middle East Water Equipment Trading & Rental LLC, Xylem Russia LLC, Xylem Saudi Arabia Limited, Xylem Service Hungary Kft, Xylem Service Italia Srl, Xylem Services Austria GmbH, Xylem Services GmbH, Xylem Shared Services Sp. Z.o.o., Xylem Technologies & Partners S.C.S, Xylem Technologies GmbH, Xylem Water Holdings Limited, Xylem Water Limited, Xylem Water Services Limited, Xylem Water Solutions (Hong Kong) Limited, Xylem Water Solutions Argentina S.R.L., Xylem Water Solutions Australia Limited, Xylem Water Solutions Austria GmbH, Xylem Water Solutions Belgium, Xylem Water Solutions Chile S.A., Xylem Water Solutions Colombia SAS, Xylem Water Solutions Denmark ApS, Xylem Water Solutions Deutschland GmbH, Xylem Water Solutions Espana S.A., Xylem Water Solutions Florida LLC, Xylem Water Solutions France SAS, Xylem Water Solutions Global Services AB, Xylem Water Solutions Herford GmbH, Xylem Water Solutions Holdings France SAS, Xylem Water Solutions India Private Limited, Xylem Water Solutions Ireland Ltd., Xylem Water Solutions Italia S.R.L, Xylem Water Solutions Korea Co. Ltd., Xylem Water Solutions Magyarorszag KRT, Xylem Water Solutions Malaysia SDN. BHD., Xylem Water Solutions Manufacturing AB, Xylem Water Solutions Metz SAS, Xylem Water Solutions Mexico S.de R.L. de C.V., Xylem Water Solutions Middle East Region FZCO, Xylem Water Solutions Muscat LLC, Xylem Water Solutions Nederland BV, Xylem Water Solutions New Zealand Limited, Xylem Water Solutions Norge AS, Xylem Water Solutions Panama s.r.l., Xylem Water Solutions Peru S.A., Xylem Water Solutions Polska Sp.z.o.o., Xylem Water Solutions Portugal Unipessoal Lda., Xylem Water Solutions Rugby Limited, Xylem Water Solutions Singapore PTE Ltd., Xylem Water Solutions South Africa (Pty) Ltd., Xylem Water Solutions South Africa Holdings LLC, Xylem Water Solutions Suomi Oy, Xylem Water Solutions Sweden AB, Xylem Water Solutions U.S.A. Inc., Xylem Water Solutions UK Holdings Limited, Xylem Water Solutions UK Limited, Xylem Water Solutions Zelienople LLC, Xylem Water Solutions(Shenyang) CO. Ltd, Xylem Water Systems (California) Inc., Xylem Water Systems Hungary KFT, Xylem Water Systems International Inc., Xylem Water Systems Japan Corporation, Xylem Water Systems Philippines Holding Inc., Xylem Water Systems Texas Holdings LLC, Xylem Water Systems U.S.A. LLC, YSI (China) Ltd., YSI (Hong Kong) Ltd., YSI (UK) Ltd., YSI Incorporated, YSI Instrumentos E Servicos Ambientais Ltda., YSI International Inc., YSI Nanotech Limited, and ylem Analytics Germany Sales GmbH& Co. KG.The second plenary session was chaired by ASOSAI Chairman in the 2018-2021 term Ho Duc Phoc who is also Auditor General of the State Audit of Vietnam (SAV); and ASOSAI Secretary General Choe Jaehyeong.During the session, delegates elected the SAIs of Indonesia, Russia, Kuwait, Nepal and Bangladesh to the Governing Board of ASOSAI for the term 2018-2021.They also elected Turkey and Kazakhstan to the Audit Committee in the 2018-2021 term.The session recognised Palestines SAI as a new ASOSAI member; designated ASOSAI training centres; and transferred the role of ASOSAI Secretary General from the Republic of Korea (RoK) to China.One of the contents for discussion during the session was the goal of professionalization of the ASEAN Supreme Audit Institutions (ASEANSAI)'s. On this topic, ASEANSAI Chairperson Viengthong Siphandone, who is President of Laos's State Audit Organisation, said the goal has been included in ASEANSAIs strategic plan in 2018-2021.ASEANSAI aims to become a self-control, independent, professional and non-political organization, which will help develop capacity and enhance collaboration among its members, thus establishing constructive relationships to benefit ASEAN and other stakeholders, he said.In order to improve the capacity of SAIs and share knowledge on the compliance with the International Standards of Supreme Audit Institutions (ISSAI), ASEANSAI has carried out many meaningful activities, including a long-term programme on the implementation of ISSAI in 2015.Towards this goal, ASEANSAI implemented a long-term programme on applying international audit standards from 2015 to the end of July this year. It has also organised many training programmes and workshops to better capacity of regional auditors on issues related to land, mineral resources, public procurement; and raise their awareness of sustainable development goals.ASEANSAI has adopted its Strategic Plan for 2018-2021 and revised relevant regulations.President of Thailands State Audit Commission Chanathap Indamra affirmed ASOSAI is an open community, and the cooperation among ASOSAI members is key to achieve the overall goal of promoting and enhancing experience in term of public audit.ASOSAI Secretary General Choe Jaehyeong, who is also Chairman of the Board of Audit and Inspection of the RoK, announced that SAIs of India, China and Malaysia were recognized as ASOSAI training centres due to their excellent training facilities and capabilities.In his closing speech, ASOSAI Chairman Ho Duc Phoc thanked the RoK SAI for well fulfilling its duty as Secretary-General of ASOSAI in the past term, and congratulated the Chinese SAI for being elected ASOSAI Secretary General for the 2018-2021.After four days of working, member SAIs discussed and agreed on many important issues such as the budget plan of the organisation in 2019-2021; ASOSAI Strategic Plan 2016-2021, the 11th research report and the 11th symposium report.He called on member SAIs to strengthen cooperation and experience and initiative sharing, thus further contributing to the ASOSAI communitys development.Thailand will host the next Assembly of ASOSAI in 2021.

VietnamplusBrookdale Senior Living, Inc. engages in the operation of senior living communities. The firm manages independent living, assisted living and dementia-care communities and continuing care retirement centers. It operates through the following segments: Independent Living Assisted Living & Memory Care, CCRCs, Health Care Services and Management Services. The Independent Living segment is primarily designed for middle to upper income seniors who desire an upscale residential environment providing the highest quality of service. The Assisted Living & Memory Care segment offer housing and 24-hour assistance with ADLs to mid-acuity frail and elderly residents. The CCRCs segment offers a variety of living arrangements and services to accommodate all levels of physical ability and health. The Healthcare Services segment provides home health, hospice and outpatient therapy services, as well as education and wellness programs, to residents of many communities and to seniors living outside communities. The Management Services segment composes of communities operated by the company pursuant to management agreements. The company was founded in 1978 and is headquartered in Brentwood, TN.

Read MoreThe Bank of New York Mellon pays an annual dividend of $1.36 per share and currently has a dividend yield of 2.31%. 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 34.61%. 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.Representative of VCCI-HCMC said the two countries total trade turnover in 2017 reached US$ 109 million.

Of these, Bulgarias exports to Vietnam was US$ 71 million. Export products included medicines, feed stuffs while Vietnam exported to Bulgaria rice, cashew, coffee, pepper, frozen seafood and products from rubber, leather, garments, computer and accessories worth $ 38 million.

Bulgaria has invested 11 FDI projects in Vietnam with total registered capital of $ 85 million in fields: agriculture processing, mechanical engineering, science technology

Under new economic cooperation model which agreed by two countries leaders, Vietnam could export some key items to Bulgaria then goods would be processed in Bulgarias ports and continuing to export to European markets, and Balkan region.

HA VAN Translated by Thi QuyThe following companies are subsidiares of Marsh & McLennan Companies: 8WORKS INC., 8WORKS LTD, A. Constantinidi & CIA. S.C., A.C.N. 000 951 146 Pty Limited, A.C.N. 001 572 961 Pty Limited, A.C.N. 076 935 683 Pty Limited, A.C.N. 102 322 574 Pty Limited, ACE Insurance Agents Limited, ACE Insurance Consultants Limited, ACE Insurance and Reinsurance Brokers Limited, AD Corretora de Seguros, AFCO Premium Acceptance Inc., AFCO Premium Credit LLC, Access Equity Enhanced Fund GP LLC, Admiral Holdings Limited, Agnew Higgins Pickering & Co. (Bermuda) Ltd, Aldgate Investments Limited, Aldgate Trustees Ltd, Alexander Forbes Group Holdings Limited, Alpha Consultants Limited, Alta SA, Altius Real Assets (GP) LLC, Amal Insurance Brokers Limited (in liquidation), Anda Insurance Agencies Pte Ltd, AssetVal Pty Ltd, Assur Conseils Marsh S.A., Assurance Capital Corporation, Assurance Services Corporation, Australian Insurance Brokers Pty Ltd, Australian World Underwriters Pty Ltd., BBPS Limited, Barney & Barney Orange County LLC, Beaumonts (Leeds) Limited (in liquidation), Beaumonts Insurance Brokers Limited (in liquidation), Beaumonts Insurance Services Limited, Beneficios Integrales Oportunos SA, Benefitfocus Inc., Blue Marble Micro Limited, Blue Marble Microinsurance Inc., Bluefin, Bluefin Insurance Group Limited, Bluefin Insurance Services Limited, Boulder Claims LLC, Bowring (Bermuda) Investments Ltd., Bowring Marine Limited, Bowring Marsh (Bermuda) Ltd., Bowring Marsh (Hong Kong) Limited, Bowring Marsh Asia Pte. Ltd., Bowring Marsh Corretora de Resseguros Ltda., Bowring Marsh Limited, Broderick Piller Pty Ltd, Broker 2 Broker Limited, BuildPay LLC, Burke Ford Trustees (Leicester) Limited, C.T. Bowring Limited, CMC-Belgibo NV, CPRM Limited, CPSG Partners LLC, Carpenter Marsh Fac Chile Corredores de Reaseguros Limitada, Carpenter Marsh Fac Colombia Corredores de Reaseguros S.A., Carpenter Marsh Fac Peru Corredores de Reaseguros S.A.C., Carpenter Marsh Fac Re LLC, Carpenter Turner Cyprus Ltd, Carpenter Turner S.A., Cascade International Holdings C.V., Cascade Regional Holdings Limited, Central Insurance Services Limited, Charter Risk Management Services LLC, Chartwell Healthcare Limited, Chronos Insurance Brokers Pty Limited, Claims and Recovery Management (Australia) Pty Limited, Clark Thomson Insurance Brokers Limited, Client Provide Limited, Colombian Insurance Broking Wholesale Limited, Consultores 2020 C.A., Cronin & Co Insurance Services Limited, DVA - Deutsche Verkehrs-Assekuranz-Vermittlungs GmbH, Dawson Insurance, DeLima Marsh S.A. - Los Corredores de Seguros S.A., Dovetail Insurance Corp., Dovetail Insurance Corp., Dovetail Managing General Agency Corporation, Dovetail Technology Service India Private Limited, Draw Connect Limited, Draw Create Limited, Draw Group London Limited, Eagle & Crown Limited, Echelon Australia Pty Limited, Echelon Claims Consultants Sdn Bhd, Echelon New Zealand Limited, EnBW Versicherungs Vermittlung GmbH, Encompass Insurance Agency Pty Ltd., English Pension Trustees Limited, Epsilon (US) Insurance Company, Epsilon Insurance Company Ltd., Eustis Insurance & Benefits, Evolution Management Ltd, Exchange Insurance Services Limited (in liquidation), Exmoor Management Company Limited, Faulkner & Flynn LLC, Freedom Trust Services Limited, GC Genesis LLC, GCube Insurance Services Inc, GCube Underwriting Limited, Gama Consultores Associados Ltda., Gem Insurance Company Limited, Global Premium Finance Company, GrECo International Holding AG, Gracechurch Trustees Limited, Gresham Pension Trustees Limited, Group Promoters Pty Limited, Guy Carpenter & Cia (Mexico) S.A. de C.V., Guy Carpenter & Cia. S.A., Guy Carpenter & Co. Labuan Ltd., Guy Carpenter & Company AB, Guy Carpenter & Company Corredores de Reaseguros Limitada, Guy Carpenter & Company Corretora de Resseguros Ltda., Guy Carpenter & Company GmbH, Guy Carpenter & Company LLC, Guy Carpenter & Company Limited, Guy Carpenter & Company Limited, Guy Carpenter & Company Ltd./Guy Carpenter & Compagnie Ltee, Guy Carpenter & Company Participacoes Ltda., Guy Carpenter & Company Peru Corredores de Reaseguros S.A., Guy Carpenter & Company Private Limited, Guy Carpenter & Company Proprietary Limited, Guy Carpenter & Company Pty. Ltd., Guy Carpenter & Company S.A., Guy Carpenter & Company S.A. (Uruguay), Guy Carpenter & Company S.A.S., Guy Carpenter & Company S.r.l., Guy Carpenter (Middle East) Limited, Guy Carpenter Bermuda Ltd., Guy Carpenter Broking Inc., Guy Carpenter Colombia Corredores de Reaseguros Ltda., Guy Carpenter Insurance Brokers (Beijing) Co. Ltd., Guy Carpenter Japan Inc., Guy Carpenter Mexico Intermediario de Reaseguro S.A. de C.V., Guy Carpenter Reasurans Brokerligi Anonim Sirketi, HAPIP GP 2009 LLC, HAPIP GP LLC, HSBC Insurance Brokers International (Abu Dhabi) LLC (in liquidation), Hamilton Bond Limited, Hansen International Limited, Hayward Aviation Limited, INSIA Europe SE, INSIA SK s.r.o., INSIA a.s., INSURANCE BROKERS OF NIGERIA LIMITED, IRC Asia Insurance Brokers Limited, InSolutions Limited, Industrial Risks Protection Consultants, Ingeseg S. A., Ingeseg S.A., Insbrokers Ltda., InsurTech Alliance LLC, Insure Direct (Brokers) LLC, Insure Direct (Brokers) LLC [BAHRAIN BRANCH], Insure Direct - Jardine Lloyd Thompson Limited, International Catastrophe Insurance Managers LLC, International Loss Control Services Limited, International Risk Consultants (Asia) Limited, Invercol Limited, Irish Pensions Trust Limited, Isosceles Insurance (Barbados) Limited, Isosceles Insurance Company Limited, Isosceles Insurance Ltd, Isosceles PCC Limited, J&H Marsh & McLennan Limited, J.W. Terrill Benefit Administrators Inc., JI Holdings Limited, JIB Group Holdings Limited, JIB Group Limited, JIB Holdings (Pacific) Limited, JIB Overseas Holdings Limited, JIB UK Holdings Limited, JL Marine Insurance-Brokers GmbH & Co. KG, JLM Verwaltungs GmbH, JLT (Insurance Brokers) Limited, JLT Actuaries and Consultants Limited, JLT Advisory Limited, JLT Affinity Colombia Solutions SAS, JLT Agencies Limited, JLT Asesorias Ltda, JLT Asia Holdings BV, JLT Asia Shared Services Sdn Bhd, JLT Belgibo, JLT Benefit Consultants Limited, JLT Benefit Solutions Limited, JLT Benefit Solutions SA (Pty) Ltd, JLT Bermuda Ltd, JLT Brasil Holdings Participacoes Ltd, JLT Chile Holdings SpA, JLT Colombia Retail Limited, JLT Colombia Wholesale Limited, JLT Consultants & Actuaries Limited, JLT EB Holdings Limited, JLT EB Services Limited, JLT Employee Benefits Holding Company (PTY) LTD, JLT Employee Benefits SA (Pty) Ltd, JLT Financial Planning Limited, JLT France Holdings, JLT Group Services Pty Limited, JLT Holdings (Barbados) Ltd, JLT Holdings (NZ) Limited, JLT Independent Insurance Brokers Private Limited, JLT Insurance Agencies Limited, JLT Insurance Brokers Co. Limited, JLT Insurance Brokers Co. Limited ( Shanghai Branch), JLT Insurance Brokers Co. Limited (Beijing Branch), JLT Insurance Brokers Co. Limited (Guangzhou Branch), JLT Insurance Brokers Ireland Limited, JLT Insurance Brokers SA, JLT Insurance Group Holdings Ltd, JLT Insurance Management Malta Limited, JLT Intellectual Property Limited, JLT Intellectual Property [UK Branch], JLT Interactive Pte. Ltd., JLT Investment Management Limited, JLT LATAM (Southern Cone) Wholesale Limited, JLT Latin American Holdings Limited, JLT Life Assurance Brokers Limited, JLT Management Services Limited, JLT Marine (Pty) Ltd, JLT Mexico Holdings Limited, JLT Mexico Intermediario de Reaseguro S.A. de C.V., JLT Netherlands BV, JLT Norway AS, JLT PLA, JLT Pension Trustees Limited, JLT Pensions Administration Holdings Limited, JLT Pensions Administration Limited, JLT Peru Reinsurance Solutions Limited, JLT Peru Retail Limited, JLT Peru Wholesale Limited, JLT QFM Services Limited, JLT RE Brasil Administracao e Corretagem de Resseguros Ltda, JLT Re (French Branch), JLT Re (Northern Europe) AB, JLT Re Argentina Corredores de Reaseguros S.A.U., JLT Re Labuan Limited, JLT Re Limited, JLT Re Pty Ltd, JLT Reinsurance Brokers GmbH, JLT Reinsurance Brokers Limited, JLT Reinsurance Brokers Limited [French Branch], JLT Risk Management Limited, JLT Risk Solutions AB, JLT Risk Solutions AB Branch - Germany, JLT SA IB Holdings Company (Pty) Limited, JLT SCK Affinity Administracao e Corretora de Seguros Ltda., JLT SCK Corretora e Administradora de Seguros, JLT Secretaries Limited, JLT Sigorta ve Reasurans Brokerlii A.., JLT Singapore Holdings Pte. Ltd., JLT Specialty France, JLT Specialty Insurance Broker A/S, JLT Specialty Limited, JLT Specialty Limited [DUBAI BRANCH], JLT Specialty Pte. Ltd., JLT Towner Insurance Management (Anguilla) Limited, JLT Trust Services (Barbados) Ltd, JLT Trustees (Southern) Limited, JLT Trustees Limited, JLT UK Investment Holdings Limited, JLT Vantage Risk and Benefit Consulting Private Limited, JLT Wealth Management Limited, JLT do Brasil Corretagem de Seguros Ltda, JLTPCS Holdings Pte. Ltd., JMIB Holdings BV, JSL Securities Inc., Japan Affinity Marketing Inc., Jardine IBR Limited, Jardine Lloyd Thompson (Proprietary) Limited, Jardine Lloyd Thompson Asia Pte Ltd, Jardine Lloyd Thompson Australia Pty Limited, Jardine Lloyd Thompson Canada Inc, Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group Ltd, Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group plc, Jardine Lloyd Thompson India Private Limited, Jardine Lloyd Thompson India Private Limited (UK Branch Office), Jardine Lloyd Thompson Insurance Consultants Limited, Jardine Lloyd Thompson Insurance and Reinsurance Brokers Inc., Jardine Lloyd Thompson Ireland Holdings Limited, Jardine Lloyd Thompson Ireland Unlimited Company, Jardine Lloyd Thompson Korea Limited, Jardine Lloyd Thompson Limited, Jardine Lloyd Thompson Limited [Macao Branch], Jardine Lloyd Thompson PCS (Dubai) Limited, Jardine Lloyd Thompson PCS Limited, Jardine Lloyd Thompson PCS Pte Ltd, Jardine Lloyd Thompson PCS SA, Jardine Lloyd Thompson Private Limited, Jardine Lloyd Thompson Pty Limited, Jardine Lloyd Thompson Sdn Bhd, Jardine Lloyd Thompson Valencia y Iragorri Corredores de Seguros SA, Jardine Pension Trustees Ireland Limited, Jardine Risk Consulting Co. Limited, Jardine ShunTak Insurance Brokers Limited, Jardine ShunTak Insurance Brokers Limited [Macao Branch], Jardines PF- Consultoria Em Gestao De Risco Limitada, Jelf, Jelf Commercial Finance Limited, Jelf Financial Planning Limited, Jelf Insurance Brokers Limited, Jelf Limited, Jelf Risk Management Limited, Jelf Wellbeing Limited, John Lampier & Son Ltd, Johnson & Higgins (Bermuda) Limited, Johnson & Higgins Limited, KESSLER & CO AG, Kepler Associates Limited, Kessler & Co Inc., Kessler Consulting Inc., Kessler Prevoyance Inc., Key Underwriting Pty Limited, Kroll, Lambert Brothers Holdings Limited, Lambert Brothers Insurance Brokers (Employee Benefits) Limited, Lambert Brothers Insurance Brokers (Hong Kong) Ltd, Laterlife.com Limited (in liquidation), Lavaretus Underwriting AB, Lavaretus Underwriting AB (BRANCH - Denmark), Libra Insurance Services Limited (in liquidation), Lloyd & Partners Limited, Local Government Insurance Brokers Pty Limited, Lomond Macdonald Limited, Lynch Insurance Brokers Limited, M&M Vehicle L.P., M.P. Bolshaw and Company Limited, MAG JLT SpA, MERCER ALTERNATIVES LIMITED, MM Risk Services Pty Ltd (for dissolution), MMA Mid-Atlantic Employee LLC, MMA Securities LLC, MMB Consultores S.A., MMC (Singapore) Holdings Pte. Ltd., MMC 28 State Street Holdings Inc., MMC Borrower LLC, MMC Brazilian Holdings B.V., MMC Capital Inc., MMC Cascade Regional Holdings LLC, MMC FINANCE (EUROPE) LIMITED, MMC FINANCE HOLDINGS LTD, MMC Finance (Australia) Limited, MMC Finance (Singapore) Limited, MMC France Holdings (Luxembourg) S.a.r.l., MMC GP III Inc., MMC Group Services sp. z o.o., MMC Holdings (Australia) Pty Ltd, MMC Holdings (New Zealand) ULC, MMC Holdings (UK) Limited, MMC International Finance (Barbados) SRL, MMC International Holdings LLC, MMC International Limited, MMC International Treasury Centre Limited, MMC Middle East Holdings Limited, MMC Poland Holdings B.V., MMC Realty Inc., MMC Regional Asia Holdings B.V., MMC Regional Caribbean Holdings Ltd., MMC Regional Europe Holdings B.V., MMC Regional LATAM Holdings B.V., MMC Securities (Europe) Limited, MMC Securities LLC, MMC Treasury Holdings (UK) Limited, MMC UK Group Limited, MMC UK Pension Fund Trustee Limited, MMOW Limited, MMRC LLC, MOW Holding LLC, MPIP III GP LLC, MPIP IV GP LLC, MPIP V GP LLC, MPIP VI GP LLC, Mangrove Insurance Europe PCC Limited, Mangrove Insurance Solutions PCC, Mangrove Insurance Solutions PCC Limited, Manoel Management Services Ltd, Marchant McKechnie Insurance Brokers Limited, Marine Aviation & General (London) Limited, Marsh & McLennan (PNG) Limited, Marsh & McLennan Agencies AS, Marsh & McLennan Agencies Limited, Marsh & McLennan Agency A/S, Marsh & McLennan Agency LLC, Marsh & McLennan Agency Limited, Marsh & McLennan Agency Pty Ltd., Marsh & McLennan Argentina SA Corredores de Reaseguros, Marsh & McLennan Colombia S.A., Marsh & McLennan Companies Acquisition Funding Limited, Marsh & McLennan Companies Acquisition Limited, Marsh & McLennan Companies Asia Pacific Treasury Center Limited, Marsh & McLennan Companies BVBA/SPRL, Marsh & McLennan Companies Finance Center (Luxembourg) S.a.r.l., Marsh & McLennan Companies France S.A.S., Marsh & McLennan Companies Holdings (Luxembourg) S.a.r.l., Marsh & McLennan Companies Inc., Marsh & McLennan Companies Regional Holdings S.a.r.l., Marsh & McLennan Companies Services B.V., Marsh & McLennan Companies UK Limited, Marsh & McLennan Europe S.a.r.l., Marsh & McLennan GP I Inc., Marsh & McLennan Global Broking (Bermuda) Ltd., Marsh & McLennan Holding GmbH, Marsh & McLennan Holdings (Canada) ULC, Marsh & McLennan Holdings Inc., Marsh & McLennan Incorporated (for dissolution), Marsh & McLennan Innovation Centre Holdings II, Marsh & McLennan Innovation Centre Holdings S.a.r.l., Marsh & McLennan Innovation Centre Limited, Marsh & McLennan Insurance Services Limited, Marsh & McLennan Ireland Limited, Marsh & McLennan Management Services (Bermuda) Limited, Marsh & McLennan Risk Capital Holdings Ltd., Marsh & McLennan Servicios S.A. De C.V., Marsh & McLennan Shared Services Canada Limited, Marsh & McLennan Shared Services Corporation, Marsh (Bahrain) Company SPC, Marsh (Beijing) Risk Management Consulting Co. Ltd., Marsh (China) Insurance Brokers Co. Ltd., Marsh (Hong Kong) Limited, Marsh (Insurance Brokers) LLP, Marsh (Insurance Services) Limited, Marsh (Malawi) Limited, Marsh (Middle East) Limited, Marsh (Namibia) (Proprietary) Limited, Marsh (Pty) Ltd, Marsh (Risk Consulting) LLP, Marsh (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., Marsh A/S, Marsh AB, Marsh AG, Marsh AS, Marsh Advantage Insurance Holdings Pty Ltd, Marsh Advantage Insurance Pty Ltd., Marsh Africa (Pty) Ltd, Marsh Argentina S.R.L., Marsh Associates (Pty) Ltd, Marsh Austria G.m.b.H., Marsh Aviation Insurance Broking Pty Ltd (for dissolution), Marsh B.V., Marsh Botswana (Proprietary) Limited, Marsh Brockman y Schuh Agente de Seguros y de Fianzas S.A. de C.V., Marsh Broker Japan Inc., Marsh Broker de Asigurare-Reasigurare S.R.L., Marsh Brokers (Hong Kong) Limited, Marsh Brokers Limited, Marsh Canada Limited/Marsh Canada Limitee, Marsh Company Management Services Cayman Ltd., Marsh Compensation Technologies Administration (Pty) Ltd, Marsh Corporate Services (Barbados) Limited, Marsh Corporate Services Isle of Man Ltd, Marsh Corporate Services Limited, Marsh Corporate Services Malta Limited, Marsh Corretora de Seguros Ltda., Marsh EOOD, Marsh Egypt LLC, Marsh Emirates Consultancy LLC, Marsh Emirates Insurance Brokerage LLC, Marsh Employee Benefits Limited, Marsh Employee Benefits Zimbabwe (Private) Ltd, Marsh Eurofinance B.V., Marsh Europe S.A., Marsh FJC International Insurance Brokers Limited, Marsh For Insurance Services S.A.E., Marsh Franco Acra S.A., Marsh GSC Servicos e Administracao de Seguros Ltda., Marsh GmbH, Marsh Holding AB, Marsh Holdings (Pty) Ltd, Marsh India Insurance Brokers Private Limited, Marsh Insurance & Investments LLC, Marsh Insurance Brokers, Marsh Insurance Brokers (Macao) Limited, Marsh Insurance Brokers (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, Marsh Insurance Brokers (Private) Limited, Marsh Insurance Brokers AO, Marsh Insurance Brokers Limited, Marsh Insurance Consulting Saudi Arabia (in liquidation), Marsh Insurance and Reinsurance Brokers LLC, Marsh Intermediaries Inc., Marsh International Broking Holdings Limited, Marsh International Holdings II Inc., Marsh International Holdings Inc., Marsh Investment B.V., Marsh Ireland Brokers Limited, Marsh Ireland Brokers Limited (UK Branch), Marsh Ireland Holdings Limited, Marsh Israel (1999) Ltd., Marsh Israel (Holdings) Ltd., Marsh Israel Consultants Ltd., Marsh Israel Insurance Agency Ltd., Marsh Israel International Brokers Ltd. (in liquidation), Marsh JCS Inc., Marsh Japan Inc., Marsh Kft., Marsh Kindlustusmaakler AS, Marsh Korea Inc., Marsh LLC, Marsh LLC Insurance Brokers, Marsh LLC [Ukraine], Marsh Lda., Marsh Limited, Marsh Limited [Fiji], Marsh Limited [New Zealand], Marsh Limited [PNG], Marsh Ltd. [Wisconsin], Marsh Management Services (Bahamas) Ltd., Marsh Management Services (Barbados) Limited, Marsh Management Services (Bermuda) Ltd., Marsh Management Services (Dublin) Limited, Marsh Management Services (Labuan) Limited, Marsh Management Services (MENA) Limited, Marsh Management Services (USVI) Ltd., Marsh Management Services Cayman Ltd., Marsh Management Services Guernsey Limited, Marsh Management Services Inc., Marsh Management Services Isle of Man Limited, Marsh Management Services Luxembourg S.a.r.l., Marsh Management Services Malta Limited, Marsh Management Services Singapore Pte. Ltd., Marsh Management Services Sweden AB, Marsh Marine & Energy AB, Marsh Marine Nederland B.V., Marsh Medical Consulting GmbH, Marsh Mercer Holdings (Australia) Pty Ltd, Marsh Nest Inc., Marsh Oman LLC, Marsh Oy, Marsh PB Co. Ltd., Marsh Philippines Inc., Marsh Privat A.I.E., Marsh Private Client Life Insurance Services, Marsh Pty. Ltd., Marsh Qatar LLC, Marsh RE S.A.C. Corredores de Reaseguros, Marsh Rehder Consultoria S.A. (MRC), Marsh Rehder S.A. Corredores de Seguros, Marsh Resolutions Pty Limited, Marsh Risk Consulting B.V., Marsh Risk Consulting Limitada, Marsh Risk Consulting Ltda., Marsh Risk Consulting S.L., Marsh Risk Consulting Services S.r.L., Marsh Risk and Consulting Services (Pty) Ltd, Marsh S.A. Corredores De Seguros, Marsh S.A. Mediadores de Seguros, Marsh S.A.S., Marsh S.p.A., Marsh SA [Argentina], Marsh SA [Belgium], Marsh SA [Luxembourg], Marsh SA [Uruguay], Marsh SIA, Marsh Saldana Inc., Marsh Saudi Arabia Insurance & Reinsurance Brokers, Marsh Secretarial Services Limited, Marsh Semusa S.A., Marsh Services Limited, Marsh Services Spolka z.o.o., Marsh Sigorta ve Reasurans Brokerligi Anonim Sirketi, Marsh Spolka z.o.o., Marsh Szolgaltato Kft., Marsh Takaful Brokers (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, Marsh Treasury Services (Dublin) Limited (in liquidation), Marsh Treasury Services Limited, Marsh Tunisia S.a.r.l., Marsh UK Limited, Marsh USA (India) Inc., Marsh USA Borrower LLC, Marsh USA Inc., Marsh Uganda Limited, Marsh Venezuela C.A. Sociedad de Corretaje de Seguros, Marsh Vietnam Insurance Broking Company Ltd, Marsh Zambia Limited, Marsh Zimbabwe Holdings (Private) Limited, Marsh d.o.o. Beograd, Marsh d.o.o. za posredovanje u osiguranju, Marsh for Insurance Services - Jordan, Marsh i-Connect (Pty) Ltd, Marsh s.r.o., Matthiessen Assurans AB, Mercer (Argentina) S.A., Mercer (Australia) Pty Ltd, Mercer (Austria) GmbH, Mercer (Belgium) SA-NV, Mercer (Canada) Limited/Mercer (Canada) Limitee, Mercer (China) Limited, Mercer (Colombia) Ltda., Mercer (Danmark) A/S, Mercer (Finland) OY, Mercer (France) SAS, Mercer (Hong Kong) Limited, Mercer (Ireland) Limited, Mercer (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., Mercer (N.Z.) Limited, Mercer (Nederland) B.V., Mercer (Norge) AS, Mercer (Polska) Sp.z o.o., Mercer (Portugal) Lda, Mercer (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., Mercer (Sweden) AB, Mercer (Taiwan) Ltd., Mercer (Thailand) Ltd., Mercer (US) Inc., Mercer Administration Services (Australia) Pty Limited, Mercer Africa Limited, Mercer Agente de Seguros S.A. de C.V., Mercer Asesores de Seguros S.A., Mercer Asesores es Inversion Independientes S.A. de C.V., Mercer Broking Ltd., Mercer Career Unipessoal Lda, Mercer Consultation (Quebec) Ltee., Mercer Consulting (Australia) Pty Ltd, Mercer Consulting (Chile) Limitada, Mercer Consulting (France) SAS, Mercer Consulting (India) Private Limited, Mercer Consulting B.V., Mercer Consulting Group Inc., Mercer Consulting Holdings Sdn. Bhd., Mercer Consulting Limited, Mercer Consulting Middle East Limited, Mercer Consulting S.L.U., Mercer Consulting Venezuela C.A., Mercer Corredores de Seguros Limitada, Mercer Corretora de Seguros Ltda, Mercer Danismanlik Anonim Sirketi, Mercer Deutschland GmbH, Mercer Employee Benefits - Medicacao de Seguros Unipessoal Lda., Mercer Employee Benefits Limited, Mercer Financial Advice (Australia) Pty Ltd, Mercer Financial Services Limited, Mercer Financial Services Limited liability company, Mercer Financial Services Middle East Limited, Mercer Global Investments Europe Limited, Mercer Global Investments Management Limited, Mercer HR Consulting Borrower LLC, Mercer HR Services LLC, Mercer Health & Benefits (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., Mercer Health & Benefits Administration LLC, Mercer Health & Benefits LLC, Mercer Holdings Inc., Mercer Holdings Inc. [Philippines], Mercer Human Resource Consulting Ltda, Mercer Human Resource Consulting S.A. de C.V., Mercer ICC Limited, Mercer Investment Consulting Limited, Mercer Investment Management (Shanghai) Co. Ltd, Mercer Investment Solutions (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., Mercer Investments (Australia) Limited, Mercer Investments (Hong Kong) Limited, Mercer Investments (Japan) Ltd, Mercer Investments (New Zealand) Limited, Mercer Investments LLC, Mercer Ireland Holdings Limited, Mercer Italia Srl Socio Unico, Mercer Japan Ltd., Mercer Korea Co. Ltd., Mercer LLC, Mercer Limited, Mercer MC Consulting Borrower LLC, Mercer Master Trustees Limited, Mercer Mauritius Ltd., Mercer Oliver Wyman Holding B.V., Mercer Outsourcing (Australia) Pty Ltd, Mercer Outsourcing S.L.U., Mercer Pensionsfonds AG, Mercer Pensionsraadgivning A/S, Mercer Philippines Inc., Mercer Private Investment Partners IV General Partner S.a.r.l., Mercer Private Markets AG, Mercer Private Markets Advisers (US) AG, Mercer Services Poland Sp. z.o.o., Mercer Sigorta Brokerligi Anonim Sirketi, Mercer South Africa (Pty) Limited, Mercer Superannuation (Australia) Limited, Mercer Switzerland Inc., Mercer System Services LLC, Mercer Technology Acquisitions Limited, Mercer Treuhand GmbH, Mercer Trust Company LLC, Mercer Trustees Limited, Mercer WorkforcePro LLC, Mercury Insurance Services Pty Ltd, Moola Systems Limited, Mountlodge Limited, Muir Beddal (Zimbabwe) Limited, NERA Australia Pty. Ltd., NERA Economic Consulting GmbH, NERA Economic Consulting Limited, NERA S.R.L., NERA SAS, NERA UK Limited, NERA do Brasil Ltda. (for dissolution), National Economic Research Associates Inc., NetComp Insurance Corp., Neuburger Noble Lowndes GmbH, Normandy Reinsurance Company Limited, Northern Alliance Brokers Limited (in liquidation), OWL Marine Insurance-Brokers GmbH & Co.KG, OWL Marine Verwaltungs GmbH, Oliver Wyman (Bermuda) Limited, Oliver Wyman (Hong Kong) Limited, Oliver Wyman AB, Oliver Wyman AG, Oliver Wyman Actuarial Consulting Inc., Oliver Wyman B.V., Oliver Wyman Consulting (Shanghai) Ltd, Oliver Wyman Consultoria em Estrategia de Negocios Ltda., Oliver Wyman Energy Consulting Limited, Oliver Wyman FZ-LLC, Oliver Wyman Group KK, Oliver Wyman Inc., Oliver Wyman LLC, Oliver Wyman Limited, Oliver Wyman Limited Liability Company, Oliver Wyman Limited/Oliver Wyman limitee, Oliver Wyman Ltd., Oliver Wyman Pte. Ltd., Oliver Wyman Pty. Ltd., Oliver Wyman S. de R.L. de C.V., Oliver Wyman S.A.S., Oliver Wyman S.L., Oliver Wyman S.r.l., Oliver Wyman SNC, Oliver Wyman SPRL/BVBA, Oliver Wyman Sdn. Bhd., Oliver Wyman Services Limited, Oliver Wyman Servicios S. de R.L. de C.V., Oliver Wyman sp. z o.o., Omega Indemnity (Bermuda) Limited, Organizacion Brockman y Schuh S.A. de C.V., Osbornes Insurances Oxford Limited (in liquidation), PFT Limited, PI Indemnity Company Designated Activity Company, PT JLT Reinsurance Brokers, PT Jardine Lloyd Thompson, PT Marsh Indonesia, PT Marsh Reinsurance Brokers Indonesia, PT Mercer Indonesia, PT Nexus Asia Pacific, PT Oliver Wyman Indonesia, PT Quantum Computing Services, PT Quantum Investments, PT Quantum Support Services, Pallas Marsh Servicos Ltda., Pavilion Alternatives Group (Singapore) PTE. Ltd, Pavilion Financial Corporation Holdings UK Limited, Pavilion U.S. Investments Holdco LLC, Pension Trustees Limited, Pensionsservice Benefit Network Sverige AB, Perils AG, Personal Pension Trustees Limited, Pet Animal Welfare Scheme Limited, Portsoken Trustees (No. 2) Limited, Portsoken Trustees Limited, Potomac Insurance Managers Inc., Premier Pension Trustees Limited, Premium Services Australia Pty Limited, Professional Claims Handling Limited (in liquidation), Profund Solutions Limited, Promerit AG, Promerit Hungary Kft, Promerit Schweiz AG, Pymetrics Inc., R G Ford Brokers Limited, R R B Beratungsgesellschaft fuer Altersversorgung mbh, R. Mees & Zoonen Holdings B.V., Renewable Energy Loss Adjusters LLC, Renewable Energy Loss Adjusters Limited, Resource Benefit Associates, Rightpath Reinsurance SPC Ltd., Risk Management Australia Pty Limited, Rivers Group Limited, Rockefeller Risk Advisors Inc., Rutherfoord International Inc., SAFCAR-Marsh, SBJ Holdings Limited, SCIB (Bermuda) Limited, SCM Global Real Estate Select GP LLC, SCM Infrastructure General Partner S.a r.l., SCM International Private Equity Select III GP LLC, SCM LT General Partner S.a.r.l., SCM PE General Partner S.a.r.l., SCM PE II GP Ltd., SCM PE II Scotland GP Ltd, SCM Strategic Capital Management (Luxembourg) S.a.r.l., SICAR Marsh S.a.r.l., SME Insurance Services Limited, Sail Insurance Company Limited, Scalene Re Ltd, Seabury & Smith Borrower LLC, Seabury & Smith LLC, Secure Limited, Sedgwick (Holdings) Pty. Limited, Sedgwick Consulting Group Limited, Sedgwick Dineen Group Limited, Sedgwick Financial Services Limited, Sedgwick Forbes Middle East Limited, Sedgwick Group, Sedgwick Group (Australia) Pty. Limited, Sedgwick Group (Bermuda) Limited, Sedgwick Group (Zimbabwe) Limited, Sedgwick Group Limited, Sedgwick Internationaal B.V., Sedgwick Limited, Sedgwick Management Services (Barbados) Limited, Sedgwick Management Services (Singapore) Pte Limited, Sedgwick Noble Lowndes (UK) Limited, Sedgwick Noble Lowndes Group Limited, Sedgwick Noble Lowndes Limited, Sedgwick Overseas Investments Limited, Sedgwick Private Limited, Sedgwick Re Asia Pacific (Consultants) Pte Ltd (for dissolution), Sedgwick Trustees Limited, Sedgwick UK Risk Services Limited, Sedgwick Ulster Pension Trustees Limited, Settlement Trustees Limited, Shanghai Mercer Insurance Brokers Company Ltd., Shorewest Insurance Associates LLC, Sirota Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd., Sirota Consulting UK Limited, Smith Long Term Disability Management Group Inc., Societe d'Assurances et de Participation Guian SA, Software Underwriting Systems Limited (in liquidation), Southern Marine & Aviation Inc., Southern Marine & Aviation Underwriters Inc., Sudzucker Versicherungs-Vermittlungs GmbH, Sumitomo Life Insurance Agency America Inc., Sylvite Financial Services, TBX Solutions Limited, Talent Tech Labs LLC, The Benefit Express Holdings Limited, The Benefit Express Limited, The Carpenter Management Corporation, The Insurance Partnership Holdings Limited, The Insurance Partnership Services Limited, The Positive Ageing Company Limited, The Purple Partnership Limited, The Recovre Group Pty Ltd, Thomsons Online Benefits (HK) Ltd., Thomsons Online Benefits Inc., Thomsons Online Benefits Limited, Thomsons Online Benefits Pte Ltd., Thomsons Online Benefits S.R.L, Torrent Government Contracting Services LLC, Torrent Insurance Services LLC, Torrent Technologies, Torrent Technologies Inc., Tower Hill Limited, Tower Place Developments (West) Limited, Tower Place Developments Limited, U.T.E. AMG, U.T.E. Marsh - Caja Castilla La Mancha Junta de Comunidades, U.T.E. Marsh - Salvado Reus (in liquidation), U.T.E. Marsh - Salvado Reus 2012, U.T.E. Marsh - Salvado Vila-Seca 2010, UAD BB Marsh Lietuva, Vezina & Associes Inc., Vezina Assurances Inc., Victor Insurance Europe B.V., Victor Insurance Holdings Inc., Victor Insurance Italia S.r.l., Victor Insurance Managers Inc., Victor Insurance Managers Inc./Gestionnaires d'assurance Victor inc., Victor O. Schinnerer & Co. (Bermuda) Ltd., Victor O. Schinnerer & Company Limited, Victoria Hall Company Limited, Wellnz Limited, William M. Mercer (Canada) Limited/William M. Mercer (Canada) Limitee, William M. Mercer AB, William M. Mercer Comercio Consultoria e Servicos Ltda., Wortham Insurance & Risk Management, everBe SAS, and realright GmbH.Vatican City (AsiaNews)  Along with reports that China and the Holy See have signed a provisional agreement on the appointment of bishops, the Holy See Press Office has released two important statements. In the first one, Pope Francis lifts the excommunication of seven official bishops, who had been ordained without a pontifical mandate. The second says that the Vatican has decided to create the Diocese of Chengde out of territory taken from other dioceses (in particular Jehol/Jinzhou and Chifeng). This will allow Mgr Guo Jincai, who is back in the ecclesial communion, to have a diocese in his own right, without sharing it with other bishops.

Earlier this year, the Vatican had asked the legitimate bishops of Shantou and Mindong, Mgr Peter Zhuang Jianjian and Mgr Joseph Guo Xijin respectively, to step aside in favour of Mgr Joseph Huang Bingzhang and Vincent Zhan Silu, who are now reconciled with the Pope. At present it is not clear if this will happen.

Excommunications lifted

With a view to sustaining the proclamation of the Gospel in China, the Holy Father, Pope Francis, has decided to readmit to full ecclesial communion the remaining official Bishops, ordained without Pontifical Mandate: H.E. Mgr Joseph Guo Jincai, H.E. Mgr Joseph Huang Bingzhang, H.E. Mgr Paul Lei Shiyin, H.E. Mgr Joseph Liu Xinhong, H.E. Mgr Joseph Ma Yinglin, H.E. Mgr Joseph Yue Fusheng, H.E. Mgr Vincent Zhan Silu and H.E. Mgr Anthony Tu Shihua, OFM (who, before his death on 4 January 2017, had expressed the desire to be reconciled with the Apostolic See).

Pope Francis hopes that, with these decisions, a new process may begin that will allow the wounds of the past to be overcome, leading to the full communion of all Chinese Catholics.

The Catholic Community in China is called to live more brotherly collaboration in order to promote with renewed commitment the proclamation of the Gospel. Indeed, the Church exists to bear witness to Jesus Christ and to the forgiving and salvific love of the Father.

The new Diocese of Chengde

Eager to promote the pastoral care of the Lord's flock and to more effectively look after their spiritual good, the Supreme Pontiff Francis decided to establish in mainland China the Diocese of Chengde, suffragan of Beijing, with episcopal see in the cathedral church of Jesus the Good Shepherd, located in the Administrative Division of Shuangluan, in the city of Chengde.

A significant part of the territory of the new diocese historically belonged to the Apostolic Vicariate of Eastern Mongolia, which was set up on 21 December 1883, and erected as the Diocese of Jehol/Jinzhou in the Bull Quotidie Nos of by Pope Pius XII on 11 April 1946.

The new ecclesiastical district is located in Hebei province. Its territory is defined by the municipal boundaries of the city of Chengde and includes eight rural districts (Chengde, Xinglong, Pingquan, Luanping, Longhua, Fengning, Kuancheng and Weichang) and three administrative divisions (Shuangqiao, Shuangluan and Yingshouyingzikuang).

As a result of this, the ecclesiastical boundaries of the Dioceses of Jehol/Jinzhou and Chifeng are being modified, so that a portion of the territory of each now becomes part of the new Diocese of Chengde.

The latter covers an area of 39,519 km2 with a population of about 3.7 million people, including, according to recent estimates, some 25,000 Catholics divided in 12 parishes and served by seven priests, a dozen women religious and some seminarians.According to Deputy Minister of Defence Nguyen Chi Vinh, Vietnam is ready to take part in the UN Peacekeeping Operations. It is the first time Vietnam deploys a military unit to a foreign country for UN peacekeeping operations.



Vietnamese medical officers have participated in training programs following UN standards of training for peacekeeping missions. So far, the preparation has basically been completed.

The preparation of the second level-2 field hospital has been also kicked off to replace the first field hospital in 2019.

Deputy Minister of Defence Nguyen Chi Vinh is answering media questions. Deputy Minister of Defence Nguyen Chi Vinh is answering media questions.

By MAI AN - Translated by Kim KhanhTEHRAN, Iran (AP)  Militants disguised as soldiers opened fire Saturday on an annual Iranian military parade in the country's oil-rich southwest, killing at least 25 people and wounding over 60 in the deadliest terror attack to strike the country in nearly a decade.

Women and children scattered along with once-marching Revolutionary Guard soldiers as heavy gunfire rang out at the parade in Ahvaz, the chaos captured live on state television.

The region's Arab separatists, once only known for nighttime attacks on unguarded oil pipelines, claimed responsibility for the brazen assault.

Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif blamed regional countries and their "U.S. masters" for funding and arming the separatists, issuing a stark warning as regional tensions remain high in the wake of the U.S. withdraw from the Iranian nuclear deal.

"Iran will respond swiftly and decisively in defense of Iranian lives," Zarif wrote on Twitter.

The attack came as rows of Revolutionary Guardsmen marched down Ahvaz's Quds, or Jerusalem, Boulevard. It was one of many around the country marking the start of Iran's long 1980s war with Iraq, commemorations known as the "Sacred Defense Week."

Journalists and onlookers turned to look toward the first shots, then the rows of marchers broke as soldiers and civilians sought cover under sustained gunfire. Iranian soldiers used their bodies at time to shield civilians in the melee, with one Guardsman in full dress uniform and sash carrying away a bloodied boy.

"Oh God! Go go go! Lie down! Lie down!" one man screamed as a woman fled with her baby.

In the aftermath, paramedics tended to the wounded as soldiers, some bloodied, helped their comrades to ambulances. Video obtained by The Associated Press of the aftermath showed bodies of soldiers, some appearing lifeless, laying on the ground in pools of blood. One had a blanket covering him. A man screamed in grief.

The attack killed at least 25 people and wounded over 60, according to the state-run IRNA news agency. It said gunmen wore military uniforms and targeted a riser where military and police commanders were sitting. At least eight of the dead served in the Revolutionary Guard, an elite paramilitary unit that answers only to Iran's supreme leader, according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency.

"We suddenly realized that some armed people wearing fake military outfits started attacking the comrades from behind (the stage) and then opened fire on women and children," an unnamed wounded soldier told state TV. "They were just aimlessly shooting around and did not have a specific target."

State TV hours later reported that all four gunmen had been killed, with three dying during the attack and one later succumbing to his wounds at a hospital.

President Hassan Rouhani ordered Iran's Intelligence Ministry to immediately investigate the attack.

"The president stressed that the response of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the slightest threat would be harsh, but those who support the terrorists should be accountable," IRNA reported.

Meanwhile, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei described the attack as exposing "the atrocity and viciousness of the enemies of the Iranian nation."

"Their crime is a continuation of the conspiracies by the U.S.-backed regimes in the region which have aimed at creating insecurity in our dear country," Khamenei said in a statement. "However, to their dismay, the Iranian nation will persist on the noble and prideful path they have taken and will  like before  overcome all animosities."

Initially, authorities described the assailants as "takfiri gunmen," a term previously used to describe the Islamic State group. Iran has been deeply involved in the fight against IS in Iraq and has aided embattled Syrian President Bashar Assad in his country's long war.

But later, state media and government officials seemed to come to the consensus that Arab separatists in the region were responsible. The separatists accuse Iran's Persian-dominated government of discriminating against its ethnic Arab minority, though an Ahvazi Arab, Gen. Ali Shamkhani, serves as the secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council.

Khuzestan province also has seen recent protests over Iran's nationwide drought, as well as economic protests.

Iran has blamed its Mideast archrival, the Sunni kingdom of Saudi Arabia, for funding Arab separatists' activity. State media in Saudi Arabia did not immediately acknowledge the attack, though a Saudi-linked, Farsi-language satellite channel based in the United Kingdom immediately carried an interview with an Ahvazi activist claiming Saturday's attack.

Hamid Baeidinejad, Iran's ambassador to the U.K., called the channel's decision a "heinous act" in a post on Twitter and said his country would file a complaint with British authorities over the broadcast.

Yacoub Hor al-Tostari, a spokesman for the Arab Struggle Movement to Liberate Ahvaz, later told the AP that members of an umbrella group of Ahvazi activists his organization leads carried out the attack.

The attack undermined the Iranian government "on the day it wants to give a message to the world that it is powerful and in control," al-Tostari said. To bolster his claim, he gave details about one of the attackers that the AP could not immediately verify.

The Islamic State group also claimed responsibility for the attack in a message on its Amaaq news agency, but provided no evidence it carried out the assault. They also initially wrongly said the Ahvaz attack targeted Rouhani, who was in Tehran. The militants have made a string of false claims in the wake of major defeats in Iraq and Syria.

In Tehran, Rouhani watched a military parade that included ballistic missiles capable of reaching Israel and U.S. military bases in the Mideast. Rouhani said the U.S. withdraw from the nuclear deal was an attempt to get Iran to give up its military arsenal. United Nations inspectors say Iran is still complying with the deal, which saw it limit its nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions.

"Iran neither put its defensive arms aside nor lessens its defensive capabilities," Rouhani said. "Iran will add to its defensive power day by day."

Meanwhile, Iranian Gen. Abolfazl Shekarchi, a spokesman for the armed forces, alleged without evidence that the four militants involved in Saturday's attack "were dependent to the intelligence services of the U.S. and the Mossad" of Israel.

"They have been trained and organized in two Persian Gulf countries," he said, without elaborating.

Saturday's attack comes after a coordinated June 7, 2017 Islamic State group assault on parliament and the shrine of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution. At least 18 people were killed and more than 50 wounded.

That assault shocked Tehran, which largely has avoided militant attacks in the decades after the tumult surrounding the revolution.

In the last decade, mass-casualty militant attacks have been incredibly rare. In 2009, more than 40 people, including six Guard commanders, were killed in a suicide attack by Sunni extremists in Iran's Sistan and Baluchistan province.The Copernicus Sentinel-2A satellite takes us over the largest island of the Azores: Sao Miguel.

Resting at the intersection of the Eurasian, African and North American tectonic plates, the Azores form a string of volcanic islands in the North Atlantic Ocean, some 1500 km west of mainland Portugal. The nine major islands are divided into three groups, with Sao Miguel falling into the eastern group.

The archipelago is an autonomous region of Portugal and home to just under 250 000 people. We can see the capital of the region, Ponta Delgada, in the bottom left of the image. The main transport hub of the Azores, Joao Paulo II de Ponta Delgada International Airport, is clearly visible in the same part of the image. Tourism is an important industry for the islands, with visitors flocking to enjoy the unspoilt beaches and breathtaking landscapes, from the geysers of Sao Miguel to the natural waterfalls of Flores.

Known locally as the Green Island, Sao Miguel is the most populous of the islands and amidst the lush foliage, volcanic craters, and freshwater lakes, visitors are spoilt for choice when it comes to visual attractions.

The largest freshwater lake in the Azores, Lagoa das Sete Cidades, can be seen in the top left of the image. It lies in a large volcanic crater and consists of two lakes: Lagoa Azul and Lagoa Verde. On the right of the image we can see Furnas Lake, in the Furnas Valley, famous for its volcanic cones. The volcanic landscape of the island has even influenced local cooking methods. Cozido das Furnas, a stew-type dish, is prepared by lowering a pot filled with meat and vegetables into the hot springs dotted around the valley, and leaving it to cook for around five hours.

The Azores islands are rich in terms of flora and fauna, and are home to a large number of resident and migratory bird populations. Efforts are being made to restore and expand the laurel forests typical of the Macaronesian islands (an area covering the archipelagos of Madeira, Azores, Canary Islands and Cape Verde) as only around 2% of the native laurel forest remains on the islands.

ESA, in collaboration with the French Space Agency, CNES, is organising a symposium on 25 years of progress in radar altimetry, which will be held in Ponta Delgada from 24-29 September. With global sea-level rise a global concern, the symposium will focus on the advances made in our understanding of the open ocean, the cryosphere, and coastal and land processes. The annual meeting of the Ocean Surface Topography Science Team and the International DORIS Service Workshop will also be held in the same week.

This image, which was captured on 8 September 2016, is also featured on the Earth from Space video programme.

- Download the full high-resolution image.

Please follow SpaceRef on Twitter and Like us on Facebook.Find your happy place with the beautiful sunflowers on Yankee Street in Centerville. ** Not in bloom 2019 **

The Sunflower Field in Centerville is now in bloom

Photos by Dan Feldkamp

It's time to grab your phones and head over to the sunflower field on Yankee Street in Centerville! The field, planted each year by Yankee Street Market as a gift to the community, is now in bloom, but hurry, these enchanting natural beauties only last for a short time.

The field is located between Yankee Street Market and Holes Creek Park, where you'll find limited parking.

Also see: The Sunflower Field in Yellow Springs.The Expedition 56 crew members started the work week exploring a variety of life science and ensuring the upkeep of advanced space research gear. U.S. spacesuits were also being looked at today ahead of a series of planned spacewalks.

All space station crew members exercise daily to maintain their health while living in space. Today, Flight Engineer Ricky Arnold strapped himself into an exercise bike and wore sensors to measure aerobic capacity, or how much physical exertion an astronaut can sustain in space. This helps doctors understand the fitness requirements necessary to successfully conduct spacewalks or respond to emergencies in the weightless environment of space.

Arnold then switched roles from subject to scientist as he extracted DNA from microbe samples swabbed from inside the International Space Station. The DNA undergoes further sample preparation and is sequenced using the Biomolecule Sequencer and Genes in Space hardware onboard the station. The research is helping scientists understand how life adapts to microgravity providing insights to improve crew health.

Commander Drew Feustel and Flight Engineer Serena Aunon-Chancellor, both from NASA, worked on a variety of science gear Monday. Aunon-Chancellor restocked the Human Research Facility-2 with medical supplies and Feustel reconfigured a rack in the Kibo laboratory module for the new Life Sciences Glovebox.

The duo then joined astronaut Alexander Gerst of ESA (European Space Agency) for spacesuit checks during the afternoon. The three astronauts verified the functionality of the suit jetpacks, ensured the correct sizing of the suits and cleaned the Quest airlock where U.S. spacewalks are staged. These suits will be used on a series of future spacewalks to upgrade batteries on the space station's truss structure.

On-Orbit Status Report

Microbial Tracking-2: Today a crewmember collected saliva samples for the Microbial Tracking-2 investigation and placed them inside a Minus Eighty Degree Celsius Laboratory Freezer for ISS (MELFI). MT-2 monitors the different types of microbes that are present on ISS over a 1-year period. After the samples return to Earth, a molecular analysis of the RNA and DNA is conducted to identify the specific microbes that are present on ISS in order to understand the microbial flora diversity on the ISS and how it changes over time.

Biomolecule Extraction and Sequencing Technology (BEST): Today Best experiment operations was performed to initiate DNA sequencing from samples collected today. The BEST investigation studies the use of sequencing for identification of unknown microbial organisms living on the ISS, and how humans, plants and microbes adapt to living on the ISS.

Atomization: The crew replaced the sample syringe and water trap for the Atomization investigation, allowing the ground team to initiate and complete an experiment run. The Atomization experiment investigates the disintegration processes of a low-speed water jet for various jet issue conditions in the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM) to validate the new atomization concept by observing the process using a high-speed camera. The knowledge gained can be applied to improve various engines utilizing spray combustion.

On-Orbit Fit Verification (OFV): Today the crew completed an OFV in support of the upcoming H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV)-7 Battery Remove and Replace (R&R) ExtraVehicular Activity (EVAs). During the OFV, the crew took body measurements and resized their Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) to ensure proper fit. Each EMU contains exchangeable components allowing each astronaut to adjust EMU fit to their individual preference.

ExtraVehicular Activity (EVA) Preparations: In preparation for the upcoming H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV)-7 Battery Remove and Replace (R&R) EVAs, the crew completed a plethora of Road-To-EVA task. In addition to initiating a Metal Oxide (MetOx) Canister regeneration cycle, they prepared the Equipment Lock for EVA and completed a checkout of the Simplified Aids for EVA Rescue (SAFERs).

Zero-G Stowage Rack (ZSR) Reconfiguration: H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV)-7 will bring the new Life Sciences Glovebox (LSG) to ISS. To make room for this new hardware, the crew configured a ZSR in the Japanese Experimental Module (JEM) today by removing the insert that provides the doors and inside shelf structure. They also re-configured the lateral struts and installed extensions onto the ZSR seat track so LSG can be correctly positioned once installed.

Public Affairs Office (PAO) Educational Event: Today Ricky Arnold participated in a live downlink with the Liberty County School District (LCSD) in Hinesville, Georgia. LCSD is located in an impoverished area and today's event provided students with an opportunity to see beyond their circumstances and look to the potential they have in the future.

Compressor-M Remove and Replace (R&R): There have been multiple issues recently with the Compressor-M during Urine Processing Assembly (UPA) Recycle Tank Drain and Wastewater Storage Tank Assembly (WSTA) Fill activities. Since this unit worked well past its expected lifetime, the crew R&Rd the unit today with the Compressor-N spare. A checkout of the Compressor was completed during a WSTA Fill session and the unit performed nominally.

Completed Task List Activities:

WHC KTO Replace [Completed GMT 258]

Ground Activities:

All activities are complete unless otherwise noted.

Metox Regeneration Support

Two-Day Look Ahead:

Tuesday, 09/18:

Payloads

NASA/BCAT Camera Activity

NASA/Plant Habitat water refill

NASA/BEST sample stow, retrieve and experiment ops

NASA/CIR Hardware gather and bottle replace

NASA/VEGGIE firmware upgrade

NASA/FIR-LMM Hardware CTB audit

ESA/Pulmonary Function System PAM Removal

ESA/Fluid Science Laboratory (FSL) spare relocate and fastener photo

NASA/MSL gas bottle supply exchange

Systems

Tool Box Audit

EHDC Latch Adjust

QD Cap/Plug Audit

EVA H Bolt Clean Review

PAO Event

SSRMS Ops: LEE checkout and joint diagnostics

Wednesday, 09/19:

Payloads

NASA/Rodent Research Habitat Stow

NASA/Team Task Survey

NASA/Food Acceptability

NASA/CIR-ACME hardware replace

NASA/Zero-G Battery test

JAXA/ATOMIZATION syringe Replace 2

JAXA/ELF Cartridge install

ESA/Metabolic Space donning

Systems

WHC Closeout Panel Inspection

Today's Planned Activities:

All activities are complete unless otherwise noted.

Microbial Tracking-2 Saliva Collection

SPLANH. Preparation and Initiation of EGEG Recording

Microbial Tracking-2 Sample MELFI Retrieval Insert

Extravehicular Activity (EVA) Reminder for On-Orbit Fitcheck Verification (OFV)

Max Cycle Ergometer w/ Vibration Isolation & Stabilization (CEVIS) Portable PFS Partial Set Up

Microbial Tracking-2 Saliva Stow

Max Cycle Ergometer w/Vibration Isolation & Stabilization (CEVIS) Portable PFS Power Up

Biomolecule Extraction and Sequencing Technology (BEST) Hardware Gather

Compressor-M Removal

VIRUS DEFINITION FILE UPDATE ON AUXILIARY COMPUTER SYSTEM LAPTOPS

XF305 Camcorder Setup

Regeneration of Micropurification Unit () 1 Absorption Cartridge (begin)

Atomization syringe replacement 2

Biomolecule Extraction and Sequencing Technology (BEST) MWA Preparation

DAN Experiment Ops.

DAN Assistance during science ops run

Max Cycle Ergometer w/Vibration Isolation & Stabilization (CEVIS) Portable PFS Subject

Compressor-N Installation

Wastewater Storage Tank Assembly (WSTA) Fill

HRF Rack 2 Supply Kit Resupply

SPLANH. Termination of EGEG recording and concluding ops

Crew Departure Preparations for Return to Earth

EPO Gerst Flying Classroom 2 - Bouncing in a Tube Recording

Vacuum cleaning ventilation grille on FGB interior panels (201, 301, 401)

Max Cycle Ergometer w/Vibration Isolation & Stabilization (CEVIS) Portable PFS Partial Stow

Simplified Aid For EVA Rescue (SAFER) Checkout

ISS HAM Service Module Pass

-1 Sensors positioning check

RESPONSE Hardware status check

Biomolecule Extraction and Sequencing Technology (BEST) MELFI Sample Retrieve

Biomolecule Extraction and Sequencing Technology (BEST) Experiment 1

Extravehicular Activity (EVA) Equipment Lock Preparation Part 1

Reconnecting SM KURS-P Cables from MRM2 Port Antenna Feeder to DC1 Port Antenna Feeder and photography of the mating place

Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) On-orbit Fitcheck Verification Measurements

Still photo shooting of 228 thermic sensors mockups, which are installed on the external surface of MRM2

SM Ventilation Subsystem Preventive Maintenance. B2 Group

Reorient Node 3 PBA CTB 4199 in Node 3 Port Endcone

Biomolecule Extraction and Sequencing Technology (BEST) MELFI Sample Retrieve and Insert

LSG ZSR Reconfiguration

Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) On-orbit Fitcheck Verification

 maintenance

Atmosphere Revitalization System (ARS) Amine Swingbed (ASB) Exhaust Duct locate and reinstall

JPM1F5 Soft Dummy Panel Install

INSPECTING AND CLEANING NIKON CAMERA DIGITAL IMAGE SENSORS

Delta file prep

Metal Oxide (METOX) Regeneration Initiation

On-Orbit Hearing Assessment (O-OHA) with EarQ Software Setup and Test

Max Cycle Ergometer w/Vibration Isolation & Stabilization (CEVIS) Portable PFS Conclude

Public Affairs Office (PAO) High Definition (HD) Config LAB Setup

PAO Preparation

International Procedure Viewer Tablet Questionnaire

Public Affairs Office (PAO) Event in High Definition (HD) - Lab

Exercise Data Downlink via OCA  r/g 0130

Biomolecule Extraction and Sequencing Technology (BEST) Experiment 1 Sample Stop

Please follow SpaceRef on Twitter and Like us on Facebook.The NDA/BJP Govern- ment after 52 months of flip-flops, U-turns, somersaults, black-flips and front rolls once again announced that the Foreign Ministers of India and Pakistan will meet on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in the ensuing week, only to cancel the talks 24 hours later. The jury is still out whether this is a back flip or a front roll. Indias Pakistan policy over the past four and a half years is a textbook case of how not to conduct foreign policy.

Nothing would have come out of the meeting in any case except for an anodyne photo-op and another round of mutual recriminations if not a full-fledged bout of verbal Kabbadi between the two Foreign Ministers aimed at their respective domestic audiences.

What is surprising though is that the Ministry of External Affairs chose to make the announcement on a day when a Border Action Team (BAT) of the Pakistani army killed a BSF Jawan Narendra Kumar in the most depraved manner. It was followed up the next day with the killing of three policemen in Kashmir post their abduction. It is obvious that there is some external pressure at work to try and legitimise the new government in Pakistan under the stewardship of Imran Khan.

The new PTI-led coalition government consists of time-worn and skilled actors in the form and shape of Shah Mehmood Qureshi as the new Foreign Minister who is imprinted onto the combined psyche of the Indian people as the face of Pakistan, ensconced on Indian soil just as the bloodiest terrorist carnage 26/11 was being executed by Pakistan-based and supported semi-state actors in Mumbai. The assault left 166 people dead and over 600 wounded. It also has in its ranks Dr Shireen Mazari, known for her hawkish views and writings on nuclear and other issues qua India. The new Defence Minister of Pakistan is Pervaiz Khattak. As the former Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa he was known for his moderate views on the Taliban and publicly called for a dialogue with the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (PTI). Not the most inspiring cast of characters from the Indian perspective.

Like any new government in Pakistan, the coalition government led by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) made the ritualistic overture of improving relations with India. On August 26, 2018, Imran Khan tweeted, To move forward Pakistan and India must dialogue and resolve their conflicts incl Kashmir: The best way to alleviate poverty and uplift the people of the subcontinent is to resolve our differences through dialogue and start trading.

Referring to the Indian leadership in a press conference, he declared, If they take one step towards us, we will take two, but at least we need a start. He, however, quickly added the Kashmir caveat by stating, Kashmiris are suffering for long. We have to solve Kashmir issue by sitting across the table. If Indias leadership is willing, then the both of us can solve this issue through dialogue. It will be good for the subcontinent also. He further stated I am one of those Pakistanis that wants good relations with India, if we want to have a poverty-free subcontinent then we must have good relations and trade ties,... This blame game that whatever goes wrong in Pakistans Balochistan is because of India and vice versa brings us back to square one.

Echoing the long held, multi-partisan establishment view in India, a former Foreign Secretary commented, Khan is equating longstanding Pakistani support for terrorism against India with Pakistans concocted narrative about Indias activities in Balochistan. His effort to evade responsibility on terrorism and making the issue reciprocal needs proper understanding: Pakistan wants parity with India even on culpability for terrorism.

Does not sound a very optimistic start even by our mutually sanctimonious first month platitudinal standards? Havent we gone through the same cycle, repeatedly, in the past seventy years and especially so after Zia-ul-Haq deposed and then executed Prime Minister Zulifkar Ali Bhutto in the late seventies? The starting point of any future tryst should be to first ask ourselves with all the candour that we can muster some fundamental questions Why does the dialogue process get shipwrecked repeatedly on the rocky shoals of the Indo-Pak zero sum paradigm? The answer is simple both India and Pakistan drink from the poisoned chalice of a corrosive and toxic narrative between the two countries. Unless that does not change, nothing will succeed.

What is the story of India and Pakistan? A bloodstained Partition that left 5,00,000 people dead and 15 million uprooted on both sides of the Radcliffe line. For those who survived those traumatic times it was not Batwara (the Hindi term for Partition) but Ujara (the Punjabi term for devastation). Independence for India and Pakistan also translated into rape, loot, plunder, destitution and trauma for the majority of its people especially in Punjab and Bengal, the two states that bore the brunt of Radcliffes calligraphy.

It is also the fable of four wars 1947 over Kashmir, 1965 again over Kashmir, 1971 over East Pakistan now Bangladesh and finally Kargil in 1999 again over Kashmir. It is the tale of cross-border terrorism into India, sponsored by Pakistans deep state using semi-state actors. From the Pakistani perspective, it is alleged Indian interference in Balochistan and encirclement of Pakistan, through an enhanced presence in Afghanistan.

Do you see even a shred of positivity in this parable between two nuclear-armed neighbours where the missile flying time is barely minutes? A sub-continent whose most enduring policy pre-occupation in the words of Shireen Mazari should be If India seeks to opt for an even-spread amongst its nuclear triad of forces, then Pakistan needs to have an edge on land-based developments in terms of numbers. How then can you even think of making peace in such a situation?

There is a silver lining on this otherwise very dark cloud. The starting point has to be the creation of a new narrative between the two countries. A narrative that can shed the bitterness of the past seventy years, and focus on mutually shared syncretism stretching back into millennia. For seventy years is not even an innocuous footnote in history. Before 1947 never did the Indus River Water Basin and the Ganga River Water system lie in two different Westphalian entities. There was cultural contiguity between the Ganga-Jamuni Tehzeeb and the syncretic impulses of the Indus civilisation in terms of the transmigration of shared culinary, musical, artistic and even marital experiences. The continuing fusion between these two regions created a unique shared identity that got disrupted by Partition in 1947. The challenge therefore is to rekindle the essence and spirit of this shared past without disturbing the Westphalian status quo.

That is where Civil Society in both countries must kick in. What we require is not an Aman Ki Asha that was trashed into Aman Ki Ashes by hysterical and profane Television anchors on both sides but an echo system that can emphasize the centuries-old undulating interaction between the Ganga and the Indus. A template that does not see a contradiction between Bhartyiata and Pakistaniyat but a continuing co-existence.

If such an enabling narrative is created by sane, sensible, progressive and forward-looking people and organisations, on both sides, it would allow politicians and policy makers to try and resolve, in an enabling rather than a contentious environment, the entire basket of seemingly intractable issues that are subsumed under the overarching rubric called the Composite Dialogue Process between the two countries albeit renamed many times thereafter.

The Indo-Pakistan gridlock holds the destiny of two billion people to ransom in South Asia. It remains the least connected region in the world with some of the worlds most deplorable human development indices.

If the potential of this region has to be unlocked, borders across South Asia have to be made irrelevant. A new dynamic stretching all the way from the borders of Myanmar with Thailand to the Afghan-Iranian border has to be created. It is doable only if the India- Pakistan poisoned chalice is detoxed.

(Manish Tewari is a senior Supreme Court lawyer, former Union Information and Broadcasting Minister, Distinguished Senior Fellow with the Washington based think tank Atlantic Council. The views are personal).ICICI Bank made a slew of submissions to Sebi during a public consultation process for overhauling its settlement rules, but the regulator did not see merit in most of the suggestions, officials said.

New Delhi: ICICI Bank made a slew of submissions to Sebi during a public consultation process for overhauling its settlement rules, but the regulator did not see merit in most of the suggestions, officials said.

The suggestions made by the private sector major, which last week clarified it has not filed any settlement plea as such with Sebi, covered issues ranging from timelines to limitation clause to applicable payments.

The clarification followed some media reports wrongly quoting Sebi's top officials as saying that ICICI Bank has filed a settlement plea with regard to an ongoing probe into alleged violations by the bank and its on-leave CEO Chanda Kochhar.

An ICICI Bank spokesperson did not reply to a detailed set of queries regarding its submissions in the consultation process. However, sources familiar with the matter said the bank has been making its submissions for all major draft rules across sectors for years as a responsible institution and it has a robust history of participating in public consultation processes.

One key submission by ICICI Bank in Sebi's consultation process included applicants being allowed to seek settlement with a declaration that they "deny" the charges, as against the proposed clause of seeking to settle either by "admitting" or "without admitting or denying".

Sebi felt any settlement with denial will adversely impact proceedings against other co-accused and it has been rejecting settlement pleas while 'denying' the charges since beginning of the consent mechanism. The rules are similar in the US where applicants can settle a case "without admitting or denying".

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) had initiated the consultation process last month on recommendations made by a high-level committee and public comments were sought till September 1. Subsequently, Sebi last week presented a detailed proposal to its board, which approved the new guidelines to be notified soon.

According to officials, the board was presented a detailed note on all submissions, along with Sebi's comments. These included submissions by ICICI Bank, a legal officer of state-run Allahabad Bank and two individuals. One individual apparently submitted that draft rules were framed to benefit Reliance Industries, which Sebi "denied at the outset as false and baseless allegations", as per the documents presented by the regulator before its board.

On most submissions of ICICI Bank, Sebi's view was they "may not be considered", but it made some "drafting changes" and corrected a few "typographical errors" flagged to it. ICICI Bank and another participant suggested that new regulations should specify recommendatory timelines for completion of various stages of the settlement process.

Sebi said an earlier provision of a 6-month timeline was found impracticable and was therefore removed. However, Sebi agreed to issue internal directions requiring expeditious disposal. A key proposed clause referred to applicants being required to make "full and true disclosures" for alleged defaults.

ICICI Bank suggested such a disclosure should be required only if the applicant decides to "admit" the charges, and the applicant should not be asked for voluntary disclosure. The bank suggested the settlement should be on the basis of the information found by Sebi on its own. Sebi, however, said settlement requires full disclosure to decide extent of the violation and non-disclosure of facts would be considered "fraudulent conduct".

On settlement amount getting hiked by 25 per cent for pleas filed after expiry of the mandated 60-day period but within the maximum permissible 120 days of the notice, ICICI Bank suggested levying a simple interest of applicable bank rate for the exact number of days.

However, Sebi favoured a one-time increase of 25 per cent. ICICI Bank also suggested omitting a clause rejecting applications filed after 120-day limitation period or after fixing of oral hearing in a probe, but Sebi rejected it citing the need for avoiding unnecessary delays and for timely resolution of proceedings. The bank also favoured that a fresh application can be considered in "exceptional circumstances" even if an earlier plea in same case had been rejected.

Sebi, however, said the expert committee felt belated applications should be rejected to avoid "forum shopping" at various stages. A key component of the new norms is outright rejection of settlement for alleged defaults having market-wide impact, causing losses to a large number of investors, or affecting integrity of the market.

ICICI Bank had suggested to "omit" this clause, which Sebi felt was necessary in the interest of investors. The bank also suggested that in the event of a settlement order being passed, Sebi should not institute any criminal proceedings against the applicant in relation to the same alleged default.

Sebi said it does not do so as such. On disgorgement of ill-gotten profits made or losses avoided by the applicant being made part of settlement terms, ICICI Bank suggested it should be applicable only in cases of the applicant admitting to the charges. However, Sebi said disgorgement is not dependent on actual admission and a person cannot be allowed to profit from a default.

Sebi also did not find merit in suggestions that information provided by a whistleblower or an approver should not be used in case of incomplete information or refusal to cooperate. In case of applicant being a corporate, a clause referred to Sebi requiring the settlement amount to be paid by officers in default, including persons in charge of the corporate, to avoid burdening investors.

Sebi rejected the suggestion for omitting this clause and said it can ask directors to pay the amount if a fraud is committed against the company and its shareholders using the corporate device. "Penalising the company in such instances will amount to making shareholders suffer twice," the regulator felt.The government is working on a proposal to launch a 'health television channel' with a view to promoting health and nutrition on a mission mode, making it a people's movement, Niti Aayog member V K Paul said.

New Delhi: The government is working on a proposal to launch a 'health television channel' with a view to promoting health and nutrition on a mission mode, making it a people's movement, Niti Aayog member V K Paul said.

The health TV channel, which is under active consideration of the government, will supplement the ambitious healthcare scheme Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY), earlier named as Ayushman Bharat.

"It is (health television channel) under active consideration. It will be exclusively dedicated to health and nutrition and it is a good idea. "It will help in spreading the message of healthcare, create a Jan Andolan (people movement) around these very important issues," Paul told PTI.

The Niti Aayog member is also the chief architect of the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY). The exploratory work to launch the health TV channel is currently on, he said, adding," it should have a good creativity, good technology, good platform and should be sustainable."

The government's plan to launch the health television channel assumes significance as 27 states and Union Territories are ready to join the ambitious healthcare scheme Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana after its launch on Sunday by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Over 15,000 hospitals, both public and private, across the country have expressed their willingness to be empanelled for the scheme which aims to provide 10.74-crore poor families health insurance.

The healthcare channel would be the second channel launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for niche subjects. Modi in May 2015 had launched DD Kisan, India's first television channel dedicated to farmers.Physics science and human research continues unabated aboard the International Space Station as NASA and its partners seek to understand the impacts of living in space.

Meanwhile, Japan announced a new launch date for its HTV-7 cargo mission to resupply the Expedition 56 crew.

Astronaut Alexander Gerst of ESA (European Space Agency) has been exploring for several weeks now whether a custom designed t-shirt can provide comfort and thermal efficiency during a space workout. He has also been testing a wearable device that measures cardio-pulmonary activity during exercise.

NASA astronauts Ricky Arnold and Serena Aunon-Chancellor worked on separate science gear today that enables research into flames, fuels and high temperatures in space. Arnold spent most of Wednesday replacing experiment hardware inside the Combustion Integrated Rack. Aunon-Chancellor removed samples from inside the Electrostatic Levitation Furnace to observe changes in their thermo-physical properties.

JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) announced early today that it will attempt to launch its HTV-7 resupply ship, also known as the Kounotori, Friday at 2:15 p.m. EDT to the station. The Kounotori is due to arrive at the station Tuesday loaded with over five tons of cargo, including new science experiments and science hardware.

Commander Drew Feustel and will be in the cupola Tuesday, with Aunon-Chancellor as his backup, to command the Canadarm2 robotic arm to capture the Kounotori at 8:05 a.m. The duo has been training for the Kounotori's arrival for several weeks practicing on a computer rendezvous procedures and robotics maneuvers. NASA TV will broadcast the Kounotori launch and capture activities live.

On-Orbit Status Report

Biochemical Profile: the crew completed Urine and Blood collections today. The Biochemical Profile investigation tests blood and urine samples obtained from astronauts before, during, and after spaceflight. Specific proteins and chemicals in the samples are used as biomarkers, or indicators of health. Post-flight analysis yields a database of samples and test results which scientists can use to study the effects of spaceflight on the body.

Advanced Combustion via Microgravity Experiments (ACME): The crew replaced the compensator module in the Combustion Integrated Rack (CIR) Hi Bit-depth Multi-Spectral (HiBMS) Imaging package today. This is in preparation for the upcoming ACME E-Field Flames investigation. The ACME experiment series being performed in the CIR includes five independent studies of gaseous flames. The primary goals of ACME are to improve fuel efficiency and reduce pollutant production in routine fuel combustion activities on Earth. Its secondary goal is to improve spacecraft fire prevention through innovative research focused on materials flammability.

Atomization: The crew replaced sample syringes for the Atomization investigation today. The Atomization experiment investigates the disintegration processes of a low-speed water jet for various jet issue conditions in the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM) to validate the new atomization concept by observing the process using a high-speed camera. The knowledge gained can be applied to improve various engines utilizing spray combustion.

Electro-static Levitation Furnace (ELF): Today the crew cleaned and exchanged sample cartridges to prepare for ground-commanded operations. ELF is an experimental facility designed to levitate, melt and solidify materials by containerless processing techniques using the electrostatic levitation method. With this facility thermophysical properties of high temperature melts can be measured and solidification from deeply undercooled melts can be achieved.

SpaceTex-2 and Metabolic Space: A crewmember donned instrumentation hardware during an exercise session. SpaceTex fabrics provide a higher rate of sweat evaporation and a corresponding higher evaporative heat loss compared to conventional cotton fabrics used by astronauts on the ISS. Metabolic Space provides a technology demonstration for a measurement system worn by astronauts that supports cardio-pulmonary diagnosis during physical activities of astronauts living onboard the ISS, while maintaining unrestricted mobility.

ESA Education Payload Operations (EPO): Crew performed an educational photo opportunity for the Crystallization of Charged Particles Experiment as part of the Flying Classroom 2 series. The activities related to this project are intended to encourage and strengthen the teaching of science curriculum, and through this, stimulate the curiosity of students and motivate them towards further study of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) subjects.

Waste and Hygiene Compartment (WHC) Closeout Panel and Fastener Survey: The crew have reported that several fasteners on WHC closeout panels have become unusable, mainly due to a failure of the D-ring handle. Engineering has determined that it could be possible to provide replacement fasteners for on-orbit replacement if certain aspects of the panels and the receiver socket are in adequate condition. To assess the condition of these panels, the crew inspected and photo-documented all WHC closeout panels, fastener, and fastener receiver sockets for analysis by engineering experts.

Instrumentation System (IWIS) Remote Sensing Unit (RSU) Antenna Replacement: Today the crew Removed and Replaced (R&R) a damaged IWIS antenna in the Russian Service Module (SM) and the Columbus module. Once complete with the R&R, the crew inspected the other seven RSUs on ISS and found damage to those in Node 1 and Node 3; those antennas were also replaced and photographs of the remaining antennas were taken for documentation purposes.

Completed Task List Activities:

None

Ground Activities:

All activities are complete unless otherwise noted.

JEM RMS SFA Stow [Ops start at 22:30 GMT]

Two-Day Look Ahead:

Thursday, 09/20: Reboost [TIG 263/18:06 GMT]

Payloads

ER2 IPEGH install (NASA)

Atomization (JAXA)

HRF Biomedical Profile Urine Blood Collections (NASA)

BCAT Battery changeout and Camera ops (NASA)

CIR HW return (NASA)

Team Task Survey (NASA)

BEST Sequencer Hardware stow (NASA)

EML GAS bottle He open/AR close (Joint)

JEMAL pressurization and leak check (JAXA)

Systems

EXT MDM Card Swap

ER2 iPEHG Install

N3 Smoke Detector relocate

Education Imagery Recording (Truss and Solar Arrays)

National Park Downlink Message

Thursday, 09/20:

Payloads

Metabolic-SpaceTex2 Ops (ESA)

ESA EPO Flying Classroom-2 (ESA)

Blood Collection (JAXA)

HRF Biomedical Profile Urine Blood Collections (NASA)

BEST Ops Review (NASA)

MSL Vacuum sensor R&R (NASA)

Systems

LAB Ethernet Switch Deploy

IVA Tool Bag Audit

Today's Planned Activities:

All activities are complete unless otherwise noted.

HRF Generic Urine Collection

HRF Generic Sample MELFI Insertion Operations

HRF Generic HRF Centrifuge Frozen Blood Collection

HRF Generic HRF Centrifuge Frozen Blood Collection Spin Conclude

Thermal insulation of Orlan-MKS No.5, equipment setup, R/G review.

HRF Generic Sample MELFI Insertion

COSMOCARD. Preparing for and Starting 24-hr ECG Recording

XF305 Camcorder Setup

Thermal insulation of Orlan-MKS No.5

Atomization syringe replacement 2

Combustion Integrated Rack Doors Open

Cleaning FGB Gas-Liquid Heat Exchanger () Detachable Screens 1, 2, 3

Combustion Integrated Rack Front End Cap Open

ACME Chamber Insert Configuration

DOSIS Main Box Mode Switching from Mode 1 to Mode 2 during a solar quiet period.

Metabolic Space equipment connection and calibration

Thermolab instrumentation for Spacetex-2

Thermal insulation of Orlan-MKS No.5, Closeout ops.

Demating TLM connector from -.

Metabolic Space instrumentation

Progress 439 (DC1) Rodnik H2O Tank 2 Shell Compression

Repairs of SM Interior Panel to Install overlay sheets, day 2 (panel 234).

HRF Generic Sample MELFI Retrieval And Insertion Operations

XF305 Camcorder Setup

Electrostatic Levitation Furnace(ELF) sample Cartridge Retrieval

CEVIS exercise session for MetabolicSpace and Spacetex-2 experiments

Electrostatic Levitation Furnace(ELF) sample Cartridge Cleaning

Metaspace hardware deinstrumentation and stowage

Thermolab de-instrumentation for Spacetex-2

EPO Gerst Flying Classroom 2 - Crystallization of Charged Particles Big Picture Words

Photo T/V (P/TV) Advanced Resistive Exercise Device (ARED) Exercise Video Setup

ACME Igniter Align Assistant

Orthostatic Stability Evaluation with LBNP.

Electrostatic Levitation Furnace(ELF) Sample Holder Exchange

Electrostatic Levitation Furnace(ELF) sample Cartridge Installation

Audio Answers to the Questions from the Michurin State Agrarian University

ACME Chamber Insert Configuration

Food Acceptability Questionnaire - Subject

HRF Generic Urine Collection Male

HRF Generic Sample MELFI Insertion Operations

IPEHG Installation Review

Crew Departure Preparations for Return to Earth

Advanced Resistive Exercise Device (ARED) Cylinder Flywheel Evacuation

EPO Gerst Flying Classroom 2 - Crystallization of Charged Particles Recording

Photo/TV Camcorder Setup Verification

Sampling condensate water [] upstream of -2 Gas-liquid mixture filter () to drink bags, end

Progress 439 (DC1) Cargo Transfers and IMS Ops

Combustion Integrated Rack Front End Cap Close

HDPCG Relocate

Cycle Ergometer w/Vibration Isolation & Stabilization (CEVIS) Isolator Inspection Follow Up.

Sampling condensate water [] upstream of -2  (Water Purification Column Unit) - configuration set up, installing sampler

Combustion Integrated Rack Doors Close

 maintenance

HRF Generic Sample MELFI Retrieval And Insertion Operations

Photo/TV Camcorder Setup Verification

R&R 2 IWIS RSU Antennas and Inspect the Other Antennas

PEHG Hardware Install

Collecting condensate water samples [] to [-2] , sampler replacement

Rodent Research Habitat Stow [Deferred]

EPO Flying Classroom Crystallization Photos

Waste and Hygiene Compartment Closeout Panel and Fastener Survey

Advanced Resistive Exercise Device (ARED) Exercise Video Stow

CONTENT. Experiment Ops

Regenerative Environmental Control and Life Support System (RGN) Wastewater Storage Tank Assembly (WSTA) Fill

Zero-G Battery Testing MWA Preparation

MERLIN Express Rack Temporary Removal

ASEPTIC. External inspection and photography of nutrient medium before the experiment

Zero-G Battery Testing

EXPRESS Rack 2 Locker Removal [Deferred]

In Flight Maintenance Node 3 Smoke Detector Gather

INTERACTION-2. Experiment Ops

EXPRESS Rack 2 Locker Removal

MELFI Icebrick Insertion

EPO Flying Classroom Crystallization Photos

Sampling condensate water [] to  [-2], removing sampler, equipment disassembly

Please follow SpaceRef on Twitter and Like us on Facebook.Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said he would inaugurate the first airport in Sikkim at Paykong on Monday and that it will improve connectivity, benefitting the people of the state.

Gangtok: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said he would inaugurate the first airport in Sikkim at Paykong on Monday and that it will improve connectivity, benefitting the people of the state.

The prime minister will leave for the Himalayan state after launching the Centre's flagship Ayushman Bharat-National Health Protection Mission (AB-NHPM) from Jharkhand capital Ranchi on Sunday.

"After the programme in Jharkhand I will leave for Sikkim. In Sikkim, I will be inaugurating the Pakyong Airport tomorrow, which will improve connectivity and benefit the people of Sikkim," Modi said on Twitter.

Sikkim's dream of having an airport will come true nine years after a foundation stone of the greenfield airport was laid, around 33 km from Gangtok, in 2009. The airport is spread over 201 acres and is located on top of a hill about two km above Pakyong village at 4,500 feet above sea level, Sikkim Chief Secretary A K Srivastava said.

The airport was constructed by the Airports Authority of India and at present, the nearest airport from Sikkim is located 124 km away in Bagdogra in West Bengal, he told PTI. The airport was constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 605 crore and is an "engineering marvel" for its soil reinforcement and slope stabilisation techniques keeping in view the altitude it was built at, Srivastava said.

Integrated structures comprising an ATC tower-cum-fire station, two sophisticated CFT, one terminal building for passengers, high-intensity runway lights, parking for over 50 vehicles are some of the features of the airport, the chief secretary said. The reinforcement wall of the project is 80-metre-high, one of the tallest in the world, Srivastava said. The Pakyong airport is located around 60 km from the Indo-China border.

The Indian Air Force (IAF) would be able to land various types of aircraft on the airport's runway with the construction of another 75-metre stretch adjacent to the main runway in the coming days, the chief secretary said. The airport has a 1.75 km runway with a width of 30 metre.

It has a 116-metre-long taxiway connecting it to an apron measuring 106 metre by 76 metre that can simultaneously accommodate two ATR-72 aircraft. The airport has 3,000 sq metre terminal building and has a capacity to handle 50 in-bound and as many out-bound passengers.

Pakyong Airport Director R Manjunatha said the land for the airport was carved from the mountain side using massive geo technical 'cut and fill' engineering works.

The first commercial flight from Pakyong would begin from October 4, he said. SpiceJet will operate 78-seater Bombardier Q400 flights to and fro Delhi, Kolkata and Guwahati everyday under the Civil Aviation Ministry's Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik (UDAN) scheme, Manjunatha said. UDAN aims at enhancing regional connectivity.

Manjunatha said initially the airport would only cater to domestic flights, but later it will also provide international flight services connecting Sikkim with other countries like Paro in Bhutan, Kathmandu in Nepal and Dhaka in Bangladesh. On March 5, IAF's Dornier-228 aircraft was tested from Pakyong, officials said. SpiceJet followed it by conducting test runs of the 78-seater Bombardier Q400 from Kolkata to Pakyong on March 10.

This led to security clearances for commercial operations, they said. The Sikkim Police has been entrusted with the security of the Pakyong airport, the officials said.Pooja Hegde is one of the busiest actresses in Tollywood these days. Not only does she have multiple projects on hand, but shes also jumping between many different cities. The actress recently participated in a photoshoot for her upcoming film with Prabhas before completing a schedule for the Jr NTR-starrer Aravinda Sametha in Hyderabad.

In between, she also did some work on the Mahesh Babu-starrer Maharshi, before flying to Jaisalmer to shoot for the Hindi film, Housefull. Now, shes all set to travel to Italy to continue shooting for Aravinda Sametha with director Trivikram Srinivas.

The makers are planning to shoot a song in Italy, so the team is flying out for that. The actress will leave for Italy from Delhi, while other members of the team will leave from Hyderabad, a source reveals.

Just listening to Poojas travel plans is enough to make us dizzy. We wonder how shes managing to juggle all that work!

HT05Cambodia is all about the sunrise at Angkor Wat temple and its the largest religious monument in the world, on a site. It was originally constructed as a Hindu temple dedicated to lord Vishnu for the Khmer Empire, gradually transforming into a Buddhist temple towards the end of the 12th century. This temple really takes you back in history.

The floating village at Tonle Sap is less commercial and I would recommend it before leaving Siem Reap to experience the lifestyle of the local Khmer people.

Cambodian cuisine is very similar to Thai and one must try the Amok curry and its rich flavours of galangal, fresh coconut milk and lemongrass. Do not forget their great condensed milk coffees and experience local restaurants which have been in existence post the civil war.

I would recommend you land in Siem Reap and catch a flight to the most beautiful island of Koh Rong via Sihanoukville Port. head out the big capital of Phnom Penh to experience a more diverse Cambodia and take the flight out.

Souvenirs are an important part of a holiday and I brought back magnets, essential oils, spices , home grown sticky rice and local beerBhopals Barkatullah University has found itself in the middle of controversy, all thanks to a new course. Plans are afoot to introduce an Adarsh Bahu certification course. As the name suggests, the proposed three-month-long course prepares girls to adjust to the new family after marriage.

According to Prof D.C. Gupta, this course is offered as part of women empowerment and the universitys responsibility towards society. Its ultimate aim seems to be to create brides who will keep families together. The course is expected to commence by next academic year in the departments of sociology, psychology and womens studies as a pilot project. The University plans to admit 30 girls in the first batch.

For many, this course is a hard pill to swallow. People have lashed out at the idea of exclusively training girls to run successful families.

Youngsters, parents and academicians across the country air their opinion on the Adarsh Bahu certification course.

Its blasphemy, Mahamaya Mojumder, homemaker

The concept of this course is absolute blasphemy. First of all, it is understandable that an individual may need some counselling before getting married because there is a tectonic shift in your lifestyle. But your parents are usually the best counsellors in such a scenario. They are the ones who understand what kind of support you will need, instead of some three-month bookish course to teach you life skills. Secondly, why is the course only for girls? Women are not the only ones who are a part of a marriage. It needs to be a symbiotic relationship between two individuals and how they adjust 'with' each other instead of 'for' one person in the relationship.

A primitive move, Saranya, service provider, Govt Snehitha Gender Help Desk

Do we really need a course to teach us how to be an ideal daughter-in-law? How can a piece of paper or a certificate rate us on how good we are? How do we define the concept of Adarsh Bahu? The move to make it a certificate course is itself one of the most absurd ideas that have popped up recently. Universities are apex academic institutions and this move is shocking. The university authorities claim their objective is positive and this is a part of women empowerment, but it is not. This course is a step back and towards the primitive.

Pressure to be perfect, Sonu Venu Gopal, YouTuber, feminist

Training before marriage has been happening for a long time. With this course, there will be a physical certificate that you can use to decorate the wall. Before you jump the gun, I am being sarcastic. I have two issues  the need for training and the training being gender specific. Marriage is a partnership, which means the boy and the girl are in it completely with all their senses intact (hopefully!). This course is a result of the societal pressure to be perfect and marriage is anything but perfect! The idea of a perfect marriage is to be happy and not perfect!

Good initiative, Sunmita Shinde Arun, school

Real education will allow a person to think intensively and critically. It will lay a strong foundation to build both character and intelligence. It has to be open for all and not limited. Moreover, it has to be constantly evolving and dynamic. The 'Adarsh Bahu' course is a good initiative by Barkatullah University. We must welcome more such initiatives for men also. A good and civil society can be built through such an enterprise. Kudos to the first biggest step.

Shared responsibility, Bhavya Soni, Management Professor

The proposed course by Barkatullah University, Bhopal, is a classic example of our stereotypical definition of daughters-in-law. These stereotypes are so engraved in our thought processes that they seem too obvious at times. The rationale of this course as stated is to stop families from breaking away. But the responsibility of keeping a family together is a shared one and everyone is 100 per cent responsible for it. Then why only Adarsh Bahu?

Reinforcing prejudices, Dhrupad Suri, Parent

The conceptualisation of such a senseless course only reinforces the age-old thought of women being the weaker sex. It also throws light on the preconceived notions of certain members of society who believe that only women are to be blamed for a failed marriage. If there really needs to be a course for 'Adarsh Bahu', they might as well have a course for 'Adarsh Pati' keeping in mind we have a pretty high domestic violence rate in India. As a father of a girl child, I can only say that if you really need to empower women, teach them to respect themselves. Teach them their rights and educate them so they can stand tall.

Life lessons needed for both, Gautam Sankar, analyst

It's hard to comment on this initiative without knowing the actual content or the exercises done as part of the course. But its worth pointing out that keeping the course exclusive to girls would immediately make the initiative sound as archaic as it could possibly be. Both genders could do well with a bit of life lessons to get them warmed-up for married life. This initiative is missing this basic point.According to reports, the politicians were returning from a function when they were shot at point-blank range by the Maoists. (Photo: ANI/Twitter)

Amaravati: In the first major strike in many years in Andhra Pradesh, the outlawed CPI (Maoists) Sunday shot dead a sitting MLA and a former MLA, both from the ruling TDP, in Araku area in Visakhapatnam district, police said.

The incident occurred at Lippitiputta village under Dambriguda mandal when Araku (ST) MLA Kidari Sarveswara Rao and former MLA Siveri Soma went to take part in a 'grama darsini' (village visit) programme, they said.

Sarveswara Rao won as the YSR Congress candidate in 2014, but he later defected to the TDP.

"A group of Maoists came along with the villagers and blocked the MLA's car. As the personal security officers of the legislator and the ex-legislator got down, they snatched the AK-47 rifles from them and shot Sarveswara Rao and Soma dead," Visakhapatnam Range Deputy Inspector General of Police Ch Srikanth told PTI.

He said the exact number of Maoists involved in the attack and the reasons for shooting down the legislator were being ascertained.

Police sources, however, suspect that a group of about 50-60 outlaws led by Maoists Andhra-Odisha Border Committee secretary Ramakrishna could be involved in the deadly attack.

They reportedly engaged the MLA in a conversation for some time before shooting him dead, the sources added.

As Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu is currently flying to New York, officials in the Chief Minister's Office spoke to Visakhapatnam district collector and superintendent of police seeking details of the incident, a CMO communique said.

Deputy Chief Minister (Home) N China Rajappa and DGP (in charge) Harish Kumar Gupta were rushing to the spot, it said.The signal that was tampered with by the dacoits.

Hyderabad: A gang of dacoits stopped the Yeshvantpur Express heading to the city from Bengaluru at Divitipally, about 100 km from Hyderabad, and grabbed valuables from passengers sleeping who were sleeping near open windows.

The incident occurred at 3.55 am. The dacoits pelted stones at the S2, S3 and S8 compartments and grabbed valuables from the passengers. They did not enter the train.

The train stopped in a dense forest. Within minutes, I felt my chain being pulled by someone, said a passenger sleeping in the middle berth. She raised an alarm only to see a man wearing a yellow tee-shirt fleeing with her chain.

It all happened suddenly. There were only these silhouettes which we could see at first as we were all in deep sleep. Before our eyes could adjust to the darkness, they were gone, said a woman passenger who suffered minor injuries to the neck when her chain was snatched.

Altogether, the gang stole 25 tolas of gold, Rs 10,000 and four mobiles phones from passengers. A railway police official said the gang comprised about 10 members. Police was suspecting it to be the handiwork of a Parthi gang from Solapur, Maharashtra.

At exactly 3.55 am, the train was stopped by the gang who tampered with the signal cables, said Mr Raghavender Goud of the Mahbubnagar railway police. He said the gang targeted passengers in the sleeper class who sleep with their windows open.

The train ticket examiner took down the details from the victims, who said the gang members were teenagers.

A complaint was lodged with the railway police at Kacheguda, the trains destination at about 6 am on Saturday. A case was booked under IPC Section 395 (dacoity), said a Kacheguda railway police official adding that it would be transferred to the Government Railway Police at Mahbubnagar.

The train did not have police guarding the compartments, said Mr Goud. The Railway Protection Force and other personnel have been deployed in trains which have suffered repeat offences, he said.

According to Secunderabad superintendent of railway police G. Ashok Kumar, the gang stopped the train for about 20 minutes by meddling with the signalling system.

Additional Director General of Police (railway and road safety) Sandeep Shandilya visited the spot where the dacoity occurred. Mahbubnagar superintendent of police Rema Rajeshwari said the local police had picked up certain clues and assured that the gang would be caught soon.All three accused -- Manish (left), Nishu (top right) and Pankaj - an Army personnel (bottom right) -- are from a village in Rewari district. (Photo: Twitter | ANI)

Chandigarh: Two key accused, including an Armyman, in Rewari gangrape case who went absconding were arrested on Sunday, Haryana police said.

Armyman Pankaj and Manish were arrested by the Haryana Polices Special Investigation Team (SIT) for allegedly raping a 19-year-old girl from Rewari on September 12.

Another prime accused Nishu was arrested last week and later sent to a four-day judicial custody.

All three accused are from a village in Rewari district.

The SIT also arrested two other men -- Deen Dayal and Dr. Sanjeev -- in connection with case last week.

While Deendayal is the owner of the tubewell where the sexual assault took place, Sanjeev was summoned by the accused to administer first-aid to the victim after the gangrape but did not inform the police about it.

Also Read: Arrested accused planned rape, called doctor during assault: Haryana police

The woman, an ex-CBSE topper hailing from Rewari, was abducted at a bus stop in Kanina town in neighbouring Mahendragarh district on September 12 while she was on the way to a coaching class, police said. She was then allegedly drugged and gangraped at a secluded spot.

The Haryana Police had set up the SIT headed by Mewat SP Naazneen Bhasin to probe the case.Hyderabad: Two days after the Telangana state government announced the compensation of Rs 8 lakh, a double bedroom house, five acres land to the widow of the slain P. Pranay Kumar, different opinions are popping up on social media.

Amrutha Varshini was also trolled in the social media. Speaking to this newspaper on the trolling she warned the trolls, I am going to complain to cyber crime if I find any derogatory comment or abuses in social media. I didnt ask for help from anyone nor an MLA ticket. My only demand is justice for Pranay.

Amrutha Varshini wants the compensation announced by the government to be transferred to an orphanage in the name of her husband Pranay.

Rejecting the compensation given by the Government Pranays father Balaswamy said, By Gods grace we have enough money to survive. My only demand is that all the culprits behind the crime should be hanged and fast-track court should be set up to further investigate the case. All the evidences were present. At any cost the accused shouldn't escape from the punishment. Since caste was the main reason behind the murder the atrocity case should be booked against them and they should be severely punished. We will fight for the justice till our last breath.According to Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (CMWSSB), the Srisailam reservoir in AP had received good inflow, as southwest monsoon was giving copious rains and water in the dam was brimming to its capacity.

CHENNAI: With the Poondi reservoir, a main drinking water source for Chennai city, being parched, Andhra Pradesh government has shown mercy towards the Tamil Nadu, as AP irrigation officials finally released Krishna water from Kandaleru reservoir under Telugu-Ganga project. This comes at a time when the city is about to stare at drinking water scarcity.

According to Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (CMWSSB), the Srisailam reservoir in AP had received good inflow, as southwest monsoon was giving copious rains and water in the dam was brimming to its capacity.

Subsequently, water from Srisailam was diverted to Somasila reservoir and later to Kandaleru reservoir. Since water level at Kandaleru reservoir was poor, the recent inflow gradually increased the storage to 9.162 tmcft of water, said a release issued by CMWSSB.

As the level in Kandaleru reservoir continued to rise, the Andhra Pradesh government decided to release water from the reservoir into Krishna canal to augment the drinking water needs of Chennai city.

Accordingly, the regulator gates in the Krishna canal at Kandaleru dam were lifted on Saturday. While around 200 cusecs of water was released into the Krishna canal, officials said that release of water level will be stepped up gradually. Released water is expected to reach the zero point at Uthukottai (interstate border) within a week, the release noted.

Meanwhile, public works department (WRD) has confirmed the release. Speaking to DC, M. Mani, superintending engineer, Palar Basin Circle, Chennai Region, PWD, said we have already undertaken desilting works in Kandaleru-Poondi canal and there is a high possibility for AP irrigation officials to release more quantum of water in the coming days.

Earlier, Kurugondla Ramakrishna, Telugu Desam MLA, Dr Prabhu Shankar, executive director, CMWSSB and Krishnakumar, executive engineer of water resources department, AP, were present during water release from Kandaleru reservoir.Hyderabad: The ensuing Assembly elections are a test for the future of Telangana Rashtra Samitis Members of Parliament. They are more worried about the results than the MLA candidates. Assembly elections are likely to be held around December 2018 and within just four months, around April 2019, Lok Sabha elections will be held. The Assembly results will have an impact on the Lok Sabha elections. In Telangana, there are 17 Lok Sabha constituencies and in the previous elections, TRS won 11 seats, Congress two and MIM, Telugu Desam, BJP and YSRC won one seat each. After the elections, the TD, YSRC and one Congress MP defected to the TRS.

In each Lok Sabha constituency there are seven Assembly segments. If the TRS wins in a majority of the segments, the concerned TRS MP will have a chance to win in the Lok Sabha elections if votes are polled in the same way. Generally, if a majority of segments are with one party then that party's MP candidate will have a better chance of winning. A TRS MP says there are advantages and disadvantages to early assembly elections.

Early assembly elections are useful because MPs get an indication of which assembly constituency they should concentrate on for the Lok Sabha elections. In simultaneous polls, assembly and Lok Sabha candidates will both work hard to win. In the event of early Assembly elections the defeated candidates may not work seriously for the Lok Sabha candidates, and those who have been elected MLAs may also not work hard for the MP candidate as their future is not at risk.

Regarding election expenditure also, MPs may face a problem. Once the assembly elections are over, the defeated and elected party candidates may not take spending the funds seriously.The launch of a Japanese resupply ship to the International Space Station was postponed till Saturday. Meanwhile, the Expedition 56 crew moved on with critical space research and orbital lab maintenance.

Inclement weather at the Tanegashima Space Center in Japan led managers at JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) to postpone the launch of its HTV-7 resupply ship by one day. The HTV-7 is now due to launch atop the H-IIB rocket Saturday at 1:52 p.m. EDT loaded with over five tons of cargo, including new science experiments and science hardware. Its arrival at the station is now planned for Thursday at 7:54 a.m.

The station's Zvezda service module fired its engines today slightly boosting the space lab's orbit. The reboost enables a crew swap taking place next month when Expedition 57 begins. Three Expedition 56 crew members will depart on Oct. 4 and return to Earth inside the Soyuz MS-08 spacecraft. A new pair of Expedition 57 crew members will arrive aboard the Soyuz MS-10 crew ship to replace them Oct. 11

Astronauts Ricky Arnold and Serena Aunon-Chancellor conducted a variety of biomedical research today sponsored by scientists from around the world. The duo partnered up for ultrasound scans inside Europe's Columbus lab module as doctors on the ground monitored in real-time. Arnold also worked throughout the day processing blood and urine samples inside the Human Research Facility's centrifuge.

The biological sample work is supporting a pair of ongoing experiments observing the physiological changes to humans in space. The Repository study analyzes blood and urine samples collected from astronauts before, during and after a space mission. The Biochemical Profile study also researches these samples for markers of astronaut health.

Commander Drew Feustel and Fight Engineer Alexander Gerst worked throughout the orbital lab on housekeeping tasks. Fuestel was in the Unity module installing computer network gear on an EXPRESS rack that can support multiple science experiments. Gerst relocated smoke detectors in the Tranquility module then moved on to computer maintenance in the Destiny lab module.

On-Orbit Status Report

Service Module (SM) ISS Reboost: This afternoon at 1:05 PM CT, the ISS completed a 17s reboost using the SM main engine. This reboost is the final reboost in a series of three burns to set up proper phasing for 54S landing on October 4th and 56S launch, which will use the 4-orbit rendezvous profile, on October 11th. ISS velocity increased by 0.27 meters per second (m/s) and the height of the ISS orbit increased by 0.49 kilometers (km).

Express Rack 2: The crew removed the Payload Ethernet Hub Bridge (PEHB) and replace it with an Improved Payload Ethernet Hub Gateway (iPEHG). The iPEHG design corrects performance limitations often experienced by the older PEHGs.

Atomization: The crew replaced sample syringes for the Atomization investigation today. The Atomization experiment investigates the disintegration processes of a low-speed water jet for various jet issue conditions in the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM) to validate the new atomization concept by observing the process using a high-speed camera. The knowledge gained can be applied to improve various engines utilizing spray combustion.

Binary Colloidal Alloy Test - Cohesive Sediment (BCAT-CS): The crew checked the camera alignment and focus by viewing the latest BCAT images on a laptop. They also performed battery change out for the camera flash. BCAT-CS focuses on the study of forces between particles that cluster together by using sediments of quartz and clay particles. Conducting the research in the microgravity environment of the ISS makes it possible to separate the forces acting on the particles over a short range (adhesive forces) versus those acting over a long range (cohesive forces). The quartz/clay system is commonly found in a wide variety of environmental settings (such as rivers, lakes, and oceans) and plays an important role in technological efforts related to deep-sea hydrocarbon drilling and carbon dioxide sequestration.

Team Task Switching (TTS): A crewmember completed a Team Task Switching survey today. When crewmembers are required to switch their attention between tasks frequently, performance on each of the tasks can be negatively affected. The objective of the TTS investigation is to gain knowledge about whether or not crewmembers have difficulty in switching tasks and determine the impacts of these switches, in order to both reduce any negative consequences and improve individual and team motivation and effectiveness.

Spare External (EXT) Enhanced Processor and Integrated Communications (EPIC) Multiplexer/Demultiplexer (MDM) Card Swap: Based on the Test, Teardown and Evaluation (TT&E) study completed on the EXT-1 MDM that failed in 2017, teams believe the on-orbit EPIC cards could experience the same issue if subjected to cold temperatures below -20 Celsius. The crew removed the old, suspect EPIC card from the Spare EXT-1 MDM today and replaced it with a thermally tested replacement flown on OA-9 earlier this year. The MDM On-Orbit Tester (MOOT) hardware/software system will be used at a future date to perform an IVA functionality test of the MDM.

Node 3 (N3) Smoke Detector Relocate: When the new USOS Toilet System is launched and installed in N3, there will be an interference issue preventing easy access to the N3 cabin smoke detectors and forward HEPA Filters. While several options were considered to alleviate this interference, the decision was made to move the detectors from panel NOD3D3-03 to the plenum area under NOD3D3-01; the crew partially completed this activity this morning, aborting the relocation of one Smoke Detector due to a faulty fastener. Checkouts of the successfully relocated smoke detectors was nominal and teams are working the forward plan to re-install the remaining detector at a future time.

Public Affairs Office (PAO) Downlink Message: NASA is collaborating with National Parks Service to celebrate the 60th anniversary of NASA in conjunction with the 50th anniversary of the National Trails System Act. As part of that celebration, the crew took photos and video today with a toy mascot named Seaman Jr.; this "pupstronaut" represents a Newfoundland dog who traveled with Lewis and Clark through the entirety of their historic expedition. His collar inscription read "The greatest traveler of my species," and today's activity will inspire the next generation to be curious, brave, and excited to engage in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) fields.

STEMonstrations Recordings: One of NASA's education goals is inspire the next generation to enter the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM). "STEMonstrations," video lessons recorded by crewmembers on-board ISS, are one of the tools used by NASA to promote and teach the various STEM topics in an exciting way. As part of this initiative, crew recorded two STEMonstrations today, one on Solar Energy and the other on the Integrated Truss, for future use in educational products, NASA TV, and social media applications.

Completed Task List Activities:

None

Ground Activities:

All activities are complete unless otherwise noted.

JEM RMS SFA Stow Completion

Two-Day Look Ahead:

Friday, 09/21:

Payloads

Metabolic-SpaceTex2 Ops (ESA)

ESA EPO Flying Classroom-2 (ESA)

Blood Collection (JAXA)

HRF Biomedical Profile Urine Blood Collections (NASA)

FSL Spare Items Relocation

EXPRESS Rack 2 Locker Install

MERLIN EXPRESS Rack Installation

Plant Habitat Science Carrier Installation #2 Photography

LSG Laptop Computer Initial Software Load for ZBook

Crew Earth Ops - KSC Nighttime Illumination Change

Systems

LAB Ethernet Switch Deploy

IVA Tool Bag Audit

Saturday, 09/21: Weekly Housekeeping, Crew Off-Duty, Glacier Ice Brick/Cold Block Insert, BCAT Camera Activities

Today's Planned Activities:

All activities are complete unless otherwise noted.

HRF Generic HRF Centrifuge Frozen Blood Collection

MORZE. Log Entry of Liquid and Food (Medicine) Intake

EML Gas Valves Opening

HRF Generic Sample MELFI Insertion

JEM Airlock Pressurization

In Flight Maintenance Node 3 Smoke Detector Relocate

- water sampling to Russian drink bags

EXPRESS RACK 2 (ER2) Rotate

COSMOCARD. Closeout Ops

Water sampling from Water Distribution and Heating Unit (-) to drink bags

JEM Airlock Leak Check

HRF Generic Urine Collection Male

DAN. Experiment Session.

HRF Generic Sample MELFI Retrieval And Insertion Operations

PEHG Hardware Install

Station Support Computer (SSC) 8 Ethernet Cable Routing

Regenerative Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) Urine Processor Assembly (UPA) Brine Filter Changeout

Ultrasound 2 HRF Rack 1 Power On

Binary Colloidal Alloy Test-Cohesive Sedimentation SB-800 Flash Battery Changeout

XF305 Camcorder Setup

Atomization syringe replacement 2

ISS Crew departure preparation

Repairs and Installation of Overlay Panels in SM

Education-Imagery-Recording Truss

Education-Imagery-Recording Solar Arrays

Regenerative Environmental Control and Life Support System (RGN) Wastewater Storage Tank Assembly (WSTA) Fill

Collecting surface samples from FGB equipment and structures

Environmental Health System (EHS) - Compound Specific Analyzer-Combustion Products (CSA-CP) Extended Maintenance

Monitoring shutter closure on SM windows 6, 8, 9, 12, 13, 14.

EXPRESS Rack 2 (ER2) Reconfigure

Resetting the memory of the microcontroller of the screen of  Potok-150MK No.043.  maintenance

Biomolecule Extraction and Sequencing Technology (BEST) On-Board Training

In-Flight Maintenance Spare External MDM Card Swap

MORZE. Psycho-physiological Evaluation: SUPOS Test

AC Dry Vacuum Cleaner Cue Card Update

Replacement of 1, 2 Dust Filter cassettes and cleaning 1, 2 fan screens in DC1

PAO Downlink Message and Still Photography for National Parks

Team Task Switching Experiment Survey Subject

Cleaning vent screens on FGB interior panels 116, 231, 316, 431

Microgravity Science Glovebox Activation

Biomolecule Extraction and Sequencing Technology (BEST) Biomolecule Sequencer Stow

Inventory Management System (IMS) Conference

Japan Aerospace eXploration Agency Generic Frozen Blood Collection

FGB Gas Analyzer Vacuum Cleaning

Binary Colloidal Alloy - Cohesive Sedimentation Camera Check

Flight Director/ISS CREW CONFERENCE

Please follow SpaceRef on Twitter and Like us on Facebook.Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad was detained under stringent National Security Act after 2017 Saharanpur violence between the Dalit and the Thakur communities. (Photo: File)

Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh government has refuted suggestions that it released Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad from custody under the NSA for the sake of Dalit votes, saying he was allowed to walk free as normalcy has now returned to Saharanpur.

"The government had sought a confidential report and found that the situation has normalised, and he was released," UP Law Minister Brijesh Pathak told news agency PTI in Lucknow.

Azad was detained under the stringent National Security Act (NSA) after the 2017 Saharanpur violence between the Dalit and the Thakur communities. The UP government ordered his release on September 13, revoking the earlier order which would have kept him in detention till November 1.

Today, the situation is normal in Saharanpur and the adjoining districts, Pathak said in an interview. He said the state government's decision to release Azad should not be viewed from the point of elections.

"When someone is booked under the NSA, it is not for life. It is first imposed for three months and if the district administration feels it necessary, then it is extended for the next three more months and so on, he said.

The NSA is an immediate measure that is slapped on a person who poses a threat to society, to law and order or can trigger fear," he said.

The Dalit leader was arrested in June 2017 in connection with the May 5 clashes in which one person was killed and 16 others injured in Saharanpur's Shabbirpur village. On November 2, 2017, the Allahabad High Court granted bail to him.

But a day before his expected release, he was booked under the NSA, effectively extending his detention.

On his release, Chandrashekhar Azad, who is also known as Ravan', claimed that the Bharatiya Janata Party feared his detention might dent its Dalit vote bank ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha election.

"I am out and the BJP is going to face the ire of the Dalit samaj. This time, the BJP will be out of power, he told reporters. Azad said if a mahagathbandhan', or a grand alliance of opposition parties, comes about in UP ahead of the 2019 election, he will definitely' support it.

If the mahagathbandhan happens, the BJP will be reduced to single digits, he said. In the Lok Sabha bypolls, the BJP lost Gorakhpur and Phulpur and tasted defeat in Kairana, Azad had reminded.

Commenting on the possible emergence of an anti-BJP alliance for the 2019 elections, the minister said, "We take each and every election very seriously.

The gathbandhan will hardly have an impact on the BJP's poll prospects as their 'niti' (policy) and 'niyat' (intention) and their manner of working has been seen by the people of Uttar Pradesh, be it the SP, the BSP, the Congress or even the RLD," he said.

"People have not forgotten the anarchy unleashed during the five years of SP rule from 2012 to 2017, Pathak said, adding the state government then worked like an unguided missile".

If there is any alliance, we will challenge them in a befitting manner. The people are with the BJP," he said.

Asked to comment on a remark by Akhilesh Yadav, in which the Samajwadi Party chief suggested he was willing to take "two step back" in a deal with Bahujan Samaj Party leader Mayawati, Pathak said, "Both of them are sinking."Chennai: A girl student, who has been waging legal battle for over 10 years to get her DTE (Diploma in Teacher Education) course certificate, got a reprieve with Madras high court directing the director of government educations to publish her examination results immediately and issue the course certificate, besides paying her Rs 5,000 as cost to her in addition to Rs 5,000 cost already imposed by the consumer forum.

Justice S.S. Sundar gave the directive while dismissing a petition filed by the director, director of government examination, challenging an order of the district consumer disputes redressal forum, Salem.

After completing her plus-2, A. Rajewari joined DTE course in Rabindranath Tagore teacher training institute for girls in Salem district. She completed her first year course and secured 369 marks out of 450. When she was studying her second year DTE course in the year 2007, the institute terminated her on the ground that there was variation in total marks in the mark sheet produced by her and the aggregate marks secured by her.

Aggrieved, she approached the high court, which accepted her case that no correction has been made by her. The court also directed to issue fresh mark sheets to her and directed the institute to re-admit her in the second year course and allow her to complete the course.

Accordingly, she completed her second year course. But, results were not published by the directorate of public examination. Aggrieved, she approached the district consumer forum, which accepted her case and directed the authorities to publish her results and issue her course certificate, besides imposing a cost of `5,000. Challenging the same, the director of public examination filed the present petition.

Dismissing the petition, the judge said after considering the facts of the case, a positive direction was given earlier, which was binding on the director and his subordinates. Despite the order they have not published her results.

The petitioner has now filed this petition in utter disregard to the order of this court thinking that the issue once settled by this court in the earlier round of litigation, can be re-agitated. The direction of the consumer forum to pay Rs 5,000 towards the mental agony suffered by her was justified.

This petition is pending from 2011 and it is stated that the petitioner has not published the results of the examination written by Rajeswari and hence the object of this petition is to circumvent the earlier order of this court, the judge added and gave the above directive.The police handed over the body to the family after a post-mortem at Gandhi Hospital. (Representational Images)

Hyderabad: A two-year-old baby accidentally fell into a water sump at a building under construction in Medipally on Wednesday. She died on Saturday after undergoing treatment for two days. The police have identified the victim as Anasuya.

According to the police, the baby was playing in front of a building under construction while her parents, both construction labourers, were working at the site. Medipally sub-inspector of police Naveen Kumar, said, The baby accidentally fell into a water sump on Wednesday afternoon . The construction workers noticed the baby after some time and immediately called 100 and shifted her to a nearby private hospital. The police reached the spot soon after they got the call.

A case was registered under Section 174 CrPC in Medipally police station. The police handed over the body to the family after a post-mortem at Gandhi Hospital.Hyderabad: Five youngsters from the city who were sent to Malaysia by two manpower consultancy agencies were left stranded there, following which their parents appealed to the ministry of external affairs for help on Friday.

MBT Leader Amjedullah Khan said that the job aspirants were lured with a good offer and made to pay Rs 1 lakh each for going to Malaysia. Parents of the youngsters have appealed to external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj to help them return.

The youngsters identified as Mohammed Hayath of Bahadurpura, Mohammed Nayeemuddin of Yakutpura, Mohammed Azhar Mohiuddin of Bahadurpura, Mohammed Taher of Purana pul and Mohammed Nadeem were reportedly lured by Yousuf Habeeb consultants at Yakutpura and Ramana consultants of Secunderabad, sources said.

All of them were asked to work at Avani Sepang Goldcoast and Sara Bombay Tailoring Centre in Malaysia.

The food and accommodation provided was very unhygienic and they were paid lower than what was promised to them. They want to return to India but are not being allowed to do so by their employers, said Mr Khan while addressing the media.Five nuns had protested near the Kerala High Court at Kochi for 13 days, demanding the arrest of the bishop who was accused of repeatedly raping a nun. (Photo: File)

Wayanad: A nun belonging to the Syro Malabar Catholic church alleged she was asked to keep away from church duties after she participated in a protest by nuns in Kochi demanding the arrest of rape accused Bishop Franco Mulakkal.

Sister Lucy Kalapura, who returned here Sunday morning from Kochi, claimed she was informed orally by the Mother Superior that she should keep away from holding catechism classes, conducting prayers and other church-related duties.

"No written orders were given to me. I was only informed orally by the Mother Superior not to participate in any church-related activities," the sister told PTI.

The church could not be contacted for comments.

Five nuns had protested near the Kerala High Court at Kochi for 13 days, demanding the arrest of the bishop who was accused of repeatedly raping a nun. There was support for the protest from various quarters and Sister Lucy had also expressed her solidarity.

The clergyman, who temporarily relinquished his administrative responsibilities as Jalandhar Bishop, was arrested Saturday after three days of intense grilling by the Kerala Police.

The nun said no explanation was given to her for the decision and the restraint message from the vicar was conveyed to her through the Mother Superior.

According to media reports, the Mananthavady diocese had recommended disciplinary action against Sister Lucy three months ago for allegedly posting some statements against the church on social media, for purchasing a car through a loan and not wearing the nun's attire at a public function.

However, Sister Lucy denied the charges, saying the restraint order against her was only for participating in the protests at Kochi.

"I feel saddened that I have been asked to stay away from church duties. I had conducted holy mass till last Sunday. I got a lot of support from people of the congregation. I have done no wrong nor said anything against the church. No reason has been given for the decision," she said, adding she would be happy if the church clarified where she had erred.

Indulekha Joseph, one of the leaders of the Kerala Catholic Church Reformation movement, alleged it was an attempt to silence the voices of protest against any form of unjust activities within the church.Chennai: Pointing out that any post in teaching faculty cannot be kept vacant for a long period, Madras high court has dismissed an appeal, seeking to quash an interim order of a single judge, which vacated its earlier interim order directing Thiruvalluvar university to keep one post of assistant professor (Tamil) vacant.

A division bench comprising Justices S. Manikumar and Subramonium Prasad dismissed the appeal filed by M. Muthukumar, challenging an order dated July 25, 2018, of a single judge vacating his earlier interim order.

Thiruvalluvar university, Vellore, called for applications for direct recruitment of 13 posts of assistant professor of Tamil in its six constituent colleges. Out of 13 posts, two posts were reserved for backward classes. Muthukumar had appeared for the interview. The interview was challenged by him on the ground that the selection process was not in accordance with UGC regulations. An interim order was passed on July 13, 2015 restraining the University from filling up the post. The order was modified by an order dated December 22, 2015 directing the university to reserve one post of assistant professor in Tamil department.

Later, while considering the petition to vacate the interim order, the single judge had on July 25, 2018, said, The interim order, to keep one post vacant for an unspecified period can never be construed as a balancing order. The post of assistant professor (Tamil) in the colleges is an important post. A college cannot function without professors.

If posts of professors are kept vacant by the court for an unspecified period, then this court is afraid that the very administration of the college in respect of the teaching faculty will be paralysed. Even in case of granting such an interim relief, it must be for a shorter period, so that the issues raised in the petition can be adjudicated. In order to have a pragmatic approach, this court is of an opinion that such orders of keeping one post vacant must be for a shorter period and not for an unspecified period.

Aggrieved, Muthukumar filed the present appeal. Dismissing the appeal, the bench said there was no infirmity in the order passed by the single judge. A post cannot be kept vacant for a long period. Interest of students will suffer, if the post was kept vacant, the bench added.The state government also ordered a closure of all schools in Kullu and Kinnaur districts on Monday. (Photo: ANI/Twitter)

Shimla: Normal life was badly hit in Himachal district due to heavy rains for the past three days, officials said.

Sujanpur, Nadaun, Bhoranj areas of the district were worst hit. The Beas river and its tributaries flowing through the district were in spate and the administration has directed the people not to go near the river.

An Indian Army managed to rescue and airlift 19 people by an Army helicopter from flood-hit Dobhi-Fojal area today.

Meanwhile, there was no drinking water supply for the people in various parts of the district as power supply was unavailable.

Footage shared by news agency ANI showed widespread destruction and a swollen Beas river. Trucks and buses were washed away on Sunday due to strong water currents.

#WATCH: Vacant bus gets washed away into the flooded Beas river in Manali. #HimachalPradesh pic.twitter.com/GMV2nqR2jX  ANI (@ANI) September 23, 2018

A spokesperson of the Irrigation-cum-Public health said that water supply would be restored once the situation comes under control.

An official spokesperson said that there was heavy loss to the crops as well.

The state government also ordered a closure of all schools in Kullu and Kinnaur districts on Monday, officials said.

All government and private schools will remain closed in the tribal district of Kinnaur on Monday as per the directions issued by Deputy Commissioner Gopal Chand, an official said Sunday.

Similarly, all private and government schools as well colleges and ITIs will remain closed Monday in Kullu district, Deputy Commissioner Yunus said.

Yunus said students would not be required to come to their education institutions but teaching and non-teaching staff would remain present in their respective institutions.Chennai: Most parts of the Chennai city and suburbs have been experiencing power-cut intermittently, keeping residents in the dark. However, officials from Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation Limited (Tangedco) have denied such complaint stating that power cut prevails when maintenance works are taken up.

Residents from city and suburbs alleged that they witness power cut during day and night. Even as we contact Electricity Board officials during power cut, the officials do not respond properly and hang up the phones, said K. Saravanan, a resident of Avadi. Since his house was located in an area, which remained as a breeding ground for mosquitoes, power cut added to his woes, he noted.

The power cut did not spare even residents living in the city. Unlike in the past, power cut has returned to haunt us. Since I am staying in a hostel, I feel very inconvenient to remain indoor. Adding fuel to the fire is that the temperature level is also shooting up, said M. Kumar, a resident of Guindy.

When contacted by DC, a senior official, Tangedco, said that they do not frequently cut the power. However, when workers are involved in taking up such electricity related works, sometime power cut occurs, he said and added that the government was keen on the issue and such will come to an end soon.Telangana's health coverage model is a robust programme as it covers nearly 80 lakh families. (Photo: File)

Hyderabad: Telangana has not joined the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana PMJAY- Ayushman Bharat, launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Jharkhand Sunday 'as of now' and would continue to implement its health scheme, official sources said.

One of the reasons for not joining it, for the time being, was because the state's Aarogyasri scheme covers nearly 80 lakh families, official sources said.

"We already have the Aarogyasri scheme. As of now Telangana is not participating in the (central government's) scheme," they told PTI.

Asked when the Centre's flagship Ayushman Bharat health insurance scheme would be implemented in Telangana, the official said "as of now Aarogyasri scheme will continue," adding Telangana's health coverage model is a robust programme.

The Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Abhiyan (PMJAY) aims to provide a coverage of Rs five lakh per family annually, benefiting more than 10 crore poor families.

Eligible people can avail the benefits in the government and listed private hospitals.HYDERABAD: The rain belt has moved to west Madhya Pradesh and Telangana state will receive scattered rainfall at isolated places over the next 48 hours. This may be the last spell of monsoon rain this season as dry weather is expected to prevail from September 25.

The IMD said the southwest monsoon was active over the state. Very heavy rainfall was registered at some places in Adilabad, Peddapalle, Nirmal, Karimnagar, Jagtial, Bhupalpally, Nizamabad and Rajanna Sircilla districts on Saturday. The intensity is likely to drop.

According to the weather calendar, the southwest monsoon has withdrawn from western India. The country is going through a transitional period and the northeast monsoon will set in by October 15. The northeast monsoon mainly brings rainfall to Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana state is not a beneficiary.From 2009 to 2010, Maritime harness racing marvelled over the pacing prowess of filly Meridian Magic. Now a broodmare, her first mating with paranormally-named Camystic appears to have resulted in a filly with equal supernatural ability.

The Atlantic Sires Stakes made its return to Cape Breton on Saturday (Sept. 22) as Northside Downs hosted the circuit's two-year-old pacers. The feature of the day was the single $17,340 division for two-year-old pacing fillies and the first head-to-head showdown of undefeated standouts Therealdeal and Magical Mistress.

As the wings of the gate folded, driver Adam Merner hustled Magical Mistress to the front of the field of eight and tripped the first timer in a sharp :28.1, with her rival in arrears by double digits. Merner kept that separation to his advantage with a sensible :58.1 half before asking his filly to turn on the jets down the backside. Opening up on her rivals with every stride, Magical Mistress was nearly 15 lengths the best as the third quarter flashed up in 1:27 and in the words of Larry Lederman, "if this was a fight, they'd stop it". Magical Mistress was in a league of her own, hitting the wire some 17 lengths the best in a track record time of 1:57. Ma Rebelle (Marc Campbell) was the best of the rest with Elm Grove Nellie (Dale Spence) a placed third.

The time of the mile shaved one-fifth off the old standard established by Saulsbrook Alana almost five years ago to the day on Sept. 21, 2013. Of note, the time of the mile equals the track record of the three-year-old pacing fillies as well. A further postscript: the track was rated 'good' with a two-second allowance.

A homebred owned by Barry Martin of Sydney, N.S. and trained by Stephen Gass, Magical Mistress is now perfect in eight seasonal starts with earnings of $39,510.

Pacing colts were also in action on the Saturday afternoon card in a pair of $9,320 ATSS 'A' divisions. Dusty Lane Cortez (David Dowling) earned his victory the hard way by attacking pacesetter Howmac Finale (Spence) first up, making the lead in the stretch and then holding off the late challenge of Purple Poet (M. Campbell) to win by a neck in 2:00.3.

Devon Wallace trains Dusty Lane Cortez (Westwardho Hanover - Tara Artiste) for David & Jordan Lewis of Alberton, PEI. The win was the third in nine tries this season for the $13,000 Atlantic Classic yearling, with earnings increased to $16,442.

The second division went to Red Dirt Boomer (Gilles Barrieau), who finished second but was placed first after pacesetter and first across the wire Woodmere Bolt (Earl Smith) was placed second for a pylon violation at the seven-eighths mark.

Barrieau trains Red Dirt Boomer (Malicious - Independent Gal) for Dan Ross of Belfast, PEI. A $13,250 Atlantic Classic yearling, Red Dirt Boomer now boasts a 5-2-0 summary from eight seasonal starts with more than $25,000 in purses.

Dismissed as one of the longest shots on the board, Brother John raced like he had something to prove in the $1,200 Winners Over Pace. Leaving with driver Randy Getto from the rail, Brother John fought off the persistent overland bid of Charlottes Style (Barry Bates) for the first three-parts of the mile and then repelled pocket-sitter turned first-up challenger Southwind Ricardo (Ryan Campbell) through the wire, winning by a half-length in 2:01.

Eight-year-old Brother John (Stonebridge Regal - Pine Barrens) earned his fifth win of the year and 34th lifetime for trainer Ken Collins and Nova Scotia-based owners Randy & Bradley Getto, Susan Macsween and Wayne Hardy.

For the results from Saturday's card of harness racing at Northside Downs, click the following link: Saturday Results - Northside Downs.Chennai: This is not meant to be a compliment to the erstwhile Union Planning Commission, which the BJP-led NDA government had dramatically dismantled after the 2014 Lok Sabha polls with the stroke of a pen.

The horse galloped on the critics of the plan bodys inefficiency, but scrapping it was more a ruse to get rid of the Left baggage in tackling Indias problems of poverty, illiteracy and unemployment in the post-1950 decades. It was to signify a radical break with the Nehruvian legacy of rational, centralised planning based not entirely on the Soviet model as Nehru envisaged a mixed economy.

The five-year planning process was, during the earlier Janata party rule of Morarji Desai in 1977 sent packing for a while, as a year-on-year rolling plan was rolled out. Remember the then iconic Health Minister, Raj Narayan, spoke of barefoot doctors visiting the remotest villages, which only cartoonist Abu Abraham could immortalise. But 2014 seemed to unwind a new clock and calendar, with the BJP getting a simple majority of its own in the Lok Sabha.

The Path Ahead  Transformative Ideas For India. (Edited by Amitabh Kant Rupa Publications India Pvt. Ltd, Rs 595)

What we have for last nearly four years is a Think Tank, guided undoubtedly with the best of domain experts in a range of public policy issues, well meaning leaders of industry and academics, called the National Institution for Transforming India, in short NITI Aayog, and which the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi candidly said he was leading as Captain of Team India. In a word, NITI Aayog is presently driving all the new concepts, models and praxis for a New India.

This volume, The Path Ahead, Transformative Ideas for India, edited by Amitabh Kant, present CEO of NITI Aayog, a 1980 batch Kerala cadre IAS officer, is a richly informative and thought-provoking collection of 27 essays by distinguished persons from a basket of mixed talent pool including policy makers, professors, government officials and industry experts.

It comes as kaleidoscopic reflections of the changing patterns in a new political context where being right is not wrong. The volume ends, though, with a brilliant cautionary Epilogue by Dr Arvind Subramanian, former Chief Economic Adviser to the Central government.

The problems are already well defined, their contours sharpened. Hence, the vision or the big picture that first defined the transformative ethos of the post-Independence decades, seems no longer relevant in the eyes of the NITI Aayog that has positioned itself as Indias intellectual guiding star, an Overman so to say, over the Plan bodys remnants. Some experts though have still thought it fit to quote from earlier high quality research done at erstwhile Yojana Bhavan!

India is already a huge economy and growing, not so much by the so-called Hindu rate of growth, but fine-tuning to ambitious range of eight per cent to 12 per cent GDP growth, 27 years after the historic 1991 economic reforms. So, let us all think in terms of problem solving and how new technology, fiscal re-engineering and hackathon intuitions can actually deliver solutions from toilets to titling lands. The demographic dividend is her ace, little realising that most youngsters coming out of Indian Universities today see only the IT industry as their best bet.

Nonetheless, there is substantially more to the spirit of the new philosophy, where Start-ups and Make in India are tempered by a new confidence and cultural pride by whatever political label one may call it. This psychology tacitly underpins this collection of essays that could also be read as a report card of sorts of the NDA government before the 2019 general elections.

The time is ripe for India to innovate and cement its position as one of the leading economies of the 21st century and beyond. I believe this book rises to the occasion. It will not only be a ready reference for todays policymakers, academics and industry professionals and leaders, it will also serve as an inspiration for Indias youth and leaders of tomorrow, says John T Chambers, Chairman Emeritus, Cisco Systems and Chairman of the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum, in a very apt and succinct foreword to this book.

The framework of the issues dwelt in this volume is clearly articulated by Amitabh Kant, who explains how technology is reshaping the way government is designing and implementing programmes. Whether it is Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT), being implemented across 437 schemes and that has helped save Rs.83,000 crore till date to the government  though he does not say how these savings can be used to rein in runaway petrol and diesel prices - the BHIM programme (Bharat Interface for Money), digitisation lowering tax collection costs, GST rollout increasing indirect taxpayers base by an amazing 50 per cent, or the NITI Aayog working on artificial intelligence (AI) applications in a range of areas from health to education; the Think Tank is also working on blockchain-based smart contracts which will reduce litigation, and land registry on the blockchain that will reduce corruption relating to land. All these are a platform opening up for Young Indians to become the makers of a New India.

Some of the path-breaking new technologies that India can work upon are shot through several of these essays. For instance, an indigenously developed and extensively tested low temperature Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) fuel cell stacks, that will have far-reaching implications in areas like power generation from renewable, green energy sources, long-range electric vehicles, defence and industrial cogneration. The expert Committee set up by NITI Aayog has strongly advocated that Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) should be used to finance such grand challenges, writes Dr R. A. Mashelkar, National Research Professor and former Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) chief in his essay.

A very realistic paper on Doubling Farmer Income: Case for Growth in Livestock Income, by industry leader Adi Godrej points out, citing an NSS survey, how the average farm households earning in India in the period from July 2012 to June 2013, was a mere `6,491 per month; a similar NSS survey during July 2002 to June 2003 had put the earning of farm households to just Rs 2,115 per month, an indication of how a serious agricultural revival was attempted during the previous UPA regime under Dr Manmohan Singh. Now, Prime Minister Modi wants to double farm incomes by 2022. To enable the growth of the farm sector, one critical aspect to be looked into is livestock development, and the need for highly specialized professionals in veterinary and animal sciences, writes Adi Godrej. In fact, all the four papers on problems in Indian agriculture are an excellent study.

Similarly, the way ahead in other problem domains  from fiscal policies, the future of mobility pegged to electric vehicles given global climate challenges, the opportunities to grab and the pitfalls to avoid in urban development as cities are engines of economic growth, and the revival of special economic zones vis-a-vis Chinese model, have all been exhaustively discussed by academics and specialists, a valuable source for policy makers and leaders. Yet the book leaves one with a mixed feeling. Where is the human soul or is it wrong to ask that question?Police said Sarveswar Rao, a government whip, and Soma died on the spot in an area considered semi affected by the Maoists.

Visakhapatnam: Maoists shot dead a Telugu Desam MLA Kidari Sarveswar Rao of Araku constituency and former MLA Siveri Soma, both belonging to the Scheduled Tribes, in the Agency area of Visakhapatnam district on Sunday.

Police said Sarveswar Rao, a government whip, and Soma died on the spot in an area considered semi affected by the Maoists.

They were shot in an area between Liviriputyu and Tottangi in Dumbriguda mandal. They had ventured into the area without intimating the police, the police said.

The incident took place during the week-long celebrations of the Maoists Formation Day.

Relatives of Sarveswar Rao, Siveri Soma and local tribals protested the attack by setting on fire two police stations.

Over 60 Maoists, including women, were said to have been involved in the attack.

The two politicians were returning to Arakul by car when the vehicle was intercepted and slogans raised against the MLA. A group of Maoists then materialised and had a prolonged discussion with the two politicians over the illegal mining activities of the MLA.

Sources in the police said that in the past the MLA had received threats on multiple occasions from the Maoists.

Sarveswara Rao was a first-time legislator elected on a YSR Congress ticket but switched over to the Telugu Desam. He was made the government wh-ip in the Assembly. They snatched the weapons from the security detail of the two men before opening fire, said the driver of the MLAs car. Both politicians were found in a pool of blood with bullet injuries, he added.

Sarveswara Rao was a first-time legislator elected on a YSR Congress ticket but switched over to the Telugu Desam. He was made the government whip in the Assembly.

Visakha Range DIG Ch. Srikanth and Visakha Rural SP Rahul Dev Sharma said they had issued notice to all politicians on the hit list of Maoists to inform the district administration prior to their visit to villages and remote areas. But the two politicians had not done so though both had received threats from Maoists in the past.

The DIG said that the bodies of the MLA and former MLA will be shifted to KG Hospital in Visakhapatnam city. We have intensified combing operations, he added.Hyderabad: Telangana Pradesh Congress Commitee president N. Uttam Kumar Reddy asked party workers to work hard for the next 60 days to bring the party to power in the state.

Going live on his Facebook page on Sunday morning and later holding a teleconference with party workers, Mr Reddy asked the Congress cadre to work against the TRS' tactics.

The TPCC chief said, caretaker Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao could stoop to any level to win the elections. The TRS could misuse the official machinery, police, money power to conduct largescale irregularities to influence the outcome of the next polls, he said.

He asked Congress workers and leaders to be prepared to face any kind of situation. If you are able to reach the masses in the next 60 days and convince them how they were cheated by the Chandrasekhara Rao government, the Congress will certainly win the next elections.

He said Each and every second of the next 60 days will be valuable and you must spend them in reaching the people through all means, especially social media.

Mr Reddy alleged that the cases of tampering with the Electronic Voting Machines were reported in several instances after Prime Minister Narender Modi and Mr Chandrasekhar Rao came to power and asked the party election agents to ensure the EVMs were not tampered with.

The election notification is likely to be announced in mid-October and polling could be held by November-end. The entire Congress cadre should be geared up to face the elections, he added

It is a do-or-die election for us. The Congress party has granted statehood to Telangana and it is our duty to protect the interests of the people of this state even if it costs our lives. The next 60 days are going to decide the future of Telangana and its people. Therefore, prove your loyalty and love for Telangana, he said.Warangal: Demanding that the Assembly seats reserved for the Scheduled Tribes be allotted only to Adivasi candidates, the Adivasi Hakkula Porata Samithi (Thudum Debba) has issued a warning to the TRS that they would not allow Chandu Lal into their hamlets, if he visits them as part of his poll campaign.

They said the party had failed to give importance to the STs in the list announced recently and that they would continue their fight.

Recently, the Adivasi Students Union held a two-wheeler rally from the Samakka Saralamma shrine in Medaram to the Rajupeta Nagulamma temple. Medaram shire priest Siddaboina Jaggaiah flagged off the rally. ASU state president, Mypathi Arun Kumar said the people from SC, ST and BC communities were actively participating in this rebellion against the anti-Lambada movement.

By renominating Azmeera Chandu Lal as the candidate for Mulugu constituency, K. Chandrashekar Rao has made his anti-Adivasi policies clear. If Chandu Lal comes to our hamlets, we will make him run. The TRS is sure to taste defeat this time for neglecting the Adivasis, he said.

LPHS state general secretary, Esam Sudhakar, questioned how a Lambada person was preferred over a Koya.

when 95,000 votes in the constituency belonged to the Adivasi Koyas and the Lambadas were only 16,000 of the total votes of 1,91,077 votes in the Mulugu constituency.

Meanwhile, the opposition against Chandu Lal from within the TRS party is believed to be increasing every day. ZP floor leader Sakinala Shoban is leading the rebellion against the caretaker tourism minister, alleging that he has lost public support and would lose the elections if the party decides to go ahead with him from the constituency.The service had come under criticism for failing to address the spread of fake news which had resulted, among others, in mob lynching. (Representional Image)

Hyderabad: Facebook-owned WhatsApp has appointed a grievance officer in an effort to address the spread of misinformation on the social messaging site.

WhatsApp placed an update in its FAQ section mentioning the appointment of the grievance officer, Ms Komal Lahiri, along with the email Id.

This measure is specific to Indian users. However, Ms Lahiri is based out of the US. The website said in its update, You can contact the grievance officer with complaints or concerns, including the WhatsApps Terms of Service and Questions about your account.

WhatsApp has its biggest user base in India with more than 200 million users.

The service had come under criticism for failing to address the spread of fake news which had resulted, among others, in mob lynching.

According to WhatsApp, If you have a concern regarding the usage of WhatsApp or the processing of your information, we recommend that you review our Help Center. If you would like to contact us, go to WhatsApp Settings > Help > Contact Us. We can better assist you if you contact us through WhatsApp.

In order to curb the spread of misinformation, it has limited message forwards to five chats at a time and removed the quick forward button placed next to media messages.AIADMK lawmaker Karunas, also a well-known actor and founder of a small outfit, was picked up from his house Sunday morning by a special team, police said. (Photo: File)

Chennai: Ruling AIADMK lawmaker Karunas was arrested on Sunday for allegedly making derogatory remarks against Tamil Nadu Chief Minister E Palanisamy, his deputy O Panneerselvam, the state police and few media houses.

Karunas, also a well-known actor and founder of a small outfit, was picked up from his house Sunday morning by a special team, police said.

The Tiruvadanai legislator was earlier booked under various sections of the IPC for criminal conspiracy, promoting enmity, promoting disharmony, attempt to murder and issuing death threats.

While speaking at an agitation in Chennai organised by his party Mukkulathor Puli Padai, Karunas had made abusive remarks against the chief minister and even dared a police official to remove his uniform and come and fight him. He also issued a threat against the police officer.

In a 47-minute long speech, the video of which has gone viral on the social media, Karunas claimed that though he belongs to the Mukkulathors community, commonly known as Thevars, his loyalties stand with the Sasikala camp. He went on to say that many disloyal members of his community had flocked to the EPS (Edappadi K Palanisamy) camp, in a reference to the Deputy CM, who also belongs to the Thevar community.

Karunas also flayed the media, claiming that the press was owned by Iyers and Nadars who repeatedly harp on the Nadar name.

Also Read: Karunas stirs caste pot, derides TN CM in hate speech

Following the controversial speech, V G Narayanan of the Hindu Makkal Munnani had filed a complaint with Chennai Commissioner A K Viswanathan.

Later, the MLA 'expressed regret' for his remarks and said that he did not intend to hurt any community.

I express my deep regret if whatever I spoke in anger over what has happened has hurt anyone. I will make sure it doesn't happen again. As far as I am concerned, I only spoke about the demands of my community. It is not my intention to demean and speak ill of others," he told a Tamil news channel.War of words have intensified between the BJP and Congress after former French presidnet Francois Hollande's claims escalated Rafale row. (Photo: File | PTI)

New Delhi: The BJP government, which is facing a scathing attack from the Congress over Rafale controversy following former French president Francois Hollandes claims, accused Rahul Gandhi of repeating untruth and slammed him for using brazen and abusive language against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Taking to Twitter, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, said: They (Rahul Gandhi and Congress) betray their sense of desperation in being out-of-power. In our govt there is no corruption. No wonder today the buzz is #RahulKaPuraKhandanChor (All members of Rahuls family are thieves).

The @INCIndia & Shri. @RahulGandhi repeat untruth several times and use brazen & abusive language about @PMOIndia @narendramodi. They betray their sense of desperation in being out-of-power. In our govt there is no corruption. No wonder today the buzz is #RahulKaPuraKhandanChor https://t.co/o76HiaYtDh  Nirmala Sitharaman (@nsitharaman) September 22, 2018

Earlier, Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said that it was wrong to expect a more mature statement from Gandhi when his "entire family is arraigned for scams like the National Herald scam and the Bofors scandal."

Prasad also condemned Rahul Gandhi for his claim that Hollande is calling PM Modi a thief and termed the remarks as "shameful and irresponsible", saying no president of any party has ever used such language against a prime minister.

Hollande, who was French president when the Rs 58,000 crore deal was announced, was quoted as saying by French publication 'Mediapart' that France was given "no choice" on the selection of the Indian partner for Dassault and the Indian government proposed the name of Reliance to partner with the French aerospace giant.

Several other BJP leaders and supporters also took to Twitter and lashed out at Rahul Gandhi and Congress party.

Truth is clearly not Rahul Gandhi's forte, but even dignity is too much to expect from him!



His only qualification is a surname. His entire family has bn involved in scams. Ironic of him to blame PM @narendramodi ji, India's most honest PM,in Rafale deal!#RahulKaPuraKhandanChor  Rajyavardhan Rathore (@Ra_THORe) September 22, 2018

Out on bail Rahul Gandhi & his family have long been the primary source of corruption in the country. They are today blaming Honble PM Narendra Modi in the Rafael deal, who has given India its most honest administration since Independence. #RahulKaPuraKhandanChor  Piyush Goyal (@PiyushGoyal) September 22, 2018

Rahul Gandhi is out on bail. His family is responsible for some of the most reprehensible acts in our history. Many @INCIndia leaders are facing serious corruption charges. Today they are blaming Honble PM Modi, who has run Indias most honest Govt! #RahulKaPuraKhandanChor  Jayant Sinha (@jayantsinha) September 22, 2018

On Saturday, Rahul Gandhi had intensified his attack on PM Modi over the Rafale fighter jets controversy. Addressing a press conference, Gandhi had taken a dig at the Prime Minister, saying, "Desh Ka Chowkidar Chor Hai" (the custodian of the country is now a thief).

Also Read: Hollande says PM of India thief: Rahul questions Modi's silence on Rafale deal

He further said, "For the first time a French ex-president is calling an Indian Prime Minister a thief."Chennai: Faced by opposition parties criticism that the ruling AIADMK is shielding BJP leader H. Raja, the government on Sunday insisted that law would take its own course.

Co-operation Minister Sellur K. Raju said in Madurai that Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami had already made it clear that law would take its own course. And this has resulted in the arrest of Karunas (MLA). This would also apply to H. Raja, he told reporters.

Contending that the government ensured freedom of speech in Tamil Nadu, State Revenue Minister R. B. Udayakumar said law would do its duty if anyone flouted rules.

Cases have already been filed against H. Raja and the police will take appropriate action, Mr. Udayakumar said. Less than a week ago, Raja was booked for his scandalous comments against the Tamil Nadu police and also the Madras High Court ahead of Vinayaka Chathurti procession. Shortly after a video of an angry Raja abusing the police and court went viral, he denied that it was his voice in that video. The voice had been dubbed by someone else, he claimed. H. Raja has been directed to appear in court in four weeks time.

On Saturday, the police in Coimbatore booked a case against the BJP national secretary for his illegitimate child jibe against DMK MP Kanimozhi that he had tweeted in April this year. When his reaction was sought on H. Rajas objectionable remarks, Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam said, It is not known in which state of mind H. Raja is in. There is no need for me to reply to his comments.

Wait and see, he replied when asked if the AIADMK would go it alone in the Lok Sabha elections next year. Meanwhile, Union Minister of State for Finance and Shipping Pon Radhakrishnan said, actor-MLA Karunas outrageous remarks on caste, the Chief Minister and the police cant be accepted a wee bit. Later on when he apologised for what he had said, I thought the issue was over. But as per law, if ones speech is aimed at inciting violence, then law has to do its duty. Stern action should be taken in his case. He had only expressed regret still the implications of what he said could lead to problems, Mr. Radhakrishnan added.Tiruvadanai MLA S. Karunas was arrested at his Chennai residence on Sunday is being brought out of the Royapettah GH after a check up before being housed in the Puzhal jail. (Photo:DC)

Chennai: Actor and MLA S Karunas was arrested early Sunday at his Valasarawakkam residence over some uncomplimentary remarks he allegedly made against the Chief Minister and the police at a recent public meeting. Three of his associates in his outfit, Mukkalathor Puli Padai were also arrested, police said.

A special team picked up Karunas from his residence at about 6.30 am even as a large number of his supporters had gathered there from the previous night itself apprehending his arrest over the remarks at his outfits rally at Valluvar Kottam where he allegedly made provocative, defamatory and derogatory remarks against the CM and a deputy commissioner of police in the city. He was taken to the Nungambakkam police station for recording a statement and later produced before the 13th Egmore metropolitan magistrate Gopinath at his residence.

Following the judicial custody ordered by the magistrate till October 5, Karunas and others arrested were lodged in prison. The magistrate accepted the contention of Karunas lawyer that the police should drop their charge of attempt to murder and allowed the other charges. The actors followers had earlier crowded before the Nungambakkam police station and raised slogans condemning the arrest and warning the administration not to provoke and push them into agitation.

Speaking to reporters after the remand, a defiant Karunas said he was not aware whether the police got the Speaker P Dhanapals clearance as per the Assembly rules before arresting him. Charging the government with denying freedom of expression, he said he would fight his case in a court of law and get justice. He said his (Mukkalathor) community people were brave and would boldly bare their chest to receive the police bullets. Fear of imprisonment did not deter them.

These jails are built only for us, he said. He also said he had already expressed regret for his offensive comments against the CM and the police, so why was the government still after him and his followers?

Karunas remarks at the Valluvar Kottam meeting had invited all-round criticism from political leaders and public outfits as they feared his casteist speech, hailing his Mukkalathor community while attacking the others, could trigger violence by his followers targeting others on caste basis. In his speech, the actor-politician had allegedly justified killing by his caste kin if the cause justified it.

While faulting Karunas for his provocative speech, DMK president MK Stalin wondered why the law enforcers chose to remain mum over the extremely provocative and offending remarks made by BJP leaders H Raja and S Ve Shekher.

Karunas was elected from Tiruvadanai constituency in Ramanathapuram district on an AIADMK ticket. Proclaiming loyalty for Sasikala and TTV Dhinakaran, he began attacking the CM and his government on various issues.I have great personal respect for Sushma Swaraj. She is, by far, one of the most competent ministers in the current Cabinet. It is for this reason that I am at a loss to understand what is happening with regard to our policy towards Pakistan. It is abundantly clear to anyone remotely in the know that Pakistan is quite clear about how to deal with India. Pakistans policy is, as I have said on countless occasions, one of explosive aggression followed by tactical appeasement. This policy has undergone no change with Imran Khan becoming the PM of Pakistan. In fact, any civilian PM of Pakistan is a puppet of the deep state consisting of the ISI and the Pakistani Army. PMs may come and go, but the policy of the deep state remains unchanged, and the incumbent civilian, who is ostensibly democratically elected, has no option but to follow this policy.

This situation explains why Mr Khan, on assuming power, held out an olive branch to India, while Pakistan relentlessly continued its support and sponsorship of terrorism against India. Ceasefire violations have escalated; the Pakistani Army has upped its shelling from across the border, killing and displacing civilians; terrorists sponsored by Pakistan have claimed with impunity the lives of our brave armed forces and paramilitary personnel. Aggression, followed by appeasement, has been the consistent policy.

What has been our response? I am afraid, we have neither been consistent, nor prepared, nor armed with a strategic response of our own. On the one hand, we have publicly maintained, for some time now, that there can be no talks with Pakistan in the shadow of terrorism. Formal comprehensive talks were suspended by the previous UPA government precisely for this reason. Even though PM Narendra Modi invited former Pakistani PM Nawaz Sharif for his swearing-in ceremony, and later air-dashed to Lahore to give a hug to Mr Sharif on his birthday, these talks were not resumed, because Pakistans transparent nexus with terrorism directed against India not only continued, but escalated, with such brazen attacks as that of Uri and Pathankot.

While not agreeing to the resumption of the composite dialogue process, we have, in addition, made countless statements that no talks with Pakistan will be our policy so long as it does not end its verifiable nexus with terrorism. Ms Swaraj herself said that until the perpetrators of the Mumbai carnage are brought to book, any talks with Pakistan are out of the question. But, just a few weeks after her statement, PM Modi met with his counterpart, Mr Sharif, on the sidelines of the Ufa summit, and issued a rather ambivalent and questionable joint statement after that.

Mr Khans offer of talks with India was something we should have expected, and been prepared for. In fact, even better, we should have proactively pre-empted Pakistans move by becoming the prime mover ourselves. Immediately after his election, we should have issued a formal statement expressing the hope that the new PM of Pakistan will eschew the path of terrorism, so that the comprehensive dialogue process can be renewed, with terrorism as the first item on the agenda. Then the ball would have been in Pakistans court. It would have to respond, and we could manoeuvre the response trajectory.

However, since we were not proactive, the opposite has happened. Pakistan has made the offer of talks, and we are scurrying around to respond. And, our response has been  to say the least  rather egregious. First, we said that the two foreign ministers will meet on the sidelines of the UNGA in New York. Then we clarified that this will be a meeting, not a dialogue. What is the difference between the two? When two people meet, at the level of foreign ministers, what they say to each other  unless they are on maun vrat, a vow of silence  constitutes a dialogue. Such a dialogue may not be at the level of the structured comprehensive dialogue, but it is a dialogue. Hair splitting on what is a talk and what is a dialogue is, frankly, quite silly.

But more egg on our face was to follow. The very next day the MEA said that this meeting has been cancelled. The reason given for this reversal was the killing of our security personnel by Pakistan-based entities, and the release of postage stamps of Pakistan-glorifying militant Burhan Wani, who was killed in an encounter by our security forces. The MEA spokesperson said the evil agenda of Pakistan stands exposed, and the true face of the new Pakistan PM, Imran Khan, has been revealed to the world.

This is truly mystifying. Were Pakistan-based entities not killing our security personnel when we agreed, just 24 hours earlier, for Ms Swaraj to meet with her Pakistani counterpart, Shah Mehmood Qureshi? Were we in any doubt that Burhan Wani was a terrorist trained and supported by Pakistan, for us to suddenly realise, in the space of 24 hours, that a stamp issued in his name by Pakistan showed the true face of the Pakistan PM?

The truth is that our response was a plain and simple flip-flop, whose underlying cause is the transparent absence of a well-thought out strategic policy to deal with our hostile neighbour. In the absence of such a policy, our responses become ad hoc. We appear as diplomatic dilettantes on the international stage, and the advantage, quite unnecessarily, accrues to Pakistan. In this instance, while we were busy explaining the reasons for the abrupt reversal of our decisions, Pakistan has conveyed to the world that India has spurned its offer for talks. Mr Qureshi said as much: It is unfortunate that India has not given a positive response. India has once again wasted an opportunity for peace.

Diplomacy to be effective must be embedded in a strategic matrix. The question is not whether we should talk to Pakistan or not. The real issue is that whatever we do must be in accordance with a wellcalibrated strategic policy. There is no point in diverting attention from this basic issue by planning the celebration of anniversaries of the surgical strike. That was a move we welcomed and paid tribute to our brave soldiers. However, one strike alone is not enough to overlook the continued violence against us from across the border. Nor is a muscular posture a substitute for strategic clarity.

H10Over the course of this past Friday and Saturday, Freehold Raceway hosted two $50,000 New Jersey Sire Stakes Standardbred Development Fund Finals for

two-year-olds.

On Friday (Sept. 21), two-year-old filly trotters competed for a $50,000 purse in Race 4. After having avoided the breaking Golden Tricks, Jimmy Takters filly, Flos Conch Shack, led the way and went on to stop the clock in 2:00.2. The victory marked lifetime win No. 2 for the daughter of Father Patrick (her other win came in the first leg of the series). The New Jersey-sired filly has now earned $29,850 for her owner John Fielding. Trelanney finished second and Big Weezy third.

On Saturday (Sept. 22), the NJSDF final for two-year-old colt pacers was captured by Michael Halls Trente Deo in 1:57. Trente Deo left from Post 4, made the front by the first quarter, and was able to nose out the odds-on favourite, Downtown Cruiser, at the wire. Trente Deo, bred by Deo Volente Farms, LLC, has earned $59,316 for owners Michael Hall, David Hamm, and the CTC Stable. Downtown Cruiser finished second and Just Plain Loco third.

(With files from the SBOANJ)Imran Khan became Prime Minister of Pakistan with the slogan of Naya Pakistan, or New Pakistan. In India, his victory was seen as enabled by the blessings of the Pakistan Army. Only the naive believed that there would be anything naya about his India policy in the short run. But the Narendra Modi government inexplicably gambled otherwise, leading to another flip-flop and a regression in relations. While India alleged that it only now saw Imran Khans real face, he retorted with the barb that small men occupying big offices lacked vision.

What has led to this new impasse? With Central rule imposed on Jammu and Kashmir, Mr Satyapal Malik appointed as the new governor, and an apparent free run given to the security forces; and the National Conference and the Peoples Democratic Party boycotting in advance the planned local elections, the environment was hardly propitious for an India-Pakistan engagement. In September, when the UN General Assembly convenes for its annual high-level segment, Pakistan invariably ratchets up tension across the Line of Control by ceasefire violations, atrocities against the Indian security forces or by encouraging militancy and infiltration. Thus the announcement by the external affairs ministry  that the foreign ministers of India and Pakistan, representing their nations this year in lieu of the Prime Ministers, would meet on the sidelines of the UNGA  was surprising. Some, including this columnist, welcomed the move as the zero tolerance of terror policy was unrealistic and cornered India into perennial hostility. Even the US has not been able to wean Pakis-tan away from a similar demand by them on Pakistans western (Afghanistan) front. India should definitely react when a terror attack is of the magnitude and planning that betrays the Pakistani agencies hand. But attacks by lone wolves cannot be allowed to scupper bilateral relations, as otherwise each and every single jihadi gets a veto on India-Pakistan ties.

The decision to meet was taken on receipt of Prime Minister Imran Khans reply to Prime Minister Narendra Modis congratulatory message, in which the former accepted the Indian suggestion for constructive engagement and proposed the ministerial meeting. The letter, dated September 14, should normally have reached Mr Modi the same day or the following day. Which means the Indian government mulled over it for a few days before announcing its acceptance on September 20. Meanwhile, Pakistans Army chief Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa was in Beijing on a three-day visit that ended on September 19. He would no doubt have been kept informed by the Imran Khan government. In China, he got a reception befitting a high political emissary, including a call on President Xi Jinping. Mutual vows of perennial alliance were exchanged as Gen. Bajwa allayed Chinese fears that the Imran Khan government, like the new Malaysian government headed by Mahathir Mohamed, may restrict the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

Gen. Bajwa had earlier shrewdly collared Punjab minister Navtej Singh Sidhu, visiting Pakistan as a special invitee of PM-elect Imran Khan, and resurrected the corridor to Kartarpur, where Guru Nanak had stayed and proselytised for the last two decades of his earthly journey. On the right bank of the river Ravi, Kartarpur is near the international border and on a clear day the Gurdwara Sahib is visible from India. Why Sir Cyril Radcliffe left it in Pakistan, when in that region the border follows the river, escapes explanation as for Sikhs its significance equals if not exceeds other Sikh takhts. Gen. Bajwa calculated that with Guru Nanaks 550th birth anniversary next year, it would please Sikhs and have them lobby with New Delhi to engage Pakistan. But Delhis red lines seek Pakistani action first against past terror perpetrators and implementation of President Pervez Musharrafs 2004 public commitment on preventing the use of Pakistani territory for aiding and abetting terror. The Indian agencies had already been alleging an ISI hand in supporting #Referendum 2020, an Internet-based vote on Khalistan.

Thus, while Imran Khan extended the hand of friendship, the Pakistan Army set forth to undermine the zero toerance terror doctrine of the Modi government. The killing of kidnapped soldiers and policemen by terrorists had been episodically occurring in the Kashmir Valley. The BSF, completely unmindful of these disparate but interrelated events, dispatched a party beyond the international border fencing, but in Indian territory, to cut elephant grass which obstructs its line of sight. Was the BSF alerted by the Intelligence Bureau or R&AW about the Pakistan Armys proclivity to undermine peace efforts or simply put pressure on India before it sat down for what South Block called a chat, and not resumption of dialogue? Did national security adviser Ajit Doval convene a meeting to assess likely rogue actions by the Pakistan Army as India prepared to re-engage Pakistan? These are questions which in mature democracies the Opposition and the media get the government to answer.

The Indian pirouette and rude remarks about Imran Khan were due to, as the MEA spokesman dourly argued, that mornings kidnapping and killing of policemen in the Valley and stamps issued to commemorate militants, including Burhan Wani. The killings were not a new development. BSF head constable Narender Singh had already been killed and his body mutilated on September 18, and the stamps had been issued before Imran Khan took over. The unseemly flip-flop seemed more engendered by the social media and political uproar amongst Modi bhakts, core jingoistic supporters and even ordinary Indians looking for a reasoned explanation.

Consequently, hasty decision-making and reliance on a small coterie of doting adviers have ensured that Imran Khan, a possible factor of goodwill and change, has been alienated. Wagons were quickly circled to ensure that the blame, if any, is passed to South Block and did not linger at the PMs doorstep. But the world and the UN will be the losers as the two countries ministers now prepare for a public spectacle in New York, of vituperative and ugly mutual finger-pointing.There is a tragi-comic aspect to Indias decision on Friday to cancel the meeting of external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj with Pakistan foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi within 24 hours of New Delhi accepting Islamabads proposal for a contact on the sidelines of the session of the UN General Assembly.

The cancellation speaks of the government not thinking through the processes and paths to adopt in dealing with Pakistan in the light of experiences of the past. India has officially said that it was cancelling the meet on account of killings of Indian security personnel by Pakistan. There are two components of this. A soldier of the BSF was killed by the Pakistanis on the international border in the Ramgarh sector of Jammu and the body was discovered in a decapitated state.

The second is the abduction from their homes and subsequent murder of three police personnel in south Kashmir. Decapitation and killing of the BSF jawan is to be strongly condemned, and India had to act in some manner following the incident to register its unhappiness. Bullets fly in the hostile border area and deaths of soldiers on both sides are common. But severing the head from the dead body is a different matter.

There is another aspect of this, however. The day before the jawans body was found, defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman had boasted on a Hindi television programme that we also sever the heads of enemies but do not broadcast this. This limits our room for action.

As for the tragic killing of the three special police officers (SPOs) in Kashmir, the same process  attacks by terrorists on our uniformed personnel who are from Kashmir  has been unfolding for several weeks, much before India agreed to a meeting of the two foreign ministers in New York. To cite that as reason for cancellation is not logical. India has quite appropriately said in defence of changing its mind that Pakistan has recently issued postal stamps to commemorate a Kashmiri terrorist killed by our security forces in July 2016, which showed that Pakistan supported terrorist actions in J&K.

Having agreed to meet, we could have conceivably gone ahead with the contact at the UNGA and given the Pakistanis a piece of our mind and informed the country about this afterward.

An alternative plan of action could easily have been to let Prime Minister Imran Khan know after he wrote to PM Narendra Modi to seek a meeting at the foreign minister level that while the time was not right for this, informal channels of communication could be kept active for a discussion on matters of mutual interest.

This would have been more appropriate in the election season in India, considering that single terrorist incidents can easily derail structured processes of interaction.

H10It is the worlds biggest health insurance scheme. The Ayushman Bharat  Pradhan Mantri Jan Aarogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY)  is based on a seminal idea of universal healthcare that welfare states must offer. The scheme may cover about 40 per cent of the population to begin with. This rises way above politics and the seeking of electoral gains even if the targeted electorate comprises those who can make all the difference in who comes to power in India. The idea takes off on what Tamil Nadu introduced six years ago as the CMs Comprehensive Health Insurance Scheme. If it avoids the pitfalls of red tape and petty bureaucracy denying rightful beneficiaries, the scheme will not only help energise insurance companies but also the state-run and private hospitals would enjoy the benefits of revenue flow from the governments.

The concept of becoming a true welfare state may have been around for decades but India never ventured beyond providing essential food items for the poor. Given the enormity of funds that drive such measures, they must be made efficient enough to prevent leakages while ensuring the benefits reach the intended targets. It is churlish then of five states  Telangana, Odisha, Kerala, Punjab and Delhi  not to have enrolled yet. The willingness of the system and the support staff to disseminate information about the scheme widely would ultimately determine if a majority of the sick and the unwell get the benefit of proper healthcare. Call it Modicare or not, Ayushman Bharat is a great idea.The controversy over the terms of purchase of the Rafale fighter aircraft  there is no dispute about the quality of these planes  by the Narendra Modi government by altering the basic format of discussion under the previous UPA government, is singularly unfortunate. It is also hotting up by the day as the bitter attack on the government by the Congress, and the unprepossessing counter-attack, suggests.

The question of bribes and unfair commissions being taken by a poorly equipped private player on account of having the right connections are being openly discussed outside the political class as well, as the country gears up for elections.

Former French President Francois Hollande, who had been invited by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to be the chief guest for the Republic Day in 2016 and negotiated the inter-government agreement, the basis of the military deal, with Mr Modi, told a French news agency last week that it was India that suggested the name of the interlocutor  meaning the Indian private company that Dassault, the French aircraft manufacturer, will deal with in India  and the French side had no choice in the matter.

This was explosive and Congress president Rahul Gandhis attack on the government and the PM grew sharper. The defence ministry denied Mr Hollandes assertion, seeking to rubbish the Congress charge. It even pointed fingers at Mr Hollande. It said the former Fren-ch leader had a conflict of interest in the case.

Subsequently, Mr Hollande has told news agency AFP that only Dassault can say if India had applied any pressure on it to have Anil Ambanis company as the Indian offset partner. Top ministers see in this an effort on Mr Hollandes part to retreat from his earlier remarks. The thrust and parry from both sides look to be thoroughly political in nature, and the facts being brought out in the public domain can make sense only if subjected to impartial scrutiny.

In the ordinary way, even in a half-functioning democracy, the public would be discussing a probe and the political class, no matter how self-seeking, would have no choice but to structure a debate around the kind of probe that may be acceptable to the country. But it is impossible to get away from the idea of an inquiry conducted by competent persons in a deal for a military purchase costing the public exchequer Rs 59,000 crore.

Unfortunately, Union law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, presumably speaking for the government, has ruled out an investigation. His logic is that an inquiry cannot be held just to satisfy the ego of Mr Gandhi. This is an unusual argument to put forward. This country has better traditions than this and can do better.Back in 2013, Imran Khan had successfully posited his conceptual Naya Pakistan in public imagination by way of a theatrical six-point pledge that sought to usher in an era of change. The fundamental changes sought in the Pakistani governance veered around the principles of probity, inclusivity and rapprochement. His six specific pledges included: I will always speak the truth to the people of Pakistan and We will stand together with every Pakistani in or outside Pakistan. While Mr Khans personal popularity and appeal did connect and elevated his fledgling Tehreek-e-Insaf to be the second biggest political party by way of popular votes  16.92 per cent, Mr Khan had to wait for another five years before finally dethroning PML(N) in 2018 to shape his promise of Naya Pakistan. With the adequacy of winning legislatures in the National Assembly and with the most crucial backing of the Pakistani establishment (read, military) in tow  the situational circumstances were perfectly aligned to change the natural Pakistani instincts and essential narrative, once and for all.

Unfortunately, the proposed change was premised on embryonic falsehood as Mr Khan had liberally given tickets to last-minute party-hoppers from the PPP and PML(N) (termed electables), who personified the dynastic, vile and the notoriety of feudal-hinterlands. Twenty-three of these 46 electables won the day for Mr Khan and added more than four million of the total nine million additional votes (vis-a-vis 2013 national elections) garnered by the Tehreek-e-Insaf in 2018. This genealogical compromise of principles militated against the promised-purity of Naya Pakistan as it perpetuated the curse of biradari politics (communal-societal-sectarian grouping), clearly signifying the importance of electables over deliver-ables!

Early signs of Mr Khans political reverse-swings were questioned by his co-agitator in the landmark Azadi March of 2014, cleric Tahir-ul Qadri whose lament: If electables were necessary then why 200 million population was humiliated. Why were the protests held and commotion caused went unheeded in the convenient cover of political expediency and electoral necessity.

Mr Khans victory speech before his formal appointment as the Prime Minister was loaded with gratuitous homilies, religious invocations and some populist grandstanding like embarrassed to live in PM house, two steps for every one step by India and the rote reiterations on Kashmir, Afghanistan and correction of the one way relationship with the US! However, soon the penny of natural instincts dropped with the congratulatory phone call by US secretary of state Mike Pompeo to Mr Khan. Though a perfunctory call, it unequivocally carried the US concerns on Pakistan taking decisive action against all terrorists operating in Pakistan which was routinely and cavalierly denied by Islamabad. The Americans with the backdrop of Donald Trumps opening New Year salvo of Pakistani lies and deceit were in no mood to entertain the Pakistani bravado and quietly released the transcript of the said call, thereby embarrassing the Pakistanis at the very outset. Given the fractious US-Pakistan equation and the forthcoming visit of Mr Pompeo to Pakistan, the matter was buried in the know that Pakistan had faltered and lied yet again, and that the instinct of dishonesty still prevailed.

The second sign of sovereign intransigence and policy-perpetuity were in the usual handling of the India-Pakistan relationship. Since his arrival onto the political centrestage, Mr Khan has expectedly played down any civil-military dissonance and had steadfastly maintained a position of perfect unison and understanding between the two institutions. If so, then his ostensibly reconciliatory tone towards India was thrashed rather immediately and publically by Pakistani Army Chief Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa, who on addressing the 53rd anniversary of the 1965 India-Pakistan war railed: We will avenge the blood flowing across the border and robotically alluded to Jammu and Kashmir by provoking, brothers and sisters in the occupied Jammu and Kashmir who are writing the history of resistance, all this with Prime Minister Khan in attendance and obvious acquiescence. While a certain muscularity in the phraseology of the Army Chief on their Defence Day is normal, however, the threatening-contextualising on Jammu and Kashmir was both avoidable and augury of the continuation of the narrative.

The third blatant retraction from the postured pledges of inclusivity and non-discrimination were exposed in the forced resignation of Prof Atif Mian, belonging to the minority sect of the discriminated Ahmediya faith, from the newly-constituted membership of the Economic Advisory Council. The abandonment of meritocracy for the sake of pandering to religious bigotry, intolerance and continuous demonisation was reflective of the governance of yore. The same nation that had disowned its finest like the fellow-Ahmediya, Prof Abdus Salaam (first Pakistani to win a Nobel Prize) by desecrating the epitaph on his tombstone which read First Muslim to win a Nobel Prize, had shown that the new Imran Khan government was no different from that of the earlier dispensations. The supposed threat of a public sit-in by religious groups and supremacist sects in front of the visiting Saudi minister for information Dr Awwad Bin Saleh Al-Awwad was felt to be grave enough to succumb, surrender and set an early and regressive precedent of the five-year tenure.

For a first-time-at-the-Centre, Tehreek-e-Insafs government is saddled with 13 of the 16 elected Cabinet members, who were either part of the earlier Gen. Musharraf or PPP regimes. It will take Mr Khan more than the personal renunciation of the privileges or the sudden discovery of dead capital worth

Rs 300 billion in the form of government land, in order to tide over its crippling socio-economic woes.

Mr Khans thunderous statements, grandiloquence and bravado of the quintessential Opposition leader was usually a lot more free-flowing, dramatic and quick-fix in nature, as opposed to the onerous task of changing the essential sovereign narrative of probity, inclusivity, austerity and rapprochement towards fructifying Naya Pakistan. Almost one month in the saddle have been a clumsy ride of the sameness that has been bereft of any brave departure from the past, and importantly the opening mistakes have been done with the full know, acceptance and perpetuation by Mr Khan.

B09Two stories concerning defence and what is called strategic affairs have been in the news recently. One is the story on the purchase of the fighter plane Rafale from France, and the other is the dialogue India had with the United States called 2+2. I wanted to look at the former, but not from the strategic affairs angle. Id like to focus on something different.

These things usually are of interest only to the small community of people who report on and study international relations. This group was very excited by the implications of the 2+2 meeting because apparently it will lead to all sorts of new things.

The narrowness of this group is reflected in one national newspapers report of the event. The first line was: Many in Indias strategic community could not contain their euphoria at the signing of the Comcasa, the India-specific formulation of CISMOA, during the just-concluded 2+2 India-US dialogue.

How many Indians know what Comcasa or CISMOA is or what 2+2 is? Probably one in one lakh, or actually fewer even than that. Since this piece is not about the security aspects or defence scandals, we will not take a look at what Comcasa and CISMOA mean. I was interested in the photograph that accompanied the report. It had four individuals, the defence secretary and secretary of state of the United States and the defence minister and foreign minister of India.

The ranks of these individuals is the same, meaning that the secretary in the US is the same as the Cabinet ranked minister in India. We are often accused as a nation and a culture of not wanting to engage with those who are beneath us.

The former ambassador and scholar of Indo-American relations, Dennis Kux, has written that Indian diplomats usually do not want to discuss with an American official of lower rank, even if the American official was authorised to take a decision in the matter at hand. Indians would rather engage with their peer, even if the resultant meeting is indecisive.

This was obviously not the case in our 2+2 meeting and I think a lot of people in the strategic affairs community would have been delighted that mighty America had sent its two most powerful individuals after the President to Delhi to engage with us, and that also at ministerial level.

Again, my interest is not in such power-play aspects, but something altogether different.

The photograph was of the four individuals standing together and facing the audience. On the left were Americas secretary of state Mike Pompeo and secretary of defence Jim Mattis, who are both white men. Mr Mattis is a former general in the Army. Mr Pompeo is also a former Army man who was at one time head of the American spying agency, the CIA.

To the right were Indias foreign minister and Indias defence minister. Both were women. One from the north (Sushma Swaraj) and the other from the south (Nirmala Sitharaman). Both are self-made and powerful individuals, not dependent on anyone for their rise to important and powerful positions.

Two powerful men shaking hands with two powerful women as equals. This photograph made me very happy. I do not usually like to read about defence issues because I think it is a frightening waste of money in a nation with few resources. And also that this expense usually benefits the narrow interests of wealthy individuals (as the other story on defence is showing). But this story and specifically this 2+2 photograph pleased me greatly.

Like the rest of the world we live in a place of great inequality. In the United States, the dominance of white men is evident across their culture. There is not much space for women and there is certainly very little space for people of colour and of different faith.

The same is true in India. That photograph was not fully representative of this government, and I can off hand think of only one other powerful woman minister (Smriti Z. Irani), but it showed what was possible.

Certainly the lack of adequate representation of women in politics is not because of a lack of talent. Ms Swaraj and Ms Sitharaman and Ms Irani  and Mayawati and Mamata Banerjee and others in the Opposition  disprove that comprehensively.

It is purely because of a lack of opportunity. Moments like the 2+2 meeting should make us aware of it, and it should make us insist to all political parties that they actively include more women if they want our support and our vote.

B09But, sadly, few had used this provision when the campaign against triple talaq was raging in the media, hence there were hardly any reports which focused on this remedy as a counter to the hype created around triple talaq.

After all attempts of the BJP-led NDA government to enact a legislation to criminalise triple talaq were thwarted in the Rajya Sabha by Opposition parties, it took the Ordinance route to bring in the controversial provision. Ironically, by the time the government became determined to enact this provision, most womens rights groups, including several Muslim womens groups, had stopped supporting the demand to criminalise triple talaq.

The Supreme Court, in a number of rulings earlier, but more decisively in the Shayara Bano case in 2017, had already held that this practice is invalid as it does not have scriptural sanction. Courts have also held that pronouncing arbitrary triple talaq, dispossessing a woman of her matrimonial residence or denying her economic support constitutes domestic violence and the aggrieved woman can take recourse to provisions of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act 2005 (PWDVA). Even those groups who had filed intervener application in support of the PIL filed by Shayara Bano started endorsing the PWDVA.

But, sadly, few had used this provision when the campaign against triple talaq was raging in the media, hence there were hardly any reports which focused on this remedy as a counter to the hype created around triple talaq.

So pleas that the campaign against triple talaq was communally motivated and instead we should promote the Domestic Violence Act as the antidote fell on deaf ears, as everyone wanted to be on the bandwagon of saving the poor Muslim woman.

But when media reports started appearing about the governments intention to enact a law to criminalise triple talaq, some womens groups started ringing alarm bells expressing their concern on the ground that this law will add one more weapon in the hands of the police to incarcerate Muslim men. The handle to enact the law, sadly, was provided to the government by these very groups and the secular and progressive Muslim mens groups.

Two groups stood firm in their demand to criminalise triple talaq  the Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan (BMMA) and the RSS-affiliated Rashtrawadi Muslim Mahila Sangh projected that unless triple talaq is criminalised through a statute, it will not stop. After the ruling in the Shayara Bano case, members of this group were seen on television channels distributing sweets, within three months they started saying that the verdict has had no impact on the ground and that the practice has continued unabated. It is like saying even after prescribing death penalty, incidents of child rape have not reduced.

The demand of BMMA was music to the ruling partys ears. During the election campaign, the Prime Minister had, with tears in his eyes, assured Muslim sisters that he will come to their aid. Again from the Red Fort, he proclaimed that he will not rest till Muslim women get justice. So the Ordinance is justified on this ground  after all, the government is doing it to bring justice to Muslim women.

The plight of Hindu women who are subjected to extreme violence, desertion and destitution doesnt seem to bring tears to the Prime Ministers eyes the way he is moved by the plight of Muslim women.

This despite the fact that indicators for Muslim women on nutrition, life expectancy, access to private healthcare system, etc. are slightly better than that of their Hindu counterparts, according to the Kundu Committee report. It really didnt matter that 86 per cent of the number of girls married before the age of 10 are Hindus despite a law in place. It doesnt matter that communities practising sex selective abortions are primarily Hindus; that overwhelming number of married women who commit suicide or are brutally murdered for dowry are Hindus; that a majority of those who are deserted and become destitute in India as per the 2001 census report are Hindus.

While the Prime Minister has not shed any tears for his Hindu sisters, his determination to save Muslim sisters has led the government to take the Ordinance route to incarcerate Muslim husbands for adopting an outlawed and invalid practice of pronouncing triple talaq, which in actual practice, as per the Supreme Court ruling, does not dissolve the Muslim marriage and the marriage remains intact.

There is something more here than meets the eye. The concern of the BJP-led government seems to stem from political posturing. The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill 2017 will have to be ratified in Parliament within the next six months and this period will give the party sufficient time to campaign and, more importantly, project the Congress and other Opposition parties as anti-women and on the side of the Muslim clergy.

It will give the party ample scope to humiliate the Congress by constantly bringing into focus the Muslim Women Act enacted by the Rajiv Gandhi government at the insistence of the religious clergy to deny maintenance to Muslim women.

The Congress has been shamed to such an extent that when a much more draconian form of the bill was presented in the Lok Sabha, Congress members were tongue-tied. None of the Congress parliamentarians could clearly spell out the gains of this much-maligned Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act 1986 enacted after the controversial Shah Bano ruling, including the fact that it has actually come to the aid of divorced Muslim women by ensuring a fair and reasonable settlement for life.

The Act provided for maintenance for three months of iddat period for the divorced wife and the provision of lumpsum settlement for life. Any confusion created by the wording was clarified by the Supreme Courts Constitutional Bench in the 2001 Danial Latifi case. The ruling held that the Act is constitutionally valid and clarified that the Muslim woman is entitled to a settlement that would secure her for life. Even our lowly magistrates adjudicating this issue in far-flung areas are well aware of it and abide by the pro-women rulings. But, unfortunately, our legislators, legal experts, campaigners and the media have consistently failed to recognise the fact that today the situation of a Muslim woman is far better than that of her Hindu counterpart.

The Ordinance, brought ostensible to protect Muslim women, may actually prove to be far worse than the remedies she is entitled to under existing legal provisions.

An incarcerated husband will not be in a position to pay maintenance. It will also not save the Muslim wifes marriage. And the police, functioning within an Islamophobic social milieu, will push women towards this new remedy rather than the civil remedies under the PWDVA. This will be a bigger tragedy for which no tears will be shed during election campaigns.If Narendra Modi had set the tone in late 2013 and early 2014 by unleashing a no-holds-barred attack on Sonia and Rahul Gandhi, thus inaugurating an era of personalised name-calling in politics in which every FIR led to Jawaharlal Nehru, months before crucial elections, Mr Gandhi appears to have taken aim squarely at the Prime Minister, with the available material on the Rafale deal and the government struggling with explanations on economic fugitives like Vijay Mallya.

It is clear the Congress chief is seeking to play the conscious catalyser in a likely process of crucial adjustments to the current political equilibrium in the country, depending on the outcome in the upcoming Assembly elections, which lead on to the next Lok Sabha poll.

The deep-going Rafale-related suspicions of wrongdoing can be immediately stanched if the government agreed to a probe by a Joint Parliamentary Committee. It strains logic that it should reject the idea of probe  whose announcement can be in its self-interest  into suspected malfeasance involving Rs 59,000 crores of taxpayers money.

To top these murky goings-on is the sharp deterioration in the security climate in Kashmir, which do India no credit. After the beheading of a BSF soldier on the LoC, the Army Chief has called for a retaliatory strategy. But his words undercut defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who just days earlier airily informed a friendly Hindi television station that the Indians were severing the heads of the Pakistanis but were not prone to display  a kind of reverse of the so-called surgical strike strategy.

In the national interest, all of this, besides the hardships on the economic front, would naturally lead the Opposition to ask questions to the government. These may also be a factor in the forthcoming state elections. However, the overall advantage may still be presumed to lie with the ruling government as it has the state machinery at its beck and call.

The State can go at express speed on a propaganda blitz with the aid of the bludgeoned sections of the media, although the latters ability to lead the narrative is waning. Still, the regimes opponents cannot match its propaganda resources.

With enormous punitive powers at its command, the government can also arm-twist certain types of opponents into submission. This too is an advantage only the ruling party at the Centre has when it turns its back on ethics.

BSP heroine Mayawatis falter in joining an anti-BJP coalition of Opposition parties in key north Indian states, after holding out such a promise, may be cited as an example of the governments abilities in the dark arts.

Assembly polls in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Mizoran are barely eight weeks away, and in Telangana perhaps less. In light of Ms Mayawatis reported moves, the Congress Party has already suffered a jolt. Can the Oppositions hopes be revived? Mr Gandhi must step into the breach with an on-the-ground dynamism that he had shown in Gujarat and Karnataka.

In those states Mr Gandhi gave the impression of taking on the heavy lifting himself, cutting through state factions, working on possible brackets of cooperation with various political entities, and taking an active and visible interest in settling intra-party rivalries. He also seemed unafraid of the criticism of not showing sufficient patience with certain parties and groups. This overall approach paid dividend.

In the case of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, however, the Congress stance appears to have been tentative, one born of insecurity, leading to an accent on trying overmuch to please the BSP for fear of losing out to the BJP if an alliance with the dalit party did not come through.

Ms Mayawati, in contrast, showed panache. In Chhattisgarh, she secretly roped in Ajit Jogi while the Congress waited on her. The whole episode suggests that the BSP leader has decided not to be with the principal opponents of the regime in any state, including Uttar Pradesh.

In the circumstances, Ms Mayawatis interlocutors, especially the Congress, can only survive by displaying boldness, which since Indira Gandhi has not been the partys dominant characteristic. This calls for a barnstorming mindset  to campaign vigorously with the dalit communities, for whose youth the BJP has been an object of anger in recent times.

Ms Mayawati is losing sight of the fact that young dalits, in UP especially, had gone to the BJP in droves in 2014, and not to her, and this time around they might be looking for a third option in case she pitched in with the BJP.

In a scenario of this kind, attempting the Hardik Patel-Jignesh Mevani coordinate adopted last year in Gujarat suggests itself. These young, radical politicians of different persuasions had borne an unusual political responsibility by going against set patterns and had paired with the Congress.

Such young politicians need to be unearthed in the northern part of the country as well. The reliance on compromised politicians in general, including within the Congress, when taking on entrenched communal tendencies, can hardly be overstated.

In a quarter century, for various reasons, the Congress has not been the preferred destination of the youth, who now seem to have gone off on communal or caste tangents in the main, with the communal call being the louder. This, however, brought them nothing but misery. Narrow identity-based ideologies rooted in the far right are known to produce economic despair, especially for the middle and the poor classes, and bring about deep social cleavages and insecurities. This was the scenario in which Gujarat had made a move toward the Congress last year.

In Gujarat, for the youth, the Congress was the only probable alternative; and two, it had a new, energetic, young leader in Mr Gandhi who looks sincere, if too earnest, and appears not corrupt. The latter was decidedly a factor. Earlier the Congress has been a probable alternative before but without making a difference.

When Mr Modi and Mr Gandhi are now head-to-head, the former is not an automatic choice any more. Thats been clear for some time, as recent polling data also attests. With the countrys woes mounting, and despair seizing the youth, this is not an unnatural outcome. But the Congress, especially, must remember it is starting with a very narrow base. Regime criticism alone cannot do the trick. Creative collaborations are vital.

Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, in each of which the RSS-BJP are in power, the Congress can only make headway if it shows tactical innovativeness and awareness, and pitches its appeal across all sections, not least because all have borne the brunt, although some more than others. In this terrain lies the Congress real challenge.Washington has tracked some 148 cases this year of tankers delivering fuel to North Korea in breach of a UN cap of 500,000 barrels a year. Haley has not said how many of those transfers may have involved Russia. (Photo: File | AP)

Washington: The US State Department said on Saturday that Washington would not wait to impose sanctions on any shippers helping to get fuel to North Korea, in an apparent warning to Russia days after the US ambassador to the United Nations accused Moscow of cheating on the measures.

North Korea continues to employ tactics to evade UN sanctions, Heather Nauert, the State Department spokeswoman, said in a statement, adding that UN member states are required to prohibit ship-to-ship transfers of petroleum fuel to the hermit country.

"The United States will not hesitate to impose sanctions on any individual, entity, or vessel supporting North Korea's illicit activities, regardless of nationality," Nauert said.

The 15-member UN Security Council has unanimously boosted sanctions on North Korea since 2006 in a bid to choke funding for Pyongyang's nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

But the United States and Russia have recently shown cracks in the unity of the council over the sanctions.

Washington has "evidence of consistent and wide-ranging Russian violations" of the sanctions, the US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley said on Monday. Russia was helping North Korea illegally obtain fuel through transfers at sea, had refused to expel a North Korean whom the Security Council blacklisted last year, and had pushed for changes to an independent UN report on sanctions violations to cover up breaches by Russians, she said.

Russia said after Haley's comments that Moscow had not pressured the authors of the UN report and blamed Haley for heightening tensions.

With the warning on fuel shipments, the Trump administration signaled it was keeping pressure on Pyongyang even after saying there has been progress. President Donald Trump this week hailed a summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in, and said there had been "tremendous progress" with North Korea on several fronts including Pyongyang's denuclearisation.

Washington has tracked some 148 cases this year of tankers delivering fuel to North Korea in breach of a UN cap of 500,000 barrels a year. Haley has not said how many of those transfers may have involved Russia.

Both Russia and China have suggested the Security Council discuss easing sanctions after Trump and Kim met in June and Kim pledged to work toward denuclearisation.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Friday the United States is working to set up another summit between Trump and Kim after their unprecedented meeting in Singapore, but there is still work to do.After several days of maintaining a relatively neutral posture, Trump had, on Friday, declared that Ford was lying. (Photo: File | AFP)

Washington: The woman whose sexual assault allegation threatens to bring down President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee has agreed to testify in the Senate, her lawyers said on Saturday, setting up a dramatic showdown next week.

Christine Blasey Ford's decision followed days of negotiations and came after Trump turned against her and said her accusation could not be true.

Ford "accepts the committee's request to provide her first-hand knowledge of Brett Kavanaugh's sexual misconduct next week," said a message from her lawyers to the Senate Judiciary Committee, US media reported.

Hours later, multiple outlets including Politico and The Daily Beast reported the hearing would take place on Thursday, citing sources familiar with a phone call between the committee and Ford's lawyers.

The tentative deal capped a day of frenetic developments, with time running out for Trump to get his hand-picked conservative judge confirmed -- thereby tilting the Supreme Court firmly to the right for years to come -- before November elections when Republicans risk losing control of Congress.

Earlier, the panel had given the California professor until 2:30 pm (1830 GMT) to decide whether to appear, after she rejected a Friday evening deadline imposed by the committee's Republican leader, Chuck Grassley.

"Although many aspects of the proposal you provided via email, on (Friday) are fundamentally inconsistent with the committee's promise of a fair, impartial investigation into her allegations, and we are disappointed with the leaks and the bullying that have tainted the process, we are hopeful that we can reach agreement on details," read the lawyers' letter cited by The Washington Post.

The White House criticized Ford for allegedly dithering. "But one thing has remained consistent: Brett Kavanaugh remains ready, willing and eager to testify as soon as possible," it added.

Denial

Ford alleges that Kavanaugh drunkenly assaulted her at a party when he was 17, she was 15 and they were attending private schools outside Washington in the 1980s.

Kavanaugh denies knowledge of any such assault and wants to give his side of the story to the committee.

Grassley had wanted the hearing to take place on Wednesday, but Ford asked that it be held on Thursday at the earliest and to be able to call as a witness a man she says was present during the assault.

The committee's Republican leadership turned down those demands.

After several days of maintaining a relatively neutral posture, Trump on Friday declared that Ford was lying.

"TAKE THE VOTE!" Trump tweeted, blaming "radical left wing politicians" for the controversy.

A Call For Respect

According to Trump, the fact that Ford remained silent until now shows the incident probably never happened -- even if this runs counter to what experts say is the typical reaction of sexual assault victims afraid or too embarrassed to report.

"I have no doubt that, if the attack on Dr Ford was as bad as she says," Trump tweeted, "charges would have been immediately filed with local Law Enforcement Authorities by either her or her loving parents."

The senior senator for Trump's Democratic foes, Chuck Schumer, called the president's logic a "highly offensive misunderstanding of surviving trauma," while Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein said: "We must treat sexual assault survivors with respect, not bully or try to silence them."

Even one of Trump's own Republican senators, Susan Collins -- who sits on the Judiciary Committee -- said she was "appalled by the president's tweet."

"We know that allegations of sexual assault are some of the most under-reported crimes that exist," Collins said.

Trump's outburst saw a new #MeToo era hashtag storm the internet, with people -- mostly women -- sharing why they did not report being assaulted under the Twitter hashtag #WhyIDidntReport.

Ford told the Post she went public with her claims because she felt her "civic responsibility" was "outweighing my anguish and terror about retaliation" after the basic outlines of the story emerged in the media.

Ford's husband, Russell Ford, was quoted by The Post as saying the thought that Kavanaugh could be considered for the Supreme Court after Trump took office troubled his wife so much that she considered moving as far away as New Zealand.

"She was like, 'I can't deal with this,'" Russell Ford said. "'I cannot live in this country if he's in the Supreme Court.'"

Republicans are frustrated over what they say was the deliberate timing of the last-minute revelation of Ford's allegation, accusing Democrats of seeking to prevent the process from finishing before the midterm elections in a few weeks.

For their part, Democrats say Republicans are mounting an unseemly rush to get Kavanaugh into the nine-member Supreme Court while they still control the legislature.Two days after a 12-year-old boy died on the spot after a water tanker ran over him on Panathur Main Road, residents staged a candlelight protest against the civic bodies on Sunday.

The residents said several accidents occur on the Panathur- Belagere road due to the presence of many water tankers, especially during the peak hours. To add to it the road is too narrow and marked with deep potholes. The narrow Road Under Bridge (RUB) acts as a bottleneck for vehicles during the peak hours.

Only one water tanker can pass through the RUB at a time. Yet we can see at least 20 to 30 water tankers every hour and the drivers do not have any timing to supply the water. The traffic and accidents are caused mainly because of them, said Hitesh, a resident of Panathur.

Two days after a 12-year-old boy died on the spot after a water tanker ran over him on Panathur Main Road, residents staged a candlelight protest against the civic bodies on Sunday.https://t.co/WAkyjIggWa

Hitsh Kesariya, a local resident, explains. pic.twitter.com/FeNJ8RxHa5  Deccan Herald (@DeccanHerald) September 23, 2018

The residents of various apartment complexes in Panathur and Belagere area had recently approached the HAL Traffic Police and urged them to set a standard time for all the water tankers so that they do not choke the road. However, their request did not yield any result.

On Sunday about 400 people came together near VIBGYOR school in Panathur Road to protest against the death of the boy. They also demanded for footpaths, street lights and a traffic police to check the license of these water tankers.

Corporator Pushpa Manjunath, who could not meet the residents during the protest, said Panathur- Belagere road widening project was delayed due to land acquisition problems. It is getting difficult to convince them (landowners), she said.

Funds have been sanctioned for the project and it will start as soon as the land is acquired, she said.Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited (MRPL) has begun looking for oil sources in Australia, West Africa and South America.

The move has been taken in order to prevent problems due to any possible reduction in supply of crude oil imports from Iran from November 4, following US sanctions.

MRPL sources more than 65% of its nearly 1.6 crore tonne a year crude oil requirement from the Middle East. Iran supplies about 45 lakh tonne crude oil a year, which meets 25% of MRPLs total requirement, sources in MRPL told DH.

Though the Indian government is engaged in talks with the US government, the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, as a precautionary measure to mitigate the risk of non supply of crude oil, has begun knocking on the doors of Australia, South America looking for alternative sources, the sources said.

The diversification in alternate crude oil resources also reduces the risk of reliance on a single geographic area, observed the sources in the company.

MRPL Managing Director M Venkatesh said Iran has already supplied 90% of its total crude oil to MRPL. The crude oil parcel for the month of October is already on its way. A clear picture on supply of crude oil is likely to emerge only after November 4, he said.

The ongoing clean fuel regulatory changes and the likely reduction in supplies of crude from Iran, following sanctions, will surely dent MRPLs profitability in this fiscal, the sources stressed.

MRPL, with a capacity to process 15 million metric tonnes per annum crude had achieved a crude throughput of 16.31 mmt in previous fiscal. MRPLs gross turnover in 2018 had stood at Rs 63,067 crore and net profit at Rs 2,224 crore in previous fiscal.Actor and AIADMK MLA Karunas was on Sunday arrested for his provocative speech against Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami and senior police officials at a rally in Chennai last week.

In his speech, Karunas tore into Palaniswami, other ministers and senior police officials while talking about the functioning of the AIADMK government and how many owed their positions to the jailed leader V K Sasikala.

He claimed that they "ditched" her. Karunas, a popular comedian before he took the political plunge, also made provocative remarks against Palaniswami and Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam.

Also in his speech, Karunas justified murder and use of weapons by his community members, while daring the police to act against them.

After the video of his speech went viral, Nungambakkam Police registered cases against Karunas under 153, 153 (A) (1)(a), (1)(b)(c)(ii), 307, 506 (i) & R/W 120 (b) IPC and Section 41(VI)(a)(b)(c)(II), Madras City Police Act 1888, for criminal conspiracy, promoting enmity, promoting disharmony, attempt to murder and issuing death threat.

The Thiruvadanai MLA, who also heads the caste outfit Mukkulathor Puli Padai, was picked up by the police in the wee hours of Sunday from his residence in Saligramam in Chennai.

After the arrest, Karunas was produced before Judge Gopinath, who remanded him to a judicial custody for 15 days.

Unfazed after his arrest, Karunas told reporters that prison was not new to him and asserted that he will face the police action legally. Karunas, who was lodged in Puzhal prison is likely to be shifted to Vellore Central prison.

Karunas arrest triggered calls from various political parties, including Tamil Nadu's principal Opposition party the DMK, to take BJP leader H Raja into custody.

Raja has also been booked for derogatory statements against judiciary and police officials.

Opposition Leader M K Stalin accused the government of following different rule of law for different people.

The Tamil Nadu governments policy of changing law according to people is condemnable. Why has the police, which arrested Karunas despite his regret, not yet taken into custody H Raja and S Ve Shekhar, despite their provocative remarks? he asked.A Jaish-e-Mohamamd (JeM) militant was killed in an encounter with security forces in Tral area of south Kashmirs Pulwama district on Sunday.



Sources said the militant, apparently a Pakistani, was killed in the gunfight that broke our early Sunday in Dar Ganai Gund village of Aripal area of Tral, 35 kms from here. The gunfight broke out after security forces launched a cordon-and-search-operation (CASO) in the area following inputs about the presence of at militants.



As the searches were going on, the militants hiding in the area fired on security forces, who retaliated triggering a gun fight. The house in which the slain militant was trapped was blasted by security forces with explosives, they said.



The latest operation comes two days after five militants were killed in an encounter with security forces in north Kashmirs Bandipora district.



Army has carried out CASOs in several areas of south Kashmir in the last two days after the abduction and killing of three policemen by the militants in Shopian district on Friday. At few places, security forces were pelted with stones during door-to-door search operations.



The CASO was reintroduced last year by the army as a campaign against militants, nearly 15 years after the practice was abandoned. The Army had discontinued CASO following stiff opposition from the local population in 2002.



The CASO was a regular feature of Armys anti-militancy operations in the 1990s. The security forces made use of area domination and sweep operations in the 1990s.Chinas Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is creating ripples around the world because of its perceived hidden agenda of creating situations in which smaller nations engaging with BRI run the risk of falling into debt trap. China has spared no effort to portray its BRI, a grand trillion-dollar-plus global investment plan, as a positive vision for the world. But not everyone is convinced that it is such a great plan, either for China or for the countries it is investing in.

Since the BRI runs through the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor from Xinjiang in China to Gwadar in Balochistan, encompassing Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and Gilgit-Baltistan, the sovereignty issue remains the bone of contention between India and China. That the BRI aims to build land and sea links between China and Europe through roads, railway lines, power projects and ports in potentially over 60 countries presents another crucial challenge for India  the project is a unilateral, Chinese national initiative, and passes through regions that impinge on Indias security.

Notwithstanding the reservations India has on BRI, during the Wuhan summit in April 2018, India and China agreed to undertake a joint India-China economic project in war-torn Afghanistan, which could upset Pakistan.

As per the agreement, the two sides will jointly identify the project to be carried out. Pakistan has been accused of providing safe havens to terror groups that carry out attacks in Afghanistan, thwarting attempts to restore peace.

As a prelude to this strategy, China for the first time held a trilateral meeting with the foreign ministers of Pakistan and Afghanistan in December 2017 in Beijing to narrow down the differences between the two countries. China also announced plans to extend CPEC to Afghanistan.

When Modi and Xi agreed to work on a joint economic project in Afghanistan, Pakistan felt uncomfortable as it has worked strenuously to exclude India from what it considers its strategic backyard. An optimistic view of India-China relations is that a joint venture between the two in Afghanistan is ground-breaking and shows that the distrust between the two has been overcome. The optimist would also point to the recent visit of Chinas defence minister to India.

That Modi and Xi gave strategic guidance to their respective militaries to build trust and understanding and called for prudent management of differences with mutual sensitivity sends a clear message to Pakistan that terrorism as policy may not be profitable any more. It is for this reason that both leaders recognised the common threat of terrorism and iterated strong and resolute opposition to it. Both sides committed to cooperate on counter-terrorism. The overarching objective was to forge a common understanding of the future direction of India-China relations, while managing differences.

There are many more issues between India and China that need to be sorted out. Chinas opposition to Indias NSG membership and its support to Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar, blocking a UN ban, need to be resolved through dialogue. Therefore, the dialogue mechanism needs to be strengthened.

Though China wants India to participate in BRI, Indias position remains unchanged. China wants to use connectivity and infrastructure development in neighbouring regions to address regional imbalances within China. Since its comparative advantage as a low-cost manufacturing base is ending as wages rise, China wants to be engaged in the higher end of the global value chain. But the fear of many small countries falling into debt trap remains real.

The Chinese strategy in this narrative seems to be to upgrade its industry, make it more innovation and quality-driven, with a view to export high-end goods to countries in the neighbourhood participating in BRI, thereby displacing Western-manufactured products. If China aspires to encourage the acceptance of Chinese technological standards as part of its ambition to become an innovation-based economy and a leader in research and development, it ought to work towards dispelling the fear, real or unreal, of the debt trap.

Luring India

Beijing has been trying assiduously to rope India into BRI, even describing India as a natural partner in the project. China has also attempted to allay Delhis apprehensions on CPEC, arguing that India should not be paranoid about this project because it does not affect Chinas neutral stance on the Kashmir issue. Chinas assistant foreign minister Zhang Jun took pains to assure India that CPEC is an economic initiative and that implementing CPEC does not change Chinas position on Kashmir. India is firm that as the project runs through PoK, it violates Indias sovereignty.

The larger concern, however, is that the BRI is pushing other countries into debt and even leading to creation of Chinese military bases in some cases.

Recently, Malaysia said that it had shelved two major infrastructure projects being built by Chinese companies because of high costs, which is making many more leaders around the world wonder whether Chinese investment is actually a good deal.

In Sri Lanka, China poured money into an airport designed to handle a million passengers a year. It is now called the worlds emptiest international airport. Another BRI project in Sri Lanka, a deep-water port, is now in the hands of a state-owned Chinese company on a 99-year lease after the island nation failed to attract enough business to make its loan payments.

It is feared that Djibouti, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, the Maldives, Mongolia, Montenegro, Pakistan and Tajikistan would also struggle to repay Chinese BRI loans. Thus, any comparison with Marshall Plan, Americas stimulus package for a war-ravaged Europe in the 1940s, is clearly misplaced.

(The writer is presently Lok Sabha Research Fellow)Recently, ABC News commentator Matthew Dowd made the following statement on Twitter:

Enough with the he said, she said storyline. If this is he said, she said, then lets believe the she in these scenarios. She has nothing to gain, and everything to lose. For 250 years, we have believed the he in these scenarios. Enough is enough.

I kept going back to reread the tweet (noting that it had been liked more than 32,000 times), not exactly sure why my stomach felt as if someone had taken a crochet hook and turned my large intestine into a pink pussy hat. As far as the toxic waste dump of social media is concerned, it was rather innocuous.

But the more I read it, the truly noxious and subversive nature of Dowds sentiments became apparent: He was saying believe the woman who says she was raped, regardless of the evidence.

He was urging us to believe the woman for several reasons, but the most important one was historical: For the past 250 years, ever since George Washington apparently stuck his tongue down Betsy Rosss throat in appreciation for her flag design, women have been victims of the patriarchy. And so, to balance out the scales, we should now accept their narratives of abuse hook, line and sinker  even if there is little corroboration. Thats remedial justice, a la Dowd.

And he is not alone in his thinking. Many people think its abusive in and of itself to question the stories of self-professed victims. The most famous one these days is Christine Blasey Ford, who said Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh shoved her onto a bed in a drunken fury and tried to rip her clothes off 35 years ago. This column isnt really about Ford or Kavanaugh, except to the extent that the incident demonstrates the dangerous road we set upon when demanding that women be believed, reflexively and absolutely.

This column is about something bigger, and that is the growing willingness on a large part of the electorate to appease women by neutralizing due process. Make no mistake: This is not about all victims of abuse. This is not about the young boys who were molested by priests in my church, or the young men who were victims of Jerry Sandusky. This is uniquely about women, and about this supposed debt that society owes us for, according to Dowd, having believed the he.'

This is about the fraudulent attempt to make amends by giving us the power to strip others of their constitutional right to due process, and their natural right to an unsullied reputation. This is about demanding acceptance of the principle that women dont lie, because they have no reason to.

Since Dowd is so concerned with history, lets examine that theory.

In 1931, nine black teenagers were falsely accused by two white women of raping them in Scottsboro, Ala. They were convicted by an all-white jury, appealed, and convicted again on retrial. It was only after their case made it to the U.S. Supreme Court six years later that the convictions were overturned.

On Aug. 28, 1955, a 14 year old boy by the name of Emmett Till was accused of having sexually assaulted a white woman by grabbing her and making lewd advances. He was abducted by the family of the white woman, who had lied, and brutally murdered.

On Nov. 28, 1987, Tawana Brawley claimed that white men, including a police officer and a prosecutor, had raped her. The Rev. Al Sharpton and other prominent African Americans like Bill Cosby, Don King and Mike Tyson defended Brawley. One year later, in 1988, a grand jury found that she had lied.

On May 12, 2006, three lacrosse players from Duke University were charged with having raped an African-American stripper named Crystal Gail Mangum. Professors at the school urged a conviction and the district attorney manipulated the case for political ends, but the charges were dropped a year later and the three were pronounced actually innocent.

There are more cases of women who shouldnt have been believed. The UVA rape hoax. The Columbia University Mattress Girl hoax. The recent case of a priest in Berks county falsely accused of sexual assault.

Matthew Dowd thinks women are entitled to blind faith. I suggest he read Santayana.

Christine Flowers is an attorney and Delaware County resident. Her column appears every Sunday. Email her at cflowers1961@gmail.com.A new school year is underway.

Students have new clothes, new pencils and backpacks, and in some districts, new buildings to explore.

As this new year begins, a lingering issue looms over public schools in our region.

Families, educators and property owners have been pressing for decades to change Pennsylvanias public school funding and fix a system that has been broken for 40 years.

Today, as students trek to their classrooms in a new school year, Pennsylvania has the distinction of the widest funding gap in the nation between wealthy and poor districts. The victims are not only the students in poorer districts but also property owners who carry the tax burden of funding education. The state is ranked 47th among the 50 states for its funding share compared to states who dedicate revenue to public schools from state lotteries, business taxes and other broad sources.

In Pennsylvania, the property tax and the underfunding of poorer schools is not an issue for schools in counties where real estate value is adequate to educate their students. In the urban areas and towns of southeastern Pennsylvania, however, there are more students and a greater need. Fixing the problem would mean spreading the burden, which is not in the realm of political reality.

How long has this issue existed? In a recent column which appeared as a paid advertorial in The Mercury, former editorial writer Thomas Hylton recalled writing about the issue in 1974. He pointed to an article in March of that year which carried the headline: Senator Hopeful for Early Passage of School Tax Bill. The article quoted then-State Sen. John Stauffer: Groups have called me from all over the state to come to their meetings and explain my bill. I now feel the bill has a realistic chance of passage by 1975.

Sound familiar? In the 43 years since then, area legislators have introduced property tax reform and fair funding measures to the same regional and short-lived enthusiasm Stauffer describes. Hylton wrote that the 1974 proposal was designed to eliminate the local school real estate tax gradually over a period of 10 years. The tax was to be replaced by increases in the personal income tax, the Pennsylvania stock and franchise tax, and the creation of a new tax on unincorporated businesses. If passed, it was expected to increase the states share of funding from an average of 50 percent to an average of 80 percent over a 10-year period.

Not only did the bill fail, the states share of education funding dropped from 50 percent to 35 percent in the intervening years. According to Hylton, other states, notably Vermont, have dramatically increased their share of school funding during that time. In Vermonts case, the impetus was a lawsuit and court order, which may be the only way funding reform will happen in Pennsylvania.

Which brings us to the lawsuit currently before Commonwealth Court brought against the state by the Public Interest Law Center, six school districts including the William Penn School District in Delaware County, seven parents, the Pennsylvania Association of Rural and Small Schools and the NAACP Pennsylvania State Conference. The suit seeks a court order to compel the Legislature to comply with the state constitution and ensure all students receive access to a high-quality public education.

In August, the court rejected claims by state Senate President Joseph Scarnati and House Speaker Michael Turzai that the adoption of a Fair Funding formula made the issues in the case moot. The August ruling was seen as a victory by school funding champions who are now optimistic that a trial date in the case may soon be set.

In the meantime, legislators, educators and families from areas affected most by the inequities continue to push for change  change that has been advocated since the 1970s.

New school year, same problem: Taxpayers and schools alike are waiting for a legislative solution to ensure that all students in Pennsylvania get a fair shot at education. If it takes a court order to accomplish that goal, so be it. Forty-four years is a long time to wait.How many times have you heard someone say, I dont agree with Donald Trumps style and tone, but his policies are getting the job done. After all, look at how well the economy is doing. They go on to elaborate on the U.S. economys impressive performance as proof positive that its OK to turn a blind eye to the problems with the current administration, such as the fanning of trade wars, reckless diplomacy with Russia and North Korea and the divisiveness of each new presidential tweet.

Theres a term for this in politics. Its called political expediency. It means making a political choice based on short-term benefits, even if long-term outcomes may be at risk. Purveyors of political expedience take the gamble.

I see a big problem with this line of reasoning. I dont think the U.S. economy is doing as well as many people think. A reasonable case can be made that we are experiencing a sugar high, fueled by deficit-financed tax cuts and unbridled government spending. Our short-term enthusiasm for the U.S. economy may give way to a longer-term reality that the sugar high wasnt worth the fun or political expedience.

Anyone who has observed a child with a sugar high knows that it is fleeting. The increased glucose in the bloodstream produces a lot of energy at first, only to be replaced with a worn-out and tired child who needs a nap. I dont want the U.S. economy to take a nap.

The undercurrent to this line of reasoning is debt. Analysts estimate the federal budget deficit will increase from $666 billion in fiscal year 2017 to $800 billion in the current fiscal year, and to nearly a trillion dollars by 2019. An even more important metric is the debt-to-GDP ratio. Total U.S. public debt as a percent of gross domestic product has risen from 64 percent in the first quarter of 2008 to 105 percent in the first quarter of 2018. This level of debt creates a double whammy for the future economy. It crowds out private investment that would increase productivity, and it requires large interest payments that supplant investment on other important national needs.

I once heard Michael Lewis, author of "Moneyball" and "The Big Short," among other best-selling books, say we are afflicted with present bias. He says we systematically undervalue the future. In doing so, we take actions that benefit us today but hurt us tomorrow. I fear the United States is doing that right now.

I think we should replace our present bias with a future bias. The future bias should include several policy steps:

Invest more in transportation and information technology infrastructure. Infrastructure investment is seed corn for future economic success.

Invest more in human capital, including research and development. Like past U.S. investment in the internet and GPS, we need to be at the forefront of the next revolution in human achievement.

Reinvent the social welfare system to properly place incentives and limit government. The new economy requires a rethought and smarter social safety net.

Fix our broken immigration system to reward hardworking and talented people who want to contribute in this country.

Embrace free and open markets to increase choice and competition. Trade wars are decidedly short term in focus.

Im certain there are other worthy policy innovations to consider. Im also sure that deficit-financed tax cuts, without adjustments to spending, are a recipe for future stagnation. Anyone who has observed a child with a sugar high knows that it is fleeting. The increased glucose in the bloodstream produces a lot of energy at first, only to be replaced with a worn-out and tired child who needs a nap. I dont want the U.S. economy to take a nap.

Next time you hear someone compliment this president for his economic record, take time to think about the economic fundamentals. We borrowed money to reduce taxes and stimulate an economy already at full employment. We did nothing to fix our spending problem. We continue to accumulate greater and greater debt that will be the responsibility of our children and grandchildren.

Economies thrive based on the decisions we make. I worry we are making short-sighted decisions based on misplaced political expediency. Its time for people who understand the issue to speak up.The constitutions a mess / So it needs amendments / Its full of contradictions / So is independence.

 Hamilton, Lin-Manuel Miranda

Imposing term limits on U.S. Supreme Court justices isnt a new idea; its been floating around for years, not to mention most other major democratic countries have some sort of term limit or mandatory retirement for their highest court.

But the idea surfaced again Tuesday in an article by New York Times opinion columnist David Leonhardt, and its made more compelling now given the tangled web of bravery, confusion and partisan fisticuffs that has become the accusation leveled against Judge Brett Kavanaugh.

Limiting Supreme Court justices to, say, 18-year terms has some merit. As Leonhardt argues, it would take the edge off of the political nature of appointments and the confirmation process. With staggered terms, every president would be guaranteed two appointments per term. Nice, right? No more lifetime appointments for a group of well-educated men and women who are accountable neither to the people nor to the president who appointed them.

Or maybe not so nice. First  and this is nothing more than an authors indulgence with a captive audience  this writer has never liked the phrase lifetime appointment. And neither did the Framers. Article III of the Constitution simply states federal judges shall hold their Offices during good Behaviour. Impeachment is fair game, as has happened once to a Supreme Court justice and 14 times to lower court judges. Eight of those lower judges were convicted and removed from office. A petite number, yes, but the point is mechanisms exist to make sure lifetime appointment doesnt mean an unaccountable reign.

Speaking of mechanisms, instituting term limits would mean  wait for it  amending the Constitution.

Yes, it would mean altering the supreme Law of the Land, the precious parchment that hangs by the thinnest of threads, the lodestar for the greatest country in the world.

Doesnt changing the Constitution feel  weird?

Yet, 27 times Americans have decided the original text wasnt serving its intended purpose to form a more perfect Union. Some changes feel more significant than others. Imagine the excitement and opposition of extending the franchise to all Americans regardless of sex, abolishing slavery or changing how senators get elected.

Reverence for the Constitution must include reverence for the mechanisms by which it changes.

Then there are technical things like changing the date new presidents take office or giving the District of Columbia electoral votes. And if youre between 25 and 47 years old, all youve experienced is the ratification of an amendment that will most likely never affect your life.

Term limiting the Supreme Court falls in the more significant category. As with any amendment, it would require acknowledging the Framers logic doesnt hold up in the 21st century. But is that such a bad thing? After all, they built within the Constitution clear operations for how to alter it. Reverence for the Constitution must include reverence for the mechanisms by which it changes.

Perhaps some of the hesitation to change springs from the lapse of time since states last ratified an amendment. Admittedly, the 27th Amendment passed only a few months before I was born, and Im joined by a full third of the population who hasnt lived through the amendment process. Maybe we just forgot it is a relatively normal, albeit infrequent, thing.

Or maybe theres a deeper concern, one that brushes against the unknown. When is a simple law passed by Congress sufficient, and when is an addition to the countrys governing document in order?

What if changing the Constitution makes things worse, not better? What if it threatens American liberty? On the other hand, what if it enhances freedom or lays the foundation for a better republic? No one can really know for sure. It was impossible for the Congress of 1866 to know the 14th Amendment would provide the foundation for ending racial segregation, permitting abortion, handing George W. Bush the presidency and legalizing gay marriage, yet here we are, forever changed as a nation because of it.

The greatest unknown happened 242 years ago when a fed-up Congress broke away from its motherland. It took on an ambiguous form 11 years later when delegates emerged from months of secret meetings with a brand new form of government. It has evermore been called the American Experiment, and so far as we know, it hasnt ended.Socialism is popular again. Outlets like The New York Times have documented the rise of the new socialists and their embrace of a label their parents once took as an unequivocal pejorative.

For many, socialism is an ambitious dream for a more just system. This is especially true among young idealists at elite institutions such as my alma mater, where the bookstore sold T-shirts with the affectionate moniker The Peoples Republic of Swarthmore. But for millions across the globe, socialism has been a lived reality far removed from the imaginings of excited activists or the theories in assigned readings. I know, because Ive lived in both camps.

After studying abroad in Cuba, I agree with those who identify capitalism as a problem disenfranchising many Americans and many more the world over. But from what Ive seen  rather than dreamed  of socialism, Im not so sure its the solution.

I chose to study in Cuba largely because I was dissatisfied with capitalism and wanted to see if, as so many demonstrators have proclaimed, another world is possible.

Of course, Cuba is hardly the gold standard of socialism, given its reforms in recent years and the outsize impact of its conflict with the U.S. But even with these caveats, the reality in Cuba deferred many of my socialist dreams.

I was impressed by many Cuban economic policies, such as free or low-cost health care and guaranteed housing. But I was also disappointed with the persistence of many of my previous frustrations.

Cubas education system, for example, is known for its quality and nonexistent price tag. Cuban students pay nothing for their education, from elementary school to medical school. But the meager market for highly skilled jobs and guaranteed monthly salaries of $24 hardly provided my classmates with an outlook any brighter than debt-saddled American students.

In the working world, many of the grievances of capitalist workers remained grievances for laboring Cubans. Issues such as working conditions, hierarchization, alienating tasks and turning a profit were all present in this socialist workforce. Despite differences in values, the necessity of essential labor and the unfortunate realities that accompany this need were all too familiar.

The social boons of socialism were equally disappointing. In Cuba, socialisms egalitarian promises have done little to eliminate the social ills that many socialists pin on capitalism, such as racism, sexism or homophobia. While Cuba boasts one of the highest percentages of female elected officials worldwide, the constant catcalling on Havana streets is an indication of the still pervasively sexist culture.

Socialism in Cuba fell short in even the most innocuous ways. The philosopher Theodor Adorno famously claimed that capitalism merely gives consumers the illusion of choice between identical products. I challenge Adorno to shop at a Cuban grocery store, with its single brand of shampoo and four flavors of soda. After that experience, its hard to call the multiplicity of choices on a Coca-Cola Freestyle machine a mere illusion.

But few of these new socialists have had the experiences of the Cubans I met. Theyre not necessarily wrong to refute the refrain that socialism only works on paper, not in practice. But for the new socialists without firsthand experience, it may not work the way they think.As the daughter of immigrants, I believe strongly in the promise of America.

I know that we become stronger by taking in the worlds huddled masses yearning to breathe free. This is not just an ideological hope. Research shows that refugees help us fiscally by paying substantially more in taxes than they receive in benefits. Refugees help us socially by bringing in energetic young people to supplement the workforce. And historically, refugees like Albert Einstein have helped to catapult the United States to the forefront of the worlds scientific community. We as a nation benefit from accepting refugees. We break our moral promise when we slam our doors in their faces.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeos announcement could not come at a worse time. The United Nations High Commission on Refugees announced this year that 68.5 million people around the world are currently displaced from their homes  the highest number ever recorded.

These people are living in trauma-inducing instability. I have taught in refugee camps in Lebanon, witnessing firsthand the ways in which forced displacement cuts through lives, putting unbearable strain on adults and children alike. I remember learning that my 6-year-old refugee students were pathologically scared of fire because their camp, built of shoddy cloth and wood, had burned to the ground in an electrical fire the previous winter. No child should have to live in such a state of constant fear.

By accepting refugees into the United States, we alleviate such fears and allow refugee families to begin to rebuild their lives in a stable environment. Refugees do not pose a danger to us, given the extreme vetting process they go through before arrival in the United States. Refugees make us stronger as a nation. When we reject refugees, as this administration is doing, we reject those who make us stronger and we break our founding promise. Do we no longer wish to be a shining city upon a hill?

Here in Utah, we have often demonstrated our compassion for others through our commitment to accepting refugees. The International Rescue Committee and Catholic Community Services in particular have done incredible work in helping refugee families transition into new, safe lives in our state. Gov. Gary Herbert has led the way in accepting refugees from around the world into Utah, even when it was nationally politically unpopular to do so.

Utahns know what it is to be persecuted, what it is to have to flee danger and seek safety in a new land again and again and again, so Utahns understand and empathize with refugees. But this empathy means nothing if refugees are unable to even make it to the United States.

This new Washington policy will drastically reduce the number of refugees who can enter the United States. This new policy will cut our already low refugee acceptance rates in half. We will extend our hands to practically no one.

Our elected officials should not be supporting this administrations draconian halving of refugee resettlement numbers. This is not in keeping with our Utah values. Rather, our members of Congress should protect funding for refugee resettlement. They should also work to ensure the administration recognizes the relationships refugees have with U.S.-based resettlement agencies and family members in the U.S. This is how we can help to fulfill the promise of America.In a guest opinion last week, "Don't expand Medicaid on the backs of the disabled and elderly" (Sept. 14), Heather Williamson said that Proposition 3, which would have enormously harmful fiscal and human consequences  particularly for the least fortunate  deserves an emphatic no vote." I disagree and urge a "yes" vote on Proposition 3.

I have been at the forefront of the discussions at the Legislature about Medicaid expansion for many years. I have also had several My Views published in the Deseret News that encouraged expanding Medicaid for public safety reasons. I pointed out that to provide funding for drug addiction treatment, which leads to criminal behavior, Utah needed to expand Medicaid. It also needs better mental health treatment, since local government funding significantly decreased over the last decade.

Although the Legislature decided not to expand Medicaid originally, in subsequent years, it became clear that public safety did need the Medicaid expansion. The Legislature passed Medicaid expansion for homeless substance abuse disorder treatment and for mental health treatment. The federal government, after a few years, approved the homeless Medicaid proposal last year, and it has helped provide treatment for the second phase of Operation Rio Grande. Utah is awaiting federal approval of the state's mental health Medicaid expansion plan.

At present, chronic homeless drug and alcohol addicts, many of whom have had significant arrests for criminal behavior, get medical care. Law-abiding citizens who are low income and barely keep financially afloat are denied minimal medical care. Government should not be in the position where its actions actually encourage criminal behavior. Medical care, if provided to criminals, should be offered to law-abiding citizens. Proposition 3 would expand minimal medical care to law-abiding citizens.

An advantage of Proposition 3 passing is that it would almost immediately allow mental health treatment instead of waiting for years for the federal government to approve Utah's request. It could significantly reduce the threat from individuals who need mental health treatment, especially recently released prisoners. Much of the addiction issues in this country stem from mental health issues. Former Sheriff Jim Winder estimated that 80 percent of his jailed inmates had mental health issues that needed much more treatment in order to not continue their criminal behavior.

Regarding the claim that the cost would break the bank, we are already being financially affected by the result of no medical care for law-abiding citizens. They don't get medical care until they get so sick that they have to go to an emergency room! That ends up in a cost to taxpayers that is significantly more than if there was basic medical care available. Proposition 3 would provide for that basic medical care and lower the long- term cost of medical care, according to many health experts.

Regarding the claim that "enormously harmful fiscal and human consequences" would happen if Proposition 3 passes, the increase in taxes is infinitesimal. And Utah gets access to billions in federal funding (that many other states have taken) to provide basic medical and mental heath care. Utah gets back over 10 times the amount that we put in. Paying a penny extra for a movie ticket is "infinitesimal."

The human consequences of not having access to basic medical care is horrific. It isn't just the person that is affected, it is their family, their caregivers and even society since it could increase the spread of disease.

The Legislature finally realized that Utah needs to have an expansion of Medicaid for homeless and mental health treatment; but Utah needs to pass Proposition 3 to ensure that everyone, not just criminals, get basic medical care.Imagine youve decided to make a necessary major household purchase, such as a new car. Lets say you find a vehicle that suits your family, so you sit down with the dealer. You ask the total price, how much the payment will be and for how long. The dealer says he cannot tell you an exact price or a precise monthly payment, but the term of the loan will be from now on. Would you buy that car?

Last session, the Utah Legislature passed a Medicaid expansion measure that includes cost controls and allows enrollment limits. It establishes clear and reasonable eligibility rules and gives us options should the costs exceed our means.

For the out-of-state funders of Proposition 3, this was insufficient. So Utah voters will vote in November on whether to enact full Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, instead of the Legislatures Utah-centered approach.

Obamacare Medicaid expansion includes no cost or enrollment circuit breakers, and once we are in, we will never get out. The payment is undetermined and term of the loan is indefinite. Our decision will determine our future ability to fund vital state needs such as education, transportation and public safety.

Our Utah style limited Medicaid expansion is designed to help those truly in need while protecting taxpayers from excessive, budget-breaking costs. Under Proposition 3, all that flexibility vanishes in favor of a top-down, one size fits all Washington-style plan.

Since 32 states have chosen to expand Medicaid under federal mandates, we can examine their track record. Heres what we know:

In every expansion state, enrollment and cost estimates have been way off; reality has sometimes doubled projections, thus doubling the costs.

Eighty-two percent of new enrollees are childless, able-bodied adults, mostly unemployed; 55 percent do not work at all.

The promised benefits  fewer uninsured, less uncompensated care, reduced emergency room utilization, vastly improved health outcomes  materialize marginally or not at all.

Because of federal reimbursement formulas, the very people most of us really want to help  the chronically ill, seniors in need of long-term care and individuals with physical or developmental disabilities  actually end up at the back of the line behind thousands of unemployed adults. Nationally, more that 600,000 such people are currently denied the care they need in favor of millions of new, able-bodied adult enrollees.

Medicaid is broken; doubling down on a broken system is foolish. Utahs share of expenditures will only grow. In 2000, Utah spent $774 million on Medicaid; $127 million of that was Utahs share, or 11.8 percent of Utahs budget.

In 2016, the most recent year for which we have complete data, Utahs total Medicaid expenditure was $2.5 billion, a whopping 229 percent increase in Medicaid alone. Utahs share increased to $893 million, a 603 percent increase since 2000. And that was without Medicaid expansion under Obamacare as proposed in Proposition 3.

Medicaid currently absorbs 18.7 percent of Utahs General Fund budget. How much more can we afford without more tax hikes or major cuts in services? That is happening in other states. So what are we willing to cut, or which taxes are we willing to raise, to pay for it?

Utah's Legislature has sometimes been criticized for its reluctance to grow state government, for demanding that we pay as we go. But as a result, Utah is among the most fiscally sound states. Its been said, It is easy to identify the blue states  just look for all the red ink. Utah has avoided that pitfall by adhering to fiscal prudence.

Our Legislature acted wisely on expanding Medicaid  the full Obamacare Medicaid expansion proposed in Proposition 3 is bad policy and potentially devastating for Utah.SALT LAKE CITY  The number of female-owned businesses along the Wasatch Front and Utah has climbed significantly, according to one of the nation's largest banking institutions.

Wells Fargo reported this week that although women own a minority of businesses overall, their share of the pie is growing.

The most recent Annual Survey of Entrepreneurs indicated the number of women-owned businesses rose 2.8 percent in 2016  twice the rate of men-owned businesses. The increase follows a decadelong trend that has seen the percentage of women-owned businesses rise from 16 percent of companies in 2007 up to 20 percent in 2016. In the Beehive State, the increase is equally impressive, said Shannon Williams, manager for consumer banking for Wells Fargo's Wasatch East district of Utah.

In the Salt Lake area, (the increase) is around 40 percent within the last year based on discussions with Wells Fargo bankers in the district, she said. More women are visiting branches to find financing for their businesses at a greater rate than last year, she added.

"The women are getting more confident and are excited about being trailblazers in whatever industry they are (in)," she said. The economic shift toward service industries has likely helped to underpin the gains, she said.

Women own a higher share of businesses in some of the fastest-growing industries over the past decade, like education, health care, fitness, retail and food services, she said. Employment among women has been disproportionately skewed toward these industries, and industry expertise is positively associated with ownership and survival rates, she added.

"It's very service-oriented businesses that women are gravitating toward," said Wells Fargo spokesman Tony Timmons. "As our economy overall shifts to a more service-based economy, that would compliment what women-owned businesses do."

While female-owned companies tend to generate less revenue and employment initially, their ventures into numerous fast-growing industries are helping them become increasingly important sources of employment, Williams said. Jobs at women-owned firms have grown 11 percent since 2012 compared to 3 percent among men-owned enterprises, she noted.

With the rise in the service sector and womens job experience more closely mirroring that of mens after decades of rising labor force participation, experts expect women to make further inroads into ownership in the coming years, she said. There remains a long way to go, however, to close the gap with men, she said.

Bringing in novel or improved processes and products to the market, entrepreneurs help foster productivity growth, which is critical in producing strong income gains, a news release stated. Supporting the growth of new small businesses is a key ingredient in a dynamic economy, Williams said.OKLAHOMA CITY, Oklahoma The actions of a 28-year-old Utah man caused a Delta flight headed from Salt Lake City to Orlando to land unexpectedly at Will Rogers World Airport, according to police.

Derek Maas of Clearfield had become intoxicated prior to boarding the flight and had asked flight attendants on Delta flight 2603 for more drinks, according to KFOR, Oklahoma's News Channel 4. Flight attendants refused to serve him additional drinks.

Maas then turned on the attendants, according to the news report, shouting obscenities and eventually "head-butting" a male flight attendant, which led to a fight aboard the aircraft.

The Delta pilot landed the flight in Oklahoma City at about 1:40 a.m. Friday and Maas was arrested. Police there said he was "extremely intoxicated," according to the KFOR report.

Delta Air Lines issued a statement applauding its crew for "quick action and professionalism" during the "unruly and violent" incident on board.

"The safety and security of our customers and crew are always Delta's top priority."

The flight continued to Orlando without Maas, arriving two hours late, according to Delta.

Maas was booked into the Oklahoma County Jail for investigation of public intoxication and the incident is also under investigation by the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI.SALT LAKE CITY  What would Utah's medical marijuana program look like if the ballot initiative known as Proposition 2 is passed by Utahns in November?

The Utah Medical Association warns the initiative would essentially usher in recreational use of marijuana, by eviscerating state safeguards against it. So does a recently announced coalition of law enforcement representatives, faith-based organizations, prominent civic leaders and others trying to defeat the measure and replace it with legislation they say could help those in need without jeopardizing youth and others.

Utahns' compassion for the suffering, these groups say, is being exploited by a deceptive effort to make the use of marijuana exceptionally difficult to regulate in any context.

The initiative campaign, called the Utah Patients Coalition, insists the argument about enabling recreational marijuana use is worthy of contempt and public condemnation. Campaign director DJ Schanz has argued that the regulations on medical marijuana use in Proposition 2 are among the strictest in the country, with the goal of easing the suffering of people who could benefit from its use.

Both sides of the issue will have plenty to say to voters about the intent and impact of Proposition 2 as election season heads into its final weeks. But precisely what does an in-depth read of the initiative tell us about the basic facts governing how marijuana in Utah would be grown, tested, recommended to patients, sold and ingested if the initiative becomes the law of the land?

The Deseret News conducted an examination of Proposition 2, drawing on several months' worth of insights from medical and legal professionals, as well as representatives of those both against and in favor of the proposition. Here are 13 significant policy questions relevant to voters who will choose whether or not to pass it in November.

1. Who could legally use marijuana?

Proposition 2 would allow people with certain illnesses to apply for a medical cannabis card at a doctor's office. As defined under the initiative, a "qualifying illness" for such a card is one of the following: Alzheimer's disease, autism, cachexia, cancer, Crohn's disease, epilepsy, HIV, Lou Gehrig's disease, multiple sclerosis, post-traumatic stress disorder or ulcerative colitis.

A patient with "a condition manifest by physical wasting, nausea, or malnutrition associated with chronic disease" may also qualify, according to the initiative.

Others who could get a medical cannabis card would be those who have a "rare condition or disease" as federally defined. To be defined as rare, the disease must affect fewer than 200,000 people in the country.

A person could also get a medical cannabis card if they have "chronic or debilitating pain," so long as "a physician determines that the individual is at risk of becoming chemically dependent on, or overdosing on, opiate-based pain medication," Proposition 2 states.

Those who don't fall under any of those categories could still qualify for a medical cannabis card if they are given an exception by a state-appointed board made up of five doctors called the Compassionate Use Board.

A person who qualifies for a cannabis card must be given one within 15 days of applying, the initiative says.

Under current Utah law, anyone can legally use CBD oil  a substance that has medicinal but no psychoactive properties, but which initiative advocates say doesn't provide the full spectrum of medical benefits without its psychoactive sister substance, THC. CBD oil is technically prohibited at the federal level but is nonetheless sold widely in Utah.

A cannabis cardholder would be permitted to purchase no more than "2 ounces by weight" of unprocessed marijuana, or alternatively, a processed product that contains no more than 10 grams of THC or CBD. The initiative prohibits a person from purchasing in excess of those amounts in any 14-day period.

Opponents of the initiative say: "The list of 'qualifying illnesses' includes life- threatening and debilitating diseases, but also includes conditions that are difficult to diagnose and can afflict many people in varying degrees, such as 'chronic pain,' which by some estimates includes over 15 percent of the population. Further, the physician must only believe that the patient 'may benefit' from marijuana."  Kirton McConkie law firm's legal analysis on behalf of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Supporters of the initiative say: "There is ample evidence that the list of conditions included in the initiative can be alleviated or helped when using cannabis. Sure, such conditions may 'afflict many people in varying degrees,' but whats important is letting a patient and physician together ascertain what might help, rather than denying them the opportunity by criminalizing cannabis completely."  Libertas Institute counter-analysis to Kirton McConkie

2. What rules would be in place for doctors?

Aside from those who get an exception for the Compassionate Use Board, a person seeking a medical cannabis card must get one through an application process at a doctor's office.

The doctor is responsible for diagnosing the qualifying illness and asserting that the person would benefit from using the drug. Such a card is usually valid for six months.

The initiative defines a physician who is allowed to recommend cannabis as anyone besides a veterinarian who is licensed to prescribe controlled substances.

Except for doctors properly certified in "anesthesiology, gastroenterology, neurology, oncology, pain and palliative care, physiatry or psychiatry," the initiative stipulates that no physician is permitted to recommend cards to more than 20 percent of their patients "at any given time."

While a physician would be able to recommend a person for card eligibility, U.S. law prohibits them from prescribing a specific dosage or a specific course of treatment because of marijuana's federal classification as a Schedule I drug.

The initiative also says doctors are not allowed to advertise that they sometimes recommend patients for eligibility for cannabis cards, except via a website that displays a green cross, outlines which qualifying illnesses they treat and lists a scientific study about cannabis.

The measure prohibits doctors from owning, managing, working for or volunteering for a medical marijuana dispensary.

Proposition 2 also exempts doctors from being civilly or criminally liable based on the recommendation for a card.

Opponents say: "The marijuana initiative does not require physicians providing a recommendation to have any training or experience with the effects of marijuana or even the illness being treated. Any 'physician' can refer a patient for cannabis treatment.  This list includes, among others, optometrists, podiatrists, dentists, physicians assistants, and certified nurse midwives."  Kirton McConkie

Supporters say: "Physicians who choose to recommend cannabis can seek continuing education on the issue from a number of organizations or review ample medical literature that speaks to the benefits and risks of cannabis.  Doctors arent required to 'have any training or experience' before prescribing deadly prescription drugs. So why the double standard?"  Libertas Institute

3. How would existing marijuana laws be affected?

Thirty-one states have passed public policy broadly legalizing the medicinal use of marijuana, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. However, federal code prohibiting all marijuana use is still on the books.

Utah's medical marijuana initiative would prohibit state and local police officers from conducting "any arrest or seizure of cannabis" or spend time on any criminal investigation into a person exclusively because of "activity the officer believes to constitute a violation of federal law if the officer has reason to believe that such activity is in compliance with the state medical cannabis laws."

"Nor shall any such officer expend any state or local resources  to provide any information or logistical support related to such activity to any federal law enforcement authority," the initiative says.

Opponents say: Preventing local police from cooperating with federal authorities enforcing federal laws violated by marijuana use could affect distribution of federal funds to Utah.

Supporters say: If Utah law allows for medical cannabis, the state should not allow federal agents to interfere.

4. Who could grow their own marijuana?

If Proposition 2 passes, any cardholder who lives more than 100 miles away from a state-licensed dispensary will be permitted to grow as many as six marijuana plants "for personal medical use" beginning Jan. 1, 2021. That date is 10 months after the state must begin granting dispensary licenses.

Plants grown for personal use must be "within an enclosed and locked space and not within view from a public place." The plants cannot be grown inside a home or within 300 feet of any house or within 600 feet of a "community location," which would include a school, a church, a library, a playground or a park.

A cardholder could designate up to two caregivers who would be allowed to grow up to six plants under those regulations. A doctor would have to determine the cardholder has physical difficulties that would require assistance to access cannabis.

The initiative does not address any limits on how much personally grown marijuana a person can possess at a given time, except that the highest number of plants they can grow is six. It also doesn't say whether a person growing their own marijuana can also travel to another part of the state to purchase it from a dispensary.

A caregiver must be at least 18 and have no felony convictions whose sentence expired within the past seven years. Caregivers are allowed to "purchase, possess, and transport" marijuana "on behalf of the designating patient," and can accept payment for their services.

For marijuana plants that a cardholder or their caregiver grows, the initiative does not include requirements mandating laboratory safety testing.

Opponents say: The Kirton McConkie analysis says nothing in the initiative allows the state to license or monitor personally grown marijuana operations. Michelle McOmber, CEO of the Utah Medical Association, has said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration "has not approved any whole plant as medicine, at all, ever."

Supporters say: "This provision (for personally grown plants) was only included as an 'insurance policy' of sorts, to encourage the government to comply with the will of the voters and allow dispensaries to obtain licenses to operate."  Libertas Institute

5. What age protections and restrictions are there?

The initiative does not contain any age restrictions on who may use medical marijuana. However, a medical cannabis card itself cannot be issued to anyone under 18.

In order for a minor to legally use medical marijuana under the initiative, their parent or legal guardian must be issued a card after "treatment with medical cannabis has been recommended by the minor's physician."

Any person who works at a medical marijuana growing facility, processing plant, testing facility or dispensary must be at least 21.

None of those businesses are allowed to retain any employee or investor who has ever been convicted of a felony.

The initiative gives the state rule-making authority to create its own "certification standards" and training for marijuana-related businesses.

Opponents say: "The initiative language  allows marijuana use by anyone, even children, for whom there is no safe level of THC for their developing brains," the Utah Medical Association says. The Kirton McConkie analysis says the initiative would make marijuana more accessible to minors: "Marijuana usage among children ages 12-17  is generally significantly higher in states that have legalized recreational and medicinal use."

Supporters say: "This is really about a very narrow opportunity for patients, family and parents to alleviate pain and suffering," said Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill. The Libertas Institute says both children and adults should have alternative treatment options to manage debilitating illnesses: "Epilepsy and other conditions can begin at any age, and FDA-approved drugs do not always control the symptoms children experience."

6. How many dispensaries?

The number of dispensaries in the state would be limited to no more than one per county, except in large counties where the state can issue a number of licenses "equal to the number of residents in the county divided by 150,000, rounded up to the nearest greater whole number."

According to population projections released in 2017 by the Kem C. Gardner Institute, these guidelines would allow up to eight dispensaries in Salt Lake County, five in Utah County, three in Davis County, two in Weber County, and two in Washington County as of the state's dispensary licensing deadline.

Preferences would be given to applicants who can show they "will best ensure the safety and security of patrons and the community" and demonstrate they can keep costs low.

The "suitability of the proposed location" for dispensaries would also be a factor in the application process.

The state would limit the number of available cannabis growing facility licenses to 15.

The initiative would require dispensary license applicants to demonstrate they have at least $250,000 "in liquid assets" available to them. That number is $500,000 for each marijuana growing facility license applicant, and $100,000 for those who want a license to run a processing facility or testing laboratory.

Officials in other states have said similar requirements in their jurisdictions are intended to ensure businesses that enter the medical marijuana industry have the resources to stay sustainable.

Products sold by dispensaries would also not be subject to state sales tax  a contrast to several states with medical marijuana programs that do pull revenue from such sales.

Opponents say: "As far as we can determine, marijuana would be the only serious controlled substance in Utah sold for alleged medicinal purposes without a prescription and outside of licensed pharmacies," the Kirton McConkie analysis says. The Utah Medical Association says "non-medically trained personnel  would be tasked with deciding what product would be best for the clients condition. For real patients, this model is fraught with dangerous consequences."

Supporters say: "Of course, we would welcome a rescheduling of cannabis  since this classification is outright stupid  and the option to dispense cannabis and its derivatives through the pharmacy system. Because that is not currently an option, and because it appears to not be changing anytime soon, patients with urgent needs must be afforded another option. Thus, dispensaries."  Libertas Institute

7. Could marijuana be possessed without a card?

The initiative requires the Utah Department of Health to begin issuing medical cannabis cards to qualifying applicants by no later than March 1, 2020.

But at any time before July 1, 2020, a person without a card but who possesses marijuana is given "an affirmative defense to criminal charges" if they can show they "would be eligible for a medical cannabis card."

The initiative does not explicitly say that the person using that defense must prove they bought the marijuana from a state-approved seller, whether in Utah or elsewhere.

The initiative does not require that the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food take applications for dispensary licenses until March 2020, nor cannabis growing facilities until January 2020.

The initiative also says a person can use a defense against criminal charges if they are not a Utah resident or if they have lived in Utah for less than 45 days, and they have a medical cannabis card or an equivalent that has been issued by another state.

But such a defense doesn't guarantee a person wouldn't face charges for possession in the first place.

Additionally, the initiative says a police officer does not have probable cause to believe someone is engaged in illegal behavior just because they are possessing marijuana or marijuana paraphernalia.

Opponents say: If the initiative passes, it immediately legalizes marijuana possession long before medical cannabis cards are distributed, long before doctors may recommend cards and long before state dispensaries are set up. Anyone just has to show they would qualify by virtue of their medical condition.

Supporters say: Those who need medicinal marijuana shouldn't have to wait a year or two until the state government is capable of distributing cards or licensing dispensaries.

8. What about cardholder violations?

A patient who has a medical cannabis card, but doesn't have it with them as they are legally required to when stopped for questioning by police, can then explain they are a valid cardholder under the law. At that point the officer is required by the initiative to "attempt to access the (state's) electronic verification system to determine" whether that is the case.

If the officer determines that person was issued a card, the initiative prohibits them from arresting the individual "for the sole reason that the individual is in possession of cannabis, a cannabis product, or a medical cannabis device."

The officer in such a case is also prohibited from seizing the marijuana or paraphernalia.

However, the person may still be fined $100 for not having their card with them or not having the proper labeling of their marijuana.

Opponents say: "Violations of the law would result in no more than a $100 fine, no matter the severity."  Utah Medical Association press release

Supporters say: "Patients should not be subjected to heavy criminal punishment merely because they forgot to carry their card."  Libertas Institute

9. What about quality, safety and security?

Under the initiative, licensed commercial cannabis growers would be required to keep their cannabis plants obscured from view at the perimeter of their facility.

Growers would also be required to maintain an "inventory control system" uniquely identifying each plant once it reaches a certain size and stage of development, each harvest of such plants, each transported batch, and any disposal of contaminated or excess cannabis.

After marijuana would be processed into a product, it would be required to be put into packaging describing what it is, the amount of THC and CBD it contains, and giving it an individual identifier number that is connected to an inventory system.

However, "a cannabis product may vary in the cannabis product's labeled cannabis profile by up to 15 (percent) of the indicated amount of a given cannabinoid, by weight," the initiative says.

Cannabis contains numerous chemical components called cannabinoids, including THC and CBD, whose abundance in proportion to each other can vary significantly by cultivated batch, and can even be different from plant to plant.

Additionally, all marijuana products manufactured in Utah would be prohibited from designs deemed to resemble a candy package or appeal to children, and would be required to be opaque, designed to prevent children from opening it, and "tamper evident."

Any marijuana sold at a dispensary must have also passed the testing of "a representative sample" of it at "an independent cannabis testing laboratory," the initiative says.

Any lab that detects a batch of product not safe enough for consumption because of contaminants would be mandated to report that finding to the state.

Opponents say: "People assume that physicians would have some idea of how to prescribe or recommend it safely, for which diagnoses, and understand the contraindications, drug interactions and dosing guidelines for a plant that is wildly diverse and inconsistent in active ingredients. None of this is the case with what is being proposed in the (initiative)."  Utah Medical Association

Supporters say: The initiative would "require thorough testing of medical cannabis for potency and contaminants and require that medical cannabis be appropriately labeled and securely packaged."  Utah Patients Coalition campaign

10. How would Prop 2 affect landlords, city planners?

The initiative prohibits landlords from banning tenants "solely for the person's status as a medical cannabis cardholder," unless doing so "would cause the landlord to lose a monetary or licensing-related benefit under federal law."

An ongoing Drug Safe Utah lawsuit against Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox, claiming he should have refused to certify the initiative for being plainly unconstitutional, argues the restriction on landlords infringes upon their rights, including freedom of speech, equal protection under the law and due process.

The initiative also prohibits cities and counties from enacting zoning rules barring marijuana growing facilities, processing facilities, testing laboratories or dispensaries "on the sole basis" of their status as such a business.

Drug Safe Utah, a political issues committee formed this spring in opposition to Proposition 2, is claiming in court that the initiative unlawfully usurps the legal zoning functions that are the discretion of local governments.

Opponents say: The initiative "threatens the federal and state constitutional rights of Utah citizens" by undermining "their ability to own and control property" and through "interference with the administrative functions of county and municipal governments."  Drug Safe Utah lawsuit

Supporters say: "A person shouldn't be ejected from their home merely because of the type of medicine they use" and "patients should not be deprived of reasonable access to their medication merely because some elected officials don't want a dispensary in their community."  Libertas Institute

11. What about smoking marijuana?

Under the initiative, if a patient uses "a means of administration that involves cannabis combustion at a temperature that is not greater than 750 degrees Farenheit and that does not involve using a flame," then they are not considered to be smoking marijuana.

Generally, that means marijuana can be vaporized, but not lit and smoked in the form of a marijuana cigarette. Smoking marijuana as defined in the initiative is not permitted.

A 2017 study from Portland State University concluded smoking marijuana at a temperature greater than 750 degrees can release harmful carcinogens.

The initiative says a person who violates its smoking restriction "is guilty of an infraction." An infraction is similar to a traffic ticket.

Any ingestion of marijuana "in public view" would be prohibited, except in "a medical emergency," though the measure doesn't explicitly define either of those terms.

The initiative does not list any prohibitions on other methods of consuming marijuana, which include edible products, topical ointments, tinctures and more. The Utah Department of Agriculture and Food has raised questions to state lawmakers over whether allowing edible medical marijuana products may conflict with the state's Wholesome Food Act.

Opponents say: "The ban itself is absolutely phony.  The prohibition on smoking  in my mind, the only reason that it's in there, is to help sell the initiative to the public.  (It) is purely P.R., it is not enforceable by any stretch of the imagination."  Rep. Brad Daw, R-Orem

Supporters say: Vaporizing is an effective and quick way of getting treatment, especially for patients with digestive issues. "So prohibiting smoking is to preserve lung health. A patient doesn't necessarily need to combust plant material and inhale that to get the medication.  Vaporizing and (putting) the cannabinoids up into a vapor, inhaling it, is healthier."  Christine Stenquist, founder of Together for Responsible Use and Cannabis Education

12. What challenges would state agencies face?

The initiative requires the state to begin accepting applications for growing facility, lab testing, and production facility licenses by Jan. 1, 2020.

The Department of Agriculture and Food, plus the Utah Department of Health, Department of Public Safety, and Department of Technology Services would be responsible for establishing a state "electronic verification system" and make it functional no later than March 1, 2020.

That system would need to be usable for patients and doctors participating in the application for a medical cannabis card, as well as to law enforcement to use during a stop to determine whether the person they have contacted is a cardholder.

The electronic verification system would also need to be connected and compatible with an inventory control system that can "track in real time  purchase history of cannabis or a cannabis product" by a cardholder.

The inventory system would be capable of relaying information to the state electronic verification system about "the quantity and type of cannabis or cannabis product purchased" by a person, as well as any marijuana-related facility that had a hand in growing, producing, testing or selling a specific item.

The deadline to both begin issuing cannabis cards and grant cannabis dispensary licenses is March 1, 2020. For growing facilities, testing labs and production facilities, the deadline to begin issuing licenses is Jan. 1, 2020.

Scott Erickson, deputy commissioner of the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food, told state lawmakers that he doesn't believe some of the timelines required of state departments in the initiative are "realistic."

"That's a challenge for us to meet those guidelines with the initiative," Erickson said.

Utah Department of Health says: "There are several systems that (we) would be required to implement  in terms of documenting things.  We have to have an electronic portal so (physicians) can issue recommendations. We don't have that system."  Dr. Marc Babitz, the department's deputy director. The department says it is neutral toward the initiative.

Supporters say: "Were not tied to the timeline.  We saw that in other states that after voters said, 'Yes, we want this,' that regulators took years to implement what the public had already passed. Those provisions were put in place to provide urgency to tell the government, 'The people have spoken  get things in order."  Connor Boyack, president of Libertas Institute

13. What about ongoing marijuana research?

State lawmakers recently instituted a Cannabinoid Product Board, made up of medical and research professionals, which examines existing studies into marijuana's medical properties.

Besides somewhat expanding the parameters of which kinds of studies board members examine, Proposition 2 also says any findings by the body "may not limit the availability of cannabis" in Utah.

The board is responsible under current laws for examining what cannabis treatment guidelines may be appropriate for state lawmakers to learn about. But the initiative makes explicit that such guidelines, submitted to legislators annually, cannot limit marijuana availability.

Salt Lake County Health Department says: "The initiative actually encourages science to be ignored.  Those guidelines may not limit the availability of cannabis for any reason, even if further studies conclude marijuana use is more dangerous than currently known.  If it is ignoring available science, that's bad health policy."  Gary Edwards, executive director of the department. The department has not taken a position on the initiative.

Supporters say: "This merely restrains a bureaucratic panel from steamrolling the entire electorate. Of course, we welcome additional scientific research and should the board identify causes of concern, they are welcome to publicly present their findings to elected officials and the public for debate and consideration to potentially amend the law in response."  Libertas InstituteSALT LAKE CITY  Many conversations and stories from lawmakers, pundits, journalists, lawyers and the public this past week focused on would-be Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh and on his accuser, Christine Blasey Ford.

The nation now knows that Ford says that Kavanaugh, when he was 17, sexually assaulted her at a party when she was only 15, allegations he denies.

Politics, predictably, play a big part in this debate: Why did Sen. Diane Feinstein receive the complaint in July but hold onto it until the 11th hour of the Senate confirmation hearings? Why are Republicans and Democrats choosing sides before hearing testimony from either party?

Less obvious, perhaps, is that in our very secular society many of the conversations surrounding the alleged high school assault are focusing on religious themes.

Does his age at the time mitigate Kavanagh's alleged assault (sinful behavior)? Can you balance accountability for that behavior by "atoning" with a life of exemplary behavior? And what then of Ford? If the allegations are true, should she be expected to forgive, when no forgiveness was sought?

In a very personal account in The Atlantic this week, Deborah Copaken wrote her own story, titled "My Rapist Apologized." She wrote of her encounter with a young man the night before her college graduation, years before the term date rape became common. Decades after the encounter, inspired by the Kavanaugh allegations, she called him, and he apologized over and over again.

She writes:

"We spoke for a long time, maybe 20 minutes. He had no recollection of raping me, just of the party where wed met. Hed blacked out that night from excessive drinking and soon thereafter entered Alcoholics Anonymous. But that, he said, was no excuse."

Here's the part of the story that is so powerful:

"Suddenly, 30 years of pain and grief fell out of me. I cried. And I cried. And I kept crying for the next several hours, as I prepared for Yom Kippur, the Jewish holiday of forgiveness. And then, suddenly, I was cleansed. Reborn. The trauma was gone. All because of a belated apology."

A second personal story, also published in The Atlantic and headlined "I believe her" tells of another encounter, this one in high school, that also told the power of forgiveness. Author Caitlin Flanagan writes:

"It was in his car, in the deserted parking lot of that beach, that he tried to rape me, although neither of us would have used that word for it."

That young man would run into her a few years later, when she was working a job behind a register during a break from college, and she reveals the power of that encounter:

"One morning, while ringing up a sale, I saw in my peripheral vision that someone was approaching the register. When I finished the sale, he was gone. A few minutes later, I saw him coming back; it was the boy whod tried to rape me. He had tears in his eyes, and he seemed almost overwrought. And right there  in the A&S department store in the Smith Haven Mall  he apologized profusely.

'Its okay, its okay,' I kept saying to him. 'I forgive you, dont worry.' It was a weird ambush of intense guilt and apology, and it was the wrong place and time but the thing was, I really did forgive him."

It is left to the Senate to decide if Brett Kavanaugh should be a Supreme Court justice. It is left to the rest of us to learn lessons from this difficult experience, and feel empathy for those involved, especially their families who have been thrust into the uncomfortable spotlight through no fault of their own.

As the hearings get underway later this week, there will be another gathering, this one in Argentina, as the Group of 20 gathers for the G20 Interfaith Forum. It is held in relation to the G20 economic summit and gathers the world's top religious leaders from the world's leading economic powers to use common principles of faith to address the world's problems.

As the forum states: "Practical and ethical insights of global religious communities make substantial if often unrecognized contributions to priority global agendas."

Deseret News religion writer Kelsey Dallas will be there to chronicle how faith leaders are playing an important role on the global stage. Stewardship of the Earth will be discussed, as will global religious imperatives to lessen human suffering.

Lawmakers are called on to debate policy and make laws defining faith in the public square. The Supreme Court is called upon to issue decisions regarding boundaries using the Constitution as a guide. As those decisions are made by either party, an understanding by the public of the power of sin, atonement and forgiveness can assist each of us in some measure to navigate these tough situations.

Some of those principles will be in play in Washington, D.C., this week during the hearings. Much of it will be on display in Argentina by world religious leaders.

Any wisdom gained from these events is up to us individually.10 Years of Blog Archive November 2021 (2) October 2021 (9) September 2021 (9) August 2021 (8) July 2021 (8) June 2021 (9) May 2021 (9) April 2021 (8) March 2021 (9) February 2021 (8) January 2021 (9) December 2020 (9) November 2020 (8) October 2020 (9) September 2020 (10) August 2020 (7) July 2020 (10) June 2020 (8) May 2020 (9) April 2020 (11) March 2020 (9) February 2020 (8) January 2020 (7) December 2019 (13) November 2019 (14) October 2019 (15) September 2019 (13) August 2019 (8) July 2019 (9) June 2019 (12) May 2019 (13) April 2019 (9) March 2019 (10) February 2019 (8) January 2019 (10) December 2018 (12) November 2018 (12) October 2018 (11) September 2018 (13) August 2018 (13) July 2018 (14) June 2018 (16) May 2018 (9) April 2018 (10) March 2018 (8) February 2018 (8) January 2018 (10) December 2017 (7) November 2017 (8) October 2017 (10) September 2017 (12) August 2017 (14) July 2017 (17) June 2017 (17) May 2017 (16) April 2017 (16) March 2017 (17) February 2017 (13) January 2017 (16) December 2016 (13) November 2016 (14) October 2016 (13) September 2016 (13) August 2016 (16) July 2016 (25) June 2016 (28) May 2016 (29) April 2016 (30) March 2016 (29) February 2016 (28) January 2016 (29) December 2015 (30) November 2015 (27) October 2015 (26) September 2015 (30) August 2015 (20) July 2015 (16) June 2015 (14) May 2015 (18) April 2015 (15) March 2015 (17) February 2015 (17) January 2015 (23) December 2014 (20) November 2014 (17) October 2014 (17) September 2014 (13) August 2014 (8) July 2014 (7) June 2014 (12) May 2014 (6) April 2014 (6) March 2014 (11) February 2014 (13) January 2014 (13) December 2013 (13) November 2013 (14) October 2013 (18) September 2013 (11) August 2013 (14) July 2013 (11) June 2013 (12) May 2013 (15) April 2013 (15) March 2013 (19) February 2013 (14) January 2013 (16) December 2012 (13) November 2012 (12) October 2012 (14) September 2012 (22) August 2012 (28) July 2012 (23) June 2012 (24) May 2012 (13) April 2012 (21) March 2012 (21) February 2012 (19) January 2012 (20) December 2011 (19) November 2011 (20) October 2011 (24) September 2011 (19) August 2011 (16) July 2011 (10) June 2011 (1) April 2011 (3) March 2011 (6)Harry Lawrence who died on July 29 last was a member of a well known and highly respected Dundalk family who worked for most of his working career in Aer Lingus.

He had a strong attachment to his hometown and shared with his brothers a big love of horse and greyhound racing, and formed a highly successful partnership with local dog owner and trainer Paddy Duffy from Haggardstown.

Above all he was a committed family man who set up home in Swords after returning from a spell in England and meeting and marrying his wife Pauline.

His religion was central to his long, active and healthy life with his death occurring peacefully after a short illness in Louth County Hospital, surrounded by his family.

He was one of six sons of the late Edward and Elizabeth Lawrence from the towns McSwiney Street. Sadly Tom passed away in infancy, and Harry was predeceased two years ago by a second brother David.

He attended the De La Salle School following which he served his time as an upholsterer in the GNR on the Ardee Road. When the plant closed Harry headed off in the 1950s to England where he worked in London.

He returned to Ireland and gained employment with the state airline and remained with Aer Lingus until he retired.

He enjoyed his time there and made a lot of friends

On his return to the country, he met with Pauline who hailed from Limerick and they married and had a family of four, son Aidan and daughters, Marion, Helen and Roisin.

Harry was a loving family man, and cherished his children.

A highlight for him was a visit to daughter Marion and her husband Vincent in France a couple of years ago.

He had a strong bond with his brothers with whom he shared similar interests and hobbies and they were close knit.

He was a visitor to the renowned Ascot racecourse when in England, and travelled over with his brothers to the Cheltenham national hunt festival.

In latter years he moved back to Dundalk to take care of his mother when she became ill.

It provided him with the opportunity to renew old friendships and loved meeting up with friends.

He teamed up with Paddy Duffy from Haggardstown and they bought a number of greyhounds.

With Paddy a fine trainer they chalked up an impressive string of successes, with a total of 79 winners, with Brisbane Bound the most prolific with wins running into double figures. Rite of Passage was also a multiple winner.

It provided Harry with a new lease of life, enjoying the craic and social aspect of attending various tracks from Drumbo Park in the North to Shelbourne Park and Harolds Cross, as well as Dundalk, and made a number of close friends like Francie Reynolds and his wife from Lurgan.

He was a man who enjoyed socialising, dropping in a couple of times a week to regular haunt The Stags Head Linenhall Street whose owners were very good to him.

When Harry and Ollie McConnon got together the craic would be ninety.

He retained that sense of fun and humour in his final weeks when taken into hospital, first Our Lady of Lourdes, and then Louth County Hospital.

He had a joke to share with family and other visitors.

His family are greatly appreciative of the care he received from the staff in both hospitals.

Harry was a man of routine, with his religion central to it.

He rose early and daily attended 9 oclock Mass in Saint Nicholas Church.

He returned home to take his dog Jessie for a walk and do whatever shopping he required.

Judy and Daisy were two other pet dogs he had over the years, to whom he was deeply attached.

He will be sadly missed by his wife Pauline, son Aidan, daughters Marion, France, Helen Dundalk and Roisin, Balbriggan, daughter-in-law, Rita, son-in-law, Vincent, grandson, Tom, brothers, Edward, Raymond and Colm, sisters-in-law, brothers-in-law, nephews, nieces, relatives and friends.

He reposed at Quinns Funeral Home on the Tuesday and was taken the short journey to Saint Nicholas Church the next morning.

Father Brian Slater CC celebrated Requiem Mass.

His nephews and nieces did the Readings and led the Prayers of the Faithful.

His grandson Tom took up symbols of his life.

Burial followed in Saint Patricks cemetery.Two academics from Queen Mary University of London have received prestigious awards from the International Society of Hypertension (ISH) 2018 in recognition of their achievements in blood pressure research

Two academics from Queen Mary University of London have received prestigious awards from the International Society of Hypertension (ISH) 2018 in recognition of their achievements in blood pressure research.

The two awards were presented today (Sunday 23 September) at the ISH Biennial Meeting in Beijing, China, which was attended by around 2,500 people.

Professor Morris Brown received the ISH Robert Tigerstedt Lifetime Achievement Award, and Professor Mark Caulfield received the Franz Volhard Award and Lectureship for Outstanding Research.

Professor Brown is widely acknowledged by his international colleagues to have had an extraordinarily distinguished career in the field of hypertension and has been dedicated to research and practice in the field since the late 1970s. He has become an authority on tumours of the adrenal gland resulting in high blood pressure, and is a champion for training and practice, continuing to inspire PhD students with his passion for research.

On receiving the award, Professor Morris Brown from Queen Mary University of London said: "It is a dream to receive this honour in the name of my hero, Robert Tigerstedt. His discovery of the kidney hormone, renin, launched Endocrinology (the study of hormones), and continues to provide inspiration and surprises to me and my students."

Professor Caulfield was presented with the Franz Volhard Award and Lectureship for Outstanding Research in recognition of leading the discovery of more than 1,000 gene regions that influence blood pressure*, and making substantial contributions to the discovery of other genes related to cardiovascular health. Following receipt of his award, he delivered a lecture to the ISH on his latest genetics research.

Professor Mark Caulfield from Queen Mary University of London said: "I am deeply honoured that the International Society of Hypertension has chosen to make this award for our discoveries on the genetic basis of blood pressure which may pave the way for improved treatment of hypertension in people worldwide."

President of the International Society of Hypertension, Professor Neil Poulter, added: "We are delighted this year that these awards have been presented to Professors Mark Caulfield and Morris Brown. They are both longstanding Society members with extraordinary distinguished careers in the field of hypertension who have been dedicated to research and practice in the field for many years."

###

For more information, please contact:

Joel Winston

Public Relations Manager (School of Medicine and Dentistry)

Queen Mary University of London

j.winston@qmul.ac.uk

Tel: +44 (0)20 7882 7943 / +44 (0)7970 096 188

Notes to the editor

'Study of one million people leads to world's biggest advance in blood pressure genetics' - Press Release (17 September 2018). Available here: https://www.qmul.ac.uk/media/news/2018/smd/study-of-one-million-people-leads-to-worlds-biggest-advance-in-blood-pressure-genetics.html

Photos are available on Dropbox here: http://bit.ly/2pmP5nd

About Queen Mary University of London

Queen Mary University of London is a world-leading research-intensive university with over 25,000 students representing more than 160 nationalities.

A member of the prestigious Russell Group, we work across the humanities and social sciences, medicine and dentistry, and science and engineering, with inspirational teaching directly informed by our research.

In the most recent exercise that rated research in the UK, we were ranked 5th in the country for the proportion of research outputs that were world-leading or internationally excellent. We offer more than 240 degree programmes and our reputation for excellent teaching was rewarded with a silver in the 2017 Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) awards.

Queen Mary's history dates back to 1785, with the foundation of the London Hospital Medical College. Our history also encompasses the establishment of the People's Palace in 1887, which brought accessible education, culture and recreation to the East End of London. We also have roots in Westfield College, one of the first colleges to provide higher education to women.

About the International Society of Hypertension

Established in 1966, the International Society of Hypertension (ISH) is committed to promoting and encouraging the advancement of scientific research and knowledge and its application to the prevention and management of heart disease and stroke in hypertensionIn largest study to date, severe cases of prosthesis-patient mismatch were associated with higher risk of death and hospital readmissions

SAN DIEGO--In the largest multi-institutional study to date, led by researchers from Penn Medicine, the team found that among patients who underwent a transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), a high number experienced severe and moderate cases of prosthesis-patient mismatch (PPM)--meaning the implanted heart valve is too small for the patient which can lead to inadequate blood flow. The team also found that the risk of death and of heart failure readmissions were 19 percent and 12 percent higher, respectively, after one year as compared to patients without severe PPM.

Results of the study were presented today as a late-breaking abstract at the Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) 2018 meeting in San Diego and simultaneously published online in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

"This is an important contemporary snapshot of what's happening in the real world with commercial TAVR procedures," said the study's lead author Howard C. Herrmann, MD, FACC, MSCAI, the John W. Bryfogle Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine and Surgery at Penn's Perelman School of Medicine and director of Penn Medicine's Interventional Cardiology Program, who presented the results at TCT. "This is the first study that is large enough to demonstrate meaningful data associated with PPM for a relatively new procedure like TAVR. Based on these findings, PPM is an important problem in this population, one that deserves greater awareness among operators. And being aware of it is the first step in trying to prevent it."

TAVR was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2011 for the treatment of aortic stenosis, a narrowing of the heart's aortic valve, and has revolutionized valve replacement options for patients with this disease who are too sick or too high risk for surgical (open-heart) valve replacement (SAVR). This minimally invasive, catheter-based approach allows physicians to replace the aortic valve without need to remove the old, damaged one.

Of the 62,125 patients who received TAVRs in the United States between 2014 and 2017 and who were evaluated, researchers found 12 percent experienced severe PPM, while 25 percent had moderate PPM. Researchers collected and analyzed patient data from the U.S. STS/ACC Transcatheter Valve Therapy (TVT) Registry, which tracks all commercial procedures performed in the United States. To further study patient outcomes, the authors linked patients in the U.S. STS/ACC TVT registry to Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' administrative claims data for 37,470 of their patients. After 30 days, patients with severe PPM had higher rates of heart failure hospitalization, stroke, and death.

Historically, PPM has been associated with worse outcomes after SAVR, however, less has been known about the incidence, outcomes, and predictors of PPM in TAVR patients. Past studies have been small, with limited follow up, and some from single centers--combined, they only represent 4,000 patients--and measurement techniques for the valve opening have been inconsistent.

PPM is a mismatch of the blood flow dynamics of the prosthetic valve and the amount of blood the heart needs to pump to the rest of the patient's body. For example, having too small of a valve in a person with a large body surface area (height and weight) affects their ability to get enough blood flow when they exercise. In previous studies, severe PPM in both SAVR and TAVR patients have been associated with higher risk of death and hospital readmission, decreased exercise abilities, and a higher rate of valve deterioration over time.

The authors identified several predictors of PPM, including patients with a smaller valve prosthesis, those who had a larger body surface area, or patients who are female or younger.

"Severe PPM occurs frequently after TAVR procedures, and it results in worse outcomes, even after a short period of one year," Herrmann said. "Now that we're more aware of this, we need to look at strategies and compare devices and techniques in future studies to determine what will help us best limit this risk or avoid it in the future."

###

Co-authors of the study include Nimesh D. Desai MD, FACC, of Penn's Perelman School of Medicine, Samuel A. Daneshvar MD, FACC, and Gregg C. Fonarow MD, FACC, of the University of California, Los Angeles, Amanda Stebbins, Sreekanth Vemulapalli MD, FACC, Jennifer Rymer MD, and Andrzej S. Kosinski PhD, of the Duke Clinical Research Institute, David J. Malenka MD, FACC, of Dartmouth-Hitchock, and Vinod H. Thourani MD, FACC, of MedStar Heart and Vascular Institute and Georgetown University.

Editor's note: Herrmann reports institutional research funding from Abbott Vascular, Bayer, Boston Scientific, Edwards Lifesciences, Medtronic, and St. Jude Medical and consulting for Edwards Lifesciences, Medtronic, and Siemens Healthineers.

Penn Medicine is one of the world's leading academic medical centers, dedicated to the related missions of medical education, biomedical research, and excellence in patient care. Penn Medicine consists of the Raymond and Ruth Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania (founded in 1765 as the nation's first medical school) and the University of Pennsylvania Health System, which together form a $7.8 billion enterprise.

The Perelman School of Medicine has been ranked among the top medical schools in the United States for more than 20 years, according to U.S. News & World Report's survey of research-oriented medical schools. The School is consistently among the nation's top recipients of funding from the National Institutes of Health, with $405 million awarded in the 2017 fiscal year.

The University of Pennsylvania Health System's patient care facilities include: The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and Penn Presbyterian Medical Center -- which are recognized as one of the nation's top "Honor Roll" hospitals by U.S. News & World Report -- Chester County Hospital; Lancaster General Health; Penn Medicine Princeton Health; Penn Wissahickon Hospice; and Pennsylvania Hospital -- the nation's first hospital, founded in 1751. Additional affiliated inpatient care facilities and services throughout the Philadelphia region include Good Shepherd Penn Partners, a partnership between Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Network and Penn Medicine, and Princeton House Behavioral Health, a leading provider of highly skilled and compassionate behavioral healthcare.

Penn Medicine is committed to improving lives and health through a variety of community-based programs and activities. In fiscal year 2017, Penn Medicine provided more than $500 million to benefit our community.this news is not availablePrivacy Settings

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NOTE: These settings will only apply to the browser and device you are currently using.WASHINGTON  After holding his tongue for a week, President Trump sarcastically assailed the woman claiming a decades-old sexual assault by Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, tweeting that if the episode was as bad as she says, she or her loving parents surely would have reported it to law enforcement.

Trumps searing reproach of Christine Blasey Ford on Friday defied the Senate Republican strategy  and the advice of White House aides  of not disparaging her while firmly defending his nominee and the tight timetable for confirming him.

The comment came as the California psychology professors attorneys sought agreement from Republicans on terms under which she might testify at a Judiciary Committee hearing next week. That showdown, should it occur, could play out on national television.

The presidents tweet brought blistering rejoinders from Democrats and a mix of silence and sighs of regret from his own party. Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, who hasnt declared support for Kavanaugh, called the remark appalling.

It was also the latest provocation  from a man whos faced a litany of sexual misconduct allegations himself  of moderate female voters whose support Republicans will need to fend off a robust Democratic drive to capture congressional control in Novembers elections.

Kavanaugh, the 53-year-old District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals judge, has repeatedly denied the accusation from his teenage years. Ford, 51, says an inebriated Kavanaugh pinned her on a bed during a high school party in the 1980s, muffled her screams and tried undressing her before she escaped.

Minutes after Trumps tweet on Friday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell played verbal hardball of his own, drawing a standing ovation when he assured a gathering of evangelical activists that the conservative Kavanaugh would soon be a justice.

Acknowledging the tumult Fords accusation has caused, McConnell said at the Values Voter Summit, Keep the faith, dont get rattled by it. Were going to plow right through and do our jobs.

Republicans have pressured Ford to testify at a hearing this Monday, a session at which Kavanaugh has already said hed appear. In bargaining that continued Friday, her attorneys conditionally offered an appearance for Thursday, saying Monday wasnt possible.

Ford also wants the government to provide security. Her lawyers say shes relocated her family due to death threats. She planned to meet with FBI agents in the San Francisco area to discuss those threats, said a person close to her.

Alan Fram and Catherine Lucey are Associated Press writers.The first time Audra Menconi played at JazzSAlive, the drummer was a teenager on the stage in the music festivals early days.

The San Antonio native returned Saturday afternoon to the 35th edition of the event, which she said has just grown and grown and grown.

Police estimated that about 600 people filled Travis Park on Saturday afternoon, with many more still arriving as the headliner performances approached and skies remained clear.

Menconi joined a lineup headlined by 2018 Grammy nominee Jazzmeia Horn. The U.S. Air Force Dimensions in Blue, Grammy winner Lee Ritenour and local band 16 the Olympus also played Saturday, along with the UTSA Jazz Band and the Alamo Heights High School Jazz Band.

Menconi, playing with a new quintet, said the event is one of the best jazz festivals in Texas. Theyre able to bring in national artists. Youd have to go pay a lot of money to go see them.

The free shows in Travis Park also introduce new music to people who would not necessarily be interested in jazz, Menconi said.

San Antonio jazz legend Jim Cullum, who played with the Jim Cullum Happy Jazz Band on Saturday, was another returner to the JazzSAlive stage.

We played at the first JazzSAlive 35 years ago, he said as he began his set. Theres always been an undercurrent of jazz here, he said of the city.

Longtime festival attendees mingled with newcomers in the park, where they set up lawn chairs and blankets and sat in bus shelters and at picnic tables.

James Berbiglia, Gina Acree and Becky Palmer were among the earliest to arrive.

The trio has come to the festival for many years, Berbiglia said, but decided to stay at the neighboring St. Anthony Hotel and make a weekend trip out of it for the first time. They stayed until the last act finished Friday night and were back before the first performers took the stage Saturday morning.

The wonderful music keeps them coming back year after year, Acree said.

Michael and Leilani Garrett said theyd Googled free things to do in San Antonio this weekend. They found themselves happily relaxing at a picnic table while their children tried out arts and crafts nearby.

Tom Olivas and Perla Escobar spent the day turning their lawn chairs back and forth between the Majestic Theatre Stage on Navarro Street and the Paper Tiger Stage on Jefferson Street, where acts played alternating shows throughout the afternoon.

Its very relaxing after a long week, Olivas said. Its a good place to come and decompress.

Theyve come to JazzSAlive for four years, and they enjoy the music, the people and the Mexican food, Escobar said.

Some of the vendors, who called out to patrons passing by to stop for tacos, gorditas, fruit cups or kebabs, have been coming for years, like the customers they serve.

Berbiglia praised the turkey legs, which Josie and Abel Falcon have been selling at the festival since 1993.

The business is good, and we enjoy the music and the people, Josie Falcon said.

The event was Bakery Lorraines first foray into festivals, co-owner Anne Ng said. A long line of customers queued up to buy homemade pop-tarts, other pastries and coffee from the bakery, many carrying yoga mats after a morning class in the park.

Ng said she was excited to see the space activated and to participate in the revitalization of the park.

The yoga class and Pop Tart Brunch were two of the new additions to this years festival, along with two after parties on the St. Anthony Hotels rooftop bar, San Antonio Parks Foundation President and CEO Mary Jane Verette said. The festival also added back the second stage, after dropping down to one last year, she said.

Verette called the weekends weather forecast frightening, and that might have kept some people away, but others were more than happy to stick it out.

At the end of Fridays performances, a downpour threatened to stop the last act, Sammy Miller and The Congregation. Instead, Verett recounted, he said Ill play as long as you want to stay, and many people pulled out umbrellas and the band continued to play to the end of their set.

LTeitz@express-news.net | @LizTeitzMario Salas remembers tense times in 1960 when he was 10 and heard African-Americans talk about pushing for integration of whites-only lunch counters in San Antonio, even organizing demonstrations if need be.

At that time, there was not a single restaurant in downtown San Antonio where a black person could be served, said Salas, who is Mexican and African-American.

A few weeks later, the lunch counter in the Woolworth store on Alamo Plaza was among the first in the city to break the color barrier  and do so peacefully.

To Salas and others, that historic event makes the Woolworth building too valuable to demolish, even if the lunch counter no longer is there.

Still, it might not be enough to save the building. In fact, its location at Alamo and Houston streets could doom it.

READ ALSO: Judicial training center cut from S.A. courthouse revamp

Other possible changes in Alamo Plaza Move the Cenotaph 500 feet south, closer to the Menger Hotel; restore and repair it. Close Alamo Street to traffic through the plaza, and close parts of Houston and Crockett streets, making the plaza larger and quieter. Change Losoya Street to two-way traffic. Add more trees and seating in the plaza. See More Collapse

Proponents of an Alamo museum want that site for what they say will be the grand attraction of an expanded Alamo Plaza that the City Council will vote on in a few months.

Some businessmen, in concert with state Land Commissioner George P. Bush, have pledged to put their money and fundraising muscle behind the museum, whose holdings would include musician Phil Collins trove of Alamo artifacts.

But demolishing Woolworth, a symbol of freedom to African-Americans, in favor of another symbol, could generate more controversy and ill will about the plan to redo the plaza as it enters the final stages of review.

Theres a lot of story to tell at that site, said Salas, 69, a former City Council member. A lot of it has been erased.

Since 1921, Woolworth has stood where the Alamo forts west wall once was. Two adjacent buildings, the 1923 Palace theater and the 1882 Crockett Building, also encroach on the wall space and could be torn down.

A 30-member citizens review committee recently endorsed all the elements of the plaza changes, but not the demolition of the buildings.

It opted instead for a study to find out whether the three structures, purchased by the state in 2015, could be reused for the museum.

READ ALSO: Mayor pressured from all sides about Alamo Plaza decision

Some people have talked about saving, if not the buildings, then at least the three facades and the original limestone walls of the Crockett.

Not Forrest Byas, one member of the citizens panel and a descendant of Alamo defender Andrew Kent. He said he supports historic preservation but wants the structures razed to expose the location of the Alamos outer wall, the scene of some of the heaviest fighting during the famous 1836 battle.

Id prefer them to be gone totally, Byas said. The Alamo is No. 1.

Another committee member, Ramon Vasquez, executive director of the American Indians in Texas at the Spanish Colonial Missions, disagrees and said his concern is that the changes to the plaza will leave out African-American history.

Im totally against taking down buildings, especially the Woolworth building, for that very reason, he said. I think there should be a physical lunch counter, where children can sit and reflect and think about what was going on in San Antonio at that time.

Vasquez said the traditional Alamo narrative as a birthplace of freedom for all has contributed to racial division, with a bias emphasizing the role of David Crockett and other Anglo combatants as heroes and martyrs. He noted that John Waynes movie, The Alamo, further glorifying the church as a symbolic beacon of liberty, came out the same year as the lunch counter desegregation.

How can you talk about that, and not talk about the lunch counter across the street? We have to recognize how weve allowed this fiction to dictate how we tell a peoples story, he added.

Vasquez has been instrumental in gaining greater recognition of the mission Indians in the plaza changes. The latest draft shows several key features that would be added: markers bearing the names of Indians who lived and died at the mission and a statue of Chief Juan Rodriguez.

READ ALSO: LaHood twice rebuffed SAPD's attempts to try one of their own

Quiet and orderly

No signs exist in the plaza today to indicate that African-Americans made national civil rights history in 1960. On March 16, a Wednesday morning, the San Antonio Express published a banner headline, Lunch Counter Integration to Begin Today in S.A.

The surprise move was announced the night before by local religious and business leaders after a closed, daylong meeting ended in an agreement for a quiet and orderly policy of no discrimination.

Earlier that week, about 1,500 people at a rally led by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People had pledged to begin lunch counter demonstrations in San Antonio by March 17.

The lunch counter in Woolworth was not the only one to end segregation that day. According to the San Antonio Conservation Society, the same change happened at about seven stores. Some of them remain today: the Kress, the former Neisner and the former Sommers buildings, all on Houston Street, and the former H.L. Green building on Alamo Plaza.

The latter, now home to Louis Tussauds Waxworks, and an adjacent building from 1935 also could be demolished as part of the plaza makeover.

Officials working on the Alamo plan have talked about putting up a Woolworth historical marker and photo display, but have not suggested a lunch counter restoration.

That was done in Nashville, Tenn., when the Woolworth building there was fully restored. It reopened this year as a restaurant and live music venue.

READ ALSO: Tiny urban parks bring color to McCullough Avenue

In Greensboro, N.C., a Woolworth lunch counter is preserved in a museum that was once the Woolworth store where four college freshmen on Feb. 1, 1960, participated in a sit-in demonstration that launched a national movement to desegregate lunch counters.

Everett Fly, an African-American landscape architect and historical researcher from San Antonio who has studied little-known Native American and black settlements, said the Woolworth lunch counter has to be viewed in a larger context.

As an emblem of freedom, the lunch counter is to African-Americans what the Alamo is to Texas, Fly said.

I think it would be a major mistake to demolish the building. Its an important civil rights landmark for San Antonio, he said. I dont believe a sign would do it justice.

Fly and Salas said they would applaud any effort to reconstruct the Woolworth counter in Alamo Plaza, if archival photos and blueprints could be found.

Douglass McDonald, CEO of the Alamo historic site and chief adviser on the plaza plan, said the history of the Woolworth lunch counter is important but needs to be explained in the context of the lynchings, cross burnings and other brutalities of the civil rights era.

There are lots of ways to tell the story, he said. We are perfectly willing to incorporate the story into the narrative, but you cannot tell the story of the Texas Revolution based on merely the 13-day period at the Alamo, and you cant tell the story of civil rights in San Antonio or the rest of the South based on one moment, one lunch counter.

Slaves auctioned

Also absent from the plaza now is any sign or marker of a more painful chapter in African-American history that Salas and Fly said also needs telling. About a century before the integration of the Woolworth lunch counter, slaves were auctioned just a few hundred yards away.

Scholars say slavery was an underlying, though often overlooked, factor in the Texas Revolution. Many of the Tejanos and Anglos who fought for independence at the Alamo in 1836 supported slavery.

That same year, Texas declared itself a republic. Fly noted that its constitution established slavery and excluded Africans, the descendants of Africans, and Indians from citizenship.

READ ALSO: Julian Castro gets personal in new memoir

In 1861, when Texas joined the Confederacy and the Alamo became a military depot, slave auctions were held on a second-story platform near the Alamo church, according to an article in the Express on Sept. 9, 1917.

They once sold slaves at The Cradle of Texas Liberty, Salas said. If youre going to tell the whole story of the Alamo, you need to tell the good, the bad and the ugly.

To Salas, that would include the story of a slave named Joe, who belonged to Alamo defender William Barret Travis. After Travis death at the Alamo, Joe remained the legal property of Travis estate after Texas won its independence. He escaped a year later.

Fly would also like to see some acknowledgement of the men and women of color who were workers and business owners in the plaza after the battle, including barbers who worked at the Menger Hotel; a former Buffalo Soldier who ran an ice cream shop; and Dr. Greene J. Starnes, the citys first black physician, who had an office near the Menger in the late 1800s.

McDonald, an experienced museum consultant, said if the Alamo plaza plan is approved, the entire 300-year recorded history of the site could be better told in the enlarged plaza and the new museum.

A museum designer will not be hired until after the City Council weighs in  action that may not come until December.

McDonald said he would want to consult, among others, scholars of Texas and African-American history and local community groups about how to tell it.

The best museum exhibits are developed through working together with segments of the community that have an interest in the subject matter and feel strongly about it. I wouldnt pretend to know what that looks like or how that evolves, he said.

Scott Huddleston is a staff writer in the San Antonio and Bexar County area. Read him on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | shuddleston@express-news.net | Twitter: @shuddlestonSASan Antonio officially has the wettest September in recorded history  and its not over yet.

From midnight to about 7 a.m. Saturday we received 1.86 inches of rain, said Bob Fogarty, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. That placed us at 16.82 for September.

The previous all-time rain record for a September was 15.78 inches set in 1946. And Sept. 10 tied the record of 74 degrees for lowest maximum temperature on that day, dating back to 1948.

No injuries were reported with the sporadic heavy rain, although there were some high-water rescues.

The San Antonio Fire Department conducted two rescues early Saturday, said Joe Arrington, a department spokesman.

One was an already abandoned vehicle, and the other we simply walked a driver out of the water, Arrington said. Hopefully our turn around, dont drown messaging is paying off.

In Medina County, Sheriff Randy Brown said deputies started rescuing stranded residents with the help of the fire department at 4 a.m. and kept on going through much of the day in various parts of the county. In one area, he said, between 15 and 20 people were taken out of an RV park near the Medina River via jet ski. Trailers at the park were underwater, Brown said.

Five wettest Septembers: 1. 16.82" - 2018 2. 15.78" - 1946 3. 13.09" - 1973 4. 11.16" - 1967 5. 11.10" - 1957 See More Collapse

Water levels in the river and a nearby creek were still high Saturday evening, he said, but with no rain expected Sunday, the levels likely will fall.

Fogarty said tropical moisture from the Gulf of Mexico and rounds of heavy rainfall helped San Antonio beat its previous September record, and there is still a rainy week left in the month.

Sunday is expected to be partly cloudy, with a high near 83 degrees and no chances of rain in the forecast.But tTheres a 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms Monday and Tuesday, increasing to 50 percent Wednesday, according to the weather service.

The rainfall total for San Antonio so far this year is 30.56 inches, according to the National Weather Service. While theres still one more month in San Antonios traditional rainy seasons (May, September and October), the city isnt likely to reach the record of 52.28 inches set in 1973 unless theres a major hurricane.

Watching the aquifer

On Saturday, the J-17 well was at 672.9 feet in elevation  10.9 feet higher than six months earlier and 16 feet higher than the same date last year, according to Edwards Aquifer Authority records.

Less than three weeks ago, on Sept. 3, the J-17 well rose 6.1 feet to 642.3 feet in a 24-hour period. It marked the fifth-largest single-day jump in the Authoritys records, and the weather service recorded 6.07 inches of rain that day, breaking the daily rainfall record of 1.76 from 1889.

The Blue Hole, a spring near the University of the Incarnate Word, is benefiting from the increased aquifer level; its flowing again, according to the Headwaters at Incarnate Word website. The spring is part of the 53-acre Headwaters sanctuary and flows when the Edwards reaches around 670 feet.

While the Edwards Aquifer Authority downgraded its water pumping restrictions to Stage 1 last week as the aquifer rose, the San Antonio Water System remains in Stage 2, limiting watering with sprinklers to once a week. The agency is required to wait 15 days after the 10-day average surpasses 660 feet, which happened Sept. 15, before it can ease restrictions.

So on Oct. 1, well seriously look at coming out of any of the stages, SAWS spokeswoman Anne Hayden said last week.

Hayden encouraged customers to keep their sprinkler systems turned off for a few weeks.

People really shouldnt need to water their lawns for some time, she said.

Staff writer Scott Huddleston contributed to this report.Hope Frye starts to talk about her work on behalf of immigrant children in detention with a lot of qualifiers. Theyre important, in that the executive director of Project Lifeline comes to the issue with lots of knowledge of the so-called Flores settlement, a 1997 agreement reached with the federal government that outlines legal protections for children held in detention.

The last four words in that sentence should make every American cringe. No government should be in the business of detaining children, and certainly not for indefinite amounts of time, which Frye says the U.S. government is proposing.

For as much attention put on the separation of an estimated 3,000 immigrant children from their parents at the border  some of whom remain separated  that number didnt tell the full story.

RELATED: Inside the countrys largest immigrant family detention center

According to the governments own numbers, it had 12,800 children in detention this month.

Another shocking number can rival it. In the Trump administrations proposed regulations for detention, published in the Federal Register, during fiscal year 2017 it held 134,526 immigrant children in detention all over the country, including South Texas.

More Information Project Lifeline's panel, "Immigrant Children: Detention Without End," is set for 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 28, in the University of the Incarnate Word's Student Engagement Center. The panelists are: Dr. Fernando Stein, past president of the American Academy of Pediatrics and a native of Guatemala; Dr. Paul Wise, the Richard E. Behrman Professor of Child Health and Society at Stanford University and senior fellow in the Center for Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law and the Center for International Security and Cooperation in the Freeman-Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University. He co-directs the March of Dimes Center for Prematurity Research at Stanford and has worked extensively in Guatemala; Dr. Marsha Griffin, professor of pediatrics and director of the Division of Child and Family Health and the Community for Children program at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley School of Medicine. Griffin writes and speak on trauma among children living along the border; Dr. Ayesha Kahn, assistant professor of emergency medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine; Sister Norma Pimentel, director of Catholic Charities Rio Grande Valley and the Sacred Heart Respite Center in McAllen. She is recipient of numerous awards, including the Laetare Medal, the highest honor an American Catholic can receive; Rev. Dr. Helen Boursier, a theologian and former volunteer chaplain at the Karnes City ICE detention center; And pastor John Garland of the San Antonio Mennonite Church. The Rev. Ann Helmke will moderate the panel. She's an ordained Lutheran minister, co-founder of the San Antonio peaceCENTER and the community faith-based liaison for the City of San Antonio. The event will feature "The Power of Hope: Refugee Art & Reflection" exhibit produced by mothers and children in the Karnes detention center. Saturday's caravan will merge with a Houston group in McAllen. The caravan will meet at 7 a.m. Saturday in the UIW Convocation Center parking lot and will deport for McAllen at 8 a.m. Check Project Lifeline's Facebook page for details. The project's email address is projectlifeline2018@gmail.com. See More Collapse

The San Francisco-based immigrant and human rights lawyer is in San Antonio for a Friday night panel, Immigrant Children: Detention Without End, and will lead a caravan to a detention center in McAllen on Saturday to bring attention to what she describes as an intentional attempt by the government to quash these kids, to disable them, mind, body and spirit.

Frye is past president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association and past chair of the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law, which filed the class-action Flores lawsuit and reached the settlement. She says the administrations proposed regulations ignore its provisions.

This summer the center sued the government, and Frye was part of a team that collected declarations from immigrants. Now court evidence, their statements detail their experiences since U.S. arrival and point to conditions that dont meet the standards set out in the Flores agreement.

These declarations, though different, share some traits. Over and over, immigrants describe situations that drove them to flee their homelands, not because they wanted to, but because they had no choice.

One describes a Central American father who left his country suddenly after his 16-year-old sister was taken by a gang member. After confronting him, the kidnapper threatened the life of the fathers 3-year-old daughter. He sold everything he owned to get to the United States.

They treated us like dogs, the man said about his detention. Indeed, some of the detention centers are called dog kennels.

RELATED: The business of owning real estate for immigration detention centers

The Trump administrations proposed rules suggest longer periods in detention. Opponents say it will result in chronic stress thats as devastating as family separation.

If I was arrested today, Frye says, it will take two weeks before I get an interview with an immigration officer, who could decide that I have a credible fear of deportation. Given proposed regulations, it may take years before an immigrant gets a hearing. If I lose, I can appeal and again could take another few years, she says.

Most detainees are Catholic and Pentecostal, and their faith has helped them cope with poverty and dangerous treks. Frye says indefinite detention will chisel away at those coping skills.

Fridays panel at the University of the Incarnate Word, which will be dominated by physicians, will be followed on Saturday with a humanitarian caravan to the Ursula Border Patrol Central Processing Center in McAllen. Activists, including doctors, will take water, food and blankets.

Frye knows the centers administrators wont accept the 18-wheeler filled with donated goods. Its symbolic, she says, and meant to call attention to the number of children in detention and the proposed regulations.

The Trump administration is banking its hard line approach will lessen immigration flows. Thats unlikely.

Around the world, people fleeing violence and persecution risk death to get themselves and their loved ones to safety. Even kiddie jails wont stop them.

But the morally reprehensible policy should matter to us.

The American Academy of Pediatrics has been clear about the outcomes of child detention. In June, it called such detention abhorrent and harmful, likely to cause anxiety, depression and posttraumatic stress disorder. Because immigrants have suffered psychological stress, detention retraumatizes them.

We must remember that children do not immigrate, the academy said. They flee.

Meanwhile, the only entity that will continue to benefit from such policies is the for-profit prison industry.

Elaine Ayala covers religion and minority affairs in the San Antonio and Bexar County area. Read her on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | eayala@express-news.net | Twitter: @ElaineAyalaBreak out the white gowns, were having a coming-out party!

After years of speculation, its been confirmed by former Sesame Street writer Mark Saltzman that puppet roommates Bert and Ernie are not just best friends as the show has long publicly stated but a same-sex couple.

I always felt that without a huge agenda, when I was writing Bert & Ernie, they were out, Saltzman explained in an interview with Queerty. I didnt have any other way to contextualize them. ... I dont think Id know how else to write them but as a loving couple.

Saltzman joined the childrens television series in 1985, 16 years after the characters debuted, and wrote scripts and songs for the show until 1998. In the interview, he revealed that Bert and Ernie were essentially Muppet versions of himself and his longtime partner, film editor Arnold Glassman. The two lived together during Saltzmans time writing for the show. (Glassman died in 2003.) Saltzman described himself as cautiously out at work when he joined the series and said there were other gay people working on the show, including performer Richard Hunt and writer Judy Freudberg.

Saltzmans revelation comes after decades of pop culture references, innuendos and jokes claiming the Muppet characters were a gay couple, including on The Simpsons, Family Guy, Saturday Night Live, Friends and Modern Family. Members of the LGBT community even adopted the pair as icons with Bert and Ernie costumes and merchandise being a frequent presence at Gay Pride events. In July 2013, the New Yorker magazine chose an illustration of Bert and Ernie by artist Jack Hunter, titled Moment of Joy, as the cover of their July 8, 2013 issue following two crucial Supreme Court rulings. The high court determined that the Defense of Marriage Act was unconstitutional, and that backers of Californias Proposition 8 did not have standing to appeal a federal district court decision invalidating the measures ban on same-sex marriage.

Officially, though, this does not change the characters biographies: Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit behind the show, continues to state that Bert and Ernie are just friends. Sesame Workshop said on Twitter that even though they are identified as male characters and possess many human traits and characteristics ... they remain puppets and do not have a sexual orientation.

Go tell that to the legions of LGBT adults who grew up with the almost-50-year-old characters and could sense that queer subtext between the two since before they could name it.

Jacquelyn Martin / Associated Press 2013

Historically, with a lack of representation in media, LGBT viewers looked for reflections of themselves in characters that frequently fell between the sexual lines.

Think about relationships like the one between James Deans and Sal Mineos characters in the film Rebel Without a Cause in the 1950s, or Xena Warrior Princess and her faithful friend Gabrielle in the 1990s. Or think of the comic book fans who have seen superheroes like the X-Men as gay stand-ins as they dealt with institutionalized discrimination because of their superhuman other status. These were all characters that queer fans rushed to identify as examples of coded gay lives.

Bert and Ernie fell very much between those lines for queer viewers looking for an example of a loving (if sometimes irritable) long-term couple. LGBT people knew that Bert and Ernie were family as clearly as we knew that The Wizard of Oz was one giant gay metaphor (dont get me started ) and that the Rankin and Bass animated Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer special was a story about coming to gay acceptance (its all there if you know to watch for it).

AP

But in 2018, do we need out gay puppet characters?

For this gay viewer, the answer is yes: We need them as much as we need flesh-and-blood LGBT representation. If Bert and Ernies inferred queer life together brought even one child comfort  either a child grappling with their own identity or the child of same-sex parents  imagine the good that an out and proud Bert and Ernie could do during those formative years.

Seeing oneself, even if you cant quite identify who you are at a tender young age, is the ultimate affirmation. Sesame Workshop, dont fight it any longer. Let the felt ones love one another! If Bert can stand Ernies ever-present rubber duckie and Ernie accepts Berts unibrow, who are we to judge?

Besides, on a street where an 8-foot-tall bird and a monster who lives in a garbage receptacle can be readily accepted as residents, is a gay couple really that big a deal?

Tony Bravo is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: tbravo@sfchronicle.comSarajevo Airport is preparing to commence work on the multi million euro expansion of its terminal building (pictured above), as well as the construction of its new business and administrative headquarters, while pursuing new carriers and routes. Last week, Sarajevo Airport inked a 15.3 million euro contract with local company ANS Drive to add an extra 10.000 square metres to its terminal building. Furthermore, the deal also includes the construction of an office/business facility at the airport, worth three million euros. The two projects will be financed from the airport's own funds. "The expansion of the passenger terminal and the construction of a business facility are important strategic projects for Sarajevo Airport, which will provide capacity for further growth", General Manager, Armin Kajmakovic, said.





Sarajevo Airport's planned new business and administrative headquarters

Upon completion, the terminal building will have the capacity to handle two million passengers. Currently, Sarajevo can welcome one million travellers per year, with the airport set to surpass that figure during the fourth quarter of 2018. Construction is expected to start this autumn, with its completion scheduled for late 2019. Previously, the old terminal A building was demolished in order to make way for the expanded facility. The new business and administrative building, which will house offices for airport staff, will be located next to the control tower. In addition, following two years of trials, the airport will fully implement its anti-fog system this winter, in order to reduce cancellations and delays resulting from adverse weather conditions. The system involves spraying liquid propane into the atmosphere, which turns fog into ice particles or snow crystals that then fall onto the ground . "We can say with all certainty that this system will be fully operational this winter. Over the past few seasons we successfully tested it and had fewer cancelled flights", Mr Kajmakovic said. Upon completion, the terminal building will have the capacity to handle two million passengers. Currently, Sarajevo can welcome one million travellers per year, with the airport set to surpass that figure during the fourth quarter of 2018. Construction is expected to start this autumn, with its completion scheduled for late 2019. Previously, the old terminal A building was demolished in order to make way for the expanded facility. The new business and administrative building, which will house offices for airport staff, will be located next to the control tower. In addition, following two years of trials, the airport will fully implement its anti-fog system this winter, in order to reduce cancellations and delays resulting from adverse weather conditions. The system involves spraying liquid propane into the atmosphere, which turns fog into ice particles or snow crystals that then fall onto the ground . "We can say with all certainty that this system will be fully operational this winter. Over the past few seasons we successfully tested it and had fewer cancelled flights", Mr Kajmakovic said.



TRIP REPORT





Submitted by FlyAlex





Departure from Zagreb Airport was a breeze: the terminal has just been opened last year an is very modern and in my opinion currently oversized. It was very deserted this Monday evening and when I arrived at the central security check area I was the ONLY passenger there. On the way to my bus boarding gate on the lower floor I took some pictures of the terminal interior and some Croatia Airlines Airbuses waiting for their departures.

Boarding started perfectly on time and a bus brought us to the Croatia Airlines turboprop that would bring me to Munich this evening.

The flight ended up quite full and I had a window seat in the last row of the plane. The cabin was very modern and the seats quite comfortable. The cabin definitely had Croatian branding. Soon a manual safety demonstration followed and we departed for our flight of ca. 1 hour.

Once cruising altitude was reached the two rather friendly cabin crew members started the in-flight service which was completely free of charge which is great and getting more and more rare those days unfortunately. I had a Croatian beer and with it their came some great tasting Croatian olive crackers. I loved the quadratic design of the plastic cups.

Soon the flight ended and we started approach into Munich.

This was a very nice short turboprop hop with free in-flight service even in Economy Class. Keep up doing that great way Croatia Airlines!

Share your travel experience by submitting a trip report to exyu@exyuaviation.comGREENWICH  Aldo Pascarella began renting his beachside estate on Airbnb this year after his living situation was altered by a death in the family.

Pascarella, the landlord and a real estate attorney, moved his family in with his father after his mother died. Because Pascarella took all the familys belongings to his fathers home, he knew he had to stage and furnish the house in order to sell it. It made sense to rent the empty home on Airbnb while it sat dormant and ready to accommodate.

He considered the prospect of short-term rentals because he had good experiences staying at Airbnb homes in Copenhagen, Rome and the United Kingdom, Pascarella said in a phone interview.

In England last summer, the Airbnb (my family) stayed at was owned by the Duke of Somerset on 10,000 acres of land, he said. It was a great experience, and I dont see any reason why we shouldnt offer similar experiences here in Connecticut.

For $1,000 a night, guests can enjoy the amenities of the Pascarellas home and private beach in a gated community. The homeowner said he also receives some unusual requests, like people asking to film music videos on his property. But Pascarella said he maintains staunch personal standards in accepting guests.

We want the best and brightest from around the world, he said, citing venture capitalists and doctors from other countries as recent guests.

There are 70 active hosts in Greenwich as of July 1, according to data recently released by Airbnb, and more than 1,900 guests were accommodated in the town last year. The typical Greenwich host made $6,800 a year by sharing their homes for about three nights a month.

Of Greenwich hosts, 62 percent are women and 28 percent are over the age of 60.

Airbnb by the numbers As of July 1, 2018, there are 70 active hosts in Greenwich, who welcomed 1,900 guests over the past year. 62 percent of hosts are women, and 28 percent are seniors (over the age of 60). The typical host made $6,800 per year, from sharing their home for approximately three nights per month. There were 13,400 outbound guests from Greenwich over the past year. Source: Airbnb See More Collapse

Also, more than 13,400 people from Greenwich used Airbnb to stay in other locations last year.

Some people in Pascarellas neighborhood arent enthusiastic about the idea of guests coming and going from their exclusive community. For that reason, hes in favor of reasonable regulations for short-term rentals.

I think that regulation of the activity in a reasonable manner that is narrowly tailored to the concerns of the community, but doesnt infringe upon private property rights and the rights of people to rent their property, would be a good thing, Pascarella said.

The increase in Airbnb use has led to states and municipalities attempting to regulate the company. Governing bodies have taken varying approaches in their attempt to ensure Airbnb wont impact the hospitality industry and the housing market, or disturb neighborhoods.

Greenwich has no regulations covering Airbnb or short-term rentals, according to Michael Long, director of environmental services for the towns health department. Theres been no need to in Greenwich, Long said, perhaps becuase Airbnb has been slower to take off in the town than in some other communities.

We dont have any regulations specific to (Airbnb), he said. We respond to complaints from renters and see how their complaints relate to the housing code.

One approach to regulation has been to require a 30-day minimum for rentals, as New York City has. Officials in municipalities such as New Fairfield, New Haven and Stamford are starting to consider regulating rentals.

Two years ago, Connecticuts legislature partnered with Airbnb to collect lodging tax. Since then, the state has received $5.2 million in tax revenue from Airbnb, according to the company.As James Maroney and state Rep. Pam Staneski knock on thousands of doors in the 14th state Senate District, they carry not only their personal ambitions, but also the future of their political parties.

Both are running to replace conservative Democrat Gayle Slossberg in one the few vacant state Senate seats. The district covers Milford, Orange, West Haven and Woodbridge

This seat here is a pivotal seat if we maintain all 18 (GOP Senate seats), said Staneski, a veteran Republican member of the House of Representatives. This could be the 19th seat.

The eyes of party chairmen, Senate leaders and political operatives are on them. The open seats will be a key battleground in November, as Democrats and Republicans fight to seize a majority in the Senate, which is now tied 18-18.

Both parties want to hold the districts where they have incumbents  15 for Republicans, 14 for Democrats  as well as make new gains. Democrats and Republicans are also targeting a handful of other seats where they think incumbents are vulnerable.

For Republicans, who havent had a Senate majority since 1996, winning the chamber would be just a start.

We are very excited, said J.R. Romano, state Republican party chairman. Our plan is to not only win the majority in the Senate, but to win majorities in the House, the Senate and the governorship.

Republicans are hoping for fresh wins in formerly Democratic towns that went for President Donald Trump in 2016. They are also looking for a boost from voters dissatisfied with the economy and taxes under Democratic Gov. Dannel P. Malloy.

Democrats, on the other hand, will look to turn strong opposition to Trump  only 40 percent of Americans approve of the Presidents job in office, according to an aggregation of all national polls by the website FiveThirtyEight  into more seats in the midterms, which are usually considered a referendum on the president.

The party is on the offensive, said Bob Duff, Senate Majority Leader, D-Norwalk.

Were going to be making a play for a number of the seats that are held by (Republican) incumbents, he said.

If Republicans were going to take a Senate majority, they would have done so in 2017, said said Senate President Pro Tempore Martin Looney, D-New Haven.

When Obama was president, 33 state senates lost their majorities and 32 state houses lost their majorities for Democrats, said Jennifer Schneider, a Democratic consultant. There was a trend that was happening all over the country and you saw (Republicans) gaining seats, but now the wave is going the other direction.

Competitive districts

In addition to the Milford seat, Republicans are eyeing the seat Ted Kennedy Jr. of Branford is vacating for possible gains, said Romano. They also say its important to defend the open seats where Republicans Art Linares of Westbrook and Tony Guglielmo of Stafford Springs served for years.

Republicans will look to unseat incumbent Sen. Tim Larson, D-East Hartford and Sen. Steve Cassano, D-Manchester, who won by slim margins in recent elections.

That one there could go Republican, said Rose of Larsons seat.

The GOP will also be protecting first-term Sens. George Logan of Ansonia, Heather Somers of Groton, and Len Suzio of Meriden, Romano said of districts formerly represented by Democrats.

Suzios seat is obviously one of the top ones that is being targeted, said Schneider.

Democrats are attacking the open seats even in Republican areas. Democrat Norman Needleman, first selectman of Essex who is self-funding his campaign to fill the Linares vacancy, has dropped $86,000 on television commercials, an anomaly in state legislative races.

We got Julie Kushner up in Danbury, which has always been a Republican seat, said Nick Balletto, chairman of the state Democratic party. Shes up there just running an unbelievable campaign.

Senate President Looney said Democrats have a strong expectations of winning back Logans seat that was previously held by Joe Crisco of Woodbridge.

Several Democrats also highlighted Will Haskell, a 21-year-old, challenging longtime Republican Sen. Toni Boucher of Wilton.

He is probably the most energetic candidate we have had in the district for a long time, said Looney.

Spending

Gary Rose, political science professor at Sacred Hearst University in Fairfield, said Democrats could take the state Senate majority by one or two seats, but it could still end up being a wash, quite frankly.

Midterms are traditionally low turnout, causing Republican influence to be more pronounced, said Rose. But voter turnout and registration was higher than normal in the August primary, according to the Secretary of the States office  perhaps a harbinger that more ballots will be cast in November, too.

The enthusiasm among Democrats is really high this year, said Rose.

But money could change everything.

The Republican State Leadership Committee  which promotes GOP majorities in state government  has already given at least $400,000 to a Republican PAC called Change Connecticut, according to latest campaign finance filings. Three other GOP PACs targeting the Senate have raised over $300,000 collectively.

At least two PACs supporting Senate Democrats have raised more than $179,000 collectively, according to latest filings with the State Elections Enforcement Commission.

Neither party has yet decided on districts in which they will invest resources during the last weeks before the election, said Romano and Looney.

But for Maroney, in the 14th District, who has run against Staneski twice before, each claiming one win, the stakes are high. Hes primarily focused on winning his race, rather than the outcome of the entire Senate.

Everything she does makes me nervous, said Maroney, a Democrat and former state representative. He says this race is like every other and there are always just two ways to campaign: Unopposed or scared.Genesee & Wyoming Inc. owns and leases freight railroads. It operates through three segments: North American Operations, Australian Operations, and U.K./European Operations. The company transports various commodities, including agricultural products, autos and auto parts, chemicals and plastics, coal and coke, food and kindred products, lumber and forest products, metallic ores, metals, minerals and stone, petroleum products, pulp and paper, waste, and other commodities. It owns or leases 122 freight railroads, including 105 short line railroads and 2 regional freight railroads located in the United States, 8 short line railroads located in Canada, 3 railroads located in Australia, 1 railroad located in the United Kingdom, 1 railroad in Poland and Germany, and 2 railroads in the Netherlands with a total of approximately 16,200 miles of track. The company also operates 6,200 additional miles of track that is owned or leased by others. In addition, it operates deep sea maritime containers and provides bulk haulage, including coal, aggregates, cement, and infrastructure services. Further, the company provides rail service at approximately 40 ports; rail-ferry service in North America, Australia, and Europe; and contract coal loading and railcar switching for industrial customers. Genesee & Wyoming Inc. was founded in 1899 and is headquartered in Darien, Connecticut.

Read MoreOrmat Technologies, Inc. operates as a holding company. The firm engages in the provision of geothermal and recovered energy power business. It operates through the following segments: Electricity, Product and Energy Storage. The Electricity segment focuses in the sale of electricity from the company's power plants pursuant to PPAs. The Product segment involves in the manufacture, including design and development, of turbines and power units for the supply of electrical energy and in the associated construction of power plants utilizing the power units manufactured by the company to supply energy from geothermal fields and other alternative energy sources. The Energy Storage segment consists of battery energy storage systems as a service and management of curtailable customer loads under contracts with U.S. retail energy providers and directly with large commercial and industrial customers. The company was founded in 1965 and is headquartered in Reno, NV.

Read MoreVarian Medical Systems, Inc. designs, manufactures, sells, and services medical devices and software products for treating cancer and other medical conditions worldwide. It operates through Oncology Systems and Proton Solutions segments. The Oncology Systems segment offers hardware and software products for treating cancer with radiotherapy, fixed field intensity-modulated radiation therapy, image-guided radiation therapy, volumetric modulated arc therapy, stereotactic radiosurgery, stereotactic body radiotherapy, artificial intelligence based adaptive radiotherapy, and brachytherapy, as well as quality assurance equipment. Its products include linear accelerators, brachytherapy afterloaders, treatment accessories, and quality assurance software; and information management, treatment planning, image processing, clinical knowledge exchange, patient care management, decision-making support, and practice management software. This segment serves university research and community hospitals, private and governmental institutions, healthcare agencies, physicians' offices, medical oncology practices, radiotherapy centers, and cancer care clinics. The Proton Solutions segment designs, develops, manufactures, sells, and services products and systems for delivering proton therapy for the treatment of cancer. The company has a strategic agreement with McKesson Corp. to supply treatment delivery systems and planning, services, and radiotherapy information system solutions to its U.S. Oncology Network and Vantage Oncology affiliated sites of care; and a strategic partnership with Siemens AG to represent Siemens diagnostic imaging products to radiation oncology clinics in the United States and other select markets. Varian Medical Systems, Inc. was formerly known as Varian Associates, Inc. and changed its name to Varian Medical Systems, Inc. in April 1999. The company was founded in 1948 and is headquartered in Palo Alto, California.

Read MorePlains GP Holdings LP owns and operates midstream energy infrastructure and provides logistics services primarily for crude oil, natural gas liquids and natural gas through its indirect investment in Plains All American Pipeline, L.P. The firm operates through the following segments: Transportation, Facilities and Supply and Logistics. The Transportation segment consists of fee-based activities associated with transporting crude oil and NGL on pipelines, gathering systems, trucks and barges. The Facilities segment consists of fee-based activities associated with providing storage, terminalling and throughput services primarily for crude oil, NGL and natural gas, as well as NGL fractionation and isomerization services and natural gas and condensate processing services. The Supply and Logistics segment consists of storage of inventory during contango market conditions and the seasonal storage of NGL, purchase of NGL from producers, refiners, processors and other marketers, extraction of NGL from gas processed at the facilities. Plains GP Holdings LP was founded in July 2013 and is headquartered in Houston, TX.

Read MoreGlobal X MSCI Norway ETF's stock was trading at $8.59 on March 11th, 2020 when Coronavirus reached pandemic status according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Since then, NORW stock has increased by 279.2% and is now trading at $32.57.

View which stocks have been most impacted by COVID-19.KAZ Minerals PLC, together with its subsidiaries, engages in mining and processing copper and other metals primarily in Kazakhstan, Russia, and Kyrgyzstan. It operates through Bozshakol, Aktogay, East Region and Bozymchak, and Mining Projects segments. The company operates the Aktogay and Bozshakol open pit copper mines in the east region and Pavlodar region of Kazakhstan; three underground mines in the east region of Kazakhstan; and the Bozymchak copper-gold mine in Kyrgyzstan. It also develops greenfield metal deposits; operates Koksay deposit in Kazakhstan, and the Baimskaya licence area in the Chukotka region of Russia; and produces and sells various by-products, such as gold, silver, molybdenum, and zinc. In addition, the company supplies and distributes heat, water, and electricity; and offers construction, project management, financing, management, sales and logistics, and repairs and maintenance services. The company was formerly known as Kazakhmys PLC and changed its name to KAZ Minerals PLC in October 2014. KAZ Minerals PLC was founded in 1930 and is based in London, the United Kingdom.

Read MoreThe Hong Kong and China Gas Company Limited, together with its subsidiaries, produces, distributes, and markets gas in Hong Kong and Mainland China. It is involved in the provision of liquefied natural gas, methanol, and coal and other chemicals; conversion and utilization of biomass, and industrial and agricultural waste; and operation of natural gas refilling stations, piped city-gas projects, upstream and midstream developments, water and wastewater treatment projects, energy exploration and utilization ventures, and aviation fuel facilities. The company supplies town gas to approximately 1.9 million customers. It also provides network connectivity, and data center and cloud computing services; and engages in the software development, solution implementation, and systems integration activities. In addition, the company offers consultancy and engineering contractor services, including utilities installation, infrastructure construction, and civil and building services engineering for public and private projects; and designs and manufactures gas meters and metering systems. Further, it is involved in water supply and wastewater treatment serving 2.4 million customers. Additionally, the company manufactures polyethylene piping and fittings; and engages in the customers center, cafA, restaurant, retail sale, automatic meter reading system development, laboratory testing, payment gateway and related, project management, landfill gas project, financing, logistics, oil, research and development, property development, and securities investment activities. The Hong Kong and China Gas Company Limited was founded in 1862 and is headquartered in North Point, Hong Kong.

Read MoreBrexit is already creating difficulties for Ireland's dairy industry, even before the UK leaves the European Union, according to the EUs Agriculture Commissioner.

The Commissioner, Irishman Phil Hogan, said in a speech in Dublin that fluctuations in exchange rates - caused partly by the UK referendum decision to withdraw from the EU - were a concern for exporters.

The value of Sterling has fallen significantly since the referendum vote in the summer of 2016, making imports into the UK more expensive.

Like you, I am concerned about the fluctuations in exchange rates between Sterling and the Euro, said the Commissioner in a speech in Dublin on the outlook for the dairy industry.

The uncertainty around Brexit has been a key factor here. The current exchange rates are creating difficult conditions for Irish companies exporting to the UK.

Phil Hogan said that the United Kingdom was a very important market for the Irish dairy industry.

The UK is, of course, a net importer of cheese and butter from the EU, totalling 480,000 tonnes in 2017, he said.

Exports to the UK accounted for more than half of total Irish cheese production, he said, and for a quarter of Irish butter production.

We must aim to diversify to new markets, taking advantage of the market access the EU has negotiated with Japan, Mexico, Vietnam and Singapore for dairy products. It is important to note that the EU will put financial support behind this effort, he said.

China exports

Dairy was one of the sectors under focus during a trade mission to China earlier this year by the Irish Farmers Association.

Dairy exports to China amounted to 666 million in 2017, with infant formula being the major export product. Some 13 per cent of all infant formula sold in China in 2017 was Irish.

IFA president Joe Healy said that, with Brexit approaching, it "has never been more important to diversify and develop our markets and, in that context, China represents a huge opportunity."

He identified opportunities for increasing dairy, pork and beef exports to China. Like cheese, more than half of Irish beef exports currently go to the UK.

China represents a huge opportunity. Securing a breakthrough on market access for Irish beef in April this year was a welcome development and positive news for the sector.

He said: China consumes one quarter of the worlds meat supply, and imported 700,000 tonnes of beef in 2017.

There is enormous potential for further rapid growth in consumer demand for beef, with consumption expected to double by 2020, driven by increasing urbanisation and rising incomes.

Premium product

Joe Healy said the Chinese market had become an important one for Irish pigmeat products over recent years, with exports to China growing to almost 100m in 2017.

He said there was an opportunity to grow this further and to take advantage of the Chinese decision to impose tariffs on pork originating in the United States.

And he said: The Irish agri-food industry has had considerable success in maximising the Chinese market for dairy, positioning Irish produce as a premium product.

In his Dublin speech Phil Hogan described China as the largest world importer of dairy products.

There are concerns regarding Chinese buying in the context of trade wars, which have had a damaging effect on the economy and business sentiment.

Infant formula remains the most important product imported by China in terms of value, and the EU represents around three quarters of this market, he said.

But he said that in the medium term the European Union should remain very well-positioned on world dairy markets, despite higher production cost compared to competitors.

Milk production growth should be sustained by increasing domestic demand, as well as an increase in global trade, he said.

UK market

Statistics produced by Dairy Industry Ireland indicate that the industry is a key component of the Irish economy.

The industry processes about seven billion litres of milk each year, supplied by 18,000 family farms. Many of these families are owners of the primary business.

The IFA has said that securing tax-free access to the UK market should be a priority during the ongoing negotiations between Westminster and Brussels on a Brexit agreement.

Maintenance of the value of the UK market was a key priority for Irish farming and the food sector, said the IFA in a Brexit briefing.

In addition, the potential disruption to trade flows between Ireland and Northern Ireland, with their highly integrated agri-food sector and complex supply chains, must be minimised, said the IFA, which said that the imposition of tariffs on EU agri-food exports to the UK could make agri-food trade uneconomic.

In addition, an increase in low cost food imports that undermines the value of the UK market would have a devastating effect on the Irish agri-food sector and on other EU agri-food exporters for whom the UK is an important trading partner.

The value of EU agri-food exports cannot be undermined by an increase in low cost food imports into the UK market, which do not meet the high food safety, animal welfare, health and environmental standards that are required of EU producers.

Overall, the displacement of Irish food exports from the UK market could create a serious market disturbance on the EU market, potentially destabilising the EU market balance.

The retention of access to and maintenance of the value of the UK market is critically important, therefore, not just for the Irish farming and food sector, but for food producers and the food industry across the EU.

The IFA said that the EU must set as a strategic objective in Brexit negotiations the maximisation of the future value of the EU farming and food sector.2020 was a year marked by hardships and challenges, but the Fauquier community has proven resilient. The Fauquier Times is honored to serve as your community companion. To say thank you for your continued support, wed like to offer all our subscribers -- new or returning --

4 WEEKS FREE DIGITAL AND PRINT ACCESS.

We understand the importance of working to keep our community strong and connected. As we move forward together into 2021, it will take commitment, communication, creativity, and a strong connection with those who are most affected by the stories we cover.

We are dedicated to providing the reliable, local journalism you have come to expect. We are committed to serving you with renewed energy and growing resources. Let the Fauquier Times be your community companion throughout 2021, and for many years to come.Category Select Category Apparel/Garments Textiles Fashion Technical Textiles Information Technology E-commerce Retail Corporate Association Press Release

SubCategory Select Sub-CategoryAll set for Abu Dhabi , next destination Team @Bharat_TheFilm ... pic.twitter.com/6oIH2JZeDU  ali abbas zafar (@aliabbaszafar) September 23, 2018

Ali Abbas Zafar directorial Bharat is one of the most talked about films in the recent times. Starring Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif in the lead, Bharat is an official remake of Korean film, Ode To My Father. After sharing fun pictures and wrapping up the Malta schedule of Bharat, Ali Abbas Zafar has now announced the next shoot schedule and we are already quite excited about it.Ali took to his official social media handle and tweeted, All set for Abu Dhabi , next destination Team @Bharat_TheFilm ...Sharing stills of Abu Dhabi, Zafar shared that this will be the next home for team Bharat in the coming days. Speaking of Bharat, Salman and Katrina will have 5 different looks in the film which will showcase their journey from the age of 18 to 60.Earlier it was Priyanka Chopra who had to play the female lead opposite Salman in the film but the actress walked out of the film in nick of time. On that Ali had exclusively told Filmfare, It wasnt a difficult time. I think she had a lot of justification for her reason of not being a part of Bharat and we as adults, whether there were producers, whether it was me, whether it was Salman, we all understood her reasoning and we let her go.How excited are you to see pictures of Salman and Katrina shooting for Bharat in Abu Dhabi already?Bigg Boss 12: Bharti Singh and Harsh Limbachiyaa diagnosed with DENGUE | FilmiBeat

Comedienne Bharti Singh and husband Harsh Limbachiyaa are hitting the headlines for one or the other reason. Recently, they were seen during the launch of Bigg Boss 12 and it was said that they would participate. But it seems that it was just a gimmick! There were also reports that Bharti and Harsh are coming up with a chat show! The chat show will have Khatron Ke Khiladi 9 contestants - Avika Gor, Karan Wahi, Riddhima Pandit and others to name a few. Recently, the couple were shooting for something exciting, but the shoot and media interacting were cancelled because of their illness.

It is also being said that Avika too was shooting with the couple and she too has fallen sick! Both Harsh and Bharti were down with fever due to which their platelet count dropped. As per Spotboye report, after detailed check-ups and blood test, the couple was diagnosed with Dengue. The doctor advised them to get admitted.



The couple was rushed to Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital, Mumbai, on September 22, 2018. Apparently, the doctors have kept the two under observation.

We wish a speedy recovery to Harsh, Bharti and Avika.

Kapil Sharma Is Following Akshay Kumar's Lifestyle These Days!Actor-turned-MLA Karunas has been charged with criminal conspiracy, promoting enmity and promoting disharmony by the Chennai Police.

Actor-turned-MLA Karunas was arrested in Chennai on Sunday for making alleged derogatory remarks against Tamil Nadu chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami, a city police official and a few newspaper houses. The Mukkulathor Puli Padai party chief has been charged with criminal conspiracy, promoting enmity, promoting disharmony, attempt to murder and issuing death threats, The Hindu reported.

Karunas reportedly made the "abusive comments" on 16 September at a protest meeting organised by his political outfit at Vallavaur Kottam in Chennai. Naming Palaniswami and Tamil Nadu deputy chief minister O Panneerselvam in his speech, the actor-politician had claimed that his loyalties lay with the VK Sasikala camp of the AIADMK, and that "disloyal" members of his "Thevar" community had moved to the "EPS" camp, referring to Panneerselvam, The NewsMinute reported.

The MLA had contested the 2016 Tamil Nadu elections on an AIADMK ticket from Thiruvadanai.

Furthermore, singling out Deputy Commissioner of Police of T Nagar P Aravindan, who had stopped him from standing next to the chief minister at an event, Karunas said his seniors should counsel the young officer and also challenged him to a duel.

Karunas also claimed that Palaniswami was afraid of him. The Hindu quoted him as saying: "When I asked them what was the need (for high security at my protest in Chennai), they (the police deployed) said the chief minister was afraid that I was going to block him and beat him. I am not lying. You can check with the chief minister by calling him. That's true."

The Hindu Makkal Munnani filed a complaint against the legislator with Chennai Commissioner of Police AK Viswanathan soon after. On 20 September, the Chennai Police booked Karunas under a number of sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Madras City Police Act for his controversial speech, which was widely shared on social media.

He had later expressed regret for his statements, saying he had not intended to hurt any community. "As far as I am concerned, I only spoke about the demands of my community. It is not my intention to demean and speak ill of others," Karunas said while speaking to a local channel.

The Chennai Police arrested Karunas from his house in Saligramam around 5 am on Sunday, and a large number of policemen were deployed for at his residence, according to The NewsMinute. NDTV quoted a senior police officer as saying that they will "intimate the Tamil Nadu Speaker about the arrest".

Three members of his Mukkulathor Puli Padai  Karthik, Nedumaran and Selva Vinayagam  were also arrested. They will be produced before judge Gopinath's house in Egmore for remand, The Hindu reported.

With inputs from IANSAmit Shah also asserted that BJP will repeat its 2014 feat and win all seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi.

New Delhi: BJP chief Amit Shah on Sunday said his party will seek to identify illegal immigrants living in the country if it comes to power after the Lok Sabha polls and alleged Congress president Rahul Gandhi and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal care for them for vote bank politics.

He said at a rally in New Delhi that illegal infiltrators are also causing trouble in the national capital, and likened them to termites, action against whom should not worry any patriot. "After forming government in 2019, the BJP will undertake a nationwide identification of illegal infiltrators living in the country," he said.

Shah said Rahul and Kejriwal complain when action is taken against them and asserted the BJP will repeat its 2014 feat and win all seven Lok Sabha seats in the city.

Following the ongoing National Register of Citizens (NRC) process in Assam, there has been increasing demand from many BJP leaders that an exercise should be undertaken in the rest of the country to identify illegal immigrants. "The illegal infiltrators are acting like termites in this country. They are also causing problems in Delhi. Action against them should not worry any patriot. But, whenever we take action Rahul Baba and Kejriwal start complaining. They care for illegal infiltrators because of vote bank politics," Shah said at Purvanchal Mahakumbh organised by Delhi unit of the party at Ramlila Ground.

The BJP chief asked Rahul and Kejriwal to clear the stand of their respective parties on the issue of illegal immigrants living in the country.

Sharpening his attack on Kejriwal, Shah charged the AAP leader with "preventing" the development of Delhi in his three and a half years of rule. "Kejriwal's only mantra is to tell lies, and talk forcefully and repeatedly," Shah alleged. He said the Centre had given Rs 50,000 crore to the Delhi government in past four and a half years years and alleged there was "anger" among people against AAP dispensation in the city.

Attacking efforts of Opposition parties to forge a Mahagathbandhan against ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) led by the BJP, Shah said his party was ready to take the challenge. "This Mahagathbandhan has no policy or leader. Rahul wants to lead the bandwagon but leaders like Sharad Pawar, Mamta Banerjee, Mayawati and Akhilesh Yadav are against it," he claimed.

Lauding Purvanchali people for their contribution in the development of the country under the Narendra Modi government, the BJP chief said his party will not take rest till the eastern part of the country is as developed as the western part of it.

Accusing the Congress of doing "injustice" to the eastern region, including parts of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha and Jharkhand, Shah said the Modi government had released 13.80 lakh crore and ensured development through expressways, hospitals and industries in the area. "I have come here to give you account of the work done by Modi government for Purvanchal. Development of the region is our priority," he said.

"Purvanchal Mahagathbandhan is first in the series of four mega rallies planned by Delhi BJP in the run up to the Lok Sabha elections, said Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari. In his address, Tiwari also raised the issue of "illegal" Bangladeshis and Rohingyas in the national capital and charged Kejriwal government with "settling" them in the city for votes.

Several senior leaders, including Union minister Harsh Vardhan, BJP general secretary (organisation) Ram Lal, Shahnawaz Hussain, party MPs Meenakshi Lekhi, Udit Raj, Parvesh Verma, among others attended the rally.Uttar Pradesh BJP chief Mahendra Nath Pandey said that Ram temple is the centre of faith and devotion. It should be constructed as per the law and they are committed to this.

Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh BJP chief Mahendra Nath Pandey on Saturday said the party is making efforts to ensure that the Ram temple is constructed through consensus. He also said the 2019 Lok Sabha elections will be fought on development and governance.

"Ram temple is the centre of faith and devotion for us. It should be constructed as per the law and we are committed to this...The BJP is making efforts so that the Ram temple is constructed through consensus," Pandey said in a statement. "The people of India know that Lord Ram was born in Ayodhya and they want that a Ram temple should be built there. The feeling of every Indian is the feeling of the BJP," he said.

Speaking about the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, Pandey said misuse of the law will not be tolerated. He also hit out at the attempts by Opposition parties to forge an anti-BJP alliance ahead of the elections next year.

"Attempts are being made to forge an unnatural alliance by the rival political parties. The people have disowned them. The Opposition has no issue except opposing Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Who will be their leader is not clear, what will be their agenda is not clear. The country's honour is safe in hands of Modi," he said.The Chinese Foreign Ministry summoned the US ambassador to protest against US sanctions on the equipment development department of the Chinese military and its director

Beijing: China on Saturday summoned the US ambassador to lodge an official protest over sanctions imposed by Washington on a Chinese military unit for purchasing advanced fighter jets and missile systems from Russia, according to a media report.

Also, China has cancelled a reported move to send Vice-Premier Liu He to Washington for talks to end the escalating trade war between the world's two largest economies, following the imposition of tariffs on Chinese goods by the Trump administration.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry summoned the US ambassador to protest against US sanctions on the equipment development department of the Chinese military and its director, the official media reported on Saturday.

The US State Department said on Thursday that it would immediately impose sanctions on the equipment development department of the Chinese military and its director, Li Shangfu, for engaging in "significant transactions" with Russia's main arms exporter. The US said the purchases of Russian Sukhoi Su-35 fighter jets and S-400 surface-to-air missiles by China's Equipment Development Department (EDD) of Ministry of Defence has violated US sanctions on Russia.

It was the first time the Trump administration targeted a third country with its Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act of 2017 (CAATSA), designed to punish Russia for its seizure of Crimea and other activities.

While the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, Geng Shuang on Friday expressed outrage and asked Washington to revoke the decision or face consequences, China's military on Sunday expressed indignation over the move. "The Chinese military expressed strong indignation and opposition to US sanctions on the equipment development department of the Chinese military and its director," the state-run China Daily quoted a military spokesman as saying.

Col Wu Qian, a spokesman for the Ministry of National Defence said that the military cooperation between China and Russia is within the normal range of cooperation between sovereign states in accordance with international laws, and the US has no right to interfere.

The US move has trampled on the basic norms of international relations in a full embodiment of hegemonism, seriously damaging relations between the two countries and their armies, he said.

The Chinese military urged the US to correct its mistake and withdraw sanctions, or bear the consequences, Wu said.

Meanwhile, an outraged China reportedly cancelled a planned visit by Chinese Vice-Premier Liu He to the US to discuss a way out to end the ongoing trade war between the two countries.

Confirming the cancellation of the visit of He, the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post quoted Chinese officials as saying that Washington needed to "correct its mistakes" regarding its handling of the ongoing tariff war.

Quoting sources, the Post reported that a delegation led by Liu was set to hold talks in the US on Monday and Tuesday but that the trip had now been scrapped.

The move followed Trump's decision to slap tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese exports to the US. The increase of tariffs by 10 per cent on almost half of all goods it imports from China comes to effect from Monday.

For its part, China retaliated by slapping tariffs on $60 billion worth of US exports to China.

Trump also warned China against any retaliation, saying if Beijing retaliated this time then the US would impose further tariffs on another $267 billion worth of products virtually covering almost all Chinese exports to the US totalling about $522.9 billion.

Trump has been putting pressure on China to reduce the trade deficit totalling $335.4 billion in 2017.

Shi Yinhong, a government adviser and professor of international relations at Renmin University, said the current atmosphere was too heated for negotiations to be effective. "The announcement of new tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese products by Trump administration indicated that both sides are not calm enough to resume their talks," he was quoted as saying in the report.

"It would be self-deprecating if China sent someone to the US right now, because the situation has totally changed," Shi said, adding there is no indication that talks will resume as neither side is showing any sign of softening in their words or deeds.DMK propaganda secretaries Trichy Siva and A Raja said the meetings, titled 'Commission-Collection-Corruption', will be held on 3 and 4 October.

Chennai: Opposition DMK on Sunday announced it would stage state-wide protests against the ruling AIADMK on corruption, in a bid to counter the arch rival's move against it on the Sri Lankan Tamils issue.

DMK propaganda secretaries Trichy Siva and A Raja said the meetings, titled "Commission-Collection-Corruption", will be held on 3 and 4 October. The meetings would be held to 'condemn' the AIADMK government, led by K Palaniswami, since it was not focusing on public welfare, but was involved in corruption, they said in a party statement.

Senior DMK leaders, including party treasurer Durai Murugan, TR Baalu, Siva, Raja and TKS Elangovan, among others, would address meetings at various towns across the state, they added.

The ruling AIADMK has announced state-wide public meetings on 25 September, seeking 'trial' of DMK and Congress for "war crimes" against Tamils in the 2009 Sri Lankan civil

conflict.

The old political issue has been revived by the AIADMK in the backdrop of the recent remarks of former Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa that the Indian government helped his country during the final war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in 2009. He was at the helm when the nearly 30 year long ethnic strife in Sri Lanka ended then with the defeat of the LTTE, while DMK was part of the Congress-led UPA that ruled India in 2009.

Palaniswami, Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam and Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker M Thambidurai are scheduled to address the meetings. Both the Congress and DMK had faced criticism for India's reported assistance to Sri Lanka then and their failure to prevent casualties of Tamils despite being in power.

AIADMK had on 19 September adopted a resolution at a meeting in Chennai, alleging that DMK and Congress were responsible for the killings of thousands of Tamils during the war.Former mayor of Muzaffarpur, Samir Kumar, has been shot dead by unidentified assailants near Banaras Bank Chowk in Bihar.

Muzaffarpur (Bihar): Former mayor of Muzaffarpur, Samir Kumar, has been shot dead by unidentified assailants near Banaras Bank Chowk in Bihar.

Kumar was shot dead along with his driver on Sunday evening.

Police suspect that nearly 17-18 rounds were fired at the deceased. "We have recovered six cartridges from the spot. It seems that 17-18 rounds were fired," the police said.

The bodies have been sent for the post-mortem. More details are awaited in the matter.Rahul Gandhi asserted that top priority be accorded to strengthening the Congress unit in the state.

Patna: Congress president Rahul Gandhi has assured the revamped Bihar unit that the party's interests will not be compromised while forming alliances, Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee (BPCC) working president Kaukab Qadri said on Saturday.

He said the Congress chief asserted that top priority be accorded to strengthening the party in the state. Rahul made the remarks at a meeting of top office-bearers of the BPCC, which was reconstituted earlier this week. All India Congress Committee (AICC) in-charge for Bihar Shaktisinh Gohil also attended the meeting.

"He (Rahul) made it clear that any pre-poll understanding with other parties must be from a position of strength and too many compromises must not be made to placate alliance partners," Qadri told PTI over phone. "We thanked Rahul for infusing new vigour into the state unit. We also requested him to address a rally in Bihar sometime at the end of November, to which he agreed," he added.

The Congress chief expressed the desire to interact with Bihar's women and the party's panchayat level office-bearers during his tentative visit in November, Qadri said. "Rahul appreciated the ongoing drive to strengthen the party at the grass-root level by appointing panchayat-level presidents. He was also impressed by endeavours like Shakti app, a tool launched recently in Patna for women in distress, which has struck a chord with the state's females who are suffering on account of increasing lawlessness," he said.Army chief General Bipin Rawat said on Saturday that stern action is needed to avenge the barbarism by terrorists and the Pakistan Army against Indian soldiers without resorting to brutality.

Jaipur: Army chief General Bipin Rawat said on Saturday that stern action is needed to avenge the barbarism by terrorists and the Pakistan Army against Indian soldiers without resorting to brutality.

The comment comes after a BSF jawan was shot and his throat slit recently, followed by the abduction and brutal killings of three policemen in Jammu and Kashmir.

"We need to take stern action to avenge the kind of barbarism that terrorists and the Pakistan Army have been carrying out against our soldiers. It is time to give it back to them in the same coin, but not by resorting to similar kind of barbarism. I think the other side must feel the same pain," the army chief said at a press conference in Jaipur.

Referring to the killing of the BSF solider whose mutilated body was found in Jammu, the army chief said such acts were unacceptable and there was a need to avenge it.

He said the Indian Army had carried out successful operations against the Pakistan Army whenever they did something against India along the border.

"Pakistan has suffered many casualties and we have been able to take on their defence system to a large extent, but we never resorted to barbarism. They requested for a ceasefire in May and we agreed, but if they continue to do this, we will need to take other action," Rawat said.

"If you look at it, the casualty and damage suffered by the other side is far more than what we have been suffering. We have done it a professional and a military-like manner," he insisted.

The army chief also made it clear that India and the Indian Army would not be scared by any threat from Pakistan.

Asked to comment on Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan's tweet expressing "disappointment" on India's decision to cancel a meeting of foreign ministers, the army chief said talks and terrorism cannot go hand in hand and Pakistan needed to curb the menace of terrorism.

The USA, that once used to be close to Pakistan, is now dominating on Pakistan and our government has been successful to a large extent in isolating Pakistan at an international level, Rawat claimed.

He said the government was fully supporting the force which also had the liberty to carry out their actions.

"And you can see its result in Kashmir and the North East," he said.

However, he said action was needed against radicalisation and social media campaigns which, he suggested, were being run from outside.

Rawat also claimed that the surgical strike in 2016, in the wake of Uri attack, was a first-of-its-kind operation.

When questioned about delays in the weapons procurement process, he said modern equipments and weapons were the need of the hour but delay in procurement did not mean that the forces could not function normally.

However, he said delay in procurement was not good.

The army chief also said that consideration on incorporating robot technology in the forces was underway.

He added that strategic issues, planning and other aspects would be discussed in the upcoming Combined Commanders' Conference which is going to be held at the Jodhpur Air Force station later this month.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to attend the conference where the brass of army, navy and the air force would be present.

The army chief was in Jaipur to review the Haifa Day Mounted Parade at the 61 Cavalry ground.

Haifa Day is celebrated every year to commemorate the liberation of Israeli city Haifa from the occupation of the Turks by the British Indian Army soldiers, led by Major Dalpat Singh, on 23 September, 1918.

The army chief also visited the South Western Command where Lieutenant General Cherish Mathson briefed him on operational matters and other related issues.Most regions in Himachal Pradesh are experiencing heavy to extremely heavy rain, causing landslides in some areas and also blocking highways.

The southwest monsoon remained aggressive on Sunday in Himachal Pradesh, with most of the areas experiencing heavy to extremely heavy rainfall, causing landslides in some areas and blocking the highways. All the major rivers and their tributaries were in spate, officials said.

Incessant rains have also caused massive landslides on national highways in Shimla, Kinnaur, Mandi and Kullu districts, hampering vehicular traffic. Schools will remain closed in eight districts in the state on Monday  Kullu, Kinnaur, Chamba, Kangra, Bilaspur, Sirmaur, Mandi and Shimla  because of the heavy rainfall warning.

The water level in the Beas river has risen abnormally, touching the Chandigarh-Manali National Highway-21 near the Hanogi temple in Mandi district. Such was the force of the river flow that it even washed away vehicles in Manali and Kullu, which also saw flash floods.

Kullu Deputy Commissioner Yunus Khan said authorities were trying to "evacuate and rehabilitate people". He also requested people to move to higher areas and not venture out near rivers, ANI reported.

#WATCH: Vacant bus gets washed away into the flooded Beas river in Manali. #HimachalPradesh pic.twitter.com/GMV2nqR2jX  ANI (@ANI) September 23, 2018

Kullu: Truck gets washed away from the road into flooded Beas River. #HimachalPradesh pic.twitter.com/2riwZsydtH  ANI (@ANI) September 23, 2018

While the picturesque tourist town of Manali recorded the highest rainfall in the state at 127 millimetres, it was 125 millimetres in Dharamsala, 124 millimetres in Una and 90 millimetres in Dalhousie. State capital Shimla saw 47 millimetres of rain. Higher reaches of Kullu, Kinnaur and Lahaul-Spiti districts saw snowfall.

An official of the local meteorological office said there are chances of heavy rainfall at some places in the state till Monday, and thereafter, the intensity of rains will start receding.

A government spokesperson said that on the orders of Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur, the Indian Air Force rescued 19 people in Dobi in Kullu district. They were stuck in a flash flood triggered by incessant heavy rain, officials said.

The Border Roads Organisation also rescued 14 people from Kullu district, and as many as 60 sheep and goats died in a landslide in Chamba district.

Kullu: 19 people airlifted by Army helicopter from flood-hit Dobhi-Fojal area today. #HimachalPradesh pic.twitter.com/5uZsIEk8hi  ANI (@ANI) September 23, 2018

The highway that connects Manali with Leh in Jammu and Kashmir has been closed for traffic owing to heavy snow, officials said. "The traffic between Manali and Leh has been closed since Saturday," an official of the 38 Task Force of the General Reserve Engineering Force said.

The chief minister has directed the Public Works Department to ensure that roads are cleared of landslides or debris at the earliest, and that strict vigils are kept on the rising water level of the Chamera and Pandoh dams so authorities can issue early warnings.

The Manali-Leh highway is crucial to the movement of the armed forces and their supplies and wares to forward areas in Ladakh. An official of the Himachal Road Transport Corporation said it would take a week to restart bus services between Manali via Keylong and Leh.

Meanwhile, the 13,050-feet-high Rohtang Pass, the main tourist attraction and located 52 kilometres from Shimla, was closed.

The water level in the major rivers of the state  the Satluj, Beas and Yamuna  which enter the neighbouring states of Punjab and Haryana has also increased, a government official said.

With inputs from agenciesIndian Navy on Saturday said all efforts were being made to rescue its officer, Abhilash Tomy, who has been injured after his vessel was hit by a vicious storm mid-way across the south Indian Ocean while taking part in the Golden Globe Race.

Kochi: Indian Navy on Saturday said all efforts were being made to rescue its officer, who has been injured after his vessel was hit by a vicious storm mid-way across the south Indian Ocean while taking part in the Golden Globe Race.

Commander Abhilash Tomy of the Navy, representing India in the Golden Globe Race 2018 (GGR) on an indigenously built sailing vessel 'Thuriya' suffered a back injury on Friday after the yacht was dismasted.

"All out efforts are being made to rescue Abhilash Tomy. Indian Naval stealth Frigate, INS Satpura operating in the Indian Ocean has been dispatched for the rescue mission," a defence spokesman said in New Delhi.

The Indian Navy commander is in the south Indian Ocean, approximately 1,900 nautical miles from Perth in Australia, and the Australian Rescue Coordination centre at Canberra is coordinating the rescue mission in conjunction with many agencies including the Australian Defence Department and the Indian Navy, he said quoting information received from organisers.

Commander Abhilash was dismasted in extremely rough weather and sea condition, with wind speeds of 130 kmph and 10 metre high waves.

He was in 3rd position and has sailed over 10,500 nautical miles in the last 84 days, since commencement of the race on 1 July.

According to a report issued from the Les Sables d'Olonne, France Friday night, the 70 knot winds and 14 metre high seas have left the yachts of Indian Navy's Tomy and Ireland's Gregor McGuckin dismasted, and have twice knocked down the yacht of second-placed Dutchman Mark Slats.

Both McGuckin and Slats report that they are okay, but 39-year-old Tomy, a commander in the Indian Navy making his second solo circumnavigation, has been injured, it had said.

It had also said other entrants were asked to make towards Tomy's position if possible, and added that the weather was extreme.

The nearest yacht happens to be that of Gregor McGuckin's Biscay 36 Hanley Energy Endurance, some 90 miles to the southwest of Tomy's Thuriya, but she too was dismasted in the same storm.

Commander Tomy, who became the first Indian to have circumnavigated the globe in 2013, is the only Indian participating in the Golden Globe Race that involves a gruelling 30,000-mile solo circumnavigation of the globe.Militant attacks on police personnel in Jammu and Kashmir have taken place even as authorities are conducting a performance assessment of over 30,000 special police officers.

Militants in Jammu and Kashmir have carried out a number of attacks on police personnel in the recent past. These attacks have taken place even as authorities are conducting a performance assessment of over 30,000 special police officers (SPOs).

The SPOs are being assessed based on the number of militants they have killed. The state police is carrying out the assessment to sack those SPOs who have not performed well in the counter insurgency operations.

The performance review is being carried out after the state home department issued an order seeking reports about the counter insurgency work of the SPOs. Principal secretary in the home department RK Goyal confirmed that the order has been issued.

The SPOs work on a salary of Rs 5,000 to 6,000, with those appointed earlier getting lesser wages. The state government seeks to use them to build a counter-militancy group. They are tasked with taking part in operations against militants, gathering intelligence to kill them, taking part in search operations and remaining on guard duty at police stations.

According to senior police officials, nearly 30,100 SPOs currently work in the state. Some of the SPOs who have worked at these posts for over ten years have been told that they could be regularised on the basis of their performance.

In Shopian, a team of officers, including the deputy commissioner and senior superintendent of police, is carrying out the assessment. Owais Ahmad, the district commissioner of Shopian, said, The screening process is going on. We have not issued orders to disengage any SPO as of now.

However, many police officials say that this exercise will only increase the vulnerability of the SPOs to militant attacks. On Friday, three policemen, including two SPOs, were killed by militants.

In the last three years, there has been a a considerable spike in the number of youth joining militancy, particularly in south Kashmir.

All police officials who deal with anti-militancy operations face a threat, and SPOs are particularly vulnerable, said a police official who did not wish to be quoted.

While some policemen have been killed by militants after being abducted from their homes, attacks on police stations have also increased. The police top brass has even advised the station house officers (SHOs) of police stations that they should be accompanied by armed security guards when they move out for routine crime investigations.

The assessment of SPOs is going on even in the highly volatile areas of south Kashmir, where thousands of people had protested on the streets in 2016 after the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Muzaffar Wani. During this period, some people had even torched police stations. At least 75 people had died during the protests, and hundreds were blinded due to the use of pellet guns. Several human rights groups, including Amnesty International, had condemned the use of pellet guns while controlling protesting crowds in Jammu and Kashmir.

Earlier, militants had released videos warning police personnel against directly participating in operations against them. Although some senior Kashmiri police officers supervise these operations, their immediate family members live in high-security zones.

A police official working in Shopian said that at least 2,000 people work with the police in the district and they fear for their own lives and those of their family members.

The attacks by the militants are aimed at preventing youth from joining the Special Operations Group (SOG), which primarily deals with anti-militancy operations. Senior police officers even have the authority to induct officials dealing with criminal investigations into the SOG. The group also comprises personnel from the armed police and SPOs, said a senior police official.

Vidhi Kumar Birdi, Deputy Inspector General of Police, Central Kashmir range, said that SOG members work directly under the concerned senior superintendent of police (SSP) in the district, and are also assisted by SHOs. Anti-militancy operations are situation-specific, and personnel at police stations also assist in them, he said.

The policy to engage more policemen in anti-militancy operations started during the chief ministerial tenure of the Congress' Ghulam Nabi Azad. During this period, talks between separatists and the Indian government were held on demilitarisation, and on the resolution of the Kashmir "dispute."The people of the district have contributed Rs 9,64,841 to the affected families of Kerala, where several people had lost their lives and property in the recent flood.

Jamshedpur: The people of sast Singhbhum district in Jharkhand have contributed over Rs 9.50 lakh as relief to the families affected by the devastating flood in Kerala, an official release on Saturday said.

The people of the district have contributed Rs 9,64,841 to the affected families of Kerala, where several people had lost their lives and property in the recent flood. Of the total amount, a sum of Rs 7,95,001 has been sent in the account of Prime Minister Relief Fund and Rs 1,69,840 in the account of Kerala Chief Minister Distress Relief Fund on the directive of the Deputy Commissioner Amit Kumar, the release said.

Earlier, Kumar had a meeting with the people from across the society and had appealed them to contribute their bit voluntarily to help out the affected families in Kerala last month.A Jacobite priest was warned of disciplinary action and a Catholic nun restrained from church duties in a fallout of participation in protests in Kochi.

Wayanad/Kochi: A Jacobite priest has been warned of disciplinary action and a Catholic nun restrained from church duties in a fallout of their participation in protests in Kochi demanding the arrest of rape accused Bishop Franco Mulakkal.

Sister Lucy Kalapura, who returned to her parish in Wayanad on Sunday morning from Kochi, claimed she was informed orally by the Mother Superior that she should keep away from holding catechism classes, conducting prayers and other activities related to the Syro Malabar catholic church.

"No written orders were given to me. I was only informed orally by the Mother Superior not to participate in any church-related activities," the sister told PTI.

However, in a statement, Father Stephen Kottakkal, vicar of the St Mary's church Karakkamala in Wayanad, said Sister Lucy had been asked to keep away from duties in view of certain concerns expressed by the parishioners.

He denied the church had initiated any retaliatory measure against Sister Lucy for participating in the nuns protest in Kochi.

"The believers had informed us that they had some difficulties in sister Lucy participating in the church activities relating to Holy Mass and taking classes for their children," he said.

The vicar said he had only 'conveyed' the general feeling of the parishioners with regard to certain posts of sister Lucy on social media which they felt were not in consonance with the church beliefs. Many of them had informed him the same, he said.

The Franciscean Clarist Congregation St Mary's province Mananthavady, to which sister Lucy belongs, said she faced disciplinary action for various other reasons. However, no explanation had been sought or action taken so far against her in connection with the nun's issue.

Sister Lucy, however, maintained the restraint order against her was only for participating in the protests at Kochi.

The priest, Bar Yuhanon Ramban, belonging to a dayara in Ernakulam district, said on Sunday he had received a 'warning' letter from his church headquarters in Damascus in Syria for supporting the nuns' protest. The letter also said he had campaigned for the implementation of Church Act, he told PTI.

According to the letter, his involvement and public speeches supporting the Catholic nuns were seemingly more than the envisaged living style of church priests. It further said his activities had caused 'disgrace' to the status of Monasticism and warned that disciplinary measures would be taken if he continued with such deeds.

The priest alleged that some local bishops had conspired against him and sent wrong information to the church higher-ups in Syria and based on which they had issued the warning letter.

He has written a letter to the Patriarch of Antioch, Mor Ignatius Aphrem II, the head of the Universal Syrian Orthodox Church, explaining his stand.

Indulekha Joseph, one of the leaders of the Kerala Catholic Church Reformation movement, alleged the action against sister Lucy was an attempt to silence the voices of protest against any form of unjust activities within the church.

Social activist Swami Agnivesh condemned the action against sister Lucy and the Jacobite priest for supporting the five nuns.

The nuns had protested for 13 days, demanding the arrest of the bishop who was accused of repeatedly raping a fellow nun. The bishop, arrested on Friday after three days of intense grilling by Kerala police, is now in police custody.According to police official, the accused cab driver in Gujarat, who was unable to move his car due to the procession, got into an argument with the people in the immersion procession. As matters escalated, he stabbed five people.

Surat: A man was killed Sunday after a car driver allegedly went on a stabbing spree following an altercation with people taking a Ganesh idol for immersion, police said.

"The incident happened in Sayan town near Surat, and the attack left five people injured, one of whom later died," they said, adding that the accused was arrested.

"Car driver Chaitanya Rawal was unable to move his car due to the procession. He had an argument with the people in the immersion procession. Matters escalated and he stabbed five people. One of them, Dhaval Patel, died from the stab wounds," an official said.

"Police nabbed Rawal from the spot and brought him to Sayan police station. But a mob gathered at the station demanding that the accused driver be handed over to them. We dispersed the mob," Inspector General (Surat Range) Rajkumar Pandian said.

He said the four injured people were admitted to a local hospital and the process of charging the arrested accused for murder was underway.

Officials said the mob torched Rawal's car and also pelted stones at police personnel stationed in the Sayan chowky, injuring one.

Meanwhile, stones were pelted in a tussle between two communities in Pipli village of Anand district. "An altercation broke out after locals carrying a Ganesh idol allegedly burst crackers outside a religious place," police said.

"Stone pelting lasted for about 15 minutes but no one was injured," the official added.

"Elsewhere in Ahmedabad city, a minor scuffle took place between residents in Madhavpura," an official said, adding that it was brought under control immediately.Narendra Modi said that the Ayushman Bharat scheme was called ModiCare and by other names, but it was an opportunity to serve the poor of the country.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday launched the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY)-Ayushman Bharat from Ranchi in Jharkhand. Describing the initiative as a "game changer", Modi said the scheme was a step towards serving the poor of the country and would come into effect from Sunday.

"People are calling the scheme ModiCare and by other names, but for me, it is an opportunity to serve the poor. Even the ones living in the lowest strata of the society will benefit from the scheme," he said. The prime minister also congratulated the team of experts that was instrumental in implementing the scheme.

"PMJAY-Ayushman Bharat is the biggest government-sponsored healthcare scheme in the world. The number of beneficiaries is almost equal to the population of Canada, Mexico and the US together," Modi said.

In an apparent reference to the Congress, he said that without empowering the poor, the previous governments had indulged in "vote-bank politics".

"The previous governments' schemes were guided by vote-bank politics, with the beneficiaries selected on the basis of potential voters for them. But we strive for the empowerment of the poor. We believe in inclusive growth. The scheme is not aimed at benefiting a particular region, or community, or caste. It is for all, for the poorest of the poor. The poor don't want freebies; they have self-respect and seek empowerment," the prime minister said.

"I hope and pray that the poor don't have to visit hospitals, but if they do, the Ayushman Bharat cover will be at their service. The poor of my country must get all facilities that the rich enjoy," Modi said.

Reiterating the Bharatiya Janata Party's oft repeated slogan "Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas" (together for all, development for all), Modi said that the Ayushman Bharat scheme is not based on any communal or caste lines. "The programme will not differentiate between people based on religion, caste or location. Every eligible person will be able to avail of the benefits," he asserted, adding that the health scheme will set an example for countries worldwide.

"No one needs to register for the initiative. A health card will be provided to the beneficiaries to avail of the benefits. A toll-free number will be made available to find out more about the scheme," he said.

Modi also said that 2,500 modern hospitals will come up in Tier-II and Tier-III cities and will generate employment opportunities.

"A total of 13,000 hospitals have become part of the Ayushman Bharat scheme. Our government has taken a holistic approach to lay stress on affordable and preventive healthcare," he added.

Earlier in the day, the prime minister doled out token health cards to some of the beneficiaries after his arrival at Prabhat Tara Maidan in Ranchi.

He also laid the foundations stones of two medical colleges at Chaibasa and Koderma in Jharkhand. Governor Draupadi Murmu, Chief Minister Raghubar Das and Union ministers JP Nadda and Jayant Sinha were present on the occasion.

Features of the scheme

The scheme will provide a cover of up to Rs 5 lakh per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation through a network of Empanelled Health Care Providers (EHCP). The EHCP network will provide beneficiaries cashless and paperless access to services at both public and private hospitals. The services will include 1,350 procedures covering both pre and post-hospitalisation expenses, diagnostics and medicines.

Ayushman Bharat has two components  creation of 1,50,000 health and wellness centres, which will provide Comprehensive Primary Health Care, and the PMJAY, which provides health protection cover to poor and vulnerable families for secondary and tertiary care.

PMJAY primarily targets the poor, deprived rural families and an identified occupational category of urban workers' families as per the latest Socio-Economic Caste Census data for both rural and urban areas as well as the active families under the Rashtriya Swasthya BimaYojana.

The objectives of the scheme are to reduce out-of-pocket hospitalisation expenses, fulfil unmet needs and improve access of identified families to quality inpatient care and daycare surgeries.

Ayushman Bharat allows states enough flexibility in terms of packages, procedures, scheme design, entitlements as well as other guidelines while ensuring that key benefits of portability and fraud detection are ensured at a national level.

States have the option to use an existing trust/society or set up a new trust/society to implement the scheme as a state health agency and will be free to choose the modalities for implementation.

A pilot launch of the scheme has already started in around 22 states and Union Territories, and so far, 30 states and Union Territories have signed a Memorandum of Understanding and started working on the implementation of the mission.

BJP leaders hail Ayushman Bharat

Hailing the launch of the ambitious health insurance scheme as historic, BJP president Amit Shah on Sunday said the government has given the poor the right to live with dignity with its various initiatives. He said the poor are at the centre of the Modi government's projects, which has also launched a scheme to provide them homes besides offering other facilities.

Tripura chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb said the scheme will further endeavours towards achieving Modi's vision of a "New India".

We are committed towards building a #SwasthaTripura for a #SwasthaBharat.#AyushmanBharat-#PMJAY shall further our endeavours towards achieving PM @narendramodi ji's vision of a #NewIndia. Took part in the #AyushmanBharat Launch Programme for Tripura held in #Agartala today. pic.twitter.com/E2lSmJqtH4  Biplab Kumar Deb (@BjpBiplab) September 23, 2018

Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said India is entering a "new era of healthcare".

Today we are entering a new era of healthcare! Before this, USAs #ObamaCare was the biggest scheme covering 10 crore citizens. BUT our #ModiCare #AyushmanBharat caters healthcare facilities to over 50 crore citizens which makes it worlds greatest one! pic.twitter.com/157E71GBHN  Devendra Fadnavis (@Dev_Fadnavis) September 23, 2018

Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said that the healthcare scheme will go a long way in "building an Ayushman Bharat".

Attended the launch of PM Jan Arogya Yojana at Patna. This healthcare scheme which is also popularly known as Modi Care will go a long in building #AyushmanBharat. pic.twitter.com/2c4VPxm2fX  Ravi Shankar Prasad (@rsprasad) September 23, 2018

Home Minister Rajnath Singh launched the scheme in Lucknow and said that it will prove to be a "Modi kawach" (Modi shield) for the poor. "Today is a historic day for the country. The scheme will prove to be a 'Modi kawach' for the poor and will be highly beneficial for them," Singh said at a programme.

With inputs from agenciesThe ambitious Ayushman Bharat scheme aims to provide a coverage of Rs 5 lakh per family annually, benefiting more than 10.74 crore poor families for secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation.

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will roll out the Centre's flagship Ayushman Bharat-National Health Protection Mission (AB-NHPM) from Jharkhand's Ranchi on Sunday.

The ambitious scheme, renamed the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Abhiyan (PMJAY), aims to provide a coverage of Rs 5 lakh per family annually, benefiting more than 10.74 crore poor families for secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation through a network of Empanelled Health Care Providers. The scheme will provide cashless and paperless access to services for the beneficiary at the point of service. It will help reduce expenditure for hospitalisation which impoverishes people and will help mitigate the financial risk arising out of catastrophic health episodes. Eligible people can avail the benefits in government and listed private hospitals.

"The 71st Round of National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO) found that 85.9 percent of rural households and 82 percent of urban households have no access to healthcare insurance/assurance. More than 17 percent of Indian population spend at least 10 percent of household budgets for health services. Catastrophic healthcare-related expenditure pushes families into debt. More than 24 percent households in rural India and 18 percent population in urban areas have met their healthcare expenses through some sort of borrowing," an official statement said.

Here are some key features of the scheme:

The scheme will target poor, deprived rural families identified in the occupational category of urban workers' families, 8.03 crore in rural and 2.33 crore in urban areas, as per the latest Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC) data. It will cover around 50 crore people.

The entitlement is being decided on the basis of deprivation criteria in the SECC database. The beneficiaries are identified based on the deprivation categories (D1, D2, D3, D4, D5, and D7) identified under the SECC database for rural areas. For the urban areas, the 11 occupational criteria will determine entitlement. In addition, the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojna (RSBY) beneficiaries in states where it is active are also included.

There is no cap on family size and age in the scheme, ensuring that nobody is left out. One would only need to establish one's identity to avail benefits under the scheme and it could be through Aadhaar card or election ID card or ration card. Having an Aadhaar card is not mandatory.

In case of hospitalisation, members of the beneficiary families do not need to pay anything under the scheme, provided one goes to a government or an empanelled private hospital. "The objectives are to reduce out of pocket hospitalisation expenses, fulfil unmet needs and improve access of identified families to quality inpatient care and daycare surgeries," the statement stated.

The National Health Agency (NHA), the apex body implementing the AB-NHPM, has launched a website and a helpline number to help prospective beneficiaries check if their name is there in the final list.

One can visit mera.pmjay.gov.in or call up the helpline (14555) to check their enrolment. A beneficiary needs to key in his or her mobile number, which is verified through an OTP and then complete the KYC (know your customer) online without any need for a human interface with other documents.

Each empanelled hospital will have an 'Ayushman Mitra' to assist patients and will coordinate with beneficiaries and the hospital. They will run a help desk, check documents to verify the eligibility and enrolment to the scheme.

All the beneficiaries will be given letters having QR codes which will be scanned and a demographic authentication conducted for identification and to verify his or her eligibility to avail the benefits of the scheme.

The Health Ministry has included 1,354 packages in the scheme under which treatment for coronary bypass, knee replacements and stenting, among others, would be provided at 15-20 percent cheaper rates than the Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS).

Modi had announced the launch of the scheme from ramparts of the Red Fort during his Independence day speech. As many as 30 states and Union Territories have signed MoUs with the Centre and will implement the programme over the next two to three months, after its launch on Sunday.

Remaining states and UTs which include Telangana, Odisha, Delhi, Kerala and Punjab have not signed, so the scheme will not be implemented there till they come on board. So far 15,686 applications for hospital empanelment have been received and over 8,735 hospitals, both public and private, have been empanelled for the scheme.

"The prime minister will launch the scheme on 23 September but effectively it will become operational from 25 September on the birth anniversary of Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay," said Niti Aayog member VK Paul, who is the chief architect of the scheme.

He said in the current fiscal, the burden on the Centre is likely to be around Rs 3,500 crore. Billed as the world's largest government healthcare programme, it will be funded with 60 percent contribution coming from the Centre and remaining from the states.

"We have received applications from 15,000 hospitals for being empanelled...Out of this half, that means 7,500 applications for empanelment are private hospitals," Paul said.

Detailed guidelines have been prepared to address the issues around potential fraudulent activities that could be committed by any individual or organisation. Pilot launch of the scheme has started and it involves over 1,280 hospitals.The encounter in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama broke out after the militants fired upon security forces who retaliated. The security forces launched a cordon and search operation in the district.

An encounter broke out on Sunday between militants and security forces in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district, killing a militant in the gunfight, police said.

Upon receiving information about the presence of militants, security forces launched a cordon and search operation in Aripal village in the Tral area of south Kashmir on Sunday morning, a police official said.

The encounter broke out after militants fired at the forces, the official said. "As the cordon was tightened, the militants fired at the security forces triggering the ongoing gunfight," the police said, adding that the gunfight was still on and further details are being collected, he said.

The body of the unidentified militant was recovered from the encounter site in the Tral area of the district, a police official said.

The encounter comes a day after security forces began a large-scale search operation in the district. NDTV reported that security forces are conducting door-to-door searches in six villages in Pulwama, Armulla, Alliepora, Nowpora Payeen, Bhatnoor, Gadbugh and Hajidarpora. These villages have been cordoned off, according to the report.

#Visuals: Security forces have started cordon and search operation in the villages of Pulwama in south Kashmir. (visuals deferred by unspecified time) #JammuAndKashmir pic.twitter.com/APg8ZtbQgL  ANI (@ANI) September 22, 2018

#JammuAndKashmir: The encounter between security forces and terrorists concluded in Bandipora. 5 terrorists were killed in the joint operation carried out by Army, Police & CRPF. Huge cache of arms and ammunition were recovered. pic.twitter.com/boRlFJYhtW  ANI (@ANI) September 22, 2018

The search operations are in response to the recent incident of Hizbul Mujahideen militants kidnapping three policemen from their homes in Shopian, south Kashmir, and killing them on Friday.

The news of the deaths prompted at least eight police personnel to issue video messages announcing their resignation from the force. The killings are believed to have triggered panic in the lower ranks of the police department with at least two policemen issuing video messages dissociating themselves from the force.

"My name is Irshad Ahmad Baba and I was working as a constable in the police. I have rendered my resignation...," said one of them in a video being widely circulated on social media. Tajalla Hussain Lone, an SPO, said he had resigned from the police department on 17 September and was issuing the video to put to rest any doubts that he had done so. Police officials refused to comment on the resignations, saying they would verify the information.

With inputs from agenciesBipin Rawat's comments came after India, on Friday, pulled out of the proposed meeting between Sushma Swaraj and Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, hours after two special police officers and one policeman in Jammu and Kashmir were kidnapped and brutally killed by terrorists.

New Delhi: Reacting on the Indian government's decision to call off the foreign minister-level talks with Pakistan on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, Indian Army chief General Bipin Rawat on Sunday said that terrorism and peace talks cannot take place together.

In a strong statement, General Rawat told reporters that the Indian government's policy is very clear that Pakistan, with their actions, has to prove that they are not promoting terrorism.

"Talks are not being held because our government's policy is that talks and terrorism cannot take place together. We have given a clear message for Pakistan. The government's policy is clear that Pakistan has to prove with their actions that they are not promoting terrorism," he said.

Hailing the Indian government's stand to cancel talks between the foreign ministers of the two countries later this month, the army chief said, "Only the government can decide if talks should be held in such an environment and I think the government has taken the right decision that terrorism and peace talks cannot be held together."

He added: "This type of tension in the border has been continuing. They (Pakistan) keep saying that they would not let their soil be used for terrorist activities against other nations. But we can see that terrorist activities are taking place and terrorists are coming from across the border."

On 21 September, Ministry of External Affairs said that behind Pakistan's proposal for talks to make a fresh beginning, its evil agenda stands exposed and the true face of the new Pakistan prime minister has been revealed.

India, on Friday, pulled out of the proposed meeting between External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and her Pakistani counterpart Shah Mehmood Qureshi, hours after two special police officers and one policeman in Jammu and Kashmir were kidnapped and brutally killed by terrorists.

Apart from this, the body of a Border Security Force Head Constable Narender Singh was found with multiple bullet injuries on his torso and neck on 18 September.

General Rawat, meanwhile, also spoke about upcoming panchayat polls in Jammu and Kashmir. He said that the army would ensure a peaceful atmosphere in the state so that people could cast their vote in free and forthright manner.

"The army is required to provide security not by itself but along with all the security agencies. Our job is to ensure that the civil administration there and the Election Commission is able to carry out the task and people can come out in peace to cast their vote for the person whom they wish to elect as a sarpanch and the other members of the committee. Our task is mainly to ensure a peaceful atmosphere and people can cast their vote in a free and forthright manner without fear and any kind of disruption," General Rawat stated.

He added: "We are looking at the panchayat elections; we want it to go through because with this, the power will devolve to the people and the people have been saying that there is a lack of governance. If they want proper governance, then, the panchayat elections are a way for it. Why should anybody oppose panchayat elections? Why anybody would try to disrupt the peaceful elections process which is one of the democratic processes in which our country is functioning."

Chief Electoral Officer of Jammu and Kashmir Shaleen Kabra on 16 September announced that the panchayat elections in the state would be held in nine phases, from 17 November to 11 December between 8 am and 2 pm. With the announcement of the panchayat elections schedule, the Model Code of Conduct is already in place.

Days after the state Election Commission announced the dates for the panchayat polls in Jammu and Kashmir, miscreants attempted to set ablaze panchayat Ghars in several areas of the state.Arun Jaitley rejected all allegations of corruption in the Rafale deal and said the agreement will not be cancelled.

As the controversy over Rafale deal rages on, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Sunday rejected all allegations of a "scam" in the deal. In an interview with ANI, he said that whether the planes are bought at a higher rate or not is a matter for the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) to examine, while asserting that irrespective of the allegations, the Rafale deal will not be cancelled.

"The Rafale deal is clean and there is no question of cancelling it," Jaitley said in an exclusive interview to ANI. He asserted that the present Rafale aircrafts are cheaper than what Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government had negotiated and added that all these facts and figures will be placed before the CAG.

"Fortunately, there is pricing, and for security interest, that pricing can't be disclosed in detail. But I have come as close to this. If you take a weaponised aircraft as of 2007, add the same two things to it again and bring it to 2016 level, the 2016 level is 20 percent cheaper. Now the CAG will go into pricing. They may not eventually disclose it, but about being nine percent and 20 percent cheaper or not, they are looking into it. Congress has submitted a memorandum. The truth will come out," Jaitley said.

Rejecting the possibility of scrapping the Rafale deal in view of the controversy and allegations of corruption against the government, Jaitley asserted that these jets will come to India as they are needed for security and defence of the country.

"These jets are coming to India... They are required for Indian defence. They will enhance the combat ability of the Indian Air Force (IAF)... This is a clean government-to-government deal. Modi government is the cleanest government in the history while the UPA government of 2004-14 was the most corrupt government," the minister said.

Jaitley also questioned the timing of former French president Francois Hollande's reported statement that Dassault Aviation did not have a choice in selecting its partner in the Rafale deal. The statement came just days after Congress president tweeted about "some big bunker buster bombs in the next couple of weeks", which Jaitley alleged it was not a mere coincidence that the Opposition leaders of the two countries were speaking in one voice on the controversial Rafale issue.

Connecting Hollande's reported statement, and a tweet by Rahul Gandhi on 30 August, Jaitley said that the two statements may have been "orchestrated" as they are in perfect rhythm with each other.

"I think he (Rahul Gandhi) is in some kind of a revenge mode. I won't be surprised if the whole thing is being orchestrated. On 30 August, why did he (Rahul) tweet 'Just wait for a while, some bombs are going to be burst in Paris'? And then what happens is in perfect rhythm with what he predicted," Jaitley said.

When pressed further to clearly state if he is alleging that the Opposition of both France and India were in cahoots with each other, Jaitley added: "I don't know. But I see a perfect coincidence in the rhythm between his tweet on 30 August and what happens when a statement is made which is found to be inaccurate and, therefore, the next day itself, Hollande goes and starts backtracking it."

Mediapart, a French language publication, had quoted Hollande as saying, "It was the Indian government that proposed this service group, and Dassault who negotiated with Ambani. We had no choice, we took the interlocutor who was given to us." When asked who selected Reliance as a partner and why, Hollande replied, "We had no say in this regard."

However, later when asked whether India had put pressure on Reliance and Dassault to work together, Hollande told AFP that he was unaware and "only Dassault can comment on this."

In the interview with ANI on Sunday, Jaitley also said, "Merely because somebody can resort to untruths and vulgarity is no reason for the prime minister to participate in a debate of this kind."

Let me tell you, those who are to speak have spoken. Merely because somebody can resort to untruths and vulgarity is no reason for the PM to participate in a debate of this kind: FM Arun Jaitley on why PM Modi has not spoken on #RafaleDeal #FMtoANI pic.twitter.com/rjvxP8wl0h  ANI (@ANI) September 23, 2018

His statement comes a day after Rahul questioned Modi's silence over the issue and asked him to clarify if Hollande is speaking the truth. "The prime minister is completely silent. Not even one word has come out of his mouth after Hollande's statement," Rahul had said in a press conference on Saturday.

With inputs from agenciesRahul Gandhi alleged that the RSS' vision of India is that of a 'golden bird' which it views as a product.

New Delhi: Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday alleged that institutions such as the Supreme Court and the Election Commission were being "systematically captured" by the RSS and said India cannot be run on one single idea.

There is a feeling among the people that one ideology is being imposed upon them, Rahul said at an interaction with academicians. "(RSS chief) Mohan Bhagwat in his earlier speeches has said, 'We are going to organise the nation'. Who is he to organise the nation? The nation will organise itself. In next couple of months, their fantasy will be smashed," he asserted.

During the interaction with eminent academicians from across the country at Siri Fort, Rahul said there are two visions of India and the Congress' vision is that India constitutes of people who live in it. The only way to understand India is talk to its people, he said.

Rahul alleged that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh's (RSS) vision of India is that of a "golden bird" which it views as a product. The product has to be monetised and utilised, and they will decide who will do this, the Congress chief said. "What we are fighting is the attempted capture of this 'golden bird' by the RSS. They have understood very clearly that electoral battle for them, they can win it once, but they can't repeatedly win it.

"They have understood that. So, now what they are doing is that they are saying elections will come and elections will go, let us capture all of India's institutions and let us capture the golden bird with a bypass surgery," he said.

The educational institutions, the Supreme Court (SC) and the Election Commission of India (ECI), all these are "systematically being captured", Rahul alleged. Citing an example, he alleged, "When Mr (Narendra) Modi came to power, a person from Gujarat was chosen to head the SPG. In a short time, he left the position. He told me that he refused a list of SPG officers handpicked by the RSS, and that is why he was sent home."

Rahul claimed that the reason behind this attack on institutions was that there were monetary benefits for the RSS. He cited the example of the Vyapam scam in Madhya Pradesh to allege that the BJP government there had taken "control" of the education system and then made money from it.

Rahul also took a jibe at Arun Jaitley, alleging that fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya had met the finance minister before leaving, but he did not act and facilitated his escape. The Congress chief also said that it was impossible for him to lead India, without having a "conversation with India". "The idea is, I should be a reflection of what is in your heart," he said.

Rahul told the professors that he knows that they were feeling the pressure and that an ideology was being imposed on them. "You feel that one syllabus has now suddenly become acceptable to every single institution in India and I want you to understand and realise that you are not alone when you are fighting this battle. "This sense, this feeling that you are getting is not only in your heart, it is in the heart of every single Indian person, it is in the heart of the farmers, it is in the heart of the labourers, it is in the heart of small and medium business," Rahul said.

A country of over a billion people cannot possibly be run on one single idea and the fact that people are allowed to express is the strength of the country, Rahul said. "Look at 3,000 years of India's history, we are going to win, we are not going to lose," Rahul asserted.

Attacking the government over its education policy, Rahul said government institutions should be given precedence over private institutions and the government should put money to strengthen them. "There has to be space for private institutions, but the guiding light, the foundation, the super structure has to be the public education system," he said.

"The quality private institutions must look towards government institutions and say look that is an IIT that is something we aspire to, it shouldn't be the other way round," he said, adding that the government has to put money into the system.

He also recalled that former US president Barack Obama had said the real competition for America was from the engineers, doctors and lawyers coming out of India. This was praise for the teachers of India, Rahul said.

The Congress chief asserted that when it comes to the Indian education system, two things are non-negotiable - teachers should be able to express and the they should be given a vision for their own future.

Rahul said the Congress was commencing its work in drafting a manifesto and invited teachers to form a delegation and come forward with their demands.A large number of Maoists allegedly took part in the shooting of TDP leaders K Sarveswara Rao and Siveri Soma in Araku Valley in Andhra Pradesh's Visakhapatnam.

Two leaders of the Telugu Desam Party, sitting MLA Kidari Sarveswara Rao and former legislator Siveri Soma, were shot dead allegedly by Communist Party of India (Maoist) members in Andhra Pradesh's Visakhapatnam district on Sunday.

Visakhapatnam: #Visuals from the spot where TDP leaders Kidari Sarveswara Rao & Siveri Soma, present and former MLA from Araku respectively, were shot dead by Naxals today. #AndhraPradesh pic.twitter.com/RoFBBHQUK7  ANI (@ANI) September 23, 2018

Both Rao and Soma, who were travelling with a few supporters, had gone to the Araku Valley when the Maoists shot them dead. According to The NewsMinute, the assailants stopped their vehicle and shot them at point blank range. A large number of Maoists allegedly participated in the attack.

After ordering others to leave, they began talking to the MLA and the former MLA about the mining in agency areas. They later pumped bullets into the two leaders, killing them on the spot. Both were shot in the head and chest.

"A group of Maoists came along with the villagers and blocked the MLA's car. As the personal security officers of the legislator and the ex-legislator got down, they snatched the AK-47 rifles from them and shot Sarveswara Rao and Soma dead," Visakhapatnam Range Deputy Inspector General of Police Ch Srikanth told PTI. He said the exact number of Maoists involved in the attack and the reasons for shooting down the legislator were being ascertained.

Both reportedly died on the spot. The Maoists later used human shields to escape from the spot with weapons, NDTV reported.

The Indian Express quoted tribal leaders who said that the attack has come after arrest of activists like P Varavara Rao. "The Maoists wanted to make a statement because the Andhra Pradesh government has been claiming that Maoists have been eradicated from the state. The ruling party MLA and former MLA became soft targets of a counter attack. Maoists may have also wanted to send a message to the Centre after the arrest of P Varavara Rao and other activists. The Maoists declared formation day celebrations from 22-27 September and I think they wanted to carry out a big operation and announce their presence," Andhra Pradesh Girijana Sangham Secretary P Appalanarasa told The Indian Express.

The incident occurred in Thutangi village in Visakhapatnam district's Dumbriguda Mandal. Rao was believed to have been on the Maoist hit-list. According to the police, both Rao and Soma had received threats from Maoists in the past.

Police sources suspect that a group of about 50-60 outlaws led by Maoists Andhra-Odisha Border Committee secretary Ramakrishna could be involved in the deadly attack.

Both TDP leaders were legislators from the Araku constituency. Rao was elected from Araku, a constituency reserved for candidates from Scheduled Tribe communities, on a YSR Congress Party ticket in the 2014 elections, defeating the TDP's Soma. In 2016, Rao switched loyalties to the TDP.

Araku Valley is known to be the operational base of Maoist leader Haragopal, alias RK, reported India Today. Sunday's attack also came a few days after the formation day (21 September) of the CPI (Maoist).

Relatives of slain leaders attack police stations

Tension prevailed in Araku constituency as relatives and supporters of the two TDP leaders attacked two police stations.

Accusing the police of "failing" to protect the public representatives, the protestors ransacked Araku and Dumbriguda police stations and set afire the furniture and other articles lying there.

After the relatives and supporters of the slain leaders attacked Dumbriguda police station while blaming police for negligence, they set afire vehicles seized by the police in various cases and parked in the premises.

Chandrababu Naidu condemns attack

Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu condemned the attack and expressed his shock. Praising the deceased MLAs' contributions, he said: "Such attacks and murders are a blot on humanity. All believers of democracy should condemn this attack. Kidari's and Siveri's efforts for the development of tribals and agency areas are unique," India Today reported.

While Maoist influence in the state has been on the decline over the past few years, they still have a stronghold in the Andhra Pradesh-Odisha border region.

Governor ELS Narasimhan expresses shock

Andhra Pradesh and Telangana Governor ESL Narasimhan expressed his shock and sorrow at the killing of a sitting MLA and a former legislator by Maoists in Visakhapatnam district.

In a condolence message, the Governor conveyed his condolences to the families of the two TDP leaders who were killed.

With inputs from agenciesAccording to official sources, one of the reasons for Telangana not joining Ayushman Bharat scheme for the time being was because of the state's Aarogyasri scheme that covers nearly 80 lakh families

Hyderabad: Telangana has not joined the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY)- Ayushman Bharat, launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Jharkhand Sunday 'as of now' and would continue to implement its health scheme, official sources said.

"One of the reasons for not joining it for the time being was because of the state's Aarogyasri scheme, that covers nearly 80 lakh families," official sources said.

"We already have the Aarogyasri scheme. As of now Telangana is not participating in the (central government's) scheme," they told PTI.

Asked when the Centre's flagship Ayushman Bharat health insurance scheme would be implemented in Telangana, the official said "as of now Aarogyasri scheme will continue," adding Telangana's health coverage model is a robust programme.

The PMJAY aims to provide a coverage of Rs 5 lakh per family annually, benefiting more than 10 crore poor families. Eligible people can avail the benefits in the government and listed private hospitals.The Assam Police acted on a tip-off and arrested the three suspected Hizbul Mujahideen operatives on Saturday night.

Guwahati: The Assam Police has detained three individuals for allegedly having links with terrorist outfit Hizbul Mujahideen. The arrests were made from Barpeta district.

As per official sources, the arrests of three suspected terrorists on Saturday night were made by state police while acting on a tip-off.

Excluding the arrest of these three suspects, as many as seven people have been apprehended in Assam in the last 10 days on the suspicion of having links with terrorist organisation Hizbul Mujahideen.

After the Uttar Pradesh Police nabbed Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist Qamar-us-Zaman in Kanpur last week, joint operations were launched by the Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terrorist Squad, along with the Assam Police and Crime Branch in Assam, as part of operations to neutralise individuals with links with foreign-based extremist organisations.The differences between Manvendra and the BJP surfaced in 2014 when his father Jaswant Singh was denied ticket from Barmer parliamentary seat, from where the party fielded Colonel Sonaram

Jaipur: Former Union minister Jaswant Singh's son and BJP MLA from Sheo constituency in Rajasthan, Manvendra Singh, on Saturday announced his decision to sever ties with the party. He made the announcement while addressing a mammoth "Swabhimaan Rally" in Pachpadra of Barmer district.

The differences between Manvendra and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) surfaced in 2014 when his father Jaswant Singh was denied ticket from Barmer parliamentary seat, from where the party fielded Colonel Sonaram. Jaswant Singh still contested as an Independent and lost the election.

On Saturday, amid thousands of supporters, he raised a slogan "Kamal Ka Phool, Badi Bhool" in the rally. He said that he had been maintaining silence for the last four and a half years obeying senior leaders of the party. "But, now I have lost all my patience."

He also sought opinion on his decision from the people attending the rally, to which the crowd responded saying "BJP Chhodo" in unison.

The rally was attended by many senior leaders from the Rajput community.

Speaking on the occasion, he said: "My fight for self-respect will spread to the entire state and its impact will also echo at the central level. Pachpadra is the starting point of this storm and its impact will also reach Jaipur."

However, Manvendra has not yet disclosed the course his political career will take from here on, but announced that he will contest the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Meanwhile, speculations are rife that he would join the Congress party soon.

When contacted, Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Committee (RPCC) President Sachin Pilot told IANS that he would not make any comments on the matter now. However, he said that the list of BJP leaders leaving the party is getting longer which shows that all is not well with the party. "Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje should introspect on this issue," he added.BJP president Amit Shah said on Saturday that Bangladeshi migrants are like termites and each one of them will be sent out of the country.

Jaipur: BJP president Amit Shah said on Saturday that Bangladeshi migrants are like termites and each one of them will be sent out of the country.

Referring to the draft National Register of Citizens recently published in Assam, he said, The BJP government brought NRC and prima facie identified nearly 40 lakh illegal immigrants.

The BJP government will pick out each and every infiltrator, he said at public meetings in Rajasthan.

BJP sarkaar ek-ek ghuspaithiye ko chun-chun kar matdata suchi se hatane ka kaam karegi, he said in Swai Madhopur district's Gangapur, calling illegal migrants termites and warning that their names will be deleted from the voters' list.

At another meeting in Kota, he said the Congress treated infiltrators as a vote bank while the BJP is committed to identifying each one of them and sending them out of the country.

Shah referred to Congress president Rahul Gandhi as `Sheikh Chilli', the character who built castles in the air, saying the BJP was set to win in the Assembly polls.

The Bharatiya Janata Party chief was in Rajasthan earlier this month as well, as his party and the Congress gear up for the state polls by the year-end.

The BJP government in Rajasthan is like the unshakeable 'Angad ka Paon', he said referring to a character in Ramayana whose foot even Ravana could not move.

The Congress cannot do any good for the country as that party has neither a leader nor a policy, he said.

Calling Rahul Gandhi Rahul baba, Shah said while he is demanding an account of the work done by the BJP, the people want him to tell them what generations of his own family have done for the country.

"What Congress and its four and half generations could not do in the last 70 years, the Modi government has done more than that in just four and a half years, and so has Vasundhra Raje in Rajasthan," Shah claimed.

He said Rajasthan was a `bimaru' state during the Congress rule but Chief Minister Vasundhra Raje had worked to bring in progress.Tweeting on the Rafale deal, Rahul Gandhi accused Arun Jaitley of having the ability to spin '2 truths or lies' with 'fake self-righteousness' and 'indignation to defend the indefensible'.

New Delhi: Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Sunday hit back at Arun Jaitley on the Rafale fighter jet deal, saying it is time the finance minister and prime minister "stop lying" and call for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) investigation for an "uncorrupted truth" to come out. He accused Jaitley of having the ability to spin "2 truths or lies" with "fake self-righteousness" and "indignation to defend the indefensible".

"Mr Jetlie's specialty is his ability to spin '2 truths', or lies, with fake self-righteousness and indignation to defend the indefensible. It's high time he, the RM (raksha mantri) and our PM stop lying and call a JPC to establish the full, uncorrupted truth about the Rafale Scam (sic)," Rahul tweeted.

Mr Jetlies speciality is his ability to spin 2 truths, or lies, with fake self righteousness & indignation to defend the indefensible. Its high time he, the RM & our PM stop lying and call a JPC to establish the full, uncorrupted truth about the #RafaleScam. pic.twitter.com/iQxrV5ooN5  Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) September 23, 2018

He also tagged a media report highlighting how former French president Francois Hollande's charges have hit the Narendra Modi government on the Rafale issue.

The Rafale controversy took a turn last week after former French president Hollande claimed that the Indian government had proposed Reliance Defence's name as the offset partner for Dassault Aviation. In response, the French government said it was, in no manner, involved in the choice of Indian industrial partners for the Rafale deal, asserting that French firms have the full freedom to select Indian companies for the contract.

Jaitley earlier defended the prime minister on the Rafale issue, saying the French government and Dassault Aviation have categorically denied the correctness of the former president's first statement. He said the French government has stated that the decision with regard to the offset contracts of Dassault Aviation are made by the company and not the government.

"This puts to rest the controversy that is sought to be created on the basis of a statement made by the former French president Hollande," he said.

The Reliance Group has rejected charges against it made by the Congress and said the government was in no way involved in securing its offset contract with Dassault Aviation.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced the procurement of 36 Rafale fighter aircraft after holding talks with the then French president Hollande on 10 April, 2015, in Paris.The Congress leader dismissed as 'repeated lies' the latest defences and justifications given by Jaitley and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on the Rafale controversy

New Delhi: Intensifying its attack over the raging Rafale controversy, the Congress on Sunday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of violating the oath of secrecy by revealing details of the new deal to an industrialist who subsequently became an offset partner instead of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL).

Hours after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley again came out in defence of the deal for purchasing 36 French fighter jets, Congress Spokesperson Anand Sharma demanded that the prime minister respond to the allegations directed at him.

"The question to the prime minister is - how this information came out that he will go go to France and reverse the deal?" said Sharma referring to Modi's April 2015 announcement of an intergovernmental deal to purchase 36 jets instead of 126 being negotiated during the erstwhile United Progressive Alliance (UPA) regime.

"Then Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar had said that the Rafale deal was not on the agenda during Modi's visit to France. Nobody knew as to Modi's visit to France and the announcement of a new deal. Even the Cabinet Committee on Security, the Indian Air Force, the Cabinet or the Foreign Secretary were not aware about the decision.

"Direct allegations are against the prime minister that he violated his oath of secrecy. Only he and no one else could have revealed to the private company that he will reverse the deal," said Sharma while pointing to the incorporation of Reliance Defence Limited just days before Modi visited France in April 2015.

"It's a conspiracy, only one (Modi) person with knowledge about the new deal - without telling anyone in the Cabinet, or the Ambassador etc. revealed the details to the industrialist and asked him to form a company," alleged Sharma.

Sharma said that there will be global ramifications of the 'scam of the century'. "We had warned the prime minister that this scam will have global ramifications. It will not be limited to geographical boundaries of India but resonate in the world capitals, and that is what is happening," said Sharma.

The Congress leader was referring to French media reports on former France President Francois Hollande's claims regarding a private Indian firm becoming an offset partner in the intergovernmental deal for the fighter jets.

"Why is the prime minister silent? He speaks on every subject, he is the main campaigner for the BJP and the government. So when the allegations are against him, it's he who should answer, and not others on his behalf," said Sharma.

The Congress leader dismissed as "repeated lies" the latest defences and justifications given by Jaitley and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on the matter.Rajnath Singh on Saturday said that urban local body and panchayat polls in Jammu and Kashmir will be held as per schedule.

Vadodara: Union home minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday said that urban local body and panchayat polls in Jammu and Kashmir will be held as per schedule.

Speaking to PTI on the sidelines of a BJP party workers' meet, Singh said these polls would give all parties an opportunity to interact with the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

The state's chief electoral officer announced Friday that a four-phase election to urban local bodies from 8 October.

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Electoral Officer Shaleen Kabra had said on 16 September that panchayat elections in Jammu and Kashmir will be held in nine-phases on a non-party basis beginning 17 November.

"Around 58 lakh electorate will be eligible to vote in the 35,096 panchayat constituencies. The notification for the first phase will be issued on 23 October," he had said.

Kabra had told reporters here that counting of votes would take place on the same day or the very next day.

The two major political parties in Jammu and Kashmir  the National Conference and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) - have decided to boycott the polls, saying that the central government is yet to declare its stand on Article 35A.

Article 35A was incorporated in the Constitution by a 1954 Presidential Order and accords special rights and privileges to the Jammu and Kashmir citizens.

Article 35A, which also denies property rights to a woman who marries a person from outside the state, has been challenged in the Supreme Court and the matter is under its consideration.

Singh reiterated the Centre's resolve to wipe out terrorism from the restive state, and asserted there was "no question right now" of talks with Pakistan till it ends its support to terrorism. "Under present circumstances, talks cannot happen with Pakistan," Singh said.

He lauded the pace of development under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said that the country, at this rate of progress, would soon become a superpower in the fields like education, technology and knowledge.The terrorists barged into the residence of Mushtaq Ahmad Mir in Sopore and later abducted him. 45-year-old Mir works as a local labourer.

Sopore (Jammu and Kashmir): Terrorists on Sunday abducted yet another civilian from his residence in Sopore town of Baramulla district in Jammu and Kashmir.

The terrorists barged into the residence of Mushtaq Ahmad Mir and later abducted him. 45-year-old Mir is the son of Ghulam Rasool and works as a local labourer, informed the Jammu and Kashmir Police.

A case has been registered in this regard and the police have initiated a search operation to track Mir.

Earlier in the day, an encounter broke out between the security personnel and terrorists in Mir Mohalla Aripal Tral area of Pulwama district.

At least two terrorists are believed to be trapped at the incident spot.

The gun battle between the terrorists and the security personnel broke out after a cordon and search operation (CASO) was launched in the area.tech2 News Staff

Initial leaks and rumours of the Nokia X7 or the Nokia 7.1 Plus suggested that the phone will feature a notch similar to what we've seen on the Nokia 6.1 Plus. However, recent renders seem to suggest otherwise.

While we've seen supposed live images of the phone in a previous report, new renders from OnLeaks again suggests that the phone will rather have a small notch, in fact, quite similar to the one on 6.1 Plus. The renders also reveal that the phone will feature a sandwiched glass and metal design, again, something we've seen on the Nokia 6.1 Plus.

While the Nokia 7.1 Plus does resemble the 6.1 Plus, it makes sense for HMD Global to launch the phone with a notch, since the other two phones in the lineup do have a notch. As for the glass back though, another live image by OnLeaks shows off a brushed metal back, though all the other details here do match up to that on the renders.

What we also notice here is the Android One branding and a dual-camera array with a cut-out for an LED flash.

While we're not certain whether the phone will sport a notch, an older report suggest the presence of a 5.9-inch screen, which is slightly smaller than the 6-inch Nokia 7 Plus screen. The display retains the 1080 x 2160 pixels resolution.

The device is expected to come with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 710 chipset which will be an upgrade from the Nokia 7 plus which features a Snapdragon 660 chipset. The device is also rumored to support 18 W fast charging.Reuters

The White House has drafted an executive order that would push federal antitrust and law enforcement agencies to probe the business practices of social media and other internet companies, according to Bloomberg.

It is unclear whether the order will be signed by President Donald Trump. The order has yet to be reviewed by other government agencies and remains in its preliminary stages, Bloomberg reported on 22 September. The document reportedly does not name any specific companies as the target of such investigations.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The news follows repeated comments by Trump and other prominent Republican politicians about the alleged online censorship of conservatives by tech companies.

Facebook and Twitter deny theyve been involved in politically motivated censorship. In recent months, the companies have defended their existing internal policies which guide whether users should be suspended or banned from their platforms based on rule violations, such as bullying and other forms of harassment.

In August, Trump Tweeted: Social Media is totally discriminating against Republican/Conservative voices ... Speaking loudly and clearly for the Trump Administration, we wont let that happen. They are closing down the opinions of many people on the RIGHT, while at the same time doing nothing to others.tech2 News Staff

Having launched the Mi Band 3 in China back in May, it's officially finally coming to India. While Xioami is still trying to keep us guessing on the date, it will likely be launched on 27 September.

Xiaomi exclusive online partner Amazon India just created a landing page for the product and though it does not give the name of the product away, it is quite evidently the Mi Band 3. The company is expected to launch as many as five smart home devices at an event on 27 September and the Mi Band 3 will very likely be one of the five devices.

The Xiaomi Mi Band 3 is priced at CNY 169 in China (approximately Rs 1,800) which happens to be marginally higher than the price at which the Mi Band 2 was launched.

In terms of improvements, the Mi Band 3 comes with a higher resolution 0.78-inch OLED screen in comparison to the Band 2. The biggest addition, however, is that the Band 3 now lets you not just view incoming calls but also answer them, without having to reach for your phone. According to a report by The Verge, Xiaomi also claims that the Band 3 is more comfortable on the wrist than its predecessor.

The Mi Band 3 is now officially waterproof for up to 50 metres, allowing users to take it for a dip in the pool without bothering to take it off.

Xiaomi also claims the same 20 days of battery life but we do have to see whether that's true when put to the test in everyday conditions.Reuters

Moscow may abandon a project to build a space station in lunar orbit in partnership with US space agency NASA because it does not want a second fiddle role, a Russian official said on 22 September.

Russia agreed last year to work with the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) on plans for the moon-orbiting Deep Space Gateway, which will serve as a staging post for future missions.

But the head of Russian space agency Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin, said Russia might exit the joint program and instead propose its own lunar orbit space station project.

The Russian Federation cannot afford to play the second fiddle role in it, he was quoted as saying by the RIA news agency, without much further elaboration.

A spokesman for Roscosmos said later that Russia had no immediate plans to leave the project.

Russia has not refused to take part in the project of the lunar orbit station with the USA, Vladimir Ustimenko was quoted as saying by the TASS news agency.

Relations between Moscow and Washington have soured since 2014 after Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine and was accused of meddling in the US 2016 presidential election.An official statement said that China and the Vatican will continue to maintain contact and push forward the process of improving bilateral ties,

Beijing: China on Saturday reached a historic breakthrough with the Vatican on the appointment of bishops in the communist nation, ending a 72-year old dispute over the issue.

Under the agreement, Pope Francis has recognised seven clerics ordained by Beijing without the approval of the Holy See, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said.

The issue of who appoints bishops has been at the heart of a dispute since China first broke off diplomatic ties with the Holy See in 1951.

Christianity is regarded as the fastest growing religion in China. According to unofficial estimates, the communist nation has 90 million Christians. The Foreign Ministry said the deal, however, is provisional.

Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wang Chao and Antoine Camilleri, head of a Vatican delegation and the under-secretary for Relations with States, signed the agreement, a statement by the ministry said. China and the Vatican will continue to maintain contact and push forward the process of improving bilateral ties, it added.

Meanwhile, the Vatican said the "provisional" deal concerning with how bishops are appointed in China was "not political but pastoral".

"Pope Francis hopes that, with these decisions, a new process may begin that will allow the wounds of the past to be overcome, leading to the full communion of all Chinese Catholics," the Vatican said in a statement.

"With a view to sustaining the proclamation of the Gospel in China, the Holy Father Pope Francis has decided to readmit to full ecclesial communion the remaining 'official' Bishops, ordained without Pontifical Mandate," it said.

In return, Beijing would recognise some, though not all, of the bishops previously appointed by the Holy See, the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post (SCMP) quoted officials as saying.

Those not recognised might be so at a future date. Neither side has made public the full text of the agreement, the report said.

China and Vatican severed diplomatic ties in 1951, two years after the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) headed by Mao Zedong took over power in China after a bloody revolution.

The CPC which demand that its 90 million members remain atheists, apprehend foreign religions, especially Christianity, to subvert its rule like in the case of Poland where the Church movement was instrumental in overthrowing the Communist rule.

Terming the agreement as "epoch making", Wang Meixiu, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, an official think tank, said it could help to normalise relations between the Holy See and China. "This is the first time the Chinese government has recognised the status of the Pope within the Chinese church, and the Chinese Catholic Church as part of the universal church," the SCMP quoted her as saying.

The deal, however, has angered bishops and scholars critical of Beijing's controls on religion, including Hong Kong's Cardinal Joseph Zen, the most senior Catholic cleric on Chinese soil, who had said earlier that he believed the two sides were making a "secret deal".

On Saturday, he slammed the deal's lack of transparency, questioning why neither side had made the details public and why it had been described as "provisional".

But Francesco Sisci, an Italian sinologist and researcher at Renmin University in Beijing, said the Holy See had consulted all bishops in China before the deal. "Many people outside China will say Beijing has not delivered on its promises, and that the Vatican has been cheated, but all bishops in China are in favour of the deal," he said.

"The effects will be long-term. It is positive that the Vatican will have a presence in China, and that China is willing to engage with the world on different levels," he was quoted by the SCMP as saying.Hassan Rouhani vowed a 'crushing' response after assailants sprayed a crowd with gunfire, shooting dead at least 29 people including women and children Saturday at a military parade.

Tehran: Iranian president Hassan Rouhani vowed a "crushing" response after assailants sprayed a crowd with gunfire, shooting dead at least 29 people including women and children Saturday at a military parade near the Iraqi border.

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the rare assault in the southwestern city of Ahvaz, while Iranian officials blamed "a foreign regime" backed by the United States.

A local journalist who witnessed the attack said shots rang out for 10 to 15 minutes and that at least one of the assailants, armed with a Kalashnikov assault rifle, wore the uniform of Iran's Revolutionary Guards.

"We realised it was a terrorist attack as bodyguards (of officials) started shooting," Behrad Ghasemi told AFP. "Everything went haywire and soldiers started running."

"The terrorists had no particular target and didn't really seem to care as they shot anyone they could with rapid gunfire."

Ahvaz lies in Khuzestan, a province bordering Iraq that has a large ethnic Arab community and has seen separatist violence in the past that Iran has blamed on its regional rivals.

Iran summoned diplomats from Denmark, the Netherlands and Britain over their "hosting of some members of the terrorist group" which carried out the attack, state media said Sunday.

"It is not acceptable that the European Union does not blacklist members of these terrorist groups as long as they do not perpetrate a crime on... European soil," official news agency IRNA quoted foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi as saying.

After addressing a similar parade in Tehran to commemorate the start of the 1980-1988 war with Iraq, Rouhani warned that "the response of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the smallest threat will be crushing".

Foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said the attack was carried out by "terrorists recruited, trained, armed and paid by a foreign regime".

"Iran holds regional terror sponsors and their US masters accountable for such attacks," he wrote on Twitter.

'Bloody crime'

Islamic State claimed the attack via its propaganda mouthpiece Amaq and, according to intelligence monitor SITE, said the attack was in response to Iranian involvement in conflicts across the region.

State television gave a toll of 29 dead and 57 wounded, while IRNA said those killed included women and children who were spectators at the parade.

Three attackers were killed at the scene and the fourth died later of his injuries, said armed forces spokesman Brigadier General Abolfazl Shekarchi.

The Revolutionary Guards accused Shiite-dominated Iran's Sunni arch-rival Saudi Arabia of funding the attackers, while Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei also blamed Iran's pro-US rivals.

Tehran-backed Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah condemned the "terrorist" attack, saying that "repulsive Satanic hands" were behind it.

"This operation was a continuation of the other forms of war the United States and its allies are waging, directly or indirectly," it said.

In a message to Russia's close regional ally, President Vladimir Putin said he was "appalled by this bloody crime", while Syria, another ally, neighbouring Turkey and France also expressed condolences.

Khuzestan was a major battleground of the 1980s war with Iraq and the province saw unrest in 2005 and 2011, but has since been largely quiet.

Kurdish rebels frequently attack military patrols on the border further north, but attacks on regime targets in major cities are rare.

On 7 June, 2017 in Tehran, 17 people were killed and dozens wounded in simultaneous attacks on the Parliament and on the tomb of revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini  the first inside Iran claimed by Islamic State.

In April, 26 alleged members of the Sunni extremist group went on trial in connection with the attacks.

Rouhani defiant

The attack in Ahvaz came as Rouhani and other dignitaries attended the main anniversary parade in Tehran.

In a keynote speech, he vowed to boost Iran's ballistic missile capabilities, despite Western concerns that were cited by his US counterpart Donald Trump in May when he abandoned a landmark nuclear deal with Tehran.

"We will never decrease our defensive capabilities... we will increase them day by day," Rouhani said.

"The fact that the missiles anger (the West) shows they are our most effective weapons."

The United States reimposed crippling sanctions on Iran last month, and another round of even harsher sanctions targeting Iran's vital oil sector is set to go back into effect on 5 November.

Washington has said it is ready to open talks on a new agreement to replace the July 2015 accord, but Tehran has repeatedly said it cannot negotiate under pressure from sanctions.

Rouhani leaves Sunday for New York to attend next week's United Nations General Assembly along with Trump, but Iran has repeatedly ruled out any meeting.OTTAWA (Reuters) - Hundreds of thousands of people were stranded without power in and around the Canadian capital Ottawa on Saturday after a tornado touched down twice, destroying some houses and ripping the roofs off others.

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Hundreds of thousands of people were stranded without power in and around the Canadian capital Ottawa on Saturday after a tornado touched down twice, destroying some houses and ripping the roofs off others.

At the same time high winds also battered the region and Ottawa mayor Jim Watson said it could be days before electricity was fully restored. At least six people were injured.

"It's in the top two or three traumatic events that have affected our city," Watson told reporters. "It looks like something from a movie scene or a war scene."

The tornado hit on Friday evening, demolishing homes in the town of Dunrobin to the north west of the city before crossing over to the town of Gatineau, which lies directly to the north of Ottawa in the province of Quebec.

High winds damaged part of Ottawa's major electrical substations and officials said around 200,000 people on both sides of the river were without power. Ottawa and Gatineau together have a population of around 1.3 million people.

"We have lost absolutely everything. I have got a beer fridge that's sitting in my garage - that is the only thing that is untouched - but everything else has gone," Ottawa resident Todd Nicholson told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. He was not home when the tornado struck.

Quebec premier Philippe Couillard broke off campaigning ahead of an Oct 1 provincial election to travel to Gatineau.

(Reporting by David Ljunggren, Editing by Franklin Paul)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.By Michael Georgy DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards vowed on Sunday to exact 'deadly and unforgettable' vengeance for an attack on a military parade that killed 25 people, including 12 of their comrades, and Tehran accused Gulf Arab states of backing the gunmen. Saturday's assault, one of the worst ever against the most powerful force of the Islamic Republic, struck a blow at its security establishment at a time when the United States and its Gulf allies are working to isolate Tehran. 'Considering (the Guards') full knowledge about the centres of deployment of the criminal terrorists' leaders ..., they will face a deadly and unforgettable vengeance in the near future,' the Guards said in a statement carried by state media.

By Michael Georgy

DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards vowed on Sunday to exact "deadly and unforgettable" vengeance for an attack on a military parade that killed 25 people, including 12 of their comrades, and Tehran accused Gulf Arab states of backing the gunmen.

Saturday's assault, one of the worst ever against the most powerful force of the Islamic Republic, struck a blow at its security establishment at a time when the United States and its Gulf allies are working to isolate Tehran.

"Considering (the Guards') full knowledge about the centres of deployment of the criminal terrorists' leaders ..., they will face a deadly and unforgettable vengeance in the near future," the Guards said in a statement carried by state media.

Four assailants fired on a viewing stand in the southwestern city of Ahvaz where Iranian officials had gathered to watch an annual event marking the start of the Islamic Republic's 1980-88 war with Iraq. Soldiers crawled about as gunfire crackled. Women and children fled for their lives.

Ahvaz National Resistance, an Iranian ethnic Arab opposition movement which seeks a separate state in oil-rich Khuzestan province, claimed responsibility for the attack.

Islamic State militants also claimed responsibility. Neither claim provided evidence. All four attackers were killed.

There has been a blizzard of furious statements from top Iranian officials, including President Hassan Rouhani, accusing Iran's adversaries the United States and Gulf states of provoking the bloodshed and threatening a tough response.

"LOOK IN THE MIRROR"

Nikki Haley, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, rejected Rouhani's accusations. "He's got the Iranian people ... protesting, every ounce of money that goes into Iran goes into his military, he has oppressed his people for a long time and he needs to look at his own base to figure out where that's coming from," she told CNN.

"He can blame us all he wants. The thing he's got to do is look in the mirror," she said.

Senior commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) have said the Ahvaz attack was carried out by militants trained by Gulf states and Israel, and backed by America. But it is unlikely the IRGC will strike any of these foes directly.

The Guards could put on a show of strength by firing missiles at opposition groups operating in Iraq or Syria that may be linked to the militants who staged the attack.

They are also likely to enforce a tight security policy in Khuzestan province, arresting any perceived domestic opponents including civil rights activists.

Three Arab activists told Reuters that security forces, especially the intelligence branch of the Revolutionary Guards, had detained more activists in Ahvaz.

"There are many checkpoints on the streets of Ahvaz, and the security forces are searching cars," said Hossein Bouazar, a member of Ahwazi Centre for Human Rights. "Many people are scared." Reuters could not immediately verify this account.

Iran has also been hit by sporadic street protests over economic hardship that have taken on anti-government overtones.

Rouhani engineered Iran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers that ushered in a cautious detente with Washington before tensions flared anew with President Donald Trump's decision in May to pull out of the accord and reimpose sanctions on Tehran.

The attack on the military parade is likely to give security hardliners like the Guards more political ammunition because they did not endorse the pragmatist Rouhani's pursuit of the nuclear deal with the West, analysts say.

In New York, Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani said on Saturday that U.S. sanctions were inflicting economic pain on Iran that could lead to a "successful revolution".

The Trump administration has said that changing Iran's system of government is not U.S. policy.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told Fox News on Sunday that Trump was willing to meet top Iranian officials for talks.

Asked if Trump would like to meet with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the highest authority in Iran, Pompeo replied: "The president has said he'll talk with anyone if we can have a constructive conversation."

REGIONAL STRUGGLE

Mostly Shi'ite Muslim Iran is at odds with Western-allied Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia for predominance in the Middle East. The regional superpowers support opposing sides in the civil wars in Yemen and Syria, as well as rival political groups in Iraq and Lebanon.

A senior United Arab Emirates official denied Iranian allegations alluding to the involvement of the UAE in training gunmen that claimed the attack.

The "formal incitement against the UAE from within Iran is unfortunate, and has escalated after the Ahvaz attack," Minister of State for Foreign Affairs for the United Arab Emirates Anwar Gargash said in a tweet.

"The UAE's historical position against terrorism and violence is clear and Tehran's allegations are baseless."

Iran's Foreign Ministry earlier summoned the UAE charge d'affaires over comments made about the bloody fusillade at the military parade, state-run PressTV said.

(Reporting by Dubai newsroom, Bozorg Sharafedin in London and Babak Dehghanpisheh in Geneva, Doina Chiacu in Washington; Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by Mark Heinrich and Edmund Blair)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.Most of Jeremy Corbyn's MPs and his younger supporters are in favour of the European Union, but many voters in the Labour Party's working-class heartlands back Brexit.

Liverpool: Britain's Labour Party kicked off its annual conference on Sunday, hoping to prove it was ready to unseat the embattled Conservative government despite its own splits on Brexit and rows over anti-Semitism.

Leader Jeremy Corbyn has a golden opportunity to capitalise on Prime Minister Theresa May's weakness after European Union leaders rejected her Brexit plans on Thursday. But he must first ensure that his party's internal tensions take a back seat to bolster his image as a prime-minister-in-waiting.

"The sheer levels of animosity that exists between Corbyn and his opponents is quite remarkable," Anand Menon, political professor at King's College London, said ahead of the four-day event in Liverpool.

Brexit is one of the fault lines, dividing even normal allies.

Most of Corbyn's MPs and his younger supporters are in favour of the EU, but many voters in the party's working-class heartlands back Brexit.

Corbyn has so far tried to avoid the divisive subject, instead sticking to promoting a domestic social agenda that helped him upset the odds at last year's general election and strip May of her parliamentary majority.

But with Brexit negotiations rapidly heading nowhere as the 29 March deadline looms, party members look set to force a debate and a vote on the conference floor pushing for a second referendum.

Corbyn said on Sunday he would "adhere" to whatever came out of conference, although he would prefer to hold a general election instead. "This government doesn't look very strong," he told the BBC. "We could well be looking towards a general election and you know what? We are ready for it." Pro-EU supporters are due to hold a large march as the conference opens on Sunday, calling for a second vote.

The Labour Party leader will likely stick to his tried-and-tested method when he delivers his keynote speech on Wednesday, according to experts, prioritising efforts to bring down the government rather than trying to stop Brexit.

Corbyn said on Sunday he voted to "remain and reform the EU" in the 2016 referendum on Britain's EU membership.

Another potential issue hampering Corbyn's designs on power is the anti-Semitism row that has dogged the party since he took over in 2015.

He recently admitted the party had a "real problem" with the issue, leading veteran MP Frank Field to quit last month. Field said the leadership was becoming "a force for anti-Semitism in British politics".

The National Executive Committee (NEC), the party's ruling body, agreed this month to adopt in full an international definition of anti-Semitism for its code of conduct, but only after fierce opposition from those in the party who believe it will limit criticism of Israel.

"I will die fighting racism in any form," Corbyn said when asked directly by the BBC whether he was an anti-Semite.

When pressed on his views on Israel, Corbyn added: "It's right that people should be able to discuss the establishment of the state of Israel but recognise the existence of the state of Israel, and not prevent that type of debate."

Labour's polling numbers have remained relatively stable throughout the scandal, although the chaos in the Tory party could mask any impact it has had, said Steven Fielding, professor at University of Nottingham. But the row continues to reverberate through the party.

"There is a lot of resentment, a lot of bitterness which I don't think will be very easily dispelled and there may be some Labour MPs who eventually leave on the basis of anti-Semitism issues," Fielding said.

A group of Labour campaigners will hold a rally on Sunday to protest Corbyn's handling of the scandal. "If they want this conference to work they are going to have to deal with anti-Semitism, rather than pretending that they have dealt with it already," said Menon.

The scandal has deepened the divisions between Corbyn's far-left supporters and the more centrist faction of MPs who held power in the party after Tony Blair took charge in 1994.

These centrist MPs now find themselves on the sidelines and battling for their political lives in the face of aggressive attempts by Corbyn's supporters to de-select them, another issue that could raise tensions during conference.

"The leadership might try and persuade Momentum activists not to make it (de-selection) a central plank of conference but the language is getting very, very abrasive," noted Menon.Although hopes were fading of finding any more survivors in Lake Victoria by day three of the search effort, workers rescued an engineer who had managed to locate a pocket of air in the vessel.

The death toll from a crowded ferry capsizing in Lake Victoria rose to more than 200 Saturday, with scores of victims identified by grieving relatives, as rescuers found one lucky survivor from the disaster.

Divers continued their grim search in the waters around the upturned hull watched by anxious crowds gathered just metres away on the shore of Ukara Island, where the ferry had been due to dock when it lurched over and sank on Thursday. "We regret that at the moment there are 209 dead in total, 172 of whom have already been identified by relatives," said Transport Minister Isack Kamwelwe during a press conference broadcast by the public television TBC 1.

Although hopes were fading of finding any more survivors by day three of the search effort, workers rescued an engineer who had managed to locate a pocket of air in the vessel. Joseph Mkundi, a lawmaker for the Ukerewe district, told AFP the engineer had shut himself into a "special room". Mwanza regional governor John Mongella said search teams were awaiting the arrival of a "device" to turn the wreck over to speed up the search.

State television cited witnesses reporting that more than 200 people had boarded the ferry at Bugolora, a town on the larger Ukerewe Island. It was market day, which usually sees the vessel packed with people and goods.

Witnesses told AFP the ferry sank when passengers rushed to one side to disembark as it approached the dock. Others blamed the captain, saying he had made a brusque manoeuvre. Dozens of wooden coffins lined the shore on Saturday, waiting to be claimed by families of the victims.

Aisha William came to collect the body of her husband. "He left on Tuesday around noon, but he never came home. I do not know how I am going to raise my two children," she said.

Sebastian John, a teacher, said such tragedies had become part of life for those living on the lake. "Since my birth, people have gone to their deaths on this lake, but what are we to do? We did not choose to be born here, we have nowhere to go," he said.

Tanzania's Electrical, Mechanical and Services Agency, which is responsible for ferry services, said it was unknown how many passengers were aboard the MV Nyerere.

The ageing vessel, whose hull and propellers were all that remained visible after it overturned, was also carrying cargo, including sacks of maize, bananas and cement, when it capsized about 50 metres from Ukara dock.

Tanzanian President John Magufuli on Friday ordered the arrest of ferry management. In a speech broadcast on TBC 1, Magufuli said "it appears clear that the ferry was overloaded." He added: "negligence has cost us so many lives... children, mothers, students, old people.

"I ordered the arrest of all those involved in the management of the ferry. The arrests have already begun," he added.

The president declared four days of national mourning and said the government would cover the funeral expenses of the victims.

The cause of the accident was not immediately clear, but overloading is frequently to blame for such incidents. "We have often raised concerns about the poor condition of this ferry, but the government turned a deaf ear. We have repeatedly denounced this negligence," said John Mnyika, deputy secretary general of Chadema, the main opposition party.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and the leaders of Uganda and Kenya offered their condolences, while Pope Francis in a statement expressed "the greatest solidarity with those who have been bereaved".

With a surface area of 70,000 square kilometres (27,000 square miles), oval-shaped Lake Victoria is roughly the size of Ireland and is shared by Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya. It is not uncommon for ferries to capsize in the massive lake, and the number of fatalities is often high due to a shortage of life jackets and the fact that many people in the region cannot swim.Voting began in a controversial presidential election in the Maldives on Sunday, amid fears that the process has been rigged in China-friendly strongman Abdulla Yameen's favour.

Male: Voting began in a controversial presidential election in the Maldives on Sunday, amid fears that the process has been rigged in China-friendly strongman Abdulla Yameen's favour.

Yameen has imprisoned or forced into exile all his main rivals, and is expected to retain his hold on power in the Indian Ocean island nation.

Foreign monitors and the Opposition have slammed his government for its crackdown on opponents and the media, and urged the international community not to recognise the results of the election.

Before polls opened, police raided the campaign headquarters of the Opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), searched the building for several hours in a bid to stop what they called "illegal activities". There were no arrests.

Despite the crackdown, hundreds of Maldivians headed to polling booths before voting began in the capital Male.

"There is a lot of enthusiasm. Voters lined up to vote despite overcast weather," MDP party worker Shauna Aminath said.

Yameen has borrowed hundreds of millions of dollars from China to build up infrastructure, alarming the nation's longtime backer India.

The European Union has said it is ready to impose travel bans and asset freezes on individuals "if the situation does not improve", while the United States has warned it would "consider appropriate measures" against those undermining democracy in the country of 1,200 islands.

Some 262,000 people in the archipelago  famed for its white beaches and blue lagoons  can vote in an election from which independent international monitors have been barred.

Only a handful of foreign media have been allowed in.

The Asian Network for Free Elections, a foreign monitoring group, said the campaign was heavily tilted in favour of the 59-year-old Yameen.

The network said it did not expect a fair contest.

"In the absence of any scrutiny (of the elections) or pressure (on the government), sombre events surely loom ahead for the people of Maldives," it said on the eve of the vote.

In February, Yameen alarmed the international community by imposing a state of emergency, suspending the constitution and sending troops to stop members of parliament who were trying to impeach him.

The chief justice and a judge of the Supreme Court were jailed along with Yameen's half-brother Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, president for 30 years until 2008 and the man who helped Yameen come to power in 2013.

The UN said the arrest of judges was an "outright assault on democracy".

Silencing dissent

Mohamed Nasheed, the Maldives' first democratically elected president from 2008-12 but now in exile, called Friday for the international community to reject the election results.

"Mathematically, it is not possible for Yameen to win because all Opposition parties are united against him," said Nasheed, who is based in Sri Lanka.

"But the results they will announce will be different to what is actually in the ballot boxes."

Nasheed was forced to withdraw from the presidential race after the Maldives election commission disqualified him because of a 2015 terrorism conviction.

The United Nations said the conviction and 13-year jail sentence were politically motivated, but Yameen's government has refused to abide by the UN ruling.

The relatively unknown Solih has Nasheed's backing. There are no other candidates.

Solih has struggled for visibility with the electorate because the media is fearful of falling foul of heavy-handed decrees and reporting restrictions.

The government has used "vaguely worded laws to silence dissent and to intimidate and imprison critics", some of whom have been assaulted and even murdered, according to Human Rights Watch.

Eligible voters in neighbouring Sri Lanka and India along with those in Malaysia and Britain are entitled to vote on Sunday. The results are expected by midday Monday.

A candidate must secure 50 percent of the vote to win outright, failing which there would be a run off three days later.By Alex Dobuzinskis (Reuters) - A Pennsylvania man who threatened to shoot President Donald Trump has been arrested in Ohio after a three-month manhunt during which he stole cars and firearms and passed between a half-dozen states and Canada, officials said on Saturday. Shawn Richard Christy, 27, was armed with a .380 caliber handgun and a knife when he was captured on Friday in a densely wooded area of Mifflin Township in Richland County, the U.S.

By Alex Dobuzinskis

(Reuters) - A Pennsylvania man who threatened to shoot President Donald Trump has been arrested in Ohio after a three-month manhunt during which he stole cars and firearms and passed between a half-dozen states and Canada, officials said on Saturday.

Shawn Richard Christy, 27, was armed with a .380 caliber handgun and a knife when he was captured on Friday in a densely wooded area of Mifflin Township in Richland County, the U.S. Marshals Service said in a statement.

"It's been a long three months, believe me," U.S. Marshals Service Supervisory Deputy Robert Clark said by telephone, describing the search for the suspect.

Christy previously made headlines in 2010 after Sarah Palin, the 2008 Republican nominee for vice president, obtained a restraining order against him over threatening phone calls that authorities said Christy and his father made to people close to Palin.

This past June, Christy, a resident of McAdoo, Pennsylvania, threatened Trump in a Facebook post in which he also lashed out at Northampton County, Pennsylvania, district attorney John Morganelli, authorities said.

Christy had failed to appear in court for an aggravated assault case in Pennsylvania and was facing accusations of other crimes in the state, Clark said.

"Keep it up Morganelli, I promise I'll put a bullet in your head as soon as I put one in the head of President Donald J. Trump," Christy is accused of writing on Facebook.

Christy, who was charged in federal court with threatening the president and law enforcement officials, went missing soon after making the Facebook post.

Authorities believe Christy left Pennsylvania for northern New York state, snuck into Canada then returned and passed through West Virginia, Kentucky and Maryland before ending up in Ohio.

Along the way, he stole four firearms and multiple cars, including one taken in Kentucky from U.S. Medal of Honor recipient Dakota Meyer, Clark said. Meyer is a U.S. Marine who was previously married to Palin's daughter, Bristol.

It was not immediately clear why Christy targeted Meyer, Clark said.

Christy and his father, Craig, could not be reached for comment.

The manhunt intensified this week with about 100 law enforcement agents fanning out to find Christy after the suspect was tracked to Ohio, where he was believed to have crashed a stolen pick-up truck, officials said.

(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis in Los Angeles; Editing by Daniel Wallis)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.We're always interested in hearing about news in our community. Let us know what's going on!

By the numbers

1948: BISD voters elect to make Brazosport Junior College District Summer

1967: Board of regents installed

Number of students in 1968: 879

Original name: Brazosport Junior College

Original President: J. R. Jackson, PhD

First graduating class in 1970: 25 students Oct. 1970: Changed name to Brazosport College

Back in the day

In-district tuition: $50 for 12 or more semester hours

Out-of-district tuition: $65 for 12 or more semester hours

Out-of-state tuition: $200 for 12 or more semester hours Expected textbook expenses: $45Pakistan lawmaker Khawaja Mohammad Asif said that he was not against normalisation of relations between India and Pakistan but 'dignity must be maintained.'

Islamabad: Pakistan's two major opposition parties have questioned the "haste" shown by Prime Minister Imran Khan in making efforts to mend ties with India and held him responsible for the "diplomatic debacle", saying he should have done his "homework" before approaching for a meeting.

Khan had written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seeking to re-start bilateral talks on key issues "challenging the relationship" including on terrorism and Kashmir. India initially agreed to a meeting between Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj and her Pakistani counterpart Shah Mahmood Qureshi on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York this month. However, New Delhi on Friday called off the meeting, citing the "brutal" killing of three policemen in Jammu and Kashmir as well as the release of the postal stamps "glorifying" Kashmiri militant Burhan Wani.

Dawn reported that two major opposition parties  the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP)  have held the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government responsible for the latest "diplomatic debacle" following New Delhi's refusal to hold the meeting.

Former foreign minister and PML-N lawmaker Khawaja Mohammad Asif criticised Khan for stating in the letter that "Pakistan remains ready to discuss terrorism" and said it seemed the government was "not prepared" from the day one.

"Too much keenness being shown by the prime minister showed weakness on our part. Giving them (India) too much reflects haste on our part to mend fences with India," Asif was quoted as saying by Dawn news.

Asif said he was not against normalisation of relations between India and Pakistan but "dignity must be maintained". He regretted that Khan wrote a letter in which he "talked about terrorism" without realising that the US and India had recently issued a joint statement after the visit of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to New Delhi and Islamabad which was "dead against" Pakistan.

"They (the US and India) raised all kinds of allegations against Pakistan and you are talking about terrorism (in the letter). This is a sign of weakness (on our part)," Asif said.

He also criticised Prime Minister Modi, alleging that "he is playing to the gallery" as part of poll campaign.

PPP Vice-President and former envoy to the US Sherry Rehman said that the Imran Khan government should have done its homework before approaching India for a meeting, especially after the initial response.

"Right now, however the Indian Govt and Army chief response are both immature and irresponsible. What are they threatening Pakistan about?

"They have crossed all diplomatic norms and protocols to emerge as a belligerent nuclear power that is only looking to externalise its own extremisms," Rehman said on Twitter.

Ties between India and Pakistan nose-dived following a spate of terror attacks on Indian military bases by Pakistan based terror groups since January 2016. Following the strikes, India announced it will not engage in talks with Pakistan, saying terror and talks cannot go hand-in-hand.

Amid heightened tension with Pakistan over Uri terror attack in which 18 soldiers were killed, India had pulled out of the SAARC Summit to be held in Islamabad in November, 2016. The summit was called off after Bangladesh, Bhutan and Afghanistan also declined to participate in the meet.By Catarina Demony and Goncalo Almeida LISBON (Reuters) - Anti-gentrification groups from across Europe joined hundreds of Portuguese activists on Saturday in a rally against soaring rent prices in Lisbon as the city experiences the biggest tourism boom in its history. 'The housing market in Portugal is focused on foreign purchasing power', Rita Silva, one of the protest organisers, told Reuters

By Catarina Demony and Goncalo Almeida

LISBON (Reuters) - Anti-gentrification groups from across Europe joined hundreds of Portuguese activists on Saturday in a rally against soaring rent prices in Lisbon as the city experiences the biggest tourism boom in its history.

"The housing market in Portugal is focused on foreign purchasing power", Rita Silva, one of the protest organisers, told Reuters. "This is not a xenophobic view but a concern with those who have lived here for many years and are now at risk of losing everything."

Lisbon's tourism boom has made headlines abroad, but it has also been heavily criticised by locals who say they are being pushed out of their city as private developers transform houses into hotels and luxury flats. Numerous other cities across the continent have experienced similar problems, including Berlin, Paris and London.

Portuguese house prices rose 11 percent in the second quarter from a year earlier, National Statistics Institute data show on Friday, taking them to new highs in a run-up in house prices that began in 2014. [nL8N1W72PO]

Tourist accommodation already accounts for at least 34 percent of houses in the city centre, according to an article published by Jornal de Negocios last week.

"The cities are built for rich people, and there are fewer and fewer spaces for people without a lot of money," said a spokesman for European Action Coalition, one of the largest groups fighting for housing rights in Europe. "The fight of the people in Lisbon is also our fight."

It was the first demonstration in Portugal for housing rights since 2007, when the country was on the edge of a severe economic and debt crisis.

(Reporting by Catarina Demony and Goncalo Almeida; Editing by Hugh Lawson)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.Francois Hollande made the comments to defend himself from accusations of a conflict of interest because Ambani's Reliance conglomerate had partially financed a film produced by his girlfriend, Julie Gayet, in 2016

Paris: The French government said Sunday it feared damage to its relations with India after former president Francois Hollande stirred controversy about a major deal to sell fighter jets to New Delhi.

Hollande, who left office in May 2017, said Friday during a trip to India that French jet manufacturer Dassault Aviation had been given no choice about its local partner in a 2016 deal with the Indian administration.

The nationalist government of Narendra Modi agreed to buy 36 Rafale jets from Dassault, which announced afterwards it was partnering for the project with billionaire Anil Ambani rather than India's public defence conglomerate Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL).

Hollande's announcement that Dassault "did not have any say in it" added fuel to claims from India's Opposition that the New Delhi government had intervened to help Ambani, who is a supporter of Modi and hails from the same state as him.

"I find these remarks made overseas, which concern important international relations between France and India, do not help anyone and above all do not help France," junior foreign minister Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne said Sunday about Hollande.

"Because one is no longer in office, causing damage to a strategic partnership between India and France by making remarks that clearly cause controversy in India is really not appropriate," he said in an interview on Radio J.

Hollande made the comments to defend himself from accusations of a conflict of interest because Ambani's Reliance conglomerate had partially financed a film produced by his girlfriend, Julie Gayet, in 2016.

The choice of Reliance for a highly strategic contract to upgrade India's ageing fleet of fighter jets had caused surprise at the time because the group had no previous experience in the aeronautics industry.

Hollande's comments were front-page news in Indian newspapers on Saturday and it was the top trending topic on Twitter.

Rahul Gandhi, head of the main Opposition Congress party, who is seeking to replace Modi and his rightwing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 2019 elections, went on the offensive. "An ex-president of France is calling him (the prime minister of India) a thief. It's a question of the dignity of the office of the prime minister," he told a news conference in New Delhi.(Reuters) - A media adviser helping the Republican-led Senate Judiciary Committee respond to a sexual assault allegation against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh has resigned amid allegations of his own sexual misconduct, a committee spokesperson said on Saturday. Garrett Ventry, 29, a communications aide to Senate Judiciary committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, was 'one of several temporary staff brought on to assist in the committees consideration of the Supreme Court nomination,' a Senate Judiciary Committee spokesperson told Reuters. 'While he strongly denies allegations of wrongdoing, he decided to resign to avoid causing any distraction from the work of the committee,' the spokesperson said

(Reuters) - A media adviser helping the Republican-led Senate Judiciary Committee respond to a sexual assault allegation against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh has resigned amid allegations of his own sexual misconduct, a committee spokesperson said on Saturday.

Garrett Ventry, 29, a communications aide to Senate Judiciary committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, was "one of several temporary staff brought on to assist in the committees consideration of the Supreme Court nomination," a Senate Judiciary Committee spokesperson told Reuters.

"While he strongly denies allegations of wrongdoing, he decided to resign to avoid causing any distraction from the work of the committee," the spokesperson said.

Ventry was previously fired from the office of North Carolina House Majority Leader John Bell because a female employee of the North Carolina GOP General Assembly accused him of sexual harassment, according to NBC.

In a statement to NBC, Ventry denied any wrongdoing.

Christine Blasey Ford claims Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her at a high school party 36 years ago. Ford has until 2:30 p.m. Saturday to notify the committee whether she plans to testify before congress, according to the New York Times.

NBC first reported Ventry's resignation and the allegations against him.

(Reporting by Christopher Bing, Editing by Franklin Paul)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.Swaraj, who arrived for the UN General Assembly on Saturday, will hold several bilateral and multilateral discussions with her global counterparts as well as with the top UN officials.

New York: External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has arrived in New York to represent India at the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly and hold several bilateral and multilateral meetings with her global counterparts. She will address the General Debate on the morning of 29 September.

Swaraj, who arrived on Saturday, will hold several bilateral and multilateral discussions with her global counterparts as well as with the top UN officials, besides participating in several meetings and discussions throughout the week on the sidelines of the General Assembly session.

India's Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Syed Akbaruddin tweeted:

Destination #UNGA73 Indias External Affairs Minister @SushmaSwaraj arrives in New York for High Level Segment of @UN pic.twitter.com/742W37MIL2  Syed Akbaruddin (@AkbaruddinIndia) September 22, 2018

The General Debate commences on 25 September. World leaders from 193 UN member states will address the global body. US President Donald Trump will give his second address to the General Assembly on 25 September. In a tweet, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said:

Setting the stage for a week of hectic diplomacy! EAM @SushmaSwaraj arrives in New York to attend the 73rd Session of the #UnitedNations General Assembly and participate in several bilateral, plurilateral and multilateral meetings. pic.twitter.com/UcINJtzwCd  Raveesh Kumar (@MEAIndia) September 22, 2018

Earlier, following India's acceptance of Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan's proposal for a meeting, Swaraj and her Pakistani counterpart Shah Mahmood Qureshi were slated to meet on the sidelines of the General Assembly. However, the Indian government called off the meeting, citing the brutal killings of three policemen in Jammu and Kashmir and Islamabad releasing postage stamps "glorifying" militant Burhan Wani.

Qureshi will address the UN General Assembly in the afternoon on 29 September.By David Shepardson WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. airline industry scored a win on Saturday as bipartisan congressional legislation dropped plans to mandate 'reasonable and proportional' baggage and change fees, but included other new passenger protections

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. airline industry scored a win on Saturday as bipartisan congressional legislation dropped plans to mandate "reasonable and proportional" baggage and change fees, but included other new passenger protections.

After weeks of negotiations, a 1,200-page bill to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) was unveiled early Saturday that would require the FAA to set minimum dimensions for passenger seats -- including legroom and width -- and prohibits airlines from involuntarily removing passengers from flights after theyve cleared the boarding gate.

In April 2017, video went viral on social media of 69-year-old passenger David Dao being dragged from a United Airlines flight at Chicagos OHare International Airport after he refused to give up his seat to make room for crew members. United apologized and promised not to remove seated passengers to make room for other passengers.

But airlines had heavily lobbied against new rules limiting fees. U.S. airlines revenue from baggage and reservation change fees increased from $5.7 billion in 2010 to $7.5 billion in 2017. Other fees are not reported to regulators.

The compromise bill did not include language adopted by a Senate Committee in 2017 that would have required the reasonable fee rules. It was struck in a compromise unveiled by Senate Commerce Committee Republican chairman John Thune and House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee chairman Bill Shuster, a Republican, along with the top Democrats on the two committees Senator Bill Nelson and Representative Peter DeFazio.

Congress is set to vote on the measure next week ahead of a September 30 deadline.

American Airlines Group Inc became the latest major airline on Thursday to hike checked bag prices by $5 for the first bag to $30, joining Delta Air Lines Inc, United and JetBlue Airways Corp.

Airlines for America, an airline trade group, has said the fee provision would result in government-mandated price controls and should be rejected and the Trump administration also strongly opposed the provision.

The bill also requires the U.S. Transportation Department to set new rules authorizing commercial drone deliveries and gives the Justice Department and Homeland Security Department new authority to disable or destroy drones if they pose a threat to government facilities after the Trump administration warned it did not have the legal authority it needed to address threats.

Under the bill, airlines must refund passengers for services they paid for but did not receive and will enshrine in law a prohibition on passengers making mobile phone calls while in flight or using e-cigarettes.

The bill requires airlines to allow passengers to check strollers if they are traveling with a small child and require regulators to determine if it is unfair or deceptive for airlines to tell passengers "that a flight is delayed or canceled due to weather alone when other factors are involved."

It also makes it unlawful for any person to place a live animal in an overhead storage compartment, prompted by outrage over the death a dog in March in an overhead compartment of a United flight. It also gives the Transportation Department authority to require airlines to allow pregnant passengers to board earlier.

The bill would also authorize a return of "supersonic" transport with reduced sonic booms, and provides for an additional $1.68 billion in immediate funding for disaster relief in the wake of Hurricane Florence.

It also directs the FAA to establish an Office of Spaceports to provide guidance, support licensing for spaceports, and promote infrastructure improvements for future space travel.

The bill also addresses sexual misconduct in aviation by creating a task force to review practices and increases civil penalties for interfering with cabin or flight crew members.

(Reporting by David Shepardson)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.The woman whose sexual assault allegation threatens to bring down US president Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee, has agreed to testify in the Senate, her lawyers said on Saturday, setting up a dramatic showdown next week.

Washington: The woman whose sexual assault allegation threatens to bring down US president Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee, has agreed to testify in the Senate, her lawyers said on Saturday, setting up a dramatic showdown next week.

Christine Blasey Ford's decision followed days of negotiations and came after Trump turned against her and said her accusation could not be true.

Ford "accepts the committee's request to provide her first-hand knowledge of Brett Kavanaugh's sexual misconduct next week," said a message from her lawyers to the Senate Judiciary Committee, US media reported.

Hours later, multiple outlets including Politico and The Daily Beast reported the hearing would take place on Thursday, citing sources familiar with a phone call between the committee and Ford's lawyers.

The tentative deal capped a day of frenetic developments, with time running out for Trump to get his hand-picked conservative judge confirmed  thereby tilting the Supreme Court firmly to the right for years to come  before November elections when Republicans risk losing control of Congress.

Earlier, the panel had given the California professor until 2.30 pm (1830 GMT) to decide whether to appear, after she rejected a Friday evening deadline imposed by the committee's Republican leader, Chuck Grassley.

"Although many aspects of the proposal you provided via email, on (Friday) are fundamentally inconsistent with the committee's promise of a fair, impartial investigation into her allegations, and we are disappointed with the leaks and the bullying that have tainted the process, we are hopeful that we can reach agreement on details," read the lawyers' letter cited by The Washington Post.

The White House criticised Ford for allegedly dithering. "But one thing has remained consistent: Brett Kavanaugh remains ready, willing and eager to testify as soon as possible," it added.

Denial

Ford alleges that Kavanaugh drunkenly assaulted her at a party when he was 17, she was 15 and they were attending private schools outside Washington in the 1980s.

Kavanaugh denies knowledge of any such assault and wants to give his side of the story to the committee.

Grassley had wanted the hearing to take place on Wednesday, but Ford asked that it be held on Thursday at the earliest and to be able to call as a witness a man she says was present during the assault.

The committee's Republican leadership turned down those demands.

After several days of maintaining a relatively neutral posture, Trump on Friday declared that Ford was lying.

"TAKE THE VOTE!" Trump tweeted, blaming "radical left wing politicians" for the controversy.

Senator Feinstein and the Democrats held the letter for months, only to release it with a bang after the hearings were OVER - done very purposefully to Obstruct & Resist & Delay. Let her testify, or not, and TAKE THE VOTE!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 21, 2018

A call for respect

According to Trump, the fact that Ford remained silent until now shows the incident probably never happened - even if this runs counter to what experts say is the typical reaction of sexual assault victims afraid or too embarrassed to report.

"I have no doubt that, if the attack on Dr Ford was as bad as she says," Trump tweeted, "charges would have been immediately filed with local Law Enforcement Authorities by either her or her loving parents."

The senior senator for Trump's Democratic foes, Chuck Schumer, called the president's logic a "highly offensive misunderstanding of surviving trauma," while Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein said: "We must treat sexual assault survivors with respect, not bully or try to silence them."

Even one of Trump's own Republican senators, Susan Collins  who sits on the Judiciary Committee  said she was "appalled by the president's tweet."

"We know that allegations of sexual assault are some of the most under-reported crimes that exist," Collins said.

Trump's outburst saw a new #MeToo era hashtag storm the internet, with people  mostly women  sharing why they did not report being assaulted under the Twitter hashtag #WhyIDidntReport.

Ford told the Post she went public with her claims because she felt her "civic responsibility" was "outweighing my anguish and terror about retaliation" after the basic outlines of the story emerged in the media.

Ford's husband, Russell Ford, was quoted by the Post as saying the thought that Kavanaugh could be considered for the Supreme Court after Trump took office troubled his wife so much that she considered moving as far away as New Zealand.

"She was like, 'I can't deal with this,'" Russell Ford said. "'I cannot live in this country if he's in the Supreme Court.'"

Republicans are frustrated over what they say was the deliberate timing of the last-minute revelation of Ford's allegation, accusing Democrats of seeking to prevent the process from finishing before the midterm elections in a few weeks.

For their part, Democrats say Republicans are mounting an unseemly rush to get Kavanaugh into the nine-member Supreme Court while they still control the legislature.It has now been over a decade since the financial crisis rocked U.S. markets. Some overleveraged and weaker companies didn't survive, while many companies with strong balance sheets and wide economic moats emerged from the crisis even stronger than they were when they went in.

One company in the latter category is Warren Buffett-led conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK.A) (NYSE:BRK.B).

Here's a rundown of how Buffett may have seen the financial crisis coming; how he turned the economic turmoil into big profits for Berkshire; and how you can learn from Buffett's investment strategy to not only survive, but to take advantage of the next stock market crash.

Did Warren Buffett predict the financial crisis?

Sort of. Buffett didn't necessarily predict the crisis, in terms of timing and just how bad things would ultimately get.

Having said that, Buffett did offer some strongly worded warnings about the factors that triggered the financial crisis -- derivatives and housing.

In fact, in an unprecedented effort to warn investors about derivatives, Buffett pre-released a part of his 2003 annual letter to Berkshire's shareholders for publication in Fortune magazine. In the letter, Buffett called derivatives "financial weapons of mass destruction." A few years later, Buffett predicted that derivatives could make some other systematic problem much worse.

That problem would turn out to be housing, specifically the ease with which Americans could buy homes in those days. In 2005, Buffett remarked, "If you keep marking up something [housing], and in the process, the payment for the marked-up price comes from someone else who feel they are bearing no risk because they have the government guarantee in between, the money can just flood in, and everybody feels very happy for a long time."

By 2007, the tide had started to turn and foreclosures began to tick upward, but home prices remained elevated and credit remained easy. At Berkshire's annual meeting in 2007, Buffett simply warned that "you'll see plenty of misery in that field."

He was right. Easy mortgage lending combined with complex derivative securities nearly caused the U.S. financial system to collapse.

Buffett made serious money from crisis-era investments

One of the key components of Buffett's investment strategy is to be a buyer when everyone else is selling. And that was certainly true during and after the financial crisis.

Berkshire's rock-solid balance sheet allowed Buffett to make some particularly savvy investments in bank stocks like Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) and Bank of America (NYSE:BAC).

The latter resulted in a particularly big payday for Berkshire. Buffett invested $5 billion in Bank of America preferred stock in 2011 that paid a 6% annual dividend. In addition to his preferred stock, Buffett also received warrants to purchase 700 million shares for just $7.14 per share, which was about how much the bank's stock was trading for at the time.

Well, Buffett exercised Berkshire's warrants in 2017. As I write this, Bank of America trades for about $31 per share, making the value of Berkshire's shares (the company ended up with 679 million) about $21 billion -- a profit of roughly $16 billion in the seven years since the investment was made. Plus, the investment now pays Berkshire more than $400 million per year in dividends, which is substantially more than the preferred stock was paying.

Handle the next market crisis like Buffett

To be clear, the financial crisis is unlikely to repeat itself. The banking industry has undergone a major transformation and is far more stable than it was before 2008. So it's not very likely that the next market meltdown will be triggered by big banking institutions on the brink of collapse.

Having said that, another market crash will come at some point -- it's just a matter of when and what will cause it. I recently wrote an article about valuable lessons investors can learn from the financial crisis, and they are based on the same principles that allowed Buffett to invest so effectively during the crisis. To sum them up:

Don't panic and sell your stocks simply because the market is crashing. When times get tough, Buffett is invariably a net buyer of stocks. This is one of the reasons Buffett always insists on keeping billions of dollars in cash on the sidelines -- so he can take advantage during tough times.

Focus on best-in-breed companies trading at discounts. A great example was Buffett's investment in Goldman Sachs during the depths of the crisis. Buffett's reasoning was simple -- Goldman was the "best firm on Wall Street," and unlike many people, Buffett was very confident that the financial-industry bailout would ultimately be approved. He was right.

Don't try to time the market. Just because the market has crashed doesn't mean it can't go down more. It certainly can. Instead of trying to invest at the absolute lowest prices, focus on stocks you want to hold for the long term.

The financial crisis showed us that no stock or industry is completely immune. Back then, many investors had a disproportionate amount of their portfolio in financial stocks because they were thought to be safe. Don't make the mistake of thinking any of your stocks are crisis-proof. They aren't.

Here's the bottom line: As long as you keep a level head and approach a crisis from a long-term viewpoint as Buffett does, you should come out of it just fine, if not stronger than you went in.Whether you are looking to supplement your income or looking to build wealth over very long periods of time, dividend stocks that can reliably pay you for years and gradually increase their payout can be a powerful part of your portfolio. What's even better is when you can buy those stocks at cheap prices, because it typically means they carry high yields.

While there are likely loads of candidates out there that fit this description, three companies have stood out to me as high-yielding dividend stocks you might want to consider for your portfolio: pipeline master limited partnership MPLX (NYSE:MPLX), telecommunications giant Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ), and mining titan Rio Tinto (NYSE:RIO).

High yield, huge growth prospects, and a well-managed business

One place you can routinely find high-yield dividend stocks is in the midstream section of the oil and gas business. These are the pipelines, processing, and logistics businesses that are typically structured as master limited partnerships. Today, that is a business with surprisingly large investment opportunities, with oil and gas pipelines busting at the seams -- not literally, thankfully -- with production from shale.

Trouble is, there are a lot of poorly run businesses in this industry. Management teams that prioritize payout growth or want to impress investors with massive project backlogs tend to play fast and loose with debt levels and using equity to pay for growth. For investors to really make money in this business long term, they need to be very selective about which management teams to back.

MPLX, in my opinion, is one of the better-run businesses in this industry and has a management team I'm confident enough to support with my own money. It has done a great job of growing its payout, investing in a sizable basket of projects, while at the same time maintaining an investment-grade credit rating and lower-than-industry-average levels of debt.

With a distribution yield of 6.8% today, a plan in place to grow its payout by 10% this year, and a healthy stable of investments lined up to maintain that growth, MPLX's shares are looking more attractive by the day.

Investing now for market superiority later

Verizon is by no means a stock that is going to blow your socks off with huge growth rates. The market for providing wireless communications is a mature, highly competitive one. Pretty much every telecommunications company has a 4G network deployed, so companies have to fight hard on price to keep customers subscribed to their service.

At the same time, though, the telecommunications business is at a crucial point as companies race to deploy the next-generation 5G network. Upgrading a network to 5G capability is going to be costly, which actually plays to Verizon's strengths as one of the largest wireless providers out there.

In fact, Verizon is making a monumental step in a few weeks to offer 5G to its broadband internet customers in a few select metropolitan markets. This should be a major toehold with which Verizon can build out its wireless 5G network in the next few years. In 2018 alone, the company expects to spend $17.9 billion on maintaining and upgrading its network. If it can deploy a 5G network faster than its peers, it will be able to offer a differentiated product that can attract customers and not have to worry as much about competing on price. That could go a long way in helping to boost those stagnant revenue numbers.

Since full 5G deployment is still a long way off, we're in a situation where the company is still in a fierce pricing fight for customers but is spending loads of money to get its network built out. That isn't exactly a situation conducive to dividend growth today, but with shares trading at seven times earnings and a 4.3% dividend yield, it seems like a reasonable price to pay and wait to reap the benefits of a 5G network.

A good time to buy a tough industry

Mining isn't an easy business, and stocks in this industry are highly cyclical. So I can understand why mining giant Rio Tinto might not be every investor's cup of tea. However, if you can catch a quality mining business at the right time of the cycle, it can generate good returns. This is looking like one of those times, and Rio's stock is priced just right for that opportunity.

The period from 2010 to 2016 was going from the best of times to the worst of times for mining stocks. The materials euphoria that swept the market at the beginning of this decade was fueled by China's seemingly insatiable appetite for materials, and companies invested billions in expensive mining projects. As the 2010s marched on, though, China's demand for commodities started to slow down just as many high-cost projects started to produce. As a result, prices for numerous metals and materials continued to slide. Mining companies were forced to shut down uneconomic mines, slash dividends, and do what they could to repair their balance sheets after previously loading up on debt.

Since then, though, the mining industry has started to show signs of life. After such a thorough spanking from the market, mining executives have started to focus on cutting costs and more efficient capital spending. Rio Tinto was one of the companies that learned these lessons well and now has a competitive portfolio of mines and a manageable debt load, and has enough free cash flow that it is planning billions in share repurchases on top of its current dividend that yields close to 6%.

Industry cycles for commodities can change rather quickly if economic growth stagnates or if companies get tempted to chase growth. That said, this looks like one of the better times to invest in mining, and Rio Tinto looks like one of the best around to capitalize on that.FMC Corp. (NYSE:FMC) is separating its lithium business from its core agricultural chemicals business, with the first leg of the parting coming up in October.

Investors have known for some time that the Philadelphia-based company had plans to do this, but it was only late last month when FMC filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for an initial public offering (IPO) that more details came out.

Here are five things you should know about FMC's lithium IPO and spinoff.

1. New lithium company's name and ticker symbol

FMC's lithium business will be named Livent Corp. -- which is a play on the chemical symbol for lithium, "Li." The stock will trade on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the ticker symbol LTHM.

2. Logistics of the separation into two companies

FMC's separation of its lithium business from its agricultural technology business will occur in two parts:

The company is planning to sell up to $100 million worth of shares of Livent through the October IPO, according to the SEC filing. (The $100 million can be thought of as just a placeholder and is subject to change. FMC has previously said it planned to offer shares totaling about 15% of the lithium business.) No target price range per share was provided, so we can't evaluate valuation.

The remaining shares of Livent will be spun off to FMC shareholders within six months of the IPO.

So investors have two ways to invest in the new lithium company -- directly or indirectly by buying FMC stock.

On that note, shares of FMC are in the red 4.6% in 2018 through Sept. 21, versus the S&P 500's 11.1% return, which we can primarily attribute to concerns among some investors that a lithium glut could occur and drive down prices. Over the three-year period, the stock remains a big winner, with a return of 147% -- 2.5 times the broader market's 59.2% return. Investors poured money into lithium stocks in 2016 and 2017 amid rising demand and prices for lithium, largely driven by an increased need for compounds to make the rechargeable batteries that power electric vehicles. Shares also got a boost last year from FMC's acquisition of a portion of the crop protection business at the former DuPont, now known as DowDupont.

3. Livent will be the largest lithium pure play trading on a major U.S. stock exchange

Livent will give investors in the U.S. an opportunity to invest in a pure-play stock of a major lithium producer.

Both the world's largest and second largest producers of lithium, North Carolina-based Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) and Chile-based Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile, or SQM (NYSE:SQM), respectively, are listed on the NYSE, but neither is a pure play. China's Ganfeng Lithium, FMC, and China's Tianqi Lithium round out the top five players, though not necessarily in that order.

4. What Livent's lithium business will look like

Following is a snapshot of FMC's lithium business in the second quarter. These numbers, of course, will change in the three-plus-month period between the end of Q2 and the Livent IPO.

Lithium Revenue Q2 2018 Growth (YOY) Lithium Revenue As a % of Total Revenue Lithium EBITDA* Q1 2018 Growth (YOY) Lithium EBITDA As a % of Total EBITDA $107.9 million 46% 8.5% $51.2 million 85% 14%

FMC's lithium business is highly profitable. In the second quarter, its profit margin -- on an EBITDA basis -- was 47.5%.

For context, in the second quarter:

Albemarle's lithium revenue jumped 30% year over year to $317.6 million, comprising 37% of its total revenue, while its lithium segment's adjusted EBITDA increased 22.9% to $141.6 million, accounting for 55% of total adjusted EBITDA.

SQM's lithium revenue increased 22% year over year to $183.9 million, comprising 50% of its total revenue, while its lithium business' gross profit rose 11% to $119.0 million, accounting for 53% of the company's consolidated gross profit.

5. Livent's top leaders

Paul Graves, who leads FMC's lithium business, will be the CEO of Livent; Gilberto Antoniazzi, CFO of FMC's agricultural solutions business, will be CFO; and Pierre Brondeau, FMC's CEO and board chair, will also chair Livent's board.Richwood, TX (77531)

Today

Cloudy skies early with scattered thunderstorms developing late. Low 67F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%..

Tonight

Cloudy skies early with scattered thunderstorms developing late. Low 67F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%.Ross Ramsey is executive editor and co-founder of The Texas Tribune, a nonpartisan, nonprofit media organization that informs Texans about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues. This analysis originated at texastribune.com. Contact Ramsey at rramsey@texastribune.org.Afghanistan: Short-term emergency can 'derail' years of progress, warns UN official

21 September 2018 - Even though Afghans today have better prospects for a semblance of peace than at any time in the past few years, immediate risks facing the country can seriously jeopardize progress and derail aspirations for a peaceful, secure and prosperous Afghanistan, a senior United Nations official warned on Friday.

Speaking to the press at the UN Headquarters, in New York, Toby Lanzer, the Humanitarian Coordinator in Afghanistan, highlighted major achievements in the country, including economic progress for the third year in a row as well as upcoming parliamentary elections in October and presidential elections in April next year.

However, alongside these Afghanistan also saw the killings of 13 journalists on the job  the highest number in the world, 23 aid workers lost their lives, 37 were badly injured and 74 abducted, he added

"Afghanistan is undergoing a terrible drought, the worst in many, many years and now over 5.5 million people are in in need of emergency relief," said Mr. Lanzer, noting that in the past few weeks alone, more than a quarter million people have been fleeing their homes, "looking for any way to get by."

"Winter is on its way, and in Afghanistan, winter bites hard," he added.

Of particular concern is the serious shortfall in funds for relief work, said Mr. Lanzer, urging the international donor community for immediate resources.

"I am here to ring alarm bells because if we do not engage more on the short-term emergency relief requirements, the development gains that we have achieved over the past years  could be lost," he warned.

Earlier this month, the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, Mark Lowock, and Filippo Grandi, the High Commissioner for Refugees, visited the country and called for an urgent increase as well as sustained support for the humanitarian response.

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the 2018 humanitarian appeal for Afghanistan is only a third funded, with all humanitarian response sectors lacking vital resources.

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As Yemen conflict rages, 'all too abundantly clear' millions of civilians are the ones losing - UN relief chief

21 September 2018 - Raising the alarm over the rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation in Yemen, the top United Nations relief official on Friday underscored the need for all parties to avoid further military activity around Hudaydah port  the vital lifeline through which food and fuel flows into the war-torn country.

"It is far from clear that the recent intensification of fighting is producing any winners," Mark Lowcock, the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, told the Security Council on Friday.

"It is, though, abundantly clear, all too abundantly clear, who the losers are: millions of Yemenis civilians, most of them women and children, whose lives are right on the line."

Bleak humanitarian situation

Across Yemen  which was already among the world's poorest countries before fighting erupted in 2015  well over three-quarters of the population is in need of humanitarian assistance; some 18 million people, including women and children are food insecure, eight million of them severely-food insecure; millions of families have are without a source of income, with teachers, health and sanitation workers and public servants not paid any wages in two years.

Challenges are further compounded by wave after wave of cholera outbreaks and fighting that has not only claimed civilian lives, but also severely hampered delivery of life-saving aid.

Despite heavy odds, work of brave humanitarians on the ground and the support of the international donor community had been successful in keeping the situation "stable" and avoiding the "worst loss" of life, said Mr. Lowock.

Aid operation could be overwhelmed

However, two recent developments are now threatening to "overwhelm the aid operation", he warned.

"The first is a marked economic deterioration, symptomized by the depreciation of the Yemeni Rial by some 30 per cent in the last month or so," said Mr. Lowcock, who is also the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs.

Because almost all the food consumed in Yemen is imported, that depreciation translates directly into a sharp increase in the price of food, who are food insecure but who are not reached by the aid operation, he explained.

"We are already seeing pockets of famine-like-conditions  including cases where people are eating leaves because they have no other form of sustenance."

The second development, continued Mr. Lowcock is the intensification of fighting around Hudaydah, choking the vital port which the aid operation and the commercial markets depend on.

Heading off an impeding catastrophe

In his briefing, Mr. Lowcock underscored that while humanitarian action can be scaled up, relief organizations "simply cannot look after the needs of all 29 million Yemenis."

"That is untenable," he stressed, asking the Security Council for support in "three key areas" to prevent a complete collapse.

The areas, he outlined, are:

Immediate measures to stabilize the economy and support the exchange rate;

Everyone with a stake in the conflict to uphold their obligations to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure, facilitate aid access to vulnerable people; and

All parties to find practical solutions to key issues, including ways civilians in need of medical treatment can travel outside the country to receive it.

"And, of course, and finally, the parties need to get around the negotiating table and engage seriously with the efforts of the Secretary-General's Special Envoy [Martin Griffiths] on a positive path towards peace," he concluded.

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As Yemen conflict rages, millions of civilians are the ones losing: UN relief chief

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

New York, Sept 22, IRNA -- Raising the alarm over the rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation in Yemen, the top United Nations relief official on Friday underscored the need for all parties to avoid further military activity around Hudaydah port--the vital lifeline through which food and fuel flows into the war-torn country.

"It is far from clear that the recent intensification of fighting is producing any winners," Mark Lowcock, the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, told the Security Council on Friday, UN official website reported.

"It is, though, abundantly clear, all too abundantly clear, who the losers are: millions of Yemenis civilians, most of them women and children, whose lives are right on the line."

Across Yemen  which was already among the world's poorest countries before fighting erupted in 2015  well over three-quarters of the population is in need of humanitarian assistance; some 18 million people, including women and children are food insecure, eight million of them severely-food insecure; millions of families have are without a source of income, with teachers, health and sanitation workers and public servants not paid any wages in two years.

Challenges are further compounded by wave after wave of cholera outbreaks and fighting that has not only claimed civilian lives, but also severely hampered delivery of life-saving aid.

Despite heavy odds, work of brave humanitarians on the ground and the support of the international donor community had been successful in keeping the situation "stable" and avoiding the "worst loss" of life, said Mr. Lowock.

However, two recent developments are now threatening to "overwhelm the aid operation", he warned.

"The first is a marked economic deterioration, symptomized by the depreciation of the Yemeni Rial by some 30 per cent in the last month or so," said Mr. Lowcock, who is also the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs.

Because almost all the food consumed in Yemen is imported, that depreciation translates directly into a sharp increase in the price of food, who are food insecure but who are not reached by the aid operation, he explained.

"We are already seeing pockets of famine-like-conditions  including cases where people are eating leaves because they have no other form of sustenance."

The second development, continued Mr. Lowcock is the intensification of fighting around Hudaydah, choking the vital port which the aid operation and the commercial markets depend on.

In his briefing, Mr. Lowcock underscored that while humanitarian action can be scaled up, relief organizations "simply cannot look after the needs of all 29 million Yemenis."

"That is untenable," he stressed, asking the Security Council for support in "three key areas" to prevent a complete collapse.

The areas, he outlined, are:

Immediate measures to stabilize the economy and support the exchange rate;

Everyone with a stake in the conflict to uphold their obligations to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure, facilitate aid access to vulnerable people; and

All parties to find practical solutions to key issues, including ways civilians in need of medical treatment can travel outside the country to receive it.

"And, of course, and finally, the parties need to get around the negotiating table and engage seriously with the efforts of the Secretary-General's Special Envoy [Martin Griffiths] on a positive path towards peace," he concluded.

8072**1396

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UAE completes withdrawal of troops from Yemen's Mahrah province: Report

Iran Press TV

Sat Sep 22, 2018 02:21PM

The last batch of Emirati troops, who had served in a Saudi-led military coalition in Yemen's eastern province of Mahrah, have arrived home after the Abu Dhabi regime ordered them to withdraw.

Informed sources, requesting anonymity, told Arabic-language Yemen Shabab television network on Saturday that the United Arab Emirates withdrew its forces the previous day, and handed over buildings used by its troops to local authorities.

The sources added that mercenaries and military advisers from African countries would most likely replace Emirati soldiers.

The UAE is Saudi Arabia's key ally in its deadly war against Yemen.

On Saturday, Yemeni army soldiers, supported by allied fighters from Popular Committees, targeted the positions of Saudi-sponsored militiamen loyal to Yemen's former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi at the al-Alab border crossing of the kingdom's southern region of Asir.

There were no immediate reports about possible casualties or the extent of damage caused.

Separately, an elderly woman sustained injuries when Saudi rockets and mortar shells rained down on residential areas in the Razih district of Yemen's northwestern mountainous province of Sa'ada.

Moreover, two civilians lost their lives and another two suffered serious injuries when a Saudi airstrike hit a cold storage at Kilo 16 area of al-Hali district in the strategic western Yemeni province of Hudaydah.

A Saudi airstrike against a car rental company in the July 7 area of the same Yemeni province also injured two civilians and left a number of cars burnt out.

High-profile Saudi-backed commander slain in northern Yemen

Additionally, a senior commander of Saudi mercenaries has been killed during clashes with Houthi Ansarullah fighters in Yemen's northern province of Hajjah.

Brigadier General Ali Hazza al-Sayadi, the commander of the Special Forces Brigade in Harad, was reportedly targeted in the Harad district of the province on Saturday evening.

Yemeni ballistic missile targets Saudi Jizan Airport

Meanwhile, Yemeni army forces, supported by allied fighters from Popular Committees, fired a domestically-designed and -developed ballistic missile at a strategic economic target in Saudi Arabia's southwestern border region of Jizan in retaliation for the Riyadh regime's devastating military aggression against their impoverished country.

A Yemeni military source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the short-range Badr-1 missile struck Jizan Airport, also known as King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Airport, with great precision, Arabic-language al-Masirah television network reported.

Saudi Arabia and a number of its regional allies launched a devastating military campaign against Yemen in March 2015, with the aim of bringing the government of Hadi back to power and crushing the country's popular Houthi Ansarullah movement.

Some 15,000 Yemenis have been killed and thousands more injured since the onset of the Saudi-led aggression.

More than 2,200 others have died of cholera, and the crisis has triggered what the United Nations has described as the world's worst humanitarian disaster.

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There's No Disputing That Macedonia Is At A Watershed Moment

Gordana Knezevic September 22, 2018

Macedonia's capital, Skopje, has been gripped by hope and uncertainty lately, with the country approaching a historic crossroads.

Macedonians vote in a referendum on September 30 on whether to change the country's name to the Republic of North Macedonia, a possible step toward resolving a decades-old dispute with Greece, which has a province by the same name and has used the dispute as an obstacle to EU or NATO entry for its postcommunist neighbor.

A breakthrough agreement between Skopje and Athens, reached in June, hangs in the balance.

The carrot, dangled explicitly on the ballot, is the prospect of Euro-Atlantic integration.

The referendum is merely "consultative," so a "yes" result still must be ratified by a two-thirds parliamentary majority before the country could shed the more cumbersome Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia name adopted as a compromise to join the United Nations in 1993.

The name dispute is highly divisive among Macedonians, prompting organizers to link the question on the ballot to the prospect of membership in the European Union and NATO in hopes of boosting the "yes" turnout.

But it is nearly as contentious internationally, with accusations and counteraccusations of improper meddling in Macedonia's affairs.

European leaders have visited the country in the weeks leading up to the vote to urge Macedonians to seize a "once in a lifetime" opportunity.

Russia is said to be wary of further Balkan countries joining NATO, particularly since nearby Montenegro recently joined the transatlantic military alliance.

Russian Ambassador to Macedonia Oleg Shcherbak was quick to accuse the West of applying "very strong media and psychological pressure" on Macedonian voters. Shcherbak said nothing of the anti-referendum Internet trolls that are said to be urging Macedonians to boycott the vote.

U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, on his way to Skopje to urge a "yes" vote, accused Russia of financing "influence campaigns" to undermine the referendum.

Some of the unsupported claims that are circulating in apparent support of a "no" vote include speculation that Google would drop the use of the Macedonian language if the name change is approved.

The "no" lobby -- some of it anonymous via social media or shadowy websites -- appears to be banking on a boycott, which could render the result meaningless (it requires more than half of the country's roughly 1.8 million eligible voters to turn out) or simply create space for political elements to exploit.

The New York Times reported that new posts are popping up daily on Facebook to encourage people to boycott the referendum in a "disinformation-age battle."

Meanwhile, the nationalist opposition party, VMRO-DPMNE, has called on its supporters to boycott the vote.

Others have pointed out that refusing to vote might be counterproductive.

"The boycott only means that you leave others to make the decision for you," the president of the National Youth Council of Macedonia, Blazen Maleski, wrote on RFE/RL's youth online column.

Two young pro-government activists addressed passersby at the entrance to Skopje's old town on September 16, with one of them at one point explaining his trust in the prime minister, Social Democratic Union leader Zoran Zaev.

"He didn't enter politics to get rich," he said. "He was already wealthy, as he was a part of a very successful family business. His family produces the best ajvar" -- a traditional vegetable spread based on peppers and eggplant -- "and he grew up selling papers at the market."

They said their enthusiasm for the name change was not shared by their parents, who they predicted would nevertheless reluctantly vote "yes."

"They are not happy to be in this situation. They are attached to the name Macedonia," one said. "Their ID card would say that they are from the Republic of North Macedonia, and that sounds strange to them. They are likely to vote 'yes' because of us, as our future is at stake."

Of course, negotiations with Greece will continue in the event of a "yes" vote, and Macedonia may have to make more concessions.

"The outcome of this process depends...on the negotiating and political power of the countries themselves," academic Taki Fiti, president of the Macedonian Academy of Arts and Sciences (MANU), told RFE/RL's Macedonian unit. "Greece has much greater negotiating power."

For many outsiders, it might be hard to understand why the addition of a simple geographic prefix (North) to a country's name would be so problematic.

Skopje is flooded with referendum posters urging people to vote for the name change and "a European future," but some Macedonians object to what they regard as the flip side of that coin.

"Europe wants to take away all that we have. They want to take away our name. I was born a Macedonian, and I want to die a Macedonian," Zoran Stojcevski, a Skopje cab driver in his 60s, told RFE/RL recently. "They want to erase our name. They want to 'civilize' us. I don't want to be civilized! I just want to stay the way I am, and they can call me primitive if they want. This government is worse than a communist government. They put people in prison if they are against the referendum."

There has been no evidence of such cases, but the identity fears are real.

Zana, a woman in her 50s, offered a glimpse of that fear while giving a tour of Skopje this month to her British friends.

"It's not only about the name, they want to take our past away from us," she said. "They want to say that we [Macedonians] were not there [at the time of Alexander the Great]. They are taking away our identity."

Some things will certainly change if the "yes" vote decisively prevails in the referendum.

The currently nameless equestrian statue in Skopje's central square has been one of the symbolic battlefields in the dispute with Greece. It was erected as a monument to Alexander the Great -- known in some quarters as Alexander of Macedon -- but many Greeks have sought to discourage Macedonians from considering Alexander to be part of their culture.

If the country's name change is ultimately approved by both sides, the horseman will once again bear the name of Alexander but with an explanatory plaque that the ancient king is part of "Hellenic" culture.

It is one reflection of the awkward compromises that might be required of Macedonia, in particular.

But for many, that is a small price to pay, given the stakes.

"The name-change deal with Greece must not fail because that would mean a very uncertain future for Macedonia," former Foreign Minister Professor Denko Maleski told RFE/RL's Macedonian unit.

The failure of the referendum, among other things, would likely deepen divisions in Macedonian society, with many in its ethnic Albanian community -- around one-quarter of the country's population of 2 million -- enthusiastically in favor of the name change and Western integration.

"The ensuing division [would] closely resemble the Ukrainian situation, which [would] destabilize the country," Maleski said.

There is notable support for the "yes" vote within the Macedonian Orthodox Church.

Bishop Pimen, who is widely regarded as a "new wave" priest, said the September 30 that the referendum was a great opportunity.

"We are deciding the future of our country, and we must all hold hands, to overcome our differences and quarrels, and come together to choose a European future for our country. This is a historic opportunity that we must not miss," Pimen said.

His message incurred an avalanche of insults and hate speech on social media, prompting Pimen to respond that people were free to disagree with him but that he did not approve of the way in which some were expressing their views.

"In Macedonia, we need to learn basic manners first, and only then should we have democracy," he said.

The views expressed in this blog post do not necessarily reflect those of RFE/RL.

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/there-s- no-disputing-that-macedonia-is-at-a -watershed/29503734.html

Copyright (c) 2018. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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Pentagon: Young, Single Women on Navy Ships Most Likely to be Sexually Assaulted

By VOA News September 22, 2018

The 4-year-old results of a survey about sexual abuse on U.S. military installations around the world, including ships, have finally been released.

Several Army and Marine bases in 2014  Fort Hood, Fort Bragg, Fort Lewis, Fort Campbell, Fort Bliss and Camp Lejeune  had more than 500 reported sexual assaults on men and women.

Young, unmarried women on Navy ships were more likely to be assaulted than any other group in the military, according to the results released Friday. "Of the 15 highest-risk installations for Navy women, 13 are ships or clusters of ships, including 8 of the 10 aircraft carriers," the study said. The report also said that on one ship, one in 25 men were assaulted.

The Air Force had the lowest assault risk rate.

The Pentagon was reported as one of the safest places to work.

The Pentagon commissioned the nonpartisan Rand Corp. to conduct the study and then contested the group's findings, delaying the release of the results for years.

Don Christensen, president of Protect Our Defenders and the former top prosecutor for the Air Force, said the delay was "extremely disappointing."

The delay means that the findings do not likely portray an accurate account of what is currently happening on the bases.

The findings, however, present a harrowing picture of sexual abuse across the military, which has had a long history of ineffective efforts to stem the tide of sexual abuse on its installations.

VOA's Steve Norman contributed to this report.

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Campaigns Start in Cameroon's Presidential Poll

By Moki Edwin Kindzeka September 22, 2018

Campaigning for Cameroon's October 7 presidential election officially begun Saturday. Opposition parties have failed to agree on a single candidate to face incumbent President Paul Biya and are suspicious of each other as they maneuver to unseat the man who has ruled Cameroon since for more than three and a half decades.

Thousands of people march through the streets of the northern Cameroon town of Garoua, singing and pledging their support for Paul Biya as campaigns for the October 7 presidential election begin. The people are from the ruling Cameroon People's Democratic Movement (CPDM), and 20 other political parties whose leaders, last July, announced that they had endorsed the candidacy of Biya and had asked their supporters to vote for him.

The National Salvation Front party of Cameroon's communication minister, Issa Tchiroma, is one of the parties that stands strong in support of Biya. Tchiroma says Biya is the only one seen as protecting Cameroon's interest.

He says people are against Paul Biya and criticize him daily or attack his policies simply because he has been protecting the country's riches from foreign predators. He says people are offering their unconditional support to Biya because he has pledged that as long as he lives and as long as he has the support of the Cameroonian people, he will protect all natural resources and riches for future generations.

Tchiroma spent 6 years in prison after he was arrested on 16 April 1984 for involvement in a coup attempt against Biya. When he regained freedom in 1990, he campaigned against Biya, but surprisingly Biya appointed him minister of transport in 1992 in what was viewed as a way of dividing and weakening the opposition.

Since then, the country's opposition has remained fractured, with eight candidates running against Biya in the presidential poll.

Serge Espoire Matomba, candidate of the P.U.R.S. party, says even though campaigning has started, he still hopes, in talking with other contenders, the opposition will agree on a single candidate.

"I speak with Professor Maurice Kamto, I speak with Akere Muna, I speak with Osih Joshua, I speak with Cabral Libi. That means we are still working on it."

Maurice Kamto of the Cameroon Renaissance Movement party says he will not agree to surrender his candidacy to someone else.

"Why should I abandon my candidacy and line up behind another one, no. I am a leader of a political party, I am not standing on my own."

Twenty-eight candidates filed to compete in the presidential election. Cameroon's elections management body ELECAM accepted nine, including Biya's candidacy.

Party leaders have traded blame for their failure to unite.

The main opposition candidate Joshua Osih says he suspects some of the candidates are sponsored by Biya to keep the opposition fractured.

The 85-year-old Biya, who has led the central African country since 1982, is favored to win another seven-year term. That would take his rule 2025.

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China urges US to cancel sanctions

People's Daily Online

(China Daily) 08:52, September 22, 2018

Washington called on to immediately 'correct mistake' that targets military

Beijing urged Washington on Friday to correct its mistake and withdraw sanctions on the Chinese military immediately or face the consequences.

The US State Department said on Thursday that it would immediately impose sanctions on the equipment development department of the Chinese military and its director, Li Shangfu, for engaging in "significant transactions" with Rosoboronexport, Russia's main arms exporter, according to Reuters.

The United States said China's armed forces had violated the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, a US law imposing sanctions in part to punish Moscow for activities including what the US State Department called Russia's "interference" in US elections.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told a daily news conference that China expressed strong indignation over the unreasonable practice and has already lodged "solemn representation".

Such moves severely violate the basic rules of international law and seriously damage relations between the two countries and their armies, he said.

"We strongly urge the US to correct its mistake immediately and cancel the so-called sanctions, or it has to bear the consequence," he added.

Moscow warned that the US was "playing with fire", and the measures aimed at Russia and China undermined global stability, according to Agence France-Presse.

Geng noted that China and Russia have maintained normal exchanges and cooperation in various areas, including defense cooperation, in accordance with the principles of equality, mutual trust and mutual benefits.

Relevant cooperation aims at safeguarding legitimate interests of the two countries and regional peace and stability, he said, adding that this is not against international laws and does not target any third party.

China will work with Russia to continue moving their strategic coordination to a higher level, he said.

Li Haidong, a US studies researcher at China Foreign Affairs University, said that "using the sanctions on Russia as an excuse to punish China is a long-arm jurisdiction practice that infringes on China's right to purchase weapons independently as a sovereign state".

Meanwhile, the US Defense Department issued its first cybersecurity strategic report on Tuesday, saying that China and Russia pose a long-term strategic risk to the US.

China has called upon the US to work with China, Russia and other countries to address threats to cybersecurity through dialogue and cooperation, Geng said.

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China summons US ambassador over military sanctions

Iran Press TV

Sat Sep 22, 2018 06:09PM

China's Foreign Ministry has summoned US Ambassador to Beijing Terry Branstad over Washington's move to impose sanctions against a Chinese military agency and its director for buying Russian fighter jets and missiles.

Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Zheng Zeguang on Saturday summoned Branstad and "lodged solemn representations over US sanctions against (the) Chinese military," the People's Daily said in a brief report online.

The US State Department imposed the sanctions on Thursday against the Equipment Development Department (EED)  the branch of the military responsible for weapons procurement  for engaging in "significant transactions" with Russia's major weapons exporter, Rosoboronexport.

The sanctions are aimed at blocking the EED and its director, Li Shangfu, from the possibility of applying for export licenses and participating in the US financial system.

According to the US State Department, the sanctions on Beijing are linked to its decision to purchase 10 Russian SU-35 fighter jets in 2017 as well as S-400 surface-to-air missile system-related equipment in 2018.

Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman Wu Qian on Saturday slammed Washington's sanctions, saying the US has "no right to interfere" in relations between two sovereign countries.

In a statement, he warned that the US would face "consequences" if it did not immediately revoke the bans, saying, "The US approach is a blatant violation of the basic norms of international relations, a full manifestation of hegemony, and a serious breach of the relations between the two countries and their two militaries."

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also said on Friday that the US was playing unfairly and imposing sanctions on buyers of Russian weapons and on people associated with the Russian military in order to squeeze out competitors in the global arms market.

"This is unfair competition, dishonest competition, an attempt to use non-market methods that run counter to norms and principles of international trade to squeeze the main competitor of US makers out of the markets," Peskov said.

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Pompeo Denounces China's Treatment Of Uyghur, Christian Minorities

September 22, 2018

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo denounced the "awful abuses" of Muslim Uyghurs detained in Chinese reeducation camps and criticized what he said was a government crackdown on Christians in the country.

The comments on September 21 come after a recent UN report assailed China's mass internment of Uyghurs under the pretext of preventing extremism in the western Xinjiang region.

"Hundreds of thousands and possibly millions of Uyghurs are held against their will in so-called reeducation camps where they're forced to endure severe political indoctrination and other awful abuses," Pompeo said in a speech on religious freedom.

Republican and Democratic members of Congress late last month called for sanctions on Chinese officials implicated in the internment of the minority.

Pompeo did not say whether the United States would move toward imposing such sanctions.

On September 10, New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said China was carrying out a "mass, systematic campaign of human rights violations" against its mostly Muslim Uyghur minority population.

A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman accused HRW of being "full of prejudice" against China and of distorting facts. He said measures in Xinjiang aim to "promote stability, development, unity, and livelihoods," while also cracking down on "ethnic separatism and violent terrorist criminal activities."

In his speech, Pompeo also expressed concerns about the fate of Christians in China, who he said had been subject to a government crackdown.

He said Beijing has been "closing churches, burning Bibles, and ordering followers to sign papers renouncing their faith."

Based on reporting by AFP

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/china-muslim-uyghur-christians- pompeo-assails-treatment/29503526.html

Copyright (c) 2018. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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China Summons U.S. Ambassador To Protest Russia-Related Sanctions

RFE/RL September 22, 2018

China has summoned the U.S. ambassador in Beijing to lodge a formal protest after Washington hit a Chinese military organization with sanctions over its purchases of Russian missiles and fighter jets.

In a September 22 statement, the Chinese Foreign Ministry called the U.S. sanctions against China's Equipment Development Department, and its top administrator, a "serious violation of the basic principles of international law."

The statement, which came a day after Beijing called on Washington to cancel the sanctions or "bear the consequences," said the United States has "no right to interfere" with Chinese-Russian military cooperation.

It said Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Zheng Zeguang summoned U.S. Ambassador Terry Branstad to protest the punitive measures over the Chinese entity's recent purchase of Russian Sukhoi Su-35 fighter jets and S-400 surface-to-air missile systems.

The sanctions were imposed under a 2017 U.S. law known as CAATSA that Congress overwhelming passed over the objections of President Donald Trump.

The law has set up a broad framework to punish Russia for what Washington calls Moscow's "malign activities."

The U.S. State Department said that the sanctions announced September 20, which also targeted nearly three dozen Russian individuals and companies with ties to military and intelligence agencies, "are not intended to undermine the military capabilities or combat readiness of any country."

Instead, their aim is "to impose costs on Russia in response to its interference in the United States election process, its unacceptable behavior in eastern Ukraine, and other malign activities," the State Department said.

With reporting by AFP

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/china-summons -u-s-ambassador-to-protest-russia -related-sanctions/29504114.html

Copyright (c) 2018. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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Chinese MoD Voices Protest to US Over Sanctions for Russian Arms Purchases

Sputnik News

12:48 22.09.2018(updated 19:13 22.09.2018)

BEIJING (Sputnik) - The Chinese Defense Ministry on Saturday expressed protest and made strong representation to the United States over the US sanctions for arms purchases from Russia.

"The Chinese armed forces express their extreme indignation and strong disagreement. [The Chinese military leadership] has already made a representation and expressed protest to the US side," the ministry said in a statement.

The ministry also stressed that the US actions represent "the public trampling of the basic norms of international relations and a manifestation of great-power hegemonism."

The official statement further stated that Chinese-Russian defense cooperation was an example of normal interaction between sovereign nations, which complies with the norms of international law, so Washington had no right to interfere in it.

On Thursday, the United States announced that it sanctioned the Equipment Development Department (EDD) of China's Central Military Commission (CMC) and its Director Li Shangfu for buying Russia's S-400 air defense systems and aircraft in violation of the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA).

Earlier, the US State Department stated in a press release that it would continue to pursue sanctions under CAATSA, and it urged all countries to end relationships with the Russian defense and intelligence sectors, "both of which are linked to malign activities worldwide."

In August 2017, The United States passed the CAATSA legislation as a reaction to Russia's alleged interference in the 2016 US presidential election. In its turn, Russia has denied all allegations, calling the accusations "absurd."

 Sputnik

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Pompeo hopes to travel to Pyongyang soon for Trump-Kim meeting

People's Daily Online

(Xinhua) 13:56, September 22, 2018

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Friday that he hopes to travel to Pyongyang, the capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) soon to prepare for the second summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and the DPRK's top leader Kim Jong Un.

"I'm hopeful that I'll get a chance to travel again to Pyongyang to continue these negotiations before too long," Pompeo said in an interview with MSNBC. "And then before too long - and in relatively short order - I hope the two leaders get together again to continue to make progress on this incredible, important issue for the entire world."

"Ultimately, that'll be a decision for the president," Pompeo said, referring to the second summit between Trump and Kim.

Noting that the United States has the "patience and determination" to achieve its goal on Korean Peninsula's denuclearization, he added that the sanctions against the DPRK would remain until the Asian nation denuclearizes.

"Those economic sanctions will remain in place until we get to the end, till we get to that final denuclearization," Pompeo said.

In a separate interview with Fox News, Pompeo said that regarding the Trump-Kim meeting, there is still "a little bit of work" to do "to make sure conditions are right and that the two leaders are put in a position where we can make substantial progress," Pompeo said.

The White House said on Sept. 10 that it has received a letter from Kim Jong Un, requesting another meeting with Trump, noting that it was "open to" the meeting and is already "in the process of coordinating that."

The U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton also said earlier that the possibility of another meeting between the leaders of Washington and Pyongyang "obviously exists."

At the conclusion of the historic Trump-Kim summit in June in Singapore, the two sides issued a joint statement, agreeing to improve bilateral relations and work together to build a lasting and stable peace regime on the peninsula.

However, the current U.S.-DPRK talks have been stuck in an impasse due to their differences in the scale of denuclearization, U.S. sanctions, and whether to issue a war-ending declaration.

In August, just one day after Pompeo announced his visit to the DPRK, Trump tweeted that he had asked Pompeo not to go due to the insufficient progress with the DPRK.

During his Sept. 18-20 trip to Pyongyang, South Korean President Moon Jae-in held talks with Kim, and signed the Pyongyang Declaration on further steps towards the Korean Peninsula's denuclearization and concrete measures to end hostile acts near inter-Korean border areas.

Pompeo said later in response that the United States is ready to transform its relations with the DPRK immediately.

He added that "I invited my counterpart Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho to meet in New York City next week where we are both already scheduled to be in attendance at the United Nations General Assembly meeting."

"Likewise, we have invited North Korean representatives to meet our Special Representative for North Korea, Stephen Biegun, in Vienna, Austria at the earliest opportunity," Pompeo noted.

However, the U.S. State Department said one day later that the denuclearization of Pyongyang has to come first before the U.S. side gives any corresponding reciprocal measures.

In a related development, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said on Wednesday that China welcomed the consensus reached by South Korea and the DPRK.

"China, as a close neighbor, always supports the efforts of the north and south of the peninsula to improve their ties and push forward reconciliation and cooperation through dialogue and consultation," Geng said, noting that China hopes that the two sides will continue to implement the consensus, endeavor to promote interaction and cooperation and play a positive role in achieving a political solution to the peninsula issue as well as lasting peace in the region.

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International Efforts To Implement UN Security Council Resolutions on DPRK's Illicit Shipping Activities

Press Statement

Heather Nauert

Department Spokesperson

Washington, DC

September 22, 2018

The United States welcomes coordination on international efforts to implement UN Security Council Resolutions on North Korea's illicit shipping activities, which prohibit ship-to-ship transfers of any goods or items to or from North Korean vessels of any goods or items going to or coming from North Korea.

The United States applauds the recent announcements from Japan, Australia and New Zealand regarding monitoring and surveillance activities to detect UN-prohibited illicit North Korean maritime activities, with a particular focus on detecting and disrupting ship-to-ship transfers of refined petroleum to North Korean tankers in the East China Sea. We are pleased that this coordinated, multinational initiative includes these countries, along with Canada, France, and the United Kingdom. As part of this effort, we are sharing information and coordinating efforts to ensure that UN Security Council Resolutions are implemented fully and effectively. In support of this initiative, the United States has deployed aircraft and surface vessels to detect and disrupt these activities.

North Korea continues to regularly employ deceptive tactics to evade UN sanctions. Accordingly, UN Member States are required to prohibit persons or entities subject to their jurisdiction from engaging in ship-to-ship transfers of refined petroleum. In addition, the United States will not hesitate to impose sanctions on any individual, entity, or vessel supporting North Korea's illicit activities, regardless of nationality.

The United States and international partners remain committed to achieving the final, fully verified denuclearization of North Korea and believe the full enforcement of North Korean-related UN Security Council Resolutions is crucial to a successful outcome. The international community must continue to enforce and implement UN Security Council Resolutions until North Korea denuclearizes.

Additional information for ships, ship owners, and entities involved in ship-to-ship transfers on the risks of working with the DPRK shipping industry is detailed in the February 23 Advisory on "Sanctions Risks Related to North Korea's Shipping Practices", which can be found at https://www.state.gov/e/eb/tfs/spi/northkorea/advisories/284053.htm.

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India's PM faces resignation calls over 'corruption' in French jet deal

Iran Press TV

Sat Sep 22, 2018 10:05AM

India's opposition parties have called for the resignation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his alleged role in a major military deal with France.

News outlet in France quoted former French President Francois Hollande as saying that New Delhi had influenced the choice of a local partner for the 2016 purchase of 36 Rafale fighter jets from Dassault Aviation, worth around $8.7 billion.

Opposition parties have challenged Modi's government in recent months over the choice of billionaire Indian businessman Anil Ambani's Reliance Defense as Dassault's local partner rather than a state-run manufacturer with decades of experience in the aviation industry, insisting that the prime minister had overpaid for the warplanes and failed to be transparent.

Hollande, who inked the military deal during his presidential tenure, was quoted on Friday by French Mediapart news service as emphasizing that the New Delhi government had pressured Dassault to choose Reliance Defense, saying: "We had no choice. We took the interlocutor that was given to us."

The report triggered a political storm in India with president of the main opposition Congress Party, Rahul Gandhi, alleging in a tweet: "The PM personally negotiated and changed the Rafale deal behind closed doors. Thanks to Francois Hollande, we now know he personally delivered a deal worth billions of dollars to ...Anil Ambani. The PM has betrayed India."

Under Indian defense procurement regulations, a foreign firm must invest at least 30 percent of the contract in India to help it build up its manufacturing base and avert imports.

Based on the rule, Dassault picked Reliance and not Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, the huge state-run company that has been manufacturing aircraft for decades, most of them Russian under license.

While Modi's office did not respond to inquiries about the case, India's Defense Ministry said in a tweeted statement that neither the French nor Indian government were involved in the matter.

"The report referring to fmr French president Mr. Hollande's statement that GoI (government of India) insisted upon a particular firm as offset partner for the Dassault Aviation in Rafale is being verified," it read. "It is reiterated that neither GoI nor French Govt had any say in the commercial decision."

The French Foreign Ministry also published a statement saying government officials were not involved in the choice of Indian industrial partners for the deal.

"The French government is in no way involved in the choice of the Indian industrial partners which have been, are or will be, chosen by French companies," the statement added.

The military deal was expected to deepen strategic ties with France, and the company itself has hoped it would lead to a larger order for combat aircraft that the Indian air force demands to counter what it calls threat from its neighbors.

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India cancels rare Pakistan meeting over 'brutal killings'

Iran Press TV

Sat Sep 22, 2018 08:22AM

India has cancelled a rare meeting between its foreign minister and her Pakistani counterpart just a day after announcing the talks would take place on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

The Indian foreign ministry said in a statement on Friday that the meeting was called off after what it described as the "latest brutal killings of our security personnel by Pakistan-based entities and the recent release of a series of twenty postage stamps by Pakistan glorifying a terrorist and terrorism."

The ministry did not provide further details about the killings, but earlier this week an Indian border guard was reportedly killed and his body mutilated in the disputed territory of Kashmir. Three policemen were also found dead on Friday after being abducted in Indian-controlled Kashmir.

Additionally, Pakistan recently issued postage stamps of Burhan Wani, a popular pro-independence fighter who was shot dead by the Indian army in July 2016, whose death sparked a wave of violent protests in India.

India's ministry added in the statement that the recent actions had revealed Pakistan's "evil agenda" and the "true face" of the country's newly-elected Prime Minister Imran Khan.

The meeting in New York between Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj and Pakistan's Shah Mehmood Qureshi had been confirmed on Thursday.

The meeting  described by the Indian media as the first in nearly three years  came after Khan wrote to his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi and called for a resumption of talks between the nuclear-armed foes.

"The decision to agree to Pakistan's proposal for a meeting between the foreign ministers of the two countries in New York later this month was in response to the spirit reflected in the letters from the new Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Pakistan," the Friday's Indian statement said.

"The letter from the Prime Minister of Pakistan had spoken of ... bringing a positive change and mutual desire for peace as also readiness to discuss terrorism," it added.

"Now, it is obvious that behind Pakistan's proposal for talks to make a fresh beginning, the evil agenda of Pakistan stands exposed and the true face of the new Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan has been revealed to the world in his first few months in office," the statement said. "Any conversation with Pakistan in such an environment would be meaningless."

'Surprised and disappointed'

The Pakistani Foreign Minister told the country's ARY TV channel that he was "surprised and disappointed" at the news of the cancellation.

"We had given a positive signal and India too had hinted about negotiations," Qureshi said. "India has once again shown that it cares more about its own politics than regional peace and stability."

Asked whether Islamabad would again approach New Delhi for negotiations, he replied, "We said that we want dialogue but in a dignified way."

"We had already told India that if they take one step towards us, we will take two. However, it seems that they faltered after taking just one step," Pakistan's English-language Dawn newspaper quoted Qureshi as saying. "Pakistan has held a positive outlook towards the situation, while India's attitude has not been so forthcoming."

Tensions are high in Indian-controlled Kashmir, where the Muslim-majority population stages regular protests against the Indian rule, demanding autonomy from New Delhi or a merger with Pakistan.

New Delhi accuses Islamabad of supporting pro-independence fighters, an allegation rejected by the Pakistani government. Islamabad, in turn, is critical of India's heavy military deployment to Kashmir, some 500,000 soldiers, and its crackdown against the region's Muslim population.

Armed battles between Indian forces and militants over the years have killed nearly 70,000 people, mostly civilians.

Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan but claimed in full by both since the two partitioned and gained independence from Britain in 1947. The two countries have fought three wars over the disputed territory. Despite a 2003 ceasefire agreement, sporadic skirmishes continue in Kashmir.

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Rouhani orders quick investigation of terror attack in Ahvaz

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Tehran, Sept 22, IRNA -- Iranian president Hassan Rouhani ordered urgent investigation and relief efforts for the wounded of the terrorist attack in Ahvaz, Khuzestan province.

President Rouhani's order came following a terrorist attack on the people of Ahvaz during the parade of the armed forces.

The Iranian president ordered the Ministry of Intelligence to mobilize all facilities of the security and military forces to quickly identify the terrorists and their links, and resolutely deal with the crime.

In this phone call with the interior minister and governor of Khuzestan, President Rouhani while sympathizing with the families of the martyrs, was briefed about the latest reports on this terrorist act and the process of identifying and addressing the situation of the wounded and issued the necessary commands.

The president stressed that the response of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the slightest threat would be harsh, but those who support the terrorists should be accountable.

The terrorists attacking Iran's southern city of Ahvaz opened fire at soldiers and civilians with the aim of creating fear, a witness said following the attack on Saturday.

The terrorists had disguised themselves as military officers, hence they did not make the security forces suspicious, said the witness who was speaking on condition of anonymity.

He went on to say that a few minutes after the military parade began, gunshots were heard.

Initially, people thought the shootings were part of the parade, but they suddenly realized it was a terrorist attack, he said.

The terrorists caused chaos in the parade and then targeted the crowd who had gathered to watch the ceremony.

The death toll from the attack so far stands at 25, with more than 60 people wounded.

9455**2050

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Official: Iran nation to give crushing response to enemies

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Tehran, Sept 22, IRNA -- Senior Advisor to Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Major General Yahya Rahim Safavi said on Saturday that Iranian nation and the country's armed forces are to give a crushing response to the enemies' atrocities.

Speaking to reporters, he strongly warned terrorists to avoid seeking any prestige through such dastardly and inhumane behaviors.

The Islamic Republic of Iran sells all types of military weapons to Iraq as the country's military industry is so powerful to export millions of dollars of military apparatus to other countries, Rahim Safavi said.

Some 20 million of Basiji (voluntary) forces can be equipped with the required weaponry instantly and the figure has nothing to do with those of the Army and the IRGC, he added.

The terror attack took place during the parade of military units which was held on the occasion of the beginning of the Sacred Defense Week; a nationwide ceremony to mark the anniversary of Iraq's eight years of imposed war against Iran under the country's former dictator Saddam.

Disguised as the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) and Basiji (volunteer) forces, the terrorists opened fire at the authorities and people from behind the stand during the parade.

"None of the authorities were injured in the incident due to the fast reaction of the security forces,' Governor of Khuzestan Gholam-Reza Shariati told the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) after the attack.

The terrorist team was dismantled; two of them were killed and two others were arrested. One of the detained terrorists has been injured.

1430**2050

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Iran's military parade indicates dignity, deterrence power

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Tehran, Sept 22, IRNA -- Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) spokesman said that the parade to mark the Sacred Defense anniversary on Saturday showed the dignity and deterrence power of the Iranian Armed Forces.

"This year's anniversary and parade in Iran's southern city of Bandar Abbas is hosted and organized by IRGC," said Brigadier General Ramazan Sharif.

"The presence of army units and 600 light and heavy frigates of the Islamic Republic Naval Forces in the parade reflect the dignity and greatness of the Islamic Republic Armed Forces in Persian Gulf and International waters," he added.

He referred to the participation of the 200 civil frigates in the parade, saying, "Tens of military aircrafts of the Islamic Republic Air Force from different generations put on display the power of army and IRGC."

"Holding the event in Persian Gulf and in the vicinity of Hormuz Strait shows the Iranian Armed Forces' readiness to realize the will of the Iranian government and people in order to protect national interests in this strategic region."

9462**2050

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FM Zarif vows decisive response to SW Iran terror attack

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Tehran, Sept 22, IRNA -- Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in a message on Saturday promised swift and decisive response to recent terror attack in southwestern Iran.

'Terrorists recruited, trained, armed & paid by a foreign regime have attacked Ahvaz. Children and journos among casualties. Iran holds regional terror sponsors and their US masters accountable for such attacks. Iran will respond swiftly and decisively in defense of Iranian lives,' Zarif tweeted on Saturday.

Members of the Al-Ahwaz group, a self-prolaimed terrorist group affiliated to Saudi Arabia, opened fire on people and officials who were watching the march of military units marking the beginning of the Sacred Defense Week in this provincial capital city in Khuzestan Province, southwestern Iran.

The attack has so far claimed the lives of 10 people and injured more than 20 others.

9376**1397

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Saudi-affiliated terrorist group claims responsibility for Ahvaz terror attack

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Ahvaz, Sept 22, IRNA -- The separatist and terrorist Al-Ahwaz group, affiliated to the Saudi regime, claimed responsibility for this morning terrorist attack which killed at least 10 people during the Armed Forces parade in this Persian Gulf littoral port.

The self-proclaimed group that called itself the Patriotic Arab Democratic movement in Ahwaz, accepted the responsibility for the attaack in a message sent on the social media on Saturday.

'The group has carried out a few sabotage operations in Khuzestan Province during the past years,' said a senior provincial police officer.

'A conscripted soldier was shot in the terror attack and later died,' Colonel Naqib Fatemi said on Saturday.

The group is supported by the foreign antagonists, including Saudi Arabia. They made several terror attacks about 13 years ago in a number of places in Ahvaz and killed a number of people.

A number of the terrorist group's members opened fire to the people and officials attending the parade of Armed Forces on Saturday morning in Ahvaz.

The shooting claimed 10 lives and injured more than 20 others.

The number of the victims is likely to increase.

Disguised as the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) and Basiji (volunteer) forces, the terrorists opened fire to the authorities and people from behind the stand during the parade.

"None of the authorities were injured in the incident due to the fast reaction of the security forces", Governor of Khuzestan Gholam-Reza Shariati told the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) after the attack.

He added, "The terrorist team was annihilated, two of them were killed and other two were arrested. One of the detained terrorists is injured".

9417**1397

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Latest defensive achievements of Iranian Army unveiled

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Tehran, Sept 22, IRAN -- The Islamic Republic Armed Forces and Khatam ul-Anbiya airbase unveiled their latest defensive achievements on September 22 in a parade to mark the 38th anniversary of the beginning of the country's eight years of war imposed by the Ba'ath regime of Iraq.

Latest version of Zulfaqar tanks as well as the latest air defense systems, protective armored systems, auto-cannons, and reconnaissance vehicles was among the achievements of the Ground Force of the Islamic Republic of Iran's Army demonstrated during the parade.

Maquettes of the latest defensive products of the Islamic Republic of Iran Navy Force including Jamaran frigate, Sina-class missile boats, Ghadir submarine, Fateh submarine, al-Sabehat submarine, Valfajr torpedo, and Nour, Nasr and Kowsar missiles were also unveiled.

The Islamic Republic of Iran Air Forces (IRIAF) revealed several missiles and launcher systems including Ghassed-3, Sahab, Ghadr, Fakour-90, Nasr, Jabbar-9, and Yasser.

Meanwhile, the Khatam ul-Anbiya airbase unveiled Sayyad-3 missiles, Talash system and its launcher, Mersad launcher system and its affiliated radar systems as well as the Fakour command and control systems.

Some IRIAF squads performed an air show during the parade.

The 38th anniversary of the Sacred Defense (Iraq's imposed war 1980-1988) was marked in Tehran during a ceremony held at the mausoleum of Founder of the Islamic Revolution the late Imam Khomeini in south of the Iranian capital.

President Rouhani and top commanders of Iranian Army, Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), Iran's Police Force, and Ministry of Defense attended the ceremony.

The same ceremony also took place in other Iranian cities.

9462**1397

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3 killed, 20 injured in Ahvaz terror attack

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Ahvaz, Sept 22, IRNA -- Three people were killed and 20 other were injured during Saturday morning terror attack which took place in Ahvaz, capital of the Khuzestan Province, in southwestern Iran, said a senior local official.

"The terrorists disguised as Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) and Basiji (volunteer) forces opened fire to the authority and people from behind the stand during the parade,', Governor of Khuzestan Gholam-Reza Shariati said.

Speaking to the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) he said "None of the authorities were injured in the incident due to the fast reaction of the security forces".

Shariati added that the condition is presently under control.

"The terrorist team was annihilated, two of them were killed and other two were arrested. One of the detained terrorists is injured," said the governor.

The shooting took place during the parade of military units which was held on the occasion of the beginning of the Sacred Defense Week a nationwide ceremony to mark the anniversary of Iraq's eight years of imposed war against Iran under the former's dictator Saddam Hussein who was later executed in 2006.

A child and a woman were reported to be among the injured.

9417**1397

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Iranian Armed Forces mark Sacred Defense anniv.

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Tehran, Sept 22, IRNA -- The Islamic Republic Armed Forces paraded in a nationwide ceremony held on the occasion of the 38th anniversary of the country's Sacred Defense (Iraq's imposed war 1980-1988) Saturday morning.

The event was marked in Tehran during a ceremony held at the mausoleum of Founder of the Islamic Revolution the late Imam Khomeini in south of the Iranian capital.

A number of the senior Iranian commanders were present in the ceremony including Chief of Staff of Iran's Armed Forces Major General Mohammad Baqeri, Iran Army Commander-in-Chief Major General Abdolrahim Mousavi, Commander of the Ground Force of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Brigadier General Mohammad Pakpour and Iran's Police Chief Brigadier General Hossein Ashtari.

Meanwhile, a similar parade was simultaneously held in the southern Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas, Hormuzgan Province, with the attendance of some 600 different heavy and light military vessels as well as aircrafts belonging to the Army Force of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Naval Force of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) and the Law Enforcement Forces.

The IRGC hosted the Bandar Abbas event.

Earlier Spokesman and Deputy Commander of the Islamic Republic Army for Cultural and Public Relations Affairs Brigadier General Taqikahani had said the motto of the parade would be 'We Did It.'

Meanwhile, the IRGC spokesman Brigadier-General Ramezan Sharif had earlier announced that the parade in the Persian Gulf coasts and near the Hormuz Strait would indicate that the Iranian Armed Forces are ready to carry out any operation to safeguard the country's national interests and counter any kind of threat in the strategic region.

The heroic defense of Iranian people against the imposed war on Iran by the Saddam Hussein's Ba'ath regime is called the 'Sacred Defense' by Iranians who mark the occasion annually in a week named the Sacred Defense Week. It begins with the parade of military units in Tehran and other major cities on the last day of the sixth months of the Iranian calendar year, Shahrivar 31 (it falls on September 22 in 2018).

Iraq's imposed war against Iran started on Sept 22, 1980 with bombardment of Tehran's Mehrabad Airport by the Iraqi warplanes and lasted 8 years. The enemies of Iran and the Islamic Revolution had planned to destroy Iran by waging a full-fledged war but their conspiracy was ultimately foiled by the courageous resistance of the Iranian Armed Forces and the entire nation.

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President orders security organs to quickly address Ahvaz terrorist attack

ISNA - Iranian Students' News Agency

Sat / 22 September 2018 / 16:19

Tehran (ISNA) - Following the terrorist attack in Ahvaz on Saturday morning, the Iranian President had telephone conversations with Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli and Governor General of Khuzestan province Gholamreza Shariati.

During the conversations, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani was briefed on the latest reports on the terrorist attack this morning in Ahvaz and the process of identifying and handling the situation of the wounded in the province and issued the necessary instructions.

In these phone calls, Dr. Rouhani prayed for the martyrs of the terrorist attack and expressed sympathy with the great families of these martyrs, ordering all facilities to be used for urgent and relief efforts to address the situation of those wounded in the terrorist attack.

Dr. Rouhani also issued the necessary instructions to the Ministry of Intelligence to mobilize all the facilities of the security and military organs to quickly identify the terrorists and their communication lines, and to resolutely and decisively deal with the perpetrators.

The president stressed, "The response of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the smallest threat will be harsh, but those who sponsor the terrorists must be held accountable".

End Item

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Paris, TX (75460)

Today

Thunderstorms, some strong early, then partly cloudy after midnight. Potential for severe thunderstorms. Low 49F. Winds NW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall may reach one inch..

Tonight

Thunderstorms, some strong early, then partly cloudy after midnight. Potential for severe thunderstorms. Low 49F. Winds NW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall may reach one inch.Al-Ahvaziya claims responsibility for terrorist attack in Ahvaz

ISNA - Iranian Students' News Agency

Sat / 22 September 2018 / 14:22

Tehran (ISNA) - Al-Ahvaziya terrorist group has claimed the responsibility for a terrorist attack on a military parade in Iran's southern city of Ahvaz.

"Saturday's attack on the military parade in Ahvaz was a response to the repression of Ahwazi Arabs. We have no choice but to resist. Al-Ahvaziya group carried out today's attack against the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) and Iranian military forces,"Al-Ahvaziya terrorist group spokesman said in an interview with Iran International.

He claimed that the operations of Al-Ahvaziya terrorist group were only against IRGC and were carried out in places that there was no civilians, while some ordinary people including children are among the casualties of the brutal attack.

The spokesman has also insisted that their primary purpose was to attack the stand of Iranian authorities at the parade.

End Item

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Iran to respond swiftly, decisively: Zarif

ISNA - Iranian Students' News Agency

Sat / 22 September 2018 / 12:26

Tehran (ISNA)  In a reaction to a terrorist attack on a military parade in Iran's southern city of Ahvaz, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif stressed that the Islamic Republic of Iran holds regional terror sponsors and their US masters accountable for such attacks.

"Terrorists recruited, trained, armed & paid by a foreign regime have attacked Ahvaz. Children and journos among casualties. Iran holds regional terror sponsors and their US masters accountable for such attacks. Iran will respond swiftly and decisively in defense of Iranian lives," Mr. Zarif tweeted on Saturday.

11 people, including a journalist, were killed and more than 30 others injured in the terrorist attack on the military parade in Ahvaz.

End Item

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President addressing armed forces' parade ceremony: We know the value of our missiles with your pressures

ISNA - Iranian Students' News Agency

Sat / 22 September 2018 / 11:33

Tehran (ISNA)  Iranian President stressed that the Islamic Republic of Iran will increase its defensive power every day, and with your pressures, we know the value of our missiles more than before, saying, "We learn love from Karbala and dignity and steadfastness from Ashura".

Speaking at the armed forces' parade ceremony for marking the beginning of the Sacred Defence Week, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said, "This year, this ceremony had glory and greatness more than every other year".

President added, "The incident that occurred on the afternoon of 22 September 1980 was important in many ways. The first point is that Iran did not start the war and did not invade a country and did not intend to invade any country".

Dr. Rouhani stated, "From the beginning, the message of the Islamic Revolution was peace and friendship and the fulfillment of God's commands, brotherhood and friendship, and good neighbourliness with neighbours".

"The reason that the people unitedly sacrificed their lives in Sacred Defence, was that they had no doubt that Iran did not start the war and it was others who invaded our land, our independence and territorial integrity, and we only defended ourselves to against aggressors," added the President.

"The Iranian nation has been a nation that has defended its rights and has not intended to invade any country, and that was the reason why it was able to endure all the ups and downs of the 8-year war with unity, faith and hope," the president continued.

He went on to say, "The war that was imposed on us was not a common one, and many war crimes against our armed forces and people happened. On the very first day of the war, Iraq poured missiles and bullets on the defenceless people of our residential areas".

"During the war, Iraq used chemical weapons against international regulations against the defenceless people of Sardasht, and even its own city, Halabja".

The President of the Islamic Republic of Iran also pointed out that, despite all the war crimes and the acts of aggression by Saddam Hussein, no power and international organization stood up against this aggression, saying, "This is a great lesson for us, the 8-year history of the Sacred Defence is not a past history, but a model for our future and it will stay alive and remain alive forever".

He continued, "The 8-year war taught us that we have to stand on our own feet on hard days and be united and ready to sacrifice ourselves under the command of the Supreme Leader".

"Today 38 after Saddam's aggression and violation of the 1975 Agreement, this has happened again, and the same government that encouraged governments to go to the negotiation table and took the negotiation parties' time for a single sentence for 17 days straight, bowing to the logic of our diplomats after 12 years and signing an agreement that was beneficial for all countries, region and the world, has started another war and violated another international agreement that was approved by UNSC through a man who does not respect any international law and regulation".

The president said, "Today, the previous war is repeated. That day, it was one of the servants of the United States who was before the Iranian nation and all powers were supporting them, but today it is no longer a proxy war, and the United States is directly before the Iranian nation, and it has begun to violate agreements and withdraw from the deal".

Dr Rouhani emphasized, "The Iranian nation disappointed America in the first phase and, as in the early days of the war, the resistance of our warriors disappointed Saddam, this time the people disappointed the enemy again".

"The very same thing will happen to Trump, and what happened to Saddam, will happen to America and Trump. We are not the one who started the war, as we were not begin the war in 1980," said Rouhani.

The President also said, "A lot of conspiracies happened in 2016 and 2017 in which they wanted to impose sanctions on us and make us angry enough to exit the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), but the Islamic Republic of Iran exercised calmness and prudence to foil the plot".

"In the second phase, Trump thought that if he withdraws from JCPOA, Iran would do the same an hour later, so that he could take Iran's case to the Security Council and convict us," he added.

Dr. Rouhani said, "In the third phase, Trump wanted to have its allies with him so that they would withdraw from the deal, but except for two hateful regimes in the region, no government and nation supported him".

"Today, around the world, political, legal and moral victory is for the Iranian nation and we have filed complaints against the Us in international organizations and the ICJ and the US is angry about this. We have respected our covenant and international regulations and the Security Council".

He continued, "Today, the enemy cannot achieve its goals and we won't let Americans to bring our nation to its knee. Without a doubt, they will create some problems for our people but we are able to overcome this".

Stating that history will judge in the coming month that who is the loser of this political, psychological and economic war that the United States has started, the President said, "Iran will not only not abandon its defensive weapons and missiles, but also increase its defensive power every day".

Addressing the enemies of the Iranian nation, the President said, "You are saying that we must not be present in our own region, but the question is that what are YOU doing in this region from thousands of kilometres away".

"We've always been guardians of the Persian Gulf, Sea of Oman, the Indian Ocean, and Bab-el-Mandeb," he said, adding, "Today, the great people of Iran have a place in the hearts of people of Iraq, Syria and Yemen, but where are our enemies? They have given bombs to two countries for them to pour them on peoples of the region and the oppressed, poor people of Yemen".

"Of course Iran is a great, effective country in the region and does not stay silent against the innocence and oppression of the peoples of the region," he continued.

End Item

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After Ahvaz terrorist attack, Iran's Rouhani vows 'crushing' response to slightest threat

Iran Press TV

Sat Sep 22, 2018 01:21PM

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani says the Islamic Republic will give a "crushing" response to the slightest threat against the country.

The Iranian president made the remarks during separate phone calls with Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli and governor of the southwestern Iranian province of Khuzestan on Saturday, following a terrorist attack on a military parade in the provincial capital of Ahvaz.

"Those who are providing these terrorists with propaganda and intelligence support must be held accountable," Rouhani said.

He expressed his sympathy with the bereaved families of the victims of the terrorist attack and ordered Iranian officials to adopt immediate measures to treat the injured.

The Iranian chief executive further gave necessary orders to the Intelligence Ministry and all security and military bodies to immediately identify the terrorists and their ringleaders and also to decisively deal with all those who committed the crime.

Shortly after the terrorist attack, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif also said Iran will respond "swiftly and decisively" in defense of its people.

"Terrorists recruited, trained, armed, and paid by a foreign regime have attacked Ahvaz. Children and journos [are] among casualties," Zarif tweeted on Saturday.

Iran holds "regional terror sponsors" and their "US masters" responsible for the attack, he said.

At least 25 people were killed and 60 others injured in the Saturday terrorist attack, according to Deputy Governor of Khuzestan Province Ali Hossein Hosseinzadeh.

The death toll could still rise due to the severity of the injuries. Civilians, including women and children, who had come to watch the parade, were among those killed.

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Pompeo threatens Iran with action if US interests attacked

Iran Press TV

Sat Sep 22, 2018 09:55AM

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has threatened to take action against Iran in case of any attack on American interests in the Middle East.

In an interview with the CNN on Friday, Pompano warned that Washington would hold Tehran responsible for any attack on its interests in the region.

"We have told the Islamic Republic of Iran that using a proxy force to attack an American interest will not prevent us from responding against the prime actor," he said. "We will not let Iran get away with using a proxy force to attack an American interest; Iran will be held accountable for those incidents."

Asked if the US response included a military action, Pompeo said, "They're going to be held accountable. If they're responsible for the arming and training of these militias, we're gonna go to the source."

Both the US embassy in Baghdad and its consulate in Basra came under attack earlier this month amid a fresh wave of violence in Iraq.

The Iranian consulate and the provincial office of Iraq's Hashd al-Sha'abi were also gutted in the rampage.

At the time, the White House blamed Iran for the "life-threatening attacks" against its diplomatic missions in Iraq and warned that Washington would hold Tehran responsible if there are future assaults.

This drew a reaction from Iran's Foreign Ministry which rejected what it described as "astonishing, provocative and irresponsible accusations," stressing that Washington could not cover up its involvement in fomenting tensions in Iraq through blaming others.

Meanwhile, several Iraqi officials confirmed that the US had instigated the chaos in Iraq in a bid to sow discord among political parties.

Elsewhere in his interview, Pompeo claimed that Iran had been "confronting the world" by "arming" Lebanon's Hezbollah resistance movement and Yemen's Ansarullah Houthi fighters.

The US administration, under President Donald Trump, has stepped up its hostile rhetoric against Iran.

Back in May, US President Donald Trump pulled his country out of the 2015 Iran deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), despite objections from the other signatories to the accord.

Trump also introduced the first wave of anti-Iran sanctions in August and threatened that the second wave would "ratchet up to yet another level" in November.

'US endangers int'l security'

Separately on Friday, Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif lambasted the Trump administration for being a "real threat" to the Middle East and global "peace and security," saying the White House is destabilizing the world.

"It is true that there is a real threat to our region and to international peace and security: That threat is the Trump administration's sense of entitlement to destabilize the world along with rogue accomplices in our region. The US must start acting like a normal state," he tweeted.

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25 killed, 60 injured in terror attack on military parade in Ahvaz

Iran Press TV

Sat Sep 22, 2018 06:07AM

The death toll from a terrorist attack on a military parade in Iran's southern city of Ahvaz has risen to 25, local officials say.

Deputy Governor of Khuzestan Province Ali Hossein Hosseinzadeh also said 60 people had been injured in the Saturday terrorist attack.

Gunmen opened fire on people from behind a viewing stand at Qods Boulevard of Ahvaz during the morning parade held to mark the former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's invasion of Iran in the 1980s.

"Individuals disguised in the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps and Basij uniforms fired at officials and people from behind the stand, leaving a number of innocent people including women and children martyred or injured," Governor of Khuzestan Province Gholamreza Shariati said.

The attackers began firing at spectators from a park as the parade got underway, trying to force their way into the stand but were confronted by security forces.

"Despite the intensity of the attack on the stand of the officials, none of them was hurt thanks to the rapid reaction of the security forces, Shariati said.

The terrorist team behind the attack was dismantled, he said, adding the situation is now under the control of security forces and police and calm has returned to the region.

"According to preliminary reports, four attackers were involved, two of whom were killed and two arrested, one of them injured," Shariati said.

The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) spokesman Ramezan Sharif said the attackers were affiliated to a terrorist group supported by Saudi Arabia.

"The individuals who fired at the people and the armed forces during the parade are connected to the al-Ahvaziya group which is fed by Saudi Arabia," he said.

Sharif said the shooting is not unprecedented and the group which is also supported by the UK has attacked convoys of those visiting the former frontlines in Saddam's war on Iran in recent years.

The Fars news agency said citizens watching the parade first thought that the shooting was inadvertent. "After several people were injured, they realized it is a terrorist attack," it said.

Sharif said people had been invited to the ceremony and the terrorists targeted both the people and the armed forces in the attack. "The attack aimed to overshadow the magnificence of the parade by the armed forces," he said.

Similar parades were held in other cities across Iran, including Tehran where President Hassan Rouhani said the US administration will suffer the same fate as Saddam.

"These blind and subversive acts will not have any effect on the resolve and will of the people and their spirit of resistance, but will unite all the people and authorities in confronting the conspiracies of the enemies," Hosseinzadeh said.

The attack comes after a US-backed campaign to stir up unrest in Iranian cities fell flat. The effort, known as the Hot Summer Project, sought to whip up public anger over water and electricity shortages in the face of a protracted drought.

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Trump will suffer same fate as Saddam: Iran's Rouhani

Iran Press TV

Sat Sep 22, 2018 05:59AM

President Hassan Rouhani says Iranians will defeat US President Donald Trump like what they did to former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

He made the remarks in a military parade in Tehran on Saturday to mark the beginning of the week that commemorates Iran's eight-year resistance against Iraq's 1980-88 invasion.

About 600 vessels took part in the Persian Gulf naval drill, a day after Iran held aerial exercises in the waterway, vowing that a "pounding reply" awaited the country's enemies.

Trump withdrew from a landmark multilateral nuclear deal in May and reimposed sanctions on the Islamic Republic last month.

"Saddam did not achieve its objective during the imposed war despite being supported by all global and regional powers," Rouhani said.

However, he added, Iran secured a military, moral and political victory.

"We won back our territory from the aggressor. The UN and the Security Council designated Saddam as the person who began the war and all the countries that had helped Saddam later expressed regret and confessed to their crimes," the Iranian president said.

"The same story will happen to Trump and America will suffer the same fate as Saddam."

Today, 38 years into Saddam's invasion and violation of the 1975 Algiers agreement, the US government is repeating the same story of Saddam, Rouhani pointed out.

He criticized US President Trump for failing to respect international laws and lambasted his decision to reneged on America's commitments in a multilateral agreement like the 2015 Iran nuclear deal that has been endorsed the Security Council.

"Today, it not more a proxy war. The US has directly stood against the Iranians nation and began reneging on its pledge," Rouhani said.

Elsewhere in his remarks, the Iranian chief executive stressed that the country would not abandon its defensive weapons and would rather boost them.

"Iran will neither abandon its defensive weapons nor decrease its defensive capability. We will increase our defensive power day by day. The fact that you are angry about our missiles means that our most effective weapon is our missile."

'US not trustworthy'

In an article published in the Washington Post on Friday, Rouhani said that either all the signatories to the 2015 nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), would benefit from the accord or none of them, stressing that Iran would not remain silent toward America's bullying.

After its withdrawal from the JCPOA, the US expected a "hasty" Iranian pullout so that it could forge an anti-Iran alliance and re-impose sanctions, but the Islamic Republic "thwarted such a move" through its talks with the remaining parties to the agreement and their reiteration of compliance with the deal."

"In our current talks with the remaining JCPOA participants, we have emphasized that safeguarding the long-term interests of the Iranian people is paramount to us. If these interests can still be secured despite the United States' withdrawal from the accord, we will remain in the deal; otherwise, we will pursue a different course of action," he said.

"Our logic is simple and straightforward: Either all parties to the deal will benefit, or none will. Silence in the face of open US bullying of other countries to cut economic and trade relations with Iran, in blatant contravention of the established rules of international law, is simply not acceptable, and not an option for us," he added.

Trump introduced the first wave of anti-Iran sanctions in August and threatened that the second wave would "ratchet up to yet another level" in November. Nevertheless, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has repeatedly confirmed Iran's full compliance with the JCPOA, which has been endorsed by UN Security Council Resolution 2231. Additionally, the Iranian presidnet criticized the US policy towards Iran, saying it is "out of step with the realities on the ground" and "not even in line with US national interests." He further emphasized that the Iranians would withstand US pressures.

"Fed by disinformation and fake analysis from terrorist groups and Israel, the US administration is under the illusion that resorting to sanctions will lead to concessions from Iran. Iranians, though, are known to close ranks and put up stiff resistance in the face of external pressures," Rouhani said.

He also said that Trump's offer of direct talks with Iran "is not honest or genuine" while his "pretensions of support for the Iranian people are hollow, hypocritical and unconvincing."

"How can we be convinced of his sincerity while his secretary of state has gone so far as to set a long list of openly insulting pre-conditions for talks? Worse still, how can we trust the US government now that it has officially reneged on its international commitments, most notably UN Security Council resolution 2231?" he asked.

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Attack On Military Parade In Iran Leaves At Least 25 Dead

RFE/RL's Radio Farda eptember 22, 2018

At least 25 people have been killed and 53 wounded in an attack on a military parade in southwestern Iran, the country's official IRNA news agency reported, prompting President Hassan Rohani to pledge a "crushing" response to threats against the country.

Citing "knowledgeable sources," IRNA said gunmen dressed in military uniforms opened fire at the event in the southwestern city of Ahvaz on September 22, targeting a stand where Iranian officials were gathered to watch an annual event marking the start of the country's 1980-88 war with Iraq.

"There are a number of nonmilitary victims, including women and children who had come to watch the parade," IRNA quoted an unnamed official source as saying.

Iran's foreign minister blamed "terrorists paid by a foreign regime" for the attack.

The Islamic State extremist group and an anti-government umbrella group, Ahvaz National Resistance, both claimed responsibility for the attack.

Rohani said in a statement that "the response of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the smallest threat will be crushing."

"Those who give intelligence and propaganda support to these terrorists must answer for it," he said.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei claimed the attack was linked to the United States and "allies in the region" but provided no details supporting that allegation.

"This crime is a continuation of the plots of the regional states that are puppets of the United States, and their goal is to create insecurity in our dear country," Khamenei said in a statement published on his website, without naming any other countries.

IRNA later reported that Tehran had summoned the envoys of Britain, the Netherlands, and Denmark, accusing them of harboring Iranian opposition groups.

"It is not acceptable that these groups are not listed as terrorist organizations by the European Union as long as they have not carried out a terrorist attack in Europe," Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi was quoted as saying.

Iranian opposition exile groups, including the People's Mujahedin of Iran (MEK), in Western Europe and elsewhere have been active in protests against the government in Tehran since he 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran.

IRNA's report on the attack said the death toll was expected to rise, but it did not say whether elite Revolutionary Guard members were among the fatalities.

But the semiofficial Tasnim news agency said at least eight IRGC members had been killed.

"Three of the terrorists were killed on the spot and a fourth one who was injured died in hospital," Brigadier General Abolfazl Shekarchi, a senior spokesman for Iran's armed forces, told state television.

IRNA earlier reported that two alleged attackers had been detained.

A video distributed to Iranian media showed soldiers crawling on the ground as gunfire rang out.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Twitter that the attackers were "terrorists recruited, trained, armed, and paid by a foreign regime," but did not elaborate.

He blamed regional countries and their "U.S. masters" for the attack, adding that Iran would respond "swiftly and decisively."

Yaghub Hur Totsari, spokesman for Ahvaz National Resistance, an umbrella group that claims to defend the rights of the Arab minority in Khuzestan Province, told RFE/RL's Radio Farda that the group was responsible for the attack.

Islamic State's Amaq agency also said it carried out the attack, but provided no evidence to back the claim.

The semiofficial ISNA news agency said an unnamed spokesman for the IRGC had blamed Arab nationalists backed by Saudi Arabia for the attack.

Tensions between traditional rivals Iran and Saudi Arabia have increased in recent years, with the two countries supporting opposite sides in wars in Syria and Yemen and rival political parties in Iraq and Lebanon.

Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed condolences to Iran after the attack, saying Moscow was ready to boost joint efforts in the fight against terrorism, RIA Novosti quoted the Kremlin as saying.

Ahvaz is the capital of Iran's oil-rich Khuzestan Province. The province in the past has seen Arab separatists attack oil pipelines.

Earlier reports described the attackers as "Takfiri gunmen," a term used in the past to describe Sunni Muslim militants.

The semiofficial Fars news agency said two gunmen on a motorcycle wearing khaki uniforms carried out the attack.

Attacks on the military are rare in Iran.

Last year, in the first deadly attack claimed by Islamic State in Tehran, 18 people were killed at the parliament and at the mausoleum of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder and first leader of the Islamic Republic.

With reporting by AP, AFP, Reuters, and dpa

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/gunmen-open-fire-a t-military-parade-in-iran-causin -casualties/29503573.html

Copyright (c) 2018. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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Gunmen Open Fire at Military Parade in South Iran, Casualties Reported

Sputnik News

09:05 22.09.2018(updated 15:05 22.09.2018)

According to Reuters, Daesh has claimed responsibility for a terrorist attack at a military parade in Iran that left 24 people dead and 54 injured.

According to the Iranian state news agency IRNA 24 people, including a journalist, have been killed in a terrorist attack at a military parade in Iran, while 53 others have been injured.

Iran will respond "swiftly and decisively" to an attack on southwestern Iran, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said.

"Terrorists recruited, trained, armed & paid by a foreign regime have attacked Ahvaz," Javad Zarif tweeted. "Iran will respond swiftly and decisively in defense of Iranian lives."

According to the political deputy governor of Khuzestan Province, Ali Hossein Hosseinzadeh, "the blind and coward terrorist attack" claimed lives of 10 people, including a journalist, Tasnim News Agency reported.

A total of 21 others were injured, Hosseinzadeh said, noting that death toll was likely to rise as some of the victims were in critical condition.

The official confirmed that two militants, who attacked the military parade, had been killed by the security forces, while two others had been arrested.

Earlier in the day, the Tasnim News Agency reported that between eight and 10 IRGC personnel were killed in the attack, with seven others injured.

"Shooting began by several gunmen from behind the stand during the parade. There are several killed and injured," a correspondent told Iranian state television.

Two militants were reportedly killed by the security forces, while two others are still at large.

Iranian state news agency Tasnim has reported that Takfiri terrorists opened fire at people in the city of Ahvaz.

The shooting lasted 10 minutes and it came from a park near the parade. Attackers were wearing military uniforms, according to reports.

The military parade was held in honor of the anniversary of the beginning of an armed conflict between Iran and Iraq.

On June 7, 2017, a group of four people dressed in women's clothes opened fire in the Iranian Parliament, which was followed by an explosion. A separate terrorist attack targeted the Mausoleum of Ayatollah Khomeini.

 Sputnik

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UN chief "alarmed" by violations of UN-backed ceasefire in Libya

22 September 2018 - United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres stated on Friday that he is "alarmed by the increasing number of violations of the ceasefire" in the capital of Libya, Tripoli, which has led to the death of dozens of civilians.

Violence escalated in the city in August, with rival militias fighting and with tanks and heavy artillery deployed into residential neighborhoods. News reports indicate that, to date, over 100 Libyans have been killed in the violence and dozens more injured.

The Secretary-General extended his condolences to those who have lost loved ones and wishes a speedy recovery to those injured as a result of the continuing violence.

In addition, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), hundreds have been displaced by these recent clashes.

Tripoli has been at the center of Libya's seven-year conflict, following an uprising that led to the overthrowing and killing of President Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

On 4 September, a ceasefire agreement was signed by the armed groups in Tripoli under the auspices of UN Special Representative, Ghassan Salame, and the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL).

The Secretary-General urged "all parties to the conflict to respect the ceasefire and refrain from any actions that would increase the suffering of the civilian population".

He emphasized that "anyone responsible for the violation of international humanitarian law and international human rights law must be held responsible".

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Imran Khan slams India's 'arrogant' decision to call off rare meeting

Iran Press TV

Sat Sep 22, 2018 01:35PM

Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan says he is "disappointed" with the Indian government for its decision to call off a planned meeting between the foreign ministers of the two countries, denouncing New Delhi's move as "arrogant and negative."

"Disappointed at the arrogant and negative response by India to my call for resumption of the peace dialogue," Khan tweeted on Saturday.

He further hit out at Indian government officials who opposed change.

"However, all my life I have come across small men occupying big offices who do not have the vision to see the larger picture," he wrote.

New Delhi on Friday pulled the plug on a meeting between its foreign minister and her Pakistani counterpart set for next week on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, just one day after saying it would go ahead.

The foreign ministry in New Delhi said its decision was to protest the killing of Indian security personnel in Indian-controlled Kashmir and a Pakistani postage stamp it said was "glorifying" an anti-India fighter who Indian forces killed in the disputed Himalayan region last year.

Islamabad immediately rejected New Delhi's charges as excuses to enable it to avoid holding talks before national elections next year.

"The reasons cited by the Indian side for the decision to cancel the Foreign Ministers' meeting, within 24 hours of its public confirmation, are entirely unconvincing," the Pakistan Foreign Office said in a statement.

Tensions are high in Indian-controlled Kashmir, where the Muslim-majority population stages regular protests against the Indian rule, demanding autonomy from New Delhi or a merger with Pakistan.

New Delhi accuses Islamabad of supporting pro-independence fighters, an allegation rejected by the Pakistani government. Islamabad, in turn, is critical of India's heavy military deployment to Kashmir, some 500,000 soldiers, and its crackdown against the region's Muslim population.

Armed battles between Indian forces and militants over the years have killed nearly 70,000 people, mostly civilians.

Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan but claimed in full by both since the two partitioned and gained independence from Britain in 1947. The two countries have fought three wars over the disputed territory. Despite a 2003 ceasefire agreement, sporadic skirmishes continue in Kashmir.

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Pakistan Says Gunfight With 'Terrorists' Kills 7 Troops

By Ayaz Gul September 22, 2018

Pakistan said Saturday an intense gunfight with militants near the border with Afghanistan has killed seven soldiers, including an officer.

The clash in North Waziristan erupted while security forces were conducting a counter-terrorism operation based on intelligence information in the remote region, said an army statement.

"A group of terrorists was reported to have infiltrated from across (the border) and hiding in a compound," it added.

Pakistani security forces raided the compound and killed nine "terrorists" in the ensuing "intense exchange of fire." The area has been cleared and bodies of the slain militants have been taken into custody to ascertain their identities, according to the military's media wing, known as ISPR.

The Waziristan region until recently used to be a major training ground for local and foreign militants, including Taliban insurgents waging a deadly insurgency inside Afghanistan.

The Pakistan military launched a major ground and air offensive in North Waziristan back in 2014 and has since cleared more than 90 percent of the region of all terrorist groups, according to officials.

Pakistan is unilaterally building a robust fence and new military posts to secure the nearly 2,600 kilometer traditionally porous and open border with Afghanistan. Officials hope the construction effort will block terrorist infiltration in both directions.

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Pakistan Slams India for Cancelling New York Talks

By Ayaz Gul September 22, 2018

Pakistan has slammed rival India for abruptly cancelling a rare meeting between foreign ministers of the two countries that were scheduled on the sidelines of the upcoming U.N. General Assembly.

New Delhi called it off Friday, a day after publicly confirming Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj would meet her Pakistani counterpart, Shah Mehmood Qureshi.

"Disappointed at the arrogant and negative response by India to my call for resumption of the peace dialogue," Prime Minister Imran Khan tweeted Saturday. "However, all my life I have come across small men occupying big offices who do not have the vision to see the larger picture," said the Pakistani leader.

India cited "the latest brutal killings" of its security forces by "Pakistan-based entities" for cancelling the meeting and again accused the neighboring country of "glorifying terrorism." The Indian foreign ministry said that "any conversation with Pakistan in such an environment would be meaningless."

The terrorism accusation stemmed from postage stamps Pakistan issued earlier this year of a charismatic Kashmiri militant commander, Burhan Wani, who was killed by Indian troops in July, 2016.

Pakistan dismissed Indian reasons for pulling out of the meeting as "entirely unconvincing."

A Foreign Ministry statement said the incident involving the alleged killing of an Indian solider and Wani's postage stamp predated New Delhi's agreement to hold the foreign minister-level talks in New York.

"We believe by its ill-considered cancellation of the meeting, India has once again wasted a serious opportunity to change the dynamics of the bilateral relationship and put the region on the path of peace and development," Pakistan's ministry lamented.

It strongly denied Pakistan's link to the alleged cross-border attack, saying it happened two days before New Delhi agreed to hold the meeting and both sides were already aware and in contact about it.

The Pakistani statement also defended the postage stamps, saying they "highlight the gross and systematic human rights violations" Indian forces are committing against residents of Kashmir on their side.

Wani's death apparently sparked an unending wave of violent protests in the Indian-ruled portion of Kashmir.

India has long accused Pakistan of arming Muslim separatists in the divided Himalayan territory of Kashmir, though both countries claim it in its entirety. Islamabad rejects the charges.

The foreign minister meeting that had been scheduled in New York for later this month would have been the first high-level contact between India and Pakistan in nearly three years.

The Indian decision to attend the meeting was made after Khan wrote to India's prime minister, Narendra Modi, and called for a resumption of talks between the nuclear-armed rival nations.

"The letter from the prime minister of Pakistan had spoken of ... bringing a positive change and mutual desire for peace as also readiness to discuss terrorism," said the Indian Foreign Ministry while announcing cancellation of the meeting with Pakistan.

"Now, it is obvious that behind Pakistan's proposal for talks to make a fresh beginning, the evil agenda of Pakistan stands exposed and the true face of the new prime minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan, has been revealed to the world in his first few months in office," India alleged.

Pakistan denounced the Indian Foreign Ministry for its comments against Khan, saying they are against "all norms of civilized discourse and diplomatic communication.

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Russians Vote In Gubernatorial Runoffs As Pro-Kremlin Candidates Face Pushback

RFE/RL September 22, 2018

Russian voters in two regions head to the polls on September 23 in gubernatorial runoffs that have left the ruling United Russia party scrambling to avoid defeat for its pro-Kremlin candidates.

The ballots in the far-eastern Khabarovsk Krai and central Vladimir region are among four gubernatorial runoffs after incumbents or acting governors from United Russia failed to secure first-round victories in September 9 elections.

Those results have raised questions about the Kremlin's ability to engineer popular support for its candidates in regions where, under President Vladimir Putin's highly centralized political system, local issues and rivalries can prove problematic to micromanage from Moscow.

In one of the runoffs held on September 16, the Kremlin-backed candidate in the far-eastern Primorsky Krai surged ahead at the end of the ballot count thanks to what election observers and opposition forces call a brazenly illegal effort to manipulate the results in Tarasenko's favor.

The results of that ballot between Acting Governor Andrei Tarasenko of United Russia, who met with Putin shortly before the vote, and Communist Party candidate Andrei Ishchenko have now been invalidated, with election officials citing "serious violations."

In addition to the September 23 votes in the Khabarovsk Krai and the Vladimir region, another gubernatorial runoff had been scheduled the same day in the Siberian region of Khakasia.

But incumbent Governor Viktor Zimin, who was appointed acting regional head by Putin in 2013 and won election later that same year, quit the race on September 21, citing poor health.

Zimin, the United Russia candidate, had finished well behind Communist candidate Valentin Konovalov in the first-round of voting on September 9, trailing his challenger by more than 12 points.

The regional election commission in Khakasia on September 22 announced that the runoff would now be held on October 7.

The elections come amid widespread discontent with a Kremlin-backed plan to raise the retirement age that triggered waves of street protests and has dented Putin's approval ratings after its unveiling earlier this year.

In the September 23 runoff in the Khabarovsk Krai, Governor Vyacheslav Shport of United Russia faces Sergei Furgal, a federal lawmaker from the nationalist Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR) who edged out the incumbent in the first round but did not secure enough votes for an outright win.

The United Russia candidate in the Vladimir region, incumbent Governor Svetlana Orlova, faces Vladimir Sipyagin of the LDPR after beating him by five points in the first round with 36.4 percent.

Kremlin critics consider both the LDPR and the Communist Party pliant tools in Putin's ruling system, and they back Putin's initiatives with some frequency -- particularly on foreign policy.

But the rivalry on the regional level is very real, and any LDPR or Communist victory is embarrassing for Putin and United Russia, which dominates politics nationwide.

Amid reports of intense behind-the-scenes horse-trading between Kremlin-backed forces and their challengers in the regions, Shport publicly offered Furgal to come work under him in the Khabarovsk Krai's government.

Speaking in a televised address, Furgal agreed to the offer on September 17 -- but declined to quit the race.

Meanwhile, Orlova, the incumbent Vladimir governor from United Russia, appeared to offer voters some introspection in a video she released days before the September 23 runoff.

"It seems like I tried -- and the results weren't bad. So why wasn't I able to reach many of you? You know how I answer that to myself? It means I did something wrong. I miscalculated somewhere," Orlova said.

Russian political analyst Mikhail Vinogradov said Kremlin-loyal candidates in the runoffs are "freaking out" because they are "used to the authorities winning."

"This is a naturally jittery situation in the conditions of falling approval ratings for authorities," Vinogradov said in a radio interview with Kommersant-FM.

He added, however, that "this trend has not appeared in all regions, but rather only in four regions out of more than 20 that had gubernatorial elections."

With reporting by Current Time TV

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-governor-elections-united- russia-putin-communist-ldpr/29504248.html

Copyright (c) 2018. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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U.S. Extends Deadline For Investors To Divest Rusal Holdings

RFE/RL September 22, 2018

The U.S. Treasury Department has extended until November 12 a deadline for investors to divest holdings of debt, equity, and other assets in sanctioned Russian aluminum giant Rusal and its parent holding company, EN+.

The announcement on September 21 said the extension was being provided to allow the companies to make "corporate governance changes," one of which was the breaking of ties with sanctioned Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska.

However, the announcement kept in place an October 23 deadline for divesting holdings in automaker GAZ Group.

The Treasury had previously extended the deadline for the companies from August 5 to October 23.

The sanctions were imposed against Deripaska and eight companies in which he has large holdings, including Rusal, in response to what U.S. officials called Russia's "malign activities," including alleged interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

The sanctions primarily targeted Russian oligarchs close to President Vladimir Putin.

Deripaska has held a controlling interest in En+, which in turn controls Rusal, the world's largest aluminum producer outside of China. Automaker GAZ is also part of his business empire.

The sanctions against Rusal initially disrupted the global supply chain for aluminum and sent prices soaring, raising fears that the company would be unable to finance its operations and stay in business.

The scare prompted Rusal to accept the Treasury's offer of an exemption from the sanctions if it severs ties with Deripaska.

Rusal is the second-largest aluminum company in the world and an employer of an estimated 61,000 Russian miners and manufacturing workers

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has said the United States was in talks with Rusal to remove it from the sanctions list.

Mnuchin said Deripaska was the main target of the sanctions and that it was not Washington's intent to cause the layoff of hundreds or thousands of Russian aluminum workers.

"EN+ and Rusal have approached the U.S. government about substantial corporate governance changes that could potentially result in significant changes in control," the Treasury said in its latest statement.

"To allow sufficient time for review, we are extending these licenses until November 12," it said.

With reporting by Reuters, TASS, and Bloomberg

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/rusal-russia-deripaska- sanctions-aluminum-putin-us-treasury/29503029.html/a>

Copyright (c) 2018. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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US-led aircraft evacuate Daesh commanders from eastern Syria: Report

Iran Press TV

Sat Sep 22, 2018 01:04PM

The US-led coalition purportedly fighting the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group has airlifted to a safe sanctuary several commanders of the foreign-sponsored terror outfit from a region in Syria's eastern province of Dayr al-Zawr, where government forces and fighters from popular defense groups are tightening the noose around the extremists.

Local sources, requesting anonymity, told Syria's official news agency SANA that two US-led military aircraft conducted the operation on the outskirts of al-Marashida village, and transported the Takfiris to an unknown location.

SANA, citing information received from local residents, reported on December 29 last year that American helicopters had evacuated Daesh commanders from several districts of Dayr al-Zawr province two days earlier.

Earlier that month, the Syrian government had sent a message to the United Nations, accusing the US-led coalition of reaching deals with Daesh and coordinating its actions with the terror group's commanders.

On September 10, 2017, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem said the US-led coalition was trying to destroy the Arab country and prolong the armed conflict there.

Muallem said that Damascus would demand the dissolution of the military contingent, stressing that thousands of Syrian women and children had been killed by coalition airstrikes in Raqqah and Dayr al-Zawr provinces.

The top Syrian diplomat further noted that the Pentagon was using the coalition to cover up its destruction campaign in Syria.

He added that the US-backed militiamen from the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) were fighting Syrian army forces to gain control over the oil-rich areas of the country.

Damascus would not allow any external force to violate its sovereignty, Muallem pointed out.

Last August, the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that US-led choppers had transported four Daesh members and a civilian from a house used as an arms depot in Beqres, a suburban area east of Dayr al-Zawr, to a safe area.

According to the report, the five people included a European bomb expert, three Egyptian Daesh members and a local resident of Beqres.

The US-led coalition has been conducting airstrikes against what are said to be Daesh targets inside Syria since September 2014 without any authorization from the Damascus government or a UN mandate.

The military alliance has repeatedly been accused of targeting and killing civilians. It has also been largely incapable of achieving its declared goal of destroying Daesh.

Syria has been gripped by foreign-backed militancy since March 2011. The Syrian government says the Israeli regime and its Western and regional allies are aiding Takfiri terrorist groups that are wreaking havoc in the country.

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Russia rejects Israeli findings on downed plane

Iran Press TV

Sat Sep 22, 2018 11:17AM

Russia has rejected the findings of an Israeli investigation into the deadly crash of a Russian military aircraft in the Syrian province of Latakia, and called on Tel Aviv to launch a new probe into the matter.

The Israeli Haaretz newspaper said on Friday that the Russians had not accepted Israel's findings, which considered Russia and Syria responsible for the downing of a Russian Ilyushin 20 reconnaissance aircraft some 35 kilometers off the coast of Latakia as it was returning to a nearby Russian base earlier in the week. 15 Russian servicemen were killed in the incident.

Haaretz' report came after an Israeli delegation led by Amikam Norkin, the regime's air force commander, visited Moscow to brief Russian officials on Tel Aviv's initial investigation of the incident.

The paper said the visit failed to defuse the crisis and the Kremlin rejected the Israeli conclusion that Syrian forces were to blame for the incident.

During their meetings in Moscow, Norkin's delegation claimed that the Syrian military had fired more than 20 missiles  including the missile that hit the Russian plane  "in an unprofessional manner."

Speaking on condition of anonymity, an Israeli military official said the Israeli warplanes were "nowhere near the Russian plane when it was shot down," adding that the aircraft had been fired upon at a point when Israel's aircraft were already landing in Israel.

The delegation claimed that the Russians did have sufficient advance notice, but failed to divert the plane from harm's way after it had completed its surveillance mission.

Earlier, the Russian Embassy in Tel Aviv had censured Israel for its "irresponsible and unfriendly actions," and pinned the blame on Israel's Air Force, which was conducting aerial assaults against Syrian army positions when the incident happened.

"Moscow views as irresponsible and unfriendly actions of Israeli Air Force, which exposed Russian Il-20 aircraft to danger and led to the deaths of 15 servicemen," it said in a tweet, adding that Russia would "take all necessary measures to eliminate the threat to life and security of our military fighting against terrorism."

The Israel regime has over the past years carried out numerous strikes against the Syrian army positions in what is widely viewed as an attempt to help the terrorists survive in the face of successful Syrian army operations. It has defied criticisms of its unlawful military actions against Syrian soil.

The regime's minister for military affairs, Avigdor Lieberman, said Thursday that the regime would not stop such attacks, but would do more to "de-conflict" them with the Russian forces.

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Russia, Turkey agree on borders of buffer zone in Syria's Idlib province

Iran Press TV

Sat Sep 22, 2018 01:59AM

Russia and Turkey have reached a consensus on borders of a demilitarized zone in Syria's northwestern province of Idlib, which is the last major stronghold of anti-Damascus militants, in an attempt to avert a possible full-scale offensive by the Syrian government against terrorists in the militant-held region.

"Just yesterday or the day before, the militaries of Russia and Turkey agreed the concrete frontiers of the demilitarized zone," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday.

His comments came four days after Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan met in Russia's coastal city of Sochi, and agreed to divide Idlib into a demilitarized zone between militant-held and government-controlled areas.

It is estimated that between 10,000 and 15,000 members of different factions of armed groups, which Syria, Russia and Turkey consider terrorists, are active in the volatile province, which is home to around three million inhabitants.

Some 60 percent of the province is said to be controlled by members of the so-called Hayat Tahrir al-Sham Takfiri terrorist group, which is a coalition of different factions of terror outfits, largely composed of Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, formerly known as al-Nusra Front.

Moscow believes that a 15-20 kilometer buffer zone would help stop attacks from Idlib-based militants on Syrian army positions and Russia's military bases in the flashpoint region.

Security in the demilitarized area, which includes parts of Idlib and neighboring provinces, including the city of Aleppo, will be overseen by Turkish contingents and Russian military police.

Lavrov further said that the agreement would forestall military action against the city of Idlib, adding, "It's an intermediate step... but a necessary step." He also stressed that by mid-October all members of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham terror group "must leave this demilitarized zone, and all heavy military equipment must be pulled out of there."

Meanwhile, Turkey's Defense Ministry also said in a statement that Ankara had achieved an agreement with Moscow on the borders of the buffer zone.

"Meetings with the Russians delegation were held at the ministry on September 19-21 to discuss the main elements of the execution of the Sochi agreement," it said, adding, "During the meetings, the borders were determined after considering the geographical structure and settlements in Idlib."

Earlier on Friday, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said that "it is now time to fully maintain ceasefire and focus on political process." He added that he would meet with his Russian and Iranian counterparts in New York later this month to discuss the status quo of the Arab country.

The Turkish government has been trying to persuade its loyal armed groups to evacuate Idlib in a purported bid to avert the anti-terror operation. However, it has not said how it would persuade them to disarm. Previous attempts have failed and the upcoming offensive is causing frictions among militants. Ankara also fears an all-out offensive could cause a large number of Idlib residents to seek refuge in neighboring Turkey.

Syria has been gripped by foreign-backed militancy since March 2011. The Syrian government says the Israeli regime and its Western and regional allies are aiding Takfiri terrorist groups wreaking havoc in the country.

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Diplomacy not a 'zero-sum' game: MOFA

ROC Central News Agency

2018/09/22 15:02:26

Taipei, Sept. 22 (CNA) Diplomacy is not a "zero-sum" game and cementing a long-lasting and stable diplomatic relationship with the Vatican is the top priority of Taiwan, Taipei-based Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said Saturday.

"Taiwan-Vatican ties are stable because the two sides share the same values in democracy, human rights and religious freedom," MOFA spokesman Andrew Lee () told CNA at a time of rampant media reports about the possible breakthrough in ties between China and the Holly See and whether this would lead to a severing of diplomatic ties between Taiwan and its only official diplomatic ally in Europe.

"We believe that the Vatican must have held talks with China based on concern and respect for human rights and freedom of religion," Lee said, stressing that "the most important thing for Taiwan is to continue maintaining a long-lasting and stable relationship with the Vatican."

Foreign news services have reported that China and the Vatican have been advancing in talks related to the appointment of bishops in China and that the Vatican might send a delegation to Beijing before the end of this month to clinch a deal on the issue.

Some medial outlets have speculated that such a development would lead to the Vatican's breaking ties with Taiwan that have been maintained nearly 70 years. Beijing generally requires states that develop ties with China, sever formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan.

However, according to recent statements by Republic of China (Taiwan) Ambassador to the Holy See Matthew S.M. Lee (), a likely agreement between China and the Vatican on the appointment of bishops would be aimed merely at dealing with Catholic religious affairs in China and no political or diplomatic issues would be involved.

(By Elaine Hou and Flor Wang)

Enditem/cs

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A possible Danish Grand Prix might not be one of the newest additions to the Formula One calendar after all as Danish ministers questioned the viability and sense to host a Formula One race around the streets of Copenhagen.

According to Pitpass.com, Denmark's Finance Minister Kristian Jensen has ruled out the possibility of the event taking place due to a lack of government support whilst also citing financial difficulties.

"The government is prepared to put some money into the hosting of Formula 1 in Denmark," Jensen said.

"But we don't think it's reasonable that the city where such a large event is to take place does not also contribute economically.

"We ask all cities to be a part of funding when a major sporting event is in town. So it is also fair for Copenhagen Municipality to do this."

The track had been designed by famous F1 circuit designer Hermann Tilke and would have run in front of the Danish parliament buildings around a 2.79-mile circuit on the streets of the capital city.

FIA race director Charlie Whiting had been hopeful of a date being announced for the race sooner rather than later, citing a possible 2020 debut however that now appears to be in doubt.

"From our point of view it is entirely possible that we'll be there," he said earlier this month. "It can easily be done by 2020."The sextoy market is growing quite rapidly in India right now.

Although it is not a big trend, it is a hot topic on the internet as it is secretly expanding its market.

In this article, we will focus on sextoy and introduce recommended sextoy for Indian beginners of sextoy by gender.

India, the birthplace of the Kama Sutra, is very strict about sex.

Also, premarital sex is basically not allowed. Therefore, there are many people who are sexually restricted.

But what happens when you continue to be sexually restricted?

Frustration may build up and you may end up taking your sexual stress out on your partner.

If you are able to adopt sextoy in a timely manner, you can get rid of those problems.

I want to have more exciting sex than Im having now.

I want more variation in masturbation

I want to get even stronger pleasure than I do on my own.

If you have any of these problems, please stay with me until the end.

What is sex toys for Indian?

Sextoy, as the name implies, is a toy used during sex and masturbation.

It is a generic term for vibrators, Egg-vibrators, Electric massagers, dildo, handcuffs and condoms.

They are used to make regular sex more exciting or to make masturbation more pleasurable.

Because sextoy is very stimulating, it can help you to get rid of the problems and frustrations of being in a rut of sex with your partner for a long time, or if you are unhappy with the lack of pleasure in sex with your partner.

The ability to satisfy your desires with movement, texture, and size, which cannot be done by a normal human being, can help you to be satisfied with sex and, as a result, improve your relationship with your partner.

It is also said to help improve sexual dysfunction (inability to get an erection or ejaculate) and difficulty in feeling during sex (insensitivity), which is attracting more attention than in the past.

In recent years, the demand for sextoy has increased due to the spread of smartphones and the Internet and the increasing number of people using online shopping.

Even those who are concerned about the appearance of sextoy (and find it difficult to purchase) can now easily obtain it by using mail order.

In the case of online shopping, most of the stores have taken steps to ensure that the contents of the products delivered to you are not revealed, so you can purchase them without your family members knowing.

Until a while ago, you had to go to the store where the adult goods were sold to buy them, so it was quite a hurdle to overcome.

Also, many people may have an image that sextoy is somehow embarrassing to own.

But nowadays, some of them are so stylish and cute that you cant believe they are sextoy at a glance.

More and more people are using them for travel and outdoor use because they are not too bulky and are suitable for carrying around.

Sextoy situation in India

Before introducing the recommended sextoy for Indians, lets talk about one of the sextoy situations in India in recent years.

In India, due to the high concentration of population, the following six cities have particularly high sales of sextoy in India.

Mumbai

Kolkata

Bangalore

Delhi

Chennai

Hyderabad

These cities account for roughly 70 percent of sextoy sales in India.

In the future, the percentage of sextoy use will gradually increase in other cities in India as well.

If you never talk about sextoy publicly, that girl in your neighborhood might be a sextoy user too.

If you are interested in sextoy, you dont have to suppress your desire for it.

What are Sextoys for beginner?

Among all sextoys, sextoy for beginners are vibrators, dildo, masturbators, Sex Lubricants, and condoms.

Sex Lubricants and condoms, which are familiar to people who have had sex, are also a great beginners sextoy.

I will explain the details of each toy later, but there are many sextoy products that are painful to use and can only be used after some anal expansion.

I assume that the Indian readers of this article are people who have not had much experience with sextoy.

If such people use professional sextoy suddenly, they are at risk of injury or trauma.

Therefore, to introduce sextoy, you need to start with a beginners version and gradually become familiar with it.

Advantages of using sextoy for Indians

There are three advantages of using sextoy for Indians

You can masturbate in a wide variety of ways.

Can have stimulating sex

Can develop new sexual zones

If you try to masturbate with your own fingers or hands, it tends to be a pattern.

However, with sextoy, you can easily masturbate in a variety of ways.

You will definitely be fascinated by the attraction of new stimulation.

Also, your daily sex life will be more exciting than ever.

There are many things in sextoy that are visually stimulating and give you a strong and intense feeling of pleasure.

This allows you to see your partners promiscuity in a way that you wouldnt normally see it.

When you are in a relationship, sex with your partner may become a pattern, but it can also eliminate these problems.

It can also lead to the development of new sexual zones (which is the training of sexual stimulation to allow you to feel orgasms).

For more information on the development of new sexual zones, see the following articles

[Women's Erogenous Zone]How to find and develop, 7 hidden sexual zones !![In India] In this issue, we will dissect the female erogenous zone! ..." Many of you may be like that. Men, in particular, shou...

Thus, the use of sextoy can only be a good thing for the men and women of India.

Sextoy for beginner men in India

So, lets continue with the recommended goods for Indian sextoy beginners.

For ease of understanding, we will introduce them by gender. Lets start with the men!

The following five goods are recommended for novice Indian sextoy men

Masturbator

Cock rings

Love Doll

Sex Lubricants

Toys for the prostate

Lets check each one in detail.

Masturbator

The masturbator is a sextoy for men that elaborately reproduces a womans vagina, mouth, and anus, and is one of the most popular sextoy products.

It is used by men to masturbate, and it is popular because it provides stronger stimulation and pleasure more easily than using hands.

Most are made of good quality silicone, and their softness is something that cannot be achieved with ones own hands.

They can provide stronger pleasure than a real womans vagina, so be careful not to overuse them. (You wont be able to have an orgasm in a womans vagina anymore.)

Again Male masturbators are a wonderful toy. I do not need any favourite timing, bothersome bargaining. You do not have to worry too much.

Revolutionize your masturbation time! ! !

Made in Japan is a wonderful kinky toy.#sextoysindia #SexToyIndia #Japanhttps://t.co/4k70QGzoTP pic.twitter.com/tRVdxTKPpa   SEXToys India PR  (@SextoysIndia) November 12, 2018

Some of them are disposable, while others can be washed and used over and over again, so its fun to buy a few to use depending on your mood.

If you want to know more about masturbator, please click here

Really pleasant male masturbation and how to do it Are you in a rut with your daily masturbation routine? I'm going to show you five ways men masturbate that you might ...

[For Beginners] How to choose and use a male masturbator without fail Gentlemen.Have you ever used a masturbator? The person who sees this article is probably the one who has not experien...

Cock Ring

A cock ring is literally a ring-shaped sextoy that is worn on a mans penis.

It maintains an erection by binding the penis with a ring of rubber and blocking blood flow.

It is sometimes used as an accessory to be worn on the penis, and may be made of metal or plastic as well as rubber.

In some cases, cock rings have parts or vibrators attached to them that stimulate the vagina, so they kill two birds with one stone, giving a woman pleasure while maintaining an erection.

Cock rings are also sometimes used to treat erectile dysfunction.

It can help with erectile dysfunction, where the penis doesnt get hard when you get an erection or doesnt last long when you try to insert it.

Men who are prone to breakage or who are unsure of the hardness and size of their erections can use a cock ring to increase the size of their penis and maintain an erection for a longer period of time.

Cock rings vary in price from around RS700 to over RS2000 with a vibrator function.

Some of them do not fit your penis, so you should check the size of the cock ring before you buy.

You should know the size of your partners or your own penis when it is erect.

[Penis enlargement] What is a cock ring? Types and usage Cock rings can make your penis bigger and harder. It also makes sex with women more fulfilling and increases your sat...

Love Doll

Love dolls, also known as Dutchwives, are dolls with the appearance of a woman who can experience simulated sex.

There are dolls that look like a woman, but they have no face and only have their breasts and lower torso cut off, and some dolls are so realistic that they can actually be mistaken for real women.

Some expensive dolls can cost more than 1 million yen, and the quality of the doll is easily influenced by the price.

The higher the price, the higher the quality of the doll will be, the closer it will be to the real woman, and the cheaper the doll will be, the less elaborate it will be, making it look like a real doll! Something is wrong! That is also true.

You cant go wrong if you choose a balance between price and taste.

There are stores that allow you to make custom-made love dolls, so you can create a girl of your choice.

You can make a girl of your choice. You can start with inexpensive love dolls at first, and once you get used to it, you can try custom-made love dolls.

If you want to know more about Love doll, please click here

Thorough explanation of the charm of sex dolls! Have you ever heard of sex dolls that are used primarily for pseudo-sex purposes? It is a doll that is quite close to...

Sex lubricants

Sex lubricants are used as a substitute for lubricating fluid during sex or as a lubricant for men to use masturbator rules.

It is not uncommon for women to have difficulty getting wet, depending on their physical condition, or to have difficulty getting wet due to their constitution.

Forcing the penis into the vagina at such times can cause painful intercourse.

There are various types of Sex Lubricants, some with a warming effect, some with a cooling effect, and some with a scent.

Changing the Sex Lubricant used during play is recommended as a good sex accent.

If you want to learn more about Sex Lubricants, click here.

What is sex lubricant?Explain the difference and usage of each ingredient The word "sex toy" may seem like a hurdle to overcome, but lotion is actually one of the most familiar sex toys. Many...

Toys for the Prostate

Another sextoy for men is prostate toys.

The most famous prostate toys include Enemagra, which was originally a prostate massager developed by an American urologist to treat an enlarged prostate line.

Modern prostate toys are imitations of Enemagra that have spread as sextoy for men.

Many people think of prostate toys as being used by gay men, but in fact they are often used by straight men.

What is the prostate?

The prostate is an organ found only in men. It is a walnut-sized organ located deep in the pelvis, just below the bladder, and its primary role is to protect and nourish sperm.

You cannot touch the prostate gland from outside the body, but you can touch it by inserting a finger or sextoy through the anus.

By inserting a finger or sextoy through the anus and touching the prostate and developing it, you can feel intense orgasms.

Orgasms felt in the prostate are mainly dry orgasms, which are orgasms that do not involve ejaculation. (You can also feel orgasms with ejaculation through prostate stimulation.)

The prostate is called the male G-spot, and dry orgasms can be much more intense than ejaculation.

Therefore, men who are able to develop a prostate can become addicted to the pleasure.

sextoy for beinner women in India

The following are the recommended goods for Indian women who are new to sextoy.

The following three are recommended for use by women who are new to sextoy.

Vibrator.

Dildo

Electric Masserger

Lets check out what each one is in detail.

If you want to check out womens toys, click here.

[BEST25]Sex Toys for Women in IndiaThat Can Help You Have an Orgasm There are many women who pretend to feel orgasm during sex. But don't worry, you don't have to pretend to feel orgasm...

Vibrators

A vibrator is a sextoy that vibrates with an Egg-Vibrator to provide stimulation and is often referred to simply as a vibrator.

Some vibrate as well as rotate, and there are many variations of sextoy.

It is quite a popular sextoy, and is well recognized by people who do not know much about sextoy.

Its usage is similar to that of a massager, but it is more compact and easier to carry than a massager, and many of them look as cute as a lipstick or a macaroon, so they are popular among women.

For a while, a famous influencer on twitter said, This is good! You may have heard of the topic of this article by introducing the recommended vibrators.

Vibrators are great for women to use on their own, but they are also recommended for men who have difficulty satisfying women with sex.

Since it is powered by electricity, it is far less tiring than moving your hands by yourself.

This makes it easier to satisfy a woman with sex because you can caress her for longer than usual.

Vibrators are mainly used on the female side, but they can also be used on men.

When used on men, they are used to attack the nipples and glans, and in both cases it is recommended to wear a condom for hygiene reasons.

Introducing how to use the vibrator, its purpose, and how to choose it! Vibrator uses the vibrations caused by the rotation of the motor to provide stimulation. It is one or two of the most...

Dildo

A dildo is a model sextoy made to mimic a male penis.

It can be made of silicone, elastomer (think of it as a material similar to PVC), metal or glass.

A dildo can be used by a man for his female partner during sex, or by a woman for masturbation to get pleasure from it.

They are mainly inserted into women, but some can be used in the male anus as well.

It is sometimes used synonymously with vibrators, but the vibrator is not the same thing as a vibrating device.

A model of a penis that does not vibrate is a dildo.

Some of them have suction cups that can be attached to the floor or wall so that you can enjoy realistic masturbation without using your hands.

For fun, there is a dildo made in the shape of your partners penis.

This one is also popular as a gift, and if youve been together for a long time and are having trouble finding a gift for your partner, you might want to pick one.

To learn more about dildo, please click here.

What is Dildo: Orgasms with Dildos for Men and Women A dildo is a model of a male organ that is used by women for masturbation and by men to stimulate the prostate gland. Th...

Electric Masserger

A Electric Masserger is a hand-held electric massager, also known as a handheld massager, and can usually be purchased at electronics stores.

It was originally designed to relieve stiff shoulders and back pain, so the hurdle of buying one in a physical store is quite low.

Many people may have seen or used it in some form or another, as it is often installed in leisure hotels.

Such a massager is highly recommended for beginners because it is easy for women to get pleasure from it when they use it during masturbation.

It is larger than Egg-Vibrator and vibrations are stronger than those of Egg-Vibrators and vibrators, so even just hitting the clitoris can give you a great deal of pleasure.

For those women who have never had an orgasm during sex with their man, the massager may be a good way to get a feel for what it feels like to have an orgasm.

It looks and feels like an electric massager, so you wont have to feel awkward if your roommate finds out.

If you are in a rut of having sex with your partner, if you want to feel an orgasm through masturbation, or if you are thinking of using a sextoy, why dont you try it from a simple massager?

To learn more about Electric Masserger, click here.

What is a massager? Introducing types, selection methods, and usage Originally, the Magic-wand vibrator and the massage machine were sold as a home massage machine used for the back and th...

How to choose a sextoy for Indian

Now that weve covered the different types of sextoy, heres how to choose one.

Especially if you are trying sextoy for the first time, pay attention to the following three points:  Does the size fit you (the partner)?

Does the size fit you (your partner)?

Is the environment able to produce sound without problems?

Price range

First of all, the choice of size is quite important.

Most sextoy are used against or inserted into the genitals, but the genitals are very delicate organs for both men and women.

For this reason, using an inappropriate size may cause damage.

Secondly, the environment should be able to produce sound without problems.

Some sextoys not only wear, but also rotate and vibrate. Its easier to get pleasure from something that moves than something that doesnt, but the fact that it moves means that the internal rotors make some noise.

If you live in a house with thin walls or if you have roommates, you may not be able to concentrate because of the noise, so it is best to choose one that is silent or has a low noise level.

Especially in India, where many people live with their families, it is very important that you dont have to worry about sound when you use it.

Finally, there is the price range.

The price range of sextoy ranges widely, from around RS500 at the cheapest to RS10,000 or more at the highest.

Its good to consider how much money you can afford and how much you want to buy.

Do you want your family to not find out about sextoy?

I live with my family and want to use sextoy without them finding out! If you are a man, you should buy a camouflage sextoy that does not look like a sextoy at first glance.

For men, there are many masturbators that do not look like a sextoy, and for women, there are vibrators that only look like cosmetics.

If you choose such a type, youll be safe in case your family members find out.

How to buy sextoys in India

The best way to purchase sextoy is through online shopping.

For more information on how to purchase sextoy, please see the article below.

Sextoy is one of them.

Therefore, you can easily get sextoy in India by using online shopping.

SexToysINDIA is a long established and stable sextoy store and you can have sextoy delivered to any place in India.

They also offer cash on delivery, so those who are worried about shopping with a credit card do not have to worry.

Of course, the latest security is in place, so your information will not be taken out when you use your credit card.

To begin with, many people may be concerned about whether they are legally allowed to purchase sextoy.

ikmAs it turns out, its not illegal.

Right now, it is not open to the public because the Indian adult market is still in the development stage, but it will gradually spread from now on.

Take advantage of sextoy and open the door to new pleasures and culture.

Cautions for Indians using sextoy

When using sextoy, keep the following three things in mind

Keep sex toys clean

Watch out for electrical leakage

Beware of the heat generated by the body while using a sex toy

As I mentioned earlier, many sextoy products are used for the delicate zone.

Therefore, it is most important to keep the sextoy itself clean. It is very important to keep the sextoy itself clean, because if a slight scratch is created by friction, bacteria can enter and breed there.

It is safe to wear a condom when using the masturbator, just in case.

In addition, many sextoy devices are powered by a power source, so if they are not waterproof, there is a possibility of electric shock or malfunction due to wetness.

Some may even develop heat during continuous use. If the fever becomes too much, you may get burned, so be careful.

If you get a fever during use, stop driving the sextoy immediately and refrain from using it.

You will enjoy sex more if you keep it safe and use it correctly.

Summary

What did you think?

In this article, we have introduced the recommended sextoy for the beginners of sextoy in India.

The sextoy market is growing rapidly in India and it will continue to grow steadily in the future.

As India is a rather closed-minded country, it can be difficult to be open about ones sexual habits and values.

However, being faithful to ones desires by properly dissolving ones sexual desire is very effective for ones physical and mental health.

If this is your first time to learn about sextoy, or if you are interested in using sextoy, why not give it a try?

Indian Sextoys for ur best! will introduce you to sextoy and other trivia about sextoy, sexuality, and sexuality for men and women.

I want to read more! If you think its a great idea, please bookmark it.GREENWICH  Aldo Pascarella began renting his beachside estate on Airbnb this year after his living situation was altered by a death in the family.

Pascarella, the landlord and a real estate attorney, moved his family in with his father after his mother died. Because Pascarella took all the familys belongings to his fathers home, he knew he had to stage and furnish the house in order to sell it. It made sense to rent the empty home on Airbnb while it sat dormant and ready to accommodate.

He considered the prospect of short-term rentals because he had good experiences staying at Airbnb homes in Copenhagen, Rome and the United Kingdom, Pascarella said in a phone interview.

In England last summer, the Airbnb (my family) stayed at was owned by the Duke of Somerset on 10,000 acres of land, he said. It was a great experience, and I dont see any reason why we shouldnt offer similar experiences here in Connecticut.

For $1,000 a night, guests can enjoy the amenities of the Pascarellas home and private beach in a gated community. The homeowner said he also receives some unusual requests, like people asking to film music videos on his property. But Pascarella said he maintains staunch personal standards in accepting guests.

We want the best and brightest from around the world, he said, citing venture capitalists and doctors from other countries as recent guests.

There are 70 active hosts in Greenwich as of July 1, according to data recently released by Airbnb, and more than 1,900 guests were accommodated in the town last year. The typical Greenwich host made $6,800 a year by sharing their homes for about three nights a month.

Of Greenwich hosts, 62 percent are women and 28 percent are over the age of 60.

Also, more than 13,400 people from Greenwich used Airbnb to stay in other locations last year.

Some people in Pascarellas neighborhood arent enthusiastic about the idea of guests coming and going from their exclusive community. For that reason, hes in favor of reasonable regulations for short-term rentals.

I think that regulation of the activity in a reasonable manner that is narrowly tailored to the concerns of the community, but doesnt infringe upon private property rights and the rights of people to rent their property, would be a good thing, Pascarella said.

The increase in Airbnb use has led to states and municipalities attempting to regulate the company. Governing bodies have taken varying approaches in their attempt to ensure Airbnb wont impact the hospitality industry and the housing market, or disturb neighborhoods.

Greenwich has no regulations covering Airbnb or short-term rentals, according to Michael Long, director of environmental services for the towns health department. Theres been no need to in Greenwich, Long said, perhaps becuase Airbnb has been slower to take off in the town than in some other communities.

We dont have any regulations specific to (Airbnb), he said. We respond to complaints from renters and see how their complaints relate to the housing code.

One approach to regulation has been to require a 30-day minimum for rentals, as New York City has. Officials in municipalities such as New Fairfield, New Haven and Stamford are starting to consider regulating rentals.

Two years ago, Connecticuts legislature partnered with Airbnb to collect lodging tax. Since then, the state has received $5.2 million in tax revenue from Airbnb, according to the company.WASHINGTON  Whichever way it goes, dueling testimony from Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and his accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, is likely to represent a sea change in the Supreme Court confirmation process as well as the overarching politics of it all.

The epic confrontation begins Monday with Kavanaughs return engagement before the Senate Judiciary Committee. He will reiterate his denial of charges leveled by Ford that as teenagers, Kavanaugh assaulted her while drunk, pinned her down on a bed and put his hand over her to mouth to stifle screaming.

After intense negotiations between her legal team and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, Ford agreed to speak to the committee, it was announced Saturday. Politico reported that a hearing has been tentatively set for Thursday.

Her testimony is likely to be graphic and detailed  undermining what had been relatively smooth sailing toward confirmation for the 53-year-old D.C. federal appeals court judge.

Whether thats enough to derail Kavanaugh remains to be seen. But for Sen. Richard Blumenthal, of Connecticut, and fellow Judiciary Committee Democrats, the allegations represent a path to scuttling Kavanaugh that eluded them during two days of intense Q&A during confirmation hearings.

The nation should rally around (Fords) decision to speak truth to power, Blumenthal said in a statement Saturday. Dr. Fords sharing her story despite death threats and vicious bullying speaks to the credibility of her allegations. No one should confuse support for that story with an endorsement or acceptance of this deeply broken process.

Earlier in the week, Blumentahl said: What were seeking to uncover is the truth and the facts through testimony and an investigation, without any real delay at all, Blumenthal said.

Republicans fear her testimony because they fear the truth, he said.

For Republicans, the high-wire act they must perform to win Senate confirmation is full of peril. Already projected in most polls to lose control of the House, Republicans could lose the Senate as well if they appear to give Ford short shrift in order to ram Kavanaugh through.

But failure to win confirmation would alienate the Republican base of Trump-supporting conservatives and evangelicals, the foot soldiers Republicans need at the polls this November.

Its hard to see how Republicans end up winning either way, said Ronald Schurin, political scientist at the University of Connecticut.

Out in the open

Given the #metoo-inspired public awakening of women to long-unaddressed abuse by powerful men, the charges against Kavanaugh could hardly have come at a worse time.

Her allegations cannot be dismissed, said Laura Cordes, executive director of the Connecticut Alliance to End Sexual Violence, which coordinates nine crisis centers with 24/7 hotlines and counseling. Sexual assault is a crime. It shouldnt be diminished or minimized as some (high school) antic.

Among the nine centers are ones located in Stamford, Milford, Torrington, Danbury and Bridgeport.

For those of a certain age and perhaps political conviction, the Kavanaugh vs. Ford confrontation evokes memories of Anita Hill in 1991 accusing then-Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas of lewd sexually oriented statements while the two worked together. Though gripping and graphic, Hills testimony didnt sink Thomas  who won confirmation on a Senate vote of 52-48.

But Thomas joined the court as a third solid conservative vote, with the remaining six justices  nominated by Republican and Democratic presidents  representing sort of a mushy mainstream of legal thinking.

The contrast to now may explain why the Kavanaugh battle is as intense as it is. With four solid conservatives and four solid liberals on the court, Kavanaughs confirmation likely would tip the court in a conservative direction. After his nomination, Blumenthal and other Senate liberals saw cherished precedents in jeopardy, including Roe v. Wade, which established abortion rights in 1973.

The very thought of a fifth conservative on the court mobilized Blumenthal and Sen. Chris Murphy, both of whom are feeling pressure from the Democratic base in Connecticut to deliver the goods  defeat of Kavanaugh.

Trump weighs in

On the Republican side, President Donald Trump has not been restrained in his finger-pointing.

Kavanaugh is under assault by radical left-wing politicians who dont want to know the answers, they just want to destroy and delay, Trump tweeted Friday. Facts dont matter. I go through this with them every single day in D.C.

In a separate tweet, Trump also suggested that if the assault was as bad as she says, she should bring forth copies of complaints filed with police so that we can learn date, time, and place!

Anti-Kavanaugh advocates counter that Ford was understandably reticent about coming forward and ultimately did so on her own.

Its a version of what we see every day, said Cordes. It is common for victims not to disclose, not to tell friends, not to report. Women are scrutinized, threatened and somehow blamed for acts of sexual violence perpetrated against them.

Undergirding Democratic opposition is the bitter memory of Merrick Garland, nominated by then-President Barack Obama in March 2016 to fill the vacancy left by the abrupt death of the courts leading conservative, Justice Antonin Scalia.

Had Merrick won confirmation, the courts balance would have tipped 5-4 in a liberal direction. But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., halted the nomination on a gamble that Republican victory in the 2016 presidential election would tip the high courts balance back in a rightward direction.

McConnells strategy paid unexpected dividends when Trump defeated Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, against all odds. In the 20 months since Trumps inauguration, the Senate confirmed one conservative, Neil Gorsuch, to the court and was on the verge of clinching a conservative majority until Ford stepped forward.

Richard Kay, law professor emeritus at UConn and a veteran observer of confirmation battles, said he doubts Democratic resistance to Kavanaugh is direct payback for what happened to Garland.

Nevertheless, it wouldnt be unnatural to seize on it, he said. Its a human reaction.

When the dust from this weeks cross-fire testimony settles, the fate of Kavanaughs confirmation will be in the hands of a few Red-state Democratic and moderate Republican senators.

The cloud surrounding Kavanaugh may give Democrats from states won in 2016 by Trump more of an out to oppose Kavanaugh than would otherwise have been the case, said Schurin.

In addition, Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, both pro-choice and skittish about Kavanaugh on that issue, may turn against him. A combination of centrist Republicans and Democrats voting no likely would seal Kavanaughs confirmation tomb for good.

dan@hearstdc.comSTAMFORD  About 100 people gathered Sunday afternoon at a West Side park to rally against the neighborhood gun violence that has claimed the lives of two youths in just several months.

The latest victim has been identified as 16-year-old Marcus Hall, who was shot in the head and buttocks at the Southwood Square Apartments late Thursday night.

Stamford Police Lt. Thomas Barcello said Halls family took him off life support on Saturday. Police initially reported on Friday the teen had died, but then said he was in critical condition.

Hall is the second teen to be gunned down on the West Side in the last several months. Antonio Robinson, 18, was killed in May when he was shot in the back on West Avenue. Three teens were charged in Robinsons murder earlier this month.

The Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church organized the Stop the Violence rally Sunday at Jackie Robinson Park.

Rev. Robert Jackson, pastor of Bethel AME, said the goal of the event was to bring the community together and to remind youth there are alternative ways to settle disputes instead of guns.

Jackson and other community leaders, including state Sen. Carlo Leone, D-Stamford, spoke at the rally. Others held handwritten signs.

Stop black on black violence. #black love, read a sign held by Kingston Hurse, a 9-year-old fourth-grader at K.T. Murphy Elementary School.

More News Stamford police investigate shooting, teen in critical condition

Residents of Southwood Square, site of the former troubled Southfield Village housing complex, were woken up shortly before midnight Thursday to the sounds of gunshots. Some of the bullets pierced a Ford Explorer. Police Capt. Richard Conklin said the victim was not inside the SUV when the shooting occurred.

Police declined to say whether the shooting was connected to any past violence in the neighborhood. Police have not said if they have identified any suspects.

Police said Hall, who is the citys third homicide victim of the year, lived at Southwood Square, a 12-building complex owned by the city housing authority.

It was built in the early 2000s to replace the old Southfield Village, a federal housing project, which was razed after decades of neglect permeated by shootings.

The village was torn down in 1993 soon after a 7-year-old girl was killed amid crossfire during an outdoor birthday party.

In recent years, the tree-lined streets and vinyl- and brick-sided homes that comprise the complex have not been immune to the bloodshed that plagued the old village.

Last year, a man was wounded in a drive-by shooting. In 2010, two men were killed in a shootout.

Staff writer Barry Lytton contributed to this story.Let us work. Let us live.

Its the political campaign season, and the Smart Justice rallying cry is being heard across Connecticut.

It was loud and clear at the first gubernatorial debate on Sept. 5, with justice reform advocates gathered at the entrance to the University of St. Joseph in West Hartford. The chants were heard last Monday in New Haven as advocates marched to the Shubert Theater where the third debate was taking place. And we expect to hear advocacy voices this coming Wednesday at the University of Connecticut in Storrs, site of the upcoming gubernatorial debate.

Eliminating barriers to employment for people living with criminal records ... is key to anyones re-entry, Smart Justice field organizer Anderson Curtis said during my recent telephone interview with him and other representatives of the American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut (ACLU-CT). Its about creating safer communities, he said.

Curtis was elaborating upon the chants at these rallies in which Smart Justice participants advocate for investment in opportunity and jobs. The slogan on their banner and T-shirts: PEOPLE, Not Prisons.

Smart Justice Connecticut  officially launched in July 2018  is an ACLU-CT initiative. It is part of a nationwide effort begun five years ago to end mass incarceration. The goals of the Connecticut initiative are to cut the states prison and jail population in half and end racial disparities in the justice system.

A critical component in Connecticuts Smart Justice model  indeed its centerpiece  is the direction it receives from persons who have been impacted by the criminal justice system in immediate and personal ways. Its leadership consists of formerly incarcerated people.

Many times we are unheard and uninvited, said Curtis, who has been out of prison for 11 years. After his release, he earned an associate degree in addiction counseling, and has worked as a recovery support specialist. Most recently, hes been working with ACLU-CT.

We can no longer afford to stand on the sidelines, he said.

Smart Justice Connecticut draws upon the expertise of people living with criminal records, like Curtis, in the belief that those closest to the situation are best able to offer innovative solutions to the problems of mass incarceration and its systemic inequities. Yet, those with this special, experiential expertise are typically kept out of the conversation. They remain furthest from the centers of political power, are excluded from decision-making, and lack the resources to effect change. Smart Justice seeks to empower them.

Sandy LoMonico, an ACLU-CT criminal justice organizer, pointed out that we are all impacted by the criminal justice system. She repeatedly emphasized that taxpayers should be concerned about the astronomical costs of mass incarceration.

A 2017 Prison Policy Initiative report, Following the Money of Mass Incarceration, finds it costs federal and state governments and American families $182 billion per year, yet this spending does little to improve public safety or reduce crime. And hardly any of this money goes toward rehabilitation.

The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world. On any given day, there are 2.2 million people in prison. And more than 70 million are living with a criminal record. In Connecticut, as of April, there were 13,656 people incarcerated, at an annual cost of around $50,000 per prisoner.

Gov. Dannel Malloy has made Connecticut a leader in criminal justice reform: closing prisons, repealing the death penalty, decriminalizing possession of small amounts of marijuana, instituting the second chance initiative with emphasis on treatment, education, and job training.

Where do todays gubernatorial candidates stand? I asked for their comments.

Democrat Ned Lamont, who lives in Greenwich:

Im proud that Connecticut has led the nation on criminal justice reform. As governor, I would continue smart-on-crime reforms that have driven down costs by tens of millions of dollars and reduced crime to some of the lowest levels in decades while putting fewer people behind bars. We continue to improve at offering a meaningful second chance to people who have served their time, but theres more to do. I would put an even greater emphasis on successful re-entry programs so that formerly incarcerated people can reach their full potential and contribute to our society and our economy.

Republican Bob Stefanowski: No response.

Hear the call to action at the Smart Justice rallies. Keep informed.

Alma Rutgers served in Greenwich town government for 25 years. Her blog is at blog.ctnews.com/rutgers/WASHINGTON - A former top White House official has revised her statement to investigators about a key event in the probe of Russian interference in the 2016 election, after her initial claim was contradicted by the guilty plea of former national security adviser Michael Flynn, according to people familiar with the matter.

K.T. McFarland, who briefly served as Flynn's deputy, has now said that he may have been referring to sanctions when they spoke in late December 2016 after Flynn's calls with Russia's ambassador to the United States, these people said.

When FBI agents first visited her at her Long Island home in the summer of 2017, McFarland denied ever talking to Flynn about any discussion of sanctions between him and the ambassador, Sergey Kislyak, in December 2016 during the presidential transition.

For a time, investigators saw her answers as "inconsistent," putting her in legal peril as the FBI tried to determine if she had lied to them.

Special counsel Robert Mueller's team is examining whether Flynn's conversations with Kislyak are in any way related to Russia's interference in the 2016 election.

Flynn pleaded guilty last December to lying to the FBI about his calls with Kislyak and has been cooperating with Mueller. He is scheduled to be sentenced in mid-December.

Court papers filed in connection with Flynn's plea indicated that a senior Trump transition official was involved in strategizing over the conversations with Kislyak. That official was not identified in the court papers, but people familiar with the case have said it was McFarland.

Prosecutors have sought to determine what Trump or those close to him knew about Flynn's calls with the Russian ambassador, but McFarland does not appear to be a critical witness in that regard, according to people familiar with the matter.

Not long after Flynn's plea, McFarland was questioned by investigators again about her conversations with Flynn, and she walked back her previous denial that sanctions were discussed, saying a general statement Flynn had made to her that things were going to be OK could have been a reference to sanctions, these people said.

McFarland's account does not answer the question of what the president knew or didn't know about Flynn's interactions with the ambassador, these people said.

McFarland didn't respond to multiple requests for comment, including emails and calls to her home.

Eventually, McFarland and her lawyer Robert Giuffra were able to convince the FBI that she had not intentionally misled the bureau but had rather spoken from memory, without the benefit of any documents that could have helped her remember her exchanges with Flynn about the Kislyak conversations, these people said.

Mueller's team appears to be satisfied with McFarland's revised account, according to people familiar with the probe.

Just days after Flynn talked to Kislyak, however, McFarland said that her memory was clear, and that the two had never discussed sanctions or how the incoming Trump administration hoped Russia would respond.

Early on the morning of Jan. 13, 2017, McFarland phoned one of the authors of this article to rebut a column in The Washington Post, which said Flynn and Kislyak had spoken "several times" on Dec. 29, the day the Obama administration announced it was expelling 35 Russian officials and taking other punitive measures.

The column, by David Ignatius, questioned why Flynn was engaging in sensitive foreign policy discussions with Russia when Trump had yet to take office.

McFarland insisted in an on-the-record conversation that Flynn and Kislyak had never discussed sanctions and that they had actually spoken prior to the administration's announcement on Dec. 29.

She said the two men had talked about plans for a conversation between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, to take place after the inauguration. And, she said, Flynn had expressed his condolences for the assassination of Russia's ambassador to Turkey 10 days earlier.

"It sticks in my mind," McFarland said at the time, because just before the assassination, which was captured on video, transition officials were discussing who might receive ambassadorial posts in the new administration.

"Then we saw the ambassador killed, and it was like, this is no longer tea and crumpets," McFarland said. The killing shook her, she said, because it happened in a country that she presumed had good security for diplomats.

McFarland said that Flynn "called me right after" his call with Kislyak and conveyed the details of their conversation. She said she knew that the call took place before Dec. 29 because by then she had left Trump's Florida resort, Mar-a-Lago, where she had been staying with other members of the transition team.

But according to Flynn's guilty plea, McFarland was still at Mar-a-Lago on Dec. 29. And before Flynn ever called Kislyak, he spoke to McFarland to discuss what he should tell the ambassador, if anything, about the sanctions.

"On that call, Flynn and [McFarland] discussed the U.S. sanctions, including the potential impact of those sanctions on the incoming administration's foreign policy goals," the plea agreement stated.

McFarland, who is identified in the document as a transition team official, also discussed with Flynn that "members of the Presidential Transition Team at Mar-a-Lago did not want Russia to escalate the situation," according to the plea.

Immediately after that call with McFarland, Flynn phoned Kislyak "and requested that Russia not escalate the situation and only respond to the U.S. Sanctions in a reciprocal manner," according to the plea. Flynn then called McFarland to report on what he had said to Kislyak, "including their discussion of the U.S. sanctions."

McFarland's earlier account from the on-the-record conversation also matches public statements from Sean Spicer, the transition team's spokesman and future White House press secretary.

Spicer said that Flynn and Kislyak spoke Dec. 28, before the sanctions were announced, and that "the call centered around the logistics of setting up a call with the president of Russia and the president-elect after he was sworn in."

"That was it, plain and simple," he said.

Emails among transition officials at the time of Flynn's contacts also show McFarland communicating about how to respond to sanctions, according to people who have seen the messages.

McFarland's statements about Flynn and Kislyak also came under scrutiny by lawmakers and helped scuttle her nomination as the U.S. ambassador to Singapore.

In July 2017, Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, asked McFarland in writing whether she had spoken to Flynn about his contacts with the Russian ambassador during the transition.

"I am not aware of any of the issues or events as described above," McFarland replied.

Congressional officials said they found McFarland's response misleading in light of Flynn's guilty plea, which he struck four months later.

But McFarland's defenders noted that she appeared to be responding to a lengthy statement from Booker, who in the same question described warnings Flynn was reported to have received about interacting with Kislyak, whose communications were almost certainly being intercepted by U.S. intelligence, as well as conflicts of interest Flynn may have had related to his business dealings with Turkey.

Booker's question, however, specifically asked: "Did you ever discuss any of General Flynn's contacts with [Kislyak] directly with General Flynn?"

McFarland withdrew her nomination in February 2017, after the Republican chairman of the committee made clear that she couldn't be confirmed without explaining the discrepancies between her written statements and the emails that showed McFarland knew Flynn was talking to Kislyak.Often hidden away in plain sight, there is a lot of movement currently under way in the realm of voice assistants and AI. Companies are starting to predict a pretty bright future for the technology and act accordingly to strengthen their ranks, while the space is still young and fragmented. Case and point, Microsoft and Amazon's recently unveiled collaboration, which has already seen Alexa and Cortana start to interconnect.

Make no mistake, that's definitely not as far as the story goes. Fast on the heels of Amazon's latest Echo hardware refresh, Microsoft announced that it will be bringing Skype calls to said devices. Likely, in the future, all Alexa-enabled devices as well. As per the press release, the feature will be just as intuitive as Amazon's current calling capabilities. Once in place, you will simply be able to say "Alexa, call Jimmy on Skype" to make a call, or "Alexa, answer" to take a Skype call on your smart speaker.

And, in case you are wondering, yes, Amazon Echo devices can, indeed, already make and receive calls and even message. There is the kind of creepy Drop-in functionality, the Echo Connect, for landlines and even support for calling most numbers in the US, Mexico and Canada. However, Skype still brings a few vital assets to the table, like its video call and conference service, which will work on Echo devices with a screen. But, most-importantly, the vast user base.

We'll definitely keep and eye on this flourishing Microsoft and Amazon voice AI relationship and keep you updated.

SourcePublished on 2018/09/23 | Source

Lee Youn-taek attends his trial at the Seoul Central District Court in Seoul on Wednesday. /Newsis

Prominent playwright and director Lee Youn-taek was sentenced to six years behind bars on Wednesday for sexually assaulting actors in his troupe.

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The allegations were first made by an actress in February of this year, causing many others to come forward and launching a version of the "Me Too" movement in Korea's performing arts community.

This is the first official punishment meted to a prominent artist among those accused here.

Lee was convicted of habitually molesting and sexually assaulting eight actresses from 2010 to 2016. He was also accused of such offenses prior to 2010, but the statute of limitations has expired.

At his trial, Lee admitted to touching the actresses but claimed this was part of his "unique" training methods. "I made some misjudgments while trying to create highly polished plays", he said in his final statement in court. "I was unaware of the pain suffered by the victims since they did not resist".

But the Seoul Central District Court found Lee guilty of 18 counts of sexual assault. He was also ordered to undergo 80 hours of psychological treatment.

The judge said, "The credibility of the victims' accounts can be seen from the fact that they stepped forward without hiding their identities and took joint action in spite of the tremendous pain and psychological burden".



We're a family of seven living in Georgia where Andrew's working as a professor at GSU. You can read more about us hereHoneywell Process Solutions (HPS) revealed that it was recently named Best Instrumentation & Electrical Material Partner by global technology licensor and engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor Maire Tecnimont Group.



Honeywell was recognised for results across six areas of its work with Maire Tecnimont, which included early engagement, competitive total costing, risk sharing and impeccable execution, said a statement from the company.



The award was presented to Honeywell at a ceremony during the SEENERGY event, dedicated to the groups supply chain. More than 70 chief executive officers of partner companies attended the event in Milan, Italy, representing about 900 billion ($1,041.9 billion) of revenue and almost four million workers, it said.



John Rudolph, president of HPS, said: We are honoured to be recognized as a valued partner to Maire Tecnimont.



The award acknowledges the contribution of EPCs to our success in the market, and the consistent and excellent results our joint teams deliver, he added.



Honeywell has had a long and successful relationship with Maire Tecnimont, which encompasses 50 operating companies and more than 8,500 professionals. Working across the hydrocarbon processing value chain, namely oil and gas refining, petrochemicals and fertilisers, Maire Tecnimont manages large turnkey EPC projects in more than 40 countries, it added.



Pierroberto Folgiero, chief executive officer, Maire Tecnimont Group, said: A new proactive and collaborative approach with businesses partners is a core part of our strategy and is already showing measurable results on our projects.



Honeywell has collaborated with the group to deliver numerous projects, providing and implementing automation controls, safety and cybersecurity solutions. It also has recently started to develop innovative business models with the group around its Honeywell Connected Plant solutions, which is a suite of applications that delivers higher levels of safety, reliability, efficiency and profitability, it stated.  TradeArabia News ServiceDeyaar Development, one of Dubais leading real estate service providers, said progress was being made on the Afnan and Dania districts within its Midtown development in Dubai with nearly 50 per cent construction work already competed.



Following the handover of two flagship residential projects within its portfolio earlier this year, Deyaar said the construction of both districts have reached the halfway point, with units sale exceeding 87 per cent mark.



A family-friendly community with a built-up area of 5.5 million sq/ft, Midtown comprises 27 buildings across six districts, that will share a single-level podium covering retail, parking and essential services.



Situated in Dubai Production City, Midtown offers easy access to many local amenities, and provides excellent transport links to Dubai International Airport, Dubai Mall, Mall of the Emirates, and Al Maktoum International Airport, as well as the Dubai Expo 2020 site.



The Emirati developer said work on its other project - the Deyaar Millennium Hotel and Serviced Apartments was expected to wrap up by the end of 2018. Located close to Mall of the Emirates in Al Barsha, the property aims to tap into the increasing demand for hotel and serviced apartment accommodation in the area.



Deyaar Millennium has a total built up area of more than 450,000 sq/ft. The hotel will have 408 units, including 299 hotel rooms, of which 15 will be suites, in addition to 109 serviced apartments - a mix of 93 one- and 16 two-bed apartments.



In March, Deyaar handed over the residential towers of the Mont Rose development, a project located in Dubai Science Park. Mont Rose comprises three towers  one with hotel apartments, and two residential.



Both residential towers feature 146 one-, 144 two- and seven three-bedroom apartments. The hotel apartment tower has been designed to offer 126 studios, as well as 72 one-bedroom apartments.



Since July, the handover of Deyaars iconic residential tower, The Atria, has been ongoing,. said the Dubai devleoper in its statement.



The Atria is a luxury mixed-use twin tower complex over 1.4 million sq/ft that marks Deyaars foray into the hospitality sector. The residential tower comprises 219 units over 30 floors, including one to three-bedroom apartments, three-bedroom duplexes and four-bedroom penthouse.



The hotel apartment tower comprises 347 bespoke apartments, including studios, one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments, and three-bedroom duplex units, with construction now complete.



Speaking on the companys progress, CEO Saeed Al Qatami said: "From the very start, Deyaar has been committed to developing properties to the very highest standards of quality."



"We have demonstrated that this year with two of our flagship residential projects, the Mont Rose was delivered to the owners earlier this year, and we have recently initiated the handover process for The Atria. Deyaar will continue to develop and deliver properties inline with the UAEs wide-ranging community needs and preferences," he added.-TradeArabia News ServiceSaudia Dairy and Foodstuff Company (Sadafco) has completed its third edition of Saifi Internship Program (SIP), as part of its efforts to support the Saudi Arabian governments vision.



The programme offered high school and university students the opportunity to gain experience and exposure to different practices at the companys premises across the kingdom, said a statement from the company.



Launched jointly by the Ministry of Labour and Social Development (MOLSD) and the Human Resources Development Fund (HRDF), the programme is aimed at training and developing practical skills among the kingdoms youth, it said.



The four-week internship programme ran from July 8 until August 5, with the participation of 68 male and female students, it added.



The trainees were allocated to different departments according to their areas of specialisation. While some were assigned to factories, others were engaged in stores, workshops, administration and finance activities.



Wout Matthijs, Chief Executive Officer, Sadafco, said: Our company has constantly supported the kingdoms long-term vision of empowering young talents and implementing Saudization.



There is a mismatch of talent and job market demand, and we are delighted to be given the chance to play an active role in bridging that gap by offering students training programmes at our offices, he said.



Through the one-month programme, interns were able to enhance their skills in team work, time-management and work on their personal development. Through the daily assignments, the trainees were given room to claim responsibility over tasks which in turn taught them optimum decision making procedures.



To ensure that interns received a constructive experience, Sadafco collected managers and trainees feedback through the training process survey available on SAIFIs website.



Upon completion of the programme, trainees were invited to meet the Human Resources Manager and Public relations and Government, Talal Al Nounou, and receive their certificates, it stated.  TradeArabia News ServiceAll gave some; some gave all. Here's how to honor veterans this year

localAirbus, an international pioneer in the aerospace industry, has partnered with new application developers to create secure multimedia solutions for professional communication.



Airbus will showcase the new application at the Critical Communications MENA to be held in Dubai, UAE, on September 24 and 25.



For instance, the Finnish companies Varjo, which will showcase their virtual and extended reality solutions; and Nsion, which develops real-time video apps for public safety organisations, will give an insight into the new possibilities of Airbus critical communications platforms, said a statement from the company.



Selim Bouri, vice-president and head of Middle East, North Africa and Asia-Pacific for secure land communications at Airbus, said: The continuously expanding Airbus app portfolio grows to an ecosystem that meets the demands of mission- and business-critical markets.



During CCMENA, we will show a thoughtful and consistent concept of how the latest smart technologies can combine current and future critical communication technology, Bouri added.



Among the latest Airbus products, the award-winning Tactilon Dabat plays a crucial role in bridging the gap between secure narrowband and broadband networks. It is the world's first integrated smartphone and full Tetra radio in one and will be on display during the CCMENA. It unfolds as a highly secure mobile device including manifold Airbus-approved multimedia applications facilitating the work of police officers, paramedics, firefighters and industries, it said.



Since the start of the Airbus Critical App Challenge for the Middle East, more and more pioneers, start-up companies and inventive minds have given birth to useful app ideas for the Dabat device. The online challenge asks participants to develop proofs of concept for innovative mission-critical solutions for Secure Land Communications app ecosystem.



Furthermore, Airbus will showcase on its booth in Dubai a new way to test its Viewcor monitoring capability for secure broadband network functionalities. By installing Viewcor Agent in smart phones, the service quality of the mobile broadband network can be monitored in real time. No integration with a verified network is needed. The solution works both in commercial and dedicated 3G and 4G/LTE networks. In the future also 5G networks are supported. Trials can be started immediately.



Airbus itself has developed a highly versatile collaboration solution Tactilon Agnet for business- and mission-critical communication. It helps gather, process and deploy intelligence for businesses or governmental organisations to expand their communication in groups. Voice, video and data will be available for exchanging information securely with Tetra or Tetrapol networks.



Going public under the theme Intelligence Shared, Airbus as CCMENAs Diamond partnerwill also showcase other Tetra and other solutions on booth B20 at the Madinat Jumeirah in Dubai. The latest developments consist of a multitude of future applications to facilitate communication and collaboration among public safety and industrial users, it stated.  TradeArabia News ServiceLeading exhibitors from 60 countries will showcase their latest tools at the fifth edition of Gulfood Manufacturing, the Middle Easts largest food and beverage processing forum, to be held later this year in Dubai, UAE.



The event will take place from November 6 to 8, at the Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC).



The upcoming event will be Gulfoods most well-rounded and forward-looking exhibition and conference to date, offering a 360-degree solutions platform for a regional industry buoyed by strong consumer demand in an increasingly competitive marketplace, said a statement from the organisers.



While retaining its long-standing reputation as the principal place to conduct multimillion-dollar business transactions with global exhibitors, the exhibition boasts a range of features that puts it firmly in the realm of future forecasting, trend tracking and sector education, it said.



Four key features  a Big Buyers programme, where up to 2,000 buyers are hosted; innovation demos, which will provide deep insights into artificial intelligence, machine learning, blockchain and robotics; Gulfood Manufacturing Industry Excellence Awards, designed to inspire and reward process innovations; and a probing FoodTech Summit  have been integrated to strengthen the events position as the vanguard of F&B transformation, it added.



Trixie LohMirmand, senior vice president, exhibitions & events  DWTC, said: The breadth of food production technology is so wide that the industry requires a multi-offering platform showcasing advanced manufacturing.



Suppliers from around the world have their eyes fixed on the Middle East, where cross-sector demand continues to climb, she said.



Regional producers are now scaling up and utilising higher grade technology to meet Industry 4.0 demands. The programme has adopted a multi-audience approach that speaks to both producers and suppliers, she added.



The Gulfood Manufacturing conference series, under its new identity FoodTech Summit, will set the agenda for the industrys vision, with deep insights into the future  near and far, said a statement.



Sessions will focus on the Factory of the Future and a look at how Industry 4.0  or the fourth Industrial Revolution - is redefining the F&B manufacturing and processing industry. The talks will pose challenging compelling questions and suggest steps to keep the regional industry relevant in the digital era, it said.



On the show floor, visitors will find an exhibition that continues to outperform expectations. By homing in on individual areas of relevance, Gulfood Manufacturing now hosts five dedicated sectors - ingredients, processing, packaging, automation and controls, and supply chain solutions - to improve the experience for both buyer and seller, so both can make better use of visit times, it added.



Together the five sectors will span 80,000 sq m of space across 16 halls and showcase solutions from more than 1,600 local, regional and international industry service providers from 60 countries, as well as tens of thousands of visitors.



Such is the shows expanding international reputation that one of the global food manufacturing industrys biggest players, Ishida of Japan, a world leader in helping manufacturers reduce costs, increase efficiencies and maximise profits through its state-of-the-art weighing, packing and inspection solutions, has dubbed the event by far the best food manufacturing and packaging show in the Middle East.



Having participated at Gulfood Manufacturing since its inception in 2014, Ishida returns in 2018 with a futuristic product portfolio including X-ray inspection systems and its Sentinel line monitoring software that allows manufacturers to optimise productions lines remotely and prevent faults from occurring.



The firm plans to use the wide-reaching appeal of Gulfood Manufacturing to target conversions in Turkey, Egypt, the wider African continent, India, Pakistan and Central Europe.



Torsten Giese, marketing manager  PR & Exhibitions, Ishida Europe, said: We are seeing a rise in regional demand for convenience and ready-to-eat foods. For manufacturers to remain competitive and maximise the opportunities offered by this growth, it is important to automate processes to reduce costs, minimise product waste and increase packing speeds and overall line efficiencies.



Data is going to play a starring role in the future of food production. The entire production process will be mapped digitally and analysed in real time while big data and machine learning enables processes to be continually optimised, quality standards to be raised and heightened predictive maintenance for all connected equipment to avoid any loss of output or unscheduled downtime, which can have negative consequences for a food production business, Giese said.



Any manufacturer wanting to stay competitive should be working to build up a smart factory and making use of big data solutions. Ishida specialises in this area and our stand at Gulfood Manufacturing will feature the latest developments in how we help our customers with their food packing automation, added Giese.



The innovation demos will be an early alert system for the industrys future with participants taking in examples of robots working among humans at production lines, and high-speed machines with capacity to churn out bags at 200 units per minute.



Participants will include some of the 2,000 pre-qualified, C-Level management attendees from across the Middle East, Africa and South Asia being hosted through the shows expansive Big Buyer programme, which feeds investment appetites.



The Gulfood Manufacturing Industry Excellence Awards will recognise and reward best practices and innovation within the food manufacturing industry value chain. The awards will be judged by an international panel of experts representing food processing and packaging industries, graphics experts, equipment suppliers, academia, trade press, governmental, environmental and trade organisations, it stated.  TradeArabia News ServiceBirthday wishes

Call 281-422-8302 or email david.bloom@baytownsun.com to wish someone a happy birthday. We will print your birthday wish on Page 2 of The Sun.

Happy Birthday WishesThe region's leading shippers and project cargo professionals will come together at the Breakbulk Middle East, to be held for the first time in Dubai, UAE, in February next year.



The event, hosted by the UAE-based global marine terminal operator DP World, will take place on February 11 and 12, 2019, at the Dubai World Trade Centre.



Mohammed Al Muallem, DP Worlds chief executive officer and managing director, UAE Region, said: "As the official host port sponsor for the fourth edition of Breakbulk Middle East, we believe the event is the ideal platform not only to network with shippers, ports, carriers, forwarders and heavy transport specialists but also to generate informed discussions by industry leaders on the opportunities and challenges facing the global breakbulk and cargo sector.



Breakbulk Middle East in Dubai will help global leaders connect with the strong and dynamic maritime sector in the UAE and its key decision-makers. We believe that collaboration, partnership and cooperation build bridges towards enduring relationships and business growth, he added.



Al Muallem continued: The event is also strategically timed to bring wider focus on the pivotal role our industry will play as Expo 2020 draws closer. The demand for handling breakbulk and special project cargo will rise sharply in the months ahead and as a Premier Global Trade Partner of the event DP World UAE Region is working to ensure that Jebel Ali Port is ready to fulfil its role as the premier gateway for expo-bound cargo.



Ben Blamire, the events commercial director, said: We have been organising this event for years in many countries, but I can say with confidence our Middle East editions were exceptional. We are also privileged with the constant support we always receive from the government authorities and international companies, which contribute significantly to the success of our event.



We look at the UAE as a permanent platform that will continue to add imperative value to discussions and ideas that are exchanged among participants, he said.



This will contribute to shaping the future of the maritime industry and marine services, which are the backbone of the international trade, he added.



Alongside the exhibition, Breakbulk Middle East offers a full two-day conference, covering the important topics that project cargo specialists need to know to seize regional opportunities and construct effective project plans.



Sponsored by loyal key partners, such as King Abdulla Port, Agility, Bahri Logistics, KDL Logistics, MICCO, COSCO Shipping and Port of Salalah, both conference and expo guarantee face-to-face opportunities to discuss these topics in greater depth.



Major topics include GCC economic diversification, drilling down to project opportunities, logistics for post-conflict regions and HSE and workforce strategies.



Leslie Meredith, marketing director, Breabulk Events & Media, said: As per the positive feedback from our partners who expressed their satisfaction to participate in the previous editions, we are currently working hard with our events partners and consultants to ensure tackling diverse topics than we presented in the previous editions.



I want to confirm that our event is an interactive business platform that enables industry leaders to discuss important issues affecting the current reality of the industry and its future prospects on a global level, Meredith said.



We have recently opened the registration for our fourth edition and we highly welcome all the industry experts and key players to join and register through the official website, Meredith concluded.  TradeArabia News ServiceThe Smart Dubai Office (SDO) has launched the Payment Reconciliation and Settlement System, developed in collaboration with the Dubai Department of Finance as a Blockchain-powered upgrade to its financial system.



The new system introduces Blockchain technology into the Departments processes, allowing transactions to be performed accurately and in real time and economising time and effort.



The Department of Finances current procedures rely on having staff members physically go through payments collected from various portals to manually reconcile and settle them, deducting the fees due to the Department and then transferring the remaining amounts to the relevant Authority  a time-consuming process that could take up to 45 days.



Smart technologies continue to infiltrate every aspect of human life and societies; virtually everything we do today relies fully or to some degree on an advanced technology once considered disruptive, said Dr Aisha Bint Butti Bin Bishr, director general of the Smart Dubai Office (SDO).



Guided by the forward-thinking vision of its leadership, Dubai has long been a trailblazer in embracing avant-garde technologies  most notably those of the Fourth Industrial Revolution  and tailoring them to meet the needs of our citizens, residents and visitors, in a bid to transform Dubai into the happiest and smartest city in the world.



Blockchain is one of the most promising of these technologies, attracting more investments every year, Dr Aisha added. Once again, Dubai was a pioneer in this sector and continues to make progress with the launch of the Payment Reconciliation and Settlement System, which falls in line with the ambitious Dubai Blockchain Strategy, launched by Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and chairman of the Dubai Executive Council. The Strategy seeks to increase government efficiency by transferring 100 per cent of government transactions to the Blockchain network.



Ensuring the success of the Payment Reconciliation and Settlement system requires fostering collaboration and synergy among the various Government entities that have joined  or are planning to join  the system, considering that it calls for each entity to open its data and work hand-in-hand with other departments from across the Government spectrum, Dr Aisha concluded.



Wesam Lootah, CEO of the Smart Dubai Government Establishment (SDG), noted: We, at Smart Dubai, consider technology to be a means for us to help improve peoples quality of life and spread happiness among them. Correctly applied across various key sectors, we believe Blockchain has massive potential to achieve our emirates ambitions for a fully-fledged smart transformation. In 2018 alone, investment in this game-changing technology surpassed that of all the previous years combined, and analysts project the global Blockchain market to be worth $290 billion by 2019.



The new and advanced Payment Reconciliation and Settlement System offers Dubai Government entities many significant benefits, Lootah added. Besides enabling near real-time reconciliations and settlement, the System eliminates friction from financial processes through automation and minimising human intervention. It allows for clear visibility of funds; immediate disputes and claims resolution; transparency and immutability of financial records.



The Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa)and the Knowledge and Human Development Authority(KHDA) were the first government agencies to join the system; the two entities have already processed a combined total of more than five million transactions using the advanced Blockchain-powered system.



In the coming period, more Government entities will be joining the System, most notably: Dubai Police; Roads and Transport Authority (RTA); Dubai Health Authority (DHA); Dubai Airports; Dubai Customs; Dubai Municipality; Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM); Dubai Courts; and Dubai Holding, among other local Government bodies and a number of prominent banks and financial services providers.  TradeArabia News ServiceThe valour and sacrifices of Indian warrior kings, queens and soldiers against foreign domination is legend. But most acclaimed by historians, is the heroism of our soldiers on World War I fronts under British commanders, especially in West Asia. Indian troops of the 15th Cavalry Brigade formed the largest component of allied forces that fought and liberated Palestine from four centuries of despotic Turkish rule. Their final battle in the campaign was to gain control over the strategic port city of Haifa, an essential sea route for landing supplies, armaments and men.

A century ago, some 400 soldiers of the Imperial Services Troops of the renowned Jodhpur, Mysore and Hyderabad Lancers, armed with swords and lances, backed by British rearguard shelling and gunfire, stormed the bastions of a strong enemy in a virtually impossible task of routing over a thousand Turkish, German and Austrian troops, ensconced on the heights of Mount Carmel, defending their positions with machine guns and cannons. It was a virtual Biblical David and Goliath combat, a most daring exploit in an armed conflict. Led by Major Dalpat Singh Shekhawat, the gallant lancers stormed Mount Carmel. Their sheer courage, martial and equestrian skill, helped them overrun gun emplacements and force concentrations. Their heroic leader, Major Dalpat Singh, led the charge, and single-handedly captured a machine-gun piquet that rained death upon his men and their horses. He was fatally wounded in that daring effort and Captain Aman Singh led the lancers to the finish. In a matter of few desperate and fatal hours for the Turks and their alien supporters, Haifa was liberated on 23rd September 1918. Over a thousand Turk and German soldiers were taken prisoner. Our forces lost 44 lives. Major Dalpat Singhs death was lamented not only by our Indian forces but also by Colonel Harvey, a British officer who reported: His death is a loss not only to all Jodhpuris, but to India and the whole of the British Empire. The British Government eulogised Major Dalpat Singhs heroic feat, named him Hero of Haifa and posthumously awarded him the Military Cross. That feat of courage of our forces is unmatched in the annals of warfare, and the commander in chief of British forces, General Sir Edmund Allenby, commented: No more remarkable cavalry action of its scale was fought in the whole course of the campaign. A Delhi memorial at Teen Murti Chowk raised in honour of the Lancers of Jodhpur, Mysore and Hyderabad was renamed Haifa Chowk during the recent visit of the Israeli prime minister to Delhi. A plaque unveiled in Haifa by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, salutes the memory of Major Dalpat Singh. Besides memorials and plaques, the municipality of Haifa immortalised the role of Indian soldiers in the liberation of Haifa by including accounts of their bravery and sacrifices in their school books.

Beyond the realm of politics and warfare there was another important and sensitive factor the British forces had to deal with. Living during those disturbed times in Haifa was a person whom all Palestine revered and held in high regard. He was Abdul-Baha, son of Bahaullah, Founder of the Bahai Faith, and leader of the Bahai world community. Having been exiled, with his father from his native Persia, and released after a long and unjust prison sentence, he was again under threat of arrest and death for his religious beliefs, by Jamal Pasha, commander of the Turkish forces. Fearing great civil unrest should Abdul-Baha, an innocent and peaceful religious leader, be crucified, as had been announced by Jamal Pasha, the British Foreign Secretary, Arthur Balfour, ordered British Intelligence in Palestine to ensure the safety of Abdul-Baha. On the momentous day of the liberation of Haifa, General Allenby cabled a brief message to London saying: Have today taken Palestine. Notify the world that Abdul-Baha is safe.

A few days after peace descended on Haifa, Abdul-Baha met with and warmly greeted Indian soldiers, I am glad to meet you he said. The people of India have a wonderful spiritual capacity. They are naturally inclined towards God and religionThey are people of faith and intelligenceThe people are God-fearing, loving and faithfulAlthough this war was terrible, it made this meeting possible. I hope you will return in safety to India. Abdul-Baha passed away on 28th November 1921, and his funeral, attended by over ten thousand, Arab and Jew, Druze and Christian, young and old, rich and poor, mourned the passing of their benevolent father. Abdul-Baha lies enshrined in a monumental shrine on Mount Carmel, the last Turkish bastion in Palestine freed by valiant Indian soldiers. So, as September 23 is observed as Vijay Diwas and Haifa Day each year in India and Israel, the Bahai world additionally celebrates it as the day of the liberation of Abdul-Baha.

In celebration of the centenary year of the battle of Haifa the Israeli government has issued a special first day cover and a set of commemorative postage stamps.

Sheriar Nooreyezdan is a history enthusiast who was part of the team that built the Bahai temple in Delhi

The views expressed are personalAs if it wasnt already obvious how hectic her filming schedule is, actor Alia Bhatt gave a little glimpse of her taking a mid-flight nap. Shes one of the busiest actors in Bollywood  shooting Karan Johars Kalank in Mumbai and Brahamastra with Ranbir Kapoor in Bulgaria at the same time  but even Alia Bhatt needs to sleep sometimes.

On Sunday, Alia shared a photo, where she explained to her fans that she is Forever that girl who gets really excited when the sky is in pretty colours. But in the photo she shared, Alia is seen snuggling up into a comfortable, warm position instead of admiring the pink sky from her plane window. It seemingly looks like Alia was secretly snapped on her quest for sleep in the new Instagram, the latest in a series of candid moments captured when Alia was not looking.

From showing off her adorable curiosity and wonder while exploring Bulgaria with boyfriend Ranbir Kapoor to using a restroom as the backdrop for an impromptu photo shoot, Alias fresh-faced beauty and camera-ready smile has been documented (and shared on Instagram by the actor herself) in every scenario imaginable.

Alia and Ranbir have been full of sweet moments during their recent Bulgaria trip, where they shot for Brahmastra. In fact, Alias social media feeds are full of their retro-looking, grainy images with light streaks that look like they were taken on old-school disposable cameras, date stamp and all. Looks like Alia has been using a new app called Huji Cam to give her Instagram photos that grainy 90s vibe.

Alias Instagram has always had a washed-out and retro-cool quality, and now that you know how to achieve it, you might never be going back to plain old Insta filters, right? Take a look through a few of Alia Bhatts newest photos on Instagram:

Alia posted a picture of her posing in front of a mirror with her stylist Shnoy and it looks fun.

Before than Alia posted a couple of new black-and-whites of herself and her boyfriend Ranbir Kapoor from their Bulgaria trip

When the angle is right, you gotta do what you gotta do, Alia captioned this photo that was taken by Ranbir.

Alia captioned this photo of her chilling with Ranbir and Brahmastra director Ayan Mukherji with a song from Disneys The Lion King, It means no worries, for the rest of your dayssss...hakuna matata.

im nicer when i like my outfit, read teh caption along with Alias photo from London.

Alias caption read, to infinity and beyond. The number 8 on her blue jersey isnt just a coincidence. Ranbir is an ardent football lover and wears the number whenever he plays football matches.

Follow @htshowbiz for moreFilm industry personalities such as Soni Razdan, Shabana Azmi and Shyam Benegal attended the funeral of filmmaker Kalpana Lajmi, who died in Mumbai on Sunday following a multiple organ failure. She was 64.

Her younger brother, Dev Lajmi performed the last rites at Oshiwara Crematorium amid a gathering of close friends and family members, including mother Lalita Lajmi. A wreath was sent by Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal to pay respects to Lajmi.

Lajmi was the niece of the legendary Guru Dutt and was acclaimed for making women-oriented films like Rudaali, Ek Pal, Daman and Chingaari.

"Extremely sorry to inform you that Kalpana Lajmi passed away this morning at 4.30 am," the filmmaker's spokesperson Parul Chawla told IANS.

Lajmi breathed her last at the Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani hospital, where she was admitted in the intensive care unit since Tuesday due to kidney-related issues, the spokesperson added.

The cremation was held at the Oshiwara crematorium. You can see photographs here.

Mourners gather at Kalpana Lajmis funeral. (Viral Bhayani)

Celebrities such as Raveena Tandon, Manoj Bajpayee and director Hansal Mehta, among others mourned the demise of "fearless" filmmaker Kalpana Lajmi on social media.

Raveena, who worked with Lajmi in Daman and won National Film Award for Best Actress for the film, took to Twitter to recall the "treasured" memories spent on the movie sets.

Here are more reactions:

You will be missed Kalpanaji.Was not your time to go..but may your heart now be at peace. . Those days while shooting Daman will be a treasured memory. #KalpanaLajmi Om Shanti. pic.twitter.com/mtteS4nAlZ  Raveena Tandon (@TandonRaveena) September 23, 2018

Very very sad to hear that #KalpanaLajmi who made such beautiful films as #Rudaali has passed away. May God give her peace.  Adil hussain (@_AdilHussain) September 23, 2018

Sorry to hear of the passing of Kalpana Lajmi, a film-maker of rare sensitivity. The repertoire of her work, from depicting strong and resilient women to cinematic renditions of Assamese life, was remarkable. Condolences to her family and well-wishers #PresidentKovind  President of India (@rashtrapatibhvn) September 23, 2018

Just heard about Kalpana Lajmi passing away. Had worked with her as an editor when she made Darmiyaan. Will always remember her with fondness and respect for being a fearless woman and a powerhouse of a person in a male dominated industry. Rest In Peace dear Kalpana.  Hansal Mehta (@mehtahansal) September 23, 2018

Our dear beloved friend Kalpana Lajmi has gone to a better place. RIP my darling Kalpan. I shall miss you so terribly.  Soni Razdan (@Soni_Razdan) September 23, 2018

With agency inputsActor turned reality TV judge and mother Shilpa Shetty Kundra typically posts light-hearted Sunday Binge videos on her social media every Sunday. But Shilpas new post on Sunday was insightful, thought-provoking and serious and it offered an insight into her recent travel experience in Australia.

Shilpas post Subject: #Quantas airways @qantas This should get your attention! garnered lots of attention on Sunday for her candid comments and nuanced observations about racism and brown people. In her post, Shilpa wrote: WE are NOT #pushovers and they MUST know that being #callous and #Rude will NOT BE TOLERATED.

Read Shilpas post in full, here:

Shilpa was travelling from Sydney to Melbourne by Quantas Airways, when she allegedly encountered one of their grumpy ground staffs being offensive and unnecessarily rude to her. Writing about what sparked the incident and left her fuming, Shilpa narrated how the staff prevented her from checking in her half empty duffel bag and forced her not once but twice to go to the oversized luggage counter, which was going to shut in five minutes.

Thats when things went from bad to worse, the actor wrote, We had no time to waste so we ran to the oversized baggage counter and requested her to put the bag through which she did after I told her that #Rude #Mel (thats her name) had issues !!!.... to which another colleague joined in and reiterated my duffle wasnt oversized and couldve easily been checked in.

Shilpa shared a photo of her with the duffel bag in question and asked her followers, Please tell me if that bag in the picture is oversized??!!

Alleging racially motivated behaviour of the Qantas staff, Shilpa further wrote, The point is .. This piece is only for #quantas airlines to know and take cognisance .. that their staff must be taught to be helpful and TONE cant change with preference to #COLOUR.

Shilpa is not the only one, actor Priyanka Chopra was also a victim of racist attitude at a crowded airport. Priyanka was misbehaved with at the first class lounge of an airport, she told Karan Johar on his chat show, Koffee With Karan, in 2016. Priyanka had said that she later received an apology but only after an argument with the concerned airport personnel, reported DNA.

Follow @htshowbiz for moreIn the introduction to Hippie, his latest work, Paulo Coelho writes that everything that follows truly happened to him. The protagonist is called Paulo and he embarks on a journey from Amsterdam to Nepal on the ramshackle Magic Bus that traversed the route in the era of hippies, flower power and free love. He does not make it to the subcontinent, deciding to stay back in Istanbul and explore the mystic traditions of the place. Paulo Coelho may not have been to India yet, but he finds constant inspiration in Indian literature and legends.

The following lines from the Gitanjali preface Hippie:

I thought that my voyage had come to its end

at the last limit of my power,

 that the path before me was closed,

that provisions were exhausted,

and the time come to take shelter in a silent obscurity.

But I find that thy will knows no end in me.

And when old words die out on the tongue,

new melodies break forth from the heart;

and where the old tracks are lost,

new country is revealed with its wonders.

Rabindranath Tagore, Coelho says, has been a major influence, not only on him but on many of his peers. Poetry is another way of seeing the world, he says. These days people dont pay enough attention to poetry. By quoting Tagore at the beginning of the book, I wanted to bring back attention to his work.

Coelho had at first wanted to title this book And where the old tracks are lost, from the above poem. But then I thought it may not translate accurately in all languages and settled for Hippie, says the author whose books have been translated into 80 languages.

Song and dance

The ardent Bollywood fan Coelho doesnt see any of his books becoming movies (Getty Images)

Besides Tagore, whom he counts among the major influences on his writing and life, alongside Kabir, Rumi and Hafez, Coelho also places high value on the Bhagvad Gita and its teachings. The moment I read it, I fell in love with the book. It continues to be my book for all times. When I first discovered it, I wrote the song Gita. It was sung by Raul Seixas and you can listen to it on YouTube, he says.

The lessons of the Gita have profound significance for Coelho. Standing at the edge of the mystery, Arjuna asks Krishna Who are you? Krishna will not be straightforward and chooses to tease Arjuna. He says I am the blindness of those who can see, I am the eyes of those who cannot see. The Gita teaches you to understand the mystery, accept your destiny and when there is a battle to face, to go forth and fulfil your task.

The moment I read the Bhagvad Gita, I fell in love with it. its my book for all times... it teaches you to accept your destiny

Another aspect of India the rest of the world should appreciate is Bollywood films, says Coelho, who watches them regularly. I am surprised they dont find more space outside India. Ive seen My Name is Khan (2010) and consider it a masterpiece. It was brilliant. I was so overwhelmed by Shah Rukh Khans role and the way he plays it  pure magic  I got in touch with him. The film deserved an Oscar. Another film I enjoyed was The Lunchbox (2013), which also pays tribute to the dabbawalas of Mumbai. Outside India, Bollywood movies are as inadequately understood and appreciated as the Gita is, he says.

Learning and teaching

A photograph of Paulo Coelho from one of his many travels in the 1970s (Courtesy: Penguin Random House)

The ardent Bollywood fan doesnt, however, see any of his books becoming movies. A book is a book and a movie is a movie. Every time there has been an attempt to make one into the other, it has been a complete disaster. When you write, you create characters, landscapes, how people speak and how they are. A film cannot do justice to that. I have forbidden the selling of the rights of my books to movies. This is after I made a mistake and sold the rights to The Alchemist several years ago. If it is ever made into a film, I will have no involvement with it. I will buy a ticket and see the movie, and Im certain I wont like it. And I will express my opinion freely. Those aspiring to make the movie havent managed to convince me. I dont even open the envelopes in which the screenplays arrive. The Alchemist is not a movie, neither is Hippie.

I made a mistake and sold the rights to The Alchemist. If its made into a film, Ill have no involvement

This is understandable, coming from an author who counts his book sales in millions. Paulo Coelho is not just read, hes quoted, trusted, followed. But he maintains he is no spiritual guide. A guru teaches, I dont. I believe life is a mystery and everything comes from an unknown place. We can merely be good instruments in this large scheme of things. Im simply someone trying to be in contact with the universe. What resonates with my readers, I think, is that they believe I have a lot of experience. My books become journey companions to them.

He is no medicine man with a bag of remedies, he explains. I think the problem is that people are trying to explain whats good and bad. Frankly, Im getting a bit tired of these explanations. Every time I have an answer, the question has changed. So instead of wasting my time on explanations, Ive decided to simply enjoy the magic of every single day. Whether in a forest, in the city or in your house, you can feel this connection that may only last a few fleeting moments and in that time you become aware that God exists. You realise you are nothing but an instrument of God and you must respect this reality, he says, speaking like a passage from one of his books.

Quest for god

Coelho who writes at great speed  The Alchemist was written in two weeks and Hippie in a month  says that writing is about putting out what is within you (Getty Images )

His faith in a higher power is unshakeable, but he is increasingly disillusioned with organised religion. I have begun to question my religion, Coelho says. Religion, in general, is complex. Look around. All the conflicts we see in the world are provoked by fanatics who try not to doubt anything. Im a man with doubts about life. I try to think about contradictions. Religious people dont have doubts. They have to prove to themselves that they have faith. You dont have to prove your faith. You dont have to see the world through the eyes of a priest and you dont have to be brainwashed. As a Catholic I realised that there have been too many mistakes made over the centuries and theres a clash within the church. So I told myself Id forget about the church and go back to spirituality.

There are two types of writers: Marcel Proust looked inward. Hemingway wrote about the world as he experienced it. I am the latter type!

His spiritual quest forms one of the key moments in Hippie and he looks back at the time with joy and wonderment. Today, it would seem unthinkable that anyone would attempt to travel from Amsterdam to Nepal in a bus without reclining seats. In those days, it was possible to travel through Iraq and Afghanistan, all for under 100 dollars. What good times they were, oh my god! he says, wistfully.

Waiting for a sign

It is his personal experiences, his journeys that become his books. Coelho who writes at great speed  The Alchemist was written in two weeks and Hippie in a month  says that writing is about putting out what is within you. The Alchemist was a metaphor for my own experiences. In Hippie I was trying to remember  incidents like the torture at the hands of the military in Brazil. Right after I wrote the Gita song, I was arrested. When I came out, I saw the song was No. 1 on the charts and everybody was singing it. I emerged from prison, unable to truly enjoy that success, torn between being a person who was totally hurt and being terribly scared.

That conflict finds expression in Hippie. You cannot write something out of nothing, says Coelho. There are two types of writers. There was Marcel Proust who rarely left his room and his works, such as A la Recherche du Temps Perdu, were inward looking. Then there is Hemingway, who wrote about the world as he experienced it. I am the latter type of writer.

As a writer, Coelho is unique, on account of his belief in angels, for instance. Yes, they exist, he says with conviction. Not with wings, not like we picture them, but as a very real phenomenon. And there are omens also. It took me a long time to understand this and to believe that I could be guided by these signs and omens. My best decisions have been based on omens and signs. If life was whispering in my ear and I didnt obey the whisper it always ended up being the wrong decision.

He is waiting for such a sign to come to India. I have many friends in India and they keep asking me to visit. My wife has been there and she loved it, especially the train journeys. I cannot just visit India, I have to stay there. For India I have to wait for the right time. When the time comes I will get the sign. India is not a country, its a universe. I have to be inside this universe and experience all that it has to offer.

And another Paulo Coelho book will, no doubt, emerge from that.

The author is a Bengaluru-based senior writer who specialises in food, travel and lifestyle writing. She has edited several major mainstream publications in the past

Join the conversation using #PauloCoelhoInBrunch

From HT Brunch, September 23, 2018

Follow us on twitter.com/HTBrunch

Connect with us on facebook.com/hindustantimesbrunchIn a custodial dispute between an Indian mother and a German father, the Delhi High Court refused to grant the custody of a five-year-old girl to her father, who alleged the woman brought the child from Dubai to India without informing him.

Following a marital discord between the couple, who were settled in Dubai, the girl had been staying with the mother.

The father had moved a habeas corpus petition seeking the girls custody saying he wanted to take his wife and the child to Germany, where he would be relocating. The mother had allegedly obtained emergency travel documents from the Indian embassy in Dubai, the father contended.

Disposing the petition, a bench of justice S Muralidhar and justice I S Mehta said the child should stay in India with her mother, a lawyer from Delhi.

The child has never lived in Germany for any length of time and therefore, it would be a completely new environment for her as well, the court said.

The court said that the child is presently comfortably in India with her mother and maternal grandparents.Around 12 days after five men were killed cleaning a sewage treatment plant (STP) at an upscale residential complex in west Delhis Moti Nagar, police on Saturday claimed to have made two more arrests in the case.

Saturdays arrests take the total number of people held in the case to five.

Deputy commissioner of police (west) Monika Bhardwaj said the two arrested persons, identified as DN Mishra and Bharat Raj Verma, were officials of Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL)  a services firm that had outsourced different agencies for housekeeping, maintenance of the STP at DLF Capital Greens.

Mishra is the senior manager as well as property manager for JLL. He was the head for the site from JLL side. Verma is the assistant manager (technical) in JLL. The two have been arrested because they had close supervision on the operations regarding operations and management of the sewage treatment plant, said DCP Bhardwaj.

When contacted for the companys comment over Saturdays arrests, a JLL spokesperson said, An official statement regarding the matter can only be issued tomorrow (Sunday).

The investigating team had arrested two men  Digambar and Pravin Kumar  six days ago. Digamber was the supervisor and the person who had allegedly ordered the five men to step into the STP.

Kumar owned the firm that was in charge of housekeeping at the residential complex. Ajay Chaudhary, who was the plant-in-charge for JLL, was the first person to be arrested in the case a day after the incident took place.

On September 9, five men were killed after they stepped into a deep sewage treatment plant at the DLF Capital Greens in Moti Nagar.

Survivors and colleagues alleged that cleaning the septic tank was not a part of their duty but they did it as they had been threatened that they would be sacked if they refused. They also alleged that the workers had not been provided any safety gear.The World Future Energy Summit (WFES) has made significant changes for its 2019 edition, combining all aspects of sustainability under one global brand.

The annual event, hosted by Masdar, and an integral part of Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week, will see its summit, forums and six co-located exhibitions integrated under the powerful WFES brand, with business and innovation in sustainability as the common theme.

Now in its 12th year, the WFES is a global platform for the transfer of ideas, technology and investment across borders and between the public and private sectors worldwide. The 2018 event attracted 33,000 attendees and saw the announcement of more than $15 billion worth of projects and business deals.

WFES 2019 will take place from January 14 to 17 at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre and under the new format will have five main pillars: The Future Summit, WFES Expo, WFES Forums, WFES Initiatives, and WFES Hosted Events.

WFES Expo will feature more than 850 exhibiting companies from 40 countries, within the specialist sectors of WFES Energy, WFES Water, WFES Solar, WFES EcoWaste, WFES Green Buildings and WFES Mobility. WFES will retain its high-level global summit, and will introduce WFES Forums, which will be focused discussions covering topics impacting the industry, from disruptive technologies and artificial intelligence to future cities.

WFES Initiatives will host the Youth 4 Sustainability Hub, aimed at educating and empowering the next generation of leaders (15-25-year-old) through two major initiatives: Future Skills 2030, in addition to the second edition of the highly successful CLIX (Climate Innovation Exchange), a marketplace that connects entrepreneurs, start-ups and investors from around the world. CLIX inaugural edition facilitated more than $17.5 million in investment pledges over three days. Lastly, WFES Hosted Events will focus on high-level partner-hosted events such as The Rain Enhancement Awards and the International Solar Association gathering.

Naji Haddad, event director, Reed Exhibitions, organisers of WFES, said: For more than a decade, WFES has brought together the global business community, providing a central platform to share knowledge, conduct business, and better understand the changing landscape of the industry. By consistently being able to attract the major industry players, demonstrates the global strength of the WFES brand, not only in energy but also water conservation and waste management.  TradeArabia News ServiceA 65-year-old woman and her 40-year-old mentally- and- physically-disabled daughter were found brutally murdered at their home in a DDA colony in west Delhis Guru Hari Kishan Nagar near Paschim Vihar on Saturday morning.

A case of murder has been registered at Miyanwali Nagar police station.

Police said the body of the elderly woman, with her throat slit, was found on the floor in the kitchen. The body of the daughter, who appears to have been attacked on the head with a blunt object, was found on the bed in her bedroom. Moreover, police said, her hands were found to be tied with a blue dupatta and a green cloth was found stuffed in her mouth. A pillow on her face has made police suspect that the killers had also smothered her.

The dead women were identified as Shashi Talwar and her daughter Nidhi Talwar. The bodies had started decomposing by the time police were informed, officers said, adding they suspect the two were murdered on Friday. Police however ruled out the possibility of a sexual assault.

Although the motive remained a mystery till late night, police said they are probing the double murder from all possible angles, including property or personal dispute, failed robbery attempt and contract or revenge.

DCP (outer) Seju P Kuruvilla said one bedroom was partially ransacked but cash, jewellery and other valuables in the house were found untouched. The jewellery the mother-daughter duo was wearing was all intact.

Investigators suspect the killers knew the family since three cups of tea and some biscuits were found on a table in the drawing room. We found halwa in the kitchen and some plates lying on the kitchen slab. Prime facie, it appears the killers attacked the elderly woman while she went to the kitchen, said a police officer.

JP Sharma, general secretary of the resident welfare association (RWA) of housing society where the Talwars lived for the past 25 years, said the double murder came to light around 10 am when the familys domestic help, Sumitra, arrived and discovered the bodies. Sumitra first rang the door bell at 9 am but when nobody responded she went to the next door neighbour, VK Bansals, home for work.

After finishing her work at Bansals home, Sumitra again rang the bell at Talwars home. When they did not respond, Sumitra went to the rear end of the house. The back door was ajar. She then found the bodies and raised alarm, said Sharma.The Delhi Police on Saturday said they have busted an international drug trafficking syndicate that allegedly smuggled heroin into India from Afghanistan and supplied it to various Indian cities as well as abroad. Two Afghan nationals and a Nigerian man were arrested in south Delhi with 5kg of heroin, worth Rs 25 crore, and 4,200 in US dollars.

The police identified the arrested men as 40-year-old Esmatullah, 22-year-old Khalilullah, both from Kandahar in Afghanistan, and 37-year-old Victor Osondu from Nigeria. Police said they believe the arrested Afghan men have smuggled more than 100kg heroin into Delhi in the past two years. They had brought 15kg heroin in their last trip to Delhi on August 30.

They hid the drugs in special cavities created in their luggage. The concealment of the heroin was done in such a way that luggage scanners at airports were unable detect it, said a police officer, privy to the operation.

Deputy commissioner of police (special cell) Pramod Singh Kushwah said the arrested Afghan men also used their compatriots who smuggled small capsules filled with heroin in their stomach while travelling to Delhi from Afghanistan.

Kushwah said the special cell team received information on September 17 that the two Afghan nationals would deliver a consignment of heroin to their Nigerian contact near a hospital in Saket the next day. A trap was laid and the three were caught exchanging packets, containing the heroin and foreign currency.

The two Afghan nationals revealed that they supplied the trafficked heroin to Nigerian nationals who operate the cartel from Delhi. Victor is one of the receivers of the smuggled contraband, said Kushwah.

The DCP said Victor revealed during the interrogation that he came to India on business visa in 2014 for a period of six months. As his visa expired, Victor did not return to his country and was lured into the drug trade one of his Nigerian acquaintances. Victor worked for him for almost six months and later established his own network. Victor revealed that he procured heroin and supplied them to his contacts in Canada, England, France and South Africa through courier companies, added Kushwah.Owners of havelis in Old Delhi on Saturday expressed concerns over the government-accorded heritage tag to their properties with several claiming they had never been consulted before the decision was made.

These concerns were flagged during a workshop titled Conservation of Heritage Buildings in Shahjahanabad organised jointly by the North Delhi Municipal Corporation (North MCD) and Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) at Town Hall in Chandni Chowk on Saturday.

The event was targeted at answering haveli owners queries on issues like the due process for seeking permission to carry out repair and restoration of notified heritage structures.

During the discussion, several haveli owners complained they had not been made partners during the policy-making process for preservation. They claimed the havelis has been handed over heritage tags by civic authorities without their consultation.

Several others questioned the efforts by civic authorities to improve infrastructure in area.

While the haveli owners claimed the tag would not benefit them, architectural experts at the event maintained that such heritage status would be an asset and not a liability and would help in improving tourism in the area.

The civic agencies are expecting us to follow the traditional norms for restoring havelis and bear the entire expense. They should understand that renovating havelis in the traditional manner is a cumbersome and expensive process. We are not in a position to spend so much money, said Anand Prakash Bansal, who owns a haveli in Kucha Ghasiram area of Old Delhi.

Zero efforts have been taken by civic agencies to resolve the issues of traffic congestion, illegal construction, dilapidated sewage system, drains and overhead hanging electricity wires in area. In the given circumstances, even if we renovate our havelis as per government norms, tourists wouldnt come here, said Ram Dutt Aggarwal, another haveli owner.

However, a senior North MCD official said that the government and civic agencies are on verge of finalising various development projects for Shahjahanabad. But these can only be implemented when people deposit conversion charges and property taxes in large numbers. At main Chandni Chowk Road, department concerned has already initiated task to tightened low overhead hanging wires, RK Gupta, chief engineer, north corporation.

Ruchika Katyal, deputy commissioner of North Delhi Municipal Corporations City-Sadar Paharganj Zone, however, insisted that the corporation has been working to simplify the process for renovating havelis. To get their renovation plans sanctioned, haveli owners need not to go anywhere. They just need to apply with our zonal offices and our officials will forward the plan to the town planner and the heritage conservation committee for the final approvals, said Katyal.

Swapna Liddle, convener of INTACHs Delhi chapter, said, The efforts taken by the north corporation is appreciable by bringing different stakeholders on one platform. But we need to understand the situation patiently. We expect that more such events need to be organised in future.

Meanwhile, other experts advised the north civic body to consider rebooting its heritage cell, constituted years back to deal with such issues. The cell had become redundant after 2012, when the Delhis municipal corporations were divided into three parts.

At the workshop, Navin Piplani, principal director, INTACH heritage academy, said preservation of built heritage can be incentivised through tax benefits or other revenue-generating model. Currently, there are 783 heritage structures, including 229 historical buildings and 325 havelis, identified and notified by the authorities.A group of bikers created ruckus near the Parliament on Friday evening, performing dangerous stunts, blocking traffic and causing problems to commuters.

Two videos of the stunt biking were recorded by passersby and was circulated on social media since Saturday morning.

In one of the videos, which is of 35 seconds, around 40 bikes, each with pillion riders, were spotted riding recklessly towards Vijay Chowk from Raisina Road. A majority of them are seen riding without helmets, while a few pillion riders also spotted standing on their two-wheelers.

Some of the bikers were also seen riding on the wrong side of the carriageway.

In the second video, which is 16 seconds long, two men were seen riding a bike without helmets and performing a wheelie near the entry gate of the Parliament. While the stunts bikers violated the traffic norms in the high-security zone, no police presence was seen in the video.

After the videos were uploaded on social media and widely shared, the Delhi Police responded by saying that the bikers will be identified and prosecuted for breaking traffic rules.

Police said the ruckus took place around 6pm when visitors at the India Gate lawns saw a crowd of bikers speeding towards them from the Raisina Road. A few of the pillion riders were also seen clicking pictures and shooting videos on their mobile phones.

Our preliminary enquiry has revealed that the bikers were travelling ahead of a religious procession and took a detour towards Parliament to perform stunts, said a police officer, who asked not to be named.Tension around the recent mosque row in Sheetla Colony in Sector 6 remained high on Friday due to protests from both Hindu and Muslim groups.

On account of Muharram, a heavy police force remained deployed throughout the day in the Sheetla Colony, where the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) had sealed 11 buildings, including a mosque, on September 12. This was done on the grounds that they were located within 300 metres of an ammunition depot of the Air Force and, were, therefore, illegal in nature.

Mohammed Shakeel Saifi, from New Delhi, who claims to be the chairman of an organisation called the Muslim Yuva Aataankwad Virodhi Samiti, was stopped along with his 22 supporters by the police in DLF Phase-3 around 12:30 pm from reaching Sheetla Colony.

Saifi had, on Thursday, allegedly posted on his Facebook page about his plans to break the seal of the mosque in Sheetla Colony. The post was deleted on Friday night. Saifi and his supporters were pre-emptively stopped at the Delhi-Gurugram border in Sector 24 before they could reach the mosque.

Subhash Boken, spokesperson, Gurugram police, said that Saifi and 22 people led by him were stopped from proceeding towards the disputed site, as a preventive measure. They were later let off with a warning.

In a video clip that has been circulating on various social media platforms, Saifi is seen addressing the news media from the spot. We request the government to unseal the mosque as everyone has a right to pray, he says, before being carried away in a police van. He said they would approach the Haryana chief minister, ML Khattar, if their demand was not met.

Meanwhile, about 10km away, at around 11:30 am, 35 odd protestors belonging to various Hindu groups assembled outside Sheetla Mata Mandir in Sector 6, and began raising slogans against the presence of the mosque and Saifis plans to break the seal. The protesters then marched to Madina Masjid, where they were confronted by a large police force and were forced to turn away.

Previously, on September 18, representatives of the Jamiat Ulama, a Muslim group, had taken a stand against the Muslim Ekta Manch and its chairman, Haji Shehzad Khan, who has been campaigning on behalf of the Muslim community , which has been affected by recent protests against the installation of loudspeakers at the mosque, and its subsequent sealing.

Mufti Mohammed Salim Qasmi, president of the Gurugram unit of Jamiat Ulama, also called on the commissioner and deputy commissioner of the police to seek their intervention in resolving the matter. However, both the Muslim groups on Friday denied any affiliation to Saifi.The Indian Navy on Saturday dispatched two warships and an aircraft to rescue one of its finest sailors lying incapacitated on a bunk inside a small sailing vessel in one of the loneliest places in the Indian Ocean, with 14-metre high waves and 130 kmph winds battering his boat.

Commander Abhilash Tomys satellite phone is down, the batteries on his emergency texting unit are draining fast and the nearest warships are at least five days away.

His coordinates are known as of now but may not be for long as the external tracking unit giving position data may go flat due to a power failure.

Theres a reserve sat phone, a back-up texting unit and a handheld VHF radio in his emergency kit. But Tomy just cant move because of severe back injuries he suffered after his indigenously built sailing vessel Thuriya was dismasted in stormy seas on Friday.

As the 39-year-old endures a sailors worst nightmare, the navy sent stealth frigate INS Satpura with an embarked Chetak Helicopter, tanker INS Jyoti and a P-8I aircraft to carry out the challenging rescue mission.

The Indian Navy has put its might behind this rescue effort. And we will get Tomy, said navy spokesperson Captain DK Sharma. Tomy, an accomplished sailor and a Kirti Chakra awardee, is representing India in the Golden Globe Race 2018 (GGR).

He is in the south Indian Ocean, approximately 1,900 nautical miles from Perth, Australia, and 2,700 nm (approx 5020 km on ground) from Cape Comorin (Kanyakumari), the Indian Navy said in a statement. Tomy became a national hero in 2013 when he became the first Indian to circumnavigate the globe  solo, non-stop and unassisted.

Tomy was in the third position among 11 international participants and had sailed over 10,500 nautical miles in the last 84 days since the race began on July 1.

Extremely difficult to walk, Might need stretcher, cant walk, thanks safe inside the boat, Unable to reach 2nd YB3 (texting unit) or anything. Sat phone down, Tomy said in a message posted on the GGR website. Painting a grim picture of Tomys ordeal, the GGR said he was as far from help as you can possibly be.

The Australian Rescue Coordination Centre at Canberra is coordinating the rescue mission along with several agencies, including the Australian Defence Department and the Indian Navy.

The GGR website said the external tracking unit on Tomys boat was still providing position data to the online GGR tracker but the power link to the boats batteries was damaged and it could soon go flat.

A French fisheries vessel may be headed to the scene, but may not arrive for a few days. An Australian Navy vessel may be considered for assistance, but that may be 5 days or more away. Notice has been sent to any/all ships in the area to check if they can assist the distress situation, the GGR website said.

Thank you for your support and concern in these trying times. Abhilash has sustained some serious back injuries, however he says hes safe inside the boat. Indian Navy is doing their best as they always have. His tracker is working. He has activated the EPIRB (emergency position indicating radio beacon.) Help is on its way, said a message posted from Tomys Twitter account.

Rear Admiral Jonathan Dallas Mead, commander, Australian Fleet, said he had dispatched a ship and it would take six days to reach Tomys location in the treacherous conditions. Mead, who attended National Defence College in Delhi, sent a message to his course-mates saying, We will find your man.A case has been registered against Malayalam actor Joy Mathew and 24 others for taking out a march in a prohibited area here in support of the nuns who had held a sit in protest in Kochi, demanding the arrest of Bishop Franco Mulakkal, accused of raping a nun.

The march was taken out on September 12 in the recently renovated Mittayi Thiravu (sweet street), despite a prohibitory order being in force in the area.

Despite being told not to take out the march, the actor and the others flouted rules and did so, police said Sunday.

The case was registered under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including unlawful assembly, breach of peace, rioting and obstructing public way, police said.

Read: Was told to stay off religious rituals, says nun who protested against bishop

Reacting to the development, Joy Mathew said he had taken out the march to express solidarity with the protesting nuns.

This is an attempt to scare me for supporting the nuns, he said.

The actor said he was not told by police about the prohibitory order in the area.

We took out a silent march with placards, he told television channels.

Joy Mathew is best known for playing the lead role in John Abrahams 1986 film Amma Ariyan, which was voted as one of the Top 10 Indian films by the British Film Institute.

Some of his other films are Annyaum Rasoolam, Shutter, Amen and Honey Bee.

The nun, in her complaint to Kottayam police in June, had alleged that Bishop Mulakkal raped her at a guest house in Kuravilangad in May 2014 and later sexually exploited her on several occasions.

The nun had said she had to approach the police as church authorities did not act on her repeated complaints against the clergyman.

However, the bishop has denied the charges.An Indian Navy aircraft has located the vessel of Indian Naval officer Abhilash Tomy, who was badly injured while participating in the Golden Globe Race, rolling excessively in the South Indian Ocean, a Defence spokesman said Sunday.

Tomy had suffered a back injury Friday after his yacht was hit by a vicious storm with 14-metre-high waves mid-way across south Indian Ocean.

The Indian Navys P8I aircraft, which flew from Mauritius in the early hours Sunday, has located the mast broken boat rolling excessively, he said.

Commander Tomy responded by ping on EPIRB as the aircraft was flying over him, the spokesman said here.

Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRB) is a device which alerts rescue services in case of an accident at sea.

He said heavy rains have been reported from the area.

The aircraft would fly back after three to four hours and Tomy can only be rescued by naval ships, he said.

Aircraft P8i took off this morning for locating Abhilash Tomy and located him and his boat Thuriya in the Southern Indian Ocean. Navy officer and Golden Globe Race skipper Abhilash Tomy had earlier dismasted in extremely rough weather and sea conditions pic.twitter.com/C51uRQxzve  ANI (@ANI) September 23, 2018

Tomy had Sunday managed to get in touch with race organisers in France through messages and had requested for a stretcher as he could not move on his own. He was representing India in the Golden Globe Race 2018 (GGR) on an indigenously-built sailing vessel S V Thuraya.

Tomy, who became the first Indian to have circumnavigated the globe in 2013, is the only Indian participating in the race that involves a gruelling 30,000-mile solo circumnavigation of the globe.

His vessel is in the south Indian Ocean, about 1,900 nautical miles from Perth in Australia

Tomys vessel was dismasted in extremely rough weather and sea conditions, with wind speeds of 130 kmh. He was in third position in the race and has sailed over 10,500 nautical miles in the last 84 days, since the race started on July 1.

A report from France on Friday night had said 70 knot winds and 14-metre-high waves have left the yachts of Tomy and Irelands Gregor McGuckin dismasted, and twice knocked down the yacht of second-placed Dutchman Mark Slats.

Both McGuckin and Slats had reported that they are okay, but 39-year-old Tomy, making his second solo circumnavigation, has been injured, it had said.

It had also said other entrants were asked to make towards Tomys position if possible, and added that the weather was extreme.

The nearest yacht was McGuckins Biscay 36 Hanley Energy Endurance, some 90 miles to the southwest of Tomys Thuriya, but she too was dismasted in the same storm.Bachulal Tiwary, 50, who will undergo a heart surgery on Sunday in Ranchi is set to become Jharkhands first claimant of the worlds largest public health insurance scheme, Ayushman Bharat -Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojna (AB-PMJAY).

Ahead of his surgery, he will receive the golden card (health insurance card) from Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the launch of the scheme.

Tiwary will undergo heart valve operation at Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS), Ranchi, on Sunday evening under the scheme, said state health secretary Nidhi Khare.

Tiwary, a part-time school teacher who gives private tuitions to make a living, said he was detected with 90% blockage in one of his heart valves on September 15. Doctor had told him that the operation would cost nearly Rs 75,000, which was out of reach for Tiwary who earns meagre Rs 5,000 to Rs 6,000 a month.

Ayushman Bharat has come as blessing for me as I had only two options for treatment- either sell property or take loan. I would like to thank Prime Minister Narendra Modi for such a scheme, which would help crores of people like me who suffer a lot due to the cost of treatment, Tiwary said.

The Centres flagship Ayushman Bharat scheme would provide health insurance cover up to Rs 5 lakh to 57 lakh households of Jharkhand, enrolled under National Food Security Act (NFSA).

Tiwary said doctors at RIMS suggested him to try for availing the benefit of Ayushman Bharat as it is scheduled to be launched on Sunday.

Doctors told me if I am enrolled under the scheme, my operation would be done free of cost, as I would get health insurance coverage up to Rs 5 lakh. I visited the Ayushman Bharat kiosk at RIMS and submitted the required the documents and thus got enrolled under the scheme, he said.

He said officials from district administration, who visited the hospital on Saturday, told him that he would be the first person, who would be treated under the scheme in Jharkhand.

A resident of Rajrappa in Ramgarh district, Tiwary is the sole bread earner for his five-member family. He has two sons and a daughter. His wife Manju Devi is a housewife.

Other than Tiwary, four others - Rumi Parween, Mukesh Kumar, Chandan Kumar Ram and Teresa Kachchap would also receive the golden cards from Prime Minister Modi.

Parween, 18, resident of Tatisilwai in Ranchi, said, Due to a wrong treatment, a bone in my leg became weak and fractured. We had to sell some land for the operation at Vellore, which around Rs 3 lakh. Had there been a scheme like Ayushman Bharat, my father who works as a casual worker in a private firm, would not have sold the property.

Parween is curious to meet Prime Minister. Meeting with Prime Minister is like dream come true for me. I would like to say him that Ayushman Bharat would prove to be a boon for poor people in the country, she said.

Mukesh Kumar, who is physically challenged said his family also had to sell land for his brothers treatment.

We had to sell land for treatment of my brother Manoj Kumar, who had met with an accident few years back. Doctors are now saying the rod that has been fitted in his leg would have to take out. But, we do not have enough money for the operation. We thank Modi ji for introducing Ayushman Bharat.

Mukesh is the first physically challenged person in the country, who recently allotted a PDS shop under National Food Security Act.A review meeting on security at airports across the country conducted by the Union civil aviation ministry has found lapses in key areas, including the lack of mandatory CCTV recording at several airports.

The meeting, held on September 12, found that six airports do not have the mandatory 30-day CCTV recordings required as per guidelines, while some major airports do not have enough surveillance cameras.

The 98 airports that the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) monitor require a total of 10,000 cameras, but fall short by 1,400 cameras, the review found. Of these, Delhis Indira Gandhi International airport has a shortfall of 480 cameras, while airports in Coimbatore, Kolkata and Chennai are also facing shortages.

The Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) did not respond to a query sent by HT regarding security cameras.

The ministry also found that security agencies at 10 airports, including Amritsar, Ahmadabad, Tiruchirapalli, Guwahati, Pune and Goa, are also facing problems due to the non-integration of new and old cameras. Out of the 100 operational airports, six are run by private companies.

This is the third meeting on security and modern surveillance equipment, said a ministry official who asked not to be named. We have asked AAI (Airports Authority of India) to expedite the installation of modern CCTV cameras at airports. Private operators have also been asked to get their act together, the official added.

Airports where recording for the mandated period are not available are Hyderabad, Bhubaneswar, Dibrugarh, Amritsar, Dehradun and Udaipur, according to the review. While AAI declined to comment, Hyderabad airport said there was no problem with its cameras.

We have the required 30 days recording at Hyderabad airport, covering all critical areas. We keep on upgrading our security systems with new technologies, said a spokesperson for GHIAL (GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd), who asked not to be named. We have taken up the revamping of existing CCTV surveillance system to make it more robust...we will be adding more smart CCTVs with advanced features such as tracking, alerting and video analytics features soon, the spokesperson added.

The review meeting was attended by representatives of AAI, private airport operators, Bureau for Civil Aviation Security (BCAS), and CISF. Most of the airports are undergoing expansion, and due to construction activities CCTV cameras are not functional. We are taking up the matter at the airport level and also at the ministry level, a CISF official said on condition of anonymity.

Shiv Nath, a retired UP cadre police officer, said: Installing CCTV cameras is not the issue, but maintenance is. Also, its positioning is extremely important, so that no area is left uncovered.Turkish Airlines has signed a long-term partnership agreement with the UN Migration Agency (IOM) for the promotion of safe, orderly and regular migration.



Signed by IOM director general, William Swing, and Turkish Airlines chairman of the Board and the Executive Committee, M. Ilker Ayc, the cooperation will focus initially on the organisations Migration Application (MigApp), which leverages the widespread use of telecommunications technology to provide practical information about services available to migrants globally.



The agreement opens a whole range of possibilities for cooperation both in terms of Turkish Airlines commitment to social responsibility and our own commitments to migrants and refugees. said Swing.



It is in many ways an ideal partnership as it will allow us to do a lot more in terms of informing migrants, in terms of promoting migrant rights, training to sensitise airline officials to smuggling and trafficking of persons, which is one of the heinous crimes of our times, he added.



As the national flag carrier of Turkey, we are glad to strengthen our collaboration with IOM. Through this agreement we see a way to promote the idea of living together in peace and travelling freely and legally as envisioned under the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations, Ayc said of the accord.



IOM hopes that the agreement will lead to further collaborations on awareness-raising campaigns on safe travel in countries of origin to help counter the trafficking of migrants as well as on cooperation on border support and documentation  including the possible training of Turkish Airlines employees and partners.



In addition, IOM will share its work on migrant health, including travel health assistance/pre-departure health screening services with Turkish Airlines with a view to future cooperation.



This agreement comes against the backdrop of the UNs Sustainable Development Goal (SDGs) which recognises the need for safer, orderly and regular migration (Goal 10.7), and as part of the forthcoming Global Compact on Migration acknowledges that a cooperative approach is needed to optimise the overall benefits of migration, while addressing the risks and challenges facing individuals and communities in countries of origin, transit and destination.



IOMs MigApp, which was launched in December 2017 as part of IOMs transition to digital mobility, seeks to offset the enormous volume of misinformation on migration circulating today by providing migrants with information in English about visas, health and travel regulations, alerts on global incidents arising from conflict or natural disasters, and the contact numbers of counter-trafficking hotlines around the world. A May 2018 update expanded coverage to French, Spanish and Arabic.



MigApp was developed thanks to financial support from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). - TradeArabia News Service

Assam Congress claimed on Saturday that it had traced to the BJP head office in Delhi the calls from a person, who posed as a TV news channel journalist, to some of its leaders and alleged it was an attempt by the saffron party to fabricate fake news against it.

The state BJP dismissed the allegations, saying reporters who come to BJP offices sometimes use the phones there and alleged that Congress is raising non-issues as it is losing ground.

A press release by the Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) claimed the person had called up Bobbeeta Sharma, the general secretary and senior spokesperson of Assam PCC, on September 21 and had introduced himself as a journalist of a popular English news TV channel,

He had sought information about East Guwahati constituency from where Sharma was a candidate in the 2016 state assembly election as well as the neighbouring seats of Dispur, West Guwahati, Jalukbari, Palasbari and Hajo, the release by Sharma said.

The Assam Congress party has taken strong exception to the impersonation incidents of the caller from the BJP party office from Delhi and will also lodge a complaint with the state police department, Sharma said.

The Congress spokesperson also released the numbers from which she had allegedly got the call from Delhi on her mobile phone on the afternoon of September 21. The caller had introduced himself as Robin and a journalist of a popular English TV news channel.

The person had told Sharma that the information was sought in connection with an exit poll for the 2019 Lok Sabha election, she said.

The numbers from which the calls were made were checked from the MTNL directory in the internet and were found to be those of the BJP office in 11 Ashoka Road Delhi, she claimed.

Charging the BJP with making the alleged calls, Sharma said in the release, The Assam Pradesh Congress Committee has condemned the alleged action of BJP for using callers in Delhi to impersonate as television journalists of national news TV channels and gather information from Congress leaders in Assam.

She said, The Assam Congress apprehends the purpose behind such calls could be to record voice samples of Congress leaders to manufacture and fabricate fake news and hate news which is the forte of the Bharatiya Janata Party to be used later during election time.

The APCC spokesperson said the Congress condemns the use of young boys as pawns to indulge in such unethical, nefarious and anti-national activities and ruining their future prospects.

Similar calls were also made to Congress legislature party leader Debabrata Saikia, APCC Secretary Dulu Ahmed and Assam Pradesh Mahila Congress General Secretary Bismita Gogoi, she said.

Asked about the allegations, Assam BJP spokesperson Rupam Goswami told PTI that he was not aware of the incident.

Many reporters come to BJP offices across the country and use the phones in the partys offices for the purpose of news gathering. This may have been one such incident, he, however, said.

Goswami also said that as Congress is losing ground, it is raising such non-issues instead of concentrating on bigger challenges facing the country.The Congress in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh has objected to the highlighting of initial letters of Bharatiya Jan Aushadhi Pariyojna, the scheme for providing medicines at affordable prices, in its logo in orange, which put together become acronym BhaJAP in Hindi.

This is close to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Partys Hindi acronym and saffron colour is commonly identified with the party.

This is highly objectionable that the government is using schemes for the BJPs publicity in view of the elections.

Bharatiya Janaushadhi Pariyojna is a scheme to provide generic medicines to people. But instead of providing medicines to people, they are focussed on printing BhaJP in saffron colour on every medicine wrapper. The BJPs flag, too, has saffron colour, said Madhya Pradesh Congress spokesperson Shobha Oza.

This is the first government in India which is misusing government schemes for the sake of publicity for its party. We will lodge a complaint against the Centres decision to use the specific logo of the scheme with the chief electoral officer, Madhya Pradesh, on Monday, she added.

BJP spokesman Rajneesh Agrawal said he was unable to understand the Congresss objection.

More than saffron colour, the scheme logo has the blue colour, which is used in the party symbol of the Bahujan Samaj Party. A colour does not belong to any particular political party and if initials of the schemes name resemble with our of party name, then it is just a coincidence, he said.Congress president Rahul Gandhi, who has led the oppositions sharp campaign against the government on the Rafale deal, on Sunday repeated his demand for a parliamentary probe into the purchase of the fighter jets to establish, what he called, would be the the full, uncorrupted truth about the #RafaleScam.

Gandhis tweet was a response to Finance Minister Arun Jaitleys blogpost just hours earlier that had questioned the opposition narrative. The ministers punchline was that truth cannot have two versions, a reference to former French president Francois Hollandes statements in the last few days on the Rafale fighter jet deal

Mr Jetlies speciality is his ability to spin 2 truths, or lies, with fake self-righteousness & indignation to defend the indefensible. Its high time he, the RM & our PM stop lying and call a JPC (joint parliamentary committee) to establish the full, uncorrupted truth about the #RafaleScam, said Gandhi, mocking the minister by twisting the spelling of his surname.

The National Democratic Alliances decision to enter a $8.7 billion government-to-government deal with France to buy 36 Rafale warplanes has become controversial with the Congress, claiming that the planes were being bought for three times the bid received when the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance was in power. Gandhi alleges that the deal was being struck to benefit Reliance Defence.

The government has repeatedly denied that it has anything to do with the decision of the French manufacturer Dassault Aviation to give a contract to Reliance Defence under the offset clause. So have Dassault and Reliance Defence.

On Sunday, Jaitley, in a Facebook post, said Hollandes statements were contradictory.

A controversy is sought to be created on the basis of a statement made by the former French President Hollande, that the Reliance Defence partnership with Dassault Aviation was entered at the suggestion of the Indian Government. In a subsequent statement the former President has sought to suggest that Reliance Defence emerged on the scene after the agreement with the Indian Government was entered into. He has, in a subsequent statement, said that he is not aware if Government ever lobbied for Reliance Defence and that the partners chose themselves. Truth cannot have two versions, Jaitley said.The Jammu & Kashmir administration is telling policemen and Special Police Officers in South Kashmir, which is seeing a wave of attacks against both, to not visit their families or homes.

The advisory comes in the wake of the killings of three SPOs on Friday, and unconfirmed resignations of several others following a warning on Wednesday by Hizbul Mujahedeen commander, Riyaz Naikoo. The killings were in part responsible for India reconsidering its decision to agree to the meeting of the foreign ministers of India and Pakistan in New York later this month.

SPOs, whose main role is in gathering intelligence, and local policemen are soft targets because they do not live in fortified camps like the ones housing members of the army and the Central Reserve Police Force.

On Friday , selection grade constable Nisar Ahmad, SPO Kuldeep Singh and follower, Firdous Kuchay were abducted by militants from Batagund and Kaparan villages early in the morning and killed within hours. Two other policemen in the same villages escaped because they werent home when the militants came visiting.

In the past too, there have been occasional advisories asking officers of the J&K police who reside in sensitive areas of south Kashmir to avoid visiting their homes.

Keeping in view the sensitivity of threats and latest abduction and killings of three policemen, all SPOs and policemen who are from south Kashmir are being told through telephone not to visit their homes, said a police officer familiar with the advisory. This is being done to save the lives of our men as militants have killed many of our men at their homes when they were not on duty. In the past, many have ignored similar warnings.

Since January, 37 policemen have been killed by militants, many when they were off-duty. Last month, on Eid ul Azha, three policemen including an officer, all of whom were on leave and celebrating Eid with their families were killed by militants.

The militants have been targeting SPOs and local policemen whom they hold responsible for the killing of militants, especially in south Kashmir where so-called cordon and search operations are launched on specific information. Officials said that 28 militants were killed in Shopian district alone this year.

The four districts of south Kashmir have more than 3,000 SPOs. Across the state, there are more than 30,000 SPOs.

J&K Director General of Police Dilbagh Singh said soon after the killing of three policemen on Friday that action would be taken against all the militants involved in the killings, and also dismissed the resignations of special police officers as rumors.

So far, over two dozen SPOs have resigned in different parts of south Kashmir.

On August 30, militants abducted 11 police personnel and their family members after the police detained the father of Riyaz Naikoo. However, they were released after the police released Naikoo Sr.The French government said Sunday it feared damage to its relations with India after former president Francois Hollande stirred controversy about a major deal to sell Rafale fighter jets to New Delhi.

Hollande, who left office in May last year, said Friday that French jet manufacturer Dassault Aviation had been given no choice about its local partner in the 2016 deal with the Indian government.

The Narendra Modi government agreed to buy 36 Rafale jets from Dassault, which announced afterwards it was partnering for the project with billionaire Anil Ambanis Reliance group rather than the public sector Hindustan Aeronautics Limited.

Hollandes announcement that Dassault did not have a say in it added fuel to allegations by opposition parties that the Modi government had intervened to help Ambani.

I find these remarks made overseas, which concern important international relations between France and India, do not help anyone and above all do not help France, junior foreign minister Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne said Sunday about Hollande.

Because one is no longer in office, causing damage to a strategic partnership between India and France by making remarks that clearly cause controversy in India is really not appropriate, he said in an interview on Radio J.

Hollande made the comments to defend himself from accusations of a conflict of interest because Ambanis Reliance conglomerate had partially financed a film produced by his girlfriend, Julie Gayet, in 2016.

The choice of Reliance for a highly strategic contract to upgrade Indias ageing fleet of fighter jets had caused surprise at the time because the group had no previous experience in the aeronautics industry.

Hollandes comments made front-page news in Indian newspapers on Saturday and it was the top trending topic on Twitter.

Rahul Gandhi, chief of main opposition Congress party, who is seeking to defeat the BJP-led government in national elections next year, went on the offensive. An ex-president of France is calling him (the prime minister of India) a thief. Its a question of the dignity of the office of the prime minister, he told a press conference in New Delhi.

Both the French government and Dassault have in statements contradicted Hollande, saying Dassault chose Reliance Defence as a partner.Police have launched a manhunt to trace a 45-year-old man who was abducted by a group of militants late Saturday night in north Kashmirs Sopore town.

Police said the militants barged into the house of Mushtaq Ahmad Mir in and abducted him. It is not known why he was targeted.

A police spokesman said they have started a manhunt to trace Mushtaq who works as a labourer.

Police has registered a case. Further investigation into the matter is going on, he said.

The abduction came just a day after bodies of three policemen were found on Friday morning hours after suspected militants kidnapped them in south Kashmirs Shopian, considered the hotbed of militancy.

A fourth person, the brother of a policeman, who had also been abducted was released on Friday morning. The four had been kidnapped from Shopians Kapran village.

The three policemen were found dead near an orchard in Wangam village, four kilometres from the spot from where they had been taken away.

Police has said that their initial investigation revealed the complicity of militants outfits Hizbul Mujahideen and Lashkar e Toiba in the killings.Tension prevailed in Islampur in North Dinajpur district three days after two students died in firing by unidentified persons, as relatives of the victims refused to cremate their bodies until the state government ordered a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), said police.

The bodies of Rajesh Sarkar, 19, and Tapas Barman, 21, were buried at a local ground after being handed over to the families on Saturday. Family members said they did not cremate them because they wanted to preserve the bodies for the CBI to investigate properly how they died in the firing.

Sarkar and Barman, both ex-students, sustained bullet injuries during an agitation at the premises of Darivit High School on Thursday. Sarkar died on the spot, while Barman succumbed to his injuries on Friday.

The bodies will remain buried for the CBI to get a chance of investigating the wounds. If we cremate, there will be no proofs left, said Nilkamal Sarkar, Rajeshs father.

We will not perform the funeral rights until the case is given to CBI, Sarkar said.

Villagers of Darivit are keeping round-the-clock vigil at the area where the bodies of the two students are buried.

We have no faith in the state police. They will try to suppress the real facts because they know they are the culprits. We will agree to nothing less than CBI probe and until then, the bodies will remain buries, said Ujjwal Barman, Tapass father.

While the family members, as well as the Bengal units of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and Akhil Bharat Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) have alleged the police shot them dead, district superintendent of police for North Dinajpur, Sumit Kumar, has denied the police opened fire.

On Sunday, two local Trinamool leaders, Islampurs civic chief-cum legislator Kanhaialal Agarwal and Ghulam Rabbani, legislator from neighbouring Goalpokhar, went to the locality to meet the parents of the deceased as well as the agitating villagers. They faced the wrath of the locals, who gheroad the leaders seeking promise for a CBI probe.

If you insist on a CBI probe, Ill will inform the government about your demand, Agarwal told the agitators.

Rabbani, however, said that whatever Agarwal said in the context of CBI probe was his personal opinion.

Meanwhile, a team of state BJP leaders, including Mukul Roy and womens wing chief Locket Chatterjee, also visited the place of the incident on Sunday morning and expressed solidarity with the locals.

State police have fired and killed to students. Now a probe by the same state police will be nothing but a farce, since every attempt will be made to cover up the actual incident. So we too demand a CBI probe, said Chatterjee

In Kolkata, students organisations belonging to various Left parties brought out a rally condemning the death of Sarkar and Barman.Delhi chief minister Arvind Kerjriwal on Sunday challenged Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah to a public debate on the performance of his Aam Aadmi Party government compared to the Narendra Modi government.

Whatever work (prime minister) Modi has done in four years, our government has done ten times more. Modiji has taken many anti-people and wrong decisions (but) we havent taken even one. I extend a challenge to you. Let us debate the matter at the Ramlila ground before the people of Delhi, Kejriwal said in a tweet in Hindi.

Responding to certain claims/allegations made by @AmitShah in a political public meeting earlier in the day.@ArvindKejriwal challenges @BJP4India Prez Amit Shah for a public debate at Ramlila Maidan on the performance of @NarendraModi Govt vs Delhi Govt.#AKChallengesAmitShah pic.twitter.com/BgBqF1O7ve  AAP (@AamAadmiParty) September 23, 2018

His challenge came after Amit Shah, addressing the Poorvanchal Mahakumbh rally at the Ramlila Maidan, said: The Narendra Modi government gave over Rs 50,000 crore to the Delhi government. But look at the promises that you (Kejriwal) made to people and tell that how many promises have been fulfilled.

Kejriwals only mantra is to speak a lie, speak it loudly, boldly and publicly, he added, reported IANS news agency.

Kejriwal also said, in a tweet, that Delhis people had given the BJP only two things to manage - sanitation and police, but both were in bad shape, as there was no cleanliness and nor could it manage the police.

We were give the responsibility of power, water supply, education and health. Our achievements in these are being appreciated across the world. he said.As a teenager, Ram Vanji Sutar had been fascinated by the Statue of Liberty  not just by what it stood for but also by how tall it stood on the Liberty Island in New York. From an early age, he had known that he wanted to be a sculptor and he grew up dreaming of creating a statue that would dwarf French sculptor Frederic Auguste Bartholdis 305-ft neoclassical robed female figure.

Now 93, Sutars life-long ambition was fulfilled on Wednesday when Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the 522- ft Statue of Unity of Sardar Patel on an island in the Narmada near Sardar Sarovar Dam. It is almost double the size of the Statue of Liberty, says Sutar proudly, sitting in his Noida studio that the locals call a statue factory. This is because one can see gigantic fibreglass statue models popping out of the studio premises.

Even before he was commissioned the Sardar Patel statue in 2014, Sutar was Indias tallest sculptor, having to his credit over 8,00 sculptures created mostly in bronze over a career spanning seven decades. Its impossible to know if hes the most prolific monumental sculptor in human history, but if hes not, hes got to be pretty close. Hes certainly the most prolific of the last century, was what Melia Belli Bose, an assistant professor of Asian art history at the University of Texas at Arlington, said about Sutar in an interview to The New York Times.

The Statue of Unity, Sutar says, is by far the most challenging project he has undertaken  before that, his tallest creation was a 45-ft statue of Goddess Chambal at Gandhi Sagar dam in Madhya Pradesh in 1959. Getting the personality, the pose, the facial expressions, the drapery right is a formidable challenge when you design a 522-ft statue. Every muscle has to be sculpted finely with the right texture, says Sutar, who took about a year to create the final model of the Sardar Patel statue.

In fact, the statue started as a 3-ft model at his studio, which was enlarged to an 18-ft clay model, and then to a 30- ft clay model. Then we further enlarged it into a full 522- ft thermocol model with the help of 3D imaging, says his son, Anil Sutar, 61, also an architect and sculptor.

While the statute was designed in Sutars Noida studio, it was cast in bronze in a foundry in Nanchang, China. About 177 tonnes of bronze was used in casting the statue, says Anil. In fact, the father-and-son duo has made several trips to China in the last three years to oversee the making of the final thermocol model and the casting of the statue, which has now been shipped to India in parts and is being assembled at the site in Gujarat.

Sutar has his own foundry in Sahibabad in Uttar Pradesh, complete with furnaces, wax cranes, grinders and welding machines which can handle about 10 tonnes of bronze casting every day. But no foundry in the country, including ours, has the infrastructure to cast a statue of this scale in such a short time. In China, they have the tradition of casting 400-ft Buddha statues, and have these big foundries, says Anil.  But now we wish to have a foundry where we can handle casting of such mammoth statues.

Post the Sardar Patel statue, a pet project of Prime Minister Modi, the Sutars have bagged a few similarly gigantic projects. They have already completed the designs for a 400-ft Shivaji statue and a 250-ft Ambedkar statue, both to be installed in Mumbai. The fiberglass models of both statues stand tall at their Noida studio.

There is a spark in Sutars eyes as he discusses the giant statues  the taller his statues are, the happier he is. My fathers life has been like a mountaineer, who sets his goal and with the help of his equipment climbs up step by step, enjoying every moment. After climbing some height, the mountaineer looks down, and feels happy that he has attained a certain height and puts in more efforts to climb higher, Anil writes in a biography of his father.

Sculptor Ram Vanji Sutar at his studio in Noida. (Sunil Ghosh/HT Photo)

Age has not diminished Sutars love for his craft  at 93, he comes to the studio every day at 11 am and spends eight hours doing the clay models for statues. Twelve feet is the average size of the statue the father-son duo makes at their studio, most of which are of political figures and industrialists, both famous and not-so-famous.

Sculpture is much more difficult than painting and involves intensive physical work, says Ram Sutar, walking around his 20,000 sq ft, high-ceilinged, air-conditioned studio, designed by Anil. The studio is like a sculpture museum, which has on display his entire lifes work, including the numerous busts and statues of Mahatma Gandhi that he is famous for.

Of all the statues he has created, Ram Sutars favourites are those of Gandhi, especially his 16 ft-high bronze statue in a meditative pose in Parliament, which has several other statues of national figures designed by him.

Sutar proudly tells us that statues and busts of the Mahatma created by him are installed in over 350 cities across the world. These were given as gifts to various countries by the Indian government.

The challenge while designing the Mahatmas statue is bringing out the ethereal serenity and the peace on his face, says Sutar. In fact, he created Gandhis first statue in 1948 for a school in Dhule district in Maharashtra. He was 23 then. But I created my first ever statue in 1947. It was the 7ft high figure of a bodybuilder.

Sutar was born in 1925 in Gondur, a small village in Dhule district in Maharashtra. His father was a carpenter and blacksmith who used to make bullock carts, tongas and farming tools. As a teenager, Sutar had made a name for himself as a prodigious sculptor in Dhule. After earning a diploma from JJ School of Art, Mumbai, in 1952, he worked with the Archaeological Survey of India on the Elora Caves, where he was tasked with restoring broken stone sculptures.

He came to Delhi in 1959 to join the Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity (DAVP), where he worked as a technical assistant for exhibitions. But he quit his job to take up a freelancing assignment.

His first statue of a national leader as a professional sculptor was a 10-ft bronze statue of Pt Govind Ballabh Pant in 1966. I was very excited; it was also my first statue to be installed in the capital. I rented a house in South Extension and worked on the statue in its backyard, he says. The bronze statue was installed at the Krishi Bhavan roundabout. He has since crafted statues of several leaders from Gandhi to Jawaharlal Nehru to BR Ambedkar to Ram Manohar Lohia. BSP leader and former UP chief minister Mayawati has commissioned him to create statues of various Dalit icons, and also of herself, over the years.

He built his first studio in Delhi in Laxmi Nagar in 1970 and shifted to his current studio in Noida in 2004. Sutar, who received the Padma Bhushan in 2016, says he now wishes to create the worlds tallest statue of Mahatma Gandhi. He was the tallest messenger of peace, he says.

But tell him about the controversy created by the astronomical costs of such projects, and he quips:  Taj Mahal would not have been built if cost considerations had come into play.A Pakistani commander of militant outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) was gunned down by security forces in an encounter in south Kashmirs Pulwama district on Sunday, police said.

Police and army were carrying out a cordon-and-search operation in Awantiporas Tral town when the militants hiding in the area opened fire on them, a police spokesperson said in a statement.

In the ensuing encounter, one terrorist was killed. Huge quantity of arms, ammunition and incriminating material was recovered from the encounter said, the spokesperson said.

The police official identified the slain militant as Adnan, who he said was from Pakistan and a top commander of JeM. He added that a soldier and a civilian, identified as Manzoor Dar, were also injured in the gunfight.

Local residents said that after the gunfight started, a few youngsters started pelting stones on security forces, triggering clashes near the encounter site.

The Pulwama encounter broke out a day after security forces launched large-scale search operations in Kashmirs Pulwama and Shopian districts after three policemen were abducted and killed by militants on Friday.

On the same day, security personnel killed five Lashkar- e-Taiba (LeT) militants, who they said had recently infiltrated into Jammu and Kashmir, in the states Bandipora district.

Forces were carrying out a cordon-and-search operation in Tral when the militants hiding in the area opened fire on them, triggering a gunfight, police said.As part of its National Tourism Programme, the UAE's Ministry of Economy (MoE) recently organised a roadshow to showcase the Emirates' sustainable tourism practices in three Scandinavian cities.



The roadshow, held in cooperation with various tourism bodies, local government entities, private sector representatives from Emirates airline and other partners from hotels and travel and tourism offices, was aimed at promoting the UAE as a diverse tourism destination.



The roadshow started on September 17 from Swedens capital, Stockholm, and then moved to the Oslo capital of Norway before concluding the trip on September 21 in Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark.



Abdullah Khalfan Al-Rumaithi, ambassador extraordinary plenipotentiary of the UAE to the kingdom of Norway, attended the activities being held in Oslo as part of the roadshow.



Mohammad K. Al Mheiri, UAE minister's advisor for Tourism Affairs, said that the roadshow is part of the UAEs strategy to promote the country as a sustainable tourism destination, in line with the economic diversification agenda of the government and the countrys efforts to transition to a post-oil economy.



He added that the Scandinavian travel and tourism market was a key destination for the UAE government in its national tourism agenda, since the country is witnessing an increasing number of visitors from Scandinavia, the strong bilateral ties between UAE and Scandinavia and the availability of direct flights linking the two regions.



Al-Muhairi explained that these factors contributed to the increase in the number of Scandinavian tourists who visited the country last year by 283,000 visitors, up from 257,000 in 2016 or an increase by 10 per cent and making Scandinavian tourists in the UAE accounting for 1.4 per cent of the total foreign visitors in 2017.



Al Mheiri said that the roadshow provided a strategic platform to explore the latest global trends and best practices in the tourism industry and strengthen partnership with the concerned authorities in Scandinavia and encourage more tourists to visit UAE and enjoy its rich culture, heritage and hospitality.



During his speech at the opening of the roadshow, Abdullah Al-Hammadi, director of the National Tourism Program, called on tourists in Sweden, Norway and Denmark to explore the various tourist destinations in the UAE and its world-class facilities and services they will experience upon arrival. He further shared the countrys excellent tourism products and services, as well as the many leading international hotels and resorts, which provide for an enriching and diverse experience. - TradeArabia News ServiceIn its efforts to rescue Indian Navy Commander Abhilash Tomy, who currently lies injured in his sailing vessel in the south of Indian Ocean, defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman Sunday said the officer would be rescued French vessel Osiris today.

Tomy, representing India in the Golden Globe Race 2018 (GGR) on an indigenously built sailing vessel Thuriya, was dismasted and suffered a back injury on Friday.

He is in the south Indian Ocean, approximately 1900 nautical miles from Perth, Australia and about 2700 nautical miles from Cape Comorin.

All out efforts are being made to rescue Tomy and the Australian Rescue Coordination Centre at Canberra is coordinating the rescue mission in conjunction with many agencies including the Australian Defence Department and the Indian Navy, the Navy said in a statement.

Spoke to VCNS VAdm Ajit Kumar P, AVSM, VSM regarding the condition of injured navy officer @abhilashtomy. The Rescue Mission is being coordinated with the Australian Navy.The injured officer shall be picked up in the next 16 hrs by a French vessel Osiris, the defence minister tweeted.

The Navy said its P-8I aircraft sighted the SV Thuriya at 7:50 am on Sunday.

The Indian Navy sources said the capability of the P8i has been a humongous force multiplier who has given it and the Australian MRCC a huge input into the state of Thuriya for planning purposes.

An Indian Naval defence attache in Australia is camping in regional Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC), the navy sources said.

Continuous watch over the boat is being maintained by Indian Navy and RAAF (Royal Australian Air Force) aircraft till rescue is completed.

Indian Naval stealth frigate, INS Satpura with a Chetak Helicopter and tanker INS Jyoti operating in the Indian Ocean have been dispatched for the rescue mission. The officer in his last text message has indicated that he is safe on the boat; however is immobile due to back injury, the statement added.

(This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.)Telangana is going for early elections with the state assembly being dissolved nine months ahead of its actual term. It is a calculated risk by the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), as Opposition parties are gearing up to form a grand alliance with the sole agenda of dethroning TRS president and chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao. In an exclusive interview to Srinivasa Rao Apparasu, K T Rama Rao, tipped to be the chief minister-in-waiting, says the federal front proposed by his father might be on the backburner at least for now, but the TRS would continue its efforts in that direction after 2019 elections. Edited excerpts:

Chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has attributed his decision to dissolve the state assembly to aggressive criticism from the opposition. How can that be the reason, as in a democracy the opposition is expected to criticise the government and expose its lapses?

I admit that it is expected of the opposition to constructively criticise the government. But Telangana is a new state and it needs the support of all sections of the people, including the opposition parties, to help the government build a strong state setting aside their political interests. We expected that the opposition would extend such support. Unfortunately, right from day one, the Congress had been attacking the TRS government...When we realised that the Congresss vitriolic attacks were peaking as the elections are approaching, we thought of seeking a fresh mandate from the people...I dont know why we are being faulted for going for early polls when we have given up power nine months in advance. In fact, the opposition should be happier to face elections early, as it will give them a chance to come to power ahead of schedule.

How do you look at the attempts of opposition parties to form a grand alliance? How does it affect your prospects?

We welcome the formation of such a grand alliance ... there is no peoples agenda behind the alliance and the only common agenda is to defeat the TRS. The people will not appreciate the Congress joining hands with the Telugu Desam Party, which has moved courts and written letters to the Centre against projects like the Kaleshwaram on the Godavari and the Palamuru-Ranga Reddy lift scheme on the Krishna river. If the grand alliance is voted to power, will TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu allow these projects to be completed? How can the Congress justify an alliance with such a party?

The TRS has proposed to form a coalition of sorts at the national level in the name of a federal front. It also comprises various parties with their respective regional interests. How different will this front be?

There is absolutely no comparison between the two. While a grand alliance is purely opportunistic aimed at dislodging the KCR government, the federal front we had proposed was aimed at bringing a qualitative change in the lives of people in the country... We are looking to set an agenda for good governance in the country.

But there seem to be not many takers for this proposal...

Maybe they are looking for an opportunistic alliance. The TDP is not averse to working with the Congress, but we are certainly not interested in joining hands with either the Congress or the BJP. We believe that both these parties that have governed the country for seven decades have failed to address the basic needs of the people...

You oppose both the Congress and the BJP. Dont you think there is need for a national party that can serve as a common thread to connect all the regional parties on a common agenda?

Why only Congress and BJP? Are there no other parties in the country? In fact, TRS itself may emerge as a rallying point for the regional parties and bind them together.

What kind of role would the TRS play at the national level in 2019?

We will talk about it when we get to it. Right now, we are focusing on assembly elections.

There have been several instances recently that suggest the TRS is cosying up to the BJP, your comments.

It is not correct. We voted for the BJPs candidate in the Presidential elections because, as a matter of principle, we wanted to support a Dalit candidate. We supported the BJPs candidate for the Vice-Presidents post because he was a Telugu man. We did not support the BJP in the Rajya Sabha deputy chairman elections but voted for the JD (U) candidate, as he had requested our support. We supported the demonetization and GST because we sincerely believed that they were good for the country. In the no-confidence motion, we did not vote for the BJP but abstained. So, where was the case in which we supported the BJP? As far as surveys are concerned, let them say what they believe and we will do what we have to.

How do you rate the TRS governments performance in the last four years?

I cannot be objective if I give a rating. We have already decided to go to polls. People have to rate us. They will give a wise judgement.

There is talk that after the elections you will be made chief minister

Right from ordinary party worker to myself, everybody wants KCR to continue as CM for at least another 15 years. There is no vacancy for the chief ministers post. And talk of his successor at this stage does not arise at all.One of the strongest voices advocating greater federalism, Keralas finance minister Thomas Isaac speaks to Manoj Ramachandran on the course ahead for Kerala and how the Communist Party of India(Marxist) looks at the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

In 1996, a meeting of chief ministers in Hyderabad issued a statement titled, Federalism Without a Centre. Do you think federalism without a Centre is possible in India?

A strong Centre is mandatory given Indias diversity. But the system we have is quasi-federal. Given the nature of the times when our Constitution was framed, it has been biased towards the Union. This has become dramatically pronounced during the recent floods in Kerala. State governments cant borrow because of a limit in place.

Our taxation powers have been virtually taken away due to GST. We cant seek foreign aid as its against the government policy and the Centre is not very generous in giving grants. Kerala is now dependent on donations; its not a healthy federal system... There is no system in place for resource mobilisation even in times of crisis. We need course correction.

What are the institutional mechanisms available to address Centre-state ties?

Firstly, allow the Finance Commission to function independently. Dont micromanage it by fixing terms of reference which tie their hands. The revenue deficit grant is a Constitutional provision, the terms of reference wants to do away with it. The Finance Commission cant decide on what are populist measures. Secondly, GST has to be made flexible. States should be allowed to tweak its SGST component. We should decide on how federal flexibility can be brought into the GST system. Thirdly, the National Development Council and the Industry Council need to be rejuvenated. We were critical of the Planning Commission, which has made way for the Niti Aayog, which in turn has no teeth.

Demographic transition coupled with economic growth has put southern states much ahead on the development curve. How can the north match up to this?

These differences have been historical. The nature of metropolitan growth has a lot to do with regional development. South and western India had a ryotwari system, while north India had a zamindari system  these are historical headaches. But 70 years is enough time to overcome disparities. However, North India has failed in providing basic healthcare, education and conditions to lead life with human dignity. This is the biggest lesson Kerala has given, Tamil Nadu is following this path now, and Andhra Pradesh and Telangana also seem poised to follow this model. Redistributive politics and policies have been absent in north India. The backwardness of the region is ultimately a political question. This is the challenge that the North faces.

Despite their backwardness, north India has a huge amount of unspent capital deposited in Government of India securities. Over Rs 1,50,000-crore of different states money is lying in Government of Indias 14-day securities, earning 3-4% interest. Why keep it there? Spend it on education and healthcare. Kerala with 3% of the countrys population accounts for 50% of claims under the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY).

How much more will Kerala need to bail out of the present crisis?

Kerala now needs Rs 6,000 crores for repair and compensation and Rs 25,000 crores in capital expenditure to rebuild. Like all states, we are allowed to borrow 3% of our GST bill. What is happening in Kerala now is an economic crisis worse than 2009. Our ties with the UAE run deep. We want the right to borrow for reconstruction work. We have begun crowd-funding in developmental work.

The CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) governments work has attracted a lot of criticism. Will this prove detrimental to your chances in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections?

Criticism is an integral part of a democracy. But on the contrary, the work done by the state government will ensure a win. The overwhelming impression within and outside Kerala is one of positivity towards the state government. The calamity has been dealt with most effectively... The governments prestige is at its highest in its current tenure.

The CPI(M) and Congress have earlier come together to form political dispensations. Do you think the need is more in light of the renewed focus by the BJP to make inroads into southern states?

The BJPs rule in Delhi has definitely given them respectability but they have been able to make inroads only in Karnataka. With the Congress and JD(S) coming together, the BJP stands no chance. It is going to be a near washout for the BJP in the south. The BJPs political outreach is inimical to the socio-political commentary of the south. Social reformation and renaissance has put the southern narrative on a different level. We believe in the ideal propagated by Sri Narayana Guru, who said, Caste and religion dont matter if one is a good human being. A north Indian party that says one has to be a Hindu to be a good human being just doesnt find a place in our narrative. The BJP stands isolated in South India and will become a liability to any party who will associate themselves with them.A nun who participated in the stir against former Bishop of Jalandhar Franco Mulakkal who was arrested on rape charges has been asked not to attend the holy offering and other religious rites  a decision which left church reformers outraged.

Sister Lucy Kalappurkkal of Mananthvadi diocese (north Kerala) said she was instructed by the Mother Superior of the convent not to participate in any religious service of the diocese.

After participating in the nuns stir in Kochi I came back to my convent on Sunday morning. Sad, I was asked to keep away from all religious duties, she said. She was with the agitating nuns of Missionaries of Jesus who staged a dharna in Kochi seeking action against Mulakkal for allegedly raping a nun. The two-week-long protest was called off on Saturday after Mulakkals arrest.

When contacted, a spokesman of the Mananthvadi Diocese refused to comment. But leaders of Save Our Sisters movement and activists decried the action saying it was sheer victimisation and witch-hunt. The convener of Save our Sisters, an outfit floated in the wake of the nuns agitation, Father Agustin Vattolly said his organization would fight for the nun and try to convince the Mananthvadi diocese to reverse its decision.

It seems a witch-hunt has begun. The nuns movement was a kind of renaissance meant to cleanse church stables. Rather than introspecting church authorities are back to their dirty game of intimidation and witch-hunt, said Sister Jesme, activist and writer, who was defrocked ten years ago for turning against the Catholic church.

With the arrest of former head of Jalandhar Diocese, one of the richest and powerful dioceses in the country, church reformers say a channel has been opened for exploited to come out and speak up. In Kerala, Christians form around 18% of the 3.32 crore population.

In June, the 43-year-old nun, also a mother superior, had complained to the police that Mulakkal had raped her 13 times between 2014 and 2016. The nun is a member of the Missionaries of Jesus congregation based in Punjab which also runs three convents in Kerala.

Mulakkal was arrested on Friday after three days of questioning. He has been charged under IPC Sections 342 (wrongful confinement), 376 (rape), 377 (unnatural offence) and 560 (1) (criminal intimidation).Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday launched his governments flagship Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojna (AB-PMJAY) billed as the worlds largest public health insurance scheme in Ranchi, calling it a game changer.

Modi who also launched 10 wellness centres in Jharkhand and laid the foundation stones of medical colleges in Chaibasa and Koderma, said the scheme was a step towards serving the poor people of the country.

Today the focus of the entire nation is on Ranchi. In over 400 districts of the country, a similar event is taking place. Even the last person standing should get better health facility. More than 50 crore people will get insurance up to Rs 5 lakh. This is the worlds first such scheme. No other country has a scheme like this. The number of people who are to benefit from this is almost equal to the population of the entire European Union, Modi said at a rally while launching the scheme.

The scheme was launched simultaneously in 476 districts across the country for the benefit 10.74 crore families. Modi described Ayushman Bharat as a miracle and assured beneficiaries that the scheme would take care of them in case of any misfortune.

This work wasnt easy or small. It was all done within 6 months. It is a miracle in itself and that is why I want to congratulate my entire team, he said. Even while inaugurating this scheme i would want hospitals to remain empty as i do not want any of my countrymen to suffer. But if something like that ever happens to you, Ayushman Bharat will take care of you.

Thirty-one States and Union territories are already on board and have signed an MoU with the central government to implement the scheme.

Another component of the Ayushman Bharat scheme is launching 1.5 lakh health and wellness centres across the country. According to the National Health Agency (NHA), which is the central implementing agency for the scheme, two more states are in the process of signing the required MoU with the Centre for the scheme.

The states that have been openly reluctant to join Ayushman Bharat are Odisha and Delhi.

While the scheme beneficiaries have been selected on the basis of socio-economic caste census-2011 (SECS-2011) data, the government has decided to also extend the scheme additionally to those families that were availing of the governments earlier Rashtrya Swasthya Bima Yojna (RSBY).

On the basis of census 2011 data, there are about 10.74 crore beneficiary families but we have decided to add those also who used to get cover under the RSBY as we dont want to take away the benefits from anyone, said Indu Bhushan, CEO- AB-PMJAY.

The number of beneficiary families will now go up to 12 crores after two more states joined the scheme.

An estimated Rs 12,000 crores will be spent under the Ayushman Bharat mission with 60% being borne by the Centre and 40% by state. Beneficiaries can avail hospitalization treatment for 1350 pre-identified diseases.

Our aim is to screen 30 and above people for non communicable diseases such as diabetes, hypertension and cancers of oral cavity, breast and cervix at the primary level. It will be door-to-door screening and will also include screening for TB and Leprosy, said Union health minister JP Nadda. .A man was beaten to death by a mob in north Gujarats Banaskantha district after he allegedly broke into the house of a villager, police officials familiar with the matter said.

The incident occurred on Saturday night after the deceased allegedly sneaked into the house of Amrut Prajapati, a resident of Hamirgadh village.

The Prajapati family said they woke up after the deceased entered their house around 10pm on Saturday. They tied him to a tree outside the house and called other villagers, said a Danta police officer on the condition of anonymity.

After the man was tied, the villagers beat him up with sticks, police said.

The (Prajapati) family members and some other people in the village tied him to a banyan tree and beat him with sticks, news agency Press Trust of India (PTI) quoted sub-inspector BK Goswami as saying. He added that the man was already dead by the time police reached the spot.

Police have registered a first information report (FIR) against at least 40 people, including five members of the Prajapati family.

According to police officials, they were finding it difficult to ascertain the identity of the deceased man, who they said was in 50s, as they did not find any ID on him nor did anyone come forward to claim his body.

Danta police inspector and investigating officer VK Goswami has become the complainant in the case after nobody came forward to identify him (the deceased), said another Danta police official, requesting anonymity.

(With PTI inputs)

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ONTamil actor and Thiruvadanai MLA Sethu Karunas was arrested Sunday morning for allegedly making derogatory comments against the Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswamy and state police department, said a Chennai police officer who did not wish to be named.

Karunas appeared unfazed by his arrest. Prisons are not new for us. We came through the Pandiya rulers who braved the British army. I will face this action in a legal way, he told reporters.

Karunas, the founder president of Mukkulathor Pulippadai- a Thevar caste outfit  had fought the 2016 state legislative assembly elections under the AIADMKs banner and won from Thiruvadadai assembly constituency in Ramanathapuram district. However, after the death of former CM Jayalalithaa, the actor-turned MLA switched his loyalties to rebel AIADMK leader TTV Dhinakaran.

During a protest meeting on September 15, Karunas targeted the CM and the police. In the speech, he also expressed his support backed for expelled and jailed AIADMK leader Sasikala.

The CM is afraid of me as he is thinking that I would beat him. Police should not arrest our Mukkulathor caste youths. I am ready for one to one fight with police officials if they come without uniform. I would allow my cadres to do even murders if they are having the correct reasons, he had said in his speech.

Karunas also claimed that Palaniswamy who is from the Gounder community became the CM only due to the charity of Mukkulathor woman VK Sasikala, the close aide of former CM J Jayalalithaa.

He also attacked media, stating that the media houses in the state were owned by Iyers and Nadars who were suppressing news about Thevars.

Gounder community leaders including R Easwaran, general secretary, Kongunadu Makkal Desiya Kazhagam had condemned Karunas speech and demanded his arrest.

VG Narayanan of Hindu Makkal Munnani had lodged a complaint against Karunas with Chennai City police commissioner A K Viswanath while the Chief Minister said appropriate actions would be taken against Karunas for his speech.The all-woman crew of Indian Navys sailing vessel Tarini, which created history by circumnavigating the globe in a gruelling 254-day voyage, is among the millions of Indians who are praying for Commander Abhilash Tomy who is badly injured and marooned in one of the loneliest places in the Indian Ocean.

The 39-year-old, who trained the Tarini crew, is likely to be picked up by French boat Osiris on Monday morning. Tomy has not had a drop of water since the injury. He cannot communicate with rescue planes as his marine VHF radio batteries are dead. Indian and Australian military planes are keeping non-stop watch over his boat Thurayi.

He imparted us hands-on training in Mumbai before we started sailing on the MhadeiHe has been an inspiration and hope for millions of Indians who dream big and want to achieve their goals, said Tarini skipper Lieutenant Commander Vartika Joshi.

Tomy became the first Indian to circumnavigate the globe onboard his boat Mhadei - solo, non-stop and unassisted in 2013. He was awarded Indias second-highest peace-time gallantry award, Kirti Chakra, for the feat.

Even during our circumnavigation, when we were in any doubt he would take time out from his preparations of Golden Globe Race 2018. Its really unfortunate that hes hit by worst of the weather. Our prayers and thoughts are with him and that he returns safely, said Lieutenant Commander Aishwarya Boddapati, who was part of the Tarini crew.

They couldnt have found a better mentor than Tomy.

Commissioned in the Indian Navy in 2000, Tomy has sailed more than 52,000 miles in his 18-year naval career. He was part of support crew during 2008-10 for the first Indian solo circumnavigation by Commander Dilip Donde.

A voyage qualifies as circumnavigation if it starts and finishes at the same port, does not go through a canal or strait, crosses all meridians at least once, and covers at least 21,600 nautical miles.

Tomy completed flying training as a maritime reconnaissance aircraft pilot in 2002 and flew Dornier planes. He has represented India in several international events including the Cape Town to Rio Yacht Race, the Spanish Copa del Rey and the Korea Cup International Yacht Race. Tomy has been awarded MacGregor medal for valuable military reconnaissance and the Tenzing Norgay award for adventure sports.A legislator of Andhra Pradeshs ruling Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and one of his party colleagues were killed by Maoists in a daylight attack in Visakhapatnam district, the police said on Sunday, in what is seen as the first major strike by the militants in the state after it was bifurcated in 2014.

Kidari Sarveswara Rao, the 48-year-old MLA of Araku, and Siveri Soma, 52, a former legislator of the constituency, were targeted when they were returning from a government-sponsored village visit programme, officials said.

Tension gripped Raos constituency after his supporters attacked two police stations, alleging that the police failed to provide security to the leader.

A group of Maoists came along with the villagers, and blocked the MLAs car. As the personal security officers of the legislator and the ex-legislator got down, they snatched the AK-47 rifles from them and shot Sarveswara Rao and Soma dead, Visakhapatnam Range deputy inspector general of police Ch Srikanth told news agency Press Trust of India.

Rao won the Araku constituency, which is reserved for Scheduled Tribes (ST) candidates, as an YSR Congress nominee in 2014. He later joined the TDP.

In July, tribals staged a protest against the MLA for allegedly obtaining a permit for the quarrying of black stones, which locals objected to, according to news agency IANS. His stance in favour of bauxite mining, too, has drawn the ire of Maoists, who have traditionally protested development activities in forest areas.

Counter-insurgency operations in the past few years have resulted in Maoists losing their foothold in Andhra. A major campaign in October 2016 led to the killings of 31 Maoists at Ramguda. It was seen as a revenge for the deaths of 37 Greyhounds personnel at Balimela in 2008.

Chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu expressed shock after the attack on two of his partymen, saying there was no place for violence in a democracy.

Officials could not confirm how many people were involved in Sundays attack. Eyewitnesses said a group of 40-50 Maoists, including women, emerged from the forests, intercepted the MLAs vehicle and snatched away the weapons of security personnel. Both politicians were shot at a close range. Their bodies were taken to a Visakhapatnam hospital for autopsy.

The incident took place around 1pm near Thutangi village, which is close to the border between Andhra and Odisha, around 125km from Visakhapatnam.

The Maoists were suspected to have infiltrated from Odisha to carry out the operation, Bathina Srinivasulu, the inspector general of Andhras Special Intelligence Bureau, told HT. Its a planned operation, he said.

The police were put on high alert after the incident, said director general of police RP Thakur in a press release.Chandigarh-based jewellery store Nikka Mal Babu Ram and Sons of Sector 22-D will have to pay Rs 2.15 lakh for unfair trade practice and mental agony and harassment caused to Raj Kumar, a Sector 41 resident, who was sold gold of lesser purity but told it was of 22 carat. Punitive damages worth Rs 5 lakh will also have to be paid by the offender to the legal aid cell.

The jeweller will also have to replace the ornaments with 22-carat gold or pay the equivalent current market price to the complainant. The pieces also weigh less than what the consumer was told.

Raj Kumar had bought what he thought were two 22-carat gold bangles and necklace from the store on November 8, 2000, and four more bangles weighing 51.77 gram with 22-carat stamps on November 22 of the same year.

However, on getting suspicious after reading about the jeweller being booked for selling 6.25 carat gold and passing it off as 22 carat to Sanjeev Goyal, a resident of Panchkula, in February 2016, Raj Kumar got his jewellery checked from a certified Delhi lab. Results revealed that the ornaments were plated with inferior metals such as silver, copper and zinc with a layer of 22 carat of gold on the inner and outer surfaces. The overall purity of gold was found to be 64.9% (15.5 carat) for the bangles and 81.2% (19.5 carat) for the necklace.

The forum concluded that the jeweller had deceived the innocent consumer and mentioned the likelihood of other unsuspecting consumers who might not have had the opportunity to discover that the purity of the gold they had purchased was less than 22 carat.

The jeweller had contested Raj Kumars charges saying the complaint was time barred as it was filed 15 years after the purchase was made. It was also claimed that the complaint had been filed at the instance of Sanjeev Goyal and that the gold was not tested at an accredited lab.

The punitive damage amount of Rs 5 lakh for the welfare/legal aid of the needy and poor consumers will have to be deposited by the jeweller in the consumer legal aid fund account. When contacted, Manu Jain, one of the directors of the Sector 22 jewellery store, declined to comment, saying he was very upset.

Unfair tendency

Responding to an argument that a criminal complaint of cheating against the store had been dismissed earlier, the forum said the findings of a criminal court were not binding on a civil court or consumer forum. One may

not have mens rea (guilty mind or guilty knowledge) while selling the articles but definitely it constitutes an unfair tendency to become multimillionaire overnight by resorting to unfair means, ie deceiving the innocent consumers, the consumer forum remarked.The Cathay Pacific Group has announced a new twice-weekly service to the Japanese city of Tokushima, the carriers 10th new route launch in 2018.



The route will be operated by a Cathay Dragon A320 between December 18 and March 29, 2019.



Cathay Dragon has operated charter flights to Tokushima at peak holiday periods in the past and the introduction of a scheduled service underlines the groups commitment to this increasingly popular region and Japan as a whole.



Together, Cathay Pacific and Cathay Dragon currently fly to six destinations in Japan, and the addition of Tokushima to the network gives customers a new region of the country to explore. Open-jaw tickets are available through the Cathay Pacific website, meaning customers can also choose to fly to Tokushima and return to Hong Kong from another Japanese gateway (or vice versa).



Cathay Pacific chief customer and commercial officer, Paul Loo, said: Our routes to Japan are performing extremely well for us and we are very pleased to be able to offer our customers with a new destination in this most beautiful, dynamic and culturally-rich of countries.



Growing our reach to places that arent already served from Hong Kong boosts the citys status as Asias largest international hub and enables us to capture new and important sources of revenue.



Already this year, the Cathay Pacific Group has launched services to Brussels, Copenhagen, Dublin, Nanning and Jinan. Other new routes to take-off this year include Washington DC (on 15 September), Davao City, Medan (both October) and Cape Town (November). - TradeArabia News ServiceA day after Franco Mulakkal, the former Jalandhar diocese bishop, was arrested for raping a nun, HT explains the jurisdiction, domain and functioning of the diocese, the regions most powerful seat for Roman Catholics with a considerable political clout.

Jurisdiction

The word diocese is derived from Greek term diokesis, which means administration. Today, it is used in an ecclesiastical sense, which means churches under the jurisdiction of a bishop. There are 174 catholic dioceses in India, which promote and oversee all spiritual activities of the church. All the bishops report to the office of the Pope in Vatican City after coordinating with their respective archbishop, the highest rank of a bishop.

History

Until the Partition in 1947, the region came under the diocese of Lahore, looked after by the Capuchin missionaries of the Belgian province. On January 17, 1952, the Apostolic Prefecture of Jalandhar was created and on December 6, 1971, it got the status of diocese and Symphorian Keeprath was appointed as the first bishop. Currently, the bishop resides at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Jalandhar.

Areas under it

Bishop, who is head of the diocese, has vast area and a population of 1.5 lakh under his control. The diocese looks after Punjabs Amritsar, Faridkot, Fazilka, Ferozepur, Gurdaspur, Hoshiarpur, Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Ludhiana, Moga, Muktsar, Nawanshahar, Pathankot, Tarn Taran districts and Anandpur Sahib tehsil of Ropar in Punjab. Some districts of Himachal Pradesh  Chamba, Hamirpur, Kangra and Una  also come under the Jalandhar diocese.

What it controls

The Jalandhar diocese has control over 120 churches having 150 priests. There are around 50 schools, one degree college (Trinity College) in Jalandhar, and around 10 hospitals across Punjab and Himachal Pradesh, the administration of which the diocese looks after.

Source of funding

Most of churches under the diocese have schools, which are doing very well. As the St Marys cathedral is concerned, it mainly depends on the offerings from the people.

Clout and controversies

Mulakkal has been staying in Punjab for the last three decades and was considered to be very close to Shiromani Akali Dal president and Punjabs former deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal till 2017. In the Vidhan Sabha elections of Punjab in 2017, the bishop aligned with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which could not do well in the state.

Soon after being appointed as the bishop in June 2013, Franco Mulakkal had paid obeisance at the Golden Temple in Amritsar, which did not go down well with Christian community.

The road ahead

Even though, Pope Francis has appointed Bishop Agnelo Rufino as bishop of Jalandhar diocese on temporary basis, it may take six months to a year to appoint permanent bishop for the diocese once bishop Franco offers his resignation to the Pope.Alec Baldwin does a pretty convincing Donald Trump impersonation - just ask a newspaper in the Dominican Republic.

El Nacional published an apology on Saturday after mistakenly running a photo of the actor doing his impression of the US president on Saturday Night Live instead of Trump himself.

Accompanying an article in its Friday edition headlined in Spanish: Trump says settlements in Israel dont favor peace, a photo of a scowling Baldwin in a blond wig appears next to a photo of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

In a statement posted on its website, the Dominican newspaper said a photo of Baldwin imitating Trump - over the caption Donald Trump, president of the USA - was published on page 19 and the mistake went unnoticed by the newspapers staff.

El Nacional apologizes to its readers and anyone who felt affect by the publication of the photo, the statement said.

Trump has lashed out at the way Saturday Night Live has lampooned him, saying Baldwins semi-regular portrayal of him stinks.Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has declared victory in the Maldives presidential election Sunday, following a controversial campaign observers said was rigged in favour of strongman President Abdulla Yameen.

Solih had the backing of a united opposition trying to oust Yameen and triumphed despite struggling for visibility with the electorate, with local media fearful of falling foul of heavy-handed decrees and reporting restrictions.

I call on Yameen to respect the will of the people and bring about a peaceful, smooth transfer of power, Solih said on national television shortly after official results showed he had an unassailable 58 percent of the popular vote.

He also urged the incumbent to immediately release scores of political prisoners.

Yameen, who was widely tipped to retain power, had jailed or forced into exile almost all of his main rivals.

Before polls opened, police raided the campaign headquarters of the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) and searched the building for several hours in a bid to stop what they called illegal activities. There were no arrests.

Mohamed Nasheed, the head of Solihs Maldivian Democratic Party, said the vote would bring the country back to the democratic path.

Yameen would have no option but to concede defeat, said Nasheed, who was elected president of a newly-democratic Maldives in 2008 but currently lives in exile.

He will not have people around him who will support him to fight on and stay, he told AFP.Six siblings of a Republican congressman from Arizona seeking re-election in Novembers midterms have publicly endorsed his Democratic opponent--all but ensuring an awkward Thanksgiving family dinner this year.

Paul Gosar, who first entered Congress in 2011 with the backing of the populist Tea Party movement and is known for his hardline views on immigration, is odds-on favorite to retain his seat in the rural, conservative state when he faces Democrat David Brill this fall.

But that hasnt stopped six of his nine brothers and sisters from featuring in a series of videos released Friday for the Brill campaign, drawing surprised and bemused reactions as the family feud plays out across national media.

In one of the ads, entitled: Paul Gosar Is Not Working For You, the siblings are introduced by only their first name and profession as they take turns to lay out the case against him.

If (Arizona voters) care about healthcare, they care about their childrens healthcare, they would hold him to account, says physician Grace.

Lawyer David adds: Hes not listening to you, he doesnt have your interests at heart.

Their last names and identities are finally disclosed in a reveal toward the end, before candidate Brill closes out the video to say he approved the message.

In a second video, called A Family Defends Its Honor, the siblings say that speaking up against their brother is personally difficult, but they feel compelled to stand up for what is right.

The congressman hit back on Twitter on Saturday, comparing his siblings to slavish supporters of Soviet despot Joseph Stalin.

Moms favorite?

My siblings who chose to film ads against me are all liberal Democrats who hate President (Donald) Trump, he wrote.

These disgruntled Hillary supporters are related by blood to me but like leftists everywhere, they put political ideology before family. Stalin would be proud.

In another tweet, he complained: We all have crazy aunts and relatives etc and my family is no different, before adding: To the six angry Democrat Gosars-see you at Mom and Dads house!

He also approvingly shared a New York Times report that quoted his 85-year-old mother Bernadette Gosar saying she believes in the same philosophy and policies that Paul does, leading the congressman to gloat: I guess I really am Moms favorite!

It is not the first time the Gosar familys political disagreements have spilled out in the open.

Last year, seven of the siblings wrote a stinging letter to the Daily Miner, a local Arizona newspaper, after Gosar suggested the white supremacist rally that took place in Charlottesville was orchestrated by George Soros, a liberal billionaire and backer of progressive causes.

Gosar also made headlines earlier this year when he called on police and Attorney General Jeff Sessions to check the immigration status of protesters attending President Donald Trumps State of the Union address in January.

Democrats are hoping for a strong showing in the November 6 vote, when all 435 seats in the House of Representatives are up for grabs, along with 35 seats in the 100-member Senate and more than 30 gubernatorial spots.

Republicans currently hold majorities in both the House and the Senate. Democrats are hoping that a blue wave will propel them to victory in the House, and the latest polls give them a good chance of doing so.

Gosar, however, can probably rest easy: political forecasting site FiveThirtyEight currently gives his opponent a less than one percent chance of an upset victory."On September 22nd, Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said that Ireland may recognize Palestine as a state if talks over a two-state solution with Israel continue failing.

He made the remarks during a joint press conference with visiting Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki, who was accompanying President Mahmoud Abbas.

We have made a choice not to officially recognize the state of Palestine just yet, the Irish Times quoted Coveney as saying.

However, he did say that Ireland has already committed to recognizing a Palestinian state as part of a peace process. However, if the negotiations fail, the Irish government might have to forget the second part of that. He also speculated that other European countries would possibly take a similar position.

The Palestinian delegation also met Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and President Michael D Higgins. It is on its way to New York where Abbas will speak at the United Nations General Assembly. The essence of his address will be the need for the international community to rescue the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict or abandon it altogether." SF

----------

The Irish should be careful Trump will have to put tariffs on Guinness. pl

https://southfront.org/ireland-may-recognize-palestine-if-peace-talks-collapse/Cardi B is attending events in Italy during Milan Fashion Week. The rapper was there to support her sister Hennessy Carolina first major runway appearance. The "Bodak Yellow" star is also hopping across the city on her own personal invitations. She shared a peak with her fans online.

Furry glasses hide a good portion of her face as she spoke about her "winter certified" fashion, courtesy of Dolce & Gabana.

"B*tch! Get into these m*therf*cking glasses. These glasses right here, the fur... Dolce & Gabana wants all my shmoney."

Her experience of Italian hospitality might seem a little trite, despite her enthusiasm.

"These Italians got me f*cked up. Giving me champagne in the afternoon. They must not know that I'm light...We out here in Milan, drinking sparkling water, eating spaghettis."

The drama that went down during New York Fashion Week has not tarnished her reputation to the point of her being barred from the Italian edition. That's a win.

It's good to see that the new mother is having a good time abroad. This past year has been filled with many highs and lows as she struggles to manage her time between family and her budding music career.By Auqib Javeed, TwoCircles.net

Srinagar: The run-up to local body elections in the Kashmir valley continues to be a tense and violent affair, with four Panchayat offices set on fire by unknown persons following the announcement for the Panchayat polls scheduled from November 17.

It is pertinent to mention the militants have already warned the candidates over participation in the polls, while the separatists have called for the election boycott.

The scared candidates are now appealing to the government to rethink about holding the elections, saying that they have been made scapegoats in the ongoing conflict.

Support TwoCircles



According to reports, many candidates who are living in a state of fear have migrated to other safer places. The candidates say their lives are not safe but the government is hell bent to hold the election anyhow.

A former Panch from Shopian, who wished not to be named, said many previously-elected Panchs were indecisive about their participation in the backdrop of such incidents. Many Panchayat members have been killed in the last five years and nobody came forward to take care of their families. Further, an atmosphere is prevailing throughout south Kashmir in which nobody is willing to actually take a risk, he said.

Those people who are thinking of participating in the electionsshould also remember that we have also brought the sulphuric acid and hydrochloric acid and be prepared for it. Hizbul-ul-Mujahideen Commander Riyaz Naikoo had said recently in an audio clip.

Two mainstream state partiesPDP and NCthrough which New Delhi is ruling the state have decided to boycott the elections. The Congress party also said that the situation is not conducive for elections in the state. However, it eventually decided to contest the elections saying that they cant leave the ground open for the communal forces while referring to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) who has decided to contest the elections.

Shafeeq Mir, Chairman, Jammu and Kashmir Panchayat Association (JKPA), while talking to TwoCircles.net said, It is the responsibility of the government to arrange and create an atmosphere in which elections are conducted smoothly; we cant blame everything on militants, political conspiracy can also behind the attacks and threats.

Recently, the Centre has also decided to provide Rs 10 lakh as the insurance cover to each candidate who is participating in the election. The government is hopeful that this move will ensure security and allow more people to participate in the upcoming elections.

However, Shafiq Mir said, We never wanted an insurance cover for us. We are not contesting elections for this. We only demanded that elections should be held in a secure atmosphere, which is the job of the government and it should ensure this.

On Friday, the miscreants set ablaze a Panchayat Ghar at village Munad in Yaripora area of Kulgam South Kashmir. However, timely action by locals brought the fire under control with partial damage to the building, informed official sources. This is the eighth such incident reported in the last five days.

Amidst the entire ruckus going around in Kashmir, the Valley prepares to elect 4,130 Sarpanch and 29,719 panchs.Kanye West is planning to drop a new album on the same night that he performs on Saturday Night Live. At first, news that Ye would be dropping a second solo album this year sounded like fake news. Aside from ye, West recorded a joint project with Kid Cudi entitled Kids See Ghost. Technically, another album would be West's third project in 2018, and that's not counting the albums he produced (Daytona, Nasir, K.T.S.E.). It appears that it's full steam ahead though for Yandhi, an album that places a Hindu twist on the Yeezus album aesthetic.

Gandhi is one of the most famous activists in the world, and his courage helped cement India and Pakistan's freedom from British rule. Taking on the title of Yandhi is no less controversial than calling yourself Yeezus, although the enormous Christian culture in America will avoid scolding Kanye too hard for this one. West took to his favorite form of social media on Saturday (September 22), and posted pictures of billboards in New York that promote his new album. The billboards are fairly simple, they feature one blue text message bubble that reads "YANDHI 9 29 18." Kanye's SNL performace will undoubtedly feature songs off the new project, and we can't wait.

https://twitter.com/_/status/1043556092096045057

https://twitter.com/_/status/1043555923933958144

https://twitter.com/_/status/1043555878773841921

https://twitter.com/_/status/1043555842006499328

Kanye West and Kim Kardashian are proud parents. Considering their mutual love for fashion, their daughter's modeling debut must have been a special moment for the family. North West, who is already fond of makeup, made her first runway appearance in Santa Monica. North had already been part of a campaign with her mother and her grandmother Kris Jenner for Fendi. However, this was her first solo foray into the fashion world.

Her debut took place at the L.O.L Surprise Fashion Show. The kid was serving Michael Jackson "Thriller" vibes with a fiery red biker jacket and white socks as she made her way down the catwalk. She was given dark shades for extra drip, along with a clutch. The celebrity fashion show also included other children of famous parents like Birdie and Busy Phillipps.

Kim Kardashian expressed how excited her daughter was when faced with the opportunity.

"North is completely obsessed with L.O.L. Surprise already, so when we found out there was going to be an L.O.L. Surprise BIGGER Surprise Fashion show, she absolutely had to be involved. She loves to dress up like her favorite characters, so it was so exciting for her to actually become a real-life L.O.L. doll."

https://www.instagram.com/p/BoDfOS0BgzM

Lup Fiasco delivered an epic follow-up to Drogas Light, an underwhelming album that left many of his fans disappointed. Drogas Wave finds Fiasco back in immaculate form, and "Kingdom" is one of the best collaborations on the project. Featuring Damian Marley, "Kingdom" is a rallying call for Black culture to invest in their own wealth. The concepts of freedom, love, life, and finance in relation to Black culture are explored on the Oren Yoel and DJ Dahi produced track.

Lupe and Damian combine their vocals for a melodic chorus that is sure to get stuck in your head. Both men polish off their verses with effortless skill, and the beat switch for Lupe's final verse adds a decorative touch to the finale.

Quoatable Lyrics

Port-au-Prince is a kingdom, Kingston is a kingdom

New Orleans is a kingdom, South Central is a kingdom, yuh

Freedom, free men are freedom

Black life is a kingdom, why kill yourself for no reason forDonald Trump has convinced the nation that celebrities can get elected. Trump isn't the first celebrity to become a president, but he is by far the most divisive. Since the last election, several celebrity names have been thrown into the hypothetical presidential race including Dwayne Johnson, Oprah, and Will Smith. Smith recently performed his first stand up act ever at the Peppermint Club in Los Angeles at an event held by Dave Chappelle. The two legendary celebrities were approached about a possible presidential run, and their answers were positive.

"You would vote for me if I ran? Ima consider it," joked Will. "Ima take that under advisement. Chappelle seemed ready to hit the campaign trail, as he answered, And Ill be the Vice President, that way nothing bad will happen to Will. I'm not sure Chappelle is the best man to keep anyone out of trouble, as his penchant to stir up controversy is legendary. The 2020 election will be an interesting one for sure, and Kanye West has even planned to run for president (although he is aiming for a 2024 run, suggesting a Trump reelection). Only time will tell. Would you like to see another celebrity in office, or should we stick to career politicians?

https://www.instagram.com/p/BoDKeZJgCwr

Jose Antonio Vargas considers his name in Dear America, Notes of an Undocumented Citizen. From that name, one might make a generalization about where Vargas is from and how he got to the United States. But a quick look at the books cover reveals no accent mark over the e.

Vargas describes his name as existing at the intersection of colonialism and imperialism, referring to the complicated history of the Philippines, where he was born. His grandparents immigrated to the United States, but various complications kept his mother out. When he was 12, she sent Vargas with a smuggler  he was told it was an uncle  to live with his grandparents in California.

Researching the Philippines and its history, I understood better how much bigger history is than any of us, he says. Yet its so personal.

Vargas, who will appear Monday night at Talento Bilingue de Houston, had no idea he lacked proper documentation. And his arrival here left him without a path to citizenship. Yet 25 years have passed since then.

Jose Antonio Vargas discusses Dear America, Notes of an Undocumented Citizen When: 7 p.m. Monday Where: Talento Bilingue de Houston, 333 S. Jensen Details: $26 (includes copy of book); 713-523-0701, brazosbookstore.com See More Collapse

During that time, a teenage Vargas found out his green card was counterfeit. He dealt with a supportive grandparent and one who kicked him out of the house when he came out as gay. A few years later he won a Pulitzer Prize for reporting on the Virginia Tech University shooting. He became one of the faces of the DREAM Act, only to be denied its deferred action protection because he was a year too old. And he spoke before the Senate Judiciary Committee, during which he challenged the government with a question: What do you want to do with me?

That appearance could be seen as the fulcrum of Vargas book. Before the Senate committee, he is questioned by Jeff Sessions, then a U.S. Senator and now the United States attorney general.

Mr. Vargas, Sessions said, would you agree fundamentally that a great nation should have an immigration policy and then create a legal system that carries that policy out and then enforces that policy?

Vargas answered in the affirmative. And Notes further suggests he still agrees with Sessions. He just thinks the current policy has created an international nightmare affecting millions of people and needs revision.

People are surprised the book isnt about Trump, Vargas says. Theyre taken aback by the tone of the book. They expected an angrier tone.

But Id rather talk about solving problems and having conversations.

Vargas divides the book into three sections: Lying largely covers his youth, as he finds out how he got to the States. Passing finds him melding into a culture. And Hiding is provocatively named because Vargas isnt just hiding in plain sight: Hes become a quite visible activist for immigration issues and immigration reform, most recently founding and serving as the CEO of the nonprofit Define American.

This is a cultural thing, he says. People think its about partisan politics. Its way deeper than that. Its a band-aid when you need radiation and chemo at the same time. Its about needing to have an honest conversation about a country addicted to cheap labor. The problems are far bigger than just trying to get rid of some people.

Thats the thrust of our work at Define American. To start a cultural conversation.

Vargas shifts between the personal and the international in the book, what he calls the micro and the macro of concerns that have enormous emotional cost but also a larger issue of severance between the self and a government. This feels like a fragile time for all of this, but at the same time you want to make sure youre clearly defining terms.

Vargas took an efficient approach to his narrative, spreading 40 brisk chapters across 230 pages. At times, they feel a little like snapshots or poems, moments that prompted emotional reflection on the part of the author. Sometimes theyre hopeful. Often theyre not.

I wanted to avoid didactic lecturing, he says. I wanted the language itself to be part of these large questions. And maybe thats why the tone is mournful. I just read it out loud to record it for Audible. It wasnt until I read it out loud that I realized how mournful the book is.

andrew.dansby@chron.comI cant help but appreciate the belligerence of the Houston Professional Fire Fighters Association.

Its heartening to see people assert themselves in a context where many leaders have pre-emptively taken the stance that to do so is inherently selfish. Republican women, for example, have just endured a weeklong debate triggered by an allegation of sexual misconduct made against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.

Kavanaugh categorically denies the allegation, but its a credible one. Thats clear from the fact that some of his supporters have theorized that it might be a case of mistaken identity. Also clear is that Republican men dont actually think such an allegation should affect Kavanaughs confirmation to the nations highest court. Some Republican women would agree with that, presumably. But those who think the allegation should at least be taken seriously have been scolded accordingly.

Its astonishing that Republican women have so little leverage in their own party. It may be impossible to prove that a 17-year-old assaulted a 15-year-old girl at a party in suburban Maryland in the 1980s. And I understand that some men resent the suggestion that they should, as a general matter, believe women.

But in 1918 they naively gave us the franchise. Republicans may rue that decision, but they cant undo it easily, or before Nov. 6.

Watching such depressing drama unfold in Washington is one reason I cant help but appreciate the belligerence Houston firefighters have shown in their battle for pay parity with Mayor Sylvester Turner, of late.

On Nov. 6 Houston voters will be asked to weigh in on a proposition that would give firefighters equal pay to police officers of corresponding seniority and rank. Since everyone likes firefighters and the idea that people should be treated equally, Proposition B will probably pass.

But firefighters have forced the entire city into a costly game of chicken in which the average Houstonian will lose, in pursuit of a goal that doesnt actually make sense.

Firefighters are, like Houston police officers, employed by the city  and in a number of major American cities, firefighters and police officers do have pay parity. But they dont literally do the same job, and the rate at which police officers are paid ultimately has no bearing on the question of whether firefighters are paid at an appropriate rate.

Turner agrees they are not, and has offered firefighters a 9.5 percent raise over the next three years. That may not be as much as firefighters deserve, or sufficient to ensure that the city can retain employees who are, after all, professionals with transferable skills. But its hard to say, frankly, given that firefighters have defined their goal in reference to what police are paid, which would work out to a 25 percent increase.

Put differently, pay parity would cost the city $98 million a year, and more as police get raises. Thats a significant sum of money, even in a city the size of this one; Houston has an overall budget of nearly $5 billion, but it also has no shortage of current needs.

And although Houston firefighters may well have been treated unfairly by city leaders over the years, thats not really relevant to the current debate. Turner may have earned the headache the firefighters have given them, and I certainly dont fault them for staging this fight.

Ultimately, though, Ill vote no on Proposition B. Like everyone else, I like firefighters. But they havent made the case for pay parity.

erica.grieder@chron.comThe Austin man known as an advocate for 3-D printed guns was released on bond from the Harris County Jail Sunday evening after he was extradited from Taiwan to face sexual assault charges in Texas.

Cody Wilson was arrested at a restaurant in Taipei City late Friday, according to Taiwanese media.The 30-year-old was being held in the Harris County jail on $150,000 bail, pending transfer to Travis County for prosecution.

"We are glad that Cody is back in Texas again where we can work with him on his case. That's our focus right now, representing our client and preparing his defense," attorney Samy Khalil said in a statement late Sunday.

LOOPHOLE: Texas man sells plans for 3-D printer guns, despite court order

The so-called crypto-anarchist and owner of Defense Distributed was wanted on charges of sexual assaulting a child after he allegedly exchanged naked pictures with a 16-year-old he met on SugarDaddyMeet.com, then took her to an Austin hotel and paid her $500 for sex.

Now Playing: Cody Wilson, creator of the 3-D printable gun, was transported to Harris County Jail about 1 a.m. Sunday after his arrest in Taiwan last week on a child sex charge in Austin. Video: Metro Video

Afterward, authorities say, he dropped her off at a Whataburger.

The girl told a counselor at the Center for Child Protection in August about the alleged assault, and the counselor reported it to police. But one of the victim's friends apparently tipped off Wilson, who boarded a flight to Taiwan and skipped out on the return ticket.

Wilson catapulted into the national spotlight in 2013 when he made the first fully 3D-printed gun and posted the blueprints online, downloadable for free. The guns have no serial numbers, can evade some some metal detectors and are designed for do-it-yourselfers to make at home.

But the U.S. State Department shut him down, and Wilson fired back with a First Amendment lawsuit.

Nineteen state attorneys general then jumped in and filed suit to stop Wilson from freely posting the plans, and a federal judge ultimately barred Wilson from doing so. He later announced he would still sell the controversial plans directly to anyone who wanted order them.

ON THE RUN: 3-D printed gun advocate fled to Taiwan after tip of arrest

"Anyone who wants these files is going to get them," Wilson said at a news conference in Austin over the summer. "That will never be interrupted. The free exchange of these ideas will never be interrupted."

It's not immediately clear when Wilson might be transferred to Travis County. If convicted, he could face 20 years in prison and would be unable to own a gun legally.As the parish council treasurer of the St. Kevork Armenian Church, Ani Frankian serves as an informal ambassador for both her church and homeland at events like Saturdays 2018 Houston Armenian Festival.

She explains how her church send funds to the Armenian-Syrians, and to their sister church on the border of Armenia and Azerbaijan.

To continue doing the festival is important because we want people to know who Armenians are and what the Armenian community does, and we also want to give back to Houston as well, said Frankian, who estimated that there are about 300 Armenian families in Houston.

The festival, a regular feature at the church decades ago, resumed in 2016, Frankian said. Harvey forced it to be canceled in 2017, and the church was excited to have it return in Saturday.

The festival incorporated tastes from many of the surrounding countries that survivors fled to after 1.5 million were killed in the Armenian Genocide in 1915. Those countries included Lebanon Iran, Syria and Iraq. A century later, when Syria became a war zone, Armenians needed help returning to their homeland.

Vreij Kolandjian, the delegate for the Eastern Diocese of the Armenian Church in New York City, worked with the Aleppo Compatriotic Charitable Organization in 2015 to help secure plane tickets for hundreds of Armenian-Syrians.

They didnt know what do because a lot of people were escaping, and a lot of Syrians were escaping all over the place, Kolandjian said. The Christian Armenians preferred to go back to their original homeland in Armenia, which is not far from Syria. But they were stuck, and those people didnt have any money, they didnt know what to do.

Kolandjian said he and the Aleppo CCO help move 500 people from Syria to Armenia.

After 100 years they went back to where their grandparents came from, Kolandjian said.

Once the Armenian-Syrians moved back, the organization helped find them places to live, but they needed jobs, Kolandjian said. They decided to build a kitchen  which opened in February 2018  where they cook various Armenian meals to sell to places such as hotels and events.

If this thing works then we will open another one, he said. There are thousands of refugees who are starting a new life, and instead of just giving them money we are also giving them jobs.

Ara Karamanian, another festival organizer, said faith is also important. After the genocide and 70 years of Communism, Frankian and Karamanian said they believe some Armenians lost touch with their religion, which is why they strive to conserve it by teaching traditional Armenian-Orthodox practices, such as having church services in Armenian and having programs for the children to learn the language and the prayers.

Under communism they certainly lost touch with religion, because you werent allowed to talk about it, you werent allowed to show crosses or get baptized, Frankian said. If you did and they found out then you were punished. So that, of course, distanced them a little bit from their religion.

Karamanian said it is also important to teach and preserve their faith because Armenia has a strong Christian history.

Armenia was the first Christian nation that was accepted as a nation, and we have some unique contributions to Christianity at an international level, Karamanian said.

Festival-goers could buy jewelry, hand bags and handmade letters from an orphanage in Armenia. Karamanian said the proceeds support the children in the orphanage. Visitors could also see displays of traditional Armenian clothing, food and music, including dance ensembles from the St. Sarkis Armenian Church in Dallas.

While some of the dances were celebratory, one was dedicated to the those who died in the Armenian Genocide.

Kolandjian said he hopes the festival helps connect with more churches in Houston to help support Christian communities that are suffering in other countries. The church invited as many churches and people from the community as we could.

We are not like the big churches in Houston, he said. We dont have the money to advertise on TV, so we do it with our own means. Step by step hopefully next year it will be bigger and the year after.

kaylee.dusang@chron.comThe donations trickled in slowly in the early afternoon Saturday at the George R. Brown Convention Center, but Bill Baldwin, wearing a Houston Strong T-shirt, was unfazed. This is just the beginning.

At the request of Mayor Sylvester Turner, Baldwin was helping to spearhead an effort this weekend to collect donations to send to Columbia, South Carolina, for victims of Hurricane Florence. Coincidentally, Turner planned before the storm to travel there this week for a meeting with the U.S. Conference of Mayors.

The group expects to continue receiving donations between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Sunday. (If interested, drive down Chartres St. and look for the loading ramp sign.)

Its emotional because you have the reminder of a year ago, said Baldwin, a realtor and planning commission member, but truly, to recover, you have to be able to help someone else.

It was 1 p.m. Saturday as Baldwin stood on the loading dock at the convention center, which had been a hub for Hurricane Harvey relief. He volunteered here then, along with some of the others now beside him. And he helped create what is today called the Houston Relief Hub, which organized donations and volunteers during Harvey, rallied donations for Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria and now was spearheading the Florence donation drive.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Houston sends mission of mercy to Puerto Rico

It rained that morning, and the sky was gray. Baldwin remembered the outpouring of support they had seen from all over after Harvey. Now the people in South Carolina had the same needs as Houstonians, still struggling to recover. The group asked for non-perishable food, cleaning items or, as Baldwin put it, whatever is in their hearts. He was encouraged by the stories of those who came to donate, some who grew up in the Carolinas, others affected by Harvey.

Over the next hour, a handful of people arrived. One woman, with bags of supplies and buckets, there to do a blog post. Another, with dog food, there to volunteer. A third, Kelly Dao, brought cases of water. My house got flooded, she said. She wanted to give back.

Volunteers stacked the water she brought on long tables, amid the mounting collection of other donations. Among the piles, there were two bags of Purina One cat food. Two boxes of peanut butter chocolate chip Chewy bars. One box of butternut squash soup.

Then there was the visit from Turner, who surveyed supplies, posed for photos and shook hands. (Police Chief Art Acevedo visited earlier in the day.) Turner said Hurricane Harvey, and the help he received at the time from other cities, still felt fresh. For him, the outside support then was a reminder that Houston wasnt standing alone.

Now its our turn, he said.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Houstonians mark 1-year Harvey anniversary with grit, tears

Turner met volunteers such as Robert Swanson, 54, who had moved down three floors after he said his 7th-floor apartment roof gave way during Harvey and soaked his belongings. He was still trying to recover, and fighting an eviction, but wanted to be there to help someone else.

I know what its like, he told Turner of enduring a hurricane.

Youre paying it forward, Turner said back.

emily.foxhall@chron.com

twitter.com/emfoxhallAmanda Shore, a 30-year-old postdoctoral student at Rice University, is used to having the answers  or at least knowing where to find them.

But as a U.S. Senate hearing for Judge Brett Kavanaughs appointment to the Supreme Court looms amidst allegations that he sexually assaulted women in high school and college, she finds herself locked in debates that feel unsolvable.

When I talk about it with my boyfriend, we debate about whats relevant, and what are the consequences if he gets confirmed, Shore said Tuesday morning.

Both of us agree there need to be more procedures for this, because its just kind of a big he-said, she-said in front of the Senate, so its hard to form an opinion, she said. We wish there was a more streamlined way to deal with these issues without making it just about opinion and feel arbitrary.

Shes not alone. All across the nation, people are grappling with big questions, like whether adults should be held accountable for their actions as a child, and what the burden of proof should be for accusations of sexual assault in a job interview.

And the debates are only heating up as new developments unfold rapidly, including reports that Kavanaugh boasted about sexual conquests in his high school yearbook.

A hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled for Thursday, when both Kavanaugh and a California professor who accused the judge of assaulting her are set to testify.

Everybody seems to be talking about it, said Elizabeth Gregory, director of the womens, gender and sexualities studies program at the University of Houston.

In the junior-level course Gregory teaches on gender and society, students speculated about how much weight would be given to the experience of Christine Blasey Ford, a mother of two who says that 35 years ago, when she was 15 and Kavanaugh was 17, he lay on top of her, pressing his hand over her mouth to keep her from screaming, and fumbled with her clothes in a drunken attempt to remove them.

Like 63 percent of victims who have been sexually assaulted, according to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, Ford never reported the incident. But she said it haunted her, and her therapist has notes about the alleged assault from sessions dating back years.

Otherwise, there is no evidence, just first-person accounts: An accusation from Ford and denials from both Kavanaugh and his high school classmate Mark Judge, who Ford said also was present.

In the second accusation, made this weekend, Kavanaughs former Yale classmate Deborah Ramirez said that Kavanaugh put his penis in her face while drunk at a college party, causing her to touch it without her consent as she pushed him away. Some witnesses say they remember the incident; others deny that it happened. These cases are similar, in that way, to other public incidents of assault allegations in the past year, since the #MeToo movement began sweeping across the nation.

No one is suggesting he should be put in prison for this, said Tamler Sommers, an associate professor in the philosophy department and honors college at University of Houston. If that was the thought, I think it would matter that the charges werent brought back at the time. But what people are suggesting is that he might not get a lifetime appointment on the Supreme Court because of this.

Sommers added that women accusing the comedian Louis C.K. of sexual misconduct didnt press charges, but that doesnt mean people arent holding him accountable and denying him opportunities.

Louis C.K. eventually admitted to improper behavior. So as a society, we know he was in the wrong. With Kavanaugh, we can only speculate.

And this reminds Sommers of another messy confirmation: In 1991, attorney Anita Hill testified during the confirmation hearings for Justice Clarence Thomas that Thomas had sexually harassed her. Hill was grilled under oath. Her character was called into question. She was asked why she hadnt reported it sooner and what she stood to gain by bringing the allegations forward at that time.

Thomas was confirmed to the court.

I think in some ways, the Clarence Thomas hearing was a precedent, and the same sort of issues that affected that case may affect this one, which is that there was no objective way of discerning to what extent the allegations were true, Sommers said.

There is a way to determine that truth in this situation.

I think the only instrument we have that is of any use to deciding whether something happened or not, flawed as it is, is a jury trial, said Mark Bennett, a Houston criminal attorney. Thats why we have jury trials: Because accusations can ruin peoples future lives, and maybe should if theyre true, but the only way we have as a society to figure that out is a jury trial.

And while most 35-year-old claims of assault would not be prosecuted, Maryland has no statute of limitations for felony sex crimes. Last week, the police chief in Montgomery County, where the alleged incident took place, said he would open an investigation if Ford pressed charges.

Any criminal investigation would likely not affect the timeline of Kavanaughs confirmation.

On Friday, President Donald Trump entered the fray, via Twitter.

I have no doubt that, if the attack on Dr. Ford was as bad as she says, charges would have been immediately filed with local Law Enforcement Authorities by either her or her loving parents. I ask that she bring those filings forward so that we can learn date, time, and place, he wrote.

The missive caught the attention of Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo, who replied, Sexual assault & domestic violence are (two) of the most under-reported crimes in society, this is a fact & in the past the law enforcement community has not done a good job of creating safe spaces for victims.

In a phone interview a few hours later, Acevedo added that we want victims to know that the starting place for them with law enforcement is that we believe you.

It is with that benefit of the doubt that Tom Kolditz, founding director of Rice Universitys Doerr Institute for New Leaders, delves into the murky question of whether the accusations are pertinent.

Past behavior is the best predictor of future behavior  not that anyone expects him to assault a woman  but in terms of us gauging what his values are, how he views mens control over women, thats pretty consistent over the span of a persons life, Kolditz said. And we certainly saw the rejection of Judge Roy Moore when he was accused of somewhat similar behavior, when he was much younger.

Still, bad behavior in ones youth shouldnt be an immediate disqualifier for public office, said Kolditz.

In my business, in leadership development, we talk about crucible events  points in your life that are often not pleasant. And they disrupt the way that you viewed the world previously, he said. So in an example of a young person who used a gun in a robbery, his being held accountable for that is a crucible event.

Being charged with a crime and facing consequences provides a young person a chance to pivot in a new direction, he said. He points to Congressman Beto ORourkes admission that he was twice arrested decades ago  for trespassing and drunken driving  as an example of someone who faced a consequence and made a demonstrable change.

We know of no crucible event in Judge Kavanaughs past, Kolditz said. We know of no point where he said his treatment or view of women was entirely incorrect, and pushed himself to a new level of moral cognitive development.

Our nation is often split on when and whether to grant someone a second chance. And the idea of forgiveness in this particular case cannot be divorced from its political context, said Bennett, the criminal attorney.

Were generally a very unforgiving society, and the people who are most in favor of this being ignored, coincidentally, are politically the people who would be harshest on the 17-year-old black kid caught with drugs  some crime that didnt hurt anybody, Bennett said. If this signaled a change in our societys philosophy toward people who did bad things when they were 17, Id say thats great. But I dont think it is. I think this is situational.

Further, he said, crimes with victims  like sexual assault  carry added complications.

And for victims, what happened in their teens can have lingering effects for decades.

Someones behaviors as a young person matter because the experience of young people matter, said Laura Palumbo, spokeswoman for the National Sexual Violence Resource Center. The stigma of blame and shame that people who experience sexual abuse early on in life carry is something that really shapes their identity and their worldview. And for many of those survivors, they do wait a very long time to come forward, and in that entire time, they are carrying that burden of the abuse that has happened to them.

The complexity of the Kavanaugh case shouldnt stop Americans from asking tough questions that wont always lead to a crystallized answer, said Gregory, from the University of Houston. Thats what she preaches to her womens studies students.

Its muddy. And its also an opportunity to make a kind of statement that moves us out of the mud, she said.

What happens this week will set new precedents and thresholds. It will give society answers to these big, seemingly impossible questions.

At least there is hope in that, said Mahdi Fariss, a senior at Rice University, majoring in economics.

I want to make sure were using this as a launching point to better understand how we hold people  regardless of politics or partisanship  accountable, Fariss said Tuesday morning as he volunteered at a table registering students to vote.

Holding people accountable for their actions, thinking critically about what it means to atone for those things, and being willing to empathize with those we have conversations with, and let go of ourselves when we listen  so long as were doing those things, progress is inevitable.

maggie.gordon@chron.com;

twitter.com/MagEGordonWhen the gunfire erupted recently at Big Bend Ranch State Park, frequent visitor Joe Flinn and his girlfriend were hiking up the trail toward Rancherias Falls.

The trailhead is near the border, so when we heard the shots, we thought, Now, we cant turn around. It could be cartel activity, he recalled.

Instead, Flinn and Cassidy Bayles tried to move away from the Aug. 18 shooting and hiked several miles deeper into the park, the largest in the state system. But the gunfire followed them.

Then we started seeing the helicopter. They hovered right above us. It was a shooting spree, so we started taking cover, said Flinn, whos from Magnolia.

Video and photos taken on a smartphone show the unmarked purple helicopter roughly overhead. Neither it nor the men shooting from it were identifiable, and for the next four hours, whenever the chopper appeared, Flinn and Bayles laid low, in fear for their lives, he said.

They eventually concluded that the men were shooting wildlife in the canyons.

The park, which sprawls across 315,000 acres of rugged Chihuahuan Desert, is home to mountain lions, mule deer, wild burros and bighorn sheep, which were reintroduced about a decade ago.

Unknown to the hikers  and to some park rangers  state wildlife officials had chosen Aug. 18 to kill aoudads, an exotic species from North Africa also known as Barbary sheep, which competes with the bighorns.

When Flinn and Bayles obtained a day permit to use the park from the Barton Warnock Visitor Center in Lajitas, no mention was made of any unusual activity or any areas that were off-limits to visitors.

When the rattled couple returned to the Warnock Center the next day, the ranger on duty was baffled by their account.

Not having any information that Texas Parks and Wildlife was doing anything, my gut reaction was that it was a private hunt that had gone way off course, said Buckner Cooke, a seasonal ranger.

The Flinns showed me the video of the helicopter. It had no markings, other than a serial number. And the individuals inside were not wearing what I recognized as uniforms, he said.

Now Playing: Joe Flinn captured footage of a helicopter that was shooting in an area of Big Bend where he and his girlfriend were hiking. They were forced to hike off course and take cover, fearing for their lives. Video: San Antonio Express-News

Later that day, Cooke learned that the wildlife division of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department had come to the park to do a survey that, he said, apparently included shooting aoudad.

Cooke apologized to Flinn and Bayles and explained what had happened. Flinn was not appeased and recently filed a five-page complaint with the department, saying lives were recklessly endangered, laws were broken and charges should be filed.

Plans need to be implemented to protect visitors so that they can hike in the park and not be worried about being shot dead or witness a four-hour wildlife slaughter, it said.

Steve Lightfoot, a spokesman for Parks and Wildlife, disputed the claim that the survey was done without adequate notice.

Wildlife (division) and state parks staff at the local, regional and state quarters level were aware of the annual survey operation, as well as the dates during which aerial flights and possible aoudad control activities would occur at the park, he said.

The men in the helicopter were aware of hikers and avoided them while shooting, he said.

Lightfoot said that since 2008, state sharpshooters have lethally removed almost 2,000 aoudad from the park. At the same time, he said, 201 bighorn sheep were reintroduced there, but their population has declined. In the survey done this year, only 22 sheep were counted, he said.

The project is ongoing and will continue, in efforts to maintain exotic species numbers, namely aoudad, at the lowest level possible, he added.

Nathaniel Gold, superintendent of the Big Bend Ranch State Park, said the unsettling episode stemmed from a critical miscommunication. Sometime before Aug. 18, he said, he was informed by the wildlife division about the survey.

Gold said he did not realize that it might also involve killing aoudad, despite an earlier similar misunderstanding of the terminology, so he did not notify his staff.

It did not click in my brain that would mean shooting, but it should have. Some egg definitely deserves to be on my face, he said.

The incident prompted measures to improve the agencys internal communications, Gold said.

We have a meeting set for Oct. 3, so this type of thing doesnt happen again, he said.

jmaccormack@express-news.netHow do you compensate for harming the brain of a child?

That was the question posed this month, when lawyers filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of young girls and boys taken from their parents under the Trump administrations disastrous zero tolerance policy. Begun in April, halted in June after a torrent of outrage, the plan criminalized anyone who crossed into the United States without papers, including families seeking asylum.

As a result, even asylum-seekers faced criminal charges in federal court, then removal proceedings. Children who came with them were sent to federal shelters across the country. The lawsuit alleges that the government violated due process and discriminated against children from certain countries by taking children from their parents and exposing them to trauma while in custody.

Its up to the courts to decide if this complaint has merit. But the suit is a needed foray into demanding accountability for President Donald Trumps governments cruelty to children  and what could be a lifetime of aftereffects.

Many Americans believe the child detention is over. The opposite is true: A range of administration policies are normalizing it. Even now, scores of children remain separated from their parents. New plans for child detention are racing ahead: The Department of Health and Human Services announced it will triple the size of a Texas tent colony for migrant children to 3,800 beds, and the administration is asking the Pentagon to house child migrants on military bases. And the administration has proposed regulations allowing children to be detained indefinitely, without their parents and without court oversight.

The lawsuit represents two Guatemalan families seeking asylum, but asks for certification to cover all other migrant children taken from their families now and in the future. Embracing all those minors in one lawsuit isnt far-fetched. In fact, the types of trauma described by the Guatemalan families have been echoed by hundreds of young detainees.

Consider the story told by one family in the lawsuit: Soon after the 17-year-old boy and 9-year old girl were taken from their mother, they say immigration officials locked them in the hielera, or cooler, an icy-cold, concrete-floored room where migrants are routinely confined with only Mylar sheets for warmth. The girl reported that officers pulled her hair and woke her at all hours of the night; the boy stated that an officer kicked him repeatedly in the back. Both siblings described border officials deriding the weeping children around them, calling them trash in Spanish and yelling at them to stop crying.

Hundreds of other children describe similar cruelty. A child welfare veteran who volunteered at the Dilley, Texas, family detention center told the Chronicle she interviewed an 8-year-old boy who had witnessed a guard at another facility kicking a child. Other volunteers detailed reports of rampant emotional abuse: officers telling children they had been put up for adoption, promising to bring back a childs mother and never returning, telling children they would never see their parents again. The children the volunteers talked with often acted manic, cried inconsolably or rocked back and forth.

No child deserves such treatment, which medical experts call abuse. Its worth noting, though, that hundreds of families ended up in this situation after following U.S. law scrupulously, declaring themselves asylum-seekers upon crossing the border.

It doesnt take a doctor to know that ripping children from their most trusted protectors harms them deeeply, both emotionally and physically. Prolonged trauma has been shown to stunt brain development. Millions of Americans know that the trauma of family separation echoes for generations. The haunting book Help Me To Find My People documents the lengths to which African-American children went seeking their parents, sometimes after whole lifetimes separated by slavery. In Houston, 89-year old concentration camp survivor Ben Waserman remains haunted by the loss of his father, arrested and murdered by Nazis when Waserman was a child: It is a tremendous thing to be separated from your parent.

While the migrants lawsuit doesnt specify damages, it does call for creation of a mental health care fund, which lawyers say could run to the hundreds of millions of dollars.

But legal accountability isnt just for these children. Its for all of us. One trait that really does make America great is the use of law to correct past wrongs. Thats why President Ronald Reagan signed a bill in 1988 apologizing to Americans of Japanese descent for their incarceration during World War II - and providing money in symbolic redress. Advocates for the bill invoked the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., arguing, Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

Social science bears this out. Legal consequences for discrimination do more than simply punish bad behavior. When we see anti-discrimination laws enforced, the values they stand for can sink into our bones, They become norms that guide our behavior.

Almost unfathomably, hurting children as a matter of policy may become the new American normal. Lets keep up the bipartisan movement to stop it.The seriousness of the sexual assault accusation against U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh cannot be dismissed without a thorough investigation before the Senate takes any vote on his appointment. If Judge Kavanaugh is found to have purposely lied about any aspect of the allegation, it would certainly be grounds to deny him a lifetime appointment to the court in which Americans are expected to place our greatest trust.

The Senate Judiciary Committee has scheduled a hearing for Monday to consider the accusation by Christine Blasey Ford, a clinical psychology professor at Palo Alto University in California, who says Kavanaugh assaulted her at a house party when they were both in high school.

Ford did not immediately confirm that she would appear at the hearing, while Kavanaugh appeared eager to defend himself before the public. Neither posture means much in the search for truth that must occur. Victims of sexual assault often are reluctant to tell their stories, especially to an expected audience of millions that would tune in via television or internet.

Anita Hill, who 27 years ago was questioned by an all-white, all-male Senate Judiciary Committee after accusing Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment, says she fears a repeat of her inquisition. In a guest column for The New York Times, Hill cautioned against a rush to judgment. Simply put, a weeks preparation is not enough time for meaningful inquiry into very serious charges, said the Brandeis University law professor. As Judge Kavanaugh stands to gain the lifetime privilege of serving on the countrys highest court, he has the burden of persuasion.

President Donald Trump accused Democrats of using the allegation to delay Kavanaughs nomination, saying they should have brought up Fords story after hearing about it earlier this summer. Its no secret that Democrats are holding out hope they will have the votes in the Senate to deny Kavanaugh a seat on the Supreme Court after the midterm elections in November, but that doesnt mean Fords charge can be treated lightly.

The encounter she describes when allegedly confronted by Kavanaugh and a friend, both stumbling drunk, cannot be dismissed as youthful horseplay. She alleges that Kavanaugh pinned her to a bed on her back, groped her over her clothes, tried to pull off her one-piece bathing suit, and put his hand over her mouth when she tried to scream. I thought he might inadvertently kill me, said Ford.

Kavanaugh denies he was even at the party.

The vividness of Fords memory recalls the stories of other women encouraged by the #MeToo movement who have come out of the shadows to tell their stories of attacks that occurred years ago. Fair or not, what happens with the Kavanaugh allegation will become a barometer to gauge how much progress has been made in reacting to assault accusations against men in powerful positions.

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, has suggested that lawyers for Ford question Kavanaugh in the Judiciary Committee hearing and lawyers for Kavanaugh question Ford. That sounds like a reasonable approach, rather than letting senators use the proceeding to make partisan statements and ask self-serving questions in pursuit of a particular political agenda.

Trump said the FBI shouldnt investigate Fords charges because they dont want to be involved, but the FBI definitely has a role to play. Fords allegation means the bureaus routine background check of this particular judicial nominee is incomplete. The FBI should reopen its investigation of Kavanaugh and present its findings to the Judiciary Committee so it can base its decision on more than what Kavanaugh and Ford may say in a hearing.

It will be worth however long it takes to find out what really happened at that house party; not just for Kavanaugh and Ford, but for this country. Justice Thomas has been on the bench 27 years, and the cloud of Hills sexual harassment allegation still hangs over him. To this day, some believe him; others believe her. The uncertainty of Thomas character will forever be noted in histories of the court.

That does not have to be the case with Kavanaugh. The Senate should take the time to find the truth. From that point, justice should be clear.Uprooted Palestinians are at the heart of the conflict in the M.E Palestinians uprooted by force of arms. Yet faced immense difficulties have survived, kept alive their history and culture, passed keys of family homes in occupied Palestine from one generation to the next.Judge not, and ye shall not be judged. Jesus preaches that in the book of Luke.

But then, Jesus never had Twitter. Or, for that matter, Instagram or Facebook. He never had, in other words, one of the social media platforms on which millions of us routinely judge other people every day. Its a habit we might do well to reconsider.

Not that anybody should feel remorse over the online humiliation administered to someone like Aaron Schlossberg, captured on video berating people at a New York City cafe for speaking Spanish. And the social media beatdown Jeffrey Whitman took after following another driver to his home in Columbus, Ohio, to yell racial slurs should make no ones eyes sting with sympathy tears.

But what about Geoffrey Owens, the former Cosby Show actor who was infamously job-shamed for working at Trader Joes? And what about Anthony Torres?

He was video recorded by another passenger a little over a week ago, shaving his face on a New Jersey Transit train as it pulled out of New York City. At one point he even flicked shaving cream to the floor. The clip was posted to Twitter  it has since been removed  where it racked up over 2 million views. The reaction was, not surprisingly, swift and brutal.

Torres was called disgusting, a dumb drunk, a slob,  and an animal. Then the Associated Press found him and got his side of the story.

My life is all screwed up, Torres told the AP. Thats the reason I was shaving on the train.

Torres, it turned out, came to that moment from a lifetime of hard knocks: peripatetic years of chasing work from state to state, sometimes sleeping in motels and bus stations, two strokes since 2016. That day, he was fresh from a homeless shelter. One of his brothers had bought him a ticket so he could go to another brother in South Jersey. Torres, 56, was shaving because he didnt want to look like what hes been through.

As to why he didnt do the obvious  shave in the restroom  Torres brother Thomas told the AP that even as a child, Anthony lacked the ability to conceive the consequences of his actions. When he did what he did, that, to him, was normal.

After all this came out, the response was what youd expect: lots of recrimination and a GoFundMe account that, as of Thursday afternoon, had raised $37,000.

The internet taketh away, the internet giveth.

In the process, it leaveth an observer ruminating on the hazards of an era of digital lynch mobs wherein one can carp and fault-find without ever leaving the comfort of ones couch. Problem is, there is something about viewing other people on screens  viewing them at a remove  that tends to objectify them, make them not quite real. And there is something about the anonymity of social media that does not encourage us to be our best and most compassionate selves.

That can be a toxic combination, as Owens and Torres would surely attest. Its given us a culture of instant, online opprobrium that falls on both the evil and the unlucky with indiscriminate force. Social media empower us to shame the shameful, but they also allow us to victimize the vulnerable. What does it say about us when we cant  or wont  tell the difference? What does it say about what weve become?

Someone called Torres an animal. But hes no animal. Hes just a guy whose life hasnt worked out; just someones brother who was trying to get home.

And you cant deny someone elses humanity without losing a little of your own.

Pitts is a columnist for The Miami Herald. Write to him at pitts@miamiherald.com.Imperial Valley News Center

Fancy Bear and Cozy Bear, APT28 & APT29, already targeting 2018 US Election

Washington, DC - Earlier this week Symantec announced that APT28 and APT29, perhaps better known as Fancy Bear and Cozy Bear, are already hard at work trying to subvert the 2018 US midterm elections. Just like they did in 2016.

I think one of the biggest problems with these groups are our naming conventions. Fancy Bear, Cozy Bear, Lucky Mousethese names belie the serious nature of these groups. Yes, theyre funny. But what theyre attempting to do is not. APT stands for Advanced Persistent Threat and thats far more accurate. These are state-backed attackers with substantial resources and abilities.

The breadth of the havoc that these groups wreaked in our last election is only now beginning to come to light. There were thousands of emails stolen from the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee. Those emails were then published by WikiLeaks. There was a massive misinformation campaign perpetrated across social media. Fake news ran rampant. Theres even evidence that votes were changed.

This time, the US is a little more prepared (for the most part), but APT28 and APT29 have also had a couple of years to continue refining their tactics and probing our digital infrastructure.

Today were going to take a quick look at the threats facing the 2018 US Election, specifically from APT28 and APT29,

Lets hash it out.

What are APT28 and APT29

While theres still a lot we dont know about these two groups, the prevailing wisdom is that they are backed by different Russian government entities. That is one of the biggest distinctions between them.

APT28 is traditionally associated with the Russian military intelligence agency GRU. It has been active since at least 2007. Initially Fancy Bear just stole information from various governments in the Europe, and the US. They became a bit more antagonistic in the lead-up to the 2016 US Presidential elections.

In September of 2016, the World Anti-Doping Association (WADA), which is itself no paragon, announced that it had been breached by APT28.

WADA oversees Olympic drug testing and the Russian federation had been heavily penalized, to the point of being banned in the 2016 Olympics, as a result of a massive doping scandal.

APT28 used an account that had been created by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to gain access to WADAs network and steal medical records on athletes, some of which were leaked and others used for attempted extortion.

By this point APT28 was already hard at work subverting the US elections.

APT29 or Cozy Bear is associated with the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service. Its a bit more recent, first appearing on the radar in early 2010. And like Fancy Bear, it started with simple cyber espionage operations before escalating into more subversive activities during the 2016 Elections.

Or rather, both groups really began their escalation with campaigns in the Ukraine and other former Soviet states. Those attacks get less attention owing to their geography, but make no mistake about itthis where both of these groups cut their teeth before their efforts in 2016.

How do APT 28 and APT29 operate?

The one tactic both groups have used successfully is spear-phishing. Spear-phishing is a specialized form of phishing that leverages social engineering to create extremely specific campaigns aimed at specific individuals. In the lead-up to the 2016 US Election, APT29 sent over 1,000 spear-phishing emails. These emails contained links that installed malware on the victims computer. This is how the Clinton campaign got hacked.

Per Symantec, APT has employed the following tools:

Trojan.Cozer

Trojan.Seaduke

Trojan.Dionisduke

Backdoor.Netduke

Trojan.Powerduke

Backdoor.Miniduke

APT28 is a bit more diverse in its approach, it uses spear-phishing, too. As it likely did with the DNC compromise. Fancy Bear also makes use of watering hole websites  infecting a site a group targeted users is known to frequent  infected devices and various exploits (including zero-days).

Once again, per Symantec, these are APT28s tools of choice:

Infostealer.Sofacy

OSX.Sofacy

Trojan.Sofacy

Trojan.Modruner

Will APT28 and APT29 be a problem in the 2018 US Elections?

Undoubtedly. Symantec has already offered to provide additional support to US election sites.

The issues that plagued the 2016 election are still prevalent today and are likely to continue to persist through the midterm elections, into 2020, and into elections globally, Symantec CEO Greg Clark told TechCrunch. It is important for all parties, public and private, to contribute to protecting the security and integrity of our elections and democracy.

And there does seem to be a concerted (albeit a little delayed) effort from the US government to try and shore up its election infrastructure. Microsoft has been working to take down fake websites. Facebook and Google are working to combat fake news.

And in July, Special Counsel Robert Mueller indicted 12 Russians for their role in the 2016 US Election interference.

But there will still be problems.

That may seem a bit fatalistic, but these are very sophisticated attackers that have so far succeeded in subverting not only US elections, but US culture.

This time were more prepared though. Hopefully that makes a difference.

What can my business or organization do to stop Russian attacks?

Well, lets start with this: unless youre somehow a part of the US government or military apparatus, you likely arent a target. While APT28 and APT29 have targeted government organizations, think tanks, universities and a few corporations, the average business probably doesnt have much to worry about. Still, the US Department of Homeland Security has offered some guidance on best practices for avoiding cyber attacks:Imperial Valley News Center

Justice Department Announces Fourth Settlement Protecting U.S. Workers From Discrimination

Washington, DC - The Justice Department Tuesday reached a settlement agreement with Palmetto Beach Hospitality LLC (Palmetto), a company that provides housekeeping services to hotels in the Myrtle Beach, South Carolina area. The agreement resolves the Departments investigation into whether Palmetto unlawfully denied employment to qualified and available U.S. workers because it preferred to hire temporary foreign workers with H-2B visas. It is the fourth settlement under the Civil Rights Divisions Protecting U.S. Workers Initiative, which is aimed at targeting, investigating, and taking enforcement actions against companies that discriminate against U.S. workers in favor of temporary visa workers.

The Departments investigation determined that Palmetto failed to consider applications from qualified U.S. workers for its housekeeper positions, even though employers are required to recruit and hire available and qualified U.S. workers before they receive permission to hire temporary foreign workers under the H-2B visa program. After ignoring applications from U.S. workers, Palmetto represented to the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) that it could not find qualified U.S. workers and obtained authorization to employ temporary visa workers.

The Department of Justice will fight to ensure that U.S. workers are not denied jobs because an employer has a discriminatory preference for hiring temporary visa workers, said Acting Assistant Attorney General John Gore of the Civil Rights Division. I commend Palmetto for its cooperation with the Departments investigation, and its agreement to engage in domestic recruitment efforts far surpassing the minimal recruiting requirements to participate in the H-2B visa worker program.

Failing to consider or hire qualified U.S. workers based on their citizenship status violates the anti-discrimination provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), regardless of whether an employer has complied with other rules governing the use of temporary employment-based visa programs.

Under the settlement, Palmetto must engage in several types of enhanced recruiting and job advertising efforts to attract qualified U.S. workers, far beyond those required by the H-2B visa rules. Palmetto also must set aside $35,000 to pay any wages lost by U.S. workers whose applications it improperly rejected or ignored, pay $42,000 in civil penalties to the United States, and be subject to departmental monitoring.

Under the Protecting U.S. Workers Initiative, the Civil Rights Division has opened dozens of investigations, filed one lawsuit, and reached settlement agreements with four employers. Since the Initiatives inception, employers have agreed to pay or have distributed over $320,000 in back pay to affected U.S. workers. The Division has also increased its collaboration with other federal agencies, including a new formalized partnership with DOL to combat discrimination and abuse by employers using foreign visa workers.

The Divisions Immigrant and Employee Rights Section (IER) is responsible for enforcing the anti-discrimination provision of the INA. Among other things, the statute prohibits citizenship status and national origin discrimination in hiring, firing, or recruitment or referral for a fee; unfair documentary practices; and retaliation and intimidation.Imperial Valley News Center

Foreign National Sentenced to Prison for His Role in Stolen Identity Refund Fraud Scheme

Chicago, Illinois - A Honduran national was sentenced to 24 months in prison Tuesday for theft of government funds in connection with his role in a stolen identity tax refund fraud scheme, announced Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Richard E. Zuckerman of the Justice Departments Tax Division and U.S. Attorney John R. Lausch Jr. for the Northern District of Illinois.

According to documents and information provided to the court, Elin Matute, formerly of Waukegan, Illinois, cashed fraudulently obtained tax refund checks issued in the names of identity theft victims. In total, the scheme involved approximately 200 false tax returns and resulted in an intended tax loss of over $1.1 million. Matute cashed the checks at his bank and a local checking cashing business by claiming that the people listed on the checks were family members. Matute would then deposit the proceeds into bank accounts he controlled and would also send portions of the money overseas.

In addition to the term of imprisonment imposed, the court ordered Matute to serve three years of supervised release and pay $630,498 in restitution to the IRS.

Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Zuckerman and U.S. Attorney Lausch commended special agents of IRS-Criminal Investigation who investigated the case, and Trial Attorneys John T. Mulcahy and Gregory P. Bailey of the Tax Division, who are prosecuting the case. Zuckerman also thanked the U.S. Attorneys Office in Chicago for their substantial assistance.Imperial Valley News Center

Houston Physician and a Pain Management Clinic Owner Each Sentenced to 35 Years in Prison for Running Pill Mill

Houston, Texas - A Houston physician and the owner of a pain management clinic were each sentenced to 420 months in prison Thursday for their roles in running a pill mill that provided tens of thousands of unlawful prescriptions for millions of doses of opioids and other controlled substances.

Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Departments Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Ryan Patrick of the Southern District of Texas and Special Agent in Charge Will R. Glaspy of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administrations (DEA) Houston Field Office made the announcement.

Gazelle Craig D.O., 42, and Shane Faithful, 49, both of Houston, Texas, were sentenced by U.S. District Judge David Hittner of the Southern District of Texas. Craig and Faithful were convicted at trial in March 2018 of one count of conspiracy to unlawfully distribute controlled substances and three counts of unlawfully distributing and dispensing controlled substances. The defendants were charged in an indictment returned on July 6, 2017.

Todays sentences should serve as a stark warning to any medical professional considering exploiting the opioid crisis for profit: you will be caught, you will be prosecuted, and you will pay a steep price for abusing your prescription power for personal gain, said Assistant Attorney General Benczkowski. In the midst of the deadliest drug crisis in our countrys history, Gazelle Craig and Shane Faithful sold millions of opioids and endangered the safety of an untold number of Americans. We should all be proud of the hard work being done by DEAs Tactical Diversion Squad and the prosecutors in the Department of Justices Fraud Section.

Dr. Craig, along with clinic owner Shane Faithful, used their position of trust to illegally distribute over 2 million dosage units of hydrocodone into local communities across Houston, said DEA Special Agent in Charge Glaspy. It is this kind of illegal distribution of prescription drugs that feed the opioid epidemic and destroys families. The sentencing of Dr. Craig and Mr. Faithful is a victory for our communities while at the same time making a nationwide statement that the DEA and DOJ will not tolerate this type of illegal activity.

According to evidence presented at trial, from March 2015 through July 2017, Craig and Faithful ran Gulfton Community Health Center (Gulfton), which operated as an illegal pill mill. The evidence showed that Craig unlawfully wrote approximately 18,252 prescriptions for over 2.1 million dosage units of hydrocodone, a Schedule II controlled substance, and approximately 15,649 prescriptions for over 1.3 million dosage units of carisporodal, a Schedule IV controlled substance. The combination of hydrocodone and carisoprodol is a dangerous drug cocktail with no known medical benefit, the evidence showed.

Craig regularly issued unlawful prescriptions for controlled substances to more than 60 patients a day, the evidence showed. Crew leaders ferried numerous patients to Gulfton so that Craig could provide them with unlawful prescriptions for controlled substances. Faithful and Craig charged approximately $300 for each prescription and required payment in cash. The defendants divided each days cash proceeds, often in excess of $15,000, from the sale of the unlawful prescriptions.

This case was investigated by the DEA. Trial Attorneys Scott Armstrong and Devon Helfmeyer of the Criminal Divisions Fraud Section are prosecuting the case.

The Fraud Section leads the Medicare Fraud Strike Force. Since its inception in March 2007, the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, now operating in 12 cities across the country, has charged nearly 4,000 defendants who have collectively billed the Medicare program for more than $14 billion. In addition, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with the HHS Office of Inspector General, are taking steps to increase accountability and decrease the presence of fraudulent providers.Attorney General Becerra Joins 55 Attorneys General Calling on Congress to Reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act

Sacramento, California - California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, along with 55 Attorneys General, joined a letter calling on the U.S. Congress to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) to help ensure support for programs that aim to combat and prevent domestic and sexual violence. The programs supported through VAWA include training and assistance to address and reduce domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking, along with resources and services to assist survivors and hold offenders accountable.

The Violence Against Women Act is a critical law that aims to prevent and combat sexual violence. Its important protections and programs should remain in place, said Attorney General Becerra. At the California Department of Justice, we have a zero tolerance policy for sexual and domestic violence. We will continue to do our part to take down sex traffickers, publish resources to support survivors of sexual violence, and prevent and respond to crimes against women. We urge Congress to reauthorize VAWA and ensure that survivors have robust protections and programs to help them remain healthy and safe.

VAWA primarily addresses certain types of violent crime through grant programs to state, tribal, and local governments, nonprofit organizations, and universities. The last reauthorization of VAWA in 2013 included critical protections for immigrants, LGBTQ individuals, and Native Americans by ensuring that these populations can access services and protections under the law.

In a letter sent to members of Congress, the bipartisan coalition of attorneys general noted that, over time, VAWA has been amended to allow for improved services, resources, protections, and remedies for survivors of domestic and sexual violence. The attorneys general urge Congress to continue these programs, stating that the law has allowed for important partnerships between prosecutors, judges, advocates, community organizations, health care providers and survivors.Attorney General Becerra Petitions Ninth Circuit to Review Flanagan v. Becerra to Protect Californias Gun Safety Public Carry Laws

Sacramento, California - California Attorney General Xavier Becerra Friday continued his defense of Californias gun safety laws by filing a motion for initial en banc review in Flanagan v. Becerra, a challenge to Californias laws that regulate who may carry a firearm in public places. The petition was filed with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in response to the Court's recent decision in Young v. State of Hawaii. In the Young case, a three-member panel of the Court held that Hawaii's public carry regulations, as the Court understood them, violate the Second Amendment. If allowed to stand, the decision could erroneously alter the Court's consideration of California's public carry laws and other sensible firearms laws and regulations.

California has some of the strongest gun safety laws in the country. We cannot and will not go backwards, said Attorney General Becerra. The safety of our communities is at stake. My office will defend the ability of our local authorities to keep firearms out of our public spaces.

On May 7, 2018, Attorney General Becerra prevailed in the first stage of the Flanagan litigation. The district court rejected a challenge to restrictions imposed by California law and local authorities on carrying firearms in public in Los Angeles County. The challengers appealed that decision to the Ninth Circuit. Before briefing in Flanagan could begin, however, a three-judge panel issued its decision in Young. On September 14, 2018, Hawaii petitioned for an 11-member en banc panel of the Ninth Circuit to reconsider that decision.

In todays filing, Attorney General Becerra supports Hawaii's petition and asks the Court to grant en banc review of Flanagan at the same time. The joint review would allow the Court to consider how the Second Amendment applies to both California's and Hawaii's systems for regulating the carrying of firearms in public.Terminix Virgin Islands Branch Manager Pleads Guilty to Four Counts of Illegally Applying Restricted-Use Pesticide to Multiple Residences in the U.S. Virgin Islands

St. John, Virgin Islands - Jose Rivera, 58, former Branch Manager of TERMINIX INTERNATIONAL USVI LLC (TERMINIX USVI), pleaded guilty today to four counts of an indictment charging violations of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) for illegally applying fumigants containing methyl bromide in multiple residential locations in the U.S. Virgin Islands, including the condominium resort complex in St. John where a family of four fell seriously ill in 2015, after the unit below them was fumigated, the Department of Justice and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced Tuesday.

According to the plea agreement, defendant Rivera was certified as a pesticide applicator by the Virgin Islands Department of Planning and Natural Resources and received pesticide applicator training from the University of the Virgin Islands. Based on his training, the defendant knew that he was required to read the pesticide label and follow all instructions when using any pesticide. In short, the defendant was instructed that federal law requires applicators to follow the pesticide use instructions on the label. The label on methyl bromide states that its use is restricted to the location and manner on the label, and the label does not authorize application of methyl bromide in a residential unit. Rivera applied methyl bromide, a registered restricted-use pesticide, in a manner inconsistent with the use instructions on the label at the residences named in the counts of conviction.

Toxic pesticides can have devastating human health consequences, and thats why those who are certified to apply them must do so responsibly and lawfully, said Acting Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey H. Wood for the Justice Departments Environment and Natural Resources Division. The facts in this case show that the defendant, despite his training and experience, knowingly applied the pesticide methyl bromide in an illegal and unsafe manner, which tragically exposed a family of four to profoundly debilitating injuries.

This prosecution demonstrates the importance of complying with environmental laws and regulations, said United States Attorney Gretchen C.F. Shappert for the District of the Virgin Islands. Tragically, the defendants failure to do what was required of him resulted in catastrophic injuries to the victims and exposed many others to similar harm. Here in the Virgin Islands, the United States Attorneys Office is committed to the enforcement of environmental laws. We will take all necessary steps to hold those who violate these laws criminally accountable and to protect residents and visitors of the Virgin Islands.

When you break a law that protects public health, there are real victims and real consequences, as this case tragically shows, said Assistant Administrator Susan Bodine for Enforcement and Compliance Assurance at EPA. This incident illustrates how important it is for EPA to enforce environmental laws and hold violators accountable for endangering human health and the environment. Todays guilty plea should send a clear message to those entrusted with handling dangerous chemicals to take necessary steps to ensure this cant happen again.

In 1984, EPA banned the indoor use of methyl bromide products. The few remaining uses are severely restricted. Pesticides containing methyl bromide in the U.S. are restricted-use due to their acute toxicity, meaning that they must only be applied by a certified applicator. Health effects of acute exposure to methyl bromide are serious and include central nervous system and respiratory system damage. These pesticides can be very toxic, and it is critically important that they be used only as approved by EPA.

After the government began its investigation, TERMINIX LP voluntarily ceased its use of methyl bromide in the U.S. and in U.S. territories, except for one remaining supervised government contract.

On March 23, 2017, the companies TERMINIX LP and TERMINIX, USVI, Riveras employer, pleaded guilty and were sentenced on four counts charging violations of FIFRA. The companies paid a total of approximately $10 million in criminal fines, community service, and restitution payments. In addition, TERMINIX LP has discontinued using pesticides containing methyl bromide in the United States and U.S. Territories.

EPA worked cooperatively with the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry and the Department of Justice in its investigation. Senior Litigation Counsel Howard P. Stewart of the Department of Justice, Environmental Crimes Section, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Kim L. Chisholm of the District of the Virgin Islands prosecuted the case with the assistance of Patricia Hick, EPA Region II Regional Criminal Enforcement Counsel.Superseding Indictment Filed Against Man Charged for Attempted Manslaughter of a U.S. Airforce Airman on Military Base in Japan

Little Rock, Arkansas - A federal grand jury in Little Rock, Arkansas, returned a seven-count superseding indictment against a man who was residing on the Misawa Air Base, a military base in Japan, charging him with multiple counts relating to the assault of three U.S. Air Force airmen. The federal grand jury also returned a two-count indictment against his son, charging him with two counts relating to his role in the assault.

Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Departments Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Cody Hiland of the Eastern District of Arkansas and Colonel Kirk B. Stabler of the U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations made the announcement.

Rodrigo Pineda Gomez, 44, who was residing in Japan, is charged with one count of attempted voluntary manslaughter, one count of assault with a dangerous weapon, three counts of assault by striking, beating, or wounding, one count of resisting a federal officer, and one count of making a false statement to law enforcement. Miguel Gomez, 21, is charged with one count of resisting a federal officer and one count of assault by striking, beating, or wounding. The defendants had their initial court appearance earlier today before Magistrate Judge Patricia S. Harris in the Eastern District of Arkansas.

The superseding indictment, which was returned on Aug. 7, alleges that on Dec. 31, 2016, on Misawa Air Base in Japan, the defendants, Rodrigo Gomez and his son, Miguel Gomez, assaulted three U.S. Air Force airmen. The superseding indictment alleges that defendant Rodrigo Gomez attempted to kill one of the airmen, resisted arrest after law enforcement arrived, and then later made a false statement about the incident. Defendant Miguel Gomez assaulted one of the airmen and also resisted arrest after law enforcement arrived at the scene. At the time of the assault, defendant Rodrigo Gomez was the dependent spouse and Miguel Gomez the son of an active duty service member assigned to the base. Their last known U.S. address is alleged to be Jacksonville, Arkansas.

An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

The investigation was conducted by the U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations. The prosecution is being handled by Trial Attorney Frank Rangoussis of the Criminal Divisions Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Stacy Williams of the Eastern District of Arkansas.Physician and Two Clinic Operators Found Guilty for Their Roles in $17 Million Medicare Fraud Scheme

Houston, Texas - A federal jury found a physician and two clinic owners and operators guilty yesterday for their roles in a $17 million Medicare fraud scheme.

Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczowski of the Justice Departments Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Ryan Patrick of the Southern District of Texas, Special Agent in Charge Perrye K. Turner of the FBIs Houston Field Office, Special Agent in Charge C.J. Porter of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector Generals (HHS-OIG) Dallas Region and the Texas Attorney Generals Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU) made the announcement.

John P. Ramirez (Ramirez), M.D., 64; Ann Nwoko Shepherd (Shepherd), 62; and Yvette Nwoko (Nwoko), 30, all of Houston, Texas, were convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud after a six-day trial. In addition, Nwoko was convicted of three counts of health care fraud, Shepherd was convicted of six counts of health care fraud and Ramirez was convicted of three counts of false statements relating to health care matters. Sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 12 before U.S. District Judge David Hittner of the Southern District of Texas, who presided over the trial.

According to evidence presented at trial, from approximately December 2011 to August 2015, Ramirez, Shepherd and Nwoko conspired and schemed to defraud Medicare out of payments for medical services. Shepherd owned and operated Southwest Total Medical Inc., a purported medical clinic doing business as Amex Medical Clinic in Houston. Shepherd sold medical orders and other documents signed by Ramirez to home-health agencies in and around Houston. Ramirez falsely certified in these medical orders information about the patients medical condition and need for medical services. Co-conspirators at home-health agencies then used the false and fraudulent paperwork signed by Ramirez and sold by Shepherd to bill and receive payment from Medicare for medical services that were not medically necessary or not provided. Later in the conspiracy and scheme, Nwoko acted as the manager of Amex Medical Clinic where she too sold false and fraudulent paperwork used by co-conspirators to bill and receive payment from Medicare for similarly unnecessary medical services, the evidence showed. Shepherd also caused Amex Medical Clinic to bill Medicare for purported physician services that were actually provided by an unlicensed practitioner, if at all, the evidence showed.

In all, Ramirez, Shepherd and Nwoko caused Medicare to pay approximately $17 million on false and fraudulent claims submitted during the charged conspiracy, the evidence showed.

This case was investigated by the FBI, HHS-OIG and the Texas Attorney Generals Medicaid Fraud Control Unit. Trial Attorney Scott Armstrong of the Criminal Divisions Fraud Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Tina Ansari of the Southern District of Texas are prosecuting the case.

The Fraud Section leads the Medicare Fraud Strike Force. Since its inception in March 2007, the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, now operating in 12 cities across the country, has charged nearly 4,000 defendants who have collectively billed the Medicare program for more than $14 billion. In addition, the HHS Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with the HHS-OIG, are taking steps to increase accountability and decrease the presence of fraudulent providers.Defendant Pleads Guilty in Connection with Labor Trafficking Scheme Involving Immigrant Minors

Cleveland, Ohio - Pablo Duran Ramirez, 50, pleaded guilty Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Cleveland, Ohio, to encouraging the illegal entry of Guatemalan nationals, including unaccompanied minors, into the United States for financial gain, announced Acting Assistant Attorney General John Gore of the Justice Departments Civil Rights Division, U.S. Attorney Justin E. Herdman of the Northern District of Ohio, and Special Agent in Charge Stephen D. Anthony of the FBIs Cleveland Division.

Duran Ramirez is the fourth defendant to plead guilty in connection with a labor trafficking scheme that forced Guatemalan minors to work at egg farms in central Ohio.

According to the defendants plea agreement and admissions in court, the defendant, through his company, Haba Corporate Services, contracted to provide labor to Trillium Farms, knowing that the workers were unlawfully present in the United States. He further admitted to knowing that some of the workers were unaccompanied minors who had been coerced or threatened to enter the United States and then housed in an isolated trailer park in Marion, Ohio. In 2013 and 2014, Trillim Farms paid the defendants company approximately $6 million for its labor services.

Motivated by greed, the defendant violated the immigration laws and contributed to the exploitation of vulnerable children who lacked immigration status, said Acting Assisting Attorney General Gore. The Department of Justice will use its resources to prosecute individuals who unlawfully victimize others for their own monetary profit.

This defendant profited off the desperation of children and their parents and other relatives, said U.S. Attorney Justin Herdman for the Northern District of Ohio. He knew some of the workers he delivered to Trillium Farms were underage, in the country illegally and were threatened or coerced. We will continue to work to eliminate human trafficking in all its forms.

This defendant, in conspiracy with three other previously convicted individuals, coerced and assisted individuals to enter the United States illegally, many of them children, forcing them to live in deplorable conditions and work for little to no wages, said Special Agent in Charge Stephen D. Anthony of the FBIs Cleveland Division. These reprehensible actions are unacceptable and rest assured the FBI will continue to work with our partners to bring to justice those who engage in human trafficking.

Duran Ramirez faces a sentence of up to 10 years in prison. His sentencing date has been set for Jan. 7, 2019.

Three other defendantsAroldo Castillo-Serrano, of Guatemala, Ana Angelica Pedro-Juan, of Guatemala, and Conrado Salgado-Soto, of Mexicopreviously pleaded guilty for their roles in the same labor trafficking scheme. Castillo-Serrano, the lead smuggler and primary enforcer, was sentenced to 188 months in prison; Pedro-Juan, who oversaw the victims in Ohio, was sentenced to 120 months; and Salgado-Soto, a subcontractor hired by Duran Ramirez, was sentenced to 51 months.

Those defendants admitted to recruiting workers from Guatemala, some as young as 14 or 15 years old, falsely promising them good jobs and a chance to attend school in the United States. The defendants then smuggled and transported the workers to a trailer park in Marion, Ohio, where they ordered them to live in dilapidated trailers and work at physically demanding jobs at Trillium Farms for up to 12 hours a day. The work included cleaning chicken coops, loading and unloading crates of chickens, de-beaking chickens and vaccinating chickens. During their sentencing, Senior United States District Judge James G. Carr found that they had threatened workers with physical harm and withheld their paychecks in order to compel them to work. Eight minors and two adults were identified as victims of the scheme.

Three additional defendants, including Duran Ramirezs son, pleaded guilty for their roles in encouraging the workers illegal entry into the United States.

This case is being investigated by the FBIs Cleveland Office, Mansfield Resident Agency and the Department of Homeland Security. The case is being jointly prosecuted by Trial Attorney Dana Mulhauser of the Civil Rights Divisions Criminal Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Chelsea Rice.Did you have a good weekend? I'll bet Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, and American Airlines had a better one.

Because while you were enjoying time with friends and family or maybe just enjoying the weather, Congress was busy handing the airlines a massive legislative victory--one that could easily be worth billions of dollars.

( Update : After this article was published, we had the chance to pore through the analysis of this 1,200-page bill. There's a lot more even than this one multi-billion-dollar issue. Besides the decision not to regulate change fees and baggage fees, there are at least 17 significant changes to airline travel coming as a result of the bill. You can read about them all here.)

It all comes as part of the authorization bill that keeps the Federal Aviation Administration running, and that Congress has to pass by the end of the month.

Some senators on both sides of the aisle were reportedly trying to use the bill to limit how airlines to charge passengers to to change reservations.

And after a Senate version of the bill included a provision to limit change fees, the big airlines and their lobbying group, Airlines for America, pushed hard to stop it. The reason is simple: It's big business for the airlines, with some charging $200 or more to make a change, not including any difference in fare.

As you might have experienced yourself, those fees can lead to passengers simply discarding a reservation they can't use, because paying the change fee would cost more than a brand new ticket.

Add it all up, and it's about $3 billion or more annually across the industry. American Airlines alone made $878 million from change fees last year, which adds up to about 2 percent of its revenue, according to The Wall Street Journal.

"It is our top priority to ensure that this--what we consider an existential threat to our business--does not become law," Sharon Pinkerton, the lobbying group's senior vice president for policy, told the Journal a few days ago.

Even Southwest Airlines, which doesn't actually charge change fees, didn't want Congress getting involved. They believe their they have a big competitive advantage, and they they don't want the other airlines to change their policies--or to be forced to do it by Congress.

But on Saturday, just a little over a week before the Sept. 30 deadline to pass a bill, it looks like the airlines won the battle. As the Journal reported:

A version of the FAA bill released on Saturday doesn't include a provision that would have given the Department of Transportation oversight of the fees airlines charge passengers to change their reservations, according to a summary of the legislation and to spokesmen for the House and Senate transportation committees.

Airlines generally like change fees, along with fees for checked baggage, carry on luggage, and virtually everything else you can think of, for two reasons.

First, fees don't show up normally when passengers comparison shop for low fares. And second, because unlike airfare itself, fees aren't subject to federal taxes.

"Congress had the opportunity to return fairness to change and cancellation fees," Sen. Edward J. Markey, who has been the main leader on the issue, told the Journal. "No one should have to pay a $200 change fee on a ticket that costs nearly that much."

Markey is a Democrat; the Journal reports Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi, a Republican, also was pushing for limits on change fees.

In Washington right now, political attention is focused on other things, like the Supreme Court nomination battle and the China trade war. And so the airlines score a big win.Nepal has taken great strides towards saving tigers from extinction by nearly doubling its population of the big cats in the space of nine years.

Local conservation groups welcomed the news, which they saw as a sign that with political will and innovative approaches tigers can be preserved across their range.

Officials announced that the tiny Asian nation now has an estimated 235 wild tigers, up from 121 in 2009.

Recommended Elephant poaching cartels exposed using DNA from ivory shipments

This chimes with the target set in 2010 at the St Petersburg tiger summit, which brought together representatives from all 13 countries that are home to tigers.

At the summit, nations pledged to double the worlds tiger population by 2022 under a strategy known as the Tx2 goal.

Every tiger counts, for Nepal and for the world, said Dr Ghana Gurung, WWF-Nepals country representative.

While Nepal is but a few tigers away from our goal to double tiger numbers by 2022, it also underscores the continued need to ensure protection, and improved and contiguous habitats for the long-term survival of the species.

National tiger surveys were conducted over several months using camera traps and other techniques to estimate total numbers.

Colombian reserve becomes worlds largest rainforest national park Show all 12 1 /12 Colombian reserve becomes worlds largest rainforest national park Colombian reserve becomes worlds largest rainforest national park The Stadium, one of the most impressive geological formations of the Serrania de Chiribiquete. Colombian Amazon Colombian reserve becomes worlds largest rainforest national park Forest burns due to the colonisation front near the northern border of Chiribiquete National Park, Colombian Amazon Cesar David Martinez Colombian reserve becomes worlds largest rainforest national park Grandpa Marcelieno and his son, of the indigenous Araracuara people, with sacred plants from the region: mambe and ambil. Colombian Amazon Cesar David Martinez Colombian reserve becomes worlds largest rainforest national park Cattle ranching at the agricultural frontier near the northern border of the Chiribiquete National Park Cesar David Martinez Colombian reserve becomes worlds largest rainforest national park Oil palm monoculture, Puerto Concordia on the Ariari River, Colombian Amazon Cesar David Martinez Colombian reserve becomes worlds largest rainforest national park Preparation of traditional sugarcane-based beverage by the indigenous Barasano people of Pacoa, on the Apaporis River, near the southeastern border of Chiribiquete National Park Cesar David Martinez Colombian reserve becomes worlds largest rainforest national park Tapir in the community of Buenos Aires, Apaporis River. Colombian Amazon Cesar David Martinez Colombian reserve becomes worlds largest rainforest national park (Left) Pictograms over 20.000 years old found on stone in the Chiribiquete National Natural Park FCDS Colombian reserve becomes worlds largest rainforest national park The main maloca of the Mutanacua indigenous community of Pacoa, on the Apaporis River, near the southeastern border of Chiribiquete National Park. Colombian Amazon Cesar David Martinez Colombian reserve becomes worlds largest rainforest national park Vigilant Grandfather, one of the Chiribiquete National Parks representative tepuyes. Colombian Amazon Cesar David Martinez Colombian reserve becomes worlds largest rainforest national park Aerial view of one of the park's waterfalls FCDS Colombian reserve becomes worlds largest rainforest national park Ajaju River, Chiribiquete National Park. Colombian Amazon Cesar David Martinez

Actor Leonardo DiCaprio, whose foundation has funded tiger conservation in Nepals Bardia National Park and who serves on the WWF-US board, said: Nepal has been a leader in efforts to double tiger numbers within its own borders and serves as a model for conservation for all of Asia and the world.

Nepal has been commended for its commitment to protecting its big cats alongside other endangered animals, such as rhinos, from poaching.

Habitat loss and conflict with local people have both been major contributors to the tigers decline across Asia, but poaching and the illegal wildlife trade is still by far the biggest threat facing them.

Demand for tiger skin, bones and other body parts, driven by their use to make traditional medicines, means criminal networks will pay large amounts of money to those willing to kill them.

Across the whole of their range from India to Russia there are thought to be only around 3,900 tigers left in the wild.

Conservationists hope the effective policing of national parks and anti-poaching will from politicians in Nepal will set an example to other nations so that significant progress can be made towards the Tx2 goal.

Our commitment to the global tiger recovery programme gains new ground with Nepals growing tiger numbers and a successful implementation of Nepals tiger conservation action plan, said Bishwa Nath Oli, secretary of the ministry of forests and environment in Nepal.

Protecting tigers is a top priority of the government, and we are thankful for the able support of our partners, enforcement agencies, local communities and the international community for a common purpose.Two tiny robots have landed safely on an asteroid after a Japanese spacecraft dropped them there on Friday.

The scientists behind the historic mission expressed their delight as the rovers sent back the first images from the surface of the space rock Ryugu.

Recommended Japanese spacecraft drops two rovers onto asteroid surface

Dubbed MINERVA-II1, the robotic explorers are the first of their kind to be successfully landed on an asteroid.

The Japanese space agency JAXA announced that both units were operational after a period of silence between the unmanned spacecraft Hayabusa-2 depositing them and connection being established with the team on Earth.

I cannot find words to express how happy I am that we were able to realise mobile exploration on the surface of an asteroid, said Hayabusa-2 project manager Dr Yuichi Tsuda.

This is an image taken immediately after separation from the spacecraft. Hayabusa-2 is at the top and the surface of Ryugu is bottom. The image is blurred because the shot was taken while the rover was rotating. (JAXA)

I am proud that Hayabusa2 was able to contribute to the creation of this technology for a new method of space exploration by surface movement on small bodies.

The rovers will use the low gravity conditions on Ryugu to hop across the asteroids surface, measuring temperatures and sending images back to Earth via Hayabusa-2.

I was so moved to see these small rovers successfully explore an asteroid surface because we could not achieve this at the time of Hayabusa, 13 years ago, said project mission manager Dr Makoto Yoshikawa.

Image captured by one of the rovers taken immediately after separation from the spacecraft. The surface of Ryugu is in the lower right. The coloured blur in the top left is due to the reflection of sunlight when the image was taken. (JAXA)

I was particularly impressed with the images taken from close range on the asteroid surface.

Among the first pictures that came back were some showing the rocky surroundings the MINERVA-II1 robots have found themselves in, and one showing Hayabusa-2 flying in the sky above.

The team noted that as some of the images had been taken mid-hop they had emerged a little blurred.

Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Show all 30 1 /30 Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Solar Flare An image from Nasa's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) shows a 200,000 mile long solar filament ripping through the Sun's corona in September 2013 Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Nasa Celebrates 50 Years of Spacewalking For 50 years, NASA has been "suiting up" for spacewalking. In this 1984 photograph of the first untethered spacewalk, NASA astronaut Bruce McCandless is in the midst of the first "field" tryout of a nitrogen-propelled backpack device called the Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU) Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space A Hubble Cosmic Couple The spectacular cosmic pairing of the star Hen 2-427  more commonly known as WR 124  and the nebula M1-67 which surrounds it ESA/Hubble & NASA Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Veil Nebula Supernova Remnant Nasa's Hubble Space Telescope has unveiled in stunning detail a small section of the Veil Nebula - expanding remains of a massive star that exploded about 8,000 years ago Nasa's most stunning pictures of space The Soyuz TMA-15M rocket launch The Soyuz TMA-15M rocket launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Monday, Nov. 24, 2014, carrying three new astronauts to the International Space Station. It also took caviar, ready for the satellite's inhabitants to celebrate the holidays Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Earth from the ISS From the International Space Station, Expedition 42 Flight Engineer Terry W. Virts took this photograph of the Gulf of Mexico and U.S. Gulf Coast at sunset Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Black Hole Friday Nasa celebrated Black Friday by looking into space instead  sharing pictures of black holes Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space NuSTAR X-rays stream off the sun in this image showing observations from by NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or NuSTAR, overlaid on a picture taken by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Cassiopeia A c A false colour image of Cassiopeia A comprised with data from the Spitzer and Hubble Space Telescopes and the Chandra X-Ray observatory Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Orion Capsule splashes down The Orion capsule jetted off into space before heading back a few hours later  having proved that it can be used, one day, to carry humans to Mars Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Earth Observations From Gemini IV in 1965 This photograph of the Florida Straits and Grand Bahama Bank was taken during the Gemini IV mission during orbit no. 19 in 1965. The Gemini IV crew conducted scientific experiments, including photography of Earth's weather and terrain, for the remainder of their four-day mission following Ed White's historic spacewalk on June 3 Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Frosty slopes of Mars This image of an area on the surface of Mars, approximately 1.5 by 3 kilometers in size, shows frosted gullies on a south-facing slope within a crater. The image was taken by Nasa's HiRISE camera, which is mounted on its Mars Reconaissance Orbiter Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Yellowstone from space NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman shared this image of Yellowstone via his twitter account Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Saturn This near-infrared color image shows a specular reflection, or sunglint, off of a hydrocarbon lake named Kivu Lacus on Saturn's moon Titan Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Worlds Apart Although Mimas and Pandora, shown here, both orbit Saturn, they are very different moons. Pandora, "small" by moon standards (50 miles or 81 kilometers across) is elongated and irregular in shape. Mimas (246 miles or 396 kilometers across), a "medium-sized" moon, formed into a sphere due to self-gravity imposed by its higher mass Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Solar Flare An X1.6 class solar flare flashes in the middle of the sun in this image taken 10 September, captured by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Large Magellanic Cloud galaxy An image of the Large Magellanic Cloud galaxy seen in infrared light by the Herschel Space Observatory. Regions of space such as this are where new stars are born from a mixture of elements and cosmic dust Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Mars Rover Spirit Nasa's Mars Rover Spirit took the first picture from Spirit since problems with communications began a week earlier. The image shows the robotic arm extended to the rock called Adirondack Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Morning Aurora From the Space Station Nasa astronaut Scott Kelly captured this photograph of the green lights of the aurora from the International Space Station Nasa/Scott Kelly Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Launch of History - Making STS-41G Mission in 1984 The Space Shuttle Challenger launches from Florida at dawn. On this mission, Kathryn Sullivan became the first U.S. woman to perform a spacewalk and Marc Garneau became the first Canadian in space. The crew of seven was the largest to fly on a spacecraft at that time, and STS-41G was the first flight to include two female astronauts Nasa's most stunning pictures of space A Fresh Perspective on an Extraordinary Cluster of Galaxies Galaxy clusters are often described by superlatives. After all, they are huge conglomerations of galaxies, hot gas, and dark matter and represent the largest structures in the Universe held together by gravity Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Hubble Sees a Galactic Sunflower The arrangement of the spiral arms in the galaxy Messier 63, seen here in an image from the Nasa Hubble Space Telescope, recall the pattern at the center of a sunflower ESA/Hubble & NASA Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Pluto image Four images from New Horizons Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) were combined with colour data from the Ralph instrument to create this enhanced colour global view of Pluto Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Fresh Crater Near Sirenum Fossae Region of Mars The HiRISE camera aboard Nasa's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter acquired this closeup image of a "fresh" (on a geological scale, though quite old on a human scale) impact crater in the Sirenum Fossae region of Mars. This impact crater appears relatively recent as it has a sharp rim and well-preserved ejecta Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Hubble Peers into the Most Crowded Place in the Milky Way This Nasa Hubble Space Telescope image presents the Arches Cluster, the densest known star cluster in the Milky Way NASA & ESA Nasa's most stunning pictures of space An Astronaut's View from Space Nasa astronaut Reid Wiseman tweeted this photo from the International Space Station on 2 September 2014 Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Giant Landform on Mars On Mars, we can observe four classes of sandy landforms formed by the wind, or aeolian bedforms: ripples, transverse aeolian ridges, dunes, and what are called draa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Expedition 39 Landing A sokol suit helmet can be seen against the window of the Soyuz TMA-11M capsule shortly after the spacecraft landed with Expedition 39 Commander Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Soyuz Commander Mikhail Tyurin of Roscosmos, and Flight Engineer Rick Mastracchio of NASA near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan (NASA/Bill Ingalls) Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Jupiter's Great Red Spot Viewed by Voyager I Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system and perhaps the most majestic. Vibrant bands of clouds carried by winds that can exceed 400 mph continuously circle the planet's atmosphere Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Chandra Observatory Sees a Heart in the Darkness This Chandra X-Ray Observatory image of the young star cluster NGC 346 highlights a heart-shaped cloud of 8 million-degree Celsius gas in the central region

Although I was disappointed with the blurred image that first came from the rover, it was good to be able to capture this shot as it was recorded by the rover as the Hayabusa2 spacecraft is shown, said Tetsuo Yoshimitsu, who led the MINERVA-II1 programme.

Moreover, with the image taken during the hop on the asteroid surface, I was able to confirm the effectiveness of this movement mechanism on the small celestial body and see the result of many years of research.

 Asteroid discovered in outer reaches of solar system

The small rovers are the first component of Hayabusa-2s mission to Ryugu. Next month the spacecraft will deploy an explosive device to blast a hole in the asteroid, allowing rock samples to be taken from its depths.

Following that it will release a French-German landing vehicle known as the Mobile Asteroid Surface Scout (MASCOT) to explore the surface in greater detail.Two middlemen have each been sentenced to four years in prison for corruption offences in the first ruling of a huge bribery trial involving oil giants Shell and Eni. A judge also ordered the seizure of more than $120m from the pair.

Nigerian Emeka Obi and Italian Gianluca Di Nardo were convicted of international corruption by a Milan court for their role in a $1.1bn deal for rights to one of Nigerias most promising oil blocks.

Italian prosecutors allege that hundreds of millions of dollars from the 2011 sale of a field was distributed as bribes.

Recommended Shell faces one of the biggest corporate corruption cases in history

A judge ordered authorities to seize $98.4m from Mr Obi, and 21m Swiss francs from Mr Di Nardo.

The pair had elected to have a fast-track trial which took place behind closed doors and meant that their sentences would be reduced if they were convicted.

According to prosecutors, Mr Obi was in frequent contact with Eni executives trying to broker the sale and intended to pay out some of the money as kickbacks to politicians and Eni managers.

Now all eyes will turn to the main trial, with a hearing scheduled for 26 September. Both Shell and Eni deny any wrongdoing.

Thirteen individuals are also in the dock including Eni chief executive Claudio Descalzi and his predecessor, Paolo Scaroni as well as four former Shell employees, among them Malcolm Brinded, former executive director for Shells upstream operations.

For years Shell had claimed that it only transacted with the Nigerian government when buying the oil field, known as OPL245 which is thought to contain around nine billion barrels of crude. After years of investigations by NGOs, the London-listed company admitted that it had known former Nigerian oil minister and convicted money launderer Dan Etete had been behind the deal.

Mr Etete, who is a defendant in the case, awarded OPL245 to a company called Malabu in 1998, which it later turned out he controlled.

Antonio Tricarico of the Italian NGO Re:Common said Milans public prosecutors were right to bravely take on the two companies and several of their senior managers.

The time has come that the Italian government, as main shareholder of Eni, considers suspending all those managers involved in the case until the final judgement, he said.

Lanre Suraju, Chairman of Nigerian NGO Human and Environmental Development Agenda said the conviction vindicates what international and Nigerian civil society has claimed for years: OPL 245 was a corrupt deal.

Barnaby Pace, a campaigner at anti-corruption group Global Witness, hailed the convictions.

As Shell and Enis trial looms, time will tell whether its just the middlemen who pay the price for this epic crime against the Nigerian people, he said.

But one things for certain: this judgment will send shivers down the corporate spines of the oil industry  and will surely alarm Shell and Eni employees and shareholders who have been repeatedly told that there was nothing amiss with the OPL 245 deal.

A spokesperson for Eni said the company acknowledged the judgment and maintains "full confidence" of the appropriateness and legality of its actions.

"This was a completely legal and legitimate transaction conducted directly with the government of Nigeria," the spokesperson said.The growing number of terrorists being released from British prisons could slip through the net and attack because authorities do not have the capacity to monitor them, the governments former extremism tsar has warned.

Ian Acheson, an ex-prison governor who reviewed Islamist extremism in the UKs jails, said the record number of terrorists being locked up could accelerate radicalisation already taking place.

There has been a problem for years and the organisation [HM Prison and Probation Service] has been asleep, he told The Independent. Islamist groups offer a very seductive message and if the prison doesnt have an alternative, because it cant offer a full regime and rehabilitation programmes, its a clown show.

There is no capacity for staff to challenge ideologies  we have got ungoverned spaces and thats where extremism thrives.

A crisis driven by overcrowding, understaffing, disorder, violence and drugs came to a head this month as officers walked out in protest and the head of HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) resigned.

Meanwhile, the governments part-privatisation of probation in 2014 has left a fractured system letting convicts offend again and again.

Amid the chaos, a record number of people are convicted of terror offences and proposed new laws would see even more jailed.

There are 228 people currently in prison for terror-related offences  82 per cent Islamist, 13 per cent far-right and 6 per cent other.

But the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) says it is managing a far larger number of prisoners  700  under a counterterrorism specialist case management process.

A prison officer working in the high-security estate told The Independent that the figure doesnt come anywhere near the real number of Islamist extremists inside.

Id put another zero on that and then some, he added. The extremists have their own foot soldiers radicalising people who are in for minor offences.

Recommended UK prison and probation chief to be replaced amid chaos in jails

Youve got someone who is in for five or six years, an ordinary criminal, and all of a sudden they are radicalised into hating anything about the west.

The officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, is one of several sources who say the phenomenon of inmates claiming to convert to Islam inside prison and joining Muslim gangs is widespread.

He has noticed no change since a joint HMPPS and Home Office extremism unit was created in April 2017, and dismissed specialist training as a laughable box-ticking exercise.

Officials claimed staff would be able to identify, report and challenge extremist views and take action, but the officer said his colleagues were too few and too stretched to implement the policies.

The problem is too big, he added. There is no time in an ordinary prison officers day to rehabilitate anyone. Nobody comes in to check whether these things are being done.

Mr Acheson said it was ludicrous to expect prison officers to challenge extremists while they are struggling to maintain control.

A record number of terrorist prisoners are currently imprisoned in British jails (Source: HM Prison and Probation Service and Scottish Prisons Service) (Source: Her Majesty's Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) and Scottish Prisons Service (SPS))

Any engagement is a long-term affair, he added. You cant switch people on and off.

Adam Deen, a former member of Anjem Choudarys al-Muhajiroun terrorist network who now works to counter extremism, raised concerns that prisoners could merely jump hoops to be judged safe for parole.

Any criminal wants to get out of prison early and its no different with Islamist extremists, they will say anything, he added.

We dont know if someone is reformed. We can only know from their actions and then it might be too late.

Mr Deen, the executive director of think tank Quilliam, said committed extremists could launch a terror attack any time, even years after their release.

We should be concerned that so many of them are coming out, I dont think the majority will be deradicalised, he said. Perhaps they will go quiet but I dont think they will abandon their views.

They should all be under surveillance but thats going to happen so its a very vulnerable position for the country to be in.

Choudary, whose Islamist network was linked to a string of terror plots, is due to be released imminently, the most notorious terrorist prisoner to be so.

The radical preacher is likely to be under heavy surveillance after serving over two years for inviting support for Isis, but experts are equally worried about lower-profile extremists who may not be so closely watched.

Terror drill on streets of London Show all 7 1 /7 Terror drill on streets of London Terror drill on streets of London Terror drill in London Armed officers storm the building in the City of London PA Terror drill on streets of London Terror drill in London Police officers pose as terrorists during the training exercise PA Terror drill on streets of London Terror drill in London Dummies representing casualties lie on the floor following the drill Getty Images Terror drill on streets of London Terror drill in London Police dressed as militants simulate an attack on a shopping centre PA Terror drill on streets of London Terror drill in London 'Terrorist' and 'civilian' dummies were used in the drill Getty Images Terror drill on streets of London Terror drill in London Police are being trained to 'go forward' during terror sieges PA Terror drill on streets of London Terror drill in London Police are being told to ignore casualties until suspects are immobilised

Police are already running a record 650 live terror investigations into the most dangerous individuals and the security services admit they do not have the resources to monitor the growing pool of 20,000 people who have appeared on their radar in the past.

The Westminster attacker Khalid Masood  who converted to Islam while imprisoned for a violent attack  was among their number and considered only a peripheral figure before his atrocity.

MI5 had investigated the Manchester bomber Salman Abedi but misinterpreted intelligence that could have prevented the attack, and spies were not aware of the London Bridge plot despite putting ringleader Khuram Butt under surveillance for attack-planning.

Recommended Timeline of MI5 investigations into UK terror attackers revealed

An intelligence review found the operation was suspended last March due to resourcing constraints brought on by a large number of higher-priority investigations, and Butts risk level was downgraded.

With 13 Islamist plots and four from the extreme right foiled since March 2017, several attack-planners have been jailed for life and put in separation units to stop them influencing fellow prisoners.

But a larger number of extremists have been convicted of lower-level terror offences, including spreading Isis propaganda and sending money to foreign fighters since the group formed in 2014.

The vast majority of terror offenders will serve a maximum of only five years and, of the 312 freed since 2014, 171 (55 per cent) had been sentenced to terms of less than four years.

Short prison terms have been linked to reoffending across all crimes, and several terrorists have already reoffended.

Khalid Javed Baqa, 53, is among the terrorist prisoners who have reoffended after being freed (Metropolitan Police)

One, a former London council worker, was jailed twice within five years for disseminating terrorist publications.

Khalid Baqas first sentence apparently did little to change his views, as he resumed spreading jihadi CDs and leaflets and was jailed again in July.

Mr Acheson said he does not believe authorities have the capacity to monitor terrorists or reintegrate them into society.

We have no clear idea what impact long-term custody will have on the ideological commitment of these people, he added. Lax supervision risks a dangerous offender slipping through the net.

Those released are monitored by the National Probation Service in coordination with police, who can use multi-agency public protection arrangements or licence conditions to limit their activity.

The governments Contest strategy includes a desistance and disengagement programme that aims to rehabilitate terrorists with mentoring and psychological support as well as theological and ideological advice.

The Home Office is also establishing a series of experimental multi-agency pilots testing different models to better understand the risk posed by people previously judged a threat.

A prison service spokesperson said: We are doing more than ever to counter the spread of extremist ideology in our prisons. This includes opening two separation units to hold extremist prisoners and training more than 17,000 staff to deal with extremist behaviour.

We also recognise the need for stability, which is why we are investing 40m to improve the prison estate and tackle the drugs problem which is fuelling much of the violence, as well as recruiting 3,500 new officers.Detectives are offering a 20,000 reward for information about a man who disappeared 19 years ago.

Martin Joyce, then 29, went missing from Manchester on 5 September 1999, after giving his sister Mary a lift and then heading towards Manchester's Ancoats area for a night out

Greater Manchester Police said that officers do not know exactly what happened to Mr Joyce on the night he vanished but information received a few years ago has led them to believe that he was murdered after being assaulted at a Manchester pub.

Officers opened a murder inquiry in October 2016.

Specialist teams and sniffer dogs, trained to find forensic evidence, began working at the Bank of England pub shortly afterwards.

The search and excavation of the pub lasted for two weeks but came to an end when no trace of Mr Joyce could be found.

Officers have spent two years investigating the murder and have travelled all over the UK to follow leads.

The police force said that possible sightings of Mr Joyce had been investigated in Scotland, Kent and London but that even so, Manchester in September 1999 remains the last place where it can be proved that he was alive.

A man was also interviewed under caution and in connection with the investigation in March 2018 but no further action was taken.

Greater Manchester Police have now announced a reward for information "that leads to the body of Martin being found or to the successful conviction of those responsible for his unlawful killing", according to a statement posted on the force's Facebook page.

Recommended Carlisle found safe after missing persons appeal

Throughout this investigation weve kept an open mind around the circumstances that led to Martins death," said Detective Chief Inspector Stuart Wilkinson from Greater Manchester Police's Major Incident Team.

"But how someone can live with themselves knowing exactly what happened to him for almost two decades and not come forward, I will never know."

"The fact of the matter is; someone, somewhere, knows. They may not have been directly involved but they will have information that needs to be passed onto us."

Martin, I love you, not a day goes by that I dont think about you," said Mary, Mr Joyce's sister, in a statement.

"Youre always in my heart, always in my conversation.

Officers urge members of the public who have information to come forward for the sake of Mr Joyce's family.

"Twenty years is an extremely long time and, over such a long period, friendships, relationships and allegiances may have changed," Detective Chief Inspector Wilkinson said.

Whatever you know, whatever you have to tell us, well be waiting for your call."

Anyone with relevant information is asked to call Greater Manchester Police on 0161 856 9908.Oxford has been branded Britains least socially inclusive university with new data showing more than 60 per cent of its students went to private or grammar school.

The figures, compiled in The Sunday Times Good University Guide, also show just one in 10 students at both Oxford and Cambridge consider themselves working-class, compared with 58 per cent at the University of Bradford.

The majority of the Russell Group, an association of 24 universities, were among the least inclusive, with 16 of the bottom 20, including the University of St Andrews, Cambridge and Durham.

In a sign that the highest achieving institutions are less accessible to those from poorer backgrounds, the data also showed that Cambridge and Oxford came top in the academic rankings.

Responding to the findings, Labour MP David Lammy said many of Britains best universities remained gated communities for the privileged.

The new Office for Students should prove it has teeth  by using its powers to fine or cap the fees of those institutions which fail to distinguish between elite and elitist, he added.

 Roy Potter From Hackney to Oxford University gofundme fundraiser

Last year, Mr Lammy accused Oxford University of social apartheid after obtaining figures showing that just 11 per cent of new undergraduates in 2017 came from disadvantaged backgrounds.

The data, gathered through freedom of information requests, showed that between 2010 to 2015 only three of Oxfords 32 colleges made an offer to a black A-level applicant every year.

More than 100 MPs subsequently wrote to wrote to Oxford and Cambridge urging them to take action to recruit more students from underrepresented backgrounds.

The Sunday Times Guide shows that after Oxford and Cambridge, the University of Andrews, Imperial College London and Loughborough University scored highest for overall institutional ranking.

Oxford University said its outreach efforts bring in 40 per cent of it students, with last years intake its biggest ever from areas with low traditions of going into higher education.

It added: We are continually evaluating initiatives to improve diversity on all counts and investing further in approaches that work. An outstanding example is our Uniq summer school, which has helped 1,250 students into Oxford since 2012, and which we are now expanding to reach an extra 500 students from target areas every year.Most of Theresa May's cabinet ministers now support a Canada-style free trade agreement with the EU, according to reports.

The Prime Minister will be urged to ditch her Chequers plan following its rejection in Salzburg and instead pursue a "clean Brexit", it is claimed.

Foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt is one of those cabinet members who is thought to be fighting to convince Ms May to change her approach to negotiations.

Other supporters of a Canada-style free trade agreement are said to include Home Secretary Sajid Javid, Liam Fox, Andrea Leadsom, Penny Mordaunt and Esther McVey.

However other cabinet ministers, including Chancellor Philip Hammond, are said to favour a Norway-style deal which involves continued membership of the European Economic Area.

In a nutshell, we now face a choice between a Norway-type deal and a Canada-type deal, a source told The Daily Telegraph.

More than half the cabinet now support the idea of a Canada-style option, while there are maybe half a dozen who favour Norway.

This has now become about encouraging the PM to change her own mind and lending their support to do that. Theres no sense whatsoever that she needs to go, just that she needs to change her mind.

The prime minister has so far promoted her Chequers plan as the only deal which would avoid a hard border in Northern Ireland.

After declaring that talks were at an impasse on Friday, Ms May said that staying inside the European Economic Area and customs union would make a mockery of the referendum result.

She also claimed that parliament had already rejected the EU's second proposal of a trade deal that involved Norther Ireland remaining in the single market and customs union.

Anything which fails to respect the referendum or which effectively divides our country in two would be a bad deal and I have always said no deal is better than a bad deal, Ms May added.

The suggestion that the cabinet now favours a Canada-style deal comes hours after Brexit secretary Dominic Raab said the idea was off the table.

Mr Raab said that approach "can't be right" because the European Union would demand unacceptable conditions on Ireland.

What theyre suggesting is not just a free trade but for us to stay locked in or for Northern Ireland specifically to stay locked into the customs union.

Boris Johnson 'suicide vest' Brexit jibe causes Tory divide Show all 14 1 /14 Boris Johnson 'suicide vest' Brexit jibe causes Tory divide Boris Johnson 'suicide vest' Brexit jibe causes Tory divide Internal divisions in the Conservative Party have exploded into a bitter public row over Boris Johnsons disgusting criticism of Theresa May. Some senior Tories furiously denounced the former foreign secretary after he accused the prime minister of having wrapped a suicide vest around Britain Reuters Boris Johnson 'suicide vest' Brexit jibe causes Tory divide Sajid Javid, Home secretary Sajid Javid, the home secretary, rebuked his former cabinet colleague and said: I think there are much better ways to articulate your differences. He told the BBCs Andrew Marr Show that the public wanted politicians to use measured language BBC/PA Boris Johnson 'suicide vest' Brexit jibe causes Tory divide But other MPs leapt to Mr Johnsons defence, as dividing lines ahead of a possible leadership contest begin to take shape. The Uxbridge MP has repeatedly criticised Ms Mays Chequers plan and used a newspaper article on Sunday to suggest it amounted to wrapping a suicide vest around the British constitution. His latest salvo at the prime minister prompted immediate condemnation, with one minister publicly vowing to end Mr Johnsons career over the matter PA Boris Johnson 'suicide vest' Brexit jibe causes Tory divide Alan Duncan, Foreign minister Alan Duncan, a foreign minister who worked in Mr Johnsons team for two years, wrote on Twitter: For Boris to say the PMs view is like that of a suicide bomber is too much. This marks one of the most disgusting moments in modern British politics. Im sorry, but this is the political end of Boris Johnson. If it isnt now, I will make sure it is later. Getty Boris Johnson 'suicide vest' Brexit jibe causes Tory divide James Brokenshire, Housing secretary Housing secretary James Brokenshire added his voice to the criticism, calling Mr Johnsons comments wrong He said: I think he is wrong on this...I think the tone that he has used isnt right and I think that we just need to be very focused on actually moving forward with the Chequers plan. AFP/Getty Boris Johnson 'suicide vest' Brexit jibe causes Tory divide Zac Goldsmith But as Tory hostilities spilled over into open public warfare, Richmond Park MP Zac Goldsmith, an ally of Mr Johnson, hit back at Mr Duncan. He wrote: There are a number of possible motives behind this tweet, but given its author, we can be certain principles arent one of them. Getty Boris Johnson 'suicide vest' Brexit jibe causes Tory divide Jacob Rees-Mogg Senior Tory Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg told The Independent he thought Mr Johnsons suicide belt accusation was little more than a characteristically colourful catchphrase. He added: I agree with the sentiment. The criticism of Boriss wording merely serves to highlight his point. It means more people hear of Boriss criticism of Chequers and many will agree with him. Reuters Boris Johnson 'suicide vest' Brexit jibe causes Tory divide Nadine Dorries Nadine Dorries, another Brexit supporter, said Mr Johnsons opponents were terrified of his popular appeal, adding: Dont underestimate the vitriol thatll be directed towards Boris today. He delivered the Leave vote, Remainers and wannabe future PMs hate him. If Mr Johnson became leader and prime minister he would deliver a clean and prosperous Brexit, she said Rex Boris Johnson 'suicide vest' Brexit jibe causes Tory divide Andrew Bridgen Andrew Bridgen said Ms May was to blame for her leadership problems. Asked if Mr Johnson had put a bomb under her leadership, Mr Bridgen said: I think that Theresa May did that herself when she put forward the Chequers proposals without consulting widely prior to that. Boris Johnson 'suicide vest' Brexit jibe causes Tory divide Steve Baker, former Brexit minister Steve Baker, the former Brexit minister, warned Ms May the Conservatives faced a "catastrophic split" if she did not jettison her Chequers plan. Mr Baker, who quit the government in July over the scheme, said: When negotiating, the prime minister needs to demonstrate her intent and also her power to deliver. "If we come out of conference with her hoping to get Chequers through on the back of Labour votes, I think the EU negotiators would probably understand that if that were done, the Tory party would suffer the catastrophic split which thus far we have managed to avoid. But he insisted he did not want a change in the Conservative leadership, saying Brexiteers did not want to be in a position of conflict with our own prime minister Reuters Boris Johnson 'suicide vest' Brexit jibe causes Tory divide Tom Tugendhat The deep divisions on the Tory benches were laid bare as Tom Tugendhat, who chairs the Commons foreign affairs committee and is a possible leadership rival to Mr Johnson, also hit out at the former foreign secretary. Recalling how he encountered a suicide bomber in Afghanistan during his time in the army, Mr Tugendhat told Mr Johnson to grow up. He said: A suicide bomber murdered many in the courtyard of my office in Helmand. The carnage was disgusting, limbs and flesh hanging from trees and bushes. Brave men who stopped him killing me and others died in horrific pain. Some need to grow up. Comparing the PM to that isnt happy. PA Boris Johnson 'suicide vest' Brexit jibe causes Tory divide Alistair Burt Alistair Burt, another Foreign Office minister who worked in Mr Johnsons team, said: Im stunned at the nature of this attack. There is no justification for such an outrageous, inappropriate and hurtful analogy. If we dont stop his extraordinary use of language over Brexit, our country might never heal. Again, I say, enough. AFP/Getty Boris Johnson 'suicide vest' Brexit jibe causes Tory divide It comes amid that Ms Mays former aides drew up a dossier on Mr Johnsons sexual encounters with the aim of undermining his leadership prospects. The document was compiled in 2016, when the Uxbridge and South Ruislip MP was seen as the main rival to Ms May in her bid to enter No 10. Downing Street and Conservative Campaign Headquaters (CCHQ) both denied having leaked the 4,000 word memo after it was circulated around Westminster AFP/Getty Boris Johnson 'suicide vest' Brexit jibe causes Tory divide Mr Johnson confirmed that his 25-year marriage to wife Marina had ended AP

Now that would be a clear carve up of the United Kingdom in economic terms.

A so-called Canada-plus-plus-plus deal is said to be the basis of the alternative plan for Brexit drawn up by Tory Leave rebels.

Jeremy Hunt refused to rule out a Canada-style deal on Saturday despite insisting that the government preferred to continue pursuing the Chequers plan.The leader of the union that is Labours biggest financial backer has said remaining in the EU must not be an option in any new referendum on Brexit.

Len McCluskey said it would be wrong and would risk pushing Labour voters who had backed Leave in the 2016 referendum to support the Conservatives.

Instead he said any referendum must be on whether to approve the deal Theresa May agrees with Brussels  if it is rejected there should be an election, which if won by Labour would mean Jeremy Corbyn still taking the UK out of the EU albeit on different terms.

It comes after Labour members, who overwhelmingly want a new vote and form Mr Corbyns power base, were buoyed when the leader said he would act accordingly if conference called for a fresh referendum.

But with the motion to be voted on being drawn up on Sunday, concerns among supporters of a new vote emerged that it might be too vaguely worded to be effective.

The Independent has launched its Final Say campaign for a Peoples Vote on the outcome of Brexit, with more than 820,000 people having signed its petition so far.

But speaking to the Pienaars Politics show on BBC Radio 5Live, Unite general secretary Mr McCluskey said: The referendum shouldnt be on, Do you want to go back in the European Union.

 Jeremy Corbyn pledges to push for a second EU referendum if Labour members vote for it

The people have already decided on that. We very rarely have referendums in this country, the people have decided against my wishes and my unions wishes, but they have decided.

So if the parliamentarians, if spineless Tory MPs, lose the courage of their convictions and wont vote against whatever deal comes back, then my union and Labours policy at the moment is to say, Well, if you are incapable of carrying out your functions in parliament, we should take the deal back to the people.

For us now to enter into some kind of campaign that opens up that issue again, I think would be wrong Unite general secretary Len McCluskey

A YouGov poll commissioned by the Peoples Vote campaign showed nearly 90 per cent of Labour Party members want another referendum, three-quarters would like to see a commitment in Labours manifesto  but critically, it shows that 93 per cent would vote to stay in the EU if they were given a chance.

But Mr McCluskey said: There are significant numbers of traditional Labour supporters who are saying, Were going to vote Conservative because we dont trust Labour to take us out of the European Union, despite the fact that Jeremy has said repeatedly of course, we recognise the result, of course we respect the result, we are coming out of the European Union.

 Jeremy Corbyn arrives at Labour party conference in Liverpool

For us now to enter into some kind of campaign that opens up that issue again, I think would be wrong.

Spelling out how he sees a new referendum playing out, he said the question must be narrowly confined to approval of any deal Ms May brings back from Brussels.

He went on: If the people vote against the deal then we are back to the other scenario. She has to resign, there has to be general election so that we have a new government.

And if that government is a Corbyn government, not only will we come out of the European Union but we will come out of it with a deal that will unite the whole nation.

Mr Corbyn said over the weekend that he would try to use Tory Brexit rebels to force the prime minister into an early election, possibly by November.

To do this Mr Corbyns MPs and Tories from Jacob Rees-Moggs European Research Group of Brexiteers would vote together against Ms Mays Chequers plan.

People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal Show all 30 1 /30 People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal Rex People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal AFP/Getty Images People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal A young protestor shouts as she takes part in the People's Vote demonstration against Brexit Getty Images People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal Reuters People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal EPA People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal A protester's pro-EU t-shirt EPA People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal EPA People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal AFP/Getty Images People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal EPA People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal AFP/Getty People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal EPA People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal Gina Miller and Caroline Lucas EPA People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal EPA People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal EPA People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal Tens of thousands of people march through London EPA People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal EPA People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal Demonstrators at the People's Vote March Getty People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal 'Two months too young to decide on my future' REUTERS People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal PA People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal A young girl joins in the march PA People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal An EU flag is draped across the statue of Winston Chruchill in Parliament Square REUTERS People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal AFP/Getty Images People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal Vince Cable MP, Pro-EU campaigner Gina Miller, Tony Robinson and Caroline Lucas MP join with crowds PA People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal PA People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal Crowds gather on Pall Mall PA People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal A man resembling Britain's Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, joins EU supporters Reuters People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal Reuters People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal People gather in Trafalgar Square REUTERS People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal Pro-EU campaigner Gina Miller and Tony Robinson PA People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal EU supporters, calling on the government to give Britons a vote on the final Brexit deal, participate in the 'People's Vote' march REUTERS

Mr Corbyn said: That could trigger a general election and were ready for it.

Labour is set to actually go one step further and launch a plan to force an election by seeking a motion of no confidence in the government within days of Ms Mays proposals collapsing, sources have said.

A motion of no confidence would also need some support from Conservative MPs to pass, but either way would act to severely destabilise the prime minister as internal pressure for her to quit peaked.

A senior Labour source told The Independent: If Theresa Mays deal is voted down in parliament, then expect to see Labour come forward with a vote of no confidence within days.

The party has always been clear that an election is needed, and we would push for that hard and immediately.Leading Tory Eurosceptics are to spell out rival Brexit plans that directly contradict Theresa Mays proposals, setting the scene for intense Tory infighting just weeks before a deal is meant to be agreed with the EU.

The rebel plans are likely to demand looser future relations with Brussels and are to be laid out by ex-cabinet minister David Davis and lead Eurosceptic Jacob Rees-Mogg, but are also said to enjoy support inside the cabinet.

In a sign of the impending hostilities, Brexit secretary Dominic Raab launched a pre-emptive attack on the approach taken by the Eurosceptics on Sunday, saying the kind of free trade deal they outline is off the table.

Recommended Jeremy Corbyn has shifted significantly towards a new referendum

Ms May will meet her top team during the morning to discuss the fallout of last weeks summit in Salzburg where EU leaders torpedoed her Chequers proposals, forcing the prime minister to accuse them of disrespecting the UK.

Mondays cabinet meeting could also see a new clash between senior ministers over Britains future immigration policy and whether EU citizens should be afforded any kind of special status.

The new Brexit proposals to be backed by Mr Rees-Mogg, former cabinet minister Theresa Villiers, ex-Labour MP Gisela Stuart and Mr Davis  who quit the cabinet in protest at Ms Mays plans  have been formed with the free-market think tank, the Institute for Economic Affairs (IEA).

Mr Davis and the others have previously argued that for the UK to fulfil its potential, any kind of tight customs arrangement with the EU should be ditched.

Ms Mays plans include a customs plan that they claim would limit free trade deals after Brexit, meanwhile there is doubt the prime minister can get her proposals through the house of commons.

Reports over the weekend suggested the IEA will seek to prevent a hard border in Ireland through a new UK/EU trade deal and customs arrangements that would use technology to take all checks away from the frontier.

Commons leader Andrea Leadsom, pensions secretary Esther McVey and international development secretary Penny Mordaunt are said to be pushing Ms May to change tack and swing towards a looser Canada-style free trade deal with Europe.

Over the weekend Mr Daviss former special advisor Stewart Jackson said Ms May had ten days left to ditch Chequers and commit to something else in her conference speech next week, or face a leadership challenge.

 Jeremy Hunt hints UK could accept Canada-style trade deal if EU rejects Chequers Brexit plan

Tory leadership hopeful Boris Johnson also advocates the Chequers proposals being ditched and replaced with a loose free trade deal, similar to that likely to be set out on Monday.

Before the new proposals were even published however, Mr Rabb drew battlelines, saying the approach is off the table, because such an arrangement would see the EU demand unacceptable conditions in relation to Ireland.

Asked about the possibility of a Canada-style free trade deal, he said such an arrangement would see the EU try to carve up the UK, by keeping Northern Ireland in the EUs customs union.

He went on: Its off the table in the terms that the EU would even plausibly at this stage  accept the nuts and bolts.

 Theresa May on Brexit deal: 'no-one wants a good deal more than me'

What they are suggesting is that we would stay in a backstop arrangement with Northern Ireland  which would be a part of the United Kingdom, subject to a wholly different economic machine. That cant be right.

It is less than a month until the October European Council summit at which Brexit negotiators had been hoping to agree the UKs withdrawal terms, but in Salzburg last week EU leaders said Ms Mays Chequers proposals will not work.

The situation was salvaged following statements from both Ms May and council president Donald Tusk, but it leaves the two sides with a major gap to bridge before the next meeting and has given fodder to Eurosceptics who say her plans are already dead in the water.

People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal Show all 30 1 /30 People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal Rex People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal AFP/Getty Images People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal A young protestor shouts as she takes part in the People's Vote demonstration against Brexit Getty Images People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal Reuters People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal EPA People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal A protester's pro-EU t-shirt EPA People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal EPA People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal AFP/Getty Images People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal EPA People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal AFP/Getty People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal EPA People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal Gina Miller and Caroline Lucas EPA People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal EPA People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal EPA People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal Tens of thousands of people march through London EPA People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal EPA People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal Demonstrators at the People's Vote March Getty People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal 'Two months too young to decide on my future' REUTERS People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal PA People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal A young girl joins in the march PA People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal An EU flag is draped across the statue of Winston Chruchill in Parliament Square REUTERS People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal AFP/Getty Images People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal Vince Cable MP, Pro-EU campaigner Gina Miller, Tony Robinson and Caroline Lucas MP join with crowds PA People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal PA People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal Crowds gather on Pall Mall PA People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal A man resembling Britain's Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, joins EU supporters Reuters People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal Reuters People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal People gather in Trafalgar Square REUTERS People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal Pro-EU campaigner Gina Miller and Tony Robinson PA People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal EU supporters, calling on the government to give Britons a vote on the final Brexit deal, participate in the 'People's Vote' march REUTERS

The cabinet will discuss the fallout from Salzburg on Monday, as it also sits down to discuss the UKs future immigration proposals, already a further pitched battle between senior ministers.

Home secretary Sajid Javid is said to be pushing for a system that gives no preferential treatment to EU citizens, similar to that set out in a government commissioned report last week.

But chancellor Philip Hammond is alternatively said to be pushing for some kind of special status to be included in the governments immigration bill, so that it can be used as leverage in future trade negotiations.Brexit secretary Dominic Raab has risked a row with Conservative rebels after saying the idea of a Canada-style trade deal is off the table.

The cabinet minister said such an approach advocated by some prominent Brexiteers cant be right because the European Union would demand unacceptable conditions on Ireland.

It comes the day before Leave rebels are set to publish their alternative plans for Brexit, suggesting a Canada-plus-plus-plus free trade arrangement.

Speaking on the BBCs Andrew Marr Show, Mr Raab also said that an autumn election  which the prime minister's aides were rumoured on Sunday to being planning  was for the birds.

Asked to rule out the possibility of a Canada-style agreement, he said: We all want a free trade deal. The question is the terms. And if what youre referring to is the Ceta-plus or plus-plus arrangement which is being bandied around, I think people need to read the small print, not just of our proposals, but the EUs proposals.

Because what theyre suggesting is not just a free trade but for us to stay locked in or for Northern Ireland specifically to stay locked into the customs union.

Now that would be a clear carve up of the United Kingdom in economic terms.

He continued: Its off the table in the terms that the EU would even plausibly at this stage would at least accept the nuts and bolts.

What they are suggesting is that we would stay in a backstop arrangement with Northern Ireland which would be a part of the United Kingdom, subject to a wholly different economic machine. That cant be right.

He said the government would continue negotiating with Brussels on the basis of the prime ministers Chequers proposals, and described the impasse in the negotiations as a bump in the road.

Brexit casualties Show all 10 1 /10 Brexit casualties Brexit casualties Andrea Jenkyns - Resigned from Parliamentary Private Secretary at the ministry for housing, communities and local government role May 2018 - The Morley and Outwood MP said: We want to see a new relationship with Europe, with a new model not enjoyed by other countries  nothing that leaves us half-in, half-out. And in order to achieve this, we need to leave the customs union. Ms Jenkyns also said she wished to dedicate more of her time to Parliaments influential Exiting the European Union select committee, after a series of unbalanced reports produced by MPs PA Brexit casualties David Davis - Resigned from Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union role July 2018 - quit following a major row with May over her plans for post-Brexit relations with the EU. Davis resignation letter said: As you know there have been a significant number of occasions in the last year or so on which I have disagreed with the Number 10 policy line, ranging from accepting the [European] Commissions sequencing of negotiations, through to the language on Northern Ireland in the December Joint Report. At each stage I have accepted collective responsibility because it is part of my task to find workable compromises, and because I considered it was still possible to deliver on the mandate of the referendum, and on our manifesto commitment to leave the Customs Union and the Single Market. I am afraid that I think the current trend of policy and tactics is making that look less and less likely. He went on to argue that the general direction of Ms Mays policies would leave the UK in at best a weak negotiating position, and possibly an inescapable one. AFP/Getty Brexit casualties Steve Baker - Resigned from Minister at the Department for Exiting the European Union role July 2018 - Mr Baker, a key Tory figure in the Leave campaign, was David Daviss main lieutenant at Dexeu, and was hailed as courageous and principled by other Brexiteer Tories as he also left. Reuters Brexit casualties Boris Johnson - Resigned from Foreign Secretary role July 2018 - resigned over May's Chequers plan. In his resignation letter to the prime minister, Mr Johnson said: "On Friday, I acknowledged that my side of the argument were too few to prevail and congratulated you on at least reaching a Cabinet decision on the way forward. "As I said then, the government now has a song to sing. "The trouble is that I have practised the words over the weekend and find that they stick in the throat." Reuters Brexit casualties Conor Burns - Resigned from Parliamentary Private Secretary to Foreign Secretary role July 2018 - A Brexit supporter who worked alongside Boris Johnson stated in his resignation letter: I've decided it's time to have greater freedom. I want to see the referendum result respected. And there are other areas of policy I want to speak more openly on. Rex Brexit casualties Chris Green - Resigned from Department for Transport role July 2018 - The Bolton West MP said: "Parliament overwhelmingly decided to give the decision of whether to leave or remain in the European Union to the British people and they made an unambiguous decision that we ought to leave. "I have always understood the idea in 'Brexit means Brexit' is that the final deal should be clear to me and my constituents - that we have, in no uncertain terms, left the European Union. Twitter Ads info and privacy "The direction the negotiations had been taking have suggested that we would not really leave the EU and the conclusion and statements following the Chequers summit confirmed my fears. "I recognise that delivering Brexit is challenging, however I had hoped at tonight's meeting that there would be some certainty that my fears were unfounded but, instead, they have been confirmed. "I have been grateful for the opportunity to serve as Parliamentary Private Secretary and it is with regret that I offer my resignation with immediate effect." PA Brexit casualties Maria Caulfield - Resigned from Conservative Party vice-chair for women role July 2018 - resigned over May's Chequers plan. Lewes MP warned that the direction of travel did not fully embrace the opportunities that Brexit can provide. Ms Caulfield said in her letter to the PM: The policy may assuage vested interests, but the voters will find out and their representatives will be found out. This policy will be bad for our country and bad for the party. The direct consequences of that will be prime minister Corbyn. PA Brexit casualties Ben Bradley - Resigned from Conservative Party vice-chair for young people role July 2018 - resigned over May's Chequers plan. The Mansfield MP said: I admit that I voted to Remain in that ballot. What has swayed me over the last two years to fully back the Brexit vision is the immense opportunities that are available from global trade, and for the ability for Britain to be an outward looking nation in control of our own destiny once again. I fear that this agreement at Chequers damages those opportunities; that being tied to EU regulations, and the EU tying our hands when seeking to make new trade agreements, will be the worst of all worlds if we do not deliver Brexit in spirit as well as in name, then we are handing Jeremy Corbyn the keys to No10. PA Brexit casualties Robert Courts - Resigned from Parliamentary Private Secretary role July 2018 - resigned over May's Chequers plan. MP Mr Courts said: I have taken a very difficult decision to resign my position as [parliamentary private secretary] to express discontent with the Chequers [plans] in votes tomorrow. I had to think who I wanted to see in the mirror for the rest of my life. I cannot tell the people of Woxon that I support the proposals in their current form. Getty Brexit casualties Scott Mann - Resigned from Parliamentary Private Secretary role July 2018 - resigned over May's Chequers plan. "I fear elements of the Brexit white paper will inevitably put me in direct conflict with the views expressed by a large section of my constituents. I am not prepared to compromise their wishes to deliver a watered-down Brexit. "The residents of North Cornwall made it very clear that they wish to have control over our fishery, our agricultural policy, our money, our laws and our borders. I will evaluate those principles against the Brexit white paper and ensure that I vote in line with their wishes." Rex

We will hold our nerve, he added. We will keep our cool and we will keep negotiating in good faith. What we are not going to do is be dictated to. The UK is one of the biggest economies in Europe, if not the world.

On Saturday, Jeremy Hunt, the foreign secretary, refused to dismiss the possibility of Canada-style trade agreement, but added: We have been very clear that we are prepared to negotiate on the Chequers proposal but we cant talk to a void  we have to have a counter party thats prepared to sit down and go through the detail.

The deal agreed between Canada and the EU covers free trade but is significantly less comprehensive than the arrangement Britain is seeking with the EU.

A Canada-style deal is favoured by some Brexiteers because it would not keep Britain so closely aligned with the EU.

Mr Raabs remarks came as he also revealed the government would publish its third tranche of no-deal documents on Monday, detailing the Brexit departments preparations for various parts of the economy.Labour should respect the wishes of its members if they vote to give the public a final say on Brexit, says Tom Watson.

The deputy leader spoke out after the party faced growing calls to back a second referendum on the negotiations ahead of its conference in Liverpool.

More than 100 constituency Labour branches have submitted motions on the issue and a poll of 1,054 Labour party members showed 86 per cent backed a public vote on the final deal.

Jeremy and I were elected in 2015 to give the Labour Party back to its members, Mr Watson told The Observer newspaper.

So if the peoples party decide that they want the people to have a final say on the deal, then we have to respect the view of our members.

Mr Watson said his preference was for parliament to vote on the Brexit deal, followed by a general election if there was no agreement.

However he admitted that there would be pressure in the system for Labour to commit to a national vote in its next election manifesto.

The Labour leadership has indicated it plans to force an election by seeking a motion of no confidence in the government if Theresa Mays Brexit deal is defeated in parliament.

It follows the prime minister's declaration that the UK was ready to walk away with no deal following the EUs rejection of the Chequers plan.

People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal Show all 30 1 /30 People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal Rex People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal AFP/Getty Images People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal A young protestor shouts as she takes part in the People's Vote demonstration against Brexit Getty Images People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal Reuters People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal EPA People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal A protester's pro-EU t-shirt EPA People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal EPA People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal AFP/Getty Images People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal EPA People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal AFP/Getty People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal EPA People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal Gina Miller and Caroline Lucas EPA People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal EPA People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal EPA People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal Tens of thousands of people march through London EPA People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal EPA People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal Demonstrators at the People's Vote March Getty People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal 'Two months too young to decide on my future' REUTERS People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal PA People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal A young girl joins in the march PA People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal An EU flag is draped across the statue of Winston Chruchill in Parliament Square REUTERS People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal AFP/Getty Images People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal Vince Cable MP, Pro-EU campaigner Gina Miller, Tony Robinson and Caroline Lucas MP join with crowds PA People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal PA People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal Crowds gather on Pall Mall PA People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal A man resembling Britain's Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, joins EU supporters Reuters People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal Reuters People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal People gather in Trafalgar Square REUTERS People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal Pro-EU campaigner Gina Miller and Tony Robinson PA People's Vote march  demanding vote on final Brexit deal EU supporters, calling on the government to give Britons a vote on the final Brexit deal, participate in the 'People's Vote' march REUTERS

Earlier this week shadow chancellor John McDonnell said backing a second referendum would be an option for the party if they could get a general election.

Shadow Brexit secretary Keir Starmer has previously set out six tests which have to be met before Labour votes for any deal.

I still think the best way is for parliament to have a meaningful vote on the deal, said Mr Watson. And if parliament cant agree, the implications of the deal should be discussed through a general election.Thousands of people have turned out at a rally to demand Labour throw its support behind a second public vote on the final Brexit deal, as one MP asked: Are you listening Jeremy Corbyn?

At a march, organised by the Peoples Vote campaign, on the fringes of Labours annual conference in Liverpool, demonstrators chanted bollocks to Brexit and waved EU flags.

Addressing the crowds, the prominent Labour MP, David Lammy, said that a fresh EU vote must include the option to remain inside the bloc on the ballot paper.

They are saying squarely to leadership of the Labour Party, listen to us, hear us, give us a peoples vote, he said. Are you listening Jeremy Corbyn? Are you listening John McDonnell?

Luciana Berger, the Labour MP for Liverpool Wavetree, was among those who joined the march in support of Labour members who want the conference to debate supporting a second vote  something that will be decided later on Sunday.

The rally came as the Labour leader said he would act accordingly if conference called for a fresh referendum and said that while had not called for it now, he had been elected to empower members and would not walk away from it.

Recommended Corbyn will back new Brexit referendum if Labour conference wants it

Manuel Cortes, the general secretary of the Transport Salaried Staffs Association (TSSA), who was also at the march, said he was a big supporter of Mr Corbyn, and referring to any vote on the floor of the conference, added: The one think I know about Jeremy is that he respects democracy.

The economist Ann Pettifor, who has previously advised the shadow chancellor on economic policy, said it was a historic moment as she addressed those demanding a final say on Theresa Mays Brexit deal.

Ms Pettifor, who said she was proudly of the left, said she voted against joining the EU in 1975. But this is 2018, she added. And when the facts change, I changed.

The demand for the option of a fresh vote, including the option to remain in the EU from Mr Lammy, comes after Len McCluskey, the general secretary of Unite union, expressed the opposite view earlier the same day.

Brexit casualties Show all 10 1 /10 Brexit casualties Brexit casualties Andrea Jenkyns - Resigned from Parliamentary Private Secretary at the ministry for housing, communities and local government role May 2018 - The Morley and Outwood MP said: We want to see a new relationship with Europe, with a new model not enjoyed by other countries  nothing that leaves us half-in, half-out. And in order to achieve this, we need to leave the customs union. Ms Jenkyns also said she wished to dedicate more of her time to Parliaments influential Exiting the European Union select committee, after a series of unbalanced reports produced by MPs PA Brexit casualties David Davis - Resigned from Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union role July 2018 - quit following a major row with May over her plans for post-Brexit relations with the EU. Davis resignation letter said: As you know there have been a significant number of occasions in the last year or so on which I have disagreed with the Number 10 policy line, ranging from accepting the [European] Commissions sequencing of negotiations, through to the language on Northern Ireland in the December Joint Report. At each stage I have accepted collective responsibility because it is part of my task to find workable compromises, and because I considered it was still possible to deliver on the mandate of the referendum, and on our manifesto commitment to leave the Customs Union and the Single Market. I am afraid that I think the current trend of policy and tactics is making that look less and less likely. He went on to argue that the general direction of Ms Mays policies would leave the UK in at best a weak negotiating position, and possibly an inescapable one. AFP/Getty Brexit casualties Steve Baker - Resigned from Minister at the Department for Exiting the European Union role July 2018 - Mr Baker, a key Tory figure in the Leave campaign, was David Daviss main lieutenant at Dexeu, and was hailed as courageous and principled by other Brexiteer Tories as he also left. Reuters Brexit casualties Boris Johnson - Resigned from Foreign Secretary role July 2018 - resigned over May's Chequers plan. In his resignation letter to the prime minister, Mr Johnson said: "On Friday, I acknowledged that my side of the argument were too few to prevail and congratulated you on at least reaching a Cabinet decision on the way forward. "As I said then, the government now has a song to sing. "The trouble is that I have practised the words over the weekend and find that they stick in the throat." Reuters Brexit casualties Conor Burns - Resigned from Parliamentary Private Secretary to Foreign Secretary role July 2018 - A Brexit supporter who worked alongside Boris Johnson stated in his resignation letter: I've decided it's time to have greater freedom. I want to see the referendum result respected. And there are other areas of policy I want to speak more openly on. Rex Brexit casualties Chris Green - Resigned from Department for Transport role July 2018 - The Bolton West MP said: "Parliament overwhelmingly decided to give the decision of whether to leave or remain in the European Union to the British people and they made an unambiguous decision that we ought to leave. "I have always understood the idea in 'Brexit means Brexit' is that the final deal should be clear to me and my constituents - that we have, in no uncertain terms, left the European Union. Twitter Ads info and privacy "The direction the negotiations had been taking have suggested that we would not really leave the EU and the conclusion and statements following the Chequers summit confirmed my fears. "I recognise that delivering Brexit is challenging, however I had hoped at tonight's meeting that there would be some certainty that my fears were unfounded but, instead, they have been confirmed. "I have been grateful for the opportunity to serve as Parliamentary Private Secretary and it is with regret that I offer my resignation with immediate effect." PA Brexit casualties Maria Caulfield - Resigned from Conservative Party vice-chair for women role July 2018 - resigned over May's Chequers plan. Lewes MP warned that the direction of travel did not fully embrace the opportunities that Brexit can provide. Ms Caulfield said in her letter to the PM: The policy may assuage vested interests, but the voters will find out and their representatives will be found out. This policy will be bad for our country and bad for the party. The direct consequences of that will be prime minister Corbyn. PA Brexit casualties Ben Bradley - Resigned from Conservative Party vice-chair for young people role July 2018 - resigned over May's Chequers plan. The Mansfield MP said: I admit that I voted to Remain in that ballot. What has swayed me over the last two years to fully back the Brexit vision is the immense opportunities that are available from global trade, and for the ability for Britain to be an outward looking nation in control of our own destiny once again. I fear that this agreement at Chequers damages those opportunities; that being tied to EU regulations, and the EU tying our hands when seeking to make new trade agreements, will be the worst of all worlds if we do not deliver Brexit in spirit as well as in name, then we are handing Jeremy Corbyn the keys to No10. PA Brexit casualties Robert Courts - Resigned from Parliamentary Private Secretary role July 2018 - resigned over May's Chequers plan. MP Mr Courts said: I have taken a very difficult decision to resign my position as [parliamentary private secretary] to express discontent with the Chequers [plans] in votes tomorrow. I had to think who I wanted to see in the mirror for the rest of my life. I cannot tell the people of Woxon that I support the proposals in their current form. Getty Brexit casualties Scott Mann - Resigned from Parliamentary Private Secretary role July 2018 - resigned over May's Chequers plan. "I fear elements of the Brexit white paper will inevitably put me in direct conflict with the views expressed by a large section of my constituents. I am not prepared to compromise their wishes to deliver a watered-down Brexit. "The residents of North Cornwall made it very clear that they wish to have control over our fishery, our agricultural policy, our money, our laws and our borders. I will evaluate those principles against the Brexit white paper and ensure that I vote in line with their wishes." Rex

He said it would be "wrong" and would risk pushing Labour voter who had backed leave in the 2016 referendum to support the Conservatives.

Speaking to Pienaars Politics on BBC Radio 5Live, Mr McCluskey said: The referendum shouldnt be on, do you want to go back in the European Union.

The people have already decided on that. We very rarely have referendums in this country, the people have decided against my wishes and my unions wishes, but they have decided."

The Independent has launched its Final Say campaign for a Peoples Vote on the terms of the Brexit deal, with more than 820,000 people having signed its petition so far.The row over antisemitism in Labour could cost it the next general election, one of the partys MPs has warned.

Wes Streeting, the Ilford North MP, told a fringe event at the partys annual conference in Liverpool that voters would never elect a party seen as indifferent to, or complicit in, racism.

Speaking at a rally organised by the Jewish Labour Movement (JLM), he joined a number of Labour MPs in criticising the party leadership for its handling of antisemitism.

It came as a new poll showed voters consider Labour to be almost as nasty as the Tories. Almost a third (31 per cent) say Labour is now the nasty party  only slightly less than the 34 per cent who think the title still belongs to the Conservatives.

Recommended Union leader suggests Israel created Labour antisemitism row

Mr Streeting, who chairs the All-Party Parliamentary Group on British Jews, said: There are not enough Jewish voters to cost Labour the next general election, but there are enough decent people in this country who are so appalled and offended by racism that they will never elect to the government of this country a party that is so indifferent to, or complicit in, racism in any kind.

He also criticised the double standards of Labour MPs and Labour members who attacked Boris Johnson [over his comments about the Muslim niqab] but stay silent on antisemitism in our party, calling it sickening.

He added: The really troubling thing about antisemitism in our party is the bystanders who chose to look the other way and continue to do so even now  and worse still the people who through their words and their actions actively create the conditions in which antisemitism can be allowed to fester.

He attacked trade union leaders Len McCluskey, who previously described antisemitism as mood music, and Mark Serwotka, who suggested the row had been invented by Israel  a claim Mr Streeting said had no place in the Labour Party and no place in the Labour movement.

Protests against Labour antisemitism Show all 14 1 /14 Protests against Labour antisemitism Protests against Labour antisemitism Protesters clashed during the demonstration Reuters Protests against Labour antisemitism Members of the Jewish community hold a protest against Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn and antisemitism in the Labour Party AFP/Getty Protests against Labour antisemitism Protesters hold placards and flags during a demonstration, organised by the British Board of Jewish Deputies for those who oppose antisemitism, in Parliament Square Reuters Protests against Labour antisemitism Hundreds of people gathered in Parliament Square to protest against antisemitism in the Labour Party EPA Protests against Labour antisemitism Labour MP Luciana Berger speaks during the protest PA Protests against Labour antisemitism A protester blows through a shofar during the demonstration Getty Protests against Labour antisemitism Members of London's Jewish community protest in support of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn outside parliament EPA Protests against Labour antisemitism Labour MP John Mann speaks during a protest against antisemitism PA Protests against Labour antisemitism People protest against antisemitism in the Labour Party as Jewish community leaders have launched a scathing attack on Jeremy Corbyn, claiming he has sided with antisemites again and again PA Protests against Labour antisemitism Labour politicians Stella Creasy and Chuka Umunna leave after attending the demonstration Getty Protests against Labour antisemitism A pro-Jeremy Corbyn protester holds a placard during a counter-protest Getty Protests against Labour antisemitism A support of the Labour Party hold up a placard during the demonstration Reuters Protests against Labour antisemitism Jeremy Corbyn supporters during the demo Reuters Protests against Labour antisemitism A protester holds up a sign reading For the many, not the Jew AFP

Speaking at the same event, Canterbury MP Rosie Duffield said Labour should send party members guilty of antisemitism on trips to Auschwitz.

Ms Duffield, who faced a motion of censure from local activists after she spoke out on antisemitism, said she had visited the death camp with friends when she was a teenager.

She said: It changed everything I ever thought I knew about the situation and being there in person was a profound experience.

I defy anyone who repeats any of the antisemitic tropes that we see all of the time on social media to go there and to still say and feel those same things. I think they should actually be sent there by the Labour Party on a visit to see what people went through if they carry on repeating those things.

Jewish Labour MPs Luciana Berger, Ruth Smeeth and Louise Ellman also used the fringe event to criticise Mr Corbyns handling of antisemitism.

Mr Berger said: This year, more than ever, we have experienced attacks from the left  from people who claim they share our values, who wear the same rosette as us.

She added: What matters now is draining the swamp. We need to see the Labour Party step up the investigations into complaints of antisemitism and get a faster, fairer, more transparent system of internal party justice.

The partys new general secretary said this is her top priority and it would be dealt with by July. We are now in September and there is still that backlog.

 British Jews are leaving the country because of antisemitism, claims rabbi Jonathan Sacks

And Stella Creasy, the MP for Walthamstow, told the room: Nazism doesnt turn up fully formed, wearing shiny black boots and black shirts and goose-stepping. It appears every single day, slowly but surely, as the debate is turned. It builds bit by bit, it gains little by little.

It paints itself as the victim punching up, it paints its victims as enemies, as traitors, as the other, with dual loyalties. It rejects those norms and the conventions on antisemitism that we have worked so hard to defend.

To many it looks like its moral but weak, until we are too late and it becomes evil and powerful. That is the threat we face if we do not confront this.

It comes after Mr Corbyn refused to apologise for his record on antisemitism.

Asked during an interview with the BBCs Andrew Marr Show whether he wanted to say sorry to the Jewish community, he replied: Ill simply say this  I am an anti-racist and will die an anti-racist.

Antisemitism is a scourge in any society and I will oppose it all my life and I will continue to oppose it all my life.Workers will receive a bonus of up to 500 a year under Labours plans to force all large companies to give staff shares in their firms.

John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, will reveal details of the dividend payments that will flow from the scheme  vowing that 11 million workers will enjoy the rewards of their labour.

The inclusive ownership funds are a key plank of Mr McDonnells determination to make Labours manifesto for the next general election more radical than the last.

Recommended Workers to make up one third of company board members under Labour

The idea is for the first 500 from the rising value of company shares to go to each worker  with the remainder ploughed into a social dividend, to be spent by the government on public services.

Speaking at the Labour conference in Liverpool, Mr McDonnell will say: Workers, who create the wealth of a company should share in its ownership and, yes, in the returns that it makes.

The evidence shows that employee ownership increases a companys productivity and encourages long term thinking.

The dividend payments workers will receive will be up to 500 a year. Thats 11 million workers each with a greater say, and a greater stake, in the rewards of their labour.

The shadow chancellor will say that the shares will be managed collectively by the workers and deliver the same rights to have a say over the direction of their company.

The promise comes despite Mr McDonnell revealing, a year ago, that he was war-gaming for a run on the pound and the flight of capital from London if Labour wins the election.

Labour Party conference 2018: in pictures Show all 24 1 /24 Labour Party conference 2018: in pictures Labour Party conference 2018: in pictures Leader Jeremy Corbyn addresses a pre-conference rally at Pier Head in Liverpool on Saturday Getty Labour Party conference 2018: in pictures Deputy leader Tom Watson cycles at the party conference as part of the Labour Cycles scheme PA Labour Party conference 2018: in pictures Leader Jeremy Corbyn and Deputy Leader Tom Watson sit together on stage on Sunday Reuters Labour Party conference 2018: in pictures Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell speaks at a fringe event at the party conference on Sunday REUTERS Labour Party conference 2018: in pictures Delegates are welcomed to the conference at the Arena and Convention Centre in Liverpool Getty Labour Party conference 2018: in pictures Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell speaks at a fringe event at the party conference Reuters Labour Party conference 2018: in pictures Leader Jeremy Corbyn and Shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry attend a vigil in Liverpool for those who are affected by the war in Yemen PA Labour Party conference 2018: in pictures Anti-Brexit supporters demonstrate outside the conference in Liverpool on Sunday Getty Labour Party conference 2018: in pictures Anti-Brexit supporters demonstrate outside the conference in Liverpool on Sunday PA Labour Party conference 2018: in pictures Mayor of London Sadiq Khan arrive at the conference on Sunday EPA Labour Party conference 2018: in pictures Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell speaks at a fringe event at the party conference EPA Labour Party conference 2018: in pictures Delegates at the Arena and Convention Centre in Liverpool, where the conference is being held PA Labour Party conference 2018: in pictures Badges worn by a delegate at the conference on Sunday EPA Labour Party conference 2018: in pictures Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott speaks at a fringe event at the party conference EPA Labour Party conference 2018: in pictures Anti-Brexit supporters demonstrate outside the conference in Liverpool on Sunday Reuters Labour Party conference 2018: in pictures Deputy leader Tom Watson poses for a selfie on Sunday AFP/Getty Labour Party conference 2018: in pictures Leader Jeremy Corbyn listens to a speech on Sunday Getty Labour Party conference 2018: in pictures General Secretary of the Labour Party is welcomed to the stage by leader Jeremy Corbyn on Sunday Reuters Labour Party conference 2018: in pictures An anti-Brexit protester Reuters Labour Party conference 2018: in pictures Leader Jeremy Corbyn speaks at a vigil in Liverpool for those who are affected by the war in Yemen PA Labour Party conference 2018: in pictures An anti-Brexit protester AFP/Getty Labour Party conference 2018: in pictures Anti-Brexit supporters demonstrate outside the conference in Liverpool on Sunday AFP/Getty Labour Party conference 2018: in pictures Leader Jeremy Corbyn and Deputy Leader Tom Watson sit together on stage on Sunday Reuters Labour Party conference 2018: in pictures Anti-Brexit supporters demonstrate outside the conference in Liverpool on Sunday Reuters

Aides acknowledged that the 500 pledge depended on the stock market rising, with the exact amount paid out varying from company to company.

The estimate of reaching and exceeding the 500 cap for workers dividends was based on companies past and expected performance, the aides said.

Companies would not be forced to pay out dividends but, if they did, the policy would ensure that staff - as well as private shareholders - benefited from the firms' success.

The ownership funds would have to be set up by every company with more than 250 employees, as part of Mr McDonnells plans for an irreversible shift in wealth and power in favour of working people.

He believes the 2017 manifesto  while popular, by pledging the renationalisation of water, energy and rail services and higher taxes on top earners and corporations  was not radical enough.

In July, as The Independent revealed, he backed a trial of universal basic income  replacing means tested benefits with an unconditional flat rate payment to all citizens  to combat work insecurity.

Labour is also exploring more rapid automation of jobs, to improve the UKs miserable productivity record, and a shorter working week.

The compulsory ownership funds will cover at least 40 per cent of the private-sector workforce, Labour believes, but smaller companies will also be urged to set them up.

Every year, companies would transfer at least 1 per cent of their shares into the fund, up to a maximum of 10 per cent.

Workers would not be able to sell or transfer their shares, which will be held through an asset-lock mechanism similar to the one used by the department store John Lewis.

Labour believes that national fund  for dividends above the 500 cap  will deliver 2.1bn for public services by the final year of the next parliament.

The Conservatives condemned the proposal as yet another tax rise from a party that already wants to hike taxes to their highest level in peacetime history.

It would make it harder for local businesses to take on staff and pay them a good wage, said Liz Truss, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury. Close Jeremy Corbyn pledges to push for a second EU referendum if Labour members vote for it

Jeremy Corbyn has suggested Labour could shift towards backing a new referendum on the final deal as Brexit was set to dominate the party's annual conference.

The Labour leader said he would be prepared to change policy if party members backed a fresh vote but he believed a general election would be a better way to solve the crisis.

Mr Corbyn also vowed to join with rebel Tories to vote down Theresa Mays Brexit plans in parliament if they did not meet Labours tests, with The Independent revealing the party would then seek a motion of no confidence in the government "within days".

It comes as thousands of activists descended on Liverpool for the party's annual gathering, which is set to shine a spotlight on divisions over Brexit, handling of antisemitism allegations and changes to party rules.

See below for live updatesPirates have kidnapped 12 crew members from a Swiss cargo ship carrying wheat off the coast of Nigeria.

The gang boarded the MV Glarus vessel using ladders and cut through protective razor wire on deck, according to reports.

After destroying much of the ship's communications equipment, the pirates left with 12 of the 19 crew.

Kidnapping for ransom is a common problem in parts of Nigeria and foreigners are frequently targeted.

Massoel Shipping, operator of MV Glarus, said the families of the hostages have been informed of the situation.

"The company is working with the authorities and specialists to secure the speedy and safe release of those being held," the firm said in a statement.

Seven of the hostages are from the Philippines and the other five are from Slovenia, Ukraine, Romania, Croatia and Bosnia, according to the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency.

"They are still missing," said Sunday Umoren, the agency's head of maritime safety.

Massoel said their ship was attacked around 45 nautical miles southwest of Bonny Island as it travelled between Lagos and Port Harcourt in the Niger Delta.

The area of the Gulf of Guinea remains a "dangerous hotbed of pirate activity", with more successful kidnappings last year than in 2016, according to a report by Oceans Beyond Piracy.

Last year four British nationals were abducted in Delta state while working as missionaries.

One, Ian Squire, was killed but the three others returned safely home after authorities negotiated their release.

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Pirate attacks were once common off the coast of Somalia but declined due to the increased presence of international warships and shipping firms hiring private security.

Additional reporting by Associated Press and ReutersA woman is ready to testify before the Senate over an allegation that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her.

Christine Blasey Ford, a psychology professor, says she was attacked when they were both teenagers.

She still expects to negotiate the terms of her testimony, but met a deadline to commit to it that had been set for Saturday afternoon. She is expected to testify next week.

Just before the deadline, Debra Katz, the lawyer representing Dr Blasey Ford, sent an email to the Judiciary Committee restating that her client is willing to testify before them. The lawyer indicated that she and her client planned on negotiating the conditions of the testimony further.

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We are disappointed by the leaks and bullying that have tainted this process, the letter said.

The imposition of aggressive and artificial deadlines regarding the date and conditions of any hearing has created tremendous and unwarranted anxiety and stress on Dr Blasey Ford, Ms Katz wrote. Your cavalier treatment of a sexual assault survivor who has been doing her best to cooperate with the committee is completely inappropriate.

In pictures: Chaos and fury at Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation hearing Show all 21 1 /21 In pictures: Chaos and fury at Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation hearing In pictures: Chaos and fury at Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation hearing Getty Images In pictures: Chaos and fury at Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation hearing AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Chaos and fury at Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation hearing EPA In pictures: Chaos and fury at Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation hearing Getty Images In pictures: Chaos and fury at Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation hearing AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Chaos and fury at Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation hearing AP In pictures: Chaos and fury at Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation hearing Getty Images In pictures: Chaos and fury at Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation hearing Getty Images In pictures: Chaos and fury at Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation hearing AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Chaos and fury at Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation hearing AP In pictures: Chaos and fury at Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation hearing AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Chaos and fury at Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation hearing REUTERS In pictures: Chaos and fury at Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation hearing AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Chaos and fury at Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation hearing REUTERS In pictures: Chaos and fury at Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation hearing AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Chaos and fury at Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation hearing REUTERS In pictures: Chaos and fury at Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation hearing AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Chaos and fury at Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation hearing EPA In pictures: Chaos and fury at Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation hearing EPA In pictures: Chaos and fury at Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation hearing AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Chaos and fury at Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation hearing AFP/Getty Images

Since coming forward with her accusation against Mr Kavanaugh  which he denies  Dr Blasey Ford has reportedly received death threats that have forced her to go into hiding.

The accusations have resulted in one of the most contentious Supreme Court nomination processes in decades, and has thrown Mr Kavanaughs chances of making it onto the nations highest court into jeopardy.

Dr Blasey Ford has said that Mr Kavanaugh attempted to rape her during a house party in high school. At that party, Dr Blasey Ford said that Mr Kavanaugh forced her into a room and drunkenly attempted to initiate sex with her. When she went to scream, Dr Blasey Ford said that Mr Kavanaugh put his hand over her mouth.

The incident ended when a third person in the room toppled into them, and she was able to escape, it is claimed.A popular French Muslim rapper has cancelled two sold-out October shows at the Bataclan concert hall in Paris, due to pressure from far-right groups.

Medine, a 35-year-old performer, has said in interviews that he is intentionally provocative in his songs so that he can shatter stereotypes.

Since June the right and far right have waged a campaign against him, with the aim of shutting down his shows.

130 people were killed in a series of coordinated terrorist attacks on 13 November 2015. A Bataclan concert was targeted during the killing spree.

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Patrick Jardin, the father of Nathalie Jardin, an attack victim, joined the protests against the rapper, although he stressed that he was apolitical and just wanted action.

Later Mr Jardin said that cancelling the concert avoided the risk of violence.

"I think they avoided blood running again at the Bataclan," he said, adding that "very determined" people were expected to protest at the concerts.

"Out of respect for these families and to guarantee the security of my public, these concerts cannot go ahead," Medine said in a statement.

The rapper said the far-right activists were trying "to divide" France and that they did not "hesitate to manipulate and reawaken the pain of the families of victims".

Marine Le Pen was one of the far-right leaders who celebrated the cancellation of the concerts.

Medine will instead perform at another major Paris music venue.

Staff at the Bataclan had initially resisted the cancellation of the concerts.

The far-right groups had claimed that the rapper's performance would desecrate the site.

A spokesperson for the concert hall said that the performances would take place elsewhere "out of respect for the victims" of the 2015 attacks but added that "the freedom of expression of artists ... must remain a fundamental right in our democracy".

Associated Press contributed to this reportIranian president Hassan Rouhani has claimed that a US-allied country in the Persian Gulf was responsible for a devastating terror attack on a military parade which killed 25 people, including children and 12 members of Irans Revolutionary Guard Corps.

He also blamed the United States and its Gulf Arab allies for supporting destabilising forces in the Middle East.

The Iranian president did not name the country he suspected of orchestrating the attack but he could be referring to Saudi Arabia, the UAE or Bahrain.

All three are US allies and view Iran as a regional threat, due to the countrys support for a number of militant groups in the Middle East.

All of those small mercenary countries that we see in this region are backed by America. It is Americans who instigate them and provide them with necessary means to commit these crimes, Mr Rouhani said.

America is acting like a bully towards the rest of the world ... and thinks it can act on the basis of brute force.

But our people will resist and the government is ready to confront America. We will overcome this situation [of sanctions] and America will regret choosing the wrong path.

The small puppet countries in the region are backed by America, and the United States is provoking them and giving them the necessary capabilities, he added, speaking before leaving Tehran for New York, for the annual UN General Assembly.

Despite the Iranian presidents anger, US officials condemned the slaughter, saying that the United States condemns all acts of terrorism and the loss of any innocent lives.

Other countries and officials have also expressed their condolences.

Iranian soldiers, women, and children in Ahvaz on Saturday (EPA)

The Gulf Arab state of Qatar, which is at odds with both Saudi Arabia and the US, condemned the attack, as did UN Secretary General Antonio Gueterres, who issued a statement expressing sympathy with those caught up in the violence.

Syria, a major Iranian ally, did the same in a statement that declared that those sponsoring terrorism in the region wont be able to achieve their plots using these sordid crimes.

An obscure Arab separatist group, Ahwazi Democratic Popular Front, has claimed responsibility for the incident.

They provided no evidence for the claim but Iranian officials believe they are responsible.

The group demands autonomy for Irans Arab minority, which has frequently complained of discrimination.

Isis later also claimed responsibility for the attack but offered no proof and provided incorrect information about the attack.

Iran has summoned diplomats from Britain, Denmark and the Netherlands over claims that their countries are allegedly harbouring members of a terrorist group behind the attack.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry also criticised Britain over a Saudi-linked, Farsi-language satellite channel which aired an interview with Ahwazi separatists immediately after the attack.

At least 70 people were wounded in the gunfire after four assailants began to shoot during the parade in Ahvaz, a city of 1.2 million people in Irans southwest which is the centre of the countrys petroleum industry.

The four gunmen were all killed during the annual parade, which marks Irans 1980-1988 war with Iraq.

Photos from the event show panicked civilians fleeing as shots ring out, in what was one of the worst attacks on Irans Revolutionary Guard.

The Guard issued a statement on Sunday vowing deadly and unforgiving revenge on those responsible.

Associated Press contributed to this reportYemen has only enough food to sustain its population for two to three months, CARE International has warned, as fears rise that the country's main port could close as a result of increased Saudi-led coalition airstrikes.

If Hodeidah's port is sealed off or put out of action, CARE's Yemen Director Johan Mooij calculates that Yemen's food supplies will last two to three months, taking into account the World Food Programme's (WFP) stockpiles and estimated levels of commercial foods sourced from traders.

"Once the harbour is blocked we are talking about millions and millions of people who will not have food," Mr Mooij told The Independent.

More than 8 million people are on the verge of famine in Yemen, in what the UN frequently describes as the worlds largest humanitarian crisis.

Hodeidah's port accounts for more than 70 per cent of all imports, offering a vital lifeline of food, fuel and medical supplies. Even before the war, 90 per cent of Yemen's food was imported.

The city is currently held by Iran-backed Houthi rebels and has been subject to a coalition blockade for the past three years. The last time the port was completely sealed off in November 2017 a further 3.2 million people were pushed into hunger, the WFP estimates.

Coalition troops are currently trying to regain control of the city in what could be the largest battle of Yemens war to date. Heavy fighting is taking place on a 3km stretch of the main road to Yemen's constitutional capital, Sanaa, which is impeding transport between the two cities.

A severely malnourished girl is weighed at the Aslam Health Center in Hajjah, Yemen. (AP)

Many organisations have warned that increased airstrikes on the port and escalating battles for control of major transport routes risk cutting off vital supplies to the rest of the country.

Even the smallest disruption to food, fuel and aid supplies through its vital port could mean death for hundreds of thousands of malnourished children unable to get the food they need to stay alive," said Save the Childrens Yemen Director Tamer Kirolos.

Brutal effects of Yemeni war Show all 12 1 /12 Brutal effects of Yemeni war Brutal effects of Yemeni war Yemen organised by the UAE's National Media Council shows a Yemeni woman holding a child diagnosed with malnutrition at a hospital in the southeastern port city of Mukalla, the capital Hadramawt province AFP/Getty Images Brutal effects of Yemeni war Mohamed, 2, is treated for Malnutrition in Mukalla, the capital Hadramawt province, Yemen Bel Trew Brutal effects of Yemeni war a trip in Yemen organised by the UAE's National Media Council (NMC) shows a Yemeni woman holding a child diagnosed with malnutrition at a hospital in the southeastern port city of Mukalla, the capital Hadramawt province. AFP/Getty Images Brutal effects of Yemeni war UAE's National Media Council (NMC) shows a Yemeni woman sitting next to a child diagnosed with malnutrition at a hospital in the southeastern port city of Mukalla, the capital Hadramawt province. AFP/Getty Brutal effects of Yemeni war AFP/Getty Images Brutal effects of Yemeni war Mohamed, 2, is treated for Malnutrition in Mukalla, the capital Hadramawt province, Yemen Bel Trew Brutal effects of Yemeni war A Yemeni child suffering from malnutrition is weighed at a hospital in the northern district of Abs, in Yemen's Hajjah province AFP/Getty Images Brutal effects of Yemeni war A Yemeni child suffering from malnutrition awaits treatment at a hospital in the northern district of Abs, in Yemen's Hajjah province AFP/Getty Images Brutal effects of Yemeni war A Yemeni child suffering from malnutrition awaits treatment at a hospital in the northern district of Abs, in Yemen's Hajjah province AFP/Getty Images Brutal effects of Yemeni war Yemeni nurses weigh a malnourished child at a hospital in the northern district of Yemen's Hajjah province AFP/Getty Images Brutal effects of Yemeni war A Yemeni woman carries a malnourished child as she waits during food distribution in the province of Hodeida AFP/Getty Brutal effects of Yemeni war AFP/Getty Images

Save the Children predicted last week that soaring food and fuel prices - of as much as 45 per cent - could cause the number of Yemeni children facing starvation to rise to 5 million. The report stated that any closure at Hodeidah "risks killing an entire generation."

Mr Mooij said: At a time when cholera cases are sharply on the rise, many thousands have already died from disease and hunger, and the Yemeni rial has lost almost a quarter of its value, this is absolutely the last thing the Yemeni people need. There must be an immediate end to this violence in and around Hodeidah.

Malnourishment means that children are 12 times more likely to die from diseases like cholera, pneumonia and measles and can cause long-term physical and cognitive damage.

(Bel Trew/The Independent)

Unicef calculates that more than 11 million children suffered from cholera and diphtheria in 2017, as aid workers do their utmost to prevent another predicted outbreak of cholera (HL6).

Mr Mooij gives a tragic insight into how decreased supplies could affect the population, saying "the Yemeni tell me 'we will all die together'. Because the Yemeni have a tradition of sharing, they will accommodate people who don't have as much as they can, so once we reach the point of starvation it will be terrible.

The increased airstrikes and fighting are also causing residents to flee Hodeidah. Mr Mooij believes that nearly 300,000 people have already left since 2015, halving the city's population.

One 28-year-old parent said: "The sounds of the airstrikes are horrifying. We want to leave but the road to Sanaa is closed. I feel like Im suffocating. My children keep crying and it is very hot and I dont know what to do. I cried yesterday with my children. I feel helpless. I cant do anything."

Mr Mooij called for countries including the UK, US and France to "reconsider their arms sales because they directly affect the well-being of the population".For a brief moment, it looked like there might be an unlikely agreement between Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn to resolve the Brexit crisis by holding a general election. The Labour leader understandably wants one. The surprise was that, according to two Sunday newspapers, Downing Street advisers war-gamed a snap election in November as the only way to save Brexit  and, revealingly, Ms Mays premiership  after her humiliating rebuff at last weeks EU summit in Salzburg.

 Salzburg summit: Emmanuel Macron urges EU leaders to stand firm against Theresa May

It is true that Conservative whips threaten an election, and raise the prospect of a Corbyn government, as they put pressure on backbenchers to support Ms Mays flawed Chequers blueprint. But such threats do not mean that the prime minister is planning an election.

Indeed, her aides have dismissed the reports as utter hogwash. After her woeful performance in last years campaign, she would be foolish to risk one. A Brexit election would be called only if the Commons voted for one; it is difficult to see Tory and Democratic Unionist Party MPs handing Mr Corbyn a golden opportunity to enter Downing Street.

If parliament rejects both a May deal and a no-deal exit, as is very possible, there is a case for an election. It could be argued that the people resolved the in/out EU question in the 2016 referendum; because the government and parliament had failed to find a way to implement it, the public should elect new ones and issue more detailed instructions.

The problem is that an election might resolve nothing. With the Tories and Labour broadly neck and neck in the opinion polls, another hung parliament would be likely, potentially giving smaller parties such as the DUP undue leverage. Above all, the incoming government might lack the clear mandate that was the purpose of the exercise. Ms May failed to win one for the hard Brexit she proposed at last years election. Another one might be no different. If the Tories were still the largest party without a majority after Ms May fought an election on something like her Chequers plan, it could hardly be viewed as a ringing endorsement.

If Labour stuck to its constructive ambiguity approach to scoop up the Remain vote while reassuring its Leave-supporting voters, it might lack a clear mandate too. Even amid a national crisis over Brexit, an election would also be fought on other issues  austerity, the NHS, social care, housing, education and whether Labour is fit for government. An election might not provide an answer to the Brexit puzzle.

There is a better route out of the cul-de-sac. Since The Independent called in July for the people to have the Final Say, support for a referendum has grown. The Salzburg summit has increased the chances of no agreement being reached with the EU. MPs would then likely block a damaging cliff-edge departure next March. A growing number of Tory and Labour MPs are coming round to the idea that such an impasse would best be resolved by a referendum.

Intense pressure from Labours grassroots members, some trade unions and Labour MPs has forced Mr Corbyn to move a significant step closer towards endorsing a referendum. He has promised to respect the decision the Labour conference in Liverpool makes on Tuesday. We welcome his shift.

However, having twice won the leadership on a promise to give members real influence, Mr Corbyn could hardly say otherwise. He would still much prefer an election, so his allies may try to dilute the demand for a clear commitment to a referendum by 125 constituency parties.

An election would unite Labour, while a referendum would expose divisions between the leadership, which wants to press on with Brexit to honour the 2016 verdict, and those determined to stop it. Len McCluskey, the Unite leader and Corbyn ally, foreshadowed Labours difficulties over a referendum by arguing that continued EU membership should not be on the ballot paper. We disagree.

Given the new information about what Brexit really means that has come to light since 2016, we believe that people should be given the right to change their minds. There is evidence that Labour supporters who backed Leave two years ago are doing just that.

The Labour tide is clearly flowing in the direction of a Final Say referendum. Mr Corbyn should go with it.Jeremy Corbyn believes in party democracy, but doesnt agree with what 86 per cent of Labour Party members want  namely a referendum to give the people a final say on Brexit. In an interview with the Sunday Mirror this morning, he tried to reconcile the two positions.

What comes out of conference I will adhere to. But Im not calling for a second referendum. I hope we will agree that the best way of resolving this is a general election, he said. In other words, he hopes that the Labour conference will pass a resolution that might mention a second referendum, but which will call for an election as the preferred way of resolving a Brexit deadlock in parliament.

However, he realises that it would look bad if he tried to block a motion calling explicitly for a referendum. Last year, he and his allies were able to prevent a full debate on Brexit, but they wont do that again  not least because Momentum, his supporters group, has decided against advising delegates to avoid the subject.

 Jeremy Corbyn arrives at Labour party conference in Liverpool

This is awkward because, as Corbyn told the Sunday Mirror, I was elected to empower the members of the party. But it now seems that there are different ways of empowering members. He could go out in front and give them what they want, or he could reluctantly go along with it: So if conference makes a decision I will not walk away from it and I will act accordingly.

Mark this down as a significant victory for The Independent and others in the campaign for a Final Say. Specifically, Corbyn has been outflanked by the Peoples Vote campaign, which commissioned a YouGov survey of Labour members: not only do 86 per cent support a referendum, but 93 per cent would vote to remain in the EU if that were an option.

Support for a new referendum has increased, although the underlying support for Remain is unchanged in the past year and a half (it was 92 per cent in March 2017). It is possible that, for many Labour members, Brexit is not as important as the hope of what they see as a truly socialist government. But the message from this poll is rather different from that delivered by John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, yesterday, when he said that if Labour could force a general election, it would fight it promising to negotiate a better Brexit than the Tories.

Recommended Corbyn will back new Brexit referendum if Labour conference wants it

It now looks, then, as if Labour conference will make a referendum official party policy, and that Corbyn and McDonnell will, however reluctantly, have to act accordingly. This will probably mean that they will continue to argue for an early election as their first choice, but everyone knows that there is more chance of getting a referendum through parliament.

There are still many obstacles in the way of a referendum. I think it would only become a possibility if Theresa May fails to reach an agreement with the EU. That would, incidentally, resolve the problem of the question wording: the referendum would then be a choice between leaving the EU without a deal, or remaining.

Even then, it would require a large number of Conservative MPs to support it  enough to overcome not just the hardcore Eurosceptic five Labour MPs, but other Labour opponents of a referendum such as Caroline Flint and Gareth Snell.

Then there is the timing. If the Brexit talks collapse in, say, December or early January, there would not be time to hold a referendum, and so MPs would have to vote to have the government ask to postpone Brexit.

However, Corbyns reluctant bowing to Labour Party democracy today has edged the nation significantly closer to a chance to think again.Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed can't remember a more testing period, at least during his 30-year political career, than recent times for Irish farmers.

"It has been very challenging; I can't recall a more difficult period weather-wise. People have compared it back to the early 1970s. My memory of all the summers in the '70s as a child is that they were all great, though," says the Cork native.

"I don't recall anything, certainly in my political career, where it was as challenging a year."

This political career reached its first major milestone in 1989, when Minister Creed was elected to Dail Eireann for Fine Gael, following in the footsteps of his late father Donal, who also served as a Minister of State.

Hailing from a typical mixed farm in Macroom and the only son among six sisters, the Minister says it was all hands on deck when it came to keeping the farm afloat, especially since his father was also a full-time politician.

"Family farms are all about family labour," he says. "Our farm was a classic family farm existence; that being said, my late father was in politics as well and that added a dimension to the operation."

Having worked as a secondary school teacher, the Minister later began farming and was an active member of Macra na Feirme.

However, when the opportunity came to run for office in 1989 he jumped at it.

Although his father never pushed him into politics, he feels that it was an "inevitable" path for him to go down.

"My father being in politics didn't put me off the career. Like any career it has its upsides and downsides. He always said to me that it was my choice, but I suppose it was inevitable," says the 55-year-old.

"Very often teachers' children become teachers and doctors' children become doctors, and politicians' children are sometimes bold enough to put their name forward for public office.

Debate

"So yes it was always a political household, there was always debate and arguments. It was a good grounding for a career in politics."

During his early career Minister Creed was a spokesperson on various issues for Fine Gael including Health, Sport and Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht, and this meant farming ultimately had to take a back seat.

"Our farm is now let but I like to get out in it," he says. "I occasionally make forays into cutting timber for the home fires. The great outdoors is fantastic.

"I was raised on a mixed farm and then politics intervened and I have had to leave that behind me - for the moment anyway."

In 2002, Minister Creed lost his seat in the Dail; he was soon brought back to his roots when he was elected mayor of Cork County Council in 2005.

He regained his Dail seat in 2007, but he fondly remembers his year as mayor.

"I was down in Offaly for the launch of the Ploughing recently and was talking to Councillor Danny Owens, who is the Cathaoirleach of Offaly County Council, and I was saying to him that one of the most enjoyable years I had in public life is the year I was mayor of Cork County," he recalls.

"Local government and local politics is often denigrated but an awful lot of serious engagement goes on at that level. There are really committed councillors that do an awful lot of work that rarely gets recognised. I really enjoyed my time there."

In 2011, in the aftermath of supporting a no-confidence motion in Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny, Minister Creed was left out of the cabinet.

However, five years later Minister Creed got the nod from Taoiseach Kenny and was appointed Minister for Agriculture in a cabinet reshuffle.

Under his watch, there have been challenging harvests, heavy flooding, unprecedented snowstorms and a record-breaking drought, but Minister Creed still feels that there have been many positives during his office, with one event in particular standing out.

"Every day is a highlight and every day is a real privilege but if you see something where everything came together, that was gaining access to the Chinese market for beef," he says.

"I have to say that was a campaign that was under way long before I arrived in here and many people played a really important part, some of whom never had their names up in lights.

Market access

"The market access unit in here has been sterling in its efforts in terms of engagement with authorities, and to see that come together was really something fantastic, and I think it has the potential to deliver."

Minister Creed splits his time between political life in Dublin and family life in Macroom with his wife Sinead and their three children, Ruth, Odhran and Darragh.

Despite his schedule he is still regularly "dragged to underage GAA matches" by his children, a passion all the family shares, even though the Minister admits his own playing career was "nothing remarkable".

The Minister plays down the difficulties involved in juggling political life with the domestic duties.

"There are so many careers where people are away anyway," he says. "I don't want to make any big deal about it.

"Two of my kids are in primary school and my eldest just started secondary this year. Kids are resilient and demanding and they are a lot of other things as well, but they get on with it."Farmers are still reluctant to open up about mental health issues, which they view as a sign of weakness, it has been claimed.

"Nearly every group in society can talk about mental health, but I feel farmers see it as a form of weakness - which it's not, it's part of life," Finola Colgan of Mental Health Ireland told last week's meeting of the Department of Agriculture's Interagency Fodder Group.

ICSA rural development chair Seamus Sherlock added that farm organisations need to work together to reach out to farmers, particularly to older drystock farmers who may be the least likely to seek out help.

"It's usually the wife or the partner who rings first on behalf of the other half but it's the other half I'd be worried about, and fellas living alone," said Mr Sherlock.

"Drystock farmers living alone are under severe pressure, and in fairness every farm organisation is working together on this. We're never going to reach everybody but we have to do our best to reach as many as possible."

Training

Tom Canning from the Agricultural Consultants Association told the meeting that mandatory professional training needed to be introduced as part of the criteria to qualify for the Basic Payment. This would encourage social interaction among farmers, he said.

"One of the hardest things we find when dealing with farmers is actually getting them to meet us. Lakelands and Teagasc were involved in a brilliant event on the fodder crisis about six weeks ago and the turnout was extremely poor," said Mr Canning.

"We have the KT (Knowledge Transfer) groups - maybe we should look at farmers having to do compulsory Continued Professional Development (CPD) training. If they were made interesting they would allow for social interaction, which would benefit farmers."Five Irish companies will seek to raise 1.4m through the country's first equity crowdfunding platform over the coming months.

Spark Crowdfunding, established earlier this year, allows investors to pump as little as 25 into early stage companies looking to raise funds, in exchange for shares in the business. The platform was set up to grant access to early-stage high-potential startups to non-professional investors.

Remote-security company Standard Access, campsite-review website Campsited, tenant-reference site Tenant Passport, dry-cleaning company Sproose, and elderly-bedding startup Garment Assist will be the latest batch of companies to seek funding through the site.

They follow person-to-person car-sharing app Fleet - founded by Maurice Sheehy - which raised 275,000 for 20pc of its business through the platform last month. Spark chief executive Chris Burge said the company was "democratising investment" and that it would appeal to those sitting on savings in their bank accounts.

"The way our system works is all or nothing - if you don't meet your target then the campaign is deemed unsuccessful," he said. "It's aimed at companies that are still not able to get venture capital funding and the banks are not funding these startups adequately either, so this is another route for them to get more funding for themselves."

Burge said the company differed to crowdfunding giant Kickstarter, which typically offers a product or service in advance for funding a product. Fleet was the latest company to receive funding and was oversubscribed over the course of a six-week period with 160 investors.

"We've more companies signed up that are coming on board with us," he said. "We have 10 that will go onto the site between now and Christmas and we are expecting a good amount of traffic."

Burge also highlighted a tax relief set out for those that invest in startup businesses, known as the Employment Incentive and Investment Scheme. "People who invest in startups can get 40pc of their investment back through tax relief through their income tax," he said. "They get 30pc through year one and 10pc through year four if they hold onto their shares for that length of time."

Four other companies have already raised equity through the site since its inception, including SnapMail - it raised 50,000.After building and growing Ryanair over the last 24 years, Michael O'Leary is now caught in a classic trap that befalls successful CEOs - when to go.

He told journalists after the annual general meeting last Thursday he was "unlikely" to stay running the airline for another five years, when his current five-year deal expires in 2019.

O'Leary has the overwhelming support of the shareholders, with over 98pc of voted shares backing his re-election to the board. This is hardly surprising, given his overall performance in the job and what he has done for the company.

The question is whether he wants to keep going or not. He said during the week:

"I have no idea when I'll have had enough. I like this company. I like working for this company. I don't do it for the pay I get. But as long as it remains interesting and fun and challenging, I see no reason not to continue to try to lead it and lead it forward positively."

But he won't say for how long and he isn't signing up for another five years, or even three years but plans to revert to rolling 12 months contracts from next year.

If the airline had not made the decision to recognise trade unions, it might have been a lot easier to pick an exit date. Every chief executive is concerned about their legacy when they go.

If O'Leary announced now that he was leaving in 12 months, because it just wasn't "fun" anymore, everybody would say, the unions drove him out.

Part of his legacy, despite changing the face of European aviation, might in some quarters be that he could only stick when there were no trade unions.

At the very least O'Leary might want to stick around at least until the relationship with their new 'stakeholders' (trade unions) is bedded down. That might involve more strikes as they get to know each other.

"Recognising unions was not one of my best days in Ryanair, but it was inevitable at some point in time", he told journalists last Thursday.

He also said that further strikes will follow the industrial of this summer. "It is inevitable that there will be some strikes as we learn how to deal with unions and the unions learn how to deal with us," he said.

Perhaps that lack of familiarity binds him to the company for now. After all, if all of the key industrial relations battles were fought and concluded, O'Leary could exit the job, not only leaving a more stable environment for his successor, but also proving that union recognition wasn't too bitter a pill to swallow.

The problem of course is that the trade union wars may be only getting started and could keep on coming. Aside from specific grievances that particular groups have, there are bigger structural issues about the location of some employment contracts.

Ryanair clearly is willing to make concessions but it will have red lines around anything that would undermine its low cost model.

This kind of hassle would hardly be described by many chief executives as "fun".

If it is fun Michael is after, he will have plenty more of it before he finally decides to call it a day.

It's a little early for celebrations over rural broadband rollout

Communications minister Denis Naughten is determined to deliver national broadband to rural homes and businesses around the country. He is so determined to complete the National Broadband Plan that he sounded almost celebratory during the week announcing that a final tender document had been submitted by the last remaining bidder.

Unfortunately, his high spirits may be a little premature. Firstly, after six years of working on this particular project the Government has now got a tender document - a bid, nothing more.

Secondly, it turns out the last remaining consortium doesn't look much like the previous last remaining consortium. Lead participants have been dropping like flies in the last six months.

First there was SSE and it left in July. The State infrastructure fund seemed to step in to plug any gaps in the consortium. That doesn't appear to be directly involved now. Enet, 78pc-state owned, is now a partner rather than a full equity holder. That leaves Granahan McCourt, a private investment firm.

Other new partners were listed including Nokia and Actavo, the former Siteserv owned by Denis O'Brien.

But these are partners as opposed to equity stakeholders in the plan. Who is putting in money?

It appears that the only shareholders at this juncture are the Granahan McCourt group.

None of this will matter in the end if the National Broadband Plan gets rolled out. But will it? How soon? And what will it cost?

These have all to be worked out. Will there be further changes in the make-up of the consortium along the way?

At the end of the day the State is going to have to stump up for this venture. It always was anyway. Its commerciality is questionable but it is about more than a commercial return. This is a social and economic investment. Just because it will cost the State money, doesn't mean it isn't worth doing.

Yet questions about the cost, the subsidy, the rollout and the business plan are valid and need to be asked.

At this point the tender document probably includes financial and cost projections and how the consortium would like the shortfall to be addressed by the State.

Naughten's department must now evaluate all of those figures and possibly do some horse trading of its own. But this is a very unusual process. Ordinarily, a tender would have more than one bidder and there would be scoring criteria based on deliverability, cost, subsidy, and so on. The highest score would win the tender. How can you conduct such an exercise when there is only one bidder left standing? Ensuring value for money for the taxpayer will be difficult. The harder the bargain driven by the State, the less commercially attractive it will be for the bidder.

If they walk away, the political fallout for the government, and the minister in particular could be significant.

It is definitely a little early for celebrating.

Exchequer missed out on stamp duty millions with low rate

If there was ever any doubt that Michael Noonan should have hiked commercial property stamp duty back up to 6pc while still finance minister, Green REIT's results during the week truly nailed it.

In the darkest days of the recession then Noonan slashed stamp duty from 9pc to 2pc in an attempt to get the property market moving. However, it wasn't brought back up to 6pc until Paschal Donohoe's budget last October.

This came after billions of euro worth of commercial property deals were done and values had shot up.

Green REIT announced an 11pc increase in after-tax profits to 144m during the week. It reduced its net asset value by 59m after the Budget last year but still reported an 8pc increase in NAV for the financial year despite the stamp duty hit.

Chief executive Pat Gunne said: "The past 12 months has been great for us on all fronts ... the Irish property market remains well supported by our growth economy, our expanding employment base and a diverse international investor set which continues to find our market attractive, underpinning our positive outlook."

The minister was aiming to bring in an extra 375m in stamp duty this year from the move.

Based on big transactions in 2016 and 2017, the State could have raked in about 600m extra from stamp duty if Noonan had moved sooner.Not all broadcasters got the pronunciation of fashion designer Orla Kiely's name right when news of her retail business going into administration broke last week. Despite her brand's international recognition, many referred to her as 'Keely'.

It was understandable for Channel 4, but less so in Dublin 4 - growing up, her parents owned the landmark Kiely's pub in Donnybrook. When it was announced last April that the pub, no longer in her family's ownership, would close there was no inkling that the business owned by the next generation of the Kiely family was facing into any difficulty.

Indeed, until very recently, Orla Kiely and her husband Dermott Rowan were speaking at public events about their business, with Rowan warning at an EY entrepreneurs retreat in May that the internet was have a shocking affect on the high street in the UK. "Retail's changing and you've got to adapt with it," he told fellow business founders.

Looking at the company behind the brand, Kiely Rowan, it is clear it has been struggling with change. The most recent accounts are rosy enough: turnover was up almost 16pc to 8.3m although the after-tax profit was a very thin 74,000.

Go back a few years and you can see the pattern has been quite worrying, however.

Although luxury brands were in retreat during the recession, the Orla Kiely brand weathered the first few years well. Reporting accounts in 2011, the directors' ambitions were riding high with revenue growth of 20pc forecast thanks to growing demand in the US and Asia, and a presence in an increasing number of stores.

Their optimism was duly rewarded. Not quite living up to their target, revenue was up 19pc to 9.4m, although gross margins declined. That was the pinnacle of the business's success. The following year, turnover was down 3pc and gross margins declined further from 42pc to 39pc. It blamed a shift away from low margin discounting for falling revenues.

In 2014, sales were down 9.6pc as the business grappled with its growing retail and internet business. Gross margin improved but the company talked about cost reductions and keeping a tight grip on administrative expenses. In 2015, revenues fell a further 3pc and by 11.7pc in 2016.

There was a revenue bounce in 2017, the most recent figures, but the events of last week suggest that bounce came too late.

One strategy which may have given the brand a boost in the last couple of years was a wide range of licensing deals, which included some bizarre partnerships, such as Orla Kiely tents for Halfords in the UK. Her patterns were on everything from tea towels to soap. These deals provided an extra revenue stream, but generally just equate to a few percent of the sale price for the designer. The down side of these arrangements may be far steeper. If they weaken the appeal of a 200 handbag, they are very costly deals indeed.

Musgrave goes shopping

Ten years ago, Dunnes Stores and SuperValu owner Musgrave would have spent little time concerning themselves with the likes of Donnybrook Fair. It would have been seen as niche and elitist and holding an appeal limited to a certain type of customer in south Dublin.

Back in May, it was reported in these pages that Joe Doyle, owner of Donnybrook Fair, was playing down intense speculation that he was about to sell up to Dunnes. But, in fact, he came very close to doing a deal with the Irish chain led by Margaret Heffernan.

However, another Irish business was also chasing the retailer, Musgrave, which announced last Friday it had bought the chain of five Donnybrook Fair shops.

This battle between two of Ireland's biggest grocery retail tells its own story about the market here now.

Dunnes, Musgrave and Tesco each have a share of the market of roughly 22pc, while Aldi and Lidl have close to 12pc each. Those five players have a total share approaching 90pc, making it an extremely competitive market for all five.

Dunnes' old catchphrase - 'better value beats them all' - would get them nowhere now in terms of growing its market share. The value crown is very definitely being worn by the German discounters and no challenger is likely to unseat them.

So while Dunnes continues to offer value, it has noticeably moved into the higher end of the food business, acquiring James Whelan Butchers and having a tilt at Avoca, ultimately bought by Aramark.

But this is the first time Musgrave and Dunnes have gone head to head for an acquisition. What has emerged is two parallel strategies with both appreciating their growth opportunity in this very competitive space will require them attaching themselves to top-notch names.

Retail sources believe Musgrave will maintain the Donnybrook Fair brand and SuperValu around the country will begin to feature DF products in their chilled sections. While the five Donnybrook stores have a value, the real win will be the halo effect Donnybrook Fair gives SuperValu as it climbs up the value chain. Like Dunnes, it will not subsume DF into its own brand but offer it as a draw to its stores.

What was not long ago considered niche and elite is the new battleground for the two biggest Irish-owned grocery retailers.A property firm has been ordered to pay 12,000 to a family who lost their home after their landlord refused to accept rent allowance payments. Photo: Stock Image

Almost half of mortgage holders feel they were put under pressure to take out their bank's protection policy, new research has found.

Most of the country's main residential lenders use Irish Life for their mortgage protection policies with AIB, KBC Bank Ireland and Permanent TSB all signed up. Bank of Ireland use their own wholly-owned subsidiary, New Ireland.

According to a study by online broker Low.ie, 47pc of people claimed they felt pressurised into accepting their bank's policy. Almost three- quarters of those surveyed had already taken out mortgage protection cover with a bank, while 57pc said they were never told they could shop around for cover.

The figures were compiled through independent research company iReach, which surveyed 1,000 mortgage holders.

Low.ie founder Peter O'Reilly said Irish Life had a minimum premium of 13 per month, which differed to that of other companies such as Zurich Life and Royal London, whose base premium started at 10 a month.

O'Reilly said mortgage holders can save an average of 2,800 over the lifetime of a mortgage by switching their protection provider.

"Many people will automatically take out a mortgage protection policy with the bank where they have received their mortgage loan as they feel almost grateful to have been given a mortgage," he said.

"They are under absolutely no obligation to do this and they should not be rushed into signing up for mortgage protection."

Low.ie, which was established in 2014, employs 11 people and has found new protection policies for more than 7,000 customers with savings of more than 1.5m accrued.The Government will provide cheap funding to builders and developers to finance the development of lands they secure through the newly-proposed Land Development Agency (LDA). Photo: Igor Stevanovic

The Government will provide cheap funding to builders and developers to finance the development of lands they secure through the newly-proposed Land Development Agency (LDA).

Last week, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Minister for Housing Eoghan Murphy announced the establishment of the LDA. The new entity, which will be backed with 1.25bn in seed capital, will co-ordinate State-owned land for development and regeneration.

It aims to deliver 150,000 homes over 20 years, either directly or through "joint ventures" with the private sector.

Separately, House Building Finance Ireland (HBFI), which was announced in last October's budget but has yet to be set up, was given a pot of 750m to lend to the private sector at below market rates of interest.

Brendan Howlin, the leader of the Labour Party, said the Government has now gone too far in incentivising private developers to address the housing crisis.

"It's as if we haven't gone through an economic disaster led by developer failure," he said. "We've learnt again and again the market is focused on maximising profit. This is the State basically bankrolling developers again when it should be bankrolling itself to solve the problem."

Howlin said that there were numerous avenues the Government could look to for finance without having to provide it to the private sector. He said the European Investment Bank (EIB), the country's credit union network and the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF) would all be suitable.

The LDA will act as a commercial entity and will form joint ventures with both developers and builders to provide homes. There will be a requirement that 40pc of homes built on State lands must be social and affordable, meaning the remaining 60pc will be left to the developers to price.

Tom Parlon, the director general of the Construction Industry Federation, said that setting up the LDA and HBFI was to address two separate problems in the supply of housing - the price of land and the limited access to finance for builders.

"You can talk about castigating builders and developers all you like, but you won't get any houses built without them," he said. "I don't have an iota of a problem with that [the State bankrolling itself instead of developers] except it just hasn't happened."

Parlon said that HBFI had been promised almost a year ago and that he was still unsure as to when finance was going to be made available.

Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe announced plans for the State lender, which will take its funding from ISIF, last October to much fanfare.

The bill to bring it into law was brought before the Oireachtas last June with the proposed legislation now sitting at committee stage.

Housing policy analyst Mel Reynolds claimed the strides that have been made to encourage developers to build could constitute State aid.

"These LDA sites are likely to be very heavily subsidised by the State in terms of the site value and also the cheap finance that will be provided," he said.

"They're going to be competing with other developers who aren't going to be availing of the same supports."

Reynolds said that other players in the industry that are bidding to be involved in State lands that haven't taken money from HBFI will ask whether it is a level playing field.

He said it was his belief that it would be better if social housing was delivered by the State.The EU will have a lot of work to do in relation to data-sharing after Brexit

When the UK leaves the EU, the legal basis for transferring personal data between the two goes too.

In theory, on March 30 next year any Irish consumer-facing organisation working with Northern Ireland or the rest of the UK must stop sending people's information there or risk significant fines. Will that really happen? Maybe, though not straight away.

EU citizens' data cannot legally be sent to "third countries" which lack our level of data protection. One way to keep the data flowing is if foreign states apply for an "adequacy finding" from the EU, which tests if the receiving country's data protection laws are up to scratch.

It takes months and involves the European Commission and a process of "comitology", which is just as painful as it sounds. It also needs deep legislative and regulatory groundwork to be laid by the applicant, something the UK does not currently excel at. Also, it cannot even begin until after the UK leaves the EU. By contrast, Japan is just about to secure an adequacy finding as part of its long-prepared EU trade deal.

You might think that as the UK has just enacted its General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) law, it would easily pass the adequacy test. Unfortunately, the 2018 Data Protection Act is no guarantee of success. It is stuffed to the gills with carve-outs, including one that says the UK government won't fully protect the data of non-UK citizens in the country. Hardly the stuff to endear it to the EU Commission officials needed to kick the adequacy process off. (To guess how a government might like to treat citizens tomorrow, it's always revealing to see how it treats immigrants today.)

The other way to transfer EU citizens' data to third countries is for each organisation to put standard contractual clauses agreeing to uphold EU rules into customer contracts. The EU Data Protection Supervisor's office prefers this approach over adequacy, as it makes companies work on compliance. The UK's official advice, published on September 13, is for UK organisations to adopt model clauses.

After Brexit, the big tech firms whose business models are built on international data transfers will do just fine. They already have the operational systems and in-house lawyers to make it work.

A conservative estimate is that it costs a UK company about 10,000 (11,000) to apply its own EU-acceptable contract clauses.

If you are an Irish company that sells, say, custom T-shirts to people in Northern Ireland, then you may experience what the UK government euphemistically calls "turbulence".

There is a third way, the 'data harbour' created for US firms to self-accredit as compliant. Max Schrems challenged this regime with an Irish case that went to the European Court of Justice (ECJ). He won. Why? The Snowden revelations showed that US firms freely share our data with their government and we, as customers, have no redress.

The UK is unlikely to be offered a data harbour arrangement, both because the whole idea is in crisis, post-Schrems, and because of the UK's insufficient surveillance oversight.

Which brings us to the contradiction at the heart of data-Brexit. While the UK remains a member of the EU and under the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice, the EU must grudgingly accept Britain's unusually high level of state surveillance. But when that (fairly homeopathic) oversight goes away, the same practices become illegal, because EU citizens have no redress. That means Irish data transfers into Britain - and onward to the NSA in Maryland - must legally stop.

One of Theresa May's career goals is to bring the UK out of the European Court of Justice. Now she is within sight of achieving this, the cost to business of Britain's surveillance state, May's other great passion, is clear. The UK can "take back control" or it can maintain the data-transfers the digital economy depends on. It can't do both.

Maria Farrell is a tech policy consultant and writer. She is a speaker at Dublin Information Sec 2018, Ireland's cyber-security conference which takes place on October 15 at Dublin's RDS. Dublin Information Sec is an INM event. For tickets and more information, go to https://events.inm.ie/dublin-information-sec-2018Google was in its infancy when a Stockholm teenager called Daniel Ek went looking for a job. The tech firm advised him to go to university and come back when he had completed his studies.

Ek may have been just 16 at the time, but he impressed the Silicon Valley boffins. Entrepreneurial from an early age, he was already making mountains of money thanks to a gift for developing websites and creating internet tools that people didn't yet realise they needed.

By the time he was in his early twenties, he was buzzing around the Swedish capital in a red Ferrari - a cocky Master of the Universe with the world at his feet.

There was a problem, though. Ek was miserable. He had few real friends and he got tired of the hangers on who had materialised overnight. In a fit of youthful pique, he sold his plush city apartment and the supercar, and went to live in a cottage in the countryside. He later said he wanted time to reflect - and to dream up something that would make him unimaginably wealthy and change the way we listen to music forever.

He was 23 in 2006, when he and business mentor Martin Lorentzon would come up with the idea for a legal music-streaming service. He called it Spotify, and after two years of development, and securing licensing deals with record companies, they launched to the public in October 2008. Ten years on and Spotify has 83 million paid subscribers and tens of millions more content to use the ad-supported service.

It ushered in an era that has made the MP3 obsolete, never mind the CD, and its popularity is showing no signs of abating. In fact, it's likely to grow significantly for years to come and all those newer entrants to the market - like YouTube Music - are hoovering up paid subscribers. And for those tech heads who point out that Spotify wasn't first out of the blocks, they're absolutely right. But nobody talks about the long-defunct Yahoo! Music Unlimited now, do they?

Streaming is such a part of daily life now that we take it for granted. Listening to a song - any song - is as commonplace as switching on the TV or radio, or sending a text message. We rarely take the time to celebrate just how amazing it is to be able to listen to virtually every song ever recorded.

Think about that for a moment: thanks to Spotify and all those other streaming services, you can listen to any song that comes to mind. It's an extraordinary thing to be able to do and it would have thrilled music lovers in times past.

It's especially great when you find yourself enraptured by an artist with a large back catalogue. Teens falling in love with Led Zeppelin or Joni Mitchell, for instance, won't have to look far to find everything they've ever recorded - and all the B-sides, too.

It's amazing, too, when you think about it, that it's so inexpensive for music lovers to listen to old and future favourite songs all day long. Right now, the industry norm is about 10 per month, or roughly 30c a day. It's dirt cheap, and probably explains why musicians are so unhappy about the streaming royalties they get - but I'll come to that later.

When I was getting into R.E.M. at school, I had to wait until I had accrued enough pocket money to buy cassette versions of each of their albums. It took a long time to complete the collection - and in the interim I played them so much the tapes came close to fraying. Years later, when keen to have every album David Bowie ever released on CD, I spent 60 buying a comparatively obscure live album on Amazon, and hundreds more on albums both new and second-hand. Today, virtually everything he recorded is on Tidal, the streaming option I like best.

I love the fact that a world of music is at our fingertips whenever or wherever we might want to hear it.

When Steve Jobs introduced the iPod in that now legendary Apple launch event in October 2001, he talked about how this small product - no bigger than a deck of cards - would be able to store hitherto unthinkably large amounts of music. "A thousand songs in your pocket," he said. Always the showman - and the salesman.

Soon, newer generations of iPods and other MP3 players were able to store thousands of songs in this pocket device and by the end of the decade, its most defining consumer good could accommodate every album and every song that you loved. It seemed like things couldn't get better. But they could - and they did as soon as Spotify and its competitors came on the market.

Now, in your pocket, there's a phone carrying an unlimited choice of songs that you don't yet know but might one day become your favourites. It's all there, just waiting to be explored and all of the providers offer plenty of curated options - whether it's by new release, genre, geography or era. Tidal has several good playlists right now - including the 200 Best Songs of the 1970s, as chosen by Pitchfork.

There's a lot of talk about the 'paradox of choice' these days, and I get that the sheer volume of songs and albums and artists you can stream can feel overwhelming - especially when one considers that up to four million songs on Spotify have never been streamed once (they're that obscure).

But what a 'problem' to have. A much more sensible way of looking at it is to think that for a tenner a month you get to listen to any of the songs that soundtracked your life up to this point, whenever you want and within a few seconds of making the decision, and you get to hear countless other brilliant songs if you open your mind and take a punt.

The re-emergence of vinyl has been celebrated in all quarters and there's no shortage of people who fetishise the format. It's good for the artist, too, especially for their bottom line, but it's limitations and expense don't make it desirable for many. It may have plenty of romance, but that's not much good when you're going on a long car drive and you want to listen to Born to Run or My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.

There's no question, though, that streaming is a double-edged sword for musicians. It can help them reach enormous audiences and the royalties can be good if they're connecting to enough people - just ask emerging Irish artists Dermot Kennedy and Eden - but the fledgling musicians could certainly do with a substantial increase in what they're paid per song and that's where potential subscription increases may come in.

Now that we've got used to this 'loanership' model - and it's not just music, it's everything from Netflix to DublinBikes - we may have to accept that the 10 per month has to increase.

But even if it goes up to 20 or 30 per month, it's still fantastic value. The world of music in your pocket? Even Steve Jobs could hardly have imagined that in 2001.Germany already has its sights set on the next financial downturn and sees a combined Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank as a new national champion that would protect its economy from an exodus of foreign capital.

The nation's government is in favour of a tie-up between its two biggest banks to create a heavyweight that would finance Germany's export-oriented economy, according to people involved in the discussions.

A merger could ensure credit remains open to German companies even during a financial slowdown when foreign investors might withdraw capital, the people said.

Germany is eyeing a domestic solution to prepare for the next slowdown - and ensure its vast companies stay afloat - as the EU drags its feet on the banking and capital markets union many bank CEOs and regulators say the continent needs to kickstart more cross-border deals. While policy makers in Berlin are first looking at a German combination, they're open to a wider merger with a European player once the banking, fiscal and capital-markets union is complete, sources said. The German Finance Ministry, Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank all declined to comment.

Deutsche Bank chairman Paul Achleitner is said to have also discussed the option with German officials, though the bank is said to be wary of a deal because it's still seeking to show that it can thrive on its own and still integrating its Postbank business. While the government is in favour of a deal, none of the people suggested Chancellor Angela Merkel's government is pushing for a merger now.

The shares of both lenders gained after the news, with Deutsche Bank rising 1.6pc and Commerzbank 1.3pc higher in Frankfurt.

Deutsche Bank is seeking to navigate its fourth strategic overhaul in three years, cutting thousands of jobs and paring back businesses in the US and Asia. It's wary that a Commerzbank tie-up would only lead to more staff cuts, while a European partner might open up bigger strategic possibilities, one person familiar said.

The competing options on the table mean that the banks remain in limbo, with their shares under pressure as investors question their long-term strategies. That scepticism about long-term strategy has put the performance of both at the bottom among European banks, with the shares of both lenders down more than 20pc this year.The owners of the Virgin Media group in Ireland have backed out of the race for Endemol Shine, makers of the Big Brother and MasterChef shows, according to people with knowledge of the matter. (Nick Ansell/PA)

The owners of the Virgin Media group in Ireland have backed out of the race for Endemol Shine, makers of the Big Brother and MasterChef shows, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

Endemol is drawing interest from suitors such as the UK's ITV and France's Banijay Group, according to the sources. Second-round bids for the Amsterdam-based TV producer are due in the coming weeks, the sources said.

Endemol aims to fetch a valuation of more than 2.5bn, but its debt load and uncertainty about the future value of long-running reality shows such as Big Brother may pose a hurdle, the sources said. Hollywood talent agency Endeavor is also monitoring the situation and may have interest at the right price, one of the people said. Representatives for Endemol, ITV, Banijay and Endeavor declined to comment. Liberty Global, owner of the recently relaunched Virgin Media TV network, has dropped out of the race, the sources added.

Endemol, which has more than $1.6bn of debt, according to people familiar with the matter, last year oversaw more than 800 productions aired on over 287 channels around the world, including Black Mirror and Peaky Blinders.Fire-fighting: staffers at the White House joined together to block some of Trumps most dangerous impulses

There are two conclusions to be drawn from Bob Woodward's disturbing new account of paranoia and dysfunction in the White House: Wow, how did things get so bad? And, after turning the next page: Wow, things could have been even worse.

In Fear: Trump in the White House, the veteran reporter sets about building a picture of the way in which the president's flaws - the short attention span, the narcissism, and a brutal lack of empathy - render him almost incapable of doing the job.

And it could be worse. You will know the headlines by now, how aides snatched documents from the Resolute Desk to prevent them being signed (Gary Cohn, then White House chief economic advisor) or quietly ignored the order to assassinate a head of state (Jim Mattis, at the Pentagon, who drew up plans for missile strikes on Syria rather than to kill Bashar al-Assad).

But even with all that recent coverage, there are still extraordinary nuggets to be unearthed, like the way he very nearly declared war on North Korea with a tweet.

At the start of the year, he had been engaged in a very public tussle with Kim Jong-un over the size of their respective nuclear buttons. Provocative, maybe. Crass, certainly. But worse could easily have followed.

"This is all about leader versus leader," mused Trump at one point apparently. "Man versus man. Me versus Kim."

In his book, Woodward reveals that Trump wanted to send a tweet ordering US military dependents - thousands of family members of 28,500 troops - to leave South Korea.

It sent his national security staff into panic mode. A senior figure in the North Korean politburo had already signalled to them that any evacuation would be interpreted in Pyongyang as a precursor to military attack.

Knowing that, Trump's tweet would effectively be a declaration war, likely provoking Kim into attacking South Korea with conventional arms or worse.

The tweet was not sent. But it serves as one of the most alarming examples of how his staff had to fight fires on an almost daily basis.

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At times they used persuasion. At other times subterfuge, routinely punting proposals into the long grass of memo rewrites and legal reviews.

"Members of his staff had joined to purposefully block some of what they believed were the president's most dangerous impulses," writes Woodward. "It was a nervous breakdown of the executive power of the most powerful country in the world."

As you would expect from a reporter who has written about eight presidents and is credited with a role in bringing down Richard Nixon, dates and details build a dense supporting framework around the anecdotes.

This is not an account that can be dismissed easily.

It makes for a devastating portrait of a brutal president, who accuses his national security advisor of dressing like a "beer salesman" and calls his attorney general "mentally retarded".

But if the sourcing is copper-bottomed, at times the prose is leaden. Woodward's detached style may be refreshing in these polarised times but too often it plods. Part of the problem is the subject matter. Woodward wants to take us inside every decision - the guiding principles, the weighing of factors and the outcome.

The Middle East, Afghanistan, trade policy all get the big treatment. But it becomes quickly apparent that this White House will not yield to Woodward's conventional analysis. Decisions are not so much made as announced, arriving almost out of the ether.

On one page Trump announces that Nato might be obsolete. At dinner (over dessert) he is persuaded it may actually have some merit after all, only for a few pages later to go back to saying that Nato is obsolete. Analyse that!

So although Woodward is strong on the portrait - delivering a frightening account of a president obsessed with his enemies, who lacks the basic political skills to meet on his promises or the cunning to stay ahead of federal investigators - it feels as if the narrative is only half written.

Part of the problem is that the author comes squarely from the liberal elite, and relied heavily on sources with similar outlook. This is not someone who understands populists, their motivations or their reasoning.

But his struggles reveal a deeper problem. Can this most unconventional of White Houses be captured within the conventions of traditional political writing at all?

Can Trump's quixotic style ever be bound into some 450 pages?

Having ridden to the White House by subverting the norms of TV reporting and declared war on fake news, it is starting to feel as if now traditional biography is struggling to cope with Trump's presidency.

Perhaps the best way to tell the story of these times might be in the form of a different medium or genre. How about an oral history or even something in the style of a graphic novel? How better to capture the passion, the flip flops and the absurdity. I'm only half joking.Dudley Sutton, who has died aged 85, was part of the New Wave of actors, headed by Richard Burton, Richard Harris and Peter O'Toole, who dominated British theatre and films during the Fifties and Sixties.

Once described as looking like a debauched cherub, he was one of the stars of Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop but would only become a household name a quarter of a century later - as Tinker Dill, the jovial, boozy sidekick to television's favourite antique dealer, Lovejoy.

In the late Fifties, Sutton was a drinking companion of Jeffrey Bernard and Brendan Behan; some critics felt that on the brink of stardom, Sutton wasted his talent in the public bar and never fulfilled his potential. "I used to think if I drank as much as O'Toole, I could be a big star too," Sutton recalled, "what I did not realise was that O'Toole became a star and then drank."

Sutton found that for an actor without an established career, public misbehaviour could be problematical. Despite starring in a number of Behan's plays, making several films, and becoming the first person to be cast in the title role of Joe Orton's black comedy Entertaining Mr Sloane, Sutton never achieved the degree of stardom predicted for him.

Dudley Sutton was born on April 6, 1933 in East Molesey, Surrey, the son of a slot machine manufacturer. Evacuated to the West Country during the war, he began acting at his Devon prep school.

After leaving school aged 16 and taking a series of casual jobs, in 1951 he signed on for 12 years with the RAF "hoping to scream around the skies in a jet". Instead he found himself "slumming around in a truck", so he bought himself out of the RAF in 1954 and took a job as a photographer at a Butlin's holiday camp.

During his time in the RAF, he had joined and eventually organised an amateur dramatics group. While at Butlin's he won a scholarship to Rada.

Arriving in London in 1955, he wound up in Soho where he found work in a "Rock and Roll coffee bar" and "hung out with Teddy Boys and hookers and these amazing West Indians that were selling spliff". After five months, he was expelled from Rada. But in 1957 Sutton joined Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop company and within four weeks was appearing in the Soviet Union as Malcolm in a production of Macbeth at the Moscow Arts Theatre, and being "feted with vodka and caviar". Sutton performed in many of Joan Littlewood's productions and in 1958 played Princess Grace in Brendan Behan's The Hostage which went on tour to Paris. "On a carouse with Brendan Behan," he remembered, "we wound up in a cave under Les Halles with Littlewood, Marcel Marceau and a violinist who impressed us by playing, quite drunk and bent double under the low ceiling, Bartok's Unaccompanied Sonata."

Sutton made his West End debut in One More River in 1958. The following year he reprised his role in The Hostage in a West End production. "Offers began to flow in," he remembered, "including a six-month scholarship to study mime in Paris." He sent his brother ("as a ringer") in his stead, and claimed that he had attended the course, undiscovered, for four months.

Then, after appearing in a successful run of The Hostage on Broadway, Sutton returned to Britain to appear in another Irish play, Tom Murphy's A Whistle in the Dark.

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In 1961 he married the American actress Marjorie Steele, with whom he had one child.

He is survived by a son from his marriage and a son and daughter from another relationship. Dudley Sutton died on September 15.Shakespeare's Hamlet has a special place in the history of Dublin's Gate theatre, with co-founder Micheal Mac Liammoir famous for his interpretation of the young Danish prince, playing the part well into his fifties. Now, 90 years after the foundation of that theatre, Ruth Negga takes the part. It is Negga's first time on an Irish stage in 11 years, and a great chance to see the Oscar-nominated actor strutting her stuff in a meaty role. Directed by South African superstar Yael Farber. (Gate Theatre, Sept 21 - Oct 27)

Irish National Opera presents Bluebeard's Castle by early 20th-century Hungarian composer Bela Bartok. Conducted by Andre de Ridder, it is a 60-minute work sung in Hungarian with English surtitles. Director Enda Walsh has a disruptive and outreaching vision of opera. His innovative engagement with composer Donnacha Dennehy last year produced The Second Violinist, whose radical features included an almost mute central part. With an emphasis on theatricality as much as musicality, Walsh is sure to light a fire under this popular two-hander. (Gaiety Theatre, Oct 12 - 14)

Dance innovators Junk Ensemble present The Bystander, an interrogation of the concept of the "bystander effect", a phenomenon described after a 1964 murder of a New York woman was witnessed by 38 people, none of whom called for help. This new work is created, directed and choreographed by Jessica Kennedy and Megan Kennedy in collaboration with the cast. Junk Ensemble make fiercely intelligent dance theatre, with a significant and compelling narrative drive. Intellectual bodies in action. (Axis Ballymun, Oct 4 - 6)

Pan Pan Theatre bring their ultra-theatrical vision to the concept of artificial intelligence in ELIZA's Adventures in the Uncanny Valley. Directed by Gavin Quinn and designed by Aedin Cosgrove, with a script by Quinn and Eugene O'Brien. In the 1960s, MIT developed artificial intelligence software called ELIZA, its title a reference to George Bernard Shaw's play Pygmalion. Here, Eliza meets four other characters, some of whom may or may not be real. They explore love, death, metaphysics, evil and evolution. Already my head hurts, but in a good way. (Samuel Beckett Theatre, Oct 3 - 7)

Visitors from the USA, Elevator Repair Service, bring Everyone's Fine With Virginia Woolf over from New York, after its world premiere. The company delighted Dublin during the 2008 DTF with Gatz, their eight-hour rendition of F Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. They continue their interrogation of American classics with a feminist take-down of Edward Albee's influential drama Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, charting the power dynamics of one of the cornerstone fighting-couples of western theatre. Written by Kate Scelsa and directed by John Collins. (O'Reilly Theatre, Oct 4 - 7)

Playwright Deirdre Kinahan's new work Rathmines Road is produced by Fishamble: The New Play Company in collaboration with the Abbey Theatre. Kinahan's writing is characterised by an emotional intensity and an interrogative approach to meaty themes, though her humorous range was ably demonstrated in her popular version of Michel Tremblay's Les Belles-Surs (The Unmanageable Sisters), on the Abbey's main stage earlier this year. Directed by Jim Culleton, Ireland's maestro of the new play. (Civic Theatre, Oct 4 - 6; Peacock Theatre, Oct 9 - 27)Philip Dunbar, of Glenshane Drive, Tallaght (pictured) was charged on June 25 with the murder of 23-year-old Mr Muldoon, also of Tallaght.

THIS is the teenager facing trial for the murder of disabled man Adam Muldoon, whose lifeless body was found in a Dublin park early one summers morning.

Philip Dunbar, of Glenshane Drive, Tallaght, was charged on June 25 with the murder of 23-year-old Mr Muldoon, also of Tallaght.

At the time, Mr Dunbar was just 17 and could not be named because he was a juvenile.

He has since turned 18 and his identity can now be revealed.

The body of Mr Muldoon  who suffered from cerebral palsy and had been affected by homelessness  was found in Butler Park, Tallaght, at 6.30am on June 23.

When charged in June, Mr Dunbar was remanded in custody.

He faced his sixth hearing on Friday at Dublin Childrens Court.

Judge John OConnor granted the Director of Public Prosecutions four weeks to complete a book of evidence. Mr Muldoon sustained stab wounds and was pronounced dead at the scene.

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His body was later removed to the city morgue in Whitehall, where a post-mortem examination was carried out.

The case was listed for a book of evidence, but Judge OConnor was told yesterday that it was not ready.

Some garda statements and, most importantly, the post-mortem examination report, were not ready, State solicitor Michael Durkan explained.

The defence consented to an adjournment and Mr Dunbar, who did not address the court, was further remanded in custody to appear again in four weeks.

Bail applications in murder cases must be made in the High Court.

Mr Dunbar made no reply when charged, the original hearing was told.The garda onslaught on the Kinahan crime cartel continued yesterday with the seizure of an estimated 1.2m in Dublin and Wexford.

Organised crime detectives stopped two cars on Clonard Road in Wexford yesterday at 10.45am in what appeared to be a targeted search operation.

Cash was found in a hold-all, in vacuum-packed packages, in one of the cars and three men, aged 47, 38, and 29, were arrested on suspicion of money laundering under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act. As a result of what they found in Wexford, detectives followed up with further searches at a private residence in Dublin, where they discovered an even larger haul of cash.

The combined total of the seizures is expected to reach at least 1.2m. The vacuum-packed bundles of cash were being forensically examined for potential fingerprint and DNA evidence last night, before detectives can begin counting the cash.

A fourth man (44) was later arrested on suspicion of money laundering offences in a follow up search in Wexford.

All four men remained in custody last night.

It is understood that gardai suspect the cash seized in Wexford may have been on its way out of the country and detectives will be making inquiries at Rosslare ferry port.

The haul is expected to be one of the largest cash seizures in Ireland this year, and delivers another blow to the Kinahan crime cartel, which is believed to have lost millions of euros in potential drugs earnings.

The Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau has been making major inroads into the crime gang's network here.

Sources say the gang network has been trying to liquefy their assets and move the cash out of the country, after several successful Garda operations here disrupted their activities. In recent months, 250,000 in cash linked to the gang was seized in Dublin. It had been placed into envelopes stuffed into a mattress.

In July the High Court ruled that hundreds of thousands of euro worth of property was linked to an organised crime gang that is "central" to the Kinahan-Hutch feud, and was "the proceeds of crime".

The assets included two houses in south Dublin, luxury cars, high-powered motorcycles, jewellery and cash.

In November last year, one of the Kinahan cartel's main bagmen was jailed after being caught with 169,000 in cash.

Months earlier gardai seized 1.2m in cash in the midlands.

One of the gang's most senior members, Freddie Thompson, was jailed for life last month for the murder in 2016 of David Douglas, as part of the deadly Kinahan/Hutch feud. Thompson, from Crumlin, rose to become one of the gang's enforcers and was once a close ally of Kinahan's son, Daniel.

International investigators are also applying pressure to the Kinahan cartel.

The gang was linked to a 10m cocaine haul in Central America last month. The drug was concealed among a carfgo of pineapples on a freight ship that was bound for Cork. Police intercepted the vessel.

The cartel was also linked to drugs worth 3.4m seized in Spain in May, while another joint international investigation led to the seizure of 250,000 and the arrests of six people in Australia.

One source said the scale of arrests and seizures both here and abroad have spooked the cartel, leading to fears of moles within the camps.

Assistant Commissioner John O'Driscoll, head of Special Crime Operations (SCO), said: "Depriving organised crime groups of the proceeds of their criminal activity is a particular priority for the Garda Siochana.

"For this purpose, today, the Garda National Drugs & Organised Crime Bureau is undertaking searches in Dublin and Wexford, which has resulted in the arrest of three suspects and the seizure of a very significant quantity of cash".Gardai have arrested a fifth person, a 39-year-old woman, in connection to a massive 1.7m cash seizure.

The cash seized during a massive operation against the Kinahan crime gang over the weekend is understood to have been on its way out of the country.

Gardai arrested four men, aged 47, 38, 29 and 44, yesterday. Today, they arrested a woman who is currently detained in Wexford Garda station under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act 1984.

One of the men arrested yesterday has been released pending a file to the Director of Public Prosecutions.The other three remain in custody.

Gardai today also confirmed that the total cash pile seized amounted to 1.7m.

The Irish operation of the crime gang suffered a major blow after the major garda operation yesterday.

Gardai discovered the significant amount of vacuum-packed cash in a series of searches in Leinster.

The cash, which was prepared for transport, may have been on its way out of the country, according to a number of reports.

Tens of thousands of euros were seized after gardai launched searches on two cars off the Clonard Road, Wexford Town at approximately 10.45a.m yesterday morning.

Detectives from the Garda's Drug and Organised Crime Bureau discovered the substantial sum of cash in a gym bag in one of the cars.

In a follow-up operation, gardai swooped on a private residence in West Dublin where they discovered an even larger sum of cash.

In a third move, gardai held a further search in Wexford yesterday evening and counted another 200,000 cash pile.

The haul, which is now being counted by detectives, is thought to be the largest ever seizure from the crime gang in Ireland since the feud began.

Assistant Commissioner John ODriscoll, who is head of Special Crime Operations, said last night: "Depriving organised crime groups of the proceeds of their criminal activity is a particular priority for the Garda Siochana.

"For this purpose the Garda National Drugs & Organised Crime Bureau is undertaking searches in Dublin and Wexford, which has resulted in the arrest of suspects and the seizure of a very significant quantity of cash."The Government should provide equal access to potentially life-saving immunotherapy treatments, cancer experts have told the Minister for Health Simon Harris.

The Irish Society of Medical Oncologists has said it is "paramount" there is "equity of access" to new and effective cancer treatment, not only among women with cervical cancer but also the wider population of cancer patients.

The comments from the body representing the country's cancer specialists will add to pressure on the Minister for Health, who agreed to fund immunotherapy treatments for women caught up in the CervicalCheck controversy, and is facing calls to extend access to other cancer patients.

The Irish Society of Medical Oncologists was responding to the Department of Heath which sought its views on a proposal from two oncologists to run a trial of Pembrolizumab for all women with advanced cervical cancer.

Vicky Phelan, who exposed the CervicalCheck crisis, has credited Pembrolizumab with "significant shrinkage" of her tumours and has lobbied the minister to make the drug available to women with cervical and other cancers.

Dr David Fennelly, who is Vicky Phelan's consultant, and Professor John Crown had submitted a proposal to the minister on the trial that would involve the Government paying for the drug.

The president of the Irish Society of Medical Oncologists, Dr Deirdre O'Mahony, wrote to the department in July: "As medical oncologists ,our key function is to advocate for all patients to ensure access to the latest effective cancer therapies."

It continued: "If the Government wants to support more clinical trials, we recommend increased funding through existing mechanisms. Access to clinical trials should not discriminate for or against any patient on the basis of their inclusion in the CervicalCheck audit. We have been frustrated by the inability to progress promising international and investigator-led studies due to insufficient funding."

The letter mentioned cancer therapies that are licensed here but have not been approved for reimbursement in the healthcare system. "In the interests of equity, the Government should make these therapies available to patients without delay," the letter said.

The letter also said the data supporting immunotherapy in cervical cancer is "underwhelming" and suggested other treatment options could be considered.

The treatment, known as Pembro, has not been approved for cervical cancer in Ireland, only for specific types of melanoma and a lung cancer. A number of patients with other types of cancer are seeking access to the same drug but cannot get approved for clinical trials and are lobbying for it to be subsidised or VAT-exempted for those who buy it privately. The possibility of running clinical trials here is still being explored, according to the department.

The cost of Pembro is covered in a suite of supports for the 221 women and families affected by CervicalCheck. The women were not told about a look-back audit triggered by their cancer diagnosis which found their past smear tests had been read incorrectly. The Department of Health said almost 513,000 has been reimbursed in respect of various health and social care costs to women impacted by the crisis to date. It said 397,000 of this relates to retrospective payments.

Meanwhile, the former clinical director of CervicalCheck, Dr Grainne Flannelly, is to appear before the Dail's Public Accounts Committee for the first time since the crisis broke, probably early next month. She is likely to be questioned about the Scally review of the controversy, published earlier this month, which delivered a vote of confidence in the laboratories that read smear tests, but found governance failures and a lack of oversight across the health service.

The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in London is conducting a separate review of the slides of all women diagnosed with cervical cancer.An incident in which an intruder accosted President Michael D Higgins in his Aras office is a "matter of concern", the Justice Minister has said.

Minister Charlie Flanagan reacted today to reports that the woman, who was reportedly a housing protester, simply drove through the Aras grounds, walked unchallenged through the official residence and confronted the President.

The incident, which occurred last Friday has sparked a review of the security arrangements for President Higgins.

"Well, it's not the practice to comment on longstanding security arrangements for senior office holders," Minister Flanagan told RTE Radio One's This Week on Sunday.

"As I understand, no harm was done to the property and no harm was inflicted on any person.

"The reports are a matter for concern. I expect the review of security arrangements will be undertaken in normal course," he said.

Gardai confirmed to Independent.ie yesterday that a Chief Superintendent is now conducting a review of security measures, while another Chief Superintendent is investigating the incident.

They added that they "do not comment on the detail of security arrangements for the President".

The woman is believed to have found the President working in an office near the main lobby and confronted him about the housing crisis, according to the Irish Daily Mail.

It is understood President Michael D Higgins engaged her in conversation before gardai arrived and removed her from the residence.

There were no arrests made as "the President did not want the matter to be taken further".Meeting: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is greeted by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney during his visit to Dublin. Photo: Mark Condren

Ireland will be "forced" to recognise the state of Palestine if there is no further progress on the "deep impasse" in Middle East peace talks, Tanaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney said yesterday.

"Ireland is committed to recognising the state of Palestine but in the context of a negotiated solution," said Mr Coveney.

But the Government would be "forced to reconsider the second half of this statement", if "we do not see the prospect of dialogue succeeding", he added. Mr Coveney was speaking during an official visit to Ireland by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Mr Abbas visited Dublin en route to the UN General Assembly in New York.

He met with President Michael D Higgins and later with Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Mr Coveney.

Ireland has not recognised the state of Palestine, yet the matter is included in the programme for government between Fine Gael and the Independent Alliance.

In a press conference with his counterpart, Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki, the Tanaiste said: "Irish people are very much in solidarity with the injustice that the Palestinians live under."

Mr Coveney cited ''increased settlement activity'' by the Israeli government in the West Bank as well as the demolition of Palestinian homes as part of Ireland's decision to ratchet up its political support for the Palestinian Authority.

He said Ireland is "fully committed to a two-state solution", and criticised Israel for its continued "occupation" of the West Bank.

The West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza are the three areas regarded are making up a future Palestinian State.

Israel does not fully agree on this, and many in the Israeli government see the West Bank as "disputed territory" and won't allow any of Jerusalem to be ceded to the Palestinians.

Mr Malki thanked ''the Irish'' for their solidarity.

The Palestinian side frequently request that Ireland and other UN or EU member states recognise Palestine as a means to encourage Israel to do so.

The Government has shied away from recognising Palestine on a unilateral basis, and not on an EU-wide basis.

It is the view of some in Dublin that an action of recognition will be seen by Israel as belligerent and showing favouritism, thereby disqualifying Ireland from having a role as peace interlocutor. So far, Sweden is the only EU state that has recognised Palestine.

Meanwhile it was announced that Ireland will host an informal summit on reviving the stalled Palestinian Peace Process.

The Government will also increase its annual funding for humanitarian aid for Palestinian refugees by almost 50 per cent following President Donald Trump's cut of more than $300bn in US aid for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).

During his meetings with the Government, Mr Abbas called on Ireland to do more for the Palestinian cause and to forge a common European position on Middle East peace. It is understood he came here to seek a more sympathetic hearing from the Irish Government in a bid to offset recent policy decisions by the US which have weighed more in the favour of the Israelis.More than 1m in cash seized in a massive operation against the Kinahan crime gang "may have been on its way out of the country".

The Irish operation of the crime gang suffered a major blow after an estimated 1.2m seizure and four arrests yesterday.

Gardai discovered the significant amount of vacuum-packed cash in a series of searches in Leinster yesterday.

The cash, which was prepared for transport, may have been on its way out of the country, according to a number of reports.

Tens of thousands of euros were seized after gardai launched searches on two cars off the Clonard Road, Wexford Town at approximately 10.45a.m yesterday morning.

Three men were arrested at the scene on suspicion of money laundering offences. They were aged 47, 38 and 29.

Detectives from the Garda's Drug and Organised Crime Bureau discovered the substantial sum of cash in a gym bag in one of the cars.

In a follow-up operation, gardai swooped on a private residence in West Dublin where they discovered an even larger sum of cash.

In a third move, gardai held a further search in Wexford yesterday evening and counted another 200,000 cash pile.

They arrested a fourth man, aged 44, in the follow-up operations.

The haul, which is now being counted by detectives, is thought to be the largest ever seizure from the crime gang in Ireland since the feud began.

Assistant Commissioner John ODriscoll, who is head of Special Crime Operations, said last night: "Depriving organised crime groups of the proceeds of their criminal activity is a particular priority for the Garda Siochana.

"For this purpose the Garda National Drugs & Organised Crime Bureau is undertaking searches in Dublin and Wexford, which has resulted in the arrest of suspects and the seizure of a very significant quantity of cash."He is the man who was almost President. Nearly one million people watched as Sean Gallagher floundered live on air, while trying to answer a question on fundraising for Fianna Fail, with hoots echoing from the audience on RTE's Frontline presidential debate.

The former Dragons' Den investor successfully complained to the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) that the question arose from an allegation on a fake Twitter account. He also won an apology and substantial damages in court against RTE after he sought a declaration that the programme was unfairly edited, presented and directed in order to damage his electoral prospects.

Now seven years on, and back for another shot at the presidency, he describes the aftermath of that car crash moment.

"When it was over, things began to sink in," he says.

A meeting with his campaign team at the end of the 2011 race was "the first time in most of my adult life that I was properly emotional". He "shed a tear".

Then came the silence. "My phone did not ring for 18 months, apart from family and friends. I had fallen somewhere between politics and business and for whatever reason, nobody ever reached out."

During that time, he replayed the programme in his mind. "I went over it countless times every day for months. What could I have said? What should I have said?"

Venturing out didn't help. "Every time I met people, whether it was in a taxi or walking down the street, people would come over to me and say 'I'm really sorry for you, that was terribly unfair...why didn't you say.' But of course that's hindsight."

Today for the first time, he cites his congenital cataracts as part of a sequence of events that led to his downfall on the night. He explains how light can temporarily blind him.

"The environment was a challenge," he says. "When I'm standing in a studio with lights on me, people sometimes say, 'Sean, you're not your natural-looking self'. It's because the lights are blinding me.

"That night I was standing there at the podium, which was stainless steel and the reflection was like staring into the sun. I had to ask somebody for sheets of paper to put on it. But I should have physically changed that environment. If you can imagine, there's seven candidates, the audience is booing and hissing because I'm in the front. There were lots of issues around it."

He says the incident occurred at a time when he struggled to ask for help with the challenges caused by his disability. "I never wanted to be defined by it so I always focused on what I could do."

Unable to read small print, for example, in the last campaign, he memorised speeches rather than allow himself to be seen working his way through reams of pages in giant text. This time around, he has surrendered that control and acceded to scripting.

"I was not being true to who I was," he says.

He realised that if he wasn't open enough to admit his own limitations, then how could he join the conversation about recognising the challenges people with disabilities face.

Now he says: "If I am delivering a 10-minute speech in 30pt size [the print size he can read]... I have a speech of 33 pages."

His new approach is paying off. "I am more comfortable and I can perform to the best of my ability, but I am also educating everybody in the room."

Asked why he felt the need to hide his limitations, he says they made him feel vulnerable.

"You feel inadequate that somebody would think less of you... but it's changed this time." The change was apparent when he did his first interview for this campaign.

"The cameras would normally interview you outside the council building and I had to explain to the crew that that was not comfortable for me, because I would struggle with the glare from the sun."

Comments he has heard, in his adult years, highlight the need for education around disability: "During my first ever TV appearance, I overheard somebody say: 'Who's the guy with the Cavan accent with the squinty eyes who looks like he's trying to remember where he left his car keys?'"

On another occasion, a newspaper editor said: "Sean thinks he's cool walking around the city in sunglasses." Yet he relies on these for his sight. "It's not that anybody would mean anything, it's just lack of awareness."

Now he says he is changing his attitude for the sake of his two-year-old daughter, Lucy. He reveals for the first time that she was born with the same condition as her father. Her birth forced Gallagher to ask himself: "What example will I be setting for Lucy if I am not prepared to clear the path for her, so she doesn't have to pretend that she doesn't face challenges?"

"It is my job to make sure Lucy has self-esteem and unconditional love, irrespective of any limitations she might have," he says, adding: "You can't protect her from people who might make comments if she can't see properly or if she is squinting in the light - like I have done most of my life...the challenge is to make her strong in herself."

The fact that their young children will be subjected to the harsh reality of a presidential campaign was at the forefront of Trish Gallagher's mind when Sean told her he wanted to run again. He says she was "emotional" and in "shock" when he initially broke the news. "It took her a couple of weeks to get her head around it."

Her first response was: "How will it impact on our children?"

But Sean is adamant that he is running again so that he can be a role model for his children. "If you believe in something, if you want to make a difference then you've to put yourself out there... that's the best example I can set my kids."

One criticism put by his critics is this: In the seven years since Sean ran for office, Ireland has gone through monumental social change; throughout it all, he was nowhere to be seen. So what happened?

"I became a father which is probably the biggest change in my life," he says.

He then gives a long list of things that consumed his attention. He cites successfully fighting for a new law to protect subcontractors in the property industry, his case against RTE in Dublin's High Court, writing his column with the Sunday Independent, becoming a father and setting up a new business.

But I bring him back to the major social issues, issues from which he has nothing to gain personally by working on. One by one, we go through marriage equality, the Repeal campaign, opposition to Irish Water and the homelessness crisis.

Did he actively campaign on any of these? One by one he concedes, "No, I didn't actively campaign....I can't campaign on every issue."

He says he cannot reveal how much he won from RTE because the damages are bound by a confidentiality agreement.

Asked what he did with the money he says: "The money is there for my kids' education."

What is most notable about Sean, however, is something that happens as the interview wraps up. Several times, when asked if he would rule out running in another presidential campaign, he refuses to be drawn on the matter. Despite numerous opportunities, he won't rule it out. He wants to focus on the campaign at hand.

And so in the next five weeks, he will fight for a cause he believes in - to bring disability to the front and centre of Irish life and to change the public's perception "from disability towards ability".

He also wants to build confidence and skills in people with disability. He believes the time is right and that it's a cause worth fighting for. "My whole life has been about self-determination," he says.

He knows one downside is that people will say he has been referred to in the media as a "failed presidential candidate".

"But I wasn't a failed presidential candidate. When I talk to kids, I tell them not to be afraid of failing, you have got to put yourself out there. A ship in the harbour is safe - that is not what ships were built for."Juliana is being supported by the Irish Refugee Council's Education Fund to study Law and Criminology

A young woman who taught herself English and translated two year's worth of exam books has criticised the Government's "restrictive" education scheme for asylum seekers.

Juliana (18) moved to Ireland from Albania with her mum, dad and brother when she was 14-years-old.

She is eager to study law. However, it is necessary to be in the education system for five years to avail of the Department of Education's student support scheme, intended to facilitate young people in Direct Provision to move on to third level education.

Furthermore, due to the restrictive nature of the eligibility criteria, only five people have been granted support from a total of 59 applications since the scheme began in 2015.

Juliana is currently being supported by the Irish Refugee Council's Education Fund to study Law and Criminology but due to a shortage of funds, they can only finance courses on a year by year basis.

"I've always wanted to be a solicitor," said Juliana. "After this course I would need to study for three more years to get a degree. If I want to be solicitor, it's two more years after that."

Juliana had a "happy life" in Albania before things drastically changed for her fanily. Her dad owned a successful business but when the government changed, according to Juliana he fell out of favour and his business was forced to close.

"I was very happy," said Juliana. "I used to be a very good student. In Ireland I didnt have any English at all. I couldnt understand anyone. I had depression for a year and a half. I went to a psychologist every week. I wanted to leave school, I didnt want to live anymore.

"I wanted to be closed in my room and cry. It was so hard to start my life from the beginning. My family and the social worker and psychologist helped me a lot to try my best. I didnt want to do an English course. In the end, I got a dictionary and used the phone to learn English."

Juliana lives in Mosney, one of the largest refugee centres in Europe.

She walks 30 minutes to get the bus to Drogheda and another 25 minutes from Drogheda to get to her college. She taught herself English, translated two year's worth of Junior Cert text books herself at home and got full distinctions in her Leaving Certificate Applied, but she said it's still not enough.

"I used to translate all the work from English to my language and back again," said Juliana.

"It was a very hard experience but I got used to it. Going back to school helped me out of my depression. I think I would be still feeling so depressed if I didnt go back to school."

For Juliana, education is the most important thing in life.

"Without it we cant achieve what we have dreamed.

"The thing I dont like is if I dont have residence, I cant go to college. It's sad for students who would like to have a career. Permission to study is more important than permission to work.

"Work is very important for our parents and mature students but for young people, education is the most important thing.

"There is nothing I can do if I dont get it [funding] next year. Just stay at home all the time. There is no other option at all. I hope the government will change the rules and we will be the same as all the other students."

Just five people have been granted support since the government scheme started in 2015.

As well as this, delays in launching it for 2018/19 means that no students at all were able to accept a course, even if they did fulfill the stringent criteria to get the grant.

The Irish Refugee Council told Independent.ie they don't have enough money to support all who need it and they don't believe the scheme is set up to have an actual impact.

"The first, second and third rounds of CAO offers have come out.

"Courses are full now. If the scheme had been launched in June and July, the grant could have been approved and students could confidently have accepted courses offered.

Its too late for this year. The horse has bolted now," said Charlotte Byrne, Education Officer with the IRC.

"Its silly. It gets a headline in the newspaper that the government has this grant scheme but one or two people get it a year, its not doing what it should."

And while this is a problem in itself, it's not the biggest one, according to the IRC.

"The bigger problem we have with it is that its so restrictive," continued Ms Byrne.

"Students have to be here for five years. Thats not too bad but they have to have been in secondary school for five years.

"Most people coming to Ireland are teenagers. There are 30-40 asylum seekers sitting their Leaving Certificate every year.

"Some trained and worked in their own country and now they are sitting around doing nothing, developing all sorts of mental health issues. We see ourselves as a bridge between that and a degree or work. This year we are funding 50 people but for every one I say yes to Im saying no to two.

"And we can only commit to a year at a time.

"The bigger problem is the fact there are no entry routes other than Leaving Certificate. If someone comes here and does a level 5 or 6 Further Education and Training Awards Council (FETAC) qualification, they could get 11 distinctions and they will never get the grant. It's absolutely disgraceful."Question of trust: Author Joanna Fortune says many working parents try to compensate by cramming too much into their weekends

Joanna Fortune knows only too well just how arduous it can be for parents to find suitable childcare, to afford creche fees and to deal with the guilt and anxiety that often comes with being away from children for hours on end, every single weekday.

The child and family psychotherapist counsels such parents all the time. They are trying their best to make ends meet when it comes to childcare, housing and the sundry expenses of daily life and they worry that their relationships with their kids are fraying at the edges, too.

She even got the title of her just-published book, 15-Minute Parenting, from her interactions with stressed-out mothers and fathers trying to juggle the demands of work with bringing up their sons and daughters.

"The most common thing I hear from busy parents who work outside the home," she says, "is that by the time they get back from work, have collected their kids from childcare and got them in the door and put the dinner on the table, they feel they have 15 minutes a day to spend with them.

"Behind all that is a building and simmering stress within parents that's affecting their children and the interactions can feel fraught and tense because everybody is feeling the pressure."

It's an anxiety that is mirrored in many households throughout the country. "There's a huge sense of frustration among parents that they're working just to pay the cost of childcare," she says. "People feel trapped in the cycle of having to work even if they don't want to.

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"But even to get a mortgage, you have to show you have X amount of money coming in, whereas the outgoings aren't deemed to be quite as important.

"And on the other hand, those parents who stay at home - and, let's be honest, it's usually the mothers - just don't get the same thanks or appreciation as those who work outside the home."

Childcare provisions - or the lack of affordable, state-subsidised options - have long been part of the national conversation, but the vexed subject has been much talked of in recent months.

First, government minister Shane Ross talked about an allowance for grandparents who look after their children's children - quickly dubbed the 'Granny Grant' - and then social protection minister Regina Doherty announced a scheme which would give both parents an extra two weeks' leave each in the first year of a child's life. Children's minister Katherine Zappone, who has said that she wants to see childcare prioritised in Budget 2019, may have further plans.

There has been a mixed response to the proposals to date - many have rubbished the idea of the 'Granny Grant' and questioned how it could operate in practice, and others have welcomed increased maternity and paternity leave, but feel the measures don't go nearly far enough to solve a childcare crisis that has been a feature of Irish life for decades. No matter what measures successive governments have taken to alleviate the problem, the cost of childcare continues to increase.

"The idea of the cost of childcare being a second mortgage is not an exaggeration," says mother-of-two Laura Erskine, spokeswoman for the country's most popular parenting site, mummypages.ie "The Government has done very little in terms of making provisions to help working parents alleviate the financial pressure of the childcare costs placed upon them, so much so that our mums are deciding to limit their families. More than two children tips the family over the edge in terms of the cost. And they [mothers] are choosing to give up their career. They're being forced into this position because of the costs rather than it being a choice."

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Erskine laments the lack of choice that parents face today, and notes that measures such as the universal childcare subsidy introduced in the 2017 Budget have little impact on alleviating the financial pressure being felt by families. "Our parents are reporting that because many creches had decreased their fees during the recession years, they used the subsidy as an excuse to increase their fees to justify the additional expense of administration that a childcare provider is required to do."

She also believes that while there's merit to the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) scheme - which purports to offer two years of "free" childcare for children directly before starting school - the reality is it doesn't lighten the load for some parents that much at all.

"We welcome it, but remember it covers just three hours a day [over 38 weeks]. You can't have a career where you're able to drop a child at 9am and be back at the childcare facility at 12 noon, taking into account travel time. If you want to have a career, you have to find additional care in which a provider will pick up a child from a Montessori facility and look after them for the remainder of the day - and that can prove just as expensive as full-time care. And parents cannot drop their children any earlier."

The result, is a drop-off of women in the workforce: "Often, as mums, we feel we cannot afford to go back to work," Erskine says.

It's an issue that concerns Frank Farrelly, president of the National Recruitment Federation. He says there is a lower rate of participation of Irish women over the age of 35 in the workforce than in any other European country.

"With one child, people tend to grin and bear it. After two, some people fall off. But after three, everything changes - typically, one of the parents has to give up work. It's like a second mortgage, if not more in many cases. For a variety of cases, it's the woman that gives up. Often she puts her career on hold for five or 10 years - and they fall behind. They go back into the workforce where the people that used to be under you are now your boss."

Farrelly says the Government's approach has been disjointed and scattergun. "You hear Shane Ross talking about his 'Granny Grant' thing - it might be well meaning, but it will just disappear into the ether. There's a lack of joined-up thinking to make childcare affordable across the board."

The recruitment specialist believes the social welfare system needs to become more flexible. "If you're paid on an hourly basis, people could work around their families needs," he says. "Working parents need flexible working hours, but when you look at the jobs, less than 6pc advertised offer any sort of flexibility.

"I think Katherine Zappone is very well meaning, but we've come to the stage where we need a revolution, not an evolution. It will cost money - subsidised care needs to be available to all and from the age of one. And not just for a period of the year or for part of the day, but proper provision like they have abroad."

June Tinsley is the head of advocacy at children's charity, Barnardos Ireland. "The reality is Ireland has consistently underfunded the sector. About 0.3pc of GDP goes on childcare in comparison to other OECD countries where the average is 0.8pc. When you've got that huge shortfall, it means that it's the parents who have to pay for it. The OECD average has been knocking around for a number of years - it's not a new statistic.

"In fairness to the Minister [Zappone] she's incrementally trying to build us up a little bit starting from that low base. It doesn't mean that our childcare professionals get more money than their French counterparts or anything like that - it just means that without that statutory investment in our public service, it's parents who have to make up the shortfall. The average cost is about 700 per month per child and it can go up, depending on what part of the country you're in."

She believes there has to be a "cultural and political shift" when it comes to the provision of childcare. "As a society we have to see that seriously investing in this sector is a public good for the child's benefit. It's not to be seen as a holding place where you put children while mummy and daddy go to work. That ideological shift needs to happen - it's getting there, but it needs to happen more."

Tinsley says some positives have been mooted, but others are destined to fail if they ever see the light of day. "The additional paid parental leave is definitely a positive thing because from a Barnardos point of view, we're always looking at it from the lens of a child and what's best for them, and research tells us that if you can have the child in the primary carer's care - that's effectively the mother or the father - for the first year, then you're ensuring greater outcomes for the child in the long run.

"But the 'Granny Grant' doesn't seem like a very practical step. How are you going to ensure quality. Is it really the best way to spend public money?"

It's a sentiment echoed by Frances Byrne of Early Childhood Ireland, the organisation that represents childcare suppliers. "Investment needs to come [from government] and until it does, parents, providers and staff are left carrying the can," she says.

Byrne believes Ireland is at crisis point when it comes to childcare. "If we didn't having the horrific homeless situation and the housing crisis, it would be the number one issue. For those families on a low-to-middle income, a full month's childcare is likely to feel like a second rent or a second mortgage.

"And the figures tell their own story: 35pc of household income goes to childcare in this country on average, whereas across the EU the figure is a much more manageable 10 to 13pc."

Catherine Walsh reckons a sensible approach would be to row back on the tax incentivisation policies introduced by then finance minister Charlie McCreevy two decades ago. A spokesperson for the Stay At Home Parents Association, she says the tax regime punishes those families who opt for one parent to stay at home to rear children.

"There could be a difference of 4,000 in the take-home pay, after tax, in favour of the family with both parents working versus the one where only one is working outside the home - and that's based on the same overall income.

"As far as I'm concerned, the salary that I've lost is my cost of childcare. Why should I be further hindered? I feel it's a very valuable job. A lot of people of my generation were reared at home by their parents in the 1970s and 80s.

"And it's not just mothers: plenty of fathers want to be able to stay at home and rear their children, too - and they feel they have been very badly treated."

Walsh, a pharmacist by trade, is dismayed with the way Irish society has morphed into one where it's seen as the norm for both parents to work and to put their child into daycare.

"You find you have to justify your decision a lot," she says. "And other people think, 'It's well for you that you can afford to stay home' but we're not wealthy.

"It's a decision that works for us and for the good of our children and there should be greater help for families like us."

In 2000, when tax individualisation was controversially introduced, one conservative newspaper columnist memorably described it as the "conscription of women into the labour force". Eighteen years later, the desired aim of increasing female participation in the jobs market has been achieved, but is there a price to be paid?

One mother, who does not wish to be named, gave up her financial services job earlier this year in order to be with her young children full-time until they are of secondary school age. "We're lucky in that we can afford for me to do this and my heart goes out to those other people, mums especially, who would love to be able to do it but can't financially.

"I just reached a point where I asked myself the big question: why am I working all these hours and spending 2,000 a month on creche fees and only getting to see my children for a short time in the evenings?

"What's life for? It's like that cliche - nobody on their deathbed ever asks why they didn't spend more time working. It's always, why didn't they devote more to their loved ones? But that's me. I'm not judging anyone else and the decisions they make. Every family has a different situation."

And that's a message that Joanna Fortune is keen to impart. "There's no right way and wrong way when it comes to childcare and we can't pit parents who put their children into creche against those who don't. People have to make the best of this situation and to make it work for them."

And, she says, no matter how challenging work, parenting and childcare can be, it's always worth remembering that parent-child relationships need not suffer unduly.

"I would advise parents to do a lot less at the weekend," she says. "Don't be trying to cram too many activities in to compensate for the week. Trust in what your children want - sometimes sitting next to you doing nothing means everything to them. Take 15 minutes of mindful play, using play as a language to connect to children at their level - and not playing Lego with them while keeping an eye on your phone.

"And don't worry if you think you can't play: your child is an expert in play - you can follow her lead. Small changes make big differences."we are definitely in the right place, because The Happy Pears are over on the other side of the room, wearing shorts and drinking kombucha but - thankfully - not doing handstands or stripping off for a sunrise swim. They're here to check out Eoin Cluskey's new organic Bread 41 Cafe, which opened a couple of weeks ago under the railway bridge on Pearse Street, opposite the site of Trinity's new business school, currently under construction.

Bread 41 is the first retail/cafe operation under the Bread Nation umbrella, for which carpenter-turned-baker Cluskey has big plans. I reckon if he opens up in Greystones, he'll give the lads a serious run for their money.

Since the 1960s, the majority of bread sold in Ireland has been manufactured using the Chorleywood Bread Process (CBP), developed to make bread quicker and longer-lasting. While traditional sourdough requires only three ingredients - flour, water and salt - the CBP uses 30-odd, including L-ascorbic acid (E300), chlorine dioxide gas, L-cysteine hydrochloride (E920) (which may be derived from animal hair and feathers, nice!), soya flour, emulsifiers, and preservatives such as calcium propionate.

Whatever one's views on food intolerances, there is a school of thought that says it is not the gluten in bread that people have trouble digesting, but all these other substances. And because there is no regulation of the term 'sourdough', it means that much of the 'sourdough' bread that you buy in the supermarket (and in some bakeries masquerading as the real deal) may be CBP bread with an added sprinkle of sourdough powder. Some who suffer from IBS and other digestive issues find that when they eat slow-fermented, 'real' bread as opposed to bread made using the CBP, their problems disappear. Cluskey's view is that time has a big part to play - a typical supermarket loaf is made in a couple of hours, while his takes between 19 and 22 hours; the slow fermentation means that it's gut-friendly too, encouraging all those good bacteria. (You can find a baker near you baking bread the old-fashioned way at realbreadireland.org.)

Bread 41 has only been open a few days when four of us drop in for an early lunch - sooner than I would usually review, but I want this to run during the month of Sourdough September. And, frankly, since I brought a loaf home after a tour the previous week... my family insists.

We order everything on the lunch menu - and a bit more besides.

The star of the show is a warm-from-the-oven sausage roll of porky deliciousness, the pastry flaky, buttery... just gorgeous. A prosciutto and cheese croissant is pretty damn fine also, almost shocking in its butteriness, while of the four official lunch offerings, blood pudding spread on a thick slice of toast is our favourite, the date brown sauce on the side nicely piquant, not too sweet. Sandwiches are substantial - porchetta with provolone, rocket and pickles more flavoursome (of course) than the veggie option which features whipped goat's cheese, roasted beetroot, pickled beets and carrots and a smidgeon of horseradish.

The baking method that Cluskey learned in San Francisco results in a bread with a significantly higher level of hydration than that customarily used in Ireland, meaning that the bread is meant for sandwiches on day one, and for toasting on day two. It works.

A salad is disappointing - too much grain (freekeh? farro?), organic but dull vegetables (cauliflower and butternut squash), tahini dressing. The colours are all greige and it's a lacklustre affair, with only minor texture and colour interest brought by chopped toasted hazelnuts and parsley. House-made kombucha is over-sweet, while coffee from 3Fe is good. The bill for four comes to 48.30, which is a bargain for food of this quality. Any quibbles are minor.

On a budget

Toast and butter served in the morning until 11am costs 3.50.

On a blow out

Lunch for two - black pudding on toast, topped with an egg, and flat whites - costs 26.

High point

The bread is outstanding - you can (and should) buy it to take away from the on-site bakery - but it is the sausage rolls that feature in my dreams.

Low point

The salad was a dull, greige affair.

The rating

Food 8/10

Ambience 8/10

Value 9/10

Total 25/30I've just celebrated my 11th wedding anniversary. It's been a great 11 years and we've three wonderful children. People on the outside looking in see a perfectly "planned" family. Our oldest son, Daithi, is 9, our daughter, Siofra, is 7 and our youngest son, Oisin, just turned 3. But our perfectly "planned" little family wasn't easy to achieve. What people don't see, or what we don't show them is the heartache that we carry and will always carry. We've suffered six miscarriages over the last 10 years.

When we got married in 2007 we were both young, I was 23 and himself was 30. We were healthy and beyond happy. Once married the natural next step was babies. We got pregnant easily and we were over the moon. I read all the books and vaguely knew miscarriages happened but I never thought I'd be the one in five that you hear about. We told people early on that we were pregnant and excitedly awaited our first scan.

I went to the hospital with my big bottle of water. Sitting in the waiting room I was bursting for a pee but refused to go as I wanted a really good picture of our baby to show off. Giddy with excitement my name was called and in we went. On went the gel and the scan started. My husband held my hand as we looked at each other with anticipation and excitement at seeing our baby. The sonographer was quiet but at the time this didn't register with me. She turned the screen to show us our little baby. There he/she was, a perfect little baby shape in black and white.

But there was no little flicker of a heartbeat. It was then that the silence resonated and then came the words that tore our world apart. "There is your little baby but I'm so sorry there is no heartbeat".

''No heartbeat''. What was she talking about? She'd gotten it wrong, she had to have gotten it wrong, it was a mistake, this couldn't be happening. But another midwife confirmed it.

I cried, maybe I wailed, I'm not sure. My husband cried and we held each other. I know we went to another room. I know we met a doctor who gave us our options, none of which I wanted and none that seemed real. I know we left the hospital and I know we drove home in silence. But I can't remember any of that. It's like there is a fog or haze that is obscuring those memories.

All I really remember is the silence and those awful words "there is no heartbeat".

I miscarried our baby in hospital the next day, when I should have been 13 weeks. I stayed overnight in a ward with a lady and her newborn. She quietly asked a midwife during the night if she could take the baby to the nursery. This was for my benefit as she clearly knew I'd lost mine. I felt terribly guilty that I was robbing her of her special time with her little baby, but it broke my heart a little bit more each time I heard that little newborn cry or gurgle.

Back home, life around me went on and slowly got back to "normal". We were told it was just one of those things - bad luck - and to try again if and when we wanted to. With that in mind we decided to try again. Again we got pregnant quickly. We were of course happy and excited, but we didn't have the same innocence as we knew what could go wrong. It was no longer something we read in the books or something that happened to other people, we had already been the one in five.

We got an early appointment at 8 weeks but walking around Wilton shopping centre before our scan I told my husband I had a bad feeling, but we put it down to nerves. We'd had our bad luck and things would be fine.

But things weren't fine. They were far from fine.

Again there was the silence but there was something else, concern etched on the midwives face. She went and got a colleague while we tried to comprehend what was going on and that we really were losing our second baby. She returned with a colleague and together, in hushed whispers. They examined the scan.

They both agreed what we were looking at was a Molar Pregnancy. A Molar Pregnancy is a rare complication that happens when the tissue inside the uterus becomes a mass or tumour. I had to have surgery and then had to have bloods taken every second day until levels regulated. All this follow-up meant it was difficult to grieve our second loss.

Months later I was given the all clear and we decided to try again. We were pregnant before long. It was a nerve wracking time and every ache and pain caused panic and worry. But this time things went smoothly, other than bad morning sickness, and our son Daithi was born in 2009.

We knew we wanted to have a brother or sister for Daithi and started trying again soon enough. But again it was fraught with sadness. We had our third miscarriage in August 2010 followed by our fourth miscarriage in October 2010. I had been pregnant 5 times but had lost 4 of our babies.

I was angry, heartbroken and was starting to think it wasn't meant to be. Thankfully, one year later in October 2011 our daughter Siofra was born. It really is true that a year can change so much.

Our story didn't end there. We went on to suffer more heartache when we had our 5th and 6th miscarriages in February and November 2013. Of our eight pregnancies we'd lost six babies. After our fourth loss we found out through genetic testing that I carry a balanced robertsonian translocation which is a form of chromosomal rearrangement. While there were no known health implications for me, it did mean we were at a higher risk of miscarriage.

After a lot of thinking, worrying, talking and more thinking it was with a heavy heart we decided we would try one last time and then call a day on this stage of our lives. Once again, getting pregnant wasn't an issue, I had very bad morning sickness and was in hospital on drips a number of times but I was never so happy to be sick. Our little boy Oisin made his entrance into the world happy and healthy on the 23rd of October 2015.

And with the birth of Oisin our family is complete. We are blessed with three wonderful children. Over the 10 years we were on this journey it was an extremely difficult road. We lost six precious little babies who will always have a place in our hearts. We experienced sadness over and over that no one should have to endure, but in reality, one in five will experience the same devastation and heartache.

October is fast approaching and with it Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month. Each year in Ireland sadly approximately 14,000 women suffer a miscarriage. But miscarriage and pregnancy loss is still a taboo subject I feel.

Recently I set up the Cork Miscarriage Support Group with the help of a friend and with the support of the Miscarriage Association Of Ireland. The problem is that miscarriage is not talked about. This means that at a time when women and men, the moms and dads, that have lost a baby need support more than ever, it is difficult to find. Often people don't know how to react or what to say, they may say nothing at all, leaving you to wonder if you actually spoke those words aloud or if you just said it in your head. They may make a well-meaning comment such as 'you can always try again', 'at least you know you can get pregnant' or 'at least it happened before you were too far gone' which can cut like a knife. All they need to say is that they are sorry for your loss, and that they are there for you if you need them.

Just knowing someone is there can make a devastating and heartbreaking time a little less isolating, a little less scary, and a little less lonely. This is why I feel it is so important to have a peer-to-peer support group in the Cork area, similar to that which already exists in Dublin, Galway and Mayo. Thankfully, the Miscarriage Association Of Ireland were so supportive of what I was looking to achieve, and they provided and still provide hugely valuable support and advice.

Unfortunately, my motivation behind setting up the Cork Miscarriage Support Group comes from my own personal experience of miscarriage where I felt isolated, lonely, lost and didn't know where to turn for the support I needed and craved. This is how I came to know the Miscarriage Association of Ireland and the support that they offer and why I feel so strongly that this support is of vital importance in the Cork area.

We now have a public Facebook Page (Cork Miscarriage Support Page) where people can get updates on meetings. We also have a confidential Facebook support group that people seeking support can join by emailing 'loss' to corkpregnancyloss@gmail.com. Along with the online peer-to-peer support, we also hold monthly support meetings on the 3rd Tuesday of every month in the SMA Centre in Wilton in Cork from 8pm to 9:30pm approximately. These meetings givee people a safe place to talk, in confidence, about the loss of their baby. Whilst we are not medical professionals, what we offer is a safe place to share experiences among peers and to be met with compassion, empathy and understanding.Des Cahill revealed that his father's first wife and their two children drowned in the 1950s. Photo: RTE

This is the Irish Independent report which details the drowning tragedy in RTE broadcaster Des Cahills family, which he revealed on the Late Late Show on Friday.

Cahill told how his fathers first wife and two of their four children died by drowning after one of the children got into trouble while swimming in a lake.

He told host Tubridy he first learned of the tragedy when he was around 11 years old after he found two old schoolbags in the attic belonging to Cahills he had never met. He asked his sister Eileen who they belonged to.

Dess father and his first wife had five children together, and one evening when Dess sister Eileen were at school, the rest of the family went swimming in a lake.

There was a dreadful tragedy. Were a county Clare family. We subsequently moved to Dublin for a new life but back then in the 50s  my dad and the eldest Eileen  she was doing the primary cert which was an exam every sixth class student in Ireland did at the time, judging you or preparing you for secondary school and my father was the principal so he was overseeing it.

His wife brought the four other children to a lake near the house and one of them got into trouble, a girl. Her brother followed in, the mother followed in, and all three drowned.

Expand Close The Irish Independent report from June 1957 which detailed the multiple drowning accident in the Cahill family. / Facebook

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Whatsapp The Irish Independent report from June 1957 which detailed the multiple drowning accident in the Cahill family.

Newspaper reports at the time said that Norah Cahill (39), her son Michael (10) and seven-year-old daughter Joan died in the tragedy at Turkana Lake near Corona, Co Clare on June 14, 1957.

The family went bathing in the lake at 1pm but hours later the alarm was raised by her five-year-old daughter Una, who went home.

The Irish Independent reported at the time: Some hours after Mrs Cahill had gone to the lake, one of the children, aged five, returned home and told Mr Cahill: Mammy was swimming and disappeared trying to save Joan.

Michael had also gone to the rescue with his mother, the newspaper report added.

On Friday night, Des told Tubridy that he first learned of the tragedy when he was around 11 years old, when he asked his sister why there were two old schoolbags in the attic belonging to Cahills he never knew.

I had actually noticed them in the attic and when I was 10/11/12 I sat and opened them and they were Cahills and they werent in our family, and I dont know why but I sensed something unusual about them and I asked my eldest sister about them, so she would have told me what was appropriate to tell an 11 year-old, that they had drowned. And she didnt go into huge detail.

But I had sensed because it was strange, I had uncle Jimmy, I had aunties, but uncle Jimmy wasnt my mothers brother or my fathers brother. I did wonder, and I dont know if a child can have that level of intuition at 11 but I just sensed, dont ask about it but it transpired anyway that my father had been married before, married again.

There were children from the first marriage. I was the first of the second marriage, and it was probably an Irish thing that he wanted the family brought up as one, not stepbrothers or stepsisters. When I reflect on it now at my age and having lived life, I liked they were my sisters and brothers.

Eileen told me that they had been drowned and at 11/12, I knew something had happened, I just sensed it. So it made sense then why uncle Jimmy, because uncle Jimmy was a brother of my fathers first wife.

He added:: It wasnt my tragedy well it became my life but I feel bad for them, and obviously in writing this, and I discussed it with the family, and obviously its easy for some to discuss it and it cant have been easy.Michelle Thompson with her husband Doug and their son Liam while they were in Asia

Cian Patrick Doorley said moving home to Ireland can be just as hard as emigrating

More Irish people are now moving home to Ireland than emigrating for the first time since the recession.

The Central Statistics Office has said that more than 90,300 people moved to Ireland in the year leading up to April 2018 - 28,400 of these were returning Irish nationals.

Just 56,300 people moved out of Ireland during that time and 28,300 of those were estimated to be Irish.

While many feel that there's no place like home, others have spoken honestly after the difficulties of trying to put down roots in a country you haven't lived in for years.

We spoke to two Irish nationals about their very different experiences:

Michelle Thompson: 'I think I'm a very positive person but moving back to Ireland was hard for my husband, it was all very new for him'

Expand Close Michelle Thompson with her husband Doug and their son Liam while they were in Asia / Facebook

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Whatsapp Michelle Thompson with her husband Doug and their son Liam while they were in Asia

Having a support network as they raise their young son is what lured Michelle and Doug Thompson back to Ireland.

Michelle (38) left her home, job and loved ones in Dublin as she moved to Auckland in the hope of a better quality of life.

She told Independent.ie: "I'd a mortgage on a house but I decided there wore more opportunities for me overseas than there were here.

"It had been two years since the crash started, when it first happened we were full of optimism that we'd be out of it in a few years but by 2010 the reality started to hit home that it was going to last for another three or four years.

"I thought to myself, 'I'm single, in my 30s, I'm well educated, I have a mortgage that would pay for itself if I rent it out', so I decided to take a leap and went to New Zealand, where I'd never even been before.

"The idea was to get a job, start a new career and create new opportunities for myself."

She found work in a government entity in Auckland and it was during a three-month placement in Sydney that she met her husband, Doug (39).

The pair welcomed their son Liam in December 2016 and it was then that her desire to move home started to become more pressing.

"I always saw myself coming home, I never saw myself leaving Ireland permanently.

"I think it was on the second date with my now-husband that I said if he didn't see himself every living in Ireland than there was no point taking it any further," she explains.

"I think the real clincher for us was when we had our son, we realised that since his family are from Sydney and mine live in Ireland we just didn't have that support that we needed.

"It was great living in New Zealand when we were double income, no kids and could take advantage of everything the country had to offer but once we were becoming more grounded we knew we wanted that family support network.

"We knew it wasn't going to be cheap but a big draw for us was that I had maintained my home so we still had that to go back to.

"We were both working full-time and we weren't spending a lot so we had built up quite a lot of savings."

The family left Auckland in March, they spent the next six weeks visiting family members in Australia and travelling through Asia before they arrived back in Ireland in mid-May.

Michelle said she was taken aback by how long it took to settle in Ireland again.

"I think I'm a very positive person but it was hard for my husband, it was all very new for him.

"There were tenants living in my house and it needed to be freshened up so we stayed with family for a while and as we were living in a rural area we felt like we were lacking independence and certainty, we couldn't even get car insurance for a few weeks.

"Then there's the administration involved in coming back, we knew what we had to do and what we had to provide, we had prepared but it is a very confusing system.

"You can't expect to move a family to the other side of the world and not expect paperwork, that is par for the course but the reality of implementing a person in the system is a difficult experience."

Expand Close Michelle, Doug and Liam Thompson pictured as they left New Zealand / Facebook

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Whatsapp Michelle, Doug and Liam Thompson pictured as they left New Zealand

Michelle, who lives in Churchtown in Dublin, said she was relieved to settle back into life with her friends and family again quickly.

"In the seven-and-a-half years I'd been away I had been home about three times, I expected that life would be different and not to expect our group of friends to be the exact same, some had gotten married, had kids or moved careers.

"Nothing had changed from that point of view for me and it was just fantastic to com back into that personal sense of belonging again," she said.

Michelle, who is setting up a business as a consultant, said that they aren't sure whether Ireland will be their home for good yet.

"It was heartbreaking to tell my husband's mother who lives in Sydney that we were moving 18,000km away.

"I don't know if we're settled here, I think when you marry someone from another country you're never sure if you're permanently settled.

"We feel settled in our home and day-to-day lives but we have to think of our family in Sydney too, it's a reality in the back of our minds.

"You can never be sure if it's the right thing to do but if you've been thinking of moving home for a long time maybe it is for you.

"You're not going to do it on a whim as it is expensive but I don't think I could have stayed in New Zealand with that nagging feeling, wondering what if.

"It's important to know that nothing has to be forever, for us this is for raising our family but if we can't get the quality of life we know we can experience in Australia or New Zealand, than we would have to think about it again and weigh up our options."

Cian Patrick Doorley: "I missed my friends, my family, I missed Irish culture and I decided I couldn't see myself becoming a Canadian"

Expand Close Cian Patrick Doorley said moving home to Ireland can be just as hard as emigrating / Facebook

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Whatsapp Cian Patrick Doorley said moving home to Ireland can be just as hard as emigrating

Demand for rental space in Dublin in "crazy" and soaring car insurance is a "robbery", according to a man who has found moving home to Ireland difficult.

Cian Patrick Doorley (40) has said that he found that his personal and professional life changed and he is still trying to adjust to life in Ireland after moving home last December.

Cian, who comes from Carrigaline in Cork, explained that career opportunities were the motivation behind his move to Toronto in September 2012.

"I left originally looking for employment, at the time Canada were sending over a lot of trade delegations to try to get skilled workers from Ireland to move over.

"I packed a bag, got a one-way ticket and moved over without any friends or family, I went solo.

"I ended up staying for more than five and a half years, I got permanent residency and I enjoyed my time over there."

He said that after living in Canada for five years he reached a crossroads and felt he had to decide he wanted on a more permanent basis.

"From my experience and from talking to people who move permanently, there seems to be a point of no return around the five or six year mark and that's when you start to put down roots and decide to become a citizen or else the emotional ties and pulls that bring you home kick in.

"I suppose that's what it came down to for me - I missed my friends, my family, I missed Irish culture and I decided I couldn't see myself becoming a Canadian," Cian said.

After moving home just before Christmas, he did say he felt like an outsider at times.

"I came home just before Christmas last year, initially I found that my circle of friends and even my family had moved on, their lives had completely changed and I felt completely on the outskirts.

"My friends had bought houses, moved to different areas, they might have changed their jobs or gotten married or had kids.

"Plus you're not in on the in-jokes any more, you've missed out on things, that social circle you had has moved on so you just have to start afresh again.

"But for social occasions and things, it's nice to be able to just drop down to Cork.

"I like being able to spend time with my parents., my brothers, my friends and I like being around Irish people in general, we've a unique way of interacting with each other and I missed that," he said.

Cian moved to Dublin and got a job in marketing but said he was taken aback by how different things were economically compared to when he left.

"Economically there was a lot more happening, Dublin seems absolutely booming, that definitely wasn't the case when I left.

"I did my research before I left Toronto, you have to have a plan - I think if you get homesick and decide over a month or two to move then you're setting yourself up for a harder time when you come back.

"I had decided to move to Dublin and moved into an Air BnB for a month while I got set up I was well aware of the housing crisis but I still wasn't prepared for how crazy renting here is, the demand for any bit of rental space is just incredble.

"I've never seen the likes of it and it only seems to have gotten worse in the eight months I've been back.

"I've changed houses twice since I've been in Dublin and rooms that were going for around 700 then are going for 850 now, it's crazy, it really does seem to just go up and up every month, it's distressing," he said.

"I haven't needed to get car insurance since I've gotten back but some of the quotes I've heard being offered to people are just robbery.

"I think the insurance companies just seem to see you as a premium once you've been outside the country for a few years, you're just a walking euro sign to them.

"I still haven't found full-time work in my field, I have a masters degree and other qualifications but I'm still looking, it's very frustrating.

"Even in Dublin it can be hard to form a social circle that you can rely on, I haven't quite settled in but it is getting easier."

He has warned others Irish ex-pats who are considering moving home that things may not be easy initially but he feels it will pay off in the long-run.

Cian issued this advice: "You have to have a plan, I knew what I wanted to do and I had done a few job interviews over Skype before I left Toronto and loads set up with recruiters for the week that I came home.

"If you don't have a plan you'll probably end up wallowing and reflecting on the life you left and questioning if leaving was the right thing.

"You need to focus on the reasons you left, I think I'll stay here now but it definitely isn't easy to decide to come home, it took me about six months to decide.

"In many ways it's harder to come back than to move, when you're leaving you have a blank slate, it's an adventure, coming back you know exactly what you're returning to.

"Coming home can be equally as hard as being an immigrant abroad but I definitely do think it gets a lot easier."National and local newspaper publishers today launch a campaign highlighting the essential role of journalism in safeguarding democracy, exposing wrongdoing and holding the powerful to account.

Led by NewsBrands Ireland and Local Ireland, the representative bodies for the local and national newspapers, the campaign is designed to highlight the vital role the press plays in a vibrant democracy and calls on the Government to support a number of measures being sought by the industry to ensure its future.

The #JournalismMatters campaign calls on the Government to use Budget 2019 to deliver on a five-point-plan for the industry:

Reduce VAT on newspapers and digital products to 5pc in Budget 2019. It's currently one of the highest rates in Europe.

Reform Ireland's draconian defamation laws to ensure that the stories that need to be told, are told.

Appoint a Minister for Media  a single member of the Cabinet should have oversight for all aspects of our complex media landscape.

Establish a News Publishers Media Fund  to drive innovation and investment.

Invest in a training support scheme for all journalists.

At the heart of the campaign is the simple message that news reporting aids in the detection of deeper issues, and at its best serves to prevent problems from developing or shines a new light on old issues. Without an independent press to raise questions, scandals slide by unchecked.

The week long initiative also includes a ''Journalism Matters'' video series created by NewsBrands Ireland which features 15 examples of outstanding public interest journalism which have affected real change: from recent investigative journalism which uncovered wrongdoing or illegal activity, to campaigning journalism which achieved tangible results, to the reporting of issues or stories which change the public discourse and narrative.

The videos will be rolled out by NewsBrands Ireland and its members on their various digital channels throughout this week.

In addition, an advertising campaign inviting readers to imagine a world without news will run in every national and local newspaper from today.

Chairman of NewsBrands Ireland, Vincent Crowley said: "The future of Irish journalism is at a crossroads and government inaction now is simply not an option. Without the supports and investment, and clarity on VAT rates, the sector will not be able to thrive and invest, but will falter and publications will be forced to close or at best scale back on the good, independent journalism that has been a bedrock of Irish democracy.

"The forthcoming budget gives this Government the opportunity to send a strong message that it appreciates a vibrant news media industry and is seeking ways to protect it for future generations.

President of Local Ireland, Frank Mulrennan said: "Aside from the loss to democratic life in our society, the losses will be big in many communities  jobs will go, not just in the newspaper titles, but many of the supporting ones in newsagents and other indirect jobs.

"Without strong and healthy local newspapers, politicians will be challenged in maintaining engagement with the electorate because local newspapers reach at least 1.5 million people each week.

"It is vitally important independent journalism is supported. The best way the government could show their support for is to implement the measures being sought by the newspaper industry.

Information on the campaign is available at newsbrandsireland.ie and localireland.ie.

Independent and fearless journalism protects our democracyPremium

Colm McCarthy Opinion UK is not alone in its Covid failures

New cases, hospitalisations and deaths from the virus have all risen somewhat in the UK over the last week. Given the rapid roll-out of vaccination, the best in Europe, this should not have been happening. The reason seems to be the so-called Indian variant, more infectious and more widespread in Britain, and some experts are worried the government may be forced to pause, or even reverse, the lifting of restrictions.No new cars using petrol or diesel will be sold in Norway from 2025 - a sobering message of changing times when your family owns 125 petrol stations.

But for Noel McMullan of Maxol, a new epoch of sustainable motoring presents opportunities as well as challenges.

The extended McMullan clan is preparing to celebrate a century in the oil business. Family members travelled to Norway recently to observe how electric vehicles are being used in significant numbers.

The business owns 125 Maxol service stations throughout the island of Ireland and a further 150 stations sell the family's oil under supply contracts.

Noel McMullan (73) is a third-generation family member in the firm. He travels from his home in Delgany, Co Wicklow, to the company's offices in the Irish Financial Services Centre in Dublin on a 1300cc BMW motorbike.

"The motorbike is much quicker than a car and far better than the DART," said the veteran businessman, who switched to two-wheels when he tired of traffic.

He sat in his leather biker trousers at his office desk as he spoke to the Sunday Independent, his monocle dangling on his chest.

His company is looking to a future where electric cars are expected to dominate. The new age poses a challenge for the firm that helped fuel Ireland's driving needs for almost 100 years.

But one of his projects is rooted in the past. He has commissioned a history of this remarkable Irish company. He is seeking public help in gathering material, anecdotes, and memorabilia spanning 10 decades in the Irish oil business.

Decorating his office are old globes from the top of old petrol pumps. The family oil company sold 'Mex' fuel to motorists throughout Ireland from the 1920s until the 1970s when it was rebranded as Maxol.

He held up a two-gallon petrol can emblazoned with the word 'Mex' which dates from the 1920s when petrol was imported into Ireland in small cans in wooden crates.

"We'd love to hear stories from the past about the business and the people involved," he said.

He recalled switching from his own career as a civil engineer when his father David asked him to join the family business in 1971.

Noel's cousins Max and Malcolm are directors along with two fourth-generation directors - Noel's son Barry and Max's son Thomas.

Noel's grandfather William grew up in Groomsport, Co Down, and he was working in a chemist shop in Cork when he married Cork woman Sarah Collins in 1911. They eventually settled in Belfast.

William started to buy and sell kerosene and paraffin. After World War I, he travelled to London and succeeded in being appointed agent to sell petrol in the 32 counties of Ireland for the Anglo-Mexican Oil Company.

William and his brother James registered McMullan Brothers Ltd in the Companies Office in Dublin in April 1920. They set about expanding their business selling Mex petrol. They sold Silensol lubricating oils.

William remained in Belfast and James operated the Dublin office. William bought out James in 1931 and he sent his own sons, David and Clifford, to take charge of operations in Dublin.

The business continued to expand nationwide. It became involved in selling bottled Calor gas in the 1930s and switched to selling bottled Kosengas in 1952, selling that part of the business in the late 1960s.

The firm weathered the two oil crises when shortages resulted in 1972 and 1978 when OPEC cut production and hiked oil prices.

The company had a workforce of up to 900 in the early 1970s and changed the name of its brand to Maxol in the mid-1970s. Its competitors included Shell, BP, Texaco, Esso, Burmah, Jet and Top.

Now its competitors include Circle K, Applegreen, Esso, Campus, Amber and others. Its workforce is down to around 60 people. Last year, it made record profits on a turnover of some 650m.

Several members of the McMullan family joined Noel on that trip to Norway to take stock of how use of electric cars there has accelerated.

"It was very interesting. The indications are that no new cars using fossil fuels can be sold in Norway after 2025," said Noel.

"Already in Oslo, around 25pc of cars are electric. There are car charging points located all over Norway. Apartments could have 100 charging points. Even drive-in restaurants have them," he said.

He said Maxol is aware of the challenges posed to fuel retailers in Ireland. The charging of electric cars at filling stations is part of the future.

As profit margins on fuels are already tight, the profits from operating the forecourt shops are hugely important. People waiting while their electric cars are sufficiently charged should be able to relax with a meal and a coffee.

He understands that higher powered chargers are being developed with the potential to charge a car's battery at a filling station in just 45 minutes compared to an eight-hour charge at home.

Stories and material for the company's history project can be passed on to Noel at 01-6076800 or noel.mcmullan@maxol.iePrior to the May 25 2018, General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) compliance was often discussed and debated from three vastly divergent and arguably equally impractical viewpoints.

The doomsday view: The end is nigh - in order to survive the legislative onslaught we must take major actions along the lines of mass deletion of valuable and often company-critical data, bombarding our customers with requests for consent/re-consent and applying inappropriately high controls to low level risks whilst remaining unaware of many higher level risks. The buzzphrase associated with this view was Are you aware that you will be fined 20 million or 4pc of gross turnover in the event of a breach? There was a disproportionate focus on fines.

Been here before view: Just another Y2K, what is all the fuss about? We all know that this will just fade away in time. Lets just sit back and do nothing and take the view that sure well be grand.

The Hamlet view: This Shakespearean tragic hero was undone by his tendency to procrastinate or in simpler terms avoid making decisions and acting upon them. Many organisations when faced with the prospect of GDPR compliance were aware that they would have to make changes and indeed what some of those changes would have to be but delayed or avoided taking those decisions and actions.

GDPR- Five months on

As we now clearly seeing  none of the mainstream views described above were practical. Our recommended view to clients was and still is the following:

The Pragmatic view: This is emerging legislation which is still to be further clarified, tested and refined. Organisations need to focus on the clear achievable requirements, act on those requirements and take a sensible and risk-based approach to GDPR compliance in general.

There must always be a balance between GDPR compliance and productivity.

In basic terms, if GDPR compliance means that you compromise business operations to the point of potential loss of your business then you are not applying a sensible and risk-based approach. Legislation is not intended to force organisations out of business and the GDPR is no exception.

There needs to be a greater focus on security around personal data and the consequences of reputational risk and data subject compensation claims.

Security

Contrary to the early published views that GDPR compliance is not about security  consider for one moment that you have all of the privacy notices, legal bases for processing and key mandatory processes like subject access request and data breach reporting defined and in place. If you now have a security breach which involves personal data you may still be heading for major trouble.

For most organisations that do not fall into the huge multinational industry categories the predominant risks are loss of reputation and potential data subject compensation claims  not fines.

Reputational risk

Data breaches make headlines  fact. Unfortunately, when suspected or actual breaches make headlines, either through reputable channels or social media it is very difficult to undo that reputational damage, even if it is later proven that the event was not an actual personal data breach. Reversing public negative perception is not always possible. The ultimate consequences can be loss of business from clients or customers who may now view your organisation as untrustworthy and a potential liability.

Sharon OReilly, GRC Consultant, IT Governance EU, will be a contributor at Dublin Information Sec 2018, Irelands third annual cyber security conference, at Dublins RDS on October 15.

Dublin Information Sec 2018 in an Independent News and Media event. Please visit www.independent.ie/infosec18 for further information and tickets.

Sponsored by:Did you know that it takes 1,000 years to generate 3cm of top soil? And that, according to the UN, if current rates of degradation - a major cause of which is intensive farming using chemicals - continue, all of the world's top soil could be gone within 60 years? As more of us become aware of the danger our eco-system is in, there's a growing interest in using 'conscious' cosmetics, that are kinder to both our skin and our planet.

Last year alone saw a whopping 24pc growth in the certified organic and natural cosmetics market, according to the Soil Association's latest Beauty Wellbeing Report. It states that this is the seventh consecutive year of growth in the sector, fuelled by consumers who are embracing 'soil to skin' beauty.

Most of us will already be familiar with the 'farm to fork' approach to food, but what are the benefits of the 'soil to skin' philosophy? "I think it's part of a general inside and out shift towards healthy, toxin-free living," says Nicola Shevlin, a nurse with specialised training in skin healing and co-founder of Ria Organics (riaorganics.ie). "We're exposed to so much pollution in our everyday lives, so choosing clean beauty products is something we can actually control. Our skin absorbs toxins into the body, so by choosing organic, you're steering clear of those nasties."

So, what exactly is the difference between 'natural' and 'organic' products? "Natural generally means the ingredients come from nature - plants, minerals and animal by-products - instead of being created synthetically," says Nicola. "Organic ingredients must pass more difficult standards, such as being grown with no GMOs, chemical pesticides or fertilisers. The best way to tell what's organic is to look for the logo on the packaging of your skincare. When something has the Soil Association COSMOS-Organic stamp you know it's the real deal." Read on for some brilliant, soil-friendly certified organic natural beauts.

Top of the crop

The top certified organic product on the Irish market currently is the Nunaia Nourishing Radiance Serum, 79. With a very difficult to attain 99.5pc COSMOS Organic Certification, it was created by Irish woman Nicola Connolly.

Three of the best: Soil-to-skin cosmetics

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Three Irish siblings (one a skincare nurse, one with a background in chemistry and the other a horticulturist) combined their talents to create this gorgeous certified organic skincare line that comes straight from the Wicklow soil. For a great daytime skin booster try the Ria Organics Energising Day Cream, 40, from riaorganics.ie and health stores nationwide.

Baby soft

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To ditch all synthetic chemical nasties and mind baby's skin, opt for the certified organic skincare line Neal's Yard Remedies. Their Organic Baby Balm, 12.65, is a brilliant all-natural option that can also be used by parents. Keep an eye out for their make-up line, too.

Western force

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The Burren Perfumery is a certified organic brand that has been making waves for a few years now for its all-natural skin remedies and scents. The plant-based ingredients are nearly all grown on the West Coast of Ireland. Try the Burren Perfumery Nourishing Lotion for Hand and Body, 24, from Avoca stores and burrenperfumery.com.

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If you fancy an all-natural, organic, holistic break away, look no further than the eco hotel Brook Lodge in Co Wicklow. Its restaurants serve all-organic dishes and their treatment menu is no different. The Wells Spa uses the certified organic Irish skincare brand Lucy Annabella. Treat yourself to their Mindfully Uplifting Body Massage from 40, or buy the Lucy Annabella Adore Organic Treatment Oil, 58, from brooklodge.com and lucyannabella.com.Queen Elizabeth II meeting heads of state and other dignitaries as they arrive at Buckingham Palace ahead of a Commonwealth summit, in a scene from the ITV documentary Queen Of The World, which will be broadcast on Tuesday 25th September 2018 at 9.15pm on ITV. Photo: Oxford Films/PA Wire

Conservators from the British royal collection carefully unwrapping the veil of Meghan Markle's wedding dress, in a scene from the ITV documentary Queen Of The World, which will be broadcast on Tuesday 25th September 2018 at 9.15pm on ITV. Photo: Oxford Films/PA Wire

Harry meets royal household Caribbean hospitality scholars at Buckingham Palace, in a scene from the ITV documentary Queen Of The World, which will be broadcast on Tuesday 25th September 2018 at 9.15pm on ITV. Photo: Oxford Films/PA Wire

Meghan Markle meets a conservator from Britain's Royal Collection as she is reunited with her wedding dress for the first time since her wedding, in a scene from the ITV documentary Queen Of The World, which will be broadcast on Tuesday 25th September 2018 at 9.15pm on ITV. Photo: Oxford Films/PA Wire

Meghan Markle examines the embroidery on her wedding dress veil in a scene from the ITV documentary Queen Of The World, which will be broadcast on Tuesday 25th September 2018 at 9.15pm on ITV. Photo: Oxford Films/PA Wire

Meghan Markle meets Hannah Belcher, senior exhibitions project co-ordinator at the Royal Collection, as she is reunited with her wedding dress for the first time since her wedding, in a scene from the ITV documentary Queen Of The World, which will be broadcast on Tuesday 25th September 2018 at 9.15pm on ITV. Photo: Oxford Films/PA Wire

When Meghan Markle walked up the aisle with an enigmatic smile, the watching world could only guess what was running through her mind.

Four months on, as she takes part in her first television interview as a member of the royal family, she has shared one of the secrets she carried with her: a very romantic something blue.

The Duchess, who married in a simple Givency gown, has disclosed that she had a blue ribbon sewn inside the dress, made from the fabric of the outfit she wore on her very first date with Prince Harry.

The blue dress is known to have had quite the effect on the Prince, who has said he was beautifully surprised when he first saw his future bride in July 2016, and realised he was going to have to up my game.

The Duchess has now spoken for the first time of how she kept her something blue a secret, as well as surprising her husband and new in-laws by having the 53 flowers of the Commonwealth sewn into her wedding veil.

In a television documentary, called Queen of the World, she is reunited with her dress at Buckingham Palace, where curators of the Royal Collection Trust are conserving it ready to put on public display.

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My goodness, its amazing, isnt it? she said, upon seeing the handiwork of designer Clare Waight Keller and her team.

Somewhere in here, there is a piece ofdid you see it? The piece of blue fabric thats stitched inside?

It was my something blue. Its fabric from the dress that I wore on our first date.

The Duchess has previously said of the date, after the couple were matched by mutual friend Violet Von Westenholz: It was definitely a set-up. It was a blind date.

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I didnt know much about him and so the only thing I had asked her when she said she wanted to set us up was, I had one question. I said Was he nice?

Now married, the couple will appear in the documentary about the Queens work around the Commonwealth and speak of how they plan to carry it on.

The Duchess disclosed her decision to include wild flowers from each of its 53 members into her veil had gone down well with her new family, who interpreted it as a sign of her commitment to duty.

It was important for me, especially now being a part of the Royal Family, to have all 53 of the Commonwealth countries incorporated, she said.

And I knew that it would be a fun surprise as well for my now husband, who didnt know, and he was really over the moon to find out that I would make this choice for our day together.

I think the other members of the family had a similar reaction, and just appreciation for the fact that we understand how important this is for us and the role that we play, and the work that were going to continue to do within the Commonwealth countries.

So it was good news all around, I think. I hope people liked it as much as I liked helping to create it.

The Duke and Duchess will next month embark on their first Commonwealth tour to Australia, Fiji, Tonga and New Zealand.

You know, its such an exciting time for us, especially with Harrys role as Youth Ambassador for the Commonwealth and the travel that we intend to do, to do work specifically in all those different territories, the Duchess added.

Which is why it was so important to have some sort of example of that present with us on the day.

53 countries as well, my goodness. Itll keep us busy.

The documentary will also see the Prince of Wales, who was this year confirmed as the next head of the Commonwealth, pay tribute to his mothers decades of duty.

When you think how young the Queen was when suddenly my grandfather died, to be required to take on such an enormous task to have met that challenge the way she did is truly remarkable, he said.

It appeared effortless, but it jolly well isnt, of course.

The programme will also see the Princess Royal and household staff share the secrets of life on the Royal Yacht Britannia.

Royal yachtsman Ellis Norrell described the scrapes the young Prince Charles got into on his maiden voyage.

The children, they loved it, he said. They came down to our mess deck for tea. They wanted to know how the lads got into their hammocks.

Charles, he shook this lad who had been asleep and he picked him up by the scruff of the neck. He said, Dont you do that again or youll never live to be King, and put him down.

The first episode of the two-part Queen of the World will be broadcast on ITV at 9.15pm on Tuesday, (September 25).

Telegraph Media Group Limited [2021]The Vatican yesterday signed a landmark agreement giving it a long-sought say in the appointment of bishops in China, though critics labelled the deal a sell-out to the Communist government.

The provisional agreement, signed in Beijing by deputy foreign ministers from both sides, was announced as Pope Francis visited Lithuania on a four-day trip to the Baltic countries.

It gives the Holy See a decisive role in the appointment of all bishops in a country whose around 12 million Catholics have been split between an underground Church swearing loyalty to the Vatican and the state-supervised Catholic Patriotic Association.

The Vatican said the accord, a breakthrough after years of negotiations, was "not political but pastoral".

A Holy See statement did not mention Taiwan, which the Vatican recognises diplomatically and which China sees as a renegade province.

However, diplomats have said the accord was a possible precursor to a resumption in diplomatic relations with Beijing after 70 years. Beijing does not allow countries to have diplomatic relations with both China and Taiwan.

Taiwan now has formal relations with only 17 states and the Vatican is the only one in Europe.

The Vatican said the Pope hoped "a new process may begin that will allow the wounds of the past to be overcome, leading to the full communion of all Chinese Catholics".

But prospects of such an agreement had divided communities of Catholics across China, some of whom fear greater suppression should the Vatican cede more control to Beijing. Others want to see rapprochement and avoid a potential schism.

"They're giving the flock into the mouths of the wolves. It's an incredible betrayal," said Cardinal Joseph Zen, the feisty 76-year-old former archbishop of Hong Kong, who has led the opposition to the deal.

"The consequences will be tragic and long-lasting, not only for the church in China but for the whole church because it damages the credibility. Maybe that's why they might keep the agreement secret," Zen said.

Vatican sources have said the deal will not be published and can be reviewed and fine-tuned in the future.

The Vatican said that, as part of the deal, Pope Francis had recognised the legitimacy of the seven remaining state-appointed Chinese bishops who had been named without Papal approval and had re-admitted them into the church.

"Today, for the first time, all the bishops in China are in communion with the Bishop of Rome (the pope)," Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican Secretary of State and one of the chief architects of the deal, said in a statement.

Vatican sources have said that a few bishops appointed by Rome will cede their places to bishops who had been appointed by Beijing.

In future, new bishops will first be proposed by members of local Catholic communities together with Chinese authorities. The names of candidates will be sent to the Vatican and the Pope will make a final decision, the sources said.

ReutersA British woman who discovered a dead baby turtle inside her vagina may have been a victim of sexual assault, reports say.

The 26 year old woman is a resident of Tenerife in the Canary Islands. A few days ago, she showed up at El Mojon hospital in Arona complaining of abdominal pains. Doctors discovered that a Chinese three-keeled pond turtle was lodged inside her vagina.

The doctors alerted the police fearing it was a case of sexual assault, according to Spanish news outlet El Pais.

The unnamed woman said that she was out partying with a group of British friends in Fanabe beach a few days earlier, but she has no memory of what happened during the night. Over the next few days, the woman started feeling sick and presented at the hospital.

It was discovered that the dead turtle had caused a serious infection in her genitals, according to ABC News.

However, the woman is not keen on investigating the incident, resulting in the police investigation being halted.

We are not actively investigating this matter because the woman declined to give a statement, a police source told The Sun newspaper.

The freshwater Chinese pond turtles are sold worldwide in pet stores and can reach up to 12 inches in length, El Pais reported.

Researchers at first believed the creature was a loggerhead sea turtle because they are indigenous to the the Canary Islands archipelago, but it was confirmed later that the creature was indeed a Chinese pond turtle.A teacher who moved his family 8,000 miles to the South Atlantic, after landing a job as deputy head at the Falklands Island school, has been charged with child sex offences. Paul Barton, 41, is currently on bail in Stanley awaiting trial and last month was refused permission to fly back to the UK to attend his father's funeral.

A former Captain in the Territorial Army, Mr Barton relocated to the Falklands in January 2016, with his wife, two children and three dogs after leaving his job as acting assistant principal at the De Warenne Academy in Doncaster, South Yorkshire.

He was appointed deputy headteacher at the Community School in Stanley and recently celebrated with the pupils as they enjoyed record GCSE results.

But he was suspended last month after being charged with possessing indecent images of children and attempting to engage a youngster in sexual activity.

His wife and two sons are understood to have now left the island and returned to the UK, but Mr Barton has been forced to hand over his passport and will have to remain on the island until the conclusion of the court case.

The offences relate to alleged activities in internet chatrooms and do not involve any children living in the Falklands. Mr Barton is accused of contacting a 12-year-old girl online and asked her to engage in sexual conversations and send indecent photographs of herself.

When she refused it is claimed he asked her to send image of girls that looked like her.

Police investigating the allegations seized his computers and allegedly found around 30 indecent images of children.

Mr Barton will claim he thought he was engaging in role play with other adults in chatrooms and had no recollection of looking at the indecent images.

In an online blog about their move to the South Atlantic, Mr Barton's wife described how they decided to make the move in order to spend more time with one another and were inspired by a trip to Iceland.

Writing in December 2015, she said: "On the train back from our family holiday in Iceland Paul spotted an opportunity in the paper to work in the Falkland islands and the journey was then spent playing the what if game.

"The decision was made to make an application with a nothing ventured, nothing gained attitude and to be truthful I dont think that either of us thought that there would be a response.

"After a few weeks of waiting we thought that it wasnt to be but then out of nowhere there was the offer of a skype interview followed closely by an offer of a job!"

They sold their three bedroom semi-detached home near Scunthorpe just days before they left for the Falkland Islands, making a 35,000 loss from when they bought it in 2008. One former neighbour said: "It was a very fast exit. He listed his house and was gone within weeks."

A spokesman for the De Warenne Academy where Mr Barton used to teach, said: We understand that there is an investigation by the Falklands authorities into allegations against a former member of staff.

We will assist where appropriate. Following his arrest Mr Barton was forced to hand over his passport to the RFIP, but last month applied for permission to return to the UK to attend his father's funeral on Humberside.

He was initially granted permission to travel but the prosecution successfully appealed the decision.

Under his current bail conditions Mr Barton is not allowed unsupervised contact with children and has been banned from entering the school or leisure centre on the island.

Following Mr Barton's arrest the Falkland Islands Government announced a review of safeguarding procedures at the school.

Telegraph Media Group Limited [2021]Negotiators have reached a tentative agreement for the Senate Judiciary Committee to hear testimony on Thursday from Christine Blasey Ford, the woman accusing Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault from decades ago, according to two people briefed on the matter.

Lawyers for Ms Ford and bipartisan representatives of the committee came to the tentative agreement after a short phone call, said one of the people. The person said Mr Kavanaugh would also appear.

Some details of the hearing, such as the order of their appearance, remained in negotiation. Talks were expected to continue on Sunday.

The tentative accord could bring to a close days of high-stakes brinkmanship that have roiled Washington ahead of midterm elections and threated to jeopardize Kavanaughs confirmation to the court.

Tensions have been running on overdrive since Ms Ford, a 51-year-old college professor in California, went public with her allegation that Mr Kavanaugh assaulted her when they were at a house party in high school.

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Mr Kavanaugh, 53, an appellate court judge, denied the allegation and said he wanted to testify as soon as possible to clear his name.

Ms Ford initially indicated she wanted to tell her story to the committee, but talks dragged on as her lawyers negotiated terms of her appearance.

Republicans grew frustrated as Ms Fords lawyers insisted on a hearing next Thursday rather than Monday or even Wednesday and made other requests, some of which the committee chairman, Senator Chuck Grassley rejected.

Democrats, against the backdrop of the #MeToo movement, countered that Ms Ford should be shown respect and given accommodation to tell her story.

As the talks continued, Mr Grassley countered that he would end the stand-off by scheduling a Monday vote on whether to recommend Mr Kavanaughs nomination to the full Senate.

Meanwhile, Republicans viewed Ms Fords requests as a way to delay voting on President Donald Trumps nominee.

Earlier on Saturday, a senior official at the White House said Ms Fords requests amounted to a clever way to push off the vote Monday without committing to appear Wednesday.

In a single tweet on Friday, Mr Trump broke his silence to cast doubt on Fords story in ways Republicans had been carefully trying to avoid.

Ms Fords lawyers Debra Katz and Lisa Banks had said that many aspects of Mr Grassleys latest offer were fundamentally inconsistent with the committees promise of a fair, impartial investigation.

They said they remained disappointed by the bullying that tainted the process.

Earlier on Saturday, vice president Mike Pence called Mr Kavanaugh a man of integrity with impeccable credentials.

He expressed confidence that Republicans will manage this confirmation properly with the utmost respect for all concerned and said he expected Mr Kavanaugh to join the high court soon.

Patience among Republicans was running thin. The GOP has faced enormous pressure from its base of conservative leaders and voters to swiftly approve Mr Kavanaugh, who would become the second of Trumps nominees to sit on the nations highest court.

Mr Grassley had set a Friday night deadline for Ms Ford to agree to the committees latest terms for her appearance.

Mr Grassley said that if she missed that deadline, he would scrap the hearing and his committee would vote on sending Mr Kavanaughs nomination to the full Senate.

Ms Fords lawyers asked for another day. In a tweet aimed at Mr Kavanaugh shortly before midnight, Mr Grassley said he was giving them additional time.

Judge Kavanaugh I just granted another extension to Dr Ford to decide if she wants to proceed w the statement she made last week to testify to the senate She shld decide so we can move on I want to hear her. I hope u understand. Its not my normal approach to b indecisive  ChuckGrassley (@ChuckGrassley) September 22, 2018

She shld decide so we can move on. I want to hear her. I hope u understand. Its not my normal approach to b indecisive, Grassley wrote.

In backing away from deadlines and demands, Mr Grassley underscored the sensitivity with which Senate Republicans have tried handling Ms Ford.

Ms Katz had called Mr Grassleys original deadline arbitrary and said its sole purpose is to bully Dr Ford and deprive her of the ability to make a considered decision that has life-altering implications for her and her family.

On Friday, Mr Grassley had rejected concessions Ms Ford wanted if she is tell her story publicly before the committee.

Mr Grassley turned down Ms Fords request that only senators, not lawyers, be allowed to ask questions.

The committees 11 Republicans  all men  have been seeking an outside female attorney to interrogate Ms Ford.

He also rejected her proposal that she testify after Mr Kavanaugh.

Mr Grassleys stance reflected a desire by Mr Trump and Republican leaders to usher Mr Kavanaugh on to the high court by the October 1 start of its new session and before the November elections.Opposition presidential candidate Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has declared victory in a contentious Maldives election widely seen as a referendum on the island nations young democracy.

Mr Solihs win, announced at his partys campaign headquarters in the capital city of Male, was unexpected.

The opposition had feared the election would be rigged in favour of strongman President Yameen Abdul Gayoom, whose first term was marked by a crackdown on political rivals, courts and the media.

People were not expecting this result.

Despite the repressive environment, the people have spoken their minds, said Ahmed Tholal, a former member of the Human Rights Commission of the Maldives and a project coordinator at the nonprofit watchdog Transparency Maldives.

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A democracy activist during the Maldives decades of autocratic rule and former Parliament majority leader, Mr Solih, 56, became the Maldivian Democratic Partys presidential candidate by process of elimination, other opposition leaders had been jailed or exiled by Mr Yameens government.

Party leader and former President Mohamed Nasheed, in exile in Sri Lanka, had hoped to run again but was disqualified because of an outstanding prison sentence in the Maldives.

Famed for its sandy white beaches and luxury resorts, the Maldives under Mr Yameen have seen economic growth and longer life expectancy, according to the World Bank.

But Mr Yameens critics, including Mr Solih, said he systematically rolled back democratic freedoms.

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Mr Solih campaigned door to door, promising at rallies to promote human rights and the rule of law, a message that resonated with voters who saw signs the Maldives were slipping back to autocratic rule, just a decade after achieving democracy.

Ibu is totally different from Yameen, because Yameen is a dictator and a brutal person.

Ibu is a very mild person who listens to everyone, said Ahamed Fiasal, a 39-year-old IT business owner, using Mr Solihs nickname.

Still, Mr Fiasal said, the result was surprising because no one thought that Yameen would lose like this.

He had all the power, the judiciary, the police, the security forces under him.

It seemed he might rig the election even at the last minute and would win somehow or the other.

Mr Solihs supporters flooded the streets, hugging one another, waving the Maldivian flag, cheering and honking horns in celebration.

Mr Yameens campaign did not concede the race, and no one from the campaign could immediately be reached for comment.

But Mr Solih had 58.3% of the vote with nearly 97.5% of ballots counted early Monday, according to independent newspaper website mihaaru.com.

A spokesman for Maldives Election Commission said official results would not be announced until September 29, allowing a week for parties to challenge the results in court.

Mr Solih, surrounded by thousands of his supporters, urged calm until the commission had announced the results.

In his victory speech, Mr Solih called the election results a moment of happiness, hope and history, but said that he did not think the election process had been transparent.

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A police raid on Mr Solihs main campaign office the night before the election was seen by the opposition as a worrying sign that Mr Yameen would muzzle his way to re-election, according to Hamid Abdul Gafoor, an opposition spokesman and former Maldives politician now based in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

Few foreign media organisations were allowed in to cover the election.

Mr Yameen used his first term to consolidate power, jailing opponents, including his half brother, a former president, and two Supreme Court Justices.

In February, Mr Yameen declared a state of emergency, suspended the constitution and ordered troops to storm the Supreme Court and arrest judges after they had ordered the release and retrial of those jailed after politically-motivated trials.

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The Supreme Court ordered the release of Mr Nasheed and many other political leaders.

The European Union had said that it was not sending election observers because the Maldives had failed to meet the basic conditions for monitoring.

The US had threatened to sanction Maldivian officials if the elections were not free and fair.

Despite the turmoil, voters flocked to the polls on Sunday, standing in long queues in rain and high temperatures to cast ballots.

More than 260,000 of the Maldives 400,000 people were eligible to vote at about 400 polling stations across the approximately 1,200 islands that comprise the Indian Ocean archipelago.

Voters also stood in long queues in Malaysia, the UK, India and Sri Lanka, where the opposition had encouraged overseas Maldivians to participate.PANIC: Injured soldiers lying on the ground at the scene of the attack. Photo: Iranian Students News Agency/AP

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei last night accused US-backed Gulf Arab states of carrying out a shooting attack on a military parade that killed 25 people, almost half of them members of the country's elite Revolutionary Guards.

Khamenei ordered security forces to bring to justice those responsible for one of the worst assaults ever against the Revolutionary Guards, the most powerful military force in the country, which answers to him.

The allegation is likely to increase tensions with Iran's rival Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies, who along with the US have been working to isolate the Islamic Republic.

"This crime is a continuation of the plots of the regional states that are puppets of the US, and their goal is to create insecurity in our dear country," Khamenei said in a statement published on his website.

He did not name the regional states he believed were to blame. Israel is also a key US ally opposed to Tehran.

An Iranian ethnic Arab opposition movement called the Ahvaz National Resistance, which seeks a separate state in oil-rich Khuzestan province, claimed responsibility for the attack. Isil militants also claimed responsibility. Neither claim provided evidence. All four attackers were killed.

The assault, which wounded more than 60 people, targeted a viewing stand where Iranian officials had gathered in the city of Ahvaz to watch an annual event marking the start of the Islamic Republic's 1980-88 war with Iraq, state television said.

The bloodshed struck a significant blow to the oil producer, which has been relatively stable compared with neighbouring Arab countries that have grappled with upheaval since the 2011 uprisings across the Middle East.

Women and children died in the assault, state news IRNA agency reported.

The assailants had hidden weapons in an area near the parade route several days in advance, said Brigadier General Abolfazl Shekarchi, a senior Iranian spokesman.

"All four terrorists were quickly neutralised by security forces," Shekarchi told state television. "A four-year-old girl and a wheelchair-bound war veteran were among the dead."

Attacks on the military are rare in Iran. The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) has been the sword and shield of Shi'ite clerical rule in Iran since its 1979 Islamic Revolution.

The Guards have a big say in Iran's regional interests and a vast stake worth billions of dollars in Iran's economy.

A video distributed to Iranian media showed soldiers crawling to escape gunfire. One picked up a gun and scrambled to his feet to return fire as women and children fled for their lives.

State TV featured a video showing confused soldiers. Standing in front of the stand, one asked: "Where did they come from?" Another responded: "From behind us."

Ahvaz is in the centre of Khuzestan province, where there have been sporadic protests by minority Arabs.

According to Shekarchi, the gunmen were trained by two Gulf Arab states and had ties to the US and Israel. There was no immediate Gulf Arab comment on his remarks.

Iran and Saudi Arabia support opposite sides in wars in Syria and Yemen and rival political parties in Iraq and Lebanon, fuelling instability in the Middle East.

The attack occurred a day before Iranian president Hassan Rouhani heads to New York to address the annual UN General Assembly next week.

On his Instagram account, Rouhani said "those who are supporting these terrorists will be held responsible".

Iranian analysts said the attack may benefit the Guards.

"Rouhani will use the terrorist attack to justify Iran's presence in the Middle East...The attack will strengthen the IRGC's position inside Iran and in the region," said Tehran-based political analyst Hamid Farahvashian.

Iran faces pressure to respond swiftly to the attack, which has hurt the security establishment's prestige.

"The attacks are doubtlessly meant to tarnish the prestige of the IRGC, but I believe the terrorist incidents will strengthen the IRGC's standing and mobilise some public support," said Ali Alfoneh of the Gulf Arab States Institute in Washington.

Hardliners like the IRGC have gained standing at the expense of pragmatists in Iran's multi-tiered leadership since Donald Trump decided in May to pull the US out of the 2015 international nuclear deal with Tehran and reimpose sanctions on the country.

"The US stands with the Iranian people and encourages the regime in Tehran to focus on keeping them safe at home," said National Security Council spokesman Garrett Marquis.

Kurdish militants killed 10 Revolutionary Guards in an attack on an IRGC post on the Iraqi border in July.

Last year, in the first deadly assault claimed by Islamic State in Tehran, 18 people were killed at the parliament and mausoleum of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, founder of the Islamic Republic.

 ReutersA ceasefire seldom gets a good press. If it ends violence or defuses a crisis, the media get bored and lose interest. If the fighting goes on, then those who have called the ceasefire are condemned as heartless hypocrites who either never intended to bring the killing to an end or are culpably failing to do so.

Pundits are predictably sceptical about the agreement reached by Russia and Turkey in Sochi last Monday to head off an imminent offensive by Syrian forces against rebels in Idlib province. This is the last enclave of the armed opposition in western Syria, which has lost its strongholds in Aleppo, Damascus and Daraa over the past two years.

Doubts about the accord are understandable because, if it is implemented, the anti- Assad groups in Idlib will be de-fanged militarily.

They will see a demilitarised zone policed by Russia and Turkey eat into their territory, "radical terrorist groups" removed, and heavy weapons (tanks to mortars) withdrawn. The rebels will lose control of the two main highways crossing Idlib and linking government held cities of Aleppo, Latakia and Hama.

There is a striking note of imperial self-confidence about the document in which all sides in the Syrian civil war are instructed to come to heel. This may not happen as intended, because it is difficult to see why fighters of al-Qaeda-type groups like Hayat Tahrir al-Sham should voluntarily give up such military leverage as they still possess. The Syrian government has said it will comply with the agreement but may calculate that, in the not so long-term, it will be able to slice up Idlib bit by bit as it did other rebel enclaves.

What is most interesting about the agreement is less its details than what it tells us about the balance of forces in Syria, the region and even the world as a whole. Fragile it may be, but then that is true of all treaties which General de Gaulle famously compared to "young girls and roses - they last as long as they last". Implementation of the Putin-Erdogan agreement may be ragged and its benefits temporary, but it will serve a purpose if a few less Syrians in Idlib are blown apart.

The Syrian civil war long ago ceased to be a struggle between local participants. Syria is an arena where foreign states fight proxy wars and put their strength and influence to the test. The most important international outcome so far is that it has enabled Russia to re-establish itself as a great power. Moscow helped Assad secure his rule after the uprising in 2011 and later ensured his ultimate victory by direct military intervention in 2015.

A senior diplomat from an Arab country recalls that, early in the Syrian war, he asked a US general with a command in the region what was the difference between the crisis in Syria and the one just ended with the overthrow of Gaddafi in Libya. The general responded with a single word: "Russia."

It is difficult to remember now, when Russia is being portrayed as an aggressive predatory power threatening everybody, the extent to which it was marginalised seven years ago when Nato was doing regime change in Libya.

Russia was in reality always stronger than it looked. It remained a nuclear superpower capable of destroying the world just as it was before the fall of the USSR in 1991. It should be difficult to forget this important fact, but politicians and commentators continue to blithely recommend isolating Russia and pretend it can be safely ignored.

The return of Russia as a great power was always inevitable but was accelerated by successful opportunism and crass errors by rival states. Assad in Syria was always stronger than he looked. Even at the nadir of his fortunes in July 2011, the British embassy in Damascus estimated he had the backing of 30-40pc of the population according to The Battle for Syria: International Rivalry in the New Middle East by Christopher Phillips, which should be essential reading for anybody interested in Syria. Expert opinion failed to dent the conviction among international statesmen that Assad was bound to go. When the French ambassador, Eric Chevallier, expressed similar doubts about the imminence of regime change he received a stern rebuke from officials in Paris who told him: "Your information does not interest us. Bashar al-Assad must fall and will fall."

Such wishful thinking and flight from reality continues. Miscalculations by Washington, Paris and London have provided Putin with ideal political terrain on which to reassert Russian power. The agreement signed by Russia and Turkey deciding the future of Idlib is a token of how far Russia has come out on top in Syria. Putin is able to sign a bilateral agreement with Turkey, the second largest military power in Nato, without any reference to the US or other Nato members.

The accord means Turkey will increase its military stake in northern Syria, but it can only do so safely under licence from Moscow. The priority for Turkey is to prevent the creation of a Kurdish statelet under US protection in Syria and for this it needs Russian cooperation. It was the withdrawal of the Russian air umbrella protecting the Kurdish enclave of Afrin this year that enabled the Turkish army to invade and take it over.

As has happened with North Korea, President Trump's instincts may be surer than vaunted expertise of the Washington foreign policy establishment and its foreign clones. They have not learnt the most important lesson of the US-led intervention in wars in Iraq and Syria - it is not in western interests to stir the pot in either country. Despite this, they argue for continued US military presence in north-east Syria on the grounds this will weaken Assad and ensure any victory he wins will be pyrrhic.

Everything that has happened since 2011 suggests the opposite: by trying to weaken Assad, the west will force him to become more, not less, reliant on Moscow and Tehran. It ensures more Syrians will die, be injured or become refugees and gives space for al-Qa'ida clones to re-emerge.

Russian dominance in the northern tier of the Middle East may be opportunistic but it is being reinforced by another process. Trump may not yet have started any wars, but the uncertainty of US policy means many countries now look for a reinsurance policy with Russia because they are not sure how far they can rely on the US. Putin may not always be able to juggle these different opportunities presented to him, but so far he's had surprising success.

 IndependentThe fate of US Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein could turn on whether Donald Trump believes the account of an ex-FBI official who, as Trump once asserted in a tweet, had "LIED! LIED! LIED!"

Rosenstein discussed secretly recording Trump - though one person who was present at the time said Rosenstein was just being sarcastic when he reportedly suggested removing the commander in chief from office. Rosenstein issued a swift denial to both claims.

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However, the revelation that the second-ranking Justice Department official had even broached those ideas has created even more uncertainty for him at a time when Trump has railed against law enforcement leadership he perceives as biased against him.

The US president, at a Missouri rally last Friday night, said there was a "lingering stench" at his Justice Department that "we're going to get rid of". He didn't name names.

A key witness in the episode is Andrew McCabe, who was temporarily elevated to FBI director after Trump fired James Comey. McCabe documented conversations with senior officials, including Rosenstein, in memos that have been provided to special counsel Robert Mueller as part of the Trump-Russia investigation.

The discussion about possibly recording Trump occurred during a meeting with McCabe in May 2017 following Comey's firing. Comey's dismissal infuriated many rank-and-file agents, but the White House has said that decision was made on the Justice Department's recommendation.

A memo from McCabe also describes Rosenstein as having discussed the potential removal of Trump under the Constitution.

While Trump has publicly scorned Rosenstein, the president has been every bit as harsh toward McCabe, who was fired in March amid a watchdog investigation that concluded he repeatedly lied about his involvement in a news media disclosure.

Trump once called McCabe's firing a "great day for democracy" and asserted without elaboration that McCabe knew all "about the lies and corruption going on at the highest levels of the FBI". The inspector general's findings have been referred to prosecutors for possible criminal charges.

Friday's news reports raised the prospect that Trump could fire Rosenstein. Any dismissal could affect Mueller's investigation into possible co-ordination between Russia and Trump's presidential campaign. Rosenstein appointed Mueller and oversees his work.

Trump said at the Missouri rally that the Justice Department had some "great people" but also "some real bad ones". He said the "bad ones" were gone, "but there's a lingering stench and we're going to get rid of that, too". It was unclear to whom he was referring, and the White House did not respond to questions about Rosenstein's remarks.

Rosenstein's comments were first reported by The New York Times, which also said he raised the idea of using the 25th Amendment to remove Trump as unfit for office. Rosenstein denied it.

"I never pursued or authorised recording the president and any suggestion that I have ever advocated for the removal of the president is absolutely false," he said in a statement.

The differing accounts of the conversation underscore the conflicts that roiled the FBI and Justice Department early in the Trump administration. Rosenstein, just weeks into his job, wrote a memo critical of Comey's handling of the Hillary Clinton email server investigation that the White House used as justification for firing Comey.

Rosenstein distanced himself from the White House soon after Comey's firing by saying his memo "was not a statement of reasons" for firing Comey. Comey, meanwhile, has criticised Rosenstein's role in the firing but has said Rosenstein has acted honourably since then.

Comey and McCabe, once close associates at the FBI, have provided wildly divergent accounts about who knew what when regarding a 2016 Wall Street Journal story on an FBI investigation into the Clinton Foundation.

McCabe says he told Comey that he had authorised FBI officials to share information with the reporter in order to push back against a story that McCabe felt was going to be unfair to the bureau and inaccurate. Comey has said McCabe did not acknowledge having done so and left the impression that he didn't know who had shared the information with the journalist.

The inspector general's office has accepted Comey's account over McCabe's in concluding that McCabe repeatedly lied to internal investigators under oath. McCabe denies that.

The Justice Department on Friday distributed a list of instances in which the inspector general said McCabe had made false statements in the past. The department also released an email from one attendee who said Rosenstein's "statement was sarcastic and was never discussed with any intention of recording a conversation with the president".

One of the people briefed on the conversation in question, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the confidential nature of the interaction, said it occurred during a moment of frustration between McCabe and Rosenstein.

Rosenstein was rankled by the revelation that Comey had kept memos about his interactions with the president, and McCabe wanted a more aggressive approach toward the White House, the person said.

At that point, Rosenstein said to McCabe something to the effect of, "What do you want, you want me to wear a wire?" according to the person. Rosenstein was asked in the meeting if he was serious, and he said yes, but he did not mean for the wire comment to be taken seriously as a tactic to investigate Trump, the person said.

The person also said a memo from McCabe describes Rosenstein as referencing the 25th Amendment to the Constitution, which says that a president can be declared "unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office" upon a majority vote of the vice president and the cabinet. But the person said notes from another attendee at the meeting, former FBI lawyer Lisa Page, did not include the 25th Amendment reference.

McCabe's lawyer, Michael Bromwich, said in a statement that McCabe had drafted memos to "memorialise significant discussions he had with high-level officials and preserved them so he would have an accurate, contemporaneous record of those discussions". He did not address the content of the memos.

Associated PressPope Francis has paid tribute to Lithuanians who suffered and died during Soviet and Nazi occupations on the day the country remembers the near-extermination of its Jewish community during the Holocaust.

Francis began his second day in the Baltics in Lithuanias second city, Kaunas, where an estimated 3,000 Jews survived out of a community of 37,000 during the 1941-1944 Nazi occupation.

During Mass in the lush Santakos Park under a brilliant autumn sun, Francis honoured both Jewish victims of Nazi-era executions and the Lithuanians who were deported to Siberian gulags or were tortured and oppressed at home during five decades of Soviet occupation.

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Earlier generations still bear the scars of the period of the occupation, anguish at those who were deported, uncertainty about those who never returned, shame for those who were informers and traitors, Francis told the crowd.

Kaunas knows about this. Lithuania as a whole can testify to it, still shuddering at the mention of Siberia, or the ghettos of Vilnius and Kaunas, among others.

He denounced those who get caught up in debating who was more virtuous in the past and fail to address the tasks of the present  an apparently veiled reference to historic revisionism that is afflicting much of Eastern Europe as it comes to terms with the Holocaust.

The issue is acute in Lithuania, where ordinary Lithuanians executed Jews alongside the Nazi occupiers, wiping out the Jewish population of the capital of Vilnius that was known for centuries as the the Jerusalem of the North because of its importance to Jewish thought and politics.

Francis is to continue the remembrance with a visit to a museum in Vilnius that is dedicated to Soviet atrocities as well as a prayer in the Vilnius Ghetto, which 75 years ago was finally destroyed and its remaining Jewish residents executed or sent off to concentration camps.

Each year, the September 23 anniversary of the destruction of the Vilnius Ghetto is commemorated with readings of the names of Jews who were executed by Nazis as well as by complicit Lithuanian partisans in the nearby Ponary forest.

Francis is travelling to Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia to mark their 100th anniversaries of independence and to encourage the faith in the Baltics, which saw five decades of Soviet-imposed religious repression and state-sponsored atheism.

Lithuania is 80% Catholic; Lutherans and Russian Orthodox count more followers in Latvia and Estonia, where Francis visits on Monday and Tuesday.

The Baltic countries declared their independence in 1918 but were annexed into the Soviet Union in 1940 in a secret agreement with Nazi Germany. The Vatican and many Western countries refused to recognise the annexation. Except for the 1941-1944 Nazi occupation, the Baltic countries remained part of the Soviet Union until its collapse in the early 1990s.After retirement, when most of us tend to withdraw and sit back in the cosy comfort of home, he is on a mission.

After spending 37 years in print media, 60-year-old retired journalist Sharat Sharma is on a bike ride, spending his own savings, spreading a message of staying fit in life to enjoy post-retirement life.

He reached Bhopal on Saturday.

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Sharma told TOI he had started his journey on March 18, 2018. I had started a solo 28,000km bike ride from Delhi, which will cover 29 states, four Union Territories and Bhutan. I have reached Bhopal after covering 24 states, three Union Territories and Bhutan and have logged 24819km so far, Sharma said.

He rides without using a mobile phone, GPS and navigation tools and wishes to prove bike rides can be managed and enjoyed without these.

He has so far covered Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, UP, Bihar, Sikkim, Bhutan, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Tripura, Nagaland, Manipur, Bengal, Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Goa and Maharashtra.

He has visited Chennai, Thiruvananthpuram, Kochi, Coimbatore, Mysuru, Goa, Maharashtra, Daman, Dadra & Nagar Haveli.

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I have reached Bhopal from Mandu, Indore and Ujjain. From here, I will go to Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Ladakh, Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab and Chandigarh. I will conclude my trip in Delhi, Sharma said.

Sharma said, I am riding to spread the message of staying fit in life to enjoy post-retirement life which is the third innings of ones life cycle. This isthe time to enjoy and live ones dreams and give something back to the society.

He said, For this to come true, fitness regime must be followed throughout ones life to avoid spending third innings in hospitals. I believe we all are born to complete our lifes journey in three innings.

Defining innings of life, he said, First innings is when we get ready to face the world after completing our college and professional education. The second innings is when we nurture our family and fulfil our career goals. The third innings is when we fulfil our dreams.

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He felt India has become a diabetics capital of the world and is on way to be the worlds capital of cholesterol diseases as well. This is happening because we have stopped taking care of our health and opted for a sedentary lifestyle. We must start working towards fitness to avoid these two tags and become a nation of healthy citizens, said Sharma.

His other message is for young bike riders in the country. I want youngsters to follow traffic discipline and enjoy bike rides as part of lifes journey and not waste life by dying in accidents. Roads are for enjoying lifes journey and must not be turned into racing tracks, he said.Following governments decision to cancel talks with Pakistan, Army Chief General Bipin Rawat said that it is time to avenge the kind of barbarism by the neighbouring country and that the government must ensure the other side must feel the same fail.

We need to take stern action to avenge the kind of barbarism that terrorists and the Pakistan Army have been carrying against our soldiers. It is time to give it back to them in the same coin but not by resorting to a similar kind of barbarism. I think the other side must also feel the same pain, he told reporters in Jaipur.

Pakistan-based entities killed security personnel and released postage stamps glorifying Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani, who was killed by Indian security forces in July 2016.

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Rawat added that India has carried out specific actions against them whenever they did something against India on the border. Pakistan has suffered many casualties and we have been able to take on their defence system to a large extent but we never resorted to barbarism.

Commenting on governments stance that talks and terrorism cant go hand in hand, Rawat said, I think our governments policy has been quite clear and concise. Weve made no bones about the fact that talks and terrorism cant go hand in hand. Pakistan needs to curb the menace of terrorism.Habibganj railway station in Bhopal will soon look like Germanys Heidelberg as it is being developed on the same lines by Indian Railway Stations Development Corporation by joining hands with a private firm, Bansal Pathways Habibganj Private Ltd.

Railway minister Piyush Goyal on Friday said he is satisfied with the pace the work is done to transform the station into a Heidelberg railway stations lookalike.

Habibganj station/ how the station will look like after completion of redevelopment work.

I am satisfied with the pace of works, especially the two subways that have come up, to turn Habibganj station into a model one for the country. The redeveloped station will come up soon, Goyal told reporters while inspecting the station. Minister Piyush Goyal expressed satisfaction over the works. He said that all the stations in the country will be developed, West Central Railway (WCR) Chief Public Relations Officer (CPRO) Priyanka Dixit told PTI. She said that the railways plan to develop 400 stations into world-class ones.

The private firm has started running certain aspects, like upkeep and maintenance, of the station, though train operations continue to be with the railways, the CPRO informed. The firm won the bid to redevelop and maintain the station, originally commissioned in 1979, in 2016, Dixit said.

The companys station development construction manager Mohammad Abu Asif said that the firm was now looking after parking, catering, cleaning including track washing, maintenance, housekeeping among other operations. Since March 2016, we are redeveloping Habibganj station into a world-class facility on the lines of Germanys Heidelberg railway station. The IRSDC is the nodal agency of the project, Asif said. He informed that the project is being carried out in two phases, of which the part dealing with station redevelopment will cost Rs 100 crore.

The station redevelopment phase has a deadline of July 2019 but the plan is to complete it earlier, Asif said. The station development is primarily aimed at segregating the movement of people inside the premises with the creation of departure and arrival lounges. Passenger entry and exit routes will be segregated with the construction of two subways and a new station building on the west side among other works, he said.

The second phase deals with the commercial development of the station area at an estimated cost of Rs 347 crore, Asif added. This phase will see Habibganj station get a trade centre, an anchor store, service apartment, hospital, budget and luxury hotels and a convention centre which will be built over a 13 lakh square feet area, he said, adding that the land had been leased to the firm for 45 years.

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The Bansal group has been given eight years to complete the commercial development of the station. Profit from the commercial facilities will form return on investment, Asif explained. Asif said IRSDC also planned to redevelop Chandigarh, Delhis Bijwasan and Anand Vihar, as well as Maharashtras Shivajinagar (in Pune) on similar lines apart from 23 more stations.

The station redevelopment programme was initiated by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee when she was railway minister. Some initial studies were carried out in 2010. However, it got revived in 2015 when Suresh Prabhu was railway minister. Railways own about 4.76 lakh hectares of land and is the countrys second bigger land-owner after the Defence ministry.In a brave act, the villagers in Madhya Pradesh's Morena district shot dead a dacoit after a gun battle on Friday. Morena falls in Chambal region famous for dacoits. The dacoits were trying to extort money from the villagers in Karna Manpur village-40 kms from Morena district headquarters.

Villagers told police that seven dacoits, five armed with guns had attacked the village last week telling them to pay Rs 50,000 and ghee. Last night they came again asking for money. When they fired, the villagers too fired in defence, said Morena SP Amit Sanghi.

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but villagers instead of doing what they ordered to, chose to fight as they had the guns as well. The dacoit's body was found in the morning. However, his identity hasn't been established yet.

There are no listed dacoits in the region so were trying to identify the deceased, said the SP, adding that more gang members were likely injured as police found traces of blood around 500m from the spot of the gun battle.

Police also suspected that extortionists may be the criminals on the run. We were on the hunt for some criminals. The one who was shot dead may have been one two who carry a bounty of Rs 16,000. Were verifying his identity, Sanghi said.

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The region is an intersection of MP, Rajasthan and UP, making it easy for gangsters

to slip across borders. It took the Chambal-Vindhya area  of Morena, Bhind districts of MP  nearly 40 years to get rid of home-grown dacoits.

The last encounter of dacoits was in Morena in March 2007, when nine bandits were gunned down, including Jagjivan Parihar, who had a bounty of Rs 9 lakh on his head. The gang had an AK-47 and other automatic weapons and had killed an inspector and five cops.The 43-year-old (name withheld) former Naxalite surrendered to police on April 12, 2016, after 20 years. Till two years ago, he was a Naxalite with multiple cases filed against him and was carrying a cash reward of Rs 25 Lakh on his arrest.

He was a special area committee member, considered a senior post in the Maoist hierarchy. "I was feeling suffocated there. Naxalism now has shunned its principles."

Now as he walks into the conference room of a police station in formal wear to meet some visiting journalists, he looks no less "mainstream" than the two IPS officers who played an important role in getting him to "join the mainstream" and were facilitating the meeting.

But how and why did he join the "revolution" and what made him renounce it?

The question took him to his college days here when his only aim was to work for the people. It was in the early 90s. "I came in contact with some over ground Maoist Communist Centre (MCC) workers who used to visit my college for meetings."

He initially joined protests against a proposed firing range of the Chatra Police. "MCC leaders said people would be displaced by the land acquisition for the range. During the protests, the police baton charged and I got hit. You may say that was the trigger. The exuberance and agitation of the youth prompted me to take up arms."

"I went underground in 1996."

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He said the MCC received funds in the form of levy, donations or grains and part of it was spent on the "welfare" of people. "We opened schools, built dams."

"This gave me the feeling, I was indeed working for the people," he said.

He said he got married in 1991 and has a daughter and a son. The son is in I.Sc and the daughter is in Class 7. The outfit took care of their schools' fees. "I rarely used to call them to the camp - maybe once or twice a year."

He said that more than 10,000 people would gather at MCC meetings. "They would come with their food like 'sattu' (roasted gram flour)."

How many landmines did he lay as an active Naxalite? "Ungineet baar (I lost count. Entire (Sarju) valley remained dotted with landmines," he said.

Sarju, about 25-minute drive from the Latehar district headquarters, served as the headquarters of the CPI (Maoist)'s Eastern Regional Bureau (ERB). "Our cadres used to meet there. We lived there day in day out. We were trained in making weapons, bombs there," he said.

Ashish Batra, IG (Operations) said, "From 2001 to 2006-07, going to that area used to be like (falling in) a death trap."

But things started changing after 2004 "when the Peoples' War and MCC merged to form the Communist Party of India (Maoists). The leadership started comprising on the principle and policies. They concentrated on collection/extortion on one hand and killing security personnel on the other," the ex-SAC member said. "And when we opposed, they responded by saying we were becoming rightwing."

"I told them, it was not about leftwing or rightwing. It was about the 'revolution'. And 'revolution' for whom -- people. Then why deploy all your resources only on attacking officials and doing nothing for the people."

According to the state police, the number of policemen killed in the Naxal attacks, encounters was more than 35 annually between 2001-14.

The surrendered Naxal said such arguments and counter-arguments led to an internal dispute. "I felt suffocated and a sense of remorse started setting in."

The administration kept a close eye on the development and moved to take advantage of the situation. "The adminstration reached out to me through my relatives. They told us that 'welfare work' I wanted to do can very well be done by being among people."

Meanwhile, he said the government announced a new surrender policy in 2009, which was amended in 2015 and 2016.

But despite several rounds of proxy talks and back and forth, he was not convinced about surrendering. "I had heard the police would torture Maoists after the surrender. Also, I was afraid I'd have to spend my entire life in jail. So, I wanted cases against me withdrawn," he said.

But the police said the court did not allow the cases to be withdrawn. Then a meeting was arranged between Chief Minister Raghubar Das and the family of the surrendered Naxal. "He assured us that no harm would be done to me. He counselled us. It is then that I surrendered on April 12, 2016."

He said he managed to come out from the camp on the pretext of getting medical help. "Had they (the Maoists) known I was going to surrender, they'd have killed me. They still issue press releases against me."

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"Those who surrendered are labelled as renegades," said Raj Kumar Mallick, Additional DG (Operations).

IG (operations) Batra said his security is a concern for the police. "We have provided two full-time armed bodyguards to him."

The former MCC commander said the day he surrendered the administration gave him Rs. 25 lakh under the new surrender policy. "I spent 23 months in jail and then released on March 9, 2018."

He said he did not face any sort of social boycott. "In fact, people have been welcoming. Whenever I go to my village, 300-400 people come to see me. They say 'you have done a good job by surrendering. Live with us. You will get all the respect'."

He is still figuring out what to do to make a living. "I have kept the award money. Some of it is for my children's education."

He appealed to his former colleagues to "come out of that quagmire".

"The administration and society cooperate. Come to join the mainstream, join the development story," he said.H1N1 infection has made a comeback along with a deluge of viral diseases, including dengue, which are sweeping the city. In fact, fever cases have contributed to 6,000 hospitalisations in the first fortnight of September. Hospital beds are mostly occupied by patients of viral fever, viral pneumonia and dengue, doctors said.

In other parts of Maharashtra, H1N1 has claimed 75 lives and affected over 700 so far. The worst affected cities are Pune and Nashik, where the infection started spreading since July-end.

State epidemiologist Dr Pradeep Awate said a handful of cases have been reported from Thane and Palghar. A 50-year-old woman from Old Panvel, admitted to Sahasrabudhe Hospital, is among the latest affected.

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The festival season, with a nip in temperature and gathering of people, is conducive for the virus transmission, he said, hinting that cases could rise.

A 40-year-old woman was admitted to Bombay Hospital in Marine Lines on Friday with a bad cold, cough, highgrade fever and she tested positive for H1N1. Consultant physician Dr Gautam Bhansali said, Its the second case of H1N1 we have treated.

The first has recovered and gone home, the doctor said. Bhansali, however, said that more than H1N1, the incidence of viral pneumonia and viral fever has been worrying, as patients need advanced management, including ICU care and ventilator support.

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Doctors said most patients are presenting with high-grade fever (more than 102), sore throat, cough, cold, nausea and loss of appetite.

Unlike regular viral, where patients are sent home with advice on care, several have needed intense treatment extending up to a week, said Bhansali, adding that at least three of his viral fever patients needed ICU care.

Echoing that, Dr Khusrav Bhajan, intensivist at Mahims PD Hinduja Hospital said at least 50% dengue cases this season began with viral fever, where dengue tests came positive only after seven days.

Many persistently tested negative for dengue in the first week of fever. Two such cases of viral fever went on to need life-support, of which one tested positive for dengue, he said, adding that people should not waste time selfmedicating.

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The viral epidemic is also wreaking havoc in parts of western Maharashtra. Dr Awate said tests by National Institute of Virology, Pune, have found that influenza A, H3N2 and respiratory syncytial virus are perhaps responsible for the ailments.

Haffkine Research Institute director Dr Nishigandha Naik said only 4-5 samples were positive for H1N1 from Mumbai out of the 40-odd tested between August-September. A senior civic official said fever caused 10,000 hospitalisations at the public sector in August too.In a success which raised hopes of injured Commander Abhilash Tomys survival, an Indian Navy Reconnaissance aircraft on Sunday traced his Yacht dismasted off Perth coast during the Global Globe Race where he was representing India.

Australian Navy frigate, HMAS Ballrat is moving towards the location to rescue the stranded flying officer of Indian Navy. He has got severe injuries on his back after his yacht got damaged in the storm. The mast of Tomy's 'vessel was broken and was seen hanging on the side, an Indian Navy spokesperson said.

All out efforts are being made to rescue Commander Abhilash Tomy. The Australian Rescue Coordination centre at Canberra is coordinating the rescue mission in conjunction with many agencies including the Australian Defence Department and the Indian Navy. Indian Navy P-8I aircraft operating ex-Mauritius has visually sighted the SV Thuriya at 0750 hrs on 23 Sep 18. Continuous watch over the boat is being maintained by Indian Navy and RAAF aircraft till rescue is completed. Indian Naval stealth frigate, INS Satpura with a Chetak Helicopter and tanker INS Jyoti operating in the Indian Ocean have been dispatched for the rescue mission. The officer in his last text message has indicated that he is safe on the boat; however is immobile due to the back injury, said the PIB press release released by the Defence ministry.

The 39-year-old Indian and GGR skipper who is serving as Flying Officer in Indian Navy was in the south of Indian Ocean, approximately 1900 nautical miles from Perth, Australia. Indian as well as Australian Navy has launched mission to rescue to the injured officer.

According to the Indian Navy, Commander Tomy is in touch with the Race Control at France through messages, and has requested for a stretcher as he cannot move on his own, a defence spokesman said on Saturday.

Commander Tomy is representing India in the GGR 2018 on an indigenously built sailing vessel 'Thuriya'.

The GGR is a race to sail around the globe. He suffered a back injury on September 21.

The badly damaged SV Thuriya picked up by an Indian Navy P8I - inside is the badly injured Cdr Tomy. Rescue vessels rushing to him. pic.twitter.com/gV0viYC62V  Manu Pubby (@manupubby) September 23, 2018

According to situation report, an Australian Fisheries vessel Osiris, which has a medical officer and one-bed infirmary on board, has left for the location. A Royal Australian Navy Ship is likely to depart for the location, with an estimated time arrival of 4-5 days. A P-8I aircraft will be available from September 23 onwards, while, a civil aircraft is being tasked to be in the area by around 2:30 Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).

"Commander Abhilash Tomy KC of the Indian Navy, representing India in the Golden Globe Race 2018 (GGR) on an indigenously built sailing vessel 'Thuriya' was dismasted and suffered a back injury yesterday. He is in the south Indian Ocean, approximately 1900 nautical miles from Perth, Australia and 2700 nm (approx 5020 km on the ground) from Cape Comorin (Kanyakumari)," Navy spokesperson Captain DK Sharma had confirmed.

HMAS Ballarat is on its way assist an injured solo yachtsman, approximately 1800 nautical miles off the WA coast. The sailor, an officer in the Indian Navy is understood to have suffered a serious back injury when his ten metre vessel, Thuriya was de-masted in extreme weather. pic.twitter.com/e5zgO6F7bj  RoyalAustralianNavy (@Australian_Navy) September 23, 2018

Captain Sharma had informed that rescue efforts, led by Australian defence forces, were underway and the Indian Navy had also dispatched stealth frigate INS Satpura to find the officer.

"The Australian Rescue Coordination Centre at Canberra is coordinating the rescue mission in conjunction with many agencies including the Australian Defence Department and the Indian Navy", the spokesperson had said.AP





Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Ayushman Bharat Scheme  Pradhan Mantri Jan Aarogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) from Ranchi, Jharkhand. Touted as the worlds largest government-funded healthcare program and popularly as Modicare. The AB-PMJAY will benefit more than 50 crore people. Read more

Here's more top news of the day:





1) Army Chief Says That India Must Avenge Pakistan Barbarism; They Must Also Feel The Same Pain

AFP





Following governments decision to cancel talks with Pakistan, Army Chief General Bipin Rawat said that it is time to avenge the kind of barbarism by the neighbouring country and that the government must ensure the other side must feel the same fail. Read more

2) Meet VR Lalithambika, Woman Scientist Who Will Lead India's 'Manned Mission' To Space

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India is all for its manned mission to space. The project will be headed by Dr VR Lalithambika- a skilled taskmaster, control systems engineer. She has spent three decades at ISRO and has been tasked to send a manned mission to space by 2022. Read more

3) Farm Labourer, Who Fought Poverty To Become Pilot, Nominated For Prestigious Padma Shri

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For Amrut Manek, abject poverty which subjected him to harsh childhood was never a deterrent to pursue his dreams. He is now an aviation instructor and has been nominated for Padma Shri. Read more

4) Armyman, Prime Accused In 20-Year-Old Haryana School Topper Gangrape Case Finally Arrested

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Haryana Polices Special Investigation Team (SIT) arrested armyman Pankaj and Manish for the alleged sexual assault of a 20-year-old woman in Rewari. Further details like that from where the accused have been arrested, will be made available soon, said Shrikant Jadhav, a senior police officer. Read more

5) Navy Launches Mission To Rescue Seriously Injured Global Race Commander Abhilash Tomy

Commander Abhilash Tomy of Indian Navy who represented India in Golden Globe Race (GGR) is being brought back after he suffered a back injury at the sea after his vessel was hit by a vicious storm mid-way across the southern Indian Ocean. Read moreCommander Abhilash Tomy of Indian Navy who represented India in Golden Globe Race (GGR) is being brought back after he suffered a back injury at the sea after his vessel was hit by a vicious storm mid-way across the southern Indian Ocean.

The 39-year-old Indian and GGR skipper who is serving as Flying Officer in Indian Navy was in the south of Indian Ocean, approximately 1900 nautical miles from Perth, Australia. Indian as well as Australian Navy has launched mission to rescue to the injured officer.

According to the Indian Navy, Commander Tomy is in touch with the Race Control at France through messages, and has requested for a stretcher as he cannot move on his own, a defence spokesman said on Saturday.

Commander Tomy is representing India in the GGR 2018 on an indigenously built sailing vessel 'Thuriya'.

The GGR is a race to sail around the globe. He suffered a back injury on September 21.

According to situation report, an Australian Fisheries vessel Osiris, which has a medical officer and one-bed infirmary on board, has left for the location. A Royal Australian Navy Ship is likely to depart for the location, with an estimated time arrival of 4-5 days. A P-8I aircraft will be available from September 23 onwards, while, a civil aircraft is being tasked to be in the area by around 2:30 Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).

"Commander Abhilash Tomy KC of the Indian Navy, representing India in the Golden Globe Race 2018 (GGR) on an indigenously built sailing vessel 'Thuriya' was dismasted and suffered a back injury yesterday. He is in the south Indian Ocean, approximately 1900 nautical miles from Perth, Australia and 2700 nm (approx 5020 km on the ground) from Cape Comorin (Kanyakumari)," Navy spokesperson Captain DK Sharma had confirmed.

Captain Sharma had informed that rescue efforts, led by Australian defence forces, were underway and the Indian Navy had also dispatched stealth frigate INS Satpura to find the officer.

"The Australian Rescue Coordination Centre at Canberra is coordinating the rescue mission in conjunction with many agencies including the Australian Defence Department and the Indian Navy", the spokesperson had said.

Thank you for your support and concern in these trying times. Abhilash has sustained some serious back injuries, however he says he's safe inside the boat. Indian Navy is doing their best as they always have. His tracker is working. He has activated the EPIRB. Help is on its way.  Abhilash Tommy (@abhilashtomy) September 22, 2018

"All out efforts are being made to rescue Commander Abhilash Tomy. Indian Naval stealth frigate, INS Satpura with a Chetak Helicopter and tanker INS Jyoti mission deployed/operating in the Indian Ocean have been dispatched for the rescue mission," he added.

Commander Tomy, in his last message via satellite phone, had indicated that he was safe on the boat but was immobile due to a back injury.

Listen to Abhilash TOMY satellite call 20/09/18 by Golden Globe Race #np on #SoundCloud https://t.co/xzVEMnApHY  Abhilash Tommy (@abhilashtomy) September 20, 2018

The naval officer is the only Indian to have circumnavigated the globe non-stop on the legendary sail Yacht INSV Mhadei. He was awarded Kirti Chakra in 2013 by then President of India, Pranab Mukherjee. He is also a recipient of the Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award.Android phones have come a long way since the first version was officially launched on 23rd September 2008. Now, it powers nearly 90% of global smartphones. One of the newest entrants in this market, continuously pushing the boundaries on both quality and price is the OnePlus series.

OnePlus

In just 4 years in the market, OnePlus has entered the list of top 5 premium smartphones in the world. The Never Settle attitude drives through product with top-notch specifications, premium feel, and killer pricing. The Flagship killer has put their money where their mouth is and has emerged as a clear favourite, outperforming premium flagship phones across all benchmark tests. All OnePlus phones boast of the best in class camera, lightning speed, fast charging and best in class packaging.

This has garnered a strong global community behind the OnePlus brand making it the fastest growing brand in the $400-$600 segments. In India, it recently became the #1 premium smartphone brand surpassing the giants Apple and Samsung. Its success is not limited to particular geographies, it is ranked #3 in Sweden, #4 in UK, France, Germany and Netherlands and #5 in Italy in the premium smartphone market, owing to strong initial sales of the OnePlus 6.

This affirms that fact that OnePlus with a world-class product really appeals to a global audience.

OnePlus audience can be rest assured that with 5G technology being tested by all big players and Apple continuously pushing prices on all variants, OnePlus will come up with another flagship killer at the right price point. So all you OnePlus owners, and the ones who're eyeing this phone, now is the time to make the plunge and get your hands on this beauty.L-r: Prakash M. Swamy, president of America Tamil Sangam; author-novelist Sivasankari, Dr. Natraj, a member of the Tamil Nadu legislative assembly; Tamil Nadu State Minister for Social Welfare Dr. V. Saroja, Dr. V. Maithreyan, a member of parliament in the Rajya Sabha; and Dr. Jayavardhan, a member of parliament in the Lok Sabha-South Madras. (photo provided)Relatives are shown helping an Indian bride prepare for her wedding day. A draft rule proposed by the Trump Administration would place a greater burden of financial stability on Indian immigrant couples. Doug Rand, a former Obama Administration official and founder of the technology company Boundless Immigration, boundless.com, told India-West the proposed rule could separate as many as 200,000 couples. Two-thirds of Indian Americans who received their green cards from 2014-16 did so through family-based migration. (Sam Panthaky/AFP/Getty Images)The event kicked off around the world on September 20, with events taking place across the USA, South America, Africa, the UK, Europe and Asia.

Tomorrow marks its arrival in the Land Down Under.

Australia will play host to 14 separate events across three days (September 25-September 27), including:

Out in the workplace: The power of LGBTIQ+ inclusion (Sydney, September 25)

(Sydney, September 25) Stories to Inspire Change - Turning Adversity into Opportunity (Sydney, September 25)

(Sydney, September 25) Mental Health for Life (Perth, September 26)

(Perth, September 26) Inclusive Leadership (Melbourne, September 26)

(Melbourne, September 26) Time for Inclusion (Sydney, September 26)

(Sydney, September 26) Remaining relevant: Diversity in business is the key to success (Sydney, September 26)

(Sydney, September 26) Waking up to Mental Health: An open conversation with Lifeline Chairman John Brogden and specialist psychologist Greg Prescott (Sydney, September 27)

(Sydney, September 27) Inclusive Leadership (Adelaide, September 27)

(Adelaide, September 27) Diversity Doesn't Stick without Inclusion (Brisbane, September 27)

(Brisbane, September 27) Future of Work (Sydney, September 27)

(Sydney, September 27) Gender vs Multiculturalism  the unconscious bias debate (Melbourne, September 27)

(Melbourne, September 27) Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Inclusion: Time for action (Sydney, September 27)

(Sydney, September 27) Cultural Diversity within the Insurance Industry (Perth, September 27)

At a time when diversity and inclusion is becoming an increasingly important topic around the world, The Dive-In Festival serves as an opportunity for the insurance industry to highlight its strengths and look at ways to improve into the future.The US and Europe are no longer welcoming, so they should foster peace in war-zones to facilitate development and offset the need for people to leave, suggests John Lloyd.

DOORS are slamming all over the Western world; we shall not see them opened again in our life.

This sentiment  borrowing and adapting a remark attributed to then British foreign secretary, Sir Edward Grey, on the eve of World War One (his phrase had lamps going out in Europe)  seems to me at least as defensible as Greys prophecy.

The brute facts of poverty, or worse  starvation, wars, even slavery  impose themselves upon the world more urgently than before because the people that the writer, Frantz Fanon, called the wretched of the earth are now mobile, and have mobile phones to assist their journeys.

The United States turns away. Where, from 1980 through 2016, it lived up to the words on the Statue of Liberty, which invited in the huddled masses, by taking in more refugees than the rest of the world put together, the number of refugees resettled in the United States has been sharply cut since 2017.

Europe, after splurges of good-hearted mass inclusion of migrants, especially in Germany and Sweden, now recoils. This week, Britains Migration Advisory Committee recommended that the country should take in skilled workers, but cap the number of unskilled migrants at a lower level. Most of the poor will not qualify. No central European state, nor, now, Italy, will take more than a tiny number of migrants.

The time for large humanitarian gestures, and for large interventions in the name of humanitarian goals  as in the former Yugoslavia, in Iraq and in Libya  is over. The proponents of the humanitarian invasions, like former British prime minister, Tony Blair, are seen as toxic politicians, including by many of those who supported their actions at the time.

Yet, however averse the Western world is to intervention and to grand gestures, evidence mounts that it is in the mutual interests of both the wretched and the comfortable for the latter to do something with the former. Bill and Melinda Gates, who put more money than most countries into combatting disease and poverty in Africa, released a report this week, and  departing from their usual optimism  warned that decades of stunning progress in the fight against poverty and disease may be on the verge of stalling. If conditions cease to slowly improve, and, instead, grow visibly worse, then the rivers of desperate migrants, from Africa and the Middle East to Europe, from South America and elsewhere to the United States, will only become floods.

So we need to do something, and it must be large. But unlike those grand interventions designed to fix a state of affairs once and for all, this is a long haul, a matter of patience matched with resources, a decades-long relationship of common need. No US-style Marshall Plan to rescue the economies of other regions, but an engagement that recognises the smallness of the planet and the vastness of the reforms.

It needs close cooperation  and cooperation means mutual learning  between the wretched and the comfortable. Theres an example of this. Its in the peacemaking business, a job that demands the patience of a cathedral of saints.

On Friday, the NGOs in this sector are celebrating the annual UNs Peace Day by publicising their request that peace-building be formally recognised as a dictionary word. The Cambridge English Dictionary has already included the word: the august Oxford English Dictionary is still reflecting. Its an NGO stunt, but a stunt with purpose.

The purpose is both to remind us that development will not take place in war zones; and that though there are fewer wars between states, there are more conflicts within them. Its there where the peace-builders work.

One of these is Jonathan Powell, former chief of staff to Tony Blair, a central figure in getting an IRA ceasefire in Northern Ireland in 1998, ending 30 years of the Troubles. Leaving government in 2007, when Blair resigned, Powell founded a conflict-resolution NGO called Inter Mediate  trading both on his Northern Ireland experience and on the contacts he made when with Blair. But, he said, governments are less and less likely to accept mediation: you must work carefully round the edges, till you get the sides willing to open up channels and begin the process, which can be long. Another mediation group, the British peace-building NGO, Conciliation Resources (CR), works on the ground, and sometimes its on the ground for decades. Teresa Dumasy, head of policy at CR, says that a lot of the issues we deal with are very long-drawn-out and dont get any attention. She and her colleagues cite their work in the former Soviet republic of Georgia, and its breakaway region of Abkhazia, as an example.

The conflict claimed thousands of lives in the early 1990s, and a quarter of a century has seen the Abkhaz and the Georgians hardly diminish the distance and distrust between them.

Yet, suddenly comes an opening to an old struggle in the Somali, or Ogaden, region of Ethiopia, where another decades-long insurgency now sees hope of settlement. Last month, the new Ethiopian prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, apologising for past abuses by the security forces, reached out to fighters in the Ogaden National Liberation Front, who responded with a ceasefire. Aden Abdi, Horn of Africa programme director at CR, had worked the region for years, laying the grounds for what may now be  if the reform wind continues to blow  a breakthrough.

These organisations show a way forward, because they have developed both a strategic patience and a bank of knowledge and experience  which can only be deployed, and only bring success, where the people of the country, high and low, work with them, taking advantage of years of confidence-building.

It is a power not descending from above, but inserting itself into the niches of the situation, teaching and learning, seeking peace. If the era of the grand intervention has gone, that of the constant partnership  serving two, intimately connected, self-interests  has to grow up in its place.

John Lloyd co-founded the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford, where he is senior research fellow.Journalism is what we need to make democracy work.'  Walter Cronkite

This week, the Irish Examiner joins national and local newspaper groups throughout the country in a Journalism Matters campaign to highlight  in a petition to our legislators and a reminder for our loyal readers  the importance of journalism and the unprecedented challenges faced by the publishing companies that produce it.

In daily and weekly issues across Ireland, our industrys broadsheet, tabloid, and online platforms continue to inform, interpret, connect buyers with sellers, and entertain.

No apology is necessary when accepting that this, more or less, is what newspapers have been providing for demanding readerships  certainly in the Western world, and all the while mirroring the changing standards and manners of each age  since the opening decades of the 17th century, when better-late-than-never printers saw that Bibles were not the only publications that could be turned out on Gutenbergs press (circa 1439).

From the basic business model on which our earliest newspapers were established grew a reporting tradition that survives  and thrives  to this day in Ireland and throughout the rest of the free world: The challenging, often laborious, time-consuming and increasingly costly investigative reporting that shines a light into dark places and uncovers incompetence in public services, villainy in business, and, in government and politics, corruption, duplicity, hypocrisy and mendacious spin.

Our journalists coverage of the Grace foster home scandal and the scandalous treatment of Garda whistleblowers are but two examples of this vital editorial work. Theres much more, of course: Cervical cancer screening; child abuse in Catholic and Protestant institutions; payments to politicians; the tracker mortgage racket and hepatitis blood contaminations.

Among examples from abroad that can be cited to support the proposition that good journalism matters are the Watergate revelations that brought down US president, Richard Nixon, the almost daily reporting on the White House fiascos that could see Donald Trump impeached and, nearer home, the exposure by Britains Daily Telegraph of the more-than-somewhat cavalier relationship that elected members of the House of Commons had with their expense claims.

The appetite among traditional newspaper publishers in Ireland for journalism of this calibre  the journalism thats needed to make democracy work  is undiminished, as is the demand for news that can be read either on paper or via the online platforms of our established media companies. What is at risk, however, is the ability of publishers to continue funding quality journalism, when technological change and social media platforms  which refuse to accept their moral and legal responsibilities as publishers  have turned the industrys business models upside down, if not quite inside out.

Fresh competition  or disruptors, as theyre now known in the jargon  cannot be wished away, any more than blacksmiths could have ignored the invention of the steam train.

News publishers, meeting the challenges of the new trading environment by investing in innovation, accept that the state has no role in keeping unprofitable, redundant enterprises on taxpayer-funded life-support machines.

The Journalism Matters campaign, however, is asking politicians to look at practical ways in which government can fashion a media landscape  now being polluted by torrents of fake news  in which publishing companies that contribute hundreds of millions to Irelands exchequer revenues and gross domestic product can ensure the survival of the quality journalism readers want and which our democracy must have.

Among them are measures that by no stretch of the imagination can be described as radical or inimical to the operation of a free and fair market. They are steps that have already been taken by governments  in Britain, France, and elsewhere in Europe  whose philosophical commitment to the economics of the marketplace is no less ardent than Fine Gaels.

In its 2019 budget, the Government could cut value added tax on printed newspapers from its current 9% to 5%, with a view to reducing it as rapidly as possible to zero. Newspapers in the UK are Vat-free. It could establish a News Publishers Media Fund to incentivise innovation, investment, and quality journalism, funded in part, perhaps, by a levy on social media platforms.

Its an idea that in Britain has not been ruled out by the Conservative governments culture and media minister. The Government could invest in training schemes to help people become more media literate when reading and producing editorial content, and better able to discern what is true and what is false.

The Government also could reform this countrys excessively punitive libel laws, which are among the most oppressive in Europe; they were panned last year by the European Court of Human Rights. The latter noted an absence of safeguards against disproportionate damage awards, which could curb freedom of expression.

Our industry is asking only for an even playing field, on which it can continue to ensure that we have a democracy that works; on which the people can speak truth to power, so that those with power can be held to account.Recent events made the world community think about new challenges facing humanity in the 21st century, as well as ways to build a safer and prosperous world. These issues where discussed at the International Summer School "Global Challenges 2018", which was held at the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia.

Organizers admitted that preparation of this event was very difficult. Political atmosphere around Russia raised doubts about feasibility of this project, since people had to come to Russia and participate in the event proposed by the Russian Foreign Ministry. Nevertheless, the International Summer School "Global Challenges 2018" gathered 50 students, graduate students and young professionals from 19 countries - Austria, Netherlands, India, China, Serbia, Slovakia, Poland, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Romania, Czech Republic, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Great Britain, Belgium, Turkey, Lebanon, United Arab Emirates.

Educational program included lectures and interactive sessions with teachers of the Diplomatic Academy. They spoke about Russia and Euro-Atlantic security; about Russia's place in global economy and international banking system; about national factor in international politics; about Franco-German axis of the EU and Russia; about northeast Asia in world politics; about ways to improve relations between Russia and the United States; about digital diplomacy and modern IT in global politics; about diplomacy and business.

Participants were able to learn more about Russia itself, get acquainted with Russian history and traditions, Russian language: program included courses "History of Russia", "History of Russia's Diplomacy", "Russia's Soft Power", "Russian as Foreign Language". The Diplomatic Academy believes that by learning more about Russian history, culture and language, listeners can form their own idea about the country country without imposed cliches.

Field lectures were held at the UN Information Center in Moscow, the People's Diplomacy Fund named after Gorchakov, the Center of History of Russian Diplomatic Service, the State Historical Museum. Volunteers of the Diplomatic Academy told guests about Moscow during river walk along the Moscow River. Cultural program included excursions to the Kremlin, the Historical Museum, Stalin's Bunker, the Tretyakov Gallery, and the "Sleeping Beauty" ballet.

Conference was held with support of the EU Office in Moscow with participation of 30 Russian graduate students from the Euroschool program from different regions of the Russian Federation. A total of 95 students took part in the conference, including 12 students of the Diplomatic Academy. There were four sections dedicated to national and global security, world order and political stability, tolerance, national identity, multiculturalism, and globalization of the world economy.Sydney is leading the way in the Asia Pacific region with interconnection bandwidth for the city expected to more than quadruple by 2021, representing a compound annual growth rate of 48% from 2017 to 2021 compared to 44% CAGR from 2016 to 2020 as predicted last year.

According to the latest Interconnection Bandwidth Index (GXI) from data centre company Equinix, Sydney continues to remain as one of the top metros in the region for growth".

Sydney is one of the top four metros in Asia-Pacific along with Singapore, Hong Kong and Tokyo in terms of Interconnection Bandwidth  and the four cities are expected to contribute to 61% of overall Asia-Pacific Interconnection traffic through to 2021.

Equinix reports that Asia-Pacifics Interconnection Bandwidth is expected to grow at a 51% CAGR to 2,200+ Tbps by 2021, growing much faster than the United States and Europe.

And the GXI also forecasts Interconnection Bandwidth growth by counterparty categories, estimating the Interconnection behaviour of each.

Surpassing all other categories, Interconnection between Enterprises and Cloud and IT Providers in Asia-Pacific is projected to grow exponentially by 99% CAGR through 2021, supporting businesses building out new digital services and migrating existing workloads to third-party cloud platforms, Equinix says.

Within Asia-Pacific, other industries expected to experience solid growth in Interconnection Bandwidth by 2021 include Energy & Utility (83% CAGR), Healthcare & Life Sciences (79% CAGR), Banking & Insurance (79% CAGR), Government and Education (75% CAGR), as well as Business & Professional Services (71% CAGR).

Equinix notes that it continues its commitment to providing Interconnection capabilities in Australia, with a recent US$11 million investment to expand the PE2 International Business Exchange (IBX) data centre in Perth to create an Interconnection hub and gateway to the rest of the Asia-Pacific region, rolling out Equinix Cloud Exchange Fabric inter-metro connectivity in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth - and providing access to the Vocus-owned Australia Singapore Cable in six metros across the country.

Equinix says its global footprint currently spans 200 IBX data centres across 52 markets, with more than 9,800 of the worlds leading businesses benefiting from the data centre and interconnection services provided, with the Asia-Pacific region boasting 40 IBX data centres.

And Equinix reveals that global interconnection and width is forecasted to grow by 2021 to 8,200+ Terabits per second (Tbps) of capacity - or the equivalent of 33 Zettabytes (ZB) of data exchange per year, and a dramatic increase over the previous years projection and 10 times the projected capacity of internet traffic.

This second Global Interconnection Index highlights the enormous growth rate of interconnection both locally in Australia and more broadly across the Asia-Pacific region, says Jeremy Deutsch, Managing Director at Equinix Australia.

In light of the growth we have recently announced several key initiatives to assist our customers with their Interconnection needs, including our investment in the expansion of the PE2 facility in Perth, which houses the cable landing station for the ASC cable, and our expansion of the cloud exchange fabric between Sydney, Melbourne and Perth, Deutsch says.

The Equinix index provides significant insight into regional differences in how growth in Interconnection Bandwidth is accelerating in different regions of the world, including the Asia Pacific. Heres what Equinix says:

Asia-Pacific: Benefiting from rapid urbanisation and increasing concerns around cybersecurity and data compliance, Asia-Pacific is anticipated to grow at a 51% CAGR, contributing more than 27% of Interconnection Bandwidth globally.

United States: As an early adoption market for digital business and the headquarters for the largest number of multinational enterprises, the United States is expected to see 45% CAGR, contributing more than 40% of Interconnection Bandwidth globally.

Europe: A growing number of regulations requiring data compliance is serving as a catalyst of growth for Europe, which is predicted to grow at a 48% CAGR, contributing to 23% of Interconnection Bandwidth globally.

Latin America: Emerging market dynamics and growing digital business adoption positions Latin America for expected 59% CAGR, contributing more than 9% of Interconnection Bandwidth globally.

Significant macro, technology and regulatory trends are converging to form an unprecedented era of complexity and risk and forcing the integration of physical and digital worlds, said Sara Baack, Chief Marketing Officer for Equinix Inc.

The second Volume of the Global Interconnection Index has found that companies are solving their increasing digital requirements by directly connecting to key business partners through Interconnection, as traditional forms of connectivity do not meet the demanding requirements of todays businesses.

Equinix reports that some of the key macroeconomic, technology and regulatory trends that have driven Interconnection growth in the past year and will impact its future growth include:

Digital Business Transformation, which drives the need to support real time interactions between people, things, locations, clouds and data to enable value capture. At least 60% of Australias GDP will be digitised by 2021, and 85% of Australian organisations will use flexible IT environments with hyper-agile architecture for application development in the same time frame according to industry analyst firm IDC.

Cybersecurity Risk, which expands Interconnection consumption as firms increasingly shift to private data traffic exchange to bypass the public internet and mitigate against digital threats as data is distributed across a growing number of vulnerability points. Large-scale cybersecurity breaches are one of the most serious risks facing the world today, and the scale of the threat is expanding drastically. Organisations within Asia-Pacific could lose up to a staggering amount of US$1.75 trillion to cyber security incidents  this amount accounts for 7% of the regions GDP in 2017]. By 2021, the global cost of cybersecurity breaches is projected to reach US$6 trillion.

Business Ecosystems, which are experiencing an increase in mix of customers, partners and employees and require digital ecosystems and Interconnection to scale. By 2021, organisations using a mix of intermediaries are projected to more than double, and active engagement with industries outside the organisations native industry are projected to nearly triple.

And according to Equinix, to capture digital value, companies will need to support real time interactions by more strategically interconnecting the workflows across people, things, locations, cloud and data. The second Volume of the GXI identifies four classes of Interconnection use cases along with an IT maturity model. Adopted in combination, these use cases create a digital-ready infrastructure for todays businesses:After 60 candidates for New Zealand's national chief technology officer were rejected, a back-channel application produced a job offer followed by the resignation of the minister and then subsequent withdrawal of the role, with significant compensation.

Let's start this saga with a quick summary of the two major players.

Derek Handley is a well-known ad-tech entrepreneur. Born in Hong Kong in 1978, Handley relocated to New Zealand and completed degrees in Commerce and Administration (Finance) and Building Science (Architecture, Design and Environmental Science) at Victoria University of Wellington in the late 90s.

Subsequently, Handley completed a post-graduate Diploma of Management and New Ventures at Massey University in 2000, Executive Entrepreneurship at MIT's Sloan School of Management in 2008 and the Executive Program at Singularity University in 2015.

Handley founded The Hyperfactory and was chief executive from 2000 to December 2011. With operations in Auckland, New York, Hong Kong and Los Angeles, The Hyperfactory was described as "one of the first agencies in the world to recognise the power of mobile devices for connecting consumers, brands and mass media".

"The Hyperfactory has won seven Webbys, multiple Clios, and was a part of many Cannes Lion winning campaigns over its time. It was also the most awarded digital agency in the world in the Global Mobile Marketing Awards." In 2011, the Hyperfactory was sold to US-based Meredith Corporation for a price in excess of $10 million. Based on website redirection, it appears that Meredith is now part of Accenture Interactive.

Following the sale of Hyperfactory, Handley founded (and was chairman of) Snakk Media which is currently listed on New Zealand's junior NXT exchange with a market capitalisation of just $813,000. With two rounds of funding, Snakk raised $8.7 million  clearly, the investors are well out of pocket. Although Handley left Snakk prior to the major decline, it may be assumed that some of this mud would have stuck.

During his involvement with Snakk (and later), Handley won a number of awards, including 2009 EY Young Entrepreneur of the Year. Additionally, he worked with Richard Branson and others to create The B Team. Further, he is currently Nazarian Social Innovator in Residence at The Wharton School, and Social Innovator in Residence at Aera Foundation (based in Auckland and New York). Handley is also Adjunct Executive Professor at AUT University

Handley also holds various board or advisory positions at Sky Television (NZ), Air New Zealand and The Arts Foundation of New Zealand. Handley is also associated with Iliad Fund (in New Zealand), Aera VC (in New York)  both investment vehicles, and Human Ventures (also located in New York) which focused on developing people who will create the next technology ventures.

As many have observed (here, for example), Handley's skills are in marketing and self-promotion far more than in the technical details required for a whole-of-government chief information officer role.

[Full disclosure  the writer has also completed a degree at Victoria University of Wellington, but some years earlier than Handley and in an unrelated faculty]

Clare Curran was until a couple of weeks ago the New Zealand Minister for Minister of Broadcasting, Communications, and Digital Media and Minister for Government Digital Services (along with some minor portfolios). Curran announced plans for a whole of government CIO role, but after assessing more than 60 qualified responses, she determined that none were suitable and announced a re-think of the recruitment process.

Curran found herself in trouble over an unrecorded meeting with a senior executive of Radio New Zealand and with a highly embarrassing mis-step in Parliament when trying to explain her use of a private Gmail account to conduct government business, which caused Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to demote her from cabinet on 24 August.

Citing "relentless pressure" over these events, Curran finally resigned all ministerial roles when it was revealed that she'd had a "secret" meeting with Derek Handley in The Beehive (New Zealand's parliamentary offices) to discuss his interest in the CTO role. This meeting had been kept off Curran's official diary and ministerial staff were not made aware of the meeting.

And so, onto the main saga.

Based on documents and reportage seen by iTWire, it would appear that the intention was to have a "one person ministerial advisory group" that would be appointed by the minister and report directly to her and to the Prime Minister.

Some kind of public servant who wasn't actually a public servant. This role was to attract a salary of NZ$400,000 along with an additional travel budget of NZ$100,000.

For some time prior to the announcement that Handley was to win the role, it was an open secret that the deal had been done. At this point, just about anyone with a valid opinion on the matter was expressing it .

And those opinions were almost entirely in the negative. A couple of quotes extracted from that report linked in the previous paragraph:

"There's more than enough hype around start-ups, blockchain, machine learning and AI  If the CTO role is a figurehead who is meant to continue people's enthusiasm for tech then that's fine. But to me that's super low value."

"None of us really consider him a technologist. He didn't invent new ad formats  Google and Facebook did that. He just sold them."

"I feel a little bit sorry for Derek, he has been a tireless self-promoter for so many years, and obviously really wants the job. But, I'm pretty confident that he would take much more from the job than he would contribute. And that's not what we need."

It would appear that the CTO role was offered and accepted in mid-August and then withdrawn early in the second week of September, immediately after Curran's resignation.

In some kind of summary, Graeme Muller, chief executive of industry body NZTech, said Handley "might or might not have been the perfect choice" for the job".

"But let's not make it about Derek. The government has right royally messed up."

In accordance with the contract, Handley was paid three months salary (NZ$100,000) along with expenses already incurred in relocating from New York to New Zealand.

On 14 September, Handley published a response to the events that had passed titled, "The Role of New Zealand CTO". In it, he notes, "Earlier this week I was deeply disappointed to learn that the government will no longer follow through with their commitment and will not be making that appointment at this time. However, given the unnecessary and sustained lack of transparency around the process and building pressure to rethink the approach, their decision to stop the process is understandable."

Further he wrote, "The CTO role was also tasked with tackling the issue of 'digital inequality' where disenfranchised New Zealanders are being disadvantaged due to lack of digital capability or access. My family and I have decided not to accept the settlement money personally and instead donate the net proceeds towards a fund that supports ideas, programs and grants that seek to tackle this societal issue in creative ways. I welcome collaboration from all communities on how we may do that.

"I am grateful for what I have learned through this experience and appreciate all the voices that care passionately about our future, including those critical of my candidacy as CTO.

"It is only through truly understanding our unique differences and what each of us represent and can bring to the table that we can create better, newer paths forward for our nation. There is considerable opportunity for us as New Zealanders to improve how we go about doing that for each other for a kinder, more inclusive, transparent and open-minded country."

Based on this eloquence, perhaps there's a budding career in politics!

Currently, there is no indication that the recruitment process will be re-started any time soon.

Both Handley and the new Minister for Government Digital Services, Dr Megan Woods, have been contacted for further comment.An NSA worker, who took huge amounts of classified material home and was arrested in December last year over this, forced the organisation to drop a number of "important initiatives at great economic and operational cost", the former director of the spy agency says.

The man, Vietnamese American Nghia Hoang Pho, 70, of Ellicot City, Maryland, entered a guilty plea on 1 December to the charge of taking national defence information home from 2010 to 2015 and retaining it at his residence.

Admiral Mike Rogers, who was NSA chief until May this year, wrote to US District Court Judge George Russell, who is set to sentence Pho in Baltimore on Tuesday, that the negative effects of Pho's actions had also resulted in a loss of trust among NSA colleagues and essential partners. Rogers' March letter was published by the American website Politico.

Prosecutors are seeking a jail term of at least eight years for Pho, while his own counsel is requesting no jail time, but a long period of home confinement. Pho has claimed he took the classified material home so he could craft a review that would bring a pay hike which would increase his income when he retired.

Pho was a member of the NSA's Tailored Access Operations unit, an elite hacking group. A number of exploits created by the TAO wereon the Web by a group known as the Shadow Brokers whose identity is still unknown, despite a long-runningby the NSA's counter-intelligence arm, the Q Group, and the FBI. Later leaks by the Brokers areon the Web.

In his letter, Rogers said the NSA had trusted Pho, who worked on intelligence-gathering tools, to "protect those tools and our nation's security", adding that Pho had betrayed that trust.

No connection has yet been clearly shown between Pho and the Shadow Brokers, but there has been at least one media report that claimed exploits from Pho's PC had been exfiltrated by Russian hackers who then released them, either through the Shadow Brokers or by themselves under the same name.

The NSA exploits are claimed to have leaked to the Russians through Pho's use of Kaspersky Lab's anti-virus software; like any A-V solution, the software uploads suspicious files to a server for later analysis and when it encountered the NSA files on this man's machine, it did the same.

How the Russians obtained these exploits has never been made clear with the obvious implication being that after they reached Kaspersky's Moscow offices, they were handed over to government hackers. Kaspersky has denied handing over any files.

Politico cited "experts" who found Rogers' letter to be unusual. Steven Aftergood, who tracks classified information policy for the Federation of American Scientists, told the website: "The letter from Rogers is actually quite extraordinary in its candour, both about the nature of signals intelligence ... and the consequences when it's not secured.

"This looks like a letter he wrote himself. ... It has all the hallmarks of deeply felt sincerity."

Rogers said in the letter: "The fact that such a tremendous volume of highly classified, sophisticated collection tools was removed from secure space and left unprotected, especially in digital form on devices connected to the Internet, left the NSA with no choice but to abandon certain important initiatives, at great economic and operational cost."

Berkeley computer science and security researcher Nick Weaver told Politico that the material taken home by Pho appeared to hacking tools. "... That sentence is actually a big deal," he said. "NSA's response suggests that because of the possibility of compromise they had to redo a lot of platforms to prevent attribution [to the NSA.] That is interesting, although it could very well just be out of an abundance of caution."

The latest bid to try and track down the Shadow Brokers was when a group of researchers from the University College London carried out a study on the privacy-focused digital currency Zcash and said they may have found a way to track who received payment for the NSA exploits that were put on sale by the Brokers.

Contacted for comment, former NSA hacker Jake Williams said he thought it was a stretch to link Pho to the Shadow Brokers.

"There's a correlation between the tools they claim he took home and what Shadow Brokers released, but that doesn't make him the source. I think it's possible he's a source, but I don't think it's plausible that he's the only source," said Williams, a former member of TAO himself, who now runs his own infosec outfit, Rendition Infosec.

He said, in addition, the government was not making an accusation of collusion with any foreign power or outside source.

"An eight-year sentence seems a little overboard for someone who just used bad judgment taking classified material home. I wonder how much of the sentence recommendation is an effort to distract from the fact that the source for the Shadow Brokers leaks hasn't been publicly identified," Williams said.Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sept. 23 said a terror swamp east of the River Euphrates remains the biggest problem for Syria in the future, Hurriyet Daily News reports.

Currently the biggest problem for the future of Syria is the terror swamp, expanding under the auspices of some of our allies, east of the Euphrates, Erdogan said in a news conference ahead of his visit to New York for the UN General Assembly.

Underscoring that no country has been more affected by the Syrian civil war than Turkey, he said he would draw attention to the humanitarian crises in his speech at the General Assembly.Iranian officials have blamed Gulf states and the United States for Saturday's attack on a military parade that killed 29 people, and accused them of backing the Arab separatist 'al-Ahvaziya' armed group, which claimed responsibility for the killings, Al Jazeera reports.

President Hassan Rouhani vowed to deliver a "crushing response", while Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei linked the attack with the United States and its "allies in the region".

"This crime is a continuation of the plots of the regional states that are puppets of the United States, and their goal is to create insecurity in our dear country," Khamenei said in a statement.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said "regional terror sponsors" were responsible for the attack, adding he held "their US masters accountable".

"Terrorists recruited, trained, armed & paid by a foreign regime have attacked Ahvaz," Zarif said in a tweet, adding: "Iran holds regional terror sponsors and their US masters accountable for such attacks.OPECs leader Saudi Arabia and its biggest oil-producer ally outside the group, Russia, ruled out on Sunday any immediate, additional increase in crude output, effectively rebuffing U.S. President Donald Trumps calls for action to cool the market, Reuters reported.

I do not influence prices, Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih told reporters as OPEC and non-OPEC energy ministers gathered in Algiers for a meeting that ended with no formal recommendation for any additional supply boost.The Israeli Air Force misled Russia by providing wrong information about the area of the planned air strikes in Syria on September 17, thus preventing the Russian Il-20 from moving to a safe zone, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said on Sunday, Sputnik reports.

Speaking at a press briefing on Sunday, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov provided more details on the downing of the Russian Il-20 military aircraft near Syria on September 17.

"Today, we share detailed information about the crash of the Ilyushin IL-20 airplane of the Russian Aerospace Forces near the Syrian coast on September 17. We will present a minute-by-minute account of this tragic incident that was made based on the objective radar readings including those from the Plotto air information display system," he said.

According to Konashenkov, the Israeli Air Force provided Russia with misleading information on the location of its airstrikes on targets in Syria, which prevented the commander of the Il-20 plane from relocating to a safe zone and led to its destruction.

"During the negotiations via the deconfliction channel, the representative of the Israeli Air Force Command reported that the targets assigned to the Israeli aircraft are located in Northern Syria  As you can see on the map, the Israeli jets delivered strikes in Latakia which is a western province of the country  and not in the north of the Syrian Arab Republic. The city of Latakia is located on the western coast. The misleading information provided by the Israeli officer about the area of strikes did not allow the Russian Il-20 airplane to move timely to a safe area," Konashenkov said.

Konashenkov told a briefing that the Israeli Air Force had notified Russia of its planned attacks on Syrian targets simultaneously with the beginning of the strikes instead of doing it in advance, thereby violating 2015 bilateral agreements to prevent such incidents in Syrian airspace.

"Israel did not inform the Russian force about its operation in advance  but rather they issued a warning simultaneously with the beginning of the strikes, which constitutes a breach of the agreements. These actions constitute a clear violation of the 2015 Russian-Israeli agreements, which are aimed at preventing clashes between our armed forces, in and over Syria, that were reached by the joint working group," Konashenkov said.

He further added that the IAF has on multiple occasions created potentially dangerous situations for the Russian forces located in Syria, emphasizing that Moscow had warned Tel Aviv about its air force operations in the war-ravaged country 12 times more often.Reddit Email 1K Shares

By Bill Law @BillLaw49 | 

Last week, exactly 25 years after the signing of the Oslo Peace Accord, Jared Kushner commented on the punitive measures that his father-in-law, the President of the United States, had taken against the Palestinian people. There were, said Kushner, too many false realities that were created  that people worship  that I think needed to be changed.

Ah yes, the false realities that people (for which read Palestinians) worship, and for which they must be punished. Let us look at them, Mr Kushner.

On 24 August, the US State Department announced that it was cutting $200 million in humanitarian assistance for the occupied West Bank and Gaza. A week later, the US withdrew $350 million from the UN agency charged with providing essential services to Palestinian refugees, UNRWA. On 9 September the Trump administration pulled the $25 million that the US contributed to the East Jerusalem Hospital Network. The day after that, President Trump ordered the closing of the PLO office in Washington, and on 14 September he cancelled $10 million that went towards a joint Israeli-Palestinian reconciliation programme.

Rather like an Old Testament prophet  albeit one remarkably ill-informed  this young New York real estate dealer, elevated to the status of Middle East peace-broker by his equally ignorant father-in-law, has determined that the best way to force his peace deal on the Palestinians is to punish them collectively: men, women, sick children, the old, the young, the incapacitated; in other words, all Palestinians.

Jared Kushner still lacks highest security clearance

Where have we seen such a doctrine of collective punishment used before? The British used it in South Africa during the 1899-1902 Boer War. They were the first to introduce what were called concentration camps. This was a concept utilised and honed to a brutal and awful perfection by the Nazis. Now the Israelis have their own version of collective punishment; the siege on the Gaza Strip, in all its misery, has an eerie echo of the Warsaw Ghetto of World War Two.

Now Jared Kushner has invoked his own brand of collective punishment on the Palestinians. As far as he is concerned, it is just like another Manhattan real estate deal. You have difficult tenants? They are in a property you want to acquire? Force them to accept your terms by making the daily task of simply living very hard and nasty, as if it wasnt tough enough already.

With the full weight of US Bully-in-Chief Trump behind him, Kushner argues that, All were doing is dealing with things as we see them. No, Mr Kushner, it is what you do not see that should concern you. Let me, please, show you just one programme that in your vicious ignorance you threaten to destroy.

It is called the Parents Circle and Family Forum (PCFF). It was one of a host of reconciliation programmes funded by USAID; those funds have now been cut.

PCFF was launched in 1995 by Yitzhak Frankenthal, whose son Arik had been kidnapped and murdered the previous year by Hamas. His idea  and it is a great and noble one  was to bring together Palestinian and Israeli families grieving the loss of an immediate family member who had died as a direct result of the conflict.

Kushner, Greenblatt and deceptive endeavours

There are now 600 families involved in PCFF. Each one has a story to tell; they are all incredibly moving and you can find them here: http://theparentscircle.org/en/about_eng/

But first, for the benefit of Jared Kushner, allow me to mention two stories in particular. The first is told by Robi Damelin. Her son David, a reluctant soldier and a peace activist, was shot and killed by sniper fire in the West Bank. He had a compassion for all people, says his mother, and understood the suffering of the Palestinians; he treated all around him with dignity.

Davids killer was arrested and is now imprisoned for life. Robi has written a letter to his family which reads in part: What makes our children do what they do? They do not understand the pain they are causing, your son by now having to be in jail for many years and mine who I will never be able to hold and see again or see him married, or have a grandchild from him. She has yet to have a reply but continues to believe that one day it will come.

Bushra Awads eldest son Mahmoud was shot while protesting against an incursion by Israeli soldiers in his village near Hebron. He died of his wounds in hospital. Bushra describes her anger thus: My heart was filled with revenge, sadness, pain and endless sorrow. She suffered for three years, withdrawing from her husband and her family, before a friend suggested PCFF.

I refused adamantly and asked her how I could shake the hand of the Israeli side that killed my son, explains Bushra. A little while afterwards that same friend invited me for coffee in her house. When I arrived, I met an Israeli woman called Robi in the living room, and I immediately turned to leave. I didnt want to meet her or talk to her, but then the woman got up and asked me to stay. She said she would like to hear the story of my son, Mahmoud. I sat down and began to tell her. When I showed her his photograph she burst into tears. She later told me her story and the story of her son, who was killed by a young Palestinian man in 2002. After my meeting with Robi, I understood that our tears are the same tears.

Kushner: Israel guardian of Jerusalem

These families have taken huge steps and continue to take them to reach across the divide of anger, hatred, sorrow and seemingly never-ending pain to try and find a way toward peace and reconciliation. This is where hope for something better can begin. Nurtured, it will grow.

According to Jared Kushner, by removing what he calls false realities there is a much higher chance of actually achieving a real peace.

Were he to be brought into a room where Robi and Bushra sat; were he to take just a few minutes to listen to their stories; I wonder, would he dare to call what they are doing a false reality? Would he still make the arrant and empty boast that by cutting funds to PCFF and all the other agencies and programmes affected by Americas punitive measures he is enhancing the chances for peace?

No, what Jared Kushner and Donald Trump are perpetrating is an act of pure wilful destruction, borne out of high arrogance and a profound and awful ignorance. Theirs is the actual false reality and it will most surely lead, not to peace, but to an even greater tragedy than that which has already engulfed the Palestinians and scarred so many Israelis.

Via Middle East Monitor

This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Featured Photo: Jared Kushner, Senior Advisor to President Donald J. Trump, receives a gift from Iraqi Minister of Defense Erfan al-Hiyali at the Ministry of Defense in Baghdad, Iraq, April 3, 2017. (DoD Photo by Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Dominique A. Pineiro)/ Flickr . License: Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)Reddit Email 82 Shares

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment)  An attack on a military parade in the city of Ahvaz in Iranian Khuzestan has left over 2 dozen dead and dozens wounded.

The attackers wore military uniforms. All four were killed at the scene (one of the downsides of assaulting a military parade is that there are lots of sharpshooters on duty).

The aim was clearly to spread terror among the civilian population. The target was not, as some Western outlets are saying, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps. It was much more general than that and a lot of civilians were hurt.

In the aftermath, Ayatollah Khamenei blamed two regional neighbors backed by the United States for planning the attacks. This reference was a not very subtle hint to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates that Iran has its eye on them.

The parade was being held to commemorate the beginning of the Iran-Iraq War of 1980-88, when Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein sent his tanks into Khuzestan Province. That invasion, unprovoked by any military action on Irans part, kicked off a war that went on for 8 years. It replayed WW I on a smaller scale, with trench warfare, lines that moved with glacial slowness or not at all, and the use by Saddam Hussein of mustard gas.

Khuzestan was invaded in 1980 and many of the initial, key battles were fought there as Saddam Hussein emulated Hitlerian tactics such as the Bliztkrieg, a lightning fast tank thrust.

Saddam had two big reasons for invading neighboring Khuzestan. First, it has a huge lake of petroleum underneath it and the Iraqi invasion was carried out in part in hopes of annexing all that oil.

Second, The mixed population of Khuzestan, drawn especially to the city of Abadan by its refineries and oil-related labor demand, included a big local Arabic speaking community. There are about 5 million residents of Khuzestan (Irans total population is 80 million, similar to Germanys). About 1.5 million of these 5 million are Arabic-speakers. In turn, they are fifty-fifty Shiite and Sunni Muslim. This statistic is very important, since it means only about 750,000 of the Khuzestan population is Sunni Arab. Those are the ones among whom a small separatist movement has grown up. It was to recover these Sunni Arabs for the Arab nation that Saddams Iraq said it fought a war in Khuzestan. In fact, it was mainly about money.

And there is a small Arab independence movement in Khuzestan, though in the nature of the case I dont think it can amount to much.

Although ISIL and another group claimed they carried out the attack, Iran is looking at Arab separatist networks in Khuzestan (though convinced that these have regional Arab backing).

The really dangerous thing is that Iran believes Trump had a hand in this terrorist attack, which shocked the Iranian nation.

That doesnt bode well for the future, since you have these wild men on the American side like John Bolton and Mike Pompeo making policy.



TRT World: Iran Parade Attack: Gunmen open fire at military parade in AhvazThe US presidents personal lawyer said that the US sanctions on Iran could lead to the the overthrow of the Iranian government.

Speaking in his own capacity at a hotel in Times Square this Saturday, Giuliani noted, contrasting to the US administration official position, that the current implementation of the economic sanctions could lead to a successful revolution and change of the Iranian government, Sputnik reports citing Reuters.

I don't know when we're going to overthrow them, he said at an Iran Uprising Summit held by the Organization of Iranian-American Communities which opposes Iran policies, It could be in a few days, months, a couple of years. But it's going to happen.

Giuliani also suggested that the US sanctions are proved effective, noting that The [Iranian] currency is going to nothing these are the kinds of conditions that lead to successful revolution, echoing his own words to the Paris-based National Council of Resistance of Iran, where he said that Trumps policy would suffocate Iran's ayatollahs.

The US State Department told Reuters that Giuliani does not speak for the administration on Iran. Earlier in August Trump's National Security Adviser John Bolton said that the US wants a massive change of Iran governments behavior, noting, however that regime change in Iran was not the aim of the American policy.United Arab Emirates (UAE) Energy Minister Suhail Mazrouei on Sunday positively assessed the situation on the oil market, noting increase in production.

"Looking at the market we have seen stabilization of inventories, which is good. We stopped the drawdown. There is a small build-up around 7-8 million [barrels] above the five-year average," Mazrouei said before the JMMC meeting, Sputnik reports.

He also expressed hope for a productive JMMC meeting.

"The market is in good condition. I am expecting the meeting and the report to be good. We still have a job to be completed, we will look at the report and based on fundamentals we will make our recommendation," Mazrouei stressed.

The minister noted that his country had enough spare capacity to compensate oil shortage on the market, pledging that the UAE would not overproduce.

"Talking about my country, we have spare capacity and we are doing it, we will not overdo it, we monitor the inventories and production from other countries, we will listen to it today," he added.By Sep. 23, 2018

Financial stress can seep into many areas of a persons life to strain relationships with ones spouse, other family members and friends, and also impact your professional life and spiritual life.





The purpose of Financial Peace University is to help individuals, couples and families take control of their finances, plan for the future and transform their lives. Lessons cover topics such as:

 Budgeting

 Saving for emergencies

 Debt relief

 Investing

 Giving





"Mayfield First United Methodist Church is a great place to talk about financial issues with people who are going through similar struggles, the Rev. Joey Reed said. Add Dave Ramsey's methods for financial peace and the good folks at CFSB and you have a winning formula for navigating the difficult paths to financial stability."





Dave Ramsey is Americas trusted voice in biblically based money management. He is the author of seven best-selling books and hosts The Dave Ramsey Show, which is heard by some 13 million people.





Space is limited. Call the church at 270-247-5678 for more information or to register.





CFSB is a member of the FDIC.



MAYFIELD - CFSB will offer Dave Ramseys Financial Peace University classes October 4 through December 6.To lend a hand to those struggling with financial issues, Community Financial Services Bank (CFSB) will be offering Dave Ramseys Financial Peace University money-management classes at Mayfield First United Methodist Church. Classes are scheduled Thursday, Oct. 4 through December 6 at the church, located at 214 South 8th St.DW reports:

The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party has overtaken the Social Democrats (SPD), the junior party in Germanys governing coalition, in voter popularity to become Germanys second-strongest party, behind Chancellor Angela Merkels conservatives, according to the Deutschlandtrend poll by public broadcaster ARD. The AfD moved up two percentage points since the last survey on September 9, bringing it to 18 percent  one percentage point more than the SPD, which lost a point. Merkels conservative CDU/CSU bloc, which has led German governments since 2005, also slipped a point to 28 percent, representing its worst result since the survey was launched in 1997.

AfD are benefiting from the backlash over immigration and refugees. Most people support some immigration and helping some refugees. But very few people believe in open borders where you just allow millions to flow into your country.

The poll results in total were:

Right Parties 55%

CDU/CSU 28%

AfD 18%

FDP 9%

Left Parties 42%

SPD 17%

Greens 15%

Left 10%

The AfD leader is Alice Weidel. She is 39 years old and has a PhD in international development. She is a lesbian who rails against political correctness. It is not impossible she could be Chancellor one day.

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Chris Hipkins announced:

Cabinet papers will be proactively released, Minister of State Services Chris Hipkins announced today. The Cabinet papers will be released no later than 30 business days after a Cabinet decision. This process will be in place for Cabinet papers lodged from 1 January 2019, Chris Hipkins  who is also responsible for Open Government  said. This change is about being an open and accountable government. It will also make it easier for the public to understand government decisions and bolster the accountability of decision makers and advisors. Cabinet papers will be released within 30 business days of the Cabinet decision unless there is good reason not to publish. If we can publish it, we will.

This is a good step in the right direction and a welcome move by the Government.

Individual ministers will have responsibility for releasing Cabinet papers, which will be subject to an assessment to decide if there are good reasons to withhold any of the information. For privacy reasons Appointments and Honours papers will be excluded.

What would be good is if Cabinet agendas are published also, so one can see if there were any papers not released.

Also would be good if the papers were released centrally on a (for example) oia.govt.nz website. Having them on each agencys website makes it harder to know what is out there.

But again a good decision by the Government.

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NZRDA letter to Union Colleagues concerning CTU/PSA support for SToNZ (AKA Scab Union).

17 September 2018

Dear Union Colleagues

Whilst unions do have differences of opinion on some things, there are some core principles we always felt we held in common. Recent events however might be testing those core principles; we refer to the establishment of SToNZ (Speciality Trainees of New Zealand) and support for them from the PSA.

Whilst NZRDA was aware of the existence of about 50 surgical registrars who objected to safer rosters and worked during our 2016/2017 strike as a result, we are disappointed to see that another Union was prepared to assist this group in setting up a union and bargaining an alternative collective agreement, solely designed to diminish safe staffing rules. The issue in contention is what we know as Schedule 10, a provision gained as a result of strike action of our members successfully preventing doctors from working 12 days in a row, requiring instead a maximum of 10 days worked.

SToNZ appears to have a single purpose (the negotiation of a collective agreement without the safer hours provision) and more recently have stated that they expect a 6% increase in pay due to the fact they will be working 51/2% longer hours. Another concern is their statement that:

DHBs have been approached. They are very receptive to having a second negotiating partner  Are willing to make concessions to give impetus to our union and get it off the ground. And finish by saying A contract with the DHBs is being prepared.

NZRDA is also in bargaining at this time and it is already apparent that the DHBs feel emboldened to undermine us due to the recent material support of this new union. At the last bargaining session, the DHBs tabled an extensive log of clawbacks designed to diminish the role of NZRDA in decision making about runs and rosters. In essence they have chosen to attack the very core of this long-established and complex MECA.

So, in effect, the PSA is supporting;

1. a group of employees who are seeking to undermine safer workplace provisions affecting not just the doctors themselves but inevitably members of the public, and

2. a group of workers who have publicly confirmed they worked during strike action, and

3. a process that will inevitably undermine a legitimate union and collective bargaining by that union.

We agree with the CTU position that unions must be genuinely independent of the employer. It is difficult to reconcile that position with the PSA supporting SToNZ. We are further concerned to learn that the new union will be seeking to affiliate to the CTU with its blessing. We also acknowledge the existence of competition between the PSA and APEX amongst other unions, but do not believe this should be confused with the PSA Executive taking action to undermine the NZRDA and our previous bargaining successes. The new union has as its sole purpose the undermining of safer hours won by NZRDA members through strike action.

The next few weeks will be telling, not just for NZRDA, its members, and our bargaining, but I believe the union movement as well. Whether their original intention or not, the PSA Executive is supporting a union that undermines collective activity.

We appreciate the support so many union members from across the spectrum of the movement have shown and thank you for that. We are aware PSA members have also written to their executive expressing their concerns. (see link below.)

http://www.scoop.co.nz//regarding-psa-involvement-with-the.

We believe for all the reasons above that the PSA and the CTU must withdraw their support for SToNZ and we seek your support for this stance.

If you wish to have any further information on the issues at the heart of this matter, we are happy to provide what information we have.

Kind regards

Dr Deborah Powell

National SecretaryBy WestKyStar and WKCTC Staff Sep. 23, 2018 | 10:24 AM | PADUCAH

West Kentucky Community and Technical College's Paducah School of Art and Design (PSAD) will open "Silver Celebration," an exhibition of works in a variety of media by PSAD alumni Thursday, Sept. 27.

The exhibition opens with a free reception that will be held from 5-6:30 pm in the Bill Ford Gallery, located in PSAD's 2D Graphic Design Building at 905 Harrison Street.

Curated by PSAD Drawing Professor Randy Simmons, the unique exhibition is PSAD's first showcase for graduates of the associate in fine arts degree in visual art and associate in applied science degree in visual communication: multimedia. The exhibition serves to recognize the creative work of PSAD's graduates as the art school celebrates its tenth anniversary.

Participating artists include Lu Colby, Katyln Collins, Michael Copeland, Morgan Hadfield, Sarah Hall, Joanne Wong-Hammonds, Meg Mahoney, Ashlea McMillan, Carrie Parks, Lillie Poindexter, Allison Reynolds, Shanden Simmons, Rebekah Thuline, Jill Westerfield, and Grace Yocum.

"PSAD is proud of all of our students but particularly of those who put in the hard work and dedication required to receive their respective credentials" said art school director Paul Aho. "While this showcase includes only a select group of our graduates, it is representative of those who are currently making their living as artists and those who have completed or are completing upper level degrees at four-year institutions. We are delighted to recognize their ongoing accomplishments and to include Silver Celebration among other upcoming events and exhibitions celebrating our first ten years."

"Silver Celebration" runs through November 1. Gallery hours are 9 am to 4 pm, Monday through Friday, and 10 am to 4 pm on Saturdays. Admission is free.

WKCTC offers an associate in fine arts degree in visual art and an associate in applied science degree and certificate programs in visual communication: multimedia, as well as studio art classes for students of all levels and disciplines. Classes are offered on WKCTC's main campus and the PSAD locations at 905 Harrison St. and 919 Madison St.

For more information, call 270-534-3901.

View Online: http://westkentucky.meritpages.com/news/WKCTCs-Paducah-School-of-Art-and-Design-Opens-Alumni-Exhibition/5356Andrea Vance writes:

While female MPs were sipping orange juice at a celebratory Parliament breakfast, and their male colleagues were pinning white camellia to their suit lapels, it was sexist business as usual in the corridors of power. Jacinda Ardern was distracted. She had too many papers crossing her desk. She was weak for not firing Clare Curran. Dont think this is sexist? When Simon Bridges accuses Ardern of being distracted dealing with Winston Peters, his underlying message is: baby brain. It carries the scent of paternalistic condescension. Bridges might not even be conscious of it. But the words we choose infer things beyond what we intend. No commentator ever suggested John Key had too much paperwork to deal with, even when he was struck down with one of his brain fades. He was not described as weak for letting foreign minister Murray McCully get away with using a private email account  and he got hacked.

Andrea basically says that words such as weak are only used to describe female politicians, not male ones.

A quick search of Scoop shows on 82 occasions a release or speech from Labour or the Greens has John Key and weak in it.

A couple of examples:

Now that John Key is facing a similar donations scandal with one of his own Ministers, but refusing to act on it, he is showing how inconsistent and weak he is, said Green Party Co-leader Metiria Turei.

That Metiria Turei being sexist against John Key.

John Key is showing his weak leadership and refusal to do what is morally right by not raising human rights abuses of New Zealand born Australians on Christmas Island with Malcolm Turnbull, Opposition leader Andrew Little says. This was a weak and gutless display in Parliament today from the Prime Minister.

And Andrew Little also called John Key weak.

Prime Ministers are routinely called weak by Opposition MPs. To say it is sexist when the PM is female is, well, weak!

Winston Peters is running rings around her because thats what Winston Peters has done to successive coalition partners. His disruptiveness is gender-neutral.

Yes and having Simon Bridges criticise her leadership as weak because of it is not sexist. In fact there is an interesting background when it comes to criticising weak leadership of PMs dealing with Winston.

Back in 1997 Jim Bolger was Prime Minister and Winston was Deputy PM. And the Northern Region of the Young Nationals had an excellent regular newsletter. Off memory it may have been called Northern Lights.

The July edition of that newsletter had a cartoon and story which portrayed the PM as drunk in the kitchen on whiskey while Winston and the Tight Five were running around playing havoc, stealing the cutlery etc. It was excellent Young Nats humour.

The newsletter caused a big stir as the Sunday Star Times got hold of a copy and ran it on the front page during the National Party conference. The Regional Chair of the Young Nationals was summoned to a brutal dressing down by not just the Prime Minister, but also the party president, the chair of the Rules Committee, the Chief of Staff, the Chief Press Secretary the Party General Secretary etc. He was told he was the stupidest f**k who had ever lived, had destroyed the conference, destroyed the Governments unity etc and that as a consequence he must withdraw from the election scheduled the next day for Young Nationals President as him being elected would be seen as the Young Nats endorsing the cartoon showing Bolger as weak.

The Young Nats Chair in question took what would have been an incredibly intimidating brow beating for the best part of half an hour but stood his ground and refused to withdraw from the election. He said the newsletter was just light hearted humour and the Young Nats should get to decide who their own officers are. I was incredibly impressed with his stance as I would have been a quivering wreck if I had endured the same.

The next day at the AGM I am told there was a remarkable sight. The Prime Minister turned up to the Young Nats AGM. Party rules make the Party Leader a voting member of every committee and body, including Young Nats. So he used this obscure rule to turn up just to vote against this Regional Chairman, and even started lobbying others to vote against him. Young Nats were startled to have the PM in attendance as for the last ten years they had invited him to their conference and he had never been able to make it.

So who was the Young Nats Chair whose newsletter portrayed Jim Bolger weak for how he was dealing with Winston Peters? By coincidence it was a Simon Joseph Bridges.

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By WestKyStar & Mercy Health Staff Sep. 23, 2018 | 09:15 AM | PADUCAH

Owsley is board certified in Psychiatry and Neurology and is part of the regions largest multi-specialty physician network, Mercy Health Physicians which consists of nearly 150 providers serving in over 30 locations throughout western Kentucky.





Dr. Owsley joins Dr. Laurie Ballew and Nurse Practitioners, Erin Coale and Katie Reimnitz. For more information, call 270-444-2250.

Mercy Health is pleased to welcome Eugene Owsley to Mercy Health  Behavioral Health. Dr. Owsley comes to Mercy Health from the University of Louisville where he completed a Fellowship in Addiction Psychiatry diagnosing and treating people who suffered from addiction disorders.WILLOWS, Calif. - A firefighting crew traveled 8,000 miles from Saipan to assist with firefighting efforts in Northern California this summer, and worked on both the Carr and the Delta Fires. Their deployment began on Aug. 6.

The firefighters from the Commonwealth of Northern Marianas Islands (CNMI) work as a wildland hand crew. They are certified as a Type 2 U. S. Forest Service crew. They are one of 540 such crews that apply their skills to firefighting each year across the United States, according to a spokesperson for the Mendocino National Forest.

When working on the Carr Fire, squad boss trainee Linus Mizutani said, "All we could see on both sides of us was burned area. It was huge!" He said more than 15 of their islands would have fit within the fire area.

At the Delta Fire the crew worked with the Mendocino Hotshots, who taught them more about new fire ignition techniques used during night burns to improve containment lines.

Mizutani said, "It's one thing to read about it in books or watch it on YouTube, but feeling and smelling it, you won't forget that."

He said now they will go home and share the experiences and lessons learned with other firefighters who were not able to make the trip to Northern California.

The crew consists of firefighters from Saipan, Tinian and Rota. Sixtus Aquino, Saturnino Kaipat and Linus Mizutani all served in leadership roles as squad bosses or Type 1 firefighters. Squad bosses supervise up to six firefighters each.

Marlon Garde, Shelwyn Taisacan, Jamaal Mresbang, Mizutani and Kaipat also worked as sawyers on the fires, after completing a wildland power saws course offered by the Mendocino National Forest.

(See more of this story below the photograph)

Other NCMI firefighters on the crew were Kyoshi Kileleman, Mathew Dala Cruz, Joseph Sablan, Raccine Hizon, Lucio Kalen, Sammy Litulumar, Matthew Dueans and Stanley Santos.

Most of the crew has returned home to the Marianas. Garde, Kalen and Taisacan are working the rest of the 2018 fire season at the Los Padres National Forest.

The group received basic wildland firefighter training earlier this year in the islands under the U.S. Forest Service's Cooperative Fire Program. The mission is to work with Pacific Island partners in the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, Hawaii, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Republic of Palau, American Samoa, and the Federated States of Micronesia to "increase capacity in the fire community," according to Forest Service officials.

Several mentors assisted the visiting fire crew this summer, including Crew Boss trainees Jeremy Lander, Mark Walls and James Blass. Other mentors included Crew Bosses Ricky Auspiro, Nate Goodchild, Lee Ibarra, Andy Reyes, Edgar Valencia, Chris Mallek and Jeremy Vance.

The crew from the Commonwealth of Northern Marianas Islands (CNMI) were able to reunited with the Feather River Hotshots, a firefighting elite group that they had worked with before. They also were able to work with firefighter David Palacios, who hails from the Marianas, and is currently working as a Northen California firefighter.

Last summer a crew came out from the CNMI to work on the Modoc and Six Rivers National Forests.NORRISTOWN, Pennsylvania - When Bill Cosby is sentenced Monday for drugging and molesting a woman, it will be a final chapter in downfall that leaves some blacks pained and others proud.

Those who grew up viewing Cosby's NBC show struggle to reconcile the conviction with the wise, warm television father they knew. But many millennials see him as long-irrelevant figure. And the #MeToo era has cast him as someone who was deservingly vanquished, like so many other misbehaving men in power.

Observers of black pop culture say the rise of social media and black feminist voices has contributed to a generation that is more likely to see Cosby as a victimizer, not a victim.

Cosby has been on house arrest since in April. He could get probation to 30 years in prison on Monday, when he is scheduled for sentencing for three sexual assault convictions.

(Copyright 2018 The Associated Press)New Delhi, Sept 24: Bringing their agitation to the national capital, a delegation of 250 teachers from Jammu & Kashmir will be protesting in Delhi today demanding salary hike as per the 7th Pay Commission recommendations.

The agitators represent 41,000 J&K government teachers, who have been regularised after 5 years of service. Since they were contractual employees earlier, the CPC benefits were not extended to them. For other state employees, the erstwhile Mehbooba Mufti-led government had rolled out the wage increment as per the 7th Pay Commission recommendations. Government Announces 2 Per Cent Hike in DA for Its Employees With Effect From July 1

"We are going for a sit-in protest in Delhi tomorrow Our protest has failed to attract the attention of the (Jammu and Kashmir) Governor (Satya Pal Malik), Kuldeep Singh, provincial president of Teachers Joint Action Committee (TJAC) - an amalgam of various teachers organisations - told news agency PTI on Sunday.

"The protest in Delhi is part of the programme chalked out by us and if our demand is not met, we will be forced to close down all schools across the state. We do not want the students to suffer but we have no other alternative, he added.

Meanwhile, hundreds of J&K teachers gathered in Srinagar on Sunday to raise their plight before the State Administrative Council. The protesters have appealed Governor Malik to take cognizance of their issue.

The TJAC began their protest on August 30, launching an indefinite hunger chain strike in Jammu. They have threatened to go on strike if their plight continues to remain ignored.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 24, 2018 12:35 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).Haryana, September 23: The Economic Offence Wing of Cyberabad police said that it has cracked a Rs 3000 crore fraud by a Hisar-based marketing company. Police have arrested the chairman and MD of Future Maker Life Care Global Marketing Pvt Ltd, Radhe Shyam and director, Surender Singh. In the earlier reports which released on September 8, the fraud was estimated at Rs 1200 crores but after the initial probe, the amount increased to Rs 3000 crores. Rs 1,200-Crore Fraud Busted by Hyderabad Police, Two Arrested For Conning Scores of Investors.

They have duped approximately 60 lakh people of Rs 3000 crore. The victims were mostly from Delhi, Haryana, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, and Odisha.

The firm charged Rs 7,500 from everyone as a joining fee and assured commission of Rs 500 for bringing two new members besides credit of Rs 2,500 a month for the period of two years. The firm has cheated public using banned binary pyramid (1: 2) business model for their multi-level marketing scheme. I-T Raids on Tamil Nadu Contracting Firm, Rs 100 Crore Cash, 90-kg Bullion Seized.

Police have seized Rs 200 crore in their company's bank account. They also seized Ford Endeavor, Jaguar, Toyota Fortuner, Four laptops, Six mobile phone and a revolver from Radhe Shyam's house in Hisar, Haryana.

Cyberabad police have written to Reserve Bank of India and asked them how the fraud has taken place and why the commercial banks didn't raise any question regarding the huge sum of money.

Radhe Shyam is a Class seven dropout. He mostly targeted unemployed youth and housewives, promising them fake claims of part-time income.

Previously, Radhe Shyam was working with Right Concept Marketing (RCM) for six years. Three years ago he brought up Future Maker Life Care Global Marketing Pvt Ltd company with funds from duped clients, who he promised extraordinary returns.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 23, 2018 01:52 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).REDDING, Calif. - Dozens of Shasta County residents shared their concerns Saturday at a Carr Fire community meeting run by Redding firefighters.

Whenever a critical incident occurs, the firefighters hold briefings amongst themselves. After realizing the entire community went through this tragedy together, they wanted to give the public a chance to ask questions too.

Residents voiced their concerns about rebuilding. Another topic was the staffing of the Redding Fire Department.

"A lot of questions were asked about our staffing and how many people were on our engines. Something we feel we have to talk about in the future," said Redding firefighter Bret Morris.

The deadline to sign up for debris removal is next Sunday, Sept. 30, 2018.Mumbai, September 23: Ten days long Ganesh Chaturthi is coming to an end, from small to big every Ganesh idol will be immersed in water. It is estimated that Mumbai alone will witness immersion of over 1,50,000 Ganesh idols. To avoid the disruptions, Mumbai police has taken important security measures. Ganesh Visarjan 2018: Girgaon Chowpatty to Juhu Beach, Popular Spots to See Ganpati Immersion in Mumbai on Anant Chaturdashi.

Approximately 2,200 traffic police and 1,500 traffic warden has been deployed in the city. Control rooms have been set up at the major immersion spots: Girgaum Chowpatty, Shivaji Park, Juhu Chowpatty, Powai, Ganesh Ghat, and Badi Masjid in Bandra.

More than 5,000 police personnel have been deployed to 162 immersion points, of which 550 policemen are for the Lalbaugcha Raja itself. To control congestion at crowded places, CCTV cameras will monitor the situation in real-time. Ganpati Visarjan 2018 in Pune: Check Immersion Route, Road Map, Traffic Advisory, Roadblocks and Parking Spots For Anant Chaturdashi.

A staggering 6455 Sarvajanik Ganesh pandals will be conducting the visarjan on September 23. 53 roads have been closed for vehicular traffic, 56 roads are one-way while 99 roads are no parking spots. No heavy vehicles will be allowed on 18 roads in Mumbai, reported mid-day. Ganpati Visarjan 2018: Arabian Sea Vomits Thousands of Dead Fishes, Turtles at Juhu & Dadar Beaches Following 7th Day Immersion.

While Mumbai police have been updating Mumbaikars about the latest developments in Traffic and routes for Ganesh Visharjan in their official Twitter handle. They have also posted a video of Ganesh Visharjan and police bandobast in olden times.

While farewell to Ganpati has always been extremely emotional and special for citizens, for us the focus has always been ensuring their safety during the festivity! A glimpse of #GanpatiVisarjan and police bandobast in olden times. pic.twitter.com/310n4s030Q  Mumbai Police (@MumbaiPolice) September 22, 2018

Maharashtra tourism has also set up an air-conditioned pavilion for foreign tourists at Girgaum Chowpatty. It has facilities such as Wifi, Mobile toilets and clean drinking water.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 23, 2018 04:59 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).Xiaomi, a Chinese tech giant is all set to host a launch event in Bangalore next week. The company is expected to launch new smart home devices at the event to lure buyers this Diwali season. The tech giant has been teasing the launch event with the theme - Smarter Living on its social media platforms. Xiaomi is speculated to launch a slew of products at the event, that could be Mi Band 3, Mi TV 4s, air purifier and a security camera. Vivo V9 Pro Smartphone Likely To Be Launched in India Next Month.

Starting with Mi Band 3, the fitness band is believed to be the highlight of the event that the company has been teasing the device on the social media platforms. One of the teasers showcased on Mi Band 3, the device is expected to feature heart rate sensor. Moreover, Xiaomi India CEO - Manu Kumar Jain also teased a picture with Hrithik Roshan confirming that Xiaomi will launch Mi Band 3 device in India on September 27. Vivo V11 Pro Offer: Get Smartphone at Just Rs 4,299 on Airtel Online Store.

Not just one or two! Can you guess 'em all? #SmarterLiving Coming soon. pic.twitter.com/dJmRGBBUsb  Mi India (@XiaomiIndia) September 17, 2018

Alongside the new Mi Band 3, the Chinese company will also be launching Mi TV 4s. The new TV from Xiaomi will be introduced as a successor to Mi TV 4-Series that was launched earlier this year. As a reminder, the Mi TV 4-series is offered in 3 models that are already on sale in the market. The new Mi TV 4s will carry a 55-inch panel with 4K HDR support and AI Voice Remote.

The next smart home product from the Chinese tech giant is also expected to be a new air purifier. To be called as Mi Air Purifier 2S, the company has been teasing the product on Twitter. Moreover, Xiaomi already offers Mi Purifier in India and its successor will be launched next week. Realme 2 Pro Specification Details Revealed on Geekbench ahead of India Launch on September 27.

Xiaomi Smarter Living

Xiaomi India is also rumoured to launch an IoT enabled surveillance camera catering that can capture 360 degrees videos. The Mi Home smart camera product is already on sale in China. The device also gets a motorised rotating top which can rotate for capturing images. The device is also capable of recording 1080p videos at 20fps.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 22, 2018 01:04 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).Protesters shouted Corrupt! and Resign! last week as Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales began a ceremonial speech on the eve of his Central American nations independence day.

The protests outside the national palace were the latest to rock the administration of Morales, a key U.S. ally in the region.

Morales vows to shut down an internationally backed anti-corruption panel have sparked a constitutional crisis and demonstrations across the country.

The heightened presence of soldiers in the streets as protests mount has recalled, for some, dark memories of past military governments in a nation still haunted by a decades-long civil war that formally ended in 1996.

Advertisement

After three decades, a Guatemalan village ravaged by war brings home its dead 

The constitutional standoff pits Morales against supporters of the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala, as the anti-corruption body is known.

The commission  which played a key role in the resignation and arrest of Morales predecessor -- has been investigating reports of illegal campaign financing against Morales.

Guatemalas President Jimmy Morales delivers a statement at the Culture Palace in Guatemala City on Sept. 6. (Johan Ordonez / AFP/Getty Images)

The countrys Constitutional Court is deliberating the legality of Morales efforts to shut down the panel. But a ruling may not resolve the crisis, as calls for Morales to step down increase.

Guatemala is agonizing, said Blanca Juarez, one of a group of market vendors who made a 130-mile journey to the capital last week to participate in a protest march. He [Morales] should resign, Juarez added, raising her voice to be heard above the din of demonstrators pouring into the central plaza.

Morales has denied any wrongdoing and has not commented directly on recent calls for his resignation.

A former television comedian, Morales was elected in 2015. The idea of a political outsider resonated with many Guatemalans heading to polling stations mere days after incumbent President Otto Perez Molina resigned and was arrested on corruption charges.

Perez Molina, a former head of military intelligence, remains jailed pending his trial.

Morales began his four-year term in January 2016. The constitution prohibits presidential reelection, so he cannot be on the ballot in next years elections.

The International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala played a crucial role in bringing down the Perez Molina administration. The United Nations-backed commission has been working alongside Guatemalan prosecutors since 2007, successfully building cases against high-level officials, judges and corporate executives.

Morales was initially supportive of the anti-corruption body, vowing to renew its two-year mandate so that it could continue throughout his presidency and beyond.

The relationship quickly began to sour, however, as Morales, his relatives and his political party all became subjects of investigations into corruption, including illegal campaign financing.

Last year, Morales declared the panels head commissioner, Ivan Velasquez, a former judge from Colombia, persona non grata. A ruling by the Constitutional Court, which has the last word on all constitutional matters, reversed the move.

This year, Morales extended his offensive against the anti-corruption panel. On Aug. 31, he announced the non-renewal of the commissions current mandate, which ends in September 2019, four months before Morales term is up. Four days later, the government announced that Velasquez, the head commissioner, was a security threat and would not be permitted back into the country.

Banning Velasquez violates the 2017 court ruling in support of the commissioner, according to Jordan Rodas, the countrys human rights ombudsman, who is challenging Morales moves in court. The ombudsmans action is one of several legal petitions aimed at ensuring the continued presence of both the commission and its chief. A ruling is expected any day.

For the past two weeks, Morales has been insinuating he will disregard an unfavorable ruling from the high court  a move that could exacerbate the constitutional crisis.

The United Nations, Canada and the European Union rallied behind the anti-corruption commission and issued statements lamenting Morales actions, but the Trump administrations response has been tepid.

Morales is an important U.S. ally in the region and beyond. Guatemala supported Washingtons controversial recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, a move welcomed by the Israeli government but denounced by Palestinian representatives. Guatemala moved its Israeli embassy to Jerusalem in May, the same month as the United States.

Also in May, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., moved to freeze $6 million in U.S. funding for the anti-corruption commission, contending that the panel was being manipulated. The funds were unfrozen last month.

Washington has been the anti-corruption panels largest funder, providing more than a quarter of the commissions $167 million total budget from 2007 to the present. But the U.S. position in the current crisis remains unclear, given Washingtons strong support for Morales.

Morales has publicly portrayed the anti-corruption commission as a threat. No state or international body can undermine our sovereignty or threaten our peace, our security and our governance, Morales said Saturday in his independence day message.

But many Guatemalans see a threat in the increased military presence on the streets since Aug. 31, when Morales moved to shut down the anti-corruption panel. The president has strong support from hard-line, right-wing factions of the military, which remains a powerful force in Guatemala, despite a history of human rights violations.

They want to re-militarize the country, said Feliciana Macario, a leader of an organization of women whose husbands were killed during Guatemalas civil war. The government is trying to intimidate the civilian population.

State forces carried out acts of genocide during the 36-year internal armed conflict that ended in 1996, according to a U.N.-backed truth commission. An estimated 200,000 civilians  most of them of indigenous Maya ancestry were killed.

Throughout Guatemala last week, independence day marches were riddled with protest signs and banners supporting the anti-corruption commission and calling for Morales resignation.

More protests across the country are planned for this week.

Cuffe is a special correspondent. Staff writer Patrick J. McDonnell in Mexico City contributed to this report.

patrick.mcdonnell@latimes.com

Twitter: @PmcdonnellLATBy Cathy Jameson

Fall down sevenget up eight

Late Thursday evening, I took a few minutes to catch up on some autism and vaccine news Id seen earlier in the week. FYI: A lot has happened over the last few days! Two groundbreaking books debuted, one on the autism epidemic and the other about the HPV vaccine. Live interviews with several prominent advocates in the autism/vaccine community took to the airwaves, and jaw-dropping discoveries and demands were made by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and the Childrens Health Defense. While Im elated that more information is being shared worldwide about vaccines and autism, reading through last weeks news crushed me.

Recently discovered evidence provided by Kennedy and Hazlehurst details obstruction of justice and appallingly consequential fraud by two DOJ lawyers who represented the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in 2007. These actions led to a denial of justice and compensation for over 5,000 families who filed claims of vaccine injury leading to autism in their children.

Its not the first time that that sort of news has left me reeling. Our communitys learned other things too late before. That happens when we find out that someone didnt do their job or that something that was done years ago didnt have to happen. Id love to hear that were only making progress but have sometimes been left feeling defeated instead...

Like when an article published in the Pace Environmental Law Review revealed that the VICP has compensated 83 cases of acknowledged vaccine-induced brain damage that include autism. Thats only documented cases that made it through the system. How many more are out there??

Like when Nancy Grace, a well-known lawyer, learned on air from Becky Estepp that families cannot sue vaccine manufacturers for vaccine injury or death. How could she not know that??

Like at the end of a fear-mongering vaccine morning news segment when Dr. Nancy Snyderman arrogantly demanded everyone to get your damn vaccine. Um, thanks but no thanks!

Like when one Congressman took the floor and begged his fellow members of Congress to do what they said they were going to do. Please! Listen to the people!!

Like when the Department of Human Health and Services didnt do their job for the last 30 years. What else have they neglected to do??

Even with all the frustration those sorts of news stories bring, I admit that there is bit of a silver lining. People are seeing this information go across their newsfeeds, theyre reading it and also talking about it. That part is thrilling! But in the same moment, my emotions will sometimes take a hit. Its just so heartbreaking to know that we have been let down. I always hope that these stories wont consume me, but how could they not? The autism journey Ive been on has had countless ups and downs. Ive gotten used to that, but I never expected the pitfalls Ive encountered to have stemmed from organizations and leaders I was told to trust.

So many families have been misled by the experts. Too many still are.

Call me naive, but it still hurts to know that people in high places have never, and will never, have my childs best interest in mind. Its a shame that I had to learn that the hard way, but thank goodness I learned it when I did. From that unfortunate experience, I learned how to be a better advocate not just for my son, who regressed post-vaccination, but for all of my children. These kids of mine - they are my pride and joy! God help anyone who tries to get between them and me.

By the weekend, I dug myself out of the doom and gloom that the news had put me in last week. Brave souls are helping validate what so many of us know, and I want to shout to the rooftops. How many times have heard or read that vaccines dont cause autism when we parents know otherwise. So often. Too often! Its taken awhile, but lies made by our government and their representatives are being revealed. Data that supports our childrens poor decline post-vaccination is being discovered. All of that is being shared with the masses. It may not be on the mainstream news yet, but these latest books, these live interviews, and RFK Jrs discoveries are good. The more he and his crew dig, the more we can teach future generations what to avoid. If families can avoid the atrocities some of us were unable to, imagine the possibilities!The presidential election has catapulted county councillors in Laois and the rest of the country into the national spotlight.

The Constitution gives councillors the right to nominate candidates for the presidential election. So, it has given some politicans a chance to make headlines locally and nationally.

Inadvertently, the process shines a light on the sorry state local democracy finds itself .

Many factors have combined over a number of years to undermine county councillors. In truth, they have become little more than voices for public concerns and, at most, people who, sometimes, can get roads and lights fixed.

All to often, they are dismissed by civil servants, TDs, Ministers and the national media.

They are dismissed because they have lttle power, authority or responsiblity. Yes, they can highlight issues and can achieve some tasks, but they are frozen out when it comes to having a direct day-to-day role in the provision of local services and deciding how the millions of county councils budgets get spent.

In the past few days the Minister for Housing, Eoghan Murphy an d the Taoiseach, Leo Vardadkar took aim at local authorities. They blamed councillors and councils for not moving fast enough to tackle the housing crisis.

It was immediately seen as a cheap shot on Dublin councils to deflect the focus from themselves.

The councillors and councils were an easy target for the Minister who is hardly the shining light in Government, for all his polish.

He got away with it until the chief executive of Fingal County Council contradicted him. He said all the housing targets set for his north county Dublin area had been met and exceeded.

That softened Minister Murphy's cough quickly enough, and no more stones were thrown.

But, why the hell did a civil servant have to respond? Heads of Government Departments hardly ever speak in public. It is left to the democratically elected minister or ministers to speak on behalf of departments.

Yet, it has become accepted that the the most powerful people in local government are not those elected by the people, but civil servants.

Each county now has a chief executive officer who calls the shots. He or she sometimes has to get the go ahead from councillors but, by and large, that has become a rubber stamping excercise.

The truth is our councillors have been neutered by TDs and the civil servants. To some extent corruption has also contributed.

Not so long ago a government minister could be a councillor. When that stopped, TDs had to ensure that councillors had less power.

The removal of the dual mandate was designed to make TDs less focused on local issues. In reality, it made them more focused on their own back yards. If the TD can be seen to be the one to sort out a local issue to get votes, why would they allow local councillors to have powers to solve local problems? Why would voters ask councillors?

An article in a national newspaper last weekend described Minister Kevin Boxer Moran as a 'local politican'.

The Healy-Raes in Kerry are the classic example of TDs doing the work councillors should be responsible for, but also empowered to carry out.

Next year around 60,000 Laois people will have a vote in the local elections. Less than half of those people will vote.

If the results of the last local elections are repeated, a number of councillor are likely to be elected on the back of getting 800 number ones. That is about 1% of those entitled to vote.

Last time around the towns of Portarlington and Mountmellick were left with just one councillor residing in each town while less populated rural areas were left over represented. This trend is likely to be repeated in 2019.

Most councillors are dedicated public representatives but they must be given more authority and responsibility to sort out issues such as housing, and not just have street lights replaced and get potholes filled.A Portlaoise student is among an elite group of young people to receive a prestigous scholarship that help him advance his studies after an completing his Leaving Cert St Mary's CBS this year.

Luan Fletcher Calt from Kilminchy in Portlaoise achieved 625 points with six H1s and two H2s in his final secondary school exam. Apart from being enough to qualify to study Mathematics at Trinity College Dublin, his results have helped him win a Naughton Foundation Scholarship.

The award is worth up to 20,000 for each of the 36 recipients chosen annually. Some 5,000 is granted per annum for each year of a students three or four year undergraduate degree.

The Foundation says scholarship is intended as a reward and encouragement to exceptional students who would like to study in the STEM field (science, technology, engineering and maths) at University. It is not awarded simply on the basis of points achieved. Students like Luan needed to have been involved in science, tech and maths Olympiads or any science or tech competitions or debates during secondary school.

Luan's alma mater will also be presented with a prize of 1,000 towards the CBS science facilities in recognition supporting these students.

Maura Murphy, Principal at St Mary's, complimented Luan after six years in the CBS.

"Luan has consistently achieved in the top marks since he entered in 2012. Across all subject areas, be they language, science, maths, business, history, speech and drama etc.

"Luan has always been at the top of his class. His teachers used words on his reports such as excellent, enthusiastic, diligent, a participator, a pleasure to teach, and I would also add consistent.

"Luan is a perfect example of how a young person who has an interest in many things and who lives life to the full can also, with hard work, perform academically at a very high level.

"Although I am not a science teacher I remember his Scifest projects, which were always selected to move onto the Regional level and further.

"Luan has always made Portlaoise CBS proud and he has done it once again. We all wish him the very best in his future studies and whatever career he chooses to pursue.

"His family must be so proud," she said.

Luan and his mum Emer are delighted with the award. They paid tribute to the CBS.

"Luan says he couldn't have done it without the support and encouragement of Maura and all of his past teachers. Three in particular, Ms Foley, Ms Carroll and Mr Mulligan," she said.

The Naughton Foundation confirmed that Luan will receive his Naughton Scholarship on September 29th in Trinity College.The HSE are pleased to announce that plans to build a New Acute Mental Health Inpatient Unit for the clients of Sligo/Leitrim Mental Health Services on the grounds of Sligo University Hospital have progressed.

Earlier this week the HSE Directorate approved the award of the construction contract for the Acute Mental Health Unit.

HSE Estates will now progress with the appointment of the contractor and progress with the construction of the new facility. Subject to final agreement of programme it is intended that construction will be complete by the end of 2019 with the unit fully operational in early 2020.

In line with A Vision for Change 2006 which states Acute Inpatient Units should be located in major general hospitals this unit will be integrated within the Sligo University Hospital campus as an additional department as opposed to a separate entity altogether.

The population (catchment area) covered by Sligo Leitrim Mental Health Services is 109,000 people. This acute unit will provide 25 inpatient beds and this is within the clinical guidelines set out in a Vision for Change which recommends there should be 30 in-patient beds per 300,000 population.

This new unit will provide clients of Sligo/Leitrim Mental Health Services with a modern facility that will be purpose built to meet their needs. Each client will have their own single en-suite bedroom.

The existing unit at Ballytivnan known as St Columbas will close when the new unit opens. All of the clients accessing an in-patient service at that time will transition to the new unit.

Welcoming the announcement John Hayes Chief Officer Community Healthcare Organisation Area 1 stated We welcome the progression of this new development, which will have a tremendous benefit on the lives of the inpatient clients of Sligo/Leitrim Mental Health services.A FORMER mayor of Limerick has said that he would not agree to a meeting with the local garda superintendent if Limericks chief superintendent was not also present, because of suggestions that were previously made about the councillor having an agenda.

At this months Adare Rathkeale municipal meeting councillors were discussing a proposal to hold a special meeting with local senior gardai, to discuss antisocial behaviour in the town of Askeaton.

Cllr Adam Teskey, Fine Gael, brought the motion under any other business, after outlining how he and Cllr Kevin Sheahan had been approached by a concerned local from the area.

Its a sad reflection on society when a person cannot reside in their area in peaceful circumstances, said Cllr Teskey. It is frightening, and I think it justifies the special meeting that we are proposing.

Cllr Kevin Sheahan, Fianna Fail, added that while the district will soon have a routine Joint Policing Committee meeting, it would likely be consumed with the topic of policing Rathkeale at Christmas, so a separate meeting for Askeaton was warranted.

There are a whole range of issues we need to discuss with the superintendent, said Cllr Sheahan.

But last years mayor of Limerick, Cllr Stephen Keary, said that he would not agree to the special meeting because of a comment made by Supt Eamon ONeill at a previous meeting.

Im not happy with having a meeting with the present superintendent unless the chief is with us. There was an experience with him [Supt ONeill] the last time we had a meeting, I wasnt satisfied with the response and the suggestions that were made towards me that I had an agenda. I have no agenda only to serve the people that I represent, said Cllr Keary.

Council director of services Caroline Curley pointed out that the chief superintendent generally attends the centralised Limerick Joint Policing Committee meeting, and the superintendents from the relevant areas attend the local meetings.

Cllr Sheahan said: The superintendent of NCW is responsible for Askeaton and I value his cooperation and his goodwill.

We have all had occasions where we felt that officialdom wasnt the way we would like it to be.

I have never seen a situation where we made it conditional that we wouldnt have a meeting to discuss one parish unless the chief super is there, he added.

Cllr Richard ODonoghue said that he is in favour of a meeting but the Adare Rathkeale district is a big area, and Im not fully in agreement to bring in a meeting just for one particular area, adding that he has concerns from other areas that he wishes to address.

Cllr Teskey replied: We have had special meetings here for Rathkeale and Rathkeale only, where there has been full support. I feel that there is a real sense among the community that it justifies a special meeting for Askeaton on a standalone basis.LIMERICK Crime Prevention Officer Sergeant Ber Leetch has thanked a lady in Castleconnell for reporting a bogus caller.

I think that this is a great example of a member of a community watching out for others. This lady reported that men in a van were calling from house to house, claiming to be from a particular utility company and taking metre readings. The reporting lady had the sense to contact the company and she was told that there should be nobody from that company doing readings in her area, said Sgt Leetch.

The lady that reported this has given me the opportunity to caution other people in the Limerick area about this bogus caller and I would like to thank her, she continued.

Sgt Leetch stressed that nobody has the right to enter your home unless you know exactly who they are and why they need to gain entry.

I would advise anybody who feels vulnerable to not open the door but ask the person to leave their business card. If you feel uneasy ring your nearest neighbour and the gardai, said Sgt Leetch.A NEWCASTLE West woman who lost six stone has said that the experience changed her life.

Patsy Nolan is one of 10 finalists for the title of Unislimmer of the Year, and will attend an event in Dublin on October 3.

After initially joining weight loss club Unislim in April 2015, Patsy said that she aimed to lose two stone by October the following year. But by the next April, ahead of time, she had reached her target.

She ended up losing a total of six stone. But how did she do it?

Three healthy meals a day and two healthy snacks. You need to keep your metabolism going and your body working, said Patsy.

Before I had my children, I used to look after myself a bit more, but after we got married, we were both working shifts and it was just easier to go for a takeaway or something like that, she added.

I have taught myself now to always have peppers, mushrooms and onions and a bag of prawns at home, so if I was stuck in the evenings I could have a prawn stir fry, and it takes me the same length of time as it would to bring in a takeaway. If the family is getting a takeaway pizza, I will have my own Unislim-friendly pizza, if theyre ordering Chinese, I will do my own stir fry at home.

Like so many people, Patsy explained that she is an emotional eater. A tough few weeks can set her progress back, but it just means getting back on track, and trying again.

The whole experience of working towards a body she is healthy and happy in has been a transformative experience inside and out.

Anybody that knows me from years ago would know that I would always be in the background. I never put myself out there.

When I first started off, when I stepped on the scales and I saw my initial weight and my BMI, I actually cried when I went home. My leader was brilliant and she told me to take it one pound at a time, and thats my advice to anyone, take it at your own pace. As well as the healthy eating, I took up Zumba dancing in Newcastle West, and did my own walking as well, she said.

It has transformed my life immensely, it really has. It has given me the confidence and the belief in myself that I can do things, because sometimes we cut ourselves down.

Its nice to be comfortable in your own skin, even for something as simple as being able to go to the shops and pick up something off a hanger.Born in Malaysia, I moved with my family to Ireland and attended both Loreto Primary School in Gorey, Co Wexford and later Carlow Vocational School.

I first became interested in knitting and crochet when I was younger after coming across it as an activity both at primary and secondary school level. However, I also grew-up in a creative household with my brother studying digital animation production at college, and supportive parents who enjoyed woodwork and baking in their spare time.

Currently, I am mainly focused on knitwear, creating designs from textile swatches while exploring and combining various techniques from knitting and crochet.

I then use these alongside printed textiles. A good understanding of skill/craft, creativity, interest, and patience, is essential to the process of developing a fashion orientated collection. That said, there is more to knitwear than just a jumper! Technique develops with time and the cultivation of new identities. For example, growing-up I loved knitting as a hobby while at home but was fortunate enough to pursue it as a career option when I chose to study at Limerick School of Art and Design. What was most attractive about this move for me was that the college offered a specific course in knitwear and textile design.

At LSAD, I was given opportunities in the real-world of work when I interned with both Ka Wa Key, a menswear knitwear designer in London, and Katie Hanlan a knitwear designer in Dublin.

Studying fashion, knitwear, and textile design, taught me an appreciation of the craft and this strengthened my passion to work in the sector eventually. However, I am also grateful to my tutors who taught me technical and digital skills and encouraged me to develop a great interest in creative knitwear. The course also showed me that the textile and knitwear industry is a progressive and advancing sector both internationally (and locally here in Ireland).

My graduate show, entitled Her Morning Elegance, is a reflection upon the unnoticed independence of women throughout their daily lives.

Challenging the concept of romanticism, it looks at female empowerment while celebrating feminine vulnerability. Overall, this collection was fundamentally made on the domestic knitting machine along with printed textiles. It used lace eyelets, Stitches with mohair, and tape yarn, together with the original designed prints drawn from my own childhood garments. These were then printed onto fabrics like chiffon and georgette. Inspired by a traditional technique called hairpin crochet, I manipulated the basic construction by developing and adapting it from the original crochet into knitting.

The title of this collection was initially inspired by a song by Oren Lavie entitled; Her Morning Elegance, together with influences adapted from nightwear.

The emotions gleaned from these influences evoke in the viewer and wearer an appreciation for both the end and the beginning of a day. The collection focuses on the relatively unnoticed independence of women over the course of their daily lives. The resulting outfits are delicate, romantic, intimate and also formidable. They demonstrate independence of mind and body.

In the foreseeable future, I would love to pursue an MA in knitwear and ultimately see myself in creative knitwear or textile design.

Here I would master textile techniques as a craft while also exploring the value of traditional and creative textiles. Currently, in order to maintain my practice, I am focused on knitwear, creating designs from textile swatches, which are small examples of fabric demonstrating the look and feel of a completed garment. I thoroughly enjoy the process of exploring and combining various techniques like knitting and crochet alongside printed textiles. A good understanding of craft skill, creativity, interest, and patience, is essential to the process of developing a fashion orientated collection. My inspirations mostly come from personal experience, and cultural appreciation. My designs usually develop in my sketchbook after I have swatched my textiles. However, I am drawn to all kinds of textile techniques, currently developing new swatches to explore such possibilities. For me, traditional skills are even more exciting when supported by new perspectives in innovative and creativity. Craft technique develops with time and cultivates new identities for itself, by reinventing and preserving its existence in forms that we value real-time.

For more information about Michelles work please visit www.instagram.com/ michelle.woongtextiles

/?hl=enMarcello Canuto, an archaeologist at Tulane University, sits beside the Maya altar that he and his colleagues discovered in the jungles of northern Guatemala.

Archaeologists have discovered a nearly 1,500-year-old carved stone altar in the ancient Maya city of La Corona, deep in the jungles of northern Guatemala.

The finding, announced Sept. 12 at the National Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology in Guatemala City, is the oldest monument on record at the La Corona site from the Classic Maya period, which lasted from A.D. 250 to 900, the archaeologists said.

An analysis of the carvings on the altar revealed how the powerful Kaanul dynasty started its 200-year rule over much of the Maya lowlands, the archaeologists said. [In Photos: Ancient Maya Carvings Exposed in Guatemala]

"The discovery of this altar allows us to identify an entirely new king of La Corona who apparently had close political ties with the capital of the Kaanul kingdom, Dzibanche, and with the nearby city of El Peru-Waka," Marcello Canuto, director of the Middle American Research Institute at Tulane University and co-director of the La Corona Regional Archaeological Project (PRALC), said in a statement.

The altar, carved out of a large slab of limestone, depicts the previously unknown king  Chak Took Ich'aak  carrying a double-headed serpent. The site's patron gods are emerging out of the conjoined snakes, Canuto said. This animal isn't a coincidence, as the rulers of the Kaanul dynasty were also known as the "snake kings," according to National Geographic.

Next to this carving is a column of hieroglyphs that show the end of the half-katun period in the long count Maya calendar, where a katun is a unit of time, giving a date that corresponds to May 12, 544.

"For several centuries during the Classic period, the Kaanul kings dominated much of the Maya lowlands," Tomas Barrientos, co-director of the project and director of the Center for Archaeological and Anthropological Research at the University of the Valley of Guatemala, said in the statement. "This altar contains information about their early strategies of expansion, demonstrating that La Coronaplayed an important role in the process from the beginning."

Canuto and Barrientos have studied La Corona since 2008, directing excavations, translating hieroglyphs and surveying the area with lidar (which stands for "light detection and ranging"), a technology that uses billions of light beams to map the topography of terrain. They've also taken part in chemical and material analyses.

With PRALC, their team will investigate the altar to see if it contains additional secrets about how the Kaanul kingdom came to exercise so much power over the Maya lowlands.

Original article on Live Science.Did word get out that raccoons scaling buildings is a "thing?" Seems that way. This past June, a raccoon made Earthlings swoon when the masked daredevil scaled 23 stories up a vertical concrete wall in St. Paul, Minnesota, all the way to the safety of the roof. Now, perhaps a copy-coon, has attempted a similar feat, but wasn't so lucky  or, from another perspective, was luckier.

The raccoon was spotted climbing up an apartment building in Ocean City, New Jersey (OCNJ), according to Fox 29 news. Once the agile mammal scaled up maybe nine stories, it seems to change its mind about the adventure. The raccoon turns around and sort of leaps from the building  and not in the superhero kind of way. Its body twists and flails during the horrifying fall to the ground, where the raccoon slams into the sandy-gravely surface, back-first.

The scrappy mammal scrambles itself upright and scampers away  unscathed. Raccoons are known for their clever antics and agility  they can dig their sharp, nonretractable nails into surfaces like trees, or concrete, and they can rotate their limbs 180 degrees to climb down vertical surfaces with ease, Live Science previously reported.

One of the several bystanders on the OCNJ boardwalk who captured video of the feat, Micah Rea of South Carolina, wrote on YouTube, "This raccoon was on a wall on a condominium in Ocean City, NJ and jumped from the 9th floor and landed on the ground miraculously with no injury!"

Yes, perhaps miraculous, as surviving such a titanic tumble is not on a raccoon's skills' list. [The 5 Smartest Non-Primates on the Planet]

"Actually, I am quite surprised to learn that the raccoon could have fallen from such a height and not be hurt," Sam Zeveloff, a zoologist at Weber State University in Ogden, Utah, told Live Science. "There is nothing in the literature that I'm aware of suggesting that they can fall unscathed from such heights. They should be able to drop from a tree with a few bumps and bruises, but to do so from the building seems odd."

Zeveloff added, "Lucky raccoon."

The soft surface it landed on probably helped to break the fall. "It was also fortunate to have landed on what appeared to be a soft sandy surface," Zeveloff said.

Originally published on Live Science.About 150 people gathered Saturday at a local church for the funeral of one of the four women who authorities say were killed by a Border Patrol agent they've described as a serial killer.

The funeral for 34-year-old Guiselda Alicia Hernandez at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church was the last of the memorial services for the women. Border Patrol supervisor Juan David Ortiz is charged with four counts of murder in connection with the slayings.

READ MORE: County authorities shoot down false report about suspected serial killer

According to Hernandez's obituary, she was mother of four.

The funerals for two other victims, Claudine Luera, 42, and Janelle Ortiz, 28, were held Friday. Ortiz was a transgender woman whose birth name was Humberto Ortiz.

Services for Melissa Ramirez, 29, who was found slain Sept. 4, were held earlier this month. Luera was a mother of five and Ramirez a mother of two.

Juan David Ortiz was arrested Sept. 15 and remains jailed.

The slayings and arrest of Ortiz rocked the Laredo community this past week. The news made national headlines, with reporters from numerous media outlets descending on the Gateway City.

The Texas Department of Public Safety said the Rangers will continue their investigation into the killings but that they do not think there are more than four victims.

Once the investigation is wrapped up, it will be turned over to the Webb County District Attorney's Office. District Attorney Isidro "Chilo" Alaniz said Ortiz may face capital murder charges when all the facts are known.

"We know he carried out these crimes in a cold, calloused fashion," added Alaniz, who said Ortiz had apparently gained the confidence of his victims, all sex workers, from prior contacts.

Erika Pena, a fifth victim who escaped from Ortiz's vehicle and helped law enforcement find him, said she had known the agent for about four months, according to her aunt.

"There appears to have been a history between Ortiz and this community ... a community that is vulnerable, defenseless and has no voice," Alaniz said.

READ MORE: Suspected killer JD Ortiz sought other jobs in law enforcement

In confessing to the crimes, Ortiz also revealed a hostility toward the sex workers who are found nightly along a tattered stretch of San Bernardo Avenue, according to authorities.

"I know he mentioned a dislike for the community. Whatever the anger was, we don't know," said Fred Garza, chief for the Webb County Sheriff's Office, which assisted the Texas Rangers in the investigation.

Ortiz's lawyer, Joey Tellez, said in a statement on Thursday that he had begun his own investigation of the case and would not comment further.

The Laredo community began to suspect a serial killer may be on the loose after the second victim, Luera, was found fatally wounded Sept. 13 on a rural roadside outside city limits. Luera was shot near where the first victim, Ramirez, was killed on Sept. 3.

Following Luera's death, DPS was tight-lipped about the case as well as the slaying of Ramirez. Both homicides and the names of the victims had been reported on by local media. But authorities made no mention publicly of a possible link between the two cases despite both being killed in a similar fashion and both being known sex workers.

"This is still an ongoing joint investigation between the Texas Ranger Division and Webb County Sheriff's Office. There are no further details for now," said DPS Sgt. Erick Estrada on Sept. 14, the day after Luera's body was found.

Rumors and speculation began to run rampant about the two homicides. One speculation was that Luera was killed because she may have known the person who killed Ramirez. According to arrest affidavits, that speculation turned out to be true.

The documents state that Ortiz, after picking up Luera near San Bernardo, pulled over to the side of the road on Texas 255 after she became nervous and began accusing him of being the last person to see Ramirez alive. When she exited the vehicle, Ortiz allegedly shot her multiple times in the head.

The Texas Rangers and Sheriff's Office caught a break in the case when Ortiz allegedly pointed a gun at Pena inside his vehicle at about 9 p.m. Sept. 14 at a gas station. She managed to escape from the vehicle and ran to a DPS trooper who happened to be nearby. Three hours later, after investigators interviewed Pena at a Sheriff's Office substation, a lookout was issued for Ortiz and his white pickup truck.

Then at about 2 a.m. Sept. 15, DPS troopers spotted the suspect vehicle at a gas station while Ortiz was using the restroom. When they confronted Ortiz, he fled on foot to the nearby Hotel Ava, where he was detained without incident on the charge of evading arrest.

READ MORE: Funeral arrangements set for victim of alleged serial killer

During an interview with Ortiz, he confessed to killing two more women in the five hours between Pena's escape and his arrest, according to criminal complaints. One of the bodies was discovered at about 1 a.m. Sept. 15 and Ortiz told investigators where they could find the other.

On the afternoon of Sept. 15, Alaniz and Webb County Sheriff Martin Cuellar held an impromptu news conference near where the fourth body was found on mile marker 15 on Interstate 35.

On Monday afternoon, a formal news conference was held at the Sheriff's Office. Carla L. Provost, Border Patrol chief who is based in Washington, D.C., attended the news conference.

She said the killings were committed by just one "rogue individual" in her agency, which is one of the largest federal law enforcement arms in the country, with 20,000 officers.

"I'm here to support my men and women, on whom it obviously has had an extreme impact. I'm sickened and saddened by the events that occurred," she said.

Provost pushed back against questions from reporters that suggested that the rapid growth of the Border Patrol in recent years has resulted in unqualified candidates becoming agents.

"There has been no lowering of standards. We do extensive background checks," she said.

U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, said "establishing and maintaining high standards for Border Patrol agents is a top priority" for his office.

"We have advocated for and implemented new standards during the hiring process as well as new standards of professionalism after joining Border Patrol," a statement from Cuellar's office reads. " ... I spoke with CBP Commissioner Kevin McAleenan to talk about the situation in Laredo. We have agreed to work together on the hiring and professionalism of border patrol agents.

"We spoke about how more steps need to be taken to make certain that people who want to become Border Patrol agents receive the appropriate psychological screening to ensure that no person who is capable of these type of actions is allowed to join or remain in the ranks. We also spoke about hiring more Professional Responsibility officers so that they can police their own."

According to research by the Project on Governmental Oversight, U.S. Customs and Border Protection has had a chronic problem with corruption, with at least 13 employees arrested since Donald Trump became president.

Among the recent charges are bribery, theft, drug smuggling and misuse of top-secret government data, according to the review, which was based on government documents released in response to a Freedom of Information Act request.

Going back to 2004, more than 200 CBP employees have been charged with corruption. More than 120 of the accused resigned, and an additional 54 were removed by the government.

The study also disclosed crimes of violence by CBP employees including rape and murder.

Many of the problems arose after a massive expansion that began soon after the CBP was created in 2003. With Trump now vowing to add an additional 5,000 border agents, critics worry that a rise in corruption may follow.

READ MORE: Family of woman who escaped alleged serial killer speaks out

Ortiz is the second Border Patrol agent in Laredo to be arrested on murder charges this year.

On April 9, supervisory Border Patrol agent Ronald Anthony Burgos-Aviles, 29, was accused of killing his alleged 27-year-old lover and the couple's 1-year-old child.

He was indicted on two counts of capital murder June 27. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

The San Antonio Express-News contributed to this report.A woman collapsed in a Laredo federal court recently after her son was sentenced to prison for importing cocaine from Mexico.

Mario Ortiz Zavala, a Mexican national, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to import and importation of 23 kilograms of cocaine. He was sentenced to 87 months in prison.

READ MORE: Cartel group dons military gear, warns of impending violence in Juarez

On March 24, Zavala was traveling with his wife and two children when a Customs and Border Protection officer located a record for Zavala for possible drug smuggling at the Juarez-Lincoln International Bridge.

During secondary inspection, CBP officers inspected Zavala's vehicle and found a compartment in the back of the vehicle where they discovered 20 vacuum-sealed packages containing cocaine, court documents state.

Zavala stated he was going to be paid $3,000 to transport the vehicle from Monterrey, Mexico to Houston. According to court testimony, he was given a $600 advance.

Records state Zavala claimed he didn't know what the vehicle contained, but figured the cargo must be something more than marijuana because he was being paid too much for it.

"I want to apologize to the United States for trying to introduce drugs into the country," Zavala said. "I understand I did wrong. Living in Mexico is hard, but I want the opportunity to be out and support my kids."

READ MORE: Convicted sex offender arrested after failing to register vehicle

According to court documents, Zavala stated that on two previous occasions he transported "something bad for other members of a drug trafficking organization."

Zavala's mother collapsed moments after U.S. District Judge Marina Garcia Marmolejo ordered him to prison.

Paramedics were called to tend to the woman.

Maria Salas may be reached at 728-2580 or msalas@lmtonline.com.If only patients knew how expensive medical procedures are and how wildly prices vary by hospital, they could be smart shoppers and lower the cost of health care for everybody.

At least that's what policy experts and health insurers keep saying as they promote "consumer-directed" health care and cost-comparison websites.

None of it has had much effect. Now, exasperated Maryland officials are presenting hospital cost information in a way they say Americans might understand: on a T-shirt.

"We tried to focus it on a level most consumers are at," said Ben Steffen, executive director of the Maryland Health Care Commission, which created the campaign. "It is an opportunity to wear a billboard in certain public settings" to get people to ask questions, he said.

You can get a black shirt that says "HIP REPLACEMENT $30,067" in big type from the commission's WearTheCost.org. Or one that says "HYSTERECTOMY $16,138." Other shirts feature prices for a knee replacement or baby delivery.

"I sent an email to all my colleagues in the health-policy wonk world and said, 'I just got your holiday gift,'" said Dr. Ateev Mehrotra, a Harvard Medical School professor who has studied medical price transparency and patient responses.

Social media for the campaign points people to WearTheCost.org, which shows huge differences in what the same procedures cost at different Maryland hospitals.

The hysterectomy expense of $16,138 on the T-shirt is just an average. In recent years, the operation cost as much as $20,635 at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore and as little as $12,798 at Anne Arundel Medical Center in Annapolis.

Hopkins was also the most expensive hospital in which to have a baby, at $14,578, compared with the average Maryland cost of $11,590.

"Our teams treat the most complex cases in the region," making them more expensive, said Hopkins spokesman Ken Willis. Hopkins supports publishing data to help patients make informed decisions, he added, but he said the Wear the Cost site "does not yet achieve that goal."

The website's price quotes apply to commercial insurance rates and include hospital care as well as non-hospital spending, such as doctors' fees and prescription drugs.

The reported expenses are adjusted so that "it would take account of differences in case severity," Steffen said.

Hospital-to-hospital results vary sharply even under Maryland's health care finance system, which regulates what hospitals are paid. One reason is hospitals make money from their mistakes. Those with high rates of avoiding complications, such as infections or drug reactions, end up delivering more care, for which they charge.

Wear the Cost's software tries to measure this, flagging avoidable problems and calculating the expense. Potentially avoidable complications added $2,271 to the cost of a hysterectomy at Johns Hopkins.

Such costs were even higher at Baltimore's Saint Agnes Hospital, adding $5,481 to a hysterectomy's total cost of $18,433. (The hospital did not respond to requests for comment.)

A $4 million federal grant financed the Wear the Cost campaign, which was led by the commission's analysis director, Linda Bartnyska, who died of breast cancer in August.

Economists like to note that health care lacks many attributes needed for a minimally functioning market, including customers who understand the product and know what it costs.

The price transparency movement was supposed to help fix that. If patients give more business to lower-cost institutions with fewer complications, the thinking goes, hospitals will work harder to contain costs and improve outcomes, slowing the increase in insurance premiums and government health expenses.

"The hope is that, over time, consumers will come to expect that prices are available . . . and use them regularly in making decisions about where to get care," said Sarah Litton of Altarum, a research and consulting firm that worked on the campaign with the Maryland commission.

But it's an uphill fight. Nobody checks hospital prices when they have a heart attack or get in a car crash, so Wear the Cost, which has given away more T-shirts than it has sold, focuses on elective procedures that people can shop for in advance. Even these patients, though, tend to go wherever doctors suggest. Since insurance usually pays everything for in-network hospitals once out-of-pocket spending limits are met, they have little incentive to shop around when considering pricey procedures. The patient's portion is likely to be similar whether a joint replacement is $25,000 or $50,000.

Federal authorities recently required hospitals to start posting their charges online, but these bear little relationship to what most patients and their insurers pay.

Just 3 percent of adults under age 65 compared costs between medical providers before getting care, found a 2017 survey led by Mehrotra.

"To date, price transparency initiatives that have been rigorously assessed have had little to no impact on prices in the health care system," Mehrotra said. "The reason so far is few people are using those websites."

Still, maybe the point of programs like Wear the Cost "is to shame" expensive hospitals, to say, 'What the heck is going on here?' " Mehrotra said. " 'Why are you 50 percent more'" than the hospital across town?

- - -

This article was produced by Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent program of the Kaiser Family Foundation that is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.Across Texas, we value healthy communities, affordable treatment options and patients power to choose their own care setting.

Unfortunately, not everyone shares these same values. Misguided policies from Washington threaten access to vital health care services that Texans living with end stage renal disease, or ESRD, need to live longer, healthier lives.

ESRD  better known as kidney failure  is one of the leading causes of death in the United States with nearly 90,000 Americans passing away annually as a result of diminished kidney function. According to the CDC, kidney disease is the ninth leading cause of death in Texas, resulting in an estimated 4,125 deaths annually.

Nonwhite kidney failure patients are especially susceptible since African-Americans and Hispanic-Americans are more likely than Caucasians to be diagnosed with kidney disease.

Over the past 15 years, there has been tremendous progress in helping patients receive safer and more effective kidney care through hemodialysis, which removes toxins and excess fluids from the blood much as a normal kidney would.

To connect the body to the dialysis machine, physicians must create an access point in the patients bloodstream called a vascular access procedure. Most vascular access services are provided in the nonhospital setting (i.e., doctors offices or ambulatory surgical centers)  as opposed to hospital outpatient departments, where patients often face delays in care and inferior outcomes.

Not only do patients overwhelmingly prefer to be treated in a specialized, vascular access focused, nonhospital setting, research shows that their health outcomes are also better when they visit local physician offices. A recent study of more than 200,000 Medicare patients shows that ESRD patients treated in an office setting exhibit 20 percent fewer infections, require 14 percent fewer hospitalizations, and have 15 percent lower mortality rates than when vascular access services are provided in a hospital setting.

With the average patient waiting three to five years on the kidney transplant list, continued access to dialysis in our communities is critical to keep kidney failure patients alive.

Despite these proven benefits, the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, or CMS,  which runs the Medicare program for American seniors  is proposing new policies that would drastically limit ESRD patients ability to choose the care they prefer.

In its 2019 payment rule for patients with kidney failure, the federal agency proposed to slash Medicare reimbursement rates to vascular access services by a whopping 62 percent. The measure comes on top of a severe 39 percent cut in 2017, which caused a significant number of office closures.

Most worrisome, the cuts will force tens of thousands of seniors to travel greater distances, wait longer in hospital emergency rooms, and receive subpar vascular access care that makes the risk of infection and hospitalization more likely.

To add insult to injury, seniors will be forced to pay higher copays for the privilege of being treated at a hospital.

This sad situation is unacceptable.

We must tell the federal government that Texans living with kidney failure deserve so much better. For the sake of patient choice, affordability and the right to good health, I urge every member of the kidney care community to contact your members of Congress to express your concern with proposed cuts through emails and phone calls.

Together, we can reverse this shortsighted proposal so that our parents, neighbors and loved ones with kidney disease continue to get the care they need close to home.

I am grateful to one of San Antonios member of Congress, Will Hurd, who opposes these cuts and hope he will help lead Congress in an effort to overturn the cuts through a regulatory or legislative remedy.

Tiffany Jones-Smith is chief executive officer of the Texas Kidney Foundation.He has always spoken his mind, has a quick wit and good sense of humour, and is probably one of the best known faces in the country.

But Michael Connellan - the former judge from Longford town - also has a wonderful story to tell and this week he sat down with the Longford Leader to share some of that quick wit and impart his knowledge and wisdom with the team. It was both entertaining and sobering.

Born on April 4 1935, Michael Connellan entered the world during what can only be described as the war years.

It wasnt long since the end of WWI and just four years away from the outbreak of WWII.

There was no money and poverty was very evident in Longford town.

He recalled his early memories of school.

I went to school during the war and it was a very strange time; I went first to the Convent National School on September 3, 1939 and the next day England declared war on Germany.

We used to go to school through Breadens Lane and cross the road to get in.

The first nun I had was Sr Cecilia then Sr Francis and Sr Scholastica.

Michael Connellan spent three years there until he made his First Communion in May 1942.

There was nothing - there was no money, no tea, no petrol and no cars in the town, he recalled.

Sugar was rationed too.

He also remembers the way in which people in Longford town lived in those days.

There was yards here in the town with houses; there was McDonnells Yard and then at the back of the Annaly Hotel - which was Staffords Hotel when I was going to school - there was houses in what was known as Blue Yard.

Down at the bottom of Richmond Street there was more houses known as Widows Row and Little Water Street was the main street in Longford town then.

The only family left there now is the Dempseys - they are a very old Longford town family.

Billy Dempsey was a cobbler and he went to school with me.

At that time there was free dinners in the McGoey Hall for the gossons going to school; the teachers would say to us, hands up who wants to go for dinners in the McGoey Hall and a lot of lads would put their hands up. They got fed good stew or whatever was going at the time and it kept them going.

One fella that went to school with me went to America. He was home about 10 years ago and came to see me and do you know what he said?

But for the free dinners I would have got it very hard to exist.

Meanwhile, Michael remembers other well-known families in the town when he was growing up.

There was the Greenes - they were roofers and they had a gennet and cart - Creightons, Keiltys and Cunniffes, he smiles recalling some wonderful memories.

There was also a lot of WWI ex British Army soldiers around Longford town as well.

Meanwhile, Michael's father worked as a solicitor in his own practice in Longford town and the local man is acutely aware that he and his five siblings had a little more than a lot of families around them when they were youngsters.

After he completed his secondary education at boarding school in Roscrea, Michael entered UCD where he studied Law. One of his lecturers there was a man who would go on to lead the country - the late Garret Fitzgerald.

Thereafter he returned home to work in the familys law practice.

His brother Padraig was also a solicitor and when Michael took over the practice after the death of their father, he and Padraig became a formidable force in the Longford town legal scene.

But tragedy was to strike and in 1993 Padraig died unexpectedly at the age of 58.

That same year, Michaels beloved wife Paddie got a stroke.

Paddie got a stroke in 1993; she was able to walk with a stick but then she got cancer a few years ago, had an operation and as a result of that lost the power in her legs, he says with sadness.

She cant stand or walk; she cant read or write and her speech is poor, but she does know everything that is going on. She also has the use of her left arm. Its very hard on her and as a nurse herself she knows whats wrong with her and the ramifications of the illness.

A Fianna Fail town councillor for Longford, Paddie Connellan was one of the most popular and well-liked women in the county.

She was on the national executive of the Fianna Fail party and chairwoman of the Visiting Committee to Mountjoy.

Together Michael and Paddie have two daughters Fiona and Patricia, and one son Michael. They also have five adored grandchildren.

They come and they go and they are in and out; I have grandnieces and grandnephews living here beside me too and they are in and out too, Michael smiles.

With the children Im inclined to give them ice cream and sweets when they call and they know it!

However, the loss of his brother in 1993 had a profound impact on Michael.

It made him take stock of himself and forced him to look at his life more closely.

He decided it was time to make some changes - most especially in his career.

So, he decided to apply for the judiciary.

Padraigs death was a hard blow; he worked with me for donkeys years before he became County Registrar, Michael added.

His death really took the steam out of my engine and I began to wonder what exactly was I doing working as a solicitor in Longford and where exactly was I going.

He says too that at that stage he was beginning to look at life through a different lense.

I use to say that I was full of miscellaneous, useless, knowledge but be that as it may I took over the practice and became State solicitor in August 1963, he laughs, proudly alluding to the fact that the position is now held by his nephew Mark.

When I was a solicitor here in Longford town people did very little wrong. You might have the odd dangerous driving causing death or serious bodily injury and that was as serious as it got.

When we were going, back in the 1940s, to school there was a fella called the Rover Quinn and he killed his girlfriend when she was milking the cow, and my mother used to say to us when we were out of order, Ill get the Rover Quinn after you!

Then I was offered a job as a judge in 1994 and took it; it is a job that I really enjoyed.

When I became a judge I was 35 years qualified and an experienced lawyer.

One case in particular that sticks out over his often colourful and varied career was the brief hearing held in Longford in 1979 when the man charged in connection with the death of Lord Mountbatten appeared before the court.

Michael was there on behalf of the State that day in his capacity as State solicitor and the heavy garda and army presence in town on the occasion will always stay with him.

His time on the Donegal district court circuit also brings some fond memories to the fore as does his dealings with members of the public in Cork, Clare, Dublin, Cavan, Monaghan, Westmeath and Kerry.

He also presided over the childrens court in Dublin for a number of years.

I got fairly challenged by the people of Donegal, I can tell you, he laughs now, before pointing out that there were three Judge Connellans during his time on the Bench including himself, Peter and Murrough.

I often saw a photo of myself attached to an article in the daily papers of a case Peter presided over and other times it might be Murrough and they vice versa with me..I even got judicially reviewed to the High Court in Peter Connellans name, he laughs.

A man that has always spoken his mind, Michael Connellan looks back now and says that his sense of mischievousness helped him to get away with comments on occasions that perhaps others wouldnt have gotten away so lightly with!

I was always careful though; you have to be.

But I would say things out straight and I think that people respected me for that.

Its important to say the things that you have to say and in a nice way too.

Law is only 20% of it - the rest comes from common sense and a bit of empathy and understanding towards the fellow man.

During all his years as a judge, he sat just once in Longford Courthouse.

I did a lot of cases that day and I am delighted now that it happened because its nice to say that I sat in the my hometown courthouse.

Does he have any regrets?

Just one it appears - I should have learned how to use a computer, he smiles.

Perhaps his funniest soundings during the interview with the Longford Leader is his surprise at still being alive!

Well, he laughs, I never thought Id live this long!

All my colleagues in Longford are dead now and it amazes me that I got this far.

And at 83 its not that long ago since Michael retired from public life.

Judges are expected to retire on their 70th birthday but the day after his milestone birthday he was appointed vice chairman of the Valuation Appeals Tribunal.

And one morning in 2009 at the age of 74 in the dead of winter while waiting for a train in Longford to take him to Dublin he had a moment of enlightenment.

I was above at the railway station that morning at 6:50am in the middle of winter standing on the platform in the bitter cold waiting for the train to bring me to Dublin for work when I said to myself, what class of an eejit are you; standing here at your age in the bitter cold going to work?

He resigned that very day and hasnt looked back since.

He visits his wife every afternoon, spends time with his immediate and extended family and likes to go into town occasionally for a chat with the locals.

Im a native of Longford town; I like the townspeople and I like to talk.

This town has changed greatly - a lot of the families are gone and so too are a lot of the businesses. Time changes everything.A man who appeared before Longford District Court last week charged under the Road Traffic Act was disqualified from driving for three years and fined 250 following a lengthy hearing into the matter.

Adil Auhammad (31) 26 Ankers Court, The Bower, Athlone, Co Westmeath appeared before Judge Seamus Hughes charged with attempting to drive a vehicle while over the legal limit of alcohol at Main Street, Longford on December 30, 2017.

Outlining the evidence to the court, Garda Kevin Corcoran said that on the date in question he observed a car parked in a disabled bay outside the Supermacs restaurant in Longford town.

He said he watched the vehicle for some time and parked close by in an effort to monitor the situation.

There was no disabled parking permit on the car so I parked adjacent to the vehicle and observed a male sitting in the drivers seat with the engine running, Garda Corcoran added, before pointing out that it was his intention to go over and speak to the driver.

The lights were on so I got out of my car and went over to speak to the driver who immediately got out of the vehicle leaving the lights on and the engine running.

Garda Corcoran then told the court that when approached the defendant he appeared unsteady on his feet and there was a strong smell of alcohol coming from him.

He also indicated that the engine of the car was still running at this point.

When I approached the male and spoke to him I detected a smell of intoxicating liquor coming from his breath; his speech was slurred and he was unsteady on his feet, the Garda continued.

Judge Hughes was then told that Mr Auhammad was arrested on suspicion of being drunk in charge and take to Longford Garda Station.

He was subsequently arrested and taken to Longford Garda Station, Garda Corcoran said.

The court then heard that the defendant underwent an intoxilyzer test at the station and an alcohol reading was subsequently obtained.

The court was also told that the defendant had been in a local nightclub prior to being discovered in his car with the engine running and the lights on.

Mr Auhammad told me that he had been in a nightclub and had just come out of it when he got into the car, Garda Connolly said.

Meanwhile, the defendants solicitor told the court that his client had no intention of driving his car that night and had simply gone into it to stay warm.

He insisted that his client had no jacket with him on the occasion and because of the freezing temperatures, the defendant had simply gone into his car to stay warm.

He had been in the fast food restaurant nearby and there were issues over some comments that were made, the solicitor continued.

He says that he was sitting in the car because it was a freezing cold night and he had no jacket with him.

In his direct evidence to the court Mr Auhammad started off by telling Judge Hughes that he had left his home in Athlone earlier that night and driven to Longford town where he met his friend.

He indicated that it was approximately 11pm when he arrived in the centre of town and the pair subsequently went to a late bar.

The defendant was then asked why he had parked in a disabled bay in the first instance.

Because it was snowing I didnt see that I had parked in a disabled bay, he added, before pointing out that there was snow everywhere and a Yellow weather warning had been issued that particular day.

I remember coming out of the night club and going into Supermacs; some comments were made to me there so I left and my friend was with me.

My friend said that he would hail a taxi and told me go and sit in the car.

I knew I was over the limit to drive.

Meanwhile, Judge Hughes asked the defendant what he was drinking that night and what he ate in the fast food outlet afterwards.

Vodka and chips, Mr Auhammad replied, before adding, I was not going to drive that night; I was staying with my friend in his place and we were going to get a taxi back there.

Inspector Blathin Moran then asked the defendant under cross examination if he could prove that there had been adverse weather conditions that night.

She also pointed out to the court that it was her understanding that it was not snowing on the night in question.

The defendant told her that he had taken a photo that night of the snow but unfortunately he did not bring the image to court with him.

I have the photo on my phone, he added.

The defendants solicitor then said, in mitigation, that his client worked in security in Dublin and was also the father of one child.

Meanwhile, Judge Hughes then pointed out that if the weather had been as bad that night as the defendant claimed it had been, there would have been no taxis running in the first place!

He added, It doesnt make sense; your evidence would fly in the face of common sense; this fellow gets out of the car straight away as a garda approaches him and he clearly had to move his car at some point, so I can convict because I believe that you have every intention of driving your vehicle that night.

Following his deliberations on the matter the Judge disqualified the defendant from driving for three years and fined him 250 before bringing matters to a conclusion.When Jane Fonda came knocking with a collection of letters, photos, film and other materials from her life as a Vietnam War and women's rights activist and actress, Smith College welcomed the offer to add to its special collections.

From proofs of photos using in her workout videos to correspondence with her famous father, Henry Fonda, to her FBI files, Fonda shared 96 boxes of personal and professional papers, the college revealed this summer.

Beth Myers, of the Smith College Libraries, described the donation to the Daily Hampshire Gazette as "the sort of collection you dream about getting."

Fonda did not attend Smith, nor has she visited the college.

In a statement about the donation, she wrote, "The Sophia Smith Collection is one of the world's best collections of women's histories - dedicated to making the stories of women from all walks of life accessible to scholars and general public. I'm so pleased that this material from my life now stands alongside that of (Smith alum) Gloria Steinem, Allison Bechdal, Loretta Ross and others. I hope others will find it useful."

To learn more about how to access the collection, go online to libraries.smith.edu/special-collectionsThe Springfield Symphony Orchestra roared and thundered into its 75th Anniversary Season Saturday evening, transporting an audience of more than 1,800 concert-goers on a wild ride through a century of American music.

In her welcoming remarks SSO Executive Director Susan Beaudry noted that the daughter and grandson of Orchestra founding music director Harold Alexander Leslie were in attendance. Beaudry also acknowledged the presence of Naomi Schoenberg, who had attended the very first concert given by Leslie and the SSO in 1944! Schoenberg is the grandmother of composer Adam Schoenberg, whose vivacious, ebullient work, Go, was chosen by SSO Maestro Kevin Rhodes to kick off Saturday's opening concert.

With its clever string evocations of revving engines, Go catapulted musicians and listeners into the evening's music-making. Steeped in American sounds reminiscent of everyone from Aaron Copland to John Adams, the piece was an apt companion to the American masters Rhodes represented during the rest of the concert.

Leonard Bernstein's glittering Candide Overture was next out of the gate, taken at a gallop by Rhodes and his colleagues, but executed with amazing precision despite the blistering pace.

The centerpiece of the Opening Night Gala was George Gershwin's Piano Concerto in F, with soloist Norman Krieger at the keyboard. It was the second time Krieger has played the piece with Rhodes in Springfield, and the third time he has played it with the SSO, and it was better than ever!

It is clearly a piece that is near and dear to Krieger's heart, and he played it with compelling charm and unflagging energy. Whether caressing juicy chords with the indolent ease of a fine lounge pianist, or zipping across the keys with fingers as much at home in Liszt and Rachmaninoff as Gershwin, Krieger enjoyed every nuance of this essential American music, and communicated it with generous immediacy.

Rhodes is a master of this style as well, and complemented Krieger's extroverted approach with his own, urging the SSO to exciting extremes of expression. Principal trumpet Tom Bergeron's sweet tone and insouciant phrasing set the tone for the middle movement.

Assistant Concertmaster Marsha Harbison turned in superb solo efforts of her own in the Gershwin, serving as Concertmaster in the absence of Masako Yanagita, who, according to Rhodes, recently suffered a serious accident, but is recovering.

The final work on the program was Copland's Symphony No. 3. Rhodes introduced it very personally on Saturday, suggesting that Copland's juxtaposition of spare, simple textures and clean, crisp lines with challenging dissonance that begs for resolution infuse the Third Symphony with a promise of hope in the face of adversity.

He and his colleagues played the piece with intense commitment, and a sense of desperate significance. The solemn opening movement unfolded inexorably, delivering wave upon wave of swelling counterpoint. The ensuing Allegro tested the mettle of all the players with shifting meters and leaping, capering counterpoint.

The strings negotiated the high-altitude tightrope walk of the third movement with admirable precision, then all present threw their hearts into Copland's symphonic expansion of his famous Fanfare for the Common Man.

The high quality of the SSO's music-making escalates with every program. With Maestro Rhodes at the helm, loving his craft and his art with every fiber of his being, and each musician giving their very best, the whole becomes greater than the sum of its parts, and indeed, as Rhodes said before the Copland, "We have hope!"CHICOPEE - Three Baystate Medical Center nurses will be panelists for a discussion on the Massachusetts ballot question that would put a legal limit on how many hospital patients, based on unit and level of care, one registered nurse could be assigned.

The presentation, organized by those opposed to the question, will be held from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 18 in Berchmans Hall's Veritas Auditorium of Elms College.

Amanda Stefancyk Oberlies, a registered nurse and the chief executive officer of the Organization of Nurse Leaders in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Connecticut, and Vermont, will introduce the discussion.

Registered nurses Karissa Gorman, Brittany Foley, and Tara Budriewicz are the participants.

The Ballot 1 question is one of three voters are being asked to considered as initiated measures on Nov. 6, and has generated much debate and drawn opposing views of support among nursing organizations.

The mandated ratio would range from one nurse for every five to six patients in non-urgent care to a 1 to 1 ratio in critical-care situations.

If approved, the question states that enforcement of assigned levels would be suspended during a public health emergency as declared by the state or nationally.

The Committee to Ensure Safe Patient Care is leading the campaign in support of a yes vote on Question 1. Its major donors include the Massachusetts Nurses Association, the largest nurses' union in the state, with 23,000 members working in 85 health care facilities.

The MNA, which secured enough signatures in July to put the Patient Safety Act on the ballot, has argued that the majority of Massachusetts nurses believe that registered nurses are assigned too many patients at one time. It has referenced studies that it says show quality of care decreases when nurses are "forced to care for too many patients at once."

It has also said provisions of the safety act would not result, as has been asserted, in anyone being turned away from an emergency department as this is prevented under an act passed by Congress.

The Coalition to Protect Patient Safety is leading the campaign in opposition of Question 1. Its contributors include the Massachusetts Health and Hospital Association, which represents the state's healthcare providers.

The association has opposed Question 1, saying on its website it is "a misguided and dangerous proposal to impose rigid, costly and unproven staffing mandates for Registered Nurses at every hospital in Massachusetts.

Other coalition reported donors include the Organization of Nurse Leaders in Massachusetts as well as Baystate Health.

Some nurses in support of Question 1 held an informational picket outside of Baystate Health offices in August.

The Elms' College School of Nursing, which has an academic practice collaboration with Baystate Health for nurse practitioners, is partnering with Baystate Medical in presenting the discussion.

"On the surface, it might appear that using legislation to set registered-nurse-to-patient ratios would benefit patients, nurses, and hospitals, but that is not the case," said Kathleen Scoble, a registered nurse and dean of Elms' School of Nursing at Elms College.

"If approved, the law would require every hospital to adopt rigid registered nurse-to-patient ratios at all times -- without consideration of a hospital's size or location, and regardless of individual patients' specific care needs."

A summary of Question 1 as it appears on the state website is below:

This proposed law would limit how many patients could be assigned to each registered nurse in Massachusetts hospitals and certain other health care facilities. The maximum number of patients per registered nurse would vary by type of unit and level of care, as follows:

In units with step-down/intermediate care patients: 3 patients per nurse;

In units with post-anesthesia care or operating room patients: 1 patient under anesthesia per nurse; 2 patients post-anesthesia per nurse;

In the emergency services department: 1 critical or intensive care patient per nurse (or 2 if the nurse has assessed each patient's condition as stable); 2 urgent non-stable patients per nurse; 3 urgent stable patients per nurse; or 5 non-urgent stable patients per nurse;

In units with maternity patients: (a) active labor patients: 1 patient per nurse; (b) during birth and for up to two hours immediately postpartum: 1 mother per nurse and 1 baby per nurse; (c) when the condition of the mother and baby are determined to be stable: 1 mother and her baby or babies per nurse; (d) postpartum: 6 patients per nurse; (e) intermediate care or continuing care babies: 2 babies per nurse; (f) well-babies: 6 babies per nurse;

In units with pediatric, medical, surgical, telemetry, or observational/outpatient treatment patients, or any other unit: 4 patients per nurse; and

In units with psychiatric or rehabilitation patients: 5 patients per nurse.

The proposed law would require a covered facility to comply with the patient assignment limits without reducing its level of nursing, service, maintenance, clerical, professional, and other staff.

The proposed law would also require every covered facility to develop a written patient acuity tool for each unit to evaluate the condition of each patient. This tool would be used by nurses in deciding whether patient limits should be lower than the limits of the proposed law at any given time.

The proposed law would not override any contract in effect on January 1, 2019 that set higher patient limits. The proposed law's limits would take effect after any such contract expired.

The state Health Policy Commission would be required to promulgate regulations to implement the proposed law. The Commission could conduct inspections to ensure compliance with the law. Any facility receiving written notice from the Commission of a complaint or a violation would be required to submit a written compliance plan to the Commission. The Commission could report violations to the state Attorney General, who could file suit to obtain a civil penalty of up to $25,000 per violation as well as up to $25,000 for each day a violation continued after the Commission notified the covered facility of the violation. The Health Policy Commission would be required to establish a toll-free telephone number for complaints and a website where complaints, compliance plans, and violations would appear.

The proposed law would prohibit discipline or retaliation against any employee for complying with the patient assignment limits of the law. The proposed law would require every covered facility to post within each unit, patient room, and waiting area a notice explaining the patient limits and how to report violations. Each day of a facility's non-compliance with the posting requirement would be punishable by a civil penalty between $250 and $2,500.

The proposed law's requirements would be suspended during a state or nationally declared public health emergency.

The proposed law states that, if any of its parts were declared invalid, the other parts would stay in effect. The proposed law would take effect on January 1, 2019.

A YES VOTE would limit the number of patients that could be assigned to one registered nurse in hospitals and certain other health care facilities.

A NO VOTE would make no change in current laws relative to patient-to-nurse limits.Garett J. DiStefano may joke about it when he says the Big E is woven into his DNA, but there's a certain amount of truth to that.

Forty-two years ago, he was just 2 years old and his mother, Patricia, was pregnant with his brother, James, when his father, Joseph F. DiStefano took a risk and opened Capt. Nemo's food stand on the old Midway at the Eastern States Exposition.

Growing up in a big Italian family whose roots run deep in the history of West Springfield, Joe DiStefano was determined he could operate a seasonal restaurant tied to the fall run of the fair.

Year one was pretty much of a flop, so much so, according to Garett DiStefano, that his dad found himself trying to sell off a left-over inventory of raw clams to area restaurants. "You would think my dad would have licked his wounds and gone home," he says.

The elder DiStefano didn't let his Big E dream die on that sour note.

"No, he decided to double down, and a new location opened up," his son and successor at Capt. Nemo's, shared on a rainy morning this week when not even the weather could dampen the familial enthusiasm for the Big E. "He was going to give it one more try."

Capt. Nemo's, its name borrowed from Jules Verne's classic "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea," set sail in 1976. Today, it is one of the longest running food vendors at New England's great state fair.

Still serving up some of the seafood favorites for which it became famous with fairgoers over the decades, Garett DiStefano is also annually adding new flavor treats, including one of this year's big hits, the "Sunday Supper." It features super-sized tater tots with garlic mashed potatoes, topped with pot roast, sour cream, a red pepper and a horseradish kick.

His dad died in 2006 at the age of 61, but not before giving Garett some advice that changed his son's path in life and virtually ensured Capt. Nemo's would be in business for generations to come.

Over the course of its history, from small shop to big, and now bigger restaurant, Capt. Nemo's has been supported and staffed by family and friends too numerous to mention. His grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins, "anyone related to us," have all spent some time at Capt. Nemo's over the years, DiStefano explains.

And, then, there's the staff members, some of whom have tallied up 15 and 20 years behind the counter, all invaluable to keep the kitchen cooking and the crowds happy.

Photos in a scrapbook assembled by his uncle, Richard, track Garett's generation of DiStefanos growing up with the operation. It includes pictures taken when Garett, his wife, Beth, and their groomsmen and bridesmaids visited Capt. Nemo's to pay tribute to his dad on June 13, 2009, before their wedding reception at nearby Storrowton Tavern.

"Our family is very tied to the town of West Springfield. At all of 3 or 4 years old, I started going to the fair," Garett says. "My brother, sister and I and our cousins, that's what you did. It was fun. It was time to spend with the family. It's time together you don't get over the course of the year."

After graduation from West Springfield High School, Garett DiStefano attended the University of Massachusetts, where he majored in economics, minored in math and focused on a career in finance. "I headed to Wall Street. The last thing I wanted to do was come back to Western Massachusetts," he says. "I was basically in business and finance until my mid-20s. I just wasn't liking it. It was my days of working at Capt. Nemo's that made me happy. That's what I really liked to do."

His turmoil prompted a heart-to-heart talk with his dad, and Garett remembers telling Joe DiStefano in short, "I'm hating my life."

His father's message was a simple one: "Life can be like a prison or a castle. One way, you are surrounded by all you hate, but the other you can be surround by all you love."

"I quit my job, went to work for Applebee's," Garett DiStefano remembers. Then, came an opportunity he couldn't turn down eight years ago, working for collegiate super chef Ken Toong and the award-winning dining services team at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. "The rest," he says, "is history." DiStefano's "day job" is as director of residential dining services and auxiliary enterprises his alma mater.

Coming up with new offerings for the fair each year can be both challenging and fun, says DiStefano. For his family, it's a "collective effort." They toss around ideas all year round and pitch them to the leadership team at the Big E each spring.

The success of the Sunday Supper feast, says DiStefano, makes sense when you think about how fairgoers are most frequently attracted to comfort foods and to tastes they've savored in the past.

"The fair is very nostalgic for people, and, when they come back, there are menu items they have to have. You're looking for something that creates that food memory that lasts a year, or a lifetime. Nine times out of 10, people are telling you, 'I had to have that pierogi, that corn dog or that baked potato.'"

"Ours is a bit indulgent, but it's also a treat," he says of "Sunday Supper." "You should treat yourself every now and again."

Personally, DiStefano says he's partial to Capt. Nemo's pot roast patty melt and the New England nachos, an "experiment we pulled off" that features waffle fries with melted cheddar cheese with pot roast, pico de gallo, shredded lettuce and dollop of sour cream. "They're amazing," he adds.



Among this year's new entries into the fair's line-up of food, he professes one of his favorites is the peanut-butter-and-jelly slider dreamed up by Delaney House chef Mick Corduff for his menu at the Big E's Bud & Burger Pub. "That thing's a rock star," says DiStefano.

And, then, there's his perennial favorite of all time, a Big E cream puff. As he puts it, "No day at the fair would be complete without one of them."

Capt. Nemo's sees its own fans flocking back each fair season. There's been more than one proposal of marriage made by couples who favor the place, and it's frequently a meeting point for many visitors, according to DiStefano.

The family gets high praise from Eugene Cassidy, president and CEO of the exposition who is himself a native of West Springfield and grew up with some of its members. "(The DiStefanos are) a hard-working bunch who care about each other and the Big E," Cassidy says. (He notes that a separate branch of Garett's family has been involved for decades in the ticket selling operation at the Big E.)

"These are the things that make the Eastern States Exposition such a wonderful place to visit, and the reason why I think people come from far-and-wide to be here," adds Cassidy. "Everybody cares about each other: fairgoers; concession operators; and Big E staff."

Garett DiStefano is confident Capt. Nemo's will continue to thrive for a new generation. His daughter, Elise, just turned 8 a week ago. "She now thinks the fair is just for her, the Big E-lise," he says. Younger daughter, Isabella, is 6, and both girls visit and help during the run of the exposition.

"I would hope (Capt. Nemo's) does continue for another 40 years. I couldn't think of anything better to do in September than be here," DiStefano says. "It's woven into my DNA. I look forward to the time we spend together as a family. What other family can say they come to work and have a Mardi Gras parade with oompah band out front each afternoon. It's fun, and, when my father and my uncle were running the place, they always brought it back to the fact we were having a fun time and we were doing it as a family."



"This place is 'home' for so many," notes Cassidy. "And, what a nice home it is."



Cynthia G. Simison is managing editor of The Republican. She may be reached by email to csimison@repub.com.A fatal shooting at a Boston barbershop Saturday night left one man dead.

Boston police were called to the area of 140 South St. in Jamaica Plain around 9:45 p.m. for a report of a shooting.

Officers found a man, believed to be in his 20s, suffering from a gunshot wound, police said. The victim was taken to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead.

WCVB News reports the shooting was inside the Professional Barber Shop.

Boston Police Commission William Gross told the television station the motive is unclear. The killing is under investigation.A Dominican national was sentenced to serve more than 11 years in federal prison after he was found guilty of operating a large-scale fentanyl operation in Lawrence.

Santo Ramon Gonzalez Nival, 41, was ordered to serve 135 months in prison Friday in U.S. District Court in Boston.

Nival was one of 28 people arrested in May of 2017 when federal authorities swept up two large drug operations in Lawrence, prosecutors said in a release issued Friday.

Prosecutors said Gonzalez Nival's phones were tapped and they recorded him telling associates that he liked fentanyl because he could cut in more time and make bigger profits even though he recognized it was "killing people."

Investigators seized more than 500 grams of fentanyl in the raid.

In June of 2018 Gonzalez Nival entered guilty pleas to one count of conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute heroin, cocaine and fentanyl, and one count of illegal reentry of a deported alien.

Gonzales Nival was in the United States illegally when he was arrested, having been deported four times previously. He returned to the Lawrence area after each deportation.What should have been an orderly process of senators interviewing the nominee for Supreme Court was turned into a mockery of our system by the Democrats attempting procedural stallings and pandering to cameras while their anarchist allies screamed and waved signs. Americans were able to see how frightening and unhinged these people become when they cant get their way. They were so terrifying the judge's children had to be removed from the room.

This anger is really because they lost and lost control of Congress. They realize the federal judiciary is now slipping away from them as President Trump has now replaced one-eighth of the federal judges with constitutionalists not emotional activists bent on circumventing Congress and the law. That happens when you lose.

When it looked like Kavanaugh was headed to confirmation someone from 36 years ago who cant remember where or when emerged to announce the judge had tried to force himself on her. Words like rape and death were used. And it was only a couple of days until a U.S. Senator, Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand in a TV rant, was convicting Judge Kavanaugh without ever hearing the accuser under oath. Like ants swarming to sugar the Democrats were scrambling for TV time to assure us the judge was guilty. A senator from Hawaii was gleefully telling men just to shut up. And another Democrat Senator Tammy Baldwin was advertising a fundraising event featuring the accusers attorneys as guest stars. How sleazy can you get?

Now the Democrats are saying IF Kavanaugh gets confirmed and IF the Democrats get control of the senate they will impeach him. For what? Hes not been tried or convicted of anything and no accuser has testified to anything under oath. All trial lawyers should be cringing about this demand to have the accused testify first. No defense attorney would ever allow that to happen under any circumstances. But in the world of Alternate Reality these leftist live, it makes perfect sense. Ask yourselves would you want that or would you want that for your husband or your son?

This alleged event happened 36 years ago. Memories fade and eye witnesses disagree on what they think they saw or heard. Thats why there are statutes of limitations and protections for citizens in America. For a party that fights for the defendant and enacts rigid laws to protect the innocent from a runaway prosecution, the Democrats seem to have lost all interest in innocent until proven guilty in this matter.

This behavior should be disturbing to our nation. Is this to be standing operational procedure by Democrats when their candidate loses-they will try and convict them in the public forum and then oust them from office? Or is all of this posturing and threatening designed to intimidate future conservative candidates or appointments that dont tow their Far Left line?

This is dangerous folks, dangerous for all of us in our pursuit of liberty and the rule of law. This is America not the Soviet Bloc. The Democrat Socialists are trying to move this nation to a place we dont want to go.

Phil Bredesen wants to be your senator and is a member of and is financed by that same Democrat Party that says if Kavanaugh is approved they will impeach him. Do you think Phil will vote to impeach Judge Kavanaugh or vote aye for any of President Trumps nominees for the Supreme Court or federal judge? If you do I have a glass bridge proposal to sell you for downtown Chattanooga.

Ralph Miller

* * *

Why is it all of a sudden that the accuser can specify to Congress the terms and conditions under which they will consider testifying? Have there been other similar situations that I am not aware of?

It should be blatantly obvious that any person who makes those kind of demands is trying to prevent the truth from coming out. To demand that Judge Kavanaugh testify first before the accuser with no recourse to cross examine, no lawyers allowed to pose questions and set the date upon which the accuser will be available is an absolute mockery of the investigative and confirmation process. Does not the committee have the authority to subpoena this accuser and question them under standard proven practices?

There are so many questions about the timing of the accuser coming forward, the delay tactics being used and accusation by a single individual (he said  she said) with no substantive corroboration by witnesses that this in any other scenario would never have been considered worthy of consideration.

It is unbelievable that congress has allowed actions of this type to tie their hands and stymie the formal established processes.

There is no explanation except that certain people will only abide by the process if it serves their desire and guarantees their own objective is met.

Tom Wheatley

Soddy DaisyAuthorities are investigating a pedestrian fatality in Westford Friday night.

The Massachusetts State Police said a man in his 40's was struck and killed as he ran along Route 110 in Westford at about 9 p.m. Friday night, the Boston Globe reported.

Police said the man was running near Industrial Park Drive when he was struck by a Toyota SUV.

The driver of the vehicle remained on the scene and was interviewed by police. He has not been cited.

The incident is being investigated by the Massachusetts State Police, Westford Police and the Middlesex District Attorney's Office.Catherine English, 13, missing from South Hadley since last Tuesday, was found in New York, the South Hadley Police Department announced on its Facebook page Saturday.

Police Chief Steven Parentela told Western Mass News that English was located by New York police in the early morning hours of Saturday.

Parentela said the girl was, "safe and sound," but did not give details about her recovery nor where specifically she was found.

English was last seen just before 6 p.m. Tuesday near the South Hadley Library.

South Hadley police along with the Northwest District Attorney's Office and the state Department of Children and Families have been investigating the girl's disappearance.A Massachusetts firefighter and his fiancee found themselves scrambling to find a new wedding location Saturday when the church they were about to be married in burst into flames.

Wareham firefighters rushed to the Saint Patrick Church on High Street around 1 a.m. Saturday and discovered smoke pouring from the roof. Fire was discovered inside the church, the Wareham Fire Department said.

A ladder from the Onset Fire Department was called to the scene.

WCVB News reports Onset Firefighter Conrad Fernandes also got the call about the fire. He then got a call from his fiancee, DaLiza Fernandes, about the fire as well.

The couple were getting married in that church later in the day, the television station reports.

Friends and family were able to find another Catholic church in Dartmouth to perform the ceremony. The couple told WCVB they both attend church at St. Patrick and teach Catechism there.

Firefighters were able to knock down the blaze inside the Wareham church, but roughly $500,000 in damage was done.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.The former Massachusetts State Police payroll director who pleaded guilty to larceny earlier this year isn't fighting the state retirement board over her pension.

50-year-old Denise Ezekiel of Holbrook, who made $95,000 in her job, instead took a payout of over $150,000.

Citing previous court cases, the state retirement board, which handles pensions, maintains they can't take action on a public employee accused of a crime while on the job until that employee is convicted and sentenced.

After the public employee is sentenced, the employee receives a notice from the retirement board and they're informed they have a right to an administrative hearing. After the hearing, the board then could make a decision on the forfeiture of the pension.

While the board can take away the state's portion of the pension and fringe benefits, the public employee can fight the board or simply seek to take whatever the employee contributed during their tenure.

Ezekiel, in a 3-page stipulation filed with the state retirement board in August, opted for the latter.

"Ms. Ezekiel understands that by agreeing to the terms herein, she is waiving any claims or rights she may have or have in the future to a retirement allowance, pension, or other retirement benefit through the State Board of Retirement," the stipulation says.

The stipulation came a month after she pleaded guilty in Framingham District Court to stealing $23,900 from the State Police.

The judge ordered her to perform 100 hours of community service, and she received probation for two-and-a-half years and must pay back the $23,00. According to the plea deal, she also forfeits $17,049 in vacation pay.

Ezekiel had been with the State Police since 2013.

Prosecutors said she stole money from the law enforcement agency through phony travel reimbursements and sent it to her personal bank account. The State Police suspended her on Nov. 1, 2017.

The State Police has struggled to climb out from under a series of scandals, including major accusations of overtime abuse within the now-disbanded Troop E, which patrolled the Massachusetts Turnpike. Eight troopers have been hit with charges and indictments, and dozens remain under investigation.Four simultaneous fires in Pittsfield Saturday night were the result of incendiary devices, Pittsifled fire officials said.

Fire Chief Robert Czerwinski told iBerkshires.com that the first call came in just before 7 p.m. in a home on Appleton Avenue. Police are now searching for the owner of that house, 58-year-old Phillip Jordan. He apparently fled the scene.

Czerwinski said the fire started in the basement of the home and worked its way up through the two-story structure. The blaze was not under control by 9 p.m.and he said fire crews would stay at the scene overnight.

A second fire on Fort Hill Avenue was called in shortly after the first, then a third on Ridge Avenue. The last was reported on Brown Street. Occupants of the last three homes were able to extinguish the fires themselves. All of the involved buildings are single-family homes.

Police said Jordan was apparently operating a Subaru Legacy with a Massachusetts registration of 7LI-A90. Police are asking anyone with information about Phillip Jordan to contact Pittsfield police at 413-448-9723.

Pittsfield firefighters were aided at the scene by units from the Richmond, Lanesborough, Lenox and Dalton fire departments.A Massachusetts man is facing charges in California after authorities say they discovered a large commercial marijuana grow operation during aerial surveillance of the location.

The Butte County Sheriff's Office released information about the marijuana growing operation Saturday. In the release authorities say a Massachusetts man was busted in the law enforcement sting.

As members of the Special Enforcement Unit for the Butte County Sheriff's Office converged on the location in Berry Creek, California on Sept. 17, they spotted 35-year-old Michael Smith driving a truck from the scene, authorities said.

Smith, who lives in Massachusetts, followed investigators to the scene once he saw investigators heading to the growing operation. He was then detained as investigators executed a search warrant. Smith's exact hometown was not listed.

After their investigation, Smith was arrested for possession of brass knuckles, maintaining a residence for the purpose of drug sales, cultivation of marijuana and possession of marijuana for sale.

Authorities say two armed men ran from the site when law enforcement arrived. Police are still searching for the two men.

Inside the home was Mark De La Gardie, 59, of Berry Creek, California. Authorities say they found three self-made AR-15 rifles and marijuana packaged for sale inside his vehicle and home. Numerous rounds of ammunition and other firearms were found.

De La Gardie was arrested on multiple drug and gun charges.

"A search of the marijuana grow site revealed a drug trafficking organization occupied a travel trailer on the property and had rented the property from De La Gardie to cultivate marijuana," authorities said. "A second marijuana grow site was located on property owned by Smith and also being tended to by the DTO (drug trafficking organization)."

Water was illegally being drafted from a nearby creek and stored in an above ground swimming pool to be used on the marijuana plants, according to investigators.

As law enforcement left the scene, they spotted a vehicle nearby. The driver, Calvin Merrill, 46, of Fair Oaks, California had a suspended driver's license.

"An overwhelming odor of fresh marijuana came from Merrill's vehicle and a search of the vehicle revealed three pounds of processed marijuana secured in turkey oven bags," Butte County Sheriff's Office authorities said.

Merrill was cited for driving with a suspended license and transporting marijuana for sale.PITTSFIELD - A 58-year-old man wanted for setting four fires Saturday night has been arrested at the Canadian border.

Phillip J. Jordan was detained by U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents in Highgate Springs, Vermont, Sunday, as he attempted to cross into Canada, Pittsfield Police Lt. Jeffrey Bradford said.

He is accused of first setting his own house, on 112 Appleton St., on fire around 6:45 p.m. The fire is believed to have started in the basement and spread throughout the house. It took firefighters more than two hours to extinguish the blaze, Bradford said.

Jordan is accused of having used incendiary devices to then set homes at 47 Fort Hill Ave, 85 Ridge Ave. and 42-44 Brown St., he said.

The Police and Fire Departments have not said how much damage was caused by the three subsequent fires, but they created chaos in the community as four fires were burning at one time.

Firefighters from many nearby departments assisted in putting out the fires, officials said.

After the fires Pittsfield Police released information saying Jordan was wanted by police for arson and was armed and dangerous.

He was apprehended without injury. The Berkshire County District Attorney's Office will assist to extradite Jordan back to Pittsfield, he said.PITTSFIELD - Police continue to search for a suspect who is accused of setting fire to his own home and three other houses Saturday night.

Phillip Jordan, 58, is considered a wanted fugitive after being accused of setting a series of fires at 112 Appleton Ave., 47 Fort Hill Ave., 85 Ridge Ave. and 42-44 Brown St., Police Lt. Gary Traversa said in writing.

Jordan is a white man who is about 5 feet, 7 inches tall, weighs 135 pounds and has long salt and pepper hair. He is believed to be driving a blue 2005 Subaru Legacy with the Massachusetts license plate 7LJA90, Traversa said.

"Jordan is considered armed and dangerous and should not be approached," he said.

No one was injured in the fires, he said.

He is being accused of setting the first fire at 6:42 p.m., on Saturday, at his own home on Appleton Street. The home was heavily damaged in the fire, he said.

The first fire began in the basement of the home and flames were seen coming through the second floor windows on the house. It took more than two hours to extinguish the fire, Fire Chief Robert Czerwinski told IBerkshires.com

Fire officials today declined to say how serious the other fires were.

With four fires burning at the same time off-duty Pittsfield firefighters were called in and firefighters in many communities across the area responded under mutual aid.

The fires are believed to have been ignited with the use of incendiary devices, Czerwinski told IBerkshires.com.Senate Republicans should "stop shaming" Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, who accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her at a high school party, US Sen. Elizabeth Warren said Saturday.

"Dr. Ford is not a nuisance," Warren, D-Massachusetts, wrote in a Facebook post.

"She's certainly not a speed-bump to 'plow' over," Warren added. "She is a person. And it shouldn't be this difficult for the most powerful men in America to treat her with basic human decency and respect."

Warren was reacting to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, who said at a meeting of evangelical activists that Kavanaugh will be confirmed as a US Supreme Court justice.

"We're going to plow right through and do our jobs," he said, according to media reports.

As of Saturday afternoon, Blasey Ford agreed to testify in front of the GOP-dominated Senate Judiciary Committee.

Kavanaugh, who serves as a judge on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, has denied the allegations.

"Mitch McConnell, Donald Trump, and Senate Republicans are demonstrating why most sexual assault survivors never come forward," Warren continued in her Facebook post.

Warren said the FBI should investigate and Blasey Ford should be allowed to testify.

Earlier this week, a spokeswoman for Gov. Charlie Baker, R-Massachusetts, called the Blasey Ford allegations "very serious" and said they warrant an "independent investigation."

But the White House, Republican lawmakers and the Justice Department have all pushed back on the calls for a FBI investigation.

On Friday, President Trump said on Twitter that if the sexual assault was "as bad as she says," Blasey Ford would have reported it to law enforcement. The remark drew sharp rebukes from Republican and Democratic lawmakers, as well as advocates for survivors of sexual assault.

Material from Associated Press was used in this report.A former worker for middle schools in Massachusetts argues he should not be placed in prison after heading to Rhode Island in order to have sex with a 15-year-old girl because he has a developmental disorder, according to filings in federal court.

Alexander Viola, 29, of Shrewsbury, worked in the Shrewsbury school system as an instructional technology support specialist when he drove to Rhode Island in July 2016 to meet the girl, who turned out to be a trooper posing as the girl online.

He was arrested when he arrived in Cranston, Rhode Island.

Viola already pleaded guilty to traveling across state lines with the intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct in a Providence federal court.

But in recent court filings, Viola's lawyer argues his client should not be incarcerated because he suffers from Asperger's syndrome, a disorder on the Autism spectrum that can impact social behaviors.

The government argues the diagnosis came after Viola's arrest and "should in no way excuse or minimize his criminal conduct."

Viola was scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 20, but the sentencing hearing was changed to a yet to be determined later date.

The government wants Viola to serve 46 months in prison with supervised release when he gets out. Defense lawyer Kevin Fitzgerald wants a non-jail sentence, citing his client's disorder.

"His mental disorder - Asperger's syndrome - does not excuse his conduct, but it does make prison a far less appropriate sanction," Fitzgerald wrote. "He is socially incompetent because he has an organic brain disorder. He will not be able to adjust to the environment of general population in a BOP facility because of his social and emotional disabilities."

Fitzgerald believes his client will be taken advantage of by other inmates and Viola will be subject to possible physical and sexual abuse.

Viola, according to his lawyer, has never been able to develop an intimate relationship and has sexual experiences only through paying women for sex.

Viola also developed an interest in BDSM play, but Fitzgerald argues Viola's interest in the sex acts is because of his disorder.

"Alexander's conduct does not indicate any sociopathic or psychopathic traits. His conduct here likewise does not indicate any pedophilic interest or particular interest in post-pubescent minor girls," Fitzgerald wrote in a sentencing memorandum. "Mr. Viola is simply not a danger to anyone."

Even though the 15-year-old girl was actually a trooper assigned to the Rhode Island Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, Viola's actions and sexual interests show he is someone who perpetuates sex trafficking, the government contends.

"Viola has history of difficulty engaging in age appropriate intimate relationships. He has poor social judgment and social incompetence," Assistant U.S. Attorney John McAdams wrote. "He has a history of using prostitutes. In sum, he personifies the demand side of sex trafficking."

The prosecutor said the undercover trooper posted an advertisement in the personal section of Craiglist and Viola responded.

Viola said in chats with the fictitious teen: "You're a child. This is wrong on so many different levels. I'm double your age and if I'm caught my life is ruined," the prosecutor said.

Viola asked the teen about sadomasochistic sex play and sent her pictures of lingerie that he got for her. The plan, according to authorities, was to pick up the girl in Rhode Island and bring her back to Massachusetts for sex including a plan to tie up the girl.

"The evidence is clear that he is fully competent and no simpleton," McAdams wrote.

Viola, who has a computer science degree from the College of the Holy Cross, worked as a tech support specialist for the Oak Middle School and Sherwood Middle School in Shrewsbury. He was fired after his arrest. Viola has a new job, but his lawyer did not disclose where in the federal filing.

His lawyer said Viola had never been in trouble before his 2016 arrest. Viola began attending therapy in 2015 and continues to attend regular appointments.

"During his interview with police, he was crying and snorting," Fitzgerald said.

"This is the worst thing ever," Viola said during the interview.At least 77 deaths have been reported from incidents related to college fraternities since 2005, yet "frats" are more popular than ever.

The negative side of fraternities was back in the news at the University of Massachusetts, where the Theta Mu chapter of Pi Kappa Alpha has been suspended by its parent organization, the Pi Kappa Alpha International Fraternity.

The Theta Mu chapter faces charges in Hampshire Superior Court for allegedly serving alcohol to minors and hazing activities. It remains on interim suspension, as it has been since late 2017, and is barred from recruiting or engaging in social activities.

To those outside the sphere of fraternities, the appeal of such organizations is a mystery. Frat houses are either spoofed in popular media (most notably by the legendary 1987 comedy "Animal House") or much more seriously, wind up accused of encouraging potentially dangerous behavior with binge drinking and ritualistic hazing.

Defenders of fraternities say the publicized incidents paint an erroneous picture of fraternities, which they say create bonds and friendships that last for lifetimes. They allow students who might otherwise feel lost or alienated to have a sense of comradeship and belonging in their college years, allowing them to develop into better individuals, proponents say.

Fraternities might seem like relics of college life from a bygone era, yet "each year, about 100,000 young men choose to be initiated into chapters nationwide. Altogether, there are almost 400,000 men in fraternities and that's up 50 percent over the past decade," said John Hechinger, author of "True Gentlemen: The Broken Pledge of America's Fraternities."

But for whatever positive results they produce, fraternities continue to be plagued by incidents that raise questions as to their relevance and safety in a nation that no longer has the patience or tolerance for the "Animal House" antics it once did. Former Dallas Cowboys star Jay Novacek says his son, Blake, suffered severe and permanent brain damage as a result of a 2015 hazing incident at the University of Oklahoma.

In 2017, Penn State sophomore Tim Piazza died after reportedly consuming 18 alcoholic drinks in 82 minutes. Piazza wound up falling down a flight of stairs during his pledge night the Beta Theta Pi fraternity. Alleged hazing incidents took the lives of three other students in 2017 at Louisiana State University, Florida State and Texas State, respectively.

Educators are saying that for the first time, university officials are seriously considering whether the fraternity system is really a necessary component of college life, or whether it should be either better supervised and regulated - if not curtailed altogether.

The preference is for preventive measures to eliminate opportunities for outrageous behavior. Sexual misconduct is especially under scrutiny, along with excessive drinking, particularly involving underage students.

Some universities report a much more cooperative attitude to this end by the fraternities (and sororities) themselves. Members maintain their organizations produce young adults better prepared to succeed academically, in careers and in helping society. They don't want their tradition scarred or ruined by activities that careen out of control and lead to negative publicity injury, criminal charges or even death.

A 2016 survey by UCLA showed that one in eight freshmen polled said there was "a very good chance" they would join a fraternity or sorority. That was up 2 percent from 2015.

The future of these organizations could rest with their ability to police themselves, because each tragedy or instance of uncontrolled behavior raises new questions about whether their place in college life is justified. The ball is in the frat houses' court, more than ever before.

It would be a shame if shameful behavior forces universities to start shuttering a tradition known more for John Belushi's antics than for the good work its members say is the norm.CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Bobby Poyner was a long shot to make the Red Sox's Opening Day roster. He entered spring training as a non-roster invitee and never having pitched above Double A.

But he made it.

Now as a September call-up, he has a chance to make the ALDS roster. He has a 2.45 ERA (18.1 innings, 5 earned runs) and 1.09 WHIP for Boston this year.

"If you had told my six months ago I'd be right here after just winning the AL East and being a part of it, I would have laughed," Poyner said. "But it's been incredible, and I'm just happy I've gotten the opportunity."

Poyner, a 25-year-old lefty who also logged 44 innings at Triple-A Pawtucket (3.07 ERA), is taking the same approach this September as he did during spring training.

"I still think I try to keep my goals as short term as possible," Poyner said. "Win tonight. Help the team win tonight, have a clean inning tonight and try not to think about playoff roster at all."

What's the most important thing he has learned this year?

"I think the most important, biggest adjustment is learning how to apply the advance scouting to yourself as a pitcher," Poyner said. "Pitch selection, pitching in the zone, out of the zone. And basically learning how to use all the extra information they have at the big league level and apply it to your game."

He said the biggest difference between the majors and minors is all the extra scouting information and advanced statistics.

"You have this information, now how do you use it?" he said. "And the way that (Rick) Porcello is going to apply this information is going to be different than the way Craig (Kimbrel) is going to apply it and it's going to be different in the way I apply it.

"There's so much broken down in different counts, different pitches, different hot and cold zones," Poyner added. "And it's just trying to figure out what applies to you and how to use it."

Even if he is left off the postseason roster, Poyner has had a strong rookie season and has proved to be very capable.

What does he plan to work on this offseason?

"Really just taking care of my body," he said. "Just making sure I'm in a good position strength and conditioning-wise. And continue to work on my breaking balls."As far as health is concerned, video games tend to receive bad press. However, in the case of chronic low back pain, they may make a positive difference to peoples lives. Share on Pinterest Chronic low back pain can be debilitating and is difficult to treat. Over the years, the debate surrounding video games and their impact on psychological and physical health has often reached fever pitch. Some researchers have concluded that they negatively impact certain types of cognitive performance. Others worry that video games offer more opportunity to remain sedentary in our increasingly inactive lives. The debate is ongoing and will, no doubt, rage on. Now, however, researchers from the University of Sydney in Australia are attempting to harness video games to assist in a specific health problem: chronic low back pain.

Back pain and video games Low back pain has become the most disabling and costly musculoskeletal condition in the United States. Older adults are most commonly affected, and over time, the condition tends to get worse, creating a significant negative impact on an individuals ability to move around and complete daily tasks. A new study, published recently in the journal Physical Therapy, looked at chronic low back pain in people over the age of 55. Specifically, the team studied the benefits of self-managed, home-based video game exercises on a Nintendo Wii-Fit-U. At this point, it is worth noting that the researchers received no funding from Nintendo. In all, they asked 60 participants to carry out video game-guided exercises three times every week for 8 weeks; each session lasted 1 hour. These were all carried out unsupervised and at home. Their results were compared with those of a group who carried out the same exercises but under the guidance of a physiotherapist. The video game-aided exercises produced measurable benefits. As lead researcher Dr. Joshua Zadro explains, [P]articipants experienced a 27 percent reduction in pain and a 23 percent increase in function from the exercises.The left side of the hypothalamus was revealed to be 5 percent larger in a new study of people with affective disorders such as depression and bipolar. Share on Pinterest New research emphasizes the role of the hypothalamus (depicted here) in depression and bipolar disorder. Over 16 million adults in the United States have had at least one episode of major depression during the past year. In fact, depression is one of the most prevalent mental health problems in the U.S. At least 9 million more people aged 18 and over are living with bipolar disorder, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. The precise underlying causes for both of these conditions remain unknown, but neuroscientists are unraveling more and more aspects that can affect a persons chances of developing these disorders.

The neurobiological roots of depression Functional MRI and other new imaging techniques have allowed researchers to locate several brain areas and networks that are at play in affective disorders. For instance, in the case of depression, studies have found treatment-resistant depression is associated with decreased hippocampal volume and a smaller amygdala. The hippocampus is a region area heavily involved in memory formation and learning, whereas the amygdala is a small brain structure involved in emotional processing and the response to what is perceived as danger or stress. In fact, the entire endocrine stress response system, or HPA-axis, is disrupted in people who have depression. The axis between the hypothalamus, the pituitary gland, and the adrenal glands is overactive, which previous research established as a core neurobiological feature of major depression. Normally, the HPA-axis raises levels of the stress hormone cortisol to ensure that the body is better equipped to handle a situation perceived as dangerous or threatening. After the threat passes, the HPA-axis is also responsible for lowering cortisol and diminishing other stress responses back to normal levels. However, in the case of individuals with depression, these structures are in overdrive even in the absence of objective danger. New research aimed to clarify the role of the hypothalamus in this hyperactive chain reaction. A team led by Stephanie Schindler, a doctoral researcher working in the Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy at University Hospital Leipzig in Germany, studied the volume of the hypothalamus in affective disorders such as bipolar disorder and depression. The findings were published in the journal Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica.In 2018, Hollywood offered multiple high octane action blockbuster movies to the audience ranging from superheroes, sci-fi, fantasy and horror genres. Considering the films which released in Indian theatres, here is the best films of Hollywood so far.

Black Panther

Ryan Coogler's Black Panther was a game-changer in the superhero genre since it tried to rise above any another superhero film. By infusing the rich African culture in its narrative, Black Panther was unlike any other commercial Hollywood film.

 Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

With Black Panther, Ryan Coogler pushed T'Challa, the king beyond his own doubts and fears as he was facing a mightier villain played by Michael Jordan. He also gave us Shuri and Okoye, the gutsy female supporting characters who would help Wakanda in times of post Infinity Wars crisis. The only let-down about the film was the story, which was just another Baahubali staged drama.

Incredibles 2

14 years after the first film released, Incredibles 2 brought back the same charm of a family of superheroes with dollops of humor. The highlight of the film is little Jack Jack who stole our hearts away with his unlimited superpowers.

 Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

While the animation was on point, the story could have been improvised but blame it to the shuffling of the release dates with Toy Story 4. We hope Brad Bird gives us an incredibly great Incredibles 3 in just a span of few years.

Ready Player One

Set in 2045 - Columbus City of Ohio, Steven Spielberg's new virtual reality adventure gets your attention from the word 'GO'. Imagination is the key to a brilliant execution and Ready Player One is a rare example of cinematic achievement in the visuals department since Avatar. With extensive use of some amazing concepts and elements, this film was best experienced in IMAX 3D.

 Warner Bros. Pictures

Even though the film is set in 2045, the story relies heavily on experiences and our childhood wonders from 1990s to our present (the advent of virtual reality). Spielberg is here for sort of a redemption since his last visual tryst with The BFG didn't fly and here he is keen to take you on one of its kind of a helluva ride.

Avengers: Infinity War

The film is more like a chessboard where Avengers, a team of 22 superheroes join hands against Thanos and The Black Order. In all these 10 years, Marvel has been setting up this chessboard quite well and puts all together while raising the stakes with enough check-mate moments.

 Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

What Avengers Infinity Wars does extremely well is that it establishes Thanos as a supreme villain who quests to deliver 'mercy' without mercy. The characters are put to test in every scene which brings out the complexity in their own personal lives and superhero powers. This movie connects and balances the story arcs across all characters. On a separate note, with 2 Sherlock minds put together Avengers 4 will be great watch.

A Quiet Place

Horror is a very tricky genre where a compelling story, ample scares and logic can hardly fit together. A Quiet Place is a rare feet in the horror genre as it ravels you in its well-crafted narrative by scaring you from a plot that quizzes your brain and raises your heartbeat rather than throwing ghosts at you in your face. The film works mostly for the way the story is told through its spine chilling technique.

 Paramount Pictures

The story only rises through each and every scene with its crisply written narrative and drawing the different characters just relevant to the theme which the film wishes to explore. There is no unnecessary baggage here as it chose to go without a background to the story.

John Krasinski, the director puts you right there alongside himself and his family just like last years' Dunkirk. His direction is perfect in every frame as he leaves his audience in sheer shock every moment of the film.CROMWELL  The Connecticut River has been described as a highway to the world by the president of the Cromwell Historical Society.

But its a highway that runs in both directions.

Even as it opened the world to the residents along the river, Connecticut also attracted music from the world beyond its banks.

On Monday, the historical society will explore that the rich mixture of music in a program, Music of the River, featuring musician Craig Edwards.

As an added inducement, the evening will also feature a pot-luck supper, according to society President Richard F. Donohue. The program is being held at the First Congregational Church of Cromwell, 355 Main St.

It begins with the dinner at 6 p.m., followed at 7 by an exploration of the varied types and styles of music associated with the river presented by Craig Edwards. The Virginia-born Edwards, who majored in ethnomusicology at Wesleyan University, plays a broad range of American roots music, Donohue said.

Edwards repertoire includes traditional fiddle styles, including Appalachian old, blues, bluegrass, Cajun, Cape Breton, Irish and swing; old-time five-string banjo; flat-picking and finger-style guitar, covering Delta and Piedmont blouses, honky-tonk, rockabilly and swing. He also plays Cajun and Zydeco accordion, and sins solo and in groups, according to his biography.

Craig Edwards plays everything from Appalachian fiddle tunes to Zydeco on fiddle, guitar, banjo, and button accordion

Edwards studied West African drumming with Abraham Adzenyah and later served as director of the Mystic Seaport Sea Music Festival. He has been named a Connecticut Master Teaching Artist by the Connecticut Commission on the Arts.

Initially, music in the valley came from First Nation peoples, and then from the individual talents of early settlers, Donohue said.

As Connecticut became a hub of the Industrial Revolution in early 19th century America, commerce and travel brought new music to the region, while music by central Connecticut musicians was carried to other places, he said.

This program will explore the rich mix of music from early British and European settlers, African-Americans, songwriters from the early days of the popular music industry, West Indians and others, he said.

This will include Songs of the American Revolution and the War of 1812, old ballads brought from the British Isles, sailor songs and sea chanties, fiddle tunes and play party songs, and popular songs by local songwriters will draw a musical portrait of a maritime, farming and manufacturing world in central Connecticut in the early 19th century, Donohue said.

For information, visit cromwellhistory.org or facebook.com/cromwellhistory.

Admission to the event is free and is open to the public, and donations are appreciated.Dan Haar

After two weeks on the bench, petitioning candidate Oz Griebel will finally appear alongside both major party candidates in a debate.

Griebel will participate in a debate next week at the University of Connecticut in Storrs, hosted with WFSB. The debate, which will include both Democrat Ned Lamont and Republican Bob Stefanowski, will be broadcast live from 7-8 p.m. Wednesday on Channel 3.The original Tun Tavern in Philadelphia was the birthplace of the Marine Corps and was almost as old as the city itself.Some of the surviving crew members of an American spy ship captured by North Korean forces 50 years ago have a message for President Trump: bring our warship home.

"The crew of the USS Pueblo would like to get our ship returned," Ron Berens, the lead helmsman on board and at the wheel on January 23, 1968 when North Korean MiG fighter jets and patrol boats opened fire on the American spy ship, leading to the first capture of a U.S. Navy ship since the War of 1812.

"We would like them to deliver it to Lake Pueblo," said Bob Hill, a 19-year-old deck seaman at the time and one of the youngest on board.

One crew member was killed and the 82 others were taken captive and held for 11 months in North Korean prisons, enduring hours of torture roughly 10 days after departing from Japan on espionage missions against the Soviet Union and North Korea.

"There's nothing in the current history books about the Pueblo," Berens said in an interview with Fox News during a gathering of roughly 40 surviving Pueblo crewmembers on the 50th anniversary of their capture this week in Pueblo, Colo., the ship's namesake.

Today, the Pueblo remains a commissioned U.S. Navy ship on display in the Potong River inside North Korea's capital Pyongyang, where the refurbished American spy ship hosts thousands of visitors a year.

It's an episode in history largely overshadowed in a year dominated by the Vietnam War, the assassinations of Dr. Martin Luther King and Robert F. Kennedy, the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia and the Apollo 8 launch.

An even deadlier incident occurred a year later when a North Korean MiG-21 shot down a U.S. Navy reconnaissance aircraft, killing all 31 Americans onboard.

January 23, 1968 began with anxiety for the Pueblo crew with their ship just 14 miles off the coast of North Korea. The day prior, a number of communist vessels had approached the American spy ship to take photos venturing too close for comfort.

The North Korean patrol boats and sub chasers had remained and around lunchtime Sunday began firing on the Pueblo after being joined by a pair of North Korean MiGs overhead.

Bob Hill was lying in his rack when he heard general quarters sound, sending the crew to their battle stations. Hill was told to help destroy top secret material on board because the crew quickly found themselves surrounded.

Tim Harris, a young supply officer on board Pueblo, said the North Koreans quickly surrounded the American spy ship and opened fire with machine guns and 40-mm cannon.

The American crew tried to escape, but the North Korean vessels were relentless. After signaling the Americans to stop or "heave to" and with their ship badly disabled due to the debilitating fire, the North Korean patrol boats swooped in and jumped aboard.

"We never surrendered. We stopped the ship. There was never an order to surrender," Harris said. "We had taken so much fire."

"We were scared s***less," Bob Hill said recalling the feeling of seeing North Korean sailors taking him and his 82 crewmembers captive and bringing them to the port city of Wonsan.

"They tied us up, blindfolded us. We were all wondering if we were going to die."

Shortly after arriving in North Korea, Hill said the American crew was met with shouts from a mob that had gathered.

"Kill Yankee!" they yelled in English, Hill recalled.

The American crew spent their first six weeks in North Korea in Pyongyang before being moved out to the countryside less than an hour from the capital city.

Over the next 11 months the crew was subjected to torture routinely.

"A typical day was met with intermittent terror. If you happened to be caught sleeping you were in a world of pain," Hill said.

The crew learned to rely on God as well as one another.

"Your roommates were your biggest help," said Berens.

The surviving crewmembers are split about bringing the ship back saying President Trump has more important issues to worry about such as getting North Korea to scrap its nuclear weapons program.

"It's still a slap in the face to us every day that it's still commissioned," Hill said. "That bothers me a great deal."

When North Korea turned Pueblo into a museum and communist propaganda piece, "I prayed when they opened that thing with all their military officers on board, we could drop a MOAB [Mother of all Bombs] or something on them and blow the whole damn thing up."

He added: "Decommission that damn thing."

Ron Berens disagrees.

"If they decommission the ship Americans would lose face," Berens said. "That's total surrender."

"That is a hunk of metal. The crew is right here," Hill said about the survivors that have gathered this week in Pueblo, Colo.

"The spirit of that ship is right here today at the reunion," agreed Harris.

Cmdr. Josh Hill, a 2001 U.S. Naval Academy graduate currently assigned to the Pentagon, echoed his father's sentiment.

"Nothing would mean more to the crew than having Pueblo returned to the U.S. for a proper decommissioning ceremony," he said.

Surviving Pueblo crewmembers also want their skipper recognized for his heroism in leading all 82 men through 11 months of captivity. When they returned to the United States in December 1968, they were cheered by crowds in San Diego.

Back in Washington, Navy brass demanded a courts-martial to investigate why Pueblo's commanding officer, Cmdr. Lloyd M. Bucher, allowed his crew to be captured by North Korea. Charges were dropped weeks later because the Navy secretary felt Bucher had suffered enough, according to Berens.

To this day, Bucher has not received any valor award for his actions, despite the crew receiving Purple Hearts for their wounds suffered in captivity and during the attack at sea.

"It was his leadership under extreme circumstances that we survived," Harris said.

Many Pueblo crew members want Cmdr. Bucher to be awarded the Medal of Honor.

"I wouldn't be here today if it were not for Commander Bucher," said Navy Cmdr. Josh Hill, who added that when he was commissioned in the U.S. Navy in May 2001, Cmdr. Bucher performed a special private ceremony at the Naval Academy's Memorial Hall -- under Oliver Hazard Perry's battle flag: "Don't Give Up the Ship."

Fox News' Andrew O'Reilly contributed to this report. Allanite-(Ce) Formula: {CaCe}{Al 2 Fe2+}(Si 2 O 7 )(SiO 4 )O(OH) Description: Occurs in granodiorite as micro-crystals. Reference: Anthony, J.W., et al (1995), Mineralogy of Arizona, 3rd.ed.: 104; Butler, B.S., et al (1938b), Geology and ore deposits of the Tombstone district, AZ, AZ Bur. Mines Bull. 143; Galbraith, F.W. & D.J. Brennan (1959), Minerals of AZ: 112.

 Anglesite Formula: PbSO 4 Localities: Reported from at least Reported from at least 14 localities in this region. Description: 4th. level in the Skipjack fissure being replaced by sulphur. Reference: Anthony, J.W., et al (1995), Mineralogy of Arizona, 3rd.ed.: 386; Butler, B.S., et al (1938b).

 'Apophyllite Group' Formula: AB 4 [Si 8 O 22 ]X  8H 2 O Description: Sub-hedral grains in tactite. Reference: Anthony, J.W., et al (1995), Mineralogy of Arizona, 3rd.ed.: 117; Bideaux, R.A., et al (1960), Some new occurrences of minerals of Arizona, AZ Geol. Soc. Digest: 3: 53-56.

 Austinite Formula: CaZn(AsO 4 )(OH) Reference: Raman analysis by Bob Jenkins on aspecimen in the Bruce J. Murphy collection;

 Backite (TL) Formula: Pb 2 AlTeO 6 Cl Type Locality: Habit: Hexagonal plates stacked on each other. Colour: Gray to white. Reference: Tait, K.T., DiCecco, V., Cooper, M.A., Ball, N.A. and Hawthorne. F.C. (2014) Backite, IMA 2013-113. CNMNC Newsletter No. 19, February 2014, page 169; Mineralogical Magazine, 78, 165-170.; Tait, K.T., DiCecco, V., Ball, N.A., Hawthorne, F.C., Kampf, A.R. (2014): Backite, Pb2Al(TeO6)Cl, a new tellurate mineral from the Grand Central Mine, Tombstone Hills, Cochise County, Arizona: Description and crystal structure. Canadian Mineralogist, 52, 935-942

 Baryte Formula: BaSO 4 Localities: Reported from at least Reported from at least 8 localities in this region. Description: Occurs as a vein. Reference: Butler, B.S., et al (1938b), Geology and ore deposits of the Tombstone district, AZ, AZ Bur. Mines Bull. 143: 45; Anthony, J.W., et al (1995), Mineralogy of Arizona, 3rd.ed.: 127; Stewart, L.A. & A.J. Pfister (1960), Barite deposits of AZ, US Bur. Mkines Rept. Inv. 5651; Galbraith, F.W. & D.J. Brennan (1959), Minerals of AZ: 57.

 'Bindheimite' Formula: Pb 2 Sb 2 O 6 O Colour: Yellowish-gray Description: As spots in siliceous ores. Reference: Anthony, J.W., et al (1995), Mineralogy of Arizona, 3rd.ed.: 136; Butler, B.S., et al (1938b), Geology and ore deposits of the Tombstone district, AZ, AZ Bur. Mines Bull. 143; Galbraith, F.W. & D.J. Brennan (1959), Minerals of AZ: 76.

 Calcite Formula: CaCO 3 Localities: Reported from at least Reported from at least 17 localities in this region. Reference: The Resources of Arizona - A Manual of Reliable Information Concerning the Territory, compiled by Patrick Hamilton (1881), Prescott, AZ: 35.

 Cerussite Formula: PbCO 3 Localities: Reported from at least Reported from at least 14 localities in this region. Reference: self collected minerals by Brent Thorne

 Cesbronite Formula: Cu2+ 3 Te6+O 4 (OH) 4 Reference: Anthony, J.W., et al (1995), Mineralogy of Arizona, 3rd.ed.: 159.

 Chalcopyrite Formula: CuFeS 2 Localities: Reported from at least Reported from at least 7 localities in this region. Reference: Brent Thorne

 Chlorargyrite Formula: AgCl Localities: Reported from at least Reported from at least 17 localities in this region. Reference: Genth, F.A. (1887a), Contributions to Mineralogy, Annals of Phila. Phil. Soc.: 2:20; Galbraith, F.W. (1947), Minerals of AZ, AZ Bur of Mines Bull. 153: 15; Traywick, Ben T. (1983), The Mines of Tucson: 33.

 Chrysocolla Formula: Cu 2-x Al x (H 2-x Si 2 O 5 )(OH) 4  nH 2 O, x < 1 Localities: Reported from at least Reported from at least 9 localities in this region. Reference: Anthony, J.W., et al (1995), Mineralogy of Arizona, 3rd.ed.: 169.

 Epidote Formula: {Ca 2 }{Al 2 Fe3+}(Si 2 O 7 )(SiO 4 )O(OH) Description: Occurs in shale and quartzite. Reference: Anthony, J.W., et al (1995), Mineralogy of Arizona, 3rd.ed.: 214; Butler, B.S., et al (1938b), Geology and ore deposits of the Tombstone district, AZ, AZ Bur. Mines Bull. 143; Galbraith, F.W. & D.J. Brennan (1959), Minerals of AZ: 99;

 Ettringite Formula: Ca 6 Al 2 (SO 4 ) 3 (OH) 12  26H 2 O Locality: Lucky Cuss Mine (Escondido Mine; Escondido claims; McCann Mine; Wedge Mine), Tombstone Mining District, Cochise County, Arizona, USA Description: Occurs as an alteration product of Ca- & Al-silicates. Reference: Palache, C., Berman, H., & Frondel, C. (1951), The System of Mineralogy of James Dwight Dana and Edward Salisbury Dana, Yale University 1837-1892, Volume II: 590; Anthony, J.W., et al (1995), Mineralogy of Arizona, 3rd.ed.: 217; Butler, B.S., et al (1938b), Geology and ore deposits of the Tombstone district, AZ, AZ Bur. Mines Bull. 143.; Moses, A. J. (1903): Ettringite and alabandine from Arizona. Zeitschrift fur Kristallographie und Mineralogie, 22, 16-9.

 Fairbankite (TL) Formula: Pb2+ 12 (Te4+O 3 ) 11 (SO 4 ) Type Locality: Habit: Crystals less than 0.5 mm Colour: Colorless Description: Tiny, clear crystals in thin crusts plastered of walls of voids left by leaching of galena. Closely associated with oboyerite. Reference: Anthony, J.W., et al (1995), Mineralogy of Arizona, 3rd.ed.: 218; Williams, S.A. (1979), Girdite, oboyerite, fairbankite, and winstanleyite, four new tellurium minerals from Tombstone, AZ, Mineralogical Magazine: 43: 453-457.

 Flaggite (TL) Formula: Pb 4 Cu2+ 4 Te6+ 2 (SO 4 ) 2 O 11 (OH) 2 (H 2 O) Type Locality: Reference: Kampf, A.R. Mills, S.J., Celestian, A.J., Ma, C., Yang, H., Thorne, B. (2021): Flaggite, IMA 2021-044. CNMNC Newsletter 63; Mineralogical Magazine, 85: https://doi.org/10.1180/mgm.2021.74

 Fluorite Formula: CaF 2 Localities: Reported from at least Reported from at least 6 localities in this region.

 Galena Formula: PbS Localities: Reported from at least Reported from at least 22 localities in this region. Reference: Brent Thorne

 Galena var. Silver-bearing Galena Formula: PbS with Ag Localities: Reported from at least Reported from at least 10 localities in this region. Reference: Keith, Stanton B. (1973), Arizona Bureau of Mines Bull. 187, Index of Mining Properties in Cochise County, AZ: 74.

 Gold Formula: Au Localities: Reported from at least Reported from at least 20 localities in this region. Reference: Genth, F.A. (1887a), Contributions to Mineralogy, Annals of Phila. Phil. Soc.: 2:20; Galbraith, F.W. (1947), Minerals of AZ, AZ Bur of Mines Bull. 153: 15; Traywick, Ben T. (1983), The Mines of Tucson: 33.

 Grossular Formula: Ca 3 Al 2 (SiO 4 ) 3 Colour: Cinnamon-brown Description: Occurs in contact metamorphic zones. Reference: Anthony, J.W., et al (1995), Mineralogy of Arizona, 3rd.ed.: 239.

 Grossular var. Hessonite Formula: Ca 3 Al 2 (SiO 4 ) 3 Colour: Cinnamon-brown Description: Occurs in contact metamorphic zones. Reference: Anthony, J.W., et al (1995), Mineralogy of Arizona, 3rd.ed.: 239.

 Halotrichite Formula: FeAl 2 (SO 4 ) 4  22H 2 O Reference: Galbraith, F.W. & D.J. Brennan (1959), Minerals of AZ: 62.

 Hematite Formula: Fe 2 O 3 Localities: Reported from at least Reported from at least 12 localities in this region. Habit: Radiating aggregates Description: Occurs in a vein of granodiorite. Reference: Anthony, J.W., et al (1995), Mineralogy of Arizona, 3rd.ed.: 245; Butler, B.S., et al (1938b), Geology and ore deposits of the Tombstone district, AZ, AZ Bur. Mines Bull. 143.

 Hemimorphite Formula: Zn 4 Si 2 O 7 (OH) 2  H 2 O Localities: Reported from at least Reported from at least 9 localities in this region. Reference: Brent Thorne

 'Iddingsite' Formula: MgO  Fe 2 O 3  3SiO 2  4H 2 O Description: Occurs as micro-particles in basaltic rocks. Reference: Galbraith, F.W. & D.J. Brennan (1959), Minerals of AZ: 107.

 Jarosite Formula: KFe3+ 3 (SO 4 ) 2 (OH) 6 Localities: Reported from at least Reported from at least 13 localities in this region. Reference: Anthony, J.W., et al (1995), Mineralogy of Arizona, 3rd.ed.: 232, 315; Williams, S.A. (1979), Girdite, oboyerite, fairbankite, and winstanleyite, four new tellurium minerals from Tombstone, AZ, Mineralogical Magazine: 43: 453-457; Rocks & Min.:57:12.

 Magnesio-hornblende Formula: Ca 2 (Mg 4 Al)(Si 7 Al)O 22 (OH) 2 Habit: Long prismatic Description: Occurs in Schieffelin Granodiorite. Reference: Anthony, J.W., et al (1995), Mineralogy of Arizona, 3rd.ed.: 283; Butler, B.S., et al (1938b), Geology and ore deposits of the Tombstone district, AZ, AZ Bur. Mines Bull. 143; Galbraith, F.W. & D.J. Brennan (1959), Minerals of AZ: 92.

 Magnetite Formula: Fe2+Fe3+ 2 O 4 Description: Widespread but not abundant. Reference: Anthony, J.W., et al (1995), Mineralogy of Arizona, 3rd.ed.: 285; Butler, B.S., et al (1938b), Geology and ore deposits of the Tombstone district, AZ, AZ Bur. Mines Bull. 143.

 Malachite Formula: Cu 2 (CO 3 )(OH) 2 Localities: Reported from at least Reported from at least 9 localities in this region. Reference: Brent Thorne

 Mckinstryite Formula: Ag 5-x Cu 3+x S 4 Reference: Anthony, J.W., et al (1995), Mineralogy of Arizona, 3rd.ed.: 291.

 Mimetite Formula: Pb 5 (AsO 4 ) 3 Cl Localities: Reported from at least Reported from at least 6 localities in this region. Reference: Brent Thorne

 Olivenite Formula: Cu 2 (AsO 4 )(OH) Reference: Anthony, J.W., et al (1995), Mineralogy of Arizona, 3rd.ed.: 316.

 Opal Formula: SiO 2  nH 2 O Localities: Reported from at least Reported from at least 7 localities in this region. Description: Occurs as a component of quartz-adularia-opal rock formed by alteration of granodiorite. Reference: Anthony, J.W., et al (1995), Mineralogy of Arizona, 3rd.ed.: 421; Williams, S.A. (1979), Girdite, oboyerite, fairbankite, and winstanleyite, four new tellurium minerals from Tombstone, AZ, Mineralogical Magazine: 43: 453-457.

 Periclase Formula: MgO Reference: Anthony, J.W., et al (1995), Mineralogy of Arizona, 3rd.ed.: 325.

 Pyrite Formula: FeS 2 Localities: Reported from at least Reported from at least 11 localities in this region. Reference: Brent Thorne

 Pyrolusite Formula: Mn4+O 2 Localities: Reported from at least Reported from at least 8 localities in this region. Reference: Anthony, J.W., et al (1995), Mineralogy of Arizona, 3rd.ed.: 342; Rasor, C.A. (1939), Manganese mineralization at Tombstone, AZ, Econ.Geol.: 34: 790-803; Romslo, T.M. & S.F. Ravitz (1947), Arizona manganese-silver ores, US Bur. of Mines Rept. Inv. 4097; Havens, R., et al (1954), Beneficiation of oxide manganese and manganese-silver ores from southern AZ, US Bur of Mines Rept. Inv. 5024; Hewett, D.F. & M. Fleischer (1960), Deposits of the manganese oxides, Econ.Geol.: 55: 1-55.

 Quartz Formula: SiO 2 Localities: Reported from at least Reported from at least 19 localities in this region. Reference: Genth, F.A. (1887a), Contributions to Mineralogy, Annals of Phila. Phil. Soc.: 2:20; Galbraith, F.W. (1947), Minerals of AZ, AZ Bur of Mines Bull. 153: 15; Traywick, Ben T. (1983), The Mines of Tucson: 33.

 Quetzalcoatlite Formula: Zn 6 Cu 3 (TeO 6 ) 2 (OH) 6  Ag x Pb y Cl x+2y Locality: Old Guard Mine (Royal Guard Mine), Tombstone, Tombstone Mining District, Cochise County, Arizona, USA Colour: Bright blue Description: One tiny specimen as small nodules of coarsely-granular crystals cemented with gold. Reference: Anthony, J.W., et al (1995), Mineralogy of Arizona, 3rd.ed.: 350; Williams, S.A. (1978), Khinite, parakhinite, and dugganite, three new tellurates from Tombstone, AZ, Am.Min.: 63: 1016-1019.; American Mineralogist, Volume 94, pages 648652, 2009

 Rosasite Formula: (Cu,Zn) 2 (CO 3 )(OH) 2 Localities: Reported from at least Reported from at least 8 localities in this region. Reference: Brent Thorne

 Silver Formula: Ag Localities: Reported from at least Reported from at least 8 localities in this region. Description: Occurs as disseminated flakes in gougy, slickensided material. Reference: Anthony, J.W., et al (1995), Mineralogy of Arizona, 3rd.ed.: 372; Butler, B.S., et al (1938b), Geology and ore deposits of the Tombstone district, Arizona, AZ Bur. Mines Bull. 143: 51; Guild, F.N. (1910), The Mineralogy of Arizona, The Chemical Publishing Co., Easton, PA; Traywick, Bent. (1983), The Mines of Tombstone.

 Spangolite Formula: Cu 6 Al(SO 4 )(OH) 12 Cl  3H 2 O Description: Exact location within the district is unknown. Reference: Palache, C., Berman, H., & Frondel, C. (1951), The System of Mineralogy of James Dwight Dana and Edward Salisbury Dana, Yale University 1837-1892, Volume II: 578.

 Spiroffite Formula: Mn2+ 2 Te4+ 3 O 8 Locality: Joe Mine (Joe shaft), Tombstone Mining District, Cochise County, Arizona, USA Habit: Deeply corroded crystals Colour: Pale pink Description: Occurs very sparingly as large (0.5 inches = 1.25 cm) commonly found in intensely silicified pyritic shales. Reference: Anthony, J.W., et al (1995), Mineralogy of Arizona, 3rd.ed.: 379.

 Titanite Formula: CaTi(SiO 4 )O Habit: Micro-crystals Description: Occurs in granodiorite and porphyritic rocks. Reference: Anthony, J.W., et al (1995), Mineralogy of Arizona, 3rd.ed.: 396; Butler, B.S., et al (1938b), Geology and ore deposits of the Tombstone district, AZ, AZ Bur. Mines Bull. 143; Galbraith, F.W. & D.J. Brennan (1959), Minerals of AZ: 112.

 Tombstoneite (TL) Formula: (Ca 0.5 Pb 0.5 )Pb 3 Cu2+ 6 Te6+ 2 O 6 (Te4+O 3 ) 6 (Se4+O 3 ) 2 (SO 4 ) 2  3H 2 O Type Locality: Reference: Kampf, A.R., Mills, S.J., Housley, R.M., Ma, C., Thorne, B. (2021): Tombstoneite, IMA 2021-053. CNMNC Newsletter 63; Mineralogical Magazine: 85, https://doi.org.10.1180/mgm.2021.74

 Utahite Formula: MgCu 4 Zn 2 Te6+ 3 O 14 (OH) 4  6H 2 O Locality: Empire Mine, Tombstone Mining District, Cochise County, Arizona, USA Colour: Blue Description: Occurs associated with other tellurium minerals and several unknowns. Reference: Dr. Peter Megaw, analysis by Dr. Malcolm E. Back, Royal Ontario Museum, Canada.

 Vanadinite Formula: Pb 5 (VO 4 ) 3 Cl Localities: Reported from at least Reported from at least 7 localities in this region. Colour: Brownish Description: Occurs as masses of crystals. Reference: Keith, Stanton B. (1973), Arizona Bureau of Mines Bull. 187, Index of Mining Properties in Cochise County, AZ: 76; Anthony, J.W., et al (1995), Mineralogy of Arizona, 3rd.ed.: 410; Galbraith, F.W. & D.J. Brennan (1959), Minerals of AZ: 73.

 Winstanleyite (TL) Formula: TiTe4+ 3 O 8 Type Locality: Habit: simple cubes to 0.5 mm on an edge Colour: Yellow, tan, cream-colored Description: Occurs in a quartz-adularia-opal rock formed by alteration of granodiorite. Reference: Anthony, J.W., et al (1995), Mineralogy of Arizona, 3rd.ed.: 421; Williams, S.A. (1979), Girdite, oboyerite, fairbankite, and winstanleyite, four new tellurium minerals from Tombstone, AZ, Mineralogical Magazine: 43: 453-457.

 Wulfenite Formula: Pb(MoO 4 ) Localities: Reported from at least Reported from at least 14 localities in this region. Reference: Dana 6:1093.

 Zircon Formula: Zr(SiO 4 ) Description: Micro-grains in light-colored, igneous rocks. Samples from Johnny Lyon Granodiorite have been dated at 1,655  20 million years for the intrusive rock unit. Reference: Anthony, J.W., et al (1995), Mineralogy of Arizona, 3rd.ed.: 431; Silver, L.T. & S. Deutsch (1963), Uranium-lead isotope variations in zircons: A case study, Jour. Geol.: 71: 721-758.How to use the mindat.org media viewer

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Summary of all keyboard shortcutsARGENTINE TWP, MI -- A man in his early 20s is dead and one in custody following a shooting Saturday night inside an Argentine Township residence.

Officers with the Argentine Township Police Department were called out around 7 p.m. Sept. 22 to a residence the 16000 block of Seymour Road for a report of a shooting.

Argentine Township police Detective Sgt. Doug Fulton said witnesses told investigators that the two friends were "playing" with a handgun when it fired, striking the victim once in the chest and shoulder area.

Witnesses told police it was "a habit" of the friends to unload the firearm and dry fire it at each other, Fulton said. Dry firing a gun involves removing the ammunition before pulling the trigger.

The victim, whose name has not been released, was pronounced dead at the scene. No others injuries were reported among three others inside the residence at the time of the shooting.

The suspect remains in custody at the Genesee County Jail. Fulton expects the investigation to be turned over Monday to the Genesee County Prosecutor's Office for review and potential charges.

Fulton commented the area where the shooting took place typically is quiet, noting this was the first call he has taken at the residence split into four rental units in his 11 years of service with the department.

Paramedics with the Genesee County Sheriff's Office assisted township officers at the scene.MONTCALM COUNTY, MI - A 40-year-old woman died and a 25-year-old woman was injured Saturday night in a head-on crash, according to Michigan State Police.

Police have not identified the deceased woman from Stanton, Michigan, nor have they named the injured woman hailing from Greenville.

The incident remains under investigation and alcohol is not believed to be a factor in the crash, according to a news release issued by MSP.

Troopers from the MSP Lakeview post responded at around 9:31 p.m. Saturday to Sidney Road near Hillman Road on a report of a head-crash in Sidney Township.

Investigators wrote that they believe the 40-year-old Stanton woman was driving eastbound on Sidney Road and was attempting to pass a slower vehicle before colliding head-on with a vehicle traveling in the westbound lane, according to the release.

The 40-year-old Stanton woman did not survive.

The westbound vehicle was being driven by a 25-year-old woman who was traveling with her 10-month-old son. She was taken to Spectrum Butterworth Hospital in serious condition, but her son was not injured in the crash.

Montcalm County EMS, Sheridan Community Fire Department, Aero-Med, Captain Hooks Towing and the Montcalm County Central Dispatch assisted troopers on scene.WYOMING, MI -- A suspect in the deaths of two people in northern Kent County also was found dead following a nine-hour standoff at a Wyoming apartment, police said.

The standoff ended about 12:15 a.m. Sunday, Sept. 23 when police entered a unit at Ramblewood Apartments, off 44th Street, and found the man deceased.

He earlier had taken hostages -- his wife and two young children, ages 4 and 2 -- but released them a few hours into the standoff.

Kent County sheriff's investigators say he is the "primary suspect" in the apparent homicide of a man and woman at a house in the 10000 block of Rooksby Street in Spencer Township, east of Sand Lake.

Police went to the Rooksby Street house about 11:40 a.m. Saturday to check the well-being of the residents. A family member had called police to ask them to check.

Deputies found a deceased man and woman inside the house, but did not disclose the cause of death and initially labeled the deaths "suspicious."

About three hours later, the police investigation led an apartment on Stonebridge Avenue SW at Ramblewood Apartments and the standoff began.

Police said the man refused to cooperate and come out of the apartment.

The hostages were released some time after 6 p.m.

Other Ramblewood residents gathered near the standoff scene to watch as police brought in armored vehicles and tried to negotiate with the man.

Police evacuated residents from the apartment building where the standoff was occurring and, at various points in the evening, used loud tactical devices to try to persuade the man to come out.

Police said they hoped he would surrender peacefully.JACKSON, MI - There are the people, so many of them affected by alcohol or worse, that Duane "Dog the Bounty Hunter" Chapman said he brought to justice throughout a 40-year career.

There is the daughter he lost more than a decade ago in a crash involving drugs and a stolen SUV.

And recently, there were the deals he said he made with God as he faced the possibility he might lose his wife and longtime partner to cancer.

Chapman, 65, said it isn't enough to assure the captivity of fleeing felons.

"You got to go a step farther... I hate to just put them in jail and leave them anymore. I got to know: Did they make it? Did they go to Christmas dinner? Did they go to Easter Sunday?"

The famously coiffed bounty hunter and former reality TV star has partnered with Florida-based Treatment Partners of America to help those struggling with addiction.

He's visiting Jackson on Sunday, Sept. 30, to present "Project Recovery" at the Michigan Theatre, 124 N. Mechanic St., a message and path he says will lead to redemption.

Tickets start at $25 for what is being billed as a town hall meeting. Doors open at 2 p.m. The program begins at 3 p.m.

For $100, people can sit in the front 50 seats and meet Chapman. A $50 ticket assures a seat in the first five rows and an autographed photo. Basic admission is $25. Tickets are available at the theater and on its website.

Chapman, familiar in Jackson for his work in 2012 to apprehend holed-up racketeer Ricky Wheeldon, will share his experiences and solutions, some of them unconventional, for the drugs plaguing people and communities.

"(Treatment Partners) and Dog the Bounty Hunter are both willing to think outside the box and bring a breath of fresh air to both the bail industry and the treatment industry," reads a statement announcing the collaboration.

Chapman says for some, marijuana is the answer. "I deal with the devil's herd. They got to have something," he said in a phone interview this week from his Hawaii home.

Marijuana, he says, is a far better option than heroin or tequila. "I have never arrested a guy that smoked a joint and beat up his wife. That don't happen."

To go cold turkey is a myth, said Chapman, a self-described outlaw who says he used crack cocaine while dealing with the death of his mother in the 1990s and LSD and pot in the 1960s, when he rolled with the Devil's Disciples motorcycle gang.

Addiction, he said, is not a disease. Medical professionals label it this way only so they can seek insurance company reimbursements, he believes. "A disease is something you can't get rid of," he said.

"It's basically they want to get high and they want to do things when they are high that they can't do when they are normal."

About 80 percent of the criminals he encounters were or are still "drugged out," he said.

His latest venture, he said, will be as big as California's Betty Ford Clinic. "I am going to do this. You watch me. Dog's rehab," he said.

"This is my final calling."

Duane and Beth Chapman were last at Jackson's Michigan Theatre in 2012, after Wheeldon was sentenced in Jackson County to a long prison term for, among other felonies, running a criminal enterprise.

Wheeldon was free on a $500,000 bond when he fled his jury trial in May 2012. He evaded police for nearly six months before Michigan State Police captured him. Chapman, involved in the search, said he was "instrumental" in the arrest.

Though he is no longer on TV, Chapman continues bounty hunting.

"I tried to quit," he said.

"I just can't."KALAMAZOO, MI -- Music lovers from all over gathered at Arcadia Creek Festival Place in Kalamazoo this weekend for the 6th annual Audiotree Music Festival.

The festival took place on Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 22-23.

Saturday kicked off with a lively crowd enjoying a variety of local and international artists. The first day of the festival was concluded with headliner Local Natives, who performed their final show of the year on the Audiotree's main stage.

Headlining the main-stage acts Sunday will be Father John Misty.

This year was the first to include a second stage. The "WIDR FM Stage" was formed in partnership with Western Michigan University's radio station, WIDR, to feature up-and-coming artists from Kalamazoo, Grand Rapids and Chicago, including Moss Jaw, Michigander, Lushh and Miranda Winters.

The festival also featured food trucks, craft beer and specialty vendors such as local businesses Satellite Records and Keep Smiling! Apparel.

Offering activities for all ages, children under 10 years old get free admission to the music festival. For older music fans, tickets ranged in price from one-day passes at $45 to two-day VIP passes for $135.

Audiotree Music Festival was founded by Kalamazoo natives Michael Johnston and Adam Thurston.

The schedule for artists performing Sunday, Sept. 23, is as follows:

Main Stage

9:00 p.m. Father John Misty

7:30 p.m. Real Estate

6:15 p.m. Chicano Batman

5:00 p.m. Blitzen Trapper

3:45 p.m. Post Animal

2:45 p.m. Palm

1:45 p.m. Caamp

12:50 p.m. Major Murphy

12:00 p.m. Common Holly

WIDR FM Stage

5:45 p.m. Slow Mass

4:30 p.m. Pool Holograph

3:15 p.m. REZN

2:15 p.m. Lume

1:15 p.m. Jake Simmons & the Little Ghosts

12:25 p.m. LushhMILLINGTON, MI -- A pair of 21-year-old men are in critical condition after the dirt bikes they were driving collided Sunday afternoon in Millington.

A call was dispatched around 2:45 p.m. Sept. 23 to Michigan State Police for a personal injury crash at a residence near the intersection of Irish and Arbela roads in Millington Township.

Millington police Officer Mike Mitin was the closest available unit and responded first to the scene where he learned two men riding dirt bikes had collided and been injured.

Both men were airlifted to nearby hospitals and listed in critical condition by medical personnel. Neither man had on a helmet at the time of the incident, police said.

The incident remains under investigation.Mess kit is defined as a portable set of usually metal cooking and eating utensils, used especially by soldiers and campers. For Norman O. Mustill, Americas messkit consisted of silent weapons, play money, dancing the two-step, and industry in art. During the Vietnam War, when MESSKIT was published, that meant flamethrowers, napalm, Agent Orange, billions of wasted dollars, disastrous military strategy, torture and executions. No different from today, actually  just add cyberweapons and other upgrades.

MESSKIT front and back covers. (Click the images to enlarge them.)

MESSKIT inside covers, showing inserts, author photo, thumbnail biography, and signature.

Silent Weapons, an accordion-style poster foldout attached to the back of the MESSKIT front cover.

Three detached posters (Play Money Not Negotiable, Dancing the Vietnam Two-Step, Industry In Art) unfolded from the pocket inside the MESSKIT back cover.In secret, behind locked gates, our Nation's Oldest City dumped a landfill in a lake (Old City Reservoir), while emitting sewage in our rivers and salt marsh. Organized citizens exposed and defeated pollution, racism and cronyism. We elected a new Mayor. We're transforming our City -- advanced citizenship. Ask questions. Make disclosures. Demand answers. Be involved. Expect democracy. Report and expose corruption. Smile! Help enact a St. Augustine National Park and Seashore. We shall overcome!State-run telecom firm BSNL has inked a pact with Japan's Softbank and NTT Communications to roll out 5G and internet of things technology in India, a top official has said.

"We have signed agreement with Softbank and NTT Communications to roll out 5G and IoT products and services in India. Under the agreement, we will look at solution specially for the smart cities," BSNL chairman and managing director Anupam Shrivastava told PTI in an interview.

He said most of the BSNL competitors are still looking at monetising their 4G services and hence leading companies have started looking at the state-run firm for 5G services roll out.

"We have benefitted by lead taken by our minister (Manoj Sinha). He has held various meetings at global level on 5G. We capitalised on those opportunities and signed agreement for the next generation technology," Shrivastava said.

Telecom minister Sinha has said that 5G service launch in India will happen at par with other leading nations.

"3G was launch in India after seven years the technology was available in other foreign markets and 4G services after four years lag but 5G will be launched in India in 2020 as soon the standards are freezed by ITU," Shrivastava said.

He said that BSNL is working to finalise test cases where 5G can be used in India.

"We are in advance stages of starting 5G field trials. Government is in agreement to provide us 5G spectrum for trials. We expect to start field trials very soon," Shrivastava said.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has recommended auction of about 8,644 MHz of telecom frequencies at an estimated base price of Rs 4.9 lakh crore. The government is yet to finalise details of allocation of spectrum for 5G services.

Under the agreement with Softbank, BSNL will look at collaborating with the Japanese firm for its satellite constellation which will have around 900 satellites to provide high speed internet services across the globe.Infosys | Company completed the acquisition of Blue Acorn iCi, an Adobe Platinum partner in the US. (Image: Reuters)

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A whistle-blower has written to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) demanding that the remuneration paid to Infosys board members, led by former Chairman R Seshasayee, be 'clawed back' to fulfil the severance payout to a former executive, reports The Economic Times.

The whistle-blower urged the market regulator to step into the situation to protect employees, alleging corporate misgovernance in the company during the tenure of its earlier board.

The person asked why shareholders should be penalised for the stupidity of earlier board members. The letter follows a recent arbitration tribunal directive to the company to pay Rs 12.17 crore as severance package to former Chief Financial Officer Rajiv Bansal with interest.

Infosys said it will seek legal advice for actions to be undertaken in this situation and has not clearly stated whether it would pay this amount.

Bansal filed a caveat to safeguard his interest and prevent any ex-parte order without hearing him in a suit or proceedings expected to be initiated by Infosys.

This is not the first time a whistle-blower has written to SEBI regarding lapses in corporate governance in the IT major. The person has been demanding that the company make public the findings of independent investigations in cases including the Bansal payout and Panaya case.

The whistle-blower accused former board members of failing their fiduciary duty, adding that all of them received significant payouts for their role but failed to do anything for the shareholders.

Infosys has a claw-back provision in the contracts of all senior executives and the right to use this provision under local laws if it restates its accounts or incurs a loss. It is not clear if these provisions can be used against past board members.

Shriram Subramanian, Founder and MD at InGovern Research Services, said, I do not think there is any malafide issue unless there is substantial proof time and again.

Bansal had quit the company in December 2015 and initiated arbitration proceedings in April last year after the board halted payouts. Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, a global law firm, was hired by Infosys to investigate allegations in 2017, which announced that the company was clean.Overseas investors have pulled out a massive Rs 15,365 crore ($2.1 billion) from the capital markets so far in September, after putting in funds during the previous two months, on widening current account deficit coupled with global trade tensions. The latest outflow comes following a net infusion of close to Rs 5,200 crore in the capital markets, both equity and debt, last month and Rs 2,300 crore in July.

Prior to that, overseas investors had pulled out over Rs 61,000 crore during April-June.

According to the latest depository data, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) withdrew a net sum of Rs 6,832 crore from equities during September 3-21 and Rs 8,533 crore from the debt market, taking the total to Rs 15,365 crore (USD 2.1 billion).

Himanshu Srivastava, Senior Research Analyst at Morningstar, attributed the outflow to widening current account deficit due to a surge in oil prices, depreciating rupee, concerns over the government's ability to meet fiscal deficit targets and lower-than-expected GST collection.

"All these factors deteriorated the country's macro environment. It has also cast a doubt on the sustainability of the economic growth which is closely watched by the FPIs. This coupled with expensive valuation triggered a sell-off from FPIs in September," he noted.

Additionally, given the global trade tensions, there has also been risk-aversion among foreign investors which explains their cautious stance towards emerging markets like India, which are considered to be riskier than their developed counterparts, he added.

So far this year, FPIs have pulled out over Rs 9,200 crore from equities and Rs 46,510 crore from the debt markets.Salil Parekh

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Infosys has started building a larger deals team by hiring people from IBM and CSC and is looking for people who can negotiate deals worth over $100 million, according to a report by The Economic Times.

The report cites Infosys Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Salil Parekh as saying the company needs to add talent to its large deal teams for it to be able to compete in the market. The hiring includes advisors and information technology architects.

Infosys competitors such as Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Wipro have started winning deals worth more than $1 billion after years of facing a scarcity in large deal wins.

According to the report, Infosys has in the last two months hired two Vice-Presidents in its strategic pursuits team and the company is looking for more.

The company has appointed Padmanabha Olety and Steve Zucker as Vice-Presidents in its strategic pursuits team. Separately, the Bengaluru-based IT firm has also hired David Wilson, former Vice-President of IBMs Business Partner Ecosystem, as senior Vice President and head of Infosys Partner Ecosystem, the report suggests.

They are hiring currently in the United States but they are looking for talent across markets. They are also looking for negotiators to help close the large deals and work on contracts. There are head-hunters looking for talent in America and Europe, a source told the newspaper.

The bulk of it (large deal teams) is internal but the team has to be expanded. In the sense, with the team we have we can do x volume, if you want to do 3-4 times that volume thats where we have to expand, Parekh told the newspaper earlier.Sensex_Nifty

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Sumeet Bagadia, Associate Director at Choice Broking, said the Nifty has been trading with a strong support placed at its 50-week moving average (10,690) and 21-week moving average (11,060), which suggests a positive trend for the time being.

He feels investors should remain stock-specific rather than sector-specific and invest only in attractively priced fundamentally strong mid- and smallcap stocks.

Edited excerpts

A: Formation of a Shooting Star candlestick followed by a long bearish candle indicates bearishness. We have witnessed the same during the last two weeks as well.

The Nifty has strong support placed around 10,800 levels, which is the lower band of the upward rising channel formation in which it has been trading for many weeks.

It has been trading with a strong support placed at its 50-week moving average (10,690) and 21-week moving average (11,060), which suggests a positive trend for the time being.

After breaking down from the lower band of its upward rising channel formation on the daily chart, the Nifty plunged more than 750 points and has given a close below its 50-day moving average (11,342) which indicates a downside movement on a smaller timeframe.

A: We see strong support for the Nifty at 10,748. On the weekly chart, the relative strength index touched 53.89 with a negative crossover. It has strong support from its upward rising trend line, which hints at a bounce back. Based on the above structure, we can say that the Nifty has room for a downside, but with respect to the ratio it has more room for a rally on the upside.

The long term trend will depend on a monthly closing as it seems that the Nifty is forming a Black Marubozu candlestick, which is a bearish reversal indication. If that happens, we may witness a healthy correction.

A:On the daily chart, the stock has given a breakout from its Symmetrical Triangle formation with above average volumes. This indicates a robust upside movement in the counter. Moreover, the stock has managed to close above its 21 and 50-day moving average which shows a positive trend in the stock.

On the weekly chart as well, the stock has sustained above its 200-week moving average placed at Rs 214.50, which suggests a move on the upside.

Daily momentum indicator RSI stands at 65.49 level with a positive crossover. The RSI has given a breakout from its downward falling trend line, which points to a positive breath in the stock.

On the daily chart, the stock has given a breakout from its inverse head and shoulder pattern, which suggests positive momentum can be seen in the near future.

On the daily chart, the stock is trading above its 20 and 50-day moving averages, which shows dominance of the stock.

Momentum indicator RSI is at 58.09 with a positive bias. Positive divergence has been observed which is a sign of optimism.

On the daily chart, the stock has given a breakout of its rounding bottom, which suggests positive momentum can be seen in the near future.

Moreover, the stock is trading above its 20-day moving average which shows dominance of the stock. On the momentum indicator MACD, the signal line has given a breakout above MACD, which suggest optimism.

A: Midcap and smallcap indices corrected around 10-15 percent from their 1-year high. Most small and midcap stocks corrected over 20-30 percent from their highs.

We are of the view that volatility in the market is likely to remain in the short term due to macro concerns and coming state and general elections.

Investors should remain stock-specific rather than sector-specific and invest only in attractively priced fundamentally strong mid- and smallcap stocks.

Disclaimer: The views and investment tips expressed by investment expert on moneycontrol.com are his own and not that of the website or its management. Moneycontrol.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions.RBI

In a rare move, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) said on September 23 that they are "closely monitoring" activities in the financial markets and were ready to take appropriate action, if required, following a sharp meltdown on September 21, in equity and debt markets.

The regulators came out with separate, but identical statements amid apprehensions about steep volatility in markets on September 24.

Against the backdrop of debt defaults by diversified IL&FS Group, there are worries about non-banking financial companies (NBFCs), although the country's largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) assured lending support to the NBFC sector.



The Government will take all measures to ensure that adequate liquidity is maintained/provided to the NBFCs, the Mutual funds and the SMEs.

 Arun Jaitley (@arunjaitley) September 24, 2018

In a statement, SBI Chairman Rajnish Kumar said there was no concern on liquidity of NBFCs in view of their liquid cash position and availability of committed lines.

"The Reserve Bank of India and the Securities and Exchange Board of India are closely monitoring recent developments in financial markets and are ready to take appropriate actions, if necessary," said the regulators.

Sebi has also sought details from stock exchanges about large trades done on Friday and would be stepping up the vigil to prevent steep volatility, sources said.

On Friday the 30-share BSE Sensex suddenly tanked 1,127.58 points, or 3.03 per cent, to hit a low of 35,993.64 in afternoon trade before staging an equally sharp recovery within minutes.

The markets had opened on a strong note. After an intra-day swing of 1,495.60 points, the Sensex closed at 36,841.60, down 279.62 points.

The broader NSE Nifty shed 91.25 points to finish at 11,143.10 on Friday.

Meanwhile, some reports also suggested that some unscrupulous elements are trying to destabilise markets to malign the image of the government.

Industry and regulatory officials said there are apprehensions that liquidity deficit has widened significantly, including due to recent interventions by RBI to contain sharp rupee depreciation.

Also, the credit markets are getting nervous in the wake of large value defaults as in case of IL&FS and tightening of credit support by some large lenders, they added.

According to industry officials, negative newsflow about some banking majors like ICICI Bank, SBI and Yes Bank are also adding to the broader market concerns.

Certain recent actions of regulatory and investigative agencies have already restrained credit decisions after ongoing action against various bankers and even some regulatory officials such as a former RBI deputy governor, they said.

Some state-run institutions such as SBI and LIC recently expressed apprehensions about supporting IL&FS, though the government is now said to be contemplating taking some remedial measures, regulatory and industry officials said.

There are also suggestions about invoking a rarely used provision for forcing management change at crisis ridden systemically important entities by utilising equity for debt like instruments.

Shares of housing finance firms slumped Friday, with DHFL tumbling up to 42 per cent on fears of a liquidity crisis.

Reports of debt defaults by IL&FS also sparked concerns, which spilled over into other NBFC counters.

Yes Bank was the worst performer in the Sensex pack, losing a whopping 28.71 per cent, after the RBI curtailed the term of its founding CEO Rana Kapoor.

The Indian currency has also witnessed a massive plunge in the recent past due to rising trade and current account deficits in the wake of rising crude oil prices.

However, the rupee was bullish on Friday for the second day, rising 17 paise to end at 72.20 against the US dollar.

On Friday, market regulator Sebi had issued revised KYC norms for foreign portfolio investors, wherein resident as well as non-resident Indians have been permitted to hold non-controlling stake in such entities.

Overseas investors have pulled out a massive Rs 15,365 crore (USD 2.1 billion) from the capital markets so far in September, after putting in funds during the previous two months.

Earlier in the day, DHFL said it proposes to reduce exposure to commercial papers as part of overall borrowing plan and increase hedging activity, days after the shares of the company tumbled up to 42 per cent on massive selling over fears of a liquidity crisis.Army chief General Bipin Rawat

Army Chief Gen. Bipin Rawat on September 23 backed the government's decision to call off dialogue with Pakistan, asserting that talks and terror cannot go together. The government had on Friday called off a meeting between the foreign ministers of India and Pakistan in New York, citing the brutal killings of three policemen in Jammu and Kashmir and Islamabad releasing postage stamps "glorifying" Kashmiri militant Burhan Wani.

Infiltration from across the border persists despite the call for a ceasefire by Pakistan, said Rawat stressing that this cannot be allowed to continue and appropriate action has to be taken to deter terrorists from disrupting the peace in the Valley.

He was talking at a commemoration ceremony of Haifa Day Centernary at the Teen Murti Haifa Memorial here.

He backed the government's decision to call off the talks between External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and her Pakistani counterpart on sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

"The government's policy is very clear cut... You (Pakistan) show us some initiatives so that we feel that you are not encouraging terrorism. But we see that terror activities are continuing and terrorists come from the other side of the border.

"In such an atmosphere, whether talks can be initiated that the government can only decide. I agree to the government's decision that peace talks and terrorism cannot go together," he said.

A BSF patrolling party was fired upon by forces from across the Pakistan border on September 20, in which a jawan was killed. The head constable rank jawan was suspected to have been hit by a fatal sniper shot from across the border. His body was recovered in a mutilated condition later.

Rawat further said they will provide security along with other agencies for the Panchayat polls in Jammu and Kashmir to be held in November.

"Today we are also looking at Panchayat elections, we want these elections to go through because with this the power will devolve to people.

"Our job is to ensure that the civil administration there and the election commission is able to carry out their tasks so that people can come out and cast their vote in a free and forthright manner without any fear of any kind of disruption," he said.September 23, 2018 / 02:05 PM IST

I am confident that in the days to come, people working in the medical field will come up with new schemes based on this health cover that has been provided today: PM ModiSupporters hold up cut-outs of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) party symbol with images of M.K. Stalin, son and heir-apparent of M. Karunanidhi, chief of DMK during a rally ahead of a general election in the southern Indian city of Chennai April 6, 2014. India, the world's largest democracy, will hold its general election in nine stages staggered between April 7 and May 12. REUTERS/Babu (INDIA - Tags: POLITICS ELECTIONS) - RTR3K57Q

Opposition DMK on Sunday announced it would stage state-wide protests against the ruling AIADMK on corruption, in a bid to counter the arch rival's move against it on the Sri Lankan Tamils issue.

The AIADMK has announced state-wide public meetings on September 25 seeking 'trial' of DMK and Congress for "war crimes" against Tamils in the 2009 Sri Lankan civil conflict.

DMK Propaganda Secretaries Trichy Siva and A Raja said the meetings, titled "Commission-Collection-Corruption", will be held on October 3 and 4.

The meetings would be held to 'condemn' the AIADMK government, led by K Palaniswami, since it was not focusing on public welfare, but was involved in corruption, they said in a party statement.

Senior DMK leaders, including party Treasurer Durai Murugan, T R Baalu, Siva, Raja and T K S Elangovan, among others, would address meetings at various towns across the state, they added.

The old political issue has been revived by the AIADMK in the backdrop of the recent remarks of former Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa that the Indian government helped his country during the final war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in 2009.

He was at the helm when the nearly 30 year long ethnic strife in Sri Lanka ended then with the defeat of the LTTE, while DMK was part of the Congress-led UPA that ruled India in 2009.

Palaniswami, Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam and Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker M Thambidurai are scheduled to address the meetings. Both the Congress and DMK had faced criticism for India's reported assistance to Sri Lanka then and their failure to prevent casualties of Tamils despite being in power.

AIADMK had on September 19 adopted a resolution at a meeting here, alleging that DMK and Congress were responsible for the killings of thousands of Tamils during the war. PTI SA APR .Representative image

In the first major strike in many years in Andhra Pradesh, the outlawed CPI (Maoists) on September 23 shot dead a sitting Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) and a former MLA, both from the ruling Telugu Desam Party (TDP), in Araku area in Visakhapatnam district, police said.

The incident occurred at Lippitiputta village under Dambriguda mandal when Araku (ST) MLA Kidari Sarveswara Rao and former MLA Siveri Soma went to take part in a 'grama darsini' (village visit) programme, they said.

Sarveswara Rao won as the YSR Congress candidate in 2014, but he later defected to the TDP.

"A group of Maoists came along with the villagers and blocked the MLA's car. As the personal security officers of the legislator and the ex-legislator got down, they snatched the AK-47 rifles from them and shot Sarveswara Rao and Soma dead," Visakhapatnam Range Deputy Inspector General of Police Ch Srikanth told PTI.

He said the exact number of Maoists involved in the attack and the reasons for shooting down the legislator were being ascertained.

Police sources, however, suspect that a group of about 50-60 outlaws led by Maoists Andhra-Odisha Border Committee secretary Ramakrishna could be involved in the deadly attack.

They reportedly engaged the MLA in a conversation for some time before shooting him dead, the sources added.

As Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu is currently flying to New York, officials in the Chief Minister's Office spoke to Visakhapatnam district collector and superintendent of police seeking details of the incident, a CMO communiqu said.Prime Minister Narendra Modi

Eight political parties will meet on September 30 to work out an alliance against the ruling BJP in the forthcoming Madhya Pradesh Assembly polls, Loktantrik Janata Dal mentor Govind Yadav said Sunday.

The move comes against the backdrop of Mayawati-led BSP on September 20 announcing its first list of 22 candidates for the MP state polls.

"Now that the BSP has decided to fight elections on its own, we are going to sit together to talk about forming an alliance so that the opposition vote does not get fragmented," Yadav, former Janata Dal (United) Madhya Pradesh president, said Sunday.

Leaders of the Samajwadi Party (SP), CPM, CPI, Bahujan Sangharsh Dal, Gondwana Gantantra Party, Rashtriya Samanta Dal, Prajatantrik Samadhan Party, apart from the Loktantrik Janata Dal, would meet to work out the modalities of an alliance, Yadav informed.

He added that the proposed alliance was ready to "come under the umbrella" of the Congress in order to unseat the BJP, which has been ruling the state for 15 years.

Yadav, however, added that time was running out for the Congress which had, so far, failed to a form a grand alliance in the state.

"So, I am going to meet Sharad Yadav (former Janata Dal (U) president), who is from MP, asking for help to bring the opposition parties on one platform," Yadav said.

The Congress, meanwhile, Sunday said that the party was still hopeful of an alliance with the BSP.

"We are in talks with the BSP and Samajwadi Party. I am hopeful that 'bua' (aunt-referring to Mayawati) and 'bhatija' (nephew- referring to Akhilesh Yadav) will help the Congress defeat the BJP," MP Congress chief Kamal Nath said Sunday.

"Our first priority is to stop the fragmentation of anti-BJP votes to ensure its defeat," Nath told reporters.

According to another Congress leader, the BSP wants 25 seats in the alliance while the former is ready to give Mayawati's party 15 seats.

The BSP currently has four MLAs in the 230-member MP Assembly.Uttar Pradesh BJP chief Mahendra Nath Pandey on Saturday said the party is making efforts to ensure that the Ram temple is constructed through consensus. He also said the 2019 Lok Sabha elections will be fought on development and governance.

"Ram temple is the centre of faith and devotion for us. It should be constructed as per the law and we are committed to this...The BJP is making efforts so that the Ram temple is constructed through consensus," Pandey said in a statement.

"The people of India know that Lord Ram was born in Ayodhya and they want that a Ram temple should be built there. The feeling of every Indian is the feeling of the BJP," he said.

Speaking about the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, Pandey said misuse of the law will not be tolerated.

He also hit out at the attempts by opposition parties to forge an anti-BJP alliance ahead of the elections next year.

"Attempts are being made to forge an unnatural alliance by the rival political parties. The people have disowned them. The opposition has no issue except opposing Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Who will be their leader is not clear, what will be their agenda is not clear. The country's honour is safe in hands of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.Moneycontrol News

The Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY) also called Ayushman Bharat launched on September 23. Moneycontrol has put together some of the opportunities and challenges ahead for the scheme in the years ahead.

Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY), the much smaller precursor to Ayushman Bharat launched a decade ago failed to deliver due to small coverage, lack of awareness among beneficiaries, poor implementation and frauds.

Ambitious scheme

PM-JAY will be the largest government sponsored health insurance scheme. It aims to provide Rs 5 lakh coverage to 100 million poor vulnerable families translating into 500 million individual beneficiaries, which is more than the population of North America. The scheme is important because more than two-thirds of expenditure on healthcare is out of pocket, often pushing people into poverty.

The cash-less scheme will cover medical and hospitalisation expenses for almost all secondary care and most tertiary care procedures. PM-JAY has defined 1,350 medical packages covering surgery, medical and daycare treatments including medicines, diagnostics and transport.

The cost of the scheme will be shared between the Centre and states in a 60:40 ratio.

If implemented effectively, the scheme will have far-reaching consequences on the entire Indian healthcare and insurance landscape. It will improve facilities in hospitals, create jobs in the sector and people will have to shell out less money on premiums.

It will help India move closer to the UN Sustainable Development Goal of "universal health coverage".

There are several interesting things that are happening simultaneously. The country will get standard treatment guidelines and defined package rates for surgeries. The scheme will help in generating large volumes of data. With the power of data analytics and artificial intelligence, the government will be able to design and offer more targeted healthcare initiatives, detect and monitor fraud, regulate hospitals, optimise costs and improve efficiencies. The scheme will also enrich the database of hospitals registered with the Registry of Hospitals in Network of Insurance (ROHINI) System and the human capital captured under the National Health Resource Repository (NHRR) project.

Moreover, the scheme will have a multiplier effect on hospitals and allied sectors like pharmaceuticals, medical devices and diagnostics. Companies will be encouraged to invest more, and this will create jobs.

Though the Centre funds the scheme, its the state that executes it. Most states have opted for a trust-based model over an insurance-led model for maintaining control over costs and a say in administering claims.

In a trust-based model, each individual state will form its own trust to manage the scheme and claims will be disbursed from a corpus created from central and state government contributions.

But most states dont have deep experience in handling claims, so they are relying on third-party administrators to manage the scheme. The schemes success will depend on how quickly third-party administrators settle claims. Once a claim is filed, TPAs will have to bear the full responsibility of settling the medical costs incurred by the patients. Since it is a cashless process, this will have to be done at the time of hospitalisation itself.

In the insurance sector as well, TPAs have been repeatedly advised by the regulator to be involved in the claims settlement process and look into selection or rejection of claims.

Fraud is a big concern. A report by industry body CII and consulting firm PWC have found that existing schemes have seen a significant rise in financial costs due to systemic inefficiencies and fraudulent behaviour across stockholders.

Duplicate beneficiaries, fraudulent claims, conversion of out-patients to in-patients, needless procedures, showing medical management cases as day-care procedures and overcharging by doctors and hospitals are some of the common frauds and corrupt practices, the report pointed out.

Moneycontrol has learned that the National Health Agency (NHA) has spent significant amount of time on developing robust IT systems and protocols to identify theft.

This is where the trusts adopted by state with little experience may face a challenge.

While the scheme proposes zero tolerance to frauds, it is not clear what are the steps being taken to mitigate these risks. For instance, how will the states deal with fraudulent claims?

Those with insurance partners will at least have an experienced hand. But those solely following the trust route will have to follow a trial-and-error method.

Insurers said there should be constant monitoring of the hospitals to ensure that the insured get what they are promised.

A senior insurance official said that while on paper the scheme offers pre- and post-hospitalisation benefits, strict checks by the authorities will be needed to make sure that the claimants get proper medical care.

Much of the healthcare infrastructure is concentrated in and around large metros and Tier I cities. The semi-urban and rural areas are underserved. The scheme will initially put pressure on large tertiary hospitals with the inflow of patients.

The CII-PWC report estimates that India would require 1.6 lakh new hospital beds, in addition to existing 13.5 lakh beds to meet the demand created by the scheme. Much of that new demand has to be created by the private sector. The government is yet to offer any incentives for private hospitals willing to set up hospitals in rural and semi-urban areas.

Also, India has chronic shortage of doctors, with only one doctor for every 11,000 patients against WHO recommendation of one doctor for every 1,000 patients.Representative image

After an agreement with France, India could ink a pact with Russia for sharing of expertise on ISRO's ambitious human space mission project 'Gaganyaan' during Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to New Delhi next month, official sources said.

Besides 'Gaganyaan', the two sides are currently engaged in talks to establish ground stations for Glonass, the global positioning system of Russia, and NaVIC, India's home-grown GPS in the other country, the sources added.

The subject to share expertise on 'Gaganyaan' came up during External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj's visit to Moscow this month, a source said.

Significantly, India and France signed a memorandum of understanding earlier this month to share French expertise on the human mission project announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Independence Day address this year.

The human mission project envisages sending three Indians to space by 2022.

India's first and - so far - the only astronaut Rakesh Sharma visited the outer space in 1984 on a spacecraft of the erstwhile Soviet Union.

In an MoU signed between India and Russia in May 2015, the Indian Space Research Organisation and ROSCOSMOS, the Russian space agency, had agreed to work on joint activities in areas of mutual interest, including satellite navigation, launch vehicle development, critical technologies for human spaceflight programme.

Russia is one of the three countries - the other two being France and the US - that share robust cooperation in all three strategic sectors of defence, nuclear and space with India.

Indo-Russian space collaboration dates back to four decades. In 2015, the two sides marked the 40th anniversary of the launch of India's first satellite 'Aryabhatt' on a Russian (then USSR) launch vehicle 'Soyuz'.

In 2007, India and Russia signed a framework agreement on cooperation in the peaceful uses of outer space, including satellite launches, Glonass navigation system, remote sensing and other societal applications of outer space.Labor markets in Midland and Odessa were little changed in August, according to data released Friday by the Texas Workforce Commission.

Unemployment in the commissions Midland metropolitan statistical area remained at 2.2 percent, unchanged from July and down from 3 percent in August 2017.

Odessa, likewise, remained unchanged at 2.9 percent in August and down from 3.9 percent a year ago. Midland continued to record the states lowest unemployment, followed by Amarillo, while Odessa recorded the third lowest unemployment rate.

As we go into the final quarter, everything is looking stable, said Willie Taylor, chief executive officer of the commissions Workforce Solutions Permian Basin.

He said unemployment insurance claims in the 17 counties he oversees has fallen to about 600 from approximately 1,000 last year. If you have any skills, you can go to work in the Permian Basin, he said.

With not only Midland-Odessa but Texas and the nation at full employment, Taylor said it is becoming more difficult to bring new workers into the area. Everything, from the oil and gas industry to medicine to education are more competitive, he said.

Thats why our board is focusing on growing our own workforce through education, training and youth expositions, he said.

We need to ensure our graduates, and those who want to re-enter the workforce, take advantage of training opportunities. We are so blessed to have good training opportunities through the colleges and the university, he said.

Taylor said his office receives calls weekly from people wanting to move into the region for work. But the first question they ask is about housing, he said.

Midland added 500 nonfarm jobs from July to August, bringing the total to 104,000. The mining, logging and construction sector  which includes Midlands dominant sector, oil and gas  added 400 jobs, followed by the education and health services sector with 200 jobs and the trade, transportation and utilities sector with 100 jobs. The other services sector and the government sector each lost 100 jobs for the month.

The civilian labor force  those who live in the Midland MSA  fell by about 500 to 100,244, while the number of employed Midlanders dipped a similar 500, and the number of unemployed was down by about 10.

From August 2017 to August 2018, Midland added 8,800 jobs for a growth rate of 9.2 percent. The mining, logging and construction sector added 7000 jobs, followed by the leisure and hospitality sector with 600 jobs. The trade, transportation and utilities sector added 400 jobs, followed by the professional and business services sector with 300 jobs. The manufacturing sector, information sector, education and health services sector, other services sector and government sector each added 100 jobs during those 12 months.

Weve had so much growth, with new companies coming into the region needing skilled workers, said Taylor. Im positive the city, Midland Development Corp. and Chamber of Commerce, with their can-do attitude, can address the challenges.

Statewide, the unemployment rate dipped to 3.9 percent from 4 percent in July. The Workforce Commission said 32,000 seasonally adjusted nonfarm jobs were added in August, the 26th consecutive month of employment growth. Over the last 12 months, the state has added 394,500 jobs.

While Midland had the lowest unemployment rate, the highest was in McAllen-Edinburg-Mission at 6.6 percent.

Midland unemployment

January 2018 2.4 percent

January 2017 4 percent

February 2018 2.5 percent

February 2017 3.8 percent

March 2018 2.4 percent

March 2017 3.5 percent

April 2018 2.1 percent

April 2017 3 percent

May 2018 2.1 percent

May 2017 3 percent

June 2018 2.4 percent

June 2017 3.2 percent

July 2018 2.2 percent

July 2017 3 percent

August 2018 2.2 percent

August 2017 3 percent

Preliminary numbers for August with July numbers in parentheses:

Midland 2.2 (2.2)

Amarillo 2.8 (2.9)

Odessa 2.9 (2.9)

Austin-Round Rock 3.0 (3.1)

Lubbock 3.2 (3.4)

Sherman-Denison 3.2 (3.3)

College Station-Bryan 3.3 (3.3)

San Angelo 3.3 (3.4)

Wichita Falls 3.4 (3.7)

Abilene 3.5 (3.5)

Dallas-Plano-Irving 3.5 (3.6)

San Antonio-New Braunfels 3.5 (3.5)

Fort Worth-Arlington 3.6 (3.7)

Tyler 3.7 (3.7)

Waco 3.7 (3.9)

Laredo 3.8 (4.0)

Victoria 4.0 (4.1)

Killeen-Temple 4.1 (4.2)

Longview 4.2 (4.3)

Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land 4.3 (4.4)

El Paso 4.4 (4.4)

Corpus Christi 5.0 (5.2)

Texarkana 5.0 (5.3)

Brownsville-Harlingen 6.2. (6.5)

Beaumont-Port Arthur 6.3 (6.3)

McAllen-Edinburg-Mission 6.6 (7.0)The pilot himself had reported the matter to the airline.

An Air India pilot has come under the lens of the airline's flight safety department for allegedly making a steep 10,000 feet descend while flying from Kuwait to Goa earlier this month, sources said.

New Delhi: An Air India pilot has come under the lens of the airline's flight safety department for allegedly making a steep 10,000 feet descend while flying from Kuwait to Goa earlier this month, sources said.

The incident happened on September 15 when an A320 plane was flying to Goa. An industry source said that the pilot descended from 35,000 feet after a "brake hot" warning to 25,000 feet.

Apparently, the descend was done to cool off the brakes but at 35,000 feet the temperature is extremely low and the warning would have been wrong, the source added.

After sometime the plane climbed to 35,000 feet. An airline source said the flight safety department has called the pilot on October 1 to seek more details about the incident.

The pilot himself had reported the matter to the airline, the source added. An Air India spokesperson declined to comment on the incident citing pending investigation.We will demonstrate if you don...Adityanath also assured that those families, who did not receive their ration cards so far, will get it very soon.

Gorakhpur: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday laid foundation stones for 36 schemes worth Rs 87.57 crore in Gorakhpur.

Addressing a gathering here, Adityanath said that the out-patient department (OPD) of AIIMS in Gorakhpur would become operational by the beginning of next year. He also informed that students would be enrolled in the MBBS course by 2020.

Furthermore, Adityanath said that eight new super speciality wards in Baba Raghav Das (BRD) Medical College will be built by next month and people would be able to avail services by November.

The chief minister also said that 5 crore people of 1 crore 18 lakh families in the state will get medical help of up to Rs 5 lakhs under the Ayushman Bharat scheme, slated to be launched on September 23.

Adityanath also assured that those families, who did not receive their ration cards so far, will get it very soon.The Main Street Church of Christ in Petersburg was donated to the city two months ago and it will now be the Petersburg's EMS headquarters. But the city needs some money for updates and to build a bus barn for the ambulances, Petersburg City Manager Ron Heggemeier told the Hale County Commissioners Friday morning. Commissioner Kenny Kernell, precinct 3, was absent.

The bus barn is projected to cost about $50,000, he said. The Hale County/Plainview Economic Development Board will pay $25,000 and he asked the commissioners to pay the other half.

Heggemeier said EMS and fire services in Petersburg currently share a space. It's worked OK but the departments have brought on new vehicles for their fleets and are experiencing growing pains.

Following Heggemeier's brief presentation, Hale County Judge Bill Coleman said "there's an increased need for both fire and ambulance services there," especially with the construction of the wind farm project and general growth.

The new EMS building is one of two major projects proposed to the commissioners Friday.

Mario Martinez, commissioner of precinct 2, also asked the court for permission to invest about $27,000 of the $57,000 budgeted for spending for his precinct to build a pavilion at the Petersburg Community Center.

During big events like Petersburg Days, Petersburg officials roll out a tarp and string it up.

"It floods when it rains," Martinez said.

A pavilion would provide a more stable solution, he said.

Wanzek Construction, which is working with Xcel Energy to build the wind farm, will donate the cement for the pavilion project  which will be approximately 50 ft. by 50 ft. in size, Martinez said.

Precinct 4 Commissioner Benny Cantwell said: "I'm excited to see growth in Petersburg. It's a big part of our county."

Commissioners took no action on the requests but are set to review them both during Monday's regular meeting.

Prior to talks of activity in Petersburg, the commissioners heard a brief presentation about limestone rock asphalt by Samuel Castaneda, a sales representative with the West Texas Southwest Division of Vulcan Materials Company. The material would be used for road patching and paving.

Following Castaneda's presentation, Coleman mentioned two tax-forfeited properties at 1114 Itasca and 1314 Nassau. The commissioners are scheduled to vote Monday on whether or not to accept a bid for the 1314 Nassau property  which is $1,000 lower than what was originally appraised  and to authorize Coleman to sign a sales contract on the 1114 Itasca property.

Commissioners also approved accounts payable, which was at $88,114.55, and payroll, which was at $76,515.79.

The next Hale County Commissioner meeting is set for 9 a.m. Monday.Araku MLA Sarveswara Rao and former MLA S Soma were killed in a Naxal-related attack in Dumbriguda Mandal, police said.

According to reports, the politicians were returning from a function when they were shot at point-blank range by the Maoists. (Photo: ANI/Twitter)

Vishakapatnam: Two Telugu Desam Party MLA's were shot dead by Naxals in Andhra Pradesh's Vishakapatnam district on Sunday.

Araku MLA Sarveswara Rao and former MLA S Soma were killed in a Naxal-related attack in Dumbriguda Mandal, police said.

According to reports, the politicians were returning from a function when they were shot at point-blank range by the Maoists.

Police are investigating the incident and further details are awaited.Denying any role in the killing of the BSF soldier, Islamabad also offered to conduct a joint investigation to establish the truth.

New Delhi: Terming Indias decision to call off the bilateral meeting between external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj and Pakistan foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York as arrogant and negative, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Saturday lashed out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi without naming him. All my life I have come across small men occupying big offices who do not have the vision to see the larger picture, Mr Khan tweeted on Saturday.

His sharp reaction came after the Pakistani foreign ministry, late on Friday night, reacted to Indias decision, saying Islamabad is deeply disappointed and that the reasons being given by India for calling off the meet are entirely unconvincing.

On Friday, the Indian government, citing the latest brutal killings of our security personnel by Pakistan-based entities and the recent release of a series of 20 postage stamps by Pakistan glorifying a (slain) terrorist (Burhan Wani) and terrorism, had called off the meeting in New York.

Challenging Indias reasons, the Pakistan foreign ministry said the killing of the BSF soldier had taken place before Thursdays announce ment by India of the bilateral meeting and that the postage stamps on Burhan Wani had been issued before Mr Khan assumed office as Pakistans Prime Minister.

Denying any role in the killing of the BSF soldier, Islamabad also offered to conduct a joint investigation to establish the truth.

India had, Pakistans foreign ministry said, by its ill-considered cancellation of the meeting, has once again wasted a serious opportunity to change the dynamics of the bilateral relationship and put the region on the path of peace and development.

On September 14, Mr Khan had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi about India and Pakistan resuming dialogue that have been suspended since 2015. Addressing the PM as Modi Sahab, Mr Khan suggested a meeting between the foreign ministers of the two countries before the informal meeting of the Saarc Foreign Ministers at the sidelines of the upcoming United Nations General Assembly in New York.

Pakistan, he wrote, remains ready to discuss terrorism.

We... owe it to our peoples, especially the future generations, to peacefully resolve all outstanding issues, including the Jammu & Kashmir dispute, to bridge differences and achieve a mutually beneficial outcome. Siachin (sic) and Sir Creek also need close attention to move towards resolution, Mr Khan added.

On September 18, the body of a Border Security Force jawan killed by unprovoked firing from Pakistan was found in a mutilated condition.

Two days later, on September 20, India announced that the foreign ministers of the two countries will meet on the sidelines of UNGA.

The next day, however, after three Kashmiri policemen in the Valley were abducted and killed by Pakistan-backed terrorists, India called off the meeting saying these incidents exposed the true face of Pakistans new Prime Minister to the world as well as Islamabads evil agenda behind the proposal for talks.

Pakistan will not mend its ways, and any conversation with Pakistan in such an environment would be meaningless, India said.

Pakistan termed as most unfortunate Indias reference to the person of the Prime Minister of Pakistan, but added, We choose not to further comment beyond saying that these comments are against all norms of civilised discourse and diplomatic communication.

Late Friday night, the Pakistan foreign ministry had said, The reasons cited by the Indian side for the decision to cancel the foreign ministers meeting, within 24 hours of its public confirmation, are entirely unconvincing. The so-called disturbing developments alluded to in the Indian statement predated the Indian agreement to hold the bilateral meeting in New York. Firstly, the alleged killing of Border Security Force soldier took place two days prior to the Indian announcement of its agreement to hold the bilateral meeting. When the allegations of Pakistans involvement first appeared, the Pakistan Rangers clearly conveyed to BSF through official channels that Pakistan had nothing to do with it. Pakistan Rangers also extended help in efforts to locate the soldiers body. These facts were known to the Indian authorities... Yet this motivated and malicious propaganda continued. Pakistan takes this opportunity to categorically reject these allegations once again. Our authorities would be prepared to conduct a joint investigation to establish the truth. Secondly, the postage stamps mentioned in the Indian statement were issued before the 25 July 2018 elections, as a result of which the government of Prime Minister Imran Khan assumed office.Oakland police towed at least 85 cars and made two arrests during a series of chaotic, late-night sideshows that shut down multiple roadways across East Oakland early Sunday.

Two Oakland police officers were injured in the incidents, police said. One officer was hit by a rock, and another suffered injuries when a sideshow participant rammed into his cruiser.

Police expected the total number of cars towed to rise to close to 100.

Police initially tweeted about the sideshow activity at 1:40 a.m, stating that rocks and bottles are being thrown at officers, and numerous gunshots are being fired by sideshow crowd.

There were so many cars towed that it took more than 12 hours to take them all away, Oakland police Officer Johnna Watson said. The majority of the cars towed were not registered to Oakland residents.

The combination of reckless driving, alcohol and general lawlessness made for a particularly dangerous mix, she said. Many of the cars towed had empty or half-consumed booze bottles in them. Many onlookers were reportedly firing gunshots into the air.

Youve got hundreds of cars violating the law, youve got people firing guns, youve got cars blocking on-ramps and going the wrong way down one-way streets, she said. An officer was hit in the head with a rock. The violence of the sideshow group is concerning, not only in Oakland but regionally. Its a regional concern.

City Councilman Noel Gallo, who represents the East Oakland neighborhood where many of the sideshows take place, said Saturday nights gathering was abnormally large, with upward of 200 cars involved. He said the sideshow attracted drivers from as far away as Fresno and Modesto.

We have to address the issue and be more aggressive in enforcing the laws that are on the books, he said. Nobody is going to try to get away with this stuff in San Leandro or Alameda. But when it comes to Oakland, they say, Its part of the culture. Its a cool thing to do. In reality, sideshows are not good for anyone, even the driver. It doesnt make sense to burn up your car.

Most of the vehicles involved were towed from the area of 42nd Avenue and Interstate 880 starting around 2:30 a.m. There also were reports of sideshow activity on Hegenberger Road near Oakland International Airport.

The sideshows concluded at about 5 a.m., police said. The High Street off-ramp from southbound I-880 was shut down until around noon.

Sideshows, popular in Oakland since the 1980s, are ad hoc automotive stunt shows that typically take place late at night in vacant lots or public intersections.

Watson said that police were aware that a sideshow was being planned for Saturday night and activated a sideshow detail that includes police, tow truck operators and California Highway Patrol. She said the department has stepped up efforts to educate the public about the dangers of sideshows and is committed to cracking down on the events.

We hope in the future to deter anyone who would want to come into our community and have a negative impact, Watson said. If you come to Oakland, you should know that if we are able to catch you we will issue you a citation, tow your car, and in some cases arrest you.

J.K. Dineen is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jdineen@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @sfjkdineenConnecticut recently received nearly $1.5 million for park and conservation projects  but this could be the last time the state gets this money.

The fund that provides it is set to expire at the end of the month.

The Land and Water Conservation Act was established in 1965, making it the countrys biggest federal source of grant money to protect open spaces and foster outdoor recreation, including fishing and hunting.

One of the biggest investments in the fund in the state has been to preserve the Highlands region in Northwestern Connecticut. Since 2007, $17 million has been invested to protect 1,500 acres.

Its also protected sites along Connecticut River watershed and the National Scenic Trail in the state, added 1.3 acres to Weir Farm National Historic Site and helped the Cockaponset State Forest in Chester.

But many are nervous Congress wont permanently reauthorize the fund by the Sept. 30 expiration date.

Its a mechanism that has worked, been supported, is sustainable and is something that all of us have relied on, said Tim Abbott, Housatonic Valley Associations director of regional land conservation and greenprint.

The House Natural Resources Committee advanced a bill earlier this month that would permanently reauthorize the fund, but it doesnt include money. The Senate has a similar bill in committee that does include funding. If both of these bills pass, the funding piece would have to be resolved in committee.

As of Friday, dates have not been set to consider either bill.

Funding question

The biggest unknown rests on the motivation behind the funding. The fund is made up of a percentage of lease revenues for oil and gas companies to drill on the Outer Continental Shelf. It can be funded up to $900 million annually.

Money is then awarded in matching grants through the U.S. Department of Interior. About $18.4 billion has been appropriated since the fund started.

Abbott said as drilling increases, there are two schools of thought on what that could mean for the fund.

The politically challenging part is trying to see whether its open season on more drilling means theres more revenue and an easier ask, or more revenue for a less conservative-minded administration means hands-off, he said.

In the press release announcing the recent round of grants from the fund, Secretary of Interior Ryan Zinke said he supported permanently reauthorizing it and is hopeful Congress will meet the deadline.

Abbott said he plans to spend next week speaking with senators, including those in Rhode Island, to encourage them to sign on to the bill and show it has a majority of support so the Senate can take it up. So far, 46 senators are signers, including six Republicans.

All of Connecticuts federal delegation has signed on to their respective reauthorization bills. U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal said hes disappointed it hasnt been permanently reauthorized.

Congress must act, and I will work with my colleagues to ensure that this critical conservation program does not expire on September 30, he said.

Connecticuts benefits

The state has received $117 million since the fund was created. That money has been used to create community playgrounds, ball fields and the Silvio Conte National Fish and Wildlife Refuge along the Connecticut River watershed.

Its been very useful funding for land trusts, said Catherine Rawson, Weantinoge Heritage Land Trusts executive director. Its a terrific example of public/private partnerships.

The state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection hopesto use some of this money to improve sanitary facilities at campgrounds and add acreage at state parks.

Lapse or renew

If the bill were to lapse, it could be reauthorized after the mid-term elections, either when the new members of Congress take office or with the current Congress. This would require completely new legislation though, Abbott said.

The fund has lapsed once before, but was reauthorized for three years shortly thereafter.

If it were not renewed though, the country would lose the biggest source of federal dollars to protect land. The Farm Bill is the only other source for federal grants on these types of projects.

Further, if it were renewed but poorly funded, it would be harder for Connecticut to get money because not as many projects can be selected, Abbott said.

We cant compete with the larger, cheaper projects elsewhere, he said.

While valued, the Land and Water Conservation Fund is just one funding source for land projects in Connecticut. There is also an open space grant program, which generally begins accepting applications in mid-September.

The state Bond Commission just approved $5 million for more land grants on Thursday.

Stevens said he hopes its renewed.

It would be a significant loss, he said. The National Park Service is an excellent partner in conservation.

kkoerting@newstimes.com; 203-731-3345.Washington

The return on investment for many of the Republican Party's biggest political patrons has been less than impressive this year. But not for Sheldon Adelson.

Adelson, the billionaire casino magnate, and his wife, Miriam, a physician, have emerged as the biggest and potentially most influential contributors to Republicans in the midterm season.

Despite initially harboring qualms about President Donald Trump's leadership, the Adelsons have found much to like in a Republican-controlled government that has aligned with their most cherished priorities: unflinchingly pro-Israel, unaccommodating to Middle Eastern adversaries and dedicated to deregulation and lower taxes.

Adelson in particular enjoys a direct line to the president. In private in-person meetings and phone conversations, which occur between the two men about once a month, he has used his access to push the president to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem and, more recently, to cut aid to the Palestinians, according to people familiar with their discussions, who spoke anonymously. Trump has done both, triggering a backlash from some U.S. allies.

Republican control of the House and the Senate is so vital to maintaining these policies, the Adelsons believe, that they have given $55 million in the last few months to groups dedicated to making sure it stays that way. That makes them not only the largest donors to national Republican electoral efforts in this election cycle, but the biggest spenders on federal elections in all of American politics, according to publicly available campaign finance data.

In meetings with the consultants and political strategists who have visited his office on the Las Vegas Strip to ask for money, Adelson and his wife ask pointed questions, hoping to ensure that their money will be spent wisely, people who have pitched them said in interviews. They demand campaign plans, preferably in writing.

They are critical of strategies that appear overly reliant on television advertising, preferring to invest in ones with a wide network of field offices and staff on the ground. When advertising does come up, they have surprised some of the people pitching them with detailed questions, like when they would book airtime and what percentage they were paying up front.

More than a dozen people who know the Adelsons professionally or personally, some of whom are also friendly with Trump, said in interviews that the durability of Adelson's relationship with the president hinges not on any personal affinity between the two, but on a mutual appreciation for something both men have built their careers on: the transaction.

"I think there are a lot of leaders in the establishment Jewish community for whom Donald Trump is not the kind of guy they'd want to break matzo with, but they sure like his polices and what he's doing," said Ari Fleischer, the former White House press secretary under President George W. Bush who is on the board of the Republican Jewish Coalition with Adelson.Washington

Chinese officials have summoned the U.S. ambassador in Beijing to denounce the United States for imposing economic sanctions this past week on a Chinese military organization for buying equipment from Russia, according to Chinese state news reports Saturday.

The Chinese military also recalled a Chinese naval commander, Shen Jinlong, who was in the United States attending a naval conference, and it postponed a September meeting on joint staff communications between the two nations.

The moves are aimed at pressuring the United States to withdraw the sanctions. The sanctions are "a flagrant breach of basic rules of international relations" and "a stark show of hegemonism," said Wu Qian, a spokesman for the Defense Ministry, according to the state news agency Xinhua.

The diplomatic dispute adds to rising tensions between the United States and China, the world's two largest economies.

Foreign Ministry officials raised objections to the U.S. ambassador, Terry Branstad, according to People's Daily, the official Communist Party newspaper.

The State Department confirmed Saturday that Branstad met with Chinese officials but declined to comment further.

On Thursday, the State Department said it was imposing sanctions on the Equipment Development Department of the Chinese Central Military Commission and its top official for "engaging in significant transactions" with a group in the Russian defense sector that is on a list of blacklisted entities. The transactions involved the purchase of Russian Su-35 combat aircraft and equipment related to the S-400 surface-to-air missile system, the State Department said.

The Chinese received the aircraft in December and an initial batch of the missile equipment this year, the department said. Both were the result of deals negotiated before August 2017 between the Chinese military organization and Rosoboronexport, a state organization that is the main arms exporter of Russia.

Such military cooperation between the countries was normal, and in line with international law, said Wu, the military spokesman, according to the Xinhua report.

The State Department said it was imposing the sanctions against Russian and Chinese officials for violating a law enacted by the U.S. government last year to punish Iran, North Korea and Russia for what U.S. officials called hostile behavior.

In the case of Russia, the act is intended to punish its military actions in Ukraine and Syria and cyberinterference in the U.S. presidential election of 2016, among other things.WASHINGTON - Just as he did several weeks ago to prepare for his confirmation hearings for the Supreme Court, Brett Kavanaugh was back inside a room at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building - again facing questioners readying him for a high-stakes appearance in the Senate.

This time, the questions were much different. An array of White House aides, playing the role of various senators on the Judiciary Committee, quizzed Kavanaugh last week about his sex life and other personal matters in an attempt to prepare him for a hearing that would inevitably be uncomfortable.

In his answers during the practice runs, aides said, Kavanaugh condemned sexual assault and carefully avoided seeming to discredit Christine Blasey Ford, a psychology professor in northern California who has accused the nominee of pinning her to a bed, groping her and putting his hand over her mouth to stifle her screams as he tried to take off her clothes at a drunken high school party in the early 1980s.

But Kavanaugh grew frustrated when it came to questions that dug into his private life, particularly his drinking habits and his sexual proclivities, according to three people famliar with the preparations, who requested anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. He declined to answer some questions altogether, saying they were too personal, these people said.

"I'm not going to answer that," Kavanaugh said at one point according to a senior White House official, who said the questions were designed to go over the line and that he struck the right tone.

The tense preparations underscore the monumental stakes of public testimony from Kavanaugh and Ford, who signaled on Saturday through her lawyers that she has accepted the Judiciary Committee's request to speak about her allegation next week, though there is no final agreement and Republicans viewed the response as a delaying tactic.

How Kavanaugh weathers the storm - and if enough Senate Republicans stand by him - will help determine the ideological balance of the Supreme Court for a generation. A handful of GOP senators are undecided about how they will proceed on Kavanaugh's confirmation, particularly in light of Ford's accusation, and the party faces a broader political challenge: keep their right flank satisfied by confirming a reliable conservative to the court, while minimizing backlash among female and independent voters ahead of the November midterms.

"The Republicans need women voters, but all hell will break loose (or it will be chaos) if this nomination unravels," Dan Eberhart, an Arizona-based GOP donor, wrote in an email. "If we can't get the nomination done, why vote Republican?"

The epicenter of the scramble to rescue Kavanaugh's nomination was inside the second-floor office of outgoing White House counsel Donald McGahn - the nominee's lead champion in the West Wing who, in coordination with Senate Republicans, had helped engineer a rapid transformation of the federal judiciary and was about to secure a second seat on the Supreme Court for President Donald Trump.

But instead of making the final rounds with senators and locking down pivotal swing votes last week, Kavanaugh was instead calling Republicans on the Judiciary Committee and other key allies, urging them to publicly support him and determining what questions he would face in a hearing that inevitably draws comparisons to the 1991 proceedings with Anita Hill, who had accused now-Justice Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment.

In one key call, Kavanaugh told Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, that Ford had the wrong guy in mind, saying he had not attended a party like the one she described to The Washington Post. He and his allies also privately discussed a defense that would raise doubts that the attacker was Kavanaugh, rather than try to dispute that an incident involving Ford had happened.

In a preparation session on Tuesday, Kavanaugh faced more than a dozen White House aides in the Eisenhower building, during which aides played different senators for more than two hours.

Kavanaugh has complained about the stories focusing on his family and has grown "incredibly frustrated" at times, in the words of one associate, but he has not sought to drop out of the running, two people who spoke to him said. He has said privately and publicly that he is eager to testify.

Yet McGahn was originally opposed to a public hearing - as were many within the orbit of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., - but it became clear one would have to happen, two people familiar with their comments said. Ford, through her attorneys, said she would be willing to testify publicly, and several potential pivotal votes, such as Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., signaled that his confirmation could not move forward unless Ford was given a public airing.

McGahn has kept other key aides out of the process, afraid they would leak damaging material, relying on special counsel Annie Donaldson and spokesman Raj Shah. He has also talked on several occasions with McConnell, who is fond of McGahn.

Both men, along with other senators, have encouraged Trump to keep a low profile during the fight. His tweet on Friday morning in which he directly targeted Ford was not seen as helpful by White House aides, but Trump told senior officials that it was becoming a political issue that could affect the midterms. Republicans did not believe the woman's claims, Trump added privately.

McConnell called Trump Friday to say the tweets were not helpful, according to two people familiar with the call, and that they could cause new problems. As of Saturday, Trump had not said anything more directly against Ford.

Even before a final call on when or whether a hearing would happen, the preparations had long begun. Republicans wanted more information on what they viewed as potential gaps in Ford's recollection of the alleged incident, and to describe the extent of her previous relationship with Kavanaugh, aides said.

Republicans have also talked about enlisting female lawyers on the committee to lead the questioning who Grassley said would be "sensitive to the particulars of Dr. Ford's allegations and are experienced investigators." They might also help the GOP avoid an optics problem of 11 men grilling a woman about her sexual assault allegation.

The hearing could end "without new conclusive evidence either way," one senior Republican official said. "Members have to determine their threshold for credibility. And that will be the challenge."

Senate Republican officials had repeatedly vented in private that it seemed, at least to them, Ford's lawyers were doing more press than responding to their emails or requests for calls. Her attorneys would return that sentiment in kind, complaining in a late Friday letter to top Grassley aides that they would learn of the Republican hearing counteroffer "through the media" and got it officially through the committee "hours after those media accounts first appeared." On Saturday they accused GOP senators of "bullying."

Democrats are also plotting their own strategy for the hearing. Furious about Grassley's decision to limit testimony to just Kavanaugh and Ford, Democratic aides planned to find other potential witnesses - such as a trauma expert - who could help bolster their case.

If they couldn't be heard under oath, Democrats discussed holding news conferences where those other experts would speak, aides said. A top priority, according to Democratic officials, was ensuring Ford felt supported, whether it was having enough friends and family in the hearing room with her or finding people who can speak publicly about Ford's character.

"We're not accepting the premise that it's going to be a he-said, she-said hearing," one senior Senate Democratic aide said.

As for questions for Kavanaugh, Democrats planned to hold nothing back. Democratic staff have been researching the broader culture of the prep academy world in which Kavanaugh lived while reading the writings of Mark Judge, a Kavanaugh friend who Ford said was in the room when Kavanaugh allegedly assaulted her. Judge, who has said he doesn't want to testify, has written about how much alcohol he and his classmates consumed while in high school and details about other debaucherous behavior.

Democrats also planned to grill Kavanaugh on what he knew about a controversial Twitter thread from Ed Whelan, a prominent conservative lawyer and friend of Kavanaugh who not only theorized that Ford could have been assaulted by another person, but named the person whom Whelan suggested could have perpetrated the attack.

Another point of contention is Ford's July 30 letter outlining the allegations sent to Feinstein and Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif. Republican senators, initially cut off from accessing the unredacted version of the letter, prodded Feinstein repeatedly to hand over her copy so they could conduct their investigation.

Feinstein gave the full letter to Grassley on Thursday, according to GOP and Democratic aides. Republicans have continued to harp on Feinstein for keeping the letter private, but she says she was honoring Ford's wishes and, now that it is part Kavanaugh's background check file, has declined to release it publicly.

"This is just bizarre," one senior Senate GOP official said. "They want her to publicly testify . . . but the infamous letter is still not public. They won't allow it to be."Springfield, Mo.

President Donald Trump has issued an ominous warning about the Justice Department and the FBI, promising more firings to rid a "lingering stench" after reports that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein discussed secretly recording Trump.

Trump, at a political rally Friday night in Missouri, did not explicitly mention the Rosenstein furor, first reported by The New York Times and confirmed by The Associated Press.

But the president lashed out against what he perceives as anti-Trump bias in the Justice Department and cited the firings he already has orchestrated. The dismissals have unnerved many in federal law enforcement and raised fears about the future of the special counsel's Russia investigation, which Rosenstein oversees.

"You've seen what happened in the FBI and the Department of Justice. The bad ones, they're all gone. They're all gone," Trump said. "But there is a lingering stench and we're going to get rid of that, too."

One person present during Rosenstein's remarks said the second-ranking official was being sarcastic. The Times also said Rosenstein raised the idea of using the 25th Amendment to remove Trump as unfit for office. Rosenstein said the story is "inaccurate and factually incorrect."

It was the latest storm to buffet the White House.

Trump's former fixer, Michael Cohen, is cooperating with special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation. Trump has backed off his plan to declassify documents related to that probe, and the fate of his Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, remains uncertain.

A tentative agreement was reached Saturday for the Senate Judiciary Committee to hear testimony Thursday from Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford, who has accused Kavanaugh of sexual assault at a high school party more than three decades ago.

Trump made the future of Kavanaugh and the federal judiciary a centerpiece of his rally in Springfield, which was designed to support Missouri's attorney general, Josh Hawley, in his race against Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill.

"I don't know who she is with but she is not with the state of Missouri," Trump said. "(Kavanaugh) is a fantastic man, a fantastic man. She won't vote for him."

But Trump, who used Twitter earlier Friday to cast doubt on Ford's claim, preached optimism on Kavanaugh, saying "he was born for the U.S. Supreme Court" and reassuring the crowd that "it's going to happen. It's going to happen."

He added: "We have to fight for him, not worry about the other side. And by the way, women are for that more than anybody would understand."

When Hawley praised Trump's judicial picks, the crowd began chanting Kavanaugh's name.

The reports about Rosenstein created even greater uncertainty about his future at a time when Trump has lambasted Justice Department leadership and publicly humiliated both Rosenstein and Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

More broadly, it's the latest revelation that could affect Mueller, who is investigating possible coordination between Russia and Trump's presidential campaign in 2016.

To Trump's dismay, Sessions stepped aside from that issue soon after he took office, and it was Rosenstein who then appointed Mueller. Trump has resisted calls from conservative commentators to fire both Sessions and Rosenstein and appoint someone who would ride herd more closely on Mueller or dismiss him.

A number of key FBI officials, including Director James Comey and his deputy, Andrew McCabe, have been fired since Trump took office.

Republicans view the McCaskill-Hawley contest as one of their best chances of flipping a seat in the Senate, where the GOP has a slim 51-49 edge. Polls show the race is a toss-up.

Democrats are hoping the enthusiasm that's put the GOP-led House in play will spill over to the Senate, though the political map there is much tougher. McCaskill is among 10 Democratic incumbents seeking re-election in states Trump won  some by wider margins than in Missouri.

On Thursday, Trump was in Nevada to campaign for Sen. Dean Heller, among the GOP incumbents considered to be the most vulnerable in the Nov. 6 election.

With the chances of Republicans keeping control of the House looking increasingly difficult, the White House has fixated on keeping the Senate as a bulwark against any Democratic effort to impeach and then remove Trump from office.A majority of Yale Law School faculty members are urging the Senate Judiciary Committee not to rush to judgment in considering Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, a graduate of the school, and to treat seriously allegations regarding a past sexual assault.

On Friday afternoon, as some Yale Law students worked on plans for protests on Monday, 47 faculty members sent a letter to the committee, writing, "Some questions are so fundamental to judicial integrity that the Senate cannot rush past them without undermining the public's confidence in the Court. This is particularly so for an appointment that will yield a deciding vote on women's rights and myriad other questions of immense consequence in American lives."

Nearly every permanent member of the faculty joined the effort, which happened essentially overnight, said Muneer Ahmad, clinical professor of law and deputy dean for experiential education at Yale Law School. It is something that had never happened in his more than 15 years on the faculty. "In my view it's an extraordinary statement that this is an extraordinary moment in our country's history," with great concern about public confidence in the Supreme Court, he said.

Ahmad said professors sought to express their belief that the confirmation process should proceed in a fair and deliberate way in light of the charges made by Christine Blasey Ford.

Ford, a professor in California, has accused Kavanaugh of pinning her to a bed while he was a teenager, drunk at a high school party Ford attended decades ago. Ford said Kavanaugh groped her and covered her mouth when she screamed.

Kavanaugh graduated from Yale Law School in 1990.

When there is so much at stake, Ahmad said, "a lifetime appointment in a position of public trust, at a time when the issues that are likely to come before the Supreme Court are of such public significance, we need a process that is commensurate with those stakes."

Any Supreme Court nomination is high pressure, he said, but given the allegations that have been made, the stakes are especially high with Kavanaugh.

The letter asked for a neutral fact-finder and enough time for the FBI or another agency to investigate Ford's allegations.

"The fact that so many people on our faculty so quickly signed onto our statement is a reflection of the gravity of the moment," Ahmad said.

The dean of the law school, Heather Gerken, responded to the faculty letter with a written statement saying that as dean, she cannot take a position on a nominee. "It's a thoughtful statement and I support the efforts of individual faculty members to engage with these important issues," the dean wrote. "Yale Law School is a nonpartisan institution. While individual faculty members may make comments regarding a particular candidate, the Law School neither endorses nor opposes candidates for office."

A coalition of students is working on plans for protests on campus and in Washington, according to several students who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Some planned a sit-in in the law school's main hallway Monday morning, and said if professors continued to hold classes, students would walk out.

Janet Conroy, a spokeswoman for the law school, said there are ongoing discussions at the school about how individuals and groups can work together to make their voices heard during the confirmation process.

On Thursday, Gerken responded to reports in the Guardian and elsewhere that Amy Chua, a professor at Yale Law School, had advised female students interviewing for clerkships with Kavanaugh, a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, to dress with a "model-like" femininity. According to the Guardian, Chua, author of the best-selling "Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother," last year privately told a group of law students that it was "not an accident" that Kavanaugh's female law clerks "looked like models."

The paper reported that Jed Rubenfeld, another Yale professor and Chua's husband, told a student that Kavanaugh liked to hire women "with a certain look." The Guardian also reported that Rubenfeld is the subject of an internal investigation at Yale focused on his conduct with female law students.

Gerken wrote in a letter to the campus that the allegations that had been reported were "of enormous concern to me and to the school." She wrote that she could not comment on individual complaints and investigations but that the school thoroughly investigates complaints about violations of university rules "and take(s) no options off the table."

Gerken wrote that she takes seriously the responsibility of ensuring an environment in which all students are treated with respect, free from harassment.

Chua and Rubenfeld did not immediately respond to requests for comment from The Washington Post.

Rubenfeld said in a statement to the Guardian he was not informed of the specifics of the investigation and was advised that the allegations prompting the investigation are "not of the kind that would jeopardize my position as a long-tenured member of the faculty."

"For some years, I have contended with personal attacks and false allegations in reaction to my writing on difficult and controversial but important topics in the law," he wrote. "I have reason to suspect I am now facing more of the same." He stands ready to engage with the process in the hope it can be quickly concluded, he wrote.

Chua told the Guardian in an emailed statement: "For the more than 10 years I've known him, Judge Kavanaugh's first and only litmus test in hiring has been excellence. He hires only the most qualified clerks, and they have been diverse as well as exceptionally talented and capable.

"There is good reason so many of them have gone on to supreme court clerkships; he only hires those who are extraordinarily qualified. As I wrote in the Wall Street Journal, he has also been an exceptional mentor to his female clerks and a champion of their careers. Among my proudest moments as a parent was the day I learned our daughter would join those ranks."

Here is the faculty letter in full:

"As the Senate Judiciary Committee debates Judge Brett Kavanaugh's nomination, we write as faculty members of Yale Law School, from which Judge Kavanaugh graduated, to urge that the Senate conduct a fair and deliberate confirmation process. With so much at stake for the Supreme Court and the nation, we are concerned about a rush to judgment that threatens both the integrity of the process and the public's confidence in the Court.

"Where, as here, a sexual assault has been alleged against an individual nominated for a lifetime appointment in a position of public trust, a partisan hearing alone cannot be the forum to determine the truth of the matter. Allegations of sexual assault require a neutral factfinder and an investigation that can ascertain facts fairly. Those at the FBI or others tasked with such an investigation must have adequate time to investigate facts. Fair process requires evidence from all parties with direct knowledge and consultation of experts when evaluating such evidence. In subsequent hearings, all of those who testify, and particularly women testifying about sexual assault, must be treated with respect.

"The confirmation process must always be conducted, and appointments made, in a manner that gives Americans reason to trust the Supreme Court. Some questions are so fundamental to judicial integrity that the Senate cannot rush past them without undermining the public's confidence in the Court. This is particularly so for an appointment that will yield a deciding vote on women's rights and myriad other questions of immense consequence in American lives."Abhilash Tomy suffered back injury on Friday after his yacht was hit by a vicious storm mid-way across south Indian Ocean.

Indian Navy Ace Sailor Abhilash Tomy who was injured and incapacitated day before has been tracked by the Indian Navy Reconnaissance aircraft. As seen, boat mast broken and hanging on the side. (Photo: Twitter | @indiannavy)

Kochi: An Indian Navy aircraft has located the vessel of Indian Naval officer Abhilash Tomy, who was badly injured while participating in the Golden Globe Race, "rolling excessively" in the South Indian Ocean, a Defence spokesman said on Sunday.

Tomy had suffered a back injury on Friday after his yacht was hit by a vicious storm with 14-metre-high waves mid-way across south Indian Ocean.

The Indian Navy's P8I aircraft, which flew from Mauritius in the early hours on Sunday, has located the "mast broken boat rolling excessively", he said. "Commander Tomy responded by ping on EPIRB as the aircraft was flying over him," the spokesman said in Kochi.

Aircraft P8i located Abhilash Tomy and his boat Thuriya in the Southern Indian Ocean. (Photo: Twitter | ANI)

Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRB) is a device which alerts rescue services in case of an accident at sea. He said heavy rains have been reported from the area. The aircraft would fly back after three to four hours and Tomy can only be rescued by naval ships, he said.

Tomy had on Sunday managed to get in touch with race organisers in France through messages and had requested for a stretcher as he could not move on his own. He was representing India in the Golden Globe Race 2018 (GGR) on an indigenously-built sailing vessel 'S V Thuraya'.

Tomy, who became the first Indian to have circumnavigated the globe in 2013, is the only Indian participating in the race that involves a gruelling 30,000-mile solo circumnavigation of the globe. His vessel is in the south Indian Ocean, about 1,900 nautical miles from Perth in Australia.

Tomy's vessel was dismasted in extremely rough weather and sea conditions, with wind speeds of 130 kmh. He was in third position in the race and has sailed over 10,500 nautical miles in the last 84 days, since the race started on July 1.

A report from France on Friday night had said 70-knot winds and 14-metre-high waves have left the yachts of Tomy and Ireland's Gregor McGuckin dismasted and twice knocked down the yacht of second-placed Dutchman Mark Slats.

Both McGuckin and Slats had reported that they are okay, but 39-year-old Tomy, making his second solo circumnavigation, has been injured, it had said. It had also said other entrants were asked to make towards Tomy's position if possible, and added that the weather was extreme.

The nearest yacht was McGuckin's 'Biscay 36 Hanley Energy Endurance', some 90 miles to the southwest of Tomy's 'Thuriya', but she too was dismasted in the same storm.The friends and family of Sonny Vidales, the 15-year-old who was shot to death at home early Saturday, gathered later that night to remember the teenager  how he would play pranks on his younger sisters, or leave sodas in the freezer that would explode.

His mother, Christine Vidales, and aunt, Christina Vidales, said in interviews Sunday that Sonny was a loving and protective brother who was taken too soon, a young man with a gregarious personality and an appetite befitting his 6-foot-2-inch stature.

"My son, he had a big heart," his mother said. "He loved his siblings."

"He was funny," his aunt added. "He would make you laugh no matter what the situation was, you know? He was a character."

RELATED: SAPD investigating mysterious shooting death of a teenage boy

San Antonio police initially said that Sonny Vidales was shot outside the home on Adolph Street on the South Side just before 2 a.m. Saturday and burst into the house afterward, but the family said he was inside and was shot through a window.

Officer Carlos Roberto Ortiz said the shooting remains under investigation but declined to give more details. No arrests have been made.

The victims mother said she believes her son was targeted by someone who approached his bedroom window on the side of the house. Sonny came out of his room and collapsed in front of his 3-year-old sister, she said.

Emergency medical personnel were unable to revive him and he was pronounced dead at the scene, according to police.

Whoever did this, they wanted to hurt him, Christine Vidales said.

Sonny had two pitbulls, and his young siblings were often in his room with him, playing video games or hanging out. Whoever killed him was not thinking about the safety of other people in the house, his mother said.

She hopes the shooter  or those with information about the shooter  will come forward and do the right thing.

I dont have hate in my heart for whoever did this, Christine Vidales said. Whats dark will come to light.

Joan Torres, the familys next-door neighbor, said the shooting caught everybody by surprise in the mostly quiet neighborhood.

This doesnt happen here at all, Torres said. It has come as a shock to them because he was such a good kid.

Sonny Vidales was not attending school and lived for his younger siblings, his family said. He had three younger brothers and two younger sisters. He had a tattoo on his arm that said My Brothers Keeper for his 5-year-old brother, Jojo, who is hard of hearing and spent a lot of time with Sonny.

RELATED: Two men shot outside popular Southtown bar

Christine Vidales said after the shooting, Jojo asked her whether Sonny would keep picking him up from school.

Theyre broken by this, she said. The situation is devastating but Im just grateful that my kids werent in the room with him.

Sonnys aunt remembered how Sonny would always ask visitors if they brought something to eat, and he would hover by the fridge in the kitchen.

Last night, with all the food that everyone donated, he would have been like... Christina Vidales said, laughing and trailing off.

Now were not going to have that, she continued. His little sister picking on him when he comes in the house, were not going to hear that no more.

Funeral arrangements are pending, family members said. They have set up a GoFundMe page to help with expenses.

Dylan McGuinness covers local politics and the Bexar County government for the Express-News. Read him on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | dylan.mcguinness@express-news.net | Twitter: @DylMcGuinnessTwo men were hospitalized early Sunday after police say a man shot them outside Bar America.

Officers responded about 1 a.m. to the intersection of South Alamo and Presa streets where an alleged drunk man, who had been thrown out of the popular urbanite bar, had begun fighting with people, according to San Antonio police.A woman was hospitalized late Saturday after crashing into an electrical pole, causing it to snap in two, according to San Antonio police.

Officers responded about 11:25 p.m. to the 1200 block of Bandera Road where they say a woman who was parked at a shopping center accelerated her vehicle at a high rate speed and rammed into the pole.My name is Forrest Byas, and I am a descendant of Alamo defender Andrew Kent. Kent answered the call to defend Texas many times, beginning with the Battle of Gonzales and ending at the Alamo.

He was one of just 32 men who answered Col. William B. Travis call for reinforcements at the mission turned fortress. He arrived as one of the Immortal 32 on March 1 and gave his life in the battle on March 6, 1836.

Because of this family history, and the fact that I am both a fifth-generation Texan and a military veteran, what happens at the Alamo means a great deal to me. I have long wanted to see it treated with the respect and reverence it is due.

I joined the Alamo Citizens Advisory Committee in 2017 to have some input on the Alamos future.

I have followed and spoken out in favor of the ongoing plan to restore and protect the Alamo. I support the plan to reclaim its historic footprint and restore reverence, and I also support building the museum the Alamo has always deserved but does not have.

This is a good plan. Its our one chance to do right by the Alamo. The devil is in the details, as I tend to say, but now we have gone from ideas to details.

The plan unveiled by the Alamo Master Plan Management Committee does so much good for the Alamo, for San Antonio and Texas. For Texas, the Alamo is finally one site, managed by the state for the people of Texas, with its historic outlines clear and prominent. It builds several key moments from the battle, including the famed 18-pounder cannon ramp on the southwest corner.

For San Antonio, the Alamo remains an open place while distractions are moved off the battlefield compound. The Alamo is still the heart of our city life, but the plan improves it. There will be shade, a safer path to the Alamo, and a far more beautiful and peaceful site.

The Cenotaph, which the city owns, is repaired and moved to a place of honor where it will set the tone for everyone who approaches the Alamo from its southern side. This was an idea I brought to the Alamo plan discussions, so I am pleased to see it in the new proposal.

Parade routes, which are so important to our city, will still go in front of the iconic Alamo church.

For the Alamo, the plan saves it from threats, including rising damp and the possible damage from traffic on what is now Alamo Street. It will be given the honor its 300-year history is due.

A state-of-the-art museum will tell its complete story bigger and better than ever before. Its historic footprint can become a spectacular outdoor museum with living history. The Alamo will no longer be seen by many visitors as small. The plan makes the Alamo as grand as its story  the worlds largest exhibit dedicated to the battle and the Texas Revolution. I cannot wait to see this happen.

Were now at a crossroads on this once-in-a-lifetime plan. It does not give anyone everything they want, but it achieves a lot within very difficult and often contradictory limits.

The mayor and City Council will soon take up this plan and vote to move it forward by closing Alamo Street from Commerce to Houston streets and convey management of it and Alamo Plaza to the state. This is a big decision.

Mayor Ron Nirenberg has recently made strong statements supporting this. He and the City Council should approve both closing the street and conveying the plaza because the Alamo deserves not to have traffic roll right across its historic footprint. The Alamo deserves to be one unified place we will all be proud of.

Forrest Byas of San Antonio is a descendant of one of the Alamo fallen and a member of the Alamo Citizens Advisory Committee.As technology continues to play a more significant role in our daily lives, what role does the academic library play?

Although libraries provide critical and meaningful educational opportunities, they can also educate people about the ways in which technology can be used for illicit purposes, such as printing guns that are then circulated in underground markets.

The use of 3D printers for the creation of mechanical components, including weapons creation, will only continue to expand. As hubs for technological innovation, universities and their libraries must advance policy development to address the potential campus risks created by providing access to these new technologies.

Investment in and attention to policy development must be collaborative, and equal the energy invested in research and development of these technologies.

The Texas nonprofit Defense Distributed recently made specifications for 3D-printed guns available through its website. Many gun rights advocates question the level of concern that has emerged from the public surrounding this issue, arguing that 3D-printed guns fall apart after only a few shots and that access to 3D printer technology is expensive and unreliable, therefore unlikely to be acquired for the sole purpose of producing weapons.

These arguments fail to address the systemic and emerging complexity of access to, and use of, guns.

Many public and private universities provide access to state-of-the-art 3D-printing technology, much of which is accessible 24 hours a day in largely unsupervised or peer-supervised environments. Departmental labs, campus libraries, student centers and even dorms are all access points for 3D-printer technology. Printing the components of a 3D gun can be accomplished with relative ease in many of these environments.

The argument that 3D-printer technology is unreliable and expensive fails to address the fact that many public and academic libraries, among other facilities, provide access to these technologies for free or at reduced costs.

As institutions that are charged with advancing and supporting research efforts that will serve the needs of communities, the academic library community must consider its role in supporting comprehensive gun violence education and gun policy research. We should look to build expertise, collections and technological infrastructure that not only support 21st century research needs, but that also promote civil dialogue and an informed public.

More academic library administrators should work locally with university legal departments to develop 3D-printer policies that will meet the unique needs of their constituency. At the national level, formal position statements and operational policies for the provision of 3D-printing services should be expanded and refined.

Libraries should also begin to articulate when and whether it is appropriate to use university and library technological resources to produce weapons as part of comprehensive research studies.

The development of local policy on these issues can provide a blueprint for scaling potential solutions to a larger community. Enlisting university expertise in law, public policy, education, economics and relevant areas to study, deliberate and develop frameworks for the deployment of new technologies  especially those that carry risks such as 3D printing  should be an expectation of our role in the innovation pipeline.

More universities should allocate strategic resources for the purpose of investigating the facets of gun violence. This should be done with the same fervor that is applied to the pursuit of commercial enterprise development.

We have a moral obligation to make meaningful contributions to ongoing discussions about how we wish to responsibly use new technologies. Libraries have the potential to initiate and steward discussions surrounding the complex intersection between new technologies and gun violence. They should be at the forefront of promoting gun policy research, not only for the safety and enhancement of their local communities but also for the advancement of civil dialogue.

Amber Welch is the head of technology-enhanced learning at the University of Texas at Austin Libraries.Tier One universities define a community in many ways.

They develop talented workforces that fuel local and state economies.

They produce innovative research that opens minds, redefines industries, shapes policies and spurs new companies.

They develop brands of excellence that are marketed to the nation and world.

And they claim the hearts of their communities.

The University of Texas at San Antonios main campus, near Loop 1604 and Interstate 10, is on the far-flung northern edge of San Antonio. Its a perfect campus for commuters.

Its downtown campus, neighbor to many a bail bond outfit, has led a sleepy existence for years.

All of that changes with the announcement of UTSAs massive expansion downtown.

By 2023, the universitys $33 million National Security Collaboration Center and $57 million School of Data Science will be in the heart of San Antonio.

These two projects were made possible thanks to $70 million in funding from the University of Texas System Board of Regents and a $15 million gift from San Antonio businessman Graham Weston, as well as $5 million in university funds.

Plans also call for relocating the business school downtown and building two mixed-use residential towers. An agreement would not be possible without the city of San Antonio and Bexar County conveying key parcels to the university.

What does conveying mean? Details about the county land are missing, but the university will purchase the city land for $7.3 million with an expectation that the city will donate other property on Frio Street for a second phase of development. Not enough payment or an objection to gifting land? This necessarily should be weighed against what this project means for downtown and all of San Antonio. The payoff is potentially substantial, not to mention that these projects will occur in an area long in need of such revitalizing attention.

What this means in real terms is that soon there will be thousands of students, faculty and researchers downtown. It means continued advancement of UTSA as a leader in data security, artificial intelligence, cloud computing and data analytics. It means laying the groundwork for San Antonios burgeoning tech community.

In speaking about this expansion, UTSA President Taylor Eighmy, Mayor Ron Nirenberg, City Manager Sheryl Sculley and Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff repeatedly cited how Arizona State Universitys expansion in downtown Phoenix revitalized a formally sleepy part of that city and helped bolster that universitys reputation.

If UTSAs expansion accomplishes a fraction of what ASU has done in downtown Phoenix, this will be a home run.

But we believe it will be much more.

Other projects in the area create an important synergy. These include the redevelopment of San Pedro Creek and the shimmering Frost Tower headquarters, a Weston Urban project.

Nirenberg has made transit a priority of his administration, and, if anything, this announced expansion only highlights the need for a real transit system. A link between UTSAs downtown and main campuses is obvious. Arizona State Universitys downtown campus is served by a light rail line that links to ASUs main campus in Tempe.

Finally, the leadership and vision that Eighmy has displayed in his early tenure at UTSA has been impressive. Graduation and retention rates are rising, and there is an expectation of excellence.

Eighmy envisions UTSA achieving Tier One status, and this bold expansion honors such aspiration. It highlights outstanding research, furthers UTSAs brand as a leader in data security and lays claim to the heart of San Antonio.Apart from the health scheme, PM Modi also launched 10 health and wellness centres in Jharkhand.

The flagship scheme will provide a coverage of Rs five lakh per family annually. (Photo: ANI/Twitter)

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday launched the Centre's ambitious Ayushman Bharat-National Health Protection Mission (AB-NHPM) from Jharkhand.

The flagship scheme, renamed the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Abhiyan (PMJAY), aims to provide a coverage of Rs five lakh per family annually, benefiting more than 10.74 crore poor families for secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation through a network of Empanelled Health Care Providers.

The scheme will provide cashless and paperless access to services for the beneficiary at the point of service. It will help reduce expenditure for hospitalisations which impoverishes people and will help mitigate the financial risk arising out of catastrophic health episodes. Eligible people can avail the benefits in government and listed private hospitals.- Nigerias largest non-partisan and independent citizens movement on electoral integrity has given its latest verdict on the Osun elections

- YIAGA Africa's Watching The Vote (WTV) released its mid-day situational statement based on its observation so far

- The findings are preliminary as of 1:00 pm on election day with reports received from 243 of its 250 sampled polling units

YIAGA Africa Watching The Vote (WTV), Nigerias largest non-partisan and independent citizens movement on electoral integrity, has released its mid-day situational statement on the Osun governorship election based on its observation so far.

The findings are preliminary as of 1pm on election day with reports received from 243 of its 250 sampled polling units.

It highlights findings drawn from a systematic assessment of four process-related issues which includes: opening of polling units and presence of polling officials and election materials; commencement of accreditation and voting; use of the smart card readers; and presence of party agents.

The data will be updated as additional reports are received from WTV observers at sampled polling units.

READ ALSO: APC reportedly woo voters with N2,000 at Oyetola's ward (video)

The findings

1. As of 8:00 am, YIAGA AFRICA WTV observers reported that INEC officials had arrived at 91% of polling units.

2. By 9:00 am, 94% of polling units had commenced accreditation and voting.

3. On average, polling units had 4 polling officials present, of which 2 were women. 90% of polling units had at least one female polling official present, 62% of polling units had two or more female polling officials present.

4. In addition, 100% of polling units had security agents present.

5. Card readers were observed in 100% of polling units. All essential materials (register of voters, indelible ink-marker pen, polling official stamp, voting cubicle, ink pad, Form EC.8A statement of results and form EC.40H voter information) were present in 99% of polling units.

6. APC party agents were seen at 99% of polling units, PDP at 98% of polling units, and SDP at 96% of polling units. On average, seven party agents were present in the polling units.

Watching The Vote however noted two polling units where observers were initially turned away:

Ife East local government area where voters obstructed the observers from carrying out their tasks and one in Ifelodun local government where observers were prevented from observing by political party agents. As of 12:00 noon, both of these situations had been resolved.

The group recommended that:

1. Voters should respect the secrecy of the ballot by complying with laid down procedure for folding of ballot papers and voting. Securing officials are encouraged to take proactive measures to prevent vote buying at the polling unit.

2. INEC officials especially presiding officers should ensure strict compliance with INEC guidelines for voting, counting and transmission of results.

3. Party agents and voters should conduct themselves in a professional manner and refrain from preventing accredited observers from observing the election at the polling unit.

4. Watching The Vote encourages security agents to conduct themselves professionally and to continue to ensure a peaceful process.

5. INEC and security agencies should ensure result collation centers are accessible to accredited observers, media and party agents.

PAY ATTENTION: Read the news on Nigerias #1 news app

Meanwhile, the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Alhaji Gboyega Oyetola has expressed satisfaction on the conduct of the election.

Oyetola gave his verdict after he and his family voted in his polling unit 2 located at LA School Popo at Boripe local government area of the state.

He said: The process has been credible so far, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has been doing a good job. The people have been coming out to cast their votes without any intimidation.

The card reader is working well, there has been no issue, the law enforcement agencies are doing their job, people are peaceful and I look forward to a credible election.

I will surely win this election - Senator Adeleke| Legit.ng TV

Source: Legit- The US government wants to take over assets belonging to Diezani in America and its ally countries

- A lawsuit has been filed to ensure that the US can go after the assets which are proceeds of illicit contracts

- Kenneth Blanco, acting assistant attorney general, says the US will return the assets back to the people they were diverted from

The Cable is reporting that the US government has kicked off move to seize assets within its shores owned by former petroleum minister Alison Diezani-Madueke which were proceeds of shady contracts.

According to the report, the US filed a suit to recover $144 million in assets through its justice departments kleptocracy asset recovery initiative.

READ ALSO: Governor Ishaku warns APC away from Taraba, Gombe

The suit filed on Friday, September 21 in Houston, Texas is going after assets acquired from contracts used to launder funds through the US.

The suit said cronies of the former oil minister of Nigeria acquired real estate worth millions for her in London and also bought her over $1 million worth of furniture and artwork in Houston.

Corrupt foreign officials and business executives should make no mistake: if illicit funds are within the reach of the United States, we will seek to forfeit them and to return them to the victims from whom they were stolen, Kenneth Blanco, acting assistant attorney general, said.

Recall that Legit.ng former minister of petroleum resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, could face a jail term of between 12-15 years in prison if found guilty of fraud which reportedly occurred while she served as minister.

PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android and read best news on Nigerias #1 news app

Disclosing this on Tuesday, July 18, the personal assistant to the president on Social Media, Lauretta Onochie, said the former minister is also expected to name over 200 accomplice who connived, helped or participated in one of the biggest oil fraud Nigeria has ever had.

The presidential aide in a Facebook post titled, The Biggest Oil Industry Heist, Ever, cited a news report which stated that that Diezani is not prepared to go down alone as she is preparing to name all her accomplices.

Top 5 the Richest People of Nigeria: The Luxury of Corruption - on Legit.ng TV

Source: Legit- Tinubu was said to have chosen to let the three aspirants face off in the primary

- The APC leader's decision was accepted by other members of the GAC who thumbed-up the primary

- The GAC's meeting was held at Tinubu's Bourdillon residence on Saturday, September 22 evening

The national leader of All Progressives Congress (APC) Bola Ahmed Tinubu and members of the Lagos chapter of the Governors Advisory Council (GAC) have refused to endorse Akinwunmi Ambode for a second term.

Vanguard reports that the GAC, which is the states highest advisory political body headed by Tinubu, rose from its meeting on Saturday, September 22 insisting on direct primary for all gubernatorial aspirants.

The 22-man council members was said to have met on Saturday evening inside Tinubus Bourdillon residence in Ikoyi area of Lagos,

The state governorship primary is slated for September 29, when the partys flag bearer for the 2019 governorship election will be chosen.

Following the GACs decision Governor Ambode will now have to go head-to-head against two other contestants who have also obtained nomination forms and submitted same.

The other aspirants are Managing Director, Lagos State Development and Property Corporation (LSDPC) Babajide Sanwo-Olu, and former Commissioner of Works and Infrastructure, Dr. Femi Hamzat.

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The 22-man council members, who met Saturday, evening at Tinubus, Bourdillon residence, Ikoyi, Lagos,

Sanwo-Olu is reportedly Tinubus preferred candidate

Legit.ng had reported recently that the national leader of APC Tinubu would meet with the Governors Advisory Council (GAC) to discuss Ambode's second term issue.

The GAC is Lagos states highest advisory political organ under the leadership of Tinubu. The membership of the council, made up of the governor and leaders of the party across the three senatorial districts of the state, include, Dr. Olorunfemi Bashorun; Senator Anthony Adefuye, Prof. Tunde Samuel, Chief Adeyemi Ikuforiji, Alhaji Tajudeen Olusi and Cardinal James Odumbaku.

Can Ambode Get a Second Term Without Tinubus Approval? - on Legit.ng TV

Source: Legit.ngThe Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Saturday, September 22, officially launched the Trader Moni program in Owerri, Imo state's capital city.

The program was launched by the vice president at the Relief Market in the city alongside the Imo state governor Rochas Okorocha.

Also among those who accompanied the vice president on the launch of the program was the Speaker of the Imo State House of Assembly, Acho Ihim and the new deputy governor of Imo state, Calistus Ekenze.

Osinbajo launched the Trader Moni Program in Imo state. Photo credit: Facebook, Aso Villa

Source: Facebook

READ ALSO: PDP protest as INEC officer Alao Mutiu Kolawole confesses to tearing polls results (photos, video)

The program was launched at the Relief Market in Owerri. Photo credit: Facebook, Aso Villa.

Source: Facebook

Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that the ongoing Trader Moni registration exercise in Kano state was reportedly been infiltrated by suspected fraudsters who are said to have converted the scheme to a source of extorting money from potential beneficiaries of the programme.

The vice president was accompanied by Rochas Okorocha. Photo credit: Facebook, Aso Villa

Source: Facebook

PAY ATTENTION: Read the news on Nigerias #1 news app

It was gathered that some residents alleged that suspected persons were exploiting the scheme by extorting money from the poor in the pretext of helping them access their share of the federal government money.

Also, the presidency debunked claims that petty traders are required to tender their Permanent Voter Card (PVC) before benefitting from the TraderMoni scheme.

The senior special assistant to the vice president on media and publicity, Laolu Akande, explained that to qualify for the TraderMoni scheme, no documentation of any kind was required.

List President Buhari's achievements in two years - on Legit.ng TV

Source: LegitThree months ago, a huge tragedy befell the Nigerian music industry after music legend Ras Kimono passed away.

Legit.ng has reported that the musician had passed away at a Lagos hospital after he was rushed there on Sunday, June 10. Reports stated that the musician had complained of stomach ache on the night of Saturday, June 9, when he was rushed to the hospital after he collapsed.

Reports have reached Legit.ng that the reggae musician's wife, Ege Mena Okedi, has passed away at the early hours of this Sunday, September 23.

According to The Cable, the woman passed away at her residence in Magodo, Isheri area of Lagos state. The death of the wife of the late musician comes three months after he himself kicked the bucket.

READ ALSO: Nigerians mourn legendary musician Ras Kimono who died at the age of 60

It was gathered that Okedi who was the third wife of the music legend had once described him as the most gentle Rastaman she knows. In her words: the most gentle and kind Rastaman I know.

Michael Odiong who was the late musician's manager had reportedly confirmed the tragic news.

PAY ATTENTION: Get your daily relationship tips and advice on Africa Love Aid group

Ras Kimono who was born in Delta state is a Nigerian reggae artist whose debut album Under Pressure, led by the single Rum-Bar Stylee, was a big hit in the Nigerian music scene in 1989.

He started out his career, firstly as a student of Gbenoba secondary school Agbor and later as a member of the legendary Jastix Reggae Ital, alongside Majek Fashek, Amos McRoy Jegg and Black Rice Osagie.

PAY ATTENTION: Get the Latest Nigerian News on Legit.ng News

His music was greatly inspired by the poverty, inequality and hardship he witnessed in his early life.

May their souls rest in peace.

Alleged last moments of DJ Olu and Chime with cartons of money - on Legit.ng TV

Source: LegitAs the 2018 Osun gubernatorial election came to an end, hopes of many Nigerians in the different political parties were dashed as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared the election as inconclusive.

Since the declaration by INEC there have issues raised on why an election should be declared inconclusive, what steps is to be taken in such situation among many others.

While Nigeria's electoral body has announced that there would be a supplementary election to reach a conclusion on the Osun gubernatorial, Legit.ng has put a list of frequently asked questions on elections in Nigeria as made available by INEC.

Below are the questions:

1. What is an Election?

According to INEC, an election can be defined as a process where people vote for preferred candidates or political parties as representatives in government.

READ ALSO: Why we declared Osun election inconclusive - INEC

2. What do you mean by general elections?

General elections mean the elections held in the federation which may be at all levels, and at regular intervals to select officers to serve after the expiration of the full terms of their predecessors.

3. What is a bye-election?

A bye-election is an election to replace a member of any of our legislative houses following a vacancy occasioned by death.

It may also occur when an incumbent becomes ineligible to continue in office; for example, because of a recall or as a result of a constituency election being invalidated due to voting irregularity.

4. What is run-off election?

A run-off is an election conducted when the first election fails to produce a clear winner for the position of president or governor. This can happen when the candidate with the highest votes does not have the required vote spread in the affected state/federation.

5. What is re-run election?

A re-run election is an election conducted when the first one was marred by malpractices or when correct procedures were not followed.

READ ALSO: BREAKING: PDP rejects INEC declaration of Osun Guber as inconclusive

6. What is an inconclusive election?

An inconclusive election is an election where the total number of registered voters in units where the results are cancelled or where the elections are postponed, are sufficient to cause a change in the outcome of the election in the affected constituency.

Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that the opposition party, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), had rejected the declaration made by the INEC on the Osun gubernatorial election on Saturday, September 22.

PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android, read best news on Nigerias #1 news app

The party said it rejects in its entity the declaration made by the electoral body that the Osun election is inconclusive.

The party also urged INEC to declare Ademola Adeleke as the winner of the Osun governorship election. According to PDP, Adeleke has satisfied all the requirements of the 1999 Constitution as amended.

I have evidence that they added to APCs votes on Legit.ng TV

Source: Legit.ngThe National Assembly, on Sunday, September 23, announced that its earlier scheduled resumption from recess has been postponed by about two more weeks.

The countrys legislative organ is to resume on October 9, as against the earlier September 25, resumption date.

READ ALSO: Davido claims he has Oshogbo official results even as counting is ongoing in Osun governorship election

Premium Times reports that the postponement was contained in a statement by the National Assembly clerk, Mohammed Sani-Omolori, addressed to the lawmakers.

This is to inform all distinguished senators and honourable members that resumption of plenary session earlier scheduled for Tuesday, September 25, has been postponed to Tuesday, October 9, due to the activities of the primaries of the political parties.

All Distinguished Senators and Honourable members are expected to resume plenary session by 10 am on the 9th of October, please, the statement reads.

Legit.ng earlier reported how it was claimed that the National Assembly had concluded arrangements to cut short its long recess to consider the controversial INEC budget for the 2019 elections.

PAY ATTENTION: Read the news on Nigerias #1 new app

According to one of the report, the question of reconvening on Tuesday, September 25, as scheduled has been taken over by events.

The report quoted a source as saying the likelihood of the postponement of the September 25 date of resumption is being considered due to prevailing political circumstances.

Osun 2018: I have evidence that they added to APCs votes - PDP Chairman | Legit.ng TV

Source: Legit.ngSHARMINI PERIES: Congresswoman, Secretary of State has indicated that they have spoken with the Saudis and that the Trump administration is convinced that the Saudis are going to take appropriate measures to minimize damage to citizens in Yemen by improving their targeting, or they are also willing to include no strike zones, areas where they may not bomb. What do you make of these responses on the part of Secretary of State Pompeo?

TULSI GABBARD: Sharmini, weve been hearing these arguments for years. Ever since the United States got involved to support Saudi Arabia in this war, weve been hearing two very different stories. One is the narrative that you have just shared that the United States is trying to help Saudi Arabia and minimize these civilian casualties and so on. And on the other hand, when Saudi Arabia drops a U.S. made precision missile on a bus filled with forty children in Yemen, the United States, this administration then says, Oh, well we have nothing to do with their targeting, we have no input on their targeting..

So, whats the real answer here? How involved are they? Because it seems that their story changes when it serves their purpose. There are a few bottom line points here, is that the United States policy in Yemen supporting Saudi Arabias genocidal war has failed. We have not seen the Yemeni people moving closer to peace for all the years that weve been supporting this war. Quite the contrary. The humanitarian disaster facing the Yemeni people has worsened to be the worst in the world. And as this conflict continues to escalate, we are only seeing their suffering increase, which is why I and my colleagues are pushing very hard and strongly to draw the line to end the illegal US participation in this war and to stop our troops from supporting Saudi Arabias atrocities.

SHARMINI PERIES: Congresswoman, you have now managed to get some senior ranking members of Congress to support this resolution, such as Bernie Sanders, Adam Smith, as well as of course yourself and Congressman Ro Khanna from California and many others who endorse and support this bill. So then, why is it so difficult for you to get the rest of the Democrats and Democratic Party behind this resolution?

TULSI GABBARD: Well, we are urging them to join this effort and to take a stand for peace. I think that its important for people to be informed and aware, and I think more and more members of Congress are becoming aware of the consequences of the United States alliance with Saudi Arabia in this war and the devastating impact that its having on the Yemeni people. Ultimately though, it will be up to the leadership of the House to make that decision to bring this resolution to the floor.

Now, this resolution that we are introducing is a privileged resolution which will essentially provide the procedural mechanism to force a vote on the House floor in case the House leadership decides not to bring it to the floor themselves. So, our hope and our goal is to be able to force this debate, to force members of Congress to take a position on the record, to fulfill our constitutional responsibility and actually make a decision on this, and to stop our U.S. troops from supporting Saudi Arabia, to stop our money flowing into Saudi Arabia.

SHARMINI PERIES: Congresswoman, you very eloquently nailed it when you said the interest of arms sales to Saudi Arabia is determining what we do there in terms of our policy in this horrible war in Yemen. But the Trump administration has very close ties to the Saudis. Tell us a little bit more about what else is determining this decision.

TULSI GABBARD: You know, this is where there is unfortunately a lot of hypocrisy, is that you have members of this administration and previous administrations, you have leaders in Congress who tout the necessity of the United States alliance with Saudi Arabia while turning a blind eye to the fact that they are the number one propagator of the Wahhabi Salafist ideology that is driving terrorist groups like al Qaeda and ISIS. And they are spending hundreds of millions, if not billions, of dollars spreading this ideology around the world and supporting these terrorist activities.

So, you cannot say that on the one hand, Saudi Arabia is our great ally in counterterrorism while on the other hand, Saudi Arabia is the number one country that is fueling the ideology thats driving these terrorist groups that exist around the world. So, we have to hold leaders accountable for the decisions that theyre making and the policies that theyre furthering and continue to push them on the hypocrisy of these positions, continue to push leaders in Congress to remove this support of Saudi Arabia, and to stop spending U.S. taxpayer dollars on fueling this humanitarian disaster in Yemen.

SHARMINI PERIES: Congresswoman, Lawrence Wilkerson, former Chief of Staff to the Secretary of State Colin Powell, has been on our network talking about the way in which the Trump administration is pulling out dusted plans that Bolton had had advising the former Bush administration, bringing those plans forward. First it was Iraq, then it was Syria, then Iran is next. And the rise of Saudi Arabias power in the region has a lot to do with being able to implement this plan from the former Bush administration. So, most people are anticipating that this Saudi-U.S. alliance will mean that the next thing will be the war with Iran. Do you think that is an accurate assessment?

TULSI GABBARD: You know, theres no question about how individuals like John Bolton in this Trump administration have long been wanting to start a war against Iran. There is no question we have to realize and recognize that this administration and leaders in the United States government are essentially taking sides in this generations-long Sunni-Shia sectarian conflict that we are seeing continuing to play out today in many of the countries that youve just stated, with countries like Saudi Arabia wanting to put extremist Sunni leaders into these different countries and use the United States and our military to continue to conduct these devastating and counterproductive regime change wars to benefit Saudi Arabia, not to benefit the people in these countries, not to benefit the United States.

So, we have to be honest and real about what the real motives are here, and the fact that many of these regime change wars that have cost the American people trillions of dollars since 9/11 alone have not only made the lives of the people in those countries worse, have not only increased their suffering, but have proven to be counterproductive to the United States interests, both in the increasing and strengthening of terrorist groups like al Qaeda and ISIS, but also in the fact that by spending trillions of American taxpayer dollars on these wars, that means we do not have those resources to invest in rebuilding and strengthening our communities right here at home.

Communities like mine in Hawaii that have dire infrastructure needs, communities like Flint in Michigan where kids and families and communities are continuing to be poisoned by their water source, and so many other things that we have in our country that are desperately needed. So again, we have to look at what the real cost of these wars are, who benefits from them, and make sure that our leaders are changing those policies so that were actually making decisions that serve the best interests of the people in our country.

SHARMINI PERIES: Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, I thank you so much for joining us today and we hope to continue this conversation and keep the pressure on, as you do with the resolution in the House. I thank you so much for joining us today.

TULSI GABBARD: Thank you, Sharmini, wonderful talking to you.

SHARMINI PERIES: And you for joining us here on The Real News Network.(Natural News) The FBI and the Justice Department were filled with corrupt actors long before Barack Obama became president, but clearly, he used that corruption to its fullest advantage and likely brought it to new levels never seen before.

For nearly two years reports continually surfaced indicating a Deep State plot to not only thwart candidate Donald Trumps chances at winning the White House but to undermine him every day, every step of the way, after he became president. Collectively known as Spygate, there are many aspects to it: Plots, subplots, back channel scheming, and outright falsification of evidence and documents.

Now, new information has emerged indicating that the FBI, under Director James Comey and Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, kept two sets of records for the so-called Trump Russia investigation, which reportedly included the FISA court applications used to fool the judges into granting the FBI a warrant to spy on Trump campaign figure Carter Page.

Investigative journalist Sara A. Carter discussed the bombshell revelation last week during an appearance on Fox News Sean Hannity program.

Sara, Im hearing it gets worse than thisthat there is potentially out thereif you will, two sets of record among the upper echelon of the FBI  one that was real, one that was made for appearances. Is there any truth to this? Hannity asked Carter.

Absolutely, Sean. With the number of sources that I have been speaking with as well as some others that there is evidence indicating that the FBI had separate sets of books, she replied.

Carter then noted that the top FBI brass was well aware of all this.

I will not name names until all of the evidence is out there, but there were certain people above Peter Strzok and above Lisa Page that were aware of this, Carter said.

But she wasnt done; she dropped yet another bombshell.

I also believe that there are people within the FBI that have actually turned on their former employers and are even possibly testifying and reporting what happened inside the FBI to both the Inspector General and possibly even a Grand Jury, she said.

While these allegations seem incredulous, its worth pointing out that Carter has yet to be wrong or mistaken in her reporting. Sure, shes being given information by the Deep State  sources that she could never reveal  but clearly, they are sources on the side of truth, honor, and justice, and they seem anxious to clear POTUS Trumps name and dispel the myth that he colluded with a foreign power to steal the election from Hillary.

This is going to be a bad 30 days

Carter isnt the only one whos been accurate in reporting various aspects of this case.

Former federal prosecutor Joe diGenova has also been all over it, using his contacts within the Justice Department and elsewhere to drop bombshells of his own.

For instance, earlier this month he said that privately, special counsel Robert Mueller has complained that he was handed a piece of crap case  the Russian collusion case  and that hes preparing to wrap up his investigation soon.

Whats more, he predicted that the next month or so is going to be bad for several Obama-era officials in the DoJ and the FBI.

This is going to be a bad next 30 days for a bunch of people in the FBI and DoJ under Obama, diGenova said.

The Mueller probe is coming to an end with no indictments about collusion whatsoever. There will be one further indictment regarding a false statement made to the FBI, but other than that, its over, and Mueller has told very close associates he was handed a piece of crap on collusion. They knew it from Day One, he added.

He also chided Mueller for pressing ahead anyway, calling it disgraceful.

Our government is broken. If POTUS Trump doesnt get it fixed, no one will.

Read more about Deep State corruption at DeepState.news.

Sources include:

TheNationalSentinel.com

SaraACarter.com(Natural News) In a world with increasingly bizarre restrictions and rules about how to address people, what is or isnt politically correct, and how to protect yourself from the censure of others, new guidelines regarding the way doctors should interact with their patients seem to push the issue to a level that is beyond ridiculous.

The Daily Mail recently reported that the Medical Defence Union (MDU), the organization responsible for representing medical practitioners in malpractice lawsuits in the U.K., has urged doctors to avoid hugging clients in case these patients get the wrong idea and sue them for harassment.

Perhaps spurred on by the #MeToo movement, which has seen people from all walks of life come forward to report cases of sexual harassment in the workplace and elsewhere, the MDU advises that doctors err on the side of caution, and keep a distinct distance from their patients to avoid embarrassment.

Doctors have been advised to offer a handshake rather than any other comforting gesture such as a hug or touching the patients shoulder in a consoling way.

But what if the grateful patient tries to hug their doctor? Said doctor should be firm in refusing a hug from such a patient, particularly if they suspect the client may have amorous feelings for them. Furthermore, they should explain to the patient that their behavior is inappropriate and oversteps professional boundaries.

And, if the doctor is not successfully able to dodge the hug, they should document the unwilling embrace to protect themselves legally.

Doctors must be able to comfort and show human compassion to their patients, but physical contact can easily be misinterpreted, particularly if coupled with other words or actions the patient may feel are inappropriate, said Dr. Ellie Mein, a legal adviser at the MDU. This can trigger a complaint or even lead to an investigation by the General Medical Council or the police. If the patient initiates the hug it can also be difficult for the doctor to know what to do, especially if the patient is upset.

Mein advises weighing up the circumstances and considering such factors as the patients age and gender. She insists, however, that this is an area fraught with problems, and that doctors should protect themselves by being cautious. She notes that while a hug is meant to offer comfort, some patients might misconstrue their doctors actions and, as such, hugs are best avoided. She believes that offering a patient your hand instead can prevent misunderstandings, embarrassment and accusations of unprofessional conduct.

Unfortunately, this is just the latest evidence of the fear doctors live under when it comes to malpractice lawsuits.

HealthLine reported last year that overtreatment of patients is common because doctors are terrified that they will be accused of missing something and be sued by a patient. The article cited a study published in the journal PLOS ONE, in which 2,106 physicians completed online surveys regarding the overtreatment of patients. The consensus was that about 20 percent of all medical care in the U.S. is totally unnecessary, including 25 percent of tests, 22 percent of prescription medications and 11 percent of procedures.

Over 85 percent of the doctors surveyed said the reason for this overtreatment was a direct fear of being sued for malpractice. (Related: Doctors admit that at least 20 percent of medical care is NOT needed but is administered anyway thanks to fear of lawsuits.)

An article in the Daily Mail by NHS psychiatrist Dr. Max Pemberton, puts the whole doctors shouldnt hug their patients issue in perspective.

He recounted the experience of a long-standing patient who came into his office visibly upset after her daughter had died in a car accident earlier in the week. Having known the patient for many years, Dr. Pemberton was devastated for her, and knowing that no words could adequately convey his feelings, he gave her a hug. She then flung her arm over his shoulder and cried uncontrollably.

He added, What should I have done? Pushed her away? Told her that it was not appropriate to touch me? Of course not, because it was perfectly appropriate.

Referring to the MDUs latest directives, Pemberton said, Have they lost the plot? Oh, your daughters just died, let me shake you by the hand.

If society continues to make doctors scared of their own shadows, we may soon find ourselves with nobody to turn to when we urgently need medical attention for ourselves or our loved ones. Discover more unbelievable stories at Stupid.news.

Sources include:

DailyMail.co.uk

PressReader.com

HealthLine.com

Journals.PLOS.orgAddressing a rally here after laying foundation stone for a coal-gasification based fertiliser plant.

Talcher (Odisha): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday took a jibe at Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik over the latters refusal to implement Ayushman Bharat scheme in the state.

Addressing a public meeting at Talcher, Mr Modi said Odisha was yet to be included in the Ayushman Bharat scheme even though the state had poor healthcare facilities.

He exhorted CM Naveen to be a part of the scheme to extend benefits of the scheme to the people of the state. If Odisha comes under the scheme, people of Odisha will be able to get health care facilities anywhere in the country free of cost. If the state government here does not cooperate, I will not be able to serve you, the PM noted.

This apart, Mr Modi took credit for the Rs 1 rice scheme in the state, claiming that the Odisha government is able to implement the scheme because the Centre contributes around Rs 450 crore per month for the scheme.

Mr Modi also said his government will soon convert the recently Cabinet approved Ordinance on instant triple talaq or talaq-e-biddat into a formal law of the land as a part of his government to effort to establish social and gender equality.

Addressing a rally here after laying foundation stone for a coal-gasification based fertiliser plant, Mr Modi said for centuries Muslim women in India were subjected to social injustice because of instant triple talaq.(Natural News) Home healthcare is a booming industry  thanks, in part, to the elderly populations steadily growing numbers. And to keep up, new technologies are being developed to make self-care more accessible and easier to understand. For those who want to take care of themselves in the comfort of their own home in the years to come, a futuristic armband developed by a team of Japanese scientists could be just the ticket.

Professor Takao Someya, from the University of Tokyos Graduate School of Engineering pioneered the project to build a revolutionary home healthcare device. The device is the latest development in wearable technology, featuring an integrated biomedical sensor system and a hyper-elastic skin that can stretch up to nearly 1.5 times its original size. This combination of wearable tech has been dubbed skin electronics for good reason, it seems.

As sources explain, the ultra-thin skin display could change home healthcare for the better  particularly for older adults and the infirm, who often struggle with operating more complicated devices.

The skin-tech is intended to be worn around the arm, though it can be applied to other parts of the body. It features an easy-to-read LED display, along with sensors for recording data and an ultra-thin, super-stretchy elastic skin.

Someyas device seeks to simplify the process of monitoring and recording vital signs and other necessary biomedical data. In addition to creating a more user-friendly wearable device, the Japanese team has set it up so that users can actually store their biomedical data on a smart device (like a smart phone) or within the cloud.

So users will not be limited to just real-time display options  if they so chose, all of their data can be recorded and simply stored within the cloud for easy access. The device can even conduct electrocardiograms, which are electronic measurements of patients heartbeats. Someya and his team are hopeful that their product will soon reach the masses with the help of tried-and-true techniques for mass-produced electronics, like screen-printed silver wiring. According to the United Kingdoms Mirror, the micro LEDs will be mounted onto the ultra-thin skin in a way thats similar to how circuit boards are put together, with soldering paste and a chip-setter.

But mass commercializing isnt the only goal of this project, according to Someya. The manufacturing process theyve chosen will also reportedly help keep costs down, making the device more accessible. And according to the projects leader, getting the skin display to as many people as possible is whats important.

The current aging society requires user-friendly wearable sensors for monitoring patient vitals in order to reduce the burden on patients and family members providing nursing care, Someya explained.

Our system could serve as one of the long-awaited solutions to fulfill this need, which will ultimately lead to improving the quality of life for many, he continued.

Someya and his team arent the first to experiment with so-called electric skin. Earlier this year, researchers from Colorado pioneered a self-healing e-skin for use in a number of applications, including robotics and biomedicine. This particular e-skin could reportedly measure things like airflow, humidity and other environmental factors.

Of course, while all these technological advancements sound promising, its hard not wonder about what kinds of things can go wrong. Medical devices can often be subject to the very same viruses and malicious threats that face computers and other gadgets. This poses an undoubted security risk when it comes to a device designed to store your information in the cloud.

While making home medical care easier and more accessible is important, being aware of the risks with any device is also key. Learn more about the latest news in health and medicine at Medicine.news.

Sources for this article include:

ScienceDaily.com

Mirror.co.uk(Natural News) Breastfeeding has many benefits, and breast milk contains antibodies that can help infants fight off viruses and bacteria. A recent study has also determined that breastfeeding for at least two months can decrease a babys risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) by at least 50 percent.

According to the study, mothers do not have to breastfeed exclusively for their baby to enjoy this benefit, which is good news for mothers who rely on other methods to nourish their infants. Researcher Kawai Tanabe, MPH, of the University of Virginia School of Medicine, shared, These results are very powerful! Our study found that babies who are breastfed for at least two months have a significant reduction in their risk of dying from SIDS. Breastfeeding is beneficial for so many reasons, and this is really an important one. (Related: Breastfeeding Boosts IQ of Newborns.)

Earlier studies suggest that breastfeeding was associated with a decreased risk of SIDS, the leading cause of death of babies between a month and one year old. However, this study is the first to confirm the duration necessary to provide that protection.

After adjusting for variables that could affect the results, the researchers discovered that breastfeeding for at least two months correlated to a significantly decreased risk. Meanwhile, it was determined that breastfeeding for less than two months did not offer the same benefit.

Researcher Fern Hauck, M.D., of the UVA School of Medicine and the UVA Childrens Hospital, commented, Breastfeeding for just two months reduces the risk of SIDS by almost half, and the longer babies are breastfed, the greater the protection.

She added, The other important finding from our study is that any amount of breastfeeding reduces the risk of SIDS  in other words, both partial and exclusive breastfeeding appear to provide the same benefit.

The researchers studied eight major international studies that examined 2,259 cases of SIDS and 6,894 control infants where death did not occur to determine the effects of breastfeeding on SIDS risk. The large collective sample helped confirm the consistency of findings across different cultural behaviors across countries, and it offered convincing evidence of the reliability of the findings.

With these results, the researchers are championing ongoing concerted efforts to increase rates of breastfeeding all over the world. Based on data from 2007, at least a quarter of U.S. babies have never been breastfed, reported the researchers. Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) has made it its goal to have more than half of infants worldwide breastfed exclusively for at least six months by 2025.

Rachel Moon, M.D., a researcher at the UVA School of Medicine and the UVA Childrens Hospital, said, Its great for mothers to know that breastfeeding for at least two months provides such a strong protective effect against SIDS. We strongly support international and national efforts to promote breastfeeding. While the details are unclear when it comes to how breastfeeding can protect against SIDS, the researchers list factors like immune benefits and effects on infant sleeping patterns as possible contributors.

Breastfeeding longer fosters more maternal sensitivity in mothers

In a separate 10-year longitudinal study, researchers have determined that women who breastfeed their children longer show more maternal sensitivity beyond the infant and toddler years. The study was published by the American Psychological Association.

Despite maternal neuroticism, parenting attitudes, ethnicity, mothers education, and the presence of a romantic partner being accounted for, the results were the same. The studys findings were published in the journal Developmental Psychology.

The studys lead author, Jennifer Weaver, Ph.D., of Boise State University, expressed her surprise that the duration of breastfeeding predicted change over time in maternal sensitivity. Weaver continued, We had prior research suggesting a link between breastfeeding and early maternal sensitivity, but nothing to indicate that we would continue to see effects of breastfeeding significantly beyond the period when breastfeeding had ended.

Maternal sensitivity is defined as the synchronous timing of a mothers responsiveness to her child, her emotional tone, her flexibility in her behavior, and an ability to read the childs cues. The article stated that while increased breastfeeding duration resulted in greater maternal sensitivity over time, the effect sizes were small. This implies that the close interaction experienced during breastfeeding could be only one of many ways that the mother/child bond is strengthened, added Weaver.

She noted that the study doesnt mean to diminish the bonding experiences of women who are unable to breastfeed. Weaver concluded, Ultimately, I do hope that we will see breastfeeding examined more closely as a parenting factor, not just as a health consideration, to allow us to more fully understand the role that breastfeeding plays in family life.

Read more articles about natural cures and alternatives at NaturalHealth.news.

Sources include:

ScienceDaily.com 1

ScienceDaily.com 2(Natural News) Being exposed to arsenic over a prolonged period of time can increase the likelihood of diabetes, according to a paper published in the American Journal of Physiology  Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology.

Researchers from the University of Chicago, University of Albany, Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine and the University of Illinois at Chicago used male mouse models to understand how chronic arsenic exposure can interfere with the secretion of insulin in the pancreas and ultimately lead to diabetes.

The mice were subjected to sub-toxic levels of arsenic to replicate chronic exposure to arsenic-contaminated drinking water  a common occurrence around the world. According to data from the World Health Organization (WHO), arsenic contamination of potable groundwater is a global phenomenon, affecting nearly 140 million people in 50 countries.

The exposed mice were then compared with a control group. Both groups were then tested to understand their glucose metabolism and insulin secretion. The results indicated that mice exposed to arsenic had higher blood glucose levels because of reduced insulin secretion upon testing. When the amount of insulin is diminished, it affects glucose in the bloodstream  primarily because insulin is the hormone responsible for moving glucose to the tissues. This constant increase in blood glucose level will result in a diabetes diagnosis if left untreated.

Despite decreased insulin levels, researchers found no significant inflammation of the pancreas or change in the number of insulin-producing cells (beta cells) inside it. Any damage or stress made to the two are clear indicators of an increased risk.

Both Type 1 diabetes and arsenic contamination affect the amount of insulin in the blood; however, the study pointed out a key difference between the two. In Type 1 diabetes, insulin production is hindered because beta cells are destroyed. This is not the case with chronic arsenic exposure, where the beta-cell function of insulin secretion is affected. (Related: Arsenic May Be Linked to Increased Diabetes Risk.)

The researchers explained: Arsenic induces glucose intolerance through a disruption of beta-cell function that alters normal stimulus-secretion coupling.

Understanding how arsenic disrupts the process of insulin secretion is a key component to drum up methods in mitigating risk in the future. The study also suggests that arsenic-induced diabetes may be reversible if policies that reduce environmental exposure are put in place.

Fast facts about arsenic

Arsenic is a naturally occurring element that is found in small amounts in soil, plants, and water. It is heavily used in agriculture as a pesticide component and in industry, where it is used as an alloying agent for the production of glass, pigments, textiles, and adhesives.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) point to industrial and agricultural pollution as the leading sources of arsenic contamination in potable groundwater.

Aside from groundwater, arsenic can also be ingested through fish, meat, poultry, and cereals that have been exposed to a contaminated water source.

When a person is constantly exposed to increased levels of arsenic in the environment, this may increase his risk of developing cancer, diabetes, pulmonary disease, and cardiovascular disease.

Long-term arsenic exposure can affect both pregnant women and their infant. Aside from a risk of infant mortality, it also may affect their cognitive development, intelligence, and memory.

If you suspect your drinking water may be contaminated with arsenic, get in touch with your local health department for their recommended procedures.

If you want to learn more about inorganic arsenic and how it contaminates our water, go to Toxins.news today.

Sources include:

ScienceDaily.com

Physiology.org

WHO.int

CDC.gov(Natural News) THIS IS A NATIONAL EMERGENCY SPECIAL REPORT

As the documents cited here clearly show, President Trump is planning to carry out mass arrests of deep state traitors, including Andrew McCabe, Peter Strzok, James Comey and even Barack Obama. This is fully covered, with accompanying documentation from the U.S. Federal Register, in the links and video below. (This author is fully supportive of this effort to save America and arrest the traitors.)

The confirmation of Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court is the key to getting this done in a timely manner, which explains why the deranged Left is going to such outrageous extremes to fabricate false allegations against Kavanaugh and stage coordinated, well-funded protests to try to block the U.S. Senate from confirming him.

Once Kavanaugh is on the court, it will add the necessary support for constitutional emergency powers that concentrate power in the executive branch of government (currently headed by President Trump) during times of war and national emergencies.

FACT: The United States has been operating under a state of declared war since September, 2001, following the 9/11 attacks.

FACT: The United States has been operating under a declared national emergency, signed by President Trump, since December 20, 2017 (see proof document, below).

In this detailed video analysis, I lay out the evidence for President Trumps plan to issue mass arrests of deep state traitors, then try them for treason under military tribunals. This is justified and lawful because the acts being committed against the United States of America by deep state traitors are acts of treason during a time of declared war. It is no coincidence that President Trump has deliberately funded the U.S. Pentagon with its most massive budgets ever conceived. This is because the Pentagon has agreed to run the military arrests of deep state traitors, under the direction of the Commander-In-Chief, President Trump.

President Trump, I believe, has decided to go to bat for America and utterly destroy the anti-American deep state crime ring that has been working for years to destroy this nation and end its national sovereignty. This will be Trumps legacy. He may not even run for re-election after 2020, since his entire plan to arrest the traitors and restore the rule of law in America will require him to step aside once certain goals are accomplished (see detailed explanation below).

Note that in order to accomplish this, President Trump will need to declare temporary martial law. (UPDATE: See clarification about martial law in the video appended to the end of this article.) He will need our support during this time to maintain order and civility across the nation as the arrests and trials of deep state traitors are under way. We should all expect mass violence and chaos from the Left, which is following the Rules for Radicals, a blueprint for communist revolts and violent overthrow attempts of governments.

See the documents for yourself this is all posted on the U.S. Federal Register government website

Here are the links to the documents cited in this comprehensive video:

Document #1: Executive Order 13818, signed December 20, 2017. Blocking the Property of Persons Involved in Serious Human Rights Abuse or Corruption

This document specifically describes the crimes of Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, James Comey and Robert Mueller under the corruption section, alluding to the Uranium One scandal and Obamas multi-billion dollar money laundering operation that handed nuclear weapons capabilities to Iran. It says that the executive order targets, any foreign person determined by the Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Secretary of State and the Attorney General to be a current or former government official, or a person acting for or on behalf of such an official, who is responsible for or complicit in, or has directly or indirectly engaged in corruption, including the misappropriation of state assets, the expropriation of private assets for personal gain, corruption related to government contracts or the extraction of natural resources, or bribery

This describes precisely what Clinton, Comey, Mueller, Obama, Brennan, McCabe and others carried out under the Obama regime. These are more than just felony federal crimes; they are acts of treason against the United States of America, carried out during a time of declared war.

From that document, here is President Trumps declared national emergency:

I therefore determine that serious human rights abuse and corruption around the world constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States, and I hereby declare a national emergency to deal with that threat.

Document #2: Executive Order 13618, signed July 6, 2012 by President Obama. Assignment of National Security and Emergency Preparedness Communications Functions

This executive order grants the President absolute control over all U.S. media, including internet tech giants (social media), news networks and news websites. It specifically names:

communications that support Continuity of Government; Federal, State, local, territorial, and tribal emergency preparedness and response communications; non-military executive branch communications systems; critical infrastructure protection networks; and non-military communications networks, particularly with respect to prioritization and restoration

Document #3: Executive Order 13825, signed March 1, 2018. 2018 Amendments to the Manual for Courts-Martial, United States

Although much more difficult to read, this document essentially establishes the preservation of the governments right to prosecute crimes of treason and deep state collusion against America, all of which may be prosecuted via military tribunals under existing U.S. law.

This would allow deep state traitors to be arrested by military police and subjected to military trials run by the Pentagon, completely bypassing the corrupt court system which has been deliberately stacked with complicit deep state traitors and resistance judges.

To accomplish this, President Trump must announce temporary martial law

For the record, I wholly support this effort to arrest and prosecute the thousands of deep state traitors who have become a cancer upon America. Were you aware that James Comey was a communist? John Brennan, of course, has remained a communist for his entire adult life, and Barack Obama was a radical Muslim who despised America and worked every day to undermine it through a variety of nefarious means (including allowing U.S. military encryption technology to be captured by Iran via the U.S. drone GPS spoofing incident).

For starters, Barack Obama personally authorized the illegal spygate spying on Trump campaign officials. Barack Obama also allowed China to hack 21 million U.S. military personnel records, effectively dumping the entire U.S. Pentagon database into the hands of Communist China.

For a full, detailed explanation of Obamas treasonous crimes against America, watch this extremely important video from Brighteon.com (it has been banned from YouTube for obvious reasons):

Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John Brennan, Andrew McCabe, Loretta Lynch, Peter Strzok and a long list of other traitors have been conspiring for years to destroy America from within and see it replaced with a communist regime run by authoritarian globalists. Tech giants like Apple, Google and Facebook are all part of the plan, which is exactly why youve seen every one of them working closely with China to roll out authoritarian techno-tyranny infrastructure systems that plan to enslave every citizen of the world, making them powerless and obedient to a globalist technocracy that runs the one world government.

Trumps plan to rescue America from the globalists

In order to halt this global dictatorship and defend America against traitors who are working to destroy it, President Trump must carry out the following actions:

1) Achieve the release of the declassified, unredacted deep state documents from within the FBI and DOJ that will reveal the full extent of deep state treason against America. (The FBI and DOJ are currently stalling this effort, furthering their treason against America and proving they have a lot to hide.) Pelosi, Schumer, Schiff and Warner have already committed acts of treason in calling on the FBI and DOJ to defy this presidential order.

2) Invoke the national emergency powers which are constitutionally granted to the executive branch of government. (Technically, this already happened in 2017.)

3) Invoke President Obamas executive order 13618 and seize control of Google, Facebook, CNN, Washington Post and the New York Times to halt the treasonous lies, coordinated election fraud and political coup attempt which is being run by all these traitors of America.

4) Use all controlled communications channels to publicly declare the details of the crimes (and criminal actors) which have been committed against America. Disclose everything to the America people about how their country had been overrun and destroyed from within.

5) Order military police to find and arrest thousands of deep state traitors who have been deliberately undermining America from within. This will include hundreds of people inside the FBI and DOJ, plus hundreds more in the State Department and other agencies. Arrests must also include traitorous, corrupt federal judges who have deliberately undermined America by, for example, blocking Trumps constitutional travel ban to protect America from enemy terrorists. Many traitors will attempt to flee the country, of course, and they will need to be located and brought to justice like former Nazi war criminals.

6) Issue an executive order demanding national voter ID for all future elections. No longer will America tolerate democracy being stolen by the votes of illegals who are granted voting rights by California and other complicit, anti-America states or cities.

7) Suspend elections during the military tribunals, but lay out a timeline for the restoration of elections and nationwide voting (with voter ID in place) to restore the rule of law and give America back to the American people.

8) Deploy the U.S. military along the southern border. Use the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to build the wall.

9) Promise to resign the presidency once the rule of law is restored in America, signaling to the American people that Trump plans to hand over power to the next elected President within a reasonable time period. Americans will rightly be concerned about martial law morphing into a military dictatorship. Trump needs to assure the American people that his job is to destroy the deep state, restore the rule of law, then get out of the way and retire as the greatest U.S. President in history  the President who saved America from traitors and communists.

The American people will not tolerate a permanent military dictatorship in America, but they will tolerate temporary martial law needed to drain the swamp, arrest the traitors and restore the rule of law.

During this time, by the way, the entire FBI likely needs to be disbanded and rebuilt from scratch. The agencys credibility has been utterly destroyed by the actions of James Comey, Peter Strzok and others.

Watch the full video explaining all this in detail

Heres the link at Brighteon.com:

Brighteon.com/5838929768001

UPDATE: Further clarification about martial law powers and whats needed to save America

Earlier today, Alex Jones picked up this story and republished the article and video at InfoWars.com. This resulted in a huge audience seeing this video, which of course generated a flurry of comments (and some criticism). The biggest question coming out of this was: Do I support martial law under Trump?

To answer this, Ive posted an additional video. It explains how we are already under martial law control of the deep state, and why Trump needs to assert his own executive power to clean out the swamp and ultimately restore America to its constitutional republic status. Ive even suggested that after this is accomplished, Trump should resign and step aside, handing back our country to the people.

What most people fail to realize is that weve been living under many forms of martial law put in place by Obama that are still damaging America and its citizens to this very day. For example:

The tech giants deplatforming of InfoWars, Natural News and other pro-Trump channels is an extremely dangerous form of digital martial law , where citizens who say certain things are not allowed to exist in the online ecosystem.

, where citizens who say certain things are not allowed to exist in the online ecosystem. The left-wing media, now fully complicit in deep state treason against America, is handed daily marching orders by Obamas CIA factions that determine what news is allowed to be broadcast across America. The media is not the media. It is the anti-America propaganda arm of Obamas CIA, which is still in power and still working to destroy this nation.

Deranged left-wing activists have placed all prominent conservatives under a form of de facto martial law where no prominent conservative can venture out in public without being harassed, threatened or violently attacked by hysterical anti-Trump lunatics.

The economic sabotage now being committed against InfoWars and other pro-Trump platforms (by PayPal, Citibank and others) is a form of financial martial law, where deep state-driven financial institutions commit selective economic sabotage against targets identified to them by Obamas CIA.

where deep state-driven financial institutions commit selective economic sabotage against targets identified to them by Obamas CIA. Close associates of Trump now routinely find themselves indicted and prosecuted by Robert Mueller under a kind of prosecutorial martial law where only selected political targets are subjected to legal scrutiny while pro-Clinton operatives are granted universal immunity from all crimes (including those crimes committed by Hillary Clinton herself).

where only selected political targets are subjected to legal scrutiny while pro-Clinton operatives are granted universal immunity from all crimes (including those crimes committed by Hillary Clinton herself). The Obama administration weaponized government agencies against targeted citizens groups, deploying the IRS to enforce a selective taxation martial law policy of denying tax exempt status against conservative non-profits.

The question is not whether you want to live under martial law; the question is whether you want to continue to live under Obamas deep state martial law where the media, the courts, the prosecutors, the tech giants, the IRS and every other element of the deep state is targeting conservatives and Trump supporters for complete destruction.

In order to defeat Obamas deep state treason, we are going to have to go through a lock down period that will enable President Trump, in conjunction with the U.S. military, to carry out the necessary arrests and prosecutions of deep state traitors who have infiltrated every level of the U.S. government. This lock down period needs to be supported by all patriots to give Trump the time he needs to achieve a clean sweep of deep state traitors who, as he explains, have become a cancer on America.

Make no mistake: America is a nation under siege right now. President Trump will need to invoke extraordinary powers to defeat the deep state and deliver America back to the people.

Watch my follow-up video for a more detailed explanation:

Brighteon.com/5839088494001(Natural News) The great campaign to coax more Americans into getting a flu shot seems to get more aggressive every year. As the mainstream media continues to push the narrative that flu vaccines are some sort of miraculous tool for keeping illness at bay, vaccine skeptics like Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are speaking out  and shedding light on the real truth about the flu shot, and the CDC and pharma industrys tactics to keep you compliant with their agenda.

When big business gets to influence public health policies, you know youre in trouble. As RFK Jr. notes, the flu shot market is estimated to be worth around $3 billion  surely nothing to sneeze at. And the pharmaceutical industry (and their CDC cronies) will stop at almost nothing to secure those profits. Along with the endless stream of advertisements imploring Americans to get jabbed, RFK Jr. writes that the CDC recommends creating concern, anxiety and worry among the American public to keep flu shot recipients rolling in.

But the industrys campaign to keep flu shots profitable doesnt end with scare tactics, billboards and other forms of advertisement. The conversation about flu shots (and really, vaccines in general) has devolved into a dictatorial swamp; if you question the products safety and do not subscribe to vaccine ideology, youre blacklisted by the media and labeled as a crazed conspiracy theorist.

Mike Adams, founder of Natural News and director of CWC Labs, has frequently been attacked for revealing inconvenient truths about flu shots and other vaccines. In 2017, Adams reported on shocking scientific data which showed that flu shots actually weaken the human immune system over time  making you more vulnerable to the very disease the shot is supposedly designed to prevent. As the Health Ranger contended, The flu shot narrative pushed by the vaccine industry is a medical hoax thats easily disproved by fact-based evidence.

And as RFK Jr. reports, there truly is no shortage of reasons to be more skeptical now than ever before. He writes:

In 2010, for example, Australia suspended its influenza vaccination program for children under five after one in 110 children experienced convulsions and other serious reactions within hours of getting their flu shots. In Italy in 2014, authorities suspended half a million doses of an influenza vaccine containing a proprietary adjuvant after 13 suspicious deaths occurred in people who got the shot.

In the U.S., similar adverse events have been reported over the years. In January 2018, a flu-vaccinated child passed away suddenly after experiencing flu-like symptoms. And as Vaccine Impact reports, government data indicates that there were 275 cases of vaccine injury or death related to the flu shot in 2017. At least four deaths were related to the flu vaccine.

The flu shot is widely regarded as the most dangerous vaccine  and government data seems to support this assertion; of the 332 vaccine injury cases looked at between November 2016 and August 2017, 275 were related to the flu shot  quite the majority.

RFK Jr. points to the myriad of toxic ingredients found in this injectable cocktail as harbingers of death and disease. The most highly contested vaccine ingredient is undoubtedly thimerosal. Thimerosal is a mercury-containing preservative that is still used in flu vaccines. Despite safety assurances, thimerosal is nearly 50 percent mercury by weight. And as Mike Adams revealed last year, a flu shot that contains 50 micrograms of thimerosal will ultimately contain 25 micrograms of mercury  and there is no safe amount of this toxic heavy metal; it poses a threat to health in any amount. And this is what we are giving to children? Thimerosal is just one of many hazardous ingredients found in flu shots; formaldehyde and bacterial endotoxins are some other concerning ingredients to look out for.

More, RFK Jr. notes that NVICP flu vaccine settlements increased by a staggering 1100 percent between 2014 and 2015  skyrocketing up from $4.9 million to $61 million in a single year. Why do you think that is?

Sources for this article include:

GreenMedInfo.com

NaturalNews.com

VaccineImpact.comHundreds of guns and multiple cases of ammunition were seized from a Lakeside home during a raid tied to a year-long, multi-agency crackdown on San Diego County gangs, according to a complaint unsealed Thursday.

Inside Robert Thomas Welsh's home, the San Diego Sheriffs Department found 228 firearms, including AR-15 rifles and guns with destroyed serial numbers, multiple high capacity magazines and firearms silencers.

Welsh is one of 27 people indicted by the Southern District of California U.S. Attorney's Office for their alleged connection to criminal gang activity in San Diego County, according to a complaint unsealed Thursday.

Welsh told deputies that he considers himself a stay at home dad and has been colecting guns for more than 15 years, the complaint said.

The defendants were charged with racketeering, drug trafficking, and felony firearm possession, among others. All entered a plea of not guilty to their charges.

If convicted, the defendants could face anywhere from three years to life in prison. They are set to next appear in court on September 25.

About 200 local, state and federal law enforcement agencies raided dozens of locations in San Diego County before dawn Thursday looking for people who were believed to be street gang members and members of the Mexican Mafia prison gang, U.S. Attorney Adam Braverman said.

A total of 20 people are in custody. Another five suspects remain at large, the attorney's office said.

About seven pounds of methamphetamine with an estimated street value of over $150,000 was also seized as a result of the raids.

The raids came as the result of an investigation into drug and gun-related conspiracies that includes allegations of attempted kidnapping and attempted armed robbery, both of which were thwarted by law enforcement, according to the the U.S. attorneys office.

The U.S. attorney's office said the year-long investigation was part of Project Safe Neighborhoods backed by Attorney General Jeff Sessions.Police in Sharon, Massachusetts are actively searching for a missing 12-year-old boy.

Alex Kapinos was last seen around 10:30 a.m. on Sunday near the Cottage Street School. Kapinos is described as Hispanic, 5 feet tall and has a thin build.

He was wearing a black sweatshirt with a neon yellow No. 1 on the chest with a neon yellow hood, black pants and red sneakers.

If you have seen Kapinos or know his location, please call the Sharon Police Department at 781-784-1587.A shooting in Jamaica Plain on Saturday has turned fatal, the Boston Police Department confirmed early Sunday morning.

Police responded to a call near 140 South St. on Saturday at about 9:48 p.m. Upon arrival, they discovered a male victim suffering from a gunshot wound.

The victim, believed to be in his late 20s, was transported to an area hospital where he later died.

No further information has been released on the victim. The case is currently under investigation and anyone with information is asked to contact Boston Police Homicide Detectives at (617) 343-4470.A man on a bicycle was killed and 13 other people were wounded in a series of shootings in Chicago over 24 hours Saturday.

The day began with a string of shootings near Garfield Park on the West Side between midnight and 3 a.m., according to Chicago police. A single drive-by shooting wounded three people, including a woman, as they stood outside in the 100 block of North Karlov Avenue.

Saturdays only homicide happened later in the day in the University Village neighborhood on the Near West Side, police said.

At 9:54 p.m., Gregory Brown, 35, was riding a bicycle when another male on foot shot at him in the 1300 block of West Hastings, according to Chicago police and the Cook County medical examiners office.

Brown was struck in the shoulder and was taken to Stroger Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, authorities said. He lived a block away from where he was shot.

In nonfatal shootings, a 26-year-old woman was wounded when someone opened fire into a crowd near her in the South Side Englewood neighborhood. She was sitting in a car at 11:35 p.m. in the 6400 block of South Lowe Avenue when someone in a passing black SUV opened fire at the crowd, police said.

She was struck in her left arm and was taken to Saint Bernard Hospital in good condition, according to police. No other injuries were reported.

At 7:47 p.m., a man was wounded in the Brainerd neighborhood on the South Side.

The 26-year-old was sitting on a front porch when he was shot in his chest in the 9000 block of South Marshfield Avenue, according to police.

He was taken to Christ Medical Center where he was in critical condition, police said. He told police he did not know where the shots came from.

Over an hour earlier, a man was shot in the Bridgeport neighborhood on the South Side.

About 6:30 p.m., the 34-year-old was a passenger in the back seat of a vehicle driving east in the 400 block of West 26th Street when he heard gunshots and felt pain, according to police.

He was shot in his right foot and he took himself to Mercy Hospital where he was in good condition, police said.

In other shootings Saturday:According to Indian Navy sources, the Indian Stealth Frigate INS Satpura can reach the current location only by Friday at the earliest.

Kochi: Naval Commander Abhilash Tomy will be picked up in the next 16 hours by French vessel Osiris. Thereafter, he is likely to be transferred to the Australian Naval ship HMAS Ballarat, which has already left Perth to take him.

According to Indian Navy sources, the Indian Stealth Frigate INS Satpura can reach the current location only by Friday at the earliest.

INS Satpura, under the command of Captain Alok Ananda, was at sea somewhere in the Indian Ocean when he was tasked to rescue Captain Tomy. Alok turned his frigate towards the last known position of the stranded sailor. As his ship gained speed and cruised on high seas in the rough weather, Aloks father who seriously ill at his hometown due to old age in Muzaffarpur, Uttar Pradesh, breathed his last on the same day.

The Indian Naval Defence Attache in Australia is camping in regional Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC).

Earlier, the Indian Navy helicopter P8I on Sunday located Naval Commander Abhilash Tomy, who was injured after his sailing vessel Thuriya was hit by heavy storm the other day. He had suffered a serious back injury on Friday after the mast of the boat had broken in the storm.

According to the Navy, the boat is currently in the south Indian Ocean, approximately 1900 nautical miles from Perth, Australia and about 2700 nautical miles from Cape Comorin. The Australian Rescue Coordination centre at Canberra is coordinating the rescue mission in conjunction with many agencies including the Australian Defence Department and Indian Navy. The Indian Navy helicopter P8I was launched at 2 am on Saturday from Port Louis in Mauritius. According to rescue officials who got a visual of the boat, the vessels mast has been broken and hanging on the side. There are heavy clouds and rains in the area, they said in a statement. Indian stealth frigate INS Satpura with a Chetak helicopter and tanker INS Jyoti operating in the Indian Ocean have been dispatched and is heading at top speed to reach Tomy, said officials.

Earlier, the aircraft radars and EO/IR cameras could not pick up the yacht at first owing to rough sea. It was after about 20 minutes of search the crew sighted the boat first. The position was immediately passed on to Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre (JRCC) Australia and War room Delhi through British telecommunications satellite INMARSAT.Father Paul Kalchik, the pastor of Resurrection Parish, was removed abruptly Saturday, 10 days after participating in what he called an exorcism ceremony, which included burning a rainbow pride flag.

NBC 5 has obtained the letter sent to parishioners by Cardinal Blase Cupich, who ordered the priest seek treatment.

Kalchik, according to multiple sources, was removed moments before he was to preside at a wedding Saturday afternoon, according to the source close to Fr. Kalchik. Newly installed Auxiliary Bishop Mart Bartosic was sent to Resurrection Parish by Cardinal Blase Cupich to tell Kalchik he had to leave or the police would be called to arrest him for trespassing.

Kalchik  who had been Resurrections pastor for 11 years  left with his brother, who had been visiting, a primary source said.

The wedding mass was instead performed by Bishop Bartosic.

The source close to Fr. Kalchik told NBC 5 that on Friday, two priests sent by Cupich, met Kalchik and requested he leave and undergo psychiatric counseling after the burning of the rainbow pride flag last week. Kalchiks disagreements with the Cardinal included him recently calling for Catholics to boycott masses Cupich presided over.

It was revealed just this week that a rainbow pride flag that had hung in the church sanctuary, was burned outside the church 10 days ago.

"There have been death threats against him and even his elderly parents, and lots of threats of vandalism to the Church," the primary source said.

That source believes its best Kalchik is removed for his safety.

Cardinal Blase Cupichs letter was forwarded to parishioners Saturday evening stating:

For some weeks now, I have become increasingly concerned about a number of issues at Resurrection Parish. It has become clear to me that Fr. Kalchik must take time away from the parish to receive pastoral support so his needs can be assessed. Effectively immediately, I have appointed Msgr. James Kaczorowski, Pastor of Queen of Angels Parish and Dean, as Administrator of Resurrection Parish, effective tonight.

I do not take this step lightly. Rather, I act out of concern for Fr. Kalchiks welfare and that of the people of Resurrection Parish. I have a responsibility to be supportive of our priests when they have difficulties, but I also have a duty to ensure that those who serve our faithful are fully able to minister to them in the way the Church expects.

Bishop Mark Bartosic, your Episcopal Vicar, will monitor the situation along with the Administrator to ensure that you as parishioners receive appropriate pastoral care.

The flag, which hung in the sanctuary of the church more than 25 years ago, had been taken down and put in storage, but was burned in a quiet ceremony this week.

A Chicago Parish is causing controversy after parishioners ignored an order from the Chicago Archdiocese and burned a rainbow pride flag. NBC 5s Mary Ann Ahern reports.

We did (burn the flag) in a private way, so as not to bring the ire of the gay community down upon this parish, Rev. Paul Kalchik told NBC News.

Originally, Kalchik posted in the church bulletin that he had planned to burn the flag in a public ceremony on Sept. 29, as part of the Feast of Saint Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, but the Chicago Archdiocese intervened, asking the parish to refrain from the burning.

Social media posts showed the flag, which featured a rainbow and the cross, burning behind the church this week.

We put an end to a depiction of the Lords Cross that was profane, Kalchik said. We took matters into our own hands and said a prayer of exorcism over this thing. It was cut into seven pieces, so it was burned over stages in the same fire pit that we used for the Easter vigil mass.

Kalchik told the Chicago Sun-Times he was sexually abused by a neighbor and a priest when he was a teen, and blamed homosexuality for the sex abuse scandals in the Catholic Church.

He also said the Archdiocese threatened him with canonical penalties if he went through with the flag burning.

Last week, in a statement to NBC 5, the Archdiocese said they were following up on the situation, and that as Catholics, we affirm the dignity of all persons.

Dignity USA, a Catholic organization that advocates for equality, said the flag burning was disrespectful and destructive.

[NATL] Top News Photos: Pope Visits Japan, and More

Those involved in this desecration are violating the core values of the Catholic faith, a spokeswoman for the group said in a statement to NBC News. They are hijacking the parish to further an extremist agenda, and damaging the community in doing so.

Also, Alderman Deb Mell, whose ward includes Resurrection Parish, held a protest in front of the church once the flag burning was revealed. She then thanked Cardinal Cupich on Twitter for taking swift action and listening to the concerns of our community by removing Father Paul Kalchik.The Quinnipiac University mens lacrosse team has been suspended due to allegations of violations to the student conduct policy, school officials confirmed Sunday.

The school did not specify what violations may have occurred but confirmed the team was barred from practicing or playing in competitions.

This suspension, which takes effect immediately, prohibits all team activity, including practicing and representing the university in competitions. With the well-being of our students being our top priority, the university has zero tolerance for any behavior that endangers any member of the university community, wrote Lynn Bushnell, the universitys vice president for public affairs.

More details were not immediately available. Check back for updates.Minnesota state Rep. Jim Knoblach abruptly ended his re-election campaign Friday amid allegations of inappropriate touching from his adult daughter.

Minnesota Public Radio reported the announcement came hours after the St. Cloud Republican's attorney, Susan Gaertner, denied the allegations in an interview with the station. She said the veteran lawmaker "does not want to drag his family through six weeks of hell."

Knoblach's 23-year-old daughter, Laura, told MPR that he inappropriately touched her for most of her life, with her first memories starting when she was 9 years old and continuing until she was 21. She said the activity included kissing, licking and biting her ears. She said she confided in close friends, family and authority figures at her school and church about his actions for more than a decade.

In a written statement, Jim Knoblach called the allegations "indescribably hurtful" and said he felt he had no other choice but to drop out of the race so he could work toward healing his family.

"I love my children more than anything, and would never do anything to hurt them. Her allegations are false," Knoblach wrote. "I and other family members have made repeated attempts to reconcile with her in recent years, but she has refused."

Knoblach, 60, is chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, which has jurisdiction over budget matters. The timing of his exit could make his seat, already a top target for Democrats, difficult for Republicans to hold absent some kind of court intervention or a write-in campaign by a substitute candidate. Dan Wolgamott of St. Cloud is the Democratic candidate.

House Speaker Kurt Daudt, who's trying to preserve what he can of the GOP's current 21-seat majority in the House, said in a statement that he supported Knoblach's decision.

The St. Cloud Police Department and Sherburne County sheriff's office began an investigation last year but declined to file charges. After exhausting other means, Laura Knoblach made the allegations to MPR on the record and supplied extensive documentation about her attempts to get help. The documentation included a letter from the Sherburne County attorney's office saying there was "insufficient evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Jim Knoblach had committed a crime."

Laura Knoblach told MPR she first remembers her father coming into her room after she'd gone to bed. She said he climbed in and laid down behind her.

"He would put his arm around me and not let me get up or get away and he would lick my neck or bite my ear," she told the station.

These visits to her room, or similar kissing across her arms and neck and biting her ears while they watched movies on the couch, happened so often throughout her childhood and teenage years it became a defining part of their relationship, she said.

Other routine behaviors, she said, including more than 30 instances where her father approached her from behind and pressed his body against hers in the kitchen, pinning her against the refrigerator or dishwasher and using his weight and strength to keep her from getting away.

Jim Knoblach said in his statement that he wasn't willing to spend six weeks fighting with his daughter in the media.

"Our daughter has been estranged from our family for some time," he said. "In late 2016 she made some extremely hurtful and untrue accusations on a Facebook post, which was briefly put up and then taken down. These accusations were fully investigated by Sherburne County, dismissed, and the case closed in April 2017."Authorities say bananas donated to a Texas prison turned out to have nearly $18 million worth of cocaine hidden inside the boxes.

The Texas Department of Criminal Justice says in a Facebook post that the drugs were found in two pallets of bananas that were donated because they were already ripe. The donation arrived Friday.

2 sergeants from the Scott Unit alerted Customs when they found a white powder in a donated box of bananas in Freeport this morning.



The substance was tested. Cocaine! 540 bundles, $17,820,000 worth, were on the shipment!



The DEA and Customs are continuing their investigation. pic.twitter.com/O3yRpZBClN  TDCJ (@TDCJ) September 21, 2018

The department says sergeants who picked up the boxes found a bundle of a white powdery substance under the bananas. U.S. customs officials were called to the scene, and authorities say 540 packages of cocaine were found in 45 boxes of bananas.

The department says federal officials and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection are investigating.Saturday marked a big day for one of Fort Worth's most enduring mysteries. Three girls, known as the "missing trio," disappeared while shopping for Christmas presents in 1974.

Saturday, a volunteer dive team set out to lift two cars from the bottom of Benbrook Lake that the girls' families believe may be connected to the case.

The first car came up easily, with a crowd of people who've followed this case over the years looking on. That car is already off with a team of forensic scientists looking for evidence, but the second car proved as difficult to uncover as the truth in this decades-old mystery.

UPDATE: Family members tell NBC5 forensic scientists did not find any remains, nor any sign of the missing girls in the first car retrieved. They were able to find a VIN number that investigators are now tracing to see if it connects to any other cases.

When you've waited nearly 44 years for answers, any step toward closure feels enormous.

"We try and try and try to just keep on going, we have to, we can't give up," said Fran Langston, one of the missing girl's mothers.

Langston is still searching for her daughter Rachel Arnold Trlica. Rachel was 17 the last time anyone saw her, shopping for Christmas presents with her friend Renee Wilson, 14, and neighbor Julie Moseley, 9, at Seminary South Shopping Center in 1974.

"Seems like every time I turn a corner, I see a little girl who looks just like her," Langston said.

Over four decades, Rachel's family has done its own detective work, leading them to Benbrook Lake.

"There was a car that we couldn't find out what happened to it and we figured this would be the closest place," said Rachel's brother Rusty Arnold.

Texas EquuSearch used sonar technology to locate three cars in the lake. The family hoped one of them may be tied to a person of interest.

So on Saturday, a team of volunteer divers set out to drag two of them out of the water. The first came easily.

"Trying to determine if the car's a crime scene, if there's any bodies in the cars, if there's any jewelry or something that might lead to something," Arnold said.

The second car is a bigger challenge. It's flipped upside down and stuck deep in the mud. When airbag lifts weren't enough, divers tried to dig with shovels.

To Julie Moseley's brother, watching from the banks of the lake, it felt like a metaphor for the past 40 years.

"Yeah it'd be nice to get all of this unstuck and get it figured out," Moseley said. "I don't know if it's going to happen."

"Whether we find the girls or we don't, still we get to clear this one out," Arnold said. "We get to walk away with this behind us, knowing that we can move on to something else."

Around 5:30 .p.m. the divers decided to give up on freeing the second car for the day. They plan to come back to try again in two weeks.

The divers are volunteers because Fort Worth police said there's not enough evidence to risk such a dangerous dive. They won't even confirm there ever was a missing car in this case.

But for the families of three young girls gone without a trace, it's time to know for sure.Gray muck is flowing into the Cape Fear River from the site of a dam breach at a Wilmington power plant where an old coal ash dump had been covered over by Florence's floodwaters.

Forecasters predicted the water will continue to rise through the weekend at the L.V. Sutton Power Station. Duke Energy spokeswoman Paige Sheehan said the utility doesn't believe the breach poses a significant threat of increased flooding to nearby communities.

Sheehan said the company can't rule out that ash might be escaping the flooded dump and flowing through the lake into the river.

Inspectors with the state Department of Environmental Quality traveled to the plant by boat on Sunday to collect water quality samples. Environmental Secretary Mike Regan said aerial video of the site show "potential coal ash" flowing into the river.

"When the environment is conducive, we will put people on the ground to verify the amount of potential coal ash that could have left and entered those flood waters," Regan said.

Floodwaters breached several points early Friday in the earthen dam at Sutton Lake, the plant's 1,100-acre (445-hectare) reservoir. Lake water then flooded one of three large coal ash dumps lining the lakeshore.

The ash left over when coal is burned to generate electricity contains mercury, lead, arsenic and other toxic heavy metals. Duke said Friday the plant's inundated basin contains about 400,000 cubic yards (305,820 cubic meters) of ash.

The area received more than 30 inches (75 centimeters) of rain from former Hurricane Florence, with the Cape Fear River still rising and expected to crest Sunday and remain at flood stage through early next week.

Gray material the company characterized as "coal combustion byproducts" could be seen floating in the lake and river.

Earthjustice, an environmental advocacy group with a boat in the river, provided The Associated Press with images Friday showing wide gray slicks in the water. A team member plucked a turtle from the muck and rinsed it off.

"Any big spill like this raises concerns about the impacts on the estuary ecosystem in the lower Cape Fear River," said Pete Harrison, a staff attorney with Earthjustice on the boat. "This is Duke's third coal ash spill in the aftermath of Hurricane Florence, and it looks like it's the biggest yet."

Environmental Protection Agency regional administrator Trey Glenn said Friday his staff was monitoring the situation at Sutton from the state Emergency Operations Center in Raleigh, about 150 miles (240 kilometers) northwest of the Sutton plant. He said dozens of EPA staff were scattered throughout the region impacted by Florence, checking on toxic waste sites and oil storage facilities.

He said EPA has offered to help North Carolina officials respond to the Sutton incident.

"As of this evening, North Carolina has not requested additional support," he said.

Security personnel for Duke blocked access Friday to Sutton Lake Road, leading to a public dock on the reservoir, a popular boating and fishing site.

Duke denied a request for an Associated Press reporter to cross the barricade, saying the lake situation "continues to change" and is "not safe."

Sutton Lake is the former cooling pond for a coal-fired plant Duke retired in 2013 and replaced with a new generating station running off natural gas. Duke said that power plant was shut down overnight and all employees safely evacuated.

The breach at the Wilmington site is separate from last weekend's reported rupture at a nearby coal ash landfill, which spilled enough material to fill 180 dump trucks.

Duke's ash waste management has faced intense scrutiny since a drainage pipe collapsed under a waste pit at an old plant in Eden in 2014, triggering a massive spill that coated miles of the Dan River in gray sludge. The utility later agreed to plead guilty to nine Clean Water Act violations and pay $102 million in fines and restitution for illegally discharging pollution from ash dumps at five North Carolina power plants. It plans to close all its ash dumps by 2029.

At the separate Duke plant near Goldsboro, three old coal-ash dumps capped with soil and trees were underwater Thursday after the Neuse River flooded.

Staff from the environmental group Waterkeeper Alliance visited the flooded dumps at the H.F. Lee Power Plant by boat Wednesday, took photographs and collected samples of gray sludge washing into the floodwaters.

State environmental regulators visited the site Thursday, but said they could not make a full assessment because of high water levels. The Duke spokeswoman Sheehan said any coal ash release at the Goldsboro site appeared "minimal."

Meanwhile, South Carolina's state-owned utility said floodwaters had also entered a coal ash dump at its closed Grainger plant near Conway.

Santee Cooper spokeswoman Mollie Gore said no significant environmental impact is expected because nearly all the ash has been removed from the basin and water pumped in to prevent the dike from breaking.

The company had placed a 2 -foot (72-centimeter) high inflatable berm around the top of a second pond that has more coal ash in it. She estimates 200,000 tons (181 million kilograms) of ash are in a corner of the pond furthest from the rising Waccamaw River.

River forecasts project the Waccamaw will reach a new historic flood level this weekend, eclipsing a record height set by Hurricane Matthew in 2016.

Associated Press reporters Jeffrey Collins and Denise Lavoie contributed to this story.Armando Tabora desperately wants to get his teenage daughter out of the government detention facility where she has been for more than three months. He has been stymied at every turn.

The Florida landscaping worker took the bold step of going to a government office to submit fingerprints and other documents required for immigrants to get their children out of government custody  and now that information is being shared with deportation agents. He was then told that the woman he rents a room from would also need to submit fingerprints, something she refused to do. He then sought out friends who are here legally to help him out, to no avail.

"I don't know what to do," said Tabora, an immigrant from Honduras who has lived more than a decade in the shadows without being detected. "My daughter is desperate, crying. She wants to get out of there."

The drama of parents being separated from their children at the border dominated the headlines this year, but thousands of immigrant families are experiencing a similar frustration: the increasing hurdles they must surmount to take custody of sons, daughters and relatives who crossed the border on their own.

The Trump administration has imposed more stringent rules and vetting for family members to get these children back as part of an across-the-board hardening of immigration policy.

As a result, family members are struggling to comply with the new requirement, keeping children in detention longer and helping the number of migrant kids in government custody soar to the highest levels ever. Federal officials insist the policies are about ensuring the safety of children.

More than 12,000 children are now in government shelters, compared with 2,400 in May 2017. The average length that children spend in detention has increased from 40 days in fiscal year 2016 to 59 in fiscal year 2018, according to federal data.

The requirements include the submission of fingerprints by all adults in the household where a migrant child will live. These sponsors  the term the U.S. uses for adults who take custody of immigrant children  are also subject to more background checks, proofs of income and home visits, lawyers say.

And this information will now be shared with Immigration and Customs Enforcement  something that did not occur in the past. ICE said this week that the agency has arrested 41 sponsors since the agencies started sharing information in June.

Lawyers and advocates say that change has had a chilling effect because many family members live in the country illegally and have been deterred from claiming relatives for fear they will be deported.

"They are saying: 'We are going after the people trying to take care of them (children),'" said Jen Podkul, director of policy at Kids in Need of Defense.

The government has long required families to go through some vetting to serve as sponsors. The issue has become more prevalent in the last five years when tens of thousands of unaccompanied children from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras started coming across the border.

Since October 2014, the federal government has placed more than 150,000 unaccompanied minors with parents or other adult sponsors who are expected to care for the children and help them attend school while they seek legal status in immigration court.

Under Trump, the rules have been toughened in what the administration says are necessary steps to keep children from ending up in the homes of people with criminal records and other issues that could endanger kids.

"If somebody is unwilling to claim their child from custody because they're concerned about their own immigration status, I think that de facto calls into question whether they're an adequate sponsor and whether we should be releasing the child to that person," Steven Wagner, acting assistant secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services' Administration for Children and Families, said when the policy was announced in May.

The issue of sharing information with ICE arises because children and adult immigrants are handled by separate federal government agencies. Children are in the custody of the Health and Human Services Department's Office of Refugee Resettlement, while adults are handled by ICE.

Until the new fingerprinting policy took effect, the government rarely shared such information with immigration officials unless a fingerprint match showed that a potential sponsor had a particularly alarming record, said Holly Cooper, co-director of the Immigration Law Clinic at the University of California, Davis.

The tougher rules have put many immigrants in the position of doing something that once seemed unthinkable: turning over their fingerprints and other information knowing that it'll be shared with ICE.

Marvin Puerto did just that to get custody of his 9-year-old son, Nahun. Puerto crossed the border in 2014 and has been trying to live in Missouri in the shadows since then. He and his wife, Eilyn Carbajal, waited two months to get custody of the boy.

"I did not want to do the fingerprints, but I had no choice", said the 29-year-old construction worker. "Now they have all my information. I feel they are going to accuse me of smuggling family members."

Workers at The Hispanic Interest Coalition of Alabama say that after the Office of Refugee Resettlement started sharing information with ICE in June, two to four sponsors a week did not show up for appointments and a few who did visit refused to get fingerprinted.

After the New York Civil Liberties Union sued in February on behalf of a detained Salvadoran teen and his mother, the government was required to release case files on 45 children held under similar circumstances. In about half a dozen of those cases, reluctance to provide fingerprints was a factor in holding up children's release, forcing some sponsors to scramble for another place to live and others to drop out of the application process, the NYCLU said.

If unaccompanied minors are not placed with sponsors they can end up in a federal foster care program. Some could be deported to the same dangers from which they fled.

Many of the parents and other relatives trying to secure their children's release are poor and, to cover expenses, often share homes with others who are unrelated or in the country illegally. Many of those roommates have been reluctant to submit their fingerprints.

For Adan, a 27-year-old Guatemalan living in south Florida, leaving his 17-year-old sister in detention was out of the question. He followed the process and was given custody of her. Now, he wants to leave his apartment.

"I feel I need to move to have a sense of security", said the landscaper about ICE knowing where he lives. He did not provide a last name because of his immigration status.On the same day Arab separatists killed at least 25 people in an attack targeting a military parade in southwestern Iran, President Donald Trump's lawyer mounted a stage in New York to declare that the government would be toppled.

"I don't know when we're going to overthrow them. It could be in a few days, months or a couple of years, but it's going to happen," former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani said Saturday. "They are going to be overthrown. The people of Iran obviously have had enough."

For Iran's Shiite theocracy, comments like these only fuel fears that America and its Gulf Arab allies are plotting to tear the Islamic Republic apart.

Those threats so far haven't led to a military confrontation or violence, but the risk is rising.

"Undoubtedly the Islamic Republic of Iran will not ignore this crime. It is absolutely clear for us who did that, what group they are and with whom they are affiliated," Iranian President Hassan Rouhani warned before leaving for New York for the United Nations General Assembly. "All of those small mercenary countries that we see in this region are backed by America. It is Americans who instigate them and provide them with necessary means to commit these crimes."

Rouhani is a relative moderate who was elected twice on promises to improve relations with West, and who signed the 2015 nuclear agreement. At the U.N. General Assembly that year, he declared that "a new chapter had started in Iran's relations with the world."

"For the first time, two sides rather than negotiating peace after war, engaged in dialogue and understanding before the eruption of conflict."

An eruption now seems more likely. What changed in the meantime seems to be the politics of the region and the U.S. While America's Sunni Gulf Arab allies in the region criticized the nuclear deal, many later acknowledged that it did what it was designed to do.

Iran limited its enrichment of uranium, making it virtually impossible for it to quickly develop nuclear weapons, something the government insists it has never sought. In exchange, some international sanctions were lifted, allowing Iran to rejoin the global financial system and sell its crude oil to American allies.

Over time, however, Gulf states adopted an increasingly harder tone with Iran. Officials in Tehran point to comments by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, now next in line to the throne in Iran's Mideast archrival.

"We know we are a main target of Iran," Prince Mohammed said in a 2017 interview, shortly before becoming crown prince. "We are not waiting until there becomes a battle in Saudi Arabia, so we will work so that it becomes a battle for them in Iran and not in Saudi Arabia."

He did not elaborate, though the kingdom and its allies were mired then as they are now  in a war in Yemen against Iran-aligned Shiite rebels. While Iran denies arming the rebels, known as Houthis, U.N. investigators, analysts and Western nations all say Tehran supplies weapons ranging from assault rifles to the ballistic missiles, which have been fired deep into Saudi territory.

After Prince Mohammed's comments last year, Saudi-aligned satellite news channels began playing up stories about Iranian opposition and exile groups. They also began publicizing the nighttime pipeline attacks by Arab separatists in Khuzestan, Iran's oil-rich southwestern province, which Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein tried to seize in his 1980s war with Iran.

Those separatists claimed responsibility for Saturday's attack in Ahvaz, Khuzestan's capital, which struck one of many parades in the country marking the start of the 1980s war. Iranian officials, who blame the separatists for the attack, say the militants wore military uniforms and hid their weapons along the parade route ahead of time  showing a level of sophistication previously unseen by the separatists.

There has been no direct evidence linking the separatists to Saudi Arabia. However, Iranian officials have seized on the fact the separatists immediately made their claim of responsibility on a Saudi-linked, Farsi-language satellite news channel based in Britain.

The United States has meanwhile been ramping up pressure on Iran since Trump withdrew from the nuclear agreement in May, restoring crippling sanctions and voicing support for anti-government protests fueled by economic woes.

The Trump administration has said its actions aren't aimed at toppling Iran's government. But in the meantime, Giuliani has continued speaking before meetings of an exiled Iranian opposition group. Before being appointed national security adviser earlier this year, John Bolton gave impassioned speeches calling for regime change.

"The declared policy of the United States of America should be the overthrow of the mullahs' regime in Tehran," Bolton told Iranian exiles in July 2017. "The behavior and the objectives of the regime are not going to change, and therefore, the only solution is to change the regime itself.

He added, to cheers: "And that's why before 2019, we here will celebrate in Tehran."Disneylands annual Halloween party is now completely sold out within days of the first party night last Wednesday.

Mickey's Halloween Party will be held on 15 separate nights between Sept. 19 and Halloween and includes trick-or-treating stations throughout the park, the Headless Horseman riding down Main Street, the Frightfully Fun Parade, the Cadaver Dans  an a capella group singing spooky favorites  and Halloween Screams Fireworks. Guests are also encouraged to wear costumes.

NBC Bay Area

The party runs from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. on weeknights and from 7 p.m. to 12 a.m. on Fridays and ticket holders may enter the party three hours before the party. Tickets started at $105 for non-pass holders.

Tickets for the various party nights went on sale last June and several nights were still available until mid-September. Some tickets are available on third-party websites at more than twice the original prices.

CSNPhilly.com

Although tickets for the party are sold out, much of Disneys Halloween Time fun is available during regular park hours, including riding Haunted Mansion Holiday and Space Mountain Ghost Galaxy, the Main Street Pumpkin Festival, Disney Jr. fans can meet Vampira at California Adventure or ride Guardians of the Galaxy  Monsters After Dark and Halloween decorations bedeck both parks.

Mickeys Halloween Party started in 1995. There was no party between 1997 until it was revived as Mickeys Halloween Treat in 2005 at Disneys California Adventure. The party returned to Disneyland Park in 2010.

Mickeys Halloween Party requires a separate ticket from regular park admission, and unlike normal Disneyland tickets, only a limited number are sold for each night, leaving the park less packed than usual.

The party usually sells out each year by September.A 43-year-old motorist allegedly driving under the influence led authorities on a pursuit in a stolen truck driving the wrong way on the Pasadena (110) and Golden State (5) freeways Saturday before ditching the vehicle and running to a family member's home in Lincoln Heights, authorities said.

Cesar Govea was arrested on suspicion of several charges, including assaulting a peace officer and possession of a controlled substance, the California Highway Patrol reported.

A little after 2 a.m., the CHP was requested by the Los Angeles Police Department to take over a pursuit of a white 2001 Chevrolet box truck, displaying a Missouri license plate registered to a different vehicle. CHP officers picked up the pursuit when the truck transitioned to the northbound Harbor (110) Freeway from the eastbound Santa Monica (10) Freeway.

Govea, the lone occupant inside the truck registered to him, allegedly drove about 60 to 70 miles per hour on the freeway and surface streets, running several red lights and stop signs in the Lincoln Heights area.

"Govea would intermittently re-enter and exit from surface streets, to both I-5 and I-110 going the wrong direction," the CHP said.

His truck side-swiped a big rig while going southbound in the northbound lanes of the Golden State (5) Freeway near Humboldt Street and continued going in the wrong direction, the CHP said, exiting the wrong way on an on-ramp.

Govea stopped the truck on Avenue 26 and ran to a balcony of an apartment building near Humboldt Street, which was a family member's home. He was taken into custody there.The two-day Delhi BJP executive meet will conclude on Saturday evening.

New Delhi: BJP national general secretary Anil Jain on Saturday came down heavily on the partys city unit for its failure to return to power since 1998.

Addressing the Delhi BJP executive meet at Dr Ambedkar International Centre, Dr Jain said that they (Delhi BJP) feel ashamed for not returning to power in 20 years. A senior Delhi BJP office-bearer said Dr Jain also pointed out that leaders in the pa-rty unit, instead of working on ground among people, are busy in the chaplushi of senior or central leaders.

According to a Delhi BJP insider, Dr Jain advised the party and its leadership to improve its functioning so that it can ret-urn to power in the national capital when the next Assembly election is held.

A member of the Delhi BJP executive told this newspaper that due to non seriousness, the whole purpose of the two-day meet was lost.

When Delhi BJP in-charge Shyam Jaju was speaking, the senior leaders sitting on the stage were seen busy with their mobile phones. Their non serious attitude towards Mr Jajus address sent a wrong message among the cadres sitting in front of the stage, he added.

The two-day Delhi BJP executive meet will conclude on Saturday evening. The prevailing political situation and the ongoing sealing drive on the direction of the Supreme Court appointed monitoring committee was discussed in the meeting. Briefing the media about the executive meet, Delhi BJP president Manoj Tiwari said that Saturdays meet had extensive discussion on the ongoing sealing campaign in Delhi and the house unanimously condemned the misuse of the courts orders. It also denounced the pick-and-choose method of sealing adopted by the monitoring committee. The Delhi BJP executive meeting resolv-ed to strongly oppose this irrational sealing.

It is sad that at several places in Delhi colossal illegal constructions have been done on government lands, including at Okhla, where the illegal construction mafia has encroached upon the Yamuna bank too. It is unfortunate that the monitoring committee remains occupied in targeting small commercial establishments and neglects the massive structures raised on public land, said Mr Tiwari.

In the matter of massive constructions at Okhla in the river belt, even the Delhi high court and NGT have taken cognisance and have passed orders for demolition, but the monitoring committee continues to remain ignorant, said Mr Tiwari.California restaurants that sell kids' meals will have to offer milk or water as the default drink option beginning in 2019.

Kids' meals will have to be served with non-dairy alternative of less than 130 calories, water or flavored water with no added sweeteners. Sodas and sugary drinks will be available by request.

The law follows ordinances enacted in a number of cities and counties around the state in recent years.

"Our state is in the midst of a public health crisis where rates of preventable health conditions like obesity and Type-2 Diabetes are skyrocketing, due in large part to increased consumption of sugary beverages," State Senator Bill Monning, the law's author, said in a statement.

According to Monning, parents are more likely to choose a sugary drink for their children when it is the default option, even when a healthier choice is available.

Restaurants failing to follow the new law will face a minor penalty, additional violations over five- year period would result in fines starting at $250, but only a single fine would be assessed by inspection.Three years to the day of the victim's death, a 25-year-old man was sentenced Friday to life in prison without the possibility of parole for killing a University of California Los Angeles student whose body was found after a fire at her Westwood apartment.

Alberto Hinojosa Medina, a former Fresno State University student, was convicted in May of first-degree murder for the Sept. 21, 2015, slaying of Andrea DelVesco, along with the special circumstance allegation of murder during the commission of a burglary.

He was also convicted of one count each of arson of an inhabited structure and cruelty to an animal -- the latter involving DelVesco's dog, which had to be euthanized, along with two counts of first-degree burglary with a person present involving DelVesco's apartment in the 10900 block of Roebling Avenue and another apartment across the street.

Before the sentencing, the victims' family members and friends spoke about the pain they have been through in the three years since her murder and a last wish that went unfulfilled because of the killer's actions.

A heartwrenching slideshow with childhood photos of the DelVesco was played for the courtroom. Medina sat in silence, watching the images.

"This is the date that he made the choice to take my wonderful, amazing daughter's life," said Leslie DelVesco, her mother. "May his life, as he has known it, also end today.

"To express the agony is impossible. It's excruciating to me to see the pain that he has caused. True justice would be that he feels the pain and heartache every single second for the rest of his life."

DelVesco also talked about her daughter's wish to have her organs donated to science were she to die an untimely death.

"By setting her on fire, he denied not only her life, but this last wish and hope," Leslie DelVesco said.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Mark E. Windham called Medina's crimes "truly monstrous."

"He must never walk free again," Windham said, citing what he called the defendant's lack of remorse for his actions.

Prosecutors had opted earlier not to seek the death penalty against Medina.

During his opening statement in Medina's trial, Deputy District Attorney Victor Avila told jurors that DelVesco's " life was taken away from her by this defendant ... He stabbed her multiple times to silence her so she could not call out for help."

The woman's dog, Shay Panda, was also "silenced" and was found by firefighters at the foot of her bed, Avila told jurors.

The 21-year-old Austin, Texas, woman -- a member of the Pi Beta Phi sorority -- was entering her fourth year at UCLA, where she was studying psychology and Spanish.

Medina, who had come to the area to visit a friend who attended UCLA, subsequently drove his red 2010 Nissan Sentra back to Fresno, where he lived with two roommates, the prosecutor said.

Los Angeles police were notified when one of Medina's roommates tried to register a speaker that had been taken along with a laptop computer during the first Westwood burglary, and police subsequently went to Fresno, where they recovered items containing DelVesco's DNA at the residence, Avila said.Katelyn French was at a loss when her nine months of planning to be married this weekend in North Carolina's mountains was washed away by Hurricane Florence.

But then family and friends in Florida's Panhandle stepped up to give her and her fiance, Matt Parsons, a dream wedding a little closer to home.

Her aunt, April Crosby, opened up her home on a lake in Chipley, Florida, for the wedding.

French tells Panama City television station WMBB that her aunt told her not to worry since the wedding was going to be "fabulous."

Friends and family set up benches in front of the backyard lake, strung lights from trees and folded cloth napkins in preparation for Saturday's nuptials.

French says what seemed like a disaster ended up being a blessing.

And she is not alone.

Texans Brendan McLean and Allison Miller were planning on exchanging vows Friday in Charleston, South Carolina. But with the "Southern Charm" city in the hurricane's path, Charleston was under a mandatory evacuation order.

Miller and McLean were forced to give up their dream wedding on a plantation and scrambled to plan one closer to home in Plano.

With the help of family, friends and even Mavericks owner Marc Cuban, who donated the catering, they were able to pull together a new wedding in just five days.

"We've been so overwhelmed by disappointment in the beginning, but then, the love and support of people, just sort of this outpouring from everywhere," McLean said.

A day after blowing ashore with 90 mph (145 kph) winds, a weakened Florence slowed to a crawl over the Carolinas, and the storm's relentless rains fueled fears of devastating inland flooding in the next few days.

More than 2 feet (60 centimeters) of rain had fallen in places, swelling rivers toward record levels, and forecasters say there could be an additional 1 feet (45 centimeters) before Sunday is out.

Adriana Ruggiero and David Robinson decided earlier this year to wed in Wilmington, North Carolina, where her fiance has familial roots. But the venue they chose to celebrate their wedding day is along the edge of the Cape Fear River, which is projected to overrun its banks and flood cities and towns.

While the couple say they don't have a backup plan to salvage their wedding if flooding prevents them from marrying in Wilmington, Ruggiero told NBC San Diego that for now they are focusing on praying for people impacted by Florence.

The most important part that we have been praying for is that no one gets hurt, Adriana said. Of course we want to have our wedding, but we are also aware that there are other things around this situation that are even bigger than our wedding."Some South Florida heroes reunited with their families Saturday after helping the victims of Hurricane Florence in the Carolinas.

There were signs, balloons and yelling as the lights and sirens pulled up to the Miami Fire Rescue building. Then came the emotional embraces. The families were reunited after almost two weeks apart.

Im going to eat some food with my girls. I left them right before we had to go to dinner like two weeks ago and I still owe them dinner, said Capt. Miguel Ferrer, a first responder.

Ronnie Lindsay hugged his son a little bit harder after rescuing am other whose baby died while they tried to escape the rising flood waters.

She lost her son in the current, said Lindsay. It was a very emotional moment for the entire team.

Miami Mayor Francis Suarez was there to welcome the team back home.

To me, they are heroes, said Suarez.

For many, he said this was not their first disaster. Some of them were in Puerto Rico for Hurricane Maria around the same time last year.

They put their life on the line, they have specialized skills, they help save lives, said Suarez.The head of the federal disaster response agency used government vehicles without proper authorization, but will not lose his job over it, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said Friday.

Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator William "Brock" Long had been under investigation by the Homeland Security Department's watchdog over possibly misusing government vehicles to travel to his home in Hickory, North Carolina. Word leaked of the investigation just as Hurricane Florence was poised to make landfall earlier this month.

Nielsen said in a statement Friday that there had been a longstanding practice to transport FEMA administrators in government vehicles to ensure they could remain connected during a crisis. But despite this practice, use of government vehicles for home-to-work travel was not officially authorized, and that practice was eliminated in April.

Nielsen said the report by Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General also found Long used government vehicles for non-official reasons.

She said they spoke about the problems and Long agreed to reimburse the government, though it wasn't clear how much money that might be. She said she directed the department to review policy on home-to-work transportation problems, assess communication requirements at FEMA so officials can be best connected during disasters, and to review of and training regarding proper use of government vehicles.

"We had a productive conversation where we discussed my expectations regarding the agency's use of government vehicles going forward," Nielsen said in a statement. "The administrator acknowledged that mistakes were made, and he took personal responsibility."

The inspector general's report has not been made public. The House Oversight Committee is also looking into the allegations and has asked Long to turn over to the committee all documents related to the trips by Oct. 1, including whether his staff was put up in hotels paid for by taxpayer dollars.

The inspector general's office has turned the review over to federal prosecutors to determine whether any criminal charges are warranted, according to a person familiar with the probe. It's not uncommon for an inspector general to refer cases so federal prosecutors can determine whether charges are warranted, and it doesn't mean he'll be charged with a crime. The person was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter and requested anonymity.

In the days after Florence struck, Long said he was not focused on the investigation, and instead was working to help the region get back on its feet after the devastation. More than 40 have died and rising floodwaters cut off roads and drowned livestock.

In a statement Friday, Long said he accepted full responsibility.

"The secretary and I are taking corrective action to prevent such mistakes from happening in the future," he said. "I remain committed to the critical mission of FEMA - helping people before, during and after disasters."

He has been head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency since June 2017, presiding over a particularly grueling hurricane season that included Irma, Harvey and Maria, plus wildfires in California. The response to Maria has been heavily criticized and Long has said FEMA learned lessons on how to better prepare for this year's storms.

Other Trump administration officials have lost their jobs over ethics issues related to travel, but they involved more outsized allegations. The former head of the Environmental Protection Agency, Scott Pruitt, resigned in July after allegations of massive security spending, first-class flights and a sweetheart condo lease.What to Know Hawaii's Kilauea volcano began erupting in May and destroyed hundreds of homes around the Volcanoes National Park

The park had been closed for more than four months as the volcano spewed lava

Visitors can now hike around some parts of the summit area and see the aftermath of the historic eruption

A national park in Hawaii has reopened after being closed for more than four months because of Kilauea volcano's latest eruption, which caused widespread damage to park infrastructure and dramatically changed its landscape.

Hawaii Volcanoes National Park officials said there were no lines or waiting for visitors to catch a glimpse of the volcano that made headlines across the world when it began erupting in May. Admission is free Saturday.

The eruption destroyed hundreds of homes outside the park while changing the popular summit crater inside the park.

The national park  normally the state's most-visited tourist attraction  had been closed for 135 days as volcanic activity caused explosive eruptions, earthquakes and the collapse of the famed Halemaumau crater. Ash clouds shot skyward from the summit crater and blanketed the region in volcanic debris.

Kilauea has been active for decades. But the eruption that began in May has transformed both the park and the rural Big Island coastline that surrounds it.

Outside the park, lava flows consumed entire neighborhoods, filled an ocean bay and created miles of new shoreline with fresh black sand beaches and jagged rocky outcrops. Inside the park, molten rock drained from the summit lava lake and vanished from view as the landscape underwent a monumental change.

The summit crater floor sunk 1,500 feet (460 meters), and the overall Kilauea caldera widened  expanding more than 1 square mile, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. It quadrupled in size as lava drained out of the active vent.

"This eruption was really unprecedented in the historic record," Ingrid Johanson, a research geophysicist at the U.S. Geological Survey's Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. "The changes we've seen at the summit are much more dramatic than anything that's happened in the last 200 years."

The crater looks "completely different," Johanson said. "I think people are going to be really awestruck when they see it."

However, one of the park's biggest draws  the radiant red light from the lava lake that has been a Kilauea hallmark for over a decade  is completely gone.

"There is no glow at all," said Shanelle Saunders, the park's acting spokeswoman. "You can't even see your hand in front your face it's so dark in a lot of these areas. I mean, the stars right now are incredible, but there's actually no flowing lava."

The park will be open 24 hours a day, but visitors should be careful at night because of new cracks in trails and walkways. "Even if people are really familiar with those trails, they may have changed since they've been here," Saunders said.

Public access to the volcano remains limited because of damage to its infrastructure. But visitors can once again hike around some parts of the summit area and see the aftermath of the historic eruption.

"The crater rim trail is open to a certain point," Saunders said. "And from there, they can see down into the crater itself."

The theme of this year's National Public Lands Day is "resilience and restoration," said Hawaii Volcanoes National Park spokeswoman Jessica Ferracane, who noted that park repair work had been pointing toward a late-September reopening.

"We really wanted to invite visitors back without them having to pay on that first day," Ferracane said. "The theme was so uncanny that we thought it would be a real good fit."

While volcanic activity has slowed significantly in the past month and no lava is reaching the surface at Kilauea, scientists aren't ready to declare the latest eruption over.

"There is still material that could feed into an eruption," Johanson said. "I definitely expect that lava will return one day."What to Know A mold problem has forced The New School to move more than 100 residents out of a dormitory in Manhattan

Staff at the 13th Street Residence discovered there was mold in the dorm after they noticed one of the walls was damp

The school says it has no reason to believe the mold poses a health risk, and it hasn't received any reports of health issues

A mold problem has forced The New School to move more than 100 residents out of a dormitory in Manhattan, an email sent out by the university says.

Staff at the 13th Street Residence, between Sixth and Seventh avenues in Greenwich Village, discovered mold in the dorm after they noticed one of the walls was damp, the email says.

The university is moving all 161 residents out of the dorm and into other buildings out of an abundance of caution, the email notes.

MOLD forces more than 160 @TheNewSchool students out of their 13th street residence dorms.



The school says no health issues have been reported. Everyone has to be out by Oct 1.



Heres some photos of the mold growing on one students clothing. @NBCNewYork pic.twitter.com/IZZ5ljEyTT  Ken Buffa (@KenBuffa) September 23, 2018

Although we have no reason to believe the mold is a health risk and we have received no reports from residents in the building of health issues that could be related to the mold, the mold is being tested, the email says. Unfortunately, we will not know the results of those tests for several weeks.

The school believes the problem at the 13th Street Residence is an isolated situation, but says it plans to inspect all of its other dorms for mold.

Students told News 4 New York they were upset about the unexpected move.

Its not even normal. Were paying so much for this... and now theyre moving me to 92nd Street, and my classes are all on 13th, student Mira Siouffi said.

Undergraduate tuition at the school is around $23,000 per semester, according to the schools website, while housing fees can surpass $20,000.

We understand the inconvenience that this causes for members of our community, and we are doing everything we can to ensure that students have the space and resources they need to carry on their studies with as little disruption as possible, the school said in its email.

News 4 has reached out to The New School for comment.Vandals spray painted hateful graffiti early Saturday on a political yard sign, a garage door and more in New Jersey, police and the homeowner said.

A swastika was painted on Adam Stolarsky's garage in Newton, he told NBC 4 New York. A speed limit sign nearby was also vandalized with a swastika, Stolarsky said.

Two political signs supporting Josh Gottheimer for Congress were covered graffiti including the words "Vote MAGA," "Libs Suck," "Go to Cali Dems" and a phallic drawing.

Days earlier, someone drove up onto the lawn, kicked down the yard sign, then drove off, Stolarsky said.

Stolarsky said he believes his home was targeted due to politics and his support of the congressman. He said his family is religiously mixed.

New Jersey State Police said the vandalism was being investigated as a bias crime.

Gottheimer thanked law enforcement for their response.

"Theres no place for white supremacists or anti-Semitism in our broader community, and this vile hate-motivated crime certainly does not reflect the values of the people of Sussex County," he said in a statement.

His opponent, John McCann, denounced racism and anti-Semitism in a statement that also accused Nancy Pelosi and Maxine Waters of spreading "messages of hate."What to Know President Donald Trump arrived in New York City on Sunday for the United Nation General Assembly

He is expected to speak at the General Assembly on Tuesday and chair the Security Council on Wednesday

The presence of Trump and high-level diplomats has heightened security and blocked traffic

President Donald Trump arrived in New York on Sunday for the U.N. General Assembly and residents braced for days of gridlock and high security that will accompany his visit and that of other world leaders attending the meetings.

Trump's plane touched down in the early evening and his motorcade brought him to Trump Tower. Spectators lined up to watch the motorcade go by, with many snapping photos on their phones. One yelled an obscenity.

Trump was scheduled to have a dinner with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Manhattan on Sunday.

The security measures for Trump and about 200 other dignitaries were evident in midtown, where security checkpoints were already in place.

Well be running 189 motorcades on our highest day, well be using 48 sand trucks, 230 pieces of concrete block and thousands of members of the department, said NYPD Chief Thomas Galati.

Some roads were already closed but commuters should expect more throughout the week. See a complete list of road closures here.

This was projected to be the slowest traffic week of the year.

Areas of midtown east near the U.N. will be on lockdown and other streets will have restricted access and lane closures.

The security even extends to the East River, where NYPD scuba teams checked for threats underwater.

It makes you feel safe but it also reminds you of the unrest thats in the world and keeps you on your toes, said resident Sam Miller.

With the United Nations General Assembly scheduled to start this week, #NYPD #SCUBA team conducted dives and deployed a remote operated vehicle to inspect critical and sensitive areas throughout New York City. pic.twitter.com/GjviGpdCcu  NYPD Special Ops (@NYPDSpecialops) September 23, 2018

Trump's address to the General Assembly comes Tuesday, and on Wednesday he will for the first time chair the Security Council, with the stated topic of non-proliferation of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. The subject initially was to have been Iran, but that could have allowed Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to attend, creating a potentially awkward situation for the U.S. leader.

Meetings on the sidelines of the General Assembly often come in rapid succession, a wearying test for even the most experienced foreign policy team. Trump has a robust schedule during his stay in New York, including meetings with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, French President Emmanuel Macron, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and British Prime Minister Theresa May.

Trump's address to the General Assembly comes Tuesday, and on Wednesday he will for the first time chair the Security Council, with the stated topic of non-proliferation of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons.

Trump has a robust schedule during his stay in New York, including meetings with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, French President Emmanuel Macron, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and British Prime Minister Theresa May.

Top Tri-State News PhotosShatrughanji is contesting the election. He is not rejecting the idea, Mr Kejriwal had also said during the same rally.

New Delhi: Former Union minister Yashwant Sinha and BJP leader Shatrughan Sinha are likely to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections on Aam Aadmi Party tickets. Sources said that the two are in direct talks with the AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal. While the former Union minister could contest from the New Delhi parliamentary constituency, Shatrughan Sinha is expected to contest from the West Delhi seat.

The party, however, has not confirmed the names of the two leaders officially. But Mr Kejriwal, during the jan adhikar rally organised in Noida, had publicly urged Yashwant Sinha to contest the elections and had said that Shatrughan Sinha has not rejected the idea of contesting the polls.

The two leaders had shared stage with Mr Kejriwal at the rally, which was held to address the issues of farmers and other governance related issues.

A few days ago, Yashwantji had said he will not contest elections. Sir, I want to ask you if good people like you will not contest, then who will? The public wants you to contest, Mr Kejriwal had said while addressing a rally.

Shatrughanji is contesting the election. He is not rejecting the idea, Mr Kejriwal had also said during the same rally.

Both Yashwant Sinha and Shatrughan Sinha have been the ardent critics of the ruling BJP dispensation. Yashwant Sinha, quit the BJP officially on April 21, 2018 after rebelling against the party for months. While announcing his decision to quit the BJP he had said that he will not be joining any political party anytime soon.

Shatrughan Sinha, on the other hand, has not quit the saffron fold yet but has been one of the harshest critics of the BJP. Whether its about demonetisation or Prime Minister Modis foreign trips, Sinha has never minced words while bashing his own party.

Notably, soon after Yashwant Sinha quit the BJP, Shatrughan Sinha had dared the party to take action against him if it wants to, as he refused to resign on his own.What to Know President Donald Trump will spend four days in New York this week for the UN General Assembly

Trump is expected to address the dangers posed by North Korea's nuclear threat as he did last year, though it may appear less ominous

He plans to sit down with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who comes bearing a personal message from North Korea's Kim

President Donald Trump raised hopes at the United Nations on Monday that a second meeting with North Korea's Kim Jong Un could occur "quite soon," striking a conciliatory tone one year after he used his debut at the U.N. to deride the autocrat as "Little Rocket Man" and threaten to "totally destroy North Korea."

Trump praised Kim as "very open" and "terrific," despite the glacial pace of progress toward denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula.

U.S. officials defended Trump's strategy of engagement with the erstwhile pariah state as the president embarked on a week of meetings with world leaders. The softer tone toward North Korea  once threatened with "fire and fury"  has been replaced by rosy optimism, with Trump reserving tough rhetoric for another potential nuclear aspirant and strategic foe: Iran.

"It was a different world," Trump said Monday of his one-time moniker for the North Korean leader. "That was a dangerous time. This is one year later, a much different time."

Trump began his second visit to the U.N. with a brief meeting on the global drug trade before sitting down with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who delivered a personal message to Trump from Kim after their inter-Korean talks last week in Pyongyang.

"You are the only person who can solve this problem," Moon said to Trump, relaying Kim's words.

Trump, for his part, said: "We are in no rush. We are in no hurry" to bring about a nuclear agreement. U.S. officials are insisting that economic sanctions remain in place against the North until it eliminates its nuclear program.

Trump said Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has been tasked with bringing about the second summit, despite an assessment by U.S. officials that the North has not followed through on its commitments to take steps toward denuclearization. Pompeo defended Trump's decision to seek another meeting despite the slow progress.

"We've been at this the other way an awfully long time and failed," he said, adding: "We tried to do details. We tried to do step for step. We tried to do trade for trade. Each of those failed."

"We're bringing the two senior leaders, the individuals who can actually make the decisions that will move this process forward," in hopes they can make a breakthrough, he said.

Trump said the location for the second summit is still to be determined, but officials have said the U.S. leader is holding out hope it could take place on American soil. Such a move would itself present a complex political and logistical challenge for the North Korean leader. His trip to Singapore in June for the inaugural summit was anything but trivial.

Trump has often fondly invoked the Singapore summit, a made-for-TV event that attracted the world's media attention and largely received positive marks from cable pundits  reviews that were not repeated for his summit with Russia's Vladimir Putin in Helsinki the following month.

Trump and Moon on Monday signed a new version of the U.S.-South Korean trade agreement, marking one of Trump's first successes in his effort to renegotiate economic deals on more favorable terms for the U.S. Trump labeled it a "very big deal" and says the new agreement makes significant improvements to reduce the trade deficit between the countries and create new opportunities to export American products to South Korea. He says U.S. automobiles, pharmaceuticals and agricultural products will gain better access to Korean markets.

Even so, some U.S. officials worry that South Korea's eagerness to restore relations with the North  known as its "sunshine policy"  could reduce sanctions pressure on Kim's government, hampering efforts to negotiate a nuclear accord.

The nuclear threat also was on the agenda at Trump's first meeting in New York, a dinner with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Sunday night. Abe stands first among world leaders in cultivating a close relationship with the president through displays of flattery that he has used to advance his efforts to influence the unpredictable American leader.

Trump is set to address the U.N. General Assembly Tuesday morning and will chair a meeting of the Security Council Wednesday on counter-proliferation. In both venues, U.S. officials say, he is expected to offer a contrast between the path of negotiation chosen by North Korea and that of Iran.

Trump earlier this year bucked allies and removed the U.S. from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, citing Iran's malign influence in the region and support for terrorist groups like Hezbollah. The next round of tough sanctions on Iran is set to go into effect in November.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani is in New York to attend U.N. meetings. U.S. officials said Trump is not seeking a meeting with the Iranian leader, but is not opposed to talking if Iran requests a session.

Rouhani, appearing on NBC on Monday, cited the threat of more U.S. sanctions in stating, "There is no such program for a meeting."

In keeping with his "America First" pronouncements, Trump's return tour to the annual diplomatic summit was eclipsed before it began by domestic political crises. The fate of Trump's second Supreme Court nominee was cast into doubt over the weekend amid new allegations of sexual misconduct. Drama also swirled Monday around the status of his deputy attorney general.

Rod Rosenstein was revealed last week to have floated the idea of secretly recording Trump last year and to have raised the idea of using the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office. Rosenstein has denied the reports. Trump said he will meet with Rosenstein on Thursday upon his return to Washington.A Delaware woman is accused of intentionally starting a fire that tore through an apartment complex and displaced dozens of residents early Sunday morning.

Teresa Iocco, 37, of Bear, Delaware, was arrested and charged with arson and reckless endangerment.

Iocco allegedly started a fire at the Fox Run Apartment complex on the 2900 block of Squirrel Drive in Bear, Delaware, around 6 a.m.

The four-alarm fire damaged 24 units in the complex. Twelve of the units were badly damaged and will not be reoccupied. No injuries were reported.

Officials have not yet determined the exact number of residents displaced. Management at the complex is working to relocate them.

"I really don't know what to do," Linda Ferreira, one of the residents, said. "I'm literally homeless."

All told, the estimated damage could exceed $1 million, said assistant state fire marshal Michael Chionchio.

Iocco's brother told NBC10 his sister is mentally challenged and under 24-hour supervision with an aide. He claims she accidentally threw out her cigarette in the wrong spot but did not intentionally start the fire.

The Red Cross is helping with the recovery efforts.What to Know Bill Cosby's sentencing hearing will include a debate over whether actor and comedian should be branded a sexually violent predator.

Pennsylvania's sex-offender board has examined Cosby and recommended he be deemed a predator.

Defense lawyers say the state's latest sex-reporting law, despite several revisions, remains unconstitutional.

Bill Cosby's sentencing hearing Monday will begin with testimony about his sex offender evaluation and, presumably, a fierce debate over whether the 81-year-old actor should be branded a sexually violent predator.

The stakes are high given the lifetime counseling, community alerts and public shaming the designation would trigger. And it could become evidence in the defamation lawsuits filed against Cosby by accusers who say he branded them liars when he denied molesting them.

Defense lawyers say the state's latest sex-reporting law, despite several revisions, remains unconstitutional.

"It's the modern-day version of a scarlet letter,'' said lawyer Demetra Mehta, a former Philadelphia public defender, "which I think is sort of an interesting philosophical issue at this time with the #MeToo movement, but also criminal justice reform.''

Pennsylvania's sex-offender board has examined Cosby and recommended he be deemed a predator, concluding that he has a mental defect or personality disorder that makes him prone to criminal behavior. Montgomery County Judge Steven T. O'Neill will have the final say Monday.

O'Neill has presided over the case for nearly three years, from shortly after Cosby's December 2015 arrest to a 2017 trial that ended in a jury deadlock to the jury finding this past April that Cosby drugged and molested a woman at his suburban Philadelphia estate in 2004. He faces anything from probation to 30 years in prison on the three felony counts of aggravated indecent assault.

It's unclear if the judge, in weighing the predator label, will consider the dozens of other Cosby accusers who have gone public or his deposition in the trial victim's 2006 lawsuit, when Cosby acknowledged getting quaaludes to give women before sex; described sex acts as the "penile entrance'' to an "orifice'' and "digital penetration''; and said he often gave young women alcohol but didn't drink or take drugs himself because he liked to stay in control.

Defense lawyers fighting the predator label note that sexual offender registration laws are in flux in Pennsylvania and elsewhere.

Numerous courts, including the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, have found the laws so vague as to be unconstitutional. Courts have also debated whether the programs unfairly amount to extra punishment, especially for people convicted of misdemeanors. Cosby has added one of the state's top appellate lawyers, Peter Goldberger, to his defense team.

"This is going to probably be a very important case for sex-offender law when it's up on appeal,'' Mehta said. "It's an area of law that is just sort of unsettled right now. . There's a lot up on appeal, but there's not a lot decided.''

Pennsylvania alone now has 2,200 people classified as sexually violent predators, of the more than 20,000 people on its Megan's Law list of sex offenders. The Megan's Law group has their names, pictures and towns listed online, but they're not subject to the same monthly counseling mandates as the "predator'' group, and authorities don't actively warn communities of their nearby presence.

The stigma may not be as paralyzing for a man like Cosby _ in his 80s, living in a gated house and presumably not looking for work or going to the local gym. However, it's one more stain on his reputation.

Defense motions note that the sex offender board's recommendation followed an evaluation by just a single board member, and that the evidence needs only to meet a "clear and convincing'' standard.

That violates Cosby's "right to reputation without confrontation, without trial by jury and without proof beyond a reasonable doubt,'' defense lawyer Joseph Green Jr. argued in a July court filing.

Legal experts believe a "predator'' classification would be a legal finding that Cosby accusers could use in their defamation suits, including one involving seven women plaintiffs that's pending in Massachusetts.

"That may (also) be about legacy protection, about what the obituary says, what the Wikipedia page says,'' said Daniel Filler, dean of Drexel University's Kline College of Law. "You can bet, especially in crowd-sourced things, everything's going to begin with `he's a sexually violent predator.' It's like a slogan. He has a tag now.''What to Know Christine Blasey Ford has a deadline of 2:30 p.m. Saturday to decide if she will accept the invitation to testify to the Senate

The back and forth between Ford's lawyers and Sen. Chuck Grassley have left Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation in jeopardy

Plans to hold a high-stakes hearing next week with testimony from Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh's accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, teetered with uncertainty Sunday as a Senate panel scrambled to resolve potentially make-or-break details, such as potential witnesses who could corroborate her decades-old sexual assault claim.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said lawyers for Ford are contesting two GOP conditions of the proposed 10 a.m. Thursday hearing  that Ford and Kavanaugh will be the only witnesses and that an independent counsel will ask the questions.

"If they continue to contest those two things, there won't be a hearing," Graham said. "We're not going to let her determine how many people we call" and on outside counsel. "I hope she comes."

A final accord could bring a close days of brinkmanship that have roiled Washington ahead of midterm elections and threatened to jeopardize Kavanaugh's confirmation to the court, even as some Republicans say the additional hearings may do little to change their support for him.

Graham, speaking on "Fox News Sunday," promised a fair hearing in which both Ford and Kavanaugh "will be challenged" but said "unless there's something more" to back up her accusation, then he's "not going to ruin Judge Kavanaugh's life over this."

"I want to listen to her, but I'm being honest with you and everybody else. ...What am I supposed to do? Go ahead and ruin this guy's life based on an accusation?" Graham asked, explaining his dilemma over an allegation of a 1980s incident that is past the statute of limitations for criminal charges. "But she should come forward. She should have her say."

Lawyers for Ford and bipartisan representatives of the committee came to a tentative agreement for a Thursday hearing after a short but productive phone call late Saturday, said a person briefed on the matter, who was not authorized to speak publicly and requested anonymity.

But unresolved is who would question the 51-year-old California college professor and other potential witnesses. Ford wants an appearance by Mark Judge, a Kavanaugh friend who Ford asserts was in the room when the incident occurred. Meanwhile, the committee's 11 Republicans  all men  have been seeking an outside female attorney to interrogate Ford, mindful of the election-season impression that could be left by men trying to pick apart a woman's assertion of a sexual attack.

Sen. Dick Durbin, a Democrat on the committee, said Sunday he believed Ford's requests have been "reasonable" and that she deserves a fair hearing to determine whether her allegations are "serious" enough to vote down Kavanaugh's Supreme Court nomination.

He acknowledged that lawmakers will "probably not" be able to know the truth of Ford's decades-old accusation that Kavanaugh assaulted her at a house party when they were teenagers. But Durbin left little doubt that that Democrats will go after Kavanaugh's drinking history to help shed light on the matter. Ford has alleged Kavanaugh was "stumbling drunk" when it happened.

"There have been a lot of things said about the alcohol that was consumed by the judge as well as by others in his school. That has to be part of any relevant questioning," he said.

Durbin told ABC's "This Week" that some Republicans "reached out to Democratic senators and assured them that they are looking to this as kind of a determination as to how their final vote" on Kavanaugh is cast.

Tensions have been running on overdrive since Ford went public last week with her allegation that Kavanaugh assaulted her when they in high school. Kavanaugh, an appellate court judge, denied the allegation and said he wanted to testify as soon as possible to clear his name.

Republicans had grown frustrated as Ford's lawyers insisted on a hearing next Thursday rather than Monday or even Wednesday and made other requests, some of which the committee chairman, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, rejected. Democrats, against the backdrop of the #MeToo movement, countered that Ford should be shown respect and given accommodation to tell her story.

Republicans viewed Ford's requests as a way to delay voting on President Donald Trump's nominee.

The White House is approaching Ford's potential testimony with trepidation, nervous that an emotional performance might not just damage Kavanaugh's chances but could further energize female voters to turn out against Republicans in November against the backdrop of the #MeToo movement.

Moreover, the West Wing aides who had urged Trump to remain muted in his response to the accusations worried about how the president might react to an hourslong, televised hearing. In tweet Friday, Trump broke his silence to cast doubt on Ford's story in ways Republicans had been carefully trying to avoid.

Trump mused to confidants that the "fake" attacks against his nominee were meant to undermine his presidency, according to a White House official and a Republican close to the White House. Both spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss private conversations.

The lawyers for Ford wrote to the committee on Saturday that she "accepts the Committee's request to provide her first-hand knowledge of Brett Kavanaugh's sexual misconduct next week."

Attorneys Debra Katz and Lisa Banks said that many aspects of Grassley's latest offer were "fundamentally inconsistent" with the committee's promise of a "fair, impartial investigation." They said they remained disappointed by the "bullying" that "tainted the process." Yet they remained "hopeful that we can reach agreement on details."

Patience among Republicans, though, is running thin. The GOP is facing enormous pressure from its base of conservative leaders and voters to swiftly approve Kavanaugh, who would become the second of Trump's nominees to sit on the nation's highest court, ahead of the Nov. 6 election.With rising unilateralism challenging its very existence, the United Nations convenes its annual meeting of world leaders Monday and will try once more to tackle problems together as a community of nations, addressing threats ranging from Mideast conflicts to the effects of global warming  and also encouraging the glimmer of hope over the nuclear standoff in North Korea.

This year, 133 world leaders have signed up to attend the General Assembly session, a significant increase from last year's 114. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called the expected large turnout "eloquent proof of the confidence of the international community in the United Nations," though other U.N. officials and diplomats said it's in response to growing concerns about an increasingly turbulent world.

The seven-year-old conflict in Syria and the three-year war in Yemen that has sparked the world's worst humanitarian crisis and is now seriously threatening large-scale famine will certainly be in the spotlight, along with meetings on other Mideast and African hot spots. So will Iran, which faces escalating hostile rhetoric from the Trump administration over its activities supporting international terrorism, which Tehran vehemently denies.

Guterres said last week that one of his overriding concerns in an increasingly globalized world is the threat to having the U.N.'s 193 member nations work together, which is the foundation of the United Nations.

"Multilateralism is under attack from many different directions precisely when we need it most," the U.N. chief told reporters Thursday. "In different areas and for different reasons, the trust of people in their political establishments, the trust of states among each other, the trust of many people in international organizations has been eroded and ... multilateralism has been in the fire."

Guterres challenged diplomats at last week's opening of the 73rd session of the General Assembly by saying: "At a time of fragmentation and polarization, the world needs this assembly to show the value of international cooperation."

Whether it will be able to remains in question.

At this year's gathering of presidents, prime ministers, monarchs and minsters, populist leaders will include U.S. President Donald Trump, President Andrzej Duda of Poland and Premier Giuseppe Conte of Italy along with the foreign ministers of Hungary and Austria.

U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley told reporters that Trump, who champions an "America First" policy, wants to talk about "protecting U.S. sovereignty," and she reiterated Washington's opposition to the 2015 Paris climate agreement on curbing global warming and a newly agreed international compact aimed at regulating migration.

"We really value sovereignty of the country," Haley said. "It is not saying multilateralism can't work, but it's saying sovereignty is a priority over all of that, and we always have to make sure we're doing that  and there are many countries that agree with us."

Before stepping down as U.N. humanitarian chief Aug. 31, Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein expressed serious concern that populism, intolerance and oppression are "becoming fashionable again."

"It all builds, because once you start down the path of intolerance, it's very difficult to stop it, unless at the end of the day you have conflict," he said.

French President Emmanuel Macron is expected to be a key voice joining Guterres in the coming week in speaking out against this trend and supporting multilateralism as key to promoting peace.

The week's activities kick off with a peace summit Monday morning honoring the 100th birthday this year of South African anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela. A statue of Mandela will be unveiled at U.N. headquarters and leaders are expected to adopt a declaration recognizing the years 2019-2028 as the Nelson Mandela Decade of Peace.

Trump is hosting an event Monday on "The World Drug Problem" and Haley said 124 countries have signed a global call to action. Activists on drug policy note it was never negotiated, and one group, the Harm Reduction Coalition, called it "an instance of heavy-handed U.S. 'with us or against us' diplomacy."

The increasingly strident U.S. rhetoric against Iran is expected to be a feature in U.S. speeches. Haley said that "every dangerous spot in the world  Iran seems to have its fingerprints in it," which Tehran denies.

Trump pulled the United States out of the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement in May and the foreign ministers of the five remaining powers who support the deal  Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany  are expected to meet privately Monday evening with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.

The General Assembly's "General Debate," as the ministerial session is called, officially opens Tuesday with Guterres' report on the state of the world, to be followed soon after by speeches from Trump, Macron and late in the morning by President Hassan Rouhani of Iran.

The U.S. holds the rotating presidency of the U.N. Security Council in September and has scheduled two ministerial meetings, the first on Wednesday presided over by Trump. It was initially to focus on Iran but has now been broadened to the topic of "nonproliferation" of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons.

"I'm sure that is going to be the most watched Security Council meeting ever," Haley told reporters.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will preside over the second meeting Thursday on North Korea, an issue the Security Council was united on in imposing increasingly tough sanctions. But that unity now appears to be at risk over enforcement of sanctions and the broader issues of how to achieve denuclearization of the Korean peninsula and when sanctions should be lifted against North Korea.

Guterres welcomed the recent "positive meeting" in Pyongyang between the leaders of North and South Korea but warned that "there will not be success in intra-Korean negotiations if simultaneously there is not success in the American and North Korean" negotiations to rid the Korean Peninsula of nuclear weapons.

U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the United Nations has received 342 requests for meetings during the high-level week.

They include sessions on conflicts in Syria, Libya, Yemen, Mali, and Central African Republic as well as the plight of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, aid for Palestinians, education for girls, modern slavery, environmental threats, efforts to end poverty, and the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights.

Asked what are the big issues, Russia's U.N. ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, told The Associated Press: "All of them are big issues  nonproliferation, cooperation, the world peace architecture  it's every year, but this year it's maybe more topical than ever."

Uruguayan Ambassador Elbio Rosselli said the biggest issue for his country is multilateralism.

"It's a vow that all of us ought to keep reinforcing particularly at this conjuncture where so many undercurrents and contrary views are surfacing on different scenarios," he told AP. "The validity of this institution is more than ever necessary, and for that we need the recommitment of all states."An eighteen-year old New Hampshire man is in serious condition after a stabbing in Derry Saturday evening.

Police arrested Kameron Simoneau, 20, of Derry in the aftermath and charged him with first degree assault.

Police first received reports of a disturbance in a parking lot at 15 Fairway Drive at 7:32 p.m.. Upon arrival, officers found the victim, Christian Dowe-Scimone, 18, of Derry, suffering from multiple apparent stab wounds. He was taken by the Derry Fire Department ambulance to Parkland Medical Center and later flown to a Boston hospital for treatment.

Police said in a statement that they determined the stabbing stemmed from a fight. Witnesses provided a possible suspect name and a description of the vehicle that the suspect used to flee the scene. Officers located a parked vehicle matching the description and, upon further investigation, arrested a resident of the home.

Simoneau is currently in custody at the Derry Police Department pending further investigation.A U.S. Air Force pilot whose plane was shot down over Vietnam more than half a century ago will be buried will full military honors in Rhode Island.

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency says Col. Frederic Mellor, a Cranston native, will be buried Friday at the Rhode Island Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Exeter.

Mellor was accounted for in July after the government of Vietnam returned his remains.

The 30-year-old was on a mission to conduct photo and visual reconnaissance of a suspected surface-to-air missile site on Aug. 13. 1965 when he was shot down.

According to the Pentagon, Mellor survived his ejection and then attempted to evade the enemy.

Initial radio contact was established and later lost. Despite a two-day search, neither Mellor nor his aircraft were found.University of Vermont students are holding a rally for climate action.

Organizers say the goal is to discuss what Vermont colleges and high schools are doing to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to lead on climate education by example.

Independent U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders and Democratic Rep. Peter Welch as well as Democratic Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman are expected to speak at the rally in the Davis Center on Monday. There will also be a speaker discussing youth-led climate action and an alumni panel on campus climate action.

Students from other Vermont colleges and high schools are invited to attend.The couple is married since November 2016. A short while after their marriage regular quarrels used to take place between them.

New Delhi: A kiss from his wife has landed a 22-year-old husband in the hospital. The incident took place in Outer Delhis Ranhola area, where the wife bit off her husbands tongue when they kissed after a patch-up.

On receiving information of the case, police reached the spot and admitted the injured youth to a nearby hospital. Subsequently, it arrested the accused wife. It is interrogating the accused woman.

DCP (Outer) Seju P Kuruvilla said that a PCR call regarding the quarrel was received at Ranhola police station and the MLC was received from Safdarjung hospital regarding the injured tongue.

The victim husband was identified as Karan (22), who works as a street artist. He alleged that his wife Kajal (22), who is pregnant, had an altercation with him. They later patched up and she started kissing him. While kissing, his wife bit his tongue off.

The couple is married since November 2016. A short while after their marriage regular quarrels used to take place between them.The former Maharashtra chief minister also said that the Rafale deal is in a way an attack on pride of India as well as Maharashtra.

Mumbai: The Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) chief Ashok Chavan Saturday demanded resignations of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman over a revelation made by former President of France Francois Hollande on the Rafale aircraft deal.

Mr Chavan said that the government has been exposed after the truth was revealed by Mr Hollande in an interview. The Congress will stage a protest in the state from Monday to put more pressure on the Union government and a march will also be held in Mumbai on September 27.

Former President of France has cleared that Anil Ambanis Reliance Defence was forced by the Indian government on him. It means, Rafale is Indias biggest ever defence scam. PM Modi and defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman are directly responsible for this scam. Ms Sitharaman had claimed that the French company had chosen Reliance as its offset partner. She lied and she did it on behalf of Mr Modi. Therefore, both the leaders need to step down immediately, said Mr Chavan.

The former Maharashtra chief minister also said that the Rafale deal is in a way an attack on pride of India as well as Maharashtra. HAL is based in Nashik. Ms Sitharaman said that HAL was not capable. But, former chairman of HAL has clearly said that the company is completely capable for the work. Ms Sitharaman has disrespected the workers of HAL in Nashik, said Mr Chavan.

Mr Chavan also informed that his party would hit the roads over Rafale issue next week. By Monday, we will start protests across state. There will be a march against Rafale scam demanding the resignation of Mr Modi on September 27. This march will be in Mumbai, said Mr Chavan.Jaipur : Army chief Gen Bipin Rawat on Saturday called for avenging Pakistan Army and terrorists' brutalities on Indian soldiers, saying it is time to give it back to them in the same coin, "not by resorting to similar kind of barbarism, but in a manner that the other side must also feel the same pain."

His remarks came a day after India called off the proposed Foreign Minister-level talks with Pakistan following the kidnapping and killing of three J&K policemen, and also a few days after a BSF soldier's mutilated body was recovered in the Jammu sector.

Addressing a press conference on the centenary celebrations of the Battle of Haifa, which Indian soldiers in World War-I won against then Ottoman Empire forces on September 23, 1918, Gen Bipin Rawat said there was a need to change strategy against Pakistan.

"It's time to give it back to them in the same coin but not by resorting to similar kind of barbarism. But I think the other side must also feel the same pain. And that is something we certainly will contemplate on," said the Army chief.

On New Delhi calling off talks with Pakistan, the Army chief said: "Our government's policy is quite clear. We strongly believe that talks and terror cannot go hand-in-hand. Pakistan needs to curb this menace of terrorism and should not allow its soil to be used by terrorists against our people."

The Army chief said the government has been successful in getting Pakistan isolated on the international level.

"Now, Pakistan has been internationally isolated; once America was like a close relative of Pakistan, but now America has sidelined the country. Certain actions must have been taken by our government which brought this result," he added.

Gen Rawat said Indian forces in the last one year have given befitting reply to Pakistani firing and shelling across the border. "Casualties and damage is much higher on their side," he said.

"However we have done it in a very professional and military-like manner as we don't believe in barbaric acts. We have been successful in destroying their defences. That is why this year in May, they asked for a ceasefire," he said.

"If they continue such barbaric acts, we will need to think on taking other suitable actions against them," he warned.

On celebrating 'Surgical Strike Day', the Army chief said: "This surgical strike was special and had never happened. It was a very special surgical strike," he said.

Sharing details on Combined Commanders Conference due in Jodhpur on September 28 which Prime Minister Narendra Modi will also be attending, he said such conferences are a routine where forces and political leadership discuss various issues and developments.

Gen Rawat said the Army is receiving full support from the government. "We are given full liberty to take action. One can see results in Kashmir and other areas. However, we need to do much more to ensure that radicalisation and social media campaigns being run from outside are tackled," he added.New Delhi : The conductor of a school bus was on Saturday caught by a police officer while killing the vehicle's driver for not returning his mobile phone.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Aslam Khan said that Chooda Maniaryal, 23, hailing from Nepal, hit driver Joginder's head with a small fire extinguisher at north Delhi's Rani Bagh at around 11 a.m.

He was taken to Bhagwan Mahavir Hospital in the area where he was declared dead.



"It was a quarrel over petty issue. The deceased had borrowed the accused's phone yesterday (Friday), but when asked to return on Saturday, Joginder refused to give it back."

"During a scuffle over the issue, Chooda got violent and hit him in the head," Khan said, adding that a police officer saw it all.

The accused was immediately arrested and a case of murder registered against him.Phnom Penh : Cambodia will deport an Australian filmmaker after he received a royal pardon following his conviction on espionage charges, an immigration police spokesman said on Saturday.

"He will be deported this (Saturday) afternoon," General Department of Immigration's deputy chief and spokesman Keo Vanthan told Xinhua news agency.

James Ricketson, 69, was released from a Cambodian prison on Friday after receiving a royal pardon at the request of the country's Prime Minister Hun Sen.

The Australian filmmaker was convicted last month of spying and collecting information that could jeopardize national security and was sentenced to six years in prison.

He was arrested on June 3, 2017, in Phnom Penh while flying a drone illegally to capture images of a rally by the court-dissolved opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party.Cairo : An Egyptian court declined on Saturday an appeal for reconciliation submitted by ousted former President Hosni Mubarak and his two sons in a corruption case, according to the official MENA news agency.

Mubarak and his two sons -- Gamal and Alaa -- were sentenced in May 2015 to three years in prison for embezzling funds meant for maintaining presidential palaces.

They were also sentenced to collectively pay a fine of about 126 million Egyptian pounds ($7 million) and return about 21.2 million Egyptian pounds.

Gamal and Alaa were released in October 2015 since their jail term was covered by the years they had already served in provisional detention.

Mubarak has been receiving treatment in a military hospital in Cairo, where he spent most of his provisional detention years until he was discharged in March 2017.Mumbai : India, Australia and other international agencies have launched a massive effort to rescue a seriously injured Indian Navy commander participating in the Golden Global Race (GGR) 2018, an official said here on Saturday.

Commander Abhulash Tomy is sailing aboard an indigenously built sailing vessel, SV Thuraya, which overturned and dismasted during stormy weather.

The sailor said he has suffered severe back injury, immobilising him aboard the vessel on the 84th day in the GGR competition, around 5,020 kms from Kanyakumari in the Indian Ocean.

Late Friday, Commander Tomy managed to relay a message on his SatPhone indicating his condition and seeking help, though he was safe.

The messages were picked up by Indian authorities and Australian Rescue Coordination Centre, Canberra, which is now coordinating a rescue mission jointly with several agencies including the Australian Defence Department and the Indian Navy, a defence spokesperson said here.

"Commander Tomy's boat was dismasted in extremely rough weather and sea condition, with wind speed of 130 kmph and 10 metre high waves. He was in the 3rd position out of 11 international participants in the GGR competition having sailed over 10,500 nautical miles in 84 days since the race started on July 1," said the spokesperson.

All out efforts are now underway to rescue the sailor with the involvement of a civilian business jet for a visual search of the stranded S.V. Thuraya, Australian military aircraft, besides civilian aircraft which have been requested to attempt communication with Tomy.

A French fishing vessel, Osiris and a Royal Australian Naval ship, HMAS Ballarat, are preparing to set sail from Freemantle Port, Western Australia, on September 24. Tomy is approximately 1,900 nautical miles from Perth on the country's west coast.

From India, the Indian Navy's stealth frigate INS Satpura, a Chetak helicopter and a tanker INS Jyoti Mission are engaged in the rescue mission.

In a latest update, the organisers, GGR said that "there is no indication at this stage if the mast and rigging have been cut away from the hull to prevent damage or are still laying beside the hull".

Now in its Golden Jubilee year, the 30,000-miles long GGR, kicked off from Les Sables-d'Olonne, France, with all participants sailing solo around the world in around 260 days, to return to the starting point.Rogozin said that Russia wouldnt accept a second-tier role in a NASA-led plan to build an outpost near the moon.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin smiles before Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedevs annual report on countrys economic and social development in the State Duma, the Lower House of the Russian Parliament, in Moscow, Russia. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin, File)

Russia's space agency chief said Saturday that it wouldn't accept a second-tier role in a NASA-led plan to build an outpost near the moon, but Roscosmos spokesman quickly clarified that Russia is still staying in the project.

Roscosmos chief Dmitry Rogozin was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying that Russia wouldn't be reduced to a junior partner in the NASA-led project to build the lunar orbital platform called the Gateway in the 2020s.

"I believe that Russia can't afford itself to participate in other countries' project on second-tier roles," Rogozin said when asked about the Gateway during a meeting with young space engineers, according to Tass.

He noted that Russia was working to develop heavy-lift rockets that would allow it to build its own orbital platform near the moon, possibly in cooperation with some BRICS countries - a grouping that includes Brazil, China, India and South Africa along with Russia.

A few hours later, Roscosmos spokesman Vladimir Ustimenko clarified that Rogozin didn't mean to say Russia was bailing out of the NASA-led project.

"Russia hasn't refused to take part in the project of the lunar orbital station together with the United States," Ustimenko was quoted by Tass as saying. He added, "we stand for equal, partnership-style cooperation."

Earlier this month, Rogozin has raised some consternation by saying that an air leak spotted at the International Space Station was a drill hole that happened during manufacturing or in orbit. He didn't say if he suspected any of the current crew of three Americans, two Russians and a German aboard the station.

Rogozin, who until May served as a deputy prime minister in charge of military and space, long had been known for his brash style and anti-Western rhetoric. He has failed to stem a decline of the Russian space industries, which have been dogged by launch failures and other problems.New Delhi : Even as the French government and Dassault Aviation contradicted former President Francois Hollande's claim on choosing of Indian industrial partners in the multi-million dollar Rafale jet deal, the Congress party on Saturday said the French government "conceals more than it reveals". Congress President Rahul Gandhi called it a "surgical strike" on Indian defence forces.

The statement by the French government issued here by the embassy late on Friday came after Hollande claimed in a media report that the Indian government had suggested a particular private firm for the Rafale offset contract.

Hollande was quoted in an article by a French website Mediapart as saying that the Indian government had asked the French government to nominate Reliance Defence as its India partner in the deal.

"We didn't have any say in this matter," Hollande was quoted by the website as saying. "It is the Indian government which had proposed this service group and Dassault who negotiated with (Anil) Ambani. We didn't have the choice, we took the interlocutor who was given to us."

In response to the claim, the Friday night statement said: "The French government is in no manner involved in the choice of Indian industrial partners who have been, are being or will be selected by French companies.

Dassault Aviation, the makers of the Rafale jets, in a statement, also on Friday night, said: "This offsets contract is delivered in compliance with the Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP) 2016 regulations. In this framework, and in accordance with the policy of 'Make in India', Dassault Aviation has decided to make a partnership with India's Reliance Group. This is Dassault Aviation's choice."

On Saturday, Rahul Gandhi said in a tweet that the "PM and Anil Ambani jointly carried out a One Hundred & Thirty Thousand Crore SURGICAL STRIKE on the Indian Defence forces. Modiji you dishonoured the blood of our martyred soldiers. Shame on you. You betrayed India's soul."

The Congress party said that the the French government knows that verbal interactions between former President Hollande and Indian interlocutors were minuted and would emerge.



"Speculation of French Parliamentary hearing into Rafale and access to administration documents under France's Freedom of Information Law 1978 rife," Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari tweeted.

"What French government/corporate entity has just ended up doing is making Rafale procurement a veritable domestic issue in French politics also".

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in a tweet in Hindi sought to know from the Indian Prime Minister who "pocketed the money from the Rafale scam, you the BJP or someone else."

Countering the attack, Bharatiya Janata Party leader and Union Minister Ananth Kumar tweeted: "Nailing the lie on its head -- misinformation about Rafale deal, Dassault being called out by the French government."



The Modi government has repeatedly said it was Dassault that chose its India partner for offsets and that the government had no say in the deal.

The Paris-based Dassault Aviation further said in its statement that "in accordance with India's acquisition procedure, French companies have the full freedom to choose their Indian partner companies that they consider to be the most relevant, then present for the Indian government's approval the offset projects that they wish to execute in India with these local partners so as to fulfil their obligations in this regard."

"Dassault Aviation is very proud that the Indian authorities have selected the Rafale fighter," it added stating that the partnership "between the two giants" led to the creation of the Dassault Reliance Aerospace Ltd (DRAL) joint venture in February 2017.

The deal to purchase 36 Rafale fighter jets from France was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2015 and signed in 2016.

The UPA government was earlier negotiating a deal to procure 126 Rafale jets, with 18 to come in flyaway condition and 108 to be manufactured by HAL under licence.

Mediapart, whose focus of the story was about financing of a film being co-produced by actress Julie Gayet, who is said to be a "personal partner" of Hollande, for which the Ambani group had provided funds of up to $1.6 million.

It interviewed Hollande on phone in which he further said: "I intervened in this affair (Rafale) with the two prime ministers, to say that I was keen for this negotiation. Initially, the deal was supposed to be for 126 planes, then when the government changed the Indians reformulated their proposition, less attractive for us because it was for 36 aircraft only. But the manufacturing was planned to be in France, contrary to the preceding proposition, we lost on the one hand and gained on the other."Rome/Beijing : The Vatican and the Chinese government signed an agreement on Saturday on the appointment of bishops in China, ending a decades-long struggle over who chooses the leaders of Catholicism in the world's most populous country, but leaving major tensions in their relationship unresolved.

The "provisional agreement" was signed in Beijing by Msgr. Antoine Camilleri, the Holy See's undersecretary for relations with states, and Wang Chao, China's Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister, the Vatican said in a statement.

Details of the agreement weren't made public, but people familiar with the matter said it allows the Pope to veto new nominees for bishops proposed by the Chinese government, Efe news reported.

"This is not the end of a process. It's the beginning," said Vatican spokesman Greg Burke in a statement. "The objective of the accord is not political but pastoral, allowing the faithful to have bishops who are in communion with Rome but at the same time recognized by Chinese authorities."

The controversial deal constitutes the first official recognition by the Communist government that the Pope is the head of the Catholic Church in China, the report said.

But the agreement also means that the Vatican will no longer approve the ordination of bishops in China without Beijing's permission.

Coming amid an intensified government crackdown on Christians and other religious groups in China, the deal has drawn protests, including from some Catholics there, that it represents a defeat for the principle of religious freedom, according to the report.

Beijing's major condition for the agreement was that the Pope recognize seven excommunicated Chinese bishops who had been appointed without Vatican approval over the years.

As part of the understanding between China and the Vatican, the Pope was supposed to fulfil that requirement before the signing of the agreement, according to people familiar with the matter.

In two of the seven cases, government-backed bishops will take the place of bishops who shunned government control -- the first time the Vatican asked so-called underground bishops to step aside for this purpose.

For Beijing, the agreement is a step towards resumption of diplomatic relations with the Vatican, which Beijing broke off in 1951, and hence part of an intensifying campaign for the isolation of Taiwan, a democratic, self-ruled island that Beijing considers a renegade province.

The Holy See is the most prestigious of Taiwan's diplomatic partners, which now number only 17 after Beijing peeled off three others this year.

Among the important unknown details about the agreement were whether the Pope will have a choice of nominees or merely a right of veto over a single candidate at a time. And also how thoroughly the Vatican will be able to vet bishop candidates ahead of time.

The agreement also leaves unresolved the fate of some 30 so-called underground bishops recognized by the Vatican but not by China.

Another complication was a major discrepancy in the number of dioceses recognized by the two sides. The Vatican tallies 144 Catholic dioceses in the country while Chinese government's count is only 96, according to the Holy Spirit Study Centre.

It was unclear whether Beijing will nominate bishops to lead the dioceses it hasn't recognized till now.Sorry!

This content is not available in your regionFord 'accepts committee's request to provide her first-hand knowledge of Brett Kavanaugh's sexual misconduct next week,' US media reported.

After several days of maintaining a relatively neutral posture, Trump had, on Friday, declared that Ford was lying. (Photo: File | AFP)

Washington: The woman whose sexual assault allegation threatens to bring down President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee has agreed to testify in the Senate, her lawyers said Saturday, setting up a dramatic showdown next week.

Christine Blasey Ford's decision followed days of negotiations and came after Trump turned against her and said her accusation could not be true.

Also read: Willing to testify on new date: Woman accusing Trump's SC nominee

Ford "accepts the committee's request to provide her first-hand knowledge of Brett Kavanaugh's sexual misconduct next week," said a message from her lawyers to the Senate Judiciary Committee, US media reported.

Hours later, multiple outlets including Politico and The Daily Beast reported the hearing would take place on Thursday, citing sources familiar with a phone call between the committee and Ford's lawyers.

The tentative deal capped a day of frenetic developments, with time running out for Trump to get his hand-picked conservative judge confirmed -- thereby tilting the Supreme Court firmly to the right for years to come -- before November elections when Republicans risk losing control of Congress.

Earlier, the panel had given the California professor until 2:30 pm (1830 GMT) to decide whether to appear, after she rejected a Friday evening deadline imposed by the committee's Republican leader, Chuck Grassley.

"Although many aspects of the proposal you provided via email, on (Friday) are fundamentally inconsistent with the committee's promise of a fair, impartial investigation into her allegations, and we are disappointed with the leaks and the bullying that have tainted the process, we are hopeful that we can reach agreement on details," read the lawyers' letter cited by The Washington Post.

The White House criticized Ford for allegedly dithering. "But one thing has remained consistent: Brett Kavanaugh remains ready, willing and eager to testify as soon as possible," it added.

Denial

Ford alleges that Kavanaugh drunkenly assaulted her at a party when he was 17, she was 15 and they were attending private schools outside Washington in the 1980s.

Kavanaugh denies knowledge of any such assault and wants to give his side of the story to the committee.

Grassley had wanted the hearing to take place on Wednesday, but Ford asked that it be held on Thursday at the earliest and to be able to call as a witness a man she says was present during the assault.

The committee's Republican leadership turned down those demands.

After several days of maintaining a relatively neutral posture, Trump on Friday declared that Ford was lying.

"TAKE THE VOTE!" Trump tweeted, blaming "radical left wing politicians" for the controversy.

A Call For Respect

According to Trump, the fact that Ford remained silent until now shows the incident probably never happened -- even if this runs counter to what experts say is the typical reaction of sexual assault victims afraid or too embarrassed to report.

"I have no doubt that, if the attack on Dr Ford was as bad as she says," Trump tweeted, "charges would have been immediately filed with local Law Enforcement Authorities by either her or her loving parents."

The senior senator for Trump's Democratic foes, Chuck Schumer, called the president's logic a "highly offensive misunderstanding of surviving trauma," while Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein said: "We must treat sexual assault survivors with respect, not bully or try to silence them."

Even one of Trump's own Republican senators, Susan Collins -- who sits on the Judiciary Committee -- said she was "appalled by the president's tweet."

"We know that allegations of sexual assault are some of the most under-reported crimes that exist," Collins said.

Trump's outburst saw a new #MeToo era hashtag storm the internet, with people -- mostly women -- sharing why they did not report being assaulted under the Twitter hashtag #WhyIDidntReport.

Ford told the Post she went public with her claims because she felt her "civic responsibility" was "outweighing my anguish and terror about retaliation" after the basic outlines of the story emerged in the media.

Ford's husband, Russell Ford, was quoted by the Post as saying the thought that Kavanaugh could be considered for the Supreme Court after Trump took office troubled his wife so much that she considered moving as far away as New Zealand.

"She was like, 'I can't deal with this,'" Russell Ford said. "'I cannot live in this country if he's in the Supreme Court.'"

Republicans are frustrated over what they say was the deliberate timing of the last-minute revelation of Ford's allegation, accusing Democrats of seeking to prevent the process from finishing before the midterm elections in a few weeks.

For their part, Democrats say Republicans are mounting an unseemly rush to get Kavanaugh into the nine-member Supreme Court while they still control the legislature.Peshawar:

Pakistans security forces raided militant hideouts leading to a fierce gun battle that killed seven soldiers and nine terrorists in the countrys restive northwestern tribal region along the Afghan border. The operation was carried out in the Gharlamai and Spera Kunar Algad areas of North Waziristan district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, the Pakistan Army said in a statement.

ALSO READ: Asia Cup 2018: Rohit Sharma can break these 3 records against Pakistan

Seven Pakistani soldiers, including an officer, and nine terrorists were killed on Saturday in the exchange of fire along the Afghan border, the statement said.

The terrorists had crossed over from Afghanistan and were hiding in the area, it said.

ALSO READ: Asia Cup 2018, India vs Pakistan Preview: Arch-rivals seek final spot

However, it remained unclear to which militant group the slain terrorists belonged to.

North Waziristan has long been a sanctuary for Pakistani Taliban and other militant groups.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.New Delhi:

The vessel of Indian Naval officer Abhilash Tomy, who had suffered a back-injury on Friday after his yacht was hit by a storm with 14-metre-high waves mid-way while participating in the Golden Globe Race across south Indian Ocean, was located by an Indian Navy aircraft, a Defence spokesman said on Sunday.

Tomy on Sunday managed to contact race organisers in France through messages and had requested for a stretcher as he could not move on his own. He was representing India in the Golden Globe Race 2018 (GGR) on an indigenously-built sailing vessel 'S V Thuraya'.

The Navy's P8I aircraft, which flew from Mauritius in the early hours Sunday, has located the "mast broken boat rolling excessively", the spokesman said.

Also Read | Pity Rahul Gandhis understanding, Rafale deal will not be cancelled: Arun Jaitley

"Commander Tomy responded by ping on EPIRB as the aircraft was flying over him," he said.

Who is Abhilash Tomy and how the incident happened?

Tomy became the first Indian to have circumnavigated the globe in 2013.

He is the only Indian participating in the race that involves a gruelling 30,000-mile solo circumnavigation of the globe.

His vessel is in the south Indian Ocean, about 1,900 nautical miles from Perth in Australia.

Tomy's vessel was dismasted in extremely rough weather and sea conditions, with wind speeds of 130 kmh.

Also Read | Ayushman Bharat Scheme Live Updates: From poor to poorest will receive better healthcare from today, says Modi

He was in third position in the race and has sailed over 10,500 nautical miles in the last 84 days, since the race started on July 1.

A report from France on Friday night had said 70 knot winds and 14-metre-high waves have left the yachts of Tomy and Ireland's Gregor McGuckin dismasted, and twice knocked down the yacht of second-placed Dutchman Mark Slats.

Both McGuckin and Slats had reported that they are okay, but 39-year-old Tomy, making his second solo circumnavigation, has been injured, it had said.

The nearest yacht was McGuckin's 'Biscay 36 Hanley Energy Endurance', some 90 miles to the southwest of Tomy's 'Thuriya', but she too was dismasted in the same storm.

(With PTI inputs)

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.New Delhi:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to launch the worlds largest healthcare programme - Ayushman Bharat  Pradhan Mantri Jan Aarogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) - on Sunday in Jharkhand. The healthcare scheme will ensure that the deprived families get their part of the healthcare. The programme, also called Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Abhiyan, aims to provide coverage of Rs 5 lakh to Rs 10 crore economically backward families.



ALSO READ | Ayushman Bharat Live: PM Modi to launch largest healthcare programme



Ayushman Bharat scheme: How it works



Beneficiary needs to verify his or her mobile number with the National Health Agency through an OTP and then complete the KYC.



'Ayushman Mitra' facility will be there in each registered hospital to assist the patients. They will run a help desk, check documents to verify the eligibility and enrolment to the scheme. As of now, 15,686 applications for hospital empanelment have been received and over 8,735 hospitals, both public and private, have been empanelled for the scheme.



Beneficiaries will then be given QR codes for further identification and to verify his or her eligibility to avail the benefits of the scheme.



ALSO READ | PM Modi to inaugurate Sikkim's first airport tomorrow



Ayushman Bharat scheme: Eligibility criteria



A person is only eligible if he got his/her mobile number, ration card number registered during the additional data collection drive (ADCD) which was conducted on April 30, 2018 at various Gram Sabhas across India.

Announcing the scheme on the 72nd Independence Day, PM Modi said: Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Abhiyaan will be launched on September 25 this year. It is high time we ensure that the poor of India get proper access to good quality and affordable healthcare.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.Lucknow:

Dr Kafeel Khan, the paediatrician out on bail in connection with the death of infants at the state-run BRD Medical College and Hospital in Gorakhpur last year, was released on orders of a magistrate on Sunday hours after his arrest on Saturday for disturbing treatment being given to patients at the district hospital in Bahraich, the police said.

Superintendent of Police Sabharaj Singh said, Police got information that a person entered the hospital and disturbed treatment being given to the patients admitted there. He was also arguing with the doctors. The person was later arrested and introduced himself as Dr Kafeel Khan.

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Kafeels brother Adeel Khan said he was arrested just before he was going to address the media on the mysterious deaths in Uttar Pradesh. He had rubbished the claims of a mysterious fever and said the symptoms were similar to those of acute encephalitis. Kafeel was taken to Simbhauli Sugar Mill guesthouse and was not allowed to meet his family, Adeel alleged.

The BRD hospital was in the news recently because of the death of 70 children in 45 days because of a mysterious fever.

Also Read | Ayushmann's wife Tahira reveals cancer diagnosis

Kafeel is one of the nine accused in the case involving the death of 63 children within four days because of the disruption in the supply of oxygen at the hospital in August 2017. He was arrested by the Uttar Pradesh Police in September 2017. The Allahabad High Court had granted him bail in April this year.

(With PTI inputs)

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.New Delhi:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has inaugurated the Pakyong airport, the first in the north-eastern state of Sikkim on Monday. The prime minister had left for the Himalayan state after launching the Centre's flagship Ayushman Bharat-National Health Protection Mission (AB-NHPM) from Jharkhand capital Ranchi on Sunday.

"After the programme in Jharkhand I will leave for Sikkim. In Sikkim, I will be inaugurating the Pakyong Airport tomorrow, which will improve connectivity and benefit the people of Sikkim," Modi tweeted on Sunday.

After the programme in Jharkhand I will leave for Sikkim.



In Sikkim, I will be inaugurating the Pakyong Airport tomorrow, which will improve connectivity and benefit the people of Sikkim.  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) September 23, 2018



Read More | Sushma Swaraj arrives in New York for 73rd UNGA session, to address General Debate on September 29



A local said with the opening of the airport, tourism will get a boost. This airport, the 100th operational airport in the country, will help bring state capital Gangtok closer to air travellers. Earlier, people had to travel to Gangtok from Bagdogra in West Bengal through an uphill 124-km road.



Here are 10 things to know about the airport:



1) The Pakyong Airport is a Greenfield airport 30-km from Gangtok. It is the 100th operational airport in the country.



2) The airport has been built at an elevation of about 4,700 feet.



3) The airport has been conceived at a budget of Rs 605.59 crore.

4) The runway of the airport, built on the mountainous terrain, is around 1.7 kilometres long and 30 metres wide, reports say. A taxiway, an apron, a fire station and a traffic control tower have also been built.

Also Read | Wink diva Priya Prakash fails to keep up with being the 'National crush'!



5) The terminal of the airport is spread over an area of 25,000 square feet. It is equipped to handle 100 passengers, 50 each in arrival and departure areas. A car parking area for 80 vehicles has also been built.



6) It will not only promote tourism and open up opportunities for the people of Sikkim but will also provide airlift facility during emergencies and disasters.



7) It has been skilfully engineered to include soil reinforcement and slope stabilisation techniques in context of the altitude.



8) On March 5, the Indian Air Forces Dornier 228 was tested from Pakyong.



9) On March 10, SpiceJet conducted test runs of the 78-seater Bombardier Q400 from Kolkata to Pakyong.

10) October 8, SpiceJet will operate daily flights to and from Kolkata and Guwahati under the Union Civil Aviation Ministrys UDAN (Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik) scheme that aims to enhance regional connectivity. Fare prices are pegged at Rs 2,600.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.New Delhi:

Russian space agency, Roscosmos' chief on Saturday said that it won't accept a second-tier role in a NASA-led plan to build an outpost near the moon. However, spokesman Roscosmos said that the space agency is continuing to stay in the project.



ALSO READ | NASA conducting contest to name the next Mars rover

Russia wouldn't be reduced to a junior partner in the NASA-led project to build the lunar orbital platform called the Gateway in the 2020s, said Roscosmos Chief Dmitry Rogozin.

"I believe that Russia can't afford itself to participate in other countries' project on second-tier roles," Rogozin said when asked about the Gateway during a meeting with young space engineers, according to Tass.

Russia was working to develop heavy-lift rockets that would allow it to build its own orbital platform near the moon, possibly in cooperation with some BRICS countries - a grouping that includes Brazil, China, India and South Africa along with Russia, he said.



Vladimir Ustimenko, Roscosmos spokesman, later clarified that Rogozin didn't mean to say Russia was bailing out of the NASA-led project.



ALSO READ | Who is Yusaku Maezawa? Meet SpaceXs first space tourist



"Russia hasn't refused to take part in the project of the lunar orbital station together with the United States," Ustimenko was quoted by Tass as saying. He added, "we stand for equal, partnership-style cooperation."

Earlier this month, Rogozin has raised some consternation by saying that an air leak spotted at the International Space Station was a drill hole that happened during manufacturing or in orbit. He didn't say if he suspected any of the current crew of three Americans, two Russians and a German aboard the station.



(With inputs from agencies)

For all the Latest Science News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.New Delhi:

NASA is looking for a partner to conduct a contest among students to name the space agencys next rover to the Red Planet. The Mars 2020 rover mission in the academic year 2019 is very important, it will address key questions about the potential for life on Mars.



ALSO READ | Who is Yusaku Maezawa? Meet SpaceXs first space tourist

Corporations and educational organisations who want to sponsor the contest can send proposals to NASA. Proposals must be received by October 9 to be considered, NASA said in a statement on Friday.



Weve been doing naming contests since the very first Mars rover back in 1997, said Thomas Zurbuchen, Associate Administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters, in Washington. Thousands of kids participate, and their enthusiasm for the contest and Mars is infectious, Zurbuchen said.



ALSO READ | Fossil of 558-million-year-old animal discovered



The selected partner will have an opportunity to be part of a historic mission, NASA said.



The next Mars rover launch is targeted for August 2020 from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

For all the Latest Science News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.Paris:

The French government on Sunday expressed fears that the controversy stirred after former president Francois Hollande's claim about Rafale deal may damage its bilateral relations with India. Hollande, who was the French President until May 2017, had on Friday said that French jet manufacturer Dassault Aviation had been given no choice about its local partner in a 2016 deal with the Indian administration.

"I find these remarks made overseas, which concern important international relations between France and India, do not help anyone and above all do not help France," PTI quoted junior foreign minister Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne as saying.

Read More | 'Rudaali' director Kalpana Lajmi dies at 64

The Narendra Modi had signed a deal with France to buy 36 Rafale jets from Dassault Aviation, which announced afterward it was partnering for the project with a newly launched private defence company rather than India's public defence conglomerate HAL.

Hollande's announcement that Dassault "did not have a say in it" added fuel to claims of Congress president Rahul Gandhi that the Modi government had intervened to help the Indian firm in question.

"Because one is no longer in office, causing damage to a strategic partnership between India and France by making remarks that clearly cause controversy in India is really not appropriate," Lemoyne said in an interview on Radio J.

Hollande made the comments to defend himself from accusations of a conflict of interest because Ambani's Reliance conglomerate had partially financed a film produced by his girlfriend, Julie Gayet, in 2016.

Also Read | Asia Cup 2018, India vs Pakistan Preview: Arch-rivals collide again for a berth in final

The choice of Reliance for a highly strategic contract to upgrade India's aging fleet of fighter jets had caused surprise at the time because the group had no previous experience in the aeronautics industry.

Hollande's comments were front-page news in Indian newspapers on Saturday and it was the top trending topic on Twitter.

Rahul Gandhi, head of the main opposition Congress party, who is seeking to replace Modi and his rightwing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in elections next year, went on the offensive.

"An ex-president of France is calling him (the prime minister of India) a thief. It's a question of the dignity of the office of the prime minister," he told a news conference in New Delhi.

(With PTI Inputs)

For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.At the beginning of his trip to the Baltic countries, Pope Francis mentioned the 25th anniversary of Saint John Paul IIs visit. Lithuania has a population of around 2.9 million, 79 per cent of whom are Catholic. "Welcoming differences" is the model Lithuania experienced in its past, to be proposed today to the world. Young people "are not only the future but also the present of this nation, if they can remain attached to the roots of the people.

Vilnius (AsiaNews)  Lithuania, which in its history has always been capable of "welcoming differences", can offer itself as a model of cohabitation "to the international community and in particular to the European Community, said Pope Francis in his greetings to the people of Lithuania in his first address in the square in front of the presidential palace in Vilnius.

The pontiff left Rome this morning for a visit to the Baltic states (Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia) which will last until Tuesday (25 September). Upon arrival at the airport of the Lithuanian capital, he was welcomed by President Dalia Grybauskaite.

Together they travelled to the presidential palace. After a private meeting, Francis met the authorities, the diplomatic corps and representatives of civil society groups; in all, a few thousands of people. Lithuania has a population of around 2.9 million, 79 per cent of whom are Catholics.

In his address, after mentioning John Paul IIs pilgrimage 25 years ago, the pope urged the people of Lithuania "to make its own the struggles and achievements of the past, and to honour in the present the memory of all those who have gone before ", a century after the declaration of independence of the country, "a century marked by your bearing numerous trials and sufferings: detentions, deportations, even martyrdom.

Throughout its history, Lithuania was able to shelter, receive and accept peoples of various ethnic groups and religions. All found a place to live in this land  Lithuanians, Tartars, Poles, Russians, Belarusians, Ukrainians, Armenians, Germans  Catholics, Orthodox, Protestants, Old Catholics, Muslims, Jews  lived together in peace until the arrival of totalitarian ideologies that, by sowing violence and lack of trust, undermined its ability to accept and harmonize differences.

"If we look at the world scene in our time, more and more voices are sowing division and confrontation  often by exploiting insecurity or situations of conflict  and proclaiming that the only way possible to guarantee security and the continued existence of a culture is to try to eliminate, cancel or expel others. Here you Lithuanians have a word of your own to contribute: welcoming differences.

"Through dialogue, openness and understanding, you can become a bridge between Eastern and Western Europe. This is the fruit of a mature history, which you as a people can offer to the international community and to the European Community in particular."

Francis also turned his thoughts to young people, who are not only the future but also the present of this nation, if they can remain attached to the roots of the people.

The Lithuania of which they dream will depend on tireless efforts to promote policies that encourage the active participation of young people in society. Doubtless, this will prove a seed of hope, for it will lead to a dynamic process in which the soul of this people will continue to generate hospitality: hospitality towards the stranger, hospitality toward the young, towards the elderly and the poor, and, ultimately, hospitality toward the future.

Finally, Francis assured that the country can count on the efforts and the cooperation of the Catholic Church, so that this land can fulfil its vocation as land that serves as bridge of communion and hope.The details of the Leadership Danbury sessions may fade as the years go by, but the personal connections and feeling of enlightenment about the city are standing the test of time.

That was the sentiment shared by past participants as the Greater Danbury Chamber of Commerce last week held its inaugural alumni reunion at Ethan Allen Hotel.

I can still call on any one of them for help and they can call on me, Darlene Dodson said of her fellow 2011 graduates. To have these relationships seven years later is amazing.

Dodson was one of more than 100 people to attend the event, including the 25 graduates of the 2018 class. Dodson, one of several alums from Union Savings Bank, does recall several of the visits her class made during the program.

I didnt realize Danbury has all these best-kept secrets, she said. It really opened my eyes. I was blown away with the history of the city and the different companies that are here.

Leadership Danbury is a program of the Greater Danbury Chamber of Commerce designed to help develop potential leaders in the local business community. The objectives include improving understanding of the areas economic, social and political forces, and to foster a sense of community.

It meets monthly nine times starting in January and includes field trips and themes such as media, health care, public education, history, economic development, law enforcement and transportation.

P.J. Prunty, who became president and CEO of the Greater Danbury Chamber of Commerce earlier this year, did the program in 2012. It was one of his missions to organize an alumni event.

Although I am a native to the area, there were still so many incredible resources throughout greater Danbury that I was unaware of, he said. Beyond the educational component, I had the opportunity to meet my classmates who represented a diverse make up of business and industry and the nonprofit sector. I am still close with many of them, both personally and professionally.

Leadership Danbury started in 1989 and last weeks event included two members of the original class: Michelle James, executive director of the Community Action Agency of Western Connecticut; and Diane Berry of Union Savings Bank.

James was working for the United Way in 1989 when she heard that Leadership Danbury was being formulated. Even though her organization did not have the money to send her, she knew she had to make a difference in Danbury, and got a scholarship to attend.

We needed to do a needs assessment and the only way to do a needs assessment is to learn about the community, she said. Leadership Danbury helped me learn where I needed to go to get the information. As a result of that I started two programs. One on teen pregnancy prevention and one on substance abuse, which still exists today in some form.

James left the Danbury area for four years, but when she came back she hit the ground running because of the connections she made at Leadership Danbury, she said.

Leadership Danbury did make a difference in my life and my motto today is: Live life to the fullest, she said.

Community impact

The program is more than field trips and guest speakers. A major component of Leadership Danbury is the community service projects each class does. This years class did two projects  collecting more than 300 backpacks full of supplies for students at one of the citys poorest elementary schools and creating a youth legacy fund to pay for scholarships, as well as fund programs that students want to do to help the community.

This years class also donated more than $1,200 to Family & Childrens Aid. Each member of the class was given $20 during one of the sessions and told they could do whatever they wanted with it. They pooled the money and then contributed more funds to the cause.

The donation is a prime example of what the program is supposed to do, Amelia Anderson of the Greater Danbury Chamber of Commerce said in a previous interview.

The Greater Norwalk Chamber of Commerce offers a similar program called the Leadership Institute, which also includes a heavy emphasis on community service. Brian Griffin, president of the Norwalk chamber, counts it as one of his organizations best programs.

It provides area companies and organizations with meaningful professional development and employee engagement in the community, Griffin said. It also creates a group of individuals who are prepared to become more involved in their workforce and community.

In case of emergency

Leadership Danbury draws attendees from a variety of industries, including businesses, governmental agencies and nonprofits of all sizes.

Each class includes representatives from the Danbury police and fire departments. Sgt. Jim Antonelli took the program in 2010 and spoke at last weeks alumni gathering.

At the time, not a lot of supervisors were interested because they didnt realize what the program was, he said. Now, Im happy to say, there is a waiting list in our department to get into the program because so many of us spoke highly of it and of the people we met.

Antonelli is head of the departments K-9 unit, co-chairman of the community resources division, and part of the community care team, which helps the homeless and people with addictions.

I learned how to help these people and what resources are available through Leadership Danbury. Thats what networking is all about, he said. As a police officer, its important to know the ins and outs of the city and how it all relates to the community.

During a tour of the federal correctional institution in the city, or FCI Danbury, Antonelli discovered that K-9 units from other cities were being employed by the facility. He arranged a meeting with the warden following the tour and now the Danbury K-9 units assist at the prison.

Weve been going in with our dogs and using them to try to keep substances and contraband out, Antonelli said. I dont think a lot of people realize that that stemmed from the Leadership Danbury program.

The writer may be reached at cbosak@hearstmediact.com; 203-731-3338NEW FAIRFIELD  The May 15 macroburst may have been months ago, but residents affected by the storm are still working toward recovery and thanking those who helped them along the way.

Over a dozen of these hometown heroes, who went above and beyond during the aftermath of the storm, were honored recently at the towns first Taste of New Fairfield. The event was set up by the Community Service Club to raise money for a storm recovery fund.

Club President Jen Hilderbrand said the sold-out inaugural event will also start a new tradition of honoring those who are heroes for their community.

It brought that feeling of community togetherness and really how special and unique everyone is that we can come together in devastation, Hilderbrand said. And I dont think it stops. I think people are still doing these amazing things and not just because of the storm.

Club board member Lisa Keltos said the more than 100 people who attended the event were happy to participate once they heard that it would help with storm recovery.

Everybody knows the storm  this town has never seen anything like that, Keltos said. Theres still people (who) are still trying to recover.

The macroburst caused $18 million in damage to the Danbury area, with more than $7.6 million in damage to homes in New Fairfield and another $1.8 million in clean-up costs on public property in the town, estimates in the aftermath showed. The town recently spent about $2 million in curbside brush clean-up and has hired someone to assess damaged properties.

In the years to come, the Taste of New Fairfield will expand its selection of offerings and once again recognize those who were nominated by their friends or neighbors.

This year, all 15 people nominated for their efforts after the storm were given certificates. Three top prize winners were also chosen and awarded Lowes gift cards.

First place went to Dave Sousa, a resident who brought his heavy equipment and tireless attitude to clear a driving path through the (Rita Drive) neighborhood by the end of the first day after the storm, according to the person who nominated him.

Kevin Yoraschek, who went to a particularly hard-hit neighborhood by the lake to help out, won runner-up, and Jonathan Godbout, who helped his elderly neighbor, was recognized as second runner-up.

Keltos, who notified each of the nominees and winners, said she was touched by how surprised each of them was to learn they had been recognized.

They werent looking for thank yous, they were just doing their jobs as a good human being and helping their family and friends, she said. They were being what were all called to be.

aquinn@newstimes.comConnecticut just received nearly $1.5 million for park and conservation projects  but this could be the last time the state gets this money.

The fund that provides it is set to expire at the end of the month.

The Land and Water Conservation Act was established in 1965, making it the countrys biggest federal source of grant money to protect open spaces and foster outdoor recreation, including fishing and hunting.

But many are nervous Congress wont permanently reauthorize the fund by the Sept. 30 expiration date.

Its a mechanism that has worked, been supported, is sustainable and is something that all of us have relied on, said Tim Abbott, Housatonic Valley Associations director of regional land conservation and greenprint.

The House Natural Resources Committee advanced a bill earlier this month that would permanently reauthorize the fund, but it doesnt include money. The Senate has a similar bill in committee that does include funding. If both of these bills pass, the funding piece would have to resolved in committee.

As of Friday, dates have not been set to consider either bill.

Funding question

The biggest unknown rests on the motivation behind the funding. The fund is made up of a percentage of lease revenues for oil and gas companies to drill on the Outer Continental Shelf. It can be funded up to $900 million annually.

Money is then awarded in matching grants through the U.S. Department of Interior. About $18.4 billion has been appropriated since the fund started.

Abbott said as drilling increases, there are two schools of thought on what that could mean for the fund.

The politically challenging part is trying to see whether its open season on more drilling means theres more revenue and an easier ask, or more revenue for a less conservation-minded administration means hands-off, he said.

In the press release announcing the recent round of grants from the fund, Secretary of Interior Ryan Zinke said he supported permanently reauthorizing it and is hopeful Congress will meet the deadline.

Abbott said he plans to spend next week speaking with senators, including those in Rhode Island, to encourage them to sign on to the bill and show it has a majority of support so the Senate can take it up. So far, 46 senators are signers, including six Republicans.

All of Connecticuts federal delegation has signed on to their respective reauthorization bills. Sen. Richard Blumenthal said hes disappointed it hasnt been permanently reauthorized.

Congress must act, and I will work with my colleagues to ensure that this critical conservation program does not expire on September 30, he said.

Connecticuts benefits

The state has received $117 million since the fund was created. That money has been used to create community playgrounds, ball fields and the Silvio Conte National Fish and Wildlife Refuge along the Connecticut River watershed.

Its also protected the National Scenic Trail in the state, added 1.3 acres to Weir Farm National Historic Site and helped the Cockaponset State Forest in Chester.

Its been very useful funding for land trusts, said Catherine Rawson, Weantinoge Heritage Land Trusts executive director. Its a terrific example of public/private partnerships.

One of the biggest investments in the fund here has been to preserve the Highlands region in Northwestern Connecticut. Since 2007, $17 million has been invested to protect 1,500 acres.

The state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection is also hoping to use some of this money to improve sanitary facilities at campgrounds and add acreage at state parks.

Lapse or renew

If the bill lapses, it can be reauthorized after the mid-term elections, either when the new members of Congress take office or with the current Congress. This would require completely new legislation though, Abbott said.

The fund has lapsed once before, but was reauthorized for three years shortly after.

If its not renewed though, the country will lose the biggest source of federal dollars to protect land. The Farm Bill is the only other source for federal grants on these types of projects.

If it is renewed, but is poorly funded, its harder for Connecticut to get money because not as many projects can be selected, Abbott said.

We cant compete with the larger, cheaper projects elsewhere, he said.

While valued, the Land and Water Conservation Fund is just one funding source for land projects in Connecticut. There is also an open space grant program, which generally begins accepting applications in mid-September.

The state Bond Commission just approved $5 million for more land grants on Thursday.

Stevens said he hopes its renewed.

It would be a significant loss, he said. The National Park Service is an excellent partner in conservation.

kkoerting@newstimes.com; 203-731-3345When Republican Larry Hogan was elected governor of deep-blue Maryland, he envisioned himself playing "goalie": pitching targeted populist initiatives but mostly trying to thwart a Democratic-majority legislature.

He required school to start after Labor Day, cut some fees and lowered tolls by about $3, built roads in rural areas, and pushed targeted tax relief for some retirees. Now his bid for a second term - he would be the first Republican chief executive re-elected in Maryland since 1954 - is built on similarly incremental policy gains.

Hogan's campaign website offers no new sweeping policy ideas, and he has pitched just one brand-new initiative: to seek broader tax cuts beyond the "nibbling around the edges" he already secured.

"We don't want to change very many things or make any U-turns or go in a different direction," he said in an interview.

The governor's pitch to largely keep the status quo stands in marked contrast to the campaign of Democratic challenger Ben Jealous, who among other things envisions a state that pioneers a new way to deliver health care, a 25 percent boost in annual education spending, a statewide $15 minimum wage, a new tax on the wealthy and a recreational marijuana industry - not to mention reducing the state's prison population by about a third.

Jealous and Hogan have dramatically different views of Maryland, reflecting a divide that goes far beyond the traditional gulf between political parties. Their starkly different visions of the state - and its potential future - will be on display Monday during the gubernatorial contest's lone televised debate.

Hogan, the popular incumbent, sees people happy with his tenure of pragmatic governance, though suffering from bad traffic, neighboring states that don't do enough to help restore the Chesapeake Bay and a high tax burden.

"I want to go much further and provide much more tax relief for small businesses, for middle-class taxpayers and for retirees," he said, before adding a pragmatic caveat: "We've got to find a way to pay for it, and I've got to get the legislature on board."

Jealous, the former NAACP president who is far behind in the polls, sees working families as left behind by what he calls the governor's "half-solutions" on criminal justice, the economy and education. He pitches a dramatic - and potentially pricey - overhaul of state government that he believes would create more equity and opportunity across the board.

"My vision is rooted in my understanding that we don't have to crawl," Jealous said in an interview. "We have an opportunity to leap forward."

Todd Eberly, a political scientist at St. Mary's College, said Hogan believes "that for the most part, Maryland doesn't need a revolution, just some reforms."

"Ben Jealous says Maryland should be a trailblazer and really reach for the sky," Eberly continued. "It's a vision of the state that suggests there are a lot of things that need to be fixed. . . . I don't think you could argue that either one of them are right or wrong."

Hogan and his allies bristle at the term "incremental." He points to the construction of the Purple Line (a project planned by his predecessor); record money for schools (largely dictated by spending formulas); several billion dollars in road and bridge improvements (paid for by a gas tax he unsuccessfully tried to roll back); and a just-signed reinsurance plan that reversed double-digit percentage increases in health-care insurance costs (he also insists that a new $380 million fund created by a tax on insurers is not a new tax).

By his count, Hogan prevented more than a billion in spending proposed by Democrats and eliminated or reduced 250 fees, dropping, for example, the cost of an ID card for the homeless from $25 to $1 and making it free for veterans to visit state parks.

He also had vetoed voting rights for felons and a paid sick leave law, only to see the state legislature override him. Part of his vision for the next four years is to help Republicans win five state Senate seats held by Democrats so that the General Assembly no longer holds a veto-proof majority.

"The criticism of 'we just do small ball' is nonsense," Hogan said. "I mean, I did stop bad things and play goalie. I was playing defense. . . . [But] we had a much better offensive game than I even imagined."

House Minority Leader Nicholaus Kipke, R-Anne Arundel, contrasted Hogan's record of tackling Maryland problems - trying to expand charter schools, negotiating a compromise on a manufacturing tax credit and seeking targeted tax relief for retirees - with the national headline-grabbing ideas of Hogan's Democratic predecessor, former governor Martin O'Malley, who successfully pushed for a tough gun-control law, repeal of the death penalty, legalizing same-sex marriage and granting in-state tuition to undocumented immigrants.

"With many of his initiatives, we'd joke that this was a television commercial for his presidential run," Kipke said, referring to O'Malley's failed 2016 bid. "That's just not the way it is with Larry Hogan. Not any one issue is a superstar issue, but collectively it's a superstar record."

Democratic critics contend Hogan has been at best a caretaker, willing to take credit for signing laws he did not help pass and offering few original ideas.

"He ran against the transportation [gas] tax, and then as governor he's handing out dollars as though it were manna from heaven," said state Sen. Richard Madaleno Jr., D-Montgomery County, who is one of the five Democrats who lost to Jealous in the primary.

Madaleno, who worked as a legislative policy analyst before being elected to the General Assembly 12 years ago, described Jealous's pitch to voters "big and bold."

"Ben Jealous is certainly proposing very little you could describe as incremental," Madaleno said. "Once he gets into office, it might turn into being incremental. You might say that you believe in a single-payer health-care plan, but you might need five steps to get there."

Jealous supporters acknowledge that he might not have all the details for all of his big ideas worked out yet, but they say that's besides the point.

"When I think of a leader, I think of someone who is bold, who is creative, who is not afraid to get out there and explain your position," said Del. Joseline Pena-Melnyk (D-Prince George's County), a three-term lawmaker. "At least he has ideas."

But more centrist lawmakers - including some Democrats - say Jealous's vision is unrealistic.

"Simply just throwing out there that we're going to reduce the prison population by 30 percent without any type of detail is completely meaningless and somewhat irresponsible," said state Sen. Robert Zirkin, D-Baltimore County, who as chair of the Judicial Proceedings Committee helped shepherd broad criminal-justice reforms over the past two years.

Largely as a result of those changes, Maryland's prison population is already declining at one of the fastest rates in the country, according to a May report from the Vera Institute of Justice.

"Either he doesn't know what's going on in the state, or he's ignoring what's going on in the state," Zirkin said of Jealous. "Either way, it's not a good way to run for governor."

Jealous dismissed those concerns, noting Zirkin has accepted campaign donations from the cash bail industry. "It's not surprising that I have different views on mass incarceration than politicians who take lots of money from the bail lobby," he said. "People get into power, and they develop relationships with rich special interests, and it clouds their view."

On the campaign trail, Jealous offers those zingers in speeches, critiquing Maryland's current leaders for timidly pushing Democratic ideas. Hogan spends much of his time glad-handing and posing for photos, telling voters he's focused on "common-sense" ideas.

Although voters have a distinct choice ahead of them, they may not have a clear sense of the alternative Jealous is offering, said Melissa Deckman, chair of the political science department at Washington College. That's because the Democrat has vastly fewer resources than the incumbent governor. While Hogan and his allies have put more than $2 million behind statewide television statewide advertising since the June 26 primary, Jealous and his supporters launched their modest first media buys in the Baltimore market earlier this month.

Monday's debate, which will air at 7 p.m. on Maryland Public Television, offers Jealous his first general-election shot at a statewide audience to articulate his vision, and for Hogan to display his.

"It's been hard to know what Jealous' message is because I haven't seen much from him on the airways," Deckman said.Pope Francis celebrated his first Mass in the Baltic States, in Santakos Park in Kaunas, together with hundreds of thousands, remembering the "experiences of the cross" and persecution. How many of you have also felt your faith shaken because God did not appear to take your side? Ultimately, the thirst for power and glory [. . .] is a fruitless and vain attitude. We should think about ethnic minorities, the jobless who have to emigrate, the elderly, the lonely, or those young people who lost their roots.

Kaunas (AsiaNews)  Pope Francis celebrated Mass today in Santakos Park in Kaunas before a crowd of hundreds of thousands of believers. In ending his homily, he urged those present to spend our lives in joyful service, and thus to make known to all that Jesus Christ is our one hope.

On the second day of his visit to the Baltic States (Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia), the pontiff urged Christians to be a Church on the move, unafraid to go out and get involved, even when it might seem that we pour ourselves out, lose ourselves, in going forth to the weak, the neglected, those dwelling at the margins of life. 

The Holy Father stressed first of all the experiences of the cross" that Lithuanian believers had to endure. Referring to the first reading in today's Mass (25th Sunday of Ordinary Time, B, Wisdom 2:10-20), he asked: How many of you can identify at first hand, or in the history of some family member, with that passage which we just read? How many of you have also felt your faith shaken because God did not appear to take your side? Because the fact of your remaining faithful was not enough for him to intervene in your history? Kaunas knows about this; Lithuania as a whole can testify to it, still shuddering at the mention of Siberia, or the ghettos of Vilnius and Kaunas, among others. You can repeat the words of condemnation uttered by the apostle James in the passage of his Letter that we heard: they covet, they murder, they engage in disputes and conflicts (cf. 4:2).

As the Gospel (Mark 9:30-37) says, the disciples, instead of talking about sorrows and the cross, discussed who was the greatest among them. As it is, [T]he thirst for power and glory is the sign of those who fail to heal the memories of the past and, perhaps for that very reason, to take an active part in the tasks of the present. They would rather discuss who was better, who acted with greater integrity in the past, who has more right to privileges than others. [. . .] It is a fruitless and vain attitude that refuses to get involved in building the present, since it has lost contact with the struggles of our faithful people. We cannot be like those spiritual sages who only judge from afar and chatter constantly about what ought to be done.

Jesus, Francis added, provided them with an antidote to their struggles for power and their rejection of sacrifice [. . .] and set a child in their midst; the kind of child that would earn a penny for doing chores no one else would care to do. Whom would Jesus place in our midst today, here, on this Sunday morning? [. . .] Perhaps it is the ethnic minorities of our city. Or the jobless who have to emigrate. Maybe it is the elderly and the lonely, or those young people who find no meaning in life because they have lost their roots.

In their midst means at the same distance from everybody, so that no one can claim not to notice, no one can argue that it is somebody elses responsibility because I didnt see him, or I am further away. And without anyone drawing attention to oneself, wanting to be applauded or singled out for praise.

Lastly, let us welcome Jesus, in his word, in the Eucharist [. . .]. For there is nothing truly human that does not find an echo in the heart of Christs disciples. We feel as our own the joys and the hopes, the sorrows and the afflictions of the people of our time, particularly the poor and the suffering."ALBANY  New York stunned the nation when it legalized abortion in 1970, becoming the second state to broadly legalize the procedure and the first to allow it for out-of-state residents.

It was a liberal abortion law at the time; women flocked to the state to end unwanted pregnancies and in just a few years, three out of every five abortions in New York were performed on women from out of state. The U.S. Supreme Court would make it legal across the land three years later with its landmark Roe v. Wade decision, affirming at the time a now familiar sentiment that where New York leads, others would follow.

But just how liberal are New York's abortion laws by today's standards? According to legal scholars and advocates  not very. And that matters, they say, as the nation gears up to fill a vacancy on the Supreme Court that many believe could pivot the court in unprecedented favor of the anti-abortion cause.

"There has been a dramatic increase by states in the last decade to try to test the boundaries of the nation's abortion law, and it seemed to be in anticipation of changes on the Supreme Court," said Andy Ayers, director of Albany Law School's Government Law Center.

Though a common assumption is that New York is generally safe from federal rollbacks on progressive issues, a policy brief authored by Ayers and published last week by Albany Law School and the Rockefeller Institute of Government highlights exactly why that might not be the case when it comes to abortion rights.

Where New York falls short

It helps to understand, that under New York penal law abortion is technically a crime. The 1970 law that legalized the procedure simply made it a "justifiable" crime under two specific circumstances: when it is performed within 24 weeks of conception or when it is performed to save a woman's life.

The Supreme Court, in its 1973 Roe decision, expanded on this  legalizing abortions in instances when the mother's health, and not just her life, was at risk. This was important to abortion rights advocates, who noted that women can face health complications during pregnancy, such as preeclampsia or heart issues, that can easily turn life-threatening if action isn't taken early.

New York's law contains no such exception, nor does it contain an exception for late-term abortions when a fetus is "nonviable"  or unable to survive outside the womb.

That right was solidified on a federal level in 1992, with a second landmark abortion case, Planned Parenthood v. Casey. In that decision, the Supreme Court reaffirmed Roe and barred states from placing "undue burdens" on women seeking abortions. One of those burdens, it decided, was forcing women to carry nonviable fetuses to term.

Do the discrepancies matter?

While New York's abortion law was not quite as progressive as Roe or Casey, legal minds argued that it didn't matter, Ayers said. Supreme Court rulings trump state law. Roe and Casey were the law of the land, and that included New York.

The state's highest court confirmed as much, too. In 1994, the Court of Appeals stated that "the fundamental right of reproductive choice, inherent in the due process liberty right guaranteed by our state constitution, is at least as extensive as the federal constitutional right," and went on to cite both Roe and Casey.

"In lawyer terms, this was 'dicta,' meaning non-binding," said Ayers, who is an adviser to the Rockefeller Institute's Center for Law and Policy Solutions. "But to me, it's very, very hard to imagine that our Court of Appeals would find it permissible to restrict abortion in a way that Roe would not have allowed."

Even if Roe or Casey is overturned?

"Even then," he said.

Still, the question is sometimes debated by legal scholars, and could become the subject of litigation in New York if the state ever attempted to limit abortion rights, he added.

A crime or a medical decision?

Although legal experts agree it's unconstitutional for New York to deny late-term abortions to women to protect their health or when the fetus is nonviable, those exceptions remain a gray area to some medical professionals.

The law governing abortion in New York exists within the state's penal code, meaning violators could face criminal punishment rather than civil liability. That's worrisome to some doctors, who have urged some women to seek a late-term abortion in another state.

"When courts strike down a statute, they don't erase it from the law books," Ayers said. "So there's a chilling effect on doctors, and we know this from testimonials from women, who've said, 'Look, my doctor refused to do this because he says it's a crime and a gray area.'"

The Reproductive Health Act, a bill that was introduced in the state Legislature in 2017 to bring New York's abortion law in line with Roe and Casey, would lessen this effect by moving abortion statutes out of state penal law and into health law. It would also expand the types of medical professionals allowed to perform abortions to include nurse practitioners and physician assistants.

As President Donald Trump prepared to announce Brett Kavanaugh as his Supreme Court nominee this summer, Gov. Andrew Cuomo came out hard against Republican state senators who have refused to pass the bill.

Other states have had better luck amending their abortion laws as the ideological makeup of the Supreme Court faces its greatest test since World War II. Massachusetts recently amended its laws to bolster abortion protections, and at least 15 states have passed laws in recent years that would prohibit abortion should the Supreme Court overturn Roe.

While legal experts predict that a full overturning of Roe or Casey is highly unlikely, Ayers and others speculate that an incremental chipping away of abortion protections is likely to occur under a majority pro-life Supreme Court.

"If a significant number of other states start prohibiting abortion or making it hard to access," he said, "we may see people come into New York to get abortions again, just like they did in the '70s."

Read the full policy brief here.Alice Mattison looked at the people who had gathered at the Mitchell Library in Westville last Monday night to hear her read from her new book, Conscience, and she told us: Ive been working on it off and on for seven years!

Later she added, If anybody here is writing a novel, I had more trouble with mine than you did with yours.

But Mattison is no novice; this is her seventh published novel. When I met with her last Wednesday afternoon at her home in New Havens East Rock neighborhood, near Archie Moores bar-restaurant (a scene takes place there in Conscience,), I asked her why it had taken so long.

It was a hard book to get right, she said as we sat in her kitchen, with her dog Harold lying at her feet. Its complicated. I kept writing version after version. I wrote probably eight or nine complete drafts.

Yes, Conscience is complex. There are three narrators, including Olive Grossman, at times recalling her youth in Brooklyn when she was agonizing over how to protest the war in Vietnam, and Joshua Griffin, who shot and seriously wounded a police officer who was beating female students during an anti-war demonstration in New York. The novel is set in 2013, when Grossman and Griffin are married and living in New Haven, with 60s events still reverberating and complicating their relationship.

In an email announcing the publication of her book, Mattison summarized the plot: Conscience is about three Brooklyn girls who protest the Vietnam War. One becomes a violent revolutionary, the second writes a novel about the first and the third, Olive Grossman, is a writer and editor in New Haven still trying decades later to makes sense of her past, understand her husband, Griff  another former protester  and respond to a new friend, Jean, the director of a (New Haven) drop-in center for homeless people.

I didnt know I was writing a timely book until the November 2016 election, she told us at the library. She said she decided to keep the books New Haven time pre-Trump because she had written all those drafts before 2016.

But she mused, Today very much feels like those war years.

This book is about living in troubled times, she noted during her library talk. What do you do? Is it OK to go on living your private life?

Mattison didnt answer that key question at the library but I pressed her about it while we sat at her kitchen table.

I think more than ever, because there is a threat to the imagination and art, we have to practice art and the imagination, to read and write, she said. We cant give up reading fiction and just read news stories.

She added, We have to continue to live our private lives, but with sensitivity to one another. Thats a necessary resistance to the hate and rudeness.

Mattison and I reflected on those terrible, seemingly endless years of the Vietnam War and how each of us chose to oppose our government. Im a few years younger than Mattison, so I was at Lafayette College and then Boston University at the height of the student protests. I participated in many non-violent actions, one of which resulted in my arrest. Mattison graduated from Queens College in 1962, when campuses were quiet. But after she moved to California and became a teacher at Modesto Junior College, the war became a huge issue.

Mattison and her husband, Ed Mattison, who was then a legal aid social worker representing migrant farm workers, were strongly opposed to the war. But since they were living in a conservative town, their anti-war protesting was done in San Francisco, where they joined large marches. They also bailed out people, many of them students, who had been arrested for peace actions such as passing out anti-war leaflets.

She told me she always remained non-violent when she was protesting. She was never arrested. Sounding like her books character Olive Grossman, Mattison said, I was one of those who agonized about being arrested. I couldnt bring myself to do it. She said although Grossmans ruminations over what to do about the war are an autobiographical aspect of the book, Olive is not based on me.

Readers of Conscience who wonder where Mattison got the idea for the novel can find out by seeing her authors note: In the late 1960s, I briefly met an idealistic young social worker. I next saw her name a few years later in newspaper headlines, when her resistance to the Vietnam War had turned violent. I never met her again, but this novel results in part from my lifelong curiosity about how such a transformation might occur, and what its effects might be on people who knew and loved the revolutionary.

Recalling her brief encounter with that young woman, Mattison told me: She was a very nice, friendly social worker. She came to New Haven around 1967 and we had a meal with her. A few years later, there she was in the headlines. I looked at it and saw it was her! I wondered: how could this happen?

This led to her thinking: Suppose you had a close friend and its unthinkable she could become a violent revolutionary, but she does. How did it happen? How does it feel?

When I asked Mattison the name of that real-life revolutionary, she declined to tell me. She explained her reluctance in a follow-up email: If I were to say it, some people would inevitably assume that my character is an attempt to depict her. My interest is in the situation, not the particular person, whom I hardly knew.

Mattison said she had wrestled with many possible titles for her novel, including Imagination. Recalling the naming process during her library talk, she said she was trying to figure it out one night with her husband. I said, What I should call it is Conscience. And he said: Why not?

I think that happened because were in another period where whats happening in public life affects us so much, she added. It stops becoming background; it becomes foreground.

During our interview, I asked her if she named the book Conscience specifically because were living in the Trump years. I think so, she said. Its more possible now to say out loud something as obvious as we need to exert our consciences.

When I asked what she hopes readers will take away from her book, she said, Wow and thought for a minute. Then she said, Im always writing about how to live decently, even though the people we love drive us crazy. But this book looks at public life too.

A woman at the library talk asked Mattison about choosing New Haven as the setting. Mattison replied: Of course! What other place is there? I love writing about New Haven. (Local readers will enjoy scenes set in Elm City locales such as Pepes, Edgewood Park, the New Haven Green, Blessings restaurant, the Institute Library and the footbridge over the Mill River in East Rock Park.)

Mattisons library appearance marked the beginning of her book tour. She will be at Best Video Film and Cultural Center in Hamden Oct. 2 at 7 p.m. (with Sandi Kahn Shelton) and Mattison will do a solo reading at R.J. Julia Booksellers in Madison Oct. 10 at 7 p.m.

Mattison said she is thrilled and delighted by the positive feedback to her book, especially from people she doesnt know. At last she is reaping the reward for all those years of blank pages, cross-outs and revisions.

randall.beach@hearstmediact.comUh-oh! It could be you, or it could be us, but there's no page here.Pope Francis met priests, consecrated men and women and seminarians in Kaunas Cathedral. He spoke about "groaning for the thirst of God and listening to the groaning of people. Being sad in ones vocation is a "disease", which turns the consecrated into hardened and fruitless bachelors and spinsters. The consecrated must be fathers and mothers of mercy. "If you do so, when you will be old, you will have a beautiful smile and bright eyes.

Kaunas (AsiaNews)  Pope Francis met with priests, men and women religious and seminarians in Kaunas Cathedral.

In his address, he said that priests and consecrated people must be close to the Lord, worship before the tabernacle and in prayer, and be close to the people, so that they are not full of "sadness" nor become bureaucrats or clerics of the state. He urged nuns to avoid chatting but be instead like "icons of Mother Church and Mother Mary".

He urged all to have "hearts of mercy", in Lithuania of all places because it is a "land where Jesus revealed himself as a merciful Jesus", where St Faustina Kowalska, initiator of the devotion to the merciful Jesus, lived for a long time.

The pontiff read almost all of his prepared speech, stressing the importance of groaning and the daily dialogue with the Lord through prayer and adoration along with the groaning that can come from our contemplation of the world around us.

Perhaps, he noted, our prosperous society keeps us sated, surrounded by services and material objects; we end up stuffed with everything and filled by nothing. Perhaps it keeps us distracted and entertained, but not fulfilled. As men and women of special consecration, we can never afford to lose that inward groaning, that restlessness of heart that finds its rest in the Lord alone.

The pope urged older priests, who have experienced persecution, and young priests, seemingly weaker, to communicate with each other to become more mature in constancy.

And you, the young, when you meet with little frustrations that can discourage you and make you want to turn in on yourselves, seeking activities and pastimes at odds with your consecration, go back to your roots and consider the path taken by your elders.

Then, speaking without notes through simultaneous translation, he said: "I see there are young people here". After repeating the previous sentence, he added: "I repeat [and he said the previous sentence again] . . . It is better that you take another path than live in mediocrity. This is for young people. You still have time and the door is open."

Still speaking impromptu, Francis spoke of "sad priests and consecrated persons", suffering from an "illness" because "they are not in love with the Lord".

"When you find yourself sad, stop and look for a wise priest or a wise nun. Not wise because they graduated from a university. Wise because they were able to move forward in love. Go and ask for their advice. When this sadness begins, we can foretell that, if it has not healed in time, it will turn you into hardened bachelors and spinsters, men and women who are not fruitful. The devil sows this sadness."

The pope urged those present not to live like "bureaucrats or "businessmen". "Following Jesus is not the life of a bureaucrat: it is the life of the Lord's love and of the apostolic zeal of people. Heres a caricature for you. What does a bureaucratic priest do? He has a schedule, opens the office, does the job, closes the office, and people are on the outside, staying away.

Dear brothers and sisters, if you do not want to be bureaucrats, I will tell you a word [to heed]: closeness, proximity, closeness to the tabernacle, to your lord, and proximity to the people. But Father, people are not coming! Go out and meet them! But kids do not come nowadays! So, come up with something to help them. The Lord wants you as shepherds of the people and not as clerics of the state."

Francis asked the priests to be a sign of the merciful Jesus, especially in the confessional.

Turning to the nuns, he said: "Many times we see good nuns, chatting, chatting. But ask that last one [one of the consecrated victims of communist persecution] if she had time to chat in prison. Please be mothers because you are icons of the Church and of Our Lady. Every person who sees you, sees Mother Church and Mother Mary. And Mother Church is not a spinster. Mother Church does not chat: she loves, serves, grows."

Almost to sum up what he said, the Holy Father ended stressing "Closeness to the tabernacle and to prayer and with others. [Do your] Priestly service and consecrated life, not as bureaucrats, but as fathers and mothers of mercy. If you do so, when you will be old, you will have a beautiful smile and bright eyes, because you will have the soul of mercy, tenderness, love, fatherhood and motherhood. And pray for this poor bishop."Two families are at least temporarily displaced after a fire ripped through one half of a duplex in Cherry Hill Sunday afternoon.

Cherry Hill Fire Department called all hands to the fire around 12:30 p.m., at the dead end of Orchard Avenue near the Merchantville line.

Assistant Fire Chief Chris Callan said it took firefighter 28 minutes to knock down the fire, which mostly affected the second and third floors on one side of the building.

Callan said no one was home on the side of the duplex where the fire started, but the family that lived in the other half was home, and evacuated the house into the rainy afternoon. No one was injured.

Both families will be displaced by the blaze, Callan said, including five adults and six children. One side had serious fire damage and the other side had significant smoke damage, he said. The Red Cross was called to offer assistance.

He said 25 firefighters responded to the scene, and at least four fire trucks and numerous emergency vehicles crowded the narrow streets. Firefighters had knocked out the second-floor window and blackened wood and roofing were scattered around the opening, while smoke drifted out.

The fire marshal was on scene at 1 p.m. and would determine the cause of the fire, Callan said.

Rebecca Everett may be reached at reverett@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @rebeccajeverett. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tipsWhile they say almost anything in an effort to boost advertising sales, television networks are acting as the jury over the allegations lodged against Judge Brett Kavanaugh, the U.S. Supreme Court nominee.

Currently, they are jumping through hoops to "convict" Judge Kavanaugh over a single sexual assault accusation while the public waits to hear other shoes drop. The accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, makes news with demands about the conditions under which she'll testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Approximately 36 years ago, when both were in high school, there was a party, but the date is not certain. Ford said Kavanaugh did abusive things there, but did not pursue any charges at the time. It was not until after Kavanaugh was nominated to the high court that Ford wrote a letter about this to Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. Feinstein sits on the judiciary committee, which is considering the nomination.

Ford wanted to remain anonymous, but later revealed her identity to a Washington newspaper. Feinstein withheld the letter from the full committee for a fortnight, until after it was leaked to the press.

There are just too many loose ends, but Kavanaugh's accuser is making demands that are beyond the norm. Is there anything in the news that we can believe about this situation?

Gerald Keer, Turnersville

Send a letter to the editor of South Jersey Times at sjletters@njadvancemedia.com

Bookmark NJ.com/Opinion. Follow on Twitter @NJ_Opinion and find NJ.com Opinion on Facebook.NORTH BERGEN  The Hudson County Prosecutor's Office and Sheriff's Office joined in on a carnival the township hosted in the backyard of the North Bergen Kennedy Branch Library on Saturday. The four-hour event featured food, rides, and giveaways from officers themselves.

"A lot of families have to come to gather around, to meet fellow officers, remedial officials -- it's great," said Sheriffs Officer Leo Solis. "I mean, how much more can you ask for?"

Solis had a table full of rulers, pencils, and other goods that were given out to the kids. Kids could also get fingerprinted in case a reference was needed for an emergency.

The 27-year-old noted that he believes officers can strengthen the relationship with the younger generation by events, such as the carnival, or recreational games. But he stated that communication is key, even if children begin to lose their trust as they grow up  one factor being social media.

"Just be open about it," he said. "We have to be open about it and be transparent; it's always a good thing."

Hudson County Prosecutor Esther Suarez also believes that it's the media  along with personal experiences and other factors -- that affect the younger generation's perception of law enforcers.

But Suarez chooses to use education as a counteract to children losing trust in officials.

"We try to educate the younger students," Suarez said. "We'll do drug awareness, and we'll do gang awareness, and it's a lot of interacting we do in the schools all over the county. ... We'll always do community outreach."Louis I. Squitieri, funeral director of Greenville Memorial Home in Jersey City and a winner of The Jersey Journal's Everyday Hero award, died Friday at home.

He joined Greenville Memorial Home in 1982 and became a partner in 1988 on the death of one of the founders, Gerald T. Jewusiak.

Squitieri was well known in the community for his many charitable acts. He performed many good deeds for friends, neighbors and total strangers and rescued stray dogs and homeless cats, then helps local animal organizations find good homes for them.

He made many donations to groups that have had a positive impact on the quality of life in Hudson County.

For his dedication to the community, the Bayonne resident received The Jersey Journal's 2001 Everyday Hero in the Betty Foley Memorial Award category. The award was named for the late A. Elizabeth Foley, a Journal staffer for more than half a century who was a dedicated churchwoman and member of many Hudson County organizations.

Arrangements will be announced later.A third person has been shot and killed in the same Jersey City neighborhood in less than three weeks.

The Hudson County Prosecutor's Office confirmed on Twitter this morning that it is investigating the fatal shooting of a male on New Street, a two-block street in Greenville.

According to police radio transmissions, the shooting occurred sometime before 2:30 this morning.

The shooting comes days after a 17-year-old Ferris High School student was shot and killed outside of a convenience store at Old Bergen Road and Pamrapo Avenue and less than three weeks after a 23-year-old Bayonne man was shot and killed on Lembeck Avenue near Ocean Avenue.

No arrests have been reported in the death of Jayden Fondeur, the student who was killed when shots rang out just before 6:30 p.m. Tuesday. Surveillance video of the killing viewed by The Jersey Journal shows about a dozen people walking and gathering in the area at the time.

His wake is scheduled for tomorrow evening with a funeral Mass to be celebrated on Tuesday.

A GoFundMe campaign has been started to help his family pay for the funeral.

Two arrests have been made in the death of Eric Crocker, the Bayonne man shot and killed Sept. 4 by someone he apparently ran from, according to court documents.

Alexander Harris, 29, and Jahmir Thomas, 20, both of Jersey City, are charged with murder, conspiracy to commit murder and weapons offenses related to a firearm.

Anyone with information is asked to call the homicide detectives at 201-915-1345 or leave an anonymous tip at hudsoncountyprosecutorsofficenj.org/homicide-tip/. All information provided will remain confidential.The oldest was 96 and the youngest was 2.

At YingHua International School in Kingston Friday, students joined residents of six different Brandywine Living facilities to form a human peace symbol marking the United Nations' International Day of Peace.

The effort was the brainchild of Brandywine's Stephanie Gaber, whose job title is escapades producer.

"We've done an Arbor Day program with this school before and it turned out really well and this program just strengthened our relationship even better," Gaber said.

The residents were bused in from six different Brandywine locations, including facilities in Ocean, Monmouth and Somerset counties.

Human Peace symbol formed by kids roughly from 1 to 92 6 Gallery: Human Peace symbol formed by kids roughly from 1 to 92

After the peace symbol, the students and residents renewed their friendships, exchanging greetings and hugs and posed for pictures. Some of the students presented their older friends with artwork.

Franklin Park Fire District 2 supplied a ladder truck for an aerial view and the Kingston Fire Department closed the road for everyone's safety during the event.

Michael Mancuso may be reached at mmancuso@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @michaelmancusoThousands of young people met and blessed Francis, who told them dont let the world make you believe that it is better to do everything on your own. On your own, you never get there. Yes, you can get to have success in your life, but without love, without companions, without belonging to a people.

Vilnius (AsiaNews)  Pope Francis today visited Mater Misericordiae Shrine in Vilnius, and later met with thousands of young people in the square in front of the cathedral, urging them to step out of ourselves and to risk a face-to-face encounter with others to help them, to be available to them, welcoming the presence and the diversity of others as a gift and a source of enrichment in our lives.

In a country that has been able to overcome occupations and violence in the last 70 years, Francis said, in the presence of Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite, "In the past, we built all too many fortresses, but today we feel the need to look one another in the face and acknowledge one another as brothers and sisters, to walk side by side, and to discover and experience with joy and peace the value of fraternity (cf. Evangelii Gaudium, 87).

Here each day crowds of people from numerous countries come to visit the Mother of Mercy: Lithuanians, Poles, Belarusians and Russians; Catholics and Orthodox. Today this is possible, thanks to ready communications and the freedom of circulation between our countries. How good it would be if this ease in moving from one place to another could be accompanied by ease in establishing points of encounter and solidarity, so that we can share generously the gifts we have freely received. So that we can go out and give ourselves to one another, receiving in turn the presence and the diversity of others as a gift and a source of enrichment in our lives.

The high point of the day was the meeting with thousands of enthusiastic young people (pictured). To them the Pope proposed opening up to others, even the elderly, who represent and are our "roots", a significant point made in front of the cathedral, which, under Communist rule, had been turned into an art gallery, with the relics of Saint Casimir, Lithuanias patron saint removed.

With the cathedral in mind, Francis said: Think of all the times this Cathedral went up in flames and fell apart. Yet there were always people ready to start rebuilding; they refused to let themselves be overwhelmed by hardship: they never gave up. [. . .] The freedom of your nation, too, was won by men and women who did not flinch before terror and misfortune.

Speaking to the young people, pontiff went on to say, "dont let the world make you believe that it is better to do everything on your own. On your own, you never get there. Yes, you can get to have success in your life, but without love, without companions, without belonging to a people, without that beautiful experience of taking risks together. You cant move forward on your own.

Dont yield to the temptation of getting caught up in yourself, in watching your belly, in the temptation to end up selfish or superficial in the face of sorrow, difficulty or temporary success. Let us say once again, Whatever happens to others happens to me. Let us swim against the current of that individualism which isolates us, makes us egocentric and makes us become vain, concerned only for our image and our own well-being. Ultimately, Life in front of the mirror is no good, it is no good. On the other hand, life is beautiful with others", the pope said.

At the end of the meeting, following Lithuanian tradition, the young people raised their arms and blessed Francis.The nation's leading pet retailer is allowing customers to tour its grooming salons Sunday as part of a package of changes it's making to reassure customers that its dog groomings are safe.

PetSmart announced the open houses in February amid an NJ Advance Media investigation that documented dozens of cases of dogs dying during or shortly after groomings.

The investigation, published Thursday, found the company has offered owners payments, sometimes for as little as few hundred dollars, in exchange for non-disclosure agreements. It also detailed allegations of inadequate groomer training and intense pressure to grow profits.

Read the full investigation, "Groomed, then Gone"

PetSmart -- which operates more than 1,600 stores in the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico -- fiercely defends its safety record and has not admitted wrongdoing in any of the cases.

"As a company of pet lovers who are dedicated to the health and happiness of all pets, we empathize with these grieving families," it said in a statement Thursday. "Nevertheless, we are not aware of any evidence suggesting that PetSmart services caused the deaths of these pets."

During the course of the investigation, the company announced it would improve dog screenings before groomings, install cameras in grooming areas and review its training procedures.

PetSmart also announced the tours, which it said would allow "pet parents to meet their local groomers, discuss their pet's specific needs, tour their local salon and have all their questions answer." The tours will run from 10 a.m. to noon in all of its stores.

"We maintain the highest standards in the industry, but by no means are we perfect," the company said in its statement. "That's why we're always exploring enhancements to those standards."

Prompted by the December death of Scruffles, an English bulldog groomed at a PetSmart in Flemington, tens of thousands of people have taken to social media, and customers have shared stories of injuries or deaths.

The movement provided the impetus for the NJ Advance Media investigation, which documented 47 cases across 14 states since 2008 in which families claim they took their dog for a grooming only to have it die during or shortly afterwards.

That number, however, is hardly a definitive accounting of deaths.

No state currently requires all individual groomers to be licensed, so there's no enforced standard training, a lack of transparency of safety records and little public accounting when things go wrong. As a result, there's no way to know how many dogs die after any grooming.

Read the full investigation, "Groomed, then Gone"

When deaths do occur, it's rarely clear what happened.

Some pets could have unknown medical conditions that put them at risk, or they could die of natural causes, old age or other reasons out of the groomer's control. Though PetSmart did not address specific cases in its statement, it said it considered those issues to be important factors in many of the deaths identified in NJ Advance Media's investigation.

Even when a necropsy -- the animal equivalent of a human autopsy -- is conducted, it is often inconclusive and speculative. Cases are hard to prove and, since pets are usually legally considered property, there's little financial incentive for owners or lawyers.

When cases do go to court, they often settle and result in confidentiality agreements. In several instances, the company has offered out-of-court payments to pet owners -- especially those who have been outspoken on social media -- in return for signing non-disclosure agreements.

According to a copy of a three-page PetSmart non-disclosure agreement obtained by NJ Advance Media, signatories are forbidden from revealing anything about an incident, the payment received or even the existence of the agreement.

In addition, the agreement also says those who sign are prohibited from discussing their experiences on social media.

Sophie Nieto-Munoz may be reached at snietomunoz@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her at @snietomunoz. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

Alex Napoliello may be reached at anapoliello@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @alexnapoNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tipsBy Michael Reagan with Michael Shannon

It's surprising that a White House incapable of organizing a two-car funeral - if you believe the mainstream liberal media - is presiding over the most robust economy the U.S. has had in years. One could almost say it makes America great again.

Strange, isn't it? The Obama administration boy and girl geniuses were managing up a storm when it came to the economy, yet growth was sluggish, wages stagnant and economic optimism was nowhere to be found.

Then the Trump clown car crashed into the Resolute desk in the Oval Office and all hell broke loose. And that's in a good way. A man the OpMedia assures us is one drool away from assisted-living or one tantrum away from a rubber room may achieve 3 percent growth in the economy, something that hasn't happened since 2005.

It's almost enough to make you question the credibility of the liberal media!

And still President Trump gets zero credit from the usual media suspects. The only time they take a break from trying to find a pixie dust trail leading to "Russia collusion" is when they try to find equally elusive evidence that Obama is the cause of our present economic growth.

Let's run down a few of the statistics courtesy of a roundup from The Hill. In August the economy added 201,000 jobs, which was more than predicted.

The unemployment rate stayed at 3.9 percent, which is an almost 18-year low.

Wage growth edged up 2.9 percent, which is "the fastest growth since the recession ended in June 2009."

Even better for deplorables, "the bulk of the wage gains are coming for workers who earn lower wages, which is a good sign since pay raises have been slow in those areas during the expansion." This means Trump's immigration policies, designed to stop the flood of low-wage illegals, are beginning to have an impact on paychecks.

When there is less competition from Tijuana, employers are forced to pay wages that make sense in Tulsa. Even better for workers who have been out of a job for a long time, employers are going to be adding internal training or apprenticeship programs to train the workers they need, instead of being picky and waiting for the already trained to walk in the door.

It's important at this point that the Trump administration doesn't listen to cheap labor whiners and increase the flow of employer-sponsored visas that import cheap foreign labor.

In the meantime, if the president is waiting for credit for delivering the expanding economy he promised during the campaign, he's going to be waiting a long time. We hope he finds the fact he is making America great again to be more than a little consolation.

Michael Reagan is the son of President Ronald Reagan, a political consultant, and the author of "Lessons My Father Taught Me: The Strength, Integrity, and Faith of Ronald Reagan." Send comments to Reagan@caglecartoons.com.Those of us who have covered Cory Booker for the past decade could not have been surprised by the senator's Spartacus moment during the hearings for supreme court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. It was vintage Booker.

For those out of the loop, Booker took what appeared to be a brave stand against the GOP machinery that seemed intent on pushing Kavanaugh's nomination through the senate by revealing little more than his name, rank and serial number. Booker released some documents that had been labeled "committee confidential", the lowest level of government classified information. He, and several of his democratic colleagues on the judiciary committee tweeted out the documents with no small amount of righteous anger.

Booker boldly stared down his Republican colleagues, and the television cameras, declared the people have a right to know who they are appointing to the highest court in the land and dared them to eject him from the senate for his breach of institutional etiquette. Only one thing, the documents weren't classified anymore. Seems the papers in question had been cleared for release around 4 am that morning. Booker's office was informed but claims they never got the message. Sure...

I whole heartedly agree with Booker's stance that the people have a right to know as much as possible about a lifetime court appointee. The GOP lead judiciary committee is still shielding several hundred thousand documents from Kavanaugh's time in the White House. I would very much like to see those documents released to the public. I could do without the side show.Mike Stobe | Getty

By Brendan Kuty | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

NEW YORK  Champagne was spraying like fire hydrants. Music blared.

Still, Yankees star Aaron Judge wanted to pull aside new first baseman Luke Voit.

"I told him that, 'We wouldn't be in this position right now if it wasn't for you,' Judge told reporters after celebrating clinching a postseason berth following a 3-2, 11-inning, walk-off win over the Orioles at Yankee Stadium on Saturday night.

You coming over here, I know it was a slow start, but you picked it up and you picked us up and when we needed the big hit, you came through for us.

Voit crushed a solo home run in the victory, a towering, 430-foot shot to right-center field. He also made a stellar diving grab in extra innings that prevents a disaster.

He has four home runs and eight RBI in his last four games. And he has 11 home runs in 25 games since Aug. 24, just about when he took over the first base job full time from the struggling Greg Bird.

Judge was also asked to explain the impact Voit has had on the Yankees.

Words dont really describe it, Judge said.

Judge added, Even some plays he made today, all around hes been a huge piece of this team.

The Yankees acquired Voit for what some may consider pennies just before the trade deadline.

They sent relievers Chasen Shreve and Giovanny Gallegos  a pair of spare parts  to the Cardinals for Voit and $1 million in international bonus money.

After learning of the Judge-Voit moment, many on Twitter were calling Judge the Yankees' next captain:

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and this is exactly why Judge should be the next captain he is so good like that and he is what this team needs  lady pinstripes  (@hesthejudge99) September 23, 2018

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MY CAPTAIN  alex (@alexriveraa24) September 23, 2018

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Literally the captain  Erin Marie (@erinmarieeg) September 23, 2018

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(Unofficial) Captain  Deborah Seymour (@DebSeymour51) September 23, 2018

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Ladies & Gentlemen the next Captain of the New York Yankees ! Book it !  Joey B (@joebel67) September 23, 2018

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He is the Unofficial Captain of this team  Laura Navins (@laura_navins) September 23, 2018

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The Captain.  SLAM CENTRAL STATION (@SlamCentralNYY) September 23, 2018

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Im not saying Judge will be a better player than Jeter...but,I think he might become a better captain!  tperk (@tperk23) September 23, 2018

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Jeter part 2 pic.twitter.com/ukRkcWlrLz  milk of the poppy (@yankeepapy) September 23, 2018

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Judge might be a better captain than Jeets. Not a better player...but maybe a better captain. Jeter led by example, he did not support the boys verbally like Judge does, I also think it was not leader like to freeze out ARod when he first came over because of a GQ article  tperk (@tperk23) September 23, 2018

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Brendan Kuty may be reached at bkuty@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @BrendanKutyNJ. Find NJ.com Yankees on Facebook.The Times-Picayune is marking the tricentennial of New Orleans with its ongoing 300 for 300 project, running through 2018 and highlighting 300 people who have made New Orleans New Orleans, featuring original artwork commissioned by NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune with Where Y'Art gallery. Today: booster Sharon Litwin.

The icon: Sharon Litwin.

The legacy: In her half-century in New Orleans, British-born Sharon Litwin latched on to all things New Orleans with a passion, and she was determined to share all the marvels she was finding in her adoptive home with as many people as possible. After stints as a television producer and newspaper reporter, Litwin went on to be assistant director of the New Orleans Museum of Art, as well as executive director -- and, later, senior vice president for external affairs -- of the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra. In her hours after work, she was president of the Contemporary Arts Center and the Committee of 21, which was formed to elect more women to office, and she helped found the Crescent City Farmers Market. In summing up her impact, Richard McCarthy IV, another founder of the farmers market, said that if something about New Orleans made people smile, chances are that Litwin was behind it.

The artist: Saegan Swanson.

The quote: "The arts, the music, the food -- everything about New Orleans was what Sharon loved, and that was the essence of her life. She just had a knack for taking a spin on something and making it great if it had something to do with the culture of this city." -- Jackie Sullivan, a longtime friend of Sharon Litwin

Explore more of Swanson's work online at WhereYart.net and in person at the Where Y'Art gallery, 1901 Royal St.

She was born Sharon Norma Robinson in Blackpool, England, where her family had been relocated because London was being bombarded during the early days of World War II.

By John Pope, contributing writer

Source: The Times-Picayune archives; staff research

More on 300 for 300:In the almost six weeks since a Pennsylvania grand jury released findings that 300 Catholic priests had committed unspeakable crimes of sexual abuse against more than 1,000 children over seven decades, New Orleans Archbishop Gregory Aymond says the "heart-wrenching" pain of that sin has never been far from his mind.

"I go to bed thinking about it. I get up thinking about it. I think about it all day long," he said in an interview Thursday (Sept. 20), noting his daily prayers for the victims and the sadness for "what some of our priests and bishops have done ... our family sin is known, and it should be. But it's known. And it hurts, it hurts."

It is what the Rev. Thomas Rosica, a Vatican adviser, has called "the summer from hell for the Catholic Church," another reckoning 16 years after The Boston Globe's investigation into widespread clergy abuse and a systematic coverup prompted major changes in church operations. And it is more than 30 years since the Rev. Gilbert Gauthe's history of child abuse was exposed, along with the complicit deceit of church leaders in the Diocese of Lafayette.

The sins of the priests have always been magnified by the active role church leaders played in covering up the crimes and transferring the offender to prey on new victims.

"Priests were raping little boys and girls," the Pennsylvania grand jury wrote in its report, "and the men of God who were responsible for them not only did nothing; they hid it all. For decades."

That is why Aymond's expressions of sorrow, sadness and pain are difficult to accept. Aymond said he understands the skepticism and reluctance.

"As church leaders, in many ways," he said from the pulpit at St. Louis Cathedral in late August, "we have lost your trust and I am keenly aware of that. We want to regain that trust. And we know that it will take a long time."

Without ignoring the past, Aymond said, it is his responsibility to move the church forward.

He points out that some of the church's decisions from decades ago were based on a mistaken belief that pedophilia "could be cured" and offending priests could be returned to ministry, a practice that has long since been replaced with zero tolerance and the immediate dismissal of any priest "credibly accused" of child abuse.

He also believes that The Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, a policy created by the U.S. bishops in the wake of the Boston scandal to set up Safe Environment programs and training, strengthen mandatory reporting policies and other actions to protect children, has been effective.

While the church continues to deal with allegations of abuse from decades ago, Aymond said, there have been no credible claims of new abuses in the Archdiocese of New Orleans for more than 10 years.

"The grand jury report from Pennsylvania said there were 1,000 kids and 300 priests" involved," Aymond said. "And do you know many of those cases were after 2002? ... Two. And they were immediately given to the police. It doesn't make up for the sin of the past, but some things are happening, we have them in place, we're doing them."

A 2004 study by an independent research team at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice found that acts of child sexual abuse by Catholic clergy in the United States peaked in the mid-1980s. It found that 4 percent of Catholic priests were abusing minors at the height of the crisis. That number is now estimated to be less than 1 percent.

"One case of sexual abuse of a minor is one case too many," Aymond said. "A kid's life can be destroyed ... So, one is one too many. And we need to reach out to them, to love them, to care for them to provide counseling, to help them to be able to be healed. But there is a big difference since 2002."

Aymond said that all complaints of abuse against a minor are immediately reported to police and that an outside auditing firm is hired to annually check the diocese's compliance with the Charter for Protection of Children. Results are published on the church's website.

Victims, their families, church critics and others say the biggest step toward healing would be true transparency, an opening of the records to name all the priests who were found to be credibly accused of child sex abuse.

Aymond said he was the one who brought up the issue a meeting this month with his fellow Louisiana bishops, but he declined to commit and said that such a decision would be made by all the state's bishops together.

This is where the archbishop of New Orleans should summon his powers of leadership to make this happen. If the church has truly mended its ways, this will confirm it. Evil hates the light and horrible things are done in secret.

Tim Morris is a columnist on the Latitude team at NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune. Latitude is a place to share opinions about the challenges facing Louisiana. Follow @LatitudeNOLA on Facebook and Twitter. Write to Tim at tmorris@nola.com.Pope Francis stood in silence and laid flowers at the ghetto and lit a golden lamp at the museum that commemorates the people tortured and executed by the KGB. He noted the thirst for absolute power on the part of those who sought complete domination, praying that we may not be deaf to the plea of all those who cry out to heaven in our own day.

Vilnius (AsiaNews)  Pope Francis ended his visit to Lithuania this afternoon with prayers before two monuments: that of the Jewish ghetto, destroyed 75 years ago by the Nazis, and that of the victims of occupations and fights for freedom. The pontiff also visited the Museum of Genocide Victims, once a court, a prison and a place of torture under Communist rule, vacated by the KGB in 1991. At least a thousand people were executed here. Hundreds of thousands more Lithuanians were deported to other places like Siberia.

In his journey back from Kaunas, Francis stopped at the Jewish ghetto monument. Standing in silence, he laid a wreath of flowers. At the museum, in the company of the Archbishop of Vilnius, Mgr Gintaras Grusas, the pontiff lit a golden lamp, a gift he brought for the occasion. Afterwards, he visited the prison cells and torture chambers, pausing here and there in silence and prayer (picture 1). Once outside, he walked to the Monument of the Victims of Occupations and Fights for freedom where, in front of hundreds of thousands of people, he recited the following prayer:

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? (Mt 27:46)

Your cry, Lord, continues to resound. It echoes within these walls that recall of the sufferings endured by so many sons and daughters of this people. Lithuanians and those from other nations paid in their own flesh the price of the thirst for absolute power on the part of those who sought complete domination.

Your cry, O Lord, is echoed in the cry of the innocent who, in union with you, cry out to heaven. It is the Good Friday of sorrow and bitterness, of abandonment and powerlessness, of cruelty and meaninglessness that this Lithuanian people experienced as a result of the unrestrained ambition that hardens and blinds the heart.

In this place of remembrance, Lord, we pray that your cry may keep us alert. That your cry, Lord, may free us from the spiritual sickness that remains a constant temptation for us as a people: forgetfulness of the experiences and sufferings of those who have gone before us.

In your cry, and in the lives of all who suffered so greatly in the past, may we find the courage to commit ourselves decisively to the present and to the future. May that cry encourage us to not succumb to the fashions of the day, to simplistic slogans, or to efforts to diminish or take away from any person the dignity you have given them.

Lord, may Lithuania be a beacon of hope. May it be a land of memory and action, constantly committed to fighting all forms of injustice. May it promote creative efforts to defend the rights of all persons, especially those most defenceless and vulnerable. And may Lithuania be for all a teacher in the way to reconcile and harmonize diversity.

Lord, grant that we may not be deaf to the plea of all those who cry out to heaven in our own day.North Augusta, SC (29841)

Today

Cloudy with occasional showers. High 73F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%..

Tonight

Cloudy with occasional rain showers. Thunder possible. Low 58F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%.Most of the professors named in two complaints filed with the college have been longtime fixtures in John Jays anthropology and sociology departments who have done extensive research on the history of drug use and prostitution.

The allegations, if proven, would suggest that a small group of faculty at the Midtown campus, long the choice of police and correction officers and others in law enforcement, presided over an academic underworld. Drug use and sex were said to be common in the offices of some professors and in an area known as the Swamp in one of the schools buildings.

One question looming over the investigation, two of the people briefed on it said, is why the college, which has been aware of the allegations since at least May, conducted an internal review before contacting the police or prosecutors. The college has close ties to law enforcement.

Security officers for the college, apparently in mid-August, found significant quantities of drugs and drug paraphernalia during the internal inquiry, but they did not contact the police about the seizures until this month, two of the people said.

And when they did, they turned the drugs over to the police without disclosing their inquiry or the circumstances under which they were recovered, one of the people said.HONG KONG  After months of debate and political discord, passengers started boarding high-speed trains at a new station in Hong Kong on Sunday morning, the formal launch of a multibillion-dollar transportation link that will tie the former British colony more closely to the rest of China.

Another project, the worlds longest sea bridge, is expected to open later this year. Like the train station, it is both an impressive engineering feat and a source of controversy. It will span the mouth of the Pearl River, linking Hong Kong with the mainland city of Zhuhai and the former Portuguese colony of Macau, the worlds biggest gambling hub.

Hong Kong officials say the projects are critical to economic development and will speed the movement of goods and people through the region, which the Chinese government wants to bind more tightly together. But many residents are concerned about what a Greater Bay Area, as China calls its vision of a more closely knit Pearl River Delta region, will mean for the citys unique identity.A wildfire raged near a camp for refugees and migrants on the Greek island of Lesbos on Saturday, the latest challenge to the health and safety of thousands living in squalor there.

An estimated 9,000 migrants live in the official camp, known as Moria, and in the makeshift settlement that has sprung up around it. The fire came a day after Greek authorities began relocating people from the island, away from conditions described by aid groups as overcrowded, unsanitary and dangerous.

Videos posted to social media by people in Moria showed a large plume of smoke rising in the distance. In one of the clips, children could be heard shrieking as helicopters flew overhead with water to douse the flames.One woman who spoke with The Times, Genevieve Lagraviere, 42, first auditioned for Mr. Fabres company in 2001, and he offered her a job, starting a year later. During the wait to begin, she said, Mr. Fabre called her and left a voice mail message giving a hotel name and room number.

She did not call back, and she did not respond to a similar text message he sent another time, she said. I was, like, Im not going to be the girl who slept with the director to get her parts,  Ms. Lagraviere said. I have my dignity.

When she joined the company in 2002, Mr. Fabre treated her miserably, Ms. Lagraviere said. In rehearsal for a work called Parrots and Guinea Pigs, Ms. Lagraviere took part in an exercise where two dancers repeatedly bit her thighs while she screamed. She said that Mr. Fabre told the other dancers to bite hard so that her screams would be real, and that Mr. Fabre kept coming back to that exercise even when her legs were so bruised that she struggled to walk. Her vocal cords were eventually damaged from all the screaming, she added.

According to Ms. Lagraviere, one night after a performance on tour for that piece, cast members invited themselves to Mr. Fabres hotel room for drinks. She went back to her own room first, and when she arrived at Mr. Fabres, he was alone. Out of nowhere, she said, he started kissing her: On my face, on my mouth, on my neck, she added. He pulled off my T-shirt.

He made animal noises while doing this, she said, and she quickly asked him to stop.

You know what it means if you dont go to bed with me? Mr. Fabre said, according to Ms. Lagraviere. She asked if he meant she would not get a solo project. According to her, Mr. Fabre replied, Exactly.

Ms. Lagraviere said she left the room in tears and immediately called her boyfriend at the time. (In a telephone interview, Ms. Lagravieres ex-boyfriend confirmed that she called and gave him the same account of the night.)And the Met is heading outdoors, to the Delacorte Theater at Central Park. In the summer of 2020 the company plans to collaborate with the Public Theater on a new, abridged English-language version of Mozarts The Magic Flute in the park, directed by Lear deBessonet, featuring the Met Orchestra conducted by Mr. Nezet-Seguin.

In addition, the commissioning program that the Met established with Lincoln Center Theater more than a decade ago will soon bear more fruit. The program, which previously yielded Nico Muhlys opera Two Boys, which came to the Met, helped develop Grounded, the opera by Ms. Tesori coming to the Met. And it brought together the composer Ricky Ian Gordon and the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Lynn Nottage to create an opera based on her play Intimate Apparel. Andre Bishop, Lincoln Center Theaters artistic director, said in an interview that he plans to produce it next season at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater.

The Mets projects outside Lincoln Center are the latest in a long line of efforts to find smaller spaces to perform intimate works that would get lost in its mammoth 3,800-seat opera house.

Mr. Gelb described the collaborations as part of his continuing efforts to make the Met seem less elitist, and more approachable  something he has tried to do in the past through the transmissions of operas to cinemas; family presentations during the winter holidays; and a variety of discounted ticket programs. But he said there was much more to do.

Its been partly successful, I would say, but it was undertaken at a time when the presence of opera and classical music in general has struggled to maintain its seat in the cultural lives of people, Mr. Gelb said. Its something of an uphill struggle.

Mr. Nezet-Seguin, (his full name is pronounced yah-NEEK nay-ZAY say-GHEN), is well known to New York audiences for his energetic, critically lauded performances at the Met and with the Philadelphia Orchestra, which he has led as music director since 2012. But his artistic tastes and priorities have been less well known. At the lunch, he described some of his plans.NAPPILY EVER AFTER (2018) on Netflix. Directed by the Saudi Arabian director Haifaa al-Mansour and based on the novel of the same name by Trisha R. Thomas, Nappily Ever After stars Sanaa Lathan as an accomplished (and coifed) professional who, fed up with her boyfriend and an unforgiving career, decides to start focusing on herself. She starts by shaving her head.

FOR COLORED GIRLS (2010) on Amazon and Hulu. In his adaptation of Ntozake Shanges 1976 self-described choreopoem For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow Is Enuf, Tyler Perry brought together an all-star cast (including Kerry Washington, Phylicia Rashad and Anika Noni Rose) and retained much of the theatricality of the play, which weaves together monologues and movement. The result, Manohla Dargis wrote in her review for The Times, is a thunderous storm of a movie.

LET SCIENCE SPEAK on Letsciencespeak.com. At a time when science is increasingly questioned or ignored, this series of short documentaries aims to humanize people in the field. Each episode introduces a new scientist, and through each one explores how their area of specialty applies to (and can be studied in harmony with) other areas, like industry and faith.But theres very little self-reflection here. And the little there is seems a bit too neatly packaged. He writes of his life being a story of three valleys  the San Fernando Valley (his childhood home), Silicon Valley (where he is busy getting richer) and a Valley Id dug for myself. He opens this book with a scene in which he watches Terminator 2 and suddenly realizes that he used to be as ruthless, frightening and tough as the Arnold Schwarzenegger character.

Image Michael Ovitz Credit... Lars Niki/Getty Images

That was the image I took great care to project, anyway, says the new and improved author. It was an image I grew to hate. You hated the cold, brutal, attention-commanding Ovitz? Take a number, sir.

Learning about C.A.A.s rigid, Ovitz-imposed rules is one of the more interesting aspects of this memoir. Employees have talked about these rules, but theyre more interesting when articulated by the boss. Ovitz adapted the formal dress code enforced by one of his heroes, M.C.A.s Lew Wasserman: suits, black shoes, white shirts, ties, no casual Fridays. (Wasserman may have been a hero, but when Ovitz was given the chance to deal him a tough business blow, he took it.) He was also influenced by many things Japanese and combative; sorry, no Zen. Ovitz famously had his troops read Sun Tzus The Art of War, and also insisted that they regularly read at least one newspaper and some magazines so they would have subjects to discuss with clients.

For a man who once knew everybody who was anybody without having to advertise it, Ovitz has now become a shockingly frequent name-dropper. The books selection of photos is a trophy wall of very dated shots (some signed) of Ovitz hobnobbing with Hollywood royalty. There are pictures of him adorning magazine covers, and a reprint of a New Yorker cartoon that name-checks him. (So what if he doesnt know Ovid, one glamorous young woman says to another. He knows Ovitz.)

The book cites the lists on which he has appeared (Most Fascinating, Most Powerful, Most Intriguing and so on), and even includes blurbs praising C.A.A.s ad campaign for Coca-Cola. The trouble with all this vanity is that it obscures Ovitzs real accomplishments. The Coke campaign was a coup; it overturned the advertising model of an army of hacks and substituted a small, Ovitz-led S.W.A.T. team ready to throw conventional ad precepts out the window. Ovitz proved that manpower didnt matter as much as having the right man. But he cant tell this story or any of the others in this book without a brag tag. Most of its anecdotes end with lines like: The movie grossed close to $300 million.Oil producers led by Saudi Arabia and Russia signaled on Sunday that they did not see any rush to increase output, despite pressure from President Trump to pump more oil and hold down prices.

Meeting in Algiers, officials from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allied governments, including Russia, said that after having increased production in recent months, customers now have adequate supplies. Since June, Saudi Arabia has met the demand for every barrel that has been requested, the Saudi oil minister, Khalid al-Falih, said at a news conference after the meeting.

The Saudis and their allies appear to be trying to walk a fine line between accommodating Mr. Trump and not putting so much oil into the market that prices crash  as they did in 2014, damaging their petroleum-dependent economies. They are trying to assuage Trump while keeping internal OPEC division from blowing up in the open, said Antoine Halff, a founding partner of Kayrros, a research firm based in Paris.

With oil prices recently hovering at around $80 a barrel for Brent crude, Mr. Trump has used Twitter and other means to lean on OPEC to increase oil supplies. His messages have mainly been directed at Saudi Arabia, the largest OPEC producer. Last week, Mr. Trump renewed his pressure. We protect the countries of the Middle East, they would not be safe for very long without us, and yet they continue to push for higher and higher oil prices! he wrote on Twitter on Thursday. The OPEC monopoly must get prices down now!The participating companies all insist that the effort, called Time to Vote, is nonpartisan. They say they are concerned with persistently low voter turnout rates, and want their employees and customers to get to the polls on Nov. 6.

For democracy to work, people have to vote, said Chip Bergh, the chief executive of Levi Strauss & Co., which was one of the companies that helped organize the effort. The greatest threat to democracy is apathy.

However civic-minded, the effort comes ahead of a hotly contested midterm election in which Democrats have a good chance of retaking control of the House, and possibly the Senate.

Getting out the vote should be a nonpartisan issue, said Aaron Chatterji, a professor at Duke Universitys Fuqua School of Business. But in this day and age, it will inevitably be seen as political. So many of those companies have publicly tangled with the president on race issues, immigration and climate change.

Patagonia, for example, is currently suing Mr. Trump for his decision to shrink the size of several national monuments. Walmarts chief executive, Doug McMillon, chastised Mr. Trump after Charlottesville. And Lyft made a symbolic $1 million donation to the American Civil Liberties Union after Mr. Trump announced his initial travel ban targeting Muslim-majority countries last year.WASHINGTON  President Trump says his trade war with China will protect Americas dominance and derail Beijings plan for technological and economic supremacy.

But as the fight kicks into high gear this week, American tech and telecom companies are warning that the industrys growing reliance on products made and assembled in China means they are more likely to be casualties, not victors, in the skirmish.

Mr. Trumps next round of tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods goes into effect on Monday, hitting thousands of consumer products from handbags to refrigerators to bicycles. The tariffs will also hit the tech and telecom companies that provide much of the gear that powers the internet, mobile networks, data storage and other technology. United States customs will begin collecting a tax on circuit boards, semiconductors, cell tower radios, modems and other products made and assembled in China and exported into America.

Those tariffs, Intel warned in a letter last month, are a game changer for the American consumer. The tariffs begin at a rate of 10 percent and increase to 25 percent next January.Dr. Emily C. Woodbury and Dr. Javier E. Sanchez were married Sept. 22 at a Woodbury family home in Greenwich, Conn. The Rev. John Morehouse, a Unitarian Universalist minister, officiated.

The couple met at Columbia, from which each received a medical degree.

Dr. Woodbury, 28, is a third-year resident in obstetrics and gynecology at Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York. She graduated summa cum laude from Georgetown.

She is the daughter of Dr. Cathy M. Chapman and Dr. George R. Woodbury Jr. of Memphis. The brides father is a dermatologist in a shared private practice in Memphis with the brides mother, a rheumatologist.

Dr. Sanchez, 29, is a second-year resident in anesthesiology at Weill Cornell in New York. He graduated summa cum laude from the University of Puerto Rico and was awarded the College of Engineering Award, the highest honor given to a single student who graduates each year in engineering.Eri Tagaya and Jason Alan Riback were married Sept. 22 at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco. Rabbi Rebecca Gutterman officiated.

The bride, who is 34 and works remotely from San Francisco, is the chief of staff to the head of oncology at Humana, a health care company based in Louisville, Ky. She graduated from Haverford College and received a masters degree in international affairs from the University of California, San Diego.

She is the daughter of Edna Ventura Tagaya and Osamu Tagaya of Mill Valley, Calif. The brides father, a retired finance executive, was the former head of the Asia desk with Solomon Brothers in London. Her mother was a cultural attache for the Department of Foreign Affairs in the Philippine embassy in Tokyo.

The groom, who is 39 and also works in San Francisco, is the president of MediaMint, a technology operations services firm based in Hyderabad, India. He was previously an operations and strategy consultant at McKinsey & Company in Chicago. He graduated from the University of Michigan, from which he also received a masters degree in industrial and operations engineering.Kathleen Sands Temrowski and Daniel Everett Meyering were married Sept. 22 at the Jam Handy, an event space in Detroit. E. M. Allen, a friend of the couple who became a Universal Life minister for the event, officiated.

The bride, 28, is a senior software engineer for Intersection, an Alphabet company, in New York. She graduated from the University of Michigan, and received a masters degree in professional studies from N.Y.U.

She is the daughter of Elizabeth S. Temrowski and Valentine J. Temrowski of Grosse Pointe, Mich. The brides father, is the staff counsel for Geico, the auto insurance company, in Michigan.

The groom, 31, is a desktop support engineer in New York for Compagnie Financiere Tradition, an interdealer broker with headquarters in Switzerland. He graduated from the University of Detroit Mercy, from which he also received a masters degree in community development.Scott Ryan Friesen and Alexander Wickersham Davenport were married Sept. 22 outside the Lime Kiln Lighthouse on San Juan Island, Wash. Sandra L. Scott, Mr. Friesens maternal aunt who became a Universal Life minister for the occasion, officiated.

Mr. Friesen (left), 32, is a strategic partner manager at Google in London. He graduated with honors from Queens University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada.

He is a son of Brenda J. Scott and Donald E. Friesen of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Mr. Friesens mother retired as a physical therapist from Foothills Hospital in Calgary. His father retired as the president of Hazco Environmental Services, a contracting company in Calgary focusing on environmental remediation, of which he was a founder.

Mr. Davenport, also 33, is a product marketing manager at Facebook in London. He graduated magna cum laude from Georgetown, and received an M.B.A. from Harvard.The enlarged organ tugs apart the mitral valve, which controls blood flow from the left atrium into the left ventricle. The distorted valve functions poorly, its flaps swinging apart. Blood that is supposed to be pumped into the body backs up into the heart and lungs.

A vicious cycle ensues: The heart enlarges, so the mitral valve leaks. The leaky mitral valve makes the heart enlarge even more, as it tries to compensate, and heart failure worsens.

In the new study, a device called the MitraClip was used to repair the mitral valve by clipping its two flaps together in the middle. (The clip is made by Abbott, which funded the study; outside experts reviewed the trial data.)

The result was to convert a valve that barely functioned into one able to regulate blood flow in and out of the heart.

Until today, researchers were not sure that fixing the mitral valve would do much to help these patients. A smaller study in France with similar patients failed to find a benefit for the MitraClip.

But that research included many patients with less severe valve problems, the procedure was not performed as adeptly, and the patients medications were not as well optimized as in the new study.

In the new trial, 614 patients with severe heart failure in the United States and Canada were randomly assigned to receive a MitraClip along with standard medical treatment or to continue with standard care alone.In New York City, landlords looking to renovate are supposed to tell the Buildings Department whether their tenants are protected by rent regulations. The idea is to prevent harassment by owners seeking to force renters out in order to charge more. But the Buildings Department does not always check to see if the landlords are telling the truth.

Aaron Carr, however, does.

Mr. Carr, 30, is the founder of a start-up tenant watchdog agency, the Housing Rights Initiative, and his specialty is searching public records at state and city agencies to expose what he says is a broken system of tenant protections.

On Monday, Mr. Carrs latest report is scheduled to be released at a news conference on the steps of City Hall with City Councilman Ritchie Torres of the Bronx. According to H.R.I.s research, on more than 10,000 building permits filed with the city over the past two years, landlords lied about whether there were rent-regulated tenants in their buildings  and got away with it.

Mr. Torres said that the city, which has made affordable housing a priority, should shoulder an equal amount of the blame. Just as scandalous as the number of falsified permits is the failure of enforcement by the Department of Buildings, he said.Mr. Maloney, 52, would seem to be well positioned to defeat his Republican opponent, James D. ODonnell, an Orange County legislator who was chief of police for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority during the 2001 terror attacks.

The 18th District, which borders Connecticut, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, is solidly Democratic, with registered Republicans outnumbered by more than 20,000. Organizations that handicap political races have listed the district as safely Democratic, and Mr. Maloney has raised $2.3 million to Mr. ODonnells $267,000.

Still, in 2016, President Trump narrowly carried the district. If Mr. ODonnell is to win, Republicans must swing enough voters, and they are trying to do so by portraying Mr. Maloney as a political opportunist whose heart is elsewhere. This was just a steppingstone, said Anthony G. Scannapieco, Jr., chairman of the Putnam County Republican Committee. He clearly wants to be attorney general.

That narrative has no doubt put Mr. Maloney, who is New Yorks first openly gay member of Congress, on the defensive.

In a statement, he explained his desire to run for attorney general, saying that with Mr. Trump in the White House, New Yorkers have been under constant assault, and the New York attorney general is best equipped to take him on  and win.ATHENS  If we fail to learn from the past, we do so at our own peril. That was one of the messages from the Chinese artist-activist Ai Weiwei to a gathering of world leaders, academics and activists at the Athens Democracy Forum here last week.

Theres a potential to totally forget the past, and not to remember those lessons we have learned, said Mr. Ai, who spoke in support of migrants around the globe. We have a potential to be very mean, to be hateful, not only to close in but really damage others, and to use some excuse and reason to separate humanity. I think that is part of human nature.

Mr. Ai, whose recent artwork has been inspired by the plight of refugees, said that all countries needed to unite and assert global leadership on the issue of migration, because it was not going to stop and might worsen because of environmental disasters, famine and population growth.

Yet a strikingly different response to global migration came from others at the forum, which was convened by The New York Times in cooperation with the city of Athens and the United Nations and is in its sixth year.The result of the April elections  which gave Fidesz the two-thirds majority it was seeking  showed that the governments aggressive media strategy had paid off. The partys shrill xenophobic message focused on the supposed threats posed by migrants in Europe and the demonized figure of George Soros, a Hungarian-American investor and philanthropist. Never mind that there are few migrants in Hungary, and no evidence that Mr. Soros is seeking to undermine the Hungarian government: The ghastly depictions of migrant invasion and the ubiquitous posters of a grinning Mr. Soros were enough to convince many voters that Mr. Orban was keeping them safe.

Orban has masterfully brainwashed a large part of the population, said Charles Gati, a Hungary expert and senior research professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington. He caught the mood, and the hidden prejudices of the people. Two-thirds think he can do no wrong.

As it turns out, the Hungarian government has little need for the full-blown censorship that existed under communism. Islands of independent news gathering still exist, such as the left-leaning newspaper Nepszava, several weeklies and the popular RTL television station, which is German-owned. But in the face of the powerful pro-government machine, neutral or opposition voices are muted and, with the exception of RTL, have a limited range.

The decline of the newspaper market in Hungary began in the 2000s with a strong challenge from digital publications, which perhaps were tapping into the publics distrust of the bias of newspaper owners. In addition, government-paid advertising is a powerful presence, accounting for a staggering 15 percent of the market, according to Mr. Polyaks estimates, more than double the average in the European Union.

The governments advertising portfolio includes public service ads and promotional ads for state-owned companies, but it also spreads political messages that support the ruling party.

Under the Fidesz government, as under previous governments, this largess is doled out and withdrawn with deliberate political purpose, which many say helps to explain the demise of Nepszabadsag and Magyar Nemzet. Government advertising can be crucial for a newspapers survival; for instance, the pro-Orban newspaper Magyar Idok receives an astonishing 85 percent of its revenue from such advertising, Mr. Polyak said.

Curiously, Nepszava  the last opposition daily newspaper  also receives state advertising, perhaps in an effort by the government to counter charges of bias. During the election campaign on March 29, the papers editors published a message warning readers that the newspaper was not responsible for content paid for by the government.ATHENS  Democracies are like angry dragons, said Kishore Mahbubani, a professor of public policy in Singapore, expressing what emerged, in effect, as the theme of the Athens Democracy Forum here last week convened by The New York Times, the city of Athens and the United Nations. Speaker after speaker talked in fearful terms of the challenges to liberal democracy posed by a widespread backlash to migrants, globalization, social change and other tectonic movements many have found threatening.

Radoslaw Sikorski, a former defense and foreign minister of Poland, declared that between the minute scrutiny of social media and the election in some countries of autocrats, in Western society leadership is becoming impossible. The names of President Trump, Jaroslaw Kaszynski of Poland and Viktor Orban of Hungary were often invoked, and the word fascism was uttered more than once.

Yet just as the dragon is also a symbol of strength and excellence, there are solutions to the problems, speakers said: in the rule of law, in technology giants learning to better manage their great power and reach, in the diversity of new generations, in more socially conscious businesses.

Democracy is not at a dead end, was a consensus that emerged  though as Professor Mahbubani said, it needs constant attention. The United States is not Trump, Poland is not Kaczynski and Hungary is not Orban, said Karolina Wigura of Polands Kultura Liberalna think tank; even in China, said Ai Weiwei, the Chinese artist and activist, change could come at any moment. Dragons, hold your fire.To the Editor:

Re Editor Is Out After an Essay on #MeToo (front page, Sept. 20), about an article in The New York Review of Books by a man accused of assaulting women:

Jian Ghomeshi, a Canadian radio broadcaster, was acquitted of four counts of sexual assault and one of choking. While that is the fact of the criminal trial against him, it is far from the whole story. More than 20 women have accused him of sexual misconduct and assault. A quick Google search would reveal an entire industry of people who were aware of his reputation and behavior.

Not only was Mr. Ghomeshis essay a self-serving woe is me! tale, it was also poorly vetted and edited. When asked to defend the publication of this misleading essay in his interview with Slate, Ian Buruma, the Reviews editor, essentially admitted that he didnt bother trying to figure out who was telling the truth. He managed to discount an entire movement, the stories of very real women who have been allegedly harmed by Mr. Ghomeshi, and the younger people on his staff who objected to the essay.

It is no surprise that Mr. Buruma has left his position. I hope that he was asked go.

Addie Humbert

Portland, Ore.

To the Editor:

Ian Buruma did not say during his Slate interview that he could not condemn sexual assault, but rather that he couldnt judge whether an unproven allegation was true or false. He was correct. Jian Ghomeshi, moreover, was acquitted.SEATTLE  Tourists in Seattle have a new must-see destination: Amazon Go, the cashierless store the company opened near downtown in January.

People who are interested in what is coming next from Amazon, which makes about half of all online retail sales, just need to roam the city. Amazon uses Seattle as a living laboratory, trying out new retail and logistics models .

Some trials never leave the city. But others, like the use of independent contractors to deliver packages, have found their ways to the rest of the country and abroad. The pilots point to a company, with ambitions that at times can seem boundless, investing deeply in figuring out its physical footprint and how to provide convenience at a lower cost.

Seattle is great for rolling out tests that havent been completely debugged, said Jeff Shulman, a business professor at the University of Washington who hosts a podcast on the citys culture. In 2015 when Amazon first tested the Treasure Truck, a decorated vehicle that drives around and sells a daily deal like smart watches or plant-based burger patties, it delayed the public debut at least twice before finally going live. The service has since expanded to more than two dozen cities.At the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Illinois, an iconic stovepipe hat has become a symbol in a fierce public relations effort to save an expansive collection of Lincoln artifacts.

But now the question looms large: Was the stovepipe hat even Lincolns?

A private nonprofit that owns the $25 million collection, including the hat, is so deep in debt that it is considering selling some of the artifacts.

The groups chief executive has warned that the hat, size 7 and made of felted beaver fur, was moving ever closer to the auction block, along with other items, like Lincolns bloodstained gloves from the night of his assassination.

The foundation paid $6.5 million for the hat in 2007 as part of a larger purchase of Lincoln artifacts.They had already been hailed as courageous reformers, the insurgent candidates who dared take on New York State senators laden with money, influence and name recognition.

But as the results from last weeks Democratic primary settled, the challengers who successfully toppled seven incumbents immediately took on a new mantle as the new, pulsing nucleus of hopes for progressive change.

For many in the leftmost wing of New Yorks Democratic Party, who had watched in dismay as Cynthia Nixon and her allies fell in their quests for statewide office, their plans for progressive, even radical reform in Albany were redirected from the defeated statewide candidates to the seven Senate victors. Six of the vanquished incumbents were former members of the Independent Democratic Conference, a much-reviled group of Democratic senators who had empowered the Republicans.

[What was the I.D.C.? Read our explainer.]

By a power of 10, George Albro, a co-chairman of the New York Progressive Action Network, said of how the Senate challengers wins would supercharge progressives influence in the state capital.VIRGINIA BEACH  Representative Scott Taylor, Republican of Virginia, has enjoyed a rapid political rise anchored in his valorous background as a member of the Navy SEALs, a credential with great resonance in a district that includes the worlds largest naval station and one of the highest concentrations of voters connected to the military. Fit, square-jawed and telegenic, he was expected to have a relatively easy time winning re-election in November.

But now he is threatened with a sudden fall: His campaign is facing accusations that it was part of an improper effort to help an independent candidate get on the ballot and siphon voters from his Democratic challenger. The allegations, which included using the names of dead people or voters who did not live in the district on signature petitions, were serious enough to warrant the appointment of a special prosecutor, and the independent candidate, Shaun Brown, was stricken from the ballot by the Virginia Supreme Court.

Mr. Taylors race is emblematic of an emerging problem for Republicans as they seek to maintain an increasingly tenuous grip on the House: A seat once considered relatively safe is now imperiled because of scandal, expanding an already broad field of Democratic opportunity.

Democrats, facing comparatively few legal problems and seeking to portray a culture of corruption under Republican leadership, have tried to lump Mr. Taylor in with about a half-dozen other Republican candidates whose campaigns have veered off course over accusations of misconduct. They represent a small fraction of the 23 House seats that Democrats need to reclaim control, but in a year when Democrats were already expected to make gains, their fates could prove crucial.Mr. Trumps first instinct was to make the session all about Iran, listing his demands for what that country must do to negotiate a new nuclear deal, and threatening allies  including Britain, France and Germany, which negotiated the 2015 accord that Mr. Trump has disavowed  with harsh sanctions if they do not cut off all commercial ties with Tehran by November.

The British and the Germans, in particular, objected: An Iran-only session, they warned the White House, would starkly illustrate the split in the Western alliance that Mr. Trump set in motion by leaving a deal that the Europeans believe is preventing Iran from producing nuclear fuel for weapons. The European Union, in fact, has been threatening to penalize companies that obey Washingtons mandates about cutting off Iran.

At first, their complaints fell on deaf ears, according to a senior European diplomat. But then the White House had a change of heart, led mainly by Mr. Trumps national security adviser, John R. Bolton. As a former ambassador to the United Nations, Mr. Bolton recognized that if Iran were the topic of the meeting, Mr. Rouhani would be entitled to a seat at the table to respond.

The result was a decision to broaden the agenda to countering the proliferation of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, rather than simply countering Iran. While it is not clear that White House officials realized it, that was also the focus of the first Security Council meeting led by President Barack Obama, in 2009.

On Friday, however, Mr. Trump confused matters further by saying in a tweet, I will Chair the United Nations Security Council meeting on Iran next week!

That prompted queries from the Europeans, who thought the issue was settled. The senior diplomat said White House officials could not explain Mr. Trumps tweet, but urged them to ignore it, assuring them that the agenda for the meeting would be followed.

Mr. Rouhani, for his part, is planning to use his time in New York to strike back at the United States and widen the divisions that Mr. Trump created when he pulled out of the agreement. On Sunday, he suggested that the United States bore responsibility for an attack on a military parade in Iran that killed 25 people and wounded nearly 70 others on Saturday.When the #MeToo movement erupted on social media last year, people who had been sexually harassed, abused or assaulted  and felt ready to discuss it  went public with their stories.

Now a new hashtag has surfaced as if in answer to the question: Why didnt you say something sooner?

It began last week when Christine Blasey Ford, 51, came forward as the writer of a letter in which she accused Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh, President Trumps Supreme Court nominee, of pinning her on a bed, groping her and covering her mouth to keep her from screaming when they were teenagers. Judge Kavanaugh has denied the allegation.

Some senators suggested that Dr. Blasey  who also goes by her married name, Ford  was mixed up or staging a drive-by attack on Judge Kavanaugh. On Friday, President Trump questioned her credibility, saying that if the attack was as bad as she says, she or her parents would have reported it to the authorities when it happened more than 30 years ago.

Survivors of abuse responded by rallying around a new hashtag, #WhyIDidntReport, to highlight the difficulties, fear, anger and shame that so often surround sexual harassment and assault.For many parents, having a front-row seat at move-in provided an opportunity to set a few rules.

Ms. Ding, the farmer, said she worried about how her son, Mr. Yang, would fare in a city with so many skyscrapers and distractions. He came down with fevers frequently as a child. And he sometimes seemed addicted to his cellphone, she said, playing games and devouring sci-fi novels.

After the more than 36-hour journey by train and bus from their hometown in Hubei Province to the tents in Tianjin, Ms. Ding offered some advice. No video games. No lazy friends. And no romantic relationships.

Mr. Yang, with thick black frames, a bright yellow T-shirt that said RESURRECTION and a faint mustache, looked skeptical. Thats not necessary, he said.

They agreed to disagree, and promised to stay in touch regularly by phone and by WeChat, a popular messaging app. So long as it did not interfere with his studies.BEIJING  The Chinese leader, wearing a dark Mao suit, and the American president, in a black tuxedo, stood side by side with arms aloft at the Kennedy Center. Deng Xiaoping and Jimmy Carter smiled broadly as the orchestra played Getting to Know You, signaling the dawn of a new era of friendship and cooperation between their two nations.

Over the next 40 years, China and the United States built the most important economic relationship in the world and worked together on issues such as regional security, counterterrorism and climate change. Taking Mr. Dengs lead, China played the junior partner, if not always deferential then at least soft-pedaling its ambitions and avoiding conflict with the much stronger United States.

Now, faster than many in either nation expected, that has all changed.

On Monday, the United States will begin taxing $200 billion in imports from China, the biggest round of tariffs to take effect yet in an escalating trade war. President Trump says the measures are necessary to fight an economic model that requires American companies to hand over technology in exchange for market access and provides state subsidies to Chinese competitors.

Chinas strongman leader, Xi Jinping, presiding over an economy gaining quickly on the United States, has openly challenged American leadership abroad while dashing hopes of any political thaw at home. During this time, both Republicans and Democrats in Washington have turned on Beijing, accusing it of imperial ambitions in Asia, aggression in disputed waters, persecution of ethnic minorities and unscrupulous trade policies aimed at dominating the industries of the future.NEW DELHI  The Maldives, the isolated scattering of islands caught in a geopolitical struggle between China, India and the West, were thrust into more uncertainty Sunday when voters appeared to have ousted the countrys autocratic president.

With votes still being tallied, local news organizations reported that Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, the opposition candidate, had beaten President Abdulla Yameen. Mr. Solih won 58 percent of the vote with about 97 percent of ballots counted, according to the independent news website mihaaru.com. Transparency Maldives, an election watchdog, said he had won by a decisive margin.

As Mr. Solih declared victory and his supporters danced in the street, observers held their breath as they waited to see what Mr. Yameen would do next.

His campaign had yet to concede by early Monday morning, and a spokesman for the Maldives Election Commission said official results would not be announced for a week, according to Reuters.BERLIN  Leaders of Chancellor Angela Merkels governing coalition reached a deal on Sunday to resolve a standoff over the future of the countrys intelligence chief, a dispute that has still further frayed their tenuous alliance.

The spy chief, Hans-Georg Maassen, was removed from his job last week at the insistence of the center-left Social Democrats after he appeared to play down recent violence against migrants. Critics suggested that Mr. Maassen was too sympathetic to the far right and that he might overlook its ties to neo-Nazi groups.

But with Interior Minister Horst Seehofer, a fellow conservative, in his corner, Mr. Maassen could not simply be shown the door. Instead, coalition leaders agreed to replace him as the intelligence chief but give him a new job as a deputy interior minister  a promotion with a hefty pay increase.

The Social Democrats were infuriated, and their leader, Andrea Nahles, called for the deal to be renegotiated.LONDON  As the annual meeting of Britains opposition Labour Party began on Sunday, one big question was reverberating around the conference center in Liverpool: Should Britons be allowed to weigh in again on the countrys withdrawal from the European Union?

Since the country voted in a 2016 referendum to leave the 28-member bloc, a process known as Brexit, Labour has repeatedly said it would respect the outcome of that vote. But with the British governments negotiations on the terms of its departure in turmoil, and the threat of an economically damaging exit rising, some trade union leaders and Labour representatives are warming to the idea of a second referendum on the issue.

Until now, the Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, has shown reluctance. But he is facing pressure on the issue, and it appears to be having an effect.

In an interview published on Sunday, Mr. Corbyn told The Sunday Mirror that while he was not calling for another referendum, he would adhere to any decision by party members, many of whom want a peoples vote on the terms of any exit deal  a plebiscite that would most likely give the option of staying inside the European bloc.TEHRAN  President Hassan Rouhani of Iran said on Sunday that a Persian Gulf country allied with the United States was behind the attack on a military parade that killed 25 people and wounded nearly 70 others.

Mr. Rouhani did not identify the country he was blaming for the attack, which was claimed by both the Islamic State and an Arab separatist group. But Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are close military allies of the United States that view Iran as a foe, particularly because of its support for militant groups across the Middle East.

All of those small mercenary countries that we see in this region are backed by America, Mr. Rouhani said. It is Americans who instigate them and provide them with necessary means to commit these crimes.

The attack on Saturday, in which militants disguised as soldiers opened fire on an annual military parade in Ahvaz, in the oil-rich southwest, was the deadliest in the country in nearly a decade. The chaos was captured live on state television.Specialist Jacob Wells was supposed to meet Mike Moyer a few weeks later, to ask for his daughters hand in marriage. Instead, the men came to know each other aboard a charter bus en route to her funeral at Arlington National Cemetery in March 2007. The year before, Wells, a handsome jokester who joined the Army to be part of something bigger than himself, had fallen hard for Sgt. Ashly Moyer, a fellow soldier. Spirited, with a dose of swagger, she talked trash as masterfully as would be expected from the daughter of a Marine turned cop. While Wells hated most everything about his life in Iraq  the constant threat of mortars, the ovenlike heat, the filthy feeling that came back two minutes after a shower  he was grateful to the war for giving him a love more comforting and real than any he had known. He realized Moyer was the one when she declared she would be happy living anywhere with him, even in a cardboard box. He planned to propose to her at sunset atop a massive granite hill in Texas that he loved to hike as a boy.

Wells wasnt the only one in his unit who found a soul mate in Moyer. Margaux Mange and Moyer were both drivers in their military police unit in Iraq, operating Humvees on dangerous missions even though women were not supposed to serve in combat at the time. They were both dating soldiers and would help each other sneak them into the barracks. Often they had to stay so quiet during these visits that speaking or moving was out of the question. Moyer and Wells would simply lie next to each other watching a movie, silently appreciating each others presence. Around the base, they exchanged love notes.Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 23)  Typhoon Paeng, with an international name "Trami," has entered the Philippine area of responsibility Sunday.

The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) said Paeng is not expected to make landfall, and will not significantly enhance the southwest monsoon.

Weather officials said the typhoon will not significantly enhance the southwest monsoon or Habagat, but it may bring rains in Batanes and the Babuyan Group of Islands by the end of the week.

In its 5:00 p.m. update, PAGASA said Paeng is currently at 1,290 kilometers east of Tuguegarao City, Cagayan, and bears maximum sustained winds of 125 kilometers per hour (kph) and gusts of up to 155 kph. It is moving west at 20 kph.

PAGASA said tropical cyclone warning signals may be raised over extreme Northern Luzon on Thursday, September 27 or Friday, September 28.

This is a developing story. Please refresh for updates.Where did the 'out of control' Chinese rocket debris land after re-entering Earth?

Aircraft P8I locates injured Navy officer Abhilash Tomys yacht in Indian Ocean

India

oi-Madhuri Adnal

New Delhi, Sep 23: The Indian Navy's P8I aircraft P8i took off this morning for locating Abhilash Tomy and located him and his boat Thuriya in the Southern Indian Ocean. Navy officer and Golden Globe Race skipper Abhilash Tomy had earlier dismasted in extremely rough weather and sea conditions.

"Commander Tomy responded by ping on EPIRB as the aircraft was flying over him," the spokesman said here.

Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRB) is a device which alerts rescue services in case of an accident at sea.

Tomy had on Saturday managed to get in touch with race organisers in France through messages and had requested for a stretcher as he could not move on his own. He was representing India in the Golden Globe Race 2018 (GGR) on an indigenously-built sailing vessel 'S V Thuraya'.

Tomy, who became the first Indian to have circumnavigated the globe in 2013, is the only Indian participating in the race that involves a gruelling 30,000-mile solo circumnavigation of the globe.

Also Read | President approves gallantry awards to crew members of INSV Tarini

His vessel is in the south Indian Ocean, about 1,900 nautical miles from Perth in Australia

Tomy's vessel was dismasted in extremely rough weather and sea conditions, with wind speeds of 130 kmh. He was in third position in the race and has sailed over 10,500 nautical miles in the last 84 days, since the race started on July 1.

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Story first published: Sunday, September 23, 2018, 13:11 [IST]Avoid your homes, at least for now, J&K cops told

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

Srinagar, Sep 23: In the wake of the abductions and killings, the Jammu and Kashmir police have been advised not to visit their homes or families, at least for now.

The advisory has been issued in the wake of the recent killings of special police officers following a warning by Hizbul Mujahideen commander Riyaz Naikoo.

The SPOs have become easy targets as they do not live in the fortified camps like those in the Army or CRPF.

Also Read | Quit or face a headshot: Hizbul stoops to new low as it threatens women cops

The advisory was issued keeping in view the sensitivity of the situation and the latest round of threats by terrorists. The terrorists are in particular targeting cops from South Kashmir. The advisory is a temporary one until the security forces are able to get a grip of the situation and gun down the top commanders of the outfit.

Since January 37 police personnel have been killed by terrorists. Most of them were killed while they were off duty. Terrorists have been targeting security personnel when they are on leave as at that time, the security is lesser and the guard lower.

Also Read | A Hizbul terrorists lifespan is just one year and we have the SPOs of Kashmir to thank

Both the police and Army have promised stringent action. The police and Army are chalking out a new strategy to take down the terrorists. Recently a new hitlist featuring Naikoo right on top was prepared.

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Story first published: Sunday, September 23, 2018, 8:16 [IST]Delhi: 60-year-old mother throat slit, differently-abled daughter found dead in home

India

oi-Madhuri Adnal

New Delhi, Sep 23: In a horrific incident, a 60-year-old mother and differently-abled daughter were found dead at their residence in Mianwali area, Delhi. The deceased have been identified as Shashi Talwar and Nidhi, as reported by India.com.

The incident came to light when Shashi's domestic help reached their house for work at around 9 am. She rang the doorbell but got no response. She said that after waiting outside the house for some time, she went to another house in the neighbourhood where she worked.

"From the other house I saw the front door of their house opened. I went back and as I entered the house, I found Nidhi didi lying in a pool of blood. I rushed out and raised an alarm. The neighbours then reached the spot," Sumitra said.

Also Read | UP: Three bodies found in field

The police is probing all angles while suspected the role of an unknown acquaintance.

The official probing the case said the house appeared to have been ransacked with several items and documents lying around the house. "But the jewellery and money were not targeted as it appeared during the initial investigation," he said.

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Story first published: Sunday, September 23, 2018, 13:29 [IST]For talks to be held, Pakistan must prove that it won't back terrorists: Gen Rawat

India

oi-Vikas SV

New Delhi, Sep 23: In line with the Centre's stand that terror and talks cannot go hand in hand, Army Chief General Bipin Rawat on Sunday said that the Union Government has taken the right decision to call off talks between Indian and Pakistani foreign ministers.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and her Pakistan counterpart Shah Mehmood Qureshi were to meet in New York this week on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

General Rawat said that the Indian Government has time and again made it clear that Pakistan must stop terrorists from using its soil to launch attacks against India.

"Talks are not being held, because our government's policy is that talks and terrorism can not take place together. We have given a clear message to Pakistan. Government's policy is clear that Pakistan has to prove with their actions that they are not promoting terrorism," the Army Chief said.

"They (Pakistan) keep saying that they will not let their soil be used for terrorist activities against other nation. But we can see that terrorist activities are taking place and terrorists are coming from across the border," he added.

[Imran Khan writes to PM Modi, seeks resumption of India-Pakistan talks]

India, on Friday, decided to call off the meeting of foreign ministers of India and Pakistan that it had agreed to a day before. India cited the recent killing of three SPOs in the Kashmir Valley allegedly by Pakistan-backed terrorists and the mutilation of the body of BSF Head Constable Narendra Kumar near the International Border as one of the reasons for cancelling the talks.

[How Pakistan stage managed the attacks on cops to derail talks with India]

"Only the government can decide if talks should be held in such an environment and I think govt has taken the right decision that terrorism and peace talks cannot be held together," General Rawat said today (Sep 23).

#WATCH: Army Chief General Bipin Rawat says on Indo-Pak talks, "I think the government has taken the right decision that terrorism & peace talks cannot be held together" pic.twitter.com/suqdt0xIXD  ANI (@ANI) September 23, 2018

Another reason cited by India for cancelling the talks was that Pakistan has released a series of 20 postage stamps glorifying Burhan Wani, a terrorist who was killed by Indian forces in Kashmir in 2016.Govt seems cornered as demands for JPC probe into Rafale deal gains momentum

India

oi-Vikas SV

New Delhi, Sep 23: The recent claim by former France president Francois Hollande that it was the Indian Government which proposed the name of Anil Ambani-led Reliance Defence in the Rafale deal has once again sent the political temperatures soaring.

After Hollande's statement, the demand for a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) probe into the Rafale deal, which the Congress has already been demanding, has gained momentum with other parties also backing the grand old party over it.

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had last week rejected the opposition's demand for setting up of a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) to probe allegations relating to the Rafale deal, saying all the details on it have already been placed before Parliament.

Today, however, Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav also demanded a probe by the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the controversial defence deal between India and France.

''We demand a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe on Rafale deal. Without a JPC, the truth will not come out, the issue has now become global,'' Akhilesh said.

Senior advocate and social actvist Prashant Bhushan also made a similar demand on Sunday and further went on the say that the Rafale fighter aircraft deal is India's largest defence scam. Bhushan said the deal compromised the national security as the number of fighter aircraft contract had been reduced to 36 from originally planned 126.

"The government should immediately agree for a JPC probe and put all the papers before it. There is no (element) of national security (as being claimed by the government). They only want to hide the huge scam in defence purchase," he said.

[Francois Hollande's statement, Rahul's tweet are 'orchestrated', says Arun Jaitley]

Congress president Rahul Gandhi on September 23 hit back at Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, saying it's time Jaitley and the Prime Minister stopped lying and call for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe for an "uncorrupted truth" to come out. Rahul has been demanding the JPC probe for quite sometime now.

['Rahul ka Pura Khandan Chor': Nirmala Sitharaman on Rafale row]

The Rafale controversy took a turn last week after Hollande stirred a hornets nest by claiming that the Indian government proposed Reliance Defence as the offset partner for Dassault Aviation. In response, the French government said it was in no manner involved in the choice of Indian industrial partners for the Rafale deal, asserting that French firms have the full freedom to select Indian companies for the contract.

[Decoding Rafale deal: From allegations to counter-allegations]

Responding to Hollande's claim, Jaitley said that former French President contradicted himself and neither the Indian nor the French government played any role in selection of Reliance as offset partner by Dassault.

Hollande was the French president when the Rs 58,000 crore deal for buying 36 Rafale jets was signed in 2016.Hit job: The story behind the killing of Indian Mujahideens ring leader in Nepal

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

New Delhi, Sep 23: An Indian Mujahideen operative was shot dead by unidentified assailants in Nepal. The killing of Khursheed Alam, who was working as a principal of a private school died on the spot after being shot at.

While the agencies of both India and Nepal are digging out more details on him, the files relating to Alam indicate that he had helped those involved in the Batla House encounter. It could have been the handiwork of an insider within the IM, an Intelligence Bureau officer told OneIndia.

While the motive behind the killing is yet to be ascertained sources say that Alam was part of a sleeper cell, which helped in providing safe passage to the operatives of the IM. He had also helped those who escaped from the Battle House encounter site obtain new identities, before he facilitated their entry into Nepal.

Also Read | Delhi blasts: Explosives procured from Udupi, bombs prepared at Batla House

The murder of Alam is very similar to the one of Mirza Dilshad Baig, an ISI operative who was working for the Dawood Ibrahim syndicate. Both Alam and Baig played similar roles and were involved in facilitating the entry and exit of terrorists and criminals at Nepal.

Alam's name had first cropped up when the Delhi police began its probe into the Battle House encounter case. Shehzad Ahmed, a key accused in the case had said that it was Alam who had helped procure identification cards, which included voter IDs. He further said that Alam had explained to them on how they could enter into Nepal and even provided contacts of point men along the Indo-Nepal border.

Also Read | Al-Qaeda has the intent to hit, but remains a non-starter in India

Alam has been under the radar of the intelligence for long. His role had also cropped up during the probe into the 1993 blasts case. It was suspected that at that time too he had facilitated the movement of terrorists into Nepal from India, post the blasts. At that time he was working as a cleric and investigations showed that he had sheltered four accused of the Mumbai 1993 blasts case.

Alam according to Intelligence files worked undercover as a principal in a private school. He would work for several ISI sponsored groups, which included the D-syndicate, Lashkar-e-Tayiba and Indian Mujahideen. His primary role was to set up sleeper cells in Nepal and facilitate terrorists and criminals. He has been on the radar for nearly 20 years now.

Alam also used political connections to cover his trail. He had taken up the membership of the CPN-UML. This in fact helped him avoid an extradition to India despite location and case details with concrete evidence being shared.

Sources tell OneIndia that this looks like an internal hit job. Either he had gone rogue or his utility was up, which may have led to the killing. We are in touch with our counterparts to ascertain more information on the incident, the source also added.

Also Read | ISI's Saudi rendezvous and how it plots its attacks on India

Looking at the manner which the killing was carried out, it was clear that it was a well planned job undertaken by professionals. It was a precision killing and clearly it shows that it had the blessings of either the underworld or the Pakistan spy agency, the source also said.

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Story first published: Sunday, September 23, 2018, 9:31 [IST]GSLV Mk-III launch vehicle to be used for Gaganyaan mission:

ISRO will use its GSLV Mk-III launch vehicle, which can carry the heavier payload of the Gaganyaan, and this will take off from the new launch pad.

About Gaganyaan Mission:

It will be India's first manned space mission. Under it, India is planning to send three humans (Gaganyatris) into space i.e. in low earth orbit (LEO) by 2022. The mission was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his 72nd Independence Day speech. Under this mission, crew of three astronauts will conduct experiments on microgravity in space. The crew will be selected jointly by Indian Air Force (IAF) and ISRO after which they will undergo training for two-three years. India will be fourth nation in the world after USA, Russia and China to launch manned space mission.

ISRO scouting for new location near Gujarat for the SSLV

Besides, the third launch pad at Sriharikota, ISRO is also scouting for a new location near Gujarat for the SSLV. ISRO is developing the SSLV to offer affordable launch options for smaller satellites through Antrix, the space agency's commercial arm. ISRO currently piggybacks smaller satellites on the PSLV and GSLV along with bigger satellites. The SSLV is expected to reduce the launch time as well as cost less to launch small satellites, which are much in demand.The inside rot: How govt employees are abetting terror in Jammu and Kashmir

Blessings of 130 cr people with you: PM Modi celebrates Diwali with soldiers in J&Ks Nowshera

J&K: Infiltration bid foiled, two terrorists killed

India

oi-Vikas SV

Srinagar, Sep 23: The security forces on Sunday foiled an infiltration bid in Jammu and Kashmir's Tangdhar sector. Two terrorists were also gunned down.

The operation in still said to be in progress, said reports.

On September 21, three terrorists killed in an encounter between security forces and terrorists in Bandipora district of Jammu and Kashmir, that started on September 20 afternoon. Two terrorists were killed in the encounter September 20.

[J&K: Terrorists abduct civilian, manhunt launched to find him]

An Army official said while one militant was killed on Thursday, the body of another militant was recovered later.

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Story first published: Sunday, September 23, 2018, 21:28 [IST]How the National Investigation Agency is getting the better of terrorists in J&K

For more effective probes against terror State Investigation Agency formed in J&K

The inside rot: How govt employees are abetting terror in Jammu and Kashmir

Appeasement vs national security: Forests of South India are breeding grounds for terrorists, naxalites

J&K: Terrorists abduct civilian, manhunt launched to find him

India

oi-Vikas SV

Srinagar, Sep 23: The terrorists have abducted a 45-year-old civilian from a house in Jammu and Kashmir's Sopore area.

The police have launched a manhunt to trace Mushtaq Ahmad Mir, who was abducted late on Saturday night Harwan area of Sopore town.

The terrorists are said to have barged into the house of Mir, who works as a local labourer, and abducted him. The reason behind his abduction is not known yet.

Also Read | Terrorists killing terrorists: Is Kashmir witnessing a Mumbai underworld like scenario

"Police has registered a case. Further investigation into the matter is going on," a police official said.

The abduction came a day after bodies of three policemen were found on Friday morning. The cops were earlier abducted from Shopian.

There has been a rise in attacks on those who join police force in Kashmir. The terrorists have even warned Kashmiris against joining the police.

Also Read | Desperate Hizbul tells Kashmir cops to resign in 4 days or face death

Last week, the Hizbul Mujahideen had threatened to kill every Kashmiri working for the Jammu and Kashmir police. In a video that was circulated on a chat group, the Pakistan based outfit said all Kashmiris working in the force will die, if they did not resign from their jobs in four days.

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Story first published: Sunday, September 23, 2018, 16:50 [IST]Gone too soon: From Puneeth Rajkumar to Sidharth Shukla, untimely deaths leave family and fans stunned

Karnataka fake currency: NIA takes over probe

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

Bengaluru, Sep 23: The National Investigation Agency has taken over two cases relating to fake currency reported from Karnataka. The NIA took custody of an accused lodged in the Central Prison, Bengaluru for interrogation.

The application seeking custody of Gangadhar Kolkar was granted by the Special NIA court. While allowing the application filed by the NIA, the court said that the custodial interrogation of the accused was necessary to ascertain the supply chain of fake notes. The interrogation was also necessary to trace other members of the gang involved in damaging the monetary stability of India.

Also Read | NIA charges three from Karnataka in fake currency case

"Registration of two similar cases within a span of 8-10 months within Karnataka in connection with circulation of fake Indian currency notes of the face value of 2,000 underlines the seriousness of the case in hand. Therefore, this court is of the view that NIA deserves an opportunity to interrogate" the court further observed.

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Story first published: Sunday, September 23, 2018, 8:29 [IST]PM arrives in Gangtok

PM Modi arrived in Sikkim's capital Gangtok on Sunday evening for a two-day visit. The Prime Minister reached in Gantok in an MI-8 chopper from Bagdogra and was received by Governor Ganga Prasad, Chief Minister Pawan Chamling and others atLibingArmy Helipad.

PM to inaugurate airport

From the Army helipad, the prime minister's entourage travelled around 5km to the Raj Bhawan where he will stay for the night. A large number of people carrying colourful flags gathered at both sides of the road amidst rain to get a glimpse of the prime minister who also waived them back from his vehicle. Later at Raj Bhawan, the prime minister met BJP leaders and representatives of various social organisations.

Modi's is on a two-day visit

Sikkim's dream of having an airport will come true nine years after a foundation stone of the greenfield airport was laid, around 33 km from Gangtok, in 2009.

The airport is spread over 201 acres and is located on top of a hill about two km above Pakyong village at 4,500 feet above sea level, Sikkim Chief Secretary A K Srivastava said.

PM Modi

The airport was constructed by the Airports Authority of India and at present, the nearest airport from Sikkim is located 124 km away in Bagdogra in West Bengal, he told PTI.

The airport was constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 605 crore and is an "engineering marvel" for its soil reinforcement and slope stabilisation techniques keeping in view the altitude it was built at, Srivastava said.Now Ayushman Bharat Card will be free: Find out how to get the card and insurance of Rs 5 lakh

PM Modi launches Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission: What we know about the scheme, so far?

'Ayushman Bharat scheme will transform India into a medical hub', says Modi

India

oi-Madhuri Adnal

New Delhi, Sep 23: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday launched the world's largest government-funded healthcare programme - the Ayushman Bharat, which would benefit 50 crore Indians.

IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad is also attending the launch of Ayushman Bharat at the Gyan Bhawan in Patna along with Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and the Governor of Bihar.

Narendra Modi said that the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Abhiyan (PMJAy) is being given different names by people, like 'Modicare', but for him, it is an opportunity to serve the poor. No country has a scheme like Ayushman Bharat, he added.

While launching the Ayushman Bharat scheme, Narendra Modi said that it will benefit over 50 crore people. "I am confident that in the days to come, people working in the medical field will come up with new schemes based on the health cover that has been provided today," he added.

Modi said that the Ayushman Bharat scheme is the largest scheme of its kind in the world. "If you add the population of these three countries -- United States, Canada and Mexico - the total number will be close to the number of beneficiaries of this scheme," he added.

Modi had announced the launch of the scheme from the ramparts of the Red Fort during his Independence day speech. PM Modi rolled out the scheme from Jharkhand capital Ranchi.

Also Read | What is Ayushman Bharat or Modicare

The programme aims to make healthcare accessible and affordable, by providing a coverage of Rs. 5 lakh to 10 crore economically backward families. Nearly 31 states and Union Territories will implement the programme after Sunday's launch.

The scheme will become operational from September 25 on the birth anniversary of Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay, Niti Aayog member V K Paul said.Bring vaccine in open market says Odisha CM Patnaik in letter to PM Modi

BJD not to hold rallies, campaign meets for May 13 Pipili by- polls: Patnaik

More than 1,000 govt schools in Odisha will be transformed with modern facilities: CM

Naveen Patnaik hits back after PM slams Odisha govt for rejecting Ayushman Bharat scheme

India

oi-PTI

New Delhi, Sep 23: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday slammed Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik for saying no to the Centre's flagship Ayushman Bharat health insurance scheme and alleged that a "PC" (percentage commission) culture has become the state government's identity.

Patnaik, however, dismissed the corruption allegation, saying Modi must have said it to enthuse BJP workers.

The war of words between Modi and Patnaik comes ahead of the Odisha assembly polls and general elections next year.

Addressing two public meetings in Talcher and Jharsuguda, Modi spoke about the BJD government in Odisha rejecting the mega health insurance scheme and also lagging on Swachha Bharat campaign parameters.

Stepping up his criticism of the Patnaik-led government, Modi alleged that a "PC" (percentage commission) culture and delaying decisions have become the identity of the Odisha government resulting in the state's tardy development.

The prime minister said PC impacts implementation of housing and toilet schemes and other welfare projects.

There have been allegations of corruption in sapling plantation, polythene packaging of milk, road construction and irrigation, he alleged. There are allegations of widespread corruption with involvement of people from the ruling party, Modi said, adding, "how can development take place under such a situation."

Reacting to Modi's remarks, Patnaik said the Centre should rather think about the "scam" in the skill mission and Ujjwala schemes.

"In fact, they should be thinking about their skill mission scam and Ujjwala scheme scam .. They should be considering that," the chief minister told reporters on returning from Jharsuguda, where he was with Modi at the inauguration of a new airport.

The Centre should also seriously think about the record increase in prices of petrol and diesel because of which the people of the country are suffering, the BJD president said.

On the Ayushman Bharat scheme, Patnaik said the state's scheme is better than the centre's as it covers an extra 50 lakh people and provides Rs 7 lakh to women as against Rs 5 lakh by the central programme.

Similarly, an extra 25 lakh poor people are covered under the food security scheme in the state, he said.

The Odisha government has not joined the central scheme and instead gone for Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana.

Noting that rural cleanliness in Odisha was only 10 per cent in 2014, Prime Minister Modi said it has increased to 55 per cent but a lot more was needed to be done.

"I had told Naveen ji about the importance of Swachhata and I once again request him to give cleanliness due importance," Modi said, adding, cleanliness is essential for good health.

"Everyone is aware of the importance of Ayushman Bharat scheme, but Naveen babu does not understand. The Odisha government should come forward and join the programme," he said.

The prime minister will launch the programme countrywide from Jharkhand on Sunday. The scheme aims to provide Rs 5 lakh health insurance coverage per family annually to more than 10 crore poor households.

Claiming that the BJP-led NDA government has been supportive to Odisha, Modi said, "While the previous UPA government could allocate only Rs 80,000 crore, the NDA government on the other hand has given Rs 2 lakh crore in the last four years."

However, the people of Odisha are not getting benefits from the central allocations at the ground level as the state has been "indifferent". Where is the central fund going, he asked.

Modi said there was a need for "bade parivartan" (big change) to give pace to Odisha's development.

Pointing towards a large crowd gathered at the BJP public meeting in Talcher, he said it "clearly showed" what the people of Odisha think.

Targeting the Congress, Modi referred to former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi's famous remark that only 15 paisa out of a rupee sanctioned by the Centre for welfare of people reaches the intended beneficiaries.

"They knew about the 'bimari' but had no vision to solve it," he said.

The BJP government's decision to directly transfer money to the bank accounts of beneficiaries has curbed the practice of middlemen in implementation of welfare schemes, Modi said.

"If our government releases Re 1, entire 100 paise reaches the poor," he said.

Modi targeted the Opposition also for stalling the triple talaq bill in Rajya Sabha.

He said justice will be done to Muslim mothers and sisters.

The ordinance on triple talaq has made the practice illegal and three days ago the Centre took a decision that was required for decades, Modi said.

Accusing the previous UPA government of being responsible for closure of several industrial units, Modi said the BJP-led NDA government is taking concrete steps to revive closed plants.

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Story first published: Sunday, September 23, 2018, 15:00 [IST]Rahul has lunch at roadside eatery in Goa, rides pillion on two-wheeler taxi for few kms

Goal is to serve country; time to focus on my journey in politics: Leander Paes

Parrikar to continue as Goa CM, cabinet rejig soon: Amit Shah

India

oi-Vikas SV

New Delhi, Sep 23: BJP president Amit Shah on Sunday made it clear that Manohar Parrikar, who is undergoing treatment in AIIMS, Delhi, will continue as Goa's Chief Minister. Shah, in a tweet, also said that changes in the Goa Cabinet would be made soon.

Ever since Parrikar was admitted to AIIMS for treatment, there have been speculations over his continuation as the chief minister of Goa.

Shah said on Twitter the decision to continue with Parrikar was made after discussions with the BJP's "core team".

"It has been decided during a discussion with the Goa BJP core team that Manohar Parrikar will continue to lead the Goa government. There will soon be a reshuffle of ministers and their portfolios," Shah tweeted.

[Congress meet Goa Governor, demand floor test]

Parrikar's poor health had sparked speculation over his continuation as the chief minister of Goa, and Shah had recently sent a central party leaders' team to the coastal state to speak to allies and take stock of political situation.

[BJP not to change its CM in Goa; looking for options if allies join the BJP]

In the 40-member Goa assembly, the Congress is the largest party with 16 seats and the BJP has 14. The BJP is in power in Goa with the support of allies Goa Forward Party (GFP), the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) and three independents.

With Parrikar's health deteriorating, the Goa Forward and three Independent MLAs demanded a "permanent solution" to the leadership crisis. Parrikar has visited the United States thrice in seven months for treatment. He is suffering from a pancreatic ailment.

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Sunday, September 23, 2018, 18:17 [IST]INC means I Need Commission: BJP hits out at Congress after Rafale report

Prashant Bhushan dubs Rafale deal as the 'largest defence scam' in India

India

pti-PTI

Chennai, Sept 23: Senior Supreme Court advocate Prashant Bhushan Sunday said the Rafale deal was the "largest defence scam in India" and urged the Centre to initiate a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the matter.

Addressing reporters here, he questioned how Anil Ambani's Reliance Defence, the Indian offset partner of French firm Dassault Aviation, could be involved in the project as "most of his companies are in debt."

"This is not only the largest defence scam in India, but is one where national security has been severely compromised. While the IAF wanted 126 flights, it was reduced to 36," Bhushan said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced the procurement of a batch of 36 Rafale jets after holding talks with then French president Francois Hollande on April 10, 2015, in Paris. Opposition Congress has accused the government of choosing Reliance Defence over state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd to benefit the private firm though it did not have any experience in the aerospace sector.

[Francois Hollande's statement, Rahul's tweet are 'orchestrated', says Arun Jaitley]

Lashing out at Modi and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Bhushan charged the Centre with making IAF officials "lie" about the deal.

"You have severely compromised national security, broke the IAF's back, looted people's money and defamed a public sector unit (HAL)," he said.

"The government should immediately agree for a JPC probe and put all the papers before it. There is no (element) of national security (as being claimed by the government). They only want to hide the huge scam in defence purchase," he said.

['Utterly irresponsible' says Ravi Shankar Prasad on Rahul's Rafale attack]

He further suggested that Ambani's company could not have entered the deal without the defence minister's approval. Hollande's reported comments that New Delhi had proposed Reliance Defence as the Indian partner for the contract has escalated into a major political row, even as the French government said it had no say in the choice of the Indian industrial partner for the multi-billion dollar deal.

[Decoding Rafale deal: From allegations to counter-allegations]

However, Dassault Aviation refuted Hollande's claims and said that it was their decision to partner with Reliance.

PTIQuit or face a headshot: Hizbul stoops to new low as it threatens women cops

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

Srinagar, Sep 23: Barely two days after killing three special police officers in Jammu and Kashmir, the Hizbul Mujahideen is at it again. This time it has included women cops to the list of who it wishes to target, if they did not resign from their posts.

On the social media, the Hizbul said, " we request women SPOs and women constables to resign from their jobs. If not be prepared for bullets. This rule is for all those who have links with India."

Further the outfit also circulated a list of police personnel, which included officers with photographs on the social media sites. They were asked to resign within two days or face death.

Also Read | A Hizbul terrorists lifespan is just one year and we have the SPOs of Kashmir to thank

The list was also circulated on WhatsApp. In another post, a warning in Urdu was posted. Superimposed on the picture of a police personnel, the post read, " brothers, resign from your job or be ready for a headshot."

On Friday, the Hizbul killed three SPOs, Firdous Ahmed, Kulwant Singh and Nisar Ahmad Dhobi. They were first abducted from their homes, following which they were killed.

Apart from the cops, the outfit has also issued a warning to the political workers. They have been urged to resign or face the consequences. The terror group also made a video with two former PDP workers in they pledged not to work with the mainstream political parties in the Valley.

Also Read | True colours out: Pakistan issues postal stamp glorifying Burhan Wani as freedom fighter

In the video, a man from Mangalpora announced his resignation from the PDP. The terrorists not visible in the video are heard prompting him to ask his colleagues to quit or face the bullet.

Following the death of the three SPOs, there were a spate of resignations on the social media.

However the Union Home Ministry dubbed them as fake and said that it was the propaganda machinery of the Hizbul which was at work.

Spooked over pinpointed intelligence, here is why Hizbul wants cops targeted

These threats come in the wake of the security mechanism being on very high guard ahead of the crucial local body polls to take place between October 8 and 16. The elections to the urban bodies would be followed by the panchayat polls to be held in nine phases between November 17 and December 11.

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Story first published: Sunday, September 23, 2018, 8:07 [IST]Will be taken up at highest level: India on unprovoked killing of fisherman by Pakistan

As India-Pak tension rises, chefs from neighbouring country denied visa for Amritsar culinary meet

International

oi-Shubham Ghosh

New Delhi, Sept 22: It's just over a month that a new government under the leadership of Imran Khan has taken charge in Pakistan and already there are signs that the relationship between Pakistan and India has started worsening further.

According to a report in The Tribune, amid the heated exchanges recently between the two countries in the wake of New Delhi's cancelling talks between their foreign ministers, even the people-to-people contact between the two neighbours has been jeopardised.

The report said six people from the Chef's Association of Pakistan were invited to The World Heritage Cuisine Summit & Food Festival 2018 and of these six, invitation letters for four were sent across to the Indian High Commission and also to the personalities themselves for visa applications. These four people are Falak Gohar, Shahid Mahmood, Shumaila and Samina Ahmad while the other two are Ahmad Shafiq and Tipu Imran. The invitations have now been withdrawn.

Also Read | 'Small men who lack vision': Imran Khan's counter attack India cancels talks

The culinary event is organised by the Indian Federation of Culinary Association (IFCA), a nodal body of culinary professionals in India and recognised by the Ministry of Tourism, and will be held between October 12 and 14 at the Heritage Fort, Amritsar, Punjab. The Tribune quoted president of the IFCA as saying: "The invite to chefs from Pakistan to participate in the World Heritage Cuisine Summit & Food Festival in Amritsar between October 12 to 14 was withdrawn as IFCA is unable to fulfil the requirements of the Pakistan visa office."

Pakistani chef Shafiq said the invitations were withdrawn under political pressure and discrimination against his country.

Also Read | How Pakistan stage managed the attacks on cops to derail talks with India

The Tribune cited an official source which confirmed that "India has a restrictive visa policy currently in place for Pakistan except for humanitarian cases".

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Story first published: Sunday, September 23, 2018, 8:49 [IST]Mars rover needs a Name

Corporations, nonprofits and educational organisations interested in sponsoring the contest can send proposals to NASA. To be considered, all proposals must be received by October 9, NASA said in a statement on Friday. The selected partner will have an opportunity to be part of a historic mission, NASA said.

What is the contest about?

The contest will allow US students in grades K-12 to propose a name for NASA's next Mars rover (currently being built at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California) and write an essay about their choice. The partner will work with NASA to conduct the contest during the 2019 academic year.

Also Read |NASA's Parker Solar Probe captures stunning image of the Milky Way

Mars 2020 rover mission:

The Mars 2020 rover mission addresses high-priority science goals for Mars, including key questions about the potential for life on the Red Planet.

Also Read |NASA's TESS captures first image from its hunt for Earth-like planets

When is the launch?

Mars 2020 is targeted for launch in July or August 2020 from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.Will be taken up at highest level: India on unprovoked killing of fisherman by Pakistan

'Ready for war' but chooses to walk the path of peace in interest: Pak Army

International

pti-PTI

Islamabad, Sep 22: The Pakistan Army on Saturday said it is "ready for war" but chooses to walk the path of peace in the interest of its people, comments which came in response to Indian Army Chief General Bipin Rawat's remark that "stern action" is needed to "avenge" the brutal killing of Indian soldiers.

In an interview to Dunya TV, Pakistan Army spokesperson Asif Ghafoor said the country has a long-standing record of fighting terrorism and "we know the price for peace", The Dawn reported.

Need to pay back terrorists, Pakistan in same coin: Army chief

"Pakistan's desire for peace should not be mistaken for weakness...War is imposed when you are not ready for it. But we are a nuclear nation and ready," he said.

Earlier in the day, commenting on the recent brutal killing of a BSF jawan and three policemen in Jammu and Kashmir, General Rawat in Jaipur said stern action is needed to avenge the barbarism by terrorists and Pakistan Army against Indian soldiers.

"We need to take stern action to avenge the kind of barbarism that terrorists and the Pakistan Army have been carrying against our soldiers. It is time to give it back to them in the same coin but not by resorting to similar kind of barbarism. I think the other side must also feel the same pain," he said at a press conference here.

On BSF soldier's killing and Burhan Wani stamps, here is what Pakistan is saying

Rawat insisted that action against Pakistan was needed but not in a barbaric manner.

Refuting India's claim of Pakistani soldiers killing the BSF jawan, Ghafoor said, "We have struggled to achieve peace in the last two decades. We can never do anything to disgrace any soldier."

"They (India) have in the past as well laid the blame on us for mutilating the body of a fallen soldier. We are a professional army. We never engage in such acts," he added.

"We (Pakistan Army) are ready for war but choose to walk the path of peace in the interest of the people of Pakistan, the neighbours and the region," the spokesperson said.

Ghafoor said the Indian Army is hurling "irresponsible" statements to divert attention from its domestic issues.

"The Indian government is facing graft scandals at home. And in a bid to divert attention from their domestic issues, the Indian army is hurling irresponsible statements of war," he said.

The war of words between the armed forces of the two countries came a day after India called off the foreign minister-level talks with Pakistan in New York this month on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.

General Rawat also said the Indian Army had carried out successful operations against the Pakistan Army whenever they did something against India along the border.

"Pakistan has suffered many casualties and we have been able to take on their defence system to a large extent, but we never resorted to barbarism. They requested for a ceasefire in May and we agreed, but if they continue to do this, we will need to take other action," he said.

Ghafoor also defended the issuance of postal stamps by Pakistan, glorifying Kashmiri militant Burhan Wani and others, saying, "The UN had released a human rights violation report following which the then interim government issued those tickets highlighting the plight of Kashmiris."

He said India should come forward for a dialogue. "Whenever attempts for dialogue have failed, it is because India has run away from the table," he claimed.

Meanwhile, Pakistan's Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry also said, "Pakistan and India are nuclear powers; a war is out of question."

In a statement, he said, the Indian army chief's remarks were inappropriate.

"As a peace-loving nation, Pakistan desires peace (with India), the minister said.

PTICentre renames 2 prominent institutes after Sushma Swaraj on the eve of her birth anniversary

Sushma Swaraj reaches New York for 73rd UNGA session

International

oi-Madhuri Adnal

New York City, Sep 23: Union External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj arrived in New York to attend the 73rd Session of the United Nations General Assembly. Swaraj will also participate in several bilateral, plurilateral and multilateral meetings.

Swaraj was also slated to meet her Pakistani counterpart Shah Mehmood Qureshi on the sidelines of the UNGA.

However, after increasing reports of violence on police and army personnel in Jammu and Kashmir, the meeting was called off.

On Monday, 24 September, the UNGA will hold a high-level plenary meeting on global peace in honor of the centenary of the birth of Nelson Mandela, known as the Nelson Mandela Peace Summit. The plenary will adopt a political declaration negotiated by Member States. In May 2018 the Permanent Representatives of South Africa and Ireland, serving as co-facilitators, began consulting with governments on the content of the declaration.

On Wednesday, 26 September, the UNGA will hold a high-level meeting on the fight against tuberculosis, as agreed by Member States in February 2018. The SDG Knowledge Hub has reported on those consultations here.

On Thursday, 27 September, the UN will hold a one-day comprehensive review of the progress achieved in the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), which will be the third high-level meeting of the UNGA on the issue. SDG Knowledge Hub coverage of this process can be accessed here.

A number of events will take place in parallel to the opening of the 73rd session of the UNGA under the banners of Global Goals Week 2018 and Climate Week NYC 2018.Pune lockdown: Officials release new guidelines for restaurants, religious events and more

Unable to get job due to Covid-19, 24-year-old MPSC aspirant commits suicide in Pune

14-year-old minor girl abducted and raped in Pune; 8 including six auto drivers, two Railways employees held

Pune: 23-year-old man stabs boyfriend over excessive demand for sexual favours

Pune

oi-Madhuri Adnal

Pune, Sep 23: A 23-year-old man was arrested by the police for allegedly stabbing a 43-year old man in Maharashtra's Pune district over excessive demand for sexual favours.

The incident came to light after Rajesh Vartak, a 46-year-old man filed a complaint against his 23-yr-old partner.

According to the complaint, the accused visited the complainant and they had sex. However, when the complainant again wanted to have sex in the morning, the accused refused.

The victim has been admitted to the hospital and his condition is said to be stable.

Further investigation revealed that both of these adults are in a consensual gay relationship for as much as two years.

On September 6, the Supreme Court in a historic decision ruled that homosexuality is not a crime in India anymore. The verdict overturned a 2013 judgment, which had upheld the 157-year-old colonial-era law, known as Section 377, under which certain sexual activities were categorised as "unnatural offense".

For More Pune News, Click Here

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Story first published: Sunday, September 23, 2018, 14:38 [IST]Utah entrepreneur Steve Down was supposed to deliver the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum to a new era of financial stability. Instead, the would-be savior of one of Oregon's biggest tourist attractions has been besieged by bankruptcy filings and accusations of securities fraud.

The worst may be yet to come. The Oregonian/OregonLive has learned that the FBI is taking a hard look at Down and his family of companies. Court documents show the criminal inquiry began as early as October 2017, and the case has progressed far enough that federal prosecutors have gotten involved.

Steve Down and his wife, Colleen. Steve Down Companies Courtesy of the Steve Down Companies

"I am aware of FBI inquiries that have taken place over the past year," Down said in an email to The Oregonian/OregonLive. "It is my understanding that my attorney will meet with the US Attorney's office sometime in October."

Brooks Pickering, a Utah-based consultant hired to help run The Falls Event Center, confirmed that a federal criminal investigation is underway.

The investigation creates more uncertainty for the home of the legendary Spruce Goose, billed as the largest aircraft ever built and famously flown only once  by Howard Hughes. Evergreen had cast its lot with Down in a 2016 restructuring, but the impact of Down's legal and financial travails goes way beyond the McMinnville museum. His companies have raised at least $130 million from individual investors.

From Eagle Point in southern Oregon, to Enterprise in the state's Northeast corner, to the Portland area, dozens of medical and dental workers poured portions of their retirement savings into Down's companies. Bankruptcy documents show that of the $97 million owed by Down's Falls Events Center, more than $12 million came from 34 Northwest dentists, doctors, chiropractors and other health-care professionals.

It remains unclear how much of their money, if any, those investors will get back.

"I'm not prepared to say it's a Ponzi scheme," said Mike Johnson, a Salt Lake City attorney representing Gil Miller, the consultant now running one of Down's bankrupt companies. "But obviously there are financial fraud issues involved here."

The downward spiral began in May, when the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission accused Down of defrauding investors. Two months later, The Falls Event Center LLC  which owns several buildings at the aviation museum complex  filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy in July. Down relinquished control of the company, and it is now in the hands of an independent restructuring specialist.

High on the restructuring specialist's agenda: Investigating potential causes of action against Down and his management team on charges of fraud and breach of fiduciary duty, court documents show.

The bankruptcy has offered outsiders their first detailed look at Down's organization, which comprises at least eight disparate companies, all based in Utah. He liked to call himself a cause capitalist, an entrepreneur who cared about the higher good as much as the bottom line. His Even Stevens chain of sandwich shops, for example, claimed it provided a meal to a homeless person for every sandwich it sold. But behind the idealistic veneer, there were serious issues. Most of Down's companies were losing money and lots of it, according to court filings and interviews with investors and former employees.

At least three other smaller companies that were the legal owners of individual event centers also sought bankruptcy protection.

In an eye-opening deposition in the Falls Event Center bankruptcy case, the former chief financial officer of Down's organization, David Sullivan, said he became alarmed after attending one of the seminars the company conducted for potential investors. Sullivan, who is also Down's son-in-law, said he warned Down afterward to tone down the rhetoric, including his claim that the Falls Event Center was enjoying 35 percent profit margins.

The deposition transcript included this exchange between Sullivan and Laurie Cayton, of the U.S. Trustee's Office in Salt Lake City:

Sullivan: "So we had a bit of an argument about that, and I've probably spoken to him only twice since ... at family things."

Cayton: "Was there a reason that you did not feel comfortable  or you did not want to meet with investors anymore?"

Sullivan: "Yeah, I had been approached by ... I discovered that there was also a criminal investigation."

Cayton: "In addition to the SEC investigation?"

Sullivan: "Correct."

Cayton: "OK, was that something by word of mouth or were you approached by the FBI or someone else conducting a criminal investigation?"

Sullivan: "I was approached by the FBI."

FBI officials in Salt Lake City declined comment when asked whether the investigation remains active.

Sullivan quit soon after the FBI interview. He did not return phone calls seeking comment.

PORRITT'S STORY

David Porritt was hired as chief operating officer of Down's family of companies in 2016. His wife, Sandy, signed on to help run another Down company, CE Karma.

He told The Oregonian/OregonLive that he, too, had misgivings about what the organization was telling investors. He said he repeatedly urged Down to overhaul its corporate governance to disperse decision-making and increase transparency.

The quilt of businesses included the Falls Event Center, which rented space for weddings; CE Karma, which offered continuing education classes; Even Stevens, the sandwich chain; and Financially Fit, a financial education company. And Down made every major corporate decision for all of them, Porritt said.

In December 2016, Down informed Porritt he wanted to implement some of his recommendations and that he was promoting Porritt to make it happen. Soon after, Porritt learned that his boss had been subpoenaed by the SEC two months earlier.

Months of confrontation followed as Porritt said he repeatedly urged Down to be more transparent with investors.

He and his wife quit on March 29, 2017. "It was a cumulative thing," Porritt said. "He refused to even disclose the SEC probe to new investors."

Days later, Porritt himself was subpoenaed by the SEC and he said he told the securities regulators all he knew about Down's business practices. "I was happy to provide the SEC that information because I was unable to stop him."

THE NORTHWEST CONNECTION

Roseburg chiropractor Kiran Kaul and Grants Pass dentist Rick Miller have built successful health-care practices 70 miles apart. They have something in common beyond their Southern Oregon locations.

They both bet heavily on Down. Kaul invested $217,000 and Miller $1.4 million.

One Down company, CE Karma, offered cut-rate continuing education to the medical field. Doctors and dentists typically pay hundreds or thousands of dollars for these professional classes, but CE Karma offered them for as little as $35.

But the whole point was to get these well-heeled practitioners in the door, a captive audience for Down, who would stand up during intermissions and make the pitch for their investment capital.

"The cover was diabolical, going in with continuing education," Porritt said. "In hindsight you look at it, wow, what a devious plan. But it brought in a ton of money."

Kaul said he's written off the $217,000 he invested. He lost all hope when Down called him late last year pleading for more capital. "When you're asking a small-town guy like me for whatever I can come up with, that's desperation," Kaul said. "You could smell the fear."

Miller, meanwhile, is keeping the faith. "He's a good person," Miller said of Down. "The meetings we've had have all been extremely positive. All the investors believed him. "

MUSEUM PONDERS A POST-DOWN FUTURE

For the museum, Down's struggles present challenges and opportunities.

The museum was founded by Del Smith, longtime chief executive officer of Evergreen Aviation, a large private firm that at its peak employed thousands of people. Smith spent upward of $150 million building the museum and bringing in its centerpiece, the famed Spruce Goose.

But Evergreen Aviation went out of business and Smith passed away in 2014, plunging the museum into uncertainty.

Down entered the scene in 2016 when The Falls Events Center acquired several buildings at the museum complex. He was portrayed as a deep-pocketed executive who would be able to restore some stability. As part of the deal, Down's companies got all the revenue from the aquatic park located adjacent to the museum. But Down also agreed that his companies would pay the museum $70,000 a month.

The hoped-for stability has never arrived. Neither did the world-class hotel Down pledged to build near by.

When Down's organization began to struggle, he sold two prized World War II fighter planes out of the museum for $1.8 million. The museum board fumed but said it was powerless to stop the deal.

Then, last spring, the $70,000 payments stopped.

The museum sued The Falls Events Center in May.

Down's precipitous decline could hasten the day the museum is able to cut all ties with him. But it's not clear the museum has a Plan B.

Museum officials declined multiple interview requests. In a statement they said, "The recent chapter 11 filing of The Falls Event Center has not impaired the Museum's ability to execute on its mission to the public. The Museum will remain open for business and is confident that the proceedings involving The Falls Event Center will not impair the Museum's operations in any way."

Down may have one more surprise for the museum.

Financial documents filed with the state of Oregon in February show that Down put up two more museum aircraft  a PBY Catalina and a DC-3  as collateral for money he borrowed from Gregory Moss, a Tucson dentist. Moss confirmed to The Oregonian/OregonLive that he loaned money to Down, though he declined to say how much.

Moss also confirmed he has taken steps to repossess the planes.

Jeff ManningDear Carolyn:

My young adult daughters have an ongoing issue: The younger feels her sister withholds support during many critical events in her life. The older sister, when confronted, reacts very defensively and shuts down.

I have my own role in this, formerly trying to "fix" the problem and usually being angry with older daughter for not being more sensitive. I have learned to let them work it out -- or not.

Recently, older daughter missed a very important event for her sister, a replay/anniversary of sorts where the first time wasn't acknowledged either. I asked older daughter to please call her sister and I explained why this was a big deal, she said she fully understood, and she called but didn't bother to leave a message.

I asked her later why she didn't speak with her sister, and she got angry with me. Younger daughter is upset with me because I didn't raise my first child to be a better person, and neither one is talking to me or each other now.

Older daughter can be very supportive, but sometimes self-involved and believes her sister is given special treatment. Younger daughter has serious health issues that older daughter still seems not to appreciate, which I can't understand.

Husband/father stays out of it. I'm giving daughters their space, but younger feels overpowered/punished by older whenever she tries to speak her truth. Help!

-- Sibling Rivalry

Hax: I feel for your younger daughter, but I don't agree with her expectations or methods.

And I think your sympathy and support for her have stoked this fire for years.

Who doesn't want loved ones' support at critical points in our lives -- their presence in particular. There's nothing wrong with the source of the ache your younger daughter feels.

But the way you've taught Younger to address this ache implies she has a right to expect certain attention from Older; to get angry when she doesn't receive it; and to hold Older responsible for her anger.

Wanting support doesn't mean we're entitled to it, though. We can ask, yes. We can explain why it's important to us. But we do not get to expect it. Our desires do not create responsibilities for other people.

And prompting older to call, then following up to criticize how she did it, is not "let[ting] them work it out"!

This may be your idea of family, that sibling support is mandatory -- it isn't uncommon. But in practice, that idea collapses just as Younger's expectations do: Your children aren't obligated to share your idea of family. You can teach it, and model it, but you cannot "make" them embrace it. They're entitled to their own.

So Older might not be the most supportive and present sister ever. She might also have a good point, albeit made dysfunctionally, that Younger's health issues are in charge and therefore Older feels powerful only through not showing up.

Either way, Older is entitled to choose where and when she shows up, and why.

Younger, meanwhile, is entitled to feel however she wants about that -- sad, angry, disappointed (indifferent, relieved), whatever. But the moment she expects Older to fix these feelings for her, she enters the realm of dysfunction, too. Her being angry at you for not raising Older well enough is merely dysfunction 2.0; she blames her sister for her disappointment and blames you for her sister.

Enough. Younger's feelings are her own to manage. She can ask for understanding, she can explain herself, but she can't control what anyone else does. She can only take others' responses as-is and decide how to proceed from there.

In this case, for example: She can put Older's no-show into lifelong context, consider that she has her reasons, and choose hereafter to stop expecting Older to show up. Younger can, hereafter, assume Older won't come and be touched and surprised when she does.

You, in turn, can encourage this healthy un-meshing by making this point to Younger, apologizing to Older for your meddlesome ways, then stepping out of it for real -- because late beats never, I'll guess.

Dear Carolyn:

My wife is a very charming person, and I've come to the painful realization that the longer you know her, the more she turns off the charm and turns on the cruelty. I should have seen it coming, as I noticed even early on that she has lots of surface-level friends but no old friends, and that her family relationships are strained. But I didn't see it.

I've finally convinced her to go to couple's counseling, but our counselor already seems to "side" with my wife and think she couldn't possibly be as cruel as I'm describing her. Is this an issue that couple's therapy just isn't going to work for?

-- Charmed

Hax: Yes. Someone who lures with charm and then switches to cruelty is an abuser. Couple's therapy is not appropriate for abuse situations for the exact reason you've experienced. Please switch to individual therapy with someone new, and secure your money, stat.

Email advice columnist Carolyn Hax at tellme@washpost.com, follow her on Facebook at www.facebook.com/carolyn.hax or chat with her online at 9 a.m. Pacific time each Friday at www.washingtonpost.com.

(c) 2018, Washington Post Writers GroupIn 48 other states, Joshua Horner would have never been convicted of sexually abusing a minor. His four-day trial in 2017 ended with only 11 of 12 jurors believing that the Redmond man committed the sex-abuse crimes that prosecutors alleged. Almost anywhere else in the country, that lone juror's doubt would have been enough to hold off a verdict and force prosecutors to bring a stronger case to prove his guilt.

But because Horner was tried in Oregon, one of only two states in the country where a defendant can be found guilty by a nonunanimous jury, the holdout's vote didn't matter. Horner was convicted and sentenced to 50 years in prison.

That could have been the end of the story. But luckily for Horner, both the Oregon Court of Appeals and the Oregon Innocence Project took a closer look at his case, as Oregon Public Broadcasting's Emily Cureton reported. After the appeals court ordered a new trial and the Oregon Innocence Project discredited key testimony from the victim, the Deschutes County district attorney dismissed the charges against Horner and apologized for using "untrue evidence" against him. Horner, who spent 18 months in prison, is now a free man.

It would be overly simplistic to pin the blame for Horner's conviction on Oregon's nonunanimous jury law, which requires that only 10 of 12 jurors agree on a verdict for most felonies. There were plenty of factors that contributed to Horner's questionable conviction. But it's important to recognize that Oregon, with its low bar for verdicts written into the state's Constitution, promotes a system that shortchanges ideals of justice in favor of easier resolutions. Even if those resolutions turn out to be wrong.

Horner's case, as well as a reversal last year for Brad Holbrook, who was similarly convicted of sex abuse of a minor by an 11-1 jury, show how that tradeoff carries severe real-life costs. Oregon's elected officials should not wait any longer to rectify this longstanding inequity and start the campaign to amend the Constitution.

As we have said previously, there's no good argument for keeping Oregon's current standard. The amendment was adopted in 1934 amid a time of xenophobic, racist and anti-Semitic sentiment in Oregon and in the aftermath of a sensational murder trial, as The Oregonian/OregonLive's Shane Dixon Kavanaugh has reported. Those prejudiced attitudes were reflected in the editorials of The Morning Oregonian at the time, which denigrated the presence of "mixed-blood" jurors and questioned immigrants' ability or interest in fulfilling the role and responsibility of jurors.

The 1934 law, by design, allows minority voices to be ignored.

That's especially troubling considering the many disparities built into the criminal justice system, from the disproportionate number of arrests and prosecutions of minorities to the racial composition of juries that decide defendants' fates.

The law is also strangely contradictory. It allows for 10-2 verdicts in most felonies, but insists on unanimity for murder charges. At the same time, Oregon law requires jury unanimity for verdicts on misdemeanors - which are significantly less serious offenses than sex abuse, arson and other crimes that need only get 10 out of 12 people to agree on guilt.

Certainly, supporters are correct to note that without the law, some cases would end in mistrial due to one or two holdout jurors. They fail to recognize that's an asset rather than a drawback for a system that values fairness. The government should be expected to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt to 12 representative jurors when a person's freedom is at stake. And if the goal is to maintain a just and honest system, then we should insist on the highest standards - not shortcuts - to ensure justice is being served throughout the system.

Even prosecutors, who benefit from the lower bar for a conviction, recognize the need to repeal the nonunanimous jury law. Earlier this year, the Oregon District Attorneys Association explored launching a campaign to repeal the provision. It dropped the effort after many objected to the group's plans to simultaneously restrict a provision allowing defendants to go to trial before a judge instead of a jury.

To their credit, however, the prosecutors remain firmly in favor of doing away with the nonunanimous jury provision. In an email last week to The Oregonian/OregonLive Editorial Board, Multnomah County District Attorney Rod Underhill said the group plans to support efforts to repeal the provision - even if their concerns about defendants waiving jury trials go unaddressed.

It's unfortunate that Oregon has waited so long to even try to remove this law from the Constitution. Louisiana, the only other state to recognize nonunanimous verdicts as legitimate, is far ahead in its effort to repeal the law with voters set to decide its fate in November.

Requiring unanimous verdicts won't insulate Oregon from wrongful convictions. But the cases of Josh Horner and Brad Holbrook show that it can help. It's time to end this nonsensical, discriminatory law.

-Helen Jung for The Oregonian/OregonLive Editorial Board

Oregonian editorials

Editorials reflect the collective opinion of The Oregonian/OregonLive editorial board, which operates independently of the newsroom. Members of the editorial board are Laura Gunderson, Helen Jung, Therese Bottomly and John Maher.

Members of the board meet regularly to determine our institutional stance on issues of the day. We publish editorials when we believe our unique perspective can lend clarity and influence an upcoming decision of great public interest. Editorials are opinion pieces and therefore different from news articles. However, editorials are reported and written by either Laura Gunderson or Helen Jung.

To respond to this editorial, post your comment below, submit an OpEd or a letter to the editor.Instead of covering math and English during what were supposed to be the first days of school, striking teachers in Clark County offered these lessons:

Lesson No. 1: Teachers have more important jobs than anyone else. That includes doctors and firefighters, I was told. It definitely includes people who write for newspapers. "Would you rather have newspapers or teachers?" I was asked in a "duh" voice. How about truck drivers, hairdressers and grocery clerks? No contest.

Why? Teachers prepare the future workforce, kids and strike signs explained to me in my Vancouver community. The message was sent deep and wide in a sea of red shirts. Preparing the future workforce is something parents, families, churches, community organizations and teachers all do. It's also something I trust would happen without school, although I am extremely thankful teachers are in the mix.

However, teachers should understand that argument cuts both ways. It suggests they're responsible when students end up ill-prepared for the workforce, right? That isn't the case, but educators can't have it both ways. More troubling than claiming successes and not failures, I want students to value work done throughout our communities, including that of their school janitors and office staff.

I have volunteered in schools for 10 years and subbed a handful of times and am fully aware how challenging teaching can be and how admirable a job most teachers do. It's also obvious to me that Washington schools provide far more than "basic education," which was at the center of recent debate and funding questions. The state also makes education a priority. A chart prepared by the state's nonpartisan Office of Program Research shows more than half of the general fund's operating budget goes to K-12 education.

Recent strikes should motivate lawmakers, districts and taxpayers to rethink the role of the schoolhouse -- and teacher workload - given the limited taxpayer dollars to pay more than 64,000 classroom teachers.

Districts are rightly concerned that double-digit raises aren't sustainable given that they'll soon lose levy dollars as part of the deal for getting more state money for education. Pat Nuzzo, communications director for Vancouver Public Schools, told me, "We're short $10 million in one year" following this first contract year. When I asked teachers on strike lines about sustainability concerns, I was told, more than once, "They'll have to figure it out." Great teamwork.

That goes along with the villain-victim campaign that was waged: School districts and boards were villains and teachers were victims. That campaign ignored that all three groups are on the same team. It showed no concern that boards and districts have the difficult job of ensuring budget stability despite losing levy dollars, while protecting school programs, class sizes and future staff funding.

If you agree public teachers have more important jobs than all other workers, you'll be glad to know that even before raises, their salaries beat all the other professions I listed, except for doctors, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. They beat the salaries of many degree-requiring jobs and certainly the incomes of many people with degrees. For added perspective, the Washington Policy Center crunched numbers and found that teachers average $65 an hour, including benefits. Meanwhile, the workers paying their salary average $38 an hour with benefits, the Policy Center reports.

Lesson No. 2: It's okay to break the law. I've taught my boys to respect teachers and the law. But their educators broke the law and celebrated while doing it, receiving affirmation, honks and pizza. Teacher strikes are illegal. But most teachers I spoke with said they weren't, or didn't know or didn't care -- as penalties aren't typical.

The Columbian newspaper's Aug. 23 headline asked, "Are teacher strikes illegal? Depends on who you ask." But then the first paragraph continued, "Teacher strikes are illegal in Washington state, but they still happen. And the reality is, while strikes may be illegal, there's no law setting penalties against public employees who do strike." It went on to outline legal opinions and findings that confirm the illegality.

A new one could have been added last week. Clark County Superior Court Judge Scott Collier signed an injunction against the Battle Ground Education Association, ordering teachers to return to the classroom. The union voted to defy that back-to-work order, although they have since returned to classrooms with sizable raises.

Still, I'll continue teaching my kids that it isn't okay to break the law even if you won't be penalized.

And finally, lesson No. 3: If you aren't in lockstep on this issue, you're mean and don't like teachers. My kids received a front-row view of what it looks like to be an ideological minority.

Alternate opinions about the teacher strikes were unwelcome and unpopular. Cool parents honked, brought donuts, held signs and got cheers.

Who knew this was the kind of peer pressure to worry about at school.

-- Elizabeth Hovde's column appears on the fourth Sunday of the month.UPDATED Sept. 24, 2018

Bend police arrested a suspected trigger-happy teen who they say terrorized residents in central Oregon during a multi-day rampage with a paintball gun.

Cruising around town in a white Hyundai hatchback, police say, Zachary Taylor Richardson, 19, opened fire on bicyclists, pedestrians and other cars during the 21-hour tear this month.

"I was being stupid. I made a mistake," Richardson said Sunday in a brief interview with The Oregonian/OregonLive. "I guess that's what they all say."

He declined to further discuss the allegations.

Among those blasted with the yellow and pink paintballs fired from the driver's seat, according to authorities: an Uber driver, a guy walking home from Walmart and two women in a vehicle on U.S. 97.

"He even shot a man riding with his daughter on the back of his bicycle," Lt. Clint Burleigh, a Bend police spokesman, told The Oregonian/OregonLive.

All told, police logged 10 separate shootings between 6:30 p.m. on Sept. 15 and 3:30 p.m. the next day.

Burleigh said detectives, who launched their investigation within hours of the first attacks, tracked down Richardson through witness descriptions of his car.

Those pelted with paintballs also provided a consistent physical description of suspect, the Bend Bulletin reported, citing a search warrant affidavit.

"A young white man with long blond hair and noticeable acne scarring on his face, who wore a flat-brimmed hat," The Bulletin reported.

Police arrested Richardson Thursday night. He was booked in the Deschutes County jail on suspicion of 25 criminal counts, including unlawful use of a weapon, harassment, reckless endangerment and disorderly conduct, police said.

Richardson was released Friday, records show. He said news of his arrest had quickly spread around town.

"I have my own business and it's really kind of taking a toll on me, man," he said. "People in the community are starting to think I'm a really terrible person."

State records show Richardson registered a company called Blue Crew Maintenance last November.

Bend police believe there may be other suspects who acted as Richardson's accomplice, Burleigh said. The investigation is ongoing.

Court records do not list an arraignment date for Richardson.

-- Shane Dixon Kavanaugh

skavanaugh@oregonian.com

503-294-7632 || @shanedkavanaughBrian Keith Starr

An Oregon man who crashed four weddings in Junction City on the same day this summer acknowledged he swiped $13,425 in cash and gifts from the couples and their guests, court records show.

Brian Keith Starr, 42, pleaded guilty Friday in Lane County Circuit Court to charges of aggravated first-degree theft and felon in possession of a firearm.

He agreed to a 2  year prison sentence in exchange for his plea, which also acknowledges he stole $5,300 in gifts from a fifth wedding weeks prior to his big haul on July 29, records show.

Authorities suspected Starr at least three wedding thefts when they arrested him in early August.

A Eugene resident, he is scheduled to be sentenced Monday.

Despite his daring streak as a sticky-fingered guest, Starr might have gotten away with the wedding thefts had the mother of one of the brides not snapped a photo of him slinking around at their reception.

"Do any of our friends or family know who the guy in the blue shirt is? We do not recognize him," newlywed Janell Evenson wrote on her Facebook days later. "We also do not have the gift bag in his hand, nor did we serve that type of drink."

Evenson included the photo of a well-coiffed man in a button-down dress shirt and sunglasses, clutching the gift and can of Rolling Rock beer. Hundreds shared the post on social media.

Days later, on Aug. 2, Starr received an unannounced visit from deputies with the Lane County Sheriff's Office. He's crashed in a county jail cell ever since.

-- Shane Dixon Kavanaugh

skavanaugh@oregonian.com

503-294-7632 || @shanedkavanaughSUNDAY

"9-1-1": The two-night season premiere begins tonight, and continues Monday. (8 p.m. Fox)

MONDAY

"The Big Bang Theory": The hugely successful comedy begins its twelfth and final season. (8 p.m. CBS)

"Dancing With the Stars": The ballroom competition returns for Season 27. (8 p.m. ABC)

"Jane Fonda in Five Acts": A documentary that explores the remarkable life and career of Jane Fonda. (8 p.m. HBO)

"Magnum P.I.": Jay Hernandez inherits Tom Selleck's old role in an updated version of the Hawaii-set series about a private investigator and his buddies. (9 p.m. CBS)

"The Good Doctor": The medical drama that was a breakout hit in its first season returns for Season 2. Freddie Highmore stars. (10 p.m. ABC)

"Manifest": Passengers on a plane leaving Jamaica and heading to New York experience terrible turbulence mid-flight. When they land, it turns out their plane took off in 2013, but this is 2018. What happened? It's a juicy mystery, though the danger is we'll be led down a path to nowhere ("Lost"), or the show will vanish before anything is explained ("The Crossing"). But the pilot is good and twisty. (10 p.m. NBC)

TUESDAY

"The Mayo Clinic: Faith, Hope, Science": A new documentary executive produced by Ken Burns, and directed by Burns, Erik Ewers and Christopher Loren Ewers explores the history of the clinic, and includes interviews with such patients as the Dalai Lama and the late Sen. John McCain. (9 p.m. PBS)

"Mr. Inbetween": Scott Ryan created and stars in this Australian-made series about a hitman who's also dealing with his responsibilities as a father, ex-husband and boyfriend. (11:30 p.m. FX)

WEDNESDAY

"Single Parents": Leighton Meester, Taran Killam and Brad Garrett head the ensemble cast of a new sitcom about parents struggling with raising offspring. (9:30 p.m. ABC)

"A Million Little Things": An ensemble cast that includes David Giuntoli, James Roday, Romany Malco and Ron Livingston star in a new drama about a group of friends trying to cope after one them dies unexpectedly. (10 p.m. ABC)

THURSDAY

"The Good Place": Nobody can say this comedy starring Kristen Bell and Ted Danson is predictable. Season 3 promises another twist, with the characters no longer in the afterlife, but back on Earth. (8 p.m. NBC)

"Murphy Brown": Two decades after it ended, the series returns, with Candice Bergen back as the opinionated journalist Murphy Brown. Now, she's on a cable news network, and reunited with colleagues including Corky Sherwood (Faith Ford), Frank Fontana (Joe Regalbuto) and Miles (Grant Shaud). New faces include Murphy's grown son, Avery (Jake McDorman), who works as the rare liberal voice on a rival, conservative cable network. Series creator Diane English wrote this premiere episode, which runs longer than usual, from 9:30 to 10:05 p.m. (9:30 p.m. CBS)

FRIDAY

"Last Man Standing": There was plenty of hubbub when the Tim Allen comedy was canceled by ABC about a year ago. Now, it's back, this time on Fox, but with Allen and Nancy Travis returning to their roles as Mike and Vanessa Baxter. (8 p.m. Fox)

The Cool Kids": David Alan Grier, Vicki Lawrence, Martin Mull and Leslie Jordan play quippy seniors in a new comedy about folks in a retirement home. Executive producers include Charlie Day, Rob McElhenney and Glenn Howerton, of "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia." (8:30 p.m. Fox)

"King Lear": Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson star in a new production of Shakespeare's play. (Streaming on Amazon Prime Video)

"Made in Mexico": A new reality series about affluent socialites from some of Mexico's most elite families. (Streaming on Netflix)

SATURDAY

"Saturday Night Live": Season 44 - cough, wheeze - begins with host Adam Driver, and musical guest Kanye West. (8:29 p.m. repeating at 11:29 p.m. NBC)

-- Kristi Turnquist

kturnquist@oregonian.com

503-221-8227

@KristiturnquistGoose Creek, SC (29445)

Today

Cloudy skies early, followed by partial clearing. Slight chance of a rain shower. High 76F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Cloudy with showers. Thunder possible. Low around 60F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 60%.The York County coroner's office on Saturday released the autopsy on Sprint Car driver Hoyt "Greg" Hodnett who died in a crash at BAPS Motor Speedway in Newberry Township on Thursday night.

The autopsy showed the cause of death to be multiple blunt force trauma. The manner of death was ruled accidental.

More:

Hodnett, 49, of Spring Grove, lost control of his vehicle in Turn 1, causing him to hit a wall at high speed, the coroner's office reported earlier. Hodnett died upon impact, the release said.

More:

He was the World of Outlaws 1993 Rookie of the Year and a 20-time winner on the national touring series.

Racing in central Pennsylvania was canceled this weekend because of Hodnett's death.Hampden Township police charged a juvenile in connection with making terroristic threats that prompted an increased police presence at Good Hope Middle School on Tuesday.

Because the suspect is a juvenile, police are releasing no further information regarding his or her identity or actions.

A student at the school received an anonymous message that was vague in nature indicating the possibility of a threat at school. The student reported it to his or her parents who told Cumberland Valley School District staff.

Good Hope's Principal Jeff Hosenfeld became aware of the message as buses were picking up students Tuesday morning. Police increased their presence at that school and notified families of students attending Good Hope as well as the adjacent Hampden Elementary School.

Police began an investigation and identified the suspect who will be charged as a juvenile.

On Friday, township Police Chief Steve Junkins in a Facebook post asked parents to reinforce to their children that threats of violence in a school setting "are never appropriate." If they receive one or know of one, they should immediately report it to a parent, teacher or police officer.

"Significant delays in providing valuable information can be the difference between interdicting a threat versus responding to one in progress," Junkins wrote. "I want to thank the involved parents for stepping up, the CVSD for their unwavering cooperation, and my detectives for their hard work on this case. We take these cases very seriously and will not tolerate threats of any kind against our schools."YORK, Pa. - He's the 35-pound Boston terrier with a big personality and adoring fans around the world. Veterinarians didn't expect Libre to live after being left for dead by his breeder on a Lancaster County farm.

Libre is now a happy and healthy 2-year-old Boston Terrier and animal welfare ambassador. Libre is now a happy and healthy 2-year-old Boston Terrier and animal welfare ambassador.

A produce farmer convinced the breeder, 33-year-old Benjamin Stoltzfus of Quarryville, to give him the puppy covered in maggots, emaciated, and clinging to life. Libre ended up in the care of Speranza Animal Rescue and the Dillsburg Veterinary Center, where he made an amazing recovery.

Fast forward two years later, and the miracle dog continues to help other abused animals through his groundbreaking Libre's Law.

Governor Tom Wolf signed it into law on June 28, 2017.

"The bill was originally defeated but passed through a grassroots effort including more than 35,000 people," said Rep. Carol Hill-Evans, D-York.

Rep. Hill-Evans and Rep. Keith Gillespie, R-York, both co-sponsored Libre's Law and are rescue dog owners. The two spoke at the first-ever Harvest Fest 2018 in York on Saturday about the law's impact and where animal welfare is headed in the Pennsylvania Legislature.

Libre, pictured then and now, became the face of an effort that led to the signing of a law that strengthens Pennsylvania's animal anti-cruelty laws.

"I see Libre's Law as an increase of awareness to animal cruelty perpetrators and to put them on notice that this is now law, you will be arrested, you will be punished, and knock it off," Hill-Evans said.

Added Gillespie: "Every journey begins with a first step, and rarely do we pass everything with one fell swoop or one piece of legislation. Libre's Law was certainly a great giant leap, but we're looking at some other things now."

Libre's Law has resulted in felony aggravated cruelty to animals charges for numerous owners since its passage, including a Cumberland County man whose dog died after being left outside in the summer heat without water. Owners could only face a misdemeanor charge before the law, and this led to many people just paying a fine.

Said Kristen Tullo, Pennsylvania director of the Humane Society of the United States: ""Support and action for the bill has been tremendous with exponential growth in advocate involvement and over the course of the past year since Libre's Law went into effect on Aug 28, 2017. The HSUS and humane organizations have partnered

Libre, Rep. Carol Hill-Evans, and Rep. Keith Gillespie gather on stage Saturday at the Harvest Vegfest 2018.

with humane police offices, state and local police agencies, and legal authorities to provide training on Act 10. Now, we begin to see the impact of the new law through these training programs, increased prosecutions and trials for misdemeanor and felony charges, and sentences with appropriate penalties.

"If you see something, say something. Report animal cruelty to HPO or State or Local Law Enforcement authorities."

Lawmakers are currently working on two bills to expand animal welfare laws in the state.

"The first bill is Senate Bill 1154, which will stop the sale of puppy mill puppies, kittens and rabbits in Pennsylvania pet stores. The second bill is House Bill 1216, which will protect dogs and cats from distress in motor vehicles by allowing public safety professionals to remove unattended dogs and cats without liability for damages," Tullo said.

House Bill 1216, the Motor Vehicle Extreme Heat Protection Act, passed the House and is currently in the Senate.

"Within six minutes of being left in a car on a hot day, a dog can be killed," Gillespie said. "These dogs are members of our family just like people."

Senate Bill 1154 is in the Senate Judiciary Committee. Nine of the 100 businesses on the Humane Society of the United States' Horrible Hundred List are in Pennsylvania. The majority are in Lancaster County.

Jupiter, a 9-year-old Maltese, spent the first three years of his life in a puppy mill.

Libre's Law includes the following changes:West Manchester Township police arrested three teenagers who attempted to steal firearms and other valuables from L.L. Saltzgiver Gun Shop in York County on Wednesday.

A 19-year-old man, a 19-year-old woman, and a 17-year-old juvenile, all from New Windsor, Md., were arrested at the scene.

The burglar alarm in the gun shop in the first block of Pumping Station Road sounded at 9:50 p.m. Wednesday. About the same time, an off-duty township officer observed a suspicious vehicle driving down an adjacent street stop and turn off its headlights.

That officer, working with an on-duty officer, detained the vehicle and its two occupants. The third was arrested walking away from the gun shop between homes on Wanda Drive, according to police.

After further investigation, police determined the trio were interrupted prying open a door to the gun shop. Police seized a crow bar along with drugs, drug paraphernalia, and a loaded sawed-off shotgun.

It was discovered that the Pennsylvania license tag on the teen-agers' vehicle had been stolen earlier off another vehicle parked in a driveway along the 100 block Pumping Station Road.

Police filed charges for burglary, criminal conspiracy, firearm offenses, drug offenses, possessing instruments of crime, theft, loitering and prowling and corruption of minors. Additional charges are pending.

The township police are working jointly with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives for prosecution.The driver of a van that crashed into a tree in West Manchester Township on Wednesday morning has died at York Hospital.

Brenden Lyons, 27, of West Manchester Township, was pronounced dead at 9:10 a.m. Friday from blunt force trauma from the crash that occurred along Trolley Road, according to the York County coroner's office. West Manchester Township police are investigating the crash and the exact time and location.

Lyons was not wearing a seat belt at the time of the crash.By Michael R. Dimino

The circus surrounding the Supreme Court nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to succeed retired Justice Anthony Kennedy will continue this week, as the Senate Judiciary Committee holds a hearing to inquire into allegations that Kavanaugh engaged in sexual misconduct 36 years ago when both he and the alleged victim were students in high school.

Michael R. Dimino (PennLive file)

The salacious nature of these recent allegations will focus even more public attention on the Kavanaugh nomination.

But the hearing is not a trial, and it is extremely unlikely that we will ever know the truth.

We can be sure, though, that this week's planned hearing, like the entire appointment process, will be governed far more by political considerations than by anything else.

That should not surprise us.

The Constitution provides that federal judges must be appointed through a political process involving both the executive and legislative branches of government. Throughout American history, political considerations have played a role in judicial appointments. Nevertheless, political ideology unquestionably plays more of a role now than ever before.

In 1986, President Reagan nominated Antonin Scalia to the Supreme Court. Scalia's conservative judicial philosophy was well known at the time, but he received no opposition even from Democrats, and he was confirmed 98-0. In 1993, President Clinton nominated Ruth Bader Ginsburg (who had worked for the ACLU and whose liberal views were well known), and she was confirmed 96-3.

Now the story is much different. Nominees of Republican presidents can count on the opposition of nearly all Democrats in the Senate, and nominees of Democratic presidents will not get much more support from Republican senators.

President Trump's first nominee, Neil Gorsuch, was confirmed by a 54-45 vote, and the previous three nominees from Presidents Obama (Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor) and George W. Bush (Samuel Alito) received negative votes from 37, 31, and 42 senators respectively, even though it was clear that each of those nominees was eminently qualified for the Supreme Court.

What explains such a change in the course of a single generation? The difference is that the Senate, like the rest of us, has come to understand not only that the issues decided by the Supreme Court are important, but that the Court's decisions depend in large part on the identities of the members of the Court.

That is why presidential candidates often campaign by pointing to the kinds of judges they want to appoint. If judicial appointments determine the policies that courts make, then politics is bound to be part of the appointments process.

In constitutional law especially, it is obvious that Supreme Court decisions depend on which Justices are on the Court.

The Constitution contains several broad phrases, and different Justices will inevitably come to different conclusions about the meaning of "due process," "equal protection," or "the freedom of speech," to give only a few examples. Thus, presidents and senators realize that their appointments determine not only who will sit on the Court, but also the meaning that will be given to the Constitution.

The flexibility of the Constitution's "broad generalities" is reason enough for presidents and senators to care about politics in making Supreme Court appointments.

But, in fact, constitutional interpretation is even more flexible, and politics matters more, than one would realize from the vagueness of the Constitution.

The most fundamental division in constitutional law is between "originalists"--those people who believe that each provision of the Constitution should be interpreted to have the same meaning today as when it was adopted--and adherents of the "living Constitution"--those who believe that courts should interpret the Constitution flexibly to keep it up with the times.

The death penalty, for example, was unquestionably constitutional for most of the country's history, but perhaps our notions of what is "cruel and unusual punishment" have changed since the Eighth Amendment was adopted in 1791.

When judges see it as their jobs to keep the Constitution up with the times, they must determine what the needs of modern times are.

And because judges are not elected, they are not in a good position to reflect the attitudes of American society overall.

Naturally, their ideas about the needs of modern society will reflect their own attitudes, and that is the rub.

If they decide the meaning of the Constitution based on their own political attitudes, rather than an objective focus on the Constitution's original meaning, then the political officials who appoint them have every reason to bring politics into the appointments process.

We may not like the central role that politics plays in Supreme Court appointments. We might wish that the Senate and the President would focus more on the nominees' qualifications and on the nominees' ability to apply the law.

If we decide to ignore political ideology in the appointments process, though, we will not take politics out of the Supreme Court.

Instead, the Justices will just have even greater ability to issue constitutional decisions based on their own ideologies--with even less to ensure that their ideologies will be anything like ours.

Michael R. Dimino is a professor of law at Widener Commonwealth Law School in Susquehanna Township.Fitzgerald memorial to be closed to the public and live-streamed

The annual S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald memorial event, which takes take place every Nov. 10 at Whitefish Point, will be a closed event this year.175 SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard

Is it possible that Democrats may take back control of the U.S. Senate with the help of the Koch Brothers? As improbable as that sounds, it could actually happen.

Americans for Prosperity, a member of the powerful Koch network supported by conservative billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch, has launched a digital advertising campaign supporting Senator Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota for her co-sponsorship of the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protect Act.

The new legislation will be eliminating Dodd-Frank regulations on community banks, or those with less than $100 billion in assets. The bill had bipartisan support in being approved by the Senate, and Heitkamp was one of the Democratic Party senators who voted in favor of the bill.

Congress achieved a significant milestone in lifting some of the toughest restrictions Dodd-Frank placed on small banks and their consumers. This was a bipartisan effort made possible by lawmakers like Heidi Heitkamp who put politics aside to work together, Tim Phillips, president for Americans for Prosperity, said in a statement.

While we dont agree with Sen. Heitkamp on everything, particularly her vote against tax relief, we commend her for taking a stand against the leaders of her party to do the right thing. We hope to find common ground and work with Sen. Heitkamp on other issues moving forward including making tax relief permanent, he added.

If Heitkamp wins reelection it will be considered a mild upset because not only has she trailed in many polls but she is a Democrat representing a state that Donald Trump won big in 2016.

The move by the Koch network is a surprise since just a few months ago they attacked Heitkamp for voting against the Republican tax reform bill in December.

The support for Heitkamp shows that the Koch network is starting to lobby for its policy initiatives in Congress and will back legislators regardless of party affiliation. Other Koch-supported issues with bipartisan support include criminal justice reform and protection for the Deferred Action Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.

AFP is committed to working with lawmakers  regardless of party  to advance common sense reforms that help people improve their lives. At the same time, we will continue to hold members who voted against this crucial reform accountable, Philips said.

The move by the Kochs is surprising to people who think of them as partisan, because Washington D.C. seems to be governed solely by partisan politicians. But they are more issues-oriented than partisan, and their support for Democrats is sure to shock some people, although it may provide an opportunity for moderates like Heitkamp to stay in office with Koch support.

The midterms elections are just five months away and it will be interesting to see if the Kochs make similar moves in other states and how they will affect the balance of power in Congress.WASHINGTON (Reuters)  A woman who has accused U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault has agreed to testify before a Senate panel, her lawyers said on Saturday.

The Senate Judiciary Committee had delayed a vote on Kavanaughs confirmation after California professor Christine Blasey Fords allegations emerged last week, and her lawyers and committee staff were negotiating the conditions of her testimony.

Dr. Ford accepts the committees request to provide her first-hand knowledge of Brett Kavanaughs sexual misconduct next week, Debra Katz and Lisa Banks, Fords attorneys, said in a statement.

(Reporting by Christopher Bing; Editing by Bill Trott)WASHINGTON (Reuters)  An ex-White House official has revised a previous statement by telling investigators that former national security adviser Michael Flynn may have referred to sanctions when they discussed his calls with a former Russian envoy, the Washington Post reported on Saturday.

K.T. McFarlands statement revised an earlier assertion to FBI agents that sanctions on Russia did not come up when she spoke to Flynn in December 2016 about his calls with Sergey Kislyak when he was the Russian ambassador to the United States, the newspaper said, quoting unidentified people familiar with the matter.

Flynn has pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russia and is cooperating in the investigation led by special counsel Robert Mueller. He will be sentenced Dec. 18.

Mueller is looking at whether Flynns conversations with Kislyak involved what U.S. intelligence agencies say was a Russian influence operation to throw the 2016 presidential vote to then-Republican candidate Donald Trump.

Trump denounces the probe as a witch hunt and Russia denies that it meddled in the election.

One question Mueller is investigating is whether Flynn or other Trump aides discussed lifting U.S. sanctions on Russia in exchange for financial considerations.

McFarlands account does not clarify what the president knew about Flynns interactions with Kislyak, the Post quoted its sources as saying.

The newspaper said McFarland did not return requests for comment. Her lawyer, Robert Giuffra, did not immediately return a request for comment.

Flynn, a former Army general who headed the Defense Intelligence Agency, was a Trump campaign aide and briefly served as his national security adviser. He was fired in February 2017 for misleading the administration about his contacts with Kislyak.

Speaking to FBI agents in the summer of 2017, McFarland, who briefly worked as Flynns deputy, denied that sanctions arose in her discussions with Flynn about his calls with Kislyak, the Post said.

However, court papers filed in connection with Flynns guilty plea indicated that an unidentified Trump transition team member participated in strategising on Flynns calls. People familiar with the issue identified the official as McFarland, the newspaper said.

After the papers were filed, investigators again questioned McFarland and she revised her original denial that sanctions arose in her discussions with Flynn, it said.

She walked back her previous denial that sanctions were discussed, saying a general statement Flynn had made to her that things were going to be OK could have been a reference to sanctions, the Post reported.

She and Giuffra convinced FBI agents that she did not intentionally mislead them, the newspaper said.

(Reporting by Jonathan Landay; Editing by Bill Trott)851 SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard

Republicans have become so toxic in the age of Trump that six of Republican Rep. Paul Gosars siblings are endorsing his Democratic opponent, Dr. David Brill, in ads.

Watch here;

Pauls absolutely not working for his district Hes not listening to you and he doesnt have your interests at heart, the ad tells us.

Then the twist: These people are Gosards own brothers and sisters.

My name is Tim Gosar, David Gosar, Grace Gosar, Joan Gosar, Gaston Gosar, Jennifer Gosar.

Gosar has been in the U.S. congress since 2013. What, you might ask, has he done that is so unbearable he has pushed away 6 of his siblings?

Gosar was sued for blocking people on Facebook after he touted insane conspiracy theories on national TV, including that the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville was really the work of an Obama supporter and that George Soros turned Jews over to the Nazis (both patently false).

In the interview with Vice News that aired on HBO, Gosar veered from discussing intemperate language on Facebook to raise far-right conspiracy theories. He suggested the deadly Charlottesville, Virginia, white supremacist rally was the work of a supporter of former President Barack Obama and that liberal activist George Soros had turned Jews over to the Nazis as a boy.

Recently the Republican urged the arrest and deportation of any illegal aliens who attended the State of the Union.

Brill has another ad using the Gosar siblings, where they say how tough it is to come forward against their brother, but they had to defend the honor of their family.

A family defends its honor:

None of this is pleasant for any of us. Its horrible to have to do this.To speak up against my brother, it brings sadness to me.

According to brother David Gosar, eight of the nine siblings dont share Pauls far-right views.

If (Paul Gosar) had any guts or decency, he would apologize to George Soros on Vice News, David Gosar told the Arizona Republic. He never will because his base wont like it, but he owes that man an apology.

Even though he seems slightly insane and more than a little Trump, Gosar is expected to beat Brill.487 SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard

NEW YORK (Reuters)  President Donald Trumps personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani on Saturday said that U.S. sanctions on Iran are leading to economic pain that could lead to a successful revolution, contrasting with administration comments that government change in Tehran is not U.S. policy.

I dont know when were going to overthrow them, said Giuliani, who spoke in his own capacity though he is a Trump ally, at an Iran Uprising Summit held by the Organization of Iranian-American Communities, which opposes Tehrans government.

It could be in a few days, months, a couple of years. But its going to happen, Giuliani told a crowd at a hotel in Times Square.

Giulianis comments were in contrast with the Trump administrations policy of not seeking a change of government even though it is reimposing sanctions that are crippling Irans economy.

Trump ripped up a global deal on Irans nuclear program in May and his administration is snapping back sanctions on the Islamic Republic, including measures on its oil exports from Nov. 4.

The Trump administration hopes the sanctions will force Iran not only to curb its nuclear program but also halt militancy in the Middle East.

Iran says it has complying with the 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran, the United States and five other world powers. A quarterly report by the U.N. atomic watchdog late last month said Iran had remained within the main restrictions of the agreement.

Trumps National Security Adviser John Bolton told Reuters in August that regime change in Iran is not American policy. He said the administration wants a massive change in the regimes behavior.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei accused U.S. backed Gulf Arab States of carrying out a shooting attack at a military parade that killed 25 people on Saturday, though he did not name the regional states he believed were to blame.

The people of Iran obviously have now had enough, Giuliani said on Saturday. The sanctions are working. The currency is going to nothing  these are the kinds of conditions that lead to successful revolution.

Giuliani has suggested before that the re-imposition of sanctions was aimed at regime change. At a conference in June where he addressed the Paris-based National Council of Resistance of Iran, he said Trumps policy would suffocate Irans ayatollahs.

The U.S. State Department has said Giuliani does not speak for the administration on Iran.

(Reporting by Alice Popovici in New York and Timothy Gardner in Washington; Writing by Timothy Gardner; Editing by Sandra Maler)WASHINGTON (Reuters)  The White House has drafted an executive order that would push federal antitrust and law enforcement agencies to probe the business practices of social media and other internet companies, according to Bloomberg.

It is unclear whether the order will be signed by President Donald Trump. The order has yet to be reviewed by other government agencies and remains in its preliminary stages, Bloomberg reported on Saturday. The document reportedly does not name any specific companies as the target of such investigations.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The news follows repeated comments by Trump and other prominent Republican politicians about the alleged online censorship of conservatives by tech companies.

Facebook and Twitter deny theyve been involved in politically motivated censorship. In recent months, the companies have defended their existing internal policies which guide whether users should be suspended or banned from their platforms based on rule violations, such as bullying and other forms of harassment.

In August, Trump Tweeted: Social Media is totally discriminating against Republican/Conservative voices  Speaking loudly and clearly for the Trump Administration, we wont let that happen. They are closing down the opinions of many people on the RIGHT, while at the same time doing nothing to others.

(Reporting by Christopher Bing; Editing by Sandra Maler)By Allison Lampert

MONTREAL (Reuters)  U.S. and Canadian officials trying to reach a deal on NAFTA are very likely to hold informal talks on the sidelines of a major U.N. meeting in the next few days, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Sunday.

With time running out ahead of a U.S.-imposed deadline of the end of September, negotiators are making slow progress on updating the North American Free Trade Agreement.

U.S. President Donald Trump struck a side deal on NAFTA with Mexico last month and has threatened to exclude Canada if necessary. He also said he might impose a 25 percent tariff on Canadian autos exports, which would badly hurt Canadas economy.

Trump took office last year vowing to tear up NAFTA unless major changes were made to a pact he blames for the loss of U.S. manufacturing jobs.

Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer  the two top officials at the talks  are due to be in New York on Monday and Tuesday for the U.N. General Assembly.

Certainly the fact that many of our negotiators, many of our teams, will be in New York at the same time (means) its very likely that conversations continue in a constructive but less formal way, Trudeau told reporters.

Trudeau, speaking after talks with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, said nothing had formally been arranged. A Freeland spokesman declined to comment.

The United States and Canada are divided over the best way to resolve trade disputes and a U.S. demand for more access to Canadas protected dairy market.

Markets are reacting nervously to uncertainty over the future of the 1994 pact, which underpins $1.2 trillion in annual trade. Over the past 25 years, the three countries economies have become increasingly integrated, especially the auto industry.

Canadian negotiators have said they will not be rushed and Trudeau reiterated on Sunday that he would not sign a bad NAFTA deal.

Freeland and Lighthizer met in Washington last Thursday and made little progress. Canada also made clear the United States needed to withdraw the threat of auto tariffs for a deal to be possible.

(Reporting by Allison Lampert; Writing by David Ljunggren; Editing by Peter Cooney)Democrats seeking control of the U.S. Senate after the 2018 midterm elections were happy to hear that the Republican senate candidate in North Dakota has been saying dumb things about Brett Kavanaugh.

North Dakotas GOP Rep. Kevin Cramer is challenging Democratic Senator Heidi Heitcamp in a very close race that could decide which party controls the upper chamber starting in January. Last week he called the allegations of sexual assault against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh even more absurd than the ones Anita Hill made a generation ago against Clarence Thomas.

Cramer said that Dr. Christine Blasey Fords accusations of sexual assault against Kavanaugh were absurd because they were merely drunken teenagers at the time. And then Cramer added that no harm was done since it was supposedly an attempt that never went anywhere.

Cramers remarks immediately drew fire from women who are tired of their sexual assault claims being ignored. They were seen as possibly helping Heitcamp with just a few weeks before the November 6th election.

And now Cramer is trying to double-talk his way out of trouble and clean up his remarks without retracting his original statement that Dr. Fords allegations are absurd.

In a statement yesterday Cramer said:

The question I was answering was how the current accusation against Brett Kavanaugh by Christine Blasey Ford compared to the Anita Hill accusation against Clarence Thomas.

The point of my answer was that the current allegations were even more absurd. At the time, there was a sense of legitimacy to what Anita Hill was saying, but it is hard not to be skeptical considering the timing and history of the allegation Brett Kavanaugh is facing. Of course, any allegation of this nature should be taken seriously, but absent significant evidence being brought forth immediately, I feel Judge Kavanaughs confirmation process should proceed.

Cramers original comments had drawn a sharp rebuke from Heitkamps campaign. Heitkamp campaign manager Libby Schneider said in a Saturday statement:

His comments were disturbing and representative of a bigger issue Congressman Cramer has with respecting women and victims of assault or abuse. As a public official elected by the people of our state, he owes North Dakotans answers on his deeply troubling views regarding sexual assault.

Regardless of ones opinion on the Supreme Court nominee, allegations of sexual assault should never be trivialized or diminished  as Congressman Cramer did yesterday. To insinuate that an assault shouldnt be taken seriously because it never really went anywhere is as dangerous as it is offensive. Its unfortunate that this even needs to be said, but clearly it does  sexual assault is never OK.

Cramer has led Heitkamp in most recent opinion polls, but his leads have been within the margin of error. In a close race like this Democrats hope Cramers gaffes will give her a chance to retake the lead.

Kavanaugh and Ford have tentatively agreed to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday. Last week President Donald Trump attacked Dr. Fords credibility in a move seen as hurting GOP candidates, including Cramer.1.5k SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard

Nobody knows what will happen this week when Brett Kavanaugh and Christine Ford testify before the Judiciary Committee of the United States Senate.

We do know that Ford will describe in detail the sexual assault allegations against Kavanaugh, and Kavanaugh will deny everything. Without other witnesses testifying there probably wont be any surprises since both sides have already told their stories in the press.

There is some drama yet to play out, however, since votes for Kavanaughs confirmation must take place in the committee and also on the floor of the entire Senate. Since there are 51 Republican senators just two of them must vote against Kavanaugh for his confirmation to be denied. Although they have not said what they will do, it is very possible that Senators Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine may decide it is in their own best interests to vote against Trumps nominee.

With Kavanaugh being extremely unpopular, and with the heat coming from angry women voters, these GOP senators may decide its just not worth the trouble to cast a vote in favor of his nomination to the high court.

Even if he is confirmed and takes a seat on the Supreme Court, the Kavanaugh saga is just beginning, according to an article in Bloomberg. In short, Democrats may decide to wage war on Kavanaugh AFTER he goes on the Supreme Court, which has never happened before.

We are now in the #MeToo era, and with the sexism and misogyny of serial sex offender Donald Trump, women are fed up with politics as usual. There is no longer a free pass for sex offenses, as many powerful men have discovered over the past few years.

On top of that, many people feel that Trumps presidency is not legitimate, and he should not be allowed to make a lifetime appointment to a position that will determine the civil rights of Americans for decades to come.

According to Bloomberg:

Trumps multifaceted attacks on rule of law and his sprawling corruption, ignored, excused or fully embraced by the Republican Congress, have clarified the stakes for Democrats. Its no longer just about who gets to run things until the other guys take over It will be in Democrats political interest to delegitimize a partisan Republican court waging war against a Congress and state governments under Democratic control.

If Democrats take control of the House of Representatives Kavanaugh, like Trump, will become vulnerable. There is much that the House can do in terms of hearings and investigations that could look into all of the charges against Kavanaugh in great detail.

In addition, the Kavanaugh charges have put control of the Senate in play, and Democrats have vowed to investigate Kavanaugh if they control the Senate, starting in January of next year.

There is no precedent for this happening, but according to the Washington Post, Supreme Court justices can be impeached from office. And of course before that happens they would be investigated by Congress for that purpose, to determine if an impeachment trial is warranted.

The Bloomberg article goes on to say:

Democrats can revisit evidence of his misleading testimony. They can pursue documentary corroboration, among the vast trove to which Republicans denied the Democrats and the public access, to buttress potential claims of perjury. And if Ford is bullied out of her moment now, they can give the alleged victim a belated but still-powerful platform, designed to her specifications.

We must remember that sexual assault allegations are not the only problem with Kavanaughs nomination. He has been charged with lying to Congress under oath, by several Democratic U.S. Senators. He also has a documented gambling problem, and there are unresolved questions about a $200,000 debt of his that mysteriously disappeared.

Plus, the police in Maryland have said they will open a criminal investigation into Fords alleged sex crimes if they are requested to do so. This would mean a member of the Supreme Court would be facing an impeachment inquiry in Congress and a criminal inquiry in Montgomery County, Maryland.

Once a Democratically-controlled House picks up the rock of Kavanaughs life history, there is no telling what slimy creatures will crawl out and be exposed to the light of day.

If and when this happens, there is a good chance that Judge Kavanaughs position could be at risk.

Clearly the Kavanaugh saga is only beginning no matter what happens in the coming days.The New York Times and the Washington Post both reported Saturday night that an agreement has been reached between the Senate Judiciary Committee and Christine Blasey Ford. The agreement called for Ford to testify before the committee sometime on Thursday.

The deal, which has not been finalized, was termed tentative because the negotiations over the details were to continue on Sunday. This means the deal could still fall apart if the parties cant agree on the details before Monday.

The tentative deal was reached during a telephone call between staff members of the Judiciary Committee and Fords attorneys. Ford is the woman accusing Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault. Kavanaugh will also testify before the committee on Thursday.

News reports say the call lasted approximately 20 minutes and that all parties on the call unanimously agreed on next Thursday as the date for both Ford and Kavanaugh to give their sworn testimony before the Judiciary Committee.

It is hoped that lawyers for Ford and staffers for the Judiciary Committee will be able to reach agreement on the details and finalize the deal Sunday. This would be a major shift for Republicans, who wanted Ford, a 51-year-old professor from California, to testify on Monday.

News outlets tried to reach Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, for comment on the tentative agreement but he was unavailable.

With all parties agreeing on a Thursday date for testimony to occur, a major stumbling block had been overcome. Ford and her attorneys had announced earlier Saturday that she was willing to testify next week, but they had not yet agreed on a date.

In the email sent on Saturday afternoon Fords attorneys Debra Katz and Lisa Banks wrote:

Many aspects of the proposal you provided via email  are fundamentally inconsistent with the Committees promise of a fair, impartial investigation into her allegations, and we are disappointed with the leaks and the bullying that have tainted the process, we are hopeful that we can reach agreement on detail.

The two sides have not been able to agree on details for Fords appearance and testimony, and she had previously set conditions which the Judiciary Committee found unacceptable. This led to several days of negotiations over the details after Ford had opened the door to testifying.

Grassleys staff have agreed to some of her requests such as limiting camera access, giving timely breaks, giving her Capitol Police protection and keeping her and Kavanaugh in separate rooms.

But they remain divided on other details such as the order of the hearing. Fords lawyers want Kavanaugh to go first but Republicans have insisted that he go second. Fords lawyers also want additional witnesses to testify, and they want to subpoena Mark Judge, a classmate of Kavanaughs, who Ford says was present at the time of the attack.

And Republicans want to use a lawyer, probably a woman, to ask Ford questions. But Fords lawyers have raised concerns that it would make a hearing too much like a trial.

Ford has accused Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her during a high school party in the early 1980s. In an interview last Sunday Ford told The Washington Post that Kavanaugh pinned her to a bed, tried to remove her clothes and covered her mouth when she tried to cry out.

Kavanaugh has denied any wrongdoing and said the events Ford described never occurred. White House spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said in a statement on Saturday night that Kavanaugh categorically and unequivocally denies the allegation.2.4k SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard

People in the Donald Trump White House have been leaking information to the Washington Post again.

According to confidential sources who spoke to the Post over the weekend, Trumps Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh is struggling with certain questions concerning his personal life.

The questions are being raised during the sessions being conducted by the White House Counsels office to help get Kavanaugh ready for his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday.

The committee will also hear testimony on Thursday from Dr. Christine Ford who has accused Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her when they were both in high school in Maryland. Ford claims that the Supreme Court nominee was drunk and tried to rip her clothes off and rape her.

Kavanaugh has of course denied Fords allegations but he will have to testify under oath and he is expecting some tough questions.

According to the leakers in the White House, questions about his personal life are causing him a great deal of difficulty. The sources have said that Kavanaugh becomes very frustrated while practicing for his testimony regarding Fords sexual assault allegations.

According to the Post article:

Kavanaugh grew very frustrated when it came to questions that dug into his private life, particularly his drinking habits and his sexual proclivities, according to three people familiar with the preparations, who requested anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. He declined to answer some questions altogether, saying they were too personal, these people said.

Im not going to answer that, Kavanaugh said at one point according to a senior White House official, who said that the questions were designed to go over the line and that he struck the right tone.

According to the Post, Kavanaugh has been in contact with Republican senators on the Judiciary Committee to find out what questions he will face and to urge them to support him publicly. The paper indicated that he was not comfortable discussing certain topics, saying:

Kavanaugh has complained about the stories focusing on his family and has grown incredibly frustrated at times, in the words of one associate, but he has not sought to drop out of the running, two people who spoke to him said.

It is clear that all of the public scrutiny and media attention is getting to Judge Kavanaugh. He may actually crack under pressure when he gives his public testimony on Thursday. He knows the world will be watching him, and he also knows the truth of what he did to Christine Ford when she was a 15 year old girl.

It is still possible that Kavanaugh will pull his name from consideration for the Supreme Court because he no longer wants to go through this ordeal. That would probably be the right answer for him  and for the country.Charleston, SC (29403)

Today

Cloudy skies early, then partly cloudy in the afternoon. Slight chance of a rain shower. High near 75F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Cloudy with occasional rain showers. Thunder possible. Low 61F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%.Since Florence's departure from the Carolinas, flooding brought on by the disastrous storm continues to wreak havoc across the two states, including significant damage to South Carolina's Pee Dee region.

The deadly flooding has swallowed roadways and blanketed whole towns.

Additionally, Gov. Henry McMaster last week requested that affected residents in Dillon, Horry, Marion and Marlboro counties be eligible to apply for the individual assistance program through the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Those who sustained losses, according to the governor's office, may apply for federal assistance at disasterassistance.gov. Assistance can take the form of money for temporary rental housing, essential home repairs for primary homes and low-interest loans to help cover uninsured property losses.

Residents are encouraged to first file though their private insurer before going through the FEMA process, an S.C. EMD spokeswoman told The Post and Courier on Saturday.

Take a look at our updated by-the-numbers round-up of Florence's aftermath.

5

As of Sunday evening, the National Weather Service reported that at least five of its gauges indicated varied flooding conditions.

Lynches River near Effingham was at 15.76 feet and falling. Its flood stage measured 14 feet.

Black Creek near Quinby was at 10.26 and falling feet. Its flood stage is at 10 feet. The creek crested on Thursday at 15.56 feet.

The Pee Dee River at Pee Dee was most recently at 29.06 feet with a flood stage at 19 feet. It crested Friday morning at 31.83 feet.

The Waccamaw River near Conway was at 20.26 feet. Its flood stage was unchanged from Saturday and measured at 11 feet. The river is expected to crest Tuesday.

The Little Pee Dee River near Galivants Ferry was at 15.71 feet and its flood stage at 9 feet. It's expected to continue to drop through Friday morning.

11

As of Friday, when the most recent S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control update was released, 11 regulated dams experienced a breach.

Chesterfield County: Lakewind, Crawford Pond

Dillon County: McColl Pond

Darlington County: Jordan Pond, Lake Darpo, Springwood Lake

Marlboro County: McMeeken, McLaurins Mill Pond, Davids Millpond, Covington Millpond

Marion County: Baxley 501 Pond

151

Please avoid unnecessary travel! Flooding and road closures continue to delay traffic, especially in the Conway area. If you need to travel, you can use the road closure map at https://t.co/9fnwDKypXv to plan your route. pic.twitter.com/CZAyoumPxi  Horry County Government (@HorryCounty_Gov) September 23, 2018

At least 98 roads and 53 bridges (151) in the Pee Dee remain closed, including Pee Dee Highway from S-237 to U.S. 378, according to the most recently published update from the S.C. Department of Transportation.

Meanwhile, SCDOT officials on Sunday said that workers will assemble a barrier wall in Georgetown on the U.S. 17 bridge crossing the Waccamaw River. At that point, U.S. 17 will be restricted to one lane in each direction. Officials will also install the barriers in Conway, on U.S. 501, and Florence County, on U.S. 378.

AquaDam barriers being off loaded by the SC National Guard. These barriers will be installed later today along US 17 in Georgetown. pic.twitter.com/vhf8iO5yOh  SCDOT (@SCDOTPress) September 23, 2018

Congestion and delays are expected in these areas.

You can view a real-time map of flooding-related closures with this SCDOT map.

The number of closures was down from 168 on Friday and 233 on Sept. 17, according to SCDOT.

Motorists should avoid flooded roads, and never move or drive around barricades. For information on road closures and detours, visit scdot.org, call 5-1-1 or 1-855-467-2368.

22

With at least five Pee Dee rivers and creeks at flood stage starting to drop through next week, Waccamaw remains the outlier: it's expected to crest at a record high (22 feet) Tuesday or Wednesday.

75,000

The American Red Cross has distributed 75,000 meals and snacks to South Carolinians in need as of Saturday morning, according to the humanitarian aid group.

5,800

SCDHEC officials said the agency so far has fielded more than 5,800 calls from South Carolinians for concerns related to medical needs and health department services.An inmate housed in Post 16 of the Department of Corrections in Mangilao was found unresponsive at 11:12 p.m. Friday.

DOC Director Tony Lamorena said a corrections officer contacted the platoon commander after discovering the lifeless inmate. Staff from the DOC clinic responded and attempted to administer CPR, he said.

The inmate, identified as Luis Hocog, was transported to Guam Regional Medical City for further medical treatment and was pronounced dead at 12:44 a.m. Saturday.

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Lamorena said police were contacted and are working with the DOC Internal Affairs Unit. No other information will be released pending the outcome of the investigation, he said.

Hocog, 41, was arrested in 2017 during a drug raid. He was arrested on charges of illegal possession of a Schedule II controlled substance and illegal delivery or dispensing of a Schedule II controlled substance. He was booked and confined.

Post 16 is a medium-security facility at the prison.Ive been writing about my friend Howard Root in the series Fear & loathing at the DoJ. I ended the series with this post on Friday with the Department of Justice letter responding to issues raised by Senators Grassley and Lee on Howards case.

Last year John hosted Howard at a packed Center of the American Experiment lunch forum in downtown Minneapolis. Howard told the story of his experience as chief executive officer of Vascular Solutions caught in the crosshairs of the federal government when prosecutors sought to put him in the big house and his company out of business. It was the most powerful 45-minute presentation I have ever seen. Howard tells the whole story in his book (written with Stephen Saltarelli) Cardiac Arrest: Five Heart-Stopping Years as a CEO on the Feds Hit List.

Prosecutorial misconduct permeated Howards case. Indeed, the case was to a substantial extent predicated on it. The federal judge originally assigned to the case in the Western District of Texas nevertheless denied Howards motion to dismiss the case on account of this prosecutorial misconduct. Appended to the Department of Justice letter is the trial judges memorandum opinion denying the pretrial motion. I asked Howard to comment on it for readers who might be interested. This is what he had to say:

Heres the Catch-22  we brought the motion to dismiss the indictment based on the limited evidence we had before trial. Judge Biery ruled that he didnt want a hearing because even if we proved misconduct, the remedy would

not be dismissal of the indictment. So we were too early at that time. Then we wait until after trial and request a misconduct investigation but DoJ says were too late because Judge Biery already decided that there was no misconduct, ignoring that most of the documented evidence of misconduct

came out at trial, and that Biery wasnt ruling on their misconduct, only the indictment. Also, Judge Bierys findings on pages 15-16 were written word-for-word by the prosecutors and submitted after all the briefing was done. Then they magically appear in the ruling a week later. Judge Biery and the prosecutor

Bud Paulissen have been friends for decades. Judges dont like allegations of misconduct against their local prosecutors. Beyond that, Judge Bierys ruling on disclosure of grand jury testimony is nonsensical. The rule is that prosecutors cant disclose it, period, not that they can disclose it as long as the witness they read it to doesnt go in front of the grand jury again.

Howard reviewed the highlights of the prosecutorial misconduct in his Center of the American Experiment presentation. If you havent seen it before, you may want to do so now. There is a reason that Department of Justice lawyers refuse to appear in public with Howard to discuss his case (or even respond to this point, as in the DoJ letter to Senators Grassley and Lee). The governments behavior in Howards case was indefensible and disgraceful, as Howard shows in this devastating JAccuse.CNN reports that Senate Judiciary Committee staff has spoken with a high school friend of Christine Blasey who, supposedly, was at the party where Brett Kavanaugh supposedly assaulted Blasey. The woman is Leland Ingham Keyser. Reportedly, she is a lifelong friend of Blasey (now, Blasey Ford).

According to CNN, Ms. Keysers lawyer stated:

Simply put, Ms. Keyser does not know Mr. Kavanaugh and she has no recollection of ever being at a party or gathering where he was present, with, or without, Dr. Ford.

The two other individuals whom Ford identified as being at the party where Kavanaugh supposedly misbehaved  Mark Judge and Patrick Smyth  have also said they have no recollection of the party and never saw Kavanaugh act in the way Ford describes.

And lets not forget about the more than five dozen women who knew Kavanaugh during his high school days. All of them vouched for the respect with which he treated females.

Finally, lets remember that no other woman has come forward to suggest that Kavanaugh, either as a teenager or an adult, engaged in sexual misconduct of any kind. People who engage in the kind of predatory conduct Kavanaugh is accused of  e.g., Bill Clinton  dont confine themselves to one victim.

Its possible, given the anti-Kavanaugh hysteria that has gripped the feminist left, that another accuser might come forward at the last, last minute, but it hasnt happened so far. At this point, there is no sound reason to believe Fords tale.The Democrats current attack on Judge Brett Kavanaugh obviously recalls their failed assault on Clarence Thomas, who has gone on to a distinguished career as an intellectual leader of the Supreme Court. Memories fade, and I had forgotten some of what Hans Bader details at Liberty Unyielding. I remember this much: the Thomas hearing was televised and gripped the nation. At the time, most Americans concluded that Anita Hill, who accused Thomas of making inappropriate sexual references while she worked for him, was lying, and Thomas was confirmed by a Democrat-majority Senate. Over time, the Democrats kept hammering away, and now their press adjunct pretends that Hill somehow carried the day.

But there is much more to the story:

Journalists also, disgustingly, continue to smear Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and make false claims about the Senate hearings that led to his confirmation. As lawyer Adam White notes in the Weekly Standard, the evidence overwhelmingly supported Thomass innocence of claims that he said sexually offensive things to Professor Anita Hill. Moreover, Not a single colleague of Hills came forward to support her allegations. In stark contrast, the very last panel heard by the Senate Judiciary Committee featured eight women, seven of whom had worked with Thomas at the EEOC, the Department of Education, and in Senator John Danforths office.  Each was given three minutes to speak, and each of them forcefully rejected the charges.

***

In her initial meeting with FBI agents, [Hill] omitted many of the salacious details that later exploded in the Senate confirmation hearings. As Hill presented a much more scandalous story to the Senate Judiciary Committee, senators Orrin Hatch, Chuck Grassley, and Arlen Specter had questions about why her story had changed so dramatically. I did not tell the FBI all of the information, Hill replied to Specter, because the FBI agent made clear that if I were embarrassed about talking about something, that I could decline to discuss things that were too embarrassing, but that I could provide as much information as I felt comfortable with at that time. But her account was immediately disputed by both of the FBI agents who had interviewed her, Special Agents Jolene Smith Jameson and John B. Luton, who observed her Senate testimony and then filed statements detailing what they described as Hills untruthfulness.

I had forgotten that the FBI assessed Anita Hill as untruthful.

Ignoring all this evidence, ABC Newss chief political analyst Matthew Dowd recently branded Justice Thomas a sexual predator.

This is insane. That characterization would be ridiculous even if the trivial incidents related by Hill were true.

Even back in 1991 and 1992, the media were hopelessly biased. Lost in a sea of articles slanted against Thomas was the fact that the FBI had concluded that Hills charges were unfounded. As a lawyer put it, Most Senators rejected Hills charges  for good reason  when the Democratic-controlled Senate voted narrowly to confirm Thomas. Hills allegations were hard to square with the fact that she followed him from job to job. Moreover, White notes, there was no corroborating evidence for the charges against Thomas.

Nevertheless, Hill went on to fame and fortune after lying to the Senate about her intent to cash in by writing a book:

Senators recognized that Hill had a potential motive to lie, such as the enormous amount of money in book and movie deals that an accuser can make by cashing in on her story. Hoping to defuse this, Alabama Democrat Howell Heflin asked Hill, Are you interested in writing a book? Hill answered, falsely, that she was not. CNNs Poppy Harlow and the APs Pace criticize Heflin for this, falsely making it sound like Heflin was attacking Hill, rather than trying to help her dispel a supposed myth. In reality, Tim Graham notes, Hill did exactly what she denied she would, and accepted a million-dollar advance for two books.

***

[A]fter accusing Thomas of sexually offensive remarks, Hill received a well-paid position at a prestigious university and reaped hundreds of thousands of dollars in speaking fees from left-leaning colleges and other institutions.

Hill was richly rewarded for carrying the Democrats water by smearing Justice Thomas. Whether Christine Fords smear will enable the same career enhancement remains to be seen.PR-Inside.com: 2018-09-22 22:03:01

Clinical Evidence Shared at TCT and CIRSE Reaffirm IN.PACT(TM) Admiral(TM) Drug-Coated Balloon as a Primary Therapy to Treat Complex, Real-World Patient Populations

SAN DIEGO and LISBON, Portugal - September 22, 2018 - Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT) data announced today continue to reinforce the safety, durability, and consistency of the IN.PACT(TM) Admiral(TM) drug-coated balloon (DCB) in real-world patients with peripheral arterial disease (PAD). Three-year real-world results from the full clinical cohort of the IN.PACT Global Study and one-year data from the Total IN.PACT(TM) pooled imaging and propensity analyses were presented at the Cardiovascular and Interventional Radiological Society of Europe (CIRSE) annual meeting and the 30th Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) conference, the annual scientific symposium of the Cardiovascular Research Foundation, respectively.

"The two datasets presented today at TCT and CIRSE are testaments to the breadth and depth of our IN.PACT Admiral clinical program. We are committed to providing the clinical community with timely and transparent access to data to better inform their treatment decisions," said Mark Pacyna, vice president and general manager of the Peripheral business, which is part of the Aortic, Peripheral, and Venous division at Medtronic. "Consistently across trials, IN.PACT Admiral has demonstrated its ability to treat varying PAD patient populations, while effectively preserving future treatment options."

IN.PACT Global Study: Three-Year Results Show Durability of Treatment Effect in Real-World Population

Professor Gunnar Tepe, M.D., director of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology at the Academic Hospital RoMed Clinic in Rosenheim, Germany, presented the new, three-year results from the full clinical cohort of the IN.PACT Global Study. The results are the first three-year, real-world, fully adjudicated DCB data to be presented in a scientific congress and showed durability of treatment effect in a real-world population.

The freedom from clinically-driven target lesion revascularization (CD-TLR) rate calculated using Kaplan Meier survival estimates was 76.9 percent in a real-world patient cohort with a mean lesion length of 12.09  9.54 cm, 18.0 percent in-stent restenosis, 35.5 percent occluded lesions, and 39.9 percent diabetic subjects. Additionally, the proportion of patients undergoing repeat procedures were low through three years: major target limb amputations, 0.8 percent, and CD-TLR, 23.5 percent (n=1,406).

"Superficial femoral artery (SFA) disease is becoming more prevalent globally and is often difficult to treat due to its complex nature. Now more than ever, it is important to carefully assess how therapies to treat this condition perform over the long-term among real-world patients," said Prof. Tepe. "IN.PACT Global was designed with this goal in mind and has now demonstrated the durability, efficacy, and safety of IN.PACT Admiral in complex lesions out to three years - something few SFA studies have been able to achieve thus far."

The IN.PACT Global Study is the largest and most rigorous real-world evaluation of any peripheral artery intervention ever undertaken and intends to characterize the performance of the IN.PACT Admiral DCB in treating real-world patients with challenging and complex lesions. The study included adjudication of events by an independent clinical events committee.

Total IN.PACT(TM) Pooled Imaging and Propensity Analyses: Delta in Patency Rates Demonstrates DCB's Persistent Superiority to Standard Percutaneous Transluminal Angioplasty (PTA)

Dr. Mehdi Shishehbor, D.O., M.P.H., Ph.D., director of the Heart and Vascular Institute, University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center, presented one-year overall imaging and propensity-matched imaging data from the Total IN.PACT Pooled Analysis at TCT. The Total IN.PACT Pooled Analysis is an undertaking by Medtronic to enhance the understanding of PAD patient treatment algorithms by characterizing the clinical performance of IN.PACT Admiral in the largest and most diverse study population treated with DCBs to date.

Total IN.PACT combined independently adjudicated data from a total of 1,837 patients treated with IN.PACT Admiral DCB from all IN.PACT Admiral randomized clinical trials and real-world studies from 147 sites across 28 countries. The analyses presented today at TCT specifically looked at two different groups - a core laboratory-adjudicated imaging cohort and a propensity matched imaging cohort. The data showed that IN.PACT Admiral DCB demonstrated consistently superior patency and freedom from clinically-driven target lesion revascularization (CD-TLR) compared to standard PTA alone.

The imaging cohort, which evaluated 926 DCB and 143 PTA subjects, demonstrated a patency rate of 88.8 percent for IN.PACT Admiral compared to 53.9 percent for PTA (p<0.001) and a freedom from clinically-driven target lesion revascularization (CD-TLR) rate of 94.3 percent compared to 80.2 percent for PTA (p<0.001). Additional safety and effectiveness outcomes from the DCB arm also included low rates of thrombosis (2.4 percent), and CD-TLR (5.8 percent), and no occurrences of major target limb amputation at one year.

The propensity analysis (a subset of the imaging cohort) matched one PTA subject with up to four IN.PACT Admiral DCB subjects based on baseline variables (136 PTA subjects and 466 DCB subjects). The propensity-matched analysis showed a patency rate of 90.5 percent for the IN.PACT Admiral DCB as compared to 53.8 percent for PTA (p<0.001) and a freedom from CD-TLR rate of 96.9 percent compared to 80.7 percent for PTA (p<0.001). Additional safety and effectiveness outcomes from the DCB arm also included low rates of thrombosis (1.6 percent) and CD-TLR (3.3 percent), and no occurrences of major target limb amputation at one year.

"By pooling data from multiple IN.PACT study cohorts, we are able to glean valuable insights into clinical outcomes across a broad spectrum of patient and lesion types beyond the reach of typical cohort DCB analyses," said Dr. Shishehbor. "Despite having more advanced lesions, the Total IN.PACT data presented today at TCT further confirm the consistent performance we've seen across IN.PACT studies by showing approximately 35 percent superior patency with DCB compared to PTA in the imaging cohort and approximately 37 percent superior patency with DCB compared to PTA in the propensity-matched cohort at one year. This calls into question the use of primary PTA therapy in an era of drug eluting technologies like IN.PACT Admiral."

In collaboration with leading clinicians, researchers, and scientists worldwide, Medtronic offers the broadest range of innovative medical technology for the interventional and surgical treatment of cardiovascular disease and cardiac arrhythmias. The company strives to offer products and services of the highest quality that deliver clinical and economic value to healthcare consumers and providers around the world.

About Medtronic

Medtronic plc (www.medtronic.com), headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, is among the world's largest medical technology, services and solutions companies - alleviating pain, restoring health and extending life for millions of people around the world. Medtronic employs more than 86,000 people worldwide, serving physicians, hospitals and patients in more than 150 countries. The company is focused on collaborating with stakeholders around the world to take healthcare Further, Together.

Any forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties such as those described in Medtronic's periodic reports on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Actual results may differ materially from anticipated results.

-end-





This announcement is distributed by West Corporation on behalf of West Corporation clients.

The issuer of this announcement warrants that they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information contained therein.

Source: Medtronic plc via Globenewswire

PR-Inside.com: 2018-09-24 01:03:01

TORONTO, Sept. 23, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Patients, survivors and advocates joined researchers and physicians from across the globe to discuss the future of lung cancer at the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancers (IASLCs) 19th World Conference on Lung Cancer (WCLC) in Toronto, Canada. The conferences first press briefing highlighted the record-breaking number of registered attendees (over 7,300), reviewed patient-caregiver communities working to accelerate research, evaluated survey data on the emotional needs of lung cancer survivors and underscored the impact of comprehensive genomic profiling on patient care.



The press conference opened with a welcome message from conference co-presidents Natasha B. Leighl, M.D., BSc, MSc; Andrea Bezjak, M.D., FRCPC, MSc; and Gail Darling M.D., FRCSC, who have worked tirelessly to make this years conference in Toronto highly successful.

Oncogene-driven patient-caregiver communities creating new paradigm for non-small cell lung cancer research

Recent review of patient-caregiver communities focusing on non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with genomic alterations showed that these groups are improving outcomes by supporting patients and caregivers, increasing awareness and education and accelerating research.

Patient advocate Janet Freeman-Daily, co-founder of the community known as The ROS1ders , Robert C. Doebele, M.D., Ph.D., of the Division of Medical Oncology at the University of Colorado and Christine M. Lovly, M.D., Ph.D., of the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, worked as a team to identify the impact of oncogene-driven patient groups.

These oncogene-driven groups created by patients and caregivers are ushering in a new era for lung cancer research partnerships, said Freeman-Daily. By collaborating with researchers, clinicians, advocacy groups and industry, we are accelerating research into our own diseases.

Read the full press release here .

Survey data from Lung Cancer Alliance highlights the unmet emotional needs of long-term lung cancer survivors

Recent survey data showed lung cancer survivors indicate that emotional effects, unlike physical impacts, are more problematic for long-term survivors after five years. Maureen Rigney, a licensed clinical social worker and Director of Support Initiatives for Lung Cancer Alliance (LCA), and her team led an online survey on the treatment and smoking histories of 820 respondents.

Symptoms like shortness of breath and fatigue are just a few of the physical side effects that can occur during and post treatment, said Rigney. Emotionally, lung cancer stigma and anxiety dont end when treatment is over.

The most common late and long-term symptoms include shortness of breath, fatigue, short-term memory and anxiety. The long-term survival rate of those who have been diagnosed with lung cancer continues to increase, calling for additional research to fully understand how to best support this patient population.

Read the full press release here .

Comprehensive genomic profiling aids in the identification of personalized therapeutic options

Findings from a recent study demonstrate that comprehensive genomic profiling (CGP) is a useful tool in directing patient care, including the identification of targeted therapies and enrollment in clinical trials.

Kimberly Rohan, nurse practitioner at the Edward Cancer Center in Naperville, Illinois, and her team performed a retrospective analysis on the results of CGP collected from 46 patients with a cancer diagnosis, identifying 263 alterations in this patient population.

Were thrilled to have achieved our goal, analyzing how information obtained in genomic profiling can impact or change patient care, said Rohan. Our findings, ranging from 6 to 13 percent of patients referred to clinical trials, exceeds the national clinical trial enrollment and highlights a substantial opportunity for patients undergoing cancer treatment.

Read the full press release here .

Livestreams of the daily press conferences are available here .

About the WCLC

The World Conference on Lung Cancer (WCLC) is the worlds largest meeting dedicated solely to lung cancer and other thoracic malignancies, attracting over 7,000 researchers, physicians and specialists from more than 100 countries. The conference will cover a wide range of disciplines and unveil research studies and clinical trial results. For more information, visit http://wclc2018.iaslc.org/ . Follow the conference on social media with: #WCLC2018.

About the IASLC

The International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) is the only global organization dedicated solely to the study of lung cancer and other thoracic malignancies. Founded in 1974, the association's membership includes more than 7,500 lung cancer specialists across all disciplines in over 100 countries, forming a global network working together to conquer lung and thoracic cancers worldwide. The association also publishes the Journal of Thoracic Oncology, the primary educational and informational publication for topics relevant to the prevention, detection, diagnosis and treatment of all thoracic malignancies. Visit www.iaslc.org for more information. You can also follow the IASLC on Twitter , Facebook , LinkedIn and Instagram .

Contacts: Lisa Rivero Becky Bunn, MSc Vice President Public Relations Manager lrivero@jpa.com| +1 617-657-1305 Becky.Bunn@IASLC.org | +1 720-254-9509PR-Inside.com: 2018-09-24 00:01:02

Company names Paul Lin as senior channel manager for Asia-Pacific Region

Rocket Software Expands Operations in Asia

VerbFactory for Rocket Software

Richard Berman, +1-415-359-4906

richard@verbfactory.com

Rocket Software, a global technology provider that helps Fortune 500 companies and government agencies modernise critical enterprise applications, today announced the addition of Paul Lin to the companys senior sales leadership team; he will oversee the companys reseller and sales operations in Southeast Asia. Its the latest move in Rockets strategic expansion into the Asia-Pacific region, where the company has already struck major deals with financial institutions such as CIMB Bank, Erste Group Bank, Westpac Banking Group, and PT Bank Central Asia Tbk.

Lin joins Rocket after serving in senior channel and partner management positions at Prysm Inc., BT Group and Cisco. An accomplished business leader with more than 20 years of professional experience in strategic alliances, portfolio management, channel sales and business development in the IT industry, Lin brings to Rocket a strong track record of driving business growth, building C-level executive relationships, developing channel partner programs and managing complex projects. He is fluent in English and Chinese.

In the short time hes been here, Paul has already proven himself to be an invaluable member of our channel management team, said Rocket VP of international sales Chip Salyards. With his broad cultural knowledge and proven experience in managing channels and strategic alliances, Paul is helping us forge new and important connections. I look forward to working with him and the rest of the APAC team to accelerate business growth in this crucial region.

I am excited to be a part of Rockets fast-growing APAC team, said Lin. Every day, companies and governments around the world use Rocket solutions to reliably, efficiently and securely power the IT infrastructure behind many of the worlds most critical financial, healthcare, retail, and manufacturing applications. There is a large and growing need in the APAC market for these kinds of technologies and as a result we are seeing a lot of interest in our solutions.

Rocket already maintains a major presence in APAC. Existing partners in the region include IBM, Silverlake, Multipolar Technology, Metro Systems and S&I Systems. The company is currently working on a broad range of initiatives in APAC, including projects to leverage technology to better connect citizens with government and to help banks deliver more personalized services for their customers.

MSC and Rocket have a strong relationship that is measured in financial results to date, said Aekachai Limprasert, Vice President of Digital Solutions Group at Metro Systems Corporation Public Company Limited, a Bangkok-based IT solutions provider that licenses and customizes Rocket solutions for businesses and government organizations in the Asia-Pacific market. Rocket is committed to collaborating with us to address customer needs in this region while generating new market share opportunities.

About Rocket Software

Rocket Software (www.rocketsoftware.com) is a technology company that helps organisations in the IBM ecosystem build solutions that meet todays needs while extending the value of their technology investments for the future. Thousands of companies depend on Rocket to solve their most challenging business problems by helping them run their existing infrastructure and data, as well as extend those assets to take advantage of cloud, mobile, analytics, and other future innovations. Founded in 1990, Rocket is based in Waltham, Massachusetts with locations in Europe, Asia, and Australia.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180923005The wife of the President, Aisha Buhari, will be soliciting for increased political commitment to funding the global fight against tuberculosis at the 73rd Session of the United Nations General Assembly.

Mrs Buhari who departs for New York on Sunday alongside President Muhammadu Buhari, will address the General Assemblys High Level Meeting on Tuberculosis, on September 26.

A statement signed by the director of information to the wife of the president, Suleiman Haruna, on Sunday, said Mrs Buhari is expected as a global TB ambassador to speak to issues of increased political commitment, funding and robust partnerships.

The event will be preceded on the September 25 by a Gala Dinner organized to celebrate Global TB Champions, Celebrities and TB Survivors, where Mrs Buhari is billed to present inspiring remarks.

Mrs Buhari was appointed Global TB Champion by the Stop TB Partnership and Special Ambassador for the elimination of mother to child transmission of HIV by Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS) in recognition of her work in health advocacy.

Nigeria is one of the highest TB prevalence countries and is ranking sixth globally.

Nigeria is also classified as one of the highest TB and Multiple Drug Resistance -TB countries in the world.

The TB burden is estimated at 219 per 100,000 people. About100,433 TB cases were diagnosed across the country in 2016.

According to the Minister of Health, Isaac Adewole, the fight against TB in the country has been hindered by low case finding and recurring MDR-TB.

As at 2016, current treatment rate for new and relapse cases in the country were 84 percent, while treatment coverage was 24 percent.

Also, Mrs Buhari is expected to attend the 21st Summit of Organization of African First Ladies against AIDS (OAFLA) General Assembly which could not hold at Mauritania earlier in the year.

This will hold during UNGA and she would be addressing the session which is also centered on Tuberculosis.

On the sidelines of OAFLA, Mrs Buhari will attend a number of high level events including a Stakeholders Meeting on Breast and Cervical Cancer in Africa and another on HIV as well as a strategic planning workshop for First Ladies and their Technical Advisers.Africa needs family planning  Report

Booming population will become a problem for Africa by 2050 if the continent does not begin to seriously promote family planning, a report has warned.

African population is beginning to overstretch the low infrastructural facilities in the continent, leading to mass migration to European countries, the report released last week stated.

To slow down population explosion and poverty rate in the continent, it urged Africans to shift toward wanted births, or even reduce early births by improving womens knowledge and access to contraceptives.

10 million cases of TB recorded in 2017  WHO

An estimated 10 million people worldwide developed Tuberculosis (TB) in 2017, and the world is far from ending the epidemic, the World Health Organisation (WHO) report said.

The WHO recorded 6.4 million cases of TB officially, but estimates the number of people who developed the disease was as high as 10 million due to underreporting and underdiagnosis.

Cases of TB were reported in all countries and age groups, but two-thirds of cases were in eight countries: India, China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Pakistan, Nigeria, Bangladesh and South Africa.

Cholera kills 61 in Yobe

The Yobe State Government has confirmed 906 fresh cases of cholera with 61 deaths and 50 others still on admission in hospitals across the state.

Muhammad Kawuwa, the Commissioner for Health, said Acute Water Diarrhea (AWD) cases were reported in some parts of the state and later confirmed to be cholera after laboratory tests.

According to him, 906 cases were recorded in six local government areas: Gujba, Gulani, Damaturu, Fune, Potiskum and Nangere in two months.

More Nigerians have access to cell phones than toilets  UNICEF Official

An official of the United Nations Childrens Fund (UNICEF) says more people have access to cell phones in Nigeria than they have access to toilets.

Quoting a 2018 report by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the Chief of WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene), UNICEF, Zaid Jurji, said 140 million people in Nigeria have cell phones, while only 97 million have access to improved sanitation.

Mr Jurji who spoke at the European Union Niger Delta Water Project, in Port Harcourt, said the sanitation sector in Nigeria is severely under resourced, as sanitation is only 19 per cent of WASH budget.

He added that only 39 per cent Nigerians use an improved toilet that is not shared by more than one household.

NAFDAC seizes cartons of Tramadol, Diazepam from Lagos warehouse

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) operatives raided a Lagos warehouse and seized controlled drugs, such as Tramadol, valued at N105.6 million.

The Director-General of NAFDAC, Moji Adeyeye, explained that the operatives raided a transit warehouse at Ijora Ororo, Lagos State and discovered 187 cartons of assorted Tramadol, with a range of 120mg, 200mg and 225mg doses.

More than 49 cartons of Diazepam (another controlled drug) concealed amongst household items including but not limited to bicycle, used tyres and printers were also seized.

The seized products, valued at N105.65 million have been evacuated from the transit warehouse for necessary action and further investigation, she said.

Stroke severity reduced in those who walk regularly  Research

New research supports the idea that light to moderate physical activity, such as walking and swimming, could reduce the severity of strokes.

A study of nearly 1,000 individuals who had stroke found that those who had been doing 4 hours per week of light or 23 hours each week of moderate activity had less severe strokes than those who had not been exercising.

The researchers defined light activity as walking at normal pace and moderate activity as brisk walking, swimming, and running.

The study author, Katharina Sunnerhagen of the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, said while exercise benefits health in many ways, the research suggests that getting in a small amount of physical activity each week may have a big impact later by possibly reducing the risk of stroke.Barring any last-minute change in decision, INEC will later this afternoon declare Saturdays governorship election in Osun State inconclusive.

Sources close to the electoral body also said election officials were already considering a date for a re-run between the two leading candidates  Ademola Adeleke of the PDP and Gboyega Oyetola of the APC.

One official said Thursday this week was being strongly considered, but we are yet to independently confirm that.

The election held across the state on Saturday to replace incumbent Rauf Aregbesola, whose tenure is ending.

But at the final reconciliation of all results from the 30 local government areas on the state on Sunday morning, Mr Adeleke scored 254,698 votes while Mr Oyetola scored 254,345.

INEC officials are now saying that the margin of victory between Messrs Adeleke and Oyetola  354 votes  is far lower than the number of voided ballots, put above 3000.

INECs election guideline made pursuant to Section 153 of the Electoral Act stipulates a re-run if the margin of victory in an election is lower than cancelled votes.

In that case, rerun will hold in areas where elections were cancelled.

The Adeleke campaign organisation has however appealed to INEC not to declare the election inconclusive.

A statement sent to PREMIUM TIMES by the Director of Publicity of the campaign, Olawale Rasheed, said, Our attention has been drawn to reports of an alleged plan to declare the Osun governorship election inconclusive as a plot to order a re-run.

We appeal to INEC to toe the path of honour and constitutionality by declaring the rightful candidate with required votes and spread ,Ademola Adeleke, the winner of this hotly contested polls.

We note with high sense of responsibility the intense pressure sunrounding Osun election from the begining.There are times however when one must stands with the people and the law by doing the right thing without fear of favour.

Now is the time for INEC to align with Osun people and resist pressure and intimidation to tamper with the will of the people.

Osun people are expectant of a liberation day which is today when their yearnings to be free will be fulfilled.Delaying the announcement of the results or doctoring the outcome is an invitation to peoples anger and wrath.

We urge people of goodwill locally and internationally to prevail on the APC and her chieftains to conced defeat.Our democracy is too stressed up to be subjected to another daylight electoral robbery.

We reject plan and plot for re-run;a winner has clearly emerged.To INEC chiefs,time is now to announce Senator Nurudeen Ademola as the winner of this historic election.

BELOW IS OUR EARLIER REPORT ON THIS DEVELOPMENT

A re-run will be declared for the Osun State governorship election due to the margin of victory between the two leading candidates, PREMIUM TIMES has learnt.

The election, one of the closest in Nigerias electoral history, was held on Saturday to elect a new governor for the South-Western state.

At the end of collation of results, Ademola Adeleke of the PDP won majority votes of about 254,698 while Gboyega Oyetola of the APC came a close second with 254,345 votes.

According to electoral rules, a re-run election can be so declared if the margin of victory in an election is lower than cancelled votes, such as in Osun where thousands of votes were cancelled in various local governments while the vote difference between the leading candidates was less than a thousand. In that case, rerun will be held in only affected areas where elections were cancelled.

INEC is expected to formally announce the rerun any moment from now, PREMIUM TIMES learnt from senior officials of the agency, while Thursday is being considered for the rerun.

More details laterEfemena Okedi, wife of late reggae legend, Ras Kimono is dead.

She died in the early hours of Sunday in her Magodo-Isheri home in Lagos.

Her death comes three months after Ras Kimono passed on.

She was Ras Kimonos third and closest wife.

Indeed when Kimono passed on in June, many feared she might be unable to bear the loss.

The head, Copyright Society of Nigeria, Chibueze Okereke confirmed her demise in a telephone interview with PREMIUM TIMES on Sunday.

We are so shocked to receive the news of Efes death this morning (Sunday). I was told that she attended a function yesterday and displayed no signs of ill health. She got home and after a while complained she was feeling funny. Sadly, she passed on before she could be rushed to the hospital. Efe and Ras Kimono were soul mates-it was impossible to see Kimono without seeing Efe by his side. She managed Kimonos band and was an artiste turned artiste manager, he noted.

Kimono, who celebrated his 60th birthday with friends and family, had concluded plans to travel to the United States before his demise in June. He was buried in his hometown, Onicha-Olona, in Aniocha North, Delta State on August 26.Family members of some of the passengers who were kidnapped after boarding a bus belonging to God Is Good Transport on Saturday narrated how they secured their release.

The family members who spoke to PREMIUM TIMES over the phone said the transport company was yet to contact them more than a week after the incident despite the passengers filling out the phone numbers of their next-of-kins in the manifest.

Inter-state road travellers in Nigeria are required to fill out a passengers manifest stating their phone numbers and that of their next-of-kin before the beginning of a journey.

The manifest is submitted to the transport company and is used to reach out to the passengers relatives in cases of emergency.

How the incident happened is miraculous and God Is Good (Motors) have not gotten in contact with us, a family member of one of the kidnapped passengers told PREMIUM TIMES.

How can a company involved in this sort of incident not reach out or make efforts to empathise with the affected families?

Kidnap at Ore

A copy of the passengers manifest obtained by PREMIUM TIMES showed that 13 passengers  eight males and five females  boarded the bus, a Toyota Hiace, with registration number AYB 30 XP on September 13 at the Enugu terminal of the God Is Good Motors.

The final destination of the vehicle, which departed the Enugu terminal at 7 a.m., was Jibowu, Lagos.

However, on getting to Ore in Ondo State at around noon, they were intercepted by armed gunmen and taken to an unknown destination.

One of the victims told PREMIUM TIMES her family in Lagos facilitated her release after about six days in captivity.

The victim, an elderly woman, added that herself and other victims who are still being held captive, were tortured and denied food by the kidnappers.

Her family, according to her, paid 1 million to the kidnappers to secure her freedom.

The victims son (name withheld) narrated how his mother and other passengers were abducted penultimate Thursday.

It happened on Thursday last week and my family paid 1 million to secure my mums release, he said.

They were abducted in Ore, Ondo State at noon, as it was a daytime trip. I dont know how the kidnap happened; all I know is that we received the call from the kidnappers asking us to pay a certain amount.

We could hear our mums voice in the background; she was in distress and begged us to cooperate with the kidnappers.

I didnt even know that the bus driver and the bus itself were not abducted until we made our findings. My mum is currently under medication  she alongside other passengers were starved and tortured. She was malnourished and she has to recover from the incident.

He further said that although they are shocked that the transport company had not gotten in contact with them or the other affect families nine days after the incident, they are happy to have their mother back with them alive.

One of the victims families called me on Friday to tell me that his sister and her daughter are still being held captive, he said.

Hes been calling us to know how we did ours so we can help them because the kidnappers are demanding 20 million, if there is a way we can help them.

My father made contact with Ore (police) station, they said they should bring the case to Abuja; the manager in Lagos was arrested for questioning.

He said the police were involved in the search and rescue of his mum.

At some point, they (police) were even asking us if there was anything we could do to get our mum out while they try will close up on the kidnappers.

PREMIUM TIMES contacted another relative of one of the kidnapped female passengers but he declined comments citing security reasons.

I cant say anything until my sister is released. Please understand my plight, he said.

Two other persons whose relatives are still being held captive by the kidnappers told PREMIUM TIMES they are too traumatised to comment.

God Is Good; Police keep mum

The management of Good Is Good Motors is yet to make any official statement nine days after the incident.

Repeated phone calls to the number listed on the companys official website were not answered.

The victim who spoke to PREMIUM TIMES alleged that the driver of the bus, whose name is listed on the manifest as Victor Afadama, is currently in police custody after he escaped during the kidnap.

Nigerian Police officers on duty

But when contacted on Saturday, Femi Joseph, the spokesperson of the Ondo State Police Command, denied knowledge of the incident.

Which passengers? I am not aware. I will have to confirm. I will find out from the officers on ground, Mr Joseph, a deputy superintendent of police, told PREMIUM TIMES.

Phone calls to Mr Afadamas number, as listed on the manifest, failed to go through.The Minister of Water Resources, Suleiman Adamu, has told the Federal High Court in Lagos to grant the ministry more time within which to compile and furnish Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) with information on the spending on water, and locations of specific projects, in view of the high volume of the information involved.

Mr Adamu said, It is not true that millions of Nigerians are drinking water from contaminated sources. It is not the duties of the Ministry of Water Resources alone to provide drinking water for the citizens.

The Ministry of Water Resources stated this in court in its reply to the Freedom of Information suit number FHC/L/CS/632/18 filed in April by SERAP requesting Mr Adamu and the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Audu Ogbeh to explain why millions of Nigerians have to resort to drinking water from contaminated sources with deadly health consequences, despite the authorities claiming to have spent trillions of naira of budgetary allocations on the sector since 1999.

However, while Mr Adamu has promised to render account on spending on water projects and is now asking the court for more time to do so, Mr Ogbeh has so far failed, refused and/or neglected to respond to SERAPs request and has not filed any paper in court to counter the suit filed by the organization.

But Mr Adamu through a counter-affidavit dated September 7 and sworn to by Kwushue Abolaji, Legal Officer at the Ministry of Water Resources, said, The delay in furnishing SERAP with the requested information is not deliberate. The information will soon be ready and it will be forwarded to SERAP without further delay. We humbly urge the court to grant us more time within which to do this.

The Written Address signed by M.C. Mbam, counsel to Mr Adamu, read in part: The Ministry of Water Resources did not refuse or decline to furnish SERAP with the requested information but was only unable to furnish it within the stipulated timeframe. We have already agreed in a letter dated 12 March 2018 to provide the information.

The inability of the Ministry of Water Resources to furnish the information is not deliberate rather it was because of the enormity of the materials required which could not be collated easily because more than one department is involved. Under the rules of this court, the judge may as often as he deems fit and either before or after the expiration of the time appointed by the rules extend or adjourn the time for doing any act or taking any proceedings.

The Ministry is still compiling the information and has written to various departments to provide the information for onward transmission to SERAP. We need more time to compile and transmit the requested information to SERAP. It will not be in the interest of justice to grant SERAPs reliefs.

It would be recalled that Justice Shagari had in June granted the order for leave following the hearing of an argument in court on exparte motion by SERAP counsel, Bamisope Adeyanju.

Before the suit was filed, Mr Adamu had agreed in a letter to publish details of spending and locations of projects on water and sanitation for periods covering 20102016, as well as details of allocations to the 36 states of the federation.

Mr Adamu in a letter with reference number FMWR/LU/S/374/I, and dated March 12 and signed by P.C. Mbam, Acting Director (Legal) of the Federal Ministry of Water Resources said, We will work hard to provide SERAP with the details of spending, and the information requested as they relate specifically to Water and Sanitation projects from 2010 to 2016.

Mr Adamu also said, The Federal Ministry of Water Resources was demerged from the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in 2010. A copy of your letter will be forwarded to the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development for action on the other years before 2010. For emphasis sake, we advise that SERAP should send a separate request directly to the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development for the period (1999-2010) outside the purview of the Federal Ministry of Water Resources projects.

SERAP also then welcomed the firm commitment by Mr Adamu to explain to Nigerians what exactly has happened to trillions of naira budgeted for water and sanitation across the country between 20102016. Mr Adamus commitment is refreshing, especially coming at a time many public institutions and ministries such as the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) are rejecting public requests for information and making information on the spending our commonwealth harder to access.

SERAP said it would now file a reply on points of law in court to the counter-affidavit filed by Mr Adamu. The organisation criticised Mr Ogbeh for so far failing to respond to its FOI request or reply to its suit.

It would be recalled that SERAP in its FOI request dated 2nd March 2018 claimed that, Many toilets in public offices are out of order because of lack of water while millions of Nigerians remain desperate for water in their homes, often resorting to contaminated sources and drilling their own boreholes that can become easily mixed with sewage, with negative environmental impacts, and devastating for peoples health.

SERAPs FOI request read in part: We are concerned that millions of Nigerians do not have access to clean and potable water and adequate sanitation. There is no water to show for the huge budgetary allocations and purported spending and investment in the sector since the return of democracy in 1999. Successive governments have failed to improve affordability of water for millions of low-income Nigerians, thereby denying them access to water.

Contractors handling water projects are reportedly engaging in schemes like the deliberate use of substandard pipes, among others, to make profit, leading to loss of water. This dearth of water also affects sanitation. The large number of broken down water facilities across the country has hindered effective water supply to the citizens.

We urge you to use your leadership position to provide within 14 days of the receipt and/or publication of this letter detailed information on the spending on specific water and sanitation projects and their locations carried out by the Ministry of Water Resources and Rural Development for the following years: 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016 (1999-2016); as well as details of allocations to the 36 states of the federation.Three suspected armed robbers have been shot dead by the police in Ogun State.

The incident happened at Fidiwo axis of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway during a gun battle when the bandits tried to escape after robbing victims.

The Ogun police spokesperson, Abimbola Oyeyemi, said the suspects were killed following a Saturday morning distress call received by police officers attached to Owode- Egba Division.

Men of Ogun State police command on Saturday 22nd September shot dead three members of an armed robbery gang at Fidiwo are along Lagos/Ibadan expressway. The three suspects were shot dead following a distress call received by the policemen attached to Owode Egba Division that robbers were attacking one Jumoke Ogunbade f a popular bush meat seller who have gone to the area to meet her bush meat supplier.

He said other suspected members of the gang escaped into the nearby bush with gunshot wounds.

He listed items recovered from the suspects as one locally made single barrel gun, one double barrel gun, one single barrel muzzle loading gun, one live cartridge, a wrist watch belonging to the victim of the attack and cash sum of N10,220.

He appealed to members of the public especially hospitals, traditional healers and other health officials to report to the police if anybody with gunshot injuries is seen around their area.Fire has razed parts of the Mundubawa avenue residence of a former governor of Kano State, Ibrahim Shekarau, an aide said Sunday evening.

The incident, which reportedly occurred as a result on an electrical spark, affected two rooms.

The media aide to the 2011 presidential candidate, Sule Yau, confirmed the incident to PREMIUM TIMES.

When contacted, the spokesman of state fire service, Saidu Muhammad, told PREMIUM TIMES that he could not comment in the matter until he has all the details.

PREMIUM TIMES however learnt that the fire was immediately put off before more damage could occur.

The house was built by the Kano State Government towards the end of Mr Shekaraus second tenure (2007-2011) as part of his severance package.Tempers are boiling over in Osogbo, capital of Osun State, as party supporters and officials of the Peoples Democratic Party [PDP] are crying foul and accusing INEC of vote tampering on account of the declared results from Ayedaade Local Government Area.

The PDPs protest came after the State INEC office declared 9,836 votes for the party in Ayedaade LGA, a result that party officials claimed was 1,000 votes lesser than what was previously announced by the LGAs INEC collation officer.

The results declared and made available to agents, journalists and observers at the local government collation by the collation officer indicated that the PDP candidate, Ademola Adeleke, scored 10,836 votes in Ayedaade while the All Progressives Congress candidate, Gboyega Oyetola, scored 10,861 votes.

The PDP party agent at the state collation centre promptly protested the figures, and was asked to seek clarifications from the officials who supervised the LGA elections.

Officials later announced that they have reached understanding on the discrepancy with the PDP agent and that he had come to clarity on what was amiss.

Every data matched, there was no case (of manipulation), according to the Ayedaade presiding officer.

Unimpressed by what appeared to be an understanding inside the state collation centre however, the PDP spokesperson, Kola Ologbondiyan, told PREMIUM TIMES Sunday morning that This is a deliberate plot by the returning officer to slash our votes by 1,000 in order to reduce our edge by over 500 votes,.

This is totally unacceptable and we have appealed to INEC to immediately announced the original result right there. We will not allow them to rob us and now say we should go to tribunal.

#OsunDecides2018 LGA Results

This is clear, clear robbery and we will not accept it, Mr Ologbondiyan said. We appeal to all Nigerians and international observers who have the interest of Nigerias democracy at heart to immediately call on INEC to retrace its steps right here and now.

But a PREMIUM TIMES reporter who covered the election in Ayedaade said there were signs the result would be problematic.

At the point of taking a shot of the result, a man very close to my partner claimed the result for PDP was nine thousand plus but the officials didnt bother to correct it before they left, Yusuf Akinpelu said.

#OsunDecides2018 LGA Results

He said the man who called attention to the error spent time dissuading people from relying, photographing and copying the wrong result.

The man, whose identity our reporter was unable to determine, was however ignored by officials and observers.

The controversy over the Ayedaade tally arose as results from Osogbo were being awaited.

Already, results from 29 of the total 30 local government areas of the state have been declared.

Osogbo is the big prize that will ultimately decide the elections. In the governorship elections of 2014, Osogbo has 53,000 valid votes cast, of which the APC won 75 per cent of those valid votes.

File photo of an elderly voter being accredited, at Sekonanear Ife, during the 2018 Osun state Governorship Election on Saturday (22/9/18). 05010/23/9/18/Timothy Adeogodiran/JAU/NAN

As votes tally shows, the governing party has so far won in 15 local governments, while the PDP has won in 11 local governments.

The ADP won in one local government (Iwo) while the SDP won in two local governments (Ife East and Ife Central).

Rasheed Olawale, a spokesperson for Mr Adelekes campaign said: We raised the alarm in the dead of the night that they are changing results. This is a brazen stealing of peopless will and must be rejected.

Oluwole Uzzi, a spokesperson for INEC, however, rejected allegations that the election results were tampered with to the detriment of PDP, which is an opposition party in both the state and at Nigerias centre.

But, since the collation is still ongoing, there is no need for anyone to conclude that a permanent decision has been taken on the matter, the official told PREMIUM TIMES by telephone Sunday morning. Let us wait for the final declaration.

Jamiu Olawunmi, a spokesperson for APCs candidate, Gboyega Oyetola, also took a similar position when reached for comments.

It is too premature to start talking about a collation that is still ongoing, he said.

Oluwole Uzzi, a spokesperson for INEC, however, rejected allegations that the election results were tampered with to the detriment of PDP, which is an opposition party in both the state and at Nigerias centre.

But, since the collation is still ongoing, there is no need for anyone to conclude that a permanent decision has been taken on the matter, the official told PREMIUM TIMES by telephone Sunday morning. Let us wait for the final declaration.The All Progressives Congress (APC) senator representing Borno South in the Senate, Ali Ndume, said the Senate under the leadership of Bukola Saraki had failed Nigerians.

Mr Ndume stated this while speaking at the News Agency of Nigeria(NAN) Forum on Sunday in Abuja, adding that Mr Saraki and Yakubu Dogara, Speaker of the House of Representatives, had privatised the legislative arm of government.

I really want to admit that we have failed in our responsibility to the people somehow, but we the members are not responsible for that.

It is more of the responsibility of the leadership that shut down the Senate abruptly because of personal issues.

It is very unfortunate. The Senate is the Nigerian Senate, it is not the senators Senate; it is not Sarakis senate, he said.

Mr Ndume added that it was very unfortunate that the Nigerian National Assembly had been reduced to Messrs Saraki and Dogara.

He further added that Messrs Saraki and Dogara had privatised and personalised the Nigerian legislative arm of government which should not be the case.

They have privatised and personalised the institution, and the reason we were elected to be there, had been relegated to the background.

This is very unfortunate, but I want Nigerians to know that the Senate had not been shut down by the senators or members of the House of Representatives.

The Senate was shut down by Saraki and Dogara and they should be held responsible for that, Mr Ndume added.

The senator while expressing sadness that the Senate was yet to reconvene, stressed that the Senate must move on without Mr Saraki.

He, however, said that he had made concerted efforts to see how the Senate could reconvene, especially to consider about five matters of national importance, but without success.

According to him, the matters were abandoned by the National Assembly before it proceeded on the long recess.

We tried everything to get the Senate President or the leadership to reconvene the Senate, but that had not been successful, the lawmaker said.

Commenting on the recent registration of 23 more political parties by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Ndume said, It is the immaturity in our democracy that led to the volume of parties we have.

If our democracy is getting matured, it will shave the parties to a point where we will have may be two, three or four political parties.

I am an advocate of having less than five political parties, because some of these parties are not parties actually, he said.

Senate President, Bukola Saraki.

He noted that some of the political parties did not have offices in Abuja and the 36 states of the federation as required by law.

I do not know what happened to the law, and because the law that set up INEC clearly defined the procedure for forming a political party.

The law says you must have office in each of the 774 Local Government and office in all state capitals, including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), he said.

He noted that such office according to the law, must meet certain standard.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the recent registration of 23 more political parties by INEC had brought the total number of parties in the country to 91.

(NAN)Nigerias National Assembly has postponed its resumption.

The parliament will now resume on October 9 instead of September 25 earlier slated.

The postponement was contained in a statement by the National Assembly clerk, Mohammed Sani-Omolori, addressed to the lawmakers.

This is to inform all Distinguished Senators and Honourable Members that resumption of plenary session earlier scheduled for Tuesday, 25th September has been postponed to Tuesday 9th October due to the activities of the primaries of the political parties.

All Distinguished Senators and Honourable members are expected to resume plenary session by 10 am on the 9th of October, please, the statement reads.A former vice president and opposition Peoples Democratic Party presidential aspirant, Atiku Abubakar, and Senate President Bukola Saraki have extended support to the partys Osun State governorship candidate, Ademola Adeleke.

Mr Abubakar in a statement Sunday urged the people of the state not to be cowed, following the declaration of Saturdays election as inconclusive.

Earlier, the presiding officer of the election at the INEC headquarters in Osun, Joseph Fuwape, declared the election inconclusive.

At the end of the collation of votes, the PDP candidate won majority votes of about 254,698 votes while Gboyega Oyetola of the All Progressive Congress came a close second with 254,345 votes. Mr Adeleke led his rival by 353 votes.

Unfortunately as the returning officer, its not possible to declare anybody as the clear winner of the election on the first ballot, Mr Fuwape, vice chancellor of the Federal University of Technology, Akure, said.

He explained that the total voided votes in the five polling units where elections were cancelled was 3,498. Since that figure was higher than the difference between the votes of the leading candidates, a re-run election had to be conducted, the INEC chief explained.

INECs election guideline made pursuant to Section 153 of the Electoral Act stipulates a rerun if the margin of victory in an election is lower than the number of voters in units where elections are cancelled.

The affected LGAs are Irolu, Ife South, Ife North and Oshogbo.

The commission announced that it will remobilise and return to the affected polling units on Thursday, September 27 to re-conduct the elections, conclude collation and make a return.

But Mr Abubakar asked the electoral commission to resist any temptation to be used to tamper with the will of the people of Osun State.

He accused the APC of attempting to compromise the election.

former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar

I told our people in Osun that their years of underdevelopment and backwardness will end with the election of Senator Adeleke and the PDP, and I stand by that promise.

The attempt by the All Progressives Congress to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat will be resisted with every legitimate and democratic means at our disposal.

I hereby offer Senator Adeleke and the Osun State chapter of the PDP my right hand of fellowship as they work to retrieve their victory, which is already in sight. The vote against APC was overwhelming; the people are not happy with status quo.

We must all stand united at this point in time. The PDP secured a simple majority, even with the 16.7 billion (Paris Club refund) that the federal government surreptitiously paid to the incumbent Osun State APC government, and the desperate Tradermoni bait that Vice President Osinbajo dangled at the electorate in Osun. This is a testament to the fact that the APC has lost favour all over Nigeria, he said.

He described the election in Osun State as a turning point and asked INEC to do the needful.

Nigerians need jobs, opportunities and security. Once again, I assure Senator Ademola Adeleke and the people of Osun State that the PDP and I will stand with them to ensure that the victory freely given to Senator Adeleke by the people of Osun State is not taken away from them by people from outside the state, he said.

Similarly, Mr Saraki has reacted to the development.

Mr Saraki, who is also the chairman of the PDP presidential council on Osun State gubernatorial election, faulted the commission.

In my lay mans opinion, the INEC was wrong in declaring the election as inconclusive because the votes in certain polling units were cancelled.

Bukola Saraki, Senate President

The decision of INEC to cancel the election in those areas after voting had taken place means INEC had already excluded the votes in these areas from the election process and therefore those units should have no place in the overall results.

My opinion would have been different if the election in the affected units did not take place at all, may be as a result of malfunctioning of the card reader machine or unavailability of the electoral materials. Since the voting took place and was cancelled, only the courts could reverse the initial decision by INEC to cancel the votes in these areas, he said.

He called on the PDP and its candidate to seek further legal interpretation on this decision.

If the places were reversed and the candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) is the one leading in the election, will INEC take the same decision it has taken now? he said.

He also called on INEC to display courage, boldness, independence, neutrality and patriotism so as to send signals to the world at large that Nigerian electoral system has come of age and that our democracy has matured.

The electoral body needs to reassure all and sundry that the 2019 election and other elections will be free of manipulations and undue interference.

The INEC should note that the Osun gubernatorial election is not only about that South-western state. It is about our country and the entire world is watching. Our national interest is at stake. The integrity of our electoral system is at stake. The future of our democracy is on the line.

The way INEC conclusively handles the Osun election will determine global expectations from our political process. It should therefore ensure that the wish of the Osun State electorate eventually prevail.

In the same vein, the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) has called on the electorate and all political camps to maintain calm.

It commended the public for its very peaceful conduct before and during the election.

The CDD, which partnered with Premium Times Centre for Investigative Journalism (PTCIJ) to observe the election, urged the electoral body and other security agencies to thoroughly investigate, and prosecute those responsible for acts, which undermined the electoral process in the affected areas.

The INEC staffs to be investigated and prosecuted include those involved in the destruction of electoral materials, particularly the staff that tore the Form EC 8A result sheet in one of the Polling Units that was cancelled. Also, other ad-hoc staff that engaged in subverting the electoral process must be made to face the full wrath of the law.

In a statement by its Director, Idayat Hassan, CDD stated that proper investigation will enhance the credibility of the process and boost public confidence in the commission not just in the Osun governorship supplementary elections but the forthcoming 2019 general elections.

Idayat Hassan, Director Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD)

The centre also said the speedy prosecution of those found culpable would not only sanitise the electoral process but would deter future offenders.

CDD equally called on the electoral umpire to put in place stringent measures to ensure incidents like the case of the presiding officer who absconded from his duty post with dire implications for the election, are not repeated in the coming supplementary poll.

It urged INEC to make open its results collation processes and publicly release the material tracking report in the spirit of openness and electoral transparency.The forum of former vice chairmen and elected councilors in Adamawa State has announced withdrawal of support for Governor Jibrilla Bindow over non-payment of their entitlements.

They have now pitched their tent with Mahmood Ahmed, the brother in-law of President Muhammadu Buhari who is also seeking the governorship ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC), which has slated its primaries for Saturday.

The forum said although its members are grassroots politicians and had been contributing to the change agenda of the APC, they have been neglected by the Bindow administration, hence their decision to work for another APC aspirant.

Addressing journalists on Sunday, Dedan Menayi, vice chairman of the forum, said members of the forum were constrained to withdraw their support, for the governors inability to pay medical and health workers, as well as local government staff for over eight months.

Governor Bindow had several times promised to pay furniture allowances to all former vice chairmen, secretaries, supervisory councilors, legislative councilors and advisers but he has refused to fulfill his promise.

We are withdrawing our loyalty and support and calling on patriotic APC governorship aspirants, most especially Dr Mahmood Halilu Ahmed Modi to come and rescue the state, Mr Menayi said

Also speaking, a former councilor, Moses Fwa, said their salaries were reduced by half.

Governor Bindow has reduced our tenure and salary to 50 per cent. Each councilor is being owed N7.8 million. We have 105 supervisory councilors, 226 legislative councilors, 21 vice chairmen in the forum.

The aftermath of this have led to separation in marriages, eviction by landlords and closure of many businesses in the state; while failure of the governor to pay our salaries has also led to withdrawal of our children from school, he said.

A female former councilor, Bilhatu Titus, said they were afraid to face the electorate to campaign again.

The local government councils didnt execute any project, no money and no people oriented projects by the present administration, so how do you expect us to campaign for the governor?

Governor Bindow has no regard to party Exco and councilors and hence we resolved to express our grievances and we are dumping him for another candidate that can salvage the state, she said.

Efforts to get the state commissioner for local government and chieftaincy affairs, Mustapha Aliyu, were not successful as his telephone lines were switched off.

The secretary to the state government, Umaru Bindir, had last week at APC Secretariat announced that the governor had settled all outstanding salary arrears including for the former councilors.The Akwa Ibom State Governor, Udom Emmanuel, has once again appealed to the people of the state to embrace his administration and reject the opposition.

Mr Emmanuel made the appeal in a state-wide broadcast on Sunday to mark the 31st anniversary of the state.

The governor, in his address, constantly made veiled reference to the senator representing Akwa Ibom North-West, Godswill Akpabio.

He portrayed Mr Akpabio, a former governor of the state and his estranged godfather, as the face of the opposition in the state.

Akwa Ibom has been a Peoples Democratic Party-controlled state since Nigeria returned to democratic rule in 1999.

Mr Akpabio, in a move that shocked many, defected on August 8 from the PDP, where he was a major player and the Senate minority leader, to the All Progressives Congress (APC) which controls the government at the centre. He resigned his position as the Senate minority leader, shortly before his defection.

The senators defection, which has inspired several other politicians in the state to abandon Mr Emmanuel, is considered the biggest threat to the governors bid for a second term in office.

In apparent reference to the past administration of Mr Akpabio in the state, Governor Emmanuel said in his broadcast: My fellow Akwa Ibomites, you have a choice of continuing on the path of steady growth of our state and our people, of a state that is fast industrialising and where our youths are gainfully engaged and have a reason to dream and dare or a return to the years when the promise of industries in each of the 31 Local Governments Areas were made with fanfare and not even a cottage industry was established; where monuments were built with great fanfare instead of Projects that have enduring benefits to our people.

The governor added, Remember, building monuments is not the same thing as building lasting and economically viable projects.

Mr Akpabio, while campaigning for re-election as Akwa Ibom governor in 2011, had promised that his administration was going to build one industry in each of the 31 local government areas in the state if re-elected.

The administration, however, didnt keep to the promise, despite the billions of naira that accrued to the state monthly from the nations Federation Account.

The failure of the Akpabio administration to build the industries became a major campaign issue against the PDP during the 2015 governorship election in the state, even though the APC was unable to stop Mr Akpabio from helping Mr Emmanuel, then a relatively unknown figure from the banking sector, succeed him as the governor.

Today, ironically, seven years after, Mr Emmanuel is bringing back the Akpabios failed promise as a campaign issue, against the APC.

Mr Emmanuel also made reference to the insecurity that plagued the state during the Akpabio administration.

Fellow Akwa Ibomites, we are confronted with two stark and distinct choices: the choice of living in a state that is peaceful, devoid of kidnappings, politically motivated assassinations and where the security of lives and property is assured or a return to the fearful years when death and insecurity walked on two legs; where people were afraid to visit or pursue their legitimate businesses for fear of being kidnapped or outrightly murdered. It is a chapter in our states history we wished had not been written! the governor said.

When they lie to you my dear Akwa Ibomites about what we have achieved, you should ask them to show you what they have used the massive budget to do for Akwa Ibom people.

Governance is not about lies and propaganda, governance is about character, integrity, transparency and doing the job of the people. Governance is not about giving people fraudulent contract papers for road construction.

Akwa Ibom people deserve better, they deserve to be told the truth. The era of taking our people for granted, playing on their perceived gullibility is over. Our people deserve a fair deal from those who wish to lead them and not a raw deal. That is the choice you have my fellow Akwaibomites.

The governor said as the 2019 general elections approach, the state is at the risk of being returned to the dark chapters we had worked hard and collectively shredded and rejected.

It is that great story of a people who had been emancipated from internal slavery and cruel domination, from the naked and broad daylight stealing of our commonwealth and common blessings that today is at risk of repeating itself.

If we miss this moment, if we allow the raw desire of an individual to supersede the collective interest of our people, we will forever remain bound by the shackles of domination and slavery. May God never allow affliction to happen a second time! he said.

The governor said his administration has succeeded in building industries, several roads in all parts of the state, as well as revamping healthcare delivery and education, and building a strong foundation for economic prosperity in the state.

He said the battle for 2019 wasnt about Udom Emmanuel, but about the future and about making a choice whether to embrace progress or to embrace darkness.

I came here in 2015, with a governance philosophy based on my Five Point Agenda of: Job Creation, Poverty Alleviation, Wealth Creation, Economic and Political Inclusion and Infrastructural Consolidation and Expansion and in spite of the challenges we have faced on the economic horizon, I make bold to say today, that we have made huge gains. We are determined to industrialize this state and we are right on the mark.

Our state is rising and will continue to rise. Let us as Akwa Ibomites at home and in the Diaspora tell ourselves: Never again shall we fritter away the huge gains we have made in the last 31 years just to satisfy the ambition of one individual or a few group of persons. Akwa Ibom is our heritage and we will, and must guard this heritage jealously, the governor said.The Ademola Adeleke Campaign Organisation has complained over alleged plot by the All Progressives Congress (APC) led government to tamper with the results from registration areas four and five in Osogbo Local Government Area.

Fears became rife when eight of the 20 units of Ward 5 failed to show up at the ward collation centre, but went somewhere else, an act adjudged by electoral officials as a mistake. It took several hours after the mistake was realised before the units returned to the collation centre.

Agents of the PDP at the Osogbo INEC office had raised posers as to where the results of the units were taken, if not to a place where they were doctored.

We again alert the the public of an ongoing plot to change the results of Osogbo Ward 4 and 5 which are already won by the PDP, a statement signed by the organisations Publicity Director, Olawale Rasheed, said.

Both wards have the highest voting figures in Osogbo local government and results from our party agents showed that PDP has won in those wards.

The electoral commission has however refused to release the results due to pressure from the state governor and the ruling party

Similar developments took place at Esa Oke until the youth of the area resisted the manipulation plots. We warn against pushing our people to resort to self help.

As results are been collated across the state ,we demand utmost fair play and transparency from the electoral body. We are watching and monitoring closely. Under no circumstance should the collation process be manipulated.

Our agents and leaders are on their toes armed with relevant results and forms.The will of the people must be respected.We task INEC and security agencies to obey the directive of President Muhammad Buhari who had ordered that the Osun electoral process should never be manipulated by federal or any related agencies.

We call on local and international observers to take note of the ongoing process and assist the people of Osun state to realise the supremacy of their electoral will.

Our people should also be ever vigilant to protect their votes and their aspirations for better life.

There was, however, tension at the INEC Osogbo LGA headquarters following the restiveness of some party supporters outside the complex.

It took the combined efforts of security agencies who shot into the air to bring the situation under control.

Meanwhile, the result of the controversial Ward 5 has been announced at the ward collation centre which saw the APC scoring 2305 votes as against PDPs 1997 votes. The SDP polled 2168 votes to place second behind the APC.

The Ward 5 results are, however, yet to be formally announced at the local government collation centre. The officials from Ward 5 failed to turn up at the centre despite announcing the results over an hour ago.

The PDP chairman in the state, Soji Adagunodo, stormed the collation centre at INEC LGA Secretariat and warned that his agents should not allow the entering of the results into the sheets unless they were verified against the results from the respective polling units.

The officials were being awaited while the collating officers had left the hall at the time of this report.

APC officials could not be reached for their comments as at the time of this report.The police in Zamfara said armed bandits have abducted seven people from Nahuche village of Bungudu Local Government.

The police said the villagers, including a former councillor, Bello Daniya, were kidnapped in the early hours of Sunday.

An eyewitness, Sani Ibrahim, had earlier told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the bandits besieged the village in large numbers, fired guns into the air and ordered the villagers to show them the house of Bungudu local government APC chairman, Hamisu Coordinator.

He said that the abductors, however, found themselves in the former councillors house, who is a neighbour to the APC chairman, where they took him, four boys and two girls.

Mr Ibrahim said the abductors later released one of the victims with a note demanding N100 million as ransom to release the remaining victims.

While confirming the incident, the state Police Public Relations Officer, Mohammed Shehu, said a combined team of security operatives were on the trail of the abductors.

He appealed to members of the public with useful information on the movement of criminals to report to relevant security agencies for prompt action.

Communities in Zamfara have suffered from random attacks by bandits in the past year. These have caused hundreds of deaths as well as kidnap for ransom of several others.

The attacks have continued despite the massive deployment of security operatives to the state.For the New World Order, a world government is just the beginning. Once in place they can engage their plan to exterminate 80% of the world's population, while enabling the "elites" to live forever with the aid of advanced technology. For the first time, crusading filmmaker ALEX JONES reveals their secret plan for humanity's extermination: Operation ENDGAME.

Jones chronicles the history of the global elite's bloody rise to power and reveals how they have funded dictators and financed the bloodiest warscreating order out of chaos to pave the way for the first true world empire.

Watch as Jones and his team track the elusive Bilderberg Group to Ottawa and Istanbul to document their secret summits, allowing you to witness global kingpins setting the world's agenda and instigating World War III.





to Ottawa and Istanbul to document their secret summits, allowing you to witness global kingpins setting the world's agenda and instigating World War III. Learn about the formation of the North America transportation control grid, which will end U.S. sovereignty forever.





Discover how the practitioners of the pseudo-science eugenics have taken control of governments worldwide as a means to carry out depopulation.





View the progress of the coming collapse of the United States and the formation of the North American Union.

Never before has a documentary assembled all the pieces of the globalists' dark agenda. Endgame's compelling look at past atrocities committed by those attempting to steer the future delivers information that the controlling media has meticulously censored for over 60 years. It fully reveals the elite's program to dominate the earth and carry out the wicked plan in all of human history.

Endgame is not conspiracy theory, it is documented fact in the elite's own words.



To celebrate the momentous and delightful occasion of Saudi Arabia's 88th National Day, a new Guinness World Records title was set yesterday by Betty Crocker, the leading brand of dessert mixes from General Mills for baking the Largest mug cake mosaic in collaboration with Panda Retail Company, the leading grocery retailer in the region.

(Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/748437/Betty_Crocker_GUINNESS_WORLD_RECORDS.jpg )



The bake-off for the new Guinness World Records title for the Largest mug cake mosaic was unveiled yesterday at Al Andalus Mall in Jeddah, measuring 112 square-meters with approximately 19,600 Betty Crocker mug cakes. It took 30 bakers almost 8 hours to create the marvelous cake and decorate it by 1900 Betty Crocker cake frosting tubs that represented the Saudi 88th National Day design on top of it before Guinness World Records adjudicator, Ahmed Jamal Jaber, officially confirmed it as the Largest mug cake mosaic ever.

"We are proud to be able to garner a GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS title for the 2nd year consecutively, and we would like to congratulate the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques His Majesty King Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and His Royal Highness Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman and all the people of Saudi on their 88th National Day. The idea of baking the Largest mug cake mosaic marks our appreciation and admiration to the remarkable achievements of the Saudi nation as we are strongly committed to support the dreams and ambitions of the Saudi Youth," said Ali Shaikh, Commercial Director General Mills in the Middle East.

To conform with Guinness World Records guidelines, the Largest mug cake mosaic had to meet specific requirements set by the organization. The mosaic had to measure 112 square meters or above in order to break the Guinness World Records title. The event was attended by General Mills and Panda executives, as well as by Guinness World Records officials.

Mr. Hosam Alqurashi, Chief Commercial Officer of Panda said: "It was a great pleasure to us to be able to celebrate this precious occasion of the 88th Saudi National day, with one of our special partners. We would like to felicitate the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques His Majesty King Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and His Royal Highness Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman and all citizens and residents of Saudi Arabia, wishing them immense success and prosperity. This also coincides with our celebration of Panda's 40th anniversary as the leading Saudi retailer in the region. We also would like to acknowledge Betty Crocker's contribution to celebrate the kingdom's grand occasion wishing them more success for the years to come."

After the record was confirmed, the cake was distributed to visitors at Al Andalus Mall and also was delivered to a non-profit organization "Saudi Food Bank" to spread joy and create some festivity for all.

It deserved an impressive indulgence as a contribution to the local community to rejoice this splendid occasion.

Betty Crocker prides itself on redefining simplicity and ease of baking world renowned desserts. The brand that makes baking easy and quick for everyone in effortlessly simple steps, launched recently a highly innovative mug cake. Available in three indulging flavors, chocolate, blueberry and brownie, Betty Crocker Mug treats satiate diverse palates and require only one minute to be microwaved at the comfort of one's home.

Betty Crocker had proudly succeeded last year to set a GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS title for baking the Largest marble cake ever which measured 16 square-meters and weighed 733 Kilos with approximately 15,000 Betty Crocker marble cake mixes.

About Betty Crocker:

Betty Crocker; one of the biggest names in the world of baking and is a brand name and trademark of General Mills, the 'Fortune 500' company. Its roots indicate it as an invented persona, which has successfully developed into a cultural icon. The current image of Betty Crocker is actually a combination of 75 real-life women of diverse backgrounds and ages that represent the true Betty Crocker.

Today the brand is a global household name with strong presence in the Middle East & North Africa region for over 50 years and has gained the recognition of being the most prestigious baking brand and a symbol of trustworthy expertise. Since then Betty Crocker has evolved from being just a trademark.

Today women across the region relate to it as their personal baking consultant. With its long history of innovation, Betty Crocker has become a true legend and a symbol of togetherness for friends and family.

SOURCE Betty CrockerMIAMI, Sept. 23, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Carnival Cruise Line solidified its place as the cruise leader in Texas with Sunday's arrival of Carnival Vista  the largest ship ever homeported in Galveston. The arrival was celebrated with Carnival Cruise Line President Christine Duffy and ship Godmother Deshauna Barber, the first member of the U.S. military to be named Miss USA, before the ship left on its first voyage from Galveston Sunday afternoon.

Carnival Vista is part of the line's newest and largest class of ships and has been wowing guests out of Miami for the past two years with new features like the SkyRide aerial bike ride, an IMAX theater, onboard brewery, two dining venues developed by Food Network star Guy Fieri, an expansive water park, and the Family Harbor accommodations with larger staterooms and lounge area.

Carnival Vista offers two distinctly different week-long western Caribbean itineraries from Galveston, visiting the region's most popular destinations. The first itinerary includes calls at Montego Bay; Grand Cayman; and Cozumel, while the other features visits to Mahogany Bay (Isla Roatan); Belize; and Cozumel. Carnival Vista joins Carnival Freedom and Carnival Valor with year-round departures from Galveston. Together, these three ships operate more than 200 sailings each year carrying more than 600,000 passengers annually  the most in cruising.

"Carnival Vista brings Texas-sized fun to Galveston for guests of all ages and we are thrilled to celebrate the arrival of the port's newest ship and show our appreciation for the local community," said Duffy. "Carnival is Texas' number one cruise operator and positioning one of our newest ships, Carnival Vista, in Galveston underscores our commitment to our confidence in growing this key market."

The homecoming event was attended by local officials, travel agents and military families supported by Operation Homefront. Galveston Mayor Pro Tem Craig Brown presented Duffy with a key to the city and proclaimed Sept. 23 "Choose Fun Day" in recognition of Carnival's brand campaign. In support of the local community, Carnival made a $10,000 donation to Houston SPCA and an additional $10,000 to the Houston Food Bank.

"After 18 years of cultivating the cruise business in the State of Texas, we are thrilled to welcome Carnival's largest class ship to her new home," said Rees. "As one of Carnival's most successful homeports, their decision to re-position their newest ship is a testament of their confidence in the port's continued success as one of the nation's top cruise ports. We look forward to continuing our mutually beneficial partnership."

"Choose Fun" is a key component of Carnival's ongoing Homeport Advantage campaign designed to heighten awareness of new ship deployments. A bumper sticker adorned with the "Choose Fun" tag line was unveiled on Carnival Vista's stern during the event.

Added Barber, "As godmother, Carnival Vista remains very near and dear to my heart and I'm proud and honored to be a part of the festivities to bring this spectacular ship to its new homeport of Galveston."

The Homeport Advantage campaign also included a flyover in Houston, Galveston and the surrounding area earlier this month by the Carnival AirShip, a 128-foot long red, white and blue blimp emblazoned with #ChooseFun. Consumers who posted a photo of the AirShip in social media with #ChooseFun were entered into a sweepstakes awarding free cruises and other prizes and triggering a donation to St. Jude.

To learn more about Carnival Cruise Line, visit Carnival.com . For reservations, contact any travel agent or call 1-800-CARNIVAL. Carnival can also be found on: Facebook , Instagram , Twitter and YouTube .

Journalists also can visit Carnival's media site, carnival-news.com or follow the line's PR department on Twitter at twitter.com/CarnivalPR .

About Carnival Cruise Line

Carnival Cruise Line, part of Carnival Corporation & plc (NYSE/LSE: CCL;NYSE: CUK), is "The World's Most Popular Cruise Line" with 26 ships operating three- to 24-day voyages to The Bahamas, Caribbean, Mexican Riviera, Alaska, Hawaii, Canada, New England, Bermuda, Cuba, Australia, New Zealand, the Pacific Islands and Southeast Asia. The line currently has three new ships scheduled for delivery  the 133,500-ton Carnival Panorama set to debut in 2019 and two as-yet-unnamed 180,000-ton ships in 2020 and 2022.

SOURCE Carnival Cruise Line

Related Links

http://www.carnivalcorp.com

CHARLOTTE, N.C., Sept. 23, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Initial water tests from Duke Energy's L.V. Sutton Plant in Wilmington confirm that discharges from the cooling lake to the Cape Fear River are not harming water quality downstream.

As the company has previously reported, coal ash basins remain stable.

Water samples captured on Friday upstream and downstream of the Sutton plant site show little to no impact to river water quality. All results are well within the rigorous state water quality standards in place to protect the environment.

There is little difference in river water quality when comparing samples taken upstream above the facility and downstream below the facility. Complete test results and can be found here in the resources section at the bottom of the page.

As previously announced, cenospheres have moved into the Cape Fear River. The company has deployed booms to try to capture any other material before it leaves the lake. Cenospheres are lightweight, hollow beads comprised of alumina and silica that are a byproduct of coal combustion. Importantly, cenospheres have a different chemical makeup than fly ash, bottom ash, boiler slag and other materials, which are the focus of regulation and concern.

Cape Fear River levels near the site are beginning to recede slightly, but we expect the river level to be high for days. The company continues to post photos and video to illustrate the situation at the site.

On Friday, the flooded Cape Fear River began overtopping the north end of the cooling lake, known as Sutton Lake, eventually causing a number of smaller cuts and a larger breach on the southern end where water is flowing back into the river. As flood waters continue to travel through the lake, the smaller breaches are widening. Given the historic level of flooding, this incident is not expected to cause a measurable change to water levels in the area.

There are two coal ash basins at the site, which were being excavated and closed, and their dams remain stable. Water has filled the 1971 basin and the company believes ash is being contained by a steel wall. The 1984 basin has not been affected.

Initial repair plans

As soon as the river stops flowing over the north end of the cooling lake dam and work conditions are safe, teams will begin repairs to stop water exiting the south side of the lake. The objective is to retain as much water in the lake as possible to support future plant operations and recreation.

Sutton Lake is an 1,100-acre man-made reservoir constructed in 1972 to supply cooling water to the Sutton Power Plant. The cooling lake does not store coal ash.

Natural gas plant update

Flooding from the river and cooling lake resulted in about 12 inches of water throughout the Sutton combined-cycle gas plant footprint. The plant was safely shut down. Now plant operators are beginning to assess equipment and will complete those activities as the water recedes. Even without the plant operating, there is adequate electricity to serve customers.

Duke Energy

Headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK) is one of the largest energy holding companies in the U.S., with approximately 29,000 employees and a generating capacity of 49,500 megawatts.

The company's Electric Utilities and Infrastructure unit serves approximately 7.6 million retail electric customers in six states  North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky.

Its Gas Utilities and Infrastructure unit distributes natural gas to approximately 1.6 million customers in five states  North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Ohio and Kentucky. Its Commercial Renewables unit operates a growing renewable energy portfolio across the U.S.

More information about the company is available at duke-energy.com. The Duke Energy News Center includes news releases, fact sheets, photos, videos and other materials. Duke Energy's illumination features stories about people, innovations, community topics and environmental issues. Follow Duke Energy on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook.

24-Hour: 800.559.3853

SOURCE Duke Energy

Related Links

http://www.duke-energy.com

Tripoli, Sep 23 : The European Union delegation to Libya and the EU Heads of Mission to Libya on Saturday condemned the continued violence in the Libyan capital Tripoli.

"The EU Delegation and the EU Heads of Mission to Libya strongly condemn the latest escalation of violence in Tripoli which has caused civilian fatalities, injury and displacement of people and destruction of critical infrastructure," the two EU groups said in a joint statement, Xinhua reported.

They also expressed support for the efforts of the UN Special Envoy to Libya Ghassan Salame, highlighting the importance of political solution to the Libyan crisis.

"All those responsible for violating the cease-fire or fuelling violence will face consequences," the statement warned.

The EU statement urged all Libyan parties to commit to the UN-backed government's security measures to "reform the security sector and end the predatory activities of armed groups."

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has also expressed concern over continued violation of the UN-brokered ceasefire agreement in Tripoli.

He called on the warring parties to "respect the cease-fire and refrain from any actions that would increase the suffering of the civilian population."

Libya has been suffering insecurity and escalating violence since the fall of former leader Muammar Gaddafi's regime in 2011.

Violent clashes continued in southern Tripoli between forces allied with the UN-backed government and the "7th Brigade" militia from the city of Tarhuna, some 80 km southeast of Tripoli.

The violence has so far killed 106 people and injured 365 others, according to Libyain Ministry of Health.

The Libyan government on Friday called on the international community and the UN to "take more firm and effective practical actions to stop the war and protect civilians."

Earlier in September, the UN Support Mission in Libya brokered a cease-fire agreement between the warring parties. However, the agreement was violated and the violence has continued since then.Tehran, Sep 23 : Top Iranian officials have said the US and its regional allies are responsible for the terror attack in the Iranian city of Ahvaz on Saturday.

At least 25 people were killed and 60 others injured in a terror attack on a military parade in Iran's southwestern city of Ahvaz, IRNA news agency quoted Ali Hossein Hossein Zadeh, political deputy of the Khuzestan governor, as saying.

Military forces and citizens who had gathered to watch the parade were among the killed, the report said.

"This crime is the extension of the plots by the US allies in the region, seeking to create insecurity in Iran," Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a statement, Xinhua news agency reported.

However, the Iranians "will continue their path of honour and overcome all the hostilities," Khamenei added.

Meanwhile, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said those who have provided "propaganda and intelligence support" for the terrorists are accountable for the attack.

Rouhani ordered Iranian intelligence agencies to arrest the perpetrators behind the attack.

"The Islamic republic will give a crushing response to the slightest threat against the country," he vowed.

Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif also tweeted that "Iran will respond swiftly and decisively in defence of Iranian lives."

On Saturday morning, four armed men clad in the uniform of Iranian Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) attacked the military parade in Ahvaz, capital of Khuzestan Province, which was marking the anniversary of Iran-Iraq war in 1980-1988.

Two of the militants were killed and two others arrested.

Al-Ahvazieh, an Iranian Arab-affiliated group, has claimed responsibility for the terror attack, saying it is fighting for the rights of the Iranian Arabs in Khuzestan.

Shiite-dominated Iran considers the Al-Ahvazieh a separatist and terrorist group supported by Saudi Arabia, its Sunni-majority arch rival in the Gulf.New Delhi, Sep 23 : Fostering robust partnerships and seeking a collective and collaborative approach towards green, accessible, functional and liveable housing will be what experts from GRIHA Council and UNSW Sydneys School of Built Environment will focus on at the 10th Griha Summit being held here December 10-12.

Ahead of the summit, for which GRIHA Council has for the first time partnered with a foreign institution, the University of New South Wales, Sydney, a curtain raiser was held at the UNSW India Centre, attended by Professor Helen Lochhead, Dean, UNSW School of Built Environment and Sanjay Seth, Senior Director - Sustainable Habitat Programme, The TERI and Chief Executive Officer, GRIHA Council and representatives from business and industry, NGOs, the UN Human Settlements Programme and think tanks.

Eminent Indian architect, Professor B.V. Doshi, who is the first Indian to be awarded the Pritzker Architecture Award, will be felicitated during the summit including a video interview with him and UNSW's Pritzker prize winner Professor Glenn Murcutt. Doshi is also expected to address one of the plenary sessions, Seth announced.

Seth said the partnership with UNSW is the "first time that GRIHA is being co-created with international partnership.

"It is a coming together of two institutes of repute, and both will be deliberating on issues critical in the developmental agenda of the government of India," Seth noted.

"Much of the habitat has to be put in place, and the next decade will see much more happening," he said, adding that the partnership would be very important in the pursuit of excellence in the setting up of the development agenda.

Professor Helen Lochhead, Dean School of Built Environment at UNSW and President of the Australian Architect's Association, said UNSW was happy to be collaborating with GRIHA. She termed it a partnership that would see both sides collaborating in education and research and that GRIHA was just the start of a long-term and collaborative association.

She said the UNSW School of Built Environment is rated among the top in Australia, and is ranked 23 globally in the QS ranking. "We focus on green, functional, liveable and sustainable architecture, and also make sure we work in collaboration with industry and research policies," said Lochhead.

She said the opportunity to work with Griha and Teri would be a way to help "bring real change in the world we live in".

The GRIHA Summit will discuss sustainable building policies, tools and techniques and exhibitions showcasing sustainable building materials, construction practices and technologies. The December 11-12 plenary sessions would see important issues being discussed with equal participation of experts from both institutes.

Noted Indian-Australian materials scientist from UNSW, Veena Sahajwalla, and Professor Deo Prasad, who deals with zero carbon, would be addressing the sessions. UNSW President and Vice Chancellor Ian Jacobs will also be participating at GRIHA.

Health, smart cities, smart transport, waste management, innovations, energy efficiency, would be among 16 thematic tracks in the sessions.

Participants expressed hope that raising public awareness on environmental and sustainability issues could be an integral objective of the Summit along with a strong implementation programme that has the support of all stakeholders.

Amit Dasgupta, India country director UNSW, said that the co-creation of GRIHA by TERI and UNSW was a reflection of UNSW's India Strategy where cutting edge research could be collaboratively used to build a sustainable, green and liveable habitats. "Our job today is to focus on how we might partner with government, business & industry, NGOs and other stake-holders so that we might transform lives for the better."

The Narendra Modi government has embarked on a programme to provide housing for all by 2022 that includes rehabilitation of slum dwellers, promotion of affordable housing and subsidy for beneficiary-led individual house construction.

According to estimates, half of India's population would reside in urban areas by 2030 and India is expected to add the largest number of urban dwellers by 2050.Islamabad, Sep 23 : The Pakistan Met Department has issued a flood alert as heavy rains and thundershowers with gusty winds were expected in Punjab province on Sunday.

"A strong weather system from central India will pass between New Delhi and Lahore during Saturday evening to Monday afternoon which can cause heavy to very heavy rainfall," the weather office said in a notification on Saturday.

It said that widespread thunderstorms with scattered and isolated heavy falls are expected over the upper catchments of rivers in Lahore, Rawalpindi, Sargodha and Sahiwal divisions, reports Xinhua news agency.

"A very high flood is expected from Sunday in river Chenab at Marala and downstream, river Jhelum at Mangla, rivers Ravi and Sutlej," the weather office said.

However, the scale of flood in Ravi and Sutlej in Pakistan would depend upon the releases from India, it further said.

The weather office also directed local administration to remain vigilant during the reporting period and depute extra staff for emergency services along with extra medical and paramedical staff at all health facilities.The Most Extensive and Reliable Source of Information Related to the Mexican Drugs Cartels.



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Thiruvananthapuram, Sep 23 : Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan arrived here on Sunday from the US after completing his treatment for an undisclosed ailment.

He left the state on September 2 along with his wife Kamala Vijayan and was treated at the famed Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota.

His trip was originally scheduled for August 19 for a period of 17 days, but it was postponed due to the heavy rains and subsequent floods that ravaged the state.

Before returning from the US, he had a meeting with the Kerala community and told them that he expects Rs 150 crore as contribution towards the Chief Minister's Distress Relief Fund.Chennai, Sep 23 : Actor-turned-MLA Karunas was arrested here on Sunday for his alleged derogatory remarks against Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K. Palaniswami and a city police official.

Karunas, the leader of the Mukkulathor Puli Padai party, made the alleged remarks on September 16 at a public meeting here.

Pointing out the city police official, Karunas had said that the young official should be counseled by his seniors and also challenged him for a duel.Damascus, Sep 23 : A British man who was a pharmacist, has been detained in Syria on suspicion of being a member of the Islamic State (IS) terror group.

Kurdish forces captured Anwar Miah in Deir al-Zour province a month ago, the BBC reported on Sunday.

A video of his capture has surfaced on Twitter and shows Miah saying he has lived in Syria for nearly four years.

It is believed he is being held in a prison in northern Syria, guarded by US special forces.

In the video, Miah is blindfolded and says he has been working as a medic in IS territory for the last four years.

"I'm a qualified pharmacist from the UK. I've been working in the hospitals since I came," he is heard saying in the video.

At least three other British men who are accused of being members of IS are currently in Kurdish and US custody in Syria.

They include two Londoners, Shafi El-Sheikh and Alexanda Kotey, who are alleged to be members of the notorious group dubbed the The Beatles. The pair were captured in January.

US officials believe the cell they belonged to beheaded more than 27 Western hostages.New Delhi : Book: The Rabbit & The Squirrel; Author: Siddharth Dhanvant Shanghvi; Publisher: Penguin; Pages: 66; Price: Rs 399 This tiny book -- its prose poignant prose and illustrations beautiful -- may come across as a light read, but is intimate in its moment and symbolic of life's larger picture; a story where human tragedies are conveyed through the beautiful friendship, love and longing of a rabbit and a squirrel for each other.

To summarise, as the author does: "The Squirrel's greatest joy is dancing in the forest with the Rabbit -- her beloved friend and equal of the heart. While the duo is inseparable, fate has other ideas: the feisty Squirrel is forcibly married to a wealthy boar and the solitary Rabbit enlists in a monastery."

The simple fable is told beautifully and with a lot of humour. In the book's very brief span, the author succeeds in providing distinct characteristics to both the protagonists. The readers are told that the Squirrel had rejected all her suitors. The Chipmunk was "a dentist's nightmare" for her whereas the Owl was "wise but creepy as hell".

When the Rabbit suggests a young gazelle, the Squirrel remarks: "You trying to hook me up with someone for whom 'playing the field' is a survival tactic?"

She wanted to live high up in a tree, "avoid everyone and drink in the afternoon" but is ultimately married to a "filthy wild pig simply because he's loaded". The reason? "...Because it is time you were married," her parents said.

Oscillating between rage and sorrow, the Squirrel reflects that she feels like she is "a reduced-to-clear item on the shelf of a discount supermarket". And then she meets the Rabbit again before she would be married. The duo talk of the unforeseen future, in lamentation and in tears, as they are well aware of their impending separation.

But along the way are larger remarks and reflections that lead readers to connect incidents in the fable to everyday life.

At one point, for example, the Squirrel says: "How come no one tells a rabbit to settle down? It's completely kosher for all of you to 'f*** like bunnies' -- in fact, it's part of the job description."While the loveless marriage that the Squirrel is forced into breaks apart later, life takes an altogether different turn for the lonely Rabbit, who applies to a monastery. Several years later, when he was ordained as a monk, he was told "to sleep with the Head Duck as part of the "official initiation ceremony".

"The Rabbit tore off his rosary beads and threw them to the groundA" He later opens a florist's store in a small town, where the Squirrel comes searching for him. The two meet in delight, like lovers long separated. She tells him of the atrocities of the wild boar, and how she escaped her cruel fate. But now she is sick -- suffering from a strange sort of cancer that had got into her bushy tail.

And so they live the moment, and as the author says, "...Our sorrows, when they bloom, bloom with all of life."

"The Rabbit & The Squirrel" is both a devastating and satisfying fable of our times because in narrating the story of its unlikely protagonists, Shanghvi tells of the sordidness that companionship often descends into, bound as it is by societal norms.

But in the end, it is the Squirrel and the Rabbit who take the leap of faith. "The only love that sticks around," as the Rabbit reflects towards the end of the book, "is the love you let go."

(Saket Suman can be contacted at saket.s@ians.in)Islamabad, Sep 23 : Pakistan's two major opposition parties have held the present government responsible for the latest diplomatic debacle following New Delhi's refusal to hold a meeting between the two foreign ministers in New York.

The leaders of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) allege that the government has not done its homework and assessed the situation before approaching India for a meeting, terming the talks offer through a letter written by Khan to his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi a "misstep", Dawn online reported on Sunday.

PML-N President Shahbaz Sharif said: "Pakistan is more than capable of defending and responding to any aggression by New Delhi".

"Pakistan extending an olive branch to India should never be misconstrued as weakness."

Former Foreign Minister and PML-N MNA Khawaja Mohammad Asif told Dawn on Saturday that it seemed the government was "not prepared" from day one, adding that "too much keenness being shown by the Prime Minister" showed "weakness on our part".

"Giving them (India) too much reflects haste on our part to mend fences with India," he said, adding that he was not against normalisation of relations between the two neighbours, but "dignity must be maintained".

PPP Vice-President and the country's former Ambassador to the US Sherry Rehman said Khan's government should have done its homework before approaching India for a meeting, especially after the initial response.

Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi's meeting that was scheduled to be held on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) session next week, was cancelled by New Delhi on Friday.

New Delhi blamed Pakistan for the killing of security personnel in Jammu and Kashmir and accusing it of glorifying terrorism, in terms of releasing a postage stamp featuring Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist Burhan Wani who was killed by Indian security forces.

India announced its decision just 24 hours after Indian External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said in his media briefing on Thursday that New Delhi has accepted Islamabad's request for a meeting between Sushma Swaraj and Qureshi at the UN.Ranchi, Sep 23 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday launched the 'Ayushman Bharat -Pradhan Mantri Jan Aarogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY)' here deemed as the "worlds largest government funded healthcare programme", targeting more than 50 crore beneficiaries.

The scheme will provide a cover of up to Rs 5 lakh per family per year, for secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation through a network of Empanelled Health Care Providers (EHCP).

The EHCP network will provide cashless and paperless access to services for the beneficiaries at both public and private hospitals.

The services will include 1,350 procedures covering pre and post-hospitalisation, diagnostics, medicines etc.

Ayushman Bharat has two components -- creation of 150,000 health and wellness centres which will provide Comprehensive Primary Health Care (CPHC) and the PMJAY which provides health protection cover to poor and vulnerable families for secondary and tertiary care.

The first Health and Wellness Centre was launched by Modi at Jangla, Chhatisgarh on April 14.

PMJAY primarily targets the poor, deprived rural families and identified occupational category of urban workers' families as per the latest Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC) data for both rural and urban areas as well as the active families under the Rashtriya Swasthya BimaYojana (RSBY).

The objectives of the scheme are to reduce out of pocket hospitalisation expenses, fulfil unmet needs and improve access of identified families to quality inpatient care and day care surgeries.

The scheme allows states enough flexibility in terms of packages, procedures, scheme design, entitlements as well as other guidelines while ensuring that key benefits of portability and fraud detection are ensured at a national level.

States have the option to use an existing trust/society or set up a new trust/society to implement the scheme as State Health Agency and will be free to choose the modalities for implementation.

It can implement the Scheme through an insurance company or directly through the Trust/Society/Implementation Support Agency or a mixed approach.

Pilot launch of the scheme has already started in around 22 states and Union Territories and so far 30 states and union territories have signed a Memorandum of Understanding and started working on implementation of the mission.New Delhi, Sep 23 : Rescinding its earlier decision, the Railways will now push for only an 850 km section between Mathura and Vadodara to be equipped with a modern signalling system at an estimated cost of about Rs 2,000 crore.

The proposal to install an automatic train protection (ATP) system -- the state-of-the-art European Train Controlling System (ETCS) Level-II -- is being firmed up and will shortly be sent for cabinet approval, sources told IANS.

The system prevents the collision of two trains on the same track and also updates loco pilots on the condition of signals ahead even when the visibility is poor due to fog or other reasons.

Once the Mathura-Vadodara section becomes operational, ETCS Level-II will be considered for extension on other sections, depending upon its performance, according to the Railways.

Earlier, the Railways had decided to go for complete automation, including the ETCS level-II, on its entire 60,000 km broad gauge network at an estimated cost of Rs 78,000 crore.

However, the proposal did not find favour with the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) due to the high cost and also for the fact that the new system was untested in Indian conditions.

The PMO asked the national transporter in April to carry out extensive trials in a busy section to ascertain its efficacy and then decide on the entire network.

Railway Minister Piyush Goyal has been vocal in his support of the idea since the automation of the signalling system aims to enhance safety and speed up train movement in a congested network.

In fact, he was in favour of giving the entire contract to one player so as to gain a price advantage on economies of scale.

The ETCS Level-II proposal was lying idle for a while after the PMO's suggestion in April to opt for the system along a limited section before going full hog.

(Arun Kumar Das can be contacted at akdas2005@gmail.com)Shimla, Sep 23 : Even as triple talaq or instant divorce has caught the nation's attention, things are still unfair for tribal women of Himachal Pradesh. Nestled in the remote and inaccessible terrain of the Himalayan state are women who inherit only trouble instead of assets after the death of their parents and even husbands.

They are bound by a century-old patriarchal law that allows only men to inherit ancestral property, if not bequeathed. The still-prevalent Wajib Ul Urj customary law came into existence in 1926.

Old-timers believe the origin of the custom-made tradition is the scarcity of fertile land. A belief is that giving inheritance rights to the women will give an opportunity to outsiders to become owners of the land if they marry outside the community.

So, the tribal women in Kinnaur and Lahaul-Spiti districts couldn't inherit property in accordance with Hindu Succession Act of 1956.

Women's right groups have been protesting for decades against this tribal custom. They told IANS the law bars even widows from inheriting their husband's property, which is transferred to the sons, even if they are minors.

"We are fighting for the tribal women's rights for the past four decades and we have not given up the hope of getting justice," 65-year-old social activist Rattan Manjari, chairperson of the Mahila Kalyan Parishad, a rights group based in Kinnaur district, told IANS.

In the past six years, campaigns on educating tribal women about their rights to ancestral property have starting evoking response from the public but not from the government.

"Nothing much has, in fact, changed the mindset of the people with these education campaigns, but this issue is now a talking point in a society where more and more women are coming out openly against this law," Manjari, an apple grower in Ribba village, some 250 km from state capital Shimla, said.

She is one of the rare women in the district who was bequeathed the agricultural land by her mother who opted for her over her brother.

Manjari, with the help of hundreds of activists of over 170 Mahila Mandals, has been organising panchayat meetings and signature campaigns for over a decade now.

Manjari, who sought a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on behalf of the Mahila Kalyan Parishad through Ram Swaroop, a Member of Parliament, said she has petitioned the Supreme Court to get justice against the customary law.

Her appeal is likely to be listed for its first hearing on September 24.

Interestingly, in Spiti region there is the law of primogeniture, the right of succession belonging to the first-born child like the feudal rule by which the whole estate of an intestate passed to the eldest son and deprived the rest of the male siblings of their legal right to property.

In the absence of an heir, inheritance passed to collateral relatives, mainly male, in order of seniority.

"Certain men's groups are unnecessarily indulging in fear-mongering. Our fight is against customary inequality and not against the men. We are going to send a huge number of signature forms, taking our voice to the Indian government," another activist, Shobha Negi, told IANS.

She said there were many cases where women, after the death of their husbands or parents, were abandoned by their family members, forcing them to eke out a miserable living.

In June 2015, a Himachal Pradesh High Court ruling gave land inheritance rights to these tribal women. This was challenged and the matter is pending with the Supreme Court.

"The daughters in the tribal areas shall inherit property in accordance with the Hindu Succession Act of 1956 and not as per customs. This is in order to prevent women from facing social injustice and all forms of exploitation," Justice Rajiv Sharma of the high court had said.

He said the laws must evolve with the times if societies are to progress.

"It is made clear by way of abundant precaution that the observations made here only pertain to right to inherit the property by daughters under the Hindu Succession Act, 1956, and not any other privileges enjoyed by the tribals in the tribal areas," he had said in a 60-page order.

Justice Sharma had upheld an order passed by the district judge of Chamba in 2002 to grant legal property rights to women.

"The tribal belts have modernised with the passage of time. They profess Hindu rites and customs. They do not follow different gods. Their culture may be different but customs must conform to the constitutional philosophy," the judge had added.

According to 2011 Census figures, the sex ratio in Kinnaur has gone down from 857 in 2001 to 818 in 2011. It's ranked the lowest in the state, while in 2001 its rank was 10th. But the literacy rate in the district is 80.77 percent -- 88.37 for males and 71.34 for females -- for a population of 84,298.

(Vishal Gulati can be contacted at vishal.g@ians.in)New Delhi, Sep 23 : Intensifying its attack over the raging Rafale controversy, the Congress on Sunday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of violating the oath of secrecy by revealing details of the new deal to an industrialist who subsequently became an offset partner instead of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited.

Hours after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley again came out in defence of the deal for purchasing 36 French fighter jets, Congress Spokesperson Anand Sharma demanded that the Prime Minister respond to the allegations directed at him.

"The question to the Prime Minister is -- how this information came out that he will go go to France and reverse the deal?" said Sharma referring to Modi's April 2015 announcement of an intergovernmental deal to purchase 36 jets instead of 126 being negotiated during the erstwhile UPA regime.

"Then Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar had said that the Rafale deal was not on the agenda during Modi's visit to France. Nobody knew as to Modi's visit to France and the announcement of a new deal. Even the Cabinet Committee on Security, the Indian Air Force, the Cabinet or the Foreign Secretary were not aware about the decision.

"Direct allegations are against the Prime Minister that he violated his oath of secrecy. Only he and none else could have revealed to the private company that he will reverse the deal," said Sharma while pointing to the incorporation of Reliance Defence Limited just days before Modi visited France in April 2015.

"It's a conspiracy, only one (Modi) person with knowledge about the new deal -- without telling anyone in the Cabinet, or the Ambassador etc -- revealed the details to the industrialist and asked him to form a company," alleged Sharma.

Sharma said that there will be global ramifications of the "scam of the century".

"We had warned the Prime Minister that this scam will have global ramifications. It will not be limited to geographical boundaries of India but resonate in the world capitals, and that is what is happening," said Sharma.

The Congress leader was referring to French media reports on former France President Francois Hollande's claims regarding a private Indian firm becoming an offset partner in the intergovernmental deal for the fighter jets.

"Why is the Prime Minister silent? He speaks on every subject, he is the main campaigner for the BJP and the government. So when the allegations are against him, it's he who should answer, and not others on his behalf," said Sharma.

The Congress leader dismissed as "repeated lies" the latest defences and justifications given by Jaitley and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on the matter.Istanbul, Sep 23 : Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday that meeting with his US counterpart Donald Trump during the 73rd United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York next week is not currently on the table.

"If a demand comes from Washington, we will evaluate it," Erdogan said in Istanbul, prior to his departure for New York, Xinhua reported.

The relationship between the two NATO allies has significantly deteriorated in recent years over a series of rifts, including the continued detention of a U.S. pastor in Turkey.

Meanwhile, Ankara accused Washington of providing arms to the Kurdish militia in Syria.

Erdogan is expected to address the UN assembly on Tuesday.

"In my speech, I will underline humanitarian crises and call for solutions to these problems which have been deeply hurting hearts," the Turkish president said.

"I will, in particular, draw attention to developments in Syria," he said, noting the biggest issue for the future of Syria is the terror swamp expanding in the east of the Euphrates.New Delhi, Sep 23 : Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday said students are shifting from private to government schools for the first time in history after his party came to power and transformed the system.

"There is a reverse swing now. It is for the first time in the history that students are shifting from private schools to government schools.

"Recently, a government school was opened in Rohini and 900 students took admission in it. Of these, 750 were from private schools," he said while addressing a gathering in Rithala here.

"Earlier, the condition of schools was such that even the poor did not want to send their kids to these schools. Even if they didn't have money for food, they wanted to send their kids to private schools," he added.

Kejriwal, also the Chairman of Delhi Jal Board, was addressing the gathering after inaugurating the work of laying down a sewer line in Budh Vihar group of colonies in Rithala.

The estimated cost to be incurred on the project is Rs 79.69 crore and will be completed in 42 months, it said.New Delhi, Sep 23 : Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday challenged BJP President Amit Shah for a public debate at the Ramlila Maidan here on the performance of the BJP-led Central government and the Aam Aadmi Party's Delhi government.

The BJP on Sunday accused Kejriwal of "speaking lies boldly and publicly".

Addressing the Poorvanchal Mahakumbh Rally organised at Ramlila Maidan, Shah also said that Kejriwal is stalling the development work in the city.

Responding to Shah's allegations, Kejriwal said his government has done ten times more work than the Modi-government has.

"Amit Shahji, our Delhi government has done 10 times more work than what Modiji has done during last four years. On the other hand look at the anti-people and wrong deeds of Modiji, we have not indulged in even a single act of that kind. I challenge you, come let us have a public debate at the Ramlila Maidan in front of the people of Delhi," Kejriwal said in a tweet in Hindi.

Kejriwal reminded the BJP that it also has responsibilities as it has MPs from Delhi.

"People of Delhi had given merely two works, policing and sanitation, and your party has proved to be a disaster in both. Neither have you been able to keep Delhi clean nor have you been able to perform policing functions properly.

"We were given the responsibility of electricity, water, education and health by the people of Delhi and our performance in these sectors is being lauded the world over," Kejriwal added.

Kejriwal also attacked the BJP on Shah's claim that the Modi government had allocated three times more money to Poorvanchal areas of India in the 14th Finance Commission as compared to what the Congress-led government had one in the 13th Finance Commission.

"Amit Shahji, how much money did your government provide to Delhi in the 14th Finance Commission? Merely Rs 325 crore? People of Poorvanchal reside in Delhi also. Why did your government not provide money for their development? Why this discrimination against Poorvanchalis living in Delhi?"New Delhi, Sep 23 : The Delhi government will organise alumni meetings in all its schools to reconnect and collaborate with its former students, Education Minister Manish Sisodia said on Sunday.

He made the announcement after attending an alumni meet at a Delhi government school in Shakti Nagar, where students who passed out from the school after 1961 participated.

The participants included IAS and IRS officers, engineers, social workers, and businessmen among others, the Delhi government said in a statement.

The alumni shared their work experiences with their juniors and also promised every possible contribution for the improvement of the school.

"The old boys who passed in 1961 onwards were so happy to be back in school. Also inaugurated the RO system and smart class arranged by the alumni," Sisodia tweeted.

With the intention to bring the alumni closer to their schools, there will be an 'Alumni Section' on the school website where the alumni can register and stay updated about their schools, the statement said.

Schools will also take an initiative to reach out to old alumni and register their details to fortify a new bond between the school and them, it said.

As part of this initiative, the Education Minister has instructed his department that the schools should invite the alumni as special guests on occasions like the Republic Day and the Independence Day, it added.

Sisodia also instructed the Department to connect the officers working in the Delhi government -- many of whom are alumni of Delhi government schools.

It is believed that the students presently studying in the schools will be inspired by this exercise and the old students will be able to contribute their time, resources and wisdom on how the school system can be improved, the statement added.Visakhapatnam, Sep 23 : Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and TDP chief N. Chandrababu Naidu on Sunday expressed shock over the killing of his party MLA and a former legislator by Maoists in Visakhapatnam district earlier in the day.

Naidu, who is currently visiting the United States, sent a message condemning the killings, and conveyed his condolences to the bereaved families.

The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) said that such attacks and killings are a "scar on humanity".

K. Sarveswara Rao, 45, TDP MLA from Araku (Reserved-Scheduled Tribe) and his party colleague and former MLA Siveri Soma, 52, were gunned down by Maoists near Thutangi village, about 125 km from the coastal city of Visakhapatnam.

As relatives and supporters of the slain leaders attacked two police stations to protest against the alleged police failure to protect them, Naidu appealed to the people to maintain calm.

The Chief Minister directed senior Cabinet colleague Kala Venkatrao to rush to the district.Panaji, Sep 23 : The Congress on Sunday alleged that top BJP leaders including President Amit Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi had "no courage" to ask ailing Manohar Parrikar to step down as Chief Minister of Goa, because Parrikar, a former Defence Minister, had a lot of information about the Rafale deal.

Goa Congress President Girish Chodankar made the charge soon after Shah tweeted, that the ailing Parrikar, who is being treated for advanced pancreatic cancer at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences for a week now, would continue as Chief Minister of Goa.

"Parrikar must be having a lot of information about the Rafale deal, because he was the Defence Minister that time. Parrikar is refusing to resign and they have no courage to ask for his resignation, because of the Rafale deal, because it is a huge scam, where PM is directly involved.

"I think Parrikar is using them now (and saying) if you ask for my resignation, I will expose you in the Rafale deal. They (Shah and Modi) are being blackmailed," Chodankar alleged at a press conference at the party's state headquarters in Panaji.

Earlier in the day, Shah in a tweet finally lent a bit of clarity to the ongoing leadership crisis arising from Parrikar's recurring hospitalization for nearly seven months now in hospitals in Goa, Mumbai, New York and now Delhi.

"After discussions with the core team of the Goa state BJP, a decision has been taken that Chief Minister of Goa Manohar Parrikar will continue as a leader. Changes in the state government ministerial portfolios will happen soon," Shah said in his tweet.

Chodankar, however, has claimed, that the decision to continue with an ailing CM, who has been admitted to the Delhi hospital for a week now, only shows the "pure arrogance" of the party.New Delhi : Kabul (IANS) Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani cancelled his visit to New York to attend the UN General Assembly (UNGA) meeting after his American counterpart Donald Trump declined to meet him, a media report said Sunday.

However, government officials rejected the claim as baseless.

Earlier, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Abdullah Abdullah left for the US to attend the 73rd UNGA meeting.

The CEO, heading a high-level delegation, would take part in the assembly on behalf of the unity government and express Kabul's views on different issues, a statement from his office said.

Abdullah will underline the need for countering terrorism and narcotics, and for enhancing regional and international cooperation with Afghanistan in this regard. The CEO would explain Afghanistan's preparations for the parliamentary and district council elections.

A reliable source at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA), wishing anonymity, told Pajhwok Afghan News that it was expected that President Donald Trump and President Ashraf Ghani would meet on the sidelines of the UNGA meeting in New York.

He said a delegation in this regard recently visited the US, but President Trump declined the request and said that Ghani could meet Vice President Mike Pence.

National Security Council spokesman Qader Shah said he was unaware of the development while the Presidential Palace rejected the claim of the MoFA source.

Deputy Presidential spokesman Shah Hussain Murtazavi rejected the president was intending to attend the UNGA meeting and said the CEO would participate in the meeting.

He said the country's situation demanded that the President should remain at home and not participate in multinational conferences.

MoFA spokesman Sifatullah Ahmadi also termed the claim of meeting cancellation as baseless.Cairo, Sep 23 : An Egyptian court on Sunday sentenced the Supreme Guide of Muslim Brotherhood Mohamed Badie to life imprisonment over storming a police station in the Upper Egypt's province of Minya in 2013, the media reported.

A total of 64 other members of the Islamic group were also handed life sentence, which is 25 years in jail in Egypt.

The case dates back to August 2013 when the defendants assaulted a police station and killed a policeman, after the army-led ouster of former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in response to mass protests against his one-year rule.

The other 600 people charged in the same case were sentenced up to 15 years in prison.

They were also found guilty of vandalism, attacking public property, possessing arms and joining illegal organisations, the court said.

Badie, spiritual guide of the Muslim Brotherhood, was handed death sentence for ordering the murder of 10 people in Cairo in 2013.

In January 2010, Badie was elected the Muslim Brotherhood's eighth chief since its foundation in 1928 after a bitter dispute between ideologically focused conservatives and reformists.

He also received two other life sentences in cases related to espionage for a foreign country and violence.

Most Muslim Brotherhood's leaders, members and supporters, including Morsi himself, are currently jailed, many of whom have received appealable death and life sentences over various charges ranging from inciting violence and murder to espionage and jailbreak.

Morsi is currently serving a 20-year sentence for inciting deadly clashes between his supporters and opponents in late 2012, and a 25-year jail term for leaking classified documents to Qatar.Patna, Sep 23 : Former Muzaffarpur Mayor Samir Kumar and his driver were shot dead on Sunday night by unidentified assailants in the Bihar town, police said.

Samir and his driver, who was not identified immediately, were fatally shot by motorcycle-borne criminals armed with an AK-47 assault rifle.

The criminals hailed the former Mayor's SUV to a stop at the Banaras Chowk in Muzaffarpur. As they stopped, the assailants fired dozens of bullets at Samir and his driver and fled, a police official said.

The crime has created panic in Muzaffarpur. Police has registered a case.New York, Sep 23 : Late celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain's last voiceover for "Parts Unknown" was about how he always tried to do his best.

A packed, emotional house discovered this at the Tribeca TV festival screening of the show's upcoming Kenya episode -- the twelfth and final season premiere featuring "United Shades of America" host W. Kamau Bell.

Bourdain wanted to emphasise a point that has sometimes gotten lost in his work, reports variety.com.

"I do my best," he said of his exploratory travel around the world, adding: "I look, I listen. But in the end, I know it's my story. Not Kamau's, not Kenya's. Those stories have yet to be heard."

The voiceover, which airs after the credits on the episode, is one that not something his producers quite understood when Bourdain wrote it.

"We didn't have any idea what the f*ck he was talking about," said director Morgan Fallon.

But after Bourdain died in June, they revisited the tape and "it was almost uncanny".New Delhi, Sep 23 : Calling it a personal relations exercise, Aam Aadmi Party head Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday said the Centre's Ayushman Bharat scheme will prove to be another 'jumla'.

Kejriwal tweeted: "Please read why Ayushman Bharat is another PR exercise and will prove another jumla".

Along with the tweet, he shared a party statement which compared Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Ayushman Bharat Scheme with Delhi Model of Universal Healthcare.

"The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has termed the much-hyped Ayushman Bharat Scheme of the Modi government as another white elephant in the making. PM Modi launched the scheme in Jharkhand on Sunday," reads the statement.

It added that the party is of the view that a universal healthcare scheme is a must for the country; however, "Ayushman Bharat Scheme is not at all a universal scheme and is designed in manner which is bound to fail."

The AAP also claimed that Ayushman Bharat skips primary healthcare.

"The Ayushman Bharat Scheme, designed by the Modi government caters only to secondary and tertiary requirements. It gives a miss to the most important, the primary healthcare.

"The Modi Government plans to climb the ladder of healthcare without laying a foundation; which is one of the reasons why the AAP terms the scheme as flawed. Without a strong foundation, it is destined to fall," it added.

The party statement also claimed that the Delhi government has shown through its three-tier healthcare scheme as to how universal healthcare should be designed.New Delhi, Sep 24 : Noted Assamese actor Adil Hussain has urged the government to release Rs 5 crore for the promotion of Rima Das' Assamese film "Village Rockstars" ahead of the Oscars, where it will represent India in the Best Foreign Language film category.

On Saturday, the Film Federation of India (FFI) announced the independent film as the chosen one to vie with movies from several other countries to make the cut as a nominee in the highly competitive Academy Awards category.

FFI's selection committee chairman S.V. Rajendra Singh Babu, a veteran film producer, said there is an acute lack of funds to carry out the required promotional processes effectively, which is why many Indian movies haven't made it to the final round, barring three -- "Mother India" (1957), "Salaam Bombay!" (1988) and "Lagaan" (2001).

Adil was "flummoxed" with the statement.

"The governments have so much money to promote themselves putting posters all across! After selecting 'Village Rockstars', jury says there's acute lack of funds to promote film at Oscars," tweeted the actor, whose Norwegian film "What Will People Say" is Norway's official entry to the Oscars this year.

Adil drew the attention of the Assam government, Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, his office and of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to the matter, hoping they "will immediately release Rs 5 crore for the promotion of 'Village Rockstars', since all other countries have already started their campaigns in the US".

As Rajendra Singh Babu rightly pointed out, "It is impossible for independent and small producers to promote their film all by themselves. It is important that they receive funds to do so. It is important we follow these processes to reach all the Academy members and critics."

Adil's tweets got reaction.

Actor Annup Sonii expressed disappointment, and wrote: "For the smallest achievement they have big funds but for this... 'Acute lack of funds'. Eventually it will come down to the filmmaker asking for favours or donations... Sad... Very sad."

Actress Renuka Shahane questioned: "Why don't we from the film fraternity join hands and create a fundraiser for our Oscar entry? Let's not depend on the government. It is important that we support this gem of a film onwards to the Oscars."

When a Twitter user pointed out that "filthy rich, big stars and producers" from the industry "can afford your Oscar thingy", Renuka retorted: "What do you mean 'Our Oscar thingy'?

"It should be a matter of pride for the entire country that a young girl with no background or training in filmmaking makes an incredible film like 'Village Rockstars' that compels the jury to select it for the Oscars. Let's not be myopic."

On Adil's plea to the government, another user commented that the taxpayers' money should not be used for Oscars.

"Is it some kind of national service? Why should we care about an American award? Why can't film industry fund these expenses?" the user questioned.

To that, Adil wrote: "Government can use taxpayers' money to promote India's image as a supporter of high quality art. That's what all civilised governments do! 'Village Rockstars' is an independent film. It's not a mainstream run-of-the-mill film.

"Government's responsibility is to support fine art of any discipline."

Set in Das' own village of Chhaygaon in Assam, "Village Rockstars" is the story of "poor but amazing children" who live a fun-filled life.

The film also won the Best Feature film Award at the 65th National Film Awards.

As for Das, she is hoping for the best as far as funds are concerned to put her film on the Oscars map.

"'Village Rockstars' is a film about dreams and hope. It has transcended so many barriers right from the time of its inception and I am hopeful this time too it will."Dubai, Sep 24 : Continuing their winning run, India handed out an another humiliating nine-wicket defeat to arch-rivals Pakistan in the ongoing Asia Cup tournament here on Sunday.

Chasing an average 238-run target, Indian openers Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan single-handedly dominated the Pakistani bowling attack to add another defeat to the Sarfraz Ahmed-led side in the tournament.

Pakistan, looking for wickets, got a respite too late, as a run out by Hasan Ali packed back Dhawan when India was 28 runs away from a comfortable win.

It was a cake walk for incoming batsman Ambati Rayudu (12 off 18) to lead his side to an another convincing victory in the tournament.

Earlier, Shoaib Malik's disciplined innings along with useful contribution from Sarfraz helped Pakistan post 237/7 against India.

Malik scored 78 runs in 90 balls and Sarfraz made 44 runs in 66 balls to forge a crucial 107-run fourth wicket partnership to guide their team to a respectable total.

Electing to bat, Pakistan began on a decent note, forging a 24 run partnership for the first wicket before opener Imam-ul-Haq (10) was dismissed by Yuzvendra Chahal in the eighth over via Decision Review System (DRS).

Fakhar Zaman (31), who looked good in the middle, was the next to go. He was adjudged leg before wicket off Kuldeep Yadav in the 15th over. Soon, Babar Azam was run out while trying to steal a single off Ravindra Jadeja.

With three wickets down at just 58 runs, experienced duo Malik and Sarfraz joined hands and took Pakistan out of troubled waters.

The duo stitched a brilliant partnership, hitting some glorious boundaries and sixes.

Just when things were going smooth for Pakistan, Kuldeep broke the partnership, taking Sarfraz's wicket in the 40th over.

Unperturbed, Malik kept on playing his shots and maintained a good run rate. But while trying to increase the run rate, Malik gifted a simple catch to Mahendra Singh Dhoni off Jasprit Bumrah. He slammed four boundaries and two sixes.

Towards the end, Asif Ali (30) also contributed handsomely along with Shadab Khan (10) Mohammad Nawaz (15) to complete the innings at 237/7 in their allotted 50 overs.

For India, Bumrah, Chahal and Kuldeep took two wickets each.

Brief scores: Pakistan 237/7 (Shoaib Malik 78; Jasprit Bumrah 2/29), lost to India 238/1 (Rohit Sharma 111*, Shikhar Dhawan 114)Washington, Sep 24 : US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said President Donald Trump was prepared to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-un again.

"President Trump very much is prepared to meet with Chairman Kim at the right time, and we hope that'll happen in the not-too-distant future," the top US diplomat told NBC on Sunday, Xinhua news agency reported.

The White House revealed over a week ago that it has been coordinating a possible second summit between Trump and Kim after Pyongyang sent a letter to Washington in early September requesting another top-level meeting following the first one in June in Singapore.

"We have to build it out, we have to set up the logistics, we've got to set the right conditions," said Pompeo.

Tension on the Korean Peninsula has been further eased as South Korean President Moon Jae-in paid a historic trip to Pyongyang last week, bonding closer ties with Kim and signing the Pyongyang Declaration on further steps towards the Korean Peninsula's denuclearization.

Welcoming the positive steps on inter-Korean relations, Pompeo announced earlier that he has invited his North Korean counterpart to meet on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York in the following week.

However, differences remain in current North Korea-US talks, including the scale of denuclearization, US sanctions, and whether to issue a war-ending declaration.

The US State Department said on Thursday the denuclearization of Pyongyang has to come first before the US side gives any corresponding reciprocal measures.

The US so far has largely ignored North Korea's request in the Pyongyang Declaration for "corresponding measures" as the precondition for its further actions on the denuclearization, such as the permanent destruction of its main Yongbyon nuclear facility.Abu Dhabi, Sep 24 : Hashmatullah Shahidi's 71 went in vain as Afghanistan lost a thrilling contest to Bangladesh by three runs in a Super Four tie of Asia Cup 2018 here on Sunday.

Opting to bat first, Bangladesh rode on Mahmudullah's 74 and Imrul Kayes's 72 to put an average 250-tun target before minnows Afghanistan.

In reply, Afghanistan lost wickets at regular intervals despite a brilliant opening by Mohammad Shahzad (53).

After his fall, Shahidi showed a terrific fight to put things in control but lacked support from the other end as no other batsman was able to show any resistance and Afghanistan eventually lost by three runs.United Nations, Sep 24 : UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has hailed the World Bank/United Nations Famine Action Mechanism (FAM) as an important new tool to help predict and prevent famine.

With the cooperation of humanitarian development organisations, tech companies, academia, the insurance sector and others, this initiative is a successful multi-stakeholder partnership, he told a forum for the launch of the mechanism at UN Headquarters in New York.

"FAM will give a more accurate picture of food security in real time, triggering early action from donors and humanitarian agencies that will save lives and prevent further suffering," he said on Sunday, Xinhua news agency reported.

The mechanism will use state-of-the-art technologies, including artificial intelligence and machine learning, to detect correlations between different risks, he noted.

Creating and strengthening partnerships will help donors, affected countries and international organisations to bridge funding gaps along the entire humanitarian cycle, from prevention and preparedness to emergency response, said the UN chief.

"With the Famine Action Mechanism, we are renewing our pledge to zero tolerance for famine and acute food insecurity. We are renewing our pledge to feed everyone in our world and to leave no one behind."

"This very basic goal should be within our grasp. With today's advanced technology and knowledge of agriculture, we can surely uphold everyone's fundamental right to food, " he said. "But sadly, harrowing images of parents holding their malnourished children, helpless in the face of tragedy, are not consigned to history."

After years of progress on hunger, the world is losing ground. The number of undernourished people is rising -- to more than 820 million in 2017, he said.

During the IMF-World Bank spring meetings in 2017, World Bank President Jim Yong Kim and Guterres committed themselves to zero tolerance for famine.

As a follow-up, the World Bank, the United Nations, the International Committee of the Red Cross and other global partners began to develop FAM, the first global mechanism dedicated to famine prevention, preparedness and early action.

The mechanism has the support of global technology companies, including Microsoft, Google and Amazon Web Services.Shelter dogs come in all shapes and sizes. "Its easy to fall in love when those soulful eyes are staring at you, but its important to choose a dog who... fits your familys lifestyle."

October is Adopt-a-Shelter-Dog Month, a time when pet rescue and shelter organizations across the country encourage pet lovers to visit and adopt a homeless dog.

Adopting a shelter pet has so many advantages, says Heather Corum, of at-home pet care services provider Canine Company. Theyre already vaccinated and spayed or neutered. And, because the staff has had time to assess their personalities, its easier to make a good match.

But, she adds, bringing any dog into the household requires planning and preparation. She shares four tips to help turn a happy first meeting into a lifelong relationship.



Do some research in advance. Its so easy to fall in love when those soulful eyes are staring at you, says Corum, but its important to choose a dog whose energy level and exercise needs fit your familys lifestyle. She recommends looking on the shelters website to see what types of dogs are available, and then investigating the traits of those breeds.

Prepare both home and yard for the new arrival. Choose a safe area for the new family member  perhaps in the kitchen or family room -- and set up his crate and bedding, food and water bowls, and a few toys there. Outdoor safety demands a fence, like the Invisible Fence brand system, which gives your dog freedom to run and play, but gives you peace of mind that she is safe in her yard.

Make a commitment to train. Training is an excellent way to build a happy and positive relationship with your dog, says Corum. Whether you spend time teaching basic skills or a new trick, you are enhancing your bond with your pet. She recommends seeking the help of a professional trainer, who can develop a plan customized for the dog and familys needs.

Practice patience. Dogs are most at ease when they have a familiar routine. The ebb and flow of his new home will be different from his routine at the shelter. Be consistent, give him time to adjust and, with patience and love, your new family member will thrive.

Most importantly, says Corum, take the time to prepare. There are thousands of adoptable dogs available year-round  not just in October. Both the ASPCA and Petfinder have searchable databases of available pets at local shelters across the country.

About Canine Company

Born of a familys love for dogs, Canine Company has been helping families keep their dogs and cats healthy, safe and happy for 35 years. The company serves pet parents across New England, New York and New Jersey with the Invisible Fence brand systems, Manners dog obedience training, and mobile grooming and pet sitting in select markets. Its charitable Canine Love campaign supports pet rescue groups and donates pet oxygen masks to first responders.While the summer has certainly looked good on Benzer Pharmacy Franchiseparticularly in terms of new store openingsits early jump on fall hints at something even more impressive.

With todays announcement of another new franchise opening, this time in Port St. Lucie, Florida, the company is proud to share plans for even more rapid expansion through the late part of 2018 and beyond. As it stands, the latest opening pins the number of Benzer Pharmacy Franchise locations at 26, but thats only a placeholder, according to Alpesh Patel, President of Benzer Pharmacy.

There will be a lot more openings over the next several months, as Benzer Franchise ramps up efforts to reach into new markets, Patel said. Even better has been the reaction weve seen from customers who are experiencing the brand for the first time. It seems were bringing a lot of sunshine everywhere we goeven to places in Florida already known for having plenty of it!

The opening in Port St. Lucie is only the latest in a steady march upward toward what Patel estimates may be as many as 80 new franchise storefronts by the end of the year.

Keep your eyes on the prize, Patel affirmed. The perfect stormin a good wayis on the way for pharmacy customers in Florida and across the country.

The new Benzer Pharmacy Franchise is located at 8701 US Highway 1 in Port St. Lucie, and is now open for business weekdays from 8am to 6pm, and on Saturdays from 9am to 4pm. Phone: 772-301-1095; Fax: 772-301-2728.

For more information, visit http://franchise.benzerpharmacy.com

About Benzer Pharmacy. Founded in 2009, Benzer Pharmacy is a chain of independent retail pharmacies specializing in compounding and specialty medication. Currently, there are 70+ corporate and 26 franchise locations situated throughout Florida, Michigan, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Georgia, Nevada, Louisiana, New York, Missouri, Mississippi, Maryland, Indiana and Idaho. Projections call for continued rapid growth as the organization seeks to substantially increase its customer base, while ensuring experiences match expectations at every touchpoint.

Benzer Pharmacy has made four straight appearances on Inc. 5,000 list of the fastest growing private companies in America from 2015-2018; correspondingly, the company earned 39th place on the 2015 Florida Fast 100 list, while concurrently placing 67th on the 2015 TBBJ 200 list of Tampa Bays largest private companies. Benzer was also voted favorite pharmacy in the 2015 Best of Fuquay Varina in North Carolina, and achieved PCAB compounding accreditation with Accreditation Commission for Health Care (ACHC). All Benzer Pharmacy medications require a doctor's prescription.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BenzerPharmacy

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/benzerpharmacy

Instagram: https://instagram.com/benzer_pharmacyThose familiar with Bella Sera Trattoria have experienced its delightfully fresh and delicious Italian food each day since owners Joe and Dana Borrelli took over in April of 2014. The New Bella Sera opened its doors as part of a complete ownership change and renovation.

Located at 422 South Myrtle Avenue in historic Old Town Monrovia, Bella Sera Trattorias menu features familiar entrees youve loved for years such as homemade pastas and meats as well as their own inventive dishes like their famous braised short-rib ragu.

Since 2014, the rave reviews from local patrons havent stopped pouring in.

So much so in fact, that Joe and Dana decided to take over the space next door to the Trattoria to open the now acclaimed Bottega at Bella Sera, which offers locals the very best in gourmet deli meats, cheeses, sandwiches, handcrafted olive oils and vinegars, groceries and desserts.

It was announced this week that Bella Sera Trattoria would be featured on the KTLA 5 Morning News as part of its live broadcast Friday, September 21st.

Weve watched KTLA 5 feature other local restaurants and their food for years and couldnt be more excited for them to feature ours, said Bella Sera Trattoria owner Joe Borrelli. Were looking forward to it very much and hope our patrons will tune in! Said Borrelli.

With delectable new additions added daily, both Bella Sera Trattoria and the Bottega at Bella Sera guests can always try something new.

If you love great food, feel free to visit http://www.bellaseratrattoria.com and tune into the KTLA 5 Morning News this Friday to catch a live look at whats cooking with Joe and Dana Borrelli.Company deepens financial expertise for broadening strategic initiatives

Iverify, North Americas largest full-service interactive security company, today announced that Steve Martin has joined the company as their chief financial officer (CFO). Steve will report directly to Iverifys CEO, James Fanella.

With an incredible track record across large and mid-sized companies, Steve will provide the financial leadership needed for Iverifys continued journey, commented James Fanella. His industry-specific roles in acquisition finance; integration, shared services, and corporate controls provide Iverify with the additional skills needed to meet our strategic goals.

Most recently, Steve has served as vice president and assistant secretary for Allied Universals operating companies where he led financial modeling & target evaluation, synergy planning & execution, integration management, and other activities. He has also served as the companys vice president of finance, corporate controller, shared services and acquisitions. Prior to Universal Services, he was a controller, director of accounting and financial reporting, and began his finance career with KPMG as a senior auditor.

Joining Iverify at this point in the companys journey is exciting, said Martin. While the companys new management team has achieved a lot of success over the past year, I am ready to apply my expertise across the organization to help take the company to the next level.

Martin earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in business economics at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is a Certified Public Accountant (inactive) in the state of California.

Tony Temprile, the companys prior CFO, is now the companys chief of staff, reporting directly to James Fanella, where he will be focused on the companys procurement, contract automation, collection efforts, and special task force initiatives.

About Iverify:

Iverify is North Americas largest full-service interactive security company providing life safety, loss prevention, cyber breach reduction, and brand protection. Customers leverage Iverifys consulting, design, installation, monitoring and interactive support services to support their business needs across large and small retailers, automotive dealerships, property management companies, and a host of other business types. Applying a set of custom designed protocols for each individual client, Iverify aligns technology, information, and people for maximum effectiveness and efficiency. Our remote presence creates a safer environment for our clients employees and their customers, with cost-effective flexibility, scalability and responsiveness to real-world needs. Iverify operates 24x7 monitoring centers out of their Charlotte, NC, and Chanhassen, MN, locations. http://www.IverifySecurity.comWelcome to the Pulse Community! We will now be sending you a daily newsletter on news, entertainment and more. Also join us across all of our other channels - we love to be connected!Despite knowing his HIV status, Osei, of Reading, Berkshire, did not use protection with a 17-year-old girl and encouraged a cautious second woman into have unsafe sex because she was his girlfriend.

Both women fell ill not long after sex with Osei and tests showed he had passed the virus onto each of them

The court heard that he refused the help offered to him by doctors when he was diagnosed with the HIV virus.

The court also heard that he lied that a sexual health clinic check-up had found he was clean and showed her a text message to prove it.

He is also said to have kept secret that his particularly high viral count meant it was more likely he would infect partners through unprotected sex.

The presiding judge, Angela Morris said Osei had lied, lied and lied again.

Jailing him for five years she said: "We are not living in the 1980s where everyone was ignorant of the effects of this disease and running around in a panic.

"This is 30 years later.

READ MORE: Man gets banned by restaurant for eating too much after consuming 100 dishes

"Despite your knowledge of your medical condition you embarked on a sexual relationship. Your actions are totally inexcusable."It is unclear what provoked her post, but according to her, brideprice, back in history, was fundamentally a man taking gifts to the wife's family, "but there was also an exchange of gifts."

In her post, he observed that the exchange of gift was "a bit more fluid" but now there is a "whole commercialisation of the idea."

She said: ''If you go back in history, the idea of marriage is different from what it is today. The idea of brideprice was fundamentally the man taking gifts to the wife's family, but there was also an exchange of gifts. There are things the brides family will also give to the grooms family. There was an exchange and it was a bit more fluid. Now, there is a commercialism to the whole Idea that I really find digusting.The group claim the recipients account was Chief of Staffs Sundries Account No. 1, with account number 1018631473188 at the Bank of Ghana (BoG), and the alleged illegal transfers were done from August 2015 until early January 2017 when then ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) handed over to the New Patriotic Party (NPP) after the December 7, 2016 general election.

Accra-based Citi FM, citing unnamed sources, reports that the request has been turned down because the matter in question is already being investigated by another state institution.On Wednesday, September 19, 2018, sent five Muslim girls home including the assistant senior prefect girl of the school. The Principal had reportedly warned that no student should wear hijab in the school.

However her action ignited the undying hijab controversy in Lagos public schools as the Muslim Students Society of Nigeria, MSSN condemned the principal's action in a statement released shortly after the incident.

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Describing the students' suspension as disappointing, the President of the association, Dr Saheed Ashafa said Lagos State Government has continuously disobeyed the Court of Appeal ruling granting the use of hijab in schools.

Meanwhile, Lagos State Deputy Governor and Education Commissioner, Dr Idiat Adebule has said in a statement that the school principal has now been reassigned in order to douse tension and allow for a thorough investigation of the matter."

The statement reads in part:Saturday night, September 22 is one for the record books as Afrobeat legend, Femi Anikulapo Kuti left the Afrikan Shrine for the poolside of the Sheraton hotel in Ikeja, Lagos, as he brought the music to his fans in what was the listening party for his recently released 10th studio album, ''One People, One World.''

On Air Personality, Folustorms was the anchor on the night and she wasted no time in welcoming the opening performer in the person of jazz artist, Etuk Ubong on stage.

The event had barely started when we got reminded that we were at an Afrobeat concert, one from the playbook of the Abami Eda, late Fela Anikulapo Kuti as Etuk Ubong performed the song, 'Mass Corruption', where he went on an open roll call of past and present Nigerian leaders, who he described as corrupt leaders.

He was immediately followed by former 'The Voice Nigeria' alumni, Nonso Bassey who thrilled the crowd with some romantic offerings.

While Chocolate City affiliate, Ruby Gyang also brought down the building with her energetic and quite impressive performance as she got members of the audience dancing along to her songs.

The moment everyone had been waiting for however arrived in quick time, as Femi Kuti alongside members of his 'Positive Force' band took to the stage and opened his set performing the classic song, 'Truth don die.'

Boasting a career that has lasted four decades, Femi Kuti is music majesty and he fully exhibited it once again on the night, perfectly in sync with his band members, his focus on getting every movement right, the facial expressions and gaiety dance all showed attributes of someone who has perfected the act of live performances, setting the tone for the rest of the night.

There was a brief question and answer session as Femi interacted with the audience before moving to the main set for the night.

On what new influences are on the new album, he says, ''I have not listened to music since 2000, of course when you go to the mall or visit places, you hear music here and there, but I nerver go out of my way to listen to music.''

In the beginning, it was my father who got me listening to music but I read a book, where he said, I wanted to be original, so I stopped listening to music, so I took to that and stopped allowing influences,'' he continued.

Speaking on how he manages to keep a positive mindset, Femi replies, ''We have to remain optimistic, there has to be balance in this life... , I know this one [he points to his son, , who was on stage] will not abscond,'' he joked as he shared stories of admiration about his son, who recently became an official member of his band and his other children.

He then answered the question on what he hopes the album will inspire in people, ''I think it will inspire people, the title of the album says it, we do have to understand that we are one people... see, the day I die, I want to die with a smile, I am 56 now, I am not afraid, becuase I know it will eventually come,'' he declares.

At the end of the session, Femi in agreement with the audience went on a journey of his old songs, as he performed records like 'Africa For Africa', 'Politics na Big Business', 'Wonder Wonder' and the ever exciting 'Bang Bang Bang', which generated a loud response from the crowd, before introducing songs from the new album, or the future as he calls it, bringing the night to a glorious end.The Ghana Immigration Service, GIS, disclosed that the deportees were arrested on Thursday, September 20, 2018 following a raid by Enforcement Unit of the GIS at the Redco Flats neighbourhood at Madina.

ALSO READ: Crowd of internet fraudsters to be deported from Ghana

Arrested Nigerians to be deported - Immigration boss

The Deputy Superintendent of Immigration, DSI, Linda Asare Mantey announced that the arrested Nigerians will be deported.

Addressing newsmen at 2IC of the Public Affairs unit of the GIS after the arrest, Mantey said that aside prostitution, some of the arrested women will be deported from Ghana for not having resident permits.

Mantey also said the arrested Ghanaians have already been handed to the Police to be prosecuted according to the law.

Mantey further said 20 of the suspects were arrested at the Junior Hotel at Madina.According to the unit commander, We will be going to parks with our paramedics to test drivers before they embark on any journey.

We are going to be practical this time around; this is beyond talking to people, before embarking on a journey, we will do random checking.

We are going to check the blood pressure and eye sights of drivers because we believe most of the accidents occur made through human errors.

Before you embark on a journey, you have already planned it. How do you describe somebody whose vision is 45 per cent in order and is about to drive a vehicle from Badagry to Kano.

How do you describe a situation whereby somebody whose blood pressure is 210 over 140 and is the driver to transport passengers on a long journey?

So, we will check the tyres of the vehicle, what is in your brake fluid container? Is it water missed with surf or the recommended brake fluid?

We are going to check the whippers, because it is somehow, funny that some drivers during the rainy season will be using their handkerchiefs instead of the whippers to clean their vehicles windscreens.

This is a form of distraction that is capable of distracting them from driving well on the road, he said.

Bakare said that after each exercise whatever information gathered would be sent out to various leaders in the various garages or parks.Atiku, who is a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential aspirant, stated this while addressing the Nasarawa State Working Committee and delegates of PDP.

According to him, insecurity, poverty, and hunger are some of the factors militating against the progress of Nigeria.

Atiku said that it was improper to describe Nigerian youths as lazy people who only needed free money.

According to him, available records have proved Nigerian youths to be excellent sportsmen and women, astute businessmen and women, among other things.

If elected President of Nigeria , I will restructure Nigeria by empowering the youths, eradicate hunger and poverty, as well as fight insecurity, he stated.

The former vice president also promised to develop all states sharing boundaries with the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

This, according to him, is because most of the people working in FCT reside in communities located in the neighbouring states.

He called on the delegates to vote for him given his experience, high net-worth and resourcefulness.

Responding, Francis Orugu, the Nasarawa State PDP Chairman, commended Atiku for the visit.The Senate President also said that Nigerians are monitoring the results of the election closely.

The Osun governorship election held on Saturday, September 22, 2018 and the collations of results spilled into Sunday, September 23, 2018.

The Senate President said As we await the result from Osun state, let us remember that collation is just a simple addition of results. This election is a test of our democracy. @inecnigeria and security agencies are under test. All well meaning Nigerians are awake monitoring the results closely.

Just spoke to some of our volunteers on ground in Osun State. Im delighted to hear that even at 2:50am, Nigerians are vigilant and defending PDPs comfortable lead.

ALSO READ:Davido calls out INEC over Oshogbo results in Osun governorship pollsAccording to the returning officer, Joseph Abiola Afuwape, a date for the run-off between the All Progressives Congress candidate and the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, candidate will be announced later.

The governorship election was declared inconclusive due to irregularities in two local governments - Orolu and Ife South.

According to summation of the results, Senator Ademola Nurudeen Adeleke of the PDP has 254,698 votes while Gboyega Isiaka Oyetola of the APC has 254, 345.

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The difference between both parties is 353 votes.

ADP polled 49,742 while SDP polled 128,049.

ALSO READ:Adeleke leads as INEC commences announcement of Osun poll

Over 1 million voters registered for the party with 48 political parties contesting for the election which held on Saturday, September 22, 2018.

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Total votes recorded was 767, 955, rejected votes recorded was 47,843 and 720,112 were counted as legal votes.

INEC says it will announce date when another election will take place.

See election results by local governments, here

The election had instances of vote buying and was marred by violence in certain areas.

What the constitution says about elections and winners

According to the 1999 constitution, the winner (of this election) must have not less than one-quarter of the votes in at least two-thirds of all the local government areas of the state.

Hence, the winner of the Osun state governorship election must have not have less than one quarter of the votes in at least two-thirds of the local governments.

Run-off elections

A rerun election or a fresh election is one conducted, pursuant to an order of an Election Tribunal or Election Appeal Tribunal nullifying the result of a particular election, and directing that a fresh election be conducted in place of the nullified or voided election.Ortom gave the commendation in a statement issued by his Chief Press Secretary, Terver Akase and made available to newsmen on Sunday in Abuja.

The PDP candidate Sen. Ademola Adeleke, took the lead in the election declared inconclusive by the INEC with 254,698 votes, closely followed by APCs candidate, Alhaji Gboyega Oyetola who polled 254, 345 votes.

Ortom said that the conduct of the Osun election reflected the resolve of many Nigerians to give their mandate to the PDP in the 2019 general elections.

The governor also commended the people of Osun for the peaceful manner they conducted themselves during the poll.

Ortom urged them to sustain their support for the PDP and complete the good work they had started on the day of the re-run.

Prof. Joseph Fuwape, the Returning Officer for the election, on Sunday in Osogbo, declared the poll inconclusive because of cases of ballot box snatching in some polling units.

Fuwape said that the incident which occurred in Ife North, Ife South, Orolu and Osogbo led to the cancellation of 3498 votes.

He said that a winner could not be announced because the number of cancelled votes was more than the difference between the scores of the two leading candidates.There can be a common misconception that risky drinking is only affecting young people, but new research shows that close to 40 percent of New Zealanders aged over 50 might be boozing hazardously.



Massey Universitys research co-leader Dr Andy Towers joined RadioLIVEs Trudi Nelson to discuss just how addictive alcohol can be and why New Zealanders are drinking more than they should.

A survey of over 4,000 Kiwi men and women, rich and poor, and from different backgrounds, was conducted by Massey University.

The research found that four out of five of those surveyed consume alcohol, with more than 15 drinks a week for men and more than 10 for woman on average.

Alcohol is a drug like heroin.

At a global level, Dr Towers says New Zealanders are drinking too much, and contain some of the heaviest drinkers in the world.



The research shows men are much more at risk than woman.

Dr Towers explains its difficult to say what amount of alcohol is safe or not - it depends on how much is consumed.

Listen to the interview with Andy Towers above.

Weekend Life - the Sunday edition, 10am-2pm Sunday on RadioLIVE and streaming live to the rova app on Android and iPhone.

RadioLIVE.A trio of visionary feminist theatre makers Nisha Madhan, Julia Croft and Virginia Frankovich have created a play called MEDUSA.

Using personal experience as creative inspiration, they have crafted the show as a protest against what they see as stagnating views of feminism in New Zealand.

They believe the movement isnt being taken as seriously as it should, with feminism more of a fad commodity than a legitimate political standing.

Director Julia Croft joins Ryan Bradley to take a look at the new show hitting Wellington and Auckland this September and October.

The team use the classic Medusa myth as a launch pad to create a multidisciplinary show to portray womens anger at being delegitimised in our society.

With the Wellington premiere two days after the 125th anniversary of womens suffrage in New Zealand, the timing of MEDUSA couldnt be better.

Virginia, Julia and Nisha are set to continue the same fight that women in this country did over a hundred years ago.

Currently on show at Wellington's Circa Theatre, MEDUSA will then head to Q Theatre in Auckland on Thursday 25 October.

For more information click here.

Listen to the full interview with Juilia Croft above.

Weekend Variety Wireless with Ryan Bradley, in for Graeme Hill, 8pm - midnight Saturdays and Sundays, on RadioLIVE and streaming live to the Rova app on Android and iPhone.

RadioLIVE.Australia: The Rail Infrastructure Alliance consortium of John Holland, CPB Contractors and AECOM has been selected as preferred bidder for a A$1bn contract for work on the Melbourne Metro Tunnel.Find a great selection of commercial real estate, manufactured homes, timeshares and more for Sale

Buy real estate. Find a great selection of commercial real estate, manufactured homes, timeshares and more for Sale in US and Canada.

Search Real Estate,



We're sorry, this article is not currently availableMonday, September 17, 2018 at 11:21AM

Review: Samsung Galaxy Note 9Were two Note devices in since the whole Samsung Galaxy Note7 debacle and just last month at the Galaxy Note9 launch, the company assured that Note users do not have to worry about the batteries anymore. Samsung says the Note9s battery is safer than ever. However, the company is now facing a lawsuit just barely a month since the launch.

The New York Post reports on NYC-based realtor Diane Chungs case of her Note9 bursting into flames inside her purse earlier this September. The phone felt unusually hot when she was using it and when she placed it in her purse a few minutes later, it started whistling and let out thick smoke. The incident happened inside an elevator, leaving her panicked and the elevator filled with smoke. The phone burned her fingers as she tried to remove it from her purse. When she was able to kick the phone out of the elevator, a passerby was able to grab the device with a cloth and dumped it in a bucket of water.

Chung has filed a suit against Samsung for the traumatic experience as well as losing contacts with clients and everything in her bag. She is suing for unspecified damages and says Samsung shouldve known its phone was defective. She also asks for the sales of the Galaxy Note9 to be stopped. Samsung released a statement saying no other reports of exploding Note9s have been received so far and they are investigating this matter.

While an unfortunate incident, battery-powered electronic devices do carry risks of experiencing issues that could include battery swelling or fires. When a phones battery explodes, it could be due to impact damage. But it isnt known if thats what happened either. And it doesnt necessarily mean that any other Note9 phone has the issue. But it definitely doesnt bode well for the company.

Source: BGRAthens, GA (30605)

Today

Occasional light rain tapering to a few showers late. Thunder possible. High near 70F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 70%..

Tonight

Rain early...then remaining cloudy with showers late. Thunder possible. Low 51F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 100%.WATERBURY  Webster Financial Corporation (NYSE: WBS), the holding company for Webster Bank, N.A. and its HSA Bank division, is pleased to announce that Elzbieta Cieslik has been promoted to executive vice president and general auditor. Cieslik joined Webster in 2013 and most recently served as senior vice president and general auditor.

Cieslik will continue to focus on providing highly effective internal audit services and ensuring continuous alignment with Websters strategic objectives and governance policies. She will continue to report administratively to Webster President and CEO John Ciulla and functionally to the Audit Committee chair.

Cieslik has extensive audit and risk advisory experience. Prior to joining Webster, Cieslik was the Global Director of internal audit at GFI Group Inc., where she led the establishment of the internal audit function in GFIs New York, London and Singapore offices. Prior to that, she worked at KPMG LLP and JPMorgan Chase.

Cieslik served on the Board of the Polish and Slavic Federal Credit Union and in 2008 was elected to Chair the Boards Supervisory Committee. She also served on the New York City Board of the Financial Womens Association. Cieslik is a graduate of Pace University in New York, a graduate of the Smith College Consortium, and a graduate of Columbia University Graduate School of Businesss Leading and Managing People program. She is a Certified Public Accountant and Certified Trust Auditor. She is a resident of South Glastonbury.

Cieslik and the internal audit team are active in Websters Day of Service community events and actively support numerous fundraising activities.

CHH Primary Care Thomaston Office adds new physician, APRNs

THOMASTON  CHH Primary Care of Thomaston recently welcomed its newest general practitioner Dr. Roger El-Hachem and APRNs Thayer Clark and Siena Chevalier joining Site Director Dr. Kenrick Hom and APRN Melanie Mollica at the office at 76 Watertown Road, Thomaston.

Charlotte Hungerford Hospital Primary Care is part of the CHH Multi-Specialty Group of outpatient service providers and physicians.

We welcome Dr. El Hachem and APRNs Thayer Clark and Siena Chevalier to our practice and are very excited to expand our services to accommodate the growing need for primary care in the greater Thomaston. Said Joan Palmer, Administrative Director of the CHH Multi-Specialty Group.

Dr. El-Hachem attended Lebanese University School of Medicine and completed his Residency at Eastern Virginia Graduate School of Medicine, Norfolk, VA and an Internship at St. Lukes-Roosevelt Hospital Center, Columbia University, New York, NY. He is Diplomat of the American Board of Medicine, and an assistant Professor of Medicine at the Frank H. Letter School of Medicine at Quinnipiac University.

Thayer Clark, DNP, FNP-C, is a graduate of Marymount University School of Nursing in Arlington, VA, and has a Doctorate of Nursing Practice from Fairfield University, Fairfield, CT. She most recently served as a staff nurse in the Yale New Haven Hospital, Saint Raphael Campus Emergency Department.

Siena Chevalier, DNP, FNP-C, is a graduate of Quinnipiac University, North Haven CT, with a Bachelor of Science and Doctor of Nursing Practice, Family Nurse Practitioner. She has served in urgent care settings and has been with CHH in nursing since 2012.

Webster donates $35K to Red Cross

WATERBURY - Webster Bank plans to donate $35,000 to the American Red Cross to support disaster recovery efforts for communities affected by Hurricane Florence and recent gas line explosions in Massachusetts Merrimack Valley.

These are catastrophic events affecting hundreds of thousands of people throughout the middle Atlantic and Southeast, and in Massachusetts, said John Ciulla, President and CEO of Webster Bank, adding, Our donation to the American Red Cross aligns with Websters core values of supporting the communities we serve, especially when natural disasters strike. In addition, we will be conducting proactive outreach to our Webster Bank customers and employees in the affected areas.

The donation will assist four American Red Cross chapters in Connecticut/Rhode Island and Massachusetts as they begin to deploy teams to help those in the affected areas. In addition, Webster will make a donation to the American Red Cross-Wisconsin Area through its HSA Bank division, headquartered in Milwaukee. To assist our Webster Bank customers, Webster will work with impacted customers as appropriate during the disruption of critical services in their communities. In addition, Webster has reached out to employees in these areas to ensure they are safe and aware of services available to them.

For more information about how to assist people in the affected areas visit redcross.org. To learn more about emergency preparedness, visit the Federal Emergency Management Agency.TORRINGTON  As it moves into its 18th year of therapeutic services to the communities within northwest Connecticut, Torrington-based Christian Counseling Connection, Inc. (CCCI) has begun to adjust to its own new environment.

The agencys relocation occurred in late May, and its new location is 43 Daycoeton Place. Moving the agency in the midst of downtown allows for increased visibility and easier access for new and existing clients, members said.YEREVAN -- Polls have closed in Yerevan where voters cast their ballots to elect a new city council in Armenia's first major election since opposition lawmaker Nikol Pashinian became prime minister after leading a wave of antigovernment protests in May.

Voters in the Armenian capital on September 23 were electing the 65 members of the Council of Elders, after Taron Markarian resigned as mayor in July.

Polls closed at 8 p.m. local time and preliminary results are expected after midnight.

Members of new council will be elected under a proportional representation system and will later elect a new mayor unless a political party or bloc wins more than 40 percent of the votes. In that case, the person holding the top position on the winning list will automatically become mayor.

Speaking to journalists after casting his ballot, Pashinian expressed satisfaction with the "heated" election campaign ahead of the vote.

"This election campaign was a real campaign, and all the forces, including the current government, understood that they must fight for every vote," he said.

"They say passions run high, but this happens in any democratic country. From now on passions would run high during each campaign, because the elections will be real. We have to get used to real elections and real campaigns," the prime minister added.

The elections in Yerevan, where nearly half of the country's population lives, were a major test for the new government of Pashinian, whose popularity is based on his anticorruption and economic-reform stance.The prime minister still faces a parliament mostly made up of members of the former ruling Republican Party.

Twelve political parties and alliances took part in the September 23 elections, with the pro-Pashinian alliance being led by popular actor and producer Hayk Marutian.

Lawmaker Naira Zohrabian topped the list of the Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK).

The Heritage party's candidate for the post of mayor is Raffi Hovannisian, who served as Armenia's first foreign minister in 1991-92 and was a top rival of former President Serzh Sarkisian in the disputed 2013 presidential election.

Participants in the elections also include the Yerkir Tsirani party, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun), and the Country of Law (Orinats Yerkir) party.

However, the former ruling Republican Party did not participate.

Its senior member Markarian submitted his resignation on July 9 after serving as Yerevan mayor for seven years.

The Council of Elders could not elect a new mayor, triggering early elections.

Earlier this month, the Armenian parliament voted to increase penalties for giving people cash and other enticements to vote for a particular candidate, party, or programs during elections and referendums.

Armenia's opposition has for years complained that elections were rigged to favor the ruling party.ST. PETERSBURG, Russia -- Applying a wooden ruler to a piece of A4 paper, Yury Sternik draws a line along its edge. With a pair of scissors, he cuts along the mark and glues the poster to the side of a small cardboard box.

"PUTIN IS TERROR," it reads in block letters. "The police have neutralized every dangerous child and old man roaming the streets with a suspiciously downcast expression."

Beneath the text are two photos from a recent protest in St. Petersburg, during which riot police disperse a crowd demonstrating against the government's plan to raise the retirement age. In one image, a boy is led away by a uniformed officer; in the other, Sternik is seen resisting as he's dragged to a waiting police van.

Minutes after that photo was taken, the 81-year-old was loaded into an ambulance on a stretcher. When fellow protesters tried to free him, Sternik was caught up in the ensuing scuffle and eventually lost consciousness. The story of his treatment quickly spread, and soon became a symbol among the city's activists of authorities' willingness to employ violence in stifling dissent.

A sprightly design engineer with a full head of grey hair and a voice that resonates across the room, Sternik is an inveterate dissident. Born to Jewish parents enticed to the nascent U.S.S.R. from exile in the United States by the promise of socialism, he never endorsed a Soviet regime prone to anti-Semitic policies. In 1958, he began a decades-long stint at a manufacturing plant outside what was then Leningrad. He took leave only to complete his PhD in Moscow and finally retired this spring, after his wife of almost 60 years died.

The Soviet government brooked less dissent than Vladimir Putin's Russia, Sternik says -- "protest didn't even enter most people's minds then." And it's because he believes in Russia's potential for change that he continues to protest. In 2004, he coordinated a citizen's movement that successfully overturned the city's approval of a five-story housing project on the Stalin-era estate he's inhabited since the 1950s. That victory would serve as inspiration for the various demonstrations he's staged since.

The cardboard box, with its scathing slogans, is what he calls his "Sternik hat." Prior to each protest, he designs and prints out four A4 posters, and sticks one to each side of the box. On September 16 he donned it once again to join a sizeable crowd at Sverdlovsk Park, obscuring the bruises he suffered the weekend prior beneath a light autumn jacket.

'Robbed' By Official Corruption

Sternik insists he does not coordinate his actions with supporters of Aleksei Navalny, but says a slice of his monthly pension goes toward the opposition leader's anticorruption campaign. According to Ilya Gantvarg, the deputy coordinator of Navalny's St. Petersburg branch, Sternik enjoys high standing among activists in the city, many of whom weren't even born when Soviet power fell.

"We all respect him greatly," Gantvarg says. "It's amazing that, despite his age, he finds the time and the energy to resist our corrupt regime."

In recent months, Navalny has sought to capitalize on a backlash against the government's controversial pension reform. On September 9, St. Petersburg was among 33 Russian cities that saw protests against the measure. More than 1,000 people were detained that day, according to protest monitor OVD-Info, a figure that belies a disappointing turnout over an issue that has stoked a level of popular anger not seen in Russia for years.

Many Russians see pensions as an income that supplements continued low-wage employment well into old age. But Sternik has no obvious reason to feel robbed. At 30,000 rubles, his pension is more than double the national average, and he exceeds the proposed new retirement age for men by 16 years. However, like many, he's incensed at the level of official corruption, and has seized an opportunity to publicly condemn the elite who profit.

"If there weren't a huge difference in incomes, then maybe it would have been a justifiable measure," he says of the planned pension reform, echoing a sentiment voiced in multiple surveys conducted by the Levada Center, an independent pollster. His children, now in their 40s, try to persuade Sternik to stay home, but ultimately they back his convictions, he says.

 Eye-Opening Cruise

In 1975, after the Helsinki agreement eased some restrictions on travel for Soviet citizens, Sternik secured permission to visit relatives living in the United States. The local Communist Party cell initially turned down his application, and he spent three months trying to overturn the decision. "Well, since I promised my aunt, I had no choice but to go," he recalls with a big smile over tea in his quaint apartment across the Neva River from St. Petersburg's historic center.

That summer, he boarded a ship bound for New York, a three-week journey with stops in Helsinki, Copenhagen, and other cities few of his compatriots would ever see. It was an eye-opening trip, and it sowed the seeds of a more critical stance toward power back home.

On September 16, Sternik took the subway to Lenin Square, a short walk from the scene of the day's planned protest. En route to the park, the sidewalk was blocked by three riot-police officers, who asked Sternik to cross to the other side of the road. He brought his face within inches of the men's. "Eh?" he asked, a distaste almost visceral flashing across his face. Grudgingly, he complied, and despite the detour, found himself moments later among fellow protesters with his insurrectionary headgear and broad grin.

The day saw no repeat of the violence of September 9. Three people were detained by the police, and one woman hospitalized from injuries inflicted during a standoff with police. Sternik was home by late afternoon, his aim accomplished, and ready to risk arrest or worse when the next chance to protest comes.

He concedes that the Kremlin has triumphed for now, that the day's protests were a mere shadow of the mass unrest over election fraud that engulfed Russia in 2011 and rattled the leadership. But when asked what power a pensioner can have before the arsenal of an authoritarian state, his response is blunt. "People thought communism was eternal too," he says. "It was shocking how quickly it unraveled."YEREVAN -- Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinians bloc has scored a landslide victory in municipal elections in the capital, Yerevan, in the first major test of the new leaders political strength, according to final preliminary results.



The Central Election Commission (CEC) said on September 24 that Pashinians My Step bloc received 81 percent of the votes, far more than enough to have its top candidate, popular actor and producer Hayk Marutian, installed as mayor of Yerevan.



Businessman Gagik Tsarukians Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK) came in a distant second with 7 percent, followed by the Luys alliance, which got 5 percent, the CEC said. Both groups have ministerial posts in Pashinians cabinet.



The nine other contenders in the September 23 vote, including the parliamentary Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF), fared much worse.



Under Armenian law, alliances need to win at least 8 percent of the vote to be represented in the city council. But the law also stipulates that at least three political groups must be represented in the council, meaning that Luys will also hold seats.



The CEC put voter turnout at about 43.7 percent, up from the almost 41 percent that was recorded in the previous municipal elections in May 2017, controversially won by the former ruling Republican Party of Armenia (HHK). The party, which lost power in May, chose not to contest the latest mayoral race.

An opposition lawmaker, Pashinian became prime minister in May after leading a wave of antigovernment protests. He still faces a parliament that consists mainly of members of the HHK.



Pashinian actively participated in the local election campaign, portraying the vote in Yerevan, where nearly half of the country's population lives, as a referendum on his political future. He said he needed a strong mandate to push for the holding of snap parliamentary elections in Armenia in the coming months.



Citing the election outcome, a close Pashinian associate, First Deputy Prime Minister Ararat Mirzoian, said that the premier has received such a mandate. Mirzoian declined to speculate about possible election dates.

A few months after the revolution and the change of government, people once again confirmed their will to...build a new Armenia," Mirzoian said.



"There is no doubt that early elections to the National Assembly must take place and they are an important condition for the final victory of the revolution, he added.



In a statement, the BHK said it accepted the results of the elections and congratulated the My Step alliance for its election victory.



Justice Minister Artak Zeynalian of the Luys alliance visited the electoral headquarters of My Step overnight to offer his congratulations to the winner.

Pashinian, whose popularity is based on his anticorruption and economic reform stance, twice called for a high turnout during voting.



I hope that my fellow citizens today will very actively participate in the vote and wont stay at home because there is no doubt that you are the ones who will decide [the election outcome], he said in a live video address aired on Facebook on the morning of election day.



Pashinian made the same appeal late in the afternoon amid signs that Yerevan voters were not turning out in large numbers. He suggested that the turnout was relatively low because voters are no longer bribed and bused to polling stations by any party.



Pashinian also sounded satisfied with the authorities conduct of the elections, saying he hopes they will be exemplary.



The vote was marked by an unusually small number of irregularities or violent incidents reported by election contenders, local monitors, and media.



Armenias Investigative Committee said law enforcement authorities received 25 complaints about alleged violations such as attempts at multiple voting. It pledged to investigate all of them.



Armenia's opposition has for years complained that elections were rigged to favor the ruling party.Iranian President Hassan Rohani has blamed Arab separatists for a deadly attack on a military parade and accused an unnamed U.S.-backed Persian Gulf state of supporting them.

Rohani's comments came as Iran's powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) vowed "deadly and unforgettable" revenge for the September 22 attack that killed at least 25 people, including 12 of their comrades, and wounded 60 others.

Iranian state media reported that gunmen dressed in military uniforms opened fire at the event in the southwestern city of Ahvaz, targeting a stand where Iranian officials were gathered to watch an annual event marking the start of the country's 1980-88 war with Iraq.

The attack occurred in the province of Khuzestan, which borders Iraq and has a large ethnic Arab community.

The province has seen separatist violence in the past that Iran has blamed on its regional rivals.

Tehran also summoned diplomats from Denmark, the Netherlands, and Britain on September 23 for allegedly hosting members of the group suspected of links to the Ahvaz National Resistance, an antigovernment Arab separatist group who claimed responsibility for the attack.

The Islamic State (IS) extremist group also claimed responsibility.

"It is absolutely clear to us who has done this, which group it is and to whom they are affiliated," Rohani said on state television on September 23, shortly before leaving Tehran for the UN General Assembly in New York.

"One of the countries in the south of the Persian Gulf took care of their financial, weaponry, and political needs," he added.

Rohani's remarks could refer to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.), or Bahrain, all close U.S. military allies that view Iran as a regional threat because of its support for militant groups across the Middle East.

"All of those small mercenary countries that we see in this region are backed by America," Rohani said.

WATCH: Gunmen Attack Military Parade In Iran

The United States and United Nations have condemned the attack, one of the deadliest in the Islamic republic in recent years.

But U.S. Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley responded to Tehran's accusations of U.S. involvement by saying the attack happened because Rohani had "oppressed his people for a long time".

"He needs to look at his own base to figure out where that's coming from. I think the Iranian people have had enough," Haley said on September 23.

Meanwhile, the IRGC said in a statement carried by state media that the culprits would "face a deadly and unforgettable vengeance in the near future."

London-based opposition channel Iran International TV aired an interview on September 22 with Yaqoub Hor Altostari, presented as a spokesman for the Ahvaz National Resistance, who indirectly claimed responsibility for the attack and called it "resistance against legitimate targets".

Danish Foreign Minister Anders Samuelsen condemned the attack and stressed that there would be "consequences" if it turned out that those responsible have connections to Denmark.

Iran later summoned the U.A.E.'s envoy as well over what it called the "irresponsible and insulting statements" of an U.A.E. adviser, according to the semiofficial ISNA news agency. The U.A.E. did not immediately acknowledge the summons.

With reporting by AFP, AP, and ReutersRussia's Defense Ministry has doubled down on its allegation that Israel is to blame for the downing of a Russian military plane over the eastern Mediterranean Sea nearly a week ago, saying it was caused by "misleading information" provided by the Israeli military.

Syrian government forces mistook the Il-20 reconnaissance plane for an Israeli jet on a bombing mission and shot it down off Syria's northwestern province of Latakia on September 17, killing all 15 servicemen onboard.

The Defense Ministry blamed the plane's loss on Israel, accusing the country's military of using the Russian plane as a cover to dodge Syrian defense systems. The ministry also said that the Israeli warning came less than a minute before the Israeli air strike in Syria.

Israel rejected responsibility for the incident, saying Syrian antiaircraft batteries were to blame. It also insisted it had warned Russian forces of its raid ahead of time in accordance with previous agreements.

On September 23, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov said that the Israeli Air Force provided "misleading information" to the Russian military about their F-16 jets' targets.

This "made it impossible to direct the Il-20 aircraft to a safe area," Konashenkov also said, adding that the ministry had a record of the conversation between Russian personnel and an Israeli officer.

The data points "to either lack of professionalism or criminal negligence," the Russian spokesman said.

Russia has given Syrian President Bashar al-Assad crucial support throughout the country's conflict, which began with a government crackdown on protesters in March 2011.

Israel, which has largely maintained friendly relations with Moscow in recent years, is not backing a specific side in the conflict, though it has admitted to conducting air strikes in the country targeting Iran and its allies, including Hizballah.

With reporting by AP, dpa, and TASSNorwegian authorities say they have detained a Russian citizen on suspicion of illegal intelligence activities.

The Norwegian News Agency (NTB) reported on September 23 that the man was detained at Gardermoen airport outside the capital, Oslo, on September 21.

NTB said the man, whose name has not been disclosed, was placed in custody after a hearing at Oslo district court on September 22.

He would be held for two weeks due to the risk of destruction of evidence, NTB quoted a spokesman for the Norwegian Police Security Service as saying.

The man is suspected of conducting illegal intelligence work after attending a seminar on digitalization at the Norwegian parliament.

In December, Russia said it had detained a Norwegian man on suspicion of spying after he allegedly received classified documents from a Russian man who is also under arrest.

Russia has imprisoned several people from neighboring countries including Estonia, Lithuania, and Ukraine on espionage charges, with tension rising over Moscow's seizure of Crimea in 2014 and involvement in a war against Kyiv's forces in eastern Ukraine.

Kremlin critics say Russia uses spy claims as a tool in geopolitical competition.

Based on reporting by NTB, Reuters, and BloombergMembers of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and other major oil producers have agreed not to boost production despite U.S. President Donald Trump's calls for lower prices.

The decision came after OPEC members and nonmembers like Russia met on September 23 in Algeria.

OPEC said in a statement that it was satisfied "regarding the current oil-market outlook, with an overall healthy balance between supply and demand."

The price of oil has increased in recent months, mostly because a decline in oil exports from OPEC-member Iran due to fresh U.S. sanctions.

Trump has been calling publicly for OPEC to help lower prices by boosting production.

"We protect the countries of the Middle East, they would not be safe for very long without us, and yet they continue to push for higher and higher oil prices! We will remember. The OPEC monopoly must get prices down now!" Trump wrote on Twitter on September 20.

OPEC and Russia have capped production since January 2017 to increase prices.

Output fell below those targets this year, and in June the same countries agreed to boost the oil supply.

Based on reporting by AP and ReutersPakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has denounced India's decision to cancel rare talks with Islamabad just one day after New Delhi said they would take place on the sidelines of the upcoming UN General Assembly.

Khan on September 22 wrote on Twitter that he was "Disappointed at the arrogant & negative response by India to my call for resumption of the peace dialogue."

"However, all my life I have come across small men occupying big offices who do not have the vision to see the larger picture."

The New York meeting was to take place between Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj and Pakistan's Shah Mehmood Qureshi.

High-level talks between nuclear rivals India and Pakistan are rare. India has long accused Pakistan of arming rebel groups in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir. It also blames Pakistan for financing the deadly 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai.

India on September 20 announced the plans for the talks on the sidelines of the General Assembly meetings after Khan had written to Indian counterpart Narendra Modi seeking to resolve outstanding disputes between the two neighbors.

However, on September 21, India's Foreign Ministry said the talks were called off after what it described as the "latest brutal killings of our security personnel by Pakistan-based entities."

The ministry said the meeting also was being canceled by New Delhi in protest of the release by Pakistan of a series of 20 postage stamps "glorifying a terrorist and terrorism."

The ministry did not provide further details about the killings, but earlier in the week an Indian border guard in Kashmir had been slain and his body mutilated.

Then three policemen were then found dead on September 21 after being abducted in Indian-administered Kashmir.

Pakistan insisted it had "nothing to do with" the deaths and accused India of spreading "motivated and malicious propaganda."

Pakistan recently issued postage stamps of Burhan Wani, a popular Kashmiri militant commander killed by Indian troops in July 2016. His killing sparked a wave of violent protests in Kashmir.

With reporting by AFP and ReutersPope Francis has paid tribute to those who suffered and died in Lithuania during Soviet and Nazi occupations on the second day of his visit to the Baltic state.

During Mass in a park in Lithuania's second city, Kaunas, Francis on September 23 honored Jews who were executed or sent off to extermination camps during the three-year Nazi occupation and the Lithuanians who were deported to gulags or were oppressed at home during five decades of Soviet occupation.

"Earlier generations still bear the scars of the period of the occupation, anguish at those who were deported, uncertainty about those who never returned, shame for those who were informers and traitors," Francis told a crowd of about 100,000 people.



Pope Francis also said that society should be vigilant for "any whiff" of resurgent anti-Semitism, calling for new generations to be taught the horrors of the Holocaust.

Later in the day, Francis visited the World War II Jewish ghetto in Vilnius and the capital's Museum of Occupations and Freedom Fights, which is housed in a former KGB building and dedicated to the crimes of the Soviet regime.

"In this place of remembrance, Lord, we pray that your cry may keep us alert," he said afterward. "That your cry, Lord, may free us from the spiritual sickness that remains a constant temptation for us as a people: forgetfulness of the experiences and sufferings of those who have gone before us."

Francis paid tribute to victims of both Nazi and Soviet atrocities on the 75th anniversary of the final destruction of the ghetto in Vilnius, which had been known for centuries as the "Jerusalem of the North" for its importance to Jewish culture and politics.

Each year, the September 23 anniversary is commemorated with readings of the names of Jews who were killed by Nazis or Lithuanian partisans or were deported to concentration camps.

According to historians, around 195,000 -- around 90 percent of the entire Jewish population -- were killed at the hands of the Nazis and local collaborators under the 1941-44 German occupation.

Today around 3,000 Jews live in the EU and NATO member state.

Francis prayed silently in the former ghetto and warned against the temptation "that can dwell in every human heart" to want to be superior or dominant to others again.

On September 22 in Vilnius, the pope warned against political forces that would seek to eliminate other cultures, and called on Lithuania to use its decades of occupation by the Soviets and the Nazis as a basis for battling intolerance in the world.

Lithuania is the pontiff's first stop on his regional tour that will also bring him to Latvia and Estonia, as the three countries mark their 100th anniversary of independence this year.

Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia were part of the Russian Empire and briefly Soviet Russia before they declared independence 100 years ago.

The small countries were occupied by the Soviet Union in 1940 and by Germany between 1941 and 1944 during World War II.

They regained independence from the Soviet Union in August 1991 and joined the European Union and NATO in 2004.

According to the Vatican, around 80 percent of the Lithuanian population is Catholic. Latvia is a primarily Lutheran country, while Estonia is largely nonreligious and has a small Catholic population of around 5,000.

John Paul II in 1993 was the only other pope to visit the three Baltic states.

With reporting by AP, Reuters, and Baltic TimesRudy Giuliani, the personal lawyer of U.S. President Donald Trump, says U.S. sanctions are causing economic pain on Iran that will eventually lead to the downfall of the Tehran government.

"I don't know when we're going to overthrow them," Giuliani said at an Iran Uprising Summit held by the Organization of Iranian-American Communities in New York on September 22.

"It could be in a few days, months, a couple of years. But it's going to happen," Giuliani told the group, which opposes the government in Tehran.

The State Department has said Giuliani does not speak for the administration on Iran. Giuliani said he was speaking in his own capacity at the event and not an official representative of the president.

The U.S. administration has consistently said it is not seeking "regime change" in Tehran, only a "change in behavior."

Trump has accused Iran of supporting militant activity in the region and of trying to develop nuclear weapons, charges Tehran has denied.

The president in May pulled out of the 2015 nuclear deal that Iran signed with world powers and last month began reimposing sanctions against Tehran. The deal eased some sanctions in return for curbs on Iran's nuclear program.

The sanctions have worsened Iran's economic crisis and caused a major loss in the value of the country's currency, the rial, and has helped spur major street demonstrations in the country.

"The people of Iran obviously have now had enough," Giuliani said. "The sanctions are working. The currency is going to nothing...these are the kinds of conditions that lead to successful revolution."

Based on reporting by ReutersIranian officials have accused U.S. allies in the region of being behind a deadly attack on a military parade in the southwest of the country that left 29 people dead and dozens wounded amid claims of responsibility by two groups -- an ethnic Arab separatist group and the extremist group Islamic State (IS).

Neither Iranian officials nor the two groups claiming responsibility for the attack presented evidence to back up their claims.

According to domestic media, members of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) were killed, along with civilians watching the parade, including a 4-year-old child.

"Their crime is a continuation of the plots of the regional states that are puppets of the United States, and whose goal is to create insecurity in our dear country," Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a statement issued on September 22 a few hours after gunmen attacked a parade in the city of Ahvaz, the capital of the southwestern Khuzestan province, where the majority of Iran's ethnic Arabs live.

Khamenei did not specify which states he was referring to.

Relations between regional rivals Iran and Saudi Arabia -- Washington's main Arab ally in the Middle East -- have been deteriorating, with both sides accusing each other of creating instability in the region. Tehran has claimed in the past that Saudi Arabia provides support to separatists among its ethnic Arab minority.

Scott Lucas, an Iran specialist at Birmingham University in Britain and editor of the EA World View website, tells RFE/RL that Tehran's blaming of regional foes and the United States for domestic unrest is not new, while adding that it is "accentuated now by U.S. withdrawal from the nuclear deal, imminence of comprehensive sanctions, and worsening of the Iranian economy."

Tensions between Tehran and the United States have been escalating following a May decision by U.S. President Donald Trump to withdraw from the 2015 nuclear deal and reimpose tough sanctions on Iran.

"I think Ahvaz --- inevitably, and not at all diminishing the scale of the killing of innocents --- was going to be situated by regime officials within the narrative of a U.S.-Saudi campaign to undermine the Islamic republic," Lucas says.

"The overriding concern right now is the economic crisis and the impact of U.S. sanctions, linked to Iran's regional contest with Riyadh and conflicts such as Syria, Yemen, and Iraq," he adds.

Persian Gulf 'Mercenaries'

On September 23, Iran's Foreign Ministry summoned the charge d'affaires of the United Arab Emirates, a close Saudi ally, over "irresponsible and disdainful" comments made by a government adviser who reportedly said that attacking a military target cannot be considered a terrorist attack.

For his part, President Hassan Rohani accused the United States of enabling the deadly attack through its support for unnamed Persian Gulf states. Speaking on September 23 shortly before leaving Tehran for the UN General Assembly in New York, Rohani said the perpetrators of the attack and their affiliation were "absolutely clear" to Tehran.

"Those who have caused this catastrophe...were [Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's] mercenaries as long as he was alive and then changed masters," he said. "One of the countries in the south of the Persian Gulf took care of their financial, weaponry and political needs," Rohani added.

"All these little mercenary countries we see in this region are backed by America. It is the Americans who incite them," he said.

Ali Vaez, the director of the Iran Project at the International Crisis Group (ICG), tells RFE/RL that Tehran appears to have intelligence of renewed activities of separatist groups and their ties to some Persian Gulf countries.

"That there was a deafening silence from Saudi Arabia and its gulf allies in the hours after the assault is for Tehran further evidence of their culpability," Vaez says.

"The fact that senior U.S. officials like John Bolton, before he became national-security adviser, had openly advocated supporting Iran's ethnic and sectarian minorities as means of destabilizing Iran deepens Tehran's suspicions," he adds.

An Iranian ethnic Arab opposition group called the Ahvaz National Resistance, which seeks a separate state in Khuzestan province, claimed responsibility for the attack without providing any evidence.

A spokesman for the group, Yagoub Hor Altasteri told the Persian service of German broadcaster Deutsche Welle that the attack was "a legitimate act" in response to what he described as "the transfer of water", "poverty," and "executions."

Ethnic Arabs in the oil-rich province of Khuzestan have long complained of social, cultural, and political discrimination and injustice. The region was the scene of unrest in 2005 and 2011 that resulted in dozens of arrests, rights groups, including Human Rights Watch, have reported.

Some officials and the official government news agency IRNA confirmed the claim by the Ahvaz National Resistance umbrella group, which was created in 2005. It reportedly includes a military wing as well as political entities, including the Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahvaz.

"The individuals who fired at the people and the armed forces during the parade are connected to the Al-Ahvazia group, which is fed by Saudi Arabia," IRGC spokesman Ramezan Sharif was quoted as saying by state media.

IS Claim Rejected

A claim of responsibility by the extremist group Islamic State (IS), which also took responsibility for the 2017 twin attacks on the Iranian parliament and the mausoleum of Islamic republic founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, was dismissed by a military spokesman.

Abolfazl Shekarchi, a senior spokesman for the Iranian military, said "terrorists" behind the Ahvaz attack were not members of IS or groups opposed to the Islamic establishment.

"They are individuals who entered the country after being trained and organized by two Persian Gulf countries," Shekarchi was quoted as saying by domestic media.

"These individuals affiliated with the United States and Mossad committed [the attack]," he said. In a statement issued on September 23, the powerful IRGC vowed "deadly and unforgettable vengeance in the near future."C4 for Playa del Carmen transferred to state government

Playa del Carmen, Q.R.  A city council vote has approved the infrastructure transfer of the municipalitys C4 command center to the state government. The transfer will remain in effect until 2022.

In a majority vote Friday morning, members of city council voted in favor of the transfer of the Communications, Computing, Control and Command Center, which will now be operated by the state government.

Through the newly formed agreement, all human resources, facilities and equipment will be in the hands of the state government. Cristina Torres Gomez explained the move saying that now, the state government can investigate crimes more efficiently since as a municipality, they only provide preventive work.

With the move, Torres Gomez says state police along with the State Attorney Generals Office will be given the technological platforms needed for the investigation and prevention of crimes.

The municipality, according to the constitutional article 115, only has the preventive part. Is not dedicated to neither the investigation nor to the persecution. The C4 as a technological tool provides the municipality with the tools, explained Torres Gomez.

City Council made the decision after governor Carlos Manuel Joaquin Gonzalez requested the move by not maintaining isolated efforts and maintaining actions in favor of security.

The state will be in charge of the C-4 and with it, control of the information generated through 911, 086 and the Mexico Platform along with the Center for Intelligence and Urban Monitoring including cameras and traffic lights and coordinating ambulances in emergencies.

All these data will now be shared with the municipality. The operation of the infrastructure will continue under the responsibility of the same police officers who are currently assigned to the Public Security Directorate, but will be commissioned to the state where they will have training related to investigations.Trump orders construction of steel border wall at El Paso

El Paso, Texas  On a executive order from US president Donald Trump, the construction of a steel wall has begun along a 6.4 kilometer stretch of border in El Paso, Texas.

The announcement of the construction was made by the US Border Patrol Friday. Head of the Border Patrol in El Paso, Aaron A. Hull, said that the cyclonic mesh that has existed since the 70s will be replaced by a 5.5-meter-high steel wall.

This new barrier will be more durable and effective to deter illegal entries, he said.

Hull said on June 1, a construction contract to build the wall was awarded by the government to the company West Point Contractors who are based in Tucson, Arizona.

The bollard wall has proven to be beneficial for the border patrols to detect illegal entries and the smuggling of narcotics to the United States, Hull stressed.

The so-called border wall will join a section located just west of the international crossing at Paso del Norte and will extend to the east side of the city of El Paso.

The construction of the wall began Saturday and is expected to be complete toward the end of April 2019 with an estimated cost of $22 million USD.Rahul Gandhi

Upping the ante over the Rafale issue, Congress president Rahul Gandhi Saturday alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Anil Ambani jointly carried out a Rs 130,000 crore "surgical strike" on the defence forces. His renewed attack on Modi came a day after a French media report quoted former French president Francois Hollande as purportedly saying that the Indian government proposed Ambani's Reliance Defence as the partner for Dassault Aviation in the Rs 58,000 crore Rafale jet fighter deal and France did not have a choice.

"The PM and Anil Ambani jointly carried out a One Hundred & Thirty Thousand Crore, SURGICAL STRIKE on the Indian Defence forces. Modi Ji you dishonoured the blood of our martyred soldiers. Shame on you. You betrayed India's soul," Gandhi tweeted. The report in 'Mediapart', a French language publication, quoted Hollande as saying, "It was the Indian government that proposed this service group, and Dassault which negotiated with Ambani. We had no choice, we took the interlocutor who was given to us."

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Modi, Ambani carried out Rs 1.3 lakh cr 'surgical strike' on defence forces

Reacting to Hollande's reported remark that is at variance with the Indian government's position, a defence ministry spokesperson said Friday, "The report referring to former French president Hollande's statement that government of India insisted upon a particular firm as offset partner for the Dassault Aviation in Rafale is being verified." The spokesperson also said, "It is reiterated that neither the government nor the French government had any say in the commercial decision."

The French government Friday said it was in no manner involved in the choice of Indian industrial partners for the Rafale fighter jet deal, asserting that French companies have the full freedom to select Indian firms for the contract. Dassault Aviation, the makers of Rafale, had chosen Reliance Defence as its partner to fulfil offset obligations of the deal. The government has been maintaining it did not have any role in selection of the offset partner by Dassault.

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Former French president Francois Hollande

In a statement, Dassault Aviation said it decided to partner with Reliance Defence in accordance with the policy of 'Make in India'. Modi had announced the procurement of a batch of 36 Rafale jets after holding talks with then French president Hollande on April 10, 2015 in Paris. The opposition party has been accusing the government of choosing Reliance Defence over state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd to benefit the private firm though it did not have any experience in the aerospace sector.Swaraj arrives in New York

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has arrived here to represent India at the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly and hold several bilateral and multilateral meetings with her global counterparts. She will address the General Debate in the morning of September 29. Swaraj, who arrived here on Saturday, will hold several bilateral and multilateral discussions with her global counterparts as well as with the top UN officials, besides participating in several meetings and discussions throughout the week on the sidelines of the General Assembly session.

Swaraj arrives in New York to attend the 73rd Session of the United Nations General Assembly

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"Destination #UNGA73. India's External Affairs Minister @SushmaSwaraj arrives in New York for High Level Segment of @UN," India's Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Syed Akbaruddin tweeted. The General Debate commences on September 25. World leaders from 193 UN member states will address the global body. US President Donald Trump will give his second address to the General Assembly on September 25.

In a tweet, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said "setting the stage for a week of hectic diplomacy! EAM @SushmaSwaraj arrives in New York to attend the 73rd Session of the #UNGA73General Assembly and participate in several bilateral, plurilateral and multilateral meetings".

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan

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Earlier, following India's acceptance of Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan's proposal for a meeting, Swaraj and her Pakistani counterpart Shah Mahmood Qureshi were slated to meet on the sidelines of the General Assembly. However, the Indian government called off the meeting, citing the brutal killings of three policemen in Jammu and Kashmir and Islamabad releasing postage stamps "glorifying" militant Burhan Wani. Qureshi will address the UN General Assembly in the afternoon on September 29.Punjab CM Urges Centre For Expeditious Resolution Of Kartarpur Corridor

Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh has urged the Centre for the expeditious resolution of the issue of the opening up of the Kartarpur corridor for the preparedness of 550th birth anniversary of Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji. Talking to the media persons after inaugurating a private marriage palace here this afternoon, the Chief Minister said that being a bilateral issue, this needed the active engagement of both India and Pakistan for its resolution.

He had personally met the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister with the request to take up the issue with Pakistan, the Chief Minister pointed out, adding that he had even raised the issue during his visit to the neighbouring country during his previous stint as Chief Minister. The issue was of enormous religious significance for the Sikh sangat, he added. Captain Amarinder Singh recalled that his grandfather Maharaja Bhupinder Singh had donated Rs 1.35 Lac to save the historic gurudwara of Sri Kartarpur Sahib from ravage by the Ravi river waters during the 1920s.

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This needed the active engagement of both India and Pakistan for its resolution

The Chief Minister, in response to a question, said his government was fully geared to commemorate the 550th birth anniversary celebrations of the first Sikh Guru. The executive committee set up to monitor the progress of the commemoration of this mega event had already finalised the development works to be executed in the historic towns of Sultanpur Lodhi and Dera Baba Nanak. Further, he said that on his request, the Centre had formed a national committee chaired by the Union Home Minister.

Responding to another query, Captain Amarinder Singh described the landslide victory of Congress party in the Zilla Parishads and Block Samitis elections as an acknowledgement of the peoples trust and confidence in its development oriented policies and pro-people initiatives of the Congress government. The humiliating defeat of SAD and other opposition parties showed that the people had completely rejected their sectarian politics and had given a clear verdict in the favour of development and secular credentials of the Congress Governement.

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Captain Amarinder Singh described the landslide victory of Congress party

The Chief Minister credited the sweeping victory to the hard work of the workers and the faith shown in the Congress by the people, who had come out in large numbers to support the ruling party. He rubbished the allegations of hooliganism, made by the Akalis, as nothing but frustration at their ignominious defeat. The Congress had won 94 percent of Zila Parishad and nearly 81 percent Block Samitis in these polls.

Prominent among others who were present on the occasion were Cabinet Ministers Brahm Mohindra, Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa, Sukhbinder Singh Sarkaria, Sadhu Singh Dharamsot, Razia Sultana, Rana Gurmit Singh Sodhi, Senior Advisor to Chief Minister B I S Chahal, Chairman Mandi Board Lal Singh, MLA Fatehgarh Sahib Kuljit Singh Nagra, MLA Rajpura Hardyal Singh Kamboj, DGP Suresh Arora, DGP-cum-STF Chief Mohammad Mustafa, DGP Intelligence Dinkar Gupta, DGP-cum-Chief Director Vigilance B K Uppal, Special Chief Secretary K B S Sidhu, and ACS Vini Mahajan and Principal Secretary Rural Development & Panchayats Anurag Verma.



1. U.S. acceptance of coexistence as the only alternative to atomic war.

2. U.S. willingness to capitulate in preference to engaging in atomic war.

3. Develop the illusion that total disarmament of the United States would be a demonstration of moral strength.

4. Permit free trade between all nations regardless of Communist affiliation and regardless of whether or not items could be used for war.

5. Extension of long-term loans to Russia and Soviet satellites.

6. Provide American aid to all nations regardless of Communist domination.

7. Grant recognition of Red China. Admission of Red China to the U.N.

8. Set up East and West Germany as separate states in spite of Khrushchev's promise in 1955 to settle the German question by free elections under supervision of the U.N.

9. Prolong the conferences to ban atomic tests because the United States has agreed to suspend tests as long as negotiations are in progress.

10. Allow all Soviet satellites individual representation in the U.N.

11. Promote the U.N. as the only hope for mankind. If its charter is rewritten, demand that it be set up as a one-world government with its own independent armed forces. (Some Communist leaders believe the world can be taken over as easily by the U.N. as by Moscow. Sometimes these two centers compete with each other as they are now doing in the Congo.)

12. Resist any attempt to outlaw the Communist Party.

13. Do away with all loyalty oaths.

14. Continue giving Russia access to the U.S. Patent Office.

15. Capture one or both of the political parties in the United States.

16. Use technical decisions of the courts to weaken basic American institutions by claiming their activities violate civil rights.

17. Get control of the schools. Use them as transmission belts for socialism and current Communist propaganda. Soften the curriculum. Get control of teachers' associations. Put the party line in textbooks.

18. Gain control of all student newspapers.

19. Use student riots to foment public protests against programs or organizations which are under Communist attack.

20. Infiltrate the press. Get control of book-review assignments, editorial writing, policymaking positions.

21. Gain control of key positions in radio, TV, and motion pictures.

22. Continue discrediting American culture by degrading all forms of artistic expression. An American Communist cell was told to "eliminate all good sculpture from parks and buildings, substitute shapeless, awkward and meaningless forms."

23. Control art critics and directors of art museums. "Our plan is to promote ugliness, repulsive, meaningless art."

24. Eliminate all laws governing obscenity by calling them "censorship" and a violation of free speech and free press.

25. Break down cultural standards of morality by promoting pornography and obscenity in books, magazines, motion pictures, radio, and TV.

26. Present homosexuality, degeneracy and promiscuity as "normal, natural, healthy."

27. Infiltrate the churches and replace revealed religion with "social" religion. Discredit the Bible and emphasize the need for intellectual maturity which does not need a "religious crutch."

28. Eliminate prayer or any phase of religious expression in the schools on the ground that it violates the principle of "separation of church and state."

29. Discredit the American Constitution by calling it inadequate, old-fashioned, out of step with modern needs, a hindrance to cooperation between nations on a worldwide basis.

30. Discredit the American Founding Fathers. Present them as selfish aristocrats who had no concern for the "common man."

31. Belittle all forms of American culture and discourage the teaching of American history on the ground that it was only a minor part of the "big picture." Give more emphasis to Russian history since the Communists took over.

32. Support any socialist movement to give centralized control over any part of the culture--education, social agencies, welfare programs, mental health clinics, etc.

33. Eliminate all laws or procedures which interfere with the operation of the Communist apparatus.

34. Eliminate the House Committee on Un-American Activities.

35. Discredit and eventually dismantle the FBI.

36. Infiltrate and gain control of more unions.

37. Infiltrate and gain control of big business.

38. Transfer some of the powers of arrest from the police to social agencies. Treat all behavioral problems as psychiatric disorders which no one but psychiatrists can understand.

39. Dominate the psychiatric profession and use mental health laws as a means of gaining coercive control over those who oppose Communist goals.

40. Discredit the family as an institution. Encourage promiscuity and easy divorce.

41. Emphasize the need to raise children away from the negative influence of parents. Attribute prejudices, mental blocks and retarding of children to suppressive influence of parents.

42. Create the impression that violence and insurrection are legitimate aspects of the American tradition; that students and special-interest groups should rise up and use united force to solve economic, political or social problems.

43. Overthrow all colonial governments before native populations are ready for self-government.

44. Internationalize the Panama Canal.

45. Repeal the Connally reservation so the United States cannot prevent the World Court from seizing jurisdiction over nations and individuals alike.A new study has shed light on the mechanisms underlying the progression of prion diseases and identified a potential target for treatment.

Prion diseases are a group of fatal neurological disorders that includes Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and bovine spongiform encephalopathy ("mad cow disease"). They are caused by the spread of "prions," which are altered forms of normal cellular proteins. These abnormal molecules then interact with normal proteins to promote misfolding. While we understand that this process of converting normal to abnormal protein is what causes the symptoms of prion disease (including rapidly progressive dementia, seizures and personality changes), the exact mechanism of damage to the neuronal connections in the brain and spinal cord has been poorly understood.

Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) used a method they previously described for culturing nerve cells from the hippocampal region of the brain, and then exposing them to prions, to illustrate the damage to nerve cell connections usually seen in these diseases. They then added a number of different chemical compounds with known inhibitory effects on cellular responses to stressful stimuli, with the objective of identifying which pathways may be involved.

They found that inhibition of p38 MAPK? (an enzyme that typically responds to stress, such as ultraviolet radiation and heat shock) prevented injury to nerve connections and promoted recovery from the initial damage. Hippocampal nerve cells that had a mutation preventing normal function of p38 MAPK? were also protected, seeming to confirm the role the enzyme plays in this disease process.

David. A. Harris, MD, PhD, professor and chair of the Department of Biochemistry at Boston University School of Medicine and corresponding author of the study, sees these findings as a major breakthrough in trying to understand and treat these diseases. "Our results provide new insights into the pathogenesis of prion diseases, they uncover new drug targets for treating these diseases, and they allow us to compare prion diseases to other, more common neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer's disease."

These findings appear online in PLOS Pathogens.Oakland police towed at least 85 cars and made two arrests during a series of chaotic, late-night sideshows that shut down multiple roadways across East Oakland early Sunday.

Two Oakland police officers were injured in the incidents, police said. One officer was hit by a rock, and another suffered injuries when a sideshow participant rammed into his cruiser.

Police expected the total number of cars towed to rise to close to 100.

Now Playing: UC Berkeley law professor and criminologist Frank Zimring describes how crime rates in the Bay Area's three major cities, San Francisco, San Jose and Oakland, differ and have changed over time. Video: Drew Costley/San Francisco Chronicle

Police initially tweeted about the sideshow activity at 1:40 a.m, stating that rocks and bottles are being thrown at officers, and numerous gunshots are being fired by sideshow crowd.

There were so many cars towed that it took more than 12 hours to take them all away, Oakland police Officer Johnna Watson said. The majority of the cars towed were not registered to Oakland residents.

The combination of reckless driving, alcohol and general lawlessness made for a particularly dangerous mix, she said. Many of the cars towed had empty or half-consumed booze bottles in them. Many onlookers were reportedly firing gunshots into the air.

Youve got hundreds of cars violating the law, youve got people firing guns, youve got cars blocking on-ramps and going the wrong way down one-way streets, she said. An officer was hit in the head with a rock. The violence of the sideshow group is concerning, not only in Oakland but regionally. Its a regional concern.

City Councilman Noel Gallo, who represents the East Oakland neighborhood where many of the sideshows take place, said Saturday nights gathering was abnormally large, with upward of 200 cars involved. He said the sideshow attracted drivers from as far away as Fresno and Modesto.

We have to address the issue and be more aggressive in enforcing the laws that are on the books, he said. Nobody is going to try to get away with this stuff in San Leandro or Alameda. But when it comes to Oakland, they say, Its part of the culture. Its a cool thing to do. In reality, sideshows are not good for anyone, even the driver. It doesnt make sense to burn up your car.

Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts.

Most of the vehicles involved were towed from the area of 42nd Avenue and Interstate 880 starting around 2:30 a.m. There also were reports of sideshow activity on Hegenberger Road near Oakland International Airport.

The sideshows concluded at about 5 a.m., police said. The High Street off-ramp from southbound I-880 was shut down until around noon.

Sideshows, popular in Oakland since the 1980s, are ad hoc automotive stunt shows that typically take place late at night in vacant lots or public intersections.

Watson said that police were aware that a sideshow was being planned for Saturday night and activated a sideshow detail that includes police, tow truck operators and California Highway Patrol. She said the department has stepped up efforts to educate the public about the dangers of sideshows and is committed to cracking down on the events.

We hope in the future to deter anyone who would want to come into our community and have a negative impact, Watson said. If you come to Oakland, you should know that if we are able to catch you we will issue you a citation, tow your car, and in some cases arrest you.

J.K. Dineen is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jdineen@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @sfjkdineenA San Francisco artist who friends described as loving, giving and a fervent supporter of the arts has been identified as the woman struck and killed by a truck in Bernal Heights last week.

Marlene Aron, 75, was walking at the intersection of Cortland Avenue and Ellsworth Street when a flatbed truck towing a trailer struck her at 2:49 p.m. Wednesday, police said. She died after being transported to the hospital.

Aron had spent the days leading up to her death hauling soil, mulch and lava rocks into Reclaimed Room, a San Francisco art gallery featuring projects crafted from recycled materials, for a joint exhibit titled Reflections.

It was one of dozens of exhibitions she contributed to in her lifetime, including collections at the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, the Marin Museum of Contemporary Art, the San Francisco Mission Cultural Center and De Galerie Den Haag in the Netherlands.

The exhibitions opening reception went on as scheduled Friday night, but friends and family packed into the gallery and held each other, sharing memories of Aron while peering at her canvas work, layered with twigs, stones and leaves, hanging on the gallery walls and soil and rocks spread into a floor installation.

Art was her whole life, said Tom Wishing, Arons partner. Sometimes she would go without eating or sleeping in order to support her friends and their art. She was a lover of art and a lover of nature.

She shared a studio in the Code & Canvas art collective on Potrero Avenue and loved walking along the beach when she wasnt creating art or teaching, Wishing said.

Aron, a peace activist, had lived in San Francisco for several decades after taking a years-long detour to Europe in the 1960s, where she became an expert on Vincent van Gogh. She most recently lectured Bay Area artists on Impressionism and female artists in the 1800s, years after lecturing at Penn State University and her alma mater, Youngstown State University in Ohio, he said.

Angel Gurgovits, the gallery curator for Reclaimed Room, said Aron was a prolific, lifelong artist and poet who found happiness in making art and hosting art lectures in local libraries.

Gurgovits said Aron spent Tuesday bent over the gallerys polished floors, plunging her gloved hands into white buckets of soil and rocks, spreading soil in a semicircle and meticulously placing rocks throughout the bed of dirt. Gurgovits filmed Aron as she worked on the floor installation in silence.

She spent several seconds hovering over rocks she placed in the soil, a green scarf hanging from her neck, and pulling her shoulder-length blond hair behind her ears to get a better look.

She had all this mulch, rose leaves and lava rocks, spreading it so thick with layers, Gurgovits said. She was quiet about it. Placing rocks down, making adjustments. It was like beautiful meditation.

During brief breaks, Aron sipped on freshly brewed coffee. The cocoa bean hulls pressed into her pieces made her art smell like chocolate in the gallery, Gurgovits said.

She had to have everything perfect, especially when it came to her art, Wishing said. It was an act of her relating to the materials and how the materials should relate to each other.

In Arons artist statement for the exhibit, she said her art was about building up of layers and stripping away of surface.

Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts.

I create environments of reflection and contemplation. To instill a sense of quietude and balance in an otherwise noisy and turbulent world, she wrote. When I place a rock, draw on the wall, walk and breath and reflect, it is an act of communion with what is before me, what is within.

On Friday night, Wishing read one her poems to the gallery packed with friends. In the opening line, Aron wrote, Im going to make my art, and that will be my protest.

Wishing said the pair were just weeks away from embarking on a trip to Amsterdam, Germany and Paris. She planned to connect with old friends and dive into records for research at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.

I asked myself all the time, How did I so lucky? She was kind, gentle and loving, Wishing said. She was one in a million.

Wishing said Arons family has not yet scheduled a public memorial service.

Arons Reflections exhibition, shared with artist Marilynn Pardee, runs until Nov. 16 at Reclaimed Room, 701 Amador St., San Francisco.

Lauren Hernandez is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: lauren.hernandez@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @LaurenPorFavorWhen it comes to getting homeless RVs off residential streets, San Francisco Supervisor Ahsha Safai is not taking no for an answer.

The solution that the MTA came up with was to do nothing and that is just not acceptable, Safai said after San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency directors, in a split vote, declined to ban oversized vehicles from parking overnight on De Wolf Street, a small residential strip where residents have been complaining about the influx of recreational vehicles.

There are already 61 such bans in place in the city, but SFMTA chair Cheryl Brinkman said its time to stop.

We made it clear that we are not solving the problem of people living in RVs by banning them, Brinkman said. There needs to be a citywide solution. Its an issue of curb equity.

Its an issue of public safety and public health, countered fellow SFMTA director Art Torres, who supported the ban on De Wolf Street.

One key issue is that after two years of meetings and task forces, no one has come up with a place for the campers to park.

It makes no sense, Torres said. There are lots on Treasure Island or near the Cow Palace. If East Palo Alto can do it, why cant we?

So now Safai and fellow Supervisor Vallie Brown are teaming up to look into the Board of Supervisors coming up with its own solution of where to let the campers park overnight.

Given City Halls history on other projects like homeless Navigation Centers, it could be some time before anything changes.

Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts.

Although Brinkman said other measures could be taken, like maybe just banning overnight street parking altogether  including for residents.

This is why there is talk about breaking up the SFMTA, Safai said. They answer to no one.

By the way, Safai is also gunning for the SFMTA over its handling of new scooter permits  he tells us he plans to call Tuesday for a hearing into the agencys selection process, which he claims was done unfairly and without any community input.

San Francisco Chronicle columnists Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross appear Sundays, Mondays and Wednesdays. Matier can be seen on the KPIX TV morning and evening news. He can also be heard on KCBS radio Monday through Friday at 7:50 a.m. and 5:50 p.m. Got a tip? Call (415) 777-8815, or email matierandross@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @matierandrossWhen Vallejo police announced to the world that the abduction of physical therapist Denise Huskins was an elaborate hoax she cooked up with her boyfriend, investigators were sitting on evidence that could have led them to the real culprit in the sensational 2015 kidnap-for-ransom.

The failure devastated the couple. It led to a $2.5 million settlement from the city. It could figure into the prosecution of the kidnapper, Matthew Muller, which heads to court this week.

And, according to court records and interviews, it was easily preventable.

A day before the disastrous announcement, as Huskins lay shackled by a bicycle lock to a bed in South Lake Tahoe  where she said Muller raped her twice after snatching her from her boyfriends Mare Island home  police in Vallejo received leads that they grievously mishandled.

These clues came in the form of missed phone calls placed from an unrecognized number to Huskins boyfriend, Aaron Quinn, who was being grilled by police about her disappearance, records show.

Investigators traced the calls to a prepaid phone purchased from a Target store in Pleasant Hill, and they later viewed surveillance images of a man  allegedly Muller  buying the phone. Investigators also traced the calls received by Quinns phone to a location in South Lake Tahoe just a stones throw from where Huskins was being held at Mullers parents vacation home.

Now Playing: The lawyer for Denise Huskins and her husband talked to reporters just hours after Matthew Muller pleaded guilty to kidnapping her. Cristina Rendon reports. Video: KTVU

But instead of seeing the outlines of Mullers crime, and dispatching resources to catch the dangerous offender, Vallejo police saw a fabrication. It appears they thought the man captured on camera in Target was either Quinn or an accomplice.

So when Muller dropped off Huskins at her familys home in Huntington Beach after keeping her captive for two days, Vallejo police disregarded her story and called the episode an orchestrated event and a wild goose chase.

Huskins and Quinn were dragged through the mud. Muller remained free to strike again  and he did before he was caught months later, prompting Vallejo police to privately apologize to Huskins and Quinn.

Police were going to disregard any facts that contradicted their theory, and thats a tragedy, said Dan Russo, Quinns lawyer. The consequence of that is we know this guy was free to do a home invasion and traumatize another family. Its really sad. Its really pathetic.

The saga took another dramatic turn last week when Muller, 41, was brought from a federal prison in Arizona to Solano County to face state charges of kidnapping for ransom, rape, robbery, burglary and false imprisonment. The Harvard-educated but now disbarred immigration lawyer and onetime Marine has already pleaded guilty to the kidnapping in federal court, earning a 40-year prison sentence.

A magistrate is allowing Muller, who now claims hes innocent, to represent himself at a preliminary hearing scheduled for Tuesday. The Solano County district attorneys office has subpoenaed Huskins and Quinn, both 33, meaning Muller may cross-examine his victims.

This guy is unstoppable, said Huskins attorney, Doug Rappaport. There are very, very few that need to be locked up for life, but hes one of them.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Sharon Henry, who is prosecuting Muller, said the mistakes by investigators early in the case were absolutely not a factor in her decision to subpoena Huskins and Quinn. Often, prosecutors rely on police testimony rather than putting victims on the stand in preliminary hearings.

What remains to be seen is whether the strength of the case may be affected by the initial lapses of Vallejo police as well as the FBI.

The ordeal began around 3 a.m. on March 23, 2015, when at least one person sneaked into Quinns two-story home on Kirkland Avenue on Mare Island, threatened the couple with a squirt gun made to look like a pistol, bound and drugged them, forced Quinn to listen to instructions on headphones, and vanished with Huskins stowed in the trunk of Quinns Toyota Camry, which was soon abandoned.

When Quinn came to hours later, he called police and reported what had happened.

But even as Quinn begged officers to help find his girlfriend, investigators quickly focused on him as a suspect, his attorney said, interrogating him for hours, taking his phone and clothing, extracting blood samples and giving him a polygraph test. They thought his story was just too far-fetched in its horror.

During the grilling, Vallejo police Detective Mathew Mustard told Quinn that they did not want to hear anything else about any claimed intruders, and that they knew that Quinn had really killed Huskins, attorney Kevin Clune, who represented the couple in a lawsuit against police, wrote in court papers.

Agents from the FBIs Fairfield office got involved the day after the abduction, as Muller sought to communicate and secure a $17,000 ransom. At 12:24 p.m., The Chronicle received an email from the kidnapper that contained an audio recording of Huskins recounting the days news and offering personal details only she would know.

My name is Denise Huskins, she said. Im kidnapped, otherwise Im fine. Earlier today, there was a plane crash in the Alps, and 158 people died. The newspaper turned the message over to police  who dismissed it as part of the hoax.

Meanwhile, the kidnapper couldnt get through to Quinn. It wasnt until that evening, eight hours after the proof-of-life message was sent, that investigators discovered the simple reason: Quinns phone was set to airplane mode, Russo said.

Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts.

When they switched the phone back to regular mode, it showed two missed calls from an unknown number. The calls had arrived at 8:31 and 8:33 p.m. the day Huskins was abducted, according to an FBI affidavit.

Police traced the number to a prepaid wireless TracFone purchased three weeks earlier at the Pleasant Hill Target store. Target gave the FBI a photo of the buyer, a light-skinned male, with dark hair, medium build, the affidavit states. Both Muller and Quinn are white, with brown hair and medium builds.

Its unclear from the records exactly when investigators saw the photo, when they traced the calls from the burner phone to South Lake Tahoe, and what they did with the information. Vallejo and FBI officials have long declined to comment in detail.

But the South Lake Tahoe lead, placing the TracFone near Mullers parents home, could have been critical. Muller had been a suspect in three home-invasion attacks in Mountain View and Palo Alto in 2009 and 2012 that had remarkable similarities to the Huskins kidnapping.

Muller dropped off Huskins in Huntington Beach on the morning of March 25, 2015, and she immediately called police, telling them of the kidnapping and rapes.

But then, within hours, came the hastily prepared news conference, during which Vallejo police Lt. Kenny Park said that Quinns account of the kidnapping had been such an incredible story, we initially had a hard time believing it. He lamented the wasted resources put into the investigation.

Russo said the FBI was equally to blame for its role behind the scenes. The couples attorneys allege that the feds had a conflict of interest, because the lead agent in the case, David Sesma, had once been in a personal relationship with Quinns ex-fiancee, whom Muller identified as his intended target, rather than Huskins.

Privately, a law enforcement official told one of Huskins lawyers to watch the 2014 film Gone Girl, in which the title character fakes her kidnapping, to understand the police theory of the case, Clune said.

Huskins and Quinn remained under a cloud for months, though The Chronicle continued to receive emails from the purported kidnapper, who was shocked and angry that police doubted he was real. Then on June 5, 2015, Muller committed a home invasion in Dublin  he later pleaded no contest to the crime  and left his cell phone behind after the resident fought him.

Police reported that they traced the number to Muller and found him  along with a mountain of evidence in the Mare Island kidnapping  in South Lake Tahoe, in the same home where he had held Huskins and called Quinn.

Evan Sernoffsky is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: esernoffsky@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @EvanSernoffskyWASHINGTON  The Senate Judiciary Committee and lawyers for the woman who has accused Judge Brett Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her when they were teens reached a tentative agreement Saturday for her to publicly testify Thursday.

After a brief call late Saturday, the lawyers and aides to Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, planned to talk again Sunday morning to continue negotiations over the conditions of the testimony, according to three people familiar with the call.

Negotiations could still falter over the details, which include who will question the woman, Christine Blasey Ford. But in tentatively agreeing to a Thursday hearing, Republicans made a significant concession that suggested they were working to ensure that the session occurred after several days of uncertainty.

If no final deal is made, Grassley will be left to decide whether to move ahead with a committee vote on Kavanaughs Supreme Court nomination scheduled for Monday. Kavanaugh, who has vigorously denied the allegations, has repeatedly expressed his desire to testify.

The move by Ford, 51, a research psychologist in Palo Alto, came after an extended back-and-forth between her lawyers and top Judiciary Committee aides. Grassley had set 2:30 p.m. Saturday as a final deadline for Ford to agree or decline to appear.

The tentative deal came as White House officials and Republicans on Capitol Hill were growing increasingly frustrated at what they said was a ploy to delay Mondays vote. Republicans had been pressing for Ford, if she were to agree to testify, to do so Wednesday.

Testimony by Ford would set up a potentially explosive showdown after days of uncertainty over whether she would appear at a hearing. It could also greatly complicate matters for Kavanaugh, who seemed destined for confirmation last week.

There have been several sticking points, including who would question her at a hearing and how many news media cameras would be present. The lawyers have also asked for the committee to subpoena testimony from a high school friend of Kavanaughs who Ford has said witnessed the assault.

The Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, has said he has enough votes to confirm Kavanaugh, but with at least two Republicans in the Senate undecided and with the party holding only a 51-49 majority, it is hardly assured.

Nicholas Fandos, Sheryl Gay Stolberg and Julie Hirschfeld Davis are New York Times writers.BLADENBORO, N.C.  Travel remained dangerous Saturday in southeastern North Carolina, where the governor warned of treacherous floodwaters more than a week after Hurricane Florence made landfall and urged residents to stay alert for flood warnings and evacuation orders.

Gov. Roy Cooper said nine of the states river gauges are at major flood stage and four others are at moderate stage, while parts of Interstates 95 and 40 will remain underwater for another week or more. Emergency management officials said residents whose homes were damaged or destroyed will begin moving into hotel rooms next week.

Hurricane Florence has deeply wounded our state, wounds that will not fade soon as the flood waters finally recede, Cooper said.

South Carolina also has ordered more evacuations as rivers continue to rise in the aftermath of a storm that has claimed at least 43 lives since slamming into the coast more than a week ago.

The small farming community of Nichols, S.C., about 40 miles from the coast, was completely inundated by water, Mayor Lawson Battle said Saturday. He called the situation worse than Matthew, the 2016 hurricane that destroyed almost 90 percent of the towns 261 homes. Battle said flooding from Florence has wiped out the 150 or so homes rebuilt afterward.

Its just a mess, said Battle, who was awaiting a visit from Gov. Henry McMaster. We will try everything we can to come back ... but we need to have federal and state help.

In Wilmington, where Hurricane Florence made landfall and which had been cut off by floodwaters, officials said they had identified three safe routes into town. They encouraged people to avoid travel in areas where the risk of flooding remains.

North Carolina Emergency Management Director Michael Sprayberry said Saturday that eastern counties continue to see major flooding, including areas along the Black, Lumber, Neuse and Cape Fear rivers.

He said residents who register with the Federal Emergency Management Agency can begin moving into hotels Monday. The program initially will be open to residents in nine counties, then will be expanded. A FEMA coordinator said about 69,000 people from North Carolina already have registered for assistance.

An economic research firm estimated that Hurricane Florence has caused around $44 billion in damage and lost output, which would make it one of the 10 costliest U.S. hurricanes. The top disaster, Hurricane Katrina in 2005, cost $192.2 billion in todays dollars, while last years Hurricane Harvey cost $133.5 billion.

Gary D. Robertson, Martha Waggoner and Alan Suderman are Associated Press writers.Its no secret that Brett Kavanaugh is not a fan of abortion rights.

In a speech to the conservative American Enterprise Institute a year ago, the future U.S. Supreme Court nominee praised then-Justice William Rehnquists dissent from Roe vs. Wade, the courts 1973 ruling that declared a constitutional right to abortion. Later last year, Kavanaugh, a federal appeals court judge, wrote a dissent that said an undocumented minor in federal custody had no right to an immediate abortion on demand.

But Kavanaugh may have gone further in his Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearings this month. Using legal terminology, he appeared to tell senators that he believed the 1973 ruling was contrary to judicial precedent and should be reversed  delivering, for the judicially savvy, a silver bullet of his views on Roe, as one commentator put it.

The discussion, first reported by columnist Ian Millheiser on the liberal Think Progress website, centered on the Supreme Courts 1997 Glucksberg ruling that upheld Washington states ban on physician assistance in dying. Rehnquist, writing for a 5-4 majority, noted that no such right was mentioned in the Constitution, and said such unmentioned, or unenumerated, rights should be recognized by the courts only if they are deeply rooted in this nations history and tradition.

Although the right to abortion is also unmentioned in the text of the Constitution, the 7-2 majority in Roe vs. Wade said the right to terminate ones pregnancy was protected as part of the constitutional right to privacy  another unenumerated right recognized by the court in 1965.

Now-retired Justice Anthony Kennedy cast the deciding vote to uphold the core of Roe vs. Wade in 1992. The balance could be tipped in the other direction by a replacement chosen by President Trump, who has promised that his Supreme Court appointees would overturn the abortion-rights ruling.

Kavanaugh refused, during his confirmation hearings, to say whether he believed Roe vs. Wade was correctly decided. But he said he considered Rehnquists ruling in the Glucksberg case to be the courts continuing guidepost for determining rights protected by the Constitution. And Kavanaugh had previously said Roe vs. Wade wouldnt pass the Glucksberg test.

Thats the silver bullet that shows Kavanaugh thinks the abortion ruling should fall, said Kent Greenfield, a Boston College law professor.

The court has recognized other rights unmentioned in the Constitution, such as the right to raise ones children and to refuse involuntary sterilization. But the Glucksberg test became a mantra for judicial conservatives to put a lid on newly declared constitutional rights.

That view eventually collided with the courts increasing acceptance of gay rights as constitutionally protected. In the 2015 ruling that legalized same-sex marriage, Kennedy said the Glucksberg formula may have been appropriate for physician-aided death, but was inconsistent with the approach this court has used in discussing other fundamental rights including marriage and intimacy.

In his dissent, Chief Justice John Roberts said Kennedys opinion had effectively put an end to the Glucksberg test. Yet Kavanaugh, asked during his confirmation hearing which rights are protected by the Constitution, said Glucksberg was still the law.

I think all roads lead to the Glucksberg test as the test that the Supreme Court has settled on, he told Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas.

And its clear, to Kavanaugh, that the court-declared right to abortion fails that test.

Even a first-year law student could tell you that the Glucksberg approach to unenumerated rights was not consistent with the approach of the abortion cases such as Roe vs. Wade, he told the American Enterprise Institute in September 2017.

While Kavanaugh fended off direct questions about Roe vs. Wade during the hearings, liberal legal analysts like Greenfield and Millheiser said the nominee had made his views clear, to those who could decode his words.

Citing Glucksberg is a way to signal that youre on that (conservative) team, but only to people who know enough law to know that signal, Greenfield said. Under the Glucksberg approach, he said, rights are defined by looking backward.

That wouldnt necessarily mean that Kavanaugh and fellow Supreme Court conservatives would take an ax to the abortion ruling once they mustered five votes. Roberts, for one, has indicated a preference for proceeding with caution in dismantling long-standing precedents, and even some abortion opponents have expressed a willingness to chip away at the ruling rather than immediately overturning it.

Michael McConnell, a Stanford law professor and former federal appeals court judge who supports Kavanaughs nomination, said he doesnt think the nominee plans to vote to reverse Roe vs. Wade.

This is only a guess, McConnell said by email, but there is very little appetite in conservative legal circles to reopen old wounds.

Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @BobEgelkoVideo by Trevor Rockliffe

Since Castanet's first story on the Kelowna couple who survived Hurricane Odile, a few other Okanagan residents have shared their stories, adding to the picture of chaos that ensued in the wake of the storm.

The category 4 Hurricane Odile ravaged Mexico's Baja Peninsula on Sunday Sept 14. There was widespread destruction and more than 30,000 tourists were stranded in the country. This is in addition to the tens of thousands of locals who lost their homes or places of work.

In the days that followed the hurricane locals, tourists and ex-pats took to the streets for survival.

Lisa and Kurt Nordstokke retired this year and had been living in their condo in Cabo San Lucas since June 1. They had just returned from buying supplies at Costco when the hurricane hit.

"We could hardly get back to our condo," Lisa said in an interview. "And then it just picked up. We lost TV at 6:30 p.m., and we lost total cell service at 9 p.m., I sent my daughter a message and that was it. After 9 p.m. that's when all chaos broke loose."

"We hunkered down in the bedroom and the winds were crazy, of course, and rain - we were in the eye-wall, so at one point it stopped. All of the sudden it's quiet and it was the weirdest thing when it picked up. The winds were coming one way and then after the eye-wall they whipped around the other way."

The change in wind direction caught the neighbours windows on the floor above them. "We heard glass smashing and furniture flying above our heads and we thought 'Is it going to cave in? What's next?'"

Around first light the next morning, Nordstokke said they crawled out and saw massive destruction.

"One man from Calgary had all of his living room and bedroom windows blown out. He had to crawl through glass to get to a neighbour in another building."

Photo: Contributed - Lisa and Kurt Nordstokke Lisa and Kurt drive by looters making a run on a store near Cabo.

By 9 a.m. Lisa and her husband saw people looting an Oxxo store which is similar to our 7/11 stores.

What surprised them the most was seeing people from their own condo complex joining in the spree.

"It wasn't only locals, it was gringo or tourist populations looting as well."

"We watched as one couple carried in numerous bottles of wine they had taken from a specialty wine store that had been completely destroyed," she said. "We witnessed the military and police doing little to nothing to stop the looting, and in some cases, helping. In other instances the local police were seen filling their cars with big screen TV's and other electronics like washers, dryers and fridges."

Thousands and thousands of homes that belonged to residents of Cabo San Lucas and the surrounding area had been destroyed.

Notwithstanding that, Lisa said many Mexican locals stayed at the resorts to take care of the tourists.

"They're amazing, " she said. "When you've lost your entire home, and maybe even some family members and you're still working. Most of us, there's no way, after a disaster if you lost your entire home, could you return to work that day."

However, Nordstokke said when they saw Costco and Wal Mart had been looted out, they knew they had to get out.

Thankfully, their building manager had offered sound advice before the storm hit.

"We asked our property manager what to do before the hurricane hit and the best advice we got was to fill the gas tank. They said not to worry because the hurricanes never hit."

Nordstokke was worried, so she got gas, water and enough non-perishable food to last five days, if they rationed.

On Tuesday the Nordstokkes along with their neighbours in the condominium, an American couple in their 60s, headed for La Paz. La Paz is about 160 kilometres north of Cabo and suffered less extensive damage.

"La Paz was damaged as well and functioning at maybe 50 per cent after the hurricane, compared to Los Cabo which was not functioning at all."

They had found a hotel which was on a military grid, so it had some power and water. They arrived that night and were finally able to get a message out to their families on the Wednesday.

Although La Paz had suffered to a lesser extent, there was still no cell service for days and bank machines weren't operating.

"It was a cash only society for a few days and we were lucky our friends had enough cash on hand to help us make it through until we were able to access our bank accounts. Nothing is more frightening or stressful than being in a foreign country during a natural disaster with very limited cash and no access to your bank account."

They began to hear horror stories from other people fleeing Cabo. It was rumoured that jails had broken and organized gangs were in the streets killing people. Eventually the Mexican military came in full force and established curfews to curb the violence and stealing.

Looking forward, Nordstokke said their foursome is going back to Cabo on Friday to try and get their belongings out of their condo. Then for them, it's back to Kelowna.

Their condo wasn't damaged except for some water. However without power or air conditioning, and with all grocery stores looted and destroyed, they have to get out.

"This disaster will affect me now, but in the long run, I would come back here in a heart beat," Lisa said. "It's just right now, you kind of want to hug your family and go home to what you know."

They will be driving back on Saturday Sept 27.Photo: Contributed

Join our wine writer, Allison Markin, every week for a wine review complete with food and music pairings. Featuring Okanagan and Canadian wines, with an occasional international bottle, Castanet celebrates the bottles of our Valley and the diversity of the Canadian wine industry and influences from around the world. For current availability and pricing, consult the winery. Unless indicated, international selections are generally available at government liquor stores or private wine shops.

Wine: Campofiorin Rosso Del Veronese, 2014

Winery: Masi, Italy

Why drink it? And now for something completely different: an Italian super Venetian red blend that is usually readily available at BC liquor stores. The grape varieties  Corvina, Rondinella, Molinara  create a full-bodied but smooth ruby red wine, with a touch of sweetness thanks to lightly drying the grapes (think of raisons and their concentrated flavour), though the finish is dry. The aromas are an enjoyable mix of cherries and spices, the tannins are soft, and its vegan-friendly, in case youre wondering. An easy-drinking Italian to have on hand, or to compare with an Okanagan red blend.

Price: $20 (varies)

Pair with: An impromptu classic movie night on the couch, because Cinema Paradiso happens to be on TV, and on your last trip to Costco you bought a wide variety of cheeses that you now want to try. Pairs well with pizza or pasta with tomato sauces, rather than cream-based ones.

Music pairing: Mambo Italiano, Rosemary Clooney

Have a wine to suggest? Email Allison at [email protected]Associated Press

NAIROBI, Kenya  A day after Tanzanian authorities said they were unlikely to locate any more survivors from a ferry that capsized in Lake Victoria, an engineer who worked aboard the vessel was discovered alive in an apparent air pocket inside the overturned boat, authorities said Saturday.

Divers rescued the engineer from the ferry, the MV Nyerere, on Saturday morning, nearly two days after the vessel overturned, the countrys minister for communication, transport and infrastructure, Isack Kamwewle, said on the state-run Tanzania Broadcasting Corp.Stefan Rousseau / Associated Press

LONDON  As the annual meeting of Britains opposition Labor Party began Sunday, one big question was reverberating around the conference center in Liverpool: Should Britons be allowed to weigh in again on the countrys withdrawal from the European Union?

Since the country voted in a 2016 referendum to leave the 28-member bloc, a process known as Brexit, Labor has repeatedly said it would respect the outcome of that vote. But with the British governments negotiations on the terms of its departure in turmoil, and the threat of an economically damaging exit rising, some trade union leaders and Labor representatives are warming to the idea of a second referendum on the issue.Jose Antonio Vargas, a journalist and immigration rights activist from the Bay Area, has been living without a permanent address since Trump got elected in 2016, he revealed in an interview with SFGATE. He said that he wrote his new book, "Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen," which came out on Tuesday, mostly in hotels and on planes.

"This is all my stuff," Vargas, who grew up with his grandparents in Mountain View, wrote in a Facebook post addressed to private friends, according to Richard Prince's Journal-isms blog. A photo accompanied the post, showing items the writer has in storage. Vargas said many of his friends didn't know he was virtually homeless until then.

"At least, all the stuff that matters in my life: mementos, papers, clothing, collectible books, cherished photos, etc.," Vargas continued. "They're all in my grandma's garage. For the first time since I graduated high school in 2000, I don't have my own place."

Vargas told SFGATE that his grandmother's garage was where his grandfather revealed to him that he was an undocumented immigrant when he was 16. He chuckled when asked about the experience of moving his stuff back to Mountain View and said that "when I was young I made a vow that I wasn't going to live there again."

"I mean I love my grandmother, but I really wanted to be independent," Vargas said. "It's funny how life works like that. I've come full circle, going back to the same place where I discovered all of this. That garage is the place where my life changed."

Vargas, who once worked as a copyboy for the San Francisco Chronicle, has become one of the most well-known, outspoken undocumented immigrants since he revealed that he was undocumented in an essay he wrote for The New York Times Sunday Magazine.

After Trump's election, Vargas told NBC News that the building manager at the apartment where he was living in Los Angeles told him it wasn't a good idea for him to have a permanent address.

"A few days before the inauguration of President Donald Trump, the building manager in the apartment complex I was living in, a nice guy named Mel, told me that if immigration agents showed up, he wasn't sure the building could hide me. He felt ashamed to say it, but tension had been building since the election," Vargas wrote in a separate piece for NBC News.

He told SFGATE that his building manager suggested what he did out of concern. "When you're in this precarious position, you sometimes try to delude yourself into thinking that things are going to be okay," Vargas said. "But I think at that moment that I had to really face what my life is."

A "huge" black-and-white photo of the legendary black author James Baldwin hanging in his apartment reminded him of one of Baldwin's quotes: "All safety is an illusion."

"That quote became very real to me ... So that's when I started thinking about writing something. I had been avoiding writing a book since I outed myself in 2011," he said. But after the exchange with his landlord, he went on the move again, to write the book and really get clear on who and what he was in the context of being public as an undocumented immigrant.

The first time Vargas moved, it was from the Phillipines when he was 12, to live with his grandparents in Mountain View. But he didn't discover he was undocumented until four years later when he tried to get a driver's license  and found that his identification documents were falsified.

Since he revealed his immigration status in the 2011 essay, he has written a cover story for Time magazine about living as an undocumented immigrant, testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee and advocated for the DREAM Act.

He also started an organization called Define American aimed at changing the media narrative about immigrants, identity and citizenship in America. He sees the organization Define American and his book as an continuation of his work as a journalist.

During a stop in Washington, D.C. to promote his latest project, "Dear America," he said that he wrote the book while riding on planes and living in hotels. In the Facebook post, he said that the book is about his "own liberation."

"I had to face what years of lying, passing, and hiding had done to me. The emotional toll. The psychological cost. The trauma," he wrote. "I had to look at myself to make sense of myself, to put myself back together."

But coming out of the other end of having written the book, he told SFGATE that he has clarity.

"I have forced myself to really look at myself, and that's what the book has been about to me," he said. "People have been asking who I wrote the book for. One way to answer that is [to say] that I wrote it for all of the undocumented people who reached out to me since Trump was elected, and talked to me about how depressed they are, how hopeless they are and the state of their mental health...

"The whole time that they talk to me, I feel like I have to put up this face of being strong," Vargas continued. "...But with this book I wanted to show the toll the past 25 years of being in this country has been for me."Spectacular views, sunny skies and almost-warm air Sunday drew hundreds of people to San Franciscos Alta Plaza Park, which sits high in Pacific Heights.

Joining the dog walkers, birthday party attendees, sunbathers and sightseers were city officials, including Recreation and Park Department Director Phil Ginsburg and Supervisor Catherine Stefani.

They were there to celebrate the completion of a $2.6 million improvement project that returned the northern half of the park to the public after it was fenced off for close to a year during reconstruction work on the park, which was designed by John McLaren in the early 1900s.

During the past several months, construction crews rehabilitated the section of the park that lies closest to Jackson Street. Their work included a new accessible entrance at Washington and Scott streets, fresh green lawns and a new main gateway at Pierce and Jackson streets thats not quite finished.

The biggest part of the project is what park-goers cant really see  extensive improvements to the parks subterranean infrastructure designed to save water and to prevent runoff from seeping out of the hillsides and onto Jackson and Clay streets, where it created unsightly and hazardous streaks of slippery slime.

A lot of the work was actually underground, said Beverly Ng, a spokeswoman for the parks department. The water and drainage work was the major focus of the project. Its not very visible, but its very important.

Workers replaced an outdated automatic irrigation system on the northern side of the park that was a major water-waster in the city parks system, according to audits by the citys Public Utilities Commission, Ng said. She said the project should save 2.5 million gallons a year, a 39 percent reduction in use.

They also replaced the drainage system around the entirety of the park, installing French drains to prevent leakage along about two blocks of Clay and Jackson streets as well as part of Steiner Street, said a city worker who added that he wasnt authorized to comment officially.

The new accessible entrance curves up the hill from Scott Street fairly gently, ending at a new circular viewing plaza that contains benches and the names of donors to the project.

Its rewarding, and its very exciting, the worker said of the completion of the project.

Visitors to the park Sunday were appreciative. Brandon Doran, 43, came to the park with his wife and two children, ages 2 and 8, for a picnic. They live a few blocks away and were happy with the new grass and especially the lack of fences.

Its infrastructure mainly, he said. But its nice to have all the entrances open. There wasnt anywhere here to picnic for a few months.

Nearby, James Mason, 66, sat on a bench enjoying the view north to the bay and said he was pleased with the spruced-up look and feel of the park.

Theres nice spreads of new grass, and overall it looks a lot cleaner, he said. This is a really nice park.

So nice, said Matt Carges, 55, a therapist from Portland, Ore., that he visits whenever he comes to San Francisco, where he lived 18 years ago.

I just love the view here, he said, and the microclimate weather where youre not sure if youre going to get fog or sun, and I love this neighborhood. This is a great park.

Michael Cabanatuan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mcabanatuan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ctuanPhoto: Contributed

Municipalities across British Columbia will elect their civic leaders on October 20, 2018.

In Vernon a near-unprecedented number of candidates have registered to run for city council: 20 candidates for council; four candidates for mayor.

Castanet invited all registered Vernon candidates to participate in candidate profiles as well as asked them to answer questions on truth and accountability.

The candidates were provided with the same seven questions and asked to participate in a short unedited video.

Profiles of candidates running in Vernon.

Mayoral candidates

Victor Cumming

Art Gourley

Erik Olesen

Darrin Taylor

*Link to full Greater Vernon Chamber of Commerce mayoral forum.

*Link to Castanet mayoral discussion.

Councillor candidates

Scott Anderson(i)

Dave DeShane

Teresa Durning

Kelly Fehr

Jasmine Finlay

Sherrilee Franks

Kari Gares

Don Jefcoat

Lily Kerr

Rick Lavin *Did not participate

Shawn Lee

Gord Leighton

Kevin Lepp

Jamie Morrow

Akbal Mund(i)

Dalvir Nahal(i)

Brian Quiring(i)

Dawn Tucker

Terry Vulcano

Sam Zaharia

Vernon's voting public will have three locations to cast a ballot in the 2018 municipal election today.

Ellison Elementary School, 2400 - Fulton Rd.

Vernon Secondary School, 2100 - 15th St.

Greater Vernon Recreation Centre, 3310 - 37th Ave.

Voting Opportunities are 8 a.m. until 8 p.m.

Apart from voting for your community's civic leaders, some voters in the North Okanagan will cast a ballot in a regional referendum.

Voters in Coldstream, Vernon and Electoral Areas 'B' and 'C' will be asked if they support the creation of a Greater Vernon Cultural Service; and the borrowing of up to $25,000,000 ($25 million) by the RDNO for its portion of the funds required to build a multi-purpose cultural facility?The White House is considering a draft executive order for President Trump that would instruct federal antitrust and law enforcement agencies to open probes into the practices of Google, Facebook and other social media companies.

Bloomberg News obtained a draft of the order, which a White House official said was in its early stages and hasnt been reviewed by other government agencies. Separately, Lindsey Walters, deputy White House press secretary, said in an email that the document isnt the result of an official White House policy making process.

The document instructs antitrust authorities to thoroughly investigate whether any online service has violated antitrust laws. It instructs other government agencies to recommend, within a month after the order is signed, actions that could potentially protect competition and address online bias.

The document doesnt name any companies. If signed, the order would represent a significant escalation of Trumps aversion to Google, Facebook, Twitter and other social media companies, which he has publicly accused of silencing conservative voices and news sources online.

A Facebook spokeswoman said the company has no comment on the proposed order. The news offices of Google and Twitter didnt respond Saturday to emails and telephone calls requesting comment.

Social Media is totally discriminating against Republican/Conservative voices, Trump tweeted in August. Speaking loudly and clearly for the Trump Administration, we wont let that happen. They are closing down the opinions of many people on the RIGHT, while at the same time doing nothing to others.

Social media companies have acknowledged in congressional hearings that their efforts to enforce prohibitions against online harassment have sometimes led to erroneous punishment of political figures on both the left and the right, and that once discovered, those mistakes have been corrected. They say theres no systematic effort to silence conservative voices.

The draft order says that any actions federal agencies take should be consistent with other laws  an apparent nod to concerns that it could threaten the traditional independence of law enforcement, or conflict with the First Amendment, which protects political views from government regulation.

Because of their critical role in American society, it is essential that American citizens are protected from anticompetitive acts by dominant online platforms, the order says. It adds that consumer harm  a key measure in antitrust investigations  could come through the exercise of bias.

The orders preliminary status is reflected in the text of the draft, which includes a note in red that the first section could be expanded, if necessary, to provide more details on the roles of the online services and the importance of competition.

The possibility of an executive order emerged as Attorney General Jeff Sessions prepares for a Tuesday briefing by state attorneys general who are already investigating the tech firms practices.

That meeting, which will include a representative of the Justice Departments antitrust division, is intended to help Sessions decide whether theres a federal case to be made against the companies, two people familiar with the matter have said. At least one of the attorneys general participating in the meeting has indicated that he wants to break up the companies.

Growing movements on the right and left argue that companies including Google and Facebook engage in anticompetitive behavior. The companies reject the accusation, arguing that they face strong competition and that many of their products are free. Bias has not typically figured in antitrust examinations.

In July, for instance, Twitter algorithms limited the visibility of some Republicans in profile searches. CEO Jack Dorsey testified before Congress in September that the limits also affected some Democrats when the site was trying to enforce policies against threats, hate, harassment or other forms of abusive speech. The moves were reversed.

A Pew Research Center survey this year found that 72 percent of Americans, and 85 percent of Republicans, think its likely that social media companies intentionally censor political viewpoints that those companies find objectionable.

Even on the right, however, there are misgivings about a Trump administration crackdown on the companies. On Friday, libertarian-leaning groups including FreedomWorks and the American Legislative Exchange Council sent a letter to Sessions, expressing fear that his inquiry will be to accomplish through intimidation what the First Amendment bars: interference with editorial judgment.

Content on Facebook and Google is delivered to users by computer programs using thousands of signals to rank what may be most relevant to them in that moment. Those programs, which are written by humans, mostly try to serve up what other people have found useful in the past, or what the user seems to like seeing. That means it could be difficult to prove or disprove bias, because most people already have a somewhat personalized experience on the internet.

Facebook has said it has no reason to believe its algorithm is biased. But to answer to critics, the company hired Jon Kyl, a former Republican senator from Arizona, to run an internal probe. Kyl has returned to the Senate after being appointed to replace John McCain, who died in August, but his team is continuing the work at Facebook.

Ben Brody and Jennifer Jacobs are Bloomberg writers. Email: btenerellabr@bloomberg.net, jjacobs68@bloomberg.netFast food can be pretty gross. But some of it is definitely more gross than the norm.

Thanks to some fast food workers of Reddit, those insider secrets have been revealed. In a Reddit thread called "Fast food workers - What should we never order from you?," workers copped to the worst menu items.Photo: Daniel Arantes Fotografo/Flickr

Authorities say bananas donated to a Texas prison turned out to have nearly $18 million worth of cocaine hidden inside the boxes.

The Texas Department of Criminal Justice says in a Facebook post that the drugs were found in two pallets of bananas that were donated because they were already ripe. The donation arrived Friday.

The department says sergeants who picked up the boxes found a bundle of a white powdery substance under the bananas. U.S. customs officials were called to the scene, and authorities say 540 packages of cocaine were found in 45 boxes of bananas.

The department says federal officials and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection are investigating.Photo: Contributed

The Minister of Public Safety is reaching out to young men as they head back to school this September, pleading with them to think about their driving behaviours.

Mike Farnworth says he is troubled by the recent traffic statistics in British Columbia.

In 2017, there were about 350,000 crashes in the province with speed, distraction and impairment being the top contributing factors.

Fatal motor vehicle incidents involving motorcyclists have doubled in just the first seven months this year and serious collisions involving a pedestrian or cyclist occur daily.

I'm troubled by these facts, he said. The reason I'm writing at this time is because - beyond the factors cited above - these incidents disproportionately involve one other thing.

That one thing is young men, as drivers and victims.

More than three times as many male drivers die on our roads as female drivers, said Farnworth.

His message isnt intended to be a killjoy and he knows many young men will be jumping in a nice car or a sleek new bike this September.

What I want you to consider is how easily you could become a killjoy by not using your power responsibly, he said.

Farnworth says if young men are distracted by their phone, impaired by alcohol or drugs, or just pulled an all-nighter to finish a paper, the situation is guaranteed to be worse.

But trust me: what you really don't want is to be remembered for killing yourself, a friend or a complete stranger, he said.

The B.C. government has taken steps to protect people from dangerous drivers such as activating red light cameras at 140 high-risk intersections.WASHINGTON  Judge Brett Kavanaugh has calendars from the summer of 1982 that he plans to hand over to the Senate Judiciary Committee that do not show a party consistent with the description of his accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, according to someone working for his confirmation.

More for you Sexual assault survivors see Kavanaugh accuser's case through personal lens

The calendars do not disprove Blaseys allegations, Kavanaughs team acknowledged. He could have attended a party that he did not list. But his team will argue to the senators that the calendars provide no corroboration for her account of a small gathering at a house where he allegedly pinned her to a bed and tried to remove her clothing.Defence experts on Sunday slammed Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan for his tweet criticizing India for calling off Foreign Minister's meet and dubbed the latter as a 'man with no character, no integrity and no sensitivity'

Strongly worded criticism has been pouring in from all quarters over the statement made by Pakistan's prime minister.

Reacting over it, Sehgal told ANI, "His tweet is in extremely bad taste. It shows that the man has no character, no integrity and no sensitivity. The statement is downright reprehensible. His words clearly indicate that he has lost his sense of balance and he has virtually ensured that there is no possibility of a breakthrough as much and Indian-Pakistan relationship is concerned."

Sehgal also expressed his support for Indian Army Chief General Bipin Rawat's stand on the issue and said, "I am in absolute agreement with the statement of Army Chief Rawat. India has made it abundantly clear to Pakistan and to the rest of world that there is no question of initiating a dialogue with Pakistan unless and until Pakistan creates a conducive environment for talks. The conducive environment thus required has been enunciated time and again by this and the previous governments."

Rawat on Saturday had said that it is time to give it back to Pakistan in the same coin.

Another security and strategic affairs expert Cmde. (Retired) C. Uday Bhaskar also called for Imran Khan to introspect and look inwards before making such observations.

Bhaskar told ANI, "PM Imran Khan has put out a sharp tweet. While it may convey his own sentiment, I think there is a deeper subtext, which is that Imran Khan is occupying a very high office in Pakistan and now he would have to introspect about the kind of duplicity that is being practised by Pakistan in respect to terror. There is historical context as far as Pakistan and its support to terrorism is concerned. The tweet should also encourage Imran Khan to look inwards and reflect on the office that he is occupying and ponder over the kind of integrity that he must bring to bear while commenting on the most recent development between India and Pakistan. He cannot ignore this larger reality of duplicity being practised by Pakistan."

Bhaskar, although, also expressed his displeasure over the fact that India and Pakistan have now become hostage to terrorism by letting it decide as to whether the two countries should engage in formal official contact.

He said, "I think the challenge for both the countries is to surmount this particular linkage where one terrorist or one act of terrorism can have a very significant impact on whether or not two countries engage in any formal meeting. I think the real challenge for India is to see whether talks, in whatever context of the framework, can reduce or help in better management of the terror infrastructure that we associate for Pakistan. I think that is the politico-diplomatic challenge for India. If we can break this talks being held hostage to terrorism and yet find a framework in which talks could be held so that terrorism can be contained."

Khan, expressing discontent over the cancellation of peace talks, took to twitter and wrote, "Disappointed at the arrogant and negative response by India to my call for the resumption of the peace dialogue. However, all my life I have come across small men occupying big offices who do not have the vision to see the larger picture."

-ANIPrime Minister Narendra Modi Sunday said he would inaugurate the first airport in Sikkim at Paykong Monday and that it will improve connectivity, benefitting

the people of the state.

The prime minister will leave for the Himalayan state after launching the Centre's flagship Ayushman Bharat-National Health Protection Mission (AB-NHPM) from Jharkhand capital Ranchi Sunday.

"After the programme in Jharkhand I will leave for Sikkim. In Sikkim, I will be inaugurating the Pakyong Airport tomorrow, which will improve connectivity and benefit the people of Sikkim," Modi said on Twitter.

Sikkim's dream of having an airport will come true nine years after a foundation stone of the greenfield airport was laid, around 33 km from Gangtok, in 2009



The airport is spread over 201 acres and is located on top of a hill about two km above Pakyong village at 4,500 feet above sea level, Sikkim Chief Secretary A K Srivastava said.

The airport was constructed by the Airports Authority of India and at present, the nearest airport from Sikkim is located 124 km away in Bagdogra in West Bengal, he told PTI.

The airport was constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 605 crore and is an "engineering marvel" for its soil reinforcement and slope stabilisation techniques keeping in view the altitude it was built at, Srivastava said.

Integrated structures comprising an ATC tower-cum-fire station, two sophisticated CFT, one terminal building for passengers, high-intensity runway lights, parking for over 50 vehicles are some of the features of the airport, the chief secretary said.

The reinforcement wall of the project is 80-metre-high, one of the tallest in the world, Srivastava said.

The Pakyong airport is located around 60 km from the Indo-China border.

The Indian Air Force (IAF) would be able to land various types of aircraft on the airport's runway with the construction of another 75-metre stretch adjacent to the main runway in the coming days, the chief secretary said.

The airport has a 1.75 km runway with a width of 30 metre. It has a 116-metre-long taxiway connecting it to an apron measuring 106 metre by 76 metre that can simultaneously accommodate two ATR-72 aircraft.

The airport has 3,000 sq metre terminal building and has a capacity to handle 50 in-bound and as many out-bound passengers.

Pakyong Airport Director R Manjunatha said the land for the airport was carved from the mountain side using massive geo technical 'cut and fill' engineering works.

The first commercial flight from Pakyong would begin from October 4, he said.

SpiceJet will operate 78-seater Bombardier Q400 flights to and fro Delhi, Kolkata and Guwahati everyday under the Civil Aviation Ministry's Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik (UDAN) scheme, Manjunatha said.

UDAN aims at enhancing regional connectivity.

Manjunatha said initially the airport would only cater to domestic flights, but later it will also provide international flight services connecting Sikkim with other countries like Paro in Bhutan, Kathmandu in Nepal and Dhaka in Bangladesh.

On March 5, IAF's Dornier-228 aircraft was tested from Pakyong, officials said.

SpiceJet followed it by conducting test runs of the 78-seater Bombardier Q400 from Kolkata to Pakyong on March 10. This led to security clearances for commercial operations, they said.

The Sikkim Police has been entrusted with the security of the Pakyong airport, the officials said.

-PTIAll lanes of southbound U.S. Highway 101 just north of the Interstate Highway 880 junction are currently blocked due to a multiple-vehicle traffic collision this morning, according to the California Highway Patrol.



The CHP said the collision was first reported at 6:08 a.m. There is no estimated time of reopening.



No further information is immediately available.





Copyright  2018 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited.WALNUT CREEK (BCN)



A two-alarm fire seriously damaged a large house today at 301 Castle Glen Road off Tice Valley Boulevard in Walnut Creek near Rossmoor, the Contra Costa County Fire Protection District said tonight.



The blaze was reported at 5:34 p.m. today, said fire Capt. Lisa Martinez. Firefighters had to contend with a steep, winding driveway that made access difficult, Martinez said, but got to the house quickly. Except for a few hot spots, the fire was out by about 7 p.m.



It appears the fire started when embers from the house's fireplace, which was being used today, landed on the wood-shingle roof. The resulting fire spread into the attic.



The house's fireplace had a spark arrestor, Martinez said, but that didn't stop all the embers from escaping.



"It's California, and shake roofs are not a good idea," Martinez said. "But it could have been a whole lot worse."



Three of the house's four occupants were home when the fire started, Martinez said, but none of them, nor any firefighters, suffered injuries. There was no money estimate of damages tonight.





Copyright  2018 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited.LAFAYETTE (BCN)



The Lafayette City Council on Monday evening is set to decide whether to rename the city library's community hall - its regular meeting place - for 33-year Councilman Don Tatzin.



Tatzin, 66, will not seek another term this November.



One of the longest-serving local council members in California, Tatzin has had outsized influence in regional government - partly for his sheer longevity, but also from his experience as a longtime corporate and management consultant.



The Lafayette Library and Learning Center, at 3491 Mt. Diablo Blvd., opened in 2009.



Monday's council meeting begins at 7 p.m. in the library's community hall.





Copyright  2018 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited.A 32-year-old Sunnyvale woman died Wednesday in a fall off a cliff at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore along Lake Superior in Michigan on a solo hike, an Algers County Sheriff's dispatcher confirmed tonight.



The dispatcher would not confirm the victim's name, but an earlier National Parks Service statement said Tu Thanh Nguyen had been hiking a trail on a cliff 200 feet above Lake Superior and was taking photos when she slipped off the side and fell into the lake.

ALSO: Climber dies in solo ascent of California's Mount Whitney

Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore is about 10 miles northeast of the town of Munising on Michigan's Upper Peninsula.

RELATED VIDEO:

The Algers County Sheriff's dispatcher said tonight that the hiker's death is still under investigation by her agency and that she couldn't provide further details.

Copyright  2018 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited.BERKELEY (BCN)



University police are asking for helping finding a man who snatched a cell phone out of a woman's hands near Moffitt Library on the University of California campus Friday evening.



The woman was walking on a pathway west of the library and using her iPhone X when a man came up behind her and grabbed the phone, police said. The suspect ran west on University Drive, then north toward Hearst Avenue, according to police.



A witness chased down the suspect and retrieved the phone, returning it to its owner, police said. The woman wasn't hurt, according to police.



The suspect was last seeing headed west on Hearst Avenue from the north side of Tolman Hall, police said. Officers searched for the man but couldn't find him.



Anyone with information is asked to contact police at (510) 642-6760.





Copyright  2018 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited.After visiting Nepal in August for the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) summit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be visiting the Himalayan nation once again, this time in November.

"Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be coming to Nepal again in the end week of the November. The probable date for his visit which will be a state visit, in fact, is expected to take place on November 28 and 29. There might be some changes over the date regarding a day before or after," a high-level official from the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu told ANI.

This will be Prime Minister Modi's fourth visit to Nepal after he came to power in 2014.

"During his visit, Prime Minister Modi will also be visiting Lumbini, the birthplace of Lord Gautam Buddha. High-level meetings and engagements will be continued as done before," the official added.

During his second state visit, Prime Minister Modi was scheduled to visit Janakpur, Muktinath and Lumbini but it was put off citing various security reasons.

However, during his third visit to the country, the Prime Minister had visited the pilgrimage sites.

-ANISouth Korean President Moon Jae-in is set to embark on a visit to the United States on Sunday to brief his counterpart Donald Trump over the recent inter-Korean summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Pyongyang.

Apart from discussing the matter with Trump, President Moon is also scheduled to explain the outcome of the inter-Korean summit at the 73rd session of the United Nations General Assembly, Yonhap News Agency reported.

"President Moon is set to thoroughly explain the outcome of the third inter-Korean summit (in 2018) that was held under the interest of the entire world," said Nam Gwan-pyo, a senior director from the presidential National Security Office.

He added that the South Korean President "will hold in-depth discussions (with Trump) on ways to break the impasse in North Korea-US talks and to improve their relations."

On September 18, President Moon visited in Pyongyang, which was the first trip by a South Korean head of state. The visit was largely aimed at brokering the stalled talks between North Korea and the United States over the former's progress of denuclearisation and to discuss steps to further improve inter-Korean ties.

The two Koreas signed a joint military agreement and a joint statement to cease hostilities and working for peace on the peninsula. The two sides also agreed to take "additional steps" to achieve the process of denuclearisation.

Kim and President Moon reaffirmed to establish a peace treaty to replace the current armistice agreement to end the 1950-53 Korean War. The two Koreas are technically at war in the absence of any peace pact.

-ANIA series of tornadoes that wreaked havoc in Virginia earlier this week also revealed a wild surprise on a university campus  a rotten tree home to more than 70,000 bees, researchers said in a news release.

ALSO: Two coyotes now call Bernal Hill home, and sometimes they 'frolic'

When a university cleanup crew at the University of Richmond went to deal with a tree that had fallen across Towana Road near campus, they weren't expecting what they found when they got there: bees. Thousands of bees.

"Lots of bees," administrative assistant Karla Connelly emphasized in a press release.

The crew had to call for backup once they discovered the tree that was cracked open and brimming with the pollinators, who were apparently none too happy to have their home compromised.

Bees don't only make their homes in external hives, they can also live in the hollow cavities of trees, preferring spaces of at least 8 quarts to build their hives, according to Bay Area arborist Ray Moritz.

In the case of the bees in Richmond, help was badly needed after their home was damaged by the tornado.

"The tree was cracked open, and it was a catastrophic situation for the bee colony inside, which I estimate was about 70,000 bees based on the amount of honeycomb," said Kirsten Berben, a biology department laboratories manager and campus beekeeper.

Suited up, Berben worked with a campus electrician and landscape manager to pick up clusters of bees and put them in a storage bin so they could be moved a safe distance away  if a colony of bees is moved to a location too close to the original home, they sometimes try to return, she said.

OCEANS: 'Massive migration' of fish moving to warmer Arctic waters

"There was a large cluster that seemed to include the queen, so we focused on that," said Berben.

The bees were transported to her home 6 miles from campus, where she keeps beehives that can serve as the scene for their recovery until they can be reintroduced to campus in the spring, university officials said.

The swarm was even larger than the one that mesmerized people when it landed on a New York City hot dog cart last month and had to be suctioned off by a police officer-turned-beekeeper armed with a special vacuum.

Filipa Ioannou is an SFGATE staff writer. Email her at fioannou@sfchronicle.com and follow her on TwitterGabrielle Lurie / The Chronicle

An equipment problem on the track at the Civic Center BART station in San Francisco led to the closure of the station shortly before 6 p.m. Saturday, BART officials said. The station reopened for normal train service about 6:15 p.m.

The problem was believed to be a blown insulator, according to BART spokesman Chris Filippi. An insulator is a football-sized track component made of porcelain that helps contain electricity in the third rail, he said.STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- After New York Wheel investors told the Advance this week they can't build the 630 foot tourist attraction without the city's help, the project was granted one last chance at mediation with its former contractor to advance construction.

The developer and its former contractor, the Holland-based Mammoet-Starneth, have come up with an amendment to the original settlement agreement -- extending the standstill period for getting the project back on track until early 2019.

In exchange for the extension of the standstill period, the amendment provides, among other things, that Mammoet-Starneth can auction the Wheel parts on Oct. 23 if the developer doesn't come up with the financing needed to finish the project.

Investors told the Advance this week they would resort to a Wheel parts auction if the city doesn't help by providing tax exempt bonds.

"The developers and myself are still committed to the project," said Jeffrey Feil of The Feil Organization, who is one of the lead investors in the project, in an interview with the Advance.

"We have hope the city could provide some tax-free bonds. ...We have been meeting with the city for months now and they have been throwing roadblocks up rather than helping us with this endeavor," he continued.

"But without the mayor's office and the mayor committed to this, there is no way we can proceed," added. Feil, who along with Lloyd Goldman, a New York real estate developer and founder of BLDG Management, have taken the reins of the project since Rich Marin, co-founder of the New York Wheel, took a lesser role in the organization last year.

The motion approved in Delaware Bankruptcy Court -- among other things -- gives the developer a final standstill deadline of Jan. 7, 2019, to hire a new contractor to complete the project, according to court documents.

A hearing on the motion scheduled for Friday was cancelled due to there being no objections from either party.

MAYOR WEIGHS IN

But Mayor Bill de Blasio said "no" this week to issuing the tax exempt bonds. He did, however, say he would listen to a new proposal.

"I understand very deeply why people on Staten Island want to see more economic development, want to see more jobs. ... but the Wheel was a private sector endeavor that was supposed to pay for itself, and I think the economics were a little shaky from the beginning, and they've proven to be shakier," said de Blasio.

"And we are very careful about exposing any public resources when we're not sure something is going to work and also ... it's a for-profit entity, it's not something built for a pure public purpose so the specific request that was made of the city we've said 'no' so far. If there's a new option, a new request, we will evaluate it. But the bar is high on that because I think we have a long history of public sector getting involved in private sector activities and subsidizing or bonding in ways that prove later on to be not the best use of public resources," the mayor added.

RIGHTS TO THE PARTS

A source of dispute between the Wheel and its contractor has been the rights to the Wheel parts.

The developer has been paying high storage costs for the Wheel components -- close to $500,000 per month. The next payment is due Oct. 15, said Ross Moskowitz, of STROOCK, a Manhattan-based law firm, which represents the NY Wheel.

While the project is being built on city-owned land, it has been fully funded by private investors, and through the Eb-5 program, which allows foreign investors to fund a project in exchange for help facilitating their green cards.

OTHER AMENDMENT STIPULATIONS

In addition, the amendment says the NY Wheel releases all of its claims against Mammoet-Starneth if it doesn't terminate the agreement by Nov. 7.

According to court documents, the amendment also allows Mammoet-Starneth to complete its Chapter 11 Bankruptcy plan.

The amendment also states that effective as of Nov. 8, Mammoet USA (MUSA) can force the New York Wheel to facilitate a meeting with an independent expert -- hired by MUSA -- to discuss the developer's progress in obtaining financing.

While the Wheel's construction cost estimates have ballooned from $250 million six years ago to more than $580 million, the developer hasn't disclosed how much money is needed to hire a new contractor.

The NY Wheel told the Advance it is close to hiring American Bridge Co. -- the builders of the Las Vegas High Roller -- to complete the project, but no agreement has yet been signed.

"Approximately $450 million of private money has been invested in The New York Wheel project to date. The Wheel developers believe they can complete the project if given the opportunity to utilize a tax-exempt PILOT Bond financing structure, attracting additional financing opportunities without any direct city funding," said Cristyne Nicholas, New York Wheel spokesperson.

MORE RECENT STORIES ABOUT THE NY WHEEL:

NY Wheel: Without the city, 'it's not going to happen'

Source: Here's how $400M in NY Wheel money was spent

Exclusive: NY Wheel says project is still being pursued

NY Wheel applies for an extension to get the project back on track

New York Wheel deadline is Wednesday. What happens next?

One NY Wheel investor's reason for pulling money out of the project

50 days into NY Wheel agreement, no word on getting project back on track

Exclusive: NY Wheel gets green light to hire new contractor

New York Wheel stalled for 10 months: How did we get here?

Exclusive: Former NY Wheel CEO Rich Marin now involved with Eye of Texas Wheel

Former contractor pushing to auction $9M NY Wheel legs, other parts

FOLLOW TRACEY PORPORA ON FACEBOOK and TWITTERAcross the country, voter rights activists are clashing with conservative lawmakers over voting accessibility. Progressive activists argue voting should be made as simple as possible with features like early voting and same-day voter registration. Citing concerns about potential voter fraud, conservatives have stymied these efforts and instead lobbied for identification requirements. Some say voting is a right and all efforts should be taken to facilitate voting. Others say the risks are too high. What do you think?

PERSPECTIVES

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, 15 states and the District of Columbia offer the option to register to vote on Election Day. Most other states have set an arbitrary date, typically between eight and 30 days before elections, by which voters must be registered.

Several states have also adopted automatic voter registration. Per The Atlantic:

All of these methods make it easier and more effective for people to participate in the democratic process.

Conservatives argue there is a pernicious voter fraud problem that can only be solved with voter ID laws.

Some argue that stricter voting laws, like ones that call for voter IDs, protect the fidelity of elections. Matthew Rousu, a professor of economics at Susquehanna University argued in an op-ed for Forbes that ID laws would protect voter's rights.

However laws and policies that make voting more difficult disproportionately effect minority and low-income communities, dramatically swaying election results. Per The Atlantic:

The Tylt is focused on debates and conversations around news, current events and pop culture. We provide our community with the opportunity to share their opinions and vote on topics that matter most to them. We actively engage the community and present meaningful data on the debates and conversations as they progress. The Tylt is a place where your opinion counts, literally. The Tylt is an Advance Local Media, LLC property. Join us on Twitter @TheTylt, on Instagram @TheTylt or on Facebook, we'd love to hear what you have to say.To continue, please log in, or sign up for a new account.

We offer one free story view per month. If you register for an account, you will get two additional story views. After those three total views, we ask that you support us with a subscription.

A subscription to our digital content is so much more than just access to our valuable content. It means youre helping to support a local community institution that has, from its very start, supported the betterment of our society. Thank you very much!Insurance companies face a fresh fight over the expansion of unfair contract laws into the industry, and calls for tighter regulation of claims handling, in the wake of allegations of widespread misconduct at the Hayne royal commission.

After the royal commission's most recent round of hearings wound up on Friday, consumer groups are calling for an end to carve-outs that have meant insurance is excluded from laws on other financial businesses.

The issue is expected to be tackled this Friday, when barristers assisting the commission outline a series of policy questions raised by the hearings, which uncovered misconduct across life and general insurance. The commision's interim report is due to be handed to the government on Sunday.

Among consumer groups, there is a renewed push for extending unfair contract laws into insurance - which the government was already planning, despite the industry's opposition.Nairobi: Rafiki, an acclaimed film portraying a lesbian romance that was until Friday banned in Kenya where it was made, screened on Sunday to a cheering, sold-out audience in Nairobi.

A scene from Rafiki.

Nairobi residents will be able to watch Rafiki during daytime-only screenings at the Prestige Cinema in the capital for a week after a judge on Friday temporarily lifted a ban on the film, making it eligible to be entered for a Foreign Language category at the Academy Awards. Rafiki means "friend" in the Swahili language.

To qualify as Kenya's entry at the 2019 Academy Awards, Rafiki  by Kenyan director Wanuri Kahiu  had to be released in its country of origin.Mike Hall and Anna Haslock in 2016. Credit:

It has been an emotional 18 months since Anna Haslock took a fateful call at 5am at her parents' home in Wales.

The partner of champion ultra-endurance cyclist Mike Hall had gone to bed hearing sketchy reports of an incident during the Indian Pacific Wheel Race, but was not worried.

"I was experienced at Mike going off to races  he'd done a fair few while we were together  and I always knew he'd be all right," she says. "I trusted that he'd be able to take care of himself."

But the news in the morning was devastating.A light early frost gave way to a perfect, cloudless morning as more than 4000 residents and visitors laced their boots and gathered by Lake Burley-Griffin for the 43rd Canberra Times fun run, powered by Salesforce, on Sunday morning.

At the finish line, volunteers prepared about 5000 recyclable cups while runners set off at the start line for the big 10km run.

About 4000 people took part in Sunday's fun run. Credit:Dion Georgopoulos

As they began crossing the finish line, some red-faced and sweating, there was not a frown in sight.

A wave of relief could be seen crossing the faces of many runners, though perhaps an indicator of the capital's health, many runners crossed seemingly without breaking a sweat.In June, Fairfax Media reported a key inquiry witness and member of the SAS was sent a letter threatening retaliation if he did not recant his testimony to the inquiry. Sources familiar with the contents of the first letter said it included detailed references to the activities of 2 Squadron SAS and was designed to scare the witness, an experienced soldier, into covering up information being sought by the Brereton Inquiry. It has now emerged that a second letter was sent after the reports of the first threat were published. The second threat also arrived in the form of anonymous letter sent to a confidential post box used by the SAS in Perth. Defence Force chief Lieutenant-General Angus Campbell. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen The sender identified himself as a friend of the regiment, according to a source. The second threat was sent within days of the recipient, a patrol commander, alerting defence officials that he had received the original letter containing threats.

The letters contain details about the activities of some members of patrols that Mr Roberts-Smith was a part of between 2009 and 2011, according to a source. There is no suggestion that Mr Roberts-Smith is involved in sending the letters. However, the federal police and defence investigators are examining if the mystery perpetrator was seeking to stop allegations being made about the high profile soldier or his supporters. Senior Defence figures are privately furious about the intimidation of witnesses and efforts to portray the inquiry as a politically correct witch-hunt. They say the most serious allegations  which include the suspected brutalising or murder of prisoners  have been raised by SAS veterans who served in Afghanistan. Defence sources said it was unlikely the source of the threatening letters will ever be uncovered. They added that the senders appeared to want to scare witnesses from assisting the inquiry. The same sources said the letter has had the reverse effect, with more SAS soldiers agreeing to assist the Brereton inquiry, the most serious misconduct probe in recent Australian military history. Two hundred witnesses have so far been interviewed by Justice Brereton.

More than two dozen special forces insiders have told Fairfax Media that they back the work of the Brereton inquiry. Air Chief Marshal Mark Binskin. Credit:Jamila Toderas After Fairfax Media revealed the existence of the first threatening letter in June, then Defence chief Air Chief Marshal Mark Binskin described it as an abhorrent and illegal act. "I think it's absolutely disgusting that a disaffected person thought they could threaten a witness and look to influence the [war crimes] inquiry," Air Chief Marshal Binskin said. The fact that a second threat was sent shortly after the first had remained a tightly held secret in Defence. The first letter to the SAS soldier was sent within days of it becoming known inside the regiment that he may have testified before the Brereton inquiry.

It is understood soldiers status as a confidential witness may have been revealed inside the regiment by a fellow soldier who spotted him at the inquiry, or, inadvertently, by a more senior officer who had knowledge of his inquiry attendance. Mystery also surrounds the role of Queensland paparazzo Nathan Richter, who helped send false information via email to authorities and The Australian newspaper about another serving SAS soldier. Defence sources said it was well known within the tightly knit special forces community that the soldier targeted by the Richter-linked emails was the author of a complaint about the awarding of a commendation to Mr Roberts-Smith, which had been forwarded to the Brereton inquiry. Loading The false information in the emails implied the SAS soldier may be poised to commit a violent offence, harming members of the public. It is unclear if the false claim was spread to intimidate the SAS soldier and there is no suggestion that Mr Roberts-Smith or any of his supporters were involved in sending it.In July this year the Ombudsman reported that 70 percent of businesses inspected on Glebe Point Road in Glebe, Sydney, did not comply with workplace laws. After recent Age/SMH revelations about his high-end Rockpool eateries underpaying workers, frontman Neil Perry said the group had made changes making it one of the "very few, if any" restaurants that comply with workplace laws. Loading It was a revealing admission from an industry leader about the normality of flouting employment laws and ripping off workers among the lowest paid in the country. In a fragmented industry largely unencumbered by regulators or unions, there appears to be little fear of being caught out doing the wrong thing. That makes it difficult for the likes of Sailors Thai to compete.

Most dont get caught," says Tait. And if its just a mea culpa in the media if they do, its a risk theyre prepared to take. Everyone agrees the status quo is not tenable. But addressing the problem will come at a cost, including the possible closure of some non-compliant businesses. Should low paid workers be paid even less? Or is it time for Australian consumers to accept they need to pay a little more for their coffee, pasta, and sushi? The reality of the industry Australias food scene is thriving, internationally renowned and unrecognisable from times past when a Anglo-dominated society viewed restaurants, wine, and even coffee, as exotic novelties.

Hospitality employs 830,000 people and has grown by a third in a decade thanks to households spending, on average, $94 a week eating out. The media has glamorised the food and restaurant business, making household names of figures such as Perry, George Calombaris, and Shannon Bennett, and Australian consumers have grown accustomed to quality food, wine and coffee - arguably the best in the world - at relatively low prices. Beyond the glitz however, work conditions in restaurants and cafes, including those linked to celebrity chefs, have been exposed as anything but alluring. It is a notoriously precarious industry for employers and workers alike - especially small, one-off cafes - and making a dollar is not easy. The food services sector has the highest failure rate of all industry sectors, with only slightly more than half of businesses still open after four years. Bureau of Statistics data show profit margins at a low 5 per cent and falling. Its also a highly fragmented industry made all the more so by being relatively easy and inexpensive to get into.

Its the free market at work, says Juliana Payne, chief executive of industry lobby Restaurant & Catering Australia. You get your liquor licence, you get your lease, you do your fit out, hire a chef and buy a coffee machine and youre a restaurant. She says it is possible for restaurants and cafes to be profitable and thrive, if they do their homework and business planning, including for labour costs. But too many don't do such planning. Both the restaurant and cafe sectors are resolutely independent, with Australian consumers inclined to support distinctive local outlets. Were especially and famously particular about coffee, for instance. US chain Starbucks tried their luck here but couldnt compete, while Gloria Jeans, The Coffee Club and others are relatively small. No one company has more than 5 percent of the cafe market.

In such a competitive climate, cost minimisation tends to be a focus. Rents are often substantial, especially in inner city locations, and power prices too have risen dramatically thanks to the national political imbroglio over energy policy. But if you dont pay your rent, you get evicted. If you dont pay the power bill, the lights go out. If you dont pay proper wages? Youll probably get away with it. Wages and conditions are the easiest option for cost cutting. The true cost of a coffee So what would happen if all hospitality businesses suddenly found themselves paying full whack - award wages for casuals of $24.34 an hour during the week, and more than $30 on Sundays?

In short, food, wine and coffee at many cafes, restaurants and pubs would likely become more expensive. Consumers would need to shoulder more of the burden of paying award wages. Industry insiders say a rule of thumb is that costs in the cafe and restaurant sector tend to comprise one third wages, one third food and beverages, and one third overheads including rent and energy.

Tax Office data indicates the wages component is slightly lower, at about one quarter of turnover. Profit margins across the industry are about 5 per cent. There is no comprehensive research on the economic or price impact of widespread underpayment, nor of what would happen if prices were to suddenly reflect the award. But it is likely prices would need to rise, meals by a few extra dollars per serve. And to maintain the shop's profit margin, a standard coffee may need to rise from $4 to more like $4.50. Heat and kitchens Long hours and poor pay are not new in hospitality.

I dont think people know what chefs go through to give people their eggs in the morning, says Jackson Davie, 38, who has been in restaurants, clubs, pubs and cafes since he was 14. He now owns Mavis the Grocer, a cafe in Abbotsford in Melbournes inner north. Doing 60 hours a week in a kitchen, a space not much bigger than a prison cell where its hot and sweaty and tempers can flare. Mr Davie paints a picture not unlike the nightmare Parisian kitchens of George Orwells Depression-era memoir Down and Out in Paris and London. Orwell complained of working 17 hours a day almost without a break. Such hours are not uncommon in Australia 85 years later. Jackson Davie in his cafe. Credit:Justin McManus

Many chefs still talk of a military-like, hierarchical kitchen culture, inherited from the French and alive and well in Australia. Former Sydney chef Christine Jones (not her real name) says newcomers to the trade will do almost anything to work at a prestige restaurant. You say to yourself: This is an amazing opportunity. Im going to learn from some of the best in the industry. After doing her apprenticeship, Jones got her dream job at Sydneys three-hatted Bridge Room, owned by the Fink Group and high profile entrepreneur, Ross Lusted. There she found herself working from 8am until 11pm or midnight. If we got out before 11 or 11.30 it was something special. Jones recalls being pressured to work when she had the flu, despite her protests that she was contagious and she could infect customers. The next day the head chef told her she had earned respect by working while ill. I thought, Gee, what have I got myself into?

Soon after, Jones left the industry forever. You know its going to be tough in hospitality but you dont expect to have to work yourself into the ground. Bridge Room part-owner Ross Lusted thanked The Age/SMH for raising concerns over work hours and pay. We are surprised at the questions you have asked as we havent had any complaints like this from our current or previous staff. We are looking into them now. No cop on the beat Like Jason Tait, Jackson Davie is trying to make a dollar while paying penalties at Mavis the Grocer. I dont want to get stung owing back pay and not have the money to cover it, he says.

Id rather just do things properly and sleep well at night, knowing that the money Ive got is mine. Davies concern about being nabbed is not shared by many of his competitors. Loading In nearby Victoria St, Richmond in Melbourne, the Fair Work Ombudsman in July found 81 per cent of premises audited for not compliant with workplace laws. Part of the explanation is the deregulation of the economy and labour market started by the Hawke government in the 1980s and continued by the Howard government.

Where once powerful industrial tribunals set wages, and strong unions policed them, the system is now far more ad hoc. The policing of underpayment in Australia is now left to the Fair Work Ombudsman, an agency widely regarded as ill-equipped to deal with systemic problems. Of the thousands of complaints of underpayment to the Ombudsman each year, a tiny fraction end in litigation. In 2015 it was just 0.29 per cent. The Ombudsmans approach has tended to be more light-touch than tough-cop, favouring education and cooperation over the big stick of litigation. Combined with a long period of stagnant wages since the global financial crisis, conditions have become ideal for wage underpayment.

Its like the perfect storm, says Stephen Clibborn, workplace specialist and lecturer at the University of Sydney business school. ''It's perhaps unsurprising we are seeing so much wage theft in these industries. The Ombudsmans office is also hampered by the dramatic decline of the other traditional, if informal, workplace regulator: the unions. Unions The ACTUs high profile change the rules campaign suggests unions believe their influence has been curtailed by legal changes, including around restrictions on entering workplaces. In truth, union authority has also suffered from the collapse of membership from a postwar high of 60 per cent of the workforce to about 14 per cent, now. In food services, membership is just above 2 per cent, among the lowest levels of all industries.

This year has seen signs of a fightback in Victoria with established union United Voice launching a new hospitality offshoot: the cut price, bare basics, Hospo Voice. The fledgling union uses social and traditional media to target businesses that do not pay legal rates, and it uses an online rate my boss, tool to name and shame non-compliant employers. So far, Hospo Voice has about 400 members. One of them is Anna Langford. She was fired earlier this year after complaining about being underpaid at Barry cafe in Northcote, Melbourne.

She had been paid a flat rate of $18 an hour when, as a casual, she should have been paid at least $24 an hour plus penalties. I didnt realise when I first got hired that I was being underpaid. That was my first cafe job. It sounded pretty standard  most of the industry under-pays its workers, she says. I didnt realise when I first got hired that I was being underpaid,'' says cafe worker Anna Langford. Credit:Justin McManus This generation of young workers has grown up in a time when union membership has just plummeted  I dont think theres much awareness of them [unions]at all. Working with Hospo Voice and her colleagues, she received an apology and settlement of her termination claim from her ex-employer.

Foreign workers and migrants In the post-WWII years, Australias massive populate-or-perish migration program was based on permanent settlement. That changed in the Howard years in the 1990s when immigration priorities shifted to skills and temporary migrant workers, including the introduction of the controversial 457 visa. Along with an explosion in the use of student and working holiday visas it has ushered in a large transitory workforce that is vulnerable to exploitation. Restaurant & Catering Association CEO Juliana Payne. Credit:James Alcock Employers had pushed for such flexibility, arguing Australia suffered from a lack of skilled local workers.

They are pressing again after the Turnbull government replaced the 457 visa in 2017 and tightened rules, including making it tougher for visa holders to become permanent residents. Theyve [the government] made it very, very expensive and very difficult to sponsor a skilled foreign national in our sector, says the industry associations Juliana Payne. Chefs from countries such as the Philippines, Nepal or Chile are likely to be reluctant to speak up about under-payment if they are reliant on their employers sponsorship to remain in Australia. This is especially so for those workers hoping to turn their temporary visa into permanent residency, as many do. When The Age/SMH exposed harsh working conditions in Rockpool restaurants in June, migrant workers came forward to complain about feeling beholden to their employer and of being treated like "slaves". Even when pushed to work 60 or 70 hours a week for pay-rates well below the minimum award rate, they felt they could not speak up, let alone leave their jobs. A former general manager at Rockpool group says the companys practice of hiring migrants was deliberate. They were treated as dispensable on every level, the one-time manager said.

Penalties Marc Dean had grown accustomed to being underpaid, in cash. For years he had worked in hospitality, using it to support his primary gig as a bass player. Cafe worker Marc Dean is unusual in that he is paid full award wages. Credit:Justin McManus So its been a welcome change to work as a barista on the books at Mavis the Grocer . I like the fact that I get penalties on weekends. Everybody here likes that. Marc Dean is now an exception in the cafe business.

At the forefront of any debate in Australia about the economics of hospitality is penalty rates, the higher than normal payments for work outside traditional hours. Employers have lobbied successfully for cuts to penalties across a range of industries in recent years. In hospitality, they are currently set as a 25 per cent loading for a permanent employee on Saturdays and 50 per cent loading for a casual. Sunday rates are being phased down to 150 per cent for permanent employees by the middle of 2019. The industry association is pressing for more cuts and a flat rate of pay across the week, arguing penalties are a big impost precisely when restaurants and cafes are at their busiest - weekends and nights. We would like to see a seven day ability to pay fairly, to pay appropriately for the level of work being done, says Juliana Payne. In this heated debate - irrespective of whether its Coalition or Labor, the ACTU or employer groups doing the talking - the assumption is always that penalties are in fact paid. In 2015 the Productivity Commission compared Australian and international hospitality workplaces. Its findings had the unstated assumption that employers paid penalties.

The reality could be hardly be more different. Recent research about migrant workers by the Ombudsman, academics and The Age/SMH has consistently found that widespread underpayment and cash-in-hand payments as low as half the legal hourly rate are common. In 2017 Federal Treasury identified the cafe and restaurant sector, along with construction and beauty salons, as the most high-risk sectors for Australias $50 billion, and fast-growing, black economy. I can't get too excited about arguments about penalty rates when so many people aren't getting them, says Dr Clibborn. He says the annual debates about national minimum wage and penalty rates take place in a bubble''. With underpayment so rife, laws that once would have been unthinkable are now on the agenda.

In Victoria, the Andrews Labor government has vowed to make wage theft a crime punishable with up to 10 years jail. The NSW Labor opposition has flagged similar legislation. In the past, employer groups would have fought such heavy-handedness. Instead, the response has been muted, a tacit recognition of the extent of the problem. Given such widespread non-compliance, muddling on is not an option. Paying full price There appears to be two major alternatives to the problem of endemic underpayment in hospitality.

The first, as proposed by the industry association, is to replace penalties with a flat seven day rate that recognises hospitality is a 24/7 business. This proposal repeatedly runs into the reality that for most of us, weekends are still sacred. Scrapping penalties would also hit the income of the low-paid workers at a time when wages growth has stalled, and it would challenge a fundamental of the Australian industrial system - the idea of a living wage. Since the 1907 Harvester decision, the principle enshrined in the award system has been that an Australian should be paid as "a human being in a civilised community". It provided the basis for Australias relatively generous minimum wage. Dr Clibborn points to this long standing principle in Australian industrial relations: a business that does not pay a living wage should not be in business. We seem to be losing [sight of] that, he says. Rather than further cutting penalty rates that many employers dont pay anyway, Dr Clibborn says businesses should be made to pay properly.

This would involve giving regulators a more proactive remit and the teeth to convince employers that the gamble of non-compliance is not worth it. Former Sailors Thai owner Jason Tait says there is a lack of deterrent for businesses ripping off staff. "The government should come knocking on the doors of all these premises," he says. That would require a major reboot of the industrial relations system and an overhaul of migrant visas to give those workers greater rights. One of the upshots may be people eating out less often or buying fewer coffees. Some businesses - some who have planned poorly - may not survive. As already discussed, it would likely lead to price increases in many cafes and restaurants. Maybe consumers do need to pay more and maybe we will have fewer coffee shops, says Dr Clibborn.

But we wont know, and we shouldnt try to guess this, until we actually enforce our employment laws. Despite the hardships, including many competitors under-paying staff, a well-run cafe or restaurant can survive doing things lawfully and on the books. But its not easy. In his time at Sailors Thai, Jason Tait introduced a Sunday surcharge to help pay penalties. Jackson Davie says weekends are tough, especially Sundays. He is now agonising over whether to introduce a 10 per cent weekend surcharge to cover penalties, as many of his competitors have done. His barista Marc Dean is no union activist. Im a staunch supporter of capitalism and individualism, he stresses.A 72-year-old man is dead after a yacht capsized in Sydney's south on Monday morning.

Police said a woman swam to shore at Boat Harbour, near Kurnell, about 5am and raised the alarm with emergency services.

The NSW Ambulance helicopter and NSW Water Police began searching the area, and at 5.48am they found the man's body near Wanda Beach, about four kilometres from where the woman swam to shore.

The rescue helicopter winched the man to shore, but he could not be revived.A wedding celebration turned violent in Sydney's west on Saturday night with riot police called to break up a brawl, which injured three police officers.

Police were called to a venue on South Street in Granville just after 12.30am on Sunday after reports of a fight.

A police spokesman said officers witnessed "a large group of males and females" brawling and stepped in to break up the violence.

While attempting to separate the group, some people allegedly became aggressive towards police.

A teenage girl was arrested after allegedly punching a female police officer from behind.Almost two-thirds of people believe migration to Sydney should be restricted and new arrivals sent to the regions, exclusive polling reveals as the Premier says she wants a better not bigger NSW.

The ReachTel poll for the Herald also shows that overdevelopment remains a key issue for voters, as the state and federal governments face the pressue of worsening congestion and population growth.

I want NSW to continue to be seen as the magnet for human talent": Gladys Berejiklian. Credit:AAP

The poll results come as the Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, signalled plans to slow the intake of some temporary migrants and to encourage new arrivals to settle regionally.

Mr Morrison, with his Immigration Minister David Coleman and Cities Minister Alan Tudge, are looking at simplifying the visa process to get more migrants to move outside the major cities.Describing himself as a fixer, he likes a challenge but still felt a few nerves and had several surreal weeks as he got to work in his new role. RSL Queensland has lumbered through its 102 years, growing steadily from a small, volunteer-led group dedicated to the support of World War I veterans into a household name with 33,000 members and serious governance failures. An ACNC investigation into the organisation's finances found multiple breaches in governance over the use of funds by directors, among other problems. Veterans' support is still at the heart of what the organisation does. Credit:Glenn Campbell The investigation had been launched after it was discovered RSL Queensland owed the Australian Tax Office a fringe benefits tax liability of more than $312,000.

It found that a long-standing practice of RSL Queensland directors being given funds for out-of-pocket expenses but without any policy, guidance or governance for the reporting of those funds. At the time, ACNC commissioner Dr Gary Johns said there was a great deal of work ahead to ensure RSL Queensland could fix the governance problems. Six months later, and three months into his three-year term as state president, Mr Ferris is confident the charity is ahead of its requirements to the ACNCs directions notice - so much so he hopes to complete the requirements before deadline. If we make a mistake, we need to admit weve made a mistake going forward, Mr Ferris said. We cant change the past, all we can do is make sure we dont do it in the future.

Walking into Anzac House in Fortitude Valley to begin a modernising campaign in June, Mr Ferris was aware changing the culture was key. If you cant change the culture, it makes it very, very hard, he said. Were getting there. I was in Cairns on the weekend and I had a chance to speak to about 30-odd delegates up there  and I just tell it how it is, I dont cloud it over or provide any fuzzy stories. They all came up to me and said 'thank you for being candid. thank you for being open.' The emphasis is not just on correcting lax finances and poor reporting, but on changing the image of the organisation in the public eye and ensuring it fulfills its core duty of caring for veterans and their families.

Its about changing an organisation thats a hundred-plus years old, so that its relevant for the next hundred years, Mr Ferris said. I keep hearing the same, well weve always done it like that. Loading My response is, well, we dont do it like that any more. The organisation is seeing a year-on-year increase in requests for assistance, a 25 per cent increase each year for the past three years.

Homelessness and welfare, financial assistance, mental health support, employment programs, support in claims made to the Department of Veteran Affairs are some of the services offered by the organisation. It also funds research into PTSD and veteran mental health through partnerships with major medical institutions such as the Gallipoli Medical Research Foundation. A primary challenge ahead is breaking away from the perception that RSL clubs, originally founded by sub-branches of RSL Queensland from the 1940s onward, still feed revenue directly to back veterans. RSL Queensland has no links and receives no funds from the sub-branch clubs, instead raising most of its funds for veteran welfare through the RSL Art Union Lottery. The money from the local RSL doesn't go directly to RSL Queensland. Credit:Andrew Quilty

The biggest problem we have as an organisation is the public just doesnt know that we are so very different to the clubs, Mr Ferris said. Everybody has the perception that when you walk into a club, you pay for that parmy or you pay for that pint, or you put $10 in the pokies, that that money is going back to the veterans, and its not. RSL clubs might donate funds into the community, but Mr Ferris said the money didnt go directly to veterans. He said the major challenge was changing the public perception that the clubs were snyonymous with the veteran welfare organisation RSL Queensland. If I went outside and said to Joe Bloggs do you know what RSL Queensland does? - Oh yeah, you guys are pints, parmies and pokies.Badly injured solo skipper Abhilash Tomy is still stranded around 3,000 kilometres off the WA coast after his yacht was demasted in the Golden Globe Race on Saturday.

An international rescue mission is under way to rescue Tomy, with one of his fellow competitors from Ireland, Gregor McGuckin, likely to reach him first.

Tomy, an Indian naval officer, was competing in the round-the-world Golden Globe Race, which bars the use of modern technology, when his 10-metre vessel Thuriya was thrown off course in the Indian Ocean.The Liberal Party expects to spend anywhere up to $1 million on the Wentworth byelection, despite being "broke" just months ahead of crucial state and federal polls.

Senior Liberals told Fairfax Media they believed the price tag would match or exceed last year's byelection in the nearby seat of Bennelong, which cost the party $850,000.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Liberal Party candidate for Wentworth Dave Sharma. Credit:AAP

The splurge is made possible by an extraordinary fundraising effort by Liberal candidate Dave Sharma, who is said to have helped rake in close to $500,000 in donations already.

However, a party spokesman would not confirm that figure or answer questions about fundraising. Budgeting for the byelection is a tightly guarded secret but will be discussed at a meeting of the party's state executive on Friday.Victoria is still being short-changed on federal infrastructure funding and Treasurer Josh Frydenberg should deliver a better deal for his home state, the Andrews government has claimed.

The state and federal governments are again set on a collision course over funding allocations for Victoria as the state's booming population places mounting pressure on infrastructure.

Victorian Treasurer Tim Pallas. Credit:Chris Hopkins

Victorian Treasurer Tim Pallas has written to his federal counterpart saying the state was still getting only 15 per cent of the Commonwealth infrastructure funding pie, compared with 25 per cent for NSW.

I trust and hope that with a Victorian now in the federal treasury portfolio, Victorians get their fair share, he wrote.Liberal MP Nick Goiran has called for an inquest into the deaths of 27 babies who died despite surviving abortion procedures, after the state government revealed doctors had failed to report their deaths to the Coroner.

During a parliamentary stoush over changes to the coroner's legislation, Leader of the Government in the Legislative Council Sue Ellery said "medical practitioners had been unaware of their obligations to report such deaths and would do so in the future".

Ms Ellery said WA Coroner Sarah Linton had been told by the Department of Health doctors would notify her of the deaths of babies born alive after abortion procedures, but since then none had been reported.

Legislative Council MP for the South Metropolitan region Nick Goiran is campaigning for a parliamentary inquiry to investigate the deaths of 27 babies who died after abortion procedures over the last 20 years. Credit:Nathan Hondros

Mr Goiran said he was distressed by the revelations because the former Coroner's office had said in 2012 the deaths were not reportable.Two Queensland rugby mates are the brains behind one of the world's top new travel apps, which has grown to connect more than 350,000 users across 180 countries in less than four years.

Travello was launched in early 2015 and designed by Mark Cantoni and Ryan Hanly, who had both done a significant amount of solo travel across the world.

Travello creators Mark Cantoni and Ryan Hanly, who are now based in Brisbane.

Mr Cantoni, from the Atherton Tablelands in far north Queensland, and Mr Hanly, from Mackay, said they found there was no easy way to meet fellow travellers in foreign destinations.

They had relied on hearing familiar accents to find fellow Australians or chance meetings in hotels to rendezvous with other travellers.Beijing: China has summoned the American ambassador and the defence attache and recalled its navy commander from a US trip to deliver a strong protest against economic sanctions Washington lodged over the purchase of Russian fighter jets and surface-to-air missile equipment.

The Defence Ministry said the US had no right to interfere in Chinese military cooperation with Russia.

"We demand that the US immediately correct the mistake and revoke the so- called sanctions, otherwise the US must bear the consequences," the Defence Ministry said in a statement.

China has bought Russian Su-35 fighter jets in defiance of US sanctions against the Russian Federation. Credit:Xinhua/AP

The Foreign Ministry said that it had summoned Ambassador Terry Branstad.Corbyn allowed that if the Labour conference voted for a new referendum he would not walk away from it and I will act accordingly. One poll showed 86 per cent of Labour members wanted another referendum, and 93 per cent would vote to stay in the EU if they had the chance. Watson said he would prefer Brexit to be debated in an election, but if the peoples party decide they want the people to have a final say on the deal, we have to respect the view of our members and we will go out and argue for it. Outside the Labour partys national conference in Liverpool. Credit:Nick Miller Corbyn said Chequers also does not meet Labours tests for an acceptable Brexit: including no lessening of rights, protections and benefits.

Chequers does not meet them, we are not happy with it and we would vote against it, Corbyn told the Sunday Mirror. That could trigger a general election and were ready for it. The government has promised parliament a meaningful vote on a final Brexit deal. Though Labour does not have a majority, hard Brexit Tories could also vote against the deal, which they believe does not give Britain the independence from the EU they had campaigned for. It is not clear what would happen if parliament rejects the deal. Some believe the government would seek to delay Brexit as it goes back to the negotiating table, others that it would call an election to get a mandate to push forward with the deal it has. Others fear the country would drift into the chaos of a no deal Brexit.

On Sunday night a Labour committee hashed out a motion to be put to members for a vote later this week. The so-called 'composite' motion says that, in the case of the government failing to negotiate a Brexit deal, or their deal being voted down by parliament, "the best outcome for the country is an immediate general election to sweep the Tories from power". But if it can't engineer an election "Labour must support all options remaining on the table, including campaigning for a public vote". The motion is likely to be criticised for its vagueness, but if adopted would be the closest Labour has yet come to fully endorsing a new referendum. At a public event at the conference, Labour MP Bridget Phillipson from Sunderland in Englands north said despite almost two-thirds of her electorate voting for Brexit she was campaigning for a Peoples Vote.

Those of us who believe the course the Tories are charting with Brexit will make the lives of working people far harder need to be unafraid to make that argument, she said. She said she was being vilified as undemocratic and unpatriotic but we are in a dangerous place for the country if we cant reassess and reevaluate where we are headed, she said. We need a peoples vote to allow people to look again at whats on offer and decide if it will improve their lives. She believed Labour could persuade former Leavers in the north that Brexit would mean the loss of thousands of jobs in manufacturing, especially the automotive industry which was a big employer in her region. Phillipson said she did not relish the idea of a new referendum  the 2016 campaign was awful, she said, but it was important for the people she represented. Labour MP David Lammy told a rally of about 4000 anti-Brexit Labour members at Liverpool's docks that an option to reverse Brexit entirely should be an option in a new referendum.

The alternative would be to wreck our country and stand with the far right, he said. Lies were told and election laws were broken. (We should) ask the British people if they recognise their future in that (Brexit) deal. But another MP, Stephen Kinnock from Wales, said divisions in Britain were becoming so dangerous its ripping our country apart and a peoples vote on Brexit would do nothing to reverse that. It would drive yet another wedge between city and town, young and old, graduates and non-graduates, he said. Brexit has poisoned the well of our politics for decades. We cant just pretend we can go back to what it was and draw the poison. Im concerned a(nother) referendum would do the opposite. He said Labour should push for a soft Brexit where Britain stays in Europes Customs Union and Single Market.

Chequers was dead in the water, he said, and the no deal option would not be allowed to happen by the government or parliament, while his solution would help bring the country back together. Some in Labour argue the Conservatives should be left with the Brexit mess they created, quoting Napoleons supposed maxim Never interfere with your enemy when he is making a mistake. They believe they will end up with a government without the confidence of the parliament, followed by an election they would be likely to win. But Kinnock said Labour should not be put in the position where it could be accused of putting the party ahead of the country. It was not an acceptable position to be ambiguous about what a Labour Brexit would look like.Dana Thomas Byrd. Credit:Florida Highway Patrol

Washington: The tragedy that unfolded off a Florida highway started with an act of compassion, when Dhimitri Andoni stopped his car on the shoulder of Interstate 275 in St Petersburg about 9pm on Thursday.

The 22-year-old had seen a vehicle swerve and become stranded on the median, and he wanted to help.

Soon afterwards, the stranded vehicle returned to the highway and Andoni walked back to his own car, a four-door 2015 Hyundai, Florida Highway Patrol spokesman Steve Gaskins said.

It was then that a 1996 Ford F-150 pick-up truck came hurtling down the highway and struck Andoni - killing him, authorities said.Houston: Authorities say bananas donated to a Texas prison turned out to have nearly $US18 million ($24.6 million) worth of cocaine hidden inside the boxes.

The Texas Department of Criminal Justice says in a Facebook post that the drugs were found in two pallets of bananas that were donated to the prison. The donation arrived on Friday.

The department says sergeants who picked up the boxes found a bundle of a white powdery substance under the bananas.

US customs officials were called to the scene, and authorities say 540 packages of cocaine were found in 45 of the boxes.

Federal officials and the US Customs and Border Protection are investigating.Her testimony  and Thomass confirmation in spite of that testimony  also remade Congress. The next years elections were commonly known as the Year of the Woman, as three women won election to the Senate and 24 to the House. Small numbers, to be sure, but when Anita Hill testified, only two of the 100 Senators were women; by mid-1993, 6 were. (Twenty-five years later, there are 23 women Senators, an all-time high.)

The legal system has changed as well. In 1994, Congress passed the Violence Against Women Act, which provided billions of dollars to investigate and prosecute violent crimes against women. At the same time, states pushed to outlaw spousal rape, which in many states had been deemed legally impossible, because marriage was considered to imply consent.

Even the court itself has changed, expanding from one woman justice to three.

So much has changed that its hard to understand how, exactly, we find ourselves in such a similar position. If Ford decides to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee, she will find herself questioned by a judiciary committee in which all 11 Republican members are white men  just as Anita Hill was.

The reason for the strong parallels between Ford and Hill is not that nothing has changed  its that the change has been asymmetrical. Back in 1991, it wasnt just the Republicans on the judiciary committee who were all men. The Democrats were, too. A year later, a man who would face several credible sexual harassment allegations was elected president: Democrat Bill Clinton. His accusers faced a harsh smear campaign run by Democratic operatives.Washington: China reached into the US heartland in its escalating trade war over President Donald Trump's tariffs, using an advertising supplement in Iowa's largest newspaper to highlight the impact on the state's soybean farmers as "the fruit of a president's folly.''

An American soybean farm. Credit:Bloomberg

The four-page section in Sunday's Des Moines Register, which carried the label "paid for and prepared solely by China Daily, an official publication of the People's Republic of China," featured such articles as one outlining how the trade dispute is forcing Chinese importers to turn to South America instead of the US for soybeans.

The advertising targets a state critical to Trump and Republicans as the trade war between the world's two largest economies intensifies. The US is imposing tariffs on an additional $US200 billion worth of Chinese imports starting Monday, on top of the $US50 billion in goods already hit with tariffs. Meanwhile, $US110 billion of goods from the US will become subject to Chinese retaliatory tariffs around the same time.

"As the largest importer of US soybeans, China is a vital and robust market we cannot afford to lose,'' the supplement quotes Davie Stephens, vice president of the American Soybean Association and a Kentucky soybean grower, saying in a statement.~ Carty makes NAF. 25.500 monthly for 20 hours of work per month.~

PHILIPSBURG:--- The Supervisory Board of USZV has failed once again as Minister of VSA Emil Lee has extended the contract for Glen Carty for another year. SMN News learned that Lee extended the contract up to the end of 2019, even though Carty and Lee said in a press release that Carty would end his contract by December 2018.

In 2013 the Governor signed off a Landsbesluit (LB) for Carty which clearly states that Carty will be the Director of USZV until a director is found. This LB was for a period of one year yet the Supervisory Board has not made any attempt to recruit a director four years later.

In 2014 the former Chairman of the Supervisory Board Michel Petit started the recruitment process when he hired Linkels. During that recruitment process, Maria Buncamper Molanus and Ramzy Dennaoui were the top contenders. Buncamper Molanus was not appointed because of her legal battles while the Supervisory Board along with Glen Carty claimed Dennaoui was too young.

Shortly after that Michel Petit resigned from USZV Supervisory Board and also filed a complaint with the Prosecutors Office because he knew something was not kosher with USZV funds.

The Minister then appointed Sharine Daniel as the Chairman of USZV board, seemingly that was a political decision because Daniel has not made any attempt to safeguard USZV funds, even though as a Chief Auditor Daniel know that USZV funds are being abused. One is the illegal payout Lee authorized Carty to pay himself last year.

Illegal Remuneration.

In December 2017, Emil Lee authorized Glen Carty to pay himself one-month salary which is NAF.25,500.00 even though Carty forfeited all remuneration benefits from USZV since he is collecting a full salary for 20 hours of work per month. This is clearly a violation based on Administrative laws yet the Supervisory Board of USZV especially Sharine Daniel did not make any attempt to recover the funds or file a complaint with the Prosecutors Office. Other board members that sat back and did nothing is Brian Deher who resigned from the NIPA board when things were not doing well, and Dwight Williams the son in law of Sarah Wescot Williams. Cindy Marica who is also on the Cooperate Governance Council also did nothing even though she is fully aware that the renumeration payout was illegal and amounts to theft.

USZV grants Lee a guarantee letter for the construction of New General Hospital.

While USZV is struggling financially Glen Carty gave Emil Lee a letter of guarantee for the construction of the New General Hospital, a project Lee is eager to complete because his wifes construction company and Andy Wescot are the ones that will get the financial kickbacks. A source close to Emil Lee said that Lee informed them that Sarah Wescot Williams cannot object to his decision to extend the contract for Glen Carty because her son Andy Wescot is the one that stands to gain the most with the New General Hospital and the only person that will ensure USZV funds are used is Glen Carty. It is also stated that Andy Wescot and Emil Lee plans to purchase USZV building instead of constructing a building for the Social Insurance Company. SMN News learned that if the sale goes through then Wescot will be the one to get the kickback from the deal.

USZV financial Status.

Over the past years, the Operational Costs for USZV has increased dramatically yet the Supervisory Board has not done anything to safeguard the Social Insurance Company. Currently, the ZV, OV, FZOG funds are suffering terribly while USZV Director Glen Carty is using the AOV funds to maintain the other funds. There have been talks that the Supervisory Board will conduct an Operational Audit but to date that is not done, again under the watch of Sharine Daniel, the Chief Auditor of GEBE. One has to question what Daniel stands to gain by ignoring her responsibilities as Chairman of the Supervisory Board of USZV. It is a known fact that Daniel did an excellent job at GEBE by safeguarding that companys funds and got several directors fired for wrongdoing. Another known fact is Daniel headed the political campaign for Sarah Wescot Williams during the 2018 snap elections, one must wonder if she will also get a kickback from the New General Hospital Project?

Referrals Cost.

USZV has contracted COMEVA in Colombia to take care of USZV patients and it is also known by USZV that patients are being ignored while USZV is paying an exorbitant amount of money while no follow-ups are done under Cartys watch. In the Dominican Republic, USZV contracted ABCSSS headed Georginio Ricardo a close friend of Glen Carty. USZV is fully aware that patients sent to the Dominican Republic are costing USZV money for the lengthy stay in that country while Georginio it is alleged has been ripping off the patients through the exchange rate and their daily allowances.

USZV lost lawsuits that cost the Insurance Company Millions.

At least two major lawsuits USZV lost that cost them millions under Cartys watch, one being the case filed by VAMED that was settled by USZV for $1M so that INSO could maintain its contract. Another case was filed by E-Solutions (Eunicio Martina) a consultant that now works at the Ministry of Justice. The court awarded E-Solutions $1.4M for illegal dismissal. The Court of First Instance handed down the verdict for E-Solutions but Carty and Emil Lee remained silent about the case and it is still not known which of the funds at USZV will be used to pay off the consultant.

USZV has paid $30M in consultant fees in the last four years, a situation that has caused some severe upheaval with the staff of USZV who claimed they have been working with consultants mostly from Curacao and to date they have not seen any progress. The staff of USZV is also frustrated because their director is never on the job. 20 hours per month and he is the one making deals with the Minister while the patients and the Social Insurance Company suffer financially.

Sources close to the Minister of VSA said that Minister Emil Lee said that the Supervisory Board of USZV are incompetent since it is not his responsibility to recruit a director and he is not the one that has to manage the funds at USZV. The source said the Minister made it clear that as long as the Supervisory Board is not doing their job then Glen Carty will stay on as director.Georgetown, SC (29440)

Today

Cloudy skies early, then partly cloudy in the afternoon. Slight chance of a rain shower. High near 75F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Considerable cloudiness with occasional rain showers. Thunder possible. Low 61F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 60%.NATIONAL HARBOR, Md.  SpaceX President and Chief Operating Officer Gwynne Shotwell speaks to audiences around the world and gets lots of questions.

During an appearance on Monday at the Air Force Association's annual symposium, Shotwell was thrown a question she said she had never heard before: "Would SpaceX launch military weapons?"

"I've never been asked that question," Shotwell said somewhat surprised. Her response: "If it's for the defense of this country, yes, I think we would." [See the Evolution of SpaceX's Rockets in Pictures]

The room packed with Air Force service members and military contractors burst into applause. They seemed impressed that SpaceX is one of the world's coolest companies and also a staunch patriot.

Before the Q&A session, Shotwell delivered a 20-minute presentation that mostly featured promotional videos of SpaceX's spectacular Falcon Heavy mission in February. The videos also drew cheers from the crowd.

Shotwell didn't have much to say about the military launch business other than that SpaceX spent "a lot of time building our relationship with the Air Force. And we're now in a good position. We're competing. We're wining some, and losing some."

When asked how bad is the Air Force acquisition system, Shotwell said the Air Force has not cornered the market on red tape. The "most challenging" government customer for SpaceX has been NASA, she said. The company is preparing to launch its Crew Dragon capsule with astronauts onboard, a mission where failure is not an option, she said. The Air Force has asked SpaceX to make its rockets more reliable for national security satellites, but that still does not compare to the pressure of taking humans to space safely.

Shotwell defended SpaceX's culture of risk taking and aggressive innovation. "Failure is bad. But failure while you're trying and you're testing is not terrible. You're learning from it."

The next big challenge for SpaceX is the Big Falcon Rocket, with a second stage called Big Falcon Spaceship that the company believes can reach Mars. Shotwell noted that both stages are fully reusable.

"I hope to be doing hot tests next year with the second stage, the spaceship, and make an orbital flight in 2020," she said. "We would like to put large cargo on the surface of the moon by 2022. And we have our eyes on the prize to send people to Mars in 2024."

Shotwell admitted that those pronouncements might "sound crazy, but everything we've ever done has sounded crazy to people."

The huge second stage spaceship will travel half way around the world in under 30 minutes, she said. "Imagine what we could do for the defense of the United States."

Asked if she worries about national security space threats from China or Russia, Shotwell replied: "As the president of SpaceX, I am concerned about the competition coming from China and Russia because they're backed heavily by their governments. As an American citizen I worry more about China than Russia."

SpaceX last year flew 18 missions, beating any other company or country besides the United States. This year, SpaceX has completed 16 missions and is on track to complete 22 to 24 launches, while China attempts to carry out 40 (as of Sept. 9, it had already completed 24, surpassing its previous national record of 22 set in 2016).

"I was hoping to beat the Chinese this year," she said. "It does concern me that China is flying 40 times this year. And it's not for commercial customers. They have very few commercial customers. So what in the world are they doing?" she added. "The fact that I'm not beating them is a shame. The fact that they're launching 40 times is something we should all be worried about."

Shotwell echoed concerns voiced by Pentagon officials about China's pursuit of space capabilities. "They innovate in a different way, they go after ideas, they stick to a plan, and their pace is much faster."

This story was provided by SpaceNews, dedicated to covering all aspects of the space industry.A bird's-eye view of Connecticut's foliage

Take some time to relax and enjoy the whimsical wonder of Connecticut's fall foliage with this visual experience of Fairfield County.Michael Cummo / Hearst Connecticut Media

STAMFORD  After criticizing budget requests surrounding the central office reorganization, a recently released evaluation for Superintendent Earl Kim shows Board of Education members want him to be more transparent about finances.

In August, the board gave Kim his first evaluation since he began as superintendent in July 2016. The one-page evaluation, obtained by the Stamford Advocate, praises Kim for some of his higher caliber projects such as the central office reorganization and the new strategic plan for the district.TOKYO - As North Korean leader Kim Jong Un works the diplomatic channels from Seoul to Washington, one Asian leader finds himself out in the cold.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has repeatedly expressed his determination to meet Kim and "break the shell of mutual distrust." So far there is nothing on the horizon.

Just the opposite, in fact.

The North Korea's propaganda machine goes easy on the United States this year. But it has stepped up its vilification of Japan, sparing no opportunity to remind its citizens of how Korea suffered under Japanese colonial rule in the decades before World War II.

Japan, North Korea state media argues, is nothing less than "heinous war criminal state," populated by "island barbarians" and led by a "kingpin of corruption" who has only done evil deeds since taking power.

The question is whether all that bluster matters. After all, the North had blasted the United States with a similar propaganda barrage for decades.

But the fast-moving events this year have highlighted Japan's outlier status as possible deals are cut and new relationships are formed.

"There is a real danger that Abe's Japan is going to get left behind," said Koichi Nakano, a political-science professor at Tokyo's Sophia University.

Japanese media took a similar line this week, reacting coolly to the exultant mood at the summit between Kim and South Korea's President Moon Jae-in.

Nikkei, an influential financial newspaper, painted a "worst-case scenario" in which North Korea gives up its intercontinental ballistic missiles but retains the ones that can target Japan.

"Cooperation between Japan, the United States and South Korea is essential," said a Nikkei article.

Last year, Japan stood side by side with the United States in insisting on "maximum pressure" on North Korea until the country surrenders its nuclear weapon program.

Today, "maximum pressure" has all but disintegrated, as China and Russia ease up on enforcement of sanctions and South Korea talks eagerly about economic cooperation with the North.

So, when Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono warned recently that sanctions should not be lifted until North Korea completely denuclearizes, Pyongyang reacted with contempt. It mocked Tokyo for trying to stand in the way of the "trend of the times."

"It has been left alone in the region, being branded as a country of pigmy politicians engaged in abnormal view on things and phenomena, anachronistic thought and stupid and unbecoming conduct," the North's official Rodong Sinmun newspaper wrote.

"Japan will be left alone forever as a lonely island country if it persistently behaves like Don Quixote," it added.

North Korea had built a regime of fear based on the idea that a U.S. invasion is imminent, and its television news takes every opportunity to remind viewers of the terrible atrocities it says were committed by the U.S. military during the Korean War.

That is, until Kim prepared to meet Trump in Singapore in June.

Anti-American propaganda has largely vanished from state television and news media, and Trump is no longer described as "mentally deranged" or a "dotard." Instead Japan has assumed the mantle of Public Enemy No. 1.

Partly that's because the regime needs a scapegoat for its own repressive rule, and Japan is an easy target. It is also because Pyongyang sees Tokyo as an American puppet, not worth taking seriously at this stage in the negotiating process - even if it wants Japanese cash and investment further down the line, experts say.

But there is another reason Tokyo finds itself on the sidelines: the "abductions issue."

In the 1970s and 1980s, an unknown number of Japanese citizens were kidnapped by North Korean agents and taken to North Korea, partly to teach spies about Japanese language and culture.

The issue has inflamed public opinion ever since and become a favorite cause for conservative Japanese politicians, who still wear blue-ribbon lapel badges in solidarity with the affected families. And the man who championed that cause more than any other - and who rose to political power partly on the back of it - is Abe himself.

In 2002, Junichiro Koizumi, then Japan's prime minister, traveled to Pyongyang and managed to get five abductees released. Japan says at least 12 more remain missing and rejects North Korea's assertion that no more are left alive and that the case is closed. Since 2002, both sides have dug in their heels.

Such is the sensitivity of the issue that Abe could only meet Kim if there was a strong indication that North Korea was prepared to meaningfully reopen the conversation about the abductees, said Jenny Town, a Korea specialist at the Stimson Center in Washington.

In the meantime, she says, Japan finds itself "the benchwarmers" in North Korean diplomacy, "at the end of the line, not going to be called on anytime soon."

"In a sense, Abe has boxed himself in," said Chris Hughes, a professor at Britain's University of Warwick. "The Japanese government have built a position that is a little hard to pull back from."

To make matters worse, there is urgency. The father of one of the Japanese missing - then-13-year-old schoolgirl Megumi Yokota - is ill. Her mother writes heartfelt letters to her long-lost daughter, which are periodically published in the Sankei Shimbun newspaper.

Nevertheless, negotiations are likely to be going on behind the scenes, Hughes said. The Washington Post reported on one secret meeting between Japanese and North Korean officials in Vietnam in July.

And experts don't rule out the possibility of progress.

Sheila Smith, a senior fellow for Japan studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, notes that Kim reached out to Abe in 2014 on the abductee issue. The initiative foundered, but could potentially be revived, she said.

Hitoshi Tanaka, who led secretive negotiations with Pyongyang during the Koizumi administration, said Tokyo is unlikely to solve the abductee straight off.

Instead, it needs to support U.S.-led efforts to get North Korea to denuclearize, he said, and then arrange a credible investigation into the abductee issue as part of a broader deal that includes Japanese investment and aid.

"To resolve this issue, we have to be very scientific, we have to be coolheaded," he said.

In the meantime, Abe finds himself in a tough spot.

Sophia University's Nakano argues that is largely his own fault.

"His strategy was to ally strongly with the United States and present himself as the loyal sidekick in Northeast Asia facing China and North Korea," he said. "But when Trump decided otherwise, he was badly wrong-footed. He is still living with the consequences, trying to make himself relevant again in the geopolitics of Northeast Asia."

---

Akiko Kashiwagi in Tokyo and Min Joo Kim in Seoul contributed research.A s soon as Karen Massey heard about Life Kitchen, a series of specialised cooking classes designed for people living with cancer and their families, she booked herself and her husband, Nick, into a class in London.

Life Kitchen was set up by a young food writer and stylist from Newcastle named Ryan Riley by way of a tribute to his mother Krista, who had died of small-cell lung cancer. There has been national news coverage, support from celebrities including the comedian Sue Perkins and the food writer Nigella Lawson, and cookery classes hosted by the likes of TV chefs Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Jamie Oliver.

Id grown up watching these people on TV, it was ridiculous! And yet they all supported me from day one! says Riley, who admits his project has beaten any of his initial expectations.

The response has indeed been massive. Since starting Life Kitchen last year, Riley has held around nine sell-out classes across the country, in Dorset, Manchester, his home town Newcastle and London.

Ryan Riley with Duck & Waffle executive chef Tom Cenci / Life Kitchen

Having worked with Professor Barry Smith, a world leader in taste and the sense at the University of London, they developed an original set of recipes that had strong, flavourful flavours and were fresh and easy to do, including umami-rich things such as miso paste, caramelised onions and mushrooms, that could create a flavour burst, even to people who had lost their sense of taste.

For the Masseys, attending the class was transformative.

When they first met, aged 57, on an online dating platform in 2014, going out to eat and cooking together was what Karen called their fun go-to place.

Karen Massey at Life Kitchen

Their first date - and many further dates - took place in restaurants. Nick, meanwhile, had spent years working in the hospitality trade, rescuing failing pubs and restaurants by improving their kitchen offerings to boost business. Basically, I was food-oriented, he recalls.

Two years later, in early 2016, just after the pair had discussed getting married, Nick was diagnosed with a cancerous colorectal tumour; ever since their lives have been wholly unpredictable.

They did get married, but Karen - who used to be what she calls a planner person - says that these days, there is no point trying to control anything.

The thing is, this is a we thing because my cancer is terminal, and were together, explains Nick. I was diagnosed with it around April or May that year, and I was given 26 months to live, basically.

He was promptly signed up for 12 fortnightly cycles of chemotherapy, and so began a strange and uncertain journey.

Nick Massey presenting a dish at Life Kitchen

We dont sweat the small stuff anymore. But what the chemo did mean was losing hair, and it also affected my skin - so I looked a bit like Donatello from the The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! And in terms of taste, it completely and immediately took it away. And that was it - food was like eating cardboard and all I could smell was the chemical. And for us, and certainly for Karen cooking, it was a complete nightmare.

While Nicks cancer has metasised to several sites in his liver and he is now on his 37th cycle of chemotherapy, Karen perks up their visits to the Royal Surrey hospital together by baking gin and tonic cupcakes to share with the other cancer patients there.

There are 102 people checking in there for treatment every single day, Nick informs me. So there arent enough for everyone. But we always make friends with people in the queue because of them... Plus, we have the Three Cs (the Chemo Comedy Club), where we can laugh about all this!

When it came to attending Life Kitchens cookery class at Duck and Waffle restaurant, they didnt know what to expect.

Normally theyd have carried out that kind of course in a commercial kitchen, reflects Nick, but by putting it there in a restaurant setting it felt like a huge party!

It was the gift of somebody paying attention to you - which really matters, adds Karen. We made salmon with harissa, tacos with prawns, chilli and pineapple, and tried Puy lentils with caramelised onions and mushrooms. We had fun, and since then I have made one of the dishes back at home - and Ive been more adventurous with my cooking since then. Even just knowing about miso, caramelised onions, caramelised mushrooms, pineapple and so on, has added some great flavours to our eating.

But it wasnt only the flavours that made the evening special.

Nick also began talking about his cancer on the night. That opened things up, and enabled other people to talk. People always talk about the horrible bit, but we like to talk about the fact that its amazing that were getting treated, that the NHS works, and so on. We want to normalise it and socialise it.

Life Kitchen will be huge, believes Nick. What Ryan has done is make a good thing out of a extremely tragic situation there is so much potential! And the thing is, if theres one good thing that comes out of all of this i.e. if we can drive interest towards Life Kitchen by speaking about our situation, then it will all have been worth it. So we want to be as open as possible.

Riley, however, thinks the classes have launched several conversations: For me, after I lost my mother, about people living with cancer. And its opened a conversation for each other where cancer can normally be quite isolating. And then its also just launched a conversation that life can be fun even when your life is spiralling in a different direction.

His work is ever-expanding. He has organised an upcoming trip to a French chateau, for which 600 people applied for just eight places. Having also submitted a book proposal revolving around recipes for people living with cancer, he is now in the middle of planning a permanent home for Life Kitchen in Sunderland.

Yet for all the positives, it is hard work - and Life Kitchen needs funds.

Because of this I have probably earned very little [myself] this year - so the personal sacrifices [like that] have been hard, but also Ive really just enjoyed doing what Im doing now. Its also created opportunities that I didnt have before. Its a strange one but Im also loving it. Im 100% surprised [by it all], he laughs.

As for the Masseys, their sense of fun is still intact. They have started a Galloping Gourmet WhatsApp group where they and local friends take turns to host dinners, while Karen has also begun to think more about presentation and making food look more attractive: because it's important - we partly eat with our eyes!

A few times during our meeting, when the conversation turns sadder, the Masseys assure me that it is important to continue talking.

Weve had the hard conversations. We sat down the day that we had the news and we cried. It was devastating. But we designed my stone, set everything out, and we know where were going with this. The positives are that, yes, I know its going to kill me, but I just dont know when and we still have a life together.

So we may as well make it count, adds Karen.

Life Kitchen is running classes at Duck & Waffle restaurant at the following times: Tuesday 9th Oct / Tuesday 6th Nov / Wednesday 16th Jan 2019Rangers' rise under Steven Gerrard continued with a 5-1 thrashing of St Johnstone to move into second in the Scottish Premiership, while Celtic slipped to sixth after a 2-1 defeat at Kilmarnock on Sunday.

Stuart Findlay's header deep into stoppage time at Rugby Park compounded Celtic's awful start to the campaign.

A second defeat in the Scottish champions' first six league games, after also failing to qualify for the Champions League, leaves Celtic six points behind early leaders Hearts.

"When you are a huge club, the demand is to win," said Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers

"In the last couple of years we've done that really well and playing in a style that is synonymous with the club. It hasn't been the same but we have to work to make it better."

Rodgers made six changes from the side that laboured to a 1-0 Europa League win over Rosenborg in midweek.

Leigh Griffiths was recalled to the starting line-up after coming off the bench to grab the winner against the Norwegian champions and his diving header put the visitors in front 11 minutes before half-time.

Celtic posted a record turnover of 100 million ($130 million) this week, but their failure to strengthen in the transfer window despite selling star striker Moussa Dembele to Lyon is already being exposed in their bid for an eighth straight Scottish title.

They have now scored just six times in their opening six games and rarely looked like adding to their lead before Chris Burke fired in off the post from 20 yards to bring Kilmarnock level.

Celtic continued to dominate possession without seriously threatening, and were caught again by a sucker punch in the 93rd minute when Findlay stooped to head Burke's corner into the far corner, sparking wild scenes of celebration from Killie boss Steve Clarke.

In four meetings with Rodgers since Clarke took charge just under a year ago, Kilmarnock have now beaten and drawn with Celtic twice.

Rangers took full advantage to close to within five points of Hearts as they showed no hangover from an impressive 2-2 draw at Villarreal in the Europa League on Thursday.

Captain James Tavernier curled home a free-kick to open the scoring before Alfredo Morelos doubled the hosts' advantage at Ibrox.

Scott Arfield, Kyle Lafferty and Daniel Candeias were also on target after the break, while Blair Alston scored a consolation for the Saints from the penalty spot.W hether you're a fan or a cynic, it's hard to ignore the growing influence of Gwyneth Paltrow's controversial wellness brand Goop.

And now we will soon be able to judge its products for ourselves as Paltrow is finally bringing it across the pond by way of a pop-up store in Notting Hill.

A source confirmed to the Standard that the pop-up will open this week and it is expected to run until the end of January.

It will be found at 188 Westbourne Grove, a space close to other fancy shops like Zadig & Voltaire, Maje and Orlebar Brown.

The company, which the New York Times estimates is worth a whopping $250 million, opened the doors to its first-ever permanent bricks-and-mortar shop in Los Angeles last September. It has since held pop-ups in other cities, like Dallas (pictured below).

Goop's timely arrival in London coincides with the brand's 10th anniversary.

As well as the ayurvedic herbs and wellness supplements that it has become famous for, the goop website also sells makeup, clothes, shoes, jewellery and bags from other designer brands, though it currently only ships to the US and Canada.

Paltrow recently turned her hand to interiors too, with the launch of Goop x CB2, the brand's first furniture and homeware collection this month.

The lifestyle empire has had its fair share of criticism of course.

Earlier this month the company is understood to have agreed to pay $145,000 (110,000) in a settlement for "unsubstantiated claims" about three of its products.

"Goop advertised that the Jade and Rose Quartz eggs could balance hormones, regulate menstrual cycles, prevent uterine prolapse, and increase bladder control. Goop advertised that the Inner Judge Flower Essence Blend could help prevent depression" a statement reads.S andwiched between the French islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique, is a country that should be on every adventurer and eco-traveler's list. From black sand beaches to authentic indigenous culture, Dominica defies the cliches of a Caribbean holiday in more than one way.

Individualists are attracted to its organic and unique landscape, which varies from volcanoes to whale watching.

"Heaven on Earth" / Discover Dominica

If you think this is beautiful, you should have seen the island before Hurricane Maria, said our driver and guide, Oris Campbell. A reaction I became all too familiar with.

Dominica was heaven on earth before 160mph gusts tore down homes, uprooted trees, and destroyed all of the sugar cane and banana plantations, he said. The devastation was so severe; it brought all of tourism to a standstill.

A year on, the green towering trees and rainforests that defined the island are slowly beginning to take life and its never-ending winding roads are now a picture-perfect sight with vegetable and fruit vendors dotted along the way.

Known aptly as the Nature Island of the Caribbean, Dominicas rugged terrain is home to the second largest boiling lake in the world (the first is in New Zealand), nine active volcanoes and 365 rivers, while its marine life supports rare sea turtles and sperm whales all year round.

Boiling Lake / Discover Dominica

Off the beaten path

Often mistaken for the Dominican Republic, this lesser-known island is a breath of fresh air compared to its commercial and significantly busier Caribbean neighbours. Unlike St. Lucia and Barbados, cruise tourism here is relatively infrequent, making it one of the most unspoilt destinations in the Lesser Antilles. The English-speaking island is also much smaller in size with only around 75,000 inhabitants, most of who live in and around its capital Roseau and its second largest city, Portsmouth.

National Parks

Dominica is primarily rainforest and its crown jewel is the 16,000-acre Morne Trois Pitons National Park, which contains five ecological zones, six mountains, and unique species of plants and birds. The park was recognised in 1998 as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

If you are a keen birdwatcher, head to Morne Diablotin National Park. Named after the tallest mountain on the island, the park was established to protect the habitat of the endangered sisserou parrots, which can only be found on the island.

Also in the north is the Cabrits National Park, which is home to an 18th century English garrison called Fort Shirley.

Hiking

Put your brave face on, for hiking up to the Boiling Lake is no mean feat. Estimated to take three hours each way, this strenuous trek will take you through mud, rocks, and elevations of up to 2,950 feet. Along the way, youll pass the Morne Trois Pitons River, and the sulphur springs at the Valley of Desolation before making your way to the magical Boiling Lake  a bubbling, grey-blue water body enveloped in a cloud of vapour.

The Waitukubuli National Trail is more family-friendly and suitable for all types of hikers. The coast-to-coast route, which spans 115 miles, is divided into segments allowing an easy opt-out for those with varying fitness levels and pace.

Also, explore the Jacko Steps hike and Chimere Letang trail.

Waterfalls and rivers

There are dozens of waterfalls scattered around the island. The most picturesque  and certainly one for the Insta-savvy - is Trafalgar Falls or the twin waterfalls. At first glance, it almost looks like a river splitting into two, but in fact, they are two separate rivers that happen to meet at the same place. Other waterfalls worth exploring are Sari-Sari and Victoria Falls, which requires a more strenuous walk and may need guided assistance.

There are plenty of options to give those tired feet a rest too. Cruise along the Indian River on a rowboat just like Jack Sparrow did in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Mans Chest. The serene mile-long river is a swamp forest with twisted roots of enormous Mang trees lining the banks. Also, keep an eye out for crabs marching along the banks.

When the night falls, take a trip to the hot springs. Open well into the night, you can be neck deep in water, sip a cocktail and stargaze to your hearts content, all in the middle of a jungle.

Scuba Diving

The rugged terrain of the land continues to the sea. The lava from the volcanic action forms a cave and canyon-like structure, which is covered with soft corals. Among others, marine life here consists of juvenile fish, shrimps, file clams and technicolour squid. Those looking for an easy dive should try LAbym, where at a mere eight meters you can mingle with seahorses, turtles, and frogfish. For fascinating rock formations, head to the islands most popular dive site Scotts Head Pinnacle.

Hawkbill turtle / Discover Dominica

Another site not to miss is Champagne Reef, where hot gases rise from the volcanic sea floor, creating bubbles that never lose their fizz.

Snorkelling at Champagne Reef / Discover Dominica

Whale watching

Eco-tourism is a booming industry in Dominica, especially when it comes to whale watching. The government along with research groups study and work towards the conservation of sperm whales, hundreds of which live off the coast of the island. Frequent sightings of 18 different species of whales and dolphins have earned the country a reputation as the Whale Watching Capital of the Caribbean. Boat tours are available to locate these mammals and if youre lucky, you may even get a chance to swim with them.

Meet the last indigenous tribe of the Caribbean

The last Carib people of the Lesser Antilles live in the northeast of island in the Kalinago Territory where 2500 tribesmen and women now occupy and share 3,700 acres of communal land where they practice the ancient craft of basket making and bake Cassava bread. There is no main village or shopping in the area, but small roadside stands sell beautiful handicrafts. Those travelling to the territory can visit the model village for a detailed tour and history of the Kalinago.

Food and rum

Theres always a fresh catch of the day on the menu here while organic, free-range and farm fresh are all terms that apply to Dominican cuisine naturally. The juices here are freshly squeezed and the vegetables are sustainably sourced from the island.

Experience the hustle and bustle of Roseau market on Saturday morning as local traders sell the best homegrown produce. Whilst there, grab breakfast at Patty Shack. Away from the capital, Keepin it Real in Toucari village serves the best lobsters with beach views and if youre craving something Middle Eastern, head to Coco Mango suites and restaurant in the city of Portsmouth. The family-run cafe serves mouth-watering Syrian cuisine.

Like many other plantation islands of the Caribbean, Dominica produces rum. Venture into the lively rum shops to try an assortment of the spice and herb infused drink called bush rum. The selection ranges from pwev (leaves of the costus plant) and lemongrass to sea grape and basil.

Music

It doesnt take Friday to get the party going in Dominica. The sounds of soca, zouk, and bouyon fill the streets all day every day. Each year the island hosts the biggest names in Creole music at the annual World Creole Music Festival. The three-day overnight party celebrates the countrys indigenous, African and European history. There are also more traditional forms of music like jing ping, which is accordion-based and lapo kabwit inspired by carnival drumming. For more details on the festival visit Dominica Festivals

Wellness

From forest bathing to living off the land, Dominicans truly embrace the wilderness. There are 134 plants on the island that are classified either as medicinal or charms and are used to produce natural oils to cure a common cold, upset stomach, fever and prickly heat. It is no surprise therefore that the island has a high number of centenarians. From eco-therapy and rewilding to permaculture, there are plenty of ways to channel your inner naturist here.

Getting there

Flights via Antigua with British Airways cost from 676 per person including taxes and internal flight to Dominica with LIAT.

Getting around

Dominica is a small island (only 29 miles long and 16 miles wide) and getting around is fairly easy. You can take a taxi or public transport around the island. To self-drive, you need to purchase a driving permit (12 USD), which can be obtained from the car rental service. You also need to be between the age of 25-60 and have two years of driving experience.

Where to stay

A deluxe beach cottage based on two sharing at Picard Beach Cottages cost from 277 per night.

Oceanfront cabana at Pagua Bay House cost from 159 per night.

In the heart of Roseau, rooms at Fort Young Hotel are upwards of 150 per night.A man has been arrested at Buckingham Palace after allegedly trying to visit the royal residence with a Taser.

Police said a 38-year-old had been detained at the tourist hotspot in central London on suspicion of possessing a firearm.

Security staff at the palace initially apprehended the man at the visitor entrance shortly after 12.45pm on Sunday.

Scotland Yard said he had been taken into custody at a police station in central London.

A statement from the Met Police said: Police were called at 12:47hrs on Sunday, 23 September to a report of a man detained by security staff at the visitor entrance to Buckingham Palace.

Officers attended and at 13:00hrs a 38-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of possessing a firearm, namely a Taser.P olice have launched a murder probe after a teenager was shot and killed in east London.

A 19-year-old man died in hospital after being rushed there by friends after he was shot in the incident in Walthamstow at around 11pm last night, police said.

Officers were called to reports of a shooting on Vallentin Road.

The victim's friends reportedly tried to save the man's life but he was later pronounced dead at 11.38pm.

Two other people, a 17-year-old boy and a 24-year-old man, were also seriously injured in the shooting, although their injuries were not life-threatening.

A resident who lives in a flat overlooking the street said he woke up to find police cars and uniformed officers had taped off both ends of Vallentin Road.

The resident, who asked not to be named, said: "It is just sad.

"A shooting is horrible. I feel saddened for the family but I guess this sort of thing can happen anywhere now these days."

He said he woke up to find police cars parked either end of the road with uninformed officers at a police cordon.

The fatal shooting comes less than 24 hours after a 20-year-old man was killed in a "senseless" stabbing at a house party in north-east London.

There have been more than 100 homicides in the capital so far this year.

Detectives are appealing for information over the shooting on Saturday night.

A spokesman said: "The victim - a 19-year-old man - was driven by friends to a north-east London hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 11.38pm.

"Officers believe they know his identity, but await formal identification and confirmation that next of kin have been informed.

"A post-mortem examination will be arranged in due course."

No arrests have been made.B rexit Secretary Dominic Raab has dismissed claims Theresa May and her top team are planning to call a snap election following the rejection of her Chequers plan by EU leaders.

It comes following reports that aides to the PM have creating contingency plans for an election in November to save the Brexit talks and her job.

Mr Raab told the BBC's Andrew Marr show this morning that suggestions that Downing Street aides were preparing contingency plans in the event of Chequers proposals being voted down in parliament were 'for the birds.'

Meanwhile Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has also pledged to join Tory rebels to block the Chequers deal, saying the Prime Minister must hold a General Election if she can't deliver on Brexit.

"It's for the birds. It's not going to happen," Mr Raab told the show while being quizzed on the fallout of the Prime Minister's meeting with EU leaders in Salzburg on Friday.

Mr Raab said the Government would keep negotiating with the EU on the basis of the Chequers proposals.

Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab told BBC1's Andrew Marr show that suggestions of a snap election are "for the birds". / BBC

"This is a bump in the road. We will hold our nerve, we will keep our cool and we will keep negotiating in good faith," he said.

"What we are not going to do is be dictated to. The UK is one of the biggest economies in Europe, if not in the world.

"We have come up with a serious set of proposals. We are not just going to flit from plan to plan like some sort of diplomatic butterfly. We are going to be resolute about this."

Coming away from the "melodrama of Salzburg", as he called it, the government's "pragmatic" plan remains a "set of proposals that gives effect to the referendum", said Mr Raab.

"If we get this sort of "computer says no" response from the EU we're not going to make progress. We need some flex, and some give and take," he said.

Mr Raab maintains that the EU has been the side to stifle negotiations with belligerent responses, while others criticise the government's own stubborn position by demanding a 'pick-n-mix' of agreements.

In the programme, Jeremy Corbyn was accused of similar "cherry-picking" that has broken down Theresa May's negotiating position.

Mr Marr said Labour wants the same ease of trade with Europe, with the freedom to write trade deals elsewhere.

"There's quite a big difference between us and what Liam Fox is trying to do," Mr Corbyn said, calling the international trade secretary's own plans the "exact opposite of Labour's".

Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn also faced questions, as he promises to let the party decide if it should back calls for a second referendum. / BBC

"They involve the reduction of environmental and other standards, all of which involve deregulation. We want stronger regulation. Ours is strengthening consumers' and workers' and environmental rights.

"The PM should report to parliament on what has happened and what her statement really means and we should measure her proposals for the relationship it the EU against the six tests that the Labour Party has put down."

He stoked suggestions again that Mrs May has a general election looming over her if Brexit proposals do not quell the rebels in her own party by November.

He added: "This government doesn't seem very strong. We could well be looking towards a General Election and you know what, we're ready for it."

Questioning the assumption that hard right Tories could find themselves voting for a situation where Corbyn could be Prime Minister, he said: "I don't think there's many Tory MPs that want to see a Labour government, but there are many Tory MPs who are very very angry with how their government is performing and might feel it is the right time for the country to make a decision on the future.L abour leader Jeremy Corbyn has pledged to join Tory rebels and shut down Theresa May's Chequers deal to force the Prime Minister into a general election.

The move follows his announcement yesterday that he would join calls for a second EU referendum reluctantly, if that was what Labour voted for at this week's annual conference in Liverpool.

Mr Corbyn told the Mirror in an interview today: If this Government cant deliver Brexit then it must move over and have a General Election.

In a departure for Corbyn, the move would mean his MPs and hard-line Brexiteer Tories would vote together against Mrs May's Chequers plan.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn waves to the crowd after delivering his speech at the Labour Party annual conference at the Brighton Centre, Brighton. / PA Archive/PA Images

The eurosceptic Jacob Rees-Mogg's European Research Group - described as a lobbying group which advises many prominent Tories - has advocated for stalling Mrs May's proposed plans and instead adopt a relationship similar to that of the EU and Canada.

Mr Rees-Mogg has denied claims he intends to oust the party leader, but there have been outside calls for Labour to back the group of Tory rebels.

40 Tory MPs have signalled they would vote against any Brexit deal that is based on Chequers, leaving her with 21 days to find an alternative solution.

Mr Corbyn added that Labour set six tests for any final deal including a strong relationship with Europe, the same rights, protections and benefits we have now and fair migration to boost Britains economy.

He said: Chequers does not meet them. We are not happy with it and we would vote against it.

That could trigger a General Election and were ready for it.

Mrs May gave EU negotiators an ultimatum at her controversial Salzburg address on Friday night - calling on them to end the impasse over red-line issues - the customs union and our border with Ireland.

A vote on the final deal was due next month but is likely to be delayed as negotiations falter.

Mr Corbyn's comments come after an Observer poll found 86 per cent of Labour members think voters should have the final say on the outcome of Brexit negotiations, and 90 per cent would now vote to remain in the EU.

But a march of MPs, MEPs, union leaders and activists today continues to put pressure on the party to throw its weight behind a "People's Vote".

Echoing shadow Chancellor John McDonnell's sentiments that a second vote could "stoke xenophobia", Corbyn maintains the best solution is to push for a general election.

The news also coincides with reports in the Sunday Times that aids of the Prime Minister have begun a "contingency plan" in the event of a snap election, after EU leaders denounced her solid stance in favour of Chequers.

The newspaper reports that senior officials at Downing Street ran a "war gaming" simulation of an autumn vote to win back public backing.

This is also an uncredited report that May is attempting to keep the party together long enough to vote through Chequers, by promising to step down next Summer.

The government's proposals, drawn up at the Prime Minister's country retreat in June, push for "common rulebook" aligning the Uk with EU rules and trade regulations, while making demands that we don't fall under the jurisdiction of European courts and no more free movement of people.J eremy Corbyn today said he will 'die an anti-racist' when asked to apologise into the camera over the anti-Semitism crisis in the Labour party.

The Labour leader was quizzed by the BBC's Andrew Marr over his handling of the crisis as the party's annual conference got underway.

Mr Corbyn insisted "anti-Semitism is a scourge in any society, I have opposed it all my life." when asked to personally apologise.

Mr Corbyn was pressed by presenter Mr Marr towards the end of an interview primarily about Brexit asking the Labour leader: "Jeremy Corbyn, are you an anti-Semite?"

"No," said the Labour leader. "Absolutely not. I have spent my whole life opposing racism in any form and I will die fighting racism."

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn (left) and deputy leader Tom Watson attend the start of their party's annual conference at the Arena and Convention Centre (ACC), in Liverpool. / PA

Andrew Marr went on to ask him: "How did you feel when when one your MPs, a Jewish MP, Margaret Hodge, looked you in the eyes and called you an anti-Semite?"

"The matter with Margaret Hodge is closed," Mr Corbyn said.

Mr Corbyn was also asked about his views on a mural by street artist Mear One which was viewed as anti-Semitic.

Mr Corbyn has previously said he had not properly looked at the image before raising concerns about plans to paint over it.

Asked if he now believed it was anti-Semitic, Mr Corbyn said: "I think it shouldn't have been put up. It has been taken down and I'm glad it has."

Another row involved footage from 2013 of Mr Corbyn attacking a group of British Zionists who had criticised Palestinian ambassador Manuel Hassassian, claiming they did not understand "English irony" despite living in the country.

Mr Corbyn was confronted with the video, in which he says

He said: "I was speaking in (Manuel Hassassian's) defence.

"Manuel, whose first language who's first language is not English, but has an incredibly command of English, had made a number of ironic remarks in the interchange with them," he said, remarking on a row between the ambassador to the UK and two British born Jewish people at a parliamentary event.

He said the two people were "very, very abusive to Manuel."

"It was not intended to be anti-Semitism. I have absolute opposition to anti-Semitism in every way because I see where it leads to.

"Our party has members of all faiths and it is an opening welcome and safe place for them."

He struggled to say explicitly if he would have attended a wreath-laying in Tunisia in 2012 if he had known members of Black September were being honoured there.

"I went to honour the civilians and children who had been killed.

"At that time I was not even sure who was in the cemetery who had been killed.

"I'm not a supported of Black September of course," he added when pressed.

He also said that he does not feel a state of Israel is "a racist endeavour," but he called for the end of the Siege of Gaza and the and of settlements on Palestinian land.

Conservative Chairman Brandon Lewis tweeted after the interview: "This morning Jeremy Corbyn proved he is not fit to govern our country.

"He confirmed Labour would take us back to square one on Brexit, refused to apologise for the anti-Jewish racism that has engulfed the Labour party, and backed local councils breaking the law."

Following the interview in Liverpool, Labour's general secretary Jennie Formby echoed Mr Corbyn's own sentiments that members must be free to raise the "terrible injustices" faced by Palestinians but warned against anti-Semitic language.

REUTERS/Hannah McKay

Speaking at the opening of the party's conference, the senior party official said headlines on anti-Semitism have made for "very hard reading", but said Labour has made "significant progress" in dealing with it.

Ms Formby told delegates: "Our party is nothing if we don't stand united against oppression and in solidarity with our Jewish brothers and sisters. Equally, we recognise the most frequent complaints arise when issues of Israel and Palestine are discussed.

"We will not allow the voices of Palestinian people to be silenced and members must be able to speak out about the terrible injustices that they face.J ewish people this year experienced more attacks from the left than ever before, Luciana Berger has said.

Speaking at the Jewish Labour Movement rally on Sunday, the Labour MP said: We are under attack. There are Jews in this country who do not feel safe.

We expect attacks that come from the far right, we know them. But this year more than ever we have experienced attacks from the left from people who claim to share our party values.

It came as speakers including Ruth Smeeth, Richard Angell and Stella Creasy condemned anti-Semitism in the Labour party and called for Jeremy Corbyn to take action against racism at the rally during the partys annual conference in Liverpool.

Ms Berger also addressed the Labour partys ruling to accept the full International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's definition of antisemitism earlier this month.

The MP for Liverpool Wavertree said the move is not a cause for celebration. It merely places us where we should have been all along, she said.

Among the other speakers at the rally was Ruth Smeeth.

The MP for Stoke-on-Trent North said there is a generational fight ahead to tackle anti-Semitism in the Labour party, adding that she is fed up of talking about the issue.

Ms Smeeth apologised as she repeated a phrase she said in the same room two years previously.

She said: Two years ago I stood in this room and said: We stay, we fight, we win. Im sorry but I say it again: We stay, we fight, we win.

The next party of government will not be a racist party. Its inconceivable. We will win. We. Will. Win, she added.

Director of Progress, Richard Angell, said what is happening in the Labour Party at the moment is not normal and should not be normalised. We cant stand for it, he added.

Discussing the rise of populism, Mr Angell called for action from the top.

He said Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn should have a member of staff dedicated to calling out anti-Semitism on social media.

The leader could do a very simple thing. Pay one person to have a Twitter account. Corbyn against hate, he said.

Mr Angell suggested that every time someone uses Twitter for anti-Semitism in Labour and Mr Corbyns name the Twitter account would respond, you do not tweet in my name.

If the leader isnt prepared to call them out it cant change, Mr Angell said. It has to come from the top.

The Jewish Labour Movement is a membership organisation of Labour supporting members of the Jewish Community.

Seb Dance MEP, Rabbi Laura Janner-Klausner, Jon Lansman, John Mann MP, Wes Streeting MP also spoke at the rally on Sunday.T housands today marched through Liverpool outside the Labour partys annual conference to urge Jeremy Corbyn to support a so-called Peoples Vote on the final Brexit deal.

Labour politicians joined the crowd - who chanted "b******s to Brexit" and "it's not a done deal" - as they marched from St George's Hall to a rally at Pier Head on Sunday.

Demonstrators on the March For The Many in Liverpool / Getty Images

Some sections of the crowd also chanted directly at party leader Jeremy Corbyn, saying: "Hey Jeremy, take a note, for the many, People's Vote."

Supporters at the rally told the Standard a second referendum is needed because peoples minds are changing as they realise what Brexit is.

Marchers call for a people's vote on the final outcome of the government's Brexit negotiations / Getty Images

Labour MP David Lammy was among speakers at the event while MP Luciana Berger led the march.

Mr Lammy talked down calls for a General Election as he said a peoples vote is the only option we can win.

He said: I would love a General Election that got rid of this Conservative Government, but let us be clear, to have a General Election we need to have a vote in Parliament.

Those that say lets have a General Election cannot name one member of Tory or DUP who would vote for that General Election.

The march took place in Liverpool on Sunday / Getty Images

But there are members of other parties that are clear that they would now vote for a peoples vote, so a peoples vote is the only option on the table.

Mr Lammy had greeted the crowd by asking: "Can you hear us Jeremy Corbyn? Can you hear us John McDonnell?

He said people from across the UK were present, adding: "They are saying squarely to the leadership of the Labour Party 'listen to us, hear us, give us a People's Vote'.

Marching for a people's vote: Olivia, Juliet and Terry Brotheridge / Ella Wills

Terry Brotheridge, from Skelmersdale, who joined the march today, said he is concerned about the possible effects of Brexit on trade in the UK.

Companies are leaving because we are not the gateway to the EU any more, he said.

Mr Brotheridge, 70, said a Peoples Vote is necessary because peoples minds are changing as they realise what Brexit is.

They were lied to, he added. All the people who voted to leave who work in [the car industry] didnt realise that their jobs will go.

His wife Juliet said she feels Brexit sends a very unfriendly message to the European Union.

It puts people off from visiting, she said.

The 58-year-old added that countries in the European Union are stronger together, saying that there are issues such as climate change that countries would benefit from working together on.

If we were one big family we could help each other with possible solutions, she said.

Mr Corbyn, appearing earlier on Sunday on BBC1's Andrew Marr Show, has been asked whether he would feel obliged to respect a vote by delegates to support a second referendum.

He replied: "Let's see what comes out of conference. Obviously I'm bound by the democracy of our party."T he Labour Party's annual conference began this weekend in Liverpool - with the party poised for key speeches on Brexit, nationalisation of the railways and a strong commitment to women and equalities.

Eyes turned to the conference as Labour took its first major opportunity to remind the public what it stands for, and leader Jeremy Corbyn hopes to get back to business after a period of internal muck throwing.

There has been relative calm for Labour in the past week, with attention shifting onto Theresa May's crumbling grip on the Conservatives amid the EU's rejection of her Chequers proposals for Brussels.

Now Labour hopes it has a chance to bring back support, with increasing speculation that Mrs May could face a snap election.

So here's everything to expect from the Labour Party Conference, as party members arrived on Saturday afternoon, with events running until Wednesday.

Brexit

Brexit has dominated the party conference season, and pro-EU MPs and activists are likely to use this week's events to drive for support of the People's Vote campaign for a second referendum. Both Jeremy Corbyn and his top ally, shadow chancellor John McDonnell, have resisted the calls - instead hoping a general election is their best hope. But Corbyn has said he will "reluctantly" back another vote if that's what the party decides this week.

The March 29 deadline is fast approaching, and there is likely to be hot debate across the conference. It's understandable, then, that Brexit was the first topic for discussion after the opening speeches on Sunday.



Women and Equalities



Women and Equalities chief Dawn Butler led a special Women's Party Conference from noon on Saturday, promising to put Equalities centre-stage for the party.

She told delegates: "So far we have seen seven different ministers for equality tagged onto four different departments and a budget that's nearly been halved.

"This proves the Tories are not taking equalities seriously. By establishing a Department for Women and Equalities, Labour will ensure equalities is the common thread running through its government. The next Labour government will put equality centre stage."

Corbyn will be hoping this approach puts the dampeners on an anticipated re-run of bad feeling over his handling of anti-semitism allegations which Gordon Brown called a "stain" on Labour, and some Jewish members said they no longer felt secure in the Party. While there's no specific event booked to discuss anti-semitism, the topic is bound to crop up.

Austerity

Mr Corbyn announced before the conference that Labour are going to place a huge focus on anti-austerity measures, aiming to make his most direct pitch yet to people in post-industrial towns and communities, with speeches tackling the impact of de-industrialisation and the drop in people's living standards.

New policies will also be announced at the event to empower local communities and boost neglected areas, the Guardian reported.

In a statement released by the party Corbyn said cuts and government mismanagement have left many of our towns and communities hollowed out and without hope.

It is Labours mission to represent the hopes and aspirations of working-class people in our country," he added. "Our country needs to radically change course and this week were going to be laying out our plans to rebuild Britain for the many, not the few.

Well show this week how were going to transform our broken economic model, have a rebirth of our great public services and give local communities the control they need to make their towns thrive again.

De-selection rules

Momentum, the grassroots activists' group which helped to propel Mr Corbyn to the leadership, has pressed for a change to party rules which could make it easier to de-select sitting MPs, prompting fears among moderates of a purge by left-wingers. Momentum was forced to accept a "compromise" ruling on the changes at the National Executive Committee on Saturday, but are likely to continue campaigning.

In-fighting

Deputy leader Tom Watson will not be speaking from the main platform after failing to agree a satisfactory slot, but he may vent his frustrations with the leadership during a series of appearances on the fringe.

"Re-building Britain"

Mr Corbyn spoke at a rally at Pier Head in Liverpool on Saturday, to mark the start of conference, and delivers his main speech on Wednesday, while some polls suggesting his popularity with the wider public is slipping. His slogan for the conference is "Re-building Britain, for the many not the few", incorporating his leadership's staple maxim.

Labour party Conference Timetable Saturday 22nd September 11:00 Womens Conference Registration

12:00 Womens Conference  Auditorium 1A  ACC Sunday 23rd September 10:30 Opening Formalities; NEC Chairs Address; CAC Report; General Secretarys Report; Awards

11:20 Part democracy

12:45 Seminar - Brexit

12:45 Seminar - Environment, Energy, and Culture

12:45 Seminar - Work, Pensions, and Equality

14:15 Party Democracy; Women's Conference Motion; Financial Reports Monday 24th September 8:15 Seminar - International

8:15 Seminar - Justice and Home Affairs

8:15 Seminar - Health and Social Care

9:30 CAC Report

9:55 Wales Report

10:05 Public investment and ownership

12:15 Shadow Chancellor's speech

14:15 Scotland Report

14:25 Social security and skills Tuesday 25th September 8:15 Seminar - Early Years, Education, and Skill

8:15 Seminar - Housing, Local Government, and Transport

8:15 Seminar - Economy, Business, and Trade

9:30 NEC and CLP Constitutional Amendments

10:20 Brexit and the economy

14:50 Security at home and abroad Wednesday 26th September 9:05 Tackling inequalities

12:15 Leader's SpeechAmerica to Me, director Steve James 10-part nonfiction series about a year in the life of Oak Park and River Forest High School, continues on the Starz network through Oct. 28. One of that projects three segment directors, Bing Liu, came through Kartemquins Diverse Voices in Docs mentorship program four years ago. Earlier this summer, Lius Rockford-focused documentary feature, Minding the Gap, opened to exceptional reviews and is currently streaming on the Hulu network.C ounter-terror police hope the Bodyguard drama inspires a new generation of officers as thousands flock to recruitment web pages as the series draws to a close.

But officials have also warned aspiring recruits that the on-screen action is somewhat divorced from reality.

Thousands of eager recruits have "flocked" to the Counter Terror Police recruitment page, a police source said, as a result of the political thriller series starring Keeley Hawes and Richard Madden.

The thriller sees a personal protection officer assigned to guard a power-hungry home secretary, and he becomes to close to his "principle".

Counter Terror Police's recruitment site advertises roles such as digital specialists, intelligence indexers, analysts and administrative support, with salaries ranging from 19,719 to 43,000.

Senior figures hope younger, more tech-savvy recruits can be persuaded to join the fight against real-life terror plots, and the force has sought to capitalise by posting on social media during episodes.

The UK's most senior female counter-terror officer, deputy assistant commissioner Lucy D'Orsi, said: "We have seen thousands of people visiting our recruitment page as a result of Bodyguard and although the drama stretches reality to the limit, the programme does capture the passion and drive of our officers and staff as they work to keep the public safe.

Seduction: Keeley Hawes' character, home secretary Julia Montague, disappeared after a bombing in the show. But there are rumours, even stirred by the show's creator, that she may be making a return. / BBC

Detective Chief Inspector Steve Ray, who protected Theresa May when she was home secretary, said large teams are involved in guarding key figures - unlike the lone figure cut by the troubled Personal Protection Officer in Bodyguard, David Budd.

He said: "My day-to-day life bears no resemblance to the programme.

"It's fair to say you wouldn't last long in our team if you cross the line to form too close a relationship with the principal you were protecting."

Ms D'Orsi added she was disappointed by the hostile tensions between the police and MI5 in the series, saying in real life the security services work "hand-in-glove" with police, such as during the Manchester Arena atrocity.

The BBC1 thriller has been hailed as the biggest new drama on British television in more than a decade, created by Line of Duty writer Jed Mercurio.

Mr Mercurio has had kept fans reeling on social media after spreading conflicting suggestion about what may happen in the series finale tonight.A Brit who claims to be a pharmacist from Birmingham has been detained in Syria on suspicion of being a member of IS.

The man, who said his name is Anwar Miah, was reportedly apprehended by Kurdish forces near Hajin in Deir ez-Zur, a province on the Iraq border.

Footage showing him being questioned by his captors has now emerged on social media.

In the clip a blindfolded man with a British accent says his name is Anwar Miah, from Birmingham, and explains that he has been in the country for "just under four years".

Asked if he is a member of IS, he replies: "I'm a doctor. I'm a qualified pharmacist from the UK. I studied medicine and pharmacy."

When asked to explain why he is in the area he replies: "I came here to work with the general people and to work in their general hospitals.

"I've been working in the hospitals since I came."

Asked again if he was with IS he says: "The areas that I worked in were controlled by Daesh, but I work with the general people I work in the general hospitals.

"I mean I don't... I mean they were controlled by Daesh, I can't do anything about that. All my work was with the public."

The man in the video, which was publicised by International Volunteers Report on Twitter, was reportedly arrested a month ago.

His detention comes after two Britons suspected of being members of an IS execution group dubbed "The Beatles" were captured in Syria in February.

Alexanda Kotey and El Shafee Elsheikh fell into the hands of Kurdish militia fighters in January.

Along with Mohammed Emwazi - the killer nicknamed Jihadi John - and Aine Davis, they are thought to have been part of a group named after the '60s band because of their English accents.

The four Londoners were linked to a string of hostage murders in Iraq and Syria during the bloody Islamist uprising.

The pair's capture became the subject of controversy after it emerged the Home Secretary had not sought a guarantee that they will not face execution if extradited to the US for terror crimes.

Shiraz Maher, director of Kings College London's International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation, said Miah's detention raised questions over how many foreigners remain in the region with IS.T housands of dead fish have been left scattered across roads in North Carolina as flood waters recede following Hurricane Florence.

Fire crews have been sent to clear fish off highways with a hose after storm surges brought them far inland last week.

Penderlea Fire Department posted pictures of the unusual scene on one interstate road, writing: Well, we can add washing fish off of the interstate to the long list of interesting things firefighters get to experience.

It added: Hurricane Florence caused massive flooding in our area and allowed the fish to travel far from their natural habitat, stranding them on the interstate when waters receded.

The fish are being hosed off the roads to prevent accidents / Penderlea Fire Department

Some commenters questioned whether leaving piles of rotting fish by the roadside would create a horrendous odour.

But the fire department responded: The smell is what it is; this was done for the safety of motorists since some of the fish were actually quite large and could be dangerous if hit, or if swerved around.

Be sure to keep your windows closed and air on circulate, we will be!

Shoals of fish were carried far inland by Hurricane Florence storm surges / Penderlea Fire Department

Hurricane Florence has claimed the lives of at least 43 people since slamming into the Carolina last week.

Emergency management officials said residents whose homes were damaged or destroyed will begin moving into hotel rooms Monday.

"Hurricane Florence has deeply wounded our state, wounds that will not fade soon as the flood waters finally recede," Governor Roy Cooper said Saturday.

Hurricane Florence - In pictures 1 /70 Hurricane Florence - In pictures Lt. Keith Ramsey with the Pender County Sheriff's Office walks out to a boat while taking part in rescue operations in Burgaw, North Carolina AP U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to members of the media prior to a Marine One departure at the South Lawn of the White House September 19, 2018 in Washington Getty Images Local residents walk along the edge of a collapsed road that ran atop Patricia Lake's dam after it collapsed in the aftermath of Hurricane Florence, in Boiling Spring Lakes, North Carolina Reuters Teresa Nance is licked by her dog as she returns to dry land after checking on her home flooded by Hurricane Florence Getty Images US President Donald Trump greets residents with prepared meals in New Bern, North Carolina AFP/Getty Images Flood waters from Hurricane Florence surrounds two hog houses and it's lagoon near Kinston, N.C AP Jovani Quintano and Carlos Gomez (L-R) walk through a flooded neighborhoom after heavy rains brought on by Hurricane Florence on September 19, 2018 in Lumberton, North Carolina. Getty Images US President Donald Trump walks with officials in Conway, South Carolina AFP/Getty Images Old tree stumps that used to be at the bottom of Patricia Lake are revealed after it emptied when its dam collapsed in the aftermath of Hurricane Florence, in Boiling Spring Lakes, North Carolina, U.S Reuters Water from the flooded Waccamaw River surrounds a house in the aftermath of Hurricane Florence now downgraded to a tropical depression in Conway, South Carolina, U.S. Reuters Dustin Mock navigates a flooded street as flood waters rise in the aftermath of Hurricane Florence now downgraded to a tropical depression in Conway, South Carolina, U.S. Reuters Jose Perez-Santiago, left, and Rosemary Acevedo-Gonzalez, walk with their daughter Jordalis, 2, after retrieving her clothing upon returning to their home for the first time since it was flooded in the aftermath of Hurricane Florence in Spring Lake, North Carolina AP Flood waters from hurricane Florence inundate the town of Engelhard, N.C. AP A downed tree rests on a house during the passing of Hurricane Florence in the town of Wilson, North Carolina REUTERS A member of the US Army walks in water while rescuing people during the passing of Hurricane Florence in the town of New Bern REUTERS A downed tree is pictured as Hurricane Florence comes ashore on Wilmington, North Carolina REUTERS Volunteers from the Civilian Crisis Response Team help rescue three children from their flooded home in James City, Getty Images A downed tree blocks a local street during the passing of Hurricane Florence the town of New Bern, North Carolina REUTERS Waves slam the Oceana Pier & Pier House Restaurant in Atlantic Beach AP Shianne Coleman (L) gets a hand from friend Austin Gremmel as they walk in flooded streets as the Neuse River begins to flood its banks during Hurricane Florence Getty Images High winds and storm surge from Hurricane Florence hits Swansboro North Carolina. AP Russ Lewis looks for shells along the beach as Hurricane Florence approaches Myrtle Beach, South Carolina AP Michael Nelson floats in a boat made from a metal tub and fishing floats after the Neuse River went over its banks and flooded his street during Hurricane Florence in New Bern, North Carolina Getty Images Volunteers from the Civilian Crisis Response Team help rescue three children from their flooded home in James City, Getty Images Jamie Thompson walks through flooded sections of East Front Street near Union Point Park in New Bern, North Carolina AP Portions of a boat dock and boardwalk are destroyed by powerful wind and waves as Hurricane Florence Getty Images People walk on a local street as water from Neuse River starts flooding houses upon Hurricane Florence coming ashore in New Bern, North Carolina Reuters Newlyweds Kathryn and Anthony Palmisano stand on the steps of the Charleston City Market in a deserted downtown in Charleston, South Carolina. Getty Images Doug Lewis and Chris Williams use plywood with the words 'Looters will be shot' to cover the windows of Knuckleheads bar as they try to protect the business ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Florence Getty Images Body surfer Andrew Vanotteren crashes into waves from Hurricane Florence AP Members of law enforcement work with the National Guard to direct traffic onto U.S. Highway 501 as Hurricane Florence approaches the East Coast AP A message is posted on a boarded up building before the arrival of Hurricane Florence on Oak Island, North Carolina Reuters People and pets evacuate ahead of the forecasted landfall of Hurricane Florence and seek shelter at Burgaw Middle School in Burgaw, North Carolina EPA Lisa Evers of Oak Island carries clothing to her car while evacuating her house ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Florence in Oak Island, North Carolina Reuters Brady Osborne ties freshly filled sandbags, in Virginia Beach, Va., as Hurricane Florence moves towards the eastern shore. AP Sand bags surround homes on North Topsail Beach, North Carolina. as Hurricane Florence threatens the coast AP This US Navy photo shows a Sailor as he heaves line during a heavy weather mooring evolution in preparation for Hurricane Florence AFP/Getty Images Sam Bedford, left, and Miller Richey move trash bins from the Isle of Palms Marina on the Isle of Palms, South Carolina. AP People wait before departure on an evacuation bus ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Florence in Wilmington, North Carolina Reuters The bread shelves are bare in a grocery store as people stock up on food ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Florence Getty Images Mark Lewis, left, conservator, and Alisa Reynolds, associate registrar, secure the painting "The Shoppers" by William James Glackens at the Chrysler Museum of Art AP A boat is docked partially in the road as workers pull boats from the water in Wanchese Harbor in Wanchese, N.C. as Hurricane Florence approaches the coast of the Carolina AP Marge Brown, 65, says goodbye to her father, George Brown, 90, before he is evacuated from a healthcare home in Morehead City, N.C., as Hurricane Florence approaches the east coast. "I'd like to stay and see what happens. I'm 90 plus," said Brown, a WWII veteran who says he's survived a plane crash and severe burns from a laboratory fire where he once worked. AP U.S. Marine recruits at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island prepare to evacuate ahead of Hurricane Florence at Parris Island, South Carolina Reuters People evacuate ahead of the forecasted landfall of Hurricane Florence as they seek shelter at Emma B. Trask Middle School in Wilmington, North Carolina EPA People queue for shelters during the night ahead of the forecasted landfall of Hurricane Florence EPA People line up to enter a hurricane shelter at Trask Middle School in Wilmington, North Carolina AFP/Getty Images People evacuate ahead of the forecasted landfall of Hurricane Florence as they seek shelter at Emma B. Trask Middle School in Wilmington, North Carolina, USA EPA Up to a million people have been ordered to evacuate ahead of Hurricane Florence AFP/Getty Images People look on as water floods King Street in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia, September 11, 2018, where sandbags are being distributed to businesses and residents in preparation before more rain arrives from Hurricane Florence AFP/Getty Images Chuck Ledford (L), watches Looney-Tunes with his daughter Misty as they evacuate ahead of the forecasted landfall of Hurricane Florence as they seek shelter at Emma B. Trask Middle School in Wilmington, North Carolina EPA People line up to enter a hurricane shelter at Trask Middle School in North Carolina on September 11, 2018 AFP/Getty Images A woman holds her dog as she waits to enter a hurricane shelter at Trask Middle School in Wilmington, North Carolina AFP/Getty Images Two women sit with their dogs as they wait to enter a hurricane shelter at Trask Middle School in wilmington, North Carolina AFP/Getty Images South Carolina state troopers work with D.O.T. employees at an access ramp to I-26 Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2018, in Columbia AP Families seek shelter during the night ahead of the forecasted landfall of Hurricane Florence EPA A woman closes her eyes in reaction to the line at the shelter EPA Kevin Orth loads sandbags into cars on Milford Street as he helps residents prepare for Hurricane Florence AP Hurricane Florence is seen from the International Space Station as it churns in the Atlantic Ocean towards the east coast of the US Reuters A beachfront home is boarded up ahead of Hurricane Florence, at Holden Beach, North Carolina Reuters An NOAA chart shows the predicted path of Tropical Storm Florence as she develops into a Major Hurricane over the coming seven days. NOAA Jim Craig, David Burke and Chris Rayner load generators as people buy supplies at The Home Depot on Monday. AP Customers line up to buy propane at Socastee Hardware store, ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Florence in Myrtle. Reuters Larry Pierson, from the Isle of Palms, S.C., purchases bottled water from the Harris Teeter grocery store on the Isle of Palms. AP Residents of the Isle of Palms, S.C., fill sand bags at the Isle of Palms municipal lot where the city was giving away free sand in preparation for Hurricane Florence. AP People shop at the Harris Teeter, filling up on water and supplies. AP Brian Franklin prepares more generators for sale as people buy supplies at The Home Depo. AP U.S. Airmen from the South Carolina Air National Guard and 169th Fighter Wing prepare to deploy to support rescue efforts. Reuters Chris Rayner helps customers load their cars as they buy supplies at The Home Depot. AP Walker Townsend, at left, from the Isle of Palms, S.C., fills a sand bag while Dalton Trout. AP

In South Carolina, more evacuations were ordered over the weekend as rivers continue to rise in the aftermath of a storm that has claimed at least 43 lives since slamming into the coast.An academic has disputed the idea that carbon dioxide figures from Katla suggest an eruption is imminent.

Research has shown the gas levels emitted from the Icelandic volcano have been "huge" in the past few years.

However, the belief that this will cause a potential explosion in the near future has been questioned by an academic.

The connection between the carbon dioxide research and eruption claims is tenuous according to one of its authors, Evgenia Ilyinskaya, a research fellow at the University of Leeds focused on volcanic gases and aerosol particles.S o this is it. After nearly a month of auditions, the curtain is coming down on the first stage in the search for the next singing superstar.

Last night, Wembley Arena was alight with the hottest talent in the country performing for judges Simon Cowell, Louis Tomlinson, Ayda Field and Robbie Williams.

And now, in the final audition show, a handful of remaining hopefuls take to the stage before the powerful four decide the acts to take through with them, revealing their own categories.

Heres all the action from episode eight of The X Factor

Return: Thomas Pound performed as Lady Frieda Wilde / Thames/Syco

Thomas Pound

The 20-year-old cleaner took the stage with a belting rendition of Tina Turner classic Simply The Best.

With aspirations to be an entertainer and Cowells blessing to make an impact, Thomas revisited his charity sideline as being a Drag Queen when he walked back onto the stage as Lady Freida Wylde.

Thomas reappeared in part three, the last audition for this year, as Lady Freida with Tina Turners Proud Mary ready to shake up the competition.

Four yeses.

Chloe Jane McAllister

Chloe, from Northern Ireland, gave her all with a spine-tingling performance of Jessie Wares Say You Love Me, playing the piano and not just a backing track.

Cowell confessed that he had got bored during the performance  but his fellow judges disagreed, with Field calling her incredible and Williams paying a gushing tribute to his five-year-old daughter Theodora, who he takes to piano lessons, saying that he wants her to be just like the 18-year-old.

Cowell does a U-turn and we have four yeses.

Blaise Duncan

The Derby students audition of Enrique Iglesias Baliando had everybody on their feet and moved Blaise to the next round.

The spirited 16-year-old received the dreaded hands up finish for his performance but it didnt go the way it normally does  in fact, the judges were tripping over themselves to praise Blaise. Cowell said he would like to work with him while Tomlinson hailed his personality.

Jon Guelas

Bringing your own instrument was very much the theme of the final few auditions as Jon, 18, appeared with his guitar in hand.

Singing raspy Lukas Graham hit 7 Years, Jon was rewarded with four yeses and a thumbs up from Cowell himself.

Elliot Horne

Elliot, 18, had the room on side from the moment he walked on stage, full of confidence and knowing how to work a crowd.

The Oxfordshire student gave his unique style to Shawn Mendes' Lost In Japan and got four yeses for his efforts, being told by Tomlinson that he "looks great but needs developing".

ATTY

The four-strong group, a family gospel group, chose Shawn Mendes Mercy for their audition, perfectly suited to their similar-yet-different voices.

The grinning judges on their feet and the cheering audience pretty much said it all but, for formalities sake, four very big yeses.

Six Chair Challenge deliberation

Boot Camp has been given the, um, boot this year and so the chosen contestants go straight through to the Six Chair Challenge, hoping to get the Golden X rather than sustain what always looks like the cruellest competition on talent show Earth.

Everybody who got a yes in the auditions trekked back to London for the all-important decisions, as the judges sat back through every tape and decided the acts to take forward.

As ever, there was a lot of I dont know what I could do with them and one trick pony lines as they tried to whittle down over 130 acts to just 60.

Instead of batches of yes and no decisions, the contestants were split into two rooms  Room A getting a no and Room B with the success stories, who immediately ran to hug the judges and anybody they could find.

Then, the last bit, the judges found out their categories  they were kept in the dark this year as well  with the four walking into rooms to meet their mentees."We are going to treat him just like a regular officer," said Cassell, who added that he has no concerns about having a pit-bull-type dog, even one born into a fighting ring, on staff. "We know what he is going to wear, have ordered him a badge and are going to welcome him to the department just like we would a human officer."I do not take this step lightly, Cupich continued. Rather, I act out of concern for Fr. Kalchiks welfare and that of the people of Resurrection Parish. I have a responsibility to be supportive of our priests when they have difficulties, but I also have a duty to ensure that those who serve our faithful are fully able to minister to them in the way the Church expects.A man in Alaska who was accused of kidnapping a woman from a gas station, choking her until she passed out, then masturbating over her has accepted a plea deal that will mean he does not spend any time in prison.



Justin Schneider, 34, was arrested in August after offering a woman a ride from a gas station, stopping on the side of a road, asking her to step out under the pretense of loading items into the car, strangling her until she lost consciousness, then masturbating on her, police said then.



The victim "said she could not fight him off, he was too heavy and had her down being choked to death," Anchorage police detective Brett Sarber wrote in a criminal complaint obtained by KTVA News. "(She) said she lost consciousness, thinking she was going to die."



When she regained consciousness, the man zipped up his pants, gave her a tissue and "told her that he wasn't really going to kill her, that he needed her to believe she was going to die so that he could be sexually fulfilled," Sarber wrote in the complaint.



The victim reported the assault - as well as a license plate number - to police and identified Schneider from a photo lineup. Schneider was arrested at his job as an air traffic controller at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport, KTVA reported.



Schneider was charged with one count of felony kidnapping and three counts of assault, as well as one misdemeanor count of harassment involving "offensive contact with fluids," according to court records. He originally faced a sentence of between five and 99 years in prison, officials said.



On Wednesday, Schneider accepted a deal in which he pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree felony assault in exchange for the dismissal of his other assault, kidnapping and harassment charges. He was sentenced to two years in prison with one year suspended.



However, because Schneider was given credit for a year under house arrest, he will not serve additional time in prison. He will be required to continue wearing an ankle monitor and participate in a treatment program.



"This can never happen again," Judge Michael Corey told Schneider in court on Wednesday, emphasizing each of the last three words.



In video from his Wednesday court appearance, Schneider told the judge he appreciated the personal growth he experienced in the past year. There did not appear to be any mention of the victim.



"I would just like to, um, emphasize how grateful I am for this process," Schneider said in court. "It has given me a year to really work on myself and become a better person and a better husband and a better father. And I'm very eager to continue that journey."The US and Israel are universally recognized leaders in the development and use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or drones. Thousands of American and Israeli UAVs are operating across the world daily. The United States military has recently successfully tested an air-to-air missile to turn its MQ-9 Reaper drone into an effective long-endurance, high-altitude surveillance unmanned spy aircraft capable of air-to-surface as well as air-to-air missions. This is a major breakthrough. Its not a secret that Russia has been lagging behind in UAV development. Now its seems to be going to change with tangible progress made to narrow the gap.

Very few nations boast drones capable of high-altitude long endurance (HALE) missions. Russia is to enter the club of the chosen. In late 2017, the Russian Defense Ministry awarded a HALE UAV contract to the Kazan-based Simonov design bureau.

This month, Russian Zvezda military news TV channel showed a video of Altair (Altius) heavy drone prototype aircraft number 03, going through its first flight test.

Propelled by two RED A03/V12 500hp high fuel efficiency diesel engines, each producing a capacity of 500 hp on takeoff, the 5-ton heavy vehicle with a wingspan of 28.5 meters boasts a maximum altitude of 12km and a range of 10,000km at a cruising speed of 150-250km/h. Wingspan: about 30 meters. Maximum speed: up to 950 km/h. Flight endurance: 48 hours. Payload: two tons, which allows the creation of a strike version. The vehicle is able to autonomously take off and land or be guided by an operator from the ground.

The UAV can carry the usual range of optical and thermal sensors as well as synthetic-aperture ground-surveillance radar with the resolution of .1 meter at the range of 35km and 1 meter at the range of 125km. The communications equipment allows real-time data exchange.

Russias UAV program currently underway includes the development of a range of large, small, and mid-sized drones. The Orion-E medium altitude long endurance (MALE) UAV was unveiled at the MAKS 2017 air show. Its developer, Kronstadt Technologies, claims it could be modified for strike missions. The one-ton drone is going through testing now. The Orion-E is capable of automatic takeoff and landing. It can fly continuously for 24 hours, carrying a surveillance payload of up to 200 kg to include a forward looking infra-red (FLIR) turret, synthetic aperture radar and high resolution cameras. The drone can reach a maximum altitude of 7,500 m. Its range is 250 km.

The Sukhoi design bureau is currently developing the Okhotnik (Hunter) strike drone with a range of about 3,500km. The drone made its maiden flight this year. In its current capacity, it has an anti-radar coating, and will store missiles and precision-guided bombs internally to avoid radar detection.

The Kazan-based Eniks Design Bureau is working on the small T-16 weaponized aerial vehicle able to carry 6 kg of payload.

The new Russian Korsar (Corsair) tactical surveillance unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) will be upgraded to receive an electronic warfare system. Its operational range will be increased from 150km to 250km. The drone was revealed at Victory Day military parade along with the Korsar unmanned combat helicopter version. The rotary wing drone lacks the speed and altitude of the fixed wing variant, but has a great advantage of being able to operate without landing strips and can be sea-based. Both drones can carry guided and unguided munitions. The fixed-wing version can be armed with Ataka 9M120 missiles.

The first Russian helicopter-type unmanned aerial vehicle powered by hydrogen fuel cells was presented at the Army-2018 international forum. With the horizontal cruising speed of the drone up to 60 kph, the unmanned chopper can stay in the air at least 2.5 hours to conduct reconnaissance operations. Its payload is up to 5 kg.

Last November, the Kalashnikov Concern reported that it would start production of heavy unmanned aerial vehicles capable of carrying up to several tons of cargo and operating for several days at a time without needing to recharge.

All in all, the Russian military operate 1,900 drones on a daily basis. The multi-purpose Orlan-10 with a range of 600km has become a working horse that no military operation, including combat actions in Syria, can be conducted without. Maj. Gen. Alexander Novikov,

the head of the Russian General Staff's Office for UAV Development, Russian drones performed over 23,000 flights, lasting 140,000 hours in total.

Russias State Armament Program for 2018-2027 puts the creation of armed UAVs at the top of priorities list. Looks like the effort begins to pay off. Russia is well on the way to become second to none in UAV capability.It did not take long for Donald Trump to transform the US government into a mob operation, where administration officials use the threat of US travel bans, asset freezes and forfeitures, and punishing trade tariffs to bring other nations and their leaders to heel.

Trump, more than any of his predecessors, has used executive fiat to freeze the US assets of and apply visa bans on foreign individuals, often government officials and top businessmen, as part of a scheme to milk concessions from uncooperative nations. Trump and his officials are like Mafia enforcers who approach mom-and-pop grocery stores and tell the owners, this is a nice store you have here. Itd be a shame if anything happened to it. By paying the gangsters protection insurance, the owners would be spared a midnight fire-bombing of their businesses.

Trump national security adviser John Bolton has threatened to freeze the US assets and impose a travel ban on judges, prosecutors, and staff of the International Criminal Court in The Hague. Bolton threatened the action because of the ICC's interest in investigating the US for committing human rights abuses in Afghanistan and Israel for similar acts against the Palestinians. Essentially, Bolton, like some mob enforcer, is saying, This is a nice court you have here, its be a shame if anything happened to its judges and prosecutors.

Trump, Bolton, and their associates are randomly targeting foreign leaders and businessmen in a spree of visa bans and asset freezes.

The Trump administration has banned from US travel and frozen the US assets of Venezuelan Vice President Tareck El Aissami and Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA) Chief Financial Officer Simon Zerpa Delgado. The US assets of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro were frozen in July 2017. Other Latin Americans similarly sanctioned include General Commissioner Francisco Paco Diaz of the Nicaraguan National Police; Fidel Moreno, secretary at Managua City Hall and Sandinista party secretary; and Francisco Chico Lopez, treasurer of ruling Sandinista National Liberation Front.

US asset freezing orders were also ordered on Turkey's Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu and Justice Minister Abdulhamit Gul. The Trump administration has also threatened to freeze the assets of Cambodian President Hun Sen.

US asset freezes are also being contemplated on Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, former prime minister Nouri al-Maliki, and former minister of finance Hoshyar Zebari, as well as Iraqi government officials Mohamed al-Karbouli, Ahmed Nouri al-Maliki, and Hassan al-Anbari, merely because they maintain friendly ties with Iran. The Trump administration has also threatened to impose visa bans and asset freezes on top Maldives officials, including President Yameen Abdul Gayoom.

Also subject to visa bans and asset freezes are South Sudan's defense minister, Kuol Manyang Juk, as well as government minister Martin Elia Lomuro and information minister Michael Makuei.

Visa bans have also been placed on government officials and citizens of Iran, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen.

The Trump administration has announced that it is considering visa bans and asset freezes on government officials in China for alleged mistreatment of Muslim Uighurs in the western Xinjiang province. Subject to possible sanctions are Chinese diplomat Hu Lianhe, Chen Quanguo, Communist Party chief in Xinjiang and member of the Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party; Xinjiang Deputy Communist Party Secretary Shohret Zakir; and Xinjiang Politics and Law Commission chairman Zhu Hailun. Last December, the Trump administration applied similar sanctions on the Commander in Chief of the Myanmar armed forces, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing; Major General Maung Maung Soe; Major General Khin Maung Soe; and other top Myanmar military officers.

In all of these cases, the United States claims its sanctions against China and Burma are in the interest of human rights, even as it continues to detain children who were seized and separated from their asylum-seeking parents at the US-Mexican border.

According to the US State Department, which Secretary of State Mike Pompeo believes should increase its "swagger," US visa bans were also applied to the "Director General level and above from the Burmese Ministries of Labor, Immigration, and Population (MOLIP) and Home Affairs (MOHA), and their immediate family members." Visa bans were also ordered on the "Director General level and above from the Lao Ministry of Public Security (MPS) as well as their immediate families." In August 2018, the State Department announced that it was placing US travel bans on individuals "both within and outside the Cambodian government."

In September 2017, the State Department ordered visa bans on Sierra Leone Ministry of Foreign Affairs and immigration officials. US visa bans were also ordered on government officials of Guinea, Eritrea, Ghana, and Gambia. These countries were singled out for being "recalcitrant" in not accepting citizens who had illegally entered the United States and were being deported. Collective punishment, such as that being meted out to African and Asian states, was a hallmark of the Nazis and remains one of the Israelis.

Trumps trade tariffs appear to have no rational basis but are merely intended to lash out at countries Trump does not like, for one reason or another. In addition, Trumps threat to impose secondary sanctions on European and other countries that continue to trade with Iran after November 4, 2018, will add to those already placed into effect. To counteract Trumps extortion racket, the EU has unveiled what is known as a "blocking statute." The United Kingdom's Minister of State for the Middle East stated, "If a company fears legal action taken against it and enforcement action taken against it by an entity in response to American sanctions, then that company can be protected as far as EU legislation is concerned."

As an example, if the French car maker Renault, which does business in Iran, is sanctioned by the Trump administration, there will be retaliatory sanctions imposed on US automobile manufacturers in the 28 nations of the EU. Trump will, undoubtedly raised the ante with more sanctions on the EU. That, in effect, will signal a full-blown trade war. Trade wars often turn into actual wars and Trumps bluster could lead to military confrontation. Bolton has threatened to halt Iranian oil exports to China, India, and South Korea after the imposition of the November 4 secondary sanctions with a US naval blockade of Iran. Any attempt to interfere with shipping through the Strait of Hormuz will, as Iran has promised, result in the closure of the strait by Iran, a move that will also affect outbound shipping from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and other Gulf countries.

The Eurasian Economic Union recently negotiated a free trade deal with Iran. Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, and Armenia will not comply with US secondary sanctions against Iran and there is little Trump can do to stop overland trade with Iran, except contemplate military action. Russia, which has already been subjected to US visa bans and asset freezes, is in no mood to see its trade with Iran or any other nation interfered with by Trumps extortion racket.

China has strongly indicated that if the Peoples Bank of China, Chinas central bank, is hit with US secondary sanctions because of its oil transactions via the Central Bank of Iran, it will target US companies in China and devalue the renminbi, thus making Chinese exports more attractive and US exports costlier. The net result will be a slow down of the US economy, something that will politically damage Trump.

In any event, the economic brinkmanship on display by Trump and his mob enforcers is likely to increase the possibility of a global recession and military conflict during the remainder of 2018 and leading into 2019.Still, Fiasal said, the result was surprising because "no one thought that Yameen would lose like this. He had all the power  the judiciary, the police, the security forces under him. It seemed he might rig the election even at the last minute and would win somehow or the other."Students from Paengaroa School marked Bee Aware Month by making sustainable beeswax wraps using beeswax from locally-owned hives.

On September 12, representatives from local bee products company Comvita held two practical beeswax wraps making sessions with 80 Year 5-6 students.

To make the wraps, the kids brought cotton fabric from home, with Comvita providing beeswax and the other materials required, such as baking paper, irons and graters.

Comvita communications advisor Emma Schuler says Comvita is providing practical beeswax wrap- making classes to more than 400 Kiwi kids across the North Island as part of Bee Aware Month this September.

Beeswax wraps are a great alternative to cling wrap for wrapping school lunches in. What better way for Comvita to help play our part in reducing single use plastics, than by teaching young people how to make a sustainable alternative, using wax from our own hives.

Its also an opportunity to teach the kids about the amazing role bees play in our ecosystem and how they help preserve the natural environment around us, which is what Bee Aware Month is all about, says Emma.

Throughout September, Comvita is also holding beeswax wrap-making classes at Kerikeri High School in Northland, Waverly Primary in Whanganui, Meeanee School in the Hawkes Bay and Dalefield School in the Wairarapa.

Organised by Apiculture New Zealand, Bee Aware Month aims to get New Zealanders thinking about honey bees and their contribution to biodiversity and the economy. This years Bee Aware Month theme is Bee Health.

How to make your own beeswax wraps

Cut a square of fabric and then two pieces of baking paper, making sure both sheets are larger than your fabric. Place one piece of baking paper down on your workspace and place the bright side of your fabric face down on top of the baking paper.

Sprinkle a large amount of grated beeswax over your fabric and place the second piece of baking paper on top of the wax and fabric. Iron the wrap gently, until the wax melts evenly under the baking paper

While the wrap is still warm, carefully peel the baking paper off each side. When the wrap has cooled, trim the edges.Bay Conservation Alliance launched on Friday September 21 2018, as part of National Conservation Week and with the support of Conservation Minister Hon. Eugenie Sage.

Founded by four Western Bay Community Conservation groups  Maketu Ongatoro Wetland Society, Otanewainuku Kiwi Trust, Aongatete Forest Project and the Uretara Estuary Managers, Bay Conservation Alliance has been set up to support and grow community led environmental restoration and nature conservation.

Newer members include Te Whakakaha Trust and Friends of the Blade.

We are about harnessing the power and enthusiasm of small community groups, agencies and the wider community to develop bigger landscape-scale conservation projects says Julian Fitter, Chair of Bay Conservation Alliance.

It is about joining the dots across both community groups and landscapes, by taking a smart regional approach to restoring nature and lightening the load by providing groups with shared support services.

The launch event marked the first year of operation. Bay Conservation now invites others to get involved. If you operate a community conservation group Bay Conservation offers support services in areas such as administration, communication & marketing, nature education, fundraising and project management. And for individuals wanting to get conservation news, volunteer or attend events, why not sign up to the new Friends of Bay Conservation programme.

The launch was well attended by a range of community groups, agencies, Iwi and funders and featured words of encouragement from Hon. Eugenie Sage, BOPRC Deputy Chair Jane Nees and DOC Operations Manager Jeff Milham.

Recognising DOC cannot do it alone, the groundswell in community groups wanting to contribute to the restoration and improved health and management of the ngahere is growing. Bay Conservation Alliance is one of the first of its kind around Aotearoa to recognise the need for the administrative support required to achieve this. Good planning, meeting legal requirements, having sufficient funds and increasing capability are the backbone of every successful project. Bay Conservation Alliance is providing that backbone and allowing those that prefer the hands on conservation work to do the best job they can, says Jeff Milham, Operations Manager, Dept of Conservation Tauranga District.

Our natural environment in the Western Bay of Plenty is one of our greatest assets, however there are pressures ranging from pest invasions, plant diseases, sedimentation, pollution and habitat loss that means nature needs our help.

Bay Conservation believes that by empowering communities to restore nature, together we can enrich our natural environment for the benefit of people and nature.Who likes a good cup of tea? Or herbal tea in this case. Combine that with a love for supporting charitable organisations or not-for-profit groups and you have Communi-Tea Fundraising.

Local business woman Jen Murray has just launched the initiative and has partnered with some high-profile associations to help with their fundraising efforts.

The idea is to make a fundraising strategy as easy as possible for the groups to be involved with, says Jen. This frees them up to focus on the great work they do based on what their actual purpose is.

Using an exclusive herbal tea product from England, Jen organises the sales of Dr Stuarts Extraordinarily Good Teas through her website. When a purchase is made the buyer nominates which group they wish to support, then $1 from each box goes to that group. To keep things simple Jen takes care of everything from the purchase to courier delivery.

I see organisations who have to rely on massive amounts of volunteer labour to help with fundraising efforts and I wanted to change that, says Jen. With the growth of social media and personal networking we can really utilise these tools to do good.

Jen is proud to announce local partnerships with both Breast Cancer Support Service Tauranga, Multicultural Tauranga and Age Concern Tauranga.

Service manager for Breast Cancer Support Service Tauranga Trust Helen Alice says she loves the idea of partnering with a business that wants to support the community in this way and that the teas look to be good quality and with a great range of tea types.

All money raised from the partnership with Communi-Tea Fundraising will go back to providing support services for those in the Western Bay of Plenty who are going through breast cancer. These include services such as dinner deliveries and oncology massage.

Fundraising efforts for Age Concern Tauranga will contribute towards the organisations assisted shopping service that supports the older person to do their regular shopping themselves and maintain their independence.

To learn more or to support your local organisation go to: www.communiteafundraising.co.nz or www.facebook.com/communiteafundraisingBay of Plenty

If you love working out doors and in a small team then we have the role for you. We are needing someone who has either maintenance...



View or Apply on GoodWork.co.nzThe president continued to discuss the issue with aides and associates on Saturday, and said he was more suspicious than furious about the reports, peppering his inner circle with a round of questions about whether he was being "baited" into taking action that could imperil his presidency because McCabe - a person he detests - took some notes about private conversations, as one ally close to him put it. White House aides who spoke to Trump said he was less angry than they expected.



"McCabe complicates it," the ally said. "He doesn't trust McCabe and thinks McCabe is maybe playing a game with memos - maybe because of his book deal, maybe trying to take down [Trump]. So, he's staying cool, for now."



St. Martin's Press announced Tuesday that it will publish a book by McCabe, "The Threat: How the FBI Protects America in the Age of Terror and Trump," in December.



Inside the top ranks of the Republican Party, there are also discussions about what a Rosenstein firing could mean for this year's midterm elections, which are just weeks away.



Several veteran Republicans communicated to friends at the White House on Saturday that any major upheaval at the Justice Department could trigger a political hurricane for the GOP to weather in an already difficult year. The White House, through various back channels, made clear that no such shake-up was coming, according to two Republicans in touch with Trump administration officials.



Trump has paid close attention to the conservative media's reaction to the story but has not been persuaded by the outraged calls by his sometime confidants, such as Fox News's Jeanine Pirro, to fire Rosenstein - and he has nodded along agreeably as another Fox News anchor, Sean Hannity, waved him off the idea, according to three advisers to the president who were not authorized to speak publicly. White House aides encouraged conservative allies in the media to not provoke the president.



"We are experiencing tonight a massive constitutional crisis. And frankly, this is designed to set up the president," Hannity said on air. "I have a message for the president tonight. Under zero circumstances should the president fire anybody."



"If it was up to many of the Fox News hosts, the president would have already fired Mueller, but he hasn't. He takes it in and takes the best course available, under the circumstances," former Trump political aide Sam Nunberg said. "He knows it's very easy to say something on cable, and the reality of being under investigation and the threat of being removed from office."



Trump has kept a closer eye on the reaction of his congressional boosters and staunch Rosenstein critics, such as Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., who has pushed for the deputy attorney general's impeachment, the adviser said - and he has noted that Meadows has so far resisted calling for Rosenstein to be fired.Click the image above to view slideshow

Keven Mealamu, Kelly Brazier and Cory Jane brought the stories and the laughs with them, as The Tauranga Gala Dinner entertained a wide-reaching crowd for the sixth year.

Led by the knowledgeable and engaging Sky Sport commentator, Tony Johnson, who performed brilliantly as MC on Friday night, the panel offered a great mix of insights and inspiration, as well as many raucous stories that brought the house down.

Cory Jane in particular was the cause of many of the nights biggest laughs, as his stories of touring and team-mate banter were lapped up by an appreciative audience of almost 500.

The night also celebrated the growth of womens rugby, with Kelly Brazier giving a fascinating look into some of the highlights of the past few years with the Black Ferns.

"Added to Keven Mealamus incredible warmth and his inspirational messages, the panel of speakers proved a popular lineup for this years edition of the event," says the organisers of the event.

The Tauranga Gala Dinner also gives local charities the chance to raise funds each year via a charity auction, and the recipients on Friday were Te Aranui Youth Trust and the Tauranga Boys' College House of Rugby.

More than $47,000 was raised in the auction, overseen by local auctioneer Frank Vosper of Vosper Realty. Some of the biggest items to sell were a craft beer tour for $7000 and a specially designed kicking-tee collection, signed by the likes of Dan Carter and Beauden Barrett, which went for $6000.

Many of the attendees at the event were local businesses hosting staff and clients, with people from as far as Auckland, Rotorua, Whakatane and Wellington travelling through to enjoy the evening.

"All of the guest speakers remarked how engaged and attentive the crowd was, and were swamped at the end for photos and discussions with fans.

"Alongside the star speakers, wining and dining, and auction, guests were treated to superb music from Dan Sharp, who has just returned from recording an album in Berlin, as well as montage clips from the some of the guest speakers playing highlights."Hundreds of people will be going the extra mile for the 60,000 people living with dementia in New Zealand with the annual Memory Walk in Mount Maunganui on September 29.

Alzheimers Tauranga/WBOP will be among thousands of Kiwis joining more than 20 walks throughout New Zealand in September as part of World Alzheimers Month.

Manager Julie Sargisson says World Alzheimers Month is a powerful tool to raise awareness and campaign for change, but it's also a time of reflection for Kiwis who are affected by dementia.

Memory Walks allow the community to show their support for people with dementia and their families/whanau, friends and care partners.

Julie says theyre looking forward to a good turn out from the community. We want to make this years Memory Walk our biggest yet. Weve pulled out all the stops and registrations are coming in quick. Its great to see the community so enthusiastic to get out there and show support for people living with dementia and their families/whanau and friends in the Bay.

Dementia is one of New Zealands most significant and growing healthcare challenges with four out of five Kiwis are affected by dementia in some way. The number of people living with dementia in New Zealand is expected to nearly triple to about 170,000 by 2050.

This will be the fifth Memory Walk hosted by Alzheimers Tauranga/WBOP and it has grown from around 50 people in 2014 to well over 400 in 2017.

The 3.5km Memory Walk will leave Coronation Park at 10am on Saturday, September 29. Registration is free, however donations are welcome and you can start your own fundraising page. All participants receive a purple Memory Walk t-shirt. To register visit: https://memorywalk2018.gofundraise.co.nz/Click the image above to watch the video

In today's forecast we are expecting cloud increasing, a few afternoon showers, and then evening rain. Also westerlies.

It's a two-clothing layer day today with a high of 18 and an overnight low of 8 degrees. Humidity is 74 per cent.

Low tide is at 12.10pm and high tide is at 6.30pm (Tay Street times). There's a sea swell of 0.7m with a sea temperature of 15 degrees. Sunset tonight is at 6.09pm.

If you're going fishing the next best fish bite time is between 8.30pm and 10.30pm.

On this day in NZ history in 1917 ten New Zealand soldiers were killed when they were hit by a train at Bere Ferrers in southern England. The accident occurred as troops from the 28th Reinforcements for the NZ Expeditionary Force were being transported from Plymouth to Sling Camp on Salisbury Plain.

In world history on this day in 1929 the first flight using only instruments was completed by U.S. Army pilot James Doolittle. In 1956 the first transatlantic telephone cable system began operation.

In 1960 the Enterprise, the first nuclear powered aircraft carrier, was launched. In 1970 the Soviet Luna 16 landed, completing the first unmanned round trip to the moon. In 1996 a comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty was signed by representatives of 71 nations at the United Nations.

in 2009 LRAD (Long Range Acoustic Device) sonic cannon, a non-lethal device that utilizes intense sound, was used in the United States for the first time, to disperse protestors at the G20 summit in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Today is the birthday of Jim Henson, puppeteer who created the Muppets in 1954 and televisions Sesame Street. Born in 1936, he once said "I try hard not to judge anyone, and I try to bless everyone who is a part of my life, particularly anyone with whom I am having any problems

To get involved with activities and events across the Bay of Plenty, please check out our What's on page.

Have a great day!Justice was served Thursday when Joseph Percoco was sentenced to six years in federal prison for taking more than $315,000 in bribes in exchange for advancing the interests of two companies doing business with New York state, including Syracuse property developer Cor Development.

The sentence was stiff -- more than the five years federal prosecutors had sought, and far more than the two years Percoco's lawyer sought - because it was intended to send a message.

"I hope this sentence will be heard in Albany," U.S. District Court Judge Valerie Caproni said. "I hope it will serve as a warning to others in public service."

Translation: Violate the public's trust, and you will go to jail.

We're not ready to declare an end to Albany's culture of impunity. Yet the examples of bad guys getting caught and paying the price are beginning to pile up.

Former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver was convicted (twice) of taking more than $4 million in bribes in exchange for official acts; Caproni sentenced him to seven years behind bars. (His first conviction, overturned on appeal, resulted in a 12-year sentence. The judge reduced it due to Silver's age and expression of remorse.) Former Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos also was convicted (twice) of bribery, extortion and conspiracy. He is due to be sentenced Oct. 24. They join a rogue's gallery of dozens of lawmakers convicted of abusing their official positions for private gain.

Cuomo can no longer point the finger at the Legislature exclusively. The trials of Percoco and former nanotech czar Alain Kaloyeros exposed corruption in the Executive Chamber's inner sanctum. Will voters make the governor answer for it? They didn't in September, when primary voters decisively chose him over Cynthia Nixon. His remaining opponents have six weeks left to make corruption an issue in the campaign.

Judge Caproni took note of the public's cynicism. "Frankly it's not surprising that citizens of this state have absolutely lost faith in their government," she said.

Perhaps not all government; while Albany has failed miserably to clean itself up, federal prosecutors are making their corruption cases stick, and this judge, at least, is making defendants pay a high price for their misdeeds.

Caproni addressed other public officials who might be tempted to abuse the public's trust: "This court will show you no mercy."

Don't say you weren't warned.



From the archives: Gov. Cuomo, Percoco corruption is no 'aberration' (Editorial)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.Facepalm: From the moment you first handwrote or enabled handwriting recognition on your PC, your WaitList.dat file began compiling every text file the PC received. In my own file on my Windows tablet, I found documents Ive written, PDFs Ive downloaded, and emails sent to me.

The purpose of the file is to record what you write so that future text can be predicted, allowing Windows to better determine what youre trying to handwrite. Many phone keyboards work in a similar fashion, but it would have been nice to know that the file existed  it dates to at least Windows 8, if not Windows 7. The files lack of protection is an issue, however, as it can be copied in under a second and will likely contain sensitive information or passwords on many people's computers.

It was first noticed and experimented upon by Digital Forensics and Incident Response expert Barnaby Skeggs, who found that text from every document and email which is indexed by the Windows Search Indexer service is stored in WaitList.dat. Not just the files interacted via the touchscreen writing feature.

"On my PC, and in my many test cases, WaitList.dat contained a text extract of every document or email file on the system, even if the source file had since been deleted," Skeggs revealed in an interview with ZDnet.com. "If the source file is deleted, the index remains in WaitList.dat, preserving a text index of the file."

Your own file can be found at: C:\Users\%user%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\InputPersonalization\TextHarvester

It can be opened using Microsoft Word, but it will be a largely nonsensical mess  mine was over 8000 pages, many of which were filled with seemingly random symbols and lines of JavaScript. Fortunately, Skeggs created a free program that can make sense of the file and isolate each entry into a separate document.

If youre concerned about your data, then all you need to do is delete the WaitList.dat file and disable handwriting recognition. At this time, there is no evidence that the data is being uploaded to Microsoft, or that there is any malware that takes advantage of it. In future, it would be nice to see Microsoft release an update that stored the file a little more securely.LANSING, MICH.  It's a resume that reads like an ideal springboard to higher office: investigated sexual assaults of Olympic gymnasts, charged government officials responsible for a tainted water crisis, bucked the governor on tax hikes.



With that background and his party controlling all statewide offices, Republican Attorney General Bill Schuette might be on the fast track to winning the Michigan governor's race in November. One reason he's not: President Donald Trump.



Schuette is an outspoken supporter of the president, who narrowly won the state in 2016 but has declined in popularity since.



"I'm not going to run away from any issue," he said. "I appreciate the support of the president, and I stand by my record of achievement."



As with many races around the country, this year's midterm campaigns for governor are in many ways proxy fights over support or opposition to the Trump administration.



Richard Czuba, a nonpartisan pollster in Michigan, said voters in every age group are more motivated to get to the polls than he's seen in his 35-year career. He said independent voters are leaning toward supporting Democrats this year largely because of their distaste for Trump.



"It's an environment like nothing I've ever seen," said Democratic nominee Gretchen Whitmer, a former legislative leader, who has held an edge in state public opinion surveys.



She has spoken against Trump's policies but said she is much more focused on fixing Michigan problems.



The theme of a Trump-backed Republican and a left-of-center Democrat locked in a close election contest runs through many of the 36 races for governor on the ballot this year.



Trump's relative unpopularity is another challenge for Republicans, who already were bracing for tough governor's races this year after having unprecedented success during former President Barack Obama's tenure.



Republicans have dominated state elections across the country since 2010, the first midterm election after Obama took office. Even after losing in New Jersey last year, Republicans hold a near-record 33 governor's offices compared to 16 for Democrats (Alaska's governor is an independent).



Most of the races expected to be close this year are in states where Republicans currently serve as governor. In addition to Michigan, swing states that include Florida, Maine, Nevada and Ohio have open seats where the current GOP incumbent is termed out. Incumbent Republicans are locked in tough races in Arizona and Wisconsin, drawing millions of dollars in independent expenditures.



The GOP is aiming to pick up governor's seats in Connecticut and Colorado, states with open seats where Democrats now hold the job, and to re-elect incumbents in three other states in New England, a region that overwhelmingly sends Democrats to Congress.



Why does it matter? Aside from holding executive powers and overseeing state agencies, governors in many states can approve or veto the maps drawn once a decade for congressional and state legislative seats. That process determines which party will hold political power for years to come.



The next round of redistricting will happen after the 2020 Census, giving governors who win this year the ability to approve or veto the new maps.



An arcane process typically of interest to political insiders, redistricting has rocketed to national attention in the past two years. Republicans seized control of state legislatures and governor's offices in 2010 and proceeded to draw districts heavily favoring their party in many states, even those where voter registration is about equally split between Democrats and Republicans.Purchases made via links on our site may earn us an affiliate commissionRuss Lewis looks for shells along the beach as Hurricane Florence approaches Myrtle Beach, S.C., Friday, Sept. 14, 2018. "We might get lucky, we might not. We'll find out," said Lewis of the storm. (AP Photo/David Goldman)The majority of claims alleging grossly inadequate medical and mental health care in East Baton Rouge Parish Prison led to a 2017 in-custody suicide have grounds to proceed, a federal judge has ruled.

In a 46-page decision issued Thursday, U.S. District Judge John deGravelles allowed the civil suit brought by a mother of a 27-year-old mentally ill man who died after three months in the jail to move forward. The suit claims that insufficient funding, staffing and medical care violated his constitutional rights, contributing to his death.

Maria Olga Zavala "clearly alleges that the city/parishs policy of inadequately funding (the prison) contributed to systematic constitutional deprivations and ultimately resulted in Fanos suicide," deGravelles wrote in the decision.

Zavala filed the civil rights complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana in September of last year after her son, Jonathan Fano, committed suicide in the jail months earlier.

+2 Family of BR inmate who committed suicide sues city, parish officials for deficient care, conditions Jonathan Fano killed himself inside his East Baton Rouge Parish Prison cell in February, and his family filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the 

"Our clients are very excited that they finally get to move into this case," said Will Claiborne, an attorney representing Zavala in the lawsuit. "(Now) we can really uncover information that the parish and sheriffs department dont want us to have.

Fano was arrested on misdemeanor counts three months before he died, when police found him naked and behaving erratically in Baton Rouge. After he was booked into Parish Prison, the lawsuit alleges, he was housed in solitary confinement  often out of his cell for less than 20 minutes a day. The suit claims he did not receive proper medical or mental health treatment, despite his repeated pleas for help.

During a medical visit in the weeks before he died, the suit says, a doctor expressed doubts that the prisoner had "serious mental illness" and reduced Fano's medication until it was eventually discontinued.

Moreover, Claiborne said, an independent consultant months before Fano's death had found and explicitly reported that the prison's conditions were deplorable and that inmates held there were receiving inadequate mental health care.

"They knew this jail was not up to standards," Claiborne said. "Its just shocking that they would have this audit in hand, know that other people died in this jail,  and still put Jonathan in that cell for 92 out of 93 days and decide that hes faking.

The lawsuit can move foward against the city and parish government, East Baton Rouge Sheriff Sid Gautreaux and his warden Dennis Grimes, as well as jail's contracted medical provider at the time of Fano's death, deGravelles ruled. While the Sheriff's Office operates the jail, the parish is legally obligated to provide its funding, the judge noted.

An attorney for the city and parish government said they do not as a matter of policy comment on ongoing litigation. However, a spokeswoman for the Sheriff's Office pointed out that the ruling is only based on the "face of the complaint" and the allegations by the plaintiffs.

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"The Sheriff is confident once the court has an opportunity to review the evidence, the lawsuit will be dismissed," wrote Sheriff's spokeswoman Savannah Jones in a statement.

Fano is part of a growing list of men who died in recent years while in custody at Parish Prison. These include the 2016 death of Tyrin Colbert, a 17-year-old who was killed by his cellmate.

Colbert's family also brought a lawsuit against the jail's officials claiming poor operations, care and staffing, and are represented by Claiborne in those ongoing proceedings. While both cases expect victim compensation, Claiborne said the main goal is to bring change to the jail.

Federal judge rules to proceed with wrongful death claims against Sheriff, Parish Prison by family whose son was strangled in the jail cell A federal judge has ruled that the parents of a 17 year-old who was strangled by his cellmate in 2016 could proceed with the majority of wrong

"The sheriff knows, the parish council knows that this jail kills people, and they openly talk about it but none of them have the courage to fix it," Claiborne said. "What are they going to do about it? When will enough people have died for them to stop talking and start acting?

Between 2012 and 2016, 25 inmates died while being held in Parish Prison  an inmate death rate 2.5 times the national average, according to a July report released by researchers with the Promise of Justice Initiative.

Baton Rouge Metro Councilwoman Erika Green requested that the researchers of that report present their findings and recommendations at Wednesday's council meeting.

Im trying to bring visibility to some of the issues at Parish Prison," Green said. "Im hoping its a start of addressing the medical treatment and the mental health facilities (there). ... I think we can work on our processes until we get a new prison.

Report: Inmate deaths in East Baton Rouge higher than national average; jail fails to provide adequate protection When her son was arrested on a misdemeanor crime and booked into East Baton Rouge Parish Prison in 2014, Angelo Moses did not anticipate that 

Green said she hopes fellow council members listen to the report's recommendations for the jail, which include sufficient staffing, reconsidering pre-trial detention, improving medical services and increasing transparency about incidents in which people at the jail are harmed.

She said she doesn't expect any changes to come right away. She also said she wants to understand how much money is being spent by the city and parish in the many ongoing lawsuits over Parish Prison.

Claiborne said more awareness is helpful but that action is needed to address the problems.

"Do something," Claiborne said. "Everyone in Baton Rouge should want that. It is a stain on the reputation of the city that these things keep happening in this jail.The Coast Guard called off its search on Sunday afternoon for a man seen entering the Mississippi River near Baton Rouge early Saturday morning.

The Coast Guard searched approximately 30 square miles for about nine hours for the man, according to a news release.

The man was seen entering the river at about 7 a.m. Saturday, the Coast Guard said. The East Baton Rouge Sheriff's Office reported the incident to the Coast Guard Sector New Orleans.

Coast Guard searching for man who went into Mississippi River near Baton Rouge The Coast Guard is searching for a man who was seen entering the Mississippi river near Baton Rouge Saturday morning.

Involved in the search for the man was a boat crew from the Coast Guard Station New Orleans, a helicopter crew from the Coast Guard Air Station New Orleans, the East Baton Rouge Sheriff's Office and the Baton Rouge Police Department.Louisiana's beefing up its efforts to combat the opioid epidemic, thanks to a nearly $30 million boost from the federal government.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced last week that Louisiana will get more than $20 million for efforts to create a model that will provide a more holistic approach to addiction treatment, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced an $8 million grant to the effort.

This epidemic is the public health crisis of our time  and we are losing far too many Americans each day from opioid overdoses, CDC director Dr. Robert Redfield said in a statement announcing the grant. These funds will provide critically needed resources to those on the frontlines of the fight against the opioid overdose epidemic.

According to statistics tracked by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, Louisiana has seen a sharp increase in the number of opioid-related deaths in recent years. The state also has a high rate of opioid prescriptions.

Opioids are a commonly prescribed category of narcotic pain medication, which includes OxyContin, Percocet, Vicodin and codeine.

About 20 percent of patients who see doctors for noncancer pain symptoms or pain-related diagnoses receive an opioid prescription, according to a 2016 CDC report.

New Orleans libraries to host free opioid overdose trainings New Orleans public libraries will host training sessions on how to administer opioid overdose-reversal medicine as part of a course aimed at r

Janice Petersen, deputy assistant secretary for the Louisiana Department of Health's Office of Behavioral Health, said the grants will build upon the $8 million federal grant the state received last year to improve its response to the opioid crisis.

"We really were depending on this to help continue those efforts and start new efforts," Petersen said.

Louisiana is hoping to emulate Vermont's nationally recognized "hub-and-spoke" system for addressing the opioid crisis, which has been hailed as a successful model for other states to copy.

A study on the results published by the National Institutes of Health concluded that "development and implementation of a hub-and-spoke system of care has contributed substantially to improvements in opioid agonist treatment capacity in Vermont. This system may serve as a model for other states grappling with the current opioid use epidemic."

In Vermont's model, the "hubs" are addiction treatment centers that provide intense medication-assisted treatment. "Spokes" are ongoing treatment in community-based settings, including primary-care doctors and nurses, counselors and social workers.

U.S. House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, R-Jefferson, said he credits President Donald Trump's administration's commitment to addressing the nation's opioid epidemic for the boost in resources to try to address the issue here.

These funds will go a long way toward our goals of addressing opioid addiction at the local level and treating those already battling addiction, Scalise said. "Im proud to have worked with President Trump and my colleagues in Congress to pass some of the most significant laws to confront this drug crisis, and I will continue fighting to make sure our law enforcement officers have the tools they need to keep these drugs off of our streets.

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U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said that Louisiana's grant, which is part of more than $1 billion awarded to states last week, will help build in progress that the nation is seeing in combating the epidemic. Addressing the opioid crisis with all the resources possible and the best science we have is a top priority for President Trump and for everyone at HHS," Azar said.

One of the things that will benefit from the grants is improved "wrap-around services"  social workers and nurses, job education and other programs that are meant to increase success of treatment.

+3 New CDC director, a veteran of fight against HIV/AIDS, seeks to tackle opioid epidemic As the HIV epidemic seemed to spiral out of control in the United States in the early 1990s, Dr. Robert Redfield led the militarys efforts to

"We're trying to provide comprehensive services," Petersen said. "Of course we are ecstatic (about the federal funds)."

Petersen said that state health officials have worked to identify "hot spots" where addiction and opioid-related deaths are high and treatment is limited.

The additional funds mean that the state will be able to expand its outreach efforts to places that it hasn't before  including local libraries and homeless shelters.

"We really are reaching out to different types of settings," Petersen said.

Louisiana has the sixth-highest opioid pain-reliever prescribing rate in the country, according to IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics' analysis of a yearlong period through June 30, 2016. It found that there were 102.3 opioid prescriptions for every 100 people, when counting new prescriptions and prescribed refills. The national average was 69.5 prescriptions for every 100 people during that period.

The state's drug overdose rate also outpaces the national average, fueled by the rise in prescription opioid abuse and the use of illicit opioids, like heroin, and synthetic black-market opioids, like fentanyl. The CDC said Louisiana had the 19th-highest age-adjusted opioid overdose rate in 2015.

The state Legislature, in recent years, has sought to address the crisis through legislation limiting prescriptions and making opioid treatment more available.

Vermont's system has been boosted by the federal Affordable Care Act, which allowed states to expand Medicaid to more low-income adults, with the federal government picking up most of the tab.

Shortly after taking office in 2016, Gov. John Bel Edwards, a Democrat, expanded Medicaid in Louisiana by executive order.

More than 480,000 people, mostly the working poor, have been added to the state's Medicaid rolls through expansion. Nearly 12,000 people have received substance abuse treatment through outpatient services and another 13,000 have received inpatient treatment through their Medicaid expansion benefits.Are Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards and former President Barack Obama two Democratic peas in a pod?

Not exactly. Edwards knows which end of a rifle is which; he never voted three times as a state legislator to make infanticide legal; and the woman he married undoubtedly has felt proud of her country her entire adult life.

Yet in two ways, Edwards and Obama govern alike. Both support imperialism from the executive branch and have used their offices to perpetually campaign. Edwards displayed these tendencies recently with forays against Republican Attorney Gen. Jeff Landry, who has mulled a run against Edwards.

Since taking office, Edwards has worked overtime to turn any issue, no matter how obscure or disconnected to his governance, into something promoting his tenure with an eye on reelection, including bashing potential challengers like Landry. Such was the case when Landry commented about a possible probe into clergy sex abuse and commented on joining a suit against the federal government for going too far with health care policy changes under Obama.

While several state attorneys general have launched broad investigations into whether Catholic Church authorities covered up priestly transgressions, Landry said he couldnt do the same since the state constitution severely limits his office in initiating such an action. However, if conditions changed to authorize his involvement, Landry said he hoped the State Police, under the command of Edwards, would assist him.

Through a spokesman, Edwards then accused Landry of letting politics guide his decision-making about whether to investigate, although how Landrys deferral would allow him to score political points remained unexplained. And while some experts claim Landry could stretch enormously the powers of his post to start an inquiry, that runs counter to Landrys limited-government principles.

Jeff Sadow: LSU regents should save taxpayer dollars by striking down 'holistic admissions' The Louisiana Board of Regents must halt Louisiana State Universitys quest to enrich itself, wasting taxpayer dollars and lowering academic s

It's a belief Edwards definitely rejects. In fact, Landry, more than any other state official, has stopped Edwards from trying to exercise powers he doesnt have, such as in the area of issuing contracts, through successful lawsuits.

But those defeats havent deterred Edwards vision of an expansive executive branch. Remarks Landry made about the suit the state joined, which would strike down the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that Edwards backs, prompted Edwards to double down on executive overreach.

Landry and 19 other attorneys general contend that, since the courts have ruled the individual mandate to buy health insurance a tax, removal of the tax beginning next year makes the law unconstitutional. However, the federal government argues without the tax it only couldnt enforce a provision that guarantees insuring people regardless of their pre-existing conditions.

Asked what would happen to those with pre-existing conditions if the courts invalidate the ACA, Landry said that was a legislative matter out of his jurisdiction. This didnt satisfy Edwards, who suggested even if it meant applying an unconstitutional law, Landry shouldnt have brought the suit because this could cause chaos. He asserted that Landry had an obligation to orchestrate a plan to prevent that.

Landry, in fact, discussed the matter with House Speaker Taylor Barras, R-New Iberia, who later praised Landrys respect for separation of power in state government, although Barras didnt indicate whether policy options had come up in their conversations. If the suit succeeds, it also could invalidate Medicaid expansion, which Edwards initiated when he took office.

Edwards should emulate Landrys reverence for the rule of law. Instead, to achieve his policy objectives, Edwards supports the executive branch stretching, if not breaking, legal constraints on what it can do.

His style of governance echoes Obama's, who did win a second term. Edwards must think this strategy will reward him similarly.

Jeff Sadow is an associate professor of political science at Louisiana State University-Shreveport. He is author of a blog about Louisiana politics at www.between-lines.com and writes about Louisiana legislation www.laleglog.com. Follow him on Twitter, @jsadowadvocate or email jeffsadowtheadvocate@yahoo.com. His views do not necessarily express those of his employer.The former community organizer and Nobel Peace Prize winner could end the hostility among the black, brown and white communities of Chicago. He could easily raise more money than all his opponents combined to fund his campaign. Most important, Obama would have a Democratic-controlled City Council and would not have to deal with people such as U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan.Like those Nextdoor social media sites where your neighbors whine about the way things used to be, the Louisiana Legislatures largely negative reaction has overshadowed news of an actual surplus after 15 mid-year deficits over a span of nine years.

Some have even called for a What did he know/When did he know it? investigation.

Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards and his rivals among the Houses Republican majority have bickered over just how steep the fiscal cliff would be once one penny of the states five-cent sales tax expired on June 30. The administration pegged the shortfall in revenue collections somewhere north of $1 billion, at least at first. House Republicans saw a far smaller number.

Edwards feared that absent more revenues colleges would have to be cut, law enforcements pay reduced and health care for half the states population endangered. Republicans claimed taxpayers already paid too much in taxes and state government needed some measure of belt-tightening.

After months of name-calling, both sides agreed to fill a deficit of around $500 million. When all was said and done, they passed a 4.45 percent sales tax rate, rather than 4 cents per dollar, for the next seven years.

News of a surplus, while not exactly on point, supports House Republican contentions that the Democratic governor exaggerated the deficit to get a bigger tax passed than Republicans otherwise would have accepted.

House Appropriations Committee Chair Cameron Henry, R-Metairie, wants to know if Edwards knew of the surplus prior to the Legislature approving a higher sales tax rate because that probably would have changed the outcome. "We will have to make sure the numbers weren't being artificially skewed to raise taxes," he told nola.com.

Republican state Sen. Conrad Appel of Metairie credits either ineptness or nefariousness for this sudden revelation. Perhaps to support his well-articulated plan to grow government spending, he chose to ignore the facts and to not tell us that there was no fiscal cliff. That would not just be bad, that to me would be disingenuous and possibly even a violation of his oath of office, Appel wrote in a column for The Hayride, a conservative blog site.

Commissioner of Administration Jay Dardenne dismissed the critics with what he calls the three Is. It is ignorance, irresponsibility or intent and I dont think theyre ignorant, Dardenne said.

To be fair, the budget must be crafted to meet a number the Revenue Estimating Conference has fixed as official. In this years case, the numbers called for either draconian cuts or a tax increase to balance spending with expected revenues.

The exact amount of the surplus wont be known until next month, but it was about $300 million when the books were closed on the budget year that ended June 30. The new 4.45 percent sales tax went into effect on July 1.

The governor said the surplus came from better-than-expected personal income tax collections and is a sign that Louisianas economy is improving.

State law requires that 10 percent of the surplus goes to pay down debt for future pensions for current state employees, which are now about $20 billion. The next 25 percent goes into the rainy day fund that the state can use to cover bills when the economy is slow. That leaves about $195 million, and state law restricts how it can be spent. Once upon a time, that money could be used to pay this years bills, like insurance and salaries, that will recur next year. Now, the money can only make one-time payments.

Regardless of how they feel about the moneys origins, everybody has ideas on how it ought to be spent.

Gov. Edwards: News of state budget surplus 'a good thing' Gov. John Bel Edwards says it's good that the state ended its most recent budget cycle with a surplus, despite some pushback from Republican c

Both Edwards and House Speaker Taylor Barras want to see the money used to tackle big problems, rather than splintered to address small ones. But after that, they head off in different directions.

Tailored and soft-spoken Barras gives off the responsible aura of small-town banker, which he is. The New Iberia Republican says the money should be used to pay down existing debts.

The governor would like to see the money flowing into construction projects that address some of the $14 billion highway and bridge backlog or to help colleges chip away at $4 billion in deferred maintenance. A one-time infusion could keep the state from having to take out loans to accomplish the project.

Both are laudable uses of found dollars. But 2019 is an election year, so dont be surprised if a lot of the extra money goes into projects in legislators' districts.Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards speaks during a press conference to introduce the GRACE Program, which will provide care coordination services to expectant mothers struggling with opioid use disorder during pregnancy, Tuesday, September 11, 2018, at Woman's Hospital in Baton Rouge, La.Flanked by representatives from the Health Department, Housing and Urban Development, NOPD's Homeless Assistance Unit and the Veterans Association, Mayor LaToya Cantrell cuts the ribbon on a new low barrier homeless shelter, located at 1530 Gravier St., in New Orleans, La., Tuesday, Sept. 18, 2018. The 100-bed shelter is accessible 24/7 and has no entrance fee, minimum stay, or sobriety requirements.When the executive director of a New Orleans nonprofit dedicated to helping people after they leave prison asks for grant money, she sometimes hits a snag.

Potential donors will tell her they cant give money to a group thats staffed by the formerly incarcerated. One even rescinded an offer that already had been made.

It sort of felt like: What along the way made you not realize who we are? said Kelly Orians, the executive director of Rising Foundations.

But Rising Foundations and its better-known sister organization, the First 72+, received a vote of confidence last week from two big names.

On Monday, the Rockefeller Foundation and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative announced that the New Orleans groups are among the finalists for a $1 million grant. By the end of the year, the two mega-donors will select 10 out of the 20 finalists to receive the seven-figure sum.

The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative is funded by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan.

The money could prove transformative for a partnership that has grown in prominence as Louisiana reduces its prison population, once the highest per capita in the world.

The sister nonprofits have a combined annual budget of $650,000. The groups hope to add more transitional housing, expand to Baton Rouge and Shreveport, and hire a development director if they receive the grant, Orians said.

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The First 72+ in particular has become a major player in the citys re-entry scene in the four years since it opened a transitional house for newly released inmates on Perdido Street, just across from the city's jail, known as the Orleans Justice Center.

The group's name echoes the critical three-day period when people are released after months or years locked up. The first 72 hours can often be crucial in determining whether they will return to a life of crime or keep to the straight and narrow.

The First 72+ pushes the latter path with short-term housing, peer counseling, legal services and help on matters as small as getting a drivers license.

Meanwhile, Rising Foundations offers long-term assistance through a communal loan fund, financial literacy training and a small-business incubator. The organizations share an office and many staffers.

Most of the staffers have unusual resumes for the nonprofit sector. Except for Orians, everyone who works for the two organizations has spent time in prison.

The Rockefeller and Zuckerberg grant initiative is aimed at helping low-income communities, but few if any of the other finalists have former prisoners in leadership roles.

Orians said she hopes the groups selection as a finalist will send a signal to other philanthropists.

If were not spending money on the people who are surviving that social injustice, that really feels like not just a missed opportunity but unwise and unfair, Orians said.

The groups are set to receive a site visit from the donor organizations in the next few weeks. The grant recipients will be announced in December.The day after New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell flouted state law in her purge of top brass at the Sewerage & Water Board, the press reported that her executive counsel was not eligible to practice in Louisiana.

There's probably no connection, but an administration that's slapdash twice over does not inspire confidence.

Cantrell claims she did not break the open meetings law when engineering the replacement of the board's interim director, Jade Brown-Russell, and the resignation of three senior aides. But the wording of the law is crystal clear, and you don't have to be a lawyer to determine that Cantrell broke it for sure.

Cantrell, as ex-officio President, instigated two conference calls, each involving most of her fellow board members, after discovering that Brown-Russell had given hefty pay raises to three deputy directors. The upshot was a news conference at which Cantrell announced that she had urged Brown-Russell to ask the three to resign before stepping down herself.

Cantrell's attempt to deny she broke the law, in fact, confirms that she did. Nothing was voted on; no action was taken. It was information that was shared, she said, so her conversations could not be classified as meetings.

The statutory definition of a meeting subject to the law includes the convening of a quorum of a public body by the public body or by another public official to receive information regarding a matter over which the public body has supervision, control, jurisdiction or advisory power.

The law requires public bodies to conduct meetings in public after publishing date, time and agenda in advance. Executive sessions are allowed for discussion of such delicate matters as litigation or personnel but must first be authorized by a two-thirds public vote.

It was right about the time that Cantrell was plotting the S&WB ousters that her Executive Counsel Clifton Davis discovered he had lost the right to provide legal advice because he had not completed the continuing education courses required of all attorneys. A City Hall flack explained that Davis did not know he was disqualified because the notice was sent to an old address.

Absent-mindedness may be charming in a professor, but a sharper mind is generally preferred in a lawyer. Still, even one who needs reminding that he failed to attend mandatory classes will have no trouble interpreting the open meetings law. We must assume Cantrell did not seek advice from Davis before picking up the phone in what was presumably a rage over huge salaries that taxpayers will view as a reward for flooding the city last year.

Cantrell's displeasure is widely shared. The day before Cantrell offered her unconventional views on the open meetings law, a City Council committee finally lost patience and voted to hire a consultant who might help untangle the S&WB imbroglio.

Cantrell is hardly the first public official to reveal a shaky grasp of the open meetings law, and violations of it do not amount to a hanging offense. A public official who knowingly takes part in an illegally closed meeting is liable to a fine of $100 max.

The principle involved is not inconsequential, however. As the preamble to the Louisiana statute puts it, It is essential to the maintenance of a democratic society that public business be conducted in an open and public manner.

Any citizen is entitled to institute proceedings if the open meetings law is broken, and the courts may void any action taken when that happens. Since the three deputy directors resigned under pressure that Cantrell, without an advance and public vote of the board, had no authority to exert, litigation must be a possibility. Reinstatement seems out of the question, however.

This is not the only time Cantrell has ignored the open meetings law in her four months on the job. A couple of weeks before the S&WB shake-up she had the director of the 911 call center fired without the required notice that his fate would be determined at a meeting of his board.

Make that slapdash thrice over.

Email James Gill at Gill1047@bellsouth.net.5. ASX: SPI futures are indicating a 23-point drop at the open for the ASX200 against this backdrop, following on from a week where Australian equities showed tentative signs of strength, but appeared capped to the upside in the short-term. The pattern of higher lows continued to end last weeks trade, with resistance around 6190/6200 for the ASX200 holding firm to create an ever-tightening wedge pattern for the index.

Though a sign of reluctance from traders to push the market higher, the trade dynamic does suggest a pent-up bullishness that may provide a pop to the upside provided the right circumstances. It will be a matter today -- and for the rest of the week  of whether such activity can occur in an environment of heightened geopolitical risks. Intuition says no, but too often have we seen the counter-intuitive play out in this market.

6. Aussie dollar: The benefit for Australian traders is that we may not have to look any further than our own currency to get a gauge on this. The AUD/USD spiked higher last week, spurred by the greater risk appetite brought about by (at least the illusion) of greater certainty in financial markets. The local unit launched off support around ~0.7150, to trade towards the very top of its well-defined trend channel (at the time) at around 0.7300.

It would take something remarkable to push the AUD above this trend channel this week, particularly considering the economic fundamentals underpinning the market. A certain amount of profit taking should be expected at these levels too, especially given the conspicuousness of the AUD/USDs trend. The interest will be consequently in how well the currency holds itself at these levels: it will be the best measure of trader perceptions regarding the latest escalation in the trade war.

7. Wall Street: The fortunes of Wall Street indices will be worth assessing in the next 24 hours as a result of the heightened trade war tensions. The industrial heavy Dow Jones traded in line with the strong activity in the DAX and Nikkei on Friday, to close trade at new all-time highs at 26,743.50, while a sell-off in tech shares contributed to a fall in the NASDAQ and S&P500 of 0.51% per cent and 0.04% respectively.

The extent of Chinas hostility, at least according to the perception of traders, will be revealed by activity in the major tech stocks, which have come under pressure in recent weeks due to fears that China may target tech-companies supply chains. Furthermore, it may be in this sentiment that dictates whether US stocks can hit new all-time highs this week: growth in US tech stocks have been the core factor behind Wall Streets record highs, so flatness in the sector could see the benchmark S&P500 recede back within its firmly established trend channel.

8. Market watch:

SPI futures down 23 points or 0.4% to 6169 at 8am Saturday AEST

AUD flat at 72.89 US cents

On Wall St: Dow +0.3% S&P 500 flat Nasdaq -0.5%

In New York, BHP +2% Rio +0.8% Atlassian -0.7%

In Europe: Stoxx 50 +0.8% FTSE +1.7% CAC +0.8% DAX +0.9%

Spot gold -0.6% to $US1200.04 an ounce

Brent crude +0.1% to $US78.76 a barrel

US oil +0.6% to $US70.76 a barrel

Iron ore -0.1% to $US69.13 a tonne

Dalian iron ore -0.4% to 501 yuan

LME aluminium +2.4% to $US2091 a tonne

LME copper +4.6% to $US6363 a tonne

2-year yield: US 2.80% Australia 2.09%

5-year yield: US 2.95% Australia 2.26%

10-year yield: US 3.06% Australia 2.70% Germany 0.46%

US-Australia 10-year yield gap as of 7am Saturday AEST: 36 basis points

This column was produced in commercial partnership

between Fairfax Media and IGAustralia's obsessions with social media and search engines, alongside a cloud computing drive from corporations, is powering the growth in energy intensive data centres, which now use as much energy as regional cities.

Deon Newman, vice-president of strategy for IBM Asia Pacific, explained that the world is creating more information every day than humanity did over the course of a century.

Australians are creating an information avalanche, and power hungry data centres are expanding to keep the info flowing.

The reality is we're generating enormous amounts of data every single day; in two days were generating the same amount of information from year zero to 2005, Mr Newman said during the Schneider Electric Innovation summit in Singapore.

This data is held in massive data centres, which are swiftly becoming the fastest-growing consumers of power in the country, and are expected to boom as demand grows for processing power for cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, and because every single Facebook post, tweet, and Instagram picture needs to be powered by something.Actress Alyssa Milano added her voice to the chorus that has emerged in support of Christine Blasey Ford, the California professor who has accused US Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her when she was 15 years old.

Pouncing on the fact that the alleged assault took place more than three decades ago, critics have accused Ford of misrepresenting the truth. Among these critics is President Donald Trump.

"I have no doubt that, if the attack on Dr. Ford was as bad as she says, charges would have been immediately filed with local Law Enforcement Authorities by either her or her loving parents," Trump tweeted on Friday. "I ask that she bring those filings forward so that we can learn date, time, and place!"

His tweet brought a maelstrom of criticism on social media as people shared stories of why they did not report their own sexual assaults, mostly using the viral hashtag #WhyIDidntReport. By late Friday, more than 38,000 tweets were posted using that hashtag, according to The Hill.I wanted to increase my ANZ limit to $25,000 due to overseas travel and recently having to use it overseas after paying airfares and home renovations. I was rejected twice. One contact merely rolled out the party line, "don't meet their requirements". CBA has rejected me for a credit card as well. No reason available! Whats going on?

I'm single and over 60. Work full-time. I have had one credit card with ANZ since 1998. It has never been in arrears and has a limit of $15,000. I have accounts with Commonwealth Bank, and have banked with them since about 1989, with balances of well over $1 million. Annual income over $150,000. I have a credit rating of 996 and have checked with Veda and D&B and am clear - never bankrupt, never defaulted, never missed one of my housing loan payments.

I suspect two things, Steve.

First, you dont specifically say, but it sounds like you are carrying a bit of debt on your credit card at the moment  hence your application to increase the limit.

Its all well and good that youve never been in arrears but card companies will look at a thing called your credit utilisation ratio  how much of what you can spend, you have spent. If yours is topping out, it will hurt you.

Top tip: 30 per cent or below is considered a healthy ratio; owe nothing and youre most likely to get approved for a new card or higher limit on your existing one.

But for you, Steve, I hate to say the knockout punch is probably your age. In all other respects, from what youve told me, youre a smooth money operator (although you might want to think about the merits of holding any accessible money in the bank  I assume low-paying  at the same time as carrying a presumably high-costing credit card debt).After recent Fairfax Media revelations about his high-end Rockpool eateries underpaying workers, frontman Neil Perry said the group had made changes, making it one of the "very few, if any" restaurants that comply with workplace laws. It was a revealing admission from an industry leader about the normality of flouting employment laws and ripping off workers who are among the lowest paid in the country. Loading In a fragmented industry largely unencumbered by regulators or unions, there appears little fear of being caught out doing the wrong thing. That makes it difficult for a cafe like Davies to compete. Everyone agrees the status quo is not tenable. But tackling the problem will come at a cost, including the possible closure of some non-compliant businesses.

Should low-paid workers be paid even less? Or is it time for Australian consumers to accept they need to pay a little more for their coffee, pasta, and sushi? The reality of the industry Australias food scene is thriving, internationally renowned and unrecognisable from times past when an Anglo-dominated society viewed restaurants, wine and even coffee as exotic novelties. Hospitality employs 830,000 people and has grown by a third in a decade thanks to households spending, on average, $94 a week eating out. Loading

The media has glamorised the food and restaurant business, making household names of figures such as Perry, George Calombaris, and Shannon Bennett, and Australian consumers have grown accustomed to quality food, wine and coffee  arguably the best in the world  at relatively low prices. Beyond the glitz, however, working conditions in restaurants and cafes, including those linked to celebrity chefs, have been exposed as anything but alluring. It is a notoriously precarious industry for employers and workers alike  especially small, one-off cafes  and making a dollar is not easy. Food services has the highest failure rate of all industry sectors, with only slightly more than half of businesses still open after four years. Bureau of Statistics data shows profit margins at a low 5 per cent and falling. Its also a highly fragmented industry made all the more so by being relatively easy and inexpensive to get into. Its the free market at work, says Juliana Payne, chief executive of industry lobby group Restaurant & Catering Australia. You get your liquor licence, you get your lease, you do your fitout, hire a chef and buy a coffee machine and youre a restaurant.

She says it is possible for restaurants and cafes to be profitable and thrive, if they do their homework and business planning, including for labour costs. Too many don't do such planning. The restaurant and cafe sectors are resolutely independent, with Australian consumers inclined to support distinctive local outlets. Were especially and famously particular about coffee, for instance. US chain Starbucks tried its luck here but couldnt compete, while Gloria Jeans, the Coffee Club and others are relatively small. No one company has more than 5 per cent of the cafe market. In such a competitive climate, cost minimisation tends to be a focus. Rents are often substantial, especially in inner-city locations, and power prices too have risen dramatically thanks to the national political imbroglio over energy policy.

But if you dont pay your rent, you get evicted. If you dont pay the power bill, the lights go out. If you dont pay proper wages? Youll probably get away with it. Wages and conditions are the easiest option for cost cutting. The true cost of a coffee So what would happen if all hospitality businesses suddenly found themselves paying full whack: award wages for casuals of $24.34 an hour during the week, and more than $30 on Sundays?

In short, food, wine and coffee at many cafes, restaurants and pubs would likely become more expensive. Consumers would need to shoulder more of the burden of paying award wages. Industry insiders say a rule of thumb is that costs for cafes and restaurants tend to comprise one-third wages, one-third food and beverages and one-third overheads including rent and energy. Australian Taxation Office data indicates the wages component is slightly lower, at about one-quarter of turnover.

There is no comprehensive research on the economic or price impact of widespread underpayment, or on what would happen if prices were to suddenly reflect the award. But there is no doubt that prices would need to rise. Meals would likely increase in price by a few dollars per serve. And to maintain the shop's profit margin, a standard coffee may need to rise from $4 to more like $4.50. Heat and kitchens Long hours and poor pay are not new in hospitality. I dont think people know what chefs go through to give people their eggs in the morning, says Mavis Jackson Davie. Doing 60 hours a week in a kitchen, a space not much bigger than a prison cell, where its hot and sweaty and tempers can flare.

Jackson Davie in his cafe. Credit:Justin McManus Mr Davie paints a picture not unlike the nightmare Parisian kitchens of George Orwells Depression-era memoir Down and Out in Paris and London. Orwell complained of working 17 hours a day almost without a break. Such hours are not uncommon in Australia 85 years later. Many chefs still talk of a military-like, hierarchical kitchen culture, inherited from the French and alive and well in Australia. Loading

Former Sydney chef Christine Jones (not her real name) says newcomers to the trade will do almost anything to work at a prestige restaurant. You say to yourself: This is an amazing opportunity. Im going to learn from some of the best in the industry.  After completing her apprenticeship, Jones got her dream job at Sydneys three-hatted Bridge Room, owned by the Fink Group and high-profile entrepreneur Ross Lusted. There she found herself working from 8am until 11pm or midnight. If we got out before 11 or 11.30, it was something special. Ms Jones recalls being pressured to work when she had the flu, despite her protests that she was contagious and she could infect customers. The next day the head chef told her she had earned respect by working while ill. I thought, Gee, what have I got myself into?  Soon after, Ms Jones left the industry for good. You know its going to be tough in hospitality, but you dont expect to have to work yourself into the ground.

Bridge Room part-owner Mr Lusted thanked Fairfax Media for raising concerns over work hours and pay. We are surprised at the questions you have asked as we havent had any complaints like this from our current or previous staff. We are looking into them now. No cop on the beat Part of the explanation for the industrys workplace failings is the deregulation of the economy and labour market started by the Hawke government in the 1980s and continued by the Howard government. Where once powerful industrial tribunals set wages, and strong unions policed them, the system is now far more ad hoc.

Loading The policing of underpayment in Australia is now left to the Fair Work Ombudsman, an agency widely regarded as ill equipped to deal with systemic problems. Of the thousands of complaints of underpayment to the Ombudsman each year, a tiny fraction end in litigation. In 2015 it was just 0.29 per cent. The Ombudsmans approach has tended to be more light-touch than tough-cop, favouring education and co-operation over the big stick of litigation. Combined with a long period of stagnant wages since the global financial crisis, conditions have become ideal for wage underpayment.

Its like the perfect storm, says Dr Stephen Clibborn, a workplace specialist and lecturer at the University of Sydney Business School. ''It's perhaps unsurprising we are seeing so much wage theft in these industries. The Ombudsmans office has also been hampered by the dramatic decline of the other traditional, if informal, workplace regulator, the unions. Unions The ACTUs high-profile change the rules campaign suggests unions believe their influence has been curtailed by legal changes, including around restrictions on entering workplaces. However, union authority has also suffered from the collapse of membership from a postwar high of 60 per cent of the workforce to about 14 per cent now. In food services, membership is just above 2 per cent, among the lowest levels of all industries.

This year has seen signs of a fightback in Victoria, with established union United Voice launching a new hospitality offshoot, the cut price, bare basics Hospo Voice. The fledgling union uses social and traditional media to target businesses that do not pay legal rates, and it uses an online rate my boss, tool to name and shame non-compliant employers. So far, Hospo Voice has about 400 members. One of them is Anna Langford. She was fired this year after complaining about being underpaid at Barry cafe in Melbourne's Northcote. She had been paid a flat rate of $18 an hour when, as a casual, she should have been paid at least $24 an hour plus penalties.

I didnt realise when I first got hired that I was being underpaid. That was my first cafe job. It sounded pretty standard  most of the industry underpays its workers, she says. I didnt realise when I first got hired that I was being underpaid,'' cafe worker Anna Langford. Credit:Justin McManus This generation of young workers has grown up in a time when union membership has just plummeted  I dont think theres much awareness of them [unions] at all. Working with Hospo Voice and her colleagues, she received an apology and settlement of her termination claim from her ex-employer. Foreign workers and migrants

After World War II, Australias massive populate-or-perish migration program was based on permanent settlement. That changed in the Howard years in the 1990s when immigration priorities shifted to skills and temporary migrant workers, including the introduction of the controversial 457 visa. Along with an explosion in the use of student and working holiday visas, the shift has ushered in a large transitory workforce that is vulnerable to exploitation. Employers had pushed for such flexibility, arguing Australia suffered from a lack of a skilled local workers. They are pressing again after the Turnbull government replaced the 457 visa in 2017 and tightened rules, including making it tougher for visa holders to become permanent residents. Theyve [the government] made it very, very expensive and very difficult to sponsor a skilled foreign national in our sector, says Restaurant & Catering Australia's Juliana Payne.

Restaurant and Catering Association CEO Juliana Payne. Credit:James Alcock Chefs from countries such the Philippines, Nepal or Chile are likely to be reluctant to speak up about under-payment if they are reliant on their employers sponsorship to remain in Australia. This is especially so for those workers hoping to turn their temporary visa into permanent residency, as many do. When Fairfax Media exposed harsh working conditions in Rockpool restaurants in June, migrant workers came forward to complain about feeling beholden to their employer and of being treated like slaves. Even when pushed to work 60 or 70 hours a week for pay rates well below the minimum award rate, they felt they could not speak up, let alone leave their jobs. A former general manager at Rockpool group says the companys practice of hiring migrants was deliberate. They were treated as dispensable on every level, the one-time manager said. Cafe worker Marc Dean is unusual in that he is paid full award wages. Credit:Justin McManus

Penalties Marc Dean had grown accustomed to being underpaid, in cash. For years he had worked in hospitality, using it to support his primary gig as a bass player. So it has been a welcome change to work as a barista on the books at Mavis the Grocer in Melbourne. I like the fact that I get penalties on weekends. Everybody here likes that. Like his boss, Mr Dean is now an exception in the cafe business. At the forefront of any debate in Australia about the economics of hospitality is penalty rates, the higher than normal payments for work outside traditional hours. Employers have lobbied successfully for cuts to penalties across a range of industries in recent years.

In hospitality, they are currently set as a 25 per cent loading for a permanent employee on Saturdays and 50 per cent loading for a casual. Sunday rates are being phased down to 150 per cent for permanent employees by the middle of 2019. The industry association is pressing for more cuts and a flat rate of pay across the week, arguing penalties are a big impost precisely when restaurants and cafes are at their busiest: weekends and nights. We would like to see a seven-day ability to pay fairly, to pay appropriately for the level of work being done, says Juliana Payne. In this heated debate  irrespective of whether its the Coalition or Labor, the ACTU or employer groups doing the talking  the assumption is always that penalties are in fact paid. In 2015 the Productivity Commission compared Australian and international hospitality workplaces. Its findings had the unstated assumption that employers paid penalties. The reality could hardly be more different.

Recent research about migrant workers by the Ombudsman, academics and Fairfax Media has consistently found that widespread underpayment and cash-in-hand payments as low as half the legal hourly rate are common. In 2017 the federal Treasury identified the cafe and restaurant sector, along with construction and beauty salons, as the highest-risk sectors for Australias $50 billion, and fast-growing, ''black'' economy. I can't get too excited about arguments about penalty rates when so many people aren't getting them, says the University of Sydney Business School's Dr Clibborn. He says the annual debates about the national minimum wage and penalty rates take place in a bubble. With underpayment so rife, laws that once would have been unthinkable are now on the agenda. In Victoria, the Andrews Labor government has vowed to make wage theft a crime punishable with up to 10 years' jail. The NSW Labor opposition has flagged similar legislation.

In the past, employer groups would have fought such a move. Instead, the response has been muted, a tacit recognition of the extent of the problem. Given such widespread non-compliance, muddling on is not an option. Paying full price There appear to be two major alternatives to the problem of endemic underpayment in hospitality. The first, as proposed by the industry association, is to replace penalties with a flat seven-day rate that recognises hospitality is a 24/7 business. This proposal repeatedly runs into the reality that, for most of us, weekends are still sacred.

Scrapping penalties would also hit the income of low-paid workers at a time when wage growth has stalled, and it would challenge a fundamental of the Australian industrial system: the idea of a living wage. Since the 1907 Harvester decision the principle enshrined in the award system has been that Australians should be paid as "a human being in a civilised community". It provided the basis for Australias relatively generous minimum wage. Dr Clibborn points to this long-standing principle in Australian industrial relations: a business that does not pay a living wage should not be in business. We seem to be losing [sight of] that, he says. Rather than further cutting penalty rates that many employers dont pay anyway, Dr Clibborn says businesses should be made to pay properly.

This would involve giving regulators a more proactive remit and the teeth to persuade employers that the gamble of non-compliance is not worth it. It would require a major reboot of the industrial relations system and an overhaul of migrant visas to give those workers greater rights. One of the upshots may be people eating out less often or buying fewer coffees. Certain businesses  some that have planned poorly  may not survive. As already discussed, greater compliance would probably lead to price increases in many cafes and restaurants. Maybe consumers do need to pay more and maybe we will have fewer coffee shops, says Dr Clibborn. But we wont know, and we shouldnt try to guess this, until we actually enforce our employment laws.

Despite the hardships, including many competitors underpaying staff, a well-run cafe or restaurant can survive doing things lawfully and on the books. But its not easy. Jackson Davie says weekends are tough, especially Sundays. He is now agonising over whether to introduce a 10 per cent weekend surcharge to cover penalties, as many of his competitors have done. His barista Marc Dean is no union activist. Im a staunch supporter of capitalism and individualism, he stresses. But he backs his boss in looking after his employees. I believe theres ethical and dignified ways of making capital without being a total piece of shit.Jim Agin has lived with his wife in the same Oak Park apartment building for 38 years. Hes now moving out, but not in the way he planned. On Friday, Agin and other residents were sent a letter from the buildings management company informing them that the building had to undergo immediate structural review and that they had to completely move out by midnight Wednesday.War Memorial head Brendan Nelson and SAS veteran Ben Roberts-Smith. Credit:Katherine Griffiths Currently the general manager of Seven West Medias Queensland operations, Mr Roberts-Smith has denied all accusation of misconduct and is suing The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age for what he describes as malicious reporting of allegations made against him. Fairfax Media can reveal that Nelsons previous public comments have caused grave concern among senior Defence figures, who have spoken on the condition of anonymity. The Defence figures are particularly concerned Nelsons criticisms appear to ignore the fact that the Brereton inquiry is investigating allegations raised by SAS soldiers who, while risking their lives in Afghanistan, observed conduct they thought demanded scrutiny. But Nelsons views have been seized on by those who believe war heroes should never be scrutinised. In his response to the witch hunt group email, Nelson vowed to continue his advocacy. Mate ... I have stood up publicly for him and will continue to do so, he wrote of Mr Roberts-Smith.

[The] most highly decorated soldier in fifty years. He needs support mate from people who can see through this. Precisely what Nelson meant is unclear. There is also doubt over whether the former Liberal politician was aware of the content of some of the other emailed responses to the group chain. After Fairfax Media sent Nelson the emails, he declined to comment on the nature and meaning of his contribution. Loading What is clear is that the original email circulating Fewings' opinion piece, and many of the subsequent responses, form part of a broader move to attack the Brereton inquiry. We  know that the enquiry is being conducted by an eminent being, draped, possibly even cloaked in law degrees [Justice Brereton]  but apparently not much in the way of battlefield experience, states Fewings' opinion piece, which also denigrates the author of a report commissioned in 2015 by Campbell.

The report was written by researcher, Samantha Crompvoets, after interviewing SAS soldiers who claimed troops had been involved in serious misconduct in Afghanistan. I can tell you all, that I would not want a sociologist, feminist and taxidermist examining my actions ... and writing a secret report about them, Fewings' piece opines. No Sir, I would not. The only regret that I have about those moments on the battlefield in Vietnam is that I was not able to destroy more communist soldiers than I did. While the email chain could easily be read as no more than impassioned advocacy by veterans, some of the sentiments expressed are creeping into mainstream debate around the Brereton inquiry. Defence insiders and politicians who support the inquiry are concerned some of their colleagues seem unaware, or intent on ignoring the fact, that the real genesis of the Brereton inquiry are concerns raised within the hallowed SAS itself. As one former SAS patrol commander and Afghanistan veteran told Fairfax Media: You can be sure that the witnesses [to the inquiry] did not come forward lightly. They have been torn between honour and what is right and the risk of destroying not only the reputation of a colleague but the Regiment they love. Its not about jealousy or spite.

Defence sources say that since it was launched in 2016, the Brereton inquiry has taken sworn testimony from dozens of soldiers and officers who served multiple deployments, earned military decorations for bravery and lost their mates in the long and deadly Afghanistan conflict. Special forces veterans who support the work of the inquiry have privately and passionately argued to Fairfax Media that the public and defence force community have a right to know if alleged war crimes occurred. Andrew Hastie, a former SAS officer and Afghan veteran turned Liberal MP, has made this case publicly. Some SAS sources are also questioning Nelsons motives given he answers to Seven West Media chairman Kerry Stokes, who is chairman of the war memorial and has been a big benefactor to the Canberra institution. It was Stokes who recruited Roberts-Smith, whose story of bravery has been a centrepiece of the war memorial, as a senior executive at Seven. The media mogul is a military history devotee, previously paying $1.2 million to buy a Gallipoli Victoria Cross so it could be donated to the war memorial. The 78-year-old billionaire is also funding a costly legal and public relations campaign on behalf of Roberts-Smith. Nelson declined to answer questions about how he is managing this potential conflict of interest, and has also declined to explain why he thinks certain alleged war crimes should not be investigated.

Roberts-Smith launched his defamation action against Fairfax Media after this media company revealed in August that some of Roberts-Smiths former SAS comrades alleged a small patrol Roberts-Smith helped lead had been involved in suspected serious breaches of the laws of armed conflict. These are not 'fog of war' incidents, according to some witnesses, who claim they include the mistreatment of unarmed men or prisoners. Roberts-Smith has dismissed these claims aided by defamation lawyer Mark OBrien and public relations consultants Ross Coulthart (a former 60 Minutes reporter) and Sue Cato, who work for the firm Cato & Clegg. In addition to attacking the revelations in Fairfax Media, Roberts-Smiths backers have also turned on the Brereton Inquiry. It is an easy target. Only a few top military figures appear to have any sense of its direction and they are not talking. No one in defence who Fairfax Media has spoken to knows what Justice Brereton will find. A senior political staffer told Fairfax Media this week: We have tried to get a steer from the judge and he told us to bugger off. He said we can see his report when it is finished. Some of the attacks mounted by Roberts-Smiths advocates have been muddled or plain wrong.

Roberts-Smiths barrister Arthur Moses, QC, told a NSW court hearing in August  in which he sought to prevent the publication of a story about Roberts-Smith  that highly confidential information about how many witnesses have been interviewed by the Brereton Inquiry may have been improperly leaked to Fairfax Media. Well, did anybody tell Fairfax that information because how did that pop out of a [confidential Brereton Inquiry] letter and into [print], Moses told the court. However, Fairfax Media had sourced the information in question from an article written weeks before by The Australians respected defence writer Paul Maley, who had sourced it from a Defence press release. Moses also had told the court that an injunction was needed because Roberts-Smith was unable to respond to questions sent to him by Fairfax Media for fear of breaching Defence Force secrecy laws. He is the general manager of a media outlet and is put in a position where he cannot defend himself publicly because of fear of himself being in breach of the act in terms of disclosing details of operations, Moses told the court.

This, too, is questionable. Hours before Moses had risen to his feet in court, Roberts-Smith had given Maley what the journalist described as a wide-ranging interview that included the decorated soldiers most thorough account to date of a 2006 operation along with strident denials of years of rumours that he abused Afghan prisoners spread by disgruntled former SAS troopers. Reporters and defence insiders who have dealt directly with those waging Roberts-Smiths sophisticated public relations war suggest the lawyers and PR advisers may actually be in the dark about the actual sources and credibility of the allegations made against Roberts-Smith. Coulthart and Cato have insisted to media executives and reporters they are being paid by Stokes to find the truth. Some say this desire appears heartfelt and genuine. Yet a person who has spoken to Coulthart says he is swinging in the dark about the identity of the witnesses and sources about Roberts-Smith. The Roberts-Smith camp appear to mistakenly believe a SAS soldier known to hate the decorated soldier  but who is an immaterial witness  is the major source of the allegations of serious misconduct involving Roberts-Smith. The public debate has also been muddied by some media commentators who have overlooked the fact that many SAS insiders support the Brereton inquiry and have also backed Fairfax Medias reporting.Ricketson reserved a special thanks for his son Jesse and partner Alex for moving to Cambodia to help secure his release. "I appreciate that enormously because thats a huge sacrifice and an indication in action of the love that they have for me." The ordeal began in June 2017, when Ricketson was arrested for flying a drone over an opposition rally, taking photographs of the heavy security presence. Having lived and worked in Cambodia for 22 years, Ricketson's work largely focused on the underprivileged, including documenting the lives of children who scavenged on a large rubbish dump on the outskirts of Phnom Penh. He was an outspoken critic of the so-called Cambodia solution, a controversial scheme under which Australia resettled four refugees. Ricketson spent a year in pre-trial detention, and his trial in August was widely criticised by observers and human rights advocates as unjust.

Ricketson said his love for Cambodia was undiminished, pledging to return as soon as his health allowed. Loading "My relationship with Cambodia has been a 20-year love affair and the last 15, almost 16 months has been like a lovers' quarrel," he said. "I'll be going back as soon as I can but I'll need to recover, obviously. I need to spend some time with myself and some time with my family." "I dont love Cambodia any less now as a result of what has happened. In fact if anything I love it more."

Asked what he was most looking forward to doing, he was unequivocal: A swim in the ocean! Daughter Roxanne Holmes said it was wonderful to have her father home. "Were all really elated, excited," she said. She told Fairfax Media immediately after the pardon was announced that it came "out of the blue" but the family was incredibly grateful for the support they had received, including more than 107,000 people who signed the Change.org petition. "But the first thing he will want to do is to have some space, get some medical treatment," she had said.

Ricketson confessed to being exhausted. "I dont want to wind up saying the wrong things in a state of being in tiredness and shock." Loading Asked whether he was frustrated by the Australian government's handling of his case, Mr Ricketson was cagey. Let me just say there is room for improvement, but Ill leave it at that. I really need to go home and go to bed.

"I do have a good story to tell, but now at the airport is definitely not the right time to tell it. Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director of Human Rights Watch, said "the 14 months of hell" Ricketson endured should not be forgotten in light of the pardon. No one should overlook the bogus criminal charge of espionage and how the Cambodian government cruelly used him as a pawn to give substance to their fantasy political conspiracy of a so-called colour revolution," Mr Robertson said in a statement. Ricketson, who was accused of espionage, exits the prison van as he arrives at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court for a court appearance. Credit:Kate Geraghty "Apparently now that Prime Minister Hun Sen has destroyed the political opposition and garnered all the seats in Parliament, he gave the green light to let Ricketson go. This very welcome release does not erase the shameful procession of farcical questions and evidence that a Cambodian kangaroo court used to convict Ricketson nor the reputational damage this case has brought to the Cambodian judiciary.In the tradition of holidays in Zam-buk and Swarfega (C8), some years ago Ron Quinton of Mylestom asked an English gentleman he was working with where he'd gone for his holidays, to which the reply was: "Ourgate." Not having heard of the place Ron enquired where it was. "Oh, 20 feet from the front" was his humorous response.

Yes, Ralph Davis, dogs named Fido (C8) do exist. Greg Oehm of Robertson is somewhat embarrassed to admit that his six-year-old self proudly gave the name Fido to his family's Border Collie X Cocker Spaniel dog. Greg adds: "He was true to his name, being a faithful companion throughout my childhood, if one ignored his tendency to roam local schools in search of food. He even followed me to school one day  quite how he did that is still beyond me, since I had a good five-mile bus ride to school. His affectionate greeting in the middle of school assembly, after having crossed the nearby creek without using the benefit of the nearby bridge, remains etched in my memory!"

It would appear Fido (C8) is more popular in some places in its French form. From David Thorn of Corlette: "I knew a dog once called Phideaux. He was a French poodle." Norman Buckley of Balmoral hasn't come across a Fido in Sydney "but when I lived in London a friend had one. Spelled Phydeaux. He lived in Chelsea of course."

After having submitted many proofs for one signage job, all being returned requiring minor changes, Belinda Morrow of Johns River received a request "for the logo to be a tad smaller. I sent an inquiry as to whether it was to be reduced by a metric tad or an imperial tad. The next proof received approval."

"The difference between a crow (C8) and a raven is that one has an extra feather in its wing," writes John Munro of Toowoomba, QLD. "Therefore the difference between the two is really just a matter of a pinion."Police are investigating whether the car that crashed into a home on Brisbane's northside on Saturday morning, killing a teenage passenger, was stolen.

Investigators have spoken to one of the survivors, who was hospitalised. Police said they also know the identity of the third person in the car, but were yet to take their statement on Sunday morning.

The scene in Stafford during the early hours of Saturday. Credit:Nine News Queensland - Twitter

A 15-year-old boy died after the car veered off Appleby Road in Stafford about 2am on Saturday, crashed through a fence, hit a parked car and crashed into a house.

The boy was declared dead at the scene. Another teenage boy who was in the car was later found and taken to Lady Cilento Children's Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.30 people were arrested at an outdoor dance festival in St Kilda on Saturday night on drug-related charges.

18,000 people flocked to the 'Listen Out' music festival in St Kilda in Catani Gardens.

The Listen Out music festival travels to four different cities. Credit:Fairfax Media

It comes one week after a Melbourne woman and a Sydney man both suffered heart attacks and died after suspected drug overdoses at Defqon 1 Festival in Sydney.

Of the 30 arrests, only one person was charged - a 40-year-old male - with trafficking cocaine.A CFA spokeswoman said there were 13 fire trucks on the scene at 7.30am with crews hopeful they would have the blaze under control within an hour. 'There are about 50 firefighters at the scene working to get the fire under control," she said on Monday morning. The single-storey pub is about 40 metres by 50 metres. It is not known yet what caused the fire, the spokeswoman said.

"Once the building is safe investigators will work to determine what caused the fire," she said. The damage to the hotel is extensive. Credit:Justin McManus Gembrook is a popular tourist attraction with Puffing Billy stream train ride terminating on its main street. The township sits in the foothills of the Dandenong Ranges about 54 kilometres from the Melbourne CBD. Main Street in Gembrook was closed between Redwood Road and Station Road while firefighters battled the blaze.

Rachael Smith who works at the nearby Gembrook Bakery said she saw thick, black smoke billowing from the hotel as she was driving to work just before 6.30am. "I could see flashing lights and smoke everywhere and I thought 'What's going on here'," she said. "It closed down for about five years and only recently just opened again, so it's really sad to see this happen. It's undergone massive renovations, but the new owners kept the original structure so it's a building that's just always been in the town and an important parts of its identity." Ms Smith said the blaze had caused traffic chaos for locals. "It's big talk among the town this morning," she said.

"Everybody who is coming into the bakery is talking about it. The roads are closed so people are worried they won't be able to get to work." Firefighters earlier evacuated people from neighbouring properties but were able to contain the blaze to the hotel building. The roof collapsed at the back half of the building, and firefighters were still fighting the fire externally just before 8am, CFA operations manager Don Wilkie said. "It [the fire] went up through the roof space and that's come down and collapsed so there's been a fair amount of fire damage on the inside," he said. "About 80 per cent of the inside has actually been burnt out." Gembrook resident, Julie, who lives about a kilometre away, said the fire was "devastating" for the community and the new owners who had only recently restored the pub.Sometimes when I listen to parents discussing the risky topic of school choices I get this strange sensation of otherwise functional adults flipping instantly into an adolescent mindset. Our school years leave a psychological etching; conjure up the rows of lockers and smell of chalk, the longing and frustration worn like tight underwear, and were instantly back there, chronically insecure, vulnerable to peer pressure, barely able to distinguish our childrens trajectories from our own.

Peer pressure has seen too many middle-class families ignore the local secondary school. Credit:Shutterstock

Peer pressure has seen too many middle-class families ignore the local secondary school, but peer pressure can also work the other way. About 15 years ago an acquaintance told me her children attended a government school in Williamstown because thats where premier Steve Bracks sent his kids, and if the schools good enough for Bracksy, she said, its good enough for me.

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Were herd-like creatures, tribal too, and in Melbourne these glorious instincts all but create their own weather pattern in the MCG during finals week.Bolton: Nigel Farage, the John Farnham of British politics, is back for one last tour.

I didnt think I would have to do this again, he told a rapt crowd of about 2000 at a stadium in Bolton, near Manchester.

But with less than six months to Brexit, he and his followers are worried its not going to turn out how they thought it would. That this is the age of treason. And they want to take the pressure up a notch.Berlin: The fate of Chancellor Angela Merkel's unwieldy six-month-old government hangs in the balance as the three coalition parties seek again to resolve their dispute over Germany's scandal-tainted spymaster.

The coalition parties agreed last week to transfer spy chief Hans-Georg Maassen to the interior ministry following accusations that he harboured far-right views after he questioned the authenticity of video footage showing radicals hounding migrants in the eastern city of Chemnitz.

But the compromise deal, which would put Maassen in a better paid job, unravelled on Friday when Andrea Nahles - leader of the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), junior partner in Merkel's conservative-led coalition - said it was a mistake.Washington: Can you say awkward?

Those on social media were left cringing this weekend after an ad released by the Democratic opponent to Republican Congressman Paul Gosar. It showed a batch of voters detailing why Gosar is bad for Arizona.

Representative Paul Gosar Credit:Bloomberg

It wasn't until the end of the one-minute spot, that all six revealed they were Gosar's siblings -- and were supporting his opponent, David Brill.

Gosar, naturally, was not pleased. He sent out several tweets trying to rebuff their criticism, calling them "liberal Democrats who hate President Trump."Thats how sure Mejia was that Mayor Richard Irvin was going to give him a liquor license again  despite past violations against his partner at another bar in town  despite a rocky history with the city when he was involved with this same location when it operated as Midtown Pub and Grill  and despite the citys vision to fill that lower level of the historic Leland Tower with a more upscale restaurant.Washington: The Senate Judiciary Committee and lawyers for the woman who has accused Judge Brett Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her when they were teenagers reached a tentative agreement Saturday for her to publicly testify on Thursday.

After a brief call late on Saturday, the lawyers and aides to Republican Senator Charles Grassley, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, planned to talk again to continue negotiations over the conditions of the testimony, according to three people familiar with the call.

Negotiations could still falter over the details, which include who will question the woman, Christine Blasey Ford. But in tentatively agreeing to a hearing on Thursday, Republicans made a significant concession that suggested they were working to ensure that the session occurred after several days of uncertainty.

If no final deal is made, Grassley will be left to decide whether to move ahead with a committee vote on Kavanaugh's Supreme Court nomination scheduled for Monday. Kavanaugh, who has vigorously denied the allegations, has repeatedly expressed his desire to testify.Bills on thorny topics like justice reform, international trade, and the Trans Mountain pipeline greeted Provencher MP Ted Falk this week as Parliament resumed, but hanging over it all will be ongoing NAFTA renegotiations hamstrung by competing interests south of the border.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 23/9/2018 (1144 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Bills on thorny topics like justice reform, international trade, and the Trans Mountain pipeline greeted Provencher MP Ted Falk this week as Parliament resumed, but hanging over it all will be ongoing NAFTA renegotiations hamstrung by competing interests south of the border.

Falk said Tuesday he hopes Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland can secure an outcome that will be "at least as good a deal as what we had, hopefully better."

If Washington imposes automotive tariffs, Falk said they could hurt not only auto workers in Ontario, but also dealerships here at home.

"Ive had concern expressed by the Steinbach Automobile Dealers Associationas to how theyre already being impacted by these failed NAFTA talks, and what some of the consequences going forward could be."

With the future of North American free trade up in the air, the federal government is striving to pass the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) to encourage more trade between Canada and various Pacific Rim nations.

Falk said he supports Bill C-79, which he views as a modified version of a trade deal the Conservatives under Stephen Harper planned three years ago.

"Were actually very supportive of that trade deal, even without the Americans, (but) we would have preferred they would have been in there," he said.

The CPTPP could allow local businesses like Bothwell Cheese and HyLife to find new market share in Asian countries, Falk said.

"When they can do that, they also employ more people in Provencher."

New export avenues for grain and oilseed producers could open up too, he added.

But Falk said he and the rest of the Conservative caucus will dig in their heels on a raft of justice reforms the governing Liberals hope to pass.

"We focused on victims when we looked at justice legislation, and the Liberals focus seems to be concerned for the perpetrator or the offender," Falk said.

In particular, Falk was skeptical of Bill C-71, which would require gun vendors to keep a record of buyers licence numbers.

He said its unlikely to reduce gun and gang-related violence in urban areas.

"Its creating a greater degree of accountability on people that are already law-abiding," he said.

Neither did Falk see its benefit for curbing rural property crime, an issue he helped spotlight earlier this year.

"A lot of the rural crime that were seeing isnt necessarily gun violence crime."

Falk said he will also continue to press the government to remove what he called the "horrible" Canada Summer Jobs Program charter values attestation.

Meanwhile, his spot on the Standing Committee on Natural Resources will afford him a front-row seat to continuing debates over the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion.

During an emergency meeting on Sept. 4, the committee narrowly defeated a motion to ask the ministers of natural resources and finance to tell the committee more about the governments next steps.

Falk said he was disappointed with the 5-4 vote.

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"We want answers," he said. "It impacts all of Canada."

As Falk enters his second year as the deputy shadow minister for employment, workforce development, and labour, he will work alongside a new shadow minister. Alberta MP John Barlow replaces Quebec MP Steven Blaney in the role.

Falk said he anticipates working well with Barlow, formerly shadow minister for agriculture and agri-food, and said the two will examine the Red Seal trades program together.

The Parliamentary session, which began Monday, will conclude in June 2019, leaving Canadians on the doorstep of the next federal election.

Falk said its bound to have an effect on debate in the House of Commons.

"I think youll start to see things get heated up a little bit more," he said, especially after NAFTA renegotiations conclude.At noon, attendees are invited to meet at Clara Howard Park on Fremont Street between Hill and Gifford. At 1 p.m. all are invited to return to ONeal Elementary for refreshments and to see the documentary, which will be shown in the school gym. An exhibit associated with the documentary that will be on display at the school.Im so impressed by the walk and this group every year, Darch said. Lyme disease, as you all know, is not well known. You have done so much to raise awareness and educate people. Im happy to have you here in our community.Fourth Witness Claims No Recollection of Alleged Kavanaugh Assault Against Ford

A fourth witness has come forward to refute accusations against Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh, constituting a unanimous denial by all of those said to be present during an alleged 1982 sexual assault, other than the accuser herself.

The latest denial, issued on Sept. 22 by the lawyer for Leland Keyserone of the four witnesses named by accuser Christine Fordcomes days before Ford is expected to offer her account to the Senate Judiciary Committee at a Sept. 27 hearing.

Keysers denial could be viewed as the most powerful since she is reportedly Fords lifelong friend, something Fords lawyers havent disputed.

Staffers for Republicans on the committee reached out to Keyser as part of their investigation into Fords claims.

Simply put, Ms. Keyser does not know Mr. Kavanaugh and she has no recollection of ever being at a party or gathering where he was present, with, or without, Dr. Ford, Howard Walsh, an attorney for Keyser, wrote.

In a July 30 letter to Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, the ranking Democrat on the committee, Ford alleged that she and four other people, including Kavanaugh, were present in a Maryland-area home at the time of the alleged assault. Only Kavanaugh is identified in a partially redacted version of the letter that was leaked to the press.

Feinstein sat on the letter for weeks, choosing to disclose its existence only after the hearings and days before the committee was set to recommend Kavanaugh for a full Senate vote.

Ford identified one other witness, Mark Judge, in a Sept. 16 Washington Post article where she first told her story. The Judiciary Committee pinned down the identities of the other witness, including Patrick Smyth, in the course of its investigation.

Smyth, Keyser, and Judge have denied Fords allegation in letters to the committee under the penalty of felony perjury. Kavanaugh denied the allegation in person under oath before the committee. Ford remains the only witness to not have provided a statement to the committee.

These official letters from the 4 named by Dr. Forddenying any knowledge of what Dr. Ford has allegedserve the same purpose as sworn testimony, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), a member of the judiciary committee, wrote on Twitter on Sept. 23. We remain hopeful well hear sworn testimony from the 5th, Dr. Ford herself.

The denial from the fourth witness became public shortly after staffers for Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) reached a tentative agreement with Fords lawyers on a date, time, and a set of conditions for Fords testimony. Grassley had granted Ford five deadline extensions before both parties agreed on a hearing.

Negotiations

According to Hatch, Fords lawyers sent a long list of conditions for her testimony. Grassley agreed to several items, including postponing the hearing by three days, ensuring Fords safety, and not having Kavanaugh in the same room during her testimony.

Grassley rejected other conditions, including that Kavanaugh testifies first.

Judge Kavanaugh would be forced [to] answer about a Washington Post article detailing allegations, not the words of his accuser. An obvious nonstarter, Hatch wrote on Twitter.

Fords lawyers also asked the committee to subpoena other witnesses. Grassley had rejected that demand in a letter, writing that one witness cant compel the committee to subpoena other witnesses. Grassley also said that Fords lawyers were attempting to dictate how the committee conducts its hearings.

Two conditions are still in dispute, according to Hatch. Fords lawyers continue to demand additional witnesses to be called to testify and have taken issue with the committee retaining its own counsel.

If they continue to contest those two things there wont be a hearing, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) told Fox News Sunday. Were not going to turn the hearing over to her lawyers.

Profoundly Unfair

Grassley has repeatedly castigated Feinstein for waiting to disclose the letter at a politically opportune moment.

In a letter to Fords lawyers, the committee wrote that Feinsteins move was unfair to both Ford and Kavanaugh.

Ford wanted to remain anonymous when she wrote to Feinstein, but was reportedly forced to come forward after the existence of the letter was leaked to the press. In addition to sidelining Fords request for anonymity, Feinsteins delay was also unfair to Kavanaugh, the committee staff wrote. Kavanaugh could have addressed the accusation during weeks of rigorous vetting by the committee, including three days of public hearings.

Senator Feinstein also could have referred these allegations anonymously and confidentially to the FBI when she was made aware of them, committee staff wrote. That would have protected her anonymity, as Dr. Ford requested.

These actions were profoundly unfair to both parties, the letter continued. Judge Kavanaugh has unequivocally denied Dr. Fords allegations. He should have been given the opportunity to say so directly to Senator Feinstein had he been made aware of serious allegations against him.

President Donald Trump nominated Kavanaugh for the Supreme Court seat of Justice Anthony Kennedy, who retired on July 31.A poster of the Pope is seen in a closed church in Xincun, in China's central Henan Province on Aug. 12, 2018. (Greg Baker/AFP/Getty Images)

An Agreement Between the Holy See and Communist China?

Commentary

Communists came to power in China in 1949. As happens everywhere that communism spreads, the government soon began jailing religious leaders, driving out missionaries, and dismantling or destroying churches.

The regime expelled papal representatives and broke diplomatic relations with the Holy See in 1951. Since then, the estimated 12 million Chinese Catholics have had two options: join the state-controlled Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association or attend a house church as part of the underground Catholic Church that remains loyal to Rome.

One huge issue at the heart of the division between China and the Catholic Church relates to the appointment of bishops. Canon 377.5 in the Code of Canon Law states that no rights or privileges of election, appointment, presentation, or designation of bishops are conceded to civil authorities. Chinese authorities, however, insist on that right.

By the most recent count, there are about 100 bishops in China. Of those, about 65 belong to the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association and around 35 belong to the underground church. Some government-appointed bishops have been excommunicated by Rome. Now, however, an agreement may be at hand.

Media reports say that a high-level delegation from the Holy See will soon travel to China for the signing of an agreement on the nomination of bishops. This news has caused a good deal of consternation in the Catholic world, particularly among those who know of the recent abuses of the church by the Chinese government.

Destruction and Imprisonment

In 2014, Chinese officials instructed crews to demolish or hide statues depicting Biblical scenes at a site of Catholic pilgrimage in the city of Wenzhou. Hundreds of Protestant churches were also damaged or destroyed as part of this campaign. The behavior was likened to the smashing of church property during the Cultural Revolution.

In 2015, 94-year-old Bishop Cosmas Shi Enxiang died in prison after having spent 54 years working in forced labor camps because of his faith. He had been ordained as a priest two years before the communists came to power. He was first arrested in 1954 and spent much of the following three decades at hard labor. He was eventually released and ordained as a bishop in Chinas underground Catholic Church. Unfortunately, he was imprisoned again between 1989 and 1993 and a final time from 2001 (when he was last seen) until his death. There was no trial or charges; his crime was spreading his faith.

At the time, Bishop Enxiangs death left James Su Zhimin as the only Chinese Catholic bishop still being held in secret detention. He has been in custody since October 1997, when he refused to join the state-sanctioned church. He has not been heard from in several years, but according to a 2015 report from his family, the Chinese government has offered him as a bargaining chip in negotiations with the Vatican.

Even as the negotiations for the planned upcoming agreement have been taking place, the Chinese government further tightened its grip on religion.

In recent weeks, Chinese President Xi Jinping launched a program to Sinicize all religions to make sure that they are in accord with the Communist Party viewpoint. As part of that policy, authorities shut down the largest Protestant house-church in Beijing.

Additionally, a draft regulation proposed banning all foreigners from using the internet to promote religion, prohibiting live-streaming and online broadcasts, and requiring licenses from governmental offices for all sanctioned church groups.

New rules put in place earlier this year increased penalties for unofficial congregations and for unregistered religious activities by Buddhists and Muslims.

New Agreement

While the exact terms of the proposed agreement between Rome and Beijing remain confidential, sources report that candidates for the bishopric will be chosen at the diocesan level through a democratic election system that the Chinese authorities introduced in 1957.

Under this process, priests, nuns, and laypeople will vote from a slate of candidates presented by the government. The results of these elections then will be sent to authorities in Beijing, who will examine them and then submit a name to the Holy See. The pope will make the final decision whether to approve. Details of what happens following a papal veto are unclear.

The proposed agreement includes recognition by the Holy See of seven illegitimate Chinese bishops who were ordained without the popes approval over the past decade or so, three of whom have been excommunicated by Rome. They will be named as bishops of their respective dioceses.

This concession by the pope on excommunicated bishops would require bishops who have rejected government control in their dioceses to step aside in favor of government-appointed bishops. They would then have to join the Patriotic Association to gain official recognition. One bishop has already balked at the idea of turning his diocese over to an excommunicated, government-approved bishop, and many priests have expressed unwillingness to join in the communist-sanctioned church.

I would make a cartoon showing the pope kneeling and offering the keys of the kingdom of heaven and saying, Now, please recognize me as pope. The advisers of the pope are giving him advice to renounce his authority, said Cardinal Joseph Zen, a former bishop of Hong Kong, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Sources in Rome say that Pope Francis is convinced that more is to be gained through dialogue, encounter, and friendship. Heres hoping he is correct. There certainly are numerous differences that need to be resolved. The parties dont currently agree on the status of the Chinese bishops conference (not recognized by Rome), the ability of Chinese bishops and Holy See officials to travel back and forth, and even the size, number, and location of Catholic dioceses in China.

For its part, China has always viewed religion through a political lens. It undoubtedly sees the benefit it would gain from an agreement with the Holy See. They are significant, and they include the chance to hijack the Catholic Church in that nation.

Ronald J. Rychlak is the Jamie L. Whitten chair in law and government at the University of Mississippi. He is the author of several books, including Hitler, the War, and the Pope, Disinformation (co-authored with Ion Mihai Pacepa), and The Persecution and Genocide of Christians in the Middle East (co-edited with Jane Adolphe).

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.Anti-Kavanaugh Groups Could Lose Non-Profit Status for Disrupting Hearings

Several groups that organized people to disrupt Judge Brett Kavanaughs Supreme Court confirmation hearings could be at risk of being stripped of their tax-exempt status for violating Internal Revenue Service rules, based on a review of the agencys applicable rules.

The groups encouraged protesters to commit acts of civil disobedience by disrupting the hearings. The IRS prohibits giving tax-exempt status to organizations that plan or encourage illegal activities, which, in past practice, included civil disobedience.

Over 200 people were arrested during the four days of hearings, held Sept. 4 to 7, for disrupting the hearings. They were organized by Womens March and Center for Popular Democracy Action (CPDA), both holding 501(c)(4) tax-exempt status as social welfare organizations, as well as Housing Works, which holds the 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status reserved for charitable organizations.

A CPDA representative was photographed handing money to some participants in the disruptions. Another CPDA representative, Jennifer Flynn Walker, said on record the money, $50, was meant to cover fines the participants were expected to incur for disrupting the hearings. The participants were supposed to return unused cash.

The website, set up by Womens March, asks willing participants to register and the online form asks, Can you participate in civil disobedience/risk arrest?

It gives two options: CD participant! and Providing support onsite, but not getting arrested.

That appears to be exactly what the IRS prohibits.

IRS Rules

Not only is the actual conduct of illegal activities inconsistent with exemption, but the planning and sponsoring of such activities are also incompatible with charity and social welfare, a 1985 IRS document stated (pdf).

The document cites a previous IRS ruling, which stated that an organization that planned and sponsored protest demonstrations at which members were urged to commit acts of civil disobedience did not qualify for IRC 501(c)(3) or (4) exemption.

In fact, the organizations that planned the hearing disruptions violated IRS rules even before the protests took place, according to the document.

Because planning and sponsoring illegal acts are in themselves inconsistent with charity and social welfare it is not necessary to determine whether illegal acts were, in fact, committed, it stated.

No Sign of Stopping

On Sept. 17, the three groups held a conference call where they encouraged activists to continue civil disobedience as well as an intent to shut down the Sept. 24 Senate Judiciary Committee meeting, according to The Daily Caller News Foundation, which reported Sept. 20 that it listened in on the call.

The committee was scheduled either to vote on the nomination or hear testimony from Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, the California professor who has accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her in 1982. As of 2:30 on the afternoon of Sept. 22, Ford had accepted Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassleys invitation to testify sometime in the upcoming week.

The groups plan to continue to cover the fines.

If you do not have access to your cash we will certainly be able to arrange to get it to you before the action, said Housing Works national advocacy coordinator Paul Davis, during the call. CPDA national field organizer Darius Gordon also participated.

Money Trail

CPDAs Walker said the group crowdfunded the money used to cover fines for the hearing disruptors. The estimated $10,000 in bail money would hardly set the group back though. Progressive billionaire George Soros alone has given the CPDA Fund over $900,000 since 2016 and about another $1.3 million to its sister organization, CPD, since 2014. Its other major contributors included the Ford and Wyss foundations (pdf).

The CPDA Fund finished the fiscal year 2016 (the last available data) with close to $700,000 in cash.

Womens March raised close to $200,000 on CrowdRise to Cancel Kavanaugh. The group offered to pick up travel, accommodation, legal training, and bail costs for the activists, its senior adviser, Winnie Wong, told CNN.

Womens March has over 500 partners of whom 100 received a combined total of nearly $250 million from Soros between 2000 and 2014, according to the conservative Media Research Center.

The CPDA, Womens March, and Housing Works, as well as the IRS, didnt respond to requests for comment.Border Patrol agents have aliens remove their shoelaces and belongings before loading them in a van for transport in Hidalgo County, Texas, on May 26, 2017. (Benjamin Chasteen/The Epoch Times)

Experts Spar Over New Estimate of 22 Million Illegal Immigrants in US

After Yale researchers estimated there are perhaps 22 million illegal immigrants in the United States, multiple immigration think-tanks blasted the study for flawed methodology. But the authors have pushed back.

The study estimated that there are 12-37 million illegal immigrants in the country, with a conservative estimate of 16.7 million and an average estimate of 22.1 million.

Multiple expert groups, including those of the Homeland Security Department (DHS), have for years estimated the number to be about 11-12 million (pdf).

The old estimates used the residual method, where the number of legal immigrants is subtracted from the Census Bureau count of all immigrants. The result is then corrected upwards for under-reporting as illegal immigrants are more likely to be missed or avoid census counts and surveys.

The new estimate starts from a 1990 baseline of 3.5 million illegal immigrants, which has been somewhat validated by how many took advantage of the 1986 immigration amnesty. The researchers then estimated how many people illegally crossed the borders, overstayed their visas, were deported, left the country on their own, gained legal status, or died.

By using new DHS data on visa overstays and illegal border crossings, the authorsMohammad Fazel-Zarandi, Jonathan Feinstein, and Edward Kaplanestimated the illegal immigrant population for 2016.

The study was published in the PLOS One journal on Sept. 21.

Pushback

The same day, the journal also published a commentary by four researchers from the Migration Policy Institute (MPI) think-tank.

The commentary stated the new study was flawed because, among other issues, it improperly used 2005-2010 DHS estimates to count successful border crossers in the 1990s.

In the 1990s, many migrants crossed multiple times in the same year, or they came for just a year or two before permanently leaving, the researchers noted in an MPI article. Back then, illegal crossers faced few consequences, so little deterred them from coming, leaving, and returning again.

The MPI argued that by counting each repeated entry as a new illegal immigrant, the new study overcounted.

However, the MPI argument of few consequences at the border in the 1990s has its problems too. At the time, Border Patrol doubled its force and was catching 1 million to 1.5 million border crossers a year, compared to some 400,000 in 2016.

Still, the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), a think-tank which advocates a low-immigration, pro-immigrant policy, concurred with the MPI. The CIS criticised the new study for failing to reconcile its results with other data.

It seems extremely unlikely that the Census Bureau, the Department of Education, and other records of vital statistics miss so many people year after year, said Steven Camarota, CISs director of research, in a Sept. 22 release.

Even illegal immigrants know they need birth certificates for their children, if only to ensure U.S. citizenship for them, Camarota told The Epoch Times. The children then enroll in schools. If the Census Bureau missed that many illegal immigrants, its estimates would diverge much more from birth and school data. But they dont, he said.

You have to do a reality check, Camarota said. Does it comport with the real world? And I dont think [the new study authors] did that.

Defense

The authors of the new study rejected the criticism.

These criticisms are seriously flawed, and reflect a deep misunderstanding of the mathematical techniques we employ, Kaplan, a professor of operations research, public health, and engineering, told The Epoch Times via email.

In an article addressing some of the pushback, the authors pointed out that the old estimates relied on illegal immigrants answering questions honestly on surveys, or answering at all.

The residual method is giving a precise estimate of the wrong quantity, they stated.

They didnt explain, however, how the old estimates seem to align with birth certificates and school enrollment data.

New Approach

While critical, the MPI researchers commended the new study for making creative use of the new DHS data. The MPI noted that the new studys estimates of growth in illegal immigrant population after 2000 align with other research.

By adjusting the new estimates based on the old DHS estimate of 8.5 illegal immigrants in 2000, one would come up with a conservative estimate of about 11.7 million and an average estimate of 13.6 million illegal immigrants in 2016.

Camarota said there could be more illegal immigrants than the usual estimates show and that perhaps the new study indicates that.Friend of Kavanaugh Accuser Denies Ever Being at a Party With Kavanaugh, 4th Person to Rebut Claims

Four people have now disputed a sexual assault allegation made by a California woman against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, with the latest being a friend of the accuser who definitively stated: she has no recollection of ever being at a party where he was present.

Christine Blasey Ford, a professor, has said Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her in 1982 in Maryland when he was 17 and she was 15. But she has provided no date, time, or place, and four of the people she claimed were at the party where the alleged assault occurred have denied that it happened.

Leland Ingham Keyser is the fourth person to deny the claim. Through her lawyer, she released a statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee on the night of Saturday, Sept. 22, following a staff member of the committee reaching out to her.

Simply put, Ms. Keyser does not know Mr. Kavanaugh and she has no recollection of ever being at a party or gathering where he was present, with, or without, Dr. Ford, said Howard Walsh, Keysers lawyer, in the statement, which was also sent to CNN.

Walsh acknowledged that Keyser is a longtime friend of Fords dating back to high school.

The fourth denial came just hours after Fords lawyers said that she accepted the Senates offer to testify about the alleged assault.

Other Denials

Kavanaugh has vehemently denied the allegation and provided testimony under penalty of perjury to the committee early in the week after the allegation first surfaced.

This is a completely false allegation. I have never done anything like what the accuser describesto her or to anyone, Kavanaugh said in a statement. Because this never happened, I had no idea who was making the accusation until she identified herself yesterday. I am willing to talk to the Senate Judiciary Committee in any way the committee deems appropriate to refute this false allegation, from 36 years ago, and defend my integrity.

Mark Judge, another of the people who Ford claimed was at the party and a student with Kavanaugh at Georgetown Preparatory School in Bethesda, has also denied the allegation.

I have no memory of this alleged incident, Judge said in his statement to the committee. Brett Kavanaugh and I were friends in high school but I do not recall the party described in Dr. Fords letter. More to the point, I never saw Brett act in the manner Dr. Ford describes.

I have no information to offer the Committee and I do not wish to speak publicly regarding the incidents described in Dr. Fords letter, Judge added.

Patrick Smyth, also named by Ford as a party attendee, has also denied her allegation.

I have no knowledge of the party in question; nor do I have any knowledge of the allegations of improper conduct she has leveled against Brett Kavanaugh, Smyth said in a letter sent to the Senate Judiciary Committee that was also obtained by CNN.

White House Responds

NEW: White House releases statement on new information. regarding Dr. Fords allegation against Judge Kavanaugh: pic.twitter.com/xGFAiep3P1  CBS Evening News (@CBSEveningNews) September 23, 2018

A White House representative responded to the revelation that four people now deny the sexual assault allegation.

One week ago, Dr. Christine Ford claimed she was assaulted at a house party attended by four others. Since then, all four of these individuals have provided statements to the Senate Judiciary Committee denying any knowledge of the incident or even having attended such a party, spokeswoman Keri Kupec said in the statement, reported CBS.

From NTD.tvGerman Coalitions Future at Stake as Parties Again Try to Resolve Spymaster Affair

BERLINThe fate of German Chancellor Angela Merkels unwieldy six-month-old government hangs in the balance as the nations three coalition parties seek again to resolve a dispute over Germanys scandal-tainted spymaster.

The coalition parties agreed on Sept. 18 to transfer spy chief Hans-Georg Maassen to the interior ministry, following accusations that he harbors far-right views for questioning the authenticity of video footage showing radicals hounding migrants in the eastern city of Chemnitz.

But the compromise deal, which would put Maassen in a better-paid job, unraveled Sept. 21 when Andrea Nahlesleader of the center-left Social Democrats (SPD), the junior partner in Merkels conservative-led coalitionsaid it was a mistake.

Merkel and her Bavarian ally Horst Seehofer agreed to review the deal and the chancellor said the three party leaders wanted to find a sustainable solution. However, Seehofer, who is Germanys interior minister, told the Bild am Sonntag newspaper that the party leaders would only meet after he knew what SPDs demands were and how conservatives could reach an agreement with the SPD.

He said Maassen was competent, had integrity, and hadnt committed a disciplinary offense. He rejected that Maassen is right-wing, adding, I will, therefore, not dismiss him.

A spokesperson for Seehofers Bavaria-based Christian Social Union couldnt immediately be reached. A senior Bild journalist said Seehofers comments had referred to the post that Maassen was due to take at the interior ministry.

Common Mission

Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, general secretary of Merkels Christian Democrats (CDU), wrote to party members to say the CDU thought the planned talks should be used to clarify whether all coalition partners can continue to unite together behind the common mission.

She said there must no longer be any doubt about whether the governing parties are able and willing to tackle the issues that mattered to people.

Former SPD leader Sigmar Gabriel told magazine Der Spiegel, If the grand coalition doesnt manage to do what the people expect of itnamely stability and an ability to actit has lost its raison detre.

But Nahles told Bild am Sonntag the government wouldnt fail due to the Maassen affair. She rejected calls from within the SPD to quit the grand coalition, saying Germany needed a government that was capable of acting.

The SPDs Olaf Scholz, who is Germanys vice chancellor, told the daily Tagesspiegel that the government was elected for the entire legislative periodwhich runs to 2021but added that these wouldnt be easy years for the coalition.

Nahles had been widely criticized by SPD members for agreeing to the deal, with some calling for the party to quit the coalition. Some members praised her for admitting the mistake and seeking to correct it.

Combined support for Merkels CDU and Seehofers Christian Social Union slumped to a record low of 28 percent, an Emnid poll for BamS showed, while the far-right Alternative for Germanywhich has backed Maassenwas at 16 percent, just behind the SPD on 17 percent.

By Michelle MartinThe logo of Google is pictured during the Viva Tech startup and technology summit in Paris, France, on May 25, 2018. (Reuters/Charles Platiau)

Google Staffers Said to Have Discussed Manipulating Search Results to Counter Trumps Travel Ban

Google employees may have acted on their political biases, as indicated by internal emails obtained by The Wall Street Journal that found staff brainstorming and discussing methods to tweak the companys search-related functions as a counter to President Donald Trumps 2017 travel ban.

Staff discussed modifying results to guide users toward sites on how to contribute to pro-immigration organizations or contact lawmakers and government agencies. The email chains included other suggestions about using the companys resources to actively counter the travel ban.

The new revelations are the latest sign that Google could be suppressing conservative voices while promoting liberal views,

after a leaked video showed the companys leadership openly mourning Hillary Clintons 2016 loss to staff and discussing how Trumps election conflicts with many of the companys values. In that case, Google said the executives were expressing their own beliefs and didnt influence the products.

An email from a staff member in the Search Product Marketing division explained how a large brainstorm was taking place in the companys marketing division.

The emails showed employees discussing methods to leverage search functions and take steps to counter what they considered to be islamophobic, algorithmically biased results from search terms Islam, Muslim, Iran, etc. and prejudiced, algorithmically biased search results from search terms Mexico, Hispanic, Latino, etc.

Overall idea: Leverage search to highlight important organizations to donate to, current news, etc. to keep people abreast of how they can help, as well as the resources available for immigrations [sic] or people traveling, the internal email said.

The emails were sent shortly after the Trump administration instituted its January 2017 travel ban that temporarily barred visitors and immigrants from seven Muslim-majority countries considered high risk by the Obama administration. The ban was contested and revised multiple times before the Supreme Court upheld it in June.

In one of the emails reviewed by the Journal, a worker wrote about increasing results for pro-immigration organizations: I know this would require a full-on sprint to make happen, but I think this is the sort of super-timely and imperative information that we need as we know that this country and Google, would not exist without immigration.

Google employees also discussed a list of specific ideas already mentioned by individual company officials previously. Some wanted to actively counter what they called anti-Islamic and anti-Hispanic Google searches results. An experimental project codenamed Highlights that would provide influential people the ability to post text updates in search results, was also brought forward.

Can we launch an ephemeral experience that includes Highlights, up-to-date info from the US State Dept, DHS, links to donate to ACLU [American Civil Liberties Union], etc? one email said.

The response from multiple officials to the list was favorable.

Were absolutely in.  Anything you need, one official wrote.

One executive, identified as a public-affairs official, pointed out the biased nature of the proposal: Very much in favor of Google stepping up, but just have a few questions on this, including how partisan we want to be on this.

To the extent of my knowledge, wed be breaching precedent if we only gave Highlights access to organizations that support a certain view of the world in a time of political conflict, the public-affairs executive said. Is that accurate? If so, would we be willing to open access to highlights to [organizations] that  actually support the ban?

A Google spokesperson told The Epoch Times on Sept. 21 that none of the discussed ideas in the email chain were put into practice.

These emails were just a brainstorm of ideas, none of which were ever implemented, the spokesperson said via email. Google has never manipulated its search results or modified any of its products to promote a particular political ideologynot in the current campaign season, not during the 2016 election, and not in the aftermath of President Trumps executive order on immigration.

A research expert previously told The Epoch Times that Google uses invisible techniques that cant be monitored and that leave no paper trail.

In a staff memo reviewed by the Journal, Google CEO Sundar Pichai acknowledged the recent criticisms of the company by warning staff members in a Sept. 21 memo to keep their political biases out of their work.Mosquito Attack Helps Police Nab Fleeing Suspect

Police in Wisconsin said they caught a suspect after he hid in a cornfield but later gave himself up because he couldnt stand the mosquitoes.

Deputies said they responded to a call that a man had stolen alcohol from a Piggly Wiggly store in the town Campbellsport, Fond du Lac County, according to ABC.

Store manager Kevin Harvey told WDJT-CBS reporters that he recognized a man placing bottles of booze into a cart at the Piggly Wiggly as the same individual that had previously stolen alcohol there on four occasions.

Surveillance video reportedly captured the suspect on Tuesday, Sept. 18, as he swiped three bottles of Jagermeister.

Harvey chased the man out of the store, it was reported, but the suspect leapt into a getaway car driven by a man later identified as John Wilson. The two fled.

Police chased the getaway vehicle, and the still-unnamed suspect managed to roll out at some point during the pursuit.

Meanwhile, Wilson, who stopped the car after evading the police for about three miles, ran into a cornfield and hid.

Deputies established a perimeter.

Campbellsport Police Department Chief Thomas Dronbrook said the mosquitoes were out in full force.

As soon as the sheriffs department arrived thats the first thing I asked for, if he could give me some spray because it was crazy, Dornbrook said.

Within an hour, Wilson emerged from hiding with his hands up.

When we handcuffed him he asked us to wipe his forehead because he had 15-20 mosquitoes on his forehead at that time, the chief said.

Dronbrook credits the insects with helping make the bust.

I tease Sergeant Zitlow, he along with a million mosquitoes helped capture the guy, said Dornbrook, according to CBS.

Wilson faces charges that include evading the police and obstructing an officer of the law.

The unnamed thief remains at large.Pence Says Obama Administration Stifled US Economy

WASHINGTONJobless claims are the lowest since the 1960s, unemployment is the lowest since 2000, wage growth is the highest its been since 2008and Vice President Mike Pence says theres a message in that for former President Barack Obama.

It didnt just happen, Pence said in Washington on Sept. 22. Its because the American people made a choice in 2016 to change the direction of this country.

The truth is the last administration stifled our economy under an avalanche of red tape.  The last president almost, [he] virtually declared war on American energy.

Pence, speaking at the 2018 Values Voter Summit dedicated to advancing religious liberty and limited government, said he was incensed by remarks that Obama made at a political rally in Pennsylvania a day earlier about the economy.

Obama, who inherited the 2008 financial crisis, touted the longest streak of job creation on record, 20 million more people signed up for health insurance since 2010, and higher wages than when he took office as proof that the growth in the economy under President Donald Trump isnt that incredible.

So when you hear folks taking credit for this economic miracle, its like, Hold up,' he said. They act like it just started.

While all the economic gains he cited are true, its not the whole picture.

While Obama is correct that more people more people have health insurance thanks to the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, the federal governments expenditures on the programwhich come out of taxpayer pocketshave grown dramatically. For example, when Obama took office in 2009, the federal government spent $250.9 billion on Medicaid. Last year, the federal government spent about $430 billion on the program, an increase of 71 percent.

Obamacare also has pushed up insurance premiums, mostly for those who dont get subsidies from the government, and that has made insurance premiums and deductibles almost double since 2010, when Obamacare was implemented.

Both the employment rate and job growth increased steadily while Obama was in office, but the administration would have had to stifle the economy to keep those rates at the crisis levels they were at in 2009.

Pence cited the GOP tax cuts and getting rid of the individual mandate for health insurance as factors that have increased gross domestic product (GDP) from less than 2 percent growth when Trump took office to over 4 percent now.

President Obama, you presided over the weakest economic expansion since the Great Depression, Pence said. This economy isnt booming because of your policies, its booming because weve been rolling back the failed policies of your administration since Day One.

But more important than the economy, he assured the crowd that the Trump administration stands for the values that the country was founded upon: respect for the sanctity of life, support for the rule of law, freedom of religion, and a free market.

The truth is faith, family, hard work, and patriotism are the glue that has bound the fabric of our nation for generations. Were not a people bound together by geography or ethnicity. Were a people bound together by a common commitment to freedom and a belief that we the people are endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rights of life, and liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, he said.

He warned voters that if the conservatives lose their majority in Congress, the progress that that administration has made so far and the further progress that could be made would likely be lost.

Complacency, he warned, is the greatest threat to keeping a Republican majority in the House and Senate, and the right must match and surpass the energy and enthusiasm of the left if its going to win.

You know, history records that the first midterm election for the party that holds the White House is challenging, and thats been true for our party in all but two elections over the last 100 years, he said.

Thats the conventional wisdom. But I think we all know what President Donald Trump thinks of conventional wisdom.Risk of Prolonged Trade War Appears to Be Subsiding

Markets betting that China may be close to capitulating

News Analysis

The worry that the United States and China will engage in a protracted, full-on trade war may be subsiding, even with the continued doom-and-gloom narrative in mainstream media.

Last week, Beijing proposed 10 percent tariffs on $60 billion of U.S. products, which represents the majority of Chinas imports from the United States. This was in retaliation for President Donald Trump going ahead with duties on $200 billion of Chinese goods which went into effect earlier this month.

After the president threatened further tariffs on another $267 billion of Chinese-made goods, China again vowed retaliation.

But so far, there are few details of what that retaliation would entail. Instead, the markets are betting that China may be close to capitulating.

Less Combative Rhetoric

Behind closed doors, there are signs that China may be ready to call a cease-fire. After so far matching U.S. tariffs dollar-for-dollar, Beijing is running out of dollars to tax.

They dont know what to do, Raul Hinojosa-Ojeda, a trade specialist at UCLA who has been traveling around China recently speaking with businesspeople and officials, told The New York Times. They worry that the tit-for-tat model is playing into Trumps hands.

China plans to lower tariffs from the majority of its trade partners in October, according to a Sept. 20 Bloomberg report that cites anonymous officials. This would mirror Chinese Premier Li Keqiangs statement Sept. 19 that China would look to reduce tariffs, though without offering specifics.

Chinas plan isnt to appease the United States per se, but to reduce the economic burden on Chinese consumers. So far, its unclear if any of the planned reduction in duties would affect U.S. products. World Trade Organization rules dictate that tariff reduction must be applied to all countries equally, so China could selectively reduce tariffs on products that it doesnt import in large quantities from the United States.

The announcement wasnt completely surprising. As of the end of 2017, Chinas average Most Favored Nation (MFN) tariffs rate was 9.8 percent, one of the highest among developed countries.

The United States is also open to negotiations. While no formal talks are planned, a White House official told Reuters that I am still optimistic that there is a positive way forward, and the president wants us to continue to engage to try to achieve a positive way forward.

Recent stock market movements also indicate a potential trade war cease-fire. The Shanghai Composite Index, the countrys benchmark stock index, rose 2.5 percent on Sept. 21. It ended last week up 4.3 percent, the best week in two years. The S&P 500 was also up around 0.8 percent during the week.

The president of one of the worlds biggest investment firms also is optimistic that the trade war will resolve itself. Jon Gray, president of the Blackstone Group, told CNBC, My optimism comes from the fact its in the parties interest that if we stop trade and investment between these two big countries, it wouldnt be good.

Lessons for China

Chinas strategy was to enact agricultural tariffscorn, soybeans, and meatslong enough to hurt Trumps voter base in the U.S. heartland. But it appears to have underestimated support for Trumps foreign policy towards China.

The drawn-out trade war has confirmed a bleak reality for Beijing: Existing tariffs may be more permanent than previously thought.

Democrats have opposed most of Trumps agenda since his election, but his views on China have received broader support. Even if Trump isnt re-elected in 2020, its no guarantee that todays hawkish trade policy towards China would soften.

If China does capitulate to the United States in the current trade war, there are longer-term implications for U.S. businesses. In the long run, U.S. businesses and farmers could theoretically lose some business.

Mu Yan Kui, an executive at a major Chinese soybean importer told Reuters that a potential Chinese decision to slash soymeal content from pig feed could decimate Chinese soybean imports from the United States. Cutting soybean content to 12 percent from 20 percent would save 27 million metric tons of soybeans, equating to more than 80 percent of Chinese imports from the United States.

Outside of agriculture, China is also investing in domestic technology firms developing semiconductors, robotics, and automation technologies.

If nothing else, the trade dispute solidifies Chinas conviction that it must pare its reliance on American business.(I)t is clear from the final results and award amounts that school districts in Illinois that have less needy populations have been approved for the grant and are receiving significant dollars, frustrating the overall purpose of the grant, Superintendent Theresa Plascencia said in the appeal letter.Texas Officer Saves Driver From Out-of-Control Pick-Up

A quick-acting police officer from Anna, Texas recently saved the life of a stranded motorist from an out-of-control vehicle.

The story began on Sept. 7, when the tiny town of Anna, Texas, was getting pounded by rainfall from a heavy storm.

Visibility was impeded, the roads were slick, and the 12,000 residents of the town (some 50 miles northeast of Dallas) were finding it hard to navigate the roadways.

Anna police officer Brandon Blair was patrolling carefully along the highway when he saw an SUV on the right side of the road, facing the wrong way, wedged against a tree.

Meghan Herriera was standing by her vehicle, getting soaked by the rain, and more than a little upset, according to local NBC affiliate KTEN News.

Officer Blair headed out into the rain to help the stranded motorist. His dash cam recorded what followed.

When officer Blair approached the damaged car, he started pulling off his raincoat. He could see that the driver was cold and wet and could use the weather protection.

As he handed Herriera his raincoat, Officer Blair saw a speeding pick-up truck sliding sideways around the corner, just a few yards away.

It was literally like Final Destination, like in movies when you see people grab and run, Herriera told KTEN.

Officer Blair grabbed Herriera and pulled her to the side of the road away from both vehicles, as the speeding pick-up slammed broadside into Herrieras SUV.

Its something that you cant see in the video, but it was secondswithin secondsI could have been gone, she said.

While Meghan Herriera stood, stunned, looking at the pick-up which would have hit her had Officer Blair not stopped, the officer called for a tow truck.

I feel like if the scenario was different  if it was on a different road, or one of our major highways, I felt like we wouldnt have been able to get out of the way, Blair told KTEN.

Im very thankful and humble that we were able to avoid getting struck by another car and I was able to return home to my family.

NEW: Tears, hugs as officer with @AnnaTXpolice meets woman he saved from an out-of-control truck earlier this month. pic.twitter.com/fTr1Oe7bWM  Meredith Yeomans (@YeomansNBC5) September 19, 2018

Meghan Herriera visited Officer Blair at the police station on Sept. 19 to thank him for saving both of their lives.

The reunion moved her to tears, according to the Anna Police Department, which posted the story on Facebook, but she felt better telling Officer Blair how grateful she was. The department said the meeting was rewarding for both parties.

From NTD.tv

Watch Next:

How a Traditional Spiritual Practice Changed the Lives of These People

The practice has attracted tens of millions across the world and at its core are just three simple principles: truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance.At Meson Sevilla, the Tapas are Timeless

In an ever changing culinary world, Meson Sevilla stays true to tradition

In Manhattans Theater District, a tapas pioneer has remained a stronghold of traditional Spanish cuisine for 30 years.

Meson Sevilla is a family-owned restaurant with one of the largest tapas selections in New York City. Over those 30 years, it has stayed doggedly true to tradition, serving only authentic Spanish food like what youd find in its home country.

Sticking to Tradition

Owner Adolfo Perez was one of the first to introduce tapas to New York City. A transplant from Galicia, a region in the northwestern corner of Spain, he championed the Spanish small plates, traditionally served as an accompaniment to a drink and eaten over a night of leisurely tapas bar-hopping. His first restaurant, Picasso, was one of the first tapas restaurants in the city. He gained a popular following, and when he opened Meson Sevilla, his fans followed.

Since then, the New York tapas scene has flourished.

But most Spanish tapas places are either fusion or new kitchen, says Adolfo Perez Alvarez, Perezs son and the general manager, while his father has kept the custom alive in a traditional sense. As trends lean modern, Meson Sevilla stands firm, sticking to tradition despite going against the culinary current.

To go that route would be untrue to the essence of the restaurant, of it being traditional, of it being old-world, and reminiscent of a time that doesnt exist anymore, Alvarez says.

In fact, over the years, the tapas menu has actually evolved to become more traditionaldishes ruled insufficiently authentic have been weeded out.

Those that remain are traditional plates that youd find almost anywhere in Spain, Alvarez says. But unlike tapas bars in their home country, which each tend to specialize in only a few tapas, Meson Sevilla offers over 50, making its selection likely the largest in New York City. (Portions are generous, too.)

Some tapas take inspiration from Alvarezs family roots. In Galicia, his grandmother used to prepare banquets for the wealthy, using products from the family farm. It was then that Alvarezs father first started learning about the kitchen, kickstarting a culinary passion that would eventually lead him to New York.

The callos, or tripe, is a hardcore Galician dish (You have to like tripe, Alvarez says), prepared according to his grandmothers recipe. For the less daring, theres the caldo gallego, a super typical Galician soup thats eaten all over Spain. Loaded with chorizo, potato, white beans, and collard greens, its hearty, and comforting, and exudes home-cooked warmth.

Other favorites, which span the rest of the country, include albondigas (Spanish meatballs); patatas bravas (spicy cubes of fried potatoes); and gambas al ajillo, (garlic shrimp), which comes sizzling in a pungent oil thats best sopped up with warm bread.

Spanish Simplicity

Meson Sevillas loyalty to tradition also shines in the preparation of its dishes. In the Spanish kitchen, simplicity is key.

Theyre more traditional in the sense that theyre more true to the actual flavors, Alvarez says. Youre not going to find foams and over-aggressive sauces or over-produced accompaniment.

Its a very Spanish way of cooking, to enhance flavors without changing the flavor of what youre actually preparing.

That philosophy is beautifully showcased in the Pulpo a la Gallega, a typical Galician dish that shows off the regions famed seafood. Meson Sevillas rendition uses a whopping four ingredients: octopus, olive oil, Spanish pimenton, and sea salt.

The octopus comes straight from Portugal or Galicia, whose waters are reputed to be its best source. It arrives frozenthe freezing process tenderizes the meat, so no traditional bashing against the rocks is necessaryand is defrosted just before cooking.

The only preparation required is to then boil the octopus over the course of three to four hours. The secret is knowing when to stop. It seems like a simple thing, but five minutes makes a big difference, Alvarez says.

Meson Sevilla has the timing perfected, and the result is buttery soft. Finished with a simple drizzle of olive oil and sprinkle of pimenton and sea salt, the original flavor of the octopus shines through. The fragrant smokiness of the pimentonauthentic Spanish paprika imported from Spain, not the supermarket varietyelevates without overpowering the briny meat.

A Neighborhood Establishment

Alvarez credits much of Meson Sevillas success to its consistency over the years. Their cook, for instance, has been with them since he was 17 years oldhes now 44.

Reliably authentic and down-to-earth, the menu offers respite from flashy fusion foods or carefully manicured meals. That sense of homeyness extends to the relaxed ambiance and decor: the space is cozy and unpretentious, with an intimate bar that greets you at the door, warm yellow walls hung with paintings of Spanish bullfighters, and strums of Spanish guitar floating over the speakers. Its a place where people can feel at home.

We like to promote that, Alvarez says. Were not stuffy in any way, shape, or form.

Perhaps thats what brings customers back time and time again. We [pride] ourselves in being a neighborhood establishment, where people have been coming to for 20, 25 years, Alvarez says. We have tons of customers that say, I came here with my kids, and I came here with my grandkids.

In an ever-changing city, Meson Sevilla plays the role of a warm and reliable friend. Its a glimpseand tasteof the Old World in New York City.Vatican, Chinese Communist Party Make Deal on Bishop Appointments

The Vatican signed an agreement with Beijing on Sept. 22 that would allow the Chinese authorities to appoint Chinas bishops, in a move that critics say is capitulating to the Chinese regime.

The Catholic Church in China, which is sanctioned by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), said on Sept. 23 it would persevere to walk a path suited to a socialist society, under the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party, in a statement released on its website.

The Vatican and CCP broke off relations in 1951. The CCP has since insisted on nominating its own bishops, despite Vatican tradition that mandates bishops can only be approved with the consent of the Pope.

Pope Francis has now endorsed the legitimacy of these Beijing-appointed bishops.

Pope Francis hopes that, with these decisions, a new process may begin that will allow the wounds of the past to be overcome, leading to the full communion of all Chinese Catholics, the Vatican said in a statement, according to The Associated Press. The Vatican, meanwhile, stated that the move was not political but pastoral.

Longtime CCP critic Hong Kong Cardinal Joseph Zen, as well as other Chinese Catholics, has expressed opposition to the Vaticans recent rapprochement with China.

Zen said that he believed that the Vatican and the CCP are making a secret deal.

Theyre giving the flock into the mouths of the wolves, he said of the Vaticans move to effectively pledge allegiance to the Communist Party, according to VOA News. Its an incredible betrayal, he said.

Vatican Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, a top negotiator in China, should resign over the move, Zen said. I dont think he has faith. He is just a good diplomat in a very secular, mundane meaning, he added.

China has about 12 million Catholic adherents, who are split between underground churches that swear allegiance to the Vatican and state-backed Catholic Patriotic Association churches.

Human rights groups have documented systematic persecution of underground Christians in China. According to Human Rights Watch, more than a dozen Christians in Yunnan Province were charged by CCP officials in 2017 with using cults to sabotage law enforcement. It added: In October, at least three of the charged were given prison sentences of four years. One of their lawyers said the arrests were due to the group not gathering at officially designated churches.

CCP-Vatican Deal Is Non-Specific

Zen, in a blog post on Sept. 22, criticized the Vatican-CCP deal. The announcement over the weekend could be boiled down to a few words, he wrote: The Holy See has signed an Agreement with the Peoples Republic of China on the appointment of Bishops.

To say that the agreement is provisional without specifying the duration of its validity is saying nothing, Zen wrote in English. All agreements may be said to be provisional, because one of the two parties may, for any reason, demand a revision or even annulment of the Agreement. But until that happens, the agreement, though provisional, remains the valid agreement.

The deal, he said, is likely tantamount to the CCP telling Catholics obey to [sic] us because we are in agreement with your Pope!Victoria Uni Abruptly Shuts Door on Documentary Critical of Confucius Institutes

The content is not available due to expiration.Google CEO Sundar Pichai at the Google I/O 2018 Conference at Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View, Calif., on May 8, 2018. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

White House Drafts Order to Probe Online Giants for Bias, Antitrust Issues

The White House has drafted an executive order that tasks federal agencies with examining online platforms for bias and antitrust issues. The early draft was first leaked to Bloomberg; text from the draft was then published by Business Insider.

Whether reading news or looking for local businesses, citizens rely on search, social media, and other online platforms to provide objective and reliable information to shape a host of decisions ranging from consumer purchases to votes in elections., the draft stated, also noting, Because of their critical role in American society, it is essential that American citizens are protected from anticompetitive acts by dominant online platforms.

While the draft doesnt name any company specifically, the administration likely has in mind the two largest players in the field: Google and Facebook.

Under the order, executive departments and agencies with authorities that could be used to enhance competition among online platforms shall use their power to promote competition and ensure that no online platform exercises market power in a way that harms consumers, including through the exercise of bias.

The agencies should also probe whether any online platform has acted in violation of the antitrust laws.

Possible anti-competitive conduct should be referred for investigation and prosecution to the antitrust division of the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commissions Bureau of Competition, while the agencies should also report to the president within 60 days with recommendations for rules and other measures to address the examined issues.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions is to meet with a number of state attorneys general this month to discuss a growing concern that [social-media] companies may be hurting competition and intentionally stifling the free exchange of ideas on their platforms, the Justice Department stated in a Sept. 5 release.

The meeting is slated for Sept. 25 and to include the attorney generals of Alabama, Nebraska, Louisiana, Tennessee, and Texas, Bloomberg reported, citing two people familiar with the matter. The department didnt confirm or deny the report.

Trump has previously criticised Google for skewing search results.

Google search results for Trump News shows only the viewing/reporting of Fake News Media. In other words, they have it RIGGED, for me & others, so that almost all stories & news is BAD. Fake CNN is prominent. Republican/Conservative & Fair Media is shut out, Trump said on Aug. 28 on Twitter.

Illegal? 96% of results on Trump News are from National Left-Wing Media, very dangerous. Google & others are suppressing voices of Conservatives and hiding information and news that is good. They are controlling what we can & cannot see. This is a very serious situationwill be addressed!

The Epoch Times searched Google News for trump on Sept. 23. Of the more than 150 top results, seven came from traditionally right-leaning sources: four from Fox News, one from Fox Business, one from The New York Post, and one from The Wall Street Journal. Only one result led directly to a White House press release. The rest were from a number of left-leaning media.

Vibrant competition in the online ecosystem is essential to ensuring accountability for the platforms that hold so much sway over our economy and democratic process, the draft order stated.Smoke rises after an air strike by a U.S. aircraft on positions during an ongoing an operation against Islamic State (IS) terrorists in Kot district of Nangarhar province on Feb. 16, 2017. (Noorullah Shirzada/AFP/Getty Images)

With Increased US Airstrikes, Taliban Forced to Change Tactics

KABUL, AfghanistanThe surge in U.S. airstrikes in Afghanistan since U.S. President Donald Trump announced a new strategy for South Asia over a year ago has made fighting more difficult for insurgents, forcing them to change tactics.

The U.S. Air Force dropped 746 weapons over Afghanistan in July, the highest monthly total since November 2010at the height of the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan, when around 100,000 troops were deployed there, almost 10 times more than now.

These latest numbers from July also show a significant spike from the average 500 weapons released per month during the first half of 2018. Although no exact figures are available, the Afghan Air Force has likewise intensified airstrikes against insurgents.

The insurgents belong mainly to the Taliban, but also to some smaller groups, such as a local chapter of the ISIS terrorist group.

Before [the increase in airstrikes], fighters could go freely anywhereeven in convoys with many vehicles. But now, fighters are not able to move [so easily] anymore, an insurgent operating in the eastern Afghan province of Nangarhar wrote to The Epoch Times via WhatsApp.

Larger gatherings are not conducted anymore. The [insurgent] training centers in the area have been closed. All due to the bombardments. Also group attacks are not possible anymore, because of the fear of drone strikes.

This account was corroborated by local journalists speaking about the situation in the southern province of Helmand, a Taliban stronghold.

Due to the airstrikes, the Taliban [in Helmand] do not mass anymore and also dont operate as openly as before. For example, they now often hide their guns when moving around, a local journalist in Helmand told The Epoch Times in July.

In early autumn 2017, I easily met and interviewed a local Taliban in Yakhchol [an area of Helmands Gereshk district], but when I wanted to follow up later in 2017, it was impossible, Nawab Mumand, another Afghan journalist, said.

This change in attitude reportedly happened around October 2017, when the increase in U.S. airstrikes was first launched.

The reason for this is the Talibans concern of being tracked and targeted, if they meet with outsiders. Taliban commanders in Helmand dont even carry cell phones anymore out of fear of being tracked, Mumand said.

Reports from the western part of the country paint a similar picture. Due to the increased airstrikes, the Taliban [in the western province of Farah] dont gather anymore, as they used to do before, an officer of the Afghan National Armys Commando unit deployed to Farah, who asked for anonymity, told The Epoch Times.

According to the officer, the Talibans fears are justified, as he asserted that a recent airstrike hit a Taliban meeting in Farahs Bolo Bluk district, killing about 40 insurgents. Media reports confirmed the killing of insurgents by air and ground operations in the district in mid-August. The same reports cited local residents saying that 16 civilians were killed as well.

Hard to Assess Impact

While the increased airstrikes have forced the insurgents to adapt tactics, it is hard to assess the impact of this change. For example, even though fighting has become more difficult for the insurgents, they havent abandoned their group attacks.

This was illustrated when the Taliban launched a brazen assault on the capital of Ghazni province in mid-August that reportedly involved 1,000 insurgents. They also have conducted other group attacks in different parts of the country, although on a considerably smaller scale.

By conducting such attacks, however, it seems that the Taliban willingly take the risk of suffering significant casualties among their troops. In the case of the attack on Ghazni, U.S. ForcesAfghanistan claimed that 220 Taliban were killed over four days by U.S. airstrikes alone.

Contesting this, some analysts cite videos that show insurgents calmly occupying overrun government positions as alleged proof of the Talibans lack of concern of being targeted by airstrikes.

However, this has to be seen in the context of the videos being almost exclusively released by Taliban propaganda channels that aim to display a successful campaign against Afghan and U.S. government forces. These channels deliberately select videos of apparently successful campaigns, while arguably trying to hide existing footage of insurgents getting hit by airstrikes, thereby making such videos an unreliable indicator of the reality on the ground.

Furthermore, even from the selected propaganda videos, it is usually not clear how long the insurgents actually stay in the occupied outposts, and several reports suggest that insurgents often only briefly occupy government positions before retreating to evade possible airstrikes, among other reasons.

While it may be difficult to evaluate the exact impact of increased airstrikes on insurgent tactics and how this may have changed the dynamics on the battlefield, still the insurgent contacted by The Epoch Times reported that his group was paranoid about getting hit.

Even in our mountain hideouts, we have to move around frequently to avoid being struck from the air.Every person who attends services, and those who are estranged from the church, will have to grapple with it all in their own way, at their own time, Lowery said. This includes having discussions, whether its in the church or with peoples own families, he said.STAMFORD  A chaotic downtown pursuit resulted in the arrest and federal charges against a high-level drug dealer, police said.

Marcus Brian Moore, 40, of Renwick Street, was arrested Thursday as a result of a joint effort between local police and Drug Enforcement Administration officials.

Stamford police said they received information that Moore would be downtown near Washington Boulevard around 4 p.m. Thursday. Police said Moore drove away when officers approached.

Police said Moores car collided with three of their vehicles, injuring one officer.

The chase ended on Broad Street in front of the Burlington department store, where police apprehended Moore. Moore was bleeding from his face when he was placed in an ambulance and transported to the hospital.

This guy was very intent on attempting to get away, said Stamford Police Lt. Chris Baker, of the departments Narcotics and Organized Crime division.

Baker said Moore had been under investigation for a month, culminating in a federal arrest warrant issued on Thursday. He was charged with possession with intent to distribute cocaine.

Moore was also charged with engaging police in pursuit, interfering with officers and resisting arrest, and reckless driving.

ignacio.laguarda@stamfordadvocate.comPolice said Johnsons car struck a 2009 Chrysler Sebring driven by Shanequa Carter, 23, of Merrillville. The impact caused Carter to lose control and go southwest across westbound lanes and strike a concrete barrier wall on the inner shoulder.GODFREY  A longtime firefighter with Godfrey Fire Protection District is battling bladder cancer, a fight more personally challenging than attacking structure fires and emergency medical calls in his career.

Ive been off work since February when I started the chemotherapy treatments, said Assistant Chief Ed McBride, 53, of Godfrey. They are continuing right now; they (oncologists) are trying to get it done. It knocks you down and makes you feel worse.

Once the treatments are over at the Siteman Cancer Center in South St. Louis County, he will face surgery. McBride is optimistic he will beat the disease and, ultimately, feel better and get on with his life.

I still have a ways to go, but I never can go back as a firefighter, he said.

Until then, he goes back and forth for tests and other treatments  sometimes hospitalized for days  at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis.

Relatives and friends tried for some time to get McBride to agree to a fundraiser to help him pay bills that his health insurance does not cover, along with mounting, everyday living expenses. I fought having a benefit for a long time until they held an intervention, he said. Im not one who looks for help.

He said he reluctantly allowed his family and friends to plan a benefit auction and dinner with five bands providing live music from noon to 10 p.m. Oct. 13 at the Wood River Moose Lodge, 730 Wesley Drive, Wood River. As part of the event, a roast beef and fried chicken dinner will be served from 2 to 6 p.m., at cost of $12 per person.

All proceeds from the beer sales will go to McBride.

More Information IF YOU GO: What: Benefit for Assistant Chief Ed McBride, Godfrey Fire Protection District When: noon to 10 p.m. Oct. 13; with dinner from 2 to 6 p.m. Where: Wood River Moose Lodge, 730 Wesley Drive, Wood River See More Collapse

Admission is free for those wanting to participate in the 50/50 drawing, raffle, bake sale, silent and live auctions and music from Acustica, Power Trip, Wild Knights, Smokin Oldies and Whiskey Bent. There also will be door prizes.

Since Day 1, he has served this community selflessly, I just hope the community in turn can take care of him, said Chief Erik Kambarian of the Godfrey Fire Protection District.

McBrides sister, Dixie Chappelear of Pocahontas, Arkansas, is organizing the benefit. He has always helped people and done what he could do for others, she said.

Chappelear said she would appreciate donations of gift baskets, gift cards, St. Louis Blues tickets and other items for the auctions; bake sale items and alcohol for a raffle of a wheelbarrow full of booze, she said. To donate, call Chappelear at (870) 378-1039.

Of note, the biggest auction donation so far is use of a couples boat for a daytrip-party cruise up the Mississippi River next spring or summer. The package includes alcohol and catered food.

Anybody and everybody is welcome, Chappelear said.

McBride said he hopes he feels well enough to attend the benefit and see his friends and fellow firefighters.

A U.S. Navy veteran, McBride worked for a local ambulance service and began volunteering for the Godfrey Fire Protection District in May 1990. He was hired on as a full-time career firefighter in May 1995, and was commander of Shift #1, one of three Godfrey fire work shifts, Kambarian said.

Both professionally and personally, you couldnt ask for a better person or firefighter than Ed McBride, Kambarian said. He always is the one with a big smile on his face.

McBride is on a leave under provisions of the Illinois Public Employee Disability Act, which provides disability payments for one year. We are looking out for his health, hopefully he can beat this and return to some sense of normalcy, Kambarian said.

McBride said he greatly misses his fellow Godfrey firefighters.

I miss the guys at the station a lot, he said. I also miss doing the job, helping the general public. Im used to helping the general public, not the public helping me.

There also is a gofundme.com page (https://www.gofundme.com/ed-mcbride-cancer-fight) established Sept. 13 with goal of raising $20,000 for McBride. As of Friday, the page generated $295.

McBride and his wife Becky have two grown daughters, Chelsie, 28, and Becca, 21.

Reach Linda N. Weller at 618-208-6450 or on Twitter @Linda_Weller1 hour ago

China's leader Xi warns against 'Cold War' in Asia-Pacific

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP)  Chinese President Xi Jinping warned Thursday against letting tensions in the Asian-Pacific region cause a relapse into a Cold War mentality. His remarks on the sidelines of the annual summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum came weeks after the U.S., Britain and Australia announced a new security alliance in the region which would see Australia build nuclear submarines.

Read ArticleKregel said he used to create geometric-designed mazes in his corn field himself each year. But the Belanger car pattern was designed by auto cad and the 6.5-acre corn field was planted in the spring by a company called Maze Play in such a way that the car maze would form in the fall, when the corn reached its full height.2,024 days to go. Im posting this blog September 23, 2018, and, yes, there are 2,024 days until the next great American total eclipse, which will occur April 8, 2024. Citizens of and visitors to the United States are still abuzz about the August 21, 2017 total solar eclipse. Videos, photos, and social media reports still abound. I hope you saw it. But maybe you missed it  at least the total part.

Why doesnt matter. Whether you were serving on a submarine at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, just awoke in a hospital after a zombie apocalypse, or were hampered by the thickest (and darkest!) clouds anyone ever saw, you failed to experience the awesome wonder of the 2017 total solar eclipse.

Now what? Well, perhaps youll want to plan a trip to South America for the next two such events. Or Antarctica. I urge you, however, to look carefully at April 8, 2024. And although 2,024 days from this post sounds like a lot, its much shorter than the average time between eclipses in a specific location (330 years in the Northern Hemisphere and 550 years for locations south of the equator).

A few details

The length of totality varies from one eclipse to the next. The reason is that Earth is not always the same distance from the Sun, and the Moon is not always the same distance from Earth. The Earth-Sun distance varies by 3 percent and the Moon-Earth distance by 12 percent. The result is that the maximum duration of totality from 2000 b.c. to a.d. 3000 is 7 minutes, 29 seconds. (That eclipse will occur July 16, 2186, so dont get too excited for it.)

While the maximum length of totality during the April 8, 2024, eclipse wont be that long, its still a worthy chunk of time: 4 minutes, 28 seconds  67 percent longer than the one in 2017. And as with that one, everyone in the contiguous U.S. will see at least a partial eclipse. In fact, as long as you have clear skies on eclipse day, the Moon will cover at least 16.15 percent of the Suns brilliant surface. That minimum comes at Tatoosh Island, a tiny speck of land west of Neah Bay, Washington. And although our satellite covering any part of the Suns disk sounds cool, you need to aim higher.

Likening a partial eclipse to a total eclipse is like comparing almost dying to dying. If youre outside during a solar eclipse with 16 percent coverage, you wont even notice it getting dark. And it doesnt matter whether the partial eclipse above your location is 16, 56, or 96 percent. Only totality reveals the true celestial spectacles: the two diamond rings, the Suns glorious corona, 360 of sunset colors, and solar prominences (through a Hydrogen-alpha filter).

To see any of these, you must be in the path of totality. That said, your next goal is to be as close to the center line as possible. The fact that the Moons shadow is round means that the longest eclipse occurs at its center line because thats where youll experience the lunar shadows full width.

The big day

On April 8, 2024, the Moons shadow first touches Earth just north of Penrhyn Island, one of the Cook Islands in the South Pacific. That location will experience a 98-percent partial eclipse. Seventy-three minutes later, totality first strikes land at Socorro Island, a possession of Mexico. If, for some reason, you choose that location to view the eclipse, be sure to position yourself at the islands far southeastern tip  youll enjoy an extra 34 seconds of totality there. (The span is 3 minutes, 36 seconds.)

The shadows path covers a few more tiny islands before it encounters North America just southeast of Mazatlan, Mexico. Hey! That city was my base of operations for the 1991 total solar eclipse. Viewers from that location will enjoy 4 minutes, 27 seconds of totality. And if you wish to stay in Mazatlan, youll lose only 10 seconds off that span.

The greatest duration of totality  4 minutes, 28.1 seconds  occurs when the shadow reaches San Martin, north of Torreon and roughly half the distance from the coast to the Mexican border with Texas. In fact, the duration of totality along the center line is never more than 1 second less than this maximum during the shadows more than 550-mile (885 kilometers) voyage through Mexico.

Border crossing

Totality first occurs in the United States as the shadow crosses the Rio Grande River at the wonderfully named Radar Base, Texas, which lies in Maverick County. There, totality lasts 4 minutes, 27 seconds. As the eclipse progresses through the Lone Star State, a huge number of people wont have to travel anywhere to see it. That said, just a few miles journey to the center line can increase their duration of totality.

San Antonio, Austin, Waco (Baylor University will enjoy 4 minutes, 10 seconds of darkness), Dallas, and Fort Worth all lie under the shadow, although none is on the center line. Still, thats more than 11 million people who can experience the total phase of the eclipse by simply walking outside. And were not even out of Texas yet.

The center line then passes through Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, New York, Vermont, and Maine. Those wishing to observe the eclipse from the same location the center line crossed during the August 21, 2017, eclipse should head to a location near Makanda, Illinois, which lies just south of Carbondale. A word of warning, if I may: The weather in Illinois in April  and here Im specifically talking about cloud cover  will be a lot different from what it was for the August 2017 event. Your chances of actually seeing the 2024 eclipse increase dramatically as you head to the southwest. Not to mention that youll pick up an extra 15 seconds of totality from center line locations near San Antonio.

Other cities in the path include Little Rock, Arkansas; Indianapolis; Dayton and Cleveland, Ohio (with northwestern parts of Cincinnati and Columbus under the shadow); Buffalo, Rochester, and Syracuse, New York; and about half of Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

If you miss the 2024 total solar eclipse, youll have a 20-year wait until August 23, 2044, for the next one that touches the lower 48 states. That eclipse will be visible only in northeastern Montana and a tiny segment of North Dakota. Its greatest duration of totality, 2 minutes, 4 seconds, happens over Canadas Northwest Territories.

For those of you who stood beneath the Moons umbra in August 2017, no convincing is necessary to get you to darkness in 2024. Its a sight youll never rate as anything other than awesome. Just be sure to check the weather first.Safety along our roadways and our community is our highest goal. We were lucky to have one of our troopers be in the right place at the right time to potentially avoid another senseless tragedy, he said.As dawn breaks, Martin Seruwo joins hundreds of youths who walk to work at a Chinese-owned Mukono Industrial Park, located in Mukono district about 25km east of the capital Kampala.



Over 1,500 youths are employed at the industrial park that hosts four factories dealing in steel, mattresses and plywood manufacturing.

Uganda just like Ethiopia and some other African countries are looking at the Chinese industrialization model to pull millions of its people out of poverty.

The east African country has mapped out 22 industrial parks to be established in different parts of the country.

At the Mukono Industrial Park, apart from the 1,500 locals directly employed at the factories, over 10,000 people are employed through the products network nationwide.

According to Tian Tang Group, the owner of the park, 46 million U.S. dollars was invested to establish the park up to now.

Liang Kai, vice general manager Tian Tang Group told reporters during a recent tour that apart from the domestic market, some of the products are exported to neighboring Burundi, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya and South Sudan.

Goods exported range from mattresses, iron sheets, bars to MDF boards.

About 224 km east of Kampala, another Chinese-owned Industrial Park, Sino-Uganda Industrial Park in Mbale district is being constructed. The construction of the 2.51 square km park was commissioned by Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni in March this year.

It is expected to attract more than 30 investors with a total investment of about 600 million dollars and an annual output value of 1.5 billion dollars, according to the owner, Tian Tang Group.

The park will have an export value of 400 million dollars and will directly employ about 12,000 locals.

Several other Chinese-owned industrial parks have also been established in Uganda over the years, for instance the 220 million dollar Kehong China-Uganda Agricultural Industrial Park. While launching the park in April 2016, Museveni described it as critical in transforming Uganda's economy.

When fully operational, Kehong China-Uganda Agricultural Industrial Park is expected to produce about 600,000 tons of agro-products annually to meet the domestic and regional market demands.

It will also create 25,000 jobs as well as availing opportunities of training for the local people, according to the managers of the park.

Another Chinese-owned park, Liaoshen Industrial Park located in central Uganda is also operational. The 600 million dollars and 2.4 square km park is expected to accommodate 80 industries and employ up to 16,000 people by 2025.

Experts meeting in Uganda last month at a China-Uganda business summit advised the country to focus on the new wave of industrialization that is seeing factories move from China to Africa.

Fred Muhumuza, an economist told Xinhua in a recent interview that as Uganda adopts the industrial park model, it should focus on agro-processing because about 80 percent of its population derives its livelihood from agriculture.

He argued that there is need to focus on economic production since the infrastructure development especially roads has been addressed.

McCool Zhao, an assistant administrator at Tian Tang Group said as the country strives to industrialize, the issue of inadequate power supply must be addressed. He argued that the frequent power blackouts affect their business.

"The challenge is power, without power, we cannot work, it affects our production. The whole park comes to a standstill," Zhao said.

Government has previously argued that as soon as the two Chinese constructed power dams are completed, the shortage of power supply would be solved. Karuma Hydropower Plant is expected to generate 600MW while Isimba will generate 183MW.U.S. aircraft giant Boeing Company delivered its first 787-9 Dreamliner passenger jet to Shanghai Airlines late Friday as the Chinese carrier looks to upgrade its regional and long-range service from its base in China's largest city.

The first 787-9 Dreamliner, bearing a the number "100" on its fuselage, is the 100th airplane for Shanghai Airlines, a subsidiary of China Eastern Airlines.

According to Boeing, the Chinese carrier will receive additional 787-9 passenger jets in the coming years.

"We are so excited to receive the delivery of the very first Dreamliner for Shanghai Airlines, as well as China Eastern Group," said Li Yangmin, vice president of China Eastern Group.

Li said the new 787-9 aircraft, the second member of the Dreamliner family, will significantly upgrade the services of Shanghai Airlines in future aviation business.

As the longest-range member of the family, the 787-9 can fly 290 passengers for up to 14,140 km in a typical two-class configuration, which offers 20 percent to 25 percent better fuel efficiency per seat and lower emissions than the airplanes they replace.

Shanghai Airlines plans to fly its initial 787 airplanes on popular domestic routes such as Shanghai to Chengdu and Beijing, as well as regional routes to Japan and South Korea.

More than 60 Dreamliners have entered into service across China, flying more than 22 million people on more than 75 unique routes since 2013, Boeing said.



Chinese President Xi Jinping has congratulated Chinese farmers for their first harvest festival.



Xi, also general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and chairman of the Central Military Commission, sent greetings and good wishes to the country's farmers on behalf of the CPC Central Committee ahead of the festival, which falls on Sept. 23, the Autumnal Equinox of this year.

The CPC Central Committee's decision to create the Chinese farmers' harvest festival further demonstrates that work related to agriculture, rural areas and farmers is a top priority and holds a fundamental position, Xi noted, calling the creation of the festival "an event with profound and far-reaching influence."

"China is a large agricultural country. Priority on agriculture is the foundation and essential for the rule of the country and the people's security," Xi said.

Chinese farmers have made great contributions throughout the country's history, he said, noting that historic achievements and reforms have been made in agricultural and rural development over the past four decades of rural reform.

Xi called on the country's farmers and all sectors of society to vigorously participate in the festive events and foster a good environment for the development of agriculture and rural areas as well as the wellbeing of farmers.

He also urged moves to stimulate farmers' enthusiasm, initiative and creativity so as to fully implement the rural vitalization strategy, win the tough battle against poverty and accelerate the modernization of agriculture and rural areas.Pygmies, masters of the forest

GABON: Just back from the hunt with a choice selection of plants, Ebona feels at home in the endless forest where many Gabonese fear to tread.

cultureenvironmentlandanimalsimmigration

By AFP

Sunday 23 September 2018, 11:00AM

Ebona and a fellow a villager of the Baka Pygmy ethnic group, pose in front of their house in Doumassi, northern Gabon. Ebona comes back from a day in the forest, an old rifle on one shoulder, a load of plants on the other. Photo: Steve Jordan / AFP

Townsfolk paid me to find these leaves, the Pygmy says, setting the heap down outside his wooden hut, 500 metres from the rest of Doumassi village in north Gabon.

Ebonas people, the Baka, are held in folklore to be Africas oldest inhabitants, living today in forests stretching from Gabon and Cameroon inland to the Congos and the Central African Republic.

The dense woods where national borders cease to exist hold no mysteries for the Baka.

This is our first home, says another villager, who introduces himself as Jean, declining, like the other Pygmies, to divulge their Baka names, used only within the community.

We sleep in it, we hunt in it, we live in it, he adds.

The ethnic Baka Pygmies often have a difficult relationship with their Fang neighbours, the main ethnic group in the area, who tend to treat them like children, leading to complaints by the Baka.

They also struggle to have a legal existence in Gabon, as they find themselves without identity cards, which complicates their lives.

I am Gabonese, 100%, but I dont have an identity card. They promised us that we would have it, but were still waiting..., says villager Christian, who, like other Baka, wants the same rights as other Gabonese citizens.

How will I send my children to school? he asks, in frustration. How will I vote? How do I get medical care?

Just weeks before parliamentary elections, the first round of which is planned for October 6 with a second round later next month, electoral officials have made little effort to put Baka adults on the voters roll.

But many Baka steer well clear of national politics. They say they just want to survive.

Jean-Baptiste Ondzagha-Ewak works for the Association for Family Mediation (AMF) that seeks to bring mutual understanding to the communities.

The NGO records Baka births to make them official so the children can go to school and receive health care.

For lack of access to health facilities, villager Norbert saw five of his seven children die prematurely, but he joyfully announces that his wife is pregnant once more.

For a long time, the ways of city people had a limited impact on communities of hunter-gatherers.

The Baka are still reluctant to go where cars make a noise, except to buy goods such as tobacco, soap, alcohol and petrol, according to Christian.

But the need for money has raised problems for Pygmies whose profound knowledge of the forest is their sole source of income.

Seen as one way to help their children go to school, the Baka hire themselves out like integrated GPS devices, ready to guide outsiders hundreds of kilometres into the wild to find game.

Despite their poor relations, the Baka are nevertheless prepared to hunt for their Fang neighbours, too.

While they tend to treat the Pygmies as subhuman purely on account of their short stature, the Fang acknowledge that there is no equal to a Baka hunters skills.

At close range, they never miss their shot, said Rigobert, a Fang who sent two Baka off to hunt for him. He gave them a dozen shells and an ancient gun and they returned in the morning with three prey.

Jean was one of the huntsmen. The army offered to enlist me, but I said no. I have my family, Im a hunter. Thats inside me, why should it change?

The only animal I fear is the gorilla, because he reacts like man, Jean added. Hes unpredictable.

International wildlife NGOs hire Baka guides, while urban residents pay them to fetch bushmeat and valued plants. But the Baka are also employed by ivory poachers to track elephants.

With one cartridge, I can kill him (an elephant). If I hit here, behind the ear, I kill him, boasts Jean, who said he often goes into the forest with poachers from Cameroon.

The gun and the shells belong to poachers, Jean says, well aware that their activity is outlawed in Gabon.

At the same time, he is the official tracker for an NGO dedicated to protecting the endangered beasts, but Jean has no love of the law.

Ive always eaten elephant, this is our home and that is our meat, he says.

Furthermore, helping poachers is lucrative. He says a single kill can earn him 200,000 or even 300,000 (CFA) francs (B11,598 or B17,397), depending on the size of the tusks.

None of the Baka interviewed approved of the law of the city banning elephant hunting, despite the risk the animals may die out if nothing is done to stem the ivory trade.

In a single decade, 80% of the elephants have been slaughtered in the Minkebe National Park in northeast Gabon, the countrys main forest sanctuary for elephants, according to park officials.

Melvin, one of Doumassis most respected hunters, objects to what he terms a bad law, but adds were obliged to respect it, we dont want to go to prison.The solo Aussie outback cop

AUSTRALIA: Being the only policeman in an area the size of Britain might be daunting for some, but not for Senior Constable Stephan Pursell.

policecrimeaccidentstransportdeathland

By AFP

Sunday 23 September 2018, 02:30PM

Australian police Snr Cst Stephan Pursell watching traffic approaching from South Australia at the remote Queensland border outside Birdsville. Photo: Saeed Khan / AFP

The easy-going 53-year-old runs a modest police station in the equally modest town of Birdsville, making him the law across a vast swathe of outback Australia.

In this isolated, arid, ferrous-red-and-orange moonscape fringing the Simpson Desert, dust, pesky flies, feral camels, wild dogs and deadly snakes are your main companions.

Pursell acknowledges that his patch  which takes four days to drive across  is quite big. But he relishes the challenge.

This (job) came up and I thought, what an iconic location in Australia, he said, so I put an application in.

He got the gig, and so two years ago hauled himself and his wife Sharon away from Queenslands gleaming surf, 1,600 kilometres to the east, and into this sandy cauldron.

It is not a place for everyone. Daytime temperatures can soar above 40 degrees Celsius and strong winds can whip up dust storms that blot out the sun and turn the skies dark.

Youve got to experience it to enjoy it. Its an amazing place, said Pursell, who became an internet sensation last year after shots of him frying an egg in the withering heat on the bonnet of his Toyota Land Cruiser went viral.

Birdsville itself is home to just over 100 people. Theres one hotel that doubles as the watering hole. A roadhouse allows people to stock up on fuel and life-saving essentials. But the highlight may be a bakery selling curried camel pies.

The tiny township is a relief from the barren landscape. Surrounding Birdsville are endless sandy plains and rolling dunes that merge into the distant horizon, a nothingness thats both mesmerising and isolating.

So whats the workload like?

Crimes not an issue, Pursell admits, adding that much of his job is that of a first responder.

The type of jobs that we do is mainly just making sure that people get here safely, get home safely. Breakdowns, medical issues, accidents  weve got to be ready to respond to those sorts of things.

The most common type of accident is vehicles rolling over, but the station has also had to deal with a pilot whose plane lost a wheel in the air after colliding with a pelican.

Because he has to monitor an area of 240,000 square kilometres  where you can go for hours or days before someone passes  the involvement of the local community is essential.

A nurse, mechanic, Aboriginal ranger or community members may join him on rescue missions.

Police officers at other stations hundreds of kilometres away also work with Pursell and nearby cattle stations to track travellers as they pass through.

Twice a year the pace picks up a bit, for the century-old Birdsville horse races, which are known across Australia, and for the Big Red Bash music festival.

Both annual events attract more than 6,000 tourists who travel for up to several days in four-wheel drives or in small planes from across the vast continent.

Pursells predecessor, Snr Cst Neale McShane, who retired in 2015 after a decade in Birdsville, says there was never a dull moment.

Each rescue of a stranded or injured traveller requires an epic drive across long dirt roads or countless sand dunes in the Land Cruiser for hours and sometimes days.

Sometimes what is required is a helicopter big enough to carry a police officer, a nurse and a stretcher, so a call is put out for any aircraft in the vicinity that can help out.

The Royal Flying Doctor Service also plays a crucial role, ferrying patients in remote regions to the nearest hospitals.

In 2009, during a desperate search for helicopters to rescue an injured motorcyclist stuck on a sand dune, an army Chinook  possibly the only one to ever land at Birdsville  touched down at the airport, looking to refuel. The man was quickly rescued and made a full recovery.

There are definite upsides to the job, McShane said. When you are out sleeping in the desert looking up at the stars, and they (feel) so close you can touch them.

But in a small, remote community, talking about sensitive personal issues can be difficult, he says.

And the job is non-stop, with calls coming in at any time of the day on any day of the week, each of them possibly involving someone you know well who is in peril or has died.

Perhaps surprisingly, one problem the policemen dont complain about is loneliness.

Pursell realised more people were popping into his station to talk to him after he was described in the local media as having the loneliest job in the country.

People came in just to have a chat, because they thought I was lonely, he says.

Weve have never felt isolated or lonely out here. Its a great little town.

Meanwhile, the 134-year-old Birdsville Hotel  the sole watering hole for the town  is on the market for the first time in decades and attracting local and international interest.

Having a drink at the Birdsville has become a must-do for the tourists who make the trek to the town for its centuries-old annual horse race and music festival.

Owner David Brook  whose family has lived in Birdsville since the late 1880s  said the property agents told him there had been interest from afar by people wanting to invest in or manage the pub, which is more than 600 kilometres from the nearest big town.

For Brook, who bought the pub in 1979, and whose grandmother owned the hotel between 1920-46, the pubs isolation is its chief selling point.

When you explain to them that you can have a (race) meeting and get 6,000 and have a music festival... and get 9,000 for the weekend in a town where theres only one pub, you can work out that its not a bad business, he said.

The pub, with its sandstone walls, dusty cowboy hats hanging from the ceiling and country music blasting from speakers, is being marketed as a true Aussie icon where everyone wants to say theyve had a beer.

The tavern has 27 guest rooms, and includes an aviation fuel supply business with small planes and helicopters carrying tourists taking off and landing just across the road.

While other pubs around Australia have modernised and added gambling machines to boost income, Brook has kept the decor simple and focused on offering good service and food.

More recently, Birdsville has been boosted by the Big Red Bash, a three-day music festival held annually since 2013 and known as the most remote concert on the planet.

I hope that it can be kept as just a modest, good business, Brook said. An investor who is prepared to spend money and make sure that it provides good service, sometimes at the expense  a little bit  of profit.

You can have a big, shiny (pub) in the city that makes a lot of money, or you can have something special out here that youre proud to own.A passenger takes a selfie with G5711, the first high-speed train from Shenzhen to Hong Kong, at Shenzhen North Railway Station in Shenzhen city, south China's Guangdong province, Sept. 23, 2018. [Photo/Xinhua]



The whole line of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link has been put into official operation, as the Hong Kong section of the line entered into service on Sunday morning.

A high-speed train G5736 left Hong Kong West Kowloon Station at 7 a.m. on Sunday for Shenzhen North Railway Station in Guangdong Province and arrived at the Shenzhen station in 19 minutes.

Some 500 passengers, including those from media, came to the Hong Kong West Kowloon Station to take the train.

The carriage is quite spacious and the seats can be adjusted to face front or back, according to Mr. Leung, a Hong Kong citizen who are aboard the train.

"It (the ride) is quite comfortable. In the future, I would like to go to some places further, like Beijing for example. It takes only a few hours after all," the 70-year-old man told Xinhua.

Earlier in the morning, the high-speed train G5711 left Shenzhen North Railway Station at 6:44 a.m. for Hong Kong West Kowloon Station, and arrived at the Hong Kong station at 7:03 a.m..

Hou Ruiting, the captain of train G5711, said the train attendants have all received training on manners and languages to better their services in the ride.

"Our attendants have taken special training and examinations of Cantonese and English to cater to all needs," said Hou.

A Shenzhen resident, who gave her family name as Wang, took the first train from Shenzhen to Hong Kong, with four family members.

"It took only 19 minutes for us to arrive in Hong Kong from Shenzhen. (It's) so convenient. In the past, I had to spend nearly two hours on the trip," said Ms. Wang.

"The co-location arrangement is very convenient and I finished all the clearance procedures in a few minutes. Now I can't wait to try the famous Yum Cha (a traditional Hong Kong-style dim sum meal with tea)," said another resident from Shenzhen, who gave his family name as Tian.

A total of 95 pairs of high-speed trains are scheduled for the service on the line of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link on Sunday, including 13 pairs of long-distance trains, according to the China Railway Corporation.

Being a key part of China's high-speed rail network, the whole line of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link is 141 km long, including 115 km on the mainland and 26 km in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

It will offer direct rail services between Hong Kong and 44 destinations on the mainland, involving cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Shijiazhuang, Zhengzhou, Wuhan, Changsha, Hangzhou, Nanchang, Fuzhou, Xiamen, Shantou, Guiyang, Guilin and Kunming.

During the initial operation period, the numbers of trains in operation will vary with demands on work days, weekends and peak time. Up to 127 pairs of trains will be in service on a single day with peak demand.

From Hong Kong West Kowloon Station, it will take a minimum of 14 minutes to get to Futian Railway Station in Shenzhen, a minimum of 47 minutes to Guangzhou South Railway Station, and eight hours and 56 minutes to Beijing West Railway Station.

Chen Xiaomei, spokesperson with China Railway Guangzhou Group Co. Ltd., said the mainland and Hong Kong have built coordination mechanisms covering various aspects such as dispatching and commanding trains, passenger transportation and power supply.

Various emergency response plans have been mapped out to ensure safe operation of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link, Chen said.MONTREALJean-Louis Themis believes the true measure of a society is how well it eats.

If that thinking were more widespread, the retired chef and cooking teacher would be a shoo-in to enter Quebecs legislature after the Oct. 1 election.

Themis, 65, is the founder and lone candidate of the Parti culinaire du Quebec, which believes a well-fed society would be healthier, happier and more generous.

His new party is just one of an eclectic mix on the political fringe hoping to tantalize voters in ridings across the province.

Some 940 candidates are on the ballot representing 18 registered parties, according to Elections Quebec. Another four official parties are sitting this one out.

The hopefuls include such mainstays as the Marxist-Leninist party and Citoyens au Pouvoir du Quebec, which promises direct democracy. They are running alongside more recent creations, including a party that wants spoiled ballots to count for something and a separatist party with a twist  it wants Quebec to join the United States.

Themis dreams of creating a gastrocracy, where pipelines would be banned if they crossed agricultural land or fishing grounds, farmers would be the highest paid members of society and hospital patients and residents in seniors homes would eat delicious food every day.

Born Jean-Louis Themistocle, he says the way food is grown and consumed touches many sectors of society, including health, transportation, manufacturing and politics.

Buying a carrot can be a political act if I have a choice between buying an American one or a Quebec carrot, he said from his campaign headquarters, his condo in the Montreal riding of Laurier-Dorion.

The former author, teacher and TV chef, along with his late wife, co-founded Cuisiniers sans frontieres  an organization that provides culinary vocational training to people in developing nations, including his home country of Madagascar.

It was through his work with the organization that he became even more convinced of the power of food to alleviate poverty and provide opportunities, he said.

Food can change lives, cooking can change lives, if we share it, he said.

For Quebecers whose appetite for politics is waning, another party wants to help them get more out of a spoiled ballot.

Parti Nul has been around since 2009 and is taking part in its third campaign. Leader Renaud Blais sees his party as an outlet for the disenchanted.

The Parti Nul is about making spoiled ballots count, said Blais, one of 16 candidates running for the party this year.

A spoiled ballot could be the result of a deliberate act or a mistake in the voting booth, but with the Parti Nul the intent is clear.

Our idea is to make sure these votes  which are a valid democratic opinion  are counted in the results, Blais said. He hopes a visible wave of protest will prompt people to think about new ways to implement democracy.

In the 2014 election, approximately 7,500 Quebecers voted for the partys 24 candidates. By comparison, there were more than 62,000 spoiled ballots.

In a province where talk of sovereignty never totally disappears, Hans Mercier's Parti 51 is advocating a third option for Quebec: joining the United States.

Mercier, a lawyer from the Beauce region, last year revived the long-dormant Parti 51 and is one of five candidates running across the province.

I would say there's actually a very positive response, even considering the current presidency, which is not the most popular in Quebec, Mercier said.

He says party supporters include traditionally federalist anglophones and sovereigntist francophones, who have set aside their differences over Quebec's national question to embrace the idea of becoming the 51st state.

Mercier said the best constitutional option for Quebecers is the U.S. Constitution. We have a lot in common, we are surrounded by American culture  its very natural for a lot of people.

One thing all of the lesser-known parties contend with is a lack of resources and media attention.

Themis said his campaign has been a low-key affair, run mostly by him and roughly a half-dozen volunteers, including his adult daughter.

Every day, he hops on his campaign vehicle  a red electric scooter  and drives to different schools in his riding, where he makes his pitch to parents.

In a pineapple-patterned shirt, red-and-yellow scarf, and polka-dot helmet with his picture taped to it, he knows he comes across as a quirky figure.

The first reaction to his campaign is usually laughter, which he says is just fine since politics, like a good meal, is about making people happy.

If I make one person smile, I've already accomplished something, he said.MONTREALPrime Minister Justin Trudeau said Sunday he has confidence in the ability of the Spanish government and its people to resolve the Catalan secession crisis in a way that respects freedom of expression.

Trudeau made the comment in Montreal on Sunday, where he hosted a series of meetings with his Spanish counterpart, Pedro Sanchez.

Speaking at joint news conference, Trudeau was asked whether he supports the right of the northeastern Spanish province to vote in a referendum on independence, as the people of Quebec have done twice, in 1980 and 1995.

Obviously I recognize this is a delicate internal matter and I have confidence in the Spanish people and all different governments to move forward with a way that is respectful with freedom of expression, of values, human rights, the rule of law and the Spanish constitution, Trudeau said.

Trudeau added in French that he believes all levels of government are working towards a solution, and that the discussion wasnt one that came up in his discussions with Sanchez.

Thousands of Catalan pro-independence activists protested in Barcelona last week to mark the anniversary of demonstrations that fired up the regions secessionist drive.

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More protests are planned to mark the anniversary of the Oct. 1 Catalan referendum and a subsequent failed declaration of independence after the referendum was declared illegal by the Spanish government.

In the wake of last Octobers failed referendum, Quebecs political parties unanimously adopted a motion condemning what they called the authoritarianism of the Spanish governments actions in Catalonia.

And while Trudeau told reporters that Canada recognizes one united Spain, some prominent nationalists called on Canada to recognize an independent Catalonia.

During their meetings, the two leaders approved the Canada-Spain Co-operation Agenda, an agreement to collaborate more closely to create economic growth, combat climate change, advance gender equality, and build a safer, more peaceful world.

Earlier on Sunday, Trudeau and Sanchez attended a military welcome and held a bilateral meeting that touched on gender equality, security, migration, and the trading relationship between the two countries, Trudeau said.

Sanchez added that the meeting was important in the context of this weeks United Nations General Assembly in New York in order to give a common message ... in order to strengthen multilateral organizations such as the United Nations.

Their day was set to conclude with a moderated armchair discussion as part of the Canada 2020 Global Progress Summit.

It was the second formal meeting for Trudeau and Sanchez, who first met at the NATO summit in Belgium in July, shortly after Sanchez was sworn in as prime minister.

Sanchez said it was the first time since 2002 that a Spanish prime minister has made an official trip to Canada.

Read more about:OTTAWABack then, the world was a much easier place for a Canadian comeback.

When the Liberal government came to power in 2015, Canadas decaying relations with the United Nations and the United States left political space to rebuild. New trade prospects seemed bright in China and India. Canadas most important foreign policy priority was humming happily along with the White House occupied by the friendly Barack Obama.

It was the dramatic shift in power in Washington, with Donald Trump winning the U.S. presidency, that many believe knocked the Trudeau governments sunny ways and Canada is back foreign policy squarely off its axis.

The government will try to restore the equilibrium this week when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland give separate addresses at the United Nations General Assembly.

Their underlying message to the UN annual meeting will be to affirm the importance of the world order created from the rubble of the Second World Wars aftermath  the one Canada pledged to get back to, and that Trump keeps taking a hammer to.

Canadas campaign to win a two-year temporary seat on the Security Council will also be under scrutiny with many questioning whether it is even feasible given the energy being expended to save the North American Free Trade Agreement.

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New statistics tabled in Parliament this past week show Canada is behind the pace of campaign spending it set in the 1990s when it last won a seat.

Global Affairs Canada says in response to a written question that the government has spent $532,780 since 2016 on its campaign to land a Security Council seat  well behind the pace of the $1.9 million Canada spent over four years to win its last two-year term in 1999-2000.

Overall, the governments foreign policy record is underwhelming, and Trudeau didnt do himself any favours with his Canada is back pronouncements, says Thomas Juneau of the University of Ottawa.

Its disappointing especially because they set the bar so high for themselves with all the rhetoric before the election campaign and early on  2015 and early 2016  and all the attitude and swagger that went around that.

Though the government is pushing to ratify the rebooted Trans-Pacific Partnership this fall, and has its comprehensive free trade deal with Europe up and running, its other trade ambitions in Asia  making inroads with economic giants China and India  have stalled.

Trudeaus trip to India was a failure not because of the much-ridiculed photo ops of him in local garb, but because Canadas trade interests with the country are going nowhere, said Juneau.

The same goes for China, which rebuffed Trudeaus so-called progressive trade agenda when he visited there late last year, Juneau added.

Trudeau has had a tough hill to climb because of the herculean task of renegotiating NAFTA with an erratic Trump, said Fen Hampson, a foreign affairs expert with the Centre of International Governance and Innovation.

NAFTA has really sucked the oxygen out of the governments foreign policy agenda, not least because the foreign minister has been doing NAFTA 24/7 pretty much since she took office, said Hampson, who recently authored a foreign policy biography of ex-prime minister Brian Mulroney, who brought free trade to Canada.

Trudeau and his ministers are doing a credible job of engaging in other areas, but in terms of political engagement and expending political capital, its very hard to do when youre in a make-or-break negotiation with the Americans, said Hampson.

In late August, Freeland aborted a three-country European trip and jetted back to Washington to resume trade talks because Mexico and the U.S. announced their own surprise side deal.

At the UN, Freeland will give Canadas General Assembly keynote, scheduled for next Saturday, marking the first time Trudeau has handed that role to a foreign minister. Trudeau will address the assembly briefly as part of a peace summit celebrating the 100th anniversary of Nelson Mandelas birth.

Along with Jim Carr, the new international trade minister, Trudeau and Freeland will take part in various meetings on a range of issues such as sustainable development, gender rights and climate change.

The trio will discuss Canadas international outlook writ large at a discussion hosted by the Council on Foreign Relations that will emphasize the importance of restoring confidence in our institutions, Trudeaus office says.

The PMO made no specific mention of the Security Council bid. The election wont take place until 2020 for a two-year term starting 2021, but the campaigning for the seat usually takes years.

Anthony Cary, a former British envoy to Ottawa, said Canada faces a tough fight because of stiff competition from Ireland and Norway. If Canada loses again, as it did in 2010, it shouldnt take it personally given the challenge of contending with a demagogue in the White House and unprecedented threats to the rules-based international order.

Trudeau, he said, has been remarkably sure footed in attempting to restore Canadas international standing during this dangerous period of populism and resurgent nationalism.

Hampson said the UN deck is stacked against Canada because Europe will likely vote as a bloc in favour of Norway and Ireland. With NAFTA distractions, we havent really been able to be out on the global hustings making the case at the ministerial level, on why the world, and particularly the Security Council, needs more Canada.

Roland Paris, Trudeaus first foreign policy adviser, said a successful Security Council bid is going to require a robust campaign, and even then, there are no guarantees.

When he helped to initially craft the Liberals foreign policy, no one could have predicted the arrival or impact of Trumps ascendancy, said Paris, an international relations expert at the University of Ottawa.

Now, any future plan must be aimed at how to come to terms with how we can best advance our interests and help to preserve the structures that are most important to Canada, and most important to maintaining international stability, he said.

Dealing with Donald Trump and the threats on NAFTA represent the biggest foreign policy challenge that Canada has faced since World War Two.

Read more about:EDMONTONWith a little more than three weeks to go before marijuana becomes legal from coast to coast, Edmonton police say new technology for detecting impaired drivers hasnt quite caught up with the legislation.

Drivers who smoke and drive could soon find themselves veering into untested territory, as law enforcement hashes out how to test for impairment.

Although the federal government earlier this summer approved a roadside device called the Drager DrugTest 5000  which measures THC (tetrahydrocannabinol, the main psychoactive compound found in cannabis)  amphetamines, and cocaine levels in saliva, Edmonton police are still undecided about whether theyll order the testers.

The laws are still ahead of the technology at this time, said Sgt. Rob Davis with the Edmonton Police Services impaired driving unit. He added police are in the process of evaluating the device and will be making a decision on purchasing it in the coming weeks.

He said that for now, EPS is training its officers to do what theyve always done  conduct Standardized Field Sobriety Tests, which involve officers testing drivers on their ability to walk and turn in a straight line and stand on one leg, as well as checking their eyes.

Its a quick, fast test thats done right at the roadside, and if someone passes this test, it would be just like they provided a sample into an approved screening device, Davis said.

If a motorist fails the test, the individual is transported to a police station to meet with a drug recognition expert, who will evaluate their state. A toxicology sample, either through blood or urine, would be taken afterwards, Davis said. If a motorist fails all the tests, charges would then be laid.

Davis said Edmonton police set aside $300,000 earlier this year for the Drager devices, but are unsure about purchasing them as they can only detect cannabis and cocaine consumption, Davis said. An ideal oral fluid testing device, he said, would detect other types of drugs as well.

Another issue with the Drager device, Davis said, is its functionality in cold climates. Most oral fluid testing devices have a built-in internal heater, but they are temperature-sensitive, posing a challenge during Edmontons cold winter months.

James OHara, president of Canadians for Fair Access to Medical Marijuana, said he applauds EPSs decision to hold off purchasing oral fluid testing devices.

OHara said the link between impaired driving and blood-alcohol concentration levels measured by breathalyzers have been extensively studied, but levels of THC in relation to impairment are still widely debated, and have not been studied adequately in respect to medical use of cannabis. Because of this, OHara said he believes field sobriety tests are a better option to detect impaired drivers until the science can catch up.

Its a lesser of two evils, if you will, he said.

There will be 125 front-line Edmonton police officers who will be trained to do field sobriety tests as of Oct. 17, Davis said. The police force has around 1,800 front-line members in total, with a goal to train 33 per cent of those officers in the next five years.

Impaired driving rules are also expected to change this December with the implementation of Bill C-46 under federal jurisdiction. The new rules will allow police officers to conduct random roadside testing without any cause for suspicion. Drivers with a THC blood level above two nanograms, a unit used for measuring cannabis consumption, will also be charged without requiring further proof of impairment.

But despite the fast-changing laws and regulations, new drivers behind the wheel can expect their driving school materials to be outdated until further notice. Jaspal Badesha, owner and manager of Century Park Driving School in Edmonton, said the provincially administered curriculum hasnt been updated for a number of years.

I imagine well be getting some sort of email or memo regarding that, but we havent as of yet, Badesha said. Drug-impaired driving is mentioned briefly in the materials now used, but no specific details have been updated on laws regarding cannabis, he said.

The Alberta Ministry of Transportation has not updated its Class 5 curriculum for drivers since 2012, said ministry spokesperson Julie MacIsaac via email. There are plans, however, to update the curriculum once changes to the impaired driving laws in the Criminal Code of Canada are completed by the federal government, MacIsaac said.

While Badesha waits for the curriculum to formally change, he continues to advise his students against impaired driving of all kinds  whether its cannabis, alcohol, or other drugs.

If youre going to do it, dont get behind the wheel, he said.

Read more about:The man who became famous for his sidekick role in one of the most scandalous periods in Toronto history is running to be a school board trustee in Etobicoke.

Alexander (Sandro) Lisi, who was former mayor Rob Fords friend and occasional driver, is now running to be the Toronto District School Board trustee in Ward 1 (Etobicoke North), he confirmed Saturday.

My time spent with Rob has had a big influence on me, Lisi told the Star in a text message. I look at politics totally different now. Its about helping people. I like that.

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He referenced school closures and youth violence as reasons hes running.

I see schools around my neighbourhood closing down. Violence in the schools concerns me. I think I can make a difference, he said.

Lisi found himself in the midst of a police investigation relating to Ford in 2013. He was charged with several drug-related offences and also with extortion for allegedly trying to retrieve from gang members a video of the then mayor smoking crack. Lisi was acquitted in 2015 on all counts related to drugs. In 2016, the extortion charge was also withdrawn.

It was the extortion case against Lisi that allowed, years later, the infamous crack video to be released. A half-full courtroom of students and journalists saw it for the first time during a pretrial hearing.

He was collateral damage, his lawyer at the time, Domenic Basile, said of Lisi in 2016. He was somebody caught in the middle and he was the only one charged. Its caused irreparable harm to him and his family.

The case centred on a call Lisi made, caught on police wiretaps, in which he told a man who lived in the Dixon Rd. area and who was believed to know about the video: You see the heat on Dixon, bro?  Its gonna get worse, bro  tell all your boys its going to get worse and worse. Liban Siyad, the man on the other end of the call, testified at the pretrial hearing that he had never felt threatened.

Siyad pleaded guilty in 2014 to trafficking cocaine, participating in a criminal organization (the Dixon City Bloods) for the purpose of trafficking cocaine, and conspiracy to traffic guns, the Star reported at the time.

In 2013, Ford wrote a letter for Lisi when he was being sentenced for threatening to kill a woman, saying Lisi had worked hard both in and out of the campaign office during Fords 2010 mayoral run. Lisi was sentenced to two years probation and a five-year weapons ban, and ordered to attend an anger management program.

Lisi was also convicted in 2001 of criminal harassment and threatening a young woman. One of the reported threats was Im going to break your legs, you --ing bitch. He was sentenced to 15 days in jail and three years probation.

He pleaded guilty the following year to threatening, assault and criminal harassment of a young woman whom he punched in the eye. He was sentenced to 90 days in jail, on top of 45 days he had spent in pretrial custody.

Election rules do not prevent candidates with criminal records from running for office.

Lisi was otherwise known to police as a low-level drug dealer in north Etobicoke, facing drug possession charges that were frequently withdrawn.

He dropped out of Richview Collegiate Institute in Grade 11, later taking classes at Scarlett Heights Collegiate.

Police documents released in 2013 showed that Lisi and Ford were frequently surveilled when Ford was mayor, meeting in high school parking lots and behind Scarlett Heights. On one occasion, police said they found two empty vodka bottles in a plastic bag discarded by Ford.

The former mayor died in 2016. Lisi has rarely spoken to the media, at one point leading reporters on a prolonged chase outside a courthouse. He was polite in a short exchange with a reporter about his run for trustee.

Nominations for the Oct. 22 municipal vote closed Friday at 4:30 p.m. after a chaotic period in which Premier Doug Ford, Robs brother, interfered in an ongoing election to cut the number of Toronto city council wards to 25 from 47.

Also running for the Ward 1 trustee position are Zakaria Abdulle, Akhtar Ayub, Pat Brar, Ankit Dhawan, Harpreet Gill, Kim King, Rajinder Lall, Ali Mohamed-Ali and Millicent Quist.

Read more about:What a difference a year makes.

Just 12 months ago, Doug Ford was using his familys annual community barbecue  held in his mothers Etobicoke backyard  to announce plans to run for mayor of Toronto.

On Saturday, several thousand supporters flocked to a sprawling outdoor banquet complex in Vaughan for Ford Fest 2018, where Ford held court as Ontario premier.

Scores of organizers wearing white T-shirts emblazoned with For the People and Ford Nation registered guests as they arrived and handed out Ford Fest shirts.

Unlike past Ford Fest bashes, which were largely a family affair, promotion and planning for Saturdays free food and entertainment extravaganza was handled by the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party. A tweet about the event on Fords Twitter page linked to the PC party website where people could get directions and RSVP.

Thanks to each of you, this years Ford Fest is bigger and better than ever before, Ford told the cheering crowd when he arrived shortly after 7 p.m.

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The premier began his remarks by asking the crowd to pray for two Halton police officers who were shot early Saturday in Burlington.

I visited them and their families today and Im happy to say that theyll be OK, he said.

Ford also said he was thinking about those in Ottawa affected by Fridays tornado, which ripped through the region, toppling trees and damaging homes.

The entire province stands with you and is praying for you tonight, he said.

For many in the crowd, such as retired school board employment counsellor Cathie Haywood, it was their first Ford Fest.

Im here because I just love him, said Haywood, who drove from Cabbagetown to the gathering.

I think Doug Ford is an honest person who really cares about the people, she added. Its a good day.

Etobicoke resident Santosh Malik and her husband, PC, said they never miss the annual party. Dougs late brother, Rob, came to the opening of their fitness centre when he was mayor and was always there to help them, they said.

We are family friends and we are here to support Doug. Hes doing good things, said Malik.

Despite a week of protests over the Ford governments decision to scrap Ontarios updated sex-ed curriculum and legislation to halve the number of Toronto city councillors, the only placards Saturday were in praise of the premier.

Ford #1 read Meera Anands poster. The Vaughan resident said Fords name stands for: Forceful, Outstanding, Rock of Ontario, and Dynamic.

Im just so glad he came to Vaughan this year, she said. Many of us wouldnt have been able to get to Etobicoke.

Janina Moroniewicz of Brampton said she was surprised to get a phone call from the premier inviting me to come.

She was among many who received robocalls and emails promoting the event.

I know it was just a recording, but its nice to get an invitation, Moroniewicz said.

With a municipal election in full swing, several local Vaughan candidates, including Simone Barbieri, used the event to drum up support for their campaigns.

He made a lot of promises and hes keeping them, said Barbieri, who is running in Ward 2. Im proud to be associated with leadership like that.

While Ford shook hands and posed for selfies with the crowd, some online critics said the premier should have been in Ottawa instead to support residents left homeless after the tornado. Doug Ford should cancel his self-promotion fest and go to Ottawa, said one Twitter user with the handle @VivianBloom.

Ford earlier pledged his support for Ottawa-area residents via Twitter and praised first responders and hydro crews.

He told the Ford Fest gathering he would be going to Ottawa on Sunday morning to offer the full support of the Ontario government in the cleanup efforts.

Read more about:Warning: This story contains graphic content.

ANCHORAGE, ALASKAThe Alaska Department of Law stood by a judges sentence that calls for no jail time for an Anchorage man who authorities say offered a woman a ride and choked her until she was unconscious.

Justin Schneider, 34, pleaded guilty to one count of felony assault in the case. A kidnapping charge was dropped as part of the plea deal.

Anchorage Superior Court Judge Michael Corey sentenced Schneider to two years with a year suspended.

Schneider also received credit for a year he served under house arrest and will serve no additional time as long as he doesnt violate the conditions of his probation.

The sentence drew public outrage Friday, the Anchorage Daily News reported.

A movement is underway calling for the ouster of the judge. An Anchorage social worker created a Facebook page calling for a no vote Nov. 6 on retaining Corey.

Schneider choked an Alaskan Indigenous woman and then masturbated over her unconscious body, according to charging documents. He also told the woman he would kill her if she screamed, Anchorage police detective Brett Sarber wrote in a sworn affidavit.

The victim was not present or on the phone during the hearing.

The sentence highlights a deeply flawed legal system, according to sexual assault advocates.

This is another example of an (Alaskan Indigenous) woman not getting the justice they deserve, said Elizabeth Williams, a sexual assault survivor.

A number of concerned citizens told the state law department that they also believed Schneiders sentence was too lenient.

Schneiders lawyer, Anchorage Assistant District Attorney Andrew Grannik, has argued that Schneider lost his job as an air traffic controller over the charges and called that a life sentence.

Criminal Division Director John Skidmore reviewed the case and said it was consistent with, and reasonable, under current sentencing laws in Alaska.

Schneider did not have a criminal record prior to the incident.

Gov. Bill Walker agreed that the sentence was insufficient and said in a statement that he wants to toughen laws.WASHINGTONAdvisers to President Donald Trump are counselling him against firing Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein over memos written by the former acting director of the FBI that say Rosenstein proposed secretly recording the president and pushed for his removal from office.

The details of the memos written by former deputy FBI director Andrew McCabe when he was acting director were revealed Friday, prompting immediate speculation that the information would give Trump the justification to do what he has long desired: dismiss Rosenstein, the Justice Department official overseeing special counsel Robert Mueller III's probe of Russian interference in the 2016 election.

But those close to Trump and some of his allies on Capitol Hill believe that a politically charged firing in advance of the midterm elections will feed a Democratic narrative of chaos in the administration and that the president should wait until November to make any changes at the Justice Department.

Rosenstein issued a public statement disputing the accuracy of The New York Times story that described the memos written by McCabe and his then-in-house counsel, FBI lawyer Lisa Page.

On Friday evening, Rosenstein was summoned to the White House, where Chief of Staff John Kelly demanded to know whether the accounts were accurate and, if not, urged Rosenstein to issue a more forceful denial.

After the Kelly meeting, Rosenstein issued a second statement, saying he had never sought to secretly record Trump and never advocated removal of the president. Mention of the constitutional option to remove the president also echoed a recent op-ed in the New York Times by an anonymous senior official in the administration who wrote that there were early whispers within the cabinet of invoking the 25th Amendment.

Trump spent much of Friday evening on Air Force One, where he polled advisers about whether he should fire Rosenstein, according to a White House official. In those discussions, the president said the story confirmed what he knew all along  that Justice Department officials were out to get him, according to the adviser.

The president continued to discuss the issue with aides and associates on Saturday and said he was more suspicious than furious about the reports, peppering his inner circle with a round of questions about whether he was being baited: into taking action that could imperil his presidency because McCabe  a person he detests  took some notes about private conversations, as one ally close to him put it.

McCabe complicates it, the ally said. He doesn't trust McCabe and thinks McCabe is maybe playing a game with memos  maybe because of his book deal, maybe trying to take down (Trump). So, he's staying cool, for now.

St. Martins Press announced Tuesday that it will publish a book by McCabe, The Threat: How the FBI Protects America in the Age of Terror and Trump, in December.

Inside the top ranks of the Republican Party, there are also discussions about what a Rosenstein firing could mean for this years midterm elections, which are just weeks away.

Several veteran Republicans communicated to friends at the White House on Saturday that any major upheaval at the Justice Department could trigger a political hurricane for the GOP in an already difficult year. The White House, through various back channels, made clear that no such shakeup was coming, according to two Republicans in touch with Trump administration officials.

Trump has paid close attention to the conservative medias reaction to the story but has not been persuaded by the outraged calls by his sometime confidants, such as Fox Newss Jeanine Pirro, to fire Rosenstein  and he has nodded along agreeably as another Fox News anchor, Sean Hannity, waved him off the idea, according to three advisers to the president who were not authorized to speak publicly.

We are experiencing tonight a massive constitutional crisis. And frankly, this is designed to set up the president, Hannity said on air. I have a message for the president tonight. Under zero circumstances should the president fire anybody.

If it was up to many of the Fox News hosts, the president would have already fired Mueller, but he hasn't. He takes it in and takes the best course available, under the circumstances, former Trump political aide Sam Nunberg said. He knows it's very easy to say something on cable, and the reality of being under investigation and the threat of being removed from office.

Trump has kept a closer eye on the reaction of his congressional boosters and staunch Rosenstein critics, such as Rep. Mark Meadows, who has pushed for the deputy attorney general's impeachment, the adviser said  and he has noted that Meadows has so far resisted calling for Rosenstein to be fired.

I think Rod needs to come before Congress this week and explain under oath what exactly he said and what exactly he didn't say. I think it's time, Meadows said Saturday at the Values Voter Summit in Washington.

Trumps cautious approach to Rosensteins future has been informed by his complicated but somewhat repaired relationship with the deputy attorney general.

Even as Trump publicly rails against the Justice Department as a den of corruption with a lingering stench, as the president told his supporters at a rally in Missouri on Friday, he has come to privately appreciate Rosenstein as a competent official who, in his view, is far sharper than embattled Attorney General Jeff Sessions, the advisers said.

Those advisers also told Trump that it could benefit him that the people he sees as his enemies are portrayed as conspirators. Trump also agreed with the notion that the controversy supports his criticisms of the Justice Department and could help secure confirmation of a new attorney general after the midterm elections, the advisers said.

According to aides, Trump is likely to fire Sessions after the election anyway and removing Rosenstein now would only serve to hurt Republicans facing voters in a few weeks. As a result of the discussions, advisers to the president said he is unlikely to fire Rosenstein in the near term but still would like to eventually remove him.

Trumps advisers have argued that leaving Rosenstein in place preserves more options for the president as the Mueller investigation unfolds.

For now, according to one Republican in close contact with the White House, the president can accept Rosensteins version of events  that the deputy attorney general never contemplated invoking the 25th Amendment and that any reference he made to recording the president was made only in jest.

But Trump could always revive these episodes later should it prove to be advantageous, for instance, if the Mueller investigation produces conclusions unfavourable to him.

If it goes the wrong way, you've got an arrow in your quiver, according to one person familiar with the White House's attitude. You can say this guy was biased from the beginning.

Read more about:UN Ambassador Nikki Haley quickly became one of the administrations most visible faces and the leading advocate of a world view in which U.S. President Donald Trumps America First slogan did not mean America alone.

When Trump makes his second presidential appearance at the United Nations this week, Haley will still be a central figure, and their close rapport is likely to be apparent. She is among a select few Cabinet aides who speak frequently and directly with the president, a sore spot for some White House officials.

But Haleys public role has narrowed as Trumps national security Cabinet was shuffled over the past year and advisers who advanced more nationalist agendas on trade, immigration and international engagement gained favour.

A pair of incidents in which Haley announced policies or plans that were quickly changed also raised questions about her footing in the administration as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and national security adviser John Bolton took over from more passive and ideologically moderate aides. In both cases, several senior officials said she was unfairly scapegoated.

At the same time, Haleys influence at the United Nations has been blunted by Trump policy decisions that many other nations opposed, including recognizing Jerusalem as the Israeli capital, cutting aid to Palestinians and announcing a U.S. withdrawal from the UN Human Rights Council.

Haley supports those positions, along with Trumps theme that American largesse will not be wasted on those who are undeserving or ungrateful. But she has lost on other policy debates, including a further reduction in the number of refugees who can be resettled in the United States, which was announced last week.

The goal that we all have as an administration is, how we can make the American people proud, and what actions we can show that really live up to that, Haley said as she previewed Trumps UN visit, which begins Monday.

Trumps address Tuesday is focused on American sovereignty and foreign aid, aides said. His adviser Stephen Miller, considered the architect of the administrations strictest immigration policies and a sometime opponent of Haleys, is a principal author of the presidents UN speech.

Hell also lay down a marker that while the United States is generous, were going to be generous to those that share our values, generous to those who want to work with us, and not those that try to stop the United States or say they hate America, Haley said at a news conference Thursday at the United Nations.

By chance, the United States holds the rotating chairmanship of the UN Security Council this month, meaning Haley can call sessions on themes of special interest. She has used the platform to hold debates about crumbling democracy in Venezuela, the political crisis in Nicaragua and North Koreas evasion of UN sanctions, all topics in line with administration priorities.

The chairmanship also means that Trump and Pompeo can each take a turn with the gavel during the annual UN gathering next week.

Pompeo, a Trump favourite, is making his debut at the UN General Assembly with an agenda focused on North Korea. Pompeo will chair a Security Council session where he will lay out Trumps hopes for a peaceful dismantlement of North Koreas nuclear weapons and warn countries that bust UN sanctions on the country.

Haley was a more prominent player on North Korea during the first year of the Trump administration, when the focus was on rallying international support for tougher international sanctions and Rex Tillerson was secretary of state. She has been less visible through the swift turn to summit diplomacy this year, where Pompeo has been the negotiator. She did not attend Trumps historic summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in June, but only because there is no role for the UN ambassador at such an event, according to several administration officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal decision-making.

Bolton has shaken up the staff at the National Security Council and cut back on the kind of high-level meetings Haley regularly attends. Former U.S. officials say Bolton will be tempted to dictate how Haley does her job given his granular and deeply critical understanding of the world body stemming from his time as a UN ambassador.

Haleys influence was at its peak in the Rex Tillerson era, since his withdrawn nature allowed her to take the stage and be the voice of U.S. foreign policy, said Molly Montgomery, a career U.S. diplomat who worked in Vice President Mike Pences office before leaving government earlier this year. Naturally, shes less prominent now because Pompeo is so much more engaged with foreign governments and the press.

On esoteric issues involving the United Nations, such as peacekeeping missions in Africa, Haley was given broad autonomy by former national security adviser H.R. McMaster, who had little interest in micromanaging U.S. policy at the United Nations.

Now Bolton has exerted himself more on UN matters than his predecessor, given his interest in the body and his own experience in New York during the George W. Bush administration, Montgomery said.

White House officials say Bolton and Haleys relationship is strong, and his interest in the United Nations hasnt come at Haleys expense. But longtime aides of Bolton say tensions between the two are inevitable.

Bolton has a very aggressive approach to the UN and inside the U.S. government is very practiced at pulling bureaucratic strings and operating in front of cameras and behind the scenes, said Matthew Waxman, a former George W. Bush administration official.

Bolton runs an imperial NSC, added Mark Groombridge, a former adviser to Bolton at the State Department and United Nations. Of course hes going to want to exert influence over Ambassador Haley.

National Security Council spokesman Garrett Marquis said Bolton is successfully co-ordinating across government to implement the presidents agenda.

Before he took the White House job, Bolton was a critic of a decision by Democratic presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama to make the UN job a Cabinet-level position. He argued that it inflated the importance of the United Nations in U.S. decision-making and created an untenable power structure with two Cabinet secretaries in one department.

Haley insisted on Cabinet rank to take the job, and Trump agreed. Bolton has never made it an issue, one senior administration official said.

He has in no way treated her as less than a full Cabinet member, the official said. In some ways she thinks Boltons approach is preferable. There were probably too many meetings previously, and it functions better now.

Bolton, like Pompeo, has Trumps confidence in ways his predecessors did not. That generally makes the process of determining and overseeing national security policy smoother, several officials said, but it does not prevent events one described as miscommunication and another as a goof.

One awkward incident came this month when Haley said the president would chair a Security Council session on Iran, but other U.S. officials later said the agenda would be broadened to non-proliferation. The change followed an internal debate about whether the Iran focus would provoke a public rift with allies Britain and France over the Iran nuclear deal Trump disavowed earlier this year, and invite trouble by placing Trump and an Iranian representative at the same table.

Haley formally announced the switch Thursday and called it sensible, but by then several days had passed when it was unclear whether she had gotten ahead of the White House or was behind and out of the loop.

It was Trump who had wanted to focus on Iran, said two U.S. officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to offer a behind-the-scenes view. Trump tweeted Friday that he would chair a session on Iran, and a senior administration official said that should be interpreted as confirmation that the president still prefers that focus.

The Iran topic was discussed thoroughly throughout the national security team before it was announced. After it was announced, there was a reconsideration about whether that was the best course, the official said. She was part of that reconsideration, just as she was part of the initial discussion of the topic. She agreed to the expansion of the topic and thought the new approach was the better way to go.

Exactly how the Trump administration plans to engage with Iran remains unclear. On Sunday, Pompeo said there were no plans for a meeting between Trump and Irans supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, but that a tete-a-tete could yield an important and interesting conversation.

The decision to change the focus of the Security Council meeting had echoes of another miscommunication, in April, about a week after Bolton took over. Haley announced on television new sanctions on Russia that Trump vetoed hours later. The White House did little to dispel the perception that Haley had misspoken, and one White House official publicly said she had suffered momentary confusion. But Haley shot back in a defiant statement saying, With all due respect, I dont get confused, and the White House backed off.

The idea that she would freelance is absurd at every possible level, the senior official said. She operates within the team structure every day. The best proof of that is the dozens of engagements she has at the UN that go off flawlessly.

Despite the early hiccup, Marquis insisted that NSC staff and Haleys office are working hand-in-glove to prepare for the UN General Assembly this week, and State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said Bolton, Haley and Pompeo work together seamlessly.

The friction between the camera-ready Haley and the secretive, media-shy Tillerson was obvious, and their two staffs often tussled over policy matters.

Haley was widely seen to be filling the public void left by Tillerson, fuelling speculation she was auditioning for the higher post. She denied it emphatically, telling reporters at last years UN General Assembly that she had no designs on Tillersons job.

Not long afterward, Tillerson lost an internal debate when Trump announced Dec. 6 that the U.S. Embassy in Israel would be moved from Tel Aviv to the contested city of Jerusalem. The decision outraged Palestinians, who said it prejudged their claim to East Jerusalem, and opened a diplomatic gulf at the United Nations.

A lopsided 128-to-9 UN vote to criticize the U.S. move included 35 abstentions, which Haley and the White House framed as a victory. The largely symbolic vote followed a warning from Haley about U.S. funding for the world body.

When we make generous contributions to the UN, we also have a legitimate expectation that our goodwill is recognized and respected, she said. When a nation is singled out for an attack in this organization, that nation is disrespected. Whats more, that nation is asked to pay for the privilege of being disrespected.

A former Haley staffer said the UN ambassador expected a difficult vote at the Security Council, but did not anticipate a vote at the UN General Assembly. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid antagonizing the ambassador. The ensuing vote saw many key U.S. allies side against the United States, including Britain, France, Germany and Japan, in a rare rebuke of U.S. policy.

Regardless of the vote outcome, Haleys unapologetic defence of Israel cemented her support among a pro-Israel donor class that could prove useful if she pursues higher political office.

She scored points with the people she wanted to score points with, especially the AIPAC crowd, the former official said, referring to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the most powerful pro-Israel lobbying organization.

Though Haley could walk away from the Trump administration at any time claiming experience with some of the weightiest foreign policy issues of the day, she appears less prone to an early exit than others, said a senior administration official who has dealt with Haley and her staff from the beginning.

I do get the rumours of whos on the up and whos on the down, and Nikkis name just hasnt come up lately, the official said.

Read more about:A spectacular gala in the Dushan Mountain Forest Park raised the curtain on activities celebrating the upcoming Mid-Autumn Festival and China's first Farmers' Harvest Festival in Beijing's suburban district of Yanqing on September 22.





The Mid-Autumn Festival, held on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month, falls on September 24 this year. Visitors have a chance to enjoy local delicacies, a picturesque landscape and picking fruits in orchards while appreciating the bright, full moon.





An event known as the "farmers' fun sport games" brought joy and excitement to locals in Yanqing's Jiuxian town on September 23. It attracted teams representing 22 villages, who participated in apple and grape-picking, as well as various running contests.





The same day also saw the convening of an astronomy forum aiming to popularize star-gazing among Chinese people. It gave astronomy fans to meet and interact with astronomers and photographers and learn about the latest technology including how to use telescope and observe the star-studded heavens.



TEHRAN, IRANIrans president on Sunday accused an unnamed U.S.-allied country in the Persian Gulf of being behind a terror attack on a military parade that killed 25 people and wounded 60, further raising regional tensions.

Hassan Rouhanis comments came as Irans Foreign Ministry also summoned Western diplomats over them allegedly providing havens for the Arab separatists who claimed Saturdays attacks in the southwestern city of Ahvaz.

The Iranian moves, as well as promises of revenge by Irans elite Revolutionary Guard, come as the country already faces turmoil in the wake of the American withdraw from Tehrans nuclear deal with world powers. The attack in Ahvaz, which saw women and children flee with uniformed soldiers bloodied, has further shaken the country.

Rouhanis remarks could refer to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates or Bahrain  close U.S. military allies that view Iran as a regional menace over its support for militant groups across the Middle East.

All of those small mercenary countries that we see in this region are backed by America. It is Americans who instigate them and provide them with necessary means to commit these crimes, Rouhani said before leaving for the U.N. General Assembly in New York.

Iran meanwhile summoned diplomats from Britain, Denmark and the Netherlands early Sunday for allegedly harbouring members of the terrorist group that launched the attack. Danish Foreign Minister Anders Samuelsen condemned the attack and stressed that there would be consequences if it turns out that those responsible have connections to Denmark.

Read more:

Gunmen attack Iran military parade, killing at least 25

The ministry later summoned the UAEs envoy as well over what it called the irresponsible and insulting statements of an Emirati adviser, according to the semi-official ISNA news agency. The UAE did not immediately acknowledge the summons.

Saturdays attack, in which militants disguised as soldiers opened fire on an annual Iranian military parade in Ahvaz, was the deadliest attack in the country in nearly a decade. Women and children scattered along with once-marching Revolutionary Guard soldiers as heavy gunfire rang out, the chaos captured live on state television.

The regions Arab separatists, once only known for nighttime attacks on unguarded oil pipelines, claimed responsibility for the assault, and Iranian officials appeared to believe the claim. The separatists accuse Irans Persian-dominated government of discriminating against its ethnic Arab minority. Khuzestan province also has seen recent protests over Irans nationwide drought, as well as economic protests.

The attack killed at least 25 people and wounded 60, according to the state-run IRNA news agency. It said gunmen wore military uniforms and targeted a riser where military and police commanders were sitting. State TV hours later reported that all four gunmen had been killed.

At least eight of the dead served in the Revolutionary Guard, an elite paramilitary unit that answers only to Irans supreme leader, according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency. The Guard responded to the attack on Sunday, warning it would seek deadly and unforgiving revenge in the near future.

Tensions have been on the rise in Iran since the Trump administration pulled out of the 2015 nuclear accord with Iran in May and began restoring sanctions that were eased under the deal. It also has steadily ramped up pressure on Iran to try to get it to stop what Washington calls its malign activities in the region.

The U.S. government nevertheless strongly condemned Saturdays attack and expressed its sympathy, saying it condemns all acts of terrorism and the loss of any innocent lives.

Daesh also claimed responsibility for the attack in a message on its Amaaq news agency, but provided no evidence it carried out the assault. They also initially wrongly said the Ahvaz attack targeted Rouhani, who was in Tehran. The militants have made a string of false claims in the wake of major defeats in Iraq and Syria.

On Sunday, Daesh militants posted a video online of three men, two of whom who spoke in Arabic extolling the benefits of martyrdom. A third who spoke in Farsi said they wanted to attack the Guard. The video included no time stamps, nor any specific references to the Ahvaz attack.

The attack dominated Iranian newspaper front pages on Sunday. The hard-line daily Kayhan warned that Iranians would demand Saudi Arabia feel the hard slap of the countrys power.

Irans government declared Monday as a nationwide public mourning day, state-run IRNA news agency reported Sunday.

Also all governmental organizations, banks, schools and universities in southeastern Khuzestan province will be closed on Monday, semi-official Tasnim news agency reported.

An overnight impromptu candlelight vigil in Ahvaz honoured the dead and wounded. Among the dead is 4-year-old Mohammad Taha, who was captured by a photographer being carried away from the attack by a Guardsman in full dress uniform and sash. The photograph, showing the boy bloodied and helpless, shocked Iran.

A doctor interviewed on state television said Mohammad had been up the night before marking Ashoura, a commemoration of the death of the Prophet Muhammads grandson Hussein, one of Shiite Islams most beloved saints. Mourners wear black in honour of his 7th century death in the Battle of Karbala in present-day Iraq.

He was wearing a black shirt when he was martyred, a doctor said, standing next to the boys tiny corpse, now wrapped in a blue body bag.

Read more about:ROMESpains maritime rescue service said Sunday it rescued more than 400 people from 15 small boats, most of them off the countrys southern coast, while humanitarian groups lamented that the sole private rescue boat operating near the deadly central Mediterranean human trafficking route risked being put out of action by Italys anti-migrant leaders.

While the Spaniards pulled 447 people to safety on Saturday in the western part of the sea, two humanitarian groups which operate the last private rescue vessel in the central Mediterranean, considered the deadliest route for trafficked migrants, said Panama had yanked the ships registration following Italian complaints.

Panamas maritime authority said in a statement that it has begun procedures to remove the registration of Aquarius 2 after Italy complained the boats captain failed to follow orders. It said Italy contends that the captain of Aquarius 2 defied instructions to return migrants to Libya that it had rescued from unseaworthy vessels launched by Libyan-based traffickers.

But SOS Mediterranee and Doctors Without Borders, the humanitarian groups jointly operating Aquarius 2, say violence-wracked Libya doesnt meet international standards for safe harbour. On Sunday, they asked European governments to reassure Panama that Italys contentions are unfounded or issue a new flag so Aquarius 2 can keep operating.

Right-wing Interior Minister Matteo Salvini wont let private rescue boats dock in Italy.

In a statement Sunday, the two non-governmental organizations alleged that Italy had forced the Panamanians to revoke the registration under blatant economic and political pressure from the Italian government, which has vowed to stop arrivals in Italian ports of migrants saved by private rescue boats.

Italys right-wing, anti-migrant interior minister, Matteo Salvini, denied that allegation in a tweet Sunday night, saying no pressure at all on Panama for the Aquarius 2. I dont even know Panamas area code.

The Panama Maritime Authority said it was acting after the principal complaint came from Italian authorities about the ships captain. It also noted that maritime authorities in Gibraltar over the summer took Aquarius 2 off its registry and had requested that it suspend its operations.

The two humanitarian groups in response said they demand that European governments allow the Aquarius to continue its mission, by affirming to the Panamanian authorities that threats made by the Italian government are unfounded, or by immediately issuing a new flag under which the vessel can sail.

Nearly 300 migrants have died in waters separating Spain and Africa so far in 2018, according to the United Nations, and over 1,600 have died this year trying to cross the Mediterranean, as departures in smugglers boats from Libyas coast to Italy have sharply declined this year compared to previous years, after the Italian authorities began cracking down on the rescue boats.

But UN refugee agency officials say the central route from Libya is by far the deadliest for migrants smuggled by sea.

A recent spike in migrant arrivals in Spain has strained public services, and the Spanish government has faced further pressure since Italy refused to let humanitarian boats dock with migrants they have rescued from the sea.

Aquarius 2 was carrying 58 migrants it rescued in the last few days, and where they would be taken was unclear Sunday night.

The UN refugee agency says largely lawless Libya, bloodied by a recent surge in fighting among militias, isnt a safe harbour. Migrants returned there are brought back to detention centres, where food is scarce and beatings and sexual assault are common.

International maritime law stipulates that those rescued at sea are brought to the nearest safe harbour.

Italy, which has trained and equipped the Libyan coast guard, says that human trafficking will be discouraged by returning those rescued at sea to Libya.

The Mediterranean island of Malta has also come down hard on private rescue boats, blocking the vessels in their harbours and launching prosecutors probes of their crew.

In other actions against migrants, Macedonian police said they have detained 120 migrants, in two separate cases, who illegally entered Macedonia from Greece as the number of illegal crossings has significantly risen in recent months.

Police said Sunday that a border police patrol discovered 37 migrants in southern Macedonia, near the frontier with Greece. They were detained, but police gave no more details about their nationality.

In a second case, 83 migrants, 11 of them minors, and most of them Pakistanis (76), were discovered packed in a truck coming from Greece. The truck driver was detained and the migrants transferred to the reception centre in the southern town of Gevgelija.

Macedonian police say they have turned back about 6,600 migrants attempting to cross the border in the first half of 2018.

Read more about:Bringing back corporal punishment at Georgia school appalling but not surprising, Sept. 12

It is indeed appalling that corporal punishment can be still used in a developed countrys education system. I strongly feel that this such punishment in schools should be banned everywhere.

It is definitely not a teacher nor principals job to physically harm a student with a paddle for being late, not handing in homework, or even something as minor as mispronouncing a word  all punishable offences, according to the article.

Corporal punishment should be old news, and be replaced by more humane methods, such as detention. We need to leave the world where we reward bullies, and move forward to a world where a childs actions can be corrected in ways that will not physically harm them.

Nicholas De Mattos, Ajax

One Georgia school seems set on bringing back old traditions, in an era of extreme sensitivity where helicopter parents and bubble-wrapped children exist more than ever.

I disagree with the immense online backlash that the school has received. How about the previous generations that were paddled for years, and had no one to come and say that it was wrong?OTTAWAGov. Gen. Julie Payette has done one-third fewer public events in her first year in office than her predecessor David Johnston, a Star analysis suggests.

As Payette prepares to mark her first anniversary as the Queens representative in Canada, Rideau Hall has been facing questions about her schedule and workload.

The Star analysis supports the anecdotal sense in the nations capital that Payette has opted for a lower profile and a less jam-packed schedule than the previous office holder set in his first year on the job.

Payette has done some 195 public events since being named Governor General on Oct. 2, 2017. That compares to 296 for Johnston over the same period after he took office in October 2010.

The online records for Michaelle Jean, who served as governor general between 2005 and 2010, show she did some 265 public events in her first year, though differences in how her appearances are posted make direct comparisons difficult.

Rideau Hall spokesperson Marie-Eve Letourneau insisted that the level of activity by Payette over the past 12 months is quite similar to her predecessors.

All governors general bring something unique to the role and the institution. They all serve with a very high level of commitment and dedication, responding to the demanding nature of the position, Letourneau told the Star in an email Friday. Rideau Hall would not say whether Payette herself would respond to questions about her schedule.

Following her installation last October, Payette did territorial and provincial visits and continued the busy program of events planned by the team, adding several additional activities, she said.

Letourneau was unable to provide her own numbers on Payettes activities. But she said the current Rideau Hall website  due to be phased out in the coming days  may not reflect the Governor Generals extremely busy calendar.

Payette  a 53-year-old Montreal native  arrived in the office last year with high expectations and an impressive resume, notably as Canadas second female astronaut, with two space flights under her belt.

But it wasnt long after she was installed as Governor General on Oct. 2, 2017, that Payette was sending signals she was not happy with the expected workload and schedule. It can run to hundreds of events a year, as the viceregal representative is called to celebrate achievements in the arts, honour community heroes and support charities.

There is also work behind the scenes, including private sessions with the prime minister, that Rideau Hall typically does not discuss.

But the public role is a vital one, too  and the most visible.

Its outside of the constitutional parts, so lets be clear it doesnt affect her core functions, said Philippe Lagasse, an associate professor of international affairs at Carleton University with an expertise in the Westminster system.

Even though she is doing her head of state functions, theres a lot of expectations around head of nation, as it were, going out there and representing Canadians to themselves, being seen as a uniting figure, he said.

He noted that the post  steeped in protocol and tradition  carries a heavy workload of activities, such as Order of Canada investitures and awarding military and civilian honours, even before the incoming office-holder has decided on their own priorities.

The post also touches on diplomacy, as ambassadors and high commissioners present their letters of credence to the Governor General before they assume their posts. The Governor General is also called on to represent Canada on the world stage  for instance, Payettes trip to Thailand last October to attend the royal cremation of King Bhumibol Adulyadej, or Johnstons attendance at the 2011 royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton in London.

The question is whether this is something that can be pared down for a governor general who may be less inclined to take on this kind of schedule, Lagasse said.

He wonders if Payette came into the job fully aware of the demands. I think that is the underlying issue here, he said.

If she was, is she allowed to push back? In this day and age, when we talk about life-work balance, maybe she is. Thats a conversation we have to have, he said. If you want to get people into this office, some of them may not be willing to accept the Johnston level of commitment.

Letourneau said that planning the Governor Generals program hinges on factors such as the context of each year, the business of government and the family situation of the Governor General. Payette has a teenage son.

The first year of every mandate is a period of learning, adjustment and adaptation from both the Governor General and Rideau Hall staff, she said.

For its analysis, the Star reviewed the public event schedules listed on the Rideau Hall website. The itineraries include events in Ottawa as well as out-of-town trips. The tally is not exact. Thats because detailed itineraries are not shown for some trips, such as Johnstons 2011 trip to Kuwait and Qatar, or a full listing of Payettes visit to the Winter Olympics in South Korea in February.

It reveals that some activities that had become part of the governor generals annual routine in the past have fallen off the schedule under Payette, who earns close to $300,000 a year. Moreover, a number of organizations with which previous governors general have worked appear to have been dropped by Payette.

For example, each spring, the governor general has accepted a bouquet of daffodils from cancer patients to highlight the Canadian Cancer Societys Daffodil Month. But not this year, it appears.

In his first year, Johnston presided over three ceremonies to present Duke of Edinburgh Gold Awards to recognize achievements by young people. Payette has done none. Thats because she has not yet decided whether to serve as honorary patron of the organization that handles the awards, as governors general have done dating back to 1963.

Award organizers wrote to Rideau Hall a year ago to make the request. Were hopeful and we understand that its taken time. For a number of reasons she is delaying requests at the moment, said Victoria Selano, director of fundraising and development for the Duke of Edinburghs International Award  Canada. Other organizations have not heard if Payette will act as their patron.

The Royal Architectural Institute of Canada was another organization that fell off the list this year. Every two years, it helps organize the Governor Generals Medals in Architecture, which have been presented at Rideau Hall since 2002, with the exception of 2006, when the ceremony was held in Montreal.

But when the organization went to the Governor Generals office to request that Payette present the medals at a Rideau Hall ceremony, it was turned away. This year the email response was simply Sorry, were not able to accommodate you this year, said Michael Cox, a Brandon, Man., architect who serves as the institutes president.

In the end, the ceremony was held in Winnipeg, hosted by Janice Filmon, the lieutenant-governor of Manitoba. Payette did send a congratulatory message. We had a glorious time  it was a wonderful event, Cox said.

The Winnipeg Free Press noted last week that Payette will not have visited Manitoba in her first year in office, a break with the practice of some past governors general to visit all provinces and territories in their first 12 months. Payette wont have visited Saskatchewan or Yukon, either.

But Letourneau said that Payette has achieved, on time, all the tasks that the Governor General must execute.Tucked behind a mountain, a majestic gompa looks down at a grey, green and blue Indus flowing into the sunset, framed against the barren grandeur of the Himalayas swathed in shades of brown. Even with a sky of the clearest possible blue streaked with columns of palaces hanging off steep cliffs, life in Hemis village 40km southeast of Leh town in Ladakh can be pitilessly difficult for an outsider.

At an elevation of over 3,500m, there is altitude sickness to start with. It will probably be snowed out at least five months of the year. Distances are huge and travel is expensive. There are limited telephone operators. High up in Hemis monastery, internet connectivity is patchy. And water supply, heavily reliant on meltwater or springs, is erratic in this cold, arid desert. Nevertheless, classes are in full swing at the monastery for Naropa Fellowship, a one-year residential programme at Hemis for post-graduate candidates who will train to become leaders and entrepreneurs for the development of Himalayas.

The inaugural class of 50 fellowsdrawn from around the country across age categoriesstarted the academic year on September 1. "With one year of teaching, knowledge and experience about love, compassion, peace and also living in a place like Ladakh, I am sure people will learn to survive mentally and physically amidst challenges, like no internet or shower. It will make them more aware of the region's specific difficulties," said Drukpa Thuksey Rinpoche, the chief spokesperson for the 12th Gyalwang Drukpa, Jigme Pema Wangchen who is the current head of the Drukpa lineage in Tibetan Buddhism. Thuksey Rinpoche was speaking on the sidelines of the Naropa festival, known as the 'Kumbh Mela of the Himalayas' that concluded on 20 September. The festival, celebrated once every 12 years of the Tibetan calendar at the Hemis monastery, will now be an annual fixture.

The fellowship, founded by the 12th Gyalwang Drukpa, hopes to generate leaders in policy and entrepreneurship with a socially conscious curriculum. Although candidates from all fields and professions can apply, preference will be for people from Himalayan regions of Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand, Sikkim, and Himachal Pradesh in India, and Nepal and Bhutan. The scholarship model will remain in place for the next five years and a seat is estimated to cost around Rs 10,00,000, including boarding and lodging. The campus for the fellowship is being built for $2 million and is expected to be up in a month at Hemis. The curriculum is being devised by experts from Indian School of Business and the founders of Young India Fellowship, the stakeholders say. The first batch of the fellowship had received 1,700 applicants. Avoiding the format of a degree program, the fellowship model has also allowed to overcome layers of permissions and restrictions to expand the range of curriculum and faculty. "In one year, you get 45 faculty members from ISB, UPenn, Cape Town University, Harvard, Oxford and other universities" says Lynne Deepam, a volunteer-donor from Malaysia associated with the fellowship.

To be sure, the high desert region of Ladakh does not have a post-graduate university yet, even though it covers more than half of the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Student movements, educational reformers and civil society figures have long demanded a central university which can accelerate regional economic development and reverse a persistent strain of brain drain. Thousands of young Ladakhis leave their homes every year to pursue degrees in business and information technology, medicine, science, engineering and social sciences at considerable expense in cities like Delhi, Chandigarh, Jammu and Bengaluru. But this migration for education and work hasn't quite translated into tangible socio-economic improvement in the region, as was expected to be facilitated by skilled Ladakhi university graduates. They are still job seekers and Ladakh continues to be a desolate, high-altitude tourist magnet with vertigo-inducing mountains and valleys evoking wide-eyed wonder from curious tourists. The industry-devoid region is indeed rich in numerous natural and mineral resources waiting to be employed sensitively and fruitfully.

The Naropa Fellowship wants to produce job creators and successful entrepreneurs in Ladakh who can create employment opportunities for youngsters who come back after completing their studies. "You see a lot of young people in Ladakh hanging out, not doing anything and they are fighting for jobs. Recently there was a government offer for four assistant managerial positions, and there were 2,000 applicants in Ladakh. That is very worrying, considering we have a small population here," says Deepam. She points out how the tourism industry can't remain the sole revenue generator in Ladakh. "For the tourism industry to thrive, the people are very important besides the hotels. You won't get happy, smiling faces because everybody would be doing things they don't want to. We need to keep Ladakh for everyone," says Deepam. She also adds how the increasing incidence of suicide and depression is exacerbating social tensions in the region and that the fellowship is just one of the ways in which a strong network of alumni over the next 10 years will be ready to help each other.

The founders of Naropa Fellowship also manage the famous, award-winning 'Rancho School' or the Druk Padma School near Shey Palace in Leh district. The school was featured in the Bollywood film 3 Idiots. Interestingly, in the absence of government-funded central universities for higher studies, post-graduate education in Ladakh is taking the alternative route of experiential learning. The Himalayan Institute of Alternatives (HIAL), Ladakh, led by noted engineer Sonam Wangchuk, is another such example.The adage that failures can teach many lessons seems quite...Army chief General Bipin Rawat said on Saturday that stern action is needed to avenge the barbarism by terrorists and the Pakistan Army against Indian soldiers without resorting to brutality.

The comment comes after a BSF jawan was shot and his throat slit recently, followed by the abduction and brutal killings of three policemen in Jammu and Kashmir.

We need to take stern action to avenge the kind of barbarism that terrorists and the Pakistan Army have been carrying out against our soldiers. It is time to give it back to them in the same coin, but not by resorting to similar kind of barbarism. I think the other side must feel the same pain, the Army chief said at a press conference here.

Referring to the killing of the BSF solider whose mutilated body was found in Jammu, the Army chief said such acts were unacceptable and there was a need to avenge it.

He said the Indian Army had carried out successful operations against the Pakistan Army whenever they did something against India along the border.

Pakistan has suffered many casualties and we have been able to take on their defence system to a large extent, but we never resorted to barbarism. They requested for a ceasefire in May and we agreed, but if they continue to do this, we will need to take other action, Rawat said.

If you look at it, the casualty and damage suffered by the other side is far more than what we have been suffering. We have done it a professional and a military-like manner, he insisted.

The Army chief also made it clear that India and the Indian Army would not be scared by any threat from Pakistan.

Asked to comment on Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan's tweet expressing disappointment on India's decision to cancel a meeting of foreign ministers, the Army chief said talks and terrorism cannot go hand in hand and Pakistan needed to curb the menace of terrorism.

The USA, that once used to be close to Pakistan, is now dominating on Pakistan and our government has been successful to a large extent in isolating Pakistan at an international level, Rawat claimed.

He said the government was fully supporting the force which also had the liberty to carry out their actions.

And you can see its result in Kashmir and the northeast, he said.

However, he said action was needed against radicalisation and social media campaigns which, he suggested, were being run from outside.

Rawat also claimed that the surgical strike in 2016, in the wake of Uri attack, was a first-of-its-kind operation.

When questioned about delays in the weapons procurement process, he said modern equipments and weapons were the need of the hour but delay in procurement did not mean that the forces could not function normally.

However, he said delay in procurement was not good.

The Army chief also said that consideration on incorporating robo technology in the forces was underway.

He added that strategic issues, planning and other aspects would be discussed in the upcoming Combined Commanders' Conference which is going to be held at the Jodhpur Air Force station later this month.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to attend the conference where the brass of Army, Navy and the Air Force would be present.

The Army chief was in Jaipur to review the Haifa Day Mounted Parade at the 61 Cavalry ground here.

Haifa Day is celebrated every year to commemorate the liberation of Israeli city Haifa from the occupation of the Turks by the British Indian Army soldiers, led by Major Dalpat Singh, on September 23, 1918.

The Army chief also visited the South Western Command where Lieutenant General Cherish Mathson briefed him on operational matters and other related issues.He greeted his audience with juhaar (welcome greeting in Jharkhand), paid his respects to Birsa Munda (a tribal freedom fighter), and extended the gift of state-sponsored health insurance to Jharkhand's 25 lakh poor families.

With this, Prime Minister Narendra Modi formally launched Ayushman Bharat - Pradhan Mantri Jan Aarogya Yojana, the worlds largest healthcare scheme across 450 districts in the country, from the dais at Ranchis Prabhat Tara ground.

The scheme was announced in the budget in February, and a soft launch was done when Modi announced it on August 15 from the Red Fort. At that time the prime minister had said that the scheme would be formally launched on September 25, to coincide with the birth anniversary of Deen Dayal Upadhyay, an RSS thinker and co-founder of the BJP.

However, this month, the launch date was advanced by two days to September 23. Its a good day today. I had time, and it is also the birthday of the legendary poet (Ramdhari Singh) Dinkar, Modi told the audience.

At the event, officials from the Union health ministry said that the prime minister chose to launch the scheme from Jharkhand since he was wary of launching it from any poll-bound state. Besides, Jharkhand was also one of the better prepared states. The state had already empanelled 217 government hospitals, 106 private hospitals, and was planning to extend the benefit to another 32 lakh families, besides the 25 lakh families.

With that addition, Jharkhand would be covering about 80 per cent of its population, Sunil Kumar Barnwal, secretary to Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das confirmed to THE WEEK.

The formal launch event also gave Modi a chance to reaffirm his pro-poor credentials by not just reiterating the benefits of the Ayushman Bharat (health insurance cover of Rs 5 lakh per year, per family) but also elaborating on the other elements of the Centres largesse for the state.

In his speech that lasted for about 50 minutes, the prime minister also spoke about the 10 new health and wellness centres (in addition to the existing 40 in the state, and 2,500 across the country) that he inaugurated in the state on Sunday, as well as the two new medical colleges in the districts of Koderma and Chaibasa.

Currently, 31 states and union territories have joined the Ayushman Bharat scheme, and the Centre hopes that two more states would be joining by the end of this month. The magnitude of the scheme is huge. In his speech, Modi said that 13,000 hospitals had been empanelled as of now, and claimed the number of beneficiaries is roughly equivalent to the population of the European Union, or the population of America, Canada and Mexico, taken together.

Thats also the reason why Union health minister J.P. Nadda as well as the officials from his ministry has been reiterating that it would take time for the scheme to take off in its entirety.

Every day, 6.5 lakh letters are being dispatched to intended beneficiaries across the country. These letters contain a gold card with the beneficiary details. All they need to do is to get a biometric done with their fingerprints, and after that the benefits will be accessible to them across the country. All this will take some time, Nadda told THE WEEK. He also said that the scheme had an in-built security policy with 100 data controls to prevent misuse of beneficiary data.

With the launch event over, ministry officials and state implementing agencies clearly have a rather daunting task cut out for themselves.Even as massive rescue mission is on to bring back injured Indian Navy Commander Abhilash Tomy, the Indian Navy's P8I (Poseidon Eight India) aircraft has reached the location of the sailor, Manorama News reported on Sunday.

According to the report, Tomy is responding to radio communications. The area is witnessing heavy rain and wind, reportedly at 55 kmph. The rescue team, which landed in Mauritius on Sunday, has essential medicines and food for the injured sailor.

Commander Tomy sustained severe injury after his yacht was hit by a vicious storm mid-way across the southern Indian Ocean while taking part in the Golden Globe Race. He is in touch with race organisers in France through messages, Defence spokesman D.K. Sharma said on Saturday.

Cdr Tomy is in communication with the Race Control at France through messages. Race control is relaying messages to JRCC (Joint Rescue Coordination Centre) Australia. He has requested for a stretcher as he is not able to move on his own, the defence spokesman quoted the Australian JRCC as saying in a release.

Tomy, representing India in the Golden Globe Race 2018 (GGR) on an indigenously built sailing vessel 'S V Thuriya', suffered a back injury on Friday after his yacht was dismasted in the severe storm that raised 14-metre-high waves.

Other help on way

Another race contestant 'S V Hanley Energy Endurance' was also heading towards 'S V Thuriya' though it had suffered damage of its own in Friday night's inclement weather.

An Australian fisheries vessel 'Osiris' is also heading towards the location. 'Osiris' has a medical officer and one bed infirmary onboard, it said.

A Royal Australian Navy Ship is likely to depart for the stricken vessel's location and is estimated to arrive after four to five days.

The Indian Navy had earlier said all efforts were being made to rescue the officer.

All-out efforts are being made to rescue Abhilash Tomy. Indian Naval stealth Frigate 'INS Satpura' operating in the Indian Ocean has been dispatched for the rescue mission, a defence spokesman said in Kochi.

Sailor's location

Tomy's vessel is in the south Indian Ocean, approximately 3,518 km from Perth in Australia and the Australian Rescue Coordination Centre at Canberra is coordinating the rescue mission in conjunction with many agencies, including the Australian defence department and the Indian Navy, he said, quoting information received from the organisers.

Tomy's vessel was dismasted in extremely rough weather and sea conditions, with wind speeds of 130 kmh. He was in third position in the race and has sailed over 10,500 nautical miles (19,446km) in the last 84 days, since commencement of the race on July 1.

How it all happened

A report issued from France on Friday night said 70 knot winds and 14-metre-high waves have left the yachts of Tomy and Ireland's Gregor McGuckin dismasted, and have twice knocked down the yacht of second-placed Dutchman Mark Slats.

Both McGuckin and Slats have reported that they are okay, but 39-year-old Tomy, making his second solo circumnavigation, has been injured, it had said. The report had also said other entrants were asked to make towards Tomy's position if possible, and added that the weather was extreme.

The nearest yacht happens to be McGuckin's 'Biscay 36 Hanley Energy Endurance', some 144 km to the southwest of Tomy's 'Thuriya', but she too was dismasted in the same storm.

Tomy, who became the first Indian to have circumnavigated the globe in 2013, is the only Indian participating in the Golden Globe Race that involves a gruelling 30,000-mile (48,280 km) solo circumnavigation of the globe.

(With inputs from PTI)China and the Vatican have managed to reach a historic breakthrough on the issue of appointment of bishops in the communist nation. Pope Francis recognised seven clerics ordained by Beijing without the approval of the Holy See, the Chinese foreign ministry said.

The issue as to who appoints bishops has been at the heart of a dispute since China first broke off diplomatic ties with the Holy See in 1951. Christianity is regarded as the fastest growing religion in China. According to unofficial estimates, China has 90 million Christians.

The Chinese foreign ministry, however, said the deal is provisional.

Meanwhile, the Vatican said the "provisional" deal concerning how bishops are appointed in China was "not political but pastoral".

"With a view of sustaining the proclamation of the Gospel in China, the Holy Father Pope Francis has decided to re-admit to full ecclesial communion the remaining 'official' bishops, ordained without pontifical mandate," a statement said.

In return, Beijing would recognise some, though not all, of the bishops previously appointed by the Holy See, the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post (SCMP) quoted officials as saying.

China and Vatican severed diplomatic ties in 1951, two years after the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) headed by Mao Zedong took over power in China after a bloody revolution.

The CPC, which demand that its 90 million members remain atheists, are suspicious that foreign religions, specially Christianity, will subvert its rule, like in the case of Poland, where the church movement was instrumental in overthrowing the communist rule.

Critics of the Vatican, however, labelled the deal a sellout to the communist government. The provisional agreement, signed in Beijing by deputy foreign ministers from both sides, was announced as Pope Francis visited Lithuania on a four-day trip to the Baltic countries.

In the country, 12 million Catholics are split between an underground Church swearing loyalty to the Vatican and the state-supervised Catholic Patriotic Association.

Diplomats have said the accord was a possible precursor to a resumption in diplomatic relations with Beijing after 70 years. Beijing does not allow countries to have diplomatic relations with both China and Taiwan. Taiwan now has formal relations with only 17 states, and the Vatican is the only one in Europe.

-Inputs from PTI, ReutersNew Delhi, Sep 23 (PTI) Seeking to improve India's ranking on ease of doing business index, the government is mulling an ordinance which provides for time-bound settlement of commercial disputes and make arbitrators accountable, a senior government functionary has said.

The government plans to bring the ordinance based on a bill cleared by Lok Sabha during the monsoon session.

As it is pending in Rajya Sabha and may get cleared in November or December during the winter session, the government has planned the ordinance as it feels that an early measure to settle commercial disputes at a faster pace will help improve India's ranking on ease of doing business index, the functionary explained.

The bill seeks to help India become a hub for domestic and global arbitration for settling commercial disputes.

The draft law provides for a time-bound settlement of disputes as well as accountability of the arbitrator.

The government feels that there is a need for robust mechanism to deal with institutional disputes.

The amendments to the Arbitration Act will facilitate achieving the goal of improving institutional arbitration by establishing an independent body to lay down standards, make arbitration process more friendly, cost-effective and ensure timely disposal of arbitration cases.

It provides for setting up of an independent body  Arbitration Council of India (ACI), which will frame arbitral institution and accredit arbitrators by laying down norms.

The ACI will frame proper rules as to how institutions would be graded, norms to be followed, monitoring of quality and performance, and encourage training of arbitrators.

Experts have time again suggested that unless India has a strong regulatory mechanism, judges, lawyers and arbitrators, the arbitration process will not gain speed.

The bill, which amends the 1996 Act, is part of the government's efforts to encourage institutional arbitration for settlement of disputes and make India a centre of robust Alternative Dispute Resolution Mechanism.

A large number of arbitration cases are conducted outside India in locations such as Singapore, London and Paris and around 30 million cases are pending before the courts here.

Due to globalisation, industrialisation and liberalisation, the disputes have increased manifold even bilateral investment trade related issues are also referred to the Hague, London and Paris. PTI NAB ABH

ABH

ABHMumbai, Sep 23 (PTI) From understanding the craft of acting to the importance of body language and on-screen chemistry, Kajol learnt the basics of her profession one film at a time over her two decade-long career.

In an interview with PTI, ahead of her upcoming film "Helicopter Eela", Kajol, one of the most spontaneous actors in the industry, talks learning the ropes of acting on set.

The actor lists down three films -- her 1992 debut "Bekhudi", "Udhar Ki Zindagi" (1994) and "Dushman" (1998) as her favourites.

While the first two films may not have been blockbusters, but they helped her grow as an artiste.

"All the films are completely different from 'Bekhudi' to Udhar Ki Zindagi' to 'Dushman' to 'Kuch Kuch Hota Hai'. There was no connect but that's what drove me to take up these films as I learnt something new every time as an actor," Kajol says.

"Bekhudi", directed by Rahul Rawail, marked Kajol's entry in films and the actor credits the movie for teaching her the basic essentials of filmmaking - from facing the camera to gaining technical knowledge.

"I learnt so much on that film. Rahul uncle was one of the best teachers in that aspect as far as the nuances were concerned.

"It was one of the first films in which I worked with screenwriter and fashion photographer Gautam Rajadhyaksha and make-up artiste Mickey Contractor, they were amazing with me."

The film also has a special place in her heart as her real-life mother Tanuja played her on-screen mom.

Talking about "Udhar Ki Zindagi", Kajol says the film was so intense that she suffered from a burnout in "a weird way".

"... I remember having a conversation during 'Baazigar' with Shah Rukh Khan and he told me, I should learn how to act and I was like, 'I am doing so fabulously well'. He told me I need to burn out as an actor, I felt, he talks nonsense sometimes.

"But when I was shooting for 'Udhar Ki Zindagi', I was like, 'I can't do films that are so heavy, it sucks so much out of you'. I did not want to do that anymore."

Kajol remembers discussing with Tanuja that she wanted to do lighter films and not be part of emotionally draining movies.

"... I (told her) that I want to do films with three songs, three scenes, etc. So I signed up films like 'Hulchul' and 'Gundaraj', among others."

But after taking up a series of light-hearted films, Kajol changed her mind and featured in hard-hitting film like "Dushman". The actor says she had initially rejected the project.

"I had said 'no' to it because I did not want to do a film with a rape scene in it. I didn't want to enact that. I felt it would be difficult for me. I am not comfortable with somebody doing that to me on-screen, even for a shot or whatever," Kajol adds.

But director Tanuja Chandra and producer Pooja Bhatt assured her that they will shoot the scene aesthetically and use a body double.

"They told me they just need one close-up shot and that they will manage it. They lived up to their promise. When you watch the film, you can't make out. They handled it so well. I am glad I did the film."

The 1998 psychological thriller was well received by critics and it was the seventh highest grossing Hindi film of the that year.

It was "Dushman" that helped Kajol master the art of body language, she says.

"There were two sisters, so you have comparisons against yourself. You had to be better than yourself in a weird way. We had to work towards that, but it was a fabulous learning experience.

"There were so many parts in the film where there were no dialogues. There were lengthy scenes but at the same time, a lot was established without saying too much. Everything was done in a subtle way."

Kajol says with Karan Johar's directorial debut "Kuch Kuch Hota Hai", she realised the importance of chemistry between co-stars.

"What I realised is that when you have fun off-screen, it translates on screen. Your off screen equation is conveyed on screen. There is some relatability that comes on screen... You don't know what is it that attracts people," the actor, who featured opposite long-time friend Shah Rukh, says. PTI KKP JUR SHD RDS SHD

SHDIslamabad, Sep 22 (PTI) The Pakistan Army on Saturday said it is "ready for war" but chooses to walk the path of peace in the interest of its people, comments which came in response to Indian Army Chief General Bipin Rawat's remark that "stern action" is needed to "avenge" the brutal killing of Indian soldiers.

In an interview to Dunya TV, Pakistan Army spokesperson Asif Ghafoor said the country has a long-standing record of fighting terrorism and "we know the price for peace", The Dawn reported.

Earlier in the day, commenting on the recent brutal killing of a BSF jawan and three policemen in Jammu and Kashmir, General Rawat in Jaipur said stern action is needed to avenge the barbarism by terrorists and Pakistan Army against Indian soldiers.

"We need to take stern action to avenge the kind of barbarism that terrorists and the Pakistan Army have been carrying against our soldiers. It is time to give it back to them in the same coin but not by resorting to similar kind of barbarism. I think the other side must also feel the same pain," he said at a press conference here.

Rawat insisted that action against Pakistan was needed but not in a barbaric manner.

Refuting India's claim of Pakistani soldiers killing the BSF jawan, Ghafoor said, "We have struggled to achieve peace in the last two decades. We can never do anything to disgrace any soldier."

"They (India) have in the past as well laid the blame on us for mutilating the body of a fallen soldier. We are a professional army. We never engage in such acts," he added.

"We (Pakistan Army) are ready for war but choose to walk the path of peace in the interest of the people of Pakistan, the neighbours and the region," the spokesperson said.

The war of words between the armed forces of the two countries came a day after India called off the foreign minister-level talks with Pakistan in New York this month on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.

General Rawat also said the Indian Army had carried out successful operations against the Pakistan Army whenever they did something against India along the border.

"Pakistan has suffered many casualties and we have been able to take on their defence system to a large extent, but we never resorted to barbarism. They requested for a ceasefire in May and we agreed, but if they continue to do this, we will need to take other action," he said. PTI SCY AKJ SCY

SCYNew Delhi, Sep 23 (PTI) Following are the top foreign stories at 1700 hours:



FGN7 PAK-OPPOSITION-INDIA

Pak's opposition holds Imran Khan govt responsible for 'diplomatic debacle' with India

Islamabad: Pakistan's two major opposition parties have questioned the "haste" shown by Prime Minister Imran Khan in making efforts to mend ties with India and held him responsible for the "diplomatic debacle", saying he should have done his "homework" before approaching for a meeting.



FGN6 US-KAVANAUGH-LD FORD

Senate committee to hear Ford's testimony about sexual assault charge against Kavanaugh on Thursday

Washington:Christine Blasey Ford has agreed to a request from the Senate Judiciary Committee to testify before it next week on her sexual assault allegations against Judge Brett Kavanaugh, the Supreme Court Nominee of President Donald Trump, her lawyer has said. By Lalit K Jha.



FGN4 US-LD GREENCARDS

Trump admin proposes to deny green cards to aid recipients

Washington: The Trump administration may deny green cards to immigrants who have availed or may avail government benefits including food and cash assistance under new rules which could negatively affect hundreds of thousands of Indians living in the US. By Lalit K Jha.



FGN3 US-KAVANAUGH-WHITEHOUSE

White House says four witnesses denies any knowledge of sexual assault by Kavanaugh

Washington:The White House has doubted the sexual assault allegation by a California professor against Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh at a house party attended by four others, arguing that they have denied any knowledge of the incident or having attended the party. By Lalit K Jha.





FGN2 UN-SWARAJ

Swaraj arrives in New York for UN General Assembly session

New York:External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has arrived here to represent India at the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly and hold several bilateral and multilateral meetings with her global counterparts. By Yoshita Singh.



RUP

RUP8 parties to meet for MP alliance talks: Loktantrik Janata Dal

Bhopal, Sep 23 (PTI) Eight political parties will meet

on September 30 to work out an alliance against the ruling BJP

in the forthcoming Madhya Pradesh Assembly polls, Loktantrik

Janata Dal mentor Govind Yadav said Sunday.

The move comes against the backdrop of Mayawati-led

BSP Thursday announcing its first list of 22 candidates for

the MP state polls.

"Now that the BSP has decided to fight elections on

its own, we are going to sit together to talk about forming an

alliance so that the opposition vote does not get fragmented,"

Yadav, former Janata Dal (United) Madhya Pradesh president,

said Sunday.

Leaders of the Samajwadi Party (SP), CPM, CPI, Bahujan

Sangharsh Dal, Gondwana Gantantra Party, Rashtriya Samanta

Dal, Prajatantrik Samadhan Party, apart from the Loktantrik

Janata Dal, would meet to work out the modalities of an

alliance, Yadav informed.

He added that the proposed alliance was ready to "come

under the umbrella" of the Congress in order to unseat the

BJP, which has been ruling the state for 15 years.

Yadav, however, added that time was running out for

the Congress which had, so far, failed to a form a grand

alliance in the state.

"So, I am going to meet Sharad Yadav (former Janata

Dal (U) president), who is from MP, asking for help to bring

the opposition parties on one platform," Yadav said.

The Congress, meanwhile, Sunday said that the party

was still hopeful of an alliance with the BSP.

"We are in talks with the BSP and Samajwadi Party. I

am hopeful that 'bua' (aunt-referring to Mayawati) and

'bhatija' (nephew- referring to Akhilesh Yadav) will help the

Congress defeat the BJP," MP Congress chief Kamal Nath said

Sunday.

"Our first priority is to stop the fragmentation of

anti-BJP votes to ensure its defeat," Nath told reporters.

According to another Congress leader, the BSP wants 25

seats in the alliance while the former is ready to give

Mayawati's party 15 seats.

The BSP currently has four MLAs in the 230-member MP

Assembly. PTI LAL

BNM BNMNew Delhi, Sep 23 (PTI) Army Chief Gen. Bipin Rawat Sunday backed the government's decision to call off dialogue with Pakistan, asserting that talks and terror cannot go together.

The government had on Friday called off a meeting between the foreign ministers of India and Pakistan in New York, citing the brutal killings of three policemen in Jammu and Kashmir and Islamabad releasing postage stamps "glorifying" Kashmiri militant Burhan Wani.

Infiltration from across the border persists despite the call for a ceasefire by Pakistan, said Rawat stressing that this cannot be allowed to continue and appropriate action has to be taken to deter terrorists from disrupting the peace in the Valley.

He was talking at a commemoration ceremony of Haifa Day Centernary at the Teen Murti Haifa Memorial here.

He backed the government's decision to call off the talks between External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and her Pakistani counterpart on sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

"The government's policy is very clear cut... You (Pakistan) show us some initiatives so that we feel that you are not encouraging terrorism. But we see that terror activities are continuing and terrorists come from the other side of the border.

"In such an atmosphere, whether talks can be initiated that the government can only decide. I agree to the government's decision that peace talks and terrorism cannot go together," he said.

A BSF patrolling party was fired upon by forces from across the Pakistan border on September 20, in which a jawan was killed. The head constable rank jawan was suspected to have been hit by a fatal sniper shot from across the border. His body was recovered in a mutilated condition later.

Rawat further said they will provide security along with other agencies for the Panchayat polls in Jammu and Kashmir to be held in November.

"Today we are also looking at Panchayat elections, we want these elections to go through because with this the power will devolve to people.

"Our job is to ensure that the civil administration there and the election commission is able to carry out their tasks so that people can come out and cast their vote in a free and forthright manner without any fear of any kind of disruption," he said. PTI PLB PR

PLB DIP

DIPNew Delhi, Sep 23 (PTI) Delhi's ruling AAP will focus on winning at least 25 seats out of the 100 it plans to contest in the next Lok Sabha election to better position itself in case of a non-BJP government formation, two party leaders said Sunday.

In the emerging political scenario, winning 25 Lok Sabha seats will ensure the Aam Aadmi Party is in a "comfortable" position to strike a bargain with other parties after the general election in 2019, a senior party leader said.

"The party is eyeing 100 potential seats. We will do whatever it takes to win at least 25 seats, particularly in Delhi, Haryana and Punjab, where we have a strong presence and effective organisational set up," the leader said.

The party will contest Lok Sabha polls in the three states - Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh - where assembly elections are due later this year, besides focussing on Delhi, Haryana and Punjab, he said.

Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat are other states where it plans to contest selected Lok Sabha seats.

The AAP currently holds four Lok Sabha seats in Punjab.

The state has 13 Lok Sabha seats and the AAP would work to raise its tally as it is an opposition party in Punjab Assembly, another party leader said.

AAP national convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal recently visited areas in Haryana, where state party head Navin Jaihind has been able to strengthen the organisation in several constituencies, he said.

"We will work hard to pose a tough challenge to BJP and Congress on all the 10 seats in Haryana," he said.

In the run-up to the elections, the AAP leadership has upped the ante against the Narendra Modi government, with Kejriwal targeting the prime minister on the political controversy around the purchase of 36 Rafale fighters from France.

Kejriwal Saturday demanded that Modi call a special session of Parliament to discuss the Rafale deal.

On Friday, he asked the BJP-led central government to come clean on the deal in light of former French president Francois Hollande's purported interview to a French language publication.

In the interview, Hollande is quoted as saying that the Indian government proposed Anil Ambani's Reliance Defence as the offset partner for French aerospace giant Dassault Aviation in the Rs 58,000-crore deal.

The government Saturday asserted it did not have any role in the selection of Reliance Defence as a partner for Dassault Aviation.

On Sunday, the two AAP leaders said a mix of local and national issues would be helpful in achieving success in the next Lok Sabha poll.

Other party leaders, including Kejriwal, have been lately saying in their public meetings that if AAP had won Delhi's seven seats in 2014, it would have handled issues such as the ongoing drive to seal illegal commercial establishment in a more effective way.

In 2014, the Bharatiya Janata Party won all the seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi. The next year, AAP was voted to power in the national capital after winning 67 Assembly seats out of the total 70. PTI VIT ABH

ABH

ABH\R Jaipur, Sep 23 (PTI) A day after former Union minister Jaswant Singh's son quit the Bharatiya Janata Party, Rajasthan Congress chief Sachin Pilot said on Sunday that Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje should introspect why its leaders are leaving the party.

"The list of BJP leaders leaving the party is getting longer and longer. The chief minister should introspect why this is happening," Pilot told PTI.

Though this is their internal matter, the state Congress president said their leaders are disgruntled.

On Saturday, Manvendra Singh announced his decision to quit the party, citing self-respect. Speculations are rife that the legislator from Sheo constituency in Barmer district may join the Congress, but nothing is decided yet.

"I am no longer with the BJP and have decided to quit the party on the issue of 'swabhiman' (self-respect), Manvendra had said, adding that the problem started during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections -- when Jaswant was denied a party ticket.

When asked whether he would join the Congress, Manvendra said he would go to the masses and take appropriate decision after getting their feedback.

Senior leader Ghanshyam Tiwari has also quit the BJP over the differences with the chief minister and formed his own party. PTI SDA

HMBKochi, Sept 23 (PTI) An Indian Navy aircraft has located the vessel of Indian Naval officer Abhilash Tomy, who was badly injured while participating in the Golden Globe Race, "rolling excessively" in the South Indian Ocean, a Defence spokesman said Sunday.

Tomy had suffered a back injury Friday after his yacht was hit by a vicious storm with 14-metre-high waves mid-way across south Indian Ocean.

The Indian Navy's P8I aircraft, which flew from Mauritius in the early hours Sunday, has located the "mast broken boat rolling excessively", he said.

"Commander Tomy responded by ping on EPIRB as the aircraft was flying over him," the spokesman said here.

Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRB) is a device which alerts rescue services in case of an accident at sea.

He said heavy rains have been reported from the area.

The aircraft would fly back after three to four hours and Tomy can only be rescued by naval ships, he said.

Tomy had Sunday managed to get in touch with race organisers in France through messages and had requested for a stretcher as he could not move on his own. He was representing India in the Golden Globe Race 2018 (GGR) on an indigenously-built sailing vessel 'S V Thuraya'.

Tomy, who became the first Indian to have circumnavigated the globe in 2013, is the only Indian participating in the race that involves a gruelling 30,000-mile solo circumnavigation of the globe.

His vessel is in the south Indian Ocean, about 1,900 nautical miles from Perth in Australia

Tomy's vessel was dismasted in extremely rough weather and sea conditions, with wind speeds of 130 kmh. He was in third position in the race and has sailed over 10,500 nautical miles in the last 84 days, since the race started on July 1.

A report from France on Friday night had said 70 knot winds and 14-metre-high waves have left the yachts of Tomy and Ireland's Gregor McGuckin dismasted, and twice knocked down the yacht of second-placed Dutchman Mark Slats.

Both McGuckin and Slats had reported that they are okay, but 39-year-old Tomy, making his second solo circumnavigation, has been injured, it had said.

It had also said other entrants were asked to make towards Tomy's position if possible, and added that the weather was extreme.

The nearest yacht was McGuckin's 'Biscay 36 Hanley Energy Endurance', some 90 miles to the southwest of Tomy's 'Thuriya', but she too was dismasted in the same storm. PTI TGB APR AARMathura, Sep 23 (PTI) Uttar Pradesh Power Minister Shrikant Sharma Sunday asked the Congress to explain why the UPA government had not finalised the Rafale deal even after starting the process to procure the fighter jets.

"(Congress president) Rahul Gandhi should explain, why the Congress could not finalise the deal in over seven years, even though it started the process in 2007," he told reporters here.

The BJP leader also asked if the Congress was waiting for some Ottavio Quattrocchi to come and finalise the deal.

Quattrocchi was the key accused in Bofors scam

The Congress chief is unnecessarily raising the Rafale issue, he said.

"It also seems Rahul himself is not sure about the cost of the Rafale fighter aircraft as there is a variation in the cost of the fighter jets mentioned by him from time to time," the UP minister said.

Quoting Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, he said Gandhi claimed a price of Rs 700 crore per aircraft in Delhi and Karnataka in April and May, and in Parliament, he reduced it to Rs 520 crore per jet.

In Raipur, the Congress chief said the price as Rs 520 crore and Rs 540 crore per aircraft in the same speech, Sharma claimed.

To a question, he said, on moral grounds, Gandhi should answer the questions raised by the Union finance minister.

He also asked why the Congress chief was insisting that the government disclose the price of Rafale jets.

"The price is not being quoted as by revealing it, the enemy would not only locate the nature of fighter aircraft, but would prepare accordingly," the minister said.

On former French President Francois Hollande's statements, he said a clarification from the third party is not required, when it has come directly from Dassault Aviation.

Hollande was quoted in a French media report as saying that the Indian government proposed Anil Ambani-led Reliance Defence as the partner for Dassault Aviation in the Rs 58,000 crore Rafale deal and France did not have a choice.

The French government, however, Friday said it was in no manner involved in the choice of Indian industrial partners for the deal.

In a comment later to a news agency, Hollande seemed to backtrack on his earlier remarks.

Dassault Aviation said the decision to partner with Reliance Defence Ltd (RDL) to fulfill offset obligations of the deal was its own. PTI CORR

ANB

ANBThe private equity arm of Lloyds Banking Group is in talks to buy a substantial stake in Halewood Wines & Spirits as part of a deal that could value the maker of Crabbie's ginger beer at up to 300million.

City sources said Lloyds Development Capital is toughing it out in the final stages of a sale process for Halewood  which also owns Lambrini sparking wine and City of London Gin  with a rival bidder.

The identity of the rival has not emerged, but sources said it is believed to be an overseas firm.

Popular: Halewood owns brands including Crabbies ginger beer

Most of Merseyside-based Halewood is owned by the executors of the late founder John Halewood, family trusts and John's widow Judy, with small stakes held by management.

Judy, who chairs Halewood Wines & Spirits, hired bankers from NM Rothschild in May. She inherited the firm from John who launched it in 1978 as Halewood Vintners.

Over the next 30 years it grew into one of Britain's largest alcohol distributors. The couple raced horses in the Grand National including 2004 winner Amberleigh House.

Halewood's Crabbie's brand used to sponsor the showpiece Aintree race. Halewood made a pretax profit of 4.8million from sales of 216.7million last year.

The move by Lloyds Development Capital appears to counter speculation that dealmaking in the UK will dive amid uncertainty over the outcome of Brexit.

In August, Lloyds Development Capital invested in exhibitions company FC Business Intelligence, which runs events for the insurance, pharmaceuticals and energy industries. That deal is likely to have netted a multi-million pound cash payout for Guy Grant, the chairman of FC Business Intelligence.

The entrepreneur set up the business from a kitchen table in 1990.

A spokesperson for Halewood said: 'It's widely known that Halewood Wines & Spirits is considering sale options.

'There's strong interest in the company. No decisions have been made in relation to any offers or proposals for the business.'

Lloyds Development Capital declined to comment.Although he might not have the front of Peter Hargreaves, co-founder of FTSE 100-listed investment business Hargreaves Lansdown, Andy Bell is a dark horse who could well be on the verge of emulating the billionaires success.

Like Hargreaves, who began in business 37 years ago from the front room of a Bristol flat, Bell started his working life quietly  training to become an actuary.

But for the past 23 years he has followed a similar journey to Hargreaves, realising that with the growth of the internet there was money to be made from enabling people to control their investments under one roof.

Andy Bell: Chief executive and co-founder of investment platform AJ Bell

To begin with, it was pensions but quietly and surely Bells business AJ Bell broadened its online proposition  known in the trade as a platform.

Investors can now assemble their own portfolios through the wrapper of a pension, Isa or on a standalone basis. They can buy and sell funds, investment trusts and shares.

While AJ Bell is dwarfed by Hargreaves Lansdown  and probably always will be  the business is something of a disruptor.

By competing on price, it has grabbed a three per cent share of the platform market. Customer numbers are heading towards the 200,000 mark, assets are around 42billion and it makes money.

Last week, chief executive Bell flew down from Manchester to confirm the next stage in the companys development. Like Hargreaves and Stephen Lansdown did 11 years ago, AJ Bell is heading for the UK stock market. If all goes according to plan, it will float in December  January if there is a hiccup or two (a stock market correction).

Of course, the float will make yet more money for Andy Bell  who joked last Tuesday he already has more money than sense.

AJ Bell has also decided that its customers should not be left out of a stock market party

It should also make money for investors in some of Invesco Perpetuals UK funds as the Henley-on-Thames business uses the float to sell down a slice of its stake in AJ Bell, realising handsome gains.

Yet, in the spirit of investor empowerment, AJ Bell has also decided that its customers should not be left out of the impending stock market party. Anyone who has an account with the platform when October 15 comes around will be eligible to apply for shares (minimum of 1,000).

With shares there are no guarantees  and life as a listed company can be ferocious, especially when things go wrong (for example, an IT meltdown or a successful cyber-attack by hackers).

But if it enjoys a slither of the success Hargreaves Lansdown  and its shareholders  have enjoyed since the companys stock market listing in May 2007, early investors in AJ Bell plc could be making a shrewd long-term investment.

For the record, Hargreaves Lansdown shares were priced at 1.60 when the business came to market. On Friday, they finished above 22.

Cyber attacks

Talking of cyber-attacks and hackers, it really is a bit rich for credit reference agency Equifax to express disappointment at the 500,000 fine it has just received from UK regulators for failing to protect the personal data of 15 million Britons.

A failure that late last year left customers unsure as to whether their key personal details  everything from dates of birth, telephone numbers and driving licence details  had ended up in the hands of fraudsters.

Penalty: Equifax was fined 500,000 for failing to protect the personal data of 15 million Britons

As a customer of this wretched organisation at the time of the data breach, I was left worried sick that I would either be targeted by cold-callers intent on stripping me of my pension  or have my bank account emptied.

To add insult to injury, I then had to endure the torture of signing up to its protect service to see if my credit file was in order.

This involved giving one of its robotic employees  operating out of another Continent or planet  all of my key details (bar inside leg measurements).

Sufficient detail for the android to do what the hackers had attempted to do in the first place  if he had been so minded.

Last December, I said Equifax should be hit with a thunderous fine. How disappointing then that it is just 500,000 (the maximum permitted).

After all, this is a company we entrusted with our personal details so that we could keep a regular eye on our credit record and whether anyone was impersonating us to take out credit in our name.

It has broken that trust, for good. Damn you Equifax.Little known fact: this country is very good at manufacturing. The old joke was that British industry was an oxymoron, but not any more: we are far better at advanced manufacturing than is commonly realised.

The public thinks the UK is only the worlds 56th biggest manufacturing nation. We are actually number nine, a position that should be a source of national pride. Its certainly a minor miracle we are punching so far above our weight.

The misperception about manufacturing probably stems from the 1980s, when the old heavy industries began to wane. A leaner, high-tech, highly-skilled sector that could assure our prosperity after Brexit has risen phoenix-like from those ashes.

Success story: The aerospace industry is heading for a production record this year

The aerospace industry is a case in point. It is heading for a production record this year, with aircraft delivered so far worth up to 18billion.

British manufacturing is a remarkable success story that we should be shouting from the rooftops. But instead of capitalising on this success, firms of all sizes feel embattled not only because of Brexit but also the spectre of a Jeremy Corbyn government, with the prospect of re-nationalisations, higher tax and higher spending.

On Brexit, most manufacturing firms dont seem to have received the memo that it will be a glorious release from red tape and an opportunity to forge trade deals in far-flung parts of the world.

Rightly or not, they are deeply pessimistic. So much so that one in six of those questioned in a survey by industry group the EEF say their business would be untenable if the UK reverted to World Trade Organisation rules. Forty-three per cent said they could see no positive opportunities whatsoever from Brexit.

Brexiteer politicians reject warnings from the leaders of Airbus, BMW and Jaguar Land Rover as Remoaner bleating. But the owners of small and medium firms who responded to the EEF are not part of an unrepresentative corporate elite who are in hock to the EU  they are hard-headed business people trying to run companies in places like Newcastle and Birmingham.

There are 150,000 small and medium British firms that only export to the EU.

Manufacturing firms: Forty-three per cent said they could see no positive opportunities whatsoever from Brexit

Blithely waving aside their fears and telling them to sell more to the Koreans and the Chinese could be the answer  but only in the long term, provided of course firms are not strangled for lack of working capital in the meantime.

The situation is equally bad if not worse in the services sector, including financial services, which some very senior figures feel gets less of a hearing from the Government than industry does.

Regardless of how they voted in the referendum, many business people are becoming ever more anxious and frustrated by bickering and back-stabbing politicians.

They fear not only a botched Brexit, but that the self-harming antics in the Conservative Party will usher Corbyn into Number 10.

Brexit is crowding out other important long-term discussions about skills shortages, lack of investment, and too few women in engineering.

The basic duty of government towards business in a well-functioning capitalist society is to provide a stable political and economic backdrop so firms can be confident to plan and to invest.

In the internecine and interminable Brexit battles, the Conservatives, who should be the party of business, are in danger of forgetting that.Tony Hetherington is Financial Mail on Sunday's ace investigator, fighting readers corners, revealing the truth that lies behind closed doors and winning victories for those who have been left out-of-pocket. Find out how to contact him below.

C.C. writes: Consumers should be warned that if buying through Amazon Marketplace, you lose credit card protection. This is because it is not the seller of the goods, even though it is Amazon's name on the invoice. It deducts commission and pays the balance to the actual seller. I got caught out with my purchase of a computer hard drive costing 164. I later needed to return it to the manufacturer under warranty, but it turned out to be counterfeit. Amazon was sympathetic, though the bottom line is that it made money out of the sale of counterfeit goods.

Response: Amazon offered a full refund on the counterfeit goods

By all appearances, what you got for your money was a genuine 4TB hard drive manufactured by the perfectly reputable company Western Digital.

There was no way to tell that it was a fake until it went wrong and you needed to invoke the warranty  which was supposed to protect you for up to five years.

You complained to the seller but got no reply. When you complained to Amazon it told you: 'You can file a claim under our A-to-Z safe buying guarantee up to 90 days after the order date if you provided payment to the seller via Amazon Marketplace, but the seller failed to deliver the item.'

You could also claim under the guarantee scheme if you received the item 'but it was materially different than depicted in the seller's description.' Finally, you were protected if the item was defective 'and you notified the seller within 30 days of receipt'.

Then came the sting in the tail. Amazon said that as your purchase was more than 90 days earlier, 'these conditions have expired'. With no sense of irony, the writer added: 'I hope this helps. We look forward to seeing you again soon.'

You asked me: 'How would anyone spot a well counterfeited product?' The 90-day time limit was a loophole that made Amazon's guarantee worthless.

As I only recently took up a complaint with Amazon Marketplace when a reader who paid 259 for an iPad received only a cheap piece of plastic, I went back to the company. I asked how your experience squared with the guarantee it offered.

The result was quick  and remarkable. Twenty-four hours later, you received an email from Amazon.

Almost as if nothing had happened and you had not already been turned down for a refund, the email apologised for the difficulties with your purchase and assured you that full reimbursement had now been made to your credit card.

Amazon has given me a long-winded statement explaining what it does to combat fake goods and remove crooked sellers from Amazon Marketplace.

But from the point of view of consumers, the key passage says: 'Customers are always protected by our A-to-Z guarantee, whether they make a purchase from Amazon or a third-party seller.

'If the product does not arrive or is not as advertised, customers can contact our customer support for a full refund of their order.'

Interestingly, there is no mention of a 90-day time limit, so perhaps Amazon has taken on board that spotting a fake is far from easy until it goes wrong.

Five months and my Isa hasnt switched

Mrs J.H. writes: You wrote about the problems a reader encountered in getting Barclays Smart Investor to transfer his Isa and said that two months was too long. The reader was lucky. My problems started about five months ago, when at my request Yorkshire Building Society asked Barclays to transfer my shares Isa. At the time of writing this has still not happened.

Another week, another problem with Smart Investor, the service that took over from the previously competent Barclays Stockbrokers.

All you wanted was to switch your Isa to another provider, which should at most take weeks. What you got was a series of letters from Barclays, promising an update on your request by a later date. But when that date arrived, you received a fresh letter promising another future update.

Finally, you received a letter from Yorkshire Building Society, saying Smart Investor had told it there were various issues delaying the switch. You had to meet Smart Investors unspecified requirements and confirm you still wanted to go ahead.

I tracked down one reason for the delay. Barclays sent a cheque to Yorkshire for your new account, but put the wrong name on it.

An official told me: We sincerely apologise to Mrs H for the delay in completing her request to transfer cash from the sale of her Isa investments. It does not reflect the level of service she should rightly expect from us.

The transfer has been completed and the bank has sent you 350 to make up for the mistakes.

A gas bill for 2,564? There are no stars for this energy supplier

Ms W.T. writes: Green Star Energy says we owe 2,564. As pensioners, this is causing us great concern. I have spoken to a dozen people at Green Star. Each promised to return my call and resolve the problem, but no calls came. In April, a meter reader took a reading but we were told it was wrong. Another came and we were later told we owed 73  but Green Star insists on more meter readings. We want to return to our previous supplier but it is understandably not keen until this is resolved.

I contacted Green Star, only to be told the company could not trace me. I explained I was not the customer  you were  and that I had provided your account number.

Next, Green Star sent me a stock letter, saying: If we have not resolved your complaint within 40 working days, you can ask the Ombudsman to look at your case.

I had to remind Green Star that this would be impossible for the same reason as before  I was not its customer. Finally, this got through to someone senior. Green Star promised mandatory refresher training for its advisers and an overhaul of its complaints procedures.

It appears that right at the start, Green Star gave poor advice on the amount it could save you. Although your consumption decreased, your bills rose. There was also a discrepancy in the way gas units were calculated from your meter readings.

So, forget the 2,564 and the 73. You actually owe nothing. Green Star is now paying you 721 as a result of recalculated bills and compensation. That is more like it.

Holiday villa fraud boss gets 13 years Two weeks ago I reported that five fraudsters had just been sentenced for running an investment scam exposed by The Mail on Sunday as long ago as 2011. Now their boss Michael Nascimento has followed them in facing justice after his sentencing was delayed because of a separate prosecution for money laundering. Ringleader: Nascimento was convicted of money laundering Between 2010 and 2014, Nascimento and his gang cheated investors out of 2.8 million by selling shares in a holiday villa development on the island of Madeira. In 2011 and again in 2012, I warned that the investment scheme was illegal and that none of the gang was authorised to offer shares to the public. Nascimento has now been sentenced to 11 years in jail for the Madeira fraud, following a prosecution brought by the Financial Conduct Authority. At Southwark Crown Court, His Honour Judge Hehir praised the regulator for building a formidable case against Nascimento, adding that many victims had suffered life-shattering losses. Separately, a City of London Police investigation into a carbon credits investment fraud found that Nascimento laundered the proceeds that victims paid into two corrupt companies, Harman Royce Limited and Kendrick Zale Limited. He was sentenced to a further two years in prison, increasing his total jail time to 13 years.

If you believe you are the victim of financial wrongdoing, write to Tony Hetherington at Financial Mail, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5TS or email tony.hetherington@mailonsunday.co.uk. Because of the high volume of enquiries, personal replies cannot be given. Please send only copies of original documents, which we regret cannot be returned.Formula: Harry Nimmo is not frightened to stick with winners like drinks maker Fever-Tree

Provided two shareholder votes go the right way in the next couple of weeks, investment trust Standard Life UK Smaller Companies is going to get a lot bigger.

Instead of a near 400million fund, it will have assets under its wing of some 550million. But the boost in size will only come if the trust is permitted to absorb the assets of rival Dunedin Smaller Companies.

For that to happen, at least 75 per cent of voting shareholders for both trusts must agree to the move.

Dunedin's shareholders will vote this Friday while Standard Life's will decide the following Wednesday.

With both of the trust's independent boards recommending a 'merger', it is unlikely there will be any investor revolt.

The two trusts are now both managed by investment combine Aberdeen Standard Life following the merger of the two investment houses last August. Having near identical investment objectives, it makes little sense to continue with both trusts.

With the Dunedin fund having a poorer investment record than its counterpart, it is hoped the combined trust will benefit from the astute management of Harry Nimmo who has run Standard Life UK Smaller Companies for the past 15 years with great success.

Over the past five years, he has generated investor returns of 84 per cent. In contrast, Dunedin shareholders have benefited from a return of 57 per cent.

Adding to the relative past pain for Dunedin shareholders, the trust's shares have consistently traded at a double-digit discount while management charges have been inflated by a performance fee  dragging down returns.

Although Nimmo's record on the investment trust goes back to 2003, he has managed smaller company portfolios for Standard Life for more than 20 years.

The portfolio of UK Smaller Companies Investment Trust is littered with winners

The success of sister investment fund Standard Life Investments UK Smaller Companies prompted its 'soft closing' seven years ago amid fears the fund would get too big for Nimmo to manage. Despite warning off new investors, it still has assets of 1.6 billion.

Nimmo is a creature of habit, sticking to a tried and tested formula he developed in the late 1990s to identify likely smaller companies for inclusion in the funds he runs. It embraces a mix of quantitative and qualitative tests.

He says: 'I like businesses that make money, deliver profits and pay dividends. I avoid anything blue sky. I prefer growth businesses that can generate predictable earnings.'

Typically he will hold for at least six years and is not frightened to run with winners, even if they are no longer strictly classified as smaller companies. The only proviso is that no stock can represent more than five per cent of the trust's assets.

The portfolio of UK Smaller Companies Investment Trust is littered with winners  the likes of drinks manufacturer Fever-Tree (bought at 1.34, now trading at above 37) and e-commerce company Abcam (bought at 60p, now above 14). These holdings are frequently chipped away at to keep within the five per cent holding limit.

Nimmo adds: 'What is vital as a smaller companies manager is to find the new batch of Fever-Trees and Abcams  the success stories of the next six to seven years.'

He is putting his faith in the likes of Dart Group  owner of customer friendly Jet2  car supermarket Motorpoint and technology company Accesso.

If the trust's combined assets grow beyond 550million on the back of positive investment performance, a lower charge will kick in on any excess at 0.55 per cent.Finsbury Food makes goods with almost universal appeal  cakes, bread, buns and morning pastries.

The range is extensive, from Mary Berrys lemon drizzle to Batman celebration cakes, with organic loaves, hot cross buns and vegan brioches thrown in for good measure.

Customers include all the major supermarkets, as well as wholesale caterers and restaurant chains and the company is known for the quality of its produce.

Taste: Finsbury makes Mary Berrys cakes

Despite all these advantages, the business has just been through an extremely tough year, hit by soaring costs in particular.

The company uses 50 tons of butter a week, for example, and the price surged from 2,000 to 6,000 a ton in a matter of weeks late last year. But Finsbury has fought back, as demonstrated in the groups annual results, released last week.

The company was forced to shut down a loss-making London bakery half way through the year but even so, underlying sales rose 2.4 per cent to 290million for the year to June 30.

Profits rose 4 per cent to 17.2million, excluding closure costs, and chief executive John Duffy increased the dividend by 10 per cent to 3.3p, a firm indication of confidence about the future.

Finsbury is moving firmly with the times as well.

Earlier this month, the group bought Ultrapharm, which specialises in gluten-free produce, one of the fastest-growing areas of the bakery market.

Artisanal breads are another popular area and, at the more traditional end of the spectrum, Finsburys partnership with Mary Berry, initiated last year, is making good progress  with her loaf cakes proving particularly popular.

Brokers expect profits of 18.7million next year and a dividend of 3.5p, with further steady growth pencilled in for 2020.

Midas verdict: When Midas recommended the stock in January 2015 the price was 63p. Last week, the shares closed at 122p. Shareholders have had a good run but should not sell now, as the price is likely to rise. New investors could also find value at current levels.Buyout: London Vet Show organiser is on the market

The company that runs the London Vet Show could be about to change hands for up to 300million amid a frenzied year of buyouts in the events and exhibitions sector.

City sources said the private equity owners of CloserStill Media have appointed bankers from DC Advisory Partners to find a buyer for the business.

As well as the London Vet Show, CloserStill organises other exhibitions and events, such as the Pharmacy Show at the NEC in Birmingham.

Industry insiders suggested that CloserStill could be sold for between 250million and 300million to a rival such as Clarion Events, which puts on the Furniture Show.

Clarion Events was bought by American buy-out giant Blackstone for 600million last year.

The US private equity firm then backed Clarion to buy PenWell Corporation, which organises and manages more than 40 exhibitions and conferences around the world. Dealmaking in the exhibitions and conferences industry has been rife throughout the last 12 months.

This year, for example, Informa struck a deal to merge with London-listed rival UBM to create a 9billion publishing and events group.

Inflexion, CloserStill's private equity owner, declined to comment.Top shareholders in Unilever have raised fears that arcane powers may be used to swing a crucial vote to allow the company to shift its head office to Rotterdam.

The concerns suggest the fight over the future of the Marmite owners corporate base could become increasingly hostile.

Unilever plans to move its headquarters out of London and ditch its FTSE 100 status. But City institutions have lined up to attack the proposals ahead of a vote on October 24.

Switch: Unilever plans to move its headquarters out of London and ditch its FTSE 100 status

As tensions mount, one top shareholder said there were worries that Unilevers top team could use special rules to vote on behalf of investors with American depositary shares (ADS)  shares in foreign firms listed in the US.

Unilever last night insisted it would not vote any shares on behalf of ADS holders.

M&G Investments, Columbia Threadneedle, Lindsell Train and Aviva Investors have all expressed concerns about the controversial proposal.

It has been speculated the move is a reaction to a takeover attempt by Kraft Heinz last year. A Dutch-only listing would make any future attempt more difficult.One of the Duchess of Cambridge's favourite fashion retailers is facing a shareholders' revolt this week over fears its founder could take control of a larger part of the business.

Set up by Tom Joule in 1989, Joules has become a favourite of 'yummy mummies' and the country set. Mother-of-three the Duchess of Cambridge is a fan of the brand.

The company, based in the Leicestershire town of Market Harborough, floated on the London Stock Exchange in 2016 and its value has since doubled to 280million.

Country chic: The clothes of Joules are popular in the Royal household

Joule, who sits on the company board as chief brand officer, cashed in an estimated 40million at the time of the float, and retains a stake of 32 per cent  worth 90million.

Shareholder advisory group ISS has urged investors ahead of Thursday's annual general meeting to vote against company plans that could see Joule increase his share of Joules to as much as 36 per cent.

ISS said this would give rise to fears over 'creeping control' of the business by its largest shareholder.

Joule's stake could increase if the company buys back shares from other investors, and also if he is awarded more shares as part of his bonus package.

The proposals, if approved, would give Joule exemption from City rules forcing him to make a full takeover offer for the business if his stake increases further.

Joules, which suffered a 10 per cent vote against similar proposals at last year's vote, said it has no current intention of buying back investor shares.It might have been billed a battle between David and two Goliaths  if not for the fact that all three are billionaires with very deep pockets.

And in the High Court fight between Roman Abramovich, Vladimir Potanin and Oleg Deripaska it was the 'minnow' who has emerged triumphant.

Deripaska, worth 2.8billion, has won the latest round in the legal spat with Vladimir Potanin, valued at 11.4billion, over control of Russia's biggest mining company.

Blocked: Roman Abramovich

A High Court judge has ruled that Abramovich, who is worth 8.7billion, cannot sell his minority stake in mining giant Norilsk Nickel (NN) to Potanin.

The dispute, which has raged for years, became so protracted in 2012 that Russian President Vladimir Putin stepped in and installed Abramovich as a minority shareholder to keep the peace.

Deripaska, through the firm Rusal, and Potanin each control about 30 per cent of NN. Abramovich took a 5 per cent share, worth around 1.5billion, through Cyprus-registered Crispian Investments.

But the deal expired in 2017 and Deripaska sought a High Court injunction to block Abramovich selling his share to Potanin's Cyprus-based Whiteleave Holdings.

Justice Stephen Phillips said the agreement between the parties makes clear shares can only be disposed to a 'bona fide third party purchaser' that 'excludes' Crispian.

He called Potanin's evidence 'not convincing' and noted Abramovich had neither lodged a witness statement nor appeared before the court, citing prior commitments.

Spokesmen for Abramovich and Rusal both declined to comment. Lawyers for Whiteleave did not respond.Armed with good A-Level results, many young people will now be heading off to university  yet your child may have decided to take a break from the academic grind and let off steam on a gap year abroad.

Of those school-leavers opting to take time out, some will want to party their way around the world. Others will want to volunteer, learn a language or gain valuable work experience.

If your child is keen to pack a rucksack for the adventure of a lifetime, the key is to give them plenty of pre-planning advice. Follow our eight-point guide.

Trip: Taras Mogetich travelled in Europe before teaching in Ukraine

How I funded my trip to Ukraine Economics student Taras Mogetich put plenty of planning into the gap year he took between finishing school and going to Bristol University this time last year. After working and saving hard, the 20-year-old spent just under a month travelling through France, Spain and Italy and then a month volunteering in Ukraine as an English teacher. 'Intense': Taras Mogetich taught at a primary school in Ukraine five days a week Taras, from High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire, says: I funded the trips by taking on a few part-time jobs. This included working in a pharmacy, a mortgage broking firm and at a language school. He made big savings on flights and accommodation by booking six months in advance. He says: I searched for cheap flights on Skyscanner, booked accommodation through Airbnb and saved money on food by eating at cheap places mentioned on TripAdvisor. Of his time in Ukraine, he says: I taught at a primary school five days a week. It was a pretty intense experience, but personally rewarding.

Build a gap year fund

As a parent, it is worth starting to plan early and having an investment fund built up for when your child needs it  whether to pay for university costs, towards a mortgage deposit or to help fund a gap year.

Patrick Connolly, of financial adviser Chase de Vere, says: The earlier you start, the easier it will be to provide a son or daughter with a tidy gap-year fund. If you are saving over a short period, say five years or less, stick with cash savings, searching for competitive rates. If grandparents are keen to help, involve them as early as possible.

If you are not able to plan ahead, but still want to help your child fund their gap year  including flights, accommodation and volunteering project fees  you will have to meet any costs out of your disposable income, or from savings and investments. Connolly warns: As a parent, you must be careful as you do not want to jeopardise your own long-term financial goals.

Get your child to consider low-cost destinations

A good way to keep down gap- year costs is by helping your son or daughter pick a destination where the pound will stretch furthest  and where living costs are low.

Currency expert FairFX says Argentina is currently the best value destination for gap year students. This is because the pound has strengthened against the peso in the past 12 months. The result is that purchasers are now getting an additional 276 worth of pesos for every 500 exchanged.

Brazil takes second place, providing an extra 112 worth of Brazilian real for every 500 exchanged. The pound has also improved against the currencies of Russia, South Africa, Sweden and Australia.

Ian Strafford Taylor, of FairFX, says: Following the pound to destinations where it is doing well against the local currency could save your child hundreds of pounds. But those taking a gap year also need to consider living costs in the countries they are keen on.

Encourage your offspring to spend wisely

If you are worried that your son or daughter could be reckless with cash on their gap year, find time to sit down with them and encourage them to keep a lid on spending. Andrew Hagger, financial expert at money website MoneyComms, says: Help your child draw up a detailed budget before they set off. Encourage them to divide their money into weekly amounts and spend no more.

Help your son or daughter register for online banking so they can keep tabs on their bank balance from anywhere in the world. You could also point out that taking on a part-time job while overseas is an option for replenishing funds.

Help your child to manage their money

Options: Prepaid card that can be loaded before travel are an option to carry money

One way that you can really aid your child is by going through the best options for buying and carrying their spending money abroad  to avoid them being stung by poor exchange rates or hefty card fees.

One option you could suggest is a prepaid card that can be loaded before travel and then used overseas to withdraw cash in a range of currencies.

Georgie Frost, of comparison website GoCompare, says: With a prepaid card, you can top up with money as required. Some cards carry an annual fee, typically around 10 to 15 a year. Some charge additional fees for cash withdrawals. But a big advantage is your child cannot go overdrawn as they can only spend money loaded on to the card.

FairFX has a Family and Friends card where you can top up your own card back home and transfer money to your childs card in an emergency. Other prepaid card recommendations include Revolut and WeSwap.

Also remind your son or daughter that if they plan on taking foreign currency in cash, they should never buy it at the airport. Exchange rates are better if currency is ordered online. Compare rates at MoneySavingExperts TravelMoneymax online tool.

Look at adding them to your credit card

Some credit card providers allow you to add extra cardholders to an account. Frost says: With Barclaycard, for example, your child must be over 18 and officially registered as living at the cardholders address. You will still be responsible for all the spending on the card. That said, you can create weekly alerts so you can keep an eye on spending.

Cards can result in costly overseas fees. Creation Financial Services, Halifax and Santander charge no fee on some credit cards when used overseas. Starling Banks mobile-only bank account debit card and Nationwides FlexPlus debit card allow free cash withdrawals worldwide.

Ensure your child finds the right insurance

Almost half of young people set off on their travels without the right travel insurance. Simon Williams, of website Comparecover, says: By not having adequate cover, thousands of young backpackers could be putting themselves at risk should they fall ill or have an accident.

As a parent, you cannot extend a family travel insurance policy to cover a child on their gap year.

This is because a family multi-trip policy will have maximum trip length limits not long enough for gap year travel. Frost says: Your son or daughter needs to look for backpacker cover as this will give them continuous protection for an extended time abroad  usually from 31 days to two years.

As well as ensuring the level of medical expenses cover and compensation for lost and stolen luggage is adequate  respective minimums of 5million and 2,000  your child also needs to check their policy covers all the countries they plan to visit and all the activities they want to take part in.

Make sure your child arranges insurance long before a trip starts as this means cancellation cover is in place.

If travel incorporates Europe, make sure they sign up for a free European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) which provides them with access to free or cut-price state medical care. Apply at ehic.org.uk.

Help them to keep in touch cheaply

Your child will be keen to stay in touch with you and friends when travelling. You will want them to avoid running up costly phone bills.

Before travelling, urge your son or daughter to check their mobile phone operators roaming policy. This is important outside Europe.

Get them to ask about any phone packages or deals for overseas use, but also suggest they check if it makes sense to buy a SIM card when overseas to install in their handset. This means they will be charged at local rates.

Help them back up paperwork

Set aside time to sit down with your son or daughter to help them back up all their paperwork  such as passport and insurance details  before they head off.

A good option is to store copies in a secure email account. You should also keep copies yourself.

Before travelling, make sure they have checked any visa requirements and the latest travel advice at Gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice.The following companies are subsidiares of Bristol-Myers Squibb: 1096271 B.C. ULC, 345 Park LLC, A.G. Medical Services P.A., AHI Investment LLC, AbVitro LLC, Abraxis BioScience Australia Pty Ltd., Abraxis BioScience Inc., Abraxis BioScience International Holding Company Inc., Abraxis BioScience LLC, Abraxis BioScience Puerto Rico LLC, Acetylon Pharmaceuticals Inc., Adnexus, Adnexus a Bristol-Myers Squibb R&D Company, Allard Labs Acquisition G.P., Amira Pharmaceuticals, Amira Pharmaceuticals Inc., Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Apothecon LLC, B-MS Generx Unlimited Company, BMS Benelux Holdings B.V., BMS Bermuda Nominees L.L.C., BMS Data Acquisition Company LLC, BMS Forex Company, BMS Holdings Sarl, BMS Holdings Spain S.L., BMS International Insurance Designated Activity Company, BMS Investco SAS, BMS Korea Holdings L.L.C., BMS Latin American Nominees L.L.C., BMS Luxembourg Partners L.L.C., BMS Omega Bermuda Holdings Finance Ltd., BMS Pharmaceutical Korea Limited, BMS Pharmaceuticals Germany Holdings B.V., BMS Pharmaceuticals International Holdings Netherlands B.V., BMS Pharmaceuticals Korea Holdings B.V., BMS Pharmaceuticals Mexico Holdings B.V., BMS Pharmaceuticals Netherlands Holdings B.V., BMS Real Estate LLC, BMS Spain Investments LLC, BMS Strategic Portfolio Investments Holdings Inc., Blisa Acquisition G.P., Bristol (Iran) S.A., Bristol Iran Private Company Limited, Bristol Laboratories Inc., Bristol Laboratories International S.A., Bristol Laboratories Medical Information Systems Inc., Bristol-Myers (Andes) L.L.C., Bristol-Myers (Private) Limited, Bristol-Myers Middle East S.A.L., Bristol-Myers Overseas Corporation, Bristol-Myers Squibb (China) Investment Co. Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb (China) Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb (Israel) Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb (NZ) Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb (Proprietary) Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb (Shanghai) Trading Co. Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb (Singapore) Pte. Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb (Taiwan) Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb (West Indies) Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb A.E., Bristol-Myers Squibb Aktiebolag, Bristol-Myers Squibb Argentina S. R. L., Bristol-Myers Squibb Australia Pty. Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb Axia Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb B.V., Bristol-Myers Squibb Belgium S.A., Bristol-Myers Squibb Business Services Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Canada Co., Bristol-Myers Squibb Canada International Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Delta Company Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Denmark Filial of Bristol-Myers Squibb AB, Bristol-Myers Squibb EMEA Sarl, Bristol-Myers Squibb Egypt LLC, Bristol-Myers Squibb Epsilon Holdings Unlimited Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb Farmaceutica Ltda., Bristol-Myers Squibb Farmaceutica Portuguesa S.A., Bristol-Myers Squibb GesmbH, Bristol-Myers Squibb GmbH & Co. KGaA, Bristol-Myers Squibb Holding Germany GmbH & Co. KG, Bristol-Myers Squibb Holdings 2002 Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Holdings Germany Verwaltungs GmbH, Bristol-Myers Squibb Holdings Ireland Unlimited Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb Holdings Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Holdings Pharma Ltd. Liability Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb Ilaclari Inc., Bristol-Myers Squibb India Pvt. Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb International Company Unlimited Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb International Corporation, Bristol-Myers Squibb Investco L.L.C., Bristol-Myers Squibb K.K., Bristol-Myers Squibb Kft., Bristol-Myers Squibb Luxembourg International S.C.A., Bristol-Myers Squibb Luxembourg S.a.r.l., Bristol-Myers Squibb MEA GmbH, Bristol-Myers Squibb Manufacturing Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb Marketing Services S.R.L., Bristol-Myers Squibb Middle East & Africa FZ-LLC, Bristol-Myers Squibb Norway Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb Nutricionales de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Bristol-Myers Squibb Peru S.A., Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharma (HK) Ltd, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharma (Thailand) Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharma Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharma EEIG, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharma Holding Company LLC, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharma Ventures Corporation, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharmaceuticals Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharmaceuticals Unlimited Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb Polska Sp. z o.o., Bristol-Myers Squibb Products SA, Bristol-Myers Squibb Puerto Rico Inc., Bristol-Myers Squibb Puerto Rico/Sanofi Pharmaceutical Partnership Puerto Rico, Bristol-Myers Squibb Romania S.R.L., Bristol-Myers Squibb S.A.U., Bristol-Myers Squibb S.r.l., Bristol-Myers Squibb SA, Bristol-Myers Squibb Sanofi Pharmaceuticals Holding Partnership, Bristol-Myers Squibb Sarl, Bristol-Myers Squibb Service Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb Services Sp. z o.o., Bristol-Myers Squibb Spol. s r.o., Bristol-Myers Squibb Theta Finance Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb Trustees Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Verwaltungs GmbH, Bristol-Myers Squibb de Colombia S.A., Bristol-Myers Squibb de Costa Rica Sociedad Anonima, Bristol-Myers Squibb de Guatemala S.A., Bristol-Myers Squibb de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Bristol-Myers Squibb/Astrazeneca EEIG, Bristol-Myers Squibb/Pfizer EEIG, Bristol-Myers Squibb/Sanofi Pharmaceuticals Partnership, Bristol-Myers de Venezuela S.C.A., CHT I LLC, CHT II LLC, CHT III LLC, CHT IV LLC, CR Finance Company LLC, Cardioxyl Pharmaceuticals, Cardioxyl Pharmaceuticals Inc., Celem LLC, Celem Ltd., Celgene, Celgene A.B., Celgene AS, Celgene Ab (Finland), Celgene Alpine Investment Co. 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LLC, Celgene ApS, Celgene B.V., Celgene BVBA, Celgene Brasil Produtos Farmaceuticos Ltda., Celgene CAR LLC, Celgene CAR Ltd., Celgene Chemicals Sarl, Celgene China Holdings LLC, Celgene Co., Celgene Corporation, Celgene Distribution B.V., Celgene EngMab GmbH, Celgene Europe B.V., Celgene Europe Limited, Celgene European Investment Company LLC, Celgene Financing Company LLC, Celgene Global Holdings Sarl, Celgene GmbH [Austria], Celgene GmbH [Germany], Celgene GmbH [Switzerland], Celgene Holdings East Corporation, Celgene Holdings II Sarl, Celgene Holdings III Sarl, Celgene Ilac Pazarlama ve Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Celgene Inc., Celgene International Holdings Corporation, Celgene International II Sarl, Celgene International III Sarl, Celgene International Inc., Celgene International Sarl, Celgene K.K., Celgene Kft., Celgene Limited [Hong Kong], Celgene Limited [Ireland], Celgene Limited [New Zealand], Celgene Limited [Taiwan], Celgene Limited [UK], Celgene Logistics Sarl, Celgene Ltd, Celgene Luxembourg Sarl, Celgene Management Sarl, Celgene NJ Investment Co, Celgene Netherlands B.V., Celgene Netherlands Investment B.V., Celgene Pharmaceutical (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Celgene Pte. Ltd., Celgene Pty Ltd, Celgene Puerto Rico Distribution LLC, Celgene Quanticel Research Inc, Celgene R&D Sarl, Celgene RIVOT LLC, Celgene RIVOT Ltd., Celgene RIVOT SRL, Celgene Receptos Limited, Celgene Receptos Sarl, Celgene Research Incubator At Summit West LLC, Celgene Research S.L.U., Celgene Research and Development Company LLC, Celgene Research and Development I ULC, Celgene Research and Development II LLC, Celgene Research and Investment Company II LLC, Celgene S. de R.L. de C.V., Celgene S.L.U., Celgene S.R.L., Celgene SAS, Celgene Sarl AU, Celgene Sdn Bhd, Celgene Services Sarl, Celgene Sociedade Unipessoal Lda, Celgene Sp. Z.o.o., Celgene Sro [Czech Republic], Celgene Summit Investment Co, Celgene Switzerland Holding Sarl, Celgene Switzerland II LLC, Celgene Switzerland Investment Sarl, Celgene Switzerland LLC, Celgene Switzerland Sarl, Celgene Tri A Holdings Ltd., Celgene Tri Sarl, Celgene UK Distribution Limited, Celgene UK Holdings Limited, Celgene UK Manufacturing II Limited, Celgene UK Manufacturing III Limited, Celgene UK Manufacturing Limited, Celgene d.o.o., Celgene sro [Slovakia], Celmed LLC, Celmed Ltd., ConvaTec Divestiture, Cormorant Pharmaceuticals, Cormorant Pharmaceuticals AB, Crosp Ltd., Delinia Inc., Deuteria Pharmaceuticals Inc., DuPont Pharmaceuticals, E. R. Squibb & Sons Inter-American Corporation, E. R. Squibb & Sons L.L.C., E. R. Squibb & Sons Limited, EWI Corporation, EngMab Sarl, F-star Alpha, FermaVir Pharmaceuticals L.L.C., FermaVir Research L.L.C., Flexus Biosciences, Flexus Biosciences Inc., Forbius, Galecto Biotech, GenPharm International L.L.C., Gloucester Pharmaceuticals LLC, Grove Insurance Company Ltd., Heyden Farmaceutica Portuguesa Limitada, IFM Therapeutics, Impact Biomedicines Inc., Inhibitex, Inhibitex L.L.C., Innate Tumor Immunity Inc., JuMP Holdings LLC, Juno Therapeutics GmbH, Juno Therapeutics Inc., Kosan Biosciences, Kosan Biosciences Incorporated, Linson Investments Limited, Mead Johnson (Manufacturing) Jamaica Limited, Mead Johnson Jamaica Ltd., Medarex, Morris Avenue Investment II LLC, Morris Avenue Investment LLC, MyoKardia, O.o.o. Bristol-Myers Squibb, Oy Bristol-Myers Squibb (Finland) AB, Padlock Therapeutics, Padlock Therapeutics Inc., Pharmion LLC, Princeton Pharmaceutical Products Inc., Receptos LLC, Receptos Services LLC, RedoxTherapies Inc., Route 22 Real Estate Holding Corporation, SPV A Holdings ULC, Seamair Insurance DAC, Signal Pharmaceuticals LLC, Sino-American Shanghai Squibb Pharmaceuticals Limited, Societe Francaise de Complements Alimentaires(S.O.F.C.A.), Squibb Middle East S.A., Summit West Celgene LLC, Swords Laboratories, VentiRx Pharmaceuticals Inc., Westwood-Intrafin SA, Westwood-Squibb Pharmaceuticals Inc., X-Body Inc., ZymoGenetics, ZymoGenetics Inc., ZymoGenetics LLC, ZymoGenetics Paymaster LLC, iPierian, and iPierian Inc..Lenox, Mass.

Black comedies don't get much darker and sharper than "Hir." It's like a double-sided shard of obsidian, slicing through both liberal pieties and old-fashioned notions about gender as it flays a California family that is unhappy in its own very distinctive way, in its own very messy living room.

Being presented in a superlative production as the final summer show at Shakespeare & Company, "Hir" is by Taylor Mac, a writer and performing artist who explodes convention, blurs genres and defies categorization. Mac, whose preferred gender pronoun is "judy," wrote a sequel to "Titus Andronicus" that is headed for Broadway with Nathan Lane and Andrea Martin, won a MacArthur "Genius" grant, has had plays including the 4-year-old "Hir" produced hundreds of times around the world and once performed a 24-hour concert featuring music from every decade between 1776 and 2016.

For "Hir," Mac sets the wars over gender identity and expression right smack in the middle of a contemporary California family  two parents and two late-adolescent offspring who live in a working-class development, built over a former landfill, that is full of starter homes from which few of the residents were ever able to upsize. They're on a dump, and their house looks like a dump, because the mother (Shakespeare & Company veteran Elizabeth Aspenlieder) has given up on most forms of domesticity. Since her husband  a former plumber, he was abusive physically, verbally and emotionally  had a stroke, she has refused to use cupboards, drawers, shelves or anything else designed to keep the stuff of a house in its place. The sight of the living room and kitchen, mounded with laundry and dishes overflowing, greets the audience and brings murmurs of disbelief as they file in; some also applaud at the end of intermission, when the stage crew finishes cleaning it up for the second act. (The set, and presumably the clutter, are by Carolyn Mraz.)

As the play starts, the father (John Hadden, a Shakespeare & Company founding member) is in a nightgown, outlines of diaper visible beneath, crude makeup smearing his face and a multicolored fright wig on his head. He comprehends fine but speaks minimally, sleeps in a box in the living room and receives a water blast from a spray bottle his wife keeps holstered at her waist for when she's displeased with him. To further her revenge-emasculation of him, she doses estrogen into the a whirred-up glop of his other medications that he drinks several times a day. With the former beast tamed, she concentrates on her youngest, a 17-year-old named Maxine at birth who is largely transitioned to the "trans-masculine" Max (Jack Doyle) and longs to escape to a queer commune he's read about online.

Into this maelstrom walks the family's flabbergasted first-born, Isaac (Adam Huff), who's about 21 and was booted from the Marines for a drug habit after a few years spent collecting body parts and corpses of his fellow soldiers. Not strong communicators over long distances, the family makes up for it with ferocious face-to-face arguments, staged by director Alice Reagan with an ear for Mac's rhythms and an eye for patterns among the chaos.

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The only way to get through material this heavy and lines so abundant is to propel them with speed and loft; the cruelties and ultimate devastation would be unbearable if given full weight by dramatic delivery. Though the cast is uniformly excellent, Aspenlieder shines brightest among otherwise equals with a comedic acumen that has never been better, which in Aspenlieder's case is really saying something. Doyle is sympathetic and still a bit of a moody, bratty teen as Max, Huff excels as the seemingly most "normal" of the bunch, still irreparably warped by his family, and Hadden's control as the stroke-addled father is masterful, never turning a man who at first seems a caricature into a living cartoon.

For viewers who find humor in expertly performed domestic horror and hot-button contemporary issues, "Hir" is a blisteringly funny, smart and even important work. That's about two-thirds of the theater audiences I know. The other third is well warned to stay away.

sbarnes@timesunion.com  518-454-5489  blog.timesunion.com/tablehopping  @TablehoppingAlbany

Electric buses now being tested on the streets of Montreal might start rolling in the Capital Region under a pilot program being eyed by the Capital District Transportation Authority.

"We want to work with other systems that are testing these buses, and learn together," said CDTA CEO Carm Basile on Thursday.

He said the authority expects to reach an agreement with Quebec officials that will see up to five of the Canadian-made buses arrive in the Capital Region sometime within the next 12 to 18 months.

Such testing would also have to address how the battery-powered buses would be recharged, and whether the CDTA bus yard on Watervliet Avenue has sufficient electrical service to handle that requirement, added Basile.

Basile met on the bus project this week with state Environmental Conservation Commissioner Basil Seggos and Jean-Claude Lauzon, the New York-based delegate general for the province of Quebec. The authority has also met with utility National Grid on the project, Basile added.

Montreal's all-electric buses are part of a $12 million project to determine how the buses perform in the city, which has extremely cold winters, said Lauzon.

Lauzon said the meetings in Albany went well, and that Quebec will also be seeking partnerships with other public transit systems in New York.

Earlier this summer, Montreal and the adjoining city of Laval ordered 40 electric buses, which are built by New Flyer Industries Canada. It is the largest-ever order of electric buses in Canada. Test runs are expected to start in the two cities next spring. Nova Bus, a Quebec company, also just announced a contract for four electric buses for Montreal.

Basile said the cost of the CDTA pilot program could be supported by the recently announced Clean NY Transportation Initiative, which calls for increasing electric vehicle use by using some of the $127.7 million Volkswagen settlement received by the state.

Currently, CDTA runs a fleet of about 300 diesel and diesel-electric hybrid buses.

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DEC is "working closely with state and local partners, including public transit authorities like CDTA, and international partners like Jean-Claude Lauzon, Delegate General of Quebec in New York, to support Gov. Andrew Cuomo's comprehensive efforts to reduce emissions from the transportation sector," according to an agency statement.

"The use of $127.7 million VW settlement resources, as outlined in the Clean Transportation NY Plan, and efforts like the International ZEV (zero emissions vehicle) Alliance will replace dirty vehicles with clean electric vehicles on New York's roads," the statement continued.

In October 2016, a federal judge approved a national settlement plan to address Volkswagen's installation and use of devices in more than a half-million Volkswagen, Audi, and Porsche vehicles that circumvented federal emissions standards for nitrogen oxides, which can form smog and trigger respiratory problems.

The companies installed emissions control defeat device software in cars from model years 2009 through 2016, which allowed emissions up to 40 times the certification standard.The Bed Bath & Beyond in Mohawk Commons in Niskayuna is closing. No final date is public, but the entire store in on sale.

Full-priced items are an additional 10 percent off. All clearance is an additional 20 percent off. You can also use a 20 percent (or $5) coupon, essentially stacking offers.Ahvaz, Iran

Gunmen killed at least 25 people and wounded 60 on Saturday in an attack on a military parade in a restive Iranian province that is home to most of the country's Arab minority, state media said.

The Islamic Republic News Agency reported the casualty figures at the parade in Ahvaz in southwestern Iran, and added that, with many of the wounded in critical condition, the death toll was expected to rise.

The dead and injured were a mix of members of the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps and civilian onlookers, semiofficial news agencies reported. They included families that had gathered to watch the annual military parade.

The reports said that there were four gunmen wearing military uniforms and that security forces had killed two and captured the other two.

Some officials blamed the assault on Arab separatists, according to the news reports. State television described the attackers as "takfiri," a term often used to describe Islamic State fighters. Both the Islamic State and a separatist group, Al Ahwaz, claimed responsibility.

The Iranian foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, wrote on Twitter that "terrorists recruited, trained, armed & paid by a foreign regime" were responsible. "Iran holds regional terror sponsors and their US masters accountable," he said.

An Iranian general told the Islamic Republic News Agency that the gunmen had been trained by two Persian Gulf countries, but he did not name them. Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies are rivals with Iran for power and influence across the Middle East.

Videos and photographs posted online reportedly showed the attack and its aftermath  civilians and soldiers dropping to the pavement, shouting and running for cover as gunfire crackled in the background, and later carrying away wounded and bleeding survivors, including children.

Additional footage that originally aired on Iran's state-run IRIB news channel showed the moment the gunfire began. In the clip, uniformed soldiers were marching in tandem and journalists were observing the parade when the gunfire was heard. Those in the parade looked behind them before they frantically began to duck and run for cover in a chaotic scramble to escape.

Some reports said the gunmen had tried and failed to reach the reviewing stand set up on a wide boulevard, where military commanders were watching the parade.

Several military parades were taking place across the country simultaneously Saturday to mark the anniversary of the beginning of the 1980-88 war with Iraq. The parades, held annually across the nation, are similar to those in America on Memorial Day.

Brig. Gen. Abolfazl Shekarchi, a senior spokesman for Iran's armed forces, told IRIB that officials believed the attackers had hidden weapons along the parade route several days before the event.

President Hassan Rouhani was attending a parade to mark the same occasion in Tehran when he was informed of the attack. Footage from state broadcasters show Rouhani standing alongside several military officials watching the parade in the capital before slowly walking from a viewing platform upon hearing of the attack.

He vowed to investigate and hold those responsible accountable in a message issued through state-run Islamic Republic News Agency. Through the same news outlet, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the country's supreme leader, offered his condolences to the families of the dead while accusing the United States of involvement in the attack.

"The crime is a continuation of the conspiracy of U.S.-backed states in the region, which has set itself the goal of creating insecurity in our beloved country," he said in the statement posted on the news organization's website.

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He went on to urge Iran's intelligence agencies to bring the criminal organizations behind the attack to justice.

Government officials, including the country's first vice president, Eshaq Jahangiri, have accused the Ahwaz separatist group in the attack and discounted claims from the Islamic State.

"Undoubtedly, these kind of criminal acts will make the resolve of the nation and the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran clearer in the uncontested struggle with terrorism," Jahangiri wrote in a statement posted on his official website. He was later quoted by the Islamic Republic News Agency denouncing the "criminal terrorists" for their "inhuman actions."

Iran, a majority Shiite Muslim country run by Shiite clerics, has endured numerous attacks by Sunni Muslim militants or ethnic minority groups, though few as deadly as the one Saturday.

The government often accuses neighboring Sunni-dominated states  and sometimes the United States and Israel  of being behind terrorism on its soil. The civil war in Yemen has become a proxy war between Iran, supporting primarily Shiite forces, and Saudi Arabia and its close ally the United Arab Emirates, backing a Sunni-dominated government.

Last year, two simultaneous attacks in Tehran killed 17 people and wounded about 50. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for those assaults, which the government confirmed.

Another Sunni militant group carried out suicide bombings in 2010 at a mosque in Zahedan, in southeastern Iran, killing 27 people and wounding hundreds.

Ahvaz, a city of more than 1 million people, has been a center of anti-government protest recently, plagued by drought, dust storms, unemployment and air pollution.Athens, Greece

Gazing at the Acropolis the other day from an Athens rooftop, I was reminded of Samuel Beckett's words: "Ever tried. Ever failed. No Matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better."

Athenian democracy, a male preserve, far from universal, failed in due course. Still, to see that white citadel in the Athenian dawn is to be reminded of the millennia of human striving for a political system permitting citizens to exercise power through the ballot box: government of the people, by the people, for the people, as Lincoln put it.

Try again. Fail again. Fail better.

It's important to put our current democratic travails in perspective. At its best, democracy is a culture that empowers free citizens to participate in shaping their fates. At its worst, it is a charade in which civic bonds erode, power accrues to the few, self-aggrandizement becomes the norm, and tolerance and restraint are consumed by the howling mob. Then the very word becomes a sham, a disguise deployed by autocrats like Vladimir Putin.

The Parthenon exhorts us to be stubborn about the sacredness of truth.

At the Athens Democracy Forum, hosted by The New York Times, I listened to the Greek foreign minister, Nikos Kotzias, allude to "undemocratic liberalism" as a catalyst to the current wave of "illiberal democracy" in places like Poland and Hungary. The voter is wise. Voters have been telling us something about failure these past several years. To ignore those failures is to invite ruin.

Democracy in danger has become a buzzword. Let's not forget that Greece and South Africa, resilient through crises, and Malaysia and Indonesia, suggest otherwise. The human urge to be free is not about to die in the 21st century.

Western democracy is in upheaval. Of late, it has concentrated wealth, suggesting that it's no more than a vehicle for injustice.

Technology, twin-souled like Goethe's Faust, has changed the world for good and ill. We like. We dislike. We follow. We unfollow. We broadcast our lives. We fall silent. Adrenaline surges. Status anxiety follows. Contemporary life is a restless experiment in global direct democracy. We are networked. Facebook has more than 2.2 billion monthly active users. So do we really need representative democracy? Is it not just a means for rich globalized insiders to control our lives?

Tired formulas will not help resolve this question. At the conference, Karolina Wigura, a Polish sociologist, demanded a new "optimism of the will." She urged liberals to be more entertaining, more patriotic  to contemplate without preconceived ideas what works in a modern economy. Liberals, she suggested, have become bores.

Yascha Mounk, a lecturer on government at Harvard University, said the anti-democratic fires raging should not be underestimated. Each civic act, he suggested, is a glass of water that may help extinguish the flames.

Which brings me to President Donald Trump, the flamethrower who makes headlines even by falling silent. A joke is doing the rounds. When Putin and Trump met in Helsinki, they shook hands. "I'm Vladimir Putin, president of Russia," Putin said. "I'm Donald J. Trump, president of the United States," Trump said.

"Oh," said Putin, "what does the J stand for?"

Sign up for The Knick  Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter.

"Jenius!" said Trump.

This is the Age of the Genius.

The Genius has little time for democratic checks and balances. The New York Times is "fake news."

So, what am I worried about? Truth, above all, please protect it; arrogance, as in the overuse of the word populism, a word freighted with contempt. I worry about atomization, the reduction of human beings to extensions of their devices. I worry about the insidiousness of Trump's moral depravity. I worry about the value of America's word, the glue to alliances that have upheld the free world.

Still, I am an optimist. Democracy is stubborn. It raises our gaze. It is the system that best enshrines the unshakable human desire to be free. Athens reminds us of that. America reminds us of that. It fails. It falls short of John Winthrop's "city upon a hill." It strives still to fail better.

Roger Cohen writes for The New York Times.Source Photonics Brings Latest 50G and 400G PAM4-based Optical Transceivers to Light at ECOC 2018

Source Photonics will be participating in the Ethernet Alliance (News - Alert) interoperability demonstration showcasing live traffic-utilizing 50G and 400G PAM4-based optical transceivers in OEM equipment at ECOC 2018, September 24-26 in Rome, Italy.

The live demonstration at the Ethernet Alliance Booth #618 will consist of multiple 400G and 50G links among participating network and test equipment manufacturers.

Source (News - Alert) Photonics will contribute its 400GBASE-LR8 transceivers in QSFP-DD and CFP8 form factor as well as its 50GBASE-LR QSFP28 modules. Live traffic will be passed among the equipment of Ethernet Alliance member companies including Exfo, Huawei, Ixia, Spirent (News - Alert) and Viavi.

Ed Ulrichs, Director PLM, commented: "Source Photonics offers advance solutions to support the migration to the next higher networking speed. The demonstration of our latest 50G and 400G optical transceivers attests the readiness of this technology for wide-scale deployment by connecting them to the networkin equipment of various OEMs and proving interoperability."







Source Photonics is now accepting sample orders for the high speed 400G QSFP-DD. The company is scheduled to go into production in January 2019. This small form factor module enables the migration to the next higher data rate in a wide field of applications such as datacenter connectivity, optical transport networks and metro networks.

The 50G QSFP28 will be in full production late this year and will support the expansion to converge networks in metro access and 5G applications.

Visit Source Photonics (booth #416) and Ethernet Alliance (booth #618) at ECOC18 in Fiera Roma, Italy, to see these innovative technologies in action. Source Photonics product experts will also be on site for detailed briefings as well as for demonstrating how Source Photonics' products can enable next-generation high-speed connectivity.

About Source Photonics:

Source Photonics is a leading provider of innovative and reliable optical communications technology that enables communications and connectivity in data centers, metro, and access networks. We invent next-generation solutions to provide customers with enabling technologies to support the rapidly increasing demands of cloud infrastructure, wireless communications, routing, and fiber-to-the-premises worldwide. Source Photonics is headquartered in West Hills, California, with manufacturing facilities, R&D, and sales offices worldwide.

For more information about Source Photonics, please visit www.sourcephotonics.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180923005026/en/







Kansas City Saturday Hero

Woman safe after bystander rushes into burning Kansas City apartment building KANSAS CITY, MO (KCTV) - A raging fire at a Midtown apartment Saturday afternoon led to a man with no formal training rushing into a burning building to save a woman trapped inside. The fire started at 12:30 p.m. at an apartment complex in the 3600 block of Walnut Street.

KCK Car Chase Discretion

KCK police call off search for suspect following chase KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- Officers with the Kansas City, Kansas Police Department are looking for a suspect who ran from the scene following a chase. The incident was reported just after 6:30 Saturday evening. KCK Police Chief Terry Zeigler said officers chased the driver of a vehicle to the area of 55th and Georgia, near Welborn Park.

Local Legacy Newsies Fight Future And Fake News Chatter

Free State Festival panel decries claims of fake news A panel of journalists told a crowd of about 100 people at a Free State Festival event Saturday that the news media will survive unfair accusations that the news it reports is often fake. Several panelists said the fake news mantra often comes from people who have a political motive to weaken the power of [...]

Show-Me Lesson In Politics

MU's freshmen enrollment grows but total numbers decline COLUMBIA, Mo. - The University of Missouri says freshmen enrollment increased for this school year, but overall enrollment declined. The Columbia Missourian reports freshmen enrollment increased 13 percent from fall 2017 to 2018. The 4,673 freshmen enrolled for the fall was 539 more than in 2017.

Tailgating Crackdown Forecast

First Alert: Perfect weather ahead for Chiefs Sunday Sunday will be a day to get outside and enjoy the fall weather. Look for a high near 78 degrees.

Locals Celebrate New Tech

Self-driving cars deliver challenges, says Burns & McDonnell strategist City streets filled with safer, automated or self-driving vehicles would come with an unexpected price tag: fewer organ donations because of reduced traffic fatalities, said Julie Lorenz, discussing the promise and paradox of evolving transportation technology. "If you look back in history, it can help you think about the future," said Lorenz, strategic consultant for Kansas City-based engineering and architectural firm Burns & McDonnell.

Home Team Heartache Cont'd

Deja Vu, Royals bullpen blows another close game, late, lose to Tigers 5-4 The only important thing that happened in tonight's game was that Victor Martinez hit a squibber to the right side of the infield that was fielded near first base by Adalberto Mondesi but still turned into a single.

Whilstis out of the glam model game and moves her body of work over the fitness world. She's still one of the top ranking Insta-models.Related to the new social media platform of choice:Closer to home:And this is thefor tonight . . .Ad hits Sen. Claire McCaskill for supporting Islam being taught in schools An ad airing on Missouri radio attempts to rally voters against incumbent Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill by warning that she supports "teaching about Islam" in schools.

Red meat political campaigning amid a tight race very not as much enthusiasim for the contender as Republicans exepected . . . Despite the hardcore endorsement of the Prez.Read more:In our new TopSpeed series about the most incredible car facts in the world, you will be treated with five of them every week. For this week, I will go back to 1888 and Martha Benzs first voyage in the very first automobile. Then, Ill tell you all about the curiously low car and explain how horses were bigger pollutants than cars.

The last Car To Play Cassettes Was The Ford Crown Victoria

The Ford Crown Victoria is an icon. An icon like no other, but the fact that it had an option for a cassette player even in 2011 is, at least, curious. Not as curious as for the fact that in 2010, the Lexus SC430, an advanced convertible, had a cassette player factory installed too. Nevertheless, transitioning from 2010 to 2011 saw the cassette players demise.

After the Crown Vic, which could have a cassette player in 2011 only with the fleet order, this technology was discontinued altogether.

Lexus was the last holdout, said Phil Magney, Vice President for automotive research for the IHS iSuppli Corporation, back in 2011. We actually stopped tracking cassette players in cars some time ago. Now the question the automakers are asking is, how long has the CD got to go?

Well, the CD is all but gone. People are using USBs, linking their phones with cars infotainment systems, or even stream music directly from the Internet via some app. The way we listen to music has evolved dramatically over the past half of a century, and I am really interested in what the future will bring. While the cassette player would be a stimulating experience in the world today, tomorrow will undoubtedly bring something even more detached, but far more convenient than Internet Spotify streaming.

The Worlds lowest Street-Legal Car Was Batman Inspired

It is called the Flatmobile, and it is only 19 inches tall. Constructed by Perry Watkins from a 1963 Hillman Imp, the Flatmobile is clearly inspired by the Batman theme. To complement the homage to Batman the right way, Watkins actually went an extra mile and installed a jet engine in it. The engine sits behind the Hillman 875 combustion engine and thanks to it the Flatmobile is powered by two means of propulsion.

Perry Watkins has been building strange cars for more than 30 years now with the

26-inch-high Impressed being his first try at building the lowest street legal car.

The Flatmobile is quite curious as it does sport a standard suspension setup (but cut down obviously) with dampers and springs. Yet, the homebuilt gas turbine engine based on the Holset 685 turbocharger from the Volvo FL10 is yet another marvel Watkins managed to pull off.

As the Flatmobile sits only 2 inches above the ground, I cannot imagine anyone traveling too far with it. That is not the point though as Watkins actually managed to go to the extreme in creating something that the governing bodies would actually legalize.

Horses Were Causing So Much Pollution That Cars Were Seen As The Green Alternative

At any given time in the 19th century, the streets of New York were overwhelmed with 100,000 to 200,000 horses. Considering that every one of them produced 30-50 pounds of manure and a quart of urine per day that ended up on the streets, you may only imagine the odor and the dirt on New York streets. The problem was so ecstatically large that the New York state controlled the dirt carting, the business of cleaning the streets that had to be licensed.

Actually, there was so much manure that some of it ended up in the water supply.

With the arrival of the car, a means of transportation without any remnants, New York city streets became so much healthier and cleaner that there was some sort of a government push to buy cars.

At the time, the car was considered to be the green alternative to the horse-drawn carriages.

Similar problems with horses (and animals in general) have been reported in other large cities as well. The manure was not the only issue. In 1880, 15,000 horses died on city streets of New York. The City had to remove all the corpses, but many of them were left to decompose right there on the spot. Can you even imagine the colossal health benefits the introduction of the car actually brought to the city?

The Most Important Test Drive In The History Of The Car

Karl Benz and Bertha Benz invested heavily in what would become the first automobile in the world. Yet, the road to success wasnt paved with golden bricks. Instead, Karl Benz did not believe that his invention would bring any good. His wife, a long-time supporter and a motor vehicle construction pioneer sought out ways to publicize the invention and help Karl build up his confidence about his invention. To do so, she took her two sons Richard (13) and Eugen (15) for a 66-mile drive in the Benz Model III.

She drove from Mannheim to Pforzheim on August 5, 1888. The journey was widely credited in the press and Bertha achieved what she set to achieve in the beginning - public acknowledgment.

However, the journey was a tiresome one with so many mechanical problems that pushed Bertha in a position where she needed to improvise to keep the Model III running.

During the test drive significant advancements happened:

She made the first brake pads from leather when the wooden brakes started to fail

She figured out that along with two gears, the car needed a third gear, so it can take on steeper inclines (like a low gear)

The car needed a better cooling system

It needed a fuel tank and much more.

This test drive was the most important test drive in history. It may be that this test drive gave us the car as we know it.

The First Car To Use A Rear-view Mirror Was A Race Car

Elmer Berger is the guy credited for inventing the rear-view mirror in 1921. However, some information suggests that people were experimenting with rear-view mirrors in the first decade of the 20th century as well. Women apparently held their makeup mirrors in cars in attempts to see whats behind.

Then, in 1911, racing driver Ray Harroun actually used a mirror during a race to see who is behind him and who is catching up.

He was the Indy 500 winner in 1911 and that mirror may have given him some edge over the competition.

Installing the mirror in a race car had a huge benefit for Harroun as he did not have to drive with a mechanic in his Mormon Wasp. This was definitely important considering that the other guy in the car actually informed the driver about the cars nearing from behind. With a 3-inch-by-8-inch mirror in a makeshift case mounted above his dashboard, Harroun did it all by himself. This is the first documented case of a mirror photographed on a car. However, Harroun said that he had mirrors even on the horse-drawn carriages at the time he worked as a taxi driver in 1904.Russia and Turkey have signed a deal seeking to avoid further bloodbath in Idlib, last rebel bastion in the northwest corner of war-torn Syria. However, the situation is still tense as the region is in crosshairs of Bashar al-Assad's security forces keen to restore their writ over the entire country.



Idlib is home to nearly three million people, and the agreement stipulates that only civilians and moderate, and peaceful, opposition forces can continue to stay in the volatile region, not the rebels.

The deal also aims to create, by October 15, a 15-20 kilometers demilitarized zone jointly manned by Russian and Turkish security personnel.

The sticking point is that all terrorist groups will have to lay down their arms preparatory to being cleared from the region. This may not be easy, even though the rebels will be allowed to withdraw peacefully from civilians areas in order to protect non-combatants during any continued fighting.

Most of the fighters are part of Hay'et Tahrir al-Sham (HTS)  a reincarnation of fierce al-Nusra Front once affiliated with al-Qaeda. To separate the radical fighters from the civilians is Turkey's responsibility and it will surely be the litmus test of the entire agreement.

The deal has been welcomed as a breakthrough by residents of Idlib as well as the international community. However, experts have been left guessing as to whether the Syrian government will abide by it, or will continue to selectively pound the affected area.

Already, dozens of people have been killed due to air raids since the start of September. Yet, the threat of an immediate full-scale assault to take over the region by evicting the militants has dwindled, making life a somewhat safer for civilians living side by side with the militants.

The Sochi agreement has Russia and Turkey as guarantors. Although they have been on different sides of the civil war, they do have a stake in calming down the situation. For example, the deal will help to secure a highway leading to Hmeimin airbase operated by Russia.

There are also chances that another key road  called the M5  will be opened for traffic. It links Damascus with Aleppo and onwards, with roads leading to Turkey and on into Europe.

Turkey will be saved from the potential influx of thousands of refugees forced by fighting in Idlib to flee across the border. Ankara will also be able to strengthen its control over moderate fighters and groups opposing the Assad government to fortify its bargaining powers in the final peace process.

Syria has been in the grip of war since 2011, leaving more than 350,000 people dead. The intensity of fighting has diminished and the possibility of regime change has also been much reduced. The truth is that realities on the ground have drastically changed after Russia got actively involved in 2015.

The military side of the conflict has produced desired results for Russia and its protege, but the political endgame has not yet started. The current phase is characterized by a forced peace, as most of militants and moderates opposing Assad have been beaten. Yet, the situation can change.

The presence and control of Kurdish forces over a vast tract in Syria and their military prowess backed by the U.S. can trigger a new phase of fighting among different stakeholders. To avoid any such eventuality, the political process should be expedited.

Apparently, there are seeds of yet another protracted conflict, however. The presence of Iran and security threats to Israel can further complicate the efforts being made for Syrian stability.

The possibility of a chemical weapons attack in Idlib has also long been feared. Such an attack would surely draw an angry response from Washington. There can also be unforeseen development  like the shooting down of a Russia plane for which it blames Israel.

So, the Sochi agreement should be fully respected and implemented, as it has created a tiny window of hope and opportunity.

Turkey and Russia are also trying to move forward with the Astana process to achieve a political solution. Their efforts to save Idlib from any catastrophe can help to play a more proactive role in the final peacemaking.

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.Every automaker is in the race to become the leader of the new revolution in the auto world known as electrification. While some are inculcating this into their current infrastructure, Volkswagen has gone a step ahead and is set to have an all-electric plant in Germany. Given how the Dieselgate scandal turned out for VAG, will this help them save face and reclaim the lost trust amongst its customers?

The automaker is set to drop the buzz on all other carmakers out there!

Heart Of The Matter

Volkswagen is converting its Zwickau plant in Germany to a fully-electric facility by sometime by mid-2020. VW is spending an estimated 1 Billion for the whole process to take place.

Several models from VWs I.D. vehicle range will be manufactured there, and the company aims to shoot this number up to 100,000 EVs annually by 2020.

The cars will be based on the companys new MEB platform for EVs, and will be available in all shapes and sizes, including hatchbacks, crossovers, and small vans. Given how the demand for EVs in rising by the day, it is only logical for Volkswagen to go berserk with this idea.

What Do They Have To Say?

Warning the world of the automakers major overhaul, Volkswagens E-mobility board member, Thomas Ulbrich, told Handelsblatt in an interview,  By mid-2020, we will be converting the entire current plant in Zwickau, from 100 percent [gas] today to 100 percent electric cars. Zwickau is, if you like, only the tip of the iceberg. Our mission is nothing less than the transformation of the Group-wide production network towards e-mobility. We speak about 16 locations worldwide  and thats within just three years.

Our Take

It sounds like VW is dead serious to undo its tainted reputation from the Dieselgate fiasco, and has warned the world of what to expect from them in the near future.

Given how Tesla is struggling to deliver cars on time, VWs onslaught will only prove to be a nightmare unless Musk does something about it. Can Volkswagen get the upper hand here and become the market leader a few years down the line? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.

Further Reading

Read our full review on the 2018 Volkswagen I.D. Vizzion Concept.

Read our full review on the 2017 Volkswagen I.D. Buzz.

Read our full review on the 2017 Volkswagen I.D. Crozz II

Read our full review on the 2017 Volkswagen I.D. Crozz

Read our full review on the 2016 Volkswagen ID Concept.editorial@tribune.com

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, September 23

The Punjab School Education Board(PSEB) has asked the principals of board-affiliated schools to motivate their students to take part in a one-day solar ambassadors training workshop on October 2.

The workshop is a unique initiative of the IIT-Bombay to mark their 60 years of establishment.

The officials of IIT-Bombay in a letter to PSEB authorities urged them to ask their students to take part in the 60-year jubilee celebrations to learn more.

The workshop is for students to learn about solar energy and make solar lamps. The aim is also to inform the future consumers of power about renewable energy as the country has resolved to cut down on 30-35 per cent of carbon emission by 2030.

In this workshop, the students will be informed about various technologies, guiding them to make their own solar study lamps. These kids shall be solar ambassadors of their area, and shall be responsible for promoting the idea of solar energy usage. The board has asked the heads to encourage their students, guide the interested one to register them. For more one can visit the official PSEB website.editorial@tribune.com

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 23

Two persons who had robbed a Honda City at gunpoint outside Elante Mall in the city last month have been arrested by the Crime Branch of the UT police.

The accused have been identified as Sukhdeep Singh and Bharpur Singh, both residents of Samrala in Ludhiana district.

The police said the accused had escaped to Samrala with the robbed car. On August 26, the car had met with an accident near Samrala. Then, the Punjab Police did not know that the car was robbed. However, they got suspicious later and started verifying the ownership of the car from the RLA, Chandigarh. Crime Branch sleuths got the information that the vehicle had met with an accident in Punjab. Acting swiftly, the UT police nabbed the accused whose identity Punjab cops already had.

On August 10, the duo had forcefully taken the car from a woman outside Elante Mall, hardly 200 metres from the Industrial Area police station.

The victim, Nidhi, was driving her friends car while returning from a Teej party at Zirakpur. Nidhis family was at Elante so her friend offered to drop her outside the mall.

The victim stopped the car near Gate No. 3 and as she got down from the car, a pedestrian came there and pointed a gun at her. She screamed after which her friend also got down from the car. While one of the accused, who was carrying the gun, sat on the drivers seat, his accomplice sat on the next seat. The duo then sped away from the spot.

Came to city only for carjacking

The accused, who are drug addicts, arrived in the city on August 8 with a motive of robbing a car. They stayed at the railway station for two days. However, they could not find any victim. They then reached the Industrial Area and started looking for a victim. On finding two women alone, the accused decided to rob them of their car. Flash

With closer ties and deepening cooperation, China and Russia have made substantial progress in bilateral trade, which is likely to top 120 billion U.S. dollars this year, Russian Economic Development Minister Maxim Oreshkin has said.

"If we look at the first half of this year, the growth is about 30 percent... Our estimates of the full year indicate that the trade turnover between Russia and China may exceed 120 billion U.S. dollars," Oreshkin told Xinhua on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum held in Russia's Vladivostok last week.

"This, of course, is not the result of some one-off decisions. This is the result of a long-term policy of both Russia and China of establishing mutual relations," he said.

Predictable bilateral relations and concerted efforts to develop trade and economic ties have proved that the figures are the result of years of great work on both sides, he added.

Cooperation between China and Russia has been flourishing in several areas in recent years, including finance, high-speed rail, infrastructure construction, aerospace, agriculture, science and technology, innovation and cross-border electricity, in addition to the traditional energy sector.

Oreshkin highlighted the importance of infrastructure, which is the "key to securing bilateral trade."

For example, he said that Russia and China are working on plans to expand the Baikal-Amur and Trans-Siberian railways in addition to improving routes to facilitate the delivery of goods to Russia from Chinese e-commerce systems.

"Such projects make an additional contribution to the development of bilateral trade," he said.

In particular, Oreshkin hailed the progress made in the synergy between the Belt and Road Initiative and the Eurasian Economic Union.

Concrete agreements in the sphere of goods circulation were reached this year, and work is under way on a document of the Eurasian partnership between China and Russia in services, investments and other spheres.

"We can say that there are already specific documents that further facilitate trade and economic relations between our countries," Oreshkin said.

Regional cooperation has also become a hot topic, especially the collaboration between China and Russia in the development of the Russian Far East, the minister said.

"China is the leader in terms of the volume of investment in the Far East. This means a lot. There is a large number of projects in different areas. There are new enterprises. New investments are coming. The mutual trade turnover is increasing," Oreshkin said.

Cross-border trade and settlements in their national currencies are also growing in the Far East, he added.

In order to further promote bilateral trade, negotiations are currently underway between China and Russia to simplify trade in services.

"We are already going beyond simply discussing barriers. We are already preparing to establish interaction on a systematic basis and on sensitive areas such as e-commerce, for example, and trade in various services. Progress here is very notable," he said.editorial@tribune.com

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 23

Punjab Governor and UT Administrator VP Singh Badnore launched the Ayushman Bharat - National Health Protection Scheme, also called as Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY), in the city today.

About 24,000 households will be facilitated for getting their Golden Records in a phased manner at the Ayushman Bharat office at the GMSH-16.

The Health Department, Chandigarh, is going to operationalise similar offices at the Civil Hospital in Sector 22, Sector 45 and Mani Majra for the comfort and easy access of the beneficiaries.

VP Singh Badnore told the audience that the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY) would provide indoor health protection cover to poor and vulnerable families.

Beneficiaries under the PMJAY will be entitled to a medical cover of up to Rs 5 lakh per family per year.

Chandigarh MP Kirron Kher explained the benefits of the scheme by saying that the PMJAY will revolutionise healthcare in several ways.

A state health agency (SHA) under the Central Government has been set up in the city. The entire financial support will be provided by this agency, which will also be responsible for carrying out the scheme-related tasks, including registering beneficiaries, empanelling hospitals, verifying claims, disbursing verified claims, monitoring hospitals and checking frauds. Almost all government hospitals, including the PGIMER, will be empanelled.

Giving an update about health and wellness centres, it was informed that five dispensaries based at Dhanas, Mauli Jagran, Sector 38, Sector 20, Dadu Majra and five sub-centres at Dhanas, Behlana, Daria, Mauli, and Khuda Lahora villages have been upgraded into health and wellness centres in the first phase.

The upgraded centres will have a doctor, an auxiliary nurse midwife (ANM) or lady health visitor (LHV), and a pharmacist. The wellness centres will provide a package of 12 health services such as examining the reproductive child health (RCH), mother and child healthcare, eye and ENT (ear-nose-throat), oral healthcare, geriatric care, mental health, emergency services and yoga sessions also to ensure inculcation of healthy lifestyle amongst residents. Besides, free universal screening for common non-communicable disease (NCDs) will also be provided.

The Director Health Services informed the audience that Chandigarh is the first UT to initialise AM I ELIGIBLE APP which will not only facilitate field workers in identifying and validating SECC data beneficiary, but would also act as a source from where the beneficiaries can themselves find out their own status. This facility will be available at all e-health panels in the city. The beneficiaries were handed over their e-cards by the Governor so that they can avail the benefits of this scheme.

MP seeks funds for road repair works

MP Kirron Kher on Sunday requested Punjab Governor and UT Administrator VP Singh Badnore to give funds to the Municipal Corporation for road works in Chandigarh. During a function at Tagore Theatre, she told the Governor in the presence of Mayor Davesh Moudgil that several roads in the city were crying for attention and potholed roads in various sectors of Chandigarh had been giving a harrowing time to commuters. Badnore assured help to Kher. It is pertinent to mention here that re-carpeting of roads has been pending due to fund crunch.editorial@tribune.com

Amit Sharma

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 23

A 30-year-old MBA graduate has been arrested for the theft of his neighbours Toyota Fortuner. The SUV was stolen in July from a housing society in Sector 49 here.

The accused, Milan Sharma, a resident of RCS Society, Sector 49, was nabbed by Crime Branch sleuths while he was trying to sell the vehicle for Rs 2.5 lakh in Chandigarh.

The vehicle being stolen from inside a housing society had stunned everyone. The owner of the vehicle had lost the keys, which the accused had managed to get. The accused stole the vehicle the next day and drove it out of the society gates during the early morning hours. Since the CCTV cameras at the society were not functional, the accused could not be identified.

Then, a case in connection with the theft was registered at the Sector 49 police station.

The police said Milan parked the vehicle in Sector 16, Panchkula, and started looking for buyers. The Crime Branch sleuths then received a tip-off that a person desperately wanted to sell a SUV, that too at a throwaway price. Getting the alert, the police laid a trap to nab the accused.

A team, led by Inspector Amanjot Singh, incharge, Crime Branch, posing as potential buyers contacted the accused. The 30-year-old told them that there were no documents of the vehicle and it would be the buyers responsibility to deal with it.

Sources said a deal was stuck for Rs 2.5 lakh and some advance money was handed over to the accused. After getting the advance, the accused showed the SUV to the cops, said a Crime Branch official.

The police then nabbed the accused and recovered the vehicle. Both the number plates of the vehicle were broken so that nobody could identify it. The police said the accused belonged to a well-off family. His father is a banker, mother a school principal and brother a doctor, the police added.

The complainant and the accused are known to each other. The accused pursued his MBA from the Symbiosis University, Pune.

The accused was produced in court on Saturday which sent him to judicial custody.Salil Desai

Salil Desai

Pune-based novelist and documentary filmmaker

The offence of P Pranay Kumar, the 24-year-old Dalit murdered in Telangana on September 14, was that he had dared to marry Amrutha Varshini, an upper caste girl and they were now expecting a child. Amruthas father, a rich real-estate developer, was so enraged that he allegedly hired a contract killer for Rs 1 crore to put his unwanted son-in-law to death as the only way to avenge this humiliation and thereby redeem his honour.

A day later, in Hyderabad, another father attacked his daughter with a sickle for tying the knot with a Dalit. The incensed father almost severed his daughters hand and chopped off her ear, leaving her critically injured.

Rewind to Kottayam, Kerala. In May this year, a Dalit Christian convert Kevin, an electrician by occupation, was abducted, tortured and finally murdered by the family of an upper caste Christian girl from an affluent family, because she left home to marry him under the Special Marriage Act.

Cut further back to New Delhi, February 2018. Ankit Saxena, a young photographer, was stabbed to death in the middle of a busy street by the father and maternal uncle of a Muslim girl, Shehzadi, with whom he was in love and was planning to marry.

In Haryana, an 18-year-old girl and a police officer escorting her were shot dead by unidentified people on a bike near the Mini Secretariat in Rohtak. The police suggested that it was a case of honour\caste killing as the girl was from the Jat community and had married a Dalit against her parents wishes.

Not North India alone

What do all these barbaric incidents of honour killing from across the country tell us? One, the phenomenon of honour killings is not restricted to the badlands of North India, especially regions like Haryana, where infamous khap panchayats are said to rule the roost. The same murderous mentality lurks, be it small towns of Miryalaguda or cities like Kottayam, or metropolises like New Delhi and Hyderabad.

Two, honour killings are not the monopoly of any one backward religion, but that people of all the major religions in India  Hindus, Muslims, Christians  seem equally inclined to kill their daughters or sons-in-law or prospective suitors for the crime of falling in love and / or marrying someone who is considered lower in terms of caste, class or religion.

Three, many families still look upon inter-faith or inter-caste love as some kind of ultimate defilement and violation so vile that the only punishment is death.

Four, going by the impunity with which all the crimes cited above were carried out, people seem to have completely lost the fear of law in such cases.

Caste, not honour?

What lies at the root of this fatal epidemic of honour killings? In the backdrop of Pranay Kumars murder, some Dalit organisations and intellectuals like Kancha Ilaiah Shepherd have argued that the term honour killings itself is a misnomer and should be replaced by caste-hatred killings, because that is what it actually is. The murder of Pranay Kumar and Kevin certainly fall in this category. They were killed by upper caste, affluent families inflamed at the very thought of their daughters marrying Dalits. Madhavi, too, was attacked by her father for the same reason.

What about Ankit Saxena? Caste was nowhere in the picture, but faith was. As was the same loathsome mentality that equated love and marriage outside the community as a form of unforgivable contamination and dishonour, which is not very different from caste-based hatred.

Backward ecosystem

It is not just caste or faith that is responsible for these killings. The real culprit is the oppressive ecosystem of backwardness called Indian tradition and culture, which we tend to blindly extol and are exhorted to feel proud of, despite the fact that it also comprises the deplorable concepts of superiority and inferiority by birth, gender, age, occupation, as well as retrograde ideas of defilement, of unchallenged deference to parental wishes by children and perverse notions of protecting community and family honour.

Indeed, the limited paradigm of Indian tradition, culture, values and morals we seem to have internalised, has at its core a medieval construct, which subordinates personal agency and choices to family, clan, community, caste, creed and religion. It is thus in urgent need of reform and would do itself good by injecting a healthy dose of social progressiveness to contemporise. Or else we will continue to be a backward society which might make material progress, but remains deeply prejudiced, conservative, narrow-minded and unenlightened.

Just look at most of the parents involved in the killings. They were affluent in terms of money and status, but nursed deeply regressive attitudes. They expected their daughters to obey them and sacrifice their wishes at the altar of family honour. Worse, nothing in their tradition and culture stopped these parents from killing another being, which is considered the ultimate crime to mankind.

There is much talk of New India these days. The question is: Can there really be a New India unless we stop glorifying Indian culture and tradition and purge it of its most regressive, loathsome features  especially those pertaining to caste, religion and personal freedoms? It is a no-brainer that we cannot hope to flourish in the 21st century with a medieval mindset that oppresses the human spirit and suppresses

individual liberty.Shyam Saran

Shyam Saran

Former foreign secretary

The term national security is a convenient catch-all for governments which wish to justify policies which abridge the rights of citizens. It is often used to deflect the need for transparency and hide incompetence and misgovernance. The shortcomings in ones own defence preparedness and intelligence capabilities are camouflaged in the noise of blaming adversaries for their aggressive behaviour. Even when the spotlight is turned on ones own failures in safeguarding national security, reports are kept from public scrutiny because, ironically, they may compromise national security. Historians are denied access to archives even when these are decades old because, again, national security may be undermined. In sum, this means that citizens cannot be trusted with knowledge that might actually permit them to assess the performance of those who govern in their name. National security is a magic phrase which allows predatory States to wield power without responsibility. In an age of international terrorism where citizens are rightfully fearful and anxious it has assumed even greater potency.

This phenomenon has become pervasive across the world, affecting democracies and non-democracies alike, though there may be differences of degree. But its impact is most corrosive in democracies as it erodes individual fundamental rights which lie at the heart of democracy. The worst abuse of citizens rights appears to require no justification beyond citing national security. Even courts are loath to question government actions when this phrase is bandied about darkly. India has not been immune to this international trend and successive governments have found this a convenient way of encroaching on the constitutional rights of citizens and evading responsibility for actually endangering national security through acts of commission and omission. Even on issues that do not directly relate to national security, such as data on river flows, public access is denied because such data is deemed to be sensitive. It should come as no surprise that we never seem to learn from our mistakes. Transparency is fundamental to democratic governance because only with transparency is accountability possible. And contrary to what governments may believe, it is the lack of transparency and accountability which represents one of the most significant threats to security. Behind this penchant for opaqueness lies the constant neglect of what is really required to safeguard the nations interest. Opportunities for corruption exist because facts can be hidden on grounds that national security may be compromised. This has been evident in several defence deals over the years. Governments make bona fide mistakes in managing security, but responsible governments submit themselves to scrutiny from respected and credible non-governmental entities to ensure that mistakes are exposed and acknowledged and remedial action taken. But even when governments have subjected themselves to such scrutiny they baulk at making reports public. Even Parliament does not get a chance to exercise its role as a public sentinel.

The Task Force on National Security, whose very comprehensive report on both domestic and external security was submitted in May 2013, was never put in the public domain. If the UPA government was wary of doing this, so has been the successor government. It is argued that publicising the report may alert our adversaries to our security gaps and that the government is taking action to implement its various recommendations. This is a specious argument. Without transparency there is less incentive to move with a sense of urgency to implement corrective measures and this is quite apparent in our continuing failure to deal with cross-border terrorism or to eliminate left-wing terrorism. It is really the weakness in governance and political corruption which have undermined our security. We should condemn Pakistan for engaging in cross-border terrorism, but why is there little or no focus on drug smuggling and contraband trade which facilitate such breaches of our border defences?

Security forces are deployed to defeat left-wing extremism, yet its economic and social dimensions are ignored. Without acknowledging this, it is difficult to see how the Naxal challenge can be met, whether in its rural or urban manifestation. Detaining social activists who raise such uncomfortable questions about the States misgovernance and its pursuit of discriminatory policies against the most underprivileged citizens of our country is not going to promote national security.

Political sensitivity and desire not to be held responsible for failure are often the reasons for lack of transparency. But it is this political tendency which is most responsible for creating an insecure and vulnerable state. In-house inquiries do not deliver results because those guilty of mismanagement and even dereliction of duty are unlikely to make an honest assessment of their own failings or suggest reforms which may come at the cost of their personal or organisational interests. This is the reason why the constant examination and review of Indias security institutions and processes cannot be left to the discretion of political leadership or be subject to the veto of security agencies who have no interest in exposing their own failings and weaknesses. Finally, this points to the crying need for an Indian national security doctrine which alone can provide a long term assurance of security in an era of rapid change. Ad hoc responses coloured by political compulsions will not do anymore.ROBINSINGH@TRIBUNE.COM

The sentencing of Dr Santokh Singh in a land fraud case has ramifications beyond the convict. A noted surgeon, Dr Santokh Singhs election as president of the Chief Khalsa Diwan (CKD) last year was welcomed by many. He was expected to clean the Aegean stables following the ignominious exit of his predecessor, Charanjit Singh Chadha, who was then under a cloud in a case of sexual harassment.

The Amritsar-based 116-year-old Sikh charitable society has a storied past with presidents like Bhai Vir Singh, and indeed the Sikh Education Conferences under its aegis performed a key role in revitalising the community and spreading education in the region. It runs a large number of educational institutions, including 46 schools and some institutions of higher learning. However, there has been a steady decline in the leadership of the institution, a perception of the weakening of the moral fibre of its leaders, coupled with many reports of bickering among members.

The role of the institution in providing leadership to the community has been laudatory. Its focus on education has kept it out of political rows that have often been seen in other such organisations. In times of need, Sikh history throws up instances of persons selected to perform sewa and head organisations. What is needed is a non-partisan person of excellent leadership and the ability to take together the team. Only such a person would have the moral authority to make the changes necessary to revitalise the institution and to secure the future of over 60,000 children who depend on it for their education. Sometimes it takes a loss to build towards gain. The best candidate may not be the one keen to be in the mess that all elections generate. He or she may have to be found and persuaded to accept the responsibility. It remains to be seen if the members of the Chief Khalsa Diwan can rise above their factionalism and get such a leader.editorial@tribune.com

Deepender Deswal

Tribune News Service

Hisar, September 23

Another chit fund company has come under the scanner.

The police have sealed the bank accounts of Trade Mart Private Limited which has raked in about Rs 50 crore in just two months in Hisar, Sirsa, Jind and Fatehabad districts.

A police team would visit Badal village in Bathinda district of Punjab on Monday in connection with the investigation as the mastermind of the alleged fraud firm  Amit  is reported to be employed in a bank in Badal village.

The police have arrested Anand Pal, father of Amit, who is the CMD of the firm registered with the Registrar of Companies on June 26.

Anand Pal, a Class VIII passout, was working as a salesman at a petrol pump in Narwana town of Jind district till about three years ago.

Sources said that he left the job after his son landed a job as an assistant manager in a nationalised bank. They, with the involvement of 7-8 confidants, decided to launch the chit fund firm.

A police official said, The bank account of the firm in Central Bank of India here has the highest accumulation of Rs 10 crore. The bank account book has 2,000 pages of transaction in just two months. We have sealed the accounts in the Central Bank of India branches in Hisar and Badal village in Bathinda district of Punjab which have nearly Rs 2.25 crore.

They went into hiding after the chit fund fraud by the Future Maker came to light fearing action on them as well, he said.

The official maintained that much of their transaction was in cash. It seems that the accused have invested the money in cash in real estate and other trades outside Haryana. We have sought property details of the accused from the state revenue office, he added.

Civil Lines SHO Narender Singh said the accused would be taken to Punjab, Rajasthan and other places in Haryana during the four-day police remand granted by the court on Saturday.

CMD arrestededitorial@tribune.com

Tribune News Service

Karnal, September 23

Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Sunday hinted at expanding the list of beneficiaries of the Ayushman Bharat Yojana that aims to provide health insurance coverage of Rs 5 lakh per family annually.

Apart from the around 15.5 lakh poor and vulnerable families identified in the Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC)-2011, the government may include BPL families left out in the survey, around 5.5 lakh labourers registered under the Haryana Labour Welfare Board but not included in the list, victims of the Emergency, heroes of the Second World War, members of the Quit India movement and persons who played an active role during the Hindi Andolan and participated in the Indian National Army (INA), said the CM.

In a state-level programme, the CM, along with Governor Satyadeo Narain Arya and Health Minister Anil Vij, launched this healthcare scheme for the state from the auditorium of Kalpana Chawla Government Medical College and Hospital (KCGMCH) here. They also dedicated a health and wellness centre at Salwan village along with inaugurating the auditorium of KCGMCH.

Khattar said each beneficiary family would get health insurance benefit in 230 empanelled hospitals  72 government and 158 private hospitals  across the state. The benefits of the scheme can be availed in any empanelled hospital across the country.

Meanwhile, the live screening of the national launch of the scheme by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Ranchi, Jharkhand, was also shown at the auditorium.

Khattar, while expressing his gratitude to the PM for initiating this scheme for the nation, said that during the four years, Modi has launched several schemes for the development of the country. Medical treatment especially in private institutes has become very costly. For treating chronic diseases, family members have to sell their assets. But this scheme will provide respite to such people, he added. As many as 184 Pradhan Mantri Jan Aarogya Mitras have been recruited in these empanelled hospitals to assist the beneficiaries, he said.

He added that as many as 12 health and wellness centres have so far been opened in the PHCs to make the people aware about various diseases. The number would be increased to 30 by November 1 and 300 in the coming days.

Meanwhile, the first beneficiary of the country  an infant Karishma, her mother Mousami and father Amit Kumar who are residents of Ghisarpuri in the district  were honoured by the Governor and CM. A cheque of Rs 21,000 was handed over to them.monicakchauhan@gmail.com

Dipender Manta

Tribune News Service

Mandi/Shimla, September 23

The Chandigarh-Manali highway was blocked for normal traffic after Beas river water flooded the road near Dwada on Sunday.

A portion of the road was submerged in water leaving many commuters stranded. The water level in the Beas rose following a cloudburst at Fozal in Kullu district.

Due to heavy rain, the Himachal Pradesh government to order closure of all schools in Kullu and Kinnaur districts on Monday, officials said.

All government and private schools will remain closed in tribal district of Kinnaur on Monday as per the directions issued by Deputy Commissioner Gopal Chand, an official said Sunday.

Similarly, all private and government schools as well colleges and ITIs will remain closed Monday in Kullu district, Deputy Commissioner Yunus said.

Meanwhile, at least 20 stranded people have been rescued from the Rohtang Pass in Himachal Pradesh on Sunday, a Border Roads Organisation (BRO) official said.

They were stranded due to the closure of the Rohtang Pass after heavy snowfall, Lieutenant Colonel D S Bisht said.

After getting information, a General Reserve Engineer Force (GREF) truck was sent and they were brought to Manali safely with the help of Col A K Awasthi and Kullu Deputy Commissioner Yunus, Bisht said.

Rohtang Pass witnessed about 4 ft of fresh snowfall on Sunday. The people should take utmost care while coming out of their homes in the area, the officer added.

After a brief respite, monsoon revived in the state with moderate to heavy rains lashing several places in last 24 hours.The authorities have issued an alert and have warned residents not to venture near the river and rivulets for their safety.

Manali received heavy rainfall in 24 hours. As per data recorded at 8.30 am Sunday, most parts of the state received moderate to heavy rains in 24 hours, the Met Centre Director Manmohan Singh said.

Manali in Kullu district received the highest rainfall of 127.4 mm, followed by Dharamshala (125.2 mm), Una (124.2 mm), Gagret (118 mm), Jogindernagar (115 mm), Sujanpur (112 mm), Bharwain (110 mm), Nadaun (104 mm), Baijnath (97 mm), Kangra (97.5 mm).

Shimla recorded rainfall of 47.1 mm, followed by Kufri (46 mm), Paonta Sahib (35 mm) and Kalpa (24.2 mm).

Upper hills in the state, including tribal Lahaul-Spiti district, received snowfall.

Rohtang Pass received over 1.5 feet of snow.

Heavy rains and snowfall has brought down the temperature in the state.

As per the data, Kalpa was the coldest place with nine degrees Celsius temperature. The minimum temperature in Dalhousie was 10.1 degrees Celsius followed by Kufri (10.6), Manali (10.8), Shimla (13) and Mandi (14.2).

The maximum temperature in Nahan was 26.3 degrees Celsius, 25.2 in Mandi, 25 in Paonta Sahib, 24.8 in Una, 23.6 in Dharamshala, 21.9 in Sundernagar, 16 in Manali and 15.9 degree Celsius in Shimla.

The weatherman has forecast heavy rain and snowfall in upper hills till September 24. With inputs from PTIeditorial@tribune.com

Tribune News Service

Mandi, September 23

The Chandigarh-Manali highway remained blocked for hours after the water level rose in the Beas, submerging a portion of the road near Dwada in Mandi district on Sunday.

Heavy rain in the upper parts of Kullu district spelt chaos in the area.

Moderate to heavy rain lashed several places in the past 24 hours. The authorities have issued an alert and have warned residents not to venture near the river and rivulets. Water was released from the Larji and Pandoh dams, which increased the water level of the Beas at Aut. The district administration has urged people not to go towards the Beas for the next two to three days, which is flowing above the danger mark.

Mandi Deputy Superintendent of Police Hitesh Lakhanpal said at Dwada, the riverwater flooded the Chandigarh-Manali highway. The traffic had to be halted for an hour. In the evening, the riverwater level rose again, forcing the authorities to stop the movement of vehicles for some time. Meanwhile, Manali in Kullu district received the highest rainfall at 127.4 mm, followed by Dharamsala (125.2 mm), Una (124.2 mm), Gagret (118 mm), Jogindernagar (115 mm), Sujanpur (112 mm), Bharwain (110 mm), Nadaun (104 mm), Baijnath (97 mm) and Kangra (97.5 mm).

Shimla recorded 47.1-mm rain. Weathermen have predicted heavy rain and snow in the upper hills till September 24.

Water released from Larji, Pandoh damseditorial@tribune.com

Lalit Mohan

Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, September 23

Himachali families, who do not have agriculture land, cannot buy it in the state. Despite being residents since long, the flawed land laws dont allow them to buy lands in their own state.

Dalit families in villages are suffering the most. Earlier, they did not own agriculture land and their houses were located in residential areas. Since they do not own agriculture land, they also cannot buy it without the permission of the state government under Section 118 of the Land Tenancy Act.

Lata is a resident of Gamru village near Dharamsala. She is a member of an SC family among the Gaddi community. Talking to The Tribune, she said her family had been staying here since long but did not own any land. Her family had also been given many facilities by the government but they didnt have the right to buy land.

Enquiries by The Tribune revealed that there were many residents who had been living here even before the formation of the state but did not own any land. Most of these were of the SC community.

Sources said the land was generally owned by higher class people. After the formation of Himachal, a ceiling Act was brought by first Chief Minister YS Parmar. Under the Act, the land was transferred to tillers and a cap was put on landholdings of big owners. However, in this exercise, many poor, especially in tribal areas, did not benefit and were left without any land.

The government later brought Section 118 into force that barred a person, not owning agriculture land, from buying such land. The Act was brought into force to protect farmers. However, the Act had proved to be detrimental to the poor.

Prem Kumar, a retired revenue official, said there was a flaw in Section 118. If a person did not own any agriculture land. He would have to seek permission from the government to buy it. He could buy just one kanal land for residential purposes.

Enquiries further revealed that many poor in villages had constructed their houses on forestland that was earlier called common land but was later classified as forestland in the revenue record. In some cases, residents had lost their houses in landslides or floods and were resettled on the common land. Now they are facing threat as the High Court had ordered the removal of all encroachments from forestland.

Jangi Ram of Gamru village said, I or my forefathers had never ventured out of Himachal and have been residing here on the land provided by the village panchayat. My grandson wanted to buy some land for a pucca house. However, revenue officials told him that he would have to seek permission from the government. Jangi Ram now wondered that being a Himachali, why should he require permission from the government to buy land here?

Divisional Commissioner, Kangra, Vikas Labroo admitted that according to the existing land laws, a person could not buy land without the permission of the government.

Act brought by founder CMYou are here: World

 Flash

Tanzanian authorities said on Saturday the death toll in the ferry that capsized in Lake Victoria on Thursday rose to 209 as more bodies were expected to be pulled off one of Africa's great lakes.







Isack Kamwelwe, the Minister for Works, Transport and Communications, said more bodies could be recovered as rescue and recovery operations continued.





"Relatives have started identifying bodies of their loved ones," Kamwelwe told a news conference at Ukara Islet, the scene of the grisly marine accident.





He said a ship carrying equipment to be used in pulling the ferry out of the lake was on its way from Mwanza.





"We are expecting the vessel anytime and work to pull out the ferry will start right away," said the minister.





Earlier in the day, Kamwelwe, said one survivor was rescued on Saturday from the ferry that capsized in Lake Victoria on Thursday afternoon.





He identified the survivor as Alphonce Charahani, a ferry engineer who was among the passengers.





"The survivor is in critical condition and doctors are fighting to save his life," Kamwelwe told Xinhua on phone.





On Friday, Tanzanian President Magufuli announced a four-day mourning period for the victims of the ferry accident.





According to sources, the ferry, with a capacity of 101 passengers and 25 tonnes of cargo, capsized at around 1 pm local time Thursday.





Tanzanian President Magufuli also ordered the arrest of safety inspectors from the country's transport regulator, the Surface and Marine Transport Regulatory Authority.





Preliminary investigations showed that the state-owned ferry was overloaded and was being manned by someone who was not the authorized captain of the vessel.





The last major ferry accident on Lake Victoria occurred in 1996 in the same region, killing at least 500 people.amansharma@tribunemail.com

Lalit Mohan

Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, September 23

Allegations levelled by TV actress Karishma Sharma that she had to face eve-teasing during her recent trip to Dharamsala has Kangra police on the edge.

Karishma Sharma, in an interview in Mumbai, said she had gone to Dharamsala to take a break from her hectic schedule.

However, during a trip to a temple, while she was clicking photos with friends, a group of men kept staring at her in a vulgar manner. When she approached a local policeman, he allegedly ignored her complaint.

Karishma Sharma is currently doing Comedy Circus show on TV.

She further alleged that the group of men also followed her to a shop and then to a monastery. The TV actress claimed that she had to cut short her visit to Dharamsala after just two days due to the eve-teasing incident.

Kangra SP Santosh Patial said the incident of eve-teasing was never reported to police. However, after her interview in Mumbai we are trying to verify the allegations. As of now, we have no information about her stay in Dharamsala.

We are trying to verify when did she came here, where did she stay, when she returned and where exactly the incident of eve-teasing took place. We have CCTV cameras installed at many places in McLeodganj and would try to verify as to who was trying to harass the actress. However, till date we have got no clue about her allegations, he said.

Sources here said Karishma has said in her interview that there were lakes in Dharamsala. However, there was just one small lake, the Dal Lake in the Naddi area of Dharamsala. The police was trying to verify if the actress stayed in that area.vermaajay1968@gmail.com

Neeraj Bhanot

Faculty, IIM-Amritsar

Cold stores in Punjab are flooded with old crops before the harvest. Lack of proper storage facilities would again force farmers to sell their produce in distress due to the glut. Undoubtedly, with rising farm output, there is a need to develop storage infrastructure and ancillary services so that farmers can hold the produce during the glut and sell it at an opportune time. In a country, where 30 per cent of farm produce is wasted, an efficient cold supply chain is a must.

An efficient cold chain is integral to the modern farm-to-fork value chain. An efficient cold chain system is developed by taking care of several crucial factors such as geographical coverage, end-to-end solutions, carbon footprint, costs, control and tracking systems.

Cold storages and infrastructure around cold chain in India have not evolved like developed economies. Punjab, one of the leading agrarian states, is not an exception. IIM-Amritsar had conducted a study of two leading cold storages in Amritsar as part of an academic exercise. Both had their own operational shortcomings.

The first cold storage involved farmers, wholesalers and FMCG firms as its stakeholders. Although the facility was fairly new, it could not be compared with any ultra-modern unit of international export standards. The management had, however, adopted some modern tools such as using solar power to run the plant, but other areas required attention. The second cold storage consumed high electricity, triggering cost concerns. In order to reduce costs, the facility had been using manual labour for tagging, which was, in fact, more time consuming and highly inefficient. The infrastructure flaws, combined with lack of coordination in the system, had almost crippled the facility.

These are classic examples of cold storages. Most of the facilities across the state lack proper air filtration and ammonia ventilation systems. Lack of innovation and tendency to cut initial capital costs have been the biggest roadblocks in the evolution of an efficient cold chain system in the state.

Punjab, with its agrarian economy, must invest to create public cold chain infrastructure. Public bodies should develop required infrastructure for agriculture as private investments in the area could be limited due to the high costs (around Rs 15-20 crore) and long break-even time.

A common problem that cold storages would face in Punjab is the prevalence of relatively high temperature compared to neighbouring Himachal Pradesh. The cooling cost increases with every degree of increase in temperature. Pre-cooling is one such ancillary service that can boost the quality of produce and monumentally increase the lifetime of agro products throughout the supply chain. This will increase the per quintal profit as farmers would be able to gain up to 30 per cent more price for quality products.

 With inputs from Aman Gandotra, Ramanathan RM, and Sachin Sadanandan, IIM-Amritsarpardeepdhull@gmail.com

Majid Jahangir

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, September 23

A Pakistani-origin militant was killed in a gunfight with security forces in south Kashmir's Pulwama district on Sunday, the police said.

Sources said the slain militant, Adnan Bhai, was associated with Jaish-e-Mohammad.

The gunfight erupted at Aripal village in Tral, over 55 km from Srinagar, when joint teams of forces started a cordon and search operation after an input about militant presence.

"As the forces were searching the area, the hiding militants opened fire, triggering a gunfight," a police officer said earlier.

The operation was jointly being carried out by 42 RR of the Army, J&K Police and 180 Battalion of the CRPF.editorial@tribune.com

Suhail A Shah

Anantnag, September 22

Posters raising questions on the killings of policemen by militants appeared at many places in Pulwama district on Saturday, a day after three cops were abducted and killed in the neighboring Shopian district.

A nearly one-minute audio clip was also circulated on social media, which questioned the militants for asking special police officers (SPOs) to resign.

The posters, issued by little known Pulwama and Shopian Tigers, also question why family members of militants working with the police and other government departments are not being targeted.

The posters, printed in Urdu and dated September 21, were pasted at many places in the main Pulwama town and its peripheries.

It is with a heavy heart we have to say that some of our militant brothers have taken a wrong step in the name of jihad by targeting policemen and their families, the posters read.

Militants have issued diktats, asking policemen, particularly the SPOs, to resign from their duties immediately. Following the diktat, many SPOs across south Kashmir have announced their resignation through videos and pictures on social networking sites. Through the posters, the group says that policemen trying to earn their livelihood are labelled as traitors, but the real traitors are their (militants) own relatives.

Is Zeenat-ul-Islams brother not a policeman? Doesnt Saifullahs brother work with the Air Force? Is Adil Ahmad Bhats father not a cop? the poster raises questions, further asking why the relatives of the militants havent left their jobs.

The posters also ask if the Jihad is to be imposed only on the poor.

Riyaz Naikoos father was arrested and he gave an ultimatum of four days for his release. What about hundreds of people who have been languishing in jails for years? Why no word is being uttered about them? it reads.

The poster requests people to think over the points raised and ask militants to stop such acts. Or we will be forced to rise against you, reads the poster. The resignation of SPOs, meanwhile, continued in different parts of south Kashmir throughout the day on Saturday.



Gunfight in Tangdhar, combing ops on

Srinagar: A massive combing operation is underway along the Line of Control in the Tanghdar sector of north Kashmirs Kupwara district, officials said. The searches started after a brief exchange of gunfire between militants and the Army near Pathri Behak at Tangdhar Sector l. A police officer said a group of suspected infiltrators was spotted near Pathri Behak around noon and it was challenged. The militants opened fire, triggering a gunfight. The exchange of fire has stopped and a combing operation is underway, sources said. There was no report of any casualty on either side. TNSeditorial@tribune.com

Dinesh Manhotra

Tribune News Service

Raipur (Jammu), Sept 23

Members of over five families gathered at Raipur village in the outskirts of Jammu city to mourn the killing of Special Police Officer (SPO) Kulwant Singh, who was killed by militants at Batagund village of Shopian in Kashmir valley on Friday.

These families were displaced from the Shopian area after the eruption of militancy in the Valley.

Along were Kashmiri Pandits, over 500 Rajput families were also displaced from the Valley in 1990, but their plight has never been addressed by the successive state governments. Instead, they have been marginalised by the authorities.

The killing of the SPO has exposed the unending plight of Rajputs in the Kashmir valley. They are facing systematic neglect and marginalisation.

Once we were jagirdars in the Valley, but now, most of us are struggling to earn our livelihood. This is due to the discriminatory policies of the successive state governments, Dalit Singh, whose father had migrated from the Shopian area in 1990.

When migration started in the early 90s, some Dogra families preferred to stay in the Valley and Kulwant Singhs family was one of them.

No efforts have been made by the authorities to give incentives to Dogra Rajput families living in Kashmir, Dalit Singh regretted and maintained that the unending woes of Rajput families of the Kashmir valley were increasing with every passing day.

After 1947, successive state governments neglected and marginalised us in a systematic way. As a result, our people were excluded from the state mechanisms and policies. We became poor and marginalised, said Khajoor Singh, 80, another Rajput migrant from the Valley living in the Nai Basti area of Jammu.

Prof Shalinder Singh, an eminent historian, said Dogra Rajputs from Raipur, Birpur, Ramnagar, Jandrah, Samba and other areas of the Jammu region were offered jagirs by Maharaja Ranjit Singh after annexing Kashmir from the Afghans in 1819. Since 1819, Dogra Rajputs have been living in different parts of the Kashmir valley, he said, adding, Rajputs from Jammu also got jagirs from founder of the state of Jammu and Kashmir Maharaja Ghulab Singh, who became the ruler of the state in 1846.editorial@tribune.com

Tribune Reporters

Anantnag/Srinagar, Sept 23

Three militants were killed by security forces in two separate encounters in the Kashmir valley on Sunday.

In the first encounter, a Jaish-e-Mohammad militant was gunned down by security forces on Sunday during a gunfight that lasted several hours in the Tral area of south Kashmirs Pulwama district.

The slain militant has been identified as Adnan Bhai of Pakistani origin.

The gunfight erupted in the Aripal area of Tral at 8 am on Sunday, the police said. The area was cordoned off early Sunday morning following inputs regarding the presence of militants in the area, a senior police official said.

He said the militant, who was hiding in a house, opened fire at the security forces while they were conducting a search operation in the area.

The fire was retaliated, triggering an encounter. The exchange of fire continued for several hours before the militant was neutralised, the official said, adding that arms and ammunition were also retrieved from the encounter site.

Sources said the house where the militant was hiding had been reduced to rubble as heavy explosives were used during the encounter.

Meanwhile, a civilian was critically injured during clashes between security forces and protesters that erupted in Wagad village and nearby areas soon after the encounter ended. The injured identified as Manzoor Ahmad Dar was shifted to Srinagar with a bullet injury in his mouth.

The forces fired at stone throwers. One of the youths was hit by a bullet in his mouth, a source said. A health official said: He has been shot in the mouth and is critical. We have shifted him to the SMHS Hospital in Srinagar.

In another encounter, the Army on Sunday claimed to have foiled an infiltration bid by killing two militants in north Kashmirs frontier Kupwara district.

Two terrorists have been killed as the Army foiled an infiltration bid in Tangdhar sector. The operation is in progress, it said.

The identity and group affiliation of the slain militants could not be established immediately. The operation was launched by the Army on Saturday afternoon when they noticed suspected movement close to the Line of Control near Pathri Behak in Tangdhar sector, over 180 km from Srinagar. There was a brief exchange of fire between militants and the Army on Saturday.

A massive combing operation was undertaken in the sector after the brief gunfight and on Sunday, a fresh contact with militants was established that led to their killing, defence sources said.

45-yr-old labourer abducted in Sopore

A 45-year-old man was abducted by militants in north Kashmir. The police said militants barged into the house of Mushtaq Ahmad Mir, a labourer, at Harwan in Sopore late Saturday night and abducted him. A case has been registered and investigation is on. "A manhunt has been launched to trace the abducted man," a police officer saidAir Mshl Sukhchain Singh (retd)

Air Mshl Sukhchain Singh (retd)

A contemporary of the late Marshal of the Air Force Arjan Singh, Air Marshal Randhir Singh, who died recently, hailed from Bhasaur in Sangrur district. All the present serving senior Air officers would have undergone training at the Air Force Academy under his command and hence the personal connect of the serving brass. Aged 97, he was the seniormost Air veteran in Chandigarh, and remained in command of his mental and physical faculties.

Awarded the Vir Chakra during the 1948 Kashmir operations, his citation reads that he engaged targets with vigour, in spite of his aircraft being hit on several occasions. His leadership and courage inspired other pilots of the squadron, and continued to be his hallmark all through his career.

As CO of 106 Squadron (1959-1962), equipped with the newly-inducted Canberras in the strategic reconnaissance role, he excelled in detecting Chinese troop movement in Tibet, leading to the 1962 war. One of his prized possessions was a panoramic view of the Himalayan range taken by him flying high over them. He would often come back shaken from one of the missions over Tibet. He would not say anything, but I would know that he had taken some fire from the ground, his late wife once said.

During the 1965 conflict with Pakistan, with complete disregard to personal comforts, he successfully directed air defence operations within his area of responsibility. During the Indo-Pak hostilities of 1971, as Air Commodore, he was in command of the forward base at Adampur and set a tough regime of training, focussing on the highest possible state of operational readiness. Dry runs of different missions were repeatedly flown and practiced. He organised the supporting services on the base so well that throughout the war resident squadrons could launch the desired number of close air support and offensive sorties with utmost effectiveness.

A heightened security consciousness resulted in the nabbing of three Pakistani spies. A great sense of purpose motivated all officers, SNCOs, airmen and other personnel to work up to 16 hours daily. Air Chief Marshal PC Lal said one-third of all Western Air Command missions were flown by the Adampur station during the war. This is a tribute to the leadership and drive shown by its commander.

On retirement, he settled down in Chandigarh. A soft-spoken, congenial and respected officer, he was active in the social circuit and took interest in veterans affairs. His stint as chairman of the Federation of Sector Welfare Associations of Chandigarh saw him lead several battles against the MC and the UT Administration.

Just two days before his death, he was honoured by the Air Force Association (North Zone) as a nonagenarian. He stood erect as a glowing personality and addressed the Air rank veterans, 25 to 40 years younger to him, on the art of a long, fit and productive life. Well lived, Air Marshal Randhir Singh, Sir, you will continue to inspire.ROBINSINGH@TRIBUNE.COM

Rewari, September 23

Ten days after a 19-year-old college girl from Rewari district was allegedly gangraped, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Haryana Police on Sunday arrested two key accused, including an Army man.

Pankaj Fauji and Manish of Naya Gaon village were nabbed from Satnali in Mahendragarh district.

The other accused  Nishu Phogat, Deendayal, owner of the tubewell room where the girl was allegedly raped, and Sanjeev Kumar, a medical practitioner  are already behind bars.

Pankaj and Manish were nabbed in Satnali town at 5 am. They had buried their cellphones before escaping, Nuh SP Naazneen Bhasin, the SIT head, announced.

She said the two, aided by petty criminals, remained in hiding at various locations along the Rajasthan border, at times in the fields, and at dharamshalas and dhanis.

The accused were sighted in Bikaner, Ranthambore and Gogamedi in Rajasthan as well as in Uttarakhand. The SIT, that worked round the clock, followed every lead, Bhasin said, adding the police were on the lookout for those who had sheltered the absconders.

The SIT chief said they did not rule out the possibility of more persons having been involved. It was an organised crime. The tubewell room had been reportedly used for nefarious activities in the past too. The SP said Nishu appeared to be the mastermind.

The girl was abducted at a bus stop in Kanina in Mahendragarh on September 12. She was allegedly drugged and gangraped.  TNSmonicakchauhan@gmail.com

New Delhi, September 24

The conductor of a school bus was on Saturday caught by a police officer while killing the vehicle's driver for not returning his mobile phone.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Aslam Khan said that Chooda Maniaryal, 23, hailing from Nepal, hit driver Joginder's head with a small fire extinguisher at north Delhi's Rani Bagh at around 11 a.m.

He was taken to Bhagwan Mahavir Hospital in the area where he was declared dead.

"It was a quarrel over petty issue. The deceased had borrowed the accused's phone yesterday (Friday), but when asked to return on Saturday, Joginder refused to give it back."

"During a scuffle over the issue, Chooda got violent and hit him in the head," Khan said, adding that a police officer saw it all.

The accused was immediately arrested and a case of murder registered against him.

IANSmonicakchauhan@gmail.com

Lucknow, September 23

Undeterred by the BSP's recent alliance in Chhattisgarh and declaration of seats for Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Raj Babbar said Sunday his party is "optimistic" of a grand alliance in the state for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

He told PTI the people want the opposition to contest the general elections in Uttar Pradesh together.

"In the present scenario, irrespective of the party and pressures they might be having from their voters, we have to unitedly contest the Lok Sabha polls," Babbar said.

"In the Lok Sabha elections in UP, I'm optimistic of a grand alliance...Lok Sabha elections are at the national level and there are only two forces. I'm not saying that there are only two parties but there are only two ideologies. One is of Gandhiji on which the Congress runs and other is of the RSS which is in search of credibility," he said.

Babbar claimed the RSS was searching for credibility since 1924 and it had no identity.

They are having a majority government but still Hindus and Muslims are being made to realise their differences. They (BJP) said they got a big majority and have reduced everyone (all other parties) to zero. But, can they bring destroy our ideology completely," he asked.

Referring to a three-day conclave held by the RSS at Vigyan Bhavan in Delhi, the Congress leader alleged the Sangh misused the government and for the first time Vigyan Bhavan was used for a non-government programme.

"It's a big lie that they did not take anything from the BJP but only gave advice," he said.

Replying to a question, he claimed Congress president Rahul Gandhi was not invited for the recent RSS event.

The Congress leader said, "A threat is being posed to all of us (by the BJP). We have to face it unitedly."

On being asked to comment on open criticism of the Congress by BSP chief Mayawati on petrol and diesel prices and other issues, Babbar said, "The BSP is a party, it might have an opinion. It also ran government in the state. If state government wants it can reduce petrol/diesel prices."

Last week, Mayawati had held both the previous UPA government and the BJP responsible for the rise in petrol and diesel prices, taking the Congress by surprise.

"We will never say what our government did and what was done during the BSP or the SP regime. We don't want to answer allegations and make counter allegations. At this juncture, we should not point fingers at each other as people have a lot of expectations from us. We have to fulfil them unitedly," he said.

The actor-turned-politician said it was easy for him to respond but in such a situation he did not want to do it and said many times silence was also a response.

On Congress' preparations for the 2019 polls, he said, "Our party is mass-base party and we are there for them at the time of their need. We will contest polls with full strength." On the issue of triple talaq, Babbar attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said, "The PM should also tell what would the government in case of those who left their wives and also did not even give them 'guzara bhatta' (subsistence allowance)." PTIYou are here: World

 Flash

Top Iranian officials said on Saturday that the United States and its regional allies are responsible for an earlier terrorist attack in Iran.







At least 25 people were killed and 60 others injured in a terror attack on a military parade in Iran's southwestern city of Ahvaz on Saturday, official IRNA news agency quoted Ali Hossein Hossein Zadeh, political deputy of the Khuzestan governor, as saying.





Military forces and citizens who had gathered to watch the parade were among the killed, the report said.





"This crime is the extension of the plots by the U.S. allies in the region, seeking to create insecurity in Iran," Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a statement.





However, the Iranians "will continue their path of honor and overcome all the hostilities," Khamenei added.





Meanwhile, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said those who have provided "propaganda and intelligence support" for the terrorists are accountable for the attack.





Rouhani ordered Iranian intelligence agencies to arrest the perpetrators behind the attack.





"The Islamic republic will give a crushing response to the slightest threat against the country," he vowed.





Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif also tweeted that "Iran will respond swiftly and decisively in defense of Iranian lives."





On Saturday morning, four armed men clad in the uniform of Iranian Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) attacked the military parade in Ahvaz, capital of Khuzestan Province, which was marking the anniversary of Iran-Iraq war in 1980-1988.





Two of the militants were killed and two others arrested.





Al-Ahvazieh, an Iranian Arab-affiliated group, has claimed responsibility for the terror attack, saying it is fighting for the rights of the Iranian Arabs in Khuzestan.





Shiite-dominated Iran considers the Al-Ahvazieh a separatist and terrorist group supported by Saudi Arabia, its Sunni-majority arch rival in the Gulf.pardeepdhull@gmail.com

New Delhi, September 23

Under pressure to clamp down on sinister messages, Whatsapp has appointed a grievance officer for India and detailed out the process for users to flag concerns and complaints, including those around fake news.

Meeting one of the key demands that India had put on Whatsapp to curb fake messages that triggered mob killings, the Facebook-owned company has updated its website to reflect the appointment of a Grievance Officer for India.

The update mentions that users can seek help through the mobile app, send an email or write in to Komal Lahiri, who is based out of the US.

According to Lahiris LinkedIn profile, she is senior director, global customer operations and localisation, WhatsApp.

When contacted, a WhatsApp spokesperson declined to comment on the matter but pointed to the public FAQ on the companys website that contains these details.

According to sources, the appointment of the Grievance Officer was made at the end of August.

They added that the Grievance Officer for India being based in the US is in tune with similar practices by other American tech giants.

According to the WhatsApp website, users can reach out to the companys support team directly from the app under Settings tab and in case they wish to escalate the complaint, they can contact the Grievance Officer directly.

A section within FAQs read: You (users) can contact the Grievance Officer with complaints or concerns, including the following: WhatsApps Terms of Service; and Questions about your account.

The updated FAQs also detailed out the mechanism for law enforcement officials to reach out to WhatsApp.

The government has been pressing WhatsApp to develop tools to combat fake or false messages. One of the demands was to name a grievance officer to deal with issues in India.

India is WhatsApps biggest market with more than 200 million users. In July it limited message forwards to five chats at a time and had also removed the quick forward button placed next to media messages to discourage mass forwarding. It has also introduced a forward label to help users identify such messages.

The latest appointment is also significant as the Supreme Court, last month, had agreed to examine a petition alleging that WhatsApp does not comply with Indian laws, including the provision for appointing a grievance officer. The apex court had sought a reply on the matter within four weeks.

With the General Election slated for next year in India, the government is taking a tough stance on use of social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and WhatsApp for spread of misinformation.

The government had warned WhatsApp that it will treat the messaging platform as abettor of rumour propagation and legal consequences will follow, if adequate checks are not put in place.

In a meeting held with WhatsApp Head Chris Daniels last month, IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had asserted that the company will have to find a solution to track origin of messages on its platform, set up a local corporate entity that is subject to Indian laws within a defined time-frame as well as appoint a grievance officer.

WhatsApp, which has been slapped with two notices with a third one under consideration, has said it is in the process of establishing a local corporate entity.

It has, however, not accepted governments demand for traceability of messages saying creating such a software will go against the idea of user privacy and end-to-end encryption. PTIROBINSINGH@TRIBUNE.COM

Paris, September 23

The French government said on Sunday it feared damage to its relations with India after former President Francois Hollande stirred controversy about a major deal to sell 36 Rafale fighter jets.

Hollande, who left office last year, said on Friday that jet manufacturer Dassault Aviation had been given no choice about its local partner in a 2016 deal with the Narendra Modi government.

Dassault announced afterwards it was partnering with Anil Ambani rather than public defence conglomerate HAL.

Hollandes remark that Dassault did not have a say in it added fuel to claims that the Modi government had intervened to help Ambani.

I find these remarks... do not help anyone and above all do not help France, junior foreign minister Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne said about Hollande. Because one is no longer in office, causing damage to a strategic partnership by making remarks that cause controversy in India is really not appropriate, he said.

Hollande made the comments to defend himself because Reliance had partially financed a film produced by his girlfriend in 2016.  AFPmonicakchauhan@gmail.com

Boston, September 23

An undated letter written by Mahatma Gandhi, stressing on the importance of the spinning wheel, has been sold for US$ 6,358, according to US-based RR Auction.

Signed "Bapu's blessings", the letter is written in Gujarati and addressed to a person named Yashwant Prasad, the auction house said in a statement.

"What we expected of the mills has happened," Gandhi wrote in the letter. "However, what you say is correct: all depends on the loom," he wrote.

Gandhi's reference to the spinning wheel is exceptionally important, as he had adopted it as a symbol of economic independence.

During the movement for independence Gandhi encouraged Indians to spend time each day spinning khadi (homespun cloth) in support of the Indian movement for independence.

He encouraged all Indians to wear khadi instead of British-made textiles as a part of the swadeshi movement.

The spinning wheel -- and the textile itself -- became symbolic of the movement toward Indian independence.

The identity of the winning bidder was not disclosed. PTIROBINSINGH@TRIBUNE.COM

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 23

In what is the first rebuttal to former French President Francois Hollande, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitely, through a Facebook post on Sunday, termed his statement as questionable and added that circumstances and facts demolish the claims.

Two days ago, Hollande had said Reliance Defences partnership with Dassault Aviation was entered at the suggestion of the Government of India. Since then, the Congress and the BJP have been engaged in a war of words. Jaitleys Facebook post is the first rebuttal to Hollande and his claims.

Dassault is the maker of Rafale fighter jets and India has ordered 36 jets at a cost of Rs 58,000 crore. Anil Ambani-led Reliance Defence is the Indian partner of Dassault and its selection, ignoring the state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), is being questioned by Congress president Rahul Gandhi.

A controversy is sought to be created on the basis of a statement made by former French President Francois Hollande, Jaitley said in his post. He questioned Hollande, saying Truth cannot have two versions.

The minister said Hollande had stated that the Indian Government suggested Reliance Defence for partnership with Dassault Aviation. In a subsequent statement, the former President has sought to suggest that Reliance Defence emerged on the scene after the agreement with the Indian Government was entered into. Hollande, in another subsequent statement, reported by international news agency AFP, said he was not aware if the government ever lobbied for Reliance Defence and that the partners chose themselves.

Jaitley goes on to question Hollande saying it may be mentioned that the former French President, Hollande, is countering a statement made against him with regard to a conflict of interest in his (own) dealing with Reliance Defence. Jaitley was indirectly referring to media reports that Anil Ambanis companies funded the film production of Hollandes partner Julie Gayet.

Jaitley said there was no partnership, as suggested by the former President, with regard to the 36 Rafale jets to be supplied by Dassault Aviation to India. It was a government-to-government pact under which the weaponised aircraft are to come to the IAF. No manufacturing is to be done in India. It is, therefore, erroneous for anybody to suggest that there is a partnership in the supply of the 36 Rafale jets. The Indian partner was selected entirely by Dassault Aviation and neither the French Government and nor the Indian Government has any say in the matter, he said.

Meanwhile, the Congress will petition the Central Vigilance Commission tomorrow on the issue. It has earlier approached the CAG.

Stop lying, time to call JPC probe

Jetlies speciality is his ability to spin 2 truths, or lies, with fake self righteousness & indignation to defend the indefensible. Its high time he, the RM & our PM stop lying and call a JPC to establish the full, uncorrupted truth about #RafaleScam. Rahul Gandhi, Congress President

PM Modi complicit in the scam

The PM the procurement procedure by unilaterally deciding to buy jets while a pact negotiated by the erstwhile Cong govt for 126 jets was on his table. He struck a new deal of which he only told Ambani. He is complicit in the scam. Anand Sharma, Cong Leaderuttara@tribuneindia.com

Kochi, September 23

An Indian Navy aircraft has located the vessel of Indian naval officer Abhilash Tomy, who was badly injured while participating in the Golden Globe Race, rolling excessively in the south Indian Ocean, a Defence spokesman said Sunday.

Tomy had suffered a back injury Friday after his yacht was hit by a vicious storm with 14-metre-high waves mid-way across south Indian Ocean.

The Indian Navy's P8I aircraft, which flew from Mauritius in the early hours Sunday, has located the mast broken boat rolling excessively, he said.

Commander Tomy responded by ping on EPIRB as the aircraft was flying over him, the spokesman said here.

Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRB) is a device that alerts rescue services in case of an accident at sea.

He said heavy rains have been reported from the area.

The aircraft would fly back after three to four hours and Tomy can only be rescued by naval ships, he said.

Tomy had on Sunday managed to get in touch with race organisers in France through messages and had requested for a stretcher as he could not move on his own. He was representing India in the Golden Globe Race 2018 (GGR) on an indigenously-built sailing vessel 'S V Thuraya'.

Tomy, who became the first Indian to have circumnavigated the globe in 2013, is the only Indian participating in the race that involves a gruelling 30,000-mile solo circumnavigation of the globe.

His vessel is in the south Indian Ocean, about 1,900 nautical miles from Perth in Australia Tomy's vessel was dismasted in extremely rough weather and sea conditions, with wind speeds of 130 kmh. He was in third position in the race and has sailed over 10,500 nautical miles in the last 84 days, since the race started on July 1.

A report from France on Friday night had said 70 knot winds and 14-metre-high waves have left the yachts of Tomy and Ireland's Gregor McGuckin dismasted, and twice knocked down the yacht of second-placed Dutchman Mark Slats.

Both McGuckin and Slats had reported that they are okay, but 39-year-old Tomy, making his second solo circumnavigation, has been injured, it had said.

It had also said other entrants were asked to make towards Tomy's position if possible, and added that the weather was extreme.

The nearest yacht was McGuckin's 'Biscay 36 Hanley Energy Endurance', some 90 miles to the southwest of Tomy's 'Thuriya', but she too was dismasted in the same storm.  PTIamansharma@tribunemail.com

New Delhi, September 23

Laudatory news articles by which a political leader appeals for votes in his favour by boasting his record and achievements should be treated as paid news, the Election Commission (EC) has told the Supreme Court.

Challenging the Delhi High Court verdict quashing the EC's decision to disqualify Madhya Pradesh Minister Narottam Mishra for three years on charges of paid news, the poll panel claimed that the high court erred in restricting its role in taking action to curb the menace of paid news.

"Where there appears in daily newspapers having wide circulation, statements issued by and in the name of a candidate which are not only laudatory of his record and achievements, but also are direct appeal to voters by the candidate himself, would it be erroneous for the Election Commission to treat such statements as: not news, but paid-news?" EC said in the appeal and asked the apex court to examine the issue as such questions arise frequently during elections.

It said when a candidate is accountable for maintaining his poll expenses within the prescribed limit, the onus of establishing that beneficial services being rendered to him during the campaign period are not at his behest would rest on him.

He must have proof that he distanced himself from such charitable services or news at the relevant time and not post facto, the EC said in its appeal challenging the high court's May 18 judgement.

"If such motivated propaganda is allowed in the garb of free speech, during the election period - candidates with a strong network of connections and undefined relationships would exploit their sphere of influence in society and would have the unequal advantage of encashing such silent services," the poll panel said.

"If 'paid news' can only be determined on the basis of irrefutable documentary evidence, the subterfuge would gain uncontrollable currency and would be a major setback to the effort to curb the practice of monetising the influence that candidates could wield due to their status and network in society, thus deriving an unfair advantage over other candidates," it said.

As an interim order, the EC has sought staying the operation of the high court's May 18 order by which it had allowed the plea of Mishra, the state Minister of Public Relations, Water Resources and Parliamentary Affairs, challenging the poll panel's June 23, 2017 decision disqualifying him.

The commission said the conduct of eager supporters whose extensive coverage, as in this case, being dubbed as freedom of expression cannot be termed as news because 'News' is expected to be "unbiased" and characterised by "dispassionateness of coverage and proportionate space to other contenders".

"It is thus inescapable that such 'unholy alliance' can be uncovered only by a thorough inquiry and restricting the scope of the EC in such matters by not allowing it to go into the 'contents' of such paid news would be like allowing it to take a pound of flesh without an ounce of blood and will prove to be a severe body blow in the efforts to check this growing menace that will further lead to corruption and inequality in election campaigning," the EC said in the appeal seeking to set aside the high court's order.

The panel said it took the decision to disqualify Mishra after its paid news committee concluded that 42 news items/ articles were "biased, one-sided and aimed at furthering the prospects" of Mishra.

While some of the reported items were direct appeals, others read like advertisement in favour of the candidate and the committee had come to the conclusion that the articles/items published in various newspapers appeared to be surrogate advertisements and fit the existing definition of paid news as given by the Press Council of India.

The EC had also held Mishra guilty of filing wrong accounts of election expenses relating to the articles and advertorials in the media during the 2008 assembly polls in the state.

The poll panel's order had come on a complaint by Congress leader Rajendra Bharti, who had contested against Mishra in the elections in which the BJP leader had won.

Mishra, who won from Datia Assembly constituency, had moved the Supreme Court on July 12 last year against the EC's decision, claiming there was delay in the proceedings and there was no evidence which showed he had authorised the paid news articles.

The apex court had transferred the matter to the Delhi High Court to be decided expeditiously before the July 17, 2017 presidential poll.

A single judge of the High Court had on July 14 last upheld the EC's decision.

The BJP leader had contended before the high court that the EC's order disqualifying him pertained to an election in 2008 and his subsequent tenure from 2013 would remain unaffected. - PTIROBINSINGH@TRIBUNE.COM

Hyderabad, September 23

The police in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh have sounded a red alert after the killing of a sitting Andhra Pradesh MLA and a former MLA by Maoists today.

The Maoists gunned down Andhra Pradeshs ruling Telugu Desam Party (TDP) MLA Sarveswara Rao and former MLA S Soma at Thutangi village in Araku valley, around 125 km from the coastal city of Visakhapatnam. Rao represented the Araku constituency.

After being forced to stop their vehicle, the two politicians were shot at point blank range. They died on the spot.

The two Telugu-speaking states are in the midst of Ganesh immersion festivities that attract many people to witness processions and ceremonies. People have been advised to take precaution.

Police sources said the ultras were celebrating the CPI-Maoists formation day. About 60 Maoists, including women cadres, were involved in the attack.

Rao is believed to have been warned by ultras to stop supporting Bauxite mining in the area. Security forces said Araku valley had becoming the new base for the ultras.  TNSamansharma@tribunemail.com

Shubhadeep Choudhury

Tribune News Service

Kolkata, September 23

Drifting in the high seas for about 48 hours now, Abhilash Tomy, the daring Indian Navy officer who is the only Indian participant in the tough Golden Globe Race (GGR), has complained of vomiting and chest burning.

He has had some ice tea. Organisers of the race have tweeted Tomys message sent to them via satellite.

5 lugged cans of ice tea. Having that. Vomiting. Cont. chest burnin, Tomy said in a message which was tweeted by the GGR at around quarter past three this afternoon.

According to GGR, Tomy has not drunk water since his boat was hit by a storm on September 21 and left him severely injured besides causing major damage to his yacht.

The 39-year-old sailor, who has circumnavigated the globe once in the past, had on July 1 embarked on the 30,000-mile journey through some of the worlds toughest seas aboard a non-motorised sailboat all alone.

The Navy has deployed a frigate INS Satpura (with a Chetak helicopter on board) and tanker INS Jyoti for rescue of its intrepid officer who is a winner of the Keerti Chakra.

INS Satpura and INS Jyoti were operating in the Indian Ocean from where ships were diverted to the South Indian Ocean for the rescue operation.

A Navy plane tasked to locate Tomy has also successfully spotted the yacht. Tomy heard the noise of the plane and got very excited. Heard AC (aircraft). ETA Rescue? (expected time of arrival of rescue?), Tomy asked the GGR organisers via satellite.

Tomys location was initially tracked to approximately 1,900 nautical miles south west of Perth, Western Australia. The boat may have drifted further off from the coast by now.

According to GGR, a French fisheries patrol vessel arranged by the Australian marine rescue authorities to reach the scene has got delayed due to bad weather. Gregor McGuckin, a fellow GGR participant who is heading toward Tomy in his sailboat, has also slowed down because of the weather.

However, Australian warship HMAS Ballarat, which is tasked to provide medical assistance to Tomy after his rescue, has set off for the scene this morning.

In a press statement issued at 4.15 this evening, Indian Navy said its P-8I aircraft operating ex-Mauritius visually sighted the SV Thuriya (Tomys yacht) at 0750 hrs this morning. Continuous watch over the boat is being maintained by Navy and RAAF aircraft till rescue is completed.

The officer in his last text message has indicated that he is safe on the boat; however is immobile due to back injury, stated the press release.ROBINSINGH@TRIBUNE.COM

Aditi Tandon

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 23

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today launched the worlds largest health assurance scheme, PM Jan Aarogya Yojana (PMJAY), from Ranchi, to cover 40 per cent of the national population.

The scheme, one of the two pillars of NDA governments Ayushman Bharat Mission (the other being the creation of 1.5 lakh village-level health and wellness centres) will provide financial cover of Rs 5 lakh annually for hospitalisation care to 10.74 crore poor and vulnerable families enlisted in the Central Socio Economic Caste Census (SECC).

The scheme will cover costs for secondary and tertiary healthcare of beneficiaries, while primary care will be provided to people at the health and wellness centres being established in villages, close to the community.

Launching the scheme on the birthday of national poet Ramdhari Singh Dinkar, and ahead of the birth anniversary of RSS ideologue Pt Deen Dayal Upadhyay, the PM said, PMJAY will provide health assurance to the last man in the line and will offer Rs 5 lakh cover per family per year benefitting over 50 crore people. This is the worlds biggest health assurance scheme. The number of beneficiaries nearly equals the population of the European Union, or the population of the US, Canada and Mexico, taken together.

In a veiled attack on the Congress, the PM also said remove poverty slogans dated back decades but political parties continued to play politics around the poor. Had they worked sincerely, the lot of poor people could have improved much earlier. But we are dedicated to the service of the poor.

The PM also recalled the launch of the first part of Ayushman Bharat  health and wellness centres  from Jharkhand on April 14 to mark the birth anniversary of Dr BR Ambedkar this year and spoke of 1,350 medical packages across 23 medical specialties the PMJAY will cover. Hospitalisation packages will be offered for serious conditions, including cancer and cardiology, and will be available in all government hospitals and empanelled private hospitals.

As many as 15,686 private hospitals have applied to the Government for empanelment under the scheme.

As of today, 30 states and UTs had signed PMJAY MoUs with the Centre to provide benefits under the scheme in the cost sharing ratio of 60:40. Delhi, Telangana, Odisha and Punjab havent signed the MoUs. The annual cost of the scheme for the Centre will be around Rs 11,000 crore. With most states opting to set up trusts to roll out the project, the implementation will work on the lines of the Central Government Health Services scheme, wherein patients avail services in empanelled hospitals which are reimbursed the costs by the Government.

The scheme will roll out in over 400 districts today with the Ministry of Health having already identified beneficiaries in these areas through gram sabhas earlier. Each beneficiary family has been sent letters containing QR codes. Once any family member needs medical care, they just have to go to a nearby hospital with the letter and any identification card, show it to an Ayushman Mitra which every hospital will deploy and proceed to get medical care and hospitalization. Anti fraud mechanisms have been created to deter hospitals from cheating patients or staking exaggerated claims, CEO, Ayushman Bharat Mission Indu Bhushan says.

SOME PACKAGE RATES

Angioplasty Rs 65,000 (costs around Rs 2 lakh in pvt hospitals)

Knee replacement Rs 80,000 (current cost Rs 3.5 lakh)

C-section: Rs 9,000 (current cost around Rs 1.5 lakh)

Bypass surgery: Rs 1.7 lakh (as against Rs 4 lakh)

Stents & cervical surgery: Rs 20,000 (as against Rs 1 lakh today)

Bone tumour surgery Rs 2.35 lakh (costs double today)

Acute leukemia surgery in kids Rs 1.2 lakh (costs three times today)

PACKAGE INCLUDES

Room, bed charges, nursing care, diagnostics, procedure cost and physician fee; consultation and diagnostics pre hospitalisation; two-week medicine, patient food, stitch removal, follow-up consultancy for two weeks post dischargeuttara@tribuneindia.com

Islamabad, September 23

Pakistan's two major opposition parties have questioned the "haste" shown by Prime Minister Imran Khan in making efforts to mend ties with India and held him responsible for the "diplomatic debacle", saying he should have done his "homework" before approaching for a meeting.

Khan had written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seeking to re-start bilateral talks on key issues "challenging the relationship" including on terrorism and Kashmir.

India initially agreed to a meeting between Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj and her Pakistani counterpart Shah Mahmood Qureshi on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York this month.

However, New Delhi on Friday called off the meeting citing the brutal killing of three policemen in Jammu and Kashmir as well as the release of the postal stamps glorifying Kashmiri militant Burhan Wani.

Dawn news reported that two major opposition partiesthe Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP)have held the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government responsible for the latest diplomatic debacle following New Delhi's refusal to hold the meeting.

Former foreign minister and PML-N lawmaker Khawaja Mohammad Asif criticised Khan for stating in the letter that Pakistan remains ready to discuss terrorism and said it seemed the government was not prepared from the day one.

Too much keenness being shown by the prime minister showed weakness on our part. Giving them (India) too much reflects haste on our part to mend fences with India, Asif was quoted as saying by Dawn news.

Asif said he was not against normalisation of relations between India and Pakistan but dignity must be maintained.

He regretted that Khan wrote a letter in which he talked about terrorism without realising that the US and India had recently issued a joint statement after the visit of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to New Delhi and Islamabad which was dead against Pakistan.

They (the US and India) raised all kinds of allegations against Pakistan and you are talking about terrorism (in the letter). This is a sign of weakness (on our part), Asif said.

He also criticised Prime Minister Modi, alleging that "he is playing to the gallery" as part of poll campaign.

PPP Vice-President and former envoy to the US Sherry Rehman said that the Imran Khan government should have done its homework before approaching India for a meeting, especially after the initial response.

Right now, however the Indian Govt and Army chief response is both immature and irresponsible. What are they threatening Pakistan about?

They have crossed all diplomatic norms and protocols to emerge as a belligerent nuclear power that is only looking to externalise its own extremisms, Rehman said on her official social media page on Twitter.

Ties between India and Pakistan nose-dived following a spate of terror attacks on Indian military bases by Pakistan based terror groups since January 2016. Following the strikes, India announced it would not engage in talks with Pakistan, saying terror and talks cannot go hand-in-hand.

Amid heightened tension with Pakistan over Uri terror attack in which 18 soldiers were killed, India had pulled out of the SAARC Summit to be held in Islamabad in November, 2016. The summit was called off after Bangladesh, Bhutan and Afghanistan also declined to participate in the meet. PTIROBINSINGH@TRIBUNE.COM

Mukesh Ranjan

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 23

A recent intelligence input to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has revealed a worrying trend of indoctrinated youth from eastern India joining the terror ranks in Jammu and Kashmir to keep the spate of violence unending there.

MHA sources said directives had been issued to states like Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha and West Bengal to keep a strict vigil on the activities of suspected organisations and also focus on the ongoing deradicalisation drive.

The sources, giving details of the Intelligence Bureau (IB) report, said Islamic State (IS) is suspected behind this trend, as the terror outfit is targeting youths via their publications Dabiq and Amaq.

Sources said the IB report also hinted at Jihadi groups taking up the Rohingya as their preferred cause and target group and the Bodh Gaya terror strike was aimed at consolidating their position as the champions of their cause.

The IB, however, contended that since the arrest of most of the top leadership of the banned Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) from Malda and Murshidabad, the outfits morale has come down. But it claimed that since all modules or activists were not caught, a number of indoctrinated youths may already be in Kashmir, sources said.

What lends credence to this theory is the recent arrest of one Kamar Uz Zaman from Kanpur. Police sources claim he was a member of Hizbul Mujahideen. He is originally from Hojai, Assam. Active on the social media, sustained interrogation has led to half a dozen more arrests, sources in MHA said.

They revealed that the security agencies see a plot in ISs reported instructions to its recruits not to travel to Syria and instead establish contacts with local Jihadi elements. This is also being seen as one of the reasons for new recruits are heading to the Valley.monicakchauhan@gmail.com

New York, September 23

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has arrived here to represent India at the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly and hold several bilateral and multilateral meetings with her global counterparts.

She will address the General Debate in the morning of September 29.

Swaraj, who arrived here on Saturday, will hold several bilateral and multilateral discussions with her global counterparts as well as with the top UN officials, besides participating in several meetings and discussions throughout the week on the sidelines of the General Assembly session.

"Destination #UNGA73. India's External Affairs Minister @SushmaSwaraj arrives in New York for High Level Segment of @UN," India's Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Syed Akbaruddin tweeted.

The General Debate commences on September 25. World leaders from 193 UN member states will address the global body.

US President Donald Trump will give his second address to the General Assembly on September 25.

In a tweet, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said "setting the stage for a week of hectic diplomacy! EAM @SushmaSwaraj arrives in New York to attend the 73rd Session of the #UnitedNations General Assembly and participate in several bilateral, plurilateral and multilateral meetings".

Earlier, following India's acceptance of Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan's proposal for a meeting, Swaraj and her Pakistani counterpart Shah Mahmood Qureshi were slated to meet on the sidelines of the General Assembly.

However, the Indian government called off the meeting, citing the brutal killings of three policemen in Jammu and Kashmir and Islamabad releasing postage stamps "glorifying" militant Burhan Wani. Qureshi will address the UN General Assembly in the afternoon on September 29. PTImonicakchauhan@gmail.com

Visakhapatnam, September 23

Maoists on Sunday shot dead a ruling TDP MLA and a former party leader in Andhra Pradesh's Visakhapatnam district, police said.

The incident occurred near Thutangi village, about 125 km from coastal city of Visakhapatnam.

K Sarveswara Rao, belonging to Telugu Desam Party (TDP), was representing Araku constituency in the Andhra Pradesh state Assembly.

The Maoists attacked Rao and former MLA Siveri Soma when they were attending a programme in Araku.

They were shot from point-blank range. A large number of Maoists allegedly participated in the attack.

A red alert has been sounded in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh after the killings. Crowds are out to watch the immersion of Ganesh at most places, giving anxious moments to the police.

In a release, police said in view of killing of MLA K Sarveswara Rao and former MLA Siveri Soma, all the police wings are kept under high alert. The situation is being closely watched.

ADG (L&O) Harish Kumar Guptha has rushed to Visakhapatnam to monitor the situation, the police added.

Rao was elected from Araku, a constituency reserved for the Scheduled Tribes, on YSR Congress Party ticket in the 2014 elections, defeating Soma of the TDP.

In 2016, Rao switched loyalties to TDP. According to the police, both Rao and Soma had received threats from Maoists in the past.  IANS/TNSmonicakchauhan@gmail.com

Wayanad, September 23

A nun belonging to the Syro Malabar Catholic church alleged she was asked to keep away from church duties after she participated in a protest by nuns in Kochi demanding the arrest of rape accused Bishop Franco Mulakkal.

Sister Lucy Kalapura, who returned here on Sunday morning from Kochi, claimed she was informed orally by the Mother Superior that she should keep away from holding catechism classes, conducting prayers and other church-related duties.

"No written orders were given to me. I was only informed orally by the Mother Superior not to participate in any church-related activities," the sister told PTI. The church could not be contacted for comments.

Five nuns had protested near the Kerala High Court at Kochi for 13 days, demanding the arrest of the bishop who was accused of repeatedly raping a nun.

There was support for the protest from various quarters and Sister Lucy had also expressed her solidarity.

The clergyman, who temporarily relinquished his administrative responsibilities as Jalandhar Bishop, was arrested Saturday after three days of intense grilling by the Kerala Police.

The nun said no explanation was given to her for the decision and the restraint message from the vicar was conveyed to her through the Mother Superior.

According to media reports, the Mananthavady diocese had recommended disciplinary action against Sister Lucy three months ago for allegedly posting some statements against the church in the social media, for purchasing a car through a loan and not wearing the nun's attire at a public function.

However, Sister Lucy denied the charges, saying the restraint order against her was only for participating in the protests at Kochi.

"I feel saddened that I have been asked to stay away from church duties. I had conducted holy mass till last Sunday. I got a lot of support from people of the congregation.

"I have done no wrong nor said anything against the church. No reason has been given for the decision," she said, adding she would be happy if the church clarified where she had erred.

Indulekha Joseph, one of the leaders of the Kerala Catholic Church Reformation movement, alleged it was an attempt to silence the voices of protest against any form of unjust activities within the church. PTIROBINSINGH@TRIBUNE.COM

Jaipur, September 23

An elderly woman from Jaipur was tested positive for Zika virus infection, officials of a medical college here said, adding it is the first such case in the state.

The woman was admitted to Sawai Man Singh (SMS) Hospital on September 11 with joint pain, redness in eyes and weakness. She was tested negative for dengue and swine flu.

On suspicion, samples were sent to the National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune, to test for Zika virus and the report was positive, Dr US Agrawal, Principal of the SMS Medical College, said here today.

I believe this is the first case of Zika virus in the state, he said.

The woman was discharged a few days ago after she was feeling better, Agrawal said. The hospital administration has alerted the state Health Department, he said.  PTIeditorial@tribune.com

Jupinderjit Singh

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 23

The humiliating defeat of AAP in the rural elections notwithstanding, the Arvind Kejriwal-backed group of MLAs has won the internal match by getting more seats than the rebel group in their respective constituencies.

The party could not open its account in 20 zila parishads comprising 353 seats, while in 150 panchayat samitis (2,899 seats), it could win just 20 seats. The party, however, claimed that a number of victorious Independent candidates were AAP leaders and their list would be released soon.

Among official AAP candidates, six won in the constituencies represented by the Sukhpal Khaira group of MLAs and eight in the areas of pro-Kejriwal MLAs. Surprisingly, six AAP candidates won from seats ruled by the Congress. These are: Four in Bhucho Mandi and one each in Sangrur and Tarn Taran.

The Tarn Taran seat is the first victory of AAP in Majha in any election, claim party leaders. The party won 19 seats in Malwa and none in Doaba. Rebel MLA Nazar Singh Mansahia (Mansa) and pro-Kejirwal MLA Manjit Singh Bilaspur (Nihal Singh Wala) said the party could have won more seats had it been united.

The people are inclined towards AAP. But infighting is costing us dear, they said. AAP leader from Sultanpur Lodhi Sajjan Singh Cheema accused the Congress of misusing the official machinery by rejecting nomination papers of their 16 out of 17 candidates in his area on frivolous grounds. The Khaira group had boycotted the polls.

Infighting resumes

Immediately after the results, infighting and blame-game in AAP resumed with the warring groups blaming each other for the defeat. These groups had declared an unofficial ceasefire after the Khaira group asked volunteers to vote for official AAP candidates, while the others led by Harpal Cheema and state co-convener Dr Balbir Singh tried to make peace with the rebels.

Khaira said the results were a message that Punjab could not be controlled from outside. He tweeted: The total rout of AAP is a clear signal by Punjabis that they will not be dictated by Delhi and (it is also) a loud message for local subedars of Delhi to stand by the aspirations of the people of Punjab and shun the so called high command culture.

Cheema alleged that the Sukhpal Khaira group had worked against the party at some places.

(Inputs by Aparna Banerji)ROBINSINGH@TRIBUNE.COM

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, September 22

The Chief Khalsa Diwans (CKD) general house on Saturday announced to hold elections within the next two months. The Sikh body appointed its senior vice-president, Dhanraj Singh, as the officiating president, besides setting up a five-member committee to carry out its work.

The CKDs executive approved the resignation of incumbent president Dr Santokh Singh following his conviction in a land fraud case.

Two vice-presidents, two secretaries, and a local president of the CKD will be the members of the committee.

CKD honorary secretary Narinder Singh Khurrana said all major decisions and works of the organisation would be carried out by the officiating president.

Meanwhile, Dr Santokh Singh, being a cancer patient, was not taken to jail. Jail Superintendent Arshdeep Singh said he was taken to Civil Hospital and later shifted to Guru Nanak Dev Hospital on Friday.amansharma@tribunemail.com

Kuljit Bains

It was an election that could have had only one outcome. And there was no surprise. The only surprise, if any, was the absoluteness with which the Congress won the zila parishad and panchayat samiti elections in the state. But in ensuring that complete sweep, the ruling party lost the right to celebrate the victory because the means deployed to secure even the borderline seats have blighted the fair wins too.

Put down ruthlessly for long by the Akalis, the Congress satraps chose to not let the Opposition secure even a respectable defeat. It started with the rejection of the nomination papers of Opposition candidates, or even assault at the time of filing of nominations. There may be no definite way to prove the highhandedness, but the sheer number of rejections should be proof. What followed on the day of polling was for all to see -- ballot box stuffing, physical intimidation, locked out booths. If not for rude arrogance, it is hard to understand why the Congress would have done that. There was little at stake; the election had to go their way as villages want funds from the ruling dispensation. With the 2019 elections coming up, the only stake perhaps was sending out the message, We are in charge.

One thing the election proved was that there is no such thing as poll management skills, an art that SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal was credited with at one time. It is only about how brazen you can be in misusing the official machinery that is always ready to oblige whoever is in power. The first gram panchayat election after the SAD came to power in 2007 was a sight to behold with Akali workers marauding all over the countryside. The pendulum has now swung; the colour of the marauders turbans has changed.

In the process, however, the Congress seems to be hurtling down the same path as the Akalis at a surprisingly fast rate. In fact, it might even be faster, as some of the institutionalised corruption  such as sand, liquor and transport  has simply been inherited, without the need to waste time setting it up. The halqa incharge system is also practically unchanged. The municipal elections earlier and the panchayati raj polls now have demonstrated the ruling partys contempt for basic democracy too.

The election would be a revelation to people, yet again, that it is only the rod that can ensure a fair election, and not political decency. To that extent, the helplessness of the State Election Commission is exposed in every local poll. Other than the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections, which are supervised by the Election Commission of India (ECI), no election is fair. Many, of course, would question even the ECIs integrity. Fairness, probably, is also a relative phenomenon.

In a supposedly productive state that is struggling with a pauperised population, the poll campaign rarely referred to any rural development issues, when that should have been the only focus as panchayati raj bodies were being elected. Drug deaths and farmer suicides are continuing unabated, even if the media attention has been diverted. But none of that was debated.

This disrespect for peoples condition makes the poll victory celebrations unbearable for the voters. Notwithstanding all the hurt religious sentiments and high ideals that were peddled in the campaign, for many ageing politicians the election was a platform to launch their next generation, or simply to broaden the family base ahead of staking claim to the 2019 ticket.

Amidst the post-result drums being beaten and sweets being distributed were young men, with no real education or hope for future, dancing in a trance induced by mere proximity to power. They can hardly be blamed, for there is little else to do. If politics allows you to sponge off others, and is yet something to be celebrated, why not take your chances.amansharma@tribunemail.com

Chandigarh, September 23

The ruling Congress has swept the zila parishad and panchayat samiti polls in Punjab, according to the results declared on Sunday.

The Congress won 331 of the 354 zila (district) parishad seats, while the Shiromani Akali Dal got 18, Bharatiya Janata Party secured two and the Aam Aadmi Party none, the State Election Commission said.

Out of 2,899 zones of 150 panchayat samitis, 2,351 candidates of the Congress have won, 353 of SAD, 63 of BJP, 20 of AAP, one of CPI, two of SAD (Amritsar), two of CPI (M) and 107 of others, it said in a statement here.

Chief Minister Amarinder Singh hailed the Congress victory in the polls, saying this shows people have reposed their confidence in the Congress and extended their full support.

He rejected the opposition charge of misuse of official machinery in these polls, saying, when anyone loses, what else will they say. They will not say they have become unpopular.

Singh described the landslide victory of the Congress in the zila parishad and panchayat samiti polls as an acknowledgement of peoples trust and confidence in its development-oriented policies and pro-people initiatives of the Congress.

The humiliating defeat of SAD and other opposition parties shows that the people have completely rejected their sectarian politics and have given a clear verdict in the favour of development and secular credentials of the Congress government, the chief minister said.

In these polls, Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP combine suffered a setback after a gap of 10 years.

The polling was held on September 19.

Singh hailed the Congress victory as yet another endorsement of his governments policies and programmes, and a total rejection of the oppositions malicious campaign against the ruling dispensation.

Main opposition party AAP had lashed out at the Congress, accusing it of winning polls by misusing the official machinery and intimidating opponents, while the Akalis too had levelled similar charges.

It is not the defeat of opposition but of democracy, said AAP MLA and Leader of opposition Harpal Singh Cheema in a statement here.  PTIeditorial@tribune.com

PK Jaiswar

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, September 23

Three months after a woman was rescued from Oman, the police have booked a fake travel agent.

The accused identified as Rahul, a resident of New Amritsar, used to lure women to work in Arab countries as a domestic help and allegedly later sold them as sex slaves.

Rahuls name came to light when a Ferozepur-based woman was rescued with an intervention of Gurjit Aujla, Member of Parliament.

The victim had alleged that she was illegally taken to Oman where she was sold as a sex slave.

She alleged that there were around 200 women of different nationalities who were forced into prostitution after taking their passports.

She said she had met Rahul in February through Paramjit Kaur, a resident Ferozepur, at a local shopping mall.

The agent promised to provide her a job as of domestic help and a monthly salary of Rs 30,000. The accused took Rs 55,000 from her. In April she went to Dubai from where she was illegally taken to Oman.

Now, the police have registered a case under Sections 420 (cheating), 344 (wrongful confinement), 370 (buying or disposing of a person as slave), 370-A (exploitation of a trafficked person) of the IPC and Section 13 of the Punjab Prevention of Human Smuggling Act.

Deputy Commissioner of Police Jagmohan Singh said the case has been handed over to Assistant Commissioner of Police (East) Jagatpreet Singh for further probe. He said a look out notice would also be issued against Rahul so that he could be arrested whenever he arrived here. The DCP said he will also write to authorities concerned for his deportation.editorial@tribune.com

Archit Watts

Tribune News Service

Lambi, September 23

Following a lacklustre performance in the zila parishad and panchayat samiti elections on former CM Parkash Singh Badals home turf Lambi, local Congress leaders have put the blame on Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh.

They are also accusing the cops and the administration of favouring Akalis. Both the Congress and SAD have won two zila parishad seats each in Lambi zone. However, the SAD has an edge over the Congress, as it has also won the Lambi panchayat samiti polls.

Randheer Singh Khudian, general secretary, PPCC, said: Capt Amarinder contested the Assembly elections from Lambi in 2017, but never visited the constituency even once after forming the government. I am still thankful to the voters who stood with us. The police and the administration, however, connived with the Akalis and helped them. Not a single case is registered on the complaint of Congressmen injured in poll violence.

Party leaders are taking to social media to express their resentment. Several party workers are openly suggesting the local leaders to boycott the rally. A few of them have even sought to form a parallel group in Lambi.

Gurjant Singh Brar, DCC vice-president, Muktsar, said: We are fighting our battle against the Akalis at our own level. No one in the party is concerned about us.ROBINSINGH@TRIBUNE.COM

Tribune Reporters

Chandigarh, September 22

Thanks to the widespread rain on Saturday and a similar prediction for the next two days, Punjab is likely to finish this monsoon with normal rainfall. It will be the first time since 2011 that the state will have a normal monsoon.

With Saturdays rain, the state has so far recorded 393.9 mm rainfall this season and till the fourth week of September, 468.1 mm is expected. The state was 16 per cent deficient, but according to the Chandigarh Meteorological Centre, the entire gap is likely to be filled with the current spell.

The state had last witnessed a normal rainfall in 2011. At that time, it was 7 per cent above normal.

Twelve districts have so far witnessed normal rainfall. It was deficient in six districts  Bathinda, Moga, Muktsar, Jalandhar, Amritsar and Kapurthala  and scanty in Mansa, Fazilka and Ferozepur. Ropar district witnessed excess rainfall with around 1,000 mm so far.

The current spell of rain will start receding on Monday, while some isolated places will receive heavy rainfall. A drop in both day and night temperatures was recorded. The maximum temperature fell to 32 degree Celsius and the minimum was 22C.

Meanwhile, farmers have said that the current spell of rain will prove harmful for paddy. Jagmohan Singh, state general secretary of BKU (Dakaunda), said those who had sown short-term varieties of paddy would suffer the most as the harvest had already started reaching the market. He said the discolouration of high-quality basmati would affect crop prices. The ongoing showers will also delay harvest, he added.

There have been no case of crop damage so far, but if it continues to rain incessantly tomorrow and strong winds blow, then it can result in major crop damage, said Baldev Singh Latala, state vice-president of the All India Kisan Sabha.

In Malwa, cotton farmers are a worried lot, apprehending crop loss due to incessant rain.

Though the area under cotton cultivation came down in Malwa this year, the farmers were expecting a bumper yield. However, with the forecast of heavy rain in the state for three days just around the harvesting time, they fear the worst now.

The cotton had started arriving in the market in areas such as Fazilka and the farmers were upbeat, as their produce was already fetching a price of above Rs 5,800 per quintal.

Agriculture experts have advised the farmers not to irrigate their fields in view of the rainfall, as it increases the threat of flattening of crops, if strong winds accompany the rainfall. Earlier this year, the government had raised the MSP of cotton from Rs 4,020 to Rs 5,150 per quintal.

Kamal Deep Singh, a farmer from Jalandhar district, said most of the paddy sown on nearly 1,500 acres had got submerged. We have been asking district officials to provide pump sets for draining out water. It seems unlikely that the standing crop will survive if it continues to rain till Sunday morning.

In Patiala, the district administration is keeping a close watch on the water level in the Ghaggar.editorial@tribune.com

Vishav Bharti

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 23

There seems to be no let-up in drug-related deaths in the state. In the last 40 days, the health authorities have sent 23 viscera samples in suspected drug overdose cases for a chemical analysis to the State Chemical Testing Laboratory in Kharar. The number of such cases examined by the state laboratory this year has reached 105.

Documents accessed by The Tribune reveal that between July 26 and September 4, 23 viscera samples were sent for a chemical examination. Nearly 12 of these pertain to deaths in July, four in August and the remaining the previous months.

Health officials said it was common that there was a delay in dispatching the samples for testing on part of the district authorities. A complete picture of drug-related deaths in August may emerge in the coming days.

In age-wise break-up among the recent deaths, around 85 per cent of the victims were under the age of 30, with 10 among them under 20.

When it comes to the nature of drug, morphine is the most common killer with around 50 per cent deaths. It is followed by benzodiazepine  a psycho-active drug used for de-addiction and multiple drug abuse  pain reliever tramadol and cocaine.

In Punjab, drug overdose deaths have been on the rise since April when seven cases were reported. July saw the maximum such cases of the recent times with 25 deaths. Earlier last month, The Tribune had reported that till July, 82 viscera samples in suspected drug overdose cases were sent for chemical analysis.

Another life lost in Phagwara

Our Correspondent

Phagwara, September 23

A drug addict, Karamjit Singh, committed suicide by hanging himself with a ceiling fan at his rented house in Miherru Colony on Sunday.

Station House Officer Surjit Singh said Karamjit was married to Jatinder Kaur in February.

As he was hooked to drugs, his parents took him to drug de-addiction centres of Amritsar and Jalandhar twice. A few days ago, his wife had left for Singapore.

The police registered a case and handed over the body to the family members after a post-mortem examination at the local Civil Hospital.ROBINSINGH@TRIBUNE.COM

Ruchika Khanna

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 22

Working as a teacher on a contractual basis, all that Jagmohan of Manuke Gill village in Moga had ever wanted was to rid his family of abject poverty. His father a labourer, he somehow managed to give himself a decent education and got a sarkari naukri. Nine years later, losing all hope of regular employment, he took his own life on September 13.

His elder brother Paramjit Singh claims he was heart-broken when told by his superiors that he would not be made a regular employee. Working on a salary of Rs 5,000 per month, he could not bear the thought of having to take up labour like our father. As news of his suicide spread, local politicians urged us to hasten the cremation. No FIR was registered, nor inquest proceedings initiated, he claims.

Jagmohan Singhs tragic end has become the trigger for a faceoff between 50,000 Punjab employees  27,000 on contract, 20,000 hired by companies which have been outsourced works and 1,000 enlisted with the Water Supply and Sanitation Department.

Beginning next Sunday (September 30), these employees will abandon their young children, mostly toddlers, at the houses of ministers, according to Ashish Julaha, general secretary, Theka Mulazzim Action Committee. Batches of 300 employees will gather outside the residence of Education Minister OP Soni in Amritsar, Technical Education Minister Charanjit Singh Channi in Kharar and PWD Minister Vijay Inder Singla in Sangrur.

When it comes to hiking their (MLAs) own allowances, there is no mention of financial constraints. But they continue to deny us our due. While we struggle to educate our wards, most ministers children are studying abroad or in Indias best boarding schools, points out Satpal angrily. He is a Class IV employee at the government dispensary in Tarn Tarans Dyalpura village.

The familys sole bread-winner, he works on a monthly salary of Rs 4,000  which works out at Rs 133 per day, much less than the minimum wage of Rs 302 for unskilled labour. I am a qualified lab technician. They cannot expect me to leave after 12 years in service, especially when there are no jobs in the private sector, he says.

Ludhiana resident Seema Goel, assistant project coordinator, Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan, says the govt is willing to regularise the services of teachers if they agree to work on the basic pay for three years. I am paid Rs 35,000. How can I agree to work on Rs 10,000 per month (basic pay)? This is gross injustice, she maintains.

GOVERNMENT CASH-STRAPPED

Officials admit in private that the state cannot take more financial burden. Also, it is feared that a recent HC verdict regarding Power Department employees could be binding on the government, which may have to give full emoluments to the employees on probation. This will entail a cost of Rs 945 crore annually.

ABOUT CONTRACTUAL EMPLOYEESeditorial@tribune.com

GS Paul

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, September 23

A fund crunch has hit work on galleries at the Punjab State War Heroes Memorial-cum-Museum.

There are nine galleries in the museum and right now, tourists have access to only six. After skipping numerous deadlines, the work on the most sought after portion- the eighth gallery dedicated to 1999 Kargil War and fourth gallery depicting World War I, the Battle of Saragarhi and the Jallianwala Bagh massacre - is still nowhere near completion.

The showcasing of how the Tiger Hill with its razor sharp peak was captured and incomplete mannequins of Capt Manoj Kumar Pandey and Capt Vikram Batra, who used a one liner Yeh Dil Mange More speak volumes about the apathy of the government.

Moreover, there is no indication whether the ninth gallery would be constructed or not? Christened as Out of area operations, proxy war and motivation, the ninth gallery was planned to motivate youngsters to join the Indian Armed Forces. It was to spell out details of joining conditions, pay, perks, privileges etc.

The memorial was inaugurated in 2016 by the SAD-BJP regime at a cost of around Rs 143 crore.

However, with the change of guard in the state, the work has come to a standstill. It has been learnt that Capt Amarinder Singh-led state government had lately sanctioned Rs 8 crore, but it is way short of Rs 26 crore, which is required to complete pending work.

Col (retd) HP Singh, Project Director, told that the reason for delay was lack of funds. Apart from this, the idea of fixing steel plates with names of martyrs and missing soldiers etched on them could not materialise for want of funds.

It was proposed to have the names of 4,000 martyred soldiers belonging to Punjab, along with the names of 54 missing Punjabi soldiers since first Indo-Pak war (1947-48). The sample plate is lying in one corner of the gallery.

Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh had himself got approved the design of special plates. We have been corresponding with the Finance Department, but have received no reply. We were lucky that former Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal spared a corpus of Rs10 crore. We have fixed this amount and it helps us to run the administrative affairs and for maintenance, said Col HP Singh (retd).

The Tourist Department has made some efforts to market the project. It charges Rs100 per head whereas 50 per cent discount is offered to school children and defence personnel.

We collect between Rs5-6 lakh per month through tickets. The collection can be more, if the department or local administration markets the project properly, he said.

Sorry state of affairsReicha Tanwar

Reicha Tanwar

The recent gruesome incident of gang rape of a young college girl in Rewari, Haryana, has once again shaken the conscience of the nation. Trying to understand the reasons for the alarming increase in sexual violence in the region would help in handling the problem. An article published in Social Problems in 2014 puts forth four macro-sociological theories of rape. One theory holds that rape is a mechanism of gender inequality. A second theory attributes rape to the proliferation of pornographic materials. A third, called Cultural Spillover Theory, maintains that cultural norms, which favour violence for socially legitimate purposes, tend to be generalised to/for other social contexts. And a final theory holds that social disorganisation reduces social constraints against rape. Added to the above theories are alcohol and drug abuse which are becoming rampant across the region. Unfortunately, misuse of technology is emerging as a major crisis in the form of downloading of pornography.

If one looks at the gender inequality in Haryana, the low sex ratio is a major indicator. According to the last census in 2011, Haryana had the lowest sex ratio at 879 and also the lowest child sex ratio of 834 in the country. The pre-selection of the sex of the child through pre-natal diagnostic methods, the termination of pregnancy in case of a female, the parental neglect of female infants leading to lower survival rates are an indication of the deeply entrenched cultural mindset. When a girl child can be killed in the womb or neglected or abandoned by the family because of her sex, sexual violence in comparison is inconsequential. As early as two years of age, children can understand their gender identity. From about three years of age they begin to choose or avoid actions and activities which they believe are inappropriate for their sex or are appropriate for the other. And from an early age boys are socialised to regard manhood as a revered and desired social status. This is because across most cultures there is a consistent belief that a real man is powerful, dominant, assertive and in control.

A research study was undertaken by the Womens Studies Research Center, Kurukshetra University, in 2015 which interviewed youth of Haryana for their view on reasons responsible for the spiralling gender-based violence/ crime against women. The results were startling. A majority of the youth said that good political connections, networks with the police force and money power allows one to get away with the goriest of crime and therefore there are no deterrents to crime. It is well known that in a focal point market at the entry of a premier educational institution of the state, which also has a police post, all kinds of illegal activity, including drug peddling are conducted with impunity. All students of the area have easy access to all unlawful stuff.

Another significant response was that men are the dominant sex and therefore aggressive behaviour towards women is justified. In the eyes of their peer group a real man is one who is capable of achieving his goal even if it means resorting to violence. The research findings are corroborated by the fact that less than 25 per cent of the reported cases of rape are convicted. Some men sexualise woman as a way of affirming their masculinity, reducing women to a mere sexual object.

Political parties across the spectrum fail to understand that when recruitment in the police and education departments, in particular, is done in violation of merit, the result is that the roots of a law-abiding and sensitive society are critically damaged. Sadly, Haryana is a classic example. What can be more reflective of this flawed reality than when a woman police officer can herself be sexually assaulted in the police station. Nearly, five years ago a school-going girl was abducted and violated in Kurukshetra, as a news story reported. The story remained the best-known secret of the town as all of those involved were said to have had either political connections or police relations. And they all got away.

Ultimately, it is important to understand that until society as a whole looks at such issues with extreme seriousness and delinks personal agendas and interests; the problem is only going to get worse. However, we must remember that problems can be handled. One must begin to realise that it is imperative for a society to accept and promulgate that a violation of law is a violation, there is no such thing like a small violation, or big violation. If the panchayats of the villages had firmly handled the initial misadventures of this criminal mind, Haryana would not have had to hang its head in shame today. It is not surprising that countries that are safest to live and gender friendly also have ideal educational and policing systems.

 The writer is former director, Womens Studies Research Centre, Kurukshetra UniversityROBINSINGH@TRIBUNE.COM

THE Pioneer is evidently not certain that the Reforms Committee of the Imperial Legislative Council will pass a verdict on the Reforms scheme entirely identical with its own. That is the clear meaning of the note of warning it sounds in a recent issue as to the terrible consequences that would follow if the Committee made recommendations which could not be accepted. We have already said more than once that these consequences are purely imaginary, and that there can be no question of British statesmanship either dropping or postponing the reforms, merely because there are differences of opinion in India regarding them or because there are people who ask what England is not in a mood to grant yet.amansharma@tribunemail.com

London, September 23

An armed man was arrested Sunday at the entrance of Buckingham Palace, London police said, ruling out the possibility it was terror related.

Police said the 38-year-old was carrying a Taser stun gun, adding that he remains in custody.

"It's not terrorism related. It's just a single standalone incident," a police spokeswoman told AFP.

She provided no other details.

Members of the royal family are currently on their summer break, with Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip staying at Balmoral Castle in Scotland.

Police said the incident occurred outside the visitors entrance, where the man was detained by security staff.

London remains on a heighten state of alert due to periodic terror-related incidents.

Most recently, in August, a terror suspect crashed his car into the security barriers surrounding the Houses of Parliament.

A Sudanese-born 29-year-old has been charged with two counts of attempted murder. - AFPvinaymishra188@gmail.com

Washington, September 23

US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley on Sunday rejected Iranian fingerpointing at Washington over a deadly parade attack, saying Iranian leaders should look closer to home.

Before leaving for the United Nations on Sunday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani accused other countries, including the United States of provoking the shooting attack on a military parade that killed 29 persons on Saturday.

Haley dismissed his comments as rhetoric.

Irans Revolutionary Guards vowed on Sunday to wreak deadly and unforgettable vengeance for the attack, which killed 12 of their comrades, and Tehran accused US-backed Gulf Arab states of backing the gunmen.

Saturdays assault, one of the worst ever against the elite force of the Islamic Republic, struck a blow at its security establishment at a time when the United States and its Gulf allies are working to isolate Tehran.

America wants to cause chaos and unrest in our country so that it can return to this country, but these are unreal fantasies and they will never achieve their goals, Rouhani said.  Reuterspardeepdhull@gmail.com

Tokyo, September 23

Two robotic rovers have become worlds first to successfully land on the surface of an asteroid, the Japanese space agency JAXA said, sharing images captured by the probes.

On September 21, the small compact MINERVA-II1 rovers separated from the Hayabusa2 spacecraft. The MINERVA-II1 consists of two rovers, Rover-1A and Rover-1B.

We have confirmed both rovers landed on the surface of asteroid Ryugu. The two rovers are in good condition and are transmitting images and data, JAXA said in a statement.

Analysis of this information confirmed that at least one of the rovers is moving on the asteroid surface.

MINERVA-II1 is the worlds first rover to land on the surface of an asteroid. This is also the first time for autonomous movement and picture capture on an asteroid surface.

MINERVA-II1 is therefore the worlds first man-made object to explore movement on an asteroid surface.

A colour image taken immediately after separation from the spacecraft was shared by the space agency. However, it is blurred because the shot was taken while the rover was rotating.

Although I was disappointed with the blurred image that first came from the rover, it was good to be able to capture this shot as it was recorded by the rover as the Hayabusa2 spacecraft is shown, said Tetsuo Yoshimitsu, Responsible for the Hayabusa2 Project MINERVA-II1.

Moreover, with the image taken during the hop on the asteroid surface, I was able to confirm the effectiveness of this movement mechanism on the small celestial body and see the result of many years of research, said Yoshimitsu.

The rovers are designed to hop along the asteroids surface, taking photographs and gathering data. One of the images was taken during a hop, and the resulting blur gives the feel of dynamic movement.

I was so moved to see these small rovers successfully explore an asteroid surface because we could not achieve this at the time of Hayabusa, 13 years ago. I was particularly impressed with the images taken from close range on the asteroid surface, said Makoto Yoshikawa, Hayabusa2 Project Mission Manager.

Hayabusa2 is scheduled to deploy a larger rover called MASCOT in October and another tiny hopper next year.

The main spacecraft will collect a sample to bring to Earth for laboratory analysis. PTIuttara@tribuneindia.com

Beirut, September 23

A jihadist faction in the Idlib region of northwestern Syria has rejected a Turkish-Russian deal that requires radical insurgents to withdraw from a demilitarised zone, and urged rebels to launch new military operations.

While the Huras al-Din faction is not the main Islamist militant group in Idlib, its statement points to objections that may complicate the implementation of the agreement clinched last week by Russia and Turkey.

The most powerful jihadist group in the northwest, Tahrir al-Sham, has yet to declare its stance on the deal, under which insurgents must vacate the demilitarised zone by October 15.

Tahrir al-Sham is a coalition of Islamist groups dominated by the faction formerly known as the Nusra Front, which was an official wing of the al Qaeda network until 2016. Tahrir al-Sham's position will be critical.

An alliance of Turkey-allied rebel groups, the National Front for Liberation, has declared its "complete cooperation" with the Turkish effort, but has also ruled out disarming or yielding territory.

The Huras al-Din group was formed earlier this year by combatants who split from Tahrir al-Sham and the Nusra Front when it cut its ties with al Qaeda. It includes foreign militants.

The group declared the agreement part of a plan "to eliminate the jihadist project" in the Levant.

"We advise our mujahideen brothers in this decisive and dangerous phase ... (to) begin military operations against the enemies of religion to thwart their plans," it said in a statement released on Saturday.

The demilitarised zone agreed by Turkey and Russia will be 15 to 20 km (10 to 12 miles) deep and run along the contact line between rebel and government fighters. It will be patrolled by Turkish and Russian forces.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that all opposition heavy weapons, mortars, tanks and rocket systems are to be removed from the zone by October 10.

Close to 3 million people live in Idlib, around half of them Syrians displaced by the war from other parts of Syria, and the United Nations has warned that an offensive would cause a humanitarian catastrophe. Reutersvinaymishra188@gmail.com

London: Scientists have developed pop-up space habitats for future human colonies on the Moon and Mars, using a combination of origami techniques and digital weaving processes. MoonMars, a collaboration between the International Lunar Exploration Working Group (ILEWG), textile architect studio Samira Boon, and other research institutions, are transforming architecture plans for smart human habitats and research stations in space. In the hostile environment of space, high-performance textiles and the flexible nature of origami can provide unique architectural advantages. PTI

French President Macrons popularity at record lows

Paris: The popularity of French President Emmanuel Macron has hit its lowest level since the start of his term, according to a poll published on Sunday, with just 29% of respondents satisfied with his leadership. The poll showed an overall fall of five points in September compared with August, reflecting his battle with a series of domestic and foreign setbacks. The results reinforce a longer-term trend of French voters turning quickly on their presidents soon after their election, something suffered by his predecessors, Francois Hollande and Nicolas Sarkozy. AFP

Australia kills four sharks after tourist attacks

Sydney: Fourth large sharks have been killed in Australia after a woman and a 12-year-old girl were attacked at a popular Great Barrier Reef tourist spot. Both were still in hospital after being mauled in separate incidents at the Whitsunday Islands. Drum lines ensnared four tiger sharks, one 12-ft long and the others each between six-seven ft. Shark attacks are very rare in the Whitsundays, a collection of spectacular tropical islands at the heart of the Barrier Reef, with the last encounter reported to be eight years ago. AFP

Meghan shares secret blue touch to her wedding dress

London: Meghan Markle, Britains Duchess of Sussex, has shared a secret blue touch added to the famous Givenchy wedding dress she wore when she married Prince Harry in Windsor Castle earlier this year. The 37-year-old former actress revealed that her something blue, worn by brides as a lucky charm on their wedding day, was a piece of a blue dress she wore on her first date with Prince Harry stitched discreetly inside her white wedding gown. Brides traditionally collect something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue to bring them good luck on their wedding day. PTIpardeepdhull@gmail.com

Male, September 23

Voting began Sunday in a controversial presidential election in the Maldives, hours after police raided the Oppositions campaign headquarters, officials and party workers said.

Hundreds of men and women lined up to vote before polling booths opened at 8:00 am (0300 GMT) in the capital Male, where President Abdulla Yameen and his challenger Ibrahim Mohamed Solih were due to cast their ballots.

President Yameen is expected to cement his grip on power in the tropical archipelago in an election that Opposition and international groups have criticised for a lack of transparency and the suppression of dissent.

The Muslim-majority Indian Ocean nation of 4,00,000 people has become a theatre of rivalry between its traditional partner, India, and China, which has backed Yameens infrastructure drive, and prompted concern in the West about Beijings increasing influence.

Yameens government has jailed many of his main rivals, including former president and his half brother, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, on charges ranging from terrorism to corruption.

More than a quarter of a million people are eligible to vote in around 400 polling booths across the coral islands, best known in the West for their luxury resorts. Yameen, 59, is seeking a second five-year term.

Hundreds of people queued outside polling stations in the capital, Male, early on Sunday. On some islands, people started queuing on Saturday night.

I am voting to revert a mistake I made in 2013. I am voting to free President Maumoon (Gayoom), Nazima Hassan, 44, told Reuters after voting in Male.

Abdul Rasheed Husain, 46, in Male said he cast his ballot for Yameen to take the Maldives to the next level.

Transparency Maldives , one of the few election monitors on the ground, reiterated concerns about the fairness of the electoral rules.

Obviously, there are many issues with the electoral process, but we are hoping that the people will be given the space to exercise their fundamental right, Ahmed Tholal, TMs senior project coordinator, told Reuters.

Having said that, the situation continues to be volatile and unpredictable, he added.

Police late on Saturday raided the main opposition campaign office saying they came to stop illegal activities, after arresting at least five opposition supporters for influencing voters, opposition officials said.

British Ambassador James Duaris said in a twitter message said that it was easy to understand why so many people are concerned about what might happen on Election Day.

International monitors stay away

Most poll monitors including those from the European Union and the United Nations have declined the governments invitation to observe the election, fearing their presence might be used to endorse Yameens re-election even after possible vote rigging.

The oppositions joint candidate, Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, known as Ibu, told supporters he was confident of victory.

I appeal to everyone not to allow any space for unrest tomorrow, he told a rally on Saturday. Let the voting end peacefully and let the people decide what they want. The people are hungry for a change.

Preliminary results are expected by midnight (1900 GMT).

Yameen also urged voters to head to the polls and said he was confident of the work he had done in his first term in office to put the nation on a path of development.

The country has been in political turmoil since February, when Yameen imposed a state of emergency to annul a Supreme Court ruling that quashed the convictions of nine opposition leaders, including Mohamed Nasheed, the countrys first democratically elected leader and former president.

Yameen has disregarded calls from the United Nations, several Western countries and India for an amicable solution to the crisis.

Ahead of the vote, Human Rights Watch urged foreign governments to press the Maldives to uphold democratic rights.

Should the Maldives government fail to do so, they should impose targeted sanctions, such as those proposed by the European Union, against senior ruling party officials implicated in abuses, the New York-based group said in a statement. Agencies"Restaurant near half moon and oyster bay"

First, 'half moon' can refer to a body of water or the name of a hotel operated by Rockresorts. Both of these are located adjacent to or in Rose Hall, a suburb next to Montego Bay.

Second 'oyster bay' can refer to a body of water or the name a hotel operated by Excellence. Both of these are located east of the small town of Falmouth.

"We are looking to meet up with family while in Jamaica, near Mobay"

Falmouth, and thus Oyster Bay, is not in or near Montego Bay. They are not in the same parish. The drive time between Half Moon and Oyster Bay, both the bodies of water and the resorts, is about 30 min. one way. You should first decide which town you wish to meet the family in and then ask your restaurant question again.As I am sure you are aware, the Australian continent is vast and so has a very wide diversity of habitat and nature. With 10 days, I would recommend one area (so one city and drive in a loop around it). To get the best wildlife sightings I would suggest camping (or campervan or find cabins) - there is a great array of choice from National Parks and conservation areas to private campgrounds. And be prepared for early starts and late evenings. And if you choose to drive at night, be aware most car rental insurance does not cover damage from wildlife or from driving between dusk and dawn.

For kangaroos in typical eucalyptus and beach views, for example, mobs come down to the beaches along the south NSW coast (Durras North, Batemans Bay, Jervis Bay area, search websites for the best locations). Mobs that are used to people also occur at Glenbrook Campsite in the Blue Mountains National Park and in the Grampians (Halls Gap). Other places where there are large mobs of eastern grey kangaroos, but they don't like you to get too close, include Narawntapu NP and Mt William-wukalina in Tasmania and Deep Creek conservation area on the Fleurieu Peninsula, SA. If you want to see the big red kangaroos, you need to go to the centre or north-west.

Kangaroo Island is good for variety but quite expensive to get there. We saw small groups of roos and wallabies, goanna, koalas (of course) and the pelicans, seals and sea lions, as well as possums at night. You could combine KI with a jaunt north to Mount Remarkable / Flinders range (emu, tree climbing goanna, roos and wallabies) or south to the limestone coast for hand feeding possums at Umpherston sinkhole and bats from Naracoorte caves. KI has the easiest sightings of koala I've experienced, but koala can also be seen at the GOR (Kennett River or Bimbi Park) or in Adelaide (Belair NP).

Tas is excellent for seeing marsupial wildlife, but much of it is noctural. There is a stronghold of rare or endemic species (devils, quolls, smaller bouncy marsupials) but no koala and fewer reptiles. It has some parrots but not as much variety / diversity as the tropical rainforest. There are places that feed wild predators (devils, quolls) so you could get good photographs. Similarly there are places that advertise they have platypus living in their river. Hard to photo, but with a good lens and polarising filter, very possible. East coast Tas is best for echidna. Wombats can be seen during the day at both Cradle Mountain and Maria Island. Because of the Tassie devil release program, Maria Island is a very nice spot for seeing wildlife during the evenings (stay over), as is the area around Low Head and the Tasman Peninsula. But basically rent a 'shack' (a cabin) that talks about wlidlife and you will most likely see some at dusk. And just bush walk and you will see stuff.

For birdlife, the northern rainforest has most diversity; from the Border Ranges/Lamington/Springbrook north and particularly e.g. Daintree. There are also plenty of places where locals feed the parrots (like the rainbow lorikeets) so you can get close to them. Of the top of my head some nice places: Durras North, Bimbi Park on the GOR, Halls Gap, Glenbrook campsite in the Blue Mountains. There will be plenty of others!

You don't have to fly in and out of Sydney! But if you do, I enjoyed seeing the fruit bats taking off from the Royal Botanic Gardens. And look out for fig trees which might be fruiting by December. Very funny to see the fruit bats, sulphur-crested cockatoos and glossy ibis fighting over the fruit.Im not so sure about your current plans, but sounds like you have done a bit of research as to what you want to do.

Shark Bay/ Denham/ Monkey Mia are all the same area and 4 days might be a bit much.

Coral Bay is a highlight for many visitors and as you can snorkel from the beach you could still consider going.

Heading north you can visit some places going north and then some heading back south.

So what Im not sure of is staying in Cervantes and Jurien Bay- these leave me underwhelmed as stops - though good to see Pinnacles. Also Geraldton only for one night. Rockingham also not for me either- a possibility is to stay Fremantle and to have a day trip to both Shoalwater and then Rottnest.

As you can see Im not overly enthusiastic about towns between Perth and Kalbarri- locals who live there will shout me down. I prefer the towns and coastal vistas in the SW though I like the outback feel going north of Kalbarri.

Wave Rock is a really long drive and you will pass through a lot of flat farmland- not that this is an issue for you living in Calgary. But its not really high on my list of special places in WA but it is popular with some tourists.

What you choose depends on your interests of course.

Edited: 3 years agoHi Explorer,

Since my exchange with you guys regarding trips in the US and Europe has been great so far I also wanted to get your recommendations and experiences regarding a trip I am planning for Costa Rica.

My Mexican girlfriend and me (guy from central Europe) are planning a trip to Costa Rica. My girlfriend will stay for 8 days, I will stay for 3 days longer.

My current (very rough draft of a) plan is the following:

- Spending 2 days on day trips in San Jose (last weekend of September): e.g. visiting the vulcan Irazu (any other highly reocmmended trips in the area?)

- Traveling to Monzanillo and spending 2-3 days in the area

- Crossing the boarder to Panama and visit one of the islands (is it recommended from your side? which island did you made the best experience with?) -> 2 days

- Driving back and stopping in Puerto Limon for 1-2 days (is the carnival still going on? the latest posts I found were from 2014 or something)

- Driving back so San Jose (my girlfriend will fly back to Mexico)

- I will spend the last days in Tortuguero: 2 days

This list was based on my internet search which I focused on websites which were talking about good places to visit in October (rainy season on the Pacific side). If you have any additional recommendations of places, good advice for tips on what we should not miss at the places, please feel free to share your experience! :)That is not a difficult drive, just kind of long. Are you starting from SJO off-airport car lots or somewhere else? The only tricky part is getting out of San Jose or the car lot near SJO and getting on the right road. It's good to look carefully at that first part of your trip in advance. After that, it should just be a matter of following Google maps. Google maps will still work even if you don't have a data connection, but you have to download the area you'll be driving in before you leave for Costa Rica. The blue dot will still show you where you are so you can quickly see if you've gone off course.

(here is how to download google map, you may have to do more than one to cover the area you'll be driving in:)

About half way between SJO and Playa Grande is the intersection of Hwy 1 and Hwy 18 where you will turn left on to Hwy 18. This is a good place for a pit stop. Others in the forum advise not to leave your car alone with belongings in it (ever), so you could stop for gas at the Delta gas station seen on Google maps and use their toilet and mini mart, and get more gas if you want/need it.

When you're driving just watch the cars around you as you'll see a lot of passing on 2-lane highways. You'll probably encounter some slow vehicles but do whatever you feel is safe. One time a truck in front of me put on his left turn signal to indicate it was clear to pass him (I assume).

When you are driving at night, watch out for people and bicycles along the edge of the road.

At least for me, driving is Costa Rica is easier than most other overseas places. You can drive at your own pace and people will pass you if they're in a hurry. I have not encountered where another driver (or group of drivers) was unpredictable for me as an American and led to a scary situation, that I have encountered in other places.

Here are some things you can read/ watch that you would probably figure out on your own after being there awhile:

Video

It's funny (now) in the video you'll see a guy driving the wrong way at the 1:25 mark. I believe I did the same thing at that same intersection. As I drove down the street many people were waving at me which I thought was very friendly of them. Having a passenger who is paying attention is helpful. Mine quickly told me I was going down the street the wrong way.hi there, i will be going to Vietnam with my husband this coming October. We would like to mostly do sightseeing (Hanoi, Sepa, Hoi An, Ho Chi Minh etc), but also would like to spend a couple of days at the beach. We have 9 days in total. Is it worth going to the beach in Vietnam at all or should we scrap that part of the trip? I am seeing LOTS of reviews about how polluted beaches really are, and I wouldn't want to go to beach areas unless I know it's still beautiful and worth it.

If the problem is not as big as i think, which beaches would you recommend? I am italian so my beach standards are quite high, if the water is not similar to that of Sardinia I'd rather not go :)

thank you!Hello everyone. Going back to Japan again and I have a question about the Green JR Pass. Last time I bought the oridinary pass and I'm familiar with the regular cabin (plenty of leg space and comfortable seats).

I did quite a bit of research but from what I could find online all I could find was the small difference between the seats, foot rest, more accessible plug socket and 2 trays.

My question is, is there ANY service on the green cabins. Like food service? Beverage service? etc?

Or it's purely from the seat difference perspective (and the fact that you must always book).

I will be buying a 21 day JR Pass as this time I plan on hoping between places every 3 days on my 23 day vacation. Basically go to a destination, spend 2 nights, then travel again with the Shinkansen to the new destination.

I will be starting my trip in Sapporo to see the autum leafs, so I will be taking the first shinkansen from Tokyo to Sapporo the 2nd day in Japan. Not sure if Sapporo is served by the shinkansen or they have other express trains that have a green car.

Travel date is 20 Oct-12Nov. I still have to figure out what awesome places I should check out after Sapporo and Hokaido, but I guess that's another topic I'll be opening. During my last trip, I was in Tokyo, Kyoto, Kinosaki-onsen, Hiroshima and Himeji.Advice on JR Pass or Passmo -Another one! 14 day or 21 day?

Advice on JR Pass or Passmo -Another one! 14 day or 21 day?

Hello All,

Thank you for your time in reading this.

My Daughter (27) and I will be travelling to Japan Feb 5 2019

When we arrive we will have one night in Tokyo (The Knot Hotel Shinjuku) before we fly to Sapporo on the 6th, we will then fly to Hiroshima on th 9th.

We will be in JApan for a total of 22 days and would like some input on weather we should buy the 21 day JR pass or the 14 day JR pass. We know that if we purchased the 21 day pass one of our trips to/from Narita Airport we would have to purchase separately.

I have done a small amount of Research on the

Passmo card and know we would be able to use it in Sapporo and Hiroshima (as well as Kyoto and Osaka), the price difference in Australian Dollars is $180 between 14 and 21 days.

From Hiroshima we will be travelling (Via Shinkansen) to Naoshima, Osaka, Kyoto, Hokone and Tokyo,

Does anyone think the cost saving of purchasing a Passmo card over the 21 day JR pass would be worth it?

Thank you in advance for your time reading and replying.Four days in Kyoto next May

Four days in Kyoto next May

Hello everyone,

I am planning a trip to Japan for next May and am looking for help on my itinerary for Kyoto. Nothing is fixed yet, but so far I have narrowed the options for hotels down to three or four. All of them in downtown Kyoto.

I would very much appreciate your feedback on the itinerary.

The plan so far looks like this:

(Day 0 - Arrival in Kyoto from Kanazawa in the afternoon)

Day 1

First half day  Northern Higashiyama

Nanzen-ji

Path of Philosophy

Honen-in

Ginkaku-ji

Second half

Kibune-Kurama Walk

Day 2 - Southern Higashiyama

Chion-in

Maruyama-Park

Yasaka-jinja

Kodai-ji

Ninen-zaka/Sannen-zaka

Kiyomizu-dera

Gion

Day 3 - Arashiyama

Kinkaku-ji

Then via taxi to

Tenryu-ji

Bamboo Forest

(Okochi Sanso Villa)

Toegtsu-kyo-bridge

Monkey Park

Rent a bike for

(Gioji )

(Otagi Nenbutsu-ji)

Day 4

First half - Uji

Byodo-in

Taihoan Tea Hosue

Second half - Nara

Todai-ji

Nara Park

Kasuga-Taisha Shrine

I think for the most part I have grouped the sights in a geographically logical way. For the day in Arashiyama I find it hard to estimate how long the visits will take, so I wrote down what seemed interesting and may have to drop the last stops if it gets too late.

Nevertheless, if I could move Kinkaku-ji to another day that would free up the morning and allow an earlier (not too crowded) visit to the Bamboo forest. Do you spot a time in this plan where the golden pavilion would fit better?

I also realize it is a lot of temples, but who knows when Ill come to Japan again. 

I still may drop some if further research proofs that they dont offer something unique to them.

Thanks for any hints or suggestions.Hello everyone! This is both my first time using TripAdvisor forums, and also it's for my first trip to Japan. I'm taking 3 weeks next April to travel solo on a whirlwind trip through the country. ;) I need your help though. There's a festival in Takayama I'd like to go to while I'm on my trip, and I'm having a hard time efficiently squeezing it in. Here's what I have so far:

Day 1: Arrive in the evening in Tokyo

5 Nights (5 nights) : Tokyo with day trips to Nikko and Kamakura (Should I replace one of these with Matsumoto castle?)

Day 3 (1 night): Mt Koya (Need to spend the night in a temple, just once! Also, may stop along the way in Ise, is that worth the time and effort?)

Day 4 (1 night): Himeji to see the castle

Day 5 (1 night): Hiroshima

Day 6-11 (5 nights): Kyoto (Is a day trip to Nara worth it?)

Day 12 (1 night): Osaka (I've heard varying things about this place. Would it be better as a day trip from Kyoto? Add another day in Kyoto for it maybe to save the move?)

Day 13-14 (2 nights): Takayama (The Takayama festival! If everything above is correct I'll be there)

After that things get a little more grey. I think I want to spend a night in Kanazawa, and perhaps another in Matsumoto (If that's not better as a day trip from Tokyo). I'd also like to go to a Ryokan somewhere, and a hot spring. Theoretically, I could move some of the things above to below Takayama - spend more time in Hiroshima perhaps? I want to see as much as possible in my trip.

Are the trains efficient enough that I don't have to worry so much about creating nice pathing?

Thanks for your time everyone!Dear Everyone, My mother and I will be in Las Vegas next month with out car and we would like to take 2-3 days Arizona tour- Grand Canyon, Antelope Canyon, Horseshoed, Lake Powell, Monument Valley all these places. I have googled few tour packages and found various agency different price range that picks up for different hotel. Since it is our very first tour to CA, just me and mom, therefore, I really really need suggestion for planning this trip. Besides, my mom is super excited about visiting this places which she has been planning for year. Can you please help me which agency will be worth selecting or any if you have any other suggestion would really appreciate. Also please note that we cant drive. :(

viator, get your guide, take tours, tours for funHi There,

As per my other post Im looking to book my attractions before I go in Feb for a week but I dont know what attractions would work well together on a day or if some attractions are suited to certain days. We like to do plenty of walking and tend to start our day around 7.30/8. We land late on Saturday night and are staying in Times Square. We fly out late the following Saturday so very unsure how to plan that day as I dont need to be at the airport until around 4pm.

The attractions we intend to see are :-

9/11 museum and memorial

One world trade centre

Empire State

MET

Statue of Liberty

Top of the rock

Bus tour around city

Trip to Brooklyn

Central Park - carriage ride

St. Pauls Chapel

Moma or the Guggenheim

Shopping - Nintendo store, Lego store, Macys, khiels , Tiffanys , Barneys. We love independent stores and quirky shops. I am wondering if its worth going to the outlet mall?

Walking ghost tour if I can find one thats family suitable as we love history thats a little bit horrible history style.

I am open to other suggestions as we are first timers to NYC from the UK. We wont really be fine dining but going for whatever catches our eye ,however my little one wants to visit the cookie and milk cup place, best pizza place ( Brooklyn) and I am sure looking for the best bagels in town.

Many thanksSo sad we have left NY so reliving it here!

We came from Melbourne via LA so were pretty exhausted when we reached our hotel, Washington Square Park hotel in Greenwich Village at 6.30 pm. We perked up enough to go and look for sandwiches which we sat and ate and people watched in Washington Square Park before hitting our beds! We loved staying here, great history, excellent breakfast and the doorman Manny is pure gold, our boys aged 12 and 15 loved him!

Jetlag had us up early next day so we got our 7 day subway tickets easily but struggled to swipe them properly (this struggle lasted a few days!). Hopped on a subway and walked the Highline,it was fantastic and quiet early on a Sunday morning. We walked from there up to the circle line cruise and got tickets for landmarks cruise. We had a sightseeing flex pass with 4 attractions and a $40 credit which we used for EsB. We had no probs using it at all and shorter queues in some places with it, highly recommend! We loved the cruise and the commentary and getting close to SOL without long queues and security. Next stop was Gotham food hall where we got some yummy but not cheap chicken salads to share ( we found food pricy but its the crap AUD to blame).

We then walked back to Intrepid museum which we all loved, so much to see and do, spent several hours there! Family were starting to flag and complain of tiredness but I bribed them with ice cream at Gotham again ( boy was it good). Rain was forecast for next 2 days so I really Wanted to get up ESB that day. Hopped on subway again!

We did not have to q at al and the whinging family shut up when they saw how beautiful a building it is inside and out! Views were wonderful and we loved it! Hunger set in so we wandered down to Koreatown and BCD Tofu House , 15 mins later we had a table and soon after yummy Korean food at a reasonable price! Subway home and bed! Day 2 to follow!- Kilonzo Junior observed murder charges against Obado were tantamount to gross misconduct which was a strong ground for impeachment

- Mutula said the Constitutional principle of gross misconduct would be put to test in Obado's situation

- Some Kenyans were pessimistic over the governor's impeachment stating everyone was innocent until proven guilty

Migori Governor Zachary Okoth Obado may suffer another blow by losing his seat if he is charged with murder of former Rongo University student and lover Sharon Otieno.

Makueni Senator and lawyer Mutula Kilonzo Junior stated serious violation of the Constitution was sufficient reason to initiate an ouster petition against a governor.

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READ ALSO: Good job: Raila praises ODM MPs who passed contentious Finance Bill 2018

Makueni Senator Mutula Kilonzo said Migori Governor Okoth Obado was a subject of impeachment on grounds of gross misconduct. Photo: The Standard.

Source: Facebook

READ ALSO: Eight-months pregnant Mombasa woman mysteriously goes missing

It his tweet on Saturday, September 22, seen by TUKO.co.ke, the legislator argued Obado's stay in office was in a precarious position courtesy of his alleged involvement in the murder of Sharon.

He said the governor's situation would put to test Chapter Six of the Constitution which emphasises that public office holders must uphold highest levels of integrity or risk being ousted.

"Gross violation of the Constitution is a ground for impeachment of a governor. Sharon Otienos murder will put this principle to test," said Junior.

His sentiments came just one day after detectives from Directorate of Criminal Investigations said they would charge Obado with murder.

Migori Governor Zachary Obado will be charge with murder in the case involving killing of former Rongo University student Sharon Otieno. Photo: Okoth Obado/Facebook.

Source: Facebook

READ ALSO: Two senior KCB employees held over KSh 20 million theft at the bank

The police had summoned and interrogated the governor for a second time before putting him in custody on Friday, September 21.

TUKO.co.ke established Chapter Six of the Constitution of Kenya Atticle 75 (1) requires State officers to publicly or privately behave in a manner which avoids; conflict between personal and official duties and demeaning the office one holds.

Article 75 (2) directs that any person who contravenes the above requirement must be subjected to applicable disciplinary procedure for the relevant office and be dismissed or otherwise removed from office.

This means Obado could be in trouble after taking plea of murder charges on Monday, September 24, and Members of County Assembly or public could lodge a petition pushing for his ouster over culpability of a criminal offence.

Many Kenyans were however pessimistic over Junior's observation saying the Senate would protect Obado from being ousted by invoking Article 50 of the Constitution which stipulates everyone is innocent until proven guilty.

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.

Breaking News Kenya: Angry Kenyan Sends Message to President Uhuru Kenyatta | Tuko TV:

Source: TukoOjaamong said Opposition leader Raila Odinga was the only politician who had fought for Kenya's democracy and deserved to be in State House

- He accused Wiper party leader and NASA co-principal Kalonzo Musyoka of betraying Raila in the 2007 General Election

- He lauded Kalonzo for excellently reviving his reputation after hurting Opposition supporters

- According to Ojaamong, NASA principals Moses Wetang'ula and Moses Mudavadi had failed to establish themselves as strong presidential candidates

- The former personal assistant of Raila said NASA principals would only vie for presidency in 2022 if they beat Raila in party nominations

Busia Governor Sospeter Ojaamong has tipped Opposition leader Raila Odinga will vie for presidency in 2022.

Ojamoong who once served as Raila's personal assistant and elected on an Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party ticket said only Raila had worked hard enough for Kenya to deserve a direct entry into State House.

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READ ALSO: ODM declares it will sponsor presidential candidate in 2022 after Raila-Moi handshake

Busia Governor and former Personal Assistant of Opposition leader Raila Odinga has reiterated the latter deserves to be Kenya's Head of State. Photo: Sospeter Ojaamong/Twitter.

Source: UGC

READ ALSO: Raila is God's blessing to Kenya ahead of 2022 General Election - ODM chairman

In a Facebook post seen by TUKO.co.ke, on Saturday, September 22, the governor insinuated it would be illogical to think the ODM leader's political career ended when he shook hands with President Uhuru Kenyatta after controversially losing the 2017 General Election.

"Raila Odinga has toiled in the vineyards the longest. One has to wonder what he thinks about his role going forward. Does Raila Odinga still want to be king, or can he be content being the kingmaker? I cant think of any other Kenyan whos worked harder and deserves more to be at State House," argued the Busia county chief.

Reserving his respect for National Super Alliance co-principal Musalia Mudavadi of Amani National Congress and FORD Kenya's Moses Wetangula, the governor was categorical the two had struggled unsuccessfully to establish themselves as strong presidential candidates.

Ojaamong said Wiper party leader and NASA co-principal Kalonzo Musyoka had beaten odds to sustain his political might after many pundits thought his political career was dead and buried.

Sospeter Ojaamong lauded Kalonzo Musyoka for being loyal to Raila Odinga and Opposition supporters in 2013 and 2017 but said he would have to win party ticket to vie in 2022. Photo: NASA/Facebook.

Source: Facebook

READ ALSO: Operations in Migori county to continue uninterrupted despite Obado's detention

He, however, accused the former vice president of betraying Raila and costing him the top seat in another disputed presidential poll in 2007.

"He split ODM and opened the path for Party of National Unity's Mwai Kibaki to snatch the election. He then betrayed Raila again by buttressing Kibakis untenable claim to victory as his vice president. His detractors still call him Judas or watermelon but I am not one of them," said the county chief.

Ojaamong said over time, he had learnt to appreciate Kalonzo's political prowess as a sharp strategist but that never gave him an edge over Raila.

NASA principals Moses Wetangula and Kalonzo Musyoka. The two leaders also expressed interest in vying for presidency in 2022. Photo: Kalonzo Musyoka/Twitter.

Source: Twitter

READ ALSO: One MV Nyerere accident survivor found alive 2 days after it capsized on Lake

"Let me state it flatly, he isnt the chosen one. I know Kalonzo is smarting from the loss and Raila suffered at the hands of Uhuru in 2013 and 2017 and spoiling for another day, this time with him at the top of the ticket," added the governor.

He said it would plainly look fair for Raila to return the favour to Kalonzo but argued such positions are not given or exchanged but earned.

"Presidential tickets arent matters of sentiment. Nothing is freely given. You get nothing for nothing except nothing. Kalonzo or any of the other principals will have to wrestle Raila to the ground if they want the top ticket," argued Ojaamong.

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.

When Uhuru, Ruto and Raila Met at State House - On Tuko TV

Source: Tuko Breaking News Latest- A court had given up-to Thursday last week for the dowry to be paid to the in-laws

- Mukhebi says the case has been done behind his back and wont pay the pride price

- In-laws want 10 head of cattle, 2 goats, KSh 10,000, 2 blankets, 1 coat, 1 godfather hat and gumboots

- Mukhebi allegedly eloped with Branice Naliaka when she was 18 years old ans married her

- He claims that they separated in 2016 due to marital problems that couldn't be solved

- His in-laws want the bride price paid even if the wife left him

A Kitale man who a Court ordered to pay dowry price for a wife he had married for 10 years has vowed not pay even a single penny.

An earlier report filed by TUKO.co.ke indicated that Isaac Sifuna Mukhebi and his father Patrick Bulima had been given up-to Thursday, September 20, to settle the bride price.

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READ ALSO: Kitale man compelled by court to pay dowry after staying with wife for 10 years

Isaac Sifuna Mukhebi reportedly eloped with Branice Naliaka when she was 18 years. Photo: Nation

Source: UGC

READ ALSO: NASA principals must beat Raila to get 2022 presidential ticket - Busia Governor Ojaamong

Mukhebi expressed displeasure in how his in-laws handled the case and accused them rushing to court without his knowledge. The Nation reported on Sunday, September 23.

"They have done things behind my back. I only learnt of the ruling through the media," said Mukhebi.

READ ALSO: Speaker Muturi defends controversial passage of Finance Bill 2018 in Parliament

Mukhebi reportedly eloped with Branice Naliaka, now his wife while she was still in high school, prompting his father-in-law to embark on frantic search which ended this year (2018).

His in-laws demand that he pays 10 head of cattle, two goats, KSh 10,000, two blankets, one coat, a godfather hat and gumboots as dowry.

On Monday, September 17, Mukhebi, who works in Nairobi, traveled to Kitale to get the court documents.

He however refuted claims that a written agreement that bound him to pay dowry existed as claimed by his in-laws.

"Everything they are saying is untrue since at no time have we sat down as a family," he claimed.

READ ALSO: Good job: Raila praises ODM MPs who passed contentious Finance Bill 2018

Mukebi further said he separated with his wife in 2016 owing to irreconcilable marital issues and has since moved on with his life.

He has requested the court to set aside its judgement in a move to allow his lawyer to be privy of it so that a fresh case can be started.

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.

The Sad State of Pumwani Hospital | Tuko TV.

Source: Tuko- Moses Mungai Ngugi was arrested for impersonating an National Intelligence Services officer

- He fraudulently obtained KSh 300,000 at Nyayo House from unsuspecting people

- 800 rounds of ammunition, fake ID's and 2 pistols were also recovered from him

- He was arraigned in court in but failed turn up in court on Thursday as per bail terms

Detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) have vowed to offer a great reward to anyone who will offer information leading to arrest of suspected criminal Moses Mungai Ngugi

In a statement, the DCI stated Ngungi was arrested in early August for impersonating a National Intelligence Officer.

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READ ALSO: Governor Obado staring at life in prison over murder as aides cut deal with detectives

Moses Mungai Ngugi was arrested for impersonating National Intelligence Services officers. Photo: DCI

Source: Facebook

READ ALSO: Chelsea manager issues strong warning to misfiring star striker

He was charged in court on Friday, August 3 and had been ordered to report back on Thursday, September 20, but he never showed up.

"He was arrested and charged before the Milimani Law courts for the offence of Personation. He was later released out on bail but decided to violate his bail conditions by not showing up as ordered on 20th September 2018," wrote the DCI.

READ ALSO: Kitale man snubs court order, says he won't pay dowry for his wife

Shortly after his arrest, the DCI on Wednesday, August 1, reported that Ngugi had fraudulently acquired KSh 300,000 at Nyayo House.

Among things recovered from him after the arrest include five ID cards for for NIS Officers, one ID card for Kenya Bureau of Standards , two pistols, 800 rounds of ammunition and a copy of civilian certificate of firearms.

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.

Former Nairobi Governor Dr. Evans Kidero Troubles with the EACC Tuko TV.

Source: Kenya Breaking News Today- The army officers were pursuing a vehicle carrying fish from Uganda and they fired at it

- It is illegal for police or even politicians to cross either way while armed with firearms

- They recorded statements and are being held at Busia Police station

- Kenyan and Ugandan security bosses met on Sunday morning to discuss the situation

- There is a dispute on the ownership of Migingo Island, both Kenya and Uganda claim ownership

- Kenyan police manning Migingo, have at one time been chased away by Ugandan counterparts

Two military officers were on Sunday, September 23, arrested by police in Busia after they trespassed into Kenya and opened fire.

The military officers were pursuing a vehicles that was ferrying fish from Uganda and are currently being held at Busia police station.

Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens.

READ ALSO: Uganda increases police presence on disputed Migingo island days after firing in the air

The military officers were pursuing a vehicle (pictured) that was ferrying fish from Uganda and are currently being held at Busia police station. Photo: Standard

Source: UGC

READ ALSO: Kenyan police manning disputed Migingo island chased like stray dogs by Ugandan counterparts

The incident comes hardly one week after President Museveni's government stepped up security presence on contested Migingo Island.

TUKO.co.ke had also reported that that Ugandan security forces had stormed the isle, fired in the air, lowered the Kenyan flag, thus prompting locals to take cover in their houses.

READ ALSO: Uganda soldiers fire in the air, disperse Kenyan traders from disputed Migingo island

The arrest of the two army personnel saw senior security officials from Kenya get holed-up in emergency meeting with their Ugandan counterparts.

Among those present were Busia County Commissioner Jacob Narengo, Resident District Commissioner of Busia Uganda Hussein Matanda, County CID Commander Esther Seroney and Police Commander Wambua Katithi.

In June 2018, three Administration Police Officers from Kenya were arrested by Ugandan security person during separate crackdowns on fishermen on Lake Victoria.

There is a dispute on the ownership of Migingo Island, both Kenya and Uganda claim ownership. Photo: UGC

Source: UGC

READ ALSO: Uganda pulls down Kenya's flag on Migingo Island after Matiang'i's stern warning

Kenyan MPs Raphael Wanjala (Budalang'i) and Gideon Ochanda (Bondo) have met their Ugandan counterparts in attempts to quell recurrent maltreatment of fishermen on Lake Victoria.

Interior CS Fred Matiang'i had also issued stern warning to Ugandan authorities harassing residents of Migingo Island but much has not been achieved.

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.

Raila Odinga: Kenya's Fuel Crisis Will Not Occur | Tuko TV.

Source: Tuko.co.ke- Godfrey Osotsi, Tindi Mwale , Justus Murunga and Ayub Savula termed the new levies oppressive

- They announced they would move to court to challenge the Finance Bill 2018 then proceed to the streets to protest

- The Bill was signed into law after Parliament dramatically endorsed recommendations that were made by Uhuru

- Although both NASA and Jubilee leaders had agreed to support the revised Bill, a section of the MPs defied the party positions

A section of Member of Parliament drawn from the Opposition side have threatened to call for mass action against the recently introduced taxes amid public uproar over rising cost of living worsened by the new levies.

Nominated MP Godfrey Osotsi, Justus Murunga from Matungu, Ayub Savula, Lugari, and Butere lawmaker, Tindi Mwale, announced they would move to court to challenge the Finance Bill 2018 signed into law by President Uhuru Kenyatta on September 21 after chaotic debate in Parliament.

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READ ALSO: Uhuru has signed into law Finance Bill 2018, here is how new taxes will affect you

Nominated MP Godfrey Osotsi said the new taxes were oppressive to poor Kenyans and tht was why the majority of MPs opposed Uhuru's Memorandum.

Source: UGC

READ ALSO: MPs shout down National Assembly Minority Leader Mbadi's support of 8% tax on fuel

Addressing the residents of Matungu on Saturday, September 22, the legislators argued Kenyans were already overburdened by taxes and the new levies were going to make life more difficult for the poor, which is why they opposed Uhuru's revised Finance Bill 2018.

"We will be going to court next week and thereafter we will call on Kenyans to come out in their numbers and fight for their rights," Osotsi said.

READ ALSO: More pain for Kenyans as Uhuru revises upwards internet, mobile money transaction charges

According to the Western Kenya politicians, majority of the lawmakers were opposed to the Finance Bill 2018 and that they demonstrated so on Thursday, September 20, when Uhuru's memorandum on the Bill was brought to the House for debate.

They claimed they would stand with the people regardless of the positions taken by the National Super Alliance (NASA) coalition.

The lawmakers cited over-borrowing and runaway corruption as the main reasons why the country was facing an economic crisis.

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Kenyan Political Opposition Approved Kenyatta's 8% Fuel VAT Slash - On Tuko TV

Source: Tuko.co.keThe head of state thanked the crews for the impeccably executed order.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has welcomed the passage of Ukrainian warships to the Sea of Azov, noting that the vessels will be part of a new naval base of the Ukrainian fleet in the area.

Read alsoUkrainian Navy ships heading to Sea of Azov through Kerch Strait  media

"Congratulations to [crews] of our warships  the search and rescue ship A500 Donbas and the seagoing tug A830 Korets  on entering the Sea of Azov," the head of state wrote on Facebook on Sunday, September 23.

"These ships will be part of the newly created naval base of the Ukrainian fleet in the Sea of Azov," Poroshenko added.

He thanked the crews for the impeccably executed order.

As UNIAN reported earlier, on September 20, Ukraine's search and rescue ship A500 Donbas and seagoing tug A830 Korets departed from Odesa to Berdyansk to set up a new naval base of the Ukrainian fleet in the Sea of Azov. The Ukrainian small armored artillery boats P177 Kremenchuk and P178 Lubny departed from the port of Berdyansk in the direction of the Kerch crossing, to meet the two vessels.

Today the Ukrainian warships passed the Kerch Strait and entered the Sea of Azov.He lost a lot of blood because of internal bleeding.

Condition of Oleh Mykhailyk, a public activist in the city of Odesa, who was shot in the evening of September 22, has stabilized; he regained consciousness.

Read alsoUkraine commemorates journalist Georgiy Gongadze on 18th anniversary of his disappearance

"As of 8:30, he has regained consciousness, and his condition is basically stable... A bullet is in the chest of the body. According to doctors, he will be operated on later, after stabilization of his condition. He lost a lot of blood because of internal bleeding," Adviser to the Chief of National Police's Odesa Main Department Ruslan Forostyak said on September 23, as reported by 112 Ukraine TV channel.

According to the official, Mykhailyk is now conscious. However, doctors will carry out the operation to remove the bullet later, depending on the victim's condition.

The public activist was given security.

As was earlier reported, a perpetrator shot at Mykhailyk on Osipov Street in Odesa on Saturday.

The police qualified the attack as an assassination attempt.The two Ukrainian vessels are now in front of the Kerch Strait Bridge from the Taman peninsula to Russian-occupied Crimea, according to journalists.

The search and rescue ship A500 Donbas and the seagoing tug A830 Korets departed from Odesa to Berdyansk on September 20, to set up a new naval base of the Ukrainian fleet in the Sea of Azov.

Read alsoPoroshenko wants to step up defense of Ukrainian part of Azov Sea

The patrol ship Ametist (project 22460) of the Coast Guard of Russia's FSB (Federal Security Service) has been accompanying the Ukrainian vessels from the passage near the occupied city of Sevastopol in Crimea. Subsequently, it was joined by another unidentified ship, the Ukrainian Military Portal wrote on September 23.

The Ukrainian vessels are expected to pass from the Black Sea to the Sea of Azov through the Russian-controlled Kerch Strait.

The Donbas vessel is planned to be used for strengthening Ukraine's fleet infrastructure in the Sea of Azov, namely establishment of the headquarters and arrangement of servicemen's residence, warehouses and other necessary premises, which are not available in the region now.

The two Ukrainian vessels are now in front of the Kerch Strait Bridge from the Taman peninsula to Russian-occupied Crimea, according to journalists.

The FSB border department of the Russian Federation earlier said that their ships were accompanying two ships of the Ukrainian Naval Forces near the coast of the occupied Crimea.

The invaders explained their actions by the fact that the two ships of the Ukrainian Navy allegedly entered "the exclusive economic zone of Russia."During the searches, law enforcers found out documents, ledgers, and correspondence with customers from Russia.

The Military Prosecutor's Office of Ukraine says parts and components for military equipment have been stolen from the warehouses of Ukraine's military units and transferred to Russia over the past 20 years; the equipment was also used by Donbas militants against the Ukrainian army.

Read alsoStartling find near Odesa: Law enforcers reveal cache with surface-to-air missiles (Photo)

According to the investigation, two brothers, Ukrainian citizens, transferred the compnents for military equipment to Russia via couriers. Investigators exposed the channel for the supply of spare parts and components to missile systems in Russia. The parts were either stolen from warehouses, or removed from military equipment, the press service of the Military Prosecutor's Office reported on September 23.

One of the brothers, organizer of the scheme, was detained.

During the searches, law enforcers found out documents, ledgers, and correspondence with customers from Russia, the report said.

The detainee was informed of suspicion and taken into custody. His brother, who was also involved in the scheme, was put on the wanted list.

As was earlier reported, overnight September 20, five pistols and five AKS-74 assault rifles were stolen in a military unit of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in Zhytomyr region. Perpetrators have not been identified yet.

The military prosecutor's office is also investigating the theft of more than 170 tonnes of fuel from a military unit in Odesa region.According to intelligence reports, seven enemy troops were wounded.

Russian-led forces mounted 28 attacks on Ukrainian troops in Donbas in the past 24 hours; in five cases, the enemy used weapons prohibited by the Minsk accords.

Read alsoTwo members of Ukraine's Joint Forces wounded in skirmish in Donbas on Friday

Russian occupation forces opened fire on the positions of the JFO troops near the town of Maryinka, and the villages of Krymske, Novotoshkivske, Zolote, Novoluhanske, Shumy, Novoselivka Druha, Pisky, Starohnanivka, Pavlopil, Hnutove, Vodiane, Lebedynske and Shyrokyne, the press center of Ukraine's Joint Forces Operation (JFO) said in an update on Facebook as of 07:00 Kyiv time on September 23, 2018.

In the direction of the town of Svitlodarsk, the occupiers fired 82mm mortars on Ukrainian positions near Novoluhanske, as well as near Hnutove in the Mariupol direction. The enemy also used 120mm mortars to attack Ukrainian strongholds outside Shyrokyne. In addition, a Ukrainian strong point near Lebedynske in the Mariupol direction came under mortar fire of both calibers. Russian occupation troops opened aimed fire from arms installed on infantry fighting vehicles on defenders of Lebedynske and Hnutove.

No casualties among the Ukrainian troops have been reported over the past day. According to intelligence reports, seven enemy troops were wounded.

Since Sunday midnight, Russian-led forces have mounted six attacks on the Ukrainian positions outside Krymske, Shumy, Mayorsk, and Hnutove. The weapons prohibited by the Minsk agreements were used twice. There have been no casualties among Ukrainian troops from the start of the day.

The Ukrainian side to the Joint Center for Ceasefire Control and Coordination (JCCC) earlier reported that the militants amassed dozens of heavy weapons in the occupied part of Luhansk region.Militants used 120mm and 82mm mortars, weapons of infantry fighting vehicles, grenade launchers, heavy machine guns, and small arms.

Russia's hybrid military forces attacked Ukrainian army positions in Donbas 17 times from 07:00 to 18:00 Kyiv time on Sunday, September 23, with one Ukrainian soldiers reported as wounded in action (WIA).

Read alsoRussian-led forces' losses in Donbas in past day: Five killed, one wounded

"Russian occupation forces opened aimed fire on the Joint Forces positions near the town of Avdiyivka, and the villages of Krymske, Novoluhanske, Shumy, Pivdenne, Mayorsk, Pisky, Pavlopil, Hnutove, Vodiane, and Lebedynske," the press center of Ukraine's Joint Forces Operation (JFO) said in an update on Facebook.

As reported, the militants used 120mm and 82mm mortars, weapons of infantry fighting vehicles, grenade launchers, heavy machine guns, and small arms.

The occupiers resorted to 82mm mortars thrice to shell the Ukrainian strongholds near Shumy, Pivdenne, and Mayorsk in the Horlivka direction.

"The invaders used the weapons prohibited by the Minsk accords five times, having shelled the Joint Forces positions near the village of Novoluhanske in the Svitlodarsk direction. Then the enemy mounted two attacks, using 120mm and 82mm mortars. Russian-led forces also engaged weapons of infantry fighting vehicles to shell Ukrainian strongholds near Hnutove," the press center added.He will be held in custody for two weeks due to the risk of destruction of evidence, police said on Sunday.

The Norwegian Police has detained a Russian citizen on suspicion of illegal intelligence activities.

The man was detained at Oslo airport on Friday night, September 21, the Ukrainian online newspaper Ukrayinska Pravda wrote, referring to Reuters.

He will be held in custody for two weeks due to the risk of destruction of evidence.

Read alsoSwitzerland demands Russia 'end iIllegal activities' after two suspected spy cases  media

As reported, the man had attended a seminar this week on digitalization in the Norwegian Parliament.

Parliament hosted a seminar on Thursday and Friday with administrative employees from legislatures from 34 countries, according to news agency NTB, as reported by Bloomberg.

Earlier, Switzerland demanded that Moscow cease spying activities on its territory.

"The Swiss Department of Foreign Affairs has called on Russia to immediately end illegal activities on Swiss soil or against Swiss targets," reads the statement.

In September, it became known that two Russian spies were detained in the Netherlands. They intended to obtain data from a chemical laboratory in Spiez (Switzerland) involved in investigation of chemical attacks in Syria and Great Britain, testing chemical and biological weapons, and studying nerve agents such as Novichok.

Meanwhile, Swiss prosecutors said that the two Russian spies detained in the Netherlands are suspected of the attempt to commit cyberattacks against the offices of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in Switzerland.

German media reported earlier that Russian hackers had targeted the Swiss laboratory which analyzed samples from the March poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in England.

The German Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution said Russia's special services were probably behind the attacks.(@rukhshanmir)

PIAF-Founders Alliance on Saturday claimed to have full support of all major markets and industry that would ensure its victory on all seats in Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) election for 2018-19 to be held for Associate Class on September 24 and for Corporate Class on September 25.

LAHORE, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 22nd Sep, 2018 ) :PIAF-Founders Alliance on Saturday claimed to have full support of all major markets and industry that would ensure its victory on all seats in Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) election for 2018-19 to be held for Associate Class on September 24 and for Corporate Class on September 25.

These views were expressed by trade bodies of Lahore during a month-long campaign. A Grand dinner of PIAF Founder Alliance is also being held tonight PAF Falcon Complex, Gulberg-III, which would be attended by more than thousand traders and various market representatives.

The Alliance leaders including Mian Misbahur Rehman, Mian Anjum Nisar, Mian Muhammad Ashraf, Irfan Iqbal Sheikh, Mian Shafqat Ali, Muhammad Ali Mian, Malik Tahir Javaid and Abdul Basit Khawaja Khawer Rasheed Zeshan Khalil and others highlighted the Alliance manifesto and promised to resolve the issues being faced by the businessmen attached with different sectors.

At McLeod Road, the Alliance leaders and candidates were received by Sewing Machine and Auto Markets leaders, who pledged to support the Alliance candidates in upcoming LCCI election.

At Ferozepur Road, Chaudhry Mahboob Ali Sirki, Khadim Hussain and other trade leaders welcomed the Alliance leadership and candidates. At Montgomery Road, Abid Market, Mozang, the Anjuman-e-Tajran leaders arranged a reception in honor of PIAF-Founders Alliance.

Speaking on the occasion, Associate Class leaders Muhammad Ali Mian, Sheikh Muhammad Asif, Irfan Iqbal Sheikh said that Montgomery Road, Abid Market, Mozang businessmen would be given proper representation in the LCCI standing committees.

Babar Mahmood and company also welcomed alliance candidates at Hall Road Market and assured that they would support them.

On the occasion Alliance leadership claimed that despite multiple challenges, the outgoing LCCI leadership utilized all energies for betterment of economy and left no stone unturned to safeguard the interests of the business community and it would continue to do so in future as well.

They also appreciated the trade community role in preparation of LCCI budget proposals. They said that the Alliance had decided to give special focus on Solar Energy, Halal food, Textiles and Textile Made-ups, Pharmaceuticals, Chemicals, High Tech Engineering, Footwear and Embroidery sectors during the year to ensure an early economic turnaround.

They were of the view that these sectors had been given representation for upcoming LCCI elections with an objective to highlight the challenges being faced by these important sectors.(@ChaudhryMAli88)

DUBAI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News / WAM - 23rd Sep, 2018) The High Court of England and Wales in London has continued the injunction first made on 31st August 2018, prohibiting the Government of Djiboutis port company, Port de Djibouti, PDSA, from interfering with the management of the joint venture company, Doraleh Container Terminal, DCT.

On 31st August, the Court issued a without notice injunction against PDSA, as shareholder in DCT, prohibiting PDSA from the following actions; that it shall not act as if the joint venture agreement with DP World has been terminated; it shall not appoint new directors or remove DP Worlds nominated directors without its consent; it shall not cause the DCT joint venture company to act on 'Reserved Matters' (being matters contractually reserved to DP World) without DP Worlds consent, and lastly, it shall not instruct or cause DCT to give instructions to Standard Chartered Bank in London to transfer funds to Djibouti.

Following a hearing on 14th September 2018, at which PDSA failed to appear despite being notified, the Court ordered that the injunction will continue until it makes a further order or an award of the arbitration tribunal at the London Court of International Arbitration, LCIA, that will be formed imminently to consider the shareholding dispute with DP World.

On DP Worlds application, the Court also extended the injunction to include any affiliate of PDSA. Under the JV Agreement, PDSAs affiliates include the Government. The decision follows the enactment of an "emergency" ordinance by the President of Djibouti on 9th September. This ordinance purported to transfer PDSAs shares in DCT to the Government of Djibouti.

PDSA is 23.5 percent owned by China Merchants Port Holdings Company Ltd of Hong Kong, China Merchants.

The Court further ordered that PDSA must ensure that any transferee of DCT shares is legally bound by the Joint Venture Agreement and Articles of Association in the same way as PDSA. The ruling means neither the Government nor PDSA can control DCT or give valid instructions to third parties on behalf of DCT without DP Worlds consent.

DP World confirmed last week it will continue to pursue all legal means to defend its rights as shareholder and concessionaire in the Doraleh Container Terminal in the face of the Governments blatant disregard for the rule of law and respect for binding commercial contracts.

A DP World spokesperson said, "This is yet another in a series of rulings  all in favour of DP World  that demonstrate Djiboutis continuing disregard for the rule of law. We underline our belief that companies intending to operate in such a country or already operating there need to seriously consider their dealings with this Government in the face of such behaviour."

The 2006 Concession Agreement that the Government awarded to DP World is governed by English law. It provides that all disputes relating to the Agreement are to be resolved through binding arbitration at the LCIA with two such LCIA proceedings already completed.

In the first proceeding, the Government filed an arbitration against DP World seeking to rescind the Concession Agreement, claiming its terms were unfair to the Government and were procured through bribery. The LCIA tribunal - comprising Sir Richard Aikens, Lord Hoffmann, Peter Leaver QC - ruled against the Government, finding the terms were fair and there was no bribery. Certain counterclaims raised by DCT and DP World in relation to DP Worlds exclusive right to container handling facilities in Djibouti remain to be decided by the Tribunal.

In a separate proceeding, another LCIA Tribunal - comprising Professor Zachary Douglas QC - held that the 2006 Concession Agreement was valid notwithstanding the Governments attempts to terminate it through special legislation and decrees. DP Worlds claims for damages against the Government will now be determined in these proceedings.

To date, the Government has not made any offer to compensate DP World.AL AIN, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News / WAM - 23rd Sep, 2018) The 10th Al Ain Book Fair, AABF, held under the patronage of H.H. Sheikh Tahnoun bin Mohammed Al Nahyan, Abu Dhabi Ruler`s Representative in Al Ain Region, was officially inaugurated by Sheikh Hazza bin Tahnoon Al Nahyan, Under-Secretary of the Court of the Abu Dhabi Ruler's Representative in Al Ain Region.

Also present were Mohammed Khalifa Al Mubarak, Chairman of the Department of Culture and Tourism - Abu Dhabi, and Saif Saeed Ghobash, Under-Secretary of DCT - Abu Dhabi.

The Book Fair opened with a special performance celebrating the 88th National Day of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, reflecting the strong, deeply-rooted brotherly ties between the two countries.

Sheikh Hazza bin Tahnoon toured the Fairs pavilions, which are hosting 92 exhibitors and showcasing thousands of science and literature titles in both Arabic and English, with a special focus on books and activities for children. He also explored a number of AABFs events, which are presenting a wide-range of activities promoting Emirati publishing.

Regarding this years Fair, the DCT - Abu Dhabi Chairman said, "AABF plays a key role in driving the local publishing industry, promoting reading, and building an intellectual community. Marking its 10th anniversary, the Fair features 92 local and regional exhibitors, which is a ten percent growth in terms of reserved space, compared to last year."

"By featuring 13 seminars, 11 book signings and several educational workshops, this years programme contributes to boosting AABFs status as a key platform for supporting local publishing.

This special event emphasizes DCT - Abu Dhabis dedication to celebrating cultural events that raise Abu Dhabis profile and highlight its mission to serve as a cultural beacon and hub for human interaction, as well as a model for diversity and social cohesion," Al Mubarak added.

Sharing his thoughts about the Fair, Saif Saeed Ghobash said, "Al Ain Book Fair returns for its 10th anniversary, to celebrate thought pioneers and local writers and authors, as well as affirming its cultural role as a bridge connecting thinkers with audiences in Al Ain and across the UAE. Over the past decade, the Fair has succeeded in establishing a unique platform to exchange ideas, present the latest concepts in the cultural field, and promote awareness of the value of books and reading in human development and learning. DCT - Abu Dhabi has created a holistic cultural and educational programme for the Fair, comprising events and activities that suit different tastes and ages, with special consideration for the impact of the internet and e-books on reading.

"Al Ain Book Fairs programme will create a vibrant intellectual atmosphere bringing together cultural pioneers, publishers and writers, along with a wide collection of literary creations in all its various forms, from poetry to prose, from critique to financial, and from theoretical and scientific fields, offering the products of the literary elite to younger generations, as well as introducing emerging talents," noted Ghobash.

The Fair is open to visitors from 09:00 to 13:00 and 17:00 to 22:00 throughout the week, except for Friday, with opening times 17:00 and 22:00.DUBAI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News / WAM - 23rd Sep, 2018) Breakbulk middle East will be held for the first time in Dubai on 11th and 12th February, 2019 at the Dubai World Trade Centre.

Breakbulk Middle East is one of the leading exhibitions that maintained its prominence during the economic downturn, and witnessed the same interest, both from government entities and the private sector. This is why the fourth edition in Dubai will be hosted by DP World, in a bid to bring together the region's leading shippers and project cargo professionals.

Welcoming the new recognition by the ISCD, Mohammed Al Muallem, DP Worlds Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, UAE Region, said, "The ISCD global ranking demonstrates Dubais position as a global maritime and shipping centre and the regions top destination for the industry. As the official host port sponsor for the fourth edition of Breakbulk Middle East, we believe the event is the ideal platform, not only to network with shippers, ports, carriers, forwarders and heavy transport specialists, but also to generate informed discussions by industry leaders on the opportunities and challenges facing the global breakbulk and cargo sector.

"Breakbulk Middle East in Dubai will help global leaders connect with the strong and dynamic maritime sector in the UAE and its key decision-makers.

We believe that collaboration, partnership and cooperation build bridges towards enduring relationships and business growth."

Al Muallem added, "Breakbulk Middle East 2019 is also strategically timed to bring wider focus on the pivotal role our industry will play as Expo 2020 draws closer. The demand for handling breakbulk and special project cargo will rise sharply in the months ahead, and as a Premier Global Trade Partner of the event, DP World UAE Region is working to ensure that Jebel Ali Port is ready to fulfill its role as the premier gateway for Expo-bound cargo."

Alongside the exhibition, Breakbulk Middle East offers a full two-day conference, covering the important topics that project cargo specialists need to know to seize regional opportunities and construct effective project plans. Sponsored by loyal key partners, such as King Abdullah Port, Agility, Bahri Logistics, KDL Logistics, MICCO, COSCO Shipping and Port of Salalah, both the conference and expo guarantee face-to-face opportunities to discuss these topics in greater depth. Major topics include GCC economic diversification, drilling down to project opportunities, logistics for post-conflict regions and HSE and workforce strategies.(@ChaudhryMAli88)

SHARJAH, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News / WAM - 23rd Sep, 2018) The Executive Committee of the Sharjah International Commercial Arbitration Centre, Tahkeem, has approved evaluation mechanism for evaluating arbitrators in its recent meeting.

Abdulla Deaifis, Chairman of the Executive Committee led the meeting which was attended by Ahmed Al Ajlah, Tahkeem Director, along with the Executive Committee members, represented by Dr. Shahin Ishaq Al Mazmi, Khairallah Al-Hajji, Professor Nassif Abu Malhab, Professor Mohammed Ahmed Al Shehhi and Dr. Asmaa Ahmad Al-Rasheed, at Tahkeem headquarters in Expo Centre - Sharjah.

In his opening speech, Deaifis underlined the need to harness all energies and unlock all potential to optimise the Centres performance and ensure further successes for the next period.

He underscored the importance of maintaining channels of constructive communications with all governmental, semi-governmental and private institutions to enable them to benefit from the valuable and internationally-recognised arbitration services provided by the Centre. He emphasised the need to include arbitration clauses in the contracts of all private institutions of all types and activities, for the benefit of all parties involved.

Ahmed Al Ajlah reviewed the minutes of the Executive Committees meeting, including those of the meeting held on 15th May 2018, which were fully approved by the Executive Committee members, including the participation of Tahkeem in the Dubai Arbitration Week, to be held from 11th to 14th November and the plan of action for this participation.

During the meeting, the Federal Arbitration Law No. 06 of 2018 was reviewed and the Executive Committee along with the Centre's teams have been assigned to meet and deliberate on all its provisions, including the amendments needed to be included in the Tahkeems Rules and Regulations in compliance with Federal Law No. 06 of 2018 and Law No. 01 of 2003, with regards to the regulation of the Sharjah Chamber of Commerce and Industry and its amendments, including the clause addressing the settlement of commercial disputes along with other related items.

The Tahkeem Director reviewed a proposed mechanism for evaluating arbitrators in line with Tahkeem standards and regulations. In this regard, a point-based evaluation mechanism has been approved, where a set of criteria has been endorsed, including academic qualifications; professional experience, whether locally or internationally; membership in other arbitration centres; languages mastered by applicants; as well as publications, and articles authored by applicants. It has been agreed to study and propose registration fees to be paid by applying arbitrators for review at the next Executive Committee meeting for endorsement.

At the end of the meeting, the Executive Committee reviewed the Tahkeem's budget report until 31st August, 2018, in addition to discussing the latest developments of the Centre's operational plan, reviewing arbitrators files, and mulling over an array of other issues, while making the necessary recommendations.Senate Chairman, Muhammad Sadiq Sanjrani has said that Parliaments of Asian Countries can play active role to promote regional cooperation through intra-regional trade and economic links.

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 22nd Sep, 2018 ) :Senate Chairman, Muhammad Sadiq Sanjrani has said that Parliaments of Asian Countries can play active role to promote regional cooperation through intra-regional trade and economic links.

While addressing the Mili- Majlis ( Parliament) of the Azerbaijan on the eve of its 100th Anniversary, Chairman Senate said that Asia would become epicenter trade and economic activities, however, collective approach is needed to overcome the issues being faced by the people of Asian region.

According to a message received here on Saturday, he said that this is the responsibility of the Asian leadership to work together for socio-economic prosperity of Asian region.

The Senate Chairman underscored the need for enhanced parliamentary cooperation through increased exchanges to provide opportunities to the law makers of both countries to share experiences.

He said that Pakistan places bilateral relations with Azerbaijan and excellent cooperation has been witnessed between Pakistan and Azerbaijan at regional and internal forums.

He said that issues of Nagorno-Karabakh and Kashmir are of similar nature as innocent civilians are being subjected to brutalities and inhuman treatment. He said that Pakistan fully supports Azerbaijan on Nagorno-Karabakh issue.

Referring situation in Indian held Kashmir, Sanjrani said that Indian Occupied Forces have unleashed a reign of terror in the Indian Occupied Kashmir.

He said that world must take notice of the human rights violations being committed by the Indian Forces in IOK.

He said that shared ideological and political stances on major issues of international concerns, coordination between the parliaments of both the countries on multilateral parliamentary for a of APA and IPU is very important.

Sanjrani also underpinned the significance of liberal visa regime and connectivity for mutual benefit.

He termed his visit highly important and hoped that it will contribute to add further impetus to the already fraternal ties.

Sanjrani' congratulated his counterpart and members of the Majlis on 100th Anniversary of the Parliament.

Chairman Senate Sadiq Sanjrani also extended inviting to delegates from different countries for participation in Asian Parliamentary Assembly (APA) meeting to being held in Gwadar during last week of October 2018.

Chairman Senate sought support of the participating countries for election of Pakistan 's nominee to the position in IPU Standing Committee on United Nation Affairs from Asia Pacific Group.

The Chairman Senate was accompanied by Senators Sardar Muhammad Azam Khan Musakhel, Ayub Afridi and Nighat Mirza during the event.QUETTA, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 22nd Sep, 2018 ) :Lawmakers here in Assembly session condemned the incident of Killa Abdullah district which left three personnel of Levies force martyred and offered Fateha for the martyrs and late Kulsoom Nawaz.

Balochistan Assembly requisition session was chaired by Deputy Speaker Assembly Sardar Babar Musakhel here on Saturday, who also announced Penal of Chairman member.

Chief Minister Balochistan Mir Jam Kamal Khan said Public Sector Planning Development (PSDP) 18-19 is being considered under the light of Balochistan High Court Decision in first time during session of assembly.

He said several schemes were not completed through legal process under the PSDP after reviewing them , adding that relative departments would be asked to report in this regard in order to make it public report which would be presented in session of assembly.

Jam Kamal said Advocate General was directed to get important information of sectors for presenting next petition, saying that a four member committee was formed to collect positive hints from legislators including opposition leaders for betterment of PSDP, aiming to ensure provision of basic facilities to masses in province.

Member of provincial assembly Nasrullah Zeray presented a resolution regarding peace which was approved for debating during session of assembly on September 25.

MPA,Syed Fazal Agha said funds had been distributed on various development schemes following paper reports but they do not appear on lands of Balochistan.

He said we want to support to Chief Minister Balochistan for addressing real issues of province through collective efforts.

Opposition leader Sanaullah Baloch said measures should be taken to argue on PSDP according to rule of its growth plan during upcoming session of assembly.

He regretted that approval funds have been wasted since 15 years for the sake of various development processes in the respective areas, despite ensuring addressing of public issues.

Sanaullah Baloch said 80 percent development schemes could not be approached regarding Balochistan High Court Decision in past government after reading Balochistan High Court verdict.

He said it is not our aim to put Balochistan on track of development in each fields through proper way on bases of equality.

Parliamentarians lauded the efforts of security forces for maintaining peace during youm-e-Ashur throughout the province.

The session of assembly was adjourned till September 25.(@ChaudhryMAli88)

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 23rd Sep, 2018 ) :Ambassador of Saudi Arabia in Islamabad Nawaf Saeed Al-Maliki has said that Prime Minister Imran Khan's decision to choose Saudi Arabia as the destination of his first official visit abroad confirmed that Islamic Republic of Pakistan considered the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as the first country in the list of its strategic allies.

"This visit carries many messages, the most important of which is that Saudi Arabia and Pakistan ties are like one soul and two bodies which can not be separated" he said in an interview to Al Arabiya.

Al-Maliki said the first foreign visit of Prime Minister Imran Khan included cooperation in the fields of economics and culture as well as military, and it would be followed with subsequent visits.

He said Khan's visit to Saudi Arabia had many dimensions, it would help in further strengthening and deepening the bilateral, brotherly, strategic and economic relations, underscoring that Saudi Arabia had always stood with Pakistan in difficult times and crises.

He said Khan's choice of Saudi Arabia for his first official visit confirmed the sincere expression of the new government of Pakistan that Saudi Arabia was its important strategic ally.

"It is expected that the visit has given firm impression to public opinion in the world that Pakistan considers Saudi Arabia as its preferred country and first ally," he added.

He stressed that Pakistani Muslims brothers considered the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as center of their direction due to existence of Makkah and Madinah.

He said the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was housing more than 2.5 million Pakistanis expatriates who worked in different fields and contributed in further strengthening and deepening of bilateral relations.(@ChaudhryMAli88)

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 23rd Sep, 2018 ) :Hurriyat forum led by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, in Indian occupied Kashmir, has demanded of the UN Human Rights Council to establish a fact-finding commission to conduct probe into gross human rights violations by Indian occupational forces in the territory.

According to Kashmir Media Service, a Hurriyat forum spokesman in a statement issued in Srinagar said that the demand was made by the Hurriyat-AJK leader, Syed Faiz Naqshbandi during a meeting with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, on the sidelines of 39th session of UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.

Syed Faiz Naqshbandi thanked the High Commissioner on behalf of Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and people of Kashmir for her statement during the 39th session of Human rights Council at Geneva wherein she said, "The people of Kashmir have exactly the same rights to justice and dignity as people all over the world".

He told the High Commissioner that her statement and the report of Human Rights Commissioner on the situation of Jammu and Kashmir, had given a hope to the Kashmiri people that OHCHR cared for the dignity and rights of the Kashmiri people.

"But sadly India has failed to show any respect to this report, instead increased its military repression," the spokesman said. "The Kashmiri people demanded establishment of a fact-finding commission as recommended in the report of the High Commissioner, dated 14th June, 2018 to Jammu and Kashmir on urgent basis so that human rights violations are brought to the notice of the world," the spokesman said.

Meanwhile, the forum paid glowing tributes to the youth martyred by Indian troops in Sumlar area of Banipore district on Thursday.

"Lingering Kashmir issue is consuming precious lives day in and day out and there is high need to resolve the issue, so that the further destruction of lives and property is stopped," the spokesman demanded.ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 23rd Sep, 2018 ) :The Pakistan Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) achieved yet another landmark, as it succeeded in completing the most difficult transmission line from Golen Gol (Chitral) to Timergara for evacuation of power generated by Golen Gol Hydropower Project to the National Grid.

The 180-kilometer long Golen Gol-Timergara transmission line crosses through the most difficult mountainous terrain having extreme weather conditions. As many as 706 transmission towers including 141 towers of 132 kilo-volt and 565 towers of 220 kilo-volt have been erected on the snow-clad mountain peaks including that of Lowari Top at the highest altitude of 10,312 feet. The transmission towers in Pakistan have never been erected earlier at this altitude.

Tough construction of transmission lines does not fall within the ambit of WAPDA after unbundling of its Power Wing way back in 2007, WAPDA took the construction of transmission line for Golen Gol Hydropower Project as a challenge.

It not only completed the task on its own but also successfully energized the said transmission line two days ago. Resultantly, Golen Gol Hydropower Project has now been connected to the National Grid. Thus, the project has started providing electricity to the system through its second unit on trial basis via the National Grid.

The second unit is being operated on various loads in accordance with the standard operating procedure (SOP) up to its maximum generation capacity of 36 megawatt (MW).

Earlier the first unit of Golen Gol Hydropower Project has been providing electricity to Chitral and its adjoining areas since its commissioning in January this year through a local arrangement developed by WAPDA to evacuate electricity generated by the first unit to fulfill the entire energy requirements of Chitral. The project since its commissioning has provided more than 33 million units of electricity to the consumers.

Third and the last unit of the project is also complete. The wet commissioning of third unit will also commence very soon by connecting it to the National Grid.

Golen Gol Hydropower Project has been constructed on Golen Gol  a tributary of River Mastuj  near Chitral. The installed generation capacity of the project is 108 MW with three generating units, each of them having a generation capacity of 36 MW. The project has been completed in a phased manner. The project will provide 436 million units of electricity to the National Grid every year. Benefits of the project have been estimated at Rs. 3.7 billion per annum.(@rukhshanmir)

PRAGUE (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 21st September, 2018) Around 200 people, including Czech lawmakers, rallied Thursday outside Hungary's embassy in Prague in support of Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his domestic policies.

The Hungarian right-wing government was slammed last week by the European Parliament for flouting democratic values after it passed reforms seen as undermining judiciary and media freedoms.

"You cannot punish a lawfully-elected government for delivering on its campaign pledges," Tomio Okamura, deputy speaker in the lower house of the Czech parliament, said in a televised comment.

Jaroslav Foldyna, deputy head of the Social Democratic Party, called on the Czech government and other members of the regional Visegrad group to stand by Hungary.

Jaromir Kohlicek, a Czech member of the European Parliament who voted against the resolution condemning the Orban government, called the motion "shameful."

The parliament's resolution was applauded by hundreds of Hungarians who took to the streets over the weekend to denounce government policies at rallies staged by opposition leftist parties.(@FahadShabbir)

ATHENS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 23rd September, 2018) Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople said Sunday that he would soon grant autocephaly to the Orthodox Church in Ukraine just as it had been earlier granted to the Orthodox Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia, adding that he was not afraid of threats.

The Orthodox Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia is the youngest of the autocephalous churches, with the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople having decided that it should be granted such a status in 1998.

"Now it is turn of Ukraine, which will be accorded the autocephalous status soon despite the existing opposition, and it will happen because it is [Ukraine's] right ... We are not afraid of threats," the Ecumenical Patriarch said without specifying what threats he was talking about.

He stressed that just as Ukraine had the right to get autocephaly, the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople had the right to grant autocephaly to it.

Apart from the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP) recognized by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, there are also other orthodox churches operating in the country. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko is trying to achieve recognition of non-canonical institutions and to create a single local autocephalous church based on them in Ukraine.

In April, Poroshenko said that Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople was launching the procedures required to establish the Autocephalous Church in Ukraine. The Russian Orthodox Church condemned the move, saying that the anti-canonical measures in Ukraine threatened to split the Orthodoxy.(@ChaudhryMAli88)

Commenting on the recent decision of the European Parliament to recommend imposing EU sanctions against Hungary, Nadine Morano, a member of the European Parliament's European People's Party (EPP) group, told Sputnik that the debate in the legislative body was unworthy of the bloc, adding that she stood by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his policies

BRUSSELS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 17th September, 2018) Commenting on the recent decision of the European Parliament to recommend imposing EU sanctions against Hungary, Nadine Morano, a member of the European Parliament's European People's Party (EPP) group, told Sputnik that the debate in the legislative body was unworthy of the bloc, adding that she stood by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his policies.

On Tuesday, the European Parliament debated the report drafted by Dutch lawmaker Judith Sargentini, a member of the Greens group, calling for Article 7 of the EU treaty to be triggered with regard to Hungary, which could suspend the country's voting rights, over its presumed poor human right record which goes against fundamental EU principles. The debate came amid the growing division between Hungary and the rest of the European Union on migration policies. On Wednesday, Sargentini's report was adopted in a 448-197 vote, with 48 abstentions.

"We should not use the term 'debate' for what happened! It was a court session convened to condemn Orban ... It was ridiculous. I found this debate grotesque and unworthy of the European Union. I read the Sargentini report, which for me is a rag. It is based on ideological foundations. So I decided to vote against it ... I respect sovereignty and nations. I said what would be my vote," Morano stressed.

She indicated that her EPP group was not unanimous in their thoughts on the report.

"I do not deny that my group, the EPP, was divided. I regret it. The political operation launched by the Green party, worked a bit. We are a few months from the European [Parliament] elections.

Like Orban, I am in favor of defining a real strong policy against illegal immigration in the European Union," Morano indicated.

The EPP is the European party regrouping Europe's Christian Democrats, such as German Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU) or Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz's Austrian People's Party (OVP). It has had internal disagreements for years, since Fidesz - Hungarian Civic Alliance, Orban's party, is also a member of the EPP.

Hungary's voting rights in EU institutions could be suspended if two-thirds of the members of the Council of the European Union vote in favor of invoking Article 7. Before this can happen, all EU member states should unanimously decide to put the issue to a vote. According to experts, the EU member states are unlikely to reach a consensus on the issue, since Poland, which is also at risk of having its EU voting rights taken away, will certainly not support the bloc putting restrictions on Hungary.

Earlier on Friday, Orban himself said that the possibility of being punished by the European Union did not pose a threat to Budapest. According to Orban, the majority of member states supported an open-door migration policy and "hate everyone, who oppose their plans."

Brussels has long been criticizing the Hungarian authorities for their refusal to comply with the EU migration policy. In mid-July, the European Commission filed a complaint against Hungary with the Court of Justice of the European Union over the country's violation of the EU legislation regulating the asylum procedures for migrants.(@FahadShabbir)

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 23rd September, 2018) The Iranian Foreign Ministry has summoned the United Arab Emirates' (UAE) charge d'affaires and expressed strong protest against the remarks made by one of the UAE officials, regarding the terrorist attack in the Iranian city of Ahvaz, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi said on Sunday.

The terrorist attack was perpetrated on Saturday when armed militants opened fire at a military parade in Ahvaz, killing 28 people and injuring another 60. The Saudi-linked Patriotic Arab Democratic Movement in Ahvaz has allegedly claimed responsibility for the attack.

According to a statement published on the ministry's official website, the UAE envoy was harshly criticized for the statement of Abdulkhaleq Abdulla, former adviser to Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed al Nahyan and political expert. Iranian media reported that Abdulla said via his Twitter account that the attack in Ahvaz was not a terrorist attack because the gunmen attacked a military target.

"Following the absurd remarks made by an Emirati political advisor over the Ahvaz terrorist attack, the political department of the Iranian foreign ministry summoned the Arab country's charge' d'affaires and expressed the Islamic Republic's strong protest over the irresponsible and insulting remarks," Qasemi was quoted as saying by the official website of the Foreign Ministry.

Earlier in the day, the Iranian ministry also summoned the Danish and Dutch ambassadors to express protest over the fact that Denmark and the Netherlands allegedly hosted members of the terrorist group that was responsible for the attack. The UK charge d'affaires was summoned as well, with the ministry saying that it was unacceptable to allow the terrorist group's spokesperson to be able to claim responsibility for the attack via a London-based broadcaster.(@ChaudhryMAli88)

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 23rd September, 2018) Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei accused the US-backed states of the region of being responsible for the terrorist attack in the southwestern Iranian city of Ahvaz.

"The tragic and heartrending incident of the martyrdom of a group of our dear people in Ahvaz at the hands of the mercenary terrorists has once again exposed the atrocity and viciousness of the enemies of the Iranian nation ... Their crime is a continuation of the conspiracies by the US-backed regimes in the region which have aimed at creating insecurity in our dear country," Khamenei said in a Saturday statement as quoted on his website.

He also expressed solidarity and sympathy to the families of the victims.

In turn, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani also expressed his condolences, and ordered the Ministry of Intelligence to mobilize all security and military apparatus to quickly identify those responsible for the attack.

On Saturday, armed militants opened fire at a military parade, leaving at least 25 people killed and injuring another 60, according to media reports. The Saudi-linked Patriotic Arab Democratic Movement in Ahvaz has reportedly claimed responsibility for the attack. Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif accused "regional terror sponsors and their US masters" of organizing the attack.(@rukhshanmir)

TEL AVIV (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 23rd September, 2018) The security of the Russian servicemen is taken into account by Israeli military officials when approving any Israeli operation in Syria and will remain a priority in the future, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement on Sunday.

The statement was released after the Russian Defense Ministry again laid responsibility for the September 17 downing of the Il-20 aircraft with 15 servicemen on board on Israel.

"The safety and well-being of the Russian troops who operate in Syria are a focal component in every approval of any activity by senior officials in the IDF and in Israel," the statement says.

The IDF will continue to take all necessary measures, as it has been doing until this very day, to achieve this goal, the Israeli military assured.

The IDF also continued to insist on their non-involvement in the crash of the Il-20 and again expressed their condolences to the Russian people and the families of the killed servicemen.

The Russian Il-20 military aircraft, which was 22 miles off the Syrian coast, was shot down on September 17, while returning to the Hmeimim airbase. At the same time, four Israeli F-16 aircraft were bombing Syrian targets in the province of Latakia.

According to the Russian Defense Ministry, Israel notified Russia of the airstrikes only a minute before their start and provided misleading information concerning the area of the attack and the location of Israeli F-16 jets. The ministry said that the Israeli pilots used the Russian aircraft as a shield against Syrian air defense systems. As a result, the Il-20 jet was downed by a missile launched by Syria's S-200 air defense system at 10:03 p.m. local time (19:03 GMT). The incident claimed the lives of 15 Russian servicemen.

The Russian Defense Ministry placed the blame for the catastrophe on the Israeli Air Force and on those who had made the decision to carry out the airstrike. According to the ministry's data, the Russian side informed Israel of the tragedy at 10:29 p.m. local time, asking to call off F-16 fighter jets from the area of the incident, however, they continued to remain there until 10:40 p.m., as radars showed. It was not until 10:53 p.m that the Israeli side informed that its jets had left the area, meaning that a total of 50 minutes had passed since the Russian aircraft was hit by a missile.BELGRADE (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 23rd September, 2018) Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov announced that he would boycott the upcoming referendum on the bilateral deal with Greece on the country's renaming.

Ivanov has been consistently opposing the deal. Back in June, he refused to sign the bill on the agreement into law, saying that he would not advocate the "damaging" deal, which, according to him, violates Macedonian law. The Macedonian parliament later adopted the agreement by a majority of votes.

"As for me, I already voted 27 years ago - on September 8, 1991 [at the referendum on the country's independence]. I do not backtrack on my decision. Therefore, I will not go to the polls on September 30," Ivanov said, addressing Macedonian diaspora in the US city of Detroit on Saturday, with the video of his speech posted on the president's Facebook page.

According to Ivanov, this agreement not only changes the name of the country, it creates a "new semi-sovereign state ... with a new internal and international legal identity."

In presence of US lawmakers Paul Mitchell from the Republican Party and Deborah Ann Dingell from the Democratic Party, who also attended his meeting with the diaspora, Ivanov pointed to the need for anti-corruption fight in the country as a necessary prerequisite for the cession to NATO and the European Union.

"Even with the adoption of the harmful Greek treaty and [relevant] constitutional amendments, membership in NATO and the European Union will not come automatically," the president stressed.

On June 17, Greek and Macedonian foreign ministers signed an agreement on the former Yugoslav Republic's renaming to the Republic of North Macedonia, following a decades-long dispute over the use of "Macedonia," which Greece has been objecting to as this is also the name of one of its regions. FYROM will hold a referendum on the issue on September 30.

The country's new constitutional name will open the way for Macedonia's accession to the European Union and NATO, which has long been blocked by Athens over concerns that the neighboring country might have territorial claims to Greece's own region of the same name.ALGIERS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 23rd September, 2018) The Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC) of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and non-OPEC oil producers has agreed to fully conform with the Vienna deal on the oil output curtailment in the following two months, Kuwait's Oil Minister Bakheet Rashidi said on Sunday.

"We agreed to target 100 percent conformity for the next coming two months until we meet again at the next JMMC," Rashidi told reports after the JMMC meeting in Algiers, commenting on the meeting's results.

The minister also said that the next meeting of the committee would be held between November and December.ALGIERS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 23rd September, 2018) LGIERS, ALGIERS (Pakistan Point news / Sputnik - 23rd September, 2018) nastasia Dmitrieva, September 23 (Sputnik) - The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and non-cartel producers will thoroughly discuss Iran's concerns over possible redistribution of oil production quotas at a Sunday meeting, Libyan National Oil Corporation (NOC) chairman Mustafa Sanalla told Sputnik.

"This issue will be discussed in detail today, the situation with Iran makes more pressure on the prices on the market," Sanalla said ahead of the JMMC meeting in Algiers, when asked about the Iranian oil minister's letters to the OPEC president warning the meeting against redistributing oil production quotas.

The NOC chief also said that the general issue of redistribution of quotas between countries who are unable to raise output and those with spare capacities would be subject to discussion at the JMMC meeting.

"Libya has a spare capacity of 100,000 barrels per day to add more if the situation allows," he added.(@ChaudhryMAli88)

DAMASCUS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 23rd September, 2018) One of the opposition groups that are part of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) announced plans to evacuate residents of the Rukban refugee camp and the group's fighters to northern Syria, local media reported on Sunday.

The Rukban refugee camp, which now hosts about 50,000-60,000 people, is located in southern Syria on the border with Jordan on the territory controlled by the US-led coalition and allied Syrian opposition groups. The units of the Syrian army stay at the borders of this zone. Moscow and Washington accuse each other of hindering the delivery of UN humanitarian assistance to the area.

"We, the leadership of Liwa Shuhada al-Qaryatayn, will evacuate from the Rukban camp those wishing to do this and our fighters to northern Syria," the group's statement published on the opposition portal el-Dorar said.

At the same time, the group did not indicate specific place where people would be evacuated.

Syrian Interior Ministry spokesman Hassan Marouf said on August 30 at a meeting of the Russian-Syrian Joint Coordination Committee on the return of refugees to Syria that the first organized transfer of Syrian citizens from the Rukban refugee camp to their homes was planned.

The Russian Foreign Ministry is working closely with the United States on the evacuation of refugees from the Rukban camp to the territory controlled by the Syrian government, the ministry's representative, Nikolai Burtsev, said on Wednesday at a meeting of the interdepartmental committees of Russia and Syria on the return of refugees.MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 23rd September, 2018) Ambassadors of Denmark and the Netherlands as well as UK charge d'affaires were summoned to the Iranian Foreign Ministry following the terrorist attack in the southwestern Iranian city of Ahvaz, local media reported Sunday citing the ministry's spokesman Bahram Qasemi.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry expressed protest to the diplomats regarding the fact that the three countries allegedly hosted members of the terrorist group that was responsible for the attack, according to IRNA news agency.

"It is not acceptable that the European Union does not blacklist members of these terrorist groups as long as they do not perpetrate a crime on the European soil," Qasemi said as quoted by IRNA.

He noted that the situation when the spokesman for the Al-Ahvazi terrorist group could claim responsibility for the terrorist act through a London-based tv broadcaster was unacceptable.

In turn, the diplomats expressed regret over the tragedy and pledged to transfer the protest to their governments.

On Saturday, armed militants opened fire at a military parade, leaving at least 28 people killed and injuring another 60, according to media reports. The Saudi-linked Patriotic Arab Democratic Movement in Ahvaz has reportedly claimed responsibility for the attack.(@ChaudhryMAli88)

UN (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 23rd September, 2018) UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed his condolences to the Iranian authorities and families of the victims following the terrorist attack in the southwestern Iranian city of Ahvaz, Spokesman for Secretary-General Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.

"The Secretary-General condemns the attack today in Iran's southwestern city of Ahvaz, which reportedly left many dead, including children. He expresses his condolences to the families of the victims and to the Government and people of Iran. He wishes those injured a speedy recovery," the statement published on Saturday reads.

On Saturday, armed militants opened fire at a military parade, leaving at least 28 people killed and injuring another 60, according to media reports. The Saudi-linked Patriotic Arab Democratic Movement in Ahwaz has reportedly claimed responsibility for the attack.Washington, Sept 22 (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 23rd Sep, 2018 ) :United States and allied forces came under attack in Somalia, triggering an air strike which killed 18 Al-Shabaab militants, the US military said on Saturday.

The incident occurred on Friday 50 kilometers (30 miles) northwest of Kismayo in the south of the Horn of Africa country where Somali commandos work side-by-side with the American forces that train them.

Air assaults and missile strikes have increased in recent months.

"The US airstrike was conducted against militants after US and partner forces came under attack," US Africa Command said in a statement.

US forces also partner with the United Nations-backed African Union Mission in Somalia, which aims to counter the threat from Al-Shabaab jihadists.

The air strike was conducted "in self-defense," killing 18 militants, Africa Command said.

Two other militants "were killed by Somali forces with small arms fire during the engagement," it added.

In June an American commando was killed during an attack in southern Somalia that also wounded four US military members and a Somali soldier, officials said at the time.

More than 500 American personnel are partnered with African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) and Somali national security forces.

Al-Shabaab, an Al-Qaeda affiliate, is fighting to overthrow the internationally-backed Somali government in Mogadishu.Paris, France (UroToday.com) During this plenary session, Dr. Ravi Kulkarni gave a very nice introduction for the panel discussion and set the stage for the subsequent speakers on ureteral stenting after stone procedures. The plenary would flow with Dr. Wiseman speaking on patient selection for ureteral stents, Dr. Lange speaking on stent design and the session concluded with Dr. Antonelli speaking on medications involved with ureteral stenting. In general, he explained, after stones are treated, urologists usually put a stent in. The stents seem to be a necessary evil that comes with morbidity, reduction in quality of life (QOL) and the ideal solution would be to have no stents in the first place!There are already many established protocols and guidelines regarding ureteral stent insertion. Dr. Oliver Wiseman began the discussion by talking about the specific patient selection for ureteral stenting. He spoke on the effects that stents have on different patients and patient groups. Breaking down his talk into patient selection for pre-ureteroscopy, post-ureteroscopy, and peri-ESWL patients, he dove into the various risk factors that the respective patient populations face.When surgeons plan to do ureteroscopy (URS) many times the surgeon cannot access the ureter. He presented data from the UK that looked at over 1,300 patients and showed that sometimes surgeons are forced to put a stent in prior to ureteroscopy. The mean rate was 7.5% in men and 4.1% for women.For pre-ureteroscopy stenting, risk factors for postoperative sepsis were sepsis prior to ureteroscopy, median indwell time of the stent and female gender. To be sure, Dr. Wiseman emphasized that if a patient was stented for more than 4 weeks prior to URS, the sepsis rate increased significantly.Regarding stent placement post-ureteroscopy, he refers to guidelines set that say that it is often appropriate to omit postoperative stenting as long as they met certain criteria outlined in the EAU guidelines. He also emphasized that many surgeons utilize post-URS stents simply for the fact of avoiding any stressful emergencies. He did acknowledge that they are not necessary as he referenced a meta-analysis of 16 randomized controlled trials, that showed no difference between patients who have stents and those who do not have stents in post-URS from the point of urinary tract infections, need for analgesia, and unplanned readmissions.Which patients do urologists put stents in post-URS? According to Dr. Wiseman, these are the patients who have ureteral stones treated, if have had intraoperative complications, impacted stones, long operative times, increased stone burden, older age, or the presence of a solitary kidney.If a surgeon does not put a stent in, where are patients most likely to present with morbidity? Dr. Wiseman said, [these often occur when] [surgeons] do bilateral unstented procedures, lithotripsy for stone as part of the procedure, or if operative time is longer than 45 minutes. These patients are more likely to have complications postoperatively.Regarding peri-ESWL, the recommendation based on the talk was basically they should not be undertaken and this is known from the guidelines. Dr. Wisemans take-home messages were that: 1) surgeons should not be routinely stenting pre-URS as it leads to increased morbidity and cost and increases the risk of sepsis of subsequent URS. Due to the abnormally high rates of inability to access ureters especially in young men (Figure 1.), this may necessitate pre-URS stenting but the stent should be removed prior to 4 weeks as sepsis rates increase considerably. 2) Surgeons should not routinely place stent post-URS but should consider them if they have longer operative time (>45 min), URS with conjunction with lithotripsy and bilateral, or history of recent infection.Next up to speak was Dr. Lange who spoke on the different types of stent designs. He began with saying that not much has changed to the current, most widely used double J stent in recent times, even acknowledging the existing complications such as infection, encrustation, and patient pain and discomfort.He advocated for a paradigm shift in stent design away from the double J stent was needed. He began by talking about cancer stents that have a segmental configuration that sits only in part of the ureter. He spoke on the allium stent, Memokath stent, Uventa stent. He emphasized that all of these stents occupy less space in the ureter and fewer complications. He also remarked on various biodegradable stents which is an entirely different stent material. He completed his portion of the panel with the following conclusions below:The last speaker of the panel was Dr. Jodi Antonelli who spoke on various medications implicated in stenting. She began by stating that [u]reteral stent discomfort is a major issue for patients, [and] [m]any different drugs have been tried to mitigate patient discomfort.She was very thorough in going through the pharmacokinetics of the different drug classes and presented various studies associated with each drug. She spoke on alpha blockers, antimuscarinics, bladder analgesics, NSAID, pregabalin  she decided to omit her section on narcotics for this particular presentation. Starting with alpha blockers, she gave some background on alpha receptors in distal ureter and trigone. She then dove straight into several RCT and meta-analysis that have been done on alpha blockers. Explaining that most of the studies were heterogeneous, she still concluded that alpha blockers improved all symptoms scores and decreased pain index scores, improved general health scores, improved sexual and QOL scores. Alfuzosin seemed to be better than tamsulosin.Regarding antimuscarinics, she said the primary mechanism is bladder relaxation and that they are overall safe and efficacious drugs. An interesting study she brought up was one that compared antimuscarinic vs. alpha blocker vs. placebo study. (Figure below) Alpha blockers alone and antimuscarinics alone had better outcomes than placebo as assumed. But, when the researchers did head to head comparison, antimuscarinics were advantageous in all domains except sexual function. She re-emphasized that data with alpha blockers and antimuscarinics are fairly heterogeneous. Referring to the AUA guidelines, surgeons can go ahead and offer both alpha blockers and antimuscarinics to reduce stent discomfort (similar to EAU guidelines).Some other less studied drugs she talked about were bladder analgesics, NSAID, and pregabalin. The bladder analgesic that she focused on was phenazopyridine. She discussed a small study with 60 patients. This study showed no significant advantage with pain or urinary symptoms. Because of the small size of the study, it will be necessary to conduct larger studies to evaluate the true efficacy of the drug. NSAIDs, cox inhibitors that act as analgesics, were also discussed. The study that she introduced was a prospective study that utilized a single dose of placebo vs. NSAID right before stent removal. When evaluating severe pain within the 124 hours, it was less with NSAIDs. To be sure, use of additional pain medication was less with the NSAID group as well. One study investigated antimuscarinics and pregabalin and found that the total urinary stent symptom questionnaire (USSQ) improved with combo therapy. Dr. Antontelli concluded that many medications exist for ureteral stent discomfort but are unable to adequately control stent-related symptoms for many patients. Currently, the greatest evidence is for antimuscarinics or alpha blockers because other classes have limited data at this point. She pointed out that there may be advantages for multimodal therapies.Presented by: Drs. Ravi Kulkarni, MS, FRCS, Consultant Urological Surgeon, St. Peter's HospitalCo-Authors: Oliver Wiseman, Jodi Antonelli, Dirk LangeAuthor-Affiliation: St. Peters Hospital, Cambridge University Hospitals, UT Southwestern, University of British ColumbiaWritten by: John Sung, Department of Urology, University of California-Irvine, medical writer for UroToday.com at the 36th World Congress of Endourology (WCE) and SWL - September 20-23, 2018 Paris, FranceParis, France (UroToday.com) Venous thromboembolism (VTE) such as DVT, Dr. Tatarano describes, is a serious and significant complication after surgery. Little is known, however, about whether or not DVT is present prior to a urological procedure. Thus, in this study, Dr. Tatarano and colleagues sought to evaluate the utility of a D-dimer test when screening for DVT in patients preoperatively.Dr. Tatarano and his team recruited patients between 2015 and 2017 that had underwent a urologic procedure and had examined preoperative D-dimer tests. Ultrasound was used to examine patients with notably high levels of D-dimer (>1.0 microgram per milliliter). Dr. Tatarano claims that ultrasound of the lower limbs along with the D-dimer tests were able to reliably diagnose DVT prior to an operation. Twenty patients were reported to have preoperative DVT in this study. These patients were given anticoagulants, and were reassessed for preoperative thromboembolism several months later.Following surgery, the authors reported no patients to have any signs of DVT of venous thromboembolism. Despite this result, Dr. Tatarano made it clear to the audience that much more evidence needs to be recruited in order to comprehend the relationship between DVT prior to surgery and symptomatic thromboembolism following a procedure. The authors suggested a study with more power to confirm their tentative findings. It is important to note that this is the first attempt to preoperatively examine patients for DVT in urology.Presented by Shuichi Tatarano, MD, assistant professor, Department of Urology, Kagoshima University, Kagoshima, Kagoshima, JapanWritten by: Mitchell OLeary, Department of Urology, University of California-Irvine, medical writer for UroToday at the 36th World Congress of Endourology (WCE) and SWL - September 20-23, 2018 Paris, FranceDeacon Benas Ulevicious reflects on how the particular heritage of Lithuanian Catholics has strengthened their bond with the Universal Church and the Pontiff in Rome.

By Linda Bordoni

Present at the papal Mass in Kaunas on Sunday morning was Deacon Benas Ulevicius, who joined four other married men in 2017 as the first permanent deacons ordained in Lithuania for the Archdiocese of Kaunas.

He told us that Lithuanian Catholics have a special place in their heart for Saint Pope John Paul II who visited them at a time of great suffering for the Church and the nation.

But, he pointed out, it is precisely because of that time of trial and isolation that Catholics in his country feel a particular bond with the Universal Church and its Pontiff.

Speaking to Vatican News Gudrun Sailer, Deacon Ulevicius, the Dean of the Faculty of Theology in Kaunas - a subunit of Vilnius University - explains who his students are today.

Listen to Deacon Benas Ulevicius

Lithuanians: Catechism Catholics

Deacon Ulevicious says more and more mature students are expressing interest in the Faculty as they are increasingly interested in the Teaching of the Church.

He explains that Soviet repression in Lithuania is still very vivid in minds of the people and describes Lithuanian Catholics as Catechism Catholics: we really value the Teaching of the Church and try to be in tune with the Teaching of the Church and want to study it.

Permanent Deacons in Lithuania

The Deaconate is taking its first steps in the nation, but Ulevicius explains the idea is that those men who are actively involved in the activities of the Church may become deacons, and in the future be given specific roles and responsibilities.

Role of laypeople



Deacon Ulevicius notes the attitude of the bishops is such that Catholic laypeople feel very comfortable with them. He explains that most bishops experienced Soviet oppression or the huge conversion that took place during the 90s and today they are working with Catholic laypeople who were their colleagues in catholic camps and institutions.

So, he says It is a small country and it is easy to call our bishop and ask for some advice: we can meet them, we can celebrate with them and laypeople feel at home with our bishops and priests.

Our bishops are very close to the community and this is very good he says.

He also points out that many Lithuanian Catholics choose to live their spiritual lives within one of the many monastic communities or charismatic movements.

Lithuanians really love Popes

Ulevicious notes that  as everywhere  some Catholics are very conscious and aware of developments in Church theology or in the pastoral ministry and notice the difference between the Popes.

He says Lithuanians are very happy to be able to welcome Pope Francis because in Soviet times to know that we were part of the Universal Church with the Pope in Rome  not in Moscow  was a very, very inspiring and uplifting understanding, so we really value this faithfulness to the Church and our connection to the Universal Church.Pope Francis is visiting St. Jamess Cathedral in Riga, Latvia on September 24 where he will address the elderly among others. Fr. Pauls Klavins of the cathedral spoke to Vatican News about the event.

By Robin Gomes

Pope Francis who is on a 4-day visit to the Baltic states, will visit St. James Cathedral in the Latvian capital Riga on Monday, day 3. The Holy Father is scheduled to deliver a discourse there.

Fr. Pauls Klavins the administrator of the cathedral spoke to Janis Evertovskis of Vatican News on the papal event there.

Listen to Fr. Pauls Klavins

He said that among the 260 people who will be present in the cathedral during the Popes visit, will include parishioners, representatives of charitable and social organizations, representatives of those who suffered repression during the Soviet occupations and those who are active in parishes through ecclesial movements such as the Legion of Mary.

The elderly kept faith alive

Fr. Klavins also spoke about role of the elderly in keeping their Christian faith alive during the 5 decades of Soviet and Nazi occupations, when religious literature was not freely available. They passed on their faith to the younger generations.

Most of Latvias population today who were born during or after the World War II, went through much hardship. They suffered political and religious repression, including deportation, under the Soviet regime. So the Latvian generation of today is part of those people who have been very dedicated to their faith through the years of suffering.

Bridging generation gap

Fr. Klavins hopes that Pope Francis, during his visit to St. James Cathedral, will urge Latvias older and new generations to come closer to each other. He pointed out that it is not easy for the older generation to accept the values of the younger generation in todays changing culture dominated by the media.Pope Francis on Monday will visit St. James Cathedral in Riga during his visit to Latvia.

Pope Francis will be greeted by 260 senior citizens in St. James Cathedral. The elderly represent different Catholic parishes, Social day care centres and various organisations.

Janis Evertovskis of Vatican News spoke to Fr. Pauls Klavins, Parish priest of St. James Cathedral, who hopes that the visit of Pope Francis will bring them encouragement in their life of service, their Christian life and daily life struggles.Reflecting on the Gospel for the XXV Sunday of Ordinary time, Pope Francis says during his homily at Mass in Santakos Park in Kaunas, Lithuania, that we too welcome Jesus when we welcome the little ones.

By Sr Bernadette Mary Reis, fsp

Pope Francis began the second day of his 25th Apostolic Journey to the Baltic States by celebrating Mass in Santakos Park, in Kaunas, Lithuania. His homily was inspired by the Gospel of the day from the liturgy of the XXV Sunday in Ordinary Time (Mk 9:30-37).

Jesus with his disciples

Jesus is at at the halfway point of his journey to Jerusalem, Pope Francis began. Since he knows that the finale would entail moments of trial and grief, Jesus wants to prepare his disciples and wanted them to renew their choice to follow him, Pope Francis said.



Lithuanias disciples

Pope Francis then compared what Jesus disciples faced with what Lithuania's disciples faced during their "experience of the cross.



Earlier generations still bear the scars of the period of the occupation, anguish at those who were deported, uncertainty about those who never returned, shame for those who were informers and traitors.

The First Reading (Wisdom 2:10-12), speaks of the just who are persecutedfor their goodness, Pope Francis continued.

How many of you can identify first hand, or in the history of some family member, with that passage which we just read?

the Pope asked. He then said that the people of Lithuania, who still shudder when they hear the word Siberia, can say with James in the Second Reading: they covet, they murder (see 4:2).

Listen to our report

Memories of the past

Seeking power, like the disciples did, is the sign of those who fail to heal the memories of the past, the Pope continued. Focusing only on those who were better, who acted with greater dignity in the past, denies that history, the Pope said. He called that past glorious, because it was filled with sacrifice, hope and struggle with lives spent in service and fidelity to work.



Jesus antidote

Jesus gives an antidote to remedy this "struggle for power" and the "rejection of the sacrifice", Pope Francis explained. Jesus, the teacher, puts in their midst a child who would earn a penny doing what no one else wanted to do. Who would Jesus place in our midst today, on this Sunday morning? the Pope asked the ethnic minorities, the unemployed, migrants, the elderly, the lonely, rootless young people?



The Church is called to place these people in the midst of the present-day disciples, Pope Francis said. Thus, no one can give the excuse that they havent seen them. Being on the move, going out, also means stopping at times, to set aside our worriesto noticeto listento accompany those left on the side of the road, the Pope said. Thus we learn, like the disciples did, that in welcoming a little child, we welcome Jesus himself.

Pope Francis concluded saying, that such a welcome allows Jesus to heal our memory, and we make it known to all that Jesus Christ is our true hope.Pope Francis on Sunday wraps up the first leg of his visit to Baltic Nations paying tribute to the victims of the bloody repression perpetrated by the Soviet regime in Lithuania.

By Linda Bordoni

The Museum of Occupations and Freedom Fights, with which Pope Francis ends is two-day apostolic visit to Lithuania is housed in the former headquarters of the KGB: a stark reminder never to forget the mistakes and the atrocities of the past.

The Museums bloody history began when this former gymnasium became the headquarters of the Gestapo during the Nazi occupation of Lithuania in 1941. It was then re-occupied by the Soviet Secret Police  the KGB  when the Nazis left in 1944. The KGB stayed until 1991 when Lithuania became independent from the Soviet Union.

The museum is divided into two parts  the upper two floors document the Lithuanian partisans resistance against the Soviet occupiers, the deportations of Lithuanians to Siberia and day-to-day life in the Lithuanian Socialist Soviet Republic. The other parts of the museum are the prison cells, and execution and torture chambers in the basement.

The cells are exactly how the KGB officers left them upon leaving Lithuania in 1991.

The grounds are where the bodies of those tortured in Vilnius interior prison by the forerunner of the KGB  the NKVD/MGB  were buried between 1944-1947.

Amongst those who were interrogated and imprisoned here is Jesuit priest Sigitas Tamkevicius, an important figure in the Lithuanian resistance to Soviet occupation. Arrested in 1983, he served 10 years in prison and in exile in Siberia before becoming the auxiliary bishop of Kaunas in 1991 and the archbishop of Kaunas in 1996.

In the company of Archbishop Tamkevicius, Pope Francis, will visit the Museum on Sunsay afternoon and utter a prayer of remembrance and hope for the people of Lithuania.The Director of the Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, Giovanni Maria Vian, retraces the history and perspectives of Christianity in China, following the signing of the Provisional Agreement on the Nomination of Bishops by the Holy See and the People's Republic of China in Bejing today.

By Professor Giovanni Maria Vian



The 22nd of September is surely destined to make history: for the signature in Peking of a provisional accord between China and the Holy See on the appointment of Bishops, an agreement prepared through decades of long and patient negotiations, while the Pope begins his visit in the Baltic nations. Pope Bergoglio in fact arrived in Lithuania at the same time as, thousands of kilometres away, his representatives reached a milestone which, although certainly not conclusive, already appears to be of great importance for the life of Catholics in the great Asian nation.



The agreement was announced and, even if foreseeably contrasting and opposing interpretations are unceasing, the news is very positive and immediately circled the globe. The Pontiff also recognizes full communion to the last Chinese bishops ordained without pontifical mandate, with the obvious intent of assuring the normal unfolding of daily life in many Catholic communities, as confirmed by the simultaneous provision which establishes, north of the capital, a new diocese, the first in over 70 years.

Thus, it is a truly important step in the history of Christianity in China, where the first traces of the Gospel are truly ancient, as attested by a stele raised in 781 in Xian, in the heart of the enormous country. Indeed, the great monumentstanding nearly 3 metres high and discovered in the 1600sdocuments in Chinese and Arabic characters the narrative of the arrival on the Silk Road, already in 635, of Christian missionaries likely coming from Persia. Their names are engraved in the limestone rock, along with the announcement of the Luminous Religion, with a synopsis of the events of this tiny community furnished with dozens of other names, and with an exposition of the Christian doctrine then entrusted to hundreds of books translated and spread in the centuries that followed.

The history of this extraordinary tradition is then extended, oscillating between unexpected burgeonings and persecutions, even intersecting with the missionsprimarily Franciscanssent by Pontiffs and European Christian sovereigns for nearly a century, beginning in the latter half of the 1200s. At the start of the modern age the new order of Jesuits, crown jewel of the Catholic Reformation, led the missions in China, from Francis Xavier to Matteo Ricci, to recall only the most well known in a series of those who have few equals in the history of spreading the Gospel.

Political interference, doctrinal stiffening, envy and disputes among religious orders, however, considerably complicated the work of the missionaries. This was hindered by the disastrous controversy over Chinese rites that dragged on until the mid-1700s, a century later than the brainwashing imposed by colonial powers, and eventually by repeated persecutions, even throughout the 1900s.

Only in 1926 were the first Chinese bishops ordained by Pius XI in Rome, while 20 years later his successor established the Catholic hierarchy in the country. These two facts of the religious history of China, described as symbolic and decisive, were recalled on 6 January 1967 in the homily for the Epiphanyhigh praise for the countryby Paul VI, who little more than a year earlier, in a speech to the United Nations, had asked that communist China be admitted to the organization. And it was Pope Montini himself who arrived, for the first time in history, during the hours he spent in Hong Kong (then under British control), in Chinese territory. To say a single word: love, the Pope exclaimed. And he added, looking far into the future: The Church cannot silence this good word; love, which shall remain!

See the original article.

Thursday night (September 20, 2018), American rock band The Neighbourhood, best known for their hit song Sweater Weather, was spotted attending ABSINTHE at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas (Photo courtesy of Fabian Pino/Spiegelworld).

Gearing up for their highly-anticipated performance at the Life is Beautiful Music & Art Festival in Downtown Las Vegas this weekend, the band could be seen taking in ABSINTHEs outlandish acts and wild antics during the 10 p.m. performance, and later went backstage after the show for a photo with The Gazillionaire.

Theres little doubt that Dustin Ash will remember Saturdays win for quite some time. The longtime Bullring racer got the better of Bob Santa Maria in an epic duel that included more than a dozen lead changes, winning the Late Model Truck Series 35-lap feature by a razor-thin margin of .037 of a second.

Ashs victory tied him with Phil Goodwin for second on The Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedways all-time wins list at 58.

(Santa Maria) had way more horsepower than I did, and all I could do was try to get through the corners the best I could, Ash said. Bob (Santa Maria), man, he races hard  very, very, very hard. I gave it everything I could.

Any time you visit Victory Lane is awesome, but just to be able to drive one of these trucks that we build in-house is pretty special.

The race was Richmond Gear Weekend Warrior Night for the regional series and part of Pack the Track Night presented by K&N Air Filters at The Bullring. Ash is excited about the Late Model Truck Series going forward.

This is the first time Ive gotten to drive one of these trucks, Ash said. What an awesome class, and Im just grateful to run it. Kole Raz  the kid who runs this truck all the time  couldnt make it so they asked me to do it, and Im glad I did. Id love to see this class grow.

Ash used a pass on lap five to win one of the two six-lap heat races at the end of qualifying to warm up for the main event, with Eric Reschke taking the checkered in the other heat race.

Series organizer Michael Riefler was thrilled by what he saw at the 3/8-mile paved oval.

Dustin and Bob put on one heck of a show, said Riefler, a longtime Bullring competitor. That was some of the best racing Ive seen at The Bullring in a long time, and the crowd got a great look at what these trucks can do. This was a big shot in the arm for our series, and we cant wait for our next event in California.

Ash and Santa Maria received $200 Richmond Gear product bonuses in addition to their payouts, and the top five finishers took home The Racers Rewards Contingency Connection coupon books with up to $3,000 in race product coupons. Next, the series moves on to The Speedway at Willow Springs International Raceway in Rosamond, Calif., on Oct. 13, and then travels to Havasu 95 Speedway in Lake Havasu City, Ariz., on Nov. 10.

The regions truck racing lineage dates back to the Speed Truck Series that originated in 1997 under the American Speed Association (ASA). MechanixWear gloves and Go Fast! energy drinks sponsored the class throughout the years, and the trucks raced at up to 10 different tracks in California, Arizona and Nevada before the ASA disbanded in 2013.

The series trucks feature a full-tube chassis, a 330-horsepower sealed V-8 spec engine and two-speed direct-drive transmission, with a clutch pedal dump valve, coupled to an aluminum quick-change rear end. The trucks sport replica fiberglass bodies of the Chevrolet S-10, Chevrolet Colorado, Dodge Dakota, Ford Ranger and Toyota Tacoma.Six siblings of U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar have urged voters to cast their ballots against the Arizona Republican in November in an unusual political ad sponsored by the rival candidate.

The television ad from Democrat David Brill combines video interviews with Gosar-family siblings who ask voters to usher Paul Gosar out of office because he has broken with the familys values. They do not elaborate.

They previously condemned the congressmans false accusation in 2017 that wealthy Democratic donor George Soros was a Nazi collaborator in World War II.

Its intervention time, Tim Gosar says in the ad, endorsing Brill. And intervention time means that you go to vote, and you go to vote Paul out.

Gosar is a fourth-term congressman for a sprawling district in northwestern and central Arizona.

Congressman: 'Stalin would be proud'

He fired back at his brothers and sisters in a series of twitter posts, calling them disgruntled supporters of Hillary Clinton from out of state who put ideology before family.

My siblings who chose to film ads against me are all liberal Democrats who hate President Trump, Gosar said. Stalin would be proud.

In a separate video segment, the siblings urge voters to hold the congressman accountable on health care, employment and environmental issues.



Paul Gosars comments about Soros came in a television interview with Vice News in which he also suggested a 2017 white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, might have been a liberal conspiracy.

Why siblings are speaking out

In the new ad, the congressmans siblings describe their decision to speak out as saddening, horrible and ultimately a matter of pride for the family from Wyoming.



I think my brother has traded a lot of the values we had at our kitchen table, says Joan Gosar, an engineer.



Pete Gosar, another sibling who ran unsuccessfully as a candidate for governor of Wyoming in 2014, doesnt appear in the ad, though he has publicly criticized his brothers views in the past.

Wisconsin feud

The rift in the Gosar clan is not the only sibling feud to wend its way into campaigning this year for Congress, as Democrats seek to retake majority control of the House and Senate from Republicans.

In the race to replace House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, Democratic congressional candidate Randy Bryce is confronting an ad in which his brother endorses the Republican candidate.

That upset Nancy Bryce, their mother, who has denounced the campaign ad in a letter recently made public.Police and supporters of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega clashed in Managua on Sunday with demonstrators calling for the release of people imprisoned during recent protests, leaving at least one person dead, authorities said.

Hundreds of protesters carrying Nicaragua's blue and white flag massed in the eastern part of the capital in the morning after squads of police prevented the demonstrators from reaching the city center.

"We are marching for the freedom of our children who are not criminals. They are fighting to have a better country," said

Mercedes Davila, the mother of a student leader, Edwin Carcache, who she said had been jailed on charges of terrorism.

Police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at the crowd, and armed supporters of Ortega opened fire on demonstrators, local media said. At least one woman passing by was hit by a bullet, according to a Reuters witness.

Nicaragua's National Police said in a statement that one person was killed in the "crossfire" between demonstrators, whom police characterized as "terrorists," and families who were defending their homes from attacks by "violent groups."

Local media reported at least six people were wounded.

About 300 people have been jailed since protests erupted in April, according to local human rights activists. More than 300 people were killed during those protests in crackdowns by Nicaraguan police and armed groups backing the government, human rights groups have said.

The protests began after Ortega's leftist government moved to reduce welfare benefits, but soon escalated into broader opposition against Ortega, who has been in office since 2007. He also held power in the 1980s during Nicaragua's civil war.

The current violence is the worst since his Sandinista government battled U.S.-backed "Contra" rebels in the 1980s.

In a speech on Saturday, Ortega said he would not call early elections ahead of a scheduled 2021 vote. Nicaragua's main business lobby and other groups have urged Ortega to bring forward elections to help the country emerge from the crisis.

Ortega said previous national strikes had "seriously hurt" the economy and he warned business leaders not to support another strike. He accused business owners of lying when they said demonstrators had threatened to burn their establishments.

"The next time, then, we are going to send the police so that they keep their doors open," Ortega said. "This idea that their businesses will be burnt is a lie, an invention that they themselves make to justify the closures."Last week California Governor Jerry Brown signed into state law a bill that mandates the California Department of Education provide media literacy resources on its website, to help teachers and students navigate the maze of information on the internet.

California State Senator Bill Dodd, a Democrat representing the Napa Valley, authored the bill.

We already require critical thinking skills in our schools. By giving students the proper training to analyze the media they consume, we can empower them to make informed decisions, Dodd said in a statement.

Dodd told VOA this week that his media literacy efforts were based on a Stanford University study in 2016. It showed that 80 percent of middle school students didnt recognize an ad that was masquerading as a news story despite it being labeled sponsored content. The study also found that high school students had trouble telling the difference between the real Fox News Facebook site and a fake account mimicking the conservative news outlet.

First steps in media literacy

When the Stanford study first came out, Dodd said, he introduced a bill that suggested media literacy curriculum for students, but he said lawmakers didnt want to appropriate the funds for it. Dodd said he realized then that he was going to have to dial his ambitions back a bit, to a set of recommendations endorsed by the state.

This was as good as we were going to get for this year, Dodd said. Once these modules are put online, therell be an opportunity to go even further. Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Mexico, and Washington state have also passed legislation on media literacy instruction in schools. Several others are considering it.

On Monday, Dodd is to appear at a forum at the University of California Davis, discussing media literacy with students, professors and other interested parties. His goal is simple.

If it can engender some more ideas for how we can improve this, Ill consider that a victory, Dodd said.

Separating good information from bad

Author and former television journalist Dan Kilday has written a young-adult book called Molly Warner: School Reporter to address some challenges kids and adult journalists face in the tricky world of todays media. His sixth-grade protagonist channels her gossipy tendencies into journalism, but learns some tough lessons about which sources to trust and how important it is to get her facts straight.

Social media allows us to get our information quickly, Kilday said, but its not necessarily always accurate. His book  the protagonist is the same age as his oldest daughter  discusses the harm that can be done by spreading false information. And it serves as a good pep talk for journalists of the future.

One of the reasons I wrote this book is, we need good journalists out there, Kilday said. There are people doing things the right way and following up with sources and making sure all of their facts are right ... and then there are others who arent doing that.

Adults confused, too

A recent Gallup poll indicates kids arent the only ones confused by the endless offerings of information, good and bad, online. A survey of 19,000 people taken in 2017 indicated that more than 80 percent of U.S. adults consider the news media very important or critical to U.S. democracy.

But only 27 percent said they were very confident that they could tell when a news source was reporting fact rather than commentary or opinion. Half the respondents said they believe there are enough news sources to help people sort out facts in the face of media bias. But 47 percent said there is so much bias in the media that it is difficult to decipher the facts.

Carolyn Edy is an associate professor of communication at North Carolinas Appalachian State University. She told VOA that she has seen a change in her students perceptions of news media as online news has grown more popular. She said when students were reading printed newspapers, it was easier for them to differentiate news from opinion. Now, she said, she spends more time teaching students how to navigate a news site, and how to figure out exactly what theyre reading.

Its a big problem for a lot of people, she said.

With so many news sources available online, she said, she concentrates on teaching students how to evaluate their news sources for accuracy and transparency.

What is the mission of the organization? she asks, by way of example. What are their professional standards? ... Do they declare their conflicts of interest? And, in a key test for journalistic ethics: What do they do when they get [a story] wrong? (Journalistic tradition dictates that the publication prints a correction.)

Hitting share

Donald Barclay, deputy librarian at the University of California-Merced, this year published the book Fake News, Propaganda, and Plain Old Lies: How to Find Trustworthy Information in the Digital Age. Fake news has always been around, he said in a recent interview. But now, he said, theres so much information out there ... and the cost of transmitting that information is so low that you have it coming in from every direction.

He offered a good tip for vetting news before sharing it: checking your emotional response.

Anger, joy, self-righteousness  thats when youre susceptible to believe anything, he said. Thats when you have to be really careful and ask yourself, is this true?

He also cautioned that the cost of sharing false information can be high: Consider Pizzagate in November 2016, when internet rumors about a child-trafficking ring at a Washington Comet Ping Pong pizzeria inspired a North Carolina man to drive six hours to the nations capital and fire off three rounds from an automatic rifle at unsuspecting customers. No one was injured. The heavily armed suspect was arrested, convicted on assault charges, and sentenced to four years in prison.

Barclay said in an email this week that he believes the new California media literacy law is a modest first step in the right direction. Like Dodd, the lawmaker who sponsored the bill, Barclay said hed like to see more media and information literacy instruction in K-12 school curriculum, although he expressed reservations about letting lawmakers take charge of that.

However the story plays out, Edy, the university professor, said the new focus on media literacy has had at least one positive effect: renewed interest in good journalism. With all the controversy over what constitutes fake news, where to find the best sources, and whether social media can be trusted, she said, Ive had some of the most engaged students Ive ever had. And thats really exciting.U.S. President Donald Trump was uncharacteristically mute prior to the start of whirlwind of diplomacy during the U.N. General Assembly.

Trump took a rare respite from Twitter Saturday and Sunday while at his private golf club in New Jersey, amid several pending matters likely to define his presidency.

There were no substantive tweets from the president following his Friday's comments on his controversial order to declassify documents about the Russia probe (which is now under review) and also accuse opposition Democrats of obstructing the confirmation process for his second nominee for a lifetime appointment on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Trump is to dine Sunday in New York with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who is among a number of world leaders gathering for the 73rd U.N. General Assembly session.

Just ahead of the dinner Trump, putting pressure on Abe, tweeted, "We have done much to help Japan, would like to see more of a reciprocal relationship."



Besides trade differences and the costs of hosting U.S. forces in Japan, Trump and Abe were also certain to discuss the situation on the Korean Peninsula, just days after South Korean President Moon Jae-in traveled to Pyongyang and signed agreements with North Korea's leader, Kim Jong Un.

Week ahead

The U.S. president is also set to meet this week with the leaders of Britain, Colombia, Egypt, France and Israel.

Monday, Trump is to attend an event that is intended to spark global action on international cooperation to curb illegal drug use and cut narcotic supply chains.

The following day he will address the U.N. General Assembly. And on Wednesday, he will chair the world body's Security Council meeting.

The session at the U.N. Security Council, where the United States currently holds the monthly rotating presidency, was to focus on criticism of Iran, but now will be broadened, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley said.

"We were addressing so many issues," said Haley. "The administration thought it'd be valuable to expand that. The president didn't want it to be limited. Iran is certainly part of that discussion."

Trump, in a subsequent tweet last week, insisted the meeting will be about Iran.



Already high tension between Washington and Tehran, subsequent to Trump withdrawing from an international accord on Iran's nuclear weapons freeze, is further tightening following a shooting attack Saturday on an Iranian military parade.

Top Iranian officials, including President Hassan Rouhani, vow revenge and are blaming the United States and Gulf Arab states.

Haley rejects blame for the attack in Ahvaz, which killed at least 25 people and wounded nearly 70.

"Rouhani can blame us all he wants. The thing he's got to do is look at the mirror," Haley told CNN on Sunday.

Rouhani will be at the United Nations this week.

In a speech to a group opposing the Iran government on Saturday, Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani predicted the United States will plot a successful revolution in Iran.

"It could be in a few days, months, a couple of years. But it's going to happen," the former New York City mayor said.

"The United States is not looking to do a regime change in Iran," Haley responded Sunday. "We're not looking to do regime change anywhere."

Supreme Court nominee

While in New York confronting Iran and other geopolitical challenges, Trump is likely to have one eye firmly fixed on developments in Washington.

The confirmation in the Senate for his Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, continues.

The Senate's Judiciary Committee this week is to hear from a California psychology professor, Christine Blasey Ford, who accuses Kavanaugh of a sexual assault when they were high school students.

"We made important progress on our call this morning with Senate Judiciary Committee staff members," said attorneys for Ford in a statement on Sunday. "We committed to moving forward with an open hearing on Thursday, Sept. 27, at 10:00 am. Despite actual threats to her safety and her life, Dr. Ford believes it is important for Senators to hear directly from her about the sexual assault committed against her."

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has reportedly telephoned Trump to tell him his tweets questioning Ford's motivations for making the accusation are not helpful to the confirmation process.

Meanwhile, Trump is said to be considering whether to remove the second-in-command at the Justice Department after news reports Rod Rosenstein suggested secretly recording the president last year and discussed the possibility of invoking a constitutional amendment to remove Trump from office.

Rosenstein vehemently denies he "pursued or authorized" the recording of the president.

Rosenstein oversees the special counsel's investigation of connections between Trump's 2016 election campaign and Russia as Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from the matter.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has jumped into the fray, suggesting government officials who are not loyal to Trump should quit.

"If you can't be on the team, if you're not supporting this mission, then maybe you ought to find something else to do," Pompeo, a former CIA director, said on a Fox News program that aired Sunday.Dozens of vehicles slowly approached President Donald Trumps Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Saturday afternoon, blasting reggaeton and salsa as they drove by. They honked their horns and waved Puerto Rican flags draped from their car windows and trunks. They were on their way to a rally a few miles away to mark the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Maria.

Despite the scorching hot sun, hundreds of activists showed up at the Meyer Amphitheater in West Palm Beach. Buses full of protesters came from as far as Miami and Orlando. The crowd was lively. People spread out on the grass and walked around carrying posters that read Respeta Mi Gente (Respect My People) and Justice for Puerto Rico. To one side of the stage, a giant blowup balloon of Trump depicted as a baby had been inflated. Crowds waited in line to take photographs in which they gave the orange balloon the middle finger.

Message: vote

Event organizers encouraged those in attendance to vote in the midterm elections in November. Anyone with a microphone was constantly telling people to vote, to register to vote, and to spread awareness about voting.

Were honoring the lives that were lost, said Marcos Vilar, the president and executive director of Alianza for Progress, one of the event organizers. We are recognizing all the people that were displaced and are living here in South Florida, central Florida and throughout the state.

Vilar believes that although Puerto Ricans are citizens, the current administrations response to the aftermath of Hurricane Maria has proved that Puerto Ricans are not treated equally.

Nearly 3,000 people have died as a result of Hurricane Maria, according to a study conducted by the Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University. The president has repeatedly rebuked the death toll. Last week he tweeted that researchers had inflated the numbers like magic saying the amount was FIFTY TIMES LAST ORIGINAL NUMBER -NO WAY!

Trump was not at Mar-a-Lago during the event.

Florida politics

Florida Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson, who was in attendance, called the current situation in Puerto Rico inexcusable and characterized Trumps comments as offensive. How much more insults do (Puerto Ricans) have to take after being treated like they have? he asked.

He also criticized the Federal Emergency Management Agencys relief efforts, saying that their treatment of Puerto Ricans has been cold-hearted and that the agency must do more to provide displaced people with temporary housing assistance.

Nelson is locked in a tight re-election race with Republican Gov. Rick Scott, who must leave office because of term limits. The large Puerto Rican vote in Florida is seen as a crucial bloc in the state. Scott has visited Puerto Rico numerous times since the hurricane.

Devastating storm

Dayavet Velez, 17, said that her home in Adjuntas, a small municipality tucked away in the mountains of central Puerto Rico, had been destroyed by Hurricane Maria. She and her family have been living in central Florida for nearly a year.

We came here because we lost everything there, she said.

Velez said that when Trump visited Puerto Rico, he didnt see the full devastation that Maria had caused, he saw only a distorted reality. He didnt visit the areas that were most affected by the storm.

Despite the hardships she and her family have faced, the high school senior remains hopeful.

Were not going to be torn down, she said. Were going to stand up for ourselves ... were going to be strong ... were going to progress here.The United Nations, the World Bank and the International Committee of the Red Cross are partnering with technology powerhouses to launch a global initiative aimed at preventing famines.

"The fact that millions of people -- many of them children -- still suffer from severe malnutrition and famine in the 21st century is a global tragedy," World Bank President Jim Young Kim said announcing the initiative.

The global organization will work with Microsoft, Google and Amazon Web Services to develop the Famine Action Mechanism (FAM), a system capable of identifying food crisis area that are most likely to turn into a full-blown famine.

"If we can better predict when and where future famines will occur, we can save lives by responding earlier and more effectively," Microsoft President Brad Smith said in a statement.

The tech giants will help develop a set of analytical models that will use the latest technoligies like Artificial Intelligence and machine learning to not only provide early warnings but also trigger pre-arranged financing for crisis management.

"Artificial intelligence and machine learning hold huge promise for forecasting and detecting early signs of food shortages, like crop failures, droughts, natural disasters and conflicts," Smith said.

According to the U.N. and World Bank, there are 124 million people experiencing crisis-level food insecurity in the world today.

FAM will be at first rolled out in five countries that "exhibit some of the most critical and ongoing food security needs," according to the World Bank, which didn't identify the nations. It will ultimately be expanded to cover the world.Iran's president is blaming the United States and its Gulf Arab allies for the brazen attack on a military parade in southwestern Iran that killed at least 25 people and wounded nearly 70.

"All of those small mercenary countries that we see in this region are backed by America," Iranian President Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Sunday without identifying any countries. "It is Americans who instigate them and provide them with necessary means to commit these crimes."

Rouhani, speaking before leaving Tehran to attend the U.N. General Assembly, said, "America is acting like a bully towards the rest of the world." The Iranian leader said his country's response to the attack is "forthcoming within the framework of law and our national interests." He said the U.S. would regret its "aggressiveness."

The U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley condemned the the deadly attack but said the country's rulers need to look at their own base for the reason behind the unrest.

"He [Rouhani] has oppressed his people for a long time and he needs to look at his own base to figure out where that's coming from," she told CNN on Sunday. "I think the Iranian people have had enough and that's where all of this is coming from. He can blame us all he wants. The thing he's got to do is look at the mirror."

WATCH: Trump to meet with Iranian leaders

U.S. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said, "We stand with the Iranian people against the scourge of radical Islamic terrorism and express our sympathy to them at this terrible time."

Officials said two gunmen died and two other suspects were arrested after the Saturday attack.

Both Islamic State and a group calling itself the "Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahvaz" claimed responsibility for the shooting in Ahvaz in Khuzestan province.

State television said the assailants targeted a stand where Iranian officials had gathered to watch the annual parade commemorating the launch of the Islamic Republic's 1980 - 1988 war against Iraq. Similar parades were held across the country.

Most of the dead were said to be members of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard. Some reports said one of the dead was a journalist.

Reuters, citing Iranian state media, says Iran's government summoned the envoys of the Netherlands, Denmark, and Great Britain Saturday, accusing them of harboring Iranian opposition groups in their country

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the attack was linked to the United States' "allies in the region," and he ordered security forces to bring those responsible to justice.

"This crime is a continuation of the plots of the regional states that are puppets of the United States, and their goal is to create insecurity in our dear country," Khamenei said in a statement published on his website. While he did not specify exactly who the states are, U.S. allies in the region include Iran's main nemesis, Israel, and Arab Gulf states, particularly Saudi Arabia.

Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif blamed the attack on "regional terror sponsors" and "their U.S. masters."

Zarif said Iran would retaliate "swiftly and decisively" to the attack.

Khuzestan borders Iraq and has a large ethnic Arab community, many of them Sunni, in mainly Shi'ite Iran.Israel has put the residents of a West Bank village on notice that they must demolish their homes by October 1.



A statement from the Israeli defense ministry Sunday said "...residents of Khan al-Ahmar received a notice today requiring them to demolish all the structures on the site by October 1st, 2018."



It was not immediately clear what would happen if the Palestinians do not dismantle their homes.



Eid Abu Khamis, a village spokesman said, "No one will leave. We will have to be expelled by force."



Israel says the village was built without proper permits, but it is almost impossible for Palestinians to obtain proper building permits.



The Palestinian village is situated near a Israeli settlement, east of Jerusalem.



Critics say the demolition plans are likely being put in motion in favor of settlement expansion.



Earlier this month, the Supreme Court rejected appeals seeking to stop the demolition.



Israel has offered the Palestinians alternative sites for resettlement, but according to the French news agency AFP one site was near a rubbish dump and the other was close to a sewage treatment plant.



Several European countries have called on Israel to halt their demolition plans.The New Yorker magazine is reporting another allegation of sexual misconduct against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.



The magazine reported late Sunday two U.S. senators are investigating a woman's charge that Kavanaugh exposed himself and shoved his penis into her face, causing her to touch it as she shoved him away at a Yale University dormitory party during the 1983-1984 academic year.



Deborah Ramirez, 53, admits she had been drinking and that she has gaps in her memories. But after consultation with a lawyer, Ramirez told the magazine she felt confident enough in her recollection that it happened.



The New Yorker says it could not find any witnesses.



Several of Kavanaugh's Yale classmates say he would never have done such a thing. But some of Ramirez's classmates vouch for her integrity and recall seeing Kavanaugh "frequently and incoherently drunk."



An aide to one of the senators investigating the story said, the "allegations seem credible and we're taking them very seriously. If established, they're clearly disqualifying."



The White House has issued a statement from Kavanaugh who denies the incident, calling it "a smear, plain and simple."



Meanwhile, the woman accusing Kavanaugh of a 1982 sexual assault has agreed to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday morning.



Details on exactly under what conditions Christine Blasey Ford will tell her story are still being worked out.



Reports say her lawyers lawyers -- Debra Katz, Lisa Banks and Michael Bromwich -- agree Ford will go first, to be followed by Kavanaugh.



The three lawyers are not pleased with but agree to the committee's decision not to call any other witnesses. They include Kavanaugh's friend, Mike Judge, who Ford says was in the room when the alleged sexual attack occurred.



"Despite actual threats to her safety and her life, Dr. Ford believes it is important for senators to hear directly from her about the sexual assault committed against her," the lawyers said in a statement. They noted that other witnesses are "essential for a fair hearing."



Also to be worked out is exactly who will question Ford. There are 21 members of the Senate Judiciary Committee  11 conservative Republican men and 10 Democrats.



"Various senators have been dismissive of her (Ford's) account and should have to shoulder their responsibility to ask her questions," Ford's lawyers say.



Also watch: Kavanaugh Accuser Expected to Testify

But Republicans do not want to look as if they are badgering a woman who claims to be the victim of a sexual assault just weeks before congressional elections with control of Congress at stake.



Kavanaugh is President Donald Trump's choice to fill the vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court created by Justice Anthony Kennedy's retirement.



His confirmation by the Republican-controlled Senate seemed assured until Ford said in a Washington Post interview that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her at a house party when they were in high school in Maryland and she was 15 years old.



According to Ford, a drunken 17-year-old Kavanaugh pinned her to a bed and tried to tear her clothes off. She says he put his hand over her mouth when she tried to scream. Ford says she feared Kavanaugh might inadvertently kill her before she managed to get away.



Kavanaugh has denied sexually abusing anyone at any time in his life. A number of women who know and him and worked with him throughout his legal career have said he has been totally respectful toward them.



Trump has questioned Ford's account, tweeting Friday that "if the attack ...was as bad as she says, charges would have been immediately filed" with police.



The tweet has prompted an outpouring of testimonials by self-described sexual assault survivors under the hashtag #WhyIDidntReport, and a rebuke from a key Republican.



The White House has called Kavanaugh's character and legal qualifications impeccable.



Capitol Hill correspondent Michael Bowman contributed to this report.Voters in the Maldives cast their ballots Sunday in a controversial presidential election.

Both President Abdullah Yameen and opposition candidate Ibrahim Mohamed Solih voted early in Male, the capital.

Yameen is seeking a second five-year term in office. His path to re-election seems assured with his main rivals either in jail or in exile. He imposed a state of emergency earlier this year after refusing to comply with a Supreme Court order to release detained political leaders.

Sunday's election is widely seen as a referendum on whether democracy will survive in the country as Yameen has rolled back many of the democratic freedoms introduced to the nation.

Police conducted a raid on the main opposition's campaign office Saturday, saying that they wanted to stop "illegal activities."

"Mathematically, it is not possible for Yameen to win because all opposition parties are united against him," said Mohamed Nasheed, the Maldives' first democratically elected president. "The results they will announce will be different to what is actually in the ballot boxes."

Nasheed was elected president in the Maldives' first multi-party election in 2008, but he resigned in 2012 amid a military takeover. He lost the 2013 presidential race to Yameen, and was then tried and convicted of terrorism charges in a trial criticized by human rights activists. He was sentenced to 13 years in prison, but later granted medical leave last year to travel to Britain, where he was granted asylum.

Maldives is an archipelago of more than 1,000 islands. More than one-third of its 400,000 citizens live in Male. Tourism dominates the economy, with wealthy foreigners flown directly to ultra-expensive resort islands.A growing number of Asian manufacturers of products ranging from memory chips to machine tools are moving to shift production from China to other factories in the region in the wake of U.S. President Donald Trumps tariffs on Chinese imports.

Companies including SK Hynix of South Korea and Mitsubishi Electric, Toshiba Machine Co. and Komatsu of Japan began plotting production moves since July, when the first tariffs hit, and the shifts are now under way, company representatives and others with knowledge of the plans told Reuters. Others, such as Taiwanese computermaker Compal Electronics and South Koreas LG Electronics, are making contingency plans in case the trade war continues or deepens.

The company representatives and other sources spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

The quick reactions to the U.S. tariffs are possible because many large manufacturers have facilities in multiple countries and can move at least small amounts of production without building new factories. Some governments, notably in Taiwan and Thailand, are actively encouraging companies to move work from China.

US tariffs

The United States imposed 25 percent duties covering $50 billion of Chinese-made goods in July, and a second round of 10 percent tariffs covering another $200 billion of Chinese exports will come into effect next week. The latter rate will jump to 25 percent at the end of the year, and Trump has threatened a third round of tariffs on $267 billion of goods, which would bring all of Chinas exports to the United States into the tariff regime.

The tariffs threaten Chinas status as a low-cost production base that, along with the appeal of the fast-growing China market, drew many companies to build factories and supply chains in the country over the past several decades.

At SK Hynix, which makes computer memory chips, work is under way to move production of certain chip modules back to South Korea from China. Like its U.S. rival Micron Technology, which is also moving some memory-chip work from China to other Asian locations, SK Hynix does some of its packaging and testing of chips in China, with the chips themselves mostly made elsewhere.

There are a few DRAM module products made in China that are exported to the United States, said a source with direct knowledge of the situation, referring to widely used dynamic random-access memory chips. SK Hynix is planning on bringing those DRAM module products to South Korea to avoid the tariff hit.

Most of SK Hynixs production wont be affected, the source added, since Chinas dominance in computer and smartphone manufacturing makes it by far the largest market for DRAM chips.

Toshiba Machine Co says it plans to shift production of U.S.-bound plastic molding machines from China to Japan or Thailand in October.

Tools and car parts

The machines are used for making plastic components such as automotive bumpers.

Weve decided to shift part of our production from China because the impact of the tariffs is significant, a spokesman said.

Mitsubishi Electric, meanwhile, says it is in the process of shifting production of U.S.-bound machine tools used for metal processing from its manufacturing base in Dalian, in northeastern China, to a Japanese plant in Nagoya.

In Taiwan, an executive at notebook PC maker Compal, who declined to be named, said the trade wars impact had been limited so far, but the company was studying its options.

We can also use facilities in Vietnam, Mexico and Brazil as alternatives, the executive said. It wont be easy because our majority production is in China; no other country can replace that at this moment.

Large companies, small companies

Smaller companies are exploring their options, too.

South Korean medical equipment manufacturer IM Healthcare, which makes products including air purifiers, is studying a move to Vietnam or South Korea if the trade conflict intensifies, a source with direct knowledge of the matter said.

Some Asian governments hope for an economic and strategic boost from the U.S.-China conflict. In Taiwan, the government is actively encouraging companies to move production out of China, pledging last month to speed up its existing Southbound Policy to reduce economic reliance on China by encouraging companies to move supply chains to Southeast Asia.

Taiwan economics ministry official William Liu told Reuters that the trade war was a challenge and an opportunity for the self-ruled island. Taiwan depends on China as an export market, he noted, but at the same time could see a boost in jobs from companies moving operations back home.

Thailand also hopes to benefit from the flow of technology and investment leaving China during the trade war, said Kanit Sangsubhan, secretary-general of the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) Office of Thailand, which is coordinating a $45 billion project to attract investment into the country.

The EEC last month took about 800 representatives of Chinese companies on a tour around the eastern industrial heartland, and the countrys Board of Investment has done seven roadshows in China this year to woo investors.New Zealand has marked the 125th anniversary of a historic move to give women the vote. It was the first country in the world to enact suffrage for women.

Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand's third female prime minister said the nation's 19th century fight for economic independence and equal rights was still continuing.

The gender pay gap in the South Pacific nation is, on average, 10 percent, although for working mothers it is about 17 percent  a pay difference known as the "motherhood penalty." Women are also under-represented in some senior corporate positions. Among New Zealand's top 50-listed companies female executives make up just a fifth of directors.

In September 1893, New Zealand passed an Electoral Act that gave women over the age of 21 the right to vote in parliamentary elections.

Schools, theaters, museums and libraries have hosted events commemorating the world-first legislation and discussions about how to achieve greater equality.

In parliament, prime minister Ardern praised the campaigners who had brought about fundamental change all those years ago.

"First and foremost as a tribute to the women who led the change. To Kate Sheppard; to Margaret Seabright; to the 25,000 women who signed the petition in 1893. I move that this house mark the 125th anniversary of New Zealand women becoming the first in the world to win the right to vote, and celebrate the contribution of women to New Zealand's democracy past, present and future," said Ardern.

A union representing public service workers in New Zealand has held an equal pay strike demanding an end to wage discrimination. The center-left Ardern government, which came into power a year ago, has also this week brought in new laws designed to make it easier for female employees to make claims for equal pay.

About 40 percent of New Zealand lawmakers are women, but fewer than a third of government ministers are female.OPEC and allied oil producers including Russia ended their meeting on Sunday with no formal recommendation for any additional supply boost.

Oman's Oil Minister Mohammed bin Hamad Al-Rumhy and Kuwaiti counterpart Bakhit al-Rashidi told reporters that producers had agreed they needed to focus on reaching 100 percent compliance with production cuts agreed at an OPEC meeting in June.

That effectively means compensating for falling Iranian production. Al-Rumhy said the exact mechanism for doing so had not been discussed.Pope Francis warned Sunday against any rebirth of the "pernicious" anti-Semitic attitudes that fueled the Holocaust as he marked the annual remembrance for Lithuania's centuries-old Jewish community that was nearly wiped out during World War II.

Francis began his second day in the Baltics in Lithuania's second city, Kaunas, where an estimated 3,000 Jews survived out of a community of 37,000 during the 1941-1944 Nazi occupation.



During Mass in Santakos Park under a brilliant autumn sun, Francis honored both Jewish victims of the Nazis and the Lithuanians who were deported to Siberian gulags or were tortured, killed and oppressed at home during five decades of Soviet occupation.



"Earlier generations still bear the scars of the period of the occupation, anguish at those who were deported, uncertainty about those who never returned, shame for those who were informers and traitors," Francis told the crowd, which was estimated by the local church to number 100,000. "Kaunas knows about this. Lithuania as a whole can testify to it, still shuddering at the mention of Siberia, or the ghettos of Vilnius and Kaunas, among others."



He denounced those who get caught up in debating who was more virtuous in the past and fail to address the tasks of the present  an apparent reference to historic revisionism that is afflicting parts of Eastern Europe as it comes to terms with wartime-era crimes.



Francis recalled that Sunday marked the 75th anniversary of the final destruction of the Ghetto in the capital Vilnius, which had been known for centuries as the "Jerusalem of the North" for its importance to Jewish thought and politics. Each year, the Sept. 23 anniversary is commemorated with readings of the names of Jews who were killed by Nazis or Lithuanian partisans or were deported to concentration camps.



The pope warned against the temptation "that can dwell in every human heart" to want to be superior or dominant to others. And he prayed for the gift of discernment "to detect in time any new seeds of that pernicious attitude, any whiff of it that can taint the heart of generations that did not experience those times and can sometimes be taken in by such siren songs."



Across Europe, far-right, xenophobic and neo-fascist political movements are making gains, including in Lithuania.



Francis noted that he would pray later in the day at a plaque in the Ghetto itself and called for "dialogue and the shared commitment for justice and peace."



Francis will also visit the former KGB headquarters in Vilnius that is now a museum dedicated to Soviet atrocities, and will hear from Archbishop Sigitas Tamkevicius, who was persecuted by the Soviet regime and was detained in the facility's chambers.



Francis is travelling to Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia to mark their 100th anniversaries of independence and to encourage the faith in the Baltics, which saw five decades of Soviet-imposed religious repression and state-sponsored atheism. Lithuania is 80 percent Catholic; Lutherans and Russian Orthodox count more followers in Latvia and Estonia, where Francis visits on Monday and Tuesday.



The Baltic countries declared their independence in 1918 but were annexed into the Soviet Union in 1940 in a secret agreement with Nazi Germany. The Vatican and many Western countries refused to recognize the annexation. Except for the 1941-1944 Nazi occupation, the Baltic countries remained part of the Soviet Union until its collapse in the early 1990s.



Francis' trip changed its schedule three weeks ago to allow him to acknowledge the slaughter of some 90 percent of Lithuania's 250,000 Jews at the hands of Nazi occupiers and complicit Lithuanians.



The issue of Lithuanian complicity in Nazi war crimes is sensitive here. Jewish activists accuse some Lithuanians of engaging in historical revisionism by trying to equate the extermination of Jews with the deportations and executions of other Lithuanians during the Soviet occupation.



Many Lithuanians don't make any distinctions between the Soviets who tortured and killed thousands of Lithuanians and the Nazis who did same with Jews.



Until recently, the Vilnius museum was actually called the "Genocide Museum" but changed its name to the "Museum of Occupations and Freedom Fights" since it focuses on Soviet atrocities, not Nazi German ones.

The Russian Defense Ministry on Sunday again blamed Israel for the downing of a Russian plane by Syrian government forces and said Israel appeared "ungrateful" for Moscow's efforts to rein in Iran-backed fighters in Syria.

Syrian government forces mistook the Russian Il-20 reconnaissance plane for an Israeli jet and shot it down Monday, killing all 15 people aboard. While the Russian military initially blamed the plane's loss on Israel, President Vladimir Putin later attributed it to "a chain of tragic, fatal circumstances."

The Russian Defense Ministry on Sunday presented its latest findings on the Il-20's downing, laying the blame squarely on Israel.

"We believe that the Israeli Air Force and those who were making decisions about these actions are fully to blame for the tragedy that happened to the Russian Il-20 plane," Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said in a statement.

For several years, Israel and Russia have maintained a special hotline to prevent their air forces from clashing in the skies over Syria. Russia has provided key air support to President Bashar Assad's forces since 2015, while Israel has carried out dozens of strikes against Iran-linked forces. Israeli military officials have previously praised the hotline's effectiveness.

But Konashenkov on Sunday accused Israel of using the hotline to mislead Russia about its plans. He said the Russians were unable to get the Il-20 to a safe place because an Israeli duty officer had misled them, telling them of an Israeli operation in northern Syria while the jets were actually in Latakia, in the country's west.

Konashenkov said an Israeli fighter jet flying over Syria's Mediterranean coast shortly before the downing deliberately used the Russian plane as a shield, reflecting "either lack of professionalism or criminal negligence."

He also complained that the Israelis over the years have waited until the last minute to notify Russia of their operations, endangering Russian aircraft. He described Israel's actions as "a highly ungrateful response to everything that Russia has done for the State of Israel recently."

He referred to efforts by Russia to rein in Iran-backed forces in Syria, including a deal struck in July to keep such fighters 85 kilometers (53 miles) from the Israel-occupied Golan Heights.A communications adviser helping lead the Senate Judiciary Committee's response to allegations of sexual assault against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh has stepped down over allegations of his own sexual misconduct.

A spokesman for the committee said Saturday that Garrett Ventry, 29, had resigned as an aide to committee Chairman Charles Grassley, an Iowa Republican.

Ventry was "one of several temporary staff brought on to assist in the committee's consideration of the Supreme Court nomination," the spokesman said. "While he strongly denies allegations of wrongdoing, he decided to resign to avoid causing any distraction from the work of the committee."



NBC reported that Ventry also resigned Saturday from the public relations company where he was employed, having taken a temporary leave of absence to work with the Judiciary Committee. The report quoted a company spokesman for CC Public Relations confirming Ventry's resignation.

NBC also reported that Ventry was fired from a previous position in the office of North Carolina House Majority Leader John Bell because a female employee of the North Carolina General Assembly accused him of sexual harassment. Bell confirmed to NBC that Ventry worked in his office but he did not confirm the reason for his departure.Spains maritime rescue service said Sunday it rescued more than 400 people from 15 small boats, most of them off the countrys southern coast, while humanitarian groups lamented that the sole private rescue boat operating near the deadly central Mediterranean human trafficking route risked being put out of action by Italys anti-migrant leaders.

While the Spaniards pulled 447 people to safety on Saturday in the western part of the sea, two humanitarian groups which operate the last private rescue vessel in the central Mediterranean, considered the deadliest route for trafficked migrants, said Panama had yanked the ships registration following Italian complaints.

Panamas maritime authority said in a statement that it has begun procedures to remove the registration of Aquarius 2 after Italy complained the boats captain failed to follow orders. It said Italy contends that the captain of Aquarius 2 defied instructions to return migrants to Libya that it had rescued from unseaworthy vessels launched by Libyan-based traffickers.

But SOS Mediterranee and Doctors Without Borders, the humanitarian groups jointly operating Aquarius 2, say violence-wracked Libya doesnt meet international standards for safe harbor. On Sunday, they asked European governments to reassure Panama that Italys contentions are unfounded or issue a new flag so Aquarius 2 can keep operating.

Right-wing Interior Minister Matteo Salvini wont let private rescue boats dock in Italy.

In a statement Sunday, the two non-governmental organizations alleged that Italy had forced the Panamanians to revoke the registration under blatant economic and political pressure from the Italian government, which has vowed to stop arrivals in Italian ports of migrants saved by private rescue boats.

Italys right-wing, anti-migrant interior minister, Matteo Salvini, denied that allegation in a tweet Sunday night, saying no pressure at all on Panama for the Aquarius 2. I dont even know Panamas area code.

The Panama Maritime Authority said it was acting after the principal complaint came from Italian authorities about the ships captain. It also noted that maritime authorities in Gibraltar over the summer took Aquarius 2 off its registry and had requested that it suspend its operations.

The two humanitarian groups in response said they demand that European governments allow the Aquarius to continue its mission, by affirming to the Panamanian authorities that threats made by the Italian government are unfounded, or by immediately issuing a new flag under which the vessel can sail.

Nearly 300 migrants have died in waters separating Spain and Africa so far in 2018, according to the United Nations, and over 1,600 have died this year trying to cross the Mediterranean, as departures in smugglers boats from Libyas coast to Italy have sharply declined this year compared to previous years, after the Italian authorities began cracking down on the rescue boats.

But U.N. refugee agency officials say the central route from Libya is by far the deadliest for migrants smuggled by sea.

A recent spike in migrant arrivals in Spain has strained public services, and the Spanish government has faced further pressure since Italy refused to let humanitarian boats dock with migrants they have rescued from the sea.

Aquarius 2 was carrying 58 migrants it rescued in the last few days, and where they would be taken was unclear Sunday night.

The U.N. refugee agency says largely lawless Libya, bloodied by a recent surge in fighting among militias, isnt a safe harbor. Migrants returned there are brought back to detention centers, where food is scarce and beatings and sexual assault are common.

International maritime law stipulates that those rescued at sea are brought to the nearest safe harbor.

Italy, which has trained and equipped the Libyan coast guard, says that human trafficking will be discouraged by returning those rescued at sea to Libya.

The Mediterranean island of Malta has also come down hard on private rescue boats, blocking the vessels in their harbors and launching prosecutors probes of their crew.

In other actions against migrants, Macedonian police said they have detained 120 migrants, in two separate cases, who illegally entered Macedonia from Greece as the number of illegal crossings has significantly risen in recent months.

Police said Sunday that a border police patrol discovered 37 migrants in southern Macedonia, near the frontier with Greece. They were detained, but police gave no more details about their nationality.

In a second case, 83 migrants, 11 of them minors, and most of them Pakistanis (76), were discovered packed in a truck coming from Greece. The truck driver was detained and the migrants transferred to the reception center in the southern town of Gevgelija.

Macedonian police say they have turned back about 6,600 migrants attempting to cross the border in the first half of 2018.Australia is warning culprits in a worsening fruit contamination crisis they could face 15-year jail terms. Police are investigating dozens of reports of sewing needles being found in containers of strawberries across the country. Many are thought to be copycat acts of sabotage.

"Parasites" and "cowards" is what government ministers are calling those responsible for contaminating fruit across Australia.

The police are investigating more than 100 reports of shoppers finding needles concealed within strawberries and other fruits.

The perpetrators could face prison terms of up to 15-years  a penalty similar to crimes such as child pornography and financing terrorism.

"Obviously we mean this to have the maximum deterrent affect possible and we do not resile from the fact that it is a very strong response and it has been a strong response delivered very swiftly this week. But it is precisely what is needed to draw a line under this conduct and stop it from having another week of damage done to our fruit growers and to our farmers," said Australia's Attorney General Christian Porter.

Fruit producers say their industry has been hit by commercial terrorism, but some farmers say there has been a hysterical overreaction to the scandal.

Grower Angelo Demosi said a calm approach to restore confidence is needed.

"It is important that we take the foot forward to ensure that wholesalers and growers can assure consumers that the product is safe," said Demosi.

Australian strawberries being exported overseas now have to pass through metal detectors.

Melissa Fitzgerald, a food science expert at the University of Queensland, said tamper-proof containers are another option.

"It is possible that packaging technology will be brought on board so that people cannot open the strawberries or open the fruit and put something like a needle in it," said Fitzgerald.

As the hunt for the saboteurs continues, Australian authorities are offering large rewards to help catch them.The U.S. Department of Homeland Security on Saturday announced a proposal that would seek to ensure that those looking to enter and remain in the United States "will not be reliant on public benefits," such as aid programs for nutrition, prescription drugs or housing.

In an online statement, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said the department would be seeking public comment on the proposed rule in an effort to be transparent.

"This proposed rule will implement a law passed by Congress intended to promote immigrant self-sufficiency and protect finite resources by ensuring that they are not likely to become burdens on American taxpayers," she said.

The DHS statement said an individual's "inadmissibility based on the public charge" is to be determined by an evaluation of the applicant's likelihood of becoming a public charge at any time in the future. The term "public charge," it said, refers to a person who receives certain public benefits above "certain defined threshold amounts" or for longer than certain periods of time.

The statement said DHS would consider "current and past receipt of designated public benefits above certain thresholds" as a "heavily weighed negative factor."

The statement defined the public benefits described as federal, state, local or tribal assistance for income maintenance, food stamps, certain types of health care, institutionalization for long-term care at the government's expense, and public housing, among others.

The proposal will be officially published in the Federal Register "in the coming weeks," the statement said, at which time the public will have 60 days during which to offer comment online or by mail.The U.S. State Department said Saturday that Washington would not wait to impose sanctions on any shippers helping to get fuel to North Korea, in

an apparent warning to Russia days after the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations accused Moscow of cheating on the measures.

North Korea continues to employ tactics to evade U.N. sanctions, Heather Nauert, the State Department spokeswoman, said in a statement, adding that U.N. member states are required to prohibit ship-to-ship transfers of petroleum fuel to the country.

"The United States will not hesitate to impose sanctions on any individual, entity or vessel supporting North Korea's illicit activities, regardless of nationality," Nauert said.

The 15-member U.N. Security Council has unanimously boosted sanctions on North Korea since 2006 in a bid to choke off funding for Pyongyang's nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

But the United States and Russia have recently shown cracks in the unity of the council over the sanctions.

Washington has "evidence of consistent and wide-ranging Russian violations" of the sanctions, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley said Monday.

Russia was helping North Korea illegally obtain fuel through transfers at sea, had refused to expel a North Korean whom the Security Council blacklisted last year, and had pushed for changes to an independent U.N. report on sanctions violations to cover up breaches by Russians, she said.

Russia blames Haley

Russia said after Haley's comments that Moscow had not pressured the authors of the U.N. report, and it blamed Haley for heightening tensions.

With the warning on fuel shipments, the Trump administration signaled it was keeping pressure on Pyongyang even after saying there has been progress.

President Donald Trump this week hailed a summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in, and said there had been "tremendous progress" with North Korea on several fronts,

including Pyongyang's denuclearization.

Washington has tracked 148 cases this year of tankers delivering fuel to North Korea in breach of a U.N. cap of 500,000 barrels a year. Haley has not said how many of those transfers may have involved Russia.

Both Russia and China have suggested the Security Council discuss easing sanctions after Trump and Kim met in June and Kim pledged to work toward denuclearization.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Friday that the United States was working to set up another summit between Trump and Kim after their unprecedented meeting in Singapore, but that there was still work to do.Every year in September, global leaders gather at the United Nations headquarters in New York for the U.N. General Assembly. This year, it begins on Tuesday, September 25.



What is the U.N. General Assemblys general debate?



The so-called general debate is the meeting at the beginning of the General Assembly in which representatives from every country take turns delivering speeches. There is no real debating that takes place, rather it is a time for each country to address whatever topics are most important to their governments.



Why does Brazil speak first?



Brazil has spoken first since 1947 and this has now become a tradition. According to the United Nations, during the organizations early years, no one ever wanted to be the first to speak, and Brazil always ended up volunteering to go first. The host country, which is the United States, always speaks second.



What determines the speaking order of the remaining countries?



After the United States speaks, the order is set by a complex system that involves multiple factors. Heads of state usually speak first, followed by heads of government and then other government representatives, such as foreign ministers. The United Nations says other considerations include geographical balance, the order in which the request to speak was made, and other factors.



How long can a leader speak?



Speakers are asked to try to keep their statements to 15 minutes, but in practice a government official can speak as long as he or she likes. The United Nations says the longest speech made during the General Assembly was given by Cubas Fidel Castro, who spoke for four and half hours in 1960. However, that speech was not made during the general debate.



What else goes on at the General Assembly?



Besides the general debate, the General Assembly is a time for member states, which number 193, to decide on the U.N.s budget, elect non-permanent members of the Security Council, and attend a host of side meetings on various issues. As well as formal meetings, the assembly is an opportunity for leaders around the world to meet for private discussions.President Emmerson Mnangagwa has allayed fears that Zimbabwean authorities are auctioning the countrys resources and surrendering its sovereignty to China in exchange of loans running into billions of dollars being sourced from the Asian nation.

Responding to a question from a Zimbabwean concerned by what is happening in Zambia where citizens claim that the nation is being colonized by China through loans amounting to billions of dollars, Mnangagwa said Zimbabwe is focusing on capital projects that generate funds for repaying Chinese loans.

Mnangagwa, who is in USA for the United Nations General Assembly and was addressing a gathering attended by Zimbabweans, said there is no need to abandon friends in good times.

You have some fear emanating from our relations with the Peoples Republic of China and fear is on what has happened to Zambia. Assuming that we do know the same and you know more than I do, I would reply relating to relations between Zimbabwe and China without mentioning Zambia. During the period of isolation very few nations outside the West assisted us. Some of the notable countries which came to our assistance were China, India, Brazil, Russia  And when things are good you dont then forget your friends who stood with you during bad times. But you dont sell your country because someone stood with you during bad times.

All what is necessary when you get any loans for investment is that it must be structured. There are capital loans for investing in projects which can refinance themselves to pay the loans not based on the fiscus.

He said Chinese loans are being effectively used to cater for Zimbabwe while generating funds for repaying loans.

I went to the Republic of China in April and requested for support for (revamping) Hwange seven and eight plants costing about $1,2 billion. And the funds have come and we have starred drawing down on that amount. But the 600 megawatts we are going to get in 24 months time off the national grid its going to pay for itself for the next 15 years. Nothing is going to come from (state) finance. So, I dont see any danger where you have a project which becomes productive in terms of revenue streams to pay for itself.

He also cited another income-generating project in Kariba financed through Chinese loans as beneficial to Zimbabweans in the long run.

We have also the Kariba South Extension where I think in January we commissioned it. It has put 300 megawatts into the (national energy) grid and we are paying because we are using electricity. The difference is that if we did not have that we would have been importing the 300 megawatts from South Africa and paying South Africa. But now we have the assets in Zimbabwe and even when we finish paying the loan  the assets will remain with us and we will continue using it. I dont see the danger there but because you are younger you may see more than I do. Come and advise me where I do wrong. Im a listening president 

Zambians are fuming over the ballooning national debt, largely dominated by Chinese loans, saying their country is being colonized by the Asian nation, which is now the largest investor in the nation.

They claim that most public tenders are awarded to Chinese bidders and in Lusaka and other parts of the country China is busy constructing airports, roads, factories and police stations.

These projects are being implemented through Chinese loans amounting to billions of dollars.

According to the Associated Press, Zambian president Edgar Lunga has hit back at critics saying such misleading headlines  seek to malign our relationship with China by mischaracterizing our economic cooperation to mean colonialism.

The opposition United Party for National Development has described the replacement of Zambian workers with Chinese labourers as a time bomb.

Local people are also unhappy over being allegedly beaten up a work by the Chinese for failing to follow simple instructions, noting that their country is being slowly colonized by the Asian nation.Applicants are subjected to background screenings and psychological evaluations and receive training, Lee school system officials said. They would then register with the Department of Criminal Justice Services before seeking an appointment as a special conservator of the peace from a circuit court.In 2013, during what he has described as one of his proudest legislative achievements, the bespectacled lawmaker led the charge to ban assault weapons in Maryland following the deadly shooting of 20 children in Newtown, Conn. Frosh, who chaired of the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee for 12 years, also helped shepherd the states repeal of the death penalty and the passage of same-sex marriage.Todays Headlines

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By signing up you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy PolicyWhen you buy a VCR for 200 bucks, you can buy Consumer Reports to find out whats out there, Mr. Elfin told the New York Times in 1997, the year he retired from U.S. News. When you spend 100 grand on four years of college, you should have some independent method of comparing different colleges. Thats what our readers want, and theyve voted at the newsstand in favor of what were doing.Apparently it wasnt so much the art work itself that puzzled Customs inspectors at Dulles International Airport earlier this month, it was where the paint had been applied: to the shells of turtles.Nurses can bounce back patients to a dispatcher if they decide an EMS or ambulance crew should respond. For the callers who need non-emergency medical care, the nurses will book an appointment with a primary-care doctor or clinic in the callers neighborhood who can see them within two hours. The nurses will also send a Lyft driver to take Medicaid-covered patients to and from a doctor or clinic.What youll see is that the airline websites are getting incredibly better at communication, Kennedy said.  Are you sure you want to purchase this? Do you recognize that this is what you cannot get [at this ticket price]? Are you sure you recognize that this ticket is not refundable? A 2016 Toyota Highlander was traveling west on the service road near Heritage Drive about 11 p.m. when the vehicle struck the person in the road, police said. They said that the driver had not been speeding or drinking and that he stayed at the scene and spoke with officers. Police said they do not expect him to face charges. Police said alcohol may have been a factor in the actions of the pedestrian, whose name was not released pending notification of relatives.The story of the organ transplant begins at Arlington Presbyterian, where church elders made a surprising decision three years ago to sell the churchs building, parking lot and grounds to a nonprofit organization that would use the land along Columbia Pike to build 173 units of affordable housing. The churchs congregation had dwindled to half its size from the early 2000s, and its leaders hoped their sacrifice would help alleviate, even slightly, the regions increasingly dire housing crisis among the working class.Initially, all patients chose roughly the same number of screening tests. But after a conversation with their doctor, black men with a black doctor were substantially more likely to opt for every test than those with a nonblack doctor. The effect was particularly pronounced for invasive tests, which require more trust between doctor and patient: Patients with black doctors were 47 percent more likely to get diabetes screening and 72 percent more likely to get cholesterol tests.The value of these autism-friendly efforts is incalculable, families say, because it not only makes the lives of those living with autism easier, it also allows them to have experiences that those without autism have routinely. Best of all, they are lessons in communication, one of the chief skills that many children with autism must work especially hard to develop.Spain rescues more than 440 migrants from Mediterranean: Spain's maritime rescue service said it saved more than 440 migrants attempting the perilous crossing of the Mediterranean Sea from North Africa. The service said it pulled 447 people from 15 boats intercepted by its rescue craft. Nearly 300 migrants have died in waters separating Spain and Africa in 2018, according to the United Nations, and more than 1,600 have died this year trying to cross the Mediterranean.In the past, American leaders believed we could cede an absolute majority of the pie and trade that relative wealth for dramatically increased influence, said Danny Russel, an Asia Society analyst who served as a high-ranking Asia policy official in the Obama administration. But if we really are reverting to a more primitive barter system, then we lose that. Then we are competing on Chinas terms  at a moment when China is on the upswing. Very few countries, if any, believe that of the two countries, Americas day is dawning.Fords lawyers also said they had not been told whether the Republican senators on the committee would themselves ask Ford questions or defer to staff or an independent lawyer to question her. It is customary that senators ask their own questions during public hearings. But there is a potential political risk if the all-male, all-white roster of Republicans on the panel  few of whom have any experience questioning sexual assault victims  grills Ford in a way that reminds viewers of 1991, when Anita Hill told the panel that Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas had repeatedly sexually harassed her. Thomas was confirmed.It wasnt really about the money, he claimed. He planned to give the bride price to his daughter anyway, once she started her family. It was the principle of the thing for Liang, who asked that only one name be used because he was discussing a sensitive family issue.Whites still own the majority of land in South Africa, despite making up less than 10 percent of the population of 56 million. But du Toit represents the fears among some white farmers that the political trajectory of South Africa, such as the issue of land ownership, is not on their side.His strategy was to ally strongly with the United States and present himself as the loyal sidekick in Northeast Asia facing China and North Korea, he said. But when Trump decided otherwise, he was badly wrong-footed. He is still living with the consequences, trying to make himself relevant again in the geopolitics of Northeast Asia.The criticisms from Russia on Sunday were in contrast to an assessment last week by President Vladimir Putin that the shooting of the plane was attributable to a chain of tragic accidental circumstances and not to any missteps by Israel. In seeking to tamp down the tensions, he had signaled that Russias ties with Israel are too important to put in jeopardy, despite the deaths of the soldiers.Haley was a more prominent player on North Korea during the first year of the Trump administration, when the focus was on rallying international support for tougher international sanctions and Rex Tillerson was secretary of state. She has been less visible through the swift turn to summit diplomacy this year, where Pompeo has been the negotiator. She did not attend Trumps historic summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore in June, but only because there is no role for the U.N. ambassador at such an event, according to several administration officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal decision-making.The president continued to discuss the issue with aides and associates Saturday and said he was more suspicious than furious about the reports, peppering his inner circle with a round of questions about whether he was being baited into taking action that could imperil his presidency because McCabe  a person he detests  took some notes about private conversations, as one ally close to him put it. White House aides who spoke to Trump said he was less angry than they expected.The insurance industry was ripe for a regulatory overhaul well before the extent of its damning practices were exposed by the royal commission into financial services.

Insurance more than any other financial services sector has avoided a lot of scrutiny thanks to being partly self-regulated. This is surely set to change.

Senior counsel assisting the commission, Rowena Orr QC, managed to obliterate the defences of ICA chief Robert Whelan and FSC boss Sally Loane. Credit:Internet

Yet again, galvanised by the embarrassment of being shown up for inattention to the insufficient regulation around insurance, the government is now chest-beating about its desire to clean up the industry and introduce tougher laws.

Newly minted Treasurer Josh Frydenberg says his government was responsible for including the insurance industry in the commissions terms of reference. He failed to mention that his government fought hard against having the royal commission at all.The country's most prominent anti-vaccination activist is claiming to be an expert witness in a family legal brawl over whether their children should be immunised.

Judy Wilyman, a militant vaccination critic, has lodged an expert witness statement in a Federal Circuit Court matter, which claims the federal government is suppressing evidence immunisation is ineffective and harmful.

Judy Wilyman claims the government is coercing parents and doctors can't prove vaccines are not harmful.

Dr Wilyman has provided the statement in support of a mother who does not want her children vaccinated. The father, who does want his children immunised, has drafted in the former director of the National Centre for Immunisation Research, Peter McIntyre, to provide the court with his appraisal of Dr Wilymans claims.

Fairfax Media has chosen not to disclose the details of the family who are party to the dispute, heard before the Federal Circuit Court in Brisbane earlier this year.Their right to object or recover their belongings is left up to internal club policy, meaning they can be left stranded late at night without money or any way of communicating. Opponents say this practice often leaves patrons, particularly young women, in vulnerable positions. After collapsing at a club, Fiona was forced out on the street. Credit:Joe Armao Fiona* is still unsure what caused her to collapse to the floor at a club, however, she was quickly ejected by bouncers. She was left throwing up in a dark alcove around the corner from the club's entrance. She says the legislation should be changed to extend the clubs' duty of care.

I felt really dizzy and was seeing stars  once we got outside [the bouncer] just kind of threw me aside, around the corner, and he just walked off, she said. I didnt feel safe there ... At the time I just assumed there would be laws saying they had to protect me. [Patrons] are generally kicked out for being too drunk and obviously are not well enough to look after themselves." A spokeswoman from the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation said licensees are only required to ensure the safety of patrons inside the venue. However, the laws do have the potential to change. The state government conducts an ongoing review of liquor regulations.

When contacted by The Age, the Minister for Consumer Affairs, Gaming and Liquor Regulation, Marlene Kairouz, declined to comment on why clubs are not statutorily required to ensure the safety of those they remove. However, a spokesman for the minister said, We are considering this issue as part of our ongoing review of Victorias liquor laws". The High Court has previously ruled on venues' duty of care in cases where patrons have been injured or died after leaving venues highly intoxicated. While these rulings are decided on a case-by-case basis, the court has ruled in favour of the publican each time.

Dimi Ioannou, a public safety lawyer and principal partner at Maurice Blackburn law firm, said while a venue might have an ethical duty to ensure vulnerable patrons got home safely, there was no legal obligation. Its open for interpretation, but recent court cases have limited the duty of care that clubs have once a patron has left [the venue], she said. "But it's a moral duty that comes into play. If they are going to escort them out, do a simple thing like call a family member or a friend to come to pick them up because that can make all the difference." Michael Humphrey has been a club manager and promoter for three years. He said that the clubs he has worked for always ensured that young girls who were ejected had a friend or taxi to take them home. He said ejecting patrons was an important part of business.

You want to create an environment that everyone is comfortable in ... and when someone is too intoxicated that can really affect the environment of the place. While no organisation collects statistics on how many people are injured or fall victim to crime after being ejected from clubs, stories like Olivia and Fionas are not hard to find. Kayleigh* was out clubbing with friends when a bouncer moved her to the door. I will admit I deserved to be kicked [out] ... but they wouldnt let my friends know where I was. I waited outside. I had a man approach me saying he wanted to drive me home. Kayleigh managed to find her friend outside the club but the man didnt give up.

He drove his car up to us and said Jump in my car Ill take you home. Considering theres a police station right next to the club you would think its safe, but its not. It is common practice for nightclubs not to allow people to wait immediately in front of the club if they have been refused entry or removed from the premises, despite these areas often being well lit and manned by security. Mr Humphry this club policy was often due to ejected patrons impeding others' access to the venue and damaging business by being disorderly. Instead, intoxicated patrons are often asked to move down the block or into a side street. Fiona is still troubled by the events of her night out. She said she was lucky to have a friend who helped her onto a train. Given her state, however, she feels her night could have had a much scarier ending.Malcolm Turnbull is reportedly penning a book in New York to be out before the next election.

My extensive publishing contacts are surprised. If he is doing so, it is not being hawked around via the usual channels.

There is, of course, interest in such a book, but the strong view is that the only way he could get it finished and published before May next year would be if it was focused exclusively on revenge (dishing the dirt on Peter Dutton and Tony Abbott) which would be unlikely to sell well  as we in the media would pick the eyes out of the juicy bits and there would be little for the public to need to read.

A more timeless book reflecting on his time in politics would sell better, but that would take longer.

Now, not that Turnbull would be too fussed about the advance for such a book, but those in the know reckon it would be worth from $60,000 to $200,000, depending on what he intended to cover."I still didn't understand what had happened or where I was until I saw my mum and she explained everything." Brock was in a coma for nine days. While in hospital, Brock says he developed golden staph and multiple lung infections, as well as malnutrition that caused him to lose 10kg. Depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder soon followed. "One of the hardest parts is when you wake up and it all sinks in," he says. "You start to feel like you can't go out and ride bikes or do the things you used to do ... you can't do it again because if you hit your head you're pretty stuffed."

Dianne says the first year after Brock's assault was like Groundhog Day, as the reality of his acquired brain injury became clear. "Every day he woke up and he didn't know who he was, he couldn't remember anything," she says. There was also anger in the aftermath directed at the culprit of the attack. Dianne says she had to keep her family calm and stop them from taking revenge: "It was horrific," she says. Brock says he still sometimes gets angry and tries to avoid things that might remind him about what happened, like violent movies. His memory has only recently improved after years of rehabilitation, which has included brain exercises on an iPad to help create new neural pathways.

Brock Turnewitsch still has problems with his memory. Credit:Justin McManus There are still things Brock can't remember, like the years between age 13 and 16. He completed his secondary education at a community school that was able to support his needs. That's allowed him to take a job as a plumbing apprentice. He takes photos of the steps involved in a plumbing job on his phone so he can remember what to do next time. "I've only started recently to become more happy. I think a lot of it is from work," he says. In December 2016, Brock's attacker, Anthony Richardson, was convicted in the Ringwood Magistrates Court after pleading guilty to the charge of recklessly causing serious injury.

He was sentenced to a two-year community corrections order. As part of the sentence, Richardson was ordered to undertake 300 hours of community service and participate in an offending behaviour program. He did not respond to a request from The Age for comment. Some of the circumstances leading up to the incident are still unclear as Brock has no memory of what took place. In piecing together the night, Brock says he was walking home from a mate's place about 11pm when he shouted at a car which almost hit him. Brock Turnewitsch and his mother Dianne Toulson feel like they've been let down by the legal system. Credit:Justin McManus

The car did not stop but returned about 10 minutes later, he says. At that point Richardson got out of the car and confronted the group. Richardson told police he was angry because he thought the boys had graffitied a bus stop. After throwing the punch that put Brock in intensive care, Richardson left the scene and, later that night, handed himself in at a police station. Both Brock and Dianne feel like the sentence was too lenient and say they've been let down by the legal system. In an uncanny piece of timing, Victoria's one-punch laws came into effect on November 1 in 2014  the day after Brock's attack. Those laws carry a 10-year sentence for offenders for a punch in the head that leads to a victim's death. This week, a play called One-Punch Wonder will open at Theatre Works as part of Melbourne Fringe Festival. Dianne is the general manager of Theatre Works, however, she had no role in the making of the play.She is a respected academic, and, if this matters (and it seems to matter to a lot of people), an apparently devoted mother and wife. Blasey Ford says a drunken teenage Kavanaugh pinned her down on a bed at a house party in the early 1980s, tried to rip her clothes off, and covered her mouth with his hand when she screamed. She was afraid for her life, she says, but managed to escape when Kavanaughs friend Mark Judge jumped on top of them both. Both men deny the incident took place. Blasey Ford did the supposedly right thing, too. For years she stayed silent, telling herself: Im not ever telling anyone this. This is nothing, it didnt happen, and he didnt rape me.

More than 30 years later, when it was reported that Kavanaugh was a potential Supreme Court nominee, Blasey Ford examined her conscience, weighed up the inevitable damage to her reputation and family, and decided speaking out was the right thing to do. She followed the rules. She wrote a confidential account of what she alleges occurred, and sent it to a senior Democrat on the Judiciary Committee. Both women followed the due process, the same due process we are told has been jettisoned in favour of #MeToo-era social media witch-hunts that sex-shame men without offering them the presumption of innocence. Both women had their complaints leaked, against their wishes, their identities made public, and their lives irrevocably changed for the worse by a unerasable public association with a man they say wronged them grievously. Marriotts complaint was not upheld - the National Party was unable to make a determination due to insufficient evidence, she said in a statement released earlier this month.

Their covers blown, both women chose to speak out - Blasey Ford gave an interview to The Washington Post, detailing her alleged assault, and Marriott to 7.30s Leigh Sales, choosing not to share details of her alleged sexual harassment. Of these opposite approaches - give details, or give no details - it is impossible to pick a winner. Marriott was criticised for being coy. News Corps Andrew Bolt wrote that her non-disclosure meant we couldnt know where it fitted on the vast scale from an innocuous wink to a rape...how could anyone judge if Marriott was indeed the victim of something serious, or was wildly overreacting? Note that Bolt didnt seem to mind if something had occurred, he just wanted to know if it crossed a high enough threshold to warrant all this feminine fuss.

By contrast, Blasey Ford has had her more detailed story picked apart by every half-baked Inspector Clouseau within the Washington beltway. Some say maybe there was an assault, but it was perpetrated by someone who just looked like Kavanaugh - a storyline that is literally nicked from Kafka. Blasey Ford's story is corroborated by a polygraph and notes from historical sessions with two therapists, but that misses the point: its truthiness is not its most relevant part. Why not? Because even though Kavanaugh denies wrong-doing, his defenders have openly aired an even-if defence best summed up by author and academic Tom Nichols, who tweeted: Weve now gone from he did this terrible thing at 17 to hes a man who treated a woman like that...I hope all the people who are making this case had spotless lives at 17. Here we come to the nub of these scandals, brought into sharp focus by the airing of untested allegations against men as part of the #MeToo movement.

What of the damage done to men in this new, rogue, ultra-vires, post-due-process environment? What are the consequences for them? Lets take a quick look at recent examples. Barnaby Joyce: accused of sexual harassment, moves to the backbench, signs a contract to write a book, the prospect of his return to the Nationals leadership fully intact. Donald Trump: openly admits to sexual assault, is elected President of the United States. If Brett Kavanaugh loses his confirmation because a woman with a historical sexual assault allegation is believed over his denials, it will be an anomaly. It is increasingly absurd to expect women to respect systems which not only dont serve them, but which actively sabotage them when they try to do right.Tehran: Iran has summoned diplomats from Britain, Denmark and the Netherlands over allegedly harbouring "members of the terrorist group" that launched an attack on a military parade in the country's south-west.

A statement from Iran's Foreign Ministry also quoted ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi as saying Danish and Dutch diplomats were told Iran "already warned" their governments about this.

The statement also criticised Britain over a Saudi-linked, Farsi-language satellite channel immediately airing an interview with an Ahvazi separatist claiming the attack.

The attack in Ahvaz on Saturday killed at least 25 people and wounded over 60 at a military parade marking the 30th anniversary of the Iraq invasion of Iran, the deadliest terrorist attack to strike the country in nearly a decade.Houston: A Texas man running a 3D printed guns company was booked into a Houston jail on a charge of sexual assault on Sunday after Taiwanese officials sent him back to the United States where he is accused of having sex with an underage girl.

CCTV shows suspect Cody Wilson walking at a hotel lobby in Taipei. Credit:AP

Cody Wilson, 30, flew to Taiwan after learning he was under investigation, police said, and was picked up by Taiwanese authorities on Friday after his US passport was annulled. He was deported to the United States on Saturday.

He was booked into Harris County jail in Houston on Sunday, according to the jail's website.

It was unclear whether Wilson had a criminal defence lawyer.Amidst thunderous applause and news of a landmark reconciliation agreement, Manitoba Metis Federation president David Chartrand heralded the dawn of a new era in a 148-year-old battle for the rights of Metis people.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 22/9/2018 (1145 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Amidst thunderous applause and news of a landmark reconciliation agreement, Manitoba Metis Federation president David Chartrand heralded the dawn of a new era in a 148-year-old battle for the rights of Metis people.

On Saturday, Chartrand took the stage at the MMFs annual general assembly to unveil a new $154.3-million agreement with the federal government that pledges to work towards reconciliation and self-government.

In front of a crowd of hundreds at Assiniboia Downs, Chartrand lauded the deal as the culmination of nearly 150 years of Metis organizing dating all the way back to Louis Riel, the Red River resistance and the creation of Manitoba.

"Were back into Confederation," Chartrand announced. "(The government of Canada) left the table in 1870, and they are back at the table in 2018, and our lives are going to change forever."

In an emotional 30-minute speech, Chartrand  who first took the helm of the MMF in 1997  blinked back tears as he remembered Metis leaders who had long worked to earn this level of recognition from Ottawa.

Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Carolyn Bennett championed the transfer of funds as a 'huge breakthrough' that would allow the MMF to look after Metis people in Manitoba. (Mike Deal / Winnipeg Free Press)

"People dont realize how many people have fought to get us here," Chartrand said, as his voice caught in his throat.

"There are many who have left us already, and could not be here to join us in the celebration."

Along with the funding, the agreement paves the way for the MMF to be recognized as the self-determining government of Metis people in Manitoba. Some of the funds announced Saturday will be used for the transition.

Chartrand also unveiled plans for new investments in social supports for Metis people.

"It will change peoples lives in a way never before seen in this country. We will use our resources to create jobs, to put a better health system, education system, and invest in our young people to go to university," he said.

Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Carolyn Bennett, in town for the announcement, championed the transfer of funds as a "huge breakthrough" that would allow the MMF to look after Metis people in Manitoba.

David Chartrand got emotional talking about what the agreement would meet for Metis people in Manitoba. (Mike Deal / Winnipeg Free Press)

"In some ways, our government is to get out of the way so your government can lead," she told the assembly.

The $153.4-million is money Ottawa had already earmarked for the purpose, Bennett told reporters. She also pledged to build accountability frameworks into a future recognition legislation.

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"Its going to be very important to have in this legislation: how do you hold Canada to account? How do we work as a partnership, not the paternalism, or just the exclusion that the Metis nation have felt up until now?" she said.

Bennett did not give a timeline on when eventual legislation to recognize the MMF as a government might move forward. When it does happen, it will clarify and solidify the Metis nations role in official matters, Chartrand said.

"The key word is inclusion. Well finally be included. Well finally be drawn in to be a partner to processes... this new formation will make it very clear who the players are, and who the government is," he said.

Though Chartrand joked that he might not stop smiling for weeks, he said believed he would one day see the MMF formally recognized by Canada as the Manitoba Metis communitys government.

"I had dreams that this day would come," Chartrand said. "I had a vision that if we were consistent in our direction and stayed united, and let no one break us as a people and a government, that we will win."

melissa.martin@freepress.mb.caA premature snowfall surprised some Winnipeggers and southern Manitobans on Saturday night  but the white stuff has fallen in the area in September in the past.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 23/9/2018 (1144 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A premature snowfall surprised some Winnipeggers and southern Manitobans on Saturday night  but the white stuff has fallen in the area in September in the past.

Tony Cappel and his wife observed snow coming down south of Winnipeg in St. Adolphe at about 8 p.m. Saturday.

"We were just sitting and watching TV," he said.

"I let the dog out to go do his thing, and it was full-on, actual snow. And Im like, Oh my gosh, its September, whats going on? This is crazy."

Naturally, Cappel took the opportunity to build a snowman.

"I would say we probably got at least a good solid inch... It was thick, heavy snow."

The weather system started forming Saturday morning, said Environment Canada meteorologist David Baggaley, who works at the Winnipeg office.

"And it tracked across Saskatchewan during the day on Saturday and into (western Manitoba) late afternoon on Saturday," he said.

"It made its way through Winnipeg in the evening hours, and it basically passed through into Ontario before this morning."

SUBMITTED The same St. Adolphe yard last week.

Brandon reported five centimetres of snow, Baggaley said, and a climate observer in Winnipeg reported one centimetre Sunday morning.

"Its a little early to see accumulating snow into Manitoba, but certainly not unheard of. I mean, fall time, you do get the wild oscillations of weather systems coming through, shots of warm air, cold air, sometimes you get plus 30 (C), sometimes you get frost early. Its just the way weather works in the fall time."

Manitoba Hydro posted a notice on Twitter that said about 2,000 customers were without service because of snow as of 12:15 p.m. Sunday.

"Most outages are due to heavy snow on trees coming into contact with lines," the message said.

The last measurable accumulation of snow at Winnipegs airport that occurred in September was on Sept. 24 and 25, 1984, said meteorologist Scott Kehler, who is chief scientist with Winnipeg-based forecasting firm Weatherlogics Inc.

"The last time that snow happened in the city, but didnt accumulate, was Sept. 30 of 2003," Kehler said.

Put in historical context, Kehler said, Saturday nights snow "was the third-earliest measurable snow on record" in Winnipeg, records going back to 1872 show.

"The only other two events that were earlier were Sept. 19, 1945 and September 21, 1947."

Amateur weather-watcher Claudette Gabbs lives southeast of Winnipeg, between Ste. Anne and Richer and first noticed snow at about 9 p.m. Saturday. Shes lived in the area for about 26 years, and has never personally seen snow this early in the year.

Saturdays snowfall left Gabbs with one thought: "Too early  way too early."

SUBMITTED Claudette Gabbs who lives southeast of Winnipeg between Ste. Anne and Richer, noticed snow at about 9 p.m. Saturday. She's lived in the area for about 26 years, and has never personally seen snow this early in the year.

Gabbs estimates she got about seven centimetres of snow, which was already melting away on Sunday morning.

The snow isnt a big problem for her, she said.

"Except for my poor tomatoes... Theyre still outside, so Ive got to take all the fruit off of the plants now."

Snow also hit some parts of southern Manitoba early Saturday morning.

Shel Zolkewich said she woke up on Saturday to about three-quarters of an inch of powder on her farm south of Arborg.

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"I guess it started sometime through the night. It was raining when we went to bed, and then first thing in the morning I opened my eyes and I was wondering why it seemed so bright outside at 6:30," she said. "And I looked out the window, and I knew why, then."

Baggaley said snow could be on the way "because were looking at below-normal temperatures for probably the next week or so, if not longer."

"Our temperatures in the daytime are well above zero, but overnight lows are close to zero. So, if we get any precipitation in the morning hours, we could see some mixed precipitation with that, but were not looking at any great systems coming through," with the exception of some rain expected Sunday night and into Monday.

"It looks like a good period of rain, but were not likely to have snow for this next system."

solomon.israel@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @sol_israelA proposed reform of the Cuban constitution would shape the islands future for years, but Cubans appear to be more interested in debating gay marriage than a multiparty system.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 23/9/2018 (1144 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A proposed reform of the Cuban constitution would shape the islands future for years, but Cubans appear to be more interested in debating gay marriage than a multiparty system.

No other clause in the proposal has stirred so much criticism, from Catholic and Evangelical church leaders to common workers who take part in debates organized by the government, many expressing concern for the definition of marriage simply as "the union of two people."

"This change is the one that concerns many because the constitution could later lead to complementary laws that, for example, legalize marriage between two people of the same sex and allow them to adopt boys or girls, depriving them of a mother or father from birth," Archbishop Dionisio Garcia Ibanez of Santiago de Cuba wrote in a column published on the website of the Cuban Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Garcia Ibanez argued the idea of same-sex marriage is "foreign" to Cuban culture and the product of "cultural imperialism" and "ideological colonialism."

Attempts by El Nuevo Herald to contact Garcia Ibanez for comment were unsuccessful.

The Catholic Church is not alone in rejecting the proposal, which has the backing of Mariela Castro Espin, daughter of former ruler Raul Castro and head of the National Sex Education Center (CENESEX).

In an open letter issued in June, the Cuban Evangelical Association, the Eastern and Western Baptist Conventions, the Methodist Church and the Evangelical Assembly of God criticized an "ideology of gender" with no links to Cuban culture or "the historic leaders of the Revolution."

"We want to make authorities aware of the danger that gay marriage can pose for the nation," said Dariel Llanes Quintana, president of the Western Baptist Convention.

The official news media, which follow the guidelines of the Communist Party, have reported on the attacks against the proposed change in the definition of marriage. The final constitutional document is to be submitted to a referendum next year.

"Right now we have many dysfunctional families in our country. Families of a man and a woman. Just imagine the family formed by two men who adopt a boy. That really worries me," a postal worker was quoted as saying by Cuban news outlet Tele Pinar.

In a video posted by the group Cuba por mi familia on Facebook, a boy appears with painted lips. His father then claims to channel "a profound concern within the population" in regard to gay marriage. The video argues that the proposal to legalize gay marriage was the result of demands by the United Nations and other international organizations in exchange for their assistance to Cuba.

Castro Espin, meanwhile, supplied Cuban parliament members with a report titled Destroying myths about same-sex couples in an effort to stem opposition from some to the proposed Constitutional change  which she has portrayed as a victory for human rights.

The focus on Cubas LGBTTQ* community has become so intense that even the U.S. government took notice. The U.S.-funded Radio Marti now broadcasts a weekly program titled Arcoiris (Rainbow), which is dedicated exclusively to those issues.

"I speak with gay people every week and they say the government has always tried to isolate the gay community, but many of them say that they are, first of all, Cuban citizens and the country lacks all kinds of rights, beyond same-sex marriage," said Joe Cardona, the programs director and an independent Miami filmmaker.

"Its wrong to deny that its a step forward," he said, but its also "a kind of a trap.

"The government doesnt have a lot to lose and a lot to win," Cardona added. "Gay tourism is a factor, but (the proposal) is mostly a distraction from law 349 (that legalizes the censorship of independent artists) or the perpetuation of the Communist Party in power."

Members of Cubas LGBTTQ* community have followed the debate with great interest.

"For me, gay marriage should not be at the centre of the debate," said Oscar Alejandro Perez Enriquez, a Havana university student. "There are other reforms in the new constitution that are more interesting, like the issue of elections or private property."

Several homosexuals and transsexuals in Cuba interviewed by telephone by el Nuevo Herald agreed that conditions for the LGBTTQ* community on the island have improved, although discrimination continues.

"The discrimination is not going to disappear, but society is a little bit more tolerant. We are living in different times," said Isabel Crono, 43, a transgender woman whose legal name is Ahmed Esonda. "But there will always be homophobic people."

The spread of private enterprise in recent years has helped to bring parties for gays, transvestites and other LGBTTQ* community members out of the underground.

"There are millions of places now, private businesses that have a party once a week" for the LGBTTQ* community, said Esonda.

Some gay Cubans believe the change will be approved in the end because it has the endorsement of the Communist Party and National Assembly  which managed the drafting of the proposed constitution and then approved the draft, respectively.

But others doubt it.

"I hope they accept it. They should accept it because other countries have done it," said Havana resident Julia Marta Vinet, 34. "But right here in my neighbourhood many people are criticizing it and speaking against it." She added that she and her partner do not plan to marry but that the right to do so would be "a step forward."

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Some Cuban opposition activists, who rejected the draft constitution because it leaves the leading role of the Communist Party unchanged, believe the commotion sparked by the gay marriage proposal was part of the governments plan all along.

"Its a smoke screen, for people to debate what the government wants and not the more important issues: decent wages, an end to corruption, personal and political freedoms," said Jose Daniel Ferrer, leader of the Cuban Patriotic Union, based in Santiago de Cuba.

Ferrer said his group supports gay marriage but "does not believe the governments intentions are good. After persecuting homosexuals for decades, the regime now wants to show the world a new face and sell itself as a protector of the rights of minorities."

A Cuban Catholic priest, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals, criticized the column by the Santiago archbishop and said the opposition to gay marriage was not shared by other priests.

"How is it possible for a bishop to speak about gay marriage," he asked, "and not say one word about the lack of freedoms and rights, the suffering of people whose salaries are not enough for a decent living, and the stagnation of the country?"

 Miami HeraldYou are the owner of this article.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The following companies are subsidiares of D.R. Horton: 10700 Pecan Park Austin Inc., 11241 Slater Avenue NE LLC, 2 C Development Company LLC, 8800 Roswell Road Bldg. B LLC, 91st Avenue & Happy Valley L.L.C., ANN & 215 LLC, Austin Data Inc., BP456 Inc., C. Richard Dobson Builders Inc., CH Funding LLC, CH Investments of Texas Inc., CHI Construction Company, CHM Partners L.P., CHTEX of Texas Inc., CV Mountain View 25 Inv LLC, Cane Island LLC, Continental Homes Inc., Continental Homes of Texas L.P., Continental Residential Inc., Continental Traditions LLC, Crown Operating Company Inc., Cypress Road L.P., D.R. Horton - CHAustin LLC, D.R. Horton - Colorado LLC, D.R. Horton - Crown LLC, D.R. Horton - Emerald Ltd., D.R. Horton - Georgia LLC, D.R. Horton - Hawaii LLC, D.R. Horton - Highland LLC, D.R. Horton - Indiana LLC, D.R. Horton - Iowa LLC, D.R. Horton - MV LLC, D.R. Horton - Nebraska LLC, D.R. Horton - Permian LLC, D.R. Horton - Regent LLC, D.R. Horton - Terramor LLC, D.R. Horton - Texas Ltd., D.R. Horton - WPH LLC, D.R. Horton - Wyoming LLC, D.R. Horton BAY Inc., D.R. Horton CA2 Inc., D.R. Horton CA3 Inc., D.R. Horton CA4 LLC, D.R. Horton Commercial Inc., D.R. Horton Cruces Construction Inc., D.R. Horton Inc. - Birmingham, D.R. Horton Inc. - Chicago, D.R. Horton Inc. - Denver, D.R. Horton Inc. - Dietz-Crane, D.R. Horton Inc. - Greensboro, D.R. Horton Inc. - Gulf Coast, D.R. Horton Inc. - Huntsville, D.R. Horton Inc. - Jacksonville, D.R. Horton Inc. - Louisville, D.R. Horton Inc. - Midwest, D.R. Horton Inc. - Minnesota, D.R. Horton Inc. - NNV, D.R. Horton Inc. - New Jersey, D.R. Horton Inc. - Portland, D.R. Horton Inc. - Torrey, D.R. Horton Inc. Foundation, D.R. Horton Insurance Agency Inc., D.R. Horton LA North Inc., D.R. Horton Life Insurance Agency Inc., D.R. Horton Los Angeles Holding Company Inc., D.R. Horton Management Company Ltd., D.R. Horton Materials Inc., D.R. Horton Realty LLC, D.R. Horton Realty of Atlantic County LLC, D.R. Horton Realty of Central Florida LLC, D.R. Horton Realty of Delaware LLC, D.R. Horton Realty of Georgia Inc., D.R. Horton Realty of Melbourne LLC, D.R. Horton Realty of Northwest Florida LLC, D.R. Horton Realty of Southeast Florida LLC, D.R. Horton Realty of Southwest Florida LLC, D.R. Horton Realty of Tampa LLC, D.R. Horton Realty of Virginia LLC, D.R. Horton Seabridge Marina Inc., D.R. Horton Serenity Construction LLC, D.R. Horton Urban Renewal LLC, D.R. Horton VEN Inc., D.R. Horton  Corpus Christi LLC, DBC54 LLC, DHI Commercial - Lakeview LLC, DHI Commercial - Signal Butte LLC, DHI Commercial - Tamarron LLC, DHI Commercial Inc., DHI Communities Construction LLC, DHI Communities Construction of Arizona LLC, DHI Communities Construction of Colorado LLC, DHI Communities Construction of Florida LLC, DHI Communities Construction of Iowa LLC, DHI Communities Construction of Nevada LLC, DHI Communities Construction of North Carolina LLC, DHI Communities Construction of South Carolina LLC, DHI Communities Construction of Texas LLC, DHI Communities Construction of Utah LLC, DHI Communities Construction of Virginia LLC, DHI Communities II LLC, DHI Communities Inc., DHI Engineering LLC, DHI Insurance Inc., DHI Mortgage Company, DHI Mortgage Company GP Inc., DHI Mortgage Company LP Inc., DHI Mortgage Company Ltd., DHI Ranch Ltd., DHI Realty of Alabama LLC, DHI Realty of Mississippi LLC, DHI Title GP Inc., DHI Title LP Inc., DHI Title of Alabama Inc., DHI Title of Arizona Inc., DHI Title of Florida Inc., DHI Title of Minnesota Inc., DHI Title of Nevada Inc., DHI Title of Texas Ltd., DHI Title of Washington Inc., DHI Verandah South Shores Communities LLC, DHIC - Bridges LLC, DHIC - Brittmore LLC, DHIC - Carolina Forest LLC, DHIC - Desert Peak LLC, DHIC - Durbin Creek LLC, DHIC - Freestone LLC, DHIC - Hammock Landing LLC, DHIC - Heritage LLC, DHIC - Horizon Uptown LLC, DHIC - Jacobs Reserve LLC, DHIC - Lakeview LLC, DHIC - Lipoma LLC, DHIC - Minton Cove LLC, DHIC - Mountain Vista LLC, DHIC - Naco LLC, DHIC - Northshore LLC, DHIC - Prairie Village LLC, DHIC - South Creek LLC, DHIC - Tamarron LLC, DHIC - Valley Vista LLC, DHIC - Varina Gateway LLC, DHIC - Waterleigh II LLC, DHIC - Waterleigh III LLC, DHIC - Waterleigh LLC, DHIC - Westridge LLC, DHIC LLC, DHIC  Glendale LLC, DHIC  Grove West LLC, DHIC  South Park LLC, DHIC  Westinghouse LLC, DHIR - Aspen Vista LLC, DHIR - Avian Pointe LLC, DHIR - Emerald Lakes LLC, DHIR - Fosters Ridge LLC, DHIR - Gulf Stream LLC, DHIR - Parkview at Lynn Haven LLC, DHIR - Poplar Terrace LLC, DHIR - Properties I LLC, DHIR - Rock Ridge LLC, DHIR - Sunset Village LLC, DHIR - Village at Hickory Street LLC, DRH - ARK LLC, DRH - ASG LLC, DRH - HWY 114 LLC, DRH Cambridge Homes LLC, DRH Capital Trust I, DRH Capital Trust II, DRH Capital Trust III, DRH Colorado Realty Inc., DRH Construction Inc., DRH Energy Inc., DRH FS Mortgage Reinsurance Ltd., DRH Land Opportunities I Inc., DRH Land Opportunities II Inc., DRH Mountain View LLC, DRH Oil & Gas Inc., DRH Opportunities I Inc., DRH Properties Inc., DRH Realty Company Inc., DRH Realty of Iowa LLC, DRH Regrem L LLC, DRH Regrem LI LLC, DRH Regrem LII LLC, DRH Regrem LIII LLC, DRH Regrem LIV LLC, DRH Regrem LV LLC, DRH Regrem VII LP, DRH Regrem XII LP, DRH Regrem XIV Inc., DRH Regrem XIX Inc., DRH Regrem XLIX LLC, DRH Regrem XLV LLC, DRH Regrem XLVI LLC, DRH Regrem XLVII LLC, DRH Regrem XLVIII LLC, DRH Regrem XV Inc., DRH Regrem XVI Inc., DRH Regrem XVII Inc., DRH Regrem XVIII Inc., DRH Regrem XX Inc., DRH Regrem XXI Inc., DRH Regrem XXII Inc., DRH Regrem XXIII Inc., DRH Regrem XXIV Inc., DRH Regrem XXV Inc., DRH Southwest Construction Inc., DRH Tucson Construction Inc., DRHI Inc., Deer Valley Office Park LLC, Desert Ridge Phase I Partners, Emerald Creek No. 4 L.P., Emerald Realty of Alabama LLC, Emerald Realty of Central Florida LLC, Emerald Realty of North Florida LLC, Emerald Realty of Northwest Florida LLC, Emerald Realty of Southeast Florida LLC, Emerald Realty of Southwest Florida LLC, Encore II Inc., Encore Venture Partners II (California) L.P., Encore Venture Partners II (Texas) L.P., Encore Venture Partners L.P., Express Realty of Central Florida LLC, Express Realty of North Florida LLC, Express Realty of Northwest Florida LLC, Express Realty of Southeast Florida LLC, Express Realty of Southwest Florida LLC, Forestar Group, Forestar Group Inc., Founders Oil & Gas II LLC, Founders Oil & Gas III LLC, Founders Oil & Gas IV LLC, Founders Oil & Gas LLC, Founders Oil & Gas Operating LLC, GP-Encore Inc., Georgetown Data Inc., Germann & McQueen L.L.C., Grand Title Agency LLC, Grande Realty Incorporated, Grande Realty of Pennsylvania LLC, Greywes LLC, HPH Homebuilders 2000 L.P., Hadian LLC, KDB Homes Inc., Kaomalo LLC, Lexington Homes - DRH LLC, MRLF LLC, Martin Road Lake Forest LLC, McQueen & Willis LLC, Meadows I Ltd., Meadows II Ltd., Meadows IX Inc., Meadows VIII Ltd., Meadows X Inc., Melody Homes Inc., Pacific Ridge - DRH LLC, Rielly Carlsbad LLC, Rielly Homes Madison LLC, SFTEN LLC, SGS Communities at Grand Quay L.L.C, SHA Construction LLC, SHLR of California Inc., SHLR of Nevada Inc., SHLR of Washington Inc., SRHI LLC, SSHI LLC, Schuler Homes of Arizona LLC, Schuler Homes of California Inc., Schuler Homes of Oregon Inc., Schuler Homes of Washington Inc., Summerlin Pkwy & Cimarron LLC, Surprise Village North LLC, The Club at Cobblestone LLC, The Club at Hidden River LLC, Tierra Financial Advisors LLC, Travis County Title Company, Treasure Assets LLC, Venture Management of South Carolina LLC, Vertical Construction Corporation, WPH-Camino Ruiz LLC, WPH-Copper Canyon II LLC, WPH-Copper Canyon LLC, Walker Drive LLC, Western Pacific Brea Development LLC, Western Pacific Housing - Mountaingate L.P., Western Pacific Housing - SDG LLC, Western Pacific Housing - Westlake II L.P., Western Pacific Housing Inc., Western Pacific Housing Management Inc., Western Pacific Housing-Antigua LLC, Western Pacific Housing-Broadway LLC, Western Pacific Housing-Canyon Park LLC, Western Pacific Housing-Carrillo LLC, Western Pacific Housing-Communications Hill LLC, Western Pacific Housing-Copper Canyon LLC, Western Pacific Housing-Creekside LLC, Western Pacific Housing-Lomas Verdes LLC, Western Pacific Housing-Lyons Canyon Partners LLC, Western Pacific Housing-McGonigle Canyon LLC, Western Pacific Housing-Norco Estates LLC, Western Pacific Housing-Pacific Park II LLC, Western Pacific Housing-Park Avenue East LLC, Western Pacific Housing-Park Avenue West LLC, Western Pacific Housing-Playa Vista LLC, Western Pacific Housing-River Ridge LLC, Western Pacific Housing-Terra Bay Duets LLC, Western Pacific Housing-Torrey Meadows LLC, Western Pacific Housing-Torrey Village Center LLC, Western Pacific Housing-Windemere LLC, and Wilson Parker Homes.Manulife Financial Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides financial products and services in Asia, Canada, the United States, and internationally. The company operates through Wealth and Asset Management Businesses; Insurance and Annuity Products; And Corporate and Other segments. The Wealth and Asset Management Businesses segment provides mutual funds and exchange-traded funds, group retirement and savings products, and institutional asset management services through agents and brokers affiliated with the company, securities brokerage firms, and financial advisors pension plan consultants and banks. The Insurance and Annuity Products segment offers deposit and credit products; individual life, and individual and group long-term care insurance; and guaranteed and partially guaranteed annuity products through insurance agents, brokers, banks, financial planners, and direct marketing. The Corporate and Other segment is involved in property and casualty insurance and reinsurance businesses; and run-off reinsurance operations, including variable annuities, and accident and health. It also manages timberland and agricultural portfolios; and engages in insurance agency, portfolio and mutual fund management, mutual fund dealer, life and financial reinsurance, and fund management businesses. Additionally, the company holds and manages oil and gas properties; holds oil and gas royalties, and foreign bonds and equities; and provides investment management, counseling, advisory, and dealer services. Manulife Financial Corporation was incorporated in 1887 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada.

Read MoreThe following companies are subsidiares of The Sherwin-Williams: Acquire Sourcing LLC, CTS National Corporation, Comex North America Inc., Compania Sherwin-Williams S.A. de C.V., Contract Transportation Systems Co., Dongguan Lilly Paint Industries Ltd, Duron, EPS (Shanghai) Trading Co. Ltd., EPS B.V., Geocel Holdings, Geocel Limited, Guangdong Valspar Paints Manufacturing Co Ltd., Inver East Med S.A., Inver France SAS, Inver GmbH, Inver Industrial Coating SRL, Inver Polska Spoka Z O.O, Inver Spa, Invercolor Bologna Srl, Invercolor Ltd, Invercolor Roma Srl, Invercolor Torino Srl, Invercolor Toscana Srl, Isocoat Tintas e Vernizes Ltda, Isva Vernici Srl, Leighs Paints, M.A. Bruder & Sons, Omega Specialty Products & Services LLC, Oy Sherwin-Williams Finland Ab, PT Sherwin-Williams Indonesia, PT Valspar Indonesia, Paint Sundry Brands, Pinturas Condor S.A., Pinturas Industriales S.A., Piton Paints Limited, Plasti-Kote Co. Inc., Plasti-kote Limited, Productos Quimicos y Pinturas S.A. de C.V., Quest Automotive Products UK Limited, Quetzal Pinturas S.A. de C.V., Ronseal (Ireland) Limited, SWIMC LLC, SWIPCO  Sherwin Williams do Brasil Propriedade Intelectual Ltda, Sherwin Williams Colombia S.A.S., Sherwin-Williams (Australia) Pty. Ltd., Sherwin-Williams (Belize) Limited, Sherwin-Williams (Caribbean) N.V., Sherwin-Williams (Ireland) Limited, Sherwin-Williams (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., Sherwin-Williams (Nantong) Coatings Technology Co. Ltd., Sherwin-Williams (Nantong) Company Limited, Sherwin-Williams (S) Pte. Ltd., Sherwin-Williams (Shanghai) Limited, Sherwin-Williams (Thailand) Co. Ltd., Sherwin-Williams (Vietnam) Limited, Sherwin-Williams (West Indies) Limited, Sherwin-Williams Argentina I.y C.S.A., Sherwin-Williams Aruba VBA, Sherwin-Williams Automotive Mexico S.de R.L.de C.V., Sherwin-Williams Balkan S.R.L., Sherwin-Williams Bel Unitary Enterprise, Sherwin-Williams Benelux NV, Sherwin-Williams Canada Inc., Sherwin-Williams Cayman Islands Limited, Sherwin-Williams Chile S.A., Sherwin-Williams Coatings India Private Limited, Sherwin-Williams Coatings S.a r.l., Sherwin-Williams Czech Republic spol. s r.o, Sherwin-Williams Denmark A/S, Sherwin-Williams Deutschland GmbH, Sherwin-Williams Diversified Brands Limited, Sherwin-Williams France Finishes SAS, Sherwin-Williams Italy S.r.l., Sherwin-Williams Norway AS, Sherwin-Williams Paints Limited Liability Company, Sherwin-Williams Peru S.R.L., Sherwin-Williams Pinturas de Venezuela S.A., Sherwin-Williams Poland Sp. z o.o, Sherwin-Williams Protective & Marine Coatings, Sherwin-Williams Realty Holdings Inc., Sherwin-Williams Services (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., Sherwin-Williams Spain Coatings S.L., Sherwin-Williams Sweden AB, Sherwin-Williams UK Coatings Limited, Sherwin-Williams do Brasil Industria e Comercio Ltda., Spanyc Paints Joint Stock Company, Syntema I Vaggeryd AB, Taiwan Valspar Co. Ltd., The Sherwin-Williams Acceptance Corporation, The Sherwin-Williams Headquarters Company, The Sherwin-Williams Manufacturing Company, The Sherwin-Williams US Licensing Company, The Valspar (Asia) Corporation Limited, The Valspar (Australia) Corporation Pty. Ltd., The Valspar (Finland) Corporation Oy, The Valspar (France) Corporation S.A.S., The Valspar (France) Research Corporation SAS, The Valspar (Malaysia) Corporation Sdn Bhd, The Valspar (Nantes) Corporation S.A.S., The Valspar (Singapore) Corporation Pte. Ltd, The Valspar (South Africa) Corporation (Pty) Ltd, The Valspar (Spain) Corporation S.R.L., The Valspar (Switzerland) Corporation AG, The Valspar (Thailand) Corporation Ltd., The Valspar (UK) Corporation Limited, The Valspar (Vietnam) Corporation Ltd., The Valspar Corporation, The Valspar Corporation Limitada, UAB Sherwin-Williams Baltic, Valspar (India) Coatings Corporation Private Limited, Valspar (Shanghai) Management Co. Ltd., Valspar (Uruguay) Corporation S.A., Valspar (WPC) Pty Ltd, Valspar Aries Coatings S. de R.L. de C.V., Valspar Automotive (UK) Corporation Limited, Valspar Automotive Australia Pty Limited, Valspar B.V., Valspar Coatings (Guangdong) Co. Ltd., Valspar Coatings (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Valspar Coatings (Tianjin) Co. Ltd, Valspar D.o.o Beograd, Valspar Industries (Ireland) Ltd., Valspar Industries (Italy) S.r.l., Valspar Industries GmbH, Valspar LLC, Valspar Mexicana S.A. de C.V., Valspar Paint (Australia) Pty Ltd, Valspar Paint (NZ) Limited, Valspar Powder Coatings Limited, Valspar Rock Company Limited (Japan), Valspar Specialty Paints LLC, and ZAO Sherwin-Williams.The following companies are subsidiares of Xerox: A B S Digital Limited, Acorn Business Machines (Holmfirth) Limited, Alloy Acquisitions Corp. LLC, Altodigital Networks, Altodigital Networks Limited, American Photocopy Equipment Company of Pittsburgh LLC, Amici, Arena Group, Arena Group Holdings Limited, Arena Group Limited, Arizona Office Technologies Inc., B 2 Business Systems Limited, Back2Business Limited, Bessemer Insurance Limited, Bessemer Trust Limited, Boise Office Equipment Inc., Bright Ceramic Technologies Inc., Bunch CareSolutions, Business Systems (North Wales) Limited, CPAS Systems, CREDITEX - Aluguer de Equipamentos S.A., CTX Business Solutions Inc., Capitol Office Solutions LLC, CareAR Holdings LLC, CareAR Inc., Carolina Office Systems Inc., Carr Business Systems Inc., Chicago Office Technology Group Inc., ComDoc Inc., Concept Group, Concept Group Limited, Connecticut Business Systems LLC, Consilience Software, Continua Limited, Continua Sanctum Limited, Conway Technology Group LLC, Copyrite Business Solutions (Holdings) Limited, Copyrite Business Solutions Limited, Copytrend Limited, Criterion IT Limited, Customer Value Group, Dahill Office Technology Corporation, Digitex, Digitex Canada Inc., Docucentric Holdings Limited, Document Systems, Document Systems, Eastern Managed Print Network LLC, Elan Marketing Inc., Electronic Systems Inc., Fovia (Innovation) Limited, G-Five Inc., GDP Technologies Inc., Global Imaging Systems, Global PR Corporation, Groupe CT, Gyricon LLC, Healthy Communities Institute, Heritage Business Systems Inc., ITEC Group, Image Technology Specialists Inc., ImageQuest Inc., Imagetek Office Systems, Impika, Impika SAS, Inland Business Machines Inc., Institute for Research on Learning, Integrity One Technologies Inc., Intrepid Learning, Invoco Group, Irish Business Systems, LRI LLC, LaserNetworks, LaserNetworks Inc., Lateral Data, Learn Something, Lewan & Associates Inc., Limited Liability Company Xerox (C.I.S.), M & S Reprographics Limited, MRC Smart Technology Solutions Inc., MT Business Holdings Inc., MT Business Technologies Inc., MWB Copy Products Inc., Mail A Doc Limited, Merizon Group Incorporated, Michigan Office Solutions Inc., Minnesota Office Technology Group Inc., Mitral Systems Limited, Mr. Copy Inc., Nemo (AKS) Limited, NewField IT, NewField Information Technology LLC, NewField Information Technology Limited, Northeast Office Systems LLC, Osprey Business Systems Limited, PARC China Holdings Inc., Pacific Services and Development Corporation, Palo Alto Research Center Incorporated, Platinum Digital Print Solutions Limited, Precision Copier Service Inc., Quality Business Systems Inc., Quilver Business Services Limited, R. K. Dixon Company, RRXH Limited, RRXIL Limited, RRXO Limited, RSA Medical, Rabbit Copiers Inc., Reflex Digital Solutions (UK) Limited, Reprographics Egypt Limited, Saxon Business Systems Inc., Smart Data Consulting, SoCal Office Technologies Inc., Stem Networks Limited, Stewart Business Systems LLC, Stewart of Alabama Inc., StrataCare, Talegen Holdings Inc., Tektronix - color printing, Text Comm Limited (in receivership), The Xerox (UK) Trust, The Xerox Foundation, Time Business Systems Limited, Triton Business Finance Limited, Una-Stem Limited, Veenman B.V., Veenman Financial Services B.V., WDS, WaterWare Internet Services, XC Asia LLC, XC Global Trading B.V., XC Trading Hong Kong Limited, XC Trading Japan G.K., XC Trading Korea YH, XC Trading Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., XC Trading Shenzhen Co. Ltd., XC Trading Singapore Pte Ltd., XEROX CZECH REPUBLIC s r.o., XESystems Foreign Sales Corporation, XFS Secured Borrowing 2020-1 LLC, XHC Acquisition Corp., XMPie, XMPie Inc., XMPie Ltd., XRI Limited, XRO Limited, Xerox (Europe) Limited, Xerox (Ireland) Limited, Xerox (Nederland) BV, Xerox (Romania) Echipmante Si Servici S.A., Xerox (UK) Limited, Xerox (Ukraine) Ltd LLC, Xerox A/S, Xerox AG, Xerox AS, Xerox Argentina Industrial y Comercial S.A., Xerox Austria GmbH, Xerox Bulgaria EOOD, Xerox Business Equipment Limited, Xerox Business Services Bulgaria EOOD, Xerox Business Solutions Inc., Xerox Business Solutions Southeast LLC, Xerox Buro Araclari Servis ve Ticaret Ltd. Sti, Xerox Canada Inc., Xerox Canada Ltd., Xerox Canada N.S. ULC, Xerox Capital (Europe) Limited, Xerox Capital LLC, Xerox Computer Services Limited, Xerox Comercio e Industria Ltda, Xerox Corporation, Xerox DNHC LLC, Xerox Dienstleistungsgesellschaft GmbH, Xerox Distributor Operations Limited, Xerox Egypt S.A.E., Xerox Equipment Limited, Xerox Equipment UK Limited, Xerox Espana S.A.U., Xerox Exports Limited, Xerox Finance AG, Xerox Finance Leasing S.A.E., Xerox Finance Limited, Xerox Financial Services B.V., Xerox Financial Services Belux NV, Xerox Financial Services Canada Ltd., Xerox Financial Services Danmark A/S, Xerox Financial Services Finland Oy, Xerox Financial Services LLC, Xerox Financial Services Norway AS, Xerox Financial Services SAS, Xerox Financial Services Sverige AB, Xerox Foreign Holdings LLC, Xerox Foreign Sales Corporation, Xerox GmbH, Xerox Health Care LLC, Xerox Hellas AEE, Xerox Holding Deutschland GmbH, Xerox Holdings (Ireland) Limited, Xerox Holdings Inc., Xerox Hungary Trading Limited, Xerox IBS Limited, Xerox IBS NI Limited, Xerox India Limited, Xerox International Joint Marketing Inc., Xerox Investments Europe B.V., Xerox Israel Ltd., Xerox Italia Rental Services Srl, Xerox Kazakhstan Limited Liability Partnership, Xerox Latinamerican Holdings Inc., Xerox Leasing Deutschland GmbH, Xerox Leasing GmbH, Xerox Limited, Xerox Luxembourg SA, Xerox Mailing Systems Limited, Xerox Manufacturing (Nederland) B.V., Xerox Maroc S.A., Xerox Mexicana S.A. de C.V., Xerox Middle East Investments (Bermuda) Limited, Xerox N.V., Xerox Overseas Holdings Limited, Xerox Overseas Inc., Xerox Oy, Xerox Pensions Limited, Xerox Polska Sp. z o. o, Xerox Portugal Equipamentos de Escritorio Limitada, Xerox Products Limited, Xerox Products UK Limited, Xerox Professional Services Limited, Xerox Realty Corporation, Xerox Renting S.A.U., Xerox Reprographische Services GmbH, Xerox S.A.S., Xerox S.p.A., Xerox Secured Borrowing 2020-1 LLC, Xerox Servicios Compartidos Guatemala y Compani Limitada, Xerox Servicos e Participacoes Ltda, Xerox Shared Services Romania SRL, Xerox Sverige AB, Xerox Technology Services India LLP, Xerox Technology Services SAS, Xerox Telebusiness GmbH, Xerox Trading Enterprises Limited, Xerox Trinidad Limited, Xerox UK Holdings Limited, Xerox XHB Limited, Xerox XIB Limited, Xerox Xf Holdings (Ireland) DAC, Xerox de Chile S.A., Xerox del Ecuador S.A., Xerox del Peru S.A., Zeno Office Solutions, Zeno Office Solutions Inc., Zoom Imaging Solutions Inc., and inVentiv Patient Access Solutions.The following companies are subsidiares of Dover: Accelerated Production Systems, Acme Elevator, Advansor A/S, Advansor Dover International (Poland) sp. z o.o, Advansor Germany GmbH, Alfred Fueling Systems Holdco Ltd., Alfred Fueling Systems Inc., Alfred Fueling Systems Intermediate Holdco Ltd., All-Flo Pump Company, Anman LLC, Anthony Equity Holdings Inc., Anthony Holdings Inc., Anthony Inc., Anthony International, Anthony International Foreign Sales Corp., Anthony International Holding Company, Anthony Mexico Holdings LLC, Anthony North Holdco Inc., Anthony Specialty Glass LLC, Anthony TemperBent GP LLC, Auto Glanz Solutions LLC, Automatik Grundstucksverwaltungs GmbH & Co. KG, Automatik Plastics Machinery (Taiwan) Ltd., BSC Filters Limited, Background2 Limited, Belanger, Belanger Inc., Belvac Middle East FZE, Belvac Production Machinery Inc., Blackmer, BlitzRotary GmbH, Butler Engineering and Marketing S.P.A., CDS Visual, CEP Liquidation LLC, CP Formation LLC, CPC Europe Inc., CPI Products Inc., Caldera, Canada Organization & Development LLC, Chief Automotive Technologies (Shanghai) Trading Company Ltd., Chippewa Square Captive Insurance Company, Colder Products Company, Colder Products Company GmbH, Colder Products Company LTD, Cook Compression BV, Cook Compression LLC, Cook Compression Limited, Cook-MFS Inc., DD1 Inc., DDI Properties Inc., DE-STA-CO Benelux B.V., DE-STA-CO FRANCE, DE-STA-CO Shanghai Co. Ltd., DESTACO UK Limited, DFH Corporation, DFS Netherlands B.V., DSR BZ Holdings LLC, Datamax International Corp, De Sta Co (Asia) Company Limited, De-Sta-Co Cylinders Inc., DeStaCo Europe GmbH, Delaware Capital Formation Inc., Delaware Capital Holdings Inc., Dover (China) Investment Co. Ltd., Dover (Schweiz) Holding GmbH, Dover (Shanghai) Industrial Co. Ltd., Dover (Shenzhen) Industrial Equipment Manufacturing Co. Ltd., Dover (Suzhou) Industrial Equipment Manufacturing Co. Ltd., Dover Asia Trading Private Ltd., Dover Australia Holdings Pty Limited, Dover Business Services EMEA Limited, Dover Business Services LLC, Dover Business Services Philippines Corporation, Dover CLP Formation Limited Partnership, Dover CR spol s r.o., Dover Canada Holdings ULC, Dover Canada Operations ULC, Dover Corporation Regional Headquarters, Dover DEI Services Inc., Dover Denmark Holdings ApS, Dover EMEA FZCO, Dover Energy UK Ltd, Dover Engineered Products Segment Inc., Dover Europe Inc., Dover Europe Sarl, Dover Fluids UK Ltd, Dover France Holdings, Dover France Participations, Dover France Technologies, Dover Fueling Solutions Segment Inc., Dover Fueling Solutions UK Limited, Dover Germany GmbH, Dover Global Holdings LLC, Dover Holdings de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Dover Imaging & Identification Segment Inc., Dover India Pvt. Ltd., Dover Intercompany Services UK Limited, Dover International B.V., Dover International Operations Inc., Dover International Ventures Inc., Dover International Ventures Tunisia S.a.r.l., Dover International ithalat ihracat ve Pazarlama Limited Sirketi, Dover Italy Holdings S.r.l., Dover Luxembourg Finance Sarl, Dover Luxembourg Participations Sarl, Dover Luxembourg S.a.r.l., Dover Luxembourg Services Sarl, Dover Operations South Africa (Pty) Ltd, Dover Overseas Ventures Inc., Dover Pumps & Process Solutions Segment Inc., Dover Refrigeration & Food Equipment Segment Inc., Dover Refrigeration & Food Equipment UK Ltd, Dover Resources International de Mexico S. de R.L. C.V., Dover Solutions Colombia SAS, Dover Southeast Asia (Thailand) Ltd., Dover Spain Holdings S.L., Dover UK Pensions Limited, Dover WSCR Holding LLC, Dover WSCR LLC, Dover do Brasil Ltda., Dow-Key Microwave Corporation, Dresser Wayne Data Technology (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Dresser Wayne Fuel Equipment (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., EOA Systems Inc., Ebs-Ray Holdings Pty Ltd, Ebs-Ray Industries Pty. Ltd., Ebs-Ray Pumps Pty. Ltd., Em-tec, Espy, Ettlinger, Ettlinger Kunststoffmaschinen GmbH, Fairbanks Environmental Limited, Fibrelite Composites Limited, Fibresec Holdings Limited, Fibresec Limited, Finder, GAL LLC, GIIER LLC, Gala Industries, Gala Kunststoff-und Kautschukmaschinen GmbH, Guangdong Tokheim LIYUAN Oil Industry Technology Limited Company, Highland Park Insurance Company, Hill PHOENIX Inc., Hill PHOENIX WIC LLC, Hill Phoenix Costa Rica Sociedad De Responsabilidad Limitada, Hill Phoenix El Salvador Limitada de Capital Variable, Hill Phoenix Guatemala Sociedad Anonima, Hill Phoenix Honduras Sociedad Anonima, Hill Phoenix Nicaragua Sociedad Anonima, Hill Phoenix de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Hiltap Fittings Ltd., Hydro Systems Company, Hydro Systems Europe Ltd., Hydronova Australia-NZ Pty Ltd, Industrial Motion Control LLC, Innovative Control Systems, Innovative Control Systems Inc., Inpro/Seal LLC, JK Group, JK Group S.P.A., JK Group USA Inc., K S Boca Inc., K&L Microwave DR Inc., K&L Microwave Inc., KPS (Beijing) Petroleum Equipment Trading Co Ltd., KPS Fueling Solutions Sdn. Bhd., KPS Hong Kong Holding Limited, KPS UK Limited, KS Formation Inc., KS Liquidation Inc., KSLP Liquidation L.P., Kiian Digital (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Knappco LLC, Knowles Electronics, LIQAL, Liquip, Liquip International Pty Limited, MAAG, MARKEM FZ SA, MARKEM-IMAJE Corporation, MIP Holdings Inc., MS Printing Solutions, MS Printing Solutions S.R.L., Maag Automatik GmbH, Maag Automatik Plastics Machinery (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Maag Gala Inc., Maag Italy S.R.L., Maag Pump Systems, Maag Pump Systems (US) Inc., Maag Pump Systems AG, Maag Reduction Inc., Maag Service (Malaysia) Sdn. Bdn., Maag Systems (Thailand) Limited, Marathon Equipment Company (Delaware), Markem Imaje Center of Competencies Spain S.L.U., Markem-Imaje, Markem-Imaje (China) Co. Limited, Markem-Imaje - Unipessoal Lda, Markem-Imaje A/S, Markem-Imaje AB, Markem-Imaje AG, Markem-Imaje AS, Markem-Imaje B.V., Markem-Imaje CSAT GmbH, Markem-Imaje Co. Ltd., Markem-Imaje GmbH, Markem-Imaje Holding, Markem-Imaje Identificacao de Produtos Ltda., Markem-Imaje Inc., Markem-Imaje India Private Limited, Markem-Imaje Industries, Markem-Imaje Industries Limited, Markem-Imaje KK, Markem-Imaje LLC, Markem-Imaje Limited, Markem-Imaje Limited, Markem-Imaje Ltd., Markem-Imaje N.V., Markem-Imaje Oy, Markem-Imaje Philippines Corporation, Markem-Imaje Pty Ltd, Markem-Imaje S.A., Markem-Imaje S.A. de C.V., Markem-Imaje S.r.l., Markem-Imaje SAS, Markem-Imaje Sdn Bhd, Markem-Imaje Singapore Pte. Ltd., Markem-Imaje Spain S.A.U, Markpoint Holding AB, Midland Manufacturing LLC, Mouvex, Northern Lights (Nevada) Inc., Northern Lights Funding LP, Northern Lights Investments LLC, Nova Controls Inc., OK International, OK International (UK) Ltd., OK International Holdings Inc., OK International Inc., OPW Engineered Systems Inc., OPW Fluid Transfer Group Europe B.V., OPW Fluid Transfer Solutions (Jiang Su) Co. Ltd., OPW Fluids Group Inc., OPW France, OPW Fuel Management Systems Inc., OPW Fueling Components (SuZhou) Co. Ltd., OPW Fueling Components LLC, OPW Iberia Sociedad Limitada, OPW Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., OPW Slovakia s.r.o., OPW Sweden AB, Officine Meccaniche Sirio S.R.L., PDQ Manufacturing, PDQ Manufacturing Inc., PISCES by OPW Inc., PSD Codax Holdings Limited, PSD Codax Limited, PSG (Shanghai) Co. Ltd, PSG (Tianjin) Co. Ltd., PSG California LLC, PSG Germany GmbH, Petro Vend Sp. z o.o., Pike Machine Products Inc., Pole/Zero Acquisition Inc., Precision Brasil Equipamentos E Servicos Para Postos De Combustiveis Ltda., Precision Service - Servicos De Manutencao E Instalacao De Postos De Abastecimento De Combustivel Ltda., Production Control Services, Pump Management Services Co. LLC, RAV Equipos Espana S.L., RAV France, Ravaglioli Deutschland GmbH, Ravaglioli S.P.A., Reduction Engineering GmbH, Revod Corporation, Revod Luxembourg S.a.r.l., Revod SAS, Revod Singapore Holdings Pte. Ltd, Revod Sweden AB, Robohand Inc., Rosario, Rosario Handel B.V., Rotary Lift Consolidated (Haimen) Co. Ltd, SE Liquidation LLC, SWEP Germany GmbH, SWEP Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., SWEP North America Inc., SWEP Slovakia s.r.o., SWEP Technology (Suzhou) Co. Ltd., Seabiscuit Motorsports Inc., Simmons Sirvey Corporation, So. Cal. Soft-Pak, So. Cal. Soft-Pak Incorporated, Solaris Laser, Solaris Laser S.A., Somero Enterprises, Sound Solutions, Space S.R.L., Spirit, Start Italiana Petrol Cihazlari Sanayi Ticaret Anonim Sirketi, Start Italiana S.R.L., Swep Energy Oy, Swep International A.B., Swep Japan K.K., Sys-Tech Solutions, Sys-Tech Solutions Inc., Systech GB Limited, Systech Shanghai Consulting Company Limited, TQC Quantium Quality S.A. de C.V., TTSI III Inc., TWG Canada Consolidated Inc., TXHI LLC, Tartan Textile Services Inc., The Heil Co., Tokheim Belgium, Tokheim China Company Limited, Tokheim GmbH, Tokheim Group, Tokheim Hengshan Technologies (Guangzhou) Co. Ltd., Tokheim Holding B.V., Tokheim India Private Limited, Tokheim Sofitam Applications, Trans - Logistic Group S.R.L., Triton Systems, Tulsa Winch Inc., UPCO Inc., US Synthetic, Unattended Payment Solutions LLC, Unified Brands, Unified Brands Inc., Val TemperBent Glass L.P., Vectron Frequency Devices (Shanghai) Co. Ltd, Vehicle Service Group LLC, Vehicle Service Group UK Limited, Vos Food Store Equipment Ltd., WSCR Corp., Warn Automotive LLC, Warn Industries, Waukesha Bearings, Waukesha Bearings Corporation, Waukesha Bearings Limited, Waukesha Bearings Russia LLC, Wayne Fuel Management UK Ltd., Wayne Fueling Systems, Wayne Fueling Systems (Rus) Limited Liability Company, Wayne Fueling Systems Australia Pty Ltd, Wayne Fueling Systems Canada ULC, Wayne Fueling Systems Deutschland GmbH, Wayne Fueling Systems Italia S.R.L., Wayne Fueling Systems LLC, Wayne Fueling Systems Ltd., Wayne Fueling Systems Sweden AB, Wayne Fueling Systems UK Holdco Ltd., Wayne Industria e Comercio Ltda., WellMark, XanTec Steuerungs- und EDV-Technik GmbH, and em-tec GmbH.Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA engages in the traditional banking businesses of retail banking, asset management, private banking, and wholesale banking. It operates through the following segments: Spain, the United States, Mexico, Turkey, South America, and Rest of Eurasia. The Spain segment includes mainly the banking and insurance business that the group carries out in Spain. The United States segment consists of the financial business activity of BBVA USA in the country and the activity of the branch of BBVA SA in New York. The Mexico segment refers to banking and insurance businesses in this country as well as the activity of its branch in Houston. The Turkey segment reports the activity of Garanti BBVA group that is mainly carried out in this country and, to a lesser extent, in Romania and the Netherlands. The South America segment comprises of operations in n Argentina, Colombia, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela. The Rest of Eurasia segment includes the banking business activity carried out by the group in Europe and Asia, excluding Spain. The company was founded in 1857 and is headquartered in Madrid, Spain.

Read MoreInvesco S&P 500 GARP ETF's stock was trading at $51.94 on March 11th, 2020 when COVID-19 (Coronavirus) reached pandemic status according to the World Health Organization. Since then, PXLG shares have increased by 79.4% and is now trading at $93.19.

View which stocks have been most impacted by COVID-19.Imperial Brands PLC, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures, imports, markets, and sells tobacco and tobacco-related products. It offers a range of cigarettes, fine cut and smokeless tobacco, papers, and cigars; and next generation product (NGP) portfolio, such as e-vapour products, as well as oral nicotine and heated tobacco products. The company sells its products under various brands, including Davidoff, Gauloises, JPS, West, L&B, Bastos, Fine, Winston, News, Parker & Simpson, blu, Kool, Horizon, Jade, Cohiba, Montecristo, Romeo Y Julieta, Backwoods, Skruf, Golden Virginia, Rizla, and Knox in approximately 160 countries worldwide. It also provides logistics services that include the distribution of tobacco and NGP products for tobacco and NGP product manufacturers; and various non-tobacco and NGP products and services. In addition, the company is involved in the management of a golf course; marketing of papers; restaurant business; distribution of pharmaceuticals, POS software, and published materials and other products; printing and publishing activities; and provision of long haul transportation, industrial parcel and express delivery, advertising, and support management services. Further, it owns the trademarks; and retails its products. The company was formerly known as Imperial Tobacco Group PLC and changed its name to Imperial Brands PLC in February 2016. Imperial Brands PLC was founded in 1901 and is headquartered in Bristol, the United Kingdom.

Read MoreiShares Global Healthcare ETF's stock split on Wednesday, May 2nd 2018. The 2-1 split was announced on Thursday, March 29th 2018. The newly created shares were issued to shareholders after the market closes on Tuesday, May 1st 2018. An investor that had 100 shares of iShares Global Healthcare ETF stock prior to the split would have 200 shares after the split.iShares MSCI Mexico ETF's stock was trading at $35.82 on March 11th, 2020 when Coronavirus (COVID-19) reached pandemic status according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Since then, EWW stock has increased by 37.6% and is now trading at $49.30.

View which stocks have been most impacted by COVID-19.The following companies are subsidiares of Masco: A&J Gummers, Airex 3 LLC, Arrow Fastener, BEHR PAINTS IT! INC., BSI Holdings, Behr (Beijing) Paint Company Limited, Behr Paint (Beijing) Commercial Co. Ltd., Behr Process, Behr Process Canada Ltd., Behr Process Corporation, Behr Process Paints (India) Private Limited, Behr Sales LLC, BrassCraft Manufacturing Company, Brasstech Inc., Bristan, Bristan Group Limited, Cambrian Windows, ColorAxis Inc., Davenport Insulation Group, Delta Faucet (China) Co. Ltd., Delta Faucet Company, Delta Faucet Company India Private Limited, Delta Faucet Company Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Delta Faucet Company of Tennessee, Diversified Cabinet Distributors Inc., Duraflex, Duraflex Limited, Erickson Framing, Glass Idromassaggio, Guy Evans Inc., Hans Grohe Pte. Ltd., Hansgrohe, Hansgrohe A.B., Hansgrohe A/S, Hansgrohe AG, Hansgrohe Armature Sanayi ve Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Hansgrohe B.V., Hansgrohe Brasil Metals Santitarios Ltda., Hansgrohe CS s.r.o., Hansgrohe Deutschland Vertriebs GmbH, Hansgrohe Handelsges.mbH, Hansgrohe Inc., Hansgrohe India Private Ltd., Hansgrohe International GmbH, Hansgrohe Japan K.K, Hansgrohe Kft., Hansgrohe Ltd., Hansgrohe N.V., Hansgrohe Pty Ltd, Hansgrohe S. de R. L. de C. V., Hansgrohe S. a r.l., Hansgrohe S.A., Hansgrohe S.A.U., Hansgrohe SA (Pty) Ltd., Hansgrohe SE, Hansgrohe Sanitary Products (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Hansgrohe Sanitary Products W.L.L., Hansgrohe Sp. z.o.o., Hansgrohe Wasselonne S.A., Hansgrohe d.o.o., Hansgrohe ooo, Hansgrohe s.r.l., Hot Spring Spa Australasia Pty Ltd, Hot Spring Spas New Zealand Limited, Huppe B.V., Huppe Belgium S.A., Huppe GmbH, Huppe Insaat Sanayi ve Ticaret A.S., Huppe S. a r.l., Huppe S.L., Huppe Spolka z.o.o., Huppe s.r.o., IDI Group inc, Inrecon, Jet Acquisition LLC, Kichler Lighting LLC, L.D. Kichler Lighting Services (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Landex of Wisconsin Inc., Liberty Hardware Asia Co. Ltd., Liberty Hardware Mfg. Corp., Liberty Hardware Retail & Design Services LLC, Masco Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH, Masco Building Products Corp., Masco Cabinetry Hong Kong Limited, Masco Canada Limited, Masco Capital Corporation, Masco Chile Limitada, Masco Corporation Limited, Masco Corporation of Indiana, Masco Europe Inc., Masco Europe S. a r.l., Masco Europe SCS, Masco Framing Corp., Masco Germany Holding GmbH, Masco HD Support Services LLC, Masco Home Products Private Limited, Masco Home Products S.a r.l., Masco Retail Sales Support Inc., Masco Singapore Pte. Ltd., Masco WM Support Services LLC, Mascomex S.A. de C.V., Masterchem Industries, Masterchem Industries LLC, Mercury Plastics LLC, Milgard Manufacturing, Mill's Pride, Mirolin Industries Corp., My Service Center Inc., NCFII Holdings Inc., Newport Brass, Oz Acquisition LLC, Peerless Sales Corporation, SCE Unlimited, Service Partners, Shanghai Hansgrohe International Trading Co. Ltd., SmarTap, SmarTap A.Y. Ltd., Tapicerias Pacifico SA de CV, Tempered Products Inc., Texwood Industries, The Faucet-Queens, The GMU Group, The L.D. Kichler Co., Tvilum, Vapor Technologies Inc., Vapor Technologies Shenzhen Co. Ltd., Watkins Distribution UK Limited, Watkins Europe BVBA, Watkins Manufacturing Corporation, and Wellness Marketing Corporation.Phoenix Group Holdings plc engages in the long-term savings and retirement busines in Europe. The company operates through UK Heritage, UK Open, Europe, ReAssure, and Management Services segments. It engages in the management of insurance policies, which include active and closed life insurance products. The company also provides workplace pensions, and customer savings and investments products under the Standard Life brand. Its retirement solutions business includes vesting annuities and bulk purchase annuity business, where it acquires annuities and deliver the financial stability for secure pensions. The company also offers a range of financial products for the over 50s market under the SunLife brand, which cover life cover, equity release, funeral plans, and home insurance. Phoenix Group Holdings plc has a strategic partnership with Standard Life Aberdeen plc. The company was formerly known as Pearl Group and changed its name to Phoenix Group Holdings plc in March 2010. Phoenix Group Holdings plc was founded in 1782 and is based in London, the United Kingdom.

Read MoreGreen Dot Corp. operates as a financial technology leader and bank holding company, which engages in the provision of modern banking and money movement accessible for all. It operates through the following segments: Account Services; Processing and Settlement Services; and Corporate and Other. The Account Services segment consists of revenues and expenses derived from deposit account programs, such as prepaid cards, debit cards, consumer and small business checking accounts, secured credit cards, payroll debit cards, and gift cards. The Processing and Settlement Services segment comprises of products and services that specialize in facilitating the movement of funds on behalf of consumers and businesses. The Corporate and Other segment represents eliminations of intersegment revenues and expenses, unallocated corporate expenses, depreciation and amortization, and other costs that are not considered when management evaluates segment performance. The company was founded by Steven W. Streit in October 1, 1999 and is headquartered in Pasadena, CA.

Read MoreTelefAnica Brasil S.A., together with its subsidiaries, provides mobile and fixed telecommunications services to residential and corporate customers in Brazil. Its fixed line services portfolio includes local, domestic long-distance, and international long-distance calls; and mobile portfolio comprises voice and broadband internet access through 3G, 4G, and 4.5G, as well as mobile value-added services and wireless roaming services. The company also offers data services, including broadband and mobile data services. In addition, it provides pay TV services through direct to home satellite technology, IPTV, and cable, as well as pay-per-view and video on demand services; network services, such as rental of facilities; other services comprising internet access, private network connectivity, computer equipment leasing, extended service, caller identification, voice mail, cellular blocker, and others; wholesale services, including interconnection services to users of other network providers; and digital services, such as entertainment, cloud, and security and financial services, as well as sells wireless devices and accessories. Further, the company offers multimedia communication services, which include audio, data, voice and other sounds, images, texts, and other information, as well as sells devices, such as smartphones, broadband USB modems, and other devices. Additionally, it provides telecommunications solutions and IT support to various industries, such as retail, manufacturing, services, financial institutions, government, etc. It markets and sells its solutions through own stores, dealers, retail and distribution channels, door-to-door sales, and telesales. The company was formerly known as TelecomunicaAAes de SAo Paulo S.A. - TELESP and changed its name to TelefAnica Brasil S.A. in October 2011. The company was incorporated in 1998 and is headquartered in SAo Paulo, Brazil.

Read MoreThe following companies are subsidiares of TransUnion: Accupost Corporation, AppLock Limited, Auditz, Autolocator (Pty) Ltd., Beheer en Beleggingsmaatchapij Stivaco B.V., CIFIN S.A.S, [email protected] plc, Callcredit Data Solutions Limited, Callcredit Information, Callcredit Lead Generation Limited, Callcredit Marketing Ltd., Callcredit Public Sector Limited, Callcredit Spain S.L.U, Centro de Informacion y Estudios Estrategicos Empresariales S.A., Centro de Operaciones Servicios de Informacion Estrategica S.A., CheckMend Ltd., Coactiva Limited, Collection Africa Ltd., Confirma Sistemas de Informacion S.L., Credit Bureau of Carmel & Pebble Beach Inc., Credit Information Services Limited, Credit Information Systems Company Limited, Credit Reference Bureau (Holdings) Limited, Credit Reference Bureau Africa (Pty) Ltd., Credit Reference Bureau Africa Ltd., Credit Reporting Services Limited, Credit Retriever LLC, Crivo, Crown Acquisition BidCo Ltd., Crown Acquisition Consumer Ltd., Crown Acquisition MidCo Ltd., Crown Acquisition MidCo. 2 Ltd., Crown Acquisition TopCo. Ltd., DMWSL 617 Ltd., DMWSL 618 Ltd., DMWSL 619 Ltd., DMWSL 620 Ltd., DataLink Services, Datalink Services Inc., Decision Systems Inc., DecisionMetrics Limited, Diversified Data Development Corporation, Drivers History Inc., Drivers History Information Sales LLC, FT Holdings Inc., FactorTrust, FactorTrust Inc., GMAP Japan KK, GMAP Marketing Consulting Shangahi Co. Ltd, Healthcare Payment Specialists, INSDEC LLC, IS Resources Inc., Immobilise.com Limited, L2C Inc., L2C Inc., Link Marketing Inc., Link2credit Inc., Moussoro Participacoes Ltda., RTech, RTech Healthcare Revenue Technologies Inc., Recipero, Recipero Inc., Recipero Limited, Regional Data Systems Limited, RentPort, Rubixis, Rubixis Inc., Rubixis Technologies Private Limited, STS Vail Beheeren Administracion S. DE. R.L. DE C.V., Servicios y Asesoria S CO BC SA de CV, Signal, Soluciones de Informatica de Centroamerica (SICE) S.A., Source USA Insurance Agency Inc., Tenant ID Limited, Title Insurance Services Corporation, Trans Union Central America S.A., Trans Union Chile S.A., Trans Union Content Solutions LLC, Trans Union Costa Rica S.A., Trans Union Guatemala S.A., Trans Union Honduras-Buro de Credito S.A., Trans Union International Inc., Trans Union LLC, Trans Union Nicaragua S.A., Trans Union Real Estate Services Inc., Trans Union Software Services Private Limited, Trans Union de Puerto Rico Inc., Trans Union of Canada Inc., TransUnion (Mauritius) Limited, TransUnion (Proprietary) Ltd., TransUnion Africa (Pty) Ltd., TransUnion Africa Holdings (Pty) Ltd., TransUnion Analytic and Decision Services (Pty) Ltd., TransUnion Asia Ltd., TransUnion Auto Information Solutions (Pty) Ltd., TransUnion Baltics UAB, TransUnion Brasil Sistemas em Informatica Ltda., TransUnion CIBIL Limited, TransUnion Colombia Ltda., TransUnion Consumer Solutions LLC, TransUnion Credit Bureau (Pty) Ltd., TransUnion Credit Bureau Namibia (Pty) Ltd., TransUnion Data Solutions LLC, TransUnion Digital LLC, TransUnion El Salvador S.A. de C.V., TransUnion Exchange LLC, TransUnion Financing Corporation, TransUnion Global Holdings LLC, TransUnion Global Holdings LP, TransUnion Global Technology Center LLP, TransUnion Healthcare Inc., TransUnion Holding Cyprus Ltd., TransUnion ITC (Pty) Ltd., TransUnion Information Group Limited, TransUnion Information Services Limited, TransUnion Information Solutions Inc., TransUnion Information Technology (Beijing) Co. Ltd., TransUnion Intelligence LLC, TransUnion Interactive Inc., TransUnion Intermediate Holdings Inc., TransUnion International Holdings LLC, TransUnion International UK Limited, TransUnion Kenya Limited, TransUnion Limited, TransUnion Ltd., TransUnion Marketing Solutions Inc., TransUnion Netherlands I B.V., TransUnion Netherlands II B.V., TransUnion Rental Screening Solutions Inc., TransUnion Reverse Exchange S de R.L. de C.V., TransUnion Risk Advisory Inc., TransUnion Risk and Alternative Data Solutions Inc., TransUnion Rwanda Limited, TransUnion S.A., TransUnion Soluciones de Informacion Chile SA, TransUnion Soluciones de Informacion S de R.L de C.V., TransUnion Teledata LLC, TransUnion UK Holdings Ltd., Tru Optik, TruSignal, TruSignal Inc., TrueLink, Trustev, Trustev Limited, Vail Holdings UK Ltd., Vail Systemen Groep B.V., Verifacts LLC, Visionary Systems Inc., Worthknowing Inc., eBureau, eBureau LLC, iovation Inc., iovation Ltd., and process benchmarking limited.Videos

Sorry, there are no recent results for popular videos.Meghan Markle Reveals the Secret Way Her Wedding Veil Honored Her First Date with Prince Harry

It doesnt get more romantic than this.

In a sneak peek from the upcoming HBO documentary Queen of the World, Meghan Markle opens up about the secret tribute to her first date with Prince Harry hidden within her spectacular 16-foot wedding veil.

While getting a chance to see her dress for the first time after tying the knot in May, Meghan, 37, reveals the special significance behind a piece of blue fabric stitched inside.

Somewhere in here theres a piece of blue fabric thats stitched inside  it was my something blue, Meghan remarks while inspecting the veil in the video above.

Sweetly, she adds, Its fabric from the dress that I wore on our first date.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle

RELATED: See the Exciting Moment Meghan Markle Lays Eyes on Her Wedding Dress After the Big Day

Of course, the cathedral-length veil also represented a special connection to the Commonwealth.

The brides headpiece, made from silk tulle, featured a trim of hand-embroidered flowers from each of the 53 counties in the Commonwealth, the family of nations linked to the U.K., in threads and organza.

[Harry was] really over the moon to find out that I would make this choice for our day together, Meghan says in another clip. And I think the other members of the family had a similar reaction and just appreciation for the fact that we understand how important this is for us and the role that we play, and the work that were going to continue to do within the Commonwealth countries.

RELATED VIDEO: HBOs Queen of the World: Meghan on Commonwealth Role

Meghan adds: It was good news all around, I think, so I hope people like it as much as I liked helping to create it.

Designer Clare Waight Keller previously told PEOPLE that the idea came to her after several conversations with Meghan about what story she wanted to tell with the celebration.

Cant get enough of PEOPLEs Royals coverage? Sign up for our newsletter to get the latest updates on Kate Middleton, Meghan Markle and more!

Meghan Markle

There was a conversation early on about the story that we were going to tell through this wedding, she said. Part of what I wanted to do was talk to her about what type of stories they could be. The fact that her and Prince Harry will be working a lot in the Commonwealth was something that I thought was really intriguing and could be something built on to be part of the day.

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We had different conversations back and forth and I came up with the idea of maybe representing each of the countries, the 53 countries of the Commonwealth, through their flora and fauna, she added. We both loved the story of that. It also meant that single one of those countries also journeyed up the aisle with her. It was a really poetic moment.

RELATED VIDEO: Meghan Markles Mom Doria Had the Ultimate Proud Mom Moment at the Palace: Im Head Over Heels

The documentary features members of the royal family speaking about Queen Elizabeth and the Commonwealth  and it will air just before Harry and Meghan head to Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and Tonga on their first official tour of Commonwealth nations.

A palace source previously told PEOPLE that Meghan takes part in a conversation, a stand-up chat for the film. The series will also feature appearances from Harry, Prince Charles and Prince William.

Executive producer Nick Kent tells PEOPLE: Meghan was great. The thing that unites all the members of the royal family is a strong sense of duty. People like Prince Charles, Prince Harry and Prince William are born with that, but to come in from outside and marry into the royal family and to have that sense of public service is very impressive.

Meghans experience as a former actress in front of the camera came in handy during filming.

Shes a professional when it comes to the camera, Kent says. It was a very easy sequence to film. She needed very little direction and was a natural. And it was exciting for her to see the dress. She was just very relaxed and easy to be with. She has a clear sense of what she wants to do.

Queen of the World premieres Monday, Oct. 1 on HBO at 8 p.m.Minnesota Lawmaker Quits Campaign After Daughter Says He Inappropriately Touched Her for 12 Years

Jim Knoblach, the eight-term Republican state representative from Minnesota, ended his re-election campaign on Friday after his adult daughter alleged he had inappropriately touched her over the course of 12 years, dating back to the time she was a child.

In a statement on Facebook, Knoblach, 60, denied the allegations, calling them extremely hurtful and untrue.

I love my children more than anything, and would never do anything to hurt them, Knoblach wrote. Her allegations are false.

I could fight on for another six weeks to defend my reputation while running for re-election. But this would entail subjecting my wife, son, and elderly parents, as well as my daughter, to six weeks of extreme stress and scrutiny. Im also not willing to spend six weeks fighting with my daughter in the media, he continued. As a result, I feel I have no choice but to effectively end my campaign today so that I can work towards healing my family.

Representatives for Knoblach did not immediately respond to PEOPLEs request for comment.

Knoblachs daughter Laura, 23, first made accusations against her father in late 2016, writing in a since-deleted Facebook post that he molested her and that my family threatened and coerced me into silence about it for almost 15 years, Minnesota Public Radio reported.

Her accusations were investigated by the St. Cloud Police Department and Sherburne County Sheriffs Office, though the case was dismissed and closed in April 2017 with no charges filed, MPR reported.

In the wake of that decision, court documents from which MPR published, Laura took her claims to the outlet. MPR has been preparing a story on her allegations over the past seven months, though Knoblach resigned before the piece was published.

Laura claims that her fathers inappropriate touching included kissing, licking, and biting her ears  all while allegedly pinning her down and using his strength to keep her from escaping. She recalled over 30 instances of the alleged abuse, the first being when she was 9 years old and the last being when she was 21.

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RELATED: #WhyIDidntReport: Alyssa Milano, Padma Lakshmi & Lili Reinhart Share Their Sexual Assault Story as Trump Questions Kavanaugh Accuser

In Knoblachs Facebook statement, he said that his daughter has been estranged from his family for some time.

Even in the wake of her allegations, Knoblach said he and his family would welcome Laura back with open arms.

I and other family members have made repeated attempts to reconcile with her in recent years, but she has refused, the politician wrote. As indescribably hurtful as these circumstances are, my wife and I love our daughter, and we look forward to the day when we can somehow again be a happy family.

Knoblach is chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, a group that oversees budgets. He was going up against Democratic candidate Dan Wolgamott in the election.

It has been the greatest honor of my life to represent my hometown in the Legislature. I want to thank my many supporters for their years of support. I have done the best I can to represent my district in Saint Paul, and will continue to contribute in other ways, Knoblach wrote on Facebook, adding that he will remain in office until his term is up. I will now complete the term voters elected me to serve and help constituents who contact me every day.Indiana bus driver arrested for allowing students to drive bus originally appeared on abcnews.go.com

A school bus driver in Indiana is under arrest after students filmed her allowing kids to drive the bus.

Joandrea Dehaven McAtee, 27, was arrested on Friday and charged with felony neglect of a dependent. A person can be charged with neglect of a dependent if a decision "places the dependent in a situation that endangers the dependent's life or health," according to Indiana state law.

According to police, McAtee allowed three students -- an 11-year-old, 13-year-old and 17-year-old -- to drive the school bus for short distances Thursday in rural Valparaiso, Indiana. There were other students on the bus at the time, some of whom recorded the incident.

Wheels on the bus go round and round, round and round, Boone grove bus driver lets a middle schooler drive, middle schooler drive. pic.twitter.com/IdF4zRkhRG  Casey? (@_caseyweber) September 21, 2018

"First, what you gotta do, is put your foot on the brake," the driver, identified by authorities as McAtee, is heard saying in one video.

The student who filmed the video said it was a middle schooler who was driving.

(MORE: 7-year-old nearly hit while crossing street for school bus)

McAtee was immediately fired by First Student, the company which operates buses in Porter Township, after the video and allegations surfaced.

"We are incredibly disappointed by the actions of our former driver," First Student said in a statement to ABC News. "There is nothing more important than the safety of the students we transport. Behavior such as this is completely unacceptable and totally at odds with what we stand for as a company. The driver has been terminated. We have a zero-tolerance policy for employees whose actions may harm or put others at risk."

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Joandrea McAtee, 27, was charged with felony neglect after she allegedly allowed three students to drive her school bus. She was fired by the bus company. (Porter County Sheriff's Office)

Porter Township School Corporation said students and parents both reported the conduct to the school administration and its investigation "quickly substantiated" that McAtee allowed students to drive the bus.

"Upon receiving information regarding this incident, PTSC administration, First Student (our bus service provider), and the Porter County Sheriffs Department immediately began an investigation," the township said in a statement. "The investigation quickly substantiated the allegations and the driver was relieved of all duties involving Porter Township School Corporation. The Porter Township School Corporation is angered and disappointed in the actions of this driver. The safety of our students is a top priority.

(MORE: School bus carrying children appears to make illegal turn next to stopped train)

"This individuals actions are not reflective of the hard work, dedication, and professionalism of our staff," the statement continued. "We are thankful for the students and parents who came forward quickly with this information to both PTSC administration and law enforcement allowing us to respond expediently and take the proper steps to insure student safety."

McAtee's only previous arrest in the state was for speeding in her own vehicle in New Chicago, Indiana, in February 2017 for driving 54 mph in a 35 mph zone, court records show. She was found guilty and paid the resulting fine.

ABC News' Alyssa Acquavella, Cammeron Parrish and Brendan Rand contributed to this report.Is September's Harvest Moon the most famous full moon of the year? OK, so it's no Super Blue Blood Moon Eclipse, but as the full moon that occurs closest to the fall equinox, there's something special about our shining satellite on Sunday and Monday.

So what is a Harvest Moon and how can you see it? Here's everything you need to know.

Why is September's full moon called the Harvest Moon?

Its all about timing. Every 27.3 days, moon's orbit puts Earth between it and the sun, which makes the moon's surface as fully illuminated as possible, as seen from Earth. The Harvest Moons intense brightness means that farmers have historically been able to work in the fields late at night gathering in Septembers crops.

For the same reason the Harvest Moon has also been called the Corn Moon. However, it's not just about the brightness of the moon, but when it rises and sets. During a full moon  and for a day or so on either side  our satellite rises above the eastern horizon close to when the sun sets in the west, and shines all night, sinking in the west as the sun rises in the east the next morning.

When is the Harvest Moon?

The Harvest Moon 2018 occurs at precisely 10:53 p.m. EDT on Monday, Sept. 24, 2018. On that day, the sun will set in the west at New York City at 6:49 p.m. EDT and the Harvest Moon will rise in the east at 7:01 a.m. 99 percent illuminated. It will be visible all night long, setting at 07:03 a.m. EDT on Tuesday, September 25. The sun will rise at 06:46 a.m. EDT.

How to watch the Harvest Moon

Due to it being so close to the fall equinox, there are a couple of opportunities to catch the Harvest moon. Normally, the moon rises around 50 minutes later each day. However, in the week or so around the fall equinox, celestial mechanics shorten that to about half an hour. So you can just as easily look at an almost-full moon close to sunset on Sunday, Sept. 23, when it rises at 6:33 p.m. EDT, just before sunset at 6:51 p.m. EDT.

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How to see the Harvest Moon

The Harvest Moon, as with all full moons, will be best observed at moonrise and moonset, which is close to sunset and sunrise, respectively. That's because once the moon has risen around 10 degrees above the horizon, it's way too bright to observe comfortably.

Although it is possible to get a moon filter for a small telescope, all full moons give off way too much glare to look at easily for long with the naked eye. However, before it rises above 10 degrees in the sky in the east, it's a pale orange color, which then turns to pale yellow before brightening. This is the best time to look at it, not only because you will be able to see more detail, but because it's so low in the sky its likely to be visible between buildings, or above mountains. It just makes for a more interesting sight. For the same reasons, a full moonset is also an arresting sight.

When is the next full moon?

The next full moon will occur on Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2018 at 12:45 p.m EDT, precisely 27.3 days after the Harvest Moon. October's full moon is often called the Hunter's Moon because Native Americans and European settlers used to use the moonlight to go hunting in preparation for a long winter. However, you may be tempted to look up at our satellite a few days before the Hunter's Moon because Saturday, Oct. 20, 2018 is International Observe The Moon Night.Atlanta Black Star

A former Glynn County police officer who was first to respond to the scene after Ahmaud Arbery was gunned down in the Satilla Shores neighborhood []By Scott Squires

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Argentina is launching a new microwave imaging satellite to monitor natural disasters and soil moisture, in a long-term bid to bolster the farm sector, an industry that has historically been the backbone of the country's economy.

Scheduled to launch on a SpaceX Falcon rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on Oct. 6, Argentina's SAOCOM 1a satellite "is going to boost the high quality precision agriculture Argentina relies on," President Mauricio Macri told farmers and industry representatives last week.

Scientists say the soil and subsurface mapping data provided by the $600 million dollar project should help increase crop yields.

The radar antennae technology will allow Argentina to access a real time 'water map," almost unique in the world, which will allow for prediction of harvest yields, floods, and droughts, the government said.

Argentina's already-struggling economy has suffered a series of setbacks since Macri took power, led by a drought that sapped grain exports earlier this year and a sharp devaluation of its peso currency that prompted the government to seek a $50 billion standby financing deal with the International Monetary Fund.

The government announced earlier this month it would institute fiscal belt-tightening measures, including a tax on the country's primary exports like corn, wheat, and soy.

"This mission will be incredibly valuable to the country's farmers. We are hoping that the information will provide a $5 to $7 return on every dollar invested," said Raul Kulichevsky, Executive and Technical Director for Argentina's National Space Activities Commission (CONAE).

While Argentina's previous satellites have relied on optical surveying, scientists say the SAOCOM mission will provide precision X-ray and microwave imaging across Argentina's grain-producing plains, regardless of weather or time of day.

"This technology is novel, and has never before been used in Argentina. It is the product of 10 years of research," Head Researcher on the SAOCOM mission, Laura Frulla, said in an interview.

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But the project will not provide much help to Argentina's cash-strapped economy in the short-term, according to analysts.

"Farmers depend on these satellites to ensure good crop yields, but given that this won't become operative until June 2019, there is little it can do to help Argentina's current economic situation," said German Heinzenknecht, weather specialist at the Applied Climate Consultancy.

(Reporting by Scott Squires, Editing by Rosalba O'Brien)Sydney (AFP) - Four large sharks have been killed in Australia after a woman and a 12-year-old girl were attacked at a popular Great Barrier Reef tourist spot.

Both were still in hospital Sunday after being mauled in separate incidents just a day apart last week at the Whitsunday Islands.

Drum lines, which use baited hooks to catch the predators, ensnared four tiger sharks, one 3.7 metres (12 feet) long and the others each between two to three metres, a Fisheries Queensland spokesman said Sunday.

"While sharks of this size are potentially very dangerous to humans, it is unclear if they were responsible for injuries caused to two swimmers," he said.

The latest shark to be caught "has been humanely euthanised and will be taken further out to sea for disposal."

The spokesman said it was clear "there are a significant number of active sharks in local waters and people are urged not to swim".

The drumlines were to remain in place over the next week.

Shark attacks are very rare in the Whitsundays -- a collection of spectacular tropical islands at the heart of the Barrier Reef -- with the last encounter reported to be eight years ago, according to national broadcaster ABC.

The attacks have revived debate about how best to reduce the risk of encounters between sharks and the growing number of people using the ocean for leisure.

Many conservationists and marine scientists object to killing sharks, and insist that drum lines are a blunt instrument because they often catch other creatures.

New South Wales, the country's most populous state, has trialled non-lethal measures such as aerial drones to track sharks' movements and "smart" drum lines that alert authorities to their presence.Christine Blasey Ford, who has accused supreme court nominee of sexual assault, to appear despite actual threats to safety and life

Supreme court nominee Brett Kavanaugh is sworn in before the Senate judiciary committee on Capitol Hill on 4 September. Photograph: Andrew Harnik/AP

Christine Blasey Ford, the woman who has accused supreme court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault, will testify before the Senate judiciary committee on Thursday, in proceedings likely to become a decisive moment in the confirmation of the conservative judge.

A statement issued on Sunday by lawyers for the professor at Palo Alto University, who alleges Kavanaugh assaulted her at a part in the early 1980s, said an open hearing would take place at 10am on Thursday.

Kavanaugh, who has denied the allegations, is also expected to appear.

Despite actual threats to her safety and her life, Dr Ford believes it is important for senators to hear directly from her about the sexual assault committed against her, the statement said.

Fords lawyers confirmed that a number of other witnesses to the alleged assault would not be called. This included Mark Judge, a high school friend of Kavanaugh who was allegedly present in the room at the high school party where the violent assault is alleged to have occurred. Judge has said he has no recollection of events described by Ford and does not wish to testify.

Senate Republicans on the judiciary committee, all of whom are men, are weighing up how they will question the 51-year-old. Reports have indicated that chairman Chuck Grassley is seeking to hire a female attorney to question the witness, a move Fords team has opposed.

The issue was still unresolved on Sunday, according to the statement from Fords attorneys.

Grassley has also rejected an application from Fords lawyers for her to appear after Kavanaugh, which would give her the opportunity to rebut his comments.

Counsel for the chairmans office wrote to Fords attorneys on Sunday to inform them Grassley would do everything in his power to provide a safe, comfortable and dignified forum for the hearing.

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Every accuser deserves the right to be heard. But at the same time I think the accused deserves the right to be heard Nikki Haley

On Sunday, a Fox News poll indicated a slump in support for Kavanaughs confirmation, with just 40% of voters approving his suitability for the highest court in the land. With the midterm elections less than two months away, the White House remains concerned Fords potential appearance could not only derail Kavanaugh but also damage the Republican party among female voters.

The outcome of Kavanaughs confirmation could determine the ideological balance of the court for years. Justice Anthony Kennedy, whose retirement prompted Donald Trumps second nomination, was the swing vote on a number of key decisions.

Trump, himself accused by at least 16 women of sexual misconduct, has offered his full support to Kavanaugh. In a series of Twitter posts on Friday, he described the judge as a fine man, with an impeccable reputation and attacked Fords credibility, asking: Why didnt someone call the FBI 36 years ago?

A number of senior female Republicans hit back. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley told CNNs State of the Union on Sunday: Every accuser always deserves the right to be heard. But at the same time I think the accused deserves the right to be heard.

Haley added: Accusers go through a lot of trauma. Some handle it one way, some handle it another. Regardless, its not something we want to do to blame the accuser or to try and second guess the accuser.

Im going to do everything I can to make sure she can tell her story free of intimidation Mazie Hirono

Senator Susan Collins of Maine branded Trumps tweets completely inappropriate and wrong.

I was appalled by the presidents tweet, she said. We know that allegations of sexual assault are one of the most unreported crimes that exist.

Nonetheless, Republican senators on the judiciary committee have indicated they support Kavanaugh. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina told Fox News Sunday he would view Fords appearance from a prism of being reasonable and fair to Judge Kavanaugh.

He said: Everything I know about Judge Kavanaugh goes against this allegation, goes against Dr Ford. I feel sorry for her, I think shes being used here. People in my view are using her.

Democrats have urged the FBI to investigate Fords allegations, pointing to sexual harassment allegations made against conservative judge Clarence Thomas in 1991 by a law professor, Anita Hill. The FBI conducted a brief investigation into Hills claims with bipartisan support during Thomass confirmation process. Thomas was confirmed to the supreme court, where he remains, in a 52-48 vote.

Hill, who was a legal adviser to Thomas during his time in federal government, was called to the Senate to testify. She was publicly lambasted by a number of Republicans, some of whom are still on the judiciary committee. A number of Democratic senators have said they want Ford to avoid the same sort of hostile scrutiny.

Im going to do everything I can to make sure she can tell her story free of intimidation and the kind of threats shes getting for coming forward, Mazie Hirono of Hawaii told CNN on Sunday. Hirono is one of four female Democrats on the judiciary committee.

Ford alleges Kavanaugh was drunk at a house party in suburban Washington DC in 1982, and that he pulled her into a room, pinned her down on a bed and tried to take off her clothes. She also alleges he put his hand over her mouth to stop her screaming.

In an interview with the Washington Post, she said she was able to escape but remained traumatized by the incident into adulthood, describing it as a rape attempt.

According to a report in the Post on Saturday, Kavanaugh has been taking practice questions from White House aides. Citing anonymous sources, the paper reported that the judge grew frustrated by practice questions relating to his drinking habits and sexual experience, declining to answer some questions altogether.Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab has accused EU leaders of putting "the handbrake" on negotiations at the Salzburg this weekend: PA

Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab has dismissed claims Theresa May and her top team are planning to call a snap election following the rejection of her Chequers plan by EU leaders.

It comes following reports that aides to the PM have creating contingency plans for an election in November to save the Brexit talks and her job.

Mr Raab told the BBC's Andrew Marr show this morning that suggestions that Downing Street aides were preparing contingency plans in the event of Chequers proposals being voted down in parliament were 'for the birds.'

Meanwhile Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has also pledged to join Tory rebels to block the Chequers deal, saying the Prime Minister must hold a General Election if she can't deliver on Brexit.

"It's for the birds. It's not going to happen," Mr Raab told the show while being quizzed on the fallout of the Prime Minister's meeting with EU leaders in Salzburg on Friday.

Mr Raab said the Government would keep negotiating with the EU on the basis of the Chequers proposals.

Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab told BBC1's Andrew Marr show that suggestions of a snap election are

"This is a bump in the road. We will hold our nerve, we will keep our cool and we will keep negotiating in good faith," he said.

"What we are not going to do is be dictated to. The UK is one of the biggest economies in Europe, if not in the world.

"We have come up with a serious set of proposals. We are not just going to flit from plan to plan like some sort of diplomatic butterfly. We are going to be resolute about this."

Coming away from the "melodrama of Salzburg", as he called it, the government's "pragmatic" plan remains a "set of proposals that gives effect to the referendum", said Mr Raab.

"If we get this sort of "computer says no" response from the EU we're not going to make progress. We need some flex, and some give and take," he said.

Mr Raab maintains that the EU has been the side to stifle negotiations with belligerent responses, while others criticise the government's own stubborn position by demanding a 'pick-n-mix' of agreements.

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In the programme, Jeremy Corbyn was accused of similar "cherry-picking" that has broken down Theresa May's negotiating position.

Mr Marr said Labour wants the same ease of trade with Europe, with the freedom to write trade deals elsewhere.

"There's quite a big difference between us and what Liam Fox is trying to do," Mr Corbyn said, calling the international trade secretary's own plans the "exact opposite of Labour's".

Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn also faced questions, as he promises to let the party decide if it should back calls for a second referendum. (BBC)

"They involve the reduction of environmental and other standards, all of which involve deregulation. We want stronger regulation. Ours is strengthening consumers' and workers' and environmental rights.

"The PM should report to parliament on what has happened and what her statement really means and we should measure her proposals for the relationship it the EU against the six tests that the Labour Party has put down."

He stoked suggestions again that Mrs May has a general election looming over her if Brexit proposals do not quell the rebels in her own party by November.

He added: "This government doesn't seem very strong. We could well be looking towards a General Election and you know what, we're ready for it."

Questioning the assumption that hard right Tories could find themselves voting for a situation where Corbyn could be Prime Minister, he said: "I don't think there's many Tory MPs that want to see a Labour government, but there are many Tory MPs who are very very angry with how their government is performing and might feel it is the right time for the country to make a decision on the future.

"People voted in two ways, but nobody voted to lose their job. Nobody voted for factories to close."A Brit who claims to be a pharmacist from Birmingham has been detained in Syria on suspicion of being a member of Islamic State.

Video footage shows the man, who says his name is Anwar Miah, blindfolded being questioned by his captors.

In the clip a man with a British accent says his name is Anwar Miah, from Birmingham, and explains that he has been in the country for just under four years.

Asked if he is a member of IS, he replies: Im a doctor. Im a qualified pharmacist from the UK. I studied medicine and pharmacy.

He is said to have been apprehended by Kurdish forces a month ago near Hajin in Deir ez-Zur, a province on the Iraq border.

Around 1 month ago a #YPG #SDF patrol arrested this ISIS terrorist from the city of #Birmingham #UK in #DeirEzzor near #Hajin. He claim he's only a doctor (Yeah right lol) and that he worked in #ISIS territory for the last 4 years.#TwitterKurds pic.twitter.com/BA9Myxpc4q  International Volunteers Report (@VolunteerReport) September 22, 2018

Asked to explain why he is in the area, he says: I came here to work with the general people and to work in their general hospitals. Ive been working in the hospitals since I came.

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Quizzed on whether he is a member of Islamic State, or Daesh, he says the areas he worked in were controlled by Daesh, but he worked with general people in the general hospitals, adding: I mean they were controlled by Daesh, I cant do anything about that. All my work was with the public.

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The mans detention comes after two Britons suspected of being part of an Islamic State execution group known as The Beatles were captured in Syria in February.

Alexanda Kotey and El Shafee Elsheikh, who fell into the hands of Kurdish militia fighters in January, are thought to have been part of the group alongside Mohammed Emwazi, nicknamed Jihadi John, and Aine Davis.

Alexanda Kotey, left, and El Shafee Elsheikh, are allegedly among four British jihadis who made up an Islamic State execution cell dubbed The Beatles (Picture: AP)

The four Londoners, named after the 60s band because of their English accents, have been linked to a string of hostage murders in Iraq and Syria.

Shiraz Maher, director of Kings College Londons International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation, said Miahs detention raised questions over how many foreigners remain in the region with IS.

He tweeted: One of the big questions and dilemmas for security agencies, after Islamic State lost Raqqah and Mosul, is: who died? Who survived? How many got away and where are they now?By Elizabeth Piper and Kylie MacLellan LIVERPOOL, England (Reuters) - British opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn said on Sunday he would back a second Brexit referendum if his Labour Party votes to pursue the move, heaping pressure on Prime Minister Theresa May, whose plans for a divorce deal with the EU have hit an impasse. Corbyn, a veteran eurosceptic, has resisted growing demands to back a new "People's Vote" on the decision to quit the European Union, keen to keep those party members on board who voted in favor of Brexit at a 2016 referendum. But the political landscape has changed since May's plans for Brexit -- the biggest shift in British policy for more than four decades -- were resoundingly rebuffed by the EU on Thursday, with any outcome of the negotiations more uncertain than ever. With talk of a new election swirling after May's "Chequers" plan was all but shredded at an EU summit last week and chances of a disorderly departure that could damage the economy rising, the opposition party is under pressure to set the Brexit agenda. At Labour's annual conference in the northern city of Liverpool, Corbyn, who in 1975 voted "No" to Britain's membership of the then-European Community, said he would act on the result of a debate in Labour on a second Brexit vote. But he was clear that he preferred a new election. "Our preference would be for a general election and we can then negotiate our future relationship with Europe but let's see what comes out of conference," he told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show, saying Labour was ready to vote against any deal. "Obviously Im bound by the democracy of our party." Labour is expected to discuss several motions on Brexit at its conference, and it remains unclear what the proposal on a second referendum might be -- it could be a clear backing of a vote or something less black-and-white. Corbyn has long said that a "People's Vote" is not off the table for his party, and a source close to the leadership urged caution over an as-yet unknown motion, repeating the Labour leader's stance that he does not support a second referendum. Len McCluskey, a Corbyn ally and leader of Britain's biggest trade union Unite, further muddied the water when he said any such second referendum "shouldn't be on: 'Do we want to go back into the European Union?'", adding people had voted in 2016 when Britain backed leaving the EU by a narrow 52-48 percent. NEW ELECTION? Corbyn wanted his conference to be an opportunity to sell his alternative vision for Britain's economy, pressing his argument for the renationalization of rail, mail and utilities, and to rally the party for a possible early election. But with Britain due to leave the EU in March, Brexit was likely to dominate the conference. Thousands of supporters of a second vote marched through Liverpool's streets on Sunday to make their feelings known. After weeks of both EU and British officials making positive noises about the prospects of clinching a divorce deal and one on a future trading relationship, the mood turned sour on Thursday in Salzburg, Austria when EU leaders came out, one by one, to criticize "Chequers" as unrealistic. A tacit deal to try to offer her some support before she heads to what is going to be a difficult annual conference of her Conservative Party later this month was broken by some British diplomatic missteps. May says she will hold her nerve in the talks, pressing the EU to come up with an alternative proposal to her Chequers plan, named after the prime minister's country residence where a deal was hashed out with her top ministers in July. But the impasse with the EU has prompted some to predict an early election -- a notion Brexit minister Dominic Raab said was "for the birds". While saying she will stick to her guns, May might have little chance but to change tack after a party conference where the deep divisions over Europe that have riven her Conservatives for decades will be in plain sight. A senior pro-EU Conservative lawmaker, Nicky Morgan, said May would have to give ground on trade and customs arrangements with the EU to overcome the biggest hurdle to a withdrawal accord -- the prevention of a hard border between the British province of Northern Ireland and Ireland, a member of the EU. And if Labour's Corbyn does come out with clear support for a second referendum, the pressure on the Conservatives to get any deal through parliament will only grow. "We would vote it down if it didn't meet our tests in order to send the government, if it is still in office, straight back to the negotiating table," Corbyn said. "And if there is a general election and we are in office we would go straight to the negotiating table." (Reporting by Elizabeth Piper; Editing by Mark Heinrich and Catherine Evans)(Photo: Joshua Roberts / Reuters)

Christine Blasey Fords attorneys say she accepts the Senate Judiciary Committees invitation to provide first-hand knowledge next week about a high school party where she says she was sexually assaulted by Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, according to an email obtained by Politico on Saturday.

The letter became public minutes after a 2:30 p.m. Eastern Time deadline for Blaseys final decision, set by committee chairman Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa). Attorneys for Blasey have been sparring with committee Republicans over conditions for her testimony all week, accusing Grassley and his colleagues of bullying their client by setting arbitrary deadlines.

The attorneys letter does not make clear whether Blasey plans to testify about Kavanaugh in an open hearing or would prefer to provide information in some other way.

Dr. Ford accepts the Committees request to provide her first-hand knowledge of Brett Kavanaughs sexual misconduct next week, reads the letter by attorneys Debra Katz and Lisa Banks.

It continues: Although many aspects of the proposal you provided via email, on September 21, 2018, at 2:33 p.m., are fundamentally inconsistent with the Committees promise of a fair, impartial investigation into her allegations, and we are disappointed with the leaks and the bullying that have tainted the process, we are hopeful that we can reach agreement on details.

A White House official told CNN that Kavanaughs team does not consider Blaseys attorneys response to be a yes, however, pointing to the request for further talks.

Grassley initially asked Blasey to appear before the committee on Monday, Sept. 24. Katz told the committee that plan was not possible, citing the death threats her client has received. (Blasey and her family had to move after her name became public.)

Democrats have maintained that the accusation should be investigated by the FBI. Earlier reporting had suggested they were largely sitting out these negotiations.

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Blasey described the harrowing incident in a bombshell interview with The Washington Post last weekend. Kavanaugh, she said, pinned her down to a bed while he groped her and attempted to remove her clothing. When she tried to scream, Blasey said, Kavanaugh covered her mouth with his hand.

I thought he might inadvertently kill me, she told the Post. The Supreme Court nominee has categorically denied the accusation.

Blasey said she escaped Kavanaugh when his friend Mark Judge jumped on top of them. Both boys attended the all-male Georgetown Preparatory School, while Blasey attended the nearby all-female Holton-Arms School.

Although Kavanaugh has agreed to defend himself against the disturbing accusation, Judge has declined, stating that he has no memory of the incident Blasey described.

Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee have criticized the GOP plan to hear testimony from only Blasey and Kavanaugh, saying that Judge should be compelled to testify as well.

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.By Ginger Gibson WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Conservative candidates sounded alarms to their evangelical supporters on Friday about voter complacency that could allow a Democratic takeover of Congress and an undermining of President Donald Trump's agenda. The admonition at the annual Value Voters Summit gathering in Washington came as some Republican strategists caution the party's voters are not worried enough about the risk that Democrats could gain control of Congress in the Nov. 6 elections, when a third of the Senate and all House of Representatives seats are up for a vote. "This is the most important midterm of our lifetime because it's setting the direction of our country, and we've got to take it just that seriously over these next six and a half weeks," said Mark Harris, a Republican running for a U.S. House seat in North Carolina that is considered highly competitive. During a panel about the elections, Harris and others asked for more help from activists. "We've got to get out there and work very hard to stop this destructive anti-freedom agenda," said Mark Green, a Republican candidate for Congress in Tennessee. The concerns echo those of Republican strategists who say they are seeing complacency across the country. Democrats are currently favored to take the House and have growing confidence of adding the two Senate seats that would give them control of that chamber. "They dont seem to grasp what is at stake, and they dont seem to believe the polls," strategist Ford O'Connell said of Republican voters. Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, disagreed, saying he felt voters were starting to sense the gravity of the situation. "Theyre beginning to see the numbers that this is a risk  look at the polling numbers, Congress is not in held in high esteem," said Perkins, whose group advocates for conservative social issues and organized the event. Republicans are touting the strong U.S. economy and tax cuts passed by Congress in December, while Democrats are hoping anger at Trump, particularly among women and minority voters, will hand them victory. Several attendees at the gathering seemed unconvinced that Democrats present a significant electoral threat. "Republicans are going to come out pretty good," said Jim Whitefield, 54, of Tecumseh, Oklahoma, who called polls and news reports that Democrats could win the House "fake news." David Smith, 49, a Christian minister from Chicago, Illinois, who attended the summit with his seven children, said conservatives risked getting complacent after winning political power but activists were working to make voters more engaged. "I'm optimistic from what I'm hearing that the blue wave may be overstated," he said. (Reporting by Ginger Gibson; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Alistair Bell)Duke Energy Corp said on Friday that breaches in the cooling lake dam of its 625-megawatt natural gas L.V. Sutton plant in North Carolina have forced the unit's closure. The breaches are the result of flooding in the Cape Fear river region. Rough Cut (no reporter narration).Washington (AFP) - Six siblings of a Republican congressman from Arizona seeking re-election in November's midterms have publicly endorsed his Democratic opponent -- all but ensuring an awkward Thanksgiving family dinner this year.

Paul Gosar, who first entered Congress in 2011 with the backing of the populist Tea Party movement and is known for his hardline views on immigration, is odds-on favorite to retain his seat in the rural, conservative state when he faces Democrat David Brill this fall.

But that hasn't stopped six of his nine brothers and sisters from featuring in a series of videos released Friday for the Brill campaign, drawing surprised and bemused reactions as the family feud plays out across national media.

In one of the ads, entitled: "Paul Gosar Is Not Working For You," the siblings are introduced by only their first name and profession as they take turns to lay out the case against him.

"If (Arizona voters) care about healthcare, they care about their children's healthcare, they would hold him to account," says physician Grace.

Lawyer David adds: "He's not listening to you, he doesn't have your interests at heart."

Their last names and identities are finally disclosed in a "reveal" toward the end, before candidate Brill closes out the video to say he approved the message.

In a second video, called "A Family Defends Its Honor," the siblings say that speaking up against their brother is personally difficult, but they feel compelled to stand up for what is right.

The congressman hit back on Twitter on Saturday, comparing his siblings to slavish supporters of Soviet despot Joseph Stalin.

- Mom's favorite? -

"My siblings who chose to film ads against me are all liberal Democrats who hate President (Donald) Trump," he wrote.

"These disgruntled Hillary supporters are related by blood to me but like leftists everywhere, they put political ideology before family. Stalin would be proud."

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In another tweet, he complained: "We all have crazy aunts and relatives etc and my family is no different," before adding: "To the six angry Democrat Gosarssee you at Mom and Dad's house!"

He also approvingly shared a New York Times report that quoted his 85-year-old mother Bernadette Gosar saying she believes in "the same philosophy and policies that Paul does," leading the congressman to gloat: "I guess I really am Mom's favorite!"

It is not the first time the Gosar family's political disagreements have spilled out in the open.

Last year, seven of the siblings wrote a stinging letter to the Daily Miner, a local Arizona newspaper, after Gosar suggested the white supremacist rally that took place in Charlottesville was orchestrated by George Soros, a liberal billionaire and backer of progressive causes.

Gosar also made headlines earlier this year when he called on police and Attorney General Jeff Sessions to check the immigration status of protesters attending President Donald Trump's State of the Union address in January.

Democrats are hoping for a strong showing in the November 6 vote, when all 435 seats in the House of Representatives are up for grabs, along with 35 seats in the 100-member Senate and more than 30 gubernatorial spots.

Republicans currently hold majorities in both the House and the Senate. Democrats are hoping that a "blue wave" will propel them to victory in the House, and the latest polls give them a good chance of doing so.

Gosar, however, can probably rest easy: political forecasting site FiveThirtyEight currently gives his opponent a less than one percent chance of an upset victory.He remembers being shot down like it was yesterday.

On July 18, 1965, U.S. Navy Lt. Commander William M. Tschudy and his co-pilot Commander Jeremiah Denton were on a mission over Vietnams Song Ma river, with instructions to bomb North Vietnamese ships that were unloading supplies. At first, they thought the plane had malfunctioned. The two men had to eject, parachuting into the middle of a hamlet that seemed empty. But it wasnt.

Suddenly, they were ambushed by a group of people with machetes, led by a man with an assault rifle and a badge that indicated his role in the militia, Tschudy, now 83, told TIME in a recent phone conversation ahead of National POW/MIA Recognition Day on Friday. Tschudy and Denton would become the 13th and 14th American aviators to be taken captive by the North Vietnamese side as prisoners of war (POWs).

They unhooked me from my parachute and took part of my clothes away from me  shirt, trousers, boots  and walked me to a camp, he recalls. The next night, they blindfolded us, put us into jeeps and drove us to Hanoi and put us in the main prison [compound]. And I was there for seven and a half years.

It was about five years into that ordeal that Tschudys face appeared in dramatic fashion on the cover of the Dec. 7, 1970, issue of TIME.

His name didnt appear in the cover story, which was a look back at a failed attempt to rescue prisoners-of-war there, and was only mentioned in a note explaining that the cover image was composed of photos supplied by Communist sources to news agencies. (The other three men who appeared at smaller size on the cover were identified as, left to right, airmen James Hutton and James Young and Commander Charles Tanner.) So how did Tschudy, who goes by Bill, end up symbolizing what the magazine called the plight of the prisoners?

The photo was taken shortly after Bill Tschudy was captured. He believes the enemy took it while an interrogator questioned him about his name, rank and date of birth as part of a routine process. The Vietnamese took photos of some for propaganda purposes and used the prisoners as a leverage point.

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As he recalls, his captors were hoping that their prisoners would offer information to verify what they thought they already knew. When he once just went along with their incorrect story  they asked if his plane had been an F4 Phantom, and he said yes even though he was flying an A-6 fighter-bomber  he later received a beating when they uncovered the lie. They were also highly attuned to information published about POWs in American media. In fact, Tschudy says he only started to realize how quickly word had spread about his capture when the guard rattled off his own biographical details: You live in Virginia! You have one son! Denton has seven! Im like, holy cripes, where did you hear all this? The Stars and Stripes newspaper.

Bill Tschudy and his fellow inmates spent the next seven and a half years in groups of one, as he puts it, using an elaborate tap code to talk about everything under the sun  even to teach each other languages  and subsisting on rice and vegetables, sometimes with canned mutton. When they werent in their cells, they were in the interrogation rooms, curled up with their hands tied to their feet. Sometimes guards would tighten ratchet handcuffs on their wrists until their hands would blow up and turn black from burst blood vessels. Denton is actually considered the first to relay the message home of this torture, by blinking T-O-R-T-U-R-E in Morse code in a North Vietnamese propaganda video.

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Meanwhile, stateside, the effort to spread the word about the POWs was picking up urgency  and the photo was playing a different role. Tschudys wife Janie, now 80, says she experienced an overpowering feeling that something was wrong on the day of her husbands capture, and she first saw the picture about a week after learning what had happened. He looked very angry, and that I liked, because it meant he wasnt beaten down, she says.

Janie Tschudy thus became one of the first of a group of spouses and families of the prisoners who became advocates for the missing men. Initially, we were told by the military not to talk to the press because anything we might say could work against them, she tells TIME. But as the number of men taken captive or missing increased, so did the number of impatient loved ones demanding answers. Janie says she and the other wives really got riled up after learning that the POWs were being tortured from Douglas Hegdahl, a Navy sailor who was captured but relatively quickly returned. The Sept. 12, 1969, issue of TIME described him as blowing the whistle on Hanoi in a press conference. Thats when Janie and other POW/MIA families wives realized, we were ready and being quiet doesnt work. The National League of POW/MIA Families formed on May 28, 1970.

In fact, a 1969 meeting between 26 POW wives and President Nixon was the starting point for the raid that provided the news for the 1970 magazine story; it imparted a human dimension to the problem that Nixon had not felt before. Some of the women, he said, had been separated from their husbands for nearly five years, but they showed no bitterness and did not demand an end to the war at any price, TIME reported.

The efforts to keep the prisoners at the forefront of the national consciousness were varied. Janie Tschudy personally got her family friend Ross Perot, the Dallas computer mogul and future presidential candidate, involved; she asked whether he might request that his employees sign a petition for better treatment of POWs. He wrote back right away and said he would be in touch. Couldnt be more than a week later, every major newspaper in country had a cut-out petition where you as an American could ask friends to sign it, she says. And in 1970, Perot flew her and a few other spouses to New York City to meet with media outlets, including TIME. That year, Veterans Day was renamed Prisoners of War Day by a presidential proclamation. The League launched a campaign to deliver 100 tons of mail to Xuan Thuy, chief North Vietnamese negotiator in Paris, by Christmas, TIME reported. A group of students at (then) San Fernando Valley State College are credited with creating POW awareness bracelets after hearing a story about a South Vietnamese villager who sided with the Americans and wore a sliver of aluminum from an American plane that had crashed around his wrist. The manufacturer in Santa Monica was at one point churning out 40,000 of these bracelets a week, selling them for $2.50 or $3 a piece, and celebrity wearers included John Wayne, Bob Hope and Cher, in addition to President Nixon.

Despite these efforts, homecoming for Bill didnt come until just over three years later in Feb. 1973, after Nixon signed the Paris Peace Accords.

[The North Vietnamese] read this note which said they had had an agreement that prisoners were going to be released in accordance with date they were captured, Tschudy says. Unlike what youd expect, there wasnt a wild cheer or a hurray. There was dead silence. You just didnt want to go bananas, you didnt want to over-believe. There wasnt wild jubilation until the airplane was in the air. Thats when the cheering started.

Re-entry had its highs (X-rated movies, men with hair to their rear ends, discovering that astronauts had landed on the Moon) and lows  depression and PTSD, as well as a bitter feeling that fellow Americans who opposed the war lacked compassion for the ordeal of the prisoners. When Tschudy went for his MBA at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, he struggled to keep up with the undergraduates after not being allowed to read a book for years. He later went on to work in the Pentagon and serve as a liaison with the Navy to the House of Representatives, at the same time that fellow former POW John McCain was a liaison with the Navy with the Senate. After a stint teaching at the Naval War College, where he aptly taught situational awareness, he worked in the aerospace industry and then eventually started a business helping people buy and sell businesses in Raleigh, N.C. His co-pilot Denton was elected to the U.S. Senate from Alabama.

And nowadays, while Vietnam is often referred to as the unwinnable war, he didnt see it that way then  and still doesnt.

We could have made it a military success. There was more America could have done. I felt that America gave up on the war and its mission too soon, he says. There could have been a better ending.

Families of prisoners of war see each other in person at least once a year at an annual reunion in Texas, and keep up year-round online. So for Tschudy, National POW/MIA Recognition Day is just another day. But every now and then, hell meet a new person someone who recognizes his name from the time of the campaign to bring them home: People say, Oh, I wore your bracelet all through high school, or Oh, I was cleaning out my grandmothers jewelry box, and there was this bracelet with your name on it. Thats the kind of thing I get a lot. The more people who tell [me that], the more I understand who was involved or concerned.

And yet, looking back 45 years later from his retirement home in Fairfield, Calif., he says even through the loneliness of those years, even not knowing what was going to happen next, he always knew help would come. It was always just a matter of when.

The whole time I was up there, I never had a feeling that I would never get out, he says. In fact, I hadnt thought about death then as much as I do now.Hong Kong (AFP) - A new high-speed rail link between Hong Kong and mainland China launched Sunday, a multi-billion-dollar project that critics say gives away part of the city's territory to an increasingly assertive Beijing.

Chinese security have been stationed in semi-autonomous Hong Kong for the first time at the harbourfront West Kowloon rail terminus, as part of a new "special port area" that is subject to mainland law.

Despite critics' fears over passenger safety in the mainland zones, hundreds gathered at the terminus, with the first train leaving for the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen at 7:00 am (2300 GMT Saturday).

"I'm not worried about the (mainland security) issue. They're only here to work, the joint checkpoints are just to make things more convenient and make border-crossing clearance faster," one 39-year-old passenger who gave his name as Mr. Chan told AFP.

Travellers cross through immigration and customs into the mainland-controlled portion of the station, which includes the platforms and the trains, even though West Kowloon is miles from the border further north.

Under Hong Kong's mini-constitution -- the Basic Law -- China's national laws do not apply to the city apart from in limited areas, including defence.

Hong Kong also enjoys rights unseen on the mainland, including freedom of speech, protected by a deal made before the city was handed back to China by Britain in 1997. But there are growing fears those liberties are being eroded.

Officials argue joint checkpoints will make journeys easier as passengers need no further clearance after crossing into the mainland.

The bullet trains to southern China promise to be far quicker than existing cross-border rail links, and long-haul services will cut journey times to Beijing from 24 hours to nine hours.

"This is definitely convenient in terms of time," said one passenger who gave his name as Mr. Kwok and was taking a train to visit his ancestral home in the southern Chinese city of Chaozhou.

Story continues

But he added that tickets were expensive and the purchasing system inefficient, having queued for four hours ahead of Sunday to buy them.

A second-class ticket to Shenzhen costs HK$86 ($11), while travelling to Guangzhou costs HK$247 and to Beijing HK$1,237.

- 'Imperialist attitude' -

Opponents warn that giving away control of land in the heart of Hong Kong is a dangerous precedent as Beijing seeks to tighten its grip on the city following mass pro-democracy protests in 2014 and the emergence of an independence movement.

"It's almost like an imperialist attitude on the part of Beijing," pro-democracy lawmaker Claudia Mo told AFP.

There are also questions over how Hong Kong citizens will be required to behave in the zones subject to Chinese law, whether they will be punished for using Facebook and Twitter -- banned on the mainland -- or targeted for wearing clothing with political slogans.

AFP journalists in the station Sunday could still access social media and websites, even when using a mainland Chinese WiFi provider.

On the train, passengers had to switch to a registered Chinese mobile number or WeChat account to access WiFi once they crossed into Shenzhen.

There are concerns too over the sharing of personal information with Chinese authorities.

However, pro-establishment lawmaker Regina Ip described the fears as "overblown".

"(The rail link) provides unprecedented convenience of travel," she said.

Travellers on the first service out of Hong Kong grappled with reversible seats that were pointing the wrong way, but the train left promptly, with doors closing at 6:59 am.

Mainland passengers arriving on early trains were greeted with "I love Hong Kong" mugs in goodie bags and signs welcoming them to the city.

One arrival who gave her name as Mrs. Tian, 64, said it was her first time in Hong Kong.

"It was too fast!" she said of the train, adding the journey had been "very comfortable".

The special port area was quietly handed over to mainland personnel earlier in September.

The hush-hush ceremony took place at midnight and was not announced by the Hong Kong government until it was over. There was no media access.Los Angeles (AFP) - A Catholic priest on the run for more than 25 years has been arrested in Morocco and extradited to the United States to face charges that he sexually assaulted a young boy in the 1990s, federal prosecutors in New Mexico said Friday.

Arthur Perrault, now 80 years old, stands accused of aggravated sexual abuse of a minor under the age of 12 on several occasions in 1991 and 1992, while he served as a military chaplain at Kirtland Air Force base outside Albuquerque.

The boy was assaulted both at the base and at Santa Fe National Cemetery, US prosecutor John Anderson told reporters.

"The indictment alleges a profound breach of trust by an individual who was widely perceived as a mentor to young people and a respected figure in the community," Anderson said in a statement handed out by the Justice Department.

The priest vanished in 1992, shortly before lawsuits were filed against the Archdiocese of Santa Fe over Perrault's alleged abuse of seven children in his parish, Anderson said.

According to investigators, Perrault first fled to Canada and then Morocco, where the Federal Bureau of Investigation agents eventually tracked him down last year. He was arrested in October 2017.

If convicted of the charges covered in the indictment, unsealed on Friday, Perrault could face up to life in prison.

Local media reported that Perrault had worked as an English teacher in Morocco, notably at the American Language Center in Tangier.

Anderson said he was extradited to the United States on Thursday.

"Perrault will finally appear in an American courtroom to answer for the charges against him," said FBI special agent James Langenberg, who is in charge of the investigation. He thanked Morocco for its cooperation.

"But this case is not over. The FBI is seeking information from individuals who may have additional information about Perrault's contacts with minors over the years," Langenberg added.

Authorities are concerned that the priest, who worked in New Mexico from 1973 to 1992, may have abused many others.

The indictment is the latest development in the roiling abuse scandal that has rocked the Catholic Church, with shocking revelations of endemic abuse in Australia, Chile and the United States.Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) on Saturday went after Christine Blasey Fords sexual assault accusation against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, calling her story an attempt at character assassination.

The Republican lawmaker said Blaseys allegation that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her when they were teenagers wasnt credible because she couldnt remember all the details 35 years later, the Des Moines Register reported.

Im thinking, is there any man in this room that wouldnt be subjected to such an allegation? A false allegation? King said at an Iowa Faith & Freedom Coalition event on Saturday. How can you disprove something like that? Which means, if thats the new standard, no man will ever qualify for the Supreme Court again.

Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) on Saturday attempted to discredit Christine Blasey Ford, a 51-year-old research psychologist in Northern California who has accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her around 1982. (Photo: Chris Maddaloni via Getty Images)

Kings remarks echo President Donald Trumps skepticism of the allegations. In a pair of tweets, the president questioned why Blasey didnt immediately tell law enforcement officials that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her.

Trumps tweets propagate the misguided notion that victims of sexual assault will typically respond by calling the police. In fact, nearly two-thirds of women who are raped or sexually assaulted dont contact law enforcement.

In a Washington Post op-ed published Friday, Patti Davis, a daughter of President Ronald Reagan, explained why she too didnt tell anyone she was raped until decades later.

It doesnt surprise me one bit that for more than 30 years, Christine Blasey Ford didnt talk about the assault she remembers, Davis wrote in the Post.

Your memory snaps photos of the details that will haunt you forever, that will change your life and live under your skin, she added. It blacks out other parts of the story that really dont matter much.

Blasey, a 51-year-old research psychologist in Northern California, has alleged Kavanaugh pinned her down and groped her at a small party around 1982 when they were both high school students.

She has reached a tentative agreement to testify about her experience before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday. The panel has delayed its vote on whether to advance Kavanaughs confirmation to the full Senate in order to hear Blaseys testimony.

Story continues

Kavanaugh, 53, has denied Blaseys allegation and will appear before the committee on Thursday following her testimony.

This story has been updated with the news that Kavanaugh will testify.

Related Coverage

Reagan's Daughter Patti Davis Reveals She Didn't Disclose Sex Assault For Decades

Christine Blasey Ford Agrees To Thursday Hearing On Brett Kavanaugh Accusations

Nikki Haley Declines To Echo Trump's Skepticism About Kavanaugh Accuser

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.An Indian bishop accused by a nun of raping her was arrested Friday, in a high-profile abuse case that had triggered angry protests by clergy over police inaction, Press Trust of India reported.

Bishop Franco Mulakkal was arrested on Friday evening, a day after Pope Francis relieved him from duty over the scandal, according to PTI who quoted local police official Vijay Sakhare.

The nun, who has not been named, first accused Mulakkal in late June of raping her 13 times between 2014 and 2016.

But police in the southern state of Kerala, home to India's largest Christian population, did not formally question him until September.

The lack of action provoked outrage, as five nuns -- in a rare show of dissent within the Indian Church -- and dozens of supporters staged days of protests.

Pope Francis relieved Mulakkal from duty on Thursday and appointed another bishop in his stead.

Mulakkal, who has rejected the accusations, had written to the pontiff requesting he be temporarily relieved of duties while the investigation was underway.

The alleged victim has also approached the Vatican representative in India to press her case.

Her letter, leaked to Indian media, said Mulakkal was "using political and money power to bury the case".

Mulakkal has called the whole scandal a conspiracy by those against the Church, and has won backing from his congregation at the Missionaries of Jesus Church.

In July, two priests were arrested for allegedly raping and blackmailing a woman for over 20 years in Kerala.

Sexual abuse by clergymen and the failure of senior Church officials to take action has been one of the biggest scandals facing the Catholic Church in recent years in several countries.Tehran (AFP) - Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Sunday appeared to blame Arab separatists for an attack on a military parade the previous day that left 29 people dead.

"It is absolutely clear to us who has done this, which group it is and to whom they are affiliated," Rouhani said on state television shortly before leaving Tehran for the UN General Assembly in New York.

"Those who have caused this catastrophe ... were Saddam's mercenaries as long as he was alive and then changed masters," he said, referring to late Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

"One of the countries in the south of the Persian Gulf took care of their financial, weaponry and political needs," Rouhani added.

"All these little mercenary countries we see in this region are backed by America. It is the Americans who incite them", he said.

Four militants on Saturday attacked the parade commemorating the beginning of the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war, launched by Baghdad, in the southwestern city of Ahvaz, capital of Khuzestan Province.

Officials and an eyewitness said the gunmen were dressed in Iranian military uniforms and sprayed the crowd with gunfire using weapons they had stashed in a nearby park.

The Islamic State (IS) jihadist group claimed responsibility for the rare assault.

But from the start Iranian officials saw an Arab separatist movement, the Ahwazi Democratic Popular Front (ADPF), also known as Al-Ahwazi, as the main suspect.

On Saturday, the London-based Iran International TV aired an interview with Yaqoub Hor Altostari, presented as a spokesman for ADPF, indirectly claiming responsibility for the attack and calling it "resistance against legitimate targets".

Iran in response summoned diplomats from Denmark, the Netherlands and Britain to complain about them "hosting some members of the terrorist group" and "double standards in fighting terrorism," the foreign affairs ministry said.

The British charge d'affaires "was told that it is not acceptable that the spokesman for the mercenary Al-Ahwazi group be allowed to claim responsiblity for this terrorist act through a London-based TV network," said the ministry's spokesman, Bahram Ghasemi.

"It is expected that (the Danish and Dutch) governments hand over the perpetrators of this attack and anyone related to them to Iran for a fair trial," he added.Tehran (AFP) - Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Sunday pointed blame at Arab separatists for a deadly attack on a military parade and accused an unnamed US-backed Gulf state of supporting them.

Tehran also summoned diplomats from Denmark, the Netherlands and Britain for allegedly hosting members of the group suspected of links to Saturday's attack that killed 24 people, according to a revised death toll.

Four militants attacked a parade commemorating the start of the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war in the southwestern city of Ahvaz, capital of the border province of Khuzestan.

Officials and an eyewitness said the gunmen were clad in Iranian military uniforms and had sprayed the crowd with gunfire using weapons they had stashed in a nearby park.

The Islamic State (IS) jihadist group claimed responsibility for the rare assault.

But Iranian authorities blamed "the Al-Ahwaziya movement" -- pointing the finger at the Arab separatist movement in Khuzestan which includes various groups.

"One of the countries in the south of the Persian Gulf took care of their financial, weaponry and political needs," said Rouhani.

"All these little mercenary countries we see in this region are backed by America. It is the Americans who incite them."

- US hits back -

The United States condemned the attack, with its UN envoy saying it had happened because Rouhani has "oppressed his people for a long time".

"He needs to look at his own base to figure out where that's coming from. I think the Iranian people have had enough," said Nikki Haley.

London-based opposition channel Iran International TV on Saturday broadcast a claim of responsibility for the attack from a movement called the "Ahvaz National Resistance".

Another group, the Ahwazi Democratic Popular Front, denied any involvement in a statement on its website, accusing Iranian authorities of ordering the attack to distract from Tehran's support for "militias in the region".

Story continues

Iran summoned diplomats from Denmark, the Netherlands and Britain to complain about them "hosting some members of the terrorist group" responsible and "double standards in fighting terrorism," the foreign ministry said.

The British charge d'affaires "was told that it is not acceptable that the spokesman for the mercenary Al-Ahwazi group be allowed to claim responsiblity for this terrorist act through a London-based TV network," said ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi.

Britain said its diplomat had extended the country's condolences to Tehran and that Iranian officials were planning to lodge a formal complaint with the United Kingdom's media watchdog, Ofcom.

Ghasemi also said Iran expected the Danish and Dutch governments to "hand over the perpetrators of this attack and anyone related to them to Iran for a fair trial".

Denmark said there would be consequences if any such links were established, while the Netherlands said it had heard the Iranian version of events and offered its condolences.

- Diplomatic row -

Iran also warned the United Arab Emirates over "offensive remarks" attributed to a UAE "political adviser" following the attack.

Oman, Kuwait and Qatar issued condemnations of the attack, while Saudi Arabia and Bahrain had yet to react on Sunday.

The UAE minister of state for foreign affairs, Anwar Gargash, for his part, stressed his country's rejection of acts of terrorism and accused Tehran of a campaign of "official incitement" against the Emirates.

State media initially gave a toll of 29 dead and 57 wounded in the attack, including women and children, but Ahvaz city governor Jamal Alami Neysi said Sunday this was a mistake and put the numbers at 24 dead and 60 wounded.

Their funerals will be held on Monday.

Three attackers were also killed and the fourth died later of his injuries, the armed forces said.

IS had claimed the attack via its propaganda mouthpiece Amaq saying it was in response to Iranian involvement in conflicts across the region.

The Revolutionary Guards accused Shiite-dominated Iran's Sunni arch-rival Saudi Arabia of funding the attackers, while Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei also blamed Iran's pro-US rivals.

"A deadly and unforgettable revenge will be exacted... in the near future," it said.

Khuzestan, which has a large ethnic Sunni Arab community, was a major battleground of the 1980s war with Iraq and it saw unrest in 2005 and 2011, but has since been largely quiet.

Kurdish rebels frequently attack military patrols on the border further north, but attacks on government targets in major cities are rare.

On June 7, 2017 in Tehran, 17 people were killed and dozens wounded in simultaneous attacks on the parliament and on the tomb of revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini -- the first inside Iran claimed by IS.DUBAI (Reuters) - A senior figure in Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards said on Saturday a shooting attack on a military parade in southwestern Iran that killed 24 people was a continuation of the activities of Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. "This terror act is not a sign of power, but one of weakness and a continuation of the actions of Daesh (Islamic State) in Iraq and Syria where they shoot innocent people," Rear Admiral Ali fadavi, a deputy Guards commander, was quoted by the semi-official Fars news agency as saying. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, in which 12 Revolutionary Guards members were among the 24 dead. More than 60 people were wounded. (Reporting by Dubai Newswroom; Writing by Maha El Dahan; Editing by Mark Heinrich)Iranian president Hassan Rouhani has claimed that a US-allied country in the Persian Gulf was responsible for a devastating terror attack on a military parade which killed 25 people, including children and 12 members of Irans Revolutionary Guard Corps.

He also blamed the United States and its Gulf Arab allies for supporting destabilising forces in the Middle East.

The Iranian president did not name the country he suspected of orchestrating the attack but he could be referring to Saudi Arabia, the UAE or Bahrain.

All three are US allies and view Iran as a regional threat, due to the countrys support for a number of militant groups in the Middle East.

All of those small mercenary countries that we see in this region are backed by America. It is Americans who instigate them and provide them with necessary means to commit these crimes, Mr Rouhani said.

America is acting like a bully towards the rest of the world ... and thinks it can act on the basis of brute force.

But our people will resist and the government is ready to confront America. We will overcome this situation [of sanctions] and America will regret choosing the wrong path.

The small puppet countries in the region are backed by America, and the United States is provoking them and giving them the necessary capabilities, he added, speaking before leaving Tehran for New York, for the annual UN General Assembly.

Despite the Iranian presidents anger, US officials condemned the slaughter, saying that the United States condemns all acts of terrorism and the loss of any innocent lives.

Other countries and officials have also expressed their condolences.

Iranian soldiers, women, and children in Ahvaz on Saturday (EPA)

The Gulf Arab state of Qatar, which is at odds with both Saudi Arabia and the US, condemned the attack, as did UN Secretary General Antonio Gueterres, who issued a statement expressing sympathy with those caught up in the violence.

Syria, a major Iranian ally, did the same in a statement that declared that those sponsoring terrorism in the region wont be able to achieve their plots using these sordid crimes.

Story continues

An obscure Arab separatist group, Ahwazi Democratic Popular Front, has claimed responsibility for the incident.

They provided no evidence for the claim but Iranian officials believe they are responsible.

The group demands autonomy for Irans Arab minority, which has frequently complained of discrimination.

Isis later also claimed responsibility for the attack but offered no proof and provided incorrect information about the attack.

Iran has summoned diplomats from Britain, Denmark and the Netherlands over claims that their countries are allegedly harbouring members of a terrorist group behind the attack.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry also criticised Britain over a Saudi-linked, Farsi-language satellite channel which aired an interview with Ahwazi separatists immediately after the attack.

At least 70 people were wounded in the gunfire after four assailants began to shoot during the parade in Ahvaz, a city of 1.2 million people in Irans southwest which is the centre of the countrys petroleum industry.

The four gunmen were all killed during the annual parade, which marks Irans 1980-1988 war with Iraq.

Photos from the event show panicked civilians fleeing as shots ring out, in what was one of the worst attacks on Irans Revolutionary Guard.

The Guard issued a statement on Sunday vowing deadly and unforgiving revenge on those responsible.

Associated Press contributed to this reportBEIRUT (Reuters) - A jihadist faction in the Idlib region of northwestern Syria has rejected a Turkish-Russian deal that requires "radical" insurgents to withdraw from a demilitarized zone, and urged rebels to launch new military operations. While the Huras al-Din faction is not the main Islamist militant group in Idlib, its statement points to objections that may complicate the implementation of the agreement clinched last week by Russia and Turkey. The most powerful jihadist group in the northwest, Tahrir al-Sham, has yet to declare its stance on the deal, under which insurgents must vacate the demilitarized zone by Oct. 15. Tahrir al-Sham is a coalition of Islamist groups dominated by the faction formerly known as the Nusra Front, which was an official wing of the al Qaeda network until 2016. Tahrir al-Sham's position will be critical. An alliance of Turkey-allied rebel groups, the National Front for Liberation, has declared its "complete cooperation" with the Turkish effort, but has also ruled out disarming or yielding territory. The Huras al-Din group was formed earlier this year by combatants who split from Tahrir al-Sham and the Nusra Front when it cut its ties with al Qaeda. It includes foreign militants. The group declared the agreement part of a plan "to eliminate the jihadist project" in the Levant. "We advise our mujahideen brothers in this decisive and dangerous phase ... (to) begin military operations against the enemies of religion to thwart their plans," it said in a statement released on Saturday. The demilitarized zone agreed by Turkey and Russia will be 15 to 20 km (10 to 12 miles) deep and run along the contact line between rebel and government fighters. It will be patrolled by Turkish and Russian forces. Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that all opposition heavy weapons, mortars, tanks and rocket systems are to be removed from the zone by Oct. 10. Close to 3 million people live in Idlib, around half of them Syrians displaced by the war from other parts of Syria, and the United Nations has warned that an offensive would cause a humanitarian catastrophe. (Writing by Tom Perry; Editing by Mark Heinrich)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.AZ Central reported that Jon-Christopher Clark, the Phoenix man arrested for 19-year-old Kiera Bergman's murder, pleaded not guilty today in Maricopa County Court.

Bergman had recently moved from California to be with Clark, her boyfriend, when she disappeared on August 4. Her body was found near a highway west of Phoenix on September 3.

Clark was charged with second-degree murder and tampering with physical evidence in Bergman's death. Authorities believe he killed Bergman in a domestic dispute, then sent texts from her phone, and withdrew money from her bank account before disposing of her body.

The Post Crescent reported that court records show a history of domestic disputes between Clark and Bergman. One witness told police that they saw bruises on Bergman's body before she disappeared, although they did not observe any abuse. In another instance, an apartment maintenance officer reported that he saw Bergman and Clark fighting in the parking lot outside of her building. She was trying to leave in her car and Clark snatched the keys from her hand.

During a search of Clark's cell phone, police found a text to an unidentified person saying that he was going to "beat Kiera's ass." Police also found a note on Clark's phone, composed the same day as the text, addressed to Kiera's family members. It read, So to all of Kieras family that still wants to look at me negatively, you better have this same energy when Kiera comes home because we will spend the rest of our lives together and I will never forget the way youre treating me.

Clark has been held in a Maricopa County jail on $1 million bond. His next court hearing is scheduled for October 17.

Photo: Courtesy of Maricopa County Sheriff's Office.

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Dear Ivanka: Women Are Pleading With Her To Get A Fair Trial For Kavanaughs Accuser

Daycare Worker Accused Of Stabbing 3 Infants & 2 Adults

What Ivanka Did This Week: Spacing Out & Complaining About KavanaughWASHINGTON (AP)  The Latest on Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and a woman accusing him of sexually assaulting her decades ago (all times local):

11:35 p.m.

The Senate Judiciary Committee is giving Christine Blasey Ford more time to decide on the terms for her to testify about allegations that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her at a party when they were teens.

That's according to a late-night tweet from Chairman Chuck Grassley of Iowa.

Grassley said he "just granted another extension" to Ford.

They have been in a high-stakes negotiation over the terms of her appearance at the committee. Grassley set a 10 p.m. deadline Friday for her to respond to the panel's latest offer.

But as the deadline neared, Ford's attorney asked for another day. The length of Grassley's extension is unclear.

Grassley addressed his tweet to Kavanaugh and said he hopes the judge understands and added Ford should decide "so we can move on."

___

9:35 p.m.

The lawyer for Christine Blasey Ford wants another day to consider terms for testifying to the Senate Judiciary Committee about her allegation that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her when they were teens.

Attorney Debra Katz calls Friday's deadline for a response "arbitrary." She says "its sole purpose is to bully" Ford.

Ford met with the FBI for several hours about death threats she has received and wants to consider her response until Saturday.

The committee and the attorney are in a showdown ahead of a scheduled Monday meeting.

Kavanaugh denies the allegations and has said he would testify to clear his name. Ford wants to appear later in the week.

Chairman Chuck Grassley says if no agreement is reached the panel may vote Monday on Kavanaugh's nomination.

__

7:30 p.m.

President Donald Trump says Brett Kavanaugh was born to be on the Supreme Court and "it's going to happen."

Kavanaugh is currently fighting a decades-old allegation from Christine Blasey Ford that he sexually assaulted her in the early 1980s.

Story continues

The Senate Judiciary Committee has given Ford until 10 p.m. Friday to reach agreement on terms for her to testify. Otherwise, Republican chairman Chuck Grassley says the panel will vote Monday on whether to send Kavanaugh's nomination to the full Senate for a confirmation vote.

Trump has defended Kavanaugh, who denies the allegation.

The president was at a campaign rally in Missouri on Friday when he said the state's Democratic senator, Claire McCaskill, said she'll vote against Kavanaugh.

__

6:45 p.m.

The Senate Judiciary Committee chairman says his panel will vote Monday on Brett Kavanaugh's Supreme Court nomination if there's no agreement on whether and how the woman accusing him of a long-ago sexual assault will tell her story to lawmakers.

Republican Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley says he's giving attorneys for Christine Blasey Ford until 10 p.m. Friday to reach an accord.

Grassley says in a statement that he has not agreed to Ford's proposal that she testify after Kavanaugh.

He also says he'll decide who conducts the questioning. That indicates he's rejected Ford's request that the committee's all-male members not use an outside counsel, likely a woman, to question Ford.

Grassley's statement raises pressure on Ford to agree to his terms or lose her chance to testify.

__

2:20 p.m.

Sen. Susan Collins says she's "appalled" by President Donald Trump's tweet challenging Brett Kavanaugh's accuser by name.

Earlier Friday, Trump had abruptly abandoned his restraint and said if the attack had been that "bad" then she would have filed charges.

Collins, a key Republican vote in the narrowly divided Senate, said in Portland, Maine: "I was appalled by the president's tweet."

She stopped short of saying she believed Christine Blasey Ford's allegation that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her while they were teenagers. But she pointed out that sexual assault is one of the most underreported crimes and added, "I thought that the president's tweet was completely inappropriate and wrong."

Until Friday, Trump had been restrained, saying that Ford should be heard.

___

2 p.m.

A group of 75 women convened at a Washington hotel to voice their support for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, who has been accused of sexually assaulting a woman at a party when they were teens.

Sarah Fagen, who said she is a longtime friend of Kavanaugh's, called the allegation false. When asked how she can be sure, Fagen said, "the charge leveled against him is inconsistent with every single thing we know about him."

Kavanaugh has denied the assault allegation. Senate Republicans have scheduled him to testify at a hearing on Monday. His accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, has said she is willing to testify later in the week under certain conditions.

The Friday event was organized by a group of Kavanaugh's friends and former law clerks.

___

1:30 p.m.

A source close to Christine Blasey Ford says she plans to meet with FBI agents about death threats she says she's received since accusing Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexually molesting her years ago. Kavanaugh has denied Ford's claim of a sexual assault at a 1980s high school party.

Ford is a psychology professor in California and her meeting with agents was in the San Francisco area.

Through her lawyers, Ford has said death threats have forced her to relocate her family. Part of her attorneys' talks with Senate staff has been over security measures she wants in place should she appear.

Her attorneys are negotiating with Republican Senate aides over whether she'll testify at a Judiciary Committee hearing next week.

The source provided no other detail, wasn't authorized to describe Ford's activities on the record and spoke only on condition of anonymity.

By Alan Fram

___

11:20 a.m.

The California congresswoman who met with the woman accusing Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her decades ago says the accuser "should not be underestimated."

Democratic Rep. Anna Eshoo (EH'-shoo) told The Associated Press on Friday accuser Christine Blasey (BLAH'-zee) Ford "has an inner strength."

Eshoo learned in July of Ford's allegation Kavanaugh assaulted her when they were teenagers, which Kavanaugh denies.

Eshoo relayed the accusation to Sen. Dianne Feinstein (FYN'-styn), the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Ford and Kavanaugh have been invited to testify Monday before the Judiciary panel. Kavanaugh has agreed to go. Ford says she can't appear that day and wants to testify next Thursday if Republicans agree to several conditions, including that she not be in the same room with Kavanaugh.

___

10:45 a.m.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is telling evangelical activists the Senate will "plow right through" and move to confirm Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court.

McConnell told the annual Values Voter conference Friday "in the very near future, Judge Kavanaugh will be on the United States Supreme Court." He urges the Republican-leaning activists to "keep the faith" and predicts senators will do their jobs.

McConnell's predictions come as California college professor Christine Blasey Ford accuses Kavanaugh of sexual assault more than 30 years ago when they were teenagers. Kavanaugh has denied the allegations.

Negotiations have been ongoing on whether Ford will testify next week before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

___

9:30 a.m.

President Donald Trump is challenging by name the woman accusing his Supreme Court nominee of sexual assault, saying if the attack she alleges were that "bad" then she would have filed charges.

Trump tweeted Friday: "I have no doubt that, if the attack on Dr. Ford was as bad as she says, charges would have been immediately filed with local Law Enforcement Authorities by either her or her loving parents. I ask that she bring those filings forward so that we can learn date, time, and place!"

The president previously had avoided naming California college professor Christine Blasey Ford or casting doubt on her account. Ford alleges Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her more than 30 years ago when they were teenagers. Kavanaugh has denied the allegations.

___

9:20 a.m.

President Donald Trump says Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh is "under assault by radical left wing politicians."

Trump tweeted Friday that Kavanaugh has an "impeccable reputation" and that Democrats "don't want to know the answers, they just want to destroy and delay."

He adds, "Facts don't matter. I go through this with them every single day in D.C."

Kavanaugh's nomination has been thrown into doubt by California college professor Christine Blasey Ford's allegations he sexually assaulted her more than 30 years ago when they were teenagers. He has denied the allegations.

Negotiations continue over whether Ford will testify next week.

Republicans want to conclude the nomination process quickly. Democrats have seized on the development as justification to delay the high-stakes nomination and say it's being rushed.

___

9:10 a.m.

Presidential counselor Kellyanne Conway says the #MeToo movement against sexual misconduct should not be conflated with the assault allegation against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and his denial.

Conway told CNN on Friday, "Let's not conflate the larger #MeToo movement with whatever did nor did not happen in the summer of 1982."

Conway was a GOP political consultant for decades before working for President Donald Trump. She says she can relate to women who say they've been mistreated by men and understands why it might take years to come forward with such allegations. But she says California college professor Christine Blasey Ford's accusation Kavanaugh tried to rape her when they were teenagers should not be lumped in with the movement that has toppled men from the pinnacles of their careers.

Conway says Ford and Kavanaugh should testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee next week.

___

1:35 a.m.

Christine Blasey Ford may testify against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh after all. That word from her attorney could breathe new life into the prospect of a dramatic Senate showdown next week over Ford's accusation that he assaulted her when both were in high school.

The preference would be for Ford to testify next Thursday, and she doesn't want Kavanaugh in the same room, her attorney told Judiciary Committee staff in a 30-minute call that also touched on security concerns and others issues. That is according to a Senate aide who wasn't authorized to discuss the matter and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Ford is willing to tell her story to the Judiciary Committee, whose senators will vote on Kavanaugh's confirmation  but only if agreement can be reached on what her attorney called "terms that are fair and which ensure her safety." No decisions have been reached.Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on Sunday continued to voice skepticism about Christine Blasey Ford, the woman who has accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault.

During an interview on Fox News Sunday, the Senate Judiciary Committee member said he needed more evidence to believe Blaseys allegation that Kavanaugh pinned her to a bed and groped her during a high school party in the 1980s.

What do you expect me to do? What am I supposed to do? Go ahead and ruin this guys life? I dont know when it happened, I dont where it happened, and everybody being named in regard to being there said it didnt happen, Graham said when asked if hes keeping an open mind about Kavanaughs nomination.

Unless theres something more, no, Im not going to ruin Judge Kavanaughs life over this, the South Carolina Republican added. But she should come forward, she should have her say, she will be respectfully treated.

After days of negotiations and uncertainty, the Senate Judiciary Committee and Blaseys attorneys on Saturday reached a tentative agreement for the California psychology professor to publicly testify at a hearing on Thursday. The committees staff is expected to continue negotiating details of the hearing with Blaseys legal team on Sunday. Republicans, however, have so far resisted her demands to allow the questioning of additional alleged witnesses at the hearing.

Four people Blasey initially cited to have attended the party in question have issued statements saying they dont have any recollection of the alleged incident. On Saturday, a lawyer for a longtime friend of Blaseys named Leland Keyser said she does not know Mr. Kavanaugh and she has no recollection of ever being at a party or gathering where he was present.

Before she went public with her allegation, however, Blasey told The Washington Post she did not think Keyser would remember the party because nothing remarkable had happened there, as far as Keyser was aware.

Story continues

Its no surprise, if another person was  in the house that night and had no occurrence like the one that was stated by Dr. Ford, theres no reason why they wouldnt even remember that party scene 36 years ago, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said Sunday on ABCs This Week.

Mark Judge, a friend of Kavanaughs who Blasey said was also in the room when the alleged incident took place, also said he had no memory of it.

Democrats said that dismissive statements like the one from Graham on Sunday illustrated the need for an FBI investigation into the alleged incident.

Thats the way the Senate Republicans have set this up: Do you believe her or do you believe him? That is exactly why weve been pressing for an FBI investigation, Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) said Sunday on NBCs Meet the Press.

The Washington senator noted that the Senate Judiciary Committee allowed additional witnesses and an FBI investigation during the 1991 hearing focusing on Anita Hills accusations of sexual harassment by then-nominee Clarence Thomas, who now sits on the Supreme Court.

The Senate Republicans have predetermined the outcome ... that this will be a he said, she says, by taking that away, Murray added.

Last week, Graham suggested proceeding to a vote on Kavanaughs nomination as soon as possible because a longer process would be not about finding the truth, but delaying the process till after the midterm elections.

As of now, Republicans are still planning on holding a committee vote to send the nomination to the full Senate later this month.

This story has been updated with comments from Sen. Dick Durbin.

Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.Beirut (AFP) - Pointing to a green screen as if presenting a weather forecast, Bilal Abdul Kareem analyses the Turkish-Russian deal over Syria's Idlib, broadcasting in his native English from inside the war-torn country's last rebel stronghold.

The 47-year-old American convert to Islam is a long way from where he grew up near the Bronx, watching reruns of "Rocky" and eating at Italian restaurants.

Dressed in a charcoal suit jacket, the broad-shouldered and bearded Abdul Kareem stares into the camera and insists: "In this deal, this specific deal, nobody can say the rebels were not winners."

For the past six years, he has reported from shrinking rebel territory in Syria's north, filming the aftermath of airstrikes, interviewing hardline fighters, even meeting Al-Qaeda members.

His contacts, including in the jihadist-led Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), have granted him extensive access at a time when the risk of abduction makes much of Syria too dangerous for journalists from mainstream news outlets.

But it has also prompted allegations that Abdul Kareem is a "jihadist propagandist" and would not have survived in the area had he been an impartial journalist -- particularly given HTS's history of harsh crackdowns against perceived foes.

Speaking to AFP from Idlib over Skype, Whatsapp, and Facebook, Abdul Kareem denied the claims and directed accusations of his own: he is suing the US government for allegedly trying to kill him in Syria.

As the case drags through US courts, the self-described "bald-headed black guy in the middle of Syria" has remained in Idlib despite fears of a looming regime offensive, continuing to file dispatches for his media upstart, On the Ground News.

- CNN to OGN -

Born Darrell Lamont Phelps, Abdul Kareem converted to Islam before moving to the Middle East in 2002. He married and had children in Egypt, but declined to disclose their location for security reasons.

Story continues

He arrived in Syria in 2012 from Libya, curious about the rebels battling President Bashar al-Assad's forces in a conflict which at that point was just a year old.

Working first with major broadcasters including CNN, he founded OGN in 2015 as editors started to express "doubts" about his political stances, he said.

The channel now publishes on YouTube, Twitter, and a Facebook page with more than 86,000 followers.

"I have a good working relationship with every group, which doesn't necessarily mean I agree with everything they do or they agree with everything I do," he said.

A normal day begins with dawn prayers at 4:30 AM, followed by a routine search of his car for bombs. The rest is up to the news cycle.

He could find himself on a motorcycle zipping towards a frontline, lapel mic in hand but without protective gear, or sipping tea with hardcore fighters most Americans would consider unsavoury.

"I remember I had these very, very in-depth conversations with different Al-Qaeda members about America, Americans and the democratic system," Abdul Kareem said.

He offered unsuccessfully to facilitate a dialogue between Western powers and Idlib's militants, whom he insisted don't have "blood dripping from their fangs and want to eat American children".

The US has designated Al-Qaeda and HTS "terrorist organisations".

- 'America is not the same' -

Around three million people live in Idlib and surrounding rebel territory, including foreigners who have joined the war against the Assad regime.

"There are quite a few Americans here. All fighters," Abdul Kareem said.

Asked about his future, he recalled escaping second city Aleppo as it fell to the government in 2016.

If the same fate awaits Idlib, he said, "I would be one of the last people to leave".

Abdul Kareem's 16-year absence from the US has made him miss simple things: speaking English, sugary cereals.

But he fears the 2016 election of President Donald Trump has changed the country too much.

"It sounds like America is not the same America that I grew up in," he said.

His remaining links are with his sister, and a lawsuit he filed last year against Trump and a coterie of US officials, accusing the government of attempting to kill him five times.

Once was on a reporting trip. "My car was hit with a drone strike. The car flipped up into the air and landed on its side facing the opposite direction," he said.

Abdul Kareem is demanding the government stop targeting him, remove him from any so-called "kill list" and disclose the names of other citizens who may be on it.

In the meantime, OGN's cameras keep rolling.

"I'm not in America because being here in Syria doing the work that I'm doing and covering the things I'm covering, in my estimation, is the right thing to do," Abdul Kareem said.

"People are dying by the droves, and if I can do something to help people see what the real realities are, then what business do I have going back to America right now?"By Mohamed Junayd MALE (Reuters) - Maldives opposition leader Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, who fought a bitter election campaign against President Abdulla Yameen, said he had won Sunday's presidential vote with a 16 percent margin after 92 percent of the votes had been counted. Provisional results counted in 446 of 472 ballot boxes by 1943 GMT showed the opposition leading by a margin of 16.6 percent, news website Mihaaru reported. "This is a moment of happiness, a moment of hope. This is a journey that has ended at the ballot box because the people willed it," Solih, popularly known as Ibu, told reporters in Male. "The message is loud and clear. The people of Maldives want change, peace and justice. I would like to call on President Yameen to accept the will of the people and begin a smooth transition of power as per the constitution." Hundreds of people gathered outside the main opposition campaign center in Male in jubilant mood, chanting "Ibu, Ibu, Ibu" and calling on President Yameen to concede defeat. Yameen had been expected to cement his grip on power amid criticism over the fairness of the vote on the islands best known as a luxury holiday destination. The Indian Ocean nation's Election Commission had extended voting by three hours because of long queues at polling stations, and officials from Yameen's PPM party told Reuters that results from areas where he has strong support have yet to be released. "If we win or lose, PPM has the courage to accept the decision of Maldivian people," the ruling party's parliamentary leader MP Ahmed Nihan wrote on Twitter. The Election Commission said it will release official results by Sept. 30, as stipulated in the constitution. RIVALS JAILED Yameen's media representatives declined to comment on Solih's claim. The Muslim-majority nation has become a theater of rivalry between its traditional partner, India, and China, which has backed Yameen's infrastructure drive and prompted concern in the West about Beijing's increasing influence. Yameen's government has jailed many of his main rivals, including former president and his half-brother Maumoon Abdul Gayoom on charges ranging from terrorism to corruption. More than a quarter of a million people were eligible to vote across the coral islands, where Yameen, 59, is seeking a second five-year term. Hundreds of people queued outside polling stations in the capital, Male, early on Sunday. On some islands, people started queuing on Saturday night. "I am voting to revert a mistake I made in 2013. I am voting to free President Maumoon (Gayoom)," Nazima Hassan, 44, told Reuters after voting in Male. Abdul Rasheed Husain, 46, in Male said he cast his ballot for Yameen to take the Maldives "to the next level". In the polling booth at the Maldives embassy in Colombo, some voters had to wait for more than seven hours. Mohamed Shareef Hussain, Maldives envoy to Colombo, said the Election Commission had not assigned enough staff, causing delays. Police late on Saturday raided the main opposition campaign office saying they came to "stop illegal activities", after arresting at least five opposition supporters for "influencing voters", opposition officials said. British Ambassador James Dauris wrote on Twitter that it was "easy to understand why so many people are concerned about what might happen on election day". INTERNATIONAL MONITORS STAY AWAY Most poll monitors, including those from the European Union and United Nations, declined the government's invitation to observe the election, fearing their presence might be used to endorse Yameen's re-election even after possible vote rigging. Rohana Hettiarachchi, a member of the Asian Network for Free Elections (ANFREL), which was named as an election monitor, said his organization could not take part. "Our four members were invited and the Election Commission published our name in the international monitors list. But we did not get the required visa," he told Reuters. Transparency Maldives, one of the few election monitors on the ground, said the initial vote had gone smoothly and that Solih was on course for an emphatic victory. "Our quick count results indicate that Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has won the 2018 presidential election by a decisive margin," it said in a statement. "We call on all stakeholders to maintain an environment conducive for a peaceful transfer of power." The country has been in political turmoil since February, when Yameen imposed a state of emergency to annul a Supreme Court ruling that quashed the convictions of nine opposition leaders, including Mohamed Nasheed, the country's first democratically-elected leader and former president. Nasheed, who is in exile in Sri Lanka, told reporters in Colombo that the vote was for democracy and freedom. Ahead of the vote, Human Rights Watch urged foreign governments to press the Maldives to uphold democratic rights. "Should the Maldives government fail to do so, they should impose targeted sanctions, such as those proposed by the European Union, against senior ruling party officials implicated in abuses," the New York-based group said in a statement. (Additional reporting by Ranga Sirilal; Writing by Shihar Aneez and Sanjeev Miglani; Editing by Nick Macfie and David Goodman)LONDON (Reuters) - A man has been arrested at the visitors' entrance to Queen Elizabeth's Buckingham Palace residence for possession of a taser, London's Metropolitan Police said on Sunday. Police, who did not say whether the Queen was at the palace at the time, said the arrest was not terror-related. "Police were called at 12:47hrs on Sunday, 23 September to a report of a man detained by security staff at the visitor entrance to Buckingham Palace," the police said in a statement. "A 38-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of possessing a firearm, namely a Taser. He remains in custody at a central London police station at this stage." (Reporting by Kylie MacLellan; Editing by Catherine Evans)Mexico City (AFP) - Mexican president-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said he does not want to fight with US President Donald Trump on immigration.

Trump's hardline approach on the subject has ramped up tensions and riled Mexicans, who he previously claimed would pay for the construction of a wall between the two countries.

But the leftist Lopez Obrador told reporters in the border state of Sonora on Saturday that angry exchanges were not the answer.

"We are not going to fight with the US government, we are not going to fight with President Donald Trump," he said.

"The migration problem is not resolved by building walls or by use of force, but it's a diplomatic job of respect," added Lopez Obrador, who takes office on December 1.

On Saturday, US authorities announced the start of construction on a five-metre (16-foot) wall along a 6.5-kilometre (4-mile) stretch of the Texan border town of El Paso.

Trump's insurgent campaign for the White House played heavily on a pledge to build a wall on the southern border and to deport millions of undocumented migrants, amid what he claimed was a crisis of immigration.

He initially demanded that Mexico pay for the barrier, a demand Mexico repeatedly rejected. Congress has so far approved $1.6 billion of $25 billion Trump had sought.

Much of the border already has fencing or other barriers, but Trump has ordered a "contiguous, and impassable physical barrier," which scientists say would threaten more than 1,000 species of animals.Washington (AFP) - Tech giants Microsoft, Amazon and Google are joining forces with international organizations to help identify and head off famines in developing nations using data analysis and artificial intelligence, a new initiative unveiled Sunday.

Rather than waiting to respond to a famine after many lives already have been lost, the tech firms "will use the predictive power of data to trigger funding" to take action before it becomes a crisis, the World Bank and United Nations announced in a joint statement.

"The fact that millions of people -- many of them children -- still suffer from severe malnutrition and famine in the 21st century is a global tragedy," World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim said in a statement. "We are forming an unprecedented global coalition to say, 'no more.'"

Last year more than 20 million people faced famine conditions in Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen, while 124 million people currently live in crisis levels of food insecurity, requiring urgent humanitarian assistance for their survival, the agencies said. Over half of them live in areas affected by conflict.

The Famine Action Mechanism (FAM) will provide early warning signs to identify food crises that could become famines, and trigger pre-arranged funding plans to allow early intervention.

"If we can better predict when and where future famines will occur, we can save lives by responding earlier and more effectively," Microsoft President Brad Smith said in a statement.

Google, Microsoft and Amazon Web Services and other technology firms are providing expertise to develop a suite of analytical models called "Artemis" that uses AI and machine learning to estimate and forecast worsening food security crises in real-time. These forecasts will help guide and promote decision makers to respond earlier.

"Artificial intelligence and machine learning hold huge promise for forecasting and detecting early signs of food shortages, like crop failures, droughts, natural disasters, and conflicts," Smith said.

The FAM will initially be rolled out in a small group of vulnerable countries building up to ultimately provide global coverage. On October 13, leaders dedicated to this initiative will gather as part of the IMF-World Bank Annual Meetings in Bali, Indonesia to discuss further implementation.Osogbo (Nigeria) (AFP) - The governorship election in southwest Nigeria's Osun state ended in a stalemate on Sunday when the nation's electoral body failed to declare a clear winner.

Tensions rose at the INEC's collating centre in Osogbo on Sunday as supporters of the leading parties waited in vain for the official announcement of the results before it was announced a runoff was required.

Although 48 candidates from different political parties contested Saturday's election, the leading candidates were Gboyega Oyetola from President Muhammadu Buhari's ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and Ademola Adeleke of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Olusegun Agbaje, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) chief in Osun told reporters the election was inconclusive because "the number of cancelled votes is higher than the margin between the two top candidates."

A run off between Oyetola and Adeleke is expected to be held on September 27.

An unofficial tally had shown the PDP's flagbearer leading his APC counterpart by some 350 votes, while the voided votes were more than 1,000.

Under the country's electoral law, no winner will emerge if the margin of victory is less than cancelled votes.

The winner of Saturday's poll was expected to take over from APC Governor Rauf Aregbesola, who is stepping down after two four-year terms, the legal maximum.

Adeleke who is nicknamed "the dancing senator" because of his penchant for dancing in the public, is an uncle of Afropop star Davido, whose real name is David Adedeji Adeleke.

Davido had joined the political trail to campaign for his uncle, drawing huge crowds as he ditched out some of his popular tunes.

The PDP candidate is a scion of the prominent and wealthy Adeleke political dynasty in Ede, some 20 kilometres from Osogbo, the capital.

Although there were widespread concerns about vote-buying, intimidation and logistics problems, the vote was generally adjudged free, fair and violence-free by local and foreign observers who monitored the exercise.

Story continues

The governorship election in neighbouring Ekiti in July was characterised by allegations of vote-buying by the leading political parties.

Police, however, said three suspects were arrested for an alleged vote-buying in Osun on Saturday and would be prosecuted at the end of investigation.

The election is the final major electoral test before Nigerians vote for a new president, parliament, governors and state legislatures in February and March next year.

Buhari who came to power in 2015, faces a formidable challenge from an array of opposition candidates from PDP, including former vice president Atiku Abubakar and Senate president Bukola Saraki.

The 75-year-old retired general who headed a military regime in the 1980s is under pressure to step down because of failing health after spending several months in London last year treating an undisclosed ailment.

He has also come under fire over the management of the economy and growing insecurity problems, including Boko Haram insurgency in the northeast, long-running farmer-herder clashes in the centre and militancy and kidnapping in the south.Osogbo (Nigeria) (AFP) - Voters in the southwestern Nigerian state of Osun went to the polls Saturday to elect a new governor amid growing concerns about free and fair voting, six months ahead of a presidential election.

The Osun vote is seen as a litmus test for President Muhammadu Buhari's popularity as he seeks a second term in February.

The 75-year-old retired general who led a military regime in the 1980s was elected in 2015.

Voting opened in most polling booths around 8.00 am (0700 GMT) with long queues of voters in Osogbo, the state capital, and other towns and villages across the state.

"You can see that people are already exercising their civic responsibility," electoral official Sodipo Oladapo told AFP in the capital."All those on the queue will be accredited and allowed to vote until 2:00 pm when the exercise will end," he said.

Turnout was high with long lines still observed in some centres after the stipulated time and officials said those already in queues before 2:00 pm would vote.

The winner of the election was expected to be announced early on Sunday.

According to the Independent Electoral Commission of Nigeria (INEC), 1.2 million voters were eligible to vote for the candidates of 48 political parties participating in the vote.

Osun is part of Nigeria's southwest which includes the economic capital Lagos and a region crucial to Buhari's re-election as he faces a formidable challenge from an array of high-profile opposition candidates.

The leading candidates jostling for the Osun governor's seat include Gboyega Oyetola of Buhari's All Progressives Congress (APC) and Ademola Adeleke, nicknamed "the dancing senator" because of his penchant for dancing in public.

- 'Votes for peanuts' -

Adeleke is the candidate of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

He is also an uncle of Nigerian Afropop star Davido, whose real name is David Adedeji, and from a wealthy and political family in Ede, some 20 kilometres from the capital.

Story continues

Though Davido was not around to vote, his father, Adedeji Adeleke and the PDP flagbearer voted in the town.

The winner of the election will replace APC Governor Rauf Aregbesola, who is stepping down after two four-year terms, the legal maximum.

Osun INEC chief Olusegun Agbaje urged voters to come out and avoid any form of financial inducement and warned that "any act of vote-buying will be met with the appropriate sanctions."

He said that offenders risked up to one year in jail.

National deputy police chief Habila Joshak said some 18,500 police, plus equipment, had been deployed to prevent irregularities.

"We have enough men on ground to deal with those willing to sell their votes for peanuts," he warned.

But local and observers who had earlier voiced concerns about inducement, lauded the conduct of the exercise.

"It's being a peaceful environment. There was great enthusiasm among the people as they came out in large numbers," said Clement Nwankwo, the convener of the Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room coalition of civic groups.

He said the vote was an improvement over previous ones characterised by allegations of vote-buying, intimidation and logistics problems.

Another observer, Mejuru Lawrence of the Abuja-based Advocacy for Good Leadership group, said the electoral body should be given "a pass mark" for the success of the polls.

"The process has been credible and orderly," he said, adding that INEC and the security agencies should sustain the momentum in next's year general election.

The last gubernatorial vote in the southwestern state of Ekiti in July led to widespread concerns about vote-buying by the leading political parties.

The police said in a statement on Saturday that three suspects had been arrested for an alleged attempt to induce Osun voters.

A police spokesman said large sums of money were recovered from them and that an investigation was under way.U.S. United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley distanced herself on Sunday from President Donald Trumps skeptical comments about the woman accusing Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexually assaulted her, saying that accusers should not be second-guessed about their handling of alleged attacks.

In a pair of tweets on Friday, Trump attempted to discredit Christine Blasey Fords accusations by questioning why she didnt immediately report her allegations to law enforcement in 1982 when both she and Kavanaugh were high school students.

Haley, appointed to her post by Trump, was asked on CNNs State of the Union whether she was comfortable with the presidents comments.

The message Im comfortable with is that accusers go through a lot of trauma and some handle it one way and some handle it the other way, Haley told host Jake Tapper. Regardless, you never  its not something that we want to do, to blame the accuser or try to second guess the accuser.

She continued: We dont know the situation she was going through 35 years ago. We dont know the circumstances. ... What Ive said often is she deserves respect. She deserves to be heard. Kavanaugh, who has been accused, deserves to be heard. And I think well get all our answers within a few days.

US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley says the Ford hearing should happen swiftly and quickly: Every accuser deserves the right to be heard. But at the same time, I think the accused deserves the right to be heard #CNNSOTU https://t.co/cFprUnWh6M pic.twitter.com/ryPEjFN1uh  CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) September 23, 2018

Trumps tweets highlighted the common  and misguided  notion that victims of sexual assault will typically respond by calling the police and that something must be amiss if they dont. In fact, nearly two-thirds of women who are raped or sexually assaulted dont contact law enforcement officials.

Story continues

Blasey, a 51-year-old research psychologist in Northern California, has reached an agreement to testify about her experience before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday. The panel has delayed their vote on whether to advance Kavanaughs confirmation to the full Senate to hear Blaseys testimony.

Kavanaugh, 53, has denied Blaseys allegation and will appear again before the committee on Thursday following her testimony.

Blasey identified herself last Sunday as the woman who sent a confidential letter in late July to Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.) and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) to express her concern over Kavanaughs nomination. She has alleged Kavanaugh pinned her down, groped her and covered her mouth with his hand when they were teenagers at a small party in suburban Maryland.

Haley, the former governor of South Carolina, said on CNN that Judiciary Committee members have a huge responsibility to make sure their consideration of Blaseys accusations is fair.

They have to take the politics out of their examination of the allegation, she said. And for the good of both families, I think they have to do this swiftly and quickly, and they have to do it with a lot of care.

We dont know what the truth is, Haley said. But well find out.

Related...

Donald Trump Goes After Kavanaugh Accuser, Asks Why She Didn't Call Cops After Alleged Assault

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.Dubai (AFP) - Openers Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan hit punishing centuries to steer an imperious India to a nine-wicket win over a listless Pakistan in the Asia Cup match in Dubai on Sunday.

Sharma notched a 119-ball 111 not out for his 19th one-day hundred while Dhawan made a 100-ball 114 for his eighth century as the pair put on 210 for the opening stand -- second best in all India-Pakistan one-day internationals.

That super effort from the openers saw India overhaul the target with 10.3 overs to spare.

The Super four win is the second for India over their arch-rivals following their easy eighth wicket win in the first round.

Bangladesh beat Afghanistan by three runs in a last ball fionish in Abu Dhabi which meant India sailed into the September 28 final in Dubai.

Pakistan and Bangladesh meet in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday to decide the second finalist.

The win is India's highest against Pakistan in terms of wickets, improving on the eight wicket win over Pakistan in Melbourne in 1985.

Pakistan were steered to 237-7 by Shoaib Malik who made a 90-ball 78 after winning the toss and batting but it proved too little for the strong Indian batting line.

Pakistan could have got Sharma out in the sixth over but Imam-ul-Haq dropped an easy catch off a luckless Shaheen Shah, giving the colourful Indian power to smash seven boundaries and four sixes.

Sharma, who scored back to back fifties in the last two games, also became the ninth Indian batsmen to complete 7,000 one-day runs in his 187th match when he reached 94, soon after he was dropped on 81 by Fakhar Zaman off Shadab Khan.

Dhawan matched his skipper shot for shot, firing a 100-ball 114 with 16 boundaries and two sixes as Pakistani bowlers struggled with the rasping and flowing strokes of the Indian openers.

Pakistan's pace spearhead Mohammad Amir, brought back in one of two changes after being dropped for the Afghanistan match, went wicketless for a fifth match in a row, leaving the much vaunted Pakistan bowling biteless.

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Even when Dhawan got out in the 34th over with 38 needed it was through a run out.

The best opening stand in Indo-Pak one-day internationals was 224 Mohammad Hafeez and Nasir Jamshed at Dhaka in 2012.

Indian captain Sharma was pleased with his team's performance.

"We asked for something like this from the boys," said Sharma. "It was challenging conditions, and it was tough coming out and playing in these conditions. All of them showed great character, its a good win."

Pakistan captain Sarfraz Ahmed said: "Tough game, we did well with the bat.

"If we keep dropping catches, we won't win games. We've done hard work at fielding. So I'm not sure what's going wrong."

Earlier, Malik scored a 90-ball 78 with four boundaries and two sixes, but India kept a tight check on Pakistan's progress.

Pakistan lost Imam (10), Zaman (31) and Babar Azam (run out for nine) in an unimpressive start to their innings before Malik and skipper Sarfraz Ahmed added 107 for the fourth wicket.

Sarfraz scored a slow 66-ball 44 with only two boundaries before he became one of two Kuldeep Yadav's wicket who finished with 2-41.

Pakistan's final over score depended on Malik, who crucially fell in the 44th over, caught behind off a leg-side edge off Jasprit Bumrah.

Asif Ali smashed two sixes in his 21-ball 30 before he was bowled by leg-spinner Yuzvndra Chahal who took 2-38 in his nine overs.

Bumran finished with 2-29 in his ten overs.Gaza City (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - Israeli forces shot dead a Palestinian in fresh clashes on the Gaza border Sunday, the health ministry in the Hamas-run enclave said.

Imad Ishtawi, 21, was shot in the head, the ministry said, as Palestinians again gathered along the border east of Gaza City late Sunday in the latest in months of often violent demonstrations.

The strip's Islamist rulers Hamas had been rumoured to be seeking a lasting truce with Israel but the indirect talks have seemingly stalled, with protests subsequently increasing in number.

In recent weeks the demonstrations, which typically involve burning tires and throwing stones, have also taken place at night, though with far smaller numbers than the regular Friday daytime gatherings.

At least 186 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since the protests began on March 30.

One Israeli soldier was killed by a Palestinian sniper.

Israel has maintained a crippling blockade of Gaza for more than a decade it says is necessary to isolate Hamas.New Delhi (AFP) - The Maldives -- a country of 1,200 islands in the Indian Ocean best known for its white beaches and blue lagoons -- will vote Sunday in a presidential election.

The archipelago of 260,000 people has seen political opposition suppressed and press freedom curtailed in recent years under its strongman leader.

Will the poll nudge the Maldives back toward democracy, or further its spiral into autocracy? Here are five things to know:

- Who is the incumbent? -

Abdulla Yameen, a once mild-mannered civil servant turned strongman president, is seeking a second term in office.

The 59-year-old has ruled with an iron fist since 2013. The free press has been cowed, the military used to stave off impeachment, and most opponents -- even Yameen's own half-brother -- have been jailed.

In a power struggle in February, Yameen launched what the UN called an "all-out assault on democracy", declaring a state of emergency.

At its height, he sent soldiers to storm the Supreme Court and arrest judges who had ordered the release of political prisoners. Emergency rule was not lifted for 45 days.

- Who are the opposition? -

The opposition have fielded a joint candidate, the little-known Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, 54. But campaigning has been difficult, with many key figures in exile.

Mohamed Nasheed, an exiled opposition figure and former president, withdrew his candidacy after being barred from running. He was convicted of terrorism in 2015 in a trial widely viewed as politically motivated.

- Do they stand a chance? -

The odds are stacked in Yameen's favour.

Rights groups say his regime has used harsh fines and vague decrees to silence dissent and impose censorship in the lead-up to polling day. Even wearing T-shirts emblazoned with pictures of opposition figures is out of bounds, local journalists say.

Human Rights Watch says new vote-counting rules adopted just days before the poll favour Yameen and may deny Maldivians a right to choose.

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The opposition has publicly expressed confidence that voters -- at home and abroad -- will come out against the regime. But it has accused Yameen of laying the groundwork to "steal" this election.

- Why does it matter? -

There are broader geopolitical concerns at play.

The Maldives, like other smaller regional countries once firmly in India's orbit, has drifted closer to China in recent years, which has given hundreds of millions of dollars in loans to the atoll nation.

Beijing has been accused of seeking to develop facilities around the Indian Ocean -- a so-called "string of pearls" -- to counter the rise of its rival and secure its own economic interests.

The tropical archipelago is also a hugely popular holiday destination, attracting nearly 1.4 million foreigners in 2017.

- What could happen next? -

Election irregularities, or a repeat of February's constitutional hijinks, could see sanctions imposed.

The European Union said in July it was ready to impose travel bans and asset freezes on individuals if the situation did not improve.

The US State Department this month warned it would "consider appropriate measures" if the election was not free and fair.Houston police chief has hit back Donald Trumps controversial demands for evidence surrounding sexual assault allegations against his Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.

The president called on Christine Blasey Ford  who has accused Mr Kavanaugh of sexual assault while at a party when the two were teenagers  to release any police filings she may have filed at the time of the alleged incident.

I have no doubt that, if the attack on Dr. Ford was as bad as she says, charges would have been immediately filed with local Law Enforcement Authorities by either her or her loving parents, Mr Trump wrote in a tweet.

That spurred a response from Art Acevedo, who replied to the president in a tweet of his own that "sexual assault & domestic violence are row [sic] of the most under-reported crimes in society."

"This is a fact," Mr Acevedo continued, adding, "In the past the law enforcement community has not done a good job of creating safe spaces for victims."

The police chief then tagged the Houston Area Womens Centre, an organisation in Texas aiming to end domestic and sexual assault, writing, "Thankfully, we now work with partners like @hawctalk to do better."

Sexual assault & domestic violence are row of the most under-reported crimes in society, this is a fact & in the past the law enforcement community has not done a good job of creating safe spaces for victims. Thankfully, we now work with partners like @hawctalk to do better.  Chief Art Acevedo (@ArtAcevedo) September 21, 2018

The confrontation arrived as Ms Ford prepares to potentially speak publicly for the first time about her accusations against Mr Kavanaugh.

Video: Christine Blasey Ford Negotiates Terms for Testifying

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For more news videos visit Yahoo View.

Mr Kavanaugh and Ms Ford have been invited to testify Monday before the Senate Judiciary panel. While Mr Kavanaugh has agreed to go, Ms Ford said she can't appear that day and wants to testify next Wednesday or Thursday if Republicans agree to several conditions, including that she not be in the same room with the nominee.

The president previously had avoided naming the California college professor, but now says that Mr Kavanaugh is under assault by radical left wing politicians".

Mr Trump tweeted Friday that Mr Kavanaugh has an "impeccable reputation" and that Democrats "dont want to know the answers, they just want to destroy and delay."

He added, "Facts dont matter. I go through this with them every single day in DC"

Negotiations are set to continue over whether Ms Ford will testify in front of the panel next week.

The Associated Press contributed to this report(SPRINGFIELD, Mo.)  President Donald Trump has issued an ominous warning about the Justice Department and the FBI, promising more firings to rid a lingering stench after reports that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein discussed secretly recording Trump.

Trump, at a political rally Friday night in Missouri, did not explicitly mention the Rosenstein furor, first reported by The New York Times and confirmed by The Associated Press.

But the president lashed out against what he perceives as anti-Trump bias in the Justice Department and cited the firings he already has orchestrated. The dismissals have unnerved many in federal law enforcement and raised fears about the future of the special counsels Russia investigation, which Rosenstein oversees.

Youve seen what happened in the FBI and the Department of Justice. The bad ones, theyre all gone. Theyre all gone, Trump said. But there is a lingering stench and were going to get rid of that, too.

One person present during Rosensteins remarks said the second-ranking official was being sarcastic. The Times also said Rosenstein raised the idea of using the 25th Amendment to remove Trump as unfit for office. Rosenstein said the story is inaccurate and factually incorrect.

It was the latest storm to buffet the White House.

Trumps former fixer, Michael Cohen, is cooperating with special counsel Robert Muellers investigation. Trump has backed off his plan to declassify documents related to that probe, and the fate of his Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanagh, remains uncertain.

Negotiations are continuing with the Senate Judiciary Committee about a possible appearance by Christine Blasey Ford, who has accused Kavanaugh of sexual assault at a high school party more than three decades ago.

Trump made the future of Kavanaugh and the federal judiciary a centerpiece of his rally in Springfield, which was designed to support Missouris attorney general, Josh Hawley, in his race against Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill.

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I dont know who she is with but she is not with the state of Missouri, Trump said. (Kavanaugh) is a fantastic man, a fantastic man. She wont vote for him.

But Trump, who used Twitter earlier Friday to cast doubt on Fords claim, preached optimism on Kavanaugh, saying he was born for the U.S. Supreme Court and reassuring the crowd that its going to happen. Its going to happen.

He added: We have to fight for him, not worry about the other side. And by the way, women are for that more than anybody would understand.

When Hawley praised Trumps judicial picks, the crowd began chanting Kavanaughs name.

The reports about Rosenstein created even greater uncertainty about his future at a time when Trump has lambasted Justice Department leadership and publicly humiliated both Rosenstein and Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

More broadly, its the latest revelation that could affect Mueller, who is investigating possible coordination between Russia and Trumps presidential campaign in 2016.

To Trumps dismay, Sessions stepped aside from that issue soon after he took office, and it was Rosenstein who then appointed Mueller. Trump has resisted calls from conservative commentators to fire both Sessions and Rosenstein and appoint someone who would ride herd more closely on Mueller or dismiss him.

A number of key FBI officials, including Director James Comey and his deputy, Andrew McCabe, have been fired since Trump took office.

Republicans view the McCaskill-Hawley contest as one of their best chances of flipping a seat in the Senate, where the GOP has a slim 51-49 edge. Polls show the race is a toss-up.

Democrats are hoping the enthusiasm thats put the GOP-led House in play will spill over to the Senate, though the political map there is much tougher. McCaskill is among 10 Democratic incumbents seeking re-election in states Trump won  some by wider margins than in Missouri.

On Thursday, Trump was in Nevada to campaign for Sen. Dean Heller, among the GOP incumbents considered to be the most vulnerable in the Nov. 6 election.

With the chances of Republicans keeping control of the House looking increasingly difficult, the White House has fixated on keeping the Senate as a bulwark against any Democratic effort to impeach and then remove Trump from office.

___

Associated Press writer Darlene Superville in Washington contributed to this report.The FBI says a priest accused in decades-old child abuse cases in New Mexico was taken into custody by U.S. agents in Morocco. Arthur J. Perrault, 80, pleaded not guilty Friday after being returned to the United States. (Sept. 21)BUCHAREST (Reuters) - The leader of Romania's ruling Social Democrats Liviu Dragnea retained control of the party on Friday, defeating dissenters who said his criminal record had made him a liability, but his victory seems likely to heighten political infighting. A past conviction in a vote-rigging case earned him a suspended jail term which prevented him from being prime minister. And he is due next month to launch an appeal against a three and a half year prison sentence passed in a separate abuse of office case. He is also under investigation in a third case on suspicion of forming a criminal group to siphon off cash from state projects, some of them EU-funded. But he emerged unscathed from an eight-hour meeting of the party's executive committee on Friday at which he won a comfortable majority of support, beating off critics who wanted him out. Analysts said his latest confrontation with internal party critics might also complicate Dragnea's and his allies' efforts to stall the fight against corruption in one of the European Union's most graft-prone states. Dragnea led the party to a sweeping victory in a Dec. 2016 parliamentary election, but since then its attempts to weaken the judiciary have dominated the public agenda. An attempt to decriminalize several corruption offences last year via emergency decrees triggered massive protests and was ultimately withdrawn. Changes to criminal codes this year invited comparisons with Poland and Hungary, which are embroiled in a standoff with Brussels over the rule of law. Deputy Prime Minister Paul Stanescu, Bucharest mayor Gabriela Firea and lawmaker Adrian Tutuianu - all vice-presidents of the party - called for his resignation, saying his management has hurt the party's popularity. Dragnea has previously argued in favor of an emergency decree that would grant amnesty for some corruption offenses - potentially affording him protection against prosecution - or retroactively scrap wiretap evidence collected by Romania's intelligence service SRI on behalf of prosecutors. After Friday's executive meeting, Dragnea said Prime Minister Viorica Dancila, a close ally, had not supported the idea of an emergency decree on amnesty at this time. But Dragnea vowed to continue fighting against what he calls a "parallel state" of prosecutors and secret services who want to bring the party down via corruption trials. "I personally no longer care an emergency decree regarding amnesty," Dragnea said. "If the government wants to pass it, it's up to them, whenever they want." "As long as I remain party president I will do all I can to bring down this heinous system that is ruining lives." Unlike bills passed through parliament, which can be challenged and take a long time, emergency decrees take effect immediately. "He (Dragnea) might have broken them (his critics) today," said Sergiu Miscoiu, political science professor at Babes-Bolyai University. "But he is gradually losing control, his enemies are consolidating and the next round might be fatal." (Reporting by Luiza Ilie; Editing by Richard Balmforth)- AFP

Irans Revolutionary Guards yesterday vowed deadly and unforgettable vengeance for the mass shooting at a military parade as Iran's president blamed US-backed insurgents for killing 25 people in a hail of bullets.

President Hassan Rouhani accused the US of inciting an unnamed ally in the Persian Gulf to carry out the attack, which saw four gunmen disguised in military garb open fire and kill 12 Revolutionary Guardsmen as well as a number of spectators.

"America is acting like a bully towards the rest of the world... and thinks it can act based on brute force," said Mr Rouhani, whose country is in the grips of a desperate economic situation brought on by sweeping US sanctions.

"But our people will resist and the government is ready to confront America. We will overcome this situation and America will regret choosing the wrong path."

Mr Rouhani is on a collision course for US President Donald Trump, whose decision to quit the 2015 nuclear deal is, to Mr Rouhanis mind, directly to blame for Irans crippling financial crisis. The two leaders will attend the United Nations General Assembly in New York next week, where each will address the world.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani witnessed the shooting a the annual military parade in Tehran Credit: REUTERS

Nikki Haley, US Ambassador to the United Nations, brushed off the accusations from Tehran, saying of Mr Rouhani: The thing he has to do is look in the mirror.

Hes got the Iranian people protesting. Every ounce of money goes into his military. He has oppressed his people for a long time, said Ms Haley.

I think the Iranian people have had enough.

On Sunday morning, Iran summoned diplomats from the UK, the Netherlands and Denmark, accusing them of harbouring Iranian opposition groups.

Mr Rouhani then took to state television, declaring it absolutely clear to us who has done this, which group it is and to whom they are affiliated, without naming the suspect.

"One of the countries in the south of the Persian Gulf took care of their financial, weaponry and political needs."

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"All these little mercenary countries we see in this region are backed by America. It is the Americans who incite them," he said.

Within the hour, Irans Foreign Ministry summoned the United Arab Emirates charge daffaires to rebuke him for comments made by an unnamed Emirati official about the bloody fusillade at the parade. The outcome of the meeting was on Sunday night unknown.

Shia Iran has long been locked in a struggle for regional dominance with US-allied majority Sunni Saudi Arabia. The UAE is a Saudi ally, and hosts a significant US military presence.

Writing in The Telegraph today, Prince Mohammed bin Nawaf Al Saud, Saudi Arabias Ambassador to the United Kingdom, underscored the vitriol between the two regional powers in a reference to the destabilising and malign influence of Iran.

"There is still time for a determined international response that stops Iran from spreading its malignant influence to every corner of the region," he writes.

Tehran has made no secret of its mounting fury at the US over tightening sanctions, with Foreign Minister Javad Zarif taking to Twitter on Friday to denounce the Trump Administrations sense of entitlement to destabilize the world along with rogue accomplices in our region.

The US, he wrote, must start acting like a normal state.

The four dead suspected gunmen are understood to have been part of a group affiliated with the Arab Struggle Movement to Liberate Ahvaz, a separatist group that typically carries out nighttime attacks on oil infrastructure in Ahvaz province.

But for Tehran, the key issue appears not to be who pulled the trigger. Rather, the focus is on who provided the money, guns and support to infiltrate Irans storied Republican Guard  a strike so close to home on such a national institution it feels like a personal violation for many Iranians.

For years, Iran has held up the elite force, which answers directly to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khameni, as an impenetrable bulwark against external threats. Saturdays attack dealt a blow not just to a security institution, but to the core of Irans identity.

25 people were killed when a military parade was ambushed on Saturday Credit: MORTEZA JABERIAN/AFP

The attack on the military parade is likely to give security hardliners like the Guards more political ammunition because they did not endorse the pragmatist Rouhani's pursuit of the nuclear deal with the West, analysts say.

In New York, Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani said on Saturday that U.S. sanctions were inflicting economic pain on Iran that could lead to a "successful revolution".

The Trump administration has said that changing Iran's system of government is not US policy.

Both Mr Trump and Mr Rouhani are due to address the UN General Assembly in New York on Tuesday.Moscow (AFP) - Russia's military Sunday blamed "misleading" information from the Israeli airforce for the downing of one of its planes in Syria last week, and denounced the "adventurism" of Israeli pilots.

Israel strongly disputed the assertion and vowed it will continue to act against Iranian targets in neighbouring Syria.

A Syrian air defence missile downed the Russian Ilyushin Il-20 military plane on September 17, killing all 15 soldiers aboard and threatening to damage relations between Russia and Israel, which three years ago set up a hotline to avoid accidental clashes in Syria.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared to seek to move past the incident in spite of strong statements from the Russian military.

On Sunday, military spokesman Igor Konashenkov presented the results of an investigation.

Moscow has accused Israel's fighter pilots of using the bigger Ilyushin as cover, causing Syria's Soviet-era S-200 air defence system to interpret the Russian plane as a target.

Israel denied this version of events and its air force commander flew to Moscow following the incident, which Putin called the result of a "chain of tragic accidental circumstances."

It was the deadliest known case of friendly fire between Syria and key backer Russia since Moscow's game-changing 2015 military intervention.

Konashenkov said the Russian military received a call from Israeli command at 1839 GMT on the day of the incident to warn that Israel would be striking "north of Syria", where the Il-20 surveillance aircraft was monitoring the Idlib de-escalation zone.

Russia ordered its plane back to base. Then, "one minute" after Israel's call, its F-16 planes struck targets in Latakia in western Syria, he said.

"The misleading (information) by the Israeli officer regarding the location of the strikes made it impossible to guide the Il-20 to a safe location," said Konashenkov.

Story continues

As the Il-20 was landing near Latakia, one of the F-16 planes "began manoeuvres" at 1859 GMT "getting closer to the Il-20", which was interpreted as a repeat attack by the Syrian air defence and resulted in it being shot down, he said.

"Monitoring the Il-20, the Israeli fighters used it as cover from the anti-aircraft missiles" and continued to patrol the area long after the Russian plane was shot down, he said.

The Israeli pilots' actions "either speak of their unprofessionalism or criminal negligence at the very least," Konashenkov said, reiterating the Israeli airforce was fully responsible for the downing of the plane.

The "adventurism" of the Israeli military could have endangered civilian planes which use the same airspace to land at the nearby Hmeimim aerodrome, the officer said.

"This is a very ungrateful response to everything Russia has done for Israel".

Israel's military said in a statement its jets "did not hide behind any aircraft and that the Israeli aircraft were in Israeli airspace at the time of the downing of the Russian plane."

It again offered condolences to Russia.

Israel says it was targeting a Syrian military facility where weapons manufacturing systems were "about to be transferred on behalf of Iran" to Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah.

It has pledged to stop Iran, its main enemy, from entrenching itself militarily in the neighbouring country and has carried out dozens of attacks on Iranian targets there.

Iranian-backed Hezbollah is also an enemy of Israel, which has carried out strikes in Syria to stop what it says are advanced arms deliveries to the Shiite group.The Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation released an animation on September 23, which contradicts Israeli officials account of an incident in which a Russian military plane was downed by Syrian forces on September 17, killing 15.

Russias defense ministry alleged that Israel misled them about the locations of planned airstrikes in Syria and that Israeli jets used the Russian aircraft as a cover during their mission, both Israeli and Russian media reported. The Russian defense militarys report says that Israel is culpable for the attack.

Israeli authorities had said that all Israeli jets were back in Israeli airspace at the time Syrian forces shot at the Russian plane. Credit: Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation via StoryfulAlgiers (AFP) - A meeting between oil producing countries on Sunday decided not to alter supply to the global market, after calls by US President Donald Trump for an immediate hike in output to reduce prices.

A committee of participating states "expressed its satisfaction regarding the current oil market outlook with an overall healthy balance between supply and demand", a statement said, at the end of a meeting in Algiers.

But Saudi Arabia's energy minister Khalid al-Falih left the way open to a future production hike, as supplies tighten due to the US imposing sanctions on Iranian oil from November this year.

"It is critical that we continue to foresee and anticipate changing market supply and demand balances and take proactive actions to avoid conditions that could make (oil) consumers uneasy and anxious," said Falih, who chairs the joint committee of OPEC and non-OPEC countries.

The OPEC cartel in December 2016 concluded an agreement with non-member states -- including Russia -- to reduce output in order to arrest sliding prices.

Sunday's meeting in Algiers brought together OPEC oil ministers and non-OPEC signatories to the 2016 agreement, as they seek to extend their cooperation.

Trump has repeatedly called for a hike in production by countries other than Iran to reduce oil prices, which have partially recovered since the December 2016 agreement, to trade close to $80 per barrel this month.

"We protect the countries of the Middle East, they would not be safe for very long without us, and yet they continue to push for higher and higher oil prices!" Trump tweeted on Thursday.

"We will remember. The OPEC monopoly must get prices down now!"

The committee formed by OPEC and non-OPEC oil producers "was directed to study the 2019 outlook and present options on 2019 production levels to prevent market imbalance", the closing statement in Algiers added.

- 'Spare capacity' ready to deploy -

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Falih said attending ministers "showed us that they have spare capacity that they are ready to deploy if there is demand for it, if it is required by any shortfall".

But he said producers would reduce "supply if there is ever... a demand shock to the market".

"It's premature to say what we're going to do in 2019," he added.

Russia's energy minister Alexander Novak on Sunday appeared to back a continuation of the partnership between OPEC and non-OPEC member states.

"We need to give serious thought to expand our partnership beyond this year to tackling the new challenges that appear ahead of us," he said.

After pulling out of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal in May this year, the Trump administration has pledged to impose an embargo on Iranian oil from November 5.

Iran's OPEC representative Hossein Kazempour Ardebili on Sunday said his country was continuing to meet its OPEC quota share.

"I expect all countries to exercise their sovereignty and not to abide by the instructions of Trump," he said.

But output from Iran has hit its lowest level since July 2016, according to the International Energy Agency, as top buyers India and China distance themselves from Tehran in anticipation of the US sanctions.After days of negotiations and uncertainty, the Senate Judiciary Committee and Christine Blasey Fords attorneys have reached an agreement for the California psychology professor to publicly testify at a hearing on Thursday.

Blaseys legal team announced Sunday that Blasey has committed to moving forward with an open hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday at 10 a.m.

Despite actual threats to her safety and her life, Dr. Ford believes it is important for Senators to hear directly from her about the sexual assault committed against her, Blaseys attorneys wrote in their statement Sunday.

Latest update from Christine Blasey Fords legal team - We committed to moving forward with an open hearing on Thursday Sept 27 at 10:00 am... A number of important procedural and logistical issues remain unresolved, although they will not impede the hearing taking place. pic.twitter.com/Od76mL8sen  Phil Mattingly (@Phil_Mattingly) September 23, 2018

The announcement comes less than a day after a tentative agreement was reportedly reached during a short call late Saturday between Blaseys attorneys and the committees chairman, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), according to reports from The New York Times, Politico and The Daily Beast.

Blasey, a 51-year-old psychologist in Northern California, has accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her when they were both teenagers.

Since she publicly identified herself as the accuser last weekend, her lawyers have been embroiled in intense back-and-forth negotiations to set a hearing that Blasey would be comfortable with.

Earlier Saturday, Blasey accepted the Senate Judiciary Committees invitation to provide first-hand knowledge of Kavanaughs alleged sexual misconduct next week.

Christine Blasey Ford is accusing Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her when they were in high school. (Photo: ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS via Getty Images)

In the past week since Blaseys allegations went public, she and her family have become the target of death threats and vicious harassment, according to her lawyers. Attorney Debra Katz said on Friday that Blasey had to meet with the FBI because of the threats.

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Blaseys legal team on Friday requested that the committee follow several conditions for Blasey to attend the hearing, including having only one camera in the room, asking Kavanaugh to testify first, barring outside counsel from questioning Blasey, bringing in other potential witnesses  such as Mark Judge  to testify and holding the hearing on Wednesday.

Blaseys legal team said Sunday that Blasey agreed to testify despite the committees refusal to subpoena Judge and invite other witnesses who are essential for a fair hearing that arrives at the truth about the sexual assault.

Several issues surrounding the hearing remain unresolved, but will not affect her decision to testify, Blaseys attorneys said in their statement Sunday.

Kavanaugh will appear again before the committee following Blaseys testimony, the Senate Judiciary Committee announced Sunday.

Its official: Senate Judiciary Chairman @ChuckGrassley announces that Dr. Ford will testify Thursday 9/27 at 10a. Then Kavanaugh will testify. pic.twitter.com/St5iKOjmDT  Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) September 23, 2018

Negotiations intensified later Friday when committee Republicans largely ignored the requests and set the hearing date for next Wednesday. They also gave Blasey a 10 p.m. deadline for an answer, giving Blasey less than a day to think it over.

Then, in response to a scathing email accusing Republicans of bullying a sexual assault victim, Grassley granted Katzs late-night request to extend the deadline one more day.

Kavanaugh previously sent a letter to Grassley accepting the invitation to testify on Monday, a date previously set by committee Republicans. Kavanaugh said he wanted to attend the hearing to clear my name.

This story has been updated to include the Judiciary Committees announcement that Kavanaugh will appear.

Igor Bobic contributed to this report.

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Also on HuffPost

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.Great white sharks are usually found off the coast of South Africa, Australia and the US: Rex Features

Sharks will be hunted down and killed after two swimmers were critically injured in attacks in the waters of Australias Great Barrier Reef.

A 46-year-old woman was mauled on Wednesday and a 12-year-old girl was attacked on Thursday while swimming from yachts in Cid Harbour on Whitsunday Island.

In response, the Queensland government has set baited drum lines in Cid Harbour to reduce the local shark numbers.

It is possible that theres more than one shark involved in these unfortunate events, Fisheries Queensland manager Jeff Krause told Australian Broadcasting Corp.

We dont normally go out and search for any sharks that may have been involved in a shark attack, but due to the nature of these multiple attacks, Fisheries Queensland is going to deploy three drum lines in a bid to try and catch some of the sharks in that area, he added.

The victims were in critical but stable condition with leg wounds in hospitals in the Queensland state capital, Brisbane.

The girl is from Melbourne and had been on vacation with her father and sister while the woman is from Tasmania.

Queensland Yacht Charter, which managed the victims yachts, said tourists had been advised to refrain from swimming near the Whitsunday Islands for the foreseeable future.

The islands attract various whaler shark species as well as bull and tiger sharks.

The last shark attack in the area was eight years ago.

Daryl McPhee, a shark expert at Bond University, said that while the likelihood of being attacked by a shark was slim, the Great Barrier Reef has a higher population of sharks than other areas.A democrat running a long-shot bid to unseat a Republican incumbent in Arizona has released one of the most searing adverts of the 2018 midterm season, with some pretty damning testimonial from some very surprising voters.

The advert features several people attacking Representative Paul Gosar on a range of issues from health care to immigration to the environment. Mr Gosar, they say, is unfit for office.

Heres the catch: The naysayers are Mr Gosars siblings.

The advert spread online Friday evening, with what appeared to be pretty run-of-the-mill voter testimonial for an attack advert. Then Tim, David, Grace, Joan, Gaston, and Jennifer Gosar revealed themselves as the congressmans family.

If he actually cared about people in rural Arizona, I bet he'd be fighting for Social Security, for better access to health care, Jennifer Gosar said. I bet he would be researching what is the most insightful water policy to help the environment of Arizona sustain itself and be successful.

He's not listening to you, and he doesn't have your interests at heart, said Tim Gosar, who made the final plea to Arizona voters to elect democrat David Brill.

The advert is not the first time that Mr Gosars family has publicly rebuked the Republican, who represents a district that stretches from northeastern Arizona down alongside the border until hitting part of Yuma, in the far south of the state. The district is massive, and encompasses largely rural parts of the state.

Last October, brother David Gosar told The Phoenix New Times that he and his family have been anything but shy in their attempt to warn Arizonans about the policies their brother supports  and that they, clearly, do not appreciate.

There's no dispute about our opposition to him, David Gosar told the newspaper. It's something that has been building for some time. Watching what he does up there in Congress. It's ridiculous.

Republicans have a heavy, 26-percentage-point voter registration advantage in the district. But, Mr Brill has told that same newspaper that he is thankful for the support of his opponents family, whom he says are upstanding, wonderful people.A teenager has died after he was shot in east London (Picture: PA)

Police have launched a murder probe after a teenager was shot dead in east London.

The 19-year-old man was rushed to hospital by friends after the incident in Walthamstow, at around 11pm on Saturday night.

But he was pronounced dead at 11.38pm, the Metropolitan Police said, who were called to Vallentin Road shortly after 11pm.

The force is appealing for information over the shooting.

Shooting  police were called to Vallentin Road in Walthamstow, where a teen had been shot (Picture: Google Maps)

In a statement, the Met said: The victim  a 19-year-old man  was driven by friends to a north-east London hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 11.38pm.

Officers believe they know his identity, but await formal identification and confirmation that next of kin have been informed. A post-mortem examination will be arranged in due course.

MORE: Male model jailed for life for stabbing more successful rival to death in London street

MORE: Fury in Portugal after two male nightclub workers avoid jail for sex assault on passed out woman

A local resident, who lives in a flat overlooking the street, said he woke up to find police cars and uniformed officers had taped off both ends of Vallentin Road.

He told the Press Association: It is just sad. A shooting is horrible. I feel saddened for the family but I guess this sort of thing can happen anywhere now these days.

The shooting comes less than 24 hours after a 20-year-old man was killed in a senseless stabbing at a house party in north-east London.

Two other people, a 17-year-old boy and a 24-year-old man, were also seriously injured in the incident, although their injuries were not life-threatening.

There have been more than 100 homicides in the capital so far this year.Tehran (AFP) - Iran on Sunday warned the United Arab Emirates over "offensive remarks" attributed to a UAE "political advisor" on the weekend's deadly attack on an Iranian military parade.

The Emirati charge d'affaires was summoned to the foreign ministry over the advisor's "blatant support" for Saturday's attack in the city of Ahvaz that killed 29 people, said the ministry's spokesman Bahram Ghasemi.

"The summoning was over offensive remarks of a (UAE) political advisor," he said in a statement.

"The charge d'affaires was warned that blatant support of terrorist acts by those linked to Emirati authorities will have repercussions for the UAE government," said Ghasemi.

The ministry did not disclose the advisor's name or the controversial comments.

Officials say 29 people were killed in the attack by four gunmen on a military parade in Ahvaz, capital of Khuzestan province bordering Iraq.

Iran blames the attack on an Arab separatist movement supported by a US-backed Gulf state.HONG KONG (AP)  Authorities in Hong Kong on Monday took an unprecedented step against separatist voices by banning a political party that advocates independence for the southern Chinese territory on national security grounds. John Lee, the territory's secretary for security, announced that the Hong Kong National Party will be prohibited from operation from Monday. Lee's announcement did not provide further details. But Hong Kong's security bureau had previously said in a letter to the National Party's leader, 27-year-old Andy Chan, that the party should be dissolved "in the interests of national security or public safety, public order or the protection of the rights and freedoms of others." Chan had no immediate comment.

MALE, Maldives (AP)  Opposition candidate Ibrahim Mohamed Solih declared victory early Monday in the Maldives' contentious presidential election, which was widely seen as a referendum on the island nation's young democracy. The win was unexpected, and Solih's supporters flooded the streets, hugging one another, waving the Maldivian flag, cheering and honking horns in celebration. The opposition had feared the election would be rigged for strongman President Yameen Abdul Gayoom, whose first term was marked by a crackdown on political rivals, courts and the media. Yameen did not concede, and his campaign couldn't be reached for comment. "People were not expecting this result.

The U.S. State Department has congratulated the Maldives' on its peaceful democratic election. Opposition candidate Ibrahim Mohamed Solih declared victory in Sunday's vote, which was widely seen as a referendum on democracy in the nation that was holding only its third multiparty democratic elections. The nation's strongman president hasn't conceded, and official results won't be announced until Saturday, allowing possible court challenges of the vote. State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert noted the reported opposition victory in a statement that urged "calm and respect for the will of the people" as the election process concludes.

Story continues

NEW DELHI (AP)  The Maldives is holding its third multiparty presidential election on Sunday. The Indian Ocean nation of 400,000 has been rife with political turmoil since democracy was introduced just a decade ago. Famed for its white sand beaches and luxury resorts, the Maldives under President Yameen Abdul Gayoom, who is seeking re-election, has seen economic growth and longer life expectancy, according to the World Bank. But Yameen's critics say he has systematically rolled back democratic freedoms, jailing rivals and controlling courts. Like elsewhere in South Asia, China has made fast inroads into the Maldives with aid and investment, challenging India's long-held position as the dominant regional power.

BEIJING (AP)  X-Men star Fan Bingbing's Beijing management office is dark and abandoned. Her birthday passed almost unremarked in China's hyper-adrenalized social media environment. For one of China's best known stars and a rising Hollywood actress, Fan's vanishing is stunning, coming amid vague allegations of tax fraud and possibly other infractions that could have put her at odds with Chinese authorities. Fan has starred in dozens of movies and TV series in China and is best known internationally for her role as Blink in 2014's "X-Men: Days of Future Past," a cameo in the Chinese version of "Iron Man 3," and star turns on the red carpet at Cannes as recently as May.

HANOI, Vietnam (AP)  Vietnam will hold a state funeral and national mourning this week for President Tran Dai Quang, who died last week of a viral illness at age 61. Flags will fly at half-staff and entertainment activities will be canceled during the two-day funeral that starts Wednesday, the Communist Party and government announced. Quang will be buried in his home village in northern Ninh Binh province, some 115 kilometers (72 miles) south of Hanoi on Thursday. His passing is a "great loss to our Party, state and people," the announcement said. He died at a Hanoi hospital on Friday.

CANBERRA, Australia (AP)  Australian filmmaker James Ricketson took a stroll on a Sydney beach at dawn Monday while recuperating from more than a year in a Cambodian prison, his nephew said. Ricketson, 69, landed in Sydney on Sunday night two days after his 15-month stint in a Phnom Penh prison ended with clemency granted by Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni. The filmmaker had been arrested after flying a drone to photograph an opposition party rally in June 2017. He was sentenced on Aug. 31 this year to six years in prison for alleged espionage even though prosecutors never specified whom he was spying for nor presented evidence that he possessed or transmitted any secrets.

HYDERABAD, India (AP)  Supporters of a lawmaker slain by Maoist insurgents in southern India on Sunday attacked two police stations in anger over the killing, setting fire to one and vandalizing the other, police said. Two officers were injured in the attacks, Deputy Inspector General of Police Ch. Srikant told The Associated Press, adding that the mob blamed police for failing to protect the lawmaker, Kidari Sarveshwara Rao, an Andhra Pradesh state assembly member from the ruling Telugu Desam party. Earlier Sunday, at least 40 Maoist rebels were involved in Rao's fatal shooting while he visited with constituents of a tribal area about 700 kilometers (435 miles) northeast of Hyderabad, the state capital, according to Visakhapatanam district police superintendent Rahul Dev Sharma.

BEIJING (AP)  China summoned the American ambassador and the defense attache and recalled its navy commander from a U.S. trip to deliver a strong protest against economic sanctions Washington lodged over the purchase of Russian fighter jets and surface-to-air missile equipment. The Defense Ministry said the U.S. had no right to interfere in Chinese military cooperation with Russia. "We demand that the U.S. immediately correct the mistake and revoke the so-called sanctions, otherwise the U.S. must bear the consequences," the Defense Ministry said in a statement. The Foreign Ministry said that it had summoned Ambassador Terry Branstad. The Central Military Commission, which commands the People's Liberation Army, the world's largest standing military, said that Huang Xueping, the commission's deputy head for international military cooperation, had also summoned the acting U.S.

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP)  Campaigning for Indonesia's presidential election officially began Sunday with the two contenders releasing white doves and vowing a peaceful race as concerns simmer the campaign will sharpen religious and ethnic divides. The election due in April pits incumbent Joko "Jokowi" Widodo against former general and ultranationalist Prabowo Subianto, who lost to Jokowi in 2014. Dressed in traditional clothing, the candidates and their running mates paraded through central Jakarta on Sunday and released doves at a ceremony after reading out a peaceful campaign declaration. The 2014 presidential election was marred by dirty campaigning and wild internet rumors that Jokowi was a secret communist and of Chinese background, accusations often used in Indonesia to discredit or intimidate political opponents.GENEVA (Reuters) - Iran's foreign minister tweeted on Friday that the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump was a threat to the Middle East and to the global community. "It is true that there is a real threat to our region and to international peace and security: that threat is the Trump administration's sense of entitlement to destabilize the world along with rogue accomplices in our region," Mohammad Javad Zarif said. "The U.S. must start acting like a normal state." Tensions have ramped up between Iran and the United States after Trump withdrew from a landmark multi-lateral nuclear deal in May and reimposed sanctions on the Islamic Republic last month. Separately, Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi said on Friday that Iran has not requested a meeting with Trump, according to the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA). A foreign news agency reported that Iran requested such a meeting during the United Nations General Assembly which began this week, citing U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, according to IRNA. IRNA did not identify the foreign news agency. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani is scheduled to address the General Assembly next week, according to Iranian state media. "The Islamic Republic of Iran has never put forth a request for a meeting with Trump," Qassemi said. (Reporting By Babak Dehghanpisheh; Editing by Richard Balmforth)Kirstjen Nielsen announced plan on Saturday: REUTERS

The Trump administration has proposed a new rule denying visas and green cards to legal immigrants who are likely to claim government benefits such as food stamps or housing vouchers.

The move could force millions of low-income immigrants to choose between vital support and their hopes of US residency, advocacy groups have warned.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced on Saturday the planned change would allow officials to disqualify immigrants applications based on receipt of federal assistance such as food stamps, Section 8 housing vouchers or Medicare and Medicaid drug subsidies.

Such benefits would be considered a heavily weighed negative factor in granting green cards for permanent residency or in issuing visas for temporary stays.

Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen said the proposed rule would promote immigrant self-sufficiency and protect finite resources by ensuring that they are not likely to become burdens on American taxpayers.

Immigrant support groups said many people frightened of being denied green cards and visas may withdraw from public aid programmes even at the risk of losing their home or going hungry.

Marielena Hincapie, executive director of the National Immigration Law Center, condemned the move as an inhumane attack on the health and wellbeing of so many families and communities across the country.

She added: This proposed rule makes clear that the Trump administration continues to prioritise money over family unity by ensuring that only the wealthiest can afford to build a future in this country.

Todd Schulte, president of the immigration reform group FWD.us, said: This policy will cost the United States in the long run by limiting the contributions of hardworking immigrants who could become legal residents, and no one is better off because of it.

Coming less than seven weeks before midterm elections, the move could help galvanize voters who support the Trump administrations crackdown on legal and illegal immigration.

Story continues

According to a report in The New York Times, Donald Trumps top immigration adviser Stephen Miller has pushed hard for the new rule over the past few months.

The DHS plan marks a sharp departure from current guidelines, in place since 1999, which specifically prevent authorities from considering benefits in deciding a persons eligibility to immigrate to the US or stay in the country.

The new rule would apply to those seeking visas or legal permanent residency, but it would not affect people anyone applying for US citizenship.

The public has 60 days to comment on the proposal. The department must consider all comments and could make changes before its introduction in the coming months.The following statements were posted to the verified personal Twitter account of U.S. President Donald Trump (@realDonaldTrump) The opinions expressed are his own. Reuters has not edited the statements or confirmed their accuracy. @realDonaldTrump : - AMERICA IS WINNING AGAIN! [0005 EDT] - Judge Brett Kavanaugh is a fine man, with an impeccable reputation, who is under assault by radical left wing politicians who dont want to know the answers, they just want to destroy and delay. Facts dont matter. I go through this with them every single day in D.C. [0856 EDT] - I have no doubt that, if the attack on Dr. Ford was as bad as she says, charges would have been immediately filed with local Law Enforcement Authorities by either her or her loving parents. I ask that she bring those filings forward so that we can learn date, time, and place! [0914 EDT] - I will Chair the United Nations Security Council meeting on Iran next week! [0923 EDT] - The radical left lawyers want the FBI to get involved NOW. Why didnt someone call the FBI 36 years ago? [0929 EDT] - I met with the DOJ concerning the declassification of various UNREDACTED documents. They agreed to release them but stated that so doing may have a perceived negative impact on the Russia probe. Also, key Allies called to ask not to release. Therefore, the Inspector General..... [1035 EDT] - ....has been asked to review these documents on an expedited basis. I believe he will move quickly on this (and hopefully other things which he is looking at). In the end I can always declassify if it proves necessary. Speed is very important to me - and everyone! [1041 EDT] - Senator Feinstein and the Democrats held the letter for months, only to release it with a bang after the hearings were OVER - done very purposefully to Obstruct & Resist & Delay. Let her testify, or not, and TAKE THE VOTE! [1129 EDT] - Throughout American history, the men and women of our Armed Forces have selflessly served our Country, making tremendous sacrifices to defend our liberty. On National POW/MIA Recognition Day, we honor all American Prisoners of War: http://bit.ly/2Djnygn [1322 EDT] - Promises Kept for our GREAT Veterans! [1611 EDT] - Video tweet http://bit.ly/2NwbtsV [1651 EDT] - Remarks by President Trump at the Signing of H.R. 5895: http://bit.ly/2Nx3w6s [1744 EDT] - Thank you Missouri - I love you! [2105 EDT] -- Source link: (http://bit.ly/2jBh4LU) (Compiled by Bengaluru bureau)The Vatican reaches an agreement giving the Holy See a decisive role in the appointment of bishops in China, where for years many had been appointed without papal recognition. Gavino Garay reports.Weighing a 2020 campaign for president, former Vice President Joe Biden says he should have protected Anita Hill from what he called "character assassination" during the Supreme Court confirmation hearings of Justice Clarence Thomas more than a quarter century ago.

Biden chaired the Senate Judiciary Committee during the contentious 1991 hearings. As sexual misconduct again shadows a high court confirmation, Biden said he failed to prevent the all-male committee from putting Hill on the defensive.

"Anita Hill was vilified when she came forward, by a lot of my colleagues," Biden said during an interview on NBC's Today. "I wish I could have done more to prevent those questions and the way they asked them."

Biden was reflecting on his lead role in a seminal moment in the nation's debate over sexual harassment, long before the explosion of the #MeToo movement and the return of allegations of sexual impropriety in a Supreme Court confirmation.

Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh is accused of sexually assaulting Christine Blasey Ford, now a university professor in California, when they were in high school more than 30 years ago. Kavanaugh has denied the allegation, which has rekindled questions of Biden's leadership of the Judiciary Committee as he considers another presidential run.

With his wife Jill at his side, Biden struck a contrite tone during the NBC interview, arguing the experience prompted him to invite women senators to join the Judiciary Committee and for him to author the 1994 Violence Against Women Act.

But he mainly expressed powerlessness to stop his male committee colleagues from being insensitive. During Hill's testimony to the committee, some members suggested she was exaggerating and that the lack of allegations of any physical contact by Thomas was defensible.

"My biggest regret was I didn't know how I could shut you off, as you were a senator, and you were attacking Anita Hill's character," Biden said. "Under the Senate rules, I can't gavel you down and say you can't ask that question, although I tried. And so what happened was she got victimized again during the process."

Story continues

And though Biden said "I think I got it in '91," he memorably asked Hill flatly during the hearing to describe "what was the most embarrassing of all the incidences that you have alleged?"

Friday, Biden said "it takes enormous courage for a woman to come forward in the bright lights of millions of people watching and relive something that happened to her."

Biden, twice a candidate for president before two terms as vice president under Barack Obama, says he would run in 2020 if no other candidate steps forward who he believes can beat President Donald Trump, a Republican. Biden says he expects to decide whether to seek the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination by early next year.

Meanwhile, fellow Democratic presidential prospects such as California Sen. Kamala Harris and New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, sit on the Judiciary Committee today. They have already attracted attention for their roles on the committee during Kavanaugh's previous hearings. They could again assert themselves as national leaders on this politically charged issue if Kavanaugh returns to the committee next week to testify about the allegation

.By Christopher Bing

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House warned foreign hackers on Thursday it will increase offensive measures as part of a new national cyber security strategy.

The move comes as U.S. intelligence officials expect a flurry of digital attacks ahead of the Nov. 6 congressional elections.

The strategy provides federal agencies with new guidance for how to protect themselves and the private data of Americans, White House National Security Adviser John Bolton told reporters.

Bolton said the policy change was needed "not because we want more offensive operations in cyber space but precisely to create the structures of deterrence that will demonstrate to adversaries that the cost of their engaging in operations against us is higher than they want to bear."

The new policy also outlines a series of broad priorities, including the need to develop global internet policies and a competent domestic cybersecurity workforce.

It follows a recent Trump administration decision to reverse an Obama-era directive, known as PPD-20, which established an exhaustive approval process for the military to navigate in order to launch hacking operations. Bolton said the removal provided more leeway to respond to foreign cyber threats.

"In general, I think there is new tone in the policy but not much new policy other than the revocation of PPD-20, which had already been announced," Ari Schwartz, White House National Security Council cybersecurity director under President Barack Obama, told Reuters.

"In my experience it has not been deterrence policies that held back response, but the inability of agencies to execute," he said.

"I guess we will see what happens if this strategy really leads to less oversight, but a lack of oversight will likely lead to a lot of confusing finger-pointing in the wake of any failure."

(Reporting by Christopher Bing; editing by Lisa Shumaker and Dan Grebler)On Sept. 14, Wendy Dockray strolled down to Newcomb Hollow Beach, on the shore of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. The waves were mighty that day, so she went to watch the surf pound the shore.

The waves also attracted surfers. "I actually thought, 'Aren't they worried?'" Dockray, whose family has owned a house on the cape for 60 years, said in an interview.

The next afternoon, a shark  suspected to be a great white  sunk its teeth into 26-year-old boogie-boarder Arthur Medici. The tragedy was first shark attack fatality in Cape Cod since 1936, and it came a month after a shark latched onto the thigh of a New York neurologist, who was fortunately dragged ashore by group of beachgoers, and lived to tell a lurid tale.

Decades ago, however, no one ever saw sharks in Cape Cod, New England's legendary hooked-shaped summer destination. No one even thought about them.

"Zero. No concern. We never worried about sharks," said Dockray. "Sharks were something that happened in Australia."

Yet today, it's not just sharks that have returned to Cape Cod. It's a greater return of the ocean and coastal wilderness: What it was like centuries ago, before salty mariners arrived in droves to fish the plentiful seas; before the Pilgrims first stepped foot onto the cape, en route to establishing a colony at Plymouth.

A Cape Cod beach closes in August 2018 following a shark attack.

Image: William J Kole/AP/REX/Shutterstock

SEE ALSO: Glowing snow is falling thousands of feet under the sea. Here's why.

Sharks hunt seals, but seal populations were mostly exterminated from New England waters around 150 years ago, Sean Hayes, chief of the protected species branch of the Northeast Fisheries Science Center, said in an interview. But, after being protected by the landmark Marine Mammal Protection Act nearly half a century ago, the seals are back, and growing their numbers.

The sharks, also protected under U.S. law, have followed.

"From strictly a conservation goal of trying to recover these wild animals and upper-level predators, it's been incredibly successful," said Hayes.

Story continues

A truer wilderness, then, has largely returned to the shores of Cape Cod, well beyond just sharks and seals. In some areas, clouds of fish dart frantically beneath the surface as humpback whales open their jacuzzi-sized mouths and engulf them.

But today, there's another dominant species in the water.

"Now, youve got a new player  and that new player is human beings," Greg Skomal, a senior scientist at the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries, who has researched white sharks for three decades, said. "Sharks are trying to hunt seals, and now people are in the mix."

For locals, the change is palpable.

"We live in a part of the country where, up until now, there was nothing that was going to kill you," said Dennis Minsky, a Cape Cod naturalist who spends his summer out at sea educating the public about whales, and anything else dwelling in the water.

But before the sharks came the gray seals. They're everywhere now, and they promise to attract more predators.

Gray seals in New England.

Image: Noaa

"It's scary to us," Pete Hall, the owner of Van Rensselaers Restaurant and Raw Bar, just up street from the Wellfleet beach where the tragic Sept. 15 attack occurred, said in an interview.

"It's amazing to me how we went from like a dozen seals, to so many," Hall said.

The expanding wilderness

In the quiet twilight of Cape Cod, insulated from the boisterous pianos and merrymaking on Provincetown's Commercial Street, you can see the animals swimming, almost playfully, just 10 feet offshore. Their dark heads bob out of the water, silhouetted by the moon.

The gray seals have colonized Cape Cod from farther north, where hundreds of thousands of seals breed on Canada's snake-shaped Sable Island. But like all islands, Sable has its limits. So the gray seals are radiating out.

And as a seal destination, Cape Cod has it all: abundances of small fish and large beaches to haul out on.

The gray seals are even radiating well-beyond Cape Cod. Hayes, the marine scientist, recently spotted one off of Virginia. "Their range is likely still expanding," he said.

A gray seal pokes its head out of the water on Cape Cod's Nauset Beach.

Image: MATT CAMPBELL/EPA/REX/Shutterstock

Yet in 1980, gray seal populations in New England were pitiful, at least compared to today. A survey at the time found 30 gray seals, though there were probably more.

"I would be surprised if there were a thousand," said Hayes. "There definitely werent the tens of thousands that there are today," said Hayes.

The sharks have noticed.

"They see rich foraging opportunities emerge on Cape Cod, and elsewhere," said Skomal, the shark scientist.

Just how many great white sharks are there?

"Counting fish is difficult," said Skomal. But he's cataloged 300 in the Cape Cod area, meaning at minimum 300 sharks have visited the region. Skomal's lab aims to have more precise population numbers next year.

But there is one trend: "The number seems to be increasing from year to year."

A great white shark.

Image: noaa

Living on the cusp of wilderness

The top of the marine food web has returned to the Cape Cod shore. And that can be shocking.

"It's frightening to think this could happen here," said Dockray.

For some, that means accepting reality and adapting.

"Ill still swim in the harbor, but Im not swimming in the ocean anymore," said Minsky, noting that his friend, a veteran lobster diver, recently had the dark shadow of a shark pass overhead. "That was his last day in the water."

Yet, Minksy emphasized, even here the chance of getting attacked  while perhaps now elevated  is "minute."

"Its not Jaws," Sean Anderson, a biologist at California State University Channel Islands, said in an interview.

Historic Provincetown sits at the edge of Cape Cod.

Image: Shutterstock / Tono Balaguer

Sharks aren't seeking humans. They're often just reacting to what they think is a seal, said Skomal.

In 2017, there were a total of 88 unprovoked shark attacks globally, according to the Florida Museum. Just five of these encounters were fatal.

Addressing the likelihood of a shark attack is a "constant, constant, constant battle," said Anderson. "Way more people are going to die in their cars."

But, said Minksy, each person will find their own strategy to cope with the change. Some folks will be undeterred, and continue surfing. Some might hope for the local or state government to put up shark-deterring nets near the shore. Some might take a quick dip  and then scurry back to the beach.

But there's a big payoff, said Anderson

"That's the wilderness  there's this rawness," he said. "If everything is so sanitized, we lose a part of what makes us a traveler on this crazy spaceship planet we have."

Even without sharks, the seas are already a place full of dark unknowns to us land-dwellers. It's a wild, unruly place, even if we forget this for a century or so, until the sea creatures come back.

"The water is a foreign element anyhow," said Minsky. "We really visit it at our peril."You wouldn't think that a swollen pinky finger should warrant much worry. But for one woman in California, it turned out to be a sign of a rare manifestation of tuberculosis, according to a new report on the case, published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The 42-year-old went to the hospital after her finger had been swollen and painful for a week, though she had not injured it at all.

Doctors performed an X-ray and CT scan and found swelling in the soft tissue of her finger, but no issues with her bones. Only after doing a biopsy did they find Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacteria that causes tuberculosis.

RELATED: I Got Tuberculosis and Spent 20 Days in Isolation

The report states the woman had lupus and was being treated with medications to suppress her immune system, which made her more susceptible to this infectious disease. After investigating, doctors concluded that her husband had contracted tuberculosis during a recent trip to China and passed it on to her unknowingly through a cough.

That means the woman's husband had active tuberculosis bacteria in his system. The bacteria can also be present in an inactive form and remain in your system without making you, or anyone else, sick for years. Regardless, treatment is crucial to prevent the disease from manifesting, according to Mayo Clinic. Though it's not common in the U.S. anymore thanks to antibiotics, tuberculosis is a leading killer worldwide.

RELATED: 7 Kinds of Coughs and What They Might Mean

Tuberculosis bacteria are spread through the air, and while the disease typically occurs in the lungs, it can also affect other parts of the body, like the kidneys, spine, and brain. Although its rare for tuberculosis to develop in the finger, the report says its an important diagnosis to consider in patients with weakened immune systems.

Other symptoms include coughing up blood, chest pain, weight loss, fatigue, fever, night sweats, chills, and loss of appetite, according to Mayo Clinic. As this case shows, people with compromised immunity are more likely to catch tuberculosis, including those battling HIV/AIDS, diabetes, kidney disease, and cancer.

The symptoms of tuberculosis are common for other conditions as well, so if you suspect you could be coming down with it, its crucial to consult your doctor ASAP. An early diagnosis helped the woman in this case make full recovery. She was treated with various medications for nine months, and her symptoms went away completely.Terrace Heights residents have long sought a new grocery store in their neighborhood, and at

While Terrace Heights has plenty of land zoned for single-family homes, much of it lacks the

55-and-up

Terrace Heights has become a destination for older residents through two gated communities for those 55-and-up, Quail Run and The Villas at Terrace Heights.

The more than 40 lots at The Villas at Terrace Heights have been sold, while there are still about 25 vacant lots at Quail Run.

As the population is aging and living longer, the demographic seems to be increasing, said Sharri Bailey, broker with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Central Washington Real Estate. She has been marketing for Hayden Homes, which built several homes at the The Villas at Terrace Heights. We do see a need for this type of housing.

That demographic is also seeking amenities, such as recreational vehicle storage, that cater to their lifestyle, said Pat Loomis, developer of Quail Run. He also was developer of The Villas at Terrace Heights before selling it.

We build a lifestyle, the home is almost secondary, he said. Theyre buying a gated community. They feel secure. Probably about 25 percent of our residents go south in the winter.

 Mai Hoang

 This information box as been edited to correct information regarding Hayden Homes' involvement in The Villas at Terrace Heights development. The company was one of several that built homes at the development.Unidentified vandals desecrated the grave of a the prominent 19th and 20th century Hassidic rabbi, Rebbe Yechiel Meir, who was appointed rabbi of the south-central Polish city of Ostrowiec.

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The gravestone in the city was recently erected by the rebbe's descendants and by Jewish Holocaust survivors from the city, with the assistance of the "J-nerations", an organization working to preserve the remnants of the Jewish communities in Poland and elsewhere in Europe.

Grave of Rabbi Y.M. of Ostrowiec (Photo: Meir Bulka)

This is the second case of anti-Semitism in Poland reported over the past week, after a man threw a stone into a synagogue in Gdansk on Yom Kippur.

The desecrated gravesite is situated in the Jewish cemetery which has been turned into a public park, used by local residents to walk their dogs daily. It is not unusual for the dogs to defecate on the Jewish graves.

(Photo: Meir Bulka)

Meir Bulka, the founder of J-nerations who visited the cemetery this week, noticed that the gravesite of the rabbi, who passed away 90 years ago, was vandalized by drunkards who shattered the windows of the mausoleum and struck the walls with hammers. Several glass bottles were also smashed at the site.

(Photo: Meir Bulka)

Bulka called the police who said that they routinely patrol the area.

The Ostrowiec cemetery is at the center of a lawsuit submitted by Bulka against the state, demanding that Poland take responsibility for the desecration of the cemetery and the violation of Jews sensitivities. Bulka has also urged authorities to prevent further acts of vandalism.

(Photo: Meir Bulka)

The Poles cannot understand that it is important for us to preserve the cemetery. They only respect Catholic cemeteries," Bulka said. As far as they are concerned, it is just another place for dogs to defecate.

We are witnessing a rise in anti-Semitism on a daily basis. Under these circumstances it is not possible to preserve the thousand-year heritage of Polish Jewry. On the one hand the government turns a blind eye to vandalism against Jews; on the other hand, tales of Holocaust heroes which have been refused recognition by Yad Vashem due to inconsistencies in the testimonies are circulating, Bulka said.The Jaffa military court extended the detention on Friday of two IDF corporals suspected of stealing money from Palestinians in recent weeks during body searchs at the Qalandiya crossing between Jerusalem and Ramallah.

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The two, a combat soldier and a security observer from the Military Police's Border Crossings Unit, are also suspected of committing sexual offenses against Palestinians at the checkpoint.

One of the accused denies the allegations against him and claims that he never molested any of the women he inspected.

Qalandiya Crossing (Photo: Shlomo Mor)

According to the IDFs Internal Investigation Unit, testimony provided by the two defendants during their interrogation ties them to the offenses. The president of the Jaffa Military Court, Col. Ihsan Halabi, ordered that the two be remanded.

"The allegations recount theft by a public servant, looting and abuse of power based on racist motives in addition to sexual offenses, noted the judge.

I have read the covert report of the investigative unit and based on the evidence I have reached the conclusion that there is prima facie evidence at the level required at this stage  There are clear grounds justifying the detention of the suspects," he said.

In the course of the hearing, Military Advocate General Captain Ariella Segal said: "There are serious suspicions that a number of offenses have been committed, and there are additional investigations that must be carried out. The soldiers carried out acts without authority and contrary to correct procedure in strip searching a number of women.

Attorney, Captain Julia Weinschenker, representing one of the suspects on behalf of the military advocacy, said that "this is an excellent and highly valued soldier who serves according to his best abilities in a complex and demanding job. As for the property offense, it was a one-time act that is not characteristic of him. The soldier completely rejects the other suspicions and expects the investigation to end in a way that will negate the charges."

The IDF Spokesperson's Unit stated that "an investigation was opened by the Internal Investigation Unit in the IDF, and the suspected soldiers were arrested and brought before a military court to extend their detention."Iran has summoned diplomats from Britain, Denmark and the Netherlands over allegedly harboring "members of the terrorist group" that launched an attack on a military parade in the country's southwest.Iran has summoned diplomats from Britain, Denmark and the Netherlands over allegedly harboring "members of the terrorist group" that launched an attack on a military parade in the country's southwest.

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Gunmen attacked a military parade marking 38 years since the Iran-Iraq war in the southwest Iranian city of Ahvaz on Saturday, killing 25 people, half of them members of the Revolutionary Guards and wounding over 60.

Terror attack on military parade in Iran (Photo: AP)

All four assailants who carried out the attack were killed.

A statement early Sunday from Iran's Foreign Ministry also quoted ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi as saying Danish and Dutch diplomats were told Iran "already warned" their governments about this.

Wounded Iranian soldiers leaving scene of attack

The statement also criticized Britain over a Saudi-linked, Farsi-language satellite channel immediately airing an interview with an Ahvazi separatist claiming the attack.

Arab separatists in the region claimed the assault and Iranian officials believe they carried it out. The Islamic State group (ISIS) also claimed the attack, but initially offered incorrect information about it and provided no proof.

On Sunday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani accused the US of being a "bully" that wants to create insecurity in the Islamic Republic.

Speaking before leaving Tehran to attend the UN General Assembly in New York on Sunday, Rouhani accused US-backed Gulf Arab states of providing financial and military support for anti-government ethnic Arab groups.

"The small puppet countries in the region are backed by America, which is provoking them and giving them the necessary capabilities," he said.

"Iran's answer (to this attack) is forthcoming within the framework of law and our national interests," said Rouhani.

"The Persian Gulf states are providing monetary, military and political support for these groups," Iran's president stated.

"Hopefully we will overcome US sanctions with the least possible costs and make America regret its aggressiveness towards other countries, and particularly Iran," Rouhani added.

On Saturday Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei accused US-backed Gulf Arab states of carrying out the attack.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (Photo: Reuters)

"This crime is a continuation of the plots of the regional states that are puppets of the United States, and their goal is to create insecurity in our dear country," Khamenei said in a statement published on his website.

He did not name the regional states he believed were to blame. Israel is also a key US ally opposed to Tehran.

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said after the attack Iran would respond "swiftly and decisively," holding agents of a foreign regime responsible.

"Terrorists recruited, trained, armed and paid by a foreign regime have attacked Ahvaz," Zarif tweeted. "Iran will respond swiftly and decisively in defense of Iranian lives."The police detained Saturday afternoon a 21-year-old Palestinian in the northern city of Afula on suspicion of planning to carry out a terror attack.

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Earlier, an informer called the police emergency hotline to tip them off about the suspect's intentions and his license plate number.

Large overt and covert police force conducted extensive searches across the city and deployed checkpoint at the entries to and exits from the area.

Shortly after, the Yasam squad (Police Special Patrol Unit) located the suspect's vehicle in the Izrael quarter of Afula.

The Palestinian was neutralized, arrested and taken in for questioning by the Shin Bet.

Suspect's vehicle

The suspect was frisked. However, no weapons were found on him.

In June, an 18-year-old girl was also stabbed in Afula. She managed to take a few steps before collapsing near a cafe in the city center.

Shuva Malka, a student from Migdal HaEmek, told passersby several times that she had been stabbed by an Arab man. A Palestinian suspect was arrested about an hour later.

The suspect, 20-year-old Nur Shinawi of Jenin, was apprehended in possession of a knife.

He was interrogated by the Shin Bet that confirmed a day after the attack it was nationalistically-motivated.The Russian Defense Ministry announced on Sunday that Israel bears responsibility for the Syrian downing of a Russian reconnaissance plane during an Israel Air Force (IAF) strike last week.

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The Defense Ministry presented the findings of its investigation into the incident and according to Russia Today (RT), the ministry holds Israel responsible for the downing of the Ilyushin IL-20 plane that killed 15 people on board.

Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov

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According to the report, the IAF deceived the Russians by presenting false information regarding the area in which the strike in Latakia was planned on September 17 which prevented the Russian plane from leaving the danger zone.

For several years, Israel and Russia have maintained a special hotline to prevent their air forces from clashing in the skies over Syria. Russia has provided key air support to President Bashar Assad's forces since 2015, while Israel has carried out dozens of strikes against Iran-linked forces. Israeli military officials have previously praised the hotline's effectiveness.

But ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov on Sunday accused Israel of using the hotline to mislead Russia about its plans. He said the Russians were unable to get the Il-20 to a safe place because an Israeli duty officer had misled them, telling them of an Israeli operation in northern Syria while the jets were actually in Latakia, in the country's west.

The Israeli jets saw the Russian Ilyushin Il-20 and used it as a shield against the anti-aircraft missiles, while they carried on maneuvering in the region," said Konashenkov in a briefing given to journalists in Moscow.

It was also said that the heads of the IDF do not appreciate the relationship with Moscow.

"The military leadership of Israel either has no appreciation for the level of relations with Russia, or has no control over individual commands or commanding officers who understood that their actions would lead to tragedy," Konashenkov said in his minute-by-minute account.

Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov (Photo: RT)

"The actions of the Israeli fighter pilots, which led to the loss of life of 15 Russian servicemen, either lacked professionalism or were an act of criminal negligence, to say the least," he continued.

Russia has claimed since the attack that Israel gave the Kremlin less than one minute's notice before the attack, giving the plane insufficient time to fly to safety"a clear violation of the 2015 Russian-Israeli agreements."

RT said in its report that the IDF "failed to provide the location of their jets or properly specify their targets, claiming they were going to attack several 'industrial facilities' in northern Syria, close to the Il-20s area of operation.

"The misinformation prompted the Russian Command to order the recon plane back to the Khmeimim air base. The Israeli jets, however, instead almost immediately attacked the western Syrian Latakia province."

Konashenkov told journalists that after the initial Israeli strike in Latakia, the Israeli jets activated their radar-jamming systems and pulled back in preparation for another strike.

One of the jets, he said, then approached Latakia while the Russian aircraft was preparing to land.

The Israeli pilot must have been well aware of the fact that the Il-20 has a much larger radar cross-section than his F-16, and would become a preferred target for the Syrian air defense units, who use different friend-or-foe systems with the Russians, the RT report paraphrased Konashenkov. Thus, for the Syrians, the reconnaissance plane could appear as a group of Israeli jets."

According to Konashenkov, Israel's negligent behavior amounted to a what he described as flagrant violation of the very spirit of cooperation between the countries.

He also emphasized that Russia has never broken its commitment to the deconfliction agreement and has always informed Israel about its military missions in advance and has never used its air defense capabilities against Israelis.

He said that Russias decisions not to unleash its air defense on Israeli jets often endanger their own servicemen.

Konashenkov claimed that Russia has forewarned Israel 310 times of operations and maneuvers that could affects its air force, while Israel had demonstrated an asymmetrical commitment by warning the Russians only 25 times even though the IAF has acknowledged carrying out more than 200 strikes against Syrian targets over the past 18 months alone.

"This is an extremely ungrateful response to all that has been done by the Russian Federation for Israel and the Israeli people recently," Konashenkov said.

IAF chief Maj. Gen. Amikam Norkin presented to senior military officials in Moscow on Thursday the IDF report describing the attack in an effort to absolve Israel of responsibility and to avert a diplomatic crisis between Jerusalem and Moscow.

Norkin and other senior officers said they formed "a situation report of the event regarding all aspects, including the pre-mission information and the findings of the IDF inquiry."

A day after the attack, and before the IDF claimed responsibility for the strike on the weapons cache in Latakia, the Russian Defense Ministry denounced Israels deliberate provocation.The Civil administration on Sunday told residents of Khan al-Ahmar, a Bedouin village in the West Bank slated for demolition, to clear their houses by Oct. 1, following the High Court of Justice's (HCJ) decision that the village was built without the legal permits required.

In addition, the HCJ rejected a petition filed against the demolition of the village.

An IDF spokeswoman for liaison agency with the Palestinians said no date had been set for demolition should the houses remain after the deadline.A jihadist faction in the Idlib region of northwestern Syria has rejected a Turkish-Russian deal that requires "radical" insurgents to withdraw from a demilitarised zone, and urged rebels to launch new military operations.

While the Huras al-Din faction is not the main Islamist militant group in Idlib, its statement points to objections that may complicate the implementation of the agreement clinched last week by Russia and Turkey.Israel on Sunday told residents of Khan al-Ahmar, a Bedouin village in the West Bank slated for demolition, to clear their houses by October 1.

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Khan al-Ahmar consists of tin and wood shacks built on a desert hillside beside an Israeli highway that runs from Jerusalem to the Dead Sea.

(Photo: Amit Shabi)

Israel plans to demolish the village and relocate its 180 residents to a site 12 kilometres (7 miles) away. The move has drawn criticism from Palestinians and some European states, who cite the impact on the community and prospects for peace.

A spokeswoman for Israel's military liaison agency with the Palestinians said no date had been set for demolition should the houses remain after the deadline.

This notification has been sent in accordance with the states obligations to enable the residents of Khan al-Ahmar to carry out the demolition independently, she said.

(Photo: Amit Shabi)

Israeli security forces on Sunday morning handed out letters telling residents to voluntarily take down the buildings by October 1 or Israeli authorities would enforce the demolition orders.

As long as your refrain from doing so, the authorities in the area will implement the demolition orders in accordance with the court ruling and the law, the statement read.

Israel claims the village outside Kfar Adumim was illegally built.

"We will not voluntarily evacuate the place," said village resident Faisal Abu Dahuk. "The occupation forces that have an army and weapons can evacuate us by force, but there is no other place to go and we refuse to be moved anywhere else."

Palestinians say the demolition is part of an Israeli push to create an arc of settlements that would effectively cut off eastern Jerusalem from the West Bank, territories Israel captured in the 1967 Six-Day War and which the Palestinians claim for a future state.

Eight European Union nations published a statement last Thursday rebuking the Israeli High Court's September 5 decision to demolish the desert community.

The HCJ rejected an appeal against the demolition of the village, ruling that its stay would expire in a week and the spartan encampment could then legally be torn downIran's President Hassan Rouhani vowed Saturday, in a direct response to threats issued by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, that the country will not abandon its weapons program, which includes long-range missiles capable of striking the United States.

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However Rouhanis speech was cut short as the military parade he was attending had been attacked by several gunmen, who killed 25 peoplemost of whom were members of the countrys Revolutionary Guards.

Iran will not abandon its defensive weapons ... including its missiles that make America so angry, Rouhani said in his speech.

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani delivering speech during military parade

"US President Donald Trump will fail in his confrontation with Iran just like Iraqs Saddam Hussein," Iran's president asserted.

As Rouhani spoke, Iran began displaying its naval power in the Gulf during annual parades in the capital Tehran and the port of Bandar Abbas on the Gulf.

State media said about 600 vessels took part in the Gulf naval drill on Saturday, a day after Iran held aerial exercises in the waterway, vowing that a pounding reply awaited the countrys enemies.

In an interview with CNN, Pompeo threatened Iran saying, "We won't let Iran get away with using a proxy force to attack an American interest. Iran will be hold accountable for these incidents," following the attack on the US Embassy in Iraq which was carried out by Iran-backed militias.

The White House said the Shi'ite militias were behind the attack. However, it stressed Iran did not do enough to prevent it.

In response to Pompeo's threat, Iran's Foreign Affairs Ministry said that the Trump administration is destabilizing global peace.

In an opinion article published by Rouhani in the Washington Post in the wake of the United Nations Security Council discussion regarding the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) next week headed by US President Donald Trump, Iran's president attempted to convey an appeasing message, writing that "peace is our arsenal."

In the article, Rouhani stated that "Iran is keeping its nuclear commitments and is committed to talks and dialoguedespite Trump."

He went on to say that "Modern history attests to the fact that Iran has not engaged in any external aggression during the past 250 years. It has, however, fiercely resisted foreign aggression and intervention. Peace is our arsenal."

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani (L) and US President Donald Trump (Photo: Reuters, AP)

The Iranian leader's opinion article addressed Trump's May 8 announcement that the US is pulling out of the 2015 nuclear accord.

"I faced two options on May 8, when President Trump announced the United States official withdrawal from the nuclear agreement with Iran, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

"I could have reciprocated and announced Irans withdrawal, which was certain to throw the region into further insecurity and instability. Or I could have considered a short grace period for the remaining parties to compensate for the adverse effects of the United States decision on the valuable accord that had been achieved after 12 years of tough, intensive negotiations. In keeping with our tradition of respect for the rule of law and norms of international law, and to safeguard peace and security in the region, I opted for the latter," Rouhani elaborated.

According to the newspaper, the Islamic republic's president argued that US planned to conspire against it.

"The United States expected a hasty Iranian withdrawal so that it could easily forge an international alliance against Iran and automatically revive previous sanctions.

"Our action, instead, thwarted such a move. The talks with the remaining JCPOA participants, and their reiteration of compliance with the accord, placed the United States in a lonely position. Such a serious chasm between the United States and its European partners on a critical foreign policy matter was unique and unprecedentedwhich, I can say, proved that we were right in our approach to the nuclear deal and our proactive diplomacy," he stressed.

Trump speaking about Iran ( FOX NEWS )

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"Trumps offer of direct talks with Iran is not honest or genuine. How can we be convinced of his sincerity while his secretary of state has gone so far as to set a long list of openly insulting pre-conditions for talks?" he wondered.

"I am confident that the US government will have to change course once again. Regardless, our talks with our trading partners are well underway, promising a bright future for our international interactions. It has now become crystal clear that most countries in the world oppose US unilateralism and abhor being bullied," Rouhani elucidated in the article.

Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted on Friday that the administration of US President Donald Trump was a threat to the Middle East and to the global community.

"It is true that there is a real threat to our region and to international peace and security: that threat is the Trump administration's sense of entitlement to destabilize the world along with rogue accomplices in our region," Zarif said. "The US must start acting like a normal state."

Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif (Photo: Reuters)

During the past few months, the United States has been vigorously working to weaken Iran, mainly by imposing economic sanctions on it.

At the beginning of the month, Iran's currency hit a new low. Prominent Japanese oil companies are preparing to halt crude oil import from Iran amid US sanctions and concerns that doing business with it will affect them as well.Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday he would work on improving political and economic ties with Germany during a visit to the country later this month.

Turkey is seeking to improve its awkward relationship with Europe at a time when its ties with the United States have deteriorated and the lira has been falling sharply.

Erdogan is also travelling to the U.S. to attend a United Nations meeting and will meet with US investors before visiting Germany between Sept. 27 and 29.US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley on Sunday rejected Iranian fingerpointing at Washington over a deadly parade attack, saying Iranian leaders should look closer to home.

Before leaving for the United Nations on Sunday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani accused other countries including the United States of provoking the shooting attack on a military parade that killed 25 people on Saturday.

Haley dismissed his comments as rhetoric.Gaza's Hamas rulers said on Sunday that the indirect ceasefire talks with Israel have been halted, despite expressing optimism regarding the deal earlier followng a round of meetings with senior Egyptian intelligence officials in the strip on Saturday.

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Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri blamed the impasse on the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority, which has voiced its strong opposition to the talks.

Abu Zuhri said that in response, his Islamic militant group is escalating its protests in new locations along Gaza's borders with Israel.

Hamas leaders

Egypt and the United Nations have been working to mediate to avoid another large-scale round of violence.

On Saturday, a delegation of Egyptian officials visited Gaza in an attempt to renew talks on a long-term ceasefire arrangement with Israel.

Gaza border riots (Photo: AFP)

Palestinian sources said the main obstacle to reaching an agreement is the stance of the Palestinian Authority's leader on the issue.

"Egypt's main interest is to reach an intra-Palestinian reconciliation in accordance with President Mahmoud Abbas's demand to remain the only Palestinian representative with whom any understanding can be reached regarding Gaza, the source stressed.

Earlier on Sunday, nine fires broke out in the Gaza border region as a result of incendiary balloons launched from the strip into Israel.

Fire in Gaza border region

The biggest fire was reported in the wadi of Nahal Gerar in the Negev desert, where almost 300 dunams of land had been burned. The flames are reported to have been extinguished.

Fire in Gaza border region (Photo: Kobi Richter)

In addition, on Sunday evening the IDF said that the Israel Air Force (IAF) attacked an incendiary balloon cell in the Gaza Strip.

On Saturday, eight fires broke in the Gaza border communities as a result of incendiary kites and balloons. One of the fires started in the Nahal Bohu Park at the entrance to the southern city of Netivot.

Fire in Nahal Bohu Park near Nativot (  )

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On Thursday, an IAF aircraft attacked a terror cell in the northern Gaza that was launching incendiary kites and balloons into Israeli territory.

Fire in Gaza boredr region

The strike was carried out in light of violent demonstrations along the southern border, which continued throughout Yom Kippur.

Earlier on Thursday, six fires broke out as a result of incendiary balloons and one fire was started by an incendiary kite. The areas which were affected by the flames are: Kibbutz Nir Am, the Be'eri Forest, the Kissufim Forest and Shokeda Forest.

On Friday, the clashes along the security fence had resumed, with thousands of Gazas massing at several points along the Israeli border.

Hamas has led weekly protests since March, demanding in large part an end to the decade-long Israeli-Egyptian blockade that has crippled Gaza since Hamas assumed control of the coastal strip.The IDF rejected on Saturday the Russian Defense Ministrys investigation findings on Syrias downing of Russian plane, which concluded that Israel bears responsibility for the incident that killed 15 people.

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According to the Russian report presented by the Defense Ministry, the IAF deceived the Russians by presenting false information regarding the area in which the strike in Latakia was planned on September 17 which prevented the Russian plane from leaving the danger zone.

"The IDF delegation, headed by Israeli Air Force (IAF) chief Maj. Gen. Amikam Norkin, presented to senior Russian military officials the full IDF debriefing on the Russian plane downing by Syrian anti-aircraft missile, read the IDF statement.

Maj. Gen. Norkin in Moscow (Photo: IDF Spokesmans Unit)

"The investigation was carried out and presented in a thorough, professional and detailed manner," it stressed.

The IDF went on to say that IAF planes were not in the Syrian airspace at the time of the incident.

"The full details, both precise and factual, are known to the professionals in the Russian military, who confirmed that a special hotline to prevent air forces from clashing in the skies over Syria was activated on time.

The IAF did not hide behind any aircraft, and the Israeli planes were in Israeli airspace when a Syrian missile struck the Russian plane, the statement exclaimed.

Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov (Photo: RT)

The Russian Defense Ministry repeatedly accused Israel of using the Russian intelligence plane as a shield against Syrian anti-aircraft missiles because it is broader in size.

The F-16 pilots used the Russian aircraft as a shield against Syrian air defense systems," said Russian defense minister and warned against being exposed to false representations of the incident.

The IDF also stressed the continuation of security cooperation between Israel and Russia is a mutual interest for both countries.

"The cooperation between the IDF and the Russian military has proved itself many times in recent years. It is a common interest for this cooperation to continue, especially in light of regional challenges, the IDF statement went on to say.

However, as this incident proves, equipping irresponsible bodies with advanced weapons is dangerous to the region and can cause serious damage to those who are operating in the area, the IDF asserted in a statement.

The statement added that "the safety and security of the Russian forces operating in Syria is an important issue for Israeli decision makers and the IDF, who consider location of the Russian forces every time an IAF operation is approved.

Nevertheless, the IDF emphasized that the Israeli interests in the region will be defended no matter the consequence.

The IDF will continue to act in accordance with the political echelons instructions, in the face of Iran's unceasing attempts to establish itself in Syria and to arm Hezbollah with lethal and precise weapons, the statement concluded.

For several years, Israel and Russia have maintained a special hotline to prevent their air forces from clashing in the skies over Syria. Russia has provided key air support to President Bashar Assad's forces since 2015, while Israel has carried out dozens of strikes against Iran-linked forces. Israeli military officials have previously praised the hotline's effectiveness.

But ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov accused Israel, during Sundays press briefing, of using the hotline to mislead Russia about its plans. He said the Russians were unable to get the Il-20 to a safe place because an Israeli duty officer had misled them, telling them of an Israeli operation in northern Syria while the jets were actually in Latakia, in the country's west.

The Israeli jets saw the Russian Ilyushin Il-20 and used it as a shield against the anti-aircraft missiles, while they carried on maneuvering in the region," said Konashenkov in Moscow.

It was also said that the heads of the IDF do not appreciate the relationship with Moscow.

"The military leadership of Israel either has no appreciation for the level of relations with Russia, or has no control over individual commands or commanding officers who understood that their actions would lead to tragedy," Konashenkov said in his minute-by-minute account.

"The actions of the Israeli fighter pilots, which led to the loss of life of 15 Russian servicemen, either lacked professionalism or were an act of criminal negligence, to say the least," he continued.

Russia has claimed since the attack that Israel gave the Kremlin less than one minute's notice before the attack, giving the plane insufficient time to fly to safety"a clear violation of the 2015 Russian-Israeli agreements."

RT said in its report that the IDF "failed to provide the location of their jets or properly specify their targets, claiming they were going to attack several 'industrial facilities' in northern Syria, close to the Il-20s area of operation.

"The misinformation prompted the Russian Command to order the recon plane back to the Khmeimim air base. The Israeli jets, however, instead almost immediately attacked the western Syrian Latakia province."

Konashenkov told journalists that after the initial Israeli strike in Latakia, the Israeli jets activated their radar-jamming systems and pulled back in preparation for another strike.

One of the jets, he said, then approached Latakia while the Russian aircraft was preparing to land.

The Israeli pilot must have been well aware of the fact that the Il-20 has a much larger radar cross-section than his F-16, and would become a preferred target for the Syrian air defense units, who use different friend-or-foe systems with the Russians, the RT report paraphrased Konashenkov. Thus, for the Syrians, the reconnaissance plane could appear as a group of Israeli jets."

According to Konashenkov, Israel's negligent behavior amounted to a what he described as flagrant violation of the very spirit of cooperation between the countries.The most striking thing about the report produced by the Russian Defense Ministry about Syrias downing of the Russian spy plane in Latakia last week which has been blamed on Israel is the fact that it ignores the findings of the investigation conducted in Israel that were presented by the IAF chief Maj. Gen. Amikam Norkin and Israeli intelligence officials who accompanied him to Moscow in a bid to lower the ensuing tension.

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Israel, in an almost unprecedented move, sent its IAF commander with authorized and detailed documentation to Moscow which was intended not only to shed light on what transpired, but also on the events leading up to it.

Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov (Photo: RT)

Norkin met in Moscow with senior Russian officials, including his Russian counterpart and yet the Russian report that was published on Sunday which stuck by its original claim that Israel bore sole responsibility for the incident made no mention of a single Israeli claim. The report didnt even try to refute Israels claims or to make counterclaims against the information the Russians had been provided just days earlier. Even more surprising is that the Russian Defense Ministry simply repeated, word for word, with no change whatsoever, the version of events that were published mere hours after the incident.

The report seems as though absolutely no attempt to clarify matters was made by the Israeli side. There is not even a mention of Norkin. Apart from blaming Israel, the report, which promised a minute-by-minute evaluation, contains almost no new facts on the matter.

Moreover, there are all kinds of additional claims that are intended to demonstrate just how ungrateful Israel apparently is to the charitable Russians who are trying to protect it and are only repaid in bad faith.

From reading the report by the Defense Ministry which was initiated by Russian media which marches to the Kremlins beat, it is not difficult to discern that its findings are intended, more or less, to achieve several goals. It is worth examining them one by one.

Firstly, it is intended to fabricate excuses to the Russian public about the failures of its forces deployed in Syria on the night of the incident. These failures and shortfalls in the overall aerial situation are what contributed to the plane being shot down no less that the Syrian air defenses who pulled the trigger and launched and SAS missile at the Ilyushin Il-20.

Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov (Photo: RT)

The Defense Ministry did not include in its report any warning or threat of retaliation and this is a good sign. In this story the Russian Defense Ministry is the baddy which is seeking a get out of jail free card at Israels expense in Syria. Putin is seeking to create an image in which he is the good cop who wants to safeguard good relations with Israel and with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. But the Defense Ministry knows that it cant go too far and make threats against Israel upon which it is unable to deliver.

The proof that the Russian officers in the Khmeimim Air Base did not read the battle correctly is the fact that the first message they sent to the Defense Ministry in Moscow is that they registered missile launches from French frigate in Mediterranean at the Syrian army targets in Latakia. They also falsely reported that certain targets, for instance power plant in Latakia, were hit.

Another blunder was that the Russians did not provide its Syrian allies with the electronic signals which identifies their planes as Russian.

The Russian officers who operate jointly with the Syrian air defenses failed to properly supervise the anti-aircraft fire and the radar screens while the Syrian operators pressed the launch button. The Russian officers were there and they can surely recognize Russian planes but for a reason that is not clear, a mistake was made or someone failed in their professional responsibility. The claim that Israeli jets used the Russian plane as a shield against the Syrian air defense systems is merely a ploy to cover up this failure.

Another reason for the report can be attributed to the power struggles being waged between various security officials in the Russian Defense Ministry and Putins offices. This incident is an opportunity for Defense Ministry officials, a large number of whom identify with the Russian regime, to lash out at Israel in order to make it easier for Russian industries to supply weapons to its allies in the Middle East. But the main thing, as mentioned, is Russian public opinion and ensuring that no encouragement is given to the opposition elements to the Kremlin.

The second reason for the unfounded accusations against Israel is to solicit new compromises from the country regarding the situation in Syria. It can be assumed that the Russians will try to use the crisis against Israel to limit the freedom over Syrias skies which it has been granted by Moscow through new agreements. This will then be presented as an achievement to the regime in Damascus and Tehran who will then owe them.

How believable is the report by the Russians? What is clear it that the Defense Ministry has not pointed out the simple fact that the Syrian air defenses were the ones that shot the plane down. It was not Israel. The scathing report attempts to create the impression that the State of Israel is exclusively responsible for bringing the plane down which is why it does not mention this simple truth and why it doesnt mention the responsibility of Hezbollah and Iran for this tragic situation who themselves have tried to use the Russian military presence as a shield against Israeli attacks.

This string of facts which are ignored in the report cast a significant doubt on its validity, but also on the fact that the Kremlin does not want to overstep the mark with Israel. This is also a positive thing for us. While they want to squeeze out of this crisis as much as they can, the Russians will not go too far in directly confronting Israel.

Unpacking the Russian claims

The first claim: The Israelis gave less than a minutes notice before the attack on Latakia and did not provide the location of their planes or the list of targets.

The recording that was brought to Russia by Norkin proves that a warning was delivered to the Russian coordination room in the Khmeimim Air Base located south of Latakia. It proves that a lot more than one minute was given before the strike. Israel was not obligated to provide the location of its planes or the list of targets because such information would have exposed the fighter jets to danger and revealed the Israeli modus operandi to the Russians and the Syrians. It may have enabled the Syrians to intercept the rockets fired by the Israelis at the weapons depots.

Russian findings (Photo: RT)

It was also not necessary for the Russians to know since the targets were 25 kilometers at least from the area where Russian military personnel are located. They had no reason to know where the Israeli jets were. At the same time, they had no Russian plane or any Russian vessel in the area where Israeli planes were operating. The Russians sought to obtain these details because they wanted to know how Israels intelligence and air force functions. But this information that they are suddenly demanding was not needed to prevent a clash. In the past, Israel has not been using the coordination agreements to provide Russia with the locations of its jets and the list of targets.

The second claim: The Israeli F-16 that approached the coast of Latakia and the Russian spy plane as it was about to land in the Khmeimim Air Base.

This is an outright lie. This absolutely never happened and it was proven by Norkin to the Russians using photographic evidence. The actual truth is that all the Israeli planes were, at the same time, already in Israeli airspace at the time of the planes downing. The Syrian air defense, under Russian supervision, shot at the Russian plane that was the only target that the Russians and the Syrians saw on their radar.

In their attempt to make excuses for this fact, it is now being argued by the Russian Defense Ministry that the Israelis used radar-jamming systems to hide their actual whereabouts. Even if we assume that coordination was there and the Israelis scrambled the radars, how is it possible that the Russians could have reported in such detail that Israeli F-16s approached the Syrian coast and the air base and that the Russian spy plane, when the IAF aircraft's whereabouts were supposed to have been hidden from the Russians by the aforementioned radar-jamming device.

The simple fact is that the Israeli planes which attacked the targets in Latakia were not there when the downing of the plane took place. The claim is purely intended to cover up the failure and incompetence of the Syrians and the Russians. The claim is intended to hide the ignominious facts from the Russian public.

The third claim: The Russian Defense Ministry claims that the Russian coordination personnel at Khmeimim Air Base has given 310 notifications to Israel about Russian and Syrian planes approaching its airspace in order to prevent accidental confrontations.

Israel, the ministry claims, has only given 25 warnings in the last 1-and-a-half years even though it has launched 200 strikes on Syrian soil. These facts are true, but the Russians have failed to mention the friction prevention mechanism and that when there are no Russian planes or Russian interests near where Israel is attacking, there has been no need to avoid a confrontation. That is why there was not even any need to inform the Russian coordination personnel.

The hundreds of Russian warnings, on the other hand, were given because of hundreds of attacks launched by Russian planes and drones in southern Syria to assist President Assad near the Israeli border. Israel has not intervened in the Syrian-Russian operations in the south of the war-torn country and Russia has had an interest in not flying dangerously close to our border to avoid any damage to their own planes.

The fourth claim: The Russian Defense Ministry also claimed that the heads of the IDF do not appreciate the relationship and security cooperation with Moscow which supposedly helped to prevent firing of stray mortar shells from Syria into Israeli territory, and that the fact the Russians allowed the UN peace force to operate in the area.

This claim is also false seeing as the Russians were willing to do all of that in return for an Israeli and American promise that neither Israel nor the US would intervene once Assad recaptures the Syrian Golan Heights. These were explicit understandings that the Russians wanted more than Israel needed them. This is how they got southern Syria on a silver platter.

The fifth claim: The Russian Defense Ministry claims it managed to keep Iranian forces operating in Syria 140 kilometers from Israels northern border.

This is also only partially true. Some of these Iranian militias really left the area and went to fight in Idlib, but some of them are located around the city of Damascus, only 40 kilometers from the Israeli border.

The sixth claim: The Russian Defense Ministry said that its people helped to preserve sites holy for the Jewish religion as well as Jewish graves in the city of Aleppo, and that Russian soldiers risked their lives in search of remains of Israeli soldiers who were killed in battles of the past.

The incident took place in an area held by ISIS until they surrendered to the Syrian regime which took control of the camp.

They need us as much as we need them

Of the six claims presented by the Russian Defense Ministry, only one and a half are partially true and it can be easily proven. However, it can be assumed that Israel, the IDF, as well as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman, will not try to publicly embarrass the Russians with actual facts.

IAF chief in Moscow (Photo: IDF Spokesmans Unit)

The Israeli government and the defense establishment will ignore the Russian lies and the insulting refusal to take into consideration the investigation findings presented to them by the IAF chief, in the hope that this will calm the situation, and it will be possible to fully resume the security coordination with the Russians.

However, it is clear that Israel will now have to reconsider when it approves an operation in Syrian territory and when it refrains. This fact will not go unnoticed by the Iranians who will try to conceal weapons and equipment it transfers to Hezbollah in areas populated by Russian military forces, knowing that Israel will most likely refrain from attacking such areas in the near future as to not aggravate the crisis with Russia.

Nevertheless, if there will not be any other exceptional events, it can be assumed that things will return to the way they were before the downing of the Russian plane. In any event, Israel will not allow Iranian entrenched in Syria and will not allow Hezbollah to acquire high-quality weapons, because for Israel it is an existential threat, as emphasized by Defense Minister Lieberman recently.

This means that both Israel and Russia will have to improve coordination and deconflict the situation in order to prevent future crises. We must not forget that when it comes to Syriathe Russians need us almost as much as we need them.One Palestinian is reported to have been killed on Sunday during violent demonstrations in the Gaza Strip.News

Washington, DC - Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo: "On behalf of the Government of the United States, I congratulate the people of Belize as you celebrate your independence.

"The bonds of friendship between our nations are strong. We stand united in a common goal of achieving prosperity and security for all citizens of Belize. As Belize enters into a national dialogue in pursuit of resolving its longstanding territorial dispute, we recognize the broad efforts of government, political parties, and civil society to bring about the peaceful resolution of conflicts, economic development, and regional integration. Our partnership in the region strengthens the ties of our relationship  one based on trust and mutual respect. I look forward to continuing our close collaboration on fighting corruption and strengthening the rule of law for the benefit of all Belizean people.

"I offer my heartfelt congratulations and warmest wishes for continued prosperity as you celebrate your Independence Day."News

Phoenix, Arizona - Arizona will receive over $20 million to continue the efforts to combat the nations opioid epidemic. The funding is provided by the Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and is the first installment of a two-year grant for State Opioid Response (SOR). AHCCCS, will administer the grant and work with other state agencies, health plans, and other community partners to address specific initiatives.

Arizona has taken serious action in the last year to fight against the opioid epidemic in our state. Through coordinated efforts and bipartisan legislation, we've reduced the number of opioid prescriptions written, reduced the total number of pills dispensed and have provided significant new funding for treatment, said Governor Ducey. We know this fight is far from over and this grant will help more Arizonans receive the support they need."

Opioid use disorder continues to be a public health crisis that affects families in all corners of our state, said Dr. Sara Salek, AHCCCS chief medical officer. SOR grant funding will allow state agencies and partners to continue to educate the public about prevention, treatment, and recovery techniques and increase access to evidence-based treatment and trauma-informed care.

Specifically, this years funding will support initiatives that:

Increase access to medication-assisted treatment in both urban and rural areas of our state;

Increase distribution and public awareness of the overdose reversal medication, Naloxone;

Expand access to recovery support services including housing, peer support, and job search assistance;

Reduce recidivism by creating supports for individuals who transition from correctional settings;

Enhance support for opioid-exposed newborns and pregnant women who have opioid use disorder.

Grant-funded work will focus efforts on populations that have identified unmet needs, including individuals in rural and isolated areas; veterans, military service members and military families; pregnant women and parents with opioid use disorder; individuals experiencing homelessness; tribal populations; individuals who have experienced trauma, toxic stress or adverse childhood experiences (ACEs); and individuals re-entering the community from correctional settings.

AHCCCS will distribute SOR funding through many community partners and state agencies, including but not limited to: Arizona Department of Health Services; Governors Office of Youth, Faith, and Family; Arizona Department of Child Safety; Arizona Department of Corrections; Arizona State University; Gila River Health Care; Pascua Yaqui Tribe; Mercy Care Plan; Arizona Complete Health; Steward Health Choice Arizona; High Intensity Drug Trafficking Agency; and the University of Arizona.

Highlighting the dangers of opioid abuse and Arizonas fight against the epidemic, Governor Ducey issued a proclamation declaring September 16 through September 22, 2018 as Prescription Opioid and Heroin Epidemic Awareness Week.News

Indianapolis, Indiana - Michael Kaim, 28, a former police officer with the Veterans Affairs Medical Center Police Department, was sentenced Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Indianapolis, Indiana, for deprivation of civil rights, announced John Gore, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division; United States Attorney Josh J. Minkler of the Southern District of Indiana; and Grant Mendenhall, Special Agent in Charge of the FBIs Indianapolis Division. Kaim was sentenced to serve 12 months in prison and pay a fine of $1,000.

According to the defendants plea agreement and admissions in court, the defendant shoved and repeatedly punched a patient-employee whom he was in the process of arresting outside of the Richard L. Roudebush Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

Any law enforcement official who uses excessive force against an arrestee violates the Constitution, which is designed to protect the civil rights of all individuals, including veterans who sacrifice their lives for our freedoms, said Acting Assistant Attorney General John Gore. The Department of Justice will continue to aggressively prosecute officer misconduct.

When excessive force is used by police officers against members of our community, particularly our veterans, it erodes confidence in our justice system and does irreparable damage to public confidence, said U.S. Attorney Josh Minkler. Anyone who violates the civil rights of others will be held accountable.

"The public has a right to expect better from their law enforcement officers, especially those who work with our military veterans - men and women who have bravely served our country," said Grant Mendenhall, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI's Indianapolis Division. "The FBI will continue to hold accountable members of the law enforcement community who violate the civil rights of individuals they should be protecting."

This case was investigated by the FBI. The case was prosecuted by Trial Attorney Anita T. Channapati of the Justice Departments Civil Rights Division with assistance from the United States Attorneys Office in Indianapolis.News

Houston, Texas - A federal grand jury sitting in Houston, Texas returned an indictment today charging a Houston attorney with one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States and three counts of tax evasion, announced Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Richard E. Zuckerman of the Department of Justices Tax Division and U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Patrick for the Southern District of Texas.

According to the indictment, Jack Stephen Pursley, also known as Steve Pursley, conspired with another individual to repatriate more than $18 million in untaxed earnings from the co-conspirators business bank account located in the Isle of Man. Knowing that his co-conspirator had never paid taxes on these funds, Pursley allegedly designed and implemented a scheme whereby the untaxed funds were made to appear to be stock purchases in United States corporations owned and controlled by Pursley and his co-conspirator.



The indictment alleges that Pursley received more than $4.8 million and an ownership interest in the co-conspirators ongoing business for his role in the fraudulent scheme. The indictment further alleges that for tax years 2009 and 2010 Pursley evaded the assessment of and failed to pay the incomes taxes due on this money by, amongst other means, withdrawing the funds as purported non-taxable loans or returns of capital. Pursley allegedly used the money he received to purchase personal assets, including a vacation home in Vail, Colorado and property in Houston.



If convicted, Pursley faces a statutory maximum sentence of five years in prison for the conspiracy count, and five years in prison for each count of tax evasion. He also faces a period of supervised release, monetary penalties, and restitution.



An indictment merely alleges that a crime has been committed. A defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.



Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Zuckerman and U.S. Attorney Patrick commended special agents of IRS-Criminal Investigation, who investigated the case, and Senior Litigation Counsel Nanette Davis, Trial Attorney Grace Albinson, and Trial Attorney Sean Beaty of the Tax Division, who are prosecuting this case.Arizona News

Phoenix, Arizona - Attorney General Mark Brnovich announced a State Grand Jury indicted Eunice Lopez, former attendance secretary at Sunnyslope High School, on charges related to alleged theft of school funds.

Between 2015 and 2017, Lopez is accused of stealing 151 cash payments for student parking permits and falsifying documents to conceal her actions. In total, Lopez is believed to have stolen approximately $3,455 in cash.

Lopez is facing felony counts of Fraudulent Schemes and Artifices, Theft, and three counts of Violation By Custodian of Public Monies.

The Arizona Auditor General investigated this case.

Assistant Attorney General Jordyn Raimondo is prosecuting this case.

All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.Arizona News

Mesa, Arizona - Attorney General Mark Brnovich announced a State Grand Jury indicted Jeffrey Metcalf on charges related to manufacturing and storing prohibited weapons.

Metcalf is accused of possessing 42 homemade pipe bombs and the materials to manufacture 30 additional bombs at his Mesa residence. The removal and disposal of the devices required a joint effort between the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), Arizona Department of Public Safety (AZDPS), and the Mesa Police Department.

Metcalf is facing 42 felony counts of Misconduct Involving Weapons.

ATF and AZDPS investigated this case.

Assistant Attorney General Jordyn Raimondo is prosecuting this case.

All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.Arizona News

Phoenix, Arizona - On September 2nd, 2015, special agents of the Arizona Attorney Generals Office executed search warrants at four different locations in Maricopa County in conjunction with an ongoing investigation by their Health Care Fraud Special Investigation Section. Maricopa County Sheriffs Office deputies assisted with the execution of the search warrants at one location. Two suspects are in custody, including a former state employee.

The investigation by the Arizona Attorney Generals Office began immediately after an AHCCCS Office of the Inspector General internal investigation developed information regarding alleged improper business practices of a senior level AHCCCS employee.

This case is an ongoing investigation regarding alleged public fraud and no additional details can be provided at this time.

Im very proud of the special agents and prosecutors in our Healthcare Fraud and Abuse Section, who have worked around the clock to investigate these allegations, said Attorney General Mark Brnovich. Allegations of this type of fraud are especially alarming and the Attorney Generals Office will move swiftly in the prosecution of individuals who violate the publics trust.Arizona News

Phoenix, Arizona - Governor Doug Ducey yesterday released the following statement in honor of Prisoner of War/Missing In Action (POW/MIA) Recognition Day:

Today we remember and honor the women and men in uniform who sacrificed their freedom to protect the precious liberty we enjoy.

Those held as Prisoners of War and those Missing in Action have earned the unending gratitude and respect of every American for their courage and devotion to our country.

We must never neglect to recognize the faithful service of these patriots, and its with steadfast hope that we await the safe return of every last one of them.

I ask all Arizonans to join me in praying for every family that carries the enormous burden of a missing loved one on their shoulders every day our sincerest thanks and love go out to each of them.

We also take the time to remember the great sacrifices made by the late Senator John McCain, held captive as a Prisoner of War for over five years during the Vietnam War.

And its with the deepest reverence that Arizona sends this message to every American hero missing in action: there is no distance too far and no passage of time too long that will ever diminish our appreciation for all youve given us. You are never forgotten.Latest News

Houston, Texas - Defendants Mohamed Toure, 57, and Denise Cros-Toure, 57, of Ft. Worth, Texas, were charged Wednesday in a five-count indictment with forced labor, alien harboring for financial gain, and conspiracies to commit forced labor and alien harboring, announced Acting Assistant Attorney General John Gore of the Justice Departments Civil Rights Division, U.S. Attorney Erin Nealy Cox of the Northern District of Texas, and Special Agent in Charge Jeffrey McGallicher of the Department of State, Diplomatic Security Services Houston Field Office.

Defendant Toure was also charged with making false statements to federal agents. The defendants were arrested on April 26, 2018, after being charged by criminal complaint.

According to the indictment, in January 2000, the defendants arranged for the victim, then a minor child, to travel alone from her village in Guinea, West Africa, to Southlake, Texas, to work for them in their home. For more than 16 years, the Toures allegedly forced her to work long hours  demanding she handle childcare, cook, clean, and perform yardwork. Although the victim was close in age to their five biological children, the couple denied her access to schooling, medical care, and other opportunities they afforded their own children, and on several occasions Denise Cros-Toure slapped or struck her as punishment. Until neighbors helped the victim escape in August 2016, the defendants allegedly denied her any pay, isolated her from her family and threatened serious harm if she refused to work.

As part of their scheme to compel the victims labor, the defendants confiscated her official documents and caused her to remain unlawfully in the United States after her tourist visa expired in March 2000 and threatened to send her back to Guinea if her work was unsatisfactory.

An indictment is merely an accusation, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. If convicted of forced labor, the defendants face a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, and mandatory restitution. If convicted of alien harboring, the defendants face a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

The case is being investigated by Diplomatic Security Services Houston Field Office. It is being prosecuted by Trial Attorneys Rebekah Bailey and William Nolan of the Civil Rights Divisions Criminal Section and Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit and Assistant U.S. Attorney Chris Wolfe for the Northern District of Texas.Yuma News

Yuma, Arizona - On Saturday, September 22, 2018 at about 1:46 a.m., Yuma Police Officers responded to a single vehicle collision in the 800 block of S. Redondo Center Drive.

The initial investigation revealed a 1997 Honda motorcycle was traveling south bound in the 800 block of Redondo Center Drive. The rider failed to negotiate a curve and struck the opposing curve causing the rider to be ejected.

The rider, a 31 year old male, was pronounced deceased on scene. The rider was not wearing a helmet. Speed appears to be a factor.

This area of Redondo Center Drive will be closed for a few hours while the scene is processed.

This case is still under investigation.

The Yuma Police Department encourages anyone with any information about this case to please the Yuma Police Department at (928) 373-4700 or 78-Crime at (928) 782-7463 to remain anonymous.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.Lonmin Plc explores, mines, refines, and markets platinum group metals in South Africa, the Americas, Asia, and Europe. The company explores for platinum, palladium, rhodium, iridium, ruthenium, and gold, as well as chrome, nickel, copper, and cobalt deposits. Its flagship property is the Marikana mine located on the Western Limb of the Bushveld igneous complex in South Africa. In addition, the company holds 100% interest in Pandora mine. The company was founded in 1909 and is headquartered in Melrose North, South Africa.

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 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.- Bishop Daniel Obinim has taken a swipe at Delay

- According to him, Delay edited an interview he had with her to suit her agenda

Founder and leader of the International Gods Way Church, Daniel Obinim, has slammed television host Deloris Frimpong Manso for editing an interview he had with her.

According to the self-acclaimed Man of God, Deloris Frimpong Manso known in showbiz as Delay edited an interview he once granted her to suit her agenda.

Bishop Daniel Obinim slams Delay

Source: UGC

READ ALSO: Video of trotro mate teaching maths stuns Ghanaians

In a report by GHPAGE.com sighted by YEN.com.gh, the controversial man of God demonstrated to his interviewer how his edited interview with Delay ensued.

He said Delay asked him if he has slept with a certain woman to which he replied yes. According to Obinim, Delay asked again if he has slept with his junior pastors wife to which he replied no.

That Obinim believed, during the editing table, Delay edited the part he said no and replaced with the yes he had said earlier to make it look like he admitted to sleeping with his junior pastors wife.

READ ALSO: Actor Eddie Nartey marries hearthrob

Obinim stated that, though he slept with another woman behind his wife, it wasnt his junior pastors wife. He claimed the woman wasnt married nor even had a boyfriend at the time.

He disclosed that he even fought with Delay over that issue which the self-acclaimed Angel added that, Delay told him, it wasnt her fault but her editors.

Bishop Obinim was recently in the news for attempting to vanish to heaven.

Bishop Daniel Obinim (Photo credit: supplied)

Source: Depositphotos

READ ALSO: Moesha Boduong puts her shapely body on display

The popular Man of God was seen in one of his church branches during service and he was reportedly trying to vanish into heaven.

It appeared that the pastor, during the prophetic and deliverance service wanted to take off into the skies.

Ghana News Today: Kofi Annan Burial Ceremony | Yen.com.gh

Your stories and photos are always welcome. Send us a message via YEN's official Facebook page.

Source: Yen- Shatta Wale has said that his colleague, Sarkodie is one of the poorest artiste in Ghana

- According to Shatta, the so called A-Class artiste in the country are the poorest

Dancehall artiste Shatta Wale risks drawing the ire of some of his colleagues after saying that Sarkodie and Kwaw Kese are poor musicians.

Speaking on Kumasi-based Luv FM, the Ayoo hit maker said many so-called A-rated artistes are poor but do not want the public to know.

He said the Ghana music industry has a big problem, which is that artistes are paid meagre wages for performances.

Sarkodie is arguably Ghana's best rapper in the last decade

Source: Instagram

READ ALSO: Video of trotro mate teaching maths stuns Ghanaians

MyNewsGh.com reports that Shatta Wale described both Sarkodie and Kwaw Kese as poverty-stricken artistes who do not want to admit it.

According to him, he will continue to fight the system until Ghanaian artistes are paid well for their performances.

Shatta Wales latest attacks come on the back of a previous rant against the aforementioned artistes.

The self-acclaimed dancehall king accused Sarkodie of disrespecting him by refusing to shoot a video for one of his songs.

Kwaw Kese later joined the fray after branding Shatta Wale a hypocrite who does not practice what he preaches.

READ ALSO: Ghana Immigration to deport 73 foreign nationals

Although Sarkodie has so far not responded to any of Shatta Wales rants, Kwaw Kese has been returning the favour to the dancehall artiste.

Top 3 Ghana Richest Women: Who Are They? | Yen.com.gh

READ ALSO: Photo of Nana Addo and Rebeccas wedding day goes viral

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The Ghana Police Service has warned the general public to be wary of the kind of investments they make, especially when it comes to lucrative online deals.

The police said most of these online investments are Ponzi schemes with the aim of duping unsuspecting people.

Speaking to Graphic Online, Director of Cybercrime Unit of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID), Dr Herbert Gustav Yankson, said investigations are currently ongoing regarding such dubious schemes.

Dr Herbert Gustav Yankson. Source: Graphiconline.com

Source: UGC

READ ALSO: First couple dance from Eddie Nartey and wife

According to him, several unsuspecting people have been defrauded of monies running into millions of Ghana cedis.

He said most investors are lured into investing with these online schemes due to the high interests on offer.

Dr. Yankson said normally the interests on offer are unrealistic and the victims only get to find out rather too late.

He explained that the fraudsters usually paid these unrealistic interests and when they realised the numbers had increased, they gave excuses such as website upgrades.

When people request for their investments, they pay with all interests accrued just to attract a higher number of people as they know people will market their platform and even increase their initial investment, Dr. Yankson said.

He admitted that tracing these fraudulent online schemes is difficult, saying some of the websites perpetrating the act are based outside Ghana.

He, however, added that the Police is liaising with their foreign counterparts in order to trace the culprits.

It is very difficult to trace such activities as we cannot tell who runs the business or the location.

READ ALSO: Sarkodie and Kwaw Kese are all poverty stricken  Shatta Wale attacks

So far, the few people we have arrested claim they are either associates or marketers who only registered with them online and cannot tell their physical locations, Dr. Yankson added.

He, therefore, urged the public to be wary of where they invest so as not to fall victim to these fraudulent online schemes.

A Ponzi scheme is a form of fraud in which a purported business lures investors and pays profits to earlier investors using funds obtained from newer investors.

Top 3 Ghana Richest Women: Who Are They? | Yen.com.gh

READ ALSO: Photo of Nana Addo and Rebeccas wedding day goes viral

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Marriage is thought to be a blissful union of two people who love themselves. But as our readers revealed on Facebook, not everyone buys into the idea of marriage.

It would seem that not all people are eager to marry and settle down like we have been brought up to believe. YEN.com.gh asked people via our Facebook page "What is your worst fear when you think of getting married?".

Per the contributions we received, there are varied reason as expected. But some make for interesting reading.

READ ALSO: Ghanaians mocked me into depression after VGMA 2016 - Pappy Kojo

Facebook user Afolashade Victoria, fears cheating and pregnancy in her marriage. Now, although one may agree that cheating is a fear most people hold, pregnancy would seem out of the ordinary for a concern.

Others like Clifford Tachie-Menson had a more harmless problem. But it would count as a critical one if you think about how room temperature tends to affect people differently.

The fear of raising children was abundant in the over 200 comments we received. This submission from Jeffato Kwame Blayz captured the problem more than anyone else.

READ ALSO: Sarkodie and Kwaw Kese are all poverty stricken  Shatta Wale attacks

Some of our contributors went for funnier reasons like this one from Kwame Trig hoping his wife is not ardent listener to controversial marriage counsellor George Lutterodt.

And finally, we had people who expressed fears that their marriages might not last their lifetimes. Mharmi Efya Jessica feared that a divorce might be on the cards if she ever got married.

In all, the various fears expressed are probably shared by millions of people across the world. This would only mean that marriage is not normal or as necessary as traditional society makes it seem.

Top 3 Ghana Richest Women: Who Are They? | Yen.com.gh

Your stories and photos are always welcome. Get interactive via our Facebook page

Source: YenSometimes the little things we do in life turn out to become the best things we could ever do.

That is the case of an old lady who bought a land and donated it to be used to build a church almost four decades ago.

Deaconess Rtd. Elizabeth Pokua is reported to have bought a piece of land at Odumase for just 1.20 pesewes somewhere around 1982.

READ ALSO: Adolescents not interested in abstinence message

She then gave the land away to be the Church of Pentecost so that the Odumase area could also have a branch of the church.

Today, the Odumase Church of Pentecost boasts of hundreds of congregants but this is all thanks to the goodwill and generosity of this old lady.

On Saturday, September 21, 2018, Madam Pokua was honoured at the church which she provided a land for its building.

The church building was dedicated to her, as she delivered a short speech on how it all started.

She is currently over 100 years, but her passion for the gospel has not waned one bit.

Is Kofi Annan an Example for All? - Ghanaians Speak | Yen.com.gh

READ ALSO: Sarkodie and Kwaw Kese are all poverty stricken  Shatta Wale attacks

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Handing over of power equipment tools to support rehabilitation and recovery of the people of AmbaeOnly Sri Lanka has many Arahants

Bhikkhu Maliyadeva lived in 6 AD in Mandalaramaka in present Kurunegala -as one of the last identified Maha Arahants



Perhaps with the exception of Lord Buddhas land of birth, there is no other place on earth that can lay claim to a more glittering array of Arahants, who placed their indelible footprints for prosperity other than the blessed isle of Lanka.



A few remarkable anecdotes gleaned from their lives of humility and fathomless wisdom as recorded in the explanatory texts to the Nikayas display the enormity of the individual that stood behind them.



They have projected to the world involuntary though, through each of those episodes the subdued splendour of the profound philosophy presented by successive Buddhas who make their appearance on the human plane in intervals of almost an eternity.



Bhikkhu Maliyadeva, known to have lived in 6 AD in Mandalaramaka temple in a village named Kalla in the District of present Kurunegala is mentioned in the chronicles as one of the last identified Maha Arahants in the land.



Three years into higher ordination, he was still an avid student of Tripitaka as well as a serious practitioner of insight meditation. In one of his alms-rounds in Kalla village, a female devotee developed maternal love towards the mendicant monk while offering a spoonful of soup, invited him in and served him with excellent food. Son, where is your habitation? she asked.

Exactly on the day of completion of the retreat, he attained Arahanthood along with the four great powers of analysis (Patisambhida)



When told that he was a student of scripture in Madalaramaka, she volunteered to offer all his midday meals till he completes his scholarly undertaking.



Accepting her offer he regularly partakes of his meal at the upasikas house. On each occasion at the end of the meal he exclaims May you be happy, may you be free of sorrow and then departs. The entire three months of the rains retreat he honoured her with his presence at meal time.



Exactly on the day of completion of the retreat, he attained Arahanthood along with the four great powers of analysis (patisambhida).



On a particular day, the resident Maha Thera of Mandalaramaka temple addressed the Maha Arahant Maliyadeva Friend Mahadeva, people will gather at the temple today, it is good if you offer them the gift of Dhamma, which was tolerated by the latter.

Bhikkhu Maliyadeva, known to have lived in 6 AD in Mandalaramaka temple in a village named Kalla in the District of present Kurunegala is mentioned in the chronicles as one of the last identified Maha Arahants in the land



Young novice monks went up to the lady benefactress of the Maha Arahant to inform her that she should listen to the sermon due to be delivered by her Bhikkhu son at the temple that evening.



Children, she replied, It is not everyone who can preach. The only Dhamma he taught me for three months was to be happy and to be free of sorrow. Please do not play the fool with me, children.



The samaneras insisted Upasika, do not draw inferences on his knowledge or lack of it. Go to the temple and listen to the preaching tonight she remained silent.

However, having gone to the temple in the evening by herself and offering flowers, she stood at the end of the gathering of listeners in the sermon hall.



The daytime preacher aware of his limitations rose from his chair and left.



Arahant Maliyadeva with a colourful Vijinipatha in his hand then climbed the pulpit, recited the opening stanza of his sermon and told himself for the whole of three months I blessed the upasika with two lines, tonight I shall span the entire Tripitaka and explain the purport of those two lines to her, and so did he throughout the night. At break of dawn, termination of the sermon and upasikas attainment of womanhood occurred in unison.



Anguttara Nikaya cites the incident to illustrate the situation of reaching Nibbana by suppression of defilements through constant study and dissemination of Dhamma by a yogi alongside his practice of insight meditation.

Visuddhimagga concludes the episode with the observation that Elder Mahanaga was one of those subject to hate temperament with a tendency to be overwhelmed by the element of light



Back to Arahant Maliyadeva Thera, the tiny wattle and daub kuti the great bhikkhu occupied which one has to enter with bent head, preserved at Arankale hermitage in Kurunegala, remains a stunning symbol of noble monkhood to this day.



The stupendous volume of Buddhas teaching consists of eighty-four thousand thematic monads of which a whole eighty-two thousand were proclamations of the Blessed One Himself. The rest consisted of expositions of the Dhamma by Maha Arahants the erudite scholars, great disciples with absolute mastery of the great teaching. One such was Punna, son of a Brahmin lady names Manthani, sister of Kondanna Thera, and later designated the most colourful preacher of the dispensation by Gauthama Buddha.



Arahant Punna on a request made by the General of DhammaVenerable Sariputta to explain the seven stages of purification, made a brilliant exposition of it not realizing that it was Venerable Sariputta who made the request.



It was subsequently termed the Relay of the Chariots that formed the basis of the legendary treatise Visuddhimagga of Badhantacharya Buddhagosha.



When a practitioner progresses on his path of insight meditation he reaches a stage where he observes a bright illumination in front of him. As explained in the text it is termed the stage of tender insight indicative of suppression of defilements, and if one is not diligent he could misguide himself that he has succeeded in penetrating the truth.



It is a distraction and is one of the ten imperfections that lie on the path. The ability of the mediator to distinguish at this stage between the path and what is not the path is the fifth of the seven purifications mentioned above.



Perhaps the most sensational example of this almost imperceptible state of confusion was also exhibited in ancient Lanka. In Thalangara temple lived a Maha Arahant named Dhammadinna, possessed of the four categories of discrimination siwpilisimbiya, expounding the great philosophy to a large community of bhikkhus. A particular day while in his daytime quarters on wondering whether his teacher the Elder Mahanaga living at Ukkavila has brought his monkhood to fruition saw that he was still an ordinary man and if he does not visit him he would die an ordinary man. Rising into the air he alighted near the Elder who was himself spending the time in his daytime quarters.



The Arahant paid homage to him, performed his respectful duties and sat at his side. Friend, what brought you here at this unusual hour? the Elder asked.

Venerable Sir, I have come to ask a question. Ask friend, if I know I shall reply, the Elder said. A thousand questions were asked.



All thousand of them were answered without a pause. The Elder was told his knowledge indeed was sharp and was questioned as to when this particular state was attained by him. Sixty years ago, friend he replied. Do you practise concentration, Venerable Sir? That is not difficult, friend, he said.



Then, Venerable Sir, do create an elephant, and a white elephant was created by the elder. Now sir, make him come towards you quickly. He made it thunder towards him trumpeting aloud, ears outstretched, tail straightened and the trunk buried in its mouth. At the horrific sight of the enraged beast rushing towards him, the Elder sprang to his feet in order to flee. The Arahant held him by the corner of his robe, Venerable Sir, are Arahants ever frightened? he said.



Awakened to reality the Elder knelt at the Arahants feet pleading Dhammadinna, please come to my rescue Venerable Sir, entertain no doubts whatsoever I came here exactly for that purpose, replied the Arahant and gave him a meditation topic. Having taken the meditation topic the Elder went up to the walk and reached Arahantship on the third footstep. Visuddhimagga concludes the episode with the observation that Elder Mahanaga was one of those subject to hate temperament with a tendency to be overwhelmed by the element of light.



To the noble bhikkhu who has comprehended the stark nature of life, the inherent insecurity of human existence and the need to abide by a meticulous regimen of virtue (Sila) to fulfil his lifetime ambition, even the prospect of death is of no concern at all. Violation of site entails far greater consequences than mere termination of life. The case of Ambakathaka Tissa of Ciragubha is in point.



Embarked on a long journey during a period of famine he failed to receive his midday meal from a single household. Exhausted, he sat down in the shade of a mango tree with ripe fruits lying around. He wouldnt eat them since there was none to offer them to him. Partaking of food unoffered is a prohibition imposed upon a Buddhist monk.



A passerby who saw the prostrate monk went up to him and squeezed a mango into his mouth, to no avail. He then took the limp body onto his shoulder and proceeded to his village. Midway through, the monk came to and advised himself This man is no father, mother or brother of yours, nor is he your relative. He does this entirely on account of your untrammelled Sila. Augmenting insight meditation in quick succession he attained Arahantship still on the strangers back. Lankas ancient history abounds with such fascinating accounts.



Elder Sangharakkhitha the Great, past sixty years of age was lying in his death-bed. When monks queried about his supramundane state, he replied: I have no supramundane state. The child bhikkhu attending on him said: Venerable Sir, people have gathered up to a twelve yoththa assuming you have passed into parinirvana and they would be disappointed to hear you have died in the ordinary state. The Elder replied Friends, wanting to see Metteya Buddha I didnt develop insight. Lend me a hand to set myself up, then.



Just as the child monk who helped him to it up was moving away, the Elder reached the zenithal state and gave a signal by snapping his fingers. The assembled Bhikkhus said to him Venerable Sir, you have performed a difficult a task by achieving the supramundane state in the hour of death.



That wasnt difficult friends, I will tell you what is difficult. From the day of going forth, I do not recollect an instance where I did anything unknowingly and without the presence of mind. His nephew to pass away at fifty years of age in the same manner.



In need necessarily be said that it is the sacred duty of the Bhikkhu Order today to establish a Supreme Sangha Council invested with wide-ranging powers to safeguard the great religion that has inspired the human spirit for centuries against the insidious attacks presently being directed at it from within and without.A female Chinese national was killed when she is reported to have fallen from a tourist hotel at Magastota in Nuwara Eliya this morning.

Police said the woman died after falling from the balcony of the hotels third floor.

The Nuwara Eliya Police are investigating the incident. (Text and pics by Shelton Hettiarachchi)Anger is a cause of harm. Anger stirs up mental turmoil

Anger gradually obliterates both mental and physical energy

Anger is a negative and destructive emotion which has caused much misery in our lives and also around the globe.



Anger is an unwholesome mental disposition that exasperates untamed mind. It takes us to dark and complexity.



However, anger can get out of control and become destructive and problematic.



So why do we get angry? People get angry when their expectations are not met - whether those expectations are about the future, about themselves, or about others.

When our expectations are unmet, we revert to illusions of control, Unrealistically expecting all people to behave and all situations to turn out as we think they should.

Anger over these unmet expectations often leads us to blame others and shift aggression towards them.



Some eminent scholars and professionals who are in the domain of psychology explain that there are several sources of anger: physiological, cognitive, and behavioural.



Physiological anger is natural anger.



In certain threatening situations, for instance, when we are attacked physically, our bodies respond by making us physically angry. Cognitive sources of anger are based on how we perceive things. These perceptions may be accurate...a situation may, indeed, be threatening, or they may not be.



Sometimes we will perceive a threat, even though the external situation is not actually as dangerous as we think it is.



In other words, there may be no real reason for anger, but our personal biases and emotions take over, leading to aggression. Finally, behavioural sources of anger come from the environment we create for ourselves. Chronically angry people create an atmosphere in which others become aggressive in return, creating a cycle of anger.



It is amazing that most scholars and educated people especially those who are in the domain of psychology endeavour to find avenues and solutions to help individuals who deeply suffer themselves from ANGER.



The Great Master, the Buddha said:



Anger is a cause of harm. Anger stirs up mental turmoil. People do not recognize the peril that has arisen from within

Those who are constantly dwelling with anger not only destroy themselves but also hurt and harm others



The angry person does not know the good. The angry person does not see the Dhamma There is just blindness and dense gloom when anger overcomes a person

In Buddhism, anger is not approved and accepted as positive.



Anger is impure, noxious, unhealthy, harmful and dangerous emotion and temperament. The Buddha has always taught and encouraged people not to associate with and harbour any thought of anger at all.



Those who are constantly dwelling with anger not only destroy themselves but also hurt and harm others. Anger is the most atrocious defilement and despicable virulent thought. Anger gradually obliterates both mental and physical energy and leads to various afflictions and disorders.



Unfortunately, those who are ignited and inflamed with anger never understand the negative consequences and repercussions which they will ultimately face here and hereafter.



Be very conscious, careful and mindful of the toxic thoughts which you associate with. May the intellectuals find their education helpful when dealing with anger and underlying disposition. Most people tend to ignore the detrimental gravity of their anger.



Monks, what is the person whose mind is like an open sore? Here, some person is prone to anger and easily exasperated. Even if he is criticized slightly he loses his temper and becomes irritated, hostile, and stubborn; he displays and discloses irritation, hatred, and bitterness. Just as a festering sore, if struck by a stick or a shard, will discharge even more matter, so too some person here is prone to angerand displays irritation, hatred, and bitterness. This person is said to have a mind like an open sore. (The Buddha  AN)



The wise person should eradicate this unwholesome quality.



In such a way one should train in the Dhamma: do not yield to recalcitrance.



Free from anger, their misery is gone,



Free from delusion, no longer avid, tamed, having abandoned anger,



The taintless ones attain Nibbana.



(The Buddha  AN)



Bhikkhus, there are these five ways of removing resentment by which a bhikkhu should entirely remove resentment when it has arisen toward anyone. What five?



1. One should develop loving-kindness for the person one resents; in this way, one should remove the resentment toward that person.



2. One should develop compassion for the person one resents; in this way, one should remove the resentment toward that person.



3. One should develop equanimity toward the person one resents; in this way, one should remove the resentment toward that person.



4. One should disregard the person one resents and pay no attention to him; in this way, one should remove the resentment toward that person.



5. One should apply the idea of the ownership of kamma to the person one resents, thus: This venerable one is the owner of his kamma, the heir of his kamma; he has kamma as his origin, kamma as his relative, kamma as his resort; he will be the heir of any kamma he does, good or bad;



In this way, one should remove the resentment toward that person. These are the five ways of removing resentment by which a bhikkhu should entirely remove resentment when it has arisen toward anyone. (The Buddha  AN)



The great master, the Buddha has kindly taught us the danger of anger and resentment. Even though they listen to hundreds of sermons and associate with many gurus most of them are incapable to manage their anger and people have created disastrous and unfathomable situations in our human society.



Unfortunately, they do not know the danger of retributions of their hared acts. Whether they believe it or not, no one can escape from the result of the Karma. It is inescapable and unavoidable.Former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa did not deserve more protection, Minister Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka said yesterday.

Speaking to the media during a visit at Nandimitragama in Vavuniya, the Field Marshal said that the security detail of former Defence Secretary was higher than what was given to him.

I have been given 17 Police personnel. But Gotabaya has enough protection. As far I know the former Defence Secretary has 25 security personnel from the Army, Special Forces and Commandos.

I have seen during a demonstration that he had the protection of the STF. I am not aware of the fact that Police protection was given after the military protection was withdrawn. But, he is well protected, Field Marshall Fonseka said.

He said he was cordoned off by 500 military personnel during the war.

But it is not necessary now because of the situation in the country. Former Defence Secretary is a normal citizen. He is not holding any responsibility for the government or for the people. He is not legally entitled to Presidential and Prime Minister or even a Ministerial protection.

As far as I know, no secretary was given a protection once he retired, he said.

Field Marshal Fonseka said that there were so many people in this country who had death threats and the countrys money would not enough if all of them were given bulletproof vehicles.

If he was scared for his life, he can leave the country because he has a US citizenship, Fonseka said. (Romesh Madushanka)President Maithripala Sirisena will address the Nelson Mandela International Peace Seminar at the United Nations Centre in New York today (24) on an invitation extended to him to deliver a speech at this occasion organised by the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.

More than 50 world leaders participating at this seminar will focus their attention on secure of Human Rights, Rule of Law and strategies leading to the elevation of poverty, according to the UN sources.

President Maithripala Sirisena is due to address the seminar at 10.00am New York time today.

A joint declaration is also will be issued at the conclusion of this seminar being held in parallel to 23rd State Leaders Summit of UN, a spokesman said. (Ranjith Ananda Jayasinghe)The Maldives has started to vote in a heavily-criticised election that will be closely watched by India and China.

The Indian Ocean archipelago is best-known overseas for its clear waters and high-end resorts but its government stands accused of crushing dissent.

President Abdulla Yameen has embraced China, while his opponent, Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, is seen as leaning towards India and the West.

The European Union and US have voiced concerns about the election.

Both have threatened to impose targeted sanctions if the democratic situation does not improve.

Police raided opposition headquarters on the eve of the vote, according to local reports.

Polls opened at 08:00 (03:00 GMT) on Sunday.

The Maldives is made up of 26 coral atolls and 1,192 islands, and tourism is a vital part of its economy. More than 400,000 people live there but its future hangs in the balance due to climate change. (BBC)MEDIA  After gathering public comment about what the public would like to see included in a study of health systems in Delaware County, county officials are on track to hire a firm to conduct such an evaluation.

In April, Delaware County Council voted unanimously to conduct a study of the countys health needs following the release of two larger studies with conflicting information. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation ranked Delaware County 12th out of 67 Pennsylvania counties for health factors but 49th for health outcomes. In addition, an Aetna Foundation evaluation ranked the county as one of the top 500 healthiest in the United States.

As a way to get its own clearer understanding and to look at what services are available and where there are gaps, county officials agreed to do their own study.

As part of that, a committee headed by county Executive Director Marianne Grace was formed to create the parameters for this study. On Wednesday, she explained that the county solicited public comment for 45 days on its website and that ended around Aug. 6.

There were a number of comments on health issues, suicide issues, certainly the opioid issues, environmental issues, Grace said.

Additional comments includes issues around trauma, access to care for a variety of reasons from a persons ability to communicate to proximity of services. Grace said the League of Women Voters of Delaware County asked about the viability of a health department.

Some public requests were outside the scope of this study, such as an analysis of bicycle lanes or measuring happiness.

I think so many things do add to health but I think we are trying to focus into more conventional health, Grace said.

The executive director said the suggestions are being incorporated into what county officials will be asking a provider to study.

Were asking for a lot, Grace said, explaining the county wants a spectrum of services from mental illness to opioids to environmental issues evaluated. And, were really asking them to look at the structure.

Grace was hopeful that council would be able to authorize a bid to publish a request for proposals at the Oct. 3 meeting for firms who would be interested in doing this work.

I anticipate that well get several responses, she said.

Overall, whomever submits a proposal, the job before them to look at what the countys health needs are and how they are being delivered is no small task.

Were asking them to consider what we currently have, how services are currently being delivered (and) what is the best model for service delivery, Grace said.UPPER DARBY  In a township of 85,000 residents, there is bound to be some fraction of national and cultural identity for the very diverse population of Upper Darby.

To capitalize on that, the township hosted its second annual Upper Darby International Festival on 69th Street Saturday afternoon, bringing together cultural representations from around the globe through the arts, food and more to highlight its diversity.

A dozen representations of cultures from Haiti to Bangladesh filled the street with their own sights, sounds and smells for thousands of people who stopped by for the hours-long festival. A nibble of African cuisine could be enjoyed during a performance of the Little Mulan Dance Troupe on the main stage in front of the Tower Theater. The Philadelphia Sikh Society returned to the festival to do complimentary turban wrappings for the public and men and women alike from all backgrounds got in line to enjoy a colorful wrap.

Other acts and vendors included The Whiskey Trail Band, the Upper Darby Multicultural Commission, the Pegasus Dancers from St. Demetrios Church and the Soormay Bhangra Dance Group.

The festival was capped off with the parade of nations as evening settled in.

This years festival was coordinated by Upper Darby Mayor Tom Micozzie, Upper Darby Council and the Upper Darby Multicultural Commission with the help of a number of organizations including the 69th Street Business Association and a committee of two dozen township officials and community members.

Upper Darby is one of the largest municipalities in the state by population and one of the most eclectic where dozens of native tongues are spoken at home by families from around the world.By Peter S. Green

21 September 2018

(CBS News)  A year after Hurricane Maria swept across Puerto Rico, leaving some 2,975 people dead and knocking the economy on its back, it is becoming increasingly clear that the U.S. territory may never fully recover from the storm.Puerto Rico was already insolvent before the 2017 storm, with creditors and the islands government deep in negotiations about how to jumpstart the economy or strip it bare to pay off $70 billion owed to bondholders. And the islands government owes another $50 billion it doesnt have to cover current and future pensions. Even before Maria, half a million people had left Puerto Rico and its economy had been steadily shrinking since 2005. After the hurricane, theres even less to work with.While power and water have finally been restored to more than 99 percent of the islands remaining 3.2 million residents, the economy is moribund. Economic output is projected to fall 13.3 percent this year, manufacturing jobs are drying up, tax receipts are down, small businesses are shuttering, and the reconstruction boom that follows many natural disasters is stymied by the slow pace of federal aid and the fact that most Puerto Ricans had little savings or insurance before the storm. Only 15 percent had homeowners insurance, and only 1 in 3 residents has a bank account.I am not hugely optimistic, says Brad Setser, an economist at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, who has written extensively on Puerto Rico. The challenge for the island is whether it can harness the growth that comes with an expected $9 billion in recovery spending in 2018 and 2019. If Puerto Rico doesnt experience strong growth in fiscal 2019, it never will, said Setser.Puerto Ricos governor, Ricardo Rossello, blames what he calls the islands status as a colony of the united States. He wrote to President Trump this week urging the U.S. to make Puerto Rico the 51st state. The biggest impediment for Puerto Ricos full and prosperous recovery: the inequalities Puerto Rico faces as the oldest, most populous colony in the world, Rossello wrote.Granting statehood, however, would be a multi-year process facing daunting political odds. In the meantime, Puerto Ricos economy is in a tailspin.By Chris Heide

24 August 2018

(Second Nexus)  A USA TODAY report has determined that the United States has become the most dangerous place to give birth in the developed world.More than 700 women in the United States die from complications directly related to childbirth each year. In addition, more than 50,000 American women are severely injured as a result of childbirth on an annual basis. The report indicates that these injuries and deaths are the direct result of hospitals not following long-standard medical procedure.The study, which lasted four years, indicates that the United States now has the highest maternal death rate anywhere in the developed world. This is in stark contrast to many other developing nations, which are experiencing all-time low rates in maternal deaths. [This finding corroborates earlier studies by CDC and NPR/ProPublica. Des]Many of the long-standing medical procedures are fairly simple. They include monitoring risks for hemorrhage, to administering appropriate medications to control hypertension. In essence, American maternity care has become too lax. The result is the increase in maternal mortality- something that could be easily minimized. Also, it was noted that African American women suffer maternal deaths at an even higher rate than Caucasian women.Countries around the world have reduced maternal deaths and injuries by aggressively monitoring care and learning from mistakes, USA Today reported. The result has been two decades of steady or reduced maternal harms in the rest of the developed world  as US rates climbed  Women are left to bleed until their organs shut down. Their high blood pressure goes untreated until they suffer strokes. They die of preventable blood clots and untreated infections. Survivors can be left paralyzed or unable to have more children.Experts say that about 50 percent of the deaths of women from childbirth-related causes could be prevented if they were given better medical care and thats a really surprising thing given that were one of the wealthiest countries in the world and we spend so much on medical care. Were not just talking about the women who die, were talking about 50,000 U.S. women who are suffering life-altering harms, USA Today investigative reporter Alison Young told CBS This Morning on Thursday.Why exactly are hospitals so lackadaisical with standard medical procedure? Dr. Steven Clark, a professor at Baylor College of Medicine, asserts that this kind of professional behavior has become standard practice.Our medicine is run by cowboys today, where everyone is riding the range doing whatever theyre wanting to do. Its a failure at all levels, at national organization levels and at the local hospital leadership levels as well, he says. [more]

STUDY: The United States Has the Highest Maternal Death Rate In the Developed World

The Editorial Board

31 July 2018

(USA TODAY)  YoLanda Mention, who had just given birth to a baby girl at one of South Carolinas top hospitals, should probably be alive today  certainly in a country with the worlds most advanced health care system.

But the 38-year-old wife and mother was sent home from the hospital in March 2015 with dangerously high blood pressure. That same night, she and her husband, Marco, returned to the ER.Though her blood pressure had climbed and she had an excruciating headache, she sat in the waiting room for hours, according to a lawsuit filed by her husband. By the time she was ushered into an exam room, she suffered a stroke. She died a few days later, leaving the couples three girls motherless.The right treatment at the right time  IV medication that costs less than $60 a dose  could well have saved her. Despite politicians claims that America has the best health care of any country, similar tragedies occur repeatedly across the United States, which today is the most dangerous place in the developed world to give birth.You read that correctly. About 700 mothers in America die each year in childbirth, many of them needlessly  a maternal death rate far higher than that of other developed nations, including Canada, France, Germany, Japan and the United Kingdom. And 50,000 mothers are severely injured each year in childbirth, USA TODAY found in an investigation published last week.About half of these deaths could be prevented, and half the injuries reduced or eliminated, through simple changes in care that doctors, hospitals and medical experts have known about for years. Yet too many hospitals and medical workers skip safety practices known to head off disaster, USA TODAYs Alison Young wrote. [more]

High maternal death rate shames America among developed nations

By Alison Young

27 July 2018

(USA TODAY)  Every year, thousands of women suffer life-altering injuries or die during childbirth because hospitals and medical workers skip safety practices known to head off disaster, a USA TODAY investigation has found.Doctors and nurses should be weighing bloody pads to track blood loss so they recognize the danger sooner. They should be giving medication within an hour of spotting dangerously high blood pressure to fend off strokes.These are not complicated procedures requiring expensive technology. They are among basic tasks that experts have recommended for years because they can save mothers lives.Yet hospitals, doctors and nurses across the country continue to ignore them, USA TODAY found.As a result, women are left to bleed until their organs shut down. Their high blood pressure goes untreated until they suffer strokes. They die of preventable blood clots and untreated infections. Survivors can be left paralyzed or unable to have more children.The vast majority of women in America give birth without incident. But each year, more than 50,000 are severely injured. About 700 mothers die. The best estimates say that half of these deaths could be prevented and half the injuries reduced or eliminated with better care.Instead, the U.S. continues to watch other countries improve as it falls behind. Today, this is the most dangerous place in the developed world to give birth.Identifying every hospital that doesnt provide recommended care is next to impossible. There is no national tracking system for childbirth complications. Mothers tell harrowing tales of survival, but they often have no idea whether their doctors and nurses did something wrong.USA TODAY obtained more than a half-million pages of internal hospital quality records and examined the cases of more than 150 women whose deliveries went terribly wrong. Reporters contacted 75 birthing hospitals to track whether they follow recommended procedures.Together, these documents and interviews reveal a stunning lack of attention to safety recommendations and widespread failure to protect new mothers.At dozens of hospitals in New York, Pennsylvania and the Carolinas  where USA TODAY obtained records through federally funded quality programs  fewer than half of maternity patients were promptly treated for dangerous blood pressure that put them at risk of stroke. At some of those hospitals, less than 15 percent of mothers in peril got recommended treatments, the records show.Many hospitals across the country conceded in interviews with USA TODAY that they were not taking safety steps such as quantifying womens blood loss or tracking whether moms with dangerously high blood pressure got proper medication in time.The lack of attention happens at hospitals big and small, from tiny community delivery units to major birthing centers that tout state-of-the art technology and training. It also happens in doctors offices when they miss or fail to act on signs of serious complications during pregnancy and after delivery.In Ohio, Ali Lowry bled internally after giving birth in 2013, but medical staff didnt recognize and act on the warning signs for hours, according to records in a lawsuit that she has since settled. By the time she was airlifted to another hospital for lifesaving surgery, her delivery hospital had nearly run out of blood and Alis heart had stopped.In Texas, Beatriz Garcia nearly bled to death when doctors and nurses were slow to help her after not quantifying her blood loss, she alleged in federal and state lawsuits. Garcias heart stopped. She needed a hysterectomy. Shes now awaiting a kidney transplant.And in South Carolina, one of the states top hospitals sent YoLanda Mention home with her newborn despite her dangerously high blood pressure. When she returned to the emergency room with even higher blood pressure and an excruciating headache, the staff made her sit for hours in the waiting room, according to a lawsuit filed by her husband. She had a stroke while waiting, and later died.Today, YoLandas husband, Marco, is raising their three daughters alone in rural Nesmith. He balances work as a school bus driver with all the demands of raising kids on his own  cooking the meals, cleaning and getting three girls to schools and day care.He spends his evenings leading his church choir and reminding his girls about a mother who the youngest knows as a picture in a curio cabinet.The girls, they ask when shes coming home and I dont know what to tell them, Mention said, wiping tears. It seems like a nightmare and I just need to wake up. [more]

Hospitals know how to protect mothers. They just arent doing it.

14 November 2017 (CDC)  Women in the United States are more likely to die from childbirth or pregnancy-related causes than other women in high-income countries. More evidence is needed to understand the actual causes of death better, but research suggests that half of these deaths may be preventable. Racial disparities persist. The risk of pregnancy-related deaths for black women is three to four times higher than those of white women.

Watch this session of Grand Rounds to learn about efforts to analyze and prevent future deaths. Hear our speakers discuss the effects maternal deaths have on the family and on the community. You will also learn about how CDC has collaborated and intervened through public-private partnership efforts to prevent deaths associated with childbirth and pregnancy.

Meeting the Challenges of Measuring and Preventing Maternal Mortality in the United StatesPresident of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam Tran Dai Quang (Source: VNA)

On behalf of the Lao Peoples Revolutionary Party (LPRP) Central Committee, the National Assembly and Government of Laos and the Lao Front for National Construction, Party General Secretary and President Bounnhang Volachit on September 21st cabled a message of condolences to the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee, the National Assembly and Government of Vietnam, and the Vietnam Fatherland Front Central Committee, in which he expressed his deep condolences over the death of State President Quang.We highly appreciated contributions made by President Tran Dai Quang to the protection, construction and development of Vietnam, especially in the fields of security and social order. He significantly contributed to the friendship, special solidarity and comprehensive cooperation between Vietnam and Laos in the past time, the message read.The Lao leader stressed that President Quangs death is a huge loss to both the Vietnamese and Lao Parties, States and peoples.Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen, in his condolences addressed to Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, calling President Tran Dai Quang a great and admirable leader of the Vietnamese people, and a great friend of Cambodia. He offered his deepest sympathy to the Vietnamese Government and people for this loss.The same day, General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and President of China Xi Jinping extended condolences to Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong. He wrote, We are shocked to hear that comrade Tran Dai Quang, President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, has passed away. On behalf of the CPC, the Chinese government and people, as well as in my own name, I extend the deepest condolences to you and to the CPV and the government and people of Viet Nam through you.

"We are deeply saddened by his passing away," Xi added.



Comrade Tran Dai Quang was an outstanding party and state leader of Vietnam, and made great contributions to the development, renovation and opening-up of Vietnam, Xinhua News Agency quoted the Chinese president as saying.



As a close comrade and friend of the Chinese people, Quang committed himself to inheriting and carrying forward the China-Vietnam traditional friendship and actively promoted the comprehensive strategic partnership of cooperation between the two countries, Xi noted.



Also, he expressed his belief that under the strong leadership of the General Secretary, the CPV, the Vietnamese government and people will transfer their grief into strength and constantly make new achievements in the cause of socialist construction.



The Chinese president also extended his deepest condolences to the family of President Quang.



The Kremlin Press Office of Russia announced on September 21st that Russian President Vladimir Putin had sent condolences to the Vietnamese people, family and friends of Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang.



Putin said President Tran Dai Quang, as the head of State as well as in many other positions, always deserves the respect of the Vietnamese people and international friends.



President Tran Dai Quang has fulfilled his task of strengthening national security and protecting the interests of Viet Nam around the globe, he added.



The Russian leader praised the contributions made by the Vietnamese President to strengthening the Comprehensive Partnership between Viet Nam and Russia, as well as the bilateral cooperation for mutual benefits in many areas.



On the same day, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev also sent his condolences to Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc.



The Russian Ambassador to Vietnam Konstantin Vnukov conveyed his condolences to Vietnam. The Russian Embassy's Twitter page wrote "We are deeply sad to hear about the passing of the President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam Tran Dai Quang."



On the afternoon of September 21st, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe also sent sympathy message to the Government and people of Vietnam and the family of President Tran Dai Quang, saying that he was very shocked and deeply saddened to receive the news that President Tran Dai Quang has just passed away.



He recalled that President Tran Dai Quang warmly welcomed the Japanese Emperor and Empress during their State visit to Viet Nam in the last spring, and made a State visit to Japan from the end of May to the beginning of June this year, on the occasion of the 45th anniversary of the Vietnam-Japan diplomatic ties.



President Quang devoted his utmost to the friendship between the two countries, PM Abe wrote.



The Japanese PM affirmed that Japan and Vietnam, as strategic partners, are deeply saddened by the death of President Tran Dai Quang, who, with his leadership, built the close cooperation across fields between the two countries



On the same day, Japanese Foreign Minister Kono Taro extended a message of condolences on the Vietnamese President's death, which said President Tran Dai Quang not only led Vietnam in the national socio-economic development but also contributed to improving Vietnams position in the region and the world.

U.S. President Donald Trump has expressed condolences to the Vietnamese people at the death of the president. In a statement, Trump called Quang a great friend of the United States and noted that Quang had graciously hosted the U.S. president during his state visit to Vietnam in November 2017. I am grateful for his personal commitment to deepening the United States-Vietnam Comprehensive Partnership, Trump said Friday. He added, We will not soon forget his contributions to peace, security and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region or his voice for Vietnam as a proud and independent nation on the world stage./.Delegates at the event (Photo: VNA)

Mr. Szatmary Kristof, stressed that relations between Vietnam and Hungary have been boosted and the parliamentary cooperation between the countries has been strengthened through regular exchanges of delegations between their parliamentary committees and friendship parliamentarians groups.

He highly appreciated the Vietnamese community in Hungary, especially their solidarity and law obedience, as well as their practical contributions to the host country, and added that the community is small but has a high position compared to the common ground of the Hungarian people in many fields.

Mr. Hau A Lenh affirmed that the visit by the high-ranking delegation of the VFF Central Committee this time will further contribute to Vietnam-Hungary relations in the coming time.

He stressed that Vietnam always attaches much importance to the traditional friendship and multifaceted cooperation with East Central European countries, including Hungary.

He hoped that Hungary will invest more in Vietnam, especially in the fields of health, wastewater management, information technology, medicine and food safety. At the same time, he asked Hungary to continue to create favourable conditions for the Vietnamese community in the country, thereby contributing to consolidating the friendship between the two countries.

Previously, the Vietnamese official visited the Vietnamese community doing business at the Thang Long Centre in Budapest./.Local people enjoy Vietnam's coffee at an international trade fair (Photo: baoquocte.vn)

At the 54th edition of the Maputo International Fair (FACIM 2018), organized from August 27th to September 2nd, apart from agricultural products of tea, coffee and rice attracting great attention from the local people, Vietnam also displayed interior furniture, including kitchen cupboards and equipment under the European standard.

At the Agriculture International Fair organized in Madagascar, considered the largest international fair of the country, held from September 13th to 16th in the capital Antananarivo, Vietnams kiosk also displayed diversified products.

Local people are particularly interested in Vietnam's export products, which are at the top of the world such as rice, coffee, confectionery and consumer goods, which have high competition in quality, price, design in the region.

At the fairs, many local businesses are interested in learning about Vietnams agencies to promote activities of export-import cooperation and sharing experience in production and processing agricultural products and consumer goods.

Representatives of the Vietnamese Embassy,  Honorary Consulate Office and Vietnamese businesses have provided useful information for businesses and people in Mozambique and Madagascar, especially about the processes of production, packaging, quality management, hygiene and safety for agricultural products and consumer goods of Vietnam, as well as introduced regulations and procedures so that businesses can conduct import and export activities conveniently and safely.

On this occasion, people and students in Madagascar also have an opportunity to learn about the land, people and culture of Vietnam through communication, cultural and tourism exchange activities conducted by the Vietnamese Embassy, the Honorary Consulate Office with the support the local French Language Culture Centre.

The international fairs are considered to be very successful, attracting the participation of many ministries, sectors and local people, as well as many enterprises from inside and outside the region. The organizers highly appreciated the participation of Vietnam with many typical products and diversified cultural promotion activities, that helped the local people better understand the country of Vietnam./.Russia blamed Israel for downing of the military plane

The Russian Defense Ministry today again blamed Israel for the downing of a Russian plane.

Russias Defense Ministry published on Sunday detailed information on circumstances behind the downing of the Russian Ilyushin Il-20 military plane off Syria on September 17.

RUSSIA BLAMED ISRAEL

The Russian Defense Ministry on Sunday presented its latest findings on the Il-20's downing, laying the blame squarely on Israel. "We believe that the Israeli Air Force and those who were making decisions about these actions are fully to blame for the tragedy that happened to the Russian Il-20 plane." Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said in a statement.

For several years, Israel and Russia have maintained a special hotline to prevent their air forces from clashing in the skies over Syria.

"UNGRATEFUL RESPONSE"

Konashenkov said an Israeli fighter jet flying over Syria's Mediterranean coast shortly before the downing deliberately used the Russian plane as a shield, reflecting "either lack of professionalism or criminal negligence."

He also complained that the Israelis over the years have waited until the last minute to notify Russia of their operations, endangering Russian aircraft. He described Israel's actions as "a highly ungrateful response to everything that Russia has done for the State of Israel recently."

Russia has provided key air support to President Bashar Assad's forces since 2015, while Israel has carried out dozens of strikes against Iran-linked forces. Israeli military officials have previously praised the hotline's effectiveness.Terror is biggest problem for Syria's future: Erdogan

President Erdogan said no country has been more affected by Syrian civil war than Turkey.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan holds a press conference at Ataturk International Airport before leaving for New York ahead of the 73rd session of UN General Assembly on Today.

BIGGEST PROBLEM FOR SYRIA

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday said a "terror swamp" east of the Euphrates river remains the "biggest problem" for Syria in the future.

"Currently the biggest problem for the future of Syria is the terror swamp, expanding under the auspices of some of our allies, east of the Euphrates," Erdogan said in a news conference ahead of his visit to New York for the UN General Assembly.

Underscoring that no country has been more affected by the Syrian civil war than Turkey, he said he would draw attention to the humanitarian crises in his speech at the General Assembly.

Regarding a possible meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump, Erdogan said it was currently not on the table but that he would consider it if it was requested by Washington.

Erdogan also conveyed his condolences to the people and government of Iran following the armed attack in southwestern Iran, which killed at least 25 people and injured more than 60 others.

"With such incidents, the sensitivities in the region grow," Erdogan added.



People pose for photos under an archway made of various harvested crops in a tourist spot in Handan, north China's Hebei Province, Sept. 22, 2018. China will mark its first Farmers' Harvest Festival on Sept. 23 this year. From 2018 on, the festival, to be celebrated on the Autumnal Equinox each year, is set to be observed annually to greet the harvest season and honour the agricultural workers. (Xinhua/Hao Qunying)

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[ Editor: zyq ]Zhou Xiaolin (L) and Zhou Biao shows harvested middle-season rice in Liutian Village of Xinjian District in Nanchang, east China's Jiangxi Province, Sept. 21, 2018. When every harvest season for middle-season rice begins in September, Zhou Xiaolin, a rice grower, and his son Zhou Biao will always offer help to other farmers with the harvest, because few families nearby own multiple farm machineries that suffice the workload. Born in Liutian Village, Zhou Xiaolin used to be a carpenter away from home. In 2005, he returned home to take on rice growing. Two years later, Zhou Xiaolin and Zhou Biao expanded the scale of their rice growing by contracting to take over the village's uncultivated croplands. To meet the increasing production demand, Zhou bought the first farm machine in the village. Currently, Zhou Xiaolin and Zhou Biao have nearly 50 hectares of farmland under cultivation in the village. Altogether they own two combine harvesters, two rice transplanters and a tractor, which have made production even more efficient. An increasing number of rice growers nearby have started to use Zhou Xiaolin's machines and services for a reasonable price. "We benefit from various government subsidies," says Zhou Biao, who has already worked with his father for eight years. "As a rice grower, you will feel the joy of harvest as long as you stick to it." (Xinhua/Peng Zhaozhi)

20

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[ Editor: zyq ]Director of the Vietnam Peoples Army (VPA)s General Department of Politics Sen. Lieut. Gen. Luong Cuong made the statement while being received by Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Hun Sen and Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister General Tea Banh in Phnom Penh on September 21.

He said the Vietnamese Party, State and army always remember and appreciate the support and assistance Cambodia has given to Vietnam.

He expressed his wish that PM Hun Sen and Minister Tea Banh continue to foster the conditions for the two defence ministries in general and the VPA General Department of Politics and the Cambodian Defence Ministrys General Department for Defence Services in particular to realise their cooperation contents.

He asked for the Cambodian sides help to speed up the search for and repatriation of remains of Vietnamese volunteer soldiers and experts who died in Cambodia during past wars.

PM Hun Sen and Minister Tea Banh sent their deepest condolences to the Vietnamese Party and Government leaders and people over the death of President Tran Dai Quang.

The Cambodian PM said that his country always attaches great importance to preserving and deepening the traditional friendship and comprehensive cooperation with Vietnam for the benefits of the two countries peoples, and for peace, stability and development in each country.

Earlier, on September 20, Sen. Lieut. Gen. Cuong and General Neang Phat, Secretary of State at the Cambodian Defence Ministry, held talks.

Sen. Lieut. Gen. Cuong said Vietnamese and Cambodian militaries should enhance cooperation in information exchange and popularisation to ensure that people living in the border areas understand and abide by border management regulations in order to build a shared border of peace, friendship, stability and sustainable development.

He affirmed that Vietnam and Cambodia have enjoyed traditional friendship, solidarity, mutual trust, and comprehensive cooperation. The Vietnamese Party, State, military, and people always attach importance to consolidating their relations, seeing it as an invaluable asset of both peoples.

Neang Phat, for his part, thanked the Vietnamese Government, army and people for helping Cambodia during its national construction and development in general and the royal military in particular.

Both sides informed each other of the economic development, politics, defence and security in each nation and discussed issues of common concern.

They agreed that the defence collaboration has been carried out in a positive and effective manner, in line with the yearly cooperation protocol and plan. This is also an important pillar of their bilateral relations, they said.

Regarding the cooperation between the VPA General Department of Politics and Cambodias General Department of Defence Services and other relevant agencies, the two officials said that they should work to bolster mutual understanding, friendship and comprehensive cooperation between the two nations.

The two militaries should join hands to assure stability and development in each country, and defeat all plots by hostile forces to harm the Vietnam-Cambodia friendship and solidarity.

Delegation exchanges, experience sharing and training for officers should receive due attention. Both sides should enhance cooperation in the search for and repatriation of the remains of Vietnamese volunteer soldiers and experts who laid down their lives during past wars in Cambodia.Bill Cosby, who was found guilty of sexual assault in April after a jury heard allegations from Andrea Constand, faced a judge Monday as his sentencing hearing got underway.

The 81-year-old comedian is set to learn this week whether he gets prison time, probation or house arrest.

On Monday, Montgomery County Judge Steven T. O'Neill said he was merging all of Cosby's counts into one. (The state sentencing guidelines are 22 to 36 months total confinement plus or minus 12 months on the combined charge.)

Cosby previously was facing up to 30 years in prison, as the three charges on which he was convicted carry up to 10 years in prison each, but both sides agreed to merge them together for sentencing because they stemmed from the same encounter.

District Attorney Kevin Steele has asked O'Neill to sentence Cosby to five to ten years in state prison. Meanwhile, Cosby's defense attorney Joseph Green said, "Incarceration would impose excessive hardship," adding: "What does an 81-year-old man do in prison?"

Sentencing is expected to last two days.

As previously reported, Cosby was found guilty on three counts of felony aggravated indecent assault for drugging and molesting Constand, 45, at his suburban Philadelphia home in 2004. The guilty verdict brought an end to a long-running downward spiral for Cosby, who was accused by dozens of women of similar crimes after public interest in his rape allegations was renewed. Constands allegations were in line with others, but hers were unique in that the statute of limitations on the crime had not yet expired.

His trial was heralded as the first major celebrity trial of the #MeToo era. As a result, theres massive public attention being paid to the outcome with those coming out against Cosby wondering if the court will give him a pass in terms of punishment given his fame.

"I really think it's important that he spend some time behind bars," said Lise-Lotte Lublin, who said Cosby assaulted her when she was 23 in 1989. The then-model said Cosby prodded her to take two drinks to relax. "At some point, he should acknowledge what he's done, and do the time for the crime."

Another Cosby accuser, Chelan Lasha, previously said he "deserves every year" of his sentence.

Once called "Americas Dad," Cosbys reputation sank after comedian Hannibal Buress brought up the numerous rape allegations against the comic in 2014. Since then, more than 60 women have come forward with allegations against him.

Cosby and his legal team have shown that they want to mitigate the amount of damage being done to his reputation, starting with the classification of him as a "sexually violent predator."

Pennsylvania's sex-offender board had examined Cosby and recommended he be deemed a predator, concluding that he has a mental defect or personality disorder that makes him prone to criminal behavior.

Kristen Dudley, a Pennsylvania state board psychologist, testified that Cosby had an uncontrollable urge to violate young women and would probably commit another offense if given the chance. Dudley added that Cosby's assault of Andrea Constand fit a long pattern of predatory behavior by the former "Cosby Show" star.

Cosby often befriended women, then betrayed their trust by sedating them with drugs or alcohol and violating them for the "sole purpose of his sexual gratification," Dudley testified.

Trying to avoid the predator designation for their client, Cosby's lawyers argued that the state law itself is unconstitutional. Lawmakers in Pennsylvania and elsewhere have rewritten their sex-offender reporting laws after courts found them vague and unfairly punitive.

Prosecutors told the judge that the law is necessary for public safety, and the judge allowed the hearing on Cosby's status to proceed.

The legal wrangling came at the start of a hearing that will determine how the comedian will be punished for knocking Constand out with pills and assaulting her at his suburban Philadelphia home more than 14 years ago.

Fox News' Lissa Kaplan and The Associated Press contributed to this report.As the nation continues to focus on the contentious process to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court amid accusations of sexual assault, Hillary Clinton appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and called on the FBI to investigate the situation.

Clinton appeared on Colberts late-night program Friday to promote the paperback version of her book, What Happened, when the host grilled her on her thoughts with regard to the Kavanaugh hearings.

As previously reported, President Trumps nomination for the Supreme Court was nearing a key vote from the Senate Judiciary Committee when Christine Blasey Ford reluctantly came forward with allegations saying he forced himself on her during a party in the early 1980s. Kavanaugh has strongly denied the accusations.

Colbert opened his discussion with the former 2016 Democratic candidate for president by asking how she weighed the Kavanaugh controversy against the nomination of Merrick Garland, President Obama's Supreme Court pick in 2016 who never received a vote in the GOP-controlled Senate.

Its one of the reasons that I think a lot of Americans are just fed up with the whole political process. Because, in a democracy you have to have at least enough trust to be able to work with each other and solve difficult problems, she said. When the Republicans refuse to give a distinguished judge appointed by President Obama even the courtesy of meetings, let alone a hearing, that sent such a terrible message. Now, what theyve done in this case is to hold back information, they have not provided all the information, which was always made available for other nominees, and theyre trying to rush this through to the detriment of the American public, who deserves to have answers to whatever charges might be presented.

As of now, Ford is planning to testify in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee with regards to he claims. However, she previously called for an FBI investigation. Clinton noted that she felt it was a worthwhile request.

Im hoping that at some point there will be an agreement to have an investigation. It would be very easy for the FBI to go back and finish the background investigation, to investigate these charges. And, you know maybe find out theres nothing to them, maybe find out there is something to them. But, at least have that investigation completed. I think thats a fair request for due process to be asked for, she said, to applause from Colberts crowd.

Clinton went on to note that the Republicans discrepancy between the way theyre treating Kavanaugh and the way they treated Garland is the crassest, most cynical kind of politics that can even be imagined.

She concluded her thoughts on Kavanaugh with a simple plea to investigate the claims against him before rushing anything into motion.

Have an investigation, it wont take that long, she concluded. Let the investigation go forward, present it and then go from there.Actor James Woods has been locked out of his Twitter account over a two-month-old tweet that was found to be in violation of the tech companys rules.

The tweet, posted July 20, included a hoax meme that said it came from Democrats and encouraged men not to vote in the midterm elections.

Woods said he received an email from Twitter on Thursday saying the tweet "has the potential to be misleading in a way that could impact an election."

The email said Woods can use his account again if he deletes the tweet, but would be suspended from the social media platform permanently if there are repeated abuses.

Woods told The Associated Press Sunday he interpreted the message to mean hell be allowed back on Twitter only if he decides to do what Twitter says.

"Free speech is free speech  it's not Jack Dorsey's version of free speech," Woods said, referring to Twitter Chief Executive Jack Dorsey.

"The irony is, Twitter accused me of affecting the political process, when in fact, their banning of me is the truly egregious interference," Woods said. "Because now, having your voice smothered is much more disturbing than having your vocal chords slit. If you want to kill my free speech, man up and slit my throat with a knife, don't smother me with a pillow."

Twitter told the AP that it doesn't comment on individual accounts for privacy and security reasons. A spokesman for the social media platform said by email that he had nothing more to share when asked if Dorsey would respond directly to Wood's comments.

Fox News reached out to Twitter early Monday but did not immediately hear back.

His Twitter page is still online, though he can't access it. Many of his recent tweets include his views of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford, who has accused Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her decades ago.

KAVANAUGH ACCUSER CHRISTINE FORD OPENS DOOR TO TESTIFYING NEXT WEEK

Woods, who has more than 1.7 million Twitter followers and is outspoken in his conservative views, believes he was singled out. He said the original tweet was reposted by his girlfriend Friday and had been retweeted thousands of times by Sunday. His girlfriend's account wasn't locked, which he said proves his claim.

The meme, posted in July, said #LetWomenDecide and #NoMenMidterm. It claimed to be from a Democratic group, but it was determined to be a hoax campaign to encourage liberal men not to vote in November, according to the website knowyourmeme.com. Woods called it a parody.

Woods acknowledged the meme likely wasn't real in the original tweet, saying: "Pretty scary that there is a distinct possibility this could be real. Not likely, but in this day and age of absolute liberal insanity, it is at least possible ..."

Social media companies like Twitter have come under pressure to flag hate speech and posts that could influence elections offline. Numerous conservative and right-wing groups have protested that the tech companies disproportionately target them over liberal-leaning groups. Dorsey testified before the GOP-led House Energy and Commerce Committee earlier this month, as the committee examined whether Twitter has censored conservatives.

TWITTER CEO JACK DORSEY ADMITS CONSERVATIVE STAFFERS DONT FEEL SAFE TO EXPRESS THEIR OPINIONS AT LIBERAL TECH GIANT

Woods said he wants open discourse, and called the situation a dangerous precedent for free speech.

"I wish this were about an unknown Twitter user so that I could be even more passionate about it," Woods said. "This is not about a celebrity being muzzled. This is about an American being silenced  one tweet at a time."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.A potato shortage in Europe is expected to effect the shape and size of french fries in the region.

Belgium, France and the U.K. are experiencing the shortage  which, according to Food & Wine is not so much a lack of potato yield, but disappointing growth with the potatoes produced. Belgian potato farmers reported smaller size spuds because of an unusually hot and dry summer, the publication reports.

MAINE RESTAURANT RESPONDS TO 'DISTURBING' COMMENTS AND 'HOSTILE' CUSTOMERS ANGRY OVER FRENCH FRY CHANGE

"Because the potatoes are smaller at the moment, we will all be eating smaller chips," Pierre Lebrun, head of the Walloon Potato Growers' Association, told the Sudpresse newspaper.

Belgium will be particularly affected as frites  or fries  are the countrys signature dish. Belgium reportedly has over 5,000 friteries serving up the classic street food, which is usually eaten with mayonnaise.

KEEP POTATOES FROM TURNING BROWN WITH THIS TRICK

"It is a disaster in the fields that the farmers could not irrigate. We record losses of around 30%," Romain Cools, the secretary general of Belgapom, the country's largest potato grower, told The Guardian.

The drought and poor growing season will likely cause Belgium's fries to be noticeably shorter  about an inch on average. Though they are not the only country suffering.

FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE FOX LIFESTYLE NEWS

"It's the same thing across southern England, the Netherlands, France and western Germany," Lebrun said.Maine government officials are not down with getting lobsters baked before boiling them alive, and have declared the practice illegal after Charlotte Gill, owner of Charlottes Legendary Lobster Pound, made headlines for her unusual pre-cooking methods.

Maine health inspectors said the food served to consumers at licensed eating places and affected by marijuana, as has been described with this establishment, is adulterated and therefore illegal, the New York Times reports.

The decision was made by the department because regulators do not currently have information on the health implications or effects of sedating lobsters with marijuana, the Times reports.

WAFFLE HOUSE CUSTOMER CONFRONTED BY POLICE OFFICERS FOR BRINGING LIVE SNAKE INTO RESTAURANT

Gill argues that that THC-infused smoke she uses to get the lobster stoned does not impact the edible lobster meat, as the crustacean will be boiled before being served.

THC breaks down completely by 392 degrees, therefore we will use both steam as well as a heat process that will expose the meat to 420 degree extended temperature, in order to ensure there is no possibility of carryover effect (even though the likelihood of such would be literally impossible), she told the Islander. Im not selling an edible.

Gill, who opened her restaurant in Southwest Harbor seven years ago, started experimenting with getting the lobsters high off marijuana smoke before killing and cooking them, believing it to be more humane than the traditional methods.

I feel bad that when lobsters come here there is no exit strategy, Gill told the Mount Desert Islander. Its a unique place and you get to do such unique things but at the expense of this little creature. Ive really been trying to figure out how to make it better.

YELP IS NOW PUBLISHING HEALTH INSPECTION SCORES ON RESTAURANT PAGES

In the restaurants first experiment into the process, a lobster  nicknamed Roscoe  was placed into a box with a few inches of water at the bottom, and marijuana smoke was then blown through the water, into the box.

Gill, also a licensed medical marijuana caregiver in the state of Maine, claims Roscoe was much calmer and less aggressive for the subsequent three weeks, and didnt try to attack the other lobsters in his tank even though his claws were unbound.

Following the tests, Gill dedicated a special outdoor station to sedating the lobsters with THC-infused smoke, but only at the customers requests.

The animal is already going to be killed, said Gill. It is far more humane to make it a kinder passage.

FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE FOX LIFESTYLE NEWS

Though Maine officials feel differently about the process and have started investigating her restaurant, Gill tells Bangor Daily News she plans to continue using the method  but with a few minor adjustments to address the states concerns.

After being contacted by the state, and upon reviewing its present laws and codes applicable to this [issue], we are completely confident that we can proceed as planned, Gill said in a statement.Donald Trump Jr. did not take kindly to PETAs Halloween costume suggestion  and took to Twitter to let them know.

On Thursday, the vegan organization tweeted out a photo of a hunter in camouflage wearing a hat that reads Donald Trump Jr., being mauled by a leopard. PETA said it was a reference to Donald Trump Jr. and his brother Eric Trumps trophy hunting photo where the men posed with a dead leopard.

PETA BILLBOARD IN MARYLAND ENCOURAGES PEOPLE TO 'GO VEGAN,' STOP EATING CRABS

In a twist on the horrific trophy-hunting photo that showed the Trump brothers grinning while clutching the body of a dead leopard  this time the leopard wins! Pre-order PETAs NEW limited-edition @DonaldJTrumpJr #Halloween costume. http://peta.vg/2bco, the tweet read.

According to PETAs website, the proceeds from the costume will support lifesaving work for wild animals.

Trump Jr. saw the mocking costume and took to Twitter to slam PETA, calling the organization hypocrites and saying it was an animal slaughter factory.

MARYLAND CRAB RESTAURANT HITS BACK AT PETA'S BILLBOARD WITH ITS OWN

Ironically, there are few orgs in world history that have as much animal blood on their hands as PETA. You hypocrites are literally an animal slaughter factory.

In the last 11 years, PETA has killed 29,426 dogs, cats, rabbits, & other domestic animals, the tweet read before linking to a 2013 Huffington Post article highlighting PETAs euthanizing policy.

PETA declined additional comment to Fox News, but responded to Donald Trump Jr.'s tweet with a jab of their own, calling the president's son a "callous creep" and describing their policy as offering a "merciful release."

WARNING: Video contains graphic images.

PETA TO PUT UP NEW 'WHY SO CRABBY' SIGN IN MARYLAND, CONTINUING BILLBOARD BATTLE WITH SEAFOOD RESTAURANT

A handful of years ago, PETA came under fire for its euthanizing practices. According to the Washington Post, in 2015, PETA euthanized 81 percent of animals brought to its shelter in Virginia.

PETA defended its policies, claiming the number is high because they take in the animals other no kill shelters turn away  the gravely ill, aggressive or infested with parasites, the Post reports.

According to a blog post on PETAs website in February 2018, they continue to explain the high kill rate is to alleviate suffering of the animals.

FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE FOX LIFESTYLE NEWS

Most of the animals we took in and euthanized could hardly be called 'pets,' as they had spent their entire lives penned or chained up outside. They were unsocialized, never having been inside a building of any kind or ever experienced a scratch behind the ears. Others were indeed someones beloved companion, but they were elderly, sick, injured, dying, aggressive, or otherwise unadoptable, and PETA offered them a painless release from suffering, with no charge to their owners or guardians, the post reads.NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles!

Ive talked to, listened to, and read interviews, blogs, and books by dozens of folks whove left the Christian faith. Ive yet to hear a story from anyone who abandoned Christianity based on anything directly related to Christianity  at least the original version, anyway.

The decline of Christianity in America, the popularity of The New Atheists, and the meteoric rise of the nones underscore something thats been true for generations but didnt matter much until now.

Many expressions of Christianity are fatally flawed.

Many people see Christianity as anti-intellectual, overly simplistic, and easily discredited. For decades, college professors with biases against religion have found Christian freshmen easy targets.

Much of what makes American Christianity so resistible to those outside the faith are things we should have been resisting all along. While many of us have been working hard to make church more interesting, it turns out that fewer people are actually interested.

Here are five reasons people are really leaving the church.

1. We tell people that the Bible is the basis of Christianity

Jesus loves me, this I know

For the Bible tells me so.

Its a line that many who grow up in the church know by heart, and it reflects a problem in modern American Christianity: many of us believe that the Bible is the foundation of our religion.

I recently read a blog post by a former worship leader who left the faith after she read a book proving contradictions in the Bible. Apparently, she grew up believing the foundation of our faith is a non-contradicting book.

Its not. Jesus is.

When our faith stands on anything other than Christ, we put ourselves (and others) in position to fall.

2. They believe suffering disproves the existence of God

Renowned New Testament scholar Bart Ehrman says he lost his faith and embraced atheism because of suffering in the world. And hes not the only one.

But the foundation of our faith is not a world without suffering. Pain and suffering dont disprove the existence of God. It only disproves the existence of a god who doesnt allow pain and suffering.

Whose god is that?

Not ours. Our God promised there would be suffering until he makes all things new.

3. They had a bad church experience

Most bad church experiences are the result of somebody prioritizing a view over a you  something Jesus never did and instructed us not to do either. Self-righteousness and legalism are leftovers of the Old Testament laws, which Jesus replaced through his death on the cross.

Relationships are messy and complicated. But if our actions are rooted in Jesus command to love one another (John 13:34), we can prevent many of the experiences that lead people away from his body.

4. Were bad at making people feel welcome

It wasnt just his message that made Jesus irresistible. It was Jesus himself. People who were nothing like him, liked him. And Jesus liked people who were nothing like him. Jesus invited unbelieving, misbehaving, troublemaking men and women to follow him and to embrace something new, and they accepted his invitation.

As followers of Jesus, we should be known as people who like people who are nothing like us. When we invite unbelieving, misbehaving troublemakers to join us, they should be intrigued  if not inclined  to accept our invitation.

5. We made ekklesia (the church) a building

The word church shouldve never appeared in our Bibles. It shouldnt have become part of Christian culture, either. Its more than a mistranslation. It represents a misdirection.

While the majority of your English Bible is a word-for-word translation from Greek, the term church is an exception. The term church is not a translation. Its a substitution. And a misleading one at that.

The term church is a derivative of the German term kirche meaning: house of the Lord or temple. This term of German origin was used to interpret, rather than translate, the Greek term ekklesia throughout most of the New Testament.

The Greek term ekklesia is translated as church over one hundred times in your English New Testament, but in Acts 19:32  a passage describing a city in uproar  its translated differently.

The assembly was in confusion: Some were shouting one thing, some another. Most of the people did not even know why they were there.

Ekklesia was not, and is not, a religious term. It does not mean church or house of the Lord. It certainly shouldnt be associated with a temple. The term was used widely to describe a gathering, assembly, civic gatherings, or an assembly of soldiers. Or as was the case in Acts 19, an assembly of rioting idol manufacturers.

An ekklesia was a gathering of people for a specific purpose. Any specific purpose. Its not a building. Its not a physical location. Its a group of people.

Its a lot easier to stop showing up at a place than it is to disconnect from a group of people who intimately know, love, and support each other.

If we want people to stop leaving the church  if we want Christianity to be irresistible again to the world  then maybe its time to take another look at the movement Jesus started 2,000 years ago.NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles!

#MeToo has done a lot of work exposing uncomfortable truths, but now its eagerness to denounce is taking on a censorious tone. #TimesUp is becoming #ShutUp.

Recall that the movement got going when women who had long remained silent felt emboldened to speak up after many years. Yet last week one such woman was telling her story. There was a broad public attempt to silence this Korean runaway who doesnt know her own birthday and grew up eating out of garbage cans on the streets of Seoul before being dumped into an orphanage. Her adoptive mother, she says, regularly belittled her, abused her and essentially made her serve as a household domestic. Then this crazy momster labeled her daughter retarded. After all of this, Soon-Yi Previn doesnt get a right to speak? Because shes married to Woody Allen?

Ive written before about how its nearly impossible to believe that Allen is guilty of child molestation when you look at the evidence, but the fanciful-to-preposterous case for his guilt is, 26 years after his alleged crime, suddenly being accepted as gospel by the #MeToo crowd, which in turn has rebuked Previn and also Daphne Merkin, a longtime friend of Allen.

When Merkins convincing New York magazine profile of Soon-Yi ran last week, #MeToo told both of them to shut their pie-holes about Woody Allen, forever. (The editor who actually ran the piece, New York chief Adam Moss, seemed to escape censure.) Let the women speak somehow turned into Only certain women should speak.

Meanwhile, Ian Buruma was forced out of his position as editor of the New York Review of Books for doing  exactly what the New York Review of Books has always done. Although a left-liberal publication, the NYRB has a contrarian streak and prides itself on being contentious, eager to surprise, doubtful of conventional wisdom. In a theme issue about the Fall of Men accused of sexual misconduct that typified the NYRBs brand as a vigorous forum for debate, Buruma published a lengthy piece by the Canadian broadcaster Jian Ghomeshi, a star north of the border, who wrote about life after being charged with being violent to women.

Ghomeshi was acquitted two years ago of sexual assault and choking after being accused by three women. Since then more than a dozen more women have stepped forward to accuse him of improper sexual behavior.

In an interview published in a Dutch magazine, the Netherlands-born Buruma said he felt obliged to resign his post after being convicted on Twitter, without any due process.

Buruma sparked a social-media frenzy both by publishing the Ghomeshi piece and then by taking part in a Slate interview in which he sounded blase on the question of Ghomeshis guilt.

The choice to publish Ghomeshi was meant not necessarily as a defense of what he may have done, Buruma told Slate, but he thought readers would be interested to learn what its like to be top of the world, doing more or less what you like, being a jerk in many ways, and then finding your life ruined and being a public villain and pilloried.

Buruma himself promptly was made a public villain and pilloried, not because he has been accused of misbehavior, not because he defended anyone accused of misbehavior, but simply for publishing an essay from a seldom-heard point of view.

Fire him! Cried the mob. But a New York Review of Books that didnt challenge prevailing orthodoxy wouldnt be the New York Review of Books. Nor should the editorship of the NYRB be a matter for a snarling mob of Twitterati to decide. If you dont like whats in the NYRB, write a letter to the editor.

Somehow I disagree with you or even I disagree with the thing you published has turned into your career must be destroyed. One need not defend Ghomeshi  and Buruma doesnt!  to agree with the premise that what he has to say might be of interest.

When media outlets run interviews with people who have actually murdered women, does it mean theyre taking the side of murderers? Interviews with Charles freaking Manson used to pop up on ABC, NBC, CBS and in the pages of Rolling Stone until Manson finally shut up and relocated to Hell last year.

If anyone called for Diane Sawyer or Geraldo Rivera to be fired for giving Manson a platform or normalizing a monster, I missed it. If Mansons point of view is worth hearing, so is Ghomeshis.

As for Soon-Yi, whatever you think of women who stole their mothers boyfriends, thats probably not as bad as leading a devil cult of ritual murderers.

To read more on The New York Post click here.NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles!

A tentative agreement for a Thursday hearing with Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford has been reached, a source with knowledge of the discussions has told Fox News.

Earlier on Saturday, Ford had indicated she'd accept the Senate Judiciary Committees request to discuss an alleged sexual assault by Kavanaugh, although the terms under which she might testify remained largely unclear.

In a letter to the committee, Fords lawyers said that she had accepted the request to provide her first-hand knowledge of Brett Kavanaughs sexual misconduct next week after Republicans on the committee set a 2:30 p.m. deadline for her to say whether she would do so. Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, had said a vote would proceed in the absence of a response from Ford's team by the cutoff time.

In the letter from Ford's lawyers, they said many aspects of the proposal you provided ... are fundamentally inconsistent with the Committees promise of a fair, impartial investigation into her allegations, yet they also expressed hope that an agreement would be reached, as now appears to be the case.

Ahead of news about a tentative Thursday meeting, a senior White House official had told Fox News that the Ford team's letter represented a request to continue negotiations without any firm commitment.

White House spokesperson Kerri Kupec later issued a separate statement, noting that Kavanaugh has denied the allegation "and is eager to testify publicly to defend his integrity and clear his good name."

Ford alleges that Kavanaugh assaulted her during a house party in high school in the 1980s. Kavanaugh has repeatedly denied the allegation. Democrats have called for the vote on his confirmation to the nations highest court to be delayed, pending a full FBI investigation, something that Republicans have dismissed as unnecessary.

DEMOCRATS FLOAT MORE KAVANAUGH INVESTIGATIONS, IMPEACHMENT EVEN IF HE IS CONFIRMED

Republicans have accused Democrats of sitting on the doctor's allegation during the hearings and looking to delay the vote until after the midterms in November.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said in a statement that he will support Ford's "steadfast bravery against the arbitrary, unfair, irrational constraints set by Chairman Grassley."

"I remain deeply disturbed by the conduct of my colleagues over the last week, and am committed to ensuring that Dr. Fords safety and security is made a top priority, he said.

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., said Ford had demonstrated "impressive courage" in her willingness to come forward "in spite of Republicans astounding disregard for basic due process in failing to order the completion of a background investigation."

Even in accommodating Dr. Blasey Fords request for a few additional days, Chairman Grassley has rejected many of her reasonable requests to ensure a fair process," his statement said. "Next weeks hearing, as currently contemplated, will be a kangaroo court, because the Republicans have done everything in their power to prevent the consideration of any outside evidence, whether corroborating or exculpatory. Republicans should respect Dr. Blasey Fords wishes, as they should respect the wishes of all victims of sexual assault."

Fox News Mike Emanuel, Chad Pergram and Matt Leach contributed to this report.NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles!

Immigrants to the United States who are overly reliant on public assistance may soon find it more difficult to remain in the country.

In a 447-page proposal posted online Saturday, the Department of Homeland Security calls for immigrants to be denied permanent residency if theyve received or are likely to receive benefits such as food stamps, Medicaid or housing vouchers.

Under long-standing federal law, those seeking to immigrate to the United States must show they can support themselves financially, DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said in a statement to the Washington Post.

Under long-standing federal law, those seeking to immigrate to the United States must show they can support themselves financially.  Kirstjen Nielsen, U.S. secretary of Homeland Security

The proposed changes would promote immigrant self-sufficiency and protect finite resources by ensuring that they are not likely to become burdens on American taxpayers, Nielsen added.

President Trump has said he wants to replace the current immigration system with a merit-based one, based on job skills.

Green card applicants are already required by federal law to prove they will not be a burden  or public charge  but the proposal would expand the number programs that could disqualify them.

Under the rule, denials for green cards can be issued if an immigrant received government benefits for up to 15 percent of the poverty level - $1,821 for an individual and $3,765 for a family of four, Politico reported.

DHS will allow a 60-day period for public comment on the proposal before it is published in the Federal Register. Afterward, the agency will make changes based on public feedback before issuing a final rule. The agency anticipates court challenges to any change, the Post reported.

If adopted, the changes would affect those applying for immigration visas or those with temporary residency who want to stay in the country, and could affect the more than 600,000 participants in DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) -- the Obama-era "Dreamers" program -- if they file for permanent residency, according to the Post.

The proposal would have little effect on undocumented immigrants or foreigners who apply for temporary protected status to remain in the U.S. after a natural disaster or armed conflict in their home countries.

Critics see the measure as just another attempt to restrict legal immigration and force low-income families to choose between receiving public assistance or staying in the United States.

This would force families -- including citizen children -- to choose between getting the help they need and remaining in their communities, said Diane Yentel, president of the National Low Income Housing Coalition. The last thing the federal government should do is punish families that have fallen on hard times for feeding their children or keeping a roof over their heads and avoiding homelessness.

Some immigrants have already decided to forgo benefits in fear for being deported.

The Post reported that 3.7 percent of the 41.5 million immigrants living in the U.S. received cash benefits in 2013 and 22.7 percent received other forms of assistance like Medicaid, housing subsidies or home heating assistance.

The percentage of native-born Americans who get the same forms of assistance in 2015 was nearly identical.

The changes could expand disparities in health insurance rates between children with native-born parents and those with immigrant parents.

The timing of the proposal, along with an announcement earlier this week that the administration will admit no more than 30,000 refugees in the next fiscal year, could stir up the Republican Partys base.

We can be choosy about who we allow into the country, said Hans von Spakovsky, a senior fellow with the conservative Heritage Foundation. One of the primary factors ought to be ensuring that the legal immigrants who come in are people who can financially support themselves.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.Dairy productivity priority for Thompson

Farmer groups should set productivity as the industry priority and push to be more involved in Dairy Australia's planning, while also striving for a new level of transparency and integrity in advocacy.* Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang passes away aged 62

* In his condolence message, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said that he was extremely shocked and deeply mournful after being informed of the death of President Tran Dai Quang.

On behalf of the Japanese government and people, PM Abe extended his deepest condolences to the Vietnamese government, people and the late Presidents family.

He highly appreciated President Quangs wholehearted devotion to fostering the friendship between Vietnam and Japan, voicing his special respect for the late Vietnamese leader for having successfully chaired the APEC Economic Leaders Meeting in Da Nang city last November as well as having made significant contributions to the signing of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), dubbed TPP-11, at the conference.

As a strategic partner with Vietnam, Japan is deeply mournful over the passing of President Tran Dai Quang, PM Abe said, wishing the late Vietnamese leader rest in peace.

On the same day, Japanese Foreign Minister Kono Taro also conveyed his condolences over the death of President Quang, wishing the late leader rest in peace and expressing his hopes that the Vietnamese government and people would soon overcome such a painful event to continue further developing the country of Vietnam.

* Concerning the demise of President Tran Dai Quang, Russian President Vladimir Putin sent a message of condolences to the Vietnamese people and the family and friends of the late Vietnamese leader on Friday, according to the Kremlins media department.

* On September 21, Cambodian PM Hun Sen conveyed a letter of condolences to his Vietnamese counterpart Nguyen Xuan Phuc over the demise of President Tran Dai Quang, in which he emphasised that President Quang is a great and admirable leader of the country and people of Vietnam, and a good friend of Cambodia.

On behalf of the Royal Government and people of Cambodia, I would like express my deepest sympathies and condolences to the Government and people of Vietnam as well as the bereaved families for the great loss of their beloved one, he said.

* Before opening the 3rd plenary session of the UN General Assembly with the participation of 193 member nations on September 21, the General Assembly President Maria Fernanda Espinosa Garces announced the death of the Vietnamese head of State and extended her deep condolences to the Presidents family, and the Government and people of Vietnam.

Participants at the 3rd plenary session of the UN General Assembly devote a minute of silence to remember the Vietnamese leader.

She asked that participants devote a minute of silence to remember the Vietnamese leader.

Earlier the same day, the spokesman of the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres issued a statement saying that the Secretary-General was saddened to learn of the death of President Tran Dai Quang of Vietnam and offers his deepest sympathies to the Presidents family and to the Government and people of Vietnam.

A friend of the United Nations and an important promoter of Vietnams development, President Quang will long be remembered in his country and beyond, the statement said.

* The US Department of State issued a press release on September 21 expressing sadness over the passing of President Tran Dai Quang.

President Quang strongly supported US-Vietnam relations and helped bring their bilateral partnership to a new level on the basis of mutual respect, shared interests and a shared goal of promoting peace, cooperation, prosperity and security in the Indo-Pacific region, it said.

The press release stated that the US Department of State would like to show respect for the legacy left by President Quang, and extend condolences to his family as well as the entire Vietnamese people.

* On the same day, the Russian, US and Belgian Embassies in Vietnam also extended their deepest condolences to the people of Vietnam and the family of late President Tran Dai Quang over his demise on their Twitter and Facebook pages.

* After the passing of President Tran Dai Quang on Friday, an array of prestigious international media agencies from Australia, Russia, Japan, the UK, the US, France, the Philippines, Singapore, Germany, India, and China, covered the sad news.NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles!

Attorneys for Christine Ford, the California professor accusing Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her in high school, definitively vowed Sunday that Ford would appear at a Senate hearing Thursday morning despite unresolved "procedural and logistical issues."

After nearly a week of uncertainty, the move sets the stage for a dramatic and pivotal day of testimony on Capitol Hill that could determine the fate of President Trump's second pick to the nation's highest court.

"We made important progress on our call this morning with Senate Judiciary Committee staff members," the attorneys, Debra Katz, Lisa Banks, and Michael Bromwich said in the statement. "We committed to moving forward with an open hearing on Thursday Sept 27 at 10:00 am."

Sources on Capitol Hill tell Fox News they are now preparing in earnest for the Thursday hearing, which is likely to push a confirmation vote on the Senate floor beyond October 1, the start of the next Supreme Court term.

The hearing had been in doubt amid protracted back-and-forth tussling between Senate Republicans and Ford's legal team, who disagreed on the ideal timing of the hearing, as well as who should testify first and whether outside lawyers should be allowed to ask questions.

But Ford's legal team said categorically on Sunday that those potential sticking points would not derail the hearing.

WATCH: LINDSEY GRAHAM RIPS DEMS FOR 'USING' KAVANAUGH ACCUSER

"Despite actual threats to her safety and her life, Dr. Ford believes it is important for Senators to hear directly from her about the sexual assault committed against her," the attorneys said. "She has agreed to move forward with a hearing even though the Committee has refused to subpoena Mark Judge. They have also refused to invite other witnesses who are essential for a fair hearing that arrives at the truth about the sexual assault.

"A number of important procedural and logistical issues remain unresolved, although they will not impede the hearing taking place," the attorneys added. "Among those issues is who on the Majority side will be asking the questions, whether senators or staff attorneys."

The legal team concluded: "We were told no decision has been made on this important issue, even though various senators have been dismissive of her account and should have to shoulder their responsibility to ask her questions. Nor were we told when we would have that answer or answers to the other unresolved issues. We look forward to hearing back from the Majority staff as soon as possible on these important matters."

Kavanaugh will reportedly testify after Ford, allowing him the opportunity to respond to her claims.

WATCH: TOP DEMOCRAT SAYS KAVANAUGH'S CONSERVATIVE LEGAL PHILOSOPHY IS A REASON TO DENY HIM DUE PROCESS

Judge, who Ford has said was in the room when she was allegedly assaulted by Kavanaugh, had indicated he did not want to testify because he had nothing to add beyond his denial of any knowledge of the purported episode. Republican senators had said it would be inappropriate for a witness to dictate who would be called.

Speaking on "Fox News Sunday," Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a member of the Judiciary Committee, said that there would be two witnesses: Kavanaugh and Ford.

That would mark a change from the 1991 Judiciary Committee hearings into allegations by Anita Hill that she had been sexually harassed by then-Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas. Several witnesses testified in those nationally televised proceedings, which saw Thomas fervently deny the allegations that he compared to a "hi-tech lynching."

All of the individuals that Ford has said were at the house during the alleged assault -- including Kavanaugh, Judge, classmate Patrick Smyth, and her own longtime friend, Leland Ingham Keyser -- have denied knowledge of the episode, under penalty of felony, in interviews with the Judiciary Committee.

Ford has said she does not recall who owned the house where the alleged attack occurred, nor why there was a gathering there or exactly when the incident occurred.

"If she wanted to stay anonymous, those who betrayed her need to apologize."  Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.

For their part, Democrats have repeatedly accused Republicans of pressuring Ford to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., has said Ford, who lives in California and has received numerous death threats, shouldnt be rushed" in her decision of when to testify.

Show some heart, Feinstein said. Wait until Dr. Ford feels that she can come before the committee.

WATCH: FEINSTEIN ADMITS SHE CAN'T BE SURE ACCUSER BEING ENTIRELY 'TRUTHFUL'

But Feinstein herself has come under fire from Republicans because she received a letter from Ford outlining her allegations on July 30, but only discussed them with other senators and federal authorities less than two weeks ago. Her disclosure was prompted by a leak describing the letter in The Intercept -- a leak that Republicans have charged was orchestrated by Democrats.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, in a letter last week, unloaded a torrent of criticism on Feinstein for delaying the disclosure, saying she had compromised Ford's anonymity and used a sexual assault allegation for political gain.

"I cannot overstate how disappointed I am," Grassley wrote.

On Sunday, Graham echoed that sentiment.

"I feel sorry for her," Graham told "Fox News Sunday," referring to Ford. "I think she's being used here. If she truly wanted to be anonymous, the person who brought this allegation to the public owes her an apology."

He added: "I dont know what Dr. Ford expected us to do with an anonymous letter. If she wanted to stay anonymous those who betrayed her need to apologize."

Fox News' Shannon Bream and Chad Pergram contributed to this report.NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles!

There is a deluge of bad news for Republicans in the latest Fox News poll.

Most voters are unhappy with the direction the country is taking. Majorities disagree with President Trump on the border wall, and extra tax-cut cash is nowhere to be seen. And, by a wide margin, Democrats are considered the party that would better handle health care -- at a time when most prioritize health care in deciding their vote for Congress.

With only 44 days until Election Day, maybe the thing that passes for good news for the GOP is that Democrats lead by only seven points in the generic congressional ballot among likely voters. That suggests the battle for control of the House of Representatives could still go either way.

READ THE COMPLETE POLL RESULTS.

The poll, released Sunday, shows how much Americans have warmed to Obamacare. Four years ago, 48 percent thought the law went too far (September 2014). Thats down to 36 percent today. And a majority believes Obamacare is about right (21 percent) or didnt go far enough (30 percent).

Plus, 64 percent want more people insured, even if it costs the government more money.

Republican campaigning on the new tax law will have limited appeal, as 6 voters in 10 arent seeing additional money in their paycheck since Trump signed the law, and only 32 percent think the law has helped the economy.

Voters also disagree with the president on building a U.S.-Mexico border wall (more oppose by 12 points) and increasing tariffs (more say they will hurt than help the economy by 6 points).

Currently, 55 percent of voters are unhappy with how things are going in the country. Thats a bit of a backslide from 53 percent who felt that way at Trumps 100-day mark (April 2017).

And while a record number are enthusiastic about how the government is working -- that record is a whopping 7 percent. Another 25 percent are satisfied. A majority of 62 percent is dissatisfied (37 percent) or angry (25 percent) with Washington.

Overall, when asked who they would back if the Congressional election were today, 49 percent of likely voters say the Democratic candidate in their district and 42 percent the Republican. Among the larger group of registered voters, the Democrat is up by 46-40 percent.

Usually we see Republicans do better when we go from registered voters to likely voters, says Democratic pollster Chris Anderson, who conducts the poll with Republican Daron Shaw. That isnt the case right now, Democrats actually have a larger advantage when we look just at likely voters.

The gender gap remains, as women are more inclined to back the Democratic candidate by a 17-point margin, while men pick the Republican candidate by 4 points.

Rural whites back the Republican by 22 points, while suburban women back the Democrat by 23. Voters angry about how the government is working are four times more likely to support the Democratic candidate.

Voters who backed Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election are more likely than Trump voters to be more enthusiastic about voting this year compared to past midterms (by 9 points) and more likely to be extremely interested in the election (by 11 points).

Yet that doesnt tell the whole story. When looking only at counties where the 2016 presidential vote was close (Clinton and Trump within 10 points), Democrats have a 17-point lead in the ballot test. Thats almost as strong as in Clinton counties, where they are up by 19 points.

Republicans are seen as better on border security (+11 points) and the economy (+4), and hold the slightest edge on taxes (+1) and international trade (+1).

Voters believe Democrats can better handle the issues of health care (+15 points), bringing the country together (+12), immigration (+5), and corruption (+5).

Health care stands out, as it is the only issue that has a majority, 55 percent, saying it will be extremely important to them to vote for a congressional candidate who shares their views. Thats followed by taxes (47 percent extremely important), immigration (46 percent), President Trump (46 percent), the border wall (39 percent), Brett Kavanaughs Supreme Court nomination (38 percent), and the Russia investigation (34 percent).

Campaign appearances from the president may not help Republicans, as 26 percent say they would be more likely to support a candidate if Trump campaigns for them, but 43 percent would be less likely to do so. Thats a spread of negative 17 points. Vice President Mike Pence does just a bit better than his boss, at negative 13.

For former presidential candidate Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, the effect is neutral: 31 percent would be more likely to vote for a candidate he backs and 31 percent less likely.

Former President Barack Obama receives a positive response (+11 points): 42 percent more likely vs. 31 percent less likely.

More broadly, 44 percent of voters approve of Trumps performance, while 52 percent disapprove. Last month it was 45-53 percent, and in July it was 46-51 percent.

By 50-42 percent, voters approve of Trumps handling of the economy. Majorities disapprove on immigration (41-54 percent) and health care (38-52 percent).

The poll finds only 35 percent of voters think Trump cares about people like them, and the same number, 35 percent, sees the disruption hes brought to Washington as a good thing.

Russia Investigation

Voters approve of the job Special Counsel Robert Mueller is doing (55-39 percent) and want him to take his time and do it right (52 percent). Thirty-six percent say wrap it up already.

Opposition to impeaching the president has narrowed. Voters oppose rather than support impeachment by a 5-point margin (42 percent yes vs. 47 percent no). In June, opposition outweighed support by 12 points.

Among voters backing Democratic congressional candidates, 72 percent say President Trump should be impeached and removed from office. For voters supporting the GOP candidate, an even larger 84 percent oppose impeachment.

Pollpourri

Fifty-six percent feel like things in the country are rigged to favor the wealthy. Thats far more than the 39 percent who think they have a fair shot at getting ahead if they work hard. Trump voters think hard workers can get ahead, while Clinton voters say the system is rigged.

How deep is the political divide? Just 18 percent of Republicans say Democrats love America, and only 11 percent of Democrats think Republicans do.

On Wednesday, Trump visited areas affected by Hurricane Florence in the Carolinas. Days earlier he denied reports about the death toll in Puerto Rico from Hurricane Maria (2017). By a four-point margin, voters give the administration a net positive rating for its response to Florence. The ratings it received last year for Puerto Rico were more negative than positive by 32 points.

The Fox News poll is based on landline and cell phone interviews with 1,003 randomly chosen registered voters nationwide and was conducted under the joint direction of Anderson Robbins Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R) from September 16-19, 2018. The full poll has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points. For the subgroup of 818 likely voters, the margin of sampling error is also plus or minus three points.NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles!

Key details in the narrative provided by Christine Ford, the woman accusing Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault, have been challenged over the past week as several apparent disparities have surfaced, even as the California professor insists she was forcibly attacked and that she has not mistaken Kavanaugh for anyone else.

Ford has claimed Kavanaugh pinned her to a bed and tried to remove her clothes when they were teenagers at a house party in Maryland, although she has said she is unable to recall who owned the house or why there was a gathering there. According to Ford, who says she eventually escaped to a bathroom, Kavanaugh covered her mouth briefly as loud music blared.

Ford told The Washington Post last week that there were a total of "four boys at the party" where the alleged episode occured, and that two -- Kavanaugh and his friend Mark Judge -- had been in the room during her attack. She said that her therapist had made an error by indicating she had told him in 2012 that all four boys had been involved in attacking her.

Those boys purportedly included Kavanaugh, Judge, and another classmate, Patrick Smyth -- all of whom have since denied to the Senate Judiciary Committee, under penalty of felony, any knowledge of the particular party in question, as well as any misconduct by Kavanaugh.



However, a woman, Leland Ingham Keyser, a former classmate of Ford's at the Holton-Arms all-girls school in Maryland, has since been identified by Ford as the fourth witness at the party. In a dramatic twist, Keyser, who has never been describable as a "boy," emerged Saturday night to say she doesnt know Kavanaugh or remember being at the party with him.

Simply put, Ms. Keyser does not know Mr. Kavanaugh and she has no recollection of ever being at a party or gathering where he was present, with, or without, Dr. Ford, Keyser's lawyer, Howard J. Walsh III, said in an email to the Senate Judiciary Committee that was obtained by Fox News.

ANALYSIS: FORD'S ACCUSATIONS AGAINST KAVANAUGH REVEAL BIG PROBLEM IN THE MEDIA

Ford, The Post acknowledged in an article by reporter Emma Brown on Saturday, had told the paper more than a week ago about Keyser and said "she did not think Keyser would remember the party because nothing remarkable had happened there, as far as Keyser was aware."

But The Post did not mention Keyser specifically or Ford's preemptive dismissal of her memory in its original recounting of Ford's allegations, a bombshell story that has threatened to upend Kavanaugh's Supreme Court confirmation. The story mentioned only that "Ford named two other teenagers who she said were at the party" and that "[t]hose individuals did not respond to messages on Sunday morning."

Kimberley Strassel, a columnist for The Wall Street Journal, flagged the issue on Twitter on Saturday, adding that a source had given her an email from Brown to Mark Judge, a Kavanaugh friend and purported witness to the alleged assault.

"In addition to Brett Kavanaugh and Mark Judge, whom she called acquaintances she knew from past socializing, she recalls that her friend Leland (last name then was Ingham, now Keyser) was at the house and a friend of the boys named PJ," Brown wrote to Judge, according to Strassel.

INCONSISTENCIES EMERGE IN KAVANAUGH ACCUSATIONS, WITH HEARING IN DOUBT

Washington Post spokeswoman Kristine Coratti Kelly told Fox News that Keyser went unmentioned in the original story on Ford's accusations because she was unreachable, and that the article was not intended to provide a comprehensive tally of everyone at the party.

"We didnt name Keyser in the original story because we had not reached her for comment by that time, as the story indicates," Kelly said in an email. "The story never addressed how many girls were at the party. The story addressed the question of how many boys were in the room with her  in the context of Fords explanation for what she was said was an error in her therapists notes."

However, the letter sent by Ford to Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., in July that outlined her allegations said: "The assault occurred in a suburban Maryland area home at a gathering that included me and four others."

Ford lawyer Debra Katz did not immediately respond to Fox News' requests for comment.

The apparent disparities emerged as Ford's lawyers downplayed Keyser's statements, as they reiterated Ford's claim that she had not mentioned the alleged episode from more than 35 years ago to anyone until a therapy session in 2012.

"As Dr. Ford has said, she did not share her story publicly or with anyone for years following the incident with Judge Kavanaugh," Katz, who has repeatedly called for the FBI to interview all available witnesses to the purported assault, wrote in an email response obtained by Fox News.

PURPORTED WITNESS WHO BACKED FORD DELETES ONLINE ACCOUNT, ADMITS 'NO IDEA' WHETHER ATTACK OCCURRED

"It's not surprising that Ms. Keyser has no recollection of the evening as they did not discuss it," she added. "It's also unremarkable that Ms. Keyser does not remember attending a specific gathering 30 years ago at which nothing of consequence happened to her."

The public may soon have a chance to hear Ford and Kavanaugh's sides of the story first-hand. A source with knowledge of the discussions told Fox News that a tentative agreement has been reached for Ford to speak Thursday before the Senate Judiciary Committee, although key details remain unresolved.

But a senior White House official told Fox News that the Ford team's outreach merely represented a request to continue negotiations without any firm commitment. Republicans have criticized Ford's lawyers for engaging in what they have characterized as delaying tactics, including by requesting the FBI probe.

Unlike Kavanaugh, Judge, and Smyth, Ford has not yet discussed the matter with the Judiciary Committee, which has offered to fly out to California "or anywhere else" to take her testimony.

GRASSLEY UNLOADS ON FEINSTEIN, DEMOCRATS IN SCATHING LETTERS

For their part, Democrats have repeatedly accused Republicans of pressuring Ford to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Feinstein, D-Calif., has said Ford, who lives in California and has received numerous death threats, shouldnt be rushed" in her decision of when to testify.

Show some heart, Feinstein said. Wait until Dr. Ford feels that she can come before the committee.

Another Democrat on the judiciary committee, Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, said Ford deserved extra time to respond.

After spending the day in FBI interviews about death threats against her, Dr. Blasey deserves the minimal decency of 24 hours to make a decision about testifying," Blumenthal wrote in a statement. "Rejecting her request would take the Senate to a shameful new low  a blatant abuse of power. Republican colleagues have a moral and constitutional duty to stop the ugly unacceptable bullying.

SENATE DEMS URGE FBI PROBE OF DEATH THREATS AGAINST FORD, STAY MUM ON THREATS AGAINST KAVANAUGH

Republicans have fiercely criticized Feinstein, the ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, for initially failing to disclose -- even anonymously -- the letter she received from Ford on July 30 outlining her allegations against Kavanaugh. Ford did not send the letter directly to Feinstein, opting instead to route it through her Northern California congresswoman.

Feinstein only shared the letter with federal authorities and other senators less than two weeks ago, days before a key Judiciary Committee vote on Kavanaugh's confirmation, after a leak about the letter was published in The Intercept. Republicans have accused Democrats of orchestrating that leak.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley last week unloaded a torrent of criticism on Feinstein for her handling of the sexual assault accusations, telling the ranking Democrat on the committee, "I cannot overstate how disappointed I am."

He added that he still has not received an unredacted version of the letter Feinstein received in July.

Fox News' Adam Shaw contributed to this report.NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles!

Marylands Republican governor lost the support of the National Rifle Association and had his ranking downgraded Saturday after signing gun control legislation.

The Baltimore Sun first reported that the organization wouldnt endorse Gov. Larry Hogan during his re-election campaign as it had during his successful 2014 run for office.

The organization reduced Hogans A- rating earned four years ago to a C, NRA spokeswoman Jennifer Baker told the Sun. The grading reflects how well the candidate protects the rights of gun owners.

Hogan had signed a series of gun control bills in April, including a ban on bump stocks -- devices that let a weapon fire repeatedly, like a machine gun -- and a red flag law that makes it easier to remove guns from individuals deemed dangerous, the Hill reported.

He also said in July, while speaking at a local middle school where a 16-year-old girl died in a shooting, that he would reject the NRAs endorsement, according to the outlet. Hogans spokeswoman also told the outlet that he didnt think the organization were big fans of his at the time.

While the NRA has pulled its support ahead of next months midterm elections, Hogan campaign spokesman Doug Mayer told the Sun that the governor continues to support Second Amendment rights.

The governors position on guns will never change; he wants to make it harder for criminals and the mentally ill to get access to them, Mayer said. He will continue to pursue policies that work to achieve those goals.

Hogan is set to face Democratic challenger Ben Jealous in the November midterm elections. Poll results released earlier this month showed Hogan with a 22-point lead, the Sun reported.NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles!

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Judiciary Committee ranking member Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., wrote a letter to President Trump urging him to direct the FBI to investigate sexual assault allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.

The letter was made public on Sunday moments after the Judiciary Committee announced that Kavanaugh's accuser, Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, would testify about her claim on Thursday.

"The FBIs involvement is required in order to identify and interview all witnesses, review documentary evidence, and provide its report to the Senate," Schumer and Feinstein wrote. "It is not the FBIs job to determine credibility, but it is the FBIs job to gather facts. Regrettably, however, the FBI has thus far failed to act."

The pair of Democrats accused Trump of making "misleading statements" about whether the FBI should investigate Ford's claims against Kavanaugh. They also compared the current controversy to the sexual harassment allegations against Clarence Thomas by Anita Hill in 1991. In that case, the FBI investigated Hill's allegations and produced a report three days later, before the Judiciary Committee held its now-infamous hearings with Hill and Thomas.

"[T]he FBI has almost a full week to do its work," Schumer and Feinstein wrote. " ... [T]here is no legitimate basis for you to continue blocking the FBI from investigating this important matter."

Ford, now a 51-year-old California college professor, went public last week with her allegation that Kavanaugh assaulted her at a party when they were in high school. Kavanaugh, 53, an appellate court judge, denied the allegation and said he wanted to testify as soon as possible to clear his name.

The question of whether Ford would testify before the committee had gone unanswered for several days amid protracted back-and-forth tussling between Senate Republicans and Ford's legal team, who disagreed on the ideal timing of the hearing, as well as who should testify first and whether outside lawyers should be allowed to ask questions.

TOP DEM SUGGESTS KAVANAUGH'S PHILOSOPHY UNDERMINES ASSAULT DENIALS

Earlier Sunday, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told "Fox News Sunday" that Ford's lawyers were still contesting two GOP conditions  that Ford and Kavanaugh would be the only witnesses and that an independent counsel would ask the questions.

Graham promised a fair hearing in which both Ford and Kavanaugh "will be challenged" but added that "unless there's something more" to back up her accusation, then he's "not going to ruin Judge Kavanaugh's life over this."

FORD AGREES TO APPEAR AT THURSDAY HEARING, LAWYERS SAY

"I want to listen to her, but I'm being honest with you and everybody else. ...What am I supposed to do?" Graham asked, explaining his dilemma over an allegation of a 1980s incident that is past the statute of limitations for criminal charges. "But she should come forward. She should have her say."

Fox News' Chris Wallace and The Associated Press contributed to this report.NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles!

Ahead of President Trump's trip to New York Sunday for key meetings with other world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told Fox News in no uncertain terms that the U.S. is "going to win" its ongoing trade dispute with China.

Pompeo, who previously served as Trump's CIA director, also warned that "we have real risk to outside agents trying to do harm to America" ahead of the midterm elections, and took a hard line on Iran and North Korea during the wide-ranging interview with host Chris Wallace on "Fox News Sunday."

"The trade war by China against the United States has been going on for years," Pompeo said. "Here's what's different in this administration. To the extent one wants to call this a trade war, we are determined to win it."

China pulled out of scheduled trade talks with the U.S. this week as tensions between the two countries have escalated. On Monday, the White House announced new tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese imports and, in retaliation, China imposed its own taxes on $60 billion in U.S. goods. In response, Trump has vowed further tariffs on an additional $267 billion in imports.

POMPEO REACTS TO REPORT ROSENSTEIN WANTED TO TAKE DOWN TRUMP

"To the extent one wants to call this a trade war, we are determined to win it."  Secretary of State Mike Pompeo

"We're going to get an outcome which forces China to behave in a way that if you want to be a power -- a global power transparency, rule of law -- you don't steal intellectual property -- the fundamental principles of trade around the world: fairness, reciprocity," Pompeo said. "Those are the things President Trump has told his counterpart there, who he very much likes. Those are the things the American people are demanding and the American workers deserve."

Clamping down on Chinese intellectual property theft has been a rare issue of bipartisan consensus on Capitol Hill. In June, Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., praised Trump for hitting back at China, saying in an interview that "China takes total advantage of the United States. They steal our intellectual property using cyber theft."

Discussions on Iran and North Korea were expected to dominate at the U.N. General Assembly. Last month, Trump ended U.S. participation in the Obama-era nuclear deal with Iran, reimposing brusing sanctions that have upended the country's economy and threatened the ruling government's stability. Further sanctions on oil are set to go into effect later this year and do even more damage.

Trump, who had long called that deal a "horrible" arrangement, would be willing to speak with Iran's leadership at the U.N., Pompeo said -- but, he suggested, the conversation would not be entirely cordial.

WATCH: IS IRAN NOW CLOSE TO TOTAL ECONOMIC COLLAPSE?

"The president said hell talk with anyone if we can have a constructive conversation," Pompeo told Wallace. We want Iran to stop being the large -- worlds largest state sponsor of terror, but make no mistake about it: theres no indication that they have any intent of doing this. Just this past couple of weeks, theyve come after American interests inside of Iraq, in Basra, and in Baghdad."

The talks would come at a particularly tense time between the U.S. and Iran: Gunmen attacked a military parade in the southwest Iranian city of Ahvaz on Saturday, killing at least 24 people -- including eight members of the Revolutionary Guard -- and wounding 53, state media said.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, Pompeo's counterpart, blamed the episode on regional countries and their "U.S. masters," apparently referencing Saudi Arabia and Israel.

"With respect to the attacks overnight, I saw the comments of Zarif," Pompeo said. "When you have a security incident at home, blaming others is an enormous mistake. And the loss of innocent life is tragic, and I wish Zarif would focus on keeping his own people secure rather than causing insecurity all around the world."

Pompeo added that "we'll talk a lot" this week in New York about progress being made with North Korea.

"We have now achieved the ceasing of missile testing, the ceasing of nuclear testing," Pompeo said. "We have gotten the remains of 55 Americans. We're in deep discussions about how to proceed with respect to denuclearization. President Moon [Jae-In] traveled to Pyongyang for the third time this past week and made progress. We're continuing to make progress. These are all the right steps forward. It's the right path."

During Moon's visit to North Korea, the country's dictator, Kim Jong-Un, reportedly told him that he wanted a second summit with President Trump, which Pompeo has said the U.S. is "working on." Moon also spoke directly to the North Korean public and discussed a peaceful future between the two countries.

Critics have charged, however, that the Trump administration hasn't followed through on its promise to extract meaningful concessions from North Korea -- including the elimination of the country's nuclear arsenal -- since Trump's historic initial meeting with Kim in Signapore this summer.

"The administration's position hasn't changed one jot from the time we entered this discussion," Pompeo insisted. "I don't want to get into the details of the negotiations that are underway. But we've talked about particular facilities, particular weapon systems, those conversations are underway. And we are hopeful that we can deliver this outcome for the world."

Pompeo also responded to a New York Times report that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein last year suggested secretly recording President Trump to expose chaos in the White House and enlisting Cabinet members to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove him from office. Rosenstein has strenuously denied the report, and a source in the room told Fox News the remark was "sarcastic."



"Im not going to comment on that in any way, other than to say this: Ive been pretty clear since my beginning of service here in this administration, if you cant be on the team, if youre not supporting this mission, then maybe you ought to find something else to do, Pompeo said.

Talking about wearing a wire to take down the president, Pompeo said flatly, was "not remotely" the behavior of a team player.

Fox News' Samuel Chamberlain and Jake Gibson contributed to this report.NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles!

Christine Ford, the California professor accusing Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault more than three decades ago, is "being used" by Democrats who have "betrayed her," Sen. Lindsey Graham told "Fox News Sunday."

Graham, R-S.C., a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, also made clear that Republicans "are not going to turn the hearing over to her lawyers" by allowing them to dictate which witnesses to call, or in what order to call the witnesses. If Ford's lawyer's persist, Graham said, "there won't be a hearing."



The South Carolina Republican specifically took an apparent shot at Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., who received Ford's allegations in a confidential letter in July through a Northern California congresswoman. Ford only went public last week after news of the letter's existence leaked to the Intercept -- a leak Republicans have linked to Senate Democrats.



"I'm want to listen to Dr. Ford," Graham said. "I feel sorry for her. I think she's being used here. If she truly wanted to be anonymous, the person who brought this allegation to the public owes her an apology."

FOURTH PURPORTED WITNESS, A LIFELONG FRIEND OF FORD'S, SAYS NO RECOLLECTION OF ATTACK

He added: "I dont know what Dr. Ford expected us to do with an anonymous letter. If she wanted to stay anonymous those who betrayed her need to apologize."

That criticism was echoed last week by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, who wrote a letter telling Feinstein, "I cannot overstate how disappointed I am" in her handling of Ford's claims.

"I feel sorry for her. I think she's being used here."  Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.

Ford's legal team last week asked the Senate Judiciary Committee to agree to certain terms before she sits down for a potential interview. Among the terms: Only members of the committee -- no lawyers -- can question her; Kavanaugh cannot be in the room at the time; and Kavanaugh should be questioned first, before he has the opportunity to hear Ford's testimony.

But, Graham said, some of those requests were nonstarters, especially because Ford has already been granted several extensions to make a decision on when to testify.

"Chairman [Chuck] Grassley has bent over backwards to make this happen," Graham told host Chris Wallace. "The offer is Thursday at 10 o'clock. She made ten conditions through her lawyer. We've accepted six.

"We're not going to turn over to the other side how many witnesses to call. There will be two witnesses, Dr. Ford, then Judge Kavanaugh, and we'll hire our own counsel. ... If they continue to contest those two things, there won't be a hearing. If they really want to be heard, they can be heard in a small room with a lot of security, limited press availability, she'll be treated fairly. But we're not going to turn the hearing over to her lawyers."



Asked by Wallace whether Republicans wanted to bring in outside lawyers simply to avoid the optics of having the all-male Republican contingent on the Judiciary Committee asking Ford questions, Graham said there were other concerns at play.

"We've got 11 politicians who haven't done a trial in about 20 years," Graham said. "I thought it would be really smart to have someone come in who knows what the hell they're doing, to ask the questions, to be respectful."

WATCH: DEM SENATOR TELLS MEN ACROSS THE US TO 'SHUT UP AND STEP UP,' SAYS 'SOMETHING SMELLS'

Graham also rejected an impassioned plea last week by Hawaii Democratic Sen. Mazie Hirono, who told men to "shut up and step up" in the wake of the accusations against Kavanaugh.

"I am not going to shut up, with all due respect," Graham said. "When I voted for Sotomayor and Kagan, no one on the other side told me to shut up."



He added: "What am I supposed to do? Go ahead and ruin this guy's life, based on an accusation -- I don't know when it happened, I don't know where it happened, and everybody named in regard to being there said it didn't happen. I'm just being honest. Unless there's something more, no, I'm not going to ruin Judge Kavanuagh's life over this."

Ford, in an interview with The Washington Post, said Kavanaugh forcibly threw her onto a bed and tried to remove her clothes more than 35 years ago at a high school house party. Ford, who said Kavanaugh tried covering her mouth before she escaped, has acknowledged she is unable to recall exactly when the alleged attack occured, who owned the house involved, and why there was a gathering there.

She has also said her therapist inaccurately recorded that four boys were involved in the assault, rather than two.

Graham also reacted to reports over the weekend that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein suggested wearing a wire to take down President Trump -- a remark that a source in the room has told Fox News was "sarcastic."

WATCH: HANNITY SAYS THE DEEP STATE IS 'CRUMBLING,' WARNS TRUMP THAT FIRING ROSENSTEIN IS A SETUP

"We need a special counsel to look at this, not Mr. [Michael] Horowitz, the IG [Inspector General of the Justice Department]," Graham said, after arguing that Rosenstein shouldn't be fired unless the president thinks he's lying. "Rosenstein is doing this country a great disservice by not appointing a special counsel to look at all this.

"Theres a bureaucratic coup against President Trump being undiscovered here," Graham said. "Before the election, the people in question tried to taint the election to tip it in Clintons' favor -- and after the election they are trying to undermine the president. I dont know what Rosenstein did, but I know what [Andy] McCabe, [Bruce] Ohr, [Lisa] Page and [Peter]Strzok did. They tried to destroy this president."NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles!

Sen. Mazie Hirono on Sunday suggested that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh's "outcome-driven" conservative judicial philosophy directly undermines the credibility of his denials that he sexually assaulted California professor Christine Ford at a house party more than three decades ago.

Speaking to CNN's "State of the Union," Hirono, D-Hawaii, called for an independent FBI investigation of Ford's claims, before explaining why the presumption of innocence and due process should not apply to Kavanaugh's case.

"I put his denial in the context of everything that I know about him in terms of how he approaches his cases," Hirono told host Jake Tapper, in response to a question about whether Kavanaugh was entitled to a presumption of innocence. "His credibility is already very questionable in my mind. ... When I say that he's very outcome-driven, he has an ideological agenda, and I can sit here and talk to you about some of the cases that exemplify his, in my view, inability to be fair."

WATCH: HIRONO LASHES OUT AT 'MEN IN THIS COUNTRY,' TELLS THEM TO 'SHUT UP AND STAND UP'

Hirono went on to say Kavanaugh is "very much against women's reproductive choice," characterizing his legal views as one of "many indications of lack of credibility."

The top senator, who serves on the Judiciary Committee, left open the door to impeaching Kavanaugh if he is confirmed -- an idea floated by some Democrats, including Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., last week.

"I know that Maryland has eliminated the statute of limitations for kidnapping and sexual assault," she said. "So there may be an investigation along those lines. This is a situation that is not going to go away."

The Supreme Court has held that changes to statutes of limitations cannot apply retroactively to enable the prosecution of past offenses, pursuant the Ex Post Facto provision of the Constitution. However, the Senate can technically remove any federal judge based on a two-thirds vote, regardless of whether a specific crime has been committed.

"This is a situation that is not going to go away."  Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii

KEY DETAILS SHIFT IN FORD'S STORY, AS PURPORTED WITNESSES LINE UP TO DISPUTE HER VERSION OF EVENTS

All of the individuals that Ford has said were at the house during the alleged assault -- including Kavanaugh, Mark Judge, classmate Patrick Smyth, and her own longtime friend, Leland Ingham Keyser -- have denied knowledge of the episode, under penalty of felony, in interviews with the Judiciary Committee. Ford has said she does not recall who owned the house where the alleged attack occurred, nor why there was a gathering there or exactly when the incident occurred.

Nevertheless, at a fiery press conference last week, the Hawaii Democrat blasted the men in this country, blaming them for sexual assault and urging them to just shut up and step up." She added: I expect the men in this country and the men on this committee, because we all signed onto this letter, to demand an FBI investigation."

That led Republicans to accuse Hirono and other Democrats of hypocrisy over the case of U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison, who is running for attorney general of Minnesota. Ellison has received only muted criticism from top Democrats, and the Democratic National Committee weighed in on the abuse allegations against him for the first time only hours before polls closed in his key primary race last month.

KEITH ELLISON SAYS ACCUSER FABRICATED DOMESTIC ABUSE STORY, WARNS OTHERS MAY 'COOK UP' ALLEGATIONS

"I've been very clear that I make no excuses for anyone who engages in this kind of behavior," Hirono said. "As far as Keith Ellison, these allegations need to be investigated and appropriate action taken."

Hirono then pivoted immediately back to Kavanaugh's case, saying she wants to be "laser-focused" on the ongoing nomination battle.

"I do not want to have a person on the Supreme Court who doesn't seem to be able to apply the facts in ways that do not meet his outcome-driven agenda," she said.

A tentative agreement has been reached to have Ford testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday, although key details remain uncertain as Republicans continue to accuse Ford's team of delaying the process.

In a letter last week, Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, told Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., that he "cannot overstate how disappointed" he was that Feinstein had kept Ford's allegations a secret for weeks after learning about them in July. Ford went public only after news of the allegations leaked to The Intercept -- which Republicans have suggested was orchestrated as a last-minute effort to derail Kavanaugh's confirmation just days before a key vote in the Judiciary Committee.

HIRONO TOOK CAMPAIGN CASH FROM SENATOR WHO ADMITTED HITTING HIS WIFE

Now that a hearing has been set for Thursday, Hirono told Tapper that she is interested in questioning Kavanaugh about "what kind of environment it was in high school -- apparently there was a lot of drinking and partying going on."

Earlier this month, Hirono pressed Kavanaugh during his confirmation hearings 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.

Hirono also directly asked Kavanaugh during that hearing whether he had ever committed acts of sexual misconduct as a "legal adult." She told Tapper on Sunday she did not inquire about juvenile behavior because those records, she said, often remain sealed -- but she maintained that she was still interested in whether Kavanaugh had attacked Ford, as alleged, when he was 17.NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles!

President Trump appeared to blame Attorney General Jeff Sessions for the latest controversy surrounding Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein Sunday, saying that Sessions had "hired" Rosenstein to be his second-in-command.

"He was hired by Jeff Sessions," Trump said in an interview with "The Geraldo Show" on WTAM radio. "I was not involved in that process because, you know, they go out and get their own deputies and the people that work in the department."

Trump announced on Jan. 31, 2017 he would nominate Rosenstein to be deputy attorney general. The Senate confirmed him that April.

The New York Times reported Friday that Rosenstein had discussed secretly recording the president and enlisting Cabinet members to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office. Rosenstein has denied the report, and one person who was present at the time told Fox News the deputy attorney general was being "sarcastic" when he made the suggestion.

Trump told Geraldo Rivera on Sunday that the report was "a very sad story" and promised "we will make a determination" about what to do next. At a rally in Missouri on Friday night, the president said there was a "lingering stench" at the Justice Department that "we're going to get rid of."

ROSENSTEIN REPORTEDLY DISCUSSED WEARING 'WIRE,' INVOKING 25TH AMENDMENT AGAINST TRUMP

Rosenstein made the comment about possibly recording Trump during a May 2017 meeting with Andrew McCabe, who had temporarily been elevated to FBI director following James Comey's firing. McCabe himself was fired in March of this year amid an internal Justice Department investigation that concluded he repeatedly lied about his involvement in a news media disclosure.

Trump also told Rivera that Christine Blasey Ford, the woman who has accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault, should "have her voice."

KAVANAUGH'S ACCUSER TO SPEAK AT OPEN SENATE HEARING THURSDAY

"Let her say whatever she has to say," the president said. "Let him say what he has to say. And at the end, these senators will make a choice."

The Senate Judiciary Committee announced Sunday that Ford and Kavanaugh would testify on Thursday about Ford's claim that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her at a high school party in the early 1980s.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.NASAs says its new $1 billion satellite will give humanity a stronger, data-backed vision of exactly how fast Earths ice is melting.

The satellite, ICESat-2, which has a 91-day orbit, is the size of a Smart car and will send lasers back down to Earth countless times in order to give scientists a precise measurementdown to within a centimeterof the planets polar ice sheets and how theyre changing, according to the agency.

Scientists will be able to examine how the ice is responding to changes in the atmosphere and the ocean, giving them a picture over time of what is making the ice melt or not in certain areas.

Once they gather this data about the thickness of sea ice and the height of ice sheets, it will inform their future models to better predict potential sea level rise scenarios, NASA says.

JAPAN LOWERS ROVERS ONTO 'DUMPLING' ASTEROID, HOPEFUL OF HISTORIC TOUCHDOWN

As the climate is warming, we are seeing changes in the sea levelsea level is rising, Helen Fricker, a professor of glaciology at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography who worked with NASA on the ICESat-2 project, told WBUR. But the ultimate thing that we're trying to get to is, how much ice will we lose and how quickly will we lose it?

According to NASA, melting ice in Greenland and Antarctica has increased the global sea level more than a millimeter per year, which is a third of the overall increase.

ICESat-2, which launched on Sept. 15, is capable of providing much more comprehensive coverage of ice loss across the world.

ASTRONAUTS GOING TO MARS WILL ABSORB CRAZY AMOUNTS OF RADIATION. HOW WE KNOW HOW MUCH.

In the time it takes someone to blink, sort of half a second, ICESat-2 is going to collect 5,000 measurements in each of its six beams, and its going to do that every hour, every day  its a tremendous amount of data, Tom Neumann, NASAs deputy project scientist, told the Guardian.

According to Fricker, the first data from ICESat-2 will start coming back by mid-October.

It's going to be all hands on deck for several months while we work out what these data are telling us, and we really wait. It's incredibly exciting, she said.Addressing the event, Phoc, who is the Auditor General of Vietnam, said that the ASOSAI has become an influential organisation in promoting the independence, transparency, professionalism and responsibility in the field of auditing in the region.

The Governing Board meeting will focus on tasks for the time ahead, including the implementation of the 12th research project, and preparations for the 54th meeting of the board and the 15th ASOSAI Assembly, he said.

Members of the board approved the minute of the 52nd Governing Board meeting and agreed to keep India as the Editor-in-Chief of the ASOSAI Magazine for another term from 2021-2024.

Regarding the theme for the 12th research project, ASOSAI Secretary General Hu Zejun said that the ASOSAI Secretariat had received 38 suggestions from 16 SAIs and chose 24 for the recommendation list.

After discussion, participants agreed on the topics of the 12th research project, which are audit of implementation of sustainable development goals; SAIs role in the detection and evaluation of fiscal impacts and risks from public debts, and support for auditors in digital era.

On the 15th Assembly of the ASOSAI slated for 2021 in Thailand, Thai Audit General Sirin Phankasem pledged to exchange information with member SAIs during the preparations for the event, expressing hope for collaboration from other SAIs.

Concluding the meeting, Phoc thanked the ASOSAI members for cooperation with the State Audit of Vietnam during the organisation of the ASOSAIs 14th Assembly.

The 54th and 55th meetings of the ASOSAI Governing Board will take place in Kuwait and Bangladesh in 2019 and 2020, respectively.PayPal is the latest tech company to ban conspiracy theory site Infowars over its controversial content.

"We undertook an extensive review of the Infowars sites, and found instances that promoted hate or discriminatory intolerance against certain communities and religions, which run counter to our core value of inclusion," PayPal told PCMag in a Friday email.

InfoWars, which is run by right-wing web show host Alex Jones, said PayPal gave it 10 days to find an alternate payment provider before terminating the service.

PayPal didn't cite the specific instances of hate speech, but Infowars claims the content involved "criticism of Islam and opposition to transgenderism being to taught children in schools." PayPal's user agreement explicity prohibits "threatening or harassing" acts, in addition to providing false or misleading information.

DON'T FALL FOR THE LATEST FAKE CHECK SCAMS

The service termination may inconvenience InfoWars financially. To earn revenue, the site sells nutritional supplements and other products Jones routinely promotes to his listeners. Going forward, customers will have to pay with debit or credit cards supported by Visa, Discover, American Express, or Mastercard.

PayPal declined to comment on why it decided to ban Infowars now, given the site's long-standing reputation for posting controversial content. But it occurs two weeks after Twitter also banned the conspiracy theory site and Jones over what it deemed were harassing tweets. In August, Apple, Facebook, and YouTube also expelled Jones and Infowars from their platforms over hate speech.

The successive bans threaten to limit Infowars' reach across the internet. In response, Jones has been claiming that tech companies are out to censor right-wing voices on the web. It's an allegation President Trump has also leveled at Silicon Valley

'ONE IN THREE TRIPADVISOR REVIEWS ARE FAKE,' INVESTIGATION FINDS

"They better be careful, because you can't do that to people," Trump said last month. "We have literally thousands and thousands of complaints coming in."

The major internet companies including Google, Twitter and Facebook deny that their products discriminate against conservative viewpoints. Nevertheless, the US Justice Department is seeking to convene a meeting next week with state attorneys general to discuss "growing concern" that the tech companies are hurting competition and stifling ideas. However, Reuters reports the meeting may be delayed to November.

This article originally appeared on PCMag.com.This is a rush transcript from "Sunday Morning Futures," September 23, 2018. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

MARIA BARTIROMO, HOST: Good Sunday morning, everyone. Thanks for joining us.

A tentative date is set for Brett Kavanaugh and the woman accusing him of sexual assault to testify before Senate lawmakers. But will that date hold?

President Trump walking back his decision to declassify documents related to the Russia probe, as he gets ready to address fellow world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly this week.

Good morning. I'm Maria Bartiromo. Thanks so much for joining us. Welcome to "Sunday Morning Futures."

Thursday could be the date Judge Brett Kavanaugh and his accuser appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee. But both sides have concerns about the format of the questioning and who would go first.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte will be with me coming up.

Plus, we will ask Chairman Goodlatte about President Trump's about-face, saying he will wait before declassifying key documents involving the Russia investigation and Justice Department officials.

We will also talk to another person fighting to see those documents, Judicial Watch Tom Fitton.

And what will the president's message be when the -- he addresses the General Assembly at the U.N. this week? We will get the details in my exclusive interview coming up with National Security Adviser John Bolton, a man who knows the ins and outs of that international body. I will ask Ambassador Bolton about the administration's new offensive to fight cyber- attacks, as we look ahead right now on "Sunday Morning Futures."

And we kick off with breaking news.

Sources are telling Fox News this morning that, right now, there is a tentative agreement for Supreme Court Justice nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh and his accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, a California psychology professor, to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee this upcoming Thursday about her allegation that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her during a house party when both were teenagers in the early 1980s.

Kavanaugh emphatically denies the charge. And, recently, a fourth person claimed by Ford to have attended the decades-old gathering says she has no recollection of attending the party and doesn't know Judge Kavanaugh.

But the allegation appears to be taking a toll in the realm of public debate. A new Fox News poll just out this morning shows a record number of voters now oppose Kavanaugh's nomination in the wake of Ford's assault allegations, with 50 percent saying that they wouldn't vote to confirm him. That's up from 46 percent last month, as more people now believe Ford over Kavanaugh.

Still, there are others, including many Republicans, that are asking about Judge Kavanaugh's right to due process and the last-minute timing of this accusation in such a politically charged environment.

We have House Judiciary Committee Chairman and Virginia Republican Congressman Bob Goodlatte standing by this morning. And we will speak with him in moments.

But, first, let's quickly get to the latest on where we stand with all of this.

Fox News Capitol Hill senior producer Chad Pergram, who -- joins me right now on the telephone with the latest.

Chad, good morning. What can you tell us?

CHAD PERGRAM, FOX NEWS SENIOR CAPITOL HILL PRODUCER: Good morning.

The question is whether this prospective plan to hear from Christine Blasey Ford at 10:00 a.m. on Thursday crumbles. Everything so far has been so tenuous and so fluid, it's hard to tell if something's going to change.

Now, if this does fall apart today, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley is poised to have a committee vote on Brett Kavanaugh 24 hours from right now and advance the nomination to the Senate floor.

But the big unknown is whether Republicans on the committee or even other GOP senators could bulk, telling Grassley he can't have a vote because they lack information about the allegations. That's the wild card.

If they do move ahead, running through all of the Senate procedural traps, by the books, it would take until about Friday night, at the earliest, for a confirmation vote on the floor. But, still, this nomination might be in peril.

The Senate is divided, 51 Republicans, 49 Democrats. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, he's a very good vote counter. If any Republican senator jumps ship or tells McConnell to tap the brakes, this nomination may lack the votes on the floor. The Senate math is paramount, Maria.

BARTIROMO: All right, we are watching this and whether or not they have the votes.

So, we're still waiting to see if Thursday takes place, then, Chad?

PERGRAM: Absolutely.

And, again, you don't have to have a successful vote out of the committee to move something to the Senate floor. Robert Bork, when he was confirmed, he got no recommendation from the committee, and even though -- I should say Clarence Thomas, Clarence Thomas. In the case of Robert Bork, though, he got a negative recommendation from the committee.

Why is a committee vote even necessary? Well, you have a lot of senators who don't sit on the Judiciary Committee. And they need to have advice from their fellow senators on this type of nomination or any nom.

But, again, I go back to that math. That math on the floor is going to be critical. There was a nomination earlier this year which was torpedoed at the last moment...

BARTIROMO: Right.

PERGRAM: ... a nominee for the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, who they pulled off the floor because they realized at the last moment they didn't have the votes.

BARTIROMO: Chad, thank you, Chad Pergram joining us there in Washington.

Let's now bring in House Judiciary Committee Chairman Virginia Congressman Bob Goodlatte.

Mr. Chairman, thanks so much for joining us this morning.

REP. BOB GOODLATTE, R-VIRGINIA: Maria, it's great to be with you.

BARTIROMO: What can you tell us about this process and what's going on? How do you see things?

GOODLATTE: Well, I think that Chairman Grassley has bent over backwards to make sure that these very serious allegations give the woman making the charges, Ms. Ford, an opportunity to come and testify.

In fact, he's offered her about four different ways to go about doing that. I think if she is serious about these charges, she needs to come and testify. So I'm glad there's at least a tentative agreement.

But we can't have a situation where very legitimate nominees for very important government positions have charges placed against them at the very last minute, and then they're used as a delaying tactic to try to derail the nomination. That is simply inappropriate. The Democrats on the committee are clearly doing that.

So I think he's handled it well. But I think he's also right to say, either come and testify at the time appointed, or we need to go ahead with our vote.

BARTIROMO: But, Mr. Chairman, isn't that exactly what you're faced with, frankly? I mean, that's what's going on. I mean, if she -- if Ms. Ford continues to come up with new demands, and pushing it back and pushing it back, then -- then they're victorious. Then they are delaying the vote as much as possible and trying hard to kill it.

GOODLATTE: Well, there are a great many people who think that's exactly what's going on.

But, again, these are serious allegations. And Judge Kavanaugh has been vehement in his denial of the charges. So, they both need to have the opportunity to speak their piece on the issue. And if she not going to press the allegation with her own testimony, then I think they have to go ahead with the vote.

BARTIROMO: Do you feel that there will be the -- do you have the votes in the Senate?

GOODLATTE: Well, I believe that the votes are there.

But I also think it's very important that everyone who votes on this feels like there has been a fair process offered, so that these last-minute charges can be properly aired.

And let me also say, this most recent demand by her attorneys that Judge Kavanaugh goes first just defies all important precedent in matters like this. She has not testified. We have not even seen, to my knowledge, the letter that she sent to Senator Feinstein that Senator Feinstein sat on for two months.

But now he's expected to come forward and deny allegations that she hasn't even made in any formal fashion at this point. I think that's entirely inappropriate. She needs to come forward. She needs to offer her testimony. And then he needs to have the opportunity to testify and tell what he knows, if anything, about this whole incident, other than his clear and outright denial that it ever took place.

BARTIROMO: Well, you're -- well, you're right. I mean, the last time I checked, that -- that's the way America works. You are innocent until proven guilty, and she's making the accusations. It would -- it seems weird to have him go first if she's the one making the charges.

But we will see where that goes.

If she doesn't testify on Thursday, do you believe the Senate will hold the vote?

GOODLATTE: I think they should go forward with the vote. I think that would be a very clear indication that the only thing on the table is an outstanding record on the part of a very experienced judge, perhaps one of the most qualified nominees ever for the United States Supreme Court.

And this last-minute charge, not even pressed by the person alleging it, would, I think, call for a vote and a confirmation of Judge Kavanaugh.

BARTIROMO: All right, Mr. chairman, let me move on to another incredibly explosive story, and that is, of course, about Rod Rosenstein, the attorney-- the deputy attorney general.

My question here is, I don't understand how Rod Rosenstein could convene a meeting with other Justice Department officials and the president, convince the president to walk back declassifying documents, and then we learned that he was willing to wear a wire and invoke the 25th Amendment to take down President Trump.

He also, we know, OKed the final FISA warrant, which we know was based on unverified information. How is Rod Rosenstein leading and able to do this? How is the president even listening to him post all of this?

GOODLATTE: Well, I can't answer for the president.

But I can say this, that I have told the president that I think it is very, very important that the American people get access to the information that underlies all of this.

So, several things. First of all, the president should move forward expeditiously. We do have to make sure that sources and methods for classified information are not revealed. But that can be done. And it can be done expeditiously, particularly with regard to this information, where an awful lot of it is already out in the news media.

But key, key points that we do not have the clear final input on our in documents that we need to have declassified. So the president should continue to press for that and should press for it to be done as quickly as possible.

Secondly, we have been very, very concerned about the lack of production of some documents. We have gotten lot of documents, access to more than a million documents from the Department of Justice, from -- but some key, key documents, including the so-called McCabe memos, which could very directly bear upon this question of what was Rod Rosenstein doing in that meeting immediately prior to the appointment of Robert Mueller as the special counsel, and are these allegations that are in The New York Times actually true, I think that can be -- a lot of light can be shed on that if the documents we have been requesting for quite some time are made public.

So, as a result of that, this week, if they're not produced by tomorrow or Tuesday of this week, we are going to issue a subpoena to the Justice Department that expands upon the subpoena we issued earlier this year. It includes the McCabe memos and some other documents that have been requested by us, but thus far not produced, including Peter Strzok's personnel file, some of the Strzok-Page texts, the Bruce Ohr 301 and some other things.

Now, some of these may be declassified in this process with the president. But whether they are or not, the Congress is entitled to see them unredacted, and they're entitled to see them right now. And it's especially important, now that this new crisis of confidence has arisen in the conduct of Mr. Rosenstein, but most importantly because we want to get to the bottom of how this investigation was ever launched in the first place way back in the first half of 2016 during the presidential election.

BARTIROMO: Right.

And we know that it wasn't based on any official intelligence. We have gone through this for the last year between you, your colleagues in Congress, Devin Nunes, John Ratcliffe, Trey Gowdy. We know that it was based on nothing.

But I guess my question here is, in terms of next week and the potential subpoena, with all due respect, sir, you have been asking for lots of documents for a long time. Do you have any confidence that you're actually going to get the McCabe memos or these documents that you want?

Are you willing to go all the way if, in fact, you should subpoena those documents and you still don't get them? What -- what -- how is there accountability?

GOODLATTE: Yes, we are going -- we are going to persist in this.

And we have obtained a very substantial amount of information. Our understanding of what was going on in 2016 and into 2017 is greatly enhanced because of compliance by the Department of Justice and the FBI with our earlier subpoena.

There are still issues outstanding. And this relatively new request with regard to the McCabe memos must be resolved.

BARTIROMO: Right.

GOODLATTE: But I have every confidence that it will occur because I know, for example, that the president of the United States wants the American people to know what was going on...

BARTIROMO: Right.

GOODLATTE: ... and also to see the contrast between how the FBI bent over backwards to afford every opportunity to not prosecute Hillary Clinton...

BARTIROMO: Right.

GOODLATTE: ... and at the same time in the same manner leaned in, in ways that are inexplicable, other than for political motivation...

BARTIROMO: Yes.

GOODLATTE: ... to launch an investigation without having any meaningful evidence that there was a basis for launching the investigation into so- called Trump-Russia collusion, which now more than two years later, we still see no evidence of such a thing.

BARTIROMO: It's quite extraordinary. And I have to say, I didn't believe it from the moment it started.

The president tweeted this yesterday. He says: "I met with the DOJ concerning the declassification of various unredacted documents. They agreed to release them, but stated that so doing may have a perceived negative impact on the Russia probe. Also, key allies called to asked not to release. Therefore, the inspector general has been asked to review these documents on an expedited basis.

"I believe we will move quickly on this and hopefully other things which he is looking at. In the end, I can always declassify if it proves necessary. Speed is very important to me and everyone."

Mr. Chairman, I got to get your reaction to this with the midterm elections less than 50 days away.

Stay with us. A lot more from you when we come right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)



BARTIROMO: Welcome back.

I am back with House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte.

And, Mr. Chairman, in the president's tweet yesterday, he said: "Speed is important to everyone."

When would you expect the American people to get a sense of what is in those FISA documents that the president initially said he would declassify?

GOODLATTE: Well, the president needs to remain hands-on, on this issue. He needs to be personally engaged in overseeing the process by which those documents are declassified.

I'm glad he has entrusted the inspector general at the Department of Justice to help with this, because I have great confidence in the inspector general. But he needs to be in constant contact with the president and the White House staff about accomplishing this, and accomplishing it very quickly, in a matter of days, not weeks, to get these documents released in a form that protect sources and methods, but lets the American people see what has been going on.

(CROSSTALK)

GOODLATTE: Transparency should be at the heart of this. That's where the president's heart is. And that is, in my opinion, what needs to happen here, so everyone can judge for themselves...

BARTIROMO: I mean, is it possible...

GOODLATTE: ... what was going on.

BARTIROMO: Is it possible that Rod Rosenstein is overseeing the Robert Mueller investigation, and yet Rosenstein was the one who OKed the fourth FISA warrant? How is that possible?

And then now we know about this other report that he...

GOODLATTE: Well, we...

BARTIROMO: ... wanted to wear a wire and invoke the 25th.

GOODLATTE: Well, that's why I think it's so important that these documents get out, because, in my opinion -- and I'm not going to point fingers at any particular individual -- we know there's a lot of tension between people like James Comey and John -- McCabe and Rod Rosenstein.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

GOODLATTE: But we need to have the facts out, so that we can decide for ourselves.

And I will repeat again what I have said for many months now. And that is that the attorney general of the United States needs to appoint a special counsel to look into all of this, because there are potential conflicts there. But it's hard to conclude what those conflicts are when not all the documents are out there and we have conflicting reports in various sources of the news media.

BARTIROMO: Right.

GOODLATTE: Just like with the Kavanaugh and Ford matter, we shouldn't be trying this in the media. We should be letting the United States Senate follow their process and make a decision there.

BARTIROMO: Right.

GOODLATTE: And, here, the House of Representatives...

BARTIROMO: Understood.

GOODLATTE: ... the people's house, needs to have access to these documents, so that then the American people can learn what has transpired in what I think is a major miscarriage of justice in these two investigations, two incredibly important investigations begun in 2016.

BARTIROMO: Right.

(CROSSTALK)

BARTIROMO: Yes.

I just want to ask you real quick, before you go, Mr. Chairman. I just want to reiterate the breaking news that you just gave us. And that is, if you don't get the documents, including the McCabe memos, you will subpoena them next week.

And, number two, Nellie Ohr, is she refusing to testify?

GOODLATTE: No, Nellie Ohr is cooperating. We have a date for her appearance before the committee for an interview on October 19.

However, I think that your first point...

BARTIROMO: OK.

GOODLATTE: ... I want to reemphasize, it's not next week we will issue the subpoena. It's this week that we will issue the subpoena...

BARTIROMO: This week, this upcoming week.

GOODLATTE: ... if those documents are not immediately forthcoming.

BARTIROMO: Mr. Chairman, thank you.

We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BARTIROMO: Welcome back.

This upcoming Tuesday, President Trump is expected to deliver his second address before the United Nations. Topping the agenda will likely be denuclearization talks with North Korea, rising tensions with Iran, global trade, and his America-first view of foreign policy.

For a preview of what we could expect, in this exclusive interview right now, National Security Adviser John Bolton.

Ambassador, great to see you this morning. Thanks so much for joining us.

JOHN BOLTON, U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: Glad to be back.

BARTIROMO: What should we expect from the president this week?

BOLTON: Well, I think he's got a couple major possibilities really to help illuminate for the American people what America's place in the world is.

His General Assembly speech on Tuesday that you mentioned will talk a lot about American sovereignty, how that fits into America's place in the world as a whole. In addition, there's a Security Council meeting on Wednesday, where he will talk about his nonproliferation policies, dealing with the nuclear threats of North Korea and Iran. Very important to show how different his handling of those is because of the different circumstances.

And we have got major issues with two of the world's other powers, China on trade and on broader issues of geostrategic conflict, and Russia, where we're confronting in a number of different areas.

So I think the president will have a chance to show how full the international agenda is and how active he has been in each of these different areas.

BARTIROMO: Has China pushed back in any way since the president started pushing and poking China the way he has? Because we know that China has been stealing intellectual property for decades, and they won't admit it. Have they changed their behavior in any way?

BOLTON: Well, I think they're still trying to figure out what the president's up to, although there's no doubt, in some of the tariffs that they have imposed, they have targeted the president's supporters in Congress to see if they can change the majority.

I think a lot of people don't understand exactly what's at stake here. And I think the president will address this. This is not just an economic issue. This is not just talking about tariffs and the terms of trade. This is a question of power.

The intellectual property theft that you mentioned has a major impact on China's economic capacity, and, therefore, on its military capacity. And I think the president correctly understands, when China gets economic power by stealing from the United States and others, it's time to call a stop to it.

BARTIROMO: And then they are applying that economic power toward their military complex by creating these islands in the -- in the South China Sea and dominating them and then setting up -- setting up military bases there. Is that right?

BOLTON: Right, exactly.

China -- you know, they talk in the Middle East about creating facts on the ground in the Israel-Palestinian issue. China's creating the ground in the South China Sea and putting more facts on top of it. It's very dangerous, very aggressive, something that the administration has confronted.

And I think all of this goes to what will be the major theme of the 21st century, which is how China and the United States get along.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

Take us behind the scenes in that room, in the U.N. General Assembly, because you have got players like Syria, Russia. And there have been developments there in the news. What is most important that the American people need to focus on as we watch all of these players interact this upcoming week?

BOLTON: Well, I think it shows how complex the international environment is.

Let's take the case of Syria, where just in the past few days the Syrians shot down a Russian airplane, killing 15 Russians. They are allies, Syria and Russia. Russia has two bases, military bases in Syria.

This happened because of an Israeli airstrike against Iranians who are trying to equip the Hezbollah terrorists with ballistic missile capabilities.

So here's something that shows the continuing threat of Iran, not just on the nuclear side, but in aggressive, militaristic behavior in the region that puts us at risk of this kind of conflict.

BARTIROMO: What happens next with Iran? I mean, how do you see that relationship changing?

BOLTON: Well, the president's decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal has had a profound effect on Iran and the region as a whole. And with even stronger sanctions coming back in November, we think we have disrupted their efforts to impose their will in countries around the region.

We think these new sanctions coming in will have a significant economic and political effect inside the country. And that's what we want. We want massive changes in behavior by the regime in Iran. And if they don't undertake that, they will face more consequences, because we will find more sanctions to impose and other ways to put maximum pressure on them.

BARTIROMO: So, more consequences for Iran. You think then we will see further sanctions if they do not comply?

BOLTON: Absolutely, no doubt about it.

BARTIROMO: What about Syria? Will there be a response in terms of the U.S. and Syria?

BOLTON: Well, the president was very clear. He expects that Syria is not going to engage in a brutal invasion of Idlib province.

We have commented that, if Syria uses chemical weapons again, in Idlib or anywhere else, they will face a third response militarily from the United States. And it will not be small, because we want to make it clear that we expect this is never going to happen again.

So the Middle East remains extremely volatile. Our friend Israel is in danger from Iran. Our friends in the oil-producing monarchies of the Arabian Peninsula are at risk from Iran. And this -- the kind of economic and political instability that Iran is causing in that region and around the world is unacceptable.

BARTIROMO: And then there's the Qataris, who, of course, are friendly or partners with the Muslim Brotherhood.

BOLTON: Yes.

We have made it very clear we think all this support for terrorism should stop. The president's first overseas trip was in Riyadh, where he created the anti-terror coalition. All the countries that attended, including Qatar, promised to give up their support for terrorism. The Qataris need to make that -- need to make that come true.

BARTIROMO: As national security adviser, I wonder your thoughts on this whole cabal in the intelligence community and what we're dealing with in terms of the investigation into Trump-Russia collusion that is nonexistent two years later.

BOLTON: Well, you know, the president gets criticized for being soft on Russia.

I'm still waiting to see evidence of that. He has authorized us to take very strong action against election meddling by anybody, strong action against intrusions into our information technology systems by countries like Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran.

Just last week, he signed a new directive that reverses the Obama administration policy of not encouraging offensive cyber-operations by the United States. This is a major change in the way we're doing business.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

BOLTON: And our adversaries need to know that.

BARTIROMO: This is what I want to talk to you about.

Let's take a short break. I want to hear more about this new policy on cyber, because it is a reversal from President Obama's policy.

More of my exclusive interview coming up with National Security Adviser John Bolton.

Just days ago, Ambassador Bolton outlined the Trump administration's new policy to go on the offensive with those cyber-attacks.

We're looking ahead on "Sunday Morning Futures." Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)



BARTIROMO: Welcome back.

I'm back in my exclusive interview with National Security Adviser John Bolton.

Ambassador, we have news today that the committee says they have talked to four alleged to be at the party by Dr. Ford, including Judge and Kavanaugh. All four deny any knowledge of Dr. Ford's allegations, including being at the party itself.

Your thoughts on what's happening this morning and next week, the potential testimony of Ford and Kavanaugh?

BOLTON: Look, Judge Kavanaugh's an outstanding jurist. He's a fine man. I don't know him well personally.

But look at the testimonies he's had. And let's think about fundamental fairness here. I think his accuser is entitled to fairness. So is Judge Kavanaugh and his family.

So I think they ought to get on. If they're going to have the hearing, let's have it, and then let's get on, and let the senators vote.

BARTIROMO: You introduced a new cyber-policy. Why did you do this now? And why haven't we had a change in our cyber-policy in, what, 15 years?

BOLTON: Right.

This is the first fully articulated cyber-security strategy in 15 years, as you say. And it's long overdue. Things are moving in a very rapid pace. This document is not carved in tablets of stone. We're going to be monitoring and updating it.

We're worried about the private sector. We're worried about government information technology. And, as I mentioned, I think it's very important to create structures of deterrence by going on the offensive as well, which we're going to do.

BARTIROMO: And the biggest bad actors are?

BOLTON: Well, look, it's China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea. We have seen it in multiple hacks and damage done in both the private and the public sectors.

BARTIROMO: All right, we will leave it there.

Ambassador, it's great to have you on the program.

BOLTON: Glad to be back.

BARTIROMO: Thank you so much, John Bolton joining us there.

President Trump walking back on his order to declassify secret documents related to the ongoing investigation of Russia interference during the 2016 presidential election.

This rare retreat coming after key allies apparently asked him to refrain from releasing this, likely given the sensitive information they contain.

You just heard from House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte with breaking news on how they plan to subpoena the Department of Justice this upcoming week for the Andy McCabe memos if they do not receive those documents by this Tuesday.

Also, GPS Fusion researcher Nellie Ohr cooperating with the House Judiciary Committee. Bob Goodlatte told us there is a date for her to testify, October 19.

I want to bring in Tom Fitton right now. He is the president of Judicial Watch.

Tom, thanks very much for weighing in here.

We have a date, October 19. Your thoughts?

TOM FITTON, PRESIDENT, JUDICIAL WATCH: Well, going back to The New York Times story, we're talking about what was going on in the Justice Department, and we can't separate that, Nellie Ohr, jokes about recording the president or revoking the 25th Amendment, with the appointment of a special counsel.

It was all part of the piece. It was all part of the discussion that was going on talking about removing the president of the United States. And one of the options is appointing a special counsel.

So, now we have this Mueller special counsel that's harassing the president and doing as much damage to the presidency as any outrageous effort directly to remove him. It's hampering his ability to hire and fire people. It's hampering his ability to conduct foreign policy.

And it's hampering his ability to monitor and take care of the corruption going on at the Justice Department and the FBI.

BARTIROMO: You know, it's interesting.

Mark Penn is going to be joining us momentarily, and he wrote a great op-ed in The Hill this weekend. And in it, he writes about Rosenstein and his wry sense of humor. I understand that a lot of people say he's sarcastic. But, in another one of his "jokes" -- quote, unquote -- he appears to have quite the sense of humor.

He raised turning the tables on Congress by reviewing the e-mails of members and staff who were there to gather information from the FBI. Oh, just kidding.

You remember him saying that a couple of months, when Devin Nunes demanded documents be sent to Congress as part of this investigation, and he said, well, maybe we should just turn the table and start looking at your communication. Just kidding.

FITTON: And was Mr. Rosenstein joking when he signed off on that dirty FISA spy warrant targeting the Trump team, based on the Clinton-DNC dossier, that he's instrumental in withholding full information about from the American people?

There's a real crisis here. And as I -- but, removing Rosenstein, Sessions, it doesn't get to the issue of the special counsel operation that would continue. And, of course, if the president were to do anything like remove an official, he'd be subject to criminal investigation again.

Look, this crowd thought he wasn't allowed to remove FBI Director Comey. And he went after one of his cronies for corruption, and the reaction was a special counsel.

Now the Democrats are saying that, if he removes Rosenstein, they're going to have more reason to impeach him. He needs to challenge the Mueller operation. He's being inhibited in his role as president.

And if the Justice Department won't do it, or if he declines to do it directly, he should see court relief.

BARTIROMO: Do you believe the American people will see those documents, will see the FISA warrant, so that the American people can clearly understand how they got a warrant to wiretap an American citizen based on unverified information?

FITTON: We have already seen part of the warrants. I think we will see the rest of the warrants. The question is when.

The deep state's approach here is out of a page -- is a page out of the Nixon handbook, which is the modified limited hangout, let it come out slowly, over a period of time, and hopefully people won't remember, and it gives the Mueller operation as much time as he needs to try to damage the president.

BARTIROMO: It's quite extraordinary, when you consider all of the malfeasance on the other side, when we see how they wanted to stop Donald Trump badly from becoming president, and a cabal of individuals put their finger on the scale to change the course of an election because they just didn't like him.

We need to see the evidence on how they came up with this idea that Donald Trump had anything to do with Russia meddling.

And I just wonder if there is going to be any accountability here, Tom.

FITTON: Well, Congress can do more. I appreciate they're pushing for the documents, following Judicial Watch's lead on many of these issues, but they should bring in Mr. Mueller into the -- into Congress and ask him questions about not necessarily who he's going to interview tomorrow, but how he was appointed, his conflicts of interest, why it is he can't find any Republicans or conservatives to work on his prosecution team.

BARTIROMO: Right.

FITTON: This special counsel is immune from scrutiny.

And I'm just tired of talking about Bruce Ohr.

BARTIROMO: Right.

FITTON: I want to talk about Mr. Mueller, who is using Bruce Ohr's information to target and harass this president.

BARTIROMO: Well, they also are pressuring now around anything the president does related to the Supreme Court. They want to stop Brett Kavanaugh.

Real quick, your thought on that? Will they be successful?

FITTON: I don't think they will, although I think they're going to have to take some tough steps to cut this inquiry off or to shorten it.

I think the idea that we need weeks of discussion to figure out what's up and down about these allegations is just as a result of poor leadership.

BARTIROMO: Tom, good to have you on the program. Thank you so much.

FITTON: It can be figured out quickly.

BARTIROMO: OK. We will be watching this upcoming week, where we could actually see them both testify on Thursday.

Much more on all of this, the showdown with China over tariffs, with our panel of Mark Penn and James Freeman from The Wall Street Journal, as we look ahead on "Sunday Morning Futures" next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)



BARTIROMO: Welcome back.

A special panel today and a lot to break down.

We want to bring in our panel.

James Freeman is the assistant editor at The Wall Street Journal editorial page and a FOX News contributor. Mark Penn is former Clinton strategist, managing partner of The Stagwell Group, and chairman of the Harris Poll. He is also the author of "Microtrends Squared: The New Small Forces Driving the Big Disruptions Today."

Gentlemen, it's good to see you. Thank you so much for joining us.

(CROSSTALK)

BARTIROMO: Want to kick it off with your new op-ed, Mark, and another really well-done piece here, where you right: "People bristle when I sometimes adopt and use that term deep state, but as an outside observer watching the unmasking of the actions of one official after another at the FBI, CIA and DOJ, I have come to accept that an unelected group of well- educated, experienced individuals running these departments became inebriated with their own power during the last election campaign, and apparently came to believe they were on a mission to stop, defeat or remove President Trump and his associates for crimes they would find or, if necessary, manufacturer."

Wow, powerful words, manufacturer, Mark.

MARK PENN, FORMER CLINTON CAMPAIGN STRATEGIST: Well, I think we see week after week one and credible disclosure after another.

I mean, I'm still getting over learning that Bruce Ohr was a secret go- between with Christopher Steele, who for months and months, we were told, was fired, while his wife had an undisclosed relationship to the people who were paid for the dossier and was actually working on it.

And then this week, we now learn the potential Rosenstein allegations, as McCabe, it looks to me, probably fired back at Rosenstein, because I think, once you divide all of these people in the FBI and the CIA and put them under some pressure, I think we're going to find some incredible revelations here about what they were doing, and what I would have to say was a mirage that was created by the Steele dossier and the echo chamber around it that motivated these people to violate their oaths to the Constitution.

BARTIROMO: I agree.

I can't tell you how proud I am of this team on "Sunday Morning Futures." We have stayed on this story since January every single week.

And, James, the fact is, is now we have date for Nellie Ohr to testify, but we're still waiting for the evidence, the documents to show and to prove to the American people what went on here.

Your thoughts on how...

(CROSSTALK)

JAMES FREEMAN, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Yes, perhaps the documents that Chairman Goodlatte said earlier on this program he's going to subpoena may shed some light on that.

But to Mark's point about the Constitution, this must be very confusing, the last couple of years, for kids who read about Article 2, Section 1, saying that the executive power shall will be vested in a president of the United States.

There is so much media coverage suggesting that, whether you want to call it deep state or the bureaucracy, suggesting that the Justice Department is somehow independent of the president, or it's inappropriate for him to exercise this executive authority.

I think it's really poisonous. And what we need to find out is what exactly was done by people who we have seen demonstrated had a bias against the president to interfere with his election, or potential election.

BARTIROMO: And, unfortunately, the mainstream media is sort of driving the bus on this. This will go down at some point as the most shameful time, for the mainstream media to have ignored such an important story.

FREEMAN: If there's not further evidence.

We're still waiting here, aren't we? It's now more than two years after this began. We have not gotten a clear expression of exactly when it started, but we're now more than two years into this. We're waiting for the evidence that would somehow justify extraordinary use of the government surveillance's power against the party out of power.

BARTIROMO: Which brings me back to the Rod Rosenstein story, Mark, because we know that Rod Rosenstein OKed -- officially OKed a warrant the fourth time around to wiretap Carter Page.

And yet he's overseeing the Mueller investigation.

PENN: Well, that's right.

And if you look at how testy he got when asked did he actually read the FISA application in his testimony, you see someone who consistently has said, hey, we're an island over here in the -- in the Justice Department. I don't report to the president. I don't report to Congress. I report to my view of the law.

And that's wrong. And I think that Congress is going to have to get these documents out, that Rosenstein is the number one person who really is holding them up, in order to expose the sunshine here that the American public really needs.

BARTIROMO: So do you think Rosenstein should be fired?

PENN: Well...

FREEMAN: Well, I think that you do want to get those documents.

The question here, I -- these -- these latest news accounts that he was in on some effort to perhaps remove the president, denied by Mr. Rosenstein, but it does put a spotlight.

You go back to 2017. People forget this. May of 2017, his memo laid out in perfect detail why there was bipartisan support to get rid of Jim Comey.

BARTIROMO: Right.

FREEMAN: Why he had violated Justice Department procedures.

BARTIROMO: Right.

FREEMAN: And then...

BARTIROMO: And then he got upset when the president said, yes, I fired him.

FREEMAN: And then, when the president did just that, obviously, the president gave an odd interview to Lester Holt.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

FREEMAN: But to then create the special counsel, after the president did what he had just recommended, strikes a lot of people as odd.

BARTIROMO: More with James Freeman and Mark Penn right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)



BARTIROMO: We are back with our panel, James Freeman and Mark Penn.

And, Mark, in your op-ed, "Donald Trump's Rosenstein Dilemma," you say he's damned if he does and damned if he doesn't.

PENN: Well, that's the dilemma that the president faces.

Ordinarily, you would fire somebody like Rosenstein, no questions asked. But in this environment, he can't do that. It would be used against him. He'd be depicted as a bad man.

BARTIROMO: Hmm.

PENN: So, instead, the best he can do now is get these documents out, complain to the inspector general.

But, after the midterms, if the Republicans lose Congress, these investigations will stop, and he's either going to have to appoint a special counsel himself, and have two of them, or have none of them. But without a new special counsel, there will be no further investigation of this. And the public needs it.

BARTIROMO: You're absolutely right. We will not hear another word about it, because all the committee chairmen will -- will flip to Democrats.

And, James, even in the face of all of this, his outcomes in terms of his policies -- he's got all these detractors everywhere, even from within the administration and within the intelligence community, and yet he's pushing back on China, first president to do so in a long time in terms of their behavior.

FREEMAN: Yes. Yes.

And they just canceled these upcoming discussions. That wasn't a surprise. But I think it is a reminder that there's a -- there's a big need here for the president to resolve his fights with Canada and Mexico and Europe, because the China trade problem, as we have discussed, the theft of intellectual property, which they will not acknowledge yet, is not something that's going to be solved quickly.

It's not going to be solved before the midterms. I think he wants a win. He knows he needs a win on trade. He's going to have to get it either with the new NAFTA or Europe.

BARTIROMO: Will he get it, though?

I mean, already he's done a -- sort of a handshake type of deal with Mexico, right? Will Canada come in and follow suit?

FREEMAN: I think they need to.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

FREEMAN: I think they understand how important it is for them. I think there's a sense that maintaining barriers on dairy is not -- bigger with the United States than with other countries -- is not really tenable.

But the president also needs to realize that, if he wants a deal, if they give him what he wants on trade, he shouldn't need to trash the dispute resolution process of NAFTA, which almost everyone involved likes.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

We will see what happens this week.

Real quick on Kavanaugh. Let's end on Kavanaugh.

Your thoughts, Mark, on what we could see next week, as another testimony with Ford and Kavanaugh Thursday, perhaps?

PENN: Well, I'm increasingly skeptical that we will actually see testimony, although, if there is, it will probably be 100 million people tuning into this thing, as it's been built up.

BARTIROMO: Yes. Real quick.

PENN: Look, very clearly, every day, the question before the American public is did Kavanaugh do it or not is a day that Democrats are winning and Republicans are losing...

BARTIROMO: Yes.

PENN: ... because nobody's talking about the economy.

BARTIROMO: Great to have you both here. Thank you so much.

That is "Sunday Morning Futures." I will see you tomorrow on FOX Business.

Have a great Sunday, everybody.

END

Content and Programming Copyright 2018 Fox News Network, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Copyright 2018 CQ-Roll Call, Inc. All materials herein are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of CQ-Roll Call. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content.Authorities say seven riders were rescued from a stuck Ferris wheel at a New Jersey county fair.

ROLLER COASTER DERAILS, THROWS PASSENGERS 34 FEET TO THE GROUND AT DAYTONA BEACH BOARDWALK

Gloucester Township police say they were called to assist the fire department after the malfunction was reported Saturday at the Camden County Fair.

Police say the occupied seats were at various heights, with one at the top "approximately 40 feet (12 meters) off the ground." The Blackwood Fire Company told NJ.com that about six of the riders were children.

RIDERS REMOVED FROM SIX FLAGS AMERICA ROLLER COASTER AFTER RIDE STALLED ON TRACKS

Fire crews used a tower ladder to rescue them. Police said all remained calm and were in good spirits. No injuries were reported.

Officials say the ride had been inspected earlier in the day. The owner is now making repair arrangements.

FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE FOX LIFESTYLE NEWS

Police earlier tweeted out that the riders "will have a great story to tell later."A 22-year-old Florida man who was helping another motorist Thursday night was killed after getting hit by a car whose driver allegedly then drove off in the deceaseds vehicle, authorities said.

Dhimitri Andoni, 22, of Clearwater, Fla., was driving on Interstate 275 when he noticed a fellow motorist in need of assistance, the Florida Highway Patrol said in a news release.

MAN LIVING ILLEGALLY IN US GETS 16 YEARS FOR CRASH THAT KILLED COLTS LINEBACKER EDWIN JACKSON AND UBER DRIVER

Shortly after stopping, the motorist was able to depart the scene and Andoni walked back to his vehicle, the news release said. While walking back to his vehicle along the right side of the car and the roadway edge, Andoni was struck by a passing vehicle.

The passing vehicle was allegedly driven by the suspect, Dana Thomas Byrd, 30, of St. Petersburg, authorities said.

Byrd stopped along the shoulder, approached Andoni and discovered he was deceased, the news release said. Byrd then entered Andoni's vehicle and fled the scene of the crash.

FLORIDA COUPLE RESCUES STARVING PUPPIES FOUND IN BUCKET

Byrd later abandoned Andonis vehicle, which was eventually tracked down by the deceased mans father who notified police, authorities said. His sons remains were found Friday afternoon, as was the suspects vehicle, the release said.

Authorities found the suspect at his home and arrested him for grand theft auto and leaving the scene of a crash involving death, the news release said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.A North Carolina Army medic, who was put on state active duty to help with Hurricane Florence relief efforts, returned home Friday to find that he'd been robbed.

National Guardsman Luis Ocampo was working in the low-lying riverfront city of New Bern for 10 days after it was battered by strong winds and high floodwaters of the fearsome storm.

Ocampo returned to his Charlotte home on Friday. But when he did, he discovered that it wasn't just Mother Nature with a cruel streak. His home had been burglarized. A large TV, gaming system and a laptop were among the stolen items.

Ocampo said food was also stolen, pilfered from his fridge.

Ocampo said that his girlfriend and son checked on the house Thursday night, but by the morning everything of value had been taken. Charlotte-Mecklenburg police have confirmed they are investigating.

A GoFundMe page was set up for Ocampo and had raised close to $15,000 as of Saturday evening.

He did all he could to help those in a time of need and now he is the one in a time of need. Every penny could help himself, his girlfriend and their baby, the post read.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.An Oregon woman charged with stealing an ambulance last Sunday while paramedics performed CPR on an unconscious woman had one question after her arrest, according to a report.

Why did they leave it unlocked?, suspect Christy Lynn Woods, 37, of Roseburg, asked, according to an affidavit reviewed by the Oregonian.

Why did they leave it unlocked?"  Suspect Christy Lynn Woods, according to affidavit

According to court documents, Woods drove the ambulance through downtown Roseburg, then proceeded north on Interstate 5, leading police on a high-speed chase for nearly 30 miles  reaching a speed of 85 mph, the newspaper reported.

At one point, Woods struck a police vehicle that was traveling ahead of her in order to divert traffic, the report said.

The impact totaled the police vehicle and left Oregon State Police Sgt. Ken Terry with some minor injuries, the News-Review of Roseburg reported.

Later, Woods drove the ambulance over a strip of spikes set up by police near Rice Valley, and eventually exited the ambulance at a gas station, where she was arrested, the newspaper reported.

It was Woods eighth arrest this year, the report said.

Woods was booked on 13 charges, including assault, interfering with paramedics, criminal mischief and reckless driving, the Oregonian reported.

According to Portlands KOIN-TV, it was Woods, 39th arrest in Douglas County since 2013.

In February, she was convicted of second-degree disorderly conduct after allegedly trying to hit bar patrons with an alcohol bottle, yelling slurs and kicking a police officer, according to the News-Review.

The condition of the unconscious woman being assisted by the paramedics was unknown.

Tim Novotny, general manager of Bay Cities Ambulance, told the News-Review that the recovered ambulance was sent to a garage for a repair estimate.

In 2016, another Roseburg woman, Jolene Marie Barnes, was arrested for stealing an ambulance, the News-Review reported. She was later convicted on a first-degree aggravated theft charge and sentenced to 22 days in jail, the report said, then received another 60 days in jail for violating her probation.Authorities are hunting for two teenage boys accused of shooting and killing two brothers Sunday during a birthday party in Texas, according to police.

Nicolas and Valdomero Garcia were at a birthday party held inside a garage of a home in Houstons Fallbrook neighborhood when two teens walked up and opened fire, Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said Sunday.

Nicolas Garcia, 44, and Valdomero Garcia, said to be in his mid to late 30s, were pronounced dead at the scene.

The teen shooters fled the scene on foot.

Authorities said theres no relationship between the suspects and the brothers and the shooting is believed to be random, KHOU11 reported.The man at the center of a debate over 3D gun printing rights was extradited to the U.S. after fleeing to Taiwan when he learned he was under investigation for sexual assault, authorities said.

Cody Wilson, owner of Defense Distributed, was arrested by local Taiwanese police and stands accused of having sex with a 16-year-old girl in Texas and paying her $500 afterward, the U.S. Marshals Service said.

Wilson connected with the juvenile on SugarDaddyMeet.com and later met her at a coffee shop in South Austin before going to a hotel, where the alleged incident took place, according to authorities.

Surveillance video shows the two leaving together in a black SUV registered to Wilson's company, police said.

TEXAN SAID HE'S SELLING 3D-PRINTED GUN PLANS, DESPITE RULING

This was a collaborative effort that demonstrates the dedication of local, state, federal and international officials working together to bring this fugitive to justice, said U.S. Marshal for the Western District of Texas Susan Pamerleau in a statement, reports FOX 26.

Wilson has been transported and booked into the Harris County Jail in Houston, with a bond set at $150,000, the local station reports.

Nineteen states and the District of Columbia have sued the Trump administration to dissolve a settlement allowing Wilson's company to disseminate its designs for making a 3D-printable gun. The lawsuit by mostly Democratic state attorneys general argued that such weapons could be used by criminals or terrorists.

A federal court last month barred Wilson from posting the designs online for free. However, he then began selling them for any amount of money to U.S. customers through his website.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.A 5-year-old California girl can keep bringing a cannabis-based drug to schoolused for emergency treatment of a rare form of epilepsya judge ruled Friday.

The judge sided with the family of Brooke Adams, who attends kindergarten in Santa Rosa.

The Rincon Valley Union School District had sought to ban the ointment from the school because it contains the active ingredient in marijuana.

Officials said allowing Adams to use the drug at school would violate state and federal laws barring medical marijuana on school grounds.

In California, medical marijuana use in private with a doctor's recommendation is legal. A total of 30 states and the District of Columbia allow medical marijuana usage.

OHIO BAR LOSES LIQUOR LICENSE WHEN FOOD STAMPS ARE USED TO BUY DRUGS, LAP DANCES

The judge's temporary order permitted the young girl to start school in August while the district's objections were considered. A nurse accompanies Adams to school and has had to apply the oil three times to treat seizures.

Judge Charles Marson made the order permanent on Friday. Marson is a judge in the state office of Administrative Hearings' Special Education Division, which handles disagreements between school districts and parents of children with disabilities.

I was so overwhelmed with emotion and joy that we don't have to fight anymore after a battle of over two years, Jana Adams, the girl's mother, told the Associated Press.

She can just go to school like any other child and we don't have to keep pushing to get what she needs, her mother added.

BANANA SHIPMENT CONTAINED NEARLY $1.8M IN COCAINE, AUTHORITIES SAY

Joe Rogoway, the family's lawyer, said he hopes the ruling opens the door for other students who say they need to use a cannabis-based drug on campus for medical reasons.

District officials said they were reviewing the decision and haven't decided whether to appeal. Assistant Superintendent Cathy Myhers said the district is relieved to have legal guidance on the issue.

"We are pleased with the decision and guidance," Myhers said. "We are happy to have a decision that supports our ability to educate and serve this student in our public schools."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.A Florida man has been arrested in the 1999 cold case murder of a 47-year-old woman who was raped, then strangled with a T-shirt.

Deborah Dalzell was brutally battered and gagged with a sock before being sexually assaulted and strangled, according to court papers. Her body was found in her home in Sarasota, Fla., on March 29, 1999.

Investigators said the killer was an intruder who broke into the home.

On Wednesday Luke Fleming, 39, of St. Petersburg, was charged with the homicide.

Fleming lived less than a mile from Dalzell at the time of the murder, the Sarasota Herald-Tribune reported.

As a family, we have dreamed of the day that we would get the news that they caught their killer, Dalzell's sister Peggy Thistle, of Sarasota, said, according to the paper. We now have a face and name for this monster.

Friday was Dalzell's birthday.

"Happy birthday, Deborah," Thistle said.

Fleming was linked to the crime through DNA, the paper reported.

The coroner recovered semen when Dalzells body was autopsied.

COLORADO POLICE MAKE ARREST IN 30-YEAR-OLD SLAYING OF WOMAN

The semen was compared to Flemings DNA and resulted in a match, according to the paper. Investigators obtained Flemings DNA through investigative means.

"His arrest didn't happen overnight and it wasn't easy tracking him down," Sarasota County Sheriff Tom Knight said, according to the Tampa Bay Times. "But thanks to DNA evidence, coupled with ancestry and genealogy, we have finally connected the dots that detectives have been working on for almost two decades."

Fleming has been jailed in lieu of $1.2 million bail.NDO - Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc will head a high-ranking Vietnamese delegation to attend the high-level General Debate at the 73rd session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, United States, according to a statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.Floodwaters from Hurricane Florence are leaving quite a fishy situation in North Carolina.

As floodwaters from the hurricane begin to recede more a week after the storm made landfall, first responders on Saturday came across hundreds of dead fish on a stretch of Interstate 40 that had been hit hard by flooding.

"Well, we can add 'washing fish off of the interstate' to the long list of interesting things firefighters get to experience!" the Penderlea Fire Department said in a Facebook post.

The fish were discovered along a stretch of the interstate near Wallace, located about 40 miles northwest of Wilmington, where the storm made landfall.

"Hurricane Florence caused massive flooding in our area and allowed the fish to travel far from their natural habitat, stranding them on the interstate when waters receded," the fire department said.

An employee from the North Carolina Department of Transportation also posted pictures, showing the fish strewn along the shoulder of the highway.

On Saturday, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said nine of the state's river gauges are at major flood stage and four others are at moderate stage, while parts of Interstates 95 and 40 will remain under water for another week or more.

SOLDIER RETURNS FROM FLORENCE RELIEF EFFORT TO FIND NC HOME BURGLARIZED

Emergency management officials said residents whose homes were damaged or destroyed will begin moving into hotel rooms next week. A FEMA coordinator told the Associated Press that as of Saturday, about 69,000 people from North Carolina have registered for assistance.

The storm has claimed at least 43 lives since slamming the region with prolonged, heavy rainfall.

"Hurricane Florence has deeply wounded our state, wounds that will not fade soon as the flood waters finally recede," Cooper said.

FLORENCE DEATH TOLL RISES TO 43 AS FLOODS WREAK HAVOC IN CAROLINAS

In Wilmington, which had been cut off by floodwaters, officials said they have identified three safe routes into town. They encouraged people to avoid travel in areas where the risk of flooding remains.

North Carolina Emergency Management Director Michael Sprayberry said Saturday that eastern counties continue to see major flooding, including areas along the Black, Lumber, Neuse and Cape Fear rivers. The Cape Fear river is expected to crest Sunday and remain at flood stage through early next week.

In neighboring South Carolina, new evacuations were ordered as the town of Nichols was completely inundated by water. Mayor Lawson Batter told the AP that the storm was "worse than Matthew," which destroyed almost 90 percent of the town's 261 homes in 2016.

"It's just a mess," he said. "We will try everything we can to come back ... but we need to have federal and state help."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.A man was arrested in Mexico 15 years after he escaped from a Louisiana jail while serving time for a burglary, officials said Friday.

Lonnie Joseph Payne, 44, is being held in Montgomery County Jail in Conroe, Texas, and will be moved to East Feliciana Parish Prison in Louisiana possibly on Monday, The Advocate reported. Jail records showed Payne was living in Cancun, Mexico prior to his arrest.

WOMAN STOLE AMBULANCE, LED COPS ON CHASE, FOR 39TH ARREST SINCE 2013: REPORTS

Payne was in prison serving a 12-year sentence when he escaped in July 2003. The then-29-year-old inmate was trimming grass between two security fences earlier in the day and left one of the gates unlocked.

He returned to the area later, climbed the 8-foot outer fence and escaped, The Advocate reported.

Its unclear how authorities located Payne.The man who was charged in the fatal stabbing of a jogger in Washington, D.C., was an avid user of the synthetic drug K2 and may have been high during the attack, a report said.

Anthony Crawford, 23, was arrested Thursday for allegedly stabbing Wendy Martinez multiple times while she was jogging in the Logan Circle neighborhood Tuesday night. Police said Crawfords very distinct mustard-colored shirt helped quickly identify him and led to his arrest.

A witness told police that Crawford, who was charged with first-degree murder, was an avid user of the synthetic narcotic K2, court documents obtained by WTOP stated. The witness had known Crawford for four years and saw the suspect wearing the mustard-colored shirt earlier in the day prior to the stabbing.

Yea, thats him walking and he is probably high, the witness told police, adding that Crawford was known at Fatz Gleezy.

SUSPECT ARRESTED IN WASHINGTON, DC JOGGER'S STABBING DEATH, POLICE SAY

Two other witnesses also provided statements on Crawford. One witness, who was identified as a close relative, said Crawford was wearing the mustard-colored shirt that was belonged to the witness. The person also recalled seeing bandages on Crawfords hand later Tuesday.

Authorities found Crawford just after 8 p.m. Wednesday at a park he was often seen at, WTOP reported. Crawfords right hand had bandages, as the witness described. He was taken to the homicide branch yelling and crying, according to court documents.

Detectives never made mention of the circumstances of the homicide for which defendant was being charged. Defendant stated however that the detectives were accusing him of stabbing an individual in the course of the homicide, and in specific a little girl,' D.C. police officer Alexander Vogel said in charging documents.

It should be noted that the decedent was a petite female, standing at mere (sic) 51 and weighing a mere 106 pounds, the report added.

Martinez was stabbed seven times, including in her neck and head, around 8 p.m. Tuesday before stumbling into a nearby takeout restaurant, where surveillance video showed the woman appearing to alert stunned customers to her attackers location.

Warning: Graphic image below.

Martinez was later pronounced dead at a hospital.

"Surveillance video was really the key to closing this case," D.C. Police Chief Peter Newsham said on Thursday.

Detectives said the attack was random and that Martinez did not know Crawford. The incident was not a robbery attempt and the motive remains unclear, police added.

MURDERED DC JOGGER 'FOUGHT COURAGEOUSLY,' MOTHER SAYS; POLICE SEARCH FOR MOTIVE

The 35-year-old got engaged to her fiance Daniel Hincapie just a week before her death, FOX5DC reported.

She was a happy person, especially the last seven days of her life after she received that engagement ring, Martinezs mother, Cora Martinez, said during a vigil. Be courageous. My daughter fought up to the last breath.

Cora Martinez said shes forgiven her daughters killer.

I want to say that I have forgiven, the grieving mother said. My heart has been broken in a thousand pieces, but I forgive the man because I know it wasnt him. It was somebody else. It was evil.A man reportedly walked into a Connecticut police department Thursday and confessed to stabbing a mother of two and respected businesswoman to death while she was jogging in 2014  a case that has stumped investigators until now.

Melissa Millan, 54, was jogging on a popular trail in Simsbury on Nov. 20, 2014, when she was stabbed in the chest, police said. For four years, authorities worked to identify a suspect in the killing, but had no leads until last week.

A man walked into the police station with several members of his church and confessed to murdering Millan, Fox 61 reported. The man  who has not been identified because he hasnt been charged  lived near where Millan was killed and is a registered sex offender for a conviction in another state, the report stated. He does not have a criminal record in Connecticut.

NORCAL RAPIST SUSPECT IS UC BERKELEY EMPLOYEE, POLICE SAY

Simsbury police are reviewing the mans statement to match it with physical evidence at the crime scene. Police believe the attack was random, a source told the Hartford Courant, which broke the story.

Simsbury police chief did not confirm the report to Fox 61, but said authorities are still investigating Millans murder.

Millan was a top executive at Mass Mutual and was a mother to two children at the time of her death. Residents in the town were shocked by her death.

"I always feel safe. Simsbury is a very safe town. Very rarely anything noticeable happens," Reddy Ganta, a Simsbury resident, told Fox 61. "I came back and I found a photo there, flowers and candles, it has been there for about three years until a few months ago.

In June 2015, an anonymous donor came forward and offered $40,000 for information leading to an arrest. Simsbury Police Chief Peter Ingvertsen said in a news release at the time that there were some physical evidence from the crime scene that will help identify a suspect.

Authorities announced last year that Simsbury police partnered with the state's cold case unit to solve Millans murder.The body of a Navy veteran who went missing while on his Hawaiian honeymoon was found Friday, authorities said.

Maui police said a volunteer found the body of Stephen Kramar, 27, on a hillside a half-mile from the resort where he and his bride were staying on the island of Molokai.

Kramar, a Maryland native, and his wife, Jeffanie, arrived in Hawaii hours after their Sept. 8 nuptials. On Tuesday morning, he left to scout a hiking trail to make sure it was safe for the couple and never made it back to the hotel.

Locals have said the area is a dangerous place for hiking for those not familiar with it.

"He's a very avid hiker, Jeffanie Kramar told Washington's FOX 5 before learning of her husband's death. He's hiked 14,000-foot mountains. He's very extreme, but he knows what he's doing. He was in the military. He served in the Navy for almost three years so he's trained and experienced.

"He said if you don't hear back from me around 6 o'clock, 7 o'clock, then you should be worried," she said.

"He said if you don't hear back from me around 6 o'clock, 7 o'clock, then you should be worried."  Jeffanie Kramar, widow

Hawaii News Now reported that Jeffanie Kramar said her husband left around 9:30 a.m. and that she received a text message from him at 2:30 p.m. stating that he was on his way back.

Travel is slow but I'm on my way back, the message read.

She never heard from him again.

After reporting him missing, authorities launched an air and land search consisting of helicopter and K-9 units along with volunteers.

Jeffanie told FOX 5 the couple was planning to move to McLean, Va., when they returned from their two-week-long honeymoon.

Kramars body was identified by family members. An autopsy will be scheduled to determine the cause of death.

A GoFundMe page set up to help pay for Jeffanie Kramar has raised over $16,000 as of Sunday.The number of undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. could be double what the generally accepted estimate is, according to a study released Friday by researchers from Yale University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The U.S. government and most groups put the number of undocumented immigrants at around 11 million to 12 million, but researchers from Yale and MIT give a conservative number of 16. 7 million in 2016 and an average of 22 million, according to Yale Insights.

Bloomberg reported the study could validate claims made by President Trump that the real number on undocumented immigrants in the country is as high as 30 million and could offer ammunition for the president and immigration critics to take a harder stance on the issue.

Researchers used data on deportations, border apprehensions and visa overstays along with death rates and immigration rates to arrive at their conclusion. The estimate is based on data from 1990 to 2016.

Our original idea was just to do a sanity check on the existing number, said Yales Edward Kaplan, who conducted the study with colleague Jonathan Feinstein and MITs Mohammad Fazel-Zarandi. Instead of a number which was smaller, we got a number that was 50 percent higher. That caused us to scratch our heads.

Our original idea was just to do a sanity check on the existing number. Instead of a number which was smaller, we got a number that was 50 percent higher."  Yales Edward Kaplan

Theres a number that everybody quotes," Feinstein said, "but when you actually dig down and say, What is it based on?, you find its based on one very specific survey and possibly an approach that has some difficulties. So we went in and just took a very different approach.

But Kaplan said the findings could undercut one of the most common arguments for restricting the flow of immigrants into the country: criminality. He said the data could suggest the crime rate for undocumented immigrants may be even lower than believed.

You have the same number of crimes but now spread over twice as many people as was believed before, which right away means that the crime rate among undocumented immigrants is essentially half whatever was previously believed," he said.

With respect to the notice that undocumented immigrants take jobs away from U.S. citizens, Kaplan said the fact that there are actually more people here than we thought before might explain that, but you can also look at it the other way: Whatever job displacement there has been happened with twice as many undocumented immigrants as we thought. That causes you to rethink just how much pressure there is.

The 11.3 million estimate widely cited is based on survey data, researchers wrote.

The 11.3 million number is extrapolated from the Census Bureaus annual American Community Survey, MITs Fazel-Zarandi said. Its been the only method used for the last three decades.

The findings could add fuel to the already hotly contested immigration debate. However, the researchers said their goal in sifting through the date was not political.

Of course, our findings will get pulled and tugged in many ways, but our purpose is just to provide better information, Feinstein said. This paper is not oriented towards politics or policy. I want to be very clear: This paper is about coming up with a better estimate of an important number.A Chicago priest who defied orders and went ahead in burning a rainbow flag  commonly known as the flag for LGBT pride  has been removed from his parish in the city's Avondale neighborhood.

Cardinal Blase Cupich had cautioned Father Paul Kalchik of the Resurrection Parish not to burn the flag, but he reportedly went ahead with it and recited a prayer of exorcism before fleeing.

The Archdiocese released a letter saying that "Father Kalchik needs to take time away from the parish to receive pastoral support, amid a swirl of allegations that Cupich had threatened  through his vicars  for Kalchik to be forcibly committed to St. Lukes Institute for further evaluation and treatment.

FORMER VATICAN DIPLOMAT CALLS FOR POPE FRANCIS TO RESIGN, CLAIMS HE IGNORED SEX ABUSE ALLEGATIONS

Kalchik first announced the flag would be burned in a church bulletin in early September, and was promptly warned by the Archdiocese of Chicago not to move forward with such an act. However, Kalchik did go ahead  later telling a local NBC reporter that the did so in a quiet way and that the flag, which also had a cross adorned over it, was cut into seven pieces, so it was burned over stages in the same fire pit that we used for the Easter vigil Mass.

News quickly spread about the burning, drawing the ire of LGBTQ activists who protested outside the Avondale Church last week, calling what happened a hate crime and simple.

WITH WORLD'S ATTENTION ON ROHINGYA MUSLIMS, CHRISTIANS IN BURMA ALSO FACE BRUTAL PERSECUTION

The rainbow flag, set alight by parishioners earlier this month, once hung in the back of the sanctuary. Kalchik had reportedly spoken out in recent months, and even written to Pope Francis, about his own trauma as a victim of a predatory Roman Catholic priest.More than 10,200 marijuana plants were seized from a California national forest believed to be left there by illegal drug trafficking organization, police said Friday.

The large plots of marijuana plants were discovered in San Bernardino National Forest near Marble Canyon, Arctic Canyon and East Fork Canyon, the San Bernardino County Sheriffs Office said in a news release.

Camping equipment and trash were located near the plots, leading authorities to believe people were living in the area to take care of the marijuana plants. The suspects are believed to be part of an illegal drug trafficking organization.

The suspects cleared away the natural foliage to facilitate the cultivations, which causes irreversible damage to the forest, police said. Natural water sources, such as creeks and streams, serve as a water supply for the grow sites.

Police added that fertilizers and toxic pesticides are often used that seep into the ground and contaminate the water and natural wildlife.

No information on the suspect was released at this time. Authorities urged hikers who spot other plots of marijuana to contact them immediately.Dozens of people in a wedding party had to be rescued on Saturday after they became trapped by quickly-rising floodwaters outside a venue in Texas.

The Austin Fire Department said on Twitter that more than 60 people were rescued from the overnight venue called Casa Rio De Colores, located about 30 miles northwest of Austin near Liberty Hill.

Some of the guests who were staying in tents outside were forced into trees as they fled the rising waters, while others were able to make it on their own to higher ground.

Tony Barile, who traveled to Texas from Virginia to watch his son get married, told KXAN-TV he received an alert on his phone about 2 a.m., and that the water "came up so quick."

"Yesterday, we had a dinner, rehearsal dinner, had a nice time going [Friday night]," he said. "Everybody's staying down at the lodge down here, closer to the river."

Bret and Genevieve Britton, who were among the guests who were sleeping in their tents, told the television station they had to cut the tent to get out and hold onto a tree.

FLORENCE FLOODWATERS REVEAL FISH WASHED UP ON NORTH CAROLINA INTERSTATE

"Just as we were getting settled on the air mattress in the tent, we realized it was starting to float and then very quickly the poles of the tent collapsed in," Bret told KXAN. "And we were unable to open the regular flap to get in and out, or even find the door, actually. It was the whole tent that caved in on us."

The fast-moving floodwaters swept away tents, personal belongings, and even vehicles.

The facility, located on the South Gabriel River, boasts online about the "pristine, spring-fed river is perfect for swimming, canoeing, fishing, tubing, and relaxing."

No injuries were reported, and all guests were able to be evacuated, according to FOX7. It was not clear if the wedding on Saturday went on as planned.A North Carolina woman was arrested Friday after 27 dogs and cats she took in during Hurricane Florence were confiscated from her shelter, investigators revealed.

Tammie Hedges, founder of Crazy's Claws N Paws animal rescue, has been charged with practicing veterinary medicine without a license. She's also charged with soliciting a donation of tramadol, a prescription painkiller sometimes used for dogs and cats.

Hedges said she gave amoxicillin to some sick animals, and also used a topical antibiotic ointment.

Hedges told the News-Argus of Goldsboro that she felt she had to help the animals brought to her during the storm.

The owners got to evacuate. They got to save themselves. But whos going to save those animals? Thats what we did, Hedges said. We saved them.

Our mission was to save as many animals from the flood that we could, Hedges added.

In a statement, Wayne County officials said animal control officers had "serious concern regarding the practice of veterinary medicine without a license and the presence of controlled substances."

Supporters are rushing to her defense. An online fundraising page has collected more than $11,000 for her legal defense as of Sunday night.

Wayne County is about an hour's drive southeast of Raleigh.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.The declaration, ratified in the second plenary session on September 22, conveys the message of implementing environmental auditing, sharing experience and knowledge among member SAIs, as well as strengthening technology in auditing.

According to General Secretary of ASOSAI 13 Choe Yong-gon, who is the head of Korean SAI, the ratification of the Hanoi Declaration shows the strongest messages and commitments of member SAIs on environmental auditing for sustainable development.

Vietnam needs to lead and push the cooperation among member SAIs in order to effectively implement the goals of Hanoi Declaration as well as the UNs sustainable development goals (SDGs), he said.

Choe Yong-gon also praised Vietnam for successfully hosting ASOSAI 14, saying that the success of such an international event reflects the capability and reputation of Vietnam SAI in the international arena.

Likewise, the head of Malaysia SAI, Madinah Binti Mohamad, who is the Chair of ASOSAI 13, highlighted the success of ASOSAI 14, saying that it reflects active involvement of member SAIs in the implementation of the UNs 2030 Agenda for sustainable development with 17 SDGs as its centerpiece.

She also praised the leadership of Vietnam SAI, which has been vividly demonstrated in the successful hosting of the event.

I believe that under the leadership of Dr. Ho Duc Phoc, ASOSAI will further pursue its efforts to become the role model amongst regional groups to the International Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions, said Madinah Binti Mohamad.

Meanwhile, the head of China SAI, Hu Zejun, underlined the need for member SAIs to further their cooperation in environmental auditing to ensure sustainable socio-economic development.

China Government attached significance to environment protection. We have continuously updated methods, approaches and technology in the work to improve the quality of environmental auditing, she said.

The head of China SAI, who is also the General Secretary of ASOSAI for the 2018  2021 term, said China SAI wishes to further cooperation with Vietnam SAI and other member SAIs to boost environmental auditing in the region as well as in the world.

Auditor General of the State Audit of Vietnam Ho Duc Phoc spoke highly of the consensus reached among the delegates to the 14th assembly on ratifying the Hanoi Declaration with the key message of environmental auditing for sustainable development.

We bring up the initiative on environmental auditing, aiming to implement the UNs SDGs, Phoc said.

Vietnam has implemented 10 environmental audits in 2017, eight in 2018. The country plans to carry out another eight environmental audits in 2019, with focus on auditing waste import. The work has helped contribute to the environment protection as well as to the State budget collection.

We look forward to learn experience and knowledge from other member SAIs, who are strong in environmental auditing so that we can establish a more relevant legal framework while improving our own capability, Phoc said.

The ASOSAI Assembly, which is held every three years, is the venue for all heads of ASOSAI member supreme audit agencies to discuss and decide on major issues, necessary documents, regimes, and policies to achieve the associations objectives and further its development. It also serves as a forum for sharing experience in the field of state audits.

The 14th ASOSAI Assembly took place from September 19 -22 in Hanoi. The main sessions included the 7th Symposium, technical-level meetings of the Secretariat and Committees, Working Groups, and the 52nd and the 53rd Governing Board meetings.

This years event saw the largest ASOSAI gathering to date. Approximately 400 delegates from 79 international delegations, including ASOSAI members, the representatives of INTOSAI's working groups and international organisations as observers, participated in the Assembly.

In addition, more than 400 domestic guests who are representatives from the Party, Presidential Office, the Government, the National Assembly, political and social organisations, localities, universities and research institutes; international organisations and the embassies of several countries in Vietnam also took part in.

The assembly elected the members of Governing Board namely Indonesia, Kuwait, Russia, Nepal, Bangladesh and two members of the ASOSAI Audit Committee for the term 2018-2021, Turkey and Kazakhstan.

It also approved the reports on the budget, research activity and capacity building, the implementation of the ASOSAI strategic plan, recognising Palestine SAI as a new member, and the regulation for observers for the Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions in South East Asia - ESEANSAI.

Especially, Auditor General of Vietnam officially assumed the role of Chairman of ASOSAI and Auditor General of China as Secretary General of ASOSAI for the term 2018-2021 at this Assembly.

Furthermore, the Assembly has achieved significant professional success, including the results of the 7th Symposium and the Hanoi Declaration.next Image 1 of 2

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The Maldives is holding its third multiparty presidential elections on Sunday. The Indian Ocean nation of 400,000 has been rife with political turmoil since democracy was introduced just a decade ago.

Famed for its white sand beaches and luxury resorts, the Maldives under President Yameen Abdul Gayoom, who is seeking re-election, has seen economic growth and longer life expectancy, according to the World Bank. But Yameen's critics say he has systematically rolled back democratic freedoms, jailing rivals and controlling courts. Like elsewhere in South Asia, China has made fast inroads into the Maldives with aid and investment, challenging India's long-held position as the dominant regional power.

A look at the Maldives, and why elections there matter:

___

THREATENED BY RISING SEAS

The Maldives is a low-lying archipelago in South Asia formed from a chain of about 1,200 coral islands grouped in 26 atolls in the Indian Ocean, 430 kilometers (265 miles) southwest of India. The reefs, less than a meter (3.2 feet) above the sea, attract scuba divers from around the world, but they're also threatened by rising temperatures and sea levels. Former President Mohamed Nasheed held an underwater Cabinet meeting in 2009 to highlight the threat of climate change.

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VICIOUS POLITICS

The Maldives was a British protectorate until 1965. The centuries-old sultanate was restored again a year later until 1968. Maumoon Abdul Gayoom came to power in 1978 through a public referendum, ruling with an iron fist until 2008. That year, Mohamed Nasheed became the country's first freely elected president. But Nasheed was forced to resign and later was sentenced to a 13-year prison term. He was later granted asylum in the United Kingdom when he traveled there for medical treatment, and continues to live in exile. Nasheed was succeeded by his running mate, Mohamed Waheed Hasan. The current President Yameen, Gayoom's half brother, won in 2013. His former vice president, Ahmed Adeeb, Gayoom, two ex-defense ministers, a prosecutor general and opposition lawmakers are among those who have been jailed during Yameen's five-year tenure. All of the trials have been criticized for alleged lack of fairness. With Nasheed ineligible to run in Sunday's elections because of his conviction, the opposition joined forces around longtime lawmaker Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, Yameen's only contender.

___

IMPLICATIONS

The opposition and outside observers have cautioned that because of Yameen's tight control of government institutions, the elections Sunday could be rigged. The European Union canceled plans to send observers after determining that the Maldives had not met the conditions for monitoring. The U.S. has threatened to sanction Maldivian officials if the elections are not free and fair. Nasheed told reporters in Colombo on Friday that the elections are critical for stability in the Indian Ocean, where he said a "cold war was brewing" between India and China. Gulbin Sultana, a researcher on the Maldives at the Institute of Defense Studies and Analyses based in New Delhi, said that if Yameen is re-elected, the state of democracy is unlikely to improve. "That will probably mean the media, the people opposing the government will have to suffer more," she said.

___

Associated Press writer Krishan Francis in Colombo, Sri Lanka, contributed to this report.The head of the U.N. education agency says schools are ground zero in the fight against anti-Semitism and extremist violence  and she will push world leaders meeting in New York this week to invest more in teaching tolerance.

"No one is born a violent extremist," Azoulay said in an interview with The Associated Press ahead of the U.N. General Assembly, which opens Monday. "Education is the best rampart against discrimination and racism."

Azoulay's own organization  the first U.N. body to admit Palestine as a member  has long been riven by sectarian anger, divisions she has worked to mend since taking the helm last year of the Paris-based United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

At the U.N., she will co-host a meeting on fighting anti-Semitism and other discrimination through teaching about different religions and cultures.

"It will exhort the member states to mobilize to promote education as a lever of prevention of racism and discrimination, and by extension, violent extremism," she said.

UNESCO has drawn up made-to-measure guides for educators in different countries, notably addressing anti-Semitism and anti-Muslim attitudes. But the U.N. body can't force governments to use them, and it is especially difficult in poor countries to ensure uniform teaching messages.

Diplomats at UNESCO praise Azoulay's efforts to overcome Arab-Israeli tensions within UNESCO, and some say her Moroccan-Jewish heritage helped her earn respect on both sides, though she doesn't bring it up publicly.

She says she's just trying to clear the air so that UNESCO can get more work done. "Since I took office, we have committed to an effort to mediate the political tensions that weighed on the good work of the institution," she said.

The Palestinian membership vote in 2011 gutted UNESCO's finances and led to U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to quit.

In some ways, Azoulay is the antithesis of Trump. She courts both Israelis and Palestinians, wants more public spending on education and culture, and says countries should set aside self-interest and work together to solve the world's problems.

The U.N. General Assembly "shows with great strength the relevance of multilateralism. We need more than ever to address the challenges of tomorrow's world together. Multilateralism is an opportunity to build a better world in the face of the challenges that each state, however powerful it is, cannot resolve alone."

Azoulay will also work this week to persuade world leaders to get more girls to go to school and stay there, co-hosting an event with Canada, Britain and France called "Leave No Girls Behind." Some 17 million girls around the world are expected to never enter school, and millions more drop out early.

UNESCO worked with other agencies to publish a guide this year for schools and governments on sexual education, and has worked to fight discrimination against LGBT students.next Image 1 of 2

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Relatives wept in grief on Sunday at the mass burial in Tanzania of many of the 224 people who drowned when a ferry in capsized on Lake Victoria.

Colorfully painted coffins were lined up to go into graves on Ukara Island. Grieving family members places wreaths of flowers on the coffins.

The overloaded boat tipped over Thursday as it approached the dock and people returning from a busy market day with their goods prepared to disembark. Horrified fishermen and others watched from the shore.

One survivor said he is still searching for his daughter.

"My child might have been found, but I have not seen her," said Magesa Chibuga, in Swahili. "I am therefore waiting for this ferry to be lifted from the water so that I can see whether she is there or not. But I am feeling very bad. I thank God I have found my wife, but the child is still missing. So God has every plan."

Chibuga described how he survived when the boat capsized.

"I heard people shouting 'Accident, accident!' I was seated with my bag. I put it on my chest, removed my phone and put it in my bag, and then jumped. After I jumped, I found a lifesaver, grabbed it and that's how I escaped."

Identifications have been made for 172 people who died in the boat tragedy, Tanzania's Minister of Works, Transport and Communication Isack Kamwelwe said. The bodies of 37 others have not yet been identified, he told the broadcaster. At least 40 people were rescued, officials said.

Tanzania's Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa led mourners at the funeral service.

"Our country has been hit by a big tragedy. We lost brothers, relatives and friends. Our call is for us to be united during this hard time and understand that our countrymen have been left by beloved parents, brothers, sisters, children and friends in this big tragedy," he said. "So we need to console them instead of feeding them with bad words. Let's leave the government and relevant authorities to do their work."

Adla Bakari said she lost her son and neighbors.

"We are coming for the burial," said Bakari. "This ferry has killed our people. If we tell them not to overload the ferry, they don't listen to us, just like last Thursday. We urge the government to take care of us. Otherwise we will be finished like that."

On Saturday rescuers found a survivor two days after the tragedy. The man was identified as an engineer of the ferry who had locked himself in the engine room. Video footage showed the man, barefoot and head lolling, being carried quickly along a busy street by medical workers and military personnel as a siren wailed. His condition was not immediately known.

No further survivors were likely to be found and search efforts had ended, Defense Minister Venance Mabeyo told reporters at the scene. He said officials would continue working to identify the dead. However, the total number of deaths may never be known as no one is sure how many people were on the overcrowded ferry, which officials said had a capacity of 101.

President John Magufuli has ordered the arrests of those responsible. He said the ferry captain already had been detained after leaving the steering to someone who wasn't properly trained, The Citizen newspaper reported.

"This is a great disaster for our nation," Magufuli told the nation in a televised address, announcing four days of national mourning.

___

AP writer Tom Odula contributed from Nairobi, Kenya.

___

Follow Africa news at https://twitter.com/AP_Africanext Image 1 of 2

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Hajar Youssif was on her daily commute to work, staring at her phone and flicking through her Instagram account when she looked up to find herself in an unusual location. The taxi driver had turned into an alley.

When she questioned the driver, he sped up.

"I started to feel uneasy and knew that something bad was going to happen," said the 24-year-old office administrator, who had taken part in protests over lack of clean water, frequent power cuts and soaring unemployment in her hometown of Basra, Iraq's oil capital and main port.

She yelled and tried to open the door, but the driver had locked it. The taxi swerved into a courtyard where three masked men were waiting.

"They immediately told me, 'We'll teach you a lesson. Let it be a warning to other protesters'," Youssif said in an interview several days after the incident.

The men slapped and beat her and pulled off her Islamic headscarf, she said. "At the end, they grabbed me by my hair and warned me not to take part in the protests before blindfolding me and dumping me on the streets," she said, her cheeks still bruised.

Youssif believes the attack was part of what she and other activists describe as a campaign of intimidation and arbitrary detentions by powerful Iranian-backed Shiite militias and political groups that control Basra, a city of more than 2 million people in southern Iraq's Shiite Muslim heartland.

Angry Basra residents have repeatedly taken to the streets in recent weeks to protest failing government services, including water contamination that sent thousands to hospitals.

Earlier this month, protests turned violent when demonstrators attacked and torched government offices, the headquarters of the Iranian-backed militias and Iran's consulate in Basra  in a show of anger over what many residents perceive as Iran's outsized control over local affairs.

The events in Basra reflect the growing influence of the militias, which played a major role in retaking Iraqi territory from Islamic State militants, who are Sunni Muslims.

Shortly after IS militants captured much of northern and western Iraq in 2014, tens of thousands of Shiite men answered a call-to-arms by the top Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.

Many volunteers were members of Iran-backed militias active since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein, while others formed new groups. These fighters are credited with helping government forces defeat the extremists. But during the war, the militiamen were also accused by Sunnis and rights groups of abuses against the Sunni community, including killings, torture and destruction of homes.

Buoyed by victory against IS, some of the most feared Shiite militias took part in the May national elections and their list  Fatah  won 48 seats in the 329-seat parliament.

Fatah and other factions formed a wider Iran-backed coalition in parliament earlier this month and will likely be tasked with forming the new government.

In Basra, some alleged the militias were working with local authorities to quell the protests  a charge denied by Bassem al-Khafaji, head of Sayyed al-Shuhada, one of several Basra militias.

He said threats and intimidation of protesters were "individual acts," but not the result of a central directive.

"Our order for all the factions in Basra ... is not to confront the protesters who burned down the offices of the militias," al-Khafaji said, arguing that the militias are trying to prevent more bloodshed.

He accused infiltrators of turning the protests violent and said the alleged saboteurs must be dealt with by the security agencies.

Some militia leaders in Basra accused protesters of colluding with the U.S., which has long worked to curb Iranian influence in Iraq.

A local leader of a prominent militia vowed to retaliate.

"We have pictures of those who burned down our headquarters and they will pay dearly," he said on condition of anonymity in line with his group's rules for speaking to the media. "We will not let them attack us again and if they do we'll open fire. That's what we've agreed on, all of us."

The government has said protesters' demands are legitimate, but claims infiltrators were behind the violence.

A senior official in the Interior Ministry's intelligence service said dozens have been arrested since the protests began. He acknowledged that others may be held by political parties and their militias, but said his office has no way of tracking that. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Activist Naqeeb al-Luaibi said he has been able to track only 30 protesters detained by the security agencies. Of those, 19 were discharged and 11 remain under arrest. Al-Luaibi said he believes dozens of others are still being held but said it was difficult to track them.

Mahdi Salah Hassan, 26, said he was arrested by security forces from a protest tent in early August. He said he was handcuffed, blindfolded and initially held in a room with 33 other protesters.

During three days of violent interrogation, Hassan said he was slapped on the face, hit with a cable on his feet and back and hung by the arms from the ceiling.

Hassan said he was then transferred to two other lockups, each holding several dozen protesters. When they released him after six days, they told him "Don't take part in protests or you won't see the sun," he said. Still, he said he'll continue to protest.

Two other activists, Ahmed al-Wihaili and Sara Talib, both 23, said they were threatened.

Al-Wihaili said an anonymous caller warned him that "you only cost us the price of a bullet."

Talib said she came home one day to find her door open and her belongings strewn across the floor. During one protest, someone approached her and told her to go home because she was putting her life in danger.

Youssif, who wore white scrubs during the protests as a volunteer medic, said the beating left her shaken and that threats continue, but she won't be deterred.

"I'm taking to the streets for the sake of my town Basra, to get public services and to get rid of those militias and political parties," she said. "I'm not afraid of them. These militias will not deter me from going out until we change our life."

__

Associated Press writers Sinan Salaheddin in Baghdad and Sarah El Deeb in Beirut contributed.next Image 1 of 2

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The Latest on the fallout from Saturday's attack on a military parade in Iran (all times local):

11 a.m.

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani claims an unnamed U.S.-allied country supports the group that attacked a military parade on Saturday.

Rouhani said Sunday that the U.S. supports small nations in the southern Persian Gulf that in turn back the militants behind the attack. He did not identify the attackers. Arab separatists claimed the assault, which killed at least 25 people and wounded more than 60, and Iranian officials appear to have accepted the claim.

Rouhani could have been referring to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates or Bahrain, all of which are close U.S. military allies. He says Iran will respond to the attack in a lawful way.

Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the UAE view Iran as a regional menace and have long accused it of meddling in other countries' affairs. Iran backs militant groups across the region.

___

6:45 a.m.

Iran has summoned diplomats from Britain, Denmark and the Netherlands over allegedly harboring "members of the terrorist group" that launched an attack on a military parade in the country's southwest.

A statement early Sunday from Iran's Foreign Ministry also quoted ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi as saying Danish and Dutch diplomats were told Iran "already warned" their governments about this.

The statement also criticized Britain over a Saudi-linked, Farsi-language satellite channel immediately airing an interview with an Ahvazi separatist claiming the attack.

Saturday's attack in Ahvaz killed at least 25 people and wounded over 60.

Arab separatists in the region claimed the assault and Iranian officials believe they carried it out. The Islamic State group also claimed the attack, but initially offered incorrect information about it and provided no proof.Pope Francis warned against allowing the rebirth of "pernicious" anti-Semitic attitudes that fueled the Holocaust during a visit to Lithuania that commemorated the country's Jewish community -- a group that was almost obliterated during World War II.

Francis began his second day in the Baltics in Lithuania's second city, Kaunas, where an estimated 3,000 Jews survived out of a community of 37,000 during the 1941-1944 Nazi occupation.

During Mass in Santakos Park under a brilliant autumn sun, Francis honored both Jewish victims of the Nazis and the Lithuanians who were deported to Siberian gulags or were tortured, killed and oppressed at home during five decades of Soviet occupation.

"Earlier generations still bear the scars of the period of the occupation, anguish at those who were deported, uncertainty about those who never returned, shame for those who were informers and traitors," Francis told the crowd, which was estimated by the local church to number 100,000, according to the Associated Press. "Kaunas knows about this. Lithuania as a whole can testify to it, still shuddering at the mention of Siberia, or the ghettos of Vilnius and Kaunas, among others."

In countries across Europe, including Lithuania, far-right, xenophobic and neo-fascist political movements are making gains.

IRAN-BACKED MILITIAS ACCUSED OF REIGN OF FEAR IN IRAQI BASRA

Francis recalled that Sunday marked the 75th anniversary of the final destruction of the Ghetto in the capital Vilnius, which had been known for centuries as the "Jerusalem of the North" for its importance to Jewish thought and politics. Each year, the Sept. 23 anniversary is commemorated with readings of the names of Jews who were killed by Nazis or Lithuanian partisans or were deported to concentration camps.

The pope denounced those who get caught up in debating who was more historically virtuous and fail to address the problems of the present  seeming to reference historic revisionism that is afflicting parts of Eastern Europe as it comes to terms with wartime-era crimes.

He warned against the temptation "that can dwell in every human heart" to want to be superior or dominant to others. And he prayed for the gift of discernment "to detect in time any new seeds of that pernicious attitude, any whiff of it that can taint the heart of generations that did not experience those times and can sometimes be taken in by such siren songs."

Francis noted that he would pray later in the day at a plaque in the Ghetto itself and called for "dialogue and the shared commitment for justice and peace."

Francis will also visit the former KGB headquarters in Vilnius that is now a museum dedicated to Soviet atrocities, and will hear from Archbishop Sigitas Tamkevicius, who was persecuted by the Soviet regime and was detained in the facility's chambers.

Francis is traveling to Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia to mark their 100th anniversaries of independence and to encourage the faith in the Baltics, which saw five decades of Soviet-imposed religious repression and state-sponsored atheism. Lithuania is 80 percent Catholic.

VATICAN ANNOUNCES DEAL WITH CHINA ON BISHOP APPOINTMENTS

The Baltic countries declared their independence in 1918 but were annexed into the Soviet Union in 1940 in a secret agreement with Nazi Germany. The Vatican and many Western countries refused to recognize the annexation. Except for the 1941-1944 Nazi occupation, the Baltic countries remained part of the Soviet Union until its collapse in the early 1990s.

Francis' trip changed its schedule three weeks ago to allow him to acknowledge the slaughter of some 90 percent of Lithuania's 250,000 Jews at the hands of Nazi occupiers and complicit Lithuanians.

The issue of Lithuanian complicity in Nazi war crimes is sensitive here. Jewish activists accuse some Lithuanians of engaging in historical revisionism by trying to equate the extermination of Jews with the deportations and executions of other Lithuanians during the Soviet occupation.

Many Lithuanians don't make any distinctions between the Soviets who tortured and killed thousands of Lithuanians and the Nazis who did the same to millions of Jews.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.As talks between the U.K. and Europe to negotiate the country's exit from the European Union have stalled, Britain's Labour Party may hold the fate of Brexit in its hands.

A number of Labour members think the left-of-center opposition party has not only the power, but a duty, to force a new referendum that could reverse Britain's controversial decision to leave the 28-nation bloc.

Labour's leadership has long opposed that idea, and a showdown on the issue looms at the party's annual conference that begins Sunday in Liverpool.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said Sunday that he would prefer an election rather than a referendum, but added: "Let's see what comes out of conference."

"Obviously I'm bound by the democracy of our party," Corbyn told the BBC.

THERESA MAY WARNS EU SHE WILL NOT OVERTURN BREXIT REFERENDUM AFTER BLOC REJECTS DEAL

Ever since Britain voted in 2016 to leave the EU, Labour has said it will respect the result, though it wants a closer relationship with the bloc than the one Prime Minister Theresa May's Conservative government is seeking.

Now, with divorce negotiations stuck and Britain due to leave in March, many Labour members think the party must change course.

"Labour have to come to a decision. The time has gone for sitting on the fence," said Mike Buckley of Labour for a People's Vote, a group campaigning for a new referendum.

More than 100 local Labour associations have submitted motions to the conference urging a public plebiscite, with a choice between leaving on terms agreed by the government or staying in the EU.

Party chiefs will decide Sunday, the first day of the four-day conference, which motions will be up for debate and votes.

Corbyn  a veteran socialist who views the EU with suspicion  has long been against holding a second public vote on Brexit, though his opposition appears to be softening.

Corbyn told the Sunday Mirror newspaper that, if Labour's conference "makes a decision, I will not walk away from it."

Deputy leader Tom Watson was even firmer.

"We must back it if Labour members want it," he told The Observer newspaper.

Still, Labour faces a major political dilemma over Brexit. Most of the party's half a million members voted in 2016 to remain in the EU, but many of its 257 lawmakers represent areas that supported Brexit.

"For Labour to adopt a second referendum policy would spell political disaster in all those Labour seats that voted leave," said Brendan Chilton of the pro-Brexit group Labour Leave.

Since the 2016 referendum, Labour has stuck to a policy of "constructive ambiguity" in a bid to appeal to "leave" and "remain" voters alike. The party opposes May's "Tory Brexit" but not Brexit itself. It calls for Britain to leave the EU but remain in the bloc's customs union with "full access" to the EU's huge single market.

Pro-EU party members, including many Labour lawmakers, say that is both vague and unachievable as long as Labour remains in opposition.

IRAN SUMMONS WESTERN DIPLOMATS OVER PARADE ATTACK KILLING 25

The Conservative government's blueprint for future trade ties with the bloc was rejected last week by EU leaders. That left May's leadership under siege and Britain at growing risk of crashing out of the EU on March 29 with no deal, something that many analysts believe could precipitate a financial crisis for the U.K.

Andrew Adonis, a Labour member of the House of Lords who supports holding a second referendum, said Labour can't sit on the sidelines while the country staggers toward political and financial chaos.

"This is as big a crisis as I can remember in my lifetime," Adonis said. "And no one has a clue at the moment what is going to happen."

Brexit is one of several challenges facing Corbyn, who heads a divided party. He has strong support among grassroots members, many of whom have joined since he was elected leader in 2015. But many Labour lawmakers think his old-fashioned socialism is a turnoff for the wider electorate.

If Corbyn does back a second Brexit referendum, he will be going against his long-held euroskepticism. Labour backed the "remain" side during the 2016 referendum, but Corbyn's support was lukewarm.

"Jeremy Corbyn is a Brexiteer and always has been," said Chilton of Labour Leave.

"More and more people now support us leaving the European Union and getting on with it," he said. "They don't want to re-fight the referendum. They don't want to open up old wounds."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.A group of pirates attacked a Swiss cargo ship off the coast of Nigeria on Saturday, kidnapping 12 crew members in a region that has seen dozens of similar attacks so far this year.

The MV Glarus was carrying wheat between Lagos and Port Harcourt when it was attacked and boarded by pirates, who took 12 of the 19 crew members, the ship's operator said.

The pirates boarded the vessel about 45 nautical miles southwest of Bonny Island using long ladders, and cut razor wire on the deck to make their way to the bridge, where they destroyed much of the ship's communications equipment.

"The company is working with the authorities and specialists to secure the speedy and safe release of those being held, Massoel Shipping said in a statement to Sky News.

The Swiss foreign ministry said Sunday that none of those kidnapped were from Switzerland, and did not disclose the nationalities. Nigerias Navy told Reuters it was investigating the incident.

PIRATE ATTACK OFF SURINAME LEAVES 16 MISSING AND FEARED DEAD

Kidnapping for ransom has become a major problem in Nigeria, especially in the Niger Delta region where the country's crude oil operations are based.

In August, security firm EOS Risk Group said there had been 34 Nigerian pirate attacks on merchant and fishing vessels in the Gulf of Guinea between January and June this year, according to Sky News.

The firm warned that piracy is expected to increase in the run up to the country's general election in February, as instability in the region grows.next Image 1 of 2

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Pope Francis is paying tribute to Lithuanians who suffered and died during Soviet and Nazi occupations on the day the country remembers the near-extermination of its centuries-old Jewish community during the Holocaust.

Francis began his second day in the Baltics in Lithuania's second city, Kaunas, where an estimated 3,000 Jews survived out of a community of 37,000 during the 1941-1944 Nazi occupation.

During Mass on Sunday, Francis is expected to honor those victims as well as the Lithuanians who were deported to Siberian gulags or were tortured and oppressed at home during five decades of Soviet occupation.

Francis is to continue the remembrance with a visit to a museum in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius that is dedicated to Soviet atrocities as well as a prayer in the Vilnius Ghetto, which 75 years ago Sunday was finally destroyed and its remaining Jewish residents executed or sent off to concentration camps.

Each year, the Sept. 23 anniversary of the destruction of the Vilnius Ghetto is commemorated with readings of the names of Jews who were executed by Nazis as well as by complicit Lithuanian partisans.

Francis is travelling to Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia to mark their 100th anniversaries of independence and to encourage the faith in the Baltics, which saw five decades of Soviet-imposed religious repression and state-sponsored atheism. Lithuania is 80 percent Catholic; Lutherans and Russian Orthodox count more followers in Latvia and Estonia, where Francis visits on Monday and Tuesday.

As he arrived Saturday, Francis urged Lithuanians to use their suffering under the "totalitarian ideologies" of the 20th century to promote tolerance and solidarity today. He denounced current political factions that are exploiting fear to justify violence and intolerance of others, a reference to the neo-fascist, anti-immigrant forces sweeping across Europe, including in neighboring Poland.

"You have suffered 'in the flesh' those efforts to impose a single model that would annul differences under the pretense of believing that the privileges of a few are more important than the dignity of others or the common good," Francis said alongside the Lithuanian president at the start of his four-day Baltics visit.

The Baltic countries declared their independence in 1918 but were annexed into the Soviet Union in 1940 in a secret agreement with Nazi Germany. The Vatican and many Western countries refused to recognize the annexation. Except for the 1941-1944 Nazi occupation, the Baltic countries remained part of the Soviet Union until its collapse in the early 1990s.

Until Francis' schedule was changed three weeks ago, there were no specific events for him to acknowledge the slaughter of some 90 percent of Lithuania's 250,000 Jews at the hands of Nazi occupiers and complicit Lithuanians. At the last minute, the Vatican added in a visit to the Ghetto.

The issue of Lithuanian complicity in Nazi war crimes is sensitive here, and members of the Jewish community accuse some of engaging in historical revisionism by trying to equate the extermination of Jews with the deportations and executions of other Lithuanians during Soviet occupation.

Jewish activists have been campaigning to remove street signs named for heroes who fought the Soviets because of their roles in the executions of Jews.

Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite didn't refer to the complicity of Lithuanians in her remarks Saturday to the pope, but rather spoke of the "lessons of mercy" showed by other citizens during the Holocaust.

"In a country brutalized by both Nazi and Stalinist crimes, many people stood up to rescue Jews because they saw humanity as the ultimate good," she said.

___

This story corrects the dateline to Kaunas.

___

Liudas Dapkus contributed from Vilnius, Lithuania.Cairo said on Saturday it hopes a meeting between President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and US counterpart Donald Trump would mark a new level of relations to boost "Egypt's political and security capabilities."

In statements reported by state run MENA news agency, Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said on the sidelines of El-Sisi's visit to New York to attend the 73rd United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) that the meeting with Trump is of importance to strategic relations between both countries.

This will be the first meeting between both leaders since Sisi won a second term unopposed in Egyptian presidential elections earlier this year.

The last meeting between Sisi and Trump, who often show detectable signs of friendship during their talks, took place in September 2017, when the Egyptian leader was attending the 72nd session of the UNGA.

Foreign minister Shoukry told journalists in New York that the resumption of joint military exercise with the US, "Bright Star 2018", was a proof of continued military cooperation between the two countries.

He pointed out that Trump had recently agreed to release $195 in military aid which was withheld in 2016, adding that relations were moving on the right track.

The US has been providing Egypt with foreign aid, including military assistance, since Cairo's 1979 peace deal with Israel.



Each year, Egypt receives approximately $1.3 billion in US military aid, as well as an annual economic assistance package, which amounted to $150 million in 2016, according to the website of Egypt's foreign ministry.

Shoukry also said that Egypt is currently in discussions with the US to work on the resumption of peace talks between Palestinians and Israelis, which have been stalled since 2014.

"Egypt is also in talks with both the Palestinian and Israeli sides on the establishment of a Palestinian State with East Jerusalem as its capital," he added.

Shoukry also spoke about the exchange of threats between US and Iran, saying that it was a matter to be dealt with only by the two concerned countries.

"Egypt views this matter in light of the regional status and the importance of preserving national Arab security," he commented.

El-Sisi, who left to New York on Friday, is set to deliver a statement to the UNGA next week, which will address Egypt's vision to enhance the role of the United Nations, according to the Egyptian Presidency.

The Egyptian President will urge the world community to contain all armed conflicts, combat terrorism, push for denuclearization and tackle economic concerns.

He is also set to meet with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, as well as other world leaders.

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Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was quick to accuse the U.S.-backed Gulf Arab states of orchestrating an attack on a military parade in the Iranian city of Ahvaz on Saturday, when four unidentified armed men opened fire  killing at least 29 people, including a dozen Iranian Revolutionary Guards, while 60 more were wounded.

While acknowledging the conflicting accounts of who was behind the onslaught, President Trumps lawyer and outspoken opponent of the Iranian leadership, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, suspects that the schism may have come from within the army itself.

Some people say it was other Iranian guards who attacked because it was so well done. It seemed to catch them by surprise, he told Fox News ahead of the 2018 Iranian Uprising Summit in New York on Saturday. I think it was internal... So when you start to see the military break apart, its probably the first real sign that things are coming.

However, Iranian security forces have since randomly arrested a number of Arabs in Ahvaz, following media reports that the opposition group of al-Ahvaz National Resistance claimed responsibility for the offensive.

While Giuliani stressed that the deaths of innocents is not the kind of thing you want to see, he advocated that a peaceful overthrow of the current Iranian vanguard is the only solution for a prosperous nation and stable Middle East.

Such a fall, Giuliani said, could come at any moment.

Who would have known the timeline in Russia or the timeline in Poland or the timeline in Hungary. When it happens it happens. We generally see a very repressive, very militaristic regime and think it cant be overthrown. We dont realize as peoples desire for freedom reaches a boiling point it can overcome that, he continued. Then it just happens. Thats what is going to happen here. We are going to wake up one morning and someone has been overthrown. It may not happen tomorrow, but it is inevitable the way they are oppressing people.

And while the Trump administrations pullout in May of the United States from the JCPOA, better known as the Iran Deal, has meant that the economic sanctions are steadily being re-imposed on the already embattled nation  the presidents lawyer mandates that the hardline approach is undoubtedly working.

It is terrible that they have to be pressured this way. But realistically the only way you see an overthrow like this, remember what the sanctions in South Africa did to end apartheid. So they are working, Giuliani claimed. President Trump shows the world the road that President Reagan took in terms of communism. When he embraced solidarity, he said this protest movement is because these people are being oppressed. They are being treated horribly and because Iran is investing money in terrorism and not the people. Thats why the people are starving.

Anti-government protests have been spilling out across Iran since January, of which Trump has tweeted support for those taking to the streets. And since withdrawing from the deal with Tehran, the president has stated he would be willing to re-negotiate what he deemed to be one of the worst deals ever formulated by Western leadership.

So what would such a new deal look like?

There is no doubt what a re-negotiated deal would mean, and that is complete and absolute denuclearization of Iran and a change in which it supports terrorism throughout the world, Giuliani conjectured. Because they are an existential danger to us and to Israel and we cant accept that. Those two things would be critical.

IRAN, IN SHADOW PROXY WAR WITH SAUDIS, EXPANDS ITS PAKISTAN INFLUENCE

CHRISTIAN EX-CHILD SOLDIER, NOW HIP-HOP ARTIST, CALLS FOR FORGIVENESS

He also vowed that internal changes would be necessary to assure that the other two things would actually happen.

In other words, if they promised to de-nuclearize and they promised not to threaten the U.S. and Israel, [and] our allies, but they remained the kind of militaristic religious fanatic that kills people they arent going to keep their promise, Giuliani noted. So you have got to see some fundamental change in the regime that gives you the assurance that the promise can be kept. And be willing for complete and absolute transparency.

However, the organization that Giuliani trumpets as the only viable replacement -- who organized the opposition summit  are longstanding, albeit controversial, opposition group MEK.

Tehran has long classified the MEK or Peoples Mujahedeen of Iran, a terrorist organization not only for its present opposition but for siding with Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein throughout the devastating Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s. The Iranian government blames the MEK for the deaths of more than 12,000 Iranians over the past three decades.

The MEK was designated a foreign terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department in 1997, but was removed from the list in 2012. Eight years earlier, then-U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld designated the group as civilian "protected persons" under the Geneva Convention.

It is now viewed by prominent figures in the Washington elite  from Giuliani and current National Security Adviser John Bolton to Obamas National Security Adviser General James Jones and the late Sen. John McCain  as the only plausible secular alternative to todays Tehran leadership.

We call on the United States to expel the Iranian regimes operatives from America. We urge Western governments to shut down or restrict the regime's embassies, which are control centers for espionage and terrorism; and to expel this regime's criminal forces from Syria and Iraq, the organizations Paris-based female leader, Maryam Rajavi, told the thousand-plus crowd via video feed. Irans seat at the United Nations does not belong to the terrorist regime ruling it. That seat belongs to the Iranian people and Resistance.

Indeed, Giuliani nonchalantly dismissed any condemnation of the group or accusations of it amassing a cult like environment, standing firm in his commitment to the group of which he has been proudly associated with for more than a decade.

Of the last ten years that I have been involved with them and I come to this event every year, he added. This is the first time I see hope that there can be real change in Iran.GA English on Sunday : News in Brief from Bonn and the region

BONN Theres hope for Bonns opera to be fully operable by 2020 again, a traditional bar is being turned into a new carnival meeting place, the entire teaching staff of a vocational college for physiotherapists has resigned, the ADFC turned parking spaces into a living room and the Akademische Kunstmuseum had to be closed indefinitely due to a weak roof - heres our news in brief on Sunday.

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Theres hope: Opera to be fully restored for Beethoven anniversary

BONN. The future of the opera in Bonn wasnt clear, but, by the Beethoven anniversary year 2020, it is planned to be fully restored and operating. The city council is investing to repair particularly serious deficiencies. After the summer break 2019 we will have finished with most of the works, says head of cultural affairs, Martin Schumacher, who will be in office until the end of November. 7.25 million Euro will be spent for repair works, almost half of that amount (3.4 million Euro) will be used to reconstruct the stage machinery. Other important priorities will be the fire protection in the building.

(Original text: Andreas Baumann)

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Traditional bar in Bonn: The Elefant is getting ready for carnival

BONN. The traditional bar Gequetschte is being turned into the Elefant. Located in the Sternstrae, it used to be a major meeting spot during carnival season. Even with a new name and after some renovations the owners still want to be ready for the opening of the carnival season on November 11, they plan for it to be more of a restaurant than a pub. We would like to be ready just before carnival, says Oliver Diaz. But the building works schedule determines the re-opening date.

(Original text: Holger Willcke)

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Colossal trouble at the Rheinkolleg: Entire teaching staff resigns

MECKENHEIM. After manipulations in the state examination at the Meckenheim college for physiotherapy, the vocational teachers have resigned collectively. The teachers want to found a new school. The authorities are investigating matters in relation to one former lecturer. The new school is supposed to be called Eurofisiomed and will be located at the Meckenheim Heidestrae in the business park Kottenforst.

(Original text: Mario Quadt)

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Park(ing) Days in Bonn: ADFC turns parking spaces in Beuel into a living room

BONN. For the initiative Park(ing) Days as part of the European Mobility Week two parking spaces at the Konrad-Adenauer-Platz were turned into a living room on Friday. The ADFC wanted to create attention to their request to turn inner cities into areas for humans instead of cars. According to the organisers, a car is parked for 23 hours a day on average and blocks 11.5 square meters of valuable city space.

(Original text: Stefan Hermes)

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Weak roof: Akademisches Kunstmuseum closed with immediate effect

BONN. As if the Bonn people didnt have enough calamities amongst their public buildings at the moment, more bad news occurred on Friday. The Akademische Kunstmuseum was closed indefinitely due to its weak roof. In a conversation with the GA newspaper, BLB press spokesperson Frank Buch said: Theroetically it is possible that parts of the roof could fall down. Due to safety reasons, the adjoining middle section of the building has been closed too.On Friday, in the morning, at Government House, His Excellency the Honourable Paul de Jersey AC and Mrs Kaye de Jersey hosted an Investiture Ceremony for residents of Queensland who were recipients of awards under the Australian Honours and Awards System, announced in the 2018 Australia Day and 2018 Queens Birthday Honours lists, and the Governor addressed guests.

In the afternoon, at Brisbane City Hall, Brisbane City, His Excellency attended The Duke of Edinburghs International Gold Awards presentation ceremony, and the Governor presented awards and addressed guests.Egypt slammed a terror attack that targeted a military parade in Iran's Ahvaz Saturday, leaving 29 people killed and more than 50 others injured.

In a statement, the Foreign Ministry said that the condemnation came in line with Egypt's firm and permanent stances on denouncing all kinds of terrorism.

Egypt offers condolences to the families of the victims, wishing a speedy recovery for the injured, added the statement.

The statement called on the international community to unify its counter-terrorism efforts.

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On Saturday, in the morning, His Excellency the Honourable Paul de Jersey AC and Mrs Kaye de Jersey departed Government House for official travel to Roma.

Following, at the Maranoa Regional Council Chambers, Roma, His Excellency and Mrs de Jersey received a briefing from Council representatives.

Following, at the Roma Cenotaph, Roma, His Excellency and Mrs de Jersey attended the Roma RSL Sub Branch Commemoration of the Centenary of the Roma Heroes Avenue, and the Governor addressed guests.

Following, His Excellency and Mrs de Jersey undertook a driving tour of Roma.

In the afternoon, at the RSL Memorial Hall, Roma, His Excellency and Mrs de Jersey attended a luncheon for the Commemoration of the Centenary of the Roma Heroes Avenue.

Following, His Excellency and Mrs de Jersey returned to Government House following official travel to Roma.Michael Rolings last day in Missouri government will be Sept. 28, 2018. He is leaving for another private-sector position as the lead technical project manager at a company that has several SaaS offerings.Coverage of his announcement has been widespread with related articles in Government Technology magazine and other publications. Over the past few years, I have highlighted Mikes national cybersecurity leadership role on several occasions, such as in 2015 and in early 2017 . Nevertheless, more coverage that highlights Mikes remarkable Missouri accomplishments and his influence in state and local government circles is needed, in my opinion.I am a big believer in positive tech leadership role models and pointing to security leaders who are making a positive impact every day. Public- and private-sector technology and security leaders around the world can learn from the way Mike and his team implemented enterprise protections against cyberattacks in Missouri.Mike Roling has won many security awards, and was twice a finalist for the prestigiousCSO of the Year  which includes both public- and private-sector CSOs. Mikes LinkedIn profile shows an impressive 36 projects, 25 publications and eight honors and awards during his time as the chief information security officer (CISO) in Missouri. He helped Missouri receive an "A" in the Digital States Survey 2016, was named to the list of a Top 25 Doers, Dreamers and Drivers and also was given amagazine CS050 Award in 2017What his profile wont tell you is that he is truly a humble, team-focused cyberpro who not only cares about his staff, his gov tech colleagues, his business customers and the residents of Missouri, but also implements strategic and tactical plans in cutting-edge, measurable ways. Mike is a passionate public servant who goes the extra mile to deliver gov tech results. He strives for excellence and getting the right solutions implemented and maintained.As a peer CSO in Michigan government, I met Mike in 2011 at MS-ISAC events . I was immediately impressed, and even after I left Michigan government in 2014, we would talk numerous times a year on what they were doing in Missouri. We met for breakfasts at several RSA Conferences in San Francisco, and we talked over meals at NASCIO conferences and other events.Mike speaks quietly, and chooses his words carefully. He knows his stuff when it comes to cybersecurity protections, but also has a strong strategic mindset regarding the big picture in state government technology problems and programs. He survived the transitions to new CIO managers on several occasions, and he remained well-liked and respected by his team, peers and management  which is not easy to do in government.To get a sense of Mike's personality, here is one of his YouTube interviews on competing with the private sector for talent:Simply stated, Michael Roling has set the standard for what a top-level government CISO looks like for several years. Along with Agnes Kirk and Elayne Starkey , two top-notch women CISOs who recently retired from Washington state government and Delaware government, respectively, Mike's departure will leave a void in state government cybersecurity leadership at a national level within groups like the MS-ISAC Michael Roling (MR): Lots of great memories have been made over the last 15 years in state government. Looking back at them, the top memories involved working closely with my team and my peers under difficult situations. Multiple times during my tenure as CISO, state government was under siege by various threat actors. While these were strenuous times, strong teamwork combined with a little grit and ingenuity got us through them. My team and the rest of the Information Technology Services Division (ITSD) are what kept me here for so long.MR: Understanding scope and governance are the most difficult pieces for a new CISO to grasp, especially in a large enterprise environment. It takes time to understand all of the moving parts in government, how they interact with each other, and at what level controls can be implemented. Also, CISOs can no longer work in the IT bubble. CISOs need to know where the business side is headed and see eye-to-eye on various topics relating to security and privacy.MR: My role as CISO has definitely evolved over the last nine years. Communicating organizational risk was a difficult task early on because it was a challenge to calculate and there was the perception that security exclusively fell on a small team in a dark corner of IT. I was able to change this perception early on in my tenure with help from my leadership. Today, I can comfortably say that cabinet members and administrative assistants alike know their role in keeping Missouris data safe. In the early days, we had no budget and only five people. Our capabilities were quite limited as a result. We overcame these challenges by gaining support from the Governors Office and the Legislature through the use of effective communication. Currently we have 20 staff members on the security team and a $9 million budget.MR: I approached each change as a new, positive opportunity to educate the future leadership of state government. Over the years, we learned some tactics from NASCIO and other states on how to educate incoming leadership. Keeping an up-to-date overview of whos attacking us, whats at stake, and how were presently safeguarding government has been key in quickly on-boarding leadership. Quantitative metrics used to convey effectiveness are important but only if theyre understandable. We have changed from reporting large figures (attacks blocked) to low or 0 figures (successful attacks). Reporting that we block 100 million unwanted connections a day sounds impressive. But should it be 200 million? Or 50 million? To simplify how we convey ROI and overall performance, we report in a similar tone to how a factory safety division reports injuries:MR: I would like to give a big thanks to MS-ISAC and NASCIO for their support over the years. They have been tremendous resources for us. While they may not want to be known for it, continuity in the face of drastic change is the biggest service both of them provide to state IT leadership. I would also like to thank you, Dan, for your support to me and other fellow CISOs throughout the years. You have been an invaluable mentor and have left a significant positive mark within state government; not just in Michigan but throughout the states.MR: I am most proud of assembling the team of outstanding security professionals that come together every day to carry out the Missouri Office of Cyber Securitys mission. They are some of the most dedicated and driven individuals that I have ever met. We have deployed numerous successful technologies and processes over the years but none of them would have taken off without them. I am also proud of the culture shift that has taken place during my tenure. Non-IT state employees realize now that they play a tremendous role in protecting state data.MR: I have 100 percent confidence in Stephen Meyer, the announced interim CISO. He has been a part of my team since the beginning, and I have known him for well over a decade. Missouris team will continue to have success with him. With that said, the team will have to evolve and adapt to the ever-changing threat landscape and develop new strategies to mitigate risk. I thoroughly enjoyed that component of being CISO and know that Steve will pick up right where I left off.MR: CISOs will be more involved in human safety in the next three to five years. Were on the verge of everything being software controlled and interconnected, for better or for worse. The convergence of OT and IT will be quite interesting to watch as OT tends to demand 100 percent uptime versus ITs demands of patching and securing. I also think CISOs will shift to being security brokers as many solutions today are fully managed SaaS offerings. This shift should be embraced as it will allow CISOs and their teams to focus more on the big picture than on the nuts and bolts.MR: Our growth and success have been dependent on an already-strong IT organization (ITSD) and executive leadership willing to invest in the necessary resources. The Governors Office, the Office of Administrations Commissioner, and our Legislature over the years have supported us fully. If theres a not so secret secret about state government IT security, it is having a strong IT foundation with unwavering support from the top.We are entering a new phase in cybersecurity leadership in state governments  all over the nation. Not surprisingly, Mike Roling and other top state and local government CISOs are being offered roles in the private sector with very attractive packages, sometimes including stock . In addition, the new elections this November will likely bring many new CIOs and CISOs to state and local governments across the nation.For more than six years, Mike Roling learned the business of government before he became a CISO, and he adapted to changes once in the leadership role. Many new CISOs do not have this public-sector background, making their job harder to achieve success. Mike showed what patience and perseverance can achieve when combined with excellence in a government career.As new CISOs are appointed, they would do well to follow Mikes example and his approach to security management. He was a rare cyberleader who maintained great relationships in multiple directions (with staff, peers, management, customers and vendors.)Michael Roling will be missed in Missouri government and around the country in public-sector CISO circles, but his (primary) legacy, which is the team he led, will live on to achieve even more. In addition, the technology, cyberdefenses integrated and processes achieved will protect the people of Missouri in the decade ahead.The Toyota Mobility Foundation (TMF) is calling for research proposals from Japan for 2018 under the Hydrogen Research Initiative established in 2017. (Earlier post.)

This initiative is part of TMFs goal to promote sustainable mobility. It recognizes that pairing carbon-free hydrogen systems with renewable energies contributes to energy sustainability. It also underscores the foundations commitment to tackle energy-related issues such as environmental degradation and resource depletion.

Shifting the world to hydrogen-based systems for energy supply and consumption is a heavily discussed topic, however cost remains a daunting obstacle for execution. For this reason, the Toyota Mobility Foundation seeks projects that demonstrate progress in reducing carbon dioxide emissions and lowering the cost of hydrogen. When screening the submitted proposals, TMF will emphasize innovations in the generation, storage, transportation, and use of hydrogen.

In 2017, TMF launched a five-year program to provide grants for fundamental and innovative research that helps develop a hydrogen society. It also assembled a screening panel of hydrogen and energy experts from universities and public-sector institutes in Japan to assess the research programs and select the grant recipients. The 10 grantees (earlier post) from the first year of the program continue to discuss their research with panel members.

In this second year of the initiative, an additional research field has been included for consideration. Applicants from both universities and public-sector institutions in Japan are invited to submit proposals in the following research fields:

Hydrogen generation

Hydrogen carriers

Hydrogen applications

Energy systems

Social systems utilizing hydrogen (new)

TMF is targeting young researchers who represent the next generation to participate in the program. They also encourage repurposing knowledge and technology from other fields to the research of hydrogen.

Total budget is approximately 100 million (US$890,000); TMF envisions 10-20 projects, with up to 10 million (US$89,000) per project.Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry met on Saturday with the UN's Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura on the sidelines of the 73rd Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, spokesman for the foreign ministry Ahmed Abu Zeid said.

The two sides discussed the recent developments in Syria and ways of reaching a political settlement and addressing the relevant humanitarian crises in the country, said Abu Zeid.

During the meeting, de Mistura briefed Shoukry on the latest political and security developments, as well as the UN efforts to cope with the current challenges.

The two sides also discussed the outcome of the recent contacts made by the UN envoy with regional and international actors.

On the situation in Idlib, Shoukry "warned that the underground corridors in Idlib could allow terrorist elements to infiltrate into other countries in the region," the spokesman added.

The foreign minister highlighted the importance of achieving a political solution in Syria, especially by forming a constitutional committee as a major step to politically settle the crisis.

Cairo is looking forward to participating in the ministerial meeting on Syria at the end of this week in New York, Shoukry said.

"Egypt will continue its efforts to ease the suffering of the Syrian people, which has been ongoing for the past eight consecutive years," he added.

The minister underlined the importance of coordinating regional and international efforts to settle the crisis without wasting more blood and time.

The statement added that Cairo supports de Mistura's efforts in achieving a comprehensive settlement for the regional crisis.

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A hospital in Egypt's Nile Delta governorate of Sharquiya announced on Sunday the death of a fourth patient who received dialysis treatment at the Dirb Negm Hospital earlier this month.

Prosecutors ordered an autopsy on the 38-year-old Heba Tantawy, who passed away on Sunday.

Last week, three people died and 13 others fell into a coma after receiving dialysis treatment at the hospital.

Following the incident, the health ministry announced that the hospital was under investigation by the prosecution, who were reviewing the details of the incident.

The prosecution team seized all of the equipment and tools and detained 15 doctors, employees, and maintenance workers at the Darb Negb hospital's dialysis unit as part of the investigation.

According to the latest hospital reports, 12 remaining patients are still recovering in different hospitals across the Sharqiya governorate.

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Haiti - Economy : Official opening of the national office of the CBD in Haiti





Friday, the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB)officially opened its Country Office in Haiti, the first outside its Headquarters in Barbados. To commemorate the occasion, Dr. William Warren Smith, President of the Bank, hosted an inauguration event, which First Lady of the Republic of Haiti, Her Excellency Martine Moise; Apostolic Nuncio, Ambassador Eugene Martin Nugent; Ministers of Government; and representatives from the diplomatic community in Haiti attended.



"The opening of the new Country Office here is timely, as we seek to advance Haitis development and to assist with its further integration into the Caribbean Community, said Smith during the event. Be assured that CDB stands ready to provide further support and to continue improving the quality of programmes and services to enhance the livelihoods of the people of Haiti," he added.



Speaking to the gathering at the Royal Oasis Hotel in Petion-Ville, the President noted that since 2007, CDB has committed approximately USD134 million in grants to Haiti from the Banks Special Development Fund (Unified). CDBs new Country Office will become the focal point for the implementation of its country strategy for Haiti for the period 2017 to 2021, he said.



"This Office represents the Caribbean Development Banks deep and unwavering commitment to continue working with the Government of Haiti to deliver positive development results for the people of Haiti," said Monica La Bennett, Vice-President (Operations), CDB during a ribbon-cutting ceremony held during the inauguration of the new location.



On February 27, 2018, CDB signed https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-23713-icihaiti-economy-the-caribbean-development-bank-will-open-an-office-in-haiti.html a Country Agreement with the Government of Haiti to establish the Office. The Banks ongoing work in the Republic includes projects in education, climate resilience, community-based agriculture, and rural development. In addition, since May 2013, CDB has paid the countrys catastrophic insurance premiums to CCRIF SPC. https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-25382-haiti-security-grant-of-$3m-from-the-cbd-to-help-haiti-pay-its-insurance-premiums.html



See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-25382-haiti-security-grant-of-$3m-from-the-cbd-to-help-haiti-pay-its-insurance-premiums.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-25021-haiti-economy-$3m-to-develop-micro-and-small-businesses.html

https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-24792-icihaiti-economy-2nd-financial-center-dedicated-to-entrepreneurs.html

https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-23713-icihaiti-economy-the-caribbean-development-bank-will-open-an-office-in-haiti.html

https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-23682-icihaiti-education-$16m-project-with-caribbean-development-bank.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-22994-haiti-economy-the-cbd-proposes-a-$100m-program-for-haiti.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-21534-haiti-education-towards-more-cooperation-with-the-caribbean-development-bank.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-21441-haiti-politics-more-than-$20m-in-grants-for-2-projects.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-17648-haiti-economy-$500-000-to-increase-access-to-credit-for-very-small-and-small-enterprises.html



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Haiti - News : Zapping...





Jovenel Moise at the UN tribune

In the framework of the General Assembly of the United Nations, started last September 18 or 84 Heads of State and 44 Heads of Government will speak in the tribune of the UN, the President Jovenel Moise should speak Thursday 27 September according to the agenda of the Assembly.



Mgr Saturne enthroned

Thursday, the Mayor of Cap-Haitien, Jean-Claude Mondesir welcomed Msgr. Launay Saturne, the new metropolitan archbishop of Cap-Haitien https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-24981-haiti-religion-pope-francis-names-mgr-launay-saturne-archbishop-of-cap-haitien.html at Hugo Chavez International Airport "Building a country, building a region, building a particular Church is the task of all of us. Haitian man, Christian man, let us trust in this future that we must forge together," said Bishop Launay Saturne whose induction ceremony is scheduled for Sunday, September 23, 2018 at the Cathedral of Cap-Haitien.



Biogas valorization in Gonaives

At the Montreal Conference, Claudel Dumas, Vice-President of the Haitian-Canadian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, spoke with Guy Drouin, President and CEO of Biothermica Technologies, a company specializing in carbon and energy projects (biogas , mining methane, clean air) engaged in Haiti. This innovative Montreal-based company is developing a biogas energy valorization project in Gonaives in collaboration with Bioenergie Haiti, an initiative that has received nearly $ 1 million in funding from the Government of Quebec and will be a turning point in waste management. in the municipality of Gonaives.



Saving the environment and the Haitian marine environment

Saturday morning, with the contribution of the European Union, the Embassies of Germany, England, the Francophone Action Group for the Environment (GAFE Haiti) a Haitian NGO specialized in local development and the Organization of The United Nations Food and Agriculture Conference (FAO), "Tete Ansamn - Nap sove lanme ak late nou yo" has started to develop resolutions to save the environment and the marine environment in Haiti.



Maduro pays tribute to Dessalines

As part of the 260th anniversary of Emperor Jean Jacques Dessalines, Nicolas Maduro, the disputed President of Venezuela, paid tribute on twitter to Dessalines which he describes as "Leader and forerunner of independence" Father of the Haitian homeland "Sister of Venezuela".



Improving the performance of ambulance drivers

To improve the performance of its ambulance drivers, the Direction of the National Ambulance Center (CAN), through its Training Section, organizes not only continuous training sessions on the role and responsibility of drivers, but also on what to do at the wheel of an ambulance and especially on the basic actions that save, because the driver is as involved as the rest of the team, thus helping to save more lives. At the end of this training, each driver is subjected to an audio-visual test in order to evaluate his abilities to do his job well.



HL/ HaitiLibre

















An Egyptian criminal court sentenced the chief of the now-banned Muslim Brotherhood group and dozens of others to life in prison on Sunday on charges of incitement of murder and violence during protests five years ago, a judicial source said.

The sentence is the latest among a series of trials and re-trials against the Supreme Guide of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood Mohamed Badie and other senior leaders of the Islamist group that ruled Egypt before Islamist president Mohamed Morsi was ousted following massive protests.

The court sentenced 64 others alongside Badei to life terms.

The case, which involves hundreds of defendants, dates back to violence in August 2013 that followed the dispersal of a sit-in by supporters of ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, which left hundreds of Brotherhood members and dozens of police dead. The defendants are accused of assaulting a police station in the southern governorate of Minya and killing a policeman.

The court had previously sentenced Badie to death 2014 in this case, but an appeals hearing had overturned the verdict and ordered a retrial.

Another 81 defendants were sentenced to between 10-15 years in prison and dozens of others were handed shorter jail terms. The court acquitted 288 other defendants in the same case.

Last month, Badie and other senior Brotherhood leaders were sentenced to life in prison over similar charges in a separate case.

In July, a court referred the cases of Badie and other Brotherhood leaders in a separate case to Egypts top Muslim religious authority, the Mufti, for his opinion on whether they should be sentenced to death.

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Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry met on Saturday with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Administrator Achim Steiner, along with Bahraini counterpart Shaikh Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, on the sidelines of the 73rd Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

Shoukry hailed the bilateral relations between Egypt and the UNDP, along with the organisation's support of Cairo's efforts on conducting national reviews for the implementation of its Egypt 2030 vision.

The minister affirmed Egypt's desire to continue technical cooperation and coordination between the Group of 77, which Cairo chairs, China, and the UNDP leadership.

He added that Egypt pays great attention to enhancing the role played by the UN and the international multilateral system, including the process of reforming the UN development system.

Shoukry stressed that the reform process should take into account priorities and requirements of the member states to implement the goals of the 2030 sustainable development plan.

Steiner described Egypt as a main UNDP partner in the Middle East and North Africa.

He hailed positive developments achieved by the country in its economic reform program.

Meanwhile, the Egyptian foreign minister met with his Bahraini counterpart Shaikh Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, where they discussed bilateral ties and latest regional developments.

Shoukry said Egypt highly appreciated Bahraini efforts and stances aimed at maintaining Arab national security, lauding deeply-rooted relations linking the two countries.

The Bahraini top diplomat hailed distinguished ties binding the two countries in various industries, the spokesman noted.

Shoukry asserted Egypt's firm stance towards fostering joint Arab action and solidarity in face of the current regional challenges, noting that Gulf security is integral to Egyptian and Arab national security.

The talks also saw discussions of regional issues of common concern, highlighted by the Yemeni and Syrian crises, in addition to efforts to fight terrorism in the region and developments in the Palestinian cause, Abu Zeid noted.

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When you click get started below it will walk you through creating an online account to attach your print subscription number to.

After your account is created it will ask you to either add a subscription for online access or click on the print subscriber button. Click the print subscriber button header and it will open a dropdown, now click on get started. The page will reload and you will be prompted to enter an account number and a zip code.

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The account number and zip code are easily available on your most recent issue of the High Plains Journal or Midwest Ag Journal in the address fields as is shown here. Sometimes the account number has extra zero's in front of it, just ignore those.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.UPDATE: Suspected Pittsfield Arsonist Apprehended

Firefighters were battling a blaze at 112 Appleton Ave. when two more fires were reported. PreviousNext

Update: Monday, September 24, 2018, at 5:05 p.m.

Phillip Jordan was arraigned in Vermont on Monday afternoon on a fugitive from justice charge and is being held on $25,000 bail. A not-guilty plea was entered on his behalf and his case was continued pending an examination to determine his competency to participate in court proceedings regarding his fugitive status.

Jordan is facing three counts of burning a dwelling house in connection with fires at homes on Appleton Avenue, Ridge Avenue and Fort Hill Avenue in Pittsfield on Saturday. The investigation is continuing and more charges may be pending. Update: Sunday, September 23, 2018 at 5:07 p.m.

Pittsfield Police say Phillip Jordan was apprehended at the Canadian border by U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents at the Highgate Port of Entry in Highgate Springs, Vt. without incident. The district attorney's office is assisting in the extradition back to Massachusetts.

Police are seeking any information on the whereabouts of Phillip Jordan. Jordan is considered armed and dangerous. Original Post: Saturday, September 22, 2018. PITTSFIELD, Mass.  Authorities say incendiary devices were used Saturday night to start fires in four separate locations in the city all at about the same time.

"We had four fires simultaneously in the community," said Fire Chief Robert Czerwinski at the scene of the worst of the incidents on Appleton Avenue.

"We believe they are all related at this time. The Police Department is searching for a suspect right now that we believe is responsible for this."

Police released a Code Red notification shortly after 9 p.m. seeking information on the whereabouts of 58-year-old Phillip Jordan.

He is believed to have intentionally lit the fires. Jordan was operating a blue Subaru Legacy with license plate number 7LJA90.

Jordan is described as a white man with long salt and pepper hair, standing 5-feet 7-inches tall, and weighing 135 pounds.

He is considered armed and dangerous and police say he should not be approached.

Police are asking anyone with information about his whereabouts to contact the department.

A Phillip Jordan is also listed in the Registry of Deeds as the owner of 112 Appleton Ave., where the first of the fires was reported at 6:42 p.m. That fire was still going strong more than two hours later. A second fire was reported at Fort Hill Avenue, a third at Ridge Avenue and then a fourth on Brown Street.

"This is the worst of them," the fire chief said as crews continued to fight the blaze in the two-story home on Appleton. "They're heavily involved in defensive operations ... it was in the basement and went through the entire building."

No one was home at the Appleton residence but the occupants of the other three homes were able to put out the fires before firefighters arrived.

"They were all single-family homes," Czerwinski said. "It appears to be some kind of incendiary device at all four houses."

Firefighters and equipment from Richmond, Lanesborough, Lenox and Dalton were called in to help respond the blazes and cover the station. Fire investigators with the department were already working at the three smaller fires and arson investigators were on their way.

Meanwhile, throughout the evening police had officers scouring the area looking for Jordan.

Firefighters extinguished the Appleton blaze and were packing up to leave the scene at about 10:30 p.m. That was when fire investigators began working the scene.



Egypts parliament will start its fourth legislative session in its parliamentary term on Tuesday 2 October, in accordance with presidential decree last week.

The decree, published in the Egyptian states official gazette on Sunday, President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi issued an order asking the Parliament to convene next Tuesday for its fourth legislative session.

According to the Egyptian constitution, each elected parliament has five legislative sessions, with each session lasting a minimum of nine months.

The parliament convened for the first time in January 2016, ending a four year legislative vacuum brought about by political turmoil and legislative amendments to the parliaments election laws.

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Former vice president Atiku Abubakar has urged the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC) not to manipulate the results from the just concluded Osun state governorship election.

The election which held yesterday, 22nd September had the ruling party, All Progressives Congress(APC) and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) locking horns in a fierce competition.

The governor, Rauf Aregbesola, lost his constituency to the PDP candidate, Ademola Adeleke and from what the results are saying, victory is tilting towards the opposition.

The former VP, who is also a presidential aspirant of the party warned the electoral body not to add or subtract from the results as it would be a call to anarchy and threat to democracy.

He wrote via twitter thus:Former minister of Aviation, Mr Femi Fani Kayode has the people have spoken and their wish must be respected. The Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) chieftain made this statement via twitter on Sunday morning.

According to him, Osun is back in the hands of the PDP and the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC) must not rig Osogbo LGA and declare All Progressives Congress(APC) winner.

The lawyer noted thatwon it will lose the little credibility that it has built up in the last 2 days. INEC must not allow themselves to be used to thwart the will of the people of Osun.The Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) has made it clear that it would not accept any manipulation of results from the just concluded Osun state governorship polls by the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC).

The opposition party stated this via its official twitter handle on Sunday. According to the party, its members and supporters are already in jubilation Mood as victory may already by theirs.

From the official results announced by the INEC, in 29 out of the 30 LGAs in Osun State, the PDP has led with more than 12,000 votes.

It stated that it will not accept any manipulation with the outstanding Osogbo result and warned INEC to tread carefully.

It wrote:Loudon, New Hampshire, (September 22, 2018): Donald Theetge, driver of the #24 Mercedes-Benz/Circuit Acura Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, fought and battled his way through to a podium finish on Saturday in the Visit New Hampshire 100 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. This was the first appearance by the NASCAR Pintys Series outside of Canada and was run in conjunction with the K & N East Series and the Whelen Modified Tour in an event titled New Hampshire Full Throttle weekend.

Practice and qualifying would take place on Friday and Theetge was happy with his car right from the start of practice just wanting minor adjustments from his crew to make it a little more stable. Once practice was complete and he was being scored as fifth quickest he and crew chief Greg Gibson discussed what else they could do make the car just a little better. Gibson made a call to make one more change. This adjustment maybe cost them a little time in qualifying  seventh overall, but they knew the car would have great long run speed for the 100-lap race.

Theetge started the Visit New Hampshire 100 on the inside of row four and was quickly able to move up in the running order. By lap 20 he was into the fourth position and gaining on the front runners. A few laps later from the third position, the team elected to bring Donald down pit road for extra fuel. Everyone knew the race distance was going to mean the teams would be close on fuel and a complete restart after the field took the green flag at the start, resulted in six additional laps being run, making it too close to take a chance. When the race went back green, Theetge was deep in the field but started his charge back to the front and when 100 laps were complete he was credited with a 3third place finish.

What a day we had, we worked so hard yesterday to have a car to be consistent for 100 laps and that is what the team did, said Theetge. Greg Gibson my crew chief did a good move at the end yesterday to make an adjustment. We knew we were the fastest car for the time trials so qualified seventh and after 10 laps I knew we had the car to beat. We were gaining on the 74 but we planned to put fuel in somewhere around lap 35 if we got a caution and we did. We ended up in third position what a good car, a bit lose at the end but overall really great. Maybe with a caution at the end we could have had a win because the two front cars had not pitted for fuel. Maybe next time and we are proud of what the team did and thank you to Scott Steckly and Greg Gibson, what a car they gave me today.

For the first time our Canadian fans were able to live stream the race on tsn.ca or the tsn app but if you missed it the Visit New Hampshire 100 will air on TSN on Saturday Sept. 29th at 1:30 p.m. and on RDS 2 on Tuesday September 16th at 10:30 p.m.

The final event of the 2018 season will take place next weekend at Jukasa Motor Speedway just outside of Hamilton Ontario. For tickets, camping and event information please visit www.jukasamotorspeedway.com

Donald Theetge is supported by the following sponsors: Mercedes-Benz St Nicolas, Circuit Acura, Antidote, V Tele, Le Soleil, XPN World et Quebec Automobile Esthetique.

For more information please contact:

Linda Jones Steffy Theetge

(705) 730-4044 1-418-830-1234

ljones@drivenmi.ca stheetge@mercedes-benzstnicolas.comDar e Arqam School Shalley Valley Campus Jobs

Latest Dar e Arqam Schools Pakistan Teaching Posts Rawalpindi 2021 Male / Female Teachers for the Subject of English, Maths and Computer Science having Teaching experience are required in Dar e Arqam School Shalley Valley Campus in Rawalpindi.

How to Apply on Dar e Arqam Schools Pakistan 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.Iranian President Hassan Rouhani accused the United States of being a "bully" that wants to create insecurity in the Islamic Republic, a day after an attack on a military parade that killed 25 people, including 12 members of the country's elite Revolutionary Guards.

Speaking before leaving Tehran to attend the UN General Assembly in New York, Rouhani accused US-backed Gulf Arab states of providing financial and military support for anti-government ethnic Arab groups.

"The small puppet countries in the region are backed by America, and the United States is provoking them and giving them the necessary capabilities," said Rouhani.

The attack was one of the worst ever against the Guards - the most powerful military force in the country

"Iran's answer (to this attack) is forthcoming within the framework of law and our national interests," said Rouhani, adding that the United States will regret its "aggressiveness".

An Iranian ethnic Arab opposition movement called the Ahvaz National Resistance, which seeks a separate state in oil-rich Khuzestan province, claimed responsibility for the attack.

"The Persian Gulf states are providing monetary, military and political support for these groups," said Rouhani.

Islamic State militant group also claimed responsibility. Neither claim provided evidence. All four attackers were killed.

The assault, which wounded at least 70 people, targeted a viewing stand where Iranian officials had gathered in the city of Ahvaz to watch an annual event marking the start of the Islamic Republic's 1980-88 war with Iraq, state television said.

"Hopefully we will overcome these sanctions with the least possible costs and make America regret its aggressiveness towards other countries, and particularly Iran," said Rouhani.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp (IRGC) has been the sword and shield of Shia clerical rule in Iran since its 1979 Islamic Revolution.

*This story was edited by Ahram Online

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GRANTS PASS, Ore. -- Pacific Power begins installing their smart meters to Josephine County homes next week. To provide Josephine County residents with information about those smart meters and allow them to ask questions, Pacific Power held a workshop and many people came. The group No Smart Meter estimates about 150 people were outside to protest against the smart meters and the opt-out fees. A spokesperson with Pacific Power estimates between 30-40 people with the group were protesting.

We're going to get it reversed completely. We're not looking for reduced opt out fees. They're illegal. We want them gone completely. We want the analog meters put back on at no cost. Right now people need to opt-out. People need to opt-out to protect their families. We will fight the fees," said No Smart Meter advocate Randal Barrett.

If you choose to opt-out of having a smart meter, you'll have to pay a $36 monthly reading fee. If you already have a smart meter and decide you want to go back to the older analog meters that will cost you $169 up front and the additional $36 monthly fee.

The group No Smart Meter is also concerned the meters give off radiation and harm people nearby, causing people to get sick. The group said the smart meters also start fires. But Pacific Power said that information is outdated.

"There is a lot of information out there and I feel like some of it is really old information that is attributed to roll-outs that happened before we adopted the technology. We are late adopters. There are more than half of the homes in the United States that have them," said Pacific Power Regional Business Manager Christina Kruger.

She added about one percent of people are choosing to opt-out.Toronto-based former Senator Consiglio Di Nino, left, was in town Friday to honour Kelownas Mike Ostash for his participation in the Second World War Italian Campaign. Consiglio is holding a photo of Ostash taken in 1943 shortly after he joined the Army at the age of 17 1/2.Related Egypt extends condolences to Tanzania over ferry disaster

Tanzania declared the whole nation was in mourning Sunday as the first dozen bodies were buried from a devastating ferry capsize on Lake Victoria that left people 224 dead.

Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa led "national funerals" on the island of Ukara, where the MV Nyerere had been coming in to dock on Thursday.

He spoke of "great mourning by the whole nation" as the first coffins were placed in individual graves, many of the victims unidentified.

The remainder of the dead were to be lain to rest later or taken away by families wishing for privates funerals.

The prime minister said a memorial would be built on Ukara.

Hopes had faded of finding any more survivors three days after the disaster, even after rescuers pulled out an engineer on Saturday who had holed up in an air pocket in the upturned vessel.

But Majaliwa said divers would continue the grim search in the waters around the boat. The ferry would also be refloated.

He updated the death toll to 126 women, 71 men, 17 girls and 10 boys. Just 41 people survived.

'Overloading' Blamed For Tragedy

Transport Minister Isack Kamwelwe said 265 people had been on board the ferry, which had an official capacity of 100 or 101 passengers.

The prime minister said initial investigations suggested overloading was one of the causes of the accident.

"We have already arrested all those people in charge of operating and supervising the MV Nyerere. Questioning has begun," he said.

A broader commission of inquiry into the disaster would also be set up, Majaliwa added.

One survivor was an engineer who shut himself into a "special room" with enough air for him to stay alive until he was found, said local lawmaker Joseph Mkundi.

Transport minister Kamwelwe said on Saturday that 172 of the bodies had been identified by relatives.

State television cited witnesses reporting that more than 200 people had boarded the ferry at Bugolora, a town on the larger Ukerewe Island. It was market day, which usually sees the vessel packed with people and goods.

Witnesses told AFP that the ferry sank when passengers rushed to one side to disembark as it approached the dock. Others blamed the captain, saying he had made a brusque manoeuvre.

Grief and Anger

Dozens of wooden coffins had lined the shore on Saturday, waiting to be seen by families as police and volunteers sought to keep hundreds of curious locals at bay.

Aisha William came to collect the body of her husband. "He left on Tuesday around noon, but he never came home. I do not know how I am going to raise my two children," she said.

Ahmed Caleb, a 27-year-old trader, railed at a tragedy "which could have been prevented. I've lost my boss, friends, people I went to school with," he sighed.

The ageing vessel, whose hull and propellers were all that remained visible above water, was also carrying cargo, including sacks of maize, bananas and cement, when it capsized.

Tanzanian President John Magufuli on Friday ordered the arrest of the ferry's management and declared four days of national mourning.

"It appears clear that the ferry was overloaded", he said, adding that the government would cover the funeral expenses.

With a surface area of 70,000 square kilometres (27,000 square miles), oval-shaped Lake Victoria is roughly the size of Ireland and is shared by Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya.

It is not uncommon for ferries to capsize on the lake, and the number of fatalities is often high due to a shortage of life jackets and the fact that many local people cannot swim.

In 1966, more than 800 people lost their lives on Lake Victoria when the MV Bukoba sank off the mainland town of Mwanza, according to the Red Cross.

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CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa  A former Kossuth County farmer is sentenced to prison for lying to his bank.

Mark Laubenthal, 36 of Bancroft, pleaded guilty in March to one count of making a false statement to a bank. Laubenthal confessed that when he received a $160,000 loan and a $750,000 line of credit for his farming operation in 2015, he lied about the amount of crops he had in storage, how much land he was farming, and how many pieces of farm equipment he actually owned.

Court records show that Laubenthal failed to make payments on his loans and went into default in 2016. Federal authorities say he then lied during mediation meetings with the bank, stating he had planted nearly 300 acres for 2016 and had 120,000 bushels of corn in storage when neither of those things were true.

Laubenthal was sentenced Wednesday to 12 months and one day in federal prison, followed by two years of supervised release. He must also pay $1,044,881.82 in restitution to his bank.ROCHESTER, Minn.  A former employee accused of stealing a company car and credit card is pleading guilty.

Terry Gene Albrecht, 47 of Rochester, entered a guilty plea to 3rd degree burglary on Friday.

The Olmsted County Sheriffs Office says surveillance video shows Albrecht stealing the car and credit card from Briese Iron Works on August 11, shortly after he was released from jail on other charges.

Authorities say around $500 worth of items were bought with the company credit card at Walmart, a liquor store, and a convenience store.

Albrechts sentencing is set for November 19.CLARION, Iowa  A not guilty plea is entered in Wright County to 10 counts of sexual exploitation of a minor.

Timothy Roberts, 49 of Rowan, is accused of possession and distribution of child pornography. He was arrested on August 3 after an investigation the Wright County Sheriffs Office says began with a cyber tip to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

Authorities say Roberts used a social media service to transmit photos of nude minor females and a search of his computer in April found images of nude minor females with exposed genitals.

Roberts pleaded not guilty Friday. His trial is set to start on November 15.Shenandoah, IA (51601)

Today

Cloudy and damp with rain early...then becoming partly cloudy. Low 38F. Winds NW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%..

Tonight

Cloudy and damp with rain early...then becoming partly cloudy. Low 38F. Winds NW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%.German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said on Sunday that Chancellor Angela Merkel's ruling coalition had agreed on a solution to a crisis over the future of Germany's scandal-tainted spymaster that had threatened their alliance.

The coalition parties said on Tuesday that Hans-Georg Maassen would be removed from his role as domestic intelligence chief after he faced accusations of harbouring far-right views but, in a move that prompted public outrage, also granted him a transfer to a better paid job at the Interior Ministry.

That compromise came unstuck on Friday when Andrea Nahles - leader of the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), junior partner in the conservative-led alliance - said it was a mistake.

Seehofer said on Sunday that the parties had agreed Maassen would work as a special adviser in the Interior Ministry in future without a pay rise.

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South Korean President Moon Jae-in was set to embark on a trip to the United States on Sunday for a summit with his U.S. counterpart, Donald Trump, where he will likely seek to broker a second U.S.-North Korea summit.



Moon's trip comes after his visit last week to the communist North where he held his third bilateral summit with leader Kim Jong-un.



Moon will explain the outcome of the latest inter-Korean summit before the entire world when he addresses the United Nations General Assembly. However, his U.S. trip may be more aimed at explaining the summit outcome directly to the U.S. president.



"President Moon is set to thoroughly explain the outcome of the third inter-Korean summit (in 2018) that was held under the interest of the entire world," said Nam Gwan-pyo, a senior director from the presidential National Security Office.

Moon "will hold in-depth discussions (with Trump) on ways to break the impasse in North Korea-U.S. talks and to improve North Korea-U.S. relations," Nam told reporters earlier.



The latest Moon-Kim summit marked the third of its kind held since Moon took office in May 2017 and was the fifth inter-Korean summit in history.



The South Korean president's trip to Pyongyang, from Tuesday to Thursday, came amid a deadlock in denuclearization talks between the U.S. and the North, partly caused by Trump calling off a scheduled North Korea trip by his Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, citing a lack of progress in the North's denuclearization process.



In a joint declaration with Moon, Kim agreed to dismantle the North's missile engine test facility and launch pads in Dongchang-ri, which is considered home of the North's newly developed long-range ballistic missiles that can reach the continental U.S.



The North has also offered to dismantle its key nuclear facilities in Yongbyon in exchange for corresponding measures from the U.S.



Moon said he had additional messages for Trump that come directly from the North Korean leader.













"Among what we discussed, there are items that we did not include in the joint declaration," Moon told a nationally televised press conference after his return from North Korea on Thursday. "I plan to deliver such messages in detail to the U.S. side."



Moon said the North Korean leader repeatedly confirmed his commitment to denuclearize as quickly as possible.



Kim wants to hold a second North Korea-U.S. summit to do so, Moon told the press conference.

"I believe the denuclearization process may move forward much faster should the two leaders sit face to face," the South Korean president has said.



Trump and Kim met in Singapore on June 12, marking the first-ever U.S.-North Korea summit.



Moon has invited Kim to visit Seoul before the year's end.



Many believe he may invite Trump to visit Seoul for a three-way summit with Kim as he has repeatedly stressed the need to formally end the Korean War before the year's end, a move that requires the U.S' participation.



The two Koreas technically remain at war as the 1950-53 war ended only with an armistice, not a peace treaty.



Moon insists a formal declaration of an end to the war would simply be a declaration that has nothing to do with the South Korea-U.S. alliance or U.S. troops stationed in South Korea.



Still, it may provide some security assurance to the North, which is exactly what the communist state is seeking in exchange for giving up its nuclear ambition, Moon said. (Yonhap)South Korean President Moon Jae-in headed to the United States on Sunday for a summit with his U.S. counterpart, Donald Trump, where he will likely seek to broker a second U.S.-North Korea summit.



Moon's trip comes after his visit last week to the communist North where he held his third bilateral summit with leader Kim Jong-un.



Moon will explain the outcome of the latest inter-Korean summit before the entire world when he addresses the United Nations General Assembly. However, his U.S. trip may be more aimed at explaining the summit outcome directly to the U.S. president.



"President Moon is set to thoroughly explain the outcome of the third inter-Korean summit (in 2018) that was held under the interest of the entire world," said Nam Gwan-pyo, a senior director from the presidential National Security Office.



Moon "will hold in-depth discussions (with Trump) on ways to break the impasse in North Korea-U.S. talks and to improve North Korea-U.S. relations," Nam told reporters earlier.



The Moon-Trump summit is scheduled to be held Monday (New York time).



The latest Moon-Kim summit marked the third of its kind held since Moon took office in May 2017 and was the fifth inter-Korean summit in history.



The South Korean president's trip to Pyongyang, from Tuesday to Thursday, came amid a deadlock in denuclearization talks between the U.S. and the North, partly caused by Trump calling off a scheduled North Korea trip by his Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, citing a lack of progress in the North's denuclearization process.



In a joint declaration with Moon, Kim agreed to dismantle the North's missile engine test facility and launch pads in Dongchang-ri, which is considered home of the North's newly developed long-range ballistic missiles that can reach the continental U.S.



The North has also offered to dismantle its key nuclear facilities in Yongbyon in exchange for corresponding measures from the U.S.



Moon said he had additional messages for Trump that come directly from the North Korean leader.



"Among what we discussed, there are items that we did not include in the joint declaration," Moon told a nationally televised press conference after his return from North Korea on Thursday. "I plan to deliver such messages in detail to the U.S. side."



Moon said the North Korean leader repeatedly confirmed his commitment to denuclearize as quickly as possible.

Kim wants to hold a second North Korea-U.S. summit to do so, Moon told the press conference.



"I believe the denuclearization process may move forward much faster should the two leaders sit face to face," the South Korean president has said.



Trump and Kim met in Singapore on June 12, marking the first-ever U.S.-North Korea summit.



Moon has invited Kim to visit Seoul before the year's end.



Many believe he may invite Trump to visit Seoul for a three-way summit with Kim as he has repeatedly stressed the need to formally end the Korean War before the year's end, a move that requires the U.S' participation.



The two Koreas technically remain at war as the 1950-53 war ended only with an armistice, not a peace treaty.



Moon insists a formal declaration of an end to the war would simply be a declaration that has nothing to do with the South Korea-U.S. alliance or U.S. troops stationed in South Korea.



Still, it may provide some security assurance to the North, which is exactly what the communist state is seeking in exchange for giving up its nuclear ambition, Moon said.



Following their bilateral summit, Moon and Trump are also expected to sign a revision to the South Korea-U.S. free trade agreement.



The South Korean president will deliver a keynote speech at the U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday. He is also scheduled to hold bilateral summits with his counterparts from Chile and Spain on the sidelines of the U.N. meeting.



He will return home on Thursday. (Yonhap)



Eunhee Park







On August 25, Teach North Korean Refugees (TNKR) held its 8th English Language Speech Contest. Eunhee Park, a North Korean refugee who joined TNKR in 2015 speaking English at a basic level, won second prize in the contest, which was hosted by TNKR and the Shin and Kim Law Office, and sponsored by The Korea Times. Australian Gemma Haines was her mentor getting her prepared for this contest. Below is the text of Park's remarks as prepared.

******************



Good afternoon everyone! My name is Eunhee Park. And I escaped from North Korea when I was 21 years old in 2012. Today I am going to tell you about the North Korea I've Lived Through



After the inter-Korean summit and the North Korea-United States summit, North Korea and denuclearization have become important issues capturing the whole world's attention.

Through the internet,' we learn about North Korean issues.

What you all have seen in the media about Kim Jong-un, nuclear weapons, poverty and starvation are true.

But there is part of North Korea that you don't see.

So today, I'd like to talk about the real North Korea and my life there.

When I tell people, I came from NK they want to know 2 things:

How is life in North Korea and What North Koreans do for a living.

Today I am going to tell you about my own experiences.

First of all, what was my daily life like in North Korea?

I was born in 1991 in a city called Wonsan. Wonsan is a beautiful town which is on the east coast of North Korea. It is near Gungang mountain and Songdowon beach, where many tourists from all over the world visit every summer. In North Korea my daily life was mostly just going to school and studying.

The subjects we learned were a lot of what most people learn: Mathematics, English, Physics, Chemistry, and so on. Except the English we learn is British English, not American English. In school we were told the U.S. is North Korea's worst enemy in this world.

For instance, our elementary school mathematics textbook said "There are guys in uniforms called American bastards'. If there were 5 of them, and I killed 3, how many of them would I have left to kill? There are 2 left." This is what our classes were like.

When I was 8, in school we had a field day, and one of the competitions was "Striking American Bastards." We had to make a dummy of an American, and at the time, the part that best represented an American was a big nose. and on the field day, we had a competition to see who could knock down the dummy by stabbing it in the chest with a sharp wooden stick and lighting it on fire. But when I saw foreigners with big noses at the beach, they are so nice and smiled at us and they gave us snacks and candies. I never once thought about stabbing them, like we learned in school. It was probably around that time when I didn't hate the U.S., but actually started liking it.

And also, as you all might know, if you're born in North Korea, you're brainwashed until you die.

Among the subjects we study in school, the most important one is The Revolutionary History of the Great Kim Family.' Memorizing things like when and where they were born, what army units they formed during the period of the Japanese Occupation, and so on, is fundamental history we must know. So even now, there are times when I can't remember my own parents' birthdays, but I can still recite the birthdays of the Kim Family in my sleep. (If someone really wants to see if I'm telling the truth, you can raise your hand and ask me their birthdays). When Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il died, and I saw the North Korean citizens crying, I knew that we were being brainwashed.

The other question that I get asked is what do most people do for a living?

Today, most North Koreans earn money and make a living at the markets. We don't have convenience stores. During the North Korean famine, around 3million people starved to death.

The North Koreans who faced these horrors learned a lesson to not rely on the government alone, and out of this need for survival the markets grew. As the market grew, Not only did people earn money, they also started exchanging secret information. For example, South Korean dramas and U.S. movies are being sold on USB drives and CDs, so North Korean citizens are gaining more information about the outside world.

There's a saying in North Korea: "You make more money at the barrel of a gun." This means that the more you do something illegal, the more money you can make. A few North Koreans started building business with Chinese people, and as a result imported CDs and USBs containing South Korean media and U.S. movies from China were distributed in the markets. It didn't matter how expensive this content was; those who were curious about the new things rented or bought it and watched it at home secretly.

When I was in North Korea, I was told that South Korea was a world where people didn't have money and couldn't afford to study, and the streets were filled with beggars.

And I learned that Americans were savages that killed other people.

But through this secret media, I started to question what I had learned. Because the Americans I saw in the movies were not savages but were romantic people capable of loving one another.

I also started to compare my life with what I was watching. When I was in North Korea, I would get in trouble by the North Korean police for doing something as simple as wearing earnings or clothes that stood out. As a punishment, I was forced to stand in the police station for 6 or 7 hours with no food or water. I thought these punishments were normal until I illegally watched South Korean dramas and American movies.

So how does a country like North Korea exist? The reason is because North Korean authorities made all of the citizens their own political slaves, by blocking their access to external information. North korea is an isolated country. North Korean people have the ability to maintain basic survival, but not the information or wisdom to challenge the regime.



Today, with the inter-Korean summit and the North Korea-United States summit, denuclearization and unification have become important issues. Based on my experience, instead of providing financial aid to the North Korean government, I believe that helping the private organizations who are promoting south korean culture and U.S. media within North Korea is a better way to help 25 million people living in North Korea.

There's a saying, "You can only understand what you see, and you can only speak about what you know." If North Koreans can learn more about the outside world from this secret information, I believe that they will find their identity and have the power to fight for that freedom they deserve.





Casey Lartigue Jr., co-founder of the Teach North Korean Refugees Global Education Center, is the 2017 winner of the "Social Contribution" Prize from the Hansarang Rural Cultural Foundation and the 2017 winner of the Global Award from Challenge Korea.Brian Howey is publisher of Howey Politics Indiana at howeypolitics.com. Find him on Facebook and Twitter @hwypol.Egyptian exports to Russia during the first half of 2018 increased by 11.5 percent to reach $402.4 million, compared with $360.6 million during the same period in 2017, a report by the Egyptian trade ministry said on Sunday.

Egyptian exports of household appliances to Russia more than tripled to reach $14.66 million, up from $4.53 million during the same period last year, according to the report.

Exports of foodstuffs saw a two-fold increase from $9.7 million to $19.93 million and detergents and soap exports have more than doubled to reach $3.7 million. Exports of carpets amounted to $2 million, compared to $1.97 million last year, while home furnishing exports increased to $1.1 million from $880,000.

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Predicting how well a candidate will fare in an election by the number of supporters she turns out at a debate with her opponent is probably a fools game.

But sometimes, you just get a feeling.

When I arrived at the Palmdale Chamber of Commerce-sponsored congressional debate on Thursday, the line outside the Chimbole Cultural Center was about 250 people long and growing.

People wore Katie Hill T-shirts. They wore Katie Hill campaign pins. It seemed like everyone who had turned out on this mild-September evening in the high desert was there to cheer on Hill, a telegenic 31-year-old who has captivated such millennial-obsessed outlets as Vice, and legacy media like the New Yorker.

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Hill has run a homeless services agency, is married to a man, identifies as bisexual, and it appears, has a good shot at unseating Republican U.S. Rep. Steve Knight, a former LAPD officer who is a generation older and speaks in the flat vocal tones of Sgt. Joe Just the facts, maam Friday. (During the debate, he even used the phrase 1-Adam-12 to describe his law enforcement background.)

As I walked along the line, I asked, Is anyone here for Steve Knight?

People shook their heads.

If Hill and other Democrats in a handful of Californias traditionally Republican districts win this fall, the House of Representatives will change color.

If Hill wins, she will not just be the first Democrat in a quarter-century to represent her district, she will be the first woman, ever.

So maybe things are changing.

Then again, reading the headlines, maybe not.

::

Im not in the habit of quoting Yogi Berra, but is there a woman alive this week who did not get the feeling that when it comes to the nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, its deja vu all over again?

So much has changed in the past quarter-century, since Oklahoma law professor Anita Hill testified before an all-white, all-male Senate Judiciary Committee that Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas had hounded her and sexually harassed her when she turned him down as a romantic partner.

Tell the committee what was the most embarrassing of all these instances, then-committee Chairman Joe Biden asked.

In fact, he never did ask you to have sex, said then-Sen. Arlen Specter. How reliable is your testimony  on events that occurred eight, 10 years ago?

Are you a scorned woman, asked then-Sen. Howell Heflin. Do you have a militant attitude?  Do you have a martyr complex?

Hill was impossibly calm. I guess one really has to understand something about the nature of sexual harassment, she told the senators. It is very difficult for people to come forward with these things.

Buoyed by outrage, women entered Congress the following year in unprecedented numbers. Why, in the Senate alone, their number tripled! (Sounds great, except when you do the math and realize they went from two to six.)

The past two-and-a-half decades have seen a steady increase in female representation in our Congress. And hey, a majority of American voters chose a female candidate as their commander-in-chief in 2016.

These days, there are four women on the Judiciary Committee  all Democrats. This week, we will get a chance to see how much has really changed, when the Judiciary Committee will once again hear testimony from a woman charging a Supreme Court nominee with sexual misconduct.

But I can tell you, from all the commentary and craziness that erupted after Christine Blasey Ford came forward to accuse Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her at a party when they were in high school, the #MeToo movement has failed to educate the people who need its lessons most.

Anyone who asks seriously why it took so long for Ford to step forward is being disingenuous or hasnt been paying attention.

::

Inside the Palmdale auditorium, Hill and Knight stood onstage, behind lecterns. Antelope Valley Press Publisher Mike McMullin moderated what had been advertised as a debate, but which in reality was a series of questions and answers, with almost no interaction between the opponents.

Hill provided the only lively moment, when, horrors!, she tried to rebut Knight out of turn.

During these two debates, Knight told Hill. I have heard a lot of things about Republicans are bad, Republicans have done this. Remember Republicans are about 40% of who you will be in charge of if you are elected.

I am not talking about Republicans, Hill interjected. Im talking about Republicans in Congress.

Please dont interrupt, said McMullin, foreclosing the possibility of anything approaching conflict.

So, Knight was able to paint a rosy view of the 25th Congressional District where, he claims, the economy is booming and there are more jobs than people to fill them, which elicited gasps in the hall. Where? I heard one person exclaim.

Unchallenged, he was able to portray himself as a champion of bipartisanship, a believer in Roe vs. Wade as settled law, and a proponent of healthcare and immigration reform.

In fact, he is avidly anti-abortion, having voted to outlaw the procedure after 20 weeks. He voted to repeal Obamacare, and to penalize so-called sanctuary cities. He once described Social Security as a bad idea. When he was asked how to curb gun violence, he suggested that more attention be paid to mental health, and that gun owners must learn to be more responsible.

Hill, for her part, had a grimmer view of the Antelope Valley, where 1 in 5 live below the federal poverty line, unemployment is twice the national average, and more people are still underwater on their mortgages than anywhere else in Los Angeles County. (The district also includes parts of Simi Valley.)

Onstage, Hill was as personable as Knight was buttoned up. She disclosed that she had become unexpectedly pregnant at 18 (by the man to whom she is now married). She planned to keep the baby, but had a miscarriage. At any rate, she said, the government has no business interjecting itself into a womans decision.

I could not help but think there was some subconscious bias in McMullins questions. For instance, he asked Knight to name his proudest achievement in Congress, then asked Hill, who ran PATH, a $50-million homeless-services organization, why anyone should vote for someone who has no experience in Congress.

And then it hit me: A man with no experience is an outsider.

A woman is just a greenhorn.

Later, Hill told me she thinks questions about experience are gendered. I dont disagree.

In the moment, though, she answered gamely: I think we can all see that Congress isnt working. Do we really want people who have that kind of experience to continue to go back and do a bad job? I mean, I think that speaks for itself.

The audience, which wasnt supposed to, erupted in cheers.

Cheers are not dispositive. But I just have a feeling about Hill.

robin.abcarian@latimes.com

Twitter: @AbcarianLATFor years, Catholic leaders in Los Angeles have made no secret of their sharp opposition to government crackdowns on illegal immigration.

But if there were any lingering doubts about the churchs stance, Archbishop Jose Gomez erased them when he put his name  and the churchs considerable influence  behind a fundraising drive for immigrant families who were separated while trying to enter the country.

The idea for a direct appeal to parishioners throughout the Los Angeles Archdiocese, which includes Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, came about following the zero-tolerance policy the Trump administration put in place along the Mexico border earlier this year, said Isaac Cuevas, director of immigration and public affairs for the archdiocese.

After being separated and then reunited amid public and political outcry over the policy, a few dozen families arrived in the Los Angeles region last month, Cuevas said. Some came in search of relatives, others were connecting with sponsors who had agreed to take them in. Still others had nowhere to live.

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As the number of families coming to the city grew, Cuevas said, church leaders met with officials at Catholic Charities of Los Angeles  an immigration and social services nonprofit  and decided together to take responsibility for helping them.

These families are arriving many times with just the clothes on their backs, Cuevas said. Along with legal aid, they need basic necessities  food, clothing, shelter  as they transition into life here in the city.

An earlier pledge drive on a Catholic radio station raised $92,000. But with dozens of once-separated families now in Los Angeles, Cuevas said, the archbishop agreed with the idea of raising more money by urging parishioners to make online donations.

The tragedy of so many children being separated from their parents at the border is one of the cruel consequences of our broken immigration system and the failure of leaders in Washington, Gomez said in a statement. I am inspired by this initiative through Catholic Charities Los Angeles. It is a beautiful sign of compassion and it will make a big difference in the lives of these little ones and their families. But at the same time, we need to keep praying and keep working for the reform of our immigration laws  which is too long overdue.

The sharply worded criticism is in line with the position Gomez and his predecessor, Cardinal Roger Mahony, have long staked out on immigration. Although far different in style, both have rallied followers against the countrys often-punitive approach to the estimated 11 million people living here illegally and supported plans that would provide immigrants a pathway to gaining legal status.

In 2006, for example, Mahony said he would instruct his priests to defy proposed legislation that would have required churches to withhold services from people who could not prove their legal status.

Gomez has been equally outspoken, establishing an immigration affairs office within the archdiocese that, among other things, offers advice on how to avoid being caught by authorities.

As a group, American bishops oppose an enforcement only approach to immigration and have called for comprehensive reform to the countrys immigration laws.

The fact of the matter is, the church sees immigration and especially the separation of families as an issue of human dignity, Cuevas said.

Church officials have not set a specific fundraising goal, Cuevas said.

Times staff writer Sarah Parvini contributed to this report.

joel.rubin@latimes.com

Follow @joelrubin on TwitterAngry that she had been falsely accused of a drug crime, Tatiana Lopez filed a complaint against a Los Angeles County sheriffs deputy who had arrested her on suspicion of possessing methamphetamine.

But when Lopez met with a sheriffs lieutenant to discuss her accusation, he urged her to drop her complaint, she said.

After a preliminary investigation, the Sheriffs Department ruled the deputy had done nothing wrong, without giving her any explanation.

It would take years of legal battles before a judge exonerated Lopez and a new internal investigation led the department to fire the deputy for lying about her arrest.

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Lopez is one of nearly 200,000 members of the public who filed a complaint against California law enforcement officers in the last decade. Her initial complaint ended the way most did  with police rejecting it without saying why.

A Times analysis of complaint data reported to the California Department of Justice shows law enforcement agencies across the state upheld 8.4% of complaints filed by members of the public from 2008 to 2017.

In a state with some of the strictest police privacy laws in the country, those who make complaints against officers are entitled to learn little more than whether their allegations were found to be true or not. They are given no other explanation about how a final decision was reached, what was done to investigate their allegation or whether an officer was disciplined.

A bill that cleared the state Legislature last month would begin to address the issue by opening up records from internal investigations into shootings by police officers and other major force incidents, as well as cases where officers were found to have committed sexual assault or lied on duty. Gov. Jerry Brown has not said whether he will sign the measure, Senate Bill 1421.

But even if he does, records from the vast majority of internal affairs investigations would remain secret.

The Times analysis of complaint data found several of Californias largest police agencies sustain complaints at a lower rate than the state average, including the L.A. County Sheriffs Department and the Los Angeles and Oakland police departments.

(Swetha Kannan / Los Angeles Times)

Police officials argue that a large number of the complaints they receive are frivolous, filed by suspects they have arrested or others who have an ax to grind. Some said the proliferation of body-worn cameras among California police agencies has helped disprove a larger number of allegations about interactions between police and the public.

In Los Angeles, police said the low rate of upheld complaints was due, in part, to the departments commitment to accepting a wide array of allegations. The LAPD received 25,006 complaints from the public in the last decade, according to state records. Officials concluded there was evidence proving 1,360, about 5.4%.

We take every single complaint on the planet, said Josh Rubenstein, the LAPDs chief spokesman. When you open yourself up to that wide a spectrum, you are going to get a high number of complaints that are not legitimate.

Cmdr. Michael Hyams, who heads the LAPDs Internal Affairs division, said that by examining even the flimsiest of allegations, the department has proved it will heavily scrutinize its own officers. He noted there has been a dramatic drop in citizen complaints against LAPD officers. State records show the number fell by roughly 67% from 2008 to 2017.

At the Sheriffs Department, internal investigators upheld only 69 of 15,661 complaints made by members of the public in the last decade, less than 1%, according to figures the agency reported to the state.

Nicole Nishida, a department spokeswoman, said the agency had under-reported the number of sustained complaints to the state. By the departments own accounting, roughly 8% of all public complaints were upheld from 2004 to 2016, she said.

Peter Bibring, director of police practices for the American Civil Liberties Union of California, said that a low rate of sustained complaints does not necessarily mean a department is doing a poor job of policing itself, but the lack of information disclosed about those investigations is a significant problem.

If their complaint is rejected, they are not told why, he said. That lack of transparency prevents the public from having any faith that the process is working.

California law requires police departments to report the number of citizen complaints and the outcome to the states Department of Justice, but no agency audits the data to ensure the figures are accurate. A DOJ spokeswoman said her agency is not required by law to conduct audits and hasnt been given funding to do so. The state has gathered such data since 1981 and expanded the database to include information about racial profiling complaints in 2016.

Wayne Fisher, a former deputy attorney general in New Jersey who helped set the states guidelines for monitoring internal affairs complaints, said it was pointless to collect the data without checking to see whether some agencies are rejecting an abnormally large number of complaints and deserve more scrutiny.

It acts as a pointer system to certain other areas that are screaming for analysis, said Fisher, who now leads the Rutgers University Policing Institute.

Francine Tournour, a civilian watchdog for the Sacramento Police Department, agreed. Police departments need to be more open about their investigations into complaints about officers if they want the public to trust the results, she said.

Part of this is customer service. Part of this is the relationship building, she said. If you have a process where people make complaints  and theres no feeling that the complaint was taken seriously, you may see people stop bringing things to the department.

In Sacramento, a city with a population of nearly 500,000, police reported only 18 complaints to the Department of Justice last year. Det. Eddie Macaulay, a department spokesman, said the agency did not include an additional 301 informal inquiries, a label used when department officials believed it was clear that an accusation did not amount to a violation of policy or crime. Had the department included those inquiries in its reporting to the state, its rate of sustained complaints would have plummeted.

Tournour, who heads the Sacramento Office of Public Safety Accountability, warned that handling such complaints informally can distort the history of documented allegations against individual officers  and a department as a whole.

In 2016, Jasmine Abuslin accused more than a dozen Oakland police officers of having sex with her, sometimes in exchange for information about prostitution raids. Her accusations  including that the misconduct began when she was underage  sparked a scandal that made national headlines and led to the firing and prosecution of several police officers.

During her first contact with an internal affairs investigator, Abuslin said the police official seemed uninterested in her allegations.

I felt like she wasnt taking me seriously, she said.

She also accused internal affairs investigators of threatening her for coming forward and of allowing her to delete text messages that could have proved her allegations.

Members of the public have filed 16,345 complaints of misconduct against Oakland police officers in the last decade, according to the state data. Only 1,073 of those complaints, roughly 6.5%, were sustained.

Oakland police did not respond to requests for comment.

In recent years, police agencies in California have had to report more details about citizen complaints and their outcomes, including how many they decided were false, involved conduct that did not amount to a policy violation or could not be proved or disproved. Last year, police agencies statewide concluded that 28% of complaints were false.

In Fresno, Chief Jerry Dyer said he has sought more thorough investigations and urged his internal affairs department to revisit investigations where it could not prove or disprove a misconduct allegation.

Fresno has one of the highest rates of sustained complaints among Californias largest cities. The department upheld 325 out of 1,332 citizen complaints in the last decade, roughly 24%, according to the state data. Last year, the agency reported it couldnt prove or disprove less than 6% of complaints made by the public, compared with the statewide average of 25%.

The push for more conclusive results better serves the community, said Dyer, adding that he supports releasing more information about the way complaints are reviewed. The current process, which sees citizens simply receive a form letter announcing a complaints disposition, raises a lot of concerns on the part of those voicing the complaint, Dyer added, though he said he does not support making individual officer disciplinary records public.

For Lopez, the shortcomings of the internal investigation into her complaint about L.A. County sheriffs deputies destroyed her trust in law enforcement.

The Downey woman was a college student with no criminal record in 2009 when three deputies trained their guns on her in a gas station parking lot. Deputy Francisco Enriquez alleged he found several bags of methamphetamine in his cruiser after she rode in its back seat. He said they fell out of her pocket.

Lopezs attorney, Thomas Beck, later obtained sheriffs radio transmissions proving Lopez was never in Enriquezs car.

Lopez said the ordeal had a lasting effect.

I was terrified of cops. Anybody in a uniform, said Lopez, now 34. I didnt know who to trust.

After an initial Sheriffs Department review concluded that Enriquez and the other deputies did nothing wrong, the agency conducted a second investigation when Beck confronted authorities with the radio transmissions. A judge declared Lopez factually innocent. Enriquez was fired and charged with perjury, though the case was dismissed in 2015 after two separate juries deadlocked.

Nishida, the Sheriffs Department spokeswoman, said appropriate administrative action was taken in response to Lopezs allegations. She said she could not comment on what, if any, disciplinary action was taken against other deputies involved in Lopezs arrest, citing California law that protects police discipline records from public scrutiny.

The Sheriffs Department never gave Lopez any information about the results of its internal investigation into her allegations, Beck said. In all, Lopez and Beck said eight Sheriffs Department employees were involved in the incident that led to her fraudulent arrest.

The rest of them got away with all of it, Beck said.

Times staff writers Maloy Moore and Ben Poston contributed to this report.

james.queally@latimes.com

Follow @JamesQueallyLAT on Twitter for crime and police news in Southern California.As Wilson Guarin watched the green helicopter roaring above, he wondered if the men being hoisted into the sky felt the risk had been worth it.

Moments earlier, Guarin and his children, Olivia, 11, and Brandon, 12, had hiked to Hermit Falls in Angeles National Forest, one of the most popular waterfalls in the Los Angeles area.

Soon after they arrived, they saw a man dislocate his shoulder when he jumped into the rock pool at the base of Hermit Falls. Less than a minute later, another man jumped and appeared to break both his legs.

Guarin, 40, of Long Beach said the cliff jumpers intentions were obvious: They wanted to get a video of themselves and post it to social media.

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A thirst among hikers, often inexperienced and under-prepared, to gobble up likes and shares on Instagram and other social media sites has led to a significant increase in rescue missions by first responders.

The Los Angeles County Sheriffs Departments Search and Rescue teams conducted 681 missions in 2017, the largest number in five years. Its a 38% increase from the 491 rescues they did in 2013.

The teams leaders say the single largest factor for that increase is people posting videos of extreme activities online. Then, without any thought about the difficulty, others try to re-create their own 15-second version of glory. Rescue teams in Santa Barbara and San Bernardino counties have seen similar increases.

People will post videos of themselves jumping off of Hermit Falls or the Malibu rock pool, and they post it in the springtime when theres a decent amount of water. But now, the water is a lot less, so what used to be a 10-foot pool is now a 5-foot pool, said Michael Leum, who oversees the Sheriff Departments Search and Rescue teams. You dont want to be a lawn dart going into that shallow pool.

On Instagram, posts from visitors venturing to waterfalls and swimming holes in Angeles National Forest and other recreation areas show hikers morphing into models, striking seemingly the same poses in the same places. Theres the sexy pose on a rock. Sometimes its the contemplative one, in which they gaze into the sky. The subject line is often a quote about nature, but sometimes its just a pun referencing Waterfalls, a hit by the 90s R&B group TLC.

Or maybe just someone bragging about how cool his friends are. A few visitors even dress up, either in suits and evening gowns for a photo shoot, or as mermaids. And then, sometimes, people just get naked  because YOLO (you only live once).

Growing up in the San Gabriel Valley, Robert Garcia remembers when Eaton Canyon and Monkey Canyon, a harder-to-reach swimming hole, were known only to locals. Today, its easy to find the routes online and videos on YouTube that explain just how much fun a person might have.

Garcia, the fire chief for Angeles National Forest, doesnt discourage people from enjoying the outdoors. But he points out that many accidents are avoidable and happen either when people go off trail or ignore official warnings about an area being closed  such as the upper falls of Eaton Canyon  and visit anyway.

Beyond the safety element, theres an element of resource damage, Garcia said. Trails are designed with mitigation and resource protection in mind, so user-created trails dont have that level of planning.

Three years ago, Daniel Sedha and his family wanted to visit Switzer Falls, a stunning 50-foot waterfall and rock pool in Angeles National Forest. But they ended up on the wrong path. Planning to end their hike at the base of the waterfall, they instead ended up trekking to the top of the falls.

The waterfall dry, Sedha walked to the ridge and decided to try to climb to a flat spot where the top of the waterfall usually cascades down. Within seconds, he was sliding.

Sedhas family heard him fall, a thud like a sack of potatoes hitting the ground, before they saw him. They thought he was dead.

Sedhe broke his pelvis and tailbone. He smashed the right side of his face and still has no feeling above his eyebrow. His elbows have scars from his attempt to stop himself from plummeting onto dry rock.

I just remember feeling that sliding sensation, and then it was almost like a feeling of super bliss, like euphoria, that feeling of just lifting up, said Sedha, 19, of La Mirada. From the slope, I caught air, and thats it. Boom! I fell 50 feet.

Sedha is quick to admit he wasnt prepared for his hike that day. For one, he was wearing sneakers that didnt provide the same level of grip of hiking boots.

In the hiking world, the 10 essentials is a common phrase for an informal list of recommended items: a map, a compass, sunscreen, extra food, extra water, extra clothing, a flashlight or headlamp, a first aid kit, matches and a knife.

The lists vary, but officials agree that the majority of people they save dont carry a fraction of the list. And sometimes, they hike in flip-flops.

The proximity of Angeles National Forest to Los Angeles  a drive from downtown L.A. to the Switzer Falls trailhead usually takes less than an hour  can give people a false sense of safety. But soon after entering Angeles, a visitor will lose cellphone reception, which will remain spotty throughout the forest. Many folks dont plan for that, either.

Instead, people often enter the forest in hopes of mimicking an #adventure they saw.

They might Google map the hike, and not realize its a 3,000-foot elevation change as well as a three-mile hike, said Quintin Humphrey, an engineer with the Los Angeles County Fire Department who regularly goes on rescue calls to Angeles National Forest. I think those are the things that never cross peoples minds, whereas 20 or 30 years ago people were maybe more prepared for it and had more of a camping mentality.

Guarin still thinks about the two men he watched hitching helicopter rides to a hospital.

You get concerned about what people are willing to do  to not have fun. Its risking everything for no reason.

Well, there are the likes.

jaclyn.cosgrove@latimes.com

@jaclyncosgroveOn the day he died, Sunday Aguda had a new job and new wife. They had been planning to celebrate his birthday, just three days away.

But he never reached 45 years old.

Thursday morning, Aguda went for his break outside a Rite Aid warehouse in Harford County, Md. He found himself in the path of a shooter.

I want the world to know Sunday was [a] special person, his wife, Aleina Scott, wrote in an email. He was a great husband and father who will be greatly missed. When we lost him, he was doing what he always did, working hard to take care of his family.

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Aguda, a native Nigerian, became the first of three workers killed, his family said, when the shooter stormed the warehouse near Aberdeen. After the assailant killed the other two victims, she turned the gun on herself.

Aguda had worked there only three weeks, his family said.

The Harford County Sheriffs Office identified the shooter as Snochia Moseley, a 26-year-old from Baltimore County and temporary employee at the Rite Aid distribution center.

She was suffering from a mental illness and over the last two weeks had become increasingly agitated, the sheriffs office said.

Moseleys handgun was purchased legally, officials said.

The first shots were fired about 9 a.m. Moseley shot Aguda outside, then went in firing, police said; wounding three people and killing Brindra Giri, 41, whod arrived four months ago from Nepal; and Hayleen Reyes, 21, who came five months ago from the Dominican Republic.

Like the other victims, Aguda had come to the U.S. in search of a better life.

He and Scott married in February. They lived in a townhouse in Dundalk, outside Baltimore.

His mother-in-law, Darcel Hayes-Bridges, said she rushed down from her home in Lehigh Valley, Pa., when she heard of the shooting. Her daughter was devastated, she said outside the couples home.

He was very well-loved, Hayes-Bridges said.

She recalled meeting her daughters suitor for the first time, noting his cheerfulness and deep faith. Aguda would quote the Bible, particularly the Book of Proverbs.

Hayes-Bridges had a firm message for her daughter. I said, I approve.

Prudente writes for the Baltimore Sun.From African farms shriveled into desert to monster storms revved up by warmer air over the oceans, climate change is stoking environmental disasters around the globe and uprooting millions of people a year  adding to a refugee crisis said to be the worst since World War II.

The increasingly extreme weather patterns have destroyed food and water supplies, left communities destitute, strained national and international aid resources, and fomented political instability in fragile societies in Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Latin America, according to development experts.

Climate change is the force multiplier for chronic social and environmental problems, said Tim Ash Vie of the Climate Group, an advocacy organization working to counter global warming.

The hazards of global warming will be the focus of high-profile conferences, protests and other events on the margins of the annual United Nations General Assembly meeting this week in New York, echoing some of the features of the Global Climate Action Summit earlier this month in San Francisco.

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President Trump is scheduled to address the U.N. on Tuesday. But he has dismissed the science behind climate change as a hoax and pulled the United States out of the 2015 Paris climate accord, which seeks to lower carbon emissions that are linked to global warming.

The Trump administration also has drastically cut the number of vetted refugees fleeing wars and persecution that it will accept into the U.S. Last week, it moved to cap the total next year at 30,000, the lowest since the refugee program was created in 1980.

The plight of those forced from their homes by the changing environment has been overshadowed by the estimated 65 million refugees now surging around the globe, the most in decades. Unlike them, people displaced by environmental changes are not recognized as refugees under international law.

The 1951 Refugee Convention, which grew out of World War II and was ratified by 145 countries, predated modern environmental science. In recent decades, climate scientists have concluded that the planet is warming due to human activities, causing a mix of effects.

A warming polar cap has opened new fishing and shipping routes in the northern oceans, while greater rainfall and longer growing seasons have improved crop yields in some areas. But hurricanes in the Atlantic and typhoons in the Pacific have steadily worsened, causing devastation from North Carolina to China.

In the developing world, so-called climate refugees are often swept into the ranks of economic migrants by unwelcoming, overtaxed governments  as happened with thousands of sub-Saharan and central African men and women who crossed the Mediterranean Sea to reach southern Europe.

While some migrants were looking for better jobs, other families had fled because drought or torrential rains had destroyed their homes and livelihoods.

An estimated 20 million people are uprooted annually by environmental conditions, according to Alice Thomas, who heads the climate displacement program at Refugees International, a humanitarian and advocacy group.

The total includes victims of some disasters, like earthquakes, that are unrelated to climate, but Thomas said the intensity and frequency of giant storms and droughts is a leading cause of the migration.

Weather is changing more quickly than we expected, and it will accelerate, she said. More and more, climate change will become the primary driver for distress migration. It undermines sustained development and the livelihoods so many have relied on for centuries or longer.

Climate change is driving migration, which in turn can result in violence and instability, said Nancy Lindborg, the president of the U.S. Institute of Peace, who has worked extensively on development and democracy issues in Africa. It has become a nasty cocktail, she added.

In addition to those who cross borders, as many as 140 million people could be displaced within their own countries by 2050, a recent World Bank study concludes.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has labeled climate change the most dangerous threat confronting the world. The U.N. environmental program contends that global warming is redrawing the map of where people can live on the planet.

In 2016, the U.N. agreed to establish guidelines on how to deal with climate refugees, among others, to provide protection, access to schooling and other opportunities. After two years of consultation and drafts, the countries are scheduled to ratify the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration in December.

Only one country has dropped out of the process so far  the U.S. under Trump. Hungary, where a right-wing backlash against immigrants is surging, has indicated it will also withdraw.

The Trump administration has downgraded the issue of climate change and even removed the term from some official documents. Though some administration officials acknowledge climate change is real, they dispute that human activity is causing it.

Scientists and activists paint an alarming portrait of the consequences of extreme weather worldwide.

In Africa, herders and farmers are fighting as Lake Chad evaporates, while drought has nearly wiped out Zimbabwes staple crop, maize. In India, rains flooded Kerala state at record levels, while rising seas in are nipping away at low-lying islands in the central Pacific.

The perception is changing quite fast, Elizabeth Sellwood, an expert at the U.N. Environment Program, said in a telephone interview from Nairobi, Kenya. There is growing realization that climate change is not just an environmental issue but a security issue.

Even in the United States, where families displaced by disasters are not considered refugees, thousands of people have lost homes to wildfires on the West Coast and flooding on the East Coast, all apparently exacerbated by climate change.

Hurricane Florence, which hit the Carolinas this month and killed at least 43 people, carried 50% more water than previous storms because of warmer sea surface temperatures, according to a new study by researchers at Stony Brook University and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

In Alaska, some native fishing villages are threatened by melting permafrost. Although relatively few people are affected, the villages represent unique native cultures, said Joel Clement, a former Interior Department official who will take over an Arctic policy program at Harvard University.

No human has ever experienced the rate of change in the Arctic that we are seeing now, Clement said. As ice disappears, he said, brutal storms roar in from the Bering Sea and chew away at already shrinking land meters at a time.

tracy.wilkinson@latimes.com

Twitter: @TracyKWilkinsonImmigrants who rely on public benefits for food, housing and medical care could be denied green cards under new rules put forth Saturday by the Trump administration that would in effect limit family-based chain migration, as the president calls it.

The administration said the rule announced by the Department of Homeland Security would affect about 382,000 people a year, but opponents have said it could have a far greater chilling effect, leading current green card holders to stop using public benefits for fear of being deported.

Those seeking to immigrate to the United States must show they can support themselves financially, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said in a Saturday statement, adding that the new rule would promote immigrant self-sufficiency and protect finite resources by ensuring that they are not likely to become burdens on American taxpayers.

The rule is one of several efforts by the Trump administration to further restrict legal immigration, including limits on those seeking green cards to immigrate to the U.S. and those already in the country on temporary visas trying to adjust their status to stay permanently.

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It does not need to be approved by Congress but faces a 60-day public review once published in the Federal Register in coming weeks.

After DHS carefully considers public comments received on the proposed rule, DHS plans to issue a final public charge rule that will include an effective date, the agency said.

Immigrant advocates and congressional Democrats have already vowed to fight the rule, and political observers said it could become a factor in upcoming midterm election that will determine which party controls Congress.

I see the Trump administrations hostility towards immigrants as part of a strategy of mass distraction to keep the focus on fomenting outrage directed at Latinos while keeping the focus off of the corruption and graft that are gripping the White House and the GOP, Rep. Luis V. Gutierrez (D-Ill.), chairman of the Immigration Task Force of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, said in a statement.

Self-sufficiency has been a basic principle of United States immigration law since this countrys earliest immigration statutes, the nearly 500-page proposal states, insisting that the availability of public benefits not constitute an incentive for immigration.

Under federal law, those seeking green cards must prove they will not be a burden to the state, or a public charge. But the administrations new public charge rule would require immigration officials to give added weight to an applicants potential dependency on public assistance.

Officials would also have to consider certain medical conditions such as mental illness, cancer and heart disease as deciding factors because, according to the new rule, an alien is at high risk of becoming a public charge if he or she has a medical condition and is unable to show evidence of unsubsidized health insurance.

Elderly immigrants receiving discounted prescriptions through Medicare Part D could be forced to stop participating or lose their legal status.

Applicants who dont qualify for green cards under the new rule could be asked to pay cash bonds of at least $10,000 to avoid being rejected.

Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies in Washington, which advocates for limits on legal migration, called the new rule long overdue.

How wealthy do you have to be to be able to pay your own bills? Krikorian said. The point here is, can you support yourself? Theres no justification for admitting poor immigrants who need my money and your money to feed their kids. Weve already got enough people we have to support.

Krikorian said we live in a new age of immigration in which the poem inscribed at the base of the Statue of Liberty  Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free  no longer applies.

Nobody coming over from Sicily to Ellis Island was accepting food stamps, he said.

Until now, someone has been considered a public charge if they rely on government cash assistance for more than half their income. Under the new rule, officials would have to take into account non-cash benefits, such as food stamps, Section 8 housing assistance and Medicare prescription drug programs.

The idea that you can receive food stamps, housing [assistance] and somehow be considered magically self-sufficient because you dont get cash benefits is a lie, Krikorian said. Its introducing honesty into our immigration policy.

The announcement drew a strong reaction from Democrats and immigration advocates.

Gutierrez noted that Stephen Miller, the presidents top immigration advisor, pushed for the new rule in addition to limits on refugee admissions, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals and temporary protected status, restricting the ability of legal immigrants to fully assimilate and apply for citizenship.

Shawn Fremstad, senior fellow at the Washington-based Center for American Progress, said the rule would create a caste system that favors wealthy immigrants and hurts the working class from Mexico, South America and Asia.

Historically, the public test was all about, can you work, will you work and do you have family here? Are you attached, say, married, to someone who will work? Now its about, will you work at a high enough wage level in a good job? he said, which boils down to are you going to be middle class?

Those who pay bonds of $10,000 or more must live without a safety net, knowing an accident could land them in the hospital and force them to choose between receiving care or being deported.

Youre doomed to a sort of second-class citizenship, Fremstad said.

Nearly 20 million children in immigrant families could be affected by the new rule, most of them U.S. citizens, according to a report by the Kaiser Family Foundation on a draft of the rule.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti called the proposed rule a disgrace.

Our federal government should not be in the business of penalizing low-income parents, punishing kids, or targeting immigrants who work hard, strengthen our economy, pay taxes, and play by the rules, Garcetti said in a statement.

Los Angeles communities stand to be hit the hardest by this change. Hundreds of thousands of our neighbors may be unable to see their doctors, keep a roof over their heads, or afford a trip to the grocery store, if they wish to remain in the United States. The leaders in this City and across our country will fight tooth and nail to keep this anti-family policy off the books.

California officials had urged the White House to reconsider the new rule before it was announced due to its disproportionate impact on poor immigrants and their families.

In June, representatives of Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerras office, Gov. Jerry Browns office and state health officials outlined the potential economic impacts of the proposal to budget officials in Washington.

In July, San Francisco Mayor London Breed sent a letter to Mick Mulvaney, director of the Office of Management and Budget, warning that the regulation would potentially cost her city $129 million to $368 million in benefits as families withdrew from programs.

Chandra Johnson, spokeswoman for the San Francisco Human Services Agency, said officials there were analyzing the new rule and working to dispel misconceptions.

We are making sure people understand what has and has not changed, and most importantly, that the people who qualify for benefits are continuing to receive them, she said.

Its unclear how many people the proposed rule could affect in California, a state home to roughly 2.3 million people in the country illegally. The 2 million California children enrolled in the Childrens Health Insurance Program, or CHIP, a part of Medicaid, make up a quarter of enrollees nationwide.

Rumors of the proposal have already led immigrants to leave Medi-Cal; the states food stamp program, CalFresh; and the Women, Infants and Children nutrition assistance program, advocates said. Some green card holders have even stopped using nongovernmental programs such as food pantries that do not record participants immigration status.

Francesca Costa of the San Francisco-Marin Food Bank works with CalFresh and said she and her staffers have stopped short of encouraging immigrant residents without legal status to apply for benefits in recent months over the concerns.

This policy will make people choose between feeding their families now or the possibility of being able to get legal status later, she said.

She called the Trump administrations announcement Saturday devastating, particularly for the elderly and pregnant women.

Certain categories of immigrants, including refugees, asylum seekers, and Afghans and Iraqis with special immigrant visas would be exempted from the changes, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Legal permanent residents with green cards who apply to naturalize as U.S. citizens would not be subject to the proposed changes.

Of the 41.5 million immigrants living in the United States, 3.7% received cash benefits in 2013, and 22.7% accepted non-cash benefits including Medicaid, housing subsidies or home heating assistance, according to statistics compiled by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. The percentages of native-born Americans who get the same forms of assistance are nearly identical. In 2015, 3.4% of 270 million non-immigrant Americans received cash welfare payments, USCIS research found, and 22.1% received non-cash subsidies.

molly.hennessy-fiske@latimes.com

Twitter: @mollyhf

jazmine.ulloa@latimes.com

Twitter: @jazmineulloa

Hennessy-Fiske reported from Houston and Ulloa from Sacramento.

UPDATES:

10:35 a.m.: This article was updated to clarify a comment from Francesca Costa of the San Francisco-Marin Food Bank. She and staffers have stopped short of encouraging residents without legal status to apply for benefits, but arent discouraging applicants.

This article was originally published at 12 a.m.Travel remained dangerous Saturday in southeastern North Carolina, where the governor warned of treacherous floodwaters more than a week after Hurricane Florence made landfall, and urged residents to stay alert for flood warnings and evacuation orders.

Gov. Roy Cooper said nine of the states river gauges are at major flood stage and four others are at moderate stage, while parts of Interstates 95 and 40 will remain underwater for another week or more. Emergency management officials said residents whose homes were damaged or destroyed will begin moving into hotel rooms next week.

Hurricane Florence has deeply wounded our state, wounds that will not fade soon as the floodwaters finally recede, Cooper said.

South Carolina also has ordered more evacuations as rivers continue to rise in the aftermath of a storm that has claimed at least 43 lives since slamming into the Carolinas on Sept. 14.

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The small farming community of Nichols, S.C., about 40 miles from the coast, was inundated by water, Mayor Lawson Battle said Saturday. He called the situation worse than Matthew, the 2016 hurricane that destroyed almost 90% of the towns 261 homes. Battle said flooding from Florence has wiped out the 150 or so homes rebuilt afterward.

Its just a mess, said Battle, who was awaiting a visit from Gov. Henry McMaster. We will try everything we can to come back ... but we need to have federal and state help.

Benetta White and David Lloyd were among 100 people rescued with helicopters, boats and high-wheeled military vehicles during a six-hour operation in southeastern North Carolinas Bladen County that lasted into Friday morning  their second evacuation in a week. White and Lloyd, who live in the North Carolina town of Kelly, were given little time Thursday night to evacuate when the Cape Fear River came rushing onto their property. By the time they loaded their van, they had to slog through waist-high, foul-smelling water to get to a neighbors pickup.

From there, they went to the towns fire department and were taken by an Army truck to a shelter at a Bladen County high school.

We had to evacuate again, all over again, and got trapped in a bunch of water and almost lost our lives, said White.

In Wilmington, N.C., where Hurricane Florence made landfall and which had been cut off by floodwaters, officials said theyd identified three safe routes into town. They encouraged people to avoid travel in areas where the risk of flooding remains.

North Carolina Emergency Management Director Michael Sprayberry said Saturday that eastern counties continue to see major flooding, including areas along the Black, Lumber, Neuse and Cape Fear rivers. The Cape Fear is expected to crest Sunday and remain at flood stage through early next week.

He said residents who register with the Federal Emergency Management Agency can begin moving into hotels Monday. The program initially will be open to residents in nine counties, then will be expanded. A FEMA coordinator said about 69,000 people from North Carolina already have registered for assistance.

North Carolina environmental officials said theyre closely monitoring two sites where Florences floodwaters have inundated coal ash sites.

The state is using drones to get photos and video of a dam breach at the L.V. Sutton Power Station in Wilmington, where gray muck has been seen flowing into the Cape Fear River, and at the H.F. Lee Energy Complex near Goldsboro, said Michael Regan, secretary of the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality.

He said Saturday that the images show sand and potential coal ash leaving the Sutton site and that his department would send investigators there when it is safe. He said department staffers have seen that coal ash left the basin and entered floodwaters at the H.F. Lee power plant, and they are trying to determine how much of that, if any, has entered into the Neuse River.

In Conway, S.C., water from the Waccamaw River began flowing into a Santee Cooper ash pond. The water and electric company said in a statement that the overflow occurred Saturday morning but that no significant environmental impact was expected because nearly all of the ash had been excavated from the pond.

The National Weather Service confirmed Saturday that 10 tornadoes spawned by Hurricane Florence touched down Monday in Virginia, the strongest of which leveled a flooring company in Chesterfield and killed one worker.

An economic research firm estimated that Florence has caused about $44 billion in damage and lost output, which would make it one of the top 10 costliest U.S. hurricanes. The costliest, Hurricane Katrina in 2005, cost $192.2 billion in todays dollars, while last years Hurricane Harvey cost $133.5 billion.

Moodys Analytics estimates Florence has caused $40 billion in damage and $4 billion in lost economic output, though the company stressed that the estimate is preliminary and could go higher or lower.

Gov. McMaster has estimated damage from the flood in South Carolina at $1.2 billion. He asked congressional leaders to hurry federal aid.Egypt and Jordan signed on Sunday an e-commerce deal to allow clients in Jordan to shop from the United States, the United Kingdom and China through a logistic assembly centre in Cairo.

All shipments coming from the three nations will be shipped to Egypt Post's logistic centre at Cairo International Airport before being sent to Jordan.

The move is aimed at reducing shipping costs and providing better services for online Jordanian shoppers, head of Egypt Post Essam Al-Sagheer said.

The agreement also includes offering a real-time money transfer service for Egyptians working in Jordan, allowing them to send remittance to their families in Egypt through more than 4,000 post offices across the country, he added.

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To the editor: UCLA law professor Laura E. Gomez speculates that Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh might not be able to identify harassment, and possibly assault, or he doesnt want to. Either way I dont trust him to protect womens rights.

Since she hasnt actually met or talked with Kavanaugh, what she presented was not a reasoned, objective view of him.

Is it not possible that accuser Christine Blasey Ford was attacked by someone other than Kavanaugh? We need to hear from Ford as to why she is so positive it was him. Why is Gomez so quick to accept Fords statement that it was Kavanaugh?

Its a shame that Ford did not publicly come forward months ago so she could have been heard in the open.

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Donald Prell, Palm Springs

..

To the editor: President Trump tweeted that charges would have been immediately filed by Ford or her loving parents if she had indeed been assaulted by Kavanaugh when they were teenagers.

Trump appears to believe that a teenage girl would know how to file a police report and that she would tell her parents about an attack. Both assumptions are, to put it bluntly, sufficiently stupid that one has to question what motivated his tweet.

Additionally, Trump shows no concern that if the attack did occur, then his nominee has lied and is unfit to be a Supreme Court justice. A person with integrity would want to at least attempt to determine the truth, even if that person employed an attorney who says things like truth isnt truth.

David Michels, Encino

..

To the editor: Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, both pro-choice Republicans, should keep in mind Kavanaughs conduct since he was accused of sexual assault.

It speaks volumes that he is pressing for the hearing with Ford to be as soon as possible. No matter how many adjectives he uses to declare his innocence, they ring hollow when one considers this behavior.

That Republicans are closing ranks to railroad Ford into a hearing without consultation or guarantees of fair treatment smacks of political manipulation, to which Kavanaugh is not only lending his approval but encouraging. What does this say about him?

The Republicans are so desperate to secure this Supreme Court nomination that they are throwing anyone who gets in their way under the bus and reinforcing the fact that the Supreme Court is no longer above politics. And Kavanaugh, by his words and actions, is complicit in this.

Julia Springer, Santa Barbara

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and FacebookThe old adage that California government has three main functions  to educate, medicate and incarcerate  is a handy road map for where to find some of the states most politically powerful players. For a time, none was more active or feared than the union representing prison guards.

But while unions representing teachers and nurses have remained a constant presence, the California Correctional Peace Officers Assn. seemed to step back from the spotlight over the past decade. The CCPOA remained a political force but eschewed the kind of splashy statewide campaigns that had made it an electoral juggernaut.

They have not been as visible, but they have been active, Richard Temple, one of the CCPOAs longtime political consultants, said last week.

Last week, the organization inched back toward its high-profile past by spending $1 million for television commercials promoting two Democrats: Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom for governor and Richmond Assemblyman Tony Thurmond for superintendent of public instruction. Thats not huge money for TV ads in California. But it was a reminder that the union still has what it takes to bring attention to its almost 27,000 prison officers who pride themselves on walking the toughest beat in the state, as their slogan says.

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A quiet and important fight is brewing over how much must be spent on Californias schools 

The political muscle of the CCPOA grew as California lawmakers focused on anti-crime measures in the late 80s and into the 90s. More punishment meant more prisoners  which, in turn, meant more correctional officers. The union quickly mastered the art of Sacramento lobbying and statewide campaigning.

The group was hardly shy. In 1988, amid debate over building a new state prison in Los Angeles, the group audaciously gave a $10,000 award to a Republican lawmaker who cut short her medical leave to vote for the project. There was a swagger, too, in large campaign contributions to the gubernatorial campaigns of Pete Wilson in 1990 and 1994.

The officers union switched political party loyalties in 1998, putting $2 million into the campaign of Democrat Gray Davis to succeed Wilson. Both governors agreed to pay raises and championed tough-on-crime laws.

When Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger dismissed the union as a special interest and demanded salary concessions, the group formed a high-octane alliance with other public employee unions. It even hired a driver to circle the state Capitol in a flatbed truck with a large, unflattering photo of the aging bodybuilder-governor.

Things have been more cordial with Gov. Jerry Brown. Although he pushed to rethink long prison sentences and maintained contracts to ship some prisoners out of state  a response to judges who cracked down on overcrowding  hes agreed to pay raises in five of the last six years. The latest contract is estimated to raise prison costs by $116 million.

Which brings us to the next governor, and CCPOA is betting that its going to be Newsom and not GOP challenger John Cox. The unions contract expires next July, and the new governor will be the one who signs off on what comes after that. As for Thurmond, the schools chief candidate, hes supported the unions issues while in the Legislature. His opponent, Marshall Tuck, recently criticized the level of state spending on prisons in comparison to schools.

And the union will no doubt keep active in ballot measure campaigns. After spending big on propositions involving the death penalty two years ago, the correctional officers long alliance with crime victims could boost a 2020 ballot measure seeking to undo Californias recent expansion of parole  a potential clash with Brown, who championed the effort.

Correctional officers and their families never forget the daunting conditions they face every day inside the states prisons. The money they pay into their unions political coffers ensures that elected officials wont forget, either.

john.myers@latimes.com

Follow @johnmyers on Twitter, sign up for our daily Essential Politics newsletter and listen to the weekly California Politics PodcastCharlie Morton left Houstons 6-2 victory over the Los Angeles Angels, who have lost five in arow, on Sunday after one inning because of discomfort in his pitching shoulder, a potential problem for the World Series champions as they attempt to win consecutive AL West titles.

The 34-year-old right-hander did not pitch for the Astros from Aug. 28 until Sept. 8 because of right shoulder discomfort. He won his first two starts following his stint on the disabled list, allowing four runs in 11 innings.

Morton threw 24 pitches in the first. He gave up a double to Justin Upton, who scored from second on a wild pitch in the dirt that bounced off the glove of catcher Martin Maldonado, who initially had trouble finding the ball.

AL West-leading Houston started the day 3 1/2 games ahead of second-place Oakland.

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Yuli Gurriel hit a two-run homer, giving him three homers and 10 RBIs in the three-game series, and Evan Gattis had three hits and two RBIs.

Framber Valdez (4-1) followed Morton and struck out a career-high nine in six innings, allowing one run and three hits. He had been scheduled to start Wednesday at Toronto.

Tyler Skaggs (8-9) gave up four runs and five hits in 2 1/3 innings, the fourth straight start he failed to last four innings. Skaggs has given up 22 runs in that span.

Gurriel hit a two-run homer in the first, extending his hitting streak to nine games, and Gattis added an RBI single for a 3-1 lead.

Gattis added an RBI single in the fifth off Jim Johnson, and Angels rookie Jose Briceno homered in the sixth. Josh Reddick drew a bases-loaded, four-pitch walk from Williams Jerez in the seventh.McKinzie hadnt raced in six months but Saturday afternoon at Parx Raceway near Philadelphia he established himself as one of the best 3-year-olds still racing by winning the $1-million Pennsylvania Derby.

The colt was at the top of trainer Bob Bafferts barn until a late-developing horse named Justify came along. McKinzie got hurt and Justify went on to win the Triple Crown.

Well, if anything can take away the sting of having a Triple Crown horse retiring, its a horse like this, Mike Smith, who rode McKinzie on Saturday and was Justifys regular rider, told NBC Sports. Hes an incredible horse. Bob had him ready to come off the bench at a mile and an eighth.

McKinzie broke alertly and stood off the pace set by Trigger Warning and Bravazo. On the backstretch, under slow fractions, McKinzie moved equal to Trigger Warning on the outside. By the time the horses hit the top of the stretch he was in front and was never contested and even pulled away as the finish line approached. The winning margin was two lengths.

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McKinzie paid $6.00, $4.20 and $3.80. Axelrod finished second and Trigger Warning was third in the nine-horse field.

He really responded, Smith said. Hes still learning although hes raced a few times, but he had a lot of time off. He looked around and started gawking and looking at the track]. Today, I had his head really picked up but when I asked him to finish he really got underneath me and galloped out really well.

McKinzie was headed to the Santa Anita Derby after the San Felipe at Santa Anita. He crossed the finish line first but was disqualified to second for interference. Shortly after that, an MRI scan showed some unusual patterns in one of his rear legs. Rather than wait until it got worse, Baffert pulled him from training and kept him in the barn with the idea that time would take care of the problems of this young colt.

There were a lot of questions on how good McKinzie would be since he was facing a strong field. He ran against Bravazo, second in the Preakness (who finished seventh), Hofburg, third in the Belmont Stakes (fourth) and Instilled Regard, fourth in the Kentucky Derby (ninth).

McKinzie could now be headed to the Breeders Cup, where he would be facing older horses. If he were in the Classic, he would face Accelerate, considered the best horse currently running. If he were in the Mile, he would go against Catalina Cruiser, a stablemate of Accelerate, whose potential has not yet been seen.

Click here (or type in this url: lat.ms/2wVt90g) to sign up for our free horse racing newsletter.

sports@latimes.comIn reference to Mary Forgiones article about hotels in former bank buildings: She missed one much closer to home [Nice Hotels Deposited in Old Banks, Tipsheet, Sept. 9]. The Courtyard by Marriott Downtown in San Diego is in the former home of the San Diego Trust & Savings Bank at 530 Broadway.

The building, completed in 1928, is on the National Register of Historic Places. It was designed by noted San Diego architect William Templeton Johnson, whose office on the top floor is now the presidential suite.

For more about the history of the building, go to lat.ms/SDtrustandsavings.

Alan Johnson

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Seal Beach

A backup card

Re: No PIN Could Spell Trouble, On the Spot, by Catharine Hamm, Aug. 26: My husbands wallet was stolen from his front jeans pocket on a crowded Paris Metro on the last day of our vacation. We still needed a credit card for our stay at the airport hotel and taxi to home.

This was not a problem because when we travel we have very strict rules regarding credit cards. We do not take the card we use the most that has automatic payments attached to it. We each carry only one different card so that if one card is stolen the other has a different card to use.

Before travel that means calling two card companies to notify them of the trip, but it is worth the effort

Laura Newman

Santa Barbara

Renting a car for the airport drive

Re: Quite the Car Seat Quandary, On the Spot, by Catharine Hamm, Sept. 9: One other option for that family and their 3-year-old would be to rent a car with a child car seat at their urban location and drop it off at the airport. Travelers living in Ventura County and other faraway suburbs do this. Some companies have no drop-off fee. Sometimes it is cheaper than other options, depending upon how many are traveling. It might be worth a phone call or internet search for them.

Barbara Snyder

Ojai

::

With regard to the car seat column, I propose another solution and that is purchasing an inexpensive car seat that can be disposed of. An internet search shows many in the $30 to $40 range. Perhaps a slightly larger tip to the cab or Uber driver, along with instructions to keep or dispose of the seat, will solve the dilemma at a far less cost than storing a seat. Of course, returning home from the airport may be an additional challenge.

Cindy Leish

Laguna Niguel

travel@latimes.com

@latimestravelRussia on Sunday again blamed Israel for the downing of one of its military aircraft off Syrias Mediterranean coast last week, saying an Israeli fighter jet used the Russian plane as a shield from Syrian government forces.

The Russian Il-20 reconnaissance plane was hit by Syrian government forces Sept. 17, killing all 15 Russian military personnel on board. Israel has acknowledged that it had conducted an airstrike on Syrian territory controlled by President Bashar Assad.

Information obtained by the Russian Defense Ministry points to either lack of professionalism or criminal negligence, ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said at a briefing Sunday in Moscow, the Tass news agency reported.

The Russian military initially blamed Israel for the downed aircraft. A day later, Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested that the planes downing was a chain of tragic, fatal circumstances.

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Putins comments may have been an attempt to avoid a conflict with Israel in what is already a chaotic, seven-year war in Syria with several different forces operating on various sides. The Russian Defense Ministrys statements Sunday, however, placed the blame squarely on Israel.

The Israeli military command either does not value the current level of relations with Russia or does not control certain military units, Konashenkov said Sunday, according to Russian media.

Russia has backed Assads government forces, while Israel has conducted airstrikes against Iran-linked forces operating along its border. The two militaries cooperate through a deconfliction line to prevent incidents. Russia in July assured Israel it would get Iran to pull Tehran-backed militias away from Israels border.

Konashenkov said Israels actions showed a highly ungrateful response to everything that Russia has done for the state of Israel recently.

Israel is eager to avoid any fault for the downing; it has carried out hundreds of airstrikes in Syria tolerated by Russia.

Through that arrangement, Israel has attacked what it says are Iranian-affiliated targets in Syria with the aim of reducing Irans influence in the region and preventing advanced weapons from reaching the hands of Hezbollah, the Tehran-backed Lebanese Shiite armed faction and political party.

According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the military aircraft was shot down before landing at the Hmeimim air base. An Israeli military officer misled the Russians by reporting that four of its F-16 fighter jets would be hitting Syrian targets in the north, the Russian Defense Ministry spokesman said. In fact, the Israeli jets were in Latakia, in Syrias west, and used the Russian Il-20 as a shield to bypass Syrian government forces radar systems, the spokesman said.

The Israeli military again insisted Sunday that it was not involved in the downing of the Russian military aircraft. Israels investigation into the incident showed that its jets did not hide behind any aircraft and that the Israeli aircraft were in Israeli airspace at the time of the downing of the Russian plane, according to a statement released by the Israel Defense Forces.

Israel said its air force had complied with the mutually agreed-upon deconfliction mechanism at the time of the incident.

The coordination between [Israel Defense Forces] and the Russian military has proven its value numerous times over the last years. The continuation of the coordination is a shared interest in light of the various regional challenges, the Israeli statement said.

Ayres is a special correspondent. Times staff writer Nabih Bulos in Beirut and special correspondent Noga Tarnopolsky in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

sabra.ayres@latimes.com

Twitter: @sabraayresPope Francis warned Sunday against any rebirth of the pernicious anti-Semitic attitudes that fueled the Holocaust as he marked the annual remembrance for Lithuanias centuries-old Jewish community that was nearly wiped out during World War II.

Francis began his second day in the Baltics in Lithuanias second city, Kaunas, where an estimated 3,000 Jews survived out of a community of 37,000 during the 1941-44 Nazi occupation.

During Mass in Santakos Park under a brilliant autumn sun, Francis honored both Jewish victims of the Nazis and the Lithuanians who were deported to Siberian gulags or were tortured, killed and oppressed at home during five decades of Soviet occupation.

Earlier generations still bear the scars of the period of the occupation, anguish at those who were deported, uncertainty about those who never returned, shame for those who were informers and traitors, Francis told the crowd, which was estimated by the local church to number 100,000. Kaunas knows about this. Lithuania as a whole can testify to it, still shuddering at the mention of Siberia, or the ghettos of Vilnius and Kaunas, among others.

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He denounced those who get caught up in debating who was more virtuous in the past and fail to address the tasks of the present  an apparent reference to historical revisionism that is afflicting parts of Eastern Europe as it comes to terms with wartime-era crimes.

Francis recalled that Sunday marked the 75th anniversary of the final destruction of the ghetto in the capital Vilnius, which had been known for centuries as the Jerusalem of the North for its importance to Jewish thought and politics. Each year, the Sept. 23 anniversary is commemorated with readings of the names of Jews who were killed by Nazis or Lithuanian partisans or were deported to concentration camps.

The pope warned against the temptation that can dwell in every human heart to want to be superior to or dominate others. And he prayed for the gift of discernment to detect in time any new seeds of that pernicious attitude, any whiff of it that can taint the heart of generations that did not experience those times and can sometimes be taken in by such siren songs.

Across Europe, far-right, xenophobic and neo-fascist political movements are making gains, including in Lithuania.

Francis noted that he would pray later in the day at a plaque in the ghetto itself and called for dialogue and the shared commitment for justice and peace.

The faithful attend Mass in Santakos Park in Kaunas, Lithuania. (Alessandro di Meo / EPA/Shutterstock)

Francis will also visit the former KGB headquarters in Vilnius that is now a museum focusing on Soviet atrocities, and will hear from Archbishop Sigitas Tamkevicius, who was persecuted by the Soviet regime and was detained in the facilitys chambers.

Francis is traveling to Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia to mark their 100th anniversaries of independence and to encourage the Catholic faith in the Baltics, which saw five decades of Soviet-imposed religious repression and state-sponsored atheism. Lithuania is 80% Catholic; Lutherans and Russian Orthodox count more followers in Latvia and Estonia, where Francis visits on Monday and Tuesday.

The Baltic countries declared their independence in 1918 but were annexed by the Soviet Union in 1940 in a secret agreement with Nazi Germany. The Vatican and many Western countries refused to recognize the annexation. Except for the Nazi occupation, the Baltic countries remained part of the Soviet Union until its collapse in the early 1990s.

Francis trip schedule was changed three weeks ago to allow him to acknowledge the slaughter of some 90% of Lithuanias 250,000 Jews at the hands of Nazi occupiers and complicit Lithuanians.

The issue of Lithuanian complicity in Nazi war crimes is sensitive here. Jewish activists accuse some Lithuanians of engaging in historical revisionism by trying to equate the extermination of Jews with the deportations and executions of other Lithuanians during the Soviet occupation.

Many Lithuanians dont make any distinctions between the Soviets who tortured and killed thousands of Lithuanians and the Nazis who did same with Jews.

Until recently, the Vilnius museum was actually called the Genocide Museum but changed its name to the Museum of Occupations and Freedom Fights since it focuses on Soviet atrocities, not Nazi German ones.

UPDATES:

3:50 a.m.: Updated with quotes from the Mass.

This article was first published at 1:30 a.m.This is the eighth visit for the British trade envoy in two years to further trade and investment links between the UK and Egypt

UK Trade Envoy Sir Jeffrey Donaldson arrived in Egypt with representatives from over 100 leading British companies in future-focused sectors to build new ties between the UK and Egypt while exploring new trade and partnership opportunities, a statement by the UK Embassy in Egypt said Sunday.

In an official press release, the British Embassy said Donaldson will be accompanied during his five day visit by a delegation of British companies operating in the sectors of finance, technology, education and health.

This is the eighth visit for the British trade envoy in two years to further trade and investment links between the UK and Egypt, according to the statement.

During the five-day visit, Donaldson is set to meet with Egypts Minister of Finance Mohamed Maeet, Minister of Public Enterprise Hisham Tawfik, Minister of Health Hala Zayed, Minister of Planning and Administrative Reform Hala El-Saeed, as well as Minister of Petroleum Tarek El-Molla and Minister of Electricity Mohamed Shaker.

We kicked off 2018 with the largest British delegation in Egypt in two decades, and my visit this week is building on that momentum and laying the groundwork for further cooperation in future-focused and job-creating sectors, Donaldson said.

Newly appointed British Ambassador to Egypt Sir Geoffrey Adams said his appointment is an exciting time to have returned to Egypt, that "it is wonderful to be back here and reconnect with people and places that hold a special place in my heart."

The talent and potential of the Egyptian people are still at the centre of this country, and the UK as Egypts top economic partner knows how important it is to invest in this talent and support Egypts success, Adams said in the statement.

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If time is circular and everything old is new again, then we might see more working people tThe play, performed during the 25th edition of the Cairo International Festival for Contemporary and Experimental Theatre, exposes the tragedy of religious hypocrisy

The United Arab Emirates participated in the 25th edition of the Cairo International Festival for Contemporary and Experimental Theatre (10-21 September) with Lilak Doha" (Your Night is Morning), subtitled "Death in the Time of Daesh," written and directed by the renowned Palestinian writer Ghanam Ghanam. The play was staged on 17 and 18 September at Cairo's Hanager Theatre.

I dont believe in experimental theatre; I believe in experimenting on stage. Also, there is no specific kind of theatre called contemporary. All theatre is contemporary, said Ghanam with a smile.

The statement is strong and reveals his philosophy towards theatre.

His words also provide a commenary on the festival's title, which was changed in 2016 when the festival returned after a five-year hiatus. Since its launch in late 1980s, the festival was called the Cairo International Festival for Experimental Theatre, without the word "contemporary" included.

Lilak Doha tells the story of a small village, Tal El Qamh, getting invaded by the militant forces of Daesh (the Islamic State group), killing the men, controlling, and forcing the population to adhere to "Islamic" rule.

The play exposes the hypocrisy of those who claim to be religious.

The villages religious leader has had his eyes on Lilak, Dohas wife (who works as a theatre teacher), since before the terrorist invasion and once it occurred he plots to have her divorced from her husband to take her as a sex slave before offering her to the invaders when he gets bored with her.

The events unfold until Doha and Lilak commit double murder/suicide to avoid life under inhuman Daesh rule: an oriental variation of the Romeo and Juliette story.

The audience is told that they killed each other to avoid submitting to tyranny and living a life where hope has gone under terrorist rule. I would rather to let the worms eat my body than let the tyrants defile it," said Lilak before their planned death.

This tragic act, which is not just committing suicide  a mortal sin in most societies, tells us a lot about the situation. Many in Syria and Iraq killed their loved ones or were killed by them when they realised that a Daesh invasion was inevitable.

Daesh transformed semi-conservative societies in Syria and Iraq into societies that feel guilt for loving life and enjoying it. They changed people from lovers to killers while victimising their neighbours and friends.

No film material or documentaries were used in the performance. The director used actors, simple decoration that can be transformed into the different geographical locations he wanted to disclose to the audience, a musical band on stage that played many Fayrouz songs that seemed to fit the situation, and lights that aided to establish the mood and explain the play.

There were no imported tools and that was intentional, stated Ghanam.

The performance seemed foreign to UAE society; Daesh did not gain a foothold there, and the country's leadership cares about the arts in general.

I wrote the play mainly about the areas that were invaded by Daesh, so the play can take place in any area in the Arab world that fell under Islamic State rule, Ghanam continued.

Not only for Egyptian audiences, but UAE theatre is not widely known outside the Gulf country.

Unfortunately, Egypt does not know much about any Arab theatre. In the UAE, theatre started in the 1950s, has its big names and its own plays. Egypt has the merit of leadership in theatre, but other locales have developed greatly in the theatrical field."

In Al-Sharqa, where Ghanam works with the Arab Authority for Theatre, the state cares about theatrical infrastructure. Local theatrical companies and foreign communities living there stage theatre festivals and plays throughout the year for children and adults. Talents are blossoming, but it is not noticed by the regional press or critics.

The effort should be made by the Egyptian audience and media to explore theatre movements in the Arab world, specially that the highest prize in theatre is presented by Al-Sharqa ruler El-Shiekh Sultan Al-Qasemi, Ghanam concluded.

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The Supreme Court has overturned the controversial appointment of a Philippine Judicial Academy official by ousted Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno. In en banc resolution, the SC ruled that the chief justice has no delegated power to appoint administrative officials with judicial ranks, such as lawyer Brenda Jay Mendoza, whom Sereno designated as Philja chief of office for the Philippine Mediation Center in June 2016. The 15-member bench stressed that only the Court sitting collegially can approve the appointment for such a specific position and other judicial ranks with salary grade of 29 and above. This Courts nature as a collegial body requires that the appointing power be exercised by the Court en banc, consistent with Article VIII, Section 1 of the Constitution, the SC said, in a ruling written by Associate Justice Marvic Leonen. The Philja chief of office for the Philippine Mediation Center receives the same compensation and benefits as an Associate Justice of the Court of Appeals. Due to this position having judicial rank, which bears a salary grade of 30, and consistent with the prior Resolutions of this Court, the Philja chief of office for the Philippine Mediation Center is deemed included as among the positions which shall be appointed by the Court en banc, the high court declared. The SC also cited as another flaw in Mendozas appointment the lack of recommendation from the Philja board of trustees, which it stressed should have been required under administrative rules. Under Administrative Order No. 33-2008, the appointment of Philja chief of office for the Philippine Mediation Center shall be made by the Court, upon recommendation of Philja. Prior to the appointment of Mendoza, it is evident that this Courts practice is to have the Court en banc issue the appointment following the recommendation made by Philjan board of trustees, it noted. The tribunal even cited a memorandum issued by Sereno in 2015 that affirmed this policy. However, the SC did not declare as void Mendozas appointment due to her resignation last February during the impeachment proceedings against Sereno in the House of Representatives, saying such legal issue has become moot and academic. Nonetheless, the high court clarified that the ruling does not mean that Mendoza was disqualified for the position as it only pertained to issue on procedure for her appointment.Still, the SC has directed the Philja board of trustees to commence with its selection process for its recommendations for the said vacancy to be submitted within 60 days. The official who is the next most senior in rank shall be the officer-in-charge of the Philippine Mediation Center Office until the appointment of the new Philja chief of office of Philippine Mediation Center, the Court en banc ordered. Only Sereno approved Mendozas appointment with the concurrence of two chairpersons in the divisions of the high court. It was among the grounds raised in the botched impeachment case against Sereno before she was ousted by her colleagues last June through a quo warranto petition filed by Solicitor General Jose Calida. The SC made the ruling as it acted on an internal memorandum by now Chief Justice Teresita Leonardo-de Castro in July last year that questioned Mendozas appointment. It affirmed De Castros position on the issue. In 2013, the SC revoked the order of Sereno to reopen a regional constitutional administrative office in Visayas without their approval. Sereno got the ire of her colleagues when she issued Administrative Order No. 175-2012 that created the Judicial Decentralization Office and reopened the post of RCAO in Cebu without getting the approval of the full court. She appointed Econg to head RCAO-7 and even went to Cebu City for the reopening of the office. It was also De Castro who questioned Serenos order then. KALISPELL, Mont. 

In January, Flathead Valley Community College launched a campaign to raise $18 million and they are already nearing their goal.

FVCCs one campaign is a philanthropic effort to better serve the students and community by expanding the campus. They are building a new Library and Learning Commons and a College Center.

So far several families and individuals have contributed millions of dollars to the efforts. The combined total of those donations is $16 million.

by Mackenzie Dougherty

https://nbcmontana.com/news/local/flathead-valley-community-college-nears-one-campaigns-18-million-goalCongress faces a Sept. 30 deadline to approve funding to keep the Federal Aviation Administration afloat. Right now the bill includes language to curtail "unreasonable" airline fees. The airlines, with $4.6 billion on the line, are lobbying hard against it.

The FAA reauthorization bill, as currently stipulated, would strip airlines of the ability to levy all sorts of fees and entrust that oversight to the secretary of transportation.

By Ashley Halsey III

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/will-congress-rescue-travelers-from-excessive-airline-fees/2018/09/19/68d1c63a-bad4-11e8-a8aa-860695e7f3fc_story.html?utm_term=.5b8b26998e83Diclofenac is often used to treat arthritis and other painful joint conditions. In many countries, its available without a prescription

The commonly used painkiller diclofenac may be linked with an increased risk of heart problems, a large Danish study suggests.

Diclofenac is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) thats often used to treat arthritis and other painful joint conditions. In many countries, its available without a prescription.

Researchers found that the rate of first-time cardiovascular events was 20 to 30 percent higher among people who started taking diclofenac than among people who started taking ibuprofen or naproxen, which are also NSAIDs, or paracetamol (acetaminophen). These events included heart attacks, development of an irregular heart rhythm called atrial fibrillation, or death from heart problems.

The rate of new heart problems was 50 percent higher for diclofenac users than for people who werent taking any painkillers.

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The researchers analyzed data from the Danish national patient registry. Altogether, they had information on nearly 1.4 million diclofenac users, 3.9 million ibuprofen users, 292,000 naproxen users, 765,00 paracetamol users, and 1.3 million people not on any of these painkillers.

It is important to note that the absolute risk for the individual patient is low, Morten Schmidt, lead author of the study, told Reuters Health in an email.

For example, among every 400 study participants taking diclofenac, roughly one person per year had a cardiovascular event, his team calculated.

Fewer people had cardiovascular events while taking other painkillers.

Schmidt and his coauthors say there is little reason to use diclofenac before trying other NSAIDs first. The drug should not be available over the counter, they say, and when prescribed, should be accompanied by appropriate warnings about its potential risks.

The increased risk was apparent even within 30 days of starting the drug and even with low doses, the researchers reported in The BMJ.

Schmidt said diclofenac was also associated with an increased gastrointestinal bleeding risk compared with ibuprofen.

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Public officials at both the state and municipal levels were at an impasse this week on a bill that could significantly effect how Wyomings cities and towns levy their taxes.

At two separate committee meetings in Thermopolis and Buffalo this week, the state Legislatures joint commissions on both Corporations, Elections and Political Subdivisions and Revenue turned over a bill to allow towns greater freedom and flexibility in how they tax their residents, independent of county governments. While the ethic of the bill  greater freedom for towns to create more tailored plans to raise revenues among them  was generally supported by lobbyists for both municipal- and county-level governments, advocates for local government expressed some serious misgivings about the bill itself, saying it does not actually address the revenue problems it was intended to solve.

Nick Reynolds [email protected]

https://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/wyoming/will-allowing-wyoming-cities-to-tax-themselves-solve-their-looming/article_e2bd73f9-e66c-5242-b565-2638187db757.htmlHow to keep young adults in Montana was one of the main topics when Gov. Steve Bullock held a listening session with area leaders in Sidney at the USDA Northern Plains Ag Research Lab on Tuesday.

"I recognize when ag is hurting, families are hurting and so is our overall state," Bullock told the group. "I didnt come here promising solutions, but to hear what was on your minds." Also in attendance was Ben Thomas, director of the Montana Department of Agriculture.

By Bill Vander Weele Sidney Herald

https://www.sidneyherald.com/news/governor-listens-to-rural-concerns/article_90a857be-be80-11e8-acf9-8f6643f6671c.htmlKABUL - The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan strongly condemns the terrorist attack which killed and injured dozens during a military parade in Ahvaz City.

Afghanistan, which has always been on the frontline of combating terrorism and has incured a lot of sacrifices, believes that terrorism is not differentiable and is the common enemy of human society.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs expresses its sympathy and condolence to the people and government of the Islamic Republic of Iran and once again denounces this terrorist attack and wishes quick recovery for the wounded.Welcome to Seven in Seven, where each week we typically take a look at shows coming to the region over the next week. And while venue doors are slowly opening again, due to the current pandemic they arent quite there...Letter to editor: Congress can get this rightSeptember 23, 2018

Russian MoD Presents IL-20 Investigation Results - Israel "Crossed The Line Of Civilized Relations"

The Russian Ministry of Defense just presented the results of its investigation (vid, English subtitles) into the September 17 incident in Syria. A Russian electronic warfare plane was hit by a Syrian air-defense missile during an ongoing Israeli attack on Syria. Fifteen Russian soldiers died when the plane fell into the Mediterranean.

The investigation confirms the early analysis published on Moon of Alabama:

The Israeli attack came out of the same direction as the Russian IL-20. The large 4 propeller plane creates a much bigger radar reflection than the small F-16s fighter jets. The S-200 missiles have a semi-active radar homing seeker. These are passive detectors of a radar signal which is provided by an external source, in this case the Syrian and Russian radars on the ground. While the missile was aimed at the F-16 its seeker likely mistook the larger radar reflection of IL-20 for the intended target.

Russian experts later provided more details that supported the above analysis.

The investigation presented today found that the Israeli jets intentionally used the Russian IL-20 as a shield against the Syrian air defenses.

Ru MoD Presentation 5:54min



bigger

RT summarizes the Russian conclusion:

"We believe that the blame for the Russian Il-20 aircraft tragedy lies entirely with the Israeli Air Force," said spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov, before revealing a detailed account of events leading to the downing of the Russian Il-20 military aircraft on September 17. The plane was shot down by the Syrian air defense units as Israeli's F-16s effectively used it as a cover during the attack on its neighbor. The report featured previously undisclosed radar data and details of communications between Russian and Israeli militaries, and concluded that "the military leadership of Israel either has no appreciation for the level of relations with Russia, or has no control over individual commands or commanding officers who understood that their actions would lead to tragedy."

The report debunks Israel's claim that its jets were already back in Israel when the IL-20 was hit. The Israelis gave the Russian military just one minute of warning, misled about the intended target areas of its September 17 attack and lied about the positions of their jets after the incident happened.

The Russian military spokesperson reminded the Israelis of all the efforts it undertook to accommodate Israel on issues related to Syria. These included the removal of Iranian supported groups from south Syria, the protection of historic Jewish facilities in Aleppo and the recovery of the remains of Israeli soldiers from earlier wars.

"This is an extremely ungrateful response to all that has been done by the Russian Federation for Israel and the Israeli people recently," Konashenkov said.

...

"In view of the above, the hostile actions committed by the Israeli Air Force against the Russian Ilyushin Il-20 aircraft cross the line of civilized relations."

The incident will have consequences on several levels. For one - the airspace along the Syrian coast will now be off limits for Israeli flights:

Lebanese news outlet Al-Mayadeen meanwhile reported that Russia plans to continue its closure of the airspace above Syria's territorial waters after the end of military exercises on September 26. According to the report, the decision to shut the airspace was made by Russia's National Security Council after the plane was shot down.

The Syrian air defense will be further strengthened and modernized. Its personal will get more specialist training. But the probably worst issue for Israel's military will be cooled down relations with the Russian forces. There will be no more freebies, no more looking aside and direct Russian fire on Israeli forces should they again try such stunts.

While the Israeli military may feel superior as it has more weapons, especially airplanes, in the area than the rather small Russian force, it is Russia that has the strategic depth and the means to hit any point in Israel from thousands of kilometers away. It is Russia, not Israel, that has a seat at the UN Security Council and the international standing to make itself heard.

The Russian government will, like its military, conclude the provocation was intentional and draw its consequences from that.

Posted by b on September 23, 2018 at 11:57 UTC | Permalink

Comments

next page September 23, 2018

The MoA Week In Review - Terror In Ahvaz - Modi's Huge Weapon Deal Scandal

Last week's posts on Moon of Alabama:

The strategic event of the week:

Netanyahoo will have to do some big favor for Russia to regain standing with it. Israel itself has little to give on its own that Russia wants or needs. But Israeli interests control the Trump administration. It could ask the U.S. to deliver something to Russia. What would be of sufficiently high value to compensate Russia for 15 killed airmen and a very expensive reconnaissance plane?

September 22 - The NYT's Rosenstein Story Is An Attempt To Bring Trump Down

---

Yesterday terrorists attack an Iranian Memorial Day parade in the southwest Ahvaz region and killed some 30 unarmed conscripts, veterans and civilian bystanders. The United Arab Emirates, the Saudis, and behind them the U.S. are instigating such attacks. The U.S. military in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan is quite exposed and might well become the target of an asymmetrical response.

---

The Hindu-fascist Modi government in India is crumbling. Its crazy monetary scheme put the economy, as MoA predicted, into shambles. A huge new scandal around a weapon deal with France implicates Modi directly. The always recommendable Caravan Magazine exposed the unbelievable deal in a long and detailed writeup (not paywalled): "On a Wing and a Prayer India gambles its defence interests on Reliance Group".

In short: The previous government signed a contract with France' Dassault to buy 126 Rafale jets for $10.6 billion. Thirty percent of the price would flow back from Dassault to the Indian state owned aviation manufacturer HAL, which would assemble most of the planes. Modi flew to Paris and changed the deal without the knowledge of his cabinet and the country's military. India will get only 36 Rafales but pay $8.7 billion for them. Thirty percent of the money would flow back to a private Indian company belonging to the largely bankrupt, privately held Reliance Group for unrelated projects and without any know-how transfer. How much Reliance, owned by the once very rich Ambani family, would hand over to Modi and his party is yet unknown. There are calls for Modi to step down which he is unlikely to do. The issue will escalate.

---

Use as open thread ...

Posted by b on September 23, 2018 at 14:56 UTC | Permalink

CommentsInternational

Will not fight with Trump, says Mexico president-elect

Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador

MEXICO CITY, Sep 23 (Agencies) | Publish Date: 9/23/2018 12:33:58 PM IST

Mexican president-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said he does not want to fight with U.S. President Donald Trump on immigration.

Trumps hardline approach on the subject has ramped up tensions and riled Mexicans, who he previously claimed would pay for the construction of a wall between the two countries.

But the leftist Lopez Obrador told reporters in the border state of Sonora on Saturday that angry exchanges were not the answer. We are not going to fight with the U.S. government, we are not going to fight with President Donald Trump, he said.

The migration problem is not resolved by building walls or by use of force, but its a diplomatic job of respect, added Lopez Obrador, who takes office on December 1.

On September 22, U.S. authorities announced the start of construction on a five-meter wall along a 6.5-kilometer stretch of the Texan border town of El Paso. Trumps insurgent campaign for the White House played heavily on a pledge to build a wall on the southern border and to deport millions of undocumented migrants, amid what he claimed was a crisis of immigration.

He initially demanded that Mexico pay for the barrier, a demand Mexico repeatedly rejected. Congress has so far approved $1.6 billion of $25 billion Trump had sought.

Much of the border already has fencing or other barriers, but Trump has ordered a contiguous, and impassable physical barrier, which scientists say would threaten more than 1,000 species of animals.Anuradha Shukla By

Express News Service

NEW DELHI: After Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services Limited (IL&FS) defaulted on payment of loans and especially, post the resignation of its Financial Services managing director Ramesh Bawa, the confidence of the top brass of the company, who are looking for an exit route, seems to be shattered.

The company was unable to service its obligation in respect of LC (letter of credit) payment to IDBI Bank due yesterday (Thursday), which was non-banking day and hence payable today i.e. on September 21, 2018, said the company in a regulatory filing on Friday night, which was followed by the sudden exit of Bawa.

Saddled with a debt of Rs 91,000 crore, the company has defaulted on several payments, the latest one being the LoC payment for the IDBI Bank. IL&FS consolidated debt doubled to Rs 91,091.3 crore in 2018 from Rs 48,671.3 crore in 2014, but its operating profit increased only at half the pace  to Rs 7,267.3 crore from Rs 5,087.4 crore in 2018 and 2014 respectively. But the firm hit headlines in September when it first defaulted on the payment of interest.

The downgrading by ratings agencies, fear of probe by investigative agencies and several arbitration applications against the company have created fear among the Board members. So, everyone is looking for a safe exit route. At least five top management officials, including two COOs, have applied for long leave and in the coming week, there will be more exodus, a Board member told The Sunday Standard on condition of anonymity.

Its interesting to note that while the companys debt mounted and order books shrunk, the remuneration of its directors has shot up. The remuneration of Ravi Parthasarathy was up by 144 per cent in FY18. Similar was the case of others in the top brass.

In fact, the exit started last year itself. It surprised many when Harish Engineer, former executive director, HDFC Bank, stepped down as a director on September 14, 2017, without an explanation. Many insiders already sensed trouble when in July, Ravi Parthasarathy stepped down on health grounds. On September 15, Sunil Behari Mathur was appointed as the companys non-executive chairman with immediate effect in place of Hemant Bhargava, who was handling the affairs since the exit of Parthasarathy.

Earlier, on September 20, five of IL&FS directors, including four independent directors  Renu Challu, Shubhalakshmi Panse, Surinder Singh Kohli and Uday Ved  and one non-executive director, Vibhav Kapoor, had resigned.Arshad Khan By

Express News Service

NEW DELHI: With the recently rolled out payments bank of the Indian postal department aimed at taking banking to the doorsteps of people living in rural areas, the Centre claims to usher in a new era in the banking system and touch areas where traditional banks hesitate to go.

However, as average earning Indians in general have a multitude of banking options to choose from, why should one consider opening an account with the newest player in the system? A thorough look at the advantages and limitations of the India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) can perhaps give one some clarity.

Two of the biggest advantages of opening an account with IPPB are zero balance account and its widespread physical presence. While most of the public sector banks limit the zero account balance options to the basic savings bank deposit accounts that they are mandated to offer to the underprivileged, IPPB holders will not have to keep a minimum balance account to avoid a hefty penalty charged by traditional banks. Moreover, many of the services, if not all, offered by IPPB are free of cost unlike premium banks whereas you have to maintain a minimum monthly balance of around Rs 5000 to avoid penalties.

The huge distribution network of IPPB, apart from an option of availing the services at doorsteps, might also convince many people to open an account. At present, there are many parts in the country where one can easily spot a Post Office but not a bank. The paperwork required to open an account has been kept minimum.

Along with a zero balance account, IPPB will be offering 4 per cent interest to its savings account customers. To attract young smartphone users, the postal department is also mobile banking solution to wherein account holders can transfer money, pay bills, get statements and so on.

Another key feature if the IPPB is that it comes with QR Card with a unique QR code  which the government claims to be safer than ATM cards. The transactions using the card will be authenticated using the account holder's biometrics and not via four digit pin codes.

However, the service offered by IPPB has its own limitations that may prevent people to open an account. The biggest drawback with the IPPB and the payment banks in general is that they not allowed to offer loans. So, for people who are looking for a full-fledged banking service from IPPB, this might come as a big setback.

Restricting the deposit amount to Rs 1 lakh for savings account holders and RBI guidelines forbidding payments banks to accept fixed or recurring deposits might not be liked by many salary class people and small businessmen. A large section of people, for the convenience, would like to have a single account and the freedom to withdraw significant amount of money at will.

Also, at present IPPB does not offer ATM cards which are the most popular mode of withdrawing cash in urban and semi-urban centres.

The services offered by IPPB are cheap but they are not for free. For example the charges for NEFT are up to Rs 25, Rs 50 for RTGS and for IMPS it is up to Rs 50. IPPB would also be charging money for cheque book issuance, cheque bounce, additional physical statement and for other services. Though charging money for these services is vital for IPPB's survival, other players who have huge financial backings can provide people with these services at a lower cost, if not for free.By Express News Service

NEW DELHI: Indian steel major Tata Steel is all set to make a Rs 4,700 crore acquisition, with the firm announcing on Saturday that it has signed agreements to take over the steel unit of Usha Martin Ltd (UML).

Usha Martin is amongst the largest wire rope manufacturers in the world and a leading speciality steel producer in India. According to Tata Steel, UMLs steel business comprises the specialised 1 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) alloy-based manufacturing capacity in long products segment based in Jamshedpur, a producing iron-ore mine, a coal mine under development and captive power plants.

While UML, in a stock exchange filing, stated that the sale of its steel business to Tata Steel will help the company in significant reduction of its debt, Tata Steel said that the deal is being made on a going concern basis.

It is proposed that the steel business of UML will be acquired subject to transaction closing, for a cash consideration of between Rs 4,300-4,700 crore (subject to various transaction adjustments), the Tata Group firm said.

Both companies have signed definitive agreements to implement the sale, it added. The closing of the acquisition, however, is subject to fulfilment of various conditions under the agreements.

At the closing, Tata Steel or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates may carry out this acquisition. The parties shall jointly work towards fulfilment of conditions precedent which are largely regulatory approvals required for the transfer of the business undertaking. All the employees pertaining to the steel business will transfer as part of the acquisition, Tata Steel said.

The deal is an advantageous one for the Tata firm, which has been on the lookout for likely acquisitions. In May, it won the bid to acquire debt-laden Bhushan Steel Ltd in an insolvency auction, after which Bamnipal Steel Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tata Steel, bought controlling stake of 72.65 per cent in BSL.

Top global player:

 In May, Tata Steel won the bid to acquire debt-laden Bhushan Steel Ltd in an insolvency auction, after which Bamnipal Steel Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tata Steel, acquired the controlling stake of 72.65%.

 Tata Steel Group is among the top global steel firms with an annual crude steel capacity of 27.5 mtpa.Gurbir Singh By

Express News Service

After the death of Apples Steve Jobs in 2011, Teslas Elon Musk has been Americas poster boy. In a short period of 15 years since it was founded, Tesla Inc, earlier Tesla Motors, revolutionised the passenger car industry by making electric cars a genuine alternative to the fossil fuel-guzzlers. Elon Musk, Teslas feisty CEO, was the front face of the revolution, raising investments and even arranging bailouts from competitors Daimler AG and Toyota. His first car Model S with sales of over 200,000 units by 2017, became the largest-selling plug-in electric car in the world.

Tesla has never made an annual operating profit. Yet the corporate world loved Tesla and Musk as they represented the future.

Elon Musks personal equity has been high because of his fanatical obsession with out-of-the-box growth. He was one of the early start-ups making $22 million selling his first software venture Zip2; and then cashing out with $180 million in 2002 for the very successful payment company he helped found, PayPal. Much of this money formed the seed capital of Tesla and his aerospace company SpaceX. Today he is worth over $20 billion.

Elon Musk caught worlds attention not just for his successful entrepreneurship. He was the ideas man all fired up to use engineering and clean energy to transform the world from impending doom. He wants to build rockets and colonise Mars.

He has plans afoot to reach the Moon by 2022 with a paying passenger, Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa. He has constructed models of Hyperloops  tubes through which trains can travel at 700mph on a cushion of air, as well as plans to build a web of tunnels under cities to relieve congestion.

BAD TIMES

But in recent times, things have not been going right. In the latest of developments, the US Department of Justice (DoJ) has ordered a fraud investigation, after it was found that Elon Musk could not go through with his announcement that he was contemplating taking Tesla private and had funding secured for the deal.

This comes in the general backdrop of not being able to meet delivery targets of its famed luxury Model 3. Analysts said the company annual target of 100,000 vehicles could not be met, and customers, tired of over four-month waits, were cancelling bookings in droves. These analysts also questioned the companys ability to sustain losses and its ongoing cash burn. For the second quarter for instance, Tesla on revenue of $4 billion posted a loss of $520 million and burned through cash of $430 million.

Putting Teslas predicament in perspective, Business Insider says: Tesla level of spending isnt unusual for a car company. What is unusual is Teslas level of spending for a carmaker that only sold 100,000 vehicles in 2017 and only brought in about $3.3 billion revenue. General Motors spent close to $8.5 billion 2017, but it converted that spending into roughly $150 billion in revenue and a profit of nearly $13 billion.

ARROGANT STYLE

Elon Musks style has also come to bedevil him. A few months ago, he created a sensation smoking a marijuana joint while recording a podcast. While Musk was talking to reaching the moon, back on Earth, a Thai rescue diver involved in getting a team of boys stuck in a flooded cave has sued the Tesla boss for calling him a paedophile.

Earlier in the year, he forced a showdown with bank analysts, when he snapped at them during an investor call with, Boring bonehead questions are not cool. He apologised, but there are an increasing number who feel Musk is losing it. It reflected in loss of confidence among his senior colleagues. Dave Morton, Teslas chief accounting officer, has quit citing discomfort with the level of public attention and the pace of work.

When things are on the roll, people give a long rope to quirky traits, even treat it as part of the celebrity package. But, on the down, the same outbursts are punished unforgivingly. Musk is on that second lap now.

Like Travis Kalanick, who had to resign as CEO of Uber mid of last year, Elon Musk has overreached himself. It is the same disease of thinking self and company interchangeably. Instead of burning dollars and mind space on reaching Mars, Musk should be putting his head down to get Tesla to deliver. Unlike Kalanick, it is yet not too late. All he has to do is to put on the brakes and make the business work.By IANS

MUMBAI: The State Bank of India (SBI) on Sunday asked non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) not to worry about credit availability as it would continue to support them.

SBI Chairman Rajnish Kumar gave the assurance after the shares of housing finance companies came under sudden heavy selling pressure on Friday amid crisis at the Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services Ltd (IL&FS).

"Some comments are being attributed to the SBI about it being wary of lending to the NBFCs. The rumours are baseless. The SBI lends support to the NBFCs in private and public sectors within the regulatory policy framework and will continue to do so," Kumar said in a statement.

"There is no concern on liquidity of NBFCs in view of their liquid cash position and availability of committed lines," he said.

On the other hand, the recent Reserve Bank of India guidelines on the co-lending model opens up more opportunities for collaboration between the SBI and non-deposit taking NBFCs to increase lending to priority sectors, he added.

According to experts, the recent fall in NBFC stocks is the result of a tightening in the money market and a lack of clarity on IL&FS debt crisis.

"This negative sentiment led to a plunge in many stocks such as DHFL, Yes Bank, and Indiabulls group. Firesale of financial units by IL&FS for repaying its CPs (commercial paper) added fuel to the fire," said Mustafa Nadeem, CEO, Epic Research.

He further said: "It was basically widespread to multiple companies, specifically to NBFC space, as there were concerns over credit risk." Coupled with that, fall in private banks, NBFCs and infrastructure housing finance companies also aided the slump, he added.

The Dewan Housing Finance Corporation stocks led the sudden fall on Friday, losing half its share price within a few hours during the afternoon session of the trade.

It closed at Rs 351.55 on BSE, lower by 259.05 -- or 42.43 per cent -- from its previous close of Rs 610.60 per share.

Rating agency ICRA on Monday downgraded the ratings of IL&FS for short- and long-term borrowing programmes.

The downgrade came after the company was unable to meet the commercial paper redemption obligations due on September 14, 2018.

The next day, the company reported that it had received notices for delays and defaults in servicing some of the inter-corporate deposits accepted by it.

IL&FS is a core investment company and serves as the holding company of the IL&FS Group, with most business operations domiciled in separate companies which form an ecosystem of expertise across infrastructure, finance and social and environmental services.Akram Mohammed By

Express News Service

BENGALURU: Former French president Francois Hollandes remarks that the Indian government had chosen the overseas partner for the manufacture of Rafale aircraft, has left employees of Bengaluru-based PSU Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) unhappy.

Despite limitations, HAL employees, who did not want to be named, maintain that a willing government would have created the required facilities for the PSU to deliver the required number of Rafale fighter jets to the Indian Air Force (IAF).

However, retired Indian Air Force personnel  wary of HAL repeatedly missing deadlines  have defended the controversial deal.

If HAL was selected as the offset partner, 30% investment of the around Rs 60,000 crore meant for the fighter jets would have had a drastic effect in improving the facilities here. HAL has produced fighter aircraft in the past and had the capabilities to produce Rafale too, one of the senior HAL engineers that The New Indian Express spoke to, said.

It is due to such episodes that the whole Make in India scheme looks like a sham. A government cant really encourage manufacturing by presenting a possible manufacturing project of a Navaratna PSU to a fledgling private firm, the employee said.

The drama is unfolding on a daily basis, said another engineer.

How can Indian companies like HAL compete with international firms if projects that help improve the skill sets of an organisation are denied to it? she questioned.

Commenting on IAF backing the deal, she said that the Air Force had always preferred foreign toys.

(HAL) employees are feeling cheated and angry as the much-required funds to develop HAL appears to have been offered elsewhere, she said.

Noting that it is dangerous to speak against the central government, an employee in the HAL engine division said most of the employees had defended the government in the case prior to the remarks by Hollande.

Disgruntlement over the government decision is similar in our production units at Nasik and Koraput, along with HALs research and development centres. The feeling is of being let down by the government, who did not trust our abilities, he said.

However, some retired IAF personnel have defended the decision of the central government. Hollandes statement gives the impression that India can dictate terms to Dassault in choosing its offset partner. But, India cannot dictate terms to even Nepal and Bangladesh, he said, adding that Dassault  manufacturer of Rafale  were horrified about HALs capabilities to manufacture the aircraft.

Another reason why the old agreement of 126 aircraft was scrapped is that HAL was interested in technology transfer while Dassault was against the transfer of any core technologies. That is why Dassault decided to partner with a private firm just for namesake and manufacture on its own here, he added.By Express News Service

BENGALURU: Almost one year after her show in the city for new year's eve was cancelled, actress Sunny Leone will finally perform in Bengaluru on November 3.

The popular actress was scheduled to make an appearance in the city in December 2017 but the state government had denied permission for the event following vehement protests by pro-Kannada activists who had threatened to obstruct the event.

The venue this year remains the same, the White Orchid hotel within Manyata Tech Park on the Outer Ring Road. However, this time around, noted artist Raghu Dixit will also be part of the event. Called #FusionNights, the event will feature Dixit alongside Leone who would perform on 3 songs, including a Kannada song, according to the organizers.

Speaking to The New Indian Express, MS Harish, Managing Director of The Time Creations, the organizing company, said, "Dixit has a longer performance than Leone. I think for any event in Bengaluru, the inclusion of Kannada artistes is essential for its success."

Harish added that the necessary permissions and clearances from the police had also been obtained for the event and that the police had also agreed to provide protection at the venue if required.

Last year, then Home Minister Ramalinga Reddy had cancelled the event citing it to be a law and order issue, in light of the protests. The police had at the time also said that they could not spare forces for protection as they had their hands full with security for the New Year's eve celebrations in the city.By Express News Service

BENGALURU: Amid residents claims of potholes still dotting the roads in many city areas and shoddy works done by the civic body in filling up potholes, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) on Sunday declared to have filled 95% of the 3,176 potholes it had identified earlier. The High Court (HC) had set a deadline of Monday to fill up all identified potholes in the city.

We worked till late hours as well as on a government holiday and Sunday to achieve the target set by the HC. We also had our fingers crossed that it should not rain till Monday, said a BBMP official.

The civic body had submitted to the HC this week that it had identified 3,071 potholes in the citys eight zones. During the course of the drive to fill them up, it had identified 105 new potholes. On Sunday, the BBMP claimed that it had filled about 3,000 potholes. We have honoured the words of the court and have stood by our commitment. The rain gods too helped us, said Mayor Sampath Raj. He said the pothole-filling exercise will continue after Monday, adding that the courts observation on BBMPs inability to fill potholes was a serious matter.

READ| BBMP clocking extra hours to meet Karntaka High Court deadline

On Wednesday, the HC, based on a petition filed by four residents of Koramangala in 2015, had ordered the civic agency to fill up all potholes in the city by the next day. It had also passed scathing remarks on the BBMPs inability to fill them up, saying it was better to shut down the civic body if it was not able to perform. In a sarcastic vein, it had also suggested naming the potholes after the engineers and contractors who had built the respective roads. On Thursday, the Court had extended the deadline to Monday.

Pothole-filling an eye-wash ?

Allegations of the civic body doing a shoddy work in filling up potholes were made in various areas during the drive. On Friday, a pothole was filled in the morning near MG Road. By evening, it had become waterlogged. On Saturday, a Twitter user tweeted pictures of a pothole in Thubarahalli being filled with gravel instead of asphalt. Citizens and opposition leader in the BBMP Padmanabha Reddy have also questioned the figure of just 3,071 potholes identified, claiming that the city had far more potholes.By Express News Service

CHENNAI: A 23-year-old student of IIT Madras committed suicide by hanging himself in his hostel room late Friday night. His body was recovered in the morning after police broke open his door.

According to the police, Shahal Kormath, a resident of Malappuram district in Kerala, committed suicide because of an attendance lack and fears of not being allowed to take up final examinations. However, Kormath, has not left behind a suicide note.

Read: Shahal Kormath remembered as rational, strong-willed

Preliminary investigations revealed that IIT Madras had intimated Kormath's parents about the attendance lack, which resulted in Kormath being chided by family members. It is learnt that Kormath's brother, Fazil has told police that Kormath did not answer his calls on Friday.

Kormath, a post graduate student, pursuing Ocean Engineering was staying in a single occupancy room in one of IIT Madras' hostels. Fellow hostelites became suspicious after Kormath did not open his door on Saturday morning and informed the hostel warden. When Kotturpuram police broke open Kormath's door, they found him hanging from a noose fastened to the ceiling fan.

Kormath's body was taken to the Royapettah Government Hospital for autopsy and police have registered a case under section 174 of CrPC (Unnatural death).By Express News Service

HYDERABAD: BIG day today! GHMC has made arrangements across 354 km of the twin cities for centralised immersion of Ganesh idols. Corporation officials held a meeting on Saturday with Bhagyanagar Ganesh Utsav Samithi (BGUS) and officials from other departments including water board, HMDA, revenue, law and police. About 10,000 idols are likely to be immersed on Sunday, the final day of the process. Like last year, the mega Khairatabad Ganesh will be moved in the day and immersed the same night.

Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu will be present for the immersion at Necklace Road. This is the first time that a Vice President will be witnessing the Ganesh immersion proceedings in the city. He is expected to be present for a brief two-minutes, on a day that will see more than 80,000 idols being immersed.

DGP Mahender Reddy claimed that all major idols meant for immersion had been geo-tagged for regular monitoring. He said stern action would be taken against miscreants circulating false messages and rumours on social media. A total of 65,000 policemen, he said, was being deployed across the State to ensure smooth immersion and celebrations.

In order to clear extra rush of passengers, South Central Railway will run eight MMTS special trains between various destinations in the twin cities up to late Sunday night/Monday morning. Similarly, Hyderabad Metro Rail will run trains up to 2 am on Monday. The Telangana Road Transport Corporation will ply as many as 550 buses from 31 bus depots to various destinations.By Express News Service

HYDERABAD: The city wore a festive look as small and big idols of Ganesh were taken in a centralised procession in decorated trucks from Balapur in old city to Hussainsagar for immersion. Chanting and dancing, hundreds of devotees took out processions across the city to Hussainsagar and 30 other water bodies around the city designated for immersions. Police said the processions were largely peaceful.

From a toy cycle to long truck, devotees used every possible mode of transport to ferry the idols.

The main procession from Balapur in old city was joined by others as it meandered past Chandrayangutta, Falaknuma, Shalibanda, Charminar, Patherghatti, M J Market, Abids, Basheerbagh to the Tank Bund.

Idols being taken in a procession in

the Old City

Saffron flags and pulsating drum beats accompanied by hundreds of people who swarmed the small and big roads welcomed the procession. Prasadam stalls were opened all along the procession route. Large posse of security personnel, including paramilitary forces, were deployed. Senior police officials including city commissioner Anjani Kumar kept a close watch over the festivities.

The command control centres setup by the police ensured that people who went missing in the crowd were reunited with their families. Around 40 people reportedly got lost in the crowd but were reunited with their families and friends by the police; this included a couple of children. There were also cases of lost mobile phones and wallets for the cops to deal with.

Shivamma, one of the devotees, who had come to witness the immersion with her son Deepak, said that while passing by the crane no 6, her son suddenly disappeared in the crowd. But after a few minutes of searching, she heard an announcement that Deepak was at the CCC waiting for her. Besides, 20 SHE Teams were deployed in and around Tank Bund, who apprehended those misbehaving with women.

Balapur laddu fetches record Rs16.60 lakh

The famous Balapur Laddu was taken home by T Srinivas Gupta of Balapur Mandal Arya Vysya Sangam for a whopping Rs16.60 lakh, about Rs1 lakh more than what it fetched last year. Organised since 1994, this year was the silver jubilee of the laddu auction. With the blessing of Lord Ganesh, I wanted to take a plunge into politics and serve the people, Gupta said. His competitor, Kolan Ram Reddy gave up after bidding it for Rs 16.50 lakh. The auction lasted for not more than 15 minutes.

Though 29 people had registered their names for the auction that started with a bidding price of just Rs 1,116, only 9 of them were left once the price crossed the Rs10 lakh mark. The final fight was between Srinivas Gupta and Kolan Ram Reddy. The laddu, weighing about 21 kg, was prepared by sweet maker Uma Maheswar Rao who donated it to Balapur BGUS. The belief is that the winner of the laddu will prosper in their business ventures.

The winner usually distributes the laddu among friends and well wishers.

I am elated to have bagged the silver jubilee laddu. We have been trying to get it for last two years but this time we have succeeded with the blessing of Lod Ganesh and the committee members, Srinivas Gupta told Express. He said that with the blessing of almighty, the Arya Vysaya Sangam will soon enter politics. The BGUS members claimed the auction amount would be spent on development of temples and village and also for welfare activities in the education sector.

Starting from a mere Rs 450 in 1994 when K Mohan Reddy bagged the laddu in the first auction, the 21-kg laddu started attracting more bidders each year. (Inputs from S Bachan Jeet Singh, U Mahesh and Pinto Deepak)

Big boy takes an early dip

THE massive 58-feet tall Khairatabad Ganesh created history by taking an early plunge in Hussainsagar, breaking the tradition of being the show-stopper that goes last into the lake. The tallest idol in the State was moved for immersion at around 7 am on Sunday.

In the end, all was not well

Hyderabad: As the city danced in joy on the final lap of celebrations, fate had a few mourning for their loved ones. A 25-year-old youngster, who was dancing amid the Ganesh idol immersion procession, died due to heart attack in Borabanda of SR Nagar police limits. However, no case was registered as it was natural death.

The deceased is identified as Satish, private employee and a resident of Borabanda. In addition to this, an electrician connecting power supply to a sound box at a Ganesh pandal in Vanasthalipuram, died of electric shock on Sunday night.

He was rushed to a nearby private hospital, but was declared brought dead. The deceased has been identified as K Ravi Kumar (23). Hitherto this year, four such incidents have been reported in the city during Ganesh Chaturthi. Meanwhile, four persons suffered injuries after an autorickshaw in which they were carrying their Ganesh idol rammed a divider and overturned in Abids police limits on Sunday. The incident happened reportedly because the driver lost control over the vehicle. The injured persons were shifted to the local hospital for treatment.By Express News Service

KOCHI: The Indian Oil Corporation Ltd launched a state-of-the-art Emergency Response Vehicle (ERV) to be positioned at its Kochi LPG bottling plant during the regional safety council meeting at Kumarakom. IOC executive director (health, safety and environment) B S Giridhar flagged off the ERV in the presence of P S Mony, state head and chief general manager, Indian Oil Kerala.

Over the past few years, Kerala has witnessed many LPG bullet accidents as well as petrol/diesel tank truck accidents, with the state being more accident prone than other states due to population density and geography, which is predominantly hilly, narrow roads and heavy monsoons most of the year.

One of the major problems faced by oil companies during such crisis is the time lag in bringing ERVs from different places. The oil industry in Kerala has three ERVs for common use. IOC has only one such vehicle of its own at Kozhikode BP, capable of handling LPG and POL. HPC has an ERV at Kochi and BPCL has one at Kazhakkuttom. IOC has now voluntarily decided to place one ERV each in all three of its LPG bottling plants (BP) at Kozhikode, Kochi and Kollam.

The new ERVs, purchased at a cost of almost Rs 2 crore each, have several facilities. They are capable of handling both LPG and POL tank truck accidents. DG set, 1 kl stainless steel tank with water to take care of any ice formation by the leaking LPG, state-of-the-art lifting and pulling equipment, telecast lighting, smart hoses that close on either side in case of any hose burst, GPS to track the ERV, exclusive cabin crew arrangement in addition to the front cabin to accommodate five people from the rescue team, non-sparking tools, fire proximity and low temperature (minus 40 degree C) suit, water jet blanket and air-breathing apparatus.

Another problem faced by oil companies and state authorities during an LPG accident is the inability to communicate from the site. Ordinary mobile phones cannot be used since it can induce fire. The new ERV has an intrinsically safe mobile phone for use at the site during accidents. IOC will also replace the existing ERV at Chelari BP with the new ERV by Nov 18. Kollam and Kochi BPs have already been provided with the new ERVs.By Express News Service

KOCHI:The Kochi City police team probing last years twin break-ins here on Sunday took the accused Bangladeshi nationals to the crime scene at Pulleppady as part of the evidence collection. They included Ilkaram Maqbool, 30, son of Ismail; Salim,40. son of Abdul Sathar and Muhammed Haroon,46, son of Faisal Rahman, the officers said.

The Bangladeshi gang was arrested by New Delhi Police in a theft case lodged at the Preeth Vihar police station there, following which the accused were handed over to the Kochi Police. The Kochi Police conducted interrogation and identification parade of the arrested. It was an 11-member gang which was behind the burglaries.

Of these only six were nabbed while the remaining accused, including Ilias, Alam, Manik, and Arif, are on the run. Arif and Manik are booked for firing at a policeman. The gang came to India using fake ID cards and used to stay here. The worked as ragpickers and did odd jobs during the day time to zero in on their targets. The break-ins were conducted under the cover of darkness. After committing the crime, they fled to Bangladesh, said Ernakulam North CI K J Peter.

According to the CI, the gang members needed the easy money to feed their drug addiction. Charges of violation of Foreigners Act and Immigration Act will also be slapped on them. Though the custody of the accused will end by Monday they will be taken into custody by the Tripunithura Police in the burglary case there.

The gang first struck at the house of E K Ismail at Pullepady during the small hours on December 15, 2017. The robbers, who broke into the double-storeyed home, slashed the wrist of Ismails wife before decamping with the five sovereigns of gold worn by her. Her husband was also assaulted by the gang. Barely 24 hours later, the gang struck again. This time it was the residence of Nannappilli Anandakumar near Hill Palace at Tripunithura.

Brandishing weapons, including guns, the gang tied up the family members and decamped with 50 sovereigns of gold, three mobile phones and `20,000 in cash.By ANI

WASHINGTON: Hollywood actors including Sophia Bush, Busy Philipps, and Chelsea Handler have asked Ivanka Trump to support Christina Blasey Ford, who has accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct.

Using the hashtag #DearIvanka, the Hollywood stars took to social media to post a message to the eldest daughter of President Trump.

Dear @IvankaTrump, Youve said you are a champion of womens rights. You have an opportunity to fight for women.Demand Professor Ford receives a fair, trauma-informed investigation by the FBI. Use your access to ensure another abuser isnt seated on the Supreme Court. #DearIvanka pic.twitter.com/1uCCdSbhpp  Glennon Doyle (@GlennonDoyle) September 21, 2018

Dear @IvankaTrump, you don't follow me on social media. But as a public servant, you work for me. Youve proclaimed yourself a feminist. Use your access to demand that Professor Fords request for a full, fair, trauma-informed investigation by the FBI be held. #DearIvanka  Chelsea Handler (@chelseahandler) September 21, 2018

Dear @IvankaTrump, you don't follow me on twitter. But as a public servant, you work for me.



Youve proclaimed yourself a feminist.



Use your access to demand that Professor Fords request for a full, fair, trauma-informed investigation by the FBI be held. #DearIvanka  Alyssa Milano (@Alyssa_Milano) September 22, 2018

Dear @IvankaTrump, you don't follow me on social media. But as a public servant, you work for me. Youve proclaimed yourself a feminist. Use your access to demand that Professor Fords request for a full, fair, trauma-informed investigation by the FBI be held. #DearIvanka  Chelsea Handler (@chelseahandler) September 21, 2018

Dear @IvankaTrump, you don't follow me on social media. But as a public servant, you work for me. Youve proclaimed yourself a feminist. Use your access to demand that Professor Fords request for a full, fair, trauma-informed investigation by the FBI be held. #DearIvanka pic.twitter.com/wul8cAmZKH  Morgan J. Freeman (@mjfree) September 21, 2018

Busy Philipps shared a picture of #DearIvanka on her Instagram page and captioned it as, "You don't follow me on social media. But as a public servant, you work for me. You've proclaimed yourself a feminist and a champion of women's rights. Right now, you have an opportunity to fight for women and survivors. Use your access to demand that Professor Ford's request for a full, fair, trauma-informed investigation by the FBI be held. Use your access to make sure another abuser is not seated on the Supreme Court."

(Instagram Screen grab)

`One Tree Hill` actor Sophia Bush, shared the same #DearIvanka and wrote on Instagram, "I figured after the last one of these calls for you to take action, you'd unfollow me. But you're still following me!! So, let me use this opportunity to call you in. Rather than feeling called out, try to see this as an invitation to merge your words and your actions. Girl. You can do it."

(Instagram Screen grab)

Earlier this month, Ford, a professor at Palo Alto University in California, had alleged that Kavanaugh had assaulted her during a party in the 1980s when they were both in high school. She had accused him of groping her and even attempted to remove her clothes. According to a report by the Washington Post, Kavanaugh covered Ford's mouth with his hand to stifle her screams.

United States President Donald Trump, in July, nominated the appeal court judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court.Shama Bhagat By

Express News Service

Anushka Sharmas first appearance of the year was of an evil witch in Pari, while Varun Dhawans was an intense character in romantic-drama October. After delivering best of their performances, both the actors are here again with a journey from being unemployed to self-employed. The duo that will be seen essaying the role of a village couple in Yash Raj Films production Sui Dhaaga fights all odds to lead a successful life.

The second directorial venture of Sharat Katariya, after Dum Laga Ke Haisha, centres around the Make in India campaign and is set in the heartland of India. Varun, who has of late been experimenting with films such as Badlapur and October, will be seen in yet another experimental role in the film. Its a commercial family film that gives strong messages to the viewers. Its a fast-paced film filled with comedy, action and drama.

Anushka, who was last seen in Sanju, says, The film creates an awareness about the weavers in India. But it is more about aspiration and inspiration. It is about issues that people in small towns face. Our characters in the film fight against all odds when they face such situations and that can be an inspiration for thousands of people. I dont know if it will bring revolution but I am sure that it will shed light on issues of these people.

The actors have gone across India promoting the weavers of the country and their plight. For me, more than anything else, it was dignity of labour that touched my heart and I wanted to do the film for this very reason. I have tried my best in terms of creating awareness and I am sure as an artist, it has certainly crated a buzz, adds Anushka.

On the comments that the film is a promotional campaign for Prime Minister Narendra Modis Make in India campaign, Varun says, People of India are very skilled. And our Prime Minister has made people aware of them. We have made a film that supports the weavers of India so that they can earn money. I am sure people will connect to it and watch it either way.

The role was an altogether different experience for Varun because he had to master the art of stitching on a sewing machine for the role, and it was equally challenging for Anushka for she had to brush her skills in embroidery.

I took lessons from Noorbhai the tailor who works at Yash Raj. He taught me how to take measurements and sew on the machine. Otherwise my role is very comic. This film has a strong message and identification will be strong with the film. My relationship with my father is different in the movie and people are going to love it, says Varun. About learning a new art, Anushka says, In school, we had craft classes but I never used to pay attention and would run away to play. Here I had to learn a lot of embroidery styles. My mom is very talented and she would stitch clothes to make money. I used to feel that other children could wear expensive clothes but we couldnt afford. But now I understand her situation. Those observations helped me do my role better. Slowly, I started enjoying it. It felt soothing and therapeutic. I used to make pouches for them. I learnt different forms of embroidery such as cross stitch, kantha work, back stitch, making flowers and french knots.

Anushka believes that she is a lot like Mamta, her character in the film. When I heard Mamtas character, I thought how I will play the role but there is one thing that I could relate to is her quiet confidence. Its not loud and she does not show what she can do. Thats how you get strength and courage, and take risks. Thats why I could risk doing such roles. Mamta always tries to do the right things. I have never promoted wrong things.

Varuns character in the film is named Mauji. He says, Mauji has been depicted as good for nothing in the film. But he overcomes everything and that is what the film is about. There is a lot of drama too.

Meanwhile, Varun will soon announce his next, which will be directed by his father. Its going to be a typical David Dhawan film. Then theres Kalank with Dharma Productions, he adds.

Anushka so far has not signed any new projects but will soon be seen making a cameo appearance in Aanand L Rais Zero with Shah Rukh Khan.Shevlin Sebastian By

Express News Service

On most days, when he was writing The Town That Laughed, Manu Bhattathiri would wake up with images of the fictional village of Karuthupuzha in Kerala. He would get up, get ready and go for a walk, while mulling over what he was going to write. Then, at 7.30 am the Bengaluru-based author

would sit at his desk and write for exactly one hour. I deliberately did not do more, he says. When you stretch it, the sweat shows.

Eight months later, the 254-page novel was done. And it is a highly engaging one. Written in a relaxed style, Manu, with deft sentences, is able to bring the characters alive and cast a spell on the reader.

These are people, many of them eccentric, who inhabit most small towns and villages in India. In the town, there is the local drunk, Joby, and the just-retired Inspector Paachu Yemaan, who is bleakly suffering the loss of power and prestige, Paachus long-suffering but inwardly strong wife Sharada, the barber Sureshan, the local cops, Inspector Janardhanan and Constable Chandy, Jobys wife Rosykutty, the love affair between Kannan Maash and Ambili Teacher, among many other interesting people. It is an affectionate and humorous portrait of human beings and their foibles.

But village life is an unusual subject for Manu since he grew up in the northern part of India, in places such as Boleng in Arunachal Pradesh, Tezpur in Assam, and Udhampur in Jammu and Kashmir. His father worked in the Border Roads Organisation, which builds roads for the Army.

But once every two years, the family would spend the summer vacation at Manus maternal grandfathers village of Cherupoika in Kollam district, Kerala. There was an aura to the village as far as I was concerned, says Manu. It was so different from our life in the north. As a boy, Manu was enamoured of the village folk, and the beauty of nature. There were a lot of paddy fields around, a small river, and

dense foliage all around, he says. You could always get a fresh smell.

And to top that, his grandfather, M N Vasudevan Bhattathiri, a Sanskrit teacher, was a fount of stories. They were usually tales from the Mahabharata and the Ramayana, he says. But it is not that I have been told the stories in exactly the way I have heard it. Instead, I mixed my memories with my imagination and produced some original characters.

Incidentally, this is Manus second book. His first book, Savithris Special Room And Other Stories, also dipped into the memories of Cherupoika. And it was well-received both by readers and critics. In fact, the book was short-listed for the Crossword Book Award (Fiction) for 2018 and was on the long list of the Tata Literature Live Award for 2016.

In his daily life, Manu runs an advertising firm, Cheers Communications, with partner Sudhir PR. But he has regrets regarding his career. In advertising, your desire to write is falsely fulfilled, says Manu. You are only writing headlines and body copy. It set me back by 15 years.

Asked whether he has more books inside him, Manu smiles and says, I have a library inside me. If I keep my focus and interest levels, I could write many books. But the publicity that is given to books and authors is a bit disappointing these days.

Not to forget the intense distraction of readers because of the mobile phone. I agree, says Manu. People read five pages of a book and then they decide that they now need to check their mobile phones. Because of screen addiction, there is a persistent need to look at the mobile, laptop, television or the cinema screen. We need to do something about it. Otherwise, we will become shallow and superficial.By IANS

The diamonds splendor has been appreciated for centuries. World-famous diamonds such as the Great Mughal, Kohinoor, Regent, Florentine, Darya-i-Noor, Pigott, Tavernier, and Nassak were produced in India. More than the aesthetic and appealing value, diamonds worn in ancient times were believed to promote strength, invincibility and courage.

The earliest diamonds were found in India in the 4th century BC and were valued because of their strength and brilliance, and for their ability to refract light and engrave metal. They were worn as adornments, used as cutting tools, served as talismans to ward off evil and were believed to provide protection in battle. In the Dark Ages, diamonds were also used as a medical aid and were thought to cure illness and heal wounds when ingested.

Diamond production in India reached its zenith in the 16th century with the maximum output of 1,500 to 100,000 carats. Until the 18th century, India was the only source of diamonds for the whole world. However, when the Indian diamond mines depleted, the quest for alternate sources began. Although a small deposit was found in Brazil in 1725, the supply was not enough to meet the world's demands.

Today, the diamond may be the first choice to express love and commitment, there's still a lot to uncover about its the history. Here are some interesting facts about diamonds that you probable never knew:

* Diamonds were brought to the surface of Earth through intense volcanic eruptions. The eruptions propelled the diamonds, at breakneck speed, hundreds of kilometers from the heart of the Earth to the surface. The molten magma cooled, and on a few very rare occasions, diamonds were born

* Diamonds were formed long before dinosaurs walked our planet. The youngest diamond is 107 million years old, while the dinosaurs were extinct only 65 million years ago

* The diamond is the hardest known substance in the world. Billions of years ago, in a deep layer of the earth, a unique combination of chemicals, pressure and changes in temperature, created diamonds out of pure carbon

* More than half of the rough diamond disappears in the polishing process. It takes two years of apprenticeship to learn the simplest of diamond cuts. It also takes two years for an experienced craftsman to cut the largest and most valuable diamonds

* Diamonds are rare and getting rarer. The last significant discovery was almost 20 years ago. Only around 50 locations around the world were found to contain diamonds viable for mining, with South Africa, Russia and Botswana being the most well-known

* India was the world's original source of diamonds, beginning in the 1400s when Indian diamonds began to be sold in Venice and other European trade centers. The most famous of these is the Kohinoor, which is now part of the British Crown Jewels.

These facts make diamonds more alluring and enticing than ever and we all can safely agree that diamonds have been and will truly be forever.Shillpi A Singh By

Express News Service

Beneath the surface of the vast encyclopaedia that is the internet lurks dark challenges that are drawing young people into deadly games like Momo, Kiki and Tide Pod. Early this month, 25-year-old Umakant Behera from Cuttack hanged himself after playing the fatal WhatsApp game that asks vulnerable youngsters to complete a series of tasks that leads to suicide. Such individuals have impulse control disorder.

They look for an adrenaline rush that could lead to self-injuries without looking at the consequences, says Dr Keerthi Pai, clinical psychologist, Apollo Hospitals, Chennai. Adds Dr Sameer Malhotra, director, Department of Mental Health and Behavioural Sciences, Max Hospitals, Delhi: Depression, loneliness, substance use and a disturbed family environment make them more vulnerable to online threats. Ever since Blue Whale victimology last year sent out Code Red to parents, concern over challenge games has peaked. Says Nidhi Pramod, mother of teenagers Rehaan and Vivaan who spent most of their waking hours on their cell phones: I was perturbed by their Player Unknowns Battlegrounds (PUBG) gaming addiction. What starts with a simple gaming can go a bit too far.

Indeed. Games like Kiki Challenge appeal to the risk-taking, fatalistic side of people who suddenly get out of their vehicles and start dancing in the middle of traffic. These are posted on Instagram and YouTube, garnering thousands of hits. Instagram is the new fame; the social influencer that is upending Facebook as the only place to be, learn and communicate.Social media meets the immediate need for gratification, explains Dr Pai.

Never before has social media polarised youth so much, creating an isolation epidemic across countries. Accessibility to mobile phones binds new communities together, bringing the comfort of acceptance and belonging from strangers who become friends or mentors. The addiction starts with curiosity, followed by getting trapped by the manipulators into finishing an escalating series of tasks. By then the player is too involved socially and psychologically, afraid to share the details with parents or peers. Then there is no coming back.Medha Dutta By

Dancer Kristina Luna Dolinina is Lithuanian but is a pucca Indian at heart. Her love for all things desiand that includes a spicy and smokey baingan bhartaled her to study Hindi in detail. The Kathak-Odissi dancer had always wanted to learn a non-European language. As a student of philology in Vilnius University, she picked up Hindi and Turkish, but it was the lilting tones of Hindi that egged her on to learn more.

Kristina will perform Kathak at the 17th edition of the Lalit Arpan Festival being held at Stein Auditorium in Delhi on September 27-28. She says, I was lucky to get a year-long scholarship from the Kendriya Hindi Sansthaan, Agra, in 1997 and then again in 1999. While living in Agra, her inquisitive nature drove her to study the performing arts of India. As a teenager, I was interested in theatre. Little wonder, Indian dance with its abhinaya nuances attracted me. While I was getting ready for my masters in Hindi Literature from Jawaharlal Nehru University, my teacher Przemyslaw Piekarski from Krakow University, Poland, recommended I learn under Padmashree Guru Shovana Narayan, an outstanding Kathak dancer and scholar. I ended up doing my masters and learning dance. It is one of the best things that happened to me, she says.

Elaborating on Indian culture that drew her in, Kristina says the diversity of India initially attracted her. I come from a culture that is brain-driven, and art is excessively conceptual in nature. Indian performance arts opened up an entirely new world of emotional symbolism. She adds the wide smiles on peoples faces in India always enthused her and filled her heart and soul. Living in India also taught me patience and widened my understanding of the world and the ability to accept, Kristina says.

The dancer confesses she began to learn Kathak almost accidentally, and Odissi was a more informed choice. I love both the dance forms. Kathak for its grace, flow, lines, dynamics, body movement, and improvisation while Odissi has a completely different dance movement and expression. Perfecting a classical style with its vast repertoire and knowledge is a challenge. And to perform in two styles a lifetime is not enough, she laughs.

Both dance forms are finding accepting audiences in far-away Kristinas country. For Lithuanians, they are exotic and unseen. But we still need to wait for a knowledgeable and mature audience to emerge. There are many artistes who practice Indian arts and organise festivals in Lithuania. Such events promote the arts, build cultural bridges, and present the forms universal phenomenon, she says.

Besides propagating Kathak and Odissi in Lithuania, Kristina also teaches Hindi at Vilnius University there. Hindi and the study of Indian performing culture are part of the curriculum of the South Asian Study programme at the Institute of Asian and Transcultural Studies in Vilnius University. Its doing

quite well and is slowly gaining popularity.

The dancer does not miss perspective. She says almost wistfully, I love the mountains of India. They make me feel so small, like a mere drop in the ocean. I wish I could settle in a village somewhere in the Himalayas or Ladakh. But, until that happens: koi baat nahi!

Where and when

Lalit Arpan Festival 2018

September 27 and 28; 7 pm

Stein Auditorium, India Habitat Centre, Lodi Road, DelhiAyesha Singh By

Experience is not always about visiting a place never seen before or relishing a new dish on the menu, it also means getting to know a countrys indigenous art, culture and luxury. And that is what some of the capitals famous hotels are serving their guests with; by promoting the brands grown on Indias soil.

The Park Hotels, currently celebrating their 50th anniversary, sowed the seed of an avant-garde treasure in 1996. It bore fruit immediately, emerging as a trailblazer to embrace homegrown luxury.

But The Seed did something different for its time. It made the Indian design aesthetic desirable. At its helm was Priya Paul, Chairperson of Apeejay Surrendra Park Hotels, known as the first lady of design-led boutique hotels in India. She adopted design as an important aspect of hospitality ever since she started off in 1988. She lent The Seed a discerning style acuity that became synonymous with her hotel retail boutiques across India.

The Seed, later changed to The Box, brought to the table, every bit of knowledge from her background in contemporary art and painting. At this shop, there was apparel, jewellery and home decor, all of which had a local accent for a closer to home feel. Products that I curated didnt have to be necessarily expensive but had to be well-designed, says Paul.

This happened much before Make in India became the buzzword. Paul had proven that bespoke wasnt a distant idea, and that luxury could be an Indian prerogative. Three decades later, hotels such as Roseate House, The Imperial and The Lodhi have begun to uphold the same ideas with pride but no prejudice.

But before these new-age hotels caught speed with the homegrown bandwagon, there was Taj Hotels, Resorts and Palaces with Taj Khazana that brought together a uniquely Indian high-end retail space on its premises, celebrating the work of artisans and craftsmen. This was also an early attempt by a star hotel to work in the interest of artists. There was also ITC Maurya with its own line of products that it sold in their in-house boutique.

However, what we see today is starkly different. The designers of back then were mostly nameless entities who depended on the hotels popularity for outreach. But recently, that changed. Roseate House invited modern-day designers to be their own brand ambassadors.

Through Upstage Collect retail shop, its given five homegrown labels the space to express their creativity without worrying about the economics of it. Launched over a month back, Upstage Collect houses Made in India labels such as Nappa Dori, Bodice, Lacquer Embassy, Doux Amour and Wishaway. Each brand is at par with their foreign counterparts in terms of idea, design and statement. Anyway, most international labels are made right here in India and then given a foreign label, says Kush Kapoor, Area General Manager, Roseate Hotels & Resorts.

These brands have established their permanency with a model that is not seasonal but curatorial. Being in a hotel has given us exclusivity as opposed to being in Khan Market or Meharchand Market etc. It helps me control plagiarism, says Ritu Kapoor, a crystal healer who has fashioned crystals into jewellery for Upstage Collect, along with her daughter Shubhi Kapoor.

With the foreign hangover giving way to Indian luxury, its a moment to celebrate. Sahil Kapoor of Doux Amour handbags says, Its all about feeling proud of our history and culture. Get ready for a retail revolution. The rules of sale are being rewritten. Being at a hotel eliminates ruthless competitiveness. When Janavi India was introduced by its owner, Jyotika Jhalani, at The Lodhi more than six years ago, the intention was to challenge the counter-intuitive belief systems about Indian luxury. Her pashmina shawl business began from her sons bedroom, 21 years ago. With Janavi, Jhalani, who hails from Kashmir, is keeping her Kashmiri heritage alive.

When she started retailing at The Lodhi, it was only her. Later more brands were added. Today the shop where she retails out of is called Epiphany, curated by Kalyani Saha Chawla. Our hotel has a large share of foreign clients and they look to carry back something that represents India, says Manish Sharma, the Hotel Manager.

Hotels are filling a void. As home labels are increasing, there is a dearth of upscale places to display them. Hotels are addressing this problem. Theyve brought in a new dimension for shopping as most people staying in hotels are travellers, and this is a strong inception point for them to get to know Indian brands. I believe hotels have started recognising this, says Gautam Sinha of Nappa Dori, who is also showcasing at Upstage Collect.

The philosophy of turning to ones backyard to find limitless possibilities, and embrace innovation that upholds cultural standards, has brought a transformation. Undoubtedly, foreign brands have been part of luxury hotels, reflecting their repertoire but with the advent of promoting back to the roots idea, homegrown brands are preferred as they add cultural value instilling trust in their consumers, says Vijay Wanchoo, Senior Executive VP and GM, The Imperial New Delhi. He stands inside The Imperial Boutique that houses Vayu, a curated concept store that presents unique object dart from all over India. Whether its folk Dhodro Banam from Santhal tribe or wooden panels from Gujarat, the attempt at Vayu has been to encourage young Indian designers.

Its not just about the products any more. Its about their story. Take for instance, a beverage thats strongly tied into Indias societal, cultural and political fabrictea. Leveraging same is Indian Splendor, also at The Imperial Boutique, that exhibits the countrys fine tea drinking tradition.Taking a holistic approach in promoting Brand India will help in the overall promotion of everything Indian. And the hotels that are in the forefront of such a shift in mindset will benefit the most, says Arjun Batra, Director TeaCourt Pvt. Ltd. Indian Splendor.The homegrown story has just begun to be scripted. It really has come down to thinking globally but acting locally.Amar Bhushan By

Maximilien Robespierre, the lawyer-politician of France and a proponent of the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution, believed that politics could be radically purified to benefit the poor only by killing their enemies. He became a victim of his violent ideas when he was executed at the young age of 36. Our Naxalites have their Robespierre in activists such as lawyers Sudha Bhardwaj, Arun Ferreira and Vernon Gonsalves, professors Varavara Rao and Gautam Navlakha. The difference is, they are more astute and do not openly flaunt their revolutionary linen. They work unobtrusively and are hard to deal with.

The questionable role of these activists in sustaining Maoist violence surfaced recently in the wake of the investigation in Bhima-Koregaon violence in Maharashtra. If police are to be believed, plans were afoot to end Modi Raj by enacting a Rajiv Gandhi-type attack, to collect `9 crore for procuring assorted rifles, grenades and ammunition, set up contacts with terrorist outfits in Jammu & Kashmir and insurgent groups in the Northeast, meet with arms suppliers in Nepal, Manipur, Myanmar and Bangkok, influence judiciary and motivate university students to become storm troopers of the Maoist movement.

How far these evidences will stand the test of judicial scrutiny is anybodys guess, but there is no denying that these activists have been digging deep and wide to keep the nation on a boil. How else can you explain a thriving business empire of Maoists, running in over `1,500 crore, procured and operated through unlawful means?

Yet, we are told that raids conducted in their houses are meant to curb dissent and instil fear among those who want to help weaker and marginalised sections of the society, that freedom and liberty of citizens are under attack as never before and emergency has returned with vengeance. Ground reality, however, is different.

Not a day passes when opponents do not abuse and vilify the state and its leadership. The Constitution remains un-tinkered, thanks to our ruckus polity and overzealous judiciary. Street protests and violent bandhs have shown no meltdown and there is no restraint in maligning the defence services, security forces and investigative agencies. So, where is the lid on dissent?

Left extremism is a serious problem and must be tackled hard, irrespective of who is involvedurban or rural Naxals. Forty-seven districts spread across Odisha, Jharkhand, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra are affected by it. Since 2001, Naxals have killed 6,489 civilians, 2,439 security forces, looted 4,215 pieces of arms and have lost 6,741 of their volunteers in an armed conflict which they can never win.

Mizos, Nagas, ULFA, Bodos and Naxalbari guerrillas in West Bengal followed the same path for years without achieving anything. Surely, Naxals have been victims of decades of economic and social exploitation but there is no reason why they cannot follow the example of over-ground STs, SCs and BCs who have used constitutional and judicial means to get their grievances redressed.

Barring urban naxals and criminals who run the Maoist business, other members of the cadre are trapped in a dilemma; whether to be a part of Indias development story or remain undergroundimpoverished, illiterate and scared. Swapnil (name changed), my hostel roommate in college, joined the Naxalite movement in 1963, mesmerised by Kanu Sanyal and Charu Majumdar, who insisted that democratic institutions must be demolished if tribal and marginalised sections of the society were to become masters of their destiny. Forty-nine years later, he sought my help to join the mainstream but could not muster courage to take the final plunge. He was distraught that ideals had taken a back seat, cadre was crowded with extortionists, abductors and looters, newcomers were busy in procuring food, money and weapons and genuine volunteers did not know where to go. Swapnil was killed in the forests of Gumla, Jharkhand, in 2013.

It is activists like Rao who keep Naxals battling. They sell dreams of an egalitarian state, provide raison detre for an armed struggle and give them respectability to run a violent movement. Being artists, authors, NGO workers, lawyers and intellectuals, it is easier for them to camouflage their real intent to operate a motivated cadre, manipulate media, judiciary and public opinion to support the Maoist cause and maintain an uninterrupted supply of money and weapons to volunteers. Their ideology may have lost relevance the world over, but it will continue to resonate with left extremists so long as they are confined to jungles and deprived of schools, roads, hospitals and opportunities. It is important, therefore, to expose and marginalise these urban Naxals, fast. Once that happens, criminals can be quickly neutralised, paving way for foot-soldiers to give up arms and walk in an inclusive society.

Amar Bhushan

Former special secretary, Research and Analysis Wing

amarbhushan@hotmail.comAnirban Ganguly By

Nine inconsequential Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) of 751 have written to the EU to cancel agreements with India till the urban Naxals are released. It would have perhaps been best to ignore their meaningless tirade but one must still make a counterpoint. Predominantly belonging to the left parties, it is strange that these MEPs instead of deliberating on the future of Europe, on the future and raison detre of the EU and the challenges facing European countries by cyclic waves of immigrants, an ageing population and increasingly restless political climate, should bother themselves about individuals whose professed aim is the overthrow of the legitimate and constitutional Indian state and the elimination of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other leaders who are today guiding the ship of the Indian state.

In fact, the MEPs should have been obsessed with Europes age of crisis, best articulated by the conservative political philosopher Roger Scruton, to whom I periodically go back to in order to understand the march of present-day Europe. Scrutons description of Europes crisis is hard-hitting:

Europes rapidly diminishing share of the worlds trade and wealth bespeaks a shift in power of a kind that is only seen every few centuries. Mass immigrations from Africa, Asia and the Middle East have created potentially disloyal, and in any case anti-national, minorities in the heart of France, Germany, the Netherlands, the Scandinavian countries and Britain. The Christian faith has receded from public life, leaving a vacuum into which nihilism, materialism and militant Islam have flowed unresisted. The population is getting older and sparserexcept in Britain, which is the destination of choice for so many European migrants, and now in deep conflict as a result.

Instead of trying to find ways out of this hydra-headed challenge, these confused MEPs are unnecessarily stretching themselves too thin by meddling into the affairs of far-off India, into a situation and episode of which they have little first-hand knowledge and experience. Such irresponsible, politically motivated and short-sighted behaviour must be condemned by those who have respect for Indias sovereignty, territorial integrity and unity.

This also reminded me of a sentence from the late Indian philosopher Ram Swarup, who writing sometime in the late 80s, had observed that aggressive internationalism is often used to oppose and subvert legitimate nationalism. The motley crowd of MEPs thus are displaying an aggressive and interventionist internationalism which is trying to oppose and subvert legitimate nationalism in India.

India since May 2014 has seen the rise of legitimate nationalism. This nationalism has worked and aspired to first, mainstream and empower the vast swathes of marginalised sections that lived neglected within Indian society; it undertook efforts, initiatives that have transformed lives; it has reached out to the grassroots with the message and hope of a new India. Second, it has challenged Indias adversaries within the country; it has put up a spirited resistance against the break India lobby defined by separatists, insurgents, terrorists and Naxals. Third, it has exposed saboteurs who, from within the system, have pushed and facilitated the break India lobby and worked to destabilise the Indian polity by adopting violent and anarchic methods. Fourth, it has persistently pushed and pursued Indias agenda and national interest on the world stage.

Naxals, urban Naxals, separatists, terrorists, insurgents and their intellectual sympathisers at home and abroad seek to subvert this legitimate nationalism because it threatens to dilute their agenda and to eventually annihilate them altogether.

Anirban Ganguly

Director, Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee Research Foundation

anirbangan@gmail.comBy ANI

ANTANANARIVO: President Ram Nath Kovind on Wednesday arrived at the Madagascar capital in the last leg of his five-day two-nation visit.

He was received by Madagascar Prime Minister Oliver Mahafaly Solonandrasana at the Antananarivo airport. The President was accompanied by his wife and the First Lady of India Savita Kovind.

Malagasy children presented President Kovind with flowers. They were also holding the flags of India and Madagascar respectively.

President Kovind then discussed with the Madagascar Prime Minister on further enhancing bilateral ties between the two countries.

He then proceeded to the presidential palace in Antananarivo where he was accorded a guard of honour and called on Madagascar President Hery Rajaonarimampianina.

Madagascar is straddled in the Indian Ocean and alongside the strategic Mozambique channel.

It is also a member of the International Solar Alliance (ISA). The island country is the fourth largest in Africa, in terms of size and is around 300 times bigger than Mauritius. Both Mauritius and Madagascar were erstwhile French colonies.

Madagascar has an incredible biodiversity, boasting of four percent of the world's biodiversity.

It is also rich in natural resources and has large untapped potential resources of sapphire, copper, iron and nickel.

Recently, the island country has discovered oil and is being generated in 19 oil wells.

Madagascar belongs to the group of least developed countries and is aid-dependent, according to the United Nations.By PTI

JAIPUR: Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje Saturday targeted AICC general secretary and former chief minister Ashok Gehlot, saying he insulted martyrs and their families by calling "Shahadat ko Salam", government programme held on August 14, a wastage of money.

At a public meeting in Bansur of Alwar district under her Rajasthan Gaurav Yatra, Raje said Gehlot should apologise for his remarks.

She announced doubling of "Samman Bhatta" for the families of slain soldiers and special training for Class 11 and 12 students to prepare them for the National Defence Academy entrance test.

Meanwhile, unruly scenes were witnessed in her rally as two local leaders of the party almost got into a fight and security personnel had to take one of them off the stage.

Urban Improvement Trust (Alwar) Chairman Devi Singh Shekhawat and former MLA Rohitash Kumarwere got into a tussle in the presence of the chief minister.

Security personnel brought Shekhawat off the stage, but Raje intervened and called him back again.

The chief minister also addressed public meetings in Kotputli (Jaipur) and Neem ka Thana (Sikar) in Jaipur division.Amit Agnihotri By

Express News Service

NEW DELHI: After BSP supremo Mayawati's recent shocker over poll alliances, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi got a shot in the arm with his SP counterpart Akhilesh Yadav coming out in support of his campaign against the Rafale jet deal.

Not only did Mayawati unilaterally forge a poll pact with former Congressman Ajit Jogi's Chattisgarh Janata Congress for the Chattisgarh polls, she also announced plans to contest 22 seats in Madhya Pradesh in a move which could hamper Rahul and Akhilesh's attempts to sew a BSP-SP-Congress-RLD grouping to counter the BJP in the next year's Lok Sabha polls.

"We demand a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe in the Rafale deal. Without a JPC the truth will not come out, the issue has now become global," Akhilesh Yadav said at the SP's social justice rally held at Delhi's iconic Jantar Mantar.

Rahul has been slamming the centre, especially PM Modi, over the Rafale jet deal saying a JPC probe was the only way to find out the truth in the matter.

The Congress campaign against the PM had largely been a solo show but with Akhilesh joining the issue, the "UP ke ladke" might be up for a fresh tango ahead of the 2019 national polls."UP ke ladke" famously referred to Rahul and Akhilesh, who had forged a pre-poll alliance ahead of the 2017 Uttar Pradesh assembly polls, much against the wishes of the SP founder patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav. Mayawati then chose to stay away from the Congress-SP pact thinking she would be able to tackle the BJP on her own. Though she proved to be wrong in her assessment, the BSP chief might be nurturing similar plans now, said a Congress insider.

Interestingly, Mulayam Singh attended the SP's social justice rally at Jantar Mantar in a clear support for his son who has been miffed with uncle Shivpal Singh Yadav's move to form a separate political outfit. Party sources said Netaji's (as Mulayam is referred to in the party) presence at Jantar Mantar was a big boost for the Akhilesh camp while being a sure dampner for Shivpal. At the rally, both Mulayam and Akhilesh slammed PM Modi's policies like demonetization, GST and joblessness and vowed to oust the BJP from power at the centre and later in the state they ruled from 2012 till last year.Sumi Sukanya dutta By

Express News Service

NEW DELHI: As the mega health insurance, Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana, was launched by the government in several states on Sunday, some health and industry experts have pointed out that a stronger mechanism for patient safety needs to be ensured as even very small hospitals in the private sector, without any accreditation, have been empanelled.

At present, the government will only rely on self-declaration by hospitals on the clinical outcomes of treatments and procedures carried out on beneficiaries.

Officials in the National Health Agency, which has been constituted to implement the scheme, said about 10,000 hospitals, of which 50 per cent are private hospitals, have been empanelled where the beneficiaries can avail the services.

Most of the private hospitals that have come forward to join the scheme are 50-bedded or lesser. As per the government criteria, any 24x7 hospital with at least 10 in-patient beds, three qualified nurses and two MBBS doctors, specialists, pharmacy, blood bank, laboratory, dialysis unit, endoscopy and X-ray facilities and ambulance and emergency services can make the cut.

Of about 60,000 total hospitals in the country, only 600-odd are accredited by the National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Healthcare Providers. But the government has not made it mandatory for only NABH-certified hospitals to seek empanelment.

For patient safety, though there are clinical outcome standards clearly laid out under the scheme, I find it worrying that the government is only relying on self-declaration by the hospitals to assess service quality, said Girdhar J Gyani, director-general of the Association of Healthcare Providers of India and member of NABH review committee.

This could particularly mean trouble for states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and others which have no experience of dealing with a major public health insurance programme, he added.

Anant Bhan, a researcher in global health and policy, stressed that service quality in hospitals was directly linked with overall mortality and morbidity rates and pointed out that the government had not paid much attention to this aspect.

The programme is being launched within months of announcement and crucial points like patient safety have not been given as much attention, Bhan said, cautioning that this could make policymakers sit and fill glaring gaps later.By Online Desk

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today launched Ayushman Bharat, the 'worlds largest government-funded healthcare programme' in Ranchi. Renamed as Pradhan Mantri Jan Aarogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY), the scheme is expected to target more than 50 crore beneficiaries.

PMJAY will provide a cover of up to Rs. 5 lakhs per family per year, for secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation. Over 10.74 crore vulnerable entitled families (approximately 50 crore beneficiaries) will be eligible for these benefits.

READ HERE: Interview | Ayushman Bharat scheme will revolutionise India's healthcare scene, says CEO Indu Bhushan

The healthcare programme will provide cashless and paperless access to services for the beneficiary at the point of service. It will help reduce catastrophic expenditure for hospitalisation, which impoverishes people and will help mitigate the financial risk arising out of catastrophic health episodes.

READ FULL REPORT HERE.

The services will include 1,350 procedures covering pre and post-hospitalisation, diagnostics, medicines etc.

Ayushman Bharat has two components - creation of 150,000 health and wellness centres which will provide Comprehensive Primary Health Care (CPHC) and the PMJAY which provides health protection cover to poor and vulnerable families for secondary and tertiary care.

The first Health and Wellness Centre was launched by Modi at Jangla, Chhatisgarh on April 14.

PMJAY primarily targets the poor, deprived rural families and identified occupational category of urban workers' families as per the latest Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC) data for both rural and urban areas as well as the active families under the Rashtriya Swasthya BimaYojana (RSBY).

The objectives of the scheme are to reduce out of pocket hospitalisation expenses, fulfil unmet needs and improve access of identified families to quality inpatient care and day care surgeries.

The scheme allows states enough flexibility in terms of packages, procedures, scheme design, entitlements as well as other guidelines while ensuring that key benefits of portability and fraud detection are ensured at a national level.

States have the option to use an existing trust/society or set up a new trust/society to implement the scheme as State Health Agency and will be free to choose the modalities for implementation.

It can implement the Scheme through an insurance company or directly through the Trust/Society/Implementation Support Agency or a mixed approach.

Pilot launch of the scheme has already started in around 22 states and Union Territories and so far 30 states and union territories have signed a Memorandum of Understanding and started working on implementation of the mission.

(With IANS inputs)By PTI

LUCKNOW: The Uttar Pradesh government has refuted suggestions that it released Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad from custody under the NSA for the sake of Dalit votes, saying he was allowed to walk free as normalcy has now returned to Saharanpur.

"The government had sought a confidential report and found that the situation has normalised, and he was released," UP Law Minister Brijesh Pathak told PTI here.

Azad was detained under the stringent National Security Act (NSA) after the 2017 Saharanpur violence between the Dalit and the Thakur communities.

The UP government ordered his release on September 13, revoking the earlier order which would have kept him in detention till November 1.

"Today, the situation is normal in Saharanpur and the adjoining districts," Pathak said in an interview.

He said the state government's decision to release Azad should not be viewed from the point of elections.

"When someone is booked under the NSA, it is not for life. It is first imposed for three months and if the district administration feels it necessary, then it is extended for the next three more months and so on," he said.

"The NSA is an immediate measure that is slapped on a person who poses a threat to society, to law and order or can trigger fear," he said The Dalit leader was arrested in June 2017 in connection with the May 5 clashes in which one person was killed and 16 others injured in Saharanpur's Shabbirpur village.

On November 2, 2017, the Allahabad High Court granted bail to him.

But a day before his expected release, he was booked under the NSA, effectively extending his detention.

On his release, Chandrashekhar Azad, who is also known as 'Ravan', claimed that the Bharatiya Janata Party feared his detention might dent its Dalit vote bank ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha election.

"I am out and the BJP is going to face the ire of the Dalit samaj. This time, the BJP will be out of power," he told reporters.

Azad said if a 'mahagathbandhan', or a grand alliance of opposition parties, comes about in UP ahead of the 2019 election, he will 'definitely' support it.

"If the mahagathbandhan happens, the BJP will be reduced to single digits," he said.

"In the Lok Sabha bypolls, the BJP lost Gorakhpur and Phulpur and tasted defeat in Kairana," Azad had reminded.

Commenting on the possible emergence of an anti-BJP alliance for the 2019 elections, the minister said, "We take each and every election very seriously."

"The gathbandhan will hardly have an impact on the BJP's poll prospects as their 'niti' (policy) and 'niyat' (intention) and their manner of working has been seen by the people of Uttar Pradesh, be it the SP, the BSP, the Congress or even the RLD," he said.

"People have not forgotten the anarchy unleashed during the five years of SP rule from 2012 to 2017," Pathak said, adding the state government then worked like "an unguided missile".

"If there is any alliance, we will challenge them in a befitting manner. The people are with the BJP," he said.

Asked to comment on a remark by Akhilesh Yadav, in which the Samajwadi Party chief suggested he was willing to take "two step back" in a deal with Bahujan Samaj Party leader Mayawati, Pathak said, "Both of them are sinking."Harpreet Bajwa By

Express News Service

CHANDIGARH: After a gap of ten years, the ruling Congress has won The Zila Parishad and Panchayat Samiti elections in Punjab, bagging 331 Zila Parishad seats out of 353 zones, and 2,351 of the 2,899 zones of 150 Panchayat Samitis. The slide in the fortunes of the main Opposition Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) continued, as it managed to win just a handful of Panchayat Samiti seats.

The polls were held on September 19.

The crisis in the AAP has only deepened, with a vertical split in its ranks after the rebellion by Sukhpal Khaira, who had opposed the move to contest these polls. The Congress won 123 of the 193 zones in the ten Panchayat Samitis in Sangrur, from where Bhagwant Mann of AAP is Member of Parliament. The AAP, which was a force to reckon with in the last Lok Sabha and Assembly election in the Malwa belt, failed to make a mark. In Bathinda, the party has three MLAs, but won only five block samiti seats, while independents won seven seats.

As per the results announced by the State Election Commission, out of the 353 zones of 22 Zila Parishads, Congress won 331 seats, Shiromani Akali Dal won 18, Bharatiya Janata Party won two and others won two seats.

Out of the 2,899 zones of 150 Panchayat Samitis, Congress won 2,351, AAP won 20, Shiromani Akali Dal won 353, BJP won 63, CPI won one, SAD (A) won two, CPI (M) won two, and other candidates won 107.

The Congress won in the Badals bastion Bathinda, Mansa, Muktsar and other nearby districts, and retained Patiala, Sangrur and Fatehagrh Sahib.

Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh hailed the poll results as yet another endorsement of his governments policies and programmes and a total rejection of the Oppositions malicious campaign against the ruling dispensation.

Pointing out that this was the fourth consecutive humiliating defeat of the SAD-BJP combine, after victories for the Congress in the polls to the Assembly, urban local bodies, the Gurdaspur parliamentary seat and the Shahkot Assembly seat, he said it was a vindication of his partys efforts to bring the state out of the quagmire of devastation into which it had been plunged by the previous SAD-BJP government.

Amarinder trashed the Akali allegations of booth capturing by the Congress, saying that it was the SAD, on the contrary, which had stooped to all kinds of hooliganism to try and derail the poll process, particularly in Muktsar Sahib. He cited the video of SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal which had gone viral, and which showed him ordering his party men to intimidate voters.

Meanwhile, the Shiromani Akali Dal will hold a state-level Anti Repression (Jabar Virodhi Rally) at Patiala on October 7 to highlight and protest against the brutal murder of democracy by "the unholy coalition between the Congress and the state machinery, which functioned like a group of gangsters during the just-concluded elections in the state. "The SPs, DC, SDMs, and tehsildars functioned as Congress election workers in this mockery of democracy," said a resolution at the SAD Core Committee meeting here today.By PTI

NEW DELHI: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley Sunday said former French President Francois Hollande contradicted his own statement with regard to the Rafale deal and that neither the Indian nor the French government played any role in selection of Reliance as offset partner by Dassault.

A political controversy has erupted over Hollande's statement that the Indian government wanted the Anil Ambani-led Reliance Defence to be chosen as offset partner of Dassault, the manufacturer of the Rafale fighter jets.

ALSO READ | Rafale deal will not be cancelled, wait for CAG report: Arun Jaitley

"The French Government and M/s Dassault Aviation have categorically denied the correctness of the former President's first statement. The French Government has stated that the decision with regard to the offset contracts of Dassault Aviation are taken by the company and not the Government," Jaitley said in a Facebook post and a series of tweets.

The partners (Dassault and Reliance) selected themselves as former President Hollande now says. This contradicts his first questionable statement which the French Government and Dassault have denied.  Arun Jaitley (@arunjaitley) September 23, 2018

"Dassault Aviation itself has suggested that they have entered into multiple contracts with several public sector and private sector companies with regard to the offset contracts and the decision is entirely theirs," he added.

ALSO READ | Francois Hollande's statement, Rahul's Gandhi tweet are 'orchestrated', claims Arun Jaitley

The partners (Dassault and Reliance) selected themselves as former President Hollande now says, Jaitley said in the post titled 'A Questionable Statement Which Circumstances & Facts Demolish'.

For the Congress Party to allege that a former President had been bribed by an Indian business group and then use him as a primary witness, particularly when he is facing criticism for an alleged conflict of interest within his own country. This is a classic congress faux pas.  Arun Jaitley (@arunjaitley) September 23, 2018

"This contradicts his first questionable statement which the French Government and Dassault have denied. The facts contradict the same. His second statement in Montreal, Canada to AFP (news agency) makes the veracity of his first statement even more questionable," the minister said.

AFP reported that Hollande told it on the sidelines of a meeting in Canada Friday that France "did not choose Reliance in any way".

When asked whether India had put pressure on Reliance and Dassault to work together, Hollande said he was unaware and "only Dassault can comment on this".

(With inputs from online desk)By Express News Service

NEW DELHI: Indian Navy's Commander Abhilash Tomy, who was stranded in the South Indian Ocean and badly injured during the Golden Globe Race, had been located and efforts were on to rescue him, the government said.

According to a defence spokesperson, an Indian Navy aircraft located Tomy's vessel rolling excessively in the South Indian Ocean. All efforts were being made to rescue Commander Tomy, who had suffered a back injury on Friday after his yacht was hit by a vicious storm with 14-metre-high waves mid-way across south Indian Ocean.

"INS Satpura and INS Jyoti are heading at top speed to reach Tomy", the spokesman said, adding the Navy headquarters in New Delhi and the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre, Melbourne, Australia were monitoring the situation. Australian Navy frigate HMAS Ballarat was also on the way, he said.

The Indian Navy's P8I aircraft, which flew from Mauritius in the early hours Sunday, had located the -"mast broken boat rolling excessively", he said. "Commander Tomy responded by ping on EPIRB as the aircraft was flying over him,-" the spokesman said in Kochi.

Quoting Captain Chandrahas Vivek, pilot of the aircraft which flew from Mauritius this morning, the spokesman said the aircraft established visual contact with the yacht and later landed back at Port Louis Mauritius. Tomy's vessel is in the south Indian Ocean, about 1,900 nautical miles from Perth in Australia. The position was relayed to JRCC Australia and the war room in New Delhi through INMARSAT, he said.

Commander Tomy had on Sunday managed to get in touch with race organisers in France through messages and had requested for a stretcher as he could not move on his own. He was representing India in the Golden Globe Race 2018 (GGR) on an indigenously-built sailing vessel 'S V Thuraya'.Tomy, who became the first Indian to circumnavigate the globe in 2013, is the only Indian participating in the race that involves a gruelling 30,000-mile solo circumnavigation of the globe.

A report from France on Friday night had said 70 knot winds and 14-metre-high waves have left the yachts of Tomy and Ireland's Gregor McGuckin dismasted, and twice knocked down the yacht of second-placed Dutchman Mark Slats.

Both McGuckin and Slats had reported that they are okay, but 39-year-old Tomy, making his second solo circumnavigation, has been injured, it had said.

It had also said other entrants were asked to make towards Tomy's position if possible, and added that the weather was extreme.

The nearest yacht was McGuckin's 'Biscay 36 Hanley Energy Endurance', some 90 miles to the southwest of Tomy's 'Thuriya', but she too was dismasted in the same storm.

(with inputs from PTI)By Express News Service

NEW DELHI: There was no corruption in the deal for 12 AgustaWestland choppers for Indian VVIPs, an Italian court ruled on Saturday. "There is, conclusively, no evidence of the corrective agreement stipulated according to the imputation, with the foreign public official, just as it requires the incriminating law ." an appeals court in Milan said according to news agency Reuters.

The deal worth Rs 3,546-crore for 12 VVIP choppers had to be scrapped after allegations of corruption had suffered during the previous UPA.

The development comes months after the Milan court acquitted Giuseppe Orsi, the former president of Finmeccanica, and Bruno Spagnolini, the former CEO of the AgustaWestland helicopter unit, in January this year.

The UPA had signed the contract in 2010 for the purchase of 12 VVIP choppers for use by top leaders, including President, Prime Minister and former prime ministers. On January 1, 2014, the contract was scrapped amid allegations that parent company of the supplier AgustaWestland, Finmeccanica, had paid Rs 423 crore in kickbacks in India as part of the deal.

In July 2018, the Congress had alleged that Christian Michel, the British middleman in the deal, was being forced to frame UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi in return for exoneration from criminal proceedings. The party slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi of using probe agencies to carry out a smear campaign against opposition leaders.By IANS

NEW DELHI: Intensifying its attack over the raging Rafale controversy, the Congress on Sunday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of violating the oath of secrecy by revealing details of the new deal to an industrialist who subsequently became an offset partner instead of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited.

Hours after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley again came out in defence of the deal for purchasing 36 French fighter jets, Congress Spokesperson Anand Sharma demanded that the Prime Minister respond to the allegations directed at him.

"The question to the Prime Minister is - how this information came out that he will go to France and reverse the deal?" said Sharma referring to Modi's April 2015 announcement of an intergovernmental deal to purchase 36 jets instead of 126 being negotiated during the erstwhile UPA regime.

"Then Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar had said that the Rafale deal was not on the agenda during Modi's visit to France. Nobody knew as to Modi's visit to France and the announcement of a new deal. Even the Cabinet Committee on Security, the Indian Air Force, the Cabinet or the Foreign Secretary were not aware about the decision.

"Direct allegations are against the Prime Minister that he violated his oath of secrecy. Only he and none else could have revealed to the private company that he will reverse the deal," said Sharma while pointing to the incorporation of Reliance Defence Limited just days before Modi visited France in April 2015.

"It's a conspiracy, only one (Modi) person with knowledge about the new deal -- without telling anyone in the Cabinet, or the Ambassador etc -- revealed the details to the industrialist and asked him to form a company," alleged Sharma.

Sharma said that there will be global ramifications of the "scam of the century".

"We had warned the Prime Minister that this scam will have global ramifications. It will not be limited to geographical boundaries of India but resonate in the world capitals, and that is what is happening," said Sharma.

The Congress leader was referring to French media reports on former France President Francois Hollande's claims regarding a private Indian firm becoming an offset partner in the intergovernmental deal for the fighter jets.

"Why is the Prime Minister silent? He speaks on every subject, he is the main campaigner for the BJP and the government. So when the allegations are against him, it's he who should answer, and not others on his behalf," said Sharma.

The Congress leader dismissed as "repeated lies" the latest defences and justifications given by Jaitley and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on the matter.Shankkar Aiyar By

Friday, September 21. Time: 12.21 pm. The BSE Sensex was coasting at 37,370 points. And all of a sudden the market was quaking in fear. At 1.09 pm, the BSE Sensex had plunged 1,377 points to 35,993travelling back in time to a milestone the index crossed on July 10. The tectonic shifting of values led to erosion of crores of rupees of public wealth. Ostensibly institutional moolah muscle was deployed to quell anxieties and restore order, propping up the index again to close at 36,841 points.

Alan Greenspan said amidst the Asian Contagion in October 1997 that if not the contagion something else would have been the cause for a revaluation. There were many triggers at play on Friday. There were the known knowns, the fault lines in the fragile financial sector17 government-owned banks are in losses, of which 11 cannot lend as they are under prompt corrective action and laden with over `11 lakh crore of bad loans. Then there are the known unknownsfor instance, growing cost of money and suspense about the fate of stressed assets of `3.8 lakh crore in the power sector.

Fear has no bottom. The tremors of anxiety around the financial sector had already wiped out nearly `3 lakh crore in three sessions earlier in the week. The bifocal concern for the last few weeks has been focused on the interplay of currency and crude oil prices. The rupee on a secular slide reversed the gains of RBI intervention on Wednesday and Brent Crude threatened to hit the $80 per barrel level.

The headline provocation for revaluation was the sale of around `300 crore DHFL bonds by DSP Blackrock Mutual Fund. What was fuelling the sale? It was redemptions that needed to be funded. What triggered the fear was the sale of bonds allegedly at panic rates and rising fears of a liquidity crisis accompanied by shadow validation through anecdotes of higher short-term and interbank rates.

The epicentre of anxiety, however, is located in the state of rot at Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services. The company has over `90,000 crore of debtestimated to be over 18 times its equity. Project funding has been afflicted by pyramiding of debt and the returns cannot fund payments to creditors. Over 30 per cent of the borrowings are in bonds bought by private banks, public sector banks, 25 mutual funds and institutional investors.

The company is a classic case of mismanagement, alleged malfeasance, shareholder somnolence, reckless rating and regulatory forbearance. Its shareholders include Indias biggest financial institutions and global namesLIC, Orix Corporation, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, HDFC, State Bank of India, Central Bank of India and funds. The creation of over 150 subsidiaries, the pendency of receivables from government, the build-up of debt and potential losses should have been flagged by the board. The regulator should have questioned the creation of subsidiaries.

The ballooning of debt and risks is symptomatic of poor audit and rating. Despite its balance sheet being afflicted with debt, leverage, incomplete projects and receivables, the shocking fact is that IL&FS enjoyed AA+ rating till September 9 this year, when it was downgraded nine notches to BB, which is basically non-investment grade, and this week the company and its subsidiaries were downgraded further to D on fears of further defaults.

The aggravating factor which led to the crash of indices on Friday was the issue of a letter by IL&FS to the Bombay Stock Exchange on Friday, September 21, 2018. The two-line communication informed that the company had failed to honour a Letter of Credit issued by IDBI Bank. The market is abuzz with speculation about multiple defaults. Over the weekend there is a raging rumour whether the LC has been honoured at all. That raises fears of cascading effect across the sector. Questions have been buried under the clause of client confidentiality. This opacity will only fuel anxiety when the market opens on Monday.

The crux of the issue is systemic apathy. It was known as early as February that institutions funding infrastructure were shackled in debt  and this is reflected in the continuing litigation and stalemate in the power sector. The first default of IL&FS was in Julyfollowed by a series of defaults. The episodes signalled a need for the regulators, both RBI and SEBI, to take stock and bring the stakeholders to the table.

The regulatory framework is a strange cocktail of tolerance and opacity. There is a mistaken notion that regulators need not communicate. This is reflected in the handling of the CEOs of private banksmost recently in the case of Yes Bank. Is it enough for the regulator to say that it has actedthe timing of which is debatable? The regulator has an obligation to tell it like it is so that the delinquent players do not exploit the situation.

Critically, there is a need to evaluate and act to avoid systemic risk. The IL&FS website states, As a Systemically Important Non-Deposit Accepting Core Investment Company (CIC-ND-SI) registered with Reserve Bank of India, IL&FS currently lends to and invests in IL&FS Group Companies. The status of systemically important institution has not shaken the system. On Friday, the board and chair were allowed to quit. So who will address the rot? Without the management team, who will put together a rescue plan?

Textbook interpretations of moral hazard are subject to the hierarchy of moral imperatives and demand evaluation of greater common good. It pays to bear in mind that rescuing Lehman Brothers would have cost much less than the trillions that were needed to contain systemic fallout. Unless the government steps up to the plate and restores faith and order, this could well turn out to be Indias Lehman moment.

Shankkar aiyar

Author of Aadhaar: A Biometric History of Indias 12 Digit Revolution,and Accidental India

shankkar.aiyar@gmail.comT J S George By

It is the irony of ironies that (a) the Government of India banned triple talaq without getting a proper Bill properly passed in Parliament, and (b) Muslims attacked the reform, saying that it will not help Muslim women. Who said anything about helping Muslim women? The new law is merely an election-eve move even though its vote-catching potential is doubtful.

Whether it is the Muslim personal law or the newfangled register of citizens, or the convoluted vote bank politics of the north-east, there is an all-out effort to mobilise votes on communal basis. Not even the Amit Shah camp will be in a position to say with certainty whether this tactic will work in practice. But that doesnt hold back verbal terrorists and hate merchants.

When Kamal Haasan joined those who condemned Hindu terrorism, tons of bricks were hurled at him. Attackers argued that it was impossible for a Hindu to be a terrorist. That is true of Hinduism. Modern-day Hindutva is different, as any lynch victim would testify. All religions have a terrorist streak in them. Buddhism is a byword for non-violence, but Thai Buddhists called for the killing of communists at one stage and Myanmar Buddhists have been killing masses of Rohingyas. Christianity swears by love, but Roman Catholicism presided over the unspeakable cruelties of the Spanish Inquisition.

Perhaps Indian Muslims attract special attention because their story is related to the religion-based partition of India. Ironically, Muslims in India are perceived to be better off, with more citizens rights than Muslims in Pakistan, a point that adds to the disaffection between the neighbours.

A belated reading of a 2016 book brings home the fact that Indian Muslims face problems that could be partly self-imposed and partly imposed by intolerant government leaders. Indian Muslims: Struggling for Equality of Citizenship presents its basic premise in the title itself. It is edited by Riaz Hassan, director of the International Centre for Muslim and Non-Muslim Understanding at the University of South Australia, and has contributions by experts such as Amitabh Kundu (Delhi Policy Group), Rajinder Sachar (former Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court) and Rakesh Basant (IIM, Ahmedabad).

Christopher Jaffrelot, the acclaimed India specialist with several definitive studies to his credit, has provided a chapter with a blunt heading: The Muslims of Gujarat during Narendra Modis chief ministership.

His basic thesis is that Gujarati asmita (sense of identity) is rooted in Hinduism and directed against Muslims. This was underlined by the promotion of vegetarianism. This quasi-equation between Gujarati-ness and vegetarianism tends to exclude the Muslim minority from Gujaratihood. Some Bohras, he says, register themselves as Bohras, not Muslims, in census records. He gives details to show that no significant relief has been provided to poor Muslims because they have explicitly been victims of discrimination. Even scholarships earmarked for Muslims by the Central government were not given to them.

The BJP has built enough arguments in political terms to justify its discriminatory practices. In 2009, the party nominated two Muslims for by-elections in Junagadh. Both lost. Local BJP leaders said that committed Hindu voters might have turned against the party. In the famous UP elections last year, as in the Gujarat elections in 2012, the BJP denied tickets to Muslims. In both cases, it came out triumphant. Why then should it bother about Muslim representation? Amit Shah has even sidelined Shahnawaz Hussain, the BJPs faithful showpiece Muslim face for long.

Scholars in this book and elsewhere point to the poor educational and health standards of Muslims in India. Amitabh Kundu attributes this to historical and socio-cultural factors. What are these socio-cultural factors? Is not the ultra-orthodoxy of Muslim leadership itself a socio-cultural factor contributing to Muslim backwardness? Does madrasa education aim at improving the general standards of students? Has any socio-cultural programme been launched by the community for the benefit of impecunious Muslims in, say, UP or Bihar?

Such questions become relevant when we look at the contrast between Muslims of the northern states and their brethren in the south. The latter are better integrated with, and accepted by the general population. Kerala Muslims, for example, hold leadership positions as writers, doctors, educationists, politicians and public intellectuals. Ultra-orthodox elements exist there too: There is still no trace of Chekannur Maulavi, a progressive cleric, who disappeared in 1993. But they are exceptions, numerically minuscule, and remain hidden. Overall, educational standards have been high for Muslims in the south and they are better off for that. Perhaps Islamic leaders need to look inward, too, when they complain about Muslims being neglected in India.Rajesh Abraham By

Express News Service

KOCHI: Even as the LDF Government adopts all strategies - beg, borrow and coerce - to raise funds for rebuilding the flood-devastated state, a huge amount of money owed to the exchequer is, surprisingly, not tapped yet.

According to the budget papers, a total of Rs 11,866.9 crore is owed to the government under various heads at the end of the 2016-17 financial year. Even more perplexing, Rs 4,526 crore in the figure is undisputed  meaning the amount can be collected without any hassles.

Though Rs 7,340.96 crore in the total figures is disputed, as per the budget note, experts said the ongoing crisis situation can help the government go for a kill and fetch this amount too without much of a trouble.

It is really baffling why the government which is going all out to collect whatever it can and announcing various measures including salary challenge is not taking hard steps to collect this huge amount of money due to them, said Mary George, former chairperson of Public Expenditure Review Committee. The flood-devastation and the pressing need for funds to rebuild the state should be used to collect the money, which rightfully belongs to the exchequer, she said.

She, however, clarified that she was not against steps such as salary challenge  asking the government employees to contribute one months salary for flood relief - saying the government staff should have come forward to help the state, which is in distress now in the aftermath of the floods. On the amount due to the exchequer, she said, The government must use measures such as one-time settlement to get the amount from the evaders.

The state government has already hiked the excise duty on liquor by 0.5 per cent to 3.5 per cent for 100 days, aiming to collect Rs 230 crore additional revenue for the CMs Distress Relief Fund (CMDRF). The government also collected Rs 100-odd crore through a special lottery, Ashwas, priced at Rs 250 a ticket. Though the CMDRF amount has nearly touched Rs 1,500 crore, this will be grossly insufficient, considering the enormity of the damage in the worst floods to hit Kerala in a century. Official estimates alone put the amount required at over Rs 40,000 crore.

A closer look at the amount owed to the government shows, in the undisputed category, a total of Rs 4,484.41 crore is due to the exchequer from taxes on commodities and services. Another Rs 38.73 crore comes under taxes on property and capital services while a total of Rs 2.86 crore is due under the segment tax on agriculture. In the disputed category, a total of Rs 7,159.15 crore comes under tax on commodities and services, Rs 10.49 crore from land revenue and Rs 28.24 crore under stamps and registration. Jose Sebastian, economist and associate professor, Gulati Institute of Finance and Taxation, felt the government was not embarking on this fund collection drive due to the backlash that it may get from the public. To avoid any such negative publicity or backlash, the government should use its discretionary powers so people affected by the floods can be excluded from this collection drive, he said.

The flood has not affected all parts of the state; businesses such as jewellers continue to fare well. If money is due from these segments, the government should go ahead and collect those funds. If anyone is genuinely affected by the floods, they can be excluded, he said.

Exploring new vistas to rake in the moolah

The state government has hiked the excise duty on liquor from 0.5 per cent to 3.5 per cent for 100 days. It is aimed at collecting Rs 230 crore additional revenue for the CMs Distress Relief Fund

By launching a special lottery named Ashwas, which is priced at Rs 250 a ticket, the state government has collected Rs 100-odd crore

Rs 1,500 cr is the contribution to the CMDRF so farHareesh Polavarapu By

Express News Service

VISAKHAPATNAM: Maoists gunned down Araku MLA Kideri Sarveswara Rao and former MLA Siveri Soma at Lipittuputtu village of Tottangi Panchayat in Dumbriguda mandal in Visakhapatnam agency on Sunday.

This incident allegedly took place when the leaders attended the interior tribal village to take part in Gramadarshini programme.

Sarveswara Rao won as the YSR Congress candidate in 2014, but he later defected to the TDP.

#Maoist attack on #Araku MLA: MLA reportedly went into agency area without proper police protection as there was a lull in naxal activity in the #AOB since some time @NewIndianXpress  Phareesh_TNIE (@Phareesh_tnie) September 23, 2018

According to sources, Maoists have shot both the MLA and former MLA at close range. Soon after receiving information about the incident, teams led by Superintendent of Police (Visakhapatnam Rural) Rahul Dev Sharma rushed to the spot. It is yet to be ascertained by the rural police whether the leaders went to the interior areas with proper police security.

A woman #Maoist leader led to the attack on #Araku MLA Sarveswara Rao, initial reports @NewIndianXpress  Phareesh_TNIE (@Phareesh_tnie) September 23, 2018

Rural police sources said that team of about 40 to 50 Maoists led by AOB Secretary Ramakrishna took part in attack. Both the leaders allegedly were shots at close range. Sources said that the Maoists spoke to the leaders and then attacked them.

Family members of MLA Kidari Sarweswara Rao seen inconsolable at

their residence in MVP Colony in Visakhapatnam on Sunday.

(Photo | EPS/Satyanarayana)

The Maoists reportedly asked the leaders to stop mining in the agency areas which are affecting the livelihood of the tribals. Even as the talks were going on, Maoists pumped bullets into the MLA and the former MLA killing them instantly, reports reaching here said.

ALSO READ | Who is a Maoist in India?

Even the Dumbriguda mandal, where Sundays attack occurred, was said to be relatively free from Maoist activity, but the killing of the legislator and the former legislator has come as a blow to the government machinery.

Sarveswara Rao was elected as an MLA from Araku Valley (Scheduled Tribes) constituency as YSR Congress candidate in 2014 and defected to the TDP in 2016. He was subsequently made the Government Whip in the Assembly. Soma represented Araku constituency as TDP legislator from 2009 to 2014.

Recently, posters and letters appeared in the region in name of Maoists warning the Araku MLA and accordingly police placed him on high alert, sources said. The two were proceeding in separate cars to Lipitiputtu village.

While Rao was having two personal security officers (PSOs) as escort, Soma one, all carrying AK-47 rifles and 9-mm pistols, police sources said. According to an eyewitness account, about 50-60 outlawed Maoists most of them women, lay in wait along with villagers and suddenly surrounded the MLAs car in the front.

Around 20 of them were armed. They snatched the weapons from the PSOs and tied the MLAs hands with a rope. They then ordered three other people travelling with the legislator to get down from the vehicle and took all of them away to a distance, the eyewitness said.

One of the PSOs told television channels that the Maoists, after snatching their weapons, said they would not harm them. They took us (PSOs), driver, MLAs PA and two others away to a distance and told us we will not be harmed. They then shot the MLA dead, he said.

The former MLA, who was following in a second car, tried to stop his vehicle and reverse it but another group of Maoists came out of the bushes and surrounded it. Soma's hands were also tied with rope and taken away and shot dead.

The incident has wrecked havoc in the Andhra Odisha Border, as there were no such attacks on politicians in the last couple of years. Director General Police (AP) RP Thakur is yet to hold a press conference on the issue.

DGP office officials instructed Vizag greyhounds and concerned Vizag rural police to conduct combing in the forest area. The information of attack on Araku MLA was sent to DGP Thakur, who was on his USA visit. Additional DG Harish Kumar Guptha is instructing the Vizag police.

(With PTI inputs)By Express News Service

RAJAMAHENDRAVARAM: Three members of a family were killed and three others suffered serious injuries in a blast in an illegal firecracker manufacturing unit at Lalacheruvu in the heart of city late Friday night.

According to police, Devada Mutyala Reddy and his family members were engaged in manufacturing firecrackers illegally for the forthcoming Deepavali festival in a hut hired by them at Subbaraopeta in Lalacheruvu locality.

The police suspected that sparks emanating from electric short circuit led to the blast in the cracker unit as explosive material was stocked in it. The hut was reduced to ashes within minutes. Soon after the blast, locals informed the matter to Prakash Nagar police and also the highway patrol team. They rushed to the spot and shifted the injured to government hospital. Fire tenders rushed to the place and extinguished the flames.

Mutyala Reddys wife Dhanalakshmi (35) died on the spot. His mother Suryakantham (65) and son Vinaykumar Reddy (17) succumbed to burns at the government hospital.

Mutyala Reddys other son Manikumar Reddy (19), who sustained 75 per cent burns in the blast, was shifted to Government General Hospital in Kakinada on Saturday morning. Vaishnavi (9), niece of Mutyala Reddy, suffered 40 per cent burns in the blast. It was learnt that Mutyala Reddy had come out of the hut just minutes before the blast and suffered minor injuries.

Rajamahendravaram Urban Superintendent of Police Shemushi Bajpayee, ASP K Latha Madhuri and other senior police officials rushed the spot and oversaw rescue operations.

CI suspended

Ch Suryabhaskar Rao, Circle Inspector of Prakash Nagar police station, was suspended on Saturday evening for his failure to take action against the illegal cracker manufacturing unit despite receiving several complaints from local people in this regard

Eluru Range DIG T Ravi Kumar Murthy also visited the place on Saturday. Later, he visited the hospital where Mutyala Reddy is undergoing treatment.

In the preliminary investigation, it was revealed that Mutyala Reddy, who has been into the business for the past few years, hired the hut 15 days ago for manufacturing firecrackers, the DIG said. Locals said no action was taken against the illegal cracker manufacturing unit in a residential area though they complained to the authorities in this regard.

Prakash Nagar police registered a case against Mutyala Reddy under Sections of 286, 337, 338, 304 (a) of IPC and Section 9B (i) (a) of the Explosive Act, 1884. The SP said Mutyala Reddy would be arrested after being discharged from hospital.By Express News Service

BENGALURU: With PM Narendra Modi set to roll out Ayushman Bharat from Jharkhand on Sunday, Karnataka cabinet on Saturday gave its approval to integrate it with the states Arogya Karnataka scheme. The state has sent the MoU to the Centre for signature and the integrated Ayushman Bharat-Arogya Karnataka will be operational in the state thereafter, according to Suvarna Arogya Suraksha Trust officials, the implementing agency in the state.

Arogya Karnataka Scheme has 1,516 procedures while Ayushman Bharat-National Health Protection Mission has 1,349 treatment procedures. By integrating these two schemes the total number of treatment procedures will be 1,628.

Under the integrated scheme, the financial assistance for BPL beneficiaries will be increased from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 5 lakh per family per year and for APL families the financial assistance will be up to Rs 1.50 lakh per family per year, a statement from the state health department said.The budget estimated is Rs 1,000 crore, of which Government of India share will be about Rs 286 crore. The rest of theRs 782 crore will be borne by the State.

Karnataka has implemented a universal health scheme called Arogya Karnataka since March and is providing specified secondary care, emergency care, complex secondary care and tertiary care. The financial assistance in Arogya Karnataka is up to Rs 1.5 lakh, per family, per year, for BPL families with buffer amount of Rs 50,000 per year in case of a family needing emergency tertiary healthcare treatment, even after full utilisation of the annual limit, and for General families that are not eligible under the NFSA 2013, financial assistance is 30 per cent of the package rate.

Government of India came up with Ayushman Bharat - National Health Protection Scheme in March to provide health care to urban and rural poor, and vulnerable families. Under Arogya Karnataka, the State Government is providing financial assistance up to Rs 2 lakh, per family, per year, for 1.15 lakh BPL Families, whereas Ayushman Bharat provides healthcare to the beneficiaries that are in Socio Economic Caste Census data only. GoI provides financial assistance up to Rs 5 lakh per family per year for the SECC beneficiaries under Ayushman Bharat.

1.34 crore beneficiaries

In Karnataka, for the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana beneficiaries, around 62 lakh families, identified by the SECC data, GoI will provide 60% of the expenditure and 40% will be borne by the State Government.

Government of India and the State Government intend to integrate their respective schemes into one common scheme for implementation in Karnataka, as it is difficult to implement the schemes independently. Under Arogya Karnataka, the State Government is already providing health care to 1.15 lakh BPL families and 19 lakh APL families totalling 1.34 crore families.

In the integrated scheme, Government of India will bear 60% of the expenditure for the 62 lakh RSBY families only. 40% of expenditure for this group of beneficiaries will be borne by the State Government. In addition, for the remaining 72 lakh families, 100% of the scheme expenditure will be borne by Karnataka.By Express News Service

BENGALURU/BELAGAVI: After a breather, the coalition government headed by HD Kumaraswamy seems to be heading towards another crisis as reports of a group of dissident Congress MLAs heading to Mumbai put the party bosses on their toes on Saturday.

The reports from a section of electronic media about some MLAs having secretly moved to a resort in Juhu in Mumbai on Saturday in a bid to quit the party allegedly under BJPs Operation Lotus caused ripples in the Congress camp.

Attempts made by Express to contact some of the MLAs missing from their constituencies failed as they did not respond. However, MLA Mahesh Kumathalli of Athani, a close associate of minister Ramesh Jarkiholi, said he would not comment on where he was staying and whether he was with the MLAs in the Mumbai resort.

Also Read | Amid fears of poaching, cross-voting, Siddaramaiah convenes Congress Legislature Party meet

Meanwhile, a luncheon meeting of Congress MLAs M T B Nagaraj from Hosakote and Sudhakar from Chikkaballapur with independent MLA from Mulabagal H Nagesh provided more grist for the speculations as the trio hit the highway towards Chennai in the same car.

When contacted, Nagaraj said they were going on personal work. While the buzz is about the trio heading towards Mumbai from Chennai, KPCC chief Dinesh Gundu Rao in a hurriedly convened press meet rubbished the reports.

Appealing to the media not to speculate and mislead the people about the fate of the government, Rao said, All our MLAs are in touch with us.According to sources, some Congress rebels recently entered into a secret pact with Maharashtra BJP to bring down the government.

No MLA is going to Mumbai says Dinesh Gundu Rao

State Congress chief Dinesh Gundu Rao said, I have spoken to M T B Nagaraj and none of them are going to Mumbai. All our MLAs will participate in the Congress Legislature Party meeting convened by CLP leader Siddaramaiah on September 25. B C Patil who had gone on a temple visit to Sholapur in Maharashtra has returned. I have spoken to Sudhakar as well who is coming back to Bengaluru. It is high time the media stopped speculating.

According to sources close to the Chief Minister, intelligence sleuths have been instructed to keep a watch on the movements of disgruntled Congress and JD(S) MLAs.

The legal cell of JD(S) met Bengaluru Police Commissioner T Sunil Kumar and submitted a representation for booking cases against BJP leaders B S Yeddyurappa, R Ashok and Shobha Karandlaje for their alleged attempts to lure Congress and JD(S) MLAs using illegal means.

JD(S) leadership is also mulling to submit a similar representation to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh.

GOVERNMENT IS STABLE: HD KUMARASWAMY

CM H D Kumaraswamy who was offering puja at Sringeri Sharada temple when he received reports of the alleged plans of some Congress MLAs heading to Mumbai, said, Government is strong and stable. No one is deserting us.By Express News Service

BENGALURU: The Congress may have succeeded in pacifying Belagavis Jarkiholi brothers but the offshoot of dissent that quietly spread to other MLAs is refusing to die down. After making way for heavy speculation with their impromptu trip to Tamil Nadu, MLAs of the Congress- Dr Sudhakar and MTB Nagaraj returned to Bengaluru to defend the party. Dr Sudhakar took to Twitter to claim that he was a staunch Congressman and had no intentions of resigning from the party.

Meanwhile, MTB Nagaraj held meetings with D K Shivakumar and AICC General Secretary K C Venugopal over his demands. Sources privy to the meeting said Nagaraj was miffed with former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah for backing another Kuruba legislator to be inducted into the cabinet.

READ| Dont threaten or blackmail, Karnataka Congress supremo K C Venugopal warns MLAs

Its deeply shocking how a visit to a temple with ones friends can be flagged as a political conspiracy! I had visited a temple in TN with M T B Nagraj & few of my friends. Now, few media channels are tagging it as Operation Kamala. Well, I am a Doctor but I dont indulge in such Operations! I have always been & will continue to be a staunch Congressman. And, I strongly believe in our leader Shri Rahul Gandhi & the ideologies of my Party, Dr Sudhakar tweeted on Sunday morning.

The Chikkaballapur MLA told Express that while there were differences and issues that needed to be addressed, he had no intentions of quitting the party. I dont think issues are resolved. When two parties that were at loggerheads during elections come together, you cant expect everything to be a smooth affair. The Chief Minister should treat Congress and JD(S) MLAs on par and try to take everyone together, he said.

Sudhakar is still miffed that his request to not make Shivashankar Reddy the district in-charge minister was sidelined by both Siddaramaiah and H D Kumaraswamy.MTB Nagaraj said, I am not a saint but a politician. I do wish to become a minister, Nagaraj told the media. Despite the dissent within, the Congress is far more confident today than it was a week ago.Arun M By

Express News Service

KOCHI: After 84-days of the murder of SFI leader Abhimanyu M at Ernakulam Maharajas College, the special investigation team is slated to submit the first set of charge sheet on Monday.

According to the officers, the over 1500 pages charge sheet will be submitted in the Ernakulam Judicial First Class Magistrate Court-II.

It has named sixteen persons- including Campus Front of India State secretary Muhammed Rifa, Saneesh, who had led the four-member gang from Palluruthy and Muhammed JI, a student of Maharajas College, who were directly involved in the killing.

The supplementary charge sheet against the absconding accused will be filed once they land in police custody.

The special investigation team has so far arrested 19 persons in connection with the case. It recently issued lookout notices for eight persons who are yet to be arrested in the case.

According to the officers, of the total 30 persons wanted in connection with the case, 16 were directly involved in the killing while the remaining are accused of involving in criminal conspiracy and harbouring the accused. Abhimanyu M, a degree student of Ernakulam Maharajas College, was stabbed to death during a clash on the college campus on July 2.

As per the case, a 16-member gang who were activists of Campus Front of India, SDPI and Popular Front of India unlawfully assembled with deadly weapons behind the college campus with the intention to do away with their rival student organization leaders of SFI and attacked them with deadly weapons as conspired earlier.

The case was registered at the Ernakulam Central Police Station under sections 142, 148, 323, 324, 307, 302 read with 149 of IPC.

During the investigation, the SIT had found that the conspiracy to kill the SFI activist was hatched during a meeting at the Cochin Hostel- a hostel run by the Popular font of India activists in the city.

Kim Jong Un (R), top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), shakes hands with South Korean President Moon Jae-in after a joint press conference in Pyongyang, the DPRK, on Sept. 19, 2018. (Xinhua/Pyongyang Press Corps)

UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday welcomed the outcome of the third summit this year between the leaders of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and the Republic of Korea.

The secretary-general "commends the determination and diplomacy which led to the important agreements contained in today's Pyongyang Joint Declaration," according to a statement issued by Guterres' spokesman Stephane Dujarric.

"The commitments reflected in the joint statement include important military confidence-building measures and a commitment by the DPRK to dismantle missile engine testing infrastructure in the presence of experts from related countries. Now it is time for concrete action," the statement said.

"The secretary-general calls for unity of the international community to support the parties in their endeavors towards sustainable peace, security and complete and verifiable denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula in accordance with relevant Security Council Resolutions," according to the statement.

"The secretary-general reiterates his commitment and readiness of the United Nations system to further assist the parties in any way they deem appropriate," the statement noted.

The DPRK's top leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Wednesday signed a joint declaration, agreeing to take additional steps toward making the Korean Peninsula free of nuclear weapons and threats of armed conflict.Anu Kuruvilla By

Express News Service

KOTTAYAM: The Special Investigation Team (SIT), which arrested Bishop Franco Mulakkal in the nun rape case on Friday night, will now conduct his potency test and collect his body fluids as well as DNA samples to prove the crime.

The SIT on Saturday got the bishop in custody for two days after presenting him before Judicial First Class Magistrate Court in Pala. Though three days were sought, the SIT was given time only till 2.30 pm on Monday, following which he has to be presented again before the court.

As per the custody report, the details of which were accessed by Express, the SIT has so far collected statements of the witnesses.

Public prosecutor Manju said: "The investigation team also needs to recover clothes the accused had worn at the time of the crime apart from his laptop, mobile phone and other evidence."According to investigating officer DySP K Subash, the bishop will be taken to Kuravilangad convent on Sunday as part of collecting further evidence. "The sisters at the convent have been asked to stay away," he said.

During the hearing, the Bishop submitted before magistrate Lakshmi K S the police had forcibly taken samples of his body fluids and blood. He requested the court to prevent the police from doing so.

The prosecutor said the bishop would be further interrogated.

"This is because the statement made after the arrest is qualitatively more standing than those made earlier. The SIT will be able to ascertain whether the accused is hiding any information," the prosecutor added.Sushmitha Ramakrishnan By

Express News Service

CHENNAI: Two years after being forced by his teachers to drop out of school as he was not smart enough, Dev Nath* passed class 10 state board exams, and even scored 84 marks in Science. They told me that I couldnt pass...that I was bad at studies, he said.

Dev is a student with a learning disability, who pursued his schooling in a government school in the city. His teachers and school principal convinced him that he cannot clear public exams like other students in his class. After clearing class 10 exams, he now pursues higher secondary schooling at Vidya Sagar, a centre for special education, and wants to work in the IT sector after.

He is one among scores of students with disabilities, who have been let down by the States school education system. Although 1.36 lakh students with disabilities were enrolled in government and aided schools in 2016-17, only around a tenth of them received either a kit box, escort, or transport or more than one of them, according to the policy note of School Education Department 2017-18. Only 293 students were given braille study material although 18 per cent of all persons with disabilities are identified to have visual impairment according to 2011 census.

The census also reveals that literacy rate among persons with disabilities is about 60 per cent, when the State has a rate of 80 per cent. However, literacy rate may not reflect reality in schools, as students with disabilities are forced to drop out, mostly around class 8, as they are promoted through classes without actual integration into main-stream education until then, pointed Sujatha Sriram, a special educator.

Children, with only mild disabilities survive education in main-stream government schools after that. Other students are asked to either drop-out, change discipline of study or learn from home, she said, adding that sometimes, parents are even made to wait the whole day to assist their wards. This is a problem, if the child is from an economically backward family, as an earning member of the family is forced to stay back to assist the child.

When Express visited government and government-aided schools in the city, only select blocks in many schools, even had basic inclusive Infrastructure like ramps. Staff from these schools confirmed that most of these ramps were laid, when their schools were polling booths. Such schools were accessible, only from the gate to the rooms that were used as polling booths. This left toilets in many schools inaccessible. Ive had to hold my bladder till the end of the day until my mother came. Even though the toilet was in the ground floor, it was too small and difficult to access by myself on my wheelchair. I cant always ask for help, said Ram Kumar*, another government school student with physical disability.

Rajiv Rajan, the executive director Ektha foundation, who did a study of polling stations during 2016 elections, said that the ramps built in schools were too steep to access independently. Narrow corridors, and sandy approach to the ramps create major barriers for access, he said, emphasising that very few schools had proper access to toilets.

Vasantham Federation, an NGO, found through a sampled survey in Thiruvallur district, found that only 25 per cent of government schools at least had ramps. A total of 75 sample schools were surveyed. Ramps and building western toilets were the only infrastructural change made even in the 25 per cent of schools. Children with intellectual disabilities were being persuaded to discontinue after class 5. Barely any teacher knew sign language or braille, said A Lingston, from the federation.

With very little inclusive measures in place, only students who can verbally communicate well and have average cognitive development can complete their education in mainstream government schools, said Kalpana Rao, the principal of Vidya Sagar. When students cant express themselves properly, or need extra attention, or have multiple disabilities, schools even cite bullying as an excuse to wash their hands off the responsibility, she claimed.

When Dev joined us, he was psychologically broken down and his self esteem was really poor. It took us three months to make him feel normal again, said Kalpana adding that teachers from the school, took Dev to every play, talk show, concert and performance in the city in those three months, in order to expose him to the various career options he had. We didnt need grand investments to re-integrate him into education. We just had to believe in him and had to invest a little extra time in him than usual, she said, adding that there at least 20 students like him who joined Vidya Sagar after dropping out of government schools.

Kalpana suggested that plausible inclusion strategy should be implemented strongly by the government. By the end of it, he voluntarily said that he wanted continue his education, she said.



Every school should be accessible to students with disabilities by 2019, according to the orders of the Supreme Court, said Pradeep Yadav, the principal secretary to the School Education Department. However, he did not specify the steps the state would take to implement this.By Express News Service

HYDERABAD: Despite mental health experts often-repeated warning that corporal punishment invariably leads to physical and psychological trauma, the practice continues unabated in the city schools.

Over a dozen cases of corporal punishment have been reported in the past few months, the latest, reported on September 11, leading to a Class IX student of the Telangana Minority Residential School committing suicide after allegedly being repeatedly beaten up by the school principal.

It was also found that the child was depressed after being subjected to frequent humiliation.

As recently as Friday, a Class IX student of Brilliant Grammar School, Boduppal, was humiliated and sent back home during the class hours because his fee for the past few months was overdue. Even though Right to Education Act prohibits physical punishment and mental harassment under Section 17 (1) and makes it punishable under 17 (2), teachers continue to believe in the old adage, spare the rod and spoil the child.

In the absence of training and awareness, experts say teachers see punishment as the only way to discipline children which often leads to severe physical and mental injuries and in some cases even death. Child rights activist, Achyuta Rao places the blame on the Education Department for not taking appropriate and timely action.

Over 20 cases of severe corporal punishments have come to light but the department has not issued notices to the schools. Such incidents continue because no action is taken against teachers or schools, he said while adding that in cases of physical torture and harassment by teachers they should be jailed to set precedence.

Department helpless

In the absence of a statutory law for corporal punishment, the School Education Department has expressed its helplessness in taking action against violators. The Director and Commissioner of School Education has a standard procedure of issuing show cause notices to errant schools.

We follow the procedure prescribed under the GO MS 1 in instances of corporal punishment. If its issue is criminal in nature the police take action. We cant shut down schools where 500 to 600 students are studying, said an official on the condition of anonymity.

While incidents of severe corporal punishments in the city have been reported from both private and government schools, private institutions say that regular circulars are sent to teachers sensitising them against any form of corporal punishment.Sumi Sukanya dutta By

Indu Bhushan, a 1983-batch Rajasthan cadre IAS officer, had taken voluntary retirement in 1994 to join the World Bank as senior economist. An alumnus of prestigious institutes like IIT-Delhi and John Hopkins University, USA, Bhushan later joined Asian Development Bank. He was brought back by the Narendra Modi government this year as chief executive officer of the Centres ambitious Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana, to launch the mega health insurance scheme. In an interview to Sumi Sukanya Dutta, he says the new scheme will revolutionise healthcare in the country as it will create paying capacity in non-metros and small towns, thereby attracting private players to go to those centres.

The Rs 5 lakh health insurance scheme for about 50 crore Indians is touted to be largest social welfare programme globally. How do you think it will change the healthcare scenario in India and prove to be a game changer?

Its a game changer because our strategy is completely different from what we have done over the last 70 years. In the past, our focus was to provide services, build hospitals, provide human resources and equipment. But here, instead of providing services, we are making payments to service providers based on service delivery to the last man in the line.

So, its a totally different approach and this will do three things that earlier policies did not do. Earlier, we had this assumption that if we provide services, poor people will benefit automatically  sometimes they did, sometimes they did not. Here, we will pay money only if poor people use services, so we will reuse the expenditure of the poor people on the health services. Secondly, this is first time we are involving public and private hospitals both, but we will promote public hospitals. Thirdly, we will also help the private sector in a big way.

If you look at the distribution of health services, most healthcare providers are in urban areas and very few in rural areas or tier II or III cities. The reason is that the private players feel there is no paying capacity in smaller places. With this scheme, we are creating paying capacity in non-metros and small towns. We are providing incentives to private sector to go to those centres. Because of these reasons, the scheme will revolutionise the healthcare scene in India.

Also Read: PMJAY: 40% packages reserved for govt hospitals

What are the biggest challenges in implementing the scheme and how is the government trying to overcome them?

The biggest challenge is the size of the scheme as it covers 50 crore Indians. For this, we need capacity in the government as well as on the supply side. Also, health is a state subject and convincing the states to come on board has been quite a task. Other big issue has been putting the IT backbone together to ensure we have a seamless, cashless service. We also have to ensure that State has the capacity  hardware as well as enough trained people  to manage the systems to implement the scheme.

Some states like Odisha, Telangana and Delhi have not joined the scheme, which means it cant be rolled out everywhere. How do you see that situation?

These states will take some more time but negotiations are on with all three of them. I am confident they will come on board; its just a matter of time. There is no reason why they should not be part of it because its a win-win situation for everybody. It provides resources to states. As it is good for people, it is also good for politics. Some states are looking at financial implications; sooner or later, they will be convinced about it. Though Odisha has launched a similar scheme, the Central scheme is better and far more comprehensive because we have more diseases and conditions covered. We are also offering a national portability which a state scheme cannot provide.

Who or what do you think are the most important pillars for successful implementation of the scheme?

The most important pillar is a robust IT structure. Second is the flexibility that we have given to states to choose their favoured model-insurance, trust or mixed mode of implementation or the discretion to choose the packages they want. There are core packages that they have to take, but states are free to add more packages. We have also paid a lot of attention to prevention of fraud and abuse and to privacy and security of data.

The previous Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana which provided cashless hospitalisation facility up to Rs 30,000 was often associated with fraud and misuse. What steps are you taking to prevent a repeat?

We have many design features in the new programme to ensure that. One, we have a very rigorous system of beneficiary identification and verification based on Aadhaar (it is not mandatory but preferable in order to avail the scheme). We have also made sure that all the packages which are prone to fraud or misuse, such as Caesarean-Section or hysterectomy, can be availed only in public sector hospitals. So, about 40 per cent of all packages can be carried out only in government hospitals.

In many other packages, there is a provision for pre-authorisation wherein evidence needs to be provided by the state government if that particularly surgery or procedure is required. Our IT system also has an in-built feature that can detect frauds or potential frauds. We will also be taking feedback from the beneficiaries and find out whether they availed the services. We will also do frequent medical audits. We have a very clear mandate on what we will do when we find out any instances of fraud. So, have a number of checks and balances in place.

Most big and corporate hospitals are unhappy with package rates offered and want the government to set up a cost analysis committee. Do you think the government can provide tertiary care facilities without wholehearted involvement of private hospitals?

Some big hospitals are coming forward to join the scheme. For example, Medanta in the NCR is now empanelled with us. Majority of the corporate hospitals are interested. We are open to discussing and doing further work on costs. As and when we have more data on evidence that the rates we are offering now to hospitals are not sufficient, we will revise them.

Many public health experts and health economists are saying the government does not have sufficient funds earmarked for the scheme and there seems to be some degree of opaqueness in the financial aspect of the programme. What will you say about that?

The government is committed to implementing the scheme successfully, whatever it takes. Currently our allocation for the programme is `2,000 crore. It is right that this is not sufficient as the Centre-state share is 60:40. We will need more money, depending on how the scheme rolls out, what premium has to be paid per person in every state. We are discussing this with the finance ministry and will soon get additional allocation.

Which states are the best prepared to implement the scheme and which states might lag behind?

Haryana, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Assam, West Bengal, Maharashtra and most southern states like Tamil Nadu are all set to launch the scheme in a big way. Some like Bihar, however, will need to work hard. The difference is largely due to leadership and administrative capacity.Richa Sharma By

Express News Service

Here's a look at the bullet train project that is struggling to take off because of various issues, including land acquisition. The project has already been delayed and its deadline extended by over two years.

PALGHAR/VAPI (MAHARASHTRA/GUJARAT): Rupji Dhinde, a tribal from Dehne village in Maharashtras Palghar district, is a worried man. His repeated visits to the offices of the district collector and tehsildar to inquire about a land acquisition notice for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project have yielded no results, so far. None of the officials could give him details about land to be acquired and route alignment.

I will never travel in a bullet (train), so why should I give my land for a project that is being constructed for the rich? The government has technology and money. The entire stretch should be built underground without disturbing farmers, said Dhinde, signalling towards the concrete markings left behind by a survey team on his small plot.

Dhinde is not alone. The Prime Ministers dream project is giving sleepless nights to over 5,400 people, one-third of them living below the poverty line, in Maharashtra and Gujarat. Many of them stand to lose either land holdings or houses.

PART II | Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project hit by delays, court cases

Racing against time are officials of the National High-Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL), the implementing agency of the `1.08 lakh crore project, as the land acquisition deadline of December 2018 nears. As per NHSRCL data, only 0.9 hectares of the 1,400 hectares of required land has been acquired so far.

Beginning from Thane in Maharashtra, The Sunday Standard travelled along the 508-km corridor, passing through Palghar and Boisar in Maharashtra and Vapi, Valsad, Surat, Vadodara and Anand in Gujarat.

The proposed corridor traverses through small villages surrounded by paddy fields in Maharashtra and those falling under the fruit belt in south Gujarat. Dadra and Nagar Haveli lies mid-way.

In villages of Thane district, there is stiff resistance from farmers and landowners. Residents of Bharodi village complained about losing land to multiple projects. The land was already acquired or is in the process of acquisition for other projects, including the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor, National Highway 8 expansion, Mumbai-Vadodara Expressway and a dedicated freight corridor.

PART III: Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project to hit wildlife sanctuaries, CRZ areas

Another complaint is that there is confusion over the alignment of the bullet train route. They are allegedly not provided with documents or any specific detail about how much of their land will be taken away the compensation in lieu of their acquired land, and rehabilitation.

Often, teams found surreptitiously carrying out land markings and measurements were held up by angry villagers at panchayat offices for hours. This correspondent was witness to one such instance in Bharodi.

They enter our land without permission. Isnt it against the law? It seems authorities are testing the patience of the Agari community, forcing us to come out on to the streets, said Bharodi sarpanch Sunanda Neelkanth Patil as she demanded a written apology from the NHSRCL team which came for electrical work for the proposed track. The incident was video graphed and shown live on Facebook. Villagers even took an apology letter from the team as a proof.

The lack of clarity and threat from government officials and police have led to resentment among villagers. Many gram panchayats have passed resolutions against land acquisition.

Replies to RTI queries about the project are vague. People dont know how much land, and whose farms will go. The public hearing was a farce and officials could not answer questions posed by villagers, said advocate Bhardwaj L Chowdhury, who has lost his land to infrastructure projects in the past.

Advocate Bhardwaj L Chowdhury said: The two public hearings, held on May 2 and June 2, finished abruptly, with officials assuring to provide more details on social impact assessment. We are still waiting for it. They circulated a 12-page brief which contained no information.

One-third of affected people are BPL families

The project is giving sleepless nights to over 5,400 people, one-third of them living below the poverty line. Many of them stand to lose either land holdings or houses. The proposed corridor traverses through small villages and paddy fields in Maharashtra and those falling under the fruit belt in south Gujarat.

This correspondent also faced a similar situation as emails to the NHSRCL went unanswered.

However, the Japan International Cooperation Agency responded to queries.

Land acquisition will need to comply with the JICA guidelines, it said to a query on the protests. The JICA added that it was not aware of the delay in land acquisition at this point. Regarding written representation about grievances, the Japanese funding agency said: We have responded to whatever query given in writing to the sender of the letter.

In Gujarat, the only major difference is a change in landholdings  small plots cultivated by tribals give way to big farmlands.

Concerns related to land acquisition are more or less similar. The project is likely to impact 163 villages in eight districts of the state.

Billimora, where one of the 12 train stations will come up, is known for mango and sapota (chikoo) farming. Villagers are clueless as to why a station is planned in the midst of fertile agricultural land at Kesli village in Navsari district, which is far away from the industrial area and 7-8 km away from National Highway-8.

We all are tense and remain alert to track any team that comes for the survey. The land is our only source of income. Our forefathers have lived here for ages. We are farmers and if they take our land, where will we get it. The price they are offering is the official market rate, which is several times lesser than actual market rates, said Dharmesh Patel, a Kesli resident who is set to lose seven acres of land on which stands his house and farm.Namita Bajpai By

LUCKNOW: In the run-up to 2019 polls, Uttar Pradesh is witnessing a realignment of political forces, especially after Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Shivpal Yadav announced the formation of his own party, Samajwadi Secular Morcha, and Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad aka Ravan was released from Saharanpur jail.

This realignment could divide SPs and BSPs vote banks, thus helping the BJP by default.

While Shivpal is gearing up to float his own party in October, Azads increasing proximity to the Congress subsequent to his release is driving the others to redefine their strategies for 2019.

estranged SP leader Shivpal Yadav and Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad Ravan | PTI

Added to the changing equations is Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawatis open aversion to having a truck with Azad. She even dumped Congress in poll-bound Chhattisgarh.

Starting with Shivpal, his falling apart with nephew Akhilesh Yadav will be a clear advantage to the BJP. While he has expressed his electoral ambition by announcing to contest all 80 seats in 2019, the SP leadership is accusing him of playing into the hands of the saffron party.

They believe the BJP will cash in on Shivpals rift with the family and the Samajwadi Party. They will get a chance to deride SP-BSP alliance, said a senior SP leader.

On the other hand, first leader Azad met after being released from Saharanpur jail last week was state Congress vice-president Imran Masood. Though he made overtures towards the BSP by calling Mayawati bua (aunt) and praising her efforts for Dalit emancipation, he got a rude rebuff from the former chief minister, who she could not be associated with anyone who was jailed for violence, rioting and anti-social activities.

In a snub to the Congress, Mayawati equated it with the BJP, calling them birds of the same feather, and slammed the BJP government for continuing with the wrong policies of the Congress. She also sent across a terse message that she would join the alliance only if the BSP got a respectable number of seats to contest in 2019.

Mayawatis annoyance could be attributed to the increasing bonhomie between Azad and the Congress party and their call for Dalit-Mulsim unity. In fact, if Azad warms up to the Congress further, advocating Dalit-Muslim combine as the need of the hour, it could come as a morale booster for the grand old party which has been reduced to being a minor player in UP.

The SP and the BSP leadership have been cold-shouldering it of late by refraining from backing Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Bandh recently. The backing of Azad, who is believed to have considerable influence among sections of Dalit youths, could give the Congress better bargaining power in seat-sharing if the grand alliance takes shape in UP.

In fact, Azad emergence as a formidable force aggressively pitching Dalit-Muslim equation in western UP could be bad news for the SP and the BSP. The two communities make a respectable chunk of voters in the region which accounts for 25-28 Lok Sabha seats. Also, Dalit-Muslim unity may shake the voting base of both the BSP and the SP, respectively, while at the same time polarising the upper caste in BJPs favour yet again.Manish Anand By

In another seven years, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) will turn 100. While deliberating on a plan of action to commemorate the Sanghs centenary in September 2025, Mohan Bhagwat, the seventh sarsanghchalak, has also been mapping out a course to reinvent the organisation.

During the three-day deliberations on Future of Bharat: An RSS Perspective at Delhis Vigyan Bhavan, Bhagwat made a strong pitch for reaching out to new constituencies. The RSS should have arguably been contented with its political offshoot, the BJP, bagging a huge majority on its own to form the government at the Centre in 2014. The RSS should have another reason to be happy that the BJP is in power in 19 of 29 states which account for 70 per cent of the countrys geographical area.

RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat at Sanghs recent event in New Delhi to deliberate on future strategy | Shekhar Yadav

Yet, the RSS is seemingly far from being contented and there are many reasons. The core agenda of the Sangh is not even at the forefront of the public discourse despite a Right-wing government being in power without facing the constraints of coalition.

Political ad-hocism prevails over the core agenda of the RSS, which include Article 370, Uniform Civil Code and construction of Ram temple at Ayodhya. Theres a growing sense that the BJP is using the RSS cadre base solely for electoral purposes, said a senior RSS functionary.

Also, under the leadership of Amit Shah, the BSP has been making an aggressive pitch to expand its own cadre base. The party launched a massive membership after the 2014 victory and its total membership now stands at nine crore.

Bhagwat candidly admitted that his three-day outreach was planned following extensive deliberations within the organisation. The outreach discourse made it clear that the RSS is eager to move beyond its traditional base and connect with new constituencies, including Muslims and liberal Hindus. Hence, the sarsanghchalak advocated universal humanism as Sanghs core belief and also as the defining feature of Hindutva.

Under Bhagwat, Sanghs yearning to deviate from guru Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkars vision and mission is a reflection of the new challenges confronting the RSS with changing times. At the core of the ideas put forth by Bhagwat was that Hindutva means the sum total of Indian values, which even the Muslims in the country share.

Incidentally, the Rashtriya Muslim Manch patronised by the RSS has been holding closed-door sessions with intellectuals from the minority community for past two years and Bhagwat, sources said, has attended some of them.

The new RSS is emerging. Theres a sense that their ideology is getting acceptance. The obvious attempt now is to expand the support base as much as possible. The outfit is even keen to change its fundamental views and reach out to Muslims, said Prof. Badri Narayan of G B Pant Social Science Institute.

Also Read: Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh expands its footprint with rising number of shakhas under BJP rule

The Sangh, sources said, was eyeing a cultural space in even Pakistan and Afganistan. The RSS is seeking assertion of Hindu cultural values beyond India. Theres an interesting shift happening. For the RSS, government formation is a small thing; the larger aim is to gain wider acceptance for Indian cultural values explained as Hindutva, added Narayan.

Historian Irfan Habib, however, sees a contrasting power-play unfolding within the saffron family. The common people are talking that the rise of Modi-Shah duo in politics is posing challenges to the RSS. Theres a sense that Modi-Shah duo has gone are not toeing the RSS line, he noted.

Though stating that Bhagwats overtures to Muslims were welcome, Habib said the words spoken at Vigyan Bhavan would hold no meaning until they are put into action. In the hinterland of India, mob lynchings are taking place which passes on without condemnation by people in power. There should be a concrete plan of action on part of the RSS which should be implemented among its cadre, Habib said.

Bhagwat is not expecting an outright acceptance by the Muslims, either, and expressed willingness to hold more dialogues with those opposed to the RSS.

The RSS is aiming at social transformation through cultural means. By commenting that the issues of shamshan-kabristan (crematorium-graveyard) are raised by those who want to cling to power by any means, Bhagwat has shown displeasure at the BJP having become an election machine in the recent years, said a senior BJP functionary.

There is a sense of disappointment within the RSS that the economic policies pursued by the Modi government havent been much different from the previous UPA dispensation. The RSS affiliate, Swadeshi Jagran Manch, has been at loggerhead with the government on a number of issues. The economic policies being pursued by the Centre bear no footprints of the RSS, added the RSS functionary.

Bhagwats views on the economy and education policy revealed RSS dissatisfaction with the Modi government. By making it clear that the Sangh didnt believe in political hatred, as reflected by BJPs Congress-mukt Bharat pitch, and by acknowledging the contributions of the Opposition party in the freedom struggle, he sought to distance the RSS from the BJPs approach of winning polls at any cost.

In his 10th year at the helm of affairs, Bhagwat is steering the RSS to new territories. By getting former President Pranab Mukherjee  a life-long Congressman  to Nagpur, Bhagwat showed he believes in dialogue. Theres much anticipation that he will continue to stay on the centre stage and direct the future course of the saffron parivar.Pushkar Banakar By

NEW DELHI: July 8, 2016, is a day that is etched in the memory of Kashmiris. It was this day that poster boy of the Hizbul Mujahideen Burhan Wani was gunned down by security forces. Following his death, security forces would have breathed a little easier but little did they know that a new problem would confront them.

According to data from the Jammu and Kashmir government and the Institute of Conflict Management, the number of educated people turning to militancy has seen a sharp rise since the Burhan Wani encounter.

It was natural. More than his life, his funeral was the thing that attracted more educated youth towards militancy in the Valley. He became sort of a rock star in the Valley. If you compare the numbers pre and post-2016 it will show you a clear picture. His death was a catalyst, Arif Hussain Malik, a researcher in the South Kashmir University said.

In terms of numbers, while only 14 graduates drifted to militancy in the Valley from 2011 to 2015, the number more than doubled to 37 in 2016 alone. In 2017, the number of graduates joining militancy grew further to 49. In total, 393 youths chose militancy since 2011 of which at least 100 were graduates or post-graduates. Roughly 180 of them have been to school while 113 have either discontinued their schooling or have never attended school.

In the recent past, some of the bright minds who dedicated themselves to militancy include Rafiq Ahmad Ahnagar alias Saifullah (23), a B Tech degree holder, Masiullah Khan from south Kashmir, a graduate in mechanical engineering, Sajjad Yousuf from Pulwama, who held a postgraduate degree in Islamic Studies. Also, a teenager Ishaq Ahmad Parray, who had earned the nickname Newton due to his academic brilliance, had scored 98 per cent in his Class X examinations but chose to join militant outfits. Another case is that of Ashiq Hussain Dar, who had an MA degree and a government job, but left behind a mainstream life to join hands with militant organisations. Another young Kashmiri, Naseer Ahmad Pandith, who also was the personal security officer of a former PWD minister, had also given up his job to become a militant.

Dr Ajit Kumar Singh, researcher at the Institute of Conflict Management said that militant organisations had always been on a look out for educated youth to join their ranks. Security forces declined to comment on the issue despite repeated attempts to contact them.By AFP

SYRIA: More than 3,000 civilians have been killed in US-led coalition air strikes against the Islamic State group in Syria since they began four years ago, a monitor said on Sunday.

The Washington-led alliance puts the toll at just over 1,000 civilians in both Syria and neighbouring Iraq, and says it does all it can to prevent civilian deaths.

The coalition began bombing IS targets in Iraq in August 2014 after the jihadist group seized swathes of territory straddling the two countries, proclaiming an Islamic "caliphate".

The coalition extended its strikes to Syria on September 23, 2014.

ALSO READ | Syria shoots down Russian plane during Israeli air strike

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring group, said on Sunday those Syria strikes had since killed 3,331 civilians.

The monitor relies on a network of sources inside Syria and tracks flight patterns, aircraft involved and ammunition used to determine who carries out raids.

"Among those killed are 826 children and 615 women," said Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman.

The coalition says it takes every possible precaution to prevent civilian deaths.

ALSO READ | Russian air strikes batter Syria's rebel-controlled Idlib: War monitor

In its latest civilian casualty report published last month, the coalition said its strikes had unintentionally killed 1,061 civilians in both Iraq and Syria up until July 30, 2018.

It is still assessing a further 216 reports of civilian casualties, some of them in strikes dating back to 2014.

Asked if the coalition could specify how many of the confirmed casualties were in Syria, spokesman Sean Ryan said it "does not breakdown strikes by type, platform, munition, region or nation."

"As far any discrepancy in numbers, the coalition is basing the findings on facts and evidence. We are not claiming to provide exact numbers, but saying it is based on the best available evidence," he told AFP.

ALSO READ | At least 22 children killed by coalition air strike in Yemen: UN aid chief

Ryan said the coalition remained willing to work with anyone to investigate allegations and asked other monitors to share what metrics they were using to determine casualties.

Rights groups have criticised the coalition for not pursuing investigations of civilian casualties rigorously enough.

In June, Amnesty International said the coalition's bombing raids of IS's de facto Syrian capital Raqa last year may amount to "potential war crimes".

"The artificially low number of civilian casualties the coalition acknowledges stems in part from poor investigation procedures that fail even to involve on-the-ground research," it said at the time.

The coalition's operations have largely wound down, with the jihadists ousted from all but tiny bits of territory in Syria.

More than 360,000 people have been killed across Syria since the conflict broke out in 2011, nearly a third of them civilians, according to the Observatory.By Associated Press

TEHRAN: Iran's president on Sunday accused an unnamed U.S.-allied country in the Persian Gulf of being behind a terror attack on a military parade that killed 25 people and wounded 60, further raising regional tensions.

Hassan Rouhani's comments came as Iran's Foreign Ministry also summoned Western diplomats over them allegedly providing havens for the Arab separatists who claimed Saturday's attacks in the southwestern city of Ahvaz.

The Iranian moves, as well as promises of revenge by Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard, come as the country already faces turmoil in the wake of the American withdraw from Tehran's nuclear deal with world powers. The attack in Ahvaz, which saw women and children flee with uniformed soldiers bloodied, has further shaken the country.

ALSO READ | Islamic State group claims Iran military parade attack that killed over 24

Rouhani's remarks could refer to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates or Bahrain  close U.S. military allies that view Iran as a regional menace over its support for militant groups across the Middle East.

"All of those small mercenary countries that we see in this region are backed by America. It is Americans who instigate them and provide them with necessary means to commit these crimes," Rouhani said before leaving for the U.N. General Assembly in New York.

In this photo provided by Mehr News Agency, an Iranian army member carries away a child from a shooting scene during a military parade marking the 38th anniversary of Iraq's 1980 invasion of Iran, in the southwestern city of Ahvaz, Iran, Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018. Gunmen attacked the military parade, killing at least eight members of the elite Revolutionary Guard and wounding 20 others, state media said. (Photo | AP)

Iran meanwhile summoned diplomats from Britain, Denmark and the Netherlands early Sunday for allegedly harboring "members of the terrorist group" that launched the attack. Danish Foreign Minister Anders Samuelsen condemned the attack and stressed that there would be "consequences" if it turns out that those responsible have connections to Denmark.

The ministry later summoned the UAE's envoy as well over what it called the "irresponsible and insulting statements" of an Emirati adviser, according to the semi-official ISNA news agency. The UAE did not immediately acknowledge the summons.

In this photo provided by Mehr News Agency, civilians try to take shelter in a shooting scene, during a military parade marking the 38th anniversary of Iraq's 1980 invasion of Iran, in the southwestern city of Ahvaz, Iran, Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018. Gunmen attacked the military parade, killing at least eight members of the elite Revolutionary Guard and wounding 20 others, state media said. (Photo | AP)

Saturday's attack, in which militants disguised as soldiers opened fire on an annual Iranian military parade in Ahvaz, was the deadliest attack in the country in nearly a decade. Women and children scattered along with once-marching Revolutionary Guard soldiers as heavy gunfire rang out, the chaos captured live on state television.

The region's Arab separatists, once only known for nighttime attacks on unguarded oil pipelines, claimed responsibility for the assault, and Iranian officials appeared to believe the claim. The separatists accuse Iran's Persian-dominated government of discriminating against its ethnic Arab minority. Khuzestan province also has seen recent protests over Iran's nationwide drought, as well as economic protests.

ALSO READ | Iran vows 'crushing response' after gunmen kill 29 at army parade

The attack killed at least 25 people and wounded 60, according to the state-run IRNA news agency. It said gunmen wore military uniforms and targeted a riser where military and police commanders were sitting. State TV hours later reported that all four gunmen had been killed.

At least eight of the dead served in the Revolutionary Guard, an elite paramilitary unit that answers only to Iran's supreme leader, according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency. The Guard responded to the attack on Sunday, warning it would seek "deadly and unforgiving revenge in the near future."

Tensions have been on the rise in Iran since the Trump administration pulled out of the 2015 nuclear accord with Iran in May and began restoring sanctions that were eased under the deal. It also has steadily ramped up pressure on Iran to try to get it to stop what Washington calls its "malign activities" in the region.

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani speaks at a military parade marking the 38th anniversary of Iraq's 1980 invasion of Iran, in front of the shrine of the late revolutionary founder, Ayatollah Khomeini, outside Tehran, Iran, Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018. Elsewhere gunmen disguised as soldiers attacked a annual parade in the southwestern city of Ahvaz. (Photo | AP)

The U.S. government nevertheless strongly condemned Saturday's attack and expressed its sympathy, saying it "condemns all acts of terrorism and the loss of any innocent lives."

The attack dominated Iranian newspaper front pages on Sunday. The hard-line daily Kayhan warned that Iranians would demand Saudi Arabia feel the "hard slap" of the country's power.

Overnight, an impromptu candle-light vigil in Ahvaz honored the dead and wounded. Iran planned a day of mourning Monday and funerals for those killed.

ALSO READ | Iran says military parade attackers trained by two Gulf states; linked with US, Israel

Among them is 4-year-old Mohammad Taha, who was captured by a photographer being carried away from the attack by a Guardsman in full dress uniform and sash. The photograph, showing the boy bloodied and helpless, shocked Iran.

A doctor interviewed on state television said Mohammad had been up the night before marking Ashoura, a commemoration of the death of the Prophet Muhammad's grandson Hussein, one of Shiite Islam's most beloved saints. Mourners wear black in honor of his 7th century death in the Battle of Karbala in present-day Iraq.

"He was wearing a black shirt when he was martyred," a doctor said, standing next to the boy's tiny corpse, now wrapped in a blue body bag.MANILA, Sept. 20 (Xinhua) -- The Philippine Navy has sent a strategic sealift vessel for a port visit to Russia, a military spokesman said on Thursday.

Jonathan Zata, the Philippine Navy spokesman, said the strategic sealift vessel BRP Tarlac with around 440 personnel, which left Manila on Thursday morning, is scheduled for a port visit to Russian Pacific Fleet in Vladivostok.

According to the spokesman, the Philippine Navy ship is due to arrive at the Russian naval base in Vladivostok on Oct. 1 and will depart on Oct. 6.

"It's a goodwill visit in reciprocation of the port visits by the Russia Navy. We're reciprocating the Russian Navy efforts and we're looking forward to improving further relations between our Navy and theirs," said Zata.

Russian Navy warships paid port visits to the Philippines in October last year and this June.

"This is the first time that a Philippine Navy contingent will visit the Russian Pacific Fleet in Vladivostok," Zata added.

While in Russia, Zata said the contingent will be engaged in various activities, including a visit of the headquarters of the Russian Pacific Fleet and a Russian submarine manufacturing facility.

After visiting Russia, the Philippine Navy ship will head to Jeju Island in South Korea to participate in the International Fleet Review, added the spokesman.

BRP Tarlac, one of the largest Philippine Navy ships in service, has an overall length of 120 meters, breadth of 21 meters. The ship can carry 500 troops, two rigid-hull inflatable boats, two landing craft units and three helicopters.By AFP

COLOMBO: The Maldives' opposition leader was ahead in early counting for Sunday's controversial election by a large margin, local media said, after a campaign marred by police raids on the opposition and allegations of rigging in favour of strongman President Abdulla Yameen.

President Abdulla Yameen. (Photo | AP)

Ibrahim Mohamed Solih had the backing of a united opposition trying to oust Yameen but struggled for visibility with the electorate, with local media fearful of falling foul of heavy-handed decrees and reporting restrictions.

Preliminary results released by two private media outlets placed Solih in the lead with 58.1 percent of the vote in the two man race, with around half of all ballots counted.

ALSO READ | Maldives extends voting in tense presidential election

The Mihaaru and Avas news websites said their tallies were based on official results published by ballot stations across the country.

Yameen, who was widely tipped to retain power, has imprisoned or forced into exile almost all of his main rivals.

The poll is being closely watched by regional rivals India and China, who are jostling to influence Indian Ocean nations. The European Union and United States, meanwhile, have threatened sanctions if the vote is not free and fair.

Many voters across the Indian Ocean archipelago said they stood in line for over five hours to cast their ballots, while expatriate Maldivians voted in neighbouring Sri Lanka and India.

The Elections Commission said balloting was extended by three hours until 7:00 pm (1400 GMT) because of technical glitches suffered by tablet computers containing electoral rolls, with officials using manual systems to verify voters' identities.

ALSO READ | Paradise, power and polls: Five questions ahead of Maldives presidential election

An election official said the deadline was also extended due to heavy voter turnout.

"Eight hours & counting. Waiting to exercise my democratic right! Lets do this, Insha Allah!," former foreign minister Dunya Maumoon said on Twitter.

Maumoon, who is also the estranged niece of Yameen and daughter of former president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, cast her vote at a booth in the Maldivian embassy in Colombo.

Yameen voted minutes after polling booths opened in the capital Male, where opposition campaign efforts had been frustrated by a media crackdown and police harassment.

Maldivians queue up at a polling station during presidential election voting day in Male, Maldives, Sunday, Sept. 23, 2018. Huge crowds flocked to closely guarded polling stations on Sunday to vote in the Maldives' third multiparty presidential elections, widely seen as a referendum on the island nation's young democracy. (Photo | AP)

Before polls opened, police raided the campaign headquarters of the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) and searched the building for several hours in a bid to stop what they called "illegal activities". There were no arrests.

Local observers said the balloting itself went off peacefully and most of the delays were due to technical issues.

Mohamed Nasheed, who was elected president of a newly-democratic Maldives in 2008 but who now lives in exile, urged the international community prior to the count to reject the results of a flawed election.

Monitors barred

Some 262,000 people in the archipelago -- famed for its white beaches and blue lagoons -- were eligible to vote in an election from which independent international monitors have been barred.

Only a handful of foreign media have been allowed in.

The Asian Network for Free Elections, a foreign monitoring group that was denied access to the Maldives, said the campaign had been heavily tilted in favour of 59-year-old Yameen.

The government has used "vaguely worded laws to silence dissent and to intimidate and imprison critics", some of whom have been assaulted and even murdered, according to Human Rights Watch.

There have been warnings that Yameen could try to hold on to power at all costs.

In February he declared a state of emergency, suspended the constitution and ordered troops to storm the Supreme Court and arrest judges and other rivals to stave off impeachment.

Yameen told supporters on the eve of the election he had overcome "huge obstacles" since controversially winning power in a contested run-off in 2013, but had handled the challenges "with resilience".

The crackdown attracted international censure and fears the Maldives was slipping back into one-man rule just a decade after transitioning to democracy.

India, long influential in Maldives affairs -- it sent troops and warships in 1988 to stop a coup attempt -- expressed hopes the election would represent a return to democratic norms.

However in recent years Yameen has drifted closer to China, India's chief regional rival, taking hundreds of millions of dollars for major infrastructure projects.By IANS

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's two major opposition parties have held the present government responsible for the latest diplomatic debacle following New Delhi's refusal to hold a meeting between the two foreign ministers in New York.

The leaders of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) allege that the government has not done its homework and assessed the situation before approaching India for a meeting, terming the talks offer through a letter written by Khan to his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi a "misstep", Dawn online reported on Sunday.

PML-N President Shahbaz Sharif said: "Pakistan is more than capable of defending and responding to any aggression by New Delhi. Pakistan extending an olive branch to India should never be misconstrued as weakness."

Also Read: Ready for war but will choose to walk in peace: Pakistan Army on General Rawat's barbarism remarks

Former Foreign Minister and PML-N MNA Khawaja Mohammad Asif told Dawn on Saturday that it seemed the government was "not prepared" from day one, adding that "too much keenness being shown by the Prime Minister" showed "weakness on our part".

"Giving them (India) too much reflects haste on our part to mend fences with India," he said, adding that he was not against normalisation of relations between the two neighbours, but "dignity must be maintained".

PPP Vice-President and the country's former Ambassador to the US Sherry Rehman said Khan's government should have done its homework before approaching India for a meeting, especially after the initial response.

Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi's meeting that was scheduled to be held on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) session next week, was cancelled by New Delhi on Friday.

New Delhi blamed Pakistan for the killing of security personnel in Jammu and Kashmir and accusing it of glorifying terrorism, in terms of releasing a postage stamp featuring Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist Burhan Wani who was killed by Indian security forces.

India announced its decision just 24 hours after Indian External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said in his media briefing on Thursday that New Delhi has accepted Islamabad's request for a meeting between Sushma Swaraj and Qureshi at the UN.By AFP

UKARA: Tanzania declared the whole nation was in mourning Sunday as the first dozen bodies were buried from a devastating ferry capsize on Lake Victoria that left people 224 dead.

Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa led "national funerals" on the island of Ukara, where the MV Nyerere had been coming in to dock on Thursday.

He spoke of "great mourning by the whole nation" as the first coffins were placed in individual graves, many of the victims unidentified.

Relatives carry coffins to be used for the victims of the MV Nyerere passenger ferry on Ukara Island, Tanzania Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018. The death toll soared past 200 on Saturday while officials said a survivor was found inside the capsized ferry and search efforts were ending to focus on identifying bodies, two days after the Lake Victoria disaster. (Photo | AP)

The remainder of the dead were to be lain to rest later or taken away by families wishing for privates funerals.

The prime minister said a memorial would be built on Ukara.

ALSO READ | Survivor found inside capsized Tanzania ferry; toll hits 207

Hopes had faded of finding any more survivors three days after the disaster, even after rescuers pulled out an engineer on Saturday who had holed up in an air pocket in the upturned vessel.

But Majaliwa said divers would continue the grim search in the waters around the boat. The ferry would also be refloated.

He updated the death toll to 126 women, 71 men, 17 girls and 10 boys. Just 41 people survived.

Rescue divers work alongside the capsized MV Nyerere passenger ferry on Ukara Island, Tanzania Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018. The death toll soared past 200 on Saturday while officials said a survivor was found inside the capsized ferry and search efforts were ending to focus on identifying bodies, two days after the Lake Victoria disaster. (Photo | AP)

'Overloading' blamed for tragedy

Transport Minister Isack Kamwelwe said 265 people had been on board the ferry, which had an official capacity of 100 or 101 passengers.

The prime minister said initial investigations suggested overloading was one of the causes of the accident.

"We have already arrested all those people in charge of operating and supervising the MV Nyerere. Questioning has begun," he said.

Rescue divers stand on top of the capsized MV Nyerere passenger ferry on Ukara Island, Tanzania Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018. The death toll soared past 200 on Saturday while officials said a survivor was found inside the capsized ferry and search efforts were ending to focus on identifying bodies, two days after the Lake Victoria disaster. (Photo | AP)

A broader commission of inquiry into the disaster would also be set up, Majaliwa added.

One survivor was an engineer who shut himself into a "special room" with enough air for him to stay alive until he was found, said local lawmaker Joseph Mkundi.

Transport minister Kamwelwe said on Saturday that 172 of the bodies had been identified by relatives.

State television cited witnesses reporting that more than 200 people had boarded the ferry at Bugolora, a town on the larger Ukerewe Island. It was market day, which usually sees the vessel packed with people and goods.

Witnesses told AFP that the ferry sank when passengers rushed to one side to disembark as it approached the dock. Others blamed the captain, saying he had made a brusque manoeuvre.

Grief and anger

Dozens of wooden coffins had lined the shore on Saturday, waiting to be seen by families as police and volunteers sought to keep hundreds of curious locals at bay.

Aisha William came to collect the body of her husband. "He left on Tuesday around noon, but he never came home. I do not know how I am going to raise my two children," she said.

Relatives carry coffins to be used for the victims of the MV Nyerere passenger ferry on Ukara Island, Tanzania Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018. The death toll soared past 200 on Saturday while officials said a survivor was found inside the capsized ferry and search efforts were ending to focus on identifying bodies, two days after the Lake Victoria disaster. (Photo AP)

Ahmed Caleb, a 27-year-old trader, railed at a tragedy "which could have been prevented. I've lost my boss, friends, people I went to school with," he sighed.

The ageing vessel, whose hull and propellers were all that remained visible above water, was also carrying cargo, including sacks of maize, bananas and cement, when it capsized.

Tanzanian President John Magufuli on Friday ordered the arrest of the ferry's management and declared four days of national mourning.

"It appears clear that the ferry was overloaded", he said, adding that the government would cover the funeral expenses.

With a surface area of 70,000 square kilometres (27,000 square miles), oval-shaped Lake Victoria is roughly the size of Ireland and is shared by Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya.

It is not uncommon for ferries to capsize on the lake, and the number of fatalities is often high due to a shortage of life jackets and the fact that many local people cannot swim.

In 1966, more than 800 people lost their lives on Lake Victoria when the MV Bukoba sank off the mainland town of Mwanza, according to the Red Cross.By AFP

MALE: Voting began in a controversial presidential election in the Maldives Sunday, hours after police raided the opposition's campaign headquarters, amid fears that the process has been rigged in China-friendly strongman Abdulla Yameen's favour.

Hundreds of men and women lined up to vote before polling booths opened at 8:00 am (0300 GMT) in the capital Male, where President Abdulla Yameen and his challenger Ibrahim Mohamed Solih were due to cast their ballots.

Yameen has imprisoned or forced into exile all his main rivals, and is expected to retain his hold on power in the Indian Ocean island nation.

Foreign monitors and the opposition have slammed his government for its crackdown on opponents and the media, and urged the international community not to recognise the results of the election.

Before polls opened, police raided the campaign headquarters of the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), searched the building for several hours in a bid to stop what they called "illegal activities". There were no arrests.

READ HERE: 5 questions ahead of presidential polls

Despite the crackdown, hundreds of Maldivians headed to polling booths before voting began in the capital Male.

A Maldivian election worker prepares poll material at the election commissioner's office center in Male, Maldives, Sept. 22, 2018. (Photo | AP)

"There is a lot of enthusiasm. Voters lined up to vote despite overcast weather," MDP party worker Shauna Aminath said.

Yameen has borrowed hundreds of millions of dollars from China to build up infrastructure, alarming the nation's longtime backer India.

The European Union has said it is ready to impose travel bans and asset freezes on individuals "if the situation does not improve", while the United States has warned it would "consider appropriate measures" against those undermining democracy in the country of 1,200 islands.

Some 262,000 people in the archipelago -- famed for its white beaches and blue lagoons -- can vote in an election from which independent international monitors have been barred.

Only a handful of foreign media have been allowed in.

The Asian Network for Free Elections, a foreign monitoring group, said the campaign was heavily tilted in favour of the 59-year-old Yameen.

The network said it did not expect a fair contest.

"In the absence of any scrutiny (of the elections) or pressure (on the government), sombre events surely loom ahead for the people of Maldives," it said on the eve of the vote.

In February, Yameen alarmed the international community by imposing a state of emergency, suspending the constitution and sending troops to stop members of parliament who were trying to impeach him.

The chief justice and a judge of the Supreme Court were jailed along with Yameen's half-brother Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, president for 30 years until 2008 and the man who helped Yameen come to power in 2013.

The UN said the arrest of judges was an "outright assault on democracy".

Maldives' opposition presidential candidate Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, center, jumps as he walks in a street march with supporters in Male, Maldives, Sept. 22, 2018.(Photo | AP)

Silencing dissent

Mohamed Nasheed, the Maldives' first democratically elected president from 2008-12 but now in exile, called Friday for the international community to reject the election results.

"Mathematically, it is not possible for Yameen to win because all opposition parties are united against him," said Nasheed, who is based in Sri Lanka.

"But the results they will announce will be different to what is actually in the ballot boxes."

Nasheed was forced to withdraw from the presidential race after the Maldives election commission disqualified him because of a 2015 terrorism conviction.

The United Nations said the conviction and 13-year jail sentence were politically motivated, but Yameen's government has refused to abide by the UN ruling.

The relatively unknown Solih has Nasheed's backing. There are no other candidates.

Former Maldives president Mohamed Nasheed (Photo | AP)

Solih has struggled for visibility with the electorate because the media is fearful of falling foul of heavy-handed decrees and reporting restrictions.

The government has used "vaguely worded laws to silence dissent and to intimidate and imprison critics", some of whom have been assaulted and even murdered, according to Human Rights Watch.

Eligible voters in neighbouring Sri Lanka and India along with those in Malaysia and Britain are entitled to vote on Sunday. The results are expected by midday Monday.

A candidate must secure 50 percent of the vote to win outright, failing which there would be a run off three days later.By ANI

GENEVA: Exiled Balochistan political activists on Sunday held a protest in front of the Palais Wilson, the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva, and demanded the UN to intervene and stop the genocide and war crimes committed by the Pakistan Army in Balochistan.

They were joined by the activists from other European countries and members of European Parliament.

Karima Baloch, former chairperson of Baloch Students Organisation-Azad (BSO-Azad), said their aim is to raise awareness in the international human rights organizations about the incidents of enforced disappearances, torture and killings of the Baloch people.

"My message to Pakistan is that we don't have any expectations from them, but we will continue to raise our voice to raise awareness among international bodies, including the United Nations, about the war crimes and genocide happening against the Baloch. We will persuade them to carry out a survey and see the situation for themselves because Pakistan is not a state which respects human rights. As per the UN charter and other international laws, we have a right to live freely and with dignity on our land. We have been fighting for that right and have a faith that we will convince the world to pressurize Pakistan to leave our territory," Karima said.

Karima, who lives in exile in Canada, denounced Islamabad's claim about normalcy in Balochistan, adding that the human rights situation is deteriorating and Baloch will not remain silent.

ALSO READ | Pakistan: Suicide bomber who killed nearly 150 people at Balochistan election rally was seminary student

"If the situation in Balochistan is better, then Pakistan would have allowed international media to go there and do reporting. Pakistan should also take NGOs and human rights organizations to Balochistan. But, they are in fear and thus don't allow international media, NGOs and other human rights groups. Pakistan's own media is not providing any coverage to Balochistan, because they are hiding the truth, but they won't be hiding it for long as we are the witnesses. I myself am a witness and have seen with my eyes. How long will they keep us silent?" Karima added.

Ryszard Czarnecki, a Member of the European Parliament, who joined the protest, said, "I think this demonstration is important because people from Balochistan show international public opinion - especially in Geneva, the headquarters of United Nations in Europe, that the Balochistan issue is also important for European people because, during the demonstration, speakers from European Parliament including MEPs from Italy and myself participated and signed a petition that Balochistan issue is not Pakistan's internal affair but it is the matter of international fight for freedom. Also, the fight is for respecting human rights."

He said the European institutions should stop providing trade preferences to Pakistan as the state is engaged in gross human rights violations in Balochistan.

"It's not only the European Parliament, but other institutions of European Union stand strong. I am quite optimistic because Europe has a special economic agreement with Pakistan, which offers privileges to Islamabad. If Pakistan doesn't respect the basic fundamental rights, the European Union should change its policy towards Islamabad," Czarnecki stated.

The participants signed a petition against Pakistan and released black balloons in the air as a symbol of their protest.